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This week, we hear warnings about rejecting the Lord’s Word again and will, spoken by the Lord through Jeremiah to God’s Old Testament people, and later by Jesus Himself and by Paul during their ministries to the people of their time (and for our benefit, too). We also hear about proper activity in God’s house and about spiritual gifts given by God’s Holy Spirit, to bring us to faith and keep us in that faith in the one true God and in our Lord Jesus as Savior.
There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson, both spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 7:1-11, the Lord says to the people through Jeremiah, “Amend your ways and your deeds.” Don’t just say “deceptively,” we have “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” “Do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow,” but act “justly,” not breaking all the Commandments. Above all, “do not go after Baal” and “other gods, to your own harm” and then go to the temple saying, “we are delivered,” only to “go on doing all these abominations, with false beliefs." And the warning comes, “Has the house of God become a den of robbers, instead of a house of prayer?”
The alternate Old Testament lesson follows soon after this reading, in Jeremiah 8:4-12. Again, the Lord speaks through Jeremiah about God’s people: “Why has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding, holding fast to deceit and refusing to return to Me?” “Everyone turns to his own evil course.” They have rejected the Word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them? Everyone is “greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely… and says, 'Peace, peace, when there is no peace.' I, the Lord, will punish them; they shall be overthrown.” (The judgment of the Babylonian captivity was coming because of the many sins of the people and rejection of the true God.)
There is a faithful remnant of believers, though. The psalmist described in Psalm 92 says, “It is good to praise and give thanks to the Lord, the Most High.” The Lord’s “steadfast love and faithfulness… have made me glad. How great are Your works, O Lord.” The “stupid and foolish, who are wicked and evildoers, flourish” at times, but “they are doomed to destruction forever.” Ultimately, it is the righteous who “declare that the Lord is upright, and there is no unrighteousness in Him,” and who will “flourish, planted in the house of the Lord," with “joy” in Him who is their rock. The strength of true believers is pictured as like the horn of a strong animal (Psalm 92:10). See also Psalm 75: 4-5, 10: “I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,' and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck. All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.'” See also Psalm 89:19,24, predicting one like David: “Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: I have granted help to one who is mighty… My faithfulness and my steadfast love will be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.” And by the power of the Holy Spirit, Zechariah prophesied of Jesus: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a Horn of Salvation in the house of His servant David” (Luke 1:68-69).
Our Lord Jesus was, of course, the promised Son of David. In the Gospel lesson, Luke 19:41-48, Jesus approached Jerusalem and wept over it, wishing that its people would know “the things that make for true peace,” peace with God through Jesus Himself and His saving work. The coming of Jesus was God’s “time of visitation and redemption” for His people, but so many resisted and rejected Him. Jesus then predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and many of its people, as a result, which happened in 70AD, at the hands of the Romans. Jesus then went to the temple and for a second time, drove out the money-changers and sellers of animals there, saying that the temple had become “a den of robbers,” as predicted in Jeremiah 7:11, instead of “a house of prayer for all peoples,” as the Lord desired in Isaiah 56:7. Jesus then did what should have been done in the temple, “teaching daily,” with many people “hanging on His Words.” So sadly, the religious leaders were plotting at the same time to destroy Jesus, sending Him to the cross.
There are two choices also for the Epistle lesson. Paul writes in Roman 9:30-10:4 that Jesus, the “Rock” of Salvation, had become a “stumbling stone and offense” to many of the people of Israel, as predicted in Isaiah 8:13-15, when He was actually the “precious cornerstone,” the “sure foundation, for all who would believe in Him.” Too many of the Jews continued to “pursue a law that would lead to righteousness” through their own efforts and works. They “sought to establish their own righteousness” and did not submit to “the righteousness from God that came by faith” in Christ Jesus and His saving work for them and His death on the cross to pay the penalty for all their sins and failures. Jesus has earned and brought “righteousness to everyone who believes” in God’s saving plan centered in Him. The heart’s desire and prayer of Paul is that more of His fellow Jews would be brought to faith, as he was, but he rejoices that many non-Jews, Gentiles, also were coming to “the righteousness that is by faith” in Christ.
The alternate Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Paul emphasizes here, too, that all spiritual gifts come from God, not from us and our efforts, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. He says that “no one can say 'Jesus is Lord’" and trust in Him for salvation except “in and through the Holy Spirit.” “The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), and the Spirit uses that Word, together with the Word and water of baptism, to bring people from “pagan idols” to trust in Jesus as Lord. Every believer has the most important gift of faith. And the Holy Spirit then provides other gifts to believers “individually as He wills” for “the common good.” We will not all have the same gifts, for there are “varieties of service,” but together in the church, the body of Christ, we will have all we need, together. This is one of many passages that also teach of our Triune God at work for us. God the Father has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit has now been sent from the Father and the Son to bring us to faith and keep us in that faith through His Word and gifts and the encouragement and help of fellow believers. The Trinity, only one God and yet three persons or beings, is not neatly defined and explained, but is definitely at work in love for us, now and eternally. To Him be all praise and glory forever.
In the Scriptures this week, we hear from David, trusting in the Lord’s mercy for him that forgave him his sins and delivered him from all his enemies. We are also called to learn from the sins and failures of many others of God’s Old Testament people, and especially to learn from Jesus and trust in Him and “the true riches” He brings us, as our Savior, and wants us to share with others.
In the Old Testament lesson, 2 Samuel 22:26-34, we hear that the Lord had “delivered David from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of King Saul" (2 Samuel 22:1). David, therefore, sang a song of praise to the Lord. (You can also find this “song,” with only slight variation, as Psalm 18.) David says that “the Lord God is his Lamp, Who lightens his darkness.” God’s “Way is perfect,” and “the Word of the Lord proves True.” The Lord has been his “Shield” and his “strong Refuge.” The Lord enabled him to run “against a troop” of his enemies and “leap over a wall” to escape them, “with feet like the feet of a deer” and be ‘secure on the heights.” Above all, David “humbly” had learned his own weaknesses and sins and knew that the Lord was merciful and “purified” him and made “his way blameless” through His forgiveness.
In the psalm for this week, Psalm 51:1-12, David speaks of the forgiveness and mercy he had received when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan for grievous sins he had committed. He confesses his “transgressions and sins” against the Lord and others. He confesses his sinful nature, from the time of his conception and birth, and onward. He knows that the Lord would be justified in condemning him, but he prays that the Lord, in His mercy, would “wash and cleanse” him and “blot out all his sins, his iniquities.” Even more, David prays that he would be given “a clean heart” and “a renewed spirit.” He would have this only with the Lord’s presence with him and the Holy Spirit at work in him and “upholding him with a spirit” more willing to try to do the Lord’s will. Then his “joy would be restored,” not in himself, but “in the Lord’s saving work for him.” (We know that we are sinners, too, and need that same salvation, earned on the cross for us by our Savior, Jesus. That’s why we often sing these same words of David in our worship services, asking the Lord to forgive us and renew our own joy and confidence in our Savior.)
In our Epistle lesson for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul reminds us that God’s Old Testament people had been richly blessed by the Lord and His food and drink, physical and spiritual, and even the Presence of God’s pre-Incarnate Son, the Christ. Many of them, though, rejected God’s plans and will for them. They “desired evil” and went after “idolatry,” worshiping and serving false gods, and “sexual immorality” and constant “grumbling,” and “putting Christ the Lord to the test,” demanding that He do what they wanted and expected. As a result, many died “in the wilderness” or in other times of judgment, for their sins and “falling” away from the Lord and trust in Him. Paul says that these real events were “written down for our instruction,” too, even in these latter days. We will have temptations, as every person does in this sinful world. But “God is faithful and He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability and will provide the way to get through the time of temptation. (Right after this text, in 1 Corinthians 10:14-17, Paul reminds us that we are people loved by the Lord and that He gives us help in battling temptation. First, he tells us to flee, to run away fast from “idolatry,” anything or anyone that would pull us away from our Lord as the one True God and His Word. Listening to God’s Word is so important, as we are doing in this study, so that we know what keeps us strong in faith and close to Him and His Word in Christ - and away from all that is spiritually dangerous for us. Paul also tells us to be “sensible” people who think about what we are doing, in comparison with God and His Word. We’ll hear more about this in our Gospel lesson for today. Then Paul points us to the gift of the Lord’s Supper, which we receive, along with the Word of God, in worship. Christ Himself comes to us and personally strengthens us to go His Way and even forgives our sins and failures. How important Word and Sacrament are for us, in worship, along with remembering who we are as baptized believers and being with fellow members of the Body of Christ, who can help one another follow the Lord. Then we are thinking sensibly, God’s way.
The Gospel lesson for today is Luke 16:1-13, as Jesus tells a challenging parable of a dishonest manager who has been caught wasting a rich owner’s possessions. When he knows that he will be fired from his job, the manager thinks carefully about what he should do. He doesn’t want to be a common laborer or a beggar, and decides to call in all the owner’s debtors and have them reduce what they owe in the records. That may cover up some of his cheating and make the debtors more willing to help him when he is without a job, since he has helped them. Surprisingly, the owner compliments the dishonest manager for his “shrewdness” in trying to care for his own future, even though the man had been doing more cheating. Then we have the comment that “the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” The rich owner seems to have been one of the “sons of this sinful, evil world” himself and admires how the manager was shrewd and seeking to survive and just take care of himself in that “cut-throat” generation.
That is not the view and teaching of Jesus, though. He was the greatest “Son of Light,” the “Light of the world” (John 8:12). He knows that there is human wisdom and thinking, very self-centered, and God’s way of wisdom and thinking, where we focus not just on ourselves and our family, but upon others and their needs, and especially their need for our Savior, Jesus, too. Three times in verses 10–13, when Jesus speaks of “wealth and money,” He literally speaks of “unrighteous mammon,” wealth and possessions we have now but can’t take with us when we die. Jesus says, “Make friends for yourselves” by helping others with their physical and spiritual needs, especially in faith in Christ. Then one day, they can be in heaven, too, and welcome you, when you reach eternal life through Christ, also. Jesus says that even if we have only a little money and possessions, we can still be faithful with them, blessing others as well as ourselves. Money and possessions are a gift from God, too. It is “the love of our money and possessions,” rather than our Lord, that can lead us to evil and away from our Lord. (See, for example, 1 Timothy 6:6-12 and 17-19.)
The same Greek word is used in this Gospel lesson for thinking “shrewdly” and wrongly, as Paul uses it in our Epistle lesson, for thinking “sensibly,” led by our Lord and His Word. In fact, this Greek word is used several more times in the New Testament also to talk about bad thinking that leads us astray. Paul warns about “being wise in your own sight” in Romans 11:25 and 12:16. He speaks with irony about false teachers, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you (wrongly think) you are wise… and strong” (1 Corinthians 4:10). Paul warns about such “false apostles” in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 and says in v.19 that they think they are “wise” in themselves. How important it is to keep studying the Word of God and passages like the one we hear today, summarized in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, and we follow Him!
The Scriptures this week give a number of warnings about false prophets and teachers, and the need to test what we hear by the Word of God. Above all, we are to rejoice in being the “adopted” children of God through the Father’s saving work for us, in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 23:16-29. The Lord warns, through Jeremiah, about false prophets who despise Him and His Word and follow their own thoughts and dreams and lead people to forget Him and follow false gods and wicked ideas. The “storm” of the Lord’s judgment is coming, and His Word will be like a fire and a hammer against evil deeds and ways. These same Words are repeated in Jeremiah 30:23-24, and judgment against His rebellious people did come during the Babylonian Captivity and at other times when they strayed far from the Lord. God knows what is said and done “in secret places.” This will be seen most clearly in “latter days,” when the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus, would speak and live out the true Word of God faithfully and give it to His disciples to share with others.
In Psalm 26, the psalm for the day, David speaks of what he wishes to do and tries to do: “to walk in integrity and trust the Lord without wavering.” We know from David’s life story that he failed and fell far short of God’s will, at times. Near the end of this psalm, he has to pray to the Lord, “redeem me and be gracious to me,” as He trusts, not in himself, but in the Lord’s “steadfast love and faithfulness” and forgiveness for him. David does know what will help him, though - to avoid sitting with “false” and “hypocritical” and “evil” people, who could influence him and cause him to be “swept away with them by sin.” Rather, he needs to “go around the Lord’s altar” in worship in “the great assembly” of fellow believers and “bless” and “thank” the Lord. “In the Lord’s house His glory dwells,” and there, David can both hear His Word and remember and “tell, with others, of the Lord’s wondrous deeds.” David’s “hands can be washed clean,” and he can be declared “innocent” in the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. Then “his feet can stand on level ground,” and He can walk in the Lord’s way, in a better way. (This is important guidance for us all!)
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 7:15-23. In this portion of His “ Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus also warns about false prophets, who look like fellow “sheep,” but turn out to be “ravenous wolves.” "Look at their fruit,” Jesus says. What are they interested in - themselves and their own ideas and their glory and getting ahead, or in pointing people to Jesus and His love for people and gifts He gives and things that build up His people and His Kingdom in love? Jesus also talks about doing the will of His Father and not works of lawlessness. On another occasion, people asked, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” - believing in Jesus Himself as Lord and Savior (John 6:27-29). When Jesus had begun this sermon, in Matthew 5:11-12, He also said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of things against you falsely - on My account.” That is how “earlier prophets were persecuted too” - for simply pointing forward to the coming Savior. That’s who Jesus was and is - and the One we are called to believe in, too, along with the Father Who sent Him and the Holy Spirit Who enables us to believe in Him.
Look now at one of the possible Epistle lessons for this week, Acts 20:27-38. Paul is meeting with elders, leaders of early church congregations. He too warns them of false teachers, “fierce wolves,” - “men speaking twisted things to draw people away after them” - and away from “the church of God, which Christ obtained with His own blood.” The faithful leaders and their churches are to stand with “God and His Word of grace, which is able to build them up and give them their eternal inheritance” in Christ. Paul also encourages them not only to care for the strong, but also to “help the weak” and sacrifice for their good, for Jesus taught, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The other possible Epistle reading is from Romans 8:12-17. Paul reminds his fellow believers that they are not to follow the desires of their “flesh,” their old sinful nature, but to be led by the Spirit of God to be what they now are, “sons,” “children of God.” Paul says that they are now “adopted” as God’s children through the Holy Spirit bringing them to faith and new life through the Word of God and their baptism. (See again Romans 6:1-11.) Along with Jesus, all believers, including us, can say, “Father, dear Father!” to our Heavenly Father. We know we are cared for, even if we have to suffer in this life - and even sometimes just for being Christians. And we have an eternal inheritance, being with Christ in heaven when we die. We don’t deserve it and haven’t earned it, but it is ours through the love of our great God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (See also passages like Galatians 4:4-6, Ephesians 1:5, and Romans 9:24-26.) How comforting for us!
The Scripture readings this week remind us of the abundant love and mercy of our Lord God, from the time of creation on down to this very day, in His care for people, including us.
The Old Testament lesson takes us back to the creation, in Genesis 2:7-17. God had created our marvelous universe, then formed the first man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life. Though the whole universe was perfect, God also made a very special garden for the man, the Garden of Eden, with abundant water, food, and other good and beautiful things. The man, "Adam,” had purpose and responsibility, too, in working and keeping the garden, as a kind of steward and manager. Martin Luther also suggests that this was a way for him to worship and serve his Lord, with only one specific command - not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. (Of course, we know that the Lord also created the first woman, “Eve,” and both rebelled against God and His will and sinned. There was both judgment and forgiveness given to them, but there was now also a sinful, fallen nature in them and in the human race. See Genesis 6:5, but also that there were some who remained faithful to the Lord, Noah and his family, who were spared in the great flood, by the grace and mercy of God. They were still sinners, too, though, and finally in Genesis 12: 1-3, God repeated the promise of Genesis 3:15, with the promise of a coming Savior, from the line of Abraham, to be the blessing for ”all the families on the earth.”)
The psalm is Psalm 33:1-11, where the psalmist calls upon God’s people to “shout for joy in the Lord” and to “give thanks” to Him with all kinds of instruments “in a new song.” “The Word of the Lord is upright…” and “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” This is seen in God’s work of creation by “His Word” and that “the counsel of the Lord stands forever… to all generations,” while “the counsel of the nations is brought to nothing” because of conflict with the Lord and His will. As this psalm ends, we hear that God’s people “trust in His Holy Name” and “His steadfast love is upon those who hope in Him” (Psalm 33:20-22).
When our Lord Jesus came, His love and “compassion” were clear to all kinds of people. In Mark 6:30-44, He teaches and miraculously feeds 5,000 people, mostly Jews. In Mark 7:24ff, Jesus had gone outside of Israel to Tyre and Sidon, and healed the daughter of a Gentile (non-Jewish) woman. In Mark 7:31, he returns to the region of the Decapolis (10 cities where there were many non-Jews, too). Jesus heals a man who could not hear or speak well, and a great crowd then came to hear Him teach and stayed for 3 days, in a desolate area (Mark 8:1-9, our Gospel lesson for this Sunday). These people seemed to be largely Gentiles, and Jesus teaches them and says He has “compassion” on them, also, because they had had little or no food for several days. Jesus feeds them in a miraculous way, four thousand people this time, and there were seven large baskets of leftover food to help them with the trip home and help His disciples carry on, as well. (And, of course, later on in this same chapter of Mark, Mark 8:31, Jesus predicts that He would suffer and die at the hands of His own religious leaders, in payment for the sins of the whole world, Jews and non-Jews, as we know from other Scriptures, and then He would rise from the dead in victory. His care is for all.)
In our Epistle lesson, Romans 6:19-23, Paul is writing to people in Rome, where some Jews lived, but also a great majority of Gentiles, non-Jewish people from many nations. Paul reminds them (and all of us, no matter our cultural background) that we were all sinners by birth and “slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness” if left to ourselves. And “the end of all those things is death,” both physical and spiritual. But now we “have been set free from sin” through the sacrifice of Christ for our sins on the cross. As we heard last Sunday, in Romans 6:1-11, we have died to our old life of sin and risen to a whole new life with our Lord through our connection with Him in our baptism. We consider ourselves “dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). We still struggle with sin and do not always follow God’s will, but “sin and Satan no longer have dominion over us” (Romans 6:14) because we are now under the grace and forgiveness of God, in Christ and His merciful work for us, and we are “slaves,” servants of Christ. The “wages” we were earning before were “death.” But now we have the free gift of God. We did not earn or deserve this gift, but it is ours by Christ and by the faith worked in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God and our baptism. Remember also that Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 that “your faith is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” in himself or herself. As we begin, we end, boasting only in the Lord and His abundant mercy and care for us, in Christ and by the Holy Spirit, by which we are in faith and will be saved. To God be the glory, now and always!
The Scriptures this week take us to the Ten Commandments and to God’s Word at work in the Old Testament and then to our Lord Jesus, speaking about and living out that Word, and finally, what that means, related to our own baptism.
The Old Testament lesson in Exodus 20:1-17. Note that these are the Words of God Himself, and that He begins by reminding His people that He loved them and rescued them from slavery in the land of Egypt. It is for their own good that He now gives them these Words, which are called in two other places the Ten Commandments, with commentary (Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:18). (Some groups and churches number them differently from others, but the overall content is the same.) The first three Commandments have to do with love, honor, and worship only for the God revealed in the Old and New Testaments, the One True God and yet Three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as accurately described in our three Christian creeds, following all of Scripture. We are to worship only this One True Triune God and not anyone or anything else. We are not to use His Name in any vain, worthless way, and to worship Him only. The other seven Commandments concern love for our neighbor (the people God has placed around us, our parents and family, and others): not hurting or harming others, not speaking falsely about them, and not coveting what they have. How wonderful this world would be if all followed all of these Commandments.
The Psalm is Psalm 19, a commentary on God and how we find more knowledge of Him and His will and His plans and His care for us. David begins this psalm by speaking of the natural knowledge of God, when many people see the beauty and complexity of us and our natural world and our universe and conclude that there must have been some supreme being, some intelligent designer of all this. It couldn’t have all happened by random accidents. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” Other Scriptures speak of this, and Paul does, too, in the New Testament in Romans 1:19-23. The problem is that this natural knowledge does not lead people to know the One True God, trust in Him, or seek to follow His will. More is needed, and so David then focuses on “the testimony” of the Lord, His Word given in the Scriptures. There are “commandments” and “rules” that show us what is “right” and “sinful” and “warn” us when we are going astray and committing “transgressions.” We can’t even “discern all of our errors” and need the continuing "wisdom” of the Lord’s Word. David prays that he will “meditate acceptably” on that Word. Above all, he needs the Words of God that “are sweeter than honey” and “revive the soul” and “rejoice the heart” (as we do, too) with the “redeeming” forgiveness and promises and work of the Lord Himself, the “Rock” of all of our lives.
God showed that redeeming love most clearly in the gift of His own Son, our Lord Jesus. The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:17-26. Jesus tells us that our “righteousness needs to exceed” that of those who thought they were the best followers of God’s will, the religious leaders, “the scribes and the Pharisees.” Jesus then takes an example from the Ten Commandments - the commandment that tells us, ”You shall not kill,” or as some put it, “You shall not murder.” Few people have ever murdered someone, in the sense we tend to use that term today, and we would likely say that we have never murdered anyone. Jesus takes the meaning much farther, though, and says, as God’s own Son, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the (ruling Jewish) Council; and whoever says “You fool” to someone else is “liable to the hell” in which there is eternal “fire.” (Remember the parable of Jesus that we heard a number of weeks ago, in Luke 16:19-25, where Jesus said that a rich man who ignores and refuses to help a poor man on his doorstep, and has no repentance and faith, ends up in hell.) Who among us has not called someone a “fool” who cuts us off in traffic and nearly causes an accident? Who among us has not become angry with someone and called him “You fool,” insulted him, and spoken of him in an unkind way? Think of what the media and politicians say of each other every day, and we at least think some of the same thoughts, too quickly. Jesus even says that if we are in church and realize that we have an unsettled problem with someone, we should leave the church and be reconciled to that person, and only then return to worship. Who among us has ever done that?
Jesus is also reminding us that our greatest Judge is the Lord God Himself, and if left on our own, all of us fall short and deserve to be condemned forever, because of our many sins against God and others. But we are not left on our own. Jesus began this portion of Scripture by saying, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them” perfectly for us, in our place. His whole life, Jesus was doing everything correctly that we should have done and fail to do, all too often. We would, too often, like to relax and lessen God’s expectations for us and others. But Jesus says that we can’t do that. He came to live perfectly for us and then to suffer and die and pay the penalty we deserve for all of our sins, also in our place. Our attempts to be righteous could never be enough to get us into the kingdom of heaven. But the perfect righteousness of Jesus is enough, through His life, death, and resurrection in our place. We are not righteous enough, but we are counted righteous through the perfect work of Jesus in our place, in His great love for us. He has paid every penny and the last penny for us, so that we are set free for a new and eternal life with our Lord.
And how does all that come personally to us? Listen to the Epistle lesson, from Romans 6:1-11. We know that “the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The Holy Spirit works through the Word to bring people to faith in Christ and strengthen and keep them in the faith. But he also works through the Word, connected with water, in the gift of Baptism. Paul reminds us in this Epistle that Jesus lived and died and rose in glory for us. He also says that when we were baptized, we were baptized into His death and resurrection. “Our old self was crucified with Christ,” so that “the body of sin might be brought to nothing.” That does not mean that we will sin no more, but we are “set free” from the consequences of sin, and are “no longer enslaved to sin.” The death that Christ died, “He died to sin, once for all, including us and all of our sins.” And when we were baptized, we were also connected to Him in His resurrection and given the gift of faith and forgiveness, and were raised to newness of life through Him. And Paul says to us, “You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” As a “new creation” in Christ, we can now do some good, in honoring our Lord and helping others, in gratefulness and thankfulness to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) He has already done all we need for eternal salvation, but we can thank and praise Him and try to follow His will, with the commandments and other Scriptures He has given us, and be more of a blessing to others. Note also Scriptures like Acts 13:38-39, where Paul says, “Through this man (Jesus), forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him every one who believes is freed (justified) from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” We couldn’t keep the Law, but Christ has kept it perfectly for us. And see again John 8:31-36, where Jesus promises, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” And he calls us to continue in His Word of love, truth, and promise.
We don’t have time to get into this in this message, but Christ brought a whole New Covenant for us, too. The 10 Commandments remain, but we are freed by Christ Himself from some of the ceremonial laws and rules - for example, that we must do no work on Saturdays, the Old Testament Sabbath, or that it would be wrong to worship on Sundays, remembering now the day of Christ’s resurrection and new life for us. But the basic moral law is still what we seek to follow. It is the best for us and for others, though we still sin and fail at times and continually ask God’s forgiveness. And we remember our own Baptism, the blessings we already have in Christ, and the hope we have in His perfect love for us.
Some commentators say that it is hard to determine a unified theme for this week’s readings. I agree, but have picked out a theme that fits for most of the readings: We are “unworthy, and yet still called” to be God’s “forgiven, blessed, servant people.”
Just before the Old Testament lesson, 1 Kings 19:11-21, the prophet Elijah had courageously stood up for the One True God and defeated and wiped out the false prophets of Baal by God’s power. Now King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who worshipped Baal and supported his prophets, planned to kill Elijah within 24 hours. Elijah ran for his life to southern Judah and even farther into the wilderness. He wanted to die, feeling that he was a total failure. The Lord sent an angel to him to feed him and strengthen him and send him farther south, about 250 miles, to Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai, the mountain of God. He is in a cave and still feeling very unworthy, for his people have forsaken the true God, and he thinks he is about the only true believer left. The Lord calls him out of the cave, and then there is a very strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire. (Think of how powerful just an earthquake can be as you hear of the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela and the Philippines, just recently.) Yet the Lord was not in these powerful things, but spoke with a still, small voice, “a low whisper.” The power is in Him and His Word, above all. Elijah complains some more about his failures, but the Lord sends him back to his ministry to do whatever the Lord tells him, including appointing some new kings and calling Elisha to assist him, until his work is complete. He was not a failure, for the Lord was working through him and the Word of God he shared, and there were still thousands of true believers in addition to him. Elisha still seemed reluctant, at first, to follow the Lord’s call, but the Lord would still be working through him, too, even with his weaknesses.
An alternate OT lesson, related to the 250th anniversary of our nation, is Proverbs 14:26-34. Its last verse is: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” The problem is that we are all sinners in a sinful world and nation. God’s Old Testament people had plenty of sins and failings, but the Lord was still working out His saving plan through them, finally with the coming of our Savior, Jesus. The wisdom of God and His Word was still in the hearts of some, known and trusted by God’s grace, even amid the foolishness of too many others. True confidence was never in ourselves, but in fear, love, and trust in the Lord; for in Him alone was the “fountain of life,” shown in the gift of His own Son, the Lord Jesus, who cared about all of us “poor and needy” and “sinful” people. He gave His life for us, paying the penalty for all of our sins, and counting us as “righteous” through faith in what He did for us. So, Proverbs 14:32 says, “The righteous finds refuge even in his death.” Though we do not deserve it, death is now the gateway to eternal life for all believers in God’s saving work in Christ. We can say with Jesus at our own death what He said at His death, to His heavenly Father, quoting from Psalm 31:4-5, “You are my refuge. Into Your hand I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
The psalm for this week is Psalm 16. David, in his own day, also said, “O God, in You I take refuge… You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” David knew “the sorrows of those who run after another god,” and in contrast, the “beautiful inheritance” he would have, because his sins and failings had been forgiven, and the Lord was now “his chosen portion” and “his lot.” Then David becomes prophetic. He knew “the path of life,” eternal life through His Lord, but his body would die and see corruption in the grave. A “Holy One” was coming, though, through his family line, the Son of David, our Lord Jesus, who would take on and die for the sins of the world. His body would not see corruption in a grave, though, as His body would be raised to life on the third day, as the conqueror of death. (See how Peter quotes from this psalm on Pentecost, saying that, unlike David, the body of Jesus was raised from the dead, without corruption, and he was exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:23-35). Paul quotes this same psalm and others in Acts 13:32-39, proclaiming the resurrection of Christ and the forgiveness of sins and eternal freedom that come only through belief in Him and His saving work. We don’t deserve it, but this is what Christ has accomplished for us, too, through the Father’s loving, saving plan.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 5:1-11. Crowds of people were eager to hear the Word of God proclaimed by Jesus at the “lake of Gennesaret,” another name for the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked the fisherman, Simon, to borrow his boat, so that He could speak from it, a little out from the land. He taught the people, and when he was finished, He asked Simon to put his boat out into the deep and let his nets down for a catch. Simon, an expert fisherman, knew that this was not the right time for a catch and that he and his friends had already fished all night and caught nothing, but at the Word, the request of Jesus, he was willing to put out the nets again. This time, they caught so many fish that the nets broke, and even with two boats, they were almost sinking under the weight of the fish. Simon, later called Peter, knew this was a miracle of Jesus and fell at His feet, saying, “Depart from me , for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Simon knew his unworthiness even to be near Jesus, but Jesus tells him "not to be afraid,” forgives him, and calls this unworthy man to be one of his chosen disciples. Instead of catching fish, he would now be one of God’s instruments in catching people for the Kingdom of God. (If you remember the story of Simon Peter, he was still far from perfect and later even denied three times that he ever knew Jesus, when his own life seemed to be endangered. Jesus forgave and restored him and sent him out in mission to others again and again. He was an unworthy man, and yet was called to be God’s servant; and God could still work through him.) On another occasion, Jesus taught, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants: we have only done what was our duty” (Luke 17:7-10). We can also be God’s instruments, but it is He who ultimately brings people to faith, keeps them in faith, and grows them in faith through His Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus, working through the Word of God and baptism, and later through the Lord’s Supper. To Him be the glory!
There are two choices for the Epistle lesson. The first is 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. Paul warns here about “the wisdom of this world,” which God calls “foolish.” This foolishness is in “the commandments of men,” hundreds of humanly made rules of Jewish rabbis and others. By keeping these, many thought they could make themselves good and acceptable to God and/or others. (See the warnings about such human rules in Isaiah 29:13-14, from which Paul quotes, and the warnings of Jesus Himself in Mark 7:1-9, as he quotes from the same passage.) This foolishness is also seen in the rational thinking and debating of Greek scholars and others, who think they can determine what is really true in their own minds and observations, and do so, while they actually “do not know God” or His “power and wisdom.” It is the Word of God to which we need to listen for true wisdom, centered in God’s rescue plan for a sinful world through the “weakness” and sacrificial crucifixion (and only then, resurrection) of His own Son. “It pleased God through the folly of what Christians preach to save those who believe” in this Good News, centered not in what we think and do, but in what God, in His great love, has done for us in Christ. Believers are simply forgiven sinners, unworthy, but called to new and eternal life through God’s grace in Christ. There is true wisdom and hope from God, in Christ, “who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” We have nothing to boast about in ourselves, but only “in the Lord and what he has done for us” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).
Simon Peter, too, had learned this reality: being saved only as a forgiven sinner through Christ. It took him a while to give up all the old Jewish rules and regulations he thought he and others also had to follow to be saved. See what he says in Acts 15: 6-11. God gave him the wisdom that Gentiles (non-Jews) could also simply “hear the Words of the Gospel (of Christ) and believe,” through the power of “the Holy Spirit given also to them.” Peter admitted that he and his fellow Jews could never do everything expected of them according to Judaism - “a yoke… that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.” But now, Peter said so clearly, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they (Gentiles) will” (Acts 15:10-11). In the alternate Epistle, then, 1 Peter 3: 8-15, Peter calls upon his fellow believers in Christ, Jews and Gentiles, to know the unity we have in our Savior, “with sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind, as unworthy but forgiven sinners, called to faith and new life in Him. Peter quotes from Psalm 34:12-16, encouraging us to battle evil and seek to do good, forgiving and blessing one another, but knowing that our hope is not in us and our efforts, but in Christ the Lord, who alone is “holy,” and counts us holy and forgiven through His death and resurrection for us. And we seek to share this amazingly Good News with gentleness and reverence, in gratefulness to our Lord.
One last thought. On this 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, if you have a copy of Luther’s Small Catechism, look at his Table of Duties for “Civil Government” and “Citizens.” Or you can just look up the Scriptures he quotes, listed here: Romans 13:1-4, Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:5-7. 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Titus 3:1, and 1 Peter 2:13-14. We always seek to be guided by our Lord and His Word, even though we are far from perfect, as citizens of a country.
The theme for our readings this Fourth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series, could be the Words of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel lesson: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” We always begin with what our Heavenly Father has done for us, in His love and mercy in Christ, and how that now shapes our own lives, in leading us to seek to be merciful to others, to help them, and to be a witness to them for our Lord.
David speaks of this in our psalm, Psalm 138. He gives thanks to the Lord for His “steadfast love and faithfulness” and how “He exalts His Name and His Word before the gods.” This does not mean that other “gods” are real. (See, for example, the Words of Psalm 135:15-18.) There is only our One True Triune God, and on the last day, as Philippians 2:10-11 says, “every knee should bow, even of the seemingly high and mighty, at the Name of Jesus, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Again, that does not mean that all will be saved, but that even those who have rejected Christ, like the rich man in Jesus' parable in Luke 16:19-31, will finally know what they have missed. David knows that the Lord also “regards the lowly” and has “increased the strength of his own soul” in “the midst of trouble.” David prays that the Lord will never “forsake the work of His hands,” including him, and “will fulfill His purpose for him,” in His “steadfast love that endures forever.” (And of course, the “Son of David,” our Lord Jesus, eventually came and did His saving work for us and for the world.)
Joseph also speaks of God’s merciful plans for good in his own day, in the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 50:15-20. Joseph had shown God’s love and mercy to his brothers and his father and brought them to safety in Egypt, in a time of great famine and other troubles. When their father, Jacob, dies, the brothers are afraid that Joseph will now punish them all for selling him into slavery and bringing him much trouble in Egypt, before he was lifted up to a high position. They appeal to Joseph for forgiveness and mercy, saying that their father wanted this for them. Joseph asks them, “Am I in the place of God?… You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.“ As a result, many people were kept alive during the great famine, and Jacob and his family were shown great forgiveness and mercy by God as well. The promise of God that He would eventually bring a Savior from the line of Abraham and Jacob and the Jewish nation continued on, too, with His mercy and forgiveness, even in their times of sin and evil.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 6:36-42, Jesus is teaching in His “Sermon on the Mount” and reminds His followers to “be merciful, as the Heavenly Father has also been merciful to them.” He says that they would then be true sons of the Most High, for He has been “kind even to ungrateful and evil people,” including them, at times (Luke 6:35-36). Being merciful is not to earn God’s favor. God had already been merciful to His people, again and again, and would be most merciful in what His Son, Jesus, would do in His sacrificial death for them on the cross, though they did not deserve it. As Jesus was already doing, they were then to seek to be slow to judge and condemn others, be quick to forgive and give to the needs of others, and not to be “blind” to God’s goodness and mercy, available to all. The goal was for the disciples to be “fully trained” by Jesus and be more like their Teacher in showing patience and mercy to others. That meant also looking at their own faults and continually seeking God’s forgiveness for “the logs” in their own. eyes, even as they tried to help remove the “specks” in the eyes of others. Then they can “more clearly” see how to help others in love and genuine concern.
The Epistle lesson can be one of two readings from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Romans 12:18-23 is a long list of how we might live and react to others, as Christ has done perfectly for us already. It could be summarized by Paul’s final words in v.23, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” It is a very high standard that only Christ could fulfill for us, and He has already done for us all that we need. We are counted righteous by Him and by faith in His saving work for us. We try to respond as Christ would, though, in a variety of circumstances; to act toward others peaceably; not to take vengeance; and on and on. God’s love in Christ then shines through them to others.
The alternate Epistle, also from Paul, is in Romans 8:18-23. We are encouraged to remember that current sufferings in this life are “not worth comparing with” the joys of eternal life to come. The whole creation, including us, groans with some of the troubles we experience, but we also live with hope for the future God has prepared for us. The image of childbirth is used - lots of pain, but the joy at last that will come. Paul also reminds us that we have “the firstfruits of the Spirit in us,” promising our coming future” but also making us groan, in expectation of what is to come. The Holy Spirit helps us to carry on, even though now we are in “the bondage to decay and corruption,” until “the freedom of the glory of the children of God,” which we have guaranteed to us through Christ our Savior. May we live in that hope and trust and confidence always, by God’s grace, and in the meantime, share that hope we have in Christ with others around us, who could have that hope, too. in Christ and His Word and the promises of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Last week’s Scriptures contained some challenging passages. John reminded us, “Do not be surprised” since you are a Christian, that “the world hates you" (1 John 3:13). There is opposition from many to our beliefs and standards. “Many are the afflictions” of God’s people, too, and there are times when we are “broken-hearted” and “crushed in spirit.” Yet we are still called to seek to love and care for others around us, as best we can. This week’s readings are full of the Gospel, God’s continuing love for us even in our toughest days, and His strength to help us seek to speak and act in loving ways toward others.
David, in Psalm 103:1-13, reminds us that He knows our sins and failures and is not pleased with them, but He will not always “chide” or hold onto His anger over our sins. “He does not deal with us according to our sins,” as we deserve, but as He brings us to repentance, He is our “compassionate Heavenly Father” and forgives and “removes our transgressions from us, as far as the east is from the west.” He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” and we are called to “fear, love, and trust in Him” in return.
If you read through the Book of Micah, you see that Micah has many words of judgment for Judah and Israel for their sins and rebellion against God. He says, “I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:5). He warns that as a result, “Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins” (Micah 3:12). At the same time, the Lord gives Micah words of great hope for the future and a Ruler who is from of old and yet will be born from Bethlehem and “shepherd His people and bring them peace” - a reference to the coming Savior, Jesus (Micah 5:2-5). And this prophecy ends with our Old Testament lesson, Micah 7:18-20, and Micah marveling to his Lord, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger (for sin) forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us… You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” You are faithful and will keep Your promises given to Abraham, “from the days of old,” of a Savior through whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
This Savior was our Lord Jesus, and in our Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-10, we hear of Him associating with and teaching “tax collectors” and other kinds of “sinners.” The religious leaders, who thought they were very good, compared with these bad people, grumbled at and condemned Jesus for receiving and even eating with such people, a sign of fellowship with them. Jesus then told two parables. The first is of a man with 100 sheep, who loses one that wandered away. He will go and search for that lost sheep until he finds it and brings it home safely. Jesus then speaks of the joy of rescuing even one lost sinner who is brought to repentance and faith - joy even in heaven. The other is the parable of a woman who has 10 silver coins and loses just one. She will search until she finds it. And what joy there then is. So again, the Lord and the angels rejoice over even one sinner who is brought to repentance and faith. Every single person is important to the Lord, who wants all to be saved and gave His life for all. (The third parable that follows, in Luke 15:11-32, the story of a “prodigal” son who rejects His father and family and goes away into much evil living and trouble, could also be the Gospel reading. This son finally wakes up to his sin and wrongdoing and returns home in repentance, seeking the forgiveness and love of his father, though he did not deserve them. The other son has stayed home and helped with the family, but also has his own sins and problems, and does not want to accept his brother back. He needs his own repentance and forgiveness, as we all do, the Scriptures say. And the father, like our heavenly Father, is full of forgiveness and mercy and love for both of his sons, and for all who are brought to that forgiveness through faith in Christ Jesus.)
In one of the possible Epistle lessons, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Paul (earlier called Saul) uses himself as a prime example of God’s amazing mercy and forgiveness. He says that what people need to be brought to trust and accept is that God sent His Son into the world not to save all the good people, for there are none, but to save sinners, which we all are. Paul was far from the Lord and from the truth, as a blasphemer, speaking against Christ Jesus, and even as an opponent and persecutor of Christians. He was even present and helped out at the stoning to death of Stephen. See Acts 7:58-8:1 and 9:1-2. Paul called himself the “foremost,” the “chief of sinners,” and the Risen Lord Jesus in His “perfect patience” toward sinners appeared to him and brought him to repentance and faith in Him. If Paul could be saved by God‘s grace in Christ, anyone could, Paul says. People simply needed to be brought “to believe in Him for eternal life” - trusting that by His perfect life and death on the cross in payment for all their sins and His mighty resurrection from the dead, He had rescued them. And to the One True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit go all glory and honor, now and forever. Amen - this is most certainly true!
The other possible Epistle reading is from 1 Peter 5:6-11. Peter knew the great forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, especially when he was forgiven for denying three times that he ever knew Jesus. He writes in 1 Peter 1:18-21, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish or spot… He was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” Peter calls all believers to continue in that faith in Christ, humble before God and casting all of our cares, our anxieties, upon Him, for He truly does care for us, in His love and mercy. He can help us battle all the temptations of the devil, as He helps Christian’s stay in faith throughout the world, even in times of suffering and trouble. He is “the God of all grace” (His undeserved love and favor and mercy for us), and he has already “called us to His eternal glory in Christ.” He will continue to help us throughout our lives, then, and will “restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us in our faith. And to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (which means this is most certainly true)!
Our great God loves us, even with our weaknesses, and He will help us, even when the sinful world hates us. And when we see again how much He loves us and how much Christ sacrificed for us, He will surely give us the strength to try to love and show His mercy to others who need His care, love, forgiveness, and help, just as much as we do.
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is Proverbs 9:1-10. This passage is a call to pay attention to the wisdom of God (v.1-9), which brings life, and not the seductive folly of this evil, sinful world, which leads only to death, physical and eternal (v.13-18). Wisdom is pictured here as a woman who has built on a solid foundation, prepares a great feast, and sends out her servants to invite people to come to receive true “life,” “insight,” “instruction,” “teaching,” and “increase in learning.” This way of wisdom involves being “reproved” and “corrected” in a “loving” way when one is wrong, so that one can become “still wiser.” It begins with “fear of the Lord,” honor and respect for Him, so that one can grow in “the knowledge of the Holy One” and His true insight; and as we heard last week, by faith in Him, one is counted as righteous in His eyes. (Note also that in passages like Isaiah 25:6-9, eternal life is pictured as a time of great joy and feasting with the Lord, and even now, our worship is pictured as enjoying our Lord’s gifts in learning His Word and receiving His Sacraments, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. This reading also parallels the Gospel lesson we hear today and the message and work of Christ our Savior, “in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” for salvation (Colossians 2:2-3).)
The Psalm is Psalm 34:12-22. David, too, is teaching “the fear of the Lord,” which involves battling our sometimes “evil and deceitful” tongues, and seeking peace and good. The Lord knows our struggles, even as believers, with temptations to evil all around, and our battles with “those who hate the righteous” and our battles with our own sinful nature. Our Lord knows that there are times when we are “broken-hearted” and “crushed in spirit.” “Many are the afflictions” even of those trying to live in a “righteous” way. But “the Lord redeems the life of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” There is forgiveness and hope in our Lord’s love. That is especially clear in our Lord Jesus and His sacrificial love for us in the New Testament. Paul writes, in Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” See also how Peter quotes Psalm 34:15-17 in his first letter, 1 Peter 3:10-12. Even if we are “reviled” by others, Peter says, “who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good. But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:13-17).
Go now to one of the Epistle lessons that can be read this Sunday, from 1 John 3:13-18. John says, very bluntly, “Do not be surprised that the world hates you.” That was very true in the ancient world, with Greeks and Romans and many other cultures opposed to Christianity. Remember what was done with Jesus Himself, at the hands of the Romans and Jewish authorities - and that our own sins contributed to His having to die, too, to pay the penalty for them all, as well. John says, “By this we know love, that Jesus laid down His life for us” - and then John says, “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers,” if we were asked to do so. That is a very high standard for love. We are tempted to say that we would love some people that much if we had the courage, but maybe we think that some are not deserving of our love because of what they have said and done. Remember Paul’s words in Romans 5:6ff: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us…. while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” None of us deserved the mercy and sacrifice and forgiveness of Jesus, but He gave it to us anyway. “We were justified by His blood and saved by Him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:6-11). Back in 1 John 3:18, then, John says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk” - though those are important - “let us also love in deed and in truth,” where we can.
The alternative Epistle reading is from Ephesians 2:13-22, where Paul writes about how the sacrifice of Christ has “broken down the dividing wall of hostility” between Jews and non-Jews, the Gentiles. “Now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace... And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father…. Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone.” Christ died for all, and His love is available to all and is to be shared with all, Jews and Gentiles.
Finally, we come to the Gospel lesson, from Luke 14:15-24. Jesus had been invited to the home of a ruler of the Pharisees, and he noticed how self-centered they were and focused on wealth and power and prestige, and how confident they were, as Pharisees, of “eating bread in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus then told a parable of a man giving a great banquet and inviting many. When the time for the banquet came, though, servants came to tell them, but the people who had been invited “all alike began to make excuses.” They were so wrapped up in their own lives that they could not come. Their business, property, and family concerns were so important that they could not be bothered to fulfill their promise and would not come to the banquet. The master then sent his servants to invite “the poor and crippled and blind and lame” - those who would often be ignored by more important, upper-class people. Still, there was room, and the servants were to go wherever they could, even to unusual places, and compel (strongly encourage) the people they found to come to the banquet, so that the master’s house would be full. Sadly, the master also had to say that none of those originally invited, who then rejected the master and refused to come, would taste of that banquet in the Kingdom of God. Jesus was warning His fellow Jews, as He had in John 6:60ff. and other places, that He was the Savior and His Words were spirit and life, and that through Him and His Words, the Holy Spirit gives life. If Jews continued rejecting Him and His Word of salvation, they would lose out, and His Good News would be shared more and more with non-Jews, the Gentiles, for His saving work was for all people. Thus, the call came to His servants, His followers, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20). God’s saving work in Christ was meant for all. And so we keep hearing the message that “If God so loved us, we ought also to seek to love one another, in deed and in truth.” We want others to know the gift of love we have in Christ, by God’s grace.
This Sunday is the First Sunday after Trinity in the One Year Series of readings. (Note that in the Three Year Series of readings, the readings are counted as the Sundays after Pentecost, not the Sundays after Trinity, as is done in the One Year series. Those using the Three Year Series will call this the Second Sunday after Pentecost, which is also correct. I will stay this year with the terminology traditionally used for the One Year series, though.) This Sunday begins the non-festival part of the church year. We have completed the story of the life of Christ while here on earth, and His return to His Father at His ascension, and the promised coming of the Holy Spirit.
Now we enter a more general season, thinking about what the saving work of our Triune God means for us and our lives and future, as we wait for the return of Christ on the last day or for our being called to eternal life in heaven if our death happens sooner. This season is not highly structured, but covers many topics about Christ and His work and teaching and what all that means for our lives. This week, we hear of God’s great love for us and how that calls us to seek to love one another in return.
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 15:1-6. The Lord comes to Abram, assuring him that He will be his “Shield” and bless him. Abram is not so sure, though, for he had been promised to be the father of a great nation and nations. He has no children and no heirs of his own. The Lord renews His promises to Abram and says that, just as he cannot count the stars in the sky, so he will have an uncountable number of descendants. (This includes the people of Israel, the Jewish nation, but especially all who will follow in faith the descendant of Jesus, the Lord and Savior of the world. We, as believers in Christ, are spiritual descendants of Abram, too.) The Lord also renewed the faith of Abram, later calling him Abraham, and Abraham was counted as a righteous man, acceptable to God, by that gift of faith. This is a central teaching in the New Testament as well. We cannot make ourselves righteous in the eyes of our Lord by our good deeds and righteous living. We are saved only by the grace of God, by being brought to trust in Christ Jesus and what he has done for us, in His perfect life and death on the cross and mighty resurrection from the dead, and His forgiveness earned for us. If you have time and energy, look at how Paul takes this Genesis 15:1-6 passage and shows how God’s saving grace is also for us, in Romans 4:1-25 and Galatians 3:1-14, 24-29. The whole first half of the church year showed us how our Lord “justified the ungodly” through the saving work of Jesus. So, Paul says, for “the one who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
The psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 33:12-22. The Lord is pictured as looking down at the earth. The Lord is not impressed by “great armies,” “strong warriors,” and “war horses.” They cannot ultimately save. Most important is that people “fear” the Lord, honor and respect Him, and “hope in His steadfast love.” He is the One who can deliver from trouble and famine and ultimately from death itself. “Blessed, then, is the nation whose God is the Lord,” and whose “souls wait for the Lord.” As the Lord was the “Shield” and blessing for Abram in the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 15, so He is “our Help and our Shield,” the psalmist says, as “we trust in His Holy Name” and “hope in His steadfast love.”
The Gospel lesson for today is a parable of Jesus from Luke 16:19-31. There was a “rich man,” who “feasted sumptuously every day” and had “the finest of clothes.” He seems to be richly blessed with material possessions, and the Greek indicates that he lived in an “impressively gated” home. In contrast, there was “a poor man” who was laid at his gate by others. This “poor man” seems to be sick and disabled and covered with sores, something like ulcers. (The same word is used in Revelation 16:2.) The hope was that the rich man would at least share with him some scraps, some leftovers, from his food. The rich man seems so selfish and self-centered, though, that he ignores the poor man and does not want to be bothered by him, and helps him in no way. This is the only parable where Jesus gives someone a name, and the poor man was named “Lazarus” - a form of a name which means “God has furnished help.” Though Lazarus was so poor and sick and troubled, the Lord had brought him to faith and trust in Him, no matter what his circumstances. And when Lazarus soon died, he was taken to heaven by angels to be with the Lord, and with Abraham and other believers, also there by God’s grace through the gift of faith. In contrast, the rich man, without trust in the Lord or love and care for anyone but himself, ends up in Hades, in hell, a place of great torment and suffering. The rich man would not help Lazarus, but he now wants Lazarus to come and help him, even with just a drop of water. There is a chasm between heaven and hell, though, so that no one can pass from one place to the other. The rich man finally thinks of some others, his brothers, and wants Lazarus sent from the dead to call them to repentance. Abraham reminds him that the brothers have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets. If they won’t listen to the true Word of God, through which the Lord Himself speaks and works, even someone coming back from the dead would not convince them. How true the Words of Jesus were. Jesus raised others from the dead, including another man named Lazarus (John 11), and Jesus Himself would rise from the dead, yet most of His fellow Jews still rejected Him and His love and His Word, and would miss out on the love and forgiveness and new life the Lord wanted to bring them in Christ.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 John 4:16-21, John reminds us who we are now as Christians. We have come to know, but also to believe and trust in the love God has for us, in Christ our Savior. (See the Words just before this passage in I John 4:9-11. John says, “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”) This is not a way for us to earn God’s favor. We already have His love in Christ. “We love because He first loved us,” and made the greatest of all sacrifices for us. An old Lutheran pastor, Fred Lindemann, wrote, “We are loved undeservedly” by God. We did not deserve His love, but He gave it to us anyway, in Christ, because His love for us is so great, and he wants us now to grow in that love, in gratefulness to Him and in care for others and in certainty about our future, now and eternally with Him, in His love. And so, Lindemann wrote, we can also seek to love those around us, even those who seem to be “undeserving,” as we remember His love, first, for us, who were undeserving. Only Christ has the “perfect love that casts out all fear,” in what He has done for us, and as we “abide in Him” and His love and His Word, our strength to look beyond ourselves and love others can grow, too. After all, Christ died for them, too, and “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” John is not afraid of preaching the Law. He says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” John, above all, wants to share God’s love and forgiveness in Christ for our own failures, and to strengthen us to share that same love and forgiveness with others, for all people need Him and His Word and love.
Last Sunday was a remembrance of Pentecost and the sending of the Holy Spirit on that day, with His vital work of bringing people to faith and keeping us in faith through the Word of God and the Sacraments. The week following is always Holy Trinity Sunday, a day of remembrance for the true nature of our God, as revealed in Scripture: the only true God, the One True God, yet three Persons or Beings, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The psalm is Psalm 29. David praises the True Lord God and calls upon all heavenly beings to give Him glory for His strength and power, and to worship Him. That majestic power can be seen all over our natural world in thunder and lightning and mighty storms and shaking of the earth. The Lord sits enthroned as King over the waters and the floods, the many waters of this earth, as well. (This psalm is also appointed to be read when we read of the baptism of our Lord Jesus and the Word of God connected with water, by the power of the Holy Spirit, at Jesus’ baptism and at the baptism of thousands at Pentecost and at our own baptism. The Spirit brings faith and new life through water connected with His Word. See Matthew 3:16-17 and Acts 2:38-41 and Acts 22:14-16, etc.) David then closes His song of praise in Psalm 29, asking the Lord to give strength to His people and bless His people with peace - the peace we all need through Him in our troubled world.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 6:1-7. Isaiah sees a vision of the Lord, with some of His angels, His seraphim. He was sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and yet His robes filled the temple on earth, and He filled it with smoke, too, showing His presence. Isaiah thinks that he will die, as a man with unclean lips, a sinner, with sinners all around him, since he had seen the holy, holy, holy God. Instead, the Lord shows His mercy and sends an angel to touch the lips of Isaiah with a burning coal. And the Lord promises, “This has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sins atoned for.” Isaiah did not atone (pay the price) for his sins. The Lord atoned for Isaiah’s sins, prefiguring the atoning work of His own Son, Jesus, when He came to this earth as a true man to pay the penalty for the sins of all. The fact that the angel said “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord” also gives a glimpse of the Lord being more than one, the Trinity. (See also Psalm 99, which says something similar. “The Lord reigns… Holy is He!… Holy is He!… The Lord our God is holy!”)
The Old Testament often emphasizes that there is only One True God, over against the sinful polytheism and false gods all over the world, the idea that there are many gods and goddesses from which to choose, and which control different parts of the world. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” And the First Commandment warns us against having any other so-called false gods. See also passages like Isaiah 44:6,8: “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god… Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.” See also Isaiah 45:21-23: “Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.”
At the same time, there are many passages and prophecies that point to the Trinity, without explaining it all - One God and yet three Persons, at the same time. We heard last week of God saying “Let us make man in our image” (one image and yet the plural “us” and “our”) and “let us go down” (Genesis 1:26 and 11:7). The Spirit of God appears again and again: Genesis 1:3 and Psalm 51:11 and Joel 2:28 and Ezekiel 36:27 and 37:14 and on and on. There are also prophecies of a “virgin birth” and a Son born (pointing to Jesus) who is Immanuel, which means: “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). And soon after we hear in prophecy again of that Child being born, and “His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Here are references to the three Persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son (the Prince of Peace), and the Wonderful Counselor, (the Holy Spirit) yet there is only One Mighty God. I could go on and on, with more passages, but that is beyond the scope of this study.
And of course, the Triune God is most clearly seen in the New Testament, in fulfilling the many prophecies of the Old Testament. Even there, though, there is no nice, neat, humanly understandable explanation of the Trinity. Our Epistle lesson for today, Romans 11:33-36, simply speaks of the “depth” and “riches” and “wisdom” and “knowledge” of God. He and His ways are “unsearchable” and “inscrutable.” The Greek word for “unsearchable” means literally that - something that cannot be searched out and explained. The same word is used a few times in the Greek version, the Septuagint, of the Book of Job, where Job speaks of God, “who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things without number” (Job 9:10). The word “inscrutable” literally means, “not to be tracked out.” The only other place it is used in the New Testament is in Ephesians 3:8, where Paul speaks of “the unsearchable, unfathomable riches of Christ” - for as Paul also says in Romans 11:36, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” In contrast, in the Old Testament, the only place in the Greek Septuagint where this word appears is in Jeremiah 17:9, where the Lord speaks of the incomprehensible sinfulness of the human heart left on its own. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” So Paul refers, in Romans 11:34-35, to Isaiah 40:13-14, which says, “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows Him his counsel? Whom did He consult, and who made Him understand?” No one, of course! So Paul writes, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him, to God, that he might be repaid? God owes us nothing, but He has given us everything we really need, including our salvation, as a gift through His saving work as our Triune God.
Even in the New Testament, then, there is no neat, perfectly understandable definition of the Trinity. We do hear that “there is no God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4), and yet that we are to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20). Paul blesses us with the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). The Scriptures simply describe the One Triune God at work for us and our salvation. I wish that the One Year Series of readings included the second half of Acts 2, where Peter preaches, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing… Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus who you crucified… Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself” (Acts 2:30-33, 36, 38-39).
As Christians, we have three creeds that faithfully express key elements of what we believe. The longest of these, the Athanasian Creed, speaks the most about the nature and unity of the Trinity, One God and yet Three Persons. It is long and complicated, though, and we tend to use it only once a year, on this Trinity Sunday. Just keep listening, above all, to the Scriptures themselves and how they reveal to us God’s saving plan.
The Gospel this week is John 3:1-15 (16-17). I will write only briefly about this, as it is familiar to most of us. Nicodemus comes to Jesus, thinking that He is a great teacher, sent from God. Nicodemus is confused, though, by Jesus saying that everyone needs a whole new birth, because of the reality of sin and the sinful hearts we all have, left on our own. Jesus speaks of being born again, from above, through “water and the Spirit” in the gift of baptism and the Word of God, the “testimony” of Christ that He is “the Son of Man” and the true “Son of God who would be lifted up” on the cross, “that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” For God, in His love, even for us sinful people, sent His Son, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through the gift of faith in Him. Jesus, again, simply speaks of the One True Triune God - the saving plan of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at work for us. There is our hope. We can’t fully understand it, but we believe it, and, by the gift of faith, the Triune God works in us through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.
This Sunday is known as Pentecost Sunday. Originally, this was a Jewish Spring harvest festival, seven weeks after the Passover celebration. (You can read about this in Deuteronomy 16:9-12, Exodus 34:22-24, and other places in the Old Testament.) Three times a year, all Jewish males were to be in Jerusalem for some of these festivals, and that is why many extra people were in the city on the day the Lord chose to send His Holy Spirit in the very dramatic way we read about in today’s readings. Some also call this WhitSunday, suggesting the Holy Spirit's wit and wisdom in bringing many people to faith in Christ on this day through the Word of God proclaimed to them. Others refer to it as White Sunday because some churches later had large numbers of people wearing white baptized on this Sunday, remembering that 3,000 people were baptized on that first Pentecost.
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 11:1-9. After the fall into sin, sinful people, “the children of man,” thought that they could control their own destiny and tried to make a name for themselves by building a great city and a tower reaching into the heavens themselves, as rivals to God. They had one language and thought they could do whatever they wanted. Nothing seemed impossible for them. The Lord humbled them by confusing their language into many languages and scattering them all over the earth, with divisions and rivalry, people living out and reflecting their sinfulness. (Note that the Lord says in v. 7, “Come, let us go down” and do this, showing the nature of the one true Triune God already, and in other places in the first book of Scripture. See Genesis 1:26, for example.) The Pentecost story is then, as we will see, a reversal of this division and confusion, as people with many different languages are brought to one faith in the One true God, in the saving work of Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The psalm for Pentecost is Psalm 143, another psalm of David and a penitential psalm, as Psalm 51:1-12 was last week. David knows his sinfulness and pleads for God’s mercy. He knows that we all deserve judgment, because “no one living is righteous before Him.” (That rules out saving ourselves in any way by our own good efforts.) David also has enemies and other troubles that give him much difficulty. He says of himself, “My spirit faints and fails.” He knows that he must “meditate on God’s works” and what He has said and done in His Word, and simply seek to “trust Him.” The Lord is his “Refuge,” and alone can “teach” him and show him His “will” and “ways.” David and all of us therefore need to pray, “Let Your Good Spirit, the Holy Spirit, lead us on level ground,” through the Word of God. “In Your righteousness” (and especially the righteousness of Christ our Savior), “our souls are brought out of trouble.”
The Gospel lesson is John 14:23-31. Jesus says that people who love Him and love the Father are keeping the Word of God, but if people do not love Him, Jesus, who brings the Word of God, they are not keeping the Word. And when the Helper, the Holy Spirit, is sent by the Father in the Name of Christ, He will teach the disciples all things they need to know and bring to remembrance all that Jesus told them. That is how they could recall and record the long speeches of Jesus and accurately teach what he said - by the power of the Holy Spirit. Though Jesus was going away, He would leave His peace with them through His Spirit and help them through their troubles and fears. “The ruler of this sinful world, Satan, was coming, but he would have no ultimate claim on Jesus, though it might seem like it when Jesus suffered and died. Jesus was simply doing what His Father commanded, in submitting to suffering and death, but also in His resurrection. His love for His Father and for us was evident in all this, and through Him and the Holy Spirit, many would be brought to believe in Him for eternal life. Jesus says one surprising thing, though: “the Father is greater than I.” Jesus was true God, equal to the Father and the Spirit in the One True Triune God. At the same time, He had humbled Himself and become also a true man, not using all of His Godly power and choosing to live with some human limitations. For example, Jesus said that “no one know the day and hour that heaven and earth will pass away, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son (Jesus Himself, here on earth), but the Father only” (Matthew 24:35-36). How that all worked and still works, we do not understand, but we can “rejoice” that Jesus has returned to His Father in heaven, and He was glorified again, culminating in His ascension. (See John 17:4-5.)
The Epistle lesson is from Acts 2:1-21, the story of Pentecost. Jesus had ascended to heaven 10 days earlier, and the early Christians, about 120 persons, were waiting to be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). They were together in one place when suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. In the Greek, the word can mean either wind or Spirit. Then “tongues as of fire rested upon each one of them.” In the Old Testament, God often showed His presence with fire - as He did this day, with the presence of God the Holy Spirit, with tongues of fire. Then these disciples “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues,” other languages that they had never learned, as the Spirit enabled them. Verses 5-13 indicate that there were Jews from many different countries in Jerusalem for what for them was the annual Jewish harvest festival. They spoke a number of different “native languages” and came from many different places, as listed in this passage. Many were Jews, but some were “proselytes“, converts to the Jewish faith. They realized that these speakers were largely Galileans, from a backward, less educated part of the land, and yet the hearers were amazed and perplexed and said, “We hear them telling in our own native tongues the mighty works of God.” Some mocked these speakers as drunk, but most were simply saying, “What does this mean?” Peter then spoke on behalf of the other disciples and said this was the fulfillment of what the prophet Joel had predicted in Joel 2:28-32. Peter quotes from Joel’s prophecy that the Holy Spirit would be at work among many people, young and old, with the goal that many would be brought to faith in the Lord, for salvation. This text ends here, but it is good to read on and see that Peter also preached the Word very clearly that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior, by His life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead, with prophecy about all this from Scripture. Peter also called for people, young and old, to be brought to repentance and faith in Christ and the gift of baptism, through the Holy Spirit’s work through the Word. And we hear that these old and new believers were called to “devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (through the Word), which is what we are doing in Bible study still today. And those believers were to continue in fellowship and the breaking of bread (in the Lord’s Supper) and in prayers. May the Holy Spirit still lead us and guide us in this way, in our worship and daily life in Christ. In this way, the Holy Christian Church is the reversal of the Genesis 11 Old Testament passage. People from many nations and languages were now being united in one faith in Christ as Savior, through the One True Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Lord said, Let us now go down and do this uniting, saving work, through Christ Jesus, sent from the Father, and the Holy Spirit, working through Word and Sacraments, to this very day.
This 7th Sunday of Easter is an in-between time. Jesus had ascended into heaven, but the Holy Spirit had not yet come in great power on Pentecost. This Sunday is known as Exaudi Sunday in the One Year Series of readings. The Latin word means “to hear” - to “hear out” all that the Lord has to say in His Word, especially in the challenging, in-between times in our own lives.
The psalm is Psalm 51:1-12. This is David's confession after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan about the wrong he had done to Bathsheba, her husband, and the Lord Himself. You can read about this in 2 Samuel, Chapters 11 and 12. Nathan tells a story to David in Chapter 12:1-6 and then says in v. 7ff., “You are the man” who has done wrong and deserves punishment. “Thus says the Lord.” David needed to “hear” very strongly the Law of God, convicting him of his wrongdoing, so that he says in v. 13, “I have sinned against the Lord.” But David also needed to hear of the mercy of God. Though David deserved to die, the Lord said, through Nathan, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” There was trouble, but David also heard the Gospel of God’s forgiveness for him, and he was able to go "into the house of God and worship Him.” Psalm 51:1-6 is David’s honest confession of this sin and so many others. He knows that he was a sinner from the time of his conception and birth and that he has “done evil in God’s sight.” God would be justified and blameless in His Words, no matter what judgment He brought against David. Then, in v. 7-12 of this psalm, David prays that he would also “hear joy and gladness” in the Gospel, in the Lord forgiving and “blotting out all his iniquities.” David uses the Old Testament image of being “purged” and washed clean by sprinkling with water using an aromatic hyssop branch. (See Numbers 19:17-18 and Leviticus 14:6-7.) In this way, God would cleanse him from his sin and “create in him a clean heart’ and “a right spirit” through the presence and work of His Holy Spirit. In this way, “the joy of salvation” and “a willing spirit” would be restored to David.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 36:22-28. The Lord has the people of Israel hear God’s message that He would act to rescue His people again from slavery, this time in Babylon and other places, and bring them back to the Promised Land. This would not be because they had been so great and faithful, but by His mercy and love. He would act in forgiveness for his people “for the sake of His own Holy Name” and as a witness to the nations. He would sprinkle clean water on His people and cleanse them from all their uncleannesses. He would give them “a new heart and a new spirit” and put His Holy Spirit within them and enable them to walk more faithfully in His ways. All this happened most especially as Christ Jesus came to be the Savior.
The Gospel lesson is from John 15:26-16:4. God had sent His own Son to be the Savior of the world. Jesus had been living a perfect life in our place and would soon complete His saving work through His sacrificial death on the cross to forgive our sins, and through His resurrection and ascension. Now Jesus promises that He would also send His Holy Spirit, the Helper from above, and that the Holy Spirit would “bear witness to Christ” (through the Word of God, the people would hear, and through the gift of baptism, as evident on Pentecost). Continuing to hear Jesus’ own Words would be crucial in keeping his disciples from falling away from faith in Him, for Jesus warns that in days ahead, these disciples would be put out of synagogues and some even be killed by people who thought they were serving God by persecuting these believers in Christ Jesus. Such people did not hear or know God the Father or Jesus as Savior, or the witness of the Holy Spirit to come. (See Acts 5:27-33, for example.) In this Gospel lesson, though, Jesus wants His disciples to hear clearly what He is saying and warning, and to remember that this time, “the hour” of persecution by unbelievers would come.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Peter 4:7-11 (12-14). Peter reminds His fellow believers that there will be persecution at “the end of all things” before Jesus returns, but also at other times. As we heard last week, Peter calls believers to be active in prayer, self-controlled and sober, and to seek to live with love and hospitality for one another. We will not be perfect, but love and forgiveness cover over a multitude of sins. We are all called to use the gifts God gives us, according to His grace for us. If we speak, we need to be sure that people hear “the oracles of God,” the true Word of God in Law and Gospel. If we serve, we are to serve in the strength God supplies through His Word and Spirit. Nothing is for our own glory, but that in everything, God may be glorified through Christ Jesus. To our Triune God belongs the glory and dominion forever. Peter adds an Amen, and some think Peter may have intended to close his letter here at v. 11, but then increased persecution of Christians may have come, and Peter adds the words that follow, as God inspired him. Believers are “beloved,” even if “fiery trials” and attacks on us should come. This should be no surprise. Think of what Christ went through for us, even if we have to go through some sufferings, very small compared with what Christ did for us. Insults for using the name of Christ, in faith and witness, should come as no surprise. “We are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us,” as we hear and use His Word, the Scriptures. As Paul wrote, “We are not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
May 10th is the 6th Sunday of Easter in the One Year Series and is also known as Rogate Sunday. The Latin word means “to ask” or “asking,” and we will see different kinds of “asking” in our readings. Since the Risen Lord Jesus would soon return to His Father in heaven (Ascension Day on Thursday, May 14, this year), there is an emphasis on continuing to talk with Him in prayer as well. (Historically, those in some farming communities would also have “Rogation days,” when they would pray for the Lord’s blessings upon the Spring crops they were planting and for good, seasonable weather and rain.)
The Psalm is Psalm 107:1-9. The whole psalm speaks of people in various situations and circumstances “crying out to the Lord in their trouble, and the Lord delivering them from their distress.” (See v. 6, 13, 19, and 28.) The psalmist calls upon us all to pray and give thanks to the Lord for His steadfast love. He “redeemed” His people from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land and later rescued them when they were scattered in various places, with the Babylonian captivity and other troubles. Out of that group of people, He sent our Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus, and His “wondrous works to the children of man.” As some of those people redeemed by Christ, we are called to “say so,” too, and thank and praise our Lord for all the “good things” He has given to our own “longing and hungry souls.”
In our Old Testament lesson, Numbers 21:4-9, we hear that God’s people became impatient with the Lord and His ways, spoke against Him, and “asked why” He was treating them so badly. Their complaints were not true, for the Lord had provided them with manna, quail, water, and other necessities for 40 years. A judgment of fiery serpents came upon them, and many people died. Finally, the people repented, confessed their sin, and asked Moses to pray to the Lord for help. The Lord commanded Moses to make an image of a fiery serpent and place it on a pole. If people were bitten by a snake, they could “look at the bronze serpent and live,” and eventually some would enter the Promised Land. This story was also prophetic of Jesus, our Redeemer, as we hear in John 3:14-16. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (on a cross), “that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world…” Jesus also refers to being “lifted up” in this way in John 8:28-29 and John 12:31-36. As we are brought to see Him on the cross and trust in Him in His sacrifice for us and resurrection, we too are assured of eternal life through Him. (So, there are both bad and good ways of approaching God and “asking” things from Him. Sadly, the bronze serpent was used in bad ways in later times, too. See 2 Kings 18:4, where we learn that some people preserved the serpent and made offerings to it, as if it were a kind of god. Hezekiah, a faithful king, had to break the bronze serpent into pieces, so that it would not be worshiped.)
The Gospel lesson is from John 16:23-33. These are likely the last Words of Jesus with His disciples, before they went to the Garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday, evening. Jesus was preparing His disciples for His “leaving the world and going to the Father” at His ascension. We heard last week that the disciples were not asking Jesus much because they often did not understand what He was saying. He says in this passage that he had been using “figures of speech” that were hard, but He had encouraged them to pray to the Father and to Him in John 14:13-14 and in 15:16, and that He would respond to them. They were also to pray in His Name. He repeats that encouragement here. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” He also assures the disciples that “the Father loves them because they have loved Jesus and believed that He came from God.” The disciples say that people do not need to ask any more questions, for Jesus “knows all things.” What Jesus does know is that the disciples' faith and knowledge were still very weak. In fact, He predicts that they will soon scatter and leave Him alone, that very evening. Jesus believes in His Father and the power of talking with Him in prayer, though, and in John 17, He confidently prays one long prayer, called His “High Priestly Prayer,” for His disciples and for all believers in the future, including you and me, that we all would know the truth in Him as Savior and be kept in faith in Him. Jesus knew and still knows the value of prayer and talking with our Lord. In fact, when Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed again and again to His Father, asking for strength and that His Father’s will be done, even with the agony of His suffering and death, in payment for all our sins, ahead for Him. The disciples failed miserably, unable to stay awake to watch and pray, but Jesus carried out His mission faithfully for them and for us. And at the end of our Gospel reading, Jesus gave His weak disciples and us Words of great encouragement. Jesus said, “I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” - even as He went to the cross and His death. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” He said in faith. And then came His Resurrection and Ascension and the fulfillment of His Word for His disciples for the future. “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” These are still such encouraging Words for us today, in Christ.
There are two possibilities for the Epistle lesson, written by early Christian leaders, empowered by the saving Words and work of Jesus. Paul writes to a younger pastor, Timothy, in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, urging him to keep praying for and thanking God for all people. Some want “no kings” today, but Paul encourages prayer for all those in high positions, that they do their duty, keeping order and authority, enabling a “peaceful and quiet life” for many, with dignity and godliness. God, above all, “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and that early Christians needed to be able to travel and take the Good News of Christ as far as possible in the known world. The emperors did not act kindly toward Christians, but many credit “the Roman peace” of that time for allowing these Christians to go as many places as they did, with the message that “there is only “one true God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” That testimony is the hope for all the world and for us. We ask and pray and do what we can, that it may be shared with others.
The other possible Epistle reading is from James 1:22-27. As the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem, James, the brother of Jesus, encourages early Christians to hear the Word of God and to put it into practice. Otherwise, it would be as if Christians looked at themselves in a mirror and saw uncombed hair, messy clothes, and dirty spots all over them and then went away and forgot what they really were like and did nothing to improve their looks. Spiritually, Christians need to look into the perfect Word of God, both Law and Gospel, and act on what is good and not so good. By the grace of God, there can be blessings and spiritual growth for these people, but for those who cannot control their own tongues and language, their witness is worthless. In contrast, those who truly seek to help those in affliction, including widows and orphans, can bring blessings to them and avoid the evil world’s view of who is valuable and who is not. Essential is seeking God’s direction through His Word, and asking Christ to help us follow through on what he wishes, by His power. We are to try to “ask and seek and knock,” as He would wish for us.
This 5th Sunday of Easter in the One Year Series, May 3, 2026, is known as Cantate Sunday. This Latin word calls us to “Sing”! We sing in praise of the Easter victory of our Lord Jesus, after he had suffered and died in our place in payment for our sins. We “sing” also in anticipation of Jesus’ promise that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and to work through the Word of God to bring people to faith and keep them in faith in Christ.
The psalm is Psalm 66:1-8. All the earth is called to “shout for joy to God” and three times to “sing praises” to Him for His “awesome deeds.”The rescue of His people at the time of the exodus is described, along with the defeat of the enemies of God’s people. The psalm is prophetic, too, of a time (with the coming of Christ and the Holy Spirit) when the “sound of God’s praise is heard,” so that “the children of man” all over the earth will worship the One True God.
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 12:1-6, is also prophetic of “that day” when “God’s anger about sin is turned away” (through the sacrifice of Christ), and God comforts people and brings them to salvation through “trust” in Him. The Lord God will be their “strength and their song,” providing “the water” of life and salvation for them. This will be a time (in Christ) when “His name is exalted” and “His deeds made known among peoples in all the earth.” This will be a time for “shouting and singing for joy,” for “the Holy One of Israel,” the Lord himself, has come into the midst of people.
In the Gospel lesson, John 16:5-15, Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for what is to come very soon. He has been with them for about three years, but now He will be going to the One who sent Him, His Heavenly Father. This brings sorrow and a lack of understanding on the part of the disciples. Here, Jesus is particularly speaking about His ascension into heaven, after His death and resurrection. He says that His going will be advantageous for the disciples, for He can then send them His Holy Spirit, who will be “the Helper” for them in the days and years ahead. The Greek word for “Helper” is “the Paraclete,” wne who will come to their side to help them. The word is also sometimes translated as the Comforter, the Counselor, the Exhorter, the One Who Prays and Asks of God on their behalf. The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, and through the Word of God, He brings, He can convince and convict people of this world of the reality of sin and unbelief in their lives and the great danger they are in, if left on their own. The Spirit can also convince people of “righteousness,” not their own, but the righteousness of Jesus, the sinless Son of God, who can and will return directly to His Father in heaven at His ascension. God the Holy Spirit can also convince people of “judgment,” not their own, but the judgment of Satan, “the ruler of this sinful world,” whose power has now been broken by the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Jesus had much more to teach His disciples, but they could not bear it and handle it until after He had risen from the dead. He taught them, off and on, for 40 more days and then ascended to His Father in heaven. He would still be with them always, though not in a visible way, but the Spirit of truth would then lead and guide them into all the truth that they needed, through the Word of God provided to them, through Him and the Father and the Son. Especially the Spirit would “glorify Jesus” as Lord and Savior and declare all of the saving Words and work of the Triune God. Jesus would bless the disciples with the Holy Spirit in His resurrection appearances, but especially give the Holy Spirit and His power on Pentecost and in the days and years following and continuing even today, in the Good News of Christ.
The gift and working of the Holy Spirit, predicted in the Gospel, sent from the Father and the Son, is evident in the Words of James, the brother of Jesus, now a strong believer and Apostle and leader of the Jerusalem Christian believers. James speaks and writes to his “beloved brothers” in the faith and reminds them that “every good and perfect gift” that they have as Christians has come down from the Heavenly Father, who has provided light and life through His own beloved Son, Jesus. The lights in this universe change. God is unchanging, consistent in His saving plan for us, though, bringing us forth as a new creation, through the Word of Truth, our Lord Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), and the Way and the Truth and the Life, through His Word and saving work (John 1:1-3, 9-13). Early believers were only “firstfruits” of those who would come to faith in Jesus and are still coming to faith to this very day. The key, James says, is to “receive with meekness the implanted Word of God, which is able to save our souls.” That is the work done by God’s Holy Spirit, from Pentecost and onward, as He brings people to faith through the Word of Christ (and the gift of baptism) and keeps them and us in that faith. The Holy Spirit also inspired the Biblical writers to write the very Words of Holy Scriptures as a witness for Christ to the world (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Through that Word, the Holy Spirit shows us our anger and sins and filthiness and wickedness and brings us to repentance and trust in the righteousness of God earned for us in Christ. May we all, James says, be quick to hear that “implanted Word of God” and slowly and surely learn more of our Savior and His Word, so that we can share it with others, too.
This 4th Sunday of Easter in the One Year Series of readings is known as Jubilate Sunday. This Latin word means “to rejoice,” “to sing and to make a joyful noise” to the Lord, as we are called to do in Psalm 95:1-2. Psalm 96:1-2, and Psalm 100:1, praising our Lord for His steadfast love and saving work for us. In the midst of the penitential season of Advent, we have a “Rejoicing Sunday,” when our candle is pink, symbolizing the hope and joy of the coming birth of our Savior. Now, as the Easter season moves on, we rejoice in the Easter victory of our Lord Jesus, but are reminded in our readings that there will also be difficult and challenging days ahead - though our confidence and joy in the Lord remain.
The psalm is Psalm 147:1-11, which reminds us that it is good and fitting to keep singing praises to our Lord. There may be times when we are “brokenhearted,” dealing with “wounds,” and feel like “outcasts” in our lives. Our Creator and Preserver is still with us, though, and provides for us in His wisdom and understanding. “His delight” is not in our human strength and ability. He will lift us up, as we humbly “hope in His steadfast love” and “sing to Him with thanksgiving” for the blessings He does give.
There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson. The first is Isaiah 40:25-31. People in Israel were focusing on themselves and saying, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” They were forgetting that “their Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all things.” His “understanding” does not always make sense to them, but He does not “faint or grow weary" like even strong young people sometimes do. He gives “power” and “strength” to people as He knows best, as they wait for Him. He will help them to “run” and “walk” according to His plans.
The alternate Old Testament reading is from Lamentations 3:22-33. This whole portion of Scripture is about times when we “lament,” when we are sorrowful and troubled by difficult circumstances in our lives - some our own fault and others beyond our control. We are called to “wait quietly” for the Lord in these difficult times, when we wear “a yoke” of trouble and our “mouths are in the dust,” humbled by our circumstances. Others might even strike us and insult us in these weak times, as they did even our perfect Lord Jesus, as He suffered for our sake. (See Matthew 26:67 and 1 Peter 2:23.) We often don’t understand why these hard times come, but the great promises of the Lord are still there for us to carry us through. He allows us times of grief, in His wisdom, or just because we are sinful people in a very sin-filled, fallen world. He does not “cast His followers off forever,” though, but will have “compassion,” in His steadfast love. “He does not afflict from His heart.” He wants, most of all, to give us His “steadfast love and mercy that never come to an end.” The Lord is our portion,” the most important part of our life. His blessings are ours, day after day, and we have great hope in His promises, no matter what. We live by faith and say to the Lord, along with the author of Lamentations, "great is Your faithfulness!”
Why do we have these readings about sorrows and difficulties, right in the middle of the joyous season of Easter? Our Gospel lesson for today, John 16:16-22, helps us with this question. Even before His suffering and death and resurrection, Jesus was preparing His disciples for what was to come, telling them about these things, but they clearly admit that they did not understand. Jesus even uses the word “lament” to describe the sorrow and weeping that would come upon them when Jesus died and before He rose from the dead. Jesus used the example of a woman expecting a child and having sorrow and pain and anguish during the pregnancy and the delivery, until her child was born. Then she has only joy in her child, forgetting the anguish, and often even being willing to go through more of this anguish, in giving birth to other children later on. The disciples' sorrows would be great when Jesus died, but the joy of His resurrection was so great. He was only gone for a little while, and then they would see Him again. That joy in Christ and His love and forgiveness earned for them would be with them through this life and on into eternal life, as well. (Jesus was also preparing the disciples for His ascension into heaven, when He would still be with them, though in ways different from before.) These are very comforting Words of promise for us, too, who have not seen Jesus face to face as the disciples had, and yet have been brought to confident faith in Him. He promises us help, too, in our own struggles in everyday life, and one day to take us to everlasting life when we die.
There are two choices for the Epistle lesson. The first is from 1 Peter 2:11-20. Peter says that because Jesus has done His saving work for us, we are now only sojourners and exiles in this life on earth. We are called, though, to seek to live in an “honorable” way until “the day of visitation,” when Christ comes for us, and be a good witness for our Lord. We now live in two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and an earthly kingdom, where we are to be subject to the earthly authorities and their necessary right to keep peace and order and punish those who do evil. In Peter’s day, there were also servants and slaves, and the call is to respect “masters,” even those who are not very good ones. Christians are to try to do “gracious things,” things right in the sight of God, even if it means sorrow and suffering unjustly, at times, as certainly happened with Jesus Himself. Since many around us are unbelievers, we can expect people to speak against us, as if we were the evildoers. Hopefully, though, some may see and hear our good Words and deeds in Christ and come to believe in and glorify the One True Triune God and trust in Jesus, too, by God’s grace. That is seeking to follow in the steps of Christ our Savior, as we heard last week (1 Peter 2:21ff).
The alternate Epistle reading is 1 John 3:1-3, which speaks so clearly of the Father’s love for us in sending His Son, Jesus, to do His saving work for us in His perfect life in our place, His death on the cross in payment for our sins, and His mighty resurrection and ascension. We really are now the children of God, through the gift of faith given to us in Christ. (See 1 John 5:11-13 for one of the clearest statements of that fact.) Many in the world cannot recognize this because they do not know Christ. There is much we do not know about eternal life, either, but we will be with Christ, and we will see as He is, as our Risen Lord. (See Philippians 3:20-21.) In the meantime, we are called to try to live in this life in a Christ-like way. We are already counted righteous in God’s eyes through Christ’s righteousness and the gift of faith brought to us through the Word of God and our baptism. We are continually being purified, too, by confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness and through the forgiveness of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper.
And we keep listening to The Scriptures, the Word of God, for the strength and hope and direction they give to us, in Christ.
These readings have been especially comforting and helpful to me. As you may know, I have been living with a kidney stone. A few days in the hospital and various treatments, including a stent, have gotten my kidneys working better again. There is still some pain, at times, but it is better. The stone is still there, though, and I will likely need another procedure later this week to get the stone out. This is a minor problem compared with what many of you have dealt with and may still be dealing with. But the questions come. Why this and why now and why me? It is great to hear again this week of the amazing work and sacrifices Christ has already made for you and me, more than we could ever ask or imagine. And how good to be assured that whatever the circumstances, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
In the One Year Series of readings, the Scripture readings for this Sunday focus upon the Lord as our Good Shepherd, especially in the life and work of Jesus our Savior. (This is a week earlier than Good Shepherd Sunday in the Three Year Series and is called Misericordias Domini Sunday, with Latin words focusing on “the mercies,” “the steadfast love of the Lord,” shown particularly in His work as our Good Shepherd. This is part of Psalm 33:5: “The earth is full of the mercies, the steadfast love of the Lord.”
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 34:11-16. Ezekiel writes these words from the Lord while he is in exile in Babylon, in captivity along with His fellow Jews, far from their homeland and knowing that their capital city and temple have been destroyed, because of their sin and rebellion against the Lord. It looks like a hopeless situation for them. The Lord has not forgotten His steadfast love and mercy for His people, though. Though they have been through “days of clouds and thick darkness,” brought on by their sins and the failures of their human leaders, their shepherds, the Lord is going to go into action for them. He will seek out His lost and straying sheep and rescue them from the places where they have been scattered. He will bring them back and give them good, rich pasture land and make them lie down in peace. He will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak and remove the “fat and sleek” who had harmed them, in His justice. (This first happened when the Lord worked and allowed His people to be freed from captivity in Babylon and return to their homeland, though many Jews chose not to return home. The Lord gave them blessings and, finally, sent His own Son, Jesus, to do the saving, redeeming work for them and for the world as the ultimate Good Shepherd. So sadly, many of His fellow Jews rejected Jesus and the Father’s saving plan, and still do, but “the steadfast love and mercy of the Lord” are still available for all, in Christ.)
The psalm for this week is, of course, Psalm 23. The author is King David, a great Old Testament leader, but even he knew that He needed the Lord as his own Good Shepherd to “restore” his weak and erring soul. Images of “green pasture and still waters” are used, as David needed those, but above all, he needed forgiveness and to be led in “paths of righteousness,” following his righteous Lord. David needed the Lord’s “presence” and “comfort” and His “steadfast love and mercy” in life and in death, when he could finally “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (The “anointing” and the “table” remind us of what Jesus, the Good Shepherd brought us when He came: the “anointing“ with water and the Holy Spirit in our baptism and “the table” of the Lord’s Supper, where our “cup overflows” with the presence and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus. These gifts, working together with the Word of God, bring us to and keep us in faith in our Savior.)
The Gospel lesson is John 10:11-16. Three times in this short passage, Jesus calls Himself “the Good Shepherd,” fulfilling in the greatest way what the Lord said would happen in the Old Testament Ezekiel passage. Jesus was not a “hired hand” who did not really care about the sheep and would run away in a time of danger. Jesus was willing to “lay down His life for the sheep” and repeats His willingness to do so a second time in this passage. He knew His sheep, and the sheep he had brought to faith knew Him. He also had other sheep “not of this fold” that He needed to bring in and bring them to listen to His voice and be brought to faith in Him also. (Most think that He was referring to the Gentiles, for whom He also died and wanted to be brought to faith. Then there would no longer be a distinction between Jews and Gentiles. There would then be one “flock” of all believers in Jesus as their Good Shepherd, no matter their former background, in what we now know as the Holy Christian Church.) This is an affirmation of what was said earlier in John’s Gospel. In His “steadfast love and mercy,” “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) and that “Christ died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). John 10:17 also predicts the Easter victory of Jesus: “I lay down My life, that I may take it up again,” in His resurrection from the dead.
The vital importance of what Jesus did for us as our Good Shepherd is also made clear in the Epistle lesson, 1 Peter 2:21-25: Christ Jesus “committed no sin” and had no “deceit” in Him. Instead, “He bore our sins in His body on the tree” of the cross, suffering the just penalty for our sins. “Christ suffered for you,” Peter says to us all, and “by His wounds you” and I “have been healed” and forgiven, and though we were “straying like sheep,” we have been brought back to our Good Shepherd, who cares for us and now watches over our souls, in His “steadfast love and mercy.” How wonderful that we do not now have to watch over our souls in our own power, but have our Good Shepherd with us to help and enable us. As Peter said so beautifully in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “You were ransomed from futile ways, not with perishable things, but with the precious blood of Christ, like a Lamb without blemish or spot.” As we see what Christ has done for us and how He brought us to trust in Him, Peter says, as this passage begins, that Jesus also “set an example for us, so that we might follow in His steps.” Jesus has already done everything we need for our salvation. We can’t add anything to that. But we can seek to follow what John says in another Scripture, 1 John 4:11: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to seek to love one another.” Christ has shown steadfast love and mercy toward us as our Good Shepherd, though we do not deserve it. Can we not also try to show love and mercy for others around us, too, as a reflection of Christ’s love? This earns us nothing, but it is a way to say “thanks to God for His overwhelming love already shown to us” and can maybe give some help and encouragement to others, people whom Jesus called “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” pointing them also to the love and mercy and hope that are in Christ Jesus (Matthew 9:35-38).
The Second Sunday of Easter is known as Quasimodo Geniti Sunday - a Latin phrase that comes from 1 Peter 2:2 and means “like newborn babies.” Peter says, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” We all start out as “infants” in the faith, and the Easter season is a great time to grow in knowledge and strength through God’s Word.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 37:1-14. Ezekiel writes from captivity in Babylon, with the Jews in a hopeless situation, pictured by the valley of dry bones. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.” Could the Jewish nation and people rise again? They could and would by the power of God and His Holy Spirit, even as God had breathed into the first man the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). God promised, through Ezekiel: “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live. And I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” This happened when Jews were allowed to return to their homeland, with the help of leaders of other nations. From those Jews came our Savior Jesus, “the Author of Life” (Acts 3:14-15) - the new and eternal life He won for us by His saving work. This was His gift to His own people, too, until so many rejected Him and God’s will in Christ, and in their rebellion against God and Christ and the Romans, their city and nation were destroyed again in 70 AD and even more so in the early 100s AD. This is a picture image of our lives, too. Paul says that we were “dead” in our trespasses and sins, like those dry bones, until “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-7). We have new and eternal life in Christ, continuing to trust in Him, and one day, even our dry bones, our bodies, will be raised, changed, glorified, and reunited with our souls, on the last day (1 Corinthians 15:50-53).
The Psalm is Psalm 33. The psalmist has a new song of joy and thanks to sing to the Lord, for the word and work of the Lord are upright and faithful and fill the earth with His steadfast love (especially, we know now, in the Good News of Christ our Savior). By the Word of the Lord and the breath of His mouth, all things were made, and He continues to watch over the nations. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Nations are not saved by their own armies and strength. Blessed are those who hope in God’s steadfast love and who wait on the Lord and hope in Him and trust in His Holy Name.
The disciples and “doubting Thomas” had to learn to trust in the Name of Jesus, no matter what, in our Gospel lesson, from John 20:19-31. Jesus had died, and their hopes were crushed. They were living in fear and failure when the risen Lord Jesus appeared to them and twice offered them His peace and forgiveness and the gift of the life-giving Holy Spirit, so that they could be “sent out” to share God’s forgiving love in Christ. Even Thomas, who made demands on Christ and refused to believe, had everything forgiven and was given faith in Christ as “His Lord and His God.” And Jesus gave the promise that even those who had never seen Him in person could be brought to believe and have new life in His name, through the Holy Spirit working also through the Word of God and the witness of these disciples.
That is what is described also in the Epistle lesson, from 1 John 5:4-10. We are called “little children,” newborn babies born from God through our baptism and the Word. The sinful world, apart from God, has all sorts of wisdom, but we listen to the Spirit of Truth and the Word of God, which He has inspired for us (2 Timothy 3:14-17). This Word centers in “God, who is Love,” and His Son, Jesus, “that we might live through Him.” We are called to love one another, but it is not our love that saves us. “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning, forgiving sacrifice) for our sins.” Through Him, we are God’s dear little children. That is our hope, now and eternally, as we keep receiving the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2) and remembering our baptism and receiving the Lord’s Supper, as we are able.
We come this Sunday to the Resurrection of our Lord - the day often called Easter Sunday. We know that Christ Jesus died on Good Friday. Remember that for the Jews, a day ran from sundown to sundown (Genesis 1:5: “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day”). Jesus’ body was in the grave part of Friday, all of Saturday, and part of Sunday, and on that third day, the day after the Sabbath, He was raised, just as He had clearly predicted three times, in Matthew 16:21, 17:22-23, and 20:18-19. Some groups try to say that this contradicts the parallel between Jesus and Jonah, where Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, like Jesus (Matthew 12:40). The Lutheran Study Bible indicates that this was simply “an ancient way of referring to any parts of three calendar days.” See the page on “Time Reckoning in the Bible” in the LSB, p.1567. Martin Franzmann also comments that Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:40 are “not intended as a prediction of the exact time that Jesus would be in the grave.” They simply indicate that Jesus was not in the grave long enough for His body to begin to see corruption, which many thought would begin by the end of three days (John 11:39). The Scriptures had also clearly said that the Lord would not let His “Holy One see corruption.” (See Psalm 16:9-10 and Acts 2:25-32 and Acts 13:35-37, etc.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Job 19: 23-27. Job had many troubles, as God allowed Satan to work on him for a time, and Job’s friends were very hard on him, too, accusing him of failing God and bringing his troubles on himself. Job had questions and struggles. Sometimes he asked, “If a man dies, shall he live again” (Job 14:14)? He feels he is near to death and says, “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me… If I hope for Sheol” (which sometimes means the place of the dead), "where then is my hope” (Job 17:1,13-16)? He says, “My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth” (Job 19:20). At the same time, Job does not lose faith and sometimes makes a great confession of his trust in his Lord. He says in Job 19:23ff that he wishes he could “write down his words in a book” or “engrave them on a rock forever.” He says, “I know that my Redeemer lives,” and that on “the last day He will stand on the earth.” Job confidently proclaims that even after his skin is destroyed by death, he will still be able to see God with his own eyes and in his own flesh, his own person, in his new life in the Lord in eternal life. Job says that his heart almost faints within him, thinking of such a great future with his Rescuer, his Redeemer. The great Easter hymn “I Know that my Redeemer Lives” begins with these words of Job and points to the hope we have in Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, for this life and eternal life to come.
The psalm for this Sunday is a portion of Psalm 118, which points us to Palm Sunday and the coming of Jesus into Jerusalem to die for us and our redemption. We looked at much of the psalm last week, and you can review what is said in its closing verses in last week’s podcast. The opening verses, though, capture the theme of thanksgiving and victory in the Lord and in the work of Jesus our Redeemer. Four times we hear that “the steadfast love of the Lord lasts forever” (v.1-4). We know that “the Lord is on our side” because of what Christ has done for us, in His love and in the love of the Father Who sent Him (v.7). See the words of Romans 8:31-37 again. We know to “take refuge in the Lord,” rather than trusting in fellow human beings, no matter how powerful (v.8-9). There are times when we feel that we are “falling”, but the Lord “helps” us (v.13). We are full of strength and Easter songs about our Lord Jesus and His saving work that makes us “righteous” through the gift of faith in Him (v.14-15). “The right hand of the Lord exalted” His own Son from humiliation and suffering and death, and raised Him to His Easter resurrection and victory (v.16). (Remember Philippians 2:5-11, as well, from last week.) And the miracle of Easter is that we too shall live, even though we die, through the gifts of Christ to us (v.17-18). The words of Peter are good Easter Words for us all: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxiety on Him, for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).
The Gospel lesson is Mark 16:1-8. Early on Sunday, when the Sabbath was past, three women went to the tomb where they had seen Jesus’ body placed. They hoped to anoint His body with spices, but seemed still to be in shock about His death and hadn’t thought about how they would get to His body, because of the large stone blocking the entrance. They found the stone rolled away and went in, and a young man was sitting there, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. (Sometimes this word also has the idea of being “distressed,” as in Mark 14:33, when this word is combined with the word “troubled,” when Jesus in Gethsemane was both distressed and troubled.) The young man is clearly an angel, as Matthew tells us (Matthew 28:2), and angels often appeared as men with very bright white robes (Matthew 28:3, Acts 1:10-11, Acts 10:3,30-31, etc.) The angel tells the women not to be alarmed. He knew that they were seeking the body of Jesus, who was crucified, and announced the amazing news: “He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” Then the angel told them to go and tell his disciples and Peter that they would be able to see Him alive again in Galilee, just as He had predicted (Mark 14:27-28). The women were already traumatized by the terrible death of Jesus. Now, all this seemed to be too much for these women to handle. They “fled from the tomb” and, at least at first, “they said nothing to anyone.” The words are piled up for their distressed feelings. They were “alarmed” and “seized” with “trembling” and “astonishment” and “fear.” (This is not unusual for people suddenly confronted with the majestic presence and work of the Lord. Remember that at the transfiguration of Jesus, Peter blurted out some words about building tents for Jesus and Moses and Elijah. But then we hear, “Peter did not know what to say, for they were terrified” (Mark 9:2-6).) We do know from other Gospels that the women at the tomb soon recovered from their shock, and Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, and they were then able to go and tell what they had seen and heard. This reading ends abruptly here at Mark 16:8, because, as some translations indicate, “Some of the earliest manuscripts of Mark do not include 16:9-20.” Other earlier manuscripts do, though, and things said in v.9-20 are generally affirmed in other Scriptures. Above all, we listen to all the Gospels and all the Scriptures, and affirm our confidence in the risen Lord and Savior Jesus and His saving work and victory for us.
There are two choices for the Epistle lesson. The first is 1 Corinthians 15:51-58. Paul reminds us in v.50 that the kingdom of God is an inheritance promised to all believers through Christ our Savior. This is a mystery. We do not know when or how it will happen, but on the last day, when Christ returns, we shall all be changed. The bodies of the dead will be raised imperishable, and if we are still living, our bodies will be changed and become immortal. Death comes because of sin, but the ultimate victory comes through the resurrection of the body and reunification with the soul on the last day. God gives us that victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not mean that we just sleep when we die, until the resurrection, or that we go out of existence until the resurrection. Paul says, “For me to live in Christ and to die is gain… My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:21,23). Ecclesiastes 12:7 says that at death, for believers, “the dust returns to the earth and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Jesus promises, “I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (John 14:1-6). The Book of Revelation has pictures of the believers in heaven, already enjoying the blessings of eternal life in and with Christ the Lamb. But as Christ was raised on Easter, body and soul (the tomb was totally empty), so there will also be the resurrection and change of our bodies on the last day. There are also, of course, for those who live and die apart from Christ, warnings of eternal sorrow. “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous (through the gift of faith in Christ) will go into eternal life” (Matthew 25: 46). “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
The alternate Epistle is 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. This passage reminds us of how God gave His people the Passover meal in preparation for their being rescued from and leaving Egypt in the Old Testament, and to remember that rescue with the Passover meal in future years. Part of the preparation was getting rid of all yeast in the homes, symbolic of their sins and failings, and eating only unleavened bread, as a start in their new life in the Lord. A lamb was then sacrificed and its blood shed, in forgiveness of their sins. In New Testament times, we have Christ as our Passover Lamb, “who takes away our sins and the sins of the world” (John 1:29) through His death on the cross for us. We celebrate now “the festival” of His resurrection and our new life in Him and our Promised Land of eternal life. That also means battling the old life, the leaven of malice and evil and all that is against God’s will, and receiving the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth in God and His Word. (In the context of 1 Corinthians 5, there was some terrible immorality within the church that was being ignored. That was “leaven” that needed to be removed, or it could infect more and more people. The people needed the forgiveness and strength of Christ and His Word and the unleavened bread (and wine) of Christ in the Lord’s Supper that Paul talks about, especially in 1 Corinthians 10-11.) This is part of our new Resurrection Life in Christ, which blesses, forgives, and renews us all.
This Sunday, March 29, has traditionally been called Palm Sunday in the One Year Series and in our Lutheran churches, with an emphasis on Christ as our humble King, coming to Jerusalem, preparing to suffer and die and rise again for us. In the Three Year Series, this Sunday tends to be called The Sunday of the Passion, with a long reading of events that happened toward the end of Holy Week. There are eight possible readings this Sunday, and I can’t go through all of them, but I will try to help you focus on what is in them.
There are two choices for the psalm. Psalm 31:9-16 is a psalm of David, when he is in a time of great distress and grief and sorrow. His adversaries, his enemies, are giving him much trouble and plotting to take his life, and even his former friends and neighbors are fleeing from him, not wanting to be associated with him, fearing for their own lives. People are whispering and scheming against him. (Doesn’t this sound prophetic of our Lord Jesus, in His last days, too? The religious leaders are scheming together, and even Judas is planning to betray Him; and when He is arrested, all his disciples flee, running away in fear. As Isaiah 53:3-6 also predicted, Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” His sheep “went astray and turned away from Him to their own ways.” David is troubled in Psalm 31:10 about his own sins and iniquities, which he brought upon himself; but Jesus, who was sinless, was “pierced and crushed for our iniquities" because “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”) In spite of his sins and weaknesses, David in Psalm 31 still “trusted in the Lord His God” and that “his times were in the Lord’s hands.” Perfectly, our Lord Jesus trusted His Heavenly Father, even when he was a “broken vessel” in “the hands of His enemies and persecutors” on the cross and even seemed to be ”forgotten” by His Father when He suffered the agonies of hell, in payment for all of our sins. Jesus was our perfect Servant Savior, trusting that He would be “saved” by His Father, as He prayed from the cross at the last, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).
As I said earlier, I cannot work through the two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew today. In the past, many churches would read one Gospel’s Passion History over the six midweek services of the Lenten season and preach on at least some of the passages, or, once in a while, read a “harmony” of the four Gospel readings spread throughout Lent. I would encourage you to read Matthew 26:1-27:60 on your own, if you can, a bit at a time as part of Holy Week. Our attention spans seem to be very short these days, and this will give us a better chance to think about all that went on in these very important days.
The alternate psalm of this Sunday is Psalm 118:19-29. This psalm is prophetic of Jesus coming through the gates of the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This was a day that “the Lord made for us to rejoice in and be glad” and "to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His steadfast love” for us. Jesus would be “our salvation” by being “the Stone rejected by so many” later this week as they helped put Him to death, and yet becoming “the Cornerstone” for our life and future that “endures forever,” through His suffering and death and resurrection for us. (See Matthew 21:42 and 1 Peter 2:6-7, in fulfillment of Isaiah 28:16.) Jesus was “the festal sacrifice offered up for us” on the cross, and we are now counted “righteous” in God’s eyes through Him. “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes,” as we are brought to trust in Jesus and say in faith: “Hosannah, save us, we pray,” as the Lord “makes His light to shine upon us” through His Word and Sacrments.
The events of Palm Sunday are also foretold in the words of our Old Testament lesson in Zechariah 9:9-12. Our “righteous King,” Jesus, would come to us, “having salvation,” yet coming in a very “humble way, riding on a donkey’s colt.” (See Hosea 1:7 and Micah 5:2=5a, also.) He would “speak peace to the nations” - Good News of His kingdom shared “to the ends of the earth.” Through His blood shed on the cross as part of His New Covenant, He would “set prisoners free” from their sins and give them eternal hope in Him. (See Hebrews 10:11-17, for example.)
Fulfillment of this promise is in what was originally the Gospel lesson for Palm Sunday, Matthew 21:1-9, as Zechariah 9:9 is quoted, along with words from Psalm 118:14-27 and Psalm 24:7-10, as Jesus, the King of Glory, comes, yet in a very humble way, into Jerusalem. He comes on a donkey, a beast of burden, as both David and Solomon had ridden on a mule, as kings (1 Kings 1:32-33). People spread cloaks on the road before Him, as had been done for King Jehu, long before. And palm branches were spread, too, as a sign of rejoicing, as was done in the Old Testament Festival of Booths in Leviticus 23:40. And in Revelation 8:9, the countless multitude in heaven are pictured carrying palm branches in their hands and singing, “salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb,” the risen, victorious Lord Jesus. The Palm Sunday greeting to Jesus was a glimpse of that, as the people sang, “Hosannah to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” (These days, this reading from Matthew is often used for a Gospel processional, instead of the actual Gospel reading. The alternate reading, John 12:12-19, could also be read at this time, telling the Palm Sunday story and quoting from Zechariah 9:9. John’s Gospel also tells us that the disciples did not really understand what was happening on Palm Sunday. They did not understand until after the resurrection of Jesus. Many other people had come with Jesus on Palm Sunday simply because they had heard of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. The Pharisees feared that “the whole world was going out after Jesus,” and so the plan to get rid of Jesus was put into effect. (See also John 11:45-53.) Sadly, then, many of those people who had praised Jesus on Palm Sunday had been turned against Him by Good Friday.
The Epistle lesson, Philippians 2:5-11, ties everything together regarding Jesus as Savior and King and His saving work. Jesus was God, God the Son, and yet was willing to carry out the saving plan of the Triune God, by not hanging onto His glory as God the Son, but giving it up and emptying Himself and becoming a human being, a servant, born as a true man (through the Virgin Mary). He was still God the Son, but He humbled Himself, willing not always to use His Godly power and to be obedient to this saving plan, even though it meant His suffering and dying on the cross. (Paul knew that it was the perfect life of Jesus and His suffering and dying in payment for his sins and the sins of the world that allowed Paul to be counted righteous in God’s eyes. He did not have a righteousness of his own, but a righteousness from God through the gift of faith in Christ. See how Paul described that in Philippians 3:8-9.) Paul preached “Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-4), but he also preached “the power of His resurrection from the dead.” (See Philippians 3:10 and 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, for example.) That is why in this Epistle lesson, Paul speaks not only of Christ humbling Himself even to the point of death on a cross. We also hear the wonderfully Good News of Easter and Christ’s victorious resurrection and ascension, being “highly exalted” and having “the Name that is above every name” and “confessed” as Lord and God, together with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. It is in the Name of that Triune God that we were baptized and brought to faith and given a new and humble and trusting mind in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:2-5) and live in Christ’s forgiving love and presence always, and want to share this Good News of Lent and Easter with as many others as we can (Matthew 28:18-20). It is truly Good News for all!
This Sunday is the 5th Sunday in our Lenten season, and in the One Year Series, it is known as Judica Sunday, a day in which the Scripture readings call us to think about “judging” and “judgment.” “Judica” is the Latin word for “judging.”
The psalm for the day is Psalm 43, which begins with the words “judge me.” This psalm has some of the same words as Psalm 42 and seems to be linked with it, where the psalmist is away from the Promised Land and cannot get back to Jerusalem and God’s “holy hill” and His “dwelling” there, the temple, “the house of God.” In Psalm 43, he says that he is facing “ungodly, deceitful, unjust enemies,” who are “oppressing” him. Four times in these two psalms, he says that “his soul is cast down” and he is “in turmoil.” At times, he even asks God, “Why have You forgotten me?” (Psalm 42:9) and “Why have You rejected me?” (Psalm 43:2). He struggles and confesses and sorrows over his weaknesses, especially when his “adversaries taunt him” and ask, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:10). He cannot hear the encouraging Words of Scripture with fellow believers at “God’s altar.” Yet he has not lost faith. He still says, “You are my God in Whom I take refuge.” He reminds himself, again and again, even on troubled days, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my Salvation and my God.” He prays that he would be led by the Light and Truth of God and His Word, and that ultimately God would “judge” and “defend him and his cause” and “vindicate” him, declare him “not guilty,” by His mercy. Psalm 127:1 says, “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation,” and we know from the New Testament that Jesus is “the Light of the world” (John 8:12) and says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” and that “no one comes to the Father except through Him” and His forgiving love that takes away our guilt (John 14:6).
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 22:1-14. Even Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, had his ups and downs and struggles at times, not waiting for God to fulfill His plans in His own way. When Abraham finally was given his child of promise, Isaac, he had grown in faith and was willing to trust his Lord, even when he was asked to do what seemed totally wrong - to sacrifice that son, his only son. It was only a test of faith, but Abraham did not know that. Hebrews 11:19 tells us that Abraham still trusted his Lord and “considered that God was able even to raise his son, Isaac, from the dead” and that, “figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” How agonizing, though, it must have been for Abraham to travel for three days to Mt. Moriah, with his son carrying the wood for the sacrifice. How hard it must have been to hear his son ask, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” and to answer, “God will provide for Himself the lamb,” knowing what he himself was soon to do to his son. Abraham was ready to kill his son as a sacrifice when the Lord stopped him and provided a ram for him to sacrifice, instead. This was a dramatic prediction of what would happen to God’s only Son when he was not stopped, but went to the cross to suffer and die for our sins and the sins of the whole world, since none of us could atone, pay the judgment penalty for our own sins or the sins of anyone else. The line of promise of a Savior did come through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and later on through David and finally through the sacrifice of God’s only Son, who had become the human Child, our Lord Jesus. That was the plan from the beginning because of the love of God the Father and the love of God the Son and His willingness to become that sacrifice, and His birth through the Virgin Mary by the loving power of God the Holy Spirit. When we think of what Abraham and Isaac went through, in human terms, until that sacrifice was stopped by God on Mt. Moriah, we appreciate more and more the meaning of the Triune God’s love in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,” and that John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God who is taking away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and that Paul writes, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him give us all things” He has promised us in Christ our Savior and the Words of Scripture (Romans 8:32). Our eternal future is secure in Him, as he has brought us to faith in Him and keeps us in that faith. One more note. In 2 Chronicles 3:1, we are told that the temple was later built in Jerusalem on Mt. Moriah, where Abraham and Isaac had been. Jesus was sacrificed on the cross just outside Jerusalem to sanctify us through His blood, so that we might receive the heavenly Jerusalem, eternal life, prepared for us by Him. (See Hebrews 12:22-24 and Hebrews 13:12,14-15 and John 14:1-3.)
This sacrificial work of Christ Jesus and its result are also described for us in Hebrews 9:11-15, our Epistle lesson for this Sunday. Christ is our great “High Priest.” In the Old Testament, priests offered animal sacrifices in a tent, the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple in Jerusalem, and needed to keep doing so, again and again, as part of the Old Covenant, and in preparation for the coming of the Christ, our Lord Jesus. Christ offered the sacrifice “of His own blood,” “once for all,” and thus “secured an eternal redemption” available for all people. Old Testament priests were sinners who needed forgiveness for themselves, too. Christ Jesus “offered His blood” and “Himself without blemish to God.”
He carried all of our sins on the cross to pay for them, but He had no sins of His own, as the perfect Lamb of God. He did all this as the Son of God, but also as a true man, “through the power of the eternal Holy Spirit.” Through His perfect life in our place and His death that redeemed us from our sins, our transgressions, and His mighty resurrection, we and “all who are called to faith in Him may receive the promised eternal inheritance of the “New Covenant” that He mediates. Our consciences are purified from “dead works,” for that is all we could perform on our own as sinners, and we have a new life in Christ, through which we can serve the living God, and one day be taken to “the greater and perfect tent” of eternal life.
Jesus, in the Gospel lesson, John 8:(42-45) 46-59, is telling His fellow Jews that He was “sent from God, His heavenly Father,” and is speaking “His Word, the Word of God, the Truth.” If people reject Him, it is because they are serving “their father, the devil”… “a liar and the father of lies.” “Whoever is of God hears the Words of God,” Jesus says. Some then accused Him of being an unbelieving “Samaritan” and “having a demon.” Jesus responds by saying that He honors His heavenly Father, and claims again that if people keep His Word, they will never see death.” These Jews then say that Abraham died. Is Jesus claiming to be greater than Abraham and the prophets, who also died? Jesus then says that these people do not know and understand God as they should, from His Word, and that Abraham did know, through prophecy and the Word of the coming Savior. (See, for example, 1 Peter 1:10-12, where it is indicated that the prophets knew more about the suffering Christ and people He would serve than they wrote down. Peter also had just reminded us in 1 Peter 1:8-9 that most fellow believers lived by faith, trusting the eyewitness testimony of Peter and others, though they had not seen Christ themselves, as Peter had. See also Peter’s own eyewitness Words in 2 Peter 1:16-21, speaking and writing by the power of God the Holy Spirit, and his affirmation of the words and writing of the apostle Paul, also, in 2 Peter 3:15-18.) Finally, in the Gospel lesson, John 8:58, Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am,” using the name of God for Himself (Exodus 3:13-15) and affirming the truth that He had always existed, long before Abraham and was God the Son, the promised Messiah and Savior. He claimed this numerous other times, too, with His many “I am” sayings. Sadly, many of the people hearing Jesus did not believe Him and picked up stones to throw at Him, thinking that He was blaspheming, speaking against God (Leviticus 24:16).
You may have heard of C.S. Lewis, an atheist, who became a Christian through the Word of God and the Good News of Christ, his Savior. Lewis realized that people could not simply say that Jesus was a good man and an interesting teacher. Hearing the Scriptures and passages like this Gospel, Lewis realized and said that Jesus was either “a liar,” as many of his enemies said, or He was “a lunatic,” a crazy man who had lost his mind, or He actually was “the Lord” and Savior. By the grace of God and the Holy Spirit’s power, C.S. Lewis became a believer and a strong advocate for the Christian faith and the reliability of the Scriptures. May we continue to be strengthened in that same faith in Christ this Lenten season, through these and other Scriptures and the remembrance of our own baptism and the gift of Christ’s forgiveness also in the Lord’s Supper. And if we know of others, like the psalmist we heard of in Psalms 42 and 43, who cannot get out to the Lord’s house, because of illness or other problems, may we pray for them and send them cards with encouraging Scriptures or call or visit them, bringing God’s Word and His love in Christ to them, as we are able. God’s Word in Christ is the Lamp and the Light for us all (Psalm 119:105).
March 15, 2026, is the Fourth Sunday in the Lenten Season. Lent is usually a very somber time of repentance for our sins, and of remembering that it took the great, sorrowful sacrifice of Christ on the cross to pay the penalty for those sins and to earn forgiveness for us. This Sunday is called Laetare Sunday, a Sunday for some rejoicing, singing, and remembering in true faith that the celebration of Christ’s joyful resurrection is coming soon.
The psalm is Psalm 132:8-18. Twice the saints, the faithful people of God, are called to “shout for joy,” for one day coming the Lord would keep His “sure oath,” His promise that someone from the line of King David would be “set on God’s throne forever.” That One will be the Lord’s “Anointed One,” His Messiah, and those who do not turn His face away from them,” but trust Him, by God’s grace, and keep His “New” Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-14) and “the testimonies He will teach them,” will enjoy “His resting place forever.” They will be “clothed with righteousness” and “salvation,” as their “Horn” (Luke 1:68-69) and “Lamp” ( Luke 1:78-79 and John 1:9 and 5:33-36,39 and 8:12, etc.) comes, whose “crown will shine” forever (Hebrews 2:7-9). All these are references to our Lord Jesus and His coming as the Son of God and Son of David. He had His enemies, who put Him to death, but He eventually “clothed them with shame” in His mighty resurrection and victory. See His promises in 1 Peter 2:9-10 to “the priesthood of all believers,” who are brought to faith in Him. See also the Lord’s promise in Psalm 132:15 of provisions and bread that satisfy His poor and needy people, as Jesus is “the Bread of Life” (John 6:35,47-51).
The first possibility for the Old Testament lesson is Exodus 16:2-21. The children of Israel were about a month and a half away from Egypt when they grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. They imagined life in Egypt would be much better and expressed fear of starving. Maybe their provisions were getting lower, or maybe they just complained. The Lord was ready to rain bread from heaven for them, manna, day by day, just enough for them for each day. On the sixth day of each week, they could gather twice as much and rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath day. If they tried to gather too much bread, it would spoil. The Lord was teaching them to trust Him to care for them, as we have been taught by Jesus to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” God also provided quail for meat at times and showed that it was all from Him by revealing His glory in a cloud they could see. He provided this food, manna, for all the forty years until they reached the Promised Land. This was also a prediction of what Jesus came to do and was able to do, as a part of His saving work.
The alternative Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 49:8-13. If you look earlier in Isaiah 49, you will see a prophecy of the coming Savior, the Redeemer and Holy One, who would be a light for the people of Israel and for all nations throughout the earth. In 49:8-9, this is predicted to be a “day of salvation” (see Paul’s quotation of 49:8 in 2 Corinthians 6:2), as this coming One would bring in God’s “New Covenant” and call out those in the prison and darkness of sin and affliction into a whole new life, with the promises of eternal life, where there will be no more hunger or thirst. Portions of 49:8-10 are quoted in Revelation 7:16-17 as a picture of life in heaven itself. Jesus also uses words very similar to 49:12 in Luke 13:29, where he promises that through His saving work, “people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God” - non-Jews, too. All this is reason for rejoicing, for “singing for joy,” 49:13 says, as the Lord will bring “compassion” and “comfort” to “afflicted” people, with the coming of Christ Jesus. See how this happened for Simeon, who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” in Luke 2:25-32 and predicted that the Savior would be for “all peoples,” including Gentiles and his own Jewish people. This great comfort also came to Anna in Luke 2:36-38, who “thanked God” and spoke about Jesus to those “waiting for redemption.” Even as we, too, confess our own sins, needs, and struggles this Lent, there is also comfort and rejoicing in Jesus our Savior and in what He has done for us.
The Gospel lesson is John 6:1-15. A large crowd followed Jesus because they had seen signs (miracles) that He was performing among the sick. The Jewish Passover was near, and John mentions that in this Gospel reading because the Passover was a celebration and remembrance of God’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt in the Old Testament and His providing special bread, manna, to sustain them during their journey to the Promised Land. Seeing the large crowd coming, Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed so many people. This was a test for Philip, as Jesus already knew what He would do. A denarius was an average day’s wage, and Philip knew that even 200 denarii would not be enough to feed all these people. Andrew suggested that a boy had five barley loaves and two fish, but asked what good would that do for so many. Jesus simply had the people sit down - about 5,000 men. (In Matthew 14:21, we hear that there were also women and children there.) Jesus took the loaves and fish of the boy, gave thanks to God, and, in a miraculous way, fed all those people as much as they wanted, and 12 baskets of leftover food were gathered up as well. This was a great miracle, reminding us of the manna provided in the Old Testament. The people saw this sign (this miracle), though, and thought that Jesus must be the Prophet who was to come into the world. How wonderful it would be to have a king who could continually provide food for them, they must have thought. Jesus realized that they were about to take Him by force and try to make Him king, and so he went away by Himself to a more isolated mountainous area nearby. Jesus knew that His primary mission was not to feed people and take care of their physical needs. He was to be their Savior and deal with their sins and spiritual needs, which could affect them eternally. He knew and had used the Scripture which says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:1-3). Jesus also knew that attraction to Him simply because of the signs and miracles He could do was not a saving belief in Him. See what Jesus already knew in John 2:23-25. The commentator, Martin Franzmann, says, “The faith that feeds on signs is an appetite that grows by what it feeds on; it cannot simply rest in the revelation of the given sign but demands another (and another).” That is “the self-seeking will of natural man.” It cannot be satisfied that “the Heavenly Father (alone) makes Jesus both King and Lord” by His own way and plan (Acts 2:36).
There are two choices for the Epistle lesson, too. The first is Acts 2:41-47. This passage shows that the early Christians did care for one another and tried to help each other with their needs by sharing. They did so with “glad and generous hearts.” But they also knew what was most important: “receiving the Word of God and being baptized” and then “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (the Word of God) and “fellowship” (worshiping together around that Word and “the breaking of the bread” (the Lord’s Supper) and prayer and “praising God.”
The alternate Epistle lesson is from Galatians 4:21-31 and is not an easy passage to understand. Paul is dealing here with people who talk about Jesus, but especially want everyone to live by the Old Testament laws and rules and regulations, including circumcision and other ritual laws, which often went far beyond Scripture itself, and ignored Christ’s own teaching about the New Covenant in Him. Paul reminds us that Abraham had two sons. If you remember the story in Genesis, Abraham and Sarai grew tired of waiting for a son by God’s plan, and Sarai talked Abraham into having a son by her Egyptian female servant, Hagar. This son was named Ishmael, and yet Sarai treated Hagar and Ishmael badly. It was about 14 years later when Abraham and Sarai (now called Sarah) had the child Isaac, who would be the child of promise about whom God had spoken to them. (You can read about this contrast between Isaac and Ishmael in Genesis 16 and Genesis 21:1-21.) Paul says that these two represent two covenants. The Old Covenant is Hagar, who was a slave, like Judaism, with its focus on Mt. Sinai and laws, and is still in slavery to such laws. The New Covenant is a Covenant of Promise and is represented by the free woman, Sarah, and her child of promise, Isaac, through whom our Savior, Jesus, would eventually come. Note that Paul then quotes Isaiah 54:1, right after speaking of the New Jerusalem above. This Isaiah passage then speaks of the enlargement of the tent of God’s people, including “the nations.” It also comes right after Isaiah 53 and the great prophecy of the work of the Servant Savior, Jesus. Jesus came to set us free from the condemnation of the Law, which we could not keep, and brought us a new freedom through Him and His perfect life for us, and forgiveness of all our sins through His suffering, death, and resurrection for us. Paul says that our hope is not now in the Jerusalem of his day, with its rejection of Christ and its trust in its own keeping of laws, rules, and regulations (which it never fully keeps). Our hope is in “the Jerusalem above,” won for us in and through Christ, and the eternal future we have in Him. (See Galatians 5:1 and passages like John 8:31-36 and Galatians 2:15-21, etc. See also Hebrews 12:18-24, where the same picture image, contrasting Mt. Sinai and the Old Covenant Law with the heavenly Mt. Zion and Jesus and His Gospel and the New Covenant centered in Him.) As always, Paul focuses on salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ and His saving work, not in ourselves or our faithful keeping of God’s Law. In Christ and what He does for us is our hope.
The Third Sunday in Lent in the One Year Series of readings is known as Oculi Sunday. We are to keep our “eyes” upon our Lord and His Word and will for us, especially in Christ our Savior, in this Lenten season. We are also caused to “see” that the Lord has His eyes on us, too, and knows our sins and calls us to repentance, but still looks upon us with His love and mercy and forgiveness in Christ.
There are two choices for a psalm. Psalm 4 is a psalm of David. He knows that the Lord has given him relief when he was in distress, in a tight spot, in the past. He prays again for the Lord to be gracious to him, when others are trying to shame him with vain words and lies. He has learned from the Lord what to try to do. He is angry, but he is not to attack others and sin against them, but to trust in the Lord, as he ponders in silence what is going on. (Paul quotes this passage in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:26-27, telling us not to let the sun go down on our anger, and not give the devil an opportunity by doing something harmful and foolish in return to others.) In Psalm 4, David says to offer “right sacrifices.” In Psalm 51:17, David calls these sacrifices “a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart,” confessing our own sins, failings, and weaknesses, and asking God’s forgiveness. The Lord then shows us the light of His mercy and forgiveness, especially in Christ, renews our joy, and gives us peace in Him. Only then can we also be more patient and understanding and forgiving of the weaknesses of others, too, and show them God’s goodness and mercy. David knows that only in the Lord can he finally dwell in safety, as the Lord knows best. (A side comment on v.7: someone has said that a true “happy hour” for us is not in “abounding wine” and other drinks at the end of a day, but in joy in our hearts in the Lord and His continuing mercy and love for us.)
The alternate Psalm is Psalm 136:1-16. The psalmist calls upon us again and again to “give thanks to the Lord.” Every verse ends by calling us to see that “His steadfast love endures forever.” It can be seen in His creating a marvelous universe for us. It can be seen in His continuing care for a now fallen world, caught up in sin and slavery to evil, and His keeping His promises to rescue His people of Israel and bring them through the wilderness to a promised land. Above all, as we see in the New Testament, the Lord kept His promise to bring blessings available to all people through the gift of His own Son, our Savior Jesus.
There are also two possible readings for the Old Testament lesson this week. The first is in Jeremiah 26:1-15, where God called the prophet Jeremiah to speak to all the people of Judah, calling them to “turn from their evil ways” and listen to “God’s servants the prophets” and to “walk again” in the Lord’s way. If they continued to refuse to listen and went their own way, judgment would come upon Judah and the city of Jerusalem, as “cursed among all the nations of the earth.” The reaction of the priests and other prophets and many of the people was that they “laid hold of Jeremiah” and said that he must die for speaking against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Other officials of Judah were called to sit in judgment of Jeremiah for what he said. Jeremiah said again that he was speaking only what the Lord told him to say and called the people to “mend their ways and deeds” and “obey the voice of the Lord their God.” Only then could they escape “the disaster that the Lord was pronouncing against them.” Jeremiah also warned them that they would be shedding “innocent blood” if they killed him, for he was sent to “speak all these words into their ears.” The threats against Jeremiah were prophetic of what later happened to our Lord Jesus, when He also came and spoke God’s Word to people. Jeremiah was spared for a while, but Jesus was put to death as an innocent man, bearing our sins in payment for them in His saving work for us.
The alternative Old Testament reading is Exodus 8:16-24, when God spoke through Moses, warning Pharaoh and the Egyptians of more plagues coming upon them, of gnats and then of flies, if they would not set God’s people free. Pharaoh’s magicians had been able with the earlier plagues to do something like what God had sent, but they could not produce gnats and flies, as God did. The magicians now had to tell Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God” - something that only God could do. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, though, and he would not listen to Moses and his warnings from God. When the swarms of flies came, they troubled all of Egypt, but not Goshen, where the Israelites lived. There was a clear division between what happened to the Egyptians and what happened to the Israelites.
As the Gospel lesson begins in Luke 11:14-28, a demon possessed a man, leaving him unable to speak. Jesus cast out the demon, and the man could speak again, and the people marveled. Some people, however, claimed that Jesus was using the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, to cast out demons. (This alludes to a story in the Old Testament in 2 Kings 1, when King Ahaziah had an accident, and instead of asking God about his illness, he sent messengers to ask advice from “Baalzebub,” the false god of Ekron. This greatly displeased the Lord, and Ahaziah died.) Other people wanted to test Jesus about where his power really came from and kept demanding that he give them a sign or proof of its origin. (See Matthew 9:34 and Mark 8:11, where it is clear that Pharisees were stirring up such challenges to Jesus and demanding proof of the source of His power.) Jesus simply points out that any divided kingdom or household would fall. Why would Satan use his own power to work against himself? There were also some Jews, allies of the religious leaders, who claimed to cast out demons. Jesus asked where their power came from. Then Jesus used the phrase used in our Old Testament Exodus passage. Even “the finger of God” was powerful enough to do great things. (See Exodus 8:19 and Exodus 31:19 and Psalm 8:3-4 and Romans 1:20.) Jesus then said that He was casting out demons by “the finger of God” and that was a sure sign that “the kingdom of God had come,” in Him. Satan was a strong one who had brought great evil and chaos into the world, but Jesus was the stronger one, who would eventually attack and overcome him. It would look as if Jesus were defeated when He suffered and died. But He would win the victory over Satan through His mighty resurrection, and the forgiveness He earned for us and the world, in being sacrificed for us. We receive that victory in our own baptism and new life in Christ, as we are brought to faith in Him. (See that victory described in Colossians 2:9-15, and the realization that Jesus was really calling Himself equal with God, in passages like John 5:5-18.) In the Gospel lesson, then, in Luke 11:23, Jesus says that there is now no longer any neutral ground in the world. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” That’s why Jesus wants to bring everyone possible to faith in Him, in victory over Satan’s control of them. People can resist and reject Jesus, of course, and Jesus also warns that Satan would like to try to lure people back into his evil kingdom and take control of them again, as described in Luke 11:24-26 and in Matthew 12:43-45. (Remember also the parable of the sower and the seed that we heard in Luke 8:11-15. Some hear and begin to believe, but then fall away for various reasons.) Coming to faith in Jesus and continuing in that faith, by God’s grace and power, through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, is so important. That is indicated in the final verses of this Gospel, Luke 11:27-28. A woman cries out from the crowd about how blessed the mother of Jesus was. Mary was blessed to give birth to and help raise Jesus, by the miracle of God’s grace, but she cannot save or help us. Jesus said. “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it,” in faith in Jesus, by God’s grace, and stay in that faith. (See also Luke 8:19-21 and Mark 3:20-21 and 3:31-35 and James 1:17-18, 21-22, and 2:1.)
Finally, the Epistle lesson is Ephesians 5:1-9. Paul reminds us that we are now the beloved children of God, by faith in Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross for us, offered in payment for our sins. As little children like to imitate their parents, we are to seek to imitate our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus, in His true love. As we heard last week, Paul again warns about the serious danger of sexual immorality being practiced in much of the world around us. Even filthy and foolish talk and crude joking are dangerous, he says (along with pornography and immoral books and movies and what we can see and hear with our phones and on the internet these days). These can tempt us to desire and covet what is impure and unhelpful to us. Once we were all in the darkness of sin. Now, though, we are children of light, with light in the Lord, and “the fruit of Christ, our Light and the Light of the World (John 8:12) is found in all that is good and right and true, according to God’s standard in His Word and in Christ. As we close this study, do remember that we are not saved by finally getting all this straightened out in our lives in a perfect way. We try, but none of us come close to what God wishes for us. That is why Christ had to come to be our Savior and to show us “the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us.” Paul says, as we hear so often, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." But then he adds that as believers we are now “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:7-10). What an exciting future we have ahead in Christ, with His guidance, and a perfect future in eternal life!
This Second Sunday of Lent in the One Year Series is known as Reminiscere Sunday, Remembering Sunday. We have plenty of troubles and struggles in this life, even as Christians, but we are called to remember that our Lord will bless and keep us and carry us through these difficult times with His mercy and grace in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
The psalm is Psalm 121. The psalmist seems to be away from the land of Israel and the hills of Jerusalem. He remembers where his help comes from, though - from the Lord, who is the Creator of all things in the heavens and the earth and who can help us wherever we are and “not let our foot be moved.” That doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble and fall at times, but the Lord keeps us in His care and steadies us, as people He loves. (See other Scriptures that use this same picture image: Psalm 55:22, 66:8-9; Proverbs 3:23-26, 1 Peter 5:6-7, etc.) Six times in Psalm 121, the Lord is described as being our “keeper” and “keeping us” in all kinds of circumstances in this life and forevermore. The Lord does not slumber or sleep, but He helps give His beloved people sleep from “their anxious toil” (Psalm 127:1-2). The psalm reminds us that the Lord is our keeper, day and night. He provides shelter for us from the hot sun and sunstroke, in His wisdom. (See how He dealt with Jonah, bothered by the sun, in Jonah 4:6-11. Ancient people often believed, superstitiously, that the moon could harm them. The word “lunatic” literally means someone who is “moonstruck,” not able to think rationally. Today, we know that the moon does affect tides and that is an important issue for people near water. The Lord protects, as He knows best. Interestingly, the heavenly holy city is pictured in Revelation 21:22-23 as needing neither sun nor moon, because the Lord and His Son, the Lamb, will provide all the Light we need.) While still here on earth, Jesus teaches us to pray, “deliver us from evil,” and to ask the Lord to provide what He knows is best for our lives, now and in eternal life. We are called to live by faith in our Triune God, though there is much we do not understand, as we come and go in this life. (See other related Scriptures, like Deuteronomy 28:6 and Proverbs 3:3-5, ending with “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” Remember also the benediction the Lord taught us to hear: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).)
We seek to trust in our Lord, but we also know that there are times when we struggle and know that we need to be “kept” by God in faith and His gracious forgiveness. We see that in Jacob in our Old Testament lesson, Genesis 32:22-32. Jacob and his brother, Esau, were twins, and even in the womb, they struggled with each other. Esau was born first, but Jacob was grabbing his brother’s heel when he was born. The name Jacob means “a supplanter,” someone who takes the position and place of another, often by dishonesty and cheating. Esau lost his position as firstborn son by despising his birthright by selling it to Jacob for some food, when he was exhausted and hungry (Genesis 25:22-34). Over time, Esau also married wives displeasing to his parents and to God and went away from the land God had promised and away from the one true God, as well. Judgment finally came upon him and his people, the Edomites, for continued unbelief. (See Genesis 26:34-35 and 28:7-9 and eventually, Malachi 1:3-4.) Jacob was far from a perfect man, too. He helped cheat Esau out of his birthright and the blessing he should have received as the oldest son. Esau hated him, and Jacob had to flee from the land. He found a woman he wanted to marry, but was cheated himself by Laban and given another woman in marriage, before marrying the woman, Rachel, whom he wanted. He had other struggles with Laban, and finally returned home, but was fearful of his brother. In Genesis 32:24-32, he wrestles with a man, who turns out to be God in a human form. (Some think it might have been the pre-incarnate Son of God.) God had already appeared to and forgiven Jacob for his sins, and brought him renewed faith, and promised that the line of the promised Savior, who would bless all families on earth, would come through him and his descendants, the Jewish nation (Genesis 28:12-22). The Lord God could have easily defeated Jacob in the wrestling match and showed that by putting Jacob’s hip out of joint. He lets Jacob seem to win and renews His blessing to him. Jacob marvels when he realizes that he had seen God in this way, face to face, and yet lived. Much later, the Old Testament prophet Hosea wrote of Jacob in Hosea 12:3-6 and called his own people to return to the Lord by His help, as Jacob did, and hold fast to and wait continually for their God. Our Savior, Jesus, did finally come from the line of Jacob, and people did see Him face to face in human form and did receive grace upon grace from Him, above all. See John 1:14-18. That grace is ours, too, by the gift of faith in Christ.
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 15:21-28. Jesus Himself had many spiritual “wrestling matches” with the Jewish religious leaders. Just before our text, Jesus was teaching about the New Covenant, doing away with human traditions and the commandments of men, and calling people to trust in Him and His forgiveness of their sins. Jesus then withdrew to an area in far northeast Israel. A Canaanite woman must have heard about him and came to him, correctly calling Him the “Lord, Son of David,” and asking help for her daughter, severely oppressed by a demon. Jesus said nothing to her, and the disciples begged Him to send her away, for she was continually crying out to Him. Jesus finally says what was true. His primary mission was among the lost people of Israel, and His saving work, His later suffering and death, and resurrection would happen within Israel. (His work was for the benefit of the whole world, but only after He had completed His work would the sharing of Him and His salvation begin in earnest beyond Israel.) The Canaanite woman, though, did not give up. She knelt before Him and called Him Lord, which He was, and kept asking for His help. In a sense, she wrestled with Him in asking for help, even when He did not respond, at first. She did not give up, even when He said something that sounded very harsh, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The word Jesus used for dogs, though, meant “pet dogs” who would live in a home and were loved by a family. This gave the woman the chance not to give up, but to express her faith in Jesus and in His ability to help her and her daughter. She still called Jesus “Lord” and said that, as “pet dogs” ate scraps that fell from a table at a meal, even “crumbs” from Jesus would be enough to help her daughter. Jesus then spoke of her “great faith,” even what it was tested by Him, and He healed her daughter instantly. This would have been a great surprise for Jesus’ disciples, for in the Old Covenant, Jews were to avoid and remove Canaanites, because they could lead God’s people astray to false gods, as had happened to Esau and so many others. Even as His ministry began, Jesus protected His disciples and fulfilled His Father’s plan by His focus on fellow Jews. (See Matthew 10:5-6. Notice, though, that Jesus was preparing the disciples for the fact that they would eventually “bear witness before the Gentiles,” the non-Jews (Matthew 10:18).) Jesus had earlier helped a Roman Centurion who had come to great faith in Him, greater than what many Jews had, Jews who rejected Him and would lose out on the Kingdom of God (Matthew 10:10-13). The most important thing is ultimately being brought to faith in Jesus, no matter who we are or have been or how great our faith is at any given moment. The greatness is in Christ and what he has done for us, and our hanging on to His mercy, by His grace.
It is a struggle, though, as believers, to stay in faith and grow in faith, because the world wants to pull us in very different directions, away from God’s will and what is best for us and others. Paul speaks about this in our Epistle lesson, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7. Paul encourages us to seek to walk and please God by following the instructions given to us through the Lord Jesus in the Holy Scriptures. Paul particularly focuses on abstaining from sexual immorality. The Greek and Roman world had very weak moral standards, and people could do whatever they wanted sexually. Paul reminds the believers then (and us today) of controlling our bodies in holiness and honor, according to God’s standards, and not “the passions of lust” of those who do not love God. Paul reminds us that we can truly hurt ourselves and wrong others with an impure life in this way. If we are unsure what those standards of our Lord are, we look at the Scriptures and/or talk with those who can help us. Right after this passage, in v. 8, Paul also speaks of the importance of the Holy Spirit, who has brought us to faith and can keep us in that faith through His Word and who lives in us, along with Christ. See, for example, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. The Lenten season is a good time to repent of these or any other sins and ask God’s strength to battle sin and follow His will more faithfully.
The alternative Epistle reading is Romans 5:1-5 and takes us right back to Christ our Savior and what He has done for us. We are not saved by overcoming all our struggles and doing everything right, though we try. We are saved by what Christ has perfectly done for us and His payment for all of our sins in His sacrifice on the cross and His victory for us in His resurrection. We have peace with God through Christ and the access to God’s grace He has provided for us, and the hope we have in Him. We are not perfect. We still have struggles and sufferings, but those challenges can teach us to endure in hope and grow in our Christian character, even through ups and downs, and to rely on God’s love shown us in Christ and poured into our hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit through His Word. In this Lenten season, we pray with the psalmist in Psalm 25:6-7. “Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”
This First Sunday in Lent is sometimes called Invocavit Sunday, as we call upon (invoke) the Lord to have mercy upon us sinners, as we begin this Lenten season. There are alternative readings for the Old Testament, the Psalm, and the Epistle readings, along with the Gospel, so I cannot do proper justice to all these important Scriptures. I will try to make some comments on all of them, though, since I do not know which readings your congregations will choose.
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 3:1-21. Here is the reason that we need the Lenten season - the temptation of Adam and Eve and their fall into sin, which brought sin and death to everyone in this world ever since. All that God had made in His creation was perfect, “very good,” until the rebellion of Satan and other angels against the Lord. This rebellion is briefly described in Revelation 12:7-9, and it is here that we know that the serpent was the devil in disguise, coming to be “the deceiver of the whole world.” He first tried to confuse the woman by questioning and distorting God’s Word to her and to Adam. She corrects the devil, but in the process, distorts the Word herself, saying that they were not even to touch the special tree in the garden. Some think there might have been more conversation, but the devil then clearly says that Eve would not die by eating from the tree and could actually become more godlike by eating from it and gaining more knowledge. Eve sees that the fruit of the tree looks very desirable and could make her wiser, and so she eats of it and gives some to her husband, Adam, whom this passage clearly says was with her. He does not try to stop her, but eats of the tree, too. The eyes of both were now open to the evil, the rebellion they had done against God. They were naked and ashamed and tried to cover over their sin and shame with fig leaves and tried to hide from God. God confronts them, and Adam tries to blame Eve and even God for giving Eve to him. Eve blames the serpent - “the devil made me do it.” God judges them all. Serpents would be lowly creatures that many would not like. Eve and other women would desire a husband and yet have great pain in childbirth, and the husband would rule over her. Men would have their own great problems, trying to provide food and support for their families and others in what was now a fallen world, full of thorns and thistles and much trouble. Finally, everyone would die because “the wages of sin is death” (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23). Yet God still loved these fallen people and their world. Fig leaves were lousy clothing, so God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skins, a sign of forgiveness, covering over their sin. Above all, He promised that an Offspring of Eve would one day come who would defeat the power of death and the devil, though He (our Lord Jesus) would suffer in that process. (See Galatians 3:16, Romans 16:19-20, John 12:31-32, Hebrews 2:14-18, and Revelation 1:5-6, etc.) Everyone now needs Christ Jesus and His saving work.
The alternative Old Testament lesson is 1 Samuel 17:40-51, the story of young David defeating the mighty giant, Goliath. A descendant of David, our Lord Jesus, would defeat for us the greater spiritual enemy, Satan, the devil. Jesus would come, as David did, in the name of the Lord, to battle Satan, and “all the earth” would know the one true God, and that “the Lord saves not with sword and spear.” The Lord would save through the battles with Satan and suffering and death and yet victory over death of His own Son, Jesus.
We see a part of that battle of Jesus with Satan in the Gospel lesson, Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus had just been baptized, as part of His “fulfilling all righteousness” in our place. He was the “beloved Son of God, well pleasing to His heavenly Father” (Matthew 3:13-17). Immediately, Jesus was led by God’s Spirit into the wilderness. He fasted for 40 days and nights and was weak and hungry, as God’s Old Testament people often were when they were also in the wilderness, on the way to the Promised Land. Most of them sinned and rebelled and complained against God, though, and died apart from God. Satan came with similar temptations for Jesus. But Jesus fought off Satan by trusting His heavenly Father and using “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), quoting Scriptures from those wilderness wandering times. Though very hungry, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, “A man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (That’s what all Scripture is!) Satan himself then quotes Scripture, Psalm 91:11-12, but in a distorted, out-of-context way, trying to get Jesus to obey him and jump off the temple, just to see if God would care for him. Jesus simply replies with Scripture: “Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test'” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Satan then offers an empty promise: to give Jesus the whole world if He would worship him. Jesus tells him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve'” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Satan finally leaves Jesus for a while, and angels come to Jesus to help and strengthen Him. (Jesus was continually facing such Satanic attacks, but he knew and used His Father’s Word and will and power. The same Word is available to us all as we learn and use it. We too often fail to do so, though, and that is why Jesus had to go to the cross to earn forgiveness for us. See one of the two possible Epistle lessons for this Sunday, Hebrews 4:14-18. Jesus, the “Son of God,” is our “Great High Priest.” He can “sympathize with our weaknesses” because He has been here in this world and in “every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We can therefore “with confidence draw near to our Lord and receive mercy and find His grace to help us in our times of need” - every day!
The psalms for this week also remind us of our continual need for God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Sometimes David ignored his sins until confronted with them, as with Bathsheba, but sometimes he spoke, as he does in Psalm 32, of how miserable he was trying to hide his sins. His bones hurt, and he groaned and had little strength, for he knew that the Lord was not pleased with him. David names different kinds of sins: transgressions (stepping beyond God’s boundaries for our lives), sins (missing the mark we should aim for in our lives), iniquity (unevenness in our life with our Lord - lots of ups and downs), and deceit (pretending to be what we aren’t and hurting others in the process and trying to fool God with our “goodness”). How good it was for David when he prayed and acknowledged his sins and confessed them to his Lord and received His forgiveness. The Lord delivered Him from His sin and guilt and became a “hiding place” for him, “preserving him” from trouble. The Lord speaks through David, then, and wants to instruct and counsel us all in the right ways we should go, with understanding, so that we are not like a wild horse that must be curbed with a bit and bridle to keep us near. The wicked may seem to prosper, but their sorrows are ultimately many. Many joys and steadfast love ultimately surround those who trust in the Lord, though. The alternate psalm, Psalm 118, reminds us four times in a row that “the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever,” for the Lord has eternal promises for us, in Christ our Savior. We can take refuge in Him, better than any human being or even “princes” that we hear about. If the Lord is with us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31-38)? Even if many nations and people seem to be against us, as Christian believers, the Lord will help and protect us, in Christ, as the rest of Psalm 118 predicts even more clearly, in prophecy, referring to Palm Sunday and the days following.
The other possible Epistle reading is 2 Corinthians 6:1-10. The Lenten season teaches us so clearly that the grace of God is available for us all in Christ and is not to be ignored or “received in vain.” Paul writes that “now is the favorable time; now is the day” to receive and/or renew our own confidence in Christ and His salvation for us. Paul lists suffering and hardships he has endured, but also the patience, kindness, and genuine love he has received through Christ and His Holy Spirit. We, too, have the “truthful speech” and “power of God” in His Word in our hands. We have sorrows, but can rejoice in Christ and His promises. We are not rich, but we can share the riches of Christ with many. We may seem to have nothing, but possess everything we really need for this life and for eternal life to come, in Christ. This Lenten season is a great time for us to be renewed in our lives in our Savior and His grace for each of us and to look for opportunities to share our Savior’s love with others who don’t yet realize that they really need the Savior, as we know we do need Christ always. May the Lord strengthen us all in that trust in Jesus, day by day.
This Sunday is known as Quinquagesima Sunday in the One Year Series. (Quinqua is the Latin word for the number “five” and continues the countdown to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season on February 18. In the last few weeks, we have heard of God’s gifts to us: His “grace” and the “Word of God,” the Holy Scriptures, centered in Christ our Savior. This week’s readings focus on the gift of “love” - God’s great mercy and love shown to us in sending Jesus and His great sacrifice for us that we hear of especially in this Lenten season. (Those churches using the three-year series of readings this week will hear of the Transfiguration of Jesus, a great revelation of His being the “Beloved Son of God” that we heard about on January 25 in the One Year Series.)
The Old Testament lesson is 1 Samuel 16:1-13. We hear of God’s rejection of Saul as king because of his continual failure to follow God’s will. The prophet Samuel is reluctant to anoint a new king because King Saul will kill him for doing so. God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, though, to anoint the person He will choose. The Lord looks at the heart of people, not the height or outward appearance. All the sons of Jesse are passed over, until the youngest son, David, doing the work of a shepherd, is called. “This is he,” the Lord says. Samuel anointed him, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward. David became king, and from his line would eventually come Jesus, the Son of David and our Savior, as we will hear.
An alternative Old Testament reading is Isaiah 35:4-7, in which God’s people, with anxious hearts, are encouraged to be “strong” in the Lord and “fear not,” for He will “come and save His people.” When He came, in the person of His own Son, Jesus, miracles would happen, like “the eyes of the blind being opened” (our Gospel lesson), and the Water of eternal life would be provided, through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (See John 7:37-39, for example.)
The psalm is Psalm 89:18-29. The Lord had predicted, through the prophet Nathan, that David would have an “Offspring” from whom the steadfast love of God would not depart, as it did from Saul. This King, from the line of David, would establish an everlasting kingdom. (See 2 Samual 7:14-17.) Now, in this psalm by Ethan the Ezrahite, the Lord adds to this prediction, mentioning the “vision” given by Nathan to David. and saying that another from the line of David would come, chosen and anointed by God. This was Jesus, and He would be strengthened, and the enemy (Satan) would not outwit or humble Him (Matthew 4:1-11). God’s faithfulness and steadfast love would be with Him, and He would be the “Horn of salvation” for His people (Luke 1:68-70). He would have power over the sea (Mark 4:35-40). He would call God His Father and the Rock of His salvation (John 8:20-30). While the people of Israel were called God’s “firstborn son” and rescued from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 4:21-23), Jesus would be the ultimate “Firstborn,” higher than any king on earth. (See Luke 2:7, Colossians 1:15, 18, Hebrews 1:6, and Revelation 1:5.) This One, Jesus, would be kept forever in God’s love (though He would suffer and die, carrying out His Father’s plan of salvation for the world) and then would be “Firstborn from the dead.” He would fulfill the “new covenant” of His Father (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and have many spiritual “offspring” who will live forever, even beyond death (Romans 8:29, Hebrews 12:22-24), rejoicing at His heavenly throne.
The alternative Psalm is Psalm 146, where the psalmist praises the Lord and calls us to trust in Him and His everlasting reign in Christ our Savior. We are not to trust in other earthly leaders, who cannot save us, who are only men, not like the true “Son of Man, who came to seek and to save the lost.” (See Matthew 20:28 and Luke 19:10.) This psalm also predicts that when Jesus, the true Savior, came, He, as Lord, would “open the eyes of the blind.”
The Gospel lesson, Luke 18:31-43, tells of the coming fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies we have just been reading about, as Jesus now approaches Jerusalem as our Savior. Jesus tells His disciples to “see” what is going on, for He says, “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” He then predicts being turned over to Gentile authorities, the Romans, and being shamefully treated and killed, yet would rise from the dead on the third day. Sadly, His own disciples could understand none of this, though. They were blinded and did not grasp what was being said. A crowd of people accompanied Jesus, and a blind beggar heard the commotion and then learned that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by. He must have heard of Jesus, and though blind, could hear and see and trust that Jesus could actually help him. He cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” People try to shut the blind man up, but he keeps crying out, and he has it right. Jesus was the promised Son of David, and He could have mercy and help this blind man. Jesus asks the blind man what he wants. The man was not just wanting a handout or some money from Jesus. He had faith that Jesus could help and heal him. Jesus then says to him, “Regain your sight,” and literally, Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.” Immediately, the man was able to see, physically and spiritually, and followed Jesus (what Jesus ultimately wants all of us to do, by His grace and mercy and power), glorifying God. The crowd also praised God for this miracle, and whether they realized it or not, this was exactly what the promised Messiah, Jesus, could and would do. He was the promised Savior and full of mercy for all who would be brought to faith in Him, including the blind man and you and me.
The Epistle lesson is 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, often called the “love chapter” of the Bible. It describes what Christian love should look like. The only one who has perfectly lived out this love, though, is our Lord Jesus. “We love,” the Scriptures say, “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). John, inspired by God, adds, “Love is from God and whoever loves (in the truest Christian way) has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). We see the clearest example of this love in Jesus and His sacrificial love for us in this coming Lenten season. Again, John says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 Corinthians 13 gives that pattern for us and our lives with others. We don’t have time to go through this chapter as we should. The key is not, though, in our self-centered actions, in speaking and gaining great knowledge and doing amazing things that impress others and somehow earn God’s favor in the process. The key is continually looking to Christ and His patient and kind way of serving others and seeking to do God’s will at the same time. We don’t do so well because we know God’s will only partially and can see it only dimly, as sinners in this very sin-filled world. We have plenty of spiritual blindness ourselves and continually need also to cry out with the blind man, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us, too.” We live by faith and hope in our perfect Lord, and trust in His saving, merciful, forgiving love for us. And we seek, by His grace, to love and forgive each other, as He has patiently and kindly loved us. Without that love of His, we gain nothing. With that love of Christ, we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37-39). And we are saved, not by our perfect love, but by His love and grace.
This Sunday is Sexagesima (“sex” is the Latin word for the number “six”) Sunday in the One Year Series of Scripture readings, and the countdown continues toward Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. This week, the readings focus on the importance of hearing God’s Word and staying in that Word, as we have the opportunity for additional services and study during Lent.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 55:10-13. God promises that, as we have rain and snow to water the earth and cause seeds and crops to grow, so He sends out from His mouth the seed of His Word. The Word will accomplish His saving purposes and succeed in bringing faith and spiritual growth in people, who will find joy and peace in Him. The creation will sing and rejoice, and good growth, instead of thorns and thistles, will come forth. Above all, the Name of the LORD, the one and only true God, will be proclaimed, and the everlasting Sign of His promises will be seen and not cut off (in our Savior, Jesus). People can resist and reject God’s Word, as we will hear in later readings this week, but if you want other Scriptures that assure us that God’s Word will never return “empty” and devoid of any results, see Isaiah 45:22-23, 46:9-10, Psalm 33:8-11, Jeremiah 1:9-10, and Hebrews 4:12.
The psalm is Psalm 84. The psalmist, who helped provide music, rejoices in the courts of the Lord, the dwelling place of God with His people. His “heart and flesh,” his whole being, sings for joy to the Lord. (That suggests that we can all make “a joyful noise” to the Lord, even if we are not good singers, as Psalm 100:1-2 says!) If even birds can find a home and nest there, how much more blessed God’s people can be, finding strength in their God and King. The psalmist hopes that the hearts of people would lead them on the highways to Zion, the place of worship and prayer, and to appear before God. They can hear God’s Word, and He will “give ear” and listen to their prayers. He will especially point them to “the face of His anointed One,” our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Every day in the Lord’s house is a blessing, in contrast with the “tents of wickedness” that we find all around us, still today. The Lord provides favor (His grace and forgiveness in Christ) and good things for us, and sunny days for us, as our “Sun and Shield” in this dark world. Above all, He can bless us with greater trust and confidence in Him through His Word.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 8:4-15. Great crowds were gathering to hear Jesus, and He spoke a parable, calling them to keep hearing His Word and to ask the Lord to help them be open to that Word in faith, because there were many enemies of Him and His Word, and many distractions to hearing that Word. Jesus used the example of what people at that time were very familiar with: small plots of land where seed was sown by hand. The seed was scattered and landed in different places: some on hard paths between the plots, some on rocky ground, some among thorns and other weeds, and some on good soil. Only the seed in good soil grew bountifully. Jesus then said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus told parables like this primarily to keep people’s attention and make them think, using examples they could relate to, but even then, people, including His disciples, could not always understand or get the point. Jesus then explained that the seed was the Word of God. The devil snatched away the Word from people where he could, so that they would not believe and be saved. The Word on rocky soil represented people who began to believe but had no roots and fell away from faith in times of trial and testing. Thorns, the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, choked out others, and they did not mature in faith and continue in it. Other things seemed to become more important than faith in the Lord and His Word. There were those, though, who heard the Word and held it fast in an honest and trusting heart, by God’s grace, and bore fruit with patience, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, even in difficult times. That is what we ask the Lord to continue to help us believe and do, through His Word and Sacraments, and to keep us close to that Word in our daily lives. The Lenten season can help us with that, as we remember how much Christ has done for us in His saving work.
The Epistle lesson is one of the longest readings of the year, from 2 Corinthians 11:19-12:10, as Paul writes of God’s grace at work in him, through the Word. He could boast of His strong Jewish background, as he also does in Philippians 3:4-9. But he knows that it is only worthless rubbish compared with Christ, his Lord, and what Jesus has done for him. He could speak of the many troubles and sufferings he has gone through, as he does in this passage, from 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. But those sacrifices and struggles do not help or save him. Instead, he must speak of the things that show his weaknesses and his need simply to trust in the mercy and work of Christ His Savior, for him. He teaches, “Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6). Yet he has to admit to his own anxiety for all the churches” and his “daily pressures” (2 Cor. 11:28-29). He was still a poor miserable sinner and calls himself the “foremost,” the “chief“ of sinners (1 Timothy 1:14-15) and is saved only by God’s grace. Paul then speaks of visions and revelations of the Lord and even being caught up to see a glimpse of heaven, of “paradise” (12:1-4). Some think that he may have needed these special revelations and more teaching, as a fairly new convert to Christ after being a Pharisee. At the same time, God gave him a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him humble and not conceited (12:7). What it was, we do not know, but even when he prayed three times for it to be taken away, God did not do so. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul then says, “for the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” - strong not in himself, but in Christ as his Lord and Savior, and Christ’s Word, the Scriptures, and His guidance and forgiveness. That is how we, too, with all our weaknesses and struggles, at times are strong in Christ, confessing our own sins and weaknesses, and trusting His mercy, forgiveness, and strength for our future as we continue to listen to the Word. The coming Lenten season, then, gives us another good opportunity for that, as well as in our regular worship.
The Scripture readings for this Sunday follow the One Year Series, which some of our local churches and others are now following. This differs from the Three Year Series, where the Epiphany season continues for three more weeks. The One Year Series has three weeks of Pre-Lenten services, leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent on February 18th. The first of these, on Feb. 1st, is called Septuagesima Sunday, from the Latin word for “seven,” and marks the Third Sunday before Lent. One commentator, Fred Lindemann (CPH, 1958, p. 20), says that this week involves the “call” to get ready for the serious, penitential season of Lent.
The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 17:1-7. God’s Old Testament people were not ready for the challenges of traveling through the wilderness from Egypt to the promised land. God had just provided the gift of manna, daily bread from Him for them, but then they came to a place where there was no water. They quarreled with Moses and accused him and God of bringing them into the wilderness to die of thirst. Moses pleaded with God for help, and the Lord had Moses and some of the elders of Israel go to a rock. The Lord would be at the rock, and Moses was to strike the rock with the staff he had used to turn the water of the Nile River into blood (Exodus 7:14-25). From the rock flowed abundant water for all the people. This was a “call” from the Lord to trust Him, even in difficult circumstances in the wilderness wanderings. Moses called this place “Massah” (testing) and “Meribah” (quarreling), because the people were asking whether the Lord was among them. This is a call for us to trust the Lord, too, even in difficult times. He will be there and provide, as He knows best.
The Psalm is Psalm 95. It is a “call” to come and sing to the Lord and praise Him as the Rock of our salvation, with thanksgiving and joy. He is the one true God, the Creator, the Maker of all things, their Good Shepherd, in contrast with other “gods,” which are only “worthless idols” (Psalm 96:5). Parts of this psalm are used in the Matins and Morning Service in our current hymnal, in the song called the Venite (Oh Come). This psalm then ends with a warning not to harden hearts against the Lord and His voice and Words, as the people did in our Old Testament lesson (Exodus 17:1-7 and again in Numbers 20:1-3 and warned about in Deuteronomy 6:16): “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.” There was the danger of going astray from the Lord and losing out on the “rest” in the Promised Land and the eternal rest and peace in heaven. (See a longer discussion of this in Hebrews 3:7-4:10.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:6. Paul uses the image of athletes in training for a race. Olympic athletes and others competing in sports know the importance of “disciplined” and not “aimless” training. As Christians, we need that “self-control” in our lives, too, for our goal is the “imperishable” crown of eternal life with our Lord in Heaven. Paul uses the story of God’s Old Testament people in the wilderness that we have been hearing about in these readings. They had so many blessings from the Lord. They went through the waters of the Red Sea (a pre-figuring of baptism), and they had spiritual food and drink from the Lord. The pre-incarnate Christ, God the Son, was with them, as their spiritual rock. Yet, as Paul says, many of them rebelled against God and desired evil and were “disqualified” and “overthrown in the wilderness.” They are examples for us, so that we stay with Christ as the Rock of our Salvation, by God’s power and grace. The Lenten season coming up is a great time for us to be strengthened and encouraged in our own faith through Christ and His gifts for us, in His Word and Sacraments. (This is not to say that we can save ourselves by our own efforts. See other Scriptures that describe our Lord as “the Rock of our salvation”: Psalm 18:1-2, Psalm 19:14, etc. Jesus is our Good Shepherd as we listen to His voice. He leads and guides us. See Jesus in John 10:1-11. See the promises of “the crown of eternal life” that the Lord promises to those who continue in Christ: 2 Timothy 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, Revelation 2:10, 3:11, 4:10-11, etc.)
Above all, listen to our Gospel lesson for today, Matthew 20:1-16. Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard. People are called and hired by the master to go and work in his vineyard at various times of the day. Some work all day, and others only for a short time, at the end of the day. Yet all receive the same wage - the gift of eternal life. They are only in trouble if they think they have earned this gift by doing something more or better, or deserve something more than others, by their efforts, focusing on themselves and what they have done, in comparison with others. instead of simply trusting God’s grace, in calling them to faith and keeping them in that grace and faith. Just before this parable of Jesus, the disciples are surprised by what Jesus has been saying and teaching about rich people, who seem so blessed in this life but may not be in the Kingdom of God. They asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and then said, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”
By the grace of God, anyone could be brought to faith in Christ Jesus - but not by their own power and efforts and work. Paul writes about himself: “Of this Gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:7-8). Jesus said, on another occasion, “People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the Kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (Luke 13:28-30). Jesus used almost the same words before and after our Gospel lesson for today (Matthew 19:30 and 20:16). We trust not in ourselves or in what we have done and accomplished, but in Christ alone and His saving work for us: His life, death, and resurrection. And we should not “begrudge His generosity” for others or for us. Stay close to Christ in faith through His Word. As John wrote (2 John 9), “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teachings of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” The coming weeks and the Lenten season will help you with all of that and keep the faith.
If you have switched from the three year series of readings for worship to the one year series, you will notice some changes. For example, in the one year series, this Sunday’s readings are about the Transfiguration of Jesus. In the three year series, the Transfiguration readings do not come until Feb.15, just before Ash Wednesday. These readings are all Scripture, though, and as God’s Word, it does not matter just when we hear them. Just keep listening and learning.
The psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 2, another of the psalms that prophesy the coming of “the Anointed One,” an Old Testament term translated in the New Testament as “the Messiah” or “the Christ,” titles for our Lord Jesus. See John 1:41, where Andrew told his brother, Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah,” (which means “Christ”). He brought him to Jesus.” This psalm also says that this coming one would be the Lord’s “King” and would be the Son of God, “begotten of the Father.” Unfortunately, many nations and peoples and earthly kings and leaders (including Satan and his forces) would oppose Him and plot against Him (and even put Him to death). The Lord would laugh at them in derision, though, and ultimately win the victory through His Son, who would bring forgiveness for our sins through His suffering and death. By their rejection of Christ Jesus, His enemies would lose the gifts and blessings of Christ, and would be defeated completely when He returns on the last day. The Lord then warns all leaders and others to be wise and “serve the Lord with gladness” and “kiss the Son,” as Samuel had kissed Saul when he was anointed him as the first “prince” of God’s people (1 Samuel 10:1). All are “to take refuge in Him” and “rejoice” in Him, in Jesus, as we do, too.
The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 34:29-35. Moses was a great leader of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. He was allowed to be in the presence of God and see some of God’s glory when he received the Ten Commandments, and his face shone with a bit of God’s glory as he spoke to the people. Then Moses would put a veil on his face, until he spoke again with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:4-18 tells us that the glory on Moses was hidden because it would be a “fading glory” due to the sin and rebellion of the people, again and again, and even Moses’ own sin and weakness. Eventually, the Old Covenant with Israel was replaced by the New Covenant in Christ Jesus as Savior, when He came, available for all nations and peoples. Read this 2 Corinthians 3 passage carefully, as you have time.)
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus took three of His disciples to a mountain, and His glory as “the beloved Son of God” was seen by them as His face and clothing shone like the sun with great light. Elijah, the great Old Testament prophet, and even Moses, the prophet and Biblical writer, whose face also shone, reflecting a bit of God’s glory, were with Jesus and talking with Him. And then God the Father appeared, in a bright cloud, as he had often appeared to Moses and the people during the Exodus, and in the tabernacle and the temple. God the Father spoke from the cloud and clearly identified Jesus as His Son, who was perfectly well-pleasing to Him. The disciples were therefore to “listen to Him.” At first, though, Peter wanted to build tents for them all to keep this good thing going. But then the glory of the Father, and of Jesus, and all that was happening, terrified the disciples, and they fell on their faces. They could not look on even a glimpse of this glory. Jesus, though, touched them and told them to rise and not be afraid, and everything was back to normal. Only Jesus was with them, and He told them not to say anything about all that had happened until He, “the Son of Man” and Son of God, was raised from the dead.
Peter and the others did not understand a lot of this and failed Jesus miserably, running away when He was arrested and suffered and died on the cross. But after His resurrection, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were mightily at work in these disciples, and they became stronger in faith in Jesus, and Peter then spoke and wrote about Jesus as Lord and Savior and the importance and truth of this Transfiguration event, in our Epistle lesson for today, 2 Peter 1:16-21. This was not “a cleverly devised myth,” as some people said back then and some still say today. Peter and the others were eyewitnesses to the majesty, honor, and glory of Jesus and the words His heavenly Father spoke about Him on the holy mountain. And they had something they called “even more sure, the prophetic Word of God.” They had heard that Word for three years, though they struggled to understand and believe it at times. They also had the teaching of Jesus after His resurrection, pulling everything together for them as their risen Lord. And they had the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit (the Third person of the One True Triune God) given to them by the Father and Jesus, and at Pentecost. This is what was true of all the Scriptures we now have, in the Old and New Testaments. Peter put it this way, about himself and all the other Biblical speakers and writers: “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The picture is of a sailboat that cannot move unless carried along by the wind and current, in this case, of the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired (literally, 'God-breathed) (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is the very Word of God Himself, coming through these human writers and speakers. Peter says the same thing about Paul's words and writing in 2 Peter 3:15-18. Jesus Himself had also promised, “If you abide in my Word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-36). Jesus also said, in John 16:12-13, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” And Jesus said, in John 17:14-17, “I have given them (the disciples) Your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world… Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is Truth.” May we stay in that Word of God, the Scriptures, always!
The Epiphany season continues this week, with the light of Christ Jesus shining forth with His first great “sign,” or miracle, turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana, in the Gospel lesson, John 2:1-11. There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson, for the psalm, and for the Epistle lesson that relate to the Gospel. I can’t go into all those readings in detail and don’t know which reading you will hear in your particular church, but I’ll try to focus mostly on one of them in each case. I encourage you to look at both readings, if you have the time.
The first choice for the Old Testament lesson is Exodus 33:12-23. The children of Israel had rebelled and built a golden calf to worship, instead of the One True God. Moses had pleaded for God’s mercy and forgiveness for them. There is some judgment, but God shows mercy, too. Moses prays that God would give him a glimpse of His glory to sustain him in dealing with the difficult people of Israel. God gives him a glimpse, but only a glimpse, for sinful man cannot see the face of God in all His glory, in this life.
The other Old Testament reading is Amos 9:11-15. The Lord had predicted through Amos the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel because of its great sinfulness. There is still hope, though, for a remnant of God’s people, from the line of King David. There will be abundant crops and grapes and sweet wine and vineyards and wine to drink. This is a picture of the New Israel, with people of “all the nations who are called by the Lord’s Name,” with God doing His rescuing work through our Lord Jesus. This will be a true everlasting kingdom.
The psalm could be Psalm 111, which we heard on December 20th, where the focus is on the great works of our faithful Lord, as He remembers His covenant promises and sends redemption to His people through the coming of our Lord Jesus. The psalm could also be Psalm 67, where the Lord promises to be gracious to us and bless and let His face shine upon us in the Person of His own Son, Jesus. There would be increased blessings on earth, through the saving power of Jesus, for all nations, as the Savior who died and rose again for all. People on all the ends of the earth could fear and trust in Him. For He is the way to eternal life for all who are brought to faith in Him. (John 3:16 and 14:6). (See also Acts 9:2, 18:25, 19:9,23, 24:22, and 28:26-28.)
The Gospel lesson is John 2:1-11, when Jesus goes to a wedding at Cana. When the wine runs out, sooner than expected, His mother is there, too, and tells Him about this problem. Jesus does not identify her by name and seems to speak strangely and says, "Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus knew that He had to speak and act according to His heavenly Father’s way and plan and will. His mother trusts him, at this point, and tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” When the time was right, Jesus had the servants fill to the brim six stone water jars with water. He tells them then to take some of the liquid, now turned into wine, and take it to the master of the wedding feast. The master is amazed and calls the bridegroom and says, “Everyone serves the good wine first… but you have kept the good wine until now.” Then we hear the closing statement, “This was the first of the signs, the miracles, of Jesus, and manifested His glory” as the promised Savior. And what a sign it was - as much as 180 gallons of water turned into wine! The goal of all that Jesus did was that his disciples would believe in Him and that as many others as possible would believe in Him, too.
People might say, though, “Why didn’t Jesus do something much more spectacular, as the first of His signs, His miracles?” This was exactly what was predicted in the Amos nine passage when the promised Savior would come. There would be good, sweet wine in abundance. This same picture of great abundance is used in other places in prophecy in the Old Testament, too. See Isaiah 25:6-9, where the Lord is promised to save His people and swallow up death forever, and provide well-aged wine and rich food in eternal life for His people. See the words of Joel 3:18-19, 24, 26, too. The Lord Jesus would do many more dramatic signs and miracles, through His ministry and sacrificial death and resurrection, to forgive our sins and count us acceptable to Him for salvation. But this miracle also affirmed our Lord’s care for us in our daily lives with marriage and family and joys together.
The Scriptures also affirm the importance of love and care in marriage and families, in one of the possible Epistle lessons for today, Ephesians 5:22-33. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us and His cleansing us through baptism, the washing of water with Word, and His counting us holy and without blemish through what He has done for us are all demonstrations of His amazing grace and love for us. In the same way, husbands and wives are to live in love and commitment to each other and be willing to live sacrificially for each other and their families.
This is true also for us as we seek to live together in the body of Christ, the church, as Paul describes in Romans 12:6-16, the other possible Epistle lesson. We have the same faith in Christ, but we have different gifts and abilities, as God has blessed us, and we are called to use what we have, not just for ourselves, but for each other and others around us. “Let love be genuine,” Paul says. “Abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good.” Paul then provides a long list of what qualities might be shown in that love. “Be fervent in Spirit, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer; show hospitality to strangers. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Don’t be haughty, but associate with the lowly” … and on and on. Of course, the church is not perfect, and neither are we. So we live by the grace and mercy of God and Christ’s perfect love and forgiveness for us, and seek to show that love with one another, too, as best we can.
We are now in the Epiphany season, where we think of the light of Christ shining forth through the Word of God and through His own Words and deeds for us, as our Savior. It is also a time for thinking about sharing our Christian faith with others in whatever ways we can. We continually need God and His Word, as the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 42:1-7. When our souls are cast down and troubled by the cares of this life, we can hear the unbelieving world say, “Where is your God?” and we can become discouraged. Three times the psalmist says this, in Psalms 42 and 43. But each time the psalmist finally realizes that he needs to “hope in God,” for He is our “Living” Lord and our salvation, most especially in Christ Jesus, in His Word and Sacraments, as the New Testament makes clear. We need to keep reading and hearing the Word, to quench our spiritual thirst, and to come when we can and are able “in procession to the house of God.”
The Old Testament lesson is 1 Kings 8:6-13. We hear of how Solomon was able to build the temple in Jerusalem and then made sure that the ark of the covenant was moved from David’s tent of meeting into the Most Holy Place of the temple, where God would appear to His people in a cloud of glory. In the Ark were only the two tablets of stone given at Mt. Sinai by God, representing all of His Word and will and promises He gave to His people. How important that Word of God is to us, still, now found completed in the Scriptures of the New Covenant, New Testament, as well as those of the Old Testament, centered in salvation in Christ.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 2:41-52. We hear of Jesus as a 12-year-old, accompanying Joseph and Mary to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. This is the only Scripture in the Bible about Jesus in his youth, from the time He returned from Egypt as a little boy until He began His public ministry and was baptized at about age 30. Joseph and Mary seemed to be faithful in following Jewish tradition through the years and in teaching Jesus the same. This year, though, when Passover days were ended, and the family started home in a caravan of people, Jesus did not go with them, but stayed behind in Jerusalem. When they realized that He was not with their group, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for Him. They finally found Him in the temple with the teachers, listening and asking questions. “And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” Also astonished, Mary asked Him, in a kind of rebuke, “Child, why have you treated us this way? Your father and I have been searching for you in great “distress.” (The only other time in Luke’s Gospel that this word is used is when Jesus uses this word in describing the rich man’s “anguish” in hell in Luke 16:24-25.) Jesus responds with a question. “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” Joseph and Mary do not understand what He is saying and meaning. Already at age 12, though, Jesus knows that He is the Son of God and must do His Father’s will and be about His Father’s work, but He also must be submissive to His Heavenly Father’s plans and timetable and to Joseph and Mary. He returned home and was a faithful child. He increased in wisdom and favor with God and man and grew in stature, too, to be a man. Mary kept all these things in her heart and pondered them, as she had done earlier, with the birth of Christ and the words of the shepherds, in Luke 2:19. She did not understand everything, though, and was not perfect. Early in His ministry, we read that Jesus didn’t even have time to eat, and when his family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, “He is out of His mind” (Mark 3:20-21). And soon after, in Mark 3:31-34, Mary and His brothers came and called out to Him. Jesus ignored them and said to those listening to His teaching: “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” John 7:5 also says that “not even Jesus’ brothers believed in Him.” Mary seemed to have her ups and downs, but she was saved by faith through God’s saving grace for her, as were Jesus’ brothers. See Luke 1:46-47 and Acts 1:14. (Most think that Joseph died and that Jesus, as the oldest son, had learned and practiced Joseph’s skill and worked as a carpenter, thus caring for His family, until His public ministry began. See what is said of Him, as He goes to His hometown of Nazareth and teaches in the synagogue in Mark 6:3, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? And they took offense at Him.) Yet He faithfully carried out His Father’s will and finally went willingly to the cross to pay for our sins and save us, too, through the gift of faith in Him.
The Epistle Lesson is Romans 12:1-5. For eleven chapters, Paul has been writing the Good News of Christ as Savior to people in Rome. He appeals to God’s mercies for them, now, that they may, by the grace of God, have their minds transformed and renewed and may worship and trust the Lord Jesus and His saving work for them. As he had written early in this letter, “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” as “the righteousness of God is revealed and given to us,” not by what we do, but by what Christ has done for us, and “our living now by faith in Him” (Romans 1:15-17). Paul knew that he lived only by the grace of God given to him in Christ. And he encourages the believers in Rome also not to think highly of themselves, but to think about the measure of faith that God had given and assigned to each of them, and how they can serve Christ together. Every Christian is a part of one body in Christ. We have different gifts and abilities, given by God’s Spirit, but the same faith and confidence, not in ourselves, but in our Savior. In Him we trust, because of what He has already done and accomplished for us, and we ask Him to conform us more and more to Him and His Word. That is our spiritual worship, as He works in us and strengthens us through His Word and the blessings of our own baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And we can keep reading and studying that Word on our own, for the strength our Lord provides in that way, too.
This Second Sunday after Christmas continues the Christmas season and the early days of our Lord Jesus. It has nothing to do with the popular song about The 12 Days of Christmas: “On the first day of Christmas… etc.” The Scriptures continue to tell the story of the early days of Jesus and His family and how they endured danger and suffering and had to make long journeys to Egypt and then back to Nazareth. We hear of others in their challenges and journeys, and how the Lord will help and carry us, too, whatever the days ahead will bring for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 77:11-20, a psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a musician serving David and God’s people. See 1 Chronicles 15:16-19 and 16:4-5,7. Asaph also wrote Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83. Read the first 10 verses of Psalm 77 to see how discouraged and troubled Asaph was, at times, wondering if God had forgotten to be gracious to him and his people. Finally, he wakes up to his need to listen to the Scriptures and to God’s Words and promises. In v.11ff, he remembers the holy way and the mighty deeds of the Lord and how He had redeemed His people from slavery in the Exodus from Egypt. He had carried His people through stormy times and great waters and led His people like a flock, through Moses and Aaron and others. This is prophetic of Jesus, too, when He came as the Good Shepherd and Savior and made His way through the stormy sea, walking on water and showing no footprints, and rescuing his disciples and Peter. See Matthew 14:24-33, for example, and Christ’s preparing for us an unshakeable Kingdom, as spoken of in Hebrews 12:26-28.
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 46:1-7. Jacob (Israel) and his family had been through many troubles, including the seeming death of his son, Joseph. Now he is told that Joseph is alive and is a leader in Egypt, and that he and his family will be blessed and become a great nation there, by God’s grace. The Lord God Himself told Jacob this in a vision and promised that He would be with His people in Egypt and would make sure that Jacob would be buried in a place prepared for him in Canaan. (The Lord kept His promises and later on, of course, rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and brought them back to the Promised Land, through Moses and then Joshua. You can also read comments on this made by Stephen in his speech to Jewish religious leaders in the New Testament in Acts 7:14-17.)
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 2:13-23. Once again, there is danger and trouble, this time for Jesus Himself and His family. An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and warns him to take Jesus and His mother with him to Egypt, because Herod wants to find Jesus and kill him. The family quickly left and stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod. (The family could, in this way, fulfill the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, when they returned from Egypt to Israel, after Herod died.) The wise men were to report back to Herod after they located Jesus, but they were warned not to do so. Herod is furious that the wise men did not tell him the location of Jesus, and as a very cruel man, he decides to take no chances that he would miss killing Jesus and orders that every baby boy in Bethlehem and the surrounding area, two years old and younger, should be killed. (This is totally in character for Herod, for other sources report that Herod had several of his own family members murdered because he feared that they might be a threat to him.) This event also fulfilled a prophecy of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:15, connected with the sorrow and weeping by Rachel, wife of Jacob, who dies in childbirth, during the birth of Benjamin, the “son of her troubles.” (At the time of Jeremiah, many mothers would weep at the death of their children, at the hands of the Babylonians. At the birth of Christ, others would weep at the death of their children at the hands of Herod, very near where Rachel had wept, long before.) After Herod died, an angel appeared again to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the child and his mother and return to the land of Israel. Since Herod’s son, Archelaus, was now reigning in Judea and having received another warning in a dream, Joseph did not go to Bethlehem or near Jerusalem, but settled in Nazareth, since that was his hometown and the hometown of Mary. (See Luke 1:26ff.) Jesus grew up in Nazareth and is referred to as a Nazarene in this passage and in Mark 14:67. Since this northern area of Israel was also known as the District of Galilee, Peter was sometimes called a Galilean. (See Mark 14:70.) Galileans were often looked down upon by Jews from the Jerusalem area. When told of Jesus, Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). This location, where Jesus grew up, was something of a barrier between Jesus and the Jews in Judea and Jerusalem, but it was where God the Father wanted Him, for much of His ministry.
The Epistle lesson is 1 Peter 4:12-19. We have already heard in our other readings of the changes and challenges and troubles that come at times for those following the Lord. Jesus experienced those things in the fullest way, as our Savior, doing His Father’s will in a perfect way in this sinful world. Peter had talked about this again and again in this letter. In 1 Peter 3:17-18, he wrote, by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” In 4:1, Peter also wrote, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought.” Now in this passage, 4:12ff., Peter says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.” This is not “something strange,” but what Christ went through for you and me in the fullest way. We may be “insulted for the name of Christ,” but we can rejoice in that, for the Spirit of God is keeping us in faith, for eternal life. We are not to do evil, bringing on consequences we deserve, though that happens at times to us because we are struggling sinners. However, if we suffer for being a Christian, God is glorified in the name of Christ. Such suffering can happen “in the household of God,” as it did with Peter (and Paul) and other early Christians. James wrote, in his letter, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” The Lord will carry us through to salvation, though, unlike the ungodly, who have no one to save them. So, Peter says, “Those who suffer, according to God’s will, submit their souls to a faithful Creator” while still seeking “to do what is good.” Our future is secure in Christ.
The psalm for this Sunday, the First Sunday after Christmas, is Psalm 89:1-8. The author, Ethan the Ezrahite, seems to be the Ethan who, together with Heman, worked with temple music, and is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:31 and 1 Chronicles 2:6. This psalmist sings of the steadfast love of the Lord, who will be faithful forever. The Lord made covenant promises to King David and to his offspring that would last for all generations. The Lord reigns from heaven, above all the holy ones, the angels. Yet He cares about us on earth, and He faithfully kept His promises in sending a particular Offspring of David, our Lord Jesus, as Savior, with good new for all people. In the Christmas story, an angel announced His birth to shepherds, and the angels , the heavenly host, give Him praise and glory. (In Psalm 89:24, this Offspring of David is called the Lord’s powerful “Horn,” “the Horn of our salvation,” as predicted also by Zechariah, in Luke 1:68-69 and 76-79. The closing verses of Psalm 89:50-51, again after our reading, also predict how this Anointed One, the Christ, would be “mocked and insulted” by many, along with the mockery against His servants, His followers. Yet in His suffering and death and resurrection, the Lord and we who trust in Christ Jesus, will be blessed forever. Amen and Amen! This is most certainly true (Psalm 89:52).)
In the Old Testament lesson, 2 Samuel 7:1-16, this same promise of an everlasting kingdom is given to David and to a particular Descendant of His, Jesus the Christ, and all who trust in Him. David will not be able to do all he wished, including building a temple for the Lord. His son, Solomon, and other descendants would be blessed with a kingdom in Israel that would last for several hundred year. When they committed iniquity and sin, though, there would be discipline and judgment, often brought at the hands of their enemies. Yet the Lord would still fulfill His steadfast love, with the coming of an everlasting kingdom in Christ Jesus. The alternate Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 11:1-5, is also a prediction of the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus, coming from the line of Jesse and King David. The Spirit of the Lord would be upon Him, from His birth by the power of the Holy Spirit, through His growth in the Word of God by the same Spirit, and His baptism, when the Holy Spirit came upon Him in a very visible way. He was called to fulfill all righteousness by His perfect life, in place of our very imperfect lives, and His faithfulness in doing His Father’s will and suffering and dying in our place, paying the penalty for all our sins. He would battle sin and evil for us and eventually will do away with all the wicked and bring His believers to eternal joy. (See Scriptures like Luke 1:32-35, 2:40, Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1-11, Hebrews 2:9-10, Romans 6:3-5, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, etc.)
This Kingdom of God was predicted to the virgin Mary, of the house of David, by an angel also, in Luke 1:26-38. By the miracle of God’s Holy Spirit, she would give birth to the Son of God, true God and a true man. This One would receive and reign over the everlasting Kingdom “not of this world” (John 18:36). The Christmas story tells of the birth of Jesus Christ; and when He was brought to the temple in Jerusalem, soon after, we hear our Gospel lesson, Luke 2:(22-32) 33-40. Two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, had been waiting in faith for the coming of this promised Savior, who would be the Consolation (the Comforter) and the Redeemer of His people, bringing the forgiveness of sins. God brings Simeon to recognize Jesus as “the Lord’s Christ” and the Savior of the world, for all peoples, both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). Simeon speaks the words of what is often used in worship, the Nunc Dimittis. God’s Word was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, and now Simeon could die in peace, but he predicted that Jesus would also be a person whom many would oppose. He came to be the Savior of all, but many would resist and reject Him, too. Those who were brought to believe in Him would be raised to eternal life, but many would stumble and fall and lose the eternal Kingdom of God, which would only come through Jesus. The thoughts of all hearts would thus be revealed as being with Christ Jesus or against Him. Mary’s own soul would be pierced with sorrow at the suffering and death of her Son. But through God’s grace, she would still believe in Him and receive the gift of eternal life, as well. Elderly Anna had been a widow for many years, but continued in worship and prayer, trusting her Lord, even in difficult times. It was revealed to her that the Savior had come. She, too, could depart in peace at her death, to eternal life in heaven. She knew, though, that even though she was very old, she still had work to do for her Lord. She began to thank God and to tell others who were waiting for their Redeemer that He had finally arrived, in the birth of Jesus, so that they might have the same joy and peace in their Redeemer as she had. Are there people with whom we could share this Good News of Jesus, too, no matter what our age is?
In our Epistle lesson, Galatians 4:1-7, Paul speaks of the fact that when we were children, we were all under the supervision of our parents and enslaved to the elementary principles of this world. Paul, as a Jew, was caught up in all sorts of rules and regulations, many of them humanly-made, which he could not do and keep. (See Colossians 2:20-23, for example.) Others, following false gods and false religions, lived far from the true God and His will, and served other creatures, including themselves and their ideas, instead of the Creator. (See the dramatic description of this is Romans 1:18-32.) God knew our sinful human condition and yet had a plan of rescue for us. When the time was just right, He sent forth His own Son, Jesus, born of a woman by a miraculous virgin birth. He was a true man, as well as the Son of God. He was under the Law, yet followed it perfectly, in our place, and redeemed us by paying the price of His own sacrificial death for all our sins and failings. He rose in victory and through His Spirit has been bringing people to faith in Him and making them (and us also who trust in Him by that gift of faith) the children of God. That means that we are no longer slaves to our old lives, but are heirs of eternal life when we die. (See Romans 8:9, 14-17.) This was God’s rescue plan for us, finally fulfilled for us in the Saving work of Christ, beginning with His coming and being born in Bethlehem. (See Paul’s description of all this also in Ephesians 1:5-9.) What a great future we have, now and eternally, as the adopted children of God, through the Christmas miracle and all that followed, by God’s grace.
The Psalm for this 4th Sunday in Advent is Psalm 111. It is a psalm for God’s people to sing in praise and thanksgiving to God, especially as they gather as a congregation. This psalm focuses on the works and deeds of the Lord, while other psalms focus more on the Words of the Lord. We know that the Lord is great and righteous and gracious and merciful and faithful and just and trustworthy because of what He has done for us, in keeping His covenant promises for us, and in sending redemption to us. There was the redemption from slavery in Egypt and so many other times when God rescued His Old Testament people, even when they had been sinful and rebellious against Him, too often, as we have been. We especially grow in wisdom and gain a deeper understanding of His love as we see the saving work of His Son, Jesus Christ, in the New Testament. We then try to honor His Name and seek to fear and trust in Him in our own lives. We pray that His praise endures forever, in our own hearts, by His grace and the gift of faith worked in us.
In the Old Testament lesson, Deuteronomy 18:15-20, God promises through the prophet Moses that there would one day be a prophet like Moses, but even greater than he. The Lord would put His words in this prophet’s mouth, and He would speak God’s Word faithfully, and everyone should be listening to Him. This is a reference to Christ Jesus and His preaching and teaching and work. Peter says that this prophet is Jesus in Acts 3:20-26. Stephen also quotes this passage and refers to Jesus in Acts 7:39ff. See how John the Baptist, in John 1:21-34, explains that he is not the Christ, the great prophet, but rather prepares the way for Jesus and is not worthy even to untie the sandals of Jesus. He identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” and was “before him,” though John was born before Him. Jesus, He says, was “the Son of God.” In Deuteronomy 18:20, God warns through Moses that there will be false prophets, to whom people must not listen, and that what these prophets say will not always come true. Furthermore, people must not, above all, listen to those who speak in the name of other gods. People must listen to the Words of this one true Prophet predicted by Moses, though, and He is clearly identified as Jesus in the New Testament. See Hebrews 1:1-2: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world.” (See also Matthew 17:5 and many other such Scriptures.)
The Gospel lesson is John 1:19-28, already referred to in the previous passage. The testimony of John the Baptist was that he was not the Christ, nor Elijah come back to life, nor the great Prophet predicted by Moses, but rather John was the one to make straight the way for the greatest Prophet, Jesus. Right after this Scripture, John also speaks of the baptism of Jesus and how the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus like a dove and remained on Him, identifying Him as the Promised One and the Savior, who could bring the gift of faith through water and the Spirit in the New Testament Sacrament of Baptism. See also John 3:1-7 and Acts 2:38-39 and Matthew 28:18-20, and Paul combining the Word with the Gift of baptism in Acts 16:29-34 and in Mark 16:14-16.
The Epistle lesson is Philippians 4:4-7. Paul had already written in Philippians 3:1, in his Epistle of Joy: “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” And so again, two more times, Paul says, in Chapter 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Why should God’s people be rejoicing? Because, Paul says, the Lord is at hand, and He is living in every believer in Christ with all the gifts He has provided for us in Christ as our Savior. We are not perfect and cannot rid ourselves of all our anxieties. Paul could not, as he admits in 2 Corinthians 11:28-29: “And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the church. Who is weak, and I am not weak?” Yet in everything, even our worries, we can bring our requests to the Lord by prayer and supplication, asking the Lord to supply what we really need, and we can be thankful for what the Lord has already provided for us, so richly. So, Paul says, we can seek to let our gentleness and graciousness be known to others, in building our relationships with others. Paul put it this way in Titus 3:1-2: “to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” It is the peace, forgiveness, and hope that God has given us that guard and protect our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and encourage us to be confident in Him and His Word and to seek to be Christlike in our dealings with others. See the words of Jesus Himself in John 14:25-27. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But when the Helper (the Comforter), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” That teaching still goes on for us, as we listen, even today, to what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit says and does for us in and through the Scriptures.
The Psalm for this Third Sunday in Advent (One Year Series) is Psalm 85. The psalm begins with the recognition that the Lord has forgiven and covered over the sins of His people and restored their fortunes, probably referring to the return to their homeland of a remnant of the people, after the Babylonian captivity. Things were not going well for them, though. The people now living in the land did not want them around and did not want them rebuilding a temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Read Ezra 4:1-4 and 23-24 and Nehemiah 1:3. The Jewish people themselves were more eager to build houses for themselves than to rebuild the temple and parts of Jerusalem that were destroyed. Read Haggai 1:3-11. In v. 4ff in Psalm 85, the psalmist calls upon the Lord to turn the people again to Him and revive them, make them alive again to Him, and His steadfast love and saving work for them. The psalmist is confident that the Lord would again “speak peace“ to His people and prays that they would not again turn to folly, away from the Lord and His will. Then the psalmist speaks of steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace, and these gifts of God are combined together in the Person of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. (See John 1:14, Matthew 3:15, and 1 Corinthians 1:18-21, for example.) We do not produce these gifts, but the Lord will give what is good and bring His salvation near in Christ the Savior, the psalmist says. Righteousness will go before Him, and His footsteps become the way of life and eternal life for us. (See James 1:17-18 and
1 Peter 2:21-25 and 5:12.)
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 40:1-8 (9-11). Isaiah prophesies that the Lord will not give up on His people, but will speak tenderly to them and bring them comfort and pardon. In fact, the glory of the Lord would be revealed. He has spoken, and His Word will stand forever. (See also Mark 13:31 and 1 Peter 1:23-25.) The Lord God will come, in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, who will tend His flock, His people, as a Good Shepherd, and who will bring Good News, the Gospel, to all, including His little lambs and those who are with young. We will see that so clearly in just a few weeks, with the birth of Christ and the Good News to lowly shepherds and influential wise men, and the Lord’s care for His own Son, in danger from Herod and Satan and so many others. John the Baptist would also prepare the way for Him. (See Matthew 2:1-17 and Luke 3:4-6 and Luke 4:1-13, etc.)
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 11:2-10. The coming of Jesus does not mean, of course, that everything will be easy for everyone. John the Baptist has done the right things on behalf of Christ, and yet he has been thrown into prison. John sends some of his disciples for assurances that Jesus truly was the Promised One. Jesus tells them to report to John what they were hearing and seeing. (Luke tells us that John’s disciples were able to be eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus, in Luke 7:18-23.) Both Luke and Matthew record the Words of Jesus, showing that He, as the Savior, was doing exactly what Old Testament prophecy predicted. Blind people can see, and the lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf people can hear. Even some dead people are raised to life, and the poor have the Good News preached to them. (See Isaiah 35:4-7, 26:19, 29:18-19, and 61:1, for example.) Jesus adds these Words: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.” (John was in prison and soon would die, and his disciples would hear of all this. It would be easy for them to wonder why Jesus would allow all this to happen to a faithful follower like John if He, Jesus, really was the Messiah. We struggle with the same questions at times, don’t we, especially when we see things happen that we don’t understand and don’t seem to be fair or right to us in this life?)
Jesus assures John’s disciples that John the Baptist had done faithfully what he was called to do, preparing the way for Jesus Himself, the Savior, even though John would not have an easy life and would not wear fancy, soft clothing or live in a king’s palace. He would, in fact, suffer and die, and his soul would then be taken to everlasting life. Jesus was also, in a sense, predicting His own much greater suffering and death, in payment for the sins of the world, though He was King of the universe, and then be raised to life and ascend and return to eternal life in heaven. And Jesus knew that many would take offense at Him and what He said and did, not trusting in Him and endangering their own salvation, unless they were brought to forgiveness and faith in Him. Simeon had predicted this in Luke 2:34, and Jesus warned about this in Luke 11:23 and John 6:60-63 and 16:1-4. There are many other examples of this offense being taken about Jesus. See Matthew 13:53-58 and 26:31-35 and 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, for example. That is why the Scriptures say, again and again, as in John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God.” That is also why, in Matthew 11:9-10, Jesus affirms again that John the Baptist was a genuine prophet of God and was the messenger sent from God to prepare the way for Jesus as Savior, as predicted in Malachi 3:1 and in our Old Testament lesson in Isaiah 40:1-3 and 9-11, and in the New Testament in Luke 1:15-17 and 1:76-79.
Paul also affirms, in our Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, that he and the other early Christian apostles were also servants of Christ and stewards, managers sharing the Good News of Christ, centered in the mysteries of God’s plan of salvation through Christ alone as Savior, for the sake of the whole world. See how Paul describes this mystery of God’s grace granted to him and for him to share, in Ephesians 3:1-12, “This mystery is that the Gentiles (non-Jews) are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel… This was according to the eternal purpose that He, the Lord, has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.” Paul then needed to be a faithful steward and sharer of this Good News of Christ for all. It did not matter what others thought of Paul. See how Peter described the same for himself and all who were “stewards of God’s varied grace,” in 1 Peter 4:10-11. It is finally God’s Work of grace in and through believers, for His glory, as described also in Ephesians 3:17-21 and in 1 Thessalonians 2:4,13. And Jesus Himself called all of His disciples, including us, to be ready by continuing faith and trust in Him as Savior and His Work through them, until He called them to eternal life or until He returned on the last day. See Luke 12:35-43. Our future is then secure in Christ Jesus, the Son of Man and our Savior, now and eternally.
This is the 2nd Sunday in Advent, as we continue to hear of the “comings” of Christ for us in His saving work, first in Old Testament prophecy and then in His redeeming sacrifice for us and bringing us to faith through His Holy Spirit, and continually guiding us through His Word and Sacraments, and then finally His promise to return on the last day. We had the Old Testament lesson, Malachi 4:1-6, just a few weeks ago, on November 16, and so I will just repeat much of what I wrote about that lesson at that time. A fire of judgment is coming, when all arrogant and evildoers, who have rejected the Lord, will be stubble, with neither root nor branch. For those who fear and trust the Name of the Lord, though, and his Word through Moses (and others), the Sun of Righteousness will come with healing, and the wicked, apart from the Lord, will be like ashes under the feet of God’s people. (See Romans 16:20.) Someone like Elijah will come and turn the hearts of many back to the Lord and to fellow believers, before a day of utter destruction comes. (See Luke 1:13-17, where John the Baptist is clearly identified as the prophet who would come in the Spirit and power of Elijah to do this preparatory work for the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. See also Luke 1:67-79, and consider Matthew 3, where John preaches of the judgment to come while also proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior. See how Jesus also identifies John the Baptist as “the Elijah who is to come,” in Matthew 11:2-15.)
The psalm is Psalm 50:1-15. God the Lord comes, and He does not keep silence. He speaks and summons the whole earth to listen. He speaks to His own people of Israel and says that he will testify against them. They have been making sacrifices to Him, but acting as if they were earning God’s favor, and, as Martin Luther wrote, thought that “God must surely be thankful and indebted to them.” Instead, God reminds them that He is their God and the Creator of all things and owns everything. They could only offer what was already His, and with which he had blessed them. He did not get hungry and did not eat and drink of what they offered Him. Instead, they were living by His grace and mercy for them and should realize how indebted they were to Him. They should offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise to Him for His goodness and mercy to them and serve Him with gratitude, and they needed to realize how much they needed His help in days of trouble and glorify Him for His deliverance, again and again. As the psalm ends in v. 23, God says, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me.”
The Gospel lesson is Luke 21:25-36. Jesus speaks of the end times, and “distress of nations in perplexity” and “people fainting with fear and with foreboding on what is coming on the world,” when they do not have hope in “the Son of Man,” Jesus Himself. If people trust solely in themselves and their purely human answers and efforts, they will have no genuine hope. Doesn’t that sound like the situation of so many in our troubled world today? However, Jesus says that He came into the world to bring the Kingdom of God near and to accomplish the work of redemption for us through His death and resurrection, as other Scriptures clearly indicate. We are called to faith in Him as our Savior and to trust His Word of promise and salvation, which will not pass away. We are called by His grace and power, not to be weighed down by evil or by the cares of this troubled life, but to “straighten up and raise our heads high,” standing confident before “the Son of Man,” our Lord and Savior, and His Word. We will receive the fullness of our redemption either when we die and are taken in faith to eternal life in heaven, or when we and all living believers are caught up to be with Christ, body and soul, on the last day.
The Epistle lesson, Romans 15:4-13, also calls us to have confidence in “the living and abiding Word of God, which will not pass away.” (See the Words of 1 Peter 1:23-25, also.) Paul reminds us that “through the encouragement of the Scriptures we have hope and can endure in faith in Christ,” as we glorify God with our fellow believers. Paul also reminds us that Jesus “became a servant to the circumcised,” to His fellow Jews, in His Words and deeds and saving work for them on the cross, to confirm His Old Testament promises. Then Paul quotes from numerous other Old Testament promises, showing that the Gospel was also for non-Jews, the Gentiles, for whom Jesus also died. Gentiles can glorify God for His mercy, which is also extended to them, as they are brought to trust in Christ Jesus. Note passage after passage from the Old Testament that Paul quotes to show that Gentiles also can rejoice in Christ and find eternal hope by faith in Him and His saving work for them, too. (See Psalm 18:49 and 2 Samuel 22:50, Psalm 117:1, Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 42:6-10, and in the New Testament, Revelation 5:9 and 7:9-10, etc.) Paul concludes this passage, then, with Words of great hope in Christ for Jews in Rome and many more Gentiles there, as well, as Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all” and “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” through faith in Him. (See 1 Timothy 2:3-8.) Here is Paul’s wish and promises for each of you reading or hearing this, too. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” - in this life and in eternal life to come.
This marks the beginning of a new church year, with the Advent season, as we prepare for the prophecies of and then the coming and birth of Christ, our Savior. This year, we will use the One Year Historic Series of readings, with long-standing Epistle and Gospel readings, and Old Testament and Psalm readings added more recently.
The Psalm is Psalm 24, a psalm of David. David knows that the earth and everything in it are the Lord’s, and He founded and established it all. The Lord wishes David and us to seek to approach Him with pure hearts and not in false and deceitful ways. We cannot do this on our own, but we receive blessings from Him and His righteousness and His saving forgiveness and mercy. David ends the psalm with a song of praise to the Lord, the King of Glory, who comes to us with His glory and might and blessings, as we gather to worship Him.
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 23:5-8. The Lord has condemned false shepherds who have led God’s people astray and scattered them and left them in captivity to others (Jeremiah 23:1-2). The Lord now promises that He will gather the remnant of His flock and provide better shepherds for them (23:3,7-8), as they return to their homeland, after the Babylonian captivity. And the days are coming when God will provide “a righteous Branch” from the line of King David, who will be a just and righteous King. In fact, He will be the Lord Himself coming to be our righteousness and provide salvation and security for us always. See similar prophecies about this “Branch,” our Lord Jesus, in Isaiah 4:2 and 11:1-5,10 and Revelation 22:16-17.
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 21:1-9. This is the familiar story of Palm Sunday and Jesus riding into Jerusalem. He comes as a King, in fulfillment of another direct prophecy from Zechariah 9:9ff, and yet in a humble way, riding on a donkey’s colt, and coming to suffer and die, in payment for the sins of the world, including our own. At this point, though, the people are making a carpet of cloaks and branches and honoring Jesus as the Son of David, coming in the name of the Lord. Some even call Jesus the prophet from Nazareth. This is also fulfillment of our Psalm, Psalm 24, as Jesus truly is “the King of glory.” See how Psalm 118:14-27 is fulfilled that day as well.
The Epistle lesson is from Romans 13: (8-10) 11-14. Paul reminds us to seek to love one another and how loving our neighbor fulfills many of the other commandments of God. We owe the greatest debt to Christ our Savior, though, and the salvation He has come and brought near to us, in His saving work for us. We are called to remain spiritually awake and to continue to trust in Christ, just as when we first believed and were baptized and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” and His robe of righteousness. See Galatians 3:27-29 and Isaiah 61:10-11 also.
The Advent/Christmas season brings all this and so much more to us, in Christ. Advent means “to come to.” Jesus came to and was born in Bethlehem to be our Savior. He continues to come to our hearts and strengthen us in faith, as we remember our own baptism and His promises to us. He comes to us through His Word and in the miracle of the Lord’s Supper. And as we heard last week, Jesus also promises to us at the moment of our death, “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). And he even promises our own resurrection of the body on the last day. How confident we can be as we begin another year of God’s grace for us, this Sunday, too!
On this Last Sunday of the Church Year, we are reminded again of the Victory that is ours in Christ, even in what looks like His Defeat, in His suffering and death for us. The psalm is a familiar one for us, Psalm 46, Luther’s Reformation psalm. Even in the midst of great trouble, God is our Refuge and Strength, and is a very present Help for us, even when chaos and disturbance surround us. The psalmist refers to the River in verse 4, which is associated with the Garden of Eden in its perfect beginning, as described in Genesis 2:10. The fall into sin destroyed that perfection and created numerous problems for God’s people, as described in Jeremiah 2:11-13. Yet God still cared for His people and called them back to faithfulness, seeking to restore them in His love with His river of delights and His Fountain of Life and Light. See Psalm 36:7-9 and Isaiah 41:17-18, as well as later prophecies like Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Zechariah 14:5-9, which point to Jesus and His saving work, as well as eternal life with Christ in heaven. See how these prophecies tie in with the vision John sees in Revelation 22:1-5ff. The psalmist is willing, then, to “be still,” and trust in the Lord and His exalted ways, however He chooses to work them out in a troubled world, by His mercy and love in the Savior to come.
The Old Testament lesson is from Malachi 3:13-18. People in Malachi’s day were saying that it was vain, worthless, to try to serve God, because the arrogant and evildoers prosper and escape God’s judgment and seem to be better off. Then we hear that faithful believers gathered and spoke with one another and encouraged one another. The Lord heard them and renewed His promises to them. He knows those who are truly His by faith, and they are His treasured possession, and one day the distinction between the righteous by faith and the wicked will be clear, in everlasting life, for those saved by His grace. (We need to remember to get together and talk with one another in faith, too, as much as we can.)
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 23:27-43, Jesus and two criminals have been condemned to die by crucifixion. Some were lamenting the death of Jesus as unjust, but Jesus tells them to weep not for Him, but for the many who will suffer judgment in days to come for rejecting Him, their Savior. Jesus is taken to Golgotha, the place of the Skull, to be crucified with the two others. Many make fun of him and ridicule Him. If He really were the Chosen One of God, the Christ, the King, then He could and should save Himself. But Jesus prays that the Father would forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing, and that at least some would eventually be brought to faith and be forgiven. One of the criminals knows and confesses his sins and asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom. Both died that day, but Jesus promised the forgiven sinner that “Today you will be with Me in paradise. “ It looked to so many that Jesus had lost, but He was the actual Victor, earning eternal life for all who trusted in Him by faith, and showing that in His mighty resurrection. At our death, too, Jesus says, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”
The Epistle lesson is Colossians 1:13-20. It is a beautiful description of just what Christ has done for us, too, through His suffering and death and bringing us to faith in Him. God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God… and in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell… and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, making peace by the blood of the cross. In Him all things hold together, and He is the head of the church and Preeminent.” Our confidence is in Him always, as our Lord and Savior, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
As the end of the church year is coming soon, our readings tell us more of God’s plan for us and for our world. The Psalm is Psalm 98 and speaks of singing a new song of the Lord Himself working out salvation for the house of Israel and revealing His righteousness and steadfast love and faithfulness and salvation also in the sight of the nations all over the earth. A time of judgment is coming, but there can be a joyful noise and songs, all over the earth, instead, as people trust the Lord and His plan of salvation in Christ.
The Old Testament lesson, Malachi 4:1-6, is also a prophecy of what is to come. A fire of judgment is coming, when all arrogant and evildoers will be stubble, with neither root nor branch. For those who fear and trust the Name of the Lord, though, and His Word through Moses (and others), the Sun of Righteousness will come with healing, and the wicked will be like ashes under the feet of God’s people. (See Romans 16:20.) Someone like Elijah will come and turn the hearts of many back to the Lord and to fellow believers, before a decree of utter destruction comes. (See Luke 1:13-17, where John the Baptist is clearly identified as the prophet who would come in the Spirit and power of Elijah to do this preparatory work for the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. See also Luke 1:67-79, and look at Matthew 3, where John preaches of the judgment to come and yet also tells of Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior. See how Jesus also identifies John the Baptist as “the Elijah who is to come,” in Matthew 11:2-15.)
The Gospel lesson is Luke 21:5-28 (29-35), where Jesus predicts a time of judgment, during which the temple in Jerusalem and Jerusalem itself will be destroyed. He gives His people who trust in Him and His saving Name a way to recognize and flee from Jerusalem when that terrible time comes (as it did in 70AD). None of this is the actual end, though. Faithful believers in Jesus will keep on sharing the Good News of salvation through Him, even though there will be great opposition at times. There will be the rise and fall of nations and kingdoms, and numerous natural disasters, but the Good News will continue to be spread wherever possible, as it still is today. This is “the times of the Gentiles,” when many more non-Jews will come to faith, though God still wants all people to come to faith in Christ, and the witness to Jewish people of God’s love in Christ Jesus needs to continue, too. Near the end, if we are still alive at that time, there will be “signs” in the skies and “the powers of the heavens will be shaken” and “distress” on earth. We don’t know what all that means or will be, but we are called to be ready, by faith in Christ and His Word. This is not to be a time of great fear, but we are called to trust the Lord, day by day, and straighten up and hold our heads high, because the time of the final redemption from this troubled world is near. “The Son of Man, our Lord Jesus, is coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Then, “Heaven and earth, the physical universe as we know it, will pass away, but the Words of Jesus will not pass away," and there will be new heavens and a new earth, whatever that fully means (2 Peter 3:13 and 1 John 3:2-3), in which righteousness dwells and all is in perfection and all believers will continue to be with the Triune God and the angels forever in perfect peace and joy.
In the Epistle lesson, 2 Thessalonians 3:(1-5) 6-13, Paul reminds us again of what we are to be doing, until the return of Christ on the last day. We are to pray “that the Word of the Lord would speed ahead and be honored” among many more people, and that the Lord would “direct our hearts to His love and to the steadfastness of Christ,” to keep us going in good and difficult times. Paul also warns about people in the church living in idleness and has that famous saying, “If anyone is not willing to work (who could work), let him not eat.” Paul even advises trying to keep away from such people for a time, in the hope that they will wake up and repent. All who can should “work quietly and earn their own living” and not become weary in doing good. Paul uses himself as an example to the church. He had the right to expect to be paid for his work for the believers in Thessalonica. (See 1 Corinthians 9:9-12,18 and 1 Timothy 5:18, for example.) Instead Paul worked night and day as a tentmaker, to show that the Gospel is a free gift of God (1 Corinthians 9:16-18) and that he was not preaching and teaching for his own profit (1 Thessalonians 2:9) and so that he could be an example for others to follow (2 Thessalonians 3:7,9). Above all, Paul prays that the Lord of peace would give the believers peace at all times in every way, for He promises to be with us always, to the end of the age. (See the words of Jesus also in Matthew 28:20 and His Word of promise that the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, would be with us, in John 14:25-27.) There is our hope, in Christ, always.
There are only three Sundays left in this church year, and the new church year begins on November 30, with the Advent season. Our thoughts are turned, therefore, to end times in some of our lessons and the return of Christ and/or the end of our own lives on this earth and eternal life in heaven.
The psalm is Psalm 148, as all of creation is called upon to praise the Lord, beginning with the angels and all the “hosts” already in heaven, having lived and died trusting in the Lord. The sun, moon, and stars and all above the earth are also called to praise, as they witness to the glory and majesty of God as Creator, with the natural knowledge of God. (See Psalm 19:1-4, Romans 1:19-23, and Romans 2:14-15.) All creatures and activities of the natural world on earth are called to praise the Lord, as well, even though now in a “fallen state,” affected by sin in the world. (See Romans 8:21-22.) All people of any age or status on earth are also called to praise the Lord, for He cares about them and has a plan of salvation, here called “a horn raised up for people.” (See also Psalm 18:2, 89:19-29, and 92:10, and the fulfillment of all that in a Son of David, predicted by Zechariah (Luke 1:67-79), qho would be the “horn of salvation for us” (v.68-69), our Lord Jesus, whose powerful yet humble way was prepared by John the Baptist. See John 1:26-30. (If you have a Lutheran Study Bible, see p. 842, where a “horn” is called “an image of power. Animals with horns are bold; in Israelite thought, a horned animal with its head held high symbolized strength and triumph.”)
The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 3:1-15, where Moses is called by “an angel of the Lord,” who is also called God Himself, speaking from the fire of a bush, “burning yet not consumed.” (This may likely be God the Son, the preincarnate Christ, speaking.) Moses is called to “bring God’s people, the children of Israel, out of (slavery) in Egypt.“ Moses is very reluctant about this, but the LORD, I AM WHO I AM, reassures him and enables him. (When Jesus came, He used this name for Himself in His “I AM” sayings, including John 8:12, and most clearly in John 8:54-58. Jesus also quotes from this passage in our Gospel lesson for today, we will see.) Jesus was ultimately that powerful Savior.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 20:27-40. Sadducees, “who deny that there is a resurrection of the dead,” came to Jesus with a theoretical question which, in their view, would show the absurdity of life after death. (Sadducees were more liberal Jews, who also did not believe in angels or spirits. See Acts 4:1-2 and 23:6-11. Some of the most powerful priests were also Sadducees, who hated the Romans yet did not want to upset them, so that they could keep their own positions of power and influence in their nation of the Jews. See also Acts 5:17 and John 11:46-52, where these leaders plan to get rid of Jesus, for their own benefit, yet were also prophetic of His own saving work.) The Sadducees also primarily believed in the validity of only the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Pentateuch. In this passage, they therefore quote from Deuteronomy 25:5-6, a rule about Levirate marriage, a brother marrying a brother’s wife, if the brother died, to keep a family inheritance. If a woman married a man who had six brothers, and he and all the brothers died, who would this woman be married to in heaven, the Sadducees asked? (In reality, Levirate marriage was not considered a binding rule, and few ever followed it.) Jesus clearly affirms that there is a resurrection of the dead. People who are worthy of eternal life (through trust in Jesus and His gift of faith and His saving work for the world) will live in eternal life when they die, though they don’t marry and aren’t given in marriage in heaven. Such questions as the Sadducees raise are no longer a problem in heaven. Jesus then quotes from Exodus 3:15 and the story of the burning bush (a Scripture that the Sadducees should respect) to show that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive with God in heaven, even though they are dead. God is the God of the living, who live and die in Him. (Jesus could have quoted from other very clear passages about life after death, like Daniel 12:1-3, Isaiah 26:19, and Job 19:25-27, etc., but the Sadducees would reject those passages, as not coming from the Pentateuch. The last verse of this Gospel text indicates that they still did not believe Jesus, but realized that they could not trap Him with foolish questions. There is life after death and resurrection from the dead, and Jesus would prove it by His own resurrection from the dead, as well as by events like His transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah appear alive with Him (Matthew 17:1ff).
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17. Paul writes to assure the believers at Thessalonica that Christ had not come back secretly on the Day of the Lord, and they had not missed Him. Other events must occur, including the rise of many false prophets and “a man of lawlessness who will lead many astray,” before the Last Day and the return of Christ. We do not know what all this means, but we must be on alert about false teachings and teachers who could even invade churches. Ultimately, Christ will defeat these and all enemies by “the breath of His mouth and bring them to nothing.” In the meantime, God’s people can thank the Lord that they have come to the true faith through the Holy Spirit and trust in Jesus alone as their Savior. We are to stand firm in the Word of God, spoken by and written down by Paul and others in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. (Paul uses the word “traditions,” but he clearly means what we find in these Scriptures, things “handed down” by these Biblical writers.) We are to check every teaching we hear against what the Scriptures say. God’s Word alone is our foundation, and we are to reject any later “traditions” we hear about that we cannot find in Scripture. The Scriptures keep our focus on the “eternal comfort and good hope” we have through the “grace” of God, which comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, God our Father, and the Holy Spirit. In the Scriptures, we find “every good work and the Word we need.” As Jesus said, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-36). In Christ is our hope in this life and for eternal life to come.
All Saints’ Day is technically observed on November 1st, but it can also be celebrated on the Sunday following the 1st, which this year falls on November 2nd. In our Lutheran understanding, it is a day to remember all believers in the Triune God who have lived and died in faith in Jesus as their Savior and the blessings of heaven they enjoy with the Lord by His love and mercy. In contrast, for example, the Roman Catholic Church says that only those who are canonized, declared to be saints by a vigorous process developed by the church and are completely holy and sinless by their merits, only those saints and maybe some others who have been fully purified by their time in purgatory will be in heaven. In the 1300s, the Roman Catholic church declared that November 2 is “All Souls Day,” a day for remembering those who were believers but had not yet merited eternal life and were in purgatory in order to be fully cleansed of sin and all its consequences.
To see why this Roman Catholic view is wrong, listen to the Scriptures themselves for knowing who a saint is and for hearing the promises of eternal life in heaven for all believers when they die. The Psalm is Psalm 149. Those in “the assembly of the godly” are called to sing praises to the Lord, their Maker and King, for He saves. “He adorns the humble with salvation.” They are to sing high praise to Him, with “two-edged swords in their hands.” Other Scriptures tell us that their “sword” is the Word of God, which they believe in and use. See Hebrews 4:12: “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” Jesus has that sword of the Word in His own mouth (Revelation 1:16-18). And we are called to use that Word as “the weapon of our warfare,” for our own encouragement, and for calling people to follow Christ and His Word (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). God’s Word is “honor for His godly ones” and “judgment” for His enemies. (See Revelation 18:10,20, even against mighty Babylon.)
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 5:1-12. Notice those who are “blessed.” They are those who know that they are “spiritually poor” and “mourn” about their sins and are “meek” before God and “hunger and thirst for His righteousness” and try to be “merciful” because they have received “mercy” from Him, (especially in the sacrificial love and forgiveness Jesus would eventually give them, through His death for them on the cross). Only through Christ Jesus could they be forgiven, be counted “pure in heart,” and be “peacemakers,” sharing the peace of God through the Good News of Christ as Savior (Philippians 4:7). In this life, believers in Christ will face “persecution” and “evil” for seeking to be Christians, but the blessings will come in the Kingdom of heaven.
And how wonderful eternal life in heaven will be! We get a glimpse of that in the vision that God gives John in Revelation 7:9-17. Note that those in heaven will not be just certain special “canonized saints” or just people who have finally been released from purgatory. In fact, the word “purgatory” is never used in Scripture. Instead, John sees in heaven an innumerable multitude of people from all over the world praising God. They know that they did not merit being in heaven, but say, “Salvation belongs to our God… and to the Lamb,” the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:29). They are pure and holy because they have been “washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ, that Lamb,” shed for them on the cross. They give no glory to themselves, but give all glory and honor and thanksgiving to God, forever. They serve the Lord day and night, with all they need provided by God. They have no more tears, but Jesus, the Lamb, will be their Guide and Shepherd forever.
John marvels in the Epistle lesson, 1 John 3:1-3, at the great love of God has given us, so that we can be called children of God; and he says, that is exactly what we are. The sinful world does not know who we are, he says, because it does not know the one true Triune God and His saving work for us in Christ. We are already counted as God’s children now, even with all our struggles and imperfections. And we can’t even imagine what the perfection of heaven will be like, when we will never sin again and see our Lord as He is. We know that time is coming to live in a perfect way, though, by God’s grace, in heaven, and we try, even now, to live more purely according to His Word and to confess our sins and receive His forgiveness when we fail.
Finally, it is beneficial to examine scriptures that already refer to us as saints, counted righteous in God’s eyes by the gift of faith, as believers in Christ. See Romans 1:6-7; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 26-31; Colossians 1:2, 12-14, and 3:12; John 15:3-5, 15-16; and 1 John 5:11-13, as examples. Seek to rejoice in the Lord always, as you await that perfect eternal life to come in heaven, along with all believers in the Lord, through Christ and His Holy Spirit.
Sermon: Reformation and 80th Anniversary of University Lutheran Church
Revelation 14: 6-7
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation is the First Lesson for Reformation, Revelation 14:6-7. Many people at the time of the Reformation chose this passage as a good description of the work of Martin Luther. He was not literally an angel, but the word “angel” also means a “messenger.” Angels often carried messages from the Lord to people, including the great Christmas message, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).
It was that eternal Gospel, that eternal Good News, centered in Christ Jesus as Savior, that Martin Luther finally learned for himself and to share with everyone he could. He was asked to teach the Bible at his university. He had often felt guilty and unworthy before God, and as he read and studied Scripture and the Law of God, including the 10 Commandments, he knew clearly why he felt that way. He actually was a sinner who fell far short of God’s will and desire for him, and he could not be good enough and make himself acceptable to God, no matter how hard he tried.
That’s why, in our text, we also hear the angel, the messenger of God, also saying with a loud voice, “Fear God… because the hour of His judgment has come.” Martin Luther felt that fear, because he had tried becoming a priest and doing what his church said and going on a pilgrimage to Rome and doing other good things and even beating his own body to try to suffer for his sins - but none of that worked, and he felt no peace or forgiveness. And he knew that a popular idea of his church at the time was wrong - that you could buy your way to God and heaven by paying enough money by indulgences - that could not work, either.
But finally, as Luther read and studied the Word of God more and more, he found his answer in Christ Jesus. Jesus Himself said, in our Gospel lesson for today, in John 8:31-36, “If you abide, if you continue in My Word,… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Yes, as Jesus says in this Scripture, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” and you can’t set yourself free from sin. Luther had tried. But then comes the truly Good News - “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus is pointing to Himself, the Son of Man and the Son of God, as the only Savior from sin.
Then Luther began to see this Good News again and again in Scripture. Our Epistle lesson for today, Romans 3:19-28, is a prime example. Yes, this Scripture says again, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “by works of the Law, no one will be justified in God’s sight.” But then Paul tells us that what saves us is not our righteousness, but “the righteousness from God” coming to us through the gift of His own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life for us, in our place, and “redeemed” us, paid the price that freed us from the condemning power of our sins - and did it by the “propitiation,” the big word that means the sacrifice of His blood and life on the cross to forgive us and allowed us to be counted acceptable to God through faith in Him, faith worked in us by Him and His Holy Spirit. That’s why Paul could end this Epistle lesson with these words: “Then what becomes of our boasting (in ourselves for our salvation)? It is excluded… For we hold that one is justified by faith in Christ, apart from works of the Law” or any of our efforts.
This was the truly Good News that Martin Luther discovered in Scripture and boldly proclaimed in his preaching and teaching - and put in the common language of his own German people, so that they could understand and believe in Christ, too. Here are the three great “Solas,” the “Alones” of the Lutheran Reformation - that we are saved by the grace of God alone, His undeserved love and favor for us, coming to us as a gift, through faith in Christ alone and His saving work for us, as proclaimed by Scripture, God’s Word alone, as the foundation for what we believe.
But this was not just Good News for Martin Luther’s time. It was Good News to be proclaimed, as our text says, “to every nation and tribe and language and people.” Jesus had said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching” (Matthew 28:19-20). And He had prophesied, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
And so, in 1945, some leaders of our Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod District and from the only close Lutheran church in Lafayette, worked together to start a Lutheran campus ministry at Purdue. Purdue was growing, and people were coming back from World War II and wanted to get a good education, but also needed the same Good News of Christ and encouragement in Him through the Word of God and the Sacraments. And that ministry has continued to this very day, for 80 years.
In one sermon, I can’t begin to talk about everyone and everything, but remember that in all these years, the most important figure has been our triune God Himself, the creative and loving and saving Word and work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In those 80 years, the Lord has worked through six full-time pastors (and I am one of those - that’s why I am speaking today), and a seventh pastor beginning his work and being installed here next weekend; eleven vicars, seminary students who served here for a year, as part of their training to be a pastor; two international pastors, who helped part-time for some years, when our District encouraged us to reach out also to the many international students at Purdue - a Chinese pastor originally from Singapore; a Korean pastor who lived in Chicago; and then a DCE who worked in Chinese ministry through our church and Redeemer Lutheran, and later went on to become a pastor, himself.
Serving students has always been our priority, and all these people helped our students to be the church here and develop as leaders here and to try to think in a Biblical, Christ-centered way about their vocations and their future. So many have done well in their jobs and work and have become leaders in their congregations and communities, too. Quite a number have found their spouses here, as well - a life-long blessing, and some students were “church mice,” living free in the church in exchange for doing some work. Numbers of our students have also become Lutheran pastors and some Lutheran school teachers and deaconesses and university profs, helping others, as they have been helped. Some of our best supporters and encouragers through the years have been these Purdue alums, too.
And we can’t forget about parents and families, who were so concerned about their young people’s physical and spiritual welfare, and prayed for them and us, and helped where they could. And there have been faculty and staff at Purdue who have become members and helped us and our students in amazing ways, and others who supported us from their positions on campus. And we are so grateful to our own town members who like to be among students and are willing to take more of a back seat and let students do as much as possible. They provide stability and financial and other help and support during Summers and breaks, when there aren’t a lot of students around, too.
University Lutheran has also been a mission congregation of our District all these years, supported also by gifts from our about 230 congregations. The District owns our building and property (4 locations through the years) and has the final say about major decisions, but for the most part, that has worked well, as we work together. And being a mission church has reminded us that we need to be a church and people in mission to others, ourselves, with God’s love in Christ.
You may not know, but in the early years of University Lutheran, the pastor and vicars and other area leaders helped start three missions - a church in Crawfordsville, where Wabash College is located, a church in Greencastle, where DePauw University is located, and a town congregation right here in West Lafayette. There was a sense that if Purdue students needed ministry, so did the students and people of other college communities. We’ve helped with other missions and sponsored several mission trips to Ysleta Lutheran in Texas and Mexico, and summer camps, and other places. We’ve helped provide food for the needy, meals for the homeless, and did all sorts of social ministry projects through the years and still do them today.
As a result, we have also had Purdue grads who served our Synod in mission in Ghana and Thailand and Liberia, and we sent out their mission newsletters for them. Another grad has served in Japan and other countries in mission, and a Purdue-related person is now helping with some translation work in Taiwan for the Lutheran churches there. And for many years, our congregation sent back 20% of our regular offerings to District and Synod and seminary and other mission work.
I had the privilege through the years of baptizing and/or confirming quite a number of US and international students, including some who had grown up within an hour of University Lutheran but had hardly ever or never set foot in a church. And it was almost always not me who tracked them down, but a fellow student who invited them to come and see and learn and encouraged them until we could get them into an adult instruction class, and the Lord brought them to faith through His Word and baptism. A Korean student walked into my office one day and said that he had Korean friends who were “falling through the cracks” of a large Korean church near campus. Could we do something to help them? That’s how our Korean ministry at that time started - not by my initiative, but by a student. You don’t think of a fraternity as a mission center, but almost every year, there were students interested in our Lutheran fraternity and invited to worship and became Lutheran believers in Christ, over time.
In short, what Martin Luther was called to, in our text for today, is still our calling as a church today - to proclaim the eternal Gospel of Christ and His love with as many people as we can, of every background, so that we do not glory in ourselves, but give God the glory and worship Him and receive His Word and Sacraments, and then share His gifts of love and forgiveness and eternal life, with others.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord (Philippians 4:7), and may the Lord continue to guide and bless our mission and ministry in the days and years ahead. Amen.
These readings focus on key Biblical ideas emphasized by Martin Luther and many others at the time of the Lutheran Reformation and expressed by Lutherans ever since. The psalm is Psalm 46, the basic text for Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” God is our refuge and strength. He is always present in times of trouble to help us. He is like a “fortress” of protection for us, even when there is chaos among people and nations and kingdoms on earth. And one day (through Christ our Savior), He will take us to eternal life, to “the city of God,” to His “holy place of habitation.” In the meantime, we are called to “be still” and to have faith and trust in Him as our Lord and God.
There is no other Old Testament lesson this week, but as in the Easter season and other times, we have a reading from the Book of Revelation, Revelation 14:6-7. An angel, a messenger from God, is flying overhead and proclaiming with a loud voice “an eternal Gospel,” Good News for all people in all languages. This reminds many of the clear Gospel of God’s Word that Luther proclaimed, calling people to fear, love, and trust in the one true Triune God, Creator of all things, and His saving work through His Son, Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to glory in the Lord, not themselves, and worship Him alone. Luther also made a great effort to put the Scriptures and many of his writings into the ordinary language of his own German people, so that they could understand and trust in Christ as their Savior, through the living water of God’s Word, and one day enjoy the waters of eternal life (Psalm 46:4, Revelation 22:1, etc.). The angel of verse 6 certainly represents the proclamation of the Gospel since the time of Christ and continues to this day, until the day of final judgment and Christ’s return. (See Matthew 24:14, Mark 13:10, and Revelation 22:16-17.) The goal is always to have more believers in Christ as Savior, and that we remain strong in that faith.
Martin Luther learned a great deal from his own study of the Scriptures, guided by the Holy Spirit. That is what Jesus Himself promises in our Gospel lesson, from John 8:31-36. If we abide in, continue in, Jesus’ Word, the Word of God, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free from the curse and condemnation of sin. We are all sinners and slaves of sin if left on our own, but Jesus, God’s Son, forgave us and set us free by His own sacrifice on the cross for us. He brings us to faith and sets us free indeed to be children of God, now and forever.
The alternate Gospel lesson is Matthew 11:12-19. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven has come, but it is being treated violently. John the Baptist is the Elijah to come, preparing the way for Jesus the Savior, but he has been rejected and thrown in prison. Jesus Himself is the Promised One, come from heaven, but He too is being criticized and rejected by many, because He is doing what He was sent to do - to be a friend of and Savior for sinners, which we all are. That mission will send Him to the cross. His followers and we, too, are called to trust Him, though He will seem to be “least in the kingdom of heaven” in His suffering and death for us, but the victory will finally be His in his resurrection - an eternal victory for us, too.
The saving work of Jesus is described so clearly in the Word of God, as given to us by Paul in our Epistle lesson, Romans 3:21-28. Paul has just explained that all of us are sinners and that none of us could be justified before God by doing works of the Law (Romans 3:9-20). But now, a righteousness from God has come to us as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ for us and all who believe in Him. We are counted justified by His grace (His undeserved love and favor for us) through the redeeming work of Christ. The big word for that is “propitiation,” a sacrifice of Christ Jesus Himself and His blood on the cross, in our place, in payment for all of our sins. God is thus the Justifier of those who have faith in Jesus. Any boasting of our own about our works or efforts is excluded. “We hold,” Paul says, “that one is justified by faith (in Christ) apart from works of the law.” This statement is foundational to what Luther taught and what we believe today as Lutherans. This passage, along with the others today, focuses on the three “solas,” the three great “alones” that we emphasize as Lutherans. We are saved by God’s “grace alone," through "faith alone” in Christ as God’s gift to us, with “Scripture alone” as the foundation for our beliefs.
The Scriptures this week encourage us to keep looking to our Lord for help and calling upon Him in prayer and trusting Him and His Word, even in very difficult times. Jesus’ Words in His Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:7-11, could be a summary of these readings. Approach the Lord and ask and seek and knock. If we, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father in heaven give good things to those who ask.
The psalm is Psalm 121. The Psalmist says that he will look up to the Lord, the Creator, when he needs help. The Lord does not need to sleep and will “keep” him in His care, as He knows best. The Lord will watch over him day and night, and will keep him and his life from evil and guide his coming and going in this life and even forevermore, in eternal life.
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 32:22-30. Jacob is asked by the Lord to return to his homeland, but is very worried about a confrontation with his brother, Esau, since he had stolen his birthright, which Esau should have had as the oldest son, though Esau had done wrong himself and forfeited that birthright. As Jacob waits to meet Esau, he wrestles with a man all night. Neither wins until the man, who is God, throws Jacob’s hip out of joint with a touch. Still, Jacob does not want to let him go without receiving a blessing. God blessed him and gave him a new name, Israel, which means “He strives with God.” From Jacob and His sons would come, then, the whole people and nation of Israel, and from that nation would come our Savior, Jesus. Jacob realizes that he has seen God, though only in the form of a human face, and yet his life had been spared by God’s mercy. (This is a true story, as described, in the history of God’s people. Some say that this also gives permission for us to wrestle with God in prayer, when we are having difficult times and seek to understand God’s will and ways for us.)
Jesus Himself gives us that kind of permission in the Gospel lesson, Luke 18:1-8. teaching us with a parable that we should “always pray and not lose heart.” The parable is of a widow who is seeking justice from someone who had badly mistreated her. She complains and complains, but the judge is unrighteous and cares neither about God or the people he hears from. The widow keeps asking and asking for help, and finally the judge is tired of her “bothering” him and decides to give her justice to stop her from “beating him down.” Jesus then says that God will do right by His “elect” believers who call upon Him day and night, and give them justice speedily. (Of course, remember the words of 2 Peter 3:8-9, about God’s timing.) But, Jesus asks, will He find faithful people on earth when the last day comes? This is one of a number of Scriptures that predict that in the last times before Jesus, the Son of Man, returns, there will be many who have turned against God and His Word and work. See passages such as Luke 17:28ff. and Matthew 24:9-14, 21-24, 30-31, but Jesus will rescue His believing people for eternal life. They will have perfect peace in Heaven.
The Epistle lesson continues Paul’s letter to Timothy, a younger pastor, in 2 Timothy 3:14 4:5. Timothy is to continue in what he has learned and believed, through his Christian baptism and upbringing centered in “the sacred writings which are able to make one wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. For all Scripture is breathed out by God.” It is entirely His Word and is useful for teaching, showing people where they are wrong, lifting them back up and forgiving them and correcting them, and showing them the righteous ways of God, by faith in Christ. Then they are ready to do some good, in thanks to God for His mercy in Christ. Timothy is to preach that Word with patience, sharing the Good News of Christ Jesus, even though, as predicted in the Gospel lesson, “many will not endure sound teaching” and will find “teachers to suit their own passions” and desires, “turning away from listening to the truth” of God’s Word. There will be suffering for God’s faithful people, but their ministry, their service to the Lord, will be fulfilled. For God, the Lord is a “Righteous Judge” who will judge justly and give eternal life to all who have lived by faith and await the appearing of Christ on the last day, or on that day they die and are taken to heaven (2 Timothy 4:1-5,8). In the meantime, until Christ returns, we are to live in faith and keep calling upon our Lord in prayer, asking for His help and guidance, and trusting His ultimate deliverance (Psalm 50:15).
“Remember Jesus Christ and His Word”
(2 Timothy 2:1-13 and other readings)
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation today is the Epistle lesson, 2 Timothy 2:1-13, along with some thoughts from our other readings. Ten people are cured, in our Gospel lesson (Luke 17:11-19), of the dreaded disease of leprosy, but only one, a Samaritan, comes back specifically to thank Jesus. “He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.”
The other nine were likely Jewish people. They were likely spiritual people, in some way, and thankful for their good fortune in being healed. But too busy or too excited, they missed out on the greatest gift they needed - the gift of Jesus Himself as Savior. Only of the Samaritan who came back does Jesus say, very literally, “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.” Jesus had worked in him the gift of faith.
Many people today would call themselves spiritual, and they have some sense of God, but they are primarily centered on themselves and their well-being. They tailor their religious ideas to their wishes and desires and their own thinking, and they become in danger of missing out on Jesus Himself and His greatest blessing - and may even think that Jesus is just one choice among many viable choices that people have. They may never even get around to following Jesus very faithfully, if at all.
And could it be that even we in the church could be influenced by such thinking, as common as it is, today? Think about even Naomi, in our Old Testament lesson for today (Ruth 1:1-19a), who says to her daughter-in-law, Ruth: “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return, after your sister-in-law.” It almost sounds as if Naomi thinks that the God of Israel is her choice, but that it’s OK for Ruth to choose any other gods that fit her better. Thank the Lord that Ruth had already come to believe and trust in the one true God, as she says so clearly, “Your God shall be my God” - for there is no other.
Paul is telling, in our Epistle, our text for today, a younger pastor, Timothy, to follow, in his teaching and personal faith, that same God, now more clearly revealed as the One True Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Paul is calling us to that same faith in God’s Word and His saving plan for the world, centered only in Jesus Christ, as Savior.
“Remember Jesus Christ,” Paul says, “risen from the dead, the offspring of David.” Jesus is the very Son of God, who became a real human being, born from the human line of Ruth and later, David, and even later, the Virgin Mary. And by His perfect life and death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, in our place, there is provided for us, Paul says, “the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
Jesus is not just one of many roads that lead to God and to eternal life. He is the only way, as He Himself said (John 14:6), and as Peter proclaimed: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
This sounds so narrow and exclusive and contradictory to what we constantly hear today - that we should be more inclusive and accepting of others, no matter what they believe and what they do. After all, so many people say, “They have their rights to do whatever they choose.” In this free society, people do have their rights. But that does not mean that they are right or that their words and deeds are right or good or helpful, for themselves or for others.
Paul reminds Timothy, and he reminds us, that we must be centered in Christ Jesus, our Savior, and in the Word of Christ, revealed by His holy prophets and apostles, including Paul himself, as he was inspired by God. Paul tells Timothy to “be strengthened by… what you have heard from me”… “by the Gospel I preached.” Paul says, writing from prison near the time of his death because of his faith, he is “bound with chains as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound.”
That Word of God is always available to us, to lead and guide us and point us to Jesus. It is only bound if we leave the Scriptures, the Bible, bound and don’t open it up and read it and listen to it and ask God to help us. Paul says, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding,” through His Holy Spirit, who works through that very Word of God and teaches us.
It was not easy to stay centered in Christ and His Word, in Paul and Timothy’s day, and it certainly is not easy today, either. Paul gives three examples of the kind of self-discipline we need.
- It is like being a soldier of Christ, not getting too entangled in civilian pursuits, but listening to the voice of our Lord, our Commander.
- It is like being an athlete, who must stay in training and have discipline, and follow the rules of the competition.
- It is like a farmer, who knows he must put in hard work if he wants a harvest, and he also needs to receive from the harvest and keep believing and receiving and using the Word of God for himself.
The goal is to stay in faith in Christ all our life. “If we endure, we will also reign with Christ.” And there is the sober warning, “If we deny Christ, He will also deny us.”
In a recent Bible study on this passage, someone asked a good question: “Doesn’t this sound like righteousness by our works?” No. Paul had clearly said in the first chapter of this letter that God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9-10). God had this saving plan for us before all ages and has now completed it in Christ. As believers, we try to do the good and right things in thankfulness for what God has done in Christ, but we trust not in ourselves and our efforts, but in God’s saving work for us, completed in Christ, by His grace.
No wonder, then, that Paul begins this text with those words to Timothy and to us, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” It is only by the grace (the undeserved love and favor of God) that Christ came for us in the first place and that we have been saved. And it is only by the grace of God, in Christ, that we are forgiven of the times that we have failed Christ, in word and deed, and have caved in to the world’s way, and have neglected God’s Word. Christ died for the very purpose of forgiving us of all that and of all our sins, and to restore us to Himself.
How good it is that we are able to be at worship today, remembering Jesus and hearing His Word, and speaking and singing God’s Word to one another - and how good it is to be able to do this regularly.
And when we speak the Confessions of Sins, with our heads bowed, and kneel for Communion and the Lord’s real presence and blessing at His altar, we are right there with the Samaritan in our Gospel lesson, who “praised God… and fell at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks” for His mercy to us, too. And we hear Jesus saying to us, too, “Rise and go your way from this service; your faith has saved you.” Christ has saved you!
One last thought. Jesus also asked in our Gospel lesson, “Where are the other nine?” There’s an old Charlie Brown cartoon where Charlie and his team have lost another baseball game by a huge amount. Charlie says, “How can we keep on losing when we are so sincere?” Our text reminds us that people can be sincerely wrong in what they believe and do - and apart from Christ, they are lost and will lose.
So, Paul encourages Timothy to keep sharing the Word of God faithfully, and he says, “What you have heard from me, in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
Therefore, we pray for more pastors and teachers and church workers who will teach the Word of God faithfully, and all of us can think about ways we can help out some more, too, for the sake of “the nine” - those people who are still spiritually lost - and as we share Christ’s Words and deeds and our love and care for others in Christ. And remember the final Words of our text: “Christ remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” He will help and bless us. That is His promise.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The Scriptures today emphasize both the Words and the deeds of our Lord, culminating in the saving Words and deeds of our Lord Jesus. The Psalm is Psalm 111. Notice how often the “works” of the Lord are mentioned, which we study and for which we thank Him as we gather as His people, His congregation. His works are “great” and “wondrous” and are to be “remembered.” His works are “gracious and merciful,” and he is “faithful” to His “covenant” promises, especially in “sending redemption to His people,” rescuing them from slavery in Egypt (and eventually in the saving Word and works of Jesus our Redeemer). “Wisdom” and “good understanding” come from “fear” and love and trust in Him. He provides needed “food” for His people, too, physically and especially spiritually.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ruth 1:1-19a. Naomi and her husband and sons moved to Moab because there was famine in Israel. Over time, the husband and sons all died, and they had married Moabite wives. It is a difficult time, and when Naomi hears that “the Lord had visited His people and given them food,” she decides to go back to her hometown in Israel, to Bethlehem. The name literally means “the house of bread.” She wants her daughters-in-law to go back to their families in Moab, as she cannot care for them. She is even willing to have them return to the false gods of the Moabites, though she hopes that the Lord, the true God, will be kind to them. The daughter-in-law, Ruth, wants to go with Naomi and has come to trust in the true Lord. Naomi shows a lack of faith and is very bitter and thinks the Lord has just turned against her. She allows Ruth to go with her, though, and they return to Bethlehem. If you remember the story, Naomi, whose name means “pleasant,” thinks her name should be Mara, which means “bitter,” because the Lord has treated her so badly. The Lord turns this for good, though, as Ruth meets and marries a man, Boaz, who cares for her and Naomi. From that family line eventually came King David and, much later, our Lord Jesus, Himself born in Bethlehem. Jesus would be the “Bread of Life” and our Savior. The fact that Ruth was not a Jew also indicates that God’s saving plan was for all people, not just for Jews.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 17:11-19. Jesus is approached by ten lepers who plead for His mercy. (Leprosy was a dreaded disease and considered very contagious, and lepers had to stay far away from ordinary people.) Jesus sends them off to see “priests,” religious leaders who could declare them to be “cleansed.” While they were headed to the priests, they were all “cleansed” and healed. They still needed the approval of the priests to be declared healed and then return to their homes and families, though. Only one of them first returned to Jesus, praising God and falling at the feet of Jesus and giving Him thanks. And that man was a Samaritan, of the people hated by most Jews. Jesus wondered where the other nine were, who were likely rejoicing in their healing, but not in God who gave it. Jesus, the Son of God, then indicated that the Samaritan man had also received the greatest gift, saving faith in Jesus, which would help him through this life and for eternal life. Here, the deeds of Jesus helped affirm the truth of His Words.
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Timothy 2:1-13. Paul continues his letter of encouragement to a young pastor, Timothy. Paul had written from prison before. This time, though, he is bound with chains and suffering much more “for the sake of the elect,” his fellow believers. Paul encourages Timothy to be ready to endure whatever suffering may be coming with three images: as a soldier, loyal to and aiming to please the Lord, who enlisted him; as an athlete, staying in shape and competing according to the rules; and as a farmer, hard-working and aiming for a good harvest and his share of the crops. Paul asks Timothy to think about what he writes and pray for understanding. Above all, Paul calls Timothy to keep remembering the risen Jesus Christ, the true Son of David, and be strengthened by the grace and salvation that come in and through Jesus. Paul is now bound and limited, but the Word of God preached and written by Paul is not limited, and the Gospel is, as Paul said in Romans 1:16-17, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘the righteous shall live by faith.'” Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit work through this Word, which “is trustworthy,” and our Lord “remains faithful” and “cannot deny Himself” and His promises. Timothy is to share that truly Good News and find other faithful men who can teach that Word, also, so that more and more people can live with Christ now and eternally, by faith in Him. That is still the calling of our Lord to us to this very day.
The Scriptures for this week call us to trust in our Lord at all times, even when times are difficult and we do not understand why things are going as they are.
The Old Testament lesson is from Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4. The prophet Habakkuk is crying out to the Lord because so many bad things are happening, and He, the Lord, doesn’t seem to care. There is violence and destruction and strife all around, even among God’s people because of iniquity (their sin), and justice is perverted. The wicked even surround the righteous, as Chaldean (Babylonian) armies are threatening the land of Judah and Jerusalem. (Read 1:5-17, where God says that He is raising up the Chaldeans in judgment for the sins of Judah, and Habakkuk questions again why God would allow such wicked people to swallow up people more righteous than they are.) In 2:1-4, Habakkuk is still waiting for answers from the Lord. The Lord calls Habakkuk to wait for His plans to be fulfilled at an appointed time in the future and not to be puffed up by his own self-righteous ideas about what should happen. Habakkuk and others are simply to live by faith in the Lord and His ways and promises. (Habakkuk is finally brought to that trembling faith in His Lord. Read 3:16-19, and rejoice in the God of our salvation, too. Note also how many times verses 2:2-4 are quoted or referred to in the New Testament. Examples are: Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, Ephesians 2:8, and 2 Corinthians 4:13-18. See, for example, even in the Old Testament: Genesis 15:6 and Isaiah 26:2-4. The appointed time, the fullness of time, was in the coming of God’s Son, Jesus, to redeem us and be our Savior and the Savior of the world. Galatians 4:4ff.)
The Psalm is Psalm 62. David had his struggles, too, and God taught him to wait in silence for His saving work. God alone, God only, was his hope. David warns against putting one's trust in other people, regardless of their status, or in riches or wrongdoing, for these can all be a delusion. Rather, David says, “Trust in the Lord at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us,” with His “power and steadfast love.” (Note also that the end of v.12 does not mean that we are ultimately saved by our good works that we do. We are saved by the gift of faith, which the Lord has brought us to, by His grace. Works that we do are a reflection of our faith and trust in our Lord, though. See such Scriptures as John 6:28-29, Romans 3:20, 26-28, 4:2-8, and Ephesians 2:8-10. Note also the thoughts on our Gospel, in Luke 17:5-10.)
The Gospel lesson is Luke 17:1-10. Jesus is warning His disciples about temptations that can lead us to sin. He does not want us to lead others into temptations and sins, either, especially those who are “little ones,” new to faith, or weak in faith, or are literally vulnerable children. At the same time, Christ would soon die for our sins and bring us forgiveness, as repentant sinners, and He calls us to forgive each other, again and again, since we are all sinful people, in thought, word, and deed. (The number 7 means a full and complete number. Jesus is calling His disciples to keep on forgiving others. Jesus went even farther in Matthew 18:22, when He said to forgive 77 times, or as some translate it, 70 times 7 times - and that does not mean that on the 491st time, we can stop forgiving. Thank the Lord that He keeps on forgiving us, above all. May we keep coming to Him, with sorrow and repentance for our sins.) We want forgiveness, but sometimes it is hard to keep forgiving others. The disciples know that and pray to the Lord, “increase our faith,” that we may love and forgive in a better way. Jesus then talks about servants, often literally “slaves” in His own day. Slaves were owned by their masters and received no pay, but were to do whatever the master wanted. Only when they had done their duty, all that he commanded, were they to eat and drink and do for themselves. Martin Franzmann says, though, “No master of a slave is expected to serve his servants, but Jesus will do the unexpected. To those who serve in faith and love, with no thought of reward, He gives the reward (the gift) which none may claim and only He can give: 'He will gird Himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them.'" See Luke 12:35-40 and Revelation 3:20-21, with regard to Christ’s second coming and the undeserved gifts given in eternal life. Receiving Christ in the Lord’s Supper is also a foretaste of the eternal joys to come. See Psalm 23:5-6 and 1 Corinthians 10:16 and 11:26 and Isaiah 25:6-9.)
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Timothy 1:1-14. Paul writes this letter from prison to the younger pastor, Timothy, around 68 AD, not long before Paul’s death. Paul writes of “the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus” and remembers how that gift of faith had lived in Timothy’s grandmother and mother and now in Timothy, too. Paul assures Timothy again of the Gospel of God, “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus,” and “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” Paul encourages Timothy “never to be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord,” but to follow the pattern of sound words, the true Word of God received from Paul. Paul is confident that Timothy could, “by the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him, guard the good deposit entrusted to him” - the true Word of God centered in the saving work of Jesus. The Lord had given that confidence to Paul himself, now in prison and facing execution. May the Lord strengthen all of us, too, in that trustworthy Word of God, for our life now and for our eternal future in our Savior Jesus.
The Scriptures this week encourage us to keep trusting in our Lord and not in other people or in our money and possessions (mammon). Church leaders are reminded to follow God’s Word, centered in Christ, and watch out for dangers to their service to the Lord, too.
The Psalm is Psalm 146. Psalm 145 ended with the words: “My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,” and the psalms that follow, including Psalm 146, all “Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) We are not to trust in princes or any other people, for they cannot bring salvation. Our hope is in the Lord, and He alone can help us, in faithfulness and justice. He can help people in all kinds of need, including prisoners, the blind, those bowed down by the troubles of this life, sojourners, widows, and the fatherless. He reigns forever and can help all generations.
The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 6:1-7. Amos was a prophet of the Lord from 784-746BC and spoke during Jeroboam II and his reign of 41 years in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The king had reconquered a large area of the land and wealthy people felt secure and prosperous. They had beds of ivory and ate choice food of lambs and calves and drank wine in bowls and anointed themselves with the finest oils, and had time to sing and write idle songs, but they had also drifted from the Lord to false gods and wrong ways of worship (see Amos 4:26-27) and were not grieving and ill at the troubles of the poor and needy. Judgment was coming for their sins and rejection of the Lord, coming soon, as it did about 720BC.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 16:19-31. Jesus tells a parable of a very rich man who had the best of everything in food and clothes and lived extravagantly every day. At his gate was a very poor man, who was ill and hungry and wished only for some scraps from the rich man’s table. But the rich man ignored him and did not help him at all. The poor man’s name was Lazarus, which means “The Lord is my Helper.” He died in faith in the Lord and was taken to the side of Abraham and heavenly feasting. The rich man died without faith in the Lord and ended up in Hades (Hell) in fire and great anguish. He had already wasted his “good days” on himself and his desires. The rich man begs for mercy and for even just a drop of water in his agony. But there is a chasm between heaven and hell, and people cannot cross from one place to the other. The formerly rich man then asks that his five living brothers be warned, by someone coming back from the dead, of judgment coming for them, too, apart from repentance and faith in the Lord. Abraham says that these people have the Word of God, and if they won’t believe that, they will not believe, even if someone does come back from the dead (as Jesus would soon do). How tragic that so many still reject the Good News of Jesus even today and are headed for eternal sorrow. This parable is also a commentary on the words of Jesus in Luke 16:13-15. May we continue in faith in the Lord Jesus, our true Savior.
There are two choices for the Epistle. The first is 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and calls for faithful overseers and deacons (pastors and teachers and other servants among God’s people.) Paul speaks of their ideal qualities to a young pastor, Timothy, and warns of the “snares of the devil” that can be a danger to them, too - the love of money, self-centeredness and conceit, too much wine, greed, etc. Instead, they are to be faithful to their Lord and hold on to the mystery of the faith and be confident in the faith that is in Christ Jesus and teach God’s Word well in care for God’s church. In the alternate reading, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Paul continues to teach Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith,” confident of eternal life, and with a good witness about God, who gives life to all through faith in Christ Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Timothy is to guard the good deposit of God’s Word entrusted to him and share that knowledge only. Paul warns him also to seek to be content and avoid the dangers of the love of money, which can quickly corrupt. Timothy is also to teach the rich to use their money wisely and to do good and share with and help others, and to set their hopes on God, not on the uncertainty of what they have. These are all very important words for church leaders and for all believers - to be focused on Christ and the Word of Scripture and not on the “irreverent babble” that we hear all around us.
Sermon Based on Matthew 9:9-13
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation today is the Gospel lesson, read just a few minutes ago, from Matthew 9:9-13, along with some thoughts from just before that reading.
Jesus had just come back to the city of Capernaum, in Northern Israel, by the Sea of Galilee. People had brought, literally carried, a paralyzed man to Jesus, hoping for a healing for the man. Jesus recognizes their faith and says to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” That’s probably not what they were hoping for, but Jesus was teaching what was most important for all of us to have - the forgiveness of our sins, which separate us from God
Some Jewish religious leaders are there, and they are shocked. “This man is blaspheming,” they thought - speaking against God - for only God can forgive sins. Who does Jesus think He is?
Jesus knew their thoughts and proved that he could forgive sins by also doing a miracle of healing. He said to the paralyzed man, “Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And the man rose and went home, healed physically and spiritually. And as Jesus forgave and healed this man, He used a term for Himself, “Son of Man,” which was used in the Old Testament to describe some of the prophets, but particularly to refer to the coming Savior of the world, who would be a true man and yet also the true Son of God. And the people who saw this miracle were afraid, but they also glorified God, who had given such authority to this man, Jesus (Matthew 9:1-8).
And it was soon after that that our text for today begins. Jesus “saw a man called Matthew, sitting at a tax booth, and said to him, ‘Follow Me,’ and Matthew immediately rose and followed Jesus.” Most scholars assume that Matthew had already had some contact with Jesus and had heard His preaching and teaching about the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins and the new life that Jesus offered. Jesus had already been very active in that part of Northern Israel, and Matthew might already have been brought to faith in Jesus in his heart through Jesus’ preaching of the Word.
What was really surprising, though, was that Jesus has specifically called him, a tax collector, to be one of his twelve chosen disciples. We may not like people from the IRS very much today, but most Jews hated tax collectors, because they worked for the evil Roman occupiers of their land and helped support their evil, pagan ways, and raised money for them.
There was a Jewish scholar in the 1800s, Alfred Edersheim, who became a Christian through his own study of the Scriptures, but also knew what ancient Jewish writings said about many things and about tax collectors. The Jewish Talmud put tax collectors alongside “murderers and robbers” and other notorious sinners, because they so often charged people more than they should and kept the extra money for themselves and became rich. Jewish rabbis taught that tax collectors were so dishonest that they should never be allowed to be witnesses in court. You couldn’t trust them. Rabbis removed, excommunicated, tax collectors from their synagogues. That would be equivalent to being kicked out of a local church today. The rabbis even considered it lawful for Jews to lie in almost any conceivable way to avoid paying tax collectors.
But here is Jesus, choosing one of these tax collectors to be one of His closest disciples. And as our text goes on, it is no surprise that when Matthew soon sponsored a dinner at his home and many tax collector friends and other “sinners” and Jesus came, too, that Jewish religious leaders, Pharisees this time, saw this and said to Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Note that they don’t attack Jesus directly, because He always has answers they have trouble dealing with, but they want to confuse and draw away His own followers. After all, Jesus should have known better than to associate with such lowlife people.
Jesus heard what was said, though, and He answers the Pharisees. He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Imagine if you had a doctor who would only see you if you were perfectly well. He or she said, “I won’t see you if you are sick, because I don’t want to be contaminated by you.” We actually need a doctor most when we are sick, don’t we?
And Jesus is speaking here about a spiritual sickness, a sickness from sin, that separates us from God and from one another, whom God calls us to care about. And the Scriptures are clear: “All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It is a sickness of the heart. The Scriptures say, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9)? We all have a sense of that. Our hearts struggle, at least at times, about knowing what is right and wrong, and even if we know what is right, we have trouble doing it all too often. That’s why Jesus, in our text, also tells the Pharisees and all those gathered that day, and all of us, still today, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” (Hosea 6:6).
Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament book of Hosea, where God Himself says through the prophet, “I desire mercy and not (your) sacrifices, the knowledge of God rather than (your) offerings.” God knows our sins and struggles, and yet He still loves us and cares about us. And later on in Hosea, God says, I shall give mercy to people, “I shall ransom them. I shall redeem them, from (sin) and death” (Hosea 13:14). And that’s why God the Father sent His only Son, our Lord Jesus, into this world, not just to preach and teach, but to do all things necessary to rescue us, living a perfect life in our place and paying the penalty for all of our sins by His suffering and death on the cross, and by rising again in victory over death, so that we might have forgiveness and eternal life, through faith in Him, as a gift from God. That’s why Jesus ended this passage by saying, “For I came not to call the righteous (since none of us are righteous, by ourselves). I came to call sinners," like Matthew, and like you and me, pastors, too.
Matthew knew that he was a forgiven sinner, as he left his tax office and his old life and followed Jesus, in faith in Him. Matthew did so in a humble way, too. Two of the other Gospels identify him by his Jewish name, “Levi, son of Alphaeus.” But he uses the name “Matthew” in this passage and “Matthew the tax collector” in a listing of the disciples in Matthew 10:3. Otherwise, he never mentions himself anywhere else in his own Gospel. Some think that Jesus may have given him this name, as Jesus gave the name “Peter” to Simon (Matthew 16:18), and later on, Saul received the name “Paul” (Acts 13:9). The name “Matthew” means “Gift of God,” and Matthew had received God’s greatest gifts of forgiveness and new life and salvation, and Matthew certainly became a "Gift of God” to so many other people, as well.
The one thing that we know for certain about him is that early Christians unanimously said that he was the writer of this Gospel that we are looking at, as he was guided and inspired by God the Holy Spirit. Early Christian witnesses also agreed that this was the first Gospel written, maybe in the early 50s AD. (Liberal scholars often want to make Mark first, with very critical ideas, but the early Christians said that the order was Matthew, then Luke, then Mark, and then John. Mathew’s Gospel was very helpful to Jews (and to us all), as it has many quotations from the Old Testament, showing that Jesus truly was the One predicted to be the Savior. As a tax collector, Matthew had to be organized and skilled not only in financial matters, but in knowing his own native languages, Aramaic and Hebrew, and also the most widely used language of his day (not Latin but Greek) in which his Gospel of Matthew appears, as we have it today.
Matthew ends his Gospel with the call from Jesus to him and the other apostles and to all God’s people to be helping to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew was surely sent out to other places, too, but as one respected Lutheran scholar says, “The traditions about Matthew’s travels are very late, long after the time Matthew lived, and tend to be fantastic and legendary, and mix Matthew up with other people, and offer little basis for a reliable later history of Matthew the Evangelist” (Martin Franzmann, The Word of the Lord Grows).
That’s why we need to keep going back to the Scriptures themselves, including the Gospel of Matthew, as the firm basis for what we believe. As our Lutheran Confessions say, “The writing of the Old and New Testaments are the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged… Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, should not be put on a par with Holy Scripture" (Formula of Concord, Epitome, 1). So, keep reading the Gospel of Matthew and other parts of Scripture, for then you are on a firm foundation as forgiven sinners, trusting in Jesus Christ and his saving Word and work for you and for us all.
Let us pray: “Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen (Philippians 4:7).
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 113, calling upon us all to “praise the Lord” and “bless” and honor His Name. He is high above all nations and sees what is going on in the heavens and on the earth. He cares about all people, including the “poor and needy” in lowly circumstances, and can lift them up, even as He cares for “the princes of His people.” He can even help “barren women” and bring them joy and even the gift of children, at times, as he did with Sarah (Genesis 21:1-7) and Hannah (1 Samual 1-2) and Elizabeth (Luke 1), who were important in the history of God’s people, leading up to the coming of our Savior, Jesus.
As God cares for people in varied circumstances, He calls upon His own people to care for the poor and needy, too. In Amos 8:4-7, He speaks to His people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, through the prophet Amos, condemning them for “trampling on the needy,” hardly able to wait for the Sabbath to be over, so that they could cheat them in transactions, giving them less than they deserved with false scales, and mixing in chaff with wheat that they sold to them. The Lord “does not forget their evil deeds,” and the end is coming soon for this very sinful people (Amos 8:2).
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 16:1-15, Jesus gives a similar warning to His people and to us, with a very unusual parable - a story of a dishonest manager, who has been wasting his owner’s possessions. He is caught and is about to be fired. He doesn’t want to do manual labor or become a beggar, so he changes the records and lowers what people actually owed the master, hoping that they, in turn, would be grateful and help out the manager when he lost his job. The owner then complimented the dishonest manager for his shrewdness in his bad situation in an evil generation. Jesus then says that “the sons of light,” His own followers, should be wise and prudent in the right way, using the gifts God has given them to be a blessing for themselves, but also for the sake of others and their physical and spiritual needs, as well. Three times, Jesus uses the word “mammon,” in verses 9,11, and 13. The word means not just our money, but all that we are and possess. We can use our “mammon” in the wrong way, so that it becomes our “god” and we serve it instead of our Lord and other people, to whom we can be a blessing. The Pharisees themselves tended to be “lovers of money” and their possessions, and used them for the wrong reasons, to justify themselves before men and make themselves look good in the eyes of others. That will never work for us, as God knows and sees us and what we are really thinking about our money and possessions.
What God really wishes is described in our Epistle lesson, continuing readings from Paul’s first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy 2:1-15. “God our Savior desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” - the truth that Christ Jesus came into this world to be the only “Mediator between God and us” and “gave Himself as a ransom for us all,” that we might be forgiven and counted right and acceptable before God, “in faith and truth” and trust in Him. Therefore, we are called to “pray and give thanks for all people” - that as many as possible might come to faith in Christ. Our gifts can help with sharing Christ, too. We pray for kings and others in authority, as well, so that they may lead wisely and we might therefore be able to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified.” Paul goes on to speak of the role of men and women, too. Men are to be spiritual leaders in the family and in the church. Women are to learn quietly with submissiveness and are not to teach or exercise spiritual authority over men. That means only male pastors, as we have in our conservative Lutheran churches. Women can teach other women and children and serve in many other ways, of course, and women have unique abilities that only women have - bearing children, for example, as Paul mentions. God chose to create a male and female, in His own divine plan; and we try to listen to what He says about all this in His Word, in spite of what culture and society and human opinions are, at any given time.
The theme of the readings this week could be called “the Lord reaching out to rescue His lost sheep.” The Psalm is Psalm 119:169-176. In this longest psalm of the Bible, the psalmist has spoken again and again of the importance of God’s Word and how much he “delights” in it and “does not forget it” and seeks to follow it, in all it says to him. In these final verses, the psalmist uses six different words for God’s message - three times “Your Word,” two times “Your commandments,” and once each “Your statutes,” “Your precepts,” “Your law,” and “Your rules.” He “sings of” and “praises” all that the Lord has said, but he also prays for “understanding,” “help,” “deliverance,” and “salvation,” for as he studies, he also has to admit and confess, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep” too often myself. He prays that at those times, the Lord would always seek His servant and rescue him.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 34:11-24. The Lord knows that His shepherds have not always faithfully cared for their sheep and that the sheep themselves have become “lost” and “scattered” in times of “clouds and thick darkness.” He Himself will have to “seek out His sheep and rescue them,” as the psalmist in Psalm 119 cried out for Him to do, and He will feed them in “good pasture” and “bind up" their wounds and “strengthen” them, as some sheep sometimes hurt other sheep, too. Finally, the Lord promises to set up a new David as the one Shepherd of the sheep, and He will be Prince among them. Other Scriptures make it clear that this new David would be our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, and a true human man, as well, born from the family line of King David. See other Old Testament prophecies such as 2 Samuel 7:8-16, Ezekiel 37:25-26, Isaiah 9:5-6, Isaiah 11:1ff, and Jeremiah 30:9. And see, for example, in Revelation 19 the ultimate fulfillment in Jesus as the victorious “Lamb” of God, sacrificed for us and yet raised to glory, with His bride, the church, all believers, and who is also “The Word of God” (see John 1:1ff.) and “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-10, we see Jesus in His public ministry, reaching out to rescue lost sheep, tax collectors, and sinners, and being criticized for doing so. (See also Luke 7:34,37, Mark 2:13-17, and Matthew 9:11-13.) Note that “eating with people” was a sign of care and fellowship (see also Peter in Acts 11:3 and then in Galatians 2:11-12) and the Biblical fact that we are all sinners, who fall short of what God wishes (Romans 3:23, along with Romans 3:9-20). Jesus then tells the parable of a shepherd who has lost one sheep and goes after and finds it and carries it back to the flock, rejoicing. In the spiritual realm, angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who has been brought to repentance and faith - and remember, we are all sinners needing to be rescued. And Scripture says we cannot rescue ourselves by our own efforts and good works. The next parable emphasizes that truth, with the example of a woman who has lost one coin and searches until she finds it. Coins are inanimate objects and are helpless in trying to find and rescue themselves. The woman “lights a lamp” to help her in her search. Jesus and His Word are that Lamp, “the Light of the world” and the “Light of life” (John 8:12) for us all.
That is made clear by Paul in the Epistle lesson, 1 Timothy 1:(5-11) 12-17. Paul writes, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” Paul had been strongly anti-Christian and a persecutor of Christians until Jesus came to him and brought him to faith. The “mercy” and “grace” and the “faith and love” that are “in Christ Jesus” were given to Paul as a gift and are “an example” to all of us who have been brought “to believe in Jesus for eternal life.” The “honor and glory” are entirely God’s for rescuing us lost sheep. This was the truly good news, the Gospel, of salvation by God’s grace through “sincere faith” in the saving work of Jesus - a message entrusted to Paul. Earlier in this passage, Paul had used the Law of God in its good and proper way to show that all people on their own are “ungodly and sinners.” Note that v. 9-10 follow the pattern of the 10 Commandments, which condemn us all, in one way or another. Our only hope is in the “trustworthy Word of God, deserving of full acceptance,” and giving us faith and “strength in Christ Jesus our Lord” and only Savior, through His suffering and death on the cross in payment for our sins and His forgiveness for all our sins.
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is Deuteronomy 30:15-20. The Lord begins with His blessings - life and good - that He is bringing to His people, as He guides them into the Promised Land by Joshua. He has already promised, just before this passage, that “the Word (of God) is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” The Lord calls His people then to love Him and walk in His ways and commandments, for that is the way to life and blessing. The Lord also gives a strong warning from His Law not to turn away and refuse to hear His Word and worship other gods and serve them. That is the way of death and curses. God repeats again the way of life - loving Him and obeying His voice and holding fast to Him alone because of His love first for them. (This is the consistent way and message of our Lord. He forgave and clothed Adam and Eve after their sin. He called Abraham to be the father of a nation from whom our Savior Jesus would come. He raised up Moses and then Joshua to lead and guide His people with His Word. Before He gave the 10 Commandments, He spoke of His mercy for His people: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Only then did he give His root Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:1-3). He had said much the same thing before, too. See Deuteronomy 11:26-28. “To go after other gods” was the root problem. And Moses prays to a merciful God who had “redeemed” this people. Deuteronomy 9:26ff.)
The psalm is Psalm 1. “Blessed is the man whose delight is in the Law, the Word of God.” He is like a tree planted by the Lord with plenty of nourishing water, and not like the wicked, those apart from the Lord, who eventually are like “chaff” and driven away. “The Lord knows the way of the righteous” who worship the true God and trust Him and hope for the coming Savior, Jesus.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 14:25-35, Jesus sees great crowds following Him and calls them to what one commentator, William Arndt, calls “total dedication.” Jesus is to be more important than our own family or our own lives. He uses the word “hating” our family and ourselves. In the context of other Scriptures, Arndt says that “hate” simply means to “love less.” Jesus says in Matthew 10:37, “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (See Matthew 10:34-39 and Genesis 29:31,33, for example.) “Bearing our own cross" does not mean suffering in general but suffering because we are followers of Jesus. Jesus also calls us to realize the possible cost of following Him in this way. There can be a constant struggle against the forces of evil and a willingness to lose everything for the sake of our Lord. Jesus also calls His disciples “salt” here and in Matthew 5:13 and Mark 9:50. As followers of Jesus, we are intended to be useful for the sake of others, too, and not to become followers in name only and worthless to others. (Ideas here come largely from Arndt’s Commentary on Luke.)
Paul teaches a practical application of these words of Jesus, as he writes in his letter to Philemon, in our Epistle, Philemon 1-21. (Philemon lived in Colossi, and this letter was delivered to him at the same time as the letter to the Colossians. See Colossians 4:1, 7-9.) Paul was “bearing his own cross” for Christ, being in prison in Rome because of his Christian faith and witness. While in prison, Paul had met and become “a father in faith” for Onesimus, a runaway servant of Philemon, who had come to Rome and now had also become a Christian believer. The name “Onesimus” means “useful,” but Onesimus had not been useful to his master, Philemon, but had run away and maybe had done some damage to Philemon in the process. Now, as a believer in Rome, though, Onesimus had been a valuable help to Paul. Paul does the right thing, though, and sends Onesimus back to his master, Philemon, along with this letter. Philemon could do whatever he wanted with his runaway servant - punish him severely, or worse. Paul appeals, though, to Philemon’s own Christian faith and valuable service to Paul and others in the church in Colossi. Paul describes this in Philemon 1-7. Paul then appeals to Philemon to send Onesimus back to him in Rome to continue to help him there while he was still in prison. Onesimus had been useless as a runaway slave, but now he had become very useful to Paul, and above all, had become a brother in Christ to both Paul and Philemon. Onesimus could be of real “use,” real “benefit” to Paul, if he was allowed to return to Paul in Rome as a free man, not a “bond servant.” (Paul still works through the ancient systems of his time, but shows how slavery could be broken down by Christian faith and love and unity in Christ, who died for all and cares about all. See other passages, such as Galatians 3:26-29, 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, and Romans 15:3-7.) Finally, know that our Lord calls for “total dedication” on our part, but He also knows who we are, with a sinful nature in a very sin-filled world. We try to do His will, but we too often fail. We don’t go running after false answers and ideas and false gods, though, but confess our sins and trust our merciful God, through Jesus our Savior. In His mercy is our hope.
Sermon Based on Hebrews 12:18-24, 28
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14).
The Scripture passage just read gives us two picture images. The first is of God’s Old Testament people at Mt. Sinai, where there was blazing fire and darkness and gloom, and the sound of a very loud trumpet and the voice of God Himself speaking His Law, His 10 Commandments. The people were so fearful that they begged that no further messages be spoken to them. They asked Moses to go up on the mountain and hear the message of God for them. And that whole experience and the rebellion of the people at Sinai was so terrifying that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
We don’t have quite that experience today, but as we look around our world, even now, we see so many troubles and difficulties and so much rebellion against God and His Word. Just before our text, the writer to the Hebrews spoke of people with “drooping hands and weak knees” (Hebrews 12:12). That’s sometimes the way we feel, physically, too, as we get older, when there are many more aches and pains, and our bodies just don’t work the way they used to. That can be so discouraging. Or when we begin to get forgetful, and there’s a name we know, but just can’t bring it to mind, at first. So frustrating!
But in context, drooping hands and weak knees can also refer to spiritual weaknesses in our lives, where we are getting off track from God’s Word and will in some ways. Right before this text, the writer to the Hebrews also speaks about the need for discipline - discipline even from God, precisely because He loves us and wants us to know the difference between right and wrong, and to realize when we are falling short before God (Hebrews 12:5:11). That’s what the Law, represented by the picture image of Mt. Sinai, in our text, does for us, primarily.
Paul put it this way, in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the Law, no human being will be justified in His (in God’s) sight, since through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
The Law of God, in the Scriptures, shows us our sins and where God wants us to go instead in our lives, but it doesn’t get us there. Primarily, it condemns us and shows us our need for help beyond ourselves.
That is why we also need, so desperately, the second picture image in our text, that of Mt. Zion and the city of the living God. Mt. Zion was located on earth in the city of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, and it is there, through the Scriptures, we meet Jesus, God’s own Son, sent into this world to be the Mediator, the only One who could and would go between us and God to fulfill a New Covenant with God.
God’s Old Testament people failed miserably in following Him and His will and His Old Covenant. That is represented in our text by Cain killing his brother, Abel, and Abel’s blood crying out for vengeance and judgment for sin. There were then, later, the Old Testament sacrifices, including sacrifices of animals, but these only prepared the way for a much, much greater sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus and His shed blood in His suffering and death on the cross. His sprinkled blood, our text says, speaks a much better Word, a Word of the Gospel and the forgiveness of our sins and peace and new life with our Lord and God.
Jesus earned all of that for us by taking the judgment for our sins upon Himself and paying the penalty for them all, in our place. That forgiveness has come to us personally through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God, and the Word connected with water in our baptism, and the great promises of God that are ours by the gift of faith in Christ.
Our text also speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Mt. Zion, and the blessings that are guaranteed to us in Christ. We struggle with sin. We try, but we never overcome it all in this life. Yet we are counted as “the righteous made perfect” in God’s eyes, through the perfect work of Jesus.
Our text also speaks of the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. That includes all believers who have died in faith, including all of our loved ones who have lived and died in faith. And we hear that innumerable angels are there, as well. And guess who else is extolled, whose names are written in the Book of Life? Your name and my name - not because we are so great, but because God is so great in His love for us and in giving us the gift of His only Son, Jesus, who has already accomplished everything we need for our eternal future, as we hang onto and trust in Him and His Word.
All this keeps us going in difficult days in a very troubled world. Paul writes again, in Romans 8:18, 24-25: “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us…” “In this hope we were saved… and we wait for (that heavenly home) in patience.”
And as Hebrews 12 ends, we hear that heaven and earth will be shaken and pass away, as we know it, but God’s Word will never pass away, and our heavenly home will never be shaken (Hebrews 12:26-28, Mark 13:31, 1 Peter 1:23-25).
And we have the promise from the Lord that we’ll hear in next week’s lesson, Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And Jesus says to us, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And we even have, in a few moments here, a taste of that heavenly home, as Christ Himself comes personally to us, with His very Body and Blood, in and with and under the bread and wine, in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-26). May the Lord continue to bless and strengthen us with these amazing gifts and promises. Amen.
The Scriptures this week might be described as a call for humility toward others, but above all, toward God. The Old Testament Lesson is from Proverbs 25:2-10. Proverbs are wise but practical sayings for people and their lives. These proverbs originate with King Solomon (see Proverbs 25:1) and his advice for dealing with kings and with other people. Solomon says that God chooses to reveal only what He knows is best for us, as our Lord and God. Kings like Solomon liked to search out things on their own, which sometimes got them in trouble, as we know from the life story of Solomon. He gives an example of this in this passage, using the image of taking away the impurities from silver, so that the silver can be used for making a nice vessel. In the same way, a king needs to avoid wicked people and their influence in order to serve in a righteous way. (Solomon did not always take his own advice on this, sadly.) People around us can influence us, also, for good or for evil. Solomon also says to be humble and respectful in the presence of a king or other leaders. Likewise, if you have a problem with someone, seek to deal with that person privately, without revealing secrets or acting in a public way, as in a court. You might be wrong and be the person ultimately shamed.
The Psalm is also written by a king, King David. He has learned, in his relationship with God, to seek to be humble and not to try to search out the things of God that are too great and marvelous for him. He pictures himself as a little child, compared with God, and just weaned from nursing and not making demands to be fed and cared for. He seeks to be calm and quiet, and just hope and trust in the Lord, who always knows what is best. David encourages His people of Israel to do the same and is calling us, also, to be humble before our Lord. As he says in Psalm 37:7, we are to be still before the Lord and listen to Him and His Word and trust Him and wait patiently for Him.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 14:1-14. Jesus is invited to a dinner at the house of a prominent Pharisee, and others are there, too, watching Him. A man is there with dropsy (Luke, as a physician, knows the right medical term to use) and comes before Jesus. (Many think the man was planted there to see what Jesus would do, as Jesus had done healings previously on the Sabbath, and many Pharisees condemned that as “work” on the day of rest.) Jesus realizes what they are doing and simply asks them if a healing is lawful on the Sabbath. They don’t answer. So, Jesus heals the man and sends him away.
He then asks the religious leaders, “If a son or an ox fell into a well on a Sabbath, would they not immediately pull him out?” Again, no one replies, showing that they would not always follow their own rules in certain circumstances. It was then time for the meal, and Jesus noticed how people scrambled to get the best seats of honor for themselves. He then tells a parable, reflecting the advice of Solomon in our Old Testament lesson. People should take lower places and not be embarrassed by taking too high a place and having to move lower. But Jesus is not simply teaching about proper etiquette. He is teaching about our relationship with God, above all, and to be humble before Him. He will then lift us up, as He chooses. Jesus then speaks to the man who invited Him to the dinner and encourages him not just to invite people who will pay him back in return. The man is called to care also about the poor and needy who could never pay him back. Jesus is teaching a humble, servant love - the way He was going, as He finally went to the cross to rescue us poor and needy people, who could never pay Him back.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Hebrews 13:1-17. The writer also talks about humble servant love toward others in many situations: hospitality to strangers, remembering those in prison or being mistreated, a husband and wife honoring their marriage commitment to each other, using money wisely, respect for leaders, and on and on. The focus, as always, then turns to our Lord and His promises to us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear.” And the faithfulness of Jesus our Savior "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” and the need to be “strengthened by His grace” and not other diverse and strange teachings.” For “Jesus also suffered outside the gate” ( of Jerusalem on the cross) in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.” We are called to bear reproach for Him and His Name in this life, knowing we have an eternal city to come in heaven through Christ, and we are called to seek to do good and share what we have, reflecting Christ’s great sacrifice for us. Finally, we are called to respect our leaders, who have a responsibility for our spiritual welfare, and praise God with joy for His goodness to all in Christ. And may we all continue to listen to the Word of God, together with them, in humility to our Lord.
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 50:1-15. The psalmist is Asaph, chosen by King David to serve in the tabernacle in Jerusalem, along with his sons. (See 1 Chronicles 15:16ff and 25:1-2.) Asaph speaks the Word of the Mighty One, God the Lord, coming from the heavenly Zion to the earth and especially to His chosen, covenant people of Israel. He comes to testify against His people for their wickedness (see v. 16 ff.) even while they are offering continual sacrifices to Him. He is not hungry and in need of what they offer. The whole world is His. What He wishes is that they would come to Him with genuine thanksgiving for His goodness and mercy and wishing to keep their vows and promises to Him and others. He also wishes that His people would trust Him enough to call upon Him when they have troubles and believe that He will deliver them, for their good and His glory.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 66:18-23. In these closing verses of Isaiah’s prophecy, the Lord promised that in a coming time, He would reach out to gather people from many “nations and tongues,” even those “far away, who have not heard His fame or seen His glory.” People of many nations would be brought to faith “as an offering to the Lord” and be His servants, as the Jewish Priests and Levites of past days were. (See 1 Peter 2:5-6,9-10.) And when a whole new existence comes, “new heavens and a new earth,” all flesh, all believers in heaven, will come to worship before the Lord.” This whole new existence “shall remain” forever. (See Hebrews 12:26, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21.)
The Epistle lesson is Hebrews 12:4-24 (25-29). Times of trouble and persecution were coming for God’s people in the early church, and temptations also to abandon the faith in those difficult days. Still today, there will be struggles with sin and temptation, and the Lord may have to discipline us because He loves us. Earthly fathers discipline as seems best, but our spiritual Father always disciplines us for our good, though it may be painful, that he may “train us” in His ways. The Lord can strengthen our “drooping hands” and “weak knees,” so that we can carry on, even in hard times. We can also “strive for peace” with fellow believers and watch out for “roots of bitterness” that can be very harmful. (See Deuteronomy 29:18-20.) Especially, we encourage one with the promises of the Gospel and not with the fear of the Law, though we need both. We are confident of the “heavenly Jerusalem” that God has prepared for us. We have been “born again” to faith and a new life through our baptism and the Word of God, and we are counted “righteous” and “perfect” in God’s eyes through our continuing faith in Jesus and His blood shed for us to give us the “better Word” of his forgiveness for us. The things of this existence can be “shaken” and will not remain. But we are receiving an everlasting kingdom that cannot be shaken, in Christ.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 13:22-30. Someone asked Jesus a theoretical question about how many people would be saved. Jesus is more concerned about each of us and that we may be saved by entering “the narrow door.” (See also Matthew 7:13-14.) The door is narrow because it is Jesus and only Jesus through whom we may be saved. Jesus clearly says this in John 10:7-9 and John 14:6. God Himself brings people into His Kingdom through the gift of baptism and the Word of God. People can resist and reject this gift, though, and there are many temptations to question it or leave it behind. There are those who question whether Jesus can exclusively be the Savior. They would prefer to say that there are many ways and roads to eternal life, though Jesus and the Scriptures say that there is salvation in no one else but Jesus. (See Acts 4:12 and 5:28-32.) Some also think that if they know of Jesus and have had some casual contact with Him and His teachings, that is enough. The Holy Spirit wishes to bring us to repentance, genuine sorrow for our sins, and faith and trust in Jesus and what He has done for us. He wants us to battle sin as we follow Christ, and not to continue to be workers of evil without continual repentance. Some also think they will get serious about spiritual matters later in life and wait too long, till the door is shut by death, or just never get around to thinking about these things. Jesus gives the sober warning of the alternative, “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in hell and eternal separation from Him. (See also the last verse of Isaiah 66:24, right after our OT reading for today.) All this is why Jesus uses the Word He does in v.24: “Strive” to enter the narrow door. The Greek word here is the one from which we get the English word “to agonize.” It is also in the present tense, which means it is to be an ongoing action. It could be translated something like “Keep on agonizing in entering the narrow door.” We can never get through that door on our own or through our own effort. We have faith and are saved only by God’s grace and through the Holy Spirit. But it can be an agonizing struggle, at times, to stay in the faith and confidence in Christ. (The same basic word is used in our Epistle lesson, Hebrews 12:4, in describing our continuing struggle against sin.) That’s where we need continuing help through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and the Sacraments, to stay where we need to be, in faith and trust, in this life. The Lord will bless and strengthen us as we continue in Him and His Word. We will recline with Him one day in the heavenly Kingdom. But as Jesus warns, there are those, like too many of God’s chosen people, the Jews, who were first in God’s eyes, but will be last, separated, by rejecting or forgetting the only Savior, Jesus. As for us, as believers, we keep trusting that God will be with us and give us strength to continue in our struggles of the faith. As we hear in Philippians 2:12, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” To God be the glory! He alone is our Savior!
Jesus is “The Prince of Peace” and is the source of our eternal life and of our salvation and peace, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, many people resist and reject Him, and His Words and coming can also bring division. Our Scriptures this week speak of this reality, and yet of the great hope and peace we have in Christ.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:81-88. In this longest psalm of the Scriptures, the psalmist rejoices in all that the Word of God can do and promises. In this section, though, the psalmist longs for God’s salvation and hopes in His Word and promises, but needs much comfort, because there are insolent persecutors who are saying falsehoods and digging pitfalls for him. They have almost made an end of him on earth. He is like a wineskin in great heat and smoke, by a fire, shriveled and almost ready to burst. He cries out to the Lord: Help me! Yet he is sure that the Lord’s commands and precepts are sure, and he has not forsaken the testimonies from the Lord’s mouth. He still trusts that the Lord’s steadfast love would give him life. (Could these not be the Words of Jesus, too, when he faced so much opposition and persecution from His enemies? And He was doing all this and suffering for our sake and yet perfectly trusting His Father’s will and plan, where we so often fail. Think about this in terms of the Gospel lesson we will soon look at.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 23:16-29. Jeremiah had to speak a very hard Word of judgment against almost all the prophets and leaders in Judah at his time. They were despising the Word of the Lord and giving vain hopes and visions from their own minds and wishes, instead of speaking of the true anger of their Lord at their evil ways, and that they were making the people forget the true God’s name and leading them away to false gods like Baal. They were speaking lies and claiming dreams that were not true, and they were not speaking God’s Word faithfully. Their words were like worthless straw, and God’s Word through Jeremiah was like fire and like a hammer that breaks the false ideas into pieces. (Sadly, most people would not listen to Jeremiah, and they were carried away into captivity in Babylon, as God‘s judgment.)
The Epistle lesson continues a reading from last week about people of faith in the Old Testament, who did believe God’s Word, by God’s grace, with joy and blessing, but also with many challenges to their trust in the Lord. Abraham received his son, Isaac, but then was asked, as a test, to sacrifice his only son, until God provided an animal sacrifice to be offered instead of his son. (This was a prophecy of how God the Father would later allow the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, to pay for our sins and bring us forgiveness and new life.) God’s line of promise continued through Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and, later on, Moses. Moses gave up his high position in Egypt and the treasures of Egypt by defending his own people and later serving them and helping them escape Egypt by God’s passover plan and the blood of lambs (another event prophetic of Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world). Moses led his people, even though they were often rebellious and gave him much trouble. They finally reached the Promised Land, with the help of a repentant and forgiven prostitute, Rahab. Verses 32-39 of this text may not be read by some churches, but tell of many other Old Testament people who lived by faith in God’s promises, but also faced terrible difficulties because of the opposition by others to God’s Word. Some even gave their lives in following the faith, trusting that they could rise again to a better life. All these did not see the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises, which came in Jesus as the promised Savior. Yet they, too, were saved by God’s grace, as they lived by faith in the promised one to come. The writer to the Hebrews calls them a great cloud of witnesses who help us live our lives in Christ and run our race with endurance, even as we also face many difficulties and opposition to what we believe. Christ Jesus is the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, enduring the worst of evil and hostility and a terrible death in our place. He endured and won victory and the gift of heaven for us, and He will help us, even on days when we grow weary and faint-hearted, as we seek to stay in faith in Him, in spite of struggles and opposition. By His grace, we persevere, knowing the joy and eternal promises ahead for us.
The Gospel lesson, Luke 12:49-56, takes us to the words of Jesus Himself. Jesus speaks of the fire of judgment and a baptism he would still have to be baptized with and wishes that it would come soon, horrible as it would be, so that it could be fully accomplished. He is talking about His own distress and suffering and death, with the opposition and ridicule of so many, where He would suffer the fire and judgment we deserve for our sins, in the God-forsakenness of hell on the cross, until He could say, “it is finished,” “it is accomplished,” in His death on the cross, and then His Easter victory over sin and Satan and death. Jesus did not come to bring peace to the earthly land of Israel, against their enemies, as many expected in the coming Messiah, but peace with God and eternal life. This would bring division, though. Some would trust in the saving work of Jesus, by God’s grace. But some would resist and reject all that, and look for a different way and plan not through Jesus. Even families could be divided in this way. Jesus would be and still is the Prince of Peace, the Savior of the world. (See Scriptures like Isaiah 9:6-7, John 14:27, and Philippians 4:7.) But many could also resist and reject Jesus, unable to interpret what was really going on with Him in His life, death, and resurrection for us. They could predict the weather, but miss out on God’s saving work in Christ. (Lord, help us to see and continue to believe always in the saving work of Jesus, according to God the Father’s plan, for our salvation and eternal life, in spite of the rejection by many. Amen.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 15:1-6. The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, telling him to “fear not,” but to trust that the Lord would be his shield and bring him blessings. Abram was concerned, though, as he still had no offspring of his own. The Word of the Lord came to him again, reassuring him that his own child with Sarah would be his heir, and renewing His promise that He would make a great nation from him, with a number uncounted, like the stars in the sky. Then we hear that “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him as righteousness.” This is a crucial passage of Scripture, quoted directly several times in the New Testament and referred to many other times, emphasizing the central doctrine of our Lutheran church - that we also are justified (counted righteous in God’s eyes) by His grace simply through the gift of faith, centered in the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. (See, for example, Romans 4:3-9ff, Galatians 3:5-9ff, and our Epistle lesson for today, especially Hebrews 11:8-12.) It is the perfect righteousness of Jesus that is credited to us, through the gift of faith in Him and His saving work for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 33:12-22. Israel, from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was God’s chosen people. From them would come the Savior, our Lord Jesus. They are called "blessed” and the Lord’s “heritage” in this psalm. But this psalm also says that the Lord looks upon all the children of man and knows what they are like. A king with a great army, a warrior with great strength, and a war horse with its great might can ultimately not save. Israel too often trusted themselves and even false gods and turned away from the Lord. The Lord reminds us through this psalmist that what is needed are people who fear and trust the Lord and hope in His steadfast love and deliverance. They wait for Him to be their "help” and “shield.” They trust His Holy Name and hope in Him.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 12:22-40. Jesus is teaching His disciples to keep their focus on the Kingdom of God that He is bringing in and giving to them. (He had taught in a very similar way in His earlier Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34.) He knows that they are “of little faith” and calls them not to be so anxious about basic things that He knows they need. If He takes care of the birds and flowers and grass, the Lord will surely take care of His people, too, who are of much more value. Jesus speaks of “treasures in heaven that will not fail” and cannot be bought by our money and possessions, but will eventually be provided by Jesus Himself, by His saving work on the cross for us, and through the faith and trust in Him that He brings us to. He comes to our hearts through His Word and the gift of the Holy Spirit, working through that Word and Baptism. And we are called to “stay awake” in faith in Him. We need to be ready by God’s grace through faith for whenever our own death comes. We need to be ready by God’s grace through faith for whenever Christ will come on the last day, too. That could be before our death, if the last day is soon. The picture image is of being spiritually awake and ready for whenever Christ, the Son of Man, comes and knocks, and we then welcome Him by faith. And amazingly, He will then serve us with His blessings in everlasting life. (This is the real meaning of Revelation 3:20. Many churches say that only if we open the door to Christ and receive Him, then we can be saved. It is not that way. We were dead in our sins, and only God could make us alive and give us the gift of faith and save us.) Now that we are saved by His grace through that faith in what Christ has done for us, we are ready for His return, whenever that comes, strengthened by Word and Sacrament until He comes.
The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 11:1-16, is a portion of a whole chapter, stressing the importance of God’s gift of faith and continuing in that faith. The chapter begins with a definition of faith as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. People of old were commended for their faith - for example, believing in the creation of the world by the Word of God, the making of all things out of nothing. Then many examples from Scripture follow: Abel, who died, but still speaks through his faith, revealed in the Scriptures; Enoch, who was taken to heaven without dying; and Noah, who trusted what God said and built an ark and became an heir of the gift of righteousness by faith. Then comes Abraham, who left home and went to another country, trusting that God would provide a great nation and a descendant, Jesus, who would bring blessings available to all nations, as the Savior of the world. And there was Sarah, who was far past childbearing age, and yet had the child promised by God. None of these were perfect people with perfect faith, but they sought to hang onto God’s promises and died in faith, still believing that the Lord would eventually fulfill all His promises. They knew by faith that they would have “a better country, a heavenly one,” with “a city designed and built by God Himself.” We have been privileged to know that the Savior, our Lord Jesus, did come and did His saving work for us all. We have been gifted with faith in Him through the Holy Spirit, working through God’s Word and our Baptism. As Peter wrote, “Though you have not seen Jesus, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” certain of “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:8-9). (See also 1:10-12.) “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15)!
The Scriptures this week encourage us to rejoice in the Lord and keep our eyes on Him and “the things above,” rather than upon purely self-centered earthly pursuits. The Old Testament lesson is from Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14, 2:18-26. The author is most likely King Solomon, son of David. He is called a “preacher” in 1:1, but the word mainly means someone who addresses an assembly of people. Solomon certainly addressed many as king. In v. 2, he uses the word “vanity,” which occurs about 30 times in this book. The Hebrew word means a mist, a vapor, a mere breath - and he says “all is vanity” - suggesting that much of life is fleeting and temporary. He was known for his “wisdom,” but says that much in life is “an unhappy business,” “a striving after wind.” He speaks of toiling hard in life, but never knowing who will end up with what we leave behind - a wise man or a fool. Many days have sorrow and troubles (vexation), and many nights are without real rest. At the same time, Solomon says that one can find enjoyment in the things that come from the hand of God - God’s “good and perfect gifts” of wisdom, knowledge, and joy - and seek to please Him and follow His Word. (See Ecclesiastes 12:11-12. The wisest words are from the One Shepherd, our Lord Himself and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true God Shepherd and our Savior. Other books can often just bring “much weariness.”)
The Psalm is Psalm 100, a psalm that recognizes that the Lord is the only true God, our Creator and Good Shepherd, who cares for His sheep and provides “good” for us. All should praise and thank Him with singing, even if it is just “a joyful noise,” for His steadfast love and faithfulness to us. This psalm summarizes what is said in many of the other psalms, the songbook of the Old Testament. (See Psalm 95:6-7, Psalm 96, Psalm 98:3-4, Psalm 106:1, 107:1, Psalm 16:2, 25:8, 34:8, the refrain from every verse of Psalm 136, and the summary statement in James 1:16-17 and in Jesus, in John 1:14-18.)
The Gospel lesson is Luke 12:13-18. Jesus is asked by someone to solve a dispute between him and his brother over an inheritance. Jesus says that he is not an arbitrator over such issues, though many Jewish religious leaders got involved in such things. Jesus warns against coveting, as some of the commandments do, for “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Jesus then tells a parable of a man whose land produced bountifully. He has to build more and bigger barns to store everything, and finally thinks he is set for many years and can just “eat, drink, and be merry.” God calls him a fool! He will die that night, and who will enjoy what he focused on, seemingly only for his own benefit? That is, Jesus says, the position of “one who lays up treasures for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (See Jesus’ Words about people who hear the Word of God but are “choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life,” in Luke 8:7, 14, and His Words in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:19-21, 25, 32-33.)
How can one be “rich toward God?” The Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:1-11, speaks to that. The focus of our minds is to be, above all, on Christ, and the things above, in and with Him, through the gift of faith in Him and not on self-centered earthly pleasures, many of which are evil. Paul lists quite a number of them, including the covetousness that Jesus also warns about, which is a kind of idolatry, where we can allow ourselves to become more important than Christ Himself or others we can help and serve. We are called to be “renewed in knowledge” by our Lord and His Word and will. Then we realize that our status in this life is not so important, but the new life Christ has given us and the glory that is to come in eternal life, through Christ and His Word and work for us. (See Ephesians 2:6-7, for example.) Our minds are on the things above, being with Christ in heaven, at the right hand of God.
Several of the readings this week teach us about prayer, as God’s people, and the Epistle continues readings from Colossians. The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 18:(17-19) 20-33. The Lord reaffirms His choice of Abraham, from whom would come a great nation, and all nations on earth would be blessed through him, in His descendant, our Lord Jesus. The Lord then tells Abraham what is coming for Sodom and Gomorrah, so that Abraham could learn and teach about justice and righteousness. Abraham, thinking of his relatives, Lot and family, who lived in Sodom, takes the opportunity to ask the Lord to spare them, though he describes it as not destroying the righteous with the wicked. Abraham prays humbly, knowing that he was just “dust and ashes,” but trusts God’s justice, in going from 50 to only 10 righteous people, to have the cities spared. (There were not even 10 of God’s people in those cities, and they were destroyed, but Lot and his two daughters were spared, with the angels’ help, though his wife disobeyed and died. God showed justice - and mercy, at the prayer of Abraham.)
The psalm is Psalm 138. David prays and gives thanks to the Lord for hearing his prayers and preserving his life, in the midst of enemies. David sings and praises the Lord for His steadfast love and faithfulness. He honors the Lord’s Name and trusts His Word, as the Lord strengthens his soul. The Lord cares about David, even in the lowly days he experiences. David is confident that the Lord will fulfill His purposes for him, in His steadfast love for him, and not forsake him. David will be one of those kings who give thanks to the Lord, for he has heard the Words of the Lord and has been brought to trust His ways.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 11:1-13. Jesus modeled prayer by praying often Himself, and one of His disciples asks Him to teach them to pray, too. Jesus then gives His model prayer, what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” which He had taught before in a slightly fuller way, in Matthew 6:9-13. We are to pray to our Heavenly Father, honoring Him and His Name and the Kingdom of God He sends to us in Christ. There is only one prayer for our everyday needs, summarized as daily bread, but we pray especially for our spiritual needs - the forgiveness of our sins, and the willingness to forgive the sins of everyone else, too, and to be protected from times when we might be tempted to sin. Jesus then teaches us to be persistent and persevering in prayer, being almost “impudent” in our asking, seeking, and knocking, in approaching our Lord, trusting that He will hear us. He will answer as He knows what is best for us. Even imperfect human parents (He calls us “evil,” knowing our sinful nature) know not to give their children hurtful and harmful things. So our Heavenly Father will give us good gifts and especially the Holy Spirit, who brings us to faith in Christ through the Word of God and our baptism, and strengthens us through that Word and the Lord’s Supper and spiritual gifts He works in us. (See Galatians 5:22-23.)
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Colossians. This week’s reading is Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19). Paul calls upon us again to recognize the greatest gift our Lord gives, in Christ Jesus, who has the fullness of God, of deity, in a human body. As true God and man, he forgave all our sins, taking our sins upon Himself and being nailed to the cross for them, paying the debt for them and canceling that debt, and then being raised from the dead. We receive that forgiveness and new life in our baptism and being brought to faith in Jesus and His Word and what he has done for us, as our Savior. Paul warns us, then, not to be caught up in human philosophy and traditions, or even in Old Testament rules and regulations and festivals and Sabbath. The same is true about fascination with angels and supposed visions or a very rigid, ascetic lifestyle, etc. The substance of our Christian life is in Christ and holding fast to Him as our Head, and growth that is from God, through His Word and Sacraments. And we abound in thanksgiving to Him, for His saving grace for us.
“To Make the Word Fully Known”
6th Sunday after Pentecost
Colossians 1:21-29 & Luke 10:38-42
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Epistle Lesson, from Colossians 1:21-29, along with a few thoughts from our Gospel lesson, Luke 10:38-42.
Two Sundays ago, we heard in Colossians 1 that our Heavenly Father qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light and has already delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we were redeemed and forgiven (Colossians 1:12-14).
Why was that so important? Paul reminds us, in our text for today, what we were all like at one time. He wrote about us: “You once were alienated and hostile in mind toward God, doing evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21). In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said something very similar: “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated… and having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Paul even goes so far as to say, “You were dead in your trespasses,” your sins - physically alive, but spiritually dead (Colossians 2:13) with regard to the way of God and God Himself. You and I all were, in effect, enemies of God, born with a sinful nature and alienated from Him and needing to be reconciled to Him. And none of us could reconcile ourselves to God and make things right with Him.
That is why God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, into the world. Paul writes, just before our text, “In Christ Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things, making peace by the blood of His cross… He has now reconciled us in His body of flesh by His death” (Colossians 1:19-20). By being true God and true man, Jesus was able to pay the price needed to make things right between us and God and have us be counted acceptable to and fully forgiven by Him. In fact, Paul says, through Christ, we are “presented holy and blameless and above reproach before God” (Colossians 1:22).
But we certainly don’t feel that way, though. We know our sins and struggles in our lives. Yet with Christ, we have a robe of righteousness which covers over all our sins. It is described in prophecy in the Old Testament in this way: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).
And how does that robe come to us? Paul says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” “For in Christ, you are all sons of God, (children of God), through faith” (Galatians 3:26-27). Jesus also says that we are born again to a whole new life, through water and the Spirit, along with the living and abiding Word of God, through which the Spirit works, to bring us to faith in Christ, through that Gospel (John 3:3-6, and 1 Peter 1:23).
So when God looks at us now, as baptized believers, He sees not us but Christ in us, with His perfect righteousness (Matthew 3:13-17). As Paul wrote in Romans 3, ”But now the righteousness of (and from) God has been manifested apart from the Law… the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). And again, as Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel” (the Good News of Christ as Savior, made fully known through the Word of God - Colossians 1:25) "for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… For in (that Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith'" (Romans 1:16-17). Through Christ’s righteousness, given to us as a gift, God then sees us and counts us as “holy and blameless and above reproach” in His eyes.
In our text, Paul also adds a Word of warning. All this continues “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard” (Colossians 1:23). It is important, Paul says, not only to begin in the faith, but to continue in the faith, through continuing to hear the Word of God. Paul was made a minister “to make the Word of God fully known,” he says, and that it be proclaimed to everyone under heaven (Colossians 1:23,25). And that Word centers in “Christ, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and eternal life, through what He had done for us, as we have already heard. For Scripture says so clearly, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Christ Jesus we proclaim,” Paul says, “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom” (with all the Word of God) "that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
The warning is there because people could drift away or fall away, not continuing in the faith, and there were and still are many false religions and ideas seeking to pull people away from belief and faith in Christ. Paul speaks of “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed in Christ” - that He is the anointed Savior of the world for everyone (Colossians 1:26). Judaism expected a Messiah, a promised Savior, but rejected Jesus as that Savior and wanted to put and keep people under Jewish laws and rules and regulations which they thought necessary for salvation. Paul may have used the word “mystery” also because there were mystery religions of that time, with secret knowledge available only to elite people and not to people in general. And there were many other so-called gods and goddesses to choose from, in a very polytheistic world.
In contrast to all that, we have Christ and His Word, the Word of Scripture, through which the Holy Spirit brings us to faith and keeps us continually in that faith. Paul wrote, on another occasion, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). And Jesus says, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Paul knew that freedom in Christ and His Word, the Word of God, even though when he wrote our text and the whole book of Colossians, he was in prison in Rome, simply because of his Christian faith. Paul writes in Colossians 4:3-4, asking that the people of the church at Colossi “pray that God may open to us a door for the Word (of God), to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison - that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.” Even in prison in Rome, Paul knew that he was a free man, in Christ, and prayed for opportunities to share the Word of Christ even there, for it was Good News for prisoners and other people in Rome and people everywhere. So he spoke and wrote the Word of Truth in Christ.
Sharing the Word of Christ was not easy for Paul, as his time in prison indicates. But Paul says, in our text, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and for the sake of the church.” (Christ had already completed all the suffering necessary for our salvation, but Paul’s sufferings might spare other believers some suffering (Colossians 1:24). And as our text ends, Paul says that he toils and struggles, but that the results of people coming to faith actually came through Christ in him, and the Holy Spirit, with their energy and powerful work within him. Paul takes no credit for himself. The One True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, gets all the glory and credit for any who come to believe.
Note also that our Gospel lesson for this evening also emphasizes the great importance of the Word of Christ. Jesus had come for a visit to Martha and Mary, along with some of His disciples, most likely. Martha quickly gets busy preparing a meal for them all and other things necessary for them. She soon is upset because Mary is not helping her, but “just sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to His teaching” (Luke 10:39-40). This in itself is highly unusual because in those days, Jewish rabbis taught only men and no women. But here is Jesus, teaching both men and women. The Good News of His Word and His saving work is for everyone everywhere under heaven - men and women and children. Jesus, the Lord, then said to Martha, “You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). And Jesus said, on another occasion, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-29).
Think about it. Without the Scriptures, we would not even know of Christ and His saving work for us, at the center. We would not know how important baptism is for us and our children, and the need to go out into the world, baptizing and teaching. And we would not know of the gift of the Lord’s Supper and that we receive not just bread and wine, but the very Body and Blood of Christ to forgive and strengthen us.
That is why our Lutheran doctrinal writings, our Confessions, say, “We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments are the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged, as it is written in Psalm 119:105, ‘Thy Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path'... Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, should not be put on a par with Holy Scripture… Holy Scripture remains the only judge, rule, and norm according to which… all doctrines should and must be understood and judged as good or evil, right or wrong” (Formula of Concord, Epitome).
It is on that “foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20) that we stand, as God’s people, in faith, today and always.” Amen.
The Scriptures for this week call upon us to wait upon the Lord, listening to Him and His plans, and trusting that He will help and save us. The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 18:1-14. The Lord appears to Abraham and Sarah, but as three persons. (This is a picture and prefiguring of the Trinity. Two of them are later called “angels,” and God the Son seems to appear as “the angel of the Lord," at times.) Abraham welcomes them and provides a great meal for them, with the help of Sarah and others. The Lord then promises a son to Abraham and Sarah, as He had before, though they were very old and beyond childbearing years. Abraham is skeptical, and Sarah laughs at this promise. The Lord simply repeats the promise and says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” They do have a child, and from Abraham and his descendants, our Savior Jesus finally came.
The Psalm is Psalm 27. This is another psalm where David has trouble from enemies opposed to him. Yet he trusts his Lord, who is His Light and Salvation, even on dark and dangerous days. He can go to the Lord’s tent (the tabernacle, the place for worship and prayer and singing, before the building of the temple) and seek the Lord’s presence (His face) and be taught by His Word. Even if his parents would forsake him, the Lord would take him in and hide him and lift him up. David is a believer in the Lord and His goodness and that He will give him life, in this world and in eternity. But he must wait for the Lord and His plans, with courage through Him.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 10:38-42. Jesus goes to the home of Martha and Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. Martha is concerned about serving Jesus and probably things like making Him comfortable and providing a good meal. She is upset that her sister is not helping her. She is worried and anxious about getting these things done. These are not bad things, as Abraham and Sarah provided the visitors with such things in our Old Testament lesson. But Jesus reminds her that there is one thing most necessary, and that is hearing God’s Word and being brought to faith in Jesus and His saving work. That is a gift from God that will last for eternity. We can serve, but only in response to our Lord first serving and blessing us.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Colossians, this week, 1:21-29. Paul continues to speak of the blessings that have come to us through the bloody sacrifice of Christ on the cross. (See v.19-20, also.) Though we have done evil deeds, we were reconciled to God and counted holy and blameless and acceptable in God’s eyes, through Christ, and as we now continue in faith in Him and His Gospel. Paul is a minister of that Good News, sharing the Word of God and the mysterious plan of God with Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews - a plan that centers in Christ, the Hope of glory, living in us as we are brought to faith in Him and then as we grow and mature in Him through His Word. Paul proclaims this Word, though he does so through the power and energy of Christ Who lives in Him, too. It can be a struggle to share Christ, but the Lord brings His blessings as we wait upon Him in faith.
5th Sunday after Pentecost
July 13, 2025
“Who Justifies? Who Qualifies?”
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation today is the Gospel lesson, from Luke 10:25-37, along with a few thoughts from our Epistle, Colossians 1:12-14. As our text begins, a lawyer stands up and asks Jesus a question “to put Him to the test.” This was not a lawyer as we think of one today, but a man who was an expert in Jewish Law, together with scribes and Pharisees we read about in other Scriptures.
This man may have heard Jesus saying, just before our text, that “the Heavenly Father has hidden things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children.” And Jesus had told some of His own disciples: “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” That would mean that they would have eternal life at the time of their death.
This lawyer surely thought of himself as wise and understanding and an expert, and so he asks Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus, as he often does, asks the lawyer a question instead: “What is written in the Law? How do you understand it?“ The lawyer responds with a part of the “Sh’ma” from Deuteronomy 6:5, a famous Jewish expression of Jewish religion, along with some words from our Old Testament lesson for today, Leviticus 19:18. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus approved of this summary of the Law - love for God and love for your neighbor - describing the two portions of the Ten Commandments. Jesus had given almost exactly the same answer when asked in Mark 12 what were the greatest commandments. So, Jesus said to the lawyer, “You have answered correctly. Keep on doing this, and you will live.”
The lawyer knew, however, that it was not as simple as that. For he and other experts in the Law had come up with 613 commandments from the book of Moses. 365 were negative - what you shouldn’t do - and 248 were positive - what you should do. Much time and thought were spent on evaluating the relative significance of these laws. Much arguing was also done about them and what they meant, and many were taken far beyond simple Scripture.
The lawyer seems to realize this and that no one could realistically keep all these 613 commandments. And there was the word “all.” Who could really love the Lord with all his heart and mind and soul and strength and do it all the time - and love his neighbor all the time, too? For Jesus had used a “present tense” as he spoke, which in the Greek means “Keep on doing the law, and doing it all the time."
The lawyer, therefore, tries to “justify himself” because even he knows, deep down, that he cannot live up to his own Jewish standards that he and others taught. So, he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” (If your neighbor is only certain select people, maybe you could love and help them, but not everybody.)
Jesus goes on, then, to tell his famous parable of the Good Samaritan. (And remember, as we heard a few weeks ago, that Jews and Samaritans hated each other, and John 4:9 says, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”) In the parable, a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was in an isolated area, where robbers came and beat him and stole everything he had, including his clothes, and left him half-dead. (We know of robberies and violence today, but these were common in the ancient world, too, with sinners in a sinful world. Many people were also very poor, and even one set of clothes was worth stealing.)
A Jewish priest and a Jewish Levite came by and saw the man lying there, but passed by on the other side. They certainly knew basic Jewish law, like “Love your neighbor,” because they served at the Temple in Jerusalem, at least at times. But you can imagine the excuses they may have made. Maybe the man was faking it and would hurt them. Maybe there were robbers still around who might beat them up, too. If the man was leaking bodily fluids, he could make them ritually unclean. If the man would die, while they helped him, that would make them unclean in another way, and they could make others unclean, too. (In other words, some laws contradicted other laws and went far beyond Scripture, especially in helping a neighbor, as in this case. It might be better to pass by than to stop and help.)
Then Jesus introduces the Good Samaritan into the story. And note right away that at the end of the story, Jesus has changed the lawyer’s question. It is not, “Who is my neighbor?” - allowing us to eliminate a bunch of people we don’t think are our neighbors. Instead, Jesus asks, “Which of the three - the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan - proved to be a real neighbor to others?” The lawyer didn’t even want to mention the name, Samaritan, but he had to admit that it was the One who showed mercy to the very needy man. He, the Good Samaritan, was the real neighbor. And then Jesus repeated his earlier message to the lawyer, “Now, you keep on going and doing likewise.”
This left the lawyer right where he was before. He knew, deep down, that he could not keep all the 613 Jewish laws all the time, and he knew that he had not always been the neighbor he should have been. He could not do enough to inherit eternal life by his own efforts, and he couldn’t justify himself for his sins and failings. He was in trouble, as we all are, if left on our own. For Jesus had taught earlier, in His Sermon on the Mount: if you want to earn your way to heaven, by your own efforts, “you, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
None of us can do that. Think even of the great Christian leader, Paul. He wrote, “What a wretched man I am!… I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out…” (Romans 7:15-24).
But Jesus Himself could do what none of us can do, and was picturing Himself as the Good Samaritan, who came into this world to rescue us from our greatest problem, the problem of sin and our failure to do God’s will, all too often. We weren’t just half-dead, as the man in the Good Samaritan parable was described. We were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3), but Christ, being rich in His mercy and compassion for us, like the Good Samaritan, made us alive spiritually by His saving work and grace, His undeserved love and help for us.
Jesus came into this world to live the perfect life we all fail to live. He suffered and died in our place, on the cross, paying the penalty our sins deserved. And He rose in victory, conquering the power of death and earning for us the gift of eternal life.
The man left for dead in the parable could only receive what was provided for him, trusting that it would be enough, and being grateful and thankful for what was done on his behalf by the Good Samaritan. And this was not, as some churches and groups say, a kind of Head Start program, with some initial grace given to us in our baptism, and now we must merit additional grace and gifts and finally earn a spot in eternal life in heaven, if possible. No, the Scriptures say, “By God’s grace you have been saved, by faith, and even that faith is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" - and then we can do some good in loving work God prepares us to do. But the saving work has already been done for us, in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Listen again to the words of our Epistle lesson for today, in Colossians 1:12-14: “Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” It is not like the Indy 500, where the racers have to qualify themselves, and if they do, then they can try to win the race by their best efforts. No, Paul says, “The Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness (apart from God) and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” And in that beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, “we have redemption” (the price has been paid for us) and “we have the forgiveness of our sins.”
Our Lutheran doctrinal writings put it this way. “It is the unanimous confession of our churches according to the Word of God… that we poor sinners are justified before God and saved solely by faith in Christ, so that Christ alone is our righteousness…"
We also believe, teach, and confess that, although the genuinely believing and truly regenerated persons retain much weakness and many shortcomings down to their graves (as we and Paul have to confess), they still have no reason to doubt either the righteousness which is reckoned (counted) to them through faith. or the salvation of their souls, but they must regard it as certain that for Christ’s sake, on the basis of the promises and the Word of the Holy Gospel, they have a gracious God” who loves and forgives them.”
“The Biblical doctrine of the church is built upon the central doctrine of justification by grace through faith, so that it stands or falls with that doctrine.” The wrong question is “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The right response is: “May I always rejoice, by God’s grace, in what Christ has perfectly and completely done for me, as my Savior.” Amen
Let us pray: “Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus, our Savior.” Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
Sermon: “Discipleship: Christ’s Way”
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 9:51-62
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation today is the Gospel Lesson, from Luke 9:51ff. You can follow along in your pew Bibles, as we think about being disciples of our Lord - His way!
As our text begins, Jesus knows just what was coming for Him - that the days drew near for Him to be taken up - to be taken up first to a cross to suffer and die - and in that process, to suffer the penalty for our sins and the sins of the whole world. And then He would be taken up to a tomb, from which He would rise in victory, defeating the power and curse of death. And then He would be taken up again to the glories of heaven, at His ascension, to open the door to eternal life for us, too, through faith in Him and what He has done for us.
The suffering and death would be terrible, but Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem to suffer this for us, in our place. A prophecy of Him in Isaiah 50 has Him saying: ”I gave My back to those who struck Me and My cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not My face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord God helps Me… therefore I have set my face like flint” (like a hard, hard stone) to do my Father’s will” (Isaiah 50:6-7).
All this would happen in Jerusalem, and Jesus went the most direct way there, through Samaria. He hoped to rest in a village there, but the people there would not receive or help Him at all. This was because the Jews and the Samaritans, at that time, hated each other, and as John 4:9 says, “Jews have no dealings at all with Samaritans.”
The disciples, James and John, were so angry at Jesus being rejected that they wondered if they should call for fire from heaven to come down and consume those Samaritans. There were Old Testament examples of such things, as judgment for sin. Even the great prophet Elijah had called for fire of judgment at one time. Jesus had given James and John the nickname ”Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17) for they had this angry, judgmental streak in them, which came out at times. But in our text, we hear that Jesus turned and rebuked these disciples - told them they were very wrong in their thinking - and they then moved on to another village, looking for a place to rest
Why did Jesus rebuke His close disciples in this way? Because He knew His true and ultimate mission - to be the Savior for all people, not just one group of people. Most of us know John 3:16 from the Bible. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” That’s truly Good News! But sometimes we don’t go on to read John 3:17, which says: "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” Destroying a Samaritan town by fire would save no one.
In His ministry, Jesus reached out to others in loving concern, including Samaritans. In John 4, Jesus reached out to a Samaritan woman at a well and brought her to faith in Him. Through her witness and Jesus’ own Words, many more Samaritans believed in Him and said, “We have heard for ourselves, and we know Jesus is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:1-42).
Later on, Jesus told a parable of a man beaten and left to die. A Jewish priest and a Levite don’t help him, but a Samaritan man does. And when Jesus healed 10 people with leprosy, only one man came back to say “thank you,” and he was a Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37 and Luke 17:11-19). And at His ascension, Jesus said to the disciples, “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:9). And later in the Book of Acts, we hear of the disciples following in Jesus’ steps and reaching people in Samaria with the Gospel in Acts 8:1-22, 9:31, and 15:3.
Jesus did His saving work and taught His disciples to reach out in faith and love to others, and they finally did, even to the formerly hated Samaritans. And we read in Acts 9, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and were being built up.” And that is still our calling to this very day, as followers of Christ. But it is a growing process, with much learning through Jesus and His Word.
As our text continues and Jesus moves on toward Jerusalem, we hear that He meets three different men who seem interested in being His disciples, but Jesus seems to treat them in unusual ways.
The first says, enthusiastically, “I will follow You, Jesus, wherever You go.” That sounds great, but might be largely an emotional response; for Jesus asks him, as he had asked others on other occasions, whether he had counted the possible cost of following Jesus, where foxes and birds have places to live, but Jesus has nowhere to lay His head, at times. Maybe this man needed more time to learn and grow before taking on big commitments. He may have been just a novice, new in the faith, as Paul once cautioned about (1 Timothy 3:6).
Jesus asks a second man to follow Him, but that man says, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father!” Jesus seems very harsh with him, saying, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Some think, though, that this man was too hesitant to follow Jesus and may have just been making excuses, as his father was really neither sick nor dying, and it might be a long time before he would need to bury his father. Jesus was certainly not against family responsibilities and “honoring father and mother,” as the 4th Commandment says, and Paul warns about people who fail to take their responsibility and provide for family members. Even Jesus, on the cross, made sure that His own mother was taken care of, assigning that responsibility to John. Jesus simply says to this man, “As for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God” right where you are, and let people know of Me as Savior and Lord. That is something that anyone in faith can do, as we can, still today.
The third person in our text says, “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” That sounds like a reasonable request, and Elijah, in our first reading today, allowed Elisha to go back and kiss his parents and do some other things before joining Elijah as a prophet. But something else seems to be going on here, as Jesus tells this man a proverb or simple parable: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” In earlier days, before there was modern equipment for plowing, one literally had to hold the plow and keep looking ahead, with a straight focus, to make a straight furrow and not mess things up. Jesus may have known that this man was making only a half-hearted commitment to being a disciple of Jesus. He may have too easily been looking back to old associations and old loyalties, with weak commitment to the present and future work of Christ.
How different Jesus was from these men. He knew His father’s will and set His face like flint to carry it out perfectly. Only He could be the Savior we needed. And he did do everything we need, as a gift of His grace. Our most recent Lutheran Study Bible makes this comment: “Jesus always initiated the call to discipleship. Remarkably, the Gospels
never tell us about anyone offering to follow Jesus and then successfully becoming a disciple. In each case, Jesus seems to challenge the “self-confidence” (LSB, p.1733). It is not as the old song says, “I have decided to follow Jesus” by my own free will. Instead, Jesus told His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, to go and bear fruit” (John 15:16).
We rely not on ourselves, but on Christ Jesus and His saving work and His gift of faith, and the Holy Spirit, who has worked that faith in us through our baptism and the Word of God. Jesus said to those who had been brought to belief in Him, ”If you continue in My Word, if you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32) - free to serve your family and Lord, in good and difficult times, and with confidence in Christ’s love and forgiveness and strength for you in this life and eternal joy to come. Amen.
Let us pray: “Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The Scriptures this week remind us of the command to “love our neighbor,” but keep bringing us back to what Christ Jesus has done for us in His love for us. The Old Testament lesson is from Leviticus (18:1-5) 19:9-8. Several times, the Lord God says, “I am the LORD” and then tells us to follow the Commandments and to love our neighbors - the people He has placed around us. We are to leave some of our harvest, so that the poor and the sojourner can have some for themselves through gleaning, gathering the leftovers. We are to pay our workers what we owe them. We should not take advantage of people with disabilities or treat people unjustly in court. We should not slander others or hate them or hold a grudge against them or act with vengeance toward them. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, as we wish others would do toward us.
The Psalm is Psalm 41. David begins by calling us to “consider the poor and needy” and care for them, for the LORD has cared for and helped them, too (sometimes through us). David then remembers his own sins and asks the Lord to be gracious to him and help him as he faces many troubles and enemies, who wish him dead. Then, as in other psalms, the words of David become a prophecy of the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. Close “friends” hate Him and betray Him (John 18:13). Others think the worst about Him and think He cannot rise again from the deadly things that happen to Him” (Mark 15:29-32). Yet Jesus knows, “My enemy will not shout in triumph over Me.” The Lord “will raise Me up” and “set Me in His presence forever.” But unlike David, Jesus does not die and rise again to take vengeance on those opposed to Him, but to forgive and save. This has been the blessed plan of the Lord, from everlasting to everlasting, in His love even for the sinners that we are. Amen and Amen to that!
The Gospel lesson, Luke 10:25-37, is the story Jesus tells of the Good Samaritan, who helps a man beaten and left for dead and provides for all his needs with his own resources. That is what God has done for us in the loving work of Jesus for us, purely by His grace and mercy, His resources. He was and still is the Neighbor we have needed, by His sacrifice for our sins and His resurrection to provide for us new and eternal life. Note especially the context of this story. Jesus tells this story to a religious man, a doctor of the Law of God, who seems to think he can inherit eternal life by what he does. The man knows that God expects complete love of Him and of one’s neighbor. Jesus says, “Keep on doing this, and you will live.” The man seems to realize, deep down, that he does not always do this and needs to try to “justify himself.” So, he asks, “Who is my neighbor, the kind of person I am to love?” In the parable, Jesus changes the question to “Who am I to be a neighbor to?” And He clearly means anyone and everyone, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His Son.” Jesus was teaching what only He could do, earning forgiveness for all by His love for all and His sacrifice for all. That’s what gives us all hope and joy - not our justifying ourselves, but Jesus justifying us, a gift given to us as we are simply brought to believe and trust in Him as the Neighbor and Savior who rescued us.
The Epistle lesson, Colossians 1:1-14, begins a series of readings from this letter to people in the ancient city of Colossae. Paul rejoices in the faith, hope, and love of people there who have “heard the Word of the Truth, of the Gospel,” and have come to believe and “understand the grace of God” in Christ the Savior. Paul prays that the believers, including us, will be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding, giving thanks especially that God the Father has delivered us from the domain of sin and darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of all our sins,” by His sacrifice for us. We have done nothing to earn or deserve this. “God the Father has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (all believers) in the light” of eternal life. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead assures us of this eternal future. What joy and confidence we have, not in ourselves, but in Christ.
Sermon on Romans 11:33-36
A Trinity Sunday Reading (One-Year Series)
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
I had the privilege of preaching on June 15 for the service for a Purdue grad, who became a Lutheran pastor and was celebrating the 25th Anniversary of his ordination into the ministry. His church in Illinois uses the one-year series of Scripture readings, where we are using the three-year series, and I thought that the Epistle Lesson for Trinity Sunday, Romans 11:33-36, was worth our thinking about for a few minutes today. I printed it below:
“Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?’ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen”
These words of Paul are a doxology, a word of praise to God, like the song of praise we often use: “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.” Paul begins by saying, “Oh, the depths of the riches of God.” When we hear the word “riches,” we often think about money and resources as we get older. Can we pay all our bills? Will our money last until we die? How will things work out? I know that sometimes I worry far too much about such things, even though Jesus tells us, in His Sermon on the Mount, “Don’t be so anxious… for your Heavenly Father knows all that you (really) need. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:30-33).
That’s why Paul turns our thoughts, in this passage, to the riches of “the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Earlier in Romans, Paul had written of “the riches of the kindness and forbearance (putting up with us and our weaknesses) and patience of God… meant to lead us to repentance” and trust in Him (Romans 2:4). And he wrote of “the Lord, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him, for all who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved” - salvation for eternal life (Romans 10:12-13)! And Paul means, of course, calling upon the One True Triune God, Whom we just celebrated not too many weeks ago:
- The Father, who loved the world so much that He sent His only Son to us
- and the Son, of whom Paul wrote: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
- Christ Jesus, who is called “the power of God and the Wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:2-3)
- and God the Holy Spirit, of whom Paul writes: “We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
Paul calls this Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the “vessel of mercy” (Romans 9:23), bringing us forgiveness and grace and peace in this life and eternal life in heaven, through God’s Word and Sacraments. There is our hope.
Paul also reminds us that this is the Wisdom and Knowledge of God that is far beyond our own human wisdom and thinking and understanding. Paul writes, “How unsearchable are God’s judgments and how inscrutable His ways.” I looked up the word “inscrutable” again in both English and in Greek, and it is defined as “things not easily understood, mysterious and puzzling, sometimes even incomprehensible.” In the Greek, it means “things that can’t be tracked down” and figured out by our human minds, even if we try hard to do so. For example, the whole idea of the Trinity - only One God and yet three distinct Persons - can’t be fully understood or explained - just believed.
We run into this trouble, too, when difficult things are happening in our lives, and we just can’t seem to understand why God would allow or permit such things. Why should I or one of my family or friends have this illness or problem? - and we struggle. Paul then quotes from a portion of Isaiah 40:13-14: “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?“
It is OK to talk over anything with the Lord and bring our concerns to Him. But sometimes in our prayers, we do try to counsel God and tell Him what He ought to do, as if we really knew better than He. Finally, we just have to say, though, “Here’s my wish and opinion, but Your will be done, O Lord,” as the Scriptures teach. And we then try to trust God’s promise to “turn all things to some good, for those who love Him” (Romans 8:28), though we can’t always see it for ourselves.
Paul adds one more quotation, based on words from Job, Chapters 41-42 (Job 41:11, especially): “Or who has given a gift to God, that he might be repaid?” This is the age-old temptation, and sadly, the teaching of most religions and even of some churches, that if we are good enough and do enough good things, we can earn and merit God’s favor, and He will have to accept us and repay us with His blessings. That idea simply will not work, according to the Scriptures.
In the verse right before this doxology, Paul says that we are all disobedient sinners, but that God wishes to have mercy on us all, by His own choice and work. And how does that happen? Paul put it so clearly, earlier in Romans: “There is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an atoning sacrifice, by His blood, to be received by faith.” “It is the righteousness from God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe” (Romans 3:22-25).
As James wrote in his letter, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, from the Father… Of His own will, He brought us forth by the Word of Truth” to the new and eternal life we enjoy (James 1:17-18). We don’t understand it all, and we still have our struggles, but we say in faith and praise, with Paul: “For from God and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).
The readings for this week take us into predictions of the Gospel being shared with all the world, and then how that began to happen in the ministry of Jesus and then in the ministry of the early Christian church, centered in Christ.
The Psalm is Psalm 66:1-7. The psalmist calls upon the whole earth to shout for joy to God for His awesome power and deeds. A time is coming when people all over the earth will worship and sing praises to God, remembering how He turned the Red Sea into dry land (at the time of Moses, in Exodus 14) and how God’s people could pass through the River Jordan, on dry land, at the time of Joshua (Joshua 3). Both Elijah and Elisha were able to do the same at the Jordan in their ministries, showing that they were anointed by the Spirit of the Lord for their work, too (2 Kings 2). God’s people rejoice in the Lord God, who rules by His might forever. A warning comes, then, to people who are rebellious against God and try to exalt themselves, instead of God. The praise should go to our Lord God, especially, in the future, in the Name of Jesus our Savior.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 66:10-14. The picture image that God gives to Isaiah, at the end of his prophecy, is of Jerusalem as a nursing mother, providing “delight and comfort and consolation” to her children, as the Savior would come and do His saving work there and bring the Good News of Salvation. There is “glorious abundance” in Jesus and His mercy and forgiveness, and “peace like a river” of blessing, in Him. This will be a blessing available for the glory of all nations, with examples of other peoples listed beyond this text, in Isaiah 66: 18ff., who will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel. There is also a strong warning of the Lord’s indignation against those who continue to be enemies of Him and His Savior. Right after our text, there are warnings of fire and judgment for those apart from the Lord, as well, though the Lord wants all to come to faith. If you skip to the last verses of Isaiah 66:22-24, you will also find prophecy that is repeated in the New Testament, of new heavens and a new earth and a kind of new eternal Jerusalem in which only worshiping believers will be present. That will be when Christ returns on the last Day and raises all dead bodies. Believers will be with Him forever in continued joy, while unbelievers will be in eternal sorrow in the fire of hell, where their worms will not die. Jesus uses the same imagery of hell in Mark 9:43-48, but promises eternal life for all believers.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 10:1-20. Jesus appoints and sends out 72 of His disciples to prepare the way for Him, as laborers in His harvest. This is a short mission, and they are to take no provisions with them, but rely on people who will help them. They are to proclaim the Kingdom of God coming near, in Jesus, and can even perform some miracles. If they are rejected, they are to move on to others. But “woe to those” who reject them, for they are also rejecting Jesus and the heavenly Father who sent Him. The seventy-two returned with joy, for they could even cast out demons, symbolized as serpents and scorpions. The victory is won finally by Jesus Himself over Satan through His coming death and resurrection. Jesus tells these disciples to rejoice even more that their names would be written in heaven through the gift of faith and eternal life in Him that He would bring to them. This also represented what was to come - the Gospel going out into the world to all nations. The contrast would continue, though, between believers and those who reject the Lord.
The Epistle is Galatians 6:1-10 and 14-18. Paul continues to teach about the “new creation” coming through the cross and resurrection victory of our Lord Jesus and the mercy and peace coming to all who are brought to trust in Him. Old Testament rules and regulations, like circumcision, are no longer needed. Jesus has completed everything we need. If people sin and are struggling, they can be restored in a “spirit of gentleness, through the forgiveness earned by Christ. Christians are called not to become weary in doing good to and for others, teaching and sharing the love of Christ, as much as possible, and especially encouraging fellow believers in “the household of faith.” This is what life is like in the new “Israel,” the Israel of all believers, centered in Christ. Paul then signs this letter, which he had likely dictated, and offers the blessing of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which we are saved and serve. This is the gift of God to all who read and believe this letter, too - the very Word of God, to be shared with us and everyone else possible, along with the other Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always at work through this Word from God to strengthen us and bring more people to faith.
Sermon on 1 Kings 19:9b-21
July 2, 2025
“Elijah - Still a Prophet?”
Epistle: 3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Old Testament lesson from this past Sunday, 1 Kings 19:9-21. At the time of this text, the prophet Elijah was having a very difficult time. He was troubled and discouraged and wondered if he even could or should be a prophet, anymore. We have to look at some background that brought Elijah to this point. Some of these stories you may remember. (You can find them in 1 Kings 16:29 through 19:8.)
Elijah had been a faithful prophet of the One True God, but was called to serve in the Northern Kingdom of Israel when there was a wicked Jewish King, Ahab, who had married a non-Jewish princess, Jezebel, who was even worse than he. Jezebel worshipped the false god, Baal, and a false goddess, Astarte, and convinced Ahab to get rid of the worship of the One True God. Instead, Jezebel supported 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of the prophets of the false goddess, as well, with the approval of Ahab, who built altars for worship of them.
Elijah, the prophet, spoke against what was happening and for the True God, but Ahab and Jezebel would not listen. Finally, God predicted a drought, through Elijah, that would go on for a long time unless the king and queen and the Israelites repented, but again, Ahab and Jezebel kept doing their evil things and leading the people further astray against the One True God.
The True God provided for Elijah during this drought that lasted more than two years. He sent ravens that fed him and then fed him through a non-Jewish widow, whose tiny bit of food was replenished by God daily, just enough for her and her son and Elijah. We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” but that was literally what the Lord God did for Elijah and the other two. Elijah kept speaking the Word of the Lord where he could, and by the power of God, even raised the widow’s son from the dead after the son became ill and died. The widow finally came to faith and said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
Little seemed to be accomplished in Israel itself, though, because of the continuing evil influence of Ahab and Jezebel and all the false prophets - and even after more than two years of no rain. Finally, the Lord sent Elijah to King Ahab to set up a contest between the prophets of Baal, and Elijah and the true God. Each would build an altar and ask their “god” to send down fire upon their altar. Whichever “god” responded was the True God. The prophets of Baal prayed and cried out and cut themselves with swords and lances to get the attention of Baal until they were bleeding badly, but Baal did not respond all day.
Elijah, in contrast, had his altar soaked with water and then spoke of the true God and prayed to him, and fire from God right away burned up Elijah’s altar and offering. It was very clear that Elijah’s God was the One True God. Elijah then told King Ahab that after more than two years of no rain, rain would come again, and a great rain came, showing God’s power and control, even over nature.
Elijah then had the 450 false prophets of Baal killed. Old Testament Law allowed for the “death penalty” for anyone who “enticed the people of Israel to go and serve other gods.” This may seem very harsh and hard - but remember that the coming Savior of the world was to come out of Judaism and the Jewish nation, from believers who still trusted the true God - and our Lord Jesus did come in just that way.
Now you would think that all this would convince King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to repent and turn to the one true God. That is likely what Elijah thought would happen. But that did not happen at all. Instead, Queen Jezebel was so angry that she vowed a curse upon herself if she had not killed Elijah within the next 24 hours.
Elijah then became very afraid and ran for his life. He ran to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, where there were believers and he could have been safe. But he ran to the southernmost part of Judah and even farther into the desolate wilderness. He was so fearful and discouraged and felt like a failure and asked that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down, very discouraged.
But God wasn’t done with him, in spite of his weakness, and sent an angel to provide him with food and water. But he lay down again, maybe like a person who is so depressed that he can’t seem to get out of bed. And the angel of the Lord came again and provided him with food and drink enough for a journey of about 250 miles to Mt. Horeb, another name for Mt. Sinai, to a cave there.
That is where our text begins. Some think that the Lord was recreating what He had done with Moses long before, when Moses was so discouraged when the people of Israel had rebelled against the Lord and built a golden calf to worship, instead of the Lord, right when Moses was on Mt. Sinai learning from the Lord and seeking to do His will. Moses was so angry that he smashed the tablets on which the 10 Commandments were written, and was so troubled that he offered to have his name blotted out of the Book of Life.
Instead, the Lord had mercy and forgave Moses and his people, and even gave Moses a glimpse of the Lord’s glory, setting him in the cleft of a rock to protect him and encourage him to continue his ministry. Commentators think that the cave Elijah was now in was the same “cleft in a rock” that Moses had been in. God asked Elijah twice, “What are you doing here?” And twice Elijah had complained that he had been jealously working for the Lord, but the people of Israel had forsaken the Lord and torn down His altars, and he was the only believer left, and they were trying to kill him, too.
As the Lord had done for Moses in his time of great discouragement, the Lord also gave Elijah a glimpse of His glory. There was a great and strong wind that broke rocks in pieces, and then an earthquake, and then a fire, but the Lord was not in any of these mighty, powerful things. Instead, we hear that “the Word of the Lord came to Elijah “with the “sound of a low whisper.” The Lord God gave Elijah the great gift of His Word, powerful, even with a “still, small voice,” as some translate these Words.
God was not done with Elijah. Even in his weakness, God would be at work in him, through His Word. Elijah was to go where he had been and appoint some new leaders who would serve God’s purposes. And Elijah was not going to be alone either. He was to throw his cloak, his coat, upon Elisha, who would also be a prophet and would assist him in the rest of his ministry. And the Lord revealed to Elijah that he hadn’t seen alone, all along. There were seven thousand others who had not bowed their knees to the false god, Baal, and were believers with Elijah in the One True God. And in spite of his struggles and discouraging days, at times, God still worked through Elijah, and he was one of only two people in Scripture who were taken directly to heaven, without dying (2 Kings 2).
What does all of this say to us today? If even great leaders in Scripture like Moses and Elijah had their struggles and discouragements and times of weakness, should it be a surprise that we have such struggles in our lives, too? And the Lord doesn’t write us off because of our troubles and times of seeming failures. He loves us and forgives us and lifts us up and still gives us things to do for Him and the people He places around us.
Remember how Paul talked about his “thorn in the flesh” that kept him humble. He trusted his Lord, who told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” And so, like Moses and Elijah, Paul said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong, in the power of Christ, who helps me through."
Ahab and Jezebel and many others were strong enemies, but God used Elijah and others through sharing what sometimes seemed to be the still, small voice of God’s Word, always to bring at least a remnant of believing Jewish people to faith, and from them came our Lord Jesus, the Jewish Savior for the whole world by His perfect life of righteousness, in our place, and His death on the cross to forgive all our sins, and His resurrection from the dead, fulfilling the promise of eternal life for us, after death.
And Jesus was also a true man, tempted as Moses and Elijah and we are, yet without sin. He needed encouragement and help, as a man, and John the Baptist prepared the way for Him. The Scriptures and Jesus said that John the Baptist was also the one who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, as prophesied. John the Baptist also had his struggles and questions, too, and died a tragic death, but was saved by faith in the perfect grace of Jesus, as we all are.
And on the Mount of Transfiguration, when a glimpse of Jesus’ own glory was shown to Peter, James, and John, how appropriate it was that Moses and Elijah were there, too, great and yet as imperfect as we are, yet saved through Jesus, as we are all (Matthew 17:1-13). And as Paul later wrote, we can still hear that quiet whisper, the still, small voice in God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures, which may not always seem so important, but are the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” May we stay in that Word, centered in Christ, always. Amen.
Our readings this week have to do with being disciples of our Lord Jesus and following Him and His way. The Old Testament lesson is from 1 Kings 19:9b-21. Elijah was on the run because the Lord had defeated the false prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel, and Elijah had then killed them (1 Kings 18). Queen Jezebel was very angry with her false prophets being killed and planned to kill Elijah. Elijah “ran for his life,” feeling that he was a failure, but the Lord sent an angel to sustain him for a long trip, 40 days and 40 nights, to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai) (1 Kings 19:1-8). The Word of the Lord came to Elijah twice, asking, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Twice, Elijah answers that he seems to be the only person left among the Israelites who is faithful to the Lord. The Lord speaks to him, not in a dramatic, powerful way, but in a low whisper, and sends him back to his work as a prophet a while longer, by anointing new kings of Syria and Israel, and a new prophet in his place, Elisha, by casting his cloak upon him. The Lord also assures Elijah that there were still 7,000 faithful believers in Israel and that Elisha would assist him until his ministry was complete. Elijah allows Elisha to do a few final things, including a farewell to his family, and then he joins Elijah, until Elijah is taken directly to heaven (2 Kings 2).
The Psalm is Psalm 16. We looked at this psalm earlier, on Easter Sunday, April 20, because v. 9-10 are quoted in the New Testament for predicting that the Lord Jesus would not see corruption in a grave, but would be raised from the dead, as happened on Easter, after His death on Good Friday. (See Acts 2:23ff. and Acts 13:34. You can find more detail in the April 20 “Preparing for Worship.”) David speaks here as a faithful servant of God, who takes refuge in Him and knows that all good things come from Him alone. Following false gods only brings sorrow and trouble. There is “a beautiful inheritance” for David and all those who follow the One True God, the Lord. He leads David and us on the “path of life” in this world, and when we die, there is “fullness of joy” in eternal life. This psalm, as mentioned above, also predicts the coming of the Lord Jesus, who would be the perfect Servant of God and die to pay for our sins and then rise in victory on Easter and then return to “pleasures forevermore at the right hand of God” that He had earlier enjoyed already as the Son of God, before humbling Himself to be a man and do His saving work for us (Philippians 2:5-11, John 17:3-5).
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 9:51-62. As the time drew near for Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus willingly set His face to go to Jerusalem for these things His Heavenly Father had planned for Him, for the salvation of the world. (See the prophecy of Jesus, God’s Servant in Isaiah 50:5-7, who “sets His face like a flint,” a hard rock, to do the will of God, no matter what. The same is said of Ezekiel in his ministry to Israel in his day, with his “forehead harder than flint” against rebellious people (Ezekiel 3:7-9).) Jesus chooses to go the shorter route to Jerusalem, through Samaria, though Jews and Samaritans disliked and avoided each other as much as possible. (See John 4:9.) The Samaritans rejected Jesus because he was a Jew, going to Jerusalem. James and John, called “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus (Mark 3:17), see this and want to call down fire from heaven to consume these Samaritans, as Elijah had done in 2 Kings 1:10-12. (But see how an angel tells Elijah not to ask for this fire again, at this point, in 2 Kings 1:15ff.) Jesus rebukes these disciples, James and John, because His primary work was not to “condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17). Destroying these Samaritans would not save them. (See how Jesus often reached out to Samaritans, like the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-42, and calls them “neighbors” in the Good Samaritan parable (Luke 10:30-37) and heals a Samaritan leper, who comes back in faith to thank Him, in Luke 17:11-19. In Acts 1:8, Jesus specifically tells His disciples to be witnesses in Samaria, and they do so in Acts 8:1-22 and 9:31 and 15:3.) In this reading, Jesus and the disciples then move on to another village. As they go, there are three examples of people who seem to want to follow Jesus as His disciples. That seems a great thing, as Jesus did say, later on, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In this situation, though, Jesus gives a caution to each. The first person says, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57). Some think that this man was simply speaking with emotional enthusiasm, too eager, without thinking through what he would really be facing. Jesus speaks of the fact that, unlike foxes and birds, He often had “nowhere to lay His head,” just as Samaritans had just rejected giving Him a place to stay and rest (v.52-53). (See also Luke 14:28-30, for example.) The second man is called by Jesus to follow him, but then the man says, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” We don’t know the exact circumstances, but some think this man was hesitant, not eager enough to follow Jesus, because of other concerns that seemed more important. Jesus certainly, on other occasions, spoke of family loyalty. (See Luke 18:20 and Matthew 15:3-6 and Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 5:8.) Burying a father seems very important, too, though some think maybe the father wasn’t even sick or dying, and this was just the man’s excuse. Jesus’ work was most important. He was going to Jerusalem to destroy the power of death, once and for all, by His death and resurrection. That was Good News that needed to be proclaimed to all. The third man says he wants to follow Jesus, but needs first to say farewell to his family at his home. That sounds reasonable, but from the simple parable that Jesus gives, the man may have had weak resolve in what he says. In Jesus’ day, a person always had to look forward and keep his plowing straight. He certainly couldn’t be looking all over, and especially couldn’t be looking back. Focusing on the past and past loyalties could hurt present and future work and the truly important work of the kingdom of God. (Much more could be said, but watch for a sermon on this passage that I will post on my podcast in the next week or two, along with a sermon on Elijah and His struggles, spoken of in the first lesson, today.)
The Epistle lesson is from Galatians 5:1, 13-25. Paul writes this letter to help believers not to be pulled back into a mentality of salvation by works, especially the rules and regulations of Old Testament Jewish law, like the need to be circumcised and to follow the Old Testament dietary rules and festivals, and Saturday only as the Sabbath day, etc. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in what Christ has done for us, not by what we do for Him. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit has brought us to faith and the gift of baptism (Galatians 3:26-27) and thus a new life in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God. That means a desire to battle “the works of the flesh,” of our old sinful nature, and the long description of these sinful works in v. 19-21. In contrast, the Holy Spirit seeks to produce in us good fruit, as listed in v. 22-24. Such fruit is summarized in v. 12-14: “Through love serve one another,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and not “biting and devouring one another.” This means being led by the Word of God, so that we use our freedom in Christ, not to do what we want, but to seek to do what God knows is best for us and others He has placed around us. This does not mean that we must be perfect, but seek to walk in step with Christ and the Holy Spirit, through the teaching of the Word and continual repentance and confession of our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness when we fail, the forgiveness and blessing we receive in worship and in our regular prayers. May the Lord lead our discipleship in following Christ and the Holy Spirit, through that Word.
We have now completed the Festival half of the Church Year, where we have focused upon the saving work of our Lord Jesus, in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith in Jesus through the Word of God and baptism. We don’t forget about our Triune God, at work for us, but we think in a more general way of what all that means for us and our life as believers.
The psalm is Psalm 3, written by David, at a time when he was overthrown by his own son and many of the Israelites. They were out to kill him, and said that there was "no hope or salvation for him in God.” He had fled from Jerusalem, but still trusted that the Lord would be his “shield” and “lift his head.” He cried out to the Lord to “arise” and “save” him. The Lord sustained him in these very difficult days and helped him to “sleep” and “not be afraid” until he saw "salvation” from the Lord and continued “blessings” for him and his “faithful people,” as he returned to be king again.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 65:1-9. The Lord warns through Isaiah that His people should not continue to be rebellious against Him and His will, as David’s son, Absalom, and so many others had been. They were still “following their own devices” and desires, worshiping false gods in “secret places” and “provoking God to His face continually” with their “iniquities.” Judgment was coming for them, and the Lord would then be “found” by new “nations not called by His Name,” and by some of His “chosen servants” who would return to Him and be “blessed” with “new wine.”
Jesus is the ultimate Servant of God, the Son of God sent from God to be a true Jewish man, battling the forces of evil and reaching out to other nations, as well as His own people. In the Gospel lesson, Luke 8:26-39, Jesus and His disciples travel across the Sea of Galilee to a largely non-Jewish, Gentile area. Jesus is immediately met by a man possessed by many evil spirits. As a result, this man had lost control of himself and went about naked and living in graveyards, and had such strength that no one could control him. Jesus immediately realized the situation and commanded “the unclean spirit” to come out of him. The man was actually controlled by a “legion” of “demons,” who spoke and recognized Jesus right away as “Son of the Most High God” and knew they were in trouble and asked Jesus not to torment them. They especially did not want to be sent to “the abyss,” to “hell.” (See Revelation 9:11 and the angel of “destruction“ there.) Jesus allows them to go into a herd of pigs, and the herd was destroyed by them. In contrast, the formerly possessed man was now “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” The herdsmen and other people of this area just wanted Jesus to leave, out of fear of Jesus and what else he might do, and probably because of their economic loss of the pigs. The healed man wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus sends him home, as a witness to “how much God had done for him.” The man went away “proclaiming everywhere how much Jesus had done for him.” He realized that Jesus was God and had done this great healing for him. He became a powerful witness for Jesus in this Gentile area, as people would have known what the man was like before and after the healing. The power of Jesus was clear, as well, and that He had come to defeat the power of Satan and his forces, as He did again and again and finally at the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. (There are questions about this story that we cannot answer. Why did Jesus allow the destruction of the pigs? Did the evil spirits have to go to hell anyway, once the herd was dead? Good came out of this, for sure, though.)
The Epistle lesson is from Galatians 3:23-4:7. Paul says that we were all imprisoned by the Law and its judgments, being unable to keep the Law, but we are set free and justified by God’s grace through faith in Jesus and become children of God through Him. We were baptized and now live in Christ, with His robe of righteousness. It does not matter who we are or have been. We are all one through faith in Christ. Through the promises of God, beginning with Abraham (and before) we are all Abraham’s heirs, as we are adopted into God’s family as children of Abraham, through the redemption earned for us us by Christ. “In the fullness of time,” at the right time, “God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem us.” We are now also children of God the Father by faith, through the Son and the Holy Spirit, who now live in our hearts. Our future is secure, as we stay in Christ, and to God be the glory for it all!
This Sunday is Holy Trinity Sunday, and the Scripture readings focus on the mystery and yet the reality of the One True Triune God, one God and yet three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Psalm is Psalm 8, a psalm of praise to the LORD, our Lord, with His majestic Name and work as the Creator of our amazing universe and world. Note that David uses the unique Biblical Name for God, Yahweh, which is always shown in translations like the ESV as capital LORD, the great I AM, I AM WHO I AM. (See Exodus 3:13-15.) David also uses another word for “our Lord,” the word which can be used to refer to our king, our ruler, one in great authority. The LORD is both our God and our King, and what is a man that the LORD is mindful of and cares for him? Yet the LORD does. And He cares especially in providing a unique Son of Man for us human beings, our Lord Jesus. God the Son was true God, Son of the Father, and yet became a true man, “a little lower than the heavenly beings,” in order to do His saving work for us and as one of us. Jesus used the name “Son of Man” for Himself at least seventy times, and this is affirmed in Hebrews 2:5-9, where this passage from Psalm 8 is quoted. It was “namely Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels” so that He might suffer and die “by the grace of God for everyone.” Then he was “crowned” again “with glory and honor” in heaven, with “all things put under His feet,” as both 1 Corinthians 15:27 and Ephesians 1:22 say, quoting from Psalm 8. We therefore praise our Lord Jesus as children did in the temple long ago, as quoted again from Psalm 8:2.
The Old Testament lesson is from Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31. This passage begins with a woman pictured as sharing what is right, Wisdom from God, with people, in contrast with an adulterous woman pictured in Proverbs 7, who seeks to lead people, lacking sense, astray. Then, in verses 22-31, a person is described who was with the LORD from eternity, before all things were created, and who was then involved in the creation of the heavens and the earth, together with the Spirit of God, and is the personification of Wisdom. The New Testament applies passages like this to Jesus, in John 1:1-4, 14-18. Jesus was the “Word of God” and "God made flesh, the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth, who makes the Father known.” Christ Jesus is also called “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God… who became to us Wisdom of God” and much more, as our Redeemer (1 Corinthians 1:24-24, 30-31). We therefore boast in the Lord Jesus, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:2,9-10,12-13). (Look also at Colossians 2:2-3, which speaks of “the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” If you have an ESV
Lutheran Study Bible, you could look at the discussion of “Christ as Wisdom” on p 1012.)
The Gospel Lesson is from John 8:48-59. Jesus is being accused of being a “Samaritan,” one of the people whom many Jews hated, and having a demon, an evil spirit, in him. Jesus says that He actually honors His Heavenly Father, and that if people “kept His Word, they would never see death.” That statement made people think He was truly demon-possessed. “Abraham and all the prophets died”, they said. Who did Jesus think He was? (They often accused Jesus of being crazy and demon-possessed. See also John 10:20 and Luke 11:14-23.) Jesus says that He truly does know God, His Father, and keeps His Word, and that even Abraham knew of His coming. (See what Peter says about the prophets of old and what they did know, in 1 Peter 1:10-12, even as we believe in Jesus without having seen Him, through His Word and promises (1 Peter 1:8-9). Jesus then made a very strong statement of being God, with eternal existence, saying, “Truly, truly I say to you, ‘Before Abraham was, I AM.'” Jesus applies that special Old Testament name for God, Yahweh, the LORD, “I AM Who I AM” to Himself. (See the comments above on Psalm 8 and Exodus 3:13-15). He truly was One with God the Father, and made the same comments again and again when he used His many “I AM” statements - I AM the Light of the World, I AM the Bread of Life, etc. People then realized that he was claiming to be God and LORD, but they rejected Him and what he was claiming and tried to stone Him to death. He was able to escape until he finally went to the cross willingly to die in payment for our sins, and then rose in victory. (A passage like this is what caused people like C.S. Lewis to say that Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic or the Son of God. Lewis says that he was dragged kicking and screaming into the kingdom of God by being brought to know that Jesus actually was the Son of God, his Savior.)
The Epistle lesson is from Acts 2:14a, 22-36, continuing the Pentecost reading from last Sunday. Peter clearly speaks of Jesus, who followed “the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” in being crucified and killed, but then being raised from the dead, and now “full of gladness in the presence of God” and reigning with Him. Peter quotes prophecy from God in Psalm 16:8-11, Psalm 132:11, and Psalm 116:11-12, showing that Jesus was both LORD and Christ (the anointed, promised Savior). Peter does not give a neat definition and explanation of the Trinity, for that is beyond our comprehension. (See Romans 11:33-36.) Peter simply says what the Triune God has been doing for our salvation. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing this day (of Pentecost).” This is the One True Triune God, one God and yet three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, actively at work for us and our salvation. The result is what our LORD God wants, calling people to Himself as our Heavenly Father and bringing them to faith in Jesus and baptism, through The Word of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-41). Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our One True God!
Sermon: “Peace in Christ through the Spirit”
Pentecost Sunday
Based on John 14:23-31 and Acts 2:1-21
Let us pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this morning is the Gospel Lesson, along with thoughts from the Epistle. It was Maundy Thursday, and the Passover meal was over, and Jesus had washed His disciples’ feet. Now he predicted again what was soon coming, with His death and resurrection and ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we celebrate on this Pentecost Day.
Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my Word” - “keep it,” in the sense of listening to it, studying it, and seeking to trust and follow it and share it with others (John 14:23). For as Jesus adds, “The Word that you hear is not (just) Mine, but the Father’s (Word), Who sent me.” And Jesus gives the warning, “Whoever does not love Me does not keep My Words” (v.24).
Jesus knew that He faced much opposition from Jewish religious authorities and Roman authorities and many others under the evil influence of Satan, whom Jesus calls later, in our text, “the ruler of this (evil) world” (v.30).
Jesus also says, “He (Satan) has no claim on Me, but I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father” (v.30,31). And so Jesus went, later that Maundy Thursday, willingly to be arrested and condemned and suffer and die, to pay, in our place, the penalty for our sins and the sins of the whole world, that we might be forgiven and counted righteous before God. It is what Paul wrote about Jesus, saying that “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (to be held onto), but emptied Himself by taking the form of a Servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-11).
This also helps explain why Jesus also says, in this passage, “The Father is greater than I” (v.28). God the Son was true God and even when he became true man, here on earth, He was still true God and could say in John 10:30, “The Father and I are One.” But He did not always use His Godly power. We hear in Mark 13:31-32 that Jesus says, while still on earth, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will not pass away.” And then he says, “But concerning that day or that hour (when heaven and earth pass away), no one knows, not even angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Jesus lived with some such limitations while on earth. It is in that context that He says in this passage. “You hear Me say to you, I am going away… If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you, before it takes place, so that when it takes place, you may believe” (v.28-29).
That was always the goal of Jesus - to complete His saving work for the world, and in the process, to help His disciples grow in faith and understanding, in Him. Even on Maundy Thursday, there was much that they did not comprehend - that He, Jesus, had to suffer and die and rise again and return to His Father, to receive again, as John 17:5 says, “His full glory as the Son of God in His Father’s presence, the glory he had with the Father before the world existed.”
And Jesus, as true man, also needed to die and rise again and ascend to heaven to give the assurance and certainty of eternal life to all believers in Him, and since He continued to be true man, as well as the Son of God, in heaven, that meant that we, as real human beings, as He was, could also have eternal life in heaven, by His grace and mercy.
But Jesus knew that even His chosen disciples were not getting and understanding all this. And so he goes on to tell them about the next important part of the Triune God’s saving plan for them and for their calling to share the Good News of Christ with the world.
Imagine that after my sermon today, I asked you to write down everything I said. You probably wouldn’t do too well with that. Even I have my sermon written out word-for-word, to try to say it accurately. If I lost some pages, I would have some trouble saying what I intended, even after practicing it. If you look at John 13-17, you will find almost 5 chapters of what Jesus said, just on Maundy Thursday. How could these disciples understand and communicate all that?
Jesus says in our text, ”These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (v.25-26).
The Holy Spirit has always existed, as the third Person of the One True Triune God, together with the Father and the Son. He is mentioned already in Genesis 1, verse 2, the first book of the Bible, and in the Old Testament, He is mentioned working especially with leaders of God’s people and with the prophets who spoke and wrote God’s Word, preparing the way for the coming of the Savior Jesus. As just one example, hear 2 Samuel 23:1-2: “The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; His Word is on my tongue.”
The Holy Spirit had been with Jesus and His disciples, all through their ministry, and Jesus told them, on Easter evening, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” but the Spirit appeared most dramatically on Pentecost, the account of Acts 2, when many Jews were in Jerusalem for a late Spring Harvest festival. The Holy Spirit was a “Spirit.” He did not have a flesh-and-blood body and could not be seen, and so he appeared in ways that God had shown His presence in the Old Testament - with the sound of a rushing wind and with fire - and with tongues as of fire, since the tongues of the disciples were being affected. The disciples were then filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them what to speak. These were not the normal languages spoken at that time in Israel - Aramaic or Greek or Latin or even Hebrew. These were the native languages of the hearers, from many different countries, languages that the disciples had never learned or spoken before. Clearly, this was a miracle from the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).
And what were all these visitors from many countries hearing? They said, “We hear them telling in our own tongues (in our own languages) the mighty works of God.” Then Peter spoke, on behalf of all the disciples, and said that this was fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy of the Spirit of God coming upon many people, with the result that “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:28-32).
And led by the Holy Spirit, Peter went on to speak of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, through His death and resurrection. And through that Word of God proclaimed about Jesus and the gift of Baptism, the Holy Spirit brought 3,000 people to faith in Jesus and salvation that day. This is sometimes called the birthday of the Holy Christian Church, as the number of believers went from about 120 to over 3,000, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit.
It was as Jesus had predicted, “When the Helper, the Spirit of truth comes, He will testify about Me; He will glorify Me - Jesus” (John 15:26, 16:14-15). “The Spirit will take what is Mine and declare it to you.” “For Jesus Christ has become the Cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men, by Which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).
The Holy Spirit then grew these early Christian apostles into faithful believers and teachers of God’s Word in Christ. As Peter later said, “Know this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). And it was not only what they said but what they wrote that is the true Word of God. Peter also said about Paul, “Our beloved brother Paul also wrote you according to the wisdom given him (not his own wisdom or ideas), as he does in all his letters” (2 Peter 3:15-16).
And Paul himself wrote of “the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God (inspired by God through His Holy Spirit) and is profitable for us” (2 Timothy 3:15-16). And John, as he recorded the very words of Jesus, said, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have Life in His Name” (John 20:31). And Paul wrote, “Therefore, I want you to understand that… no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ (and truly mean it and believe it) except by the Holy Spirit”
(1 Corinthians 12:3).
We therefore praise the Father and the Son, but also the Holy Spirit, for His Work from Pentecost (and even before) to this very day, for bringing us to faith and keeping us in that faith, including the promise of Jesus, also in our text, “Peace I leave with you; My Peace I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Amen. (John 14:27)
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, as we think of the work and importance of God the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament lesson, Genesis 11:1-9, is the opposite of the Pentecost story and reminds us of how vitally important the coming of our Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit were. After the fall into sin, and even after the Great Flood, people were all wrapped up in themselves and their own sinful desires, instead of the Lord and His will. They still had a common language and were united and could be inventive, but for their own sinful purposes. They discovered how to make bricks and decided to build a great city and a tower that reached the heavens, in order to make a great name for themselves, instead of honoring God. Their city was named “Babel,” the “House of Bel,” a false God they worshiped instead of the true God. God finally “confused” (the Hebrew word is “balal”) their language and scattered them over the earth. They were to “fill” the earth (Genesis 9:1), but now it was in division and disarray because of sin.
Sin continued to be a great problem for people, as it still is today. The Psalm is Psalm 143, a psalm of David and one of the seven “penitential” psalms of the Old Testament. David pleads for God’s mercy because he knows that “no one living is righteous before Him.” Only the Lord is “faithful” and “righteous.” David has enemies, physical and spiritual, and he sits in darkness, and his own spirit faints and fails. He thirsts for the Lord and His steadfast love. In repentance, he “flees to the Lord for refuge” and trusts Him, that “His Good Spirit” can lead him and teach him and preserve him. He knows that he does not deserve this help, but that for His own Name’s sake, the Lord can bring His “servant” David out of trouble. (Isn’t this a good prayer for all of us, in times of trouble and weakness?)
The Gospel lesson is John 14:23-31, part of almost five chapters of teaching that Jesus provides for His disciples on Maundy Thursday, the night before His suffering and death and subsequent resurrection and ascension. He calls upon his disciples to love Him and “keep His Word” - the Word from Him and His Heavenly Father, that would sustain Him and the disciples from the attacks of Satan, “the ruler of this world,” and the many enemies of Him and His saving work. He knew how weak His disciples were and how much they still did not understand, but He continued to teach them, so that they would “believe” in Him in the days ahead and have “peace” and strength different from what the sinful world promises. Jesus also promised them the great gift of God the Holy Spirit, sent from Him and His Father, who would teach them and enable them to remember and share His Word of Life and Hope with the world. (Watch for a sermon I will send and post next week, which gives more detail on all this and the Epistle lesson.)
The Epistle lesson is from Acts 2:1-21. Many people had come to Jerusalem for “the Feast of Weeks,” one of the important Jewish festivals and a kind of Spring Harvest celebration. (See Leviticus 23:15-16.) The disciples of Jesus were also together, 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, awaiting the promised “Power from on high” (Luke 24:49). God the Holy Spirit did come, showing His appearance with Old Testament images of God’s presence, “rushing wind” and “fire.” The disciples were then able to speak in languages they had never known or learned, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that people could hear of “the mighty acts of God.” Peter then spoke on behalf of his fellow disciples, and pointed to an Old Testament prophecy from Joel, predicting this day, when God’s Spirit would be poured out on many, who would speak God’s Word, with the result that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In the rest of Acts 2, Peter spoke of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God, as Lord and Christ and Savior. And through this Word of God and “many other Words” and the outpouring work of the Holy Spirit, 3,000 people were brought to faith in Jesus and received the gift of baptism, through which the Holy Spirit also worked to bring forgiveness and new life in Christ Jesus. These believers then “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” - receiving the Word of God and the Sacraments. What blessings came, which are still available today, in and through the Lord of our churches, through the power of the Holy Spirit, who brings us to faith and keeps us in that faith.
“The Way of Christ for All”
Text: Psalm 67
Psalm for 6th Sunday of Easter
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation for today is the psalm for this past Sunday, Psalm 67. You can follow along with this, as Psalm 67 is printed among the psalms in the front part of your hymnal.
Psalm 67 begins this way: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us.” These words should sound familiar, as they are a summary of an Old Testament benediction, a blessing that we still use at the end of many of our worship services still today, from Numbers, Chapter Six: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance (His face) upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:22-27).
And v. 2 of the psalm tells us that God wants His blessed “Way” to be known among all nations on earth. And v.3 says that He wishes that not just the Jews but that all peoples would praise Him. He repeats this in v. 5, again: “Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.”
This had actually been the plan of God from the very beginning, when he had called Abram, in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to be the father of the nation of Israel, the Jews. God also added, in Genesis 12:3, “In you (Abram), all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God made this even clearer in Genesis, Chapter 17, when He changed Abram’s name to Abraham (which means “a father of a multitude”) and said, “I have made you the father of a multitude of nations… I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:14).
And much later, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah of a Servant who would come from Israel. And the Lord predicted of Him, “It is too light a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will send you as a Light for the nations, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:1,6).
For God cared and cares not only about Israel, but about all nations and peoples. As Psalm 67, verse 5 says, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You, O God, judge the peoples with equity (with fairness and uprightness), and guide the nations upon the earth.”
And God’s “saving way” and “power” spoken of in verse 2 of Psalm 67, finally came in the person of God’s own Son, our Lord Jesus. Just after Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, and a man name Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit to come to the temple also and to recognize Who Jesus was and praise God saying, “My eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a Light for revelation to the Gentiles (to the nations) and for the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32). And some years later, John the Baptist was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy in “preparing the Way” of the Lord Jesus, so that through Him (Jesus), “all flesh (all people) could see the salvation of God” through Him (Isaiah 40:3-5 and Luke 3:2-6).
And as we read on in the New Testament, we see that Jesus is that saving Way and Power for all peoples, all nations, as Psalm 67, v.2, says. Jesus Himself said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And the apostle Peter proclaimed, “Jesus… has become the Cornerstone. And there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12). And at least six more times, the early Christian believers in the Book of Acts are called “people of the Way” - the Way of Jesus Christ as Savior, through faith in Him alone. Saul was arresting any people “belonging to the Way” until he himself was brought to Jesus as the true Way of salvation (Acts 9:2 and 16:17). A Jewish man, Apollos, was “instructed in the Way of the Lord” and “spoke boldly… “showing by the Scriptures that the Christ (the promised Messiah, the Savior) was Jesus” Acts 18:25-28).
And of course, we also read in the Book of Acts that there were big “disturbances concerning the Way” of Jesus, made by enemies, believers in false gods and goddesses (Acts 19:23-28) and by Jewish leaders in synagogues who “remained in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way” and opposing the Gospel of Christ (Acts 17:13, 18:12, 19:8-9). And there was the Roman Governor, Felix, who had “a rather accurate knowledge of the Way,” because his wife was Jewish, but kept rejecting “faith in Jesus Christ” and hoped that Paul would give him money (probably as a bribe), in order to be set free (Acts 24:22-26). Paul just kept speaking the Truth about Jesus and was finally sent to Rome and kept under house arrest for two years, witnessing to fellow Jews, many of whom “disbelieved” - did not believe in Jesus. And Paul finally said, at the end of the Book of Acts, “Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles (the non-Jews); they will listen” (Acts 28:23-31). And many did, and Christianity spread.
Paul, in his letters in the Scriptures, also ties us all in, whether Jews or non-Jews, with the promises of God given to Abraham and received simply by faith in the grace and mercy of God. Abraham was “counted righteous” in God’s eyes, by faith in Him, and we are, too, by faith in God’s Son, Jesus, “who was delivered up” to death “for our trespasses, ”to pay the penalty for all of our sins,” and “raised from the dead for our justification” that we might be declared “not guilty” and forgiven by God. Abraham is in this way the father of people from all nations, Jews or non-Jews, who trust in God’s saving plan in Jesus (Romans 4:13-25).
Again, Paul writes, “The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, presented the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” So then, those who are of faith (in Jesus) are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:6-9).
This is all fulfillment of the last verse of our text, Psalm 67:7: “God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him.” And this does not mean to be in terror of God, but as Luther says in his Small Catechism, to fear (especially to honor and respect) God and love and trust in Him above all other things, and especially to be centered on Christ our Savior and His Word.
And the way of Christ is really for all nations still today. I think that many of you know that I was a campus pastor at Purdue University for about 25 years, and the great majority of our students were U.S. students. But we also had a surprising number of international students coming, too, because the world was coming to Purdue.
While preparing this sermon, I took a quick look back and could identify more than 50 internationals and family members who were baptized or confirmed, not counting U.S. students reached in that way, during that time. They came from about 20 different countries. And there were other internationals who came fairly often to worship or Bible study, from another 10 or more countries, off and on, through those years.
Of course, it is the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and the Good News of Christ, who brings people to faith and baptism and confirmation. But He works through people and their witness, and St. James has been important for that, too. For quite a number of years, St. James has sponsored a Thanksgiving Dinner for internationals, and that helped open up opportunities to share about Jesus. Some international children have come to St. James for daycare or pre-school and have heard the Good News of Christ that way. People from St. James have helped with English conversation classes. I remember one member here who is fluent in speaking and reading a foreign language spoken by many at Purdue, who was helpful with that outreach. And another member still has weekly Bible studies with some internationals.
And long before we were hearing much about Ukraine and Russia and Belarus and that part of the world, students were coming from those countries and many others and hearing the Good News of Christ in our church at Purdue.
In short, the prayer that is in Psalm 67 is being answered in Christ our Savior and even in our own community, as we keep praying and witnessing and sharing our Lord and His Word. As we close, we pray, as the prayer of Psalm 67 says: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that His Way in Christ may be known to more and more people on earth and His saving power among all nations. Let all the peoples praise You, O God. Let all the peoples praise You." Amen.
The Psalm, Psalm 133, expresses one of the key themes of our Scripture readings this week. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.” This seems obscure to us, who do not know the Old Testament very welI. In Old Testament terms, though, that meant bringing people together in Jerusalem, in the mountains of Zion, the place where King David established the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Earlier, that place was where the tabernacle was and where Aaron was anointed generously with oil and as a priest to be able to do the animal sacrifices and other offerings required. Later, the temple in Jerusalem was the place for that priesthood and those sacrifices. Other priests followed, but were sprinkled with oil and then carried on their duties. (See how this is described in Exodus 29:7, 30:30-33, and Leviticus 21:10, and how no one but the priests were to be anointed in this way for their special work.) Another Old Testament image was of the importance of dew falling from Mount Hermon and watering Jerusalem and other areas. Such water was very important in this drier climate. (See Hosea 14:5 and Zechariah 8:12 as examples of such dew and how it represented God’s blessings for His people.) For from Jerusalem, “the Lord had commanded blessings” and would finally bring “life forevermore” in the gift and work of His own Son, our Lord Jesus. Sadly, David’s kingdom was split, and many of God’s people worshiped falsely in other places, and there was disunity and rejection of Jesus by many when he came, and finally, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Unity will now only come through Jesus and His work and Word, revealed in the New Testament.
Jesus prays for that unity in Him in the Gospel lesson, John 17:20-26, for all those who would believe in Him through the Word of God. As Jesus and His heavenly Father were unified (together with the Holy Spirit, as the One True Triune God), before the foundation of the world, so Jesus prays that believers would be united in Him and in His and the Father’s love for the world. Believers “may become perfectly one” only when they are with Jesus, where He will be in glory, in heaven, in eternal life forevermore. In the meantime, believers must live in this imperfect world so that they can share the Word of God and faith in Christ with others. They live in a world where, as Paul says, “we see in a mirror dimly,” and not always perfectly. Only in heaven shall we “know fully” what God wants us to know (1 Corinthians 13:12). Yet in God’s eyes, there is already one true body of all believers in the Holy Christian Church, which God alone can see. Paul writes, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). But only our Lord can create and see that body of believers perfectly, with His love and forgiveness. Jesus then prays for growing unity in His love and Word for His believers. They would soon scatter when He was arrested, suffered, and died. But they would be united with Him again in His resurrection. The Father’s love would be in them, and the risen Lord Jesus would be in them (along with the Holy Spirit, as we will hear next week, as we celebrate on Pentecost).
The reading from Acts 1:12-26 tells us that the believing disciples, about 120 people, did what Jesus asked them to do and stayed in Jerusalem, awaiting the coming of “power from on high,” in the Person of the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost (Luke 24:49). “With one accord, they devoted themselves to prayer.” This group included the chosen disciples (other than Judas), Jesus’ brothers, other women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, and others. This is the last time Mary is mentioned in the New Testament, other than when Paul says that Jesus was “born of a woman,” obviously Mary (Galatians 4:4). Peter then showed that there was now need, based on Scripture, for Judas to be replaced, since he had betrayed Jesus and then in regret, had taken his life. (See Matthew 27:1-10 and related passages, predicting this: John 13:18, Psalm 41:9, Psalm 55:12-14, Psalm 69:25, Psalm 109:8, John 15:25, Psalm 35:19. A note from the CPH ESV Bible, p. 1812, explains also that Judas “bought the field indirectly because the Council did this with the money Judas returned… The rope Judas hanged himself with likely broke, over time, causing his already decaying corpse to fall and rupture.”) Peter also explained that the believers should now choose a replacement among men (clearly males, in the Greek) who had been followers of Jesus from the time of the baptism of John to Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Two men were chosen as candidates, and the believers cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias to be numbered with the 11 apostles. The job of all of them was now to be a witness to Christ and His resurrection, sharing the Word of God with others. (There were decisions made by casting lots in the Old Testament, but this is the last time in the New Testament. From Acts 6:1-7 and afterward, when a need arose, the gathering of believers prayed and then chose their leaders, in this case, Stephen and others as leaders, and blessed them in their ministries.)
The last reading is from Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20. Here we see the perfection of heaven. The water of life and the tree of life are available to all, with no limitations for anyone. There is nothing accursed - only believers who see the face of God and the Lamb and worship Him. There is no night or darkness, and the Lord God is their Light, and they will reign with Him forever and ever. There is only Light and truth for all. Then we hear that the final day for Earth is coming, with the judgment of God, as He returns. All those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, by faith in Jesus, will be in heaven, the city of God (Revelation 7:14). All unbelievers will be excluded. Before the end comes, though, there is still time for more people to come to faith through the free gift, without price, of the water of life in Christ. Jesus is the Root of Jesse, from the line of King David (Isaiah 11:1). He is the Bright Morning Star (Isaiah 9:2 and Luke 1:77-79) through whom people can have forgiveness and salvation and the Light, the Way of eternal life. The Truth is in the Word of God, including the Book of Revelation, and no one should add to or take away from that Word, centered in Jesus. We are prepared and ready for eternal life in the holy city, by the grace of God with us, through Jesus. He is coming soon, and we say “Amen!” This is most certainly true! And we say, by that same grace of God, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Our Easter celebration continues this week, with many of the readings emphasizing that the Good News of God’s saving plan in Jesus is for all peoples and nations. Even the Old Testament clearly says that, as our Psalm for this day, Psalm 67, indicates. The psalm begins with a summary of an important benediction given by the Lord to His people in Numbers 6:22-27. Psalm 67:2 tells the people that they are blessed, so that the Way of the Lord and His saving power would be known to all nations. This idea is expressed again and again as the psalm goes on. All people are to praise God. The nations are also to have gladness and joy in the Lord, and the Lord will judge and guide them in a fair way. God will bless Israel so that eventually, all the ends of the earth might fear and trust in Him. (This had been God’s plan from the beginning. When God called Abram to be the father of a new nation (Genesis 12:1-3), note that all families on earth would be blessed through his descendant, referring to our Lord Jesus, who came from the Jews. Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Genesis 17:3-6) by the Lord because he would be the father of a multitude of nations. See how Paul explains this in Romans 4:16-25. Even we are offspring of Abraham through faith in the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice and resurrection for our justification, no matter what race or nation we come from.)
That the Gospel is for all is evident also in Acts 16:9-15. The plans of Paul (and Luke - see the “we” in verse 10ff) were changed by the Holy Spirit so that they went to Macedonia in northern Greece and brought the Good News of Christ to Lydia. Note that Lydia was called “a worshiper of God” in v.14. That means that she was already a convert to Judaism. She was probably of Greek or Roman background. Now the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to the Word of God brought by Paul, and she and her whole household came to faith in Jesus through the Word and baptism. This Good News in Christ is meant for all people. (See how Jesus Himself, on Easter, opened the minds of some believers to the Scriptures about Jesus Christ and how this Word of God was to be brought in Christ’s Name to all nations (Luke 24:44-47).)
The same message is seen in the Epistle lesson, a continuation of the reading from last week, from Revelation 21. In Revelation 21:9-14, the plagues and wrath of God are completed (v.8) as all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire, the second death. Now there is only the joy of believers, in eternal life in the New Jerusalem, with believers from the Old Testament times and the apostles and believers from the New Testament times, centered in the Lamb, Jesus. There is no need for the sun or moon, for the Heavenly Father, along with God the Son, the victorious Lamb, and the Holy Spirit, will be present always and provide all that is needed. The glory and the honor of believers from the nations and kings, all who walk by the Light of Christ. will be there, too, - all whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (See Ephesians 2:1-9, a description of how we were rescued from being children under God’s wrath to being the children of God, purely by God’s grace through the gift of faith in Christ Jesus.)
There are two possible Gospel readings this week. In John 5:1-9, Jesus helps a man who had been an invalid (blind, lame, or paralyzed) for 38 years. Jesus tells him to take up his bed and walk, and at once the man is healed. Following this text, in John 5:10-18, the man gets in trouble for carrying his bed (doing work) on the Sabbath, though he does not even know who healed him. Jesus meets him later in the temple (into which the man had probably been forbidden to enter, because of his disability, for a long time). Jesus encourages him to continue in the faith, seeking to do what is right. Jesus has gotten Himself into more trouble, too, for doing a work of healing on the Sabbath, and calling God His Father, making Himself equal with God. In this miracle, though, Jesus was showing that His saving work was for all people, including those who were cut off from God’s people by the Jews, even those with certain disabilities and physical imperfections. They, too, could be God’s people by faith in Jesus. Jesus came and died and rose again for all! (See the promises of 1 Timothy 2:3-6 of “God our Savior, Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all.”)
The other possible Gospel reading is John 16:23-33, a continuation of one of last week’s Gospel lessons. Jesus has told His disciples that they will not see Him for a little while, and then they will see Him again, referring to His death and resurrection. In this reading, Jesus tells His disciples that He will also return to His Father in heaven. From that time forward, the disciples should pray to the Father, asking in the Name of Jesus their Savior. The Father will answer their prayers as He knows best because he loves them. The disciples reaffirm that they believe Jesus came from God, but Jesus knows their weak faith and warns that they will scatter and leave Jesus alone. He will not be alone, though, for the Father will be with Him, in His suffering to come. The disciples will also have tribulations, but in Christ they will have peace, for Christ will overcome the evil world and bring ultimate victory for them. When Jesus rose from the dead, He said again and again to them, “Peace be with you,” for He would pay the price for all their sins and forgive them and one day take them to eternal life in heaven, too. The same is true for all of us, in faith in Christ. We are far from perfect and struggle with tribulations, but we have peace in Christ ourselves, for this life and for eternal life to come.
Our Easter celebration continues this week, as we hear more of the promises that come to us through our Risen, Living Lord Jesus. The Psalm is Psalm 148. We had this psalm on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, April 27; so you might look back at the words shared at that time about this psalm, too. The Psalm calls upon all of creation to praise the Lord, including everyone and everything here on earth. That includes all kings and rulers and peoples on earth, young and old. The Name of the Lord alone is to be exalted because He has raised up “a Horn for His people.” A horn represents God’s power and strength for His people. See Psalm 18:2, where David says, “The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and My Deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my Salvation, my Stronghold.” Zechariah prophesied by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament that Jesus would be that “Horn of Salvation,” the Redeemer, and that
Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, would prepare the way for Him, the Lord Jesus. (See Luke 1:67-79, and especially verses 68-70 and 76-79.)
There is again a reading from the history of the early church, from Acts 11:1-18, instead of an Old Testament reading. Peter is being criticized by the “circumcision party” for going to uncircumcised Gentiles and eating with them, as they were “unclean” people. Peter explains that he had a vision three times of a huge sheet with all kinds of animals on it, clean and unclean. The Lord told him to “kill and eat” foods that were formerly unclean, because under the New Covenant in Christ, God was “declaring all foods clean,” even as Jesus had done in Mark 7:14-23. That very moment, three men came from Caesarea and the Holy Spirit told Peter to go with them, though they were Gentiles. Six others went with them, as witnesses. This was the first time Peter had ever been in a Gentile home, but Peter knew it was OK because an angel had arranged all this. As soon as Peter began to speak God’s Word about being saved through Christ, the Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles, also, and God granted to them also repentance and saving faith and new life in Jesus. Peter now knew that he could not stand in God’s way, and that everyone needed to share the Good News of Jesus as Savior for Gentiles, as well as Jews. The Good News in Christ is for all people.
There are two possible Gospel readings. Both are Words of Jesus. In John 13:31-35, Judas has just left to prepare to betray Jesus into the hands of the Jewish authorities. Jesus knows that His coming suffering and death would glorify God, and that He Himself would be glorified, when He rose from the dead and returned to His Father in heaven, a place where His disciples could not yet go. In the meantime, the disciples are to love one another, as Jesus first and foremost loved them. This is what disciples of Jesus are now to do - to have love for one another and others, especially in sharing the hope and salvation that are in Jesus.
The other Gospel reading is John 16:12-22. Jesus has much more to teach His disciples, but they cannot handle it now. The Holy Spirit would later guide them into all truth. That is what we have recorded for us in the Scriptures. The Spirit would glorify Jesus as the Savior of the world. But first, Jesus would need to leave the disciples for “a little while,” and then they would see Him again. The disciples do not understand. Jesus uses the example of a woman expecting a child. There is great agony when her time has come, but then there is great joy, and the birth pains are forgotten, with a child coming into the world. So, there would be great sorrow at the death of Jesus, but there would be great joy when He would appear again to them as their Risen Lord, eventually bringing eternal joy that cannot be taken away from them.
In the Epistle reading, from Revelation 21:1-7, the Lord gives John a vision of that eternal life and joy to come. When Christ returns on the last day, the first heaven and earth, troubled by sin, will pass away, and God will dwell with us in a whole new existence, a new heaven and earth and a new Jerusalem, with no tears or pain or death. There will be no sea to threaten and no need for sun or moon or temple, etc., since the Father, the Son the Lamb, and the Holy Spirit will be with us always and provide us with all we need (Revelation 21:1-7, 22-23). We cannot comprehend what all this means or what all the picture images here mean, but we know that no one can take our joy from us, in Christ (John 16:22).
We have confidence in Christ now, but still have the tribulations of this sinful world. As Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We seek now to live in love with one another and share Christ’s sacrificial love with others until Christ chooses, in His wisdom, to take us to eternal joy in heaven at our death (Psalm 31:14-16): “I trust You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! Make Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your steadfast love.”
Third Sunday after Easter
John 21:1-19
“Follow Me and Tend My Sheep”
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14).
The text for our meditation is the Gospel lesson for today, from John 21:1-19. Scholars who are critical of the Bible and its reliability have often questioned whether Chapter 21 belongs to John’s Gospel. And some say that some other author, not John, must have added it later on. They have one big problem. Every single one of the ancient Greek manuscripts of the Bible has all 21 chapters, and early translations into other languages have the same 21 chapters preserved for us by our Lord, in His wisdom and guidance for Biblical writers.
And there’s good reason that Chapter 21 was included by John, inspired by God. It is a strong encouragement to the disciples to carry out the ministry to which they had been called by Jesus, when He said, Easter evening, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
The disciples did go back to Galilee as Jesus had told them (Matthew 28:10), but they don’t seem to be preparing for their mission. Instead, led by Peter, along with James and John, seven of them are out fishing, all night, as they used to do. And even as expert fishermen, their night’s fishing was a failure. No fish! One Lutheran commentator (Dr. V.C. Pfitzner) wonders if they were forgetting already what their mission now was to be - to be fishers of men. Matthew tells us that some of the disciples, probably not these seven, but others, were still doubting about all this with Jesus (Matthew 28:17). And later on, even at the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, Luke tells us that at least some of the disciples were still asking: “Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? - as if the goal of all this was really to set up an earthly kingdom with Israel as the top nation, instead of taking the Gospel of Christ Jesus and His love and forgiveness to all nations and peoples in the world.
The Pentecost event and the special coming of the Holy Spirit with power helped greatly in affirming the right focus for ministry (Acts 2), but as you read on in the Book of Acts, you discover that it’s not until Acts 8, when believers in Jerusalem were being persecuted by fellow Jews, that the believers began to scatter to other places to tell of Jesus. And Peter himself had never set foot in a non-Jewish home until Acts 10.
So, these early events of John 21, while Jesus was still appearing to His disciples on earth, visibly, were very important. The disciples were still in their boat, with no fish, on the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus called to them from the shore. They did not recognize Him at first, but put the net where He said and caught a huge number of fish.
Early in His ministry, in Luke 5, Jesus helped Peter catch many fish in the same way. Peter’s reaction was to fall at the knees of Jesus and say, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” And Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on, you will be catching men” (Luke 5:1-10).
This time, in our text, in very similar circumstances, when John said, “It is the Lord” calling to us, Peter quickly jumped out of the boat and headed toward land. He wanted to be in the presence of his Living and forgiving Lord.
When he and the others reached the shore, they found a charcoal fire and a breakfast prepared for them by Jesus, with bread and fish. Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish just caught, and Peter went and found and counted 153 large fish in the net, a tremendous catch! And yet the net was not torn or broken, as it had been in the earlier great catch of fish.
Clearly, Jesus was doing miraculous things again for the seven chosen disciples in our text. He was providing a net full of fish for these supposedly expert fishermen, who could catch nothing. He was providing a wonderful breakfast meal of bread and fish (like the feeding of the 5,000 earlier in His ministry, Mark 6:30-44), provided in love and mercy and forgiveness for these disciples who had been so weak and fearful just recently and couldn’t seem to understand Jesus’ clear words about suffering and dying and rising again. And in this way, Jesus was reminding His disciples once again that their primary mission now was not be to fishermen for fish, but fishermen for people, telling people the Good News described in Revelation, Chapter 5, our Epistle lesson, of Jesus, the Lamb, who was slain and by His blood (and His resurrection) ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). And through their Word and proclamation of Jesus, the Holy Spirit could work and bring more people to forgiveness and faith and baptism and salvation through Christ Jesus.
But even these chosen disciples needed to be reminded of their calling and the forgiveness of Jesus, who died and rose for them, too, as did so many followers of the Lord before and after them. In the psalm for today, Psalm 30, we hear that King David, as strong as he was, could also be very weak, at times. In the psalm, he knows that he has done wrong (and this is not the Bathsheba story, but another failure) and has to say, “To You, O Lord, I cry and plead for mercy; be merciful to me, O Lord; be my Helper.” And the Lord turned David’s mourning into gladness and thankfulness through His forgiveness for him.
And we heard of Saul, who was so strongly anti-Christian and a persecutor of Christians until the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to him and turned his life around and brought Him to faith and baptism and forgiveness and made him the Apostle Paul, who could proclaim, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” But Paul still had to, the Scriptures say, “increase all the more in strength in the Lord to be able to proclaim that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:1-22).
The Lord also had to work with the Christian, Ananias, who was supposed to go and witness to Saul, but was afraid for his own life and said, “Lord, I have heard… how much evil Saul has done to Your saints of Jerusalem.” The Lord finally just had to say to Ananias, “Go!” and he went, and the Holy Spirit brought Saul to faith.
Everyone needed encouragement in Christ, including Peter, in our text. He could be so strong, being the first disciple to say clearly of Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But very quickly, he could think that he knew better than Jesus, and argue with Him, and tell Him never to talk about suffering and dying and rising again, though that was the central work of Jesus (Matthew 16:15-23).
Peter was trusting too much in himself and his wisdom and thinking and abilities. When Jesus predicted, “You will all fall away,” Peter emphatically said, “Even though they all fall away, I will not… If I must die with You, I will not deny you” (Mark 14:29,31). Again, Peter had said to Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you?… Truly, truly I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:37-38). And that is exactly what Peter did. And then he went out and wept bitterly at his sin and failure. He was in sorrow and fear until the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to him and the others.
Now, at His third resurrection appearance to the disciples, Jesus talks particularly to Peter, to remind him of his weaknesses, but also to let him know that he was forgiven and still called to his ministry for Christ. The charcoal fire may have reminded Peter of where he had stood just a few weeks before, warming himself and then denying, three times, that he ever knew Jesus or had ever been His disciple. And three times, Jesus calls him Simon, and asks if he loves Him. Jesus had given him an extra name, Peter, a name which sounds like a word for a kind of rock. But Peter had not been the rock-man he thought he was. But he is realizing that and is truly repentant, and that comes out in some of the words that you can’t see in English, but in the original Greek.
Two times, Jesus asks, “Simon, do you love me?” And Jesus uses the special word, agape, which means the great, sacrificial love that Jesus had in giving up everything, and finally even His life, in order to pay for Peter’s sins, and ours, too. Peter responds two times, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love you.” But he uses a different word for love, which means more like brotherly, friendship love. Peter is realizing that his love will never measure up to Jesus’ perfect, sacrificial love, and that he needs to trust Jesus, His Savior, instead of his own wisdom and strength and abilities and imperfect love.
And the third time that Jesus asks, “Simon, do you love me?” He uses the same word for love that Peter has been using. Jesus knows that Peter’s love is weak and imperfect, compared with His perfect, sacrificial love, but He still loves and forgives Peter, and knows that He and the Holy Spirit can still work through Peter as a shepherd for sheep, with people of all ages and types, as we heard in the children’s sermon - all of whom Jesus loves. (Jesus had used several words for lambs and sheep of different ages in this text and called Peter to feed and tend to them all. Earlier, the disciples had tried to say that Jesus couldn’t be bothered with little children. Jesus corrects Peter and the others, as He had done before (Mark 10:13-16, Mark 9:33-36). How comforting it is that the Lord Jesus loves us all, no matter our age.
And as our text ends, Jesus says, in effect, to Peter, "Don’t follow yourself and your ideas and ways. Follow Me,” and My Word, and “tend to My sheep,” even if it means great sacrifice for you, as it eventually did for Peter.
We are not apostles, but we have a mission in our lives, too, where Christ has placed us, as baptized believers in Him. But we are shaky, too, and we have room to grow, too, in trust in our Savior, in confidence in him and His forgiveness, in spite of our own sins and weaknesses. We can be a blessing to our fellow sheep, as we hear Jesus say to us, too, “Follow Me and my Word, in your family and your church and with others God places around you, too.”
We pray, as the writer to the Hebrews says, “Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory forever and ever." Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21).
Epistle - 2nd Sunday of Easter
Revelation 1:9-18
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14).
Our text for today is a part of the Epistle lesson from this past Sunday, April 27, 2025. We often tend to avoid the Book of Revelation because it is not an easy book, and it has challenging things to hear and understand. Yet it also has encouraging and comforting things to say to us as God’s people. I will read just a few verses at a time and then talk about them
Revelation 1:9-11: “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the Kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.’”
John says that he was “in the Spirit,” being led by God’s Holy Spirit, on the “Lord’s” day, a Sunday, because Christians were moving away from the old Jewish sabbath day, Saturday, and focusing on the day of Christ’s resurrection, a Sunday. In those days, trumpets were not so much musical instruments, but a way of making a loud noise to get people’s attention. The loud voice, like a trumpet, told John, “Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor (now modern-day Turkey), beginning with Ephesus. John had been the chief pastor and leader of these and other churches and Christian people for many years. But he does not put himself way above them, but says that he is their brother and partner in three ways.
They are all part of the Kingdom of God, first and foremost, by the grace of God and by the gift of faith in God’s Son, Jesus, as their Savior and King, with the promise of eternal life. At the same time, that did not exempt them from the second thing they had in common with John, tribulation in this life, in this very troubled, sinful world.
In fact, as John wrote this Book of Revelation, the last book of Scripture written, in the 90s AD, persecution of Christians was increasing under the Roman Emperor, Domitian, who reigned from 81-96 AD. Domitian strongly pushed the idea that as Emperor, he should be worshiped - and worshiped as Lord and God. Christians, however, would call no one Lord but the Risen Lord Jesus, to the glory of God the Father and in the power of God the Holy Spirit, as the one true Triune God. Refusal to call the Emperor “Lord and God” could put people under the penalty of death. John himself says that he had been exiled to the island of Patmos, a tiny island (10 miles by 6 miles) off the coast of Asia Minor, away from these seven churches. Close by was another island, Miletus, where many more “disturbers of the Roman peace” - enemies of Rome - were banished. John was on Patmos simply because he preached the Word of God and testified about Jesus alone as Lord to others. He says that he needed the “patient endurance” that is in Jesus and trust in Him as the true Savior and Lord, above all. The need for “patient endurance” is the third similarity to the churches to whom he writes.
We do not have such persecution in this country, but there is still much opposition and indifference to Christ and what the Scriptures teach. There are countries like Nigeria, where thousands of Christians have been killed and their lands stolen in recent years. And there are places where you could be imprisoned just for telling others about Jesus in your own home, still today. We have many joys as Christians, but we all face tribulations of other kinds, too - physical problems and illnesses, family and job troubles, the death of loved ones, worries of many kinds, and on and on. What was John to write to help fellow Christians, including us, to have patient endurance, in these times of difficulties?
As the Revelation passage goes on, John writes (Revelation 1:12-16): “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, One like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a fire, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
John is seeing and hearing the voice and presence of God the Son, Jesus, who is often called “The Son of Man,” as a true man here on earth, while still being God. We hear, week after week, of Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” who suffered and died on the cross to take away the sin of the world. But here is a picture of a Lamb who was slain, who has begun His reign again in glory and heavenly power, as our Risen Lord. We can’t talk about it all in one sermon, but if you have a Bible with cross references to other Scriptures, look them up, and you will discover these are Old Testament pictures and prophecies, especially from the Book of Daniel, of God the Father, called “the Ancient of Days,” who always existed, combined with pictures of God the Son, the Son of Man, doing His saving work and then returning to God the Father in glory, in what we now call His Resurrection and Ascension. It is the story of the Triune God at work for us and our good and salvation (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 10:4-8, 18-19, etc.).
Let Scripture interpret Scripture. Jesus does not literally have a sharp, two-edged sword in His mouth, but His Word has great power and blessing for us, as both the Law that shows us our sins, but also the Gospel that shows us our Savior and His love and forgiveness for us. As Hebrews 4:12 says: “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” and works in our lives, still today, as we read and listen to it, through the Holy Spirit. And even in His public ministry, there were glimpses of Jesus and His glory, as His appearance dazzled like the sun on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3). This tells us to look for other “picture images” in Revelation. Not everything is to be taken literally, but guided by other Scriptures.
And the risen, glorious Lord pictured here said after His resurrection, “All power, all authority, in heaven and on earth has been given to Me,” and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). Here was the help John was to write about to the churches to give them strength and patient endurance in Christ in the troubles and tribulations that they and we have to face in our lives, at times.
John himself had recorded these words of Jesus earlier in his Gospel, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” And Jesus had added these words, “I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” (John 16:32-33). Jesus, as true man, had His own troubles and tribulations in this world, many of them, and He had to trust His Heavenly Father’s presence and strength to help Him through, as we now trust the Triune God, including Jesus’ saving work.
John knew all this, but we read, as our text goes on (Revelation 1:17), “When I, John, saw Him, the glorified Jesus, I fell at His feet as though dead.” This often happened to people when they saw God in His glory. John, too, when he saw the glorious, victorious Jesus, was even more conscious of his own sins and weaknesses. He didn’t even deserve to stand before Jesus.
And when we’re honest, we know our own sins and weaknesses before the Lord, too, don’t we? We don’t deserve His mercy. And sometimes physical and emotional problems and the struggles of this life knock us down as well. The Christian churches in Asia Minor were experiencing such things, too.
How does Jesus respond to John, fallen down before Him? John writes (Revelation 1:17-18): “But Jesus laid His right hand (His hand of power and authority) on me, saying, ‘Fear not!’ How often did Jesus say these same words - to the frightened disciples on Easter evening, behind locked doors, to doubting Thomas, the next Sunday, and on and on, to us still today. Jesus said to John, “Fear not! I am the First and the Last (the living eternal God), and I am true man, the living One. I died (for your sins) and (I rose) and I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.” I am alive and can help you through this life, and even in death, to eternal life in heaven one day.
And right after our text, Jesus said to John, in effect, "Get busy now!": “Write therefore the things you have seen, those things that are and those that are to take place” (Revelation 1:19) Write down everything I tell you, for you and the churches in Asia Minor need this comforting message in hard times coming, and future churches will need this, too, (as we do, still today).
There are mysteries in the Book of Revelation, Jesus adds, and some things are hard to understand. (He shows that by explaining in Revelation 1:20 that the stars in His hand (v.16) represent angels (messengers) sent to the churches, and the lampstands represent the churches themselves. Watch for such picture images in Revelation.) But above all, hear that Christ is Risen indeed and is “alive forevermore” and can and does come to us personally through His Word and in the Lord’s Supper we soon receive, as He has come to us in our baptism. And He can and will help us through the days ahead and for eternal life to come. There is our hope and confidence. Amen.
This 4th Sunday of the Easter season is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, with a focus on our Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus. The psalm is Psalm 23, a psalm of David familiar to many. Even David, as King, was a sheep and needed a Shepherd to lead and guide him and provide for his physical and spiritual needs. That is what his Lord did, with green pastures and still waters, and care for his soul. The Lord was with him, seeking to lead him in righteous ways and helping him through dangerous times in the shadow of evil and death. Even in the presence of enemies and in the midst of his own sins and failures, at times, the Lord showed him goodness and mercy, with forgiveness, all his life, and pursued him and finally brought him to perfect peace and joy in the house of the Lord in eternal life forever.
Jesus, of course, was the ultimate Good Shepherd, the Heavenly Father’s Son, who came into this world as a true man to accomplish the saving work for David and for us all. The Gospel lesson is from John 10:22-30. Jesus was in Jerusalem at the temple during the Feast of Dedication, a winter Jewish festival (Hanukkah), remembering how the evil Greek leader, Antiochus Epiphanes, was stopped from desecrating the temple and overthrown, and Jews regained freedom in Israel for a period of time under the Maccabees. At this festival, Jews asked Jesus to tell them if He really was the promised Christ, the Messiah. Jesus said that He had already told them who He was, but they would not believe because they were not His sheep, following Him. Jesus calls people to be His sheep, through His Word and work, and He knows them and brings them to hear His voice and believe and follow Him. He is one with God the Father and gives His sheep the gift of eternal life, and no one can snatch such people from His hands. (People can resist and reject Him, though, refusing to be drawn into His hands and flock, as many Jews did, or can drift away from Jesus and His Word, and go on their own, to their sorrow. Jesus will not let this happen easily, though, for believers. He guards and protects His flock.)
In the Acts 20:17-35 reading, from the history of the New Testament church, Paul meets with the elders (pastoral leaders of the church at Ephesus) and reminds them of how he had faithfully sought to teach them the whole counsel of God, whatever was profitable for them, and especially the Gospel of the grace of God, bringing people to repentance for sins and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was revealing to Paul, though, that imprisonment and afflictions were coming for Him and that he might not see these leaders again. He calls these pastors to pay careful attention to themselves and their faith, and to the flock, the people bought by the blood of Christ, over whom they are shepherds. He warns, with tears, of fierce wolves, men speaking twisted things, and seeking to attack the flock and draw people away from the truth. Paul commends these leaders to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build them up and give to them and their believers, their flock, the eternal inheritance prepared for them. This means hard work in very challenging situations, not for personal gain, and Paul gives himself as an example of one who knew the Words of Jesus that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” in helping the weak and struggling sheep entrusted to them.
The Lord Jesus, the Lamb who was sacrificed for His sheep and washed them clean by His blood, shed for them, will be the Key for His people, His sheep. In Revelation 7:9-17, John sees a vision of an innumerable multitude of believers from every tribe and nation, in heaven, crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” who deserves all glory and honor and praise and much more. Some may even die for the faith, in the tribulations of this life, but all believers will be with the Lord forever in His temple, His holy of holies, in His presence, praising and serving Him. There will be no more hunger or thirst or tears or scorching heat, but springs of living water, provided by their Lamb, their Living Lord and Good Shepherd.
What an amazing future is ahead for us in eternal life in heaven, in the whole new existence the Lord has for us. This gives us great hope and patient endurance in the tribulations we face in this life, along with the blessings and joys God already gives us here, in Christ and His Word and Sacraments, which sustain us.
The Easter celebration goes on for seven weeks, as we rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and what that means for us. The Psalm for this week is Psalm 148, a great song of praise to the Lord. Everyone and everything everywhere is called to join in this praise, beginning with the angels and all in heaven and the sun and moon and stars and all the clouds from which the rain comes, who are all created by the Lord. All on earth are to join in this praise, as well, on the land and the sea and all the creatures and living things who dwell here. All people, high and lowly, young and old, are to praise the Lord, too. Even the seasons, with their variety and storms and wind, fulfill the Word and will of God and show His power and control. He and His majesty alone are to be exalted, and most especially because He has raised up a “Horn” for His saints, His believing people near to Him. (Animals with horns and heads held high represented strength and victory for Old Testament people.) How did this happen? It is referring to the coming of the Savior Jesus. See Luke 1:67-79, where Zechariah, through the Holy Spirit, prophesied of the Lord Himself visiting and redeeming His people by raising up “a Horn of Salvation” from the house of David. Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, would prepare His way, and then Jesus would come, as the “Sunrise” and “Light for us sitting in the darkness of sin and death” and to bring us into “the way of peace.” Jesus would bring the knowledge of and accomplish salvation for His people, in the forgiveness of their sins.
The certainty of that forgiveness, life, and peace was proclaimed through the resurrection of Jesus, after He had completed His work of forgiving our sins on the cross. The Gospel lesson is John 20:19-31. The disciples had lost hope and were full of fear, when the Lord Jesus appeared to them on Easter evening and the next weekend and many other times. It was Jesus, with the marks of the nails and spear in Him, yet with a resurrected and glorified body, which could appear and disappear and go through locked doors, and yet be seen and touched. He gave his disciples of His Holy Spirit, that they might believe and began to prepare them to be sent out into the world, sharing the forgiveness of sins that Jesus had won for them and for the world. The disciple, Thomas, was not there and refused to believe until Jesus also appeared to him. Brought to faith, Thomas proclaimed the truth about Jesus: “My Lord and My God.” That’s who Jesus was! The apostle John, who wrote this Gospel, added the Words of Jesus for future generations, including us, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed“ through the eyewitness testimony of these early believers who saw the risen Lord alive. John says that he writes this Gospel for this very reason: “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you may have life in His Name.” John proclaimed this same truth in Jesus in all His letters and other writings. (See the quotation from Jesus in John 5:24 and what John clearly says in 1 John 5:9-13, for example.)
Peter and the other disciples proclaimed the same truth and hope in Jesus in Acts 5:12-20 (21-32). After initial doubts and fears, they boldly proclaimed the Risen Lord Jesus as Savior. More people came to faith as the Holy Spirit worked through the Good News of Christ they proclaimed, and people were helped and healed by God’s power, in Christ. The Jewish religious leaders, and particularly the Sadducees, who denied that there ever would be resurrection and life after death (see Luke 20:27), were very upset and jealous and had these disciples arrested and thrown in prison. An angel of the Lord opened the prison doors for them, though, and sent them back to the temple to keep speaking “all these words of Life” in Jesus to the people. The religious leaders were very surprised and perplexed when Jesus’ disciples were not in prison, but in the temple again, and they had them brought again, without force this time, to them to be questioned. They reminded the disciples that they were “strictly charged not to teach in the name of Jesus.” Jesus was the real problem for them! Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God and not men.” In Greek, the word for “obey” combines two words: to obey someone in authority. (See how the same word is used in Titus 3:1, where we are called to be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities, and in Acts 27:21, where Paul says, “You should have listened to me" (as an authority on this subject). God is our ultimate authority, and in v. 31, Jesus is called not only our Savior but our Leader, our Authority, in giving us both repentance and forgiveness of our sins, by which we are saved. Peter also brings in the importance of the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word to bring us to faith and keeps us in faith. Peter says what Jesus says in John 15:26-27: “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness to Me; and you also are witnesses because you have been with Me from the beginning.” See also the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, together with the Father and our Lord Jesus, in John 7:39 and Acts 11:15-18. It is ultimately God who saves by His grace. We do not save ourselves by our decisions and efforts. To God be the praise and glory, as the psalm for today said!
We hear from the apostle John one more time in the reading from Revelation 1:4-18. John was exiled by the Romans to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. He had worked with churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor (part of what is now modern-day Turkey). The Lord instructs John to write to seven specific churches there, representing all churches. John begins this message with a blessing of grace and peace from the Triune God: the eternal Father, “who is and was and is to come,” and God the Son, Jesus Christ, firstborn from the dead by His mighty resurrection and now living and reigning over all, and God the Holy Spirit, described here and in Isaiah 11:2 as the sevenfold Spirit at work in the seven churches to whom John writes. John focuses then on the saving work of Jesus, who “loved us enough to free us from our sins by His blood” and made all believers part of His kingdom and “priests” before Him. (See 1 Peter 2:9-10, for example.) To God be the glory for all this, now and when Jesus comes again with the clouds on the last day, and all will see Him, and some to their sorrow for rejecting Him. This one true God is the Beginning and the End, represented by the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, “the Alpha and the Omega.” (The same is said of Jesus in v. 17-18, though as a true man, as well as God, He lived and died and rose again to life forevermore, with victory over death and the grave and hell.
In Revelation 1:9, John reminds the churches to whom he writes that he is with them in living in tribulation because of believing in and sharing the Word of God and the Good News of Jesus. Yet he is still part of Christ’s kingdom, and was called to write to the seven churches identified in v.11. He was called to write by Jesus Himself, now in glory in heaven and pictured in an amazing way, which combines pictures of God the Father, the “Ancient of Days,” and God the Son, “the Son of Man,” described in Daniel 7:9-14 and 10:5-19, etc. (This is a highly symbolic picture, which indicates from the start that much of Revelation uses such symbolic images. If you look at Revelation 1:12, 16, and then look at v.20, you’ll see that the stars and lamp stands represent angels and the seven churches. Jesus does not literally have a two-edged sword in His mouth, but His Word has great power, as pictured in Hebrews 4:12.)
All this is to say that Jesus instructed John to write the letters to the churches and the entire Book of Revelation to give them the Law, warning about sin, but above all, the Gospel, in Jesus and His saving work and victory for them, in a time of tribulation and difficulty. Much more could be said, obviously, but this could be summarized in the Words of Jesus, recorded also by John, in passages like John 16:20-22 and 16:33: “I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We are called, still today, to hear the Words of Revelation 1:17, when we sometimes feel like John and fall down as though dead, overwhelmed by the troubles and difficulties of this life. “Fear not,” says Jesus, as He points us to His Words and promises and His love and His victory already won for us for life and hope now and in eternal life to come in heaven.
The Psalm for Easter Sunday is Psalm 16. David prays that the Lord would preserve him, as He has blessed him so richly in the past, even in very difficult times. David knows that all “good” comes from the Lord for him and for all “the saints,” the believers, in his land. (See John 3:27 and James 1:17, too.) David calls the Lord his “Chosen portion,” his “Cup,” his ‘lot’ in life, and “a beautiful inheritance” for his future. The Lord continues to give him “counsel” and “instruction” through His Word and “is at his right hand,” giving him stability in this life and the promise of joy and blessings in His “presence forevermore” in heaven. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 and 23-24, and 2 Timothy 1:9-10 for these same promises for us in Christ our Savior.) Some of what David says, though, is really prophetic of and happened only with Christ Jesus Himself. Only Jesus was the truly “Holy One" who was without sin and died for our sins. When He died, His body did not see corruption, but He was raised from the dead on the third day and provided “the path of life,” eternal life, through the gift of faith in Him. (This psalm is quoted by both Peter in Acts 2:23-32 and Paul in Acts 13:34-39.) David died, and his body saw corruption, but Jesus’ body did not. Christ’s death and resurrection for us ensure that we will have eternal life, too, through Him. Therefore, with David, “our heart is glad, and our whole being rejoices” in the Lord.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 65:17-25. God Himself tells, through Isaiah, that He will one day “create new heavens and a new earth.” A whole new existence in which we can rejoice forever in our Lord in “gladness and joy.” It is the opposite of the time of curses and judgment for nations and people because of sin and rebellion against the Lord and His will and rejection of Him. (See the warnings to Syria and Babylon, for example, in Jeremiah 49:16 and 51:53 and even to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28:15ff. and 25ff.) In that new existence, there will be no more weeping and distress. Strong picture images are given of the wolf and the lamb and the lion being together and not hurting or destroying and of people no longer “laboring in vain.” With the coming of Christ and the New Testament, we will hear of “death itself being swallowed up in the victory of Christ” in His resurrection and all other evil banished in eternal life with our Lord.
That victory is seen in the Gospel lesson in Luke 24:1-12 when women who had followed Jesus (see Luke 8:1-3 and 23:55-56 and John 19:25) came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus and found the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body gone. Angels appear to them “in dazzling apparel” and tell them that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he had earlier predicted both His death and resurrection that had to happen to complete His saving work for the world. The women then remember these Words of Jesus but don’t immediately understand. They tell Peter and the other apostles what they have seen and heard, but these words sound like “an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” Peter himself does go to the tomb to check things out and finds the tomb empty and finds the linen cloths that Jesus was wrapped in, by themselves. He marvels at all this but does not understand. Dealing with so much sin and evil and death in this life, and knowing that Jesus had been crucified and died, none could easily believe until the risen Lord Jesus began to appear directly to them. (The angels were correct in telling the women that Jesus had predicted all of this. See Luke 9:22,24 and Matthew 16:21 and 17:22-24 and Mark 8:31 and 9:30-31.)
In the Epistle, in the great Resurrection Chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul strongly affirms and defends the reality of the resurrection because the risen Lord Jesus had appeared to him and many others. He knew it was true (1 Cor. 15:1-11). Some churches may use 15:19-26, which affirms “the fact” of the resurrection, but we heard these words earlier during Epiphany, on February 23. You can read comments about those verses there in my podcast. We’ll look at the alternate reading, 1 Cor. 15:50-57. Paul begins by saying that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” - the human, natural flesh and blood we all have and are born with. When Jesus was raised on Easter, the third day, His body and not just His spirit was raised, but it was changed and glorified. He could appear and disappear and go through walls, etc. His perishable body could not inherit what is imperishable in eternal life. When we die, our soul will go to be with Christ in eternal life in heaven. (See passages like Romans 6:23, Acts 7:59, Philippians 1:23, Luke 23:42-43 and 46, Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, Philippians 3:19-21, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, etc.) When Christ returns on the last day, the dead shall be raised at the last trumpet (v.52 and Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16). The bodies of all believers will be raised and changed and glorified and become imperishable and immortal, even as Jesus’ body became when He rose. Paul refers to Old Testament passages, Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14, when writing of this. We thank God, together with Paul, for giving us eternal life, which he says is an “inheritance,” a gift of God by His grace through the gift of faith when we die, and we thank Him for the gift of our changed, glorious resurrection body coming on the last day. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 5:9-12 for another discussion of the same and our always living with Christ.)
One last comment. Paul ends this resurrection discussion by reminding us to be steadfast in faith and abounding in the work of the Lord, for “in the Lord our labor is not in vain.” That was one of the promises for the time of the new heavens and new earth to come (Isaiah 65:58). With Christ and the Holy Spirit in and with us, even in this life, our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Whether we see results or not, God is working for good for us and for one another, too, as we seek to follow Him and His Word. Paul reminds us that we “shine as lights” in a “crooked and twisted generation” when we “hold fast to the Word of Life.” In that way, through the Word Paul shared with us, his own labor and ours are not in vain (Philippians 2:15-16)!
The Old Testament lesson is Deuteronomy 32:36-39. Even Moses must speak God’s Word, warning of judgment coming even for God’s chosen people when they are trusting in false gods, who can provide them no help or protection, or in themselves and their supposed goodness. It is the same warning we heard Jesus give His own people in the parable of the evil tenants in the vineyard last week (Luke 20:9-20). There is no god but the One true Triune God, Who can both kill and make alive.
Amazingly, we hear in the Epistle lesson, Philippians 2:5-11, that God the Son was willing to “empty Himself” and become a true man, sent from His Heavenly Father, a servant who gave his life on the cross to pay for the sins of his own people and the whole world. He was killed and made alive for us. Some of that suffering and rejection of Jesus is predicted in Psalm 31:9-16, with His sorrow and grief, as His enemies and persecutors plotted to take His life. Yet Jesus entrusted Himself into His Father’s hands and knew that the Father and the Holy Spirit would save Him, with everlasting love, in His Easter resurrection. That victory is described in Philippians 2:9-11, as Jesus is raised from the dead and exalted to heaven again. On the last day, everyone will have to recognize that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, and by the Spirit of God (Philippians 3:3).
The Passion readings (the shorter versions in Luke 23:1-56 and John 12:20-43 and the longer version in Luke 22:1-23:56) tell us of the road of Jesus to the cross. The suffering and punishment we deserve, Jesus took upon Himself, in our place, in His saving work. (We heard that described a few weeks ago in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, especially in v. 21: “For our sake, God made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God,” forgiven and counted righteous through Jesus. See the sermon from March 30, 2025.) Just read through as much as you can of this Passion History, and if you are able, attend special Holy Week services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and maybe an Easter vigil on Saturday for more detail on all this.
Some churches will also have a Palm Sunday processional or Palm Sunday emphasis, with the reading of John 12:12-19, as Jesus came into Jerusalem, with people carrying palm branches and saying, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Some of the crowd had heard of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and wanted to see Him. This Palm Sunday event was in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 35:4 and 40:9, and Zephaniah 3:14ff. Though it was a glorious day, Jesus came to Jerusalem humbly, riding on a donkey, and words of praise did not last long. The Pharisees and other religious leaders were even more eager to get rid of Jesus, and by Good Friday, they had stirred people up to cry out: “Crucify Jesus!” Our own sins also helped send Him there. (Look also at Psalm 118:19-29, an alternative Psalm for this day, which is prophetic of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, with some of the words used to describe Him that day. Jesus came through the gate of Jerusalem as the true Gate through whom people will enter for salvation. He is the Stone on which salvation is built, the Cornerstone, though many people would reject Him. All of Holy Week is a time to give thanks for the Lord, for He is good, and His steadfast love shines upon us so clearly in Jesus and what he does for us. “This is the Lord’s doing,” from beginning to end, and “it is marvelous in our eyes,” as we see again what our Triune God has done for us, in and through Christ, for our eternal life and salvation.
The Old Testament lesson for this 5th Sunday of Lent, Isaiah 43:16-21, speaks of God’s mercy for His people, who have been “blind” and “deaf” toward Him at times. He, the Creator of Israel, their Redeemer and King, will rescue them from serious troubles for their sins, coming at the hands of the Babylonians. (See Isaiah 43:1, 8, 14-15.) As the Lord rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and extinguished their enemies in the Red Sea, so the Lord will care again for His chosen people in wilderness and desert times, that they may declare His praise. They should focus not just on the things of old but the new things the Lord will do for them. (See similar messages about past and future events in Isaiah 46:8-13 and Isaiah 48:14-16.) Ultimately, as Colossians 2:17 says in the New Testament, “The past things are only a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” when He came.
The Psalm is Psalm 126. God’s people had joy and laughter, and their dreams were fulfilled, as the Lord did great things for His people again, in bringing numbers of His people back to the promised land after the Babylonian captivity. Their enemies, who had said, “Where is their God?” could no longer mock them. (See Psalm 42:10, 79:10, and 115:1-2 and the reason for this trouble in Ezekiel 36:19-22 and v.6-7.) They would still face difficult times and pray for the Lord to restore their fortunes. In what they did, they would still sow with tears but would reap a harvest with shouts of joy. (See again how this is spoken of in Psalm 30:4-5 and remembered by God’s New Testament people, ultimately blessed by Christ Jesus, in Luke 6:21-23, Acts 14:21-22, and Revelation 7:14-17.) A psalm we looked at for Sunday, March 23, Psalm 85, spoke of God’s Old Testament people asking the Lord again to restore their fortunes and revive them and have mercy upon them, with the Lord’s promise to do so, with the coming of the Savior, Jesus, with righteousness and peace for them. There was also the warning, though: “Let His people not turn back to folly” (Psalm 85:8).
In our Gospel lesson, Luke 20:9-20, we see the Jewish religious leaders challenging the authority of Jesus and His preaching and teaching (Luke 20:1-8). Jesus then told a parable using a picture image familiar from the Old Testament. God had chosen and planted His people for Himself as a fruitful vineyard. (See Isaiah 5:1-7.) Unfortunately, when God sent His servants, the prophets, to gather some of the fruit from the vineyard, the chosen people treated them badly and sent them away empty-handed. (See, for example, Amos 3:1-2, 7-8, 10-11.) This happened again and again, as too often, God’s people rejected their Lord and His will. Finally, the owner, the Lord, said, “I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” They did not do so. They killed the owner’s son, wanting to have total control and do only as they pleased. The Owner of the vineyard finally had to wipe out “those tenants of the vineyard and give the vineyard to others.” The Jewish leaders and others listening to Jesus cried out, “Surely not!” for they realized that Jesus was talking about them and their treatment of Him and coming rejection and killing of Him.
We hear Jesus looking directly at these leaders and others and quoting Old Testament Scripture, which predicted: “The Stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” and the salvation for the new people of God. This One “shall not die, but shall live” (Psalm 118:21-24 and v.16, and Isaiah 28:16). Jesus would die in payment for the sins of the world, but He would live again and rise in victory. In contrast, if people stumble and fall over this Stone, or if it falls on them, they will be broken to pieces and crushed. (This is a reference to other Old Testament prophecies of the Lord as a Stone that people can stumble and fall over and be crushed by if they reject Him. See Isaiah 18:13-15 and Daniel 2:34-35 and 44-45 and the promise of a new and everlasting kingdom.)
The scribes and chief priests wanted to seize Jesus then for speaking so badly of them in this parable. They feared the people who respected Him, though. So they watched Him and sent spies pretending to be sincerely interested in Him but really wanted to catch Him saying something that they could accuse Him of before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. This opposition to Jesus only continued what was already happening and would keep happening from most of the Jewish leaders and people. (See Luke 6:7, 16:14-15; 19:47-48, and Mark 12:13-24 as examples of this.) This parable predicts the eventual fall of the Jewish nation and many of its people to the Romans in 70 AD.
The Epistle lesson is from Philippians 3:(4b-7), 8-14. Since many Jews rejected Jesus, the Good News of Jesus as Lord and Savior spread on to non-Jewish people, the Gentiles, since Christ has died for all. Paul was a perfect person for sharing this Gospel of Christ, since he was a Jewish Pharisee who was brought to faith in Jesus. (Clearly, God did not forget His chosen people, the Jews, and numbers of them came to faith in Christ, though many more rejected Him as Savior and still do, even in our own time.) Paul had strong Jewish credentials, as he explains in this passage, and lived as blamelessly as he could, according to the Jewish standards of his day, even persecuting Christians, himself. Paul was also a Roman citizen because of his place of birth. He was very successful in Jewish and worldly terms until coming to faith in Jesus and being baptized and called to be a witness for Christ Jesus. He then realized by God’s grace that his old life was “rubbish” compared with the gifts of God given to him in his new life in Jesus. He no longer trusted his own righteousness, but only the righteousness that came from God to him earned by Christ Jesus Himself through His suffering, death, and resurrection, and the gift of faith in Christ worked in him (through the Holy Spirit.) Christ Jesus had made Paul His own, but Paul knew that he was far from perfect and pressed on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ. That call especially was sharing the Good News of God’s love in Christ with as many more people as possible, both Gentiles and Jews. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:17, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel (of Christ), for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (and all others). For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed (in and through Christ) from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’ or, ‘he who through faith is righteous shall live.’" (See Habakkuk 2:2-4 and Habakkuk’s faith and trust in the Lord that he too was brought to by His Lord in Habakkuk 3:17-18 after questioning God in Habakkuk 1:1-2:1.) May we all continue to trust in that grace of God won for us by Christ our Savior, too!
“Reconciliation”
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Sermon for March 30, 2025
4th Sunday in Lent (Series C)
Let us pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.” Amen (Psalm 19:14).
The text for our meditation today is the Epistle Lesson, from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. You are welcome to look at that reading with me in your pew Bibles, p. 966.
Five times in these six verses, Paul uses the word “reconciliation” or “reconcile.” This is not a word used a lot these days.
- Sometimes, it is used when you try to compare your financial records with what your bank or financial institution says - and hopefully, everything reconciles - and comes out the same, correctly.
- Sometimes, the word is used when people are having trouble with one another, and there’s a separation, a division between them - until hopefully things are worked out, and there’s a reconciliation, a coming together again.
- Most often, in the Bible, the word is used to refer to separation from God Himself and His will and the need to be brought together and reconciled with Him.
It all began with the rebellion of the devil, Satan, and many angels who followed him and opposed God and have continued to produce only evil and chaos ever since. It continued with the temptation of Adam and Eve and their falling into sin, as well, bringing a sinful human nature to every person born into this world. Not everyone believes in a sinful human nature, but it is very clear from the Scriptures and from ourselves and the fallen world in which we live. Paul described this condition that he was in and that all of us are in, left on our own, as he wrote, very dramatically, in Ephesians 2:1-3: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” - under the wrath and judgment of God. And how much can a dead person do? Nothing!
There is nothing we can do on our own to make things right and reconcile ourselves to God. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Your sins, your iniquities, have made a separation between you and your God.” It is a gulf, a separation that we cannot cross on our own. But Isaiah also wrote, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that he cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
What we could not do, God did for us, in the gift of His only Son, our Lord Jesus, and His loving, saving work for us. Paul put it this way in another of his letters, writing about himself: “Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, I received mercy… and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:13-15).
So, Paul writes, just before our text for today, “The love of Christ (now) controls us because we have concluded this: that One (Jesus) has died for all; therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
And as our text begins, Paul says, “From now on, therefore, (because of the love of Christ and the fact that He died for all) we regard no one according to the flesh, in a purely human way. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer.”
Before the risen Lord Jesus appeared to Paul and turned His life around, Paul, who was a Jewish Pharisee, looked at Jesus as an ordinary man and even as an evil man, just as the Pharisees in our Gospel lesson grumbled about Jesus for receiving tax collectors and other sinners, bad people, and even showing care and fellowship with them, by eating with them. Now, Paul knows better about himself and about others because of His faith and trust in Christ Jesus and His Word and His work. Paul writes, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new had come.”
And Paul adds, very clearly, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself.” This is God’s doing, from beginning to end. We do not reconcile ourselves to God by our own efforts or our decisions or any good things that would merit or earn God’s favor. All this is from God.
And how could this happen? Paul goes on to say, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses, their sins, against them.” All the bad things that we have ever done, all our sins that would condemn us, are forgiven and no longer counted against us in Christ. Paul puts it this way in our text, “For our sake, for us, God made His own Son, Jesus, who knew no sin, had never sinned, to be sin for us” and to suffer the penalty for our sins, as all of our sins were dumped on Him, on the cross. All this was predicted by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. The coming Savior was to be “pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that brought us peace… the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” and “with His wounds, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
It is exactly what was predicted also in our Old Testament lesson for today. “In that day,” the day of the coming of our Savior, “you will say, 'I will give thanks to You, O Lord, for though You were angry with me (because of my sins), Your anger turned away (by the suffering and death of Your own Son, in my place) that you might (forgive) and comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation'… Shout and sing for joy, for great in your midst (on that day) is the Holy One of Israel” (God’s own Son, Jesus our Savior).
This is the Great Exchange that Paul talks about in our text. Christ Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and paid the penalty for them all in our place, and in exchange, we are forgiven and counted as the righteous people of God, reconciled and at peace with God. And how does all this come personally to us? Paul says again and again in our text that God has now given to him and to all the Biblical preachers and writers “the ministry and message of reconciliation.” “We are ambassadors for Christ,” Paul says, “God making His appeal through us. We implore you, on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God.” And the Holy Spirit of God works through the Word about and of Christ to bring people to faith and forgiveness in Him as the gift of God.
We have had quite a number of baptisms in our congregation recently, too, and we know that the Holy Spirit also works through the Word of God connected with water in the gift of Baptism. Paul wrote, in another of His letters, “You were buried with Christ, in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses, God made alive, together with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us (for our sins), nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:12-14).
This is the most important reconciliation we can ever receive because with it also comes new life and salvation through Christ. We know the Scriptures that say, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned” (John 3:17-18).
And this is Good News not just to get us to heaven one day but also to help us in this life, too, where we continue to be imperfect people, living with other imperfect people. We, too, can share the Good News of Christ with others, as our Old Testament lesson says, “Let this be known in all the earth… Make known His deeds in all the earth. Sing praises to the Lord, for His has done glorious things” for us (Isaiah 12:4-5).
And we can seek to live in Christ in a more reconciled way with one another by God’s power. Children can learn to forgive and be forgiven by their brothers and sisters and others in a better way, as we heard in the children’s message. A father (or mother) can learn to forgive both his sons (or daughters), as we heard in the Gospel lesson - the son who goes far astray and the son who seems to do more of the right things and yet is still angry and resentful and jealous, at times (Luke 15:1-2, 11-32).
And we can learn better to trust God’s forgiveness for us, ourselves, and our own sins and weaknesses when Satan reminds us of these failures and wants just to condemn us and pull us toward despair. We can confess our sins and remember and rejoice in Christ’s full and free forgiveness, already earned for us on the cross. We can trust not in ourselves and our performance but in Christ and His love and His reconciling work that brings us true peace and hope for us all.
Let us pray, “Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they can truly be safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7).
The Scripture readings this week are full of the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins this Lenten season, earned for us through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for us. May we keep taking our sins and failings to Him, trusting His continuing love and mercy for us.
The psalm, Psalm 32, is one of the “penitential” psalms of the Old Testament, where we are encouraged not to hide our sins but to be honest with God and bring them to Him for His full and free forgiveness. King David, the author, had struggled with doing this and was trying to cover up his wrongdoing. He was miserable, though, and the Lord’s hand was “heavy upon him” until he acknowledged his guilt. Then his sin was “forgiven,” “covered” over by God (ultimately, through Jesus), and “not counted against him.” This psalm uses several words picturing our wrongdoing: “transgression” - stepping beyond the boundary of what is right and good; “sin” - missing the mark of what we ought to be doing; “iniquity” - living a bumpy, uneven way, instead of God’s smooth path for our life; and “deceit” - pretending to be better than we are and hurting others with our dishonesty. Such wrongdoing creates great sorrow for us and others, but as we trust the Lord and His forgiveness in Christ, His “steadfast love surrounds us” and gives us gladness and joy and a “hiding place” in His peace. The Lord then “teaches" and “counsels” us through His Word, with His eyes upon us for our good and the good of others. We can then have a better understanding and don’t have to be “curbed” and pulled along with “bit and bridle” like a horse but can serve our Lord and others with rejoicing.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 12:1-6. In Isaiah 11, God had predicted through Isaiah the appearance of a fruitful Branch coming from the line of Jesse and David, full of God’s Spirit and with righteousness and faithfulness (Isaiah 11:1-5,10). “In that day,” God will turn from His anger over sin and comfort His people. God Himself will be our salvation, our Strength, and our Song as we trust in Him. For He will be great in our midst as the Holy One of Israel (coming to us in the person of His own Son, Jesus). Through Him, we can drink from “the wells of salvation.” We are also to “call upon and proclaim His Name” and “make known His saving deeds among the peoples, in all the earth.” We will “shout and sing for joy," especially in His payment for all our sins on the cross and His victory over death for us in His resurrection.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 15:1-3, 11-32, the familiar story of Jesus of the prodigal son and his father and brother. Jesus was being criticized by the religious leaders for welcoming “sinners” of all kinds, including tax collectors, and even eating with them, a sign of care and fellowship. Jesus then told several parables, including the one about a father who had two sons. Normally, a share of an inheritance would only go to a son when his father died. The younger son wanted his share much earlier, almost as if he wished his father were already dead. The father chooses to give him his share, and he goes off to “a far country,” far from his father and his father’s wishes and what is good. Over time, he squandered his inheritance in wild, “reckless living.” This younger son then had nothing left, and when a famine came, he had to get whatever job he could find, a lowly job of feeding pigs, considered “unclean” animals by the Jews. He made little income, and no one would help him, and he thought he might “perish with hunger.” He finally came to his senses about himself and realized what a sinner he was before heaven (not even wanting to mention God’s name) and against his father. He was not worthy of being his father’s son, but he hoped he could be a hired servant for him and survive. His father sees him coming and has great compassion and hugs and kisses him. The younger brother tells his father that he hopes only to be his servant because he has sinned so badly. Instead, his father welcomes him with honors and prepares a celebration because his son was dead and now alive again, lost and now found. The older son, who has been serving his father for years, is very jealous and angry and wouldn’t even recognize his brother as his brother and his father’s son anymore. He seems to have his own sins and failings in his responses to his father and his unwillingness to forgive his brother. He sees only unfairness and thinks only of what he thinks he deserves for his hard work for his father. The father shows mercy and forgiveness for both sons and only wants them both forgiven and reconciled with one another. Jesus is reminding the Pharisees and scribes who criticized Him that everyone is is sinner and needs the mercy and forgiveness that Jesus had come to bring to the world. And he is willing to give that forgiveness to all, by His saving work, according to the loving plan of His Heavenly Father.
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. This might be called a summary of all the other readings and God’s loving rescue plan for the world in Christ. Just before this lesson, Paul had spoken of the love of Christ that now controlled him and all believers because Christ, for their sake and for all, had died on the cross and was raised in victory to life again. “Therefore,” Paul begins this reading, he no longer looks at Jesus “according to the flesh” as an ordinary man whom he opposed. The risen Lord Jesus had appeared to him and turned his life around. He and all believers are now “a new creation” with a new life in Christ. “All this is from God,” Paul proclaims. It is not Paul’s doing or anyone else’s. God reconciled us sinners to Himself. Where there was sin and hostility toward God and others, now there is peace. God does not count our trespasses against us any longer but forgives them, as the father in the Gospel lesson was willing to forgive both of his sons. It can be done because “for our sake, God made Him, Jesus, to be sin,” to take all our sins upon Himself, though He knew no sin and never sinned, and paid the penalty for them all in His suffering and death for us so that we might be counted righteous and be the righteous children of God our Father, as we are brought to trust in Christ alone as our Savior. Paul’s job, now, is to be “an ambassador for Christ.” God appeals through Paul, then, for all people to be reconciled to Him through Christ. As we sometimes hear of a husband and wife having trouble and then having a reconciliation, God reconciles us to Himself, in Christ. All this is done by Him, through Christ, and by being brought to trust what he has done for us. It is the best news in the world, and this salvation is available to all in Jesus, our Savior. We still struggle with sin in this life, even as a “new creation,” but the Holy Spirit is also at work in us, enabling us at least to seek to be reconciled to other people with whom we have had difficulty, at times. What joy and peace there can be when our Lord enables that, too.
All of our Scripture readings this week focus on a key Lenten theme - the call to repentance and to trust in the mercy and forgiveness of our Lord, centered in Christ, our Savior. As Martin Luther wrote in his 95 Theses, “The whole life of a believer is to be one of repentance.”
In the Old Testament lesson, Ezekiel 33:7-20, the Lord calls Ezekiel to be a watchman for the house of Israel, warning the wicked to turn from their evil ways. The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but wants them to turn back from evil and live. The problem is that “our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them.” None of us are good enough in God’s eyes on our own. “The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses,” and who of us does not transgress and sin all too often? “If he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered.” We can never trust in our own righteousness because it is never good enough. Even Jesus, in the New Testament, says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). None of us can live up to that standard. We can only cry out for God’s mercy and forgiveness, and we can’t even speak that cry of mercy without God’s grace. As the psalmist, David, says to the Lord, “Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:9-12). It is continually with repentance that we approach our Lord, for it is “a broken and contrite heart that God will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). We pray with Jeremiah, “Bring me back that I may be restored, for You are the Lord my God” (Jeremiah 31:18). We say with Lamentations 5:20, again and again, “Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored. Renew our days, as of old.” And we keep saying, with the writer of Psalm 119, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and give me life in Your ways. Confirm to Your servant Your promise… In Your righteousness give me life… Deliver me according to Your Word… Let my soul live and praise You… I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant”(Psalm 119:36-38, 40, 170, 175-176). Knowing our sinfulness from God’s Law, we seek our Lord’s mercy, and in hard times, may we be spared from saying, “The way of the Lord is not just.”
The psalm is Psalm 85. It begins with a remembrance of how the Lord was favorable to His land in the past and forgave and covered over the sins of the people and restored their fortunes. Now, the psalmist realizes that his people need to be revived and restored again. He knows that the Lord is “the God of their salvation,” and He prays that the Lord would “show His steadfast love and give them His salvation.” The psalmist trusts that the Lord would speak peace to His people, His saints, but He gives a warning that they should not “turn back to folly.” (Some think that this psalm was written as some of God’s people returned to the promised land after the Babylonian captivity, but drifted away from the Lord and His will for them. They faced opposition from the people now controlling that land and soon abandoned rebuilding the walls and the temple in Jerusalem, as they were supposed to do. (See Ezra 4, especially v.4-5, 24 and Nehemiah 1:4, 2:10, 19-20 and Haggai 1:3-11. Note how it was the Lord Himself who had to stir up the spirits of the people through His prophet and His Word and restore them for the work that they were to do. “I am with you, said the Lord… My Spirit remains in your midst… And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord” (Haggai 1:12-14, 2:5, 9). The last part of Psalm 85 looks forward to the future when “the steadfast love,” “faithfulness,” “righteousness,” and “peace” would finally come from the Lord in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Through Him, “the Lord would give what is good.” “Righteousness would go before Him and make His footsteps the way” to peace with God. See these words also spoken in prophecy about Jesus in Jeremiah 23:5-6, 33:6-9, and 14-16, etc. These are also the Words used to describe Jesus when He came into the world in Matthew 3:15, John 1:14-17, 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, 30-31, 1 Peter 3:18, etc. And Jesus is the Way to eternal life (John 14:1-6) and we follow “in His steps,” having been “healed” and “counted righteous” and “returned” to our Good Shepherd (1 Peter 2:21-25). Jesus turned our “futile ways” around so that we are “believers in God” with our “faith and hope” in Christ through the “living and abiding Word of God” (1 Peter 1:18-25). It is all God’s doing for us, in Christ.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 13:1-9. These examples and the parable appear only in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus had been saying in Luke 12:54-57 that people could predict signs of changing weather, but hypocritically, they could not understand how to interpret the present times and the need for repentance and God’s mercy, coming in Him, the Christ. Now, in Luke 13, people were telling Jesus about Galileans who were killed by Pontius Pilate (probably for being Zealots, rebels against Rome). They also noticed the 18 people who had been killed in the collapse of a tower (likely being constructed under the direction of the Romans to provide more water for Jerusalem). People assumed that these people were worse sinners and offenders than others, and that is why they died as they did. Jesus said, in contrast, “I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Every one of us is a sinner, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This is what we all deserve for our sins, left on our own. We are no better than those others who died in a tragic way. Paul quotes Scripture in Romans 3: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one,” according to God’s standard. “For by works of the Law, no human being will be justified in God’s sight, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin… For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Therefore, Jesus is saying, too, that we all need to repent of our sins and look only for God’s mercy and forgiveness for us. The parable of Jesus brings the same message. A fig tree is planted but produces no fruit. It could just be cut down, just using up ground, in a useless way. However, the vinedresser is patient and wants to give the fig tree more time, caring for it, digging around it, and providing the needed nourishment so that it can bear fruit through his efforts, not the fig tree’s efforts. Paul put it this way: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). All of us are saved only by the grace of God through faith - and even that faith is a gift of God. We can take no credit. As long as we are in this life, we are saints, as believers, but also sinners, with a sinful nature that still troubles us and temptations all around. It is Christ who has already paid for all of our sins, but we continually need the repentance and forgiveness we have in our Divine Service and through the Holy Spirit at work in us through the Word of God and the Sacraments. The Greek verb for the word “repent” in Luke 3:3 and 3:5 is in the present tense, which indicates it needs to be an ongoing action. “Unless you keep on repenting, you will all likewise perish.” That is what the words mean. Sometimes we also forget that we sin not only by active evil that we do, but also by what we should do but omit and fail to do. How many of those sins of omission do we do each day? We live only by the continuing grace and mercy of God, earned for us by Christ.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Paul describes God’s Old Testament people as under the cloud of God’s presence and going through a kind of baptism through the Red Sea and receiving spiritual food, the Word of God, along with manna and quail and water provided by the Lord Himself. In fact, Paul says the pre-incarnate Son of God, Christ, was also with them in some way, caring for them. Even with all these blessings, many of the Israelites went astray and were “overthrown” in the wilderness. Their failures, Paul says, are an example for us not to be drawn to evil as they were: idolatry, sexual immorality, putting Christ to the test, continual grumbling, and on and on. We, who have also been richly blessed by God, should learn from these things “written down for our instruction.” Then Paul includes these sobering Words: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” This would be “a misplaced trust in ourselves” and our abilities instead of relying upon the Lord. “God is faithful,” Paul says. God does not spare us from temptations. They are “common to man.” They are not easy to deal with. Paul uses strong words like temptations “overtaking” us - temptations hard to “endure.” Yet, there is always a way to escape. Paul was teaching the same to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1,3: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus… Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Sometimes, we fail and don’t take the way of escape, though. That is why Paul also says in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, God remains faithful.” Jesus Himself preached, “Repent and believe the Gospel,” at the beginning of His ministry (Mark 1:14). And after His resurrection, He taught that “repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations” (Luke 24:47). There is our hope in Christ - and remember that even repentance is a gift that God works in us, along with forgiveness, in His love for us. See Acts 5:31: “God exalted Jesus at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” See also Acts 11:18: “They glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life,” (eternal Life through Jesus Christ.) May the Lord keep giving us such continuing repentance and forgiveness in Christ!
In most of the readings this week, the people following the Lord are being threatened. In Psalm 4, in David’s case, David has often been in distress, literally, in a tight spot, but the Lord has given him relief, giving him some breathing space so that he could escape his enemies, both King Saul and others. See, for example, Psalm 18, where the introduction says that the Lord had rescued him from the hands of all his enemies, and then David calls Him his Deliverer (18:1). In 18:19, David says, “The Lord brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me.” Psalm 3 speaks of David fleeing from his own son, Absalom, and Psalm 4 is likely talking about the same situation when Absalom turned people against his own father. Read 2 Samuel 15:2-6, and see how David says in Psalm 4, “O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?” David says, “How many are my foes… rising against me… and saying of my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in God.’” Yet David knew that the Lord would be “gracious” to him. By His grace and mercy, the Lord would hear his prayer! For "the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself.” David then pleads with his enemies not to do evil and to stop and think about what they are doing and put their trust in the Lord, as David does, with repentant and contrite hearts (Psalm 51:17). David is confident that the light of God’s face would shine upon him (Numbers 6:22-27) and he would ultimately have real joy and peace and rest in safety in His Lord, as bad as things seemed, at times.
In the Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah 26:8-15, the Lord had commanded Jeremiah to speak strong judgment against Judah and Jerusalem, with destruction coming. The priests and prophets (who should have known better) and many of the people surrounded Jeremiah and said, “You shall die!” because he had dared to speak against their city. Then, officials of the city came and listened to all that was being said. They heard Jeremiah say that he was only speaking what the Lord had told him to say. There was still time for the people to mend their ways and obey the voice of the Lord; then, the disaster would not come. He had to speak these very words into their ears. But if they killed Jeremiah, they were bringing innocent blood upon themselves and their city. (If you read on after this text, Jeremiah was spared from dying, at least at this point.)
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 13:31-35, Jesus was likely in Perea, in Herod’s territory, and some Pharisees warned Him to get out of there and blamed Herod (Antipas) for wanting to kill Him. (See how Herod had treated John the Baptist (Luke 3:19-20 and Matthew 14:1-12) and was superstitiously concerned about Jesus, too (Luke 9:7-9).) Some think that the Pharisees were really trying to scare Jesus into leaving Perea and going to Jerusalem, where they would have more control over Him. Jesus knew that Herod was cunning, like a sly fox, but He was determined to do His Father’s will and continue to battle demonic forces, provide cures for people, and do His prophetic work in the days ahead in Perea until He was brought to His goal, His finishing His course, when he would go and die in Jerusalem. Jesus sorrowed over Jerusalem and its people, its children, and had often wanted and tried to gather its people together and protect them, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. Many of the people were not willing, though, and resisted the Word and work of Jesus, as had happened so often to God’s prophets and leaders in the past - as we hear in the Old Testament readings today. Jesus warns the Pharisees that their house, their people, and their temple would soon be forsaken because of their rebellion. That was the reality for many in 70 AD, with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans and in later troubles.
Finally, in this passage, Jesus says, “You will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” This is a quotation from Psalm 118:26, and the crowds, including Jews, were shouting these words regarding Jesus on what we now call Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, humbly, on a donkey, just days before His suffering and death. (See Matthew 20:1-11. However, Jesus quotes this passage again in Matthew 23:27-29, later that week, just before predicting the destruction of the temple.) Others, therefore, think that Jesus is also predicting that even after the rejection of Him at the cross, there would still always be a remnant of Jews who would eventually be brought to faith in Jesus and call Him “Lord” in the early church and even to this very day. Jesus never gave up on His fellow Jews and knew that some would still and do still receive the eyes of faith and trust in Him as their Savior, too. We pray for that for them and for all people.
Paul, who was one of those Jews who did come to faith in Jesus later in life, after being strongly anti-Christian, writes words of encouragement to fellow believers in Philippians 3:17-4:1. All around them (and us) are “enemies of the cross of Christ.” Their "god” is themselves and their own bellies and shameful earthy things instead of our Lord Jesus. Paul reminds fellow believers (including us) that our true place of citizenship is in heaven. Paul wrote earlier in this letter, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain... for to depart and be with Christ is far better” (Philippians 1:21, 23-24). Paul is in prison for his faith as he writes this letter, but expects that he will be set free and be able to “strive side by side for the faith of the Gospel” with the Christians at Philippi and others (Philippians 1:27). He urges the believers, “whom he loves and longs for, his joy and his crown,” to “stand firm in the Lord.” Heaven is their true home, with Christ. When they die in faith, Christ will take them to heaven (John 14:1-6). There is also the promise of the resurrection of their bodies (and ours) by Christ on the last day when their bodies will also be changed to be like His glorious resurrection body. There is much about all this that we cannot fully understand or comprehend, but we know that our future is secure in Christ, in life and death, in heaven, and at the resurrection of our bodies. We have a loving Lord who gave His life for us and who will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5-6).
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday, Deuteronomy 26:1-11, reminds the LORD’s people that the land into which they were going was really an inheritance from Him, where His Name would dwell and be honored. The people were to bring an offering in a basket to the LORD of the first fruits from their harvest. They were to give the basket to the priest as they rejoiced in God’s good gifts to them. They were also to worship and speak words about their “father,” Jacob, a wandering Aramean, and all the troubles they had been through in Egypt until the LORD brought them out with His might and His goodness to a land flowing with milk and honey, by His grace and mercy.
The psalm, Psalm 91, continues the words of praise to God Almighty, who is the Refuge and Fortress for His people as they trust in Him. He delivers them from all kinds of trouble and danger as they dwell in the shelter of His presence and hold fast to Him in His love for them. This psalm also pictures, in a prophetic way, the battles that Jesus would have with the devil when He came into the world to be our Savior. That devil, the evil angel Satan, quotes from this psalm, out of context, in trying to get Jesus to do wrong and foolish things. If Jesus really is the Son of God, surely the angels would protect Him no matter what, the devil says. Jesus battles Him with the true Word of God, as we will see.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 4:1-12. Jesus is dwelling in His Father’s Word and will and has just been baptized, blessed, and full of the Holy Spirit’s power, fulfilling all righteousness for us and all people. While we, as weak people, pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted very directly in order to defeat Satan for us. He faced some of the same temptations that the children of Israel had on the way to the Promised Land. For 40 days, He ate nothing and was much hungrier than the Israelites ever were. They grumbled and complained against God, but Jesus resisted the temptation to do what the devil wished - to make some bread for Himself. Jesus simply quoted God’s Word, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” (He was quoting from Deuteronomy 8:2-3, which adds, “Man lives by every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus did that!) The devil also showed Jesus great Kingdoms of the world and promised to give Him authority over them all if Jesus would just worship him. Again, Jesus knew that His Heavenly Father had all authority, not Satan, and He again quoted Scripture: “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’” (Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5-6, 13-14, while the Israelites were soon worshiping a golden calf, a false god.) The devil did not give up but took Jesus to Jerusalem to the pinnacle of the temple, the magnificent house of God, and said, “If you really are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” Surely God would want to help and protect His own Son if that was what you really were, Jesus. The devil then even quotes Scripture itself, out of context, from the psalm we just looked at. “Angels would surely guard you, Jesus, and lift you up so that you will not even strike your foot against a stone.” That’s what God promises! And what a spectacular miracle you could show people! (See Psalm 91:11-12. Again, Jesus knew the whole context of Psalm 91 and that it was talking about people dwelling close to the Lord, trusting Him, and listening to His Word and not Satan’s word. Jesus also knew that people should not do foolish and dangerous things just to see if God would take care of them. Jumping off the temple would be tempting God just to see if He really would help.) Jesus again quotes Scripture. “It is said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Deuteronomy 6:16). These temptations are likely only a sample of how the devil worked on Jesus and tried to get Him to do wrong. “For forty days,” Jesus was “being tempted by the devil.” The devil also only stopped tempting to wait for another “opportune time” to work on Jesus again. He would also work on Jesus through other people, like Peter (Mark 8:31-33) and crowds of people (John 6:14-15) and Judas (John 13:2, 27-30). Satan would also attack Him when he was in great agony about what was coming for Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. (See Matthew 26:38ff. and Luke 22:40-46. Even then, Jesus always did His Father’s will. He did it for us, who so often fail to do what God wants, substituting His perfect life for our sins and failures, and earning forgiveness for us by His death for us, on the cross, and then His victory in His resurrection.)
That forgiveness comes personally to us as a gift from God through being brought to faith in Jesus. Paul talks about what Christians proclaim in our Epistle lesson, Romans 10:8-13. He had earlier in this letter said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:16-17). This is the Gospel (Good News) that centers on Jesus as Lord and believing that he is our Savior, and after He died in payment for our sins, “God raised Him from the dead.” For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” And, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (the Lord Jesus Christ) will be saved.” And this believing and faith are a gift from God. (Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” And Paul had written earlier in Romans 9:16: “It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.” As the Lutheran scholar Martin Franzmann wrote, regarding Romans 1:16-17, “The Gospel is power because in it a revelation takes place; by it God makes Himself known and makes Himself count among men. The Gospel is news of God’s action through His Son (Romans 1:3-4,) a saving action which gives men the gift of the righteousness of God. Gift it is, for it asks of the hearer only the receptive yes of faith and it creates that faith in the hearer; it is revealed for faith... Habakkuk had uttered the great Word which pronounced the unbreakable connection between faith, righteousness, and life: ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’” (Habakkuk 2:4, 3:17-18) (Concordia Bible with Notes; The New Testament, p.261, CPH, 1971). Of course, in other passages, the Scriptures also affirm the connection with baptism as a channel of God’s grace, bringing faith, connected with the Word of God, being “born of the water and the Spirit” (John 3:5-7). See also Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:16, Titus 3:4-7, 1 Peter 3:21, etc. May the Lord keep us firmly in this confidence in Christ and His Word, along with the gift of our baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The Scripture readings for this Sunday all relate, in some way, to the focus on the Transfiguration of our Lord, this last Sunday of the Epiphany season. The Old Testament lesson is from Deuteronomy 34:1-12. Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because of his sin and rebellion against the Lord at times. (See Deuteronomy 32:48-52.) He was able to see all the Land from Mount Nebo, at the top of Pisgah. He died there, then, and the Lord buried him there, at an unknown place. Joshua had already been appointed to lead the people into the Land. Moses had laid his hands on him and blessed him with the Spirit of God. No prophet had arisen again like Moses, though, until the coming of Christ Jesus Himself (Deuteronomy 18:15ff.). Moses came the closest to seeing God. His face would glow after seeing the Lord, but even he did not see the Lord in all His glory. (See Exodus 33:18-23.) We don’t know if Moses was given the wisdom to write these final words of Deuteronomy or if God inspired someone else to add these final words. Legends arose later on about Moses being assumed into heaven, but there is no clear Biblical basis for this idea. There is a mysterious passage in Jude 9 about a dispute over the body of Moses, but nothing more is said about that. This reading is included this week because God did allow Moses to appear with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and to be able to be in the Promised Land, at last, for a short time.
The Psalm is Psalm 99. This psalm emphasizes the reign of God over all the earth and all peoples, even in the Old Testament. His holiness is praised three times, and the angels also sang of his holiness in Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6. Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are described as His priests, who called upon Him, and he spoke to them in a pillar of cloud on His holy mountain. He taught them His testimonies and showed them their wrongdoing, but was a forgiving God to them, and they worshiped Him at His footstool, His tabernacle. We are all to exalt the Lord our God, too, and worship Him, and the fact that Moses appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration indicates that we are especially to listen to Jesus and His testimonies and worship Him and know the victory he has won for us and await in faith the last day when He has made all His enemies His footstool (Psalm 110:1).
The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 3:1-6. Moses is described as a faithful servant of the Lord in His house, His tabernacle, testifying to things that would be said and done later, as He was given the first five books of the Old Testament. Jesus, however, is the apostle and high priest of what we now confess and has much greater glory as the Son of God and the Builder of God’s house and the Builder of all things as our Creator. Moses was a faithful servant but also had his failings. Jesus was perfectly faithful, completing the work of salvation for us, and He actually lives in us, as part of His house, His church, and works in us, so that we may hold fast our confidence in Him and boast only of our hope in Him.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 9:28-36 and is the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus Himself. He takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain to pray. As he prays, He and His clothing are altered and become dazzling white with glory. Moses and Elijah, the great priest and the great prophet of the Old Testament, appear with Him in glory and speak with him of His departure, His “exodus” from this life which he would soon accomplish at Jerusalem (through His suffering, death, and mighty resurrection). The disciples had been sleeping but awakened and saw His glory and Moses and Elijah with Him. Peter doesn’t know what to say but just blurts out the idea of building tents for these three. Instead, a cloud overshadows them, and the Heavenly Father speaks from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the chosen one. Listen to Him.” Then, they saw only Jesus and told no one at that time what they had seen. This was a great Epiphany - the revealing of Jesus in His glory as the Son of God, but it also revealed what He, as the Chosen One of God, was going to have to go through - the terrible suffering and agony of His departure, His suffering and death on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Jesus was also a true man, and none of this would be easy in any way for Him. This event gave Him encouragement to continue on with His Father’s saving plan, even though he would wish, at moments, that there could be another way than this “cup of suffering” that He would have to drink. He would carry on faithfully, trusting His Father’s strength and blessing for Him, through it all, and accomplish His saving work for us. The Transfiguration was also for the sake of the disciples. They did not want to hear about Jesus suffering and dying. They preferred moments of glory, but they were called to “listen to Him," trusting what He said, though this was not the kind of Messiah they were expecting. As the commentator Donald Miller wrote (Layman’s Bible Commentary on Luke, 1958, p.98-99), everything is being pulled together in Jesus. “What the Law (of Moses) intended and what the prophets (like Elijah and others) had promised is now here in its fullness in Jesus… Jesus is shown to be God’s eternal Son, not in spite of the cross, but precisely because of it… Jesus was ‘the Lamb destined before the foundation of the world'” (1 Peter 1:18-21). The new Exodus, through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, would bring new life and eternal salvation to all. Still today, this Gospel calls us, too, to “listen to Jesus” and through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God, to be brought to continuing trust in Christ Jesus.
“God Sent Me”
Sermon based on Genesis 45:1-15
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The Old Testament text that we have before us is probably one that many of us remember from Sunday School days when we were young. There was Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob, who had 12 sons. Unfortunately, Jacob had a favorite son, Joseph, and he showed his favoritism by giving Joseph a special robe of many colors, which made the other sons jealous. Joseph also had dreams and predicted that his brothers and even his parents would one day bow down to him. His brothers hated him for these and other things more and more until they planned to kill him.
They took his beautiful robe and threw him into a pit, and when Midianite traders came by, they decided to sell him as a slave for some money for themselves. They then killed a goat and put the blood on the robe and convinced Jacob, their father, that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
Joseph became a slave in Egypt and, after being betrayed by someone, ended up in prison unjustly. The Lord was with him, though, with His steadfast love, even in prison, and gave him the gift of interpreting more dreams. Joseph was able to predict that the Pharaoh’s cupbearer, in prison himself, would be released and restored to his old job.
Two years later, the Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret. The cupbearer remembered Joseph, still in prison, and he was brought to the Pharaoh and was able to interpret the dream. Joseph made it clear that the interpretation came not from him but from God Himself. There would be seven years of very plentiful harvests in Egypt but then seven years of bad harvests and famine. The Egyptians needed to store up much grain and other food during the very good years so that they could survive the bad years. Pharaoh then appointed Joseph to lead this food program and made him second-
in-command in the whole land, subject only to Pharaoh himself. With God’s blessings, the program worked, and when the years of famine came, the Egyptians had plenty of food for themselves and to sell to others.
Other peoples did not have this abundance, and it was during this time that Joseph sent 10 of his sons from Canaan to Egypt to buy food. It had been about 20 years since Joseph had been sold as a slave, and they did not recognize him, but he realized who they were. He questioned them carefully and found out that his father and his closest brother, Benjamin, were still alive. Joseph gave them food and took no money for it, but told them that there would be no more food for them in the future unless they also brought their brother, Benjamin, with them.
The famine went on and on, and their food ran out again. Jacob was still playing favorites, with Benjamin now his favorite. He did not want to let Benjamin go along, but finally allowed him to go so that they would not all starve to death. Joseph again meets with them and speaks with them through an interpreter, as he had done before. He gives them a hard time and even threatens to give them food only if he could keep Benjamin as his slave, as if Benjamin had done something wrong by stealing.
This is when Joseph knew that his brothers had changed. They now cared about their father and didn’t want him to lose another special son, Benjamin, as he thought he had lost his son, Joseph. One of his sons, Judah, pleads with Joseph and volunteers to be Joseph’s slave if only Benjamin is set free. (It is here that our text begins, in Genesis 45. You can read this whole story in more detail in Genesis 37-44 on your own. I am using the ESV translation for most of the quotations.)
Joseph asks everyone to leave the place where he was interviewing the brothers, except for them. Then we hear that he wept very loudly - most likely with joy that he could be reunited and reconciled with his brothers, at last, with love and forgiveness for them. He says, “Now your eyes see and the eyes of my brother, Benjamin, see that it is my mouth that speaks to you.” No longer was Joseph speaking to them through an interpreter, but as their brother, in their own language, directly to them.
And he says, “I am Joseph,” very clearly, and asks about his father, though he already knows that Jacob is still living. The brothers say nothing because they were dismayed - or more literally, in the Hebrew, trembling with fear, because they thought they were in for punishment or even death because they had sold their brother off as a slave. As a powerful leader now in Egypt, Joseph could do whatever he wanted to do with them.
Instead, he asks them to come near him and says again, “I am your brother.” (This is also reflected at the end of this text. He was accepting them again as his own dear brothers, his family, when we hear that he and Benjamin hugged and wept with each other, and he kissed his brothers and wept with them all, and they talked with each other, as friends and brothers again.)
And then, with very forgiving words, Joseph says, “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” And Joseph says it again and again. “God sent me”… “It was not you who sent me here, but God.” Joseph could now actually see and believe the promise that was given in other Scriptures and especially much later, in the New Testament, in Romans 8:28: “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.” It didn’t seem that way for Joseph for a long time - in the pit, sold as a slave, ending up in prison for doing the right thing and being confined there for years.
But God was working for good, providing a dream for Pharaoh and giving Joseph its interpretation, and raising him up to be like a father to Pharaoh and a lord and a ruler in all Egypt, and preserving life by his directing the storage of enough food for Egypt and for other peoples, including Jacob and his family.
There are many good lessons we can learn from this story - the importance of family and being caring and forgiving to one another, the danger of playing favorites with children, the call to be patient and trust the Lord, the value of caring for others and providing for their needs in daily life, etc. But there was something even more significant happening. God was also at work, carrying on His plan for salvation for the world through the coming of Jesus as Savior. That was the most important news in the world. Joseph also said to his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive many survivors.”
When God called Abraham to be the beginning of a new nation, the Jewish nation, He promised, “In your Seed, in your descendant, all families on earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). And He always kept that promise for a remnant of His people to exist, at least, for the Savior was coming through that group of people. Abraham did not have to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Jacob and his family did not die of starvation in the great famine. In fact, Joseph fulfilled another Biblical prophecy (Genesis 15:13-14) in inviting Jacob and family to come and live in Egypt, where they would be safe and prosper for a while. Eventually, they would all become slaves themselves until rescued by the Lord again, through Moses, and brought to the Promised Land - those twelve tribes, descendants from those twelve sons of Jacob.
The whole Old Testament is the history of the ups and downs of these people, but always with a remnant of them surviving and carrying on until the time was right for the coming of the Savior. A passage in 2 Kings 19:30-31 has this promise: “The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion, a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this.”
And from this band of survivors finally came Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4-7). Joseph could love and forgive his brothers, but only for a time, but we read of Jesus in the New Testament, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” - which we all are - “those who were to believe for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15-16).
Joseph could preserve life for people for a time, but Jesus provides eternal life “through the faith and love that are in Him, in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14). “For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:5-6). “For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit,” by His mighty resurrection from the dead (1 Peter 3:18). Joseph was reunited with his brothers, even after the evil they had done to him, through God’s forgiving love. Hebrews 2:10-11 tells us that “Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers,” either, through the “salvation” and “sanctification” He has provided for us, though we have not deserved His mercy and love. John put it this way: “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now…” (1 John 3:1-2).
Joseph was able to provide important food for this life, but Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 6:35) for eternal life for us, enabling us through His Word and Forgiveness and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper we will soon receive in this service to keep us trusting His saving work for us, too. That is our confidence in Him, now and forever. Amen.
We pray: Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The Scriptures this week give us what God wants most of all to reveal to us in this Epiphany season - love and forgiveness. It is foremost the love and forgiveness of God for us sinners, though we do not deserve it at all, shown especially to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord but also our Savior.
The Psalm is Psalm 103:1-13. David blesses and praises the Lord and does not want to forget the “benefits,” the blessings that come from Him, especially His forgiveness, redemption, and renewal that come through His steadfast love and mercy. The Lord works righteousness for us who are too often unrighteous sinners. (He does this, especially through His own Son, Jesus, who lived a perfect life for us in our place while being a true man on this earth.) The Lord does not deal with us on the basis of our sins but removes our transgressions from us (again through His Son, Jesus). He treats us in this way as our compassionate, forgiving Heavenly Father. He then calls us, in gratefulness to Him, to seek to fear, love, and trust Him in return and gives us the strength to do so through His Holy Spirit, working through His Word, the New Testament tells us.
In the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 45:3-15, Joseph has seen God’s mercy for him in Egypt, even though he had been sold into slavery by his own brothers. God worked the situation out for good by allowing him to rise to a very high position in the Egyptian government and to be able to predict by God’s power a seven-year famine coming in time for him to prepare his country by having plenty of food available to get through the famine and help others, too. Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food that was available there. Joseph recognizes them, and they are terrified that he will take vengeance on them. Instead, he forgives them and promises them a safe place to live in Egypt, where he will make sure their needs are taken care of. They are reconciled and promise to bring their father also to safety in Egypt. God’s mercy and help for Joseph had affected him so much that he was led by God to be merciful to many and forgiving even to his brothers who had betrayed him. (We will hear more of this story in a late May Scripture reading.)
The Gospel reading continues the story from last week of Jesus teaching His disciples in Luke 6:27-38. He had been warning them that they would face much opposition and bad treatment simply because they were following Jesus, the “Son of Man.” Now Jesus teaches them to seek to love, forgive, and do good even to those who hate them and curse and abuse them. He tells his disciples to do for others what they wish others would do to them. Loving others who love them isn’t as hard. But they are to love even their enemies, even the ungrateful and evil, as children of the Most High God, for the Father’s Son, Jesus, would give His life even for them, in mercy for them. (And frankly, we all have sin and evil in us for which we need forgiveness, and for us, also, Christ had to die.) His disciples are then not to spend their time judging and condemning others, but, above all, to seek to forgive and give mercy and good gifts to others, as Jesus has first done for them.
The Epistle lesson continues the reading from 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul clearly affirms that Jesus not only died for us, paying for our sins, as our substitute. He also rose from the dead as the “first fruits," conquering death and guaranteeing the resurrection of our bodies on the last day when he returns. (He already takes our souls to be with Him in eternal peace in heaven when we die, by His grace and the gift of faith in Him.) On the last day, when He returns in glory, our bodies, too, will be raised and changed and glorified, immortal and imperishable. In the meantime, in this life, we seek to keep the good company of our Lord and fellow believers and try to battle sin. We face many dangers, and it may look, at times, as if evil is winning, but we know that Jesus has won the victory, and all enemies will finally be subdued, and we trust that our Lord will care for us and will be with us always and provide us the mercy and strength we need to keep the faith and be brought through death to eternal life.
All of the Scriptures this week have something to do with blessings and curses and how one is headed for one or the other. The psalm, Psalm 1, says that the one who delights in the Law of the Lord and meditates continually on it is the one who is blessed. He is spiritually nourished by the whole Word of God, like a tree that has plenty of water near and produces good fruit, and its leaves do not wither. This person prospers in what he does, is known by the Lord, and sits in the congregation of the righteous (ultimately by his connection to Christ Jesus, the truly Righteous One and the Savior). In contrast are the wicked sinners who scoff against the Lord and His Word and will. They may seem to prosper in this life but will not stand on the day of judgment and will perish like useless chaff that the wind blows away. They do not have the Lord as their Life and Strength.
In the Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah 17:5-8, the Lord gives Jeremiah words very similar to what is in Psalm 1, only in the opposite order. Cursed are those “who trust in man,” who trust in themselves and others and human strength, so that their hearts turn away from the Lord. They are like shrubs in the desert, without what is truly good, and are parched, living in a wilderness of uninhabited salt land. In contrast is a person who trusts in the Lord (repeated twice!). That person is like the tree with plenty of water (the Lord’s resources) and still bears fruit and does not fear or have anxiety in times of heat and drought but continues to trust the Lord.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 6:17-26. Many people were coming from throughout Israel and even from non-Jewish areas like Tyre and Sidon to hear Jesus and to be healed of diseases and trouble they had with evil spirits. Even touching Jesus brought power and healing from Him. Then Jesus looked upon and spoke to His disciples, telling them of blessings that are theirs through being brought to faith in Him. (Some think that this is a summary of some of what was said by Jesus in the “Sermon on the Mount” - see Matthew, Chapters 5-7 - or these might be similar words spoken on another occasion. The Matthew passage certainly helps us understand what Jesus is saying, though.) God’s people are spiritually blessed when they know they are spiritually poor by themselves, sorrow over their sins, and hunger for God’s mercy and forgiveness and help for them. They trust in Christ Jesus, the “Son of Man,” and are blessed, even when hated and excluded and reviled and spurned by those opposed to the Lord in this life. Joy will come to them, for they are in the kingdom of God and have the promises of heaven. They are led in the steps of the prophets of old, like Jeremiah, who trusted the Lord and His Word, no matter what. In contrast, again, Jesus speaks of woes and sorrows and mourning coming for those who find their riches and fullness and laughter only in approval and consolation from other human beings and their thoughts and standards. They will be cursed like the Old Testament false prophets and those who followed them in false ways, apart from the Lord.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 15:(1-11) 12-20, Paul points us all, not to human ideas, but to Christ Jesus and His Word and His saving work for us, culminating in His death for us on the cross, in payment for our sins, and his mighty resurrection from the dead, in accordance with God’s promises in the Scriptures. Paul also reminds us of the many people to whom Christ Jesus appeared after His resurrection, including many who were still alive at the time Paul wrote this letter. You could talk with any of them, Paul says, for they were eyewitnesses to the Risen Lord, too. Then Paul says that Jesus appeared to him, also, after His Resurrection and brought him to faith in Him, though he was totally unworthy to receive this blessing because he had helped persecute and kill Christians. (See Acts 7:58-8:3.) Paul goes on to assure people of the certainty of the resurrection and that without it, there would be no hope for them. “If Christ was not raised, your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins.” Christians should then be pitied for living an illusion. “But in fact,” Paul proclaims, “Christ has been raised from the dead!” He knew it was true because he had seen the risen Lord Jesus alive after His resurrection. The blessings of life now and eternally for Christians depend upon this truth, and the Holy Spirit has brought Paul and us to this trust in Him by faith in His Word and our baptism. Paul was willing to die and did die for this truth in Christ because he knew that our Savior had died for our sins and was raised from the dead and would bless him, too, with eternal blessings in heaven. Our future is also secure in Christ - with these blessings, and not with sorrow and curses that come for those who trust only in human thoughts and ideas.
The psalm for this week is another of David’s psalms, Psalm 138. David gives thanks and praise to God “before the gods.” This does not mean that he or other Biblical writers believe in the reality of these so-called gods. In Psalm 135, we hear that “our Lord is above all gods… The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They cannot speak or see or hear and have no breath in them.” They are not real, and there is no reason to “trust in them.” In contrast, David rejoices in “the Name” and “the Word of the Lord.” He gives thanks for the “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” of the One True God, who “strengthens his soul” and helps him when he “walks in the midst of trouble.” The Lord has a purpose for David’s life and will fulfill it. (See David’s description of the Lord’s “fulfilling His purpose for him” and protecting him, even when he was in great danger from King Saul, in Psalm 57:1-3.) The Lord has a purpose for our lives, too, as he has called us to faith in Christ. See Philippians 1:6 and Ephesians 1:5 and 2:9-10. We are “the work of His hands,” and he will not forsake us. (See Psalm 90:17 and Psalm 100:3.) See how “the steadfast love of God enduring forever” is repeated again and again in Psalm 136. See the musicians and others “expressly named” in 1 Chronicles 16:41, who were to thank the Lord “for His steadfast loves endures forever.” We enjoy that “love” now and forever in Christ.
In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13), Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord upon His throne in glory, filling the temple and calling Isaiah to be His prophet. Seraphim, angels, were singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,” prefiguring the clearer revelation of the One True Triune God in the New Testament. (Three times, the Lord is called “holy” in the same way in Psalm 99.) Isaiah thinks he is lost and would die as “a man of unclean lips,” who has seen the Holy God and represents a people of unclean lips, as we all are, as sinners. An angel comes to him, though, and touches his lips with a burning coal and takes away his guilt and sin. His sin was atoned for, paid for, by the work of the Lord (and ultimately by the work of His Son, Jesus Christ). The Lord then asks, “Who will go for us?” (Again, the mystery of the three Persons of the One True God is alluded to, with the word “us,” as in Genesis 1:26 and 3:22, while Deuteronomy 6:4 says that the Lord is One.) Having been cleansed and realizing his calling, Isaiah volunteers to be sent by the Lord to speak to his people. The message will be a difficult one, though. A time of judgment is coming because many people will be blind to the Lord’s truth and lack understanding of it. As a result, Isaiah must predict cities destroyed and houses without people and a desolate land, with people carried away into captivity, as happened with both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel. Isaiah asks, “How long, O Lord?” How long will this go on? There is still hope, the Lord reveals. Though Israel will be like “a stump” of a tree, with only a remnant left, “a holy seed” will come from it, with a whole new life from the Lord - predicting the coming of God’s Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His message and work of salvation for all people, not just the Jews. See Isaiah 11:1-5 as an example of this picture image being developed more - someone, Jesus, coming from the line of Jesse and David, filled with the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s righteousness and faithfulness. Jesus Himself quotes from this passage in His own time, as he faced the spiritual blindness and dullness of His own people, as He preached Law and Gospel, and many refused to listen. (See Matthew 13:13-17 as an example.) Other New Testament writers quote from this passage, too, especially in sharing how the Gospel moved on from Jews to Gentiles, non-Jews, as welI. (See Romans 11:7-10, for example. (I don’t have time here to go into detail about this, but will try to expand on this at another time and study.) The point is that Isaiah would be preaching both Law and Gospel himself, preparing the way for Jesus and His message and the message of hope in Christ in the New Testament.
We see Jesus bringing that message of hope in Him and a new calling to Simon Peter and others in the Gospel lesson, Luke 5:1-11. People were, at first, eager to hear “the Word of God” Jesus brought. Jesus had to borrow a boat and preach from it because of the press of the crowds around Him. (He was surely preaching “the good news of the kingdom of God” to as many people as possible, as He said He needed to do, in John 4:42-43. He “was sent for this purpose.”) When Jesus had finished speaking, He asked Simon Peter, who owned the boat, to put out his nets for a catch of fish. Peter had fished all night and caught nothing and knew that this was not a good time to fish, but said, “At Your Word, I will let down the nets.” He was beginning to realize the power of Jesus and His Word. Quickly, a large number of fish was caught, with nets breaking and the boats sinking. Peter was astonished and had both awe and fear of Jesus and His power. He fell down at the knees of Jesus. He had called Jesus “Master.” Now he calls Him “Lord” and wants to get away from Him, knowing he was a sinful man, unworthy to be in His presence. Jesus tells him not to be afraid (just as the Lord had assured Isaiah in the Old Testament lesson), for he would now be in the process of continually seeking to “catch alive” people (for Christ and His good news of salvation, which included the forgiveness of sin). The Greek words indicate this ongoing process. Simon Peter and the other fishermen with him then leave their boats and follow Jesus as His disciples. This was, of course, a growing process of learning and growth in faith and service for Peter and the others. (After His resurrection, Jesus kept teaching Peter and the others, even on another fishing expedition, to keep following Him and taking care of other people, His sheep, in love. See John 21:1-19.) That is still the calling - that we are fishermen for Christ and His Good News and love to be shared with as many as possible.
Paul reinforces this message in the Epistle lesson in 1 Corinthians 14:12b-20. For several weeks, we have heard him writing about spiritual gifts that God has given to His people in the church through the Holy Spirit. It is easy to be attracted to what some would call more spectacular gifts that seem impressive and make us feel good for ourselves, like “speaking in tongues” in other languages. Paul reminds us to excel in what “builds up the church,” our fellow believers. Speaking in other languages may look impressive, but it does no good if people do not understand what we are saying and are not built up in the faith. We are called to be mature Christians in our thinking and use our minds and our gifts to instruct one another in faith, in Christ Jesus and His Word. The Holy Spirit works through that clear and true Word of God to nourish the minds and hearts of others. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17). We are concerned about fellow believers but also about “outsiders” who are not yet in the faith. We want others to know and have the Good News of hope and joy and eternal life we have been blessed with in Christ.
“The Lord of the Harvest”
Luke 10:1-9
Let us pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.” Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
Just before our text, in Luke 9:51, we hear that when “the days drew near for Him (Jesus) to be taken up” (to suffer and die and rise again for our salvation). Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem.” This is where His final saving work would take place, and He knew it. He and His 12 disciples had spent much of their time in the Northern part of Israel. Now, He wanted to go South again to Judea and the area around Jerusalem to share the Good News of peace and salvation with the people there, too, as His time of public ministry was getting shorter.
As our text begins, in Luke 10, Jesus “appointed 72 others” who had become believers in Him and “sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to go.” This was only a temporary mission trip, getting people ready for the coming of Jesus Himself, as John the Baptist had done before. Notice that these 72 were to take few provisions with them and to trust that the Lord would care for them and that the people they spoke with would help and support them. They were to take “no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals,” etc.
They were simply to proclaim God’s peace and hope to people and that “the Kingdom of God was coming near to them.” These disciples were not the important ones. They were only preparing the way for Jesus Christ, who would bring the Kingdom of God to people through Himself and His saving work.
Jesus also warned these disciples that it would not be easy work for them. He said in v.3, “I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” They would be vulnerable while doing this work. Some would hear of the peace of God coming and, by the grace of God, would come to faith in Jesus. Others, however, would not receive these disciples or their message and would reject Jesus and the Kingdom of God drawing near, and would resist coming to Him as Savior, and even treat the disciples badly and persecute some.
Jesus Himself had already been rejected by people in His own town of Nazareth, who tried to throw Him off a cliff. And the religious leaders and many others were opposed to Him. And John the Baptist had predicted that he would be, we say in our Communion liturgy, the ultimate “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
We have heard, in the last few weeks, of our former President of the United States and our new President pardoning lots of people for wrongs they had been convicted of and even of wrongs they might be convicted of in the future. They were pardoned, but no one actually paid the full penalty for wrongs that were actually done.
It was different with Jesus. As the sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus suffered not only the physical pain of beatings and crucifixion on the cross. He also suffered the penalties we and the whole world deserved for our many sins.
The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, predicted that “the Lord would lay on Him,” the coming Savior (Jesus), “the iniquity"(the sin) “of us all… He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement (the punishment) that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5-6).
The Scriptures say, “The wages of sin” (what we have earned and deserved of our sins) “is death,” physical and eternal (Romans 6:23). But Paul writes of what is of “first importance” - that “Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way, “Because of His suffering of death, by the grace of God, Jesus tasted death for everyone….” “Through death He destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” and “He made the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:9,14,17).
And in the Book of Revelation, John sees a vision of the saints, all believers in Christ, and angels, singing praises to the Risen Lord Jesus, saying, “Worthy are You, the Lamb Who was slain, for You were slain, and by Your blood, You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and You have made them a Kingdom” (Revelation 3:9-12).
All this is the best news in the world. “The wages of sin is death.” We know that and see that and feel that in our sinful, troubled world. “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It’s not like a presidential pardon where wrongs are written off, almost like a bad debt forgotten.
Jesus actually paid the penalty for all sins. He took care of them all, in our place, for us. That’s why He set His face to go to Jerusalem, to suffer and die and pay for every sin. That is why He sent the 72 disciples out to tell people of the Kingdom of God that He was bringing.
Jesus was bringing the best news in the whole world to people. But He reminds also in the text that this Good News needs continually to be shared with more and more people so that they could receive the benefit of His saving work by faith and trust in Him. Jesus describes this as a great harvest field. The harvest field is plentiful. In fact, the Scriptures say that Christ died for all, and God wants all to be saved. The Lord Himself is the Lord of the Harvest. He brings people to faith through Christ and the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and the gift of Baptism. But He works through people to bring and share His gifts with others. Jesus asked the 72 disciples also to pray earnestly for more workers to be sent out into the harvest field, and he gave patterns for future work through what he told these workers.
Jesus sent these workers out, not alone, but two by two, so that they could encourage one another and make sure they were doing the right things together and were sharing the faith as they should. And as we read on in the Book of Acts, we see Peter taking a few others with Him the first time He visited a non-Jewish home. And we hear of other teams of two going out - Barnabas and Saul (later known as Paul), Judas (not the Judas who betrayed Jesus) and Silas, Barnabas and Mark, Paul and Silas, Paul and Timothy, Timothy and Erastus, Paul and Titus, about whom there was a focus in worship this past Sunday, and we could go on and on.
These teams often started at Jewish synagogues, but when they faced rejection and persecution, as they often did, they moved on to homes where the Peace of God was accepted by the grace of God and built churches from there, just as the 72 disciples visited homes and reached out from them. We hear again, in Acts, of the homes of Simon, a tanner; Lydia, whose heart was opened by the Lord to listen to the Word of God; Jason; Aquila and Priscilla; and on and on.
Six times we hear in the Book of Acts summary statements like, “The Word of God continued to increase” (as it was spread to more and more people), “and the number of disciples multiplied greatly,” and the Good News of Jesus Christ was shared “by witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8,
6:7, etc.).
And how wonderful that the Good News of Christ has come to our own country and this community and to this congregation, now for 175 years, and that we can know that the Words and promises of Christ are true for each one of us, too, for we have heard and believed these Words and been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, by the grace of God. When we hear the Words of absolution, we know that Christ has already paid for every sin, and we really are forgiven, in spite of our problems and struggles at times. The same is true of Christ’s Real Presence in the Lord’s Supper when He actually comes to us, and we do receive His forgiveness and strength. We know the sure and certain promises of Christ that He will be with us always and that "the free gift of God of eternal life is already ours, in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And may we do as Jesus asks us to do in our text and pray earnestly for more laborers to work in the harvest field, more pastors and teachers and other church workers, so that more can hear the truly Good News in Christ, and may we see ways that we can be in ministry, too, in more temporary ways, as needs arise in our church and community, just as the 72 disciples did.
Let us pray: “Now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe,” only where they can be safe, “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And may we reach out to others, too, that more and more may be safe in Christ, as well. Amen.
We have again this week the possibility of two different sets of readings being heard in our churches this weekend. I will begin with the readings for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. There is much emphasis in these readings on the power of God through His Word.
The Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah 1:4-10 tells of the calling of Jeremiah to be a prophet of God. God comes to him, but it is described as God coming to him through His Word. God spoke and told Jeremiah that he had been chosen to be a prophet even before he was born, and he was to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah has excuses for not doing what God wants. He is too young, and he is not a good talker to others. The Lord spoke again and commanded Jeremiah to speak whatever the Lord told him to speak. He was not to be afraid, for the Lord would deliver him, even if others opposed him and what he said. The Lord then appeared in a visible way and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and put into His mouth the very Words he was to speak and write. This emphasized the verbal inspiration of the prophet and his Scriptures. They were the very Words of God Himself. Jeremiah would speak to and about nations and kingdoms and their rising and falling according to God’s will and plans for people, including God’s own people of Judah. He was to speak whatever God said, even though many would fight against him and the Words of God he brought. (Jeremiah was also privileged to prophesy of the Savior and the New Covenant He would bring for all people because the Old Covenant had been broken and would pass away.)
The psalm is Psalm 71:1-6 (7-11). The writer is not identified, but some think it might have been Jeremiah because of the challenges he faced for the Words from God he was called to bring against people who were wicked, unjust, and cruel and who rejected the Lord. This author takes refuge in the Lord and calls upon the Lord to rescue and deliver and save him. He knows that the Lord had been with him even before he was born and would not forsake him, even in old age and when his strength was fading. His mouth was filled with praise and glory for God, his Rock and Fortress, the Holy One of Israel (v.22).
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 4:31-44, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum in Galilee, and people were astonished that His Word possessed authority. It was more than just His opinion. That authority became even clearer when an evil spirit in a man there cried out against Jesus and said he knew who Jesus was - “the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and said, “Be silent and come out of him.” The demon came out without harming the man. Again, the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this Word by which He speaks, with power and authority even over unclean spirits?” The power of Jesus’ Word was shown again as He healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (Peter was married!) of a high fever, and she immediately was well enough to be able to serve them. That evening, after sundown on the Sabbath, many sick people were brought to Jesus, and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them, including casting out some more demons. The demons knew that Jesus is the Holy One, the Son of God, but their witness is not a good witness, and it was too early in His ministry to be identified that way, for the opposition to Him would grow stronger from those who would not believe Him, and it was not yet time for Him to die. So, Jesus silences the evil spirits. Jesus, as a true man, then went out to a desolate place to pray and receive strength from His Heavenly Father. People find Him and beg Him to stay with them, but He reminded them of His primary purpose - to preach the Word of God, the Good News of God’s Kingdom He was bringing, to as many people as possible so that more might believe in Him.
The Epistle reading is from 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13 and continues readings from 1 Corinthians. This chapter is sometimes called “the love chapter” of these Scriptures, with emphasis upon the importance of God’s love in the Scriptures. The primary focus is on the fact that God so loved the world that He sent His Son to be our Savior. We are then called to love as He first loved us. Even if we could speak and act in supernatural or other seemingly helpful ways, as Jesus did, it would do no good without doing so in love for God and in genuine love for others, just as Jesus spoke and acted. Paul speaks of what love is and what it is not and that love never ends. Faith in Christ and hope in Him are vitally important for us now, in the perfect work of Christ for us, and we want them for all people. But we see things only partially, dimly at times. When the perfect future in Christ comes, though, in everlasting life in heaven, we will see fully all that God has in store for us. In the meantime, we try to love our spouse and family and others, as Christ loved us, with His forgiveness and patience and kindness for us. Even though we do it imperfectly, we try to do it as God’s Word directs, in love and care for fellow imperfect people, through Christ.
The second set of readings is being used by some churches in remembering the Purification of Mary (in which Joseph participated, in a sense) and the Presentation of Jesus, which happened about 40 days after His birth, according to Jewish Old Testament law. You can read about these laws in passages like Exodus 13:1-3a,11-15, Numbers 3:21-28, and 12:15-16. We read and talked about this same Gospel reading and heard a sermon about it on the “First Sunday after Christmas.” You can find more details about all this on the podcast from December 29.
The psalm is Psalm 84, emphasizing the importance of God’s house (in the Old Testament, the temple in Jerusalem), where we can hear God’s Word and worship and praise Him and especially receive His good gifts of strength and joy and renewed trust in Him. We are also reminded of the Lord as our Shield and to look upon His Anointed One. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed, but this passage is prophetic of Jesus Christ, the One anointed to be our Savior and to bring us the fullness of God’s Word and work. We still hear the Word, centered in Christ, in our churches and worship and Bible study today, and we can receive the gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper and forgiveness, as well.
The Old Testament lesson is from I Samuel 1:21-28. A woman, Hannah, was unable to have children but prayed and asked the Lord for the gift of a child. The priest, Eli, said that she would give birth to a child, and in time, she did, as the Lord answered her prayer. A firstborn child belonged to the Lord but could be “redeemed” and stay with family, but Hannah chose to lend her child to the Lord to serve the priest, Eli, at a young age. Samuel served and helped Eli but eventually was called by the Lord Himself to be one of the great prophets of the Old Testament.
The Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-32 (33-40), tells of the ceremonial Purification of Mary 40 days after the birth of Jesus. Old Testament law said that women were unclean from bleeding and needed to be purified. Mary needed to be purified from the bleeding and other discharges from the birth of a child. This passage speaks of “their” purification because Joseph was involved and needed to pay the price required - for poor people, the cost of two turtledoves or pigeons to be sacrificed. (See Leviticus 12: 1-8.) Jesus was sinless and needed no purification. Joseph and Mary did need to present Jesus to the Lord at this time, though, too. As the firstborn Son, He needed to be "redeemed,” bought back from the Lord, and given again to His family, with the same price required for the purification of Mary. Jesus would be different, though. He was willing to be the true Redeemer and pay the price for us to forgive all our sins and buy us back from sin and Satan and death by His sacrificial death on the cross in our place so that we might have new and eternal life in and through Him. A man, Simeon, was led by the Holy Spirit to be in the temple at this time and recognized Jesus as the Lord’s Christ, His Anointed Savior. Simeon picked up Jesus and sang the song we still sing in our Communion liturgy, the Nunc Dimittis. Simeon could now die in peace because He had seen Jesus, the Light of the world, who would provide salvation available for all people, Jews and non-Jews, the Gentiles. (As mentioned before, you can find more comments on this passage in my podcast for Sunday, December 29.) The key to the eternal future for all people would be whether their hearts would be brought to trust in Jesus as Savior by the grace of God or if they would resist and reject Him.
The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 2:14-18, reminds us that since human beings have flesh and blood, Jesus also had to be one of us, with flesh and blood (as well as being the Son of God) in order that He might be able to die in our place, for us, on the cross, in service to us and His Heavenly Father’s plan. In this way, he would be both the High Priest and the sacrificial Lamb in making propitiation for us (a sacrifice that would make payment for and forgive all our sins). He did this for the offspring of Abraham, which now includes, as Simeon predicted, every human being who was brought to faith in him, Jews and non-Jews. (See how this is described in Galatians 3:10-14 and 26-29.) Jesus takes care of our eternal future, and because He was a real human being when here on earth, He can also help us in daily times of trouble and temptation, here and now, since he has lived here and been tempted as we are and knows and understands our human struggles. How vitally important He is for us!
There is the possibility of two different sets of readings being used in churches this week. I will begin with the regular readings for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany and then comment on the readings that recall the ministry of Paul’s co-worker, Titus. I will try to keep this shorter, as we have eight different readings to consider.
The Old Testament reading for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany is Nehemiah 3:1-3, 5-6, 8-10. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes when he heard that the Jews who had returned to Judah after the Babylonian exile were in great trouble and shame. The walls and gates of Jerusalem were still in ruins, and little had been done on repairs and restoration. Nehemiah went to Judah but found strong opposition from the non-Jews of the area to any help for the people of Israel. His own fellow Jews were doing little to help rebuild anything other than their own homes. Nehemiah encouraged his people and prayed to the Lord for them, and the Lord strengthened their hands for this good work. Different groups of Jews worked on each of the gates into the city of Jerusalem, and others worked on the walls in spite of continued threats. As they worked together, the Lord blessed them, the city walls were repaired, and a temple area was built.
The Psalm is Psalm 19:(1-6) 7-14. David speaks in a poetic way of how the amazing universe God created declares the glory of God and His handiwork. There is no speech, but there is a natural knowledge of God that all people recognize in the created world. This marvelous and intricate universe could not have just happened on its own. There had to be a Creator, a Supreme Being, or Beings behind all this, but people developed all sorts of ideas about such beings or gods. The One True God, the God of Israel, revealed the Truth through His Word, through the prophets and their writings, the Scriptures. The laws and testimonies and precepts and commands and all the Word of God show us the truth about the Lord. His Word shows our sins and errors and our need for Him, but it also rejoices our hearts with good news sweeter than honey, showing that the Lord is our Rock and our Redeemer, who rescues us from our troubled world.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 4:16-30, there is another Epiphany, as Jesus goes to the synagogue, the worship center in His hometown of Nazareth, and reveals Himself as the promised Redeemer. He quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2a, a prophecy of the Christ, the Anointed One of God (that’s what the word “Christ” means), coming to proclaim Good News (Gospel) to poor and captive and blind people (that’s what we all are, spiritually, on our own, because of our sins) and to proclaim the Lord’s favor, His grace and love still given to us. Then Jesus said that this prophecy was being fulfilled that day in Him, as he had come to be that Redeemer and Rock of salvation. So, sadly, Jesus is quickly rejected by people from His hometown, who try to kill Him. But, as we heard last week, His “hour” had not yet come to suffer and die to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross and then to rise in victory. Jesus is thus able to escape at this point, but what was coming for Him was predicted - the rejection of Him by many of His own people, and rejection of this Good News going beyond Israel, as it did in the time of Elijah and Elisha, the prophets, and finally came even to us today.
The Epistle lesson continues a reading from last week from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. In the One Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one Body, the Holy Christian Church, no matter what our background, when we were brought to faith in Jesus and were baptized. As our human bodies have many parts all working together, Christ’s body, the church, has many people with different abilities, ideally working together. We need each other, even as Nehemiah had to get lots of people working on different projects to get all the walls and gates of Jerusalem rebuilt. Ideally, we care about each other in the church in times of suffering and in times of joy. (Obviously, only Jesus ever had this perfect love and care for us all as our Savior. But we are called to grow in such faith, hope, and love through Christ and His Holy Spirit, as we will hear next week in 1 Corinthians 13.
Churches that focus on the ministry of Titus this Sunday will use the following readings.
The Psalm is Psalm 17:1-14. The psalmist knows that there are many wicked, unjust, and cruel people in this world who oppose the Lord and His followers and accuse and attack them. The psalmist trusts that the Lord is his Rock of Refuge to whom he can continually come. The Lord is his Savior and Fortress. The Lord has been with him before he was born, in his mother’s womb, and will not cast him off in the time of old age or forsake him when his strength is spent and he’s not sure if he can go on. The Lord has been his hope and trust since His youth. He prays, “O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me.” He will seek to hope in the Lord continually and praise Him more and more, no matter what his circumstances are at the moment.
This is the hope that the Lord is seeking to instill in His leaders and, through them, in all His people. In the Gospel lesson, Luke 10:1-9, Jesus sends out 72 disciples, two by two, to the towns and places where He would soon be going to prepare the way for Him. He warns them that they are going out as “lambs in the midst of wolves.” He would be taking care of them, though, through the people they would reach out to. They should expect opposition but keep reaching out to those who will listen and make it clear that “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” (It would come fully, of course, in Jesus and His Word and ministry and His saving work for the world.) The disciples were also to pray earnestly for more laborers to tell of Christ, for He was the Lord of the Harvest and would be the One to bring people to faith through His Word and work and the work of the Holy Spirit.
There is no Old Testament reading but a reading from Acts 20:28-35, the history of the early Christian Church, as we also have in the Easter season. Paul was heading to Jerusalem, where he knew there would be trouble for him. He calls together the elders, the church leaders from Ephesus, and prepares them for what is ahead, as Jesus had prepared His disciples. Paul also warns, as Jesus did, of fierce wolves who would want to destroy the flock, the church of God. Some would even come from within, teaching twisted things, seeking to draw people away from the truth to their false ideas. Paul commends these true leaders to the Lord God and His Word. His grace would build them up and keep them in Christ and His eternal inheritance He had earned for them. This meant hard work, caring for the weak, struggling, and remembering that, as Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Jesus, of course, is the One who gave up everything for us, even His life, to be our Savior, sent from God the Father, and as the Risen Lord is the One who truly helps people through His saving work and through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Triune God saves, not us or any of our leaders.)
With the Epistle lesson, Titus 1:1-9, we finally hear of Titus, though he would have been hearing the same Word of God brought through the psalmist and Jesus and Paul. Here is what the Lutheran Bible Companion, Vol.2, CPH, p.979, says about Titus in a summary way. “A Gentile convert to Christianity who became Paul’s friend and helper. Titus went with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem at the time of the council. Since Titus was born of Gentile parents, he was uncircumcised (Galatians 2:3-5). This offended the Judaizers at the council; however, the Church refused to make Titus submit to circumcision, siding with Paul, who maintained the freedom of Gentiles from the Mosaic Law (Galatians 2:1, 3-5). Titus was sent to Corinth to solve the problems there and then rejoined Paul in Macedonia (2 Corinthians 2:13, 7:6, 13-14, 8:6, 16, 12:18). Later, Titus was left behind in Crete to organize the churches there. Paul wrote his letter to Titus while Titus was in Crete (Titus 1:4-5). The last mention of Titus indicates that he went to Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10). According to tradition, Titus was the Bishop of Crete.”
In Titus 1:1-9, Paul calls Titus His true child in a common faith, which brings the hope of eternal life that God had promised and now shown in the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior and manifested in His Word. Paul had left Titus in Crete to help organize the churches and appoint elders (overseers equivalent to our pastors) in every town as leaders. The personal qualities of the leaders are described. (Though no pastor is perfect and lives by God’s grace and forgiveness, as we all do, these are qualities that Paul must have seen in Titus, too, with this responsibility.) Most importantly, a pastor should “hold firm to the trustworthy Word of God and be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also able to rebuke those who contradict it.” That’s a crucial responsibility- trying to keep people in God’s true and faithful Word.
You will likely hear only one of these sets of readings. You can still read and study the other set, too, if you have time, as there is much of importance in both.
This is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, and most of the readings revolve around the Gospel reading, where Jesus did His first miracle (John calls it His first “sign”) and “manifested His glory” at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. This is what the word “epiphany” means - a “manifestation” or “showing forth” of Jesus as the promised Savior.
The psalm is Psalm 128, which speaks of the blessings for those who fear the Lord and walk in His way. These are pictured as enjoying the fruit of our labor, our work, having a family and children, seeing our grandchildren, and enjoying the prosperity of God’s people, centered in Jerusalem. This is an ideal picture for many and is matched by Psalm 127, where the Lord builds a house and a city and gives His beloved people rest and sleep from anxious toil and blesses them with children, as a heritage from Him. Obviously, this is not what always happens in a very fallen, sinful world. There is so much sorrow and trouble, even among God’s people. Think of Job and his wife, who lost all their children, and his wife wanted him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Think of the many people who have lost their homes in California and in hurricanes and in famine and murder in Sudan and many other places because of warfare and other evils. Think of those who want children and cannot have them and those who wanted a spouse but never found the right one. And on and on.
The Lord still cares about people, though, in all their difficulties, and promised in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 62:1-5, a Savior who would come forth like a burning torch, with righteousness and hope for all nations to see. His name was, of course, Christ Jesus, and those who follow Him will have a new name, Christians, as part of the Holy Christian Church. They will no longer be “forsaken” or “desolate” but will be connected to Christ and with Him, the whole Triune God. It will be like a spiritual marriage, with the Lord delighting in His “bride," the Church, and rejoicing over her. That means us, too, as we trust in Jesus, with joy in Him, with a joy like that of a newly married young man and young woman, though we will not all have the exact same gifts. We will have eternal life always, with Christ.
The Gospel lesson, then, is John 2:1-11. Jesus was invited to a marriage in Cana in Galilee with some of the disciples he had gathered. His mother was there and told Him that they had run out of wine for the wedding celebration. Jesus delayed because His hour had not yet come, but He had six large stone jars filled with water used for Jewish purification ceremonies and then turned all that water into wine. The master of the feast was amazed that this, the best wine, was now being served after all the inferior wine had been served.
What does all this mean? One of the Old Testament images of the coming of the Savior was His providing a great feast or banquet, with wine in great abundance, in eternal life. (See, for example, Isaiah 25:6-9. Note also Amos 9:13 and Joel 3:18. These are images about Israel, but are really pointing forward to the New Israel, the Church, and the abundance of God’s blessings, described as overwhelming amounts of wine available. Finally, if you have a Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1689, you can see a whole article showing how Jesus used the image of a heavenly banquet in a number of His parables and other sayings, showing that He was the bringer of eternal life and salvation.)
The culmination of our Gospel lesson, John 2:11, says that by His great miracle of turning water into abundant wine, Jesus was manifesting His glory as that promised Savior and brought His disciples to believe in Him. That is always His goal, to bring us to trust in Him and keep us in that faith. Look at one more important part of this Gospel. When Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come,” He went on to use words like this six more times, as recorded by John since He knew that His most important “hour” was when he would suffer and die to forgive all our sins and then rise in victory from the dead to give us eternal life. See John 7:30, 8:20, 12:23,27, 13:1, and 17:1. Only in this way could He rescue us entirely, and he did what He needed to do. In John 17:1, He “lifted His eyes toward heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come.’” He then went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He was betrayed and arrested, and His death and resurrection followed, and His saving work for us was completed. We can only thank and glorify and trust Him, by God’s grace, in return.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Paul reminds us of what our Lord has done for us to bring us to faith and to keep us in faith. He tells us that none of us could say “Jesus is Lord” and mean it except in connection with and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gives us spiritual gifts by which to stay in faith and serve our Lord and help one another. “To each of us is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” We need each other because none of us has everything we need on our own. The one Holy Spirit gives gifts individually to each one of us, as He wills and empowers us to use those gifts for ourselves and others. Together, we have what we need through God’s Word and His gifts.
We don’t have time to look closely at all these gifts, but I will make a few comments on some. Spiritual knowledge comes from God’s Word, the Scriptures. That’s why we need to keep listening to and studying them. It also takes wisdom, though, to know how to apply what God says when and where and in the way we should, as He wishes. Scripture guides us, interpreting other Scriptures. Every Christian has the gift of saving faith in Jesus as Savior, but some may be more courageous and confident in living out and sharing that faith. We hear of miraculous healings through some of the apostles. There were also people like Luke who wrote Scriptures through the Holy Spirit but was also a beloved physician, and we know there were medicines used like the oil that the Good Samaritan used for healing purposes (Colossians 4:14, Luke 10:34). Certainly, those in the medical professions can now also bring healing and help to us, and God wants us to pray for healing for ourselves and others. Many of us know people who weren’t supposed to get better, and some of them do, by God’s grace and His plans.
On Pentecost, disciples of Jesus were able to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4ff.), speaking in languages they had never learned, to communicate the mighty works of God in Christ to others (Acts 2:11). Today, we have Lutheran Bible Translators and other groups and people who have a gift of learning languages, who can translate and share the Gospel with people in their native languages. Some supernatural gifts will pass away (1 Corinthians 13:8). God, for example, will not give new spiritual knowledge through new Scriptures beyond the Old and New Testaments (Revelation 22:18-19). He is not limited, though, in giving spiritual gifts as He chooses through His Holy Spirit. Above all, He wants more people to know and believe that “Jesus is Lord” through the Spirit, working through the Word and Baptism (1 Peter 1:23-25, 4:21, Romans 6:1-11, John 3:5-6, Acts 10:44-48, etc.). And we praise God for giving us such faith in Jesus, too - the greatest gift we can receive, no matter who we are.
This Sunday is the First Sunday in the Epiphany season and remembers The Baptism of our Lord, a clear showing forth or manifestation of Jesus, who He is, and what he has come to do for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 29, a psalm of David. David calls upon the heavenly beings, the angels, and all people to give the LORD the glory due His Name for His holiness and strength. This psalm is sometimes called the psalm of “thunder,” with the picture image of God’s power being like a thunderstorm coming from the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. His voice in the thunder is majestic and powerful. His thunderous voice in a storm can shake and break the mighty cedars of Lebanon and strip leaves bare and disturb animals, with lightning and winds. (See similar passages like Isaiah 2:12ff. and Job 37:1-5 and Jeremiah 10:12-13.) The Lord is enthroned as King forever. He can bring judgment, as with the worldwide flood in Genesis. David prays that the Lord, in His might, will now also give strength to His people and bless them with peace. Martin Luther saw this psalm as a prophecy of the coming of the Gospel, in Christ as Savior, with the flood, the water of His Word and baptism, doing good, spreading not just to Jews but all over the world to bring people peace in forgiveness and new life in Jesus. See John 14:25-27 as an example of the peace that Christ came to give, different from the world’s peace.
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 43:1-7, also speaks of the Lord’s great care for His Old Testament people, but also for all people from the ends of the earth, drawn to Him through the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. The Lord had formed His people and redeemed them and called them by name. They should not fear, though they pass through waters and fires. The Lord would be with them, and they would not be consumed, though they would be threatened by many, including the Babylonians, during a time of captivity. The Lord would be their Savior and ransom them, and other peoples would be attacked instead of them, including Egyptians, people of Cush and Seba, and Chaldeans of Babylon. (More details of this are revealed in later passages in Isaiah, as Cyrus and the Persians rise to power and conquer other peoples and allow God’s people to return to their homeland. See Isaiah 43:14, 44:28-45:6,14, etc.) God still loved His people. They were precious in His eyes, and eventually, through an Offspring of God’s people, our Lord Jesus would gather followers from east and west and north and south, from the ends of the earth, who would be called by the name of Christ to believe in Him. (The waters mentioned in v.2 could refer to the gift of baptism in the New Testament, where the Lord is with people in a saving way, even though there would be times of trial and testing. See the reference in the Gospel lesson, Luke 3:16-17, to Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire, through the cleansing and purifying waters of Baptism and judgment for those apart from the Lord.)
In that Gospel lesson, Luke 3:15-22, we hear of John the Baptist, preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. He was not the Christ and was not worthy, he said, even to untie His sandals, but had the great privilege of baptizing Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came upon Him, and the voice of God the Father came from heaven saying of Jesus, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” This could be said of no one else on earth because of the reality of everyone being a sinner other than Jesus. (See Psalm 14:2-3 and Romans 3:23 and Hebrews 4:15.) Jesus had no sin to be forgiven but was baptized for us to fulfill all righteousness for us (Matthew 3:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus lived a perfect life in our place and then paid the penalty for all of our sins by His suffering and death on the cross. That is how He could be our Savior, and that is what He did for us and for the world.
The Epistle lesson for this week, Romans 6:1-11, reminds us that we received personally the benefit of what Christ Jesus did for us, in our own baptism, as a gift from God through the Holy Spirit. We were connected to Christ and died to our old, sinful life, and were raised to newness of life and have the promise of eternal life and resurrection, even though we die. We no longer are enslaved to sin and its absolute dominion over us. As we remember our baptism, we remember that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. That is the way that God now looks at us. We still struggle with sin and temptation because of our sinful nature, but we are under grace, with the Triune God to help us with our battles and forgive us when we fail. We no longer are eager to want to continue in sin, and we ask the Lord to help us, day by day, with His mercy and strength. (See Romans 7:15-25, for example.) Our victory is through Jesus Christ our Lord, and we keep listening to His Word, which shows us our sins, but above all, our Savior (Romans 3:19-24).
One more important related comment. Some churches and groups emphasize that it is our repentance and decision for Christ that really saves us, and then God acts with His blessings for us. They point to Acts 2:38, where Peter says, “Repent and be baptized.” Being baptized is then just our expression of our faith to God and others. It does nothing special for us. The context of this passage says the opposite. Peter had already preached the Word of God about Jesus to the crowds at Pentecost and shown them their sins in rejecting Jesus and calling for His crucifixion. They were “cut to the heart” and knew that they had done wrong but did not know what to do about that. They already were feeling repentant through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word. Peter then calls them to the gift of baptism and forgiveness, also through the Holy Spirit. Peter calls this the promise of God for them and their children and all whom the Lord calls. It is a promise for all since God wants all to be saved (Matthew 28:18-20 and 1 Timothy 2:3-4).
In Acts 2:40, some translations have Peter saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” This contradicts other Scriptures, which say that we cannot save ourselves. (Ephesians 2:8-9 says, for example, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”) In Greek, the word in Acts 2:40 is also in passive form, better translated, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” And Acts 2:41 simply says, “Those who received the Word brought by Peter were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added to the believers.” Acts 2:47 says that the Lord added more and more to their number, those who were being saved by Him. It is His doing, not ours that we are saved. When we read on, in Acts 5:31, when Peter and the other apostles were witnessing to fellow Jews, Peter said, “God exalted Jesus at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
We don’t produce repentance first on our own. God gives repentance, also, as His gift. Later on, when Peter was witnessing to non-Jews, Gentiles, and some believed and were baptized, through the Word and baptism, those Jews already believers glorified God and said, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted (given) repentance that leads to life.” Even repentance is enabled in people as God’s gift. He does the saving work from beginning to end. Our confidence is in Him and His fulfilled promises, in Christ, and through the Holy Spirit.
We could look at more examples from Acts 16, also. In Acts 16:14-15, “The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul, and she and her household were soon baptized, by the grace of God. She did not open her own heart. Later in Acts 16, Paul and Silas are arrested and thrown in prison, unjustly, and were praying and singing hymns, when a great earthquake came. The prison doors were opened, and the bonds on all the prisoners were unfastened. The jailer assumed that all the prisoners had escaped and was about to kill himself rather than be tortured for letting them escape. Paul cried out, “Don’t harm yourself. We are all here.” The jailer must have been listening to Paul and Silas himself, and seeing that they had saved him from taking his own life, he asked what he had to do to be saved, to have what they had. Paul simply said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” The jailer was already prepared by the Lord through the witness of Paul and Silas. Paul then taught him and his family the Word of God, and they, too, were baptized. The whole family then rejoiced that they had believed in the one true God. Again, it was what God had done, working through the Word of God and songs and baptism to bring this family to faith.
And that is still how God works to this very day. How important the Word of God and Baptism are as the means by which God’s Holy Spirit still works to bring the gifts of repentance and faith to others, as He has done for us. Keep rejoicing in these great gifts and remembering who and what you now are through Jesus and your Baptism.
This is the Second Sunday after Christmas, with January 6 as the Epiphany, remembering the coming of the Wise Men, the Magi, led by the star to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem. The Christmas season then ends, and next week, we begin the Sundays after Epiphany, looking at the ministry of Jesus beginning with His baptism.
The Old Testament lesson tells us of Solomon, King David’s son, who sought to follow the Lord as king and did not ask for personal riches and benefits but for wisdom in governing God’s people and in telling good from evil. God gave him a wise and discerning mind and other blessings but called him to walk in His, the Lord’s, ways. Solomon then made offerings to the Lord before the ark of the covenant in the Tabernacle in Jerusalem. (Sadly, the seeds were already there for Solomon’s drift away from the Lord over time. Already he had married Pharaoh’s daughter for political reasons (1 Kings 3:1) and later married many other women who worshiped false gods and helped turn his heart away from the one true God. He sometimes offered sacrifices at high places of false gods, too. See 1 Kings 11ff. When Solomon died, his kingdom split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. There was never again one united earthly kingdom. Our Lord Jesus finally came, of course, from the line of King David, but His kingdom would not be of this world, but in the hearts of those who were brought to listen to His voice and believe in Him as Savior. See John 18:33-37.)
The Psalm is Psalm 119:97-104. The psalmist loves and meditates on God’s Word, including its laws and precepts and testimonies. God’s Words are sweet and give wisdom and understanding. They give more understanding than many teachers and aged people and help us avoid evil and false ways. (The psalmist has to admit also, though, in the last verse of this psalm, Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant.” Like all of us, he had not always followed God’s Word and needed His forgiveness and mercy and “longed for His salvation,” which would eventually come in Jesus (Psalm 119:174).)
The Epistle lesson is Ephesians 1:3-14 and is one of the most complete and beautiful descriptions of the Triune God’s saving plan for us and our fallen world. In the Greek, it is one long, complicated sentence describing God’s work for us, for which we bless and praise Him. Before the creation of the world, God knew that we would sin, and yet, in love for us, had a plan for our redemption, choosing us. God the Father, in His glorious grace, sent His “beloved” Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us through His blood for the forgiveness of our trespasses in the fullness of time. This forgiveness comes to us personally, through the Gospel of our salvation, through the Promised Holy Spirit, as we are brought to faith, to believe in Christ, through God’s Word of Truth and our Baptism. We do not understand how all this can be, but we trust the Triune God’s “purpose, the mystery of His will” and “counsel” and “plan,” centered in Christ. Though heaven and earth will pass away as we know it (Matthew 24:35), our eternal inheritance is guaranteed in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. We can only sing praise to God’s glory!
The Gospel lesson, Luke 2:40-52, takes us now to Jesus going to Jerusalem with His parents, Joseph and Mary, for the Passover Feast. They lost track of Him when the festival was over, and it took a few days to find Him in the temple sitting with the teachers, listening and asking questions. All were amazed at Jesus’ understanding and answers as a twelve-year-old. His parents were astonished, too, and Mary asked why He had treated them this way, giving them “great distress.” (The same word is used to describe the rich man’s “anguish” in hell in Luke 16:24.) Jesus was surprised that they did not realize that He must be in His Father’s house, hearing and discussing God’s Word. They certainly did not understand what He meant by “His Father” and “His Father’s house.” Jesus then willingly went home with Mary and Joseph and was “submissive” to them, as the fourth Commandment requires. We don’t know how much Jesus Himself knew as true man at this point. He was true God and yet also a real human young man, increasing in wisdom and stature and strength, as Luke 2:40 and 52 tell us. He had God’s favor and was doing God’s will in a perfect way, as other Scriptures tell us. (It is hard for us to imagine what a sinless child would be like!) We are also simply told that Mary treasured (kept and considered carefully) these things in her heart. We know little about the years following. Jesus learned Joseph’s trade of being a carpenter. We hear nothing more of Joseph, so many think he then died at an early age, and Jesus took over leadership and support of His family as a carpenter until his public ministry began at about the age of 30. We read that when Jesus came home to Nazareth in Mark 6:1-6, people said, “Where did this man get these things?… Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” (These would be the children of Joseph and Mary, born the usual way after the virgin birth of Jesus. See Matthew 1:24-25. Some groups, like the Mormons, say that Jesus traveled to other places, even America, but there is no Biblical basis for that at all. We hear next of Jesus at His baptism by John the Baptist.)
This is the First Sunday after Christmas. The focus of the readings turns to the early days after the birth of our Savior Jesus, especially in the Gospel lesson. (We also hear more at the circumcision and naming of Jesus in Luke 2:21 and in the Epiphany story of the coming of the Magi and then the escape to Egypt in Matthew 2:1-23.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Exodus 13:1-3a,11-15 and helps us understand what was going on with the “presentation of Jesus to the Lord” in the Gospel lesson. The last plague that came upon the Egyptians and convinced the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free was the death of all firstborn males and animals of the Egyptians. The Israelites were spared from this plague by celebrating the Passover meal and putting the blood of the sacrificed lamb on their doorposts. At the same time, this meant that the firstborn males and firstborn animals who were spared belonged to God, set apart for Him. The firstborn male children could be “redeemed,” bought back from God, though, by a sacrifice. These firstborns were still to serve the Lord throughout their lives, but later on, the Levites were chosen to serve the Lord in their place in the Tabernacle and temple. (See Numbers 3:11-13 and 8:16-18.) All this was to be like “marks” or “frontlets” sometimes worn on people, reminding them of God’s rescue of them from Egypt.
The psalm is Psalm 111. The psalmist is not identified but gives thanks to the Lord in a wholehearted way, praising Him, especially for His many works, which benefit His people in so many ways. The psalmist piles up a list of the Lord’s qualities. He is gracious and merciful, faithful and just and trustworthy. He remembers His covenant with His people and sends redemption to them. What He has done is “to be studied and delighted in.” “His righteousness endures forever.”
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-40, we see that Jesus, even as an infant, is clearly identified as the One sent from God the Father to be the redeeming Savior, as the psalmist hoped for and expected. Jesus was circumcised 8 days after birth (Luke 2:21), but Mary had to wait another 33 days before she and Joseph could go to the temple in Jerusalem for her purification from her time in pregnancy and childbirth. (See Leviticus 12. She and Joseph were very poor people, for only the cheapest animal sacrifice was done for her cleansing and for Jesus to be presented to the Lord as the Firstborn Child and then released back to the family. Jesus, however, would never be released from His service to His heavenly Father. In his perfect life for us and in His death in our place for our sins.)
While they were in the temple, a devout believer, Simeon, was led by the Holy Spirit to come to the temple. He realized that Jesus was the One promised to bring salvation and the Light of Revelation for both Jews and non-Jews. Simeon could now depart this life in peace, for the Savior had finally come, and his own eyes had seen Him. Simeon also needed to predict that Jesus would face opposition and people would rise or fall, depending on whether they would trust in Him (Jesus) or not. Mary would also have a pierced heart because of what would happen, referring especially to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross.
Another faithful believer, Anna, who had had a difficult life, also came to the temple, trusting the Lord. She, too, realized that Jesus was the Promised Redeemer, and she began to give thanks to God and tell her fellow believers about Him. Later, after the escape to Egypt that Matthew tells about, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus returned to Nazareth in the area of Galilee. And the Lord blessed Jesus, and He grew wise and strong, and the favor of the Lord was upon Him.
The Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:12-17, takes us many years later, after Jesus had lived and died and risen again and completed all of His saving work for the world. Now Paul, a Jewish convert to Christ, writes to fellow believers chosen by the Lord in the city of Colossi. He calls upon them to seek to have Christ-like qualities of compassion and kindness and patience and forgiveness and love in dealing with one another. They would need Christ’s peace in their hearts and His Word living in them richly as they worshiped and sang and taught and served each other and the Lord with thankfulness. In word and deed, they were to speak and act, mindful of Christ and giving thanks to God. None of this could they do on their own, but only as they “continued in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel which they had heard” (Colossians 1:23).
Sermon for December 18, 2024
Based on Psalm 85 - Psalm for the Third Sunday in Advent
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
(You are encouraged to open up your Bible or Hymnbook to Psalm 85 and follow it, together with me. It is the psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent.)
Many think that Psalm 85 was written after the Babylonian captivity of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. They had been sinful and rebellious and were worshipping false gods, and God finally allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple and carry many people away to Babylon, where some had been captives now for as long as about 70 years.
God had then allowed new leaders to take over Babylon, who permitted the Jews to return to their homeland of Israel. They could say, as the first three verses of Psalm 85 say: “Lord, You were favorable to Your land; You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew Your wrath; You turned from Your hot anger.”
God had helped and forgiven and given grace and favor to His people again and again in the past. And now he was giving them His blessing once again in setting them free from captivity. As God had promised through the prophet Jeremiah earlier, “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:25).
Unfortunately, things did not go as expected. Many Jews chose to stay in Babylon or go to other places. Of those who returned to Israel, things were difficult. The people now in control of the land did not want these Jews to come back. We read in the Book of Ezra, “The people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose” (Ezra 4:4).
It was hard, and the Jews began to focus on themselves and their own survival and forgot the Lord who had rescued them and wanted them also to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and especially their house of worship, the temple. We hear this report in Nehemiah, Chapter 1: “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire” (Nehemiah 1:3).
And the Lord God had to speak through the prophet Haggai, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord... Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses (meaning that the houses were getting pretty nice and fancy) while this house (of the Lord) lies in ruin?… Consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little… My house lies in ruin while each of you busies himself with his house. Therefore, the heavens above you withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land” (Haggai 1:2-11). (Notice in the psalm where what is good comes from, in v. 11-12, also, as we will soon hear again - from above.)
The Jewish people finally woke up and realized that only the Lord God could turn things around for them and help them. They cried out for that help and mercy with words like those of our psalm in verses 4-7: “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away Your indignation toward us! Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”
The words in v.4, ”Restore us again,” literally mean, “Turn us again, O God of our salvation.” We can’t get this all straightened out on our own. You are going to have to come and help us. And the words in v.6, “Will You not revive us again?” mean that we know that we faint and fail on our own, at times - isn’t that true of all of us, even in our own day? - and that we really need the Lord to lift us up and forgive and save us so that we may rejoice in Him.
God did help a remnant of His Old Testament people, and eventually, the walls of Jerusalem were repaired, and the temple was rebuilt, and people were kept in faith in the Lord and His promises. There were lots of ups and downs as time went on, too. There was a time when some people drifted so far from the Lord that He said, through the prophet Amos, “Behold, the days are coming when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).
The Word of God was still readily available in the Old Testament, but few people were listening to it, and there were no new messages from the Lord Himself between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.
But the rest of our psalm is really a prophecy of what God would do in the future, beginning with the event we will celebrate in about a week, the sending and the birth of His own Son, Jesus.
The psalmist says in v.8 of our psalm, “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak” - and He did speak and act for us most clearly in Jesus Christ. The New Testament Book of Hebrews begins, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2) - true God, conceived from the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20) - “holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35) and yet true man, born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:21-23). When He was born, “His salvation was near,” as v.9 of our psalm says, “that glory might dwell in Him, in our land, on our earth.” And “He would speak peace” to us and all His people, as v.9 says. As the multitude of angels announced to the shepherds, praising God and saying at His birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:13-14).
And how are people, including us, pleasing to God? Only through Jesus Christ as our Savior and what he has done for us. In our psalm, in v.10, we hear that “Steadfast love and faithfulness” are personified, “meeting together,” together with “righteousness and peace,” who “kiss each other.” Only in Jesus, true God and true man, are these qualities combined together in a perfect way, in Jesus and what He did for us, in His perfect life, and sacrificial death for us, and His mighty resurrection from the dead.
I don’t think you want to be here all day, but we could look at Scripture after Scripture describing these qualities lived out in Jesus for us. The psalmist says in v.12, “Yes, the Lord will give what is good,” and it came to us, James writes, not from ourselves, but “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father… Of His own will He brought us forth (to a whole new and eternal life) by the Word of God and through the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus (James 1:17-18).
Or as our Psalm says in v.11, “Righteousness looks down from the sky,” not from us, and “the Lord will give what is good, in Christ “our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6 and 33:8,14-16). And as v.13 of the psalm says, “Righteousness will go before Him,” before Christ, in and with Him, and make His footsteps a way - in fact, the way to eternal life. As Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And as John wrote in his Gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace… Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God (God the Son) who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known” (John 1:14-18).
Finally, note that there is one strong word of warning in this psalm, at the end of v.8: “But let them not turn back to folly.” We are only foolish if we stop hearing what the Lord speaks in His Word and seeing the peace we have alone in Christ and His forgiveness and knowing the peace He brings to us in the Lord’s Supper, as well, that we will receive in a few moments.
So, we keep praying, with the psalmist, also: “Restore us, keep turning us again to You, O God of our salvation,” and “revive us,” strengthening us always with Your steadfast love in Christ. Amen.
The readings this week bring us even closer to Christmas, with more prophecies of the coming of our Savior. The Psalm is Psalm 80:1-7. The author, Asaph, prays that the Lord will stir up His power and come to save His people. Some think that since three of the Northern tribes of Israel are mentioned, along with Joseph, this psalm may have been written when the Assyrians were conquering the Northern Kingdom, and refugees were fleeing south toward Judah and Jerusalem. Asaph calls three times upon the Lord, enthroned in heaven and appearing in the temple in Jerusalem, to let His face shine so that His people may be saved and restored to Him (v. 3,7,19). See also the blessing from God spoken of in Numbers 6:22-27, which Asaph requests and which is used as the benediction in many of our services. The words of v. 2 may also sound familiar, as they are used in some of the Collects (Prayers) in worship in the Advent season. God’s people especially pray that the Savior Jesus would come and be with us with His saving power always.
The Old Testament lesson is from Micah 5:2-5a. Micah prophesies that from the little town of Bethlehem, a Ruler would come forth who had actually existed from “ancient days." God the Father is called the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 7:9, and a Son of Man is connected with Him and would be given an everlasting kingdom, in Daniel 7:13-14. This One would come from God when “she who was in labor" (the Virgin Mary) would give birth in Bethlehem to our Savior Jesus, a true “Son of Man” and yet also the true Son of the Lord His God. This One would also shepherd His people in the Lord’s strength and bring them “security” and “peace.” This promise would extend to people everywhere, at all “ends of the earth,” in Christ Jesus our Lord, born in Bethlehem. (See related prophecies in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7 and the fulfillment in Luke 2:1-20.)
The Gospel lesson, Luke 1:39-45 (46-56), takes us to Mary, now expecting the child, Jesus, by the miracle of the Holy Spirit, and going to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also expecting a child, John the Baptist. (You can read the background for all this in Luke 1:5-38 and Matthew 1:18-25.) Elizabeth’s baby, John, leaps in her womb at the coming of Jesus, and Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to speak of Mary being blessed to be chosen to be the mother of her Lord. She also speaks of the blessing of Mary being given the grace to believe that this miracle would happen to and for her and for the world. Mary then speaks a song, now called “The Magnificat,” a song of praise, magnifying God. She knows that the child to be born would be her Savior, too. She is only a poor and humble servant, yet God has done great things for her in His mercy, and all generations would call her blessed, as we still speak of her in our creeds. She seeks to give all the credit to God. The birth of Jesus would be the fulfillment of God’s promise of Jesus, the One through whom all families of the earth would be blessed, through His saving work for all. Mary also seems to know her Scriptures, and/or the Holy Spirit leads her to speak portions of many Old Testament Scriptures in what she says in the Magnificat. Mary stays with Elizabeth for about three months, as they encourage one another. Some think she may have stayed until the birth of John the Baptist. She does return home, as she must get ready for a trip to Bethlehem, where her child Jesus would be born, according to prophecy.
The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 10:5-10. In this passage, Jesus Himself speaks of why He came into the world - to do the will of His Heavenly Father. He quotes from an Old Testament prophesy where He knows that all the animal sacrifices and other offerings of the Old Testament could not pay for sins. They only prepared the way for the “once for all” sacrifice of Christ’s body, as the true Son of God, but also a real human man. This had all been predicted in Old and New Testament Scriptures, and Jesus forgave our sins and sanctified us, in God’s eyes, through the sacrifice of His own body, bearing our sins and punishment for us, in our place, on the cross. Animal sacrifices and other sacrifices were still being done in the temple by priests, but it was “impossible” for them “to take away sins.” Only Jesus could do what was needed, as He followed the will of His Father and the Holy Spirit, and His own will, through the body prepared for Him in the Christmas miracle. More than 30 difficult years were ahead after that first Christmas, but that plan was perfectly fulfilled for us and our salvation, and with Good News to share with everyone else, in Christ. The Lord’s continued blessings in our Savior.
This is the Third Sunday of our Advent season, and the readings continue to prepare us for the coming of our Savior Jesus, with all His blessings and hope and strength and guidance for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 85, a psalm of temple singers, the Son of Korah. They know that the Lord had forgiven their sins in the past and had covered over those sins. (See also Jeremiah 31:19-20, 25 and how we also are to forgive others, James 5:20.) Now the psalm writers realize that they and their people are again having trouble in following the Lord and are under His anger and judgment. They pray that the Lord, in His steadfast love, would revive and restore them (literally, “turn them” back to Him and grant them salvation). They know that they also need His intervention so that they do not “turn back to evil folly.” They pray that the Lord, in His mercy, would “speak peace” to His people again. The Lord would have to “give what is good” in His own “steadfast love and faithfulness and righteousness and peace.” This is prophetic of the coming of God’s own Son, Jesus, to be “our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6, 33:8, 14-16) and “fulfill all righteousness” in our place (Matthew 3:15, 1 Corinthians 1:18-21). In His footsteps is our Way (1 Peter 2:21-25).
The Old Testament lesson, Zephaniah 3:14-20, is also prophetic of the “rejoicing and singing” when “the Lord our God comes into our midst” in the Person of His Son, “a Mighty One who will save” and “take away the judgments against us” because of our sins. He will “save the lame and gather the outcast” and “change our shame into praise.” He will “quiet us with His love” and help us “not to fear” and not to “let our hands grow weak” but “exult in Him.” God’s mighty work in Christ will be a witness to “all the peoples of the earth” and for their benefit, too. One commentator, Franzmann, says that the Lord will act as Judge (v.15) and Warrior (v.17) and the One who loves us (v.17) and our Good Shepherd (v.19-20). What a wonderful prophecy!
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 7:18-35. Jesus, God’s Son, did come, but the one preparing His Way, John the Baptist, had been thrown into prison. John and his followers needed assurance that Jesus really was the Promised One. Jesus lets them see what He had been doing, including the lame walking and good news being preached, even to the poor, and many other miracles - exactly what had been predicted. He encourages all not to be offended, even if He is not doing everything in the way that people expected of Him, especially in His coming suffering and death for our forgiveness and salvation. Jesus also speaks again of John the Baptist, who did faithfully prepare the Way for Him in a “great“ way. Even despised tax collectors and many others could see the justice of God for their needs and were baptized for repentance by John. Sadly, religious leaders and others rejected the purposes of God and would not repent and be baptized. Too many people, Jesus said, were like fickle children, never satisfied with what was happening, with John the Baptist in His strict ways or with Jesus, who ate and drank with joy and sought to be a friend of all, including despised tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was the truly Wise One, doing His Father’s will, in love and care for all since all are sinners. (He demonstrated this in the story that follows, in Luke 7:36-49, forgiving a sinful woman and bringing her salvation, while others rejected Him and His true wisdom and thought they were much better and failed to show love. See how Jesus is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.)
The Epistle lesson is Philippians 4:4-6. This reading, plus many additional verses, was read in many churches on Thanksgiving Day. The focus here is upon rejoicing in the Lord and all that He has brought to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. We now have peace with God and the peace of God, which goes beyond all that we can see and understand. Our Lord God guards and keeps us in connection with Christ Jesus. He is at hand, with us always, and we can bring our anxieties and needs and requests to Him, along with our praises and thanksgivings, knowing that He truly cares for us, in and through and because of Christ. The word “reasonableness” is also sometimes translated as “forbearance,” the idea of being kind and gentle and yielding toward others. We don’t always have to have our own ways and desires because the Lord knows what is best, and he is working for good as we seek to stay in Christ and His Word. See passages like Titus 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:3, and James 3:13, where the same Greek word is used. We can try to talk with courtesy, without being quarrelsome, with “the meekness of wisdom” that comes from God. We don’t always do it so well, but we try to rely on God and His Word as we speak and on His mercy and forgiveness for us and for others, too. The rejoicing is not in ourselves but in our Lord. He and His Word are our confidence.
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 66:1-12. The author is not identified, but he sings a great song of praise to God. He calls upon all the earth to join him in worship and joy for the awesome deeds of God on behalf of the children of man. He remembers how God’s people had walked through the sea and the river on dry land as they traveled to the promised land. He knows that God had tested people, as silver is purified by fire, and gave them crushing burdens, at times in their lives, as their mighty ruler, yet brought them out to a place of abundance and blessing. (David uses the same word in Psalm
23:5, when he speaks of his cup “running over,” abundant with God’s blessings. This
abundance may not always be seen in this life, but it certainly will be clear in eternal life to come with the Lord.)
The Old Testament lesson is Malachi 3:1-7b. God’s people have not always been faithful to Him and His will, yet the Lord still cares for His people and predicts a coming time when He will send a messenger who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Himself to His temple and to His people. This will be a time of cleansing and purifying.
Judgment will be spoken against all kinds of sin, but the Lord has not changed. He still wants His people to return to Him in repentance and faith, and He will provide the way for offerings of righteousness to come from people. (This is a prediction of the coming of John the Baptist, preparing the way for our Savior, Jesus, God’s own Son.)
We see this in the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, Luke 3:1-14,(15-20). Luke gives the historical background of the time of the coming of John the Baptist. This happened in a real time and place in our world. God’s Word came to John, and he began to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as prophesied also by Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3-5. People could not trust simply in being children of Abraham. They were all a sinful brood of people, and John pointed out their sinfulness and many things that God wished for all kinds of people, including the crowds and tax collectors and soldiers and even the tetrarch (ruler) Herod, who had stolen away his brother’s wife and taken her for himself. (Herod had John thrown in prison for challenging him with his sin.) John also made it clear that he was not the Christ, the Anointed One sent from God, but that One was coming, through whom people would see the salvation of God. That One would be Jesus, the Son of God, sent from God the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the Epistle lesson, Paul writes to Christians in Philippi, thanking God for bringing them to faith in Jesus and for their being partners with him in sharing the Gospel of salvation through Jesus and His grace. Paul prays for this congregation but cannot be with them because he is in prison just for being a faithful Christian. So, Paul writes this letter and also prays for the believers that their love would abound, with greater knowledge and discernment and understanding of what is excellent. Paul also prays that the believers will be “pure and blameless” at the coming of Christ. Obviously, we are not pure and blameless. We are poor, miserable sinners. Christ has lived perfectly for us, though, and paid for all of our sins by His sacrifice on the cross and is our Risen Lord who now lives in us through bringing us to baptism and faith. When God looks at us now, He sees Jesus in and with us, and we are counted as righteous through the Lord Jesus, who is our Righteousness. That is our certainty now and for our eternal future - not in ourselves and our performance - but through the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Savior, and the glory and praise for all that go to the one True Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This Sunday, December 1, is the beginning of a whole new Church Year, with the Advent season. Advent is a Latin word which means “to come to.” We think of the various “comings” of Christ to us and our world to do His saving work for us. The coming of Christ was predicted in Old Testament prophecy. He did literally come into the world, born of the Virgin Mary, in order to do all that was necessary to forgive and rescue us. He has come to our own hearts, through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and our baptism, to bring us to faith and to strengthen us in that faith whenever we hear or read that Word. He comes to us in a very personal way in the Lord’s Supper, with His very Body and Blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine, for our forgiveness and encouragement. When we die, He comes to take our souls to everlasting life and peace in heaven, and He will return on the last day for the resurrection of all bodies and eternal joy for believers, in contrast with eternal sorrow for those apart from the Lord. There are touches of all these “comings” in what we heard the last few weeks and in what we will hear in Advent. The primary emphasis, of course, is on prophecy of the Savior, leading up to His birth in Bethlehem and His work for us.
This year, in Series C readings, we hear many readings from the Gospel of Luke. The Psalm is Psalm 25:1-10. David trusts in His Lord, even though he is having difficult troubles from treacherous people and other enemies. He asks the Lord’s help, even as he waits for Him and His ways. He prays for forgiveness of his sins and asks that the Lord, in His goodness, will give him His mercy and steadfast love and salvation, as He instructs him, a sinner, and keeps him humble, in seeking to follow His ways.
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 33:14-16. The Lord’s people are facing a time of great judgment, because of their sin and rebellion. God promises a coming time, though, when He will raise up a “righteous Branch” from the line of King David. He will be the Lord Himself, who will be the Righteousness we need, in His saving work that we and David and everyone else need. This is a prophecy of Christ Jesus, who will be our High Priest and our Everlasting King, in His new spiritual Kingdom, where all believers are and will be now and forever.
The Epistle is from 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. Paul gives His thanks to God for this congregation. He wishes to be able to visit and see them again, to encourage them in faith. In the meantime, he prays that God the Father and our Lord Jesus would strengthen them and keep their hearts blameless through faith in Jesus, who is their righteousness and will come again on the last day, together the angels and with all believers who have already died and gone to be with the Lord.
There are two possible choices for the Gospel lesson. The first is Luke 19:28-40, the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday, at the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus Himself prepares the way for this, having his disciples bring a colt, a lowly donkey on which he would humbly ride into the city, according to Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 9:9ff). Yet a multitude of followers would praise God and say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” Some of the Pharisees call on Jesus to stop the crowds from saying such a thing. But Jesus answered, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out” - for He was the promised Savior King. (See how, in Habakkuk 2:9-11, stones “cry out” in judgment of God’s unfaithful people. Here, stones would cry out in praise of the Savior, Jesus, even if no one else would. He was the promised King from the line of David, though He would be a suffering Servant King, and His kingdom was not of this world, as He told Pontius Pilate, later that week. (See John 18:33-37.)
The other possible Gospel reading is from Luke 21:25-36. This is very similar to what we heard from Mark 13 last week, beginning with the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, as a sign of the end times to come. There will be much trouble, and then the Son of Man will come with power and great glory. If we are still living at that time, we can hold our heads high, for our Redeemer, the Son of Man, Jesus, will come. Heaven and earth will pass away, as we know them, but not the Words and Promises of God. We are ready for that last day, whenever it comes, by being spiritually awake, in continuing trust in Jesus and His Word and His saving work for us, in His life, death, and resurrection. We seek to leave the “cares of this life” in His hands and entrust our future to Him, relying on His mercy and forgiveness, already earned for us.
This is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. The focus again is upon the last times and the return of Christ on the last day. There can also be an emphasis on Christ as King, now, and most clearly seen when He returns at the end. I’ll try to give you a sense of all this in a brief look at the readings.
The Psalm is Psalm 93. The Lord reigns with majesty and strength from of old even before He created all things, including the universe and our world. He is from everlasting and will exist forevermore. We can see great power at work in our world, at times, as with recent hurricanes and floods and mighty waves of the sea. The Lord on high is much, much greater. We can trust what He says and does, though we do not always understand, for He is our holy Lord.
The Old Testament lesson can be Isaiah 51:4-6. The Lord calls upon us to pay attention to Him and give ear to what He says and does. He will provide a “Light” for the peoples. Twice He promises that He will bring righteousness and salvation, pointing to the coming of our Savior, Jesus, in whom people should hope and trust. A day of final justice and judgment will then come, when the heavens and the earth will pass away, as we know them. Some will face eternal death, but those trusting in the Light of the Savior will have righteousness and salvation forever.
An alternative Old Testament reading is Daniel 7:9-10,13-14. In a vision that John sees, the Ancient of Days, the Heavenly Father, is seated on a fiery throne and many thousands of thousands are serving Him and standing before Him. It is a courtroom judgment scene. With the clouds of heaven, a Son of Man comes before Him and is given an everlasting dominion and glory and kingdom, with all peoples serving Him, from all nations and languages. Jesus is that Son of Man, returning to heaven, and eventually bringing with Him innumerable believers. (See Revelations 1:13ff, 7:9ff, etc.)
The Epistle lesson is Jude 20-25. Many scoffers will be around in the last times (v.19). God’s beloved people are to build each other up in the holy faith and prayer, by God’s grace, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. As we have received mercy in Christ, we are to be merciful to those who struggle with doubt, or who are in great spiritual danger, while seeking to avoid their negative influences. We trust our Lord God, who can keep us from stumbling, ourselves, and will present us blameless on the last day through our Savior’s sacrificial work for us. To Him be glory now and forever. Amen.
An alternative Epistle lesson is Revelation 1:4b-8. John speaks to seven churches, representative of all, and wishes them and us grace and peace through the One True Triune God, the eternal Father who was and is and is to come, and the Holy Spirit, with His seven-fold gifts (see Isaiah 11:2, for example), and the risen Lord Jesus and His faithful witness to us, all His life, and His love, in freeing us from all our sins by His blood. We are now part of a spiritual kingdom, priests to our God (see 1 Peter 2:9-10, for example), giving all glory to God. He will come again on the last day, bringing sorrow and wailing for those who have rejected Him, but eternal joy for believers in Him. Amen. (This is most certainly true!)
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 13:24-37, Jesus describes His second coming, when heaven and earth will pass away, but His Words and promises will be fulfilled forever, as He comes with the clouds in great power and glory, to gather all believers to Himself, bodies raised and changed and glorified (see, for example, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and reunited with souls, for the fullness of eternal joy. No one knows, though, but God Himself, when that last day will come. We are called then to be on guard and stay awake in our faith in our Lord, by His grace, until we die or He returns, whichever comes first.
The alternative Gospel reading, John 18:33-37, also includes words of Jesus, talking with Pontius Pilate, not long before His suffering and death. Pilate asks Him if He is a king, and Jesus explains that His kingdom is not of and from this world. He had come into the world to bear witness to the truth about His kingdom, and everyone who knows real truth listens to His voice and keeps on trusting Him and His Word, for the eternal kingdom to come, not like an earthly kingdom we see now. Right after this passage, of course, Pilate, like so many skeptics still today, says, “What is truth?” and rejects Jesus and condemns Him to die, though he knows that Jesus is not a guilty man. Yet through all that, we are saved and are part of that everlasting kingdom, glorifying God and receiving His blessings forever.
In these last two weeks of the Church Year, our focus is on end times, with the victory of Christ and His return on the last day. In the psalm, Psalm 16, David “takes refuge” in the Lord and knows that he “has no good apart from Him.” He “delights” in his fellow believers, “the saints in the land,” but sees the “sorrows” of those who follow “another god” instead of the One True God, the Lord. David knows that he has “a beautiful inheritance ahead” in heaven in the presence of the Lord. Some of this psalm is also prophetic, though, in pointing to the coming of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. David eventually died, and his body saw corruption, though it will be raised on the last day. Peter quotes this passage in his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:22-36) with regard to Jesus, who was crucified and died but whose body did not see corruption but was raised to new and eternal life on the third day. Paul also quotes from Psalm 16 (and Psalm 2) regarding the resurrection of Christ and His body, which did not see decay, in Acts 13:32-39. Christ Jesus is now “the path of life” and “fullness of joy” for all who trust in Him for eternal life and resurrection.
In the Old Testament lesson, Daniel 12:1-3, Daniel speaks of great trouble for God’s people in the last times. All believers in the Lord and His saving work in Christ have their names written in the Book of Life and will be delivered. The bodies of those who have died in the Lord shall be awakened to everlasting life (and reunited with their souls). Unbelievers will be raised “to shame and everlasting contempt” apart from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord calls His people to “wisdom” and to seek to “turn many more to righteousness” through faith in Jesus. It is His doing, but we can be His witnesses.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 13:1-13, Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and of the magnificent temple (which happened in 70 AD). This would be a prefiguring of the troubles in the last times, “the end of the ages” that Christ brought in by His saving life, death, and resurrection. (See last week’s epistle, Hebrews 9:24-28, for example.) There will be wars and earthquakes and famines and false prophets and persecution of believers and hatred of the name of Christ and other troubles, called “birth pangs,” which we have seen and still see today. These are reminders that Jesus may return at any time, and we will be saved as we endure to the end in faith in Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments.
The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 10:11-25, points us again to the single sacrifice of Christ, once for all time, bringing in the New Covenant and the forgiveness of all our sins. As we wait now for the return of Christ, we can approach our Lord with the full assurance of faith, cleansed by the blood of Christ and our baptism and holding fast to the promises of our faithful God. We are also called “not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some,” but to “stir up one another to love and good works” and to “encourage one another” as we wait for “the Day” of Christ’s return, “drawing near.”
The readings this week remind us again where we need to put our trust - not in ourselves or in our earthly leaders, but in our Lord God and His saving work in Christ. Three of our readings also mention widows and others who sometimes don’t have much in which they can trust, except the Lord, as an example for us.
The Old Testament lesson is from 1 Kings 17:8-16. Elijah predicted a great drought for the Northern Kingdom of Israel because of the wickedness of King Ahab and the people, particularly in forsaking God and His will and worshipping false gods (1 Kings 16:29-17:7). Elijah was taken care of by the Lord through ravens at a brook until the brook dried up. Then the Lord sent him out of Israel to Sidon, to the North, near Tyre, and to a widow, preparing to eat her last meal that she had with her son. Elijah asked her to give him that last food she had, with the promise that the Lord would provide just enough food for them until the drought was done and rain came again. The woman trusted the Word of the Lord, and the three of them had enough to survive by the miracle of God.
The psalm is Psalm 146. The psalmist calls upon us to praise the Lord and put our hope in Him, who “keeps faith forever” for us and “all generations “ who trust in Him. This psalm includes a good reminder for an election week - that we are “not to put our trust in princes” or other earthly leaders who cannot save and who come and go and cannot be counted on to fulfill their plans. We are to trust our Creator God, who can help “widows” and “lift up those who are bowed down” by the troubles of life. The psalm is especially prophetic of Christ, who could heal the blind (see my sermon on Mark 10:46-52) and set us free from the prison of our sins, by His death and resurrection, and the fact that He now lives and “reigns forever” for us, to bless us.
The Gospel lesson is Mark 12:38-44. Jesus warns about scribes and other leaders, including religious leaders, who want honor for themselves and take advantage even of poor widows. Jesus is in the temple and contrasts the offerings of the rich, who have plenty left over for themselves, and the tiny gift of a poor widow, who, out of her poverty, gave all she had. Jesus is showing in this way His concern for such people, like the widow, and their great needs.
The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 9:24-28. The author speaks of the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Himself. He didn’t just talk about sacrifices, but He sacrificed Himself, once for all, on the cross, to forgive and “put away sin.” Unlike priests in the temple, He did not need to keep making sacrifices for sins “with blood not His own.” Christ was offered only “once, to bear the sins of many.” This is a Hebraic way of saying that He died for “the many,” which really means “all.” See v.26 - “once for all.” The risen, ascended Lord Jesus has now entered heaven and appears “in the presence of God on our behalf” - for us. He will come again on the last day, too, no longer to deal with sin but “to save all those who are eagerly waiting for Him,” with the resurrection of our bodies, as well. There’s one more important message in this passage. People die only once, and then comes the judgment, including eternal life for all who die in faith in Christ. There is no reincarnation or a second or multiple lives for any of us, as some religions say. When we die in faith, we are with the Lord forever in perfect peace through Christ.
A Sermon on Revelation 7:9-17
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7).
The text for our meditation this evening is the First Lesson from Revelation 7:9-17 - the vision given to John of the saints in heaven. Notice especially some of the later verses. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to spring of Living Water” (Revelation 7:16-17).
The emphasis on thirst and water and springs caught my attention because, for a few months now, it’s been warmer than usual and very dry - unusual for us. We had planned a family outing with the grandkids, including cooking hotdogs over a fire and making s'mores, etc. - and then came a burn ban in our own county and most all counties around us. And then came a red flag warning on Tuesday, with high winds and warm temperatures and low humidity, where any fires or even sparks from equipment could be dangerous, as it was so dry.
And added to all that, in the last year or so, we began to hear of the “Stop the Water Steal,” when there were plans that few knew about to build pipelines to ship large amounts of our water off to Lebanon for businesses and development there. Many people here were not happy. It made me think of a time we visited family in California and saw areas where there had been large lakes, which were now bone dry because so much water had been shipped off to other areas, especially Los Angeles.
We are richly blessed with water and can bounce back from the shorter periods of drought we have. It is not so true for many areas, including the land of Israel, where freshwater sources are limited and have been for a long, long time. I looked it up and found that in 2022, 85% of the drinkable water for the city of Jerusalem came from the desalinization of saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea, more than 30 miles away.
There was, of course, no such methodology in Bible times. Water sources in Bible times were very important and valuable but very scarce. It is no surprise that water became one of the images of God and His blessings, and even of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and lack of water was pictured as a judgment for sins. You can trace these images through the Old Testament and into the New.
In the perfect Garden of Eden, there was a river flowing to water it, according to Genesis 2. After the fall into sin, everything changed, and the Great Flood changed things even more, as sin and evil spread everywhere, with judgment for sin. Noah and his family “were saved through water” in the ark, and this corresponds, Peter tells us in the New Testament, to “baptism, which now saves us,” through connecting us to Christ and His resurrection. Christ has now gone into heaven at His ascension and is now at the right hand of God, with angels all around him, just as seen by John in Revelation 7 (1 Peter 3:20-22).
When the children of Israel were later slaves in Egypt, the water of the Nile River was turned to blood, as the first of the plagues on them (Exodus 7:14-25), and later, many Egyptians died in the Red Sea, while God’s people went safely through that same water on dry land (Exodus 14).
Unfortunately, God’s people quickly became rebellious about the lack of water, even though God always provided water in miraculous ways - whatever they needed (Exodus 15:22-25, 17:1-7; Numbers 21:4-5, etc.). Because of their continued rebellion, almost all of them died in the wilderness before ever reaching the Promised Land. Even Moses rebelled against God and produced water from a rock in an angry way, different from what God had told Him to do. He, too, failed to enter the Promised Land, though He was forgiven and reconciled with God (Numbers 20:2-13, Deuteronomy 34:1-6). Joshua was then chosen to lead the next generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, crossing the Jordan River - on dry land, as Moses had crossed the Red Sea, many years before.
Note how many Old Testament passages use water as an image of God’s blessings for His people and His promises for the future, with the promise of the coming Savior. In Psalm 1, we hear of a man of God, being like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither (Psalm 1:3).
In the familiar Psalm 23, we hear of the Lord as our Shepherd, “who makes us lie down in green pastures” (where there has to be plenty of water for the pastures to be green), and He “leads us beside still waters” (where it is easy for us to drink and no danger of being swept up and drowning) (Psalm 23:2).
In Psalm 36, we read, “How precious is Your steadfast love, O Lord” for Your children. “You give them to drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the Fountain of Life” - the best drinking fountain from the Lord (Psalm 36:7-9).
In Luther’s psalm, Psalm 46, we heard last week that “God is our Refuge and Strength, our Fortress, a very present Help in trouble” (Psalm 46:2,7). But we also heard, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” - speaking of God’s blessings for them, though there is no literal river in Jerusalem.
Isaiah, in His prophecy, spoke of the coming time of the Messiah, the Savior, and said, “The Lord will come to save you… the waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water” (Isaiah 35:4,6,7).
And again Isaiah prophesied, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them… I will open up rivers on the bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:17-18).
And again, Isaiah predicted, ”The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desires in scorched places… and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose water does not fail” (Isaiah 58:11).
There were warnings, too, if God’s people rejected Him as the one true God and His ways. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, not long before Jerusalem was destroyed, and many Jews were carried away into captivity in Babylon: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?… Be appalled, O heavens, at this”… “declares the Lord, for My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, and have hewn out cisterns (for storage of water) for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:11-13).
And when the fullness of time did come, God sent His own Son, Jesus, into this troubled world, a world thirsty for help, to be the Savior. And Jesus talked with a Samaritan woman at a well and said, “Everyone who drinks of this water (of this well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
And later on, at a festival in Jerusalem that Jesus attended, “He stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” “Now this He said about the Spirit, Whom those who believed in Him were to receive” (John 7:37-39).
As Paul wrote, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (the children of God) (Galatians 4:4-5). Christ Jesus did all the redeeming, saving work for us through His perfect life, His death on the cross, and His mighty resurrection.
Now, we have been born again, of water and the Spirit, in our Baptism (John 3:5), and we are strengthened in that new Life through the living and abiding Word of God. As Peter wrote, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower fades” - that’s us, on our own in this world - "but the Word of the Lord endures forever, and that Word is the Good News of Christ" and the Water of Life that He brings to us, that wells up to eternal life, as well, for us (1 Peter 1:23-25).
John put it so simply: “This is the testimony (the Word) that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has Life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).
The last chapter of Revelation, the Scripture from which our text comes, has these words taken from an Old Testament prophecy from Ezekiel. John says, “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Revelation 20:1, Ezekiel 47:1,16). And some of the last words of Revelation say: “Come! And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, drink from the water of Life, without price” (Revelation 20:17) It is the free gift of God, without price, already earned for us, in Christ. And it is already ours in Christ, as believers, through His Word and Sacraments. We can be sure that we will be part of that great multitude seen by John in heaven one day as we stay in Christ, along with our loved ones and friends who have lived and died in faith in Christ.
We, too, are forgiven sinners, saints of God by God’s grace, whose robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb. And all the picture images and promises will be ours, too, though we still struggle now in this life.
No more hunger or thirst or tears. No more stifling heat or freezing cold. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, will provide us His living water, every blessing that we need, and the Heavenly Father will shelter us with His presence, and we will serve Him with joy. Amen (Revelation 7:15-17)
Sermon Based on Mark 10:46-52
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, for the appointed time for Him to suffer and die and rise again for the salvation of the world was very near. He was traveling the typical way of a Jew of His time, on a road that went through Jericho and near the Jordan River and on to Jerusalem. His disciples and a great crowd were following Him. It was only a short time before His entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday.
A blind man named Bartimaeus was sitting along the roadside and begging because that was probably the only way he could try to get a little help for himself. He heard the commotion of the crowd going by and also heard that Jesus of Nazareth was in the crowd. He must have heard of Jesus before and His reputation and ability to do miracles. He began to cry out, very accurately, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” It was a title used by Jews in speaking of their hopes about the Messiah, the Savior promised in the Old Testament. The Savior was predicted to be a descendant of King David, and people hoped He would restore a great earthly kingdom to God’s people, as David had long before.
Bartimaeus was speaking correctly of Jesus as the Son of David and just kept crying out for His help, but we hear that many in the crowd, and maybe some of the disciples (who had tried before to protect Jesus from those they thought He didn’t need to be bothered by like mothers and children and notorious sinners) - many rebuked the blind beggar, telling him to be silent and not to trouble Jesus.
If you remember the story recorded in John, Chapter 9, Jesus and the disciples saw another blind man, and the disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that He was born blind?” There was a sense among many that if there was blindness or other serious ills, someone must have done something terribly wrong and was being punished severely for it. Jesus, therefore, wouldn’t want to be bothered by such an evil person. But Jesus said the blindness was an opportunity for the work of God to be displayed in the man, and Jesus then healed that man both physically and spiritually.
In the case of Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus showed trust and confidence that Jesus really could help him. He is not discouraged by the rebukes of many and does not listen to them. Instead, he cried out all the more to Jesus and kept saying, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him!” Jesus was on His way to die and could have just been absorbed in all that was coming for Him, but He takes the time to help Bartimaeus in the last healing miracle that Mark tells about Him in his Gospel.
Some of the people then tell Bartimaeus, “Cheer up, have courage. Get up; Jesus is calling you!” And Bartimaeus didn’t just get up; he sprang up quickly and came to Jesus confidently. And the fact that he threw off his cloak, his outer robe or coat, was significant, too. Poor, blind beggars would have very few possessions and probably only one outer garment. Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak in seeming confidence that Jesus really would and could help him.
Jesus certainly knew what Bartimaeus was hoping for, but He asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” giving Bartimaeus another chance to ask for help from Him. The blind man then said, “Rabbi” (Teacher), “let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well” - or very literally, “Your faith has saved you.” And immediately, Bartimaeus recovered his sight!
We know from other Scriptures that Jesus had given Bartimaeus the gift of saving faith in Him, not just physical sight. We know the words of the Apostle Paul, “By grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Bartimaeus was showing that gift of faith in calling Jesus “Son of David” and “Rabbi.” Literally, Bartimaeus used the Aramaic word “Rabboni” - my teacher - a word used sometimes in Jewish literature for God, meaning something like “Lord of the world.” It is the same word used by Mary Magdalene on Easter morning when her eyes were opened and she realized that she was talking with the risen, living Lord Jesus - “Rabboni” - my teacher - my Risen Lord (John 20:11-18, esp. v.16)!
Jesus called Bartimaeus to come to Him, and Bartimaeus eagerly came by God’s grace. Bartimaeus recovered his sight physically but also received the gift of saving faith in Jesus. And so, when Jesus said, “Go your way,” Bartimaeus knew that the only way to go was with Jesus as his Savior, and we hear that he followed Jesus on the way. Later on, in the Book of Acts, Christianity is called, four times, “the Way,” and believers as thus people “of the Way” - of Jesus. Some commentators also think that Bartimaeus is specifically named because he was still a strong believer and known to many when Mark wrote his Gospel in the later 60’s AD, many years after this event.
Christ Jesus died for all, the Scriptures say, and did His saving work for the sake of the whole world. How comforting it is to know, too, that He was also thinking of and reaching out to ordinary, individual people like you and me as He made His way to Jerusalem to die and rise again. He could have just thought about Himself and all He had to accomplish, but Luke, in his Gospel, tells us that He also noticed a very small man, Zacchaeus, who had climbed up in a tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus, and Jesus called him down, out of that tree, and brought him to faith and changed his life. That happened on this same trip through Jericho. And then, as Jesus left Jericho, he took the time to have mercy upon that poor, blind beggar, Bartimaeus, as well, and brought him to faith and salvation.
Surely, still today, Jesus knows and cares about each one of us, too, and has mercy upon us. He has already given His life for us, and he has made us His children in our Baptism and promises us His continued gifts through His Word and the Lord’s Supper. We come, too, as people of the Way, trusting in Jesus as our Way and Truth and Life.
Surely, whatever heavy burdens and fears and troubles we bring and carry with us today, and we all have some, Jesus will help us with, as we pray, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us,” too. Some of us, as we get older, even have eye troubles, too, but we are taught here to keep asking for help, whatever our needs. We may not get just what we want, but our Lord will care for us. Jesus said, on another occasion, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
That does not mean that all will be easy for us. Bartimaeus had people rebuking him and telling him to be silent and that he was wasting his time calling upon Jesus. We hear many of these same voices making fun of us as Christians still today. And Jesus Himself still faced the worst of His own troubles and voices condemning Him as he went to Jerusalem and to the cross. And yet He had His Easter victory soon after all the troubles.
And that victory will be ours, too, as we, like Bartimaeus, follow Jesus on the Way and keep calling on Him. And as believers, by the grace of God, we say to one another, as was said to Bartimaeus, “Take heart! Have courage! Jesus is calling us.” He will give us the strength we need, day by day, to stay with Him through Word and Sacrament, and one day give us the perfect victory in everlasting life with Christ.
We pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Many Lutheran churches will likely celebrate this Sunday as All Saints Sunday. Those are the readings I will make some comments on here. Remember that, in the Old Testament, a saint is a believer in the Lord, as God’s people trusted the Lord and His Word and plans, culminating in the coming of the Savior, our Lord Jesus. See, for example, the words in 2 Chronicles 6:40-42, and 7:3, when the temple was dedicated in Jerusalem. In the New Testament, saints are all those who believe in Christ as Savior (together, of course, with the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit). See, for example, Romans 1:1-7, especially v.6-7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, and 2 Corinthians 1:1-2.
The first reading on Sunday is Revelation 7:9-17, where John receives a vision of countless saints from every nation, in heaven, all who have lived and died, washed and purified in the forgiving blood of Christ, and then been taken to eternal life. They are with the angels and the Triune God, and the Lamb (God the Son, our Lord Jesus) is their Shepherd, providing for them in perfect joy, where there are no more tears. They, in turn, praise and honor and serve the Lord in thanks for all His blessings. (Watch for a sermon I will send out next week with more about this passage.)
The psalm is Psalm 149, where “the assembly of the godly,” God’s Old Testament believers, sing new songs of praise and gladness to the Lord. He, in turn, takes pleasure in His people, humble before Him, and provides them with salvation. They seek to serve Him, including battling the evil enemies of the Lord, as described in “judgments written” in the Scriptures. (See, for example, in 2 Kings, Chapters 22-23, how “the Book of the Law” was lost and ignored in Israel, until it was found again, and King Josiah made many reforms, battling against the promotion of false gods and evil practices among the people.) Ultimately, the Word of God is the two-edged sword through which the Lord defeats false ideas and teaching. See Hebrews 4:12. We can use that sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), in battling evil and pointing people to the knowledge of God and to Christ our Savior. See 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. All this glorifies our “Maker” and “King.”
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 5:1-12. This is a description of saints, of God’s people who know they are spiritually poor, and mourn over their sins, and hunger and thirst for the righteousness provided by Jesus, and seek to be merciful to others, as they have received mercy and peace from Him. They are not surprised when they are reviled and persecuted and spoken of in an evil way because of following Christ in this life. Great blessings follow, though, in heaven, earned by Christ our Savior.
The Epistle lesson is 1 John 3:1-3. John reminds us of the love of God the Father that has been given to us through Christ our Savior and His life, death, and resurrection to forgive all our sins and count us acceptable to Him through His gift of faith. We are “called children of God” and “so we actually are” through Christ. (See 1 John 5:10-13, where this is said so clearly. This includes the gift of eternal life, already ours.) We don’t know what that eternal life will be like, but we will be able to be in the presence of our Lord and see Him as He is. In the meantime, we seek to live faithful lives, not to earn anything, but in gratefulness for what God already has promised to us, in Christ. The Lord Himself continually purifies us, too, through His Word and Sacraments.
This Sunday will be celebrated as Reformation Sunday in many Lutheran churches. I will focus on these special readings for this day rather than the ones for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.
The Psalm is Psalm 46, the psalm from which Martin Luther composed his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” (The “sons of Korah" referenced in the introduction were descendants from the tribe of Levi who were “in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord” I Chronicles 6:1,22,31.) The psalmists praise God as their “Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble.” Therefore, they “will not fear,” though “the earth shakes“ and “waters roar and foam” and “mountains tremble” and “nations rage” and “kingdoms totter” and “desolations” come. We see many of these “troubles” in our own day, as David and Martin Luther did in their days. We are called to stop and to “be still” and trust our Lord and God, who is always with us as “our Fortress.” The picture image of “the river whose streams gladden us” reminds us of the river in the garden of Eden (in Genesis 2:10) and “living waters flowing out from Jerusalem” with the coming of Jesus as “living Water” and the Water of life for us, as our Savior. (See Psalm 36:7-8, Isaiah 41:18, Jeremiah 2:11-13, Zechariah 14:8, Ezekiel 47: 1,12, John 4:14, 7:37-39, and Revelation 21:6, 22:1-2.) The last passage in this list also speaks of the river of the water of life in heaven when we will be with our Lord God and the Lamb, Jesus, in eternal joy forever.
This Sunday is also one of those times when a New Testament passage is read instead of an Old Testament lesson. It is Revelation 14:6-7. Martin Luther followed in the way of the angel (messenger) described in this passage, with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to everyone possible. He called upon people to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things” and give Him all glory and worship God the Creator, and not skip over Him, as Adam and Eve did. The mention of the “springs of water” also reminds us of Christ Jesus as the One who brings us that eternal water of life, as we heard in Psalm 46. Luther also translated the Scriptures into the German language so that his own people could understand the Gospel and used German hymns in the liturgy of worship and the Divine Service, encouraging the use of the language of the people everywhere so that all could better understand the Word.
The Epistle lesson is Romans 3:19-28, a clear proclamation of the Scriptures' and Lutherans’ central message, salvation by God’s grace alone through the gift of faith in Christ alone - Christ who is our Redeemer, as the Propitiation (the atoning sacrifice for our sins, by His blood, shed on the cross for us). This saving work of Jesus was necessary because we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Comparing our works with the law of God brings us clear knowledge of our sins and the realization that we have nothing to boast about in our lives regarding God. We must give all the glory to God, for we are “justified only by faith in Christ, apart from the works of the law.” (See Romans 1:21-22 and 4:20-25.)
There are two alternatives for the Gospel. In Matthew 11:12-19, Jesus speaks of the violence coming against the Kingdom of God and God’s people from the time of the coming of John the Baptist, who was executed for his faithful service to his Lord. He was the one who came in the Spirit and power of Elijah yet was rejected. He neither ate nor drank, yet was ridiculed. Jesus came eating and drinking and as a friend to all people, including those despised, such as tax collectors and other sinners (which we all are, in one way or another). None of us can be saved by our own works and efforts, but only by belief in Jesus and what He has done for all of us. (See Jesus’ Words later in Matthew 21:28-32. Tax collectors and prostitutes go into the Kingdom of God before others because they repented and believed in Jesus, unlike those who refused to believe in Christ for salvation.)
The other alternative Gospel is John 8:31-36. Jesus speaks, again, to those who believe in Him and calls them to “abide,” to continue to trust in Him and His Word, for His Word is truth, that sets people free from their sins and condemnation for sin. Some thought of political slavery and objected that as Jews, they had never been “slaves” to anyone (though certainly, they had, to other nations and to the Babylonians and the Greeks and now to the Romans). Jesus says, “Truly, truly” (Amen, amen) "I say to you" (this is really true!) "If you sin, you are slaves to sin. You need Me, the Son of God, to forgive you and set you free from the condemnation for your sins." (See Hebrews 2:14-18 as a description of this.) Right after this text, Jesus also warns, “You seek to kill Me because My Word finds no place in you. ”Instead, you are following the one who really influences and controls you - your father, the devil" (John 8:37-38,44). This all stresses the importance of continually abiding in and listening to the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is always working there to help us know His will and keep us in faith and strengthen us in faith and forgive us when we fail.
Sermon for 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 10:23-31
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14).
Last week, we heard from Mark, Chapter 10, of a man who came to talk with Jesus and left downhearted and sorrowful because he was trusting in himself and his abilities and his great wealth and possessions and was not about to listen to and follow Jesus and trust Him and His Words (Mark 10:17-22).
Our Gospel lesson for today tells us of the conversation that Jesus then had with His disciples about what had happened. We hear that Jesus “looked around” - maybe to see the reaction of the disciples. Then He said to them, ”How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God.” “And the disciples were amazed at His Words.” The typical attitude of Jews of that time was that wealth was almost a sure sign that you were right with God and being greatly blessed by Him. Jesus seemed to be saying the opposite.
So Jesus repeated His message, using a very vivid image. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.” Some scholars have tried to explain away what Jesus said by saying the camel just represents a thread that could go through the eye of a needle - but that’s not what Jesus said. Others have claimed that there was one narrow and low gate into Jerusalem that a camel could go through only by being forced to its knees and squeezed through. That explanation doesn’t make sense, either.
Jesus had used a camel as a dramatic example on another occasion, too. He told the Jewish religious leaders, who tended to be wealthier and more powerful and were considered and considered themselves better than ordinary people: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you tithe to the temple (give 10% of your spices that you have or grow) but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness… You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24).
In our text, Jesus then added one more phrase: “Children, how difficult it is to enter the Kingdom of God.” Period! It isn’t just wealth that can become more important than our Lord and His Word and will. It’s a First Commandment problem. “You shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:3). “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). Or as Martin Luther wrote, in explaining the First Commandment, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”
All things! That includes our possessions and our own wishes and desires and even people around us. Let me give a personal example that I have used before. If you know me very well, you know that I love books and what I can learn from them, especially in studying Scripture. When I theoretically retired more than ten years ago, I kept out books that I thought would be most useful but put many, many more books in storage. I am only now seriously looking through those many books, and my wife keeps saying, “If you haven’t used them for almost 11 years, do you really still need them?” She’s probably right, but it’s still hard to get rid of as many as I should. We all have our weaknesses in one way or another. And in our text, when the disciples heard what Jesus was saying, they were “exceedingly astonished” and said to Him, “Who then can be saved?”
And Jesus looked right at them and said, very bluntly, “With man, it is impossible.” And in the Greek it says, “With men (plural) it is impossible.” And the Greek word for “men” means not just “males” but refers to human beings - men, women, and children. With us human beings, no matter who we are, it is impossible to be saved - by our own goodness and efforts and accomplishments and possessions or anything else we do or produce. The Scriptures say the same thing in many other ways. “All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “There is no one who does good, not even one,” according to God’s perfect, holy standard (Psalm 14:1-3). “No one living is righteous before God” no matter how hard we try (Psalm 143:2). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). And James, in his letter says, “Whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, has become guilty of it all” (James 2:10). If we are guilty, we are guilty.
Impetuous Peter, though, doesn’t seem to like what Jesus is saying and tries to argue with Him, as he sometimes had done before. Peter wants to put the focus back on himself and his fellow disciples and the good they were doing. Peter began to say to Jesus, “See!” Look at us, Jesus, and how “we have left everything and followed You.” Jesus then stops him, but it is likely that Peter was about to add, “Our great sacrifices for You, Jesus, surely earn us some merit and honor and a place in Your kingdom.” The reality was that Peter and the others hadn’t really yet given up everything. Peter and Andrew had a house, and Peter had a family (Mark 1:29ff. and 1 Corinthians 9:5). When Peter needed to get away, he was able to get a boat and go fishing, etc. (John 21:1-3).
Peter and the others were totally missing the message of Jesus and the really Good News, the Gospel, that Jesus had added. “With man, it is impossible to be saved, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” God still loved this very sinful world, even after the fall into sin, and knew that we could never make ourselves worthy of God and rescue ourselves from our sins - just as we heard last week that Jesus loved the rich man who thought he was so good. Jesus sought to bring that man to the truth of his sin and to bring him to the gift of faith, though the man rejected him.
God the Father had sent His only Son, Jesus, into this world to save us, who could never save ourselves. And right after today’s text, Jesus told His disciples for the third time just what He was going to do for them (and for us.). He would go to Jerusalem and be condemned to die by Jewish religious leaders and Gentiles, Roman authorities, and suffer much to pay for the sins of the world and be killed (Mark 10:32-34).
Jesus was fulfilling the final verse of our text when He said, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Jesus seemed to be the last and the lost one when He gave up everything and died on the cross as a common criminal. The victors seemed to be Caiaphus, the high priest, and other Jewish officials, and Pontius Pilate and Roman power. They seemed to be first, and they were, in the eyes of many people. They had won and gotten rid of Jesus, it seemed.
Jesus was a true man, but He was also true God, and as He said in our text, “All things are possible with God.” Jesus saved this world in this amazing and surprising way, dying and rising again - something we could never do for ourselves or for anyone else. The certainty of His winning the victory and salvation for us was in His rising from the dead on the third day. This is His gift, received simply by faith and trust in Him and His already completed work for us. As Paul wrote so clearly, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
What does Jesus mean, then, when He speaks in the last part of our text of “houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands?” Jesus is not speaking of rewards that Peter and the other disciples would earn from their works and sacrifices. In fact, Jesus also mentions “persecutions,” and eventually, all of the disciples, except John, died for the faith, seeking to share it with others. Jesus is speaking of the growth of the Holy Christian Church over time as the Gospel of Christ was shared and houses of worship sprang up, and more and more people were eventually brought to faith in Christ in many lands and kept in faith by the Lord and His Holy Spirit. The Spirit works through the means, the channels, by which the grace and salvation come, as God’s gifts to us in Christ - through the Word of God and the Sacraments.
That’s why we are here tonight, hearing the Word of God again and receiving His forgiveness and being strengthened by remembrance of our Baptism and receiving the Presence of Christ Himself in the Lord’s Supper. These are the gifts of God, coming through His loving Divine Service to us and for us. As Lutherans, we say that this salvation, justification by God’s grace, received as a gift through faith in Christ alone, is the chief doctrine of the Christian faith. As Jesus said, “With man and our efforts, salvation is impossible, but not with God and His grace. All things are possible with God and His grace.
Unfortunately, that is not what many churches say. In the Roman Catholic Church, we receive some initial grace from God in our Baptism, but we must then do enough good to pay for the temporal consequences of our sins in this life (which Christ has not taken care of), and if we haven’t done enough, which is likely, we end up in purgatory after this life until we have done enough to merit eternal life.
Too many Protestant churches also say that we must initiate our life with God ourselves by deciding to follow Christ as an act of our own will, and then there is much work ahead to be a real Christian. One author described his life in an evangelical church as coming to Christ, but then not hearing as much about Christ, but being told to focus and be centered on his own life - his “yielding more to Christ, his obedience, his zeal, his prayers, his Bible verse memorization, his loving others more, his witnessing more,“ and on and on. These are all good things, but they put the focus on us and what we are trying to do and not on Christ and His saving work already done for us, by which we are saved and continue in the faith, by His grace and work in our lives, and the motivation we need.
Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ” - all wrapped up in Him. Paul says, “You then, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:21 and 2 Timothy 2:1). And we heard in our Epistle lesson for today, “We who have believed (in Christ) enter the rest that God gives… Whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his own works… Let us hold fast to our confession of Christ, the Son of God… For “we have a High Priest (Christ) who sympathizes with our weaknesses (whatever our own struggles)… Let us then with confidence draw near to Christ and His throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” - not through our efforts, but through Christ and His saving work for us.
Let us pray, “Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
The Scriptures this week continue to give warnings that we heard last week about the dangers of focusing on wealth and personal gain instead of the Word of God and His will and His blessings for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:9-16, part of the longest psalm in the Bible, but summarizing key ideas emphasized again and again in this psalm. The psalmist knows that God and His Word will guard and keep him in his life. He “stores up God’s Word in his heart” to help him avoid sin and remember God’s gracious ways. He seeks to delight in His Lord more than all earthly riches. He will not forget God’s Word, which he needs the most.
We hear from King Solomon, a very wealthy and powerful man, in worldly terms, in Ecclesiastes 5:10-20. He reflects on his life and knows that “loving money and wealth” does not really satisfy. “Increasing goods” and “a full stomach” don’t let him sleep and can actually “hurt” him. Riches can come and go, and he can’t take any of them with him or provide for what his son and family really need, in this way. There is much “vexation and sickness and anger” in his life. It is much better to focus on the “gifts of God” and trust Him for the joy and blessings the Lord alone can give to his heart.
We heard last week the story of a very rich man who left Jesus gloomy and sorrowful because he was centered on himself and his efforts and did not want to give up any of his great possessions. Jesus comments on that in our text for today, Mark 10:23-31, saying twice how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. The disciples are astonished, for the attitude of many in Judaism was that wealth was a sign of God’s approval for a person. Jesus has to remind them that no one can be saved by his own effort, but only by and through God Himself and His work for them. Peter struggles with this and asks what reward he and the disciples would get for their own sacrifices. Jesus then speaks of blessings, but also persecution, for them. Only in the age to come would be the clear blessings of eternal life, by God’s grace, through Jesus and His sacrifice for them. Many who seem to be first in this life will end up being last, while Christ Himself, who seemed to be lost and last as He died on the cross as a criminal, will actually be first, with blessings for those who simply trust Him.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Hebrews, this week from Hebrews 4:1-13 (14-16). The author continues using the example of so many of God’s people on the way to the Promised Land, but losing out on it and never entering it and God’s rest, because of rebellion and sin and finally unbelief toward God Himself and His way and plans. They had received God’s “good news” but refused to “rest from their own ideas and works” and simply trust Him. They were disobeying and rejecting the Word of God, which ultimately showed the unbelieving thoughts and intentions of their hearts. God’s saving plan centered not on us and our efforts, but on Jesus, our great High Priest, who lived a perfect life for us and gave up everything for us and our salvation. We have received His mercy and grace and pray that we may hold fast our confession of Him, trusting that He will help in every time of need until we reach our own time of eternal rest in Him in eternal life. In Him alone is our peace and hope. This teaching of justification by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the central teaching of our Christian faith.
The Scriptures this week give warnings from the Lord about the dangers of falling away from faith in Him and His rescuing work for His people. There are also words of hope from the Lord, in listening to Him and trusting His work in enabling us to stay in faith.
The Psalm is Psalm 90:12-17. This is a Psalm of Moses, written after God’s people had been rescued from slavery in Egypt. Moses reminds them of how short their lives are on this earth, in comparison with the everlasting Lord, and how many struggles they will have in this sinful world. As our reading begins, Moses calls upon his people to “number their days, that they may get a heart of wisdom” from the Lord. They need the Lord’s pity and mercy and steadfast love and will be able to see His glorious power and work on their behalf. He is able also to establish our work in ways that are pleasing to Him and give us joy and gladness in His grace.
Unfortunately, God’s own people often sinned and rebelled against Him. The Old Testament lesson, from Amos 5:6-7, 10-15, is an example of this from the time of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Many of the people hated hearing the truth and acted unjustly toward others, especially the poor and the needy. They built stone houses and planted vineyards, often profiting off the abuse of others. Their sins were great, in this evil time. Amos called upon the people to “seek the Lord and live,” but also prophesied that many of them would never enjoy their homes and vineyards, because they would be carried away into captivity (by the Assyrians) because of their sinful unbelief. There is a promise, though, that the Lord might spare and be gracious to a “remnant” of God’s people, who remained in faith by His grace. That is what happened when Jesus came from that remnant of surviving, faithful Jews and did His saving, forgiving work for all people.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from the Letter to the Hebrews in Hebrews 3:12-19. Here, too, come warnings of evil hearts that could lead people to fall away from the living God in unbelief. The example here is from God’s Old Testament people and their rebellion against God at the time of Moses. (You could read about this in Numbers 14:1ff, for example.) In Hebrews 3:15-19, the author quotes from Psalm 95:7ff, showing that almost all of those who came out of Egypt died in the wilderness in sin and rebellion and unbelief. He calls God’s people who share in Christ to hold on to our original confidence in Him. Sin is so deceitful, and our hearts can become hardened over time against the Lord. So, the author says, we need to keep on exhorting and encouraging each other through the use of God’s Word and Sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit works and keeps us in faith. That’s why we have worship and the Divine Service together and read and study our Scriptures, etc. It is not, as some say, “once in faith, you can never fall away.” We continually need our Lord and His Word and grace to keep us in faith.
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 10:17-22. A Jewish man runs up to Jesus and calls him a good teacher and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus points him to the reality that only God is good, and one must depend on Him alone. (Jesus Himself was sinless, but as a true man, he always depended upon His heavenly Father’s guidance and direction and help.) Jesus then reminds the man of many of the Ten Commandments, which should have helped him realize his own sinfulness. Instead, the man thinks he has kept all these commandments from youth, which Jews were often taught should and could be done. Jesus challenges the man, who was rich, at his greatest point of weakness, and asks him to sell what he had and give it to the poor. Even more important, Jesus calls the man simply to come and follow Him, Jesus, in faith, for He was the promised Savior, whose perfect life and payment for the sins of the world on the cross could save him. The man is shocked and gloomy and goes away sorrowful. He was breaking the First Commandment, above all, trusting himself and his own goodness and his great wealth, rather than Jesus, Lord and Savior. (This is said so simply in many places and in Mark 16:16, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Be sure to pay attention to next week’s reading from Mark, also, which speaks to all of us and our need for Jesus our Savior, too. He alone can save us by His grace through the continuing gift of faith in Him.)
Several of our readings this week focus on the blessings of marriage and children. A series of readings also begins from the Letter to the Hebrews, focusing on Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King and the need to stay close to Him.
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 2:18-25. We hear of the many animals and birds God had created, the harmony with them, and all creation in the perfect world God had created, as Abraham names them. God then created the perfect helper and companion for Adam from one of his ribs and instituted the gift of marriage, bringing Adam and Eve together in oneness with each other. This is the origin of the whole human race and all nations (Acts 17:26).
The Psalm is Psalm 128. It is a “song of ascent,” sung as people went up to Jerusalem. “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.” This is reflected in families with the blessing of a wife and children and the desire to live long enough to see “children’s children.” In His wisdom, this is not God’s plan for all, but this is the way the human race continues until Christ’s return.
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 10:2-16. Pharisees came and tried to “test” Jesus by asking what His view was about divorce and its “lawfulness.” Jewish views about what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 varied. Some thought divorce was clearly wrong; others, like Rabbi Hillel, wrote that a husband could divorce his wife even for such things as letting his food burn. Jesus said that Moses wrote this because of the hardness of human hearts and human failure. Jesus took the Pharisees back to God’s original intent for marriage in Genesis 2, our Old Testament lesson. The high standard of God is the lifelong commitment of a man and woman in marriage. In this passage, we also hear again of Jesus’ love and concern for children. The disciples did not want Jesus bothered by children, but Jesus wanted the children to come to Him and be blessed, as they also could be part of the Kingdom of God. He held this high standard of the value of children and had already taught the disciples this (see Mark 9:35-37), but they failed. They had failed and sinned, but obviously, there could also be repentance and forgiveness of their sins. That is why Jesus had come into the world. He had come to “save sinners,” which we all are. (See Matthew 9:11-13 and Mark 2:16-17 and Romans 5:6-8 and 1 Timothy 1:15, etc.) He came for us to make us His children and bless us, too.
The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 2:1-13(14-18). The Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes that God has spoken throughout the Scriptures, but “in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son” and His saving work for us (Hebrews 1:1-2). Hebrews 2 begins with a key warning. “We must pay attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” and “neglect such a great salvation” that Christ Jesus has provided for us. The Biblical writer then quotes from numerous Scriptures that show that Jesus was and is the promised Savior, through His perfect life and “suffering of death” for us, “to make propitiation” (His atoning sacrifice) “for the sins of the people,” including us, as our great “High Priest.” We then, who “share in flesh and blood” with Him, are brought to “put our trust in Him” and continue in such faith through the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” in God’s Word and Sacraments. (Here are some of the Old Testament Scriptures quoted or referred to: Psalm 8:4-8, Psalm 22:23, Isaiah 8:17-18 and 12:2, and 2 Samuel 22:3.) Jesus is the “merciful and faithful High Priest” for us who can help us through times of suffering and temptation that we all face. Thanks be to God for the victory we have in Christ! May we stay close to Him always and “keep paying attention to what we have heard” through Him and the whole Word of God.
There are two possible sets of readings for this Sunday. I will list all but only give very brief explanations, as there are 9 possible Scriptures, and I cannot cover them all very thoroughly. Churches can use the readings for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost. These are:
Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29
Psalm 104:27-35
James 5:(1-12)13-20
Mark 9:38-50
You can study the Epistle from James 5 by looking at the previously posted podcast. The Words from Psalm 104 show the mercy and care of the Lord in “providing food in due season,” caring for His people, and calling for trust in Him and praise, even as farmers patiently trust the Lord, in that James 5 lesson.
In the Old Testament lesson from Numbers, God’s people are grumbling (warned about in the Epistle), complaining about the manna God was providing, and wanting something else. Moses is also becoming very frustrated because he cannot control or deal with these rebellious people. He almost wishes to give up and die. God provides 70 helpers for Moses and gives them a measure of the Holy Spirit, as Moses had. Moses rejoices in all those who are faithfully helping, even if two of them are not doing everything in the planned way.
This parallels the Gospel lesson from Mark 9, where John complains about someone who is not one of the chosen disciples casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus rejoices in anyone truly doing some good, trusting in the name of Christ. Jesus also warns about going astray and leading others astray. Jesus wants us to battle sin in our lives that would hurt us and others. Sin comes from sinful hearts (Mark 7:20-230, so Jesus is not asking us literally to cut off parts of our body, but to take sin seriously and battle it with the Lord’s help and forgiveness.
The other set of readings possible this week are for focusing on St. Michael and All Angels Sunday. The readings are:
Daniel 10:10-14, 12:1-3
Psalm 91
Revelation 12:7-12
Matthew 18:1-11 or Luke 10:17-20
This set of readings focuses upon the fact that God created holy angels, as well as our amazing universe and the first human beings, Adam and Eve, to live on the earth along with all of its other creatures. The Epistle from Revelation 12 speaks of the rebellion of the devil, Satan, and other angels who became evil and opposed God. They were cast out of the presence of God and came to earth, tempting Adam and Eve to fall into sin, as well. Ever since, there has been a battle between good and evil, including angels, with the victory over evil coming finally through God’s own Son, Jesus, the Lamb who was sacrificed for us. Satan always attacks and accuses us of our sins, but through Jesus, there is forgiveness and life. The archangel Michael is mentioned here and in the Old Testament reading in Daniel 10 as a leader of the holy angels, battling Satan and his forces. The angel who speaks to Daniel had been battling, together with Michael, evil spirits in Persia, who were influencing leaders and people there toward evil. This holy angel then strengthens Daniel (think of how angels strengthened Jesus, tempted in the wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane, in Matthew 4:11 and Luke 22:43). The angel also tells Daniel more things to come in the future, with regard to leaders of Greece, and in Daniel 12, in the end times, when Michael will help deliver God’s people for everlasting life, while others, apart from Christ, will receive everlasting shame and contempt in hell.
The Psalm, Psalm 91, speaks of God’s overarching care for His people. Part of His care is holy angels, who help and protect God’s people who trust in the Lord (Psalm 91:9-13). The devil quotes from this passage, out of context, trying to get Jesus to jump off the temple. Surely, God’s angels would help Him, but Jesus knows that He was not to put God to the test but to do His will always.
The Gospel lesson, Matthew 18:1-11, speaks of God’s care, even for little children who have the gift of simple faith, and that there are guardian angels watching over them, from the presence of the Heavenly Father. There are also reminders to battle evil temptations within us, as described in the Mark 9 passage in the first set of readings. See that for more comments. Finally, Luke 10:17-20 indicates that Jesus gave power to His own disciples to battle evil spirits in His Name. Even more important, though, is that their names are written in heaven, as among those who have been rescued by the gift of faith in Jesus and His saving work for them. That is the best gift.
There is so much more in these passages, but hopefully, this will give you a start in looking at them before and after worship.
James talks, in this Scripture, about how our Lord has helped us in difficult times in the past and how He continues to help us as we face these challenges in the present and in the future. He speaks of three “p’s” that we need, provided by our Lord.
The first of these is “patience.” “Be patient, therefore, until the coming of the Lord,” James writes. He uses the example of farmers, who do as much as they can but are dependent on things that are beyond their control. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit, being patient about it, needing rain at proper times, yet not too much rain, and needing much sunshine and some decent weather at harvest time to bring the crops in. Farmers are some of the greatest examples of needing patience and living by faith as they work.
“You also be patient,” James says, “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7-8). (James is referring to the second coming of Christ on the last day, which may be at any day or hour. No one knows when that will be but God, so we are called to wait patiently and not listen to false prophets who claim that they know the real time.)
James also uses the example of prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They were trying to do the Lord’s work, and yet they had much suffering and trouble, also. We heard last week of David and Jeremiah and of our Lord Jesus Himself, and all the difficulties they faced. James also mentions Job and Elijah. He says, “Behold, we consider these blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness, the patience of Job.” Patience is a “fruit of the Holy Spirit,” as He works through the Word and Sacraments (Galatians 5:22-23).
James also warns, “Do not grumble against one another so that you may not be judged.” It is so tempting, at times, to become so impatient that we strike out with harsh words at others or even the Lord when He is not doing for us what we want Him to do. Even Job himself had to say, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). And Elijah, whom James says was “a man with a nature like ours,” with its sinful weaknesses, once thought he was the only believer left and was so discouraged that he wanted to die.
How much we all also need that second “p” about which James writes - the importance of “prayer” to the Lord in times of trouble, as well as prayers of joy in times of blessing. James writes. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray! Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise! Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” Note that the prayer of faith and the Lord Himself are the important factors in all this.
Some have tried to turn the anointing with oil into a kind of sacrament of healing. Praying is the main verb, though, and applying oil, likely olive oil, is secondary, only as a kind of soothing medicine in the ancient world. Isaiah 1:6 speaks of bruises and sores being bound up and softened with oil. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says that the Samaritan bound up the wounds of the man, beaten and left to die, pouring wine and oil on the wounds. Many other examples of this use of olive oil as a kind of medicine could be given from ancient literature, as well. Anointing the head of someone with some oil was also a sign of welcome and respect for someone. (See Luke 7:46, where Jesus did not receive such a welcome from a Pharisee who invited Him to a meal.)
The important thing was the praying. James writes, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power, as it is working” (in its effects). We also heard, some weeks ago, about the armor of God, which He provides for us. That includes using “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:17ff.). Paul also wrote, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayers work! They may not always bring us what we want, but they bring us what God knows is ultimately best for us in His wisdom. His work is most important, even in our praying, as we don’t always know what to pray for or how to do it. (See Luke 11:1ff, Matthew 6:5-13, and Romans 8:25-28, for example.)
Be patient! Keep praying! And the third “p” that James mentions in this passage is seeing the “purpose” of the Lord. James says, “You have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” The Lord loves the people of this world, including us, in spite of our problems and struggles. That is why He sent Jesus to be our Savior and to die for all on the cross, for the forgiveness of sins and to make us counted acceptable to Him through faith in Jesus. That’s why Jesus also instituted the true Sacrament of Baptism, by which an infant or child or adult of any age can be brought into God’s kingdom by the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and the water of baptism to forgive sins and create faith in a person.
The “purpose” of God is compassion and mercy in Christ and also in the gift of the Lord’s Supper. Christ Himself comes to us, as believers, to forgive and strengthen us, too, whatever we struggle with, as we confess our sins and trust His Word of Promise, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28).
And there is hope for others, too, in the Lord’s compassionate purposes. As this reading ends, James says that even if people wander from the truth, they can be brought back through the Word and their souls saved and the multitude of their sins forgiven in God’s mercy in Jesus (James 5:19-20).
May the Lord give us patience, whatever we are dealing with these days, and keep us using prayer for ourselves and for one another, and in trust that even if He does not answer our prayers as we wish, He is still working for our good and His purposes are full of compassion and mercy for us in Christ, our Lord and Savior (Romans 8:28).
A Sermon on Mark 9:30-37 - September 21, 2024
Gospel for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
As our text begins, Jesus and His disciples were passing through Galilee, but He didn’t want others to know this because He had much to teach His disciples. He could see many of their weaknesses.
For example, we heard last week that the disciples were unable to cast out an evil spirit from a young boy. Earlier, when Jesus had sent them out on a mission trip, two by two, He gave them authority over all the evil spirits (Mark 6:7, Luke 9:1) in His Name. They came back so excited that they were able to cast out many demons ( Mark 6:13, Luke 10:17-20). Jesus had to remind them, though, that they should be rejoicing even more, that their names were written in heaven through Jesus and His heavenly Father’s plan, which Jesus was carrying out for them.
The fact that Jesus had to remind them that the demon “could not be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29) might have been an indication that they had been trusting too much in themselves and their abilities to deal with the demon, and not in Jesus and His power, and calling upon Him and His power, in prayer.
Don’t we do the same all too often? We have a problem or difficulty and try to do everything we can think of to deal with it - and only later, sometimes much later, remember to take it to the Lord in prayer for His gracious and very needed help.
In today’s text, Jesus especially wanted to teach His disciples about His most important work, providing forgiveness and salvation to the world through His suffering, death, and resurrection. This was predicted in the Old Testament and pointed out in our Old Testament lesson for today. The Lord revealed to the prophet Jeremiah that because he had faithfully shown the King and people of Judah their great sin of worshipping false gods and making offerings to the false god, Baal, many of the Jews now wanted to kill him, like a gentle lamb, led to the slaughter. From what we know, Jeremiah did not die in this way. But when God’s own Son, our Lord Jesus, came into this world, John the Baptist said of Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29,36). This is the primary reason why Jesus had been sent to us.
Earlier, in Mark 8:31-33, Jesus had taught about suffering and being killed and rising again, but Peter began to rebuke Jesus, saying that He should never talk about such things. Jesus had to tell Peter that He was not thinking the thoughts of God but the thoughts of sinful man.
On another occasion, Jesus had talked briefly about suffering many things and being treated with contempt, and yet rising from the dead. Again, the disciples did not know what all this meant, especially the rising from the dead.
And again, in our text, Jesus said very clearly, “The Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.” Again, the disciples “did not understand this saying of Jesus, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.” Most likely, they just didn’t want to hear what Jesus had to say. Their minds were on other things, as we will see as our text goes on.
When Jesus and the disciples reached Capernaum and likely the home of Peter, Jesus asked them what they were discussing along the way. It was obvious to Him that they were having a lively and heated disagreement with one another. The disciples kept silent, though, because they were arguing with one another about who was the greatest among them. Jesus was talking about His own suffering and death, and all they could think about was themselves and which of them was the best and the greatest and should be honored the most.
We hear then that Jesus sat down. Among the Jews, a rabbi or teacher would sit down if he had something really important to teach. Jesus then called the twelve, those close disciples, and said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” As one commentator wrote, “Instead of urging ambition for high position and power, Christ knows of only one valid reason for fame before Him and His Father - humble, unpretentious service, without a thought of reward.” And to make that even clearer, Jesus took a child, a pretty small child, as He could take him up in His arms, and said, “Whoever receives one such child in My Name receives Me.”
Imagine that! If we help a little child in the Name of Christ, we are helping and serving Christ Himself and receiving Him. And Jesus adds, “Whoever receives Me, receives not just Me, but Him Who sent Me" (God the Father), and as we read on in the Scriptures, we also receive God the Holy Spirit, Who comes to us and works in us, through Christ and His Word.
What always gets in the way, though, is our own human pride and and way of thinking and our desire for greatness on our terms. Another commentator suggests that when we read a Scripture passage like this or the Epistle today, where James says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6) - we should write down the word PRIDE. Right in the center is the letter “I.” It is so easy to focus on my human thinking and my wishes and my desires, what I want instead of what we know as believers should always be at the center - the wisdom from above in Christ our Lord and His Word and will.
As we’ll hear in the coming weeks in Mark’s Gospel, this was so hard for Christ’s disciples to remember and learn. They and we fail so often. That’s why Christ Jesus came: to teach us God’s will but also to live it out in a perfect way for His disciples and for us, too. “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” James came, he said, “not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many”( Mark 10:45). Only He could do this perfectly for us. That’s why Jesus had to keep repeating the Words in our text: “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.” That is how He would pay the ransom price for the payment of all the sins of His disciples. And the Scriptures also say, “Christ died for all” - for every man, woman, and child, big or small. And that includes each of us here tonight, too.
And Jesus predicted, “When He is killed, after three days He will rise” - with victory over sin, Satan, and death for all of us who have come to faith through Baptism and trust in Him - and with everlasting life ahead. And once we are Christ’s, we are strengthened constantly by Him, as we are gathered around His Word and Sacraments. Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32) - free from continual pride in self and the messages of a very sinful world, and free to follow Christ in a better way and to serve others.
As Paul wrote, “We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God which you received from us, you accepted it not as the word of Men, but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). And as Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who works (through that Word) to give life; our human flesh is no help at all. The Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life” now and forever (John 6:63).
Stay close then to those sacred Words and Writings, which many of “you have know from childhood, which are able to make you wise” (not in human worldly wisdom) but “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15ff).
Please rise: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The psalm for this week is Psalm 54. The introduction tells us that this psalm was written by David when he and others had fled from Jerusalem when King Saul wanted to capture and kill him. David had gone to the town of Ziph, and people of the town went and told King Saul where David was hiding. (You can read about this in 1 Samuel 23:19ff.) The people were not following God’s will but the evil plans of the King. David finds out that he has been betrayed and is able to escape. He prays to God to help and save him because these “strangers” from the town had risen against him and were trying to help take his life. David trusts that God would still uphold his life, in His faithfulness to him as the future king. David freely makes sacrifices of thanksgiving to the Lord for His goodness. (In the chapters that follow 1 Samuel 23, David has opportunities to kill King Saul, but he does not do so since Saul is still the anointed King. David trusts that the Lord would deliver him in His own time and way, as the Lord did, and would give him the kingdom.
In the Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah 11:18-20, the prophet Jeremiah also had great difficulty. He had been speaking against the leaders and people of Judah and Jerusalem for going against the Lord and worshipping and making offerings to false gods. Jeremiah did not realize that the people wanted to cut him off and kill him, as a lamb led to the slaughter, until the Lord revealed it to him. Like David, Jeremiah committed himself to the Lord, who knows the hearts and minds of people and would judge righteously and care for him
What happened with David and Jeremiah, even when they tried to follow the Lord faithfully, was happening also to our Lord Jesus, in our Gospel lesson, Mark 9:30-37. Jesus knew that those opposed to Him, the Lamb of God, the Son of Man, would eventually lead Him to slaughter, at their own hands and the hands of the Roman authorities, as He suffered and was crucified and died on the cross. This was necessary to take away the sin of the world, as predicted by John the Baptist in John 1:29,36 and Old Testament prophecy. Yet, after three days, Jesus would rise again in victory. Jesus had told His disciples about this before (see Mark 8:31-33 and 9:9-12), but again, they did not understand what He meant and were even afraid to ask Him about it.
Part of the problem, of course, was that they were mostly thinking about themselves, instead of Jesus. They were trying to hide the fact that they were arguing about which of them was the greatest disciple. Jesus had again to sit down with them and teach again that they were to be “last of all and servants of all,” servants even of a little child. That is what Jesus Himself would do. He was the Son of Man, who “came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In fact, He “gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6), so that the Good News of Jesus could be proclaimed to all people. And with Christ, one would also receive the blessings of His Heavenly Father, who sent Him and the Holy Spirit, who worked through Jesus and His Word.
What the disciples struggled with, the focus on themselves and the sinful world and its appeal, instead of Christ Jesus, is also what James talks about in our Epistle lesson for this Sunday, James 3:13-4:10. In this third reading from his letter, James speaks very strongly, in 4:1-10, about the dangers of “friendship with the world,” which can make one “an enemy of God.” He speaks of fights and quarrels and coveting and passions and adultery and even murder. (That sounds far-fetched, but we saw in the news a few weeks ago that five people were killed because one family member thought he might be cheated out of his inheritance.) We know of King David’s problems with both adultery and murder. We know of Jesus’ warning about bad thoughts and desires in our minds that are also sins. And how often do we pray, asking too much for our own desires and not for what our Lord would want? All this is a call to repentance from our worldly pride in ourselves and the need for humility and asking the Lord to help us to submit ourselves to Him and His will.
What we really need is what James talks about in the first part of our reading, James 3:13-18, a focus on “the wisdom that comes down from above.” James had said in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” The greatest gift of God is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24) and did His saving work for us. Once we are baptized believers in Christ, our Lord will not easily let us go away from Him either. James says that the Lord “yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us” (James 4:5). Twice James speaks of God giving us His grace, and more grace, His undeserved love and favor for us (James 4:6 and Proverbs 3:34) and helping us battle sinful worldly pride and keeping us humble before Him. He does that through Scriptures like this passage, which shows us the reality and danger of our sins, but above all, He shows us again the Wisdom, mercy, and forgiveness of Christ our Savior. There is our hope.
The Scripture readings for this week speak of challenges that God’s people and even Jesus faced, and yet how the Lord’s care carried them through. The psalm is Psalm 116:1-9. We don’t know who the psalmist was, but he was “brought low” and was near to death, with “distress and anguish.” He called upon the Lord to deliver him, and the Lord heard his pleas for mercy and saved him. He learned to keep calling upon the Lord as long as he lived, for the Lord had delivered him from “tears and stumbling and death.” The Lord would preserve him as He knew best and would one day take him to the land of the living in eternal life.
The Old Testament lesson is one of the “Servant Songs” of the promised Savior, our Lord Jesus, in Isaiah’s prophesy. In this passage, the Servant knew that His tongue had been taught by the Lord God Himself, His Heavenly Father. The Servant could, therefore, sustain the weary with the Words He would speak, and He keeps hearing the Lord’s Word and will in His ear, morning by morning. (See the way that Jesus speaks in John 5:19-36 about His ministry as the Son, Who listens to and sees His Father and does His will. Believers would eventually honor Him, the Son, just as they honor the Father (and eventually the Holy Spirit) as the one true Triune God at work for them. See how Jesus also reached out to the weary and heavy laden, as well as to children, in Matthew 9:25-30. He could bring them all rest and peace.)
Jesus is also not rebellious at the Lord’s will, even though it would mean much suffering and disgrace at the hands of His enemies in this world. A number of things He experienced on the way to the cross are predicted by Him here, in Isaiah 50:6. (See Mark 15:15 and Mark 14:64-65 and Matthew 26:66-68.) Yet Jesus “set His face like a flint” to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. (See Luke 9:51.) He knew that the Lord His God would help Him, even when He faced His adversaries who would declare Him guilty. (See Matthew 26:62-66.) Jesus knew, as he says twice, that the Lord God would help Him, and He would win the victory over sin and Satan and evil and death. (See Romans 8:31-38.)
Finally, as the Old Testament lesson ends, the Servant says, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God.” In the darkest of days, we are called to trust our Lord, as Jesus did, and listen to His voice, and not try to produce our own light with our own ideas and schemes and thinking (Isaiah 50:10-11). What we try to do and produce on our own will end up being “moth-eaten” (Isaiah 50:9), as Jesus says a number of times in His teaching. (See Matthew 6:19-20, Luke 12:33, and James 5:2.)
As our Gospel lesson begins, in Mark 9:14-29, Jesus and His disciples had just seen the great glory and light of His transfiguration (Matthew 9:2-9), but Jesus then began to speak about suffering and dying and rising again - things they did not understand (Matthew 9:9-13). Jesus also found His other disciples having difficulty because they could not cast out an unclean, evil spirit from a boy brought to them. Jesus was frustrated and spoke of how “faithless” His own generation was and how hard it was to put up with their lack of faith and understanding. Jesus called for faith and trust in Him, and the boy’s father cried out and said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” He knew that he needed the Lord’s help to believe as he should - as we all do! Jesus then quickly cast the evil spirit out of the boy, and Jesus lifted up the boy to good health. The disciples asked why they could not heal this boy when earlier they were able to “cast out many evil spirits” (Mark 6:7-13). Jesus simply said, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” This response of Jesus makes us wonder if the disciples forgot where their own power to cast out demons had come from. Jesus had given them this power. It was not in their own ability or strength. They may have even forgotten to pray to the Lord their God and to ask Jesus Himself for His strength and power for them to help this boy. (Do we do the same? When some difficulty comes, do we try first to do what we think to do and only later lean upon the Lord and His strength and His power to heal? We forget Jesus and His promise to be with us always and help us through. See Matthew 28:20, Psalm 50:15, Proverbs 3:5, etc.)
The Epistle lesson continues readings from James. This week, we hear in James 3:1-12 of the power of the human tongue, particularly for evil, and how hard it is to control. That is why it is hard to be a teacher and use our tongues in a positive way. We all stumble much and are not in any way close to being perfect. In fact, James says that “no human being can tame the tongue.” It is “a restless evil” and “set on fire by hell,” going all the way back to the fall of Adam and Eve into sin through the influence of Satan. Out of every mouth comes both good and evil, and it should not be so. (By the way, this makes it clear that James did not teach salvation by works, for we are all poor, miserable sinners, even with our tongues.) Only that Servant sent from God, God’s own Son, had a tongue that was taught and sustained by God. Only He was always listening to His Father and doing His will and fulfilling all righteousness for us (Matthew 3:15) and finally paying for all our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21), suffering the fires of hell for us, God-forsaken, on the cross, so that we might be forgiven and saved and brought to Him in baptism and faith. Now, by His grace, we “hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” (The battle with our tongues is spoken of in so many other Scriptures, too. Here are some examples: Matthew 12:34-37, Matthew 15:10-11, Proverbs 16:27-28, Psalm 140:1-3,9-10, Luke 6:27-28, Romans 12:14, Matthew 5:21-22, etc. and etc.) James says, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of it all.” Our tongues alone condemn us. Our only hope is, as James says, that “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). It is only by God’s mercy for us, earned by Christ, that we can be and are forgiven and saved. Thanks be to God, Who alone gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57) - even in our battle with our tongues!
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 34:4-7a, is another of the many prophecies in Isaiah of God’s coming to His people with judgment for sin but bringing salvation, above all. We who have anxious hearts about many things are told, “Be strong; fear not!” When people see many miracles and healings happening through Jesus, they will know that He is the Promised One. He will also provide Living Water, the Water of Life, coming through the Holy Spirit as well. (See John 7:37-39.)
The psalm, Psalm 146, is also prophetic of Christ. We are not to put our trust in other people, even those as powerful as princes, for they cannot bring salvation. They soon die, and their plans perish. We trust the Lord God, our Creator, mostly especially in the gift of His Son, Jesus, who helped the oppressed, gave food to the hungry, opened the eyes of the blind, lifted up those bowed down by the troubles of life, and set us free from captivity to sin. He helped the Jewish widow of Nain (Luke 7:11ff) and non-Jewish sojourners in many places. He was righteous for us and keeps faith forever for us in His life, death, and resurrection for us. Other leaders come and go, but He will reign forever as King of Kings and Lord of Lords ( Revelation 17:14) together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We simply trust Him all our life and say, “Praise the LORD.” The Hebrew for that is Hallelu-Yah (Yahweh) (Psalm 146:1).
The Gospel lesson is Mark 7:(24-30)31-37, where we have two stories of Jesus doing His saving work for people, as predicted in the Old Testament lesson and Psalm. Jesus knew that His primary ministry was among His own Jewish people, but He also went to non-Jewish, Gentile areas like Tyre and Sidon, for He knew that His saving work was for all people and all nations. A Gentile woman with a child possessed by an evil spirit came to Jesus and asked for help. She had the gift of faith and called Jesus “Lord” and trusted Him much more than many of His fellow Jews, knowing that even “crumbs” from Jesus would be enough, and the demon was defeated and cast out, and her daughter was healed. (See Luke 10:13-14, where Jesus predicts such things.) Jesus then went to the “Decapolis” area, an area where there were 10 towns with a mix of Jews and non-Jews. Another person was brought to Him for help. The man was deaf and had a speech impediment, which often happens when people have never heard real speech. Jesus privately healed the man, and he could hear and speak plainly. The people were astonished and couldn’t help but tell others, “Jesus has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Who does this sound like in Genesis 1:31? See again the parallels and predictions in Isaiah 35:5-6, Isaiah 29:18-19, Isaiah 42:1,6-9, and Isaiah 56:6-8
The Epistle lesson is James 2:1-10, 14-18, the first of several readings from James. As we have heard, Jesus showed no partiality but reached out to all kinds of people, poor and rich, Jew and non-Jew. (See Acts 10:34 and many similar passages.) James reminds the believers, therefore, that they should show no partiality, either, in holding the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, in the church. It would be easy to pay more attention to the rich and powerful, who could benefit the church the most, it would seem. That is not always true, and we are called to love our neighbors, whoever they are. James reminds us that we are all sinners, too. If we sin in just one way (and who can do that well?), we are still guilty sinners. James has already said that holding the faith of Christ is key (James 2:2,5). James has also said that by God’s own will, He brought us forth to faith by His Word (James 1:17-18). But our Lord gives us a living faith that wants to do good for others, in gratefulness for what He has done for us to save us. The gift of faith saves, but such faith shows itself in works of love for our neighbor, in gratitude to God. (See other passages such as Ephesians 2:4-10, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, 1 John 3:17, and Matthew 7:21.) We show our faith in the saving work of Jesus in our own works of love for others.
The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9. The Lord speaks to His chosen people, telling them to listen to all that He is teaching them so that they may receive the land He is giving them. (He says this nearly 70 times in the book of Deuteronomy alone.) They are not to add to or subtract from what God commands. These Words will be their wisdom and understanding for them and show other nations that God is near to them and hears them and leads them in a righteous way. They are to teach the things they have seen and heard to future generations and be diligent not to forget or depart from God’s Word themselves.
The psalm is from Psalm 119:129-136. This whole psalm, including these verses, rejoices in the wonderful Words and testimonies of God, which give light and understanding to the psalmist and to all who long for God’s will and love His Name. The psalmist knows he needs the Lord to turn to him and be gracious to him and keep his own steps steady, so that sin does not have dominion over him. He needs the Lord as his Redeemer, Who will shine His face upon him and keep teaching him and keep him from being one of those people who, so sadly, have no interest in keeping the Lord’s law.
In the Gospel lesson, from Mark 7:14-23, Jesus declared all foods clean, freeing people from the dietary rules and other ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. It is not such things going into us that pollute us. The true problem, He says, is our sinful human nature, which has been corrupted ever since the fall into sin. What defiles us are the evil thoughts and desires that come from within us and battle against God’s Word and will, battling especially the moral law of God, expressed in the 10 Commandments. (Notice how many of those Commandments are mentioned and violated in 7:20-23, in the thoughts and words and deeds that come out of people.) That is precisely why Jesus had to come and be our Savior and forgive our sins and give us new life and a new way, through the power of His Spirit, working through the Word of God and the Sacraments.
We know, even as believers in Christ, what a struggle it still is to follow our Lord Jesus and His will. Paul writes about that in the Epistle lesson, Ephesians 6:10-20, the last of eight readings from Ephesians that we have heard the last few months. Paul calls us to be strong in the Lord and His strength. We cannot battle the devil and his evil forces on our own. We need the whole armor of God in order to stand firm. Paul used the picture image of an ancient warrior and the armor that protects him. For Christians, this is truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, and especially, faith and salvation, all of which our Lord provides for us. Our sword is the Word of God, wielded not so much by us but by the Holy Spirit, along with prayer for each other and all the saints, again guided by the Holy Spirit. Paul knows that he needs such Words and prayer, too, to enable him to keep preaching the Gospel boldly, even though he is in chains in prison as he speaks and writes. We need this armor and power from our Lord in the present darkness of this 21st Century, too. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Sermon for Fellowship Communion - August 28, 2024
Based on Ephesians 5:20-6:9
(Please read the text beforehand, if possible.)
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14)
Paul said, right after, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:20-21), “wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” There are those who don’t like these words and would like to tear them out of the Bible. But look at what else you would be tearing out - Christ Himself and His blessings for you and for the church. - “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior, to which the church submits”
This is not a power play for husbands but a great responsibility given to them. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.” And how much did Christ love the church, including you and me? Enough, Paul says, for Him to give Himself up for us. Jesus, God’s Son, came into this world “not to be served, but to serve us, and to give His life as a ransom” in payment for all of our sins (Matthew 28:20).
In that way, Paul says, Jesus “sanctifies us, having cleansed us by the washing of water with the Word.” That’s a reference to Baptism, water connected with the Word of God, through which the Holy Spirit brought us to faith and forgiveness. And we think of the gift of Holy Communion we’ll receive in a few moments, too, when Christ also comes to each of us, bringing in and with the bread and wine, His true Body and Blood for forgiveness and strengthening of our faith.
In this way, Paul says, Christ presents the church, including us, to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that we might be holy and without blemish.” That’s not how we often feel. We know that we have lots of spots and wrinkles and blemishes, literally, as we get older, and we also know that we have plenty of sins and spiritual blemishes that need forgiveness, above all. We bring all these to Christ, and through His sacrifice for us on the cross, He forgives us and counts us and sees us as holy and without blemish, in His eyes, by His grace.
In the same way, Paul says husbands should love their own wives and even as their own bodies. “He who loves his wife” is actually “loving himself.” Paul then quotes a Scripture from Genesis 2, when God first instituted marriage, to show that. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” - like one new person together. What we do for our spouse, in love, we are also doing for ourselves, as part of that one new person we have become in marriage, “nourishing and cherishing one another, just as Christ does the church, His body, of which He is the Head.”
Paul says that this is a profound mystery and that he is speaking most especially of the unity that Christ brings to us in the church, together. However, he says, “Let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband,“ reflecting the love of Christ to and for each other in marriage.
Right after this Epistle lesson, then, Paul gives two more examples of “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” He speaks to children and says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1-4). This is good for children and parents and families, according to God’s good will and plan. “Honor your father and mother.”
Do you remember how Jesus, when he was 12 years old and went with His parents to Jerusalem, knew He needed to be in His Heavenly Father’s house, in the temple, listening and asking questions and giving understanding answers? Though His parents did not understand, we read that Jesus went home and was submissive to them, honoring His parents, as he should, even though He was the very Son of God, and he served His family until His public ministry began when he was about 30 years old (Luke 2:41-52).
Fathers also have responsibilities as heads of families in the Lord. Paul says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Teaching of the Lord and His Word and what He’s done for us is so important. This is where Lutheran congregations and Lutheran schools have been and continue to be very helpful in supporting parents in Christ-centered learning.
Finally, Paul gives an example of Christ-centered relationships also between servants and masters - or, in today’s terms, between employees and employers (Ephesians 6:5-9). Employees are to obey their employers with a sincere heart, as they would Christ, and not just be trying to look good in the eyes of others for their own personal gain. Instead, employees should seek to do the will of God from the heart, as if they were working for the Lord Himself. Then, they will ultimately be blessed by Him. Employers and masters who are Christian should also serve their employees in a Christ-like way, remembering that they have a Heavenly Master to whom they are ultimately responsible, themselves, too.
Now, a lot of this may seem irrelevant to us. Most of us are not working anymore and are neither employees or employers. If we have been married, many of our spouses have already been called to eternal life with Christ in heaven, and we just miss them. And if we have children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, most of us don’t have prime responsibility for them anymore.
But our Lord, in His wisdom, has left us here for a reason. And these Scriptures are encouraging us to keep our focus on Christ, at the center, in whatever we are doing, and His saving Word and work for us. Then, he will also help us to see ways that we can still “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13) in thankfulness for God’s grace and in reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:20-21). That happens as we receive the gifts of Christ Himself together in the Lord’s Supper and as we talk with and encourage one another after our service as members of the body of Christ in this church together. We all need that encouragement in Christ.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe together in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 14, another psalm of David. The Lord looks down from heaven and sees no one who is doing good. Fools deny that there is any God. No one understands and seeks God as he should. Again, David speaks God’s verdict. “There is none who does good, not even one.” This is the reality of sinful human nature ever since the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. (See Genesis 6:5,12.) There are some, though, who are counted righteous in God’s eyes by His grace and forgiveness and who “walk with God by faith.” (See Genesis 6:9, 15:6.) God’s Old Testament people were chosen and called to be part of that “righteous” group, but many of them also fell away and needed to be “restored.” David prays that “salvation for Israel would come out of Zion,” from among God’s place of rule, and that the Lord would be the “Refuge” for His “poor” people. (The Lord inspires David to repeat this same message in Psalm 53, with almost the same words, except for the promise that God would eventually defeat all those “encamped against” Him and His believers (Psalm 53:5).
Unfortunately, many of God’s Old Testament chosen people would continue to drift away from the Lord and be “blind” and “drunk” and spiritually “asleep.” (See Isaiah 29: 9-10.) The Lord then sends the message through the prophet Isaiah that we hear in the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 29:11-19. The message from God would seem to be “sealed” to them, and people would draw near to Him only with their “lips” and not with their “hearts.” “The wisdom of their wise men would perish,” and they “would turn things upside down.” People would act like “clay,” trying to deny the Lord, who was their “Potter” and their “Creator,” and they would reject His truth and “understanding.” They would develop their own human “commandments” and follow them instead of the Lord and His Word. But again, a time was coming when “the deaf” and “the blind” would “hear and see, out of their gloom and darkness.” Those who were “meek” and spiritually “poor” before the Lord would “obtain fresh joy in the Lord” and “exult in the Holy One of Israel,” the Promised Savior, and His salvation for them.
Jesus was that "Promised Savior,” and in the Gospel lesson, Mark 7:1-13, we see Him challenging those who wanted to condemn Him with their human commandments. Jesus quotes from our Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 29:13) and says that they, the religious leaders and others, were the ones leaving the true commandments of God and holding to the traditions of men. He used the example of the 4th Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” The elders and priests had made up a rule called “Corban” that if people pledged to give a certain amount to the priests and the temple, they must do so, even if that meant neglecting the genuine needs of their parents. It also became a way of avoiding giving help to their parents and others if they just did not want to help them for purely selfish reasons. The true Word of God was being ignored by human ideas and rules that were not good. Jesus also said that the people were doing many other things against God’s will and failing to do things that they really should have done. (Jesus was doing what the first two readings this week were also doing - showing us and all people that we are sinners who fall far short of God’s will and need repentance and forgiveness and the new life of trust in Him that Jesus was earning for us and the world as He went to the cross and the empty tomb for us. He alone was and is the Savior that we need.)
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians - this week, from Ephesians 5:22-33. Paul had been writing about our new life of faith in Christ, by whom we are saved, and calling us in thanks and gratitude to be “submissive to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). This is also expressed in other Scriptures like Galatians 5:13. Paul writes, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh (for your own sinful desires and wishes), but through love serve one another.” In the Ephesians reading, Paul says that husbands are to be the “head” of the family, and wives are to be submissive. This is not a power play for husbands, though. The pattern is Christ as the head of the church, His body, and its Savior. He loved the church and was willing to die for it so that we could be sanctified through baptism (the washing of water with His Word and promises) and counted “holy and without blemish” in His eyes. Husbands have a great responsibility, too, as head of their family. They are to “love their wives, as Christ loved the church,” in a sacrificial way and “nourish and cherish them, as Christ does the church.” It was the Lord Himself who instituted marriage in Genesis 2 and calls husbands to love their wives as part of them, and wives are to respect their husbands. This is a very high calling from the Lord, and we live in it only by the grace and love and forgiveness Christ bestows first upon us,
I was surprised at the number of Scriptures in our Old Testament reading this week that were quoted later on in the Scriptures or at least alluded to. It was a good reminder that the Scriptures themselves help us to interpret other Scriptures, most especially when a Biblical writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is referring to another Scripture passage himself. Old Testament Scriptures are so often pointing forward to the future, too, and especially pointing to the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, at the center of the Triune God’s work for us, revealed in God’s Word. Here are just a few examples. Be watching for these.
In Romans 3:10-12, Paul quotes from Psalm 14:1-3 and its parallel, Psalm 53:1-3, along with Ecclesiastes 7:20. In the verses that follow, in Romans 3:13-18, Paul refers to at least seven other Old Testament Scriptures which also make his point that we are all sinners who need the saving work of Jesus. Later on, in Romans 11:26, Paul refers to Psalm 14:7, in saying that “the Deliverer,” who brings salvation, “would come from Zion“ and bless the descendants of “Jacob,” just as Jesus came to do for them and for the New Israel, all believers in Christ. Also, as Psalm 14:4 speaks of “evildoers who eat up God’s people as they eat bread,” Paul reminds believers in Galatians 5:14-15 that they are to “love their neighbors as themselves.” But, he says, “if you bite and devour one another (in sharp disagreements), watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”
Look also at Isaiah 29:11-19. Jesus quotes very directly from this passage, in Mark 7:6-7 (and in the parallel passage in Matthew 15:8-9), showing that His fellow Jews had the same problem in His day as many Jews had in the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, following human commandments and not the Word of God. Jesus had come into the world to help those literally “deaf and blind,” but also those spiritually deaf and blind, for whom the Scriptures seemed to be like a “sealed” book. Jesus showed this for John the Baptist, in prison, and his disciples, too, by referring to the prediction in Isaiah 29:18-19 that when the Savior came, He would help the deaf and blind and the spiritually poor. He would help them “exult in the Holy One of Israel,” for He was the promised Holy One and their Savior.
We heard last week that Peter was brought to that faith and belief in Jesus as “the Holy One of God.” Peter said, in John 6:68-69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Paul also quotes from Isaiah 29:13 in 1 Corinthians 1:19, where He shows that many people who thought they were so “wise and discerning” were missing the one most important One for their lives and future, Jesus “Christ crucified,” “the Power of God and the true Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24).
I could go on and on with more examples, but the point is that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are rich with Scriptures that point us to the New Testament and to Christ Jesus as our Savior above all. Paul reminded a young pastor, Timothy, “From childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). That is the greatest wisdom, in Christ our Wisdom. As John said, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). Keep reading and listening to the Scriptures, and let them interpret God’s Word for you, with Christ as the Key. If you have a Bible with cross references, they can help you find passages like the ones I have mentioned. There are so many.
There are two possible Old Testament lessons this Sunday. The first is Proverbs 9:1-10. This passage describes Wisdom as a wise woman who built her house on a very firm foundation. (The number “seven” represents “completeness and perfection.”) She has prepared a banquet including meat and bread and wine, which represent the “insight,” “instruction,” and “teaching” that can be found by coming to where the real wisdom is, in “the fear of the Lord” and knowledge of the Holy One, the Lord Himself and His Word. Young women are sent out to invite everyone to come, though it is known that scoffers and the wicked might refuse.
Jesus Himself is pictured in the New Testament as the Power of God and the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), and even the demons recognize that Jesus is “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Jesus also tells a parable of a wedding banquet, where many invited guests refuse to come. The king then invites many others, all kinds of people, who do fill up the banquet hall with wedding garments provided for them to make them acceptable (Matthew 22:14). Jesus Himself is the Way and the Truth and the Life and has earned all these blessings for us by His sacrifice on the cross and then bringing us to faith in Him by His Word and Spirit.
The rest of Proverbs 9 then tells of another woman, called Folly, who seductively sits at her door and tries to draw senseless people into her home to stolen water and bread eaten in secret pleasures that lead people only to death, away from the Lord and His will. That is the other way, apart from Christ.
The alternate Old Testament reading is from Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18. Joshua had led the chosen people of Israel into the promised land and helped them to get settled through the Lord’s Word and guidance. The Lord knew that some still had mixed up loyalties to the One True God and other voices and could also be led astray by the Amorites and others with false gods around them and other false influences and gods from the past. The Lord had Joshua make a strong call for the people to trust the LORD, the One True God, alone and not to “forsake the LORD to serve other gods.” That would be their downfall. As with the reading from Proverbs 9, that would be listening to the voice of folly instead of the voice of the Wisdom of the One True God. Both Joshua and the people affirm that they would serve the LORD, for He is their God.
The Psalm is Psalm 34:12-22. This continues the reading from last week of the opening verses of this psalm, which end with the words of David, “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD” (Psalm 34:11). These are the same Words that Wisdom speaks in the Proverbs 9 reading, which added that these Words bring “the knowledge of the Holy One of God” and true “insight.” David speaks of “seeking peace and pursuing it” in God’s good will. When we are “broken-hearted” in our sins and “crushed in spirit,” the LORD is near and “redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” God’s people will still have afflictions, as David did, but “the LORD delivers them out of them all.” There is even a prophetic Word from David in this psalm about our Lord Jesus, our ultimate deliverer, who, even in His terrible death for us, “kept all His bones; not one of them was broken.” (See John 19:32-36.) Above all, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Roman 8:1).
The Gospel lesson, John 6:51-69, continues readings from the last two weeks about Jesus identifying Himself as “the Bread of Life that came down from heaven” (John 6:33,35,38,41). Jesus repeats this in John 6:51 and adds that “the bread He will give for the life of the world is His flesh.” At this point, Jesus is especially referring to the sacrifice of His flesh, His body, on the cross, in payment for the sins of the world, as the Lamb of God. (See John 1:14 and 29 and John 3:13-15 and later on, the explanation in Hebrews 10:5-14.) Jesus is calling people to hear His Word and trust in Him, even as Wisdom, in Proverbs 9:5,10 called out, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight,” - “the insight of the knowledge of Jesus as the Holy One, given by God.”
Jesus puts the emphasis upon trusting Him and His Word, through the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh (our flesh) is no help at all. The Words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life” (John 6:63). Jesus also says, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65). These seemed to be very hard words from Jesus, and we sadly hear that “many turned back and no longer walked with Jesus” and no longer followed Him. Even one of the original 12 disciples, Judas, was turning against Him (John 6:60,61,66,67,70-71). Simon Peter, however, spoke of what was really true. “Jesus has the Words of eternal life, and we have come to believe and have come to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God,” just as Wisdom had said in Proverbs 9:10.
When we read or hear this passage today, especially John 6:53-58, we think also of God’s great gift of Holy Communion, where we receive in, with, and under the bread and wine the very Body and Blood of Christ Himself. At the time Jesus first spoke these words, though, He had not yet instituted and given this Holy Meal. That would not happen until at the Lord’s Supper, the night before Christ’s sacrifice of His flesh, His Body and Blood, on the cross. Christ Jesus certainly had in mind and was predicting the coming gift of Holy Communion, though, which now forgives our sins and strengthens our faith, as baptized and prepared believers, in fellowship with one another, so that we may “abide in Christ, and He in us,” as we receive the Lord’s Supper often (John 6:56-58).
The Epistle lesson, Ephesians 5:6-21, also continues readings we have heard for several weeks, from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Paul warns His fellow believers not to be deceived by “empty words,” which are not of and from the Word of God. Once, we were “darkness” in our sins and sinful nature, but now we are “light in the Lord,” wanting to follow what is good and right and true and pleasing to the Lord. Ephesians 5:14 may be part of an early baptismal hymn of the early church. We were “dead” in our sins and “unfruitful works of darkness,” but now have been awakened in our baptism and through the Word of God, and Christ shines on us and the Holy Spirit fills us. Together, we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, thanking the Triune God in the name of Christ. We try not to push our own selfish will but seek to submit to God’s ways in loving service to one another. (See Galatians 5:13 as another description of this, in reverence for Christ our Savior.)
The Old Testament lesson is from 1 Kings 19:1-8. The Lord had helped the faithful prophet Elijah and shown His power over the prophets of the false god Baal. The Lord had Elijah kill these false prophets, and King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who supported these false prophets, was so angry that she vowed that Elijah would be dead by the next day. In fear, Elijah fled as far south in the land as he could go and was ready to die. The angel of the Lord cared for him and fed him enough that he could travel to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai), where the Lord would appear to him, as He had to Moses long before, and encourage and strengthen him.
David, too, had his troubles, even as a servant of the Lord, as expressed in Psalm 34:1-8. The introduction to the psalm refers to a time when David had to pretend that he was crazy or insane in order to escape from a king of whom he was afraid. (See 1 Samuel 21:10-15.) David was also being pursued by his own king, King Saul, at this time. David praises the Lord in Psalm 34 for delivering him from all his fears. He was like a poor, helpless man, but the Lord saved him from his troubles, and the angel of the Lord protected him. David exclaims, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (See how this verse is quoted for us in 1 Peter 2:2-3.)
The Gospel lesson is John 6:35-51, continuing last week’s reading, where Jesus said He was “the Bread of life,” who could bring eternal life to those who believed in Him, as the promised one, sent from God the Father. Jesus had opposition, too. Many Jews grumbled at this claim of His, as they knew Jesus as the son of Joseph and his wife, Mary. How could Jesus claim to have come down from heaven and be offering living bread that would bring life forever - better bread than the manna provided in the wilderness at the time of Moses? Jesus was telling the truth, but it did not make sense to many of the people. (We will hear more of this next week, too.)
The Epistle lesson is another reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4:17-5:2. Here, Paul emphasizes what new life in Christ as Savior looks like. We have heard that we are counted righteous already, simply by faith in Jesus. We have a new life in Jesus and in His truth and now want to be renewed in our minds and be a new self, a new person, according to what our Lord knows is right and best for us and for others around us.
This is very different from the very self-centered lifestyle of the Gentile Greco-Roman world. It involves being truthful in what we say, seeking to build up others, and doing honest work. It means trying to be kind and forgiving to others, as God in Christ has loved and forgiven us. Christ Jesus loved us and sacrificed everything for us. We seek, now, to walk in His way of love, as His beloved children, in what we do and in what we say. Like David and Elijah, we will sometimes fail, but the Lord will forgive and lift us again and send His angels to help and protect us, as He promises.
“Receiving God’s Grace”
We have heard several readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians on Sundays in recent weeks. Paul clearly emphasizes, as the Scriptures so often do, that we are saved purely by the grace of God (His undeserved love and favor and gift for us) through faith in Jesus Christ and His saving work for us, and even our faith is not our own doing, that we produce. It is a gift of God, not by our works so that no one can boast about what we have done. We were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, but God made us alive by His grace and worked faith in us through His Holy Spirit, through His Word and our baptism, and strengthened us through the Word and Sacraments, as we receive Jesus, the Bread of Life. (Read especially Ephesians 2:1-10, again, as a summary of all this. This grace and gift of God is already ours if we are trusting in Jesus as our Savior. We could not believe without that grace.)
We also have heard that God has given us the gifts of prophets and apostles and evangelists, who taught and wrote down God’s Word for us. These are the Holy Scriptures through which the Holy Spirit works and we can learn and be strengthened in God’s Word and will for us and in knowing what is truly right and wrong for our new life in Jesus. God’s Word is vital for us, and through it, we also know the value of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as the Lord connects His Word to the water of baptism and the bread and wine, Christ’s true body and blood, in the Lord’s Supper. These are all gifts of God’s grace, by which we have received our salvation.
But Paul also says, in Ephesians 4:7, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” This seems to refer to the unique gifts of grace we each are given to serve one another in the body of Christ. Paul speaks of “each part working properly, helping the body grow and build itself up in love.”
In a Bible study discussion, this seemed confusing to some. Are these natural gifts and abilities that we have that can be used? Some people are better than others in certain things, as we are all unique individuals, and none of us are strong in everything. But Paul mixes in God’s grace given to each, which seems different from the same grace given to all by which we are saved. Our natural abilities are surely a gift from God, too. That does not make us superior or inferior to others in the church. That just makes us different.
The Biblical writers often use blessings like “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” See Philippians 1:2. Peter even writes, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2). And Peter says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That seems to say that we can wish and ask for God’s grace for a greater understanding of our Lord and His will and what we can do in service as the unique person we are.
That does not mean that we can be more saved. Christ has already done everything we need, and we simply trust Him for His completed work of salvation. This has nothing to do with competition with other Christians about anything, either. Paul writes about “walking in a manner worthy of our calling” as Christians, which involves “humility and gentleness with patience, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2). And we do not ask for God’s grace for personal glory, but to serve our Lord and others in a better way, for God’s glory. Right after Peter speaks of “growing in grace,” he adds, “To God be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” And while Paul writes his letter to the Ephesians, inspired by God, he just has to stop and give all the glory to the Lord and His grace. If we accomplish anything, it is by God’s power at work in us, in our Christian life. Paul writes, “Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
“Powerful Angels”
Two of our readings this Sunday mention “an angel of the Lord” helping people. An angel helped the prophet Elijah survive and provided food for him for a long journey (1 Kings 19:5-8). David also knew that the Lord “delivered him from all his fears” and “saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:4,6). And right after that, David wrote, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them” (Psalm 34:7). In the Bible, the good angels are powerful servants of God in service to the Lord and in protecting us.
I recently came across an old devotion I had saved, written many years ago by a Purdue student who became a pastor and, for a while, sent out regular devotions to friends. He spoke of how angels are often pictured in very different ways. Rafael has a famous painting in which several “cherubs” (one of the kinds of angels) are “pictured as adorable, chubby little babies. The image of a cherub looking like a baby comes from Eros of Greek mythology or Cupid of the Romans, but not from Scripture at all.”
That made me think of how often in movies and books these days, angels are pictured as bumbling creatures sent from God to help someone but not able to get things right and messing things up, at least for a while, until they earn their wings. Again, that is never the Biblical picture. Angels are spirits and do not have a “body.” They can appear in various forms. Nor do people ever become angels. Angels are uniquely created by God to be His servants. The good angels in the Bible are mighty, powerful servants of God, always doing God’s will as they should, for us and our good and our protection. They can be powerful warriors against Satan and the other angels who rebelled against God and fell into great sin and evil and oppose God.
The good angels are also God’s messengers who bring good news to people. It was an angel who was sent by God to the prophet Isaiah when he realized his sin and said, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” The angel touched his lips and said, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Angels announced to Mary the coming birth of her Savior, born to her; angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem; and on and on. When you hear of good angels, make sure that they fit the Biblical picture of powerful servants of God working for good. What a blessing that we still have such guardians and helpers from the Lord, for children, but for all of us.
11th Sunday after Pentecost
“United in Christ, Speaking the Truth in Love”
Ephesians 4:1-16
Let us pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer." Amen (Psalm 19:140).
A few weeks ago, in Ephesians, Chapter 2:13-22, we heard the apostle Paul promising that the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus was for all people, non-Jews as well as Jews. Paul wrote, “Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Christ is our Peace, who has made us both one (both Jews and non-Jews - all who have been brought to faith in Christ) and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility… He has reconciled us both (Jews and non-Jews) to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility… For through Christ, we both (Jews and non-Jews) have access in one Spirit to (God) the Father.”
Note that this unity is the plan and the work of the One True Triune God, not of us, as we are built, Paul says, “on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,” those who taught and wrote down the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, with Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord… by the Spirit.” This is what we now call the Holy Christian Church.
In our text for today, Ephesians 4, Paul speaks again of “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” that is in the Church. Seven times in verses 4 through 6, Paul uses the word “one,” emphasizing the one plan and work of the Triune God for all of us and our salvation. Our primary strength in the Church is not in our diversity but in our unity in our Triune God and His Word and His one way to new and eternal life, centered in Christ as the cornerstone, and His sacrifice on the cross for us all.
Listen again to Paul’s words. There is only one Holy Spirit, who gathers people together in one body, the church, by one faith, in the one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit does this through the speaking of the one truth, the Word of God, and through the Word and promises of God connected with the water in one baptism, by which people are “born again” and brought to that one true faith (John 3:3,5-7) and then strengthened in that faith. That calling to faith also brings one great hope for this life and for eternal life to come for us and all believers through our one God and Father, who is with us always, over and through and in us.
Let me stop for a moment and ask: does the Christian church today really seem to be this united? We have so many groups and divisions and denominations; and we know that we are still sinful, struggling individuals, too. Yet the miracle of salvation by God’s grace through Christ is that God now looks at us through Jesus and sees Jesus in us so that we look and are counted as forgiven and acceptable to God through Jesus. Sometimes pastors wear two robes. The black robe underneath represents our sins. The white robe over that represents Jesus covering over all our sins.
Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake, God made Him (Jesus)to be sin who knew no sin.” All our sins were dumped on Jesus, and He carried them to the cross and paid the penalty for all of them and forgave them all. He did that, Paul says, “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” We and all believers are counted righteous by being brought to faith and trust in Jesus. This is sometimes called the “invisible church” that only God can see. God looks at us, and He sees only Christ in us. That is the one true church, the one holy, Christian, and apostolic Church that God has made and sees, as described in the creeds.
How much we need all this that our one true triune God has done for us and continues to provide for us, in watching over us. For we live in challenging times, with all sorts of competing ideas and voices all around us, including on moral and spiritual teachings.
It has always been this way, though. A little later on in our text, Paul writes of children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. We do have concerns, don’t we, about our literal children and grandchildren, for fear that they might be led astray by false doctrines and wrong moral and religious ideas. But Paul is really talking about all of us, no matter what our age, as he wishes that we, too, may no longer be children or childish, tossed to and fro by false doctrines, by human cunning that leads to evil, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
You have probably read that senior citizens are estimated to have lost over 3 billion dollars to scammers in just 2022 alone. And my local bank had warnings out this week that people claiming to be bank fraud investigators were actually trying to steal from people. There are spiritual deceivers, too - people focused, Paul says, on human cunning - people talking about things that appeal to our human thoughts and the desires of our sinful human nature - and what we would like to hear about, and not on the things of God. How can we tell what is correct?
Paul tells us again, in our text, that God gives us the gifts that we need. He mentions again that God gave us the gift of the prophets and apostles and evangelists, who long ago taught and wrote down the Holy Scriptures, as Paul says on another occasion, “for our instruction, that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have Hope… in accord with Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:4-5). That means that if anyone ever comes with new “Scriptures” and new teachings, we should have nothing to do with them.
Paul also says, in our text, that God gave us, in addition, “shepherds” (that’s what pastors are, literally) and “teachers” to help us use and understand the Scriptures, “the foundation” for all our beliefs, “in the unity of the faith” (there are not many faiths, but only one true faith), centered in greater “knowledge of the Son of God,” our Lord Jesus Christ, and confidence in Him, and to what Paul calls being more “mature” believers.
How eager we are, then, to have the gift of our own new shepherd, Pastor Bombaro, with us in just a few weeks to lead and guide us. And how exciting that a new school year at St. James starts even sooner, with the gift of our teachers and principal, working with our children and helping us together focus on God’s Word, too. May we pray for and support and encourage them all as they lead and serve us.
Paul also speaks of one more gift we have, too. He writes, “But grace was given to each one of us according to Christ’s gift.” It is, of course, only by the grace of God that we have been brought to faith and received our baptism and been saved to begin with. But God can provide us also additional strength, by His grace, to be a blessing to fellow believers within the body of Christ, the church. That is what He wants us all to be, though we have different gifts and abilities, by the grace God has given us.
At the end of our text, Paul writes, “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself up in love.”
“When each part is working properly,” the body grows, Paul says. Every one of us is important, as God gifts and graces us, even if only in the smallest ways. And if we are to speak the truth in love with one another, that starts with hearing the one truth, in God’s Word, in regular worship and remembering our own baptism and its blessings and receiving Christ, the Bread of Life, in the Lord’s Supper. It also means reading the Word on our own and/or studying it with our pastor and teachers and others when and if we can. When we see and hear of God’s great truth and love for us in Christ, we can then better speak and show that truth and love to others, too, in encouraging and helping each other, as we are able, or just in our prayers or in any other way we can.
And as Paul said, at the beginning of our text, we are to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called by Christ,” by His great love and mercy and forgiveness for us, and thus that we can act with “humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love,” in what we say and do.
We also remember that the most important things have already been done for us for our salvation by the grace of God in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and His Word of Truth, brought to us.
Anything we can accomplish, then, is by the grace of God and His working in and through us. As Paul wrote in the same Epistle, that we heard last week, just before this week’s text, “Now to God, who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power (His power) at work in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
Let us rise for prayer: “Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (Philippians 4:7)
The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is from Exodus 16:2-15. God had rescued His people from slavery and misery in Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land. They quickly forgot God’s mercy and care, though, and began to grumble and complain as if God had led them into the wilderness to starve and die. God is patient with them, though, and provides daily food for them, in the gift of manna from heaven, and enough extra for the Sabbath Day, when they were to rest. God even provided meat for them, at times, with quail. God gave food on a daily basis as a kind of test for them and to teach them to trust Him each day, as we still pray in the Lord’s Prayer.
The Psalm is Psalm 145:10-21. David calls upon all people to give thanks and praise to God for His goodness. He is faithful in all His words and promises. Verses 15-16 are still used by some as a table prayer of thanks at meals, as God provides “food in due season.” Verse 18 is also a great promise of God: “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth,” trusting in Him and His mercy. “He hears their cry and saves them,” especially in the saving work of Jesus which was to come. There is a word of warning, too, and of judgment for the wicked who continually reject the Lord and His will. David, though, will speak with his mouth in praise of the Lord and His kindness and His “everlasting kingdom.”
In the Gospel lesson, John 6:22-35, Jesus had just done the great miracle of feeding the 5,000. Now many people were “seeking Jesus,” but primarily because they had eaten their “fill of the loaves.” They were focusing on “food that perishes,” while Jesus wanted to give them “food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus was the Son of His Heavenly Father, upon whom “the Father had set His seal.” The true “work of God” was simply to bring people “to believe in Jesus.” The people wanted more signs to be able to believe in Jesus, though, like the manna provided in the Old Testament. Jesus says that He is “the Bread from heaven… the Bread of Life.” Those who come to and believe in Him will not hunger or thirst but will have true and eternal life through faith in Him.
The Epistle reading continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians - this week, Ephesians 4:1-16. We heard Paul promising last week that the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus was for all people, non-Jews as well as Jews. Now he says that this is a unity brought by the Holy Spirit for all believers in Christ, no matter who they have been. Seven times Paul uses the word “one.” There is only one Spirit who gathers people into “one body” by “one faith” in the “one Lord,” the Lord Jesus Christ, through “one baptism,” with “one hope” in “the one God and Father of all.” (Notice that this is the one true Triune God at work to accomplish this saving and uniting work. All believers have the same trust in the Father and His saving work in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. However, God gives different gifts of grace to believers to help in “building up the body of Christ,” the Holy Christian Church. The power is in “speaking the truth” of God and His Word “in love” so that believers may grow from childlike to mature “knowledge of the Son of God” through Christ and His Word. Otherwise, we could be “tossed to and fro” by false teachings and deceitful human ideas of those opposed to Christ and the teachings of God’s Word. We have the Scriptures, written by the apostles and prophets, as inspired by God Himself. Today, we also have pastors and teachers to help guide us through that Word and to be strengthened in our Savior. As “the body of Christ,” we can all help each other, too, doing what we can to encourage one another with the love of Christ. As Paul says, that takes a lot of “humility and gentleness and patience” toward one another, as our Heavenly Father enables us through Christ and by the Holy Spirit.
The Old Testament lesson for today, Genesis 9:8-17, speaks of the first covenant that God gave to Noah and his descendants and to the whole earth. As with the other covenants to follow later, this is God’s doing, out of love and care and forgiveness for His people, and not because they had earned or deserved anything from Him. God promises that he will never again destroy the whole earth with a flood. A rainbow that appears in the sky is a sign of this promise of God.
Jesus shows again, in the Gospel lesson (Mark 6:45-56), that he is God’s Son and has power over the wind and waves, as He had done earlier, in stilling a storm (Mark 4:35-40). Jesus had gone to pray after feeding the 5,000 and sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee ahead of Him. He knew that they were having trouble, for the wind was against them, and He walked on the water near them. They thought they were seeing a ghost and were terrified until He said, “Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid.” Again, we hear that the disciples were not understanding about who He was, and they were “hard-hearted.” As our text goes on, Jesus stopped the wind and, when ashore, allowed many people to come in faith and receive healing by just touching the fringe of His garments.
The Psalm, Psalm 136:1-9, reminds people to give thanks to God for His steadfast love, beginning at the creation of this marvelous world and universe and continuing with His control over land and waters and all things. God the Son was there at creation, too, involved in this creative work (see John 1:1-5, for example) and continued to show this steadfast love while here on earth, though His disciples (and maybe we sometimes, too) do not see and understand it. Again and again, beyond our reading, Psalm 136 tells us, “His steadfast love endures forever.” May we believe and trust that, even on dark and troubled days!
The Epistle lesson is another reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul bows his knees in praise and thanks to the Triune God, the Father, from whom every family is named, along with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who empower our inner being. Paul prays that in faith and love, we may comprehend the surpassing greatness of God’s love and His ability to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think through His power at work in us. To Him be the glory in the church, in Christ Jesus, forever and ever. Paul adds an Amen. This is most certainly true! We can trust this as we trust our Triune God.
The Old Testament lesson this week is Jeremiah 23:1-6. The Lord condemns shepherds who have not attended to their sheep, God’s people, but, through evil deeds, have scattered and destroyed them. The Lord Himself will gather the remnant of His flock and bring them back and set shepherds over them who will care for them. And days are coming, declares the Lord, when He will raise up a righteous Branch who will reign and deal wisely and bring salvation and security. This is prophetic of the coming of Jesus, who is both our Lord and our Righteousness.
The Psalm is Psalm 23. This psalm also speaks of the Lord and His care for His people and points forward to the coming of Jesus. Jesus will restore our souls and lead us through this life in His righteous way and through the valley of death to the house of the Lord, where we will live forever.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 6:30-44, we see our Lord Jesus having compassion upon crowds of people because they were like sheep without Him, the Shepherd they really needed. He taught them the Word of God, and when it became late that day, He even provided physical food for them abundantly in a miraculous way. (Jesus did this again in a less heavily Jewish area, the region of the Decapolis, when in Mark 8:1-10, he fed another 4,000 people, spiritually and physically, in an abundant and miraculous way.)
This demonstrates what Paul talks about in the Epistle lesson, Ephesians 2:11-22. Jesus came not only for the old covenant people of Israel but for all people who were once far off from the promises of God but were now brought near through His blood shed for them. Christ Jesus is the Way to peace for all people, Jews and non-Jews, united in Him. He is the Cornerstone for a new and holy temple of believers in Him, the Holy Christian church, where God dwells among His people by His Word (and Sacraments) and through the Holy Spirit.
Old Testament readings always show us our sinfulness and need and then point us forward to the coming of our Savior, Jesus, in God’s rescue plan for our world. The readings for July 14 and July 21 do an especially good job of showing us that.
In Psalm 85, a reading for July 14, the psalmists know that God has mercifully forgiven and covered over their sins in the past. But now they are in a situation where they are seeing God’s disgust with them and His anger over their continuing wrongdoing. They pray that the Lord would turn them around, restore them, and revive them again. They are repentant and ask that the Lord would speak peace to them, forgive them, and help them not return to folly. They are confident that their Lord will give them what is good, including such gifts as “steadfast love” (mercy), “peace," “His salvation," “righteousness” (mentioned 3 times), and “faithfulness” (mentioned 2 times). It is “His footsteps” that would lead the way for them to these gifts.
Likewise, the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday, July 21, from Jeremiah 23:1-6, shows the failures of God’s shepherds and other leaders in the Old Testament. God Himself would need to be the Good Shepherd for His people, His flock, and provide better shepherds to help them. The Lord particularly speaks of a coming day when there will be a “Righteous Branch” from the line of King David who will reign and deal wisely and with justice and righteousness and bring salvation and security. Notice all the words describing this Branch who is to come. (The picture image of a branch or shoot from the stump of Jesse, David’s father, is used in a number of other places, too - in Isaiah 4:2, 6:13, 11:1,10, for example.) Jeremiah 23:6 also gives two more names for this Branch: “The Lord” and “our Righteousness.”
When we come to the New Testament, we see all these words connected to Jesus. Jesus is Lord, God the Son, sent into this world to bring forgiveness and salvation to us. See John 1:1-2, 14-18, and 20:27-31. See also 1 Corinthians 12:3, Philippians 2:8-11, Revelation 17:14, 19:16, and 22:20-21.
Jesus is also the Righteous One, who fulfills all righteousness for us, who fall far short of God’s righteousness, no matter how hard we try. See Matthew 3:15, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 1:7-8, 2:1-2, Philippians 3:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:21, etc.
These two sets of Scriptures show us so clearly that Jesus is the One who fulfills the words of Jeremiah 23:6. We are counted righteous only by faith in Jesus, our Lord, and what He has done for us, including His righteousness for us.
Jesus is also then the “Branch” or “Shoot” or “Root,” the Greater One from the line of Jesse and David, who nourishes us through His Word and Sacraments. See Revelation 5:5 and 22:16 and Matthew 12:42. See also John 15:1-5, where Jesus calls Himself the Vine, and we are His branches, who cannot survive without Him. Jesus is also the Merciful and Faithful One, where we sometimes struggle. See Revelation 19:11,13, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 2:17, 3:6, 10:19, 23, and Revelation 1:5. Jesus is also the Wisdom of God, where we are not always so wise. See 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30, Romans 16:27, and 2 Timothy 3:15, the most important wisdom of the Scriptures, “the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
All this work of Christ finally brings us “peace” and “hope.” As Paul writes in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also gained access by faith into grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This is exactly where we need to be, in Christ, as the Old Testament predicts and the New Testament reveals and fulfills in Jesus.
The Scripture readings this week focus on the consequences of sin and how much we need God’s mercy - mercy that comes to us only through God’s love and His saving work in Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 7:7-15. Amos says that he was simply a herdsman and one who took care of fig trees, but God had called him to prophecy against the northern Kingdom of Israel and its king, Jeroboam. The Lord was using a plumb line to measure how straight the people and their king were compared with His will and plans for them, and they were very crooked and evil. Even the priest of Bethel had gone wrong and ordered Amos to leave and speak only to the southern Kingdom of Judah. The Lord had sent Amos to that Northern Kingdom, though, and he had to predict that King Jeroboam would die by the sword and the people of Israel would be carried away into exile because of their continual sins and rejection of the Lord and His prophet.
The Psalm is Psalm 85:(1-7) 8-13. The psalmists, Sons of Korah, know of God’s forgiveness of His people’s sins in the past. They call upon God in another difficult time of their sinfulness and pray that the Lord would turn and revive His people and give them again His steadfast love and salvation and keep them from turning back to words and deeds of folly. The psalm ends with confidence that the Lord would give His people what is good - steadfast love (mercy) and righteousness and peace - and enable them to trust Him and walk in His steps. (These are the gifts of God brought ultimately by Jesus and His saving work.)
The Gospel lesson, Mark 6:14-29, is another example of refusing to follow God and His will and the trouble that is created. King Herod (not the Herod who had ruled at the time of Jesus’ birth, but a relative) had stolen away his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, and married her. John the Baptist had confronted Herod, saying, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” This made Herodias very angry, and she wanted John dead but could only convince her husband to have him put in prison. Herod actually thought John the Baptist was a holy man and feared him and kept him safe and even liked to hear him. Unfortunately, Herod, in a very weak moment at a party, agreed to do whatever his granddaughter wanted. Herodias convinced her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod knew this was wrong but had no courage to do what was right and had John executed and the granddaughter given his head. This all made Herod so paranoid that when he heard about Jesus, he feared that Jesus might be John the Baptist reincarnated and coming to take vengeance on him. Even with his power, Herod was clearly very troubled and far from God and His will and suffered for it.
Sin always has consequences.
The Epistle lesson, Ephesians 1:3-14, however, gives hope and the answer for all of us, as we all struggle with sin. It is a doxology, a great Word of praise to God (all one very long sentence in the Greek) for His redeeming plan for the world, centered in Christ Jesus our Savior, and guaranteed through the sending of the Holy Spirit to us. Note all the words that speak of God’s overarching plan: He chose, predestined, the purpose of His will, the mystery of His will, His purpose, a plan for the fullness of time, the counsel of His will, His wisdom and insight, etc. The plan centered “in Christ,” God’s own beloved Son, and the redemption we have through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, through the riches of His grace. “In Christ” or “in Him” or the equivalent is used ten times in these 12 verses. This saving and forgiving work comes to us personally as we hear the Word of Truth, the Gospel of our salvation, and are brought to believe in Christ and receive these gifts of God’s grace, also through baptism, spoken of later in this letter, and all through the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee, the down-payment, assuring our eternal inheritance. This is all God’s doing, by His grace, and therefore it is all “to the praise of His glory,” as is said several times. (We will have six more weeks of readings from Ephesians ahead,as this basic theme is emphasized and the blessings that come to us as a church, God’s gathered believers.)
7th Sunday after Pentecost
“When I am Weak, Then I am Strong”
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Epistle lesson from 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. You are welcome to look at it, together with me, as printed in your bulletin.
All of our Scripture readings today tell of people who are trying to speak God’s Word but are being resisted and rejected. In the Old Testament lesson (Ezekiel 2:1-5), Ezekiel is called to be a prophet of God, but God warns him that he will be speaking to Israelites who have been stubborn and rebellious against Him. Ezekiel is still to speak God’s Word, saying, “Thus says the Lord,” whether the people hear or refuse to hear.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 6:1-13, Jesus Himself has come to His hometown, Nazareth, where He had grown up, to teach in the synagogue there. Many people took offense at Him and what he was doing, though, including some of His own family. Jesus marveled at their unbelief but did not give up and kept doing His Heavenly Father’s will. He went on to other villages, and He began sending out His own disciples, two by two, also, preparing them for their future work of calling people everywhere to repentance and faith in Him.
Paul, also, in the chapter just before our text, in 2 Corinthians 11, speaks of challenges to his own ministry. Some people have come to Corinth claiming to be, in their own minds, “super-apostles,” boastful of their mission in the Lord. Very unfortunately, they were proclaiming another Jesus than the One Paul proclaimed, with a different spirit. They were, Paul says, false apostles, deceitful workmen. How was Paul going to deal with this
Since these false teachers had been so boastful in themselves and who they were, Paul says that he must do a little boasting himself, but in a different way. He says, at the end of Chapter 11, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”
Paul also speaks of sufferings that he has had and then he says, “There is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak.” Paul had written and taught on other occasions, “Do not be anxious about anything," but here he admits his own weakness and anxiety, in not living up to God’s standards, in his worry about the churches, including the church at Corinth.
Then, in Chapter 12, as our text begins, Paul says, “I must go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by that” - for him and his benefit. As we’ll see, he is really boasting in the Lord and the Lord’s saving plan and work in Christ and not in himself. Paul says he knows of a man in Christ, who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, though he does not know just how it happened, and he had glimpses of paradise and heard things he could not even speak about.
We don’t know for sure, but one Lutheran scholar writes, “The first heaven is that which we can see, up to the clouds. The second heaven is that of the planets and stars and the rest of the universe that is beyond. The third heaven is the dwelling place of God and the angels and the departed saints, the believers in glory - what Paul and Jesus and others call “paradise.”
As we read on, Paul is talking about himself as the one who received these special visions and revelations. If you remember, Paul (earlier called Saul) was strongly anti-Christian and a persecutor of Christians until the risen Lord Jesu appeared directly to him and turned his life around and brought him to faith. Paul had had some good training as a Jewish Pharisee, but he had not had the three years of personal training that Jesus had given the other disciples. There was so much to learn, especially about Jesus Himself and how He was at the center of God’s saving plan for the world, as God the Father’s only Son, sent to us all to be the Savior by living, dying, and rising again for us all.
These teachings and revelations from Jesus were to prepare Paul for his own public ministry, and some of them came 14 years earlier before Paul did His three great missionary journeys that we read about in the Book of Acts and other places. Through all of this, Paul was prepared and had certainty about what he was preaching and teaching, as the true Word of God, given him by Jesus Christ Himself.
Paul knew that he did not deserve any of these special visions. He calls himself, in other places, “the chief of sinners,” saved only by the grace and mercy of God, in Christ. Paul was still an ordinary human being, with his own weaknesses and struggles, as a forgiven sinner, too. So, he says, “To keep me from being conceited (proud in himself) because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”
We don’t know what this “thorn” was. Many think it might have been some kind of physical problem that troubled Paul off and on through the years. In his earlier letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote (Galatians 4:13-14), “You know that it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the Gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel, a messenger of God, as Christ Jesus.” Some think the illness might have been something like malaria, for which there was no certain cure in the ancient world. Malaria could flare up in people and then go away but could come back to trouble them again and again later.
Paul also mentions in Galatians 6:11, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” Paul dictated numbers of his letters, and others would write them down for him. He would write something on his own, too, sometimes with large letters, so that people knew the letter was from him - sort of like John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence in a very big way. Some people think that Paul may have had vision problems at times that caused him to write in this way.
Scholars record many other possibilities, but whatever the “thorn” was, Paul says in our text, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’”
It reminds us of Jesus, too, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane three times that His Heavenly Father would take away the cup of suffering that was ahead for Him at the cross. Yet He also knew His Father’s plan and also prayed three times, “But not My will, but Yours, be done.” Jesus was the greatest, the perfect example of power made perfect in weakness, For through the agonizing suffering and death of the cross, in great weakness, Jesus, as our substitute, was the Power of God for salvation, as He paid the price for all sins, including our own, that we might be forgiven and accepted by God.
The cross looked only like a place of terrible suffering and sorrow and loss and defeat for Jesus. But it was the place of victory for us over sin and Satan and death through Jesus. Of course, the victory was only clearly evident in His resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven and returning to His throne to glory in heaven, where He is preparing a place for us, too, who trust in Him. This all started in this world with His birth as a tiny, very vulnerable baby in Bethlehem and a life of much suffering and trouble as a human man and, finally, what one commentator called “the throne of the cross.” So Paul, with his eyes only on Jesus, said in our text, “Therefore I will boast all the gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me… for when I am weak (and know it) then I am strong (in Christ alone)."
It is something to be learned by all through Christ and His Word and Work. Remember John the Baptist. He had a strong ministry, but he was only preparing the way for Christ. When Jesus’ ministry began at His baptism, John said, He (Jesus) must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). For Jesus alone was “the Lamb of God Who would take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
When Paul was brought to faith in Christ, he said, “We preach Christ crucified… Christ, the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God (as interpreted by man) is wiser than men, and the weakness of God (in human eyes) is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25).
And Paul said, “When I came to you, I did not come with lofty speech or wisdom. I preached Christ Jesus and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling… so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of man but in the power of God (and His Word) (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
Again, Paul said, “What we proclaim are not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves simply as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5-6).
“The face of Jesus Christ” - that is the message of God for us all. We do not trust in ourselves or in anyone else but in Christ, our Savior. When the Lord Jesus called Paul, He said that Paul “is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My Name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My Name” (Acts 9:15-16). The suffering was real, but it served important purposes for Paul and his ministry. And God’s grace was sufficient for Him.
As forgiven sinners in this sinful world, we, too, have faced and will face sufferings and troubles. But when we are weak, in this way, we are strong where we should be strong and are strong, in the Lord, leaning on Him. And He can make us stronger yet, depending upon Him more, as He helps us through these times and as He finally leads us by faith to eternal life.
An early church leader, Chrysostom, wrote in the 300s AD, “How great is the advantage of affliction: for now indeed that we are in the enjoyment of peace (as Christians) we have become lazy and lax… When we were persecuted, we were more sober-minded and more earnest and more ready for church attendance and hearing the Word of God.” Isn’t that sometimes still true today?
The Lord helped Job and John the Baptist through times of great weakness to learn to say, “Even when I am weak, I am strong in the Lord. I trust in Him.”
The Lord helped Paul to say, in our text, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong in the Lord. I trust in Christ.”
And we can say, too: “When I am weak, I am still strong in my Savior, Jesus. I trust not in myself but in Him alone and in how He can and will bless me, now and forever. His grace is sufficient also for me.”
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
In our Scriptures this week, we see people being challenged about their faith and how they respond and how the Lord guides and helps them.
The Old Testament lesson is Ezekiel 2:1-5. Ezekiel was one of those Jews carried away into captivity in the land of Babylon after Jerusalem was destroyed in 587-586 BC. In these verses, the Lord calls him to be His prophet to His people in captivity. His work would be very difficult because God’s own people had been so rebellious against their Lord, and their descendants continued to be impudent and stubborn and transgressed against the Lord. (That is why the captivity happened, because of great sinfulness and rejection of God.) Whether the people would now hear or refuse to hear, Ezekiel was to keep speaking God’s Word to them, saying, “Thus says the Lord God,” as he is led by the Holy Spirit.
The Psalm is Psalm 123. This is called “a song of ascents,” which means that it was a song sung when people went up to Jerusalem, especially for one of the Jewish festivals of the Old Testament. Many think this psalm was used first in post-exilic times, after the Babylonian captivity, because the psalmist is trusting in the Lord’s mercy for His people, His servants, as they return to Jerusalem, even though many people living in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem at that time were not Jews and had scorn and contempt for them and did not want them coming back to reclaim and rebuild their holy city, destroyed by the Babylonians. See, for example, the reception Nehemiah received, when he went back to help his people in Jerusalem at that time. Read Nehemiah 2:10,19-20, and 4:1, and the opposition he and others received, yet they still sought to do the Lord’s will.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 6:1-13, even when God’s own Son, Jesus, came into the world to do His saving work and reached out to fellow Jews in Nazareth, where He had grown up, many people took offense at Him and did not believe in Him. That included members of His own family at that point. He did not give up, though, and kept teaching God’s Word in other villages and sent out His disciples, two by two, to call people to repent and with power to battle evil spirits and do some healings through Him. He warns them that there would be people who would not listen, though, and to keep sharing God’s message, regardless.
The Epistle lesson includes one more reading from 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. The church at Corinth was being troubled by what Paul calls “super-apostles,” who challenged what Paul taught and spoke of another Jesus and a different Spirit. (See 11:3-5, for example.) Paul does not want to brag, but he points out, indirectly, that he had received much teaching and many revelations from Jesus Himself and had even had glimpses of heaven. He, therefore, knew that he was speaking the true Word of God. To keep him from being proud, however, the Lord had also given him many troubles and a ”thorn in the flesh” that continued to bother him, though he prayed and prayed that it would go away. He was taught in this way that God’s power would be clearest even through his (Paul’s) own weaknesses. Through his weaknesses, God’s power and glory would shine through, and he would be shown to be strong only in and through the Lord. God’s power and His saving Word and work in Christ are alone what is important, in what he, Paul, proclaims.
The Scriptures this week remind us of the great mercy and care of our Lord for us, and then, in the final reading, the Lord’s call for us to be merciful to others as the Lord blesses us.
The psalm, Psalm 30, is another of the psalms of David. David has had difficult times and has seemed near to death, but he cried to the Lord, and the Lord helped and healed him. If the Lord seemed to hide His face from him, David knew that joy would return. Mourning and weeping may come, but dancing and gladness would also come in time. David knew that he would eventually thank and praise the Lord forever with His blessings.
In the middle of his laments and sorrows about the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, Jeremiah speaks in Lamentations 3:22-33 of the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord. There will be times of grief and affliction, as with the Babylonian captivity, but God's people are to seek Him and wait quietly for His salvation. The Lord’s heart really wants to give people His compassion and mercies, above all else.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 5:21-43, we see the great compassion of Jesus, the promised Savior sent from God the Father, for people in need. The daughter of a synagogue leader, Jairus, is near death, and Jesus immediately leaves a crowd of people to go and be of help to her. The crowd follows, and people keep bumping into Jesus, but He notices a woman who just touches His garment in hopes of being healed of a discharge of blood that had troubled her for 12 years, and doctors and others could not help her. Jesus calls for her, and she comes to Him in fear and trembling, for she was considered a ritually unclean person because of her blood flow and yet still had touched Jesus, making Him ritually unclean, too. Jesus simply rejoices in her and her faith that brought her to Him and to complete healing through Him. “Go in peace,” He tells her. During this delay, news comes that Jairus’s daughter has died. Jesus just tells Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe.” He still wants to see the girl, and people laugh at Him for thinking He could still help her, a dead person. Jesus takes her hand and says, “I say to you, arise,” and immediately, the girl gets up and walks, alive again. Jesus even conquers the great enemies of sin and death for us, as we are brought to faith in Him, too, as our Savior. He frees us also from the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament, including that which would have condemned the woman for touching Jesus to get help.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from 2 Corinthians - this week, from 8:1-9 and 13-15. As God has shown such great compassion for us, in Christ, Paul encourages believers, including us, to be compassionate toward others, especially in helping others in need. A collection was being taken to assist the believers, the saints in Jerusalem, who were very poor and needy. It was a way of showing support for both Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians. More importantly, Paul is encouraging basic Christian principles of giving in support of the Lord’s work. Paul begins by giving the example of churches in Macedonia, where people were very poor, and yet by faith, how they gave generously and even beyond their means. Paul encourages the Corinthians to excel in this gracious act of giving, too - not as a command, but out of genuine love for others. Paul also points to Jesus, who became poor in this world in order to give them (and us) the riches of His grace, for our salvation. Paul does not call us to become poverty-stricken ourselves but to give as we are blessed by our Lord, and the Lord in His mercy, will help even things out.
Proverbs 30:1-6 is a very interesting part of the Book of Proverbs. Many of the proverbs were written by Solomon and others. We do not know who Agur, son of Jakeh, is. Scholars have tried to tie him in with others referred to in the Old Testament, but there is no agreement about this. Here is what Agur writes, quoting from the ESV translation: “The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out. Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Surely you know! Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His Words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
Based on other Scriptures, Agur is referring, in verses 3-4, to our Lord God, the Creator and Preserver of our universe. He is the One who alone has power over the wind and the waves of the sea and all that He has made. The Lord reminded Job of that in last week’s Old Testament lesson, Job 38:1-11, so that Job had to repent of his pride and his questioning of God, in Job 42:3,6, saying, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
Agur is admitting, in this proverb in Proverbs 30, that he, too, cannot understand the greatness of God and His ways. He does not have the wisdom or knowledge of the Holy One as he should. He is weary of trying to figure things out in his own human power. He finally just asks for the Name of God - and for the Name of God’s Son. The Lutheran Study Bible notes, p.1044-1045, quote from a great Lutheran scholar, Chemnitz, who says that this is “the clearest passage where He (God the Son) is called the Son of God without reference to His human nature.” Agur even uses the very same words that God used in questioning Job (Job 38:5 and Proverbs 30:4), “Surely you know!”
Agur then goes on to refer to trusting Scripture and says, “Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His Words” (Proverbs 30:5). There are many other references to God the Son in the Old Testament and prophecies of His coming as our Savior. (See Psalm 2:7 and other quotations mentioned in Hebrews 1:1-13 in the New Testament, for example.) But Chemnitz points us to this passage and says, “These mysteries are known from the Word and we must believe nothing else about God than what he has revealed.”
The words of Agur about “ascending to heaven and coming down” are picked up in the New Testament in reference to Jesus in John 3:12-17. Only God the Son has been in heaven and then descended to earth and became true man and then did His saving work and then ascended to heaven again - all for our salvation. Note especially John 3:13. Look also at Romans 10:6-11, where Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30:11-14, with regard to the Word of God. We don’t have to ascend to heaven to find and hear it. It is in our mouths and hearts.
And Paul ties that in with the coming of His Son, Christ Jesus, “the Word of God made flesh,” for us and our salvation (John 1:14-18). As Agur predicts, and the New Testament reveals, God the Son came down from heaven and ascended again to heaven, after His death and resurrection, and one day He will say, as He did in stilling the storm in last week’s Gospel, “Peace! Be still!” and He will take us also to eternal life in heaven. (See all this, too, in the context of last week’s sermon on Mark 4:35-41. Like Agur and the disciples of Jesus, we do not understand many things, but Jesus grows our faith and trust in Him through His Word.)
5th Sunday after Pentecost
“Great Fear”
Mark 4:35-41
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation tonight is the Gospel lesson from Mark 4:35-41. You are welcome to look at that reading with me, as found in your bulletin.
Jesus had already had a long day, as our text begins. We hear at the beginning of Mark, Chapter 4, (4:1-2), that Jesus “began to teach beside the sea (of Galilee). A very large crowd gathered about Him so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables.” This apparently went on all day.
As our text begins, we hear, “On that day, when evening had come, (Jesus) said to them (His disciples), 'Let us go across to the other side of the sea.' And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with Him.”
Jesus was a real human being just like us, and He had become very tired, as we sometimes do, too. (This is a good reminder to us that teaching, as Jesus was doing all day, is hard work. We think of Lydia Roland, teaching for 42 years in Lutheran schools, and many of them in our own school. It’s a call to appreciate and be grateful for her and all our teachers for the work they also do on our behalf.
Jesus was so tired that we hear He was soon asleep in the stern of the boat on a cushion. Some think that Jesus had something like a pillow, but it is more likely that it was a wooden railing on which he could rest His head. (All the Greek says is something “for the head.” It would be like trying to find a comfortable enough place in a car so that we could hopefully fall asleep.) Regardless, Jesus was still asleep even when a great windstorm arose and waves were starting to fill the boat with water.
The disciples woke Jesus up, crying out, “Teacher (Rabbi), do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus immediately, then, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Clearly, this was a great miracle. Strong winds don’t just immediately stop blowing, and raging waves don’t suddenly stop so that the water is calm entirely.
You would think that the disciples would be overjoyed. They thought that they were perishing, being destroyed, in the storm, but now they were entirely safe. But instead, we hear that the disciples “were filled with great fear.” Literally, in the Greek, “They feared with a great fear.” Twice, fear is mentioned.
This is often what happened when people were directly confronted with the power of the Almighty God. In Luke 2:9, when angels appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, exactly the same words are used: (the shepherds) “feared with a great fear.” And in Luke 5:4-10, when Jesus enabled Peter and others to catch a great number of fish, Peter fell down at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Peter and the others were astonished at the catch of fish and felt so unworthy of being in the presence of Jesus. Jesus had to say to Peter, “Do not be afraid.” And Jesus called Peter and the others to be His disciples and said, “From now on, you will be catching men” (catching people for the Christian faith).
Jesus loved those disciples and had very important work for them to do, but Jesus also knew that faith was a gift and a growing process, as He then humbled them and showed them their weaknesses and sins and their need for Him and His saving help, and then built them up and strengthened them further in faith in Him.
In our text, Jesus had to say very bluntly to those disciples in the boat, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And the disciples showed their very weak faith by their great fear and then by their saying to one another as our text ends, “Who then is this, (this man Jesus), that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
If these disciples had known the Scriptures better, they would have realized that Jesus was showing them that He really was God’s Son, as well as a true, tired man and that He had been sent into this world to rescue them and us from our sins and for a whole new life with Him.
Job is known as a great man of God, but in our Old Testament lesson for today, he also needed to be questioned by God and reminded that only God had control over “the sea” and its “proud waves” - and over Job and his life, even with its ups and downs for him and his family.
The Psalms often give us the picture image of God’s care as exactly what Jesus helped the disciples through in our text.
- Psalm 65:5-7 says, “The God of our salvation, the Help of all the ends of the earth... stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples.”
- Psalm 107:23-30 speaks of people "going down to the sea in ships... and seeing the stormy winds which lifted up the waves of the sea... Their courage melted away at their evil plight... They were at their wit's end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” This is a prediction of what the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus, would do when He came into the world and what He did in our text and in other ways in the New Testament.
There is also a remarkable passage in Proverbs 30:1-5, where a man says, “I am weary, O God, and worn out… I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One (as I should). Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who wrapped up water in a garment? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name? Surely you know.” And the very next verse says, “Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”
It is through that Word of God, revealed in the Old Testament, and explained even more in the New Testament, that we know of God, our Heavenly Father, and of His Son, God the Son, named our Lord Jesus Christ, and His saving work for us in His life, death, and resurrection. In fact, it is not until after the saving work of Jesus is complete, as He had paid for all sins and made us acceptable to God through faith in Him, that God the Holy Spirit pulled everything together for the disciples and for us, in God’s saving plan.
Before that, as you read through the Gospel of Mark, you find Jesus having to say to His disciples again and again in Mark 7:18, “Are you also without understanding?” and in 8:17, “Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” and in 8:21, “Do you not yet understand?” and in 9:19, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?”
Yet Jesus never gave up on His disciples and kept teaching them and doing everything necessary for their salvation and for ours. All this is very comforting for us, too. I help teach a Friday morning Bible study where 15 to as many as 20 men meet weekly for Bible study, and I help with other studies at times. We can usually understand things as we read and talk together about the most important teachings, but sometimes we struggle with some things, and I can imagine Jesus saying to us, “Do you still not understand?” But we keep meeting, and the Lord is patient with us, and the Holy Spirit keeps leading and guiding us through His Word.
This is some of what Martin Luther meant when he introduced the 10 Commandments with the words, “We should fear, love, and trust in God.” The Word of God shows us fear, fear of our sins and failings and our need for repentance and forgiveness, and then leads us to that repentance. But the Word of God also points us to the love of God in Christ, in spite of our struggles, and the Holy Spirit calls us to and enables us to trust in Christ’s mercy and forgiveness and eternal hope in Him because of what He perfectly accomplished for us.
And this text, and others like it, gave the early Christians a picture of the church. It is said that they often drew boats as symbols - reminding of the ark, through which Noah and family were saved. In our text, Jesus also used a boat from which to preach and teach and rescue His disciples - and how important it is for us, too, to keep gathering and hearing and learning about Christ’s rescue mission for us, as we do in worship and Bible study. Here we also receive God’s gifts of forgiveness and the Lord’s Supper and remember the promises of our baptism. All these gifts of God help us through the storms and troubles we face in life, too, as we stay in the Lord’s boat for our strength.
The place where we sit together for worship is often called “the nave” - the Latin word for a ship or boat. (That’s why we also have a branch of our military called the Navy - people going out in boats to help and protect us.)
Of course, our Lord provides the greatest help and protection for us in Christ. Jesus promises never to leave us or forsake us, and one day He will say to us, “Peace! Be still!” Then all the storms and troubles of this life will be over for us, in the eternal life Christ has prepared for us.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they can be safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
(Philippians 4:7)
In the Old Testament lesson for this week, Job 38:1-11, the Lord begins to confront Job by taking him back to the time of the creation and questioning him about how much he really knows and understands about God’s work and ways. He shows Job that his words were “words without knowledge” and humbles him so that Job finally has to confess in Job 42:6, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (The Lord also exposes the sins of Job’s “friends,” who were trying to straighten him out but not doing so in “right” ways.) As a part of the Lord God’s message, He speaks of how He alone has control of everything, including “the sea” and its “proud waves” - an important message for some of the readings that follow.
The Psalm is Psalm 124. David speaks of the disasters he and others would have had if the Lord had not been with him and helping him and those with him. “Floods would have swept them away,” and “raging waters would have gone over them.” Twice David says, “We have escaped” by the blessing of the Lord. “Our help,” he says, “is in the Name of the Lord,” the Creator, “Who made heaven and earth.”
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 4:35-41, Jesus goes in a boat across the Sea of Galilee with His disciples and some others, also in boats. “A great windstorm arose,” and “waves were filling the boat with water.” Jesus, who was sleeping, was awakened and said to the wind and the sea, “Peace. Be still.” Immediately, the sea was calm. Instead of joy, the disciples have “great fear,” wondering who this man Jesus really was. They had much need of a growing faith and trust in Jesus as the One He really was, the Son of God and their Savior. Do we need the same, as we struggle with fear and uncertainty at times?
In the Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, the apostle Paul continues to write of his ministry, with many ups and downs; yet he keeps offering what everyone needs, the grace of God, in Christ, by which salvation comes. He says, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” There is no better time than now to trust the Lord and His saving work through Christ. “All this is from God” (2 Corinthians 5:18), and He can “widen our hearts” and bring us to faith through His Word and the working of the Holy Spirit in us. We may seem to have nothing, yet we can possess everything we really need in Christ our Savior.
The picture image of a tree is used in several of the readings this week, representing an individual believer and Christ the Savior and His growing kingdom, the church, in contrast with a dry, dying tree - people without the Lord and His blessings, in Christ.
The Psalm is Psalm 1. Pictured is a man blessed by God and delighting in His Word and will, who is like a strong, well-watered tree, in contrast with the wicked, who are sinners and scoffers and will perish, useless and like chaff that the wind blows away.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 17:22-24. The context is that many of God’s rebellious people had been carried away to captivity in Babylon. The Babylonians then appointed Zedekiah as a puppet king. He was actually from the line of David but rebelled against both God and the Babylonians and was carried away - the last of the kings of God’s Old Testament people. God has still not given up on His people, though, and promised in this passage that He Himself would take a sprig from a tree and plant it in the mountain height of Israel. It would become a great, noble tree, and birds of every kind would find fruit and shelter in it. This is prophetic of Christ Jesus, brought into this world by His Heavenly Father and prospering and being a blessing and a King with dominion all over the world.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 4:26-34, Jesus tells parables of the Kingdom of God. God’s kingdom will grow as the seed of His Word is planted and grows into a great harvest, though we don’t have control over it and don’t fully understand how it grows. We simply trust God to give growth, as He wishes, as more and more people come to faith. Another parable is of a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large tree, where birds can find shelter and prosper. This is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy, with Christ Jesus planting and growing and prospering His church in many places over time. He especially taught His chosen disciples so they could eventually begin to sow the seed of His Word in others.
In the Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (11-17), Paul continues to speak of the challenges of His ministry. He would prefer to be with his Lord in heaven when his mortal, tent-like nature would be swallowed up by eternal life. He has the Spirit of God as a guarantee for His future (as all believers do). He still has work to do in this life, though, and His work, though hard, is still what he needs to be doing so that more people can become a new creation through faith in Christ. The love of Christ controls and compels Paul to tell others of Jesus. For Jesus died for all, for their sake, that they might be forgiven and have new life through trust in Jesus, as well.
“We Do Not Lose Heart”
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation is the Epistle lesson from 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, and you are welcome to look at that reading with me.
In fact, last week, right before today’s text, Paul had described the many difficulties of his ministry and said, “We are afflicted in every way… perplexed… persecuted… (and) struck down.” And yet Paul says, in our text, today, “We do not lose heart… we are not driven to despair.” How could Paul keep going in the midst of so many troubles? His words give us much help and encouragement as we go through many of the same challenges, at least at times, in our own lives, too.
The first thing Paul points out, as our text begins, is that he keeps listening to and reading and studying “what has been written” - the Words of Scripture God has given to us for our “instruction” and “encouragement,” that “we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
Paul had been reading Psalm 116, where the Psalmist had cried out, “I am greatly afflicted” (almost exactly what Paul was saying and feeling) - and yet he still believed that the Lord was gracious and merciful and would deliver his soul and save him. And so the Psalmist kept speaking and writing God’s Word and his psalms, no matter what the circumstances were.
Paul then quotes from Psalm 116, for he knows that he has learned from this part of God’s Word (as we can) and says the same thing as the Psalmist. “I also believe in the Lord God and I also will keep speaking God’s Word,” no matter what. For Paul has the same Spirit of the faith - the same Holy Spirit who has brought him to faith and will keep him in that faith, especially now in Jesus as his Savior.
Paul moves right away then to speak of the Lord Jesus, at the center of the faith, who died for Paul’s sins and the sins of the whole world, and then was raised from the dead, conquering the power of death, in victory over it. It is through the Risen Lord Jesus that Paul had confidence of his eternal future. He had seen the Risen Lord Jesus and talked with Him and had received revelations from Him and knew his future was secure in Christ.
God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were involved in all this, too. And through the one True Triune God, all believers have the same secure future in eternal life through faith in Christ.
Paul wrote, on another occasion: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (and He does, through our baptism and His gift of faith), then “He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
And again Paul says in our text, “I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also and bring us with you into His presence.” Notice the words “with you.” All of us will be with Jesus and with Paul in heaven. And notice the words “brought into His presence.” We will definitely be brought into the presence of the Lord, with Paul and other believers. And it is not our own doing. We are raised and brought there by our Lord and His grace, not by anything we have done.
That’s why Paul goes on immediately to speak more about the grace, the undeserved and unmerited favor and gift of God, given by His love. Paul says, first, “It is all for your sake.” He wants everyone listening or reading to know that this is Good News for them. “Christ died for all.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” That Good News also includes you, and it includes me. God wants all to hear and to be brought to believe this Good News. Paul believes it. He knows it is true. And so He has to speak, as hard as it is at times, so that “the grace of God extends to more and more people.”
And then there is increased joy and thanksgiving for all those who are brought to faith in God and who find peace with God and others through the forgiveness of their sins, and they are able then to forgive others in a better way through God’s love. And God is glorified in it all, and we give thanks and praise to God ourselves.
“So,” Paul says, “we do not lose heart.” But he also knows that sometimes our problems, both physical and spiritual, can seem pretty overwhelming. He mentions first our physical well-being. He says, “Our outer self is wasting away.”
We can obviously have physical problems, whether we are young or older, and problems for the young can be so unexpected and difficult to deal with. But here, Paul seems to be referring to what happens as we get older, especially with more aches and pains and ills that need more medication and other treatments and surgeries, and trouble getting around, and the dangers of falling and on and on. All that can be pretty discouraging.
That’s why Paul says, at the end of our text, that our earthly home, our earthly body, is like a tent. If you have ever been tent camping, you know that there can be plenty of problems. Downpours come, and tents leak. The ground can be very hard, and it can become cold at night. Bugs get in easily, and skunks and other critters can wander through. And on and on. Our human bodies are an amazing gift from God, but they don’t always work so well and won’t last forever. That is the reality of living in a sinful, fallen world ever since the original sin of Adam and Eve that we heard about in our first lesson today.
Yet our Lord is with us and gives us spiritual help to carry on with our lives. Paul says, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed.” That’s what makes our worship together so important, as we hear God’s Word and promises and remember our own Baptism, and receive God’s forgiveness and strength with one another. That’s how God works renewal in us, to help us through troubled times. As Paul wrote on another occasion, “According to the riches of His glory, He grants you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17).
And notice that Paul also says in our text that “our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Even at home we can pray, day by day, for ourselves and others. We can read God’s Word and devotions like Portals of Prayer. We can read or listen to many things on the internet that teach us of our Lord. And we can count our blessings and remember all the good gifts we are thankful for, far beyond our troubles. And again, the Lord renews our inner self, day by day.
And the Lord helps us keep the right perspective in two ways. Paul writes, "This light, momentary affliction (in the troubles we go through now) is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison when we are in the presence of our Lord in heaven." Our afflictions often don’t seem light or momentary, but they are, compared with the eternity we will spend in everlasting joy in heaven.
Paul uses another picture image in the last verse of our text also. We live in a tent right now, in this life. But when with the Lord, Paul says, we will have a building from God, a house not made with imperfect human hands, eternal in the heavens. Even if we are still in our homes right now and have a nice home, there is still so much to do, and things go wrong and have to be fixed, and it gets harder and harder to get everything done as time goes on. Not so in heaven! I don’t know what all we will do, but it will be in pure peace and joy with our Lord, with none of the troubling burdens we now have.
And to keep the right perspective, finally, Paul also says, “Look not to things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen - the things of God Himself and His Word and works, in Christ our Savior and in the Holy Spirit.
There are many good and beautiful things still in this world that God created for us and in the gifts He gives us. But what do we often see and hear as we look to our phones and our iPads and other devices and on what we watch on television and other media and read in books? There is so much evil that we see all around, too, that can drag us down. And as Paul says, many of the things we see are “transient.” They come and go and will eventually pass away. It is the unseen things of our Lord that will be a blessing to us forever in Christ. There is our hope so that we do not lose heart.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord and in our hope in His promises. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
In our Old Testament lesson for today, Genesis 3:8-15, God confronts Adam and Eve with the reality of their sin in eating fruit from the forbidden tree. They compound their sin in trying to excuse themselves, in blaming the serpent and each other, and in hiding from God. Adam even blames God for creating Eve. God speaks condemnation for Satan, there in the form of a serpent, and gives the first Biblical promise that Satan and sin would eventually be defeated by an offspring of Eve, our Lord Jesus Christ, who would crush Satan and his power.
Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, sin has now spread to all people, as the psalmist in Psalm 130 admits. He cries out from the depths of his own sin and admits that he has no hope in himself if the Lord kept a record of his iniquities, his sins. His hope could only be in the Lord and His Word of promise and His steadfast love and His redeeming work of forgiving all of his sins.
In the Gospel lesson. Mark 3:20-35, we see Jesus, that Offspring of Eve, through the descendant, the Virgin Mary, battling the forces of Satan, including the religious leaders and even, at this point, Mary and some others of His own family. His family sees Him neglecting Himself and not even having time to eat in his busy ministry and think He is “out of His mind.” The scribes (religious leaders) think Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul (another name for Satan) and is serving him instead of God. Jesus predicts His own work of defeating and binding of Satan and His power through His coming death and resurrection. Jesus also warns that if people reject Him and the work of the Holy Spirit, they are rejecting the forgiveness the Lord is earning for them through Jesus - the only way they can be saved. What people need is to listen to Jesus and His Word and trust Him and the will of God He is carrying out for them.
In the Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, the apostle Paul speaks of having the same Holy Spirit in him, who has brought him to “the faith” and belief in Jesus. Paul, therefore, speaks and tells others what is written about God’s saving work in Christ so that God’s grace will spread to more and more people, who will believe and thank and glorify God. Paul does not “lose heart,” though he faces many challenges, physically and spiritually. He knows that his current afflictions are small compared with the eternal, unseen promises of God ahead for him and all believers when we are brought into “His presence” in heaven. Our current life is like living in a “tent,” compared with the “building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” for us in Christ,
Read Mark 3:28-29. Sometimes, people worry about having committed this sin because they have had times in their lives when they have drifted from the Lord and struggled with certain sins. Could they have done this “unforgivable, unpardonable” sin at some point?
Many Lutheran commentators, including Lenski, say, “Whoever fears that he has committed the unpardonable sin thereby furnishes evidence that he has not done so” (Lenski, Commentary on Matthew, p.485). If he had done so, he would not even be concerned about Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit and would not even be troubled about his sins. J.T. Mueller describes this sin as “perverse, persistent denial and rejection of the divine truth” … “malicious and persistent resistance against the converting and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, through which alone sinners are saved.” Some point to Hebrews 6:4-6, where such people are described as continually “crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt” (Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, p.233). This is a very strong warning to those resistant to Christ and the Word and Sacraments through which the Holy Spirit works to bring people to faith. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
On the other hand, Lenski and others remind us that only God knows enough to give this verdict that someone has committed the unforgivable sin. “We can never say of any man, no matter how blasphemous he may be, that he has committed this sin” (Lenski, p.485). We can still keep sharing Law and Gospel with others, no matter what, showing people the reality of their sins and yet also telling of the love and forgiveness of God in Christ. The Holy Spirit can still work through that Word and bring people to faith. Think of Paul and how resistant He was to Christianity until the Lord Jesus turned his life around. Know for yourself, too, that no matter how hard you may have been struggling with sin and your beliefs, there is forgiveness and new life for you in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit and His Word. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The Lord’s continued blessings!
The Scriptures this week focus on the transition from the Old Testament understanding of the Sabbath Day to the New Covenant understanding, centered on Christ Jesus as the Lord of the Sabbath, who frees us from many of the Old Testament rules and regulations about this day, but for the purpose of being filled by Him.
The Old Testament lesson is Deuteronomy 5:12-15. God’s people were to observe the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy, set apart for the Lord. No one was to do any work but to have a day of rest. That included servants and animals. This was to be a day to remember their time of slavery in Egypt and how the Lord rescued them with His mighty power.
The Psalm is Psalm 81:1-10. Remembering the Sabbath day was to be a statute and rule and decree for God’s people of Israel, but it was to be a day of joy and song because God had heard the distress of His people in slavery in Egypt and delivered them and brought them through the wilderness to the promised land. Above all, they were to listen to the Lord and not listen to strange and foreign gods. They were to open their mouths in praise of Him, and He would fill them with His good gifts.
The Gospel lesson is Mark 2:23-28 (3:1-6). Early in His ministry, Jesus was being challenged by Pharisees as his disciples were doing work, plucking some grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus used an Old Testament example of David and his friends being so hungry that they ate some bread that only the priests were supposed to eat. Jesus made the point that people were not made just to obey Sabbath rules but that the Sabbath was ultimately made to be of benefit to them. Jesus also made the claim that He, as the Son of Man (and really, the Son of God) was Lord even of the Sabbath. Jesus demonstrated that by healing a man with a withered hand. The Sabbath was made for the benefit of people, and especially for the Lord to do good and save the lives of people. Already, though, the Pharisees were upset enough to want to get rid of Jesus, for He was upsetting their rules and systems and control.
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Corinthians 4:5-12. Paul speaks of the importance of proclaiming not himself, but Jesus Christ as Lord. The light of the glory of God is shone in the face of Christ and His surpassing power, through His death and resurrection, for us and the world. Paul and others are simply God’s servants, jars of clay, with many troubles and afflictions, but bringing the Good News of life in Christ to as many as possible, no matter what the cost.
The original writings of the parts of the New Testament had to be copied by hand and sent on to other places so that more people could hear and read the Word of God. See how Paul writes in Colossians 4:16: “When this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.” Over time, many copies were being circulated. Those who made the copies tried to do their best, but mistakes were sometimes made, and not all copies, even of the same material, are exactly the same.
Today there are thousands of copies available, along with various early translations into other languages and comments made by early church fathers, quoting passages, etc. Some scholars have specialized in putting together what they think are the best copies from which our English translations are made. Our pastors are trained to read Greek and can look at what the scholars have come up with, with variant readings also indicated. The good news is that most all of the variants are very minor (for example, the spelling of names of towns), and they do not affect the doctrines and teachings of Scripture.
At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, what scholars now think are the earliest and best manuscripts of Matthew, stop at the words “but deliver us from evil.” They then go on to more of the words of Jesus about forgiveness in Matthew 6:14-15. These manuscripts and writings come from the Western side of Christianity as it spread - from Rome and Alexandria in Egypt and North Africa - where the Roman Catholic Church was dominant over time. The Roman Catholic churches do not include the extra words but stop at “but deliver us from evil” when they pray the Lord’s Prayer.
Another group of manuscripts and writings was found more often in places farther to the East and in what became known as the Orthodox churches. Those manuscripts often included part or all of what many Protestants include at the end of the Lord’s Prayer: “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” There is an example of this in a very early manuscript, The Didache, from the 100’s AD, which included worship materials. Many scholars now think that it became an early tradition to add these words at the end of the Lord’s Prayer as a kind of doxology, words of praise to our great Lord and God.
In fact, if you look at 1 Chronicles 29:10-11, you will find these very words as part of a blessing in praise of God spoken by King David when there was a great offering received for the future building of the temple in Jerusalem. “Therefore, David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth in Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as Head above all.” All the words we say are included in this Biblical doxology.
Today, in our Lutheran tradition, sometimes when an important event has happened, like the calling of a pastor or teacher, we choose to sing together the Common Doxology - “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” Hymn # 805, from our current hymnal. Some scholars think that adding the doxology based on parts of 1 Chronicles 29 became so common in parts of the early church that these words began to be included in manuscripts of the Scriptures as an ending to the Lord’s Prayer as time went on. We don’t know if all this “scholarship” is accurate, but what is said is clearly accurate and Biblical teaching: “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
When the King James Bible was translated in 1611, it was based largely on the manuscripts that included the doxology. That had a great influence on how the Lord’s Prayer was said, with the doxology, for several centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, new translations were made based on what scholars now thought to be the earliest and best manuscripts and left out the doxology.
Ultimately, though there is some uncertainty about all this, we are certainly using Biblical words and language in how we pray the Lord’s Prayer as Lutherans, along with many others, and it is not worth arguing with Roman Catholics if they choose to pray without the “For Thine is the kingdom….” As I mention below, one of their official catechisms gives support to the content and intent of the doxology words.
A few final thoughts. Remember that Martin Luther grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and chose not to argue with its form of the Lord’s Prayer. If you want to see how that is handled in the latest version of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (c) 2017, CPH, look at page 22, where Luther has an “Amen,” but not the rest of the conclusion. See also page 236, where we have the note: “The ending, ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever,’ is not in the oldest manuscripts of the Bible. These words were included early in Church history as a response of praise at the conclusion of the prayer.” See also the Conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer and its explanation on pages 279-280, with other related Scripture references in support of the content of the Conclusion.
Luther’s Small Catechism is also included in the Book of Concord, writings by Luther and others that we believe are faithful to Scripture and what it teaches. There, too, we read the comment by the editor (c) 2005 CPH, page 448: “These words are not necessarily part of the original text of the Lord’s prayer and may have been inserted into later copies of the Gospel (perhaps in the second century). Nevertheless, they are fine and appropriate words.” Another translation of the Book of Concord, the Tappert Edition, (c) 1959, Fortress Press, p. 348 footnote, indicates that “The Nuremberg edition of 1558, and many later editions, inserted ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever,’ before ‘Amen.’”
Very interestingly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (c) 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. - Libreria Editrice Vaticana, includes on page 687, Article 4, The Final Doxology, an affirmation that the doxology “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours, now and forever” along with the “Amen” are faithful to what the Scriptures say in other places and quotes from the first part of the Lord’s Prayer and mentions Revelation 1:6, 4:11, 5:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 and the early church father, Cyril of Jerusalem. There is also a warning that Satan tries to take these titles for himself in Luke 4:4-5.
The Sunday after Pentecost, May 26, is known in the church as Trinity Sunday. (It may be overshadowed for many in the area where I live by the Indianapolis 500 race and by Memorial weekend activities, but knowing who is our God, the One True Triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and worshiping Him, alone, is vitally important for us.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 6:1-8. Isaiah is given a vision of the Lord Himself, high and lifted up, sitting on a throne, with His robe filling the temple. As the passage goes on, we don’t get a neat picture of the Trinity - just glimpses of what would be revealed more and more as the Scriptures go on. Angels called seraphim are praising the Lord, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, for He fills not only the temple; He will fill the whole earth with His glory (as happened with the coming of Christ Jesus as Savior for all). This three-fold calling of the Lord as holy occurs in other places, too. See, for example, Psalm 99: “Holy is He!… Holy is He!… The Lord our God is holy.“ This prepares for the teaching that in the Triune God, each Person of God is Holy. In contrast, Isaiah knows that he is in big trouble. He is a sinner, a man of unclean lips, living among fellow sinners. He could not be in the presence of God and live. One of the angelic seraphim immediately took a burning coal and touched the lips of Isaiah, saying, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.” This is unique. Normally in the Old Testament, sins were atoned for and forgiven through animal sacrifices. This prepares the way for the forgiving work of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world through His work of propitiation, His atoning sacrifice on the cross. (See passages like John 1:29, Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, and 1 John 2:2.) Then, the Lord Himself finally speaks, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Notice that the Lord used the plural word, “us,” as He had done at creation, in Genesis 1:26 and 3:22. Though God is One ( Deuteronomy 6:4), He is also three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), as the Scriptures go to to make clear. Isaiah, cleansed and forgiven, then volunteers to go and speak for the Lord as a prophet. God reveals through him many things about the coming Savior, Jesus, true God and true man, and the Holy Spirit. (See passages like Isaiah 9:6-7 and Isaiah 11:1-2 and 53:3-12.)
The Psalm is Psalm 29, another of the Psalms of David. This psalm is appointed for the baptism of Jesus and for Trinity Sunday, as we think of the Spirit of God, hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2, and descending as a dove upon Jesus at His baptism, and the voice of God the Father (Psalm 29:3) over the waters of the Jordan River, powerfully identifying Jesus as His beloved Son, in Matthew 3:16-17. It is the Triune God at work, the same God enthroned forever as King in Psalm 29:10 and Isaiah 6:1. Notice also how the Lord gives strength to His people and blesses them with peace in Psalm 29:11. The same gifts are also connected with what both Jesus and the Holy Spirit can give. (See, for example, John 14:24-27, Matthew 11:27-30, and Galatians 5:22.) As the psalm also calls upon all to give the glory and worship due to the Holy Lord and His Name (Psalm 29:1-2), we now baptize and teach and worship in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20) and give glory to the Name of Jesus (Philippians 2:9-10) and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32), as well as to the Father.
In both the Gospel and the Epistle this week, we also see the Triune God mightily at work, with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit spoken of. In the Gospel lesson, John 3:1-17, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God and the need to be born again, or born from above, through the water and the Holy Spirit, a reference to the Spirit’s work in baptism. Jesus also speaks of the fact that He, the Son of God, descended from Heaven and became the Son of Man, to do His saving work and be lifted up on a cross, that the world might be saved through Him. Here is one of the simplest and clearest expressions of the Gospel, too, sometimes called the Gospel in a nutshell, that God the Father so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. The ones condemned are simply those who do not believe. They are condemned already because of sin and their sinful nature unless they are brought to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
The Epistle lesson lesson is Acts 2:14a, 22-36. This is Peter’s sermon on Pentecost. Through this Word of God, the Holy Spirit brings 3,000 people to faith in Christ Jesus and baptism. Peter focuses on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, showing that only Jesus could fulfill the prophecy from David, whose body is still in a grave. Jesus died on the cross but was raised from the dead and exalted back to heaven, at His ascension, to the right hand of God the Father, and then sent the promised Holy Spirit, through whom people could see and hear the Good News of Jesus, who is both Lord and Christ, the promised Savior. (See also the importance of the Holy Spirit in bringing people to faith in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and 2:12-14 and in my sermon from May 18 on “When the Spirit of Truth Comes.")
“When the Spirit of Truth Comes”
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson read a few minutes ago. You are welcome to look at it, together with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.
In our text, Jesus, on the night before His death, is continuing to prepare His disciples for all that is to come. He says, “Now I am going to Him Who sent Me,” - the Heavenly Father. We do properly focus on Jesus’ words from the cross: “It is finished” - for through His suffering and death, Jesus paid the price for the forgiveness of all of our sins and the sins of the whole world. Jesus has done it all. We do not have to make partial payment for our sins, by ourselves, by things we also need to do.
But there was still more to happen before Christ’s saving work was completed. As Paul wrote later, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (I Corinthians 15:17-20). We have just spent seven weeks celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. His disciples and many others had seen Him alive, and later on, Paul had seen Him alive, as well. Jesus had conquered death for us, too, as part of His saving work. Death was not the end but the beginning of a whole new life for us who trust in Him.
That became evident in one last part of Jesus’ saving work - His ascension into heaven and return to His Heavenly Father. He ascended as a true man into heaven, showing that we human beings can also be in heaven with Him when we die, and we have His promise that on the last day, our bodies will be raised and changed and glorified for eternal life, as well, even as happened with Jesus’ resurrected body.
And, of course, Jesus ascended into heaven as the true Son of God, also, and had His full power and glory restored, that He had given up, at least partially, to come to this earth to do His saving work. That meant that though His specific work of saving us was now complete, He also had the power to pray for us and answer our prayers and continue to bring help and blessings and His forgiveness to us.
In our text, Jesus says that He knows that the talk of His going away would cause sorrow to fill the hearts of the disciples, just as the departing from this life of our loved ones brings great sorrow. Still, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away… for then the Helper will come to you.” Jesus now turns the focus to the work of God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the one true Triune God, Who is that Helper.
At the beginning of our text, Jesus said, “When the Helper comes, Whom I will send to You from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.” The Greek word for “Helper” literally means someone who comes to the side of someone else and gives that person help and aid. The word is sometimes translated in different ways, depending on the kind of help needed - as a Comforter, a Counselor, a Defender, and an Exhorter - in short, as a Helper in many ways, as needed.
And did you notice that what is said in the 3rd Article of the Nicene Creed, which we will say in a few moments, is very similar to what Jesus says in this passage, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from (comes forth from) the Father and the Son”? Jesus says, “I will send to you the Spirit of Truth from the Father.” The Spirit proceeds (comes forth from) both the Father and the Son. And notice that Jesus says, “The Spirit will bear witness about Me.” Jesus says it again later in our text: “The Spirit will glorify Me, for he will take what is Mine. and declare it to you.”
The Holy Spirit is not especially interested in telling us about Himself. He is more interested in our hearing about and knowing and trusting in the saving work of Jesus. This is the Holy Spirit’s most important work, as we shall hear.
This is also why I have a book written by a fellow Lutheran, calling the Holy Spirit “the Half-Known God.” We know what a human father is and can make some connection with God our Heavenly Father. We know that Jesus was a real man, a true man, while here on earth, and we have books with pictures in them, imagining what Jesus might have looked like. And we know what a son is in connection with a father. But the Holy Spirit is more difficult to grasp. He is a real Being or Person, the third Person of the Triune God, but He does not have a body and we cannot see Him except by evidence of His presence and work.
At the Baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. At Pentecost, there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and tongues as of fire came upon each of the believers, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, evidenced by the fact that they could suddenly speak in other languages that they had never learned and could communicate the mighty Word and works of God, in Christ Jesus, to people from many nations, who were in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
And the presence of the Holy Spirit was clearly evidenced by the results of that day of Pentecost, as well. We read in Acts 2:41 that “those who received the Word of God, spoken by Peter and the other believers, came to faith and were baptized, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls to the Christian church, the body of believers in Christ."
This is exactly what Jesus had predicted in our text. He had told the disciples, “You also will bear witness (about Me) because you have been with Me from the beginning.” But these were still weak, struggling disciples. There was much that they still did not know and understand. Even Jesus says, in our text, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”
The death and resurrection of Jesus were life-changing for the disciples. They understood much more of what Jesus had been saying and predicting, but even then, Jesus had to teach them and teach them for 40 more days. And when he returned to heaven, He promised, “I will send the Helper, God the Holy Spirit, to you. And when He comes, He will convict (and convince) the world concerning three things, especially - concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
The disciples could and would be witnesses, but they could never convert anyone to faith by their own power. The Holy Spirit could and did, through the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. As Jesus said, “When the Spirit comes, He will guide you into all the truth,” which the disciples then preached and taught and wrote down in the New Testament.
The Spirit then worked (and still works) through that Word of God to convince people,
first, of the reality of sin and their own sin - sin so serious that they cannot overcome it on their own, no matter how hard they might try. The answer for them is never in their own efforts and righteousness.
Their hope is only through belief in Jesus and His righteousness, earned for them. Jesus could go to the Father because He did His Heavenly Father’s will and lived perfectly and paid for all sins. Now, all those who have been brought to believe this and trust in Jesus and His saving work will also go to the Father, through Him and His righteousness for them, and to eternal life.
The remarkably good news is that those who believe in Jesus as Savior, including us, escape judgment for their sins through Him. Instead, it is Satan, “the ruler of this sinful, evil world,” where so much is wrong - it is Satan who is judged and condemned, along with, sadly, all those who resist and reject Jesus and do not trust in Him and then continue in unbelief until they die.
Until then, of course, there is still time and opportunity for more to come to faith through the Holy Spirit and what we call “the means of grace” - the channels by which God brings grace and faith and new life through the Holy Spirit’s work. This includes the Word of God and the Word of God connected with water in Baptism and the Word of God connected with bread and wine and the promises and presence of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.
That’s why it is so important that we keep listening to and studying God’s Word and receiving the Sacraments and remembering our baptism so that the Holy Spirit can keep our faith strong; and then that we keep pointing others to Christ and His Word and His good gifts, as well.
But again, we don’t convert people. The Holy Spirit does. The Scriptures say, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ (and believe it and trust it) except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). And again, the Scriptures say, “The natural person (apart from the Lord) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (foolishness) to him… for they are spiritually discerned (understood).” But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we may understand (and believe) the things freely given us by God, through Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
Though some may call the Holy Spirit the “Half-Known” God, how important He is for us all, for He has connected us to Christ and His saving work through the Word and Baptism and keeps us in that faith.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
You may have noticed in recent weeks in our Scripture readings that Jesus warns that Christians will face hatred from the world. In John 15:18-21, Jesus taught His disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but chose you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the Word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you… All these things they will do to you on account of My name.”
Again, Jesus said, “Whoever hates Me hates My Father also… they have seen and hated both Me and My Father… ‘They hated Me without cause’” (John 15:23-25 and Psalm 35:19). Jesus is quoting from David, who often had much opposition and whose words are prophetic of what Jesus would go through. David knew his faults and sins. See Psalm 69:4-5. But Jesus was sinless and yet suffered so much for us. Speaking of His coming death, Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice” (John 16:20). Jesus also said, “I have given them (My disciples) Your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” And again, Jesus said, “O righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, I know You, and these (My followers) know that You have sent Me (John 17:14, 25). And James says, in James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
In all these verses, “the world” refers to the sinful, evil, fallen world, apart from God and His Word and His will. People following “the world” resist and reject God and His Word and/or are ignorant of Him and simply want to do what they want and choose. This also brings rejection of moral restraints that people don’t like and of views that they don’t like or are too restrictive, like the idea that Jesus alone is the Way to eternal life.
In our own day, this has brought increasing amounts of opposition to and even persecution of Christians. I want to refer you to the website of our national church (lcms.org/freetobefaithful) to hear of some of the challenges we are facing in our own country. Look also to opendoors.org for their WorldWatchList on the persecution of Christians in many countries in the world. It is estimated that 350 million Christians face serious danger in their countries from religious persecution.
Part of this is the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, consisting of 57 nations, 48 of whom are Muslim majority. Other countries with their own religious majorities sometimes give Christians a hard time, and there is limited religious freedom. There is also the influence of Marxist/Socialist/Communist thinking in many countries, including the influence in our own country and of those who are atheist or anti-religious and openly attack Christian views. Tolerance of churches in China is growing less and less, from many reports, too, and there is increasing pressure on Christians in some African countries, as well.
What can we do? We need to pray for persecuted Christians and for the Lord to help those in difficult situations. We need to be more informed about this whole situation, using resources such as those listed above. We should not be surprised, as Jesus predicts such things, as we heard in the Scriptures above. We need to ask the Lord to strengthen us and our own faith and our churches and to help us keep using God’s gifts of His Word and Sacraments. We can encourage each other in keeping and sharing our faith. We can pray for our school and parents that they are able to prepare children for challenges they will be sure to face in years ahead.
Above all, we keep trusting our Lord and His promises in Christ and His Word. Satan stirs up so much, but Jesus promised, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). And by the way, the church is not built on Peter, but on the Rock of Christ and the confession of faith in Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and our Savior and hope in all things.
In the Psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 139:1-12 (13-16), David marvels that the Lord knows everything about him, even before he thinks or speaks. The Lord’s knowledge is so high and wonderful that he cannot understand it. Even darkness is bright and light to Him. The Spirit of God is with him wherever he is or goes. He can only praise the Lord that he has been fearfully and wonderfully made and that the Lord even knows about his future. He is confident in his Lord.
In the Old Testament reading, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Ezekiel writes in a different time. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallen long before, and now the Southern Kingdom of Judah had fallen, too, and many of the people had been carried away into captivity in Babylon. Ezekiel writes in Babylon to the people whose hopes for their future were very dim. The Lord, through His Spirit, gives Ezekiel a vision of a valley full of dry bones, representing the hopeless house of Israel. Could these bones live? Ezekiel does not know. The Lord predicts that they will, by His power. The bones came together and had flesh and skin on them, but no life in them, until the Spirit of the Lord breathed on them and lived within them. Then, they would have renewed life and return to the Promised Land. The Lord had spoken through Ezekiel, and he would do this. After about seventy years in captivity. Jews began to return to Israel with the Lord’s blessings and renewed faith.
The culmination of renewal was the coming of Jesus, the Messiah from the line of King David, to do His saving work for His own people but also for the sake of the whole world, as we hear in the Gospel lesson, John 1:26-27;16:4b-15. Jesus would complete this work through His life, death, and resurrection. He would then return to the Father in Heaven so that He and the Father could send the Holy Spirit with power to bring faith and new life to people. Through the Word of God and baptism, the Holy Spirit would show the people their sins and need for a Savior and the gift of forgiveness and righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus and the defeat of Satan, “the ruler of this world.” The Holy Spirit would also guide the apostles and the Biblical writers “into all the truth.” Since Jesus is the Way to eternal life, twice Jesus says, “The Spirit will bear witness about Me… He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.”
In the Epistle lesson, Acts 2:1-21, we hear the story of Pentecost and of the Holy Spirit coming with “a mighty rushing wind” and “tongues as of fire” resting on each of the believers in Jesus and the Spirit also enabling these believers to speak the Good News of Jesus in other languages since people from many countries were there. Peter then spoke and explained that this day was prophesied by Joel in the Old Testament, and he quoted from Joel 2:28-32, showing that the Spirit is now available to all and that the goal is that “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord, (now through the Lord Jesus,) shall be saved.” (The result is the beginning of the New Israel, the Holy Christian Church, Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ Jesus and are baptized. 3,000 people came to faith and were baptized that day (Acts 2:41).
The Psalm for this week is Psalm 1. Truly blessed is the person who delights in the Lord and His Word and will and avoids the way of the evil around him. He is blessed like a fruitful, well-watered tree, in contrast with the wicked, who are like chaff and will be in great trouble on judgment day.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 John 5:9-15. John makes it very clear that righteousness and eternal life come only as a gift through believing in Jesus, the Son of God. He who has the Son of God has “the testimony of God” in him and knows that he has eternal life through what Jesus has done for him. He can pray with confidence in God and knows he is heard as he prays, asking that God’s will be done in his life through Christ.
Jesus strengthens that confidence in Him in the Gospel lesson, John 17:11b-19. He has been watching over His disciples and prays that the Heavenly Father would keep them in faith in the Name of Christ, too. There is much hatred of Christ and His believers in the world, and Jesus prays that they will be safe from “the evil one” and stick closely to His Word of Truth. They have been saved by that Word of Truth and sanctified (counted holy) by that Word, as well, even though they are sent out into a very troubled world.
In the First Lesson, Acts 1:12-26, the early Christians were following Christ and staying in Jerusalem after His ascension into heaven and awaiting the promise of the coming Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They were devoted to prayer and encouraging one another and chose, by God’s leading, another disciple, Matthias, to replace Judas, who had taken his life. Matthias had been around through much of Jesus’ ministry, from His baptism, and was a witness to His resurrection. He could be a faithful sharer of the Good News of Christ as Savior, along with the eleven “apostles.”
“I Have Called You Friends”
John 15:9-17
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson from John 15:9-17. You are welcome to look at it with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.
It is not very often in the Scriptures where people are specifically called “friends of God.” We read in James 2:23, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness - and he was called a friend of God.” Only two other times in the Scriptures is this term used for Abraham, and in one of those cases, the much more common term for believers, “servants of God,” is also used. God said through Isaiah, “You, Israel, My servant, are the offspring of Abraham, My friend” (Isaiah 41:8).
The second person called a “friend of God” was Moses, for we hear that when he was on Mt. Sinai, “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). And Moses asked God, “Please show me now Your ways, that I may know You.” God did show Moses so much that he became the first great prophet of God and wrote the first five books of Scripture, and predicted the coming of the greater Prophet, our Lord Jesus. Yet the Lord also told him on Mt. Sinai, “You cannot (really) see My face (in all its glory), for (no) man shall see Me and live” (Exodus 33:13-14, 20). And so, beyond this one occasion, Moses is simply known as “the servant of the Lord.”
And as time went on, that is how all the other prophets and writers of the Old Testament were known - as “God’s servants, the prophets.” To them the Lord revealed more and more of His will and His plans for Israel and for all nations and for the coming Messiah, the Savior Jesus. As we read in Amos 3:7-8, “The Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets… The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” And so we now have the whole Old Testament, the Words of God through the prophets, that we can still read and study to this day.
And when the Messiah, Jesus, came into the world, He emphasized the same things. He quoted the Old Testament and said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). Since God is God, and we are only lowly sinful human beings, how can we be anything but His servants, too? Jesus also taught, in one of His parables, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:10).
This finally takes us to our text, the Gospel, from John 15, where three times Jesus calls His disciples His “friends.” This is the Greek word “philos," which means “friendship love” or “brotherly love.” The city of Philadelphia is known as “the city of brotherly love, of “philos.” Unfortunately, that city and most all cities these days don’t always demonstrate a lot of that brotherly love. The problem is sin and our sinful nature, which isn’t always friendly toward all others.
That’s why Jesus, in our text, combines that word for “friendship” love with another word for love, “agape,” which means “sacrificial love.” And this “agape” love comes first and foremost from God the Father and His Son, Jesus, and His sacrificial love for us as a gift. Listen again to our text. Jesus says, “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love.” (In fact, in this passage, "sacrificial love" is mentioned nine times, while “friendship love” is mentioned only three times.)
Remember also that Jesus spoke these words to His disciples on Maundy Thursday, the night before His suffering and death on the cross. And he also taught them, in our text, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” We know that, humanly speaking. We probably should say it more often to more people, but to whom do we typically say, “Thank you for your service”? Don’t we usually use these words for those who we think could literally be risking their lives for us at some point - those in the military, police, firefighters, emergency personnel, and those in the medical field who risk exposure to serious disease and illness?
How much greater is the sacrificial love of Jesus, knowing what was coming and being willing to do it anyway! Remember the words of Paul in Romans 5: “While we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die - but God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:6-8,10).
Think also of how, in the Lenten season, we heard of the agony of Abraham, the friend of God, being asked to sacrifice his son, his only son, and yet being stopped from doing that. Could it have been easy for God the Father to go ahead with the plan He and God the Son had agreed to, even when He heard the cry of Jesus from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” - when Jesus suffered the God-forsakenness of hell, in our place, for what we deserved? It took that kind of complete sacrificial love, “agape” love, for the forgiveness of all sins and eternal life to be earned for us and for the world, by Jesus.
Jesus said again, in our text, “I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” It gave Him joy to do His Father’s will, even with all the suffering, because it would bring such great joy to so many, who would be saved through faith in Him once He had completed His sacrificial, “agape” work. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” The future would be secure for these believers and for all believers, through Jesus.
But this was a future to be believed and shared, and that is why Jesus had chosen these disciples to whom He was talking. Jesus said to them, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.”
All believers, including these disciples, were servants of the Lord, as were Abraham and Moses and the other prophets of the Old Testament. But they were more than just that. Jesus says, “You are My friends… No longer do I call you (just) servants, for the servant does not know what his Master is doing.” In ancient times, many servants were slaves. They simply had to obey, no matter what, whether they understood what was going on or not. Jesus says, in contrast, “I have (also) called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
Jesus had been teaching these disciples for three years, and after His death and resurrection, He would keep teaching them more and more, as we have been hearing in this Easter season. He was pulling everything together about His saving work for them and for the world. In a few weeks, we will also hear again about Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to lead and guide and empower these disciples. In fact, soon after our text for today, still on Maundy Thursday, Jesus would say, in John 16, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:12-13).
That is just what happened, and soon these same disciples were going out and sharing the Good News of Jesus with everyone they could, both Jews and non-Jews. In
our Acts passage, the first reading for tonight, we heard Peter taking some non-Jews, Gentiles, step by step, through the saving work of Jesus, and that “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name. And while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit came upon all who heard the Word,” and brought many to faith in Jesus and to baptism.
And a number of these original disciples, including Peter and others God chose, wrote down the very Words and message of Jesus in what we now call the New Testament so that future generations, including our own, can still hear the same messages and the same Words and the Good News of Jesus.
And what about us today? We are obviously not called to write new Scriptures. We already have everything we need and what God intended for us in the Old Testament, which points forward to Jesus, and the New Testament, which shows us the saving work of Jesus. Through that same Word of God, we have been brought to faith in the sacrificial love of Jesus and to Baptism and to the joy of Christ in us in gifts like the Lord’s Supper — or, we can still be brought to such faith if we still have doubts and questions and struggles.
We are called also to keep hearing and studying that Word of God so that we can better understand what Christ wants for us and is doing for us, as our Friend. An Old Testament proverb says, “A friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). According to that standard, our friendships are often imperfect. Christ is our truest Friend, though, always working for our good and loving us with both the Law and the Gospel in His Word. Another Old Testament proverb says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6). We don’t usually think of friends wounding us, but sometimes we need that. Jesus is our most faithful Friend when he shows us, through His Word, our weaknesses, and calls us to repentance, and then gives us His forgiving love. In contrast, the kisses of an enemy don’t always mean goodness of any kind, as we know from the story of Jesus and Judas.
And one more Old Testament proverb says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin; but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Provers 18:24). Jesus is that closest Friend, in whom we can always trust. He teaches us to pray that His will be done and helps us to love others, as He has first loved us, as our text says, too. Then our joy will be more and more full, no matter what,
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The Psalm for this week, the 6th Sunday of Easter, is Psalm 98. It is the only psalm introduced with simply the words “A Psalm.” It is like Psalm 96 is calling for singing “a new song” to the Lord. It speaks of God’s saving work for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament but also looks forward to the coming of the Messiah, the Promised Savior Jesus, through Whom “all nations,” “all the ends of the earth” would see “the salvation of our God.” “All the earth,” including the sea and rivers and hills, is pictured as singing for joy at the Lord’s coming. He comes through Christ Jesus to bring salvation available to all, yet He also judges with “righteousness” and “uprightness,” with “the soundness of His principles of what is right” (Kretzmann, OT, Vol.2, p.163).
We see that plan of our Lord at work in the first lesson for this week, from Acts 10:34-48. Peter is called by God to visit a non-Jew, Cornelius, and his non-Jewish (Gentile) friends and tells them the “good news of peace through Jesus Christ.” Peter takes them through the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and testifies that “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.” The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God spoken by Peter, and these Gentiles came to faith by the Holy Spirit and were baptized, to the “amazement” of Jews who were there. The Gospel of Jesus was truly for all people, as Psalm 98 predicted, not just for Jews - and Jews also needed to believe now in Jesus for salvation.
The same message is in the Epistle lesson for this week, 1 John 5:1-8. John emphasizes that we are “born of God” when we are brought to faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Promised Savior. We believe that Jesus is “the Son of God,” sent from God the Father and baptized by water and the Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Unlike some false teachers, who deny that Jesus suffered and died on the cross (Gnostics, Marcion, Islam, and others), John also emphasized the “blood” of Christ, shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, as well as the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This was also the message of God the Holy Spirit, Who inspired the writers who wrote down the New Testament books, with the same message of Christ Jesus as Savior and victory that overcomes our sinful world through Christ.
The Gospel lesson, John 15:9-17, continues a reading from last week, where Jesus calls us to keep abiding in Him and His Word and His love. Jesus laid down His life for us on the cross to save us. We are called to love others in a sacrificial way, too. Jesus calls us His “friends,” not just His servants and has revealed His saving plan to us through His Spirit and Word. We did not choose Him. He chose us so that we can bear abiding fruit for Him, witnessing to His love and living with fruits of the Spirit in our lives by His grace and power. (See Galatians 5:22-26, for example.)
In my “Preparing for Worship” this week, I mention that there are false teachers who deny that Jesus really suffered and died on the cross (Gnostics, Marcion, Islam, and others). You have to throw out large portions of the Scriptures to say such a thing, but some do. If you have a Lutheran Study Bible, you can look at a short discussion of this on page 1561 and false writings (pseudepigrapha) written after the time of the New Testament, described there.
Martin Luther and others quote from an early church father, Irenaeus, who wrote of Gnostic heresies, including that of Cerinthus, which may, in an early form, have caused John to write what he wrote in 1 John 5:6-8. Cerinthus taught that Jesus was a superior man, but only a man. At his baptism, “the heavenly Christ” came upon him for a time but left him so that only the man Jesus died on the cross, Cerinthus said. That meant, according to Cerinthus, that the man dying on the cross was not Jesus, the Son of God, dying to pay for our sins. Gnostics then emphasized secret knowledge (gnosis) that people needed instead of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
In clear contrast, John speaks in his Gospel and letters, and 1 John 5:6-8 of Jesus being the Son of God and Savior all of His life. That is clearly shown in His public ministry when, at His baptism with water and the Spirit, He is identified as the "Beloved Son” of God the Father, with Whom the Father is “well-pleased.” He continued to be God the Son and true man, even as He shed His blood on the cross as payment for all of our sins. “Father, forgive them,” He said from the cross, and as He died, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, also testifies throughout the Scriptures He inspired that “Jesus is the Son of God” all through His life and ministry and in His mighty resurrection from the dead. “These three agree,” John says - “the Spirit and the water and the blood.”
This may seem a little obscure to us today, but it is clearly answering some false ideas that existed. The Lutheran Study Bible indicates Marcion is another example of the false gnostic teaching. Marcion rejected most of the Scriptures and “denied the Christ of Scripture, and taught that Jesus was a middle-level spirit being who came to teach his disciples a body of secret knowledge. Marcion’s false teachings helped cause the early church to define and defend the books of the Bible” even more than before (LSB, p.1561). (See also Martin Franzmann’s comments in his Concordia Bible with Notes, CPH, (c) 1971, p. 490-491.)
This is also important to note because a number of liberal “religious” scholars in recent times have referred to gnostic writings as superior to the writings of the Scriptures even though they were written much later and reflect ideas about special, secret knowledge and other ideas that Christians rejected, again and again, in the early church and as time went on. The popularity of The DaVinci Code and other radical religious ideas came out of that period. Instead, the Scriptures we know as the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, the Word of God, are the foundation on which we still stand.
Some are surprised that Islam also says that Jesus did not die on the cross. There are different ideas, but most Muslims say that Jesus was only a prophet and was taken directly to heaven, and God or someone made a different person who may have looked like Jesus die instead of him. Such ideas are found in their holy book, the Koran (Quran), and other traditions of Islam. God would not, in their view, allow one of his prophets to suffer such a terrible death. That then means that Islam also has no Savior, and they reject most of our other Biblical Scriptures and teachings. People are responsible for doing enough of what Allah wants them to do and then hope that he will be merciful to them. That is why some Islamic people are willing to be martyrs, dying for the cause of Islam, since that is one of the few ways to guarantee that you will reach paradise.
Non-Biblical ideas continue to appear up to our own time. John also warned in 1 John 4:1-6 “to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John calls this “the spirit of the antichrist” since these false teachers so often attack Christ Himself and His saving work. I was thinking about all this
and considering whether to write this study when, on Saturday, someone was at the door. It turned out to be two small boys. They didn’t look to be more than 7 or 8 years old. They were offering a free book if I wanted it. (I could see a car on the street, so gladly, a parent or someone was watching over them.) I recognized the book, and have a copy of it, given to me free, years ago. It is called The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. I asked the boys what church they went to, but they didn’t seem to know or know what this book was about.
This encounter reminded me that we still need to hear articles like this, as wrong religious ideas are still being pushed by many. The Seventh-Day Adventists do talk about Jesus and call Him Savior but confuse the issue with a number of wrong ideas. They insist that the only proper day for worship is Saturday and that we must follow this Old Testament commandment in the Old Testament way, with all sorts of dietary rules and no work of any kind on Saturday, and they reject that we are freed from many commands and ceremonies by the New Covenant in the New Testament. They say that they follow the Bible alone, yet give out Ellen White books, not the Bible. Their unique, non-Biblical ideas come largely from her and her writings. I can’t go into this in detail, but such misleading churches and groups are still around us. I have seen ads in recent weeks in local papers offering “Jesus Christ: The Real Story” from another group, The United Church of God, which denies the Triune God and insists on people following not only worship on Saturday but all of the other Old Testament festivals and has very different ideas about Jesus and the future.
In other words, be cautious about what you read and hear. Follow Scripture alone and watch out for false teachers and ideas, not only from clearly non-Christian groups but also from those who claim to be Christians but are not in many of their teachings. If you have questions or are confused, ask a pastor or raise a question in a Bible study. Keep worshiping and studying Scripture and focusing upon Christ alone as your Savior.
The Psalm for this week is the last Psalm in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 150. It simply calls us to “praise the Lord,” to sing “Hallelujah” or “Alleluia” (the Hebrew form of this phrase). The Lord is to be praised in the heavens, as well as on earth, for His greatness and mighty deeds (and especially for His saving work in Jesus). He is to be praised with musical instruments and by everything that has breath, including all people. Praise the Lord!
In the Gospel lesson, John 15:1-8, Jesus uses another of His “I AM” statements: “I am the True Vine.” Believers are His branches, connected to Him by faith. He brings us to that faith. Now, we need to abide in Him, for apart from Him, we can do nothing. Through Him, we can bear much fruit. Apart from Him, we would wither and die and be burned in a fire. If we are His, He will “prune” our branch and cleanse us so that we can bear more fruit for our Lord. (See Acts 15:7-9 as another example of this terminology.)
The first lesson is from Acts 8:26-40 and gives an example of someone being connected to Christ, the True Vine, through the Word of God and the gift of Baptism. An Ethiopian man has heard of the true God of the Old Testament and comes to worship in Jerusalem but knows very little and does not understand Scripture or God’s saving plan. Philip is sent by an angel and by the Holy Spirit to meet the man as he returns home. The man is reading from Isaiah 53:7-8, and Philip begins with this Scripture and uses many others to tell the man “the good news about Jesus” as Savior. The man is brought to baptism and faith in Jesus and goes home “rejoicing” as a believer in Christ and His Word. Philip is taken away by the Holy Spirit and continues to preach the Gospel of Jesus in many more towns. (Note that this happens in the area of Gaza, about which we still read so much today. The Good News of Christ still needs to be preached there and in Israel and everywhere, to this very day.)
The Epistle lesson is from 1 John 4:1-11 (12-21). The Apostle John warns that there are many false prophets and false teachers who are serving “the spirit of the antichrist.” They speak from the viewpoint of a sinful world that is opposed to Christ Jesus alone as Lord and Savior and His Word alone, the Holy Scriptures. As John tells us, “God is love” and “sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning and forgiving sacrifice) for our sins.” “We love Him and others because He first loved us and made His Son our Savior and the Savior of the world.” This is Good News to be shared with all.
Sermon for Saturday, April 20, 2024
“I AM the Good Shepherd”
John 10:11-18
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson from John 10:11-18. You’re welcome to look at it together with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.
Two times in this very short passage, Jesus says, “I AM the Good Shepherd… I am the Good Shepherd.“ And a third time, referring to Himself, Jesus describes what the Good Shepherd does. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
The way Jesus says this is very important, too, for seven times in the Gospel of John
Jesus is quoted as saying, “I AM” and then saying what He is.
- I AM the Bread of Life. (John 6:35)
- I AM the Light of the world. (John 8:12)
- I AM the True Vine. (John 15:1)
...and on and on. The fact that He begins each of these statements with the words “I AM” is also very significant.
In Exodus 3, in the Old Testament, Moses is called to go and help the people of Israel in slavery in Egypt. Moses is reluctant to go and tries to make excuses not to go and even says, “If I come to the people and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me,’ and they asked me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And God said: “‘Say this to the people, ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.’”
And ever since that time, by far the most common name for the One True God in the Old Testament is that name. Most scholars think that it was pronounced YAHWEH, and it is a form of the Hebrew verb “I Am.” I have not counted it, but scholars say it occurs 6,820 times in the Old Testament, and in English translations, it is the LORD (capital LORD).
And Scriptures like Psalm 105:1 say, “O give thanks to the LORD (capital LORD); call upon His Name; make known His deeds among the peoples.” The Lord never asked His people not to speak His Name, but rather, as the 2nd Commandment says, “not to misuse it or take His Name in vain.” As Martin Luther explained it, “We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His Name, but call upon It in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”
But between the time of the Old Testament and New Testament, many Jewish people were so fearful of breaking the 2nd Commandment that they avoided the true name of God and substituted another name or something else. They might say, “By heaven we pray,” instead of “By the Lord we pray.”
How different that is from our OMG society, where many people just throw around God’s Name without thinking or even meaning to talk with Him in a serious way or at all. His Name becomes a way only to emphasize something - often not good things at all.
So, when Jesus in the New Testament began to use the true Name of the Lord, in reference to Himself, with His “I AM” sayings, the religious leaders were very upset. When in John, Chapter 8, Jesus said, “I AM the Light of the world” and spoke of doing His heavenly Father’s Word and will, the religious leaders said, “Abraham is our father, and we follow him….” “You, Jesus, are a Samaritan and have a demon.” Jesus finally had to say to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” The reaction of the people was to pick up stones to stone Jesus for blasphemy, but He was able to escape.
Jesus had to say and do these things because He truly was God the Son, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity, and was involved with the Creation and everything since, even long before the time of Abraham. And again, in the Old Testament, the Lord often had to send many prophets to warn the kings and other leaders that they were being terrible shepherds of their nation and leading the people astray. Even the spiritual shepherds, the priests and the Levites and others were often condemned for not caring for their flock, their people. Finally, the Lord Himself said, in passages like Ezekiel 34, “I Myself will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.”
So, God the Son came into this world and became man, Jesus, to help the people, the sheep of this world. Sheep are not the smartest of animals and can easily go astray. Their struggles are a good picture of our human struggles, too, as the imperfect people we all are. Jesus had compassion on the people, for they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus was the Good Shepherd, healing and helping and teaching many people as much He could. But He also wanted to bring to people the promise of eternal life beyond this life. “This charge (this calling), I have received from My Father,” Jesus said at the end of our text.
That’s why, several times in this passage, Jesus says He has to do even more. He was the only truly Good Shepherd, living a perfect life in our place as a substitute for our failures. But even more was needed. At least five times in our text, Jesus says that the Good Shepherd also lays down His life for the sheep. Jesus had to suffer and die willingly, again as a substitute, in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins and the sins of all sheep in the world. Only Jesus, as true God as well as a true man, could forgive us completely.
It may seem as if Jesus’ life was taken from Him by cruel and evil people. But Jesus says, “I lay down my life. No one takes it from Me. I lay it down of My own accord.” That’s why Jesus says, God the Father loves Me. I am willingly doing everything He wishes and is needed for the salvation of sheep, of people. But there is still more for Jesus to do.
He says, “I lay down My life that I may take it up again.” “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” Jesus is predicting that not only would He die for us, but He would rise again in victory over sin and Satan and death and earn for us the gift of eternal life, as we trust in Him as our Good Shepherd. Jesus has His life again through His resurrection from the dead, and he can continue to help us always, through this life, to eternal life with Him.
We still face many troubles and dangers in this sinful world. There are “hired hands” who care only about themselves and can desert us and disappoint us in times of need. There are wolves around, too, who want to do us great harm. These are usually described in Scripture as false teachers who follow the ways of Satan and want to lead us away from our confidence in our Lord.
Yet, in the midst of all this, we have our living Lord, Who loves us and will help us through. Jesus said, “I AM the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me. just as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father.” Jesus uses Himself as an example. The Father sent His Son into this world to lay down His life for us - not at all an easy thing to be doing, but Jesus trusted His Father and His Father’s plan completely, no matter what - and even in the agony of the cross and death, Jesus prayed, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” And the Father enabled Jesus to take up His life again in His Easter victory over death. In the same way, Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows us, and we know Him and trust that no matter the circumstances, He will be with us, as He knows us and loves us, and we listen to Him and His Word.
In the Epistle lesson for today, we heard that even if we mess up and fail, as sheep sometimes do, and our hearts condemn us (and our conscience troubles us), God is greater than our hearts, and he still loves us and forgives us and restores our souls, as Psalm 23 says.
In fact, everything that David spoke of for himself is ours, too, in Jesus our Good Shepherd. Jesus is the great I AM, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He can provide for what we really need and lead us in good and right ways as we listen to Him and His Word. Even if we have to walk through dark valleys, He is with us. He has given us goodness and mercy in our Baptism and blesses us with the table of His Presence in the Lord’s Supper. He is with us all the days of our life, and even death is only a gateway through Him to our heavenly home, where we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And there’s one more great promise in our text from John 10. Jesus says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one Shepherd.” If we have family or friends who are still not following Christ, there is still hope for them. We don’t have to give up on them. We can still pray for them and encourage them and try to love them, as our Epistle lesson said, in deed and truth, as well as in Word and talk.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:9)
This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of the Easter Season and is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Two of the readings have a very direct connection to Jesus as our Good Shepherd, as you will see.
The Psalm is Psalm 23, another psalm of David. David had been a shepherd for his family’s sheep when he was younger and knew what sheep needed. He speaks of those needs in this psalm but applies them to himself and to us, as spiritual sheep of our heavenly Father, and especially of His Son, Jesus, the true Good Shepherd. Sheep are not the smartest animals and need lots of help and protection. Spiritually, we are the same. We need nourishment and protection in times of danger and restoration when we go astray and get into trouble. The Lord disciplines and directs us with His rod and staff, the Law, and forgives and blesses us with His Gospel, His goodness and mercy and love, through this life and on into eternal life, as we trust in Him by His gift of faith.
In the Gospel lesson, John 10:11-18, Jesus clearly identifies Himself as our Good Shepherd, Who truly knows and cares about His sheep. There are “hired hands” who do not really care for the sheep and abandon them in a time of danger. Jesus gave His life for us sheep and then took up His life again in His resurrection so that He can continue to help and bless us always. Jesus knows us as His sheep and seeks to keep us always trusting in and following Him. He also has other sheep He wants to bring into His flock, as he is the one true Good Shepherd. No other will do.
In the first lesson, Acts 4:1-12, we see that there was opposition to Jesus and those who taught about Him. The Sadducees, who did not believe in life after death, were especially upset with the talk about a resurrection from the dead and had Peter and John arrested. The next day they questioned them about how and by what name the crippled man had been healed (Acts, Chapter 3). Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke boldly about Jesus’ death and resurrection and that the man had been healed by Him and His power. Though rejected by many, Jesus is the Cornerstone for faith and life and our eternal future. In fact, there is no other person or name by which we can be saved. Christ alone is our salvation, together, of course, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one true Triune God.
The Epistle lesson, 1 John 3:16-24, begins with what we heard in the Gospel for today. Our Good Shepherd, Jesus, was willing to and did lay down His life for us and our salvation. As He loved us, we are called to love one another, not just with words, but in deed and truth. However, when we fail, at times, and our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our guilty hearts and forgives and strengthens us. Seeing His love and forgiveness, we are moved again to seek to do His will more faithfully, believing in our Lord Jesus and seeking to love one another in a better way. God the Father abides in us to help us, along with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the one true Triune God at work for us and with us.
Sermon for Saturday, April 13, 2024
“These are My Words”
Luke 24:36-49
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson from Luke 24:36-49. You are welcome to follow along with the reading as printed in your bulletin.
From what we heard last weekend from John’s Gospel, it might seem as if Jesus’ first appearance to His disciples on Easter evening went pretty smoothly, except for the problems of doubting Thomas, who was not there that evening.
But from Luke’s Gospel, we get a different picture, at least at first. Just before our text, we hear that there were other people besides the 11 disciples in the locked room on Easter evening. Then the two disciples to whom Jesus had appeared on the road to Emmaus had come back to tell everyone what they had just seen and heard from Jesus. So, the disciples had already heard that some were claiming that Jesus was alive. Our text begins, then, “as they were talking about these things,” when Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace to you.”
This didn’t immediately bring them peace or joy, though. We hear that they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit - something like a ghost of some sort. This had happened once before when they were out in a boat in the stormy Sea of Galilee, and Jesus came to them, walking on the water of the sea. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 14, tells us, “When the disciples saw Him, they were terrified and said, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out in fear." Immediately, Jesus said to them, "Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid!"
And if you remember the story, impetuous Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to You on the water.” Note that he said, “If it is you, Jesus.” The disciples certainly had faith in God, but that faith was sometimes mixed up with doubts and confusion and even superstitions.
In this case, Peter started walking on the water, but when he saw the wind and the waves, he was afraid again and began to sink and cried out, “Lord, save me.” And immediately, Jesus rescued him. But Jesus also had to scold him, saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
The disciples on Easter evening were very similar. They saw Jesus standing right in front of them, but they were startled and frightened and unsure. Could a dead person really come back to life? - though they had recently known of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus. And how could anyone get through locked doors and walls and be with them in person? It wasn’t just doubting Thomas who struggled to believe. Most all of them did. But before we get too critical of them, just imagine if I were here preaching tonight, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a person was standing right in front of the altar; what would we think? Would we be startled and frightened, too?
Jesus loved these disciples in spite of their doubts and fears. When He said to them, “Peace to you,” it was more than a typical Hebrew greeting among friends. By His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus was also bringing peace and reconciliation with God Himself for them (and for us) and forgiveness for all the sins and failings that separate us from God.
Listen to some other Scriptures that describe that peace that Jesus brings. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “In Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Christ to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.” And in Romans 5:1-2 we read, “Since we have been justified (counted right with God) by faith (in what Jesus did for us) we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace (of God) in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
To strengthen the faith of those frightened disciples, Jesus then spoke to them what we, as Lutherans, call both Law and Gospel. As Jesus had done with Peter earlier on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus scolded the disciples and said, “Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” - so that they could clearly see their own sins and failings. It wasn’t just doubting Thomas who needed help. They all needed the help and forgiveness and hope that only Jesus could give - as we all need that forgiveness and hope still today. We need the scolding, too.
Jesus then gave to His disciples the Gospel - the Good News that He really had risen from the dead and was not a spirit or ghost, but was the living Lord Jesus who could help and bless them always. He gave them proof, too, as He later did with doubting Thomas. He said, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see I have.” And when He had said this, “He showed them His hands and His feet” - where the nails had been. And when the disciples still “disbelieved for joy” - maybe thinking that this was “almost too good to be true” and marveling at all this, Jesus gave them one more proof. He said, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.” Jesus was showing them that He had been raised with the same human body, able to eat, yet changed and glorified, so that He could appear and disappear, even in a locked room, as He was just doing. And for 40 more days, Jesus appeared to the disciples and to many more people and ate with some and did other things that showed that He was truly alive.
Jesus also did one more very crucial thing that Easter evening. He pointed His disciples to the importance of His true Word and the true Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. Jesus knew that after 40 days, He would ascend into heaven and return to His Heavenly Father. He would still be with us as true God and man, but we would not be able to see Him and touch Him and talk with Him in the same direct way as those first disciples.
In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul wrote of the many people to whom the risen Lord Jesus appeared directly before His ascension, and then He wrote, “Last of all, (as if this would not keep happening), as to one untimely born, Jesus appeared also to me.... unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Jesus brought Paul to faith in Him. A little later, Paul wrote, so now “we preached” (the Word of God) and so “you believed” (in the Good News of the Savior Jesus.)
That is exactly what Jesus wanted to happen, as He spoke on Easter evening. He said to the disciples, “These are My Words, that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (and the other Writings of the Old Testament) must be fulfilled.”
Then Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to hear and understand the Scriptures, in which “it is written” that He, Jesus, the Christ “should suffer (enough to die) and on the third day rise from the dead.” That is exactly what Jesus had now accomplished, completely fulfilling what the Scriptures had predicted, for their salvation and the salvation now available to the whole world.
“You are witnesses of these things.” Jesus then said. They were actually eyewitnesses, for Jesus then told them, You have seen these things and heard My Word. You have the proof that I died but also rose from the dead in victory for you. It is now your job to share this Good News with everyone you can - “that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in My Name,” Jesus said, “to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
Jesus wanted His disciples to start there. He still cared for His own Jewish people and wanted them, too, to believe in Him as Savior. And, Jesus said, you will not have to do this on your own, in your own power. “These are My Words,” Jesus said, and “I will be with you always” - though they could not see Him or hear Him so directly after His ascension. Jesus also promised, as our text ends, “I am also sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Jesus was referring to the third Person of the Trinity, Who would come at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, who then worked through the Word proclaimed by Peter and others and brought 3,000 people to faith and the gift of Baptism and, later, the Lord’s Supper.
As we heard in our first Scripture lesson for today, those disciples then continued to proclaim the Good News of Jesus in the temple and wherever they could, and the Holy Spirit continued to bring more people to faith in Jesus.
The Lord also inspired Peter and John and Matthew and Mark and Paul and others to write down what they had seen and heard from Jesus so that still today, we can see and hear Christ and His Word and all that happened through the New Testament, as well as the predictions that pointed forward to Jesus.
And we thank our Lord for parents and family and pastors and teachers who shared that same Word of Christ that brought us to faith and baptism and to be here tonight. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3, “All Scripture is breathed out by God,” and is vital for not only bringing us to faith in Christ but for keeping us in that faith.
And Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free,” - free from the condemnation of sin and free for the blessings and peace of this life, and for eternal life to come. And we even have the privilege of letting others know of that Good News, too,
Let us pray: Now may the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe (only where they are safe) in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The first lesson this week is again from the New Testament, Acts 3:11-21, and the history of the early Christian church. A man lame from birth was begging at a gate of the temple. Peter has no money to give him, but he gives him something much greater and better. Through Christ’s power, the man is healed. For the first time in his life, he can walk and leap, and he praises God and hears of Christ the Savior (Acts 3:1-10). People want to praise Peter and John, but Peter points to Jesus Christ, the Author of Life, who was rejected by many and died but rose again. Peter calls the people to repent of their sins and turn to Christ for forgiveness and to be refreshed and restored by the Lord and await His return and final restoration of all things on the last day.
The Psalm is Psalm 4. David knows that the Lord has given him relief when he was in many tight spots in his life, being shamed and attacked by vain words and lies of others. He has been angry but seeks not to let that lead him into sin. He trusted the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayers and gave him renewed joy in his heart and more restful sleep. The light of God’s face was upon him and allowed him to dwell in safety, even in difficult times.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 24:36-49, we hear more about Jesus’ appearance to His disciples and some others after His resurrection. At first, they thought they were seeing a spirit or ghost. Jesus gives them lots of evidence that it is truly He, alive again with them, in His resurrected body. They can see His pierced hands and feet and touch Him. He asked for some food and ate it in front of them. He also gave them His Words, the Words of Scripture that predicted all this, and He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He showed them that “it is written” that He, the Christ, would suffer and die and rise again on the third day. Now it would be their job to call people everywhere to repentance and forgiveness through Jesus and His Name and Word, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who would soon come upon them from on high at Pentecost.
That is exactly what we see Peter and John doing in our First lesson for today, in Acts, Chapter 3. That is also how we have come to faith in Jesus to this very day, John tells us, in our Epistle lesson, 1 John 3:1-7. It is through the Word of God proclaimed to us and taught to us, along with the Word connected with water in the gift of Baptism for us. Through the love of God, in Christ, we have come to faith and are actually children of God now, as we also await Christ’s appearance on the last day, when we shall see Him as He is, as those first disciples saw Jesus on Easter. We are purified now through Christ’s forgiveness, but we also try to battle the sin, the lawlessness, to which Satan seeks to lead us astray. We live by God’s Word and confess our sins and live by God’s mercy and forgiveness and strength in Jesus.
Acts 4:32-35 describes the early Christian church after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost when 3,000 people came to faith in Jesus and were baptized. Most important was that “the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” As a result, we hear in Acts 6:7 that “the Word of God continued to increase“ through the sharing of Christ, “and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great number of the priests became obedient to the faith.” That was exactly what the Lord wanted to happen, through the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God and bringing more people to faith and baptism.
At the same time, we hear that these Christians were also “of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him were his own, but they had everything in common…. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:
32, 34-35). Some people say that it sounds as if they had set up a Christian Socialist or even a Christian Communist society. Everyone was equal, and no one had anything more than anyone else. It was a kind of Christian commune, in their view, and we should do the same today.
This view takes these Scriptures out of context, though, and ignores what is said in passages that follow. Chapter five of Acts tells that a couple sold a piece of property and kept part of the proceeds for themselves while lying and saying they were giving it all to the church. The problem was not in keeping some of the proceeds but in lying “to the Holy Spirit" in what they claimed to be doing (Acts 5:1-3). Peter told the husband, “While the property remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” (Acts 5:4). The church did not own everything that people had. The people owned their property and could do with it what they wished. The problem was with lying - and they were ultimately not “lying to man but to God.” Martin Franzmann commented, “These words show how completely voluntary the sharing of property was. The term ‘Christian communism,’ sometimes applied to this aspect of the life of the Jerusalem church, is at best misleading” (Concordia Bible with Notes, CPH, 1971, p. 217).
The idea of a utopian system, where everyone shares and is equal, does not work because even a church is made up of imperfect sinners who sometimes have trouble with each other. By Acts, Chapter 6, v.1, we hear that the Hellenists, Greek-speaking Christians, were complaining that their widows were “being neglected in the daily distribution.” They felt that the Hebrew widows were getting more than the Greek widows. It just wasn’t fair.
After this, we don’t hear of an “everything-in-common” system in the Scriptures. It was not that in the first place, as we have seen in context. Certainly, Christians were and are called to “love their neighbor,” “help the poor and needy,” and assist one another. Paul and others sponsored a large gathering of funds to help suffering Christians in Jerusalem when there was famine and other problems. If we see how much Christ loved us, we also are moved by our Lord to help others. At the same time, look at a Scripture like 1 Timothy 5:3-16, where Paul warns about people taking advantage of a system of help - people who are “self-indulgent” and “idlers” and “gossips and busybodies.” Paul also encourages families and relatives to do what they can to help their own when they can.
Historically, “communal systems” have not worked well because of sin and our sinful human nature. In my state, Indiana, in the US, there is a place called New Harmony. It was started in the early 1800’s by George Rapp and German separatists, who came to the US for freedom and thought they could establish a perfect Christian community, with all people equal and sharing. It did not last very long. Then, Robert Owen tried to establish the same sort of system in the same place. His movement was called Owenism by some, and it lasted only about 12 years before falling apart. Think also of the tragedy in Guyana in 1978, where 918 died in what turned into a communal cult led by Jim Jones, who started off as a Christian pastor in Indianapolis. The examples are many.
Again, at the same time, historically, many hospitals, charities, and social ministries were started by Christians to help people in need. Christians have often been willing to be “taken advantage of” just to help as many people as possible, especially the poor and needy and children and the suffering. Jesus certainly was often “taken advantage of” to do His saving work for us, which none of us deserved. Reading the Scriptures carefully, in context, and letting Scripture interpret Scripture can help us act responsibly as individuals and as a church. May the Lord bless us all in that and in our primary responsibility - sharing Christ and His resurrection and His Word with others
(Acts 4:33) while we also seek to show love for others.
This Sunday is the Second Sunday of our Easter celebration. Note that we do not have reading from the Old Testament during the Easter season, but rather from the Book of Acts and the history of the early Christian church.
The First lesson is from Acts 4:32-35. The most important part of this passage is that the apostles were giving powerful testimony to the resurrection of Jesus, and that great grace of God was upon them all. They were united and willing to sacrifice what they had to help others in need. They “had everything in common” at first, but that did not last, as the events of Acts 5 and 6 tell, and there was lying and deceiving and complaining, too. In a sinful world, there is no utopia, even among Christians. The Word of the Lord continued to be spread and increased, though, and the Lord grew His church (Acts 6:7).
Psalm 148 calls everyone and everything to praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the highest heavens and the starry skies. Praise the Lord from the earth and all that is in it, including kings and all the peoples. Praise the Lord for His Name that is above all names. Praise the Lord for the “Horn” that He has raised for the people near to Him. That Horn of salvation was and is Jesus, our Redeemer. (See Luke 1:68-69.)
The Gospel is John 20:19-31. Thomas missed Jesus's Easter Sunday appearances and seemed to be unable to believe that Jesus was really alive again. Jesus appeared again about a week later, and Thomas saw Jesus and believed and called Jesus “My Lord and My God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those, also, who have not seen Me but have believed.” He is talking about us, who have come to faith through the written Word of God, and the many who testify about Jesus to us through that Word, also. In Christ, we have “life,” now and forever.
The Apostle John was one of those witnesses to Christ Himself, as one of His 12 original disciples. John writes in 1 John 1:1-2:2 of his certainty in Christ, Who was with God the Father and came to be the Light of our world and to cleanse us from all sin. We are all sinners who need to be brought to confess those sins and trust in Jesus, Who is the Righteous One for us and our Advocate before the Father. John is absolutely sure of all this because he has seen and heard and touched and proclaimed Jesus as “the Word of Life” for us and our “Eternal life,” risen from the dead for us.
I preached a sermon a few days ago on Maundy Thursday. If you would like to listen to it or read it, you can find it here. It is called “Participation in Christ’s Body and Blood,” based on Mark 14:12-26 and 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, and is about Christ’s love and concern for His disciples, especially in transforming the Passover into a new meal of the New Covenant, in the Lord’s Supper He instituted that Maundy Thursday evening.
There is so much richness in God’s Word, and as happens often, I cannot fit into one sermon all that I think about or would like to say. Some things are also just interesting historical information that doesn’t really fit into a sermon and might not be of general interest.
I will start with a Biblical question. Some of our prayers describe the Lord’s Supper as “a foretaste of the feast to come” and also mention “the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end.” (You can find this in the third possible Past-Communion Collect on p. 166 in our hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book. If you have the Lutheran Study Bible, you can also find a discussion of “The Heavenly Banquet” on p. 1689 of the LSB, with a number of parables of Jesus and other Scriptures to look at and think about.)
We also hear, in Exodus 24:1, 9-11, that the Lord invited Moses and Aaron and other leaders of God’s people to come up and meet Him as part of sealing the Old Covenant. Based on other Scriptures, the people could only get the slightest glimpse of Him, but this passage says that they “ate and drank” with Him.
We also have the prophecy in Isaiah 25:6-9, which we heard on Easter Sunday. Once Jesus had died and risen from the dead and won His victory over sin and Satan and “swallowed up death forevermore,” there would be a joyous celebration, “a feast of rich foods” for all who reach eternal life through faith in Him. Jesus speaks of this in some of His parables, too, sometimes with the picture image of a wedding feast. See Luke 12:35-38 and Revelation 3:20-21 and the description of the “marriage feast of the Lamb” in Revelation 19:6-9, where the holy Christian church, all believers, are called “the bride” of the Lamb.
We don’t know what all of this means or exactly what heaven will be like, but we do know that there is only peace and joy with the Lord in heaven for all those who live and die in faith in Christ. There is no hunger or thirst, no tears or any troubles or sorrows. There is only joy and blessing and celebrating with the Lord, a great feast or banquet, with all the praise going to our great Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All we need to know will be answered when we reach eternal life ourselves, in heaven with the Lord.
I’ll move on now to some history. At the end of the Maundy Thursday sermon, I quoted from a Communion hymn in our hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, #639. I had not noticed before that this hymn was written in German by Pastor Wilhelm Loehe, and then translated into English by a Lutheran, Herman Stuempfle, who has other hymns and translations in the LSB.
Rev. Loehe was never in the U.S. but was influential in helping the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in its earliest days, in the 1840s and 1850s. He was a Lutheran pastor in Bavaria and heard of German Lutheran immigrants who were coming to the U.S. but had very few pastors who knew German and could serve them. Loehe started a training program for future pastors and helped send them to the U.S. and other countries. He also helped support one of our seminaries in its very early years in Fort Wayne and provided a few of its pastors, who started Lutheran churches there and in other places, including in Frankenmuth, Michigan, along with ministry to native Americans.
The seminary I attended was the seminary Loehe helped start. It had moved to Springfield, Illinois when I attended from 1969-73, and then was moved back to Fort Wayne, and still is there, as Concordia Theological Seminary. There were and still are halls or areas named after Rev. Loehe, and some of those whom he recruited, including Pastors Wyneken, Sihler, and Craemer, as far as I remember. Pastor Loehe still benefits our churches through his hymns and other things he wrote, as well as his part in our Synod’s history.
I will stop my ramblings now. A blessed Easter season, in Christ’s name.
Sermon for Maundy Thursday
March 28, 2024
“Participation in Christ’s Body and Blood”
Mark 14:12-26 and 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation tonight is the Gospel lesson, along with some thoughts from our Epistle. (All quotations are from the ESV translation, except for a few from my own self-translation. The hymn quoted is Hymn 639, “Wide Open Stand the Gates,” stanzas 2-3, from the Lutheran Service Book. Text by Wilhelm Loehe, Translation by Herman Stuempfle, (c) 2002, GIA Publications. Lutheran Service Builder (c) 2024, CPH.)
It is Thursday of Holy Week in our text, and the arrest and suffering and death of Jesus is drawing very close. But He is not thinking about Himself, but about doing His Father’s will and helping His disciples and providing gifts that are a blessing to them and to you and me to this very day.
First, Jesus made sure that He and His disciples properly celebrated the remembrance of the Passover, when God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt almost 1500 years earlier. Old Testament Law said, in Deuteronomy 16:2-3, “You shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, from the flock or the herd, at the place the Lord will choose, to make His Name dwell there. You shall eat no leavened bread with it.”
That is exactly what Jesus made sure happened. He sent out two of His disciples to find, following His directions, the place for eating the Passover meal. They then had to purchase an unblemished lamb and have it properly sacrificed at the Temple and the proper Passover meal prepared. This was all part of Jesus’ saving work for us here on earth. He was like a second Adam, perfectly following His Father’s will, unlike the first Adam and Eve, and unlike the Old Testament people of God, who so often broke the Old Covenant (Jeremiah 31:32) will of God too - and as we all still do, too often.
The sacrifice of the lamb was also prophetic of what Jesus would soon do. John the Baptist had earlier said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29,36). By His perfect life in our place, and by His sacrificial death and shedding of His blood, instead of ours or an animal’s, Jesus would forgive all our sins and count us acceptable to God through the gift of faith. He would also free us from Old Testament rituals, like Passover, to follow His New Covenant, as we will hear.
At the Passover meal, Jesus showed His continuing care for His disciples, too - and even for Judas. We hear that while they were eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me, one who is eating with Me.” Then, a bit later, Jesus said, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with Me.” The other disciples do not seem to realize who it is, but Judas certainly knows that Jesus is aware of what he, Judas, plans to do. Jesus then gives a very serious warning to Judas. “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Jesus is giving Judas a chance to wake up and repent of what he is planning.
But Judas does not care. John’s Gospel tells us that Judas was a thief and had stolen from the disciples’ money bag before (John 12:6). Maybe he just wanted the thirty pieces of silver promised him more than he cared about Jesus or anything else. Other Gospels tell us that Judas soon left the Passover meal to prepare for betraying Jesus. Jesus’ attempt to help him fell on deaf ears.
It is also interesting that when Jesus brought up a betrayal coming, the other disciples began to be sorrowful and to say, one after another, “Is it I? Is it I?” They seemed to have a guilty conscience, too, as if they all had let Jesus down before and might be capable of failing Him again. And, of course, a little later on that evening, when Jesus was seized by the religious authorities and led to the Garden of Gethsemane by Judas, Mark tells us that all the disciples left Jesus and ran away. Jesus had warned them, too, with the prophetic words of the Old Testament, “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7 and Mark 14:27). But the disciples did not heed Jesus’ warning, either, and they all fled from Jesus in that dangerous situation, so fearful for them.
But even with their weaknesses and failings, John’s Gospel tells us (John 13:1), “Having loved His own who were in the world, Jesus loved these disciples to the end.” And he did so that Thursday evening in one more very special way, even before He and the disciples went out to the Garden of Gethsemane, and He went to His suffering and death and resurrection, for them and for us.
While they were still eating the Passover meal, we hear that Jesus took some of the elements of that meal and transformed it into a whole new meal of the New Covenant, the New Testament He was bringing in, the meal of love and forgiveness and strengthening that we now know of as the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. Other Scriptures give us more detail, including Jesus saying, “Do this, in remembrance of Me.”
But it was much more than just a remembrance of Jesus. Our text tells us that Jesus “took bread” - some of that flat unleavened bread used at Passover - “and after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to them and said, ‘Take; this is My Body.’ And He took a cup’ (a cup of the wine used at Passover) and when he had given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, ‘This is My Blood of the (New) Covenant, which is poured out for many'" (for the forgiveness of sins).
We also know that Jesus later promised, before He returned to heaven, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). As true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He is “omnipresent,” always present with us as well as with those in heaven.
But the Lord’s Supper is a very special, personal way He comes to us. We can’t understand it, but we believe that when we receive the bread and wine, we also receive Christ Himself, His Body and Blood. Jesus didn’t say, “This is a symbol, This is a representation.” He said, “This is My Body! This is My Blood! Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
And these were not just gifts for those disciples on Maundy Thursday. Jesus said, “Keep on doing this.” And decades later, Paul wrote to Christians in Corinth in our Epistle lesson for tonight, and for us still today, with very similar words. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ?” The word for “participation” is the same word translated as “communion” or “fellowship” or a “closing sharing” in and with Christ Himself and His Body and Blood in this Holy Communion.
This is also why the Scriptures stress the importance of proper preparation for the Lord’s Supper. We don’t just say, “You all come” to everyone who is present, as some churches do. There is the need for baptism and faith and instruction, in what we call Confirmation of the faith. For Paul also warns, soon after the words we just heard, that “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the Body and Blood of the Lord and not discerning the Body" (1 Corinthians 11: 27-29).
That doesn’t mean we have to be perfect people to receive the Lord’s Supper. None of us are or could come close to that. In fact, our sins are the reason why we need God’s Word and the Lord’s Supper again and again. And when we do come, repentant for our sins and trusting in Christ’s love and promises, we do really receive forgiveness of our sins, through that Body and Blood sacrificed on the cross for us; and we receive strength to carry on with our lives, in Him, whatever we face.
I was working on this sermon on Tuesday when I heard of a bomb threat and a possible shooter at one of our local high schools. Thankfully, none of it turned out to be true, but we do live in very troubled times, and how much we need that strength and assurance in Christ that we receive in the Lord’s Supper.
Receiving Holy Communion builds our unity with one another, too. Paul also writes, in our Epistle lesson, “Because there is one Bread, we who are many are one body, for all partake of the one Bread,” which is Christ. United in that way in Christ, we have more strength at least to try to be more patient and understanding and caring and forgiving to one another, as Jesus has already been with us.
In the Gospel lesson, Jesus closed the giving of the Lord’s Supper with these words, “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God,” in heaven. That is where Jesus is now, in glory, after having been raised from the dead and returning to His Father in heaven. And with Him are all of our loved ones and friends who lived and died in faith in Him. They now enjoy His presence and blessings in a perfect way, in heaven.
And some suggest that when we are united with Christ in the special closeness of His presence in the Lord’s Supper and are united with fellow believers, we are also united with our loved ones, through Christ, in some of the closest unity we can have with them, until we reach heaven ourselves. They are with Jesus, and so are we, in this very special gift of the Lord’s Supper. We are all united in Christ.
Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn before they went to the garden of Gethsemane, and there’s a hymn in our hymnal, #639, that suggests that closeness that I’d like to read in closing:
“(Christ) speaks the Word the bread and wine to bless.
‘This is My Flesh and Blood.’
He bids us eat and drink with thankfulness
The gift of holy food.
All human thought must falter -
Our God stoops low to heal.
Now present on the altar, for us
Both Host and Meal.
The cherubim, their faces veiled from light,
While saints in wonder kneel,
Sing praise to Him Whose Face with glory bright,
No earthly masks conceal.
This sacrament God gives us.
Binds us in unity,
Joins earth with heaven beyond us,
Time with eternity.”
Let us pray: “Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
This Sunday is Easter Sunday when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There are a number of possible readings since there can be a Sunrise Service and others. I will include here the one you will most likely hear.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 25:6-9. It is a prophecy of the heavenly joy for all believers in the Promised Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. The veil of sorrow and death that covers all people will be taken away, along with all tears and reproach. It will happen on the mountain of the Lord as Jesus suffers and dies and rise again in victory. He dies and rises for all people, but the heavenly blessings come only to those who are brought to trust in Him and wait with joy for His salvation. The celebration in heaven is pictured as a great feast and celebration.
In Psalm 16, David knows that he has no good apart from the Lord. He praises the Lord for the cup of blessing and the beautiful inheritance he will have from the Lord. In v.9-10, David prophesies of the Holy One, Jesus, his coming Savior, who will die but not see corruption. He will rise and make known the path to eternal life through Him and provide joy and pleasures forevermore in His presence in heaven.
In Mark 16:1-8, women come to the tomb of Jesus on the Sunday after His death on the cross. They come to anoint the body of Jesus with spices but find the stone rolled away from the tomb, the grave empty, and a young man (an angel) announcing that Jesus has risen from the dead. They are to tell the disciples and Peter to go to Galilee, where they will see Jesus alive again, just as he had said (Mark 14:28). The women flee from the tomb, and at first, in fear and trembling, they tell no one. That quickly changes, the other Gospels tell us. (What scholars think are the earliest manuscripts of Mark do not have verses 9-20, but these verses simply affirm what is said in other Scriptures. Some think that the abrupt ending in verse 8 may be a way of saying that Jesus did rise and the tomb was empty. Eyewitnesses tell us that. What ending will you put on this for yourself? Will you believe in what all the Scriptures affirm - that Jesus died and rose also for you, that you may have eternal life? See also, for example, John 20:19-31.)
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Paul affirms that Jesus died and was buried but rose again on the third day. Paul mentions many people who saw Jesus alive again. Paul himself was one of those people, a strong unbeliever and persecutor of Christians until Jesus appeared alive to him. He turned his life around to faith in Him by God’s grace. Paul was now a preacher of the Good News of Jesus because he knew it was all true. Paul also says that as he wrote this letter to the Corinthians, there were many others still alive who had seen the Risen Lord and were eyewitnesses to Him.
This Sunday is the 6th Sunday in Lent and can be celebrated as Palm Sunday, remembering Jesus riding into Jerusalem, or as The Sunday of the Passion, remembering, in one long reading of two chapters, the Passion story of our Lord, with many of the events of Holy Week, including Jesus’ suffering and death. There is no way to comment on all of the Passion story here. I will mention all of the possible readings but focus just on the shorter ones.
The Old Testament lesson is from Zechariah 9:9-12. Verse 9 is quoted in Matthew 21:5 as a prophecy now fulfilled in the coming of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey on the Sunday before His death. Instead of an animal sacrifice, the blood of Jesus would be shed on the cross to bring in the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Jesus would thus set free those imprisoned by sin and give them hope and peace. This would be Good News for all nations, to the end of the earth, through Christ Jesus.
The Epistle, Philippians 2:5-11, gives a summary of this saving work of Jesus, who was the Son of God and yet was willing to give it all up to become a man. He humbled Himself and was willing even to die on a cross to serve us and pay the penalty for our sins. He was then raised from the dead and highly exalted and returned to His heavenly glory. He is our Lord, together with the Father (and the Holy Spirit). Believers bow before Him now, and on the last day, every person will have to recognize who He is.
In the Gospel lesson, John 12:20-43, we hear that some Greeks, non-Jews, were attracted to Jesus, but many of His own Jewish people would not believe in Him as the Savior. Some wanted to believe but wanted their place and honor among fellow Jews more than following God’s plan. See my sermon on this podcast site for Wed., March 13, 2024, for more detail on John 12:23-36, too - especially the call to believe in Jesus, who is the Light of the world. The alternative Gospel reading is Mark 14:1-15:47, to get a fuller picture of the story of Christ’s suffering and death.
There are two possible psalm readings, too. Psalm 118:19-29 fits best with the Palm Sunday story and expresses the joy of the coming of the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem, but also the sorrow of the rejection of Jesus. He would be rejected by many of His own people and yet would be the Cornerstone for the Christian faith through what he would do for us. Some people sang “Hosannah” on Palm Sunday, quoting v.25, “Save us, we pray, O Lord," and that is what Jesus came to do and did do. The alternative psalm is Psalm 31:9-16, a prophetic psalm of David. David suffered many things in his life, and they predicted the sorrows of Jesus and His suffering. See the mention of those plotting to take the life of Jesus and how His friends fled from Him. However, Jesus trusted in His heavenly Father and said, even in the agony of His death, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” He trusted the steadfast love of His Father’s plan and brought that everlasting love to us by His sacrifice and death for us.
God made a promise already in Genesis 3:15, after the fall into sin, that an Offspring of Eve would eventually defeat the power of Satan. (We know, of course, that that Offspring was Jesus.) This promise was already connected to a particular person, Abram (Abraham), and his descendants in Genesis 12:1-3. The promise included the fact that all families of the earth would eventually be blessed through one of his descendants. (Again, that descendant was Jesus.) Though he struggled, Abram believed in the Lord and His promises, and he was counted as a righteous man by faith (Genesis 15:6).
God renewed this promise with a “covenant” with Abram in Genesis 15:7-19. There is a ceremony described that seems strange to us but familiar to people in Abram’s day. Some animals were cut in half. Then, normally, the parties in a covenant, an agreement, would both walk between the pieces of the animals to show their willingness to keep this covenant. Some say that they were both indicating that they deserved to be killed like those animals if they did not keep their part of the agreement.
In this case, though, Abram did not walk between the pieces. Only a smoking pot and a flaming torch went between the pieces. Smoke and fire were often symbols of God Himself being with His people, in the Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament. God was indicating that He would keep His promise of a descendant as a blessing for all nations, even if Abram’s descendants broke their covenant with God. (Abram’s descendants did shatter the Old Covenant by their sins and especially by their unbelief in the true God, as we will hear. And just as God promised, as He went between the pieces of animals Himself, His own Son would die in payment for the sins of God’s people.)
In Genesis 17, God renewed His promise again and changed Abram’s name to Abraham, “the father of a multitude of nations.” The line of promise and the promised descendant would run through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel, and eventually through the tribe of Judah, including David and his descendants from Judah. There was a focus on the land of Israel, where these descendants would eventually live, and the nation of Israel, and God’s renewed covenant with them, when he raised Moses to lead them out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to this promised land. It was God’s doing for the sake of His people and His future promises.
Over time, God would call all males to be circumcised and gave His commandments and many other rules and regulations to this Jewish nation. But He reminded them that He had acted first, on their behalf, in love for them. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” In gratitude to Him, His people were to follow His will and especially follow only Him as the one true God. God gave them many other prophets and the Old Testament Scriptures to lead and guide them, as well.
Sadly, the Old Testament is a story of sin and rebellion against God, even by His own chosen people through whom He would work out His plan for all nations. Some were faithful to Him, but many were not. The one nation split into two, and eventually, many of the people of both nations were carried into captivity in other lands. Only a “remnant” of the people returned to Israel over time. It was during these unsettled times that God gave the promise through the prophet Jeremiah of a whole New Covenant, in Jeremiah 31:31-34. That was the reading we had just a few weeks ago and prompted me to prepare this study. I am greatly simplifying what I am saying. There was continuity between the Old Covenant and the New, but the New Covenant would not be like the Old.
The problem with the Old Covenant was that the people kept breaking it, “though I was their husband, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:32). God uses the picture image of a marriage. God was a faithful husband to His people, but they had been like an unfaithful wife. They kept cheating on Him and going after false gods. That led to breaking all the other commandments and the overall will of God, too.
Central to the New Covenant would be the “forgiveness of sins” and “a new heart” and “renewed knowing of God.” Old Testament prophets had also predicted this and the coming of a “suffering Savior” for the sake of His people and all the people of the world. (See Ezekiel 11:19: “one heart and a new spirit… I will remove the heart of stone … and give them a heart of flesh.” See Ezekiel 36:25-27, too, and Isaiah 53.)
The birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning of that New Covenant. See Luke 1:30-33. His whole life and ministry and suffering and death brought that forgiveness and new life to us and, as promised, to all nations and peoples in the world. He died for all (1 Timothy 2:6), and His blessings are now available to all. (Of course, people can reject Him and His gift of eternal life, which was earned for them, and still be lost.) See His Words, as He gave the Lord’s Supper to us in Luke 22:20: “This cup that is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My Blood.” Soon after, He would make the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross. Paul and other New Testament leaders are now “ministers of a New Covenant,” which can only be seen “through Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, 12-17).
The best description of the contrast between the Old Covenant and the New is found in the Book of Hebrews. “Jesus is the Guarantor of a better covenant” because He is risen from the dead and is our High Priest and “continues forever” (Hebrews 7:21-25). The priests of the Old Covenant were temporary and were sinners themselves, in contrast with Jesus, who was perfect and “the Source of eternal salvation” for all who trust in and seek to obey Him (Hebrews 5:1-10). See especially Hebrews 8:6-13. The New Covenant is “better, enacted by Christ on better promises,” fulfilled by Him and His perfect, once-for-all sacrifice on the cross (Hebrews 9:11-15, 25-26). The whole passage from Jeremiah 31:31-34 is then quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12. Then we hear, “In speaking of a New Covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13).
This is very important because some say that we still have two different covenants by which we can be saved. Christians are still saved through Christ, while, in this view, Jews can follow the Old Covenant and still be saved through it, apart from faith in Christ. That part about Jews is clearly wrong, according to the New Testament. Jesus says that He is the Way, and no one can be saved apart from Him (John 14:6). Peter preached that “there is salvation in no one else” but Jesus (Acts 4:12).
Besides this, there is no way that Jewish people can do all the expected things without a temple in Jerusalem, as a place for all the expected rituals, etc. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans and has never been rebuilt. See also the contrast in Hebrews 12:18-24 between the Old Testament Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law and the New Testament Mount Zion and the Heavenly Jerusalem promised to us through Jesus, “the mediator of the New Covenant and His sprinkled blood” and the Good Word of hope and forgiveness He brings us (Hebrews 12:24).
We do not have to be concerned, either, about groups like the Seventh Day Adventists, who try to put us back under Old Testament Law, saying that, even as followers of Christ, we must worship on Saturday and do no work that day, and follow other dietary rules and rituals if we really want to be saved. We also do not have to worry about cultic groups like the United Church of God, which insists that we must follow all the Old Testament festivals and stop celebrating Christmas and Easter, etc., if we really want to be acceptable to God.
We have confidence for our eternal future in Christ alone. We do not have to worry about whether we have kept all of God’s Old Testament laws well enough. We read in Hebrews 9:26, “As it is, He (Jesus) has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once" (no worry about reincarnation or any of those non-Christian ideas), "and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”
We have the blessing of Hebrews 13:20-21 as our own, too. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal (New) Covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever." Amen.
Sermon for Sunday, March 17, 2024
“Who Serves Whom?"
Based on Mark 10:32-45
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation today is the Gospel lesson, Mark 10:32-45, as read a few moments ago. You are welcome to follow along, as it is printed in your bulletin.
Jesus and His disciples were headed for Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading the way. Our text says that the disciples were amazed and afraid, probably because they knew that there was opposition to Jesus, and the center of that opposition was in Jerusalem. Maybe they would have some trouble if He went there.
Jesus then took them aside and told them for the third time what would happen to Him, with even more detail. “He, the Son of Man, would be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, who will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him over to the Gentiles (the Roman authorities). And they will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days, He will rise.”
Hearing this, you would think that the disciples would rally around Jesus and be thinking about how to help and support and encourage Him. But it wasn’t that way at all. Instead, the next thing we hear is that two prominent disciples, James and John, came to Jesus, asking, ”Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of you.” (Matthew’s Gospel tells us that they even involved their mother in making this request) (Matthew 20:20-28).)
Imagine that you came to God in prayer and asked, “Lord, give me what I want. Promise You’ll give it to me, even before I tell You what I want.” Children do that sometimes, and I suspect that we all do at times. We are sure we are right about what we want and can become demanding and pretty self-centered in what we want. We can certainly ask for what we wish, but we sometimes forget to pray also, as Jesus taught and did in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, not my will, but Your will be done” (Mark 14:36).
Jesus, in our text, simply said to James and John, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And then it came out - in a very selfish request. They said, “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at your left, in Your glory.” They had no thought about Jesus and what He said was ahead for Him. Likely, they were still thinking the typical Jewish way that sometime soon, the Messiah would not suffer and die but would overthrow all of Israel’s enemies and set up a glorious earthly kingdom where He would reign and the Jews would have a great time, as in earlier days. And James and John wanted the best spots in that new kingdom of glory. Jesus could not, of course, grant such a request from them.
Jesus told James and John that they did not even know what they were asking. Could they drink the cup and receive the baptism coming for Jesus Himself? James and John said they were able to but did not realize that He was talking about His own true suffering and death, coming very soon, and drinking the cup of suffering described in the Old Testament as the punishment for the sins of the world. Jesus alone would drink that cup in payment on the cross for all sins. And He would have a baptism of blood as He suffered. That is what some early church fathers called His suffering and death. But, Jesus predicted when James and John would later become faithful apostles, they would suffer much for sharing the faith of Jesus. (James was the first of the original 12 disciples to be killed just for being a Christian, and John was banished from the churches he later served and exiled to the Island of Patmos by the Romans simply because of sharing “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (You can read about this in Acts 12 and Revelation 1.)
Anyway, when the other 10 disciples of Jesus heard what James and John had asked for, they were angry and indignant at them. It may well be that they were jealous of James and John and that these two had thought first of pushing for these positions of honor. They may have cheated the other disciples out of these positions of honor. Again, there is no mention of Jesus in all this, and any concern expressed for Him and what He was facing.
This wasn’t a new problem for the disciples. If you look back to Mark 9:33-37, you’ll read that Jesus saw the disciples arguing and asked them what they were discussing. They kept silent because they were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus had to set them down and say, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
And in our text for today, Jesus had to set all 12 disciples down again and say, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles (the Romans and Greeks and others) lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” It’s all about power and control and keeping that control. The Scriptures do say that we need government to provide some order and authority. And Jesus taught in the temple on Tuesday of Holy Week those famous words, “Render (give) to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (including taxes).
But, Jesus said, in our text, that it should not be that way of power and control among you, as God’s people. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”
The disciples were clearly not doing very well in their serving. They were thinking too much about themselves and what they wanted instead of God’s will and the needs of others, including Jesus. Jesus had to step in and serve them by showing them their sins and weaknesses and calling them to repentance. Even more important, He had to provide the forgiveness of their sins and set them free from the condemnation of their sins. The last verse of our Gospel reading says, “For even the Son of Man (Jesus Himself) came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
A ransom is the price paid to set someone free from some kind of bondage. The death of Christ on the cross, along with His perfect life in our place, is the ransom price paid by Jesus to set us free from the curse of sin and Satan and death and gives us a whole new and eternal life through Him and faith in Him.
Psalm 49:7-8 says, “Truly, no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice” (be enough). That’s why God the Son had to humble Himself and become man, one of us, and serve us and pay the ransom price for us and for the whole world. As true God and man, only He could do that for us. And He did!
We are used to saying, “We love because God first loved us.” But who serves whom? We can also say, “We serve because God first served us.” And our Lord continues to serve us, and we need that because we are sometimes just like the disciples in our text, even in our churches and schools. Many good things are happening, but we also have our struggles, at times, as sinful people, and we want things our way and have trouble being humble and caring servants of others. But God is always there to help us and serve us. Think about what we are doing this morning. We call this a Divine Service. We come to praise and thank God and give gifts. But even more importantly, our Divine Lord is coming and serving us.
- He has already forgiven all our sins at the beginning of the service.
- If a child or adult is baptized, as last week, God brings faith and new life to that person.
- When we hear our Scripture readings, we are gathered just like those disciples in our text, hearing the Law that shows us our sins and weaknesses but also God’s great love and help, especially in Jesus.
- When we pray, God does hear our prayers and does respond in the way He knows best.
- And in the Lord’s Supper, our Lord Jesus actually comes to us, in, with, and under the bread and wine, to forgive us and strengthen our faith.
It is all Divine Service to us, for our own good and benefit, but also to help us love and serve our Lord and others in a better way.
One example. When the disciples were arguing with each other about who was the greatest, Jesus taught them, but He did one more thing I haven’t already mentioned. Jesus set a little child in the midst of them and said, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me.” If we help and serve a little child, it is as if we are serving Christ Himself. That’s what makes our school and all our programs for children so important, whether we are directly involved or give support in other ways. We are serving Christ as we lovingly serve children and help them know the love of Jesus.
The same thing is true for us at home. It is not much fun to change diapers or get up in the middle of the night to get a child a drink. It is a challenge to help in so many ways. But we are serving our Lord and His will, as we once were served when we were children years ago. And the Lord serves us and gives us strength, too, all along the way.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord and His loving service to us. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 31:31-34. God promises through Jeremiah that He will make a New Covenant. The Old Covenant was with the houses of Israel and Judah when God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt. God had been like a “husband” to them, but they had been like an unfaithful wife, again and again, following false gods and breaking the covenant with Him, in which they were to have no other gods. In the New Covenant, God would put His will within them, on their hearts, and the Lord would be their one great teacher, for them all, and forgive all their sins and remember them no more. (See this week’s Bible study for more on this.)
The psalm is Psalm 119:9-16. How can a “young man” follow the Lord faithfully? He will listen to God’s Word and store it up in his heart. He will “meditate” on the Word and “declare it with his lips.” He will “fix his eyes on the Lord’s ways” and ask the Lord to “teach” him. He “will not forget God’s Word.” (This is the opposite of what God’s Old Testament people so often did, in rebellion against God’s Word and will and following false gods and false words and ways.)
In the Gospel lesson, Mark10:32-45, Jesus was heading to Jerusalem to suffer and die in payment for the sins of His people and of the whole world. He tells his disciples what will happen, but they can only think of themselves and what they want, instead of helping and serving Him. James and John were the most callous about this, wanting the best spots next to Jesus in glory. The other disciples were indignant and probably jealous because they didn’t try the same thing first. Jesus had to teach them again about “greatness” through serving others and the Lord. Jesus Himself was in the process of ultimate service for them and for all by giving His life as “a ransom” for them and for the world. He was paying the price big enough to set them free from slavery to sin and Satan and death.
In the Epistle lesson, Hebrews 5:1-10, Jesus is described as the greatest “High Priest,” “appointed” in the order of a mysterious Old Testament priest, Melchizedek. Ordinary high priests had to be concerned about their own sins, as well as dealing with the sins of others through various animal sacrifices, etc. Jesus offered up prayers and supplications and finally His own life for the sake of others, and became “the Source of eternal salvation for all who would obey Him” by faith and trust in Him. (See more about all this in Hebrews 7-10 and in the Bible study.)
We have been looking, this Lenten season, at the preaching and teaching of Jesus during the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, in the temple in Jerusalem. On Wednesday and Thursday, Jesus would spend much time preparing His closest disciples for what was to come, in a more private way. But later Tuesday afternoon, He spoke for the last time to a large crowd of people gathered to hear Him in the temple. What would He say in this final public appearance?
Jesus had said, many times before, “My time has not yet come. My hour has not yet come.” But now He says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
This must have sounded very promising to many in the crowd. Many were expecting that the promised Messiah, the Christ, would rise up and overthrow the Roman and Greek domination and make Israel once again one of the top nations on earth, with a leader who would rule forever in a kingdom here on earth. How glorious that would be for the people of Israel!
Instead, Jesus began to describe Himself as like “a grain of wheat” and went on to say, “Truly, truly” (literally, in the Greek, “Amen! Amen! This is most certainly true!) “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus was predicting again His suffering and death, coming in just a few days. And it was going to be terrible suffering and a horrible death. Jesus said, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?” No! Jesus said, “For this purpose I have come to this hour! Father, glorify Your name!”
And then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd heard something, but they were not sure what it was. Some thought it was thunder, and others thought an angel had spoken to Jesus.
Jesus knew that the Heavenly Father was affirming again that He, Jesus, must die and that He must die by being “lifted up” on a cross. To those seeing this, it might look as if Satan and the evil forces in this world that he rules had defeated Jesus and gotten rid of Him forever. Some of Jesus’ own followers thought that was what had happened when they saw Him die, and said, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel”
(Luke 24:21). But now that hope seemed gone.
But it would actually be the opposite. Through His suffering and death, Jesus would break the power of Satan and forgive all sins, suffering the punishment of God-forsakenness that we and all people deserve for our sins. Jesus would die, but on the third day, He would be “lifted up” out of death and the grave and raised to life. His grave would be empty, and forty days later, He would be “lifted up” to heaven at His ascension. This was the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer on Maundy Thursday: “Father, glorify Me in Your own presence, with the glory I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5).
Jesus was God the Son. He had existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. He was there at the creation and ever since. But now He had willingly become man to do this saving work, which only He could do, for us and for the whole world. He was going to die for all, and that is what He did. Jesus makes this clear, as He says in our text, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” He did enough to save all people and wanted all to come to faith in Him.
People could, of course, still resist and reject and refuse this saving work that was accomplished by Jesus Christ. That is exactly what many in the crowd that Tuesday of Holy Week were doing. They said, “We have heard from the Law (from the Old Testament and what rabbis and others had told them) that the Christ (the promised Messiah) remains forever; how can you say that the Son of Man must be “lifted up” to die? That made no sense to them. They did not want to hear of a suffering and dying Messiah. Their vision was still of a glorious Messiah who would conquer all of Israel’s enemies and reign forever as their leader here on earth. If Jesus was talking about dying, He couldn’t be the promised Son of Man, in their view, though He said He was. “Who is the true Son of Man?” they asked. Jesus couldn’t be the one.
Jesus did not give up on these people, though. There was still time for them to come to faith in Him. His last words to the crowd showed that. Earlier, He had said, “I am the Light of the world.” (This is Good News for the whole world. For all!) “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life” (Light and Life now, and forever in heaven!) (John 8:12).
That Tuesday, Jesus’ last words to the crowd and to us were, “The Light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the Light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of the Light.”
What Good News that is for all of us, still today, who have been brought to faith in Jesus as our Savior. We know that it is a gift by the grace of God and not by our efforts. The Scriptures remind us that “no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3) working through the Word of God and the gift of Baptism. We know where we are now headed as children of Light, by the Light of Christ and His Word. Our eternal future is secure in Him.
And this is Good News to be shared with all, for Christ Jesus still wants to draw all people to Himself. Sadly, there are some churches and groups that don’t agree with that. They say that Jesus only died for a select group of people, and therefore, you can’t say to people in general, “Jesus died for you.” That view is totally wrong, as Jesus makes clear in this passage. On this Tuesday of Holy Week, He said even to the crowd resisting Him, “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of Light.”
There can come a time that is too late if people live and die in the darkness, apart from Christ, not knowing where they are going, as Jesus said that Tuesday. The apostle John uses these same words of Jesus in his first letter when He writes with the sadness of one who is “in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11).
That’s why we have a church and school and Bible classes and Sunday School and other activities by which to be encouraged in faith in Jesus ourselves and learn more about the Savior and His Word, and to be better able to share this wonderfully Good News about Jesus with others, even those still in darkness. They, too, need to hear of and see the Light of Christ.
Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. And help us, Lord Jesus, to see and use opportunities to share that Peace and Light of Christ with others. Amen.
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday, the 4th Sunday of the Lenten season, is Numbers 21:4-9. God’s people were not to take lands from the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, and so they went around Edom. The people became impatient with the extra travel and spoke against God and Moses, saying that they had “worthless food” and no water, even though God was continually giving them enough manna (bread from heaven) and had recently given them plenteous water from a rock. It was pure rebellion again, and God sent fiery serpents among them, and many began to die. They confessed their sin and asked Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. Moses prayed, and the Lord told Moses to make and set up a fiery bronze serpent on a pole. If the people were bitten and would look at the serpent, trusting God’s promise, they would live.
This unusual story was actually a prophecy of what would happen to Jesus, as told in John 3:14-21, the Gospel lesson for this week. Jesus would be lifted up on a pole, on the cross, so that everyone who would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. God the Father, in His great love, sent His only Son into our world, not to condemn but to save. Jesus was and is Light, but many would reject Him and continue to live in darkness and evil and condemnation. Those who believed in Him would be saved, through Him and His sacrifice for them.
Paul also tells of God’s plan and way of salvation in our Epistle lesson, Ephesians 2:1-10. We all started off our life dead in our sins and trespasses, under the power of Satan and our original sin, our sinful nature, as “children of wrath.” God, however, in His great love and mercy, made us alive together with Christ. It was purely by His grace that we were saved. Our salvation is so certain, in Christ, that it is as if we were already in the heavenly places. We will see the fullness of all that in the future, but we have the promise that we have been saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus and what He has done for us. This salvation is not our doing at all but is a gift of God, not by our works. We are now re-created in Christ so that we can do some good as we walk through this life to honor Him and love others.
Our life now in the Lord, as His “redeemed” people in Christ, is described in prophecy in Psalm 107:1-9. We had been in the wilderness, lost and hungry and thirsty, fading away, on our own. The Lord saw our cries and delivered us and led us “to a safe place, a city to dwell in,” the city of God. We can only “thank” our Lord for “His wondrous works” and “goodness” and “steadfast love that will endure forever” for us. (The rest of the psalm uses other picture images of the Lord, rescuing people in all sorts of circumstances in life, and we are called, as people “wise” in Christ, to pay attention to all this and keep on considering and trusting the steadfast love of the Lord for us, too!)
One of our readings this coming Sunday, Numbers 21:4-9, is the story of another great rebellion by God’s people, on their way to the promised land, resulting in a plague of fiery poisonous snakes biting many of them and bringing many to sickness and death. Moses prayed for God’s mercy, and God had Moses make a bronze serpent on a pole. If the people looked upon the serpent, trusting the Word of the Lord, they would not die, even if they were bitten. This was prophetic of our Lord Jesus, lifted up on the cross, to rescue us. As we are brought to look upon Him and keep trusting in him, by God’s grace, in this Lenten season, our sins are forgiven and we have the gift of eternal life, too. Read more about this in the Preparing for Worship comments on the Old Testament lesson.
Have you ever noticed, though, that this mercy of God did not seem to be good enough? The bronze serpent was saved, and over time became a relic, an object of worship, to which some of God’s people made offerings, as if it were a god. Read 1 Kings 18:1-5. Hezekiah became king of Judah at age 25 and reigned from 715-686 BC. He was a king largely faithful to God. Before him, some kings and others had brought in worship of false gods. He destroyed many objects of false worship and places where they were worshiped in Judah. Amazingly, the bronze serpent was still around and was being used as an object of worship, too.
That was the opposite of what God commanded in His explanation of the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:3-6. People were to worship the one true God alone, and not make any other objects that people would worship. (Obviously, God had commanded that the bronze snake be made, in Numbers 21, for the purpose described there. There were cherubim (a kind of angel) on the Ark of the Covenant, too, and cherubim in Solomon’s temple, as well. None of these objects were to be worshiped as if they were gods or had godlike power, though.) Hezekiah, therefore, broke the bronze serpent into pieces and stopped this kind of worship of something other than God Himself.
At the time of the Reformation, Martin Luther and others condemned the collection of supposed relics of saints and other people, in churches, as if they had special, godlike power and could help people. Luther did not condemn artwork itself, as some do, as long as it did not become an object of worship and only pointed people to the Lord Himself. It is only the one True Triune God we worship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though we are grateful to hear of the bronze serpent, which served its purpose in pointing us eventually to Christ and the cross on which He died for us.
Third Sunday in Lent
Saturday, March 2, 2024
“We Preach Christ Crucified”
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. The text for our meditation is the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
Many years ago, I was asked to lead a Vespers Service at Westminster Village, and when I was finished leading and preaching, someone said to me, “So you are one of those sin and salvation preachers!” I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a criticism, so I simply said, “Yes, in our church we preach Christ crucified (and risen) as our Lord and Savior.” That is what Paul was teaching and proclaiming in our text for today.
The apostle Paul had come to the Greek city of Corinth during his second missionary journey, between 49-51 AD. You can read about this in Acts, Chapter 18. He began his work among fellow Jews, using the Word of God to testify that the Christ, the promised Savior, was Jesus. Many Jews opposed him and reviled him, and he moved on to non-Jews, Greeks and Romans, and some Jews who would listen.
The Lord told him in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you." He stayed in Corinth for a little over a year and a half, teaching the Word of God among them. Then there was a unified attack on Paul by Jewish people, and he had to leave Corinth - but a Christian church had been established there.
Paul began a third missionary journey in 52 AD and spent about three years in Ephesus and other places. In about 55 AD, he heard that there were problems and divisions in the church at Corinth and wrote this letter that we have before us.
Paul knew that both the Jews and the non-Jews of Corinth thought themselves to be elite people. The Jews had been the chosen people of God of the Old Testament, and many still expected a mighty Savior to come and overthrow their political enemies. A humble, lowly Jesus could not be the one, especially since He was cursed by being hung on a tree (the tree of the cross) as the Old Testament said (Deuteronomy 21:23). The Jews were religiously elite in their own view.
The Greeks and Romans at Corinth thought that they were intellectually elite, with their many philosophers and powerful leaders and great human thinkers in their history. When Paul had been in Athens, Greece earlier, it was said (in Acts 17) that the philosophers and others would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Paul was an interesting babbler, in their view, until he began to talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many mocked Paul and quickly rejected him. In their human view, for most Greeks and Romans, only the spirit of a person was important. The body was useless. You could do with it whatever you wanted - and that is why sexual morality was so low in Corinth. You discarded the body at death and never wanted it back anyway.
Both Greeks and Romans would also agree that no reputable person would ever be crucified. Hardly ever were any Romans crucified. Only the worst of the worst would die that way.
Paul knew exactly what he was up against as he wrote this letter. He himself had been one of those religious elites, a highly respected Jewish Pharisee, who thought he knew a lot. He already was opposed to Greek and Roman gods and philosophers and morality. But he was also very active in opposing and persecuting Christians and all their talk about Jesus Christ - until the crucified and risen, resurrected Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Him, saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
His name had been Saul, which means "one asked for and prayed for," a kind of important person. Now his name became Paul, "a little one," who now knew his weaknesses and his true sins and his need for Jesus as his Savior and for the forgiveness earned only by Jesus' crucifixion for him and for the world.
Paul wrote in 1 Timothy that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent opponent of Christ Jesus, but received mercy, "as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life." If he, Saul (now Paul), could be forgiven and accepted through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, then so could any of us, no matter what we have been, by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus.
Paul knew he could no longer be talking about human wisdom and human efforts to be acceptable to God and pleasing in His sight. That would never save people, trying to get them to be good enough.
Six times in this Epistle lesson Paul says that what he preaches will sound like foolishness to many - but it is God's power for salvation through faith in Jesus. Listen again to what Paul says, over and over: "The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Paul quotes Old Testament Scripture to show that God had to destroy the wisdom of the supposedly wise and discerning leaders who often led God's people astray to false human ideas and false gods.
Where is the one who is wise? Human kingdoms and leaders have risen and fallen and where are they now? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world again and again? And the world did not know and follow the true God through what human wisdom taught anyway.
It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe in Christ. For Jews keep on demanding signs, proof that Jesus is who He claims to be, and all the words and deeds of Jesus and the Scriptures are never enough for many of them. And Greeks and many other humanly wise people want more human wisdom and rational explanations that fit their own minds and thinking but are never enough. So, Paul says, this Gospel of Christ is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentles, but those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, and believers all over the world, Christ Jesus is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Paul also says, look at your church. Not many of you are wise according to human, worldly standards. Not many are powerful. Not many are of noble birth. But God often chooses what is foolish in the world's eyes to shame the supposedly wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose even what is low and despised, nobodies in the world, which we may sometimes feel that we are on bad days, and He brings to nothing those apart from Christ, even though they seem so important and successful in this world right now.
And again, Paul says, the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. It seems to the sophisticated world that God the Father had a crazy plan in having His only Son come into this world and live as we do, in temptation and struggle and yet do everything the right and true way for us. Christ Jesus looked so weak, suffering and dying on a cross for our sins and what we deserve. But the weakness of God is stronger than men.
And Paul lists what we now receive through faith in Christ crucified for us:
- We have the true and lasting wisdom from God through His Word and the teaching of Christ and all that the Scriptures tell us.
- We have righteousness - not our own, but credit for the righteous life and death of Jesus.
- We have sanctification, acceptance by God and the living Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit at work in us for grateful living.
- And we know that we are redeemed. The price for our salvation is already paid for us by Christ. And we boast only in our Lord God and in Christ crucified for us and, on Easter, in His great resurrection victory, as well.
Let us rise for prayer. Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
Midweek Lenten Service 3
February 28, 2024
Significant Questions: Love
Mark 12:28-37
(I need to give credit to Concordia Publishing House for the title and helpful basic thoughts for this sermon, as part of a series from CPH on “Four Significant Days.” I did re-write parts of the sermon, though, and included some things of my own, too. CPH is not responsible for those changes. I also need to give credit to R.C.H. Lenski’s Commentary (Augsburg Publishing) for some of the comments on the 613 Commandments of the Jewish Scribes of that time.)
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
We have been looking, this Lenten season, at what happened in the last days of Jesus’ life after he rode humbly into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday. Last week, we heard how He came again to Jerusalem on Monday and cleansed the temple for a second time, as He had done earlier in His ministry, chasing out the sellers and money-changers and animals. This time He emphasized that the temple was not to be a place for greed and robbery, but a place of prayer for all nations, that all might hear of God’s Good News.
The next day, Tuesday, Jesus came again to Jerusalem and to the temple to teach people. This time, the religious leaders were ready for Him, challenging Him about why He thought He had the authority to cleanse the temple. He didn’t answer them because they wouldn’t answer His own questions. He then told a parable that showed that He knew just what they wanted to do to Him - to kill Him. He taught about paying taxes and even showed the Sadducees, the religious liberals of the time, why they were totally wrong to think that there would be no resurrection of the dead. A resurrection was certainly coming!
Then a scribe, an expert in Jewish Law, asked Jesus a sincere question: “Which commandment is the most important of all?” This was a significant question that Jewish scholars argued about all the time. They had developed a list of 613 commandments. 248 were positive -what you should do. 365 were negative - what you should not do.
- Some thought all the commandments about animal sacrifices and other sacrifices were most important.
- Some thought that the many Sabbath day laws were most important.
- Others thought that the rules about circumcision were most important.
- And on and on the arguments went.
But there was a general sense that you needed to keep all 613 Commandments very well to be acceptable to God. And some thought they really did that.
Jesus simply took the scribe back to Scripture, to God’s Word in the Old Testament reading we heard tonight, from Deuteronomy. “The most important,” Jesus said, was: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. (There is only one True God, Whom we are to follow.) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” And then Jesus said, quoting from Leviticus: “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself..”
Jesus had taught the same thing on other occasions - that love for God is a summary of the first Commandments and that love for our neighbor (anyone around us) summarized the seven other commandments. The scribe agreed with Jesus about loving the Lord and loving our neighbor as most important, even more important, he said, than “all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Jesus told the scribe that he was “not far from the Kingdom of God.” But he was not there yet - because he and others were ignoring that no one could ever obey all these commandments as he should. If we could love our Lord 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, then we would be keeping the first three Commandments and never be putting anyone or anything above God. But who can really do that? All too often we put our own ideas and desires before those of God.
And if we could always love our neighbor, we would always love and respect our parents and others in authority; we wouldn’t kill others, but also wouldn’t become unjustly angry or ever hurt others with our words; we wouldn’t have any bad thoughts; we wouldn’t shoplift or steal, but we also wouldn’t waste time and would always do our best in every job we are assigned; we would never speak falsely about anyone; and on and on. And who can or does do all that? We try, but we don’t do so well.
And besides all that, many of the 613 commands that the Jewish scribes listed were not even in the Scriptures, but were man-made rules - like how far one could walk on the Sabbath Day without breaking God’s command about resting. You find no specific rule about that in the Scriptures.
We run that danger, still today, even as Christians, sometimes loading humanly-made expectations upon one another and adding guilt we don’t need. Years ago, when we still had a number of Christian bookstores in our community, I received an advertising brochure from one of these stores and noted these things, that I included in a newsletter. On just three pages, I saw ads for “Christian” books about:
- "Five Ways to a Healthier, Happier, and Creative Life”
- “Ten Keys to Extraordinary Success from Provers”
- “Eight Critical Lifetime Decisions”
- “How to Weather the Five Winds in Your Marriage”
- “Twelve Ways to Add Zest to Your Marriage”
I was already worn out, thinking about remembering these 40 keys to Christian life, without even getting to another popular Christian author who had books on “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” and "The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork” and on and on. Another company pushed a book on “Graduate to Greatness.” Chapter titles were on: “Achieving Greatness through… Gratitude for All Blessings; Reliability in All Circumstances; Enthusiasm in All Opportunities..." And on it went. I’d already decided that I would never be “great” according to such standards. Do you know anyone, other than Jesus, who is reliable in every circumstance?
That is why Jesus Himself, on that Tuesday of Holy Week, also asked two very significant questions, as He continued to teach in the temple. The first was, ”How can the scribes, the religious authorities, say that the Christ (the promised Anointed One and Savior) is the Son of David? That was an easy question because many Old Testament Scriptures said that the Christ would be from the line of King David. But then Jesus quoted also from Psalm 110, a psalm of David himself, and said, “David himself, in the Holy Spirit, (inspired by Him), declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’ David himself calls this promised One the Lord - equal with God. So how could this promised One also be David’s son?
There was no answer from the religious leaders or anyone else. The only True answer was in Jesus Himself, standing right there in the temple that Tuesday. He was a true man, born of the Virgin Mary, from the line of King David. And he was also Lord and God, the Son of God, sent from the right hand of God the Father. This God/man came to do what none of us can do - perfectly doing His Father’s will for us, in our place, for our sake, as a kind of second Adam. He perfectly loved God and loved His neighbor, where we so often fail.
As a true man, son of David, He was tempted as we are yet never sinned and kept all the true Commandments of God, in perfect love for God and for us. And as the Lord of David, truly God the Son, He was able to make a sacrifice big enough and great enough to forgive all our sins and count us acceptable to God. And He is big enough and great enough, as True God, to bring us to trust in Him for our life and eternal future, though we cannot fully understand it all.
We still try to love God and our neighbor, but now in gratefulness for His overwhelming love for us. We love Him and others because He first loved us. And we know that the most significant question for our life and future is already answered for us, in Christ our Savior, without any merit or worthiness in us. We trust Him alone, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for His perfect love.
Let us rise, now, and praise our loving Lord with the Canticle and Magnificat.
The Old Testament lesson for the Third Sunday in Lent, March 3, 2024, is Exodus 20:1-17, one of the two accounts of the giving of the 10 Commandments. These are the very Words of God, and notice that He begins with what He has already done for His chosen people. It is Gospel, Good News that He has rescued His people from slavery in Egypt. It is His doing, by His grace. The commandments that follow are how God’s people are now to respond in thanksgiving to their Lord and to know what will be best for them and for their lives and future.
Different groups number these commandments differently. We see v.3-6 as all relating to the first commandment, having no other gods, but the One true God. We divide v. 17 into two commandments about coveting. Others see v. 4-6 as a second commandment and see all of v.17 as the 10th Commandment. The content is the same. The difference only comes in some churches saying that there should be no images or artwork of any kind, even in churches. We believe that artwork is acceptable and good if it communicates messages about our Lord and His Word, as was done in the Old Testament, but we should worship no object or artwork, but only our Lord. As Jesus described, the first three commandments talk about love for God, and the other seven talk about love for our neighbor (anyone God has placed around us).
The psalm is Psalm 19. It begins with words about the amazing universe God has created and how it gives glory to Him and gives us a kind of “natural knowledge of God” and His power and majesty that we experience on a beautiful day or evening in nature. We need more than that, though. We need the Word of God, including the 10 Commandments, for guidance and direction for our life and understanding what is right and wrong. The Law of God also shows us our errors and sins when we meditate on it, and why we all need our Lord to be our Savior, our Redeemer, in Christ, and the Rock on whom alone our eternal future depends.
This is why our Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, reminds us that in terms of our life and future, we cannot depend upon human wisdom, our own or others, and we cannot demand signs or proofs from God, on our terms. We simply trust “the Word of the cross," the “preaching of Christ crucified,” by which we have been called to faith in Jesus, who is now for us our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. He has already accomplished all we need, for this life and for eternal life, through His crucifixion and death and, as Paul talks about later in I Corinthians, His mighty resurrection from the dead. This may seem like foolishness to many, but it is the power and wisdom of God at work in Christ Jesus for us, and we simply “boast in the Lord,” and trust in Him, by His calling and grace.
In our Gospel lesson, John 2:13-22, (23-25), Jesus comes, early in His ministry, to Jerusalem for Passover and sees what is going on in the temple and chases out the sellers and money-changers and animals and says that the Lord’s house is not to be “a house of trade.” Fellow Jews challenge Him to give a sign or proof that He had the right to do these things. He gives them only a message of His death and resurrection, which even His own disciples did not understand until He had risen. Jesus entrusted Himself only to His Father and His plan for the salvation of the world. That would later take him back to Jerusalem and to a second cleansing of the temple and then to the cross and then to the empty tomb, in victory, for us.
In our Bible study of Psalm 91, we saw how that psalm related to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The devil quoted from that psalm, out of context, trying to get Jesus to test God and jump off the pinnacle of the temple, at his (the devil’s) request, and then see if God would really take care of Him. Jesus resisted that temptation and all the others, by quoting Scripture and doing God’s will, not Satan’s. Jesus was taken care of, even among wild animals, and was helped and protected and strengthened by the Lord and His angels, until it was time for Him to suffer and die, in payment for our sins.
Psalm 91 emphasizes trusting Almighty God, the Most High, and dwelling in His shelter and knowing that He “holds fast to us in His love for us.” We still will have trouble in this life, but the Lord will be with us and deliver us as He knows best and one day show us His salvation in everlasting life. That is why Satan distorts this psalm and ignores its true message, in trying to pull Jesus and us away from the Lord as our Refuge and trying to get us to do foolish and hurtful things, against God’s will.
In Psalm 91:4, God is also pictured as gathering his people “under His wings” as a “refuge” and protection, as a bird would do for its little ones. (Pinions are the outer parts of wings, but all parts of the wings are used, as well.) This is an image used in a number of other psalms, also. (See Psalm 17:8, Psalm 61:4. and Psalm 63:7: “Hide me in the shadow of Your wings… in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.”) Boaz also says that as Ruth has left her Moabite “gods” and has been brought to believe in the one true God, it is “under His wings she has come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:12).
In prophecy in the Old Testament, God speaks through Malachi of “the sun of righteousness rising with healing in its wings.” That “sun” is Jesus, come into the world as a true man, as well as still being God the Son, for our salvation. (See Luke 1:78-79: “The Sunrise shall visit us from on high to give Light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”) Jesus calls Himself “the bright Morning Star” in Revelation 22:16, and Peter says in 1 Peter 2:24 that by His saving work and His “wounds, we have been healed.” (See also the prophecy of Jesus and His healing in Isaiah 53:5 and 58:8.) Jesus also identifies Himself as One with the God of the Old Testament by using this same image for Himself. In Matthew 23:37, Jesus comes to Jerusalem and sorrows over the people there and says, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not.” He wants to provide peace and protection to all, but people can resist and reject Him and His “wings” of refuge.
Our primary protection is in God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but also through created angels as messengers and for protection for us. (Some angels, including Satan and the evil spirits, rebelled against God and work against Him, as they work against Jesus and all believers in Jesus.) Good angels provide help and protection, though, as Psalm 91:11-12 describes.
Angels are “spirits” but can appear as people or often are pictured as “winged” creatures. See, for example, the seraphim, a kind of angel, in Isaiah 6:1-7. Images of cherubim, another kind of angel, were placed on the ark of the covenant in Exodus 25:18-21 and in the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple, in 1 Kings 6:21-21. Angels provide protection and help, as in the case of Daniel in the lions’ den in Daniel 6:22. (See also Psalm 34:7 and Matthew 18:10, regarding watching over “little ones,” as examples.)
As I have mentioned before, this protection does not mean that we will avoid all trouble and tragedy in this life. The Lord will care for us in the midst of trouble, though. Jesus predicts that some will even lose their life for Christ’s sake and the Gospel, in Mark 8:35. We do not understand many tragic events that happen but try to trust that God can work all things out for good for us, as He promises (Romans 8:28). Remember that when Jesus was arrested in the garden, He said that He could call 12 legions of angels to help Him, but His Father’s plan was for Him to suffer and die for our sake, as our Savior. He was not protected but paid the penalty for our sins.
One more comment about “wings” and the Scriptures. Eagles are mentioned 32 times in the Bible. As they can fly high and soar in the air, their strength is sometimes compared with the strength God can give us when we are spiritually tired and weary, whether young or old. See the words of Isaiah 40:28-31. The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator, with unsearchable wisdom, who never grows weary. He can give strength and power to the faint. Even youth and young men can be exhausted. But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles.
In Psalm 103:1-5, David asks us not to forget all of God’s blessings: forgiveness, healing, redemption, steadfast love, and mercy. He satisfies us with so much good that “our youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Eagles have been an inspiration to many cultures, including U.S. culture and in Biblical times. The wings of eagles remind us of the ultimate strength we receive from the Lord and His many blessings. He keeps on strengthening us through His Word and especially through the Good News of Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Sermon for the Second Weekend in Lent
Saturday, February 24, 2024
“While We Were Still Sinners”
Romans 5:1-11
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Epistle lesson and especially these words of Paul: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
I would like to begin, though, with our other two readings for today. We have already heard, the last few weeks, what we hear in our Gospel lesson, Mark 8:27-38 - how Peter could be so strong in faith one moment and so weak the next - so that he was even rebuking Jesus for talking about suffering and dying - which was an essential part of Jesus’ saving work. Peter, and we still today, needed a warning about being “ashamed of Jesus and His Words, in this adulterous and sinful generation” - where far too many people want to make fun of Jesus and His Word, or just not listen to it.
Think also about our Old Testament lesson, Genesis 17:1-7,15-19, and Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation and our spiritual father, too. He certainly had great faith at times, especially when he was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as we heard last week if that was really God’s will. It was not, of course, but was a prophecy of the fact that Jesus, the only Son of God the Father, would be willing to take up his cross and lose his life, so that we may be saved.
At other times, though, Abraham did not do so well. God had promised a great nation from him and a descendant, (our Lord Jesus), who would be a blessing to all nations. This promise was first given in Genesis 12 when Abram first came to what was to be the Promised Land. God had renewed this promise, again and again, but Abraham and Sarai got tired of waiting and took things into their own hands, and Abraham had a child, Ishmael, by his wife’s servant - and he did other things that were not pleasing to God.
In today’s Old Testament lesson, God gives the promise once again to Abraham, and we hear that Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you.” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.”
Some think that Abraham was laughing in joy at this promise, but others think that he sounded very skeptical that God could or would really give him a son now, at such an old age - as if it was another bad joke on him. In fact, Abraham even reminds God that he does have a son, Ishmael, already. Wouldn’t he do as the promised one? God clearly says “No!” and renews the promise again. Sarah will have this child and name him Isaac, which means “he laughs.”
In Genesis, Chapter 18, the Lord and two angels came again to Abraham and renewed the promise another time. This time, Sarah was in the tent listening, and this time she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and (Abraham) is old, shall I have pleasure?” It sounds like a very skeptical laugh, and the Lord says to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Shall I now indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” And God said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Sarah denied laughing, for she was afraid, but the Lord said, “You did laugh!" It sounds, then, as if both Abraham and Sarah struggled at times to believe the promise. Maybe it seemed too hard for the Lord, and it just wasn’t going to happen.
I looked at a complete concordance of the Bible, with every word mentioned, and found that there are only 39 references to laughing or laughter in the whole Bible. And more than half of those were negative laughter, where enemy nations or people were making fun of God’s people or of God himself, and God can only laugh in return at their invalid and foolish attacks.
Some of this laughter was directed against Jesus Himself. In an Old Testament prophecy, in Psalm 22:7, Jesus is pictured as saying, “All who see Me laugh me to scorn, they mock Me; they make mouths at Me; they wag their heads (saying): ‘He trusts in the Lord; let Him deliver Him; let Him rescue Him, for He delights in Him.” Almost those exact same words were said by the religious leaders and others, laughing at and ridiculing Jesus when He hung on the cross (Matthew 27:41-44). Earlier in His ministry, the mourners for a young girl who had died laughed at Jesus when He came to help her, a dead person. They ridiculed Jesus until He raised the girl from the dead (Matthew 9:23-26).
There is still much challenging of God and His Word and mockery of Christians and what we believe, to this very day, isn’t there? - in both doctrine and moral teachings and so much else. Just take one example. In this age of evolutionary theory, how many people would really agree with the prophet Jeremiah’s words, “Ah, Lord God, It is You Who have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”
We have had questioning and challenges even in our own Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod at times. It was 50 years ago this past week that there was a walkout of the majority of students and most of the faculty of one of our seminaries, in St. Louis, protesting the suspension of the seminary president, because he was allowing faculty to teach false ideas.
I lived through that time, though I had gone to the other seminary. I knew there were serious problems, but didn’t realize how serious they were until doing more reading in more recent times. There were professors and others who were questioning the infallibility of the Scriptures, whether God really created the earth and universe, whether Adam and Eve really existed, whether the miracle of the virgin birth of Jesus actually happened, the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, the bodily resurrection of Jesus (was the tomb really empty?), and if there will ever be a resurrection of the dead in the future. You take those basic Christian beliefs away and what do you have left of the Christian faith?
We thank the Lord that we had strong leaders at that time, who with the Lord’s guidance and His Word, got things straightened out and kept our Lutheran church conservative and Biblical. I am grateful for my pastor here at that time, Marcus Lang, and other people here who were involved in that battle for the truth. That was so important for me as a young pastor. Most of those who walked out in protest left our Lutheran church and went elsewhere with their false teachings. But such false ideas are still around, and we have to keep guarding against them.
At the same time, as we look at great leaders like Abraham and Peter and Paul, we realize from Scripture that they were far from perfect and had ups and downs, but as is said of Abraham, “He grew strong in his faith,” “he acquired strength” - and that was not from himself but from God and His Word and promises” (Romans 4:20).
It’s a growing faith for us, too, by God’s mercy. A man in the Gospel of Mark had a son possessed by an evil spirit. He asked Jesus for help if He could help his son. The man wasn’t sure about Jesus, but he finally said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” - my struggles that I still have (Mark 9:24). At another time Jesus was teaching His disciples about forgiving others, and they cried out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” - as they knew how hard it was to forgive at times (Luke 17:5).
Even after the resurrection of Jesus, when He appeared to the disciples, and they could see Him alive, He still had to say to them, “Why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38) and Luke writes, “They disbelieved for joy” (Luke 24:41). Joy and disbelief were mixed together. Maybe it just seemed to be too good to be true! And even later on, when the eleven disciples (minus Judas) went to Galilee, as Jesus had asked them to do, we read that “when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.” Some were still struggling with all this (Matthew 28:16-17).
What all this tells us is that we do not have to have great faith or perfect faith and understanding for God to pay attention to us and help us. Jesus kept coming to His disciples to help them. And our Epistle lesson for tonight tells us that He does the same for us. In Romans 5:6 we read, "While we were still weak (not strong), at the right time Christ died (not for the godly, since none of us are godly enough, on our own) Christ died for the ungodly…“ and in verse 8, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners (not holy people) Christ died for us.” Paul uses an even stronger word for us in verse 10. “While we were still (not friends, but) enemies of God, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son."
Maybe, Paul says, we might be persuaded to die for a good friend or maybe for our country, to help protect the blessings and freedoms we enjoy, but we are not likely to want to die for weak, ungodly, sinful enemies. Yet that is what Jesus has done for us, while we were and still are struggling sinners.
We are justified, counted just and right with God by the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for us, to take away the wrath and judgment of God for sin, by taking it all upon Himself and forgiving us. We are also saved, Paul says, by Jesus’ life, His resurrection from the dead, with certainty that death is not the end for us, but the gateway to eternal life.
And there’s not a word about what we have to do to receive all this. The opening verses of Romans, Chapter Five, tell us that by the grace of God, we receive the gift of faith and peace with God and access to Him in prayer and hope for our future, through the love of God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, given to us in our baptism and through God’s Word and in the Lord’s Supper.
Even as we suffer and struggle at times, the Lord can work endurance and character and hope in us. And while we may not always have laughter, the end of our Epistle reading says that we can have joy, rejoicing in God always, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Lord we believe! Help us by Your Spirit and Words of promise, with our struggles and questions, and may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
(Philippians 4:7)
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 17:1-7, 15-19. In this reading, God renews His covenant promise to Abram, originally given in Genesis 12 and repeated since then. God promises blessings for his offspring in the land of Canaan, but now changes Abram’s name to Abraham, “father of many nations,” as the promise now goes to a multitude of nations and kings and an everlasting covenant. God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah and says again that she and Abraham will have a child, to be named Isaac (he laughs). Abraham laughs at this since he and his wife are far beyond child-bearing years, but God says it will happen and that the child of promise will not be Ishmael, but Isaac.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 8:27-38, Peter makes a great confession of faith, that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Quickly, though, he struggles and tries to rebuke Jesus, when He (Jesus) talks about suffering and dying. That was not the vision of the Messiah that Peter had in mind. Jesus has to rebuke Peter, saying that he was following Satan in trying to block God’s saving plan, which did involve Jesus losing His life for the sake of the saving Gospel. Jesus called Peter and all of us not to be ashamed of Jesus and His words, in an evil and adulterous nation. (The world was very evil back then, too, even as it is now.)
As Peter and Abraham struggled at times to trust God’s plan and will, so we all do, our Epistle lesson, Romans 5:1-11, tells us. Christ died for us and for the world, not when we were perfectly strong in faith and understanding, but when we were “weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies” of God. We were “justified” and forgiven by “Christ’s bloody suffering” on the cross, so that “the wrath of God” was taken away from us, and we were reconciled to God and “saved by His life,” His perfect life for us and His resurrection from the dead. We now “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The opening verses of this passage also tell us that through Christ, we also have “peace with God,” and “access” to “God” and His “grace.” Even if we suffer at times, the Lord produces “endurance, character, and hope” in us, through God’s love “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, given to us” through the Word of God and our Baptism.
Psalm 22:22-31 reminds us that God would do His saving work for us through Christ Jesus not just to get us off punishment for our sins but for an eternal future. (He did do that for us, as verses 1-21 of Psalm 22 tell and predict many parts of His suffering and death for us. We will hear more about that in Holy Week and Good Friday.) We are also saved by God’s grace so that we can tell others of God’s grace “in the great congregation,” as we worship together and speak and sing God’s Word together and praise our Lord. We also seek to “tell of the Lord” to “the families of the nations” and to our children and others in “coming generations” and “to a people yet unborn.” We confess that we cannot keep ourselves alive on our own, but that Christ Jesus “has done it” all for us, that we may trust in Him and “our hearts may live forever” through Him.
The Old Testament lesson for this week is Genesis 22:1-22. Abraham had waited so long for a son, promised by God as the beginning of a great nation and a future blessing to all nations. Now God told him to sacrifice that son, his only son, Isaac. Abraham obeyed God and took his son to a place that would later be the site of the temple in Jerusalem, as God directed him. He was about to kill his son when God stopped him, knowing that he would be willing to give up his only son if that was really God’s will. It was not, and instead, God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son. And again, God renewed His promise that in Abraham’s offspring, all nations of the earth would be blessed. That offspring was, of course, Jesus our Savior, who would willingly sacrifice His life for us all, as the Father gave up His Son, His only Son, into death for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 25:1-10. David is the author and was in the line of promise from Abraham, and Jesus would be a “Son of David” many generations later. David trusted the Lord God and waited upon Him as “the God of his salvation.” He knew that the Lord had been “merciful” and full of “steadfast love” “from of old.” He asked forgiveness for his past sins and that the Lord would teach and lead him in His ways. He approached God as a “humble sinner” and asked that the Lord look upon him with His goodness and mercy. And the Lord did so, by His grace.
James, too, in our Epistle lesson, James 1:12-18, calls upon people not to be tempted by their own sinful desires, but to trust the Lord and “His good and perfect gifts, coming down from above from the Heavenly Father,” the “Father of Lights.” “Of His own will," "He “brings us forth by the Word of Truth,” our Lord Jesus Christ, to a whole new life. We are “blessed,” as we remain steadfast in faith in Him, even if there are trials, and we “will receive the crown of Life,” everlasting life, as we have been brought to love and serve Him.
The Gospel lesson for this Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, is always the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, immediately after His baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit for His ministry as “the Word of Truth.” This year’s Gospel is very short, Mark 1:9-15, with a special focus on v.12-13. We pray “Lead us not into temptation,” but “the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.” He had to face Satan “head-on” and resist all that Satan threw against Him for 40 days, and throughout His life and during the three years of ministry that were coming, too. Other Gospels give details of some of this particular time of testing for Jesus, but Mark especially reminds us in his Gospel, inspired by the Holy Spirit, of the many other times Jesus battled “demons,” evil spirits, evil angels, opposed to God and His will. We have already, in past weeks, heard of some of these. See Mark 1:21-27, 1:32, 1:34, and 1:39. This was a very important part of Jesus’ saving work for us. None of this was easy, but Jesus perfectly did His Father’s will, for us, in our place, and the Lord and His good angels strengthened Him. (See also passages like Hebrews 2:14-18 and 4:15-16, which talk about some of this victorious battle against Satan, for us.)
This coming Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent, where our Gospel reading always tells about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, right after His baptism. The temptation portion of this year’s reading, from Mark 1:12-13, is very short. It simply tells us that “the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness, where He was for forty days, being tempted by Satan.” The nature of the temptations is not mentioned, but it is said that Jesus “was with the wild animals.” This may be mentioned for one of two reasons.
A wilderness area with wild animals was considered by some a place where evil spirits, demons, might be. See, for example, the story of a man who had demons in him in Luke 8:26-33. Note in v. 29 that this man was sometimes “driven by a demon into the desert” area. See also Luke 11:24, where a demon is described as "passing through waterless places seeking rest.” It would be no surprise, then, to find Satan in such a dry, desolate area and be tempted by him.
On the other hand, the mention of being with the wild animals also indicates the care and the protection from the Lord for Jesus, in the wilderness, and a prophecy in Psalm 91:13: “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” Jesus Himself used this passage in Luke 10:18-19, when He said to His disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” There is one New Testament example of this happening - when Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta and was bitten by a deadly viper. People thought he would die, but he did not get sick at all. Then they thought he might be a god (Acts 28:1-6).
Psalm 91 played an even more important role in one of the actual temptations recorded by both Matthew and Luke. We will just look at Luke’s account in Luke 4:9-12. The devil had taken Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and then said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” Then the devil actually quoted Scripture to Jesus, from Psalm 91:11-12, which seemed to promise that the Lord would send angels to catch Jesus in the air before He struck the ground. What a spectacular miracle that would be and how impressive for lots of people near the temple at the time, the devil was implying. “He (the Lord) will command His angels concerning you, to guard you” and “on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”
Jesus, of course, knew that the devil was taking these words he quoted totally out of their context. Psalm 91 is talking about a person who “trusts in God” and “dwells” (lives) in “the shelter” and “shadow” of “the Almighty,” “the Most High” God. The Lord is his “refuge” and “dwelling place.” Jesus was such a person in a perfect way, and the Lord says, “Because He holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver Him; I will protect Him because he knows My Name.”
Jesus would be the opposite of what He really was if He listened to the devil and followed his direction and jumped off the temple. Jesus also knew and quoted Scripture in answer to Satan, from Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test,” by doing something reckless and foolish, just to see if He would really help you if you jumped off the temple.
In the last two verses of Psalm 91, the Lord is still speaking and does not promise that all will go perfectly, even for His people, in this sinful, fallen world. What He does promise is that He will be “with us” in times of ”trouble” and “answer us” when we “call out to Him.” He will “rescue” those who trust in Him and will finally “show us His salvation” in eternal life.
Even Jesus, following His Heavenly Father’s plan, had much sorrow and trouble in His life here on earth and did not have the “long life” spoken of in verse 16, but all His sacrifices were for us, that we might be forgiven and blessed and receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus Himself rose in victory on Easter Sunday, assuring our ultimate victory in Him, and Jesus, as God the Son, received at His ascension what He had asked from the Father, “Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5). (See also John 1:1-5 and Philippians 2:5-11.)
Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday
“The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus”
Mark 9:2-9 and 2 Corinthians 4:5-7
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson, from Mark 9, along with a few thoughts from our Epistle lesson.
About a week before our text, the disciple Peter had made a great and true confession of faith, saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ,” the Messiah, the Anointed One sent from God to be the Savior (Mark 8:29). Soon after that, Jesus began to tell His disciples that He needed to suffer much and be killed and after three days rise again. He had indicated this before, but now Jesus said it plainly (Mark 8:31-32).
Right away, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, telling Him that He was wrong and shouldn’t be saying such things. Jesus then had to rebuke Peter, telling him that his mind was not on God’s will, but on his own will and desires, and that he was actually serving Satan, the devil, in this thinking (Mark 8:32-33). Clearly, Peter and the other disciples still had much to learn about Jesus and God’s saving plan. Peter, in particular, could be so strong and right one moment and so weak and confused the next.
Doesn’t that sound like us, too, at times? We can be so strong in faith, but when God’s will and ways don’t seem to fit with our wishes and desires, we can sometimes question and struggle, too. Jesus cared about these disciples, as He cares about us; and Mark, who wrote this Gospel, inspired by God, makes it very clear that Jesus purposely took Peter and James and John along for His Transfiguration so that their faith in Him might be strengthened.
We hear in our text that Jesus took these three leaders of the disciples and led them up a high mountain by themselves and then was transfigured before them. A little later, we hear that there appeared to them, to these disciples, Elijah and Moses, great prophets and leaders of the Old Testament, talking with Jesus. And a little later, a cloud overshadowed them, including the disciples - a cloud as in the Old Testament, when God Himself appeared to His people, and the voice of God the Father came from the cloud, telling the disciples, “This Jesus is My Beloved Son!” - the Son of God and God the Son.
That was indicated, too, by the way Jesus was transfigured. The Greek word here is “metamorphosis” - “a dramatic change in physical form, a striking alteration in appearance,” Webster’s Dictionary says. We think of the change from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. In Jesus’ case, it was much more than that. Jesus was a real man, a human being, like us - and yet now the disciples had a glimpse of what He also was - God the Son Himself. They or any of us could only handle a glimpse, in this life, of that glory.
The clothes of Jesus were radiant, intensely white, whiter than bleach or Tide or Oxi-Clean or any humanly made product could make a robe or anything else, and Matthew’s Gospel says that Jesus’ face “shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:3). We all know how long we could stand to look at that brilliance.
Clearly, this amazing experience showed that Jesus was God the Son, and God the Father then literally said to the disciples, “Keep on listening to Him" - to Jesus - and following Him. Our text says that the disciples were terrified by all this, and Peter didn’t know what to say, except that he wanted to keep the glory and the miracle of all this going by following an Old Testament festival, where God’s people would build temporary booths and tent-like structures and remember the glory days of the past.
But that was not to be. Suddenly no one was with the disciples, but Jesus only, and He looked in His ordinary way. And they had to come down from the mountain to their ordinary lives, with joys but many challenges and troubles. Jesus particularly had to come down to just what He had predicted, and to what we will hear about in the Lenten season, starting this coming Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.
The Transfiguration event was also for His benefit - for Jesus was a real man, too, not always using His Godly powers. He was tempted as we are and yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). As we heard last week, Jesus kept praying to His Heavenly Father and leaning upon Him for His strength, as God’s Beloved Son. He kept listening to God’s Word, given through Moses and Elijah and the other Old Testament writers, and following it. In fact, Luke tells us in his Gospel that on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about His departure, His “exodus,” His “going out” from this world, at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31), and they surely were encouraging Him always to do His Father’s will. They knew that they had failed at that, even as great leaders. Moses had gone against God’s will and was not able to enter the promised land of Israel, but he was forgiven and entered into eternal life, by God’s grace. Elijah also had rough times. He once was so discouraged that he wanted to lay down and die. He too went to eternal life, by God’s grace.
Jesus, though, perfectly followed His Father’s will in the days following the Transfiguration. He suffered many things and was rejected by the religious authorities and many others, and was killed in a most horrible way, by crucifixion, and after three days, rose from the dead. Above all, He paid the penalty for the sins of His disciples and of the whole world, including you and me - the penalty we should have had to pay. He conquered sin and Satan and death for us all - and we receive forgiveness and new life and the promise of life everlasting, in return, through the gift of faith and trust in what He did for us, that God works in us. And one day, we also will stand with Moses and Elijah and with Jesus, in the glory of heaven.
How important all this was for Jesus’ disciples. They didn’t do so well in the days following the Transfiguration. They still didn’t understand Jesus’ words about suffering and dying and rising. When He was arrested, they all ran away. Even Peter, in fear, denied three times that he ever knew Jesus - though he’d seen that glorious mountaintop event. The disciples huddled in fear after Jesus died until He appeared to them as the Risen Lord and forgave them and strengthened them for 40 more days, through God’s Word, and then He and God the Father sent them His Holy Spirit.
And the Spirit inspired Biblical writers and preachers to put down in a perfect way the New Testament, as well as the Old, so that to this day, we can still keep listening to Christ Jesus and hearing of all He did and continues to do for us, as our Savior, just as God the Father asked us to listen, on the Mount of Transfiguration. We have the Word, through which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Triune God, works. And we have the Word, connected with water in the gift of Holy Baptism, and the Word connected with bread and wine and the very Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed for us, in the Lord’s Supper.
Even with all that, the early church was not perfect, except as counted that way in the eyes of God, through Christ and His forgiveness, earned for them and for us.
- Peter and Paul had some difficulties with each other.
- Paul and John Mark, who wrote the Gospel we’re hearing today, had a falling out with each other at one point.
- The churches we hear about were not perfect.
- And we are certainly not sitting here tonight as a perfect church and perfect people.
But we know where our hope always is. Paul put it so well in our Epistle lesson for today. He said, “What we proclaim is not ourselves (or our church, or the great things we are doing). But we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves simply as servants, for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let Light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
In fact, in the very next verse, after this Epistle, Paul says, “We have this great treasure” - the Good News of the Gospel of Christ and what he has done for us, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit - we have this great treasure “in jars of clay.” We are the jars of clay, with all our chips and cracks and imperfections, and yet we are also the children of God, through the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
And, Paul says, “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). And our great Triune God is enough, all we need, for this life and for eternal life to come.
Please rise for prayer. Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe (only where they are safe) in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
The Old Testament lesson most likely to be used for this coming Sunday is from 2 Kings 2:1-12. It was time for the prophet Elijah’s ministry to end and for him to be called to heaven. Elisha had been very close to Elijah and didn’t want to leave him, though Elijah kept asking him to stay behind when he traveled. Elisha wouldn’t do that and asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. It was up to the Lord and His Holy Spirit, though, as to how Elisha would be blessed. Finally, Elijah is taken directly to heaven by a whirlwind, accompanied by chariots and horses of fire. Elisha shows his great sorrow at Elijah being gone, but in verses that follow he does receive the Lord’s Spirit for his own prophetic ministry.
The alternate Old Testament lesson is from Exodus 34:29-35. Moses was also a great prophet of God and received the 10 Commandments and much more from the Lord so that he could write the first five books of the Old Testament. When he was with God, his face shone with a bit of the glory of God. But this glory was a fading glory for him when he was away from the Lord.
The Psalm is Psalm 50:1-6. This psalm also pictures the glory of “the Mighty One, God the Lord” “shining forth” like the sun. When He comes, there can be “tempest” and “fire,” especially when he calls His people to assemble to be judged by Him. (After this text, God does find fault with His people. Martin Luther puts it this way: “They value their own sacrifices and worship highly, as if God must surely be thankful and indebted to them. God, however, reverses this. He intends for His goodness and help to be so highly esteemed that we will be thankful and indebted to Him… that we praise God, that we trust in Him, call on Him, praise and thank Him as our only God, and the like” (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p.121-122, CPH, 2007).
These readings all point forward to the great Glory of Jesus, the Son of God, shown in our Gospel lesson, Mark 9:2-9. Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain by themselves, and Jesus was “transfigured” before them. His clothes were radiant, whiter than anyone on earth could make them, and another Gospel says that Jesus’ face shone like the sun in brightness. Moses and Elijah, great prophets and leaders of the Old Testament, appeared with Jesus. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and God the Father said of Jesus, “This is My Beloved Son; keep on listening to Him.” Clearly, Jesus was the Son of God, but suddenly, only Jesus was there with these disciples. They needed to go down the mountain, for soon Jesus would suffer and die to pay the penalty for the sins of the world (as we begin to hear on Ash Wednesday, February 14, this year), and then Jesus would rise from the dead, showing again His power and glory.
The Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 3:12-13 (14-18) 4:1-6, speaks of Moses wearing a veil when a bit of the Lord’s glory shone on him, as we heard in the alternate OT lesson from Exodus 34. It was a fading glory, but the glory of Jesus is forever, now that He humbled himself and completed His saving work on the cross and rose from the dead. Therefore, Paul and other New Testament leaders like Peter and James and John did not proclaim themselves. They were only servants of Jesus, who as true man was perfectly “the image of God;” and through the truth of the Word of God and what they had seen, they could only proclaim “the Gospel” of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” as Lord and Savior.
I read Psalm 12 recently and thought that it sounded very much like what many people say about the cultural and spiritual situation in our own day. See what you think. (I will use some helpful notes from Dr. Walter Roehrs in the old Concordia Self-Study Commentary by CPH.)
In v.1, David cries out to the Lord, Help! “Save, O Lord,” because there seem to be very few “godly” and “faithful” people left. This is a feeling that people often have when there are times of great trouble and persecution. When Elijah was being pursued by evil Queen Jezebel, who was trying to kill him, he thought that he was the only one left faithful to God’s covenant in all Israel. God comforts him and tells him that there are still 7,000 who had not gone over to false gods like Baal (1 Kings 19:10, 18). Isaiah said, “The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands” (Isaiah 57:1). Hosea wrote: “There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hosea 4:1-2). And Micah wrote: “The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net” (Micah 7:2). Things look so bad at various times, even though David says, “But I know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord hears when I call Him” (Psalm 4:3).
In Psalm 12:2-4, David says that “everyone lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak.” And “tongues make great boasts” and people say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us, who is master over us?” We have many similar terms today. People speak with a “forked tongue; they talk out of “both sides of their mouth;” they are “two-faced.” James called a “double-hearted” person a “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8). James also warned about the dangers of a tongue, which can be a “restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:5-10).
Aren’t there many today who change the meaning of words into whatever they want for themselves and demand that others must accept their point of view? To some, there are no longer two genders, male and female, as the Bible and science say, but many “genders” - whatever people choose to say they are. Men can call themselves women if they think they are, though God and their genes and their bodies still say they are men. People become “a law unto themselves” and reject prophets of God like Jeremiah, saying, “Come, let us strike him with our tongues, and let us not pay attention to any of his words,” though they are the very Word of God (Jeremiah 18:18).
It may not always seem like it, but God knows and sees what is going on, David says in Psalm 12:3,5. “He cuts off flattering lips,” and He cares about people who are spiritually “poor and needy” and “groan” because they are being hurt and “plundered” by these false and hurtful words and ideas. The Lord says, “I will arise… I will place My faithful people in safety for which they long.” The Lord can and will help us through very difficult days when there seem to be fewer faithful believers in the Lord. Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:3-6).
David also calls the Words of the Lord “pure Words.” They are like “well-refined silver” (Psalm 12:6) when we read and listen to them, instead of the false and misleading and self-centered words heard so much today. We can test what we hear by the Word of God, too. “For God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path” (Psalm 119:105). And “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” in what is truly right and good (2 Timothy 3:16).
Above all, the Scriptures keep pointing us to Christ Jesus our Savior and salvation through faith in Him (2 Timothy 3:15). Jesus lived in this world, and He knows our struggles and temptations and yet overcame them all for us, in His saving work in our place. He forgives us, too, when we realize that we have listened too much to the ways of this world and admit to our own failings. He restores us and helps us to follow Him.
There will always be some in every period of time who are a “crooked and twisted generation” (Deuteronomy 32:5, Philippians 2:15). Jesus Himself said twice, when He was here on earth, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah” - the death and three days in the grave and the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 16:4. 12:39-40). David also wrote, in Psalm 12:8, “On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.” We cannot escape evil being around us, no matter when we live. But David also says, in Psalm 12:7, “You, O Lord, will keep Your believing people; You will guard us always from an evil generation around us.” That is God’s promise and our great hope, as we stay close to Christ and His Word (and Sacraments). “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
In the Gospel lesson for this week, Mark 1:29-39, we see Jesus continuing His ministry. He does not bask in His spreading fame (Mark 1:28), but He goes to the home of Simon (Peter) and Andrew. He hears that Simon’s mother-in-law is ill and quickly heals her. When the Sabbath was over, at sundown, many people who were sick and demon-possessed were brought to Him. He healed many and cast out many demons, not allowing them to speak. The whole city came to see all this, and by the next morning, “everyone was looking for Him,” but Jesus went away very early the next day to pray and then went on to preach in many other towns in Galilee. He had come “to preach” the Good News of His Kingdom and to battle Satan and his demons.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, like Jesus, Paul knows that it was necessary for him “to preach the Gospel” to as many people as possible. He tried to be “all things to all people,” in their varying backgrounds and situations, sharing “the blessings of the Gospel” so that some might be saved through the preaching of the good news of Christ Jesus and His “imperishable” gifts. Paul therefore sought to use “self-discipline” in the “race” God set before him, and in his preaching, “to present the Gospel free of charge.” Woe to me,” he said, “if I do not preach the Gospel!”
Paul received strength and guidance from Scriptures like the Old Testament and Psalm readings for this week, too. In Psalm 147, we sing and praise the Lord (Hallelujah) because He “gathers outcasts” and “heals the broken-hearted” and “lifts up the humble” and is “abundant in power” and “takes pleasure in those who fear Him” and “hope in His steadfast love.” Paul also knew that the Lord was the Creator, with “understanding above all measure, and that he served Him, above all.
Jesus knew even better the truth of this psalm and the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 40:21-31. As God the Son, He was there at creation, and “without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). He helped “number” the stars and “call them by name.” He knew His Father’s plan “from the beginning” and graciously carried it out in becoming true man, also, for us and our salvation; but as a true man, He also needed to lean upon His Heavenly Father, as he was doing in prayer early in the morning, in the Gospel lesson. He grew tired, too, but “renewed His strength as he waited upon the Lord, and could “run” and “walk and not faint,” in His preaching ministry and all He did.
Psalm 147 is the psalm assigned for this coming Sunday in our churches. Some think that it was written when some of God’s people had returned from the many years of captivity and exile in Babylon and by God’s grace had been able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. There was a great celebration of joy described in Nehemiah 12:27-47, around 445-432 BC. Verse 46 of Nehemiah 12 remembers that “long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.”
Psalm 147 begins and ends with the words “Praise the Lord,” which in the Hebrew language is: “Hallelujah!” It is “good” and “pleasant” and “fitting” to do so (v.1) because the Lord Himself had gathered “these outcasts of Israel” and brought them back to their land and “built up” the walls of Jerusalem again, through blessing and protecting them (v.2). After many years of sorrow and trouble for the Israelites, the Lord was “healing their broken hearts and binding up their wounds,” both physical and spiritual (v.3).
How can our Lord God do this? He is the Creator and Preserver of all things. He even created the stars and knows them all (v.4). This reminds us of the fact that He also has said to us, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are Mine” (Isaiah 43:1). Jesus, as our Redeemer and Savior, also says that He knows us by name and leads us, as His sheep (John 10:3-4), as we listen to His voice, in His Word. The Lord is also “great” and “abundant in power” and “lifts up” those who “humbly” trust in Him (Psalm 147:5-6). It may not always seem that way, especially when we feel heartbroken and wounded by the troubles of this life and are struggling, but God’s ways and “understanding” are “beyond measure” (v.5) and beyond the limitations of our human minds.
God knows what is best and cares for the world and all its creatures, including us (v. 8-9). He also deals with wickedness, which creates so many problems for us and our world, but He does it in His own time and way, as He finally rescued Israelites from slavery and evil in Babylon (v.6). We are called then to sing praises to the Lord in a thankful way and make melody to Him with musical instruments, when appropriate, as the people did in the time of Nehemiah 12: 27 (Psalm 147:7).
Above all, we are to “fear and trust” our Lord and “find hope in His steadfast love” for us (v.11). Our ultimate trust is not in the things we often focus upon. Ancient people often trusted in “strong horses” and the strong “legs” of powerful warriors. (v.10) We might trust too much in money and powerful people and fascination with famous people and great sports teams (with the Super Bowl and the NCAA tourney coming - as good as all that is).
Our ultimate hope is in the Lord Himself and His Word and His saving work in Jesus. He helps us through all of this life and its joys and disappointments and brings us eventually to eternal life and peace. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The last two weeks we have seen Jesus calling disciples to follow Him and learn from Him and eventually to be “sent-out” ones, apostles, sharing the Good News of Jesus with everyone they could. This Sunday our focus is on the ministry of Jesus Himself. In the Gospel lesson, Mark 1:21-28, Jesus amazes people with both His Words and His actions. He taught “with authority,” unlike their scribes, who spoke very tentatively, quoting this rabbi or that one, without certainty. Jesus also acts with authority, casting out an evil spirit, who must do what He says and even admits who He is, “the Holy One of God.” News about Him spread quickly, as a result.
Jesus was showing that He was in the line of the prophets of God, beginning with Moses, as described in the Old Testament lesson, Deuteronomy 18:15-20. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament and predicted that more prophets would come. God would put His Word in their mouths, and they would speak all that God commanded them. Everyone was to listen to the words of these prophets, or they would be in trouble with God Himself. There would also be false prophets, who would speak their own ideas or in the name of other gods, and they would be in big trouble and deserve death. Moses is finally pointing to the greatest Prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ, who would always speak the truth and act on it and whose Word would always come true.
As Jesus was powerful in deed, as well as in Word, so the Psalmist, in Psalm 111, thanks and praises God for His many “wondrous works.” The Lord remembers His “covenant” promises and fulfills them by being “gracious and merciful” and “sending redemption to His people” (especially in sending His only Son, Jesus, to be the Redeemer of the world). What the Lord says is “trustworthy,” and we will “praise Him forever.”
In the Epistle lesson, Paul deals with a practical problem in his time. Non-Christians would often offer sacrifices to false gods in pagan temples, and then leftover food from these sacrifices would be sold in markets. Could Christians buy and eat such food, that had been sacrificed to idols? Paul reminds people that “there is no God but One,” the Triune God, the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ (and the Holy Spirit, about whom Paul had spoken earlier in this letter). All other gods and idols have “no real existence,” and cannot affect or pollute any food. It is OK to eat or not eat such food. However, not everyone has this “knowledge,” and so Paul asks Christian believers not to use their freedom in Christ in a way that hurts the conscience of people who truly think it is wrong to eat such food. Paul says he would be willing to limit his own freedoms, at times, if that would help others not to stumble in faith.
Bible Study: Should We Criticize Other Denominations and Groups?
In a recent Bible study, I read a question that I had received from a student in an email in 2006 when I was a campus pastor. He wrote: “I am doing a paper on the Christian faith and its denominations. One main point in my paper is that we all share the same basic beliefs, and therefore, should not criticize each other, as is commonly seen and heard. I was wondering if I could get a brief overview of your outlook on this situation.”
We talked about this question a little, in our study, and I thought it might be helpful to give more of a response, in what I wrote back to the student and with some additional comments for all of us.
Dear , I would agree that there is one holy Christian and apostolic Church, as we say in the Nicene Creed, which includes all true believers in the one true Triune God and in the saving work of Jesus, by God’s grace alone. There are essential Christian beliefs, and there are people who hold to these beliefs, from numerous Christian denominations and groups, who are already or will be in heaven, when they die.
At the same time, we read in the Bible that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful” (2 Timothy 3:16), and we are to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), and to “Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the doctrine you have been taught” (Romans 16:17).
A problem with too many denominations and especially with non-denominational churches and parachurch groups is that they want to take Christianity to the lowest common denominator and ignore much of Scripture or say it doesn’t really matter what you believe about many issues.
Those who call themselves Christian do not all believe all the same things. Some would say on moral issues, for example, that homosexual behavior and LGBTQ activity and actions or abortion are acceptable, while others, including our conservative Lutheran churches, would condemn such activity, on the basis of Scripture, and others would just avoid taking a stand on such issues.
On issues of doctrine, some would say, for example, that baptizing infants and children, as well as adults, is Scriptural and important, as our conservative Lutheran church does. Others would say that baptism is only for adult believers, and some would say it doesn’t matter what one believes about this. Closely related to this would be questions about whether an infant or child is sinful or has a sinful nature or is not accountable for sins until a certain age - and what age?
Take also the issue of Communion (or the Lord’s Supper). Some use an open communion policy, welcome to all, and it doesn’t matter what you believe about Communion, while Scripture says that one could actually sin taking Communion the wrong way (1 Corinthians 11:27).
Closely related, are Baptism and Communion called Sacraments (Means or Channels of God’s grace, with the Lord bringing forgiveness and grace and blessings to us, as conservative Lutherans say) or are these just ordinances, simply some things we do to show our faith and obey God’s laws?
I could go on and on about genuine differences among various groups and denominations. Some would say, though, “Just believe in Jesus” and nothing else matters. But how does belief itself come? Is faith a gift from God, worked by the Holy Spirit through His gifts of the Word and Baptism? Or do we come to faith by our own choice and decision, as an act of our own will, before we can be acceptable to God?
All these and more are important issues, in our view, and it is therefore important to take Scripture seriously and stand up for what it says, even though that means criticizing some ideas and positions of others. There are many warnings in Scripture about false teachers and wrong ideas (1 Timothy 4:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and 4:1-5, 1 John 4:1-6, etc.). We are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:14-15) and “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, 2 Timothy 2:24-26), but we are to speak the truth - as one finds Jesus and Paul and Peter others doing, in Scripture (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
May we all seek “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 - and look at v.28-32) and stay close to Christ our Savior and His Word, which is truth (John 8:31-23, 17:17). One last thought. We want to speak the truth to others with whom we disagree and who are drifting from God’s Word, as we understand it. But realize that every time we hear or study God’s Word, we are also subjecting ourselves to criticism, for we are hearing both Law and Gospel. The Law criticizes us and shows us our own sins since we are far from perfect. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:3-5, we need to be open to that criticism of ourselves and our churches, too, and the call for us also to repent, where we are falling short. Thank the Lord for also providing us the Gospel and the sure forgiveness through Christ of our own sins, as we confess our sins and ask the Lord to forgive us, too.
“God Alone”
Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany
(This sermon has comments on all four readings for this Day, in this order:)
The Gospel: Mark 1:14-20
The Old Testament Lesson: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7: 29-35
The Psalm: Psalm 62
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In our Gospel lesson for today, we heard Jesus, early in His public ministry, saying to Simon Peter and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). They were fishermen for fish, but now they were to become fishermen for people. And the Greek word for “men” doesn’t just mean “men” (males), but all human beings - men, women, children, Jews and non-Jews, all people.
And fishing for people means trying to share the Good News of Jesus with people so that they might be caught for the Kingdom of God by faith in Jesus. Last week, we heard of one of the simplest ways of doing so, as Philip was “found” by Jesus and then invited his friend, Nathaniel, to “come and see” about Jesus, too. For us, that might mean inviting someone to worship or Bible study or Sunday School or to consider St. James School for their children to attend or just giving someone a Portals of Prayer devotion book or something else to read that points to Jesus.
Even that is not easy for us to do, though, is it, especially in a culture where the two things we are not to talk about, if we want to keep peace with others, are politics or religion? What would we say if someone responded as Nathaniel did at first - “What good can come of that” (John 1:46)? What would we say? And what would people think of us - that we were a religious fanatic, or a “pushy” person? And so, we often don’t say or do much of anything and don’t invite others.
This being fishermen for others is not even easy, at times, for people like Peter and Andrew, who were called to full-time witness for Christ. Think about Jonah, a prophet of God, in our Old Testament lesson for today. Before this reading, Jonah had been called by God to go to the great city of Nineveh and call the people to repentance for the great evils they were doing. Instead, Jonah went in the opposite direction, away from Nineveh. If you remember the story, it took being swallowed by a great fish and spending three days and three nights in its belly and then being vomited out onto dry land to stop Jonah from running away. Then, as our Old Testament lesson begins, Jonah was given a second chance, and this time went and preached judgment for the Ninevites unless they repented of their sins. God’s Word, preached by Jonah, worked. God’s Word has power, brought by God Himself, and the people, including the king, were turned from their evil ways and did not perish, at least for a while.
When you read on in Jonah, Chapter 4, Jonah was not happy, but very angry, because he hated the Ninevites and the evil they had done to God’s people and others, and did not think they deserved to be forgiven. Obviously, Jonah still needed lots of learning and growing to be the prophet and fisherman God wanted him to be. And don’t we all have the same sort of struggles at times, in forgiving and forgetting, and maybe even in forgiving ourselves for our failures in the past?
Look now at the Epistle lesson for today. This is a hard passage and can easily be misunderstood because we don’t have the whole context. In verse 25 of 1 Corinthians 7, Paul had said, “I have no command of God, but I give my judgment” on what follows. This is very rare in the Scriptures - but Paul is honest in saying that what he writes in this little section is his best judgment, but not a Scriptural command.
He also speaks in verse 26 of “the present distress” - which seems to refer to increasing trouble and persecution for Christians and increasing opposition from many groups and from the Roman government. He also speaks of ”the appointed time growing short” and "the present form of this world passing away” and may have thought in his own judgment that the end of all things and the return of Christ might be very soon. He therefore wanted people to be ready, with proper “devotion to the Lord,” and not being anxious about many things that might pull them away from the Lord. So, when Paul says, “Let those who have wives live as though they have none,” we know we can’t do that and wouldn’t want to, as we love our spouse and family.
Here, Scripture interprets Scripture and helps us. It was God who instituted marriage and brought the first man and woman, whom He had created, together, with all the joys and blessings, and then the challenges of marriage and family when sin later came in (Genesis 2:21-24 and Matthew 19:4-6). Paul wrote on another occasion, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). Our care for spouse and family is obviously very important as part of our service to God and others.
We hear so much about life/work balance these days and know it is so hard to keep the right balance in marriage and family and all we do. We fall short all too often and forget what Paul is really most concerned about, keeping the Lord and His will foremost in this balance. And God in His Word gives us the guidance and help we really need, reminding us in the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me,” the Lord Himself (Deuteronomy 5:7 and 6:13-14).
That brings me to one more Scripture, assigned for this day, that we haven’t even looked at - the Psalm for this day, Psalm 62. There’s not a place where psalms neatly fit in a Communion service, so they are often omitted. But Psalm 62 is very important to hear. You can just listen, as I read from this psalm, or you can turn to this psalm in the front of your hymnal, before the regular worship services begin, and follow along.
We speak as Lutherans of three great “solas” or “alones” - that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, as revealed by Scripture alone. But as David says in this psalm, all this can only come through one more “alone,” God alone. And we know from the Scriptures as a whole, that David is referring to the one true Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Most think that David wrote this psalm at a very difficult time in his life, probably when his own son, Absalom, had overthrown him and become king, and many were now trying to kill David. David knew that his hope was only in God, as he says again and again in this psalm.
In verses 1-2, David says, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation, my Fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” In verse 3 he says he feels like a leaning wall or a tottering fence, battered by others. Yet he repeats, in verse 5, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my Rock and my Salvation.”
And in verses 9-10, Davis says that whether people are high and mighty or lowly, they are only like a breath of air compared with God and His power. David knows he cannot set his heart on them or on riches either, which can come and go so quickly. So, in verses 11-12, he admits that power belongs only to God and His steadfast love.
The psalm ends with the words: “For You will render to a man, according to his work.”But that is really the work of God alone. When people asked Jesus, “What must we do to be doing the work of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom God has sent” (John 6:27-29). Jesus Himself, of course, is the “Son of Man,” sent from God to be our Savior, in whom we should believe and trust.
Or as Paul said in Romans 3-4, “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law” (Romans 3:28). And he said, “To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Of course, we try to do good works, but not to try to earn our salvation, but to thank our Lord for His saving work and to help others. Paul also says that even faith is “the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:29, 31). Our trust is in the saving work of Jesus, who gave His life for us. He alone is our Savior and has already accomplished for us what we really need.
So again, as Psalm 62:1, 6 says, “God alone is our Rock and our Salvation.” And David says to us in v. 8, “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him.” Listen to His Word and talk with Him in prayer. “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He truly cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7), whether single or married, young or old.
And remember His “steadfast love” for you and me in Christ. He can help us become better fishermen, with the courage to invite others to “come and see” about Jesus. And He can help us reflect God’s love and forgiveness in a better way with friends and our spouse and family. And God is a “refuge” and strength for us (Psalm 62:8) in whatever we face in the days ahead.
Let us rise for prayer: “Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” our Savior. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
The Gospel lesson for this week is from Mark 1:14-20. (John 1:35-40 seems to indicate that Jesus already had some contact with Andrew and Peter, who had been disciples of John the Baptist and then had met Jesus and talked with Him.) Now, after John the Baptist had been arrested, Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee and was proclaiming the Gospel: “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.” He then calls Simon Peter and Andrew to follow Him and He will make them become “fishers of men.” He calls James and John, too, and all four, who are fishermen, quickly follow Him.
Becoming a fisherman for other people is a challenge, though, as we hear from the other readings this week. In the Old Testament, we hear the story of Jonah, who when he was told to go to Nineveh and call the people there to repent, went in the opposite direction. He had to be swallowed by a great fish and vomited back onto land to stop him. In the Old Testament lesson, Jonah 3:1-5,10, for a second time the Lord asks Jonah to go to Nineveh. This time he goes and warns of coming judgment, as God wished, and the people actually believed God and repented of their evil ways, including the king, and God did not bring disaster upon the city. The preaching of Jonah worked, by God’s blessing, but after our text, in Chapter 4, Jonah was very angry. He hated the people of Nineveh and did not think they deserved to be forgiven. God had much more teaching to bring to Jonah himself and needed to call him to repentance, too.
The Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (32-35) is a hard one. Paul knows that difficult times are coming for Christians, with persecution ahead for their faith. He feels that people would be better off single, as he is, without the added concerns of marriage and family, in these hard times. He very clearly says he is giving his judgment, though, in v. 25-26, and not a command of God. Plenty of other Scriptures speak also of the joys and blessings of marriage and family, and the importance of carrying out family responsibilities, too. The challenge, again, is balancing all those responsibilities, and still remembering the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:37 not to love others more than the Lord and His will.
David speaks of the same challenge in the psalm for this week, Psalm 62. Four times he says that God alone is his Rock and Fortress and Salvation and that all should trust in the Lord’s power and steadfast love, instead of riches and evil activity and others high or low, who are false in their ways. David knew his own struggles in following his Lord and says to us, in this psalm: “Trust in the Lord at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is a Refuge for us.” “Our hope is from Him, and in Him we shall not be greatly shaken.”
In Mark 1:14-20, we hear of Jesus going into the region of Galilee, in Northern Israel. He passes alongside the Sea of Galilee and sees Simon (Peter) and Andrew, casting a net into the sea. He calls them to discipleship saying, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (v.17-18). This picture image makes sense, because these were fishermen, by occupation, and Jesus was now calling them “to proclaim the gospel of God,” as he was already doing (v.14-15), and calling people to “repent” of their sins and “believe in the Gospel,” thus capturing them for the “Kingdom of God,” in Christ.
This was an unusual picture image, though, because in the Old Testament “fishing for people with a hook or a net” was used for capturing enemies of God’s people and getting rid of them. See for example Jeremiah 16:16-18. The Lord says He will “send many fishers” and “hunters” after people because of their “iniquity” and “repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled My inheritance with their abominations.” In Amos 4:2, the Lord God warns people in Israel, who were doing evil and worshiping false gods, that “the days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks,” into captivity. See also Ezekiel 29:1-5, Habakkuk 1:14-17, and Ecclesiastes 9:12 and an “evil net.”
Jesus came, though, to bring life and hope to people through what He would do as their Savior, paying the penalty for and forgiving their sins, by His death on the cross and resurrection. We hear in John 3:17: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned.” Paul also says in Romans 10:14-17 that everyone needs to hear this Good News of Christ. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes through the Word of Christ” (v.17). That’s why Jesus began to call “fishers of men” to share that Good News! (You can hear this same story in Matthew 4:18-22.)
Jesus reinforced this message again in Luke 5:1-11, when He was preaching and borrowed Simon Peter’s boat as a place from which to speak. Then He told Peter to let down the nets for a catch. Peter objected. He was a trained fisherman and he and others had fished all night, the best time for fishing, and caught nothing. But, Peter said, “At Your Word, Jesus, I will let down the nets.” They caught so many fish that they needed a second boat and both boats were about to sink. Peter knew, as a fisherman, what a miracle this was and “fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’” He knew he was not adequate to be what Jesus wanted. Jesus simply said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Jesus used a word that meant Peter and the others would be “catching men alive” for the eternal Kingdom of God. The word Jesus used for “men,” here and in the other passages, meant not just males but all human beings - men, women, children, Jews, and non-Jews.
Remember that Jesus had also said, in Mark 1:17, “I will make you become fishers of men.” The disciples did not immediately know what to do. Jesus taught them during His three years of public ministry with them, and then even after His resurrection and then through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Even then, they were not perfect in what they did as disciples.
Ultimately, the Scriptures teach that they were instruments through whom God shared His Good News in Christ, but that the Lord Himself and Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit actually “caught people alive” and brought them to faith through His Word and through water and Word, connected in Baptism, and strengthened through the Lord’s Supper. Using another image, that of sowing the seed of God’s Word, Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7: “What then is Apollos (another called preacher)? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who gives the growth.” To God alone is the glory if anyone comes to faith in Jesus. (Hear more about this in a sermon I will preach Saturday evening, the Lord willing, and will put up on the podcast, sometime next week.) We still need “fishers of men” today. These Scriptures give great encouragement to pastors and teachers and other church workers, and to all of us as witnesses for our Lord in everyday life. The Lord’s continued blessings.
Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, based on:
1 Samuel 3:1-20
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51
Sermon originally delivered January 15, 2012
This is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. The readings this week have to do with people being called by the Lord to serve Him. In the Old Testament lesson, 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20), Samuel was already serving the elderly priest, Eli, when the Lord called him to be His prophet. Samuel did not realize it was the Lord calling until Eli explained it to him. Eli and his family were to be replaced because of sinfulness. The Lord would now reveal His Word to Samuel, and it was his job to bring that Word to all of Israel.
In the psalm, Psalm 139:1-10, David also knows that he has been called to be King among his people. He knows that he cannot run away anywhere from the Lord and His Spirit, “holding” him and “leading” him in His ways. The Lord knows everything about him. To David this “knowledge” is “wonderful,” for even on the darkest of days there is still Light from the Lord.
In the Gospel lesson, John 1:43-51, Jesus is calling disciples to “follow” Him, including Philip. Philip tells Nathaniel that Jesus is the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. Nathaniel is skeptical, but Philip says, “Come and see.” Nathaniel comes and is quickly amazed at the “knowledge” Jesus has of him and calls Him "the Son of God” and “the King of Israel.” Jesus tells him he will know much more, and using an Old Testament story about Jacob (Genesis 28:12-17), Jesus says that He Himself, “the Son of Man,” is the ladder, the Way to heaven.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth that they, too, have a calling. They have been “bought with a price” - a great price, the sacrifice of Christ for them on the cross. “They and their “bodies” are not their own,” but they are “members of Christ” and their bodies are to be a “temple of the Holy Spirit,” who lives “within them.” Their bodies will one day be raised and changed for eternal life, even as Jesus was raised. They, and we, are called to use our bodies in “helpful” ways that please our Lord and not with “sexual immorality” or whatever we want to do. We can “glorify God even in our bodies,” as individuals and as a church, the body of Christ.
The readings for worship this week have to do with people called by the Lord to serve Him. In Psalm 139: 1-12, David knows that he has been called to be King among his people. He knows that he cannot run away anywhere from the Lord and His Spirit, “holding” him and “leading” him in His ways. The Lord knows everything about him. That thought could be scary and cause him to be honest and confess his sins to the Lord, as he does in psalms like Psalm 51. In this psalm, though, the fact that God knows all about him is “wonderful,” for even on the darkest of days there is still Light from the Lord, and the Lord knows and cares about him.
In Psalm 139:13-16, David speaks of the fact that the Lord knew about him even while he was still in his mother’s womb, being “fearfully and wonderfully made,” as one of the Lord’s own “wonderful works.” (The psalms are poetry, and this is a very poetic picture of the creation of a child. Solomon speaks of the mystery of it all. In Ecclesiastes 11:5 he says, “As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God Who makes everything.”)
We have many questions about all this because, in a very fallen, sinful world, things don’t always work in the womb in the way we wish or expect. We leave all these things in the Lord’s hands and trust Him. The Lord knows what will happen, as v.16 says, though this does not mean that everything in our life is predetermined. People can resist and reject the good and gracious will of God. This is one of the passages that causes us to be pro-life as a church. We cannot purposely take away life, for our own desires, that God had created. Every life is precious. (One of our other Bible readings this week is 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, which also reminds us that we are not our own. Even our bodies are not our own, to be done with as we please. That is certainly true of little children, too.)
In Psalm 139:17-18, David simply marvels at the precious thoughts of God, greater than he can count or comprehend. Whether he is asleep or awake, he is with the Lord and the Lord is with him. Maybe if we could all remember that, we would sleep better and more peacefully!
Psalm 139:19-22 sounds very harsh to our ears when we think of New Testament passages where Jesus talks about “loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us” (Matthew 5:44). Luther talked about “trying to put the best construction on everything” in dealing with others and explaining things in the kindest way. At the same time, there really is evil in the world and evil people, and Satan is a real and dangerous enemy. This passage reminds us of that reality also. David was a warrior king and fought against many enemies in trying to protect His country and his people. Goliath was no friend. There really is right and wrong in the world and in God’s standards for us. We cannot put a stamp of approval on what is evil or neglect to stand up for what is true. Christians are being killed in many places just for being Christians. Many hate the Lord and take His name in vain. The devil is deadly serious in fighting against us and our Lord. David knew these realities and spoke clearly of the battle we are also in and need to be in.
David ended Psalm 139 by asking the Lord, in v. 23-24, to keep searching him and knowing his heart, so that if there are “grievous ways” in him, he can realize them and repent and return to the Lord in a more faithful way. In spite of his faults and struggles, he prays that the Lord will keep teaching him “and lead him in the way everlasting.” As New Testament believers, we know that Jesus himself is finally "the way everlasting,” as we keep trusting Him and receiving His Word and seeking to share Him as Savior with as many as we can, so that others may know “the way everlasting too.”
Sermon for the Baptism of Jesus, based on:
Genesis 1:1-5
Romans 6:1-11
Mark 1:4-11
Sermon originally delivered January 8, 2012
Sermon for Epiphany, based on Matthew 2:1-12
“Mystery Revealed: Good News to All in Christ”
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation tonight is the Gospel Lesson, from Matthew 2:1-12. You are welcome to look at it with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.
The Epiphany story is both an ending and a beginning. It is an ending of the Christmas story, as the wise men finally reached the Christ-Child, Jesus. It is clear from this passage that it was some time after Jesus was born in Bethlehem that they came.
Nativity scenes often try to picture everything together, but Matthew clearly tells us,
inspired by God, that the wise men were led by the star to a house, where Jesus and Mary and Joseph had moved, by this time, in Bethlehem.
And who were these wise men? The word for them is “Magi,” a Persian word which means that they were not kings but advisors and representatives who helped kings and other leaders in the Babylonian Empire and later in the Medo-Persian Empire, far to the East of Israel. And how did they know about a star announcing a coming King?
God, in His wisdom, allowed the Babylonians to carry many of God’s people into captivity in Babylon, because of their own sins and rebellion against God. One of those captured Jews was a young man, Daniel, who was a faithful follower of the One True God, even in pagan Babylon. Most of us probably remember only one story about Daniel - how he was thrown into a lion’s den because he would not worship and pray to any kings or false gods (Daniel 6). God spared him and protected him from the lions, and he became a great advisor to leaders in Babylon and among the Medo-Persians who followed (Daniel 2:47-49, 5:11-12).
Daniel also wrote one of the Old Testament Scriptures, as a prophet of God, and in it, he is described as “chief” of these advisors, these Magi, the wise men of his time, but only by the power of God and His Word. For example, he did not follow astrology, as others did, because it was condemned in the Scriptures.
Daniel also had and used the other Old Testament Scriptures and knew of prophecies of a coming star and a kingly symbol, a scepter, connected with the land of Judah and a Ruler to be born there (Genesis 49:8-11, Numbers 24:16-19). Daniel even predicted, by God’s power, the coming of a Son of Man, a term Jesus often used for Himself when He came - a Son of Man who would have an everlasting kingdom, where “all peoples, nations, and languages” would be drawn to and “serve Him” (Daniel 7:13-14). Daniel would certainly have shared these Scriptures, the Word of God, with his fellow Magi, also, and he seems to have been influential among Medo-Persian leaders, who allowed Jews to go back to Jerusalem at last. And from that group of Jews, from the line of David, that promised Savior, our Lord Jesus, was finally born, of the virgin Mary, by the miracle of God.
Scholars think, then, that when the very unusual star appeared in the East, wise men, Magi from that time, still knew the Scriptures and promises, given long before, and some of them chose to follow the star and go to Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, to find this King. We don’t know, but maybe God gave them some direct revelation to help them, as well, as God at the end of this text warned them not to go back to King Herod.
These wise men clearly came in faith, trusting the promises of the Scriptures about this King. They were not Jews but came to worship this King of the Jews and called the star His star. The star seems to have disappeared at times, but they still came. And what joy they had when they were directed by the Scriptures to Bethlehem, and the star, clearly not a normal star, reappeared and led them directly to where the child Jesus and His mother were.
And notice that the wise men did not worship Mary, but only Jesus. And they gave gifts specifically for Jesus - gold, worthy of a King; and a kind of incense used for worship of God, since Jesus was God the Son who became man for us; and myrrh, like that used later on to anoint the body of Jesus after His crucifixion, and thus predicting His death on the cross to pay for our sins and their sins and the sins of the whole world.
These wise men went home, trusting that Jesus had come as a King and Savior not just for certain people or just for the Jews, but with Good News for everyone, including them. These wise men were, in fact, also fulfilling many prophecies, including our Old Testament lesson for tonight, where we hear that the Lord Himself would come, in Jesus, and people from other nations would come to His light and bring Him gold and frankincense and see that He was for them and for all people.
Contrast the wise men now with the current actual king of the Jews and the Jewish religious authorities when the wise men came. Remember that Jesus was born to bring Good News to all, but He could be resisted and rejected. Herod was the king and had been for more than 30 years, but was actually not even a Jew himself. He was an Edomite, and if you read Old Testament history, you find that Edomites usually hated Jews and were often creating trouble for them. Herod had been appointed as king not by Jews, but by the Roman government, and Herod was a clever and diabolical leader. He tried to keep the Roman authorities happy, above all, but also pleased many Jews and the Pharisees and others by remodeling the temple in Jerusalem, making it a magnificent place for worship. At the same time, he was very paranoid and cruel to anyone who seemed a threat to him.
Jewish historians said that Herod had murdered his wife, his three sons, other family members, and many others, because he feared that they were trying to overthrow him - and it was no surprise, then, that he later ordered the killing of all the babies and small children in Bethlehem to try to get rid of this supposed newborn king.
And what did the Jewish religious authorities do? Nothing, as far as we can tell. They did look at the Scriptures and saw that the promised Savior and King was to be born in Bethlehem, but there is no indication that any of them bothered to go to Bethlehem to see if what the wise men said was true, even though Bethlehem was only about six miles south of Jerusalem. They didn’t care and didn’t expect that the Messiah would care about these non-Jews, anyway. The Messiah would come only for His own people, many of them thought.
Jesus and His family were able to escape to Egypt and returned to Israel only after King Herod had died. As time went on, opposition to Jesus often came from these same religious authorities and those who came after them. Even Paul, who wrote our Epistle lesson for tonight, was anti-Jesus and persecuted Christians until the risen Lord Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and brought him to faith in Him.
Paul wrote in our Epistle lesson for tonight that this was all a great mystery to him, “not made known in other generations, as it had now been revealed in Christ. “This mystery is that (even) Gentiles (non-Jews) are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (Ephesians 3:3-6).
God’s Son was born into this world in love for us all (“God so loved the world” -John 3:16) and He lived a perfect life in place of us all, where we fail to do so. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for all of our sins, no matter who we are. And He rose in victory to give us all forgiveness and new life, through simple faith and trust in Him.
The wise men saw the star again and found Jesus and “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” in Him. We can have that same joy in our Savior, for Jesus cares about us all, too. But it is hard, at times, to see that. We live in such a troubled world, with personal and family problems and so many difficulties and conflicts all around us. We can get overwhelmed with all this - and forget the promises of Jesus.
But as I mentioned earlier, Epiphany is not just an ending of the Christmas story. It is also the beginning of a whole Epiphany season, six weeks where we see that in His own life and public ministry Jesus did care for all kinds of people with His Good News - and that means us, too.
Paul was converted to faith in Jesus, but he also had to spend time searching the Scriptures again and seeing that the promised Savior would come to help everyone. Paul still had plenty of problems in his life, but he could then go out in joy, sharing the Good News of Jesus with everyone he met.
The same is true for us. Let me give just one quick example, as I close. We heard Psalm 72 chanted so beautifully, a little while ago, in our service. It is also a prophecy about Jesus, “the royal Son” of God. He came not just for the high and mighty, like the “kings of Tarshish” who are mentioned. He cares also for “the cause of the poor” and “the needy” and for those “oppressed” by many things, as we often are. He came for “children,” as well as adults. In short, He came for each and for all of us. In Him and in the Epiphany Scriptures we will hear in coming weeks, we too can find peace and joy and hope in Him as this Epiphany season continues
Let us rise for prayer: Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
This Sunday is the First Sunday after the Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord, and I will focus on those readings, here.
The Old Testament lesson for the Baptism of Jesus is Genesis 1:1-5. In the beginning, there was only God - the Triune God, the Father, the Spirit, and according to John 1:1-3, God the Son, the Word, as well. God is the Creator of all things, including light, which was good and was separated from darkness, making both night and day, evening and morning, the first day. (This is why the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown Friday and goes to sundown Saturday.) The Spirit of God was also hovering over the waters, at Creation, like a bird. Some Jewish rabbis pictured the Holy Spirit as a dove, because of this.
The psalm is Psalm 29, a psalm of David. David calls upon all, in heaven and on the earth, to give glory and worship to the Lord. Six times, the “voice of the Lord” is called “powerful” in what it can do. Three times the Lord is spoken of as “over many waters,” as he was at the Creation. He is “King forever” and gives “strength” and “peace” to His people.
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 1:4-11. In previous weeks, we have heard that John the Baptist was “a voice” preparing the way for the Lord Himself to come to His people, and calling people to a baptism of repentance and forgiveness. John could only baptize with water, but when Jesus came and was baptized, the Holy Spirit was very evidently at work, too. “The heavens” were “torn open” (see Isaiah 64:1), and the Spirit not only was over the waters but “descended on Jesus like a dove,” “anointing Him” for His saving work. (See Isaiah 61:1 and 42:1-2.) The “voice” of the Lord Himself also “came from heaven,” identifying Jesus as His “beloved Son,” with Whom He was “well pleased.” (See again Isaiah 42:1. God cannot say that He is pleased with any of us like that on our own.)
The Epistle lesson is from Romans 6:1-11. Through what Christ Jesus has done for us, and our connection with Him in our own baptism, we now receive the blessings earned for us by Him. Our old “body of sin,” “enslaved to sin,” died with Him, and we were raised to “newness of life.” So, we are to “consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus,” confident of our own “resurrection” on the last day. We still struggle with sin and seek daily to remember our baptism, in repentance, but sin does not need to “reign in our mortal bodies.”
As I have mentioned already, Epiphany is a day to remember the coming of the wise men to find the promised “King of the Jews.” It is likely that knowledge of several Old Testament Scriptures caused them to come looking for this King. One of those Scriptures is Psalm 72, a psalm “of Solomon.” This phrase can mean that this was a psalm written by King Solomon or a descriptive prayer on behalf of him as king, possibly by King David. Either way, this psalm goes far beyond what Solomon could ever do, and points to the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus, and His “everlasting kingdom.”
Verse 1 asks God to give “righteousness and justice” to His “royal son.” That is a wish for David and Solomon and all kings to follow in their line, but is ultimately fulfilled perfectly only as God’s own Son, Jesus, came into the world. Verses 2-4 indicate that this promised Son would deal justly with “the poor” and “defend their cause” and “deliver children of the needy” and speak against their “oppressors.” The same concern is expressed in verses 12-14 for the needy and the “weak” and “him who has no helper.”
Think of how Jesus welcomed little children and people with all kinds of needs. Terms are also used of “saving and redeeming their lives” because they are “precious in His sight.” This indicates the care, no matter who people are, for their physical lives, but also for their spiritual lives. Jesus is called the Savior and Redeemer, who shed His own blood so that all in the world could be forgiven and helped. Think of how the Sermon on the Mount begins in Matthew 5:3ff. Blessed are the spiritually poor, who know it and mourn over their sins and are meek before the Lord and hunger for God’s righteousness and mercy for them. Jesus gives such mercy and forgiveness.
This King can provide things that no earthly king can give, too: “rain and showers that water the earth” (Psalm 72, v. 6); “abundance of grain and fruit” and “people blossoming, even in cities,” “like grass in the field,” (v.16). (See again more words from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:43-46, calling us to love others, even our enemies, “as we are sons of our Heavenly Father, who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Jesus, as God the Son, helps with all of this, too.
This King, Jesus, is also to be “feared,” honored, and respected “throughout all generations, as long as the sun and moon endure” (Psalm 72:5). His is an everlasting Kingdom, and “Blessed be His glorious Name forever” (v.19). In this world, “All kings should fall down before Him,” and “all nations serve Him” and “bring Him gifts,” including “gold” (v. 10, 11, 15). This is what began to happen when the wise men came to the child Jesus and “fell down and worshiped Him and gave Him gifts” (Matthew 2:11). Think of how many more people are now “blessed in Him” and “call Him blessed,” all over the earth (Psalm 72:17). They trust in Him as Lord and Savior and know that “He alone has done wondrous things” that rescue us eternally (v.18).
Obviously, people in this world can also resist and reject Jesus or totally misunderstand Him and His mission. Did you notice v. 8 of Psalm 72? We hear a version of this today, as some say “From the River to the sea, our people should be free.” And fighting and troubles continue, without peace. Only the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our Lord Jesus, can settle all this when He returns on the last day. He will have dominion forever, in whatever our new eternal heavenly home will be. (See the promise in Philippians 2:9-11. The name of Jesus “will endure forever” (Psalm 72:17).)
Sermon for New Year's Eve, based on:
Isaiah 30:8-17
Romans 8:31-39
Luke 12:35-40
Sermon originally delivered December 31, 2011
This Sunday is the First Sunday after Christmas, and later in the day, it is also New Year’s Eve. I will give you only some notes on the morning worship for this day. (I’ll also give you a correction from last week. God’s “house” at the time of David was still a tent, the tabernacle, and not a “tension,” as my podcast mistakenly said.)
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 111, a great song of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord for His “great works.” His “wondrous works” and “the power of His works” are mentioned in v. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. He “commands His covenant” and “remembers” it. He is “gracious and merciful” and “sends redemption” to His people. “The beginning of wisdom” and “good understanding” is in “fear of the Lord,” honor and respect for His “holy and awesome Name” and His “faithfulness and uprightness.”
In Isaiah 61:10-62:3, the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah “greatly rejoices in the Lord” because He clothes people with “robes” of “salvation and righteousness.” In the future, “righteousness and salvation” shall “go forth” from Jerusalem “as a burning torch,” that other nations can see. God’s people will be “called by a new name” and will have a “crown” and “royalty” as they are in “the hand of the Lord.”
Paul speaks, in the Epistle lesson, Galatians 4:4-7, of that promised time, when God sent forth His Son, born of a woman (the Virgin Mary), to do the work of “redeeming” people (from their sins) so that they might be “adopted” as the children of God, as “the Holy Spirit is sent into their hearts” to enable them to call God their “dear Father” and trust in His Son and be “heirs” of eternal life. All this is through God and His work for them (and for us).
We see all of this beginning to happen in the Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-40, as Jesus is brought into the temple as a young child, and a “devout” man, Simeon, sees Him and by the power of the Holy Spirit recognizes Him as the Savior, the Light (the burning torch) for Jews and Gentiles, for “all peoples.” Simeon predicts that people would either “rise or fall” in relationship with Jesus (trust Him or not trust Him), that Jesus would be “opposed,” and that He and His mother would have much sorrow (His suffering and death) before His work would be completed in “glory.”
A woman, Anna, led by God, also came at the same time and gave thanks to God for the coming of Jesus as Savior and went out to tell others who were also waiting for the “redeeming” work of God through Him. The fulfillment of God’s great work in Jesus was already beginning and people were already receiving the robe of righteousness and salvation He came to earn for them (and for us).
Last week, we heard that Zephaniah 3:9-20 is predicting the Messianic age, when the Lord Himself would be with His people, in the midst of them (3:15), especially in the coming of His own Son into this world, with the conception and birth of Jesus, the “Mighty One Who will save” (3:17). Jesus would do His saving work, so that “the judgments against us” (3:15) for our sins, our “deeds by which we have rebelled against God,“ are taken away (3:11). In that day, worshippers would come from Cush (Ethiopia) and many other nations, for the Good News of Jesus is for “the peoples… that all of them may call upon the Lord” (3:9-10). “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), and Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6).
In His teaching and ministry, Jesus emphasized the same things predicted in Zephaniah 3, also. Jesus wished that people “would serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9). See the prayer of Jesus in John 17:11, that His believers “may be one,” and the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:1-6, that believers “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” with “one body and one Spirit”… “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is spoken of throughout Ephesians 4, as well as the reality that “the visible church“ that we see is far from perfect because we struggle with sin and our sinful nature.
God also warned, through Zephaniah, “I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones,” who are all wrapped up in themselves instead of the Lord. The true unity is in what is sometimes called “the invisible church,” the true believers whom only God knows and sees, “the holy Christian church” of the creeds, all believers who are counted righteous by God’s grace through faith. “Abraham believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). “To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:3-8). “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ" (Galatians 2:16).
Zephaniah also called for humility in God’s people, instead of the pride warned about in 3:11. “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land… seek humility” (Zephaniah 2:3). And the Lord Himself said through Zephaniah, “You shall no longer be haughty… But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge” not in themselves but "in the Name of the Lord” (3:11-12). “I will gather those of you who mourn…” (3:18).
Think now about Jesus, early in His ministry, teaching in His Sermon on the Mount and beginning with the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land” (Matthew 5:3-5). Later on, Jesus said, “Come to Me… and learn from Me… for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). And again Jesus said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12). Jesus above all was that humble servant. He sacrificed His life for us and died for us so that He might save and forgive us. (See Philippians 2:1-11. Paul wanted the followers of Jesus “to be in full accord and of one mind”… not acting from “selfish ambition or conceit.” We don’t do that so well, but Jesus did it perfectly for us. He “emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant”… “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”)
We could go on and on with parallels between what is predicted in Zephaniah and what Jesus did as “the mighty one who will save” (Zephaniah 3:17). He gathered so many people who were “outcasts” in their society (3:19), not just the Ethiopian we mentioned last week. Think of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-9, 16-18, 27-27, 39-42). See John 15:1-2 - “tax collectors and sinners” - and Luke 18:9-14 and Luke 19:1-10. Jesus also healed the “lame” and so many others (Matthew 11:2-6) just as also predicted in Zephaniah 3:19. Jesus also “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). That includes you and me, too. We would be lost in our sins and failings without Jesus and what He did and still does for us (Romans 3:19-24).
When Jesus carried out His ministry, people noticed and used some of the same terms as predicted in Zephaniah, too. When Jesus met Nathaniel (John 1:47-50), He said that he was “an Israelite in whom there was no deceit,” as desired in Zephaniah 3:9 - “pure speech” and “speaks no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue” (Zephaniah 3:13). Nathaniel responds with exactly the title for Jesus, the promised Savior, that is used in Zephaniah 3:15: “You are the King of Israel.” When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, humbly, on a donkey, people also cried out the same, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel” (John 12:13,15). Those opposed to Jesus mocked Him, as He hung on the cross, but said, “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:32). He was “the King of Israel,” but stayed on the cross to do His saving work.
Finally, note the great encouragement given because the Lord would be with His people, as described in Zephaniah. His “humble and lowly people” will be cared for like sheep with their Shepherd. “They shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid” (Zephaniah 3:13). Jesus is that Good Shepherd (John 10:1ff and especially v.14). The Lord also says, “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak” (Zephaniah 3:16). The New Testament tells us that the Heavenly Father is treating us as His children, through Christ our Savior. That means He can sometimes discipline us for our good because He cares for us. (See Hebrews 12:3-13, and the words very similar to Zephaniah 3:16 in Hebrews 12:12-13: “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” And in Christ and His blood shed for us on the cross, we will come to the “heavenly Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22-24).
Listen, in closing, to the amazing care of the Lord, fulfilled in the Lord Jesus and His love and care for us as His children, described so beautifully in Zephaniah 3:17: Your Savior “will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” We in turn, also, “sing aloud” and “shout” and “rejoice and exult with all our heart” (Zephaniah 3:14) that “the Lord our God did come into our midst” (Zephaniah 3:15,17), as we celebrate Jesus’ Christmas birth and all He did for us as our Savior and His continuing presence and help as our Risen Lord, alive forever for us, His children.
Sermon for Christmas Day, based on:
Isaiah 9:2-7
Titus 3:4-8
Luke 2:1-14
Sermon originally delivered December 25, 2011
I am discovering that some churches are canceling their Sunday morning services on December 24 because it is Christmas Eve, as well as the 4th Sunday in Advent, and there are many services later in the day. The readings for the morning are important for us, though, as a final preparation for the celebration of Christ’s birth later on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I’ll just take us through those readings in what I write here.
The Old Testament lesson is from 2 Samuel 7:1-11,16. David lived in “a house of cedar” as King, an indication of his wealth and beautiful home. In contrast, God’s house, the tabernacle, was still a tension. David wanted to build a better “house” for the Lord. Nathan agrees until the Lord appears to him and tells him to tell David not to build a house for Him. A son of David would build a house, and from that line of David, the Lord promises an everlasting kingdom.
The psalm is Psalm 89: 1-5, (19-29). The psalmist remembers the covenant made with His “Chosen One” from the line of King David. The Lord has “steadfast love” and “faithfulness,” and “in the heavens He will establish His faithfulness,” for “His offspring (singular) forever,” a reference to Jesus. He will be “the Firstborn,” the Highest, and in the Lord’s Name, His horn, (His strength) shall be exalted, and he will know “His Father, the Rock of Salvation, and will have a “throne” forever.
The One who will have this everlasting kingdom is clearly identified in the Gospel lesson, Luke 1:26-38, by the “angel Gabriel,” who announces the “virgin birth” of Jesus, through Mary. Mary is a "favored one, for she will conceive and bear a Son, Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The really important One is Jesus, though, for “He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High.” "He will receive the promised throne of His father David," and “he will reign forever” and "of His kingdom there will be no end.” All this can happen, “for nothing will be impossible with God.” Mary “serves the Lord” by simply “trusting His Word.”
The Epistle lesson is from Romans 16:25-27. Paul assures believers that the “eternal God” will strengthen them (and us) with the “Gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ,” and the “prophetic writings” of the Scriptures, and “bring about” in us “the obedience of faith” in the “mystery” of God’s saving plan for us “through Jesus Christ.”
All the other things we hear of and celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the fulfillment of these Scriptures and as Mark says, “The beginning of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1).
Last week, we heard many more warnings and judgments against Cush (Lower Egypt and Ethiopia, Zephaniah 2:12), against Assyria and its great city, Nineveh (2:13-15), against Judah and Jerusalem, again (3:1-5), and against all the evil of the whole earth, on the last day (3:6-8), until “all the earth shall be consumed.”
Then, at last, come more words of comfort and hope and even rejoicing, as the Lord Himself will bring change, as He announces through Zephaniah. (In a way, this parallels what we have been hearing in the Advent season in our churches. John the Baptist and others have been calling people to repentance and confession of sins because everyone needs forgiveness of sins. Then comes the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Rejoicing Sunday. As Psalm 126 says, people have been crying out, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord,” and the Lord acts and “has done great things for us,” in His rescue of us, especially in Jesus Christ. Then, “We are glad!” “Our mouths are filled with laughter and shouts of joy,” even though there are still times of challenge and “weeping and tears.”)
In Zephaniah 3:9 we hear God’s promise that He will act and “will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord.” Obviously, only in eternal life, in the New Jerusalem of heaven, will there be only believers. But this is speaking of a time when, as 3:15 says, “the King of Israel, the Lord” Himself “is in your midst.” This is repeated in 3:17: “The Lord your God is in your midst,” with the addition, “a Mighty One who will save.” This is clearly referring to the Messianic age, when Jesus, God’s Son, came into the world to be the Savior of the world, Jews and non-Jews. The phrases are used again and again- “at that time” and “on that day.” (See 3:9, 3:11, 3:18, 3:19, 3:20.)
Jesus came to bring in the new Israel, “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16, 3:14,3:26-29), what we now call the Christian church. It is the Lord God Himself who “will bring people in, at the time He gathers His people together,” and He “will make them renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth” (3:20). This is especially the work of God the Holy Spirit, the New Testament reveals, as He works through God’s Word and the Sacraments to bring people from all nations to saving faith in Jesus.
Think about the Pentecost story in Acts 2, when people from many nations were brought to faith in Christ and baptism. See the story in Acts. 8:26-39, in fulfillment of Zephaniah 3:10, where a man from Cush (Ethiopia) is brought to faith in Jesus. An angel and “the Spirit” led Philip to reach out to him through the Scriptures and Baptism, and He was brought into the Christian faith. This man was a eunuch, a man castrated because of his position of service to the Queen of Ethiopia. That would have made him an outcast among the Jews, limited in what he could do, even as a follower of Judaism. But again, in the Messianic age, the Lord says through Zephaniah in 3:19, “I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise.” (I have also mentioned in previous studies that even though judgment would fall upon the Cushites in Zephaniah 2:12 for their many sins, there was still hope, in the coming of Jesus as Savior - and today, there are millions of Lutherans in Ethiopia, more than in the United States.)
With the coming of Christ and the Messianic age, there will be, above all, a clear proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, because of the saving work of Jesus and His dying on the cross in payment for the sins of the world. In Zephaniah 3:11, God says, “On that day, you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against Me.” And in 3:15 we hear, “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you.” What good news (Gospel) that was and still is! Whatever our sins and failures in the past, there is full and free forgiveness for us in Jesus and what He has done for us, through being brought to faith in Him, through the Word of God and our own Baptism. “The restores our fortunes, too, before our eyes” (Zephaniah 3:20).
I will stop here, as there is much more Good News in this prophecy of Zephaniah and how it directly relates to Jesus that we still have not looked at. The Lord’s continued blessings. If you are reading this just before Christmas, remember the many promises fulfilled in Jesus in the Christmas story, too. Best wishes in Christ.
As we continue the Advent season, we hear more of the joy that comes to people as the promise of the Savior is fulfilled. The Psalm is Psalm 126, a “song” of “joy” and “laughter” as the “dream” came true, and God’s people, captive in Babylon, were set free and allowed to return to the land of Israel. Their “tears” were turned into “shouts of joy,” as at the time of a great harvest, or when rains came and “streams” appeared in a “dry” land. These words were a “song” as God’s people went up to Jerusalem, in later times, expecting that God would do an even “greater thing” with the coming of the Savior.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, and speaks of what would happen when “the Anointed One,” the Christ, would come in the power of “the Spirit of the Lord.” There would be “Good News” and “comfort” and “gladness” and “liberty” that the Lord would bring in His coming, with a new and “everlasting covenant.” His people would receive a “robe of righteousness” and “salvation” and would be a witness among “the nations” and “the peoples.”. (Jesus quotes from this passage in Luke 4:17-21 and says that He is is the Fulfillment of this Scripture.)
John the Baptist also “witnesses” to this truth in the Gospel lesson, John 1:6-8,19-28. He makes it very clear that he is not “the Light” sent from God, “the Christ,” but is only" a voice making a straight way for the Lord.” He speaks of One already “standing among them.” The very next day, John 1:29, John identifies Jesus as the One, “the Lamb of God, who takes away” the greatest problem, “the sin of the world.”
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, Paul calls upon those who have been brought to faith in Christ Jesus to “rejoice always” and “give thanks in all circumstances,” because “the Lord is faithful” and He will “sanctify” them “completely” and “keep them blameless” at the return of Christ. This is “the will of God in Christ Jesus” for them (and for us, as we receive the credit for all that Jesus did perfectly for us as our Savior.) In the meantime, we “test everything” according to the Word of God and seek to “hold fast to what is good” and “abstain from evil.”
Last week, we heard more warnings of judgment for Judah and Jerusalem, in Zephaniah 2:1-3, though there are words of hope for humble people who seek the Lord and His righteousness, as the Lord led King Josiah to do, for a while. Then, the focus turns to judgment against the Philistines and their four major cities, including Gaza, as enemies of God’s people. They would be destroyed, and in the future, there is another word of hope for God’s people, as their land along the coast of the Great Sea would become pasture land for “the remnant of Judah.” Again, the focus changes to judgment for other perpetual enemies of Israel: the Moabites and Ammonites to the East. Their nations will also fall, and their “gods” are not real and are of no help.
We begin, then, with Zephaniah 2:12, with one verse predicting the fall of the Cushites, far to the South of Israel. Cush is the name for the area that is now called Ethiopia. Ethiopia was associated with Egypt and with the powerful city of Thebes - but much of this area fell to Assyrian armies in 663 BC.
The Assyrians seemed invincible and so powerful, with their capital city of Nineveh, far to the north of Jerusalem. If you remember the Book of Jonah, the leaders and people of Nineveh had listened to the message of the prophet Jonah, earlier, and were led to repent and pay attention to the One True God for a time, though Jonah was very unhappy about that. That allowed them to survive longer, though they later rejected the Lord and went right back to their evil ways and false gods. Now God raised up Zephaniah to predict the judgment and fall of Nineveh and the whole Assyrian empire, too. They had become such a cruel and hateful nation that most everyone was against them.
Meanwhile, the Babylonians had become stronger and, together with the Medes, were able to defeat the Assyrian armies and captured and totally destroyed the city of Nineveh in 612 BC. (Zephaniah 2:13-15) The city became a wasteland and disappeared for many centuries. The description of it as a place only for birds and wild animals was true. It had been an “exultant city that lived securely” (2:15). The mention of “capitals” refers to the tops of columns of abandoned and destroyed temples and palaces. The mention of “cedar work” was an indication of great wealth and luxury (2:14). See what the Lord says about this in Judah, through the prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 22:13-17. Some of the ruins of the city were rediscovered in the mid-1800s. Around it is now the city known as Mosul, in Iraq, where there has been much fighting with ISIS forces in recent times.
The most serious problem with ancient Nineveh, of course, was its false gods and pride in itself, as if it were a god. God Himself had said twice in Isaiah 45:5-6, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Already in Exodus 3:13-14, God was saying that His name was “I am Who I am,” and “I am” has sent me to you. Jesus, as the Son of God, said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), and used the “I am” sayings about Himself. But here, the king of Babylon was saying, in effect, in Isaiah 14:13-14, “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; … I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” And the Ninevites leaders were saying, “I am, and there is no one else.” In these cases, commentator Walter Roehrs says this is “the political form of man’s primal sin, the desire to be like God” (Genesis 3:5, 22).
Powerful nations can be like that, thinking that they are god-like. As Zephaniah, Chapter 3 begins, God switches back to His own city of Jerusalem, which He also calls “rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city.” The people “listen to no voice” but their own. “They accept no correction,” even from God. They “do not trust in the Lord” and “do not draw near to their God” (Zephaniah 3:1-2). “Their officials” are like “roaring lions,” and “their judges are like evening wolves.” They devour everything of others and leave nothing for the next day (3:3). Even the prophets “are fickle, treacherous men,” and the “priests profane what is holy and do violence to the Law" (3:4). “The Lord is just and righteous,” but “the unjust know no shame” in what they are doing (3:5). King Josiah tried to make many reforms, but they were not continuing, and too many people were slipping back into their evil patterns. Judgment is coming for all this.
In 3:6-8, then, the Lord says again that this coming judgment on Judah and Jerusalem is a pattern for judgment that is coming for all nations in the last days. “Surely people “will accept correction” and “fear Me,” says the Lord, “but all the more they are eager to make all their deeds corrupt” (3:7). Judgment comes, and “cities are desolate and laid waste, without inhabitants,” and no one pays attention (3:6). Therefore, “wait for Me,” says the Lord, for I will “gather nations and kingdoms” and “seize the prey” and “all the earth shall be consumed.” This is a picture given in the New Testament, too, for the last day, the Day of Judgment. Think of some of the Scripture readings we have heard in the last weeks of the old church year and even in Advent. Judgment is coming for unbelievers, for all those rejecting the Lord and not trusting in Him through Jesus our Savior (Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Peter 3:8-13, etc.).
But finally, beginning in 3:9, we hear words of promise that the Lord can turn things around for His people, “humble and lowly.” We will focus on these words of hope, in the final portion of God’s message through Zephaniah, next week.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Advent, based on:
Isaiah 40:11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
Sermon originally delivered December 9, 2023
Repentant Joy
Let us pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.” Amen (Psalm 19:14).
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel, read just a few minutes ago. You are welcome to follow along with it as printed in your bulletin.
We are now in the Advent season, and if you are an old-timer, like me, you might remember how things used to be.
- The color of Advent was purple, the same somber color we use in the Lenten season when we think of the suffering and death of Jesus for our sins.
- We omitted parts of the worship that were more joyous, as we still do, but we were especially to avoid any Alleluias until Christmas Eve.
- I was taught to avoid, also, singing any Christmas hymns in worship until we actually reached Christmas Eve itself.
Things change, don’t they? We value tradition, as Lutherans, as they keep pointing us to the Scriptures and to Christ, but there is no Scripture that says we must do Advent in only one way.
The blue color we now use is beautiful, and it reminds us of looking up at a blue sky on a beautiful day and thinking of the eternal joy that Jesus came to bring to us, as He was born in Bethlehem, as our Savior - and the joy that He will bring us when He comes back from the sky, with some clouds, on the last day, to bring us everlasting joy in heaven.
It is what Mark says in the first verse of our Gospel lesson. The Advent season is “the beginning of the Gospel - the Good News - of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” who came for us, to bring us hope and joy.
We can’t avoid our culture, either, with Christmas songs, many of them secular, beginning long before December, and many Christmas movies on competing TV channels already beginning in mid-October. And much of this “Christmas” emphasis stops right after Christmas, when we are just beginning our Christian Christmas celebration and the singing of Christmas hymns, through Epiphany, January 6.
What we don’t want to miss out on, though, in all these changes, is another important part of the Advent message - that the only reason Jesus had to come was because of our own sins and the many sins of our very troubled world.
Mark quotes in our text for tonight from the Old Testament prophet, Malachi, and then from the prophet, Isaiah. God said through Malachi that He would send a messenger before Jesus, who would prepare the way for Jesus. Isaiah predicted, in our Old Testament lesson for today, that this messenger would be “a voice, crying in the wilderness and calling people to receive “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins.”
Mark clearly identifies John the Baptist as this messenger, this voice, preparing the way for the Lord. Mark also indicates that many people from Jerusalem and Judea went out to see and hear John and were baptized by Him, confessing their sins.
Some, if they knew their Old Testament, would realize that John was wearing the same hairy clothes and a belt of leather that the great prophet Elijah wore (2 Kings 1:8) - and that there had been predictions that Elijah would come, turning hearts of people, before the Promised Savior came (Malachi 4:5-6). Jesus Himself identified John as the one coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, as did an angel earlier (Luke 1:16-17, Matthew 11:11-14).
And yet John was always pointing beyond himself, as our text says, to Jesus as the Mightier One. In fact, John says that even as a prophet of God, he was not worthy enough even to stoop down and untie the sandals of Jesus. Among the Jews, a servant could be asked to do almost anything his master wanted, except for undoing his master’s shoes, some rabbis taught. Only the lowliest of slaves could be expected to do that. In comparison with Jesus, John was putting himself even lower than the lowliest of slaves.
John could baptize with water. But only Jesus was the Christ, the One anointed by God to be the Savior of the world and to do the work necessary to forgive our sins, by His perfect life and His suffering and death on the cross and His mighty resurrection. Only Jesus was the Son of God, as well as a man, sent from His Heavenly Father, and able to baptize not just with water, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.
And think now about the call to repentance from John and, later on, from Jesus Himself, and how well people do with that. To repent means not only to be sorry for our sins and confess them; its root meaning is “to turn,” to turn away from our sins and to the Lord and His will for us.
Some churches say that we must make that turn on our own, as an act of our own will, and only when we have made that decision, will God pay attention to us. Many others have found, though, that they can’t make that turn on their own. No one can, the Bible says.
If you have ever read about groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and other such “Anonymous” groups, you know that their first two principles are:
- “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol” (or whatever our problem was) and
- "We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us.”
AA gets off track in other ways, because they don’t speak clearly of the Biblical fact that only the One True Triune God can restore us. Our God is the only real Higher Power, as God the Father sent Jesus, God the Son, born in Bethlehem to rescue and forgive and restore us, and bring us to faith through God the Holy Spirit, whom He and the Father sent.
Martin Luther discovered that, through the Scriptures, after he had struggled and struggled in his own power and life to be a good Christian, and couldn’t do it, in His own power. Luther finally wrote, in his Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel (that Good News Mark speaks about in our text) and enlightened me with His gifts, and sanctified and kept me in the true faith” (Explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed).
On Pentecost, Peter preached the Good News of Jesus as Savior, and then said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit;” and 3,000 people were brought to faith. The whole package, from repenting and confessing and turning to Jesus, was the promise and the gift of God through His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39).
There’s an Old Testament prayer in Lamentations 5:20 that literally says, “Turn us unto You, O Lord; and we shall be turned; renew our days.” God turns us, through Christ and through the Holy Spirit, to Himself in the gift of faith.
And even repentance is a gift of God that God enables in us. When the early Christians preached the Gospel to fellow Jews, they said in Acts 5:31, “God exalted Jesus at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” And as the Gospel was spread to non-Jews, the believers in Acts 11:18 “glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also,” (even to non-Jews) God has given repentance that leads to life.” Martin Luther said, in His 95 Theses, at the beginning of the Reformation that “the whole life of a Christian is one of (that kind of) repentance” as a gift of God.
We have a confession of sins in every Communion service in our church. But sometimes we just rattle through the words and forget what a great privilege it is to think and talk honestly about our sins and our struggle to do right, and that our Lord still cares about us and forgives us and is the one who can turn our lives more toward Him and His will, through His power.
And later in our service, we remember our baptism, when many of us were brought to the Christian faith through the Spirit’s gift of new life for us, and as our liturgy says, “With repentant joy,” we come to the Lord’s Supper and “receive again the salvation accomplished for us,” as a gift, “by the all-availing sacrifice of Christ’s Body and Blood on the cross.” Receiving such gifts is truly Advent “repentant joy” in our Lord.
Please rise for prayer: “Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen (Philippians 4:7).
The Scriptures this week continue the Advent theme of Christ’s coming to be our Savior, bringing forgiveness of sins, and His coming again on the last day.
The Psalm is Psalm 85. The psalmists, sons of Korah, knew that God had shown mercy to His people and forgiven their sins in the past. Now, in a difficult time, they pray that the Lord will again “revive” and “restore” His people with “His steadfast love” and “salvation.” The psalmists remind the people “not to turn back to folly,” but to “fear” and trust the Lord and His “faithfulness and righteousness” brought to them.
In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 40:1-11, Isaiah speaks of God’s “comfort” and “good news” that would come to His people. “In the wilderness the way shall be prepared” by “a voice” for “the glory of the Lord” and “the Word of the Lord” coming. “The Lord God Himself will come” to “the cities of Judah,” like “a Shepherd tending His flock and caring for His lambs.” Jesus is, of course, that Good Shepherd.
The Gospel lesson is Mark 1:1-8. Mark announces “the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” “His way is being prepared” by John the Baptist, who is the fulfillment of prophecy quoted from Malachi and Isaiah. John preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin,” but made it clear that Someone much greater was coming, (our Lord Jesus) who would bring baptism with water and “the Holy Spirit.”
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Peter 3:8-14, another reminder of Christ’s second coming on the last day. He is not “slow” about His return, but works with a different sense of time, and is patiently wishing that more people “should reach repentance” and faith in Him. Peter encourages all believers to seek to live in “holiness and godliness,” as we “wait for and hasten” the day of Christ’s return.
Last week, we heard very strong language of judgment in Chapter 1 of Zephaniah for God’s people of Judah and Jerusalem, because of their sin and rebellion against their Lord. Days of “darkness and gloom” were coming, which did happen during the Babylonian captivity (Zephaniah 1:4-16). This judgment was a prelude and picture of ultimate judgment on the last day for all “blind, sinful” unbelievers and the “consuming” and passing away of heaven and earth as we know it (Zephaniah 1:17-18).
As Zephaniah Chapter 2 begins, the “shameless nation” of Judah is called to gather together before “the day of the burning anger of the Lord comes” and they pass away “like chaff” (2:1-2). They are called upon to “seek the Lord” in humility, being humble ones of the land, who “seek righteousness” and seek to “do the Lord’s just commands.”
Maybe He will keep them “hidden on the day of His anger” (2:3). (Remember how King Josiah did repent and return to His Lord and sought to make reforms and was spared much trouble for a time, for himself and Judah.)
Then, the Lord directed His attention to four of the five main cities of the Philistine enemies of Judah. The fifth, Gath, had already been defeated earlier. (See 2 Chronicles 26:6.) These cities are listed in Zephaniah 2:4 - Gaza (the same area that we hear so much about today), Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron. (If you have an ESV Bible, you can find these cities on one of the colored maps at the beginning of the book. They are in the Southwest of the Land of Judah, along the coast of the Great Sea, the Mediterranean.) The words in 2:4 indicate that they would all be destroyed. Ashdod, for example, would be defeated at “noon,” in broad daylight, an unusual time for an attack, and Ekron would be totally uprooted, with nothing left there. The Philistines had been perpetual enemies of God’s people, even from the days when the land was still called Canaan. These people are also called Cherethites (Cretans) because many of them had originally come from the island of Crete (2:5). They had often attacked Israel and often led Israelites to worship their false gods and do evil in the eyes of the Lord. (Goliath was the Philistine giant that David defeated with a slingshot, long before, in 1 Samuel 17.)
Now, though, some words of hope come for God’s people in Zephaniah 2:6-7. This seacoast area would become pasture land for shepherds of “the remnant of the house of Judah.” “For the Lord their God would be mindful of them and restore their future.” See the prophecy also in Isaiah 37:31-32 for the “remnant” of Judah and Jerusalem. This would not happen until much later, after the Babylonian captivity, but those who were humbled before the Lord (Zephaniah 2:3) and trusted Him would receive the land again.
The prophetic words of God through Zephaniah then move from the southwest of Judah to the East, where more continual enemies of Israel were, the people of Moab and Ammon (Zephaniah 2:8-11). The Moabites and Ammonites had often made trouble for God’s people and “taunted” and “reviled” them and sought to lead them astray, away from the One True God (Zephaniah 2:8,10). We also heard, for example, of people of Judah who worshiped the Lord but also worshiped Milcom, an Ammonite god, in Zephaniah 1:5, and were in big trouble with the Lord. On the other hand, Ruth was a Moabite woman who came to follow and believe in the Lord, married Boaz, and became an ancestor of King David and of Jesus Himself. And Jesus died and rose again to be the Savior of all people, not just His own Jewish people, of course. At this point, though, because of their opposition to God’s faithful people, the Moabite and Ammonite lands would become “like Sodom and Gomorrah’ and their people defeated (2:9).
These people who worshiped false gods would offer food to their gods to feed them. Since their worshipers would be defeated and gone, the Lord makes fun of these gods and says that they will become “famished” and starve (2:11). This is prophetic of the end of this age when everyone will have to realize and admit that there is only the One True Triune God and that no other gods were ever real (Philippians 2:9-11).
I will stop here for this week. Next week, we will see more condemnations and trouble for other nations, warnings again for Judah and Jerusalem, and finally, more words of great hope in the coming Savior. The Lord’s continued blessings, as you keep searching the Scriptures.
Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Advent, based on:
Isaiah 64:1-9
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37
Sermon originally delivered November 27, 2011
The Advent season and a whole new Church Year begin this Sunday, using readings from Series B in the three year series of readings. The word “Advent” is from a Latin word meaning “to come to,” and we focus primarily on preparations for Christmas and the birth of Jesus, God the Son who became man for us to be our Savior, born in Bethlehem. Advent can also emphasize other “comings” of Jesus, as we will see in the readings for this week.
Advent used to be a more “penitential” season, as we also thought more about our sins and repented for them and remembered how they were the real reason that brought Jesus into this world, to be our suffering Servant and Savior and paying the penalty for our sins, for our sake. The color of the season was purple, like in the Lenten season, and we sang no “Alleluias” until Christmas when Jesus was born. In more recent times, the Advent color is blue in many churches, and we sing joyous Christmas carols much sooner.
We still see the call to repentance and God’s forgiveness in Christ in some of our Advent readings, though. In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 64:1-9, Isaiah wishes that the Lord would “rend (rip open) the heavens and come down,” as He had done with “fire” and “quaking” at Mt. Sinai long before. Isaiah admits that God’s chosen people had been living in sins for “a long time,” with “polluted garments” and “not calling in God’s Name” as they should. He prays that the Lord would not “remember their sins forever,” but “look upon them” with mercy.
The Psalmist Asaph has a similar plea for the Lord’s help in Psalm 80:1-7, asking twice: “Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved.” His people had suffered much, with “tears to drink in full measure” because of their sins, and their “enemies laughed” at them. He asks God to “give ear,” to hear and “stir up His might and come to save them.”
God did send His Son, Jesus, of course, and there are two choices for a Gospel lesson, both from Mark, from which most Gospel readings this church year will be. Mark 11:1-10 tells of the “coming” of Jesus into Jerusalem, with people putting down palm branches in honor of Him and saying that He came “in the Name of the Lord” and connecting Him with the Kingdom of His ancestor, David. Jesus is a King, but He comes riding on a lowly donkey to suffer and die for the sins of His people and the whole world, later that week. The alternate Gospel, Mark 13:24-37, tells of another “coming” of Jesus, as He returns to the earth on the last day, when “heaven and earth will pass away,” but God’s “elect,” believers in Him, will be gathered up to everlasting life. No one on earth knows when that day will come, and Jesus calls us to “stay awake” in faith, trusting in Him and His saving work for us.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 1:3-9. Paul gives thanks that “the grace (and peace) of God in Christ Jesus “ had come to many in Corinth. (This is another way that Christ comes, as He has come to us and brought us the “gift” of faith in Him through His Word, “the testimony about Him,” and the “gifts” of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.) Paul also speaks of the coming of Christ on the last day, “the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “God is faithful” and will “sustain us to the end,” and we will be counted “guiltless” on Judgment Day, through what Christ has done for us.
Last week, we started into the section of Zephaniah 1:4-13, where the Lord said that He would bring judgment against the Southern Kingdom, the Land of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem that remained in Israel. This would happen because many of the people had “turned back from following the Lord” and were following false gods or just not seeking the Lord and His will (Zephaniah 1:4-6).
In 1:7, Zephaniah tells His people to “be silent” before the Lord because “the day of the Lord is near” for them. He describes it as “a sacrifice being prepared,” but in this case, it is not a sacrifice of animals, but a “sacrifice” of many of God’s own people. The “guests” invited to participate and make the sacrifice are another nation, the rising, powerful people of Babylon. This is a very unusual description, because in the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were the means by which atonement was made for the souls of God’s people, and they were forgiven. (See Leviticus 17:11. These sacrifices were a preparation for the “once-for-all” sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to pay for and forgive the sin of the world. See Hebrews 10:5-10.) In this case, though, the picture of a sacrifice is the opposite, the execution of God’s judgment against His own people. Foreign powers will be employed by God to punish His people.
In Zephaniah 1:9, the Lord says He will punish the officials and even sons of the king, who loved “foreign clothing” and apparently, the evil ways of these foreign nations, too. (This did not include Josiah, who was just a young child at this time, with little real responsibility as King.) Also to be punished was “everyone who leaps over the threshold.” This may be a reference again to pagan practices with worship of false gods. (See the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5:1-5 as an example.) This might also be a reference to people in Judah who would break into the homes of others through the threshold and steal and take things in a fraudulent way and by violence. (We hear many stories about people today, too, in high crime areas, breaking into businesses and homes, with violence and theft and great harm. Squatters take over homes and property, too.) Punishment will come to such people.
In Zephaniah 1:12, we hear of people who are “complacent” about what is going on and say to themselves, "God does not care about us. He is doing nothing. He will not do good, nor will He do ill about anything going on. Why should we care about Him and what He says and wants?" They go their own way, against the Lord and His will. But eventually, punishment will come. (The image of the Lord “searching Jerusalem with lamps” is a way of saying that nothing can be hidden from Him. He knows the evil, as well as the good. See the story Jesus tells of the woman who searches with a lamp until she finds her lost coin in Luke 15:8-10. In this case, there is also hope, for one who is lost in evil can be found. We will see more of this hope next week.)
For Judah and Jerusalem, though, there will be cries and wails and loud crashes from various places in Jerusalem (Zephaniah 1:10). Enemies will come against the cities of Judah and even against Jerusalem with its “fortifications and lofty battlements“ (Zephaniah 1:16). Trade will stop (1:11). “Goods will be plundered and houses laid waste. People will no longer be able to “inhabit houses they have built” or “drink the fruit of their vineyards” (1:13).
This is all a prophecy from the Lord, through Zephaniah, of what would come eventually, as the Lord used the Babylonian armies to conquer Judah and Jerusalem and carry many of their people away into captivity in Babylon because of their sin and rebellion. Zephaniah piles up the words about how terrible this “great day of the Lord’s judgment” will be. It is “near and hastening fast.” Even mighty men will “cry out” in agony (1:14). It is described as “a day of wrath,” a “bitter day,” with “distress and anguish, ruin and devastation, darkness and gloom, clouds and thick darkness” (1:14-1:15).
God goes on to say through Zephaniah again that the kind of judgment and wrath coming upon Judah and Jerusalem is a warning of such judgment upon the whole unbelieving world at the end “because they have sinned against the Lord." This will be “distress on mankind” (1:17). “Silver and gold” or anything else they have will not “be able to deliver them.” “All the earth shall be consumed” and there will be “a full and sudden end” for “all inhabitants of the earth” who are without faith in the Lord and His forgiveness (1:17-18).
That warning continues into the New Testament. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus said (Mark 13:31). In His description of Judgment Day, Jesus warned that unbelievers “will go away into eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:41,46). But Jesus also said, “My Words will not pass away.” He has words of hope, that people can be changed and brought to repentance and trust in Him and escape that ultimate day of wrath. We will finally begin to hear more about that in Chapter 2 and especially in Chapter 3 of Zephaniah. (You can also hear that Good News in my sermon from 11/26/23 (you can listen or read it here: https://lutheransermons.podbean.com/e/new-sermon-for-the-last-sunday-of-the-church-year-november-26-2023), reflecting on the Day of Judgment for believers: “Come, Blessed Ones, Inherit the Kingdom.”)
NEW Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year
“Come, Blessed Ones, Inherit the Kingdom”
Matthew 25:31-46
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson, read just a few moments ago. You are welcome to look at it, together with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.
This is the last Sunday of the Church Year, and it’s not a surprise that our focus would again be on last things and the end of the world and being ready for that day that is often called Judgment Day. But have you ever asked yourself why Jesus would spend so much time talking about the end just a few days before His own suffering and death and resurrection?
If you look in your Bibles, you will find that in Matthew 24, Jesus talks about signs of the end and the certainty of His return, even though no one knows exactly the day or the hour, and therefore the need is there for us to be ready continually. Then in Matthew 25, Jesus tells the two parables of the end that we heard the last two weeks and then gives our text about the judgment. In Matthew 26, right after our text, we hear these words: “When Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man (referring to Himself) will be delivered up to be crucified.’” And then, in the last three chapters of Matthew, the focus is upon Jesus and His suffering and death and resurrection for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. He is making it clear that it is through trust in Him alone that we are ready for the last day.
Our enemy, the devil, though, always wants to turn things around and put the focus on us, ourselves, and what we have done. The name “Satan” literally means “the accuser,” our enemy who accuses us. Satan likes to ask us, “Do you really think you are good enough and worthy enough that God will accept you?” And deep down, we know that we are not worthy, on our own.
We hear strong Law Scriptures like Matthew 5:48, which says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” - And we know we are not even close to that. Or we hear a strong Law passage like 2 Corinthians 5:10, which says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one of us may receive what is due for what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Satan can take a Scripture like this one and use it out of context and make us begin to wonder, “What if Jesus remembers and exposes all the bad things I have done and that I regret? What if he nails me for all the things I should have done and did not do in my life? We all have plenty of that, too, don’t we?
Or Satan might try to convince us that we’re just as good as anybody else, and we’ll surely be OK on Judgment Day, especially if we try more and more to do what Jesus said in our Gospel lesson - feed more hungry people and visit more prisons and help more sick people and give away more clothes. Surely all that will earn us God’s favor.
All thinking of Satan is actually the opposite of what Jesus says and does. Jesus tells us about the End Times and His return and judgment, but then points us away from ourselves and to Him alone as our Hope and Savior. At His baptism, Jesus said, “I have come to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). And that is what He did. He lived a perfect life, for us, in our place, as our Substitute.
Christ Jesus also “died for our sins. in accordance with the Scriptures,” Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 15:3). Peter says, “Christ Himself bore our sins in His Body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By His wounds, you have been healed”(1 Peter 2:24). Paul again says, “For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19,21). Our sins really are forgiven and paid for already, in Jesus!
And how many sins are forgiven in Christ? The apostle John says, “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And for whom did Jesus do all this? Paul writes, “There is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). And another Scripture simply says, “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
And how does all that Christ Jesus did for us get to us personally? It comes to us through being brought to faith and trust in Jesus, through God’s Word that reveals Jesus to us, and through His gifts of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the forgiveness that Jesus keeps giving us, as we keep confessing our sins.
We also know the Scriptures: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). And, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). It is Good News for all! And it comes “by the grace of God through Faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Now, apply all this to our Gospel lesson, as we listen to it again: (Matthew 25:31-40). Jesus comes, in His glory, on the last day, and all His angels are with Him, and the souls of all believers who have been already in heaven, as we heard a few weeks ago (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). All the bodies of the dead are raised, and all nations are gathered, and immediately they are separated into sheep and goats, believers and unbelievers.
This is not a long, drawn-out process, because Jesus already knows those who are His own and those who are not. Other Scriptures say that this happens “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51), and Jesus the King simply says to those on His right, the believers, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father.” Eternal life really is a gift, a blessing from God Himself. It is an inheritance - and an “inheritance” is usually something given as a gift to a family member or friend because of some relationship. We, as believers, are now children of our Heavenly Father, through what Jesus has done for us, and we inherit heavenly blessings, as part of a heavenly Kingdom, through Jesus.
And notice the great mercy of Jesus, as he continues to speak and mentions only good things that we, as believers, try to do, in gratefulness for the mercy and love and forgiveness we have seen first and received, in Jesus. Why is nothing of the bad we have done mentioned? Because it is all paid for and forgiven and forgotten in Christ, as we trust in Him.
We don’t do merciful things to earn anything, either, but just to help others and to be a witness to Christ’s mercy to others. The believers are not counting what they have done. In fact, the believers ask, “Lord, when did we do all these things?” And Jesus answers, “When you did these things to the least of these, you have done it unto Me.” These don’t have to be big things, either. How many of us have gotten up in the middle of the night and given a drink to a child or grandchild? Jesus says, “I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.”
Finally, we hear the warning of eternal sorrows coming for unbelievers. Judgment day will be too late for them, but the fact that hell was prepared for the devil and his evil angels is a reminder that no human needed to end up there. Until Christ returns on the last day or until a person dies, there is still time for God’s love and the forgiveness and faith Christ wants to bring, to be brought to others, perhaps through our witness and acts of mercy and care and hope for them, in our Savior, as a means Christ’s Spirit uses.
But for us, in Christ, Judgment Day is a day of great joy. The Scriptures say, “When the Son of Man, Jesus, comes in a cloud with power and great glory… straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is near” (Luke 21:27-28). One commentator, Martin Franzmann, has written, “All that was bad or broken in our lives will then be as if it had never been, and God’s long plan of salvation will be fulfilled. Christ has returned. He will take us to eternal life. He is our hope and glory forever.”
Let us rise for prayer: Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year, based on:
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:31-46
Sermon originally delivered November 20, 2011
On this last Sunday of the Church Year, the Scriptures turn our thoughts again to the last day, Judgment Day, and our confidence in Christ our Savior on that day. In the psalm, Psalm 95:1-7a, we make a “joyful noise “ with “songs of praise” to the Lord. We “kneel” before Him, “our Maker” and “the Rock of our Salvation.” We are “the sheep of His hand.”
In the Old Testament lesson, Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, the Lord God says that He will go into action “as a Shepherd,” “seeking out” and “rescuing” His “lost” and “straying” and “injured” sheep because many religious leaders of this time were not caring for these people, these sheep. He will judge between (His) sheep” and “sheep who push others aside and scatter them.” “He will set up over them one Shepherd,” the “servant Son of David” - a prophecy of Jesus our Good Shepherd and Servant Savior.
The Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, tells of the victory of Christ Jesus over our “enemy," “death,” and “every (evil) authority and power,” through His own servant death and “resurrection” for us. He will come back, and “at His coming,” He will bring with Him, all “those who belong to Him,” by faith in Him as “the Christ,” their Savior. He then “delivers this everlasting Kingdom to God the Father.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus gives us a picture of that last day. He gathers all people and immediately “separates His own sheep,” who have followed and trusted in Him, from “the goats,” who have rejected Him. Jesus already knows His own and can tell them also by fruits of faith in their lives, as they have shown mercy and love to others, in gratefulness that Jesus first loved and showed mercy and rescued them. As other Scriptures say, in “the twinkling of an eye,” as those “blessed by God the Father,” they will “inherit the (everlasting) Kingdom prepared for them” as a gift from Christ. In contrast, those who have rejected Christ and the one way to salvation, through His mercy and saving work, will “go away,” whether they realize it or not, “into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (I am preaching again this Saturday, on this passage. Check the podcast next week for more explanation of this in my sermon.)
Last week, we looked at an introduction to Zephaniah, one of the last of the Old Testament books. Today we will begin to look at his message, as “the Word of the Lord came to him” (Zephaniah 1:1). Zephaniah has some of the strongest predictions of judgment for sin and evil, as “the Day of the Lord” draws near for individuals who are far from the Lord, as well as for Judah and Jerusalem, and for many nations who have opposed the Lord and His will, and for the whole sinful, unbelieving world. There are also words of hope, as the Lord takes away judgments from His humbled people, through His coming and saving work (through Jesus.) Watch for these messages scattered through this short book.
Zephaniah 1:2-3 begins by warning that the Lord will eventually “sweep away everything from the face of the earth, including “mankind,” in the final judgment. These words remind us of what was said at the time of the great flood, where nothing was left but Noah and his family, in the ark. (See Genesis 6:5-7, 6:11-13, and 7:4. “Fire” is connected with the final judgment, though, instead of water, in Zephaniah 1:18. Peter speaks of the same in his prophecy in 2 Peter 3:6-7 and 3:10,12-13, along with “new heavens and a new earth,” the whole new eternal existence that will come for all believers.) Zephaniah will return to mention this final judgment in other places, as we will see.
Zephaniah then speaks of a “day of judgment” coming much sooner for the land of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, in Zephaniah 1:4-13. The Lord says that He will “stretch out His hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Remember that the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already fallen to Assyrian invaders in 722-721 BC because of its wickedness. Now the same would happen to the Southern Kingdom, for the same sorts of reasons. The Lord gives examples, through Zephaniah, of how His chosen people had drifted far away from His will, especially with the worship of false gods. Manasseh and his son, previous kings of Judah, had made worship of the Canaanite fertility god, Baal, very popular (Zephaniah 1:4), and there were many priests of this false god still around in Judah and Jerusalem. There were also those who worshiped the sun, moon, and star gods introduced by the Assyrians, who were now very near and influential. These were “priests, those who bow down on their roofs to the host of the heavens” (Zephaniah 1:5). There were also those “bowed down and swore to the Lord,” but who also “swore by Milcom,” a god of the Ammonites (Zephaniah 1:5). (See also 2 Kings 21:1-9, for a dramatic description of how bad it was under King Manasseh.)
How different and opposite this was from the Lord’s First Commandment and its explanation. “I am the Lord your God… You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…” (Deuteronomy 5:6-9). Also in trouble, of course, are any who “have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of Him,” who are atheists (who believe there is no god) or agnostics (who are not sure if there is a god or not and so ignore Him) or just don’t have time for the Lord (Zephaniah 1:6).
Dr. Franzmann, in a commentary, also reminds us of the importance of continuing to “inquire of the Lord.” He points to King Josiah, who reigned during the time that Zephaniah was a prophet. When Josiah was 26, he had the temple in Jerusalem repaired, and “the Book of the Law,” which had been lost and forgotten, was found there. Josiah heard some of what that book of Scripture said and was shocked at how much was wrong in Judah. He knew the need to “inquire of the Lord” about all this, asked the help of Hilkiah the priest, and listened to prophetic messages and the Scriptures. As a result, the Lord led him to repent for his sins and the sins of his people. He made many reforms and rid the land of many false gods; and it was said of him that “there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might.” He was not perfect, but trusted the Lord and was spared from terrible times to come, much of his life. (You can read about this in 2 Kings 22-23:25.) Things went downhill again soon after his time, though; and what Zephaniah predicted did happen in 587-586 BC, when Judah was totally conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem was destroyed. It was a day of the Lord’s judgment for them.
The Lord had also said earlier through the prophet Isaiah, “When (people) say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and necromancers,'"( those who try to consult the dead and try to get other supernatural messages) “should a people not inquire of their God?… To the teaching and the testimony! If they will not speak according to this Word (of the Lord), it is because they have no dawn” - they are living in “distress and thick darkness” (Isaiah 8:19-22).
How do we “inquire of the Lord” today? We certainly pray, but especially we also listen to the Word of God, the Scriptures, which come from the prophets and apostles, inspired by God. We can do that by reading our Bibles and listening to the Word in worship and Bible studies. We don’t have “priests,” but we do have pastors and teachers and others who can help us understand the Word better and help us avoid false teachers. We can ask questions, too, and seek better understanding. (See the warning God gives through the prophet Malachi, in his day, to some priests: “The lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your teaching” (Malachi 2:7-9).)
I will stop here, and we’ll continue next week, as we hear more warnings about what is predicted for Judah and Jerusalem and other nations and the whole world. Obviously, God had not totally given up on people, as He was still sending prophets like Zephaniah to wake people up, as he did with Josiah.
Sermon for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Zephaniah 1:7-16
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 22:14-30
Sermon originally delivered November 13, 2011
The Scripture readings this week are heavy with the Law, warning of the coming judgment of God upon individuals and Israel and eventually upon the whole earth because of sin and rebellion against God by so many. There is still hope in the Lord, through Christ, for those brought to be faithful servants, trusting the Lord.
The Psalm is Psalm 90:1-12, a prayer of Moses, recognizing that God was to be the “dwelling place” of people; yet because of “our sins and iniquities,” we are under the anger and wrath of God, with much “toil and trouble” and a limited life. Moses prays that we may be “taught” to “number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom,” and right after our reading, prays that God would “satisfy us with His steadfast love” and “make us glad,” even in times of “affliction” (v.14-15).
The Old Testament lesson is from “the Word of the Lord” given to the prophet Zephaniah in Zephaniah 1:7-16. The people of Judah and Jerusalem are to be silent because a day of wrath is coming to people who are “complacent,” following the practices of false gods and saying, “The Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.” Therefore, “a day of clouds and thick darkness” will come upon them - and eventually, “the great day of the Lord’s “ruin and devastation” and “distress on mankind” because they have sinned against the Lord.” (Hope in the Lord does come, but not until about the middle of Zephaniah 3:9ff.)
The Gospel lesson is another of the parables of Jesus, told during Holy Week, just a few days before His suffering and death. Jesus tells of a Master entrusting His money to His servants to take care of while He is away, giving to each according to his ability. When He returned, a servant given five talents of money had earned five more, and a servant with two talents had earned two more. Each is called a “faithful servant” and “enters into the joy of his Master.” One servant, however, sees his master as a hard man and is afraid and hides his talent of money and earns nothing. Only he is in trouble, being “wicked and slothful.” That “worthless” servant, who does not trust his Master, is cast into “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” - one of the Biblical descriptions of hell.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. Paul also speaks of “the day of the Lord” as coming “like a thief in the night,” at an unexpected time, bringing “sudden destruction” upon those unprepared. God’s people are in the “light of Christ,” though, and are not “destined for wrath,” but will “obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.” We will live with Him always,” even if we die, as we stay awake, spiritually, with the Lord’s gifts of “faith and love and hope.” We can “encourage and build up one another” with this amazing hope in Christ.
One of our Scripture readings for this coming Sunday is from the book of the prophet Zephaniah, from the Old Testament. (See the “Preparing for Worship” for this week to see how this reading fits in with the other readings for November 19, 2023.) I don’t think that I have presented a study on Zephaniah for a long time and so decided to make this our new study. I will mainly focus on an introduction to Zephaniah today.
Zephaniah is one of the “Minor Prophets” found near the end of the Old Testament. They are called “minor” only in the sense that they are shorter prophetic books than much longer books like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Zephaniah has only three chapters, yet it is equally and entirely “the Word of the Lord,” just as the rest of the Old and New Testament writings are.
We know nothing about Zephaniah, other than what is told us in his book. Zephaniah 1:1 tells us that the Lord revealed His Word to him during the reign of Josiah as King of Judah. Josiah ruled from 640-609 BC, after the terrible reign of Manasseh from 687-642 BC, and his son, Amon, for two more years. Manasseh is considered the worst of the kings of Judah, pushing idolatry, injustice, and cruelty. “He shed very much innocent blood,” and led the people into much sin (2 Kings 21:16).
Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king, when the evil influence of Manasseh was still very great. It was likely during these early years that Zephaniah did much of his prophecy and writing, condemning the wrongdoing in Judah and other nations. It was not until the 18th year of Josiah’s reign that “the Book of the Law” was found in the temple, having been lost and ignored for many years. Josiah was shocked at what he heard and began to introduce many reforms in Judah, calling people back to the One True God, as Zephaniah did. The strong warnings of Zephaniah, along with the prophecy of Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Nahum, would have been very helpful to him.
The genealogy of Zephaniah is long, including a reference that might be to Hezekiah, an earlier king, and to Cushi, normally an Ethiopian or Nubian name. That means that Zephaniah may have had both some royal and foreign blood in him, though we do not know for sure. Scholars even argue over what Zephaniah’s name means, “The Lord (Yahweh) has hidden” or “treasured” or “cherished,” etc. All this about Zephaniah is not so important, though. As Dr. Franzmann says, “The divine message is more important than the messenger; Zephaniah lives in history and is significant to us because the Word of the Lord came to him” (Zephaniah 1:1). Next week, we will get into what that Word was. The Lord’s blessings.
Sermon for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Amos 5:18–24
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1–13
Sermon originally delivered November 11, 2023
We Will Always Be with the Lord
We are now in the last three weeks of this church year, and the Scriptures turn our thoughts to times of the end of the world and the return of Christ on the Last Day.
Paul was inspired by God to write the words of our text because there was confusion and uncertainty among some about what would happen. Some seemed to think that Jesus was coming back very quickly, within their own lifetime. But now, some of their loved ones, who were believers, were beginning to die. What would happen to them? Would they be OK, even though Jesus hadn’t yet returned?
Paul writes, “We do not want you to be uninformed (to not know), brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul uses the term “sleep” here, referring to “death.” That does not mean sleep as we know it, though. We can’t explain how all this works, but other Scriptures describe death as the separation of the body and the soul, or spirit, of a person. An Old Testament passage says, “The body goes to the ground, but the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Paul described death as “departing and being with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
Jesus Himself said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also” (John 14:3). We also heard last week of John’s vision of countless believers, saints, already in heaven, enjoying its blessings, with Christ, the Lamb of God. The spirits of our loved ones who have died are clearly already in heaven, with its blessings.
We grieve at the death of loved ones because of our being separated from them and the pain that brings to us, but we do not sorrow as others do who have no hope. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “the ones who have no hope” are those who lived and died, “separated from Christ” and are “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
As Paul goes on to say in our text, we have absolute confidence about our loved ones and ourselves, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again” for us (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and to forgive us for all our sins and failures that would otherwise separate us from God.
And, Paul says, Jesus also “rose again” from the dead, in a bodily way. The grave was empty on Easter morning. Not only the spirit of Jesus was alive, but His body, too - and His body was raised and changed and glorified, and He ascended bodily into heaven to prepare a place for us.
And since Jesus is God the Son, along with being a true man, to do His saving work, He is also able to be with us in this life and give us what we need to sustain us as His people. Paul put it this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10, not long after the words of our text: We have “the breastplate of faith and love” as a gift from the Lord, “and for a helmet, the hope of salvation” - the certainty of our eternal future. “For,” Paul writes,” God has not destined us for wrath (though we do deserve it because of our sins) but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.”
The souls of our loved ones are already enjoying the blessings of heaven, and we, still alive on earth, have Christ with us, too, through His Word and Baptism and the amazing gift of His Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper. We are all united in our Savior’s love.
What happens then on the last day, with the return of Christ? Look again at our text. Paul writes, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The souls of all those who have died in Christ and have been in heaven will now come along with Jesus. As Paul said earlier in this same letter - this will be “the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Why do they need to come along, too?
Paul writes, in our text, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” This will be the day of the resurrection of the bodies of all believers! Their bodies and souls will then be reunited.
But what happens to believers who are still alive at the return of Christ? Paul answers that question, too, in our text. He says, “For this we declare to you by a Word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede (go ahead of) those who have fallen asleep… The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). If we are still alive when Jesus returns, we won’t have to die. We will simply be raised and changed to our heavenly body and soul.
This is what was described by Paul also in 1 Corinthians 15:51: “Behold! I tell you a mystery... we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” God will do all this for us, in the twinkling of an eye. And Paul then ends our text with the statement, “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
We need that encouragement always, don’t we? We live in such a troubled world, and we face lots of challenges and difficulties and even death itself, with the loss of family or friends and our own illnesses. Sometimes we have doubts and questions that we struggle with, and we hear people's voices and ideas that are very different from what you just heard from Paul.
As I was beginning to work on this sermon, a few weeks ago, I saw a list of best-selling books in our local newspaper. #7 on that list was a book called The Great Disappearance: 31 Ways to be Rapture Ready, by a fairly famous preacher, in some circles. I listened to a sermon of his on the internet to see what he really said, based on the same Scripture text we just looked at. He says that this is not about the second coming of Christ at the end, but about a “secret rapture” when all Christians on earth will suddenly disappear, to escape seven years of great trouble on earth (even though Jesus said that we would have tribulation in this world in John 16:33 and Revelation 9:14). This preacher also says that our loved ones who died have never yet been in heaven, but are sleeping in a sort of hotel of the resurrection and won’t be awakened until this “rapture” happens. He even predicts that he will still be alive when this “secret rapture” happens, very soon.
I don’t have time to go on and on with this, but watch out for misleading ideas about a rapture and talk about several comings of Christ in the future and a millennial kingdom when Christ comes back to reign on earth in Jerusalem, etc. Ignore such talk and just trust simple, straightforward Scriptures like the one we just looked at, with a focus on Christ as our Hope and Savior and His one return on the last day.
We say with Paul, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Let us rise for prayer. “Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds safe (only where they can be safe) in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Philippians 4:7). Amen.
We are now in the last three weeks of the Church Year. There is a lot of focus on the “end times” and the return of Christ. We see that already in our readings for this Sunday.
The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 5:18-24. Amos warns the people of Israel that “the day of the Lord” could be a day of judgment and “darkness and gloom,” if they are just going through the motions of worship and offerings and actually are following false gods and false ways. Amos calls them back to God’s ways of “justice “ and the “righteousness” that comes only from Him and trusting His mercy and truth and forgiveness, ultimately in Christ Jesus.
The Psalm is Psalm 70. David’s life is in danger from his enemies. He prays that the Lord would “make haste” (hurry) to “deliver and help” him. He is confident that the One True God is “great,” and he “loves” and trusts His “salvation” through the Lord, even though he is “poor and needy” as he writes this psalm. All can “rejoice and be glad” in the Lord and His mercy for them.
The Gospel lesson is a parable of Jesus from Matthew 25:1-13. Ten virgins were assigned to wait for the coming of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, at an unknown time. Five were foolish and unprepared, without enough oil for their lamps. Five brought extra oil with them and were prepared and welcomed the Bridegroom. They went into the marriage feast, but the door was then shut, and it was too late for others to be allowed in. The fact that Jesus says to those left outside, “I do not know you,” indicates that they did not have the saving gift of faith in Jesus. Jesus calls His followers, then, to watch and wait for His return with confident faith and trust in Him and to keep listening to His voice, in His Word. (Jesus said, in John 10, “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name… The sheep follow Him, for they know His voice" (v.3-4)... "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know Me" (v.14).
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul speaks about those who have already “fallen asleep” (died) in faith before Jesus returns on the last day. Do we still have hope for them and their eternal future, too? Absolutely, says Paul, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” for the salvation of all believers. When believers die, their souls, their spirits, depart and are with Christ in heaven (Philippians 1:21,23). Their bodies return to the ground. When Jesus returns, “God will bring with Him the souls of those who have fallen asleep” (died) in faith. Their bodies will be raised first and changed and glorified and reunited with their souls. Then, the believers who are still alive on earth at that time will be “caught up together with them” and changed and glorified, and we will always be with the Lord in eternal life. This is a message of great encouragement and hope for and about all believers, past, present, and future.
Our future is secure in Christ. And until Jesus returns, on that last day of this existence, there is still time for more people to be brought to faith in Jesus. As Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Last week, we heard words of “reproof and discipline” from Jesus to the church at Laodicea. He speaks this way because He loves the people there and wants them to stop being “lukewarm” believers and return to Him as “repentant” and “zealous” believers. That is His wish for us all.
Jesus follows up with a famous, often quoted portion of God’s Word, Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and He with me.” This is a passage often used by CRU (Campus Crusade) and many other churches and groups to call people to make a decision for Christ. This passage is often used with a picture of Jesus outside, knocking on a door that has no doorknob on the outside. It can only be opened from the inside, when a person makes a choice, as an act of his own will, to follow Jesus, as the true beginning of his life as a Christian. In other words, we must make the first move toward Christ, and some would say we cannot be saved without being able to identify our “moment of decision” and opening the door for Christ.
Using this passage this way takes this passage totally out of its context and creates other problems in the perspective of the Bible, though. First of all, Jesus is writing this letter to a church, to a group of believers in Laodicea, some of whom had come to faith many years before. Certainly, some had become weaker in faith, over time, and needed to repent and be renewed. Jesus is not talking about initial faith in Him, though.
Secondly, the Scriptures say that we cannot decide to become a Christian by our own power and will. I often refer to Ephesians 2:1-3, but it is worth looking at again and again. Paul begins by reminding us that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” because of our sinful nature. We “all once lived that way in the passions of our flesh” and were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” And how much can a dead person do, on his or her own? Absolutely nothing. We cannot open the door to Jesus on our own.
Then, Paul says, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Paul goes on to define that grace as His undeserved love and favor for us, His gift to us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” And even faith “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” Our good works follow, but they are enabled by our Lord and are only a thankful response to His saving work in Christ.
Think also about another passage, John 1:13, often linked with Rev. 3:20. “To all who did receive Christ, who believed in His name, God gave the right to become children of God.” Some would say that we must first receive Jesus and believe in Him, on our own, and then God will follow up with making us His children, etc. However, the very next verse, John 1:14 says, “…children of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” We did not give birth to ourselves physically or spiritually but by God’s miracle and blessings. Jesus says, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” It is by the Holy Spirit, working through the water of baptism and the Word of God that we are born again (John 3:3-5, 8 and 1 Peter 1:3, 23, also). It is not by our flesh and will.
Remember the story of Lydia, too, in Acts 16:14-15. She did not first open her heart. “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” Soon she was baptized, and her household, as well, and a church was begun in her house. See Paul writing, in 1 Thessalonians 1:3-5, and speaking of the faith, love, and hope, of the people of this church. He also adds, though, “For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you, not only in Word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” God was at work, in all that happened. Listen also to Philippians 2:12-13. Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” That makes it sound as if it is our work and effort, but then Paul adds, “For it is God Who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” It is His Word and will at work, above all.
A better way to look at Revelation 3:20, then, is to see it in light of Luke 12:35-40. Jesus is encouraging His believing people to be ready for His return on the last day, by continuing faith in Him (12:40). We do not know when He is coming, so we need to be spiritually awake (12:38-39). When the Master comes home from a wedding feast and knocks on the door, we can then “open the door to Him at once” (12:35-36). Surprisingly, then, Jesus says that when He returns, He will dress Himself for service and have His people recline at table, and He will come and serve them” (12:37-38). Twice Jesus says they will be blessed by Him if they wait for Him in faith and trust.
That is just what Jesus promises in Revelation 3:20. When He returns for His people, waiting in faith in Him, on the last day, and they hear His voice and eagerly open the door, He will come in to them and he will eat with them and they with Him. It is part of the continuing joy from that time forward with the Lord Jesus in everlasting life.
In Revelation 3:21, Jesus again speaks of the ones who conquer (and as we have heard, we conquer only through Christ and His power and final victory over sin and Satan and death, described near the end of Revelations). Jesus even promises that believers will, in a certain sense, reign with Christ and be blessed by His victory for us. (See Revelation 3:21, Matthew 19:28-29, and 2 Timothy 2:12, for example.)
I suspect that when we reach heaven, whether it is at the moment when we die or when Christ returns, if we are still living then, we will not care just what our place will be. We will just be amazed to be in the perfection of heaven and the presence of our Lord Jesus and all His blessings, though we deserve none of them. We will just sing our praises and thanksgivings to our Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with great joy. May the Lord give us His grace and strength to stay firmly in Christ all our days through His Word and Sacraments. May our confidence be not in ourselves and our decisions, but in Christ and His faithfulness to and forgiveness for us. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:21-22).
Sermon for All Saints Sunday, based on:
Revelation 7:9-17
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon originally delivered November 6, 2011
In many of our churches, “All Saints Day” will be celebrated in our worship this coming Sunday. Some churches may be using alternate readings. I will list them at the end but only comment on one of those readings.
The first lesson is from the New Testament again, as last week, from Revelation 7:9-17. John sees another vision of heaven, where an uncountable number of people of every people and nation and language, stand before the throne of God and the Lamb (our risen Lord Jesus) and sing praises for the salvation brought to them. They wear white robes, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. The tribulations of this life are gone, and they are saints, in perfect peace and joy, in the presence of the One True Triune God.
The Psalm is Psalm 149, as God’s “humble” people praise their “Maker and King,” who has “adorned them with salvation” and “takes pleasure in them.” His people make melody and dance and give “high praises” to God, in return. They will be present with Him on the day of “judgment” of all unbelievers and will be honored as His godly ones.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 John 3:1-3. Before the visions given to the Apostle John in Revelations, he speaks of the certainty of who “we now are,” the “beloved children of God,” through “the love given to us by God the Father,” through Jesus Christ our Savior. (See 1 John 4:11-13 for the great certainty of this for us who believe in Christ Jesus.) We do not know just what we will be in heaven, but we will be sinless and purified and able to “see Jesus as he is.” In the meantime, we try to be “pure,” but are so only by the grace and forgiveness of Christ and His counting us as righteous by faith in Him.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 5:1-12, the beginning of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus tells us that we are blessed only if we know that we are “poor in spirit” and “mourn” that we are sinners and “hunger and thirst for righteousness" that comes only from God and is credited to us through the saving work that Jesus did for us. Seeing the meekness and mercy of Christ Jesus, we then try to be “pure in heart” and “merciful peacemakers” toward others, and willing to be “reviled and persecuted” in standing with Christ (though we sometimes fail).
The alternate readings for this weekend are:
- Micah 3:5-12
- Psalm 43
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
- Matthew 23:1-12
In 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, Paul reminds his fellow believers how they “ought to walk in a way that pleases God.” He especially encourages them to “abstain from sexual immorality,” which was a very serious problem in the ancient world and still is often today. He calls believers to “love one another with brotherly love.” They do not have to be spectacular as Christians. Rather, he says, “Aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands… that you may walk properly toward outsiders (those who do not believe) and be dependent on no one.” Again, we are still “poor miserable sinners” and live finally by the grace and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus our Savior.
Last week, we worked through Revelation 3:14-16, and heard that the people of the church at Laodicea were saying proudly of themselves: “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” In contrast, Jesus knew them and their works and saw them as “lukewarm” Christians.
In v.17, Jesus says that they did not realize that they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked, in a spiritual sense. Jesus had taught, at the beginning of His “Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” People need to know how spiritually poor they are on their own so that they can see how much they need Jesus as their Savior. The people in the church at Laodicea were saying, “I…, I…, I…,” focused on their accomplishments, and Jesus used the set of words in Revelation 3:17, paralleling some of the pride the Laodiceans had in their city, to show how “wretched” they were, in spirit.
Jesus “counsels” them to “buy” some things from Him, in v.18. He is using words we find in other places. What He wishes them to have is actually free, a gift. See Isaiah 55:1-3. “Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live.”
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:22). See a similar statement in Revelation 22:17: “Come… Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Remember also that we heard last week that a real weakness of Laodicea was that it did not have an adequate water supply. The people said, “I need nothing;” yet they really needed so much, in a physical and in a spiritual sense, with their continual need for the water of Life (John 4:13-14 and John 7:37-39).
They thought they were “rich,” in terms of “gold,” but Jesus says, in Revelation 3:18, that they really needed “gold, refined by fire, so that they might be (spiritually) rich.” See 1 Peter 1:7, where Peter speaks of “the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire.” They needed faith in Christ, which “results in praise and glory and honor” of Jesus, at His revelation” on the last day.
The Laodiceans were proud of the beautiful garments produced in their city with bright colors and black wool. What they really needed was to be covered with “white garments” (Revelation 3:18) provided by Christ Jesus Himself that would cover the shame and nakedness of their sins. (See the “garments of salvation” and the “robe of righteousness” provided by God in Isaiah 61:10; the new, clean garments provided to Joshua in Zechariah 3:3-5; “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, which cleanses us from all sin,” in 1 John 1:7-9; and the vision of the believers in heaven, “clothed in white robes… white in the blood of the Lamb (Jesus), in Revelation 7:13-14; etc.)
The Laodiceans were proud of their medical school and an eye salve that was developed or produced there and was widely used. What they really needed was God’s “salve to anoint their eyes,” so that they might truly “see” what they needed to see and believe, in Jesus as Savior. See, for example, Psalm 146:8, which says that “the Lord opens the eyes of the blind,” physically and spiritually; Isaiah 35:4-5, where the blind (and the deaf) can see and hear when Jesus the Savior would come (Matthew 11:2-6); and John 9, where Jesus healed a blind man physically (9:1-7) and then spiritually (9:35-41).
Then Jesus says in Revelation 3:19 that He is speaking all these words of “reproof” (rebuke, disapproval) because He “loves” the people of the church at Laodicea and wants to help them “repent” of their sins and be more “zealous,” rather than “lukewarm" about their faith. “Jesus says He is providing some needed “discipline” for this church, showing people their sins, through the Law of God, and turning them away from trust in themselves to trust in Him and His Word of true Life and hope. See Scriptures about “discipline” such as Psalm 94:12, where the psalmist says that people are “blessed” who are disciplined by the Lord; Proverbs 3:11-12, where discipline is a sign of the Lord’s love, “as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights;” 1 Corinthians 11:32, where Paul says, “When we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world;” and Hebrews 12:5-11, where the writer to the Hebrews says that God disciplines us “for our good;” it may seem painful, but “later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Jesus speaks harshly in some of this letter; but He speaks in love, for the good of this congregation. This is an important message for us all. Are we sometimes “lukewarm” in our own faith and need to be called back to a more “zealous” Christian faith and life? Are we sometimes too focused on ourselves and forgetful of Christ and His good gifts? That’s why we have a time for repentance for sins and renewal in our life in Christ, week after week, in our worship, as a “discipline” and reminder to us all.
I will stop here, as I want to spend a little more time on the closing portion of this letter, next week. A proper interpretation is important. The Lord’s continued blessings.
Sermon for Reformation Sunday, based on:
Revelation 14:6-7
Romans 3:19-28
John 8:31-36
Sermon originally delivered October 30, 2011
This Sunday is celebrated in many of our Lutheran churches as Reformation Sunday. The Scriptures focus on key passages that were important for Martin Luther in discovering and emphasizing what he saw as at the center of our Christian faith. I will list each passage for you to read, with only a brief comment.
The first lesson is from Revelation 14:6-7. The eternal Gospel (the good news of Jesus as Savior) is a message to be shared with all people everywhere. God created all things, and He will come again in judgment, but we are ready by faith in Christ Jesus.
The Psalm is Psalm 46, the inspiration for Luther’s hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble… Therefore we will not fear… The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge.”
The Epistle is Romans 3:19-28, describing the central teaching of the Scriptures. The Law of God shows that we are all sinners, and that no one can be justified in God’s sight by keeping the Law well enough. The righteousness of and from God is received only by faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ for us. “We are justified by faith apart from the works of the Law… through God’s grace as a gift.”
The Gospel reading is John 8:31-36, where Jesus reminds us to “abide in belief in Him and in His Word,” for only then will we know the truth, the truth that sets us free from “the slavery of sin.” Jesus, the Son of God, sets us free by His saving work for us, and we remain forever as God’s children, now and to eternity.
(Some churches may use a different set of readings, if they do not celebrate the Reformation. Here are those readings:
- Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
- Psalm 1
- 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
- Matthew 22:34-46
I will comment only on the Epistle, since 1 Thessalonians 2 is part of a series of readings from this letter of Paul, and Paul also talks here of key Reformation teachings, in Chapter 2. Paul and others had “declared the Gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.” They had been “entrusted with the Gospel, not to please man but to please God.” They acted “gently, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” and at times, “like a father with his children, exhorting and encouraging." Finally Paul speaks of the Scripture alone as the source and norm for what we believe. In 2:13 he wrote, “We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
Our study this week is on the last of the seven specific letters to churches in Asia Minor, sent from Christ Himself in Revelation 2-3, through the apostle John. This letter is to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. It follows the same pattern as the other letters. It is addressed to the “angel,” the pastor, the “messenger” and leaders of the church.
These are the words, again, of Christ Jesus Himself. He is called “the Amen” (Revelation 3:14). The word “Amen” means “truly,” “true,” and “most certainly true.” This word is tied in with God in Isaiah 65:16, where one blesses himself by “the God of Amen.” (This is what it literally says, though many translate it “the God of Truth.”) When Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “Truly, truly, I say unto you,” He is literally saying, “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” (See examples of this in John 3:3, 5:24-25, and 8:51-54, etc.) Paul then says of Jesus that “in Him it is always yes. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20). Therefore, Jesus is also “the faithful and true Witness” to what is true. Revelation 1:1-2 tells us that John “bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness,” though, John says (Revelation 1:5, 3:14).
Jesus is also called “the Beginning of God’s creation” (Revelation 3:14). This does not mean that He was the first created being, as some heretical teachers have tried to say, in the past. It means that He, as God the Son, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, existing as the One True God from all eternity, was the Source of God’s creation. (See John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus Himself prayed, predicting His ascension and return to heaven: “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). See also the very detailed words of Paul about Christ in Colossians 1:15-20 and in Colossians 2:1-3.)
Did you notice in Colossians 2:1 that Christians at Laodicea were mentioned, as they also are in Colossians 4:13 and 4:15-16? This is because Laodicea was only about 11 miles from Colossae and about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians from Rome about 60 AD, and it was to be passed on to the Christians at Laodicea and Hierapolis, too. The “letter from Laodicea” (Colossians 4:16) was probably Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, written about the same time, with the intent of its being circulated also to the other churches. That is eventually what happened with all of the letters of the apostles, along with the other parts of the Scriptures.
This means that the church in Laodicea had had solid Biblical teaching available to it in the past. This is now about 35 years later, assuming that this letter was written around 95 AD. From what we know about the city of Laodicea itself, it may have greatly influenced the thinking and attitudes of the church members there. Laodicea was the wealthiest city in this area. It was a center of business and commerce and banking; had a strong textile industry, producing cloth and clothing goods; and had a respected medical school and produced a famous eye salve. The city seemed very proud of itself and self-sufficient. There had been a bad earthquake earlier, but the city was able to bounce back and rebuild, without needing much help at all from Rome. One major weakness was not having a good water supply.
The people in the church seemed to have developed a self-centered, self-sufficient attitude, too. Jesus says that He knows their works: that they are “neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm,” presumably in their Christian faith and life; and Jesus is about to “spit (literally, to spew or vomit) them out of His mouth,” like a drink that is at the wrong temperature and can’t be tolerated or makes one sick (Revelation 3:15-16). The church members are saying, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” while they are really in a “wretched” situation, and cannot see their many spiritual problems (Revelation 3:17). They need to “be zealous and repent” (3:19) and receive again the blessings from the Lord and see again their genuine needs.
Next week, we will look at Christ’s response to them in more detail. We’ll also talk about “discipline” from God and the famous passage in v.20 which is often used and misused by people. Think about how this passage applies to churches today. The Lord’s blessings on your week.
Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 45:1-7
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
Sermon originally delivered October 16, 2011
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 45:1-7, is an amazing prophesy of the coming of Cyrus, founder of the Persian Empire, long before he was even born. “For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel, My chosen,” God says that He will “anoint” and raise up Cyrus and “go before” him, so that he could easily conquer Babylon and then set God’s captive people free from the Babylonians to return to Israel. The Lord could predict and plan to do all this, long before it happened, because He alone is God. “There is no other,” and He is God for people “from the rising of the sun to the west” - for all people.
The Psalm is Psalm 96:1-9 (10-13). The psalmist calls upon “all the earth,” “all the peoples” “among the nations” to “sing a new song” to the Lord. He is to be “greatly praised” because He “made the heavens” and “established the world,” and “all the gods of other peoples are worthless idols.” He is to be “worshiped” and “glorified” in all the earth. He comes “to judge the world in “righteousness” and “faithfulness.”
The Epistle lesson begins a series of readings from 1 Thessalonians. Paul wrote to the people of this church as people God had “chosen.” They had “received the Word (of God) in much affliction” and “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” They were living now in “faith” and “love” and “hope in the (risen) Lord Jesus, who will deliver them (and us) from the wrath to come. (You can read more about Paul and the Thessalonians in Acts 17:1-9.)
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 22:15-22. Some of the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the Herodians, people who ruled on behalf of the Romans, came to Jesus with a question, hoping to trap Him and condemn His for his words. They pretended to be complimentary of Jesus, but Jesus knew they were hypocrites. The question was “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus used a coin to show that they lived in two kingdoms. In the kingdom of this world, where government is needed, they should pay their taxes and give support. Also being in the Kingdom of God, they should give God the honor and worship and trust due to Him. The questioners went away marveling at Jesus and His answer.
This week, we look at the letter to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13. The letter starts the same way as the others (Revelation 3:7). It is addressed to the “angel,” the pastor and messenger for the church. The letter contains the very words of Jesus Himself, who is “holy” (sinless and set apart to serve His Heavenly Father and His perfect will - see Luke 1:35, for example). Jesus is also “the True One.” (See John 14:6 and 1 John 5:20: “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the True God and eternal life.”
Jesus also has “the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens." This is a quotation from Isaiah 22:22, where Eliakim, a representative of King Hezekiah, is addressed. Hezekiah, like David, had authority to open and shut things, and God answered his prayers by shutting down the armies of his enemy, the great King Sennacherib. This power to open and close passed on finally to Jesus, the Son of David, who opened up the Kingdom of heaven to us by all He did and gives some of those powers to the disciples and the church. (See Matthew 16:19, 18:15-21, and John 20:21-23, for example.) This adds to what Jesus said of Himself in Revelation 1:18, too - that He has “the keys of death and Hades.” Later on, He “opens” a scroll and its seven seals that no one else could open (Revelation 5:5). Jesus then speaks with authority to the church at Philadelphia.
Philadelphia was a city founded by King Attalus Philadephus in the 100’s BC, in honor of his brother. Our US city, Philadelphia, is named after this city, as a city of “brotherly love.” It was southeast of Sardis in a good location and was a rich and commercially important city. As Martin Franzmann notes, the church in Philadelphia “was neither rich nor important” - but it was “faithful” to the Lord. Jesus knew its works. It had “little power” and yet its people “kept the Word of God and did not deny Christ’s Name.” (This is, in fact, the only one of the seven churches that receives no direct criticism from Jesus.) Instead, Jesus promises to this little church “an open door which no one is able to shut” (Revelation 3:8).
This will happen in two ways. In v.9, Jesus says that there was a synagogue in Philadelphia that was rejecting Jesus as the promised Savior, the Messiah. Over time, Jesus promises that at least some of these people would realize that Jesus was the Messiah and that He loved that little church, because they were speaking the truth about Him. Some of these people would then become Messianic Jews, who believed that Jesus was the One who was the Savior and the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. The witness, then, to all of those who do not yet know and trust in Jesus, needs to continue - with genuine love and care for them and their spiritual welfare.
In v.10, also, because the people of this church had kept God’s Word with patient endurance, Jesus promises to help and protect them and “keep” them during a time of trial and testing coming on "the whole world,” including the churches. Some think that this refers to the coming of Trajan as Emperor in Rome in 98 AD, with more intensified persecution of Christians (and Jews and anyone who opposed the Roman gods and Emperors as gods). This greater persecution by the Romans lasted for about 100 years and prefigured other times of persecution throughout the centuries, which Jesus also predicted, in other Scriptures, and warned, speaking of even more trouble coming in the last times. Other parts of Revelation speak of these troubled times, as well, but verses like Revelation 7:1-17, also picture the preservation of God’s faithful people.
In v.11, Jesus also said He was coming again soon. His timetable is different from ours, though, as passages like 2 Peter 3:8-9 indicate. Jesus wants His people, including us, always ready for His return, by trusting Him and trying to be faithful to His Word. He encourages the believers in Philadelphia to “hold fast what they have, so that no one may seize their crown,” the crown of righteousness and everlasting life. (See, for example, 2 Timothy 4:8.)
In v.12, then, Jesus speaks again of those who do “conquer” through Christ, through Christ’s help and strength. They will reach eternal life, the new Jerusalem, as heaven and earth as we know it pass away. They will be like “pillars” in God’s presence, with His names written on them. (Philadelphia was a place where earthquakes sometimes happened and pillars in buildings fell, with great destruction.) Such will not happen in eternal life. We are perfectly safe forever, with our Lord. The new names may be a reflection of God’s promise from heaven in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I am making all things new,” See the promise also in Revelation 21:4. Heaven will be a perfect place.
Finally, Revelation 3:13 has the phrase written in each of the letter, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The size of our church or our community does not matter. Our trust is in our Lord and His strength and blessings for us, in Christ. We believe that He will help and preserve us, through the Word and Sacraments He gives us, and we, too, can “hold fast what we have in our Savior always, by His grace.
Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Philippians 4:4-13
Matthew 22:1-14
Sermon originally delivered October 14, 2023
Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Philippians 4:4-13
Matthew 22:1-14
Sermon originally delivered October 9, 2011
The Old Testament lesson for this week, Isaiah 25:6-9, is a prophecy of a great feast coming when the Lord has “swallowed up” the veil of death forever and there are no more “tears” of sorrow or reproach (disgrace) for His people. The Lord has spoken and promised this, and it will happen. We are to “wait” in faith for that day of “salvation” in heaven in eternal life.
The Psalm is Psalm 23. The Lord is our Good Shepherd. He “restores” our troubled, sinful “souls” and leads and comforts us all our life. He provides a “table” for us (the Lord’s Supper and His Word and other gifts) in the presence of the “enemies” of our faith; and one day, we will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” enjoying His great feast in heaven.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus tells a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a King (our Lord God) giving a wedding feast for His Son (our Lord Jesus). God’s Old Testament people were already invited to the feast, but they refused to come. Other servants invited them, but they went off to their own pursuits or treated the King’s servants very badly and killed some of them. The King finally destroyed many of the people and their city. (Many Jews died and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.) A general invitation to the wedding feast went out to everyone possible, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled. Wedding garments were provided to all (robes of righteousness in and through Jesus - the Way to heaven), but one man refused to wear his robe and was cast into outer darkness, where there is only sorrow - the way to hell, rejecting Jesus and His grace and gifts.
The Epistle lesson is the fourth reading from Philippians, Chapter 4: 4-13. Paul calls people to “rejoice in the Lord always” and to trust in the “peace” He brings through Christ Jesus as Savior. Paul knows that he can do all things he needs to do through Jesus “Who strengthens him” in this life, no matter what the circumstances. He seeks to keep in mind the honorable and just and pure things of God and His Word, which he has received and taught, as he waits for the Lord’s return and that heavenly feast.
The letter to the church at Sardis follows the same pattern as the other letters (Revelation 3:1). It is written to the “angel,” the church leader and messenger of Sardis, and it is the very words of Jesus, who is identified in Chapter 1:4 with “the seven spirits who are before the throne” in heaven - which is a way of speaking of the One Holy Spirit, who has seven-fold gifts (Isaiah 11:2) and works among all seven of the churches in Asia Minor. Jesus is also said to have “seven stars in His right hand” (Revelation 1:16), and the seven stars are the angels (the leaders and messengers) of the seven churches (1:20). Jesus is seeking to teach and guide these leaders and their churches by these letters.
The city of Sardis was about 30 miles southeast of Thyatira. It had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, long before the Roman control of this area. It was a city of great wealth and fame. Its high point (acropolis) was 1500 feet above the valley below. The church in Sardis had a reputation, a “name” of being an “alive” church, but Jesus says that He knows its works, and it is dead (Revelation 3:1). As He goes on, He says that the church is not completely dead, but dying, like a fire where the coals were becoming “dimmer and dimmer,” with lots of “mere ashes and dead coals,” and in danger of “the whole fire being dead,” as the commentator Lenski says. It was a “drowsy, sleepy” congregation that didn’t seem to see what was happening and needed to “wake up and strengthen what remains.” Jesus especially could see that because, as God, He found that their works were not “complete” (filled full). This does not mean that they were not doing enough works, in the sense of not doing enough to earn salvation, or anything like that. None of us can earn our salvation, no matter what we do.
Rather, good works flow from faith and confidence in Christ Himself, who He is and what He has already done for us as our Savior. Notice again a familiar Scripture like Ephesians 2:4-10, where Paul first tells us what God has done for us in Christ, by His grace alone that saves us. Only then, in v. 10, does Paul talk about the fact that we are now God’s “workmanship,” new people “created in Christ Jesus for good works” in our new life in Him. Somehow, in the church at Sardis, “the faith, love, and spiritual life” in Christ “that should have filled all their works had been growing less and less,” as Lenski says.
Therefore, Jesus says, in Revelation 3:3, that the people at Sardis needed to “remember what they had received and heard” in Christ and the Word of Scripture and the Sacraments and “keep” that strong and “repent” of their spiritual sleepiness. To use Lenski’s picture of dying coals, see how Paul said to the young pastor, Timothy, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you… (2 Timothy 1:6) “by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus…” (2 Timothy 1:9).
How are God’s gifts “fanned into flame” in Timothy and in the people in Sardis and in us, still today? Jesus particularly mentioned in Revelation 3:1 His connection with God the Holy Spirit, who works, based on other Scriptures, through the Word of God and the Sacraments to bring people to faith and and keep them in that faith, unto eternal life. (See for example 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 2:19-22, Matthew 28:19-20, and Acts 2: 42.) That is why it is so important that we stay in God’s Word and His good gifts, through which the Holy Spirit works in our lives. That is why the “angels” of the churches, the pastors and teachers and leaders of the churches (Revelation 3:1) need to stay in the Word, too, for their own sake and to teach and lead others in the proper way, according to God’s Word and will.
That is why Jesus also gives a strong warning in Revelation 3:3, that if the people at Sardis do not “wake up,” He will come like a thief” at an unknown hour, and “come against those people” if they are spiritually dead and don’t ever repent. As He also warns in v. 5, their names would be “blotted out of the book of Life,” because of unbelief.
The image of Jesus coming unexpectedly, “like a thief in the night,” is used numbers of times in the Scriptures, especially in regard to His second coming, on the last day or in a time of judgment. Here are some examples: Revelation 16:15, Matthew 24:42-44, and 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. The emphasis is upon being ready and prepared by continuing faith in Jesus, whenever He comes again or when the day of death comes for each of us, whichever comes first (Matthew 10:22).
The image of “the Book of Life” is also often used in the Scripture, as a way of assuring people that their personal future is secure in eternal life, because of God’s promises and His desire to keep them in faith in Him. There are warnings that people can be blotted out of the Book by sin and rebellion and continually rejecting God and His will and plan for their salvation. Here are other Scriptures that speak of this “Book of Life,” if you would like to trace them through the Bible: Exodus 32:32, Psalm 69:29, Daniel 12:1. Malachi 3:16, Luke 10:20, Philippians 4:3, Revelation 13:8, 17:3; 20:12,15, and 21:27.
Going back to Revelation 3:4, we hear Jesus revealing that there were still some people in the church at Sardis who were faithful Christians, “who had not soiled their garments.” This is a Biblical way of speaking of sinfulness, which pollutes a person. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners. The difference for these people is that they had been brought to repentance and forgiveness and faith in Jesus as their Savior and continued in faith in a life of repentance. These are people who say with Isaiah, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). As Paul also says in Philippians 3:9, I am “found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” His worthiness comes not from himself, but from what Christ has done for him.
In Revelation 3:5, Jesus says that such believers “will be clothed thus with white garments” and will “walk with Him in white” (Revelation 3:4) in eternal life. John sees such believers “given a white robe” in visions later on in Revelation 6:11 and 7:9, 13-14. Their robes were “washed white in the blood of the Lamb,” the sacrifice of Jesus for them on the cross to forgive all sins. These people have “conquered” through Christ and their names are never blotted out of the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5). In fact, Jesus says of such a believer, “I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5). (See how Jesus promises this to all those who are His own, in Matthew 10:32 and Matthew 25:34, too.)
In this letter to Sardis, then, Jesus is calling all of the people of this sleepy congregation to “wake up” and “repent” of their sins and their lazy response to Christ and “strengthen what remains,” through God’s Word and Sacraments. This is always possible, through Christ. When Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times, Jesus also said, “I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned again (repented), strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-34).
This letter, like the others, says to us all, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We all have times of “sleepiness” in our Christianity, and none of our churches are perfect. This letter is for us, too. You might remember the closing words of Jude, when we studied his letter a while back: “In the last times there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear; hating even the garments stained by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 17-25)
Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 5:1-7
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Sermon originally delivered October 2, 2011
Both the Psalm and Old Testament lesson this week speak of the judgment upon the Old Testament people of Israel, because of their sin and rebellion against God. These readings tie in well the messages from the New Testament readings, too.
The psalm is Psalm 80:7-19. The earlier part of the psalm, before today’s reading, refers to three of the Northern tribes of Israel (80:2-4) crying out for God’s mercy and help, likely as they and the Northern Kingdom of Israel were being conquered by the Assyrian armies. Psalm 80:7ff., our reading, speaks of God’s people as being “a vine brought out of Egypt and planted” in the Promised Land and blessed and protected and brought to prosper by the Lord. Now, however, the walls of the vineyard (Northern Israel) have been broken down and it has been ravaged and burned by enemies. The psalmist calls upon the Lord for salvation and restoration for His “son,” as the people of Israel are sometimes called. (See Hosea 11:1-2 and why God’s people were in such trouble.) In this psalm, though, in a prophetic way, the son refers especially to “the Son of man,” the Son of God’s right hand, our Lord Jesus Christ, who would ultimately “save” and “restore“ and give new “life,” available to all.
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 5:1-7, is also about God’s people as “a vineyard.” It is a “love song,” as God speaks of all that He has done for His people, His vineyard. He has done everything He could for them, now referring to the Southern Kingdom, Judah and Jerusalem; yet they have been yielding not good grapes but “wild grapes,” with “bloodshed” and “outcries” of evil against the Lord. As as result, the Southern House of Israel will also be trampled down and left a “wasteland” (by the Babylonian empire).
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 21:33-46, Jesus also tells a parable of God’s people as a vineyard. (Some of God’s people had been restored in Jerusalem and the land of Israel after the Babylonian captivity.) The “master of a house,” the Lord Himself, had built the vineyard very well and “leased it to tenants,” the people of Israel. At harvest time, He sent servants (prophets and other spokesmen for the Lord) to “get His fruit,” but the tenants seized them and beat some and killed others, and did not give Him His fruit. The owner sent other servants, and they were treated the same way. Finally, the Master sent His own Son, and the tenants did not respect even Him, and threw Him out and killed Him. What will happen to those evil tenants? They will have a miserable death, and the vineyard would be given to other tenants, who will produce and provide good fruit.” It is clear to the Jewish religious leaders that Jesus was talking about Himself as the Son of the Lord, Whom they would soon be killing, in spite of His warnings to them. Jesus also quotes from Psalm 118:22-23, saying that He would live, even after His death, and be the Savior and “Cornerstone” on whom the new people of God, who believed in Him, would be built. Those who rejected Jesus would eventually be “crushed” and “broken to pieces.”
In the Epistle lesson, Philippians 3:4b-14, Paul says that he had been one of those “persecutors” of Christ Jesus and His “church,” as described in today’s Gospel lesson. He had been an outstanding Jewish leader, with all the right background and credentials, until by God’s grace he received the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord.” All his previous “righteous acts of his own” were “loss” and “rubbish.” He had now received “the righteousness from God” that came simply “through faith in Christ” and His already accomplished “sufferings” and “death” and “resurrection.” Now Paul wanted to “be found always in Christ” and “faith in Him.” That gift of God is what we all need and have in Jesus, too.
Today we look at the letter to the church at Thyatira, in Revelation 2:18-29. Thyatira was the smallest city of the seven to whom letters go in Revelation 2-3, but its church receives the longest letter for one main reason, as we will see. Thyatira was founded by Seleucus, a general with Alexander the Great, as a military outpost around 300 BC. It was 20 miles Southeast of Pergamum and by the time of this letter was known for its many trade guilds. We hear in Acts 16:14 that it was the hometown of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth (who became a Christian in Philippi), and it was known for its purple dyeing and weaving.
This letter begins as the others do, addressed to the “angel” (the pastoral leader and messenger) of the church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18). The letter was written down by John, but it is clearly “the words” of Jesus, “the Son of God.” This is the only time in Revelation that this title is given to Jesus, maybe since Psalm 2 is quoted later in this letter, right after the Lord says of the coming Savior, “You are My Son” and again identifies Him as “the Son” (Psalm 2:7,12).
The other words about Jesus in v.18 are part of the vision of Him that John saw in Revelation 1:14-15. The “flaming eyes” of Jesus picture that Jesus can, as He says in Revelation 2:23, “search minds and hearts of people.” The “feet of burnished bronze” suggest His strength and “authority” described 2:26-27.
Jesus begins His specific message to this church with a great compliment. His eyes of fire can see and know their “works” and that the faithful people there are growing in “love and faith and service and patient endurance” in times of trouble, and are even doing better in living out these gifts of God than before (Revelation 2:19). This is the opposite of what Jesus had said about the church in Ephesus, where they had abandoned “the love that they had at first,” and were called to repent (Revelation 2:4-5).
However, Jesus also has a very serious concern about the church at Thyatira. “I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20). This sounds similar to the situation in Pergamum with some who were following the teachings of Balaam and Balak and the Nicolaitans and having problems with idolatry and food offered to idols and sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14-15). This seems to be a bigger problem, though, in Thyatira, as the false prophetess is influencing a larger number of people of the church, as Jezebel, a non-Jew, in the Old Testament was married to King Ahab and led him and many of the Israelites far from God and into worship of Baal and other false deities and much immorality. (See references to this in 1 Kings 16:31-33, 18:4, and 2 Kings 9:22.)
The church has some responsibility, too, in “tolerating” what this woman, like Jezebel of old, was doing and her “seduction” of many people. She has had “time to repent, but refuses to do so” (2:21). Sexual immorality” and “adultery with her” and mention of her “sick-bed” and “her works” all tell how she is leading this immorality and rejection of God and His will. All involved with her need to repent or there will be “great tribulation” for them, as well as for her (2:21-22). Jesus even mentions “death” for her "children" in v. 23. This probably does not mean her literal children, but those following in this woman’s evil footsteps, and influencing still others in bad ways. They will be judged, too, unless there is repentance and return to the Lord.
There is also reference in v. 24 to “what some call the deep things of Satan.” Some think that some of what was going on was an early form of Gnosticism, also. Gnostics thought that only the spiritual is important and that the material, including our bodies, were unimportant and we could do whatever we wanted with them without any harm to our spirit. The word “gnosis” means “knowledge,” and some thought that the more knowledge the better, even knowledge of and participation in evil and the satanic and the totally immoral, that they believed would gain knowledge and understanding, and yet not hurt the soul and spirit. All this was totally wrong, according to Scripture, and the opposite of God’s will in Christ. The true knowledge was always in God and His Word.
Jesus then reminds all the churches (since the message of these letters applied to all churches and they were all to have ears to hear all He said) in v.23 that He is the One who "searches minds and hearts and will give to each according to his own works.” He knows all our thoughts and deeds, and we can hide nothing from Him. If we have only our own thoughts and words and deeds to offer to God, we are all in big trouble. This is said often in the Scriptures. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'”
These are important words for us and our churches in our own day, too. So many people think that things like sexual morality are not a big deal, and it does not matter much what we do. These Scriptures remind us that temptations to immorality can also lead us and others far away from listening to our Lord and trusting Him, too. We need to take these passages of Law and warning seriously and hear the call to repentance, when we are drifting from the Lord and His will.
God also says, though, through Ezekiel, prophesying about Christ and His saving work for us and the gift of baptism: “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean of all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). Forgiveness and new life are always possible with the Lord.
Jesus also recognizes that there are those in Thyatira who resist false prophetesses and false teachers and are trying to keep the faith in Christ and regularly repent and trust His forgiveness and promises. He says to them and to us, in verses 24-25: “I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.”
Jesus also gives His promises to those “conquerors” (and we have heard that that refers to those who keep trusting Christ Jesus and His saving, conquering work already done for us) who keep trying to follow Christ and His way to the end of our lives or the return of Christ, whichever comes first (2:26-28). Jesus then quotes from Psalm 2:7-9 - words that speak of Himself, the Christ, the Anointed One of God (Psalm 2:2) and His victory and authority over all things, as King of Kings. He is Savior and blesses all who take refuge in Him as Lord and Savior (Psalm 2:12). He also is One who can bring wrath, “a rod of iron,” upon those who reject Him, who are like “earthen pots that are broken.”
There is also an indication that somehow God’s people will participate in the final reign of Christ in eternal life, together with Him. We will have perfect peace with Him, after all the struggles of this life and the struggles of our churches. The authority is all Christ’s (Matthew 28:18), but we will enjoy His blessings, too. (See 2 Timothy 2:12, for example, and Romans 8:18.)
Finally, Jesus says that He will give the believers “the morning star” (Revelation 2:28). The Morning Star is Christ Himself. See the prophesy of Him in Numbers 24:17, the star that announced His coming in Matthew 2:1-12, and the clear words of Jesus in Revelation 22:18: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the Root and the Descendant of David, the Bright Morning Star.”
If we have Christ Jesus, as He promises, we have everything we need, for this life and for eternal life. And the Apostle John said it so simply in another of His letters, “I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God (Jesus Christ), that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). May the Lord keep us in that blessed gift of faith always.
Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
Sermon originally delivered September 25, 2011
In the Psalm for the day, Psalm 25, David speaks of his “trust” in the Lord, as the “God of his salvation.” At the same time, He asks the Lord to remember His mercy and goodness and not remember the sins of David’s youth and his transgressions. Several times David speaks of the need to be taught the Lord’s truth and to be led in His ways and to wait humbly for the Lord and His steadfast love.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 18:1-4 and 25-32. Ezekiel reports God’s command no longer to use the proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” We cannot blame our parents or others for what we individually do. “All souls are the Lord’s,” and “it is the soul who sins who shall die.” God’s ways are “just,” but our ways are often not. We are called to “repent and turn away from our transgressions,” with “a new heart and a new spirit.” (Both Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:25-27 tell us that God gives us that “cleansing” and “a new heart and spirit.”)
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 21:23-27 (28-32). Jesus had chased out the money changers and sellers from the temple and the next day was teaching in the temple. The chief priests and elders came and asked Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus challenges them with His own question about from where the baptism of John the Baptist came - “from heaven or from man?” The elders realize they are in trouble no matter which way they answer, and so they say nothing. Jesus does not answer them either. He knows that their judgment was already against Him, and that He would be crucified in a few days (Matthew 26:2). Jesus then tells a parable about two sons. The one who who did the will of his father did the right thing, though he was a rebel at first. In the same way, the religious leaders are the continuing rebels, for they will not believe in the message of John or the One for Whom he was preparing the way - Jesus Himself.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2: 1-4 (5-13) 14-18. Paul calls upon the Philippians to be like-minded, with the mind of Christ, following the humility and love and service by which Jesus came into this world and even gave His life for us on the cross. We bow our knees before Jesus and confess that He is Lord and try to follow in the way of salvation. Paul reminds us, though, that it only God at work in us who enables us to “will and to work for His good pleasure.” Through Him we are considered “without blemish” and are “lights” in the midst of a “crooked and twisted generation,” as we “hold fast to the Word of Life,” in Christ.
Sermon/Bible Study based on Psalm 27
Sermon originally delivered September 27, 2023
Psalm 27 is the psalm assigned for worship this past Sunday - but since we use a Divine Service at all of our regular worship, there isn’t a specific place for a psalm. Psalms are good to listen to and study, though, because they are written by real people, just like us, with their joys and struggles and challenges. Psalm 27 is a good example, with David as the author.
If you know much about David, you know that he was the youngest child in his family and not always respected or thought much of, until he, as a young person, defeated the mighty giant, Goliath, with a sling-shot.
David had many other dangers and challenges in his life, too. You get a sense of that in verses 2 and 3 of the psalm. We hear David speaking:
- “Evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh.”
- I have “adversaries” and “foes.”
- “An army encamps against me” and “war arises against me.”
David faced all of that and more. King Saul tried to kill him more than once. When David finally became king, he had to fight many battles against many people to try to secure the land for the Israelites, and to set up a capitol city in Jerusalem, as a place for the tabernacle and later the temple to be built. His own son, Absalom, later on overthrew him as King and tried to capture and do away with him. Yet David says, again and again, in this psalm: “Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? I will be confident!”
How about us and how we are doing, these days? On a smaller scale, do we face many of the same challenges and fears?
- We live in a pretty safe community, but we sometimes hear of “evildoers” and bad things happening pretty close to where we are, right now. That’s why our church and school have to be locked up much of the time, especially for the sake of our children and staff at our school.
- Do we still have “adversaries and foes?” We hear and read almost every day of people attacking the Christian faith and important things that we believe.
- What about armies and wars? We wonder what will happen between and Russia and Ukraine. What about the threats of China with Taiwan and other nations, too?
Some say that reading the news these days is “doom scrolling,” because there is so much doom and gloom described. This all leaves us perplexed and worried and feeling helpless - at least at times - as if we were in-the-dark in life.
How did David cope with all this? He said in verse 1, “The Lord is my Light.” This sinful, fallen world has always been full of darkness, but as David wrote in another psalm, “With You, O Lord, is the fountain of life; in Your Light do we see light” and hope, too (Psalm 36:9). And another psalmist also wrote: “Send out Your Light and Your Truth, O God; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of the Lord, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise You” (Psalm 43:3-4).
The reality is that David was not always so confident in his Lord when tough times came. He wondered, at times, where the Lord was and what He was doing. We get a glimpse of that in verses 7-10 of Psalm 25, where David prays that the Lord will “hear” him and “not turn away” and “not hide His face” from him, or “cast him off” or “forsake him.”
David even thinks of his parents and how they have “forsaken” him, in v.10. He probably simply means that they have died (which they could not control), and he greatly misses them and their presence and their encouragement, as we all do when our loved ones and other family die. That can be a very dark time for us, too.
Yet, then, David bounces back to his trust in the Lord, as v.10 ends: “but the Lord will take me in,” even if family and friends are gone. He asks the Lord to teach him His ways and lead him on a “level, stable path.” That is what David had prayed for in v.3 - that he would be able to be often in the Lord’s house and talk and inquire of Him. For the Lord and His Word were a continual “lamp to his feet and a light to his path” (Psalm 119:105) and would point him again to what he also mentioned in v. 1 - “the Lord’s salvation,” which would ultimately come in Jesus.
The name “Jesus” means “Savior” - the Lord saves - and Jesus was “the Light of the world” (John 8:12) and “the true Light who enlightens every person” and “the Light that no darkness can ever overcome” (John 1:5,9). Jesus Himself said, “Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life” (John 8:12). That Light and that eternal victory, that salvation, was won for us by Jesus by His death and resurrection.
We are here today at worship for the same reason that David wanted to be in God’s House. We have days of strong faith, but also darker days of worry and struggle. We need to be reminded again and again of the Lord’s forgiveness and His promises, especially in Christ our Savior. And they are always there for us, too, in God’s Word and the gift of the Lord’s Supper.
One commentator on this psalm says that people sometimes “whistle in the dark.” It’s a coping mechanism that helps them feel a little better when by themselves on a dark night - but it doesn’t help very much. We have so much more, in our Lord. As David said in verses 5-6 in this psalm: “The Lord will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up… and I will sing and make melody to the Lord.”
David had his psalms to sing, and we have our hymns, which also reflect God’s Word to us and encourage us, so that we can say with David, as he says in v.1, “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Stronghold, the Defense of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
And we can also say with David what some call his “Amen,” his “This is most certainly true” of this psalm, in v.13-14: “I believe, (I truly believe!) that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” - (strength in this life and eternal life to come.) Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
We pray: “Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they can be safe, in Christ Jesus” our Lord (Philippians 4:7). Amen.
Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Sermon originally delivered September 23, 2023
Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Sermon originally delivered September 18, 2011
This week’s psalm is Psalm 27:1-9. David knows that “the Lord is his Light and his Salvation.” David is not “afraid,” though “evildoers” and “foes” and even “armies” are opposed to him. He prays that he may be able to keep coming to the Lord’s “tent,” His house, “to sing and make melody to the Lord” and to pray for His “sheltering” protection “in the day of trouble.” He trusts that the Lord will “hear” and “be gracious,” as He is “the God of his salvation.”
God speaks also through Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 55:6-9. We, too, are called to “seek the Lord” and forsake our “unrighteous ways and thoughts,” and He will “have compassion and pardon us.” His “thoughts and ways” are always better and “higher” than ours, as we keep calling “calling upon Him” and listening to His Word.
We especially see the “higher” ways of the Lord in the parable that Jesus tells in the Gospel lesson, Matthew 20:1-16. A man hires laborers to work in his vineyard at a certain wage; and as the day goes on he hires more workers. Some worked only one hour, where those hired first had worked 12 hours - yet they all received the same wage, the original agreed-upon wage. How unfair this seemed to those who worked the most. They thought they deserved more pay, though they received exactly what was promised. We might tend to agree with the workers who “bore the burden of the whole day and the scorching heat” until we realize that, in context, Jesus is teaching about receiving salvation and eternal life. No one can earn or deserve that not matter how hard we work and try to do the right things. We are saved only through the “generosity” of our Lord in sending Jesus to do His saving work for us. It is His gift to us, and when we finally are brought to trust in that, the undeserved grace of God for us, we can only rejoice when others receive that gift of grace, too, at whatever point in their lives.
The Epistle lesson, Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30, begins a series of readings from another of Paul’s letters. Philippians 1:7 tells us that Paul is in prison because of his Christian faith, as he writes this letter; yet it is called his Epistle of Joy, because he sees how the Lord is working this all out for good. He is having opportunities to witness to many people he could not have reached out to otherwise, and his fellow believers in Philippi are gaining “confidence” in “speaking the Word of Christ without fear.” Paul does not know what the future will bring, but he is confident that he still has more fruitful labor to do in sharing the Gospel. He knows that he will be OK, in life or death. He says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” In the meantime, he encourages the believers in Philippi (and us, too) to “strive side by side for the faith of the Gospel” without fear, “believing in their salvation, and that from God.”
This week, our focus is on the letter to the church at Pergamum, in Revelation 2:12-17. It begins with the same pattern as the other letters (Revelation 2:12) written to the angel (the messenger, leader) of the church, with words coming from Christ Himself, who has the sharp two-edged sword (in His mouth) as described in the vision given to John in Revelation 1:16.
Jesus says that “He knows where the church at Pergamum dwells” (Revelation 2:13). It is where “Satan’s throne” also is. Pergamum was a legal center of that area of Asia Minor and was filled with temples of false gods and idols. All seven cities to whom John writes had pagan temples, but this city may have been the worst. Already in 29 BC a temple had been built to the “divine emperor” Augustus and the goddess Roma. A prominent cult was that of Aesculapius, the god of healing, whose symbol was a serpent, which reminded Christians of Satan. There was a memorial to Zeus “the savior,” the chief god of the Romans, and Athena, one of the chief goddesses, and many other temples. Which of these was “Satan’s throne?” We don’t know, but maybe it was the combination of all of these places of idolatry and false worship. The early Christians had certainly been taught that “an idol has no real existence and there is no God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4-5). Satan is definitely involved with idolatry, though, and demons are at work in all this idol worship and food sacrifices to them, and people can be led astray by them (1 Corinthians 10:19-21).
Jesus knows what is going on in Pergamum, though, and has been helping the Christians to “hold fast to His name and never to deny Christ and His faith, even during the time when Antipas, “Christ’s faithful witness” and likely the leader of the church at Pergamum, had been killed “among them,” by the forces of Emperor Diocletian, for not worshipping Diocletian as Lord and God. Jesus Himself is called the greatest “faithful witness” in Revelation 1:5, perfectly doing His Father’s will and shedding His blood, that we might be saved, but Antipas also was willing to die for the Christian faith, and most of the believers in Pergamum kept the faith in these hard times.
Some, however, had drifted away into the false teachings of “Balaam and Balak” and the false teachings of the Nicolaitans that we heard about in Revelation 2:6 and the Ephesian church (Revelation 2:14-15). The story of Balaam was especially important in the Old Testament (Numbers 22ff). A Moabite king, Balak, hired Balaam to put curses on the Israelites, who were threatening their land, but the Lord did not allow Balaam to do so. Balaam instead was able to convince Israelites to have sexual relations with Moabite women, and soon the Israelites were worshipping the Moabite god, Baal, offering sacrifices to Baal, and eating off those sacrifices. Much trouble resulted, and many died of a plague, in God’s judgment for their sins (Numbers 25). In Numbers 31, Balaam and many others were killed, and Moses spoke of the terrible, evil advice that Balaam gave that brought many Israelites into idolatry and sexual immorality. See Numbers 31:16, especially.
Ever after that time, the evil story of Balaam was used as a warning about the dangerous combination of sexual immorality and idolatry, in both the Old and New Testament. See Deuteronomy 23:4, Joshua 13:22 and 24:9-10, Micah 6:4, 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, and now this passage in Revelation 2:14. The temptation to sexual immorality, which is a rejection of God’s will, can lead to more and more rejection and even to rejecting God Himself for false gods and idolatry. That is what was happening with some in the church in Pergamum, along with some who became involved in the false cult of the Nicolaitans, which also involved sexual immorality and unbelief. See Revelation 2:6.
Paul also pointed out that tragic Old Testament events like these were examples for us in New Testament times “not to desire evil as they did,” including idolatry and sexual immorality. See 1 Corinthians 10:6-21. Jesus pointed out, then, that He “had a few things against” the church at Pergamum - particularly that they were not dealing with the idolatry and immorality of some within their own church. These people needed to be confronted and called to repentance, and the people of the church also needed to repent for failing to do anything. Otherwise, the Lord Jesus Himself would need to come and “war against the evil with the sword of His mouth.” (This is pictured as part of the final judgment. See Revelation 19:15-16, 21; but the Lord could bring some judgment sooner. See the words to the Israelites in Jerusalem who kept refusing God and His will until the city was finally destroyed (Jeremiah 21:5-6).)
Again, in Revelation 2:17, Jesus calls all the churches to hear what He is saying to all the churches. Do we have sexual immorality going on in our churches? Do we have idolatry in our churches today - maybe not worship of literal idols but of things that are made more important than our Lord? The call is to repentance. (See also passages like Ezekiel 12:2 and 13:2.)
But then also, Jesus gives great promises, in unusual picture images (Revelation 2:17). “To the one who conquers” through Jesus and faith in His victory for us, Jesus promises to give “hidden manna” and “a while stone with a new name.” In Exodus 16:31-34, when manna was first given to the Israelites, they were to save some to be kept always as a reminder of God’s taking care of the people. In Psalm 78:23-24, this manna is described as “the grain of heaven” and “the bread of the angels.” Jesus, in John 6:47ff, speaks of Himself as the true bread of life, the manna from heaven, and all who believe in Him will have eternal life. He was also preparing for the gift of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, which helps sustain us for eternal life. The hidden manna is a way of describing that all we need will be taken care of in eternal life, just as the “tree of life” will provide for us, as promised in Revelation 2:7.
We are not exactly sure what the white stone and new name represent. Isaiah 62:2 promises that when the Lord comes, all believers will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. Isaiah 65:15 promises that “the Lord will call His servants by another name.” White is always a symbol for purity and being clean. All those believers pictured in heaven are described as having white robes in Revelation 7:9,13-14. Christ, the Word of God, rides, at the end, on a white horse and “has a name written that no one knows but He Himself,” in Revelation 19:11-13. And the Lord Himself says, at the end, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
All this seems to be a marvelous way of picturing the greatness of the eternal life that will be ours, by God’s grace and the saving work of Christ. We can’t fully understand it all, but we believe it all, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Read 1 Corinthians 2:7-16 in closing this study.
Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 50:15-21
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
Sermon originally delivered September 11, 2011
This week, again, many of the Scriptures are about the importance of forgiveness for us and a warning about the failure to forgive and be patient with others.
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 50:15-21. The brothers of Joseph are very worried, because their father, Jacob, had died, and now their brother, Joseph might “pay them back” for all the evil they had done to him in earlier days. Joseph tells them not to be afraid. They “had meant evil for him,” selling him as a slave into Egypt, but God “meant it for good,” helping them and “many people to stay alive,” through the wise policies that God led him to implement to help in a time of great famine in that part of the world. Instead of punishing his brothers, Joseph continued to “forgive” and “comfort and speak kindly” to his brothers and family, as God wished.
The psalm is Psalm 103:1-12, in which David speaks of how “merciful and gracious“ the Lord is, “not repaying us for our many sins,” but “removing our transgressions from us, as far as the East is from the West.” The Lord will “chide us” for our sins, but He also “forgives” us and “redeems our lives” and “renews” us and calls us to “fear” and trust in Him and His “steadfast love.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 18: 21-35, Jesus teaches Peter to keep on forgiving others, again and again, 70 times 7 times, a perfect and complete number of time, as God has forgiven him. Jesus also tells a parable, showing that we are not to take for granted God’s amazing, overwhelming forgiveness for us, but to be willing to forgive others, from the heart, as God has first forgiven us. (The amount forgiven the “unforgiving“ servant, 10,000 talents, was an impossible amount. It is estimated that Herod, the rich, powerful King of the Jews, earned only 900 talents a years. Then the servant, forgiven so much, refuses to forgive a $20 debt someone else owes him. Do we remember how great and costly the forgiveness Jesus earned for us really was?)
Paul, in the Epistle lesson, Romans 14:1-12, calls upon believers not to “quarrel” with one another over “opinions,” where the Lord gives us freedom. He uses the examples of what people “eat and don’t eat,” and whether they “esteem one day as more important than others.” Paul clearly says that the person who has strict rules about such things is the “weaker” person, because under the New Covenant in Christ, there are not rules about such things. However, it is not evil to be a vegetarian or also eat meat, or to worship only on Sunday or on Saturday night or another day. Whatever we do, we are to it all to the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31) and to be united in Christ, who “died and rose again” for us. Our “knees bow before Him,” and “we confess Him” as Lord.
We look today at the second letter to churches in Asia Minor in the ancient Roman Empire. This letter is in Revelation 2:8-11 and is addressed to the angel (the messenger, the pastor and other leaders), Revelation 2:8, of the church at Smyrna, a city about 40 miles north of Ephesus. It was an ancient Ionian city that had been destroyed and then was later rebuilt by Alexander the Great in 320 BC. It was a commercial center with a strong emperor cult (worship of the Roman emperor) and also had a sizeable Jewish population.
As with the other letters in Revelation 2-3, this letter includes a quotation from Revelation 1 and the vision John saw of the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:8). This quotation is from Revelation 1:17-18, where the eternal nature of Jesus is indicated and His oneness with God the Father, the Alpha and the Omega (who reflects the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet). Jesus is also the One who became man and lived and died for us and was raised to life in His Easter victory. Revelation 2:8 again also affirms that this letter is a message from Jesus Himself, though written down by the Apostle John.
Jesus indicates that He knows of the tribulation (the persecution and other troubles of this church, with many poor and in poverty); yet Jesus says that they are “rich” at the same time - rich in faith and in trust in the Lord (Revelation 2:9). They had already been experiencing “slander” and other attacks from the Jews of this city. These Jews claimed to be God’s people and yet were opposing Jesus and those who followed Him as the promised Savior and were therefore “a synagogue of Satan,” and not of God. (See how Jesus faced the same opposition in His ministry in passages like John 8:39-59, especially v. 43-47 and 58-59.)
As the followers of Jesus went out to share His Gospel, much of the opposition, at first, was from Jews, even though most of the first believers were Jews themselves, who had been brought to see that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Savior. (See Acts 13:42-50 and 14:1-7, 19 and 17:1-9, 13 and 18:5-17 and 21:27-36, etc.) This opposition from the Jews continued even to the end of the first century AD, when Jesus sent this letter to the Christians at Smyrna, We know from history of the Christian church that such persecution continued. Jews took a leading part in having Polycarp, the Christian leader at Smyrna, put to death in 155 AD.
In Revelation 2:10, Jesus warns that these Christians would suffer even more, with imprisonment and other troubles, probably referring to persecution coming from the Romans, also. We have already heard that the Emperor Domitian had begun to require everyone to worship him as Lord and God - something that Christians could not do. Such required worship was coming soon to Smyrna, a center of the “emperor cult,” with increasing pressure on Christians to conform to what Domitian wanted. This could mean testing of their faith and even being thrown in prison by Roman “devils,” too.
The hopeful news is that this will be a tribulation for 10 days. This is likely another symbolic number, meaning that this persecution would only be for a limited time. (See passages such as Genesis 24:55 and Daniel 1:12,14, where 10 days refers to a limited time of testing, controlled by the Lord.) From what we know from Roman history, Emperor Domitian was assassinated in September, 96 AD. The persecution of Christians in Smyrna would be difficult, but it would not be long-lasting, with Domitian soon to die.
Jesus gave a great promise, though, to the Christians at Smyrna. Some of them might even face death, but if they were faithful to Christ even unto death, they would receive the crown of life. Jesus died on the cross, but He rose again. The same is true of all believers who live and die in faith in Jesus. They will receive the “crown” of eternal life won for them by Christ. (See also Romans 14:7-9 and Paul’s description of Christians in 2 Corinthians 6:8-10. See also 1 Corinthians 9:25.)
This passage is often given to young people at their confirmation in the Lutheran church, still today. Lifelong faithfulness to Jesus is important, even if we do not face the exactly the same dangers the early Christians faced. Times of testing of our faith come to all of us. That is why Revelation 2:11 reminds us to have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit says also to us. We conquer through Christ and trust in His victorious work for us; and “the second death” cannot hurt us, as we continue in Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, through His Word. “The second death” refers to eternal torment (hell) in “the lake of fire.” See Revelation 20:10, 14-15 and 21:8, and the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:28. Jesus also reminds that the lake of fire was prepared for the devil and his evil angels, but that those who reject Christ and follow the ways of Satan can end up there, too (Matthew 25:41).
Remember above all, though, the promises of God given to the Christians at Smyrna and to us, too, in Christ. See also these promises of the crown of life, prepared for us in heaven: 2 Timothy 4:8, James 1:12, and 1 Peter 5:4. There is our eternal hope, in life and in the time of our own death, whether in a peaceful way or in a time of trouble or persecution. Christ is with us always.
The Scriptures this week call us to repentance for our sins, but also to caring for others and calling others to repentance and faith.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 33:7-9. The city of Jerusalem had fallen to Babylonian invaders, because of the sin and rebellion of the Israelites (Ezekiel 33:21). Ezekiel’s work as a prophet was not done, though. He was called by the Lord to continue to be a watchman, speaking words God had given him and warning people to turn from their evil ways or they will die in their iniquities, their sins. The Lord still always wants people, including the Israelites, to turn back to Him and be forgiven and live in Him (Ezekiel 33:10-12).
The psalm is Psalm 32:1-7, one of the penitential psalms of David, where he speaks of repenting for his sins and rejoicing in God’s forgiveness. When he tried to hide his sins, David was miserable, “groaning” day and night, and feeling that his “strength was dried up.” Finally, he “confessed his transgression to the Lord” - and how “blessed” was God’s forgiveness for him. He had been trying to hide from God, but now God was his “hiding place,” his place of “deliverance” and “preservation.” David uses three words for wrongdoing: “transgression” (stepping beyond the boundaries God has set for our lives); “sin” (trying to do what God wants but missing the mark He sets for us); and “iniquity” (the unevenness in our life, where we sometimes do right and then turn right around and do wrong and are guilty). How good it was that David could bring His sins to the Lord, and “the Lord would count no iniquity against him.” (See how part of this psalm is quoted by Paul in Romans 4:1-8, too, as he emphasizes that we are counted righteous by faith, “apart from works.”)
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 18:1-20. the disciples ask Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” - probably thinking about their own greatness. Jesus puts a little child in their midst and calls them to have humble, childlike trust in the Lord. There is greatness, and how tragic it would be to lead astray one of these little ones who has faith. They have guardian angels and should not be despised. Watch out for anything, Jesus also adds, that could lead you or others into temptation, and avoid such things. Jesus also talks about His care for those who are lost and straying, like sheep, and those already guilty of wrongdoing, and provides a process for dealing with them, within the church, called church discipline and the Office of the Keys and Confession. The goal is always for people to be brought to repentance for their sins and forgiveness and renewed faith and fellowship within the church.
The Epistle lesson is Romans 13:1-10. As we heard last week, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God” (Romans 12:19). A day of final judgment will come. In the meantime, God has provided government as a way of keeping basic order and authority in our sinful world. Government “is the servant of God, an avenger, who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” We are therefore to “be subject to the governing authorities” and “pay our taxes” and “revenues,” and give “respect” and “honor” where it is owed. In our personal lives, we are called again to “love one another.” Many of the 10 Commandments can be summarized in the words, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” and “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” Here is where the repentance and forgiveness talked about in the other readings come in, as we look in the “mirror” of those commandments and realize that we have done wrong or others have done wrong, also. That is why Jesus died for us all, so that we can give and receive such real forgiveness through Him.
Last week, we heard Jesus complimenting the church in Ephesus for patient endurance in the truth and for standing firm against false teachers, who called themselves apostles, and against the Nicolaitans, with their immorality and evil works, which both the Ephesian Christians and Jesus hated. However, the Ephesians had also abandoned the love they had at first and were called to repent and do the works they did earlier, or their church’s existence was in danger.
We looked at a number of Scriptures that talked about “speaking the truth in love” and “faith working through love” and the continuing importance of considering “how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25). That would follow along with “holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
We do not know exactly what the “abandoning of love” problem was, but notice what Jesus then says: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). These are exactly the same words given to all of the seven churches. A very important element in solving the problems of any church is getting back to listening to the Word of God given to us all by the Holy Spirit. We read, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching” and especially for making us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” and “equipping us for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15-17). Peter also reminds us, “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). Jesus Himself added to that later in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 22, by three times emphasizing, “Blessed is the one who keeps the Words of the prophecy of this book” (Revelation 22:7). See also v.9 and the message not to “add to” or “take away” from these Words (Revelation 22:18-19). (This refers especially to Revelation, but certainly also applies to all of the Scriptures, as this is the last book given to us by our Lord.)
The center of the Scriptures is Jesus Himself and what He has done for us as our Savior. During His ministry, Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus was always calling people to trust in Him. A little later, Peter said to Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:63-64 and 68-69). If people are hearing what the Spirit says in the Word of God, they are hearing the truth about Jesus. John, in one of his letters, also warns that we should not look for something new and different that is not centered in Christ and His Word. “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).
From what we have been reading, we would also have the work and teaching of the Holy Spirit, as well. That is why the very next thing Jesus says in His letter to the church at Ephesus is, “To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). The tree of life had been in the Garden of Eden, a perfect paradise, before the rebellion against God’s will and the fall into sin. Then, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden and from access to the tree of life (Genesis 2:9, 3:23-24).
One other possible reference to this tree is in Proverbs 3:13,18, where Wisdom is described as “a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” This is likely a prophecy of Jesus, who is called in the New Testament “the power of God and the Wisdom of God” and “who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘Let one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30-31).
It is through Jesus and His wisdom and redeeming work that we are saved and will eat of the tree of life in eternal life in heaven (Revelation 2:7). Jesus told the thief on the cross, who was brought to faith in Him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is a reference to heaven, where the soul of the thief went, by faith in Jesus, as soon as he died. The “tree of life” is also identified as being in heaven in Revelation 22:2,14, and 19; and in v. 14, we are told, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life.” And how are their robes washed and made white? Revelation 7:14 tells us. They are cleansed “in the blood of the Lamb.” In the same way, John tells us, in another of his letters, “The blood of Jesus His (God’s) Son cleanses us (also) from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Everything depends upon Christ Jesus and what He has done for us. It should be no surprise, then, that the only way that anyone “conquers” (Revelation 2:7) is also only through Christ. See Romans 8:37-39: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us… (Nothing) with be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus promised, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). (“Overcoming” is the same Greek word that is translated as “conquered” in Revelation 2:7.) The same thing is said in Revelation 12:10-11, where we hear that “our God and His Christ… have conquered him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony.”
In other words, if the Christians in Ephesus realize their own sins and failures to stay close to Christ and His Word and trust too much in themselves and things other than Jesus, and confess all that to Christ, He will forgive them and strengthen and renew them, through His Word and Spirit and love first given to them, in spite of their weaknesses. As they see again, through the Word, how great Christ’s love is for them. Though they do not deserve any of it, they will be more ready, in gratitude for His great love, to want to share that love and Good News with others, as He so often teaches. As John wrote, “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It all starts and continues with Christ. Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:9-10). Our love and good works are then a reflection of Christ’s love and a response to His love, and He enables us, and He gets the honor and credit, as Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Here are a few more of many Scriptures encouraging Christian love and care for others in our lives, in thanks for Christ’s love and to give good, useful help to others. Some of these are what are called “third use of the Law” passages, pointing to the Commandments as a guide, a ruler for our lives, but always connected to Christ and His Word, in their context:
- Words of Jesus: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
- “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law. For the Commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this Word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.” (Romans 13:8-10)
- “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the sacrificial offering) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:9-11)
- “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes (conquers) the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5)
- Finally, Paul writes, helping the Christians at Ephesus and us to keep the Law and Gospel in proper perspective: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works…. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.” (Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-8)
Next week, we will move on to the other letters in Revelation 2. The Lord’s blessings.
Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28
Sermon originally delivered August 28, 2011
The Scriptures this week encourage us to seek to follow our Lord and seek to do His will, not to earn God’s favor, but as a reflection of our love for and our trust in Him and as a witness for our Lord to others, for what He has already done for us, especially in Christ.
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 15:15-21. God had said that His people had been so sinful and rebellious that even if the great prophets Moses and Samuel pleaded on their behalf, God would not listen (Jeremiah 15:1). What could Jeremiah then do? He asks the Lord to “remember and visit” him. God’s Words have been a “joy and delight for his heart,” and he has “sat alone” and avoided evil “revelers” and had disgust (indignation) toward their behaviors. Yet why was His “pain unceasing” in his miserable life? Was God being “deceptive” to him, like “a brook” that dries up and is gone? The Lord calls Jeremiah to repent and “return” to Him and speak His “precious” Word. Then Jeremiah would be like “a fortified wall of bronze” and God would “save and deliver” him from “the wicked.”
In the psalm, Psalm 26, David, too, speaks of his “trust in the Lord” and his attempts to “walk in God’s faithfulness.” He has tried to avoid “false men and hypocrites, evildoers, and the wicked.” He “loves” to be in “God’s house” and to “tell of His wondrous deeds.” Yet he fears “bloodthirsty men with “evil devices” and “full of bribes.” He prays for God to “be gracious to him and redeem him,” for he is trying to “walk in integrity,” in a very “sin-filled” world.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:21-28, Jesus is telling His disciples that He too must “take up His cross” and “suffer many things” and “be killed” and only then “be raised from the dead,” in order to forgive the sins of people and “save” their “souls.” Peter, who had just recently confessed that Jesus was the Christ (Matthew 16:16), was then “rebuking” Jesus and saying that “such terrible things would never happen to Him.” Jesus tells Peter that he was serving “Satan” by trying to oppose “the things of God,” which included Jesus “losing His life” for the salvation of the world. Jesus predicts, though, that “some standing with Him” would get to see a glimpse of Him in “His glory” in His “coming kingdom.” (See Matthew 17:1-8, the Transfiguration of Jesus.)
In the Epistle lesson, then, in Romans 12:9-21, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul calls upon Christians to show to others the “genuine love” with which Christ Jesus first loved them, “serving the Lord” and helping with the needs of others, even their “persecutors.” Paul gives a long list of what they could and should do, summarized with the words, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” They do these “acts of mercy with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:8) in gratitude for the mercy and eternal “hope” already given them in Christ their Savior.
Last week, we saw that Jesus, not John, is the truly important One in what is said in Revelation, and that Jesus makes it clear that there is much symbolism and imagery in this book. The lampstands are the churches, and the stars are the angels, the messengers, the pastors and teachers of the churches.
As Chapter 2 of Revelation begins, then, John is told to write what Jesus tells him to write to the leader of the church in Ephesus. John records the Words, but these are the “Words of Jesus” Himself, Who is “walking among” the seven churches listed in Revelation 1:11 and actively observing and concerned about them (Revelation 2:1). Jesus cared deeply about those churches, and He still cares about our churches today. His Words are for all of us to listen to and consider.
Ephesus was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia, a port city and commercial center about three miles from the Aegean Sea, in what is today a part of Turkey. Paul had been there on his second and third missionary journeys, and he and others had helped establish a church there. Paul had spent almost three years there, and others who worked there included Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos, and Timothy, at times. You can read about this missionary work in Acts 18:19-20:1. From this center, the Gospel of Christ went out to the other six cities and churches to whom the other messages in Revelation 2-3 were sent. A colony of Jews lived in Ephesus, with a synagogue, but the great majority were non-Jews of many backgrounds. A prominent temple in the city was dedicated to the goddess Artemis (Diana). The early Christians had challenges from Jews and from followers of Artemis.
Paul left Ephesus, after a time of conflict and “uproar,” with many opposed to him and his Christian teaching. Later, he called the leaders of the church at Ephesus and asked them to meet him at a nearby city and gave them final words of warning and encouragement, and “commended them to God and to the Word of His grace, which would be able to build them up and ensure them of God’s promised eternal Inheritance.” (You can read these Words of God in Acts 20:16-38, and especially v.32.)
Still later, the Apostle John became the leader of the church in Ephesus and the others churches of this area. He also wrote his “Gospel of John” and three letters found near the end of the New Testament. Finally, about 95 AD, he was banished to the island of Patmos by the Roman Emperor Domitian, as we have already heard, and from there, wrote what we are studying now. He writes to the current “angel” (messenger) leader in Ephesus.
Each of the seven letters follows a similar pattern. There is a reference back to something from Revelation 1, indicating that this letter came from Jesus, though written down by John. Then we hear Jesus Himself speaking, “I know…” (Revelation 2:2ff).
First, He commends them for good things that have been happening in and through the church. “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance…” “I know you are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not grown weary” (Revelation 2:2-3). (The people were seeking to follow Scriptures like Galatians 6:9 and 2 Thessalonians 3:13.) Paul had also warned them, long before, that “fierce wolves would come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” The Christians at Ephesus had listened and were “dealing with those “who are evil” and “tested those who called themselves apostles, and are not, and found them to be false” (Acts 20:29-30, and Revelation 2:2). (Again, the church at Ephesus was trying to follow Scriptures like 1 John 4:1 and 2 Corinthians 11:12-15)
Then Jesus speaks of the failings of the church at Ephesus. “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Keep on remembering therefore from where you have fallen” (Revelation 2:4-5). Paul had written, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up into Him Who is the head, into Christ… so that the body (of Christ, the church) grows so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16). Jesus had warned that there are times when “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
At such times, even God’s people may be so busy criticizing and condemning the wrongs all around them that they forget to “speak the truth in love,” still trying to care for the people so lost, all around them. When Jesus spoke of those coming bad times, He also remembered to encourage His people to endure and keep the faith, and to keep “proclaiming the Gospel,” the Good News of God’s love, throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations.” (Matthew 24:13-14).
All this is a great challenge for God’s people. The church at Ephesus was to keep standing up for the truth and condemning wrongdoing. Jesus also complimented them “for hating the work of the Nicolaitans, which He also hated” (Revelation 2:6). The Nicolaitans were people who wanted to compromise with the paganism all around them, just to make life easier for themselves and be more like everyone else. Why not go along with what others do, even it is wrong, just to get along with others?, they said. Peter had warned, “The time that is past has sufficed for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you" (1 Peter 4:3-4). Nicolaitans needed to be opposed and condemned. But the Scriptures also say so much about “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). The writer to the Hebrews speaks strongly of “holding the confession of our hope without wavering, for God who promised is faithful.” But he also combines that with: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:23-25).
Jesus calls the church to “repentance,” then, for forgetting “love” and calls them “to be doing the works they did at first, in love.” I am going to stop here, for now, as I don’t want to go on too long and as I suspect that these Words speak to every church, including our own, in some ways. Jesus added, “Let him who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7), including our own. The Good News is that there is always forgiveness in Christ and hope in His love, first given to us. We will talk about this more next week and look at the rest of what Jesus says in this first letter to the churches. The Lord’s blessings and strength.
Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 51:1-6
Romans 11:33-12:8
Matthew 16:13-20
Sermon originally delivered August 21, 2011
The theme of our readings this week could be summarized in this way: God does the good. It is He Whom we trust and praise. He enables the good we do.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 51:1-6. God asks His people to “look at the rock from which they hewn.” Their nation began with “Abraham and then Sarah,” but it was God Who “blessed and multiplied them.” He “comforted them “ and gave His people “joy and gladness.” The Lord says, “Listen to Me… Give attention to Me… Give ear to Me.” It is His righteousness and salvation and His mighty “arm” that will bring hope. The things of this “heaven and earth” will “vanish,” but God’s “righteousness and salvation” will be forever.”
The psalm is Psalm 138. David gives “thanks and praise” to the Lord “before the gods.” Some think he is referring to the angels, who are perfect and like God in some ways. More likely, David is saying that he trusts the one True God and His “Name and steadfast love and faithfulness and Word” instead of the false gods all around, who are not real and are worthless to put trust in. (See Psalm 135:15-18.) The Lord is the One “who answers calls and strengthen souls, and preserves life and delivers,” rather than “earthly kings.” David says, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.” David knows that he cannot do it himself.
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 11:33-12:8, Paul speaks of the greatness of God’s “wisdom and knowledge and ways.” No one is capable of “counseling” Him or doing anything for which God is indebted to him and needs to “repay” him. “For from God and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.” We seek to be “holy and acceptable” to God in our lives as our “spiritual worship,” but it is only “by the mercies of God” that our minds can “transformed and renewed” and we can better “discern the will of God.” We are “one body in Christ,” but God gives us “different gifts according to the grace He has given us,” and “we are called humbly to use those gifts given us.” There is no need to compare ourselves with others, for “we do not all have the same function,” in what God wants to accomplish through us.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:13-20, Peter makes the great and true confession that Jesus “is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus makes it clear, though, that Peter did not figure this out on his own, by his own ability. He is not the great One, but just is “blessed” because “the Father in heaven” has “revealed” this to him. Peter is not the “Rock” on which the church is to be built. Jesus is the Rock and the confession of Him as Lord and “the Son of the Living God” is key. Peter and the others disciples and the church are given the “Office of the Keys,” though, with the ability to forgive sins, in Christ’s Name, or withhold forgiveness when people are not repentant and believing. (See this passage and Matthew 18:15-18 and John 20:19-23, for example. Jesus is the One Who truly “has the keys of Death and Hades,” though, and has opened the door to heaven and eternal life for us (Revelation 1:17-18). See a fuller discussion of all this in the second half of last week’s Bible study, the podcast on “Revelation 1-3 and Ears to Hear,” Part 4.)
Last week we saw that the important One that John sees in his vision is Jesus Christ, the Living One, alive forevermore, One with the Living God of the Old Testament. We also saw what some of the imagery of Christ means - that He has a two-edged sword in His mouth and keys of death and Hades. John is simply to write down what he has seen.
John had also seen “seven stars in the right hand” of Jesus (Revelation 1:16) and that He, Jesus, was standing “in the midst of seven lampstands” (1:12-13). The “mystery” (something hidden) of what these are is now revealed, too, in 1:20 by Jesus Himself, as a Divine revelation. Jesus says that the “seven stars” are “the angels of the seven churches” to whom John is to write; and the “seven lampstands” are the “seven churches.”
This is important to note, as one of our principles for interpreting the Scriptures is to take things “literally” unless there is something in the text or context to suggest otherwise. In this case, Jesus is telling us that “stars” are not always literal “stars.” They represent something else. This indicates that there can be lots of symbolism and picture images in Revelation - as there are. Jesus does not literally have a knife in His mouth, but we can see what that image means about Him. Those who try to take all of Revelation literally run into many problems.
Some passages are just common sense, too. When Jesus says of Herod, “Go and tell that fox” (Luke 13:32), we can tell that He is speaking of Herod’s character, not that he was literally a fox. Poetry, such as the psalms and other poetic materials, have lots of picture-images and figures of speech. Psalm 96:12 speaks of “the trees of the forest singing for joy,” and Psalm 98:8 says “the rivers clap their hands;” and we get what those images mean. In contrast, there is nothing in Genesis 1-3 that tells us to take those chapters in a non-literal way, though many try to make them into parables or fables of some sort. Genesis 1-3 is God describing, through Moses, His actual creation of the universe and our world and the first people and then, their fall into sin. Scripture itself often helps us interpret other Scriptures, too. (If you look through Scripture, God is always described as the Creator of all things, and the first people and the fall into sin as real events of real people.)
Going back to Revelation, Jesus says in Revelation 1:20 that the “seven stars” are “the angels of the seven churches. ”The Greek word “angel” means a messenger, and angels sometimes delivered messages. Some think, then, that these angels for the churches are some kind of literal guardian angels, another function that angels, who are real, can perform. Revelation 2:1 says though, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write.” There really are no clear Biblical examples of letters being written to literal angels. Most think that the meaning “messenger” is a better understanding of Revelation 2:1, and that this refers to pastors and teachers and leaders of the churches, who are God’s messengers in each of the churches and would read and share what was written to them with the members of their churches.
See, for example, Malachi 2:6, which says, “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his lips, for he is the messenger (same word as angel) of the Lord of hosts.” See also Daniel 12:3: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Those who share the Word of God are compared with stars of the sky, because of the bright light of God’s truth that they share.
In Revelation 1:20, the seven lampstands symbolize the seven churches themselves, to whom the letters are to go. Often God’s people, who are the church, an assembly of believers, are called to be lights or lamps to others and to the world. See Matthew 5:14-16, for example. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven.”
One more thought, and then we will stop for this week. Note that in Revelation 1:12, Jesus is pictured as in the midst of the seven lampstands, which we now know are the seven churches to whom John’s vision are to go. Jesus is also pictured In Revelation 1:16 as holding the seven stars, which we now know are the seven angels (messengers - pastors and teachers), in His hand. Both of these images picture Jesus as being closely involved in all that is going on with the messengers and the churches themselves. The messengers and churches are important, but Jesus still is most important, leading and guiding through them and through His Word.
Next week, we will look at the message to the church at Ephesus, in Revelation 2:1-7. If you have time, read Acts 19 and 20:17-38 to get some of history of the ministry in Ephesus.
The Lord’s continued blessings to you all. As Paul wrote in Philippians 2:15-16, “May you be children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of Life.”
The Scripture readings this week make it clear that God’s love in Christ is for all people and not just limited to God’s Old Testament Jews. The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 56:1, 6-8. Earlier Scriptures seemed to say that non-Jews could only enter one limited part of the temple in Jerusalem. Now, though, God says through Isaiah that His house would be a “house of prayer for all people” and that “foreigners” (non-Jews, Gentiles) could also “be joyful in His house of prayer” and even their “sacrifices would be acceptable on His altar.” The Lord said, “I will gather yet others, besides those already gathered,” as My people. This was all fulfilled in Jesus, who said, in John 10:16, “I have other other sheep that not of this fold (of the Jews). I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” This would be the flock of all who trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The psalm is Psalm 67, predicting that “our gracious God” would make His “saving power known among all nations.” Then, “all the peoples could praise Him.” “His way may be known on earth” and “all the ends of the earth could fear Him” and love and trust Him, as “He makes His face shines upon us.” Again, this happened through Jesus and His saving sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the whole world, and His call to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20).
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 15:21-28. (John the Baptist had been killed; religious leaders had come from Jerusalem to attack and argue with Jesus; and He then “withdrew” to where He rarely went, outside of Israel, “to the district of Tyre and Sidon.”) There, a Canaanite woman asks for His mercy and help in freeing her daughter from a demon. Jews normally hated Canaanites, as they hated Samaritans and many other non-Jews. Jesus’ disciples wanted to get rid of the woman, and Jesus ignores her and then seems to treat her badly. He is actually growing the “great” gift of faith in her, until she is willing to have just a few “crumbs” of His mercy and that would be enough. Jesus’ mercy is always enough, and her daughter is healed instantly by Him.
The Good News of Jesus as Savior is now to go to the whole world. “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). In the Epistle Lesson, Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15,28-32, Paul also reminds, though, that God still loves His Old Testament people of Israel, and wishes salvation for them, as well. He says, “At the present time there is a remnant (of the Jews), chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:5-6). Paul himself is one of those “Israelites, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin” and brought to faith through the risen Lord Jesus Himself. Paul knows that he has been called especially to be an apostle to the Gentiles, and he “magnifies his ministry,” in hope that his fellow Jews would notice and that “some of them also might be saved.” All people, including Jews are in “disobedience” on their own, and need to “receive God’s mercy” and “life from the dead,” which comes now only through faith in Jesus as their Savior.
Last week, we looked at part of the initial vision that the apostle John received, as recorded in Revelation 1:10-18. It was a vision of the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ, in glory in heaven. It had many similarities with the vision given to Daniel, in Daniel 7:13-14, predicting the glorious return of Jesus to His Father after completing His saving work on earth. His appearance is much like that of the Ancient of Days, the Father, pictured in Daniel 7:9-10. This shows His oneness with God the Father and reflects the idea of the Trinity, which becomes clearer and clearer in the New Testament.
Note also that the risen Christ has “eyes like a flame of fire” and “feet like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace,” and “a voice like the roar of many waters.” This sounds somewhat like the heavenly figure that Daniel sees in Daniel 10:5-6, too. This seems to be an angelic figure, who is fighting evil along with Michael the archangel, and some think, along with God the Son, too, before He took on human flesh to do His saving work on earth. The angelic figure had a face that had the appearance of lightning (Daniel 10:6). The risen, glorified Lord Jesus in heaven has a face “like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:16).
God the Son, of course, had that glory from all eternity, but “emptied Himself,” and became a humble human man (Philippians 2:5-8) in order to do His saving work for us. He was still God, as well, but sinful people on earth only saw tiny glimpses of His full glory, as on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2). They could not survive, seeing His full glory on earth. Notice how Peter, James, and John fell with their faces to the ground (Matthew 17:6); and even John in the vision did the same (Revelation 1:17). Think about how dangerous it would be for you to stare at the sun, even though it is so far, far away.
A predominant color in these visions and in Revelation 1 and other places in Revelation is the color “white.” “White” symbolizes purity and holiness. (See Isaiah 1:16,18.) Notice how many times in the New Testament Jesus is called “the Holy One” or “the Holy One of God.” See, for example, Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, Acts 2:27, Acts 3:14, Acts 13:35, (Psalm 16:10), and Hebrews 7:26. We have already heard that Jesus “has freed us from our sins by His (cleansing) blood” (Revelation 1:5). We also know that Jesus needed to be without sin all His life, in order to be a perfect substitute for us, in life and in death (Hebrews 4:15).
John also saw in his vision that from the mouth of Jesus came “a sharp two-edged sword.” Other Scripture tell us that the primary tool that God uses with us is His Word, and the same image is used a number of times. The “Servant of God” in Isaiah is clearly a prediction of Jesus our Savior, and the Servant says, “He (the Lord) made My mouth like a sharp sword” (Isaiah 49:2). Paul reminds us of “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The writer to the Hebrews said, “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
“Through the Law (of God) comes knowledge of sin.” The Law exposes us as who we really are: poor, miserable sinners, compared with the Holy Lord (Romans 3:19-20, Hebrews 4:13). “The Gospel,” in contrast, “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:16-17). There is our hope, and even our faith is a gift, given and worked by God through His Word.
The risen, living Lord Jesus then touched John with His right hand, representing His power and compassion for him, and said, “Fear not.” (You can stop being afraid, John) (Revelation 1:17). Then we hear nothing more about John in this first vision, other than that he was to write down what he had seen, about both present and future things (Revelation 1:19). The important One, in this vision and throughout the Book of Revelation, is not John but the Lord Jesus.
He is the living one, who died for us, but is risen and “alive forevermore.” He is also “the living one,” the essence of what true life really is all about. Other so-called gods and goddesses are dead, not alive, but the Lord Jesus is “the living one,” one with God the Father of the Old Testament of whom it is said, “The living God is among you,” as the Israelites entered the Promised Land (Joshua 3:10). The Psalmist wrote, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God… My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God” (Psalm 42:2 and 84:2).
This is the one True God: God the Father, “the Living God,” and God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the “living one,” and as we shall see in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, God the Holy Spirit, as well, who also inspires and works through the same “Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:2 and 2:7). “He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
This same One true God also has the keys of Death and Hades (which can also mean “Hell”). The Lord had asked Job long before, in the Old Testament, “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness (Job 38:17)? Job did not know just how the Lord God could deal with death and deep darkness, but by faith he knew that God could take care of all this. By God’s power, he had prophesied about Jesus, the coming Savior, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself” (Job 19:25-27).
The New Testament, then, tells us that Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:15-16). (Note again the connection Peter makes between Jesus, the living one, and God the Father, the living God, that was already talked about in the previous paragraph.) Jesus said right away that “Peter was blessed, because flesh and blood had not revealed this connection to him.” He had not figured this out by his own power and wisdom, and no other human being had told him this.
This was revealed to him by God the Father, who is in heaven (Matthew 16:17). It was on this Rock, not Peter but the confession and belief that Jesus was the Promised Savior, on which the church would be built (Matthew 16:18). Jesus Himself said it, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Paul also wrote, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
Christ, whose saving work gives us the gift of forgiveness and new life, is the key to eternal life. Jesus then gave to Peter and to the other disciples and the church the “Office of the Keys,” where the church can declare God’s forgiveness of sins to people and withhold forgiveness when people are not repentant and/or persist in unbelief (Matthew 16:19, 18:15-18, and John 20:21-23). What God always wants to do, of course, is to forgive sins. That is why Christ died for us all. People can resist and reject Christ and that forgiveness, though.
There is still more in Revelation 1, but we will stop for today. Next week, we will hopefully finish Chapter 1 and get into the specific letters to churches. The Lord’s continued blessings. May the Lord help you to be confident in Christ and His love for you always.
Sermon for 11th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Job 38:4-18
Romans 10:5-17
Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon originally delivered August 7, 2011
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 18:1-6 (7-16). If you look at 2 Samuel 22, you will find the original context of this poetic psalm and almost the exact same words, when David spoke these words to the Lord in thanksgiving “that He had delivered him from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” David uses word after word to describe how the Lord was his Shield and Deliverer. When he was surrounded by death and the torrents of destruction, David cried for help, and the Lord heard his voice. A great, great storm is described and then from on high, the Lord “took David and drew him safely out of many waters.”
The Old Testament lesson is from Job 38:4-18. Job, in his many troubles, has been challenging God and His ways and will. Finally, God asks Job a series of questions, also in a poetic way, wondering where Job was when He created the earth, or if Job ever commanded the morning into being. Did Job set the dimensions of the sea or ever walk in the recesses of the depths of the sea? Could Job comprehend how great the expanse of the earth really was? Declare it, if you know all this, God says. After this goes on and on, Job finally has to admit, “Now my eyes have seen you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
These readings lead up to Jesus, in the Gospel lesson, Matthew 14:22-33, going off to pray by himself and then coming to the disciples, walking on the water of the stormy Sea of Galilee. The disciples think “it is a ghost” that they see, until Jesus assures them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Impetuous Peter wants to walk on the water, too, and Jesus tells him to come. Peter walks on the water, but soon fears and doubts and sinks. Jesus immediately rescues him, but speaks of his “little faith.” As soon as they get in the boat, the stormy wind ceases, and the disciples worship and say of Jesus, “truly You are the Son of God.” (As God the Son helped create the natural world and has control of it, and drew David out of many stormy situations, He could also walk on water and rescue Peter and the other disciples. He can help us, too, with our doubts and fears, as we are much like Peter, at times. He is the One who has saved us, too.)
How does God both create faith and strengthen it in us, too? Paul tells us, in our Epistle lesson, Romans 10:5-17. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.” That Word is “the Word of faith that we proclaim,” Paul says. It is not based on what we do, in obedience to God’s law, but through trust in what Christ has done for us. “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” The Lord brings us to that faith through the Word of God, the Scriptures, and our baptism and then “bestows His riches upon us” as we keep calling upon Him in prayer for His help and forgiveness and keep hearing and speaking more and more of His Word, in our mouths and our hearts.
As we heard last week, John makes it clear that he is writing a message from the one true Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that this message centers especially in the saving work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, already accomplished, and His promise to come again in glory.
John received a number of visions from the Lord God, and the first he reveals is in Revelation 1:9-3:22, the focus of this study. In 1:9, John identifies himself as the one who received this vision and the others, as he had done in 1:4. and does again in 22:8. He speaks in the same way as Daniel did, several times, in his Old Testament book: “I, Daniel.” (See Daniel 9:2, 7:15, and 8:1.)
John identifies himself, with the people in the seven churches to whom he writes (1:11), calling himself their “brother and partner” (one who has fellowship with them) because of their faith together in “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (1:9). Through Jesus, they share in the “Kingdom” of God (1:6), but being in this Kingdom in this sinful world also means that they share in “tribulation” (trouble and pressure that can lead to persecution) and in the need for “patient endurance” in the strength of Jesus (1:9). (The Roman historian, Pliny, identified this same island of Patmos, mentioned in 1:9, as a place of exile for people in trouble with the Roman authorities. Some were required to work in mines there, though we don’t hear that said specifically of John. It was certainly a place of “tribulation” and the need for “patient endurance” for him, too.)
John says, in 1:10, that he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” That John was “in the Spirit” means that he was being inspired and led by the Holy Spirit in what he wrote, as were the other Biblical writers.(See the same phrase used of David’s writing, quoted in Matthew 22:43.) The “Lord’s day” refers to Sunday. Christ had made Sunday His special day, as He rose from the dead on that day and sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, also a Sunday. Christians soon began to worship together on Sunday, “on the first day of the week,” though there was no requirement to do so. (See Acts 20:7, for example.)
The commentator, Lenski, mentions this and says Revelation 1-3 could be summarized as “John sees Christ.” Lenski also suggests that John, sitting in exile, must have greatly missed being able to worship regularly with the fellow believers in the churches he was the leader of for so many years. (Think about “shut-ins” in our own churches today. How hard it must be for them, too, not to be able to get out to worship as they used to do. Pray for them and send them a note of encouragement or visit them, once in a while, if it is possible.)
John first hears a voice behind him, in his vision - a voice “great and loud, like a trumpet” - commanding him “to write what he sees in a book and send it to the seven churches” (1:10-11). (We will talk more about the specific churches when we get to Chapters 2 and 3.) John turned to see who was speaking, and he saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of them, “One like a Son of Man, with a long robe, down to His feet, and a golden sash around his chest.”
This term “son of man” was used often of Ezekiel in the Old Testament, as a prophet, but it is used much more often by Jesus, referring to Himself, in the New Testament, and reflecting what was said in prophecy of another “Son of Man” in Daniel 7:13-14 in the Old Testament. This Son of Man was presented to “the Ancient of Days,” God the Father, and He “was given dominion and glory and an everlasting Kingdom” in which “all kinds of people and languages and nations would serve Him.” This is almost exactly what John said of the risen, victorious Lord Jesus in Revelation 1:5-6. John was seeing in his vision the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man, as well as the Son of God, in glory in heaven.
In what John sees in this vision, Jesus now looks much like “the Ancient of Days,” God the Father, as described in Daniel 7:9, who had “clothing white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool, and fiery flames all around Him.” Compare this description with what is said of the “Son of Man” in Revelation 1:14. That it is Jesus in glory, like His Father, is confirmed in Revelation 1:17-18, where this “Son of Man” speaks and says, “I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I died , and behold, I am alive forevermore.”
There is much more in Revelation chapter one, but we will stop at this point, before this gets too long. Keep reading and be thinking about why God would give this vision to John, for his sake, and to be relayed to the churches, at this particular time. Notice also how Jesus in glory explains the true meaning of at least some of what John sees. What does this tell us about how we should read what is said in Revelation? The Lord’s continued blessings!
Sermon for 10th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 55:1-5
Romans 9:1-8
Matthew 14:13-21
Sermon originally delivered July 31, 2011
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 136:1-9 (23-26). The psalmist calls upon people to “give thanks to the Lord,” who alone is Lord and God. He is the Creator of heaven and earth and all things. Above all, “His steadfast love endures forever,” as every verse of the psalm says. He remembers people in their “lowly” situations in life and “rescues” them and even provides “food for all flesh.”
In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 55:1-5, the Lord calls everyone who is hungry and thirsty to come to Him for the spiritual food He provides. What we ourselves can do and buy will never “satisfy” us. The Lord’s gifts are gifts of grace, given “without money and without price,” as we “incline our ears” and “come to hear” and “listen diligently to Him.” In Him “our souls will live,” in His “steadfast, sure love.” Even “unknown nations” will be called and come to Him, through “the Holy One of Israel,” the Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 14:13-21, we see “a great crowd” of people coming to Jesus to hear Him and receive His gifts. He has “compassion” upon the people and helps them and even provides bread and fish in a miraculous way, free to all, so that “all ate and were satisfied” - “about five thousand men, besides women and children.”
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 9:1-5, Paul has “great sorrow” and “anguish” that many of his own people, the Israelites chosen by God in the Old Testament, were rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, “the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.” Paul almost wishes that he “could be cut off from Christ” if that would somehow help more of his fellow Jews come to faith. He knows, of course, that that would do no good. His people had so many blessings that he lists in this passage; but so sadly, they were not listening to “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness” (Revelation 1:5). (See also John 18:37, where Jesus tells Pilate, the Roman governor, “For this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” Pilate cynically rejected Jesus, too, saying, “What is truth?” Yet Jesus died for that truth and to pay for our sins and the sins of the world, including Pilate and Paul and his fellow Jews.) “It is not as though the Word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.”
Last week, we looked at an introduction to the Book of Revelation, written down by the Apostle John while he was on the island of Patmos, exiled by Roman authorities (Revelation 1:9). This was the “revelation of Jesus Christ” to be sent to seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey, Revelation 1:5); and blessings would come to those who read aloud this Word of God and to those who heard that Word and sought to keep it and follow it (Revelation 1:1-3). Blessings will still come to us today as we hear and read that Word, as we are doing now.
The word “revelation” (apokalupsis) in v.1 is important. It means the revealing or disclosure of hidden things and sometimes, but not always, refers to things in “the last times.” We find this “apocalyptic” writing in the Old Testament in places like Isaiah 24-27, Zechariah 9-14, Ezekiel, Joel, and Daniel, and now in Revelation, as well. This writing used many symbols and picture images and things like numbers and colors and stars, which had special meanings.
The Book of Revelation often reflects some of these Old Testament passages and has more allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament writing. (That is part of what makes Revelation more difficult for us to read, because we are often not so familiar with the Old Testament. These images tie the Old and New Testaments together, though, showing the fullness of God’s revelation, predicted in the Old Testament and revealed and fulfilled in the New Testament, especially in Jesus our Savior.)
Here is one example. The number “seven” represents “fullness and completion.” The word “blessed “ is used in Revelation in Chapter 1:3 and then six other times scattered throughout Revelation, ending in Revelation 22:7,14. The seven “blesseds” represent all the fullness of God’s blessings. John is directed to write to seven real churches in one area (Revelation 1:11), with specific messages for each. These seven really represent all churches, and as we listen, we can all learn from what is said to each of these churches. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh, a perfect, complete week (Genesis 2:2). Peter asks Jesus if he should forgive people up to seven times. That sounds like a complete enough number for forgiving. Jesus tells him to forgive 70 times 7 times - an uncountable number of times (Matthew 18:21-22). We could go on and on with this. This does not mean that numbers are not real, but they often represent something more.
In Revelation 1:4, then, John begins to reveal what has been shown to him and who revealed it - the one true Triune God, who wants to bring “grace and peace” to the churches and to all of us. There is He, “who is and who was and who is to come,” God the Father, who has always existed, present and past and future. (See also Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58 and Revelation 1:8.) There is also God the Holy Spirit, who is pictured here as seven Spirits, going to each of the seven churches to whom this original letter went. (See also Isaiah 11:2. The Spirit is one Spirit, but He will go to all these churches. There is also God the Son, Jesus Christ, “the Faithful Witness” to all of God’s plans, who lived them out for us (Revelation 1:5, John 18:37). Jesus is also “the Firstborn of the dead.” He died for us, but was also raised for us, that we too might have new and eternal life. Jesus also is “the Ruler of kings,” “the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16 and Matthew 28:18).
Since Jesus is at the center of God’s saving plan, even more is said of Him. “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.” In His love for us, Jesus, as a true man, as well as God the Son, was willing to be sacrificed on the cross, shedding His blood in payment for our sins, that we might be freed from their condemnation (Romans 8:1). Through Jesus we become part of God’s kingdom and priests to our God and Father (Revelation 1:6). This is what is described in 1 Peter 2:9-10. All those who trust in Christ as Savior become part of the New Israel, the new people of God. We cannot all be pastors or teachers, but we can serve the Lord and “proclaim the greatness of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” We can also say: “To Christ be glory and dominion forever!”
For, as Revelation 1:7 says, Christ “will come again with the clouds, and every eye will see Him.” As believers, we can rejoice with great joy when Jesus comes again (Luke 21:27-28 and Hebrews 9:26-28). We are prepared by trusting Christ, but others who have rejected the Lord will mourn and have great sorrow at the salvation they have lost. (See also John 19:37.) “Amen.” This is most certainly true. This will really happen. The time to trust in Christ in now, before He returns and it is too late.
The Lord God also says that he is “the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 1:8). These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. This is another way of saying that God is eternal. He is the beginning and the end of all things. He has always existed and always will, as v.4 also said. (Notice that the same words are used by God the Son, Jesus, about Himself in Revelation 22:13. This is true of each Person of the Trinity and by the Trinity as One True God.)
We will stop here for today. If you have time, read Revelation 1:9-20. Notice the unusual words and descriptions. These are part of the “apocalyptic” way of speaking that we find here and then in the letters to the churches in Chapters two and three, at times, too. The Lord’s blessings on your week.
Sermon for 9th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Deuteronomy 7:6-9
Romans 8:28-39
Matthew 13:44-52
Sermon originally delivered July 24, 2011
In the Old Testament lesson this week, Deuteronomy 7:6-9, God speaks of His great love for His “chosen” people, His “treasured possession” out of all nations. They are His, not because they are “greater in numbers” or (if you read the next few chapters of Deuteronomy) for a variety of other qualities within themselves. God is faithful to them because He loves them and has redeemed them from slavery in Egypt and will keep His “oath” and “covenant” and promises. It is purely by His grace, His undeserved “steadfast love” that they are His.
The psalm, Psalm 125, says much the same thing. As “mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His (chosen) people” who “trust” in Him. They “cannot be moved.” The Lord wishes that “peace be upon Israel.” However, there is the warning that “those who turn aside,” away from the Lord, “to their own crooked ways” - those people “the Lord will lead away with evildoers!” Those people would be “stretching out their hands to do wrong.” It is the same kind of warning given right after the Old Testament lesson, in Deuteronomy 7:10. The Lord “repays to their face those who hate Him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates Him.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 13:44-53, Jesus tells parables of “a treasure hidden in a field” and “a pearl of great price.” These treasures represent the Lord Himself and His blessings coming through Jesus and His saving work, by which people are now redeemed and forgiven and counted “good and righteous” and brought to trust in Him as Lord, above everything else. Such believers are “trained” by the promises of the Old Testament and the fulfillment in Christ of the New Testament. They will enter “the Kingdom of heaven,” through His love, unlike those who reject the Lord and His Word and end up “in the fiery furnace,” in hell, where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 8:28-39, Paul reminds us again that our future hope is not in ourselves but only in God and His love for us, as He works for our good, now and forever. He knew us from eternity and “called” us to be His own through His Word and baptism, and “justified” us by His grace in Christ, and will one day bring us to “glory” in eternal life. “If the Father “did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all,” and the Son willingly came to make such a sacrifice for us, simply in His “love” for us sinners, and the Spirit prays for and strengthens us, what is there that can separate us from that continuing love? Nothing can, whatever we face in this life, as we keep hanging onto “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The last few weeks, we have been hearing Jesus telling parables in Matthew 13 and then saying several times, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Jesus also said, “How blessed are your ears, for they hear,” in contrast with others who who are “hearing but they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
This made me think of the last book of the Bible, the Revelation to the Apostle John, including letters to be sent to seven churches in Asia Minor (not in modern day Asia, but in what is now the country of Turkey). In each of these seven letters, we hear the phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
In our Epistle lessons the last few weeks, we have also been hearing about the Holy Spirit and His importance in bringing us to faith in Christ and keeping us in that faith. We and our churches today still need to hear the Spirit’s guidance for our churches through God’s Word, and we have many problems and concerns that are similar to those described by John in Revelation. That is what we will look at in our study in the coming weeks. The actual letters are in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, but we will begin with Chapter 1, which will help us better understand what follows.
Here is a brief introduction. The Book of Revelation was likely the last of the books of the Bible to be written, in 95 AD, or at the latest, 96 AD. The early Christian leader, Irenaeus, tells us that John wrote this letter near the end of the reign of Domitian as Emperor of the Roman Empire, from 81-96 AD. Domitian strongly emphasized worship of the Emperor as a God and brought on widespread persecution of anyone who refused to worship Domitian in that way. That created serious problems for Christians, who would only worship the one true Triune God, saying that Jesus is Lord and God, to the glory of God the Father, in connection with God the Holy Spirit. (See Philippians 2:1, 5-11.
John, the author of Revelation, was one of the original disciples of Jesus and became the leader of the church in Ephesus, in Asia Minor, for many years. He wrote the Gospel of John and the 3 Letters of John that we have in the New Testament. As persecution of Christians increased, under Domitian and others, John was exiled to the island of Patmos, in the Mediterranean Sea. (See Revelation 1:9.) This was done by the Romans in the hope that leaving the church in Ephesus without its key leader would weaken the Christians in Ephesus and in all of Asia Minor. Maybe then these Christians would feel the pressure and worship the Emperor as a God, as Domitian wanted them to do. This would settle down these Christian rebels and bring more unity to the Roman Empire.
John, however, knew the prediction of Jesus that he would not die in the same way as Peter and the other original disciples did. (Tradition says that they all died as martyrs while sharing the Christian faith, other than John. See what John tells about Peter and him in John 21:17-24.) John could not travel to visit his old church and others, because of his “exile,” but he could write to them. Read Revelation 1:1-3.
John says that Jesus sent a revelation and prophecy from God to him through an angel, and John was to write down what he saw and heard from Jesus and send it to the seven churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 1:4). What John wrote was not his own word, but “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ;” and he was to write down “all that he saw” (v. 2).
Verse 3 then promises: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” (Remember that at that time, many people could not read, and there were very few “books” available. Most all of them were scrolls, and copies could only be made, very carefully by trained scribes, trained writers. Most people listened to what others read to them.)
What a privilege it is for us to have a Bible we can all read and study on our own, today. As we will see, what John wrote by the revelation of Jesus, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was not just for those ancient churches, but for us and our churches still today. Take time, if you can, to read through Revelation 1, for next week. Notice the unusual language and picture images as the chapter goes on; yet remember, “Blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written” (Revelation 1:3). “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9, 43).
Sermon for 8th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 44:6-8
Romans 8:18-27
Matthew 13:24-43
Sermon originally delivered July 17, 2011
I have often told people that I first could see for myself how valuable learning Greek could be when I studied Acts 2:24 in Greek. Speaking of Jesus, Peter said, “God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.” The Greek word for “pangs” most literally means “birthpangs.” Jesus’ terrible suffering and agony and pain (pangs) were like “birthpangs of death” out of which would come life - His resurrection from the dead, and new and eternal life for us who are brought to trust in Him as our Savior.
Death comes as a result of sin (Romans 6:23), and dying can often be a long and terrible and painful experience. For believers, though, it is also transformed into the gateway to eternal life. The “pangs of death” are more like “birthpangs” leading to the peace and joy of being with our Lord forever in heaven. Jesus said, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” What comforting words of hope we have from the Lord, even in difficult days and even “in the valley of the shadow of (the birthpangs of) death” (Psalm 23:4). We will try to “fear no evil,” for the risen, living Lord has been through that valley for us and will be with us, too, and will comfort us and our loved ones and be the Door to eternal life for us.
Paul used the same basic word and concept in Romans 8:20-23, when he said that “the whole creation was subjected to futility” by the fall of Adam and Eve into sin and is in “bondage to corruption,” too. (Remember the description in Genesis 3:16-19 after the fall, including the thorns and thistles and pain in childbirth uniquely for women. Husbands can be there during labor and try to be helpful, but don’t always do so well in support! This original meaning of “birthpangs” is real and vitally important as a part of the birth of a child and will continue until Christ’s return, also.)
In the New Testament, though, “birthpangs” take on these additional picture image meanings. As a result of the fall, Paul says, “the whole creation has (also) been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Paul adds, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:22-24). We are already “children of God," adopted” through Christ and heirs of God’s promises to us. Our souls and the souls of all believers will be with Christ when physical death comes, but our bodies will wait to be raised and changed and glorified on the last day, when Christ returns. All this is certain for us, in Christ, just as God planned.
What happens with the rest of creation is not so clear. Jesus Himself said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Peter, in 2 Peter 3:12, speaks of the destruction of “the heavens” and “the heavenly bodies” by fire, but also, in v.13, “according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Mentions of such are also in Isaiah 66:22 and Revelation 21:1ff and in other parts of Revelation which seem to have highly symbolic language. Some commentators, like Franzmann, suggest that the New Testament writers do not really attempt to explain fully what the new eternal existence will be like. They talk more about what will not be there - no sea, no sun and moon, no evil, and above all, God “will wipe every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more. neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And He who is seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:4-5).
In God’s amazing plans, there will be some continuity between our human bodies as they are now and as they are raised and changed and glorified on the last day. It will truly be us and our loved ones in Christ in heaven. Maybe, some think, Paul is saying in Romans 8:18-22 that there can be some continuity between the old creation and the new in which we will live in heaven and eternal life, too. We do not know, but God will work all things out in just the right way, in His wisdom as God (Romans 8:28). (See also Ephesians 1:10 and Colossians 1:20.)
In the meantime, we still suffer and struggle in this life, even as believers, and even though we also have much joy and blessing and eternal hope. Jesus Himself used the imagery of birthpangs in talking about “signs” of the times that will remind us that His return, and the end of existence as we now know it, is coming. See Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Matthew 24:4-8). (If you read on through v.9-12, you can see why some think we are in the very last times.)
We know, however, that God is still in control, and he will care for us, in life and in death. The Holy Spirit is with us and will pray with and for us, as will Christ our Savior (Romans 8:26-27 and 34ff). The image of “birth pains” reminds us that something so much better is coming for us, in eternal life, no matter what today or tomorrow brings. “The one who endures to the end (in faith in Christ) will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Paul also reminds us, “I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
As we wait for Christ’s return, in our death or on the last day, we still have important work to do, with and for our Lord. Jesus also said, “This Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). We can help with that testimony right where we are and as we pray for and support mission work wherever we can. There are still so many people without faith and unprepared for Christ’s return. As Paul wrote, including the image of “birthpangs,” “you yourselves are fully aware that the day of he Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).
Paul used this image of “birth pains" one more time, too, when He wrote to the church at Galatia. Paul had been there, and people came to faith through the Gospel of Jesus and baptism. Then, false teachers came in and were leading people astray, away from Christ as Savior. Paul writes and witness to these people again, including those who seemed to have lost the faith. He calls them “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish (birthpangs) of childbirth until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19). Obviously, only the Lord can finally bring people to faith or renew their faith by His grace, but how challenging and wonderful to help even a little with others who still need to know the hope and joy we have in our Savior, even in very difficult times.
The Scriptures this week emphasize that our Lord is the only True God, and that though we face many problems and troubles in this life, He will care for us and will finally take us to everlasting life and peace. The certainty of this is stressed in the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 44:6-8. Our “Lord” is our “King” and our “Redeemer,” and “there is no god besides Him.” He is “the First” and “the Last.” He has always existed and always will. He is always our Rock, and we need not fear. We can be witnesses to His faithfulness, as His people.
In Psalm 119:57-64, the psalmist says that “the Lord is his portion.” He trusts that the Lord will be gracious and keep His promise to him, given in His Words, even though “the cords of the wicked” may “ensnare” him, at times. He will “turn to the Lord’s testimonies” and “be a companion of all who fear the Lord” and praise Him and “His steadfast love,” in worship.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Jesus tells the parable of weeds sown by an enemy among wheat in a field. The field is the world, and in it are “sons of the Kingdom” and “son of the evil one.” For the sake of not endangering God’s people, the evil will not be “rooted out” until “the harvest,” “the end of the age,” by the angels of the Lord. That day will come. The evil those who follow the devil, will be “thrown into a fiery furnace” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The righteous, who trust in Christ, “will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father." Again, Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him keep on hearing” the “Word of the Lord.”
Paul reminds us in the Epistle lesson, Romans 8:18-27, that “in this eternal hope we were saved” already by what Christ has done for us and by “the Spirit” who has brought us to faith in Christ. We already have “the firstfruits of the Spirit” and great hope, but we “groan inwardly” because of “the sufferings of this present time,” as we live as “unsaintly saints” (Martin Franzmann’s words) in an evil world, with a “corrupt creation.” Our sufferings, bad as they sometimes are, “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” in eternal life. We ”wait patiently” for our future in heaven and are grateful that the Spirit prays (intercedes) with us and for us when we, in our human weakness, do not know what to pray for. We “wait eagerly” for the redemption of our souls when we die and for “the redemption of our bodies,” too, when Christ returns on the last day. (See this week’s Bible study for more about this and “the pains of childbirth” that we and the creation are “until now” going through.)
The Scriptures this week tell us that the Lord will provide for the growth of His Kingdom and for our own spiritual growth, as well.
The psalm is Psalm 65:(1-8) 9-13. The psalmist, David, knows that “praise is due to God” for the “goodness” we receive in His “house,” His “temple.” This is good news, the Word of “righteousness” and “salvation” and “hope” for “all the ends of the earth.” It is pictured as a bountiful harvest, when the Lord has provided abundant “water” and good “earth” and “enriched” it and “blessed its growth.” The Lord “crowns the year with His bounty, and the creation “shouts and sings together for joy.”
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 55:9-13. God inspired Isaiah to use images from the natural world, as David did in the psalm. The “heavens” are high above the “earth.” God’s “ways and thoughts”. are high above our own, too. As the rain and snow come down to water the earth and help cause things to grow, so God’s Word is sent down from His mouth and accomplishes what He wishes. “It will not return empty and void.” The creation sings and claps its hands in praise of the “name of the Lord” and the “everlasting sign” of His providing care.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, Jesus Himself tells a parable of seed being sown and then explains it to His disciples. The seed sown is the Word of God’s kingdom. Some hear it but don’t understand, and “the evil one” snatches it away. Others hear and “receive the Word with joy,” but only for a time, and then “fall away” when trouble and persecution come on account of that Word. Still others hear the Word, but “the cares of the world” and the “deceitfulness of riches” act like thorns that choke out the Word. Some people do hear and understand the Word and bear much fruit of various amounts, though, by the grace of God, as He promises. The problem is not with the seed, the Word of God, but with the soil, Satan’s work and a sin-filled world with many temptations to resist the Word and people’s trouble with hearing and understanding the Word. Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” How is our hearing of the Word and the hope we have only in Jesus?
The Epistle lesson is from Romans 8:12-17. Paul emphasizes, in this reading and throughout Romans 8, the importance of the Holy Spirit in bringing us to faith in Christ and keeping us in that faith. The Spirit works through the Word of God (and the gift of baptism) to do this. He gives us “life” in Christ and make us “adopted children of God” and “heirs of eternal life.” We can cry out to our Heavenly Father, “Abba, Father,” as His beloved children. We still face times of “suffering” for our faith and temptations from the devil, the sinful world, and our own “sinful flesh; but the Spirit who dwells in us,” (Romans 8:11), along with Christ, will strengthen and protect us through the Word and the Sacraments, Baptism and Communion, connected with that Word.
Psalm 65 is a great psalm of praise to God for all kinds of blessings that He provides. David is the author, and in the introduction, he directs this psalm to “the choirmaster” as a “song” that is to be sung. David knows that “praise is due to be given to God” and that “vows” of thanksgiving and commitment should be made and carried out (“performed”) before the Lord (Psalm 65:1.
First of all, God hears our prayers and does respond to them (v.2). Amazingly, even “when iniquities (times of sin) had prevailed against” David in his life and “overpowered“ him, and David prayed and confessed His sin, the Lord atoned for his transgressions and for the wrongdoing of other repentant people (v.3). This is the greatest gift of God, David knew, - the forgiveness of sins. (There are other complicated words for this forgiveness from God - atonement, propitiation, expiation, etc. - which indicate that God forgave sins in light of what His own Son, Jesus, would eventually do on the cross, in a sacrificial payment for the sins of the whole world, including David’s and ours. See New Testament passages like Hebrews 2:17 and Romans 3:23-25 and 1 John 2:1-2 and 4:10.)
Without that forgiveness, what a great burden of guilt people are under. See what David says in Psalm 32:1-5 and how wonderful forgiveness was for him in Psalm 32:10. David also knew that he had not chosen God, but that he was one whom “God had chosen and brought near” to Him and allowed him to be “in His courts,” in “His house,” and to receive His “goodness and holiness” (Psalm 65:4).
Jesus says the same thing about His disciples and about us in the New Testament. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” “Already you are clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…. For apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:3-5,16).
David also trusted that God would answer his prayers with “awesome deeds” bringing “righteousness” and “salvation.” In God was his hope. As in other psalms, David was also prophesying of how God would be “the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,” too, through the coming of His Son, Jesus, as Savior of all (Psalm 65:5). The Lord was the “mighty” God, the one true God, “who by His strength established the mountains” and all the rest of creation (Psalm 65:6). He cared about what He had made, including “the tumult of the peoples” in a troubled, sinful world - “even those who dwell at the ends of the earth.”
Through David and the children of Israel, God would provide “awesome signs” and prophecies of hope for all peoples, culminating in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, and His saving work (Psalm 65:8). See how Jesus could “still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves” (Psalm 65:7 and Matthew 8:24-27 and Mark 4:36-41). “Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ’Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they (the disciples) said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”
Jesus was and is God who became man to do His saving work, as David and so many others predicted, not just for Israel, but for the whole world. He did “atone for all our transgressions” by His suffering and death in our place, and His mighty resurrection (Psalm 65:3). Jesus also sowed the seed of God’s Word and sent out His disciples to share that Word, as well, so that more and more people could come to faith in Him and be saved by His grace and be ready for His return on the last day. That day will come. Jesus Himself predicted “signs of that time” including “the roaring of the seas and the waves.” Jesus, the Son of God, will come with power and great glory and settle it all. He said, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing nigh” (Luke 21:25-28 and Psalm 65:7).
Go back now to Psalm 65:8-13. David looks around and marvels again at God’s good creation, in spite of the troubles and sorrows all around. He sees joy in morning and evening and in the days going by (Psalm 65:8). He sees that God does care and “visits the earth” with “water” and “grain” and “growth” and “abundance,” even though people often do not appreciate His gifts (Psalm 65:9-10). Jesus Himself said, “Your Father in heaven makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
God often “crowns the year with His bounty,” though we do not deserve it (Psalm 65:11). When we are out in the natural world on a nice summer day, we marvel at the overflowing beauty and majesty of “pastures of the wilderness” and “hills” and “meadows” and “valleys.” We can sense the picture image of the creation “shouting and singing together for joy” to the Lord (Psalm 65:12-13). Again, Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them…. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:26-29). We, too, get so busy with our lives that we miss the beauty and blessing that God provides all around us.
One more thought. In our Old Testament lesson for this coming Sunday, Isaiah 55:9-13, God leads Isaiah to use some of the same imagery as David - rain watering the earth and plants sprouting and growing and “giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” In the same way, God says, His Word will come down from His mouth and accomplish what He wishes, bringing “joy” and “peace” and “an everlasting sign” of hope for us and our world (Isaiah 55:11-13).
That was the greatest way that “God visited the earth” (Psalm 65:9), with the gift of His Son, the Word become flesh in Jesus our Savior and His Word and work for us. (See John 1:14 and the prophecy of John the Baptist preparing the way for the “visit from on high” of Jesus (Luke 1:76-79).) That’s what makes continued study of God’s Word and the Good news of Christ so important for us all. That Word from God shall never “return to God empty or void,” but will always be a blessing for us (Isaiah 55:11).
Sermon for 6th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Zechariah 9:9-12
Romans 7:14-25a
Matthew 11:25-30
Sermon originally delivered July 6, 2014
Last week we heard that Jesus came not to bring peace, but a sword. His Word is a two-edged sword, which does bring the Law of God and reveals our sinfulness and need for a Savior (Matthew 10:34-39, Hebrews 4:12-13, and Revelation 1:13-16, for example). Jesus ultimately, though, wants to bring the Gospel and His forgiving rest and peace in His eternal Kingdom, as we hear in our readings this week.
In Psalm 145:1-14, David sings a great song of praise to God for His “goodness, mercy, and steadfast love” and the “unsearchable greatness” of His “everlasting kingdom.” He has “mercy over all that He has made,” from “generation to generation.” He helps “those who are falling” and “raises up” those “who are bowed down.” In return, we can only bless his name every day and praise Him for His abundant goodness.
The Lord is also “faithful in all His Words” (Psalm 145:13). We see that in the Old Testament lesson, Zechariah 9:9-12. God’s people could “rejoice greatly,” because the promised “salvation” was coming in a humble King, who would “speak peace to the nations” and bring “freedom to prisoners.” This Scripture is quoted in the New Testament in Matthew 21:5 and indirectly in Luke 19:37-38, in reference to Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as a humble King on a donkey. This Scripture also speaks of “the blood of the Lord’s covenant” - the New Covenant, in which Jesus would later that Holy Week shed His own blood on the cross for the forgiveness of all sins, as the Lamb of God.
Paul speaks of his own need for forgiveness in the Epistle lesson, Romans 7:14-25a. Last week, we heard him speak of his struggles with “covetousness” in the past, before being a Christian. Now he switches to the present tense and talks about his continuing struggle to do the right things, because of his “sinful flesh” and nature. He wants to do God’s will, but he finds himself doing the opposite, at times. He says “he has the desire to do what is right, but not always the ability to carry it out.” There is a “war” going on within him. He “delights in the law of God,” but “evil also lies close at hand.” He calls himself a “wretched man,” a poor miserable sinner. “Who will deliver him from this sinful body of death?” He knows that his only hope is in Jesus. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 11:25-30, Jesus promises “rest for the souls” of those who, with the faith of “little children,” simply trust what He has done for them and reveals to them. Religious leaders of His day spoke of the heavy yoke, the burden of the Law, and thought of themselves as being more “wise and understanding” than others by carefully trying to keep these hundreds of laws. Jesus Himself not only kept the Law in our place, but was “gentle and lowly of heart” and carried our burdens of sin to the cross to pay for them all. As we keep coming to Him and learning from Him, He now lightens our burdens and gives us the rest and peace we really need. We do not rescue ourselves. Jesus rescues us.
The Scriptures in worship for the last few weeks have had a lot of Law in them. The Law of God is very important and has three main purposes, as a “curb,” a “mirror,” and a “ruler” in our lives. You may have learned those descriptions from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation years ago.
First, a curb is intended to keep cars and other vehicles where they belong, in the street, and not on a sidewalk or other places where they could do harm. God’s Law is like a curb, when it keeps people from doing very harmful things to others. It helps provide some order and authority in a very disorderly world.
A Scripture suggested in our latest version of the Catechism, related to this, is 1 Timothy 1:9-10. Paul writes, “The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient. for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.” These are lawless people who do not accept basic moral standards, but might be restrained in some of what they do, because they don’t want to get caught and be in trouble. Paul is not saying here that evils described here do not apply to “the just” also, those who already trust in Christ as Savior, and live by His grace. Believers should already know that these things are wrong and should be trying to avoid these sins, too.
Unfortunately, that is not always true, and believers, with a sinful human nature, also struggle to know right from wrong at times. That is where the Law of God also serves as a guide, a ”ruler,” a straight line for what is pleasing to God in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is called the “third use of the Law.” A few Scriptures that speak to this are Psalm 119:105: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path;” Proverbs 6:23: “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life;” and Psalm 119:160: “The sum of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”
Many people and even some churches and denominations, reject this use of the Law because they no longer believe that the Scriptures are entirely the Word and message of God. They would prefer to pick and choose what sounds acceptable to them, according to their human reason and desires and what sounds “loving” and “tolerant” to them. To them, the greatest virtues are tolerance and acceptance and approval, no matter what.
Taking such a false view of Scripture also means that people will often also reject the second use of the Law, as a “mirror” for their own lives. In everyday life, we look into a mirror to see what we look like and to fix anything that doesn’t look so good. We may need to comb or brush our hair in a better way, fix makeup, change our clothes, wash away a spot on ourselves, etc. The Law serves as a “mirror” when we look into it to see what our lives look like, in comparison with God’s standards. When we do that, we are always shown to be sinners, who “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Paul put it this way: “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the Law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:19-20). When we look in the mirror of the Law, we see our faults and sins, but we cannot fix these problems, these sins, and their guilt, on our own. We can comb our hair when we look in the mirror, but we cannot straighten out our sins and sinfulness when we look in the mirror of the Law.
Some use the SOS letters to talk about this. The Law “Shows Our Sins” and how desperately we need God’s help and rescue and forgiveness. The Law always ultimately accuses and condemns us. We can never keep its standards as we should, as Paul describes in the Epistle lesson for this week (Romans 7:14-25a). Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). How far we all are from that, even as Christians, in what we do!
What we need, then, is another SOS, with regard to Jesus and His Good News, the Gospel. The Gospel “Shows Our Savior.” Our eternal hope is never in ourselves and our performance before God or others. Our hope is in Christ and what He did for us, in His perfect life in our place and His death on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and His mighty resurrection and ascension to the Father, showing that His saving work was complete.
Paul put it this way: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness from God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). As a result, Paul wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life sets you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh (our sinful flesh), could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4). We need the Law, for its three useful purposes, but our hope is finally in Christ and continually being brought back to Him and His saving words and works for us.
When we look at our world today, we see so much that is sinful and evil. We can become very discouraged. We might say with the psalmist in one of last week’s readings: “I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commandments” (Psalm 119:158). We hate sin and the great damage it does to so many. The Law of God will not let us put a stamp of approval and acceptance on what is clearly wrong.
At the same time, we also know that we are still sinners, too. God does not hate just the “big” sins we prefer to point out in others in our society. He hates all sin. Sin is sin - even the sins of thought, word, and deed that we confess day after day and week after week in worship. We continually need God’s mercy, and we want that mercy and forgiveness for ourselves. Somehow, we need to be ready to convey the hope of the Gospel, as well as the Law, to others, too. Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). How many people today have been never been taught or have been so misled that they have no real sense of what is right and wrong, or the consequences of wrongdoing. How much we need care and concern for them, too, even though we can’t give approval for wrongdoing.
Both Martin Luther and C.F.W. Walther, a great early leader of our LCMS, said that distinguishing Law and Gospel and knowing when and how to apply each is one of the greatest challenges for church leaders and teachers and for us all. It would be easy just to pound others with the Law. We need also, though, to pray for the lost and straying and confused and misguided people, as we pray for ourselves and our struggles. We need to pray for wisdom, too, in trying to find ways that show that we do care for others and want the best for them, as people for whom Christ also died. Walther also emphasized that “the Gospel should have a general predominance in our teaching.” He said that otherwise people will be spiritually underfed because the Bread of Life is not the Law, but the Gospel.” Please pray about all this. The Lord’s blessings.
The Scripture readings this week are challenging ones to understand and apply. The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 28:5-9. You almost have to read all of Chapters 27 and 28 to get the full meaning. In Chapter 27, God told Jeremiah to put a yoke on his neck, symbolic of the fact that God’s people were soon to be servants of the Babylonian king, who had already taken some people and many valuable vessels from the temple in Jerusalem. A period of about 70 years of captivity was coming because of their sins. Hananiah, a false prophet, then said that the Lord told him that in two years the people would be set free and all the vessels taken from the temple would be returned. He said what the people wanted to hear. In the OT reading, then, Jeremiah confronts Hananiah and the people. He wishes that what Hananiah had predicted was true, that a time of “peace” was coming soon. He would like to say “Amen” to that. However, Jeremiah then said that earlier prophets had predicted “war, famine, and pestilence,” as the Lord had also told him - not “peace.” Only time would tell which prophet was speaking the truth. (After our reading, Hananiah broke the yoke off of Jeremiah’s neck, saying that Jeremiah was the false prophet; and Hananiah predicted “peace” again. The Lord then sent Jeremiah to Hananiah to tell him that he would die for deceiving God’s people, and within a year, Hananiah was dead, and the long Babylonian captivity did happen.)
In the Gospel Lesson, Matthew 10:34-42, we also hear Jesus saying something hard to His disciples, as He prepares them to go out and share His message, “I have come not to bring peace, but a sword, to the earth.” Not everyone would believe what the disciples were telling. There would be rejection and division, “a sword,” among people, even families, at times. Some would prefer to follow their own ways and desires instead of Christ as Savior. They think they are finding what they want, “the good life,” where it is really the opposite. Receiving and believing the Word of God, by the grace of God, actually brings Christ Himself and His saving work to people, and the blessings of God the Father, who sent Jesus and wants to bring His Good News of love and hope to all, even the littlest of people. We are still blessed and a blessing, as we seek to bring that Good News to others, also, whoever they are.
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 7:1-13, Paul reminds us that the Law of God is righteous and good, but we can never be saved by following it well enough. The Law is like a line on the ground that we are not to go over. It is a challenge to us, and sin and our sinful nature keep urging us to step over that line, and we step over the line all too often, bearing “fruit for death.” Comparing ourselves with the Law shows us our sins and our need to be set free from the Law of sin and death. Paul uses a human example of how we are “free” from “certain laws and commitments” only by the death of someone. We will be freed from the condemnation of the law of God, which we have failed to keep, only “through the body of Christ” and His death for us, to pay for our sins. Our hope is now “in the new way of the (Holy) Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” The Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Jesus and seeks to keep us in that faith, as “we belong to one another” and seek “to bear fruit for God,” as the Spirit leads and guides us through the Word of God.
The psalm is Psalm 119:153-160. The psalmist knows that “God’s Word is truth” and seeks “not to swerve from the Lord’s testimonies.” God’s “law” and “commands” are a guide for his life, and he seeks to follow God’s will. At the same time, he has to admit in the last verse of this psalm, verse 176, beyond this reading, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.” He doesn’t forget them, but he doesn’t always follow them, either. The psalmist knows that his ultimate hope is not in himself, as hard as he tries to do the right things, but is in the Lord and His “great mercy.” He says, “Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to Your promise!… Give me life according to Your steadfast love.” There is our hope, too, especially in Christ our Savior and what He has already done to rescue us, in His redeeming love.
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 91:1-10 (11-16). The psalmist assures us that when our “dwelling place” is with the Lord, He will be our “shelter,” our “refuge,” and our fortress.” We can “trust” Him, no matter what dangers and “terrors” surround us. He will be with us “night” and “day” and at “noontime.” This does not mean that we won’t have trouble, but the Lord and His angels “will be with us” and “rescue” us ultimately with “His salvation.” (See the fuller Bible Study on this psalm in this week’s podcast.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 20:7-13. The prophet Jeremiah had the very difficult job of telling the people of Judah that “violence and destruction” and captivity in Babylon were coming to them, because they were continually rejecting the Lord and His Word. When Jeremiah spoke this Word from God, he received “reproach, derision, laughing, and mockery” from those to whom he spoke. He wished he could stop speaking, but he could not. God’s Word was like fire, and he could not hold it in. At this point, the Lord was like a “dreaded Warrior.” Through it all, Jeremiah knew that somehow the Lord would be “delivering the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 10:5a, 21-33, Jesus was preparing His disciples for the very challenging days they would face, much like Jeremiah did, but in their case, it would be for proclaiming “the name of Jesus” as Savior of the world. If Jesus was to suffer much as their Lord and Master, should members of His “household,” His Christian family and church, be surprised if they are also “hated” and “maligned” (spoken about critically in a spiteful way)? They are “not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” “The one who endure to the end” in faith in Christ “will be saved.” Jesus will “acknowledge” all believers, including us, before His “Heavenly Father.”
How can we endure in the faith, even as we may face more challenges? Paul reminds us, in our Epistle lesson, Romans 6:12-23, of the greatest gift we have already received. “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Now that we live under that grace, that free gift of God, would we want purposely to keep on sinning, with “lawlessness that leads to more lawlessness” and to “the wages of death”? “By no means!” says Paul. We still have that temptation, because of “natural limitations” (literally, “because of the weakness of our (sinful) flesh,” with which we were born. How much better to be what we now are - “slaves of God” and His “standard of teaching to which we are committed” in Christ. God loves us in Christ! He knows and always wants what is best for us and is leading us now to eternal life. That is the good “fruit” we now want to see in our lives, through God’s grace in Christ.
Psalm 91 is a psalm of great confidence and hope for those who “dwell in the shelter of the Lord.” Some have understood it to be a promise to believers that once they are in the faith, everything will go just right for them, as they would wish. Instead, this psalm says that the Lord and His angels will be with them and us and help us through the many challenges and temptations we face in a very troubled, sin-sick world. The author is not identified in the original Hebrew text, though some think (and the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, says) that David is the writer.
Verses 1 and 9 indicate that this psalm is about those whose “dwelling place” is the Lord and who “abide” in Him. These are people, as verse 2 indicates, who say that they “trust” in the Lord God. Four different names are given for God in these verses. He is “the Most High,” above all things and the Creator of heaven and earth. (See Genesis 14:19, for example.) He is also “the Almighty,” the all-powerful, who is stronger than the greatest mountain. (See Genesis 17:1, “El Shaddai.”) He is also called “God” and “the LORD, “ the special name for the God of Israel in the Old Testament, “I Am Who I Am" (Exodus 3:13-15, 6:6-7).
Four descriptive words for the Lord are also used. He is “the shelter, the shadow, the refuge, and the fortress” for His people. We can probably understand all these, except for “the shadow.” In a very hot climate, the Lord provides shade, protection from the hot, blinding sun. (See the phrase “a shade from the heat” in Isaiah 4:6 and 25:4. Sunstroke was a real danger to many.)
All these names and descriptions for the Lord are to indicate that He is great and powerful enough to provide all the protection that His people need, and we need that protection, as the verses that follow indicate. There is “the snare of the fowler,” one who sets traps to catch birds (Psalm 91:3). This picture image really means “one who has the power of capture and death” over others. (See Ecclesiastes 9:12: “ Man does not know his time… Like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared in an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.”)
The New Testament uses the same sort of image for the dangers of Satan. See 2 Timothy 2:25 and the warning about “escaping from the snares of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” See also Hebrews 2:14-15 and Christ’s battle and death “to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,” who wants to enslave people. Psalm 91:3 and 5 also uses the term “deadly pestilence,” and verse 10, “plague,” referring to illness and deadly diseases. We certainly know of these dangers, too, in our own day, dangers like Covid that come so unexpectedly, “that stalk in the darkness and waste at noonday.”
We are grateful for doctors and nurses and medications today that help us, but we also lean upon our Lord and His help and healing power, especially when there seem to be no human help and answers. Remember what was said of Jesus, God’s Son, in his earthly ministry in Israel. We read in Matthew 9:35 that Jesus was preaching the Gospel, but also “healing every disease and every affliction.” He could do that for people.
Psalm 91:4 uses the image of the Lord as an eagle, with large, strong wings, to protect His people. (See similar images in Deuteronomy 32:9-12, where the Lord is “like an eagle… bearing His people on His pinions,” His wings, and bringing them to safety.) He told them at Mt. Sinai, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4). The Lord can provide “cover” and “refuge” and “shield and buckler” (a small shield) in His “faithfulness” to them. He can act like a protecting eagle or like a faithful warrior in battle, for them (Psalm 91:5-8). Eventually, “recompense” (just judgment and punishment) will come for the wicked” (Psalm 91:8).
Again, Jesus used some of the same images in His ministry, in reaching out to His fellow Jews. (See Luke 13:34-35. Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”) This is one of the reasons that some people do not get to enjoy the blessings of God’s promises in Psalm 91. They simply resist and reject the Lord and His will for them, including His plan for salvation through Jesus. They never come to faith in Christ or fall away from that faith and no longer dwell in the shelter of the Most High, rejecting God’s grace and blessing, earned by Christ and still available to them.
Psalm 91 does not answer the question, though, about those who are or seem to be in the faith and yet still suffer great troubles in this life. In contrast with Psalm 91:10, what about Christians who have evil befall them and those who suffer and even die from a plague like Covid or cancer or some other ill that came near to them? We do not understand many things and we struggle when these things happen. As believers, though, we still seek to trust in God, as Psalm 91:2 says. We believe that God is working for good, though we cannot see it, in what he allows, and He can turn things for some good purpose, in His wisdom, in things that happen to us and others. Certainly, even in the life and death of loved ones in the faith, God is showing His salvation and bringing them out of the troubles of this life and into eternal life and joy. God promises, through the Psalmist, to each believer, “Because he holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My name.” The ultimate deliverance is to eternal life in heaven.
God also talks about the protection He and His angels give in this life, in Psalm 91:11-13. Who knows how many times we have been spared from trouble when we did not even realize it? David writes, in Psalm 34:6-7, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles, The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers him.” Psalm 91:13 even says, “You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” See what David told Saul, when he was willing to confront the giant, Goliath, in 1 Samuel 17:34-37. He had been able to battle lions and bears already and been victorious.
There are other such examples: Daniel in the lion’s den in Daniel 6:19-23, and Paul bitten by a deadly viper in Acts 28:3-8 and “suffering no harm.” See also promises such as Mark 16:18 and Jesus’ own words to his disciples in Luke 10:19-20. Note in this last passage that examples of protection from literal “serpents and scorpions” are rare in the Scriptures, though God can do what He chooses. More important, Jesus says, is “authority… over all the power of the enemy” (referring to Satan) and “having your names written in heaven.” That saving work could only be done by Jesus.
That is why we must end this look at Psalm 91 by seeing how it is used by Satan and explained by Jesus, when He was being tempted by Satan, the devil, in the wilderness and when He was defeating all his temptations. You can read this story in both Matthew 4:1-11 and in Luke 4:1-13. I will focus on the account in Luke. While we pray “Lead us not into temptation,” the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, yet to do everything in the right way, where we so often fail. Though weakened by 40 days of fasting, Jesus was able to resist temptations about food and about authority and glory and false worship. These were all the sort of temptations the devil had used against the children of Israel in the wilderness in the Old Testament and was very successful in getting them to sin. Jesus defeated Satan each time in Luke 4 by just quoting Scripture from Moses and the wilderness days and what was truly God’s will.
Finally, Satan decided to quote Scripture himself, but in a distorted way, as he had done with Eve in the Garden of Eden. His temptation to Jesus went something like this: "If you really are the Son of God, as you claim to be, then surely God cares for you. He has promised, in Psalm 91, to guard and protect you and even send angels to help you, if needed. Here are the Scriptures you need, as proof texts, Psalm 91:11-12. Why don’t you jump off the highest point of the temple? The angels will surely catch you. Think how impressive a miracle this would be." (Of course, Satan left out the parts about trusting God in all one does and holding fast to Him and knowing His name and doing His will.) Jesus knew better. He simply quoted again Scripture from Moses and the wilderness days, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” by doing something risky and dangerous, especially at the suggestion of Satan.
Jesus knew something else, much more important, too. His plan and the Father’s plan was not for Him to live a safe and secure life here on earth, but to suffer and die in our place, a death and hell that we deserve for our sins. We have those amazing Scriptures that say, “For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin… and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree” of the cross, to pay for and forgive all our sins and count us righteous and acceptable to God, with the gift of salvation and eternal life earned for us by Him (2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24).
Through all this and His mighty resurrection, Jesus also broke the power of Satan for us. We cannot see it completely yet, but when Christ returns, what Paul wrote will finally and fully happen: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). That will be the ultimate “trampling of the serpent, Satan, under our feet,” through Christ the King (Psalm 91:13).
It is in relationship with Christ that we now read Psalm 91 and all the Scriptures. As Paul said, in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” We will have what we really need, for this life and for eternity, in God’s great love for each of us in Christ, whether we can always see it or not. Paul put it so well in Romans 11:33-36: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable (impossible to understand and interpret) His ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." (Paul’s quotation is based on words from Isaiah 40:12-14 and Job 41:11.)
The first half of the Church Year, the “Festival” half, is now over. Beginning with Advent and Christmas, we were told the story of God’s plan of salvation for us, centered in the birth, life and ministry, suffering and death, and then resurrection and ascension of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That first half ended with Pentecost and Trinity Sundays, when we heard of our Triune God’s continuing work for us, especially through the Holy Spirit, bringing us to faith and keeping us in that faith, through the Word of God and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.
Now we move into the Sundays after Pentecost and Trinity, when we think about our response to all that God has done for us, as we live in the “ordinary” days and months ahead, until a new Church Year begins in late November. Even in these days, though, we are reminded again and again of God’s love and grace and power that make it possible for us to seek to follow His will.
The psalm for this week is Psalm 100, “a psalm for giving thanks to God.” It hardly needs explanation. The Lord alone is God. He made us and calls us His own, the dear sheep of His pasture. He is good to us, with steadfast love and faithfulness always. We, in turn, serve Him with gladness and eagerly enter His Presence with joy and thanksgiving. The Lord brings Good News for “all the earth,” including us.
In the First lesson, Exodus 19:2-8, God speaks to His chosen people of the Old Testament, whom He had just rescued from slavery in Egypt. They are to be His “treasured possession,” a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation.” In response, God’s people are to seek to “obey His voice” and “keep” and trust in His covenant, His agreement by which He called them. Though “all peoples” and “all the earth” are His, He will work through this nation to be a blessing to all, and His chosen people agree to seek to follow all that He has spoken.
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 5:6-15, Paul speaks of the fact that since sin and death came into the world, we are all sinners. He describes us all, left on our own, as “weak” and “ungodly” and “sinners” and even “enemies” of God. That’s why Jesus had to come to be our Savior. “We were reconciled to God only by the death of His Son” and “saved by His life.” This was the “free gift of God by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ” that “abounded” for us and is available to “the many,” to all.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 9:35-6:20, Jesus is “teaching” and “proclaiming the Gospel” and helping many people, because he sees that they are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd.” He knows that “more laborers” are needed to reach people with God’s love and hope. He sends out His twelve chosen disciples, “apostles,” at this point telling them to reach out to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Many of God’s own chosen people had drifted away from the Lord and His will, though they had promised to be faithful. Jesus says that He would later be sending His apostles out ‘as sheep in the midst of wolves.” There would be much opposition, but they were then to be reaching out to Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews. (See v.19.) They can do so with confidence, because “the Spirit of their Heavenly Father would be speaking through them,” as they told everyone about Jesus. They were not and never would be on their own, as they shared Jesus and His Word. That is still true today for us.
Two times in the Gospels Jesus says very similar things about fathers (and parents). In Luke 11:11-13, He refers specifically to fathers. In Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus speaks of “men,” but uses a term that sometimes just means “human beings” and not just “males.” (Jesus preached for three years, off and on, and said similar things to many of the people, but did not always use the exact same words, as we see in these passages. Take a look at both passages, to begin with.) In both passages, Jesus says something that seems contradictory. He says to fathers (and mothers), very bluntly, “You are evil.” Yet at the same time he says, “You know how to give good gifts to your children.” You would not give stones or serpents or scorpions to your children, but you give what they need - bread or fish or an egg.
Why would Jesus particularly say to fathers (and mothers), “You are evil"? That’s not what we want to hear on a day like Father’s Day. (I’ll just speak about fathers, since I am a father.) Jesus always spoke the truth, and so He had to speak the Law of God to us. Ever since the fall into sin, we have all been sinful people, born with a sinful nature. As early as Genesis 6:5 we read, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of his heart was only evil continually.” The Lord said through Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus Himself said, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts… false witness, slander”…. and so much else (Matthew 15:18-20).
The commentator Martin Franzmann says that the Matthew passage might be the strongest “indictment" of us in the Sermon on the Mount. “Jesus is here taking man at his best, in his fatherhood, where the very structure imposed on his life by the Creator forces a certain selflessness on him - Jesus is taking man as the giver of good gifts to his children and is even there calling him evil. Man’s incapacity for real righteousness… could hardly be more strongly stated” (Discipleship, p.50-51).
At the same time, Jesus always also preached the Gospel. As we hear in this week’s Epistle lesson, Romans 5:6-15, we have, at times, been “weak,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” and even “enemies of God” (Romans 5:6-10). “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son… and saved by His life.” Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this from God… In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Again, Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” the same one Jesus preached, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). He also said that those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans 1:6-7). This all means that in Christ, we are now forgiven sinners, but also saints, headed for eternal life, in Christ.
We can also, as a new creation in Christ, give good gifts to our children and be a blessing to them. We know the tension we still face in this life, as both a saint and a sinner. We have good intentions, but can’t always seem to keep them. We make promises, but can’t or don’t always follow through on them. We battle our sinful nature, even as fathers, as Paul describes in Romans 7:15-25. Yet we rejoice that God loves and forgives us and that our children and spouse love and forgive us, too. That is the grace of God at work in us all, because “our (perfect) Father who is in heaven gives His greatest good gifts to us, in Christ.
God’s love and forgiveness help us learn and do better as fathers, too. Just before the Matthew 7 passage, Jesus had taught that we need to be careful about judging others too harshly, if we want God to continue to be merciful to us with our own failings. We can grow in being more forgiving, as we have been forgiven by our Lord (Matthew 7:1-5). Jesus also said, right after the Matthew passage, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12).
We can grow into being better fathers, as the Lord works mercifully in our own lives, but we need God’s power to do so. That is why just before the Luke 11 passage, Jesus was teaching about prayer and the need to keep praying for the Lord’s help for our lives, even as fathers. We can “ask and seek and knock” and the Lord will hear our prayers and answer in the way that is best for us (Luke 11:1-10). It is a great privilege to be fathers and to give good gifts to our children and spouse and others around us. What joy we can bring to others and receive from them, in our families, as we work and serve together. And we have the promise of Jesus that our caring Heavenly Father will keep giving us His Holy Spirit to strengthen our own faith through His Word and help us in dealing with our children and spouse and family (Luke 11:13).
One last thought. We rejoice in our own fathers who have been a blessing to us and gave us good gifts and good examples, as imperfect as they were, too. And even if our fathers were not so helpful or even troubling or absent, we have a Heavenly Father who can bring us healing and strength and help to go a better way through His love and care. As Peter wrote, “In everything may God be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever” (1 Peter 4:11).
Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Romans 7:1-13
Matthew 10:34-42
Sermon originally delivered June 26, 2011
Sermon for Trinity Sunday, based on:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Acts 2:14a, 22-36
Matthew 28:16-20
Sermon originally delivered June 4, 2023
The psalm is Psalm 119:65-72, one of 22 eight-verse portions of this psalm. The author knows that the Lord has been “good” and has “dealt well” with him. He had been going “astray,” but the Lord had “afflicted” him in some way that drew him back to His Word and the value of His law, “better than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” (In the next portion of the psalm, Psalm 119:75, the psalmist even says to the Lord, “In Your faithfulness, you have afflicted me.” You can hear more about this psalm in this week’s podcast study, also.)
In the Old Testament lesson, Hosea 5:15-6:6, the Lord is also being faithful to His Old Testament people by allowing them to have “distress” because they had gone away from Him and His will for them. He says that He will go away from them, until they admit “their guilt” and “seek His face” again. The people seem to “return to the Lord” after He has “struck them down” and “torn” them, but the Lord knows that their “love” is only temporary, like a “cloud” or “morning dew” that quickly “goes away” as soon as their troubles lessen, with the Lord’s help. The Lord “slays them” by His Words through the prophet Hosea and says that He really desires “steadfast love” (mercy) and their continuing attention to “the knowledge of God,” instead of insincere “offerings and sacrifices.”
Jesus quotes from this Old Testament lesson in the Gospel lesson, Matthew 9:9-13. Jesus had just called Matthew, one of the hated “tax collectors,” to be His disciple. Matthew followed Jesus and invited other people who were considered to be more notorious “sinners” to join them for a meal. Religious leaders, the Pharisees, criticize Jesus for associating with such “bad” people. Jesus said that He had come for those who were “sick” and knew they were “sinners,” and that the Pharisees needed to learn what God meant when He said through Hosea, “I desire mercy (steadfast love from people) and not" simply outward “sacrifice.”
Paul was teaching, in the Epistle lesson, Romans 4:13-25, that everyone is a “sinner” and that the Law of God brings “wrath,” exposing our sins and showing that none of us keeps the Law perfectly, as Abraham and the psalmist knew, though they tried to do the right things. Abraham was “counted righteous by faith” by trusting that “God was able to do what He had promised.” The same is true for people “of many nations” - all those who “believe in Him, (the Lord) “who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” It is through the Great “Physician,” our Lord, that we are “called” and brought to saving faith, too, not by our efforts.
This week, we look at Psalm 119:65-72. This is also the assigned psalm for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, this year. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the Scriptures, and the author is not identified. This is also an acrostic psalm, like Psalm 25, that we studies earlier. It is even more complex, though, because there are 22 eight-verse portions and each portion begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The first portion begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second portion begins with the second letter, and so on through all twenty-two letters. In addition, in each portion, each of the eight verses begins with a word with that same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is “Aleph.” So, verses 1 to 8 all begin with a word that starts with the letter “Aleph.” Verses 65-72 all begin with the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “Teth.” (Some translations, including the NIV and the ESV, list these letters at the beginning of each portion. Otherwise, you would not be able to tell that this psalm is so carefully structured.)
The whole psalm is a celebration of the importance and value of God’s Word for the author and for us. Every verse includes a reference to God’s Word. Verses 65-72 use the words: Your Word, Commandments, Statutes, Precepts, and Law. Other verses in the psalm also use the words: Your Righteous Rules, Testimonies, Promise, Ways, and other words. The word “Law” is used at least 25 times, and Dr. Roehrs indicates that it is not always the opposite of the Gospel, but it refers to “all manner of instruction given for our benefit.” Dr. Roehrs also says that the repetition of the words and phrases is like “the language of a lover who does not tire of saying the same ‘I love you’ to the one he loves,” even in a variety of ways. God and His Words are so, so important to the author, and he is reminding us that they are equally important for us, because God loves us.
Psalm 119:65-72 especially teaches us that, as P.E. Kretzmann says, “A course in the school of suffering always works benefits for the children of God.” The author of the psalm says that the Lord had “dealt well” (v. 65) with him, even in times of trouble and difficulty. “It is good for me that I was afflicted,” he says (v.71). And why? He writes, “Before I was afflicted I went astray” (v.67). He had gotten away from the Lord and His will in some way and needed to be re-awakened and drawn back to God and His Word. Affliction, trouble of some kind, can do that. For Christians, affliction is not so much punishment, as it is discipline from the Lord because He cares for us. See again words we have read before from Hebrews12:5-11. The Lord is our loving Heavenly Father who disciplines us because He loves us, or like a good Friend who chastises us and shows us where we are wrong and then helps us go in a better direction.
Look at Psalm 119:75, where the author now realizes that the Lord was acting in “faithfulness” to him as He afflicted him. Maybe he had been doing things that were very wrong and dangerous and needed to be corrected. Now, he says, ”I know, O Lord, that Your rules are righteous.” He says, ”You are good and do good” (v.68), even when the correction hurts. Now the author wants to be “taught” more, through the Lord and His Word (v.68). He “believes” and trusts more that the Lord is working for his good, even in tough times. He wants to have “good judgment” and better “knowledge” in the decisions he makes, for the Lord’s way is the wisest and the best for him and for others (v. 66). He “delights again in the law of the Lord” (v.70).
The author is also learning humility before the Lord. “Those who are insolent,” arrogant people “smear him” (and others) “with lies”(v. 69). “Their hearts are” (literally, in the Hebrew) “fat with grease,” “unfeeling with fat” in the ESV (v.70). We know today how dangerous it is to have build-up of bad things in our heart and arteries. That seems to be the picture image here. It is used in other place: “hearts of the arrogant (literally) closed with fat, with no pity for others” (Psalm 17:10) and people with “pride as their necklace… Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with folly” (Psalm 73:6-7). In Isaiah 6:9-10, also, Isaiah is to warn of those who “hear but don’t understand and see, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people (literally) greasy and their ears heavy and their eyes sticky” (F.Delitzsch translation). Some people still call others “greasy” today, and that is not good or a compliment.
In contrast, the author of Psalm 119 now has a “whole heart” open to God’s precepts (v.69). He humbly calls himself God’s servant (v.65) and wants to keep His Word in his heart. He know that what comes “from the mouth of the Lord is always better for him than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (v. 72). If you look ahead to v.76-77, the author also finds “comfort in the steadfast love” and “promises” of the Lord, even to “servants, and he prays that the Lord’s mercy would come to him, that he might live.”
That Word of God is prophetic of Christ and His great mercy and forgiveness earned for us, that we may live, too, in and through Him. Truly, as the author discovers and says in Psalm 119, the Word of God is the true treasure for all believers, including us, as Kretzmann also says. May we keep learning from that Word.
Sermon for Trinity Sunday, based on:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Acts 2:14a, 22-36
Matthew 28:16-20
Sermon originally delivered June 19, 2011
The Scriptures for this week teach us many things, but also show us examples of how the one true Triune God is revealed to us in the Bible. This teaching is very important for us always, and is seen in the readings this Trinity Sunday.
The Gospel Lesson, Matthew 28:16-20, gives us words of Jesus just before He ascended into heaven and received again “the glory He had with the Father before the the world existed” (John 17:5). He truly does have “all authority in heaven and on earth” and His disciples are now to “teach” and “baptize” people of “all nations” in His Name, along with “the Father” and “the Holy Spirit.” Yet this is one Name, the Name of the one true Triune God. As God’s Son, Jesus promised to be “with us always, to the end of the age” (along with the Father and the Spirit). He can do so as the Son of God.
In the Epistle lesson, Acts 2:14a, 22-36, we hear Peter preaching about “this Jesus“ being “crucified and killed,” and yet death could not hold Him. “This Jesus God raised up” and “exalted to the right hand of God.” And who was involved in all these mighty works and deeds? It was “the Father” and “the promised Holy Spirit,” along with Jesus, who is called both “Lord and Christ,” along with God “the Lord.” It is the One True Triune God at work, for us and our salvation.
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 1:1-2:4a, the story of the Creation of all things by God. Who was involved? Only God. Only He existed in the beginning. Yet we hear of “the Spirit of God hovering over the waters,” and we hear God saying, “Let us make man in our image.” There is both singular and plural language for God, as God created “male and female He created them.” The New Testament also reveals that God the Son, called “the Word,” was also there at the beginning, “through whom all things were made.” “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This Word is clearly identified as God the Son, Jesus, “the Light,” “the Word” Who “became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-9, 14).
The Psalm is Psalm 8. David begins and ends this psalm by declaring the “excellencies,” the majestic nature of God’s Name, because that special Name, LORD (Yahweh). speaks of the “glory” and “strength” of God Himself and His “eternal power and divine nature” over all His creation (Exodus 3:13-15, 6:6-7, Romans 1:20). This Psalm is also a prophecy of Jesus, the “Son of Man.” Four times, parts of Psalm 8 are quoted in the New Testament with regard to Jesus and His becoming a true “man,” “a little lower than the heavenly beings,” both angels and the Lord, in order to do His saving work for us. Once that work was complete, Jesus received “dominion” again, “with things under His feet,” as the true Son of God, as well as true man. (See for example, Philippians 2:5-11.)
If you want more detail on Psalm 8, see the Bible Study for this week in my podcast. If you want more information about the teaching of the Trinity, listen to a new sermon I will preach this coming Sunday and will include with the materials in the podcast next week.
Our Bible Study this week focuses on another psalm of David in the Old Testament, Psalm 8. As you may have heard before, the “Gittith” mentioned in the introduction is probably a musical notation or a kind of musical instrument to be used with singing the psalm. This psalm was to be given to the “choirmaster” to prepare for use in worship in the tabernacle, and later on, in the temple, in praise of the Lord.
David begins and ends this psalm with the phrase, “O LORD, our LORD, how excellent is Your Name in all the earth.” Some translations use the term “how majestic” or another term of great honor for God and His Name. The capitalization of the word “Lord” in the Old Testament always indicates that this is the special name of God, mostly likely “Yahweh.” The name was so special, though, that Jews often did not say it out loud, but used some alternative vowels which made it look like “Jehovah.” We still see that alternate Name in hymns and other materials and translations. (I do not usually capitalize all the letters, for simplicity’s sake, in what I write for my podcasts, nor are they all capitalized in the New Testament. When we hear “Jesus is Lord,” though, it is referring to Him as Lord and God, as in the Old Testament. You can read more about this special Name for God in Exodus 3:13-16 and 6:6-7, for example.)
David also adds that the Lord’s Name is excellent “in all the earth” - or it should be! The earth and the whole universe are the Lord’s. His glory is everywhere, even “above the heavens” that we can see (Psalm 8:1). Though there are “enemies” and “foes” and “avengers” against the Lord, He is still in control and can finally “still” them and their opposition. (Psalm 8:2).
Isaiah 40:22-24 describes the enemies as like “grasshoppers” compared with God, even if they are “princes” and “rulers.” They come and go, and the heat and tempest of life will eventually bring them to “nothing,” like “stubble.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 says God can “choose what is “foolish” and “weak” in the world to “shame the wise and the strong” in the world’s eyes. Even what looks “low and despised” in the world can “bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
David says that God can even use babies and infants to accomplish His purposes (Psalm 8:2). Jesus Himself quoted this passage in Matthew 21:14-16 when He was “healing the blind and the lame,” people weak and despised by the religious leaders, and “the children were crying out, ”Hosannah to the Son of David.” Little children could recognize who Jesus was, while the “chief priests and scribes” could not. Jesus said that the Lord had “prepared perfect praise out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies,” just as David had predicted. Earlier, Jesus had also said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will” (Matthew 11:25-26). Simple, childlike trust in the Lord is what God wishes to bring to all of us.
In Psalm 8:3, David “looks at the heavens” …. “ the moon and the stars” and all “the work” of God that He has created,” and marvels that God still cares about the little people of this earth. David “clearly perceived” “the eternal power and divine nature” of God “through His creation and the things that have been made” by God, as Paul described in Romans 1:18-32. So many people, then and now, have rejected God as Creator and think that this amazing universe just happened through natural and/or accidental, random processes. They have worshipped things in the creation and themselves and their wisdom and ideas, instead of God. Terrible things have happened as a result. The Scriptures say that all of this has happened, of course, because of rebellion against God and the fall into sin, beginning with Adam and Eve and now infecting all people.
Then David, in Psalm 8:4, by the inspiration of God, speaks in a prophetic way of “the Son of Man.” This is a phrase in Daniel 7:13-14 and here in Psalm 8 and in other places, predicting the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus used this phrase more than 80 times in the Gospels of the New Testament to refer to Himself, as “the Son of Man sent to seek and to save those who were lost” (Luke 19:10).
Jesus was God the Son, the second “Person” of the Triune God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity. As David prophesied, though, in Psalm 8:5, God the Son needed to be made a real human being, “a little lower than the heavenly beings,” in order to come into this world and do His saving work for us all. The Hebrew phrase here is hard to translate. It literally seems to say that the Savior, Jesus, would be a little lower than God. What we see in the New Testament is that God the Son was still God, and yet did not use His Godly power much of the time, and became the true man, Jesus. Sometimes Jesus said, as true man, not using all power, that only the Father knew certain things. (See passages like Matthew 24:35-36 and Acts 1:7.) As true man, Jesus would be tempted as we are, yet did not sin, and would fulfill perfectly what we fail to do in our lives, as we do not always follow God’s will as we should. He would also suffer the penalty for all of our sins, as He suffered and died for us, to free us from condemnation for our sins, and earn for us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
This amazing, humble work of Jesus, as true God and yet true man, is described for us also in passages like Philippians 2:5-8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, and 1 Peter 2:24-25. When that work was complete, the Lord did exactly what David also predicted in Psalm 8:5b-8. Jesus, with His Ascension into heaven, was “crowned with glory and honor.” See the words of Jesus in John 17:4-5, and what happened after Jesus’ “state of humiliation” for our sake was completed, in Philippians 2:9-11. The name of Jesus is now “the name that is above every other human name.” “Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord, our Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As David also predicted, God the Son, Jesus, also had His “dominion” over all creation restored, and “all things were again put under His feet” as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Psalm 8:6-8 and Revelation 19:16, etc.). Notice also how the writer to the Hebrews quotes also from Psalm 8:4-8 in Hebrews 2:5-9. God the Son was even made lower than “the heavenly beings, the angels,” as well as God the Father “for a little while” when on earth: but His power and authority have been restored, though “at present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.” The world is still in great chaos, and we have our own struggles. We can’t see it all yet, but we know the Lord’s promises in Christ, and “we have that peace in Christ that surpasses all human understanding” (Philippians 4:4-7).
Psalm 8:6 is quoted two more times in the New Testament, with regard to “all things being put under the feet of Jesus,” after His resurrection and ascension. See 1 Corinthians 15:22-27, when Christ returns on the last day and death will no longer bother any believers any more. See also Ephesians 1:18-23, especially v.22. God the Son, Jesus, will rule, “not only in this age, but also in the one to come.”
We will also be with Him in that eternal existence, as His church, the body of Christ, all who trust in Him. What a future is in store for us, too, because of Jesus, Son of God and true man, and all He sacrificed for us, along with the plan and working of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We, too, look forward and say with David, again and again, “O LORD, our LORD, how excellent, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth.” We are secure in Christ.
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, and the readings focus on God’s giving the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and how the Lord wants to lead and guide us into the truth of His Word through the Spirit.
The Old Testament lesson is from Numbers 11:24-30. The Lord had told Moses to gather 70 men of the elders of Israel around the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. The Lord then put a portion of the Spirit that was upon Moses upon these elders. They were able to “prophesy,” but only briefly, as a sign from God that they were chosen to help Moses in dealing with all the people. Two others were given this same gift, and though some object, Moses says that he wished that the Lord would put His Spirit on ”all the Lord’s people.” (The Holy Spirit was certainly present in the Old Testament, working through the Word, but specific mentions and manifestations of the working of the Spirit are mainly with prophets and kings and others in leading God’s people and bringing them God’s Word.)
The wish of Moses was fulfilled in the Epistle lesson, Acts 2:1-21, on the Day of Pentecost, as predicted by the prophet Joel. The Holy Spirit came upon all the early Christians and showed His presence by “the sound of a mighty rushing wind” and “tongues as of fire” and by His enabling these believers to “speak in other languages“ and “tell of the mighty works of God” in Jesus as Savior. The purpose was that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (The Spirit still works today, as people are “born again of water and the Spirit” in Baptism and through the Word of God. See Acts 2:38-39 and John 3:3-6 and 1 Peter 1:23-25, etc. In fact, if we are trusting in Jesus as our Savior, we do have the Holy Spirit, for Paul reminds us, in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit,” as he brings people to faith .)
Jesus also predicted a number of times this coming of the Holy Spirit, in the Gospels, and in our Gospel lesson for today, John 7:37-39. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, where there were water ceremonies, and people would sing of God’s salvation and quote from Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Jesus cried out about “rivers of living water” available through faith in Him and through the working of the “Spirit” who was to come. Again, as in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was at work through the Word, but the unique coming of the Spirit at Pentecost was still to happen later. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, “He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17. The promise is of the Spirit’s presence with us “forever.”
The Psalm is Psalm 25:1-15. David says to God, “In You I trust.” He knows, though, that he continually needs God’s forgiveness for his sins and God’s mercy and steadfast love for him. He needs God to “redeem him and Israel out of all their troubles.” David also knows, to be a “man who fears the Lord,” that he needs to walk humbly with God and needs to be “instructed in the ways of God “and “the ways he should choose to go in his life.” In the New Testament, we know that the Holy Spirit does much of that teaching, as we use God’s Word.
Psalm 25 is another psalm of David and is unique in a way that is not evident in the English translation. It is structured in a Hebrew poetic way. Verse 1 begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Verse 2 begins with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It goes on in this way. Hebrew has only 22 letters, and so verse 22 begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The vowel sounds are not counted as letters and are just included as dots or or other small markings. Sometimes, the writers would not include the vowel markings at all and one just had to know what vowel to read in.
Psalm 25 has a careful organization, but the content does not follow a logical organization, as we might prefer or expect in an English poem or song. David has a few main themes, but they are scattered through the psalm. Some think the psalm is answering the question raised in verse 12: “Who is the man who fears the Lord?” David mentions several characteristics of such a man.
The first characteristic is that a man who fears God realizes that he struggles with sin and knows that he must keep confessing it and asking the Lord’s forgiveness. In v.1, David speaks of those who are “wantonly treacherous.” He remembers at least one such time in his own life, in what happened with Bathsheba and her husband, and he is “ashamed.” In v. 7, David asks the Lord “not to remember the sins of his youth or his transgressions.” He must still regret his failures, and they bother him. He calls himself one of the “sinners” in v. 8, and pleads in v. 11, “For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” Again, in v.18, he asks the Lord to “forgive all my sins.” He knows that they are many, and as “a man who fears the Lord,” he must be honest and admit that he (and all Israel) need to be redeemed by God Himself. David cannot pay the penalty to earn forgiveness for himself or anyone else. (See Psalm 49:7-9 and Romans 3:9-11 and 19-20, for example. This is true of every one of us.)
The second characteristic of “one who fears the Lord” is that he is sorry and wishes the Lord’s help and instruction to know what the Lord’s will is and to try to do better in following it. In Psalm 25, v. 4-5, David prays to the Lord, “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me.” In v. 8, David says that “the Lord instructs sinners in the way.” One needs to be humble enough to be willing to learn from the Lord and His Word. In v.9, David says that the Lord “leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way,” In v.12, in answer to the question, “Who is the man who fears the Lord?,” David says that it is the one “whom the Lord instructs in the way that he should choose.” The right way is not following our own choices and desires, but what the Lord knows is right and is best for us and others. As another psalm says, “God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path” (Psalm 119:105). It is a great help to us, but still, we do not always follow it, because of our struggles with the devil, our sinful world, and our own sinful flesh and nature.
The third characteristic of “one who fears the Lord” is that we keep turning back to the Lord and His mercy when we fail, even with the best of intentions and instruction. In Psalm 25, v.2, David does not say, “In myself I trust,” but “O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me.” In v. 5, David admits, “You (alone) are the God of my salvation.” In v. 6-7, David asks that God remember His own “mercy” and “steadfast love” and His own “goodness,” instead of David’s own imperfect goodness. In v.10, and v.12-14, David speaks of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness and His promises to him and his people and His “friendship” for them. The Lord alone could “turn to them and be gracious” (by His grace David and the others could be saved) and “pluck their feet out of the net” of “affliction” and “trouble” and “loneliness” (v.15-18). David could still only plead, in v.20, “O guard my soul and deliver me… for I take refuge in You.” He had to trust in the “integrity and uprightness” of the Lord to preserve him, not his own goodness. Only God could redeem him and Israel out of all their troubles (v.21-22).
That meant one more characteristic of “one who fears the Lord.” including David and others who lived by faith in the Lord and not in themselves. They had to “wait” for the Lord and His own good timing, in carrying out His plans. Three times in this psalm, in v. 3, 5, and 21, David talks to the Lord about waiting for Him to act. “None who waits for You shall be put to shame… For You I wait all the day long… for I wait for you.”
It was only “when the fullness of time had come that God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we all could receive adoption” as the children of God through Christ (Galatians 4:4-7). How happy were people like Simeon, who trusted God’s mercy and “was waiting for the consolation of Israel,” and Anna, “who began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him (Jesus) to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem,” when Jesus our Savior finally came (Luke 2:25-32 and 36-38).
May the Lord help us also to be ones who “fear Him” and “wait” upon Him and keep repenting for our own sins, and learning more of His Word and will, and walking humbly before Him, and trusting Him alone for His saving work for us, in our own day. May we say with David, “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation,” through Christ (Psalm 25:5).
In discussing the 10 Commandments, Martin Luther said that “we should fear, love, and trust in God.” David includes all of these elements, but puts the greatest emphasis on trusting God’s grace and love and mercy for us. There is our hope (Romans 5:5 and John 1:16-17).
Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 1:1-11
1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11
John 17:1-11
Sermon originally delivered June 5, 2011
The Scripture readings this Sunday bring the Easter season to a close, now that the Ascension of Jesus into heaven has been celebrated on Thursday, May18.
The Psalm is Psalm 68:1-10. “God shall arise” in judgment on “His enemies,… those who hate Him… and on the wicked…” But God’s people “shall exult” with “joy” before the Lord. David, the author, remembers how God brought His people, Israel, out of slavery in Egypt and led them “through the wilderness,” caring for their needs, and brought “His flock” to “a dwelling” place in the promised land. He cared, “in His goodness” even for “the fatherless” and “widows” and the “solitary” and “the needy” - all those who had been “prisoners,” restoring an “inheritance” for them.
In the same way, the Lord cared for the early Christians, after Jesus ascended into heaven. In the First Lesson, Acts 1:12-26, they gathered for “prayer,” asking the Lord’s guidance. God gave it, calling them through Old Testament prophecy to replace Judas, who had taken his life, with a new apostle. They chose two men who had been followers from the earliest days of the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus, and prayed and asked the Lord to lead them to the right choice, Matthias. Matthias then became another key witness to Jesus and His resurrection.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Peter 4:12-19 and 5:6-11, Peter tells his fellow believers not to be surprised when “trial” and “testing” and “sufferings” come. As Jesus suffered, so His disciples might be “insulted for the Name of Christ” and simply “as a Christian.” They should keep “doing good” according to God’s will and “entrusting their souls to their faithful Creator” and “humbling themselves under God’s mighty hand.” They can “cast all their cares and anxieties on the Lord for He cares for them.” All Christians face some suffering in “resisting Satan” in this life, but “staying firm in faith,” by God’s grace and His “strength and restoration,” we will be “called to eternal glory in Christ.”
Jesus gives these same promise in our Gospel lesson, John 17:1-11. This is called His prayer for us, as our High Priest, even as He would soon return to the presence of His “Holy Father” in heaven and “the glory” He had given up to become our suffering servant and Savior. Jesus knows that we have been called to faith in Him and prays that we may “keep the Word of God” and be kept “one” in faith, “in the name” of our Lord. For “this is eternal life, that we know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” That is enough for us, because Jesus has already accomplished for us all that we need for eternal life.
Psalm 39 is another of the psalms of David. It is dedicated in the introduction to one of his three leaders of music, Jeduthun. Some think that another name for this leader is Ethan. See 1 Chronicles 16:41-42. Jeduthun is called “the King’s seer” in 2 Chronicles 35:15, indicating that he was singing God’s Word, as penned by David by God’s inspiration and guidance.
We know from other parts of our Psalm studies that David had many difficult, challenging times, with King Saul and Absalom, his own son, and with others. God Himself, needed to confront him and discipline him, too, at times of his own weaknesses. David is very honest about his struggles at these times. This psalm is one of those examples. The commentator, Walter Roehrs, calls it “the struggle of faith to subdue fretting and discontent over afflictions” (Concordia Self-Study Commentary, p. 359).
David begins by saying that he would “guard his mouth” - “muzzle it” - so that he would “not sin with his tongue” while “wicked” people were “in his presence.” He did want unbelieving people to hear his complaints against God and have their own negative views of God reinforced (Psalm 39:1). Again David said, “I was mute and silent; I held my peace.” He was trying his best not to challenge God, but “to no avail.” It did “no good.” He became more distressed, and his feelings were burning within him like a hot fire. Finally, he could not help but “speak up with his tongue” (Psalm 39:2-3).
What David does in Psalm 39:4-8 is to complain to God about how short and full of turmoil life is. His life feels so fleeting, “a mere breath.” “a shadow,” and full of “nothing.” Even if he can “heap up some wealth,” who knows who will end up with it? He wishes “that the Lord would make known his end to him and explain “what is the measure of his days.”
Don’t we have days and times where we feel the same way? We have troubles and frustrations and cannot understand what is going on. We may not say it out loud as David did, but we wonder what God is doing and not doing and how we can cope with such a troubled world. Job is another example of the same struggles and the ups and downs of faith. When tragic losses came to him, He could say, with strong faith, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” And we hear, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong… Job did not sin with his lips” (Job.1:21-22, 2:10). Later on, though, Job became critical of God and challenged Him to explain, and the Lord had to discipline and correct him and call him to repentance and renewed faith.
The same had happened for David. In Psalm 39:7-11, the Lord has awakened David to realize that he is the one who is doing wrong and transgressing, not God. David knew again that his only “hope” was in the Lord. The Lord needed “to discipline a man,” including David, with “strokes” and “rebukes for his sin.” It felt like “hostility” from “the hand of the Lord,” yet David knew that God “had done it” for his own good. Now David “waits in hope” in the Lord, praying that the Lord would deliver him from his transgressions and not have him be “scorned by the fool who rejects God” (Psalm 14:1).
Once again, “David is mute; he does not open his mouth.” This time he remembers that without God, “all mankind is a mere breath.” What a strong statement that is to humanists today, who are trusting in themselves and all that they can accomplish on their own, with their own human wisdom. David reminds that if God wished it, He could “consume like a moth what is dear to people” (Psalm 39:11).
This is a picture image that is used often in the Old Testament. See Job 13:28: “Man wastes away like a rotten thing; like a garment that is moth-eaten.” Or Isaiah 50:9: “Behold, the Lord helps me… Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.” See what Jesus says in His Sermon on the Mount, too: “Do lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-21). James also warns those trusting in what they have accumulated: “Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.”
In contrast, David echoes what he said in Psalm 62:1-2, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation, my Fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” David simply says, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears” (Psalm 39:12). He trusts that the Lord does notice his earthly tears and struggles and will be merciful to him. As he said to the Lord in Psalm 56:8-11, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose Word I praise… In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.” (How good it is to know that God knows about our tossing and turning at night and cares about all our burdens and anxieties, too!)
David closes this psalm and his prayer admitting that he is just a “sojourner,” “a guest” in this world, like everyone else. He no longer demands to “know his end” and what all will happen to him (Psalm 39:4). He simply prays that God “will look away” from his sins and struggles, and forgive him, and allow him “to smile again” and have joy in the Lord, before he departs this life (Psalm 39:12-13).
As New Testament Christians, we know that we can “rejoice in the Lord always,” because of all that Jesus has done for us as our Savior” (Philippians 4:4) and that “the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). At the same time, we know that we also, like David, are weak and struggling believers and regularly need the reminder in God’s Word and worship to confess our sins, and ask God for forgiveness and mercy and to trust His promises.
May God help us to guard our own mouths and tongues more, so that we may complain less, and trust our Lord more and encourage others more, rather than griping about them, too. May we be more careful in what we say in the presence of those who don’t believe, as well, so that we are a good, positive witness for our Lord, as David tried to be.
Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 17:16-31
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
Sermon originally delivered May 29, 2011
We will begin with our Gospel lesson for this week, John 14:15-21, as a theme for this week’s readings could be Jesus’ promise, “I will not leave you as orphans.” We are never totally alone, though it may seem like it, at times. Jesus is with us, though the world cannot see or recognize Him. Because He lives, we also will live, and He has given us “another helper,” the Holy Spirit, to be with us forever, too. We then show our love for our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by seeking to follow His will, by listening to the Spirit of truth, through His Word of truth, the Bible.
Peter reminds us, in our Epistle lesson, 1 Peter 3:13-22, that Christ Jesus “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.” We receive personally the blessing of Christ’s forgiveness for us through “baptism, which now saves us.” We also have a great “hope that is in us,” not from ourselves, but from our “holy Christ the Lord.” Even if we have sufferings for seeking to do good and God’s will, “we will be blessed,” by our Lord.
In our first lesson, Acts 17:16-31, from the history of the early Christian church, we see Paul facing much opposition and skepticism in the famous city of Athens, in Greece. He has just been chased out of another city, Berea (Acts 17:13-15), but he trusts that the Lord is still with him. The city of Athens is “very religious” but “full of idols” and false ideas. People always want to hear something new and even have an altar “to the unknown god.” Paul proclaims to them the one true God, “the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth.” God cares about all people, even in their “ignorance” and confusion. Paul then calls them to repent and trust in His “appointed” Savior, Jesus, who died for them and has been raised from the dead. Some “mocked Paul” and some were willing to listen more, and the Lord brought some to believe in Christ.
The psalm is Psalm 66:8-20. The psalmist expresses his praise of God, even though God has allowed him and others to go through times of severe trial and testing, through fire and water and crushing burdens. God ultimately protected them and their souls and brought them out to a place of abundance. The psalmist has offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God in return, in typical Old Testament terms. He has not “cherished iniquity in his heart.” Though he was imperfect, he has trusted that God would “not remove His steadfast love from him” or abandon him, but would answer his prayers in the best way.
Psalm 84 was written by someone from the Levite group known as the Sons of Korah. You can read about them in 1 Chronicles 6:31-38 and their descendants, as famous temple singers, in 1 Chronicles 15:17 and 16:41-42. Psalms attributed to them are Psalms 42,44-49,85, and 87-88, along with this psalm. The term “Gittith” in the introduction is likely a musical note, maybe encouraging the use of stringed instruments for this psalm, some think.
The psalmist longs for “the courts of the Lord” in the temple in Jerusalem (Psalm 84:1-2). The temple is called the Lord’s “dwelling place” because this is where God would sometimes show His glory and communicate with His people through His Word, as we have heard in previous studies. People knew that God was not limited only to being in the temple. Isaiah had written, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what is the house that you would build for Me?’” (Isaiah 66:1-2). The temple was also the place for God’s people to “sing for joy to the living God” in worship and to bring their gifts and sacrifices to the Lord (Psalm 84:2,4).
Though they were scattered in many places, every Jewish male was expected to come to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year, for the three major festivals: Passover, Weeks (Pentecost), and Booths.(See Exodus 34:23-24.) For some reason, though, the psalmist has not been able to get to Jerusalem as he should. He is envious of even the birds that are able to build nests for themselves near the altars or in the walls of the temple, close to the Lord of hosts, King and God (Psalm 84:3). He dreams of making the pilgrimage to Zion, (Jerusalem and the Temple), traveling the highways to Zion in his heart, as if he were with other pilgrims (Psalm 84:5). They would go through the Valley of Baca (which some translate as “the valley of tears”). The journey is long and hard, but the Lord provides springs and rain and continuing strength so that eventually they can appear before God in Zion, in His temple (Psalm 84:6-7).
The psalmist wishes he could be with those in Jerusalem. “One day in the Lord’s courts is better than a thousand days elsewhere," he says (Psalm 84:10). In fact, he would rather be a doorkeeper, just at the threshold of “the house of the Lord,” than to “dwell (maybe in a self-centered, lavish way) in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10). The psalmist knows that being in the presence of the Lord is such a great blessing. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield, bestowing favor and honor, and withholding no good thing from His faithful people” (Psalm 84:11). We have heard very similar words in many places about the “goodness and mercy” of our God, provided so generously to us (Psalm 23:6, Matthew 7:11, James 1:17, and Titus 3:4, etc.).
In fact, some think that portions of this psalm are prophetic of our Lord Jesus. The psalmist prays, in Psalm 84:7-8, that the Lord God would “give ear” to him and “hear his prayer.” He asks God to “behold our shield; look on the face of Your anointed!” Kings and prophets were anointed; but there does not seem to be reference to them in this psalm. More likely, this is a reference to the Anointed One, the Messiah whom God promised one day to send - Jesus our Savior.
Jesus was so eager to be in His Father’s House, in the temple, when he was 12 years old. He knew He belonged there and did not want to leave. He knew He needed to be there, talking and learning, especially at Passover, though His family did not understand (Luke 2:41-52). He also spent much time teaching in the temple in the days just before His last Passover meal and the giving of the good gift of Holy Communion. He went through many a “valley of tears” in His life and ministry and ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Sparrows had places to nest in the temple, but Jesus had to say, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20).
Jesus also fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi 4:2 of “the Sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings” and of Luke 1:78: “the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high.” Jesus is our “Sun and our Shield,” providing us “the shield of faith” in Him, through the Holy Spirit (Psalm 84:11 and Ephesians 6:16). Jesus is the only one who “walked uprightly” all the time, “fulfilling all righteousness” for us, in our place (Psalm 84:11 and Matthew 3:15). Finally, we get the benefit of His perfect trust in His heavenly Father, so that we are saved by His grace through faith in Him that He provides for us (Ephesians 2:8-9). (Yes, “blessed is the one who trusts in Jesus above all - the Anointed One of God and our Savior” (Psalm 84:8-9, 12).
Much more could be said related to this psalm , but let me add just a few things. The New Testament, of course, takes the emphasis away from the temple in Jerusalem and puts the focus on Christ Jesus. Jesus, talking about Himself, said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up… He was speaking about the temple of His body” (John 2:18-22). Talking with a Samaritan woman, Jesus said, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain (in Samaria) nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:19-26). Jesus clearly identified Himself in this passage as the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One.
Jesus also predicted the destruction of the temple, which happened in 70 AD, never to be rebuilt to this day. (See Matthew 24:1-2.) However, as Psalm 84 describes, believers still longed for and needed opportunities to worship their Lord and receive His blessings. The early Christian church was no different. Right after Pentecost, we hear that the baptized believers in Christ “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (God’s Word, the Scriptures) and the fellowship (gathering together to encourage one another) and the breaking of bread (fellowship meals and the Lord’s Supper - and more baptisms) and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). They met in the temple and in homes and later on in what we now call churches (places of assembly).
The importance of gathering together around God’s Word and the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) is still just as great today. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day (the return of Christ) drawing near” (Hebrews 10:23-25). Especially in these post-Covid days, these words are very important. Many people got out of the habit of regular worship and still have not come back, even though they could. May we all be led to “long for the courts of the Lord,” as Psalm 84:1-2ff. says.
One last reminder. Our Lutheran Study Bible (ESV) notes say (p.929), “The unknown reason for the separation (of the psalmist from worship in the temple) makes the psalm more universal, aptly prayed by shut-ins, prisoners, travelers, Sunday workers, and all who have been temporarily separated from congregational worship.” There are other reasons, too. People are ill or disabled or don’t have transportation or they are in a place where there are few or no Christian churches or faithful Biblical churches, etc. That is why podcasts and streaming worship services and services on alternate days, etc., are being provided in many places these days. May we keep praying for people who can’t get to worship and think about how we can be of help to them, as we are able, and not neglect them. Everyone needs encouragement and the Word of God, centered in Christ our Savior.
Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 6:1-9, 7:2a, 51-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
Sermon originally delivered May 22, 2011
The Gospel lesson is at the heart of the readings we hear this week. Jesus had just told His disciples that He was going away. They do not understand and are clearly very upset. In John 14:1-14, we hear the confused responses of Thomas and Philip to what Jesus is saying, even though He is giving them very comforting words. Thomas wants to know where Jesus is going and how to get there. Jesus tells him that he is going to prepare a dwelling place for him, and He will come back to get him. Thomas does not need to trouble his heart about this, but just trust Jesus, who alone is the Way and the Truth and the Life and will bring him to the Heavenly Father. Philip just wants a chance to see the Father. Jesus tells Philip that if he has seen Jesus, He has also seen, as much as he needs to, the Father, who is in and with Jesus. Philip is also just to believe and trust in Jesus, and he will be led in the future to do greater things in the name of Jesus, for the glory of the Father.
Psalm 146 tells us that our hearts need not be troubled, if we simply trust, not ourselves and other fallible human beings, but our Creator God, in whom is our help and hope. He cares about people in all sorts of circumstances and situations in life, including us, whatever we are going through. Above all, He provides us with a Son of Man (our Lord Jesus), in whom there is salvation.
In the first lesson, Acts 6:1-9 and 7:2a and 7:51-60, we see that our hearts need not be troubled, as the early Christians were led by the Lord to care about both the physical and spiritual needs of people, as our Lord does. We are in the hands of the Son of Man, our living Lord Jesus, who forgives our sins and helps us in life and even in death and will “receive our spirits” to eternal life. In turn, we are called to be faithful to God and His Word as best we can, as Stephen was.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Peter 2:2-10, Peter also calls us to long for “the pure spiritual milk” of God’s Word. Through it, we grow as God’s people and know that “the Lord is good,” and full of “excellencies” in His dealings with us. Our hearts need nor fear, either, for through Christ we have been called from darkness into God’s marvelous light and to belief in Christ. Once we were “nobodies,” but now we are “God’s people” and are covered by God’s “mercy” for us, and for our salvation.
I had noticed last week, with Good Shepherd Sunday, the reference in Psalm 80:1 to God as “Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock.” This follows right after Psalm 79:13, where God’s people say to the Lord, “We your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.” Psalm 80 seemed like a good follow-up to what we heard in worship last week and has other important messages for us all, too.
The author is someone from the line of Asaph and his sons, from the tribe of Levi. Asaph was appointed by David to provide music in the tabernacle in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15:16-19, 16:4-5,7 and Nehemiah 12:46). Asaph’s sons later provided music and songs in the temple (1 Chronicles 25:1-9) and are called “prophets,” as their words were inspired by God and His Holy Spirit. This is a reminder again that all Scripture, including the psalms, is inspired by God and helpful for us (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83 are also mentioned as psalms by Asaph and his family group.
The mention of “Lilies” in the introduction is most likely a notation of the melody or musical setting for this psalm, when it was sung. The term “Lilies” is also found in the introduction to Psalms 45 and 60. (If you use the Lutheran Service Book, you can find some of these same type of notations with the hymns but also in the back of the hymnal on pages 998-1017. For example, you can find that the “tune” called “Old Hundredth,” “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow,” is used for 5 different hymns - 632, 775, 791, 805, and 923. See page 1015 in the Lutheran Service Book.)
Psalm 80 is a prayer that God, the “Shepherd of Israel,” would come to save His people, especially the Northern Kingdom of Israel, from threats at this time. (You might remember that after the time of Kings David and Solomon, the Kingdom split into two kingdoms, because there was disagreement over who should be king. Ten of the 12 tribes supported the Northern Kingdom. This is complicated history, which I won’t get into here, but the names mentioned in Psalm 80:1-2 are all connected mostly with the North and with Joseph. This northern kingdom tended to have leaders and people who were less faithful to God over time, and had many troubles as a result. We don’t know for sure, but this psalm was likely written when the North was being threatened by the armies of Assyria, which finally overran and destroyed the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC. Even the Southern Kingdom of Judah was threatened at this time, too.)
There were people still faithful to God, though, and they were crying out to God to “give ear” and to “stir up His might and come to save them" (Psalm 80, v.2). They were calling upon the one true God, “enthroned upon the cherubim” in the temple in Jerusalem.
The cherubim were angels, and representations of two of them were placed on the Ark of the Covenant, according to instructions given to Moses by God (Exodus 25:10-22, especially v.22). Later on, when the temple was built, Solomon built two cherubim in the inner sanctuary, above where the Ark was placed (1 Kings 5:22-28). This is where God would appear in glory, at times, to communicate with Moses and later on with God’s people. (Parallel to this would be the altar area in churches today. We know that God is with us always and is not limited to one place in a church. Yet we respect this area, where we hear God’s Word and receive His presence and blessings in Word and Sacrament.)
In Psalm 80, three times the psalmist and people pray, “Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved” (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19). They know that they are sinful people, who need to be “restored” by God and His mercy and forgiveness. They know that they do not deserve this mercy. God has a right to be angry with them, and they ask, “How long will You be angry with Your people’s prayers?” (Psalm 80:4). They remember how much God had blessed them in the past, taking them from being a small “vine” in Egypt and allowing them to grow into a strong nation (Psalm 80:8-11).
The mention of “mountains” and “cedars” and “the sea” and “the River” describe the boundaries of Israel in its greatest times. See Deuteronomy 11:24 as another example of that description. We could spend a whole study and more on how often the images of a vine and vineyard is used to talk about God’s people, too. See Old Testament references like Isaiah 5:1-7, 27:2-6, Jeremiah 2:21, 12:10, and Hosea 10:1, and New Testament passages like John 10:4, Luke 13:6, Mark 12:1-12, and John 15:1-6.
Sadly, God’s own people had so often sinned and rebelled against Him and His will, including idolatry and worship of false gods, particularly in the Northern Kingdom, that the people had often experienced “the bread of tears” and “tears to drink in full measure,” as a result of their sins. There was “contention” with neighboring people and mockery and laughter from their enemies (Psalm 80:5-6). The trouble and sorrow all seemed to be happening again. God’s “vineyard,” the place of His people, was being “broken down” and plundered again by enemy peoples (Psalm 80:12-13, 16).
And so God’s people cry out, “Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine” (Psalm 80:14). They knew that their only hope would be in God’s “letting His face shine” upon them again with His mercy and peace and blessing (Psalm 80:7, Numbers 6:24-27). They could not “restore” and “save“ themselves, by their own power.
Sadly again, most of the Northern Kingdom continued to “turn back from the Lord” (Psalm 80:18) and finally the Assyrians conquered these people and killed many and carried most others away into captivity in other lands. Very few of these Jews ever returned to the land of Israel. God did not give up on His people, though, even after the Southern Kingdom also drifted from the Lord’s will and many were carried away into captivity in Babylon, in 587-586 BC. God preserved a remnant of His people and brought them back to the land of Israel and continued His promises to answer His people’s prayers “to come and save” them (Psalm 80:3).
Look especially at Psalm 80:15,17-18. Several of the things said here refer to our coming Savior Jesus. The word “stock” in v.15 could be translated “the shoot” or “the root” that is planted by God’s right hand, His most powerful hand. See how that same term is used in the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 11:1-2 and referred to in passages like Acts 13:22-23, regarding Jesus, from the line of Jesse. Notice in Psalm 80:15,17, “the son God has made strong for Himself… the man of God’s right hand, the son of man whom God has made strong for Himself.”
The term “Son of Man” is a reference to the Messiah in Daniel 7:13 and Psalm 2 and other places. and it is a term Jesus often used for Himself in the Gospels, for His saving work. (See Mark 10:45 and Matthew 12:8 and Luke 19:10, etc.) Hosea 11:1 is quoted by Matthew as referring to Jesus, called out of Egypt as God’s Son. Even a Jewish writing, the Targum, paraphrased Psalm 80:15b as referring to “the King Messiah whom Thou hast established for Thyself,” though the emphasis was simply on the Messiah coming from the Jewish nation.
Clearly, the New Testament says that Jesus was the answer to these many prayers of Psalm 80. He was the Shepherd of Israel and the whole world - the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). The psalmist prays, “Give us life, and we will call on Your Name” (Psalm 80:18). He prays, “Let Your Face shine, that we may be saved,” again and again (Psalm 80:3,7,19). John 1:1,4-5 tells that “the Word (Jesus) was God… In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The psalmist prays, “Stir up Your might and come to save us” (Psalm 80:2). That is exactly why Jesus came. John 3:16-17 tells us, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him… that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus is the Answer, and we are “restored” through Him (Psalm 23:3, Psalm 51:12, and 1 Peter 5:10, “The God of all grace , who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you”).
Two final thoughts. We use the prayer, “Stir up your power and come to save us” (Psalm 80:2) also in the four weeks of the Advent season, as we prepare for a truly Christ-centered Christmas and its greatest gift, Jesus Himself. We can also use those words as a prayer for our churches, that Christ will do His saving work in and through the Word and Sacraments that we use, even in challenging days, when some seem more resistant to the faith. And we pray this prayer also as we await with confidence the return of Christ on the last day. As Revelation 22:20 says, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
Finally, one last thought that Lutherans might be especially interested in. Pope Leo X, in 1520, wrote a papal document condemning Martin Luther and his teachings and giving him 60 days to appear in Rome. Pope Leo quoted from Psalm 80:13, saying that Luther himself was “the boar from the forest who was ravaging the Church.” In early 1521, Pope Leo then excommunicated Luther from the Roman Catholic Church, even though Luther was trying to proclaim Jesus as the one and only Savior from sin (John 10:9, 14:6) and the one who was seeking to draw all people together in one flock, with one Shepherd, Jesus Himself, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 10:16).
Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 2:42-47
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
Sermon originally delivered May 15, 2011
This Sunday is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, and most of our readings have to do with Jesus as our Good Shepherd, in all that He did and still does for us.
The psalm is, of course, Psalm 23, David’s beautiful words about the Lord as his Shepherd. The Lord, in His wisdom, provides all that David really needs in a spiritual way. He restores David’s soul, after difficult times, and provides him with spiritual food and drink. Even in the shadow of death, when in the presence of enemies, the Lord gives him comfort and courage. The Lord will give him goodness and mercy, and one day, he will live in the house of the Lord forever.
That is the promise of God for all of us, too, with Jesus as our Good Shepherd. In the Gospel lesson, John 10:1-10, Jesus says that He is “the door for His sheep.” Those who enter into the sheepfold through faith in Him will be saved and find good pasture and have abundant life, now and forever. There are thieves and robbers who can endanger the sheep, but the sheep of Jesus’ flock will listen only to Him and His voice, in His Word. He knows us all by name and will care for us always.
The first lesson, Acts 2:42-47, tells how those who were brought to faith in Jesus and were baptized on Pentecost were able to stay in faith and were strengthened. They kept coming together in worship and fellowship and heard the apostles’ teaching through the Word of God and had “the breaking of bread,” including the Lord’s Supper. They also prayed for each other and helped with each other’s needs in a generous way, and the Lord added more people to them who were being saved.
Peter adds, in our Epistle lesson, 1 Peter 2:19-25, that we can also expect some suffering and trouble as sheep of our Good Shepherd, even when we are trying to do good and right things. We are following in the steps of Jesus, who suffered and was reviled and finally died for us, carrying our sins on the tree of the cross. By His wounds, we have been healed. We were like straying sheep, but now have been brought to our Good Shepherd, the Overseer of our souls, who will care for us.
Psalm 115 deals with a constant temptation for the children of Israel. The Lord had taught his people that there was only one true God, whom alone they should worship and serve. The foundation commandment of the 10 Commandments, the first commandment, is recorded in Exodus 20:3 and again in Deuteronomy 5:7 and repeated in many other ways throughout the Old Testament: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” An explanation of that commandment followed in both Exodus and Deuteronomy. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Exodus 20:4-5 and Deuteronomy 5:8-9).
All around them, though, were peoples and nations that were polytheists, believing in many gods and goddesses, and making idols for themselves. Psalm 115: 4-8 ridicules the making and worshiping of idols, “the work of human hands.” These idols may have mouths and eyes and ears, etc., but they cannot speak or see or hear or do anything at all. There are similar descriptions and statements in other places in the Scriptures. Psalm 135 says much the same thing in v.15-18, along with other similar words we will touch on later in v.6 and v.19-20. See also Jeremiah 10:3-5 and 8-11, and most strongly in Isaiah 44:6-20, where God says through Isaiah, “I am the first and I am the last, besides me there is no god” (v.6) and “Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?”(v.10).
Still, the Israelites too often followed the temptation to be like so many others and follow false gods and idols like “the golden calf” in Exodus 32. A summary of the history of God’s people in 2 Kings 17:6-20 says things like this: The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians “because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God… and feared other gods… and walked in the customs of other nations… things that were not right… They went after false idols and became false… They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves images of two calves and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal.” (All these were false gods and idols or objects of worship of other nations.)
“None was left but the (Southern) tribe of Judah alone. Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs Israel (the Northern Kingdom) had introduced (including idolatry)… And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel… until He had cast them out of His sight,” with the fall of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians. During low times like these, others nations would mock God’s people and say, “Where is their God” who lets them have such trouble (Psalm 115:2). See also passages like Psalm 42:10, where the some of God’s people wrote, “As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” - implying that this “God” cannot be seen and thus did not exist.
Do we hear such challenges still today, as people attack God and Christianity at times? Our answer is in Psalm 115:3: “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” We trust our Lord. He is not like the false gods of the Greeks and Romans and others of old, who were very human-like, in doing both some good and much evil. They literally did whatever they wished, even if it was wrong. The God revealed in Scripture is always working for ultimate good, though He may have to “discipline” at times and we do not always understand His ways. (See passages like Hebrews 12:5-7.)
Thus, the call comes in Psalm 115:9ff.: “O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.” God did not give up on His people, and after a time of captivity, He forgave and restored them to the land of Israel. Some think that this psalm was written as a warning and reminder, in this later time in Israelite history, that Israel should not slip back into gross idolatry again.
There could also be other kinds of idolatry and false worship, though, besides literal use of idols. Psalm 115: 1 says, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your Name give glory, for the sake of Your steadfast love (mercy) and Your faithfulness.” The Scriptures warn that we can turn many things into gods, including ourselves and things we have or “covet,” if we make them more important that God Himself and His Word and will. Psalm 115:1 says twice that glory and honor should go above all to God and not to ourselves and what we are and accomplish. We are not to love and trust in our possessions and money (Proverbs 11:28) or our family (Matthew 10:37) or our own goodness (Ephesians 2:8-9), or anything else, more than God and His good gifts to us (James 1:17-18).
There are dangers here for us even today and even as God’s people. Our parents and family are very important. God even gave us commandments about them. We need some money and a place to live and on and on. But none of this is more important that our Lord. He is the One we are to trust above all, no matter who we are.
In Psalm 115:9-13, the psalmist especially speaks to “Israel,” the chosen people of God, and “the house of Aaron,” the priests who led the people in worship and learning, and faithful people, “small and great,” who “fear” and love God. All of them are called to “trust in the Lord” above all, and recognize that “being blessed by the Lord” is most important. It would be so easy to focus upon themselves and what they are doing or thinking or accomplishing, rather than giving God the glory and praise. (I have to watch out for that danger myself, as a pastor and teacher!) Remember the parable in Luke 18:9-14. The Pharisee, the religious leader, can only seem to talk about himself and the great things he is doing. He goes home not “justified,” while the struggling tax collector can only pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and goes home forgiven and blessed and right with God.
Think above all of our Lord Jesus, who did finally come from the people of Israel to be our Savior. See how He, too, was tempted as we are, yet did not sin, in Matthew 4:1-11. The devil tempted him with food and honor and fame and personal possessions and “glory,” if He would only “fall down and worship him,” instead of putting God first. Jesus simply quoted Scripture, ending with Deuteronomy 6:13, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”
The whole life of Jesus was one of service to His heavenly Father, doing everything right, in our place, where we so often fail. Finally, we sinners were redeemed and ransomed and forgiven by His sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins. See 1 Peter 1:18-21: “You were ransomed… with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a Lamb without spot or blemish… and God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” In Christ Jesus we now trust, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one true God “who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 115:15) - the complete fulfillment of the “trust in the Lord” spoken of in Psalm 115.
Two last comments on Psalm 115. Verse17 reminds us that we cannot take any of those things we cherish so much with us when we die. Our mouths will be stopped, and we can trust only in the “precious blood” of Christ, shed for us, and that will be enough.
But, as verse 18 says, and the New testament makes clear, “we will bless the Lord” - give Him all the praise and glory and honor, “forevermore” in a perfect way, in everlasting life “in the heavens” (v.3, too).
One more brief comment. Some churches understand Exodus 20:4 as a second and separate commandment, which forbids any kind of image or likeness of anything in a church building. Such churches are therefore very plain and have no artwork of any kind in them. Christians traditionally have understood v. 4 as an additional explanation of v.3, of having no other gods and forbidding worship and adoration of any objects or anything, that should be given only to God. We take this second view as Lutherans, and also believe that Scripture itself should help us to interpret Scripture. In the Old Testament tabernacle and later on in the temple, for example, the ark of the covenant had images of winged cherubs (a kind of angel) one on each side of the mercy seat (Exodus 25:18-20). The golden lampstand had “cups made like almond blossoms” (Exodus 25:33-34). The priestly robe had images of pomegranates and bells on it.
In other words, God Himself had commanded Moses to make these images of things for use in the temple. In the New Testament, John sees, in visions of heaven, seven stars and a two-edged sword (Revelation 1:16) and living creatures that look like a lion and an eagle, etc. (Revelation 4:6-8). All this is to says that many Christians feel that it is acceptable to use images and symbols and artwork in churches, for teaching purposes or for the glory of God, as long as these do not become sacred objects of worship, and we clearly worship only God Himself, as Psalm 115 indicates.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
1 Peter 1:13-25
Luke 24:13-35
Sermon originally delivered April 22, 2023
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
1 Peter 1:13-25
Luke 24:13-35
Sermon originally delivered May 8, 2011
In Psalm 116, an unidentified psalmist “loves the Lord” and “will call on Him always,“ because the Lord has heard him and delivered his soul from “distress and anguish” and danger of “death” itself. He “believes” the Lord, for the Lord is “gracious and merciful” and will help “simple” people like him, who are open to learning God’s Word and His will, instead of the “lies“ of so much of mankind. The psalmist then sings a great song of praise to the Lord. We use these words in an offertory, an offering hymn, singing God’s Word to each other in Divine Service, Setting One, in the Lutheran Service Book. The psalmist also knows that the death of God’s saints, His believers, is “precious” to the Lord and this is in prophecy of the coming saving work and death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus (There is more detail about this psalm in this week's podcast Bible study, too.)
The Gospel lesson, Luke 24:13-35, continues the story of the resurrection of Jesus and His appearance alive to two ordinary followers of Jesus, not part of the original 12 disciples. They are very sad, because their hopes that Jesus was the “the one to redeem Israel” had now been dashed by His death. Jesus appears to them, but hides who He really was, until He taught them from Scripture and became their Host in His meal with them and “the breaking of the bread” with them. Then Jesus vanished, and these two followers hurried back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that Jesus was alive!
The first lesson, Acts 2:14a, 36-41, concludes the preaching of Peter on Pentecost, as He proclaimed that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. 3,000 people were cut to the heart and received the Word of God and were brought to faith by the Holy Spirit, and baptized. The promised blessings in baptism are the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and these promises are for all, including children, and people who are far off. Repentance, too, is through God’s working in people and not by our efforts and decisions. See Acts 5:30-31 and Acts 11:15-18
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Peter 1:17-25. Peter is writing to Christians scattered in many places and reminding them of what Christ Jesus had done for them. They were ransomed from their futile ways through the precious blood of Christ. They and we are believers in God through Him. God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, and we are “born again” through “the living and abiding Word of God” - the Good News preached to us (as well as through baptism). (See John 3:1-6, also.) In response to our salvation, we are called to fear, love and trust in God and seek to serve Him and live in “brotherly love” with one another.
Psalm 116 in a psalm of thanksgiving to God for deliverance from great danger and from death itself. The specific situation is not described, and this has thus been a psalm used by many as a prayer in times of great difficulty, whatever they may be. The author is not identified, but many think this is one of the later psalms written in the Old Testament because there are many references to psalms of David and others.
The psalmist begins by declaring that he loves the Lord, because the Lord has heard his voice and his pleas for mercy. The psalmist was surrounded by the snares of death, of Sheol, and suffered distress and anguish (Psalm 116:1-3). He cried out, “O Lord, deliver my soul,” and “the Lord delivered his soul from death, his eyes from tears, and his feet from stumbling.” “He walks before the Lord again in the land of the living” (v.4,8-9).
Therefore, the psalmist will keep “calling on Him as long as he lives” because he knows that the Lord is “gracious and righteous and merciful” and “has dealt bountifully with him.” He can “rest in the Lord” and His care (v.2,5,7). He knows that the Lord “preserves simple people” like him (v. 6). (The word “simple” does not mean someone who is naïve and feeble in mind, but someone who is “open” to learning and instruction, especially from the Lord. See, for example, Proverbs 1:1-7, where the same word is used for those “open” to the Lord’s knowledge, in contrast with “fools who despise wisdom and instruction.”)
The psalmist knows that he must turn to the Lord, because he is “alarmed” to discover that “All mankind are liars” (Psalm 116:11). Fellow human beings, and he himself, and all of us, are weak, sinful people, far from true Godly wisdom if left on our own. (See Scriptures like Genesis 6:5 and Jeremiah 4:22 and 17:9 and Romans 3:22-23. Be sure to read these!) So, the psalmist continues to “believe” the Lord and trust Him, even when he himself says, “I am greatly afflicted” (Psalm 116:10). He know that he will be taken care of by his Lord, no matter what comes for him. He knows that he would be blessed by His Lord, even if he would die (v. 15). (“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,” - those who are right with God by faith in His mercy.)
This mercy of God would be shown most clearly, of course, in Christ our Savior, who always followed His Heavenly Father’s will, even if it meant, as it did, suffering and dying for us to pay the penalty for our sins. That was not the end for Jesus, for He rose in victory for us on the day we call Easter. See how Paul uses words from this psalm, Psalm 116:10, in 2 Corinthians 4:13-15: “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will bring us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.”
The psalmist, who knew of God’s mercy and promises in his life and in prophecy for the future, fulfilled finally in Jesus, then broke into a song of praise and thanks to the Lord in Psalm 116:12-17. He was “God’s servant,” and the Lord had “loosed his bonds,” bringing him freedom and hope and rest (v.7,16). He will now worship the Lord with fellow believers “in the courts of the house of the Lord” (v.14,18,19), and he will “pay his vows,” make his commitments to the Lord, in gratefulness and praise to the Lord (v.14,17-19).
If some of these words sound familiar to you, it it because v.12-14 and 17-19 are used as an “offertory," an offering song, after the sermon and before the Communion liturgy, in the Divine Service, Setting One, in the Lutheran Service Book, as offerings are brought to the Lord. We are singing God’s Word to and with each other, just as the psalmist was doing.
Note also that the psalmist says, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (v.13). When God’s people came to Jerusalem to celebrate the yearly Passover, one of the cups of wine they shared with each other in the Passover service was called “the cup of salvation.” That service ended with singing of psalms, from Psalms 113-118, also. This is prophetic of Jesus.
Remember that when Jesus came as the Savior, He also celebrated the Passover with His disciples the night before His death. He used the unleavened bread and the wine of “the cup of salvation” and transformed them into what we now call The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. In and with and under the bread and wine, we also receive the body and blood of Christ Jesus and the blessings of His forgiveness. That is now our “cup of salvation,” that we can receive regularly in faith. (See, for example, Matthew 26:26-28.) Note also that then they closed the Passover “with a hymn they sang and then went out to the Mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30), where Jesus prayed and then was arrested and died on the cross the next day. Most likely, Jesus sang Psalm 116 as a part of His last hymn before His suffering and death on the cross.
Read through Psalm 116 again, thinking about it with reference to Jesus. The psalmist is grateful that he escaped death, but Jesus went to His death for our sake. Jesus suffered “distress and anguish, tears and stumbling and death” that we deserve. He was “greatly afflicted” in our place, for our sins, because “all mankind, including us, are liars.”
“His death was precious in the eyes of His Heavenly Father,” and he was raised to life on Easter, and earned for us eternal life, as we believe and trust in Him. “What shall we render to the Lord, for all His benefits to us?” We believe in and praise and thank the Lord! And we are His servants, in gratitude for all He has done for us, in Christ.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 5:29-42
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Sermon originally delivered May 1, 2011
At the heart of our Scripture readings this week is the Gospel lesson, the story of Jesus and doubting Thomas and the other readings all revolve around it.
The Psalm is Psalm 148, a song of praise to the Lord. First, the angels are called upon to praise the Lord and then the sun, moon, and stars and all we see above - for He commanded, and they were created. Then, the things of earth are called upon to praise the Lord, as well, culminating with all rulers and people of all ages. All of creation is thus to praise the Lord’s Name and majesty. Finally there is a prophecy of the Lord raising up “a horn” for His people, and for this, especially, the Lord is to be praised. A horn had been a symbol of power and strength in the Old Testament, and Zechariah, in the Gospel of Luke, identifies this “horn” as the coming Savior, Jesus, whose way John the Baptism would prepare. (See Luke 1:67-79, and especially, v.69.)
The Gospel lesson is John 20:19-31. The Risen Lord Jesus shows Himself alive to His disciples on Easter evening and gives them His Holy Spirit and the power to forgive sins. The disciple Thomas was not there, though, and refuses to believe that Jesus could be alive unless he sees Him and touches Him. A week later, Jesus appears again to the disciples, and Thomas is there. Quickly he believes, calling Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” It is good that he believes, but Jesus adds, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John adds that all that he has written in this Gospel was written that we too may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, we may have life, also, in His Name.
The first Scripture lesson is from Acts 5:28-42, part of the history of the early Christian church. The disciples had been arrested and jailed for telling people about the Risen Lord Jesus, but an angel came and set them free. They were telling about Jesus again when religious leaders stopped them and brought them before the Jewish Council. They were threatened again and told not to teach in the name of Jesus. They responded, “We must obey God, rather than men” and proclaimed Jesus as leader and Savior, now alive again and exalted to the right hand of God. The Council members talked among themselves, and a respected Pharisee, Gamaliel, spoke of other troublemakers who had died away eventually. He recommended that they leave the disciples alone and see what happened. This would avoid the very unlikely chance that the Council could even be opposing God, themselves. They beat and threatened the disciples and let them go, and the disciples felt it an honor to suffer dishonor for the sake of Jesus. They kept right on teaching and preaching that “the Christ is Jesus.”
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Peter 1:3-9. Peter writes this later letter to Christian believers scattered in various places. He talks of Christians being born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. They now have an inheritance kept for them in heaven that would be fully revealed at the return of Christ, and they already have “the outcome of their faith, the salvation of their souls.” Their souls will be with their Lord in heaven when they die, even if they have to go through various trials and testing of their faith , when still here on earth.
Psalm 100 is called in its introduction “A psalm for giving thanks.” It is part of a group of psalms of thanks and praise to God. The author is not identified. The psalm begins with a call to “make a joyful noise to the Lord.” These words are used in a number of other psalms and other places in the Old Testament. See, for example, Psalm 95:1 and Psalm 98:4-6.
In the Psalm 98 passage, a “horn” is mentioned. God’s people often used a ram’s horn, a shofar, for various purposes in the Old Testament. Such a horn could only make a few noises, unlike a modern-day trumpet; yet it was used and still is used for certain Jewish high festivals and was important as a part of the collapse of the walls of Jericho and the victory of God’s people as they entered the promised land (Joshua 6:1-5 ff). This sound of a horn may be the kind of “joyful noise” called for in this verse, or it may refer to the singing of people. Whether people can sing beautifully or not, we can still praise our Lord. The quality is not so important but, as the psalm goes on, that we praise the Lord in a genuine way, with our hearts.
Verse one also calls “all the earth” to make this “joyful noise,” referring to all nations and peoples. Martin Luther saw this as a prophecy of Christ. When Jesus came, He made it clear that the Good News of God’s love in His saving work was for all nations and all people, and He sent out His disciples to spread this message to everyone (Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16). We are still trying to fulfill this calling from our Lord today, sharing the hope we have in Christ our Savior.
Psalm 96 speaks of this calling even more for “all the earth" (Psalm 96:1). “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples (v.3)… Ascribe to the Lord, O families of peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength (v.7)… say to the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’” (v.10). Psalm 98:3 even says, “All the ends of earth have seen the salvation of our God.” That obviously had not yet happened when these psalms were written, but this is what the Lord wanted to happen, as His plan of salvation was finally carried out in Christ. Psalm 98:7-8 also combines this calling with the witness of all the earth, all creation, to the greatness of God - “the sea roaring… the rivers clapping their hands… the hills singing for joy together.” This is a “picture image” way of saying what Paul says in Romans 1:19-20 - that the power and majesty and reality of God can be seen in the marvels of His created world and universe. We can sense that when we are out in our natural world on a beautiful day.
Go back to Psalm 100, v.2. We are also called to be witnesses for our Lord by “serving the Lord with gladness.” As Christ first loved and served us, we are called also to serve Him and one another. (See passages like Romans 12:9-11.) In this psalm, the emphasis is on serving “with gladness.” Other Scriptures also speak of “serving the Lord with fear, and rejoicing with trembling” (Psalm 2:11), with proper awe and respect for God and what He wishes. But it is best when we can combine that service with joy and gladness.
We come, then, into “the presence” of God “with singing” (Psalm 100, v. 2), “with thanksgiving,” “with praise,” “blessing His Name” (Psalm 100, v.4). God is with us always (Matthew 28:20 and Hebrews 13:5, etc.), but in this psalm we are called to “enter His gates… and His courts” (Psalm 100 v.4). In the Old Testament, that would be the temple in Jerusalem. In our time, it would be coming to our churches, where God is especially present with His Word and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Holy week and Easter are great times to come to sing and praise and give thanks. But this psalm is calling us to come regularly into the Lord’s presence in this way, no matter the time of year.
Why? Because then we hear and “know that the Lord, He is God” (Psalm 100, v. 3). We hear God’s Word, and know that He confronted the followers of false gods, as in 1 Kings 18, where He showed His power and sent fire from heaven, and the people “fell on their faces and said,” just as Psalm 100, v.3 says, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” (Read especially 1 Kings 18:30-39.)
The God revealed in the Scriptures, the one true Triune God, is the only true God. He is the Creator of all things. “It is He who made us, and we are His” (Psalm 100, v.3). We are not “of ourselves,” as some translate this verse. So many people think that they are in charge of their own lives and can do whatever they want. Their choices are the only thing that matters. (See how the Pharaoh in Egypt thought that he was like a “great dragon” who even said, “My Nile (River) is my own; I made it for myself.” He would eventually fall and lose his kingdom (Ezekiel 29:1-5).
We are not our own and not on our own in this troubled world. As we are brought to faith in Christ, through God’s Word and our baptism, “We are God’s people and the sheep of His pasture.” He will help and care for us and feed us with His Word and His very Presence in the Lord’s Supper. He will lead and guide us, as sheep are not always the smartest. He will do this, because “He, the Lord, is good,” and knows what is best for us (Psalm 100, v.5).
We heard David saying the same thing in our study of Psalm 16: “You are my Lord. I have no good apart from You” (Psalm 16:2). See also Psalm 25:8 and Psalm 34:8, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” This last passage is quoted by Peter in the New Testament in 1 Peter 2:1-3. He is referring to the “pure spiritual milk” of the Word and Sacraments that we receive as we gather for the “Divine Service” of the Lord to us in our worship.
This “steadfast love” (mercy) and “faithfulness” of God toward us will be available “to all generations” of people, too (Psalm 100:5). This is a reminder that we also have a responsibility to our children and grandchildren and others to try to make sure that these future generations are also hearing the Word of God and rejoicing in His promises, as well. Some have said that the church is only one generation away from extinction, if people do not continue to receive God’s Word and promises, in Christ. Things may become tougher, but God will not let His Church die out, because “His steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 110:5). The Risen Living Ascended Lord Jesus assures us of the “forever” that is ours through faith in Him, “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39). We live in that great hope and joy, singing praises to our Lord.
Sermon for Easter Sunday, based on:
Acts 10:34-43
Colossians 3:1-4
Matthew 27:59-28:10
Sermon originally delivered April 24, 2011
This coming Sunday is Easter Sunday, and there are numerous readings possible, depending on whether yours is a sunrise service or other kind of service. I will simply touch on the most likely readings, all having to do, of course, with the resurrection of Jesus.
The Old Testament lesson could be from Jeremiah 31:1-6. God speaks of His everlasting love and continued faithfulness to His people. He will seek to build them up once again in the land of Zion, and later on in this chapter, He promises a whole New Covenant, in verses 31-34, which centers in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and the forgiveness of sins, through Him.
Many churches will likely use, in place of the Old Testament lesson, a New Testament lesson from the Book of Acts, during the whole Easter season. This week’s reading is from Acts 10:34-43. Peter speaks of the fact that God shows no partiality, and under the New Covenant, the Savior came for every nation and people, not just the Jews. The Savior is Jesus, who died and rose again for all people. “To Him the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.”
The Psalm is Psalm 16, where David knows that the Lord is his Refuge, and all good comes only from Him. The Lord Himself will be his “portion” and his “cup” of blessing and stays at his right hand to guide and counsel him with His Word, through his life, and give him “pleasures forevermore” in His presence. David also prophecies of a “Holy One“ to come who will never see corruption (predicting the death but also the resurrection of Jesus, without any corruption to Himself and His Body). See Acts 2:23-36 and Acts 13:35-39. See also my podcast this week for a full study of this psalm, with related Scriptures.
The Epistle lesson is from Colossians 3:1-4. Paul speaks of dying to our old life and being raised to a whole new life, through Christ and our connection now to Him by faith. We are called to set our minds on Christ and things above, as we are now already hidden with Christ, who is in heaven (though He can be here with us, too). Christ is now our life, and we will appear with Him in glory when He appears again. Our future is secure with Him.
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 28:1-10. We hear that a glorious angel came from heaven and rolled back the stone of the tomb of Jesus and announced that Jesus, who was crucified, had risen from the dead, just as He had predicted. The women there were invited to see that the tomb was empty and were then to go and tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and that they were to meet Him in Galilee. The guards at the tomb were like dead men, but the women left quickly, with fear and joy, and while they were running to the disciples, the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to them and greeted them. They then grabbed His feet and worshipped Him, and He Himself sent them off again to tell the disciples He had risen. (Each Gospel writer, of course, tells only part of the story, as God inspired him to write and revealed things to him.)
Today we look at Psalm 16, one of the psalms suggested to be read on Easter Sunday, because it has prophecies of the victory of Jesus, even over death. It speaks of the hope and confidence we can all have in our Lord.
David is the author of this psalm, as of so many others. The introduction uses the word, a “miktam.” Scholars are not sure what this word means, but it is likely a musical notation, since the psalms were often sung or chanted. You can see this word used in other places, particularly in the introduction to Psalms 56-60.
We don’t know when this psalm was written, but as so often, David faced danger and trouble. He begins by praying, “Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge” (Psalm 16, v.1). He knows that His Lord has been his Help and his Protection for many years already, though, and so the rest of the Psalm is a song of praise and confidence that God will continue to bless and care for him.
In fact, in v.2, David writes, “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord, I have no good apart from You.’” David is expressing what is said in other Scriptures. James says, in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” John the Baptist said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27). John was especially talking about the forgiveness of sins and new life and faith that came only from the Lord. James knew that, too, as he said in James 1:18, “Of His own will, He (God) brought us forth by the Word of Truth” to faith in Christ, “as a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” Every believer is a good gift from God, as we are, too, as we are brought forth to trust in our Savior and are then a blessing to others.
David knew that about his Old Testament fellow believers, also. He says, In Psalm 16, v.3: “As for the saints (literally “the holy ones”) in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” These were fellow believers in the one True God, forgiven by the Lord as David was, who then helped and supported David in his own faith and life, as gifts from God, too.
In contrast, David warns in v.4 about the many unbelievers around him “who run after another god” and whose “sorrows shall multiply” with the evils of this life and an eternal life without God’s goodness, if they keep rejecting Him. David speaks in v.11 of “the path of life” which the Lord makes known to him. It is a life in the Lord’s “presence” with His guidance and blessing and trust in Him alone (the Triune God, revealed more and more in the Scriptures.) It is what Jesus, the promised Savior, God the Son, also meant when he said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6. Proverbs 15:24 says, “The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol” (which sometimes means, as in this case, the place called “hell").
As Psalm 16:4 goes on, David wants to have nothing to do with false gods and the activities and ways of “worship” of their followers, which even included human sacrifice at times - “drink offerings of blood.” (See Isaiah 57:4-6 and Jeremiah 7:31, as examples.) Following false gods can also be, of course, worship of ourselves and our wishes, or of money or of anything that becomes more important than God Himself and His will. (See Romans 1:21-23 and 1 Timothy 6:9-10.) David did not even want to mention the names of these false gods and evil things. He was following what Exodus 23:13 and Joshua 23:7 said. Remember also what Paul says in Ephesians 5:3-4. Fascination with evil things can be dangerous. “Instead,” Paul says, “let there be thanksgiving.”
That is what David focuses on as he continues in Psalm 16:5-6. “The Lord Himself is my chosen portion,” he says. This terminology of a “chosen portion” goes back to when the land of Israel was divided up among the tribes of Israel. You could read about that in detail in Joshua, Chapters 14-22. God had said earlier to Aaron that he and the priests following him would not receive specific portions of land. Instead, God said, “I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel” (Numbers 18:20). David realized that God Himself was the greatest gift and “portion” that he could receive. This idea is said again and again in the Old Testament. Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” See also Psalm 119:57, 142:5, and Lamentations 3:22-24.
“You hold my lot,” David says in Psalm 16:5; and in v. 6, “the lines” of his lot in life “have fallen in pleasant places,” according to God’s ways and plans for him. He trusts the Lord and know that he will have “a beautiful inheritance,” with the Lord’s blessing.
David had used the same imagery in Psalm 4:1 where he said, literally, “You helped me when I was in a very tight spot;” and in Psalm 18:18-19, he says, “The Lord was my support. He brought me out (of that tight spot) into a broad place” - where David was safe and secure. See Psalm 66:12, too.
When David also said in Psalm 16:5, “the Lord is my cup,” he is referring again to the cup of blessing that God brings to David, instead of a “cup of wrath” that evil nations and peoples would have to drink. (Jesus would, of course, have to drink that “cup of wrath” for us, in our place, in His suffering and death for us.) Remember instead Psalm 23:5-6, where David says, “My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” David realizes that there are eternal blessings for him, too, which are the most important, as we shall see.
In Psalm 16:6-9, David also “blesses” (praises) the Lord for the counsel and instruction that He gives him through His Word and revelations - on which he could meditate at night and “not be shaken,” even when times were tough and it was hard to sleep. The Lord was “at his right hand” - the best and closest and most powerful place for the Lord to be with him. (Remember how some of the disciples of Jesus wanted to sit at His “right hand.” The left hand was close, but not quite as good (Mark 10:35-41).)
David rejoices that the Lord is always with him, very close. David’s “whole self,” his heart and soul, His body and flesh, was “secure;” and he would not be “abandoned to Sheol” - to death and the grave and certainly not to hell (Psalm 16:10). And we have already talked about how David knew that he would also have “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” in the Lord’s presence (v.11).
There is one phrase, though, that God inspired David to write, that did not seem to fit. God would “not let His holy one see corruption.” David died and his physical body was put in a grave and did see physical corruption, though his soul was with the Lord in joy.
The Lord inspired the New Testament apostles to realize that David was prophesying about another “Holy One,” the only perfectly Holy One, our Lord Jesus. He would die on the cross to pay for the sins of the world, and was put in a grave, but His body would not decay, and He would be raised to life again, body and soul, in His Easter victory over sin and Satan and death.
See how Peter on Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, and 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven, used David’s very words in Psalm 16:8-11 to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, body and soul uncorrupted (unlike David’s body), and the certainty that Jesus was and is our living Lord and the Christ, the promised Savior (Acts 2:23-36). Paul proclaimed the same message more simply, but using the same inspired words of David, in Acts 13:35-37. Paul also assures the people that by the death and resurrection of Jesus there is “forgiveness of sins” and “freedom” from condemnation by the Law and the promise of eternal life by faith in Jesus.
That is the good news for us, too, in this Easter season. David was saved, and His soul is with Jesus because he believed by grace the promises of God and what God revealed to him in His Word. We have the same promises of God for us, but now fulfilled, because our Savior Jesus has come and did all that was necessary to rescue us. Our souls will be with the Lord in heaven when we die, as we keep trusting in Jesus as Lord and Christ, and our bodies will be raised and changed and glorified when Christ returns on the last day. In the meantime, we have the promise that the Lord is our “portion” even now, and He will stay close to us, keeping us in faith through His Word and Spirit throughout our life, as he did with David. See His promises in Matthew 28:18, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age,” and in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
The Lord also gives us His special “cup” of blessings in the Lord’s Supper. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:16, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ?” We have the same gifts as David had, that brought him great confidence and joy in the Lord. And we have even more, in seeing and hearing of the risen Lord Jesus and all His gifts to us, in His Word and Sacraments. May we all be strong in faith and joyful and confident in Christ, even as David was, with His portion, His Lord, so long ago.
Sermon for Palm Sunday, based on:
Isaiah 50:4-10
Philippians 2:5-11
John 12:12-19
Sermon originally delivered April 17, 2011
This Sunday is known either as Palm Sunday or the Sunday of the Passion, at the beginning of Holy Week. There are quite a number of possible readings, depending on the emphasis a particular congregation wishes to make for this day. The Passion History readings are very long, and it would take a whole Lenten season to talk about what they say. I will simply list these Gospel readings now, and you are encouraged to read them on your own in the week ahead: Matthew 26:1-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-66 or John 12:20-43. I will comment briefly only on the John 12 passage.
There are two possible choices for the Psalm reading, too. Psalm 118:19-29 fits best if there is a Palm Sunday emphasis. This is one of the psalms that Jewish people spoke or sang as they went up to Jerusalem for the Passover festival and entered the gates of the city. They may have been thinking of this psalm as Jesus also entered Jerusalem that day. Many of the verses are prophetic references to Him. Jesus was the “Stone” the builders rejected, who became the “Cornerstone” for the Christian faith, as the one who brought us our “salvation.” This was “the Lord’s doing,” as He sent His Son to do the work of saving us. The “hosannas” sung that day to Jesus are literally the Hebrew form of the words, “Save us, O Lord!” - and Jesus went to the cross to do just that, later that week. Jesus truly was “the blessed one who came in the Name of the Lord ”for our benefit. He was and is “God“ the Son, the “Light” of the world, and we can only “thank“ and praise Him for “His steadfast love,” and sacrifice of His life for us.
Psalm 31:9-16 is an alternative reading and fits best with the Passion History readings. This psalm predicts the agony and sorrow Christ went through for us. David, the author, had plenty of sins, “iniquities,” as we also do, but Jesus took those sins upon Himself, as if they were His own, and suffered and died in payment for them, in our place. He became a “reproach,” even to those close to him, who ran away from Him. People “persecuted” Him and “plotted to take His life.” “But He still trusted in His heavenly Father, His Lord, as His “Servant” Savior, who would eventually be “saved” Himself by God’s ‘steadfast love,” as shown by His being raised from the dead on Easter.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 50:4-9a, one of the Servant Songs of the coming Savior, Jesus, who would teach God’s Word and will, as He has been taught by His Lord God. Jesus would listen and not be rebellious to His Lord, even though it would mean being struck and spit upon and disgraced, etc., by others. He would “set His face like flint” to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. He would be “declared guilty” by His enemies, but not by the Lord God, who would “vindicate” Him and ultimately “not put Him to shame.”
The Epistle lesson is from Philippians 2:5-11, which makes it clear that God the Son was willing to do His saving work for us. Though He was God, He humbled Himself and became a real human man and our “Servant” and became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” for our sake and our salvation. He was then “exalted” in His resurrection and is the Name by which we can all be saved, by “confessing that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The Gospel lesson I’ll comment on very briefly is from John 12. John 12:12-19 tells the Palm Sunday story. Jesus came into Jerusalem, fulfilling more Old Testament Scripture, as He rode into Jerusalem humbly on a donkey’s colt, as our Savior King. John tells that the disciples did not really understand what was going on and that many who came to see Jesus came just because they had heard He had raised Lazarus from the dead. The people wanted to see a miracle worker. John 12:20-26 tells that even some Greek people wanted to see Jesus; but He instead talks about His coming death. He would be like a seed planted in the ground, which then springs forth with new life. In v.27-36, Jesus says that He had come to this crucial point where He would “glorify His Father’s Name,“ by being “lifted up from the earth.” The people did not understand that He was describing His death by crucifixion. Through that death (and resurrection), he would seek to “draw all people to Himself,” as their Savior. He was (and is) the Light for the world, and said, “Believe in the Light, that you may become sons of light.” Sadly, John tells in v.37-43 that there were Old Testament predictions that many people would still “not believe in Jesus,” even with the signs and miracles He did and His sharing of the true Word of God. There would also be those who wanted to believe, but would not “confess their belief,” because they feared the judgment of their religious leaders, who opposed Jesus. They loved “glory from other men,” more that they loved “the glory that came from God.” Can and does that still happen today?
Our Bible study this week is Psalm 131. It is very short and yet has much to us that is very important, from what David learned from the Lord. Some suggest that it is a good follow-up to Psalm 130, where we are called to “wait for” and “hope” in the Lord. Sometimes, David “cried out” to the Lord in times of great “trouble” and brought his “complaint” loudly to the Lord with “uplifted hands,” “pleading for mercy” (Psalms 141 and 142).
In Psalm 131, though, David knew that he also needed to approach the Lord, not in a haughty and prideful way, thinking that he deserved God’s favor, but with humility. Some translate v.1 as saying, “O Lord, my heart is not haughty.” Many Scriptures warn about the danger of too much pride in oneself. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Isaiah 2:11-12 says, “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low; and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up - and it shall be brought low.”
David is, in verse 1, bowing in humility before the Lord, his heart not lifted up and his eyes not raised too high before the Lord. As he said in Psalm 138:6, “Though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar.” See many other New Testament passages that tell us the same thing. Romans 12:16 says, “Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” James reminds us, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God…
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you" (James 4:6,7,10). Peter puts it this way, ”Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:5-6).
Paul points us to Christ Jesus and says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and ever circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Back in Psalm 131, still in v.1, David also says, “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” This does not mean that David was unwilling to grow and learn and ask God honest questions. He was a simple shepherd boy and yet grew into a mighty king, with God’s blessings. As one commentator says, David was not in any way a “sluggard,” someone that the Bible calls lazy and lacking personal motivation. At the same time, David knew that he was only a weak, sinful human being (see Psalm 51 and he words in v.17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart You will not despise”).
In contrast, God was God, and there was so much about God and His ways that David could not and would not understand, but he was still called to trust the Lord. David says in Psalm 139:1,2,4,6, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar… Even before a word is on my tongue, You know it altogether… Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”
In a sense, you could say that David had learned (though he was far from perfect) what Job struggled to learn in his book of Scripture. Job’s friend had said, early on, “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.” Job spent much, much time arguing with his friends and with God, feeling that God had been unfair and unjust with him. (Do we do the same, at times, simply not understanding God’s ways and why He does and allows things that don’t seem right to us? It is a struggle for us all, at times, when our prayers don’t seem to be answered, at least in the way we would expect and desire.)
God finally has to confront Job very strongly, saying in Job 41:34 that “He sees everything that is high; He is King over all the sons of pride.” Job then finally has to admit, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted… Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2,3,5-6).
As Job 42 ends, Job prays for his “friends,” too, that they would be forgiven their “folly” in trying to straighten him out with human ideas and thoughts that were often not correct, either. The Lord forgives them, too, as He does us, as we sometimes struggle to find the right things to say to others, in a time of sorrow and grief, and other times.
Go back now to Psalm 131, v.2. David uses here a surprising picture image for himself - being like a “weaned child.” He says, “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” This might be a hard picture image to understand unless you have been a nursing mother or a husband or close family who has seen this process. (In earlier times, there were no baby formulas or good ways effectively to preserve milk and keep it from spoiling very quickly. Women had to nurse their babies; and babies will cry and fuss whenever they are hungry and won’t stop until they are satisfied. And before long, they will be crying and fussing again and again and again.) In fact, Peter uses this very image in describing how all believers in Christ should be continually eager for God’s Word - and the Word connected with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).
A mom who has nursed can better describe the special bond with a child during this time - but also how challenging and tiring this time can be, until the child is finally weaned - done with nursing and happy with other foods and content just quietly to be with Mom. (That time of weaning was even celebrated in the Old Testament. See Genesis 21:8 and 1 Samuel 1:21-28, for example.)
That is what David is describing in Psalm 131:2. His soul is “calmed down.” (The Hebrew suggests the image of a stormy sea that has finally smoothed down and become “a glassy sea,” as mentioned in Revelation 4:6. It is a picture of being at peace.) David also says his soul is “quieted.” He does not have to cry and fuss at the Lord all the time, trying to get answers and figure things out himself. He can rather just trust the Lord and His ways and plans, knowing they are “too great” for him to comprehend.
This idea of being quiet and silent before the Lord is often mentioned in other Scriptures, too. David wrote in Psalm 37:5,7: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act… Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” See also Psalm 46:10-11: “Be still and know that I am God”… The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” David also writes in Psalm 62:1-2, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my Rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” See also Lamentations 3:24-26, Habakkuk 2:20, and passages like Exodus 14:9-14, where the Egyptians are chasing after God’s people and have them trapped, it seemed, and the people are in a panic. Moses simply says, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (How hard that is for all of us to grasp. How often don’t we panic, too, instead of quietly and calmly trusting our Lord?)
Twice in Psalm 131:2, David also calls himself a “child.” Compared with God that is what he always would be, and what we are, too - just children. Think of how Jesus taught us the same thing, in passages like Matthew 18:1-3, where we are called to “turn and become like children,” in “humble” trust in Him. Jesus also taught in v.6 that “little ones” could believe in Him, too, by the gift of God’s grace, through Baptism (John 3:5) and the Word (1 Peter 1:23). See also Matthew 11:25-30 and Mark 10:13-16 and other such passages, where children are welcomed and the Good News is revealed to them. Of course, children, even little children, are also sinners, with a sinful nature, and continually need God’s mercy and forgiveness and love, as we all do. See these words of our Lord in Zephaniah 3:16-17: “Fear not, O Zion; let not you hearts grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” That is the voice of a Heavenly Father who truly cares for His dear children.
Finally, in Psalm 131:3, David says that he wishes all Israel to have the humble calmness and quietness and trust in the Lord that he describes. “O Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore.” In two different places (2 Samuel 22:28-29 and Psalm 18:27-28), the following words of David about the Lord are recorded: “You save a humble people, but the haughty eyes You bring down. For it is You who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.” David is affirming what was said in Psalm 130:7-8: “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all His iniquities.” This is Good News enough for David and for all people who will humbly trust in the Lord, ultimately through the coming work of Jesus our Savior. It will also carry all us children of God by faith through this life and to eternal life forever with our Heavenly Father.
Did David really live out what he describes in Psalm 131? David was far from perfect and had to live by God’s grace and forgiveness. But there was also a long period of time where he really did have to wait patiently and humbly on the Lord’s plans for him, as the commentator, F. Delitzsch, described.
Saul was already the first King of Israel when David courageously defeated Goliath. Saul became rebellious and drifted away from the Lord, though, and the Lord had Samuel anoint David to be the future King. David then went through nearly 10 years of persecution by King Saul. He had chances to kill Saul and might have tried to overthrow Saul by force. Instead, he patiently waited for God to take care of the problem with Saul. When Saul was killed, David was chosen to be King by his own tribe of Judah, but Saul’s son Ishbosheth became King of all the other tribes. Again, David had to wait a few years until Ishbosheth was killed and then about give more years before he could truly become King of all Israel in Jerusalem.
That was over 17 years of waiting until God’s promise to him was finally fulfilled. God’s promises were fulfilled, but in His own time and way for David. That could be our situation in life, too, at times. This psalm of David is for our own learning, in waiting for the Lord and trusting that He knows what is best for us.
Think above all of our Lord Jesus, who came from the family line of David as a real human baby boy and yet was also true God, the second person of the Trinity. He had to wait patiently for 30 years, growing up and doing His Father’s will perfectly and being tempted and tested and troubled all that time. Then there were the three years of public ministry, with disciples who did not fully understand Him and many religious leaders who opposed Him and Satan constantly tempting Him.
And finally, when the time for His final suffering and death was near, Jesus said, “What shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name.” Then a voice came from heaven, ’I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’” (John 12:27-28).
Jesus then fully glorified His Father and His Father’s will by suffering and then dying on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all humanity. Before His accusers, Jesus was largely calm and quiet and silent. From the cross He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.” That is the worst part of hell - to be forsaken by God and separated entirely from Him and all His goodness.
Yet that is what Jesus suffered for us, in our place. We don’t understand how that could happen. It is “too great” and “too marvelous” for us all. Yet that is what Jesus did; and we hope and trust in this that He did for us. He never lost trust in His Heavenly Father, no matter what. His first words from the cross were, “Father, forgive them;” and His last words were, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” even as He died. Only in His resurrection from the dead were His kingdom, power, and glory more fully seen again. And all of this was for us, that that we can confidently hope and trust in Him, now and forever, just as David said.
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, based on:
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Romans 8:1-11
John 11:1-53
Sermon originally delivered April 10, 2011
The Scriptures this week talk about the reality of sin and death and yet also the hope we have in the redeeming work of Jesus for us and the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit.
The psalm is Psalm 130. The psalmist pleads for God’s mercy and asks if any of us could stand before God if God kept a record of all our sins. The good news is that in the Lord there is “forgiveness” and “steadfast love” and “plenteous redemption” for all our iniquities, our sins. Again it is said that the Lord will “redeem,” which means that He will make a payment to ransom us, to buy us back from the consequences of our sins and set us free.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 37:1-14. The Lord gives Ezekiel a vision of a valley full of very dry bones. Could these bones live again? The Lord has Ezekiel say to them, “O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.” Then the bones came together and had flesh and skin, but no breath in them. Then the Lord asked Ezekiel to call for breath to come into them and they all lived and stood like a great army. The Lord then explains that these are the people of Israel, in a hopeless condition and cut off from the Lord by their sins, and in exile. God then promises that He will put His Spirit within His people and give them new spiritual life through His Word, that they may know the Lord and return to the promised land. (From that renewed group of God’s people, the Savior, our Lord Jesus, would come. This vision also predicts that the Savior would be able to bring new spiritual life for people, through faith in Him by the Holy Spirit, and be able to raise people from the dead on the last day, just as He would also predict.)
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 8:1-11, Paul explains how Jesus did His saving work. None of us could keep the Law of God, because of “the weakness of our sinful flesh.“ Jesus therefore “fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law” for us, in our place, by His perfect life, (and by His payment of the penalty for all our sins by His death on the cross, again in our place). “Christ now lives in us” personally, as we have been brought to faith in Him through the Holy Spirit, who also lives and works in us (through our baptism and the Word of God.)
“There is therefore now no condemnation for us,” as long as we are in Christ Jesus. We are “set free from the law of sin and death,” and through the Spirit there is “life and peace” and His power to produce “spiritual fruit” the Lord wishes to see in us. As Jesus “was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit,” our “mortal bodies will also be given new life through Jesus and the Spirit,” on the last day.
The Gospel lesson is John 11:1-45 (46-53) or selected verses from John 11. Mary and Martha send a message that their brother, Lazarus, was very ill and they want Jesus to come to help them. Jesus delays for some days, though, so that He can show His power even over death, and Lazarus has died and has been in the grave for four days before Jesus arrives. Martha talks with Jesus first and makes a strong confession of faith in Him as “the Christ, the Son of God, the One Whom God had promised would come into the world.” Jesus assures her that He is “the Resurrection and the Life.” “Whoever lives and believes in Him shall never die.” (Though believers die physically, their spirits live on with Jesus in heaven and on the last day, their bodies will also be raised and glorified.) When Jesus meets Mary, she and many others are weeping in sorrow and sad that Jesus did not come sooner. “Jesus wept.” (This is the shortest verse in the Bible and shows Jesus' genuine love for people and His grief at all the troubles of sin and death in this broken world.) Jesus then raised Lazarus from the dead, in a great miracle that drew more people to believe in Him. Lazarus came out, still wrapped in his grave cloths. The religious leaders hear of this and determine that Jesus must die before He creates more trouble for them and their religion and nation.
The introduction to Psalm 90 indicates that it was written by Moses, making it most likely the earliest of the psalms we have in the Bible. This is a “prayer” of Moses, speaking very seriously of the reality of sin and its consequence, death, and yet giving hope to people through the mercy and love of God.
Moses often had to pray to God for this mercy because the people of Israel were so often rebellious against him as their leader and against God Himself. Read just one example of this in Numbers 14:1-4, 10, when “all the congregation” wanted to stone Moses and choose a new leader to take them back to Egypt. They even blamed the Lord for bringing them into the promised land “to die by the sword.” The Lord threatened to disinherit them, but Moses “the man of God” (Deuteronomy 33:1 and Joshua 14:6) pleaded for mercy for them. God pardoned them, but warned of His wrath if people continued “to put Him to the test and not obey His voice.” They would not enter the promised land at all (Numbers 14:11-23).
Psalm 90 is a similar psalm, in which Moses gives a strong warning to us all, but also prays for the Lord to pity us and give us His steadfast love and a heart of wisdom, as He works in our lives.
Moses begins by reminding us, in Psalm 90:1-2, that God our Lord is “from everlasting to everlasting.” He has always existed and always will exist for us. He is the Creator of all things, including majestic mountains, symbols of His great power, though He can do away with them, too, if he chooses. (See Deuteronomy 33:15 and yet also Habakkuk 3:6.) God created us human beings, male and female, also, and wishes us to find in Him “our dwelling place.”
See, for example, Psalm 91:1-2 and 9-16. You might remember that the devil quoted a part of this passage, trying to tempt Jesus and get Him to worship him. The devil left out, of course, the part about having the Lord, alone, as our dwelling place, our refuge (Psalm 91:9-10). Jesus knew His Heavenly Father, though, and His Name (v.14) and obeyed Him and resisted the devil, and in that way was “trampling that serpent underfoot” (v.13), doing perfectly what we have failed to do, and showing us His salvation for us” (v.16).
In contrast, we human beings, starting with Adam and Eve, have all sinned and rebelled against God and are under His wrath and judgment if left on our own. Sin and its consequences and results are described in dramatic ways, as we go back to Psalm 90, v.3-11. God had warned Adam and Eve that they would die and return to dust if they did what He asked them not to do. (Genesis 2:17 and 3:16-19 and Psalm 90:3). We have all inherited that sinful nature and choose to sin, too, with the same results. See Job’s words in Job 4:17-21 and the words of Psalm 104:29, about God’s judgment for sin.
All this is to say that for the everlasting God, a thousand years are like one day (Psalm 90:4 and other Scriptures, like 2 Peter 3:8). In contrast, we sinful human beings struggle through life because of our sins, and don’t live long compared with God. Look at some of the picture images given in Psalm 90:5ff. We are sometimes swept away, “as with a flood.” Think of the floods going on right now in California, and tsunamis and hurricanes and on and on. Sometimes we are “like a dream.” Dreams come and go quickly and can be good or bad. Dreams can be shattered, and so can we, in this sinful world.
We are also “like grass, which can grow up quickly, but then “fades and withers.” Think of how often this imagery is used in the Bible, in Isaiah 40:6-8, 1 Peter 1:24, Psalm 103:15-16, and other places. All these images are used in Psalm 90:5. Another is used in Psalm 90:9: “We bring our years to an end like a sigh,” like one last breath, and we are gone. And of the years we have, even if they are 70 or 80 years, their “span” (literally in the Hebrew, their “pride”) is “but toil and trouble; they are soon gone and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). Even Shakespeare quoted from this passage because it reflects reality, too often.
Why is all this happening? This is the part that many people try to avoid talking about, but is exactly what Moses needed to remind his people (and us) about. The problem is sin, the sin of others and our own sin. “Sin is lawlessness,” says 1 John 3:4. It is going against the words and will of our Holy God, who knows what is best for us all. Sin hurts us and others. That brings “anger” and “wrath” and judgment from God, as Psalm 90:7-11 says repeatedly. Three times the wrath of God is mentioned, and twice, God’s anger about sin. Psalm 90:8 also reminds us that God knows about every sin, even our “secret sins” that we try to hide from Him and others. See Psalm 19:12 and 40:12, for example. These sins are all directly “before God… in the light of His Presence” (Psalm 90:8).
Even the New Testament says the same thing. What do we earn for our own sins? “The wages of sin is death,” says Romans 6:23. Romans 5:12 reminds us, “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” The fact that everyone dies and will die, until Jesus returns, tells us that we are all sinners. “Through the law of God comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20), and “the law brings wrath” (Romans 4:15) because we do not obey that law as we should. All this is the Law spoken in its strongest form, and that is what Moses needed to warn people, including us, about, so that we would recognize our own sins and be honest with God about them and know how much we need our Savior.
But that is not all that Moses wanted talk about in his prayer. He also had words of hope and new life for us in our Lord. He prayed in Psalm 90:12 that the Lord would teach us to “number our days” and get “hearts of wisdom” from Him. See passages like Proverbs 1:7, which tells us that “the beginning of wisdom starts with fear of the Lord,” recognizing as true what Moses already has said. Then see passages like Psalm 39:4–8 and Hosea 14:9, where growing wisdom about God takes us to the Lord for His mercy. In spite of our sins, the Lord does “have pity on us, His servants” and wants to forgive and satisfy us with His steadfast love” (Psalm 90:13-14).
Our hope and confidence come not from looking at ourselves and our troubled world, but from looking to the Lord and the help He can and does give us. Jesus put it very simply in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” It is not our righteousness, but God’s righteous and merciful work for us that gives us help and forgiveness and strength. Notice how Moses keeps praying for God’s intervention on our behalf. “Have pity.” Psalm 90, v. 13. “Satisfy us… with Your steadfast love.” (v. 14) “Make us glad…” (v.15) “Let Your work be shown… Your glorious power…” (v.16) “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us… Establish the work of our hands…” (v. 17)
The great Good News of the New Testament is that the pity and steadfast love of God did come to us most clearly in the gift of God’s Son, Jesus. “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already” (unless of course, he or she does eventually come to trust in Jesus) (John 3:17-18).
Paul tells us in Romans 4:6-8 “of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from his works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sins.” That full and free forgiveness comes through Jesus’ perfect life in our place, His death on the cross in payment for all of our sins, and His glorious resurrection from the dead. See a description of all that in Romans 5:1-10.
All this gives us great confidence for our future, as we trust, by God’s grace and mercy, in Jesus and what He has already done for us. Even the sorrows of this life and the death of loved ones and our own impending death become more bearable (even though they are still very hard to deal with), because of God’s promises in Jesus and His presence and help for us. Paul writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” in heaven” (Romans 8:18).
See also 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient (as Moses describes very well), but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Think about Moses himself, the author of Psalm 90. Sin has consequences, and Moses sinned, too. Eventually he died and was not able to set foot in the promised land he had been leading people to for 40 years (Deuteronomy 34:4-5). Yet Scripture interprets Scripture, and we know that Moses did also receive eternal life in heaven, by God’s grace and forgiveness, and he even had the great privilege of appearing with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. See Matthew 17:1-9. His appearance, and above all, the glory of Jesus, helped the disciples later on, after the resurrection of Jesus.
Through Jesus our Savior, then, we can “rejoice and be glad all our days” and have strength and hope, even in times of affliction, as the Lord grows our “heart of wisdom”(Psalm 90:12,14). The Lord can also “establish the work of our hands,” even in this difficult, sinful world we live in, as the Lord helps and blesses us. We can do things that honor our Lord Jesus and help others who struggle, even as we do. That is part of “numbering our days” and using them as “wisely” as we can (Psalm 90:12).
See passages like Ephesians 2:8-10, 2 Thessalonians 3:11-13, and 1 Timothy 6:17-21. Through our hopeful living in Christ, we might even have a chance to witness to some hopeless people all around us and help some of them also to find hope in Jesus, through God’s grace. See 1 Peter 3:13-15. In these ways, God can truly “establish the work of our (weak) hands” and our (imperfect) “hearts” and bring blessings through us (Psalm 90:12,17).
The Lord’s continued blessings in Christ our Savior to you all!
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, based on:
Isaiah 42:14-21
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
Sermon originally delivered April 3, 2011
The Scriptures this week use the imagery of people being blind and deaf, and yet how the Lord can help and give hope, especially through the gift of Christ our Savior and His Word and work in and for us.
The Psalm is Psalm 142. David wrote this psalm, likely when he was hiding in a cave, alone, like a “prisoner,” when he was being pursued by King Saul, who wanted to kill him. He was in great danger and had been “brought very low” by his persecutors, who are “too strong” for him. He felt “his spirit fainting away within him,” and no one seemed to notice or care. (You could read more about this on your own in 1 Samuel 18:6ff. and in chapter 20ff., when David said, “There is but a step between me and death” (1 Samuel 20:3).) It is as if David felt hopeless, blinded by all his “troubles and complaints,” until he finally remembered to turn to the Lord, his “refuge,” and cry out to Him. Then he regains hope that he will be able to “give thanks” to the Lord, who “will deal bountifully with him,” in His own way and time.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 42:14-21. The Lord has “kept still for a long time,” waiting for His people to follow Him as they should. Too many, though, of His own “servant messengers,” the people of Israel, have become blind and deaf and have even fallen into idolatry and worship of false gods. Like an expectant mother, whose time for labor has come, the Lord must gasp and pant and cry out, in judgment for His people’s rebellion, but then, in time, with joy and guidance for the blind, turning “their darkness into light” and showing that they are “not forsaken.” Jesus quotes from the beginning of Isaiah 42 as referring to Himself, in Matthew 12:18-23 and then literally heals a blind and mute man. Jesus is the true light of the world, who is blind and deaf to the temptations of this sinful world and only follows His heavenly Father’s will, “pleasing” Him in perfect “righteousness,” in our place, as our Savior.
The Gospel lesson is from John 9:1-41. Jesus shows that He is the Promised Savior, as He heals a man “blind from birth.” He does this even on the sabbath day, showing God’s New Covenant and not limiting His mercy only to certain days and people. The religious leaders show that they are spiritually blind and “guilty,” as they reject Jesus and cast away the blind man now healed, even though he is only speaking the truth. The man is not only healed physically, but spiritually, for he is brought to believe that Jesus is the “Son of Man,” another Old Testament name for the Promised Savior, and he worships Jesus as “Lord.”
In the Epistle lesson, Ephesians 5:8-14, Paul proclaims that through the light of Christ, people who were spiritually asleep and, even worse, spiritually dead (spiritually “blind at birth,” as we all are), became living “children of light” and they themselves “light of the Lord.” They are now producing “fruit” in their lives that is “good and right and true… and pleasing to the Lord,” instead of “shameful, unfruitful works of darkness.” It is all because “Christ now shines on them,” as their Savior. That is the promise of the Lord for all, including us, in Christ.
Psalms 140-144 have a number of similarities. All are written by David, and all talk about dangers he is facing and the need for the Lord’s help. David sees his enemies as setting “traps” and “snares” and “nets” by which to capture him. (See, for example, Psalm 140:4-5.)
Today we will focus on Psalm 141, though. Many think that David wrote this psalm when his son Absalom had overthrown him and seized the kingdom in his place and now wanted to capture and do away with him. David had escaped from Jerusalem, but was in great danger. In Psalm 141:1, David calls upon the Lord to “hasten,” to hurry to help him.
He has a problem, though. Normally, he would go to the tabernacle, to the tent of meeting in Jerusalem where animal sacrifices would be offered every morning and evening, and he would pray and offer his own sacrifice to God, as well. (See Exodus 29:38-42.) Incense was also burned as part of this, representing the prayers rising to the Lord in heaven. (See Exodus 30:7-8. Look also to the vision that John saw in Revelation 8:1-4 of heaven and smoke of the incense being combined with “the prayers of the saints,” so that the prayers would come before God.)
David’s problem was that he could not go to Jerusalem to make the proper sacrifices and have the incense burned as needed. Would his prayers reach God? He asks, in Psalm 141:2, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before You, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Standing and lifting up one’s hands toward the Lord in heaven was a common way of praying in the Old Testament and sometimes also in the New Testament. See 1 Timothy 2:8, where Paul says, “I desire that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.” Certainly David’s prayers were answered, though he could not do his praying in the prescribed Old Testament way.
The exact posture for prayer does not matter, though, either. In other places in Scripture, people kneel or bow their heads or fall down with their faces to the ground or just stand and pray, etc. In another vision that John sees in Revelation 5:8, “the prayers of the saints” are the incense that rises to God. Literal incense is no longer needed, or any of the Old Testament ritual, now that Jesus has come to be the Savior of the world and made the “once for all” sacrifice on the cross as the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world.
In fact, all such sacrificial rituals can no longer properly be done, in Old Testament terms, because the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and has never been rebuilt. Even Jews can now only pray in the way David does in Psalm 141:2. Tragically, they are missing what is needed most, because most all do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Savior and the Son of God, in and through whom alone they can reach the Father in heaven. They are rejecting the Promised Messiah they have been waiting for all these years. (See John 14:6 and Romans 5:1-2 and Hebrews 8:8-13, quoting the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah, which tells us that now that Jesus the promised Messiah has come, there are no longer two covenants, but only the New Covenant, centered in Jesus. Also, see passages like John 4:25-26 and John 9:35-38 and John 10:24-30, where Jesus clearly identifies Himself as the Promised Savior.)
Go back now to Psalm 141:3-4. We sometimes say that people can sin against God in their thoughts, words, and deeds. David prays that the Lord would help him resist temptation to evil in all those ways. Today we often speak of what our minds are thinking. The Scriptures more often speak of what comes out of our hearts, as well as minds, meaning much the same thing. (See how Jesus says, in Mark 7:18-23, “…From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery”… (and on and on)… All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”) So, David prays, in Psalm 141:4, “Do not let my heart incline to any evil,” to be thinking about and dwelling on such evil, for that, he knows, can lead him to act and “busy himself with wicked deeds.” David also knows that his words can be evil, and so he also prays, in v.3, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (How often don’t our own words get us into even more trouble and conflict, too?)
David also knows that the people he associates with can be a negative influence on him, especially if he is “keeping company” with “men who work iniquity” (sins) and “wicked deeds.” He might also be tempted to participate in their sumptuous living and “delicacies” they might enjoy, because of their evil gains that came at the expense of others (Psalm 141:4).
Many proverbs and other Scriptures warn all of us of these dangers. Proverbs 1:4 says, “If sinners entice you, do not consent” and Proverbs 4:14-15 warns, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.” Paul warns, in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” We also know the ultimate fate of the rich man “who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day” and would not honor God or help others (Luke 16:19-31). In short, David’s prayer in Psalm 141:3-4 is a good one for all of us to pray, as the temptation to “be conformed to the ways of this evil world” are great (Romans 12:1-2).
David knows, as well, that he needs faithful people of God to discipline and correct him when he is drifting from the Lord’s path. He says in a dramatic way, “Let a righteous man strike me… let him rebuke me.” Such correction would “a kindness” to him and like an “anointing with oil” that would restore and strengthen him. (David may have been thinking of his own earlier sin with Bathsheba, and how good it ultimately was that God sent the prophet Nathan to him to confront him with his wrong and bring him to repentance and renewal with His Lord (2 Samuel 11 and 12 and Psalm 51).
David prays, “Let my head not refuse such discipline” (Psalm 141:5). We all need such correction at times, by which others show that they care about us. Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” and Proverbs 15:5 says, “A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.”
David has now dealt with his own need for the Lord’s help and correction and direction for his life. Now he returns in his prayer to his concern about his enemies and the continual need for help “against their evil deeds” (end of Psalm 141:5). If David wrote this psalm after his own son overthrew him, he was in very real danger. The next two verses of Psalm 141 are difficult to understand, and scholars don’t always agree about what it all means. Here is what seems to make the best sense, from what I can read.
David knew what God had promised him (even with promises of the coming Savior through his family line in the future) and he trusted that God would help him through this very difficult time, as He had helped him when King Saul had been out after him in earlier times. That meant, in v.6, that the “judges” and others who had wrongly supported Absalom (or whoever David’s current enemies were) would be defeated, would be “thrown over the cliff.” (This was a way that enemies were sometimes gotten rid of. See 2 Chronicles 25:12 or see how people from his own hometown became so angry with Jesus that they took him to a hill on which their town was built so that they could thrown him down the cliff” (Luke 4:28-30).) Jesus was spared, and David eventually would be rescued and restored as King, and people would be able to hear his “pleasant words” again (Psalm 141:6).
David also knew that he would eventually die and his bones and the bones of others would be scattered around and above Sheol (which here seems simply to mean the place of the dead) (Psalm 141:7). However, this burial would be like it is when one is “plowing and breaking up the soil” with the intention of there being new crops (Psalm 141:7). Eventually, there would be new life coming, even though one’s body dies. Remember the vision of the dry bones that Ezekiel saw in Ezekiel 37 and all those bones coming back to life; or the words of Paul in the great resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15. Read v.42-44: “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable… It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.”
David closes Psalm 141 by thinking again of his enemies and praying that he would be protected and that the evildoers would be caught in their own nets and traps (Psalm 141:9-10). In a sense, that is what happened with David’s son, Absalom. He was a very handsome man with long, flowing hair. His hair was caught in an oak tree, and he was snared there and was killed (2 Samuel 18:9-15) - to the great sorrow of David, because he still loved his rebellious son.
I have one more comment on the mention of traps and snares and nets, in these closing verses and in other places in Psalms 140-144, etc. Here they mainly refer to the enemies of God’s people and their attacks upon David and others of God’s people. Sometimes, though, there are warnings that God’s own people would be caught in such traps and snares, if they rebelled against God themselves and refused to trust in and follow Him.
God had a plan for His people, beginning with Abraham - a plan to bring the Savior from the Jewish nation. They needed to survive and be God’s people, so that eventually from them the Savior, Jesus, would come and be a blessing available to them and all nations and peoples. To protect and preserve His people, God asked them to remove others peoples and stay separate from them. He knew they could be corrupted by wicked, unbelieving people and lose their identity as God’s own chosen people if they kept company with them in their wicked deeds and iniquities, as David described and warned about in Psalm 141:4.
Unfortunately, many of God’s people did not listen to and follow the Lord. Listen to the warning from God in Exodus 23:31-33, for example: “I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare for you.” See similar things said in Deuteronomy 7:16, Joshua 23:13, Judges 2:3, and many other places.
Fortunately, some of God’s people, like David, did remain faithful to the Lord. David says, in Psalm 141:8, “But my eyes are toward You, O God, my Lord; in You I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless.” God did care for David and the remnant of God’s people who believed in the Lord; and from the family line of David, Jesus, their Savior and our Savior did finally come. There are plenty of enemies against Christ and the Christian faith today, setting snares and traps and nets, in order to harm us. May we too keep saying, with David, “My eyes are toward You, O God, my Lord; in You I seek refuge; (in You I trust); leave me not defenseless.” And may we keep seeking to serve our Lord in thought, word, and deed.
Most of our readings this week have mention of water and how important it is for us -in a physical and spiritual way. God knows, and He provides for us.
In the Old Testament lesson, Exodus 17:1-7, God’s people, on their way from captivity in Egypt to the Promised Land, came to a place where there seemed to be no water. God had just provided manna, bread from heaven, in a miraculous way, but they forgot about that and feared that Moses had brought them out in the wilderness to die. They were really questioning and “testing” God Himself, and Moses cried out to the Lord for help. God had Moses strike a rock with his staff, and water enough came out to provide what was needed for everyone.
The psalm is Psalm 95:1-9. The psalmist calls upon all of us to praise the Lord for His creation and preservation of all things. We are His sheep, and He cares for us as our great God and King above all. The psalmist mentions the story in our Old Testament lesson and calls upon us not to be hard-hearted and doubt God and try to test Him, as the people did then. The Lord is “the Rock of our salvation,” and we thank and praise Him with joy.
The Gospel lesson is another of several long readings we have this Lent from the Gospel of John. Last week we heard of being “born again” to a whole new life of faith in Jesus, through “water and the Spirit” in the gift of our baptism and the Word of God (John 3:1-21). Today we see in John 4:5-26 (27-30,39-42) Jesus helping a thirsty Samaritan woman at a well, who has many spiritual problems and needs. He shows her that He is the promised Messiah, the Christ, who has come into the world for her and for her fellow Samaritans and for Jews and for all people. He provides the “water” that brings eternal life, as people are brought to belief in Him. The woman becomes a witness for Jesus and tells the people of her town to come and see Him. Many Samaritans came and heard Him and came to believe in Him “because of His Word.” They said, “This is indeed the Savior of the world.”
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 5:1-8, Paul assures us that we, too, have been justified, counted right with God, through faith in Jesus. While we were “weak, ungodly sinners,” Christ died for us. Through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving work for us, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, given to us” through our own baptism and the Word of God. We too “have peace with God” and “access to the grace in which we stand” and “hope of the glory of God,” and even our “sufferings” in this life can help us grow in “endurance” and Christian “character, as well as that “hope” in Christ.
As I mentioned last week, I had never paid much attention to Psalm 120. It is a very short psalm. The author is not identified, and it is not possible to tell just when it was written or an exact situation being spoken about. Many think it might have been written when many of God’s people were carried into captivity or exile and faced enemy people and ideas, or soon after that when some of them were starting to return to Israel, when they were finally able to do so, but also faced opposition in Israel.
This psalm caught my attention, when I was studying Psalm 121, in the last few weeks. Psalm 120 begins with the psalmist clearly “in distress” and very troubled, so that he needed to “call to the Lord” (Psalm 120:1). What was especially troubling him? “Lying lips” and “deceitful tongues,” some of which were attacking him so much that he cried out, “Deliver me, O Lord” (Psalm 120:2).
We have an old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That is not the way the Scriptures speak. Lying and deceiving can be very harmful. especially when aimed at others. Read Proverbs 25:18: “A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.” Listen to the words of David in Psalm 57:4: “My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts - the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.”
Are we living in a time similar to that of the psalmist? People are very divided from one another. What used to be called “civil discourse” has often become very uncivil. How many children are hurt by bullying and mean things said by others? How many teenagers are confused and led astray by lies and deceitful ideas they hear about on social media? Are our politicians known for being truthful or more for trying to attack and cancel others? What comes out of our own mouths? We know we are to try to speak the truth, but do we too often back down because we know we will be attacked by others for what we might say? Can we also speak the truth in love, as the Scriptures say?
The psalmist wants God to deliver him, but he does know how that will happen. He asks in Psalm 120. v.3: “What shall be done to “deceitful tongues?” Verse 4 might be literally translated: By “Arrows of a Mighty One, sharpened, with burning coals of broom“ (from a broom tree, whose wood burns longest and hottest). There are many people who try to be high and mighty, but the only one who is truly mighty is God Himself.
Psalm 89:8 says, “O Lord of hosts, who is mighty as You are, O Lord, with Your faithfulness all around you?” Isaiah 42:13 says, “The Lord goes out like a mighty man… He shows himself mighty against His foes.” In other words, The Lord God is the ultimate Judge, and He will will bring judgment in His own way and time, as he knows best, in a just and fair and faithful way.
The Lord may bring judgments with “arrows” and “fire” and will do so on the last day. See Deuteronomy 32:22-23, where both fire and arrows are mentioned. See also Psalm 64:3-4, 7-8, where even now the wicked may “whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless… But God shoots His arrows at them; they are wounded suddenly. They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them.”
(If you paid any attention to the Alex Murdaugh murder trial in South Carolina in the US in recent weeks, you heard of his lying and deceiving to so many people for so long. But finally, it seems that his own tongue turned against him when he testified, and he was then quickly found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.) he ultimate judgment for him or anyone is up to God, of course, not up to us.
What then are we to do when we face lies and deceits? The psalmist says in v.5: “Woe to me that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!” Meshech was a name for a people and area far to the North of Israel, maybe as far away as the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Kedar was an area far to the South and East of Israel, in the Arabian desert, where nomadic people lived and moved about. Both of these groups of people were considered to be uncivilized and barbarian, rough and quarrelsome people, as the commentator Franz Delitzsch said. These two groups were so far away from each other in location that the psalmist could not be living among both, but he was among people acting just like them. This was having a negative impact upon him and his own life and way of thinking.
“Woe is me,” he says, and then adds, “Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.” Isaiah 48:22 and 57:18 both say, “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” In Verse 7 of Psalm 120, the psalmist concludes, “I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.” He seems to be realizing that he has been spending too much time in the wrong situations with the wrong kind of people. He was being drawn away into very negative and critical speaking that only wanted to tear others down as they were doing to him and others. He still needed to speak the truth, but to try to do it in love and in ways that showed care for people.
Listen to what David wrote in Psalm 109:1-5: “Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me , but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” David had no illusions about always being loved and respected for trying to do the right things. (He also knew his own sins and failings and the need to keep confessing his sins and receiving God’s forgiveness.)
And he knew he needed to take the time to pray and call upon his Lord and then try to show some love and good, even for those attacking him. As Jesus Himself taught us, in Matthew 5:43-45, “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father Who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Thank the Lord that He does that for us all - for how right and just are our own words and mouths, at times?)
Let me mention one more thing suggested by words from Psalm 120 - the words about “burning coals” in verse 4. Proverbs 25:21-22 says, ”If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head…” People can be shamed and awakened by our doing good to them, in response to evil they have done to us. Paul quotes this passage in Romans 12:20. Read Romans 12:14-21 for all he says, that fits with what the psalmist was learning in Psalm 120, about overcoming evil with good.
None of this is easy for any of us. I have read a newspaper for most of my life, to keep informed. But recently, I decided to cancel the paper I had been reading because it had much in it that was misleading and untruthful and even challenging to the Christian faith. I did not need those lies and deceit. However, I soon found myself reading my I-phone and I-pad, doing what my wife calls “doomscrolling,” reading too much bad news that also was not helpful, day after day. I need to remember to read God’s Word more and more and keep asking the Lord to help me keep speaking the truth, both Law and Gospel, but in a loving and caring way, that truly helps people.
Above all, I need to and we all need to keep our eyes on Jesus our Savior and what He first did for us sinners to rescue us. Micah 5:2-5 is a prophecy of the coming of Jesus. “And He shall be our peace”and “shepherd us in the strength of our Lord.” The Lord’s continued blessings on your week.
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent, based on:
Genesis 12:1-8
Romans 4:1-8, 13-17
John 3:1-21
Sermon originally delivered March 20, 2011
We continue to look at God’s plan for salvation in this Lenten season, as it was revealed in the Scriptures and especially in Christ our Savior. The Old Testament lesson tells of how God initiated this plan already in Genesis 12:1-9, when he called Abram (later Abraham) to leave his home and country and go to a land that God would show him. God promised to bless him and make of him a great nation and from his descendant all families on earth would be blessed. Abram went, as God directed him, and was led to Canaan, where he built altars to the Lord, the One True God.
The Psalm is Psalm 121. The psalmist looked up to the hills of Jerusalem and the temple, and above all, to the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. Six times he speaks of the Lord as the Keeper of him and Israel and all who looked to Him in faith. The Lord needs no sleep and watches over and shades His people night and day, seeking to keep their feet from stumbling and to keep them looking to Him for their help. Only He could keep them from evil and bless them forever. (See also the podcast Bible study for this week, which is on Psalm 121, and gives much more detail.)
In the Gospel lesson, John 3:1-21, Jesus revealed that He was the Son of God, sent from the God the Father to be the Savior of the world. He came not to condemn but to save the world, as people were “born again” of water and the Spirit in baptism and brought to believe in Him. Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned but has the gift of eternal life. Whoever does not believe is still is under condemnation. Of course, anyone can still come to faith in Jesus at any time, by God’s grace and blessing.
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 4:1-8, 13-17, Paul makes it clear that even Abraham was not saved by his goodness. Only by his belief in God and His promises was he counted righteous in God’s eyes, and his sins were forgiven and not counted against him. Jesus is the Promised Offspring of Abraham. As people trust in Jesus as Savior, they are also children of Abraham, no matter what nation they come from, Jews or non-Jews. They too are saved by God’s grace and forgiven of all their sins and given a new life and a whole new existence, in and by Christ Jesus, who justifies the ungodly.
Someone told me, recently, how important and comforting Psalm 121 was in a very difficult life situation this person was going through. This person read that psalm every day and read it to another important person, as well, and the Lord gave them the help and strength needed to get through that challenging time, with His grace and blessing. As I looked at that psalm, I also noticed Psalm 120, a psalm I had never paid much attention to. Psalm 121 has enough to say to us this week, but I may talk about Psalm 120 and another short psalm next week. The psalms are so relevant to our lives, still today.
Psalms 120-134 are all called, in their introduction, “A Song of Ascents.” These were psalms that were sung by temple singers as people came into the house of God, and more likely, songs that people were taught to sing as they approached Jerusalem and the tabernacle or later the temple and the area where it was built.
Psalm 121 begins with the words, “I lift up my eyes to the hills” (v.1). This is literally what Jews would do as they approached Jerusalem. It was located in a high, hilly area, and so the Scriptures often speak of Jesus and others “going up to Jerusalem.” (See Mark 10:32 as an example of that.) The temple was their place of worship, where God had appeared to His people and shown His glory. It was the focus of God’s presence and blessing for His people, on Mt. Moriah and in the high area of Zion, in Jerusalem.
God’s people knew, of course, that God was not confined to the temple in any way. The psalmist asks, “From where does my help come?” And he answers: “My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth” (v.1-2). The Lord is the Creator of all things and is above and beyond all things. The fact that He is the Creator is continually emphasized in the Scriptures. His eternal power and Deity are seen in the majesty of all that He has made. He is our heavenly Father, and “our lifting our eyes to Him” also emphasizes that reality.
At the same time, the Lord is God, and He can be everywhere at any time and can take care of us, not always as we wish or desire, but as He knows is best. (See Matthew 28:20 - “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” See also Hebrews 13:5 - “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”) The psalmist uses this picture image: “He will not let your foot be moved” (Psalm 121:3). We will have stability in the Lord, no matter what our current circumstances are. (See Psalm 66:9: “God has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.” See also Proverbs 3:23,26: “Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble… for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your feet from being caught.”)
Then, six times in the next six verses, the Lord says that He will be our keeper: “He Who keeps you,” “He Who keeps Israel” (v.3-4), "The Lord is your Keeper” (v.5), “The Lord will keep you,” “He will keep… The Lord will keep…” (v.5,7,8). The Lord can do all this, because, as v.3-4 says, “He Who keeps you will not slumber… neither slumber nor sleep.” We all need sleep, and yet how hard it is to get at times, when our children are small and need to be nursed or fed or are crying or fearful. We also have worries and fears that keep us awake, when we toss and turn and wonder what will happen and what we should do. Sometimes we must work very long hours and lose sleep, to get our work done or to earn enough to keep up with inflation. And on and on.
Yet this psalm reminds us that we also have our Lord always awake and watching over us. The Scriptures teach us, “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). We do not have to handle everything ourselves. The Proverbs 3 passage we looked at earlier also says, “If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet” (Proverbs 3:23). Psalm 127 tells us, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for He gives to His beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2).
The Scriptures teach us to work hard and do what we can (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12), but this psalm and many other Scriptures remind us to “lift up our eyes to the hills,” to our Lord, above all, to help us and keep us. As sinful, struggling human beings, we have trouble doing that, though. Our faith is not always so strong, and our everyday cares and concerns can overwhelm us. Psalm 121 is a good psalm to read often, as it reminds us of God’s promises for us.
This Psalm also tells us that the Lord is “our Shade.” He keeps us and protects, day and night (Psalm 121:5-6). In earlier days, some people thought that people could be harmed by the light of the moon and become lunatics, moonstruck, and lose their minds, just as people could have sunstrokes in the hot sun. Whatever it is that we fear, rational or sometimes not so rational, the Lord gives us the strength we need to carry on.
Again the Book of Proverbs reminds us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Lean upon the Lord, your keeper in all things, and especially lean upon the grace and mercy of God shown most clearly in Jesus our Savior. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for us, in our place, give us the faith and confidence that the Lord will keep us not only in this life but for eternal life as well.
The Psalmist says in closing, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” (See also Deuteronomy 28:6.) Jesus also taught us to pray, “Deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). The Lord will deliver us from much evil in this life, and forgives us for our own evil and sins, as we look to and trust in Him, and He will keep us from and deliver us from all evil, finally, in the perfection of eternal life in heaven. That is what this psalm promises and what our Lord gives us in Jesus. “From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent, based on:
Genesis 3:1-21
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon originally delivered March 13, 2011
This Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent, and our focus changes to the specific work of Jesus to break the power of sin and Satan and bring the Lord’s forgiveness to us. The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 3:1-21, the story of the fall into sin. The devil, Satan, identified in Revelation 12:9 as “that ancient serpent,” came to Eve and asked what God actually said when he gave the command about the tree in the garden. He manages to confuse her about God’s Word and then directly contradicts that Word and offers her something that sounds very pleasing to her, if she would eat of the forbidden tree. She thinks in her mind and then eats of the tree, and Adam, who was with her, also eats. Sin had thus come into the world, with all of its many consequences, including Adam and Eve being divided from one another and from God. God spoke of the consequences, including a corrupted creation and death, but also gave the first Gospel promise, that Satan would eventually be defeated by an Offspring of Eve. God also showed His care even for sinners, by clothing Adam and Eve.
In the psalm, Psalm 32, David spoke of the agony of trying to cover up his own sin by himself. He was consumed by guilt, until he finally confessed his transgressions to the Lord and received His forgiveness. Several words to describe sin are used in this short passage: transgression, iniquity, deceit, and sin itself. Even David’s silence was a sin. God’s forgiveness is described as sin being “covered” and “not being counted against” David and as a cleansing of his spirit. God becomes his Deliverer and Preserver from trouble and a Hiding Place for him. David then offers prayer to God and knows that he is blessed, as he trust in the Lord (v.10, after today’s reading).
Paul, in Romans 5:12-19, explains how sin and death came into the world through Adam and then death spread to all people, because everyone sinned. Even though there was not yet the Law given to Moses, people still did wrong, violating the natural knowledge of God and His will written in their hearts and on their consciences (Romans 1:19-20, 2:12-15). Adam was a “type” of Christ, because his one sin brought sin and condemnation for all. “Through his disobedience, the many (all) were made sinners.” In contrast, “by Christ’s righteousness and obedience” (and His saving work on the cross and in His resurrection) “the many will be made righteous.” He has done enough to save and forgive all sin and all people. And “those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life” (not death) “through the one man Jesus Christ.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 4:1-11, we see Jesus being led into a time of temptation by the Holy Spirit. In contrast, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Jesus had to battle Satan directly and be tempted as we are, yet without sinning, and fulfill all righteousness in our place (Matthew 3:15 and Hebrews 4:15). Jesus had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and clearly “was hungry.” Satan tried a temptation about food and other temptations, even quoting Scripture (out of context) and identifying Jesus for Who he really was, “the Son of God,” but Jesus resisted him every time, using the truth of Scripture passages against him. Jesus was a true man, as well as God’s Son, and these temptations were not at all easy for him. When Satan left for a time, angels came and were ministering to Jesus.
Psalm 107 is the third in a series of psalms that describe the history of God’s Old Testament people. Psalm 105 begins with the covenant with Abraham and tells of Jacob and Joseph and times in Egypt, and then God’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt through Moses, and the wilderness years, before they reached the Promised Land by God’s mercy and blessing, and God gave them “lands of the nations” (Psalm 105:44).
Psalm 106 tells of God’s mighty deeds and His steadfast love for His people. It also tells of how sinful and rebellious His people were, while they traveled to the Promised Land, and again and again, as they lived in the land God gave them. Instead of following the Lord, they followed the ways of the nations around them and their false gods and idols. Finally, God “gave them into the hands of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them” (Psalm 106:41). (Many of the people were carried away into captivity by the Assyrians and later on by the Babylonians, as a consequence of their sins.) A faithful remnant of the Israelites cried out to God, “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations” (Psalm 106:47).
Psalm 107, then, describes how the Lord answered these prayers and brought some of His people back again to Israel, after the Babylonian captivity. The psalm begins with a prayer that is still used today by many people, before or after meals. “Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy, His steadfast love, endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1) Verses 2-3 reminded His redeemed and rescued people to tell others what He had done for them, “redeeming them from trouble and gathering them in” from every direction, from wherever they had been scattered. (See also Isaiah 62:12.)
This rescue plan of God is described in a highly poetic way in Psalm 107, giving four situations in life in which people were faced with great trouble and even death. As Dr. Roehrs describes it in the Concordia Self-Study Commentary, the exiles in various places “needed help just as desperately as people saved from (1) death from hunger and thirst in a desert wilderness (verses 4-9); (2) from imprisonment and hard labor (verses 10-16); (3) from illness that could lead to death (verses 17-22); and (4) from being lost in a terrible storm at sea (verses 23-32).” In each case, the people “cried out to the Lord for help and He delivered them” (verses 6,13,19,28) and they are reminded to “thank the Lord” (verses 8,15,21,31).
Some of the translations are a little misleading in that they use the word “some” in verses 4,10,17, and 23, as if these particular problems happened only to “some” of the people. The Hebrew actually says, “They wandered… (v.4), “They sat… (v.10), and so forth. That indicates that many of the people may have faced more than one of the difficulties described. They all faced very challenging times where they were in captivity and in getting back to the land of Israel, and the poetic descriptions fit them in various ways.
Skip ahead in Psalm 107 to verses 10-16. Many of the Israelites were taken into captivity by force. They knew why this had happened. It was because of their “rebellion against the Words of God” and against the “counsel” he and His prophets had given them (v. 11). (See Isaiah 63:10 and Zechariah 1:4 as other examples of this sin and evil.) The Israelites had some freedoms, but were under the control of others and were largely servants and slaves to others.
Think of Daniel and his friends in Babylon. They could serve in high positions one moment but could quickly be thrown into a lion’s den or a fiery furnace, as we hear in the Book of Daniel. Yet they knew the promise of the Lord made so simply in Psalm 50:15, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” “They cried to the Lord” (Psalm 107:13) and “He delivered them.”
Verse 16 quotes words from Isaiah 45:1-4, predicting that much later, God would use a Persian leader, Cyrus, to begin to bring freedom to “Israel, His chosen people.” See also the prediction in Isaiah 49:8-9, where the Lord would “say to the prisoners, ‘Come out.’” Some of this was also predicting the work of the ultimate Rescuer, our Lord Jesus. See the prophecy of Him as the Servant of God and what He would do in Isaiah 42:6-9, to free people from the prison of their sins.
Psalm 107:17-22 speaks of Israelites who had been “fools through their sinful ways” and now suffered “affliction (v.17). Some were “near to the gates of death” and could not or would not even eat any food any more (v.18). This seems to refer to very serious illnesses. Again, “they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress” (v.19). There was “healing” and “deliverance from destruction,” at least for some (v.20).
Psalm 107:23-32 talks about those who were able to work and travel on ships. They saw the majesty and power of God in “great waters” (v.23-24), but also the danger of storms and waves, which left them “at their wits’ ends,” with “their courage melted away in their evil plight,” their impossible situation, where they could not help themselves (v.25-27). Again, “they cried to the Lord” and “He made the storm and waves be stilled and hushed,” and “brought them to their safe, desired haven” (v.28-30). This passage again also reminds us of our ultimate Savior, our Lord Jesus. More than once, He stilled storms and rescued His disciples on the Sea of Galilee. (See Mark 4:35-41 and 6:46-52. If the disciples knew Scriptures like this one, it seems as if they would not have had to ask, ”Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”)
Go back then to Psalm 107:4-9. No matter where God’s people were scattered by captivity, as both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms were overthrown and Jerusalem and much of their homeland was destroyed, it was not easy for them to get back to Israel, even when they finally had the freedom to do so. Other Scriptures tell us that some did not even want to go back to Israel, with all the “starting-from-scratch” and rebuilding that would be necessary. For those who did go home, it was a long, hard journey for many, “wandering in desert wastes… hungry and thirsty and with fainting souls” and discouragement and finding no good “city” or place to dwell in, as they traveled and when they finally reached their destination (v.4-5). Again, it was only as “they cried to the Lord in their trouble,” that “He delivered them from their distress” (v.6-7).
Then, over time, they could see that the Lord “satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things” (v.9). In all these different circumstances, God’s people are called to “thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man” (v.8,15,21,31). As Psalm 107 ends, the people are reminded that the Lord can bring judgment, “turning rivers into a desert,” because of evil, as had happened during the time of captivity (v.33-34).
But the Lord can also “turn a desert… into springs of water with many blessings,” as he was now doing for His people (v.35-38). And whether they are “diminished and brought low” if necessary, in God’s judgment and plans (v.39-40) or “raised up out of affliction” by the “steadfast love of the Lord” (v.41-43), let “the upright” in the Lord “see it and be glad.”
Psalm 107 takes us, though, only to the return of God’s people to Israel. Still to come would be the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple and eventually the coming to our Lord Jesus, as true man from the Jews, and as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior for His own people and the whole world, (“all the children of man,” as said in this psalm four times and as we heard predicted in Psalm 2, last week). The last verse of Psalm 107 is for us, too: “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”
Aren’t we much like the children of Israel? We have many joys, but also a whole variety of troubles and difficult circumstances in our lives. We have the old saying, “When it rains, it pours” - meaning that one bad situation can come after another and another, and we wonder if we can carry on. We are headed to our own Promised Land, the eternal life we have through our Savior, but we probably have a lot of living ahead for us before we are called home, according to His wisdom.
“You are my God. My times are in Your hands,” says Psalm 31:15. We are called to be wise, as Psalm 107:43 says. Four times the psalmist says the same thing, ”They cried to the Lord in their trouble” and then trusted that He would “deliver” them, as he knew best. That is repeated and repeated, because we, too, may forget the blessing of prayers and the need to continue to cry to the Lord with our needs. He wants us to ask. It is a sign of faith and trust in Him. Four times it is also said, “Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, His mercy, and for His wondrous works to the children of man.” How often do we forget to thank the Lord for so, so many blessings we clearly do have, along with the challenges we face?
Finally, the psalmist himself speaks of the “goodness” of the Lord (Psalm 107:1) and calls upon “the redeemed of the Lord” (which includes us, through Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins and His bringing us to faith) to “say so,” also (v.2). The psalmist calls us “to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of the Lord’s deeds in songs of joy”(v.22). And we are called to gather with other believers and “extol the Lord in the congregation of the people,” and extol Him in the assembly of the elders” (v.32). That is especially where psalms were to be used - in worship with fellow believers, as well as in our own personal worship and devotions.
“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things” (v.43). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7 and many other places). And most of all, let us “consider the steadfast love of the Lord” (v.43), which we see most clearly in the gift of His Son, Jesus, in His Word and works for us and His forgiveness earned for us. “Listen to Jesus,” we heard the Father saying to us, too, at the Transfiguration of our Lord last week. The Lord’s continued wisdom and love and mercy be with you all.
Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday, based on:
Exodus 24:8-18
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
Sermon originally delivered March 6, 2011
This is the last Sunday of the Epiphany season, and the glory of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ, is seen in four “mountain” settings. The Old Testament lesson is from Exodus 24:8-18. God’s covenant with His people is sealed by the blood of sacrificed animals. Then Moses and Aaron and elders of Israel were allowed to go up Mt. Sinai and get at least a glimpse of God and eat and drink before the Lord, and they did not die. Then Moses himself went further up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, with the law and commandment from God. He was there 40 days and 40 nights, covered by a cloud, with the Lord’s glory looking like a devouring fire. (We eat and drink, too, in the presence of the Lord, in Holy Communion. We do not die, but are forgiven and are counted acceptable to God through Jesus and His blood shed for us and His robe of righteousness He gives to us in our baptism and the gift of faith in His Word.)
The Psalm is Psalm 2:6-12. God set David as King on Zion, His holy hill in Jerusalem, to lead His people. One greater than David, then spoke in prophecy from heaven above. God the Father identified Him as His begotten Son (from all eternity in the mystery of the Triune God) and promised Him the Kingship of all nations and the ends of the earth. He would come and bless all those who took refuge in Him (as Savior), but would bring a rod of iron and judgment to all those who resisted and rejected Him. He calls all leaders to be wise and serve the Lord with fear and trembling, with rejoicing, and to ”Kiss the Son,” giving the Son of God proper homage and respect. (See the Bible study on Psalm 2, also on the podcast site this week, for many more details.)
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus took Peter, James. and John on a high mountain and was transfigured before them, where they too received a glimpse of His true glory as the Son of God. Moses and Elijah also appeared with Him and talked with Him. A cloud overshadowed them all, and God the Father identified Jesus as His beloved Son (as Psalm 2 predicted). Everyone was to listen to Him. The disciples were terrified by all this, and then they could only see Jesus again and were taken down from the mountain.
The disciples were not to tell anyone what they had seen on the mountain until Jesus had risen from the dead. We know from the Lenten season, starting on Wednesday, that they did not really understand about His death or resurrection, until it had all happened. The death and resurrection of Jesus changed everything. Peter now was eager to tell everyone, as he does in the Epistle lesson, 2 Peter 1:16-21, what he had seen as an eyewitness of Christ and His transfiguration and His glory and saving work as the Son of God. Peter did this and spoke from God Himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit. These were not his own ideas and interpretation but were produced by the will of God, as were all other Scriptures. The words of Scripture are like a lamp shining in a dark place to bring Christ, the Morning Star into the hearts of people, that they may be saved by faith in Him.
This week, we will look at Psalm 2, one of the most often quoted or referred to portions of the Old Testament. I picked this Psalm also because a portion of it, Psalm 2:6-12, is the Psalm reading for this coming Sunday in many churches. (You can read how this portion fits together with the other Scriptures assigned for this week, the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus, in the Preparing for Worship section of the podcast for this Sunday, February 19, 2023.)
This psalm also speaks to an issue that many Christians are troubled about in our world today - the attacks on Christianity by many people and groups and even government leaders and governments, these days. This is not a new problem. Psalm 2 starts with the reality of “nations raging,” “peoples plotting,” “kings of the earth setting themselves and rulers taking counsel together against the Lord and His anointed” (Psalm 2:1-2). This was referring to opposition to the people of Israel from peoples and leaders all around them, wanting to overthrow them and get rid of them. This was also opposition to leaders like David, who had been “anointed” with oil and made King of Israel and was an effective warrior king for his people against their enemies. In addition, this was opposition to the God of Israel, the Lord Himself, and the unique teachings and beliefs He brought to His people, that set them apart from others, through the writings of Moses and the other Old Testament Scriptures.
The people opposed to Israel and its God were saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3). Read what a psalmist wrote in Psalm 71:10-12. “My enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, 'God has forsaken; pursue and seize him for there is none to deliver him.'” Much of the Old Testament is about the struggles of God’s people against their enemies, whether smaller area people like the Philistines and Midianites, or great peoples like the Egyptians and Assyrians and Babylonians, and on and on. Sadly, God’s own people too often also wanted freedom from the “bonds” and “cords” of the Lord and His will and His love and plans for them, and they brought great trouble upon themselves.
Yet God still kept His promises and protected His people who had faith in Him, even though they were not perfect and knew they needed His forgiveness and His continual help. Think of David’s struggles that we read about in Psalm 38, last week. Hear his words in Psalm 31:13-16: “I hear the whispering of many - terror on every side! - as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God. My times are in Your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! Make Your face shine on Your servant; save me in your steadfast love.’”
Think of how the Philistine giant, Goliath, “came forward and took his stand, morning and evening, for forty days” mocking God’s people, and in fear, no one would stand up against him (1 Samuel 16:16). And what do we hear God doing in Psalm 2:4? “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds His enemies in derision.” See also Psalm 37:12-16, where the Lord is again described as “laughing” at the wicked, and Psalm 59:5-10. God was still in charge. God knew that he would raise up the young boy David to defeat Goliath (1 Samuel 17:41-53). And God would “set” David as His “king on Zion, His holy hill, in Jerusalem” (Psalm 2:6).
Much more important, Psalm 2 is prophecy of the ultimate “Anointed One,” His own Son, whom God would send into the world to defeat the greatest enemies - sin and Satan and death - and be the Savior of the world. That Anointed One, the Son of God, spoke from heaven in Psalm 2:7-8: “I will tell of the decree: the Lord said to Me, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your heritage and the ends of the earth Your possession.’” This passage is quoted by the early Christians in Acts 4:24-31 as fulfilled in Jesus, in spite of the opposition of ”Herod and Pontius Pilate and Gentiles and the people of Israel.”
Jesus was and is “the Son of God,” as predicted in Psalm 2. He was identified as such by God the Father at His baptism (Matthew 3:17) and transfiguration (Matthew 17:5) and so many other times by others, from John the Baptist (John 1:34) to Nathaniel (John 1:49) and on and on. See Hebrews 1:1-5 and 5:5, where Psalm 2:7 is quoted with regard to Jesus, twice more. Jesus was “begotten of the Father” from all eternity, as part of the mystery of the Triune God. Yet a special evidence of this reality is also the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. See Psalm 2:7 quoted again in Acts 13:30-35 and Paul’s words in Romans 1:1-4
Jesus was and is “the Anointed One of God” as well. The word for the “Anointed One” (Psalm 2:2) is “the Messiah” in Hebrew and “the Christ” in Greek. Over and over these words are used to describe Jesus in the New Testament. See John 1:40-41, where both terms are used of Jesus. See Matthew 16:13-17, where Peter identified Jesus as “the Christ” and “the Son of the living God,” and Jesus affirms that. (In contrast, see how the high priest, Caiaphas, asks Jesus in Matthew 26:63-65, if He is “the Christ, the Son of God,” which was true, as we have seen, and then quickly rejects that and condemns Him to die.)
See another Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 89:24-29, where Jesus would be “the Firstborn” from the dead, with an everlasting kingdom (Revelation 1:5). See also, at the end of the New Testament that “the kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). See also Revelation 1:5, 17:14, and 19:16 and passages like 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, and Mark 16:15-16 and Acts 1:8, where the Gospel of Jesus as Savior would go to all the world, to the end of the earth, in fulfillment of Psalm 2:8. In spite of all the enemies and opposition, the victory will finally be God’s and that of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 2 ends with encouragement to the kings of the earth to be “wise” and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with “fear and trembling and rejoicing” and to “kiss the Son,” giving Jesus the homage and honor and respect due to Him as our Lord and God and Savior. (Samuel, for example, kissed Saul as he anointed him to be “prince over Israel” in 1 Samuel 10:1, in honor and respect for him.)
Don’t overlook, either, the “warning” also at the end of Psalm 2 - v. 4, 9, 10, 12. The return of Christ on the last day will be one of great joy for all believers in Christ (Luke 21:27-28). But for those who are enemies of Christ and reject Him and His Word and will and saving gifts, there will be judgment and sorrow.
Jesus spoke often of a day of judgment at the end of this age. The image of judgment and “a rod of iron" (Psalm 2:9) is shown in numbers of other places in the New Testament, too. See Rev. 2:26-27, 12:5, 19:14-15, and even the Old Testament predictions in Psalm 110:1,2,5. This not what God really wants. “He desires all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). That is still possible for anyone. That’s why the last line of Psalm 2 is “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him” - in faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and what He already has done for us to rescue us.
Psalm 2 also gives us hope in Christ even when we see opposition to Jesus from many around us. People may ridicule Christians for advertising about Jesus at the Super Bowl. Whole countries may be strongly anti-Christian and even persecuting Christians. People in this country may even make it hard for us to speak openly and honestly about what we believe. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you… If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-21).
But right before these words, Jesus also said, “These things I command you, so that you will love one other.” We still try to reflect God’s love and care for others, while speaking the truth in that love. Ultimately, the Lord is Lord and Jesus is King of Kings in this world, even though it may not look or feel like it. He will win the final victory for us and take all believers to eternal life. “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 2:12).
Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
Sermon originally delivered February 13, 2011
The Scripture readings this week are very heavy on the Law and will of God. We are only about a week and one-half away from the Lenten season, and these Scriptures tell us very clearly how much we need the saving work and forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, in what He did for us, as our Savior.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:1-8, the beginning of 176 verses of praise of God and the importance of listening to and following His Word and His commands. Those are blessed who are “blameless,” who “seek the Lord with their whole heart,” who “keep His precepts diligently,” who “have their eyes fixed on all His commandments,” and who praise God with “an upright heart.” The psalm writer says, “I will keep your statutes,” but the last part of v.8 indicates that he is not so sure he can really do that. He prays to the Lord, “Do not utterly forsake me,” and he admits in the last verse of the whole psalm, v. 176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant.”
The Old Testament lesson is Deuteronomy 30:15-20. In previous chapters, the Lord has presented the way of “blessing” for His people, of “life and good,” if they will “love Him and keep His commandments.” The Lord also warns of the way of the “curse, of death and evil,” if His peoples’ “hearts turn away from Him and they will not hear” and they “are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them.” Moses calls upon His people to continue to “choose life… loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your Life.”
The Gospel lesson continues readings from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:21-37. Jesus quotes from a number of Old Testament laws and rules. The first is the 5th Commandment, “You shall not murder.” Then Jesus adds, “But I say to you” and explains that if we are “angry” with others or “insult” others or call someone a”fool,” we are also sinners, breaking that commandment and hurting people and are in danger of the “fire of hell” for our wrongdoing. Jesus uses example after example of how we can sin in thought and word, as well as in deed. He can say and explain all this, because He is the very Son of God. He is showing us our sins and helping us see how much we need Him, as He also reveals Himself as our Savior, who has come to save us from our sins.
The Epistle lesson continues reading from 1 Corinthians, from Chapter 3:1-9. Paul tells the Christians at Corinth, in Greece, that they are still “infants in Christ” and have much to learn and must battle their “sinful human flesh.” There is too much jealousy and strife and comparison of themselves with others and even comparing their leaders with one another. Paul says that neither he nor another leader, Apollos, are “anything.” They are only “servants” who “plant” and “water.” Twice Paul says that “only God gives the growth.” He is the truly important One in “his field,” “His building,” the church. Let us not compare ourselves with each other, as we are all sinners. Let us compare ourselves with our Lord and His Word. Then we will know that we are forgiven and saved and strengthened only by God and His work in Word and Sacraments, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Last week we looked at Psalm 44, a psalm that describes the struggle God’s people sometimes have when they think they are faithfully trying to follow the Lord, and yet it seems as if God is not listening or helping or caring about them and the serious problems they are going through. Through this psalm and other Scriptures, especially Romans 8, we were reminded of God’s promise always to be working for our good, even though we may not be able to see or understand what He has been doing. We are called to keep trusting Him and His timing and to keep listening to His Word and promises that nothing, even great troubles, can separate us from His love. Our future is secure in Christ our Savior, no matter what is going on right now.
Psalm 38 reminds us, though, that sometimes we may have been fooling ourselves and bringing troubles upon ourselves and “our steps have actually departed from God and His ways” - different from what was said and thought in Psalm 44:8. We don’t know the exact situation, but there were times when David had done wrong to himself and others and God and couldn’t seem to recognize it or admit it. It took God’s prophets bringing God’s Word to him to help him recognize and admit his sins and failings. This is one of his “penitential” psalms, along with Psalms 32 and 51 and 143, where he had to cry out, “Give ear to my pleas for mercy… enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You” (Psalm 143:1,2).
The introduction to Psalm 38 says that it was “a psalm of David, for the Memorial Offering.” There were various Old Testament offerings that God’s people were to make to the Lord in the Tabernacle and later in the temple in Jerusalem. Look at Leviticus 2:1-2, where a “grain offering” was to be made in just a certain way, and then the priest was to take a handful of the grain and burn it as a “memorial portion,” which would bring “a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” The Hebrew word for the “memorial” is related to the word“to remember.” Scholars think this offering was a way of asking the Lord to remember us in a way that was pleasing to Him and according to His will, in the Old Testament. Psalm 38, then, was a plea from David to the Lord to remember him, in mercy, even though he had been very sinful.
Some think it is like the prayer of the thief on the cross in Luke 23:42. The thief had just admitted that he was rightly condemned for his wrongdoing, receiving “the due reward for his (evil) deeds.” Jesus, in contrast, had done nothing wrong, not deserving His punishment (v. 40-41). This thief humbly asked, “Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your kingdom” (v. 42). This was a pleasing response of faith to Jesus, and Jesus promised, though the thief did not deserve it, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (v. 43).
See also the story of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who “feared God” and prayed to Him and helped the needy (Acts 10:1-2). An angel was sent to Cornelius to tell him, “Your prayers and your acts of mercy have ascended as a ‘memorial’ before God” (v. 3-4). God had not forgotten this man, but now remembered him in the sense of acting on his behalf, and sent Peter to tell him about Jesus; and he and his family and friends received faith and baptism. “To the Gentiles also God had granted repentance that leads to life,” through Jesus (Acts 10:5-11:18).
See also the prophecy of Zechariah in Luke 1:68-79, where Zechariah said that God Himself would “visit and redeem” His people (in the Person of His Son, Jesus) “to show the mercy promised to our fathers, and to ‘remember’ His holy covenant” (v. 72). God had not forgotten, but now was the time for Him to act, through John the Baptist (v. 76) and especially through Jesus, “to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God” (v. 77-79). Or think of the gift of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion). Jesus told us to receive Communion - to do this - “in remembrance of Him.” We are to come in faith, remembering what Jesus has done for us and trusting that He will have mercy and forgive our sins.
In Psalm 38, then, David confesses his own sins, remembering his desperate need for God’s mercy. In v. 1, he asks the Lord not to rebuke and discipline him in His anger, though he knows he deserves that “wrath” of God. David uses very poetic language, for the psalms are poetry and hymns addressed to God. In v.2-8, David describes the agony of the guilt he feels for his sins and the “heavy burden” they are for him to carry. They are like “arrows that have sunk into Him” and “the hand of the Lord” pressing down upon him. He is drowning in his sins and guilt. Everything within him aches because of his sin and God’s “indignation” (disgust) at his “foolishness.” (Have you ever felt that way, maybe laying in bed at night, thinking about things that have gone wrong, sometimes your own fault, and parts of your body seem to ache and burn, and you feel very worn and crushed?) That is what David was feeling, when he was honest with himself and knew he had to admit to his sin. (Words and phrases like these appear in other psalms and other Scriptures, as everyone struggles with sin and its effects. See Psalm 6:1ff., Job 6:4, Psalm 32:3-4, Psalm 69:2-3,14-15, etc.)
David also realizes that he cannot hide his sin and problems from God or others. God already knows, and yet part of praying is being honest with God and confessing our sins and failings, as David knows he must do. Friends also may know, and may want to “stand aloof” (“far off” from him), as if he has a “plague” or leprosy. Some might even want to punish him themselves when “his foot slips” and he fails (v. 9-12).
David then becomes like a “deaf” and “mute” man. He tries not to hear what others say, and he cannot “rebuke” others, because he has no real defense for all that he has done in a wrong way (v. 13-14). David has enemies, too, who “rejoice” in his failings and are “vigorous” in their unfair attacks against him, and criticize him even for the “good” things he tries to do (v. 16,19-20).
For David has not lost faith in His Lord, even in his weaknesses and when he feels like he “is ready to fall” and “his pain is ever before him” (v. 17). He knows that ultimately, only His Lord can help him. He cries out, “But for You, O Lord, do I wait; it is You, O Lord my God, Who will answer" (v. 15). As he had already done in v. 3-4, David again “confesses his iniquity” (another word for wrongdoing) and expresses his “sorrow for his sin” (v.17). All he can do is throw himself upon the mercy of God; and so he says, “Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste (hurry) to help me, O Lord, my salvation” (v. 21-22).
Other Scriptures tell us that David was forgiven and restored and joy returned to him, because of God’s great mercy, even though there were sometimes consequences, as a result of his sin. David could say, in Psalm 13:5-6: “I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
Of course, the greatest example of God’s mercy was in the gift of Jesus Himself, as our Savior. Walter Roehrs and others think that portions of Psalm 38 were prophetic of Jesus and what He went through for us, to be our Savior. Look again at verses 13-15 in light of what is said of Jesus in passages like 1 Peter 2:22-25. David was “deaf” and “mute” because of his own sins and his inability to defend himself. He was guilty. Jesus, in contrast, “committed no sin” of His own, but “he Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree” of the cross. He was suffering the penalty of David’s sins and our sins, and “by His wounds, we have been healed” and forgiven. Jesus was “deaf” as He ignored the “reviling” and the accusations made against Him, and He was “mute” and did not “revile“ or “threaten” others. “No deceit was found in His mouth.”
Look also at Isaiah 53, another prophecy of Jesus. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities” (v. 4-5). “The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth… he was “silent and “opened not His mouth” (v. 6-7). Jesus knew that “it was the will of the Lord to crush Him… as “an offering for guilt” (v. 10) - to suffer the guilt and consequences of the sin of David and us and the whole world.
The agony that Jesus suffered was so, so much greater than what David described in Psalm 38. But, He did this willingly for the sake of all of us, that we might be forgiven through Him and be “accounted righteous” (v. 11). As Peter said in 1 Peter 2:23, in life and death and resurrection, Jesus “continued entrusting Himself to Him (His Heavenly Father), Who would do all things justly and rightly, through His amazing grace and mercy and love and forgiveness for the world. That is the mercy that David also found from the Lord, because of what Jesus would eventually do for him and for us. May we, too, be honest about our sins and bring them also to our Lord Jesus for the full and free forgiveness and new hope that He has already earned for us. That is what He wants for us all.
Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Isaiah 58:3-9
1 Corinthians 2:1-16
Matthew 5:13-20
Sermon originally delivered February 6, 2011
Jesus is “the Light of the world” (John 8:12), but we can be lights, too, reflecting His Light to others, as our readings for this week say.
The Psalm is Psalm 112. The praise goes to the Lord, but blessed is one “who fears the Lord” and “delights” in His commands! Such an “upright” person is like “light” that “dawns in the darkness” and seeks to mirror our “gracious, merciful, and righteous” God. Such a person acts justly and gives generously to the poor. Above all, “his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.” The wicked are angry at him, but his righteousness endures, as an example and help to fellow believers.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 58:3-9a and reminds us that people can look righteous by certain things they do, like fasting and acting very humbly and putting on ashes, (think about this on Ash Wednesday!) while they turn right around and “quarrel“ and “fight” and “oppress” others. Rather, one is called to help the “hungry” and “poor” and “naked“ and “loosen the bonds of wickedness.” “Then your light breaks forth like the dawn” and the Lord’s glory surrounds you.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 2:1-12(13-16), Paul talks about keeping the focus not upon himself and his “lofty” performances, but upon “Jesus Christ and Him crucified“ and “the power of God” and His Holy Spirit, who enables people to “understand the things freely given us by God.” The gifts of and from God are the key for us. This is not “a wisdom of this age and the rulers of this age,” who are focused on themselves and what they can accomplish and think that the wisdom and ways of God are “folly.” But in God and His wisdom and Word, “we have the mind of Christ” and what he has done for us in order to save us.
The Gospel lesson, Matthew 5:13-20, is a continuation of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We are called to be “salt,” seasoning and preserving, and “light” for the Lord Jesus, showing that He is good, for the glory of our Heavenly Father. Jesus Himself is the true Light, not “relaxing” but “teaching” and “fulfilling” the law and will of God perfectly, in our place. (See Hebrews 4:15 and Matthew 3:15.) Through faith in Jesus, we are counted righteous in God’s eyes and enabled by Christ Jesus to “enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Today we look at another psalm of the Old Testament, Psalm 44.Psalm 44 is one of those psalms that is never used in the Lectionary (the assigned readings) for the 3 year or 1 year series of readings that we use in our worship services. Yet it talks about an issue that we still struggle with today, at times, and is worth studying, as is every other part of Scripture.
Psalm 44 was written by “the sons of Korah” - who are identified in 1 Chronicles 6:22, 31 and 2 Chronicles 20:19, 21, as famous singers in the house of the Lord. The psalm begins as the psalmists remember what their forefathers had taught them about how God had “freed” them from slavery and “planted them” in the promised land (Psalm 44:1-2). (See also Exodus 15:17. Note the emphasis also on the children being taught by their parents, and fathers especially teaching and answering questions of their sons and grandsons in future generations. See also passages like Exodus 10:2, 12:24, 13:8, and Proverbs 1:8ff. Such teaching and hearing are very much needed, still today, along with what we learn in school and church and Sunday School.).
Israel’s enemies were also defeated, and this was done not by the “sword” and the “arm“ of the Israelites, but by the “right hand” and “arm” of God Himself, as “the light of His face” shone on them (Numbers 6:24-26) and He “delighted” in them (Psalm 44:3). The psalmist also knows that God is his “King,” and that “foes are pushed down“ only “through God’s Name,” not by Israel’s ”bows” and “swords” (Psalm 44:4-6). (See also Exodus 3:14-15 and Psalm 20:7.) The psalmists therefore “boast in God continually,” and “give thanks to His Name, forever” (Psalm 44:8).
And yet, in v.4, the psalmist also asks, in a way that is called an imperative - a strong wish, almost a command: “Ordain salvation for Jacob,” save Your people, the sons of Jacob! Why would the sons of Korah ask for this? They knew God’s help in the past, but now they were not sure they were seeing it in the present time. Read on in Psalm 44:9-16. We don’t know the exact situation or circumstances when these verses were written, but it seemed as if God had now “rejected and disgraced” His people (v.9). “Foes” were defeating and “scattering them among the nations” (v.10-11). God’s people seemed unimportant and not valuable to Him (v.12). Others were “taunting” and “reviling” and “shaming” God’s people (v.13-16). It was as if God had forgotten about them, they thought.
They couldn’t figure this out because they felt that they had “not forgotten God” or been “false” to Him or “departed from His ways” (v.17-18). If they had forgotten God or worshiped false gods, God would have known, “for He knows the secrets of the heart”(v.20-21). But they knew better about themselves, they thought. God was “asleep” and needed to “wake up” (v.23). He was “hiding His face now from His people, and they were feeling very “beaten down” in their lives (v.24-25).
Have you ever felt this way? You trust God and yet everything seems to be going wrong. God seems far away from you and your problems, even when you cry out to Him. You pray: “Rise up, O God; come to our help!” (v.26) And you still don’t seem to find answers.
Finally, the sons of Korah just had to trust God and His ways, though they did not understand His plans. They knew God had loved them with a “steadfast love” and that He would still “redeem” them in His own way and time, if they would wait upon Him. The sons of Korah also wrote psalms like Psalm 42, which said, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5,11).
They wrote Psalms 45-49, including Psalm 46, from which Martin Luther wrote his great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” And they wrote Psalms 84-85 and 87-88, which said, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you” (Psalm 84:12). The sons of Korah did make it through, in faith, by God’s grace. And we can, too.
In fact, Paul, inspired by God, quotes from Psalm 44 in a great chapter of comfort and hope for New Testament Christians in Romans 8. He quotes Psalm 44:22, where the sons of Korah and fellow Israelites felt they were “being killed all the day long, like sheep to be slaughtered” (Romans 8:36). Paul applied those words to Christian people who have many troubles and challenges in life and can even be persecuted on account of being followers of Christ and His Word. He reminds us that the sufferings of this life are not worth comparing with the joys and glories of heaven (Romans 8:18). He also reminds us that even when we are overwhelmed and don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and prays on our behalf to help us follow God’s will (Romans 8:26-27).
Paul also reminds us that whether we can see it or not, “for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We may never find all the answers we want, but we trust God’s mercy and promises, shown us most clearly in Jesus and His saving work and His willingness to die for us.
And Paul reminds us that Jesus our Savior, as our risen Lord, is interceding for us, and that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, even if we face “tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword… or anything else… ”(Romans 8:34-39). The answers and the hope are all in Jesus. This is true even if we or the sons of Korah or anyone else is not quite as good as he or she pretends to be, as we will hear in next week’s psalm, Psalm 38, another psalm of David. The Lord’s continued blessings and strength, whatever you are going through, too. See His love for you, too, in spite of your challenges.
Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Micah 6:1-8
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon originally delivered January 30, 2011
The Scripture readings for this Sunday remind us of the very high standards of our Holy God and the need to walk humbly before Him. The Psalm is Psalm 15. David begins by asking who can come and continue to stand in worship before the Lord in His tent, His tabernacle. He says it is a person who is blameless, does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart, in contrast to a person who slanders others, does evil to a neighbor, and reproaches (blames or shames or speaks disgracefully) of a friend. David lists other things that people should and should not do and says that one who does these things rightly will not be moved from God’s presence. God’s people try to do what is right, but sometimes fail. Can anyone then stand before the Lord?
In the Old Testament lesson, Micah 6:1-8, the Lord indicts (makes a case against) His own people. He has redeemed His people from slavery and brought them to a land of promise and blessed them with acts of righteousness. Yet His people have rebelled and sinned against Him, as previous chapters of Micah show. What can be done? There is nothing that people can offer to God to make things right. God calls them “to walk humbly” with Him (which implies confessing their sins and seeking His forgiveness and trusting Him,) and then seeking to act in a kind and just way toward Him and others.
Jesus teaches much the same thing as He begins His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-12 and speaks of God’s high standards and ends Chapter 5 with the words: “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Who can do that? He is teaching us all about our sins and our need for Him, the Savior. He says that those are blessed who know that they are spiritually poor, and mourn about their sins and weaknesses, and hunger and thirst for the righteousness that can only come from God, and know that they need and can receive God’s mercy for themselves. Then they can seek to show that mercy to others who, like them are not always pure in heart, and to be peacemakers with others, and stand up for the Lord in faith and in what is right, even if there is persecution on account of following Jesus.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul says that the way of Christ and His Word will seem like foolishness to many in this world, whose own wisdom and standards are very different. In fact, no human being can boast in the presence of God and meet His expectations, no matter how wise and strong and noble a person thinks he is. Our only hope is in boasting in and trusting the Lord Jesus and receiving the wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption He provides for us as Christ the crucified, for our salvation. Through Jesus, we are forgiven and counted blameless in the eyes of God.
(One last note on Psalm 15. Receiving interest on a loan of money is not condemned in the New Testament. See the parable of Jesus in Luke 19:23, where a man is condemned for not even at least putting money in a bank in order to earn a little interest. Usury was condemned for the Old Testament people of Israel, as a nation, so that they would not charge interest for the very poor, who could barely pay back what they owed others, and would not harm their fellow Jewish people who were struggling. This could be a good principle still to follow to show kindness to some people in need.)
Today we will look at two shorter psalms that emphasize an important message of the season after Christmas, Epiphany - when God’s love and plan for the whole world became most clear, with the coming of His Son, Jesus, into the world. It is a time for sharing this Good News. These two psalms speak of God’s care for all people, not just the Jewish nation of Israel.
We look first at Psalm 67, in the Old Testament. Verse one begins with an abbreviated form of a benediction, a blessing, that God first gave to Moses in Numbers 6:22-27. Aaron and the priests that followed him were to speak this blessing to the people of Israel. In this way, God’s name was put upon them, along with His grace and peace, as He looked upon them with His favor.
What may seem to be a surprise, though, is that verse two says that God’s blessing came upon Israel so that His “way” may be “known on earth” and His “saving power among all nations.” God chose Israel to be His nation, so that eventually, His salvation would be among all nations, not just the Jews. This was actually God’s plan from the beginning and announced from the very time He called Abram (Abraham) to be the father of this nation and gave His blessing to him. See Genesis 12:1-3. “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This promise was given again in Genesis 17:3-6. Abraham was to be “the father of a multitude of nations” and “nations and kings” would “come” from him. These promises appear in many places as the Old Testament goes on and especially in promises of the coming Messiah.
God also reminded the Israelites that they were not His people because they had bigger numbers than others (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) or even were “more righteous” than others (Deuteronomy 9:4-7), but simply because of His choice and love and plan (Deuteronomy 9:6,8). By His grace they were saved and were His people. But there were also warnings of judgment if they rebelled and rejected the Lord. (See Deuteronomy 28:15ff. and verses like “62-63.”)
Passages like Isaiah 45:21-23 also remind that is no other “god” than the one True God and that “all the ends of the earth” need to turn to Him to “be saved.” God still wishes to save all of His chosen people (Isaiah 45:25), but there are warnings that only a “remnant” would be saved. See Ezra 9:15, for example. There was also the promise of a whole New Covenant, a New Testament, which finally came with the coming of Jesus as the promised one, the Messiah, the Savior for the whole world, including Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) who would trust in Him. (See Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the quotation and comment about this in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:6-13.)
If we go back to Psalm 67: 2-5, then, we see the psalmist saying again and again that “all nations” and “all the peoples” should “be glad” and “sing for joy” at God’s saving plan available to all. God will judge the peoples “with equity” (literally meaning “with uprightness,” in a fair way); and He wishes to “guide the nations” with His wise ways, ultimately centered in Christ Jesus.
Verses 6-7 also say that as the Lord blesses people with good crops and other good things, that will be a witness to His goodness and help He wishes to bring to all, so that eventually “all the ends of the earth could fear Him” and love and trust in Him, as their Lord, too. (Jesus Himself reminded that God sends His sun and His rain upon all. That shows His mercy and care for all.)
The other psalm for today is Psalm 117, the shortest psalm in the Bible. It says much the same thing as Psalm 67, but in a simpler, more compact way, in 2 verses. “All nations” and “all peoples” should praise the Lord, for “His steadfast love toward us is great, and His faithfulness will never fail. It “endures forever.” These are promises available to all, Gentiles (non-Jews, the nations) as well as Jews. Verse 1 is quoted in the New Testament in Romans 15:11, along with several other Old Testament passages, telling of God’s love and mercy for all nations (Romans 15:8-13), so that “the God of hope” can fill anyone “with all joy and peace in believing” in Jesus as Savior, “through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13)
In fact, the New Testament says that the true Israel of God is now all believers in Christ, whether Jews or of any other nation, when they are brought to trust in Him. (See Galatians 6:14-16; Galatians 3:11-14, 28-29; Romans 10:8-13; Romans 4:13,16-17,20-25; Luke 2:30-32, 3:6; etc.)
The New Testament also makes clear that God’s “way,” mentioned in Psalm 67:2 and now known on earth among all nations, is centered in Jesus. As we have heard, God plan was to work through Abraham and the Jewish nation to bring, at last, Jesus, His Son, born of a Jewish woman, Mary, to be the Savior of the world (through His life, death, and resurrection for us all). This is clearest in the words of Jesus Himself, who said, in John 14:6, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The early Christians who trusted in Jesus were then called “followers of the Way, of Jesus” (Acts 9:2, 18:25, 19:9,23, 24:22 ).
As Psalms 67 and 117 say, the Good News that the Bible shares, centered in Jesus, is really for everyone in the world. Jesus Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). “Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
As I write this podcast I know that this Good News of God’s rescue plan through Jesus can be an eternal blessing to everyone who hears and comes to believe in Him. People are reading or listening in various places in the US and in at least 6 other countries and who knows how many more places. Please pray that more will hear and come to trust the Word of God about Jesus:
- “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31-33)
- “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:15-16)
- “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16-18)
May we each also be strengthened in our own faith through what God tells us in His Word. Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the Truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). And that Benediction, first given to the children of Israel and mentioned in Psalm 67, is a Benediction given also to us through Christ. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Isaiah 9:1-4
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-25
Sermon originally delivered January 23, 2011
The Light of the Lord and of His Son, Jesus Christ, continues to shine brightly in this Epiphany season. In the Psalm, Psalm 27:1-9 (10-14), David speaks of the Lord as “his Light and His Salvation.” Therefore, David says in several ways that he is not afraid, even though there are evildoers and enemies who want to assail (attack) him and bring “war” against him. David asks that he continue to be able to come into the Lord's house, “His tent,” (His tabernacle, still being used, since the temple would only be built later). There he would find “shelter in the day of trouble” and “seek the Lord’s face” and “be taught His ways.” Then he could continue to say with confidence, “I believe - that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord” and say to us also: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 9:1-4, where the prophet Isaiah predicts that people walking in darkness will see “a great light” that will shine upon them, and “multiply joy” for them and break “the yoke” of burden and oppression that is upon them. It will be like the days when Gideon and a few hundred men defeated the much greater forces of the Midianites and brought peace to God’s people. (See Judges 6-7 in the Old Testament. In fact, in the verses that follow in Isaiah 9:6-7, it will be a “child” who will be born and have the names of God, and would be the “Prince of Peace.”)
This Old Testament lesson is quoted in the Gospel lesson, “Matthew 4:12-25,” with reference to Jesus, who would go to Galilee, in the territory of the Old Testament tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, but an area in which Gentiles (non-Jews) also lived. Jesus would call all people to “repent,” for their greatest “burden” was the burden of their sins. He came to save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) by His death on the cross, as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and to open up the door of “the kingdom of heaven” for them. Jesus also called disciples, fishermen at the Sea of Galilee, to follow Him and help Him by being becoming “fishers of men,” instruments by whom He could bring more people into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus also preached and healed in that whole region, so that “His fame” spread also to the North, to Syria, and to the East, beyond the Jordan River, places where even more Gentiles also lived. It was exactly as God had predicted through Isaiah. Jesus was becoming “the Light of the world” (John 8:12), a “Light” that no darkness could ever overcome (John 1:4-5).
By the time of our Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, the Gospel of Jesus had come to Corinth, in the nation of Greece, as we heard last week. Unfortunately, some of the people there were focusing too much on certain leaders and arguing about which one seemed more important to them. Paul had to call them back to faith in Jesus. It was the cross of Jesus alone by which they were saved, and it was His gift of baptism by which they were brought into faith, through water and the Word and the Holy Spirit. Paul and Apollos and Cephas (Peter) and others (including any preacher or teacher or person today) were only instruments through which God worked. It is the Word of the cross of Jesus our Savior that is the power of God by which we are saved. Thanks be to God alone! (See also Romans 1:16-17.)
Last week, we looked briefly at the history of the Christian Church and how from the early church on through the Catholic Church and Protestantism, the Church was consistently against homosexual behavior as acceptable - until about the middle of the 20th century. Then things changed because of changing views about the Bible and psychology and culture and philosophy and other issues. We looked at polls and statistics and saw that the latest information shows that 7.1 % of people in the US claim to be LGBTQ, although more than half of this group, 57 %, put themselves in the bisexual category, meaning they can choose to act in a homosexual way at times and then switch to act as a heterosexual. It is all about choices and feelings, without a scientific or Biblical basis. The same is true for transgenders. It is how they feel and want to change genders, and some are beginning to want to change back, with great difficulty about their choices. We also looked at statistics from the CDC about medical issues and the dangers related particularly to certain homosexual activities and behaviors.
We also looked at the fact that a number of church denominations have also changed their views, and for the first time in Christian history, as far as I know, a sizable group within them is accepting and approving of LGBTQ behaviors. This is creating conflict and even division within these churches, and some, mostly conservative, are leaving and starting new denominations. What are churches to do in these circumstances?
To talk about this again, we want to go back to a quick review of the Letter of Jude and what he said should be done, in a general way, without much detail, as God inspired him to write. He was writing to Christian churches, and he wanted to write about the Gospel, the good news of our “common salvation” through Christ Jesus. He “found it necessary,” though, as God led him, to appeal to the faithful church members “to contend for the faith that once for all was delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:1-3).
Jude then spent the next 13 verses, v.4-16, speaking the law of God and warning about “ungodly people” who came into, “crept into” the churches, who were “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 1:4). “Sensuality” can refer to various kinds of immorality, but often refers to sexual immorality. In the verses that follow, Jude made it clear that he was including in this immorality particular references to homosexual behavior. There is the Old Testament reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and other cities which “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued “unnatural desire.” The phrase in Greek for “unnatural desire” is literally “other flesh,” and in this context seems to refer to homosexual practices, as described also by Paul in Romans 1:26-27 and other places. Peter made a similar reference in 2 Peter 2:6ff. in words very similar to Jude.
Jude then reminded the churches of predictions from the apostles that in the future “scoffers” would come, “following their own ungodly passions” and “cause divisions” as “worldly people, devoid of the Spirit” (Jude, v.17-19).
Only then did Jude speak about what the faithful Christians should be doing, with regard to these “ungodly” people around them, within their churches. He first spoke briefly about the need for Christians to keep being built up in their “most holy faith,” praying and staying “in the love of God” and “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that leads to eternal life” (Jude , v.20-21). (Remember also that in the early Christian church, letters like this one of Jude would be read to all the members of the churches to whom it had been sent. That means that even the people who were creating problems by ungodly behaviors would have heard the strong Law that the Lord had brought through Jude. Some of them, at least, may have realized their own sins and been brought to repentance. That is the main purpose of the Law - to show people their own sins and their need for Jesus and the forgiveness and new life He wished to bring them and restore to them.)
Then, having spoken of the mercy of Christ given to believers, Jude reminded the faithful Christians to be ready to show that same mercy to people in the three stages described in Jude, v. 22-23: those who were doubting and wavering in their faith and actions; those who had drifted farther away and needed to be “snatched” from the fire of God’s judgment; and even those whom the believers should fear, because they were a real danger to believers and could pollute them and harm them and could try to pull them away from the faith and what was right and true. God still loved and cared about these people, even though He hated their sins. Christ died for them, too, and they, too, needed to hear about Jesus and that they could be forgiven and restored through Him.
Again, this message of God’s mercy is needed by all of us, because we are all sinners, whether we are heterosexual or homosexual. We must speak humbly when reaching out to others about Christ’s mercy, because we know we need it, too. God hates all sin, as the perfectly holy God. Yet we also read that “God so loved the world” (this sinful, evil world) that He sent His own Son to be the Savior (John 3:16). “He wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
That’s why we don’t hate homosexuals, or heterosexuals who sin, but we try to hate sinful behavior, whatever it is, because God does, and we can’t put a stamp of approval on sin. “The wages of sin is death.” That is what we would all earn, except for the gift of forgiveness Christ brings us (Romans 6:23). It is rejecting Christ and living in unbelief that ultimately condemns (Mark 16:16). That is the danger for those, whoever they are, who keep sinning and resisting what God says in Scripture. They could eventually lose their faith.See what Romans 6:1-11 says about remembering who we are as baptized believers and seeking to battle sin, whatever it is, in our own lives.
Remember, at the same time, that we are not saved because of what we do and by overcoming every sin and becoming perfect in our life. None of us can ever do that. We still struggle, as Paul describes in Romans 7:15-25, with our old sinful nature. Yet Paul does say, in this passage several times, as a believer in Christ, “I have the desire to do what is right... I want to do right... I delight in the law of God, in my inner being..." and yet he still does not always do what he should.
We want to use God’s Law to help people, homosexuals or heterosexuals, to know what is really right and to desire to do it, even if it is a great struggle and goes against what our culture tells us, and we want to use God’s Gospel, above all, to help people realize that there can be forgiveness and hope and new life through Jesus and trust in Him. Remember that Paul wrote very clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, about many sinful practices, including “men who practice homosexuality,” and other sinful practices, in verses following, such a visiting a prostitute; and he said, “Flee sexual immorality” (6:v.18.) At the same time, in v. 11, Paul wrote, “And such were some of you, But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” Forgiveness is possible for any of us, through faith in Christ. And then Paul says, when you are in Christ, “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Let me say something else. Suppose we could convince someone to stop doing homosexual behaviors. That would be very good and helpful for a person’s health and moral understanding. Would that alone, though, make a person a Christian? It would not. Most important is also hearing about Jesus as our Savior and being brought to faith and trust in Him. That is at the center of our Christian witness - God’s love and forgiveness in Christ.
That is what Jude returned to, as he ended his letter. God is able to keep us from stumbling, from being drawn away so that we would lose our faith, and God will present us blameless, counted blameless before Him, through Jesus our Savior and His forgiveness of all our sins, as we hang onto His saving work for us. And to Him, then, be all the glory (Jude v.24-25).
A few last thoughts, and then I want to be done with the Letter of Jude and this subject. We try to bring Law and Gospel to all people, including those within the church. We want to emphasize the mercy of God, but obviously, not all will respond in a positive way, no matter what we wish and pray for. If people keep rejecting God’s Word and keep doing things that are clearly wrong in ways that are clearly hurting and harming others in the church, then others measures may need to be taken.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul spoke of such a case of sexual immorality, ongoing and without repentance, and said, “Let him who has done this be removed from among you” (5, v.2). “Purge the evil person from among you” (5, v.13). This person was too dangerous to the church, and the church as a whole could and did expel him. At the same time, in 2 Corinthians 2, we read that “this punishment by the majority is enough,” - maybe referring to the same person expelled in 1 Corinthians. If the person wakes up spiritually, by God’s power, and is repentant and resolves to try to do the right things, Paul then says, “You should rather turn to forgive and comfort him… and reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:5-8).
And what about churches where many have gone the wrong way? You still try to take people where they are and help them and point people in the right way, with God’s Law and Gospel and Christ’s mercy. But when that simply will not work, other words of Paul and other Biblical writers may need to be used.
See Romans 16:17-18: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such person do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” John warns, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God… If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting” (2 John v.9-10).
In other words, some of people and even churches, may have to pull out of their old churches and form new groups with faithful believers, over an issue like acceptance and approval and promoting of what is clearly wrong about homosexual behavior and other LGBTQ activity. Thank the Lord that our conservative Lutheran churches are not is such a situation. But let us not become proud and forget to be working on our own faults and failings within our churches, so that we can follow our Lord more faithfully and encourage one another in Christ and His mercy, above all.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
Sermon originally delivered January 16, 2011
The first two readings for this Sunday, the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, predict the epiphany, the “appearance” with His “light shining forth,” of Jesus, the Messiah. In Psalm 40, David tells of how he waited patiently for the Lord, and the Lord rescued him from “the pit of destruction” and set him on a secure rock, from which he can sing praises to God and boldly tell “the glad news of God’s deliverance” and “salvation.” David predicts that many more people “will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord,” because the Lord will send the Messiah, Jesus, who will have “an open ear” and “delight to do God’s will,” and make a sacrifice of His body “once for all” that will do away with need for all the Old Testament sacrifices. (See Psalm 40, verses 6-8 quoted in Hebrews 10:4-10, with more explanation of all this.)
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 49:1-7, is another of the “Servant Songs” of that coming Messiah, along with what we heard last week in Isaiah 42:1-9. That Servant will be named Jesus, from the womb of His mother, and will come from Israel, but also be the One who “will bring back the preserved,” the remnant of Israel, to the Lord, and will be “a light for all nations, that the news of His salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” This saving work will not be easy, though, and this servant Jesus will be “deeply despised“ and “abhorred” (disgusted with and hated) by many of His own people. Yet, “God will be His strength” and He will be “honored in the eyes of the Lord.”
In the Gospel lesson, John 1:29-42, John the Baptist had been preparing the way for the coming of Jesus and now called Him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin on the world,” referring to His coming sacrifice on the cross. John even said that Jesus existed before him, although Jesus was born after him. John was referring to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, God the Son, who had always existed, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity. John knew this, because he had baptized Jesus and heard the voice of God the Father identifying Jesus as His Son and saw God the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Two disciples of John then stayed with Jesus and started learning from Him. One, named Andrew, talked with his brother Cephas (Peter), and told him, “We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.” In this way, even though Jesus was just beginning His public ministry, the Good News about Him as the coming promised Savior, was beginning to spread, as predicted in the first lessons, at which we have already looked. (The word “Messiah” is the Hebrew word for “the One Anointed by God” to do His saving work, and the word Christ is the Greek form of the same word.) Jesus is the One!
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. The Good News of Jesus was spreading and had now reached the country of Greece and the city of Corinth, where God had established a church through the ministry of Paul and one of his converts, Sosthenes. See Acts 18, and especially v.17. A little later, Paul wrote a letter, supported by Sosthenes, to the church members at Corinth. He called the baptized believers there “saints” because that is what they were, by the grace and peace of God at work in them, through Christ Jesus. This grace was given to them by God as a gift, including the gift of faith in Jesus as their Savior. “God is faithful,” Paul wrote, and would “sustain” them in this faith to the end, as they stayed close to Jesus and His Word. They would be counted “guiltless” also, by faith in Jesus and all He did for them. So will we, as we abide in faith in our Savior! All our sins are forgiven, too.
Last week, we looked at more Scriptures from the Old Testament that clearly condemn homosexual behaviors and related things like cross-dressing (men dressing up like women, etc.) We also heard from Josephus, a 1st Century AD Jewish historian, speaking the same condemnation. (We could also look at Jewish Rabbinic literature that condemns homosexual activity and other writings that Jews used which had the same negative view of homosexual behavior.)
We also looked at several New Testament passages that condemn these unnatural sexual behaviors of men with men and women with women. I can add that we find the same condemnations of these homosexual behaviors consistently among the early church fathers of Christianity: with Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor; with later church fathers; and on through the Roman Catholic Church and Martin Luther and consistently among Protestant churches until about the middle of the 20th Century, until things began to change among some. One person notes that “among the major world religions, only Buddhism takes a neutral doctrinal stance toward homosexuality. Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, and Taoism join Judaism and Christianity in prohibiting the behavior.”
We cannot go into why so many things changed in the last 75-100 years, but many social and sexual and psychological and philosophical views changed, and the reliability of the Scriptures was questioned and attacked, and we are where we are today.
The Gallup organization has been asking people about LGBTQ issues for a number of years. In the latest poll, reported in February, 2022, 7.1% of Americans claim to be LGBT. This has doubled from the 3.5% who self-identified with this group in 2012. The biggest increase has been among the youngest people. Those in Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, jumped from 10.5% claiming to be LGBT in 2017 to 20.8% in 2021. Millennials also increased from 7.8% in LGBT to 10.5% in 2021.
Why this increase? We can’t give all the reasons, but clearly it is partially because of the tremendous increase in talk and publicity about this group and the growing sense, pushed by the media and many others, that in a free country these people have the right to these choices (which they do) and that we must approve of these choices or we are discriminatory toward them. The LGBTQ group is increasing, but there is so much talk in support of them and their lifestyle that other polls indicate that many Americans assume that they must be 20% or more of the population. That is not the truth. The truth is nearer to 7.1%.
Notice another big change, here. Those of us who saw these changes coming in the 1970's and 1980’s were told that these people were born gay or lesbian, etc., and just have to be who they were born to be. They were many attempts to find a ”gay gene” or some scientific evidence that they were born a certain way, but nothing was ever conclusively found. Now, many of these people are admitting that these are simply free choices that they are making and have the right to make.
57% of LGBT people said that they were in the bisexual group, and 75% of the Gen. Z people said they were bisexual in 2021. They are claiming to be sexually attracted to both males and females and can switch and choose to have sex with one or the other, whenever they choose. Men can even decide to be women, and women can decide to be men, or to be some sort of mix, with no real scientific basis for doing so. What chaos and confusion that has created, in bathrooms and on sports teams and on and on, especially for younger people but for all.
The recent “Respect for Marriage” Law passed by Congress is meant to protect same-sex marriages and the like, but does it also provide protections for those whose religious beliefs do not allow them to approve of and support such marriages in active ways, because of their genuine religious beliefs? There is clearly freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the Constitution. Is there a freedom to do sexually whatever you choose to do and to force others to approve of what you are doing?
What is often not also honestly and clearly talked about is the danger of some of the sexual behaviors (which I will not talk about) of these groups. Did you hear about the recent monkeypox outbreak in the US? It was declared a national medical emergency,but it turned out that 98% of those infected were gay men or bisexual men having sex with other men. There is a vaccination that helps with this disease, but for a while, it was allowed to be given only to gay men. The name of the disease has been changed, too, so that it does not imply anything negative about those contracting this disease.
30 years ago, when the AIDS epidemic was so great, 83% of all AIDS cases were among homosexuals or intravenous drug users. Even now, people are still dying of AIDS, even though there are treatments. In 2019, the US Center for Disease Control (that is where most of these medical statistics are coming from) reported that 53% of all HIV deaths were among gay and bisexual men, and 70% of all new HIV infections (the precursor to AIDS) were men who had sex with men. I could go on with statistics, but I will give you just one more, about other sexually transmitted diseases. In 2014, gay, bisexual, and other men who had sex with men had 83% of primary and secondary syphilis cases, and these people had much higher rates of other diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Remember, also, that 57% of current LGBTQ people claim that they are bisexual. They can be exposed to some of these diseases in their “community” and then decide to switch and at least take the chance of spreading some of these diseases to the much, much larger heterosexual community. I am giving a worst case picture here, but there are physical dangers with the behaviors going on - along with the more serious spiritual dangers of going against God’s Word and will. Waiting for sex until marriage - and a Biblical marriage of one man and one woman, whose bodies complement one another, in a lifelong, committed relationship, is always the best, in God’s plan.
I want to note one more tragic situation, related to this, within churches in the US and in the Western world, particularly. Numbers of church denominations are being torn apart by differences between those who want to stay with traditional, Biblical marriage and moral teachings on these issues, and those who want to be accepting and approving and supportive of the LGBTQ community. Is is OK for a church leader to be a gay man or a transgender person? Is it OK for a lesbian woman to be a pastor? And on and on. Many are saying “Yes!” Others are very upset with these changes.
The Anglican Church, the Church of England and related groups like the Episcopal Church in the US, are going through these struggles. (Interestingly, Anglican churches in Africa and other non-Western societies are more likely to hold the traditional Christian view. Does that tell you where our Western culture has been going?) The Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA) has gone through the same struggles, and Covenant Church, a conservative, more traditional church in our own community chose, a number of years ago, to leave PCUSA, because of PCUSA’s more liberal views on this and other issues.
We are hearing of these same divisions in the United Methodist Church. In 2019, the General Conference voted to uphold the church’s ban on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex marriages. So, the majority voted for a traditional stance. However, more liberal pastors and leaders have continued to go ahead and ordain LGBTQ clergy and perform same-sex marriages, and nothing is being done about them. So, more than 2,000 churches have already left the United Methodist Church, and are trying to form a more conservative “Global Methodist Church,” and others are trying to leave, but are running into barriers and delays to leave. The same thing is happening in the more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (There are unfortunately Lutherans and then there are Lutherans.)
I am part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, though I am retired and no longer have a call to a particular church. The LCMS fought a “Battle of the Bible” back in the 1960’s and 1970’s and chose to remain conservative, by the Lord’s blessing, saying that Scripture alone is the foundation for what we believe. We did not accept a critical view of the Bible, which said that it only “contained” God’s Word, and we therefore had to try to figure out what was His Word and what was not. With that critical view, we could accept only what we want to accept, on our terms.
In just a little reading about the United Methodist Church , I have seen the idea of a “Quadrilateral” basis on which to read the Bible. We must use Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, as we approach the Bible, in their view. Depending on what those words mean, that could allow our own human reason and experiences and feelings to be more important than the actual Words of Scripture. That is what seems to have happened in too many churches, on the LGBTQ issue and others, when people are saying the opposite of what the actual words of Scripture say.
A few last thoughts, as I have already gone much longer than I hoped, today. I am obviously simplifying things and giving some of my own opinions and not quoting much Scripture. But I am trying to base what I say on the nine previous weeks of study of Jude and other Scriptures. Next week, I will go back to Jude and a few other Scriptures to talk about what we ought to be saying and doing, when these issues come right into our own churches, if people are off track within the church. That is what Jude was primarily focused upon.
Finally, as I have said several times already, we are not to hate others and want to harm them in any way - but to speak the truth in love and care, and help people go in a better direction, even as we ourselves need to do, in God’s care and forgiveness for us, too.
Sermon for the Baptism of Jesus, based on:
Isaiah 42:1-9
Romans 6:1-11
Luke 13:1-9
Sermon originally delivered January 9, 2011
Epiphany is on January 6, so we will be in the Epiphany season this Sunday, as we celebrate The Baptism of our Lord Jesus. The psalm is Psalm 29, and David calls upon all people to worship and give the Lord the glory due to His Name. The voice of the Lord is over many waters. His voice was there at the creation, speaking all things into being, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Lord’s voice is also heard and His power is shown in storms and thunder and flames of fire. His voice would also be over the waters of the Jordan River and the Spirit of God would also be there at the baptism of Jesus. The Lord then gives Jesus and His people His strength and peace.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 42:1-9, a prophecy of the coming of Jesus, the Chosen Servant of God. The Spirit of God will be put upon Him, and He will bring new things and a new covenant and be a Light for the nations and for prisoners who sit in the darkness of sin. He will bring God’s justice, yet as One Who does not shout or lift up His voice, but steadily and faithfully serves those in need. The Lord will take Him by the hand and keep Him.
The Gospel, Matthew 3:13-17, tells of the baptism of Jesus. He is baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” - as part of His saving work of doing everything right for us, in our place. As it was prophesied, the Spirit of God also came upon Him in His baptism to strengthen Him, and then the voice of the Heavenly Father identified Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
We are not always well-pleasing to God, though, and we need newness of life and forgiveness of our sins. Jesus died on the cross, once for all, and we received the benefit of what He earned for us, through the grace of God, in our own baptism, as we are told in the Epistle lesson, Romans 6:1-11. We died to our old life, through Christ and rose to a new life, freed from the condemnation of our sins. Now we are called to remember who we are as baptized believers and live for Christ - dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Savior.
Last week, I discussed why I thought it would be important to consider some of the implications of the Letter of Jude (and other Scriptures) for moral issues today and particularly LGBTQ issues and same-sex marriage and related issues. (If you have not listened to or read last week’s study, I would highly recommend your looking at it first, as what I say today builds upon what was already said.)
Fundamental is the teaching in Genesis 1 that God created people with only two genders, male and female, and in Genesis 2, that God instituted marriage, of one man and one woman, in a life-long commitment, and that was the place for sexual desires to be fulfilled. Our Lord Jesus quoted from Genesis and affirmed these views of marriage, as planned by God “from the beginning.” Other Scriptures quote these passages, in a consistent view of what marriage was and is intended to be.
Obviously, sin then came into the world, in Genesis 3, and great rebellion against God and His will and plans resulted. Genesis 6 described how serious this was, and other Scriptures showed that the struggle with our sinful human nature has gone on ever since, in issues of sexuality and marriage. As I pointed out last week, if we were to do a full study of moral issues, we would need to spend much more time on problems and sins of heterosexual relationships. Sin is sin, and we are all sinners, and we all need God’s grace and forgiveness, in Christ.
I want to continue today by noting that the Jewish moral code for the people of Israel, given by God to Moses and other prophets, supported God’s view of the two genders and sexuality between a male and female in marriage, and warned against all immorality, including some references against same-sex sexual activity. In going through the Letter of Jude, I have already mentioned a number of these Scriptures and will repeat just a few, in more detail.
There is the story of the sins of Sodom. Genesis 13:13 says, ”Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.” And in Genesis 19:1-11, we hear that two angels, appearing as men, came to visit Lot in that town. They were going to stay in the town square, but Lot invited them to stay with him, out of hospitality, but also to protect them. Later that night, all the men and boys of the town came and surrounded the house, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” If you read much Scripture, you know that the term “to know” sometimes means “to have a sexual relationship with.” That is positive within God’s plan for marriage between a husband and wife. Read Genesis 4:1, as an early example, between Adam and Eve. In Genesis 19, though, Lot clearly knew what all these males, young and old, wanted. They wanted to have sex with these men who were visiting Lot. Lot begs them, “Do not act so wickedly,” and suggests a very bad alternative, also immoral according to God’s standards.
The fact that males and boys were involved indicates a real part of homosexual behavior in some times and places. Younger boys were involved and often taken advantage of in the ancient world, especially in Greek culture and among some Romans, too. It involved what we would usually call today a form of “child sexual abuse” - “pedophilia” or “pederasty.” It still happens today. Think of all the stories we have heard of problems of child abuse from some Roman Catholic priests and also from some Protestant leaders and Boy Scout leaders and on and on. I just read an article today about authorities in one place wanting to do away with negative names for such abusers and simply call them “minor-attracted people.” (That seems to be a way to try to “normalize” very dangerous behaviors against children.)
You can read the rest of what happened in Genesis 19 on your own. The angels are able to help Lot and his family to escape, and Sodom and Gomorrah are totally destroyed. Mentioning Sodom became, in Old and New Testament, a way of warning against homosexual and other wrong behaviors, and the term, “sodomy” became a tern for a certain kind of sexual behavior often done by males with each other.
The Law of Moses simply says about homosexual behavior: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). This same prohibition is repeated in Leviticus 20:13, with very serious consequences for such a person within Israel.
There are other Scriptures that are related to this issue. Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” Many think this refers to what we call today dressing in “drag,” as in a “drag show,” with men acting like women or vice versa and acting or speaking in suggestive and immoral ways. It often seems to be an activity of the homosexual community, and is very controversial, especially when children are involved. It is a way of sending mixed and confusing messages about what are clear differences between the two genders, male and female.
Again, we are hearing almost daily today in our own country about such “drag shows” in public libraries and other places where children are involved, and yet the same libraries, etc., refusing to allow programs by people and groups presenting a different moral message. This prohibition of cross-dressing could also speak to those who want to be transgender - a gender different from their birth gender, their natural gender.
The Old Testament says little about lesbianism (woman with woman sexual activity), as it seems to have been uncommon within Judaism and clearly does not fit the Biblical standards, either. The famous Jewish author and historian of the 1st Century AD, Josephus, just after the time of Christ, wrote: “What are our marriage laws? The Law recognizes no sexual connections, except the natural union of man and wife, and that only for the procreation of children. Sodomy (male to male) it abhors, and punishes any guilt of such assault with death.”
In God’s plan of salvation, Jesus, as true man, then came from the Jews. He taught and followed basic Jewish moral Law of the Old Testament, while doing away with ritual and ceremonial laws that were not part of the New Covenant, the New Testament. As a Jew, working largely among fellow Jews, Jesus needed to focus on basic male and female and Biblical marriage issues, as perversions of them by homosexuals and lesbians were rarer. Jesus clearly showed in a positive way what God did want and approve of, in these issues
Once the Gospel began to go more to non-Jews, God inspired the New Testament writers to speak more to the homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual activity so much more common among the Greeks and some other cultures. There were also more temples of false “gods” in these cultures, which had cultic male prostitutes in these temples, who could cater to homosexual desires. The most specific passage about this is in Romans 1:18-32. Paul speaks of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and worship and serve created things, including each other, rather than the immortal God, their Creator. Read especially Romans 1:24-27, where Paul speaks of people following “the lusts of their hearts,” “impurity”, “the dishonoring of their bodies along themselves” (v.24). Then Paul becomes very specific about some of their “dishonorable passions.” “For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” - lesbian sexual relations. “And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men - homosexual sexual activity - “and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (v.26-27).
The root problem is a form of idolatry, These men and women do not see fit to acknowledge God (and His clear plans for males and females and sexuality only between a man and woman united in marriage, as we have seen). Instead, they follow their own “debased minds,” their own bad choices, and “do what ought not to be done” (v. 28). And equally bad, “they give approval to those who practice,” who keep on doing these same things (v.32). Couldn’t that be a description of exactly what many in the LGBTQ community are doing - encouraging and supporting and pushing for approval of these sinful behaviors?
There are other places, too, where the New Testament points out that these behaviors are wrong in lists of other wrongdoing. See 1 Corinthians 6:9: “the sexually immoral,” including “men who practice homosexuality,” and 1 Timothy 1:10: “the sexually immoral,” including “men who practice homosexuality”… and whatever else is contrary to sound (healthy) doctrine.” One could also point to Hebrews 13:4: “Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.” In the context of the whole of the Scriptures, this refers to the marriage of one man and one woman, one male and one female, in a lifelong commitment, with a sexual relationship only there.
Again, I am already going on too long and will stop for today. We will continue with this subject for at least one more week - maybe two. We still need to talk about what is actually going on in the LGBTQ community according to polls and the CDC and other research, and about the divisions and splits that are going on in various church groups over this issue and how we are to respond as Christians. Keep reading and studying and praying and above all, listening to God’s Word, and asking His forgiveness for when you have failed, too, and His help to try to do better.
Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas, based on:
Isaiah 63:7-14
Galatians 4:4-7
Matthew 2:13-23
Sermon originally delivered December 29, 2013
Sermon for New Year's Eve, based on:
Lamentations 3:22-33
2 Peter 3:3-9, 17-18
Luke 13:1-9
Sermon originally delivered December 31, 2013
There are two possible sets of readings again this Sunday. Some churches may celebrate the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus, eight days after His birth. The Gospel, Luke 2:21, tells how His family obeyed Old Testament law in having Him circumcised, and His blood was shed, prefiguring His final shedding of blood on the cross. He was given the name, Jesus, for He would one day do that final sacrificial work as the “Savior“ of the world.
The Psalm is Psalm 8. David twice speaks of the majesty of God’s Name. He is Lord and the Creator who set all things in place. Yet He will humble His own Son as a man, the Son of Man, lower than the angels, to do His saving work on earth, and then be crowned with glory and honor and given all dominion once again.
The Old Testament lesson, Numbers 6:22-27, is the Benediction, the blessing that Moses was to give to God’s people. That Benediction is still used often today in worship. The Lord will bless, keep, be gracious to us, and give us peace, as He looks upon us with His Favor.
The Epistle lesson is Galatians 3:23-29. Paul tells us that once we were captives, imprisoned under the law. But once we are connected to Christ through our baptism and faith in Him, we are children of God and all one in Christ and are heirs of all the promises of God.
The Sunday service might also include, instead, readings for the first Sunday after Christmas. In the Psalm, Psalm 111, the Psalmist praises God for all His wondrous works and gives thanks to Him in the congregation, with other believers. The Lord has kept the promises of His Covenant and will send redemption to His people, (finally coming through Jesus). We, in turn, can now grow in fear and trust in the Lord and in wisdom and good understanding, through Christ as our Savior.
The prophet Isaiah also recounts, in the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 63:7-14, the steadfast love of the Lord. He redeemed and saved and carried along His chosen people, and even though they rebelled against Him and grieved His Spirit, He would reach out and put His Spirit again in their midst and give them rest, in His compassion.
How would God do all this? Paul tells us, in the Epistle lesson, Galatians 4:4-7, that in the fullness of time, God did send His own Son, born of a woman, to redeem all who were under the burden and condemnation of the law, and turn them (and us) from slaves into sons, children of God, and heirs of eternal life through faith in Him.
The Gospel lesson, Matthew 2:13-23, continues the Christmas story. Not only did God send His Son into the world, He also protected Him, warning Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt with Jesus and escape the massacre of children by King Herod and then calling them back out of Egypt, once Herod died, and returning with Jesus to Nazareth. All this fulfilled prophecy after prophecy from the Old Testament - Hosea 11:1 and Jeremiah 31:15-17 and the words of Philip in John 1:46, etc. God will keep His promises to us, too, in Christ.
Last week, we heard Jude talking about “having mercy” on people who are continually doubting and wavering about their faith; those heading toward hell who need to be snatched out of that coming fire; and those who are far gone, who need to be approached with fear and with hatred of their fleshly evil, and yet shown mercy, with the desire of their repentance and return to the faith.
Remember that Jude was talking about people who have crept into the church, who are within the church, and yet unnoticed, without people being really aware or caring enough, who have rejected God’s word and changed teaching, especially about moral issues and are promoting deeds of ungodliness, including sexual immorality and unnatural desires.
Jesus said to believing people, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before others” (Matthew 5:11-16). Jesus Himself, of course, is the “True Light,” the “light that shines in the darkness” of this sinful world, through His Word and works, and “the darkness has not overcome” Him (John 1:1-11). But Jesus warned that the sinful world would fight back against the truth. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).
Paul also warned that the attacks would come from within. “Fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-32). That is exactly what Jude was writing about as he sent his letter to churches facing these problems in the early church. And that is a problem again today within too many churches.
I am going to focus on just one problem among many - the whole LGBTQ movement and same-sex marriages and related issues. It is a very hot topic today, about which one hears everywhere. My own church body, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, had a national youth gathering this summer of more than 18,000 young people of high school age. The youth were asked to share the issues they wished the church would talk about more. Do you know what they picked as the #1 issue? LGBTQ issues.
That is what we will focus on, and if you just work through the Scriptures God’s point of view becomes very clear. The very first chapter of the Bible says, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). There are only two genders - male and female. There is no mention of any other genders in the Bible, even though some speak of numerous “genders” today, especially in the LGBTQ community, but among others and even in some churches, too. God knows only two genders, though - male and female.
Then in Genesis 2, God instituted marriage, bringing the first man and woman together. Ever after, “therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:24-25). That is where sexual activity was to take place, within a committed marriage between one man and one woman, who could be fruitful and multiply, and raise children in a stable place of love and care in the Lord.
Jesus affirmed this plan of God when he was asked about divorce. He said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” Jesus then quoted from Genesis 2:24 and added, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate.” Read carefully Matthew 19:3-6. Marriage was intended by God to be a lifelong commitment of one man and one woman together. See also Mark 10:6-9. This same passage from Genesis 2:24-25 is quoted in other contexts, too, in Ephesians 5:31, 1 Corinthians 6:16, and 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, and both Old and New Testaments uphold this view of marriage consistently.
Obviously, the rebellion against God and fall into sin happened and is described in Genesis 3. The perfect relationship between the first two people was broken, and distortions of God’s plan happened quickly. There was murder within the first family, and by Genesis 4:19, we hear of a man who “took two wives,” clearly against God’s will. By Genesis 6:5, we read that “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” and “… all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:5, 11-12).
The judgment of the great flood obviously did not solve the problems of sin and evil in every human heart, including that of Noah and his family and the generations that followed. God followed His eternal plan of working through a particular nation, the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation, so that eventually from that nation would come the Savior of the world, Jesus, a true Jewish male and yet also the Son of God.
God provided through the prophets, especially Moses, specific rules and regulations for the nation of Israel, including sexual morality. (Many of the ceremonial rules and other requirements in the Old Testament were done away with by Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath and Lord God of the New Covenant, focusing on Himself and His saving work in love for all nations and the whole world. The New Testament helps clarify those things, doing away with many Sabbath and dietary and ceremonial and other rules and festivals, but keeping the basic moral law and the Ten Commandments, though the day of worship is no longer the specific Old Testament one.)
Sadly, God’s own Old Testament chosen people broke law after law of God’s will for them, including God’s plan for marriage and sexuality. Even many of the leaders failed in this regard - and we read of polygamy and adultery and divorce and on and on, even among heterosexual people. In fact, for this study of sexual immorality to be complete, we would have to focus mostly upon such heterosexual failings and sins. Those are the most common within churches today, most likely, as people struggle to follow what they know is the right way God wants them to live.
This study, though, will focus upon the concerns with LGBTQ people and their problems, particularly. But we must speak humbly, and remember the old saying, “If you point one finger at someone else, you are pointing several fingers back at yourself.” Sin is still sin, whatever it is, and we all need forgiveness, and can live only by the mercy of God, especially when we remember that we sin by thought and word, as well as deed. Jesus Himself said, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” He also said, about judging, “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 5:27-28 and Matthew 7:5). At the same time, we must speak honestly about sin and evil, especially when others are calling evil “good” (See Romans 1:32).
I don’t want this to get too long, so I will continue with this next week, even as some of these things are difficult even to talk about. I will not get too specific about some things, for as Paul wrote, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret” - and now, even in public, at times (Ephesians 5:11-12). The Lord’s blessings, as you continue to think about this difficult subject.
There are a number of possible sets of readings for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this weekend. What I have here may not be exactly what you will hear, depending on when and where you attend worship, but these are some of the important Christmas readings to be thinking about.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 62:10-12. This is a prophecy that a remnant of God’s people will be able to “go through the gates” where they have been captive and return to the promised land and to “Zion,” the city of Jerusalem. It is there that the Lord Himself will come bringing “salvation,” His “reward,” His blessing, and His “recompense,“ His just judgments. He will “redeem” people and call them “holy” and His people will not be “forsaken.” The New Testament centers all of this in the coming of Jesus to Israel, “the daughter of Zion” (see Matthew 21:5); but this is good news to be “proclaimed to the end of the earth” - for Jesus came to be the Savior for all people. See how all believers in Christ, including us, are called God’s chosen, holy people, who are not forsaken, but receive mercy from Him, in the words of 1 Peter 2:9-10.
The Psalm is Psalm 98, a ”new song” of praise to the Lord for the marvelous way He would provide salvation for “the house of Israel” but also for people in “all the ends of the earth.” All creation (“seas” and “rivers” and “hills” - and maybe even Christmas trees and beautiful decorations?!) should “sing for joy,” and all people should praise the Lord with “joyous songs” and all kinds of musical instruments. This sounds like a joyous Christmas celebration - when we realize that the tiny baby born in Bethlehem is “the King, the Lord, our Lord Jesus.” He came to “work salvation” and bring righteousness and equity (uprightness) to us, as we trust in Him and what he has done for us.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 2:1-20. Mary and Joseph are forced to make a long trip to their ancestral home to be registered to be taxed by the Roman government. But this place is Bethlehem, exactly where Old Testament prophecy said the Savior of the world would be born. Mary has her baby there, in very humble circumstances, where animals were kept, and the baby Jesus was placed in a manger, a feed trough for animals, because there was no other available place for all this to happen. The first people to hear about this were lowly shepherds. A multitude of angels praised God and announced to the shepherds what was “good news” for them and for “all the people” (including us). The Savior, Jesus, Christ the Lord, was born! The shepherds went to see the baby Jesus and glorified and praised God and told others about this Child. And believers are still praising God and talking about Jesus, to this very day.
The Epistle is Titus 3:4-7. Titus reminds us that the coming of Jesus was entirely a gift to us and the world, through “the goodness and loving kindness of God.” Jesus came to save us, not because of anything we had done, but because of His own mercy for us. God the Father sent His Son to us. Jesus did everything necessary for us to be our Savior. God the Holy Spirit then brought to us personally the blessings of what Jesus had done, through our baptism, “the washing of regeneration and renewal.” As water, connected with the Words and promises of God, was poured on us, our sins were washed away and we were reborn and renewed as children of God and “justified,” forgiven and counted righteous and acceptable to God, through the Holy Spirit. We are now also “heirs of eternal life” by faith in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit continues to work in us through the Word of God and the Sacraments, to keep us in that faith. This was all purely by God’s “grace” - His undeserved love and favor given to us as a gift. No wonder we thank and praise and worship our great God and especially our Lord Jesus, as we celebrate the gift of His birth this Christmas! A blessed and joyous Christmas to you all.
Last week, we heard that there were many predictions of “scoffers” who would come in the last times and challenge God and His Word. Some would even be within the churches, yet were “worldly” people, without the Holy Spirit, but following “their own ungodly passions,” and causing “divisions” (Jude, v.17-19). God’s faithful people were not left without help and hope, though. They had the Word of God, through which they were built up in their “most holy faith,” in “the love of God” and praying by the power of the Holy Spirit. Above all, they continually had the “mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ,” who would “lead them to eternal life” (Jude, v.20-21).
The believers knew that they were still sinners, yet were “beloved” and forgiven, “called” to a “common salvation” through the “grace of God” in “Christ Jesus the Lord” (Jude, v. 1-3, portions of v.4). If God so loved them, they were called to seek to show that same love and mercy to others, even in their own churches, who were struggling spiritually. Jude said that to them in Jude, v. 22-23, describing in a very brief way three different kinds of people among them, in addition to firm believers.
First, there were those who were “doubting.” The Greek suggests that these were people who knew some about the Christian faith, but were continually doubting, continually “wavering” within themselves about the faith, with lots of questions, and were easily drawn into sinful behavior. They needed to be approached by concerned Christians in a way that is described in other Scriptures like Galatians 6:1-2, Romans 15:1-7, Ephesians 4:12-16,and Ephesians 4:32, in a gentle, caring way, with believers ready always to explain their own hope that was in them, in Christ (1 Peter 3:15, Jude, v.22).
Then there were others who had drifted far from the faith, if they were ever really in faith, and were in great spiritual danger. Jude said, seek to “snatch them out of the fire” (Jude, v.23). These are people on the road to hell, rather than to heaven, if left on their own, as they were. Hell is pictured in various places as a “fiery” place of judgment, for those apart from the Lord. See the words of John the Baptist, who warned that “Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire;” and “the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:10,12). (See also the words of our Lord Jesus Himself in passages like Matthew 5:22: “Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment… and whoever says, “You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” See also Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:19, Matthew 25:41,46, and the words of Revelation 20:10 and 14,15.)
When we hear these words, we realize that we, too, deserved that judgment, because of our own sins, but were rescued by what Jesus has done for us as the Savior and by our being personally brought to faith in Jesus and by the gift of baptism. We did nothing to deserve God’s mercy, but He gave it to us by His grace. And God wants more and more people to be “snatched out of the fire” and brought to forgiveness and trust in Him.
See the story in Zechariah 3:1-5, where the Lord calls Joshua the high priest “a brand (a burning stick) plucked from the fire.” Joshua was “a high priest,” a leader among God’s people, and yet is described as wearing “filthy garments,” symbolic of his sins. His filthy garments are removed, and he is clothed with “pure vestments,” as the Lord said, “I have taken your iniquity away from you.” In Zechariah 3:10, the Lord also promised, “I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day,”
All this was predicting what Jesus would do on Good Friday. He was “the Lamb of God, who” in one day “would take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and provide a “robe of righteousness” and “salvation” for all who would be brought to faith in Him (Isaiah 61:10-11 and Revelation 19:7-8). The Scriptures promise, ”In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). God now sees Christ in those who are baptized and believe in Him, and they will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Unbelief and its evil fruit and evil deeds are what condemns.
God gave such a warning to His own people in the Old Testament, using an image just like what was used by Zechariah and now by Jude. The prophet Amos said, “You were as a brand (a burning stick) plucked out of the burning, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the Lord” (Amos 4:11). Even though Christ died for all, some can choose to resist and reject Him and His saving work and never come to Him or return to Him.
Ultimately, it is God who brings people to faith in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, but God often used people like Jude, and Christians in the churches to whom he wrote, to bring to people the call to repentance (since God does take sin seriously) and the Good News of forgiveness and hope only through Christ Jesus. If some come to renewed faith in Christ, those people are “snatched out of the fire” and have God’s eternal blessings and a better life now, as they seek to follow His will, which is always best.
The third group of people that Jude wanted to reach out to through the believers is the most difficult, and Jude said, the most dangerous to approach. Jude still said to “show them mercy,” but to do so “with fear” and “hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (Jude, v.23). These are the people for whom Jude used his strongest words of condemnation, because they were openly going against God and His Word and will, especially, it seems, in regard to sexual immorality, “following their own sinful desires.“ They were “loud-mouthed” and “malcontents,” and really wanted to “gain advantage” over others and draw them to their own ideas and lifestyles, which were “such ungodly ways” (Jude, v.15-16).
These people even needed to be approached “with fear,” because they could be so influential to believers in such negative ways and create so much division. Remember the warning in Galatians 6:1: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” and be drawn astray to things that sound good, or at least OK, but are really not. Jude even used the very strong word “hate” with regard to “the garments stained by the flesh” and where fleshly desires might lead. God does not want to “hate” people, and John taught that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15) and is “in the darkness” (1 John 2:11).
At the same time, God is holy and just and wants people to do what is right and good and is best for them and others and can never approve of evil, or of people doing evil. David says of the Lord, “You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with You… You hate all evildoers” (Psalm 5:4-5). At the same time, we read that “God so loved the world,” that He sent His only Son to suffer and die for all, including evildoers, which we all are” (John 3:16) and that “God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
So, God hates all evil and can never approve of it or call it acceptable. Yet He still wants to “show mercy” to sinful people who have gone far astray and bring them to repentance and faith. That includes us, who have been shown God’s amazing mercy. We have been spotted, stained by sin, yet we were saved with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or stain” (1 Peter 1:18-19). So, Jude also called for the Christians to show mercy to the toughest people in the churches, without approving of their behaviors, and guarding against being influenced by them.
Jude closed his letter, then, with a word of blessing and encouragement, giving all glory to God. It is God, Jude said, who can keep the faithful people in the churches from stumbling, so that they would not be influenced by false people and wrong ideas and living in wrong ways. It is God who can also help God’s people who are trying to witness to those going astray, in finding the proper balance between the Law, which can show people the reality of their sins, and the Gospel of Jesus, who alone can save through His work already done for the world.
Christians are still imperfect sinners in this world, but are forgiven and counted as saints and “presented as blameless” when they (and we) are presented before God in heaven. The glory and majesty and dominion and authority are all God’s, for His creating and redeeming work on our behalf. The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, existed “before all time” and is with His people now (including today and whatever we are going through) and will be with His people, including us, forever in eternal life. Jude can only close his letter with the word “Amen.” This is most certainly true!
Someone wrote me recently that “Jude has a lot more information than I imagined, still relevant to today.” Amen! That is also most certainly true. Next week, I will try to make some practical applications of what we have been reading to some of the moral issues of today, which are troubling many churches, including such things as gender and LGBTQ issues, as well as adultery and sex before marriage and divorce. We need to talk more about some of these issues in the church, but if you prefer not to, just avoid the next podcast or podcasts. A blessed Christmas to all, too.
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, based on:
Isaiah 7:10-14
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25
Sermon originally delivered December 22, 2013
This Sunday before Christmas, we hear in Matthew 1:18-25 the simple story of the birth of Christ, without much detail, from the perspective of Joseph, the man betrothed to Mary. When Mary is found to be expecting a child, Joseph seriously considered “divorcing her quietly.” An angel appeared to him in a dream, telling him to take Mary as his wife, because this was a miracle of God through the Holy Spirit. The child would be called Jesus, our Savior from the greatest human problem, that of sin. He would also be called “Immanuel, God with us,” according to Old Testament prophecy of a virgin birth. Joseph believed what the angel said and took Mary as his wife, but did not have a normal marital relationship with her until after the birth of Jesus.
This miraculous birth had been prophesied in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 7:10-17. Ahaz, king of Judah, and his people were being threatened by enemy nations, and they were very frightened (Isaiah 7:1-9). God offered to give Ahaz a sign that all would be OK, but Ahaz refused God’s offer of help and hope. Instead, God then gave another prophesy of help and hope to “the house of David” that would be fulfilled much later - the prophesy quoted by the angel to Joseph - the virgin birth of a “son” (of David), who would also be “Immanuel,” God coming to be with His people.
The psalm is Psalm 24. King David speaks of God’s care for “the world” and all “those who dwell in it.” God desires that people have “clean hands and a pure heart,” and He will bring such “righteousness” and “salvation” to those “seeking” Him and His coming. That coming is pictured as “doors” and “gates” being opened and the King of glory coming in. This will be the Lord Himself, “strong and mighty,” coming into this world and later coming into Jerusalem, “the hill of the Lord,” with a glimpse of His glory, on Palm Sunday and at other times. This coming one is also called “the Lord of hosts,” the Lord of all the heavenly angels. Think also about how, on the night of His birth, “a multitude of the heavenly host” appeared to shepherds and announced the coming of Jesus as the “Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-14).
In the Epistle lesson, Romans 1:1-7, Paul announced that he is a servant of the coming one, “promised beforehand… in the Holy Scriptures,” a real human being “descended from David according to the flesh” (through Mary) and yet also the “Son of God” (through “the Spirit of holiness”), evidenced as “Jesus Christ our Lord”… ”by His resurrection from the dead.” Paul has been brought to “the obedience of faith” in Jesus and has now been sent out, as an “apostle,” to proclaim Jesus’ “name among all the nations,” including those in Rome “who are loved by God and called to be saints,” believers also in Jesus. The “grace” and “peace” of God come to all who thus “belong to Jesus Christ,” including us today who trust in Him as Savior.
Beginning with v. 4 of his letter, Jude had been talking almost entirely about the false people who had “crept in unnoticed” into the churches to which he was writing and had caused all sorts of problems for these churches. Jude used very strong language to describe their “deeds of ungodliness,” rejecting the authority of God and His Word, and “perverting the grace of God into sensuality” (immorality, including passions of the flesh and sexual immorality), and “denying their only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” This is what these false people were like.
In contrast, beginning at Jude, v.17, and again at v.20, Jude wrote, “But you, beloved,…” He was now speaking again to and about those he was writing to at the beginning of this letter, in Jude, v.1-3 - the faithful believers who had been “kept in Jesus Christ” and needed now “to contend for the one true faith.” Jude called the believers to “remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Luke’s letter is short, and he gave only one reference to these predictions. I will give you many more and other related Scriptures. I would encourage you to look up at least some of them to see how often these concerns were raised and what other Scriptures say.)
These predictions were that “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions” (v.18) who were “worldly” (following only the sinful, physical world) and “devoid of the Spirit” (without and not listening to the true influence of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God). As a result, these people were also causing divisions within the church (v.19).
As you think about these verses, remember first that “the last time” mentioned by Jude in v.18 refers to any time from the coming of Christ and after that, up to the return of Christ on the last day. It does not refer only to the very last time, when Christ returns in judgment. Hebrews 1:1-2 calls the preaching and teaching and saving work of Jesus as part of the “last days.” Peter, at Pentecost, quoted the prophet Joel and said,”This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: In these last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out My Spirit…” (Joel refers to Pentecost, but also to events that we usually associate with the final return of Christ. See Acts 2:14-21 and Joel 2:28-32.)
Note also that Jude, v.18, sounds almost like a direct quotation from 2 Peter 3:3, (read on in v.4-13, also) when Peter was also writing about “the last days.” As I mentioned early in our study of Jude, many think that Peter, as an apostle, made this prediction before his death, and Jude then quotes it just a few years later, as a fulfillment of what was now happening in the churches.
It could be that Jude wrote first and then Peter, but either way it was a growing problem in the churches, as more and more years went by and Jesus did not return and He didn’t seem to do anything about evil in the world, in the view of some. This was a problem that many other apostles warned about, too, even earlier: Paul, in Acts 20:29-32, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, and 2 Timothy 3:1-9. John wrote about such problems, later on, too, in 1 John 2:18-23 and 4:1.
There were also many warnings about people who go astray and cause divisions in the churches as Jude said: “it is these who cause divisions” (Jude, v.19). See, for example, Romans 16:17-18, and James 3:14-16 and 4:1-4. Jude also called these people “worldly,” “devoid of (without) the Spirit of God.” See what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-14 and 12:1-3 and Ephesians 6:17. People must have the Spirit of God at work in them, through the Word and Baptism to become and remain Christians. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:19.)
Again, in contrast, Jude said, “But you, beloved,” are “building yourselves up in the most holy faith” (Jude, v.20). By the grace of God, Christians are saved by faith, as a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Jude encouraged the believers, therefore, in this way, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that leads to eternal life.”
The hope and strength of Christians is in what God has done and continues to do for us in the mercy and forgiveness earned for us by Christ. See Scriptures like 1 John 4:9-10 and Colossians 2:6-7. Our foundation is Christ Himself and His Word (Ephesians 2:19-20) and the Holy Spirit working through that Word (Ephesians 2:21-22).
Jude also encouraged the Christians to “pray in the Holy Spirit.” (See also Romans 8:15-17 and Ephesians 1:13-14, 16-18, and 6:18.) This is not some unique, special kind of praying using special language, as some say, but it is simply asking the Holy Spirit to pray with us and for us and guide us in our prayers, as we do not always know what to pray for and sometimes can’t seem to find the right words to say on our own. See Paul’s words about the Holy Spirit’s help in Romans 8:26-30, which leads us to greater confidence in God’s love for us and knowing that nothing we face can separate us from God’s love in Christ (Romans 8:31-39).
I don’t want to get too long, so will close with some more words, in summary, by Martin Franzmann, on what Jude was saying: “The people called by God and kept for Jesus Christ are not without defense. They have the apostolic Word and face the evil forewarned and open-eyed; they have the faith once and for all delivered to them as the firm foundation on which their house of life may be built; they have the Spirit to inform their prayers; they have the love of God to sustain them in the bright hope of the return of their Lord, the hope of eternal life. Thus furnished for defense, they need not fall prey to the divisions produced by worldly, unspiritual people” (NT Study Bible with Notes, p. 508).
Next week, we will look at the final verse of Jude and also focus on the fact that there is even hope, through God’s power, that some of the lost and straying people, even in the church, could be turned back to the Lord, as God’s people seek to be a witness for Him.
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent, based on:
Isaiah 35:1-10
James 5:7-11
Matthew 11:2-15
Sermon originally delivered December 15, 2013
Our Psalm for the Day is Psalm 146, which begins with the Hebrew phrase “Hallelujah Yah!” - “Praise the Lord!” We realize that we should not put our trust in human leaders, who come and go. Our trust is in the Lord, the “Maker of all things,” who truly does care about His Creation, even though it is fallen, and gives help and hope to a world filled with people who have all sorts of trouble. The Lord “reigns forever” and “keeps faith forever,” especially in the gift of His Son, Jesus, Who fulfills His promises in His saving work for us.
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 35:1-10, predicts the coming of Christ, who will show “the glory of the Lord.” He will meet the needs of many, and above all, “He will come and save you.” He will provide a ”highway of holiness” which will lead to “everlasting joy” in heaven, where “sorrow and sighing will flee away,” through His redeeming and ransoming work for us, paying the price for us and our sins on the cross. He will “strengthen” and “make firm” our “anxious hearts,” as we wait in faith for His coming again.
In our Gospel lesson, Matthew 11:2-15, John the Baptist is sitting in prison, because of His work of “preparing the way for the Lord.” He and his disciples need their anxious hearts to be encouraged, and Jesus gives that strength to them, telling of how He is preaching the Good News of salvation and fulfilling the very prophecies given by the psalmist and Isaiah. Jesus assures John that he, John, was the one who was come in the Spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:16-17), even though “the Kingdom of Heaven would suffer violence” (through John’s death and through the death of Jesus Himself, later on). Jesus also said, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” - by the fact that Jesus would be a suffering and dying Servant, in order to fulfill His Father’s plan and provide salvation for the world.
The Epistle lesson, James 5:7-11, gives the same encouragement to us who wait for the return of our Lord Jesus. We need the patience of a farmer, waiting for crops to grow and be ready for harvest, and the patience, without grumbling, of the prophets of old, who had suffering, even though they were “speaking in the name of the Lord.” We need steadfastness in faith as we wait for the Lord, too. How can we have such faith? By remembering “the purpose of the Lord” and “how He is compassionate and merciful toward us,” in what He has already done for us through Jesus, though we don’t deserve it. He will help us through, as He did Job and so many others we read about in the Scriptures. We hang onto those promises, as we listen to His Word and receive His other gifts in this Advent season.
Last week, we heard Jude’s continued description of the false, “ungodly people” who had “crept into” the church “unnoticed,” (Jude, v.4) yet were a great danger to God’s faithful people, because of their “dreams,” “rejection of authority,” “blasphemy,” “defiling the flesh… by following their own sinful desires,” and on and on (Jude, v.8,10,12-13,16).
We skipped over additional passages in which Jude described parallels in other places to such evil and the judgment that God sometimes brought upon such sinfulness. We want to go back to those passages now to see Jude’s emphasis upon the seriousness of rebellion against God and His will and how God does care about such evil and can bring judgement for such sin.
Turn to Jude, v.11. The first example is Cain, in Genesis 4:1-16, and how some, in the churches to whom Jude wrote, were “walking in the way of Cain.” Cain had given an offering which was not acceptable to God, and he became “very angry” at God and jealous of his brother. God pointed out his sin and called him to repentance and to battle that sin. Cain became even more angry and went and killed his brother, claiming that he had no responsibility for him. When God brought judgment upon him, Cain could only complain about the situation he had brought on himself. Even when God showed some mercy, Cain simply “went away from the presence of the Lord,” with no sign of repentance. (See the comments about Cain, also in Hebrews 11:4 and I John 3:12.)
The second example Jude gave (Jude, v.11) was of of Balaam (Numbers 22-24). False people in Jude’s day were also “abandoning” God’s way “for the sake of (personal) gain” and “Balaam’s error.” Balaam was a non-Jewish “seer” who had some ability to bless or curse people - which he would do for personal gain. He also had some contact with the one true God. King Balak of Moab tried three times to get Balaam to curse the people of Israel, headed his way from Egypt. The Lord kept telling Balaam to bless the Israelites instead. Balaam kept talking with King Balak, though, as if he still thought he could get some personal gain from him. The Lord even allowed a donkey to talk to Balaam and block his way as he tried to reach King Balak. Eventually Balaam was killed by Israelites because of these incidents and because he was involved in getting Moabite women to have immoral activity with Israelites and even to worship their false god, Baal. (See also Numbers 25:1-3 and 31:8,16.)
This small story of “Balaam’s error” and greediness may not seem like a big deal, but it is often mentioned as the Old and New Testaments go on, because it eventually led to people falling away from the one true God into unbelief - the ultimate reason for judgment from God. (See mention of Balaam in Deuteronomy 23:4-5, Joshua 13:22 and 24:9-10, Nehemiah 13:2, Micah 6:5, 2 Peter 2:15-16, Revelation 2:14, and this passage in Jude, v.11.) In the same way, Jude did not want any of God’s people in these churches led astray by the false people.
The third example given by Jude (still in Jude, v.11) was “Korah’s rebellion” (Numbers 16:1-35). Korah and two other Levites, along with their families and others, rose up against Moses and Aaron. They challenged their leadership and thought they had failed since the Israelites were not yet in the promised land. They thought they were all “holy” and that they should also have the right to be priests like Aaron. Just helping in some ways in the tabernacle wasn’t enough for them. By the next day, even more people had been led to support these rebels. God told Moses and Aaron and those who supported them to separate themselves from the rebels, and all of the rebels would be destroyed. Moses and Aaron pleaded for God’s mercy for those who had just been misled. God gave them a chance to separate from Korah and the others leaders of the rebellion. Many did, and then the earth opened up and swallowed up Korah and all the remaining rebels. This made it clear that these rebels had “despised the Lord,” and were receiving just punishments from the Lord Himself for their rejection of the Lord and His will and plans.
Some think that Jude was led to choose this event from the Old Testament also because the false people who had crept into the churches to whom he wrote were creating many problems just like Korah and the others who despised God long ago. Just judgment would come for them, too, if they continued in this way, the Lord was saying, through Jude. At the same time, in the story of Korah’s rebellion, God had shown mercy to some who were straying. That suggests that Jude may have also been reminding that there was still hope for people in these churches to whom he writes, through repentance and renewed faith in Christ. He said that even more clearly in verses we will look at, next week.
There are two more references that Jude makes to the past that I need to speak about, which are “controversial.” I can’t go into great detail, but some have thought that Jude was quoting from non-Biblical sources, The Assumption of Moses or The Testament of Moses, in Jude, v.9, and from the Book of Enoch, in Jude, v.14-15. For that reason, some have spoken against this letter being included in the New Testament. However, the early Christian leaders accepted and widely used this letter, and it was recognized as Scripture by most, though they knew of but rejected the writing listed above as being actual Scripture from the Lord.
How can we understand this? Why would Jude refer to events from such materials? Inspired by God, Paul quoted things that were true, even from non-Christian writers. See 1 Corinthians 15:33: “Bad company ruins good morals” - probably from a familiar play from Menander. See also Titus 1:12, and a quote from the pagan Cretan, Epimenides. Jesus spoke of events of His own day that were familiar to people - the fall of a tower in Siloam, for example, in Luke 13:4. Pastors still today quote from current events or songs or other materials to connect with what people know and to make a truthful point. It does nor mean that everything said by Menander or anyone else, or what is said about them, is always true or correct.
Jude wrote as God inspired him, and God must have revealed to him what he said about the archangel Michael disputing with the devil over the body of Moses, in Jude, v. 9. We know from Scripture that the Lord took care of the burial of Moses in Moab, as recorded in Deuteronomy 34:4-6. The Lord often used angels to accomplish His purposes, though, and this must have been one of those circumstances.
There is a mysterious vision that Daniel sees and hears in Daniel 10, in which Daniel is told that the angel Michael struggled with an evil angel for 21 days in Persia. Such things happened. In Zechariah 3:1-6ff, the angel of the Lord defended Joshua the high priest, while Satan accused him, and it is the Lord Himself who said, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan.”
This is exactly the point Jude was making, when referring to the archangel Michael. When he disputed with Satan over the body of Jesus, Michael spoke only as an angel, and left the final judgment to the Lord. He did not pronounce a judgment in his own power. That would be blasphemous. That is what Satan and the evil angels did when they rebelled against God, wanting to be equal to Him. Michael was content to be an angel, serving God, and would only say, “The Lord rebuke you” to Satan. The Lord, as God, was left to make the final judgment.
This ties in with what the false people who had crept into the churches to whom Jude writes were doing. Jude, v.10, says “These people blaspheme.” They were contradicting God and His Word and will and acting on instinct, not Scripture, like unreasoning animals, and like Satanic angels, attacking what was actually true and right. How dangerous that was!
Again, in Jude, v.14-15, God inspired Jude to use only words similar to what was in the Book of Enoch, words that were true, that predicted the Lord Himself coming with His holy angels to bring judgment on the ungodly on the last day. Four times ungodliness is mentioned in these verses, with the seriousness of “deeds of ungodliness that they have committed” as “ungodly sinners” and the things they “have spoken against Him,” the Lord. These are predictions that are found in plenty of other Old Testament and New Testament passages, as well, of the judgment of God for sin. This is exactly what those false people in the churches needed to hear, who seemed to think that God did not care what they did - that they could “follow their own sinful desires” in whatever way they pleased, while calling themselves faithful Christians (Jude, v.16).
Again, Jude, as inspired by God, only referred to what is true, in mentioning Enoch. That does not mean that Jude agreed, as Martin Franzmann said, “with the whole non-Biblical books” about Enoch or Moses, “with all their strange and bizarre features, as authoritative or inspired.“ They were not.
(Enoch is another mysterious person in the Scriptures. He is seventh in line from Adam. See Genesis 5:22-24: “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” See the comment about Enoch in Hebrews 11:5, too. Enoch was clearly one who lived by faith and sought to please God and was not like those false people described by Jude.)
This has been a difficult section of Jude. If I have lost you in this explanation or you have questions, let me know. Next week we will finally see the application of all this to the faithful people in these churches to whom Jude wrote and how they are to carry on in living by faith in very difficult circumstances.
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent, based on:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 3:1-12
Sermon originally delivered December 8, 2013
The Advent season continues this week, with prophecies of the coming of Christ for the sake of all people, both Jews and non-Jews. The psalm is Psalm 72:1-7. Solomon was a great Old Testament king in many ways, but this psalm predicts Jesus, a King “greater than Solomon” (Luke 11:31). Jesus would bring “justice” and “righteousness” and “peace” available to the “poor” and the “children of the needy” and to people “throughout all generations,” culminating when even “the moon” is “no more,” in eternal life in heaven.
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 11:1-10, also is a prophecy of Jesus, who would come from the family line of Jesse, the father of King David. He would be filled with the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of the Lord,” and live with “righteousness” and “faithfulness” for the sake of all “peoples” and “nations,” in His saving work. (See Luke 1:30-33.) The picture image of all kinds of animals living together in peace and children being in perfect safety is an image of eternal life to come in the “resting place” for Christ once His saving work is completed, and for all believers, through Him.
The Gospel lesson, Matthew 3:1-12, tells of John the Baptist’s role in preparing people for the coming of Christ Jesus by calling them to repentance for their sins and to receive his baptism. John’s work was prophesied. (See Malachi 4:5-6 and Luke 1:16-17.) And John himself prophesied and taught that Jesus was “the Lord” and was the “mightier” One, who would institute baptism not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit. He would come to be the Savior of all, but some would resist and reject Him and be like unfruitful, useless chaff to be burned, instead of fruitful wheat to be gathered up to Him.
The Epistle lesson is from Roman’s 15:4-13. Paul reminds the Christians in Rome to keep listening to the Word of God, for “endurance” and “encouragement” and “hope.” Christ “became a servant to the circumcised" (to the Jews) to “confirm His promises” of salvation prophesied in the Old Testament. He came also to bring His mercy, (His forgiveness and salvation) to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, and quotes a number of Old Testament prophesies regarding that, too. Therefore, Gentiles and Jews should “welcome one another,” and “glorify God with one voice,” as Christ has welcomed all. Then they can together “be filled with all joy and peace” and “hope,” “in believing” in their Savior “by the power of the Holy Spirit,” through that Word.
Last week, we heard Jude telling of Old Testament examples where God clearly did care about wrongdoing that was being done and brought judgment on those wrongdoers - some of the children of Israel, who kept rebelling against God; angels who became evil and opposed God; and Sodom and Gomorrah and surrounding towns, where much immorality and other evils were happening (Jude, v.5-7).
Jude went on to write, then, in Jude, v.8, that some people in churches to whom he wrote were acting in evil ways “in like manner.” First, they were “dreaming” dreams and visions and seemed to be relying upon them, and therefore were willing to “reject authority” that God Himself had established in His Word, the Scriptures. Certainly, God had sometimes spoken to His prophets and apostles and some others, through dreams and visions. These divinely inspired people spoke, though, with a united message about the one true God and His Word and will, revealed by the Holy Spirit.
There were many warnings, in contrast, about false dreamers. See the strong message from the Lord in Deuteronomy 13:1-6 about “a dreamer of dreams” who tries to lead people away from the one true God. Verse six also warns that such people often try to “entice you away secretly,” just as those false teachers “crept in unnoticed” into the churches about whom Jude is so concerned and created such trouble (Jude, v. 4). See the warnings God gave through Jeremiah about false “dreamers” in Jeremiah 23:25-32,29:8-9 and Ezekiel 13:1-7 and Zechariah 10:2. Jesus Himself said about such false prophets, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 6:16).
Such false “dreamers” were rejecting the “authority” of God and “denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ,” and much of what He said, Jude wrote (Jude, v.8). The word for “authority” here means “lordship,” and it is the Lordship of Christ Jesus and His Word that was being ultimately being rejected. This was also evidenced by the way these people were “defiling the flesh” by their gross sexual immorality, against the Word of God, and by blasphemy. The Greek literally says that they “blaspheme the glories.” Some think that means the glorious ones, the angels, who are spoken of in verses following. Others think this refers, above all, to the Most Glorious One, our Lord Jesus. And the word “blaspheme” means to speak, most especially, against God (Jude, v.8).
Skip ahead for a moment to Jude, v.10. Jude gave another description of these false people. “These people blaspheme all that they do not understand.” And why do they not understand? They are living “instinctively,” by personal feeling and emotion, like “unreasoning (irrational) animals.” They are not being guided by God and His Word in Christ above all, and not even by common-sense human reason. “Woe to them!” Jude said. Such a life and lifestyle will lead them to being “destroyed” (Jude, v.10-11).
Skip ahead again, to another description of these false people in Jude, v.16. Jude simply said that these were people actually “following their own sinful desires,” ignoring Christ the Lord and His will for them and the blessings and guidance He could give them as their Savior. They were “grumblers” and “malcontents,” not able to see the blessings coming to them if they would only trust Christ. Instead, they thought they had to build themselves up, as “loud-mouthed boasters” in themselves, and by “showing favoritism” to some, only for the sake of personal gain and advantage for themselves, and not with genuine care for others.
All this could obviously be dangerous for and harmful to the faithful believers in Christ in these churches to whom Jude wrote. Skip back now to Jude, v.12-13. Jude piled up the words about these false people. “They are hidden reefs at your love feasts.” Scholars have argued over the meaning of the word translated “hidden reefs." Some think it means a rock, hidden in water, which a boat could hit and be harmed or sunk. Others think the word means a “filthy spot” or “blemish” which makes something look bad and pollutes it..
Either way, the false people were corrupting the “love (Greek word- “agape”) feasts,” the fellowship meals and then the worship and Lord’s Supper in early Christian churches. The false people were participating “without fear” - apparently without concern for the true believers who were there and their needs, or for proper preparation for Communion, themselves, through repentance and trust in the Real Presence of Christ in that Holy Meal. Some were pretending to be “shepherds” (pastors) for the church, the flock, but were only interested in “feeding themselves” and their self-interest and desires. (Paul wrote about this particular troubled situation in the churches in Corinth, too, in his first letter to the Corinthians. Read 1 Corinthians 10:15-17 and 11:17-32.)
As far as helping others and serving others within the churches, these false people were useless. They were like “waterless clouds,” swept by the wind and providing no water, no nourishment for anyone. They were like “fruitless trees in late autumn,” with no leaves to shade or fruit to give to anyone. They were “twice dead” with no life to give to anyone and “uprooted,” with no means by which to receive nourishment and new life themselves (Jude, v.12). They were like “wild waves of the sea,” very destructive and only dragging up and dumping the pollution of their own “shameful” lives. They were like lost, “wandering stars,” headed for “the gloom of utter darkness… forever” (Jude, v.13).
What a gloomy picture Jude painted. And he had more to say that we skipped over, as far as how other Scriptures and other writings speak of the judgment coming for such evil. We will look at that next week and then begin to hear, “What were God’s faithful people to do in a world and even in churches with so much trouble and evil?” We need to keep asking, too, “Do we face such problems today - even in our churches? What are we to do? We will eventually hear some great Gospel promises, too. There is always hope in Christ, even for the churches described here!
Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, based on:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
Sermon originally delivered December 1, 2013
Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, based on:
Deuteronomy 11:13-16
Philippians 4:4-13
Luke 17:11-19
Sermon originally delivered November 27, 2013
This Sunday is the first Sunday of a whole new church year, as we begin the season of Advent, in preparation for the coming of Christ. We prepare especially for His coming at Christmas, but also for His coming to us again and again through His Word and Sacrament, and His coming again on the last day. The Scriptures can speak to any of these “comings.” The Gospel lesson is often from the Gospel of Matthew in this church year.
The psalm is Psalm 122. David was glad to be able to come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. It was a place of God’s presence and His giving of peace and security to His people. It was also a place for God’s people to pray for that peace, through Him, and give thanks to Him for His goodness. Our churches provide such a place for us today.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 2:1-5. This is a prophecy of the Lord Himself “teaching His people His ways,” as He came in the Person of His Son, Jesus. Jesus would teach people to follow Him and “walk in His paths.” He would be “the Light of the Lord” and “the Light of the world,” as “nations would flow to Him” and He and His disciples would take “the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” to all peoples. He would bring bring ultimate peace through what He would teach and do as the Savior.
There are two alternatives for the Gospel lesson. It can be Matthew 21:1-11, where Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding on a lowly donkey on His way to the cross to pay for the sins of the world and to bring peace with God. If churches prefer to read this lesson on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, an alternative reading is Matthew 24: 36-44, where Jesus taught about His coming again at an unexpected hour on the last day. God’s people are to “stay awake,” spiritually, waiting by faith for Him and His return. There will be, then, the final separation of believers from unbelievers.
The Epistle lesson, Romans 13:(8-10)11-14 also calls God’s people to be spiritually “awake,” for the day of His return, the day of “salvation.” We put on Christ at our baptism (Galatians 3:26-29) and we are to continue to live in His light, with “the armor” of His Word and His good gifts He gives us. That also means seeking to cast off the “works of darkness” and our sinful desires, and to live in Christ’s love, reflecting His love to our neighbor - those people God has placed around us. That is what Jesus first has done for us, as our Savior.
Last week, we heard Jude asking the people to whom he was writing to be ready to “contend,” to “fight” for the Christian faith which had been delivered to them (Jude, v.3). The danger was from “certain people who had crept unnoticed” into the church and were “ungodly people” who were “perverting the grace of our God into sensuality.” The word “sensuality” means some kind of “excess,” a “lack of restraint,” “indecency,” usually of a sexual nature, though not necessarily limited just to that. Sometimes the word is translated as “lasciviousness” or “wantonness,” some sort of “shameless conduct” that is immoral and goes beyond the bounds of public decency (Jude, v.4).
The fact that Jude calls this behavior a “perversion of the grace of God” seems to mean that these people were taking for granted the mercy and forgiveness of God, in Christ, and felt that they could now do whatever they wanted to do, as if God did not care about their behavior anymore. Jesus had said, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36). These people seemed to be interpreting statements like that to mean that they now had a license from God, a freedom through Jesus, to do whatever they chose.
It was the same sort of problem that Paul spoke of in Romans 6:1-4, when he wrote, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Rather, we were baptized and connected to Christ, so that we “might walk in newness of life” - not to follow our old sinful nature and desires, without concern. (Remember Paul’s warning in Galatians 5:19-24 not to live in “the works of the flesh,” but to live by the Holy Spirit, in His good fruit.)
Jude had earlier (at the beginning of Jude v.4,) called these “ungodly people” those who “long ago were designated for this condemnation.” Jude went on (in v.5-7) to give three examples of people in the Old Testament who had gone away from God and His Word and will and were clearly condemned.
Jude first wrote about the children of Israel who were saved from slavery in Egypt and brought out and led toward the Promised Land. Sadly, many of them soon grumbled and complained and rebelled against God, and while Moses was with God on Mt. Sinai, they did what they wanted and broke commandment after commandment and worshipped a golden calf they had made and were involved in other immoral behavior. As a result, many died, and over time, almost all of that generation died and never made it into the Promised Land. (See Exodus 32 and Scripture warning such as Deuteronomy 28:15ff.)
Jude also clearly said that God “afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” Unbelief is the most serious problem, that leads to condemnation if people are not brought back to Christ. Jude also said that the churches had been taught these warning and he was reminding them again of these, so that they might repent before being destroyed themselves (Jude, v.5). (By the way, some manuscripts have Jesus, the Lord, or the Christ or a combination of these names for God, mentioned here as “saving” the people from the Egyptians. God the Son was there in the Old Testament, too, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, doing the work of the Triune God, long before He came and took on human flesh as a true man, as well as being God, for our salvation.)
The second example of judgment given by Jude, in verse 6, was that of the angels who were created perfect, as special servants of the Lord, but then were not satisfied with their “position of authority” and rebelled against God and are now condemned, to some degree “bound,” and are now just awaiting the final judgment. (See Revelation 12:7-12 and 20:1-3, 7-10 and 2 Peter 2:4 and Hebrews 2:14-15 and Luke 10:17-20, etc. Jesus has already made certain the final defeat of Satan and all his evil angels.)
The third example that Jude gave, in verse 7, was of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their destruction, because of rejecting God’s will and “indulging in sexual immorality, and pursuing unnatural desire” (literally, pursuing “other flesh”). This is a reference to homosexuality and other perversions, some of which I don’t want even to mention. (See Genesis 19, Deuteronomy 27:20-23 and 29:23-26 and Leviticus 18:23, and 20:13,15-16, etc.)
The fact that this example is used might give us an idea of the widespread kind of immoral perversions going on among some people in the churches to whom Jude wrote, too. Such following of their own desires was a clear denial of their Master and the Lord Jesus and His will; and such perversions were not acceptable and needed to be fought against, especially when they were happening with people in churches. (Another example of this was in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2.)
Remember again that the Greek/Roman world was very immoral and corrupt, with hardly any sexual standards or standards of other kinds. Christians tried to be an influence on the culture, but sometimes the culture and philosophy of that time influenced Christian people too much. This might be a good time to remember that Peter was dealing with some of the same issues in his second letter, too. Some think Peter wrote first and was predicting some of what Jude was seeing a few years later - or vice versa. Look especially at 2 Peter 2:1-19 and how similar this is to what Jude writes about.
We don’t have time in this study to compare the two letters very much, but will keep focusing in Jude. Keep thinking about similarities to our own day. More next week!
We are still in the “bad news” portion of the letter, with much law and warnings and past examples, to wake people up to the truth and make it clear that God still does care about what Christians do in His Name. We will see how He is calling people back to Christ and His forgiveness and new life above all, as we go on.
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year, based on:
Malachi 3:13-18
Colossians 1:13-20
Luke 23:27-43
Sermon originally delivered November 24, 2013
This is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. It is sometimes also called Christ the King Sunday, as we think of the victory of Christ our Lord and the eternal promises we have in our Triune God.
The Psalm is Psalm 46. We looked at this psalm a few weeks ago, at Reformation, with the focus on God as our Refuge and Strength and our Fortress in every time of need. Today we hear that while earthly “nations rage” and “kingdoms totter” and “earth”and “seas” and “mountains tremble” and “give way,” the Lord God “will be exalted” and “make wars to cease” and finally bring perfect, eternal peace to us in heaven, "the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.”
The Old Testament lesson is from Malachi 3:13-18. God says that many of His own people had been saying “hard words against Him.” They were claiming that there was no “profit” in following Him and His will. The evil and arrogant were “prospering,” and the Lord was allowing the evil to escape with no consequences, they thought. Some still feared the Lord, though, and talked with with one another and encouraged each other, most likely in worship and prayer and use of the Word of God. The Lord heard them, and they were written in a “book of remembrance” as His “treasuredpossession,” and they would clearly be identified as His children, who served Him, on the day of judgment. (See also Malachi 4:1-3.)
The Epistle lesson is Colossians 1:13-20, a beautiful description of God the Son - who He is and what He has done. “All the fullness of God dwelt in Him.” He existed “before all things” and was involved in the creation of ”all things,” and “in Him all things hold together.” For our sake, though, He came into this world to bring us redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. Through Him we are reconciled to God and have peace with God “by the blood of the cross.”
Our Gospel lesson, Luke 23:27-43, speaks of that great work of Jesus, as he went to the cross for us. He was “Christ the King, the Chosen One of God,” and yet willingly suffered in our place to forgive our sins and give us the promise of “Paradise” - eternal life with Him in heaven, through faith in Him. He will remember us, too, and our names are written in His “book of remembrance” and life eternal, as we have been brought to know and trust in Him as our Lord and Savior, just like the criminal described in this passage.
Last week, we heard that this letter was written by Jude, a half-brother of Jesus and a brother of James, the leader of the early Christian church at Jerusalem. Jude simply began by telling what was most important - that he had been called to faith and was now “a servant of Jesus Christ.”
We don’t know exactly when he wrote this letter or who the people were to whom he wrote, but it may be that he had ministered to them in the past. He just says that they are people who were also “called” and dearly loved by God the Father and “kept” for Jesus Christ, their Savior (Jude. v.1). There are similarities between Jude’s letter and 2 Peter, and Peter’s letter may have been helpful to him, as he wrote by the inspiration of God, as Peter did.
Jude began with a blessing and prayer that three great gifts of God would be increased, “multiplied” among the Christians to whom he writes. He asked first that God’s “mercy” would be with them - His compassion and pity for them and their needs and especially for the forgiveness of their sins. As they knew of God’s mercy, they would know that they also had “peace” with God. The barrier of sin between them and God was removed, because of His great love for them, especially through what Jesus had done for them (Jude, v.2).
In preparing for this letter, Jude said that he was especially eager to write to these beloved people about “their common salvation” - the great hope now and forever that they and all those in the faith had in the good news of Jesus and what He had done to rescue them.
That was the favorite message of all the Biblical writers - what God had already done for them, through the gift of “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” It was a gift earned by the “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
See how that one sacrifice by Jesus was described in Hebrews 9:24-28 and again in Hebrews 10:10-14. That one sacrifice was great enough to pay the penalty for all sins of all people, and we receive the benefit of all that Christ did and are counted as “saints” as we are brought to faith and trust in Jesus. That is “the faith once for all delivered” to the people to whom Jude wrote and to all who are brought to faith in Jesus, including us who trust in Him. See also Paul’s description of a “saint” in Romans 1:1-7. All believers are already counted as saints through Jesus. This is the message that Jude said that he wanted to spend his time on, in writing this letter.
However, Jude first “found it necessary to write appealing” to the people “to contend for that faith.” To “contend” meant to struggle, to fight as a combatant for something - in this case, for the sake of “the faith.” We get our English word “agonize” from this Greek word; and added to the word is a preposition which suggests “to agonize or struggle or fight “earnestly.” Why was there a need to have an agonizing struggle? What was so important to fight about?
Jude said that “certain people have crept in unnoticed… who are perverting the grace of our God…” (Jude v.4) in a way that was “denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.” These were not people attacking the church and the faith from the outside. These were people who were part of the church, who had crept in stealthily, from the side, and were distorting and perverting key teachings of the faith, including “the grace of God,” and in the process were “denying” the Lord Himself and His Word and will.
It is not a total surprise that people who do not believe or understand Christians would be criticizing them and challenging them. It is much more difficult and dangerous when the attacks come from within from those who seemed to be God’s people. Something must be done, Jude was saying.
We will get into more of what Jude said and meant next week. Keep looking at this letter yourself. What example of past problems did Jude give? Do we still have such problems today? What should be done to “contend” for the faith? These are not easy issues and are ones that some would often prefer not to deal with at all, in our current culture. But Jude is saying that these are dangers that we cannot ignore. The Lord’s blessings on your week.
Sermon for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Malachi 4:1-6
2 Thessalonians 3:1-13
Luke 21:5-19
Sermon originally delivered November 17, 2013
We are now in the last two weeks of the Church Year. Our Sunday readings have to do with “end times” and the return of Christ our Savior. The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 98, a great psalm of praise to the Lord for his marvelous work of salvation. He has been faithful to His chosen people of Israel and will now perform His glorious work for all nations and make this Good News known to the ends of the earth. This will happen through Jesus Christ and His Gospel shared with all. We are to bring a joyous song to Him, with words and musical instruments, along with praises of the created world. When He returns, He will judge in a righteous and upright way.
The Old Testament lesson is from Malachi 4:1-6. Elijah the prophet (identified by Jesus as John the Baptist) will come and turn the the hearts of people, through his call for repentance and return to the Lord. He will prepare the way for the “Sun of Righteousness,” our Lord Jesus, who will bring spiritual healing, the forgiveness of sins, and joy to people who fear the Lord and trust in Him. A day of final judgment will come, though, for the arrogant and evildoers, with fire and destruction.
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Thessalonians 3:(1-5) 6-13. Paul asks that the believers would pray for him and all others sharing the Word of the Lord, that the Word would speed ahead and more people might be delivered from evil and be brought to faith in the Lord. Then they will know in their hearts “the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.” Paul also warns the Thessalonians not to become idle busybodies, refusing to work and earn their own living when they can work. Paul encourages them to be busy at some ordinary work, and “not grow weary in doing good.”
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 21:5-28,(29-36). People are admiring the magnificence of the Jerusalem temple, but Jesus warns that it will all be destroyed. Questions come, and Jesus describes some of what is coming. Some say it is like looking at a mountain range, with peaks ahead, but not an ability to tell exactly what is ahead and when. He warns about false teachers who think they have everything figured out and know just when the end is near. There will be many natural and humanly-made disasters. God’s people will have many trials and tribulations, too, but also will have “mouths and wisdom” to bear witness to Christ. Jesus tells the believers how they can escape destruction when the temple and Jerusalem are destroyed and can then bring the Gospel to Gentiles (non-Jews), along with Jews, all over the world. Believers are to stay awake in faith and prayer in the Lord. Finally, the Son of Man, Jesus Himself, will come in a cloud with power and great glory. Believers can hold their heads high, for the day of final redemption has come at last.
We begin today a study of the Letter of Jude. You can find it right before the Book of Revelation. It is the second-last book of the New Testament. It is short, with only 25 verses. I picked this letter because we can work through it in just a few weeks, as a break from the 22 weeks it took to study Paul’s Letter to the Galatians!
Jude can a good follow-up to Galatians, too, because both letters dealt with false teachers, but in almost opposite situations. The false teachers in Galatia were trying to add various Jewish rules and regulations that the Galatians supposedly had to do in order to earn salvation for themselves. They were challenging salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. Trust in Christ was not enough, the false teachers said. In contrast, Jude was dealing with people who falsely perverted the grace of Christ by making it seem to be an excuse to sin and do whatever they wanted to do, as if God did not care.
The author of this letter simply calls himself “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude, v.1). The name “Jude” is a short form for “Judas.” (The Greek actually has “Judas,” but maybe it is translated as Jude to make sure there is no confusion with Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, or another Judas, also called Thaddaeus, both of whom were among the original 12 disciples.)
This Jude seems to be the Judas identified in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 as one of the “brothers” of Jesus. He was actually a half-brother, since Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the others brothers and sisters, including James, were born of Mary and Joseph in the normal way later on. (The “James” mentioned here in Jude v.1 is not the Apostle James, who was killed by one of the Herods in Acts 12:1-2 some time earlier. This is James, another of the half-brothers of Jesus (Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3), who became a leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem (Acts 15) and wrote the Letter of James) (James 1:1).
It is interesting that both Jude and James call themselves “a servant of Jesus Christ.” But they do not call themselves brothers (half-brothers) of Jesus in their letters, as they could have. This is probably because they knew that earlier in the ministry of Jesus, they had not believed in Him as the Messiah and Savior. See John 7:5. It was not until after Jesus’ resurrection that it was clearly said in the Scriptures that they had become believers in Him. See Acts 1:14. Jude and James would also have remembered that when they and Mary had come earlier in His ministry to see Jesus, He had said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50).
Jude and James knew that it did not matter if people had met and knew facts about Jesus or even were His relatives. What really counted was whether a person had been brought to faith in Jesus as Savior. That was, as Martin Franzmann says, “the tie which bound a person to Jesus and made him an obedient child of God.” That’s why Jude, in Jude v.1, calls himself only “a servant of Jesus Christ” and immediately in v.2 says that he is writing to “those who are called,” as he was, to faith in Jesus. These were “beloved” people, dearly loved by God the Father and “kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude v.2).
Paul also wrote of “the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:8-9). Peter wrote of how believers are being kept, “being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:2-5). John spoke of these gifts of God as being the definition of love and “being beloved” - “not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins”(1 John 4:9-10). Jude summed up all of this in the simple words that he wrote to believers “who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”
We close for today with a few other introductory notes. We know nothing more about Jude than what is in this letter. We don’t know who the people were to whom he was writing or where they were located or just when this letter was written. There are similarities with some things written in 2nd Peter, so some think that Jude had seen 2nd Peter and was influenced by what Peter said, or vice versa, before Peter was put to death for his faith. This could put the letter in the 60's AD, probably between 65-70 AD.
Paul mentions in passing in 1 Corinthians 9:4-6 that there were “brothers of the Lord” involved in sharing the Gospel besides Peter and the apostles and Barnabas and he himself. Jude could have been writing, then, to churches he himself had worked with. There are a few late traditions, long after his time, that say he worked in Persia, but we don’t know if these are true. We do know that there are possible references to this letter and quotations, as early as in Clement of Rome, 96 AD or so, and numbers of early church leaders in the 100’s AD and later.
If you have time, read all of Jude and think about what it seems to be saying and warning about. See if you can find where the references to the Old Testament are found. Praise God that you have been called to faith and are kept safe in Christ Jesus. The Lord’s continued blessings.
Sermon for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 1:10-18
2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 10-12
Luke 19:1-10
Sermon originally delivered November 3, 2013
Most churches will likely celebrate All Saints Day this Sunday. We will focus on those readings, though some church may choose an alternate set of readings. The first lesson is from the New Testament, a vision of those in heaven given to the Apostle John in Revelation 7:9-17. John sees a countless number of people from every nation and tribe and people and language, singing, “Salvation belongs to our God… and the the Lamb.”
All the angels of heaven also praise the Lord. The hymn “This is the Feast of Victory for our God” is based on this and other Revelation passages. The people are all those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and have eternal joy and blessing in Him. They are saints because they have been saved by God and brought to faith in their Good Shepherd, Jesus, who will lead them always.
The Epistle is another description, given in 1 John 3:1-3 by John, of those who will be in heaven. They are those called to be children of God simply by the love God the Father has given them. They are called God’s children already, though they are not perfect, but they hope in the Lord and His ultimate purifying power. 1 John 1:7 tells us that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses them (and us) of all sin. In heaven all those who hope in the Lord will be perfect, as they will see the Lord as He is.
The Psalm is Psalm 149, another vision of the saints, the godly in heaven. They rejoice in their heavenly King and sing His praises. Even now on earth, the Lord is “adorning” those who humbly trust in Him “with salvation” - those who hear and use the “two-edged sword” of His Word of Law and Gospel. (See Hebrews 4:12, 14-16.) They will receive grace in time of need, and one day, the gift and honor of heaven.
The Gospel lesson is the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, from Matthew 5:1-12. Who are those who are truly blessed? They are those who know they are spiritually poor; who mourn about their sins; who are meek and humble before the Lord; who hunger and thirst for His righteousness, which they know that they do not have on their own; who seek to be merciful to others because they know they can only survive themselves by God’s mercy given to them as a gift; and on and on. They will live, in this troubled world and forever in “the kingdom of heaven,” simply through trusting Jesus and the words and promises coming from His mouth to them.
Last week, we heard Paul calling the Galatians and us not to “sow” seeds to our own sinful nature, focusing on and glorifying it and its selfish desires. Rather, we are to “sow to the Spirit,” as the Spirit leads us to “eternal life.” That path leads to doing much good for others, too, in gratefulness to God, including fellow believers in Christ, who are “of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:6-10).
As Paul closed his letter, then, he wanted to emphasize that this was truly his own message, written by the direction and inspiration of God. Paul wrote, “See with what large letters I am writing to you in my own hand” (Galatians 6:11). Most likely, this means that Paul had dictated this letter, written down then by someone else, but signed it in his own special way here, to give proof of his authorship.
See how Paul did something similar in 1 Corinthians 16:21, Colossians 4:18. and 2 Thessalonians 3:17, and how Peter also indicated that he wrote his first letter “by Silvanus” in 1 Peter 5:12. Even today in the US, people sometimes speak of signing their “John Hancock,” referring to the very large way in which Hancock wrote his signature on the Declaration of Independence, as the president of the continental congress and the first signer. Some think that Paul wrote this whole letter himself in “large letters,” and this might be an indication that his “bodily ailment” mentioned in Galatians 4:13-15 might have been an eye problem, causing him to write in such a big way.
Regardless, Paul went on to reemphasize a few key ideas of his letter. In Galatians 6:12-13,15, he said that “forcing” the Galatians “to be circumcised” was wrong. The false teachers were trying to “make a good showing in the flesh” for their own benefit, and not really for the good of the Galatians. They should have known that under the “new creation” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) in Jesus as Savior, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision count for anything” (Galatians 6:15). Trusting Jesus and what He had already done for the whole world was the key.
The false teachers were only trying to make themselves look better in the eyes of Jewish leaders by insisting on the need for circumcision and keeping other Jewish laws and traditions. This might help them avoid some of strong attacks and persecution coming from the Jews toward Christians. (Remember what Paul suffered at the hands of Jews in Acts 14:19-23. He was stoned and left for dead.) At least these false teachers were getting some Gentiles to look more “Jewish” by forcing them to be circumcised, etc. That might help these teachers to protect them from radical Jews and keep them from being “persecuted for the cross of Christ” (Galatians 6:12).
This “Jewish-like” stance might help some of the false teachers to be protected also from Roman persecution. At the point when Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, Roman leaders were still tending to be tolerant of Jewish religious beliefs. If some Christians were considered just another offshoot Jewish sect, as the false teachers were really acting like, then that might provide these leaders more protection from Romans, too.
This all changed after the Jewish rebellion against Rome in the late 60s AD and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and many Jews in 70 AD. It might have helped these false teachers and those who followed them, though, in earlier days, when Paul wrote this letter. But obviously, Jewish opposition to Jesus and pressure on the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, helped in putting Jesus to death on the cross. Jesus received no protection, even as a circumcised Jew.
Paul also pointed out that “even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law.” They cannot and do not do everything required by their own standards. The standard is perfection if we want to earn our own salvation (Matthew 5:48). No one comes anywhere close to that. Paul kept saying that truth in Galatians. (See also Galatians 2:15-16, 3:10-11, etc.) The false teachers wanted converts to their pro-circumcision, pro-law viewpoint, in whom they could boast, but no one could boast of being that good, that perfect (Galatians 6:13).
Finally, Paul took himself (and the Galatian believers and us) back to where we all need to be - to the hope we have alone in Christ Jesus and His cross (and then in His mighty resurrection from the dead for us all). Connected to Christ and His death, by His grace, though faith in Him, we died, through His crucifixion and death, to our old sinful life and nature, and are raised to be that “new creation” headed for eternal life (Galatians 6:14). (See also Galatians 2:20-21 and passages like Romans 6:3-11, along with Galatians 3:26.)
Paul boasted in nothing “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There was his hope. When Paul spoke of his own troubles and “the marks of Jesus, that he bore on his own body,” he was not boasting about himself and what he had gone through (and would go through for Jesus) (Galatians 6:17). He did not think he was earning anything, even any merit, because of his suffering. He simply knew the reality of what he and others spoke of, after he had been stoned and left for dead in Lystra, when he had been in Galatia, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Paul also may have been referring to the fact that in the ancient Greek world, both slaves and animals often bore the mark of their owner or master, sort of as cattle are sometimes “branded” in our own culture. Paul bore the “marks of Jesus” on himself, as a servant of Christ, as the Galatians and we are, too; but these are not marks of bondage, but of freedom in Christ and so many eternal blessings that are our in Jesus, even though there will also be times of suffering in this life, as we try to stay close to Christ and His Word, “walking in line with the rule of Christ and the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:16-17).
Paul ended this letter as he began it, speaking of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” and the “peace and mercy” that will be upon upon the Galatians and us, and “with our spirits,” in Christ. (See Galatians 6:16,18 and Galatians 1:3-5, which also spoke of the cross of Christ, as He gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the "present evil age.”) Note also that this is not a “theology of glory,” where we think in any way of what we have done or accomplished or need to accomplish truly to be saved. There is not an additional list of what we still need to do to be real Christians, as the false teachers at Galatia had given.
“The glory is God’s alone, forever and ever” (Galatians 1:5). Paul’s letter is a “theology of the cross” where Paul boasted only in the cross of Jesus and what He had accomplished already for us, through the cross and then His mighty resurrection. He also called the Galatians and us “brethren,” part of the family of God, simply through faith in Christ and His cross, whether we are Jews as Paul was, or Gentiles, as the Galatians were (Galatians 6:18).
Notice that Paul was also speaking of the true “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). This is no longer the Israel of the Old Testament, waiting for the promised Savior and practicing circumcision and the many Old Testament sacrifices and ceremonies and laws. The Savior has come, in the Person of Christ crucified and risen for Jews and Galatians and us, whoever we are.
Paul had spoken of this “Israel of God” several times in Galatians. (See Galatians 3:5-9, 14, 15-18, 22, 26-29; 4:4-7, 28-31, etc.) There are not two separate and equal covenants, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. Paul, a Jew, never spoke that way once he had seen and come to faith in Christ. He proclaimed Christ crucified, the Savior for all, and in whom everyone must believe. He alone is our Hope and our Savior, together with the plan of God the Father and the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:14.22-24,27-31, 2:1-5).
Paul ended this letter with the word, “Amen” (Galatians 6:18). He used it at the beginning, as well, in Galatians 1:5. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you” (as in John 3:5 and many other places), He literally said, “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” The word means: “This is really true.” It emphasizes that what is said is “most certainly true.”
We can and should say “Amen” to all that Paul has written in this letter. God gives us eternal hope in all the promises in Christ, and they are ours, simply by faith on Jesus, and not by any works we need to add. It is truly good news for us all to believe and to share with others, in love and care for others, as Jesus first has loved us. When you doubt your own goodness and worthiness, as we all do and should, read this letter again! Our hope is in Christ alone, and His gift, His declaration of righteousness, for us, because of what He has done for us.
Sermon for Reformation Sunday, based on:
Genesis 4:1-15
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-17
Sermon originally delivered October 27, 2013
Many churches will probably be using this weekend the Scripture readings for Reformation Sunday, celebrating the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation on October 31, 1517, 505 years ago. The First Lesson is from the New Testament, the words of Revelation 14:6-7. We are to “fear God” by “giving Him glory” and “worshipping” Him as our Creator and as the One who has made us “a new creation” through the saving work of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the “eternal Good News,” the Gospel, which is to be “proclaimed” to us and to everyone who “dwells on earth.”
The psalm is Psalm 46, which helped inspire Martin Luther to write his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Twice we hear, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” These words echo the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, that the coming Savior would be called Immanuel - God with us. He will be “a very present help in trouble;” and as he is with us, “we will not fear,” no matter what is happening around us. We can “be still” and simply trust our Lord and Savior.
There are two possible Gospel lessons. The first is from John 8:31-36. Jesus promised, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples and will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus was talking about freedom from the “slavery to sin,” to which everyone who sins is subject. But He, God’s Son, will set us free, by His saving work for us.
The second possible Gospel reading is from Matthew 11:12-19. Jesus reminds people that there was violence against John the Baptist and that opposition was growing against Him as well, no matter what He did. He was even accused of being ”a friend of sinners.” That is exactly what He was, because He came into the world to save people from their sins, by suffering violence in their place, to pay the penalty for their sins.
The Epistle lesson, Romans 3:19-28, explains why Jesus had to come to rescue us and how He did it. The Law of God condemns us all and shows us that we are all sinners. None of us can be justified by our own works and efforts. All of us “fall short” of what God expects of us, but the “righteousness of God” came to us as a gift in and through Jesus Christ. He made the one great atoning sacrifice for our sins, by His death in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. God now justifies, declares righteous, “all who have faith in Jesus.” This was the great re-discovery of Martin Luther, from Scriptures like this one. “One is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Last week, we heard Paul describing how the Galatian Christians (and we) can live out our lives in the Holy Spirit, using the fruit He provides for our relationships with the people around us. He warned about what we should not do - become conceited and self-centered, with envy of and conflict with others (Galatians 5:15,26).
Rather, living out “the law of Christ,” the law of love, we are to bear each other’s burdens and help “restore” those who are drifting spiritually. At the same time, we are to act in “a spirit of gentleness,” of meekness, as we help others, always “watching” and “testing” ourselves, knowing that we, too, could be tempted and stumble, and living with humble repentance for our own faults (Galatians 6:1-4).
And as Galatians 6:5 says, we need to remember that as we help one another, we each finally “carry our own load.” No one else can believe for us and no other human being can save us, and we cannot save ourselves. But we are not alone. God Himself is with us, and He sent His only Son, the God/man Jesus, to forgive and save us, and He sent His Holy Spirit to bring us to faith in Christ and keep us in that faith, through Word and Sacrament. Finally, what we do as Christians is motivated by God’s love at work in us and not by laws and rules that we are told we must do for salvation. That is the primary emphasis that we have been hearing again and again in Paul’s letter.
At the same time, Paul does use the whole Word of God, including the law, to show the Galatians (and us) where we can be in danger and are called to repentance. In Galatians 6:7-8, Paul warned that people should not think that they can mock God by continually doing “the works of the flesh” described in Galatians 5:19-21, without concern and without repentance. That lifestyle is sowing seeds that lead to “corruption,” a word that is translated in other places as “destruction.” See the very dramatic description of where such “sowing” to fleshly desires can lead in 2 Peter 2:12-14.
In contrast, “sowing to the Spirit” leads finally to receiving the greatest gift of the Spirit, which is “eternal life” (Galatians 6:8). Such “sowing,” using the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) also produces much good in this life as God gives us “opportunities” to help and serve others and especially “those who are of the household of faith,” fellow believers. Some of this good we do, by God’s power, may be tiring and may not seem to accomplish much, but we are called “not to give up,” for God will bless these efforts “in due season,” according to His timetable (Galatians 6:9-10).
In Galatians 6:6, Paul also reminded the Galatians who were “taught” the true Word of God to “share all good things” with those who were “teaching” them. Some think that confusion created by the false teachers was causing the Galatians not to give needed help to any of their teachers. Though Paul sometimes refused help in certain circumstances, he clearly saw a Biblical basis for giving support to teachers of the Word. See Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:3-12 and words of Jesus, such as Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:7-8. See how grateful Paul himself was, also, for various kinds of help from the Christians at Philippi, in Philippians 4:10-16.
In the context of what Paul was talking about, doing good for others, Galatians 6:6 is likely also referring less to “financial help” than to encouragement in the Word that even “teachers” need, too. “All good things” that Christian teachers bring us center in God’s love and forgiveness and the hope we have in Christ Jesus. It is not always easy to be a faithful schoolteacher or pastor or Bible class leader or parents teaching their children, etc. These teachers need the same prayers and encouragement for their lives, as we do, and to keep hearing God’s Word and the Good News of salvation in Christ alone shared with them, too - maybe even from us.
Imagine what might have happened if Galatian Christians took to heart what Paul wrote in this letter and tried to share even with the false teachers what was right and true, according to God’s Word! And if you are a “teacher of the Word” in some way, be open to being taught, through God’s Word and encouragement and advice of others. We all have room for learning more from our Lord through His Word.
This brings us to one last thought from this lesson. Don’t get confused. All the talk about doing good and doing the right things is exactly what God wants us to be doing. But that does not mean that this is the way that we finally earn our salvation. We already have our salvation through what Jesus has accomplished for us and through being brought to faith in Him by the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul called “eternal life” what we reap and receive through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:8). It is God’s gift to us. Good works are simply our way of thanking and praising Jesus for His perfect goodness for us - and a way of actually helping others, and as a response to how Jesus first has helped and saved us.
Next week, in what will hopefully be our last lesson on Galatians, we will see Paul again taking us back to boasting only in Jesus and His saving work on the cross for us. Also, if any of you have suggestions about what you would like to study next, let me know. The Lord’s continued blessings and strength!
We’ll begin today with the Gospel lesson, Luke 18:9-17, which is central to understanding the primary message of the Scriptures and helps us with the other readings this week. Last week, we heard Jesus teaching us to keep praying and not lose heart. This week we hear Him saying that not all prayers are good and acceptable prayers, though, as we hear His parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Both men are in the Temple in Jerusalem and praying to God. The Pharisee offered a typical prayer of a Pharisee of his day, focusing on all the good he had done for God and others. Surely God would reward his very good behavior by bringing His deliverance of His people soon. It was human achievement that earned God’s favor and blessing, he thought. In contrast, the tax collector had nothing good to offer God. All he could do was humbly confess his sins and throw himself and his trust upon God and His mercy and forgiveness. Jesus clearly said, then, that the tax collector alone went home justified, counted acceptable in God’s eyes purely by God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness to him, as a gift.
A brief story follows, where the disciples don’t want Jesus bothered by those bringing unimportant little children to Jesus to be touched by Him. The children could offer nothing to Jesus. They could only receive His mercy and love and blessing. Yet Jesus wants them brought to Him and says everyone needs to come in the same way as a little child, dependent entirely on Him and His free gifts and mercy for them.
In the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 4:1-15, two men, Cain and Abel, also approach God, but the offering of only one is accepted. We don’t know all the reasons why, but both Cain and his offering were not acceptable, as his heart was not in the right place. That is evident from his anger about God and his refusal to repent of his sin, crouching at his door, and his willingness to kill his brother, Abel, in vengeance for God being unfair to him. Cain is unhappy with everything God does, yet God still does show mercy to him, in not allowing others to kill him. It seem from what Jude, verse 11 says, Cain never did repent and return to the Lord for His mercy.
The Psalm is Psalm 5. We don’t know what was going on in David’s life, as he groans and cries out and prays to the Lord for His help. He does trust in the “steadfast love” of the Lord in all his troubles, though. He “fears the Lord” and knows that the Lord will lead him in “a straight way” and spread His “protection over him.” David mentions nothing that he can offer to God, but he knows that God is righteous, as he “takes refuge in Him.” The same is true for all “who love His Name” and “bow down” to Him in faith
In the Epistle lesson, 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18, Paul is in prison in Rome and knows his death is near. At times, every other human being deserted him, but God has not. Paul has been far from perfect, but God will give him a “crown of righteousness” because he “has kept the faith.” The same will be true for all who have trusted the Lord and “loved His appearing” - His appearing first to bring salvation to the world and His promise of appearing again to “bring Paul (and us) safely into His heavenly kingdom.” He is faithful and keeps His promises, purely by His grace, given to us, too, as a gift.
Last week, we completed a look at the nine-fold “fruit of the Spirit,” through which the Holy Spirit keeps us in faith and enables us to live with greater faithfulness toward the Lord and greater “meekness” (gentleness) and “self-control” in our relationships with the people placed around us (Galatians 5:22-25). This is all in contrast to the sinful “works of the flesh” described in Galatians 5:19-21. What does this mean for our everyday lives?
Paul began with a negative example of what should not be happening (Galatians 5:26). “Let us not become conceited,” he said. Note that when he said, “Let us not,” he is including himself, as well as everyone else to whom he is writing, including us who still read his word, the Word of God, today.
Paul describes temptations that threaten us all. The word “conceited” was sometimes translated very literally as “vainglorious.” That meant that we should not be glorying in ourselves, when there is only false vanity and empty pride in us. A “conceited” person is one who thinks too highly of himself and is very self-centered, at the expense of others. Such a person wants to compare himself with others and always come out on top, as better than and superior to others.
That attitude can lead to “provoking one another” and “envying one another,” Paul warned. If we compare ourselves with others and think they might be doing better than us, that can lead to envy and jealousy toward others. It can also lead us to want to “provoke” them, challenging them and criticizing them and tearing them down, so that we can feel higher and better than they are. Remember Paul’s earlier words in Galatians 5:15, “If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”
One commentator (Kretzmann) says that such negative attitudes and actions can be so hurtful and have caused “untold misery” even in churches. Some think that the new rules and regulations imposed upon the Galatian churches by the false teachers were causing rivalry among people and some feeling superior because they had been circumcised and were following old Jewish laws of “days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:10), even though none of these rules and dietary rules, etc., were part of the New Covenant in Christ or the freedom from such things that Christ brought to believers. (See Paul’s comments in Colossians 2:20-23. Such humanly devised rules and laws may give “an appearance of wisdom” and of being holier than others, but are ultimately “of no value” in battling the real sins and works “of the flesh.”)
In contrast, as Galatians 6 begins, Paul spoke to his “brothers” (Galatians 6:1) in the faith and of the need for them “to fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). “Brothers” in this case seems to refer to all the fellow believers in Galatia, who were “of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). “The law of Christ” is “the law of love.” See John 13:34-35 and 15:12. James called it “the royal law… the law of liberty”(James 2:8,12).
Jesus put it very simply: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another” (John 13:34-35). Jesus fulfilled that law perfectly in our place, as He died for us to forgive all our sins (John 15:12-13 and Galatians 1:4 and 2:20, and 1 John 4:7-10). John therefore said, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
That is what we now seek to do, as we live by faith in Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit and the fruit He gives us. We are never alone, as the Lord is with us always, and we have fellow believers who try to help us, too, even if imperfectly. We are called to “bear one another’s burdens,” in the love of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
Paul was speaking particularly to the Galatian churches, as they saw people influenced by the false teachers or caught in any transgression. (The idea here is that someone has strayed from walking by the Spirit and has gotten into trouble - as when a vehicle goes off the road and ends up in a ditch and the driver needs help.) Those who are “spiritual” should seek to “restore” the person. The word “restore” is used for setting bones, mending nets, bringing factions together, etc., and we get our English word for an “artisan” (a skilled worker) from this word. Ultimately, the Lord is the “Mender” and “Healer,” but he can do His work through the Galatians and through us today.
Paul called upon the Galatians and us to know our limitations and weaknesses, though, as we try to help others. Never is this to be done with a self-centered attitude of superiority, as if we were so much better than others. Paul warned, “If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing (as we all are, apart from Christ) he is deceiving himself” (Galatians 6:3). Rather we are to help “in a spirit of gentleness” with meekness and humility, as given by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:1).
Likewise, we are constantly to be “watching ourselves,” lest we, too, are tempted. (I once heard of a man who sincerely, I think, wanted to do a “bar ministry," talking with people in drinking establishments. Over time, he supposedly became an alcoholic himself.) Instead, we are to be “testing ourselves and our own work and lives, also (Galatians 6:4). Then we realize that we, too, need repentance and forgiveness and have nothing to boast about, in ourselves. (See 1 Corinthians 1:27-31 and Jesus’ reminder about “specks” and “logs” in Matthew 7:3-5.)
Paul has more to tell the Galatians and us next week. Join us then.
Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 32:22-30
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
Sermon originally delivered October 20, 2013
The Scriptures for this Sunday have to do with the importance of prayer for our lives and the need for persistence in those prayers, as well as in study of the Word of God.
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 32:22-30. Jacob had done much lying and deceiving in his life to get what he wanted. His brother, Esau, had been so angry with him that he wanted to kill him. Only one half-hearted talk with God of Jacob’s is recorded in Genesis until now. Jacob is returning home and is fearful of what Esau will do. He carries out his own plans, but finally, before our text, prays to God and asks for His help and deliverance. Then, in our text, he wrestles almost all night with a man who is actually the Lord. The Lord could clearly win, as He injures Jacob, but He allows Jacob to seem to prevail and Jacob ask for and receives a blessing and a new name from the Lord - Israel - which means “He strives with God.” (This reminds us that we, too, can strive with God in prayer and by studying His Word and seeking His wisdom to understand and apply it to our lives.)
The Psalm is Psalm 121. The Psalmist looks to the hills and prays to the Lord for His help. The hills may remind him of the majesty and power of His Creator God. They may also refer to the hills of Jerusalem and the temple to which he can go and toward which he can pray to God. (For us, too, our churches remind us of God’s presence with us and the need to come and talk with Him in prayer and receive His good gifts that only He can give us.) Again and again the psalmist reminds us that the Lord is our “Keeper” and that He is the source and protector of our life, now and forever, and keeps us safe in times of evil in this world, until we come into eternal life.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 18:1-8, a parable of Jesus calling us “always to pray and not to lose heart” in our praying. Jesus tells of a widow who appeals to a judge to give her justice where she has been wronged. The judge did not fear God and did not care about the needs of other people and just kept refusing her requests. She bothered him so much and so often that he finally gave her justice, just to get rid of her. Jesus asks: Will not God, who is just and does care about people, not respond in the right way to our prayers, as He knows best? Therefore, keep praying and talking with the Lord and trust His plans. But, Jesus also asks: “Will there be faith on earth when He, the Son of Man, returns?”
The Epistle lesson answers that question. A time is coming, Paul says, in 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, when people will reject God’s sound teaching and not listen to the truth and will look, with “itching ears,” for people who will say what they want to hear, “to suit their own passions.” Does that sound like many in our own generation? At the same time, Paul says, God has provided His sacred writings, the Holy Scriptures. “All Scripture is breathed out by God .”It is the truth and is profitable for all the teaching that is needed, so that people can be “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, “Preach the Word,” Paul tells Timothy. And that Word of God, the Bible, the truth centered in Christ, is still available today, and some will still come to faith through the Holy Spirit, at work through that Word. Paul would still say today, “Study that Word and preach it, that more may know the truth in Christ and come to faith in Jesus.
Last week, we heard of the first three Christian virtues or qualities in the cluster of the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, and peace - given by the Spirit so that we may live with hope and confidence in our Lord and remain close to Him and His promises in Christ, by His power. Next is a listing of fruit that enables us to live in a good and proper way with the people God has placed around us (Galatians 5:22).
The first quality is “patience.” This word can literally be translated as “long-suffering.” Living and dealing with other people can be both joyous and very difficult, with suffering and trouble involved at times, suffering along with them and sometimes because of them. The Holy Spirit enables us to seek to have endurance and steadfastness toward them, in our contacts in both the best and worst of times. “Patience” is hard to have in the difficult times; yet the Holy Spirit keep pointing us to Jesus and how much patience and love He has had to have toward us - never leaving us nor forsaking us, and continually forgiving us, as we heard last week.
The Spirit strengthens us to carry on with “patience” toward others, along with the next two qualities - kindness and goodness. God is the one who has first been kind (gracious and good) toward us, though we did not deserve that kindness. Jesus taught in Luke 6:35 that the Lord is even “kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” That is what the Spirit wishes us also to be, as “sons of the Most High.”
Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander (the works of the flesh!) be put away from you, along with all malice. Be ‘kind’ (same word as in Galatians 5:22) to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The pattern is always the same. The Spirit helps us remember what God has first done for us in Christ and helps us act in the same way toward others, as hard as it sometimes is for us to do.
Paul then adds “goodness” to “kindness” as the Spirit’s fruit in Ephesians 5:22. Someone once called Jesus “Good Teacher,” and Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is good (same Greek word) except God alone” (Luke 18:18-19). Jesus, of course, was also perfectly “good,” as the sinless Son of God, but He responds this way because the person questioning Him thinks he is only a “teacher” and not the good and sinless Savior.
“Goodness” (uprightness, doing the right things, generosity) is therefore an inner quality that only God has in the fullest perfect way. Yet the Spirit can work in us and bring out in us at least some of that “goodness” in action toward others. For that is what this word means: “goodness” is actually doing some good to and for others. Think about the words of James in James 2:15-16. If we see people in need and say, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled” and yet don’t do anything to help them, “what good (what benefit) is that?” The Spirit works in us to help turn our faith into “goodness” that actually does some good.
The last three parts of the cluster of the fruit of the Spirit are “faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:23). The first word is the word usually translated as “faith,” but in this context, along with other qualities, virtues, it means “faithfulness.”
Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:13, about Jesus, even “if we are faithless, He remains faithful (same Greek word) — for he cannot deny Himself.” Jesus has perfect faithfulness toward His Heavenly Father and keeps all His promises. We struggle, at times, but Jesus, through the fruit of the Spirit, forgives us and strengthens us to be more faithful to Him and His Word and to other people around us.
The word “gentleness” often used to be translated as “meekness.” That word has taken on a very negative connotation, though, to many people. It has the sense of someone who is weak and always backs down and gets taken advantage of and stomped on by others. If you are old enough, you might remember people being called a “Caspar Milquetoast.” There was an actual cartoon series about such “A Timid Soul” who had that name, that ran from 1925-1953 in many newspapers. That “Caspar” was considered too gentle for his own good and could never stand up for himself, and he was named for a meal of squishy toast in warm milk given to people who had a weak, upset stomach, to help with digestion.
In the Bible, though, this word for “gentleness” or “meekness” was used in a positive way by Jesus and is used to describe one of His great qualities. We would tend to think, “The strong and powerful (macho people) will inherit the earth.” Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5, as we heard last week). Jesus said of Himself, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle (meek) and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
“Meekness” in the Bible is connected with humility and courtesy toward and consideration of others. It especially means, as Martin Franzmann said, simply “trusting in the Lord above all and committing our way to Him and believing that He will vindicate us… and waiting patiently on Him and knowing that the steps of a man are from the Lord” and not from us and our scheming and plans. Franzmann pointed to Psalm 37 and particularly verses 39-40 (Franzmann, “Follow Me”, p. 37-38).
As others do with all this “fruit of the Spirit,” Franzmann pointed above all to Jesus and “His Messianic entry into Jerusalem with no means of power, no trappings of royalty, on a borrowed beast, with nothing and no one but God to depend on. He came as the meek King (Matthew 21:5), the meek Messiah.” He delivered the meek (who simply trusted Him by faith) by suffering and dying on the cross as a criminal, and only then receiving His mighty resurrection from the dead and return to glory. With “meekness” Jesus was actually the “Stronger Man” who defeated sin and Satan and death for us (Matthew 12:24-29). The Holy Spirit points us to all this and helps us to take up our own “yoke” of service to others, too, trusting that the Lord will ultimately judge with fairness and His mercy and rescue “the meek of the earth,” including us (Isaiah 11:1-5).
Finally, the Holy Spirt seeks to help us have “self-control” in all these things, helping us to hold our sinful passions and desires in check, by His power, and forgiving our failures, as we bring them to Him in repentance. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ on the cross (Galatians 2:20) and we receive personally the benefit of all that in our baptism and the gift of faith (Galatians 3:1-2, 24-26 and now 5:24).
The Holy Spirit is with us, too, in the daily battle of, as Luther says, remembering our Baptism and who we are in Christ and drowning those sinful passions and desires that trouble us. Paul put it this way in Romans 8:13: “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit, you keep on putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” In Christ and in the Holy Spirit, we do live, and we march in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25).
(Hopefully, next week, we will get to what this all means in more practical terms in our lives. The Lord’s blessings!)
Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Ruth 1:1-19a
2 Timothy 2:1-13
Luke 17:11-19
Sermon originally delivered October 13, 2013
The Scripture lessons for this week show us God doing just what He wishes to do - helping people in all kinds of situations. He acts in love for us, too, and we are called to thank and praise and trust Him, in Christ our Savior.
The Psalm is Psalm 111. The psalms often praise God’s Word and teaching. This psalm especially praises God’s actions on behalf of His people. Notice how often His work, His “wondrous works” are mentioned. He is “gracious and merciful” and His work culminated in “sending redemption to His people” in the coming Savior. No wonder, then, that the psalmist wants to “give thanks to the Lord” with his “whole heart” in the “congregation” of believers and to continue to “study the works of His hands” and delight in them. (That’s what we do in worship, too!)
The Old Testament lesson is from Ruth 1:1-19. Naomi and family have moved from Israel to Moab during a time of famine. One disaster happens after another, and Naomi feels that “the hand of the Lord has gone out against her,” instead of His works helping her. Her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, stands in support of her, though, and trusts her God, the God of Israel. She is even willing to go back to Israel, to Bethlehem, with Naomi. God is working for good in all this, and Ruth meets and marries a Jewish man, Boaz. From their family line comes David, who became king of Israel, and much later, the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, born in Bethlehem. (If you want more detail, you can scroll back on the podcast to several lessons on the Book of Ruth.)
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 17:11-19, Jesus, that Redeemer, sees and heals, from a long distance away, a group of 10 people who had the dreaded disease of leprosy, as they cried out with a great prayer, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Only one of the 10, a non-Jewish person like Ruth, came back in faith to give thanks and praise to Jesus, who actually was the Son of God. Only to this man could Jesus then say, literally, “Your faith has saved you,” giving him both physical and spiritual healing.
Jesus came, though, to be the Savior of the whole world, as our Epistle lesson, 2 Timothy 2:1-13 tells us. Paul wishes that Timothy “be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” as a younger pastor, and then find other “faithful men” who can teach others, too, about trusting in and “remembering Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the Offspring of David” and the Center of the Gospel. Paul is bound with chains, soon to die at the hands of the Romans. “But the Word of God is not bound,” and Timothy and others can still share that Word, so that more and more people, even down to our own day, can “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” “God remains faithful” to His promises, and “He cannot deny Himself” and His saving plan, available to all people in the world. Through Him, we have come to faith and salvation, and anyone else can, too.
Last week, we spent much time thinking about a long list of “works of the flesh” - what our sinful nature, with which we were born, wants to pull us back into. It is part of the struggle we have now, as Christians, between the “new creation” we are as believers in Christ Jesus and our old sinful flesh and desires. The great good news is that we are forgiven and continue to be forgiven, as we are in faith in Christ, no matter what we have struggled with on that long list of “works of the flesh.” As Paul wrote, along with another long list of sins of the flesh, in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Paul had told the Galatians in Galatians 5:18, they were now “led by the Spirit,” who had brought them to faith in Jesus (Galatians 3:2-3) through “putting on Christ” in their baptism (Galatians 3:26-27) and through “hearing” the Good News of “Christ crucified” (Galatians 3:1-2). And, Paul assured them, God had not only brought them to faith, through the saving work of Jesus and the “life-giving” work of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25- “We live by the Spirit”). (See also John 3:5-6, where Jesus says, We are “born of water and the Spirit” … “born of the Spirit” and are not just “flesh," but “spirit.”) God also provides His “new-born” Christians with “the fruit of the Spirit” who now lives in and with them (and us) (Galatians 5:22).
The “works” of the flesh are plural, are many and varied, as people do these evil things. The word for “fruit” of the Spirit is singular. It is the picture image of one cluster of fruit, every part of which is important. The listing in Galatians 5:22-23 is of a cluster of nine virtues, qualities the Holy Spirit seeks to produce in every Christian. Some commentators, including Lenski, think the virtues are listed in groups of three. The first three are vitally important for us all - love, joy and peace.
Listed first is “love.” There are several Greek words for different kinds of love, and this is the one for sacrificial Christian love. This is most clearly demonstrated for us in Jesus, who as God the Son limited Himself and became a real human man and sacrificed everything, including His life, for us and our salvation, out of love for us, while we were still weak, ungodly, sinful enemies of God, who deserved nothing from Him. (See these words used about us in Romans 5:6-11 and yet how God still “showed His love for us” in sending His Son for us “to save us from the wrath of God and reconcile us to Him” and “justify us by His blood” and give us new and eternal “life” through His resurrection from the dead.) That is the love of Christ for us that Paul is constantly talking about in all his writings, including Galatians. Our hope is in Christ and His love.
The next “fruit” is “joy.” This is the joy and confidence we have because of the grace of God already given to us and how blessed we are in Christ, on very happy days, but also in times of trouble. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say: Rejoice.” Paul was not perfect, but this “fruit of the Spirit” was evident in his life many times. See 2 Corinthians 6:4-10. Paul wrote of the many good and bad things he had been going through; and yet he was “always rejoicing” - or at least trying to do so. The only perfect one, again, was Jesus, who taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12), “Blessed are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek… those persecuted for righteousness’ sake… when others revile you… Rejoice and be glad.” Jesus even said, in Matthew 5:48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Obviously, none of us is perfect. It is also very hard to have joy when bad things are happening, in our own lives and in the lives of loved ones, and when we hear the news in the world and even in our own community. Lenski says, though, “Pessimism is a grave fault.” But we sometimes think: How can I help not being pessimistic, when so many bad things are happening? Maybe that is part of our problem, for which many of us, including me, need repentance. We focus on the news and other social media and our own weaknesses and failings and all the grumbling and troubles we hear and failures of leaders and politicians, no matter what their names are; and we forget and neglect to spend more time also focusing on good news and “counting our blessings” and especially listening to and reading God’s Word, through which the Holy Spirit works to bring us the good fruit of love and joy in Christ that we need so much.
We also know Christian people who have been through hard times and have kept faith in Christ and found renewed joy even in their struggles, just as Paul did. Talk with those you know. If we think about it, we have all been through difficult periods in our lives, too, and the Lord has helped us through, as we remembered and leaned upon His promises.
The Lord has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And we know that eternal life in heaven awaits us. Not even death or anything else can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:34-39). All that can renew our joy, too, and help us in times of pessimism. And we seek to come to the Lord, when we fail, for His mercy and forgiveness. “If we confess out sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
That also brings us to the third “fruit of the Spirit” - “peace.” “Peace” does not mean the absence of war or trouble in our lives. Jesus Himself was very realistic, as He also lived in this very sinful world for our sake. He said, “In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace” (John 16:32-33).
Jesus also promised just what Paul was talking about in Galatians 5:22-23 - the coming of the Holy Spirit to bring the fruit of faith that we all need. Jesus said, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit does that for us through the Word of God, which He inspired the Biblical writers like Paul to write down for us.
Jesus went on to say, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). This peace with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit gives us “wholeness” and “well-being” (what the Old Testament word for peace, “shalom,” means.) Paul called it “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, which guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” It means that we can talk over anything now with our Heavenly Father in prayer, as His dear children, even in “anxious” moments and times of “suffering” (Philippians 4:6-7 and Romans 8:14-17).
If you go back now to Galatians 5:22-23, note that Paul added these words: “Against such things there is no law.” All this “fruit of the Spirit” was a gift from God for the Galatians and for us, too. We are all free in Christ to enjoy God’s love and peace. We are taken care of by our Lord already, through Christ, without worrying about more things we must do to try to earn God’s real favor and blessing for ourselves. We are free to think less about ourselves and to use more of our time and energy in this life to help others find the same love and joy and peace in Christ.
The list of the other six in the cluster of “the fruit of the Spirit” are virtues and qualities by which the Holy Sprit enables us to help and serve others. We will look at these next week and then hear Paul talking about what that would mean for us and others, in a practical way in our lives. The Lord’s continued love and joy and peace be with you all, in the days ahead.
Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:1-10
Sermon originally delivered October 6, 2013
The Scriptures for this Sunday remind us that we are only unworthy servants of our Lord and need to keep trusting Him and His plans, no matter what. The prophet Habakkuk has to learn this in the Old Testament lesson, Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4. He cannot understand why the Lord would seem to let evil go by without doing anything about it. He has to learn to “live by faith” and wait for God’s wise ways of doing things, in the coming Savior Jesus. (If you want to look more at Habakkuk, there is a earlier series of podcasts that you can find and listen to at any time, if you keep scrolling back.)
David has learned this lesson over time, as he writes in Psalm 62. God alone is his Rock and Salvation. David will “wait in silence” upon the Lord and “not be greatly shaken,” for the Lord is his Refuge. He will not put his trust in people of “low estate” or “high estate” or in any forms of evil, but only in the power and steadfast love of the Lord.
In our Gospel lesson, Luke 17:1-10, Jesus reminds us that we are only “unworthy servants” of our Lord, even if we have done everything commanded us. And who of us has always done our duty? Have we ever caused someone else to stumble, to sin? Do we always forgive, again and again? Do we always do our expected work faithfully and then do even more, seeing it as our Master’s expectation? It is impossible. We finally are taught that we live by faith in our Lord, not by our great efforts, and the tiniest faith that our Lord gives and works in us is enough.
Paul teaches Timothy and us about that faith in our Epistle lesson, 2 Timothy 1:1-10. Paul has seen that “gift of faith,” in Timothy’s grandmother and mother and now in Timothy himself. That faith can be “fanned into flame,” not as Timothy looks at his own works, but but as he and we look at “the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” That Gospel is the Good News, not of what we have done for God, but of what God has done for us through Jesus, “who saved us… by His own purpose and grace.” Paul knows that he and Timothy and we are only servants, unworthy servants, but Jesus came to serve us and gave His life for us to forgive us again and again of every sin and to give us “a holy calling” to share with others “the promise of the Life that is in Him, Christ Jesus.”
Last week, we heard of the freedom that we have in Christ, allowing us not to be wrapped up just in ourselves, but enabled, through the Holy Spirit, to serve others in Christ’s love. This is a struggle, though, as we heard, between the new person we are in Jesus and our old sinful nature, which still troubles us. Paul encourages the Galatians (and us) to “walk by the Spirit” and not “by the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). There are good things we really want to do in following Christ, but the desires of the flesh are opposed to these good things. That is the battle we now face, as Christians (Galatians 5:17).
Paul reassured the Galatians and us, though, that if we “are led by the Spirit,” with faith in Christ, we are “not under the law,” in the sense that we must keep that law to earn God’s grace and be saved (Galatians 5:18). The law still serves its purposes, though, in reminding us of what is right and wrong and showing us where we may be going wrong and calling us to repentance.
Galatians 5:19-21 describes sinful “works of the flesh” for us. Paul says that they are “evident” - open to the eyes of people, in showing what these sinful cravings are. Paul groups them in categories, according to some commentators, including Lenski.
The first three are “sexual” sins, which were a serious problem for Greek and Roman cultures, including those in Galatia, because of very low sexual moral standards of that time - which we seem to be getting back into in our own day. The first is the term for all kinds of sexual sin, for the married and the unmarried. We get our English words “porn” and “pornography” from this word. The second word is “uncleanness” - not just specific sexual sins but what also leads to them. The third word has the idea of having all restraints removed, “plunging on as a runaway horse,” with no limits or controls on oneself (Galatians 5:19). Our sinful nature wants to do what it wants to do, not what what others think or say.
The next two words have to do with worshiping of false gods or gods of our own making. The first word is the word from which we get the English word “idolatry.” It does make a difference what or whom we worship. There is only one true God, and the Triune God alone is to be worshiped. The second word is the word from which we get the English word “pharmacy.” This does not refer to the work of modern medicine with genuine, approved pharmaceutical products; but in the ancient world, drugs and other potions were often used for “sorcery” and other secret pagan religious rites, connected with idolatry. Even today, don’t we also have much use of illegal drugs and pills and potions that can be harmful and even deadly to us (Galatians 5:20)?
The next four words refer to personal, individual animosity and conflict we can have with others. The first word is “enmity” - personal dislike and hatred toward others. That can quickly lead to the second word, “strife” and “struggling” with others, motivated by things like the third word, “jealousy” toward others. That can also result in the fourth word, “fits of anger” that we direct toward others (Galatians 5:20).
The next four words refer to conflict that also develops between parties or groups of people. People begin to take sides, in support of some and in opposition to others. This leads to “rivalries” among people and “dissensions” and can even lead to “divisions.” This third word is the word from which we get the English word “heresies," for some divisions can become so serious that some groups go away from the truth and reject it in their lives and beliefs. (Paul used the same word in 1 Corinthians 11:19, saying that such “factionalism” can ultimately show who is correct and who is not, according to the Word of God.) Such divisions are not what God wants, though, and often flow from the fourth word, “envy” even among various groups. The divisions created by the false teachers at Galatia are particularly what Paul is talking about in referring to these particular works of the sinful flesh. They had created so many problems and much confusion among the Galatians (Galatians 5:20-21).
Paul added two more works of the flesh: “drunkenness” and “orgies” (carousing and revelry that gets far out of hand and becomes immoral). He also indicated that he could add many other examples of “works of the flesh,” too (Galatians 5:21). You can find lists of “works of the flesh,” the sinful nature, in Scriptures such as Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:3-5, Colossians 3:5ff., 1 Timothy 1:8-10, Revelation 22:15, etc. Paul also added the solemn words, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).
When we hear those last words, it might seem that there is no hope for any of us. Don’t we all sometimes have “fits of anger” and “strife” and “jealousy and envy,” etc.? We still sin, at times, because we are still in the struggle between the Spirit and the flesh,” as long as we are in this sinful world.
A better translation of Galatians 3:21 is that we are in danger if we “keep on doing such things,” without remorse or concern or seeking God’s forgiveness and His help to do better. These lists show that we are sinners and drive us back, as Christians, to our Savior and the forgiveness and acceptance that come only through faith in Him. We will inherit the Kingdom of God not by getting everything right, but by clinging to our perfect Savior Jesus and His mercy for us. We will talk about this more next week and as we think about “the fruit of the Spirit.”
One last thought. What Paul talked about in Galatians 5:15 is a danger when the “works of the flesh” get control of us at times, even in churches and families and other groups. We can ”bite and devour one another” when “strife, jealousy, rivalries, dissensions and envy” get the best of us. May the Lord help and forgive us and give us greater love and service to each other, when these difficult times come, as they did at Galatia and as they still can today.
Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Amos 6:1-7
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31
Sermon originally delivered September 29, 2013
The Scriptures for this Sunday are very relevant, as they speak to financial, money concerns that many of us have in these days of high inflation and uncertainties about the future. The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 6:1-7. Amos speaks words of warning from God especially to the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, though he speaks also to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The rich, “notable” people of the land are feeling “secure” and they are satisfying all their own desires, while not “grieving over the ruin” of many troubled people among them and helping them. They lie “at ease” on their beds inlaid with “ivory” and their beautiful couches. They eat luxuriously and have plenty of time to listen to and sing their favorite “idle songs” and drink not just glasses, but bowls-full of wine. If they continue this way (as they did!) ignoring the Lord and His will, judgment and exile was coming for them, as it did, at the hands of the Assyrian armies.
The Psalm is Psalm 146, a psalm of praise to the Lord. The warning is not to put too much “trust in princes” (or queens and kings) and other human beings who cannot bring “salvation” to us. Rather, our hope and help are in our Creator Lord, who “keeps faith forever” for us and cares about us in all the difficult times in our lives. Ultimately this psalm is also a prophecy of “the Son of man,” our Lord Jesus, who came to save us, no matter who we are, as we trust in Him. (See Luke 4:16-21.)
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Timothy 6:6-19. It fits best with our other readings for today. (A reading from 1 Timothy 3:1-13 could also be chosen, about important qualities needed for what we would call pastors and elders and other church leaders today. But even they are reminded not to be “a lover of money” or “greedy for dishonest gain.”) In Chapter 6:6ff., we are reminded of what is most important for us: “godliness with contentment,” satisfied with the basics we need for our life, and staying in the faith and love of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not money itself that is evil, but “the love of money” - a “craving” through which “some have even wandered away from the faith.” Those who are wealthy are called “not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God.” They are also called to do good with the blessings they have received and “to be rich in good works” that help others.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 16:19-31 - a story Jesus tells about “a rich man” who had the best of everything and “feasted sumptuously every day,” but ignored and would not help in any way a poor, sick man, Lazarus, who lay at his gate, day after day, who wished only for scraps that fell from the rich’s man’s table. Both men died, and Lazarus was taken to the joy of heaven. (Other Scriptures make it clear that he was taken to heaven, alongside Abraham, not because he was poor, but because he had been brought to faith in his Lord God. The rich man ended up in Hades, in hell, in torment, not because he was rich, but because he rejected his Lord or in his focus on himself had wandered away from the faith.) The rich man now wishes only for a “scrap” - a drop of cool water - “in his anguish in the flame” - but it is too late. He wishes then that someone could go and warn his five living brothers, who are in eternal danger in unbelief themselves. He is reminded that they have the very Word of God available for them, as he did, and if they ignore and reject that, they would not believe, even if someone would rise from the dead - which Jesus eventually did, in His victorious saving work, available to all.
Last week, we heard how relevant Paul’s words in Galatians are to our own day, because so many groups, including churches and other religious groups, still erroneously teach that we are saved by good works that we must do to merit our salvation, along with trust in what the Lord has done. In that view, Jesus has not done enough for us to rescue us, and we are left without the “freedom” and confidence we are meant to have through simple faith in His completed work for us. We are left with uncertainly about whether we have done enough ourselves to be totally acceptable to God and to reach eternal life.
Paul said it again in Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers.” As Jesus had said about Himself in John 8:31-36, “If the Son set you free, you will be free indeed” - free from “the slavery to sin” and “its condemnation.” As Paul also wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). At the same time, Paul wanted to make it clear that this freedom is not now a license to do whoever we want in our lives.
Paul wrote, “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law of God is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13-14). Once we are brought to faith in Christ through our baptism and the Word of God, God is able to do genuine good in and through our lives, for His honor and to help other people.
Remember how Paul wrote, earlier in Galatians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20) and Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith; for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26). Paul also spoke of believers as people “born according to the Spirit,” as Isaac was, who are “children of promise” (Galatians 4:29). (See also the words of Jesus, who said, speaking of baptism, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:2-7).)
Christians are therefore people in whom both God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit are at work, under the blessings of God the Father. Paul wrote about this also in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us a ministry of reconciliation.”
As Christians, there is therefore a part of us that is “new” in Christ and really wants to do the right things that God wants, in love for God and for our neighbor, and in gratefulness for all that Jesus has done for us as our Savior. Jesus describes the “good fruit” that comes as we abide in Him by faith, in John 15:3-5. We will bear some “fruit for Him,” not to gain favor from Him by following laws and rules, but just because we are connected to Him as our Lord. One of our Lutheran writings says, “Good works are not necessary for our salvation; but they are necessary.” They will be there in each of us and through each of us in some way.
We want to do good works, but not because we must in order to earn God’s favor and gain salvation. The motivation is different. It is in thankfulness to God for what He has already done for us and promised us; and God is working in us to strengthen us and help us, and motivating us through His Word. It is motivation by the Gospel, above all, and not by laws and rules we must keep. See how Paul describes this life in thankfulness to God in Colossians 3:15-17. We live by faith in our merciful Lord, not by fear. And we live in daily repentance for our sins, as our Lord taught us through John. (See 1 John 1:7-10.)
The problem is that we also still have our old sinful nature within us, with which we were born. There is a battle that goes on then, within us, even as Christians, between what we want to do as believers and what our sinful nature still pulls us to want to do. Paul described that in Romans 7:15-25. He had “the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out,” all the time. He said, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” He called himself a “wretched man” and knew that only in Jesus Christ his Savior, did he have forgiveness and “no condemnation,” even in his struggles. (See Romans 8:1-4.) He thanks God that he will have victory through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25) and not by his own efforts.
Next week, we will see how Paul described walking by the Spirit, in contrast with living in the desires of the sinful human flesh. That struggle is part of our life, too, as Christians, but we have hope in Christ and in His Holy Spirit, living in us.
Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Proverbs 25:2-10
Hebrews 13:1-17
Luke 14:1-14
Sermon originally delivered September 1, 2013
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 113, a psalm of praise for the special covenant name, “Lord” (Yahweh), given to Moses to bring to the people of Israel as they were rescued from slavery in Egypt. This name is repeated three times in the opening verse, and five more times in the verses that follow. This psalm later became the first of a set of psalms (113-118) called the Hallel (Praise), which was sung as people went up to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration and then at the Passover itself. Jesus and His disciples probably sang this psalm at His “Last Supper” before His death. The Lord is “high above all nations,” yet He stoops down to help the “poor” and the “needy” and even the “barren,” like Hannah in the Old Testament. (See her song, in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.) The Lord lifts them all up and blesses them, as Jesus would when He came to this world to save us all, princes or poor and needy. Hallelujah! -which means,: “Praise the Lord!”
The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 8:4-7. The Lord speaks to His own people, who are trampling on and cheating and deceiving the poor and needy for personal gain. They were even willing to force the poor into slavery for as little gain as “a pair of sandals.” The Lord says that He will not forget their evil deeds, and judgment is coming upon them.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Timothy 2:1-15. Paul is teaching a younger pastor, Timothy, about what is important for public worship. He stresses that prayers and thanksgiving be made for all people. (That is why we still have a “General Prayer” in worship, covering the joys and needs of many, including those in authority, that we have a “peaceful and quiet” society.) The word “all” is used five times in the first six verse. Everyone is important to the Lord. At the same time, Paul stresses an unpopular idea in our own day, but which we still follow - that only men are to be the leaders and teachers in public worship, as part of God’s order of creation and in a fallen world. Women are encouraged to be more concerned about inner spiritual beauty than outward appearance. The same is true for men, who are to serve “without anger or quarreling.”
Above all, the one true Triune God is to be at the center of worship and especially the work of Christ Jesus, who became man and “gave His life as a ransom for all” - men, women, and children. “God our Savior desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 16:1-15. This is a difficult passage, as Jesus tells of a wasteful manager who is losing his job and uses the owner’s money to try to make friends of people who owe the owner money, by lowering their debts. The owner finds out and admires the “shrewdness” of the manager, thinking about the future, though he certainly cannot approve of what the manager has done. Jesus then goes on to say that our money and possessions can be used “unrighteously,” but they can also be used for good, in “serving God” and helping others find the “eternal dwellings” of heaven through faith in Jesus as Savior. Jesus then spoke to Pharisees, who had a reputation of loving money for personal gain and prestige, and warned them (and us) that He knows what is truly in the hearts of people - trust in the Lord or in ourselves and our desires.
Paul said it again, as Galatians 5:13 begins. “You were called to freedom.” He was referring once again to what he had been saying throughout Galatians - that salvation comes to us purely by the grace of God through the gift of faith, of trust in Jesus and His saving work for us. Our human works cannot save us or ever contribute to our salvation. Jesus has done all that we need, as we stay in faith in Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Listen again to a little of what we have already heard in Galatians:
- “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Galatians 1:3-4)
- “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16)
- “Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith, just as ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?’” (Galatians 3:5-6)
- “The promise by faith in Jesus Christ (will) be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22)
The focus is always on Jesus and trusting what he has done for us to save us - not on what we need to do for our salvation. This could be summarized by what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21ff: “But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe… (who) are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… (God) is the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what become of our boasting? It is excluded… For we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law” (portions of Romans 3:21-22).
Why did Paul keep saying these same things, and why am I emphasizing this so much in what I say and write? Because this is the central teaching of the Christian faith. It was being challenged by false teachers in Paul’s day, and it is still being challenged by so many people and groups still today. I have said I would give you current examples, and that is what follows here. I can only give brief descriptions and a few quotations, but am trying to be fair in what I say. If anyone wants more explanation, let me know.
Obviously, atheists do not believe in any god or higher being and can only trust in themselves and other human ideas. Agnostics are not sure if there is a god or not, and what to think about Jesus, and ultimately have to trust themselves and whatever they think. Non-Christian religions and groups will not talk about Jesus at all, or only as a kind of prophet or teacher, and certainly not as the Savior of the world.
Groups that call themselves Christians will talk about Jesus, but not necessarily accurately and according to what the Bible says. There are very liberal churches and groups that question many things in the Bible and would see Jesus, at best, only as a good teacher, whose example and ideas we should follow, if we can sort out what he really said and what is really true. Such people will accept only what seems rational and reasonable to them and to human thinking today. Modern media likes these non-traditional and controversial ideas. All such views are very different from Paul’s, who was an eyewitness to what he described and what Jesus directly taught him and claimed that what he said and wrote was true and accurate.
Traditional Christians will take more seriously what the Bible says, but can mix in what they see as our own human responsibility for our salvation, as well. Sometimes this happens because churches and people accept additional and later traditions and writings that they make equal to and almost more important than the Biblical revelation.
The Roman Catholic Church is an example of this, saying that Jesus paid for the “eternal” consequences for our sins, but we must pay for the “temporal punishment” of our sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Every sin… must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called Purgatory.” How do we accomplish this purification (according to the Catholic Church)? “By works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer, and the various practices of penance” (things that people are required to do by a priest, after they have confessed their sins to him). In the Catholic view, people also have obligation to pray for and do good works on behalf of their dead relatives to help pay for their sins and get them out of Purgatory more quickly. People can also pray to Mary and to other saints, especially holy people, to get help from the “treasury” of their “prayers and good works.” These saints have already “attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body” (The Church).
The Roman Catholic Church clearly says that God gives us “the initial grace” we need. But then, “Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.” The Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Trent condemned in several ways the Biblical doctrine of justification by God’s grace through faith alone. Here is one example: “If anyone saith that by faith alone the impious is justified, in such wise as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to the obtaining the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will, let him be anathema” (cursed and condemned).
Clearly, in the Roman Catholic Church, one is saved not only by faith in Christ, but also by one’s own work and efforts and merits and by gaining the merits of others. And these ideas are not in Scripture but were developed in the traditions of the Roman church in later centuries.
The same thing is said in the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox Churches. An Orthodox Confession reads, “What must an Orthodox and Catholic Christian hold and observe in order to inherit eternal life? Answer: Right faith and good works.” “We believe that a man is justified not simply by faith alone, but by a faith which is active through love, that is, through faith and works.” Faith is simply assent to Orthodox or Catholic doctrines - rather than confidence in Jesus and His completed, saving work for us.
Many Protestant churches also emphasize our cooperation with God in the work of our salvation, to one degree or another. Churches that are influenced by Arminian ideas tend to downplay the seriousness of our original or inherited sin, from the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. They would say that we are not “dead in our trespasses and sins, by nature,” and that God must therefore make us spiritually alive, as Ephesians 2:1-7 says. Instead, these groups say that we are capable of and must make the first moves toward God, by opening the door to Him and confessing our sins and saying prayers a certain way, “as an act of our own will.” Only then will God respond to us and make us His own. As one prominent Baptist preacher said in the past: “God casts a vote. The devil casts a vote. And you cast the deciding vote.” in this view, your decisions seem to be the real deciding factor in your being saved - more than the decisive saving work of Christ for you.
The Christian life is important, but some Protestant churches put such tremendous emphasis on what we now do as Christians that it almost sounds as if our salvation depends on how holy our life becomes. Some go so far as to say that we can stop sinning, though we may make “mistakes,” whatever that means. Others say that we can become perfect if we try hard enough - and that is what we should try to be doing. The emphasis switches from “Christ crucified” and what He has done for us, to what we are doing for Christ and how well we are following His rules and expectations, almost as if our salvation depends on doing it all well enough.
We also have so many cultic groups around. The Seventh Day Adventists still insist that we must worship on Saturday and not do any work that day and must follow many other Old Testament rules, just as the false teachers were saying in Galatia.
The Mormons have the Bible plus their own Scriptures, which are really more important, in their view. They call themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; but Joseph Smith seems more important than Jesus in much of what they say. Becoming a “saint” by following all of their rules and regulations is really most important. They even say that you could become a “god” just like Jesus and have your own planet, some day, if you work hard enough at it all.
I also receive a mailing from another group called the United Church of God, an offshoot of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God. They have Saturday worship and focus on many Old Testament festivals. They talk about Jesus and His millennial reign here on earth (an idea most Christian do not believe in - rather, He will return to raise the dead and take all believers in Christ to eternal life in heaven, etc.) But their focus again turns to what good works we are doing. “We can follow God’s commands today, celebrating the Day of Atonement and all of His Holy Days and completely submitting ourselves to His will in our lives.” Again for them, faith in Christ our Savior is not enough to save us.
I could go on and on with more false and confusing ideas around today, too. That is why Paul spent so much time talking about salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s work already done for us. It is still important for us to hear today. Christ stays at the center of the Bible for us, and our confidence about our eternal future is in Him, not our performance.
At the same time, beginning next week, we will hear Paul talking about the right understanding of how doing “good works” does fit into our life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our “freedom” in Christ is not a license to do whatever we feel like. That is how many look at “freedom” today, as an old poem by William Ernest Henley said: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” But that is not what Christ or Paul taught. Join us next week to hear more about all that.
Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 66:18-23
Hebrews 12:4-24
Luke 13:22-30
Sermon originally delivered August 25, 2013
There is always a Good Shepherd Sunday on the 4th Sunday of the Easter season, showing that our Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd. The readings this Sunday have a similar emphasis, but reminding us that we have all been lost sheep in this troubled world, with a sinful nature and many temptations to sinfulness. We would stay lost if it were not for God’s merciful help for us, in finding us and bringing us to Himself.
The Old Testament lesson is Psalm 119:169-176. The Psalmist has written verse after verse, speaking of the greatness of God’s Word and how much he loves and appreciates the Lord and His Word. Yet at the end of this long psalm, the writer still has to cry out for the right “understanding of the Word” and “longs for the Lord’s salvation.” He has to admit that he has “gone astray as a lost sheep,” and needs the Lord to “seek him” and draw him closer to Himself.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 34:11-24. God speaks and promises that “He will search for His sheep and will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Some may neglect His sheep, but the Lord Himself will “seek the lost and bring back the strayed and bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.” There will one great Shepherd, from the line of David, Who will especially “feed His sheep” - our Lord Jesus
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Timothy 1:(5-11) 12-17, Paul sees himself as “the foremost, the chief, of sinners, as a blasphemer and persecutor and opponent” of Christ and Christians. Yet even he received mercy because “Jesus came to save sinners” and if Paul could be saved, anyone can be rescued, by Christ's grace, no matters what we are struggling with or where we are spiritually.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-10, Jesus Himself is being criticized for receiving “sinners” and even showing care for them by “eating with them.” Jesus tells parables of lost sheep and lost coins. If only one is lost, there is still the greatest of care and concern for that one sheep or one coin until it is found and restored. No one can repent and find his own way home. It is the Lord’s doing, by His mercy and forgiveness for the lost, even us. He rejoices over each one of us, who has been brought to faith in Him, through His Word and Baptism and all the good gifts He gives to us.
Last week, we heard Paul saying, so strongly and clearly, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). (See again all of Galatians 5:1-6, too.) If we think that our salvation depends upon our keeping the laws of God well enough, then we are “obligated to keep the whole law,” and that is a command impossible for us to do (Galatians 5:3). Only Jesus could and did do what we cannot do, in our place, for our salvation. We have faith and trust in Him alone and His saving work.
Paul continued to emphasize these same ideas in Galatians 5:7. He pictured the Christian life as a kind of race. The Galatians had been “running well” in trusting Jesus. “Who,” literally, “cut in on you” and thus “hindered” you from following “the truth” in Jesus? Paul asked. He reminded the Galatians that these ideas about circumcision and other laws did not come from the Lord, Who had called them now to faith in Christ Jesus, through the Word of God, the Good News brought by Paul and others (Galatians 5:8).
In fact, Paul said, the ideas about the law were like “a little leaven that leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). “Leaven” is the yeast, the ingredient that makes bread rise, when one is baking. In the Old Testament, God was about to rescue His people from slavery in Egypt, and told them not to put yeast in their bread because they would not have time to wait around for their bread to rise, but would need to leave Egypt very quickly. Every year after, then, God’s people would celebrate “Passover” and eat only unleavened bread at that time. (See Exodus 12-13, and especially Exodus 12:39 and 13:6-9.)
In the New Testament, the Passover remembrance was no longer required, but replaced by Jesus with the miracle of Christ’s “Real Presence” in the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) where unleavened bread is still used by many churches, following what Jesus did and taught. (See, for example, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.)
Also in the New Testament, the mention of “leaven” almost always refers to something bad or evil, that can have a evil influence. See, for example, Matthew 16:11-12, where Jesus warned, “Beware of the leaven of the of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” and His disciples realized that He was talking about the false “teachings” of these religious leaders. See also Paul’s quotation of the same passage in a different context, but with the same warning about “the leaven of malice and evil” instead of “sincerity and truth,” in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
In Galatians 5:9, Paul was warning about the evil influence of the false teachings about all the legal requirements the Galatians still needed to fulfill. These requirements were pulling them away from Jesus Himself and His grace for them. Paul expressed “confidence in the Lord,” though, in Galatians 5:10, that the Galatians would finally listen to his “view” and not that of the most prominent false teacher.
Apparently, from what Paul added in Galatians 5:11, the false teachers were also claiming that Paul was deceiving the Galatians and actually still preached about the need for circumcision and following the old Jewish laws, at least at times. Paul denied that by asking the simple question: If I actually agree with these false teachers, why am I still being persecuted by them and by other Jewish leaders. Why are they so opposed to me? What really offended them, he said, was my preaching “of the cross” - the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, as the promised Savior, the Messiah, to pay for all sins.
The Greek word for “offense” is the word from which we get the English word, “scandal.” It meant a “snare” or “trap” (Psalm 69:22) or something over which one could stumble and fall - a “stumbling block.” See 1 Corinthians 1:23, where Paul wrote, “We preach Christ crucified, a “stumbling block” to Jews (who, instead of being built on Jesus and trusting Him, are offended by Him and stumble over Him and reject Him as the Savior).
Read also Romans 9:31-10:4, where Paul quotes the Old Testament, describing the Promised Savior, Jesus, as “a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense.” Jesus is “Righteousness for everyone who believes” in Him; but too many people, including many Jews, rejected Him and tried to pursue laws and rules “that would lead to righteousness” and wanted to “establish their own” righteousness by their own goodness and obedience to laws. “Christ,” however, “is the end of the law” as a means of salvation, because no one can keep the law well enough all the time.
In Galatians 5:12, Paul spoke very strongly against those who were “unsettling” the Galatians by pulling them away from trust in Christ Jesus and His saving work on the cross and pushing them toward their own efforts to save themselves by being circumcised and trying to follow many other rules - a plan that would never work.
In fact, Paul said, probably with sarcasm, that he almost wished that those insisting on circumcising people, would emasculate, castrate, themselves in the process. He likely used such strong language because there was a pagan cult that originated in Galatia, where people who worshipped the false goddess Cybele would emasculate themselves. Ordinary Galatians would know of this cult and how senseless and useless such “mutilation of the flesh” really was. (See Philippians 3:2-3.)
Likewise, circumcision was worthless and useless, along with following other such rules, as a means to reach salvation. Trusting Christ and His cross and His mighty resurrection for them - that was enough.
We will stop here for today. Next week, we will hear about the proper place for trying to do good in our lives. If we have time, we will talk about how many churches and groups still today are pushing a salvation by works similar to what Paul was fighting against. Keep reading and studying the Word and hearing above all about “Christ crucified” for you and me.
Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Jeremiah 23:16-29
Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3
Luke 12:49-56
Sermon originally delivered August 18, 2013
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 1, describing how blessed the person is who who walks, stands, and sits in his life in the way and Word of the Lord. He is like a healthy tree, nourished and watered by the Lord and producing fruit. In contrast are the wicked, who sin and scoff and are like worthless chaff and will not stand in the day of judgment.
In the Old Testament lesson, Deuteronomy 30:15-20, the Lord also set before His people the way of life and good, and the way of death and evil. God has already called His chosen people and commanded them to love Him and walk in His ways and His commandments. If their hearts turn away, though, and they are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, they shall surely perish. The way of life is rather in loving the Lord their God, obeying Him and His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is their life.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 14:25-35. Jesus asks the crowds of people around Him to count the cost of following Him. He gives them “hard sayings” (John 6:60). Are they willing to “hate” everything else - in the sense of loving Jesus first and foremost, even it means “bearing crosses” on His behalf and renouncing all things and following Him to the “finish”? Are they willing to be “salt” (and “light”) to others and be “useful” for their Lord?
The Epistle lesson is a practical application of what the Gospel and other readings are talking about. Paul is in prison in Rome, suffering (bearing a cross) because he is a follower of Christ. Even there, he writes letters and is useful in encouraging fellow believers with the Word of God. He writes to Philemon, a Christian and a leader in the church in Colossi and sends back to him a runaway slave of his, Onesimus (whose name means “useful”) who has now become a Christian. Paul asks Philemon to treat Onesimus not as a slave, but as a “beloved brother” in Christ, and indirectly, is asking Philemon to consider freeing him and letting him return to Paul and the church in Rome, where he could be very “useful” for the Lord, in being spiritual “salt” and “light” to other people and “refresh people’s hearts in Christ.” What do you think Philemon did? What can you do to be “useful” as a Christian and be “salt” and “light’ to others? (See Matthew 5:13-16.)
Last week, we heard Paul using events from Genesis, a part of the Book of the Law, to explain that the family line of promise would run only through Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac, and not through a son, Ishmael, born against God’s will, through Abraham and Hagar. The coming Savior of the world, Jesus, would be a descendant only of Isaac, as God had promised (Galatians 4:21-31). The emphasis and hope are upon the promises of God and not upon the ability of people to follow and obey God’s laws.
See a similar emphasis in Hebrews 12:18-24, in the New Testament. The coming of the Old Testament Law and the Old Covenant was a fearful event, even though the Law was important (Hebrews 12:18-21). The coming of Jesus and the New Covenant was a joyful event, because it ultimately brought Jesus as the “Mediator” between God and man. Jesus shed His “sprinkled blood” on the cross to make payment for all our sins; and through His perfect life and death for us, we are counted “as the righteous made perfect” through Him, by faith in Him, according to the promises of God (Hebrews 12:22-24). (See the description of Jesus as the Mediator for us and for all, in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, as well.) Our own efforts to keep the Law are not part our being saved, as Paul has been emphasizing throughout his letter to the Galatians.
Here is one more related comment on the idea of using an “allegory” (Galatians 4:23-26). This is the only example of the use of an “allegory” in the Scriptures, and Paul did this as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this. Paul did not question the truth and reliability of the Old Testament events in Genesis and made only the application God intended, with support from other Scriptures.
Unfortunately, later interpreters of the Bible began to find all sorts of other “allegories” in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament and drifted far away from what the Scriptures actually taught. Parts of the Bible became more like Aesop’s fables. Stories, true or not in their view, simply became a way of making a point they wanted to make about our lives and what we should be doing. Many church leaders condemned this kind of use of allegorical interpretation, and conservative Lutheran churches have always been against this, too. So, be very cautious, when people start talking about other allegories in the Bible.
Let’s go back, then, to Galatians 5:1, where Paul makes his application of all that he has been saying to the situation with the Galatians. He wrote, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore” in that truth, “and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul was talking, as the Scriptures do in many other places, about the freedom from the condemnation that our sins and failures bring to us.
See, for example, John 8:31-36. Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). Everyone, including Jews and us, are slaves of sins on our own, and cannot free ourselves. We can only be free from the condemnation of sin if Jesus, the Son of God, forgives us and sets us free, by His saving work. (John 8:31-36).
See also Romans 8:1-4. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul said this earlier in Galatians 3:10-14. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” taking the curse of sin upon Himself and giving us the blessings promised to Abraham, so long ago (Galatians 3:13-14).
All this is accomplished for us already through Jesus, and we are blessed with these gifts as we are simply brought to faith in Jesus and continue to trust in Him, through God’s Holy Spirit. What Paul did not want is that the Galatians would believe the false teaching that they needed to do additional things themselves to be saved - especially to be circumcised. For then they would be slaves again to many more laws and rule of the Old Covenant and new rules that Jews had made up for themselves.
Paul said it very bluntly in Galatians 5:2-4, “If you accept circumcision” as a necessary act on your part for salvation, then “Christ will be of no advantage to you.” For then you would be “obligated to keep the whole law” and “are severed from Christ” and “have fallen away from grace” - the grace of God that can never be earned by our efforts. In effect, you would be saying to Jesus, “You have not done enough to save me, Jesus. I must get circumcised and do many, many other things to earn or merit salvation for myself. Then I will be truly saved, by my additional efforts in obeying these laws.”
Paul already warned about this in Galatians 2:21. He did not want to “nullify the grace of God” by saying that Jesus had failed to do what he needed to do to save us. “For if righteousness were through (our keeping of) the law” - through circumcision and all sorts of other laws and rules - “then Christ died for no purpose.”
We would be saying that Jesus did not do enough for us. We would be saying that we have to add to what He did and thus help pay for our sins ourselves. Then, we would be trusting Jesus, plus ourselves and our efforts for salvation - and what we do would be the crucial part of our ultimate salvation. And we would always be wondering, “Have I done enough? What if I have missed some things? What more must I do?” And we would be left with uncertainty about whether we really are saved or not.
This is the opposite of what the Scriptures say regarding our salvation. Read John 3:16-18. Listen to Ephesians 2:1-10. Note that there is not a word about our efforts contributing to our salvation by our keeping all of God’s laws. Good works are mentioned in Ephesians 2:10, but they are a response to God’s already completed saving work, and we will talk about that in weeks to come.
We can be certain about our salvation and eternal future - not based on our efforts, but entirely upon Jesus and His saving work for us. Read 1 John 5:11-13. Finally, read Galatians 5:5-6. Through the working of God’s Holy Spirit, we live “by faith” in Jesus and “eagerly wait” for the fulfillment of all God’s promises in Him (Galatians 5:5).
If we are in Christ, by faith and His love, it does not matter whether we are circumcised or not (Galatians 5:6). It is Christ who makes the difference for us. Paul is not saying that if baby boys are circumcised for hygienic purposes that they are cut off from Christ. Paul had been circumcised as an infant himself, while he still followed Judaism. Paul had even encouraged a Gentile, Timothy, to be circumcised, simply because it would be easier for him to be accepted and get a fair hearing when he witnessed to Jewish people (Acts 16:1-5). In none of these cases, though, were people required to be circumcised for their personal salvation; nor was it ever taught that people must be circumcised or to follow other such rules in order to be earn or complete their salvation.
This is the key. Christ has already done enough to save us, as we simply trust in Him. We do not need to add anything to what He has done or do further works to earn our salvation. We have certainty, not in ourselves and our efforts in any way, but in Christ Jesus our Savior alone. Read Romans 3:21-24 and 27-28, in closing.
Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 15:1-6
Hebrews 11:1-6
Luke 12:22-34
Sermon originally delivered August 11, 2013
The readings this week cover many topics, but we notice often a call for humility before God and with one another. In the very short Psalm, Psalm 131, David seeks to be humble before the Lord, not with a haughty heart and eyes. Though he is king, he does not focus on things “too great or marvelous for him,” but hopes in the Lord always, and calls us to do the same. A nursing child can be very fussy, but David seeks the Lord’s help to be like a “weaned child,” calmed and quieted” in his soul.
The Old Testament lesson is from Proverbs 25:2-10. Proverbs give us wise advice. We are encouraged to be humble before a king or other “great” people and especially before God, who keeps many things “concealed” that we would never fully understand. We are better off, when there is trouble, first to deal with others, one-to-one, and care about them and not reveal their secrets in a public way, as Jesus also teaches in Matthew 18:15-18.
The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 13:1-17, also gives us much advice about living with “brotherly love” toward others, in the various situations we face in life, and with care for the needy, too. The Lord will be our “Helper” and “will not leave or forsake us.” We are to respect our spiritual leaders, and they are reminded to speak the Word of God to us and “strengthen us with God’s grace” and “watch over our souls.” Above all, we are to remember Jesus Christ, who is “the same, yesterday and today and forever,” and who suffered and died for us, that we might have our sins forgiven “through His own blood.” We “continually praise His Name,” as we await the eternal “city that is to come” in heaven.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 14:1-14, Jesus shows mercy to a man who is ill and heals him in his time of need, even though it is the Sabbath Day. The Pharisees want to condemn Him for breaking their legalistic rules about the Sabbath, but they remain silent, knowing that they do not always follow their own rules. Jesus also taught a parable about being humble and not always pushing for a place of honor. “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God is the one who finally humbles and exalts, in His own wisdom. Jesus teaches about doing good also to those who “cannot repay you,” like the “poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” God calls all people to faith in Him and cares about all.
Last week, we heard of Paul’s very personal concern for the Galatian Christians. The Lord had opened their hearts to believe in the Good News of Jesus as Savior and to being so kind and helpful to Paul, even with the bodily ailment he had. Paul was very concerned, though, that people had quickly turned to “a different Gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7) which was enslaving them in trying to follow laws and regulations from which Christ Jesus had freed them and making them think they must follow these rules in order to have salvation (Galatians 4:8-20).
Paul went on to challenge the Galatians by asking them if they had really ever “listened to the law,” and if they really wanted to be slaves under that law (Galatians 4:21). Paul took the Galatians to what had been written in Genesis 16, 17:15-21, 18:9-15, and 21:1-21. (Remember that for the Jews, Moses was the great lawgiver and that his five books at the beginning of the Old Testament were the most important parts and the summary and essence of all the rest of the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament. So, Paul was taking an important part of what Moses had written, as inspired by God, and asking the Galatians to look at that.)
Turn to Genesis 16. We find out that Abraham and his wife, Sarah, as good and faithful to God as they were, were at times not so good and so faithful. God had clearly promised Abraham a son of his own in Genesis 12 and 15, but Abraham and Sarah became tired of waiting upon God. Sarah told Abraham to go to her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and have a child by her. Abraham did so, and a child, Ishmael, was born.
This was clearly against God’s plan of one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment of marriage. It was clearly also Abraham and Sarah taking things into their own hands instead of trusting God and His plans. Trouble then began right away when they sinned, as Hagar had contempt for Sarah for being barren, and Sarah treated her very harshly in return, and she tried to run away. There was trouble between Abraham and Sarah over all this too (Genesis 16:1-6).
The angel of the Lord sent Hagar back to Sarah and said that her son, Ishmael, would have many of his own descendants; but he would be “a wild donkey of a man,” and many conflicts would follow. Ishmael laughed in contempt of Isaac when he was born, too (Genesis 16:9-15, 21:9). (This trouble did happen, as the Arab nations trace themselves back to Ishmael; and Mohammed said in the Koran that Ishmael was the true child God had spoken of, and that Mohammed was his descendant and the true prophet of God. What conflict there has been, since, between Jews and Arabs, and between Islam and Christianity and others.)
This passage and others (see Genesis 12:10-20, for example) indicate that Abraham was not acceptable to God because he followed the will of God well enough. He failed miserably, at times. He could only be “counted righteous” by faith in God’s mercy and forgiveness and the ultimate Child of Promise, Jesus, and what He would come and do for him and for the world.
Remember how Paul had earlier quoted also from the Book of the Law, Deuteronomy 27:26, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” That would include Abraham (and you and me, too, as being under a curse, for we are all imperfect sinners). So Paul said, “now it is evident that no one is justified before God by keeping the law” (Galatians 3:10-11). Help could only come through Christ and what He did for us all.
Yet as we read on in Genesis 17:15-21, and Genesis 18:10-15, both Abraham and Sarah laughed when some years later God came again and promised that they would have a son, Isaac, born of the two of them, who would be the child promised, the child of the covenant. Abraham still wanted to bring up the birth of Ishmael: “Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you!’” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Genesis 17:18-19). Then, in Genesis 21:8-20, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. God protected them and Ishmael married an Egyptian, but he was not the child of promise.
Go back now to Galatians 4:22-23. Paul summarizes these events in this way: “It is written (in the law of God) that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh” (by the human will and choice of Sarah and Abraham and Hagar) “while the son of the free woman was born through promise” ( by Abraham and Sarah, but through the promise and miracle of God).
Then we have a word that is used only here in the whole Bible: “Now this may be interpreted“ ‘allegorically’” (Galatians 4:24). This is a literal rendering of the actual Greek word. It is a combination of two Greek words: “allos,” which means “other,” and the word “agoreuo,” which means “to speak in a place of public assembly,” an “agora,” a marketplace. What Paul was saying is something “other” than what the literal words say, but with an application that “corresponds with,” is in line with them (Galatians 4:25) and does not change the literal meaning.
The two women represent or typify two covenants. The slave woman, Hagar, represented the old covenant of Mount Sinai, which imposed the Law upon people and kept them enslaved to that law, “imprisoned” and “under a guardian,” as Paul had said earlier (Galatians 3:22-24, 4:24-25).
The city of Jerusalem at the time of Paul was wrapped up in that slavery to the many laws and rules of Judaism. The city was focused on human effort and activity, like the human effort that produced Ishmael. Paul knew and lived in that slavery himself, until he was set free by Christ.
In contrast, the child of Sarah, Isaac, came through the promises and working of God. This represents the “Jerusalem above,” the freedom of those who are children of God, not by their own efforts, but by the working of God Himself, who are “born according to the Spirit of God” (Galatians 4:23,26,28.29). It is the children of the free woman who will inherit the promises of God - those who live in the freedom and love of Christ the Savior. The children of the slave woman will lose out, because they are still living in slavery to themselves and their own attempts to earn God’s favor by their works (Galatians 4:30, 31, and 5:1).
Paul added two more thoughts. He quoted an Old Testament passage, Isaiah 54:1, which predicted the fall of Jerusalem in future days. God’s people would look like barren Sarah at that time, waiting for deliverance. As Sarah was finally blessed with a child, so God’s people would be blessed through the promises of God and be free people again, by God’s work and mercy. There would be times of persecution where the Jews of old Jerusalem and the law would persecute the free children of God, in Christ, “as it is now,” Paul added (Galatians 4:27-29). But Christ has set us free, and we will be free and hopeful people, in Him, as He helps us avoid the “yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
This is a long, hard presentation in just a few verses. We’ll have a few more comments next week and then move on to Galatians 5, where Paul emphasizes again how important what he is saying really is for us all.
Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Ezekiel 36:25-27
Colossians 2:6-9, 12-14, 16-19
Matthew 28:16-20
Sermon originally delivered August 4, 2013
The Psalm is Psalm 50, written by Asaph, a Levite working with music and song before the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. Asaph is inspired to speak of God the Lord summoning His people for judgment. There are “faithful ones.” But He will not accept the offerings of others, who think they are earning God’s favor by what they do for God. He does not need their animal sacrifices, as He is the owner of all things. Rather, He wishes that they “glorify Him” and offer “sacrifices of thanksgiving” in gratefulness for God’s “deliverance” of them in times of trouble, when they call upon Him” in faith.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 66:18-23. God predicts a time when “His glory will be declared among the nations,” and people will come in faith to Him from “all nations,” no matter their “languages.” This will be the greatest “offering” to Him, as they worship Him forever in “the new heavens and the new earth that He makes for them.” (See the fulfillment of prophecy like this in Revelation 21:1-8.)
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 13:22-30, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus simply says that the important thing is “to enter through the narrow door.” There are not many roads and doors that lead to heaven. In another place Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep… I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved” (John 10:7,9). Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Many people will lose out because they do not trust in Jesus and they wait too long to come to faith, until the door is already shut. Sadly, Jesus predicts that many of His fellow Jews will resist and reject Jesus as the Savior. On the other hand, many people from every direction, from all over the world, will come to faith in Jesus.
The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 12:4-24 (25-29), written at a time when persecution of Christians was increasing and temptations to leave behind the faith were many. As a father needs to discipline his children at times, so the Lord needs to discipline us, “for our good,” and to help us, so that we can “lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees” and follow in the way of “the grace of God” in Christ. We are not motivated by fearful sights and sounds and Words of Law, as at Mount Sinai long ago. Rather, we are motivated by the hope of “the heavenly Jerusalem” through the saving work of “Jesus, the Mediator of a New Covenant,” and “the sprinkled blood” of Jesus, shed at the cross, that speaks of God’s love and forgiveness. We may be “shaken” by trials in this life, but we keep listening to our Lord and “are grateful for receiving an (eternal) kingdom that cannot be shaken” and “keep worshiping our Lord Jesus with reverence and awe.”
Last week, we heard Paul saying again that God’s Law has important functions, but that we can never be saved by trying to do what it says well enough. That is an impossible task, except for Jesus, who did it all perfectly in our place. Now, no matter who we are, we can be “Abraham’s (spiritual) offspring, heirs” of eternal life, and “sons,” children of God, “through God” and “by faith” in what he has done for us through the saving work of His Son, Jesus Christ. All this is ours, personally, “through faith” that God gives us, through His Word and promises and the gift of baptism (Galatians 3:23-4:7).
Beginning with Galatians 4:8, Paul reminded the Galatians of what they had been before they “came to know God.” They had been “enslaved” to false ideas and to what are “not gods,” though they thought they were gods. (Read, for example, Acts 14:6-18, where Paul had earlier gone to Lystra, in Galatia, and had preached the “Gospel” of Jesus and also healed a man “crippled from birth.” The people were so amazed that they thought Barnabas was the god, Zeus, and Paul was the god, Hermes, as “the chief speaker.” Even the “priest of Zeus” wanted to offer sacrifices to them, as gods. Paul had to try to convince them that he was an ordinary man, but was proclaiming the One True "living God who made all things.”)
In Galatians 4:9, Paul reminded the Galatians of how they “had come to know God” - or as Paul said, “rather, to be known by God.” (See how Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 and in 1 Corinthians 13:12.) He is emphasizing that the Galatians had come to true faith in Jesus; but that did not happen by their own work or effort. God Himself had known them and loved them and brought them to that faith in Him, by His grace.
Skip ahead to Galatians 4:12-15. Paul also reminded the Galatians of how open and kind and helpful they had been in accepting him and his good news in Christ, even though he had “a bodily ailment” when he was “preaching the Gospel to them at first.” We don’t know exactly what this bodily ailment was. Some think that Paul had malaria and needed time to recuperate in the better climate of Galatia and so came there to preach, even in his weakness. Others think that Paul had eye problems and that is why Galatians 4:15 says that the people would have been willing, if it were possible and would help, to gouge their eyes out and give them to Paul to use. Still others point to Acts 14:15-23, where Paul was stoned and left for dead by crowds stirred up by Jewish enemies of Paul. It was surely a miracle that Paul could still get up and go on with his ministry in Galatia, though he must have looked very bruised and beaten. He was a living example of what he was preaching, “encouraging the people to continue in the faith” in Jesus, even though there might be “many tribulations” in their lives before “entering the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:20-22).
Whatever the situation, Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians 4:14, “Though my condition was a trial for you, you did not scorn or despise me, but you received me as an angel of God,” as His messenger, almost as if Christ Jesus Himself was speaking to them. The people had “felt so blessed” to hear this Good News of salvation earned by Jesus and given to them by God’s grace through faith.
Because of all this, Paul was surprised and “perplexed” (Galatians 4:20) that the Galatians had so quickly listened to the false teachers who came by. These teachers were clever, as “they made much of” the Galatians and must have flattered them, but “for no good purpose” (Galatians 4:17). They were offering new ideas, but actually taking away the Galatians’ freedom and hope in Christ alone and enslaving them in another way, not a slavery to unreal Greek and Roman gods, but slavery to worldly Jewish rules and regulations which the Judaizers, the false teachers, said they must follow if they really wanted to be saved (Galatians 4:9).
Paul knew exactly what this meant, because he had been enslaved to these sorts of Jewish laws and rules himself, before he became a Christian. Circumcision was absolutely required for all males. The Sabbath Day, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, had to be followed strictly, with no work allowed and many other limitations. Festivals like Passover and the Day of Atonement had to be followed. There were years like the year of Jubilee and on and on.
That is what Paul was referring to when he said, “You observe days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:10). He said to the Galatians, “Brothers, I entreat you, became as I am” - free from all these rules and regulations as a necessary means for obtaining salvation (Galatians 4:12). Paul had Christ Jesus as His Savior, and that was enough.
Paul was afraid that he might have “labored over the Galatians in vain.” That is why he had to tell the Galatians “the truth” again and again in this letter, even if he seemed like an “enemy” of some. (Galatians 4:11-14).. Christ Jesus’ completed work was enough for salvation. Paul wanted the Galatians to be sure about that key truth again. He knew that only God could bring faith and new life to people, so that they become “His little children.”
But Paul also wished that he could be an instrument by which “Christ might be formed" more strongly in the Galatians and in other people, too (Galatians 4:19). That would happen by God’s Word and promises, centered in Jesus, though, and not by Jewish rules and regulations.
Next week, we will hear of another example of the difference between Gospel promises and Jewish law; and we will think about what an “allegory” really is. The Lord’s continued blessings.
Sermon for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 18:20-33
Colossians 2:6-19
Luke 11:1-13
Sermon originally delivered July 28, 2013
The Scriptures this week are challenging because they speak of the “fiery” challenges we may face at times in our lives because many are opposed to God and His will and will be a challenge to us, too
The Psalm is Psalm 119:81-88, at the very middle of this long psalm praising God and the blessings of His Word. The psalmist admits that he has “persecutors,” “insolent“ people who are against God and His Word and Law and therefore oppose him, too, with “falsehood.” The psalmist feels as worn and shriveled as a “wineskin in the smoke” above a hot fire. Yet he “hopes in God’s Word” and prays that he may faithfully “keep the testimonies of the mouth of the Lord.
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 23:16-29. The Lord sees many so-called prophets around Jeremiah, “who speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” They create many problems and much confusion for people with their lies. The Lord commands Jeremiah to keep speaking the truth. “Let him who has my Word speak my Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? Is not my Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” That powerful Word of God needs to be shared, even in the midst of opposition.
Jesus is “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 8:9, John 14:27). Yet in our Gospel lesson, Luke 12:49-53 (54-56), Jesus says that He has come to bring “fire” and “division” on the earth. He does not wish that, but knows that many will oppose Him and His believers and that a “baptism” of “distress” and suffering is coming for Him, as He dies on the cross to pay the penalty for all sins. Sadly, people can predict the weather from signs in the earth and sky, but too many cannot see and believe that Jesus is the Promised Savior, coming to rescue people.
The Epistle lesson continues a reading from last week from Hebrews - Hebrews 11:17-31 (32-40) 12:1-3. We hear of more people who lived “by faith” in God’s promises, from Abraham and his descendants to Moses to David and the prophets, and so many more. “Some were tortured. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.” They kept the faith and will have life, yet did not see the ultimate fulfillment in “Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith.” We can “run with endurance the race set before us,” too, with our eyes on Jesus, who “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The alternate Gospel reading for St. James, Revelation 21:1-8, reminds believers in Christ that they, and we, too, will enjoy eternal life with Him. Though there will be sorrows and trials in this life, in heaven there will “not be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore” and those opposed to God will be in “the lake of fire” and will not trouble the children of God any longer.
Last week, we heard Paul teaching again that our only hope for life, now and forever, is in the promises of God in Jesus Christ, brought by faith to those who believe in Him. The Law is important, but in showing us that everything, including us, is imprisoned under sin because of our inherited “original sin” and our own failure to keep all of that Law as we should. There is no Life in the Law - only a recognition of our sinfulness and our need for a Savior (Galatians 3:21-22).
Paul used similar terms for what the Law does in Galatians 3:23-24. He said that people were confined, held “captive,” “imprisoned” under the law, until the “coming faith would be revealed” in Christ. He said that the Law was like our “guardian until Christ came” and we could be “justified,” counted righteous, simply “by faith” in Him and what He did for us.
Twice Paul used a term that means “a leader of a child.” We get our English word, “pedagogue,” a teacher, from this Greek word. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, though, the word meant something more like a “guardian” for a child, until he comes of age, with more adult responsibilities. See Paul’s comments a little later, in Galatians 4:1-2, about a child who is an “heir,” but is under guardianship and is little different from a “slave” until “the date set by his father” to receive his privileges as a son. A Greek dictionary defines such a “guardian,” as “usually a slave, whose duty it was to conduct the boy or youth to and from school and to superintend his conduct” - to try to keep him out of trouble and care about his physical well-being and give him a sense of right and wrong, for his own good.
The Law serves such purposes for us, too, as a sort of guardian for us. Our Lutheran catechism for children (and all of us) says that the Law of God primarily serves as a “mirror,” showing us our sins and our need for Christ. But it also serves as a “curb,” with warnings and judgments for us if we “jump the curb” and, in doing so, hurt or harm ourselves and others, by going where we don’t belong and doing what we shouldn’t do. The Law also serves as “a ruler,” showing us “the straight and narrow way” that is best for us and others and will do good - and reminding us that we sin even by neglecting to do the good that we should do.
Do you think that children of old always did what their “guardians” wanted them to do? Do you think the guardians themselves were perfect and always led in the right way? If you look in the mirror of God’s Law and compare it with the way our world looks or the way our own country looks or the way we ourselves look these days, how are we doing? All of us fall very far short of God’s expectations. The Law is about what we are to do, and we are not doing so well. The Law of God does not give us hope and comfort. When we really listen to it, we are also forced to say, with the tax collector in Luke 18:13, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
That is why Paul, in Galatians 3:25-26, then takes us back to the Gospel, the Good News of what God has done for us and continues to do. There is our hope. Paul writes, to the Galatians and to us, “Now that faith has come,” that faith brought to us by Christ Jesus, “we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, we “are all sons of God,” children of God, “by faith.” While we were still enslaved in sin, following the sinful “principals of this world,” and not keeping the Law as we should, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” of God, children of God (Galatians 4:3-5).
It was by the coming of Christ Jesus and His perfect life, keeping all the Law in our place, and His death on the cross in payment for our sins, in our place, and His resurrection from the dead for us, that we “are no longer a slave, but a son, a child of God, and if a son, also an heir” of all that God promised (Galatians 4:7). Paul also added that this was all “through God” and all His grace and mercy for us (Galatians 4:7).
And how did we personally receive all these promises earned for us by Christ Jesus? Paul writes in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” God the Holy Spirit has also been at work, through the Word of God and that Word connected with water in baptism to bring us the gift of faith in the one true Triune God. We have Christ in us, and the Holy Spirit, too (see Galatians 4:6), and we are enabled to cry out in faith, “Abba, Father” - trusting our “Father, dear Father” as His dear children.
These are promises for all of us, as we are brought to faith and baptism. For our salvation, it does not matter if we are “Jew or Greek” or any other nationality. It does not matter if we are “slave or free.” It does not matter if we are “male or female”. We are “all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). And, Paul adds, “If we are Christ’s, then we are offspring (descendants by faith)) of Abraham, heirs according to promise, counted righteous in God’s eyes, simply by faith in our Savior, Jesus (Galatians 3:29).
Notice again that there is not a word in all that Paul has written about our good works somehow contributing to our salvation. It is not faith plus works, but faith alone that saves, as the gift of God’s grace. Paul wants the Galatians and us to know that as clearly as possible, and so he keep repeating the Gospel hope we have in Jesus.
The Lord’s continued blessings to you all, as you live confidently by faith in Him.
Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 18:1-14
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
Sermon originally delivered July 21, 2013
The Scripture readings for this week encourage us to live by faith and trust in our Lord’s promises and His love for us and what he has done for us in Christ.
The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 15:1-6, where God renewed His promise to Abraham to give him many offspring, many descendants, even though he and his wife were still childless. It was difficult for Abraham, but the Lord strengthened his faith, and we hear, “He believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” He was counted righteous, not by his own good works, but by faith in God’s promises and work for him, including the eventual coming of the Savior, Jesus.
The Epistle lesson is part of the “By Faith” Chapter in Hebrews 11:1-16. We have a long list of people in the Scriptures who lived "by faith” in God and the power of His Word and promises, from the Creation onward, including Abraham. Faith is defined as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We have the great privilege of knowing from Scripture about Jesus and His saving work already done for us, unlike those who lived beforehand and “greeted these promises from afar” (Hebrews 11:13).
Jesus speaks to us all in the Gospel lesson, Luke 12:22-34 (35-40), encouraging us to trust in our Heavenly Father and in Him, even about the everyday challenges we face. Jesus reminds us that worry and anxiety won’t accomplish anything. God knows what we need, and if we “seek His kingdom,” He will take care of the rest, as He knows best. Above all, He has already given us the promise of His Kingdom through Christ and by His grace, His “good pleasure.” He promises that He will return for us, one unknown day, and we need only to be ready and waiting for Him, “by faith.”
The Psalm is Psalm 33:12-22 and the Psalmist speaks about concerns we all have, about leaders and nations and sometimes their misplaced trust in themselves and their power and their wisdom, instead of trusting the Lord. The Psalmist assures us that Lord is watching, though it may not look like it, and as “we wait for the Lord” and “hope in Him,” His “steadfast love will be upon us.”
The alternate Gospel lesson used at St. James is John 20:11-18, as we hear that Jesus conquered death with His mighty resurrection, and showed Himself alive to Mary near the tomb. If Jesus could rise from the dead, He surely could take care of everything else He promised. With joy, Mary then went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” We can tell of the hope we have in Christ, too.
Last week we heard that our attempts to be acceptable to God by keeping His law put us under a curse, because we never come close to doing everything as we should. Our hope is not in our efforts, but in Christ, who “redeemed us from the curse of the law,” by taking on Himself all sins and “becoming a curse for us,” and paying the penalty for all our sins, in our place (Galatians 3:10-14).
Paul then continued to emphasize the difference between the Gospel promises of God, given to Abraham, and the Laws given 430 years later to Moses and God’s people at Mt. Sinai. Paul used a "human example” of a "man-made covenant” or agreement - for example, a Last Will and Testament that someone makes. Various promises are made about money and property and who will be given these things. Once that will is prepared and signed, it cannot be added to or changed by anyone other than the author of the will. Everything will finally be revealed at the time of death (Galatians 3:15).
This is in a sense what God did, Paul said, when He made the covenant of promise to Abraham, when He first called Abraham in Genesis 12. God promised that He would make of Abraham “a great nation” and He promised, “In you (in your seed, in your offspring) all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3, Galatians 3:16).
Paul went on to point out that in the original language, the word for “seed” or “offspring” was singular, not plural. One particular offspring of Abraham would be a blessing to all families on earth; and Paul identified that offspring, that descendant, to be “Christ“ Jesus (Galatians 3:14,16). What Abraham believed in Genesis 15:6, was that God would keep His promise and give Abraham that great nation, and give from that nation a particular descendant who would bless all nations. In effect, Abraham was ultimately believing in the coming Christ Jesus, and by that faith, Abraham was counted righteous in God’s eyes.
Paul also pointed out, in Romans 4:9-10, that Abraham was “counted righteous” by faith before, not after, he was circumcised. The call to to be circumcised came later, in Genesis 17, so circumcision itself had nothing to do with Abraham’s being called righteous. In fact, Paul explained in Romans 4:11-12 that circumcision was “a seal of the righteousness that he (already) had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” “The purpose,” Paul said, “was to make him the father of all who believe” - whether they were circumcised or not - “so that righteousness would be counted to them all by faith” in God’s promises, not by circumcision itself.
Back in Galatians 3:17, Paul also reminded the Galatians that the 10 Commandments and other laws were not given until 430 years later (see Exodus 12:40), when God led His people out of Egypt, through Moses, and brought them to Mt. Sinai. There, God blessed them and said He loved them and had already rescued them from slavery in Egypt, by His own care and mercy. (See Exodus 20:1-2 and Deuteronomy 33:1-4.) Only then did God give them His commandments and other laws.
Paul was saying that the Law was important, but it was not a way of earning God’s favor and salvation. In Galatians 3:17, Paul made it clear that the Law did not “annul” the covenant of promise that God had already “ratified” through Abraham. The “inheritance,” the blessings of God, would still come by God’s promise, given to Abraham and fulfilled finally in the descendant, Christ Jesus, and not by keeping new laws which would make the promises of God “void.” For, Paul said, “if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise” (Galatians 3:18).
Why then the Law? Why was it given? It was not given to save us, by our obedience to it. Rather, Paul said, “it was added because of transgressions,” until the offspring, our Lord Jesus, would come, to whom and through whom the promise of God had been made and would be fulfilled (Galatians 3:19). The Law’s primary purpose was to show us and the whole world our transgressions, our sins, and that we could never be good enough in God’s eyes by our own efforts (Romans 3:19-20, 23).
Paul even went so far as to say in Romans 5:20 that “the Law came in to increase the trespass” - not that God wants sin to increase, but that we would have increasing knowledge of how great our own sins are, as we compare our lives with God’s standard, His Law. Then we stop trying to trust our own good works and efforts and know how much we need a Savior, that Offspring from Abraham, our Lord Jesus. There are other purposes of the Law, but this is the primary one, showing us how serious and hopeless our sinful condition is, left on our own.
Paul ends this section of his letter by talking about intermediaries and mediators. There is mention in the Scriptures that when the Law was given, angels were involved in some way. (See Deuteronomy 33:1-4, Acts 7:38, Hebrews 2:2, etc.) But even with all these angels around, we humans still do not always do what the law says.
Stephen preached, “You who received the Law, as delivered by angels, did not keep it” (Acts 7:53). In fact, “God is one," Paul says (Galatians 3:20). No sinful human being can mediate with God and help himself or any other person. (See Psalm 49:7-9.) Only God Himself can help us - and He does so in the person of His Son, who became man, that perfect Offspring, and did His saving work for us.
The Law is not contrary to the Gospel, the promise of God in Christ, Paul concluded. We need both, but they serve different purposes. There is no Law that can “give us life”(Galatians 3:21). Rather, the “Scripture” that is Law shows us that we and everything else are “imprisoned under sin” and cannot rescue ourselves by our own works and efforts.
We are driven by the Law, therefore, to Christ alone and what He has earned for us and gives us: “the promise by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe,” including us (Galatians 3:22). We, along with Abraham, are counted as righteous simply by God’s promise and His gift of faith, given to us in Christ (Galatians 3:22).
That is what Paul wanted the Galatians, and us today, to believe. Being circumcised or keeping other old laws and rules cannot save us, in spite of what false teachers say. We are saved only by God’s grace, through the gift of faith that Jesus gives to us, through His Spirit, working in His Word and Sacraments.
The Lord’s blessings to you all, in the promises of God in Christ Jesus.
Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Leviticus 18:1-5; 19:9-18
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon originally delivered July 14, 2013
The Scripture readings for this week cause us to think about our lives and what we are really focusing on as important. The Psalm is Psalm 100. The author is filled with joy, gladness, singing, thanksgiving, praise, and blessing, as he enters God’s house, because he remembers the goodness and steadfast love of God, who created His people and continues to care for them as His precious sheep.
In contrast, in Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, and 2:18-26, the author of Ecclesiastes, most likely Solomon, is cynical and sees, even as king, a lot of “unhappy business” and vanity in life, like trying to catch the wind. He works hard and yet what he has built might go to someone who is a fool. There is much sorrow, and his heart cannot find rest. Yet he knows that only the hand of God can give him enjoyment and wisdom, as he seeks again to trust in and please Him.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 12:13-21, Jesus warns about “covetousness” and focusing on the “abundance of one’s possessions.” He then tells a parable of a rich man who finally thinks he has “ample goods laid up for many years” and can just relax and enjoy himself. He was a “fool,” for he died that very night. “So it is,” Jesus said, for anyone who “lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
How can we be “rich toward God?” Our Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:1-11 tells us that by “setting our minds” on “Christ, who is our life” and our guarantee of our eternal future in heaven. Even in this life, “Christ is all and in all” believers, and He can help us live with our “new self” in Him and battle the old, sinful things in our lives that are hurtful to us and others, as we await His “appearance in glory.”
The alternative Gospel lesson, for St. James, is Luke 23:26, 32-46, where we hear of how God’s plan of salvation was completed for us by the work of Christ on the cross. He prayed for the forgiveness of all our sins and earned that forgiveness for us by His sacrificial death in our place. Then, because His mighty resurrection was coming, He could also promise to the criminal and to all us who trust in Him, “You will be with me in Paradise.”
As last week’s study closed, Paul quoted from Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Galatians 3:6). What does that mean? What Paul wrote later in his Letter to the Romans, Chapter 4, helps us to understand, as he quoted the same passage there, in Romans 4:3, and then commented that someone who works for wages expects to be paid. His wages are not a gift, but are what is due to him or her. He has earned that pay (Romans 4:4).
In contrast, in the spiritual realm, with regard to salvation, a person should not try to earn salvation by doing good works, but simply “believe or trust in Him (God) who justifies the ungodly.” That “faith or trust is counted as righteousness” for people, no matter who they are (Romans 4:5).
What Paul says here just does not sound right to our human reason and way of thinking in this world. It used to be said, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” The common perception is that you only get what you have earned and deserved and paid for. (That thinking may be changing, in a culture where people think they deserve a break and deserve more and more for themselves, regardless of their actions. But in general, people still think they should work and earn for themselves in some way if they are capable of doing so.)
In the spiritual realm with God, that will not work, Paul is saying. Go back to Galatians 3, verse 10. Paul writes, “All who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them.’” This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 27:26, and in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, there is a long list of curses and judgments coming even for God’s Old Testament people of Israel if they sinned and rebelled against God’s will. And from what we just read, they would have to do it all correctly to be acceptable to God.
This is a message found throughout the Bible. See, for example, James 2:10-11: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.’”
See also what Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-28. Who of us has never broken these commandments of God, in the ways that Jesus says are still sins? Hear also what is said in James 3:2: “For we all stumble (sin) in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect person, able to bridle his own body.” Who among us is really that perfect?
See also the story in Mark 10:17-22, where a man asks Jesus what he must do “to inherit eternal life.” Jesus talked about keeping the commandments and then challenged the man about wise use of his “great possessions,” showing him that he was trusting in possessions too much, instead of trusting God. The disciples, who seemed to think that it was always a sign of blessing and favor with God to be very wealthy, asked Jesus, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus answered very bluntly, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God” (Mark 10:23-27). Imagine that! It is impossible for us to be saved by our efforts and work to please God, no matter how hard we try.
That is exactly what Paul was trying to teach the Galatian Christians as he wrote to them. If they listened to and followed the false teachers, who had given them a bunch of new laws to follow to be a "genuine" Christian, then they were doomed. They would have to keep all these laws perfectly. One failure - and they were unacceptable and condemned as sinners. And who is perfect? No one, according to God’s standard, if they tried to please God by the good things they did. (See Matthew 5:48.)
So Paul said, in Galatians 3:11, “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by (keeping) the law,” because the law says, “The one who does them shall live by them” (Leviticus 18:5, Galatians 3:11-12). And who does that, all the time?
Paul is saying that we need to give up on trying to save ourselves by our good works and efforts. That will never work. We need to trust God and what he can do for us, for as Jesus said, “With God, nothing is impossible,” for our salvation (Mark 10:27). Or as the Genesis quotation said, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Galatians 3:6). Abraham was declared and counted as a righteous man simply by faith, by believing God Himself and His promises, and not by doing his own works of the law.
And this was a promise not just for Abraham, but for all people who live by faith in God and especially in the work done for us by Christ Jesus. His work saved us, not our work. Paul said, “Know then that it those of faith who are the sons of Abraham,” as well. For God was preaching this Good News, this Gospel, to all people, including non-Jews, when he said to Abraham, “In you, (in your descendant, Jesus) shall all the nations be blessed” (Galatians 3:8). “So then,” Paul said, “those who are of faith (in Jesus) are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:9, 12-14).
Trusting in Jesus and His saving work is enough, Paul is emphasizing. Everyone who trusts in Him is counted as righteous. That is true of the Galatian Christians and that is true of us, as well. Any sin of ours curses us, but Jesus has “redeemed us” (paid the price to rescue us) “from the curse of the law.” What good news for us all!
There is much more that Paul says, in Galatians and Romans, about this, and we will continue on in weeks ahead. Keep reading in Galatians and Romans 4, if you have time. The Lord’s blessings! And keep hoping in Christ alone and what He has done for you!
Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 66:10-14
Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18
Luke 10:1-20
Sermon originally delivered July 7, 2013
The Scriptures this week encourage us to pray with confidence as we approach our Lord in our prayers. The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 18: (17-19) 20-33. The Lord had revealed that He would destroy the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham hoped to have his nephew, Lot, and family spared, though they lived in Sodom.
Abraham asks if it is fair to destroy the righteous with the wicked and bargains with God in prayer about how many righteous people there need to be for the city to be spared. He gets the number down to 10 righteous people, as God is very patient and merciful to him. Sadly, there are not even 10, and we hear later that the cities are both destroyed, but God in His mercy does save Lot and his two daughters, as angels drag them out of Sodom (Genesis 19).
The Psalm is Psalm 138. David knows that God is full of “steadfast love and faithfulness.” God’s Word is true, so he can call upon Him and trust His “ways.” He remembers not only to ask in prayer, but to thank the Lord again and again. David says, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me” with His everlasting love.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 11:1-13, a disciple asks Jesus to teach His followers to pray. As He had already done (see Matthew 6:9-12) Jesus taught again a portion of what we call the Lord’s Prayer, the model prayer for our own praying. We pray to our heavenly Father (v.2,13), glorifying His Name and His Kingdom, and asking Him to keep on giving us what we need, day by day, and giving us the greatest gift, the forgiveness of our sins. As we are forgiven, we ask help to forgive one another and to have help in avoiding and battling temptation. Jesus then teaches us to be persistent and almost “impudent” (shameless) in asking and seeking and knocking in prayer, as little children sometimes do with parents, “Daddy, daddy, mommy, can we?… can we?” As parents who love our children, we try to do the best for them, but we often fail and are “evil,” with a sinful nature. Our heavenly Father gives us the great gift of the Holy Spirit, who brings us to faith in Jesus through the Word and baptism, and seeks to keep us in that faith, through Word and Sacrament.
The Epistle continues readings from Colossians - this week, Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19). When we were “dead in our trespasses…" God made us alive in Christ and forgave us all those sins and cancelled the record of all our wrongs and indebtedness toward Him. All our failings have been “nailed to the cross” along with Christ and forgiven by His death and resurrection for us. We now “abound in thanksgiving” in our prayers and ask the Lord to help us “walk in faith” in Christ and “hold fast to the Head,” our heavenly Father, and “grow with the growth” that comes only from Him.
The alternate Gospel reading for St. James is Matthew 4:3-11, the story of the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness. Where God’s Old Testament people failed in the wilderness and we have failed in our own lives, Jesus did everything right and followed His Father’s will in a perfect way, here and throughout His life. He knew and trusted the Word of God and used it to battle the devil and win victory for us. “Jesus then preached the Kingdom of God” and how we can enter it only through faith in Him, as a gift, and what he has perfectly done for us.
Last week, we heard Paul laying the foundation for all he would now say to the Galatian Christians. He reminded them that no one, Jew or Gentile (non-Jew), could be declared “righteous” by works of the law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ, by the grace of God. The Jerusalem Council had clearly said that, and Paul knew that was true from what Christ Himself had revealed to him.
He could not “rebuild” a salvation based also on additional works of the law. In fact, he had died to his old life, centered in the law; and Christ, the Son of God, loved him and was crucified for him and now lived in him. If Christ had not done enough for him and he had to add to what Jesus did, then he would be saying that Christ had died for no real purpose, or at least did not accomplish enough fully to save people (Galatians 2:14-21).
As Chapter 3 of his letter began, Paul made some strong statements about the Galatians and gave a series of questions to make them think. He first called them “foolish” in their thinking. Jesus had used the same term for those who would not believe that He had to die for them and rise again, according to God’s saving plan revealed in the Old Testament (Luke 24:25-27). On another occasion, Paul would say that this plan to save by Christ’s death and resurrection might seem like “foolishness” to skeptical Jews who wanted more signs and proofs and to Greeks and other Gentiles who thought that their own human wisdom was superior to this “foolish” plan. In spite of that, Paul simply did what he was to do and preached “Christ and Him crucified” before the eyes of the Galatians (Galatians 3:1). (See also 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:2.)
Paul had spoken the simple truth to the Galatians. He had likely used, in his teaching, the story found in Numbers 21:4-9, when God’s people had rebelled against Him and poisonous snakes were beginning to bite them, and they were dying. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. If the people would look on that bronze serpent, they would live and not die, even if bitten.
Jesus then used this story in teaching Nicodemus in John 3:13-14 that He, the Son of Man, would be lifted up on the pole of the cross, that “whoever believes in Him” and his saving death and resurrection “would have eternal life” (Galatians 3:1). (See also John 3:16-18.).
It was the false teachers, the Judaizers, who had later come and “bewitched” the Galatians by adding additional requirements that they supposedly needed to do for "real" salvation. What Jesus did was not enough, these false teachers were claiming, and the Galatians were believing these additional ideas of what was really needed for salvation.
Paul then asked the Galatians to think back to when they first came to faith. Was it by Paul having them do a bunch of “works of the Old Testament law?” Or was it by the Holy Spirit working simply through what they had heard about Jesus and bringing them to believe in Him and, as we will hear later, receiving the gift of baptism? The Galatians would hopefully not have been “so foolish” as to have forgotten that they came to faith by the Spirit’s power, through the Word of God about Jesus (Galatians 3:2). (See again the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1-3 and 2:8-10, 12, and 14. See also 1 Corinthians 12:2-3.)
Paul went on to ask, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). The Galatians would remember, reminded by Paul, that they had come to believe through the message about Jesus by the miracle of faith that the Holy Spirit had worked in them and by some other miracles that happened, even though there was persecution from Jewish groups, especially aimed at Paul and any who followed him (Galatians 3:4-5).
See also Acts 14, again, where the joys of people coming to faith in Galatia are described, along with “signs and wonders” by the Spirit’s power, and some severe persecution at times. All along, though, Paul and others “preached the Gospel… strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:3, 19, 21-22).
Notice that more than once, Paul contrasts “hearing with faith” and “works of the law.” He clearly focuses on “hearing” the Good News of Jesus and trusting Him as the way to salvation - and not our doing many other “works of the law” in addition. He asks the Galatian believers if they feel they are now “being perfected by the flesh.” The “flesh” means our own human nature, in the Scriptures, and often is a reminder that our nature is a fallen, sinful human nature, ever since Adam and Eve’s fall into sin.
Paul is asking, do you think that your nature is being perfected by the new rules and regulations being required by the Judaizers, including being circumcised? Do you think that you are more likely to be saved by doing all these additional things? Getting the people to think about all this will hopefully get people ready for what Paul will be discussing next.
Paul ended this section by quoting one more Scripture, from Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” He will say much more about this passage in what we look at next week, in its context in Genesis. On what basis was he “counted” as a righteous man? Why is this important? What would this mean for non-Jews who came to believe, also? Finally, what does Paul mean when he says that “those of faith are also sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7).
Keep reading ahead, if you have time, for more understanding. The Lord’s blessings on your week.
Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
1 Kings 19:9b-21
Galatians 5:1,13-25
Luke 9:51-62
Sermon originally delivered June 30, 2013
The Scriptures this week remind us to keep listening to the Word of God. That is also a key reason for regular worship - to hear and receive that Word. The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 18:1-10a, (10b-14). Abraham and Sarah had been promised a child from the Lord, from whose line of descendants all people would be blessed - through the coming of Jesus. Years went by and nothing happened. Abraham and Sarah seemed to ignore God’s Word and tried to provide a child by their own ideas and power. When the Lord came again, with two angels, and renewed the promise of a child, Sarah laughed at what seemed impossible, as Abraham himself had done a year earlier (Genesis 17:17). Yet the Lord fulfilled His Word to them, and Isaac was born.
In the psalm, Psalm 27:(1-6) 7-14, David knows that the Lord is “his Light and his salvation.” He prays that he may always be able to come to “the house of the Lord” to “seek the face of the Lord” and be “taught” by Him. He encourages all of us: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 10:38-42, Jesus comes to the home of Martha and Mary. Martha is very busy in preparing to serve Jesus, but Mary just sits and listens to Jesus. Martha is upset with her sister. Jesus reminded her (and us) very simply, “Martha, you are anxious and troubled by many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” May we take time to listen to the Word, too!
The Epistle lesson continues a reading from Colossians 1:21-29. Paul encourages early Christians to “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard.” The Gospel centers in Christ and what He has done for us and His continuing to live in us, as the Hope for our future glory in heaven. “Him we proclaim,” Paul says. He and His Word are what we need to keep hearing about.
The alternate Gospel reading being used at St. James is Matthew 3:13-17. The One promised from the line of Abraham and Sarah is Jesus, as clearly proclaimed at His baptism. The Triune God is at work. Jesus was being baptized to “fulfill all righteousness” - to do everything needed by us, but in a perfect way, for which we get the credit and blessing. The Father spoke from heaven and said of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Are we always pleasing to God? Obviously not!. Yet we get the credit for what Jesus did, in our place.) The Father repeated the same thing at the transfiguration of Jesus. He added the message of our readings today: “Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5)! May we keep listening! The Holy Spirit also came upon Jesus in the form of a dove to strengthen Him for His ministry and to battle temptations coming and for dealing with the cross He would later bear in our place, that we might be forgiven and counted acceptable to Him.
Last week, we heard of Paul’s confrontation with Peter because Peter was backing down on the freedom of the Gospel, in Christ (Galatians 2:11-14). That problem was resolved, and then Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, in Syria (Acts 12:25). We now need to review a little more history in the Book of Acts before we continue with Galatians 2.
The Holy Spirit communicated to prophets in Antioch that Saul (Paul) and Barnabas were to be sent out on a missionary journey to share the Gospel with as many people as possible (Acts 13:2-3). This, the first of Paul’s three missionary journeys recorded in Acts, probably lasted from about 46-48 AD. You can read about it in Acts 13:4-14:28.
During this journey, Paul and Barnabas visited areas of the Roman province of Galatia (part of the country of Turkey, today) and established churches, gatherings of believers, most likely in Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. They then returned to Antioch in Syria and rejoiced that God “had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”
Those Jewish Christians who thought that all people should be circumcised and follow Old Testament laws were still around, though. Some of them went all the way to Galatia and visited the churches that Paul and Barnabas had started. They stirred up trouble and said that Paul was wrong in saying that faith in what Jesus had done for them was enough for salvation. Some also came to Antioch in Syria and insisted that all Gentile believers had to be circumcised and follow other Jewish laws. Paul and Barnabas challenged and debated them, and finally a delegation of believers, including Paul and Barnabas, was sent to Jerusalem to a meeting of all leaders to discuss this dispute. This “Jerusalem Council” happened about 49 AD (though some date it a little later).
You can read about this, again, in Acts 15, with the Judaizers, Pharisees, and the “circumcision party” insisting, “unless you are circumcised according to the law of Moses you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1-6). There was “much debate,” but Peter and James and finally the whole Council agreed that “we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” They asked that Gentile Christians avoid a few things that were especially offensive to Jewish Christians, but they did not have to be circumcised or keep all the old Jewish rules (Acts 15:6ff).
It was likely soon after this that Paul wrote his Letter to the Galatians. He could not go back to Galatia right away, as he and Barnabas were to keep working in Antioch in Syria, which was becoming a strong church and a base for more missionary outreach. Paul’s letter would be his defense and clear proclamation of the Good News of salvation purely by the grace of God through faith in Jesus (Acts 15:30-35). This was likely the first of Paul’s letters that we have preserved in the Scriptures.
Go back now to Galatians 2:14. Paul affirmed what was said at the Jerusalem Council. If Jews could not do everything expected in the Old Testament laws, how could they require non-Jews to do all these things that they could not do? Instead, they all had a new freedom in Christ, now that He had come as their Savior. (See again Peter’s words in Acts 15:7-10.)
Paul went on to write, in Galatians 2:15, that Jews had great privileges in knowing God’s will and expectations for them in the Old Testament. The problem was that they still never could or would keep and obey that Law as they should have. They could not be “justified by the works of the law,” no matter how hard they tried, since they were still sinners, falling short of God’s Law, His expectations (Galatians 2:16). Three times in this one verse, Paul says the same thing. (“A person is not justified by works of the law… not by works of the law… by works of the law no one will be justified.”) Salvation could only come by faith in Christ Jesus and all He did perfectly for them.
It is important also to remember that the word “justified” was a legal term, a courtroom term, in the ancient world. A judge or a jury needed to “declare” someone “justified” or “not guilty.” The commentator, Lenski, says, “The sense is 'to declare righteous' and never 'to make righteous.'" The sense is not that in Christ we “become righteous” and are now good enough and capable enough that we can now please God by what we do and can do enough to make ourselves fully acceptable to God. That can never happen by our works of fulfilling God’s law.
That is the problem whenever we say that it is Christ’s work, plus our work that we do, that really saves us. But that is what the false teachers, the Judaizers, the circumcision party, were trying to tell the new Christians in Galatia and in other places. They were being told that they must also become “Jewish” in terms of being circumcised and doing other things according to old Jewish laws and ceremonies.
Paul responded more to these false ideas in the verses that follow. In Galatians 2:17, he asked, “What if we are trying, as Christians, to do the right things and still find ourselves to be sinners? Does that mean that Christ is implicated in our sin, and is somehow a 'servant of sin?'" “Certainly not!” Paul says, very strongly.
We are not “made perfect” by Christ, but are “counted” or “declared perfect” and acceptable in God’s eyes, simply through what Jesus has already done for us. We try to follow God’s moral law, as Christians, but we do not lose our salvation by failing and sinning, at times; and we bring those sins to Jesus for His forgiveness, already earned for us.
In addition, Christ has already freed us from many of the old Jewish ceremonial laws. (See Mark 7:18-19 and Romans 14:2-6, 14, and Colossians 2:16-17, for example.) It is not a sin if we eat pork or do some work on a Saturday or even are not circumcised - which would have been sins under Old Testament Judaism.
So, in Galatians 2:18, Paul said, “If I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” We are sinning if we teach people that it is sinful to do things that God Himself has said are acceptable in the New Testament. Paul could not go back and change what God clearly said was OK in the New Testament, the New Covenant God gave His people. It was also sinful to add our own requirements for salvation to what Jesus has already said and done for us.
In Galatians 2:19-20, Paul went on to say that he had died to his old life, under the curse of the law, and Christ now lived in him, as he now lived by faith in Christ, the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him. It was by the sacrifice of Christ for him on the cross that Paul had been declared justified, forgiven and not guilty.
Paul’s efforts added nothing to Christ’s completed work for his salvation, purely by His saving grace and work for him. If Paul’s ultimate justification depended still upon his own efforts to fulfill the law in his own life, then Christ’s work was incomplete, and “Christ died for no purpose.” If we still have to depend on more that we need to do to be saved, then our eternal future is always uncertain and in jeopardy. Our confidence is simply in God’s grace, His undeserved love and favor for us, and in what Jesus has done for us.
Paul said much more about this that we will see as we continue to look at Galatians. What he talks about is at the center of our Christian faith. I will try to explain more as best I can, using other Biblical examples, too, but in a simple and concise way, though it may not seem like it. (Martin Luther’s commentary on just the first four chapters of Galatians is 416 pages long in its English translation!)
The Lord’s blessings, as you study Galatians and think about these things. Just try to follow the Word of God.
Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 65:1-9
Galatians 3:23-4:7
Luke 8:26-39
Sermon originally delivered June 23, 2013
The Scripture readings for this Sunday center around love for our neighbor, in response to God’s love for us, first given to us. The Old Testament lesson, Leviticus (18:1-5) 19:9-18, specifically says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and gives a number of examples of how a person might show such love. Several times God also says, “I am the Lord your God. I am the Lord.” We seek to love, in response to Him, our Lord, who first loved us.
The Psalm is Psalm 41. It has similarities to Psalms 38, 39, and 40, all psalms of David, in times of trouble. These psalms complete the first “book” or set of psalms, which ends with the blessing: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen!” In Psalm 41, David admits that he is poor and weak, and his own sin has contributed to his problems. Yet the Lord has sustained him “on his sickbed;” and he prays that the Lord would also be gracious to him and “Heal my soul.” He still has enemies, though, and even “a close friend” who turns against him. (This passage is quoted by Jesus in John 13:18, regarding what Judas would do, betraying Him into death.)
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 10:25-37, a teacher of the Law asks Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asks him what he thinks, and the man quotes passages from the Old Testament about loving God and loving one’s neighbor, including the passage from Leviticus 19 in the OT reading. Jesus agrees and says, literally, ”Keep on doing this, and you will live.” The expert in the Law must sense that he does not always do this and tries to lessen what Jesus says by asking, to justify himself, “And who is my neighbor, whom I am to love?” Surely there are limits on such love! Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man is robbed, beaten, and left for dead along a road. A priest and Levite come by and avoid any contact with the man who needs help. Only a hated Samaritan helps, in a very generous way, and offers to do more. Then Jesus asks not "who is the neighbor" but "who is being a neighbor." Even the lawyer knew it was the Samaritan, an enemy who actually gave help. Jesus said again, “You go and keep on doing likewise.”
The Epistle lesson is from Colossians 1:1-14. The reality is that none of us keeps doing good and loving God and our neighbor all the time. We are all sinners, who fail often and cannot ever do enough to be able to inherit eternal life on our own. We cannot qualify ourselves. That is why Paul emphasizes so strongly what God the Father has done for us through the perfect love and life of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. “The Father has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
The alternate Old Testament reading that St. James will use is Daniel 6:1-24, the story of Daniel being delivered from the lions’ den. Daniel had certainly sought to love and serve his neighbor by being the best leader he could be for King Darius and his people. Daniel also loved the One True God and kept praying to Him, even when he was to pray only to King Darius himself. Daniel was caught and thrown into a den of lions as punishment. King Darius respected him so much, though, that he hoped that Daniel’s God could save him - and God did! Daniel was one more in the line of prophets preparing the way for Jesus. While Daniel was rescued, Jesus was not and willingly died on the cross - and only then rose in victory to qualify us to receive the gift of eternal life through trust in Him.
Last week, we heard Paul describing how he came to know the truth of the Gospel of Jesus - especially by revelation from Christ Himself. Paul spent little time with the original apostles and then only with a few of them, and they affirmed what he said and “added nothing to it.” They did not require Titus, a non-Jew who visited Jerusalem with Paul, to be circumcised or to follow all the laws and rituals of the Old Testament (Galatians 1:18-2:10). (See especially 2:3-6 again.)
Paul and Barnabas then returned to Antioch and continued the ministry there. At some point, Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch to visit the churches there, and Paul had to confront him and oppose him for something he was doing (Galatians 2:11).
At first, Peter was very willing to have regular contact and fellowship with the Gentiles who had become Christians and to eat with them (Galatians 2:12). He had learned he was free to do this from revelations of Jesus and his contact with Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and his family and friends in Acts 10-11:18. Remember what Peter had said in Acts 10:28. Peter was free from the old Jewish law that said that any contact with a non-Jew would make him spiritually unclean.
However, when “certain men” also came from Jerusalem to visit the churches, Peter “drew back and separated himself” from the Gentile Christians because these visitors were part of “the circumcision party.” Members of the “circumcision party” had come to believe in Jesus, but also still thought that they needed to follow all the old Jewish laws and that Gentiles also needed to do the same, including being circumcised. According to this thinking, if the Gentile Christians had contact with the Jewish Christians, then everyone would become spiritually unclean. This also implied that salvation depended on faith in Jesus, but also upon still keeping all the Old Testament laws (Galatians 2:12).
Peter knew better than this, but he “feared” these people and did not want to get into conflict with them over this issue. He decided to avoid this by keeping a distance from Gentile Christians and especially by not eating with them.
Peter sometimes had this weakness in the past, when he was afraid of others and what they might think and do. Peter had said he would stand by Jesus always; but when Jesus was arrested, Peter (and the other disciples) ran away in fear. Jesus had warned Peter that he would deny his connection with Him. Peter was sure he would never do such a thing, yet he denied three times that he even knew Jesus, when he was confronted and feared what would happen to him. (See Mark 14:26-30, 43, 50, 66-72.)
What Peter did also set a very negative example for the rest of the Jewish Christians, who began to follow Peter and not associate with or eat with the Gentile Christians. Even Barnabas “was led astray” by this action of Peter. He must have “backed off” in some ways from the very Gentile Christians he had been sharing the faith with (Galatians 2:13).
Think about what these actions might have implied. Were the Gentile Christians inferior Christians? Were they “polluting" Jewish Christians just by being around them? Were they not even actually Christians, unless they were circumcised and started following all the Jewish rules?
Think of all the practical questions that these “hypocritical” actions also could raise for churches. Were separate churches needed for Jews and Gentiles, or at least separate places where Jew and Gentiles could sit without much contact with one another? We hear already in Acts 2, after 3,000 people were brought to faith in Jesus and were baptized at Pentecost, that the believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
“The breaking of bread” refers especially to receiving the gift of the Lord’s Supper together. But we know that the early Christians also began to have a fellowship meal before the worship and communion, as they met in peoples’ homes. This would be something like what we call a “potluck” or “carry-in” meal, where food would be shared with one another, including the poor and needy who had nothing to bring, before the worship.
How could that have happened if Jews and non-Jews could not even eat together? How could people even receive Communion together, which is a very special kind of eating and drinking together, if non-Jews were “polluting“ Jews, just by being there. (See 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. Maybe some of the “divisions” in the church at Corinth were not just over important doctrinal issues or “the rich vs. the poor,” but over Jewish and non-Jewish issues and other ethnic issues still creating problems.)
Paul knew very quickly that what Peter was doing in Antioch was a very serious matter and that Peter needed to be “condemned” for it. That is why Paul used such strong language, calling Peter and others “hypocrites” and “opposed him to his face” very directly (Galatians 2:11, 13). Paul realized that the conduct of Peter and the Jewish Christians “was not in step with the truth of the Gospel.”
The Good News of salvation earned entirely by Jesus’ saving work and received simply by faith through the gift of God’s grace was in grave danger if people were required also to do other works of their own, whatever they were, truly to be saved (Galatians 2:14). Paul spent almost all of the rest of this letter teaching what salvation by God’s grace alone through Christ really meant and what a joy it is.
Nothing more is mentioned of this incident in the Scriptures. Apparently Peter realized the wrong he had done and repented, and later on he defended the teaching of Paul in the Book of Acts. In 2 Peter 3:15-18. he spoke of his “beloved brother Paul” and his letters which were also “Scripture,” the very Word of God. Peter ended his letter with the same teaching and focus that Paul gave, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Peter was not perfect; nor was Paul, and neither are we. How often do we back down and not stand up for what we know is right, because we are afraid of what others will think or say of us? How good it is to know that we can be forgiven, too, by that amazing grace of God in Christ.
Next week, we will see more of what happened after the incident between Peter and Paul, leading up to the writing of this letter we are studying. God’s continued grace and blessings for you all.
Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13,14
Galatians 2:15-21, 3:10-14
Luke 7:36-8:3
Sermon originally delivered June 16, 2013
The Scriptures for this 4th Sunday after Pentecost call for us to praise and trust our Lord, for He is the one who brings hope and ultimate victory in our lives.
Psalm 66:1-7 calls upon “all the earth” to give “glorious praise” to God for His power and awesome deeds. The psalmist remembers God’s help for His people at the time of Moses at the Red Sea and Joshua at the Jordan River. It may not seem like it, but the Lord “keeps watch on the nations” and there is a warning about judgment for “the rebellious who exalt themselves.”
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 66:10-14. Isaiah has brought many warnings from God about judgment coming for the people of Israel because of their own sin and rebellion. Yet he was also able to speak from God about “comfort” and “peace” and “rejoicing” that would come through what would eventually happen in Jerusalem. “The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants” and “His enemies” will be defeated through the coming of Jesus, our Savior.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 10:1-20, Jesus sends out His disciples to prepare the way for His message and saving work, “like lambs in the midst of wolves.” There will be those who resist and reject His message, but there will also be “sons of peace” who will come to trust in Jesus. As His Good News is shared, “Satan will fall” and “demons” and the powers of evil will be broken, ultimately through the saving work of Jesus Himself. “Rejoice,” above all, that the names of those brought to faith “are written in heaven.” Our eternal future is secure through Christ Jesus.
The Epistle lesson is from Galatians 6:1-10 and 14-18. Paul reminds us that our sins can be forgiven, even when we fail, and though we stand alone before the Lord, we can help one another and do good and encourage each other “in the household of faith,” as the Holy Spirit guides us. Above all, we keep our eyes on our hope, “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and what He has already done for us. He makes us “a new creation,” and we have “peace and mercy” and “grace” through Him who saved and sustains us.
Those at St. James will have an alternative Old Testament reading, from 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. Goliath is a giant and a leader of the Philistine army. He curses the true God and wants to fight anyone who will go up against him. No one in Israel has the courage except for a young boy, David, who said, “The Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” David felled Goliath with a stone and slingshot and then killed him, and the Lord gave victory to Israel. David eventually became king of Israel, and God fulfilled many promises through him and his descendants, finally with the coming of Jesus, who was from his family line and as both God and man won the ultimate victory over the worst enemies - sin and Satan and death - for us.
Last week, we heard Paul explaining that he had become a believer and was called to preach purely by the “grace” of God, through “a revelation of Jesus Christ” Himself. Previously, he had been “extremely zealous for the traditions of his Jewish fathers” and had therefore been persecuting Christian churches because they were not doing everything the Law and precepts commanded. Then God “was pleased to reveal His Son” to Paul, so that he might preach Him (Christ) as Savior, among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:12-16).
Christ’s own revelation was key for Paul. He “did not immediately consult with anyone (Galatians 1:16). He did not even go to Jerusalem to talk with the apostles. Rather, he “went away into Arabia” for a time (we know nothing more about this) and then back to Damascus. There, we are told in Acts 9:20-22, he was “proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, as the Son of God” and “proving that Jesus was the Christ.” He increased in strength and spent “many days” doing this preaching until “Jewish people plotted to kill Him” and he had to escape (Acts 9:23-24).
It was not until three years after his conversion to faith that Paul went to Jerusalem and met with Cephas (Peter) for 15 days. He met none of the other apostles but James, the brother of the Lord. He told this in his letter very emphatically, saying, “In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!” Then Paul went to regions of Syria and Cilicia.
He was still unknown in person by the churches in Judea, though people had heard of him and that “the one who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they “glorified God” because of what Paul was now doing (Galatians 1:18-24).
Paul does not mention it in his letter, but at some point he was back in Jerusalem and then had to flee again because some Greek-speaking Jews wanted to kill him. He was then sent off to his hometown of Tarsus, where some think he spent about eight years. (See Acts 9:29-30.)
We know very little about this part of Paul’s life. He was surely sharing his new faith in Christ, but he may have spent a lot of time studying the Old Testament and the many prophecies about Jesus and having his faith strengthened by the Lord. In other letters, he often mentioned revelations from Christ Himself, many of which may have come during that period of time, since he had not had the chance to learn directly from Jesus during His public ministry. Some think that Paul also learned his tent-making skills during this time, which he used to help support himself at times during his later ministry.
We do know from the Book of Acts that at some point a Christian worker, Barnabas, went to Tarsus to look for Saul (Paul) and brought him to Antioch, in Syria, where they carried on a strong ministry, blessed by the Lord, and where “the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:25-26). Prophets also predicted a “great famine” coming. The disciples gathered funds, and Barnabas and Saul delivered these gifts to people in Judea (Acts 11:27-30).
It might be that what Paul described in Galatians 2:1-10 happened during this visit to Jerusalem. In verse one, we hear that Paul and Barnabas were there, along with Titus, a Greek person who had become a Christian also. Paul mentioned a “revelation” and that likely was the one described in Acts 11 about the “famine” and the need to bring help to the poor, struggling people in Judea. This was also a chance for Paul finally to meet in a “private way” with some of the “influential” leaders who were “pillars” of the church in Jerusalem. He wanted to assure them that he was not off track or “running in vain” in his “proclamation of the Gospel among the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:2).
In Galatians 2:6-9, we hear that those leaders, James (the brother of Jesus) and Cephas (Peter) and John the Apostle “had nothing to add” to what Saul was preaching. “On the contrary,” they were excited about “the grace” of God given to him to preach “to the uncircumcised, to Gentiles,” while they were called to focus upon Jews (the circumcised). They all had an “apostolic ministry” - but with a primary focus on different groups of people.
They only asked Saul to be sure to “remember the poor,” as well, which he was already doing in his ministry. Many times we see Saul (soon to be called Paul, most of the time) bringing up in his letters the importance of helping the needy in this way (Galatians 2:10). And, of course, both Paul and the other apostles shared the Good News of Jesus with everyone they could, Jew or Gentile, as they had opportunity.
In all that he wrote, then, at the beginning of this letter to the Galatians, Paul was emphasizing that he was not preaching a “man’s” Gospel, but what he had learned from Christ and His Word. He had actually had little contact with the most famous apostles, and when he did talk with them, they agreed with what he was saying and preaching. He was preaching the truth, unlike the false teachers who had come later and so upset the Galatians with their additional Jewish rules and regulations that they claimed that Christian believers also had to follow.
As we will see, one of those “regulations” of the false teachers was the need for every male believer to be “circumcised.” So, Paul also included one important detail of his visit with the leaders in Jerusalem, back in Galatians 2:3-5. Titus, who was Greek, a Gentile, a non-Jew, but now a believing Christian, was with them. Greeks and Romans and many other Gentile men were never circumcised. Titus was not, and none of the leaders brought this up and tried to “force” Titus to be circumcised. It was not necessary in the new “freedom” of the Gospel in Christ. The apostles and Paul all knew that, as they had learned the Good News of Christ, from Him and through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:3).
Sadly, even then there were some “false brothers” around who wanted to put Christians into “slavery” to additional rules and regulations, as necessary for salvation. They must have been troubling Titus and others, for Paul said that "to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for you” - that salvation is a gift, given purely by God’s grace apart from our works or efforts and is received simply by the gift of faith that God works in us (Galatians 2:4-5).
The pressure is still great to make salvation dependent upon faith plus various other works we must do. Paul gave one more example that we will look at next week in Galatians 2:11-14, where even Cephas (Peter) backed down and acted in a hypocritical way on this issue. The rest of this Letter to the Galatians is about this very issue.
May the Lord open our eyes to be clear about why this teaching is so important and why Lutherans have said that this is the key teaching about Christ on which we and the church stand or fall.
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Pentecost, based on:
1 Kings 17:17-24
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
Sermon originally delivered June 9, 2013
The Scripture readings for this 3rd Sunday after Pentecost have to do with ongoing commitment to the Lord, as He leads us on the path of life eternal. The Psalm is Psalm 16. King David knew that he had “no good apart from the Lord.” He knew “the sorrows of those who run after another god.” He prays that the Lord would “give him counsel” and “instruct him” and be “at his right hand.” David even gives prophetic words that were eventually fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus. (See Acts 2:25ff.) Only in the Lord is “the path of life.”
The Old Testament lesson is 1 Kings 19:9-21. Queen Jezebel vowed to kill the prophet Elijah, and he had run away to Mount Horeb (Mt. Sinai) in great fear. God appeared to him in two powerful ways, but then with “a low whisper,” assuring him that He would judge evil and was preserving other believers who had not bowed down to false gods. God also gave Elijah another prophet, Elisha, as a successor - though Elisha had trouble following him right away.
The Epistle lesson is Galatians 5:1, 13-25. Paul reminds us that we have freedom in Christ, but a freedom by which to help and serve others, not to “gratify the desires of our sinful nature, our sinful flesh.” Paul then describes some of the “works of the sinful flesh,” which are dangerous to us and others, and could even cut us off from the “Kingdom of God,” if we keep on and on doing them. Instead, the Lord wants to produce in us “the fruit of the Spirit,” which Paul also describes. God has already brought us to new “life” in Christ by the Holy Spirit. He calls us also to keep walking by the Spirit’s guidance and in His ways, by His power.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 9:51-62. Jesus was headed to Jerusalem, for He had just predicted (Luke 9:22) that he would suffer and die and rise again there. He went in mercy and love for people, including Samaritans who were rejecting Him; and He rebuked His own disciples for wanting to destroy the Samaritans. He wanted “followers,” but not those who would just say in an emotional moment that they would follow Him anywhere, or those who kept looking back to past people and past events. Family and friends were still important, based on other Scriptures, but Jesus and His way was a transforming way that meant sacrifice, but also new life and new joy in trusting Him.
The Old Testament lesson for people at St. James, Lafayette, is the alternative, Exodus 12:1-13, the story of the Passover Lamb. God was going to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt and to a new life in a Promised Land. The escape involved the sacrifice of a lamb, which would protect them, and judgment for their enemies; and they were to were trust the Lord and be ready, at any moment, to leave and be rescued. This event was prophetic of the coming sacrifice of Jesus, God’s own Son and “the Lamb of God, Who would take away the sin of the whole world” (John 1:29) - as Jesus also predicted in our Gospel lesson.
Last week we heard Paul’s strong emphasis upon the truth of salvation coming simply by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins.” Paul also warned that anyone who taught otherwise should be accursed, for there was only one true Gospel, which he had already brought to them (Galatians 1:1-9).
Beginning with verse 10, Paul reminded the churches of Galatia that he was not trying to please any other human beings, but to please God, as His servant. This is what God had called him to do. (See Acts 4:18-20 and Acts 5:28-29. Like Peter and John and the other apostles, Paul was not preaching “man’s Gospel,” but “a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:10-12)).
Paul was different from those original apostles in that he did not learn directly from Jesus during His three years of public ministry on this earth. In fact, Paul had been raised in Judaism and was very anti-Christian, rejecting Jesus as “Lord and Savior and the promised Messiah.” By his Jewish name, Saul, he had “persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13, Acts 8:1,3, Acts 9:1-2). He did this because he believed strongly in the ways of Judaism and was far beyond others of his own age in his “extreme zeal” for “the traditions of his Jewish fathers” (Acts 1:14). That meant that he followed not only the Old Testament, but the teaching of later Jewish leaders who went far beyond what the Old Testament said. That included the teacher Gamaliel. (See Acts 5:34 and Acts 22:3-4.)
Paul was headed in this extreme Jewish direction, but God had a different plan for him. God had “set him apart before he was born” (literally, “from his mother’s womb”) and then “called him by His grace” on the road to Damascus to be a believer and servant of Christ (Galatians 1:15, Acts 9:3-19). (Paul told this story two more times in the Book of Acts in 22:3-21 and 26:9-20 and briefly in other places, because his coming to faith in Jesus as His Savior and being called to share this Good News with others was so important for his life.)
Note also that Paul was using language that was used by other prophets, including Isaiah in the Old Testament. See Isaiah 49:1,5, and this whole section from Isaiah 49:1-13. These verses are not just about Isaiah’s work, but go beyond as a prophecy of our Lord Jesus and His calling and being “formed from the womb” to be our Servant Savior. See how part of Isaiah 49:8 is quoted in 2 Corinthians 6:2 with reference to Jesus and His saving and reconciling work in 2 Corinthians 5, in “a day of salvation.” So, Isaiah and Jesus and Paul were set apart and called by God “from the womb” even before they were born. They were important to God even while still in the womb, as living persons.
(This is a key Biblical idea to remember in these days when many are trying to defend the “right” to an abortion, no matter what. Paul’s life was a real human life, already in the womb, as God “set him apart” even then.)
Paul told all this to emphasize that he, too, was chosen by God to be an apostle and later on specifically called by God’s grace, and Christ Jesus was revealed directly to him, and gave him what he needed to know “to preach Him, Christ, among the Gentiles" (Galatians 1:15-16). And in all this, Paul was telling the Galatian believers that he had told them what was the true Word of God, revealed by Christ Himself to Paul. He was telling them the truth from Christ, unlike the false teachers who had come later on with their own ideas.
This is something that Paul spoke about, again and again, in his preaching and writing. (See passages like 1 Thessalonians 2:13 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. This is the claim of all the Biblical writers. See 2 Timothy 3:14-17. We can have confidence in what we read from Paul in Galatians and from all the Scriptures and especially about the central teaching - that we have “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”)
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Pentecost, based on:
1 Kings 8:22-24, 27-29, 41-13
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10
Sermon originally delivered June 2, 2013
This is the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. The psalm is Psalm 3, a psalm of David. David had been overthrown as king by his own son, Absalom, and Absalom now wanted to capture David and eliminate him as a threat to him. David knew that “many” were out after him, but trusted that the Lord would be his “shield” and help him. He was able to live without much fear and to sleep at night, knowing that “salvation belongs to the Lord” and that the Lord would ultimately bless His people and prays that he, David, would be saved, too.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 65:1-9. This is a lesson of judgment and grace, with both Law and Gospel. God condemns His own people, because they have been rebellious, with many actions that were not good, provoking God to His face very openly. Many of the things God lists have to do with the worship of false gods and goddesses and getting involved in occult activities, with secret rituals and attempts to consult the dead in tombs. (See Isaiah 8:19, for example.) Even with so much evil, many of the people still felt that they were superior and holier than others. God promised judgment upon their sins, their iniquities. At the same time, God promised to have mercy upon some of God’s people in Judah and Jerusalem and to spare them, so that His promises might be fulfilled for all.
In the Epistle lesson, Galatians 3:23-4:7, Paul says that Old Testament people were held captive and imprisoned by the Law of God, as a kind of guardian, seeking to keep them under control until the promised Savior, Christ Jesus, came and justified all people by the gift of faith in His saving work. Now, all people can be children of God by faith and the gift of baptism and be counted as offspring of Abraham and heirs of His promises, through Christ, who came to be the Redeemer of all.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 8:26-39, Jesus showed that He had come for all people, by traveling to the area of the Gerasenes, where there were many Gentiles (non-Jews) mixed in with some Jews. Jesus healed one of the Gerasenes who had been possessed by a legion of evil spirits and brought him to faith. The evil spirits then went into pigs and caused all of them to drown. The Gerasenes were frightened by the power of Jesus and the economic loss of their pigs and asked Jesus to leave them. The man who was healed went around, though, telling everyone he could about what Jesus had done for him.
Members of St. James should note the alternative Old Testament reading they will hear, Genesis 22:1-14. God had called Abraham to be the father of a new nation, God’s chosen people of Israel. Then God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Abraham trusted God and prepared to do this, but God stopped him and provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac. This story is prophetic of the coming of God’s only Son, Jesus, from the line of Abraham. Jesus would be the substitute who would die for the sins of the world instead of Abraham’s son and in place of us, too. We can now be forgiven through faith in Him. This is another important step in God’s plan of salvation, working its way through the Old Testament, for the benefit of all people.
This letter begins in the normal way for a letter in ancient times. The author - in this case, Paul - identifies himself first (Galatians 1:1), and then identifies the people to whom this letter is addressed: “To the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2). (Remember that letters were normally written on a parchment scroll, which was rolled down from the top to the bottom. It made sense to indicate the author and the recipients at the very beginning, so that people could quickly tell to whom the letter was addressed.) In Biblical letters, there was usually also a brief blessing from God and word of encouragement and praise of the Lord (Galatians 1:3-5).
In this case, Paul also adds in verse 1 that he is an apostle (someone “sent out” on a mission from God) and tells briefly how he became an apostle. He does this and will write much more about being an apostle as the letter goes on. Last week, in the introduction, we heard that he and Barnabas had established Christian churches in the Roman province of Galatia. Then, false teachers came after he had left and challenged the validity of Paul as an apostle and the truth of the good news, the Gospel of Christ that he brought.
Paul wrote this letter, then, to defend himself and his message, but especially to correct the bad teachings that the Galatians had heard and to get them back on track with the truth in Christ and how one can actually be saved. He began by saying that he was an apostle - “not from men or through man,” but “through Jesus Christ” Himself “and God the Father,” who has all power and “raised Jesus from the dead” (Galatians 1:1). God had made him an apostle and he simply shared God’s message; and Paul also wrote with the support of “all the brothers” in the Christian faith “who were with him,” and taught the ideas of all true believers, and not his own ideas (Galatians 1:2).
Paul then gave a prayer of blessing to the Galatian believers, but in the process reminded them very simply from where and how these blessings came. Paul wished first for the Galatians: “Grace to you.” “Grace” means a “gift,” undeserved and unearned, that simply comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, out of love and mercy and concern for people.
Paul also prayed for the gift of “peace” for these Galatians. In the Bible, “peace” does not mean absence of war and conflict for people, but well-being when we are at peace with God and have His care and help because of what He has done for us (Galatians 1:3). What has God done for us? Again, Paul put it very simply. God the Father sent His Son, “the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.”
Every part of the Son’s name is important. The Son is “Lord.” This is a key Old Testament name for God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Philippians 2:5-11). The Son is God. He has the power to “deliver us from the evil of sin and Satan and death. He is also “Jesus.” The name “Jesus” means “Savior” (Matthew 1:21). He gave His life for us on the cross “for our sins” - to pay the penalty for them all and forgive them all. The Son is also “the Christ.” He is the One promised from God, the One “anointed” by God the Father to do all this saving work for us (Mark 8:27-31). This was all “according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4). This was His plan to rescue us and forgive us, even though we are sinners in “this present evil age” (1 John 5:19-20, Hebrews 10:10-14, Hebrews 2:14-15).
Clearly, then, Paul was saying as he began this letter, that “grace and peace” came to our world and to us simply by God’s saving plan, brought to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We sinful humans contribute nothing to our salvation by our own work or efforts or keeping of God’s Law (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is all God’s doing, in Christ.
That is why Paul ended his opening prayer and blessing with these words: to God “be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” We can take no credit or glory for ourselves (Galatians 1:5). (The word “Amen” means “truly” or “this is most certainly true.” We can count on what God says and His promises, always.) We say “Amen” by faith in what God has already said and done for us, especially in Christ.
That is why Paul spoke so strongly, then, in Galatians 1:6-9. Paul was “astonished” that the Galatian Christians had been accepting the teaching of the false teachers, the “Judaizers," as they were sometimes called. These false teachers were saying that Paul had misled the Galatians and that what Jesus had done and accomplished was not enough. They said the Galatians also needed to do additional things truly to be acceptable to God and to be saved. Paul insisted that this idea was a “distortion of the Gospel of Christ.” It was actually “deserting the Lord” and His saving plan in Jesus and “turning to a different Gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7).
Paul went on to say twice in the strongest possible language that anyone who said something different from what he had already preached to them should be cursed and condemned.(Galatians 1:8-9). Trusting in God’s completed plan of rescue in Jesus alone was enough. Adding to Jesus’ work and saying that we must also do additional things ourselves for genuine salvation was “contrary” to the truth of the Gospel and would put put us back under a terrible curse.
Paul went on to say that even if someone claiming to be an “angel” came and said something different, don’t believe that person. Paul even went so far as to say that even if he came back later and preached a different, contrary Gospel, they should not believe him. He had already preached the truth of God’s plan and message in Christ and that is what they must continue to follow, no matter what. This is the message of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the leading and guiding of God the Holy Spirit, as well.
The rest of this letter is largely a continuation of this basic message. We will hear more about Paul’s defense of his “apostolic” ministry, about the wrong ideas being taught by the false teachers, and about why what Paul was saying is still so important for us today. There are plenty of ways still today where people distort who Jesus was and what He did for us and want to add more things that we must do to have salvation. May the Lord bless us, as we continue this study, and help us to listen closely to His Word.
Sermon for Trinity Sunday, based on:
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Acts 2:14a, 22-36
John 8:48-59
Sermon originally delivered May 26, 2013
This Sunday is know as Holy Trinity Sunday, with a focus on the nature of God, revealed in the Bible as the One True Triune God.
The Psalm is Psalm 8. David praises the Name of the Lord, who is the Creator of the universe and all things and cares about even us ordinary human beings. God cares about us especially in sending His own Son, who was made a true man, “a little lower than the heavenly beings” and suffered and died for us. Hebrews 2:5-9 quotes this passage about Jesus and that He has now been restored to “glory and honor,” and God has now “put all things under His feet” as our risen, victorious Savior. See also Ephesians 1:22. Jesus also quotes this psalm about Himself when children were singing His praises in the temple (Matthew 21:16).
The Old Testament reading is from Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-36, where the Wisdom of God cries out to “the children of man” - a Wisdom that is pictured as a living Being, together with the Lord before anything in the universe was created and “beside Him, like a Master Workman,” in the creation of all things. “Whoever finds Him and listens to Him finds life.” This fits well with what is said about God the Son, “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God," “the Word made flesh," in the New Testament and what he has done for us. (See John 1:1-3, 1 Corinthians 1:24,30, and Colossians 2:3, for example.) Be aware that there have been false teachers like Arius in the past, and groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses in the present, who have used this passage to try to say that Jesus was just a created being with some godly power, but not true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Their ideas are false, according to the whole witness of the Scriptures and a careful reading of this passage.
The Gospel lesson is John 8:48-59. Some Jewish people were calling Jesus a “Samaritan with a demon.” Jesus said that He was honoring His Father and doing His will, and twice He said, “If anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.” Those challenging Jesus asked if he thought he was greater than Abraham, who died. Jesus then used the special name of God in the Old Testament, “I am Who I am” (see Exodus 3:14), and said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” claiming that He had always existed as the one true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity, long before Abraham or anyone or anything else. Earlier He had said twice, “I am He,” in John 8:24 and 28, making the same claim for Himself, as one with the Father. (See Isaiah 43:10-13, for example.) The Jewish opponents then thought Jesus was speaking blasphemy and tried to kill Him - which they eventually were able to do.
The Epistle lesson, Acts 2:14a, 22-36, is a continuation from last week, with more of the sermon Peter preached on Pentecost. Peter proclaimed that Jesus, God’s Son, was killed on the cross, but was raised from the dead on the third day. Peter gave his own eyewitness testimony to this fact, along with Scriptures that predicted this, from Psalm 16:8-11 and Psalm 110:1. (Psalm 110:1 is quoted 15 times in the New Testament, affirming that Jesus was the Son of David and yet David’s Lord, as God the Son, who rose from the dead and is at the “right hand of the Father” with authority over all.) Notice also how Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are all described as being at work for us in v.31-33, and yet there is no other God but one (1 Corinthians 8:4). (That is the unexplainable mystery of the Trinity - three Divine Persons, yet only One True God, as described in the Scriptures.) Jesus is both Lord and God, and the Christ, the promised one who is our Savior.
There is one more note for St. James members. St. James will use Genesis 3:1-15 as the Old Testament lesson, as part of a special 10 week series they are beginning, telling the basic story of God’s saving work. God’s Son had to come and be the Savior of the world, because Genesis 3 describes the fall into sin (Adam and Eve wanting to be god-like and do what they wanted to do and rebelling against God’s will, which we still do, too, at times) and the need to overcome sin and defeat the power of the devil. Genesis 3:15 predicts the suffering and death Jesus would go through, and yet that He would rise again and ultimately “crush Satan and his power” for us.
Even though Jesus clearly said that the Good News of His saving work, the Gospel, was to go to all people (see, for example, Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15 and Acts 1:8) the early Christians were slow to carry out His command. Peter preached already on Pentecost, 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven, that God’s promises in Jesus were for those in Jerusalem and their children “and for all who are far off.” Those promises included bringing people to repentance and forgiveness and baptism and faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 2:38-39, and Acts 5:29-32, for example.)
However, it was not until Acts 8, with persecution coming, that many Christians scattered, leaving Jerusalem, and some began to reach out to people of Samaria and to an Ethiopian man. (See Acts 8:1, 12-14, 27-38.) Even Peter himself struggled to reach out to non-Jews until God convinced him, with words and visions, to go and meet with and teach a Roman centurion, Cornelius, and his family and friends. (See Acts 10. In Acts 10:28, we hear that this was the first time that Peter had even gone to the home of a non-Jew of another nation.)
There were many rules for the Jewish people, some from the Old Testament and many more made up by Jewish authorities themselves, that kept Jews and non-Jews apart. How were Jews and others who became believers in Jesus going to respond to all these Jewish rules and expectations?
We hear in Acts 11:1-3 that Peter was strongly criticized for even associating with non-Jews. Instead of rejoicing that some of these Gentiles (non-Jews) had received the Word of God and had come to faith in Jesus, the critics were condemning Peter and others. Peter had to defend himself and explain that the Holy Spirit had sent him and others to these Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit had brought even non-Jews to the same faith and blessings of God. See especially Peter’s Words and the response of the people in Acts 11:11-18.
The tensions continued, though, especially about how “Jewish” new Christians needed to be, especially with regard to these Jewish rules and regulations. Acts 11:19 tells us that some still wanted to share the Good News of Jesus with “no one except Jews.” Others shared about Jesus with everyone they could, though, and more people came to faith, especially in the Syrian city of Antioch. These tensions were not directly dealt with until the Council of Jerusalem, a meeting of early Christian leaders, in Acts 15.
While all this was going on, there was a strongly anti-Christian Jewish leader, by the name of Saul, who was a well-trained Pharisee and felt it was his duty to round up Christians and put them in prison. He even helped put at least one Christian, Stephen, to death. (See Acts 7:54-8:3, 9:1-2.) The Risen and Ascended Lord Jesus had other plans for Saul, though.
Jesus appeared to him as he was traveling to Damascus, Syria, and turned his life around and brought him to faith and baptism and called him especially to to be a witness for Him to Gentiles (non-Jews). You can read about this is Acts 9:1-30. Saul quickly began to speak positively about Jesus as the promised Savior, but was in danger because of doing so, and was sent off to his home city of Tarsus, in the Roman province of Cilicia.
We’ll hear later of how he spent a number of years learning more about the Christian faith and about prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament and receiving revelations directly from Jesus. Then he was brought to Antioch to help teach new believers and then was sent off with Barnabas on his first missionary journey, preaching the Good News of Jesus in areas that included the Roman province of Galatia. (See Acts 11:25-26, 13:2-14:28.)
Churches were established there, which included Jews and Gentiles. Tensions continued about how Jewish the Gentiles believers needed to be, though, and Saul, who was now called Paul, attended the Jerusalem Council, in Acts 15. Peter and other leaders clearly said everyone simply needed to “hear the Words of the Gospel and believe.” God would “cleanse their hearts by faith.” And Peter said, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."
The Lord led the Council to say that was enough. All people were to avoid wrongdoing like “sexual immorality” and avoid a few things that would be really offensive to Jews. Otherwise, Peter said, “Why are (some of) you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.” Peter wanted no other burdens placed upon people who were saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. (See all of Acts 15, but especially v. 4-11.)
Paul returned to Antioch and then went off on a second missionary journey (Acts 15:35, 40-41, and the chapters following). Unfortunately, some of “party of the Pharisees” continued to insist “It is necessary to circumcise (the Gentiles) and to order them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). Some them actually traveled then to the churches in Galatia and stirred up trouble against Paul and his teachings and terribly confused the churches.
Dr. Martin Franzmann says that their attack was three-pronged: (a) an attack on Paul as an apostle, (b) an attack on the Gospel of Paul as omitting essential demands of God, and (c) an attack which pointed up the moral dangers that would result from a proclamation of salvation by mere faith in an absolutely free and forgiving grace of God. When he heard of it, Paul could not go to Galatia at that time, but wrote what was likely his very first missionary letter, the Letter to the Galatians, in 48-49 AD or a little later, to refute the false teachings and emphasize once again that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
That is what we will be looking at as we study Galatians. We will see that we are facing the same challenges and dangers from some in our own day and need to stand firm in what God teaches us through Paul. May the Lord richly bless our study together in the weeks ahead.
Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, based on:
Genesis 11:1-9
Acts 2:1-21
John 14:23-31
Sermon originally delivered May 19, 2013
This Sunday is the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth” - the fiftieth day after the Jewish Passover. It was also known as the “Feast of Weeks” and the end of the grain harvest that followed Passover. Jewish pilgrims from all over the world returned to Jerusalem for this time of thanksgiving to God for His goodness in His creation. For Christians, it was about 50 days after Easter - a perfect time for the Holy Spirit to come with power to work through the early Christians to share the Good News of Jesus, the Risen Savior, with the many Jews gathered there.
It was a reversal of what had happened in the Old Testament Lesson, Genesis 11:1-9. Sin was clearly still in the generations of people after the Great Flood. God told them to scatter and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1), but they wanted to stick together and make a name for themselves and build a great tower to reach up to God, as if they were gods themselves, doing what they wanted to do. Instead, God confused them and their one language into many and caused them to scatter all over the earth, divided from one another.
Psalm 143 is the psalm for this Sunday and is one of the penitential psalms. David knows that he, too, is a sinner, like everyone else, and confesses to God, “No one living is righteous before You.” He prays that God will not judge him, as he deserves, but give him steadfast love. He thirsts for God’s mercy and for God’s good Spirit to lead and guide him. He feels that his own spirit is failing, yet he still says to God, “In You I trust” and knows that God can forgive him and bring him out of his troubles.
In the Gospel lesson, John 14:23-31, we hear Jesus speaking of the importance of hearing and trusting the Word of God. He will be leaving and returning to His Father (at His ascension into heaven), but He and the Father will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who will “bring to remembrance all that He had taught them” and teach them even more. It is through the Holy Spirit that they were able to preach and teach so powerfully at Pentecost and afterwards and could write exactly what God wanted in the Holy Scriptures, so that even today we can believe the truth of God’s Word and have peace in Christ, even with all the troubles of this world.
The Epistle Lesson, from Acts 2:1-21, describes the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, with wind and fire, and enabling the believers suddenly to “speak in tongues,” in languages that they had never known before, in order to communicate the message of the Risen Lord and Savior Jesus to many people that day. This was in fulfillment of a prophecy from Joel, in the Old Testament, so that many “could call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.” The joy was not in the diversity of the people from many nations, but in the unity they found in faith in Jesus and in baptism through the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God (see verses 36-41, after our text).
Last week we heard the good news of the marriage of Boaz and Ruth and the restoration of their land in Israel to the family of Naomi and Elimelech. From this marriage, in a few generations, came David, King of Israel. We want to look at other people mentioned at the end of this story and the genealogy given here and how this all relates to the coming of our Lord Jesus, many centuries later.
We began with Ruth 4:11, where the elders and people at the gate of Bethlehem asked God’s blessings upon Boaz and Ruth, and that Ruth would be “like Rachel and Leah” of old, in “building up the house of Israel,” with children as heirs. Last week we heard that Jacob, who cheated his brother, was also cheated and tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel, the wife he wanted. Jacob then ended up marrying Rachel, as well, having two wives.
This was very much against the will of God, who had set up marriage as between one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment (Genesis 2:18-24). We see, however, that after the fall into sin in Genesis 3, already in Genesis 4:19,23-24, a man had taken two wives for himself. This happened with too many people, including Jacob. Whenever such things happened, the Scriptures also described much trouble. Read Genesis 29:30-30:13. Leah and Rachel could not get along and created problems for Jacob with much jealousy and hatred. They compounded the problems by offering their servant girls to Jacob to have more children by them. There were 12 sons of Jacob, but a very troubled family, as well. This was a very messy, sinful situation. God did not approve, but He still worked through all this, through very weak, sinful people, to continue His line of promise for the future.
There are other stories like this in the Old Testament, which are not even appropriate to teach children, in all the details we hear. Remember though, that these are “descriptions” of sinful people, as we are, too, at times, but are not “prescriptions” of how we ought to live or what is OK for us to do. (Here is where people like Joseph Smith and some Mormons went very wrong and approved of and practiced polygamy and wrote this approval and many other wrong things into their new “scriptures.”)
Go back to Ruth 4:12, where the people of Bethlehem wished also that Boaz and Ruth’s “house would be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” This is another earlier messy, sinful story, which you can read about in Genesis 38. This probably is mentioned because Tamar was a widowed non-Jewish woman in a situation similar to that of Ruth, and yet Tamar was in the line of promise for the coming King David and our Savior Jesus, too. (See Genesis 49:8-10, where there is a prophecy that a kingly ruler would come from the line of Judah - a reference to King David and later on to Jesus, the King of Kings and “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).)
Go now to Genesis 38. We don’t have time to go through this story in detail, but note that Judah had two wives also, again in violation of God’s will. And again, there was only trouble. Tamar was chosen as the wife of one of Judah’s sons, Er. Er was very wicked and was put to death, and Tamar was left as a widow. This was another sort of “kinsman-redeemer” situation, where family could help provide an heir for Tamar, but everyone refused to do so. Tamar was so desperate that she pretended to be a prostitute and had a child by her father-in-law, Judah himself. It is another terrible story with so many wrong things going on, and Judah finally had to admit, “Tamar is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26).
The child born to Tamar is identified in v.29 as Perez, and Perez is listed first in the genealogy of David in Ruth 4:18 -22. Once again, this story is a description of sinful people doing much wrong in their lives, and not a prescription of what anyone should be doing. Some died in their wickedness, as we heard of Er. But God in His mercy also kept His promises and worked through this sinful mess to bring eventually King David and the “Son of David,” our Lord Jesus.
Some of the Lutheran commentators also note that the listing of the genealogy in Ruth 4:18-22 includes two groups of 5 descendants. Perez to Nahshon belong to the 430 years of the time the descendants of Jacob were in Egypt. Salmon to David belong to the 476 years between the exodus from Egypt to Israel and on to the death of David. In other words, this is likely not a complete genealogy and not everyone is listed, as happens at times in other Biblical genealogies. The number 10, though, was a number of completeness, and shows that God knew exactly what He was doing, working out His perfect saving plan through very imperfect people, over long periods of time.
This is also an indication that we do not need to rely on genealogies to figure out just when the earth was created, as Bishop Ussher and others have tried to do. We do believe what Genesis says about God as Creator of the universe and this earth and the first people in just six days. We do not believe in evolution from nothing to man over billions of years. This is clearly a very young earth, but we do not need to figure out exactly how old it is.
We turn now to the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17. We don’t have time to go through this in detail, either, but notice again the symmetrical form of the genealogy, three sets of 14 generations, showing God’s perfect and merciful carrying out of His plan of salvation, from Abraham to Jesus, even through messy and confusing and sinful stories of God’s Old Testament people.
Matthew followed the listing in Ruth of the generations there (with not everyone seemingly included). Matthew does mention several women, too, though women were usually left out of Jewish genealogies. The women listed were not the famous women like Sarah and Rachel. Three of the four were not even Jewish, and all had bad reputations, other than Ruth, the faithful Moabite wife of Boaz and daughter-in-law of Naomi.
“The ancestry of Christ tells the story of Israel’s failures and of God’s mercy for both Jews and Gentiles,” Dr. Franzmann says, and the coming of Jesus to do His saving work for all. This gives hope for all people in Christ Jesus. He came to bring forgiveness and salvation to sinners - which we all are. Read, for example, what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:12-16. He considered himself the “chief” - the “worst of sinners" - and if God could have mercy on him, God could have mercy on anyone. How comforting that is for us all, in our own struggles.
One last thought. Dr. Franzmann points out that if you count the list of names in the third list of generations, coming right up to Jesus, there are only 13 generations listed, not the usual 14. Franzmann says, “Perhaps Matthew is hinting that there is still one generation to come - the generation of the church,” all those who have come to believe in and trust in Jesus as Savior, including you and me, who are simply waiting for Jesus to return one day and take us also to eternal life, along with others we can tell about Jesus our Lord. It is His perfect life and death for our sins and resurrection from the dead which gives us this hope and confidence and mission in life.
Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 1:12-26
Revelation 22:1-20
John 17:20-26
Sermon originally delivered May 12, 2013
The Scriptures this Sunday speak of the unity that is ours as we are connected to the Lord and His Word. The Psalm is Psalm 133, a psalm of David that people sang together as they went up to Jerusalem for festivals and worship of their Lord together in unity. The blessings of the Lord are pictured by the anointing oil poured on Aaron, so that he could bring these blessings to people, and by the dew that came down from Mt. Hermon and watered the land of Israel (an image that predicts in Zechariah 8:11-13, God’s saving work in Christ, so that His people can then be a blessing to others).
In the Gospel lesson, John 17:20-26, Jesus prays that His disciples would remain unified in Him and His Word and share that Word with others, so that others too might believe. This is a prayer also for us, who have become united in Christ and with one another through faith in His Word and the anointing power of baptism. (See also 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:26-27.) Jesus also prays that we stay in faith and become “perfectly one” as we worship Him one day in the glory and perfection of heaven.
We have another picture of that heavenly home given by revelation to John in the Second Lesson, Revelation 22:1-6, (7-11), 12-20. All believers will have the tree of life and the water of life, in the presence of the Lord God and Jesus, the Lamb, Who rescued us all. We will have the Light and Truth of the Lord with us forever. In the meantime, while still on earth, we are called to “Come” and be strengthened by God’s grace and receive the free gifts of God, given to us without price, through the “trustworthy and true” Words of Scripture.
The First Lesson, from Acts 1:12-26, shows the early believers, gathered together and asking the Lord to guide them in choosing a disciple to replace Judas. He must be a man who had seen the ministry of Jesus and was a witness to His resurrection and would help them share the Good News of the Savior, from Pentecost (celebrated next Sunday) and beyond. Matthias was the person the Lord led them to choose.
Last week we heard that Naomi told Ruth how to let Boaz, the man who had helped Ruth so much, know in a very unusual way that she would be willing to marry him, as her “kinsman-redeemer.” Boaz understood what Ruth was telling him and was interested also in marrying Ruth. Boaz was a man, though, who was very moral and wanted to follow God’s Old Testament laws and customs. He knew that there was another relative who should have first choice before him in being the redeemer and marrying Ruth.
Just as Naomi had expected, the very next day, Boaz went to the gate of the town of Bethlehem. This was the place where people went to talk and carry out business and transactions and make important decisions in a public way. (See Deuteronomy25:7.) Boaz first found his relative who should have first choice in being the kinsman-redeemer for the family of Naomi and Ruth. Boaz also asked 10 elders of the town to be witnesses to what would be discussed. For matters to be legally binding, there needed to be a large number of witnesses like this. (In fact, a synagogue, a worship center for Jews, could not be organized and hold worship without at least 10 such men present.) (Ruth 4:1-2)
Right away, Boaz explained to his relative that he had first right to be a “redeemer” and buy the parcel of land that Naomi was selling (or maybe had already sold - the scholars don’t seem to agree on this). Naomi could have needed to sell the land earlier to have some money on which she and Ruth could survive. Either way, the relative had the right to buy this land and bring it back into the family, if he chose and settled any debts, etc. See Leviticus 25:25-28, again. Only a male relative could do this, though.
Boaz also explained that he himself did not have the right to be the redeemer unless his relative chose not to do his part, as he should (Ruth 4:3-4). The relative said “I will do it,” presumably because he had the money and could gain more property for the clan of Judah and himself.
Boaz then also reminded the relative that there was another responsibility if he redeemed the land. He would also have to marry Ruth the Moabite. (The Hebrew is a bit confusing, simply saying that the relative would also “have also to buy it from Ruth,” and thus take responsibility for her, as well.) The relative decided that he could not marry Ruth, because that might in some way “impair” his own inheritance and put more burdens on him and his family. That meant he could not redeem the land for Naomi and Ruth. The relative thus passed on the choice and responsibility to Boaz (Ruth 4:5-6).
Ruth 4:7-8 also tells of a “custom in former times” by which such a decision was demonstrated in a symbolic way, too. The person refusing the opportunity to “redeem” property would take off his sandal. (This was something done in Israel and other places at the time. Some think it expressed the idea that you could walk freely with your sandals on land that you owned. On other land you could not walk so freely and might be trespassing and get in trouble if you walked there.)
For an example of this, with some variation, see Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The Deuteronomy passages refers to the rejection of buying the property and rejection of the marriage, which went together. and were supposed to be done. Maybe that is why the rejected widow “spit in the face” of one refusing to do this duty. (Remember also that this story of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz actually happened during the later period of the Judges, though it was likely not written down until later, during the time of King David, when some of these customs had been forgotten or ignored.)
Then, Ruth 4:9-10 tells us that Boaz said right away that he would be the needed “kinsman-redeemer” and buy the property back for Naomi and Ruth and marry Ruth and keep the family name of Elimelech going for them. He asked the elders who were present to be witnesses to his promise and to the fact that all was done rightly and properly. The elders agreed and asked the Lord to bless this decision and marriage. (We will talk more about Ruth 4:11-12 and the verses that follow next week. Clearly the Lord blessed all this. Boaz and Ruth were married and had a child, Obed. Obed was their child, but it was such a joy for Naomi, after all her emptiness, that it was almost as if the child were hers, an heir at last!) (Ruth 4:16-17).
One more comment. Boaz said in Ruth 4:9-10 that he had bought the family property and he had “bought” Ruth for his wife. In ancient times, there often was a “bride price.” Money or goods or something was given to the bride’s parents, in exchange for the privilege of marrying the woman. (See, for example, the story of Jacob going to Laban in Genesis 28-29. Jacob wanted to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel, and agreed to work 7 years for Laban as the “bride price” for marrying Rachel. As Jacob had tricked and cheated his brother, Esau, Laban also cheated Jacob and married off his daughter Leah to Jacob instead. Jacob had to work 7 more years to get the bride he really wanted. We will talk more about this story and other, next week, as they relate to the end of the Book of Ruth.)
In the case of Boaz, there was no “bride price” other than buying and reclaiming the property for Naomi and Ruth, but Boaz was very willing to do this because he really wanted to marry Ruth and genuinely loved and cared for her. (If you read through the Book of Judges, you will see many low, dark times, when people resisted God’s will and did “what was in their own eyes” instead of following God and His will (Judges 2:16, 6:1, 13:1, 21:25).
The story of Boaz and Ruth was a bright spot of genuine love and honoring of the Lord in those dark days. May we, as believers, seek to be “bright, shining lights” for our Lord and His ways and will, especially in Christ, in the dark days we sometimes live in today, too. See Philippians 2:14-16.
Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 16:9-15
Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27
John 16:23-33
Sermon originally delivered May 5, 2013
The Scriptures for this Sunday again point to events that were to happen after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Psalm is Psalm 67, which begins with a shortened version of the blessing the Lord gave to Aaron through Moses, which he was to speak to God’s people. See Numbers 6:22-27. This psalm goes on to say that this blessing is to be for all people, as God’s Way is known and shared among all nations and all people, especially in the coming of Jesus, who called Himself the “Way” by which to reach the Heavenly Father. Christians still use the Aaronic benediction today at the end of worship: “The Lord bless you and keep you….”
We see this Good News of God, in Christ Jesus, being shared in the First Lesson, from Acts 16:9-15, as Paul and others were sent to the West, to Macedonia and to Philippi, a Roman colony in Greece. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to believe in Jesus, and she and her household were baptized, and her home became a base for sharing the Gospel with others in Greece and beyond.
There are two choices for the Gospel lesson. One of them is John 5:1-9, where Jesus met a man who had been an invalid for 38 years and was lying near the Pool of Bethesda. He seemed to be in a hopeless situation, but Jesus gave him hope by asking if he wanted to be healed and then by actually healing him, so that he could get right up and carry his mat. Jesus cared for all kinds of people, including those with disabilities. The Gospel of hope is for all.
The alternate Gospel reading is John 16:23-33, where Jesus talked about “leaving this world and going to the Father.” This is a prediction of His ascension into heaven, which we celebrate in the church on Thursday, May 26, this year. In our heavenly home, Jesus said, we won’t have to ask for anything, for our joy in the Lord will be full, for the Father will be with us in His great love. In the meantime, “in this world, we will have tribulation," but in Christ, we will have peace and hope, because He has overcome this sinful world, with its sorrow and death.
In the second lesson, from Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27, we hear even more of John’s vision of heaven, that we heard of last week. All believers will be the “bride” of the Lamb, our ascended Lord Jesus. Old Testament believers will be there, from the 12 tribes of Israel; and New Testament believers will be there, too, who trust the Scriptures, the Word of God from the 12 Apostles - all whose names are written by faith in the Lamb’s Book of Life. There will be no need for the temple or sun or locked doors and no night, and nothing false or evil, but only light and joy in the presence of the Lord God Almighty, our Triune God, forever. We have so much to look forward to, even if we struggle now in this life!
We heard last week that Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem in Judah because the Lord had blessed that area with better crops and more food. Naomi was still bitter about what had happened to her and Ruth, but was hoping that some relative of her husband, Elimelech, would have sympathy and help them. Ruth was simply eager to start “gleaning” for leftover crops in the Bethlehem area, as the barley season had begun, and she could help Naomi and herself in this way with at least some food. She worked hard in the fields, following the reapers, and then was noticed by Boaz, a “worthy man” and a relative of Elimelech, as she came to one of his fields.
Boaz had heard of Ruth and how kind she had been to Naomi, her mother-in-law and his distant relative. Boaz then talked with Ruth and invited her to stay and work in his fields. He would make sure that the young men and young women working for him would keep her safe and could even provide water for her when she was thirsty (Ruth 2:8-9). It was very hard work and could be dangerous. See the concern that Naomi mentioned in Ruth 2:21.
Ruth was amazed at the kindness and “favor” of Boaz and bowed down to the ground in respect for him and asked why he was being so kind to a foreigner like her (Ruth 2:10). Boaz explained that he had heard of how much she had helped Naomi and had even left her own father and mother and her own country in order to continue to serve her. Boaz also saw that Ruth had come to trust in the Lord, the One True God, and prayed that Lord would bless her, as she had “taken refuge” in Him (Ruth 2:11-12). Ruth then expressed again her gratefulness to Boaz for his kindness and the “comfort” and hope he had given her, though she was even less than one of his own servants (Ruth 2:13).
Then Boaz even invited Ruth to eat some special food with him and the reapers - a very unusual action for most Jews, at least as practiced in later times. He even provided enough food for Ruth to have extra to share with Naomi, and he told the reapers to leave a little extra for Ruth as she gleaned so that her gleaning would be more successful (Ruth 2:14-16).
Boaz clearly cared about his workers, even eating along with them, and he cared about women in a public way and even a non-Jewish woman. This is almost like a prediction of what God’s own Son, Jesus, would do much later when He came into the world as the compassionate Redeemer for all. Jesus provided “barley” food in abundance in some of His miracles. (See John 6:1-15.) He associated with all sorts of people, even those labeled as “sinners” by the Jewish authorities (Luke 15:1-2). He talked with and shared the Good News with a non-Jewish Samaritan woman in public, and people of her village, even though His own disciples were shocked by it all. (John 4. See especially, v.7-9, 25-30, 39-42.) And as we will see, Jesus actually came from the family line of Boaz and Ruth, who became Boaz’s wife.
Ruth continued gleaning that day and then “beat out” what she had gleaned and had an amazing “ephah” of barley (about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters). Naomi was amazed when Ruth returned home and thanked God for the man who “took notice of her” and helped her. When Naomi found out that it was Boaz, “a close relative,” she was finally realizing that the Lord had not abandoned her or Ruth and His “kindness had not forsaken the living or the dead.” God was still caring for them, even though they had had tragic circumstances (Ruth 2:17-20).
When Ruth also told Naomi that Boaz had advised her to stick with his reapers and women for the whole harvest, Naomi joyfully agreed. Boaz was going to continue to be of help to Ruth and Naomi, his relatives. That is what Ruth did through the barley and the wheat harvest which followed, and she was a great help to Naomi, through the blessing of Boaz, as she continued living with her (Ruth 2:21-23).
By this time, Naomi realized that it was time for her to help Ruth, and herself, by advising Ruth to let Boaz know that she would be willing to marry him. To understand what follows, one needs to know about some Jewish cultural laws and traditions which are briefly described in the Old Testament. Frankly, I do not fully understand them myself because not a lot is said about them and they do not always seem to be followed.
The first idea had to do with property rights. When God allowed the 12 tribes of Israel to enter and posses the promised land, the idea was that the land would stay with each tribe and the various families or “clans” within that tribe. Property rights were passed on only through males of the family, though. In the case of Naomi and Ruth, it seems as if Naomi could possess the property till she died or sold it, but then the property would pass on to some other family and be lost to the family line of Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, since there were no male heirs.
There was also, every fifty years, a year of Jubilee, when property rights were reconciled in a complicated way and servants were set free, etc. Again, I do not fully understand all this, but it seems that families with no male heirs would still lose out. (See Scriptures such as Leviticus 25:8-55. In a sense, the property still remained God’s, with His people as His servants.)
To help tribes and family clans, though, God also had a plan called “levirate marriage.” (See Deuteronomy 25:5-10.) If a woman’s husband died and there were no male heirs, then a brother of the dead husband or another male relative should marry her, to keep the family line going and to keep the property within the family. There are not many examples of this actually being done in the Old Testament, and it seems as if brothers could and did refuse to carry out this responsibility, and sometimes were in trouble for failing to do so. There were a few but troublesome situations, too, which I don’t want to get into in this study.
In the case of Naomi, though, she knew that she was too old to be married and have heirs herself. However, her daughter-in-law, Ruth, could be married to an eligible relative of Elimelech and carry on the family line. All this apparently was to follow Old Testament moral standards and marriages that were not of people too closely related.
As Chapter 3 of Ruth began, then, Naomi wanted Ruth to have “rest” and “well being” by being married according to this “levirate marriage” procedure, hopefully with Boaz (Ruth 3:1). Naomi had what sounds to us as a very strange way for Ruth to indicate her willingness to marry Boaz. Landowners would often stay at the threshing floor at night, where barley was “winnowed,” probably to guard against theft or damage to the grain. Ruth was to wash and dress very nicely and go and lie down at the feet of Boaz when he had fallen asleep and uncover his feet.
Ruth was very willing to do this. Over time, she had likely come to have great respect for the kindness and trustworthiness of Boaz and knew he would make a good husband (Ruth 3:2-6). Some modern commentators try to make this event into some kind of sexual immorality, probably based on today’s very low sexual standards. There is no indication of that in the actual passage. The moral standards of both Ruth and Boaz were very high.
Ruth did what Naomi suggested, and Boaz discovered her and heard her appeal for him to be her “redeemer” and cover her with his “wings,” the protection of marriage (Ruth 3:6-9). See how the same word, “redeemer,” had been used by Naomi in connection with her relatives in Ruth 2:20. Sometimes this word is translated as a “kinsman-redeemer” with reference to “levirate marriage.”
Boaz knew exactly what Ruth was asking. He had likely been thinking about this possibility already and was attracted to Ruth and had desired to marry her, as “a worthy woman.” Two things may have held him back. He was a somewhat older man, in whom she might not be interested; and also, he was not first in line as a kinsman-redeemer for her. There was a closer eligible male relatives than he.
When Boaz heard Ruth’s request, though, he immediately responded positively. He was honored by her “kind” request, since she was not going after a younger man for a more exciting life and did not have a great concern about his wealth. He showed his own character, too, by asking the Lord’s blessings for her, no matter how this all worked out.
He also told her “not to fear.” He would not take advantage of her in any way and would only look out for her welfare as he already had been doing. He asked her not to leave right away since it could be dangerous for a women to be out by herself in the middle of the night, but to wait until just before daylight so that there would be safety and no evil suspicions about her visit. He also gave her a gift of more food for her and Naomi, as a another sign of his kindness and good intentions (Ruth 3:10-15).
Boaz also honestly explained that though he was willing to be her kinsman-redeemer, there was another kinsman-redeemer who was a closer relative and that he should rightly have the first opportunity to consider whether to settle the property rights for Naomi and marry Ruth. Boaz promised to talk with the other relative that very day and “redeem” Ruth and the family rights, himself, if he possibly could (Ruth 3:13).
When Ruth returned home early in the morning and told Naomi what had happened, and gave her the gift of more grain, Naomi was sure that Boaz “would not rest” but would get this matter settled that very day (Ruth 3:16-18). That is exactly what Boaz did, as we will hear next week - with implications for all of us still today, too!
Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 11:1-18
Revelation 21:1-7
John 16:12-22
Sermon originally delivered April 28, 2013
The Scripture readings this week and next are preparing us for events still to come, with the Ascension of Jesus into heaven and the coming to the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and beyond. The first lesson is from Acts 11:1-18. Peter is called to explain why he and other Jews had gone to the home of non-Jewish (uncircumcised) people and even associated with them and ate with them. Peter explained that God had taught him by visions and the Holy Spirit and by what had happened with Cornelius, a Roman centurion (Acts 10), that the Gospel of Jesus was meant for all people, including Gentiles (non-Jews). Cornelius and those with him heard the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit came to believe and were baptized. As God had done with Jews (see Acts 5:30-31), “to the Gentiles also God has granted (given) repentance that leads to life,” eternal life. This also meant that under the New Covenant in Jesus, old dietary and other such rules and rules about not associating with non-Jews were done away with. (Jesus had already taught all this, in Scriptures like Mark 7:1-30 and John 4:1-42).
There are two choices for the Gospel reading this week. In John 13:31-35, Jesus taught the night before His death, after Judas had left him, that He would soon be “glorified” through His death and resurrection and return to His Father in heaven. The disciples could not join Him right away, though they would join Him in heaven later (see John 14:1-6). In the meantime, his disciples, including us today, were to love others, as Jesus had first loved them and us by His great sacrifice for us all.
The other possible Gospel reading is from John 16:12-22. Jesus told His disciples that they would later be taught by the Holy Spirit, who would guide them “into all the truth” that they needed for their future ministry at the right time (at Pentecost and in the Spirit’s inspiring them in the Word of God they would speak and write in the New Testament Scriptures). The disciples would have sorrow when Jesus died and when He ascended into heaven after His resurrection, but in Him, they would have the fullness of joy, most especially in eternal life.
That eternal life is pictured again in another vision of the Apostle John in the second lesson, Revelation 21:1-7. God will make “all things new,” as He dwells with us and all believers, and we are “His people” forever. There will be no more crying or pain or death or mourning, “for the former things have passed away.” We will hear more of this next week, too.
Because of all that God has done and will do for us in Christ, all of creation is called upon to “praise the Lord!” in the psalm for the day, Psalm 148. Paul writes that “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). We don’t understand exactly what that means, but the eternal future will be perfect and wonderful with our Lord. We praise Him for all that we have now in Christ and His Word and look forward to.
Last week we heard some background on the Book of Ruth, a true story that happened during the time of the Judges in the Old Testament and written down later, probably during the time of King David or a little later. We heard of Naomi, a Jewish woman who moved to the land of Moab with her husband, Elimelech, and their two sons because of famine and other bad conditions in Israel, where they had lived in Bethlehem. Tragically, Elimelech soon died, and Naomi was left with her two sons, who had each married Moabite women. Not too many years later, both sons also died, leaving Naomi alone with her two daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi was very bitter about these deaths and could not understand why all this happened to her and why God allowed it all.
We began at Ruth 1:6, then, when Naomi heard that the years of famine were over in Israel and that “the Lord had visited His people and given them food.” She heard this “in the fields of Moab.” This probably means that Naomi and her daughters-in-law had been “gleaning” any food that was left in fields after harvest. It was one of very few things widows could do in those days to try to survive and get a little food for themselves. (We will talk more about “gleaning” in a few minutes.)
Naomi decided that she would return to the land of Judah, since her husband had some relatives there and maybe some kind fellow Jews would help her. Her daughters-in-law wanted to go with her (verse 7), but Naomi urged them to go home to their own families and get help to find someone else to be married to. She hoped that the Lord would be kind to them as they had been kind to her, and that He would help them find rest and peace and new husbands (Ruth 1:8).
Orpah and Ruth wept loudly, and insisted on going along with Naomi to Israel. Again, Naomi urged them to turn back to their Moabite families. There was no feasible way she could provide another son for them, who could marry them and provide them with any inheritance and future (Ruth 1:9-13). And again Naomi expressed her “exceeding bitterness” that “the hand of the Lord had gone against” her, especially when it also so negatively affected her daughter-in-laws, whom she loved (Ruth 1:13).
Orpah and Ruth wept again loudly, but Orpah finally decided to return to her family home in Moab. Ruth, however, clung to Naomi, even though Naomi insisted again that she also go back home. Naomi even mentioned that Orpah had gone back to “her own gods” and seemed to wish the same for Ruth. Naomi was showing at this point her faith struggles and confusion and lack of confidence in the one true God if she would even think of sending her daughter-in-laws back to false gods (Ruth 1:14-15).
Ruth, the Moabite, showed more confidence in the one true God than Naomi at this point. She used the special name for the Lord, Yahweh (indicated by the capital letters LORD), and spoke strongly of her commitment to the Lord and to Naomi. She said that she would go with Naomi always and be a part of her people and let only death separate her and Naomi, or seemingly face judgment from God. Naomi saw her determination and finally agreed to take Ruth with her back to Bethlehem in Judah (Ruth 1:16-18).
The two of them then made the trip of over 100 miles to Bethlehem, and the whole town was “stirred up” at their arrival. Bethlehem was a very small town at this time, and so some still remembered Naomi, even though she had been gone for 10 years or more. It was at this point that Naomi spoke again of her “bitterness” toward God for bringing “calamity” upon her and having such a feeling of “emptiness.” But she still used the special name for God. She knew God, but did not understand why things happened as they did (Ruth 1:19-21).
Verse 22 also reveals that Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem “at the beginning of barley harvest.” This tells what time of year this was and how this fits in with other things going on among God’s people in Judah. We know from other sources that the barley harvest was done in Israel in April and May.
Look at Leviticus 23, in the third book of the Old Testament. We have a listing of Jewish festivals. Note that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (v.4-6) are connected with each other and come about the same time as our Good Friday and then Easter in the Christian calendar. The offering of firstfruits of the spring harvest comes soon after (v.9ff). Then there is the countdown for 50 days, (v.15ff) bringing people to Pentecost, the major spring harvest festival - a very important day also for Christians.
But notice what was said especially in Leviticus 23:22. The harvesters were not to reap to the very edge of their fields, but were to leave some crops for the poor and the sojourners to harvest, along with crops that were missed or fell to the ground. This was a command from the Lord, to be of help to the poor and needy, who were allowed then to follow the harvesters. This is exactly what is described, as Ruth, Chapter 2 begins.
In Ruth 2:2, Ruth asked if she could do some gleaning in the fields around Bethlehem, in hope that someone would be kind and favorable to her. Ruth 2:1 also tells us that Boaz, a “worthy," kind and respectable relative of Elimelech, had fields in this area. Ruth was working hard at gleaning and then came to a field owned by Boaz (Ruth 2:3).
About this time, Boaz himself came out to this field to see how the harvest was going. He was clearly a faithful man of God, for he greeted the workers with the words, “The Lord be with you,” and the workers responded with the words, “The Lord bless you.” (Doesn’t that sound just like what is said in worship? The Pastor says, “The Lord be with you,” and we respond “And with your spirit” or “And also with you.” Much of our service comes right out of the Bible, as we speak God’s Word to each other. We ask God more than once to bless each of us through what He does in our worship.)
Then Boaz noticed the young woman, Ruth, gleaning in the field and asked who she was. He found out that she was the Moabite woman who had come back with Naomi from Moab and had been working hard at her gleaning all day. (Bethlehem was a small town and news spread quickly about everyone.)
It was no coincidence that Boaz and Ruth met. God was at work in all this, as we will see in future weeks, to bring good out of the tragic things that had happened in the past - good for Naomi and Ruth, good for Boaz, good for future generations of God’s people, and good even for us today. God did and still does care for the poor and needy in their struggles, and calls us to help out where we can. Think of the food banks that have operated for many years, including in some of our churches, and how many people are blessed through gleanings that are provided. May we all assist others where we can.
Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 20:17-35
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30
Sermon originally delivered April 21, 2013
This Sunday in Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, as you can probably tell as you read the assigned Scriptures. The Psalm is Psalm 23. Jesus our Good Shepherd provides all that we need and so much more through what He has done for us. We don’t have to be controlled by our wants and desires. He is with us in green pastures and dark valleys and gives us strength at His table even when enemies threaten and He will one day take us to the house of the Lord forever.
John gives us a glimpse of that eternal house of the Lord in the Epistle, Revelation 7:9-17. Jesus, the victorious Lamb of God, who shed His blood for us to cleanse us from all sin, will be our Shepherd, wiping away all our tears and giving us and innumerable believers eternal joy and peace. “Salvation belongs to the Lamb.”
In the Gospel lesson, John 10:22-30, Jesus says that He knows all His sheep and will give them and all of us believers eternal life. He can do this because He and the Father are One, the One True Triune God, along with the Promised Holy Spirit. (See John 14:16-17.) A reading from Early Christian Church history is also included, from Acts 20:17-35. Paul gives encouragement to elders, earthly shepherds of the church, in caring for the flock, the people for whom Jesus shed His blood. He warns of wolves, teachers coming with false teachings, and entrusts all believers and leaders into the hands of God and the Word of His grace. He prays that they follow the Word and will help the weak and know that “It is more blessed to give" (in service to others) "than to receive.”
This study began with a correction from last week’s final study of Habakkuk. I quoted from a number of Lutheran scholars, with short thoughts from them. I discovered since then that one of the Old Testament commentaries I used was not written entirely by Dr. Walter Roehrs. The Habakkuk study notes were actually written by Dr. Martin Franzmann. He should have been credited for the quotes that I listed as from Dr. Roehrs. My apologies for that, as I try to be as accurate as possible with these studies and give credit where it is due.
I chose the Book of Ruth as our next study after reading recently a sermon written by a former professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, on Ruth Chapter 1. We just finished the study of Habakkuk, which focused on the questions that the prophet had for God when he could not understand why God was allowing terrible things to happen to the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Habakkuk had to learn to “live by faith” in God and His ways, even if he could not understand many things.
Dr. Gibbs’ sermon was a good reminder that terrible things also happen to individuals and families in ways that we and they cannot understand. That is what the Book of Ruth is about and yet how God can be at work for good, even in such very personal situations that we and others have to deal with, at times.
The Book of Ruth is found in our English Bibles fairly early in the Old Testament, right after Joshua and Judges. When Moses died, Joshua was chosen to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land and to help them get settled there. What followed after Joshua died was a very unsettled period for the various tribes of God’s people. They were to get well established in the land and serve the One True God faithfully. Instead, many of the people drifted away from God and began to follow the false gods and evil ways of the non-Jews who lived around them.
God raised up a number of “judges,” leaders who were to call the Jews to repentance and back to true belief in God and His ways and help them in troubled, dangerous times. This would work for a while, and then people would slip away from God again until another “judge” was given to them to help them. In general, this period of a few hundred years could be summarized by the last line of the Book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” instead of doing what was right in God’s eyes and following Him.
The story we will study begins then, in Ruth 1:1, “in the days when the judges ruled.” It happened near the end of this period when there was a famine in the land, a lack of food and water, usually caused by drought or prolonged warfare and other such trouble, as we still see in our world today.
In Ruth 1:2, a man from the tribe of Judah, who lived in Bethlehem, decided to take his family and travel to the land of Moab to find food and better living conditions. The intent was to “sojourn” there - live there temporarily and then return to Israel. The man’s name was Elimelech, which means “God is my King,” and his wife was Naomi, whose name meant “pleasant.” They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. (Some commentators say that their names meant “sickly” and “fragile,” but there is no solid evidence for these meanings. Unfortunately, as we have seen with Jonah and other books, very liberal scholars claim that the Book of Ruth is a parable and not a true story of real people, but the New Testament tells us otherwise.)
Ruth 1:2 also tells us that this family was “Ephrathites.” That term refers to the region in which they lived, where Bethlehem was located. See Micah 5:2-5a, where the term is also used in a very important prophecy about the place where the Savior Jesus would be born. There was nothing wrong with the family going to another country to seek food. We know that Jacob had sent some of his sons to Egypt to get food during a famine, too, when they were finally reunited with Joseph. See Genesis 42ff. Others had certainly traveled to other countries, also.
Bethlehem was located in Southern Israel, about 6 miles south of what would later become Jerusalem. To get to Moab, the family had to travel north and go around the Dead Sea and cross the Jordan River and then travel south again to reach Moab. The trip was 100+ rough miles. You can trace the trip if you have a map of Old Testament Israel in your Bible.
Verse 2 ends with the statement that the family “remained there” in Moab. The reason for staying longer quickly becomes clear. Tragic things begin to happen. In verse 3, we hear that Elimelech dies, and Naomi is left in sorrow to parent her sons by herself. This was a very difficult situation, as widows had few resources or help. In verse 4, the two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Jews were forbidden to marry many non-Jews, but Moabites were not included in that list, at least at the time that this story happened. Then the tragedy continues, with the death of both Mahlon and Chilion, over time (Ruth 1:5), That left Naomi alone with her two daughters-in-law and no good way to provide for everyone.
Naomi is very sad with grief and very bitter that God would let all these bad things happen to her and her family. She does not understand. She finally decides that she must go back to Israel and hope that a relative or some kind Jewish person would help her. Read Ruth 1:19-21 to see how Naomi describes her situation. She used to be “pleasant,” but now is only “bitter.” She left Israel “full” and hopeful, but now she returns to Israel “empty.” Why would the Lord bring such “calamity” upon her?
Put yourself in Naomi’s situation. How would you feel? What would you say, especially in weak moments? Have you ever been in circumstances like this? The Scriptures are very honest about Naomi’s struggle. She still calls God her Lord, using the special name for Him as the One True God, but she cannot comprehend how all this could have happened. Her pain and despair are very great.
We will talk more about this and the parts of Ruth, Chapter One, that we have not yet covered. We will see that God had not abandoned Naomi and even gave her some hope for her very gloomy life. He still had plans, even amazing plans, ahead for her and her life. She too was called to “life by faith” in her personal life, even in very dark times, as we also are called to live.
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 9:1-22
Revelation 5:8-14
John 21:1-14
Sermon originally delivered April 14, 2013
Our Easter celebration continues this Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter. In the Gospel lesson, from John 20:1-19, the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to some of the disciples for a third time, at the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee). He helps them catch a huge number of big fish and provides a meal for them. Then, as Peter had three times denied Jesus, Jesus three times renews him in his mission to feed and care for his sheep, God’s people, but also predicts his death at the hands of those opposed to Jesus.
In the first reading, from Acts 9:1-22, the Risen Lord Jesus also appeared to Saul, an enemy and persecutor of Christians, and through Jesus and the reluctant witness of Ananias, Saul is brought to faith and is baptized, and soon becomes a strong witness for Jesus as the Christ, the promised Savior and the Son of God.
In the Epistle, the apostle John sees a vision of the Risen Lord Jesus, now ascended into heaven in glory, being praised for being the Lamb who was slain in order to pay the ransom price for people, so that they could have eternal life in heaven. Jesus is also called the “Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David” and the One who was worthy to break the seals and open the scroll that John sees. (This reading is also one that forms the basis for the hymn in the liturgy, “This is the Feast.”)
In the Psalm, Psalm 30, David had done wrong and displeased God and faced death for himself and other Jews. David pleads for mercy and forgiveness, and God gives it to him and many others. David then praises God in this psalm for new life and joy and says he will give thanks to the Lord forever, (as we will, too, in heaven because of God’s mercy also for us, in Jesus).
In this sixth and final portion of our study of Habakkuk, we looked at New Testament passages that talk about living by faith, that are very similar to what we hear in Habakkuk; and we heard from some Lutheran commentators on the message of Habakkuk.
We began with Hebrews 11:1-3 where we have a definition of what “faith” is: “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith has to do with things that are “hoped for” but not “seen.” The author of Hebrews then uses many examples from the Old Testament.
In verse 3, he says that it is “by faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ”Creation” means making something out of nothing, as God did by His Word. We cannot prove this in a way science would like, but by faith we believe and trust that God did truly create all things. In verse 7, we hear that by faith, Noah built the ark, based upon “events as yet unseen,” simply trusting God’s Word that a great flood would come in the future.
Example after example is then given in Hebrews of others who lived by faith, such Abraham and Sarah, who were far too old to have a child, yet lived by faith that they would have one (verses 8-12). It was a great struggle for them to keep that faith, as the Book of Genesis tells us, and especially when Abraham was told that he was to sacrifice that son who finally was given to them. See verses 17-20.
God had also told of a “land of promise” for them, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and many of their descendants never took possession of it. Even Moses only saw it from a distance (Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16). This was a way of teaching them that they were only “strangers and exiles on earth” and that God would eventually provide them with a “heavenly homeland.” In the meantime, they were to live by faith in God’s unseen promises, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Read all of Hebrews 11 for more of these examples. Chapter 11 ends with the words (verses 39-40) that all of these people did not see the fullness of what was promised in their own days. That would only happen with the coming of the Savior Jesus, from that long line of people beginning with Abraham.
Hebrews 12 then tells us and all believers to live by faith in Jesus, “the Founder and Perfecter of our faith.” Jesus is the greatest example of one living by faith. He gave up everything and became a human being and trusted His Father’s plan, even in being willing to suffer and die for us, in our place, to forgive all our sins and count us as acceptable to God, simply by faith in Him. Jesus then rose in victory and returned in glory to the Father; yet He had to live 33 years by faith, “enduring from sinners such hostility against himself, despising the shame, and even enduring the cross,” for us.
Keeping our eyes on Jesus will help us, also, to live by faith, as we “run with endurance the race that is set before us in this life.” It will not be easy for us either, as we live as sinners in this sinful world. We will face many challenges and will need our heavenly Father’s discipline when we stray and His strength to keep going, sure-footed like a deer, even when there are many uncertainties and questions in our lives (Hebrews 12:1-13 and Habakkuk 3:17-19).
Living by faith, though, does not mean, as some people have suggested, that we take a leap of faith into total darkness. Our faith is based on real evidence - the truth of God and His love for us revealed in the Scriptures, the promises of God centered in Jesus and all He has done for us and promises us, and the eyewitness testimony of all of the prophets and apostles, who know the reality of Christ’s life and death and resurrection and His teachings.
We do not have all the answers to much of what goes on, though. At times, we may be as confused and questioning as Habakkuk, especially as we see all the evil and troubles in this sinful world and have our own struggles. But God is with us, and we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). As Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “We are saved by God’s grace, through faith in Christ,” and not by our own faith or efforts, but by the gifts of God. Even when what God does or doesn’t do seems “foolish” in the eyes of the world or in our own eyes, we still live by God’s grace through faith in Him and His wisdom and His ultimately working for good. (Read 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25, 29-31.)
Finally, let’s go back to Habakkuk and hear what some Lutheran commentators say. Read Habakkuk 3:16-19 again. A writer in the Concordia Self-Study Bible (NIV version) says, “Habakkuk has learned the lesson of faith (2:4) - to trust in God regardless of the circumstances. He declares that even if God should send suffering and loss, he would still rejoice in his Savior-God - one of the strongest affirmations of faith in the Scriptures.”
Look at Habakkuk 3:1-15. Dr. Roehrs, in the Concordia Self-Study Commentary of the 1960s says, “It is characteristic of Biblical thinking that Habakkuk contrasts the evil Babylonians under the fivefold curse (2:6-20) not with righteous believing people but with the vision of the God of salvation (3:3-15) and what he would do. So Paul does also in Romans, where the dreadful picture of mankind under the wrath of God (Romans 1: 18-32, 3:9-20) is followed by the proclamation of the righteousness of God in action in Christ (3:21-31). See also the terrible news of Ephesians 2:1-3, followed by the Good News of God making us alive in Christ by His grace. All this emphasizes the fact that faith is not a virtue in us but first and foremost a receiving from God, a being-dealt with by the God of salvation and His grace.” Our faith and hope are not in ourselves and our faith and goodness, but in God and His grace, from beginning to end.
Dr. Roehrs also notes in Habakkuk 3:16 that Habakkuk is shaken by the seriousness of sin and the coming judgment and discipline of God, but he can still have faith. “This is a God whom one can trust to keep His Word, a God in whom one can find rest, depending on Him alone, no matter how hard the agonies of life and history press upon us.”
Finally, Dr, Roehrs says, “The word 'faith' occurs only once in Habakkuk (2:4); but his whole prophecy is a Word of faith, faith agonized, questioning, seeking, finding rest in God, and jubilant, finally, in the assurance of God’s love, even with the obstacle of all the chaos going on… For both Paul and Habakkuk, faith is faith without works, for both it is 'quietly waiting’ for God to do His saving work. For faith is not just one aspect of man’s existence before God, but the whole of his relationship to Him.”
Dr. Keil, in his commentary, says, “The prophet prays and speaks throughout the entire prophecy in the name of his fellow believers at that time. His pain is their pain; his joy is their joy.” Habakkuk is honest about his and their struggles in understanding God’s will and ways in these very hard times for them, yet assures them of the hope and even the joy they can still have in the Lord, as he has been given it. There is wrath, but God does answer prayers and remembers His mercy and love and will help His people through (Habakkuk 3:2).
Finally, the Lutheran Study Bible (ESV) reminds us, “Much in our lives brings anguish, fear, and even feelings of helplessness to our hearts (Psalm 25:16-18, Acts 14:22). God does humble us under His mighty hand, but He does so in order to lift us up.” See 1 Peter 5:6-11. So much more could be said about this little book of prophecy, but I pray that this study has been helpful to all of us in living by God’s grace through faith, no matter what is going on around us.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Acts 5:12-20
Revelation 1:4-18
John 20:19-31
Sermon originally delivered April 7, 2013
This is the Second Sunday of the Easter season. For the next six weeks, in place of the usual Old Testament lesson is a reading from the Book of Acts, the history of the early Christian church. The only Old Testament reading for this week is the Psalm, Psalm 148. This psalm calls upon all of creation, from the angels, the hosts in the heavens above and the sun, moon, and stars, to all that exists on the earth, including us human beings, to praise the Lord. He is the Creator and Preserver of all, and especially He is praised for “”raising up ”the “Horn” of salvation for us, our victorious Savior, Jesus Christ. (See Luke 1:68-70, 77-79.)
The Gospel lesson is from John 20:19-31. We hear that the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening and showed them He had truly risen from the dead. Thomas was not there, though, and would not believe that Jesus had risen until he saw Him about a week later, along with the other disciples. Then he called Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” We also hear that these and all Scriptures were written so that we too could believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” and “have Life in His Name.”
The Epistle lesson is from Revelation 1:4-18. John, one of those apostles, had been exiled later in his ministry to the island of Patmos because of sharing “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” Jesus, now the Risen Lord in the glory of heaven, appeared again to John and told him to write down what he saw and heard and send it to seven designated churches, representing all of God’s believers and churches. Jesus affirmed that He is “alive forevermore” and has the “keys” for overcoming death and giving eternal life (to all who believe in Him and His saving work and in the Father and the Holy Spirit).
The reading from Acts is Acts 5:12-20 (21-32). The apostles in the early church were preaching and teaching in Jerusalem and were enabled by the Lord to do healings and other miracles. More men and women were coming to believe in Jesus, and the high priest and the Sadducees (who were jealous and did not believe in resurrections and life after death) had the apostles arrested and put in prison. An angel miraculously helped them escape and told them to keep teaching about Jesus. Again, the authorities brought them in, and Peter and the other apostles said that they had to “obey God rather than men” and would keep telling others about the Risen Lord Jesus and “repentance” and “forgiveness of sins” that came through Him.
Last week, we heard God’s warning of judgment not only for the sinful people of Judah, but also for the Chaldeans, the people of the Babylonian empire who would inflict such judgment because of their own evil and sinful violence and worship of idols they had made and even worship of themselves and their own power and strength. God was still in His holy temple, and people needed to wait in silence for Him to act in the right way and time.
Chapter Three began, then, with a prayer of Habakkuk as “the prophet” of God. The prayer is only one verse, verse two. Verse one indicates that what Habakkuk wrote was set to music and likely used in temple worship. The word “Shigionoth” probably describes the style of music, with high emotion, reeling back and forth.
A very similar word is used in Psalm 7. There are musical notations, “Selah,” also at the end of verses 3,9, and 13, as you can find in a number of Psalms, like Psalm 57 and 62. This may have to do with intensified music, as we still have in music today, with notations for being louder and softer (forte and pianissimo). Verse 19 also has a note for the choirmaster in the temple and for use of stringed instruments, that one also finds in some of the psalms. The same Hebrew word for “prayer” is found also in Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102, and 142, regarding prayers by Moses and David and others.
The prayer of Habakkuk, in response to what God had revealed to him, is just verse 2. Habakkuk said that he had “heard” what the Lord said and that His “work” was going to be a “fearful” thing, as He brought judgment. But Habakkuk prayed that in the midst of His “wrath” over sin, God would also “remember His mercy” toward sinners and “revive it” and “make it known” in the midst of many years to come. Habakkuk was praying that God would remember His promises to His people and especially the promise of the coming Messiah and His salvation.
Habakkuk 3:3-15 is God’s response back to Habakkuk and his prayer. As God responded to Habakkuk, He used many Old Testament words and images about what He had already done for His people and in the world. It was a way of saying that as God had done in the past, He would remember and do in His great power again, in showing mercy to His people.
Verses 3-5 use words from Deuteronomy 32:40-43 and 33:1-3, as “The Lord came from Mt. Sinai” in great glory with His holy ones, “with flaming fire” and “brightness” that shone from Seir (Teman) and from Mount Paran. This refers to His giving the Law to Moses and appearing like the sun, with its “rays” shining forth. Moses only had glimpses of the true glory of God and yet “shone” himself as he came down from the mountain. We know that our eyes could be damaged by staring at the sun. How much worse it would be for us sinners to see the Holy God now.
The power and judgment of God are also pictured in verses 5-7, with “pestilence and plague,” as happened with the Egyptians, when God rescued His people from them,, and earthquakes and the shaking of mountains and nations, as God’s people were brought into the Promised Land. Nomadic peoples like the “Midianites” and “Cushans,” who lived in “tents,” in “curtains,” trembled before God and His people, as they passed through. (In verse 7, Habakkuk said, “I saw” these things. Maybe God was giving him a vision, a glimpse of all these past events.)
Verses 8-10 refer to “rivers” and “the sea” and “raging waters” and “the deep” going forth. These seem to refer to events like the great flood (see Genesis 7:6,11 and 8:2) and God’s people passing through the Red Sea and the Jordan River and other such evidences of God’s power. Verse 10 may be a reference to when the sun stood still in Joshua 10:12-13 or simply that the sun and moon’s glory retreated at the great light and glory of God’s arrows and spears as He protected His people, as the Hebrew in this verse suggests.
Verse 14 may be an allusion to stories like David’s victory over Goliath, when the stone from his sling hit Goliath’s head and he then beheaded him (1 Samuel 17:41-51); or the story of how Jael killed the leader Sisera by driving a tent peg into his head (Judges 4:21). All these verses, including Habakkuk 3:12-13, picture God judging and defeating the “wicked” with His “spear” and “arrows” and at last, sparing and bringing mercy to His own people - Noah and His family, the children of Israeli and on and on.
God’s “chariots of salvation” (verse 8) were always at work through the centuries, and He worked “for the salvation of His people,” Israel, and especially for the sake of “His Anointed” (verse 13), the coming Savior, Jesus, who would be born through that line of Jewish people. Yet in the midst of all that, God’s people were often sinful and had to go through times of judgment and discipline and be called back to trust in the Lord.
Habakkuk 3:3-15 are difficult, because they speak of and allude to many events we don’t know so well and Scriptures we are not very familiar with. God was making the point, though, that in the past He often had to use “wrath and judgment” upon nations and even upon His own people; but He also always remembered His mercy and forgiveness and His saving plan. As He had done again and again in the past, God would again in the future show mercy to His chosen people. He would answer the prayer of Habakkuk. Even though there would be wrath and great trouble ahead for the Jews, God would again, in His time and plan, remember His mercy and promises.
In Habakkuk 3:16, Habakkuk responded again to God and showed that he had gotten the message. It was very upsetting that His people were going to have to such judgment (even though Habakkuk had in Chapter One complained that God seemed to be doing nothing about that evil in Judah). Habakkuk said, “My body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.” It was going to be horrible to see Jerusalem and the temple and Judah overrun and destroyed and many people taken into captivity in Babylon for many years. Yet, Habakkuk said, “I will wait quietly for the day of trouble to come upon the people, the Babylonians, who invade us.” Justice would finally be done and God’s people would be spared, though it would be about 60-70 years later, with much trouble and suffering in between.
In the meantime, Habakkuk made, in a poetic way, one of the best descriptions of living by faith that is in the Scriptures. Read Habakkuk 3:17-19. Though everything seemed to go wrong (verse 17), Habakkuk would still “rejoice in the Lord” and have faith and joy “in the God of his salvation.” The Lord would be his “strength” and help him to keep going, like a deer still sure-footed in a rugged, mountainous place (Habakkuk 3:18-19). (This is a quotation from Psalm 27:1 and parts of Psalm 18:1-2, 30-35. Take a look at those passages, too.)
You might also read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paul had a ”thorn in the flesh,” some sort of physical ailment or other kind of trouble that would not go away, though he prayed and pleaded with God that it would leave him. God simply said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul was called simply to live by faith and trust God, no matter what. He said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Next week, we will have some closing comments and think about how we apply “living by faith” to our current world and local situations. What does living by God’s grace through faith mean for us now?
Sermon for Easter Sunday, based on:
Job 19:23-27
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Matthew 28:1-9
Sermon originally delivered March 31, 2013
Sermon for Good Friday, based on:
John 18:1-19:42
Sermon originally delivered March 29, 2013
Sermon for Maundy Thursday, based on:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Sermon originally delivered March 28, 2013
Thoughts on the Lord’s Supper
A common concern in regard to a frequent celebration of the Holy Communion is that it will detract from the importance or special sacredness of the Lord’s Supper and reduce it to something commonplace.
The same objection can be made against worship services every Sunday, prayers at every meal, etc. Doing our worship and prayer without meaning is a constant temptation. But the solution to this problem is not to go to church less often, not to pray less, but to work by the power of the Spirit to make every service and every prayer meaningful and special.
The Holy Communion is always special; our Lord is always present, giving us His body and blood, moving into our lives with His strength and love and forgiveness. Those are things we need — not just occasionally but always. Those are things we need — and we cannot get too much of any of them.
Since the Lord’s Supper is so special and precious, God encourages us to prepare ourselves for it, by repentance, faith in Christ, and trust that His body and blood are really present in the Sacrament. Otherwise, we can actually take the Lord’s Supper to our harm.
St. Paul writes, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Corinthians 11:26-29).
Thus, the Lord’s Supper is both a very serious and a very joyous meal. May we all consider the greatness of our sin, and the even greater undeserved love of God, in giving us forgiveness in Christ’s blood in this special way. Then may we come with joy to the Lord’s table.
All the Scripture readings for this Easter Sunday are connected to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. At the center is the Gospel lesson, from Luke 24:1-12, when women go to the tomb of Jesus and find it empty. Angels appear and tell them: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you… that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered His words.” The women tell the disciples and others, but at first, “it seemed to them an idle tale.”
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, Paul affirms the certainly of the resurrection of Jesus, and through His resurrection, the certainty of the resurrection of all the dead and the kingdom of God, with the Lord, for all believers. Then all enemies will be put away and death destroyed.
In the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 65:17-25, God gives through Isaiah a prophecy of and a glimpse of “the new heavens and the new earth” in which all believers will have eternal life. Much of what is described is in terms of what is not there; for in heaven, we will “be glad and rejoice forever.” “The former things shall not be remembered,” and there will no more be “the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.” (Though sin and death and the accursed are mentioned in one place, they are clearly banished from the perfection of heaven, through Jesus’ final victory over all evil.)
The Psalm is Psalm 16, another psalm of David. He speaks of the “goodness” of the Lord toward him and the “beautiful inheritance” he has in store by God’s mercy. His “flesh” and “soul” are “secure” in the Lord and with the Lord there will be “fullness of joy… forever.” David adds that the Lord will not “let His holy one see corruption.” The New Testament quotes this verse and says that it cannot refer to the body of David, which would only be raised on the last day. It is a prophecy of Jesus, whose body did not see corruption but was raised on the third day. See Acts 2:23-32 and Acts 13:28-35. It is through the resurrection of Jesus that all believers trust that they too will be raised, even though they die, and they will have the fullness of eternal life. And Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross remind us that as soon as we die, in faith, our souls, too, will be with the Lord in heaven.
We ended last week with God speaking of the Babylonians, also called the Chaldeans, continuing to conquer and gather up many nations and peoples for themselves, as if they now owned them. Beginning with Habakkuk 2:6, though, God also warned and predicted that the Babylonians would eventually fall at the hands of other nations who would “scoff” at and “taunt” them, because of their sins and terrible mistreatment of others.
God then gave a series of five “woes” directed against the Babylonians and their empire. He described just what they were doing and how terrible it was and how many enemies they were making for themselves, who would eventually rise up against them. As verse 6 continued, God described the Babylonians as taking and “heaping up what was not their own,” as they conquered other nations. They were also adding to the burden of the conquered people who were left alive by making them “pledge” to give even more in taxes and tribute to them. “How long” would this abuse last? Not forever.
God then predicted in verses 6-8 that the oppressed people would eventually “arise” and “awake” and make the Babylonians “tremble,” and they would then “plunder” them because of all the “bloodshed” and “violence” done by them. (This is only one of many warnings God had given the Babylonians and other nations like them of the consequences of their evil actions. See, for example, Isaiah 44:28-45:1, where a Medo-Persian leader is named as helping God’s people in the future and defeating the Babylonians. See also Isaiah 47, where the fall of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, was predicted, in spite of their thinking they were so safe and secure.)
Return to Habakkuk 2:9-11, where God spoke another “woe” to the Babylonian “house,” to its “dynasty,” and to literal magnificent “homes” (“nests”) of their powerful people. By their own evil toward others, they “were forfeiting their own lives.” (Sin compounds itself and creates more sin and evil and trouble. Remember the warning of Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” God even said that the “stones” and “beams” of Babylonian homes would “cry out” against the Babylonians (Habakkuk 2:11). Jesus alluded to this passage in Luke 19:40, when the Pharisees were criticizing the praise that Jesus was receiving as he came into Jerusalem. He said that if others were silent, even “the very stones would cry out” out in honor of Him. Some think that Jesus was also predicting the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem and its magnificent temple in 70 AD, because of continued sin and rebellion against God and rejection of Jesus as Savior. Jesus spoke of that clearly in Luke 21:5-6. At that time, the stone of the city and temple would be crying out in sorrow.)
In Habakkuk 2:12-14, God spoke another “woe” against the Babylonians for building for themselves through “blood” and “iniquity” (sin) and slave labor, where people “weary themselves for nothing” and eventually everything will be destroyed by fire. (This is the opposite of what will happen when some of God’s people would return to their land in joy after their captivity in Babylon had ended (see Psalm 126:1-2) and then eventually, the Savior, “the Root of Jesse,” would come and bring hope and rest. Notice some of similar words in verse 14 and in Isaiah 11:9-10.)
God spoke a fourth “woe” against the Babylonians in Habakkuk 2:15-17, when He used again the picture image of drunkenness and the way the Babylonians cruelly had taken advantage of people and shamed and debased them and did “violence” to them and the natural world, including the cedar forests in Lebanon and the “beasts,” the animals there. As a result, the Babylonians would eventually have to “drink the cup” of the Lord’s wrath and judgment for the wrongs they had done. (See Psalm 75:7-8 as another example of this picture image of the cup of God’ wrath. Look also at Isaiah 51:17, where Israel is described as having to drink from this cup, at times like that of the Babylonian captivity, because of their great sins. Also read Isaiah 51:21-23, where the cup of wrath is taken away from Israel and passed on Israel’s former “tormentors.”)
God also recognized that behind all the other problems of the Babylonians was the worship of false gods and even making their own idol gods and trying to listen to them, instead of the one true God. God spoke one last “woe” against idolatry, showing how foolish it is to worship something one has “created” by himself of “metal” or “wood” or “stone.” “Can this teach?” God asked. If an idol is “overlaid with gold and silver,” it obviously cannot have any “breath at all in it” and is “speechless,” even if if one calls on it to “awake” and “arise.” It is, in reality, “a teacher of lies,” which comes from oneself and one’s own sinful ideas and nature, as an idol’s “creator.”
Some think Paul may have been thinking of this passage when he spoke about “mute idols,” which were so common in the Greco-Roman world and are still popular in some places today and are a means by which people are “led astray” to false ideas. See also God’s description of idolatry, given through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 44:8-20. If you look at Daniel 3 and Daniel 6, you will also see how the Babylonians were so caught up in building such idols and honoring them or having people worship their leaders themselves as gods. What a danger that was for faithful Jewish believers like Daniel and others when they were captives in Babylon.
God ended His response to Habakkuk in Habakkuk 2:20, where He reminded Habakkuk that He was still the LORD, the one true God. He was still reigning from heaven and working out His plan for the world, even when He seemed to be silent and doing nothing that people could see. All people should simply “keep silence before Him” and wait upon Him. He was and is the living God, and true knowledge and revelation come through Him alone. Habakkuk, as His prophet, and those still faithful to God especially needed to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7) and “live by faith,” as God taught in Habakkuk 2:4, and trust that He was working for good and would be just and merciful, even if Habakkuk (or we today) cannot always see it or understand.
Habakkuk did finally get this message, because unlike idols and false gods, the one true God “can teach” (Habakkuk 2:19-20). Next week, we will hear Habakkuk’s response of faith to God and what it means for us, too, to “live by faith.”
Sermon for Palm Sunday, based on:
Psalm 118:19-29
Philippians 2:5-11
John 12:12-19
Sermon originally delivered March 24, 2013
This coming Sunday is known either as Palm Sunday or The Sunday of the Passion. Churches can use readings focusing on either of these or a combination of them. I will give you just some general ideas about the readings.
The Old Testament reading can be Deuteronomy 32:36-39. God speaks and reminds that He is the only true God. There is no other. He can bring death, but He can also “make alive.” This prepares for both the death and the resurrection of His own Son, Jesus, which we will hear about during Holy Week. Another Old Testament reading could be Zechariah 9:9-12, a prophecy of Jesus, King of kings, coming into Jerusalem, but in a very humble way, riding on a donkey, and ready to shed His blood to give hope and peace to people.
The Psalm can be Psalm 31:9-16. David speaks of his troubles, but this a prophecy of Jesus, also, as our Suffering Servant, who perfectly trusts His Heavenly Father and His love, even as others “plot to take His life.” Psalm 118:19-29 can also be used, with many references to Jesus coming into Jerusalem. “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.” Jesus is the “Cornerstone” for salvation, though many will reject Him.
The Epistle is from Philippians 2:5-11, telling of God the Son, humbling Himself and becoming a real man who would die for the world on a cross, and yet also be “exalted“ to life. Finally, “every knee should bow” to “Jesus Christ as Lord.”
The Gospel reading could be part of a Palm Processional, as we hear the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, from John 12:12-19 or possibly from Matthew 21:1-9. There could also be a Gospel reading from John 12:20-43, where Jesus predicted His death on the cross and called people to “believe” in Him as “the Light,” even as many others would not believe in Him. There could, instead, be a much longer reading, telling of the suffering and death of Jesus, from the Gospel of Luke, Chapters 22 and 23. You could read those chapters yourself, too, to hear the whole Holy Week story at one time. As Jesus said, “This Scripture must be fulfilled in Me: ‘He was numbered with the transgressors’” to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins, to bring forgiveness and life to us (Luke 22:37 and Isaiah 53:10-12).
Sermon for Midweek Lenten Service VI
“The Cross of Christ"
Sermon originally delivered March 20, 2013
As our study begins today, the prophet Habakkuk has realized that God is serious about bringing judgment and reproof upon the evil people of Judah, through the Chaldean/Babylonian Empire. He cannot understand this plan, though. God’s own chosen people are very evil and sinful, but the Babylonians are even worse, with their false gods and cruel treatment of the nations they conquer. How can God work through such terrible people? Habakkuk is waiting for an answer to his complaint and seems ready to complain to God even more (Habakkuk 2:1).
God did not immediately answer Habakkuk’s question, but asked him to write down this conversation they were having. Habakkuk did what God asked, and that is why we have this prophecy, this “vision,” preserved in dialog form, in a way that one could read it and then “run” it on to deliver it to others (Habakkuk 2:2).
God also told Habakkuk that what he was revealing would not immediately happen. “The vision was awaiting its appointed time.” The plan of God was “hastening to the end.” It would happen. It would not be a “lie.” But this would be in God’s hands and in His timetable, not that of Habakkuk or anyone else. If what God said seemed “slow” in coming, just “wait for it.” “It will surely come; it will not delay,” according to God’s will and planning (Habakkuk 2:3).
The problem is, God said, that we human beings are often “puffed up” and are not “upright” (straight) in our “souls” toward God. We want to do things our way, according to our own desires, rather than trusting God and His ways and timing (Habakkuk 2:4). Even God’s people often acted this self-centered way.
Read the little story in Deuteronomy 1:41-44, when the people thought they could easily go into the “hill country” and defeat their enemy, even though God had told them not to go. They “would not listen” and “presumptuously” went ahead and were routed and chased away by the Amorites. The Hebrew text has the idea of their being “swollen, puffed up, proud,” and they were acting “haughtily,” and were very sorry for doing so, when they did not wait for the Lord’s plan, when He would have been with them and given them victory.
See how this passage from Habakkuk is referred to in the New Testament in Hebrews 10:35-39. In a time of suffering and persecution, believers were to “endure” and wait for “the coming One” - God’s help and rescue. “It will not delay,” but may seem like that, because it is God’s timing, not theirs. They are called to “live by faith” in God in the meantime. (We will talk much more about this phrase, in a few moments.) See also the discussion in 2 Peter 3:1-9, when “scoffers” are predicted as asking, “Where is the promise of God’s coming?“ Time goes on and God seems to do nothing. Peter reminded the people that God’s time was different from theirs or the “scoffers,” and that they needed to wait patiently for the Lord to act. He would “fulfill His promises.”
Go back now to Habakkuk 2:5. God began to talk again about the character and ways of the Babylonians. They were truly “arrogant men, never at rest” and puffed up in their own ways. Their greed was never ending, like “death” and “Sheol” (the place of the dead, and sometimes a reference to death in hell). These Chaldeans would keep conquering “nations” and “peoples” and bringing sorrow and death to so many. (If we would use a contemporary image, it would be like talking about the waves of Covid and how many people were swept up and died. It was as if death and the grave never had enough people.)
However, the Babylonian empire had its own weaknesses, which would eventually lead to its fall and destruction. God introduced here the problem of too much alcohol and its dangers. “Wine is a traitor.” When abused, it can bring great sorrow and trouble to individuals or cultures (Habakkuk 2:5). Read warnings about wine and strong drink in Proverbs 23:29-35. See the true story of King Belshazzar in Daniel 5, happening later in Babylon, when in a wild, drunken party of a thousand people, the king used vessels of gold and silver, stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. “They drank wine” and “praised” their own “idols” and “gods.” A human hand then appeared and wrote a message on the wall of the palace. Only the prophet Daniel could interpret the message, which predicted that Belshazzar would soon die and the Babylonian empire would collapse. See also Proverbs 30:15-16, warning of the dangers of greed, when there is never enough, and only trouble comes.
God was preparing in verse 5 for what He would talk about next, the “woes” that would eventually come to the Babylonians. They would prosper, but only for a time, and then they would receive their own time of judgment, as Judah did; and then hope and restoration would come again for God’s people from Judah. (We will talk about this next week, as we look at Habakkuk 2:6ff.)
In the meantime, what are God’s faithful people to do? Here, the words from the second half of Habakkuk 2:4 are so important. Bad times are coming for God’s people because of their sins. They will suffer at the hands of the Babylonians. The fall and judgment of Babylon will come, but “it awaits its appointed time,” and God does not tell when that will happen. (Historically, it did not happen until 539 BC. They did not know it, but that meant that the people of Judah would suffer being vassals of the Babylonian empire, then have Jerusalem and the temple destroyed and then be carried away into captivity in Babylon for many years. About 60 years of trouble were coming. How were God’s people to live and survive? God simply says, “But the righteous shall live by his faith)” (Habakkuk 2:4).
This is a key message of the whole of the Scriptures and introduced already in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, with Abraham. Abraham was promised that he would be the father of a great nation and his descendant would be a blessing to all nations, but he had to wait and wait for even the promise of a child to be fulfilled. Abraham was far from perfect, yet we read in Genesis 15:6. “He believed the Lord, and He (the Lord) counted it (his faith) to him as righteousness.” He was counted a righteous man by his faith in the Lord and His promises.
See also Isaiah 26:2-4. Israel is called a righteous nation because it “kept faith” and its people trusted in the Lord. Even then people realized that their faith was also a gift from God. Isaiah 26:12 says, “O Lord, You will ordain peace for us, for You have indeed done for us all our works.” God was revealing the same thing to Habakkuk in Habakkuk 2:4. He was considered righteous as he lived by faith in the Lord, even though he was struggling with God’s ways and plans.
See how often this passage is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament, in relation to the key doctrine that we, too, are saved by God’s grace, simply by faith, by trust in Jesus and what He has done for us, and not by our efforts or works. Read Romans 1:16-17, Romans 3:20-28, Romans 4:1-9, Romans 4:16-25, Romans 5:1-2, Galatians 3:7-14 Galatians 3:24-29, 2 Corinthians 4:13-18, Ephesians 2:8-9, and Hebrews 10:37-39, for example.
God is telling Habakkuk and us and all believers to live by faith in God and His promises, even though we do not understand all that God is doing and sometimes have to wait a long time for our prayers to be answered and may not ever see the answers we wish for, in this life. As New Testament Christians, we also have the great comfort of having God’s central promises already fulfilled for us in Jesus and how Jesus lived perfectly in our place and we are now credited with His righteous, through faith in His life, death, and resurrection for us. Our eternal future is secure in Him, no matter what happens to us in this life.
May the Lord bless us, as we continue to hear with Habakkuk how God is just in His judgments, even for Israel and how strongly Habakkuk came to live by faith in His loving Lord, no matter what was going on around him.
All of our Scripture readings this week have to do with the ending of the old and the coming of the new, in Jesus and what He does for us in this Lenten/Easter season.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 43:16-21. God says through Isaiah not to focus so much on the old things, because He is “doing a new thing,” with “drink” for His chosen people, like life-giving “water” and “rivers” in a desert wilderness. This is ultimately prophetic of Jesus, as he came and said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37-38).
For that to happen, God brought a remnant of His people back to the promised land, out of captivity in Babylon. Psalm 126 celebrates that joyful freedom, when God “restored the fortunes” of His people. There were still “tears” and “weeping,” but God “did great things for them” and finally sent, from them, the promised Savior, Jesus.
So sadly, many of His own people rejected Jesus when He came, and most of the religious leaders wanted to “destroy” Him, seeing Him as a threat to their old ways (Luke 19:47). In the Gospel lesson, Luke 20:9-20, Jesus then told a parable about God being like the owner of a vineyard who hired tenants, the people of Israel, to care for that vineyard for him. When he asked for “some of the fruit of the vineyard,” the tenants refused again and again, and even harmed his messengers. Finally, he sent his own son, and the tenants killed the owner’s son. In this parable, Jesus was predicting, as God’s Son, sent from God the Father, His own death, brought about by His own people (and our own sins, too). He quoted Scripture, saying that He was the “Cornerstone” of the new life and new way that God was bringing through Him, but if people kept rejecting Him, they would be “broken“ and “crushed.”
In the Epistle lesson, Philippians 3:4b-14, Paul speaks as one who had been a prominent Jew and had rejected Jesus and followed the old Jewish ways. He had tried to be “righteous” by keeping the “Law” and old Jewish ways. The risen Lord Jesus had turned his life around, though, and “made him His own” and he found “the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord” and Savior. He then had the perfect righteousness that came to him “through faith” in Jesus. He “forgot what was behind” and “strained forward to what was ahead” in His new and eternal life, confident in the risen Christ Jesus.
Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent, based on:
Isaiah 12:1-6
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Sermon originally delivered March 10, 2013
We began with prayer and a quick review of what was troubling the prophet Habakkuk as he spoke with God in Habakkuk 1:1-4. Jehoiakim was the King of Judah and was an evil man. The people were following him in going against God and His will.
Habakkuk was seeing much evil and violence and cried out to God, but it was as if his prayers for help were not heard or that God did not care about all the strife and contention and wrongdoing Habakkuk saw. This silence of God seemed to contradict what God had said in Isaiah 1:13, for example: “I cannot endure iniquity.”
There were some godly people, but they were surrounded by the wicked and their perversion of justice and the Law of God. (Does this not sound like what we see and hear about evil and violence brought upon people in Ukraine and in so many other places and in our own country, too? We pray, and the law is “paralyzed” - literally, has grown cold and numb - and God seems to be doing nothing and letting it all happen.)
Do note that what Habakkuk said was directed to the LORD, the one true God of Israel. It was, as the commentator Roehrs says, “a cry of faith, a troubled, groping faith, but still faith.” Habakkuk believed in God as a just God, but could not understand why God was not intervening and helping His faithful people. Habakkuk was speaking up on behalf of himself, but also on behalf of other believers in Judah.
God’s answer in Habakkuk 1:5-6 was that He was already at work, but not in the way Habakkuk had expected. Habakkuk was to “look among the nations” around him; and God then named the Chaldeans, the people of the new Babylonian empire that He “was raising up.” They were the ones who would bring judgment upon the evil people of Judah and its king. They were already know as a “bitter and hasty nation,” quickly destroying the Assyrian empire and Nineveh and winning victories over the Egyptians and now threatening the Kingdom of Judah, too. They could go and capture whatever they wished as they “marched through the breadth of the earth,” seizing whatever they wanted. (Historically, they would soon surround Judah and Jerusalem and make them and their king subservient to Babylon and force them to pay high taxes and give away a lot of their wealth to the Babylonians. They would also carry away promising young men of Judah, including Daniel and his friends, and make them serve the Babylonian kings. The Babylonians would not destroy Judah and Jerusalem until 587-586 BC, though.)
All this was coming, because of the sin and rebellion of God’s own people. Habakkuk then described in vivid images the “dreaded and fearsome” ways of the Babylonians and their own evil kind of “justice” that they would bring upon the Jews and other nations (Habakkuk 1:7). (My understanding of Hebrew is not the best, but scholars say that what Habakkuk wrote here was very good, poetic Hebrew that influenced later Hebrew prophets and writers, as God inspired them all.)
What God predicted here was really not something new. Read Deuteronomy 28:45-50, where God had already warned through Moses long before that if His people rebelled and refused to listen to His voice, another nation would be a “sign and wonder” against them and bring God’s judgment upon them. Read Habakkuk’s description in Habakkuk 1:8 of the Babylonian conquerors, using images of leopards, wolves, horsemen and eagles. Read also Jeremiah 4:13 and 5:6-9, and notice the similarities to what Habakkuk had written. These two prophets lived close in time to each other, but Jeremiah probably wrote a little later than Habakkuk. Both were predicting God’s use of the Babylonians to bring judgment on Judah and Jerusalem, though.
Habakkuk also described the Babylonian tactics in “picture” ways, quoting the Lord, just as history describes these ways. See Habakkuk 1:9-11. Habakkuk thought the people of Judah were very “violent” in what they did to each other. The Babylonians were even worse. They “gathered captives like sand” (Habakkuk 1:9), a way of saying how numerous their captives were, whom they deported to Babylon and other places, as they eventually did with many Jews, even as God had described the descendants of Abraham as “sand” in a similar way in Genesis 22:17-18. (The New Testament says that all believers, including us, are part of that countless group of spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith in Christ, no matter what our background is. See Galatians 3:28-29.)
The Babylonians laughed at their enemies and enemy fortresses. They built up huge earthen ramps to get over the walls of cities without having to knock the walls down. They conquered with great speed. The people of Judah were guilty of many sins, including worship of false gods. The Babylonians were guilty of that much and more. They worshipped themselves and their own power and pride as their primary god, along with other false gods (Habakkuk 1:10-11).
Pause for a moment and note that some of what we just read is quoted in the New Testament and applied to new situations, too. The phrase in Habakkuk 1:6 about the Babylonians “marching through the breadth of the earth” in battling others, including the people of Judah, is quoted in Revelation 20:9 regarding Satan and the forces against Christ “marching up over the broad plain of the earth” and then being utterly defeated by Christ and His power and cast into hell forever. As we will see, God did use the Babylonians to bring judgment and humbling of the people of Judah; but later, the Babylonians themselves would be judged and humbled and utterly defeated because of their own terrible wickedness and unbelief.
Habakkuk 1:5 is also quoted in the New Testament in Acts 13:40-41. The Babylonians being used to humble God’s people was an astounding surprise for Habakkuk, which we will hear more about. In the same way, God’s plan of salvation through the death and resurrection of His own Son was an astounding surprise for many Jewish people. Many thought that the coming Messiah would be a conquering hero who would overthrow the hated Romans. Instead, God the Son came as a true man, as well as God, to be a suffering servant, who would die for the sins of the world and then defeat death and rise in victory, and free people from the condemnation of the law of Moses, which no one could fully keep, except Jesus. (Read the whole context of Acts 13 to see how this was taught. Forgiveness of sins that brings eternal life, not political liberation, was to be the greatest gift of God, also for us.)
Go back now to Habakkuk 1:12. Habakkuk confessed again that he was talking with the one true God. He called God the LORD and his “Holy One” - a term used often by the prophet Isaiah in the past. (See, for example, Isaiah 31:1-3, where God’s people were turning to Egyptians, who were only men, and their horses, for help, instead of trusting “the Holy One of Israel.”) Habakkuk’s God is the “Everlasting” God. (See Psalm 90:1-2, words of God through Moses.) God was Habakkuk’s “Rock,” and Habakkuk seemed to understand now that God really did plan to bring “judgment” and “reproof” to Judah through the evil Chaldeans, the Babylonians.
That raised more questions for Habakkuk, though, as we hear in Habakkuk 1:13-17. How could the pure and holy God see all the evil and wrongdoing of the Babylonians and “remain silent, when the wicked swallow up” God’s own people, who were surely “more righteous” than the pagan Chaldeans. It made no sense to Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:14).
Habakkuk went on to say that the Babylonians were like those catching fish in the sea or crawling things in a net and “mercilessly killing nations,” including Judah, in the process. The Babylonians only cared about themselves and “living in luxury” and having “rich food” and having their own “joy and gladness.” They were worshiping themselves, “sacrificing” and “making offerings” to themselves, in honor of their own power.
Habakkuk even mentioned “hooks” that both the Assyrians and the Babylonians would actually put into the noses and other parts of captives to keep them under control as they moved them from place to place. (Habakkuk was horrified by such atrocities; but he also seemed to forget or downplay the warnings that he and others had been giving for a long time about the consequences of their own evil and sins. See Amos 4:1-2, for example, where God warned through the prophet Amos that even fellow Jews could eventually be “taken away with hooks” if they kept rejecting God’s will and kept abusing others, including the poor and needy (Habakkuk 1:14-17).)
Habakkuk then said he would stand and watch for God’s answer to him about his complaint to Him. The word for “complaint” is a strong one. It is almost as if Habakkuk felt he needed to “contradict” God’s plan and “correct” God’s thinking (Habakkuk 2:1).
Do we react in the same way to God sometimes? Why does He allow things to happen in our lives that seem so unfair? I think back to the 9/11 events in the US. There were some who dared to say, “Could God be trying to wake us up and tell us something?” The great majority of people, though, seemed to think that God would never use Islamic terrorists to say something to us. The bigger question for most was “Why would God or anyone else allow this to happen to our good country?”
We will look at God’s response to Habakkuk, and maybe to us, too, next week, as we read on in Habakkuk, Chapter 2. Think about two last things, too. Some point to the fact that Jesus Himself told a parable about a net in Matthew 13:47-50. This time, though, it is the Lord and His angels, on the last day, perfectly sorting out and rescuing the “righteous” believers and putting away the evil into “the fiery furnace.” Does this parable say anything to what we are talking about and the struggles that we and Habakkuk have, at times, in understanding and responding to God’s will
Finally, remember the words of Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1:12. In the midst of his questions and confusion about all that was going on around him, and what God was doing, he could still say, “We shall not die.” He knew that his everlasting Lord would care for him through this life, and even if he faced physical death, to everlasting life. That is our hope, too, in Christ our Savior, even if we do not have all the answers we wish to have. We have God and His promises to sustain us. We will hear more of that, above all, as our study continues. May we continue to hope in the Lord, above all, too.
All of our Scripture readings this Sunday speak of the blessing of God’s forgiving love, coming to us through the saving work of His Son, Jesus. In Psalm 32, David speaks of how miserable and deceitful he was, trying to hide his sins from God and others. Finally, he was brought to admit his sins and have their burden taken away in the Lord’s forgiveness. David encourages us not to be like a stubborn mule, but to listen to the Lord’s instruction and trust Him and His steadfast love, even for us sinful people. (We still use part of Psalm 32:5 in our confession of sins in Divine Services Three and Five in our hymnal.)
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 12:1-6, is a song of thanksgiving for “that day” when the “Root of Jesse,” the “Righteous Branch” predicted in Isaiah 11 would come. That One is God’s Son, who came to be our Strength and Song and Salvation with comfort and forgiveness for us, as we drink from His “wells of salvation” and trust in Him. His glorious work needs to be shared with everyone “in all the earth.” (We sing much of Isaiah 12 in a song that is part of “A Service of Prayer and Preaching” in our hymnal, p.261-262.)
The Epistle lesson is from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, where we hear that we have been reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. Our sins are not counted against us, and we are “a new creation” and counted as “righteous” by God through faith in what Jesus has done for us. “All this is from God,” as a free gift from Christ, and we are now “ambassadors for Christ,” sharing this Good News with others.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32, Jesus is being criticized for associating with “sinful” people. He tells a parable, a story of two sons. One wastes his life and inheritance on foolish and sinful living. Finally, God helps him to realize how wrong he has been, and he returns home and receives the forgiving love of his father. The other son is angry that his father has treated this “prodigal son” in such a kind and forgiving way. It seems so unfair. This second son has to be reminded that he, too, is a forgiven sinner and has also already received many blessings from his father. Now it is time for him also to share that mercy and forgiveness with others, including his brother. For all of us were once lost and dead in sin, but have been found and made alive in Christ, in what he has done for us.
Our new study is on the Book of the prophet Habakkuk. You can find this book near the end of the Old Testament with the other Minor (shorter) Prophets, just three books after Jonah. It is only three chapters long, and we know very little about Habakkuk himself, so this study should not take as long as some others.
I began with a little history of the time in which Habakkuk lived. If you followed the Jonah study, you may remember that Jonah did his work somewhere between 800 and 750 BC, when the Assyrians were the greatest power in the Middle East, with their capital in Nineveh, where Jonah went and preached. The Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its capital of Samaria in 722 BC and carried many of the Jews of the 10 Northern tribes into captivity in other nations. Most of those Jews never came back to the Promised Land and have been called the “10 Lost Tribes.” Only the Southern kingdom of Judah was left. The Assyrians continued in power for a long time, twice attacking and burning Babylon, in 689 and 648 BC.
By the late 600’s, the Babylonians had become the dominant power and destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC. (They are called Chaldeans in this book. See Habakkuk 1:6.) But by the grace of God and a good king, Josiah, Judah and Jerusalem did not fall to them. Sadly, Josiah drifted away from God in his last years, and his son, Jehoiakim, has been described as “ambitious, cruel, and corrupt.” The Southern kingdom went far from God’s will during this time. Habakkuk probably served as a prophet at this time and wrote his book around 605 BC.
We know nothing about him, other than what is revealed in this book. He may have had priestly functions, as a part of the tribe of Levi. His work overlapped with prophets like Jeremiah and Zephaniah. His name may mean “one who embraces,” who gives help and comfort to others, as a prophet. (There are legends and stories about him from later times, but they have no Biblical basis. One is the apocryphal book “Bel and the Dragon,” which claims that Habakkuk was sent by God to help Daniel when he was thrown into a lion’s den for a second time. You can find this among extra writing included in Roman Catholic Bibles of the Old Testament. This and other such books were not included in Jewish Hebrew Scriptures and were not considered Scripture in the early church or, later, in Protestant Bibles.)
A unique thing about the Book of Habakkuk is that Habakkuk never preaches directly to the people of Judah. His book is a dialog between him and God, including many questions he has about what God is doing. God asks him then to write down what they had been discussing. That is how the message then gets to God’s people.
Look at Habakkuk 1:1. This book is called an “oracle” - a pronouncement or message that Habakkuk “saw,” which was revealed to him in a vision or in some other direct way from God. The King James Version translates it as a "burden” that Habakkuk saw - meaning that it was a heavy message that would challenge the people and their behavior before God, with a strong warning. In this, Habakkuk is also able to ask questions and God responds to him, too.
Habakkuk 1:2-4 is then Habakkuk’s set of questions for God. He uses the special Jewish name for God - the LORD. He wonders how long he will have to cry out to God for help, and the Lord will nor hear him. He is especially troubled by a lot of violence going on in Judah. There is much “iniquity” (sin, lawlessness, unrighteousness in the uneven, chaotic actions of people toward one another). He piles up the words to describe how bad things are - wrong, destruction, strife and contention between people. It is as if the holy law of God, given through Moses and others, is “paralyzed” and having no effect among people. There is so much “perversion” of “justice.” “The wicked surround the righteous” and it is so hard to see good and to do good in such a “violent” atmosphere.
Worst of all, Habakkuk says to God, You don’t seem to care, when I cry to You. “You will not hear…. You will not come and help and save.” I am so upset, Lord God, when I see all this evil, and you just “idly look at wrong” as if you do not care and aren’t going to do anything about how bad things are among Your own people.
Do you and I ever have the same kind of questions? Don’t we also wonder the same things, even today, when we pray and don’t seem to get answers, when we see the horrors in Ukraine and starving people in Ethiopia and other places, and the struggles in our own personal lives, and we can’t tell if God is responding or even hearing us?
Next week, we will see how God responds to the challenges thrown out to Him by Habakkuk. God says that there will be justice, but in a very surprising way that Habakkuk does not understand and we may not, either. Habakkuk only has more questions for God, as we will see, also.
Maybe you can see already how practical and relevant this short book is for us, too. God wishes to bring us to greater faith and trust in Him and His wisdom and ways, even when we do not fully understand what He is doing. We can learn from the way God works with Habakkuk.
God’s blessings on your week, as you keep talking with your Lord, even if with tough questions, and keep listening for His answers in His Word.
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Lent, based on:
Ezekiel 33:7-20
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
Sermon originally delivered March 3, 2013
In the Old Testament lesson, Ezekiel 33:7-20, the prophet Ezekiel is told to speak just what the Lord has told him to say. For people burdened by sins and guilt, Ezekiel is to say, “Turn back from evil and live in the Lord… and your sins will not be remembered against you.” If people are rejecting the Lord and calling Him and His ways “unjust,” they are to be warned of coming judgment, unless they also repent and return to the Lord. For, "as I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” God wants to have mercy and forgive repentant sinners.
The Psalm, Psalm 85, tells of how God’s people have received mercy, but there is always the danger of ”turning back to folly.” The psalmist prays for God’s “steadfast love” and “salvation” in troubled times. Then, “love” and “righteousness” and “faithfulness” and “peace” are personified and meeting together on earth. That literally would happen in the coming of Jesus Chris, who combined all these characteristics in Himself and “gave what is good” to us and the world, in His saving work.
The Epistle is from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Paul warns that “anyone who thinks that he stands (spiritually) should take heed lest he fall.” Paul speaks of the blessings that God gave His Old Testament people when He rescued them from slavery in Egypt and cared for them - yet how many of the people drifted away from God into evil. We will be tempted, too, Paul says, but “God is faithful” and He can help us “endure” and “escape” in faith in Him.
The Gospel lesson is Luke 13:1-9. Jesus spoke of tragedies in His own time and said that people should not think that they are better than those people who died, for we are all sinners who need continually to repent and be forgiven. Jesus then told a parable of a fig tree that bore no fruit. The one who cared for the tree asked for more time to work with the tree to see if it would bear fruit. If it went on and on bearing no fruit, it would eventually be cut down. The good news is that the Lord is patient and there is still time for those who have resisted and resisted the Lord to repent and be brought to faith in Him. The warning is that people do not have forever, and a time can come when it is too late to repent and receive faith.
Sermon for Midweek Lenten Service III
“Free Will vs. Bondage of the Will”
Sermon originally delivered February 27, 2013
In this final portion of our study of the Book of Jonah, we look at the comments of Jesus about Jonah. We look first at Matthew 12:38-41. Just before this passage, Jesus had healed “a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute.” The man could then speak and see, and the demon was cast out of him. The people were amazed and wondered, “Can Jesus be the Son of David?”- the promised Savior? The Pharisees claimed, though, that Jesus cast out evil spirits by the power of the devil himself. They rejected this miracle and many others that Jesus did, so that He could help people in need (Matthew 12:22-24).
Instead, the Pharisees wanted Jesus, in Matthew 12:38, to do some other kind of “sign” for them, according to their own wishes and desires. Jesus responded by saying that “it was an evil and adulterous generation” that demanded “signs” on their own terms (Matthew 12:39). It was a pattern that could be seen among the people of Israel in the wilderness wanderings and many other times in the Old Testament. Moses said of his people, “They have dealt corruptly with God; they are no longer His children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation” (Deuteronomy 32:5).
In Psalm 95:7-9, we hear the warning, “Today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts, as…. when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.” God’s people had seen so many miracles already in their rescue from slavery in Egypt and in the way God provided for them as they traveled to the promised land. Yet for too many of the people, it was never enough, They wanted more “signs” before they would trust and follow God as He asked.
This was the very kind of temptation that the devil gave to Jesus when He was in the wilderness in Matthew 4:5-7. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” from the pinnacle of the temple. Angels will surely take care of you; and what a great proof this would be to all the people who would see you rescued. Jesus simply replied, quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16, “It is written: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus simply lived “by every Word that comes from the mouth of God,” as He also quoted to the devil from Deuteronomy 8:3. He listened to and followed His Heavenly Father and not the devil or anyone else. So, in Matthew 12:39, Jesus told the Pharisees that no sign would be given but the "sign of the prophet Jonah.”
As Jesus explained more, He clearly believed that the story of Jonah was a true story, from beginning to end. “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Remember that we have already seen that this meant that Jonah was in the great fish for parts of three days and then was rescued. This was a prophecy pointing to Jesus, who was to die and be buried, but be raised to life on the third day. See passages like Matthew 16:31 and Luke 24:45-46. The death and resurrection of Jesus would be the central evidence, the sign of the completion of Jesus’ saving work for the world - not any other “sign” that people might want or demand.
Jesus went on to say that the people of Nineveh really did repent at the preaching of Jonah, by God’s mercy, just as the Book of Jonah said. They can rise up on the day of judgment in condemnation of the many people who did not listen to and believe the words and work of someone “much greater than Jonah” - Jesus, the Son of God, who did die and rise again to be the Savior of the world (Matthew 12:41). (We will talk about verse 42 when we look, in a moment, at Jesus’ comments in Luke, also.)
The religious leaders did hear what Jesus had said about dying and rising again, the sign of Jonah, as the center of God’s plan for Him, as Savior. They heard it often, and did plan to kill Jesus, but would not believe that Jesus could rise again. They were afraid, though, that some disciples might steal His body and pretend He had risen. Read their plans in Matthew 27:62-66. They could not stop the resurrection of Jesus, though. Read what happens in Matthew 28:1-4, and how they tried to cover up what really happened in Matthew 28:11-15. Their rejection of Jesus continued, no matter what, for too many of the people. And it continued on and still goes on today. (See other descriptions of a “faithless and twisted generation” in Matthew 17:17, Mark 8:31-33, Philippians 2:14-16, Acts 2:40, and Psalm 78:8, for example.)
Notice also how the religious leaders asked again that Jesus show them a “sign from heaven” in Matthew 16:1. Jesus reminded them that they could predict weather conditions, but could not see the real “signs of the times,” and told them again that the only sign they would see would be “the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16:4). God had already given a sign from heaven, long ago, when the star appeared that led the wise men to Jerusalem. The chief priests and scribes had been there and had helped identify Bethlehem as the predicted place of the birth of the coming Messiah, the Christ. But it seems as if none of them bothered to go with the wise men and find out more about this amazing sign of the star or to see what child had been born. The leaders only wanted to do things their way and ignored everything else. (See Matthew 2:1-12.)
Turn now to Luke 11:29-32, where Luke tells also in his Gospel that there would be no sign but “the sign of Jonah” for the “evil generation” in which Jesus lived. Jesus added that Jonah himself was “a sign to the people of Nineveh,” who repented at his preaching. In the same way, Jesus Himself was “a sign to His generation” and to all generations, especially through His death and rising again to life, just as the Book of Jonah predicted.
Luke also tells that Jesus gave the example of “the queen of the South” - a reference to the queen of Sheba. Read in 1 Kings 10:1-10 how she came to visit King Solomon and was amazed at his knowledge and wisdom and was also amazed at His God, the God of Israel. She could tell that the Lord was a Lord of love for His people and concerned about justice and righteousness and wisdom for them. If she could learn so much from Solomon, Jesus asked, should not the people of Israel learn from and listen to Jesus, who is much greater than Solomon?
Look also at John 2:13-22. Very early in His ministry, Jesus had “cleansed” the temple, chasing out the sales people and money changers. Right away, people were demanding that Jesus show them a “sign” to give evidence that He had the right to do this “cleansing” (John 2:18). Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). They did not understand that He was talking about “the temple of His body.” Even His disciples did not understand what He meant until after His resurrection. But wasn’t He talking about the same thing that the “sign of Jonah” meant -that central to His whole ministry was His dying and rising again, just as the sign of Jonah signified?
See Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. “The Word of the cross is the power of God for us who are being saved” (v.18). “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek (human) wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified” (v.22-23). The death of Christ to pay the penalty for our sins was essential for the saving plan of God. “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3. Equally important is the fact that “He rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). We need the whole of the sign of Jonah, and Jesus provided it all for us, in His love for us. Jesus is our hope and joy, in all that He did for us.
A few last thoughts, as we close our study of the Book of Jonah. The three questions God asked Jonah in Jonah, Chapter 4, are worth our pondering about ourselves, too. When God provided a plant for shade for Jonah and then chose to take it away, in His wisdom, Jonah was angry. God simply asked, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” Jonah was only angry because he had lost the personal benefit of that plant. Do we sometimes also put too much emphasis on things that we like that are really not so important and miss things that are much more important for us?
Jonah was especially misunderstanding the mercy of God. When God asked him, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah was particularly angry about God’s mercy for certain groups that Jonah did not like and that he felt were not deserving of mercy. But who is deserving of mercy? Do we deserve it because we are somehow better than others, even though we have our own sins and failings in our lives, too? Can we want God’s mercy for us, but want to deny it to others? God wanted Jonah (and us) to think, as He asked the third question, “Should not I pity Nineveh” also and all the people there?
Ultimately, we all have hope for our future and for eternal life only by the mercy and forgiveness and grace of God, earned for us by the perfect life of Jesus in our place and His death on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, and His mighty resurrection, in victory over sin and Satan and death. “Grace” means undeserved love and favor, and John reminds us, “From the fullness of Jesus, we have all received grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Even faith in Jesus itself is “the gift from God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And clearly, God wants not just us who now believe to have faith in Christ. We are very grateful that we have been brought to that faith; but “God our Savior desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
We must try to keep all this in mind, even as we need to speak out against evil in Ukraine and so many other places in the world, including Yemen. (I read this week that many scholars think that the Queen of Sheba, about whom we heard in this study, came from what is now Yemen, and where there has been terrible civil warfare for years.) Sin is sin, and we cannot approve of it; and there will be be judgment for those who reject God and His will, as did later happen to many in the Assyrian empire and Nineveh when they turned away from the Lord. But we speak, always knowing that we are simply forgiven sinners ourselves, through Christ Jesus. And we try to hope for a merciful outcome, over time.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent, based on:
Jeremiah 26:8-15
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
Sermon originally delivered February 24, 2013
Sermon for Midweek Lenten Service II, based on Luke 22:1-6, 24-34
"Man's Gospel vs. God's Gospel"
Sermon originally delivered February 20, 2013
The Old Testament Lesson for the Second Sunday in Lent is Jeremiah 26:8-15. With courage, Jeremiah brings God’s message that Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed if the people do not repent and turn from their evil ways. This message only angers the priests and other “prophets” and many of the people, who want to kill Jeremiah for bringing such a message. Jeremiah affirms that he is speaking the truth and that killing him would only be shedding innocent blood. (This predicts the Old Testament destruction of Jerusalem and prefigures Jesus’ own coming and message to His people.
The Psalm is Psalm 4. David speaks of the Lord rescuing him from difficult situations. He warns of those who are still speaking vain words and lies about him and calls them to realize the danger for them in what they are doing, and to trust instead in the Lord and His ways. David also says that the Lord will give true “joy” and “peace” and “safety” to the “godly” who do trust in Him.
In the Epistle Lesson, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Paul warns of “enemies of the cross of Christ,” who focus on their own desires and glory in “shameful earthly things.” In contrast, Paul calls upon believers to “imitate” him, in “standing firm in the Lord” and waiting in faith for the return of Christ, who will transform our “lowly bodies” and take us to our place of true “citizenship,” in heaven.
In the Gospel Lesson, Luke 13:31-35, Jesus is warned that Herod, the tetrarch, wants to kill Him. Jesus is not concerned about that “fox,” but knows that he must keep going toward Jerusalem, where His suffering and death would happen at the hands of His own people. He laments that He could not gather His people together under His wings of protection and care. They were refusing Him, and their “house,” their temple and city would eventually be “forsaken.” If they could only recognize that He was their Lord and Savior!
Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent, based on:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
Sermon originally delivered February 17, 2013
Last week, we heard how Jonah finally went to Nineveh and preached the message that God gave him, warning that Nineveh would be “overthrown” in 40 days. The Word of God worked and the people of the city repented of their “evil ways” and “violence” and cried out for God’s mercy. God gave His mercy to them and did not bring the disaster He had predicted through Jonah.
As Chapter 4 of Jonah begins, one would expect that Jonah would be very happy that the people listened to his message and that the city was spared. Instead, what happened “displeased Jonah exceedingly.” Literally, what God had done “became evil to Jonah as a great evil,” and “he was angry with God” (Jonah 4:1). Jonah admitted that this was what he had expected all along and why he had tried to run away from God and His will and ended up in the belly of the great fish, until God rescued him and gave him another chance to do His work.
Jonah also admitted that he knew that God “was a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). It is the great Good News of the Bible, that God has mercy and forgives us sinful, struggling people in this world, ultimately through the saving work of Jesus our Savior. It is good news for us all. See these Scriptures as a small example of this expression of God’s mercy: Exodus 34:6, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8-13, Psalm 145:8-9, Micah 7:18-19, Lamentations 3:31-33, Joel 2:13, etc. Even in the Old Testament, God showed that mercy to His own chosen people, but also to people like the Ninevites, through Jonah.
Jonah selfishly wanted that mercy from God for himself, to be rescued from the great fish. He wanted that mercy for his people of Israel, but he did not want that mercy to be given to non-Jews and especially not to the people of Nineveh. The Assyrians were an enemy of and a great threat to God’s people, Jonah thought. They did not deserve and should not have God’s mercy. That is why Jonah was so angry with God. God was doing the wrong thing, in his view.
In fact, Jonah wanted to die, rather than see God spare the city of Nineveh (Jonah 4:3). There were other examples of leaders of God’s people who wanted to die in times of great difficulty and when they felt they were failing in their ministry to God’s people. See Moses in Numbers 11:10-15, Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1-18, and Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15:10, 20:14-18. In contrast, as the commentator Roehrs says, “Jonah wanted to die because his mission had been successful, against his own expectations and desires.”
God needed to wake up Jonah to his wrong thinking, though, and asked him very bluntly, “Do you do well to be angry” (Jonah 4:4)? Jonah remained angry, though, and went out of Nineveh and built a makeshift booth for himself, to see what would happen, likely hoping that God would change His mind and still destroy the city. It was hot, though, and God in His mercy, as he had “appointed” the great fish, now “appointed a plant” to grow up quickly and provide shade and a little comfort for Jonah. This is the only time in the whole Book of Jonah where Jonah was happy and “rejoiced with great joy” (Jonah 4:5-6).
Jonah’s attitude was still so wrong that the next morning, God “appointed a worm” to attack and wither the plant, and He “appointed a scorching east wind” and hot sun to make Jonah feel faint, so that again he wanted to die. This time, Roehrs says, Jonah was angry because God was “not gracious enough to him. In overwhelming self-pity,” he felt that God had been unfair in taking away his “sunshade” (Jonah 4:7-8). “Sirocco” hot east winds were also used at other times by the Lord as discipline and to wake people up to their wrongdoing. See Isaiah 27:8, Jeremiah 4:11, Ezekiel 17:10, and Hosea 13:15 as examples.
Again, God needed to ask Jonah very bluntly, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And again, Jonah thought he was “doing well” to be so angry, angry enough to die. God reminded him that he cared so much for and “pitied” the plant, though he did not labor for it or make it grow and it only lasted one day. Why then, God said, should I not have pity on the 120,000 human beings and their animals and cattle in Nineveh and help them to repent and and be spared and know of My love and care (Jonah 4:9-11)?
Jonah could be hard-hearted, in his sins and weakness, though he should not have been, but the Lord God could not, especially as He thought of these misguided people of Nineveh, “who did not know their right hand from their left.” God’s plan had always been to work through Abraham and the Jewish nation to bring in the Lord Jesus, who would be a Savior for all nations - even those who were so far from God that they did not know their right hand from their left. Israel had the Word of God and knew to go that way only and not to wander off to the left or right. (See these passages, continually calling God’s people to go the way of the Lord: Deuteronomy 5:32-33, Deuteronomy 17:20, Joshua 1:7, Joshua 23:6, and Proverbs 4:27, etc.)
God’s heart loved His people and He did keep showing them mercy, even when they strayed. God is God and not a man like Jonah. See Hosea 11:8-9. But God’s love is also for the whole world (John 3:16). He could not push the Ninevites aside, though Jonah was willing to do so. (We hope, of course, that eventually, Jonah also repented and returned to God’s love and willingness to share that love with all around him.
Lest we be too hard on Jonah, though, remember the message of Jesus in Luke 15 for us, too. Jesus was being strongly criticized for associating with “tax collectors and sinners” who were despised by most people. Jesus then taught about His mission to reach out to the lost and straying, with stories about lost sheep and lost coins.
He also told the story of two sons. One was a prodigal who left home and wasted his money and his life and finally came home in sorrow and repentance and received a joyous welcome from his father. The other son had stayed home and faithfully worked with his father. When the prodigal son came home and was treated so well, the other son was very angry, just like Jonah. He felt that the prodigal son did not deserve such honor, and selfishly felt that he had been disrespected by what the father did. Only he was really worthy, he thought, and certainly not the bad brother. The father, who is a symbol of our Heavenly Father, still loved both sons, even with their weaknesses, and helped them both to know His great love and forgiveness, which could rescue and restore them both. Don’t we too often act like one or the other of these sons and need God’s forgiving love, too?
One last thought. When we see the terrible things being done in Ukraine by the Russians (and historically, the people of the Assyrian empire were very similar in their ruthless conquests of other nations, at times) it is easy and proper to condemn what is happening. But how quickly and easily could we forgive the Russians and forget - even if they backed off and were truly repentant? It would be very hard, wouldn’t it, as it was for Jonah? Remember also the words of Romans 5:6-11, when we hear how bad things were for us when Christ died for us and for the world. God is truly gracious and merciful to us all, in Jesus.
Next week we will have some final thought on the Book of Jonah and look especially at what Jesus said about this Scripture.
Sermon for Ash Wednesday, based on:
Psalm 51:1-17
Mark 8:27-34
Sermon originally delivered February 13, 2013
The Lenten season begins on March 2, Ash Wednesday. The focus in this season is on what it took for Jesus to win His victory over sin and Satan and death for our sake and our eternal salvation.
The Old Testament lesson is from Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and is a reminder to God’s people, as they enter the promised land and enjoy its blessings, to take a basket of the first of the fruit they receive and offer it to the Lord. They are to remember all the good that the Lord has given them, as His gift, and to worship Him with thanksgiving.
The Psalm is Psalm 91:1-13. The Psalmist reminds God’s people that as they live in shelter of the Lord Most High and trust in Him, He will care for them and deliver them from many troubles and His angels will guard them, too.
The Epistle lesson is from Romans 10:8b-13. Paul speaks of the Word of God, the Word of faith that centers in Jesus and needs to be in our mouths and hearts. One scholar calls it the Word that calls us to faith, but also creates that faith in us, as we hear the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus. That Gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. See Romans 1:16-17.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 4:1-13 and describes the battle between Jesus and the devil, as the devil tempts Him to go against the will of God. Jesus continually uses and follows the Word of God, as the devil tries to get Him to do wrong. The devil finally retreats and waits for more opportunities to tempt and test Jesus, as the battle continued throughout the ministry of Jesus.
Last week, we heard of Jonah’s thoughts and meditation, especially upon some of the psalms, and his prayers while in the belly of the great fish. He called out to the Lord in his distress and knew that salvation would come only from the Lord and hoped to be in the temple again one day. The Lord answered his prayer and called the great fish to vomit him up onto dry land.
As Chapter 3 begins, God gave Jonah another chance to do what he had been called to do as His prophet, though he did not deserve it since he had still not fully repented of his attitude toward God and God’s will. In Jonah 3:1-2, God commanded him again to go to Nineveh with almost the same words He used in Jonah 1:1-2. This time, Jonah went and followed “the Word of the Lord.”
God is a God of second (and even many more) chances for people, in His patient, forgiving mercy. Remember how Peter had failed Jesus and denied three times that he ever knew Him. Jesus forgave him and called him again to be His apostle and “feed His sheep.” (See John 21:15-18. Jesus also taught Peter to forgive not just 7 times but 70 times 7 times, over and over again. See Matthew 18:21-22. Peter learned to speak of God as “the God of all grace.” See 1 Peter 5:10 and 2 Peter 3:18.)
Think also of Saul, who was strongly anti-Christian and even involved in arresting and helping put Christians to death. The risen Lord Jesus turned his life around and made him a strong believer and missionary, with a new name, Paul. Paul often spoke of how undeserving he was and yet what a great example of what God’s mercy and forgiveness could do. (Read Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Think about you and me, too. How many times have we failed our Lord and He has still loved and forgiven us, also? Every day? See Mark 2:15-17.)
Nineveh was a very great city, capital of the Assyrian Empire, the strongest power of the Middle Eastern world of that time. It was also a very wicked city, far from the one true God and His will. Jonah was sent to proclaim one very simple but strong warning to the people and leaders. He began to go into the city and called out, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 2:3-4). He said just what God wanted this time, and he used the same word that was used in Genesis 19:24-25, when God “overthrew” the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and utterly destroyed them, “even what grew on the ground.” God had given them opportunity to repent, too, but they refused and wanted to do more and more evil.
Amazingly, we hear in Jonah 3:5 that “the people of Nineveh believed God” and “called for a fast and put on sackcloth” as a sign of repentance for their wrongdoing. This word from Jonah reached the king of Nineveh (who was also the king of the whole Assyrian Empire) and he too showed repentance by removing his royal robe (see an example of such a robe, in Joshua 7:21, where the same word is used) and “covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes” (Jonah 3:6).
These are the typical things done by people in the ancient world as a sign of sorrow and repentance for their sins, not just Jews. (See Ezekiel 26:15-16, and the people of non-Jewish Tyre.) See also these examples from the Scriptures:
- Fasting (not eating food, and sometimes, drink, for a period of time) - Joel 1:14 and 2:12, 15 and Nehemiah 9:1
- Sackcloth (very rough clothing, maybe like wearing a burlap bag) - Joel 1:13, Genesis 37:34 (Jacob, when he thought his son, Joseph, was dead), Job 16:15, and even wicked King Ahab in 1 Kings 21:27, when he repented and was allowed to live longer
- Ashes - Job 42:6, Daniel 9:3, and Matthew 11:21
The King of Nineveh also decreed that both man and beast not eat and put on sackcloth and “call mightily to God” and “turn from evil” and “the violence that is in his hands” (Jonah 3:7-8). (The people of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire were known for being very violent people and for using violence to get whatever they wanted for themselves, as they conquered and plundered other peoples.)
There are many skeptical people who would say that the simple preaching of Jonah could not possibly have accomplished all this. Jonah could not; but it was not simply his word, but the Word of God and from God that he proclaimed - the same Word of God that created the universe and our amazing world (see Genesis 1-2) and turned around the life of Paul and has turned our lives to faith and trust in our Lord and what Jesus has done for us. God’s Word is God’s power.
Commentators and historians have also pointed out that Middle Eastern people and cultures of that time were very emotional and had high esteem for prophets and oracles and may well have heard stories of earlier prophets of Israel, and could be influenced by them. The Roman writer Cicero speaks of these characteristics; and the fact that cattle and other animals were even involved in the mourning process of these peoples is attested by the Greek historian, Herodotus, and later, Plutarch. Look at Joel 1:18,20 and how “even the beasts of the field” are described as “panting” for God’s help in a time of trouble and judgment. Think also of how during “Holy Week” in the New Testament, many Jewish people, also emotional, were stirred up and praising Jesus on Palm Sunday, and yet by Good Friday were calling for His crucifixion.
The Lutheran Bible Companion also points out two periods in Assyrian history, during the time that Jonah lived and could have preached at Nineveh , that could reflect his influence. There was a time of “great religious stirrings” where some called for putting trust in only one God and no other, which parallels the Old Testament teaching of monotheism, that there is only one true God, which Jonah did follow. There was also a time where there were two severe plagues and an earthquake, which severely troubled the people and could have helped make them more open to the warning of judgment and the call to repentance by Jonah.
Most important, we have the words of our Lord Jesus, recorded in Matthew 12:41 and Luke 11:32, that the “men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.” (We’ll talk more about this passage and what else Jesus affirms regarding Jonah, probably next week.)
As we return now to Jonah 3:9, the King of Nineveh, after commanding the people to call out to God and repent and turn from their evil ways, then says, “Who knows what God will do? Hopefully, He will turn away from His anger and relent, so that we may not perish.” This sounds much like what is said in Joel 2:14: “Who knows whether God will not turn and relent” from the disaster threatened for His own chosen people if they did not return to Him in faith. Joel, of course, also reaffirmed the mercy of God. Read Joel 2:13, and then all of Joel 2:12-17 and God’s response in Joel 2:18. See also Exodus 32:11-14, after the people of Israel had built and worshiped a golden calf as a pagan god. Moses pleaded with God to turn away from His “burning anger,” and God did so.
That is exactly what God did also for the pagan people of Nineveh, in Jonah 3:10. He saw “how they turned from their evil way,” and He did not bring disaster and “overthrow” the city and its people. Jeremiah spoke of the same outcome, in an example in Jeremiah 18:7. He also gave the same warning, even to his own people of Israel, if they kept going away from the Lord and His will.
Sadly, the repentance of the people of Nineveh did not last for a long time. They did not continue in faith and response to the one true God and went back to their very evil ways. See the prophecy of Nahum about their coming destruction. This time they did not listen and Nineveh fell to the Babylonians and was destroyed in 612 BC. This is a danger. Think about the reaction in the United States after so many people were killed in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. There was religious fervor for a time, and more people went back to church, but it did not last either.
Next week, we will talk about Jonah’s surprising reaction to God’s mercy upon Nineveh in Jonah, Chapter 4.
Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday, based on:
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Hebrews 3:1-6
Luke 9:28-36
Sermon originally delivered February 10, 2013
This coming Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday and the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. Christ’s light as Lord and Savior clearly shines forth in the Gospel lesson, and all the other readings give insight into that, as well.
The Old Testament Lesson, from Deuteronomy 34:1-12, tells of God taking Moses to a high mountain and showing him all of the land promised to God’s people of Israel. Moses would not be the one to lead the people into the land, though. Joshua, blessed by the Lord through Moses, would become that leader. Moses then died, and the Lord took care of his burial. Moses was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, whom God knew very directly, but Moses only prefigured the much greater Prophet, our Lord Jesus (Deuteronomy 18:15ff).
The Psalm is Psalm 99, which praises and worships the Holy Lord God, the Lord of the universe and all the earth. He spoke to prophets like Moses and Samuel and others “in the pillar of the cloud,” judging wrongdoing but also showing Himself to be “a forgiving God.”
The Epistle, from Hebrews 3:1-6, says that Moses could only “testify to things that would be spoken later.” Christ Jesus has much greater glory, as the greatest Apostle and High Priest and Builder, Creator of all things, and the true Son of God. (See also Hebrews 1:1-3.) Jesus is our “hope” and “confidence,” and “we are His house,” and He lives and works in us through His Word and the faith and forgiveness He gives us.
That “greater glory” of Jesus is shown in our Gospel lesson, from Luke 9:28-36. Jesus took some of His disciples to a mountain to pray. There, His appearance changed, and He became “dazzling white.” Moses and Elijah also appeared and talked with Him about His “departure,” literally, His “exodus.” Through His coming suffering and death and resurrection, He would accomplish the saving work of rescuing us from sin and Satan and death - a much greater rescue than the rescue of God’s people from slavery in Egypt in the time of Moses. From a cloud that then enveloped those on the mountain, the Heavenly Father declared that Jesus was His Son, His Chosen One (see Isaiah 42:1), and that everyone needs to “listen to Him” and His saving Words and works.
We begin this study at Jonah 2:1, after Jonah was thrown into the Mediterranean Sea in a great storm and, by a miracle of God, did not drown but was swallowed by a great fish. For parts of three days, Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, protected and kept alive by God Himself. While inside the fish, Jonah had plenty of time to think and meditate, and he especially seemed to focus on psalms that he knew from his work as a prophet and from his time in worship, where psalms were the songbook, the hymnal, for God’s people. All this leads Jonah to the prayer that he prayed to God in Jonah, Chapter 2.
Dr. Walter Roehrs suggests that we consider three things about this prayer:
- The prayer is seen and described and written down “retrospectively” (after the fact) “from the vantage point of his deliverance.” So, “both his past petitions and his present thanksgiving are recorded.”
- There is nothing about the physical aspect of his being in a great fish and being vomited out. The prayer is only about his inner spiritual thinking and meditation.
- The prayer is sincere toward God, but never does Jonah clearly confess his own sin of rebellion against God and His will. He thinks about Jerusalem and the temple there, but there is still no clear thought about Nineveh, and the needs of the people there. Jonah still is far from understanding God’s will and plan.
As we get into that prayer, then, we see that Jonah does clearly recognize and pray to the one true God, “the Lord his God.” (If your translation has “the LORD” all in capital letters, that indicates that this is the special Hebrew name for God, often called “Yahweh.” Jonah used that special name four times in this short prayer, and it is used is verse 1 and verse 10, as well. Jonah kept faith with the one true God, even though he was still struggling with God’s specific plan for him, as we will see.
As a prophet, Jonah also knew and used God’s Word and had worshipped Him using the songbook, the hymnal of God’s people, the psalms. David had written many of them nearly 200 years before, and Jonah seems to have had them in mind as he was in the great fish for those three days. Many of the phrases he uses have parallels in the psalms and some might even have been direct quotes from psalms he remembered. (In the podcast I suggested keeping your Bible open to Jonah but also to the psalms, and I read from many of them. In this summary, I will simply list Psalm parallels, and you can look them up on your own, as you choose.)
In Jonah 2:2-3, Jonah knew to call upon the LORD in his distress “in the belly of Sheol.” He trusted that the Lord would hear and answer. (Sheol is a Hebrew word which can mean "the place of the dead.” Jonah must have felt near to death and not sure if he would survive. “Sheol” can also be a word for “hell” in some contexts, but not here, though Jonah may well have felt that he was in a “hellish” situation, in a great fish in the sea. See parallels in Psalm 18:3-6, a psalm of David, and Psalm 130:1.)
In Jonah 2:3, Jonah admits that it was really not the sailors but the Lord who had “cast” him “into the deep.” He says, in verse 4, to the Lord, “I am driven away from Your sight.” He had purposely tried to run away from God and now realizes what great agony he had brought upon himself and how much he needed the Lord from whom he had tried to escape. (See parallels in Psalm 31:22, another psalm of David.) How much Jonah wishes he could be in the “holy temple” in Jerusalem, where God would show His presence and he could hear God’s Word (Jonah 2:4 and 2:7). (See parallels again in Psalm 31:22 and Psalm 27:4-5.)
Again, Jonah thinks of how trapped he is in a “land whose bars could close upon him forever,” in death, in “the pit” (Jonah 2:5-6). (See the parallels in Psalm 69:1-3, still another psalm of David.) Yet, in Jonah 2:7, when his “life was fainting away,” Jonah “remembered the Lord,” and seemed to realize that the Lord could still “bring his life up from the pit.” He could still talk with the Lord in prayer, right where he was, and be heard and helped, through the Word of God that he knew, in these psalms. (See Psalm 5:7 and Psalm 77:9-16,19.)
What Jonah was going through is important for all of us when we go through turbulent times in our lives. We can go up and down in our thinking and feelings, from one moment to the next, as Jonah did. We can have times of great discouragement and depression, but remembering the Lord and His Word and His mercy and care can pull us up to hope again. (See Psalm 42, where the psalmist’s soul is “cast down and in turmoil” until he remembers God and His house and His steadfast love and mercy. See especially verses 4-8, where he is lifted up by His Lord and His hope, and yet needs to keep remembering His Lord, for he can slip back into discouragement. He mentions this in Psalm 42:11, again, and in Psalm 43:3-5.) Doesn’t that sound like Jonah’s thoughts, while in the belly of the great fish? Does that sound like you and me, too, at times in our lives?
We all need to keep “remembering the Lord” and what He really wants to give us all - His steadfast love and mercy and forgiveness, as we listen to His Word and trust in Him. (See another psalm of David, Psalm 103:1-13.) That’s why we need to keep studying His Word, as we are doing right now and as we do in worship, as we hear of the mercy and forgiveness of God. Dr. Roehrs, in his comments on Jonah 2, also points us to how often God told His Old Testament people (and us) to keep remembering Him and what He has done for us, in His rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt, (and His rescue of us all now through Jesus our Savior, above all). See Deuteronomy 7:18, 8:2, 8:18, 11:2-3, 24:9,18, and 22, 15:15, and 16:12, for example.
Finally, this message also got through to Jonah. He knew that “those who pay attention to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love” from God. (Jonah 2:8). (See the warning God gave to His own people in Hosea 4:1-3, when they did not know and remember and listen to Him. Does verse 2 sound like our own country, at times?)
In contrast, Jonah was finally trusting that the Lord was going to spare him, and he was already thanking the Lord for His mercy and making plans to sacrifice to the Lord and make promises and vows to Him that he would carry out in the future, when he was rescued (Jonah 2:9). (See parallels in Psalm 50:14-15 and 56:12-13 and 61:8.)
Jonah was also quoting from Psalm 3:8, another psalm of David, when he finally said, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” And on the third day that Jonah was in the great fish, “The Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10). He was saved by His Lord, who who still cared about him. And we are saved by our Lord Jesus, as we keep trusting Him, too.
We will see, as we continue the story of Jonah, how well he does with his vows and promises and thanksgiving to His Lord. There is such a thing that is called “jailhouse religion” or “foxhole religion.” When people are in big trouble or danger, they sometimes get serious and call upon the Lord and make promises to Him, if He will only help them out. But as soon as they are out of danger, they forget all about their vows and good intentions and leave the Lord behind again. May the Lord help us to keep trusting in Him, staying faithful to Him. It is always the best for us and is our way of thanking Him for His mercy to us. And as God is merciful to us, we are called to merciful and caring to others, even those who treat us badly. See Luke 6:27-36. That is a message that Jonah still needs to learn, as we shall see.
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is from Genesis 45:3-15 and tells us how forgiving Joseph was toward his brothers, though they had treated him so badly and finally sold him to be carried away as a slave to Egypt. He suffered much, but was also greatly blessed by God and knew that God allowed and guided all this to “preserve life” for many, including his own Israelite family, from whom eventually the Savior of the whole world would come.
Psalm 103:1-13, a psalm of David, emphasizes the forgiving love of God and how He does not judge us on the basis of our many sins, but removes our sins and shows us mercy and compassion, as we seek to fear, love, and trust in Him. He is a compassionate heavenly Father who dearly loves His children.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 6:27-38, another part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, Jesus call us to have love and mercy toward others, including those who are enemies and treat us very badly. This is a very hard message, until we remember that God has already been very loving and merciful to us, in Christ our Savior. He now wishes us, as His children, to be merciful to others, even “the ungrateful and the evil,” as He has not condemned us, but forgiven us, in what Jesus has done for us.
The Epistle lesson is 1 Corinthians 15:21-26, 30-42 - the last of six readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15. We hear again of the certainty of our eternal future in Christ, and His return on the last day to do away with sin and Satan and death, and to raise and change our bodies into glorified, imperishable, heavenly bodies. In the meantime, we are reminded that “bad company ruins good morals,” and to keep battling sin in our own lives, as we await His return.
We begin our study this week with Jonah on board a ship, trying to escape from the Lord and His will that he go to the Gentile, pagan city of Nineveh and share God’s message with the people there. God quickly interfered with Jonah’s plans by “hurling a great wind” and “tempest” on the Mediterranean Sea, so that the ship is in danger of breaking apart (Jonah 1:4).
The mariners, from a number of places and backgrounds, were very frightened by the storm and began to pray to their gods for help. This was a merchant ship, and so they also began to throw their cargo into the sea to lighten the load and keep the ship more stable. Jonah, though, went below deck and had fallen into a deep sleep.
It is not said how much he knew about the storm or why he was sleeping as he was. Some think he was exhausted from trying to run from God and just fell asleep. Others think he finally had some peace, having escaped God, and could more easily fall asleep. Still others think that he was feeling so bad about what he had done that his sleep was an escape from guilt and sorrow. (Jonah 1:5). (See how Luke said in Luke 22:45-46 that the disciples of Jesus were “sleeping for sorrow” in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus wanted and needed them to stay awake and watch and pray with Him.)
The captain of the ship needed the help of everyone, though, and woke up Jonah so that he could at least pray to his own god, too, for help. Maybe someone’s god would help them, so that they would not perish (Jonah 1:6). The sailors also decided that they should “cast lots” to see if they could tell who was responsible for their trouble. (This was a common practice in the ancient world, where people drew out stones or sticks or something else, to see who was the guilty person or the chosen person for a certain responsibility. God even allowed this at times or worked through such a process. See the story of Saul and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:41-45 and Proverbs 16:33 and even the choosing of the apostle to take the place of Judas in Acts 1:21-26. The Acts passage is the last time that “casting lots” is mentioned in the Bible. That is not the recommended way to make choices, as the Scriptures go on. We pray that God will guide us and then make the best choices we can, using our minds and the advice of others and being guided by the Word of God, above all.) In Jonah 1:7, though, God brought the truth and “the lot fell on Jonah.”
The sailors then began throwing all sorts of question at Jonah. You can read what they were asking in Jonah 1:8. They wanted to know how Jonah was related to this great evil storm that had come upon them. Jonah answered them very honestly and accurately: “I am a Hebrew” (a name going all the way back to Abram in Genesis 14:13, and his descendants, sometimes in a disparaging way, as in Genesis 39:14,16).
Jonah also said, “I fear the Lord (Yahweh) the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land,” and also admitted that “he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord.” This made the sailors “exceedingly afraid.” Most ancient people thought their gods only had power in certain places and ways, but Jonah described a God who had control everywhere - in the heavens and on land and even the sea that was giving them so much trouble. They wanted to know what they could do to Jonah, so that the sea would calm down, as it was becoming even “more and more tempestuous” (Jonah 1:9-11).
The ancients often thought they needed to appease their gods by making some sort of sacrifice to them. What would it take to get this god to make things calm down? Jonah answered, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea… for I know that it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Only then, he thought, “the sea would quiet down” (Jonah 1:12).
Nevertheless, surprisingly, the sailors did not immediately throw Jonah overboard. They tried again to save themselves and Jonah by rowing even harder to get the ship back to dry land. The Hebrew says that they tried to “dig” their way through the sea, but it did not work, for the sea became even more and more stormy “against them” (Jonah 1:13). The next verse, Jonah 1:14, seems to indicate that they did not want to feel responsible for killing Jonah, even if all this trouble was his fault. They called upon Jonah’s God not to hold them accountable for helping take Jonah’s life, for, they said, “You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” Jonah’s God was ultimately responsible for all this, they wished to say.
Finally, “they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea” and immediately, it seems, “the sea ceased from its raging” (Jonah 1:15) and “then the men feared God exceedingly.” They were likely very afraid of this amazing, powerful God and what he could do. They also seemed to have awe and respect for this great God. “They offered a sacrifice to the Lord,” this God of Jonah, and even “made vows,” promises of some sort to Him (Jonah 1:16).
Many ancient people believed that there were many gods and goddesses, soo it would not be unusual to take in one more god that they respected. However, this was the one True God, the Lord, at work here, and maybe some of these pagan sailors actually came to faith in Him, by His grace, through what Jonah said and God did. Jonah did not want to witness to pagans, but God worked it out that Jonah was beginning to do just that, on this ship. God was going to get His will carried out, even if it was sometimes in spite of Jonah and his rebellious ways. (See Isaiah 65:1, where God had predicted that He would be seeking and finding people who were not seeking Him, including people of other nations. His plan, His desire was to be the Savior for all nations.)
Note also how the Lord’s care for people on the sea was a way of describing His concern, as the Creator of all, for people in other circumstances, as well.
- See Psalm 107:23-32, as part of a whole psalm about God’s steadfast love in a variety of situations.
- Think about how Jesus, in His ministry, more than once calmed the Sea of Galilee and rescued His disciples.
- See Mark 4:35-41. The disciples asked, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Clearly, Jesus was the Savior, God become man to rescue people.
- See also Mark 6:45-51, etc.
Finally, the Lord spared Jonah in a miraculous way, by “appointing a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” The sailors did not have to fear that they had killed Jonah. God still had work for Jonah to do in Nineveh, and so He rescued him from certain death in the sea, by having the great fish swallow him (Jonah 1:17).
Note that the Hebrew does not say “a whale” but “a great fish,” whatever kind God chose. Some have argued that whales cannot swallow people, and that there are very few whales in the Mediterranean Sea. Some whales can swallow people, though, and there are cases of this happening in the last few centuries. Large sharks can swallow people, too. People have survived this sort of thing, also. I can give you sources, if you want to read about such cases.
Also note that in Hebrew, three days and three nights can simply mean parts of three days. There is a story in Esther 4, in the Old Testament, where Queen Esther asks Jewish people to fast and “not eat or drink for three days, night or day.” On the third day, then, Esther approaches the King and is helped by him and fellow Jews are spared, though he could have killed her, for not waiting for him to call her, first. She does not wait three days and three nights. (See especially Esther 4:15-5:1.)
Jesus also refers to the story of Jonah as paralleling His own story. Jesus was only in the grave parts of three days. We will look at this more closely in another lesson. Finally, if God is God, as He is, the only one true God, He can do all things. He could and did provide the right “great fish” to swallow Jonah and kept Jonah safe and well for whatever time he was in the belly of that fish. Could God also provide for us, too, in difficult situations in our lives? He certainly can, if that is His plan and will.
Next week, we will hear what Jonah was thinking and praying about while in the great fish, and the way that God changed his attitude, at least to some degree. As you read Chapter 2, think also about what part of the Scripture his prayer sounds like.
The Psalm and the Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday are very similar to each other. Psalm 1 pictures a person who delights in the Lord and in His Law, His Word, and is like a tree planted by streams of water, which prospers and bears fruit and does not wither away. In contrast, the wicked walk and stand and sit in the way of evil and sin and scoff at the Lord and His will for them. They will be like chaff, like straw that blows away with the wind in God’s judgment against them.
Jeremiah 17:5-8, the Old Testament Lesson, also pictures the one “whose trust is in the Lord” as like a tree planted by water, who does well and bears fruit in good times and even in times of heat and drought. The Lord is his Fountain of Living Water (see v. 15 and John 7:37-38), and he is blessed. In contrast, the one who turns away from the Lord and trusts in himself and other human beings and human accomplishments will be like a parched and dying shrub in the wilderness. He is under a curse, because “all flesh is like withering grass” (Isaiah 40:6-8) on its own, and the human heart, by itself, is “deceitful” and “desperately sick.” Only the Lord can “save” and “heal” (Jeremiah 17:9,14).
The Gospel Lesson, Luke 6:17-26, is a part of Jesus’ sermon on a “level place,” a plain, in contrast with His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), though both are similar in some of the content. Jesus helped and healed many, and He taught that those who are spiritually “poor” and “hungry” and “sorrowful,” who know that they need Him, and who are “hated” and “reviled,” because of their trust in Him, will have heavenly blessings. In contrast, there will ultimately be woes and trouble for those who are “rich” and “full” and “laugh” and are “spoken well of,” only in terms of this sinful human world and its desires.
The Epistle, 1 Corinthians 15:(1-11)12-20, continues a series of readings from this later part of 1 Corinthians. Paul speaks of the certainty of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, because hundreds of people saw Jesus alive after He rose from the dead. Without the resurrection of Jesus, forgiveness and new life and hope for the future for us and our loved ones who have died would be gone. But, “in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the Firstfruits,” guaranteeing our resurrection and eternal future in Him. Paul knows this because he himself also saw the risen Lord and knows His promises. (See also Paul’s own words in Romans 10:9-11.)
Words of Comfort and Hope in the Loss of a Loved One
John 11
Matthew 28:20
Hebrews 13:5
Philippians 4:4,13-14
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13). Isaiah sees a vision of God Himself in heaven in great glory, with angels singing of His holiness. Isaiah knows that he is in big trouble, as a poor miserable sinner in the presence of the King, the Lord of hosts. An angel comes and touches his lips with a burning coal, bringing God’s forgiveness for his sin and guilt. Only then can he respond to God’s call: “Here am I. Send me."
The Gospel lesson, Luke 5:1-11, is the parallel to the Old Testament lesson. Simon (Peter) is a fisherman, and Jesus borrows his boat and teaches from there. Then Jesus enables Peter to catch a huge number of fish. Peter can only think of how sinful and unworthy he is to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Jesus takes away Peter’s fears and calls him to be “catching men,” and Peter is now able to follow Jesus.
The Psalm is Psalm 138, a psalm of David. David praises God for helping him again in a difficult situation. His whole heart is full of thanks, and there is no room for false gods - only God’s Name and Word. David humbly knows that the Lord will somehow carry out His purposes for him; and one day (with the coming of the Messiah) other kings who hear the Words of God’s mouth will give Him thanks and praise, as well.
The Epistle continues readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15, from chapter 14:12b-20. Paul talks about worship and how important it is to focus not on what makes us feel good as individuals, but what builds up the body of believers and helps instruct even “outsiders” in Christ and the faith, using our spirits and minds in prophecy (sharing the Word of God.) Then we can all pray and sing praise and say “Amen” to our Lord together, in thanksgiving.
We begin our study with a little more background on the Book of Jonah. As you read through it, notice that most of it is a narrative, a story of what happens with Jonah and God and the people of Nineveh. It is like the stories of earlier prophets like Elijah and Elisha. There are prophecies, but most of them come through the events in the lives of these real and true prophets, like Jonah. Contrast that with later prophetic books like Isaiah, where there are many direct prophetic passages and fewer stories of events. This ties Jonah in more with earlier prophets and their true stories.
I mention this because many modern commentators say that Jonah was written very late in Old Testament times and is not a true story, but only a parable to make a point, sort of like Aesop’s Fables. Such thinking is entirely wrong and comes because too many people today deny that there can be miracles or anything that cannot be proven in a scientific way. These people reject many other things in the Bible, too, on the same faulty basis.
As Christians we believe that God is God and with Him, nothing is impossible, including the miracles in the story of Jonah and in the rest of the Scriptures. It is very important that our Lord Jesus also speaks of Jonah as a real person who experienced what is said of him in the Book of Jonah. In fact, as we will see in a later lesson, Jesus spoke of Jonah’s experience as prophetic of His own in a very special way.
Every Word of Scripture is important, and that is evident as the Book of Jonah begins, as well. Turn again to Jonah, Chapter 1. In the original Hebrew language, the first word is one that is usually translated, “Now.” Unfortunately, that word is omitted in the NIV and other modern translations. It is in the ESV translation of Jonah 1:1 : “Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah…” But the ESV is not consistent in translating this word, either. The only translation that seems to include it regularly, from the Hebrew, is the old King James translation from hundreds of years ago. If you looked at a King James Bible, you would find the word “Now” in Joshua 1:1, Judges 1:1, Ruth 1:1, 1 Samuel 1:1, and others places.
One commentator (Keil) says, “This was the standing formula with which historical events were linked on to one another.” The historical events of the five books of Moses are given, “and now” the historical book of Joshua follows, and so forth. The fact that Jonah starts with this same Hebrew word indicates that it is also one of the same “historical books,” following those of earlier days. It is not a fable or parable, but true history.
Jonah 1:1 continues: “the Word of the Lord came to Jonah.” This is a phrase used 100 times or more in the Old Testament when God had something to say to one of the prophets. His Words are recorded in verse 2, as He communicates with Jonah, the son of Amittai. This is clearly the same Jonah we heard about last week in 2 Kings 14:25, who had the same father. Jonah is called to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.”
Nineveh was truly a “great city,” about 500 miles to the East of Jerusalem and the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the largest city of the known Western world of that time, according to ancient historians. Three other cities were very close and were often considered part of Nineveh. Together, the length of the city was about 25 miles and the breadth about 15 miles.
Jonah was to “call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me,” the Lord said. We are not told in this book what the nature of their evil was, but other Biblical prophets tell us much. The prophet Nahum speaks of the Assyrians “plotting evil against the Lord,” great cruelty and plundering in the way they treated conquered people, prostitution and forms of witchcraft, commercial exploitation, and of course, false gods and idols that they worshipped. There was much evil to warn against.
Jonah did “arise,” but to flee “away from the presence of the Lord,” to Tarshis (Jonah 1:3). It is possible that Jonah was trying to go to the city of Tarsus, to the Northwest, the city where much later Saul (Paul) was born. More likely, Jonah was trying to go as far to the West as one could go in the ancient Western world, to Tartessus, a port in Spain, at the other end of the Mediterranean Sea.
As a prophet, he stood before the Lord to do His will. (See what Elijah said in 1 Kings 18:15. He had to obey the Lord, “before whom he stood,” and go to see King Ahab, who wanted to kill him.) Maybe Jonah imagined that if he was far away from God’s presence, he would no longer be obligated to do what God wanted.
That was foolish thinking, of course. Jonah surely knew of the Psalms of David, already written and used for a long time among God’s people. In Psalm 139, David had spoken of how the Lord knew all about him and that there was no place he could go to get away from Him. See Psalm 139:2-5 and 7-10. Jonah was determined to get away from God, no matter what, though. So, he went to Joppa, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and paid for a fare to go by boat to Tarshish. (This was likely a cargo ship, not a passenger ship, as we will hear, but Jonah takes this opportunity to get far away from God.)
Why was Jonah so unwilling to go to Nineveh? Look ahead to Jonah 4:2. The Assyrians were the most dangerous enemies of Israel, even though in Jonah’s time they were preoccupied with other things and were not such trouble. The Jews greatly feared them, though, and they were obviously not part of God’s chosen, special people. Jonah did know the truth about the Lord’s love and mercy for people, but seemed to want it just for the Jews. He did not want to help the Assyrians, just in case they would listen and repent of their evils and receive mercy if he went to them as God wanted. Some think that he was even fearful that if God paid too much attention to Gentiles, to non-Jews, He might forget about His own people.
God would not do that, but He did give and would continue to give strong warnings to His chosen people that if they kept resisting Him and His will, judgment could come for them, too. See, for example, God’s Word of warning through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 18:7-11, to the people of Judea, See also their evil response, which would eventually lead to the Babylonian Captivity for the Jews.
Already this early in the Book of Jonah, we can begin to see, from a New Testament perspective, what the prophesy of this Book of Jonah was about. God did care about all people, and if the Jews, like Jonah, kept resisting and rejecting God’s plans, there would only be more trouble for them, but more blessings for the Gentiles, many of whom would listen to the Lord.
This is seen in a New Testament story in Acts 10:5ff. The early Christian leader, Peter, was in Joppa, the same city from which Jonah fled so long before. Peter is a Jew who is now following Christ the Savior, but even he is having trouble reaching out to non-Jews. God gives him a vision of many animals that Jews considered unclean and would never eat. God tells him to kill and eat some of this food, because He has made all foods clean. About this time, people come from a Gentile, non-Jewish, Roman centurion, who wants Peter to come and talk with him. Peter goes, though it is very hard for him, because it had been “unlawful for a Jew to associate with or visit anyone of another nation.” Peter said, “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:27-28). Peter preaches the Good News of Jesus to these non-Jews and many came to faith and were baptized. The Good News really was for everyone of every nation, not just for the Jews.
God was teaching this message to the Jew, Peter, even as He had been trying to teach it to Jonah, so long before. If you look back to Jonah 1:4, then, God had not given up on the Jews or Jonah. He is not going to let Jonah get away, but “hurls a great wind“ that stops the ship that Jonah is on from making progress.
We will pick up with the story next week. The Lord “is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” even for rebellious Jonah (Jonah 4:2). That means there is hope for us, too, even in our struggles and for others we are concerned about.
Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Luke 4:31-44
Sermon originally delivered February 3, 2013
We have studied several New Testament books in a row, and I thought it might be good to go back to the Old Testament again, at least for a short study. I chose the Book of Jonah, one of the twelve Minor Prophets, found near the end of the Old Testament.
The term “Minor Prophets” does not mean that these writings are less important or less valuable than others. All of Scripture is God’s Word and is valuable for us. This term simply means that this writing is shorter than more extensive books of prophecy, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which are much longer. In fact, the Book of Jonah is very short - only 4 chapters and 48 total verses - not what we would normally call a “book” today.
If I asked what people remember about the Book of Jonah, many would talk about Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. Actually, only three of the 48 verses say anything about the great fish and Jonah. The primary emphasis of this book is upon God and His wanting His message to be shared - and how well Jonah did and did not do with that sharing.
This is a good study for the Epiphany season of the church year that we are now in. Epiphany has to do with letting light shine, so that hidden things can be revealed. Jesus does that in the Scripture readings we hear this season between Christmas and Lent. Jesus is “the Light of the world,” and He is constantly showing who He is and the plan of rescue coming to us, through Him, as our Savior, through His Words and deeds.
Epiphany is also a time that encourages us to let the light of Christ shine through us to others, too. As we hear what Jonah did, we can think about how we are doing as witnesses for our Lord and His Word. We are reminded that God really does want His message of repentance and forgiveness shared with the whole world, including us when we fail in our own lives.
We’ll begin with some background on Jonah and the time when he was a prophet of God. We don’t know a lot, since Jonah is only mentioned one time in the Old Testament, other than what is in the Book of Jonah itself.
The high point of the one nation of God’s people was under Kings David and Solomon, who reigned from about 1000 BC to 930 BC. After that, there was disagreement and struggle about who should be king, and the nation split into two kingdoms, Israel to the north, with its capital in Samaria, and Judea to the south, with its capital in Jerusalem. The Southern Kingdom stayed more faithful to the one true God for a longer time, but not the Northern Kingdom. Many of their kings allowed and even encouraged much evil and supported worship of false gods and drifted far away from God and His will.
God sent many prophets to both kingdoms, calling them to repentance and faithfulness to God, but kings and people often did not listen. God still kept reaching out to them, though, wanting them to awaken to Him and wanting to show His mercy to them.
Turn now in your Bibles to 2 Kings 14:23-29, after the Books of Moses and just after 1 and 2 Samuel. In verse 23, we hear that Jeroboam II had become king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and reigned for 41 years (from about 793-753 BC). Notice what kind of king he was, in verse 24 - “evil in the sight of the Lord” and sinning in ways, like kings before him, that “made Israel to sin,” too.
Now read verses 26-27. It was a terrible situation for the Northern Kingdom; and yet God still had care and mercy for His people, in such bad times, and with no one to help them. God was not ready to give up on them and chose to use evil King Jeroboam II to assist them by giving them more prosperous times, at least for a while. In verse 25, we hear that God sent the prophet Jonah, the son of Amittai, to prophesy that Jeroboam II could and would expand the Northern Kingdom all the way to Damascus to the north and to Hamath to the south. (See also v. 27-28, where it is said that the Lord “saved” the people through what Jeroboam II did in a military way. The Assyrians were the great power in the Middle East at this time, but became preoccupied with other enemies and troubles and left Israel alone during Jeroboam’s reign, for the most part. This made for better and more peaceful and prosperous times in Israel for a while, and for an expanded kingdom.)
Unfortunately, underneath better times, spiritual rot continued in both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. God sent other prophets, too - Amos to Israel and Isaiah to Judea, and they spoke very much to these spiritual concerns and rebellion against God and His will, in both kingdoms. (Clearly, the 2 Kings passage also indicates that Jonah was prophesying during this time in the Northern Kingdom, too.) Likely Jonah was also sharing God’s warning to His own people, but we have no record of that in the Old Testament. What we do have is a surprising call from God to Jonah, recorded in the Book of Jonah.
Turn to Jonah, Chapter 1, verses 1-3 now, near the end of the Old Testament. God did not send Jonah to the chosen people of Israel and Judah, but to their enemies, the Assyrians and to their capital city of Nineveh, far to the east, to confront them about their great evil. That God could care also about the Assyrians was a shock to many Jews, including Jonah, it seems. Verse 3 tells us that he headed west, not east, farther away from the Assyrians and the voice of God. That is the real issue of the Book of Jonah, and what we will be studying more, next week.
Could we be like Jonah at times, ourselves - running away from God and His will for us? How does God respond and what does He do? The Book of Jonah is short enough that you could read it all by next week and be thinking about what all of this book means also for us.
An old man writes Psalm 71. He has followed His Lord from his youth, with hope and trust in the Lord as His Rock of refuge. The Lord has watched over him even before his birth and from his mother’s womb, he says. He is having difficult times and threats from wicked and unjust people, though, right when his “strength is spent.” He prays that the Lord will not forsake him, but help him, as he always has in the past.
In Jeremiah 1:4-10 (17-19), a young man, Jeremiah, maybe still a teenager, speaks when the Lord has called him to be a prophet. He cannot do it, he says. He is too young and not a good speaker. The Lord strengthens and assures him and puts into his mouth what the Lord wants him to say. The Lord had picked him out for this work, even before he was born.
In Luke 4:31-44, we see examples of the ministry of Jesus, teaching the Word of God with authority, casting out evil spirits and not allowing them to speak, and healing many people, including Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. People want Jesus to stay with them, as He is doing so much for them. He knows His purpose, though - not to stay where He is popular, but to keep sharing the Good News of God’s Kingdom wherever He can, in as many places as possible.
The Epistle continues readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15. Here we hear the famous chapter, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13, where Paul speaks of having and sharing the “higher gifts” of God - faith, hope, and love. These gifts bless us, but are not self-centered, and allow us to be a blessing to others, and especially as we build one another up in the body of Christ, the church. These gifts last into eternal life, when we will see “face to face” the greatness of our perfect Lord.
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:16-30
Sermon originally delivered January 27, 2013
We begin this last portion of our study of The Christmas Story at Matthew 2:1-23. Last week, we heard of ceremonies that Jesus and His family went through, as part of Jewish law, since He was born “under the law” and was to fulfill it perfectly and completely, in our place. Now we hear of an important story that happened “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.” We do not know just when, but Herod (the Great) was still living and was the king in Israel at that time. Herod had been appointed to this position by the Roman Senate in 40 BC, and reigned from 37 BC till 4 BC, or some say, 1 BC. He was not even Jewish, but was a powerful leader and builder, including having much work done on the temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1).
Wise men then came to him in Jerusalem from the East, asking, “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” These men were called “magoi" or "magi” and were not kings but advisors to a king, probably from the area of Babylon, in what had been the Persian empire.
You can find this same word in Daniel 2:2,10 for wise men, “magicians,” who probably used astronomy and astrology and other ancient “arts” in order to give advice to a king. Daniel was a young Jewish man taken as a captive to Babylon long before, but by the power and wisdom of God, he became a trusted advisor of the king at that time. (See Daniel 2:44, 46-48.)
Daniel also knew the Old Testament Scriptures and used them in helping and teaching his fellow advisors. There were many prophecies of a future king, including one in Numbers 24:17, combining the coming of a star and a scepter, an instrument of a king. We don’t know for sure, but maybe these Scriptures and others were preserved and helped the wise men around the time of Jesus to know that the unusual star that appeared to them was the sign of the coming king of Israel. They then traveled from the area of Babylon, most likely, to Jerusalem, assuming the newborn king would be born in the capital city (Matthew 2:2).
King Herod and others in Jerusalem were not excited but “troubled” (shaken up, stirred up) probably by the thought of a newborn king who could be a threat to them and their power and authority. Herod called together the chief priests and scribes and asked where “the Christ,” the promised Messiah, the Anointed One, was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet” Micah. They then quoted, in their own way, Micah 5:2,4. A shepherd and ruler is to come from Bethlehem, as David was, long ago (Matthew 2:3-6). (See also 1 Chronicles 11:2 and 2 Samuel 5:2, where much the same is said of David, and the discussion later on among ordinary Jews who knew the Christ was to come from Bethlehem, in John 7:40-42.)
Herod, who had his own ideas about all this, then called and questioned the wise men secretly about when the star had appeared. As we shall hear, it seems to have been about two years earlier. He then sent the wise men to Bethlehem to find the child, and then to return and tell him where the child was, so that he, Herod, could also worship him (Matthew 2:7-8).
The star seems to have disappeared at some point, but as the wise men headed for Bethlehem, only about 5-6 miles away, the star reappeared and led them and rested over the place where the child was. Clearly, this was no ordinary star or conjunction of stars and planets, at this time. Like no other star could, it led them right to Jesus, and they “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” They found Jesus in a “house” with Mary His mother, where Joseph was able to move them, some time after Jesus was born (Matthew 2:9-11).
Often the Christmas story is pictured with the wise men coming to the stable and manger, along with the shepherds, on the very night that Jesus was born, but the wise men clearly came later. Maybe you remember the Christmas song, “We three kings of Orient are.” As we can see from Matthew 2, the wise men were not kings. There is no indication of how many of them came (the guess comes from the number of gifts given), and they were not from the Orient as we often use that term today, from East Asia, but from the Middle East, likely Iraq.
The wise men did realize that this was not just a human child, but also one sent from God, for they fell down and worshiped Him, as they would worship God. They also gave Him gifts of gold (a gift worthy of a king) and frankincense (a fragrant gum resin used in offerings made to God) and myrrh (a resin used as a perfume for embalming the dead). This all predicted that Jesus was a king and God and would one day make the ultimate sacrifice, giving His life for the salvation of the world. (See how myrrh was used on the body of Jesus after his death, before being put in the grave, in John 19:39.) Note also that only Jesus was worshiped and given gifts. Joseph and Mary were not honored in this way (Matthew 2:11).
The wise men were then warned in a dream, a revelation, not to go back to Herod, and they departed, withdrew, from Israel and went back to their own country another way. Then an angel appeared to Joseph, also in a dream, and told him to rise, take the child and Mary, and flee, probably that very night, to Egypt, since Herod would soon search for Jesus in order to kill Him. They were to stay in Egypt until told by the angel that they could return to Israel.
All this fulfilled another prophecy, from Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son.” The people of Israel were God’s children, and He had called them out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land, working through Moses and Joshua and others. Now God would rescue His own Son, Jesus, the Son of God, from danger and then from Egypt and bring Him back to the Promised Land, to grow up and do His saving work for the whole world.
Note how this passage also affirms that the Scriptures are the true Word of God. It was the Lord who spoke through Hosea and all the prophets. Angels and the Jewish authorities and now Matthew and Luke and the New Testament writers quote the Scriptures as the very Word of God (Matthew 2:12-15).
When Herod realized that the wise men were not going to return to him and tell him where the baby born to be a king was, he was furious, exceedingly angry. He realized that he had been “tricked” by them. The word used indicates that he felt they had made fun of him and mocked him. So, he quickly carried out his plan he had all along to kill this potential king. But now, he would have to send people to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and “in the surrounding region” who were two years old and under. He was taking no chances that he would miss Jesus, based on what the wise men had told him about the appearance of the star. Bethlehem was a very small town, but with the surrounding area, scholars guess that it might have been 5 or 6 babies or as high as 30. We don’t know, but it was a terrible slaughter for all those involved (Matthew 2:16).
Again, Matthew is led by God to quote words from Jeremiah 31:15, where the wife of Jacob, Rachel, was pictured as loudly weeping for Jewish descendants, carried away into captivity because of their sinfulness. Rachel herself had wept and died in childbirth, long ago, on her way to Ephrath, another name for the Bethlehem area. (See Genesis 35:15-19.) Now Rachel is pictured as weeping again for the Jewish babies of the Bethlehem area, killed by Herod, a supposed Jewish king, in opposition to God and His plans for the true King and Savior, Jesus (Matthew 2:17-18).
Very sadly, Herod’s action was entirely in character for him. He had a number of his own children and relatives killed because he was paranoid and afraid they would try to overthrow him. He did other terrible things described by Josephus, a Jewish historian. When he was near death, Herod ordered many Jewish leaders rounded up and put in an amphitheater he had built. When he died, they were all to be killed, so that there would be at least some mourning at his death, even if not for him. This command was never carried out. Once Herod was dead, others did not feel compelled to do what he had said.
The Jeremiah 31:15 quotation about weeping does not end with weeping, though. Just after that, we hear, “Keep your voice from weeping… There is hope for your future… I will surely have mercy… declares the Lord… For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth… Thus says the Lord… I will surely satisfy the weary soul and every languishing soul, I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:16,17,20,22,23,25). And in Jeremiah 31:31-34, God promises a whole New Covenant, New Testament, centered in the work of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins through Him. That is what the whole New Testament is about, beginning with the Christmas story we have been studying. Always there is hope in the Lord, through Jesus, no matter what.
Matthew 2 ends with the good news that after the death of Herod the Great, the angel appeared again to Joseph and told him he could return to Israel from Egypt. He was warned in another dream, though, that a son of King Herod, Archelaus, was in control in Judea, and the family returned to their previous home, Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, also in fulfillment of prophecy (Matthew 2:19-23).
The reference to being a Nazarene probably means that Jesus would live in this small town in the despised area of northern Israel around Galilee. Jews from Jerusalem tended to look down upon Jews from the north, where there were also more Gentiles mixed in. It had been predicted that the promised Savior would be “despised and rejected by men.” (See Psalm 22:6-8 and Isaiah 53:2-3, for example.)
We then hear about Jesus only once more, when He was 12 and went to the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52), and then not until when his public ministry began when he was about 30 (Luke 3:23).
A few last comments about Matthew 2. How different was the worshipful joy of the non-Jewish wise men, in hurrying to Bethlehem and finding the infant Jesus and honoring Him as God and King, from the attitude of King Herod and the Jews in Jerusalem. The Jews heard about the star and what the wise men said, and even found for themselves in Scripture where the Christ was to be born. They were only 6 miles away from Bethlehem; yet it seems that none of them even bothered to make that short trip to see if the infant Messiah might be there. This was sadly prophetic of how many of God’s own chosen people rejected the Savior when He came for them.
Also, Jesus escaped, by God’s grace, from Herod the Great and his son, Archelaus; but another son of Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, was ruler of Galilee and Perea during the life of Christ. This Herod had John the Baptist arrested and put to death. Jesus was sent by Pontius Pilate to this Herod, because he was a Galilean; but this Herod only wanted Jesus to entertain him with miracles and Jesus would not do any or answer his questions. So he and his soldiers “treated Jesus with contempt and mocked Him” and sent Him back to Pilate, where He was soon condemned to die (Luke 23:6-12). So this Herod failed Jesus, too.
Finally, there is a saying that “Wise men still follow the star to Bethlehem today.” We have been doing that by being in this study of the true Christmas story. We are wise people when we listen with open hearts to what is revealed about who Jesus is and why He had to be both God and man and why He was born in Bethlehem for us. Jesus is “God with us” and only He can forgive us and “save us from our sins” and guilt.
If you were a child or have children or grandchildren, you have probably seen the Charlie Brown Christmas TV movie. Charlie Brown is not sure about what Christmas means, but Linus tells him with simple childlike faith, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). That is the essence of the Christmas story, to be believed by us all.
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Isaiah 62:1-7
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
Sermon originally delivered January 20, 2013
In Psalm 19:(1-6)7-14, David praises God for His glorious creation, but is even more grateful for the Word of God, including the laws and statutes, which is better than gold and sweeter than honey. That Word convicts him, and he knows he cannot even comprehend all his sins. He prays that his Redeemer will forgive him and not allow sin to have dominion over him and help him to meditate more on that Word.
In the Old Testament lesson, Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10, God has helped Nehemiah and the people to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, for their protection after they returned from the exile in Babylon. Now Ezra the scribe and others help them be spiritually protected by reading the Word of God to them. The people were feeling sorrow at what they had been failing to do when they heard the Word, but they were reminded that this was also a new year and a holy day and and a time for celebrating, because there was forgiveness, and the “joy of the Lord” would be their “strength.”
The Gospel lesson is Luke 4:16-30. Jesus visited His hometown of Nazareth and in the synagogue quoted the Word of God, a prophecy from Isaiah 61:1-2 about Himself and His bringing “good news” of spiritual freedom and blessing, as God brought His “favor” to people through Him. Jesus also knew that many in His own hometown were not accepting Him. He gave several examples of how God’s own people missed out on His help and mercy in Old Testament days, too. The people became so angry at Jesus that they tried to kill Him. It was not yet time for Him to die, though, so He escaped.
The Epistle lesson is the second of six readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15. This reading is from Chapter 12:12-31a. The church is pictured as a human body which has many parts with many functions. It is best when every part, no matter how seemingly important or unimportant, is doing what it should be doing and working together with the rest of the body. In the church, then, everyone is important, and we are called to care for each other in times of rejoicing and suffering, as we follow our Head, the Lord Jesus, and His Word.
Today we continue the Christmas story by looking at what happened right after the birth of Jesus, beginning with Luke 2:8. There were shepherds outdoors in a field near Bethlehem watching over their flock of sheep that night. Being a shepherd was a lowly occupation, but important in protecting sheep from thieves and other animals who could harm them. Sheep were not very smart and could sometimes wander off and endanger themselves and needed to be rescued and kept together.
The shepherds were having an ordinary evening until an angel of the Lord stepped up to them, standing by them. Angels are spirit beings who serve God. They are holy and in the presence of God, reflecting His glory, and sometimes serve as His messengers. We hear that “the glory of the Lord shone around” the shepherds, like the very bright cloud that appeared in the temple in the Old Testament or the pillars of cloud and fire that appeared in the wilderness during the time of Moses to show God’s presence with His people. The appearance of the angel in such brightness was very frightening to the shepherds. This is a typical reaction, as when angels appeared to Zechariah and to Mary, as we have heard, and when sinful people are in the presence of holiness (Luke 2:9).
The angel told the shepherds to stop being afraid and to pay attention because “good news” (the word we call “the Gospel”) of “great joy” was being brought unto them and to “all the people” - ultimately for the benefit of everyone in the world. For that very day in Bethlehem, the city from which came the great King David, the “Savior” had been born, as prophesied in Micah 5:2-5.
This is the one who would rescue people and “save them from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). This One is also “the Christ,” the One Who was “anointed” by God to do His special work of salvation. The Old Testament Hebrew word for this anointed person is “the Messiah.” (See Isaiah 61:1 and John 4:25-26, for example.) This one would also be the Lord God Himself, come to be that Savior of people. (See Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23, for example, as another name for Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us,” and Isaiah 40:3, where the special name for God, the LORD (Yahweh) is used.)
His way would be prepared by John the Baptist, as this passage is quoted about John and Jesus (Luke 2:10-11). (See passages like 1 Corinthians 12:3 and Philippians 2:9-11 and Revelation 17:7, as well). Note that Jesus was revealed first to the lowly shepherds and not to the proud and mighty in Jerusalem, not far away. This is evidence of what Mary spoke of in the Magnificat (Luke 1:51-52).
The angel also gave the shepherds a “sign” to help them find Jesus, the Savior, Christ the Lord. “You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” As lowly as He seemed to be, He was the One. Suddenly, to reinforce this Good News even more, the heavens were opened and with the one angel was “a multitude of the heavenly host (the heavenly “army” of angels), praising God and "saying" the words which follow. (We often think that they were singing, and maybe they were, but the Scriptures only say that they saying these words - with an emphasis upon the words themselves and their content and message.) They said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.”
The last three words, in Greek, are understood by scholars in different ways. Some translate: “on earth peace, good will toward men.” Others translate: “on earth peace toward men of good will.” Still others translate (and this is the most popular, likely way to render the words): on earth peace to men on whom His good will rests” or ”men with whom He is pleased” or “men He delights in.” (Isaiah 62:4 uses this last phrase and verses 1-5 emphasize the care of God even for undeserving people and bringing “Good News” to them and all people, as the angels were doing, by sending a Savior to them. It is not our human “good will” toward others that brings true peace, but God’s care and work for us in the Savior, Jesus, that bring us peace and joy in Him.)
Some also think that passages like 1 Peter 4:11 and Acts 10:36 and following give us also a sense of what the angels were conveying from God - Glory to God in heaven, but peace and hope to us people on earth through the promised one, Jesus. One last note on these words. The word “men” here is the word for all human beings, both male and female. There is another word for “men” that can be used to refer to males only. The Savior who came at Christmas is Christ the Lord and is for all people (Luke 2:12-14).
The angels then went away from them into heaven, and the shepherds were saying to one another that they needed to go to Bethlehem, literally to see this saying, this Word “which the Lord had made known,” had revealed to them. Quickly they went to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger, and saw with their own eyes just what the angel had said. Then they spread to others “the saying, the words, that had been told them concerning this child.”
Note that they did not talk about Joseph or Mary. They told people the message about Jesus; and all who heard this wondered (marveled and were amazed) at what the shepherds “had told them.” Notice how much more the emphasis is upon the sayings of the angel and what the shepherds had heard, rather than just what they saw. The Word of God, God’s own explanation, is most important for us still today to listen to (Luke 2:15-18).
Mary recognized this, as well. Literally, she treasured up, protected and held firmly onto these “sayings,” these words, pondering them, considering them in her own heart. Some think that Luke may have recorded this verse because he much later heard directly from Mary these “sayings,” the words that he wrote in Luke, chapters one and two, as helped by Mary and inspired by God (Luke 2:19).
Finally, we hear that the shepherds returned to their field and sheep, glorifying and praising God. They rejoiced in what they saw, but especially in “all they had heard, as it had been told to them.” Again, God’s Word is key for them, as it still is for us (Luke 2:20).
We now hear of several Jewish rites that every family was expected to participate in at the birth of a son. Joseph and Mary tried to follow God’s Law, and so they did all of the things described here. In this way, God was also making sure that Jesus was also perfectly following God’s will, even at a very early age, as a substitute for our imperfections.
First, Jesus was circumcised when He was eight days old. This was required according to Genesis 17:9-14. If a baby boy was circumcised, he was part of God’s covenant people. If he was not, he was cut off from his people; he had broken God’s covenant. Circumcision could be done wherever the baby was. The name of the child, Jesus, was then given to him at that time, as John was named at his circumcision (Luke 1:59) and as the angel had instructed (Luke 2:21).
The other ceremonies needed to be done in the temple in Jerusalem, about 5 miles north of Bethlehem. A woman who had given birth to a child was considered unclean, spiritually. 40 days after giving birth, the mother needed to offer an animal for sacrifice at the temple, to be purified. For poor people, like Mary and Joseph, the sacrifice was of two turtle doves or young pigeons (Luke 2:22,24). Joseph was not considered unclean, but he still participated in this ceremony with Mary.
Then, baby Jesus needed to be presented to the Lord, as the firstborn son of Mary. See Exodus 13:2,12ff. Since the firstborn Jewish babies were spared from death at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, these babies were considered to belong to the Lord. Some time later, the tribe of Levi was considered the Lord’s, in place of the firstborn children, and became the priests serving in the tabernacle and then the temple (Numbers 3:12ff). The firstborn in this case, Jesus, still had to be presented to the Lord, and then a fee of 5 shekels (about $2.50 in those days) had to be paid at the temple to redeem Jesus, to set Him free from this obligation.
This ceremony did remind Jews, though, that they were still dependent on the Lord and belonged to Him (Numbers 18:16). All this needed to be done with regard to Jesus, because the Scriptures say that He was born “under the law,” which still required all this for Him and His family. Through His saving work, though, Jesus would “redeem” all people from these laws, including us. He paid the price for us by His death on the cross, and we do not need to worry about such rules any more (Galatians 4:4-5).
While Jesus and family were at the temple, though, two other people met them, by the guiding of the Lord. The first was Simeon, a devout Jewish man in whom the Holy Spirit was at work. Somehow, the Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the promised Messiah, the “Lord’s Christ.” Led by the Spirit, Simeon came to the temple that day and was able to recognize that Jesus was the Savior. He blessed God, spoke highly of Him, and picked up baby Jesus, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke the words we call the “Nunc Dimittis” (Latin for “Now you can depart”), which we still use sometimes after Communion before the end of worship (Luke 2:25-28).
Simeon knew that he could now depart in peace, even if it meant that death was coming soon, because he knew the promises of God’s Word and had seen His Savior, who would be also the Savior for His fellow Jews and for non-Jews (Gentiles) - for “all peoples.” Jesus would be the “Light” revealing God’s Good News, coming through Him and His saving work. Simeon finally had the “consolation” he had been waiting for (v.25), the comfort and eternal hope and help of Jesus, who had come for him (Luke 2:28-32). (See also Isaiah 40:1-5 and the words of Jesus in John 14:27.) Remember! We can sing these words of Simeon, too, because Jesus has come to save us, also, as we trust in His redeeming work for us. Read also the words of 1 John 5:11-13.
Joseph and Mary were amazed at what Simeon said about their son. They did not really understand about Him, themselves. Simeon spoke a blessing for them and then spoke a prophetic word to Mary, preparing her for difficult times ahead. God had “appointed” her son “for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” There would be no neutral ground with Jesus. See what he says in Luke 11:23. The true thoughts of hearts would be revealed by whether people trusted Him and stood with Him as Savior or opposed Him and spoke against Him. For Mary, there would be great sorrow, like “a sword piercing through her soul” when she saw her son, Jesus, die on the cross. See John 19:25. Yet that sorrow and suffering by Jesus would be necessary to pay for the sins of the world; and Mary would know His resurrection victory over death and be with other believers in joy later on (Luke 2:33-35 and Acts 1:14).
An elderly woman, a widow for many years, Anna, was also at the temple that day, as was her custom, worshipping and praying, night and day. She had special gifts from God, too, and realized that Jesus was the promised “Redeemer” and kept on thanking God and telling others who were also waiting for redemption, that Jesus was the one to hope and trust in (Luke 2:36-38). (See prophecies like Isaiah 52:9-10, also, and Jesus having to explain, even after His resurrection, that His suffering and death, and only then His resurrection were all necessary for His saving work. See Luke 24:20-21 and 25-27.)
One last thought. The temple in Jerusalem was a magnificent place, the center of religious activity for Judaism. Yet only a few people even noticed baby Jesus, the LORD, coming to His temple, fulfilling prophesy. Later on, it would be this child standing against most all the religious establishment of His day. It looked as if He had lost when He died on the cross. Yet He had won the victory for us and all who trust in Him. With this child, Jesus, there is always hope for us, too, no matter what we face.
Next week, we will hear of the coming of the Wise Men and more dangers for the child Jesus, in Matthew 2.
Three of the four readings for this coming Sunday, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, have references to marriage. God Himself instituted marriage for the man and woman He created in the garden, even before the fall into sin. The image is often used in the Scriptures, then, of God being like a bridegroom who loves and cares for His bride, his Old Testament people, and then the church, the believers of the New Testament.
The Psalm is Psalm 128. Blessings are promised for those who fear the Lord, with awe and respect, and who seek to walk in His ways. Blessings come to homes and marriages and families and children’s children and peace for God’s people, in the Lord.
The Old Testament Lesson is from Isaiah 62:1-5. The reality is that because of sin, people can become like an unfaithful bride in relationship to the Lord our Bridegroom. That rebellion can bring people to forsake God and live in desolation, apart from Him, and can bring sorrow to marriages and families, too. And the wages of sin, death, come for all. That rebellion was the case for God’s Old Testament people too often. Yet God still loved them and wanted to save and bring His people back into “marriage” with Him, trust in Him, with the rejoicing and blessings that follow.
The Gospel Lesson is from John 2:1-11. Jesus showed His concern for people and marriages, as He attended a wedding and solved a problem when the wine ran out, by changing water into wine for the celebrating that could go on for a week. We hear that in this, “the first of His signs, Jesus… manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.” Jesus was beginning to show that He was the promised Savior, who could bring people to trust in and follow Him.
The Epistle Lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and is the beginning of six weeks of readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15. We hear this week of the importance of the Holy Spirit and the gifts He brings to us in His love for us. Above all, He enables us to trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.” Then He gives gifts to us and other believers in order to encourage one another, that we may remain in faith, “married” to our Lord.
Today we hear of the birth of Jesus from the perspective of Joseph and then the simple, most familiar words of the Christmas story. We begin with Matthew 1:18-25. Matthew wrote his Gospel primarily for Jewish people. In Chapter 1, he traces the ancestry of Jesus back to Abraham, father of the Jewish nation. Then he tells us that Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. (Mary was also related to King David in some way. See Romans 1:3.)
We would say today that they were engaged to be married, but as was proper, had not yet lived together; but betrothal was much more serious in Judaism. If the commitment of betrothal was broken, then people would need a divorce to end the relationship. The person guilty of unfaithfulness could even be put to death by stoning. (See Deuteronomy 22:21, for example. Under the New Covenant, we do not have such penalties, though adultery is always sinful and could be a grounds for divorce.)
Joseph discovered that his wife-to-be was expecting a child, and he knew he was not responsible, since they had not yet “come together” as husband and wife. What else could he assume, but that Mary had been unfaithful to him? He was a just man and still cared about Mary, though, and did not want to shame her even more and was thinking that he must divorce her, but quietly (Matthew 1:18-19). What an agonizing situation for him and Mary!
Joseph did not make a quick decision, though, and was still considering all this when an angel appeared to him in a dream. He was told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, as she had done nothing wrong. It was rather a miracle of God by the power of the Holy Spirit that she was expecting (Matthew 1:20). In fact, the angel said, Mary will have a son, who must be named Jesus (the Savior, or the Lord Saves), for He will save His people from their sins.
This was all in fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 (more than 700 years earlier) that a virgin would conceive and bear a Son, who would also have the name Immanuel, which means “God with us.” This tells us who Jesus would be - a real human boy, according to the flesh, from the line of King David, who would be one of us and be tempted as we are and yet not sin, and yet God, also, great enough to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world - the God/man, exactly what we needed.
Clearly, also, Jesus was not going to be a “political” Savior, who would overthrown governments and bring political liberation to people. He would deal with the much greater problem of “sin” - that we have all departed from God’s path and missed the mark of what we should be and would be eternally lost without a Savior to rescue us. The name “Jesus” is the Greek form of the name “Joshua.” The Old Testament Joshua led God’s people into the Promised Land. The New Testament Jesus will lead people to eternal life and joy, by what he does for them (Matthew 1:21-23). (See Acts 4:12 and Psalm 130:7-8 and Hebrews 10:9-10, for example.)
God also gave Joseph grace and strength to believe what the angel said and go ahead and take Mary as his wife and name the child “Jesus.” Joseph also had no sexual relationship with Mary, “knew her not,” until she had given birth to Jesus. It was completely a virgin birth, as prophecy had said, by the miracle of the Holy Spirit. The brothers and sister of Jesus who are mentioned later in the Scriptures were then most likely children of Mary and Joseph conceived and born in the normal human way, after the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:24-25, and Mark 3:31 and Mark 6:3, etc.).
We turn then to Luke 2:1-7, where the birth of Jesus is told in the very simple way that we know best. Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, had made a decree (a dogma) that “all the world” (all the people under his control, in all the “inhabited houses” where he reigned) were to be “registered” (counted, inventoried) with the purpose of taxing them all.
Caesar Augustus (“the exalted one”) had the power to do this. He ruled from 31BC to 14AD and had the authority and respect to carry this out. This decree was given in 7-6BC, the time when Quirinius was governor of Syria, one of the Roman provinces (Luke 2:1-2). Both of these people are well known among Roman historians. (Do remember that we just had a census in 2020 in the US that was delayed and barely completed, even with all our modern technology. It will take years to sort our all the information collected, and we will not have another census until 2030. It took much longer to get things done in the ancient world. Some kind of decree was made about the Roman province of Gaul, and it took 40 years to carry out.)
It is no surprise then that Joseph and Mary did not have to travel to Bethlehem, to their ancestral home, the city of David, until years later, when Mary was close to giving birth to Jesus. The trip from Nazareth, in the Northern part of Israel, to Bethlehem, was more than 70 miles, and they had to go “up” because Bethlehem was in hill country, near Jerusalem. The name “Bethlehem” literally means the “House of Bread.” Jesus was “the Bread of Life” and would provide eternal life for people, as they were brought to faith in Him and were spiritually nourished by Him (Luke 2:3-5 and John 6:35).
Then we are simply told that while Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, the time came for the birth of Jesus. Bethlehem was a very small town and many extra people were there, probably for the registration. There was no room for them in the inn, a normal place of lodging; and babies come when they come, so Mary had to place baby Jesus in a “manger,” a feeding trough or box for animals. It is from this one word that we know Jesus was born and placed in a stable or maybe a cave, as animals were sometimes kept in caves, also. Only in those places would be mangers from which they could eat food. It was certainly a lowly, unsanitary, smelly place for Jesus and Mary and Joseph.
That Mary did the wrapping of Jesus in strips of cloth, the customary way of covering an infant at that time, indicates that she and Joseph were poor and far from home. If at all possible, couples would try to have someone like a midwife to help the family. Mary had to do all by herself, with what help Joseph could give (Luke 2:6-7).
This very humble birth of Jesus was exactly what other Scriptures tell us. Jesus was “rich” (true God in the glory of heaven) “yet for our sake He became poor” (a tiny baby in a food trough) “that we, by His poverty might become rich” with all the blessings Jesus came to bring to us (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus was God, and yet “made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant… in human form He humbled Himself, by becoming obedient for us, even to the point of death” later on (Philippians 2:5-8).
This was the plan of God for our salvation in the humble coming of Jesus. It was prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus predicted His own suffering and sacrifice in our place to save us, and He had to explain it again even after His resurrection (Isaiah 53:2-12, Mark 8:31-32, Luke 24:25-27, 44-47).
One more thought. Caesar Augustus thought he was in control, ordering everyone to go to the places he told them to go, to be counted and taxed. Over time, the emperors thought they were gods and demanded to be worshiped. The emperor was “savior” and “son of God” and “Lord.” Emperors would usher in the “golden age” and could do miracles and on and on. In reality, though, in the birth of Jesus, God was in control, working through the Emperor to get Mary and Joseph just where they needed to be for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, just as Micah had predicted hundreds of years before. (We will hear more of this later.)
This is very comforting for us. We worry that governments and leaders are not what they ought to be and use their power for what is not good. Yet God is still working for our good, even in troubled times. The commentator, Donald Miller, wrote of God teaching us about “the meaning of history. By the decree of Caesar Augustus, the Messiah was born where God had chosen. By setting the Babe over against the Caesar, Luke is proclaiming that God is the Lord of history. History is not ruled by fate, nor by the will of man, but by God. Not Caesar, but Christ, is Lord.” We will see this more and more, as the Christmas story goes on.
Sermon for the Baptism of our Lord, based on:
Isaiah 43:1-9
Romans 6:1-11
Luke 3:15-22
Sermon originally delivered January 13, 2013
Sermon for the Epiphany of our Lord, based on:
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon originally delivered January 6, 2013
This is the Sunday of the Baptism of Jesus and remembering the value of our own baptism or the need for our own baptism in Christ Jesus, if we have not yet received it.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 43:1-7. God speaks of what He has done for the people He has created. He has redeemed them and called them by name and saved them and calls them to Himself. “Fear not,” He says, “for I am with you.”
In the same way, our Epistle lesson, Romans 6:1-11, tells us that as Jesus died and rose again to new life, in our baptism we have died to our old life and been raised to a new life in Christ Jesus. We are no longer enslaved to sin, that it must reign in us. We are now alive in Christ and His enabling grace (v.14) and we will also live with Him, by faith.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 3:15-22. John has the people ready and wondering about the Christ, the promised Savior. John makes it clear that he is not the Savior, but the Mightier One will come, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, Jesus is baptized and identifies with all the sinful people who need baptism, including us. The Holy Spirit then comes upon Jesus in a visible way, as a dove, and the Heavenly Father declares that Jesus is His Son, perfectly pleasing to Him. The one true Triune God is at work in Jesus to rescue the sinful world through Him.
The Psalm is Psalm 29. This is a great Psalm of praise to the God of glory, whose voice was heard at creation “over the waters,” making our marvelous universe and world, and whose voice would be heard again “over the waters,” when His own Son would be baptized at the Jordan River. God’s power and strength can be seen in mighty storms and floods in the natural world; but above all, He is able to give spiritual strength and peace to His people (as is seen above all in Christ Jesus and what He did for us).
Last week, we heard of the visit of Mary to Elizabeth and the encouragement they received from each other, as God’s Holy Spirit worked through each of them and God’s promises to them, especially in their Savior, Jesus.
Now we move to the story of the birth of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, John, in Luke 1:57-80. It was a time of rejoicing for these parents and their neighbors and relatives, as this child was safely born. The Lord had truly shown His “great mercy” to these elderly people in giving them a child. They followed, in thankfulness to God and doing what God in the Old Testament asked of them, in having their child circumcised on the eighth day after his birth (Luke 1:57-59).
See Genesis 17:9-14 and how important circumcision was. Baby boys were brought into covenant relationship with God as His chosen children through this process. There are parallels with baptism, which brings forgiveness and new life to little children and all others who are baptized, under the New Covenant, with water and the Word, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (See Colossians 2:11-13, also.)
It was the custom to give the child his name on this day, and most everyone expected that the child would be named after his father, Zechariah, or with another family-related name. Instead, both parents indicated that his name should be John, following what the angel Gabriel had said (Luke 1:13). Elizabeth spoke, and Zechariah wrote this on a tablet, since he could not speak. The name “John” was very appropriate because it means: “The Lord has been gracious.” God was gracious to this couple and to the whole world, in finally sending this child, John, who would prepare the way for the Savior Himself, born of Mary (Luke 1:59-63).
The people “wondered” at all this, until Zechariah suddenly could speak again and “blessed God,” speaking well of Him in praise. Then, awe and fear came upon the people, who talked and thought much about all this. “What then will this child be?” they were saying. Clearly, “The Lord’s hand was with this child” (Luke 1:62-66).
Zechariah was then filled with the Holy Spirit and inspired to give a great prophecy that we still sometimes sing in worship, the “Benedictus” (the Latin for his first word, “Blessed”), praising and speaking well of “the Lord God of Israel” (Luke 1:67-68).
Verses 68-75 then speak of what God will do through the child of Mary, Jesus, in fulfillment of many prophecies and picture images of the Old Testament. This comes first, for Jesus is most important, as the Lord and Savior of the world. Then, verses 76-79 speak of the child, John, who would prepare the way for the Lord Jesus, calling people to be ready to receive the “tender mercy” of God, through repentance and “forgiveness of their sins.”
Some call the “Benedictus” the last prophecy of the Old Testament, Old Covenant times, and the first of the New Testament, the New Covenant, centered in Christ Jesus.
God was “visiting” and “redeeming“ His people through “a horn of salvation” coming from a descendant of King David, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy (Luke 1:68-70).
- When God “visited" His people, it meant He was ready to go into action on behalf of His people, “remembering” His “covenant” promises to His people. He had not forgotten, but it was now the right time for Him to act, beginning with the promises made to Abraham (Luke 1:72-73).
- See Genesis 21:1-2, where God “visited” Sarah and Abraham with the birth of their child, Isaac, in their old age, through whom would eventually come the Savior, Jesus, who would bless all nations (Genesis 12:3).
- See also Joseph’s words about God visiting His people and rescuing them from slavery in Egypt, in Genesis 50:24; God “visiting” and providing food for Israel in Ruth 1:6, so that Naomi and Ruth could go back to Israel and play a part in the coming of King David; and on and on.
- In Psalm 8:4, the word for “caring” is really a caring visitation, as in Jeremiah 15:15. That is quoted in Hebrews 2:6, where the Greek word is “visited," the same as in Luke 1:68. The greatest visitation, of course, is that of Jesus, as he came to be the Savior. See Luke 19:44, where Jesus spoke of fellow Jews rejecting Him and missing that “time of visitation.
- The “horn of salvation” is an Old Testament term for the strength to save people. The horn of a a strong wild animal represented that strength. See Psalm 18:2-3, where God is called “the horn of our salvation.” See also Psalm 132:17 and Ezekiel 29:21, for example. Jesus as Lord has that strength to save us.
- God’s greatest “redeeming” work in the Old Testament was in rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt and setting them free by His work for them. See Exodus 6:5-6, where God’s remembering and redeeming are combined. See also Exodus 15:15 and many other such passages. Jesus is the great Redeemer of the New Testament, shedding His blood to pay for our sins. See Ephesians 1:7 and 1 Peter 1:18-19 and Galatians 3:13, etc.
All of this redemption is predicted and described in Zechariah’s prophecy in this passage. God’s people were saved, too, so that they could then go and serve the Lord in the freedom He brought them. See Exodus 5:1-3 and 7:16 and passages like Psalm 106:7-12, where God saved His people, that they might “remember His steadfast love” and “believe His Words“ and “sing His praise.”
So also, Zechariah predicted, we New Testament people are “saved” and delivered” by our Lord Jesus, so that we might “serve Him without fear,” knowing that He has counted us as “holy” and “righteous” in His sight “all our days” by what He has done for us. “Perfect love casts out fear” - that perfect love of Jesus for us. (See 1 John 4:10-11, 16-18, along with what Zechariah prophecies in Luke 1:71-72 and 74-75.)
Zechariah then turned in his prophecy to his child, John, who would be “the prophet of the Most High” God and “go before the Lord to prepare His ways.” John would point people to “the knowledge of salvation” through Jesus, who would be, as John said, “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and who brings us “the forgiveness of our own sins,” through the “tender mercy of God” (Luke 1:77-78).
All this about John is predicted in passages we have already looked at, like Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3-6 and the prediction of the Elijah to come (Malachi 4:5-6) whom Jesus identified as John. Note also in Malachi 4:2-3 the prophecy of “the sun of righteousness rising with healing” and the wicked being defeated “on the day when the Lord acts.” This points again to Jesus.
Notice how similar this is to the words of Zechariah in Luke 1:78-79, promising “the sunrise who shall visit us from on high” and bring “light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” and bring us peace. A rising star led the wise men to Jesus, the Light of the world, not John, as we shall see in weeks ahead. Yet John had the great privilege of “bearing witness to the Light, that people might believe in Him” (Jesus).
See John 1:1-14. All this is exactly what Zechariah predicted, in this remarkable prophecy in Luke 1:67-79. (See also 2 Peter 1:19-21 and 1 Timothy 1:2, where we hear of the “Grace, mercy, and peace which come to us from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,” born as a tiny baby in Bethlehem.) Our future and hope are always in Jesus alone, not in John or any other human person.
Luke 1 ends with mention that the baby John also grew and became spiritually strong (he was not perfect, but was a great witness for His Lord) and spent time in the wilderness, fulfilling his Nazarite vows (Luke 1:15-17) and preparing for his work of calling people to repent and receive baptism and forgiveness and to be ready for the Kingdom of God, coming in Jesus (Luke 1:80).
Next week, we will finally get into the familiar Christmas story itself. But even there, there is much to remember and learn.
Sermon for the New Year's Eve, based on:
Isaiah 30:8-17
Romans 8:31-39
Luke 12:35-40
Sermon originally delivered December 31, 2012
This is the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, and our readings have to do with how Jesus was growing in wisdom as a young person and how we can be growing in true wisdom as well.
The Old Testament lesson is from 1 Kings 3:4-15. Solomon had become king of Israel at about the age of 20, and God said to him in a dream, “Ask what I shall give you.” Solomon praised God for His steadfast love and asked only that he be given “an understanding mind” (literally, in the Hebrew, “a hearing heart”) so that he would listen to God and know good from evil and be able properly to govern the people of Israel. God promised him that and much more, as he walked in God’s ways.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:97-104. The psalmist says that he will meditate on God’s Word and in that way be wiser than his enemies and have more understanding than his teachers and the aged, the elders. There are many smart people who know much about many things; but only through Lord and His precepts will one have true wisdom and understanding, the psalmist declares.
In the Epistle, Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul speaks of God’s eternal plans and purposes in Christ. This is wisdom and insight revealed only by God to people through “hearing the Word of truth, the Gospel of salvation,” and coming to “believe in Him, in Christ.” This is all by God’s grace and “to the praise of His glory,” as gifts from Him, in Christ.
The Gospel is Luke 2:40-52. We hear that Jesus, as a true human child, did not always use His power as the Son of God, but had to grow in wisdom and strength by the favor of God, just as we do. He knew that He needed to spend time in the temple in Jerusalem, His Father’s house, listening to God’s Word and asking questions, and showing His own understanding in the responses He gave, though His own parents, Mary and Joseph, did not understand what He was doing. Through it all, He was obedient and grew in the wisdom of God, which brings eternal blessings.
This week’s study focuses on the conversation between the two key women in the Christmas story, Elizabeth and Mary, the mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus. The angel, Gabriel, had told Mary not only of the coming of the Savior through her virgin birth, but also that her relative Elizabeth was expecting a child in a miraculous way, since she was far too old to have a child.
In Luke 1:39-40, we hear that Mary decided to visit Elizabeth and quickly went to the town in the hill country of Judah where she and Zechariah lived. She must have thought that Elizabeth would surely be welcoming of her and understanding of her unusual circumstances, since both were experiencing a miraculous birth.
When Mary greeted Elizabeth, baby John leaped in her womb. This was no ordinary movement of a baby in the womb. Verse 44 tells us that baby John “leaped for joy.” Luke 1:15 records the words of the angel that John would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb,” and was enabled by the Spirit to respond to Mary and the Savior coming to them.
Elizabeth was also “filled with the Holy Spirit,” and spoke well of Mary and her child, with a loud cry, as “blessed” by God Himself. She even recognized that baby Jesus was “her Lord,” the One John was to prepare people for. (See again Luke 1:17.) Why, she asked, was this privilege given to her to see Mary, and with her, the Lord Jesus? Elizabeth then used another word for Mary being blessed that means more like her being “happy and fortunate” that by God’s grace, she believed the Word of God brought by angel Gabriel and trusted that God would fulfill His promise to her - unlike Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, who at first doubted it all (Luke 1:42-45).
Note that the focus is more upon God’s grace to Mary in giving her the great privilege of being the mother of the Lord and Savior than upon Mary’s greatness. Elizabeth also knew that she herself did not deserve the honor and privileges given to her.
Words similar to what was said to Mary were also spoken to some in the Old Testament. See the story of a woman, Jael, in Judges 4, who was able to kill Sisera, leader of enemies of God’s people. Jael is called “most blessed of women” in Judges 5:24, but it is clear that God enabled her to do what she did, and He “subdued” the enemies of God’s people (Judges 4:23). Jael was simply His instrument by which this happened. See also Deuteronomy 28:4, where God says to all his people, and to all Jewish women, “Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb” because out of that nation would eventually come the Savior, who was now coming through Mary.
See also Luke 11:27-28, where Jesus was speaking and a woman cried out to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed.” Certainly Jesus respected and loved His mother. He made sure she was taken care of in John 19:26-27. But in Luke 11:28, Jesus responded to the woman, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Hearing God’s Word and trusting in Jesus is most important.
Mary responded to what Elizabeth said by also giving the glory to God, not to herself. (The words she said are used in worship and in hymns still today in what is called the “Magnificat.”) Mary “magnified the Lord.” She glorified and praised God, not herself. She used words and ideas that come right out of the Old Testament and people’s praise of God in the past.
See, for example, the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Hannah also was miraculously blessed to be able to have a child, Samuel. Hannah began, “My heart exults in the Lord… I rejoice in Your salvation.” Mary said something very similar: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47). Both Hannah and Mary knew that they were imperfect and needed the Savior God was sending. See in Matthew 1:21 the most important part of the meaning of Jesus’ name as Savior: “for He will save His people from their sins.” The Bible never claimed that Mary was sinless; rather it says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” other than Jesus (Romans 3:23).
Mary rejoiced because God looked upon her in her humble estate as a simple servant of God. She knew that future generations would call her “blessed” (happy and fortunate), not because she was so great in herself, but because the “Mighty” God “had done great things for her,” in allowing her to be the mother of the Savior. Mary did not call herself holy. She said of God, “Holy is His Name,” as Hannah also did in 1 Samuel 2:2 (Luke 1:48-49).
Mary also emphasized the mercy of God. “Mercy” means “compassion” or “pity” on those who are needy and really need some help, but still “fear God,” with reverence and trust in Him (Luke 1:50). See also Luke 1:54, where Mary remembers that “God has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy” to them - not because they deserved it, but because He was compassionate to them. The word for “helped” in this verse means “taking someone’s part and coming to their aid.”
An Old Testament example of that is in Isaiah 41:8-10, where God says to His servant Israel, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” God does not forget. The fact that He remembers his mercy simply means that He is ready to go into action in help to people, as He did in the greatest way in finally sending Jesus into the world to be the Savior, through Mary.
Mary was expressing confidence, not in herself, but in God, in this great responsibility of giving birth to the Savior and then in helping raise Him. Note also that God had made such promises of help to “Abraham and his offspring forever” (Luke 1:55). Who are these “offspring”? The New Testament says that they now include all believers in Christ, whoever they are, including us today who trust in Jesus and are baptized. (See Galatians 3:7-9, and 13 and 26-29, and Romans 4:16, etc.)
So much more could be said about this song of Mary, in its parallels to the song of Hannah, and many psalms and other Scriptures. The commentator, William Arndt, summarizes Mary’s words in this way:
1) She thanks God for having favored her, a humble maid of Israel, in such extraordinary fashion (v.46-50).
2) She praises God for resisting the haughty, the proud, and the self-righteous, and for aiding the poor, the lowly, that is, the humble sinners (51-53).
3) She exalts the name of God because the Lord fulfills the promises which he had made to the fathers in the Messianic prophecies (54-55).
We could look at many more such passages, similar to what Mary said. Some of these I mention in the full podcast, and you could look at more of these on your own.
- From the Psalms: Psalm 34:2-8, Psalm 35:9, Psalm 107:8-9, Psalm 111:9-10
- Jesus’ words: “Some are last who shall be first, and some are first who shall be last.” (Luke 13:30)
- Reminders that many of the blessings that God gives are spiritual, not physical: Romans 14:17, 2 Corinthians 8:9, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, I Peter 2:9-10, 2 Peter 1:19
Finally, we read that Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned home (Luke 1:56). That may mean that she stayed through the birth of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son, John. If so, Mary received even more in encouragement from what happened there and the prophecy of Zechariah, as we will hear and be encouraged next week, too.
Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas, based on:
Psalm 111
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2:22-40
Sermon originally delivered December 30, 2012
This Sunday is the 1st Sunday after Christmas. Here are the readings most likely to be used. The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 13:1-3a,11-15. The firstborn of the Jews were spared when the firstborn of the Egyptians died in the last plague against the Egyptians, and the Pharaoh finally set God’s people free. Future firstborn sons belonged to God, first, and were to be “redeemed.” (See Numbers 18:15-16, also.) This was to remind God’s people that they were His and always dependent on Him. This also explains some of the ceremonial laws that were followed when Jesus was “presented” in the temple in the Gospel lesson.
In that Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-40, Joseph and Mary did everything expected for a newborn son and his mother in Jewish law. In His life, Jesus faithfully followed all of God’s will, without sin, in our place, and freed us from that ceremonial law and the curse of all sin. This passage also shows us two faithful Jewish people, Simeon and Anna, who waited for the coming Savior, and rejoiced when Jesus, that promised Savior, was brought to the temple. They also spoke of the redeeming work that Jesus would do. Finally, we hear that Jesus, as a true man, was growing and becoming stronger, physically and with the wisdom and favor of God.
The Epistle, Colossians 3:12-17, speaks of our own growth in our Christian life, as God’s chosen ones, called to faith by God’s love, and the Christlike qualities God wishes to work in us, through the Word and power of Christ, who lives in us. We are called to do everything in the name of Christ Jesus, with thanksgiving.
The Psalm is Psalm 111. The Psalmist thanks and praises God for His great works on behalf of His people and His redeeming work, above all. We, in thanksgiving to Him, are to fear Him, with awe and love and trust.
For some churches, including St. James, the readings may be those for the day of Stephen, the first martyr of the early Christian church. The Epistle lesson, from Acts 6:8-7:2, 51-60, tells of how Stephen spoke out boldly for Christ and the Christian faith and then was arrested and stoned to death, as the Jewish religious leaders were outraged at what he was saying. Stephen saw a vision of the risen Lord Jesus at the right hand of God, as he was dying, and prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
This is not the first time in the Bible a spokesman for the Lord was killed. In the Old Testament lesson, 2 Chronicles 24:17-22, King Joash turned against the one true God and worshipped idols and had the priest Zechariah stoned to death for criticizing him and pointing out the idolatry in the land.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 23:34-39, Jesus said that this rejection of God’s true prophets and leaders had been all too common in Old Testament times, from the first murder, of Abel by his brother Cain, to the last one mentioned in the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures, this death of Zechariah. (The Hebrew Scriptures have the same content as our Old Testament, but the order is different and the last of their books is 2 Chronicles.) Jesus also called Jerusalem “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.” He knew of His own death, soon to come, and of the death of Stephen and so many others.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:137-144. The Psalmist speaks of how he has been “small and despised” in the eyes of others, and faced “trouble and anguish” and says, “My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget Your Words.” Jesus quoted a similar psalm, Psalm 69:9, with regard to His own zeal for God’s house and the reproach He would receive; and He predicted His own death, too, in John 2:14-22.
Last week, we heard in Luke 1:5-25 of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the promise in their old age of a child, John, who would prepare the way for the coming Savior. This week, we hear in Luke 1:26-38 of the promise to Mary that she would give birth to that promised Savior, Jesus. Watch for similarities and differences in what we hear in these two stories.
It was the angel, Gabriel, who was sent from God to talk with Mary, as he had to Zechariah, about six months earlier (Luke 1:26). Gabriel went to the small town of Nazareth, in Galilee, in the northern part of Israel, where Mary lived and was betrothed (engaged) to Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. She was still a virgin, as they were not yet married and living together. Gabriel came to Mary with the words, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.” Mary was confused and perplexed at these words, and was pondering, reasoning within herself, about what the angel’s greeting meant (Luke 1:27-29). (We get the English word for “dialogue” from the Greek word used here.)
Mary must have also been afraid, having an angel suddenly appearing to her, for Gabriel said to her, as he did to Zechariah, “Do not be afraid,” (literally, “Stop being afraid”), “for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). The word for “favor” in verses 28 and 30 is related to the word ”grace.” The Roman Catholic church understands these words to mean that Mary is “full of grace” and “a fountain of grace” who is sinless and is so good that she has extra grace to bestow on others who call upon her. That is not at all what this passage says, though.
Mary is a “favored one,” not as the mother, but as the daughter of grace, who has been graced, favored by God, with the privilege of being the woman through whom Jesus would be brought into the world. The particular Greek word used here is used in only one other place in the New Testament, in Ephesians 1:6. Paul is talking about how we become children of God through Christ Jesus, according to the purpose of His will (v.5) “to the praise of His glorious grace, in which He He has blessed us (literally, “graced us”, the same word for “favored” in Luke 1:28) in the beloved, in Christ (v.6). In other words, not only Mary is favored, graced by God, but all believers are, as “ones having been graced” by God, by His undeserved love and favor given to us.
Clearly, as we return to Luke 1:31-33, the important One in this whole passage is not Mary, but Jesus, for who He is and will be. Mary will be honored to “conceive and give birth to this Son, because His name will be “Jesus” (Savior, or The Lord Saves). “He will be great.”
Note that in Luke 1:15, John is also called “great,” but “great before the Lord” because of what God will do with him. Jesus will be “great” in Himself, for He is “the Son of the Most High” - an Old Testament name for God Himself. John is called “the prophet of the Most High,” preparing the way for the Lord (Luke 1:76). But Jesus is the Son of the Most High, of God Himself (Luke 1:32).
In addition, the Son of Mary, Jesus, would receive “the throne of His father David” and “reign forever,” with an “everlasting kingdom.” The Kingdom of Israel split after David and Solomon into two kingdoms, and never again was there one kingdom with a king from the line of David. There were kings like Herod, as we have heard, but he was not even a Jew. When Jesus came, though, born of the Virgin Mary, He was the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies, like 2 Samuel 7:16, Isaiah 9:7, Daniel 7:14, and so many more. His kingdom would not be “of this world” (John 18:33-37), but we are all part of this everlasting kingdom, by faith in Him. (See passages like John 17:13-20.)
Mary had been pondering all this, though, and she asked what seemed to her to be a logical question: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). People did not have all the scientific knowledge we have today, but they did know the basics of how a child is conceived. Literally, Mary said, “How will this be, since I do not know a man?” In those days, “to know” sometimes meant to have sexual relations with someone, to “know” in such a deep, personal way. (See, for example, Genesis 4:1, and Matthew 1:24-25, where in spite of what the Roman Catholic church says about Mary being a perpetual virgin, the Scriptures actually say that Joseph “knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus.”) The virgin birth of Jesus Himself is affirmed, though, by both Luke and Matthew, as we will see.
In fact, the angel answered Mary’s question by simply saying that it would be by a miracle of God. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” One commentator, Donald Miller, points out that the word “overshadow” is also used in the transfiguration of Jesus in Luke 1:34-35. A cloud overshadowed everyone and then the voice of God the Father spoke, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him.”
In the Old Testament, the glory of God was often shown by a cloud. God was both present and yet hidden from the people. See Exodus 40:34-38, and Exodus 13:21, 14:19-20, 16:10, 19:9, and 34:5. In Genesis, God created the first man, Adam, in a miraculous way. Here, the angel was saying, the conception and birth of the second Adam, Jesus, would also happen in a miraculous way, simply through the power of the Holy Spirit. As Miller says, “this calls for worship, not explanation.”
The Scriptures say that our own spiritual birth into the Christian faith comes also through the power of the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and the Word of God, connected with the water of Baptism. We are “born again of water and the Spirit” (John 3:3-6). We “have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God” (1Peter 1:23). It is a miracle of God for us, too, that calls for worship, not explanation. We do not know just when, but some think that the conception of Jesus happened when the angel was bringing these Words of God to Mary, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit worked through that Word.
What is clear is that, as the angel went on to say, “Therefore” (not because of some power or quality in Mary, but because of the miracle of God), “the Child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Jesus was “holy,” set apart for His saving work and without sin, from the time of His conception onward and through His whole life (Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22, etc.) The same was never said of Mary, or any of us, in the Scriptures. (God the Son had been God and holy from all eternity before becoming man for our salvation.)
The angel then went on to tell Mary that her “relative Elizabeth in her old age had also conceived a son” and was already in her “sixth month” of pregnancy. This was also a miracle of God, but a different kind, as Zechariah and Elizabeth conceived this child, John, the normal way - but at an impossible age and when Elizabeth was seemingly barren, unable to have a child. How could all of this have been happening? The angel simply says, “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:36-37). God is not powerless in any way or any situation, though it is His good and gracious will that will be done, according to His wisdom, and for the ultimate good of those who are called by Him and love Him (Romans 8:28).
Mary had been graced with God’s favor, as His gift, and she responded with trust in God and His Word. She said, “Behold" (a way of saying “Look, see, pay attention!), "I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your Word” (Luke 1:38). That is always the goal of God and His Word and therefore of Luke and what he wrote in this Gospel: “that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:4).
Then we simply hear: “And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38). Gabriel’s task had been completed. Mary had heard God’s Word, and she trusted it, by God’s grace. May the Lord lead us, also, to trust in Him and His Word, and if we are struggling, like Zechariah, wake us up spiritually, and help us to trust God and His Word more, too.
Next week, we will look at Mary meeting with Elizabeth and their encouraging each other; and we will hear Mary’s song of praise to God her Savior. A blessed Christmas celebration to you all, too, even if you are in a situation or country where few pay attention to the true Christmas story.
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, based on:
Micah 5:2-5a
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45
Sermon originally delivered December 23, 2012
This Sunday, December 19, is the 4th Sunday in Advent, and we will have celebrated Christmas by the next Sunday. Our Scripture readings on Sunday lead us ever close to the birth of our Savior, Jesus.
The Old Testament lesson, Micah 5:2-5a, predicts the birth of the Savior in little Bethlehem. He will be Shepherd and Ruler for people, and He will be their Peace, even to the ends of the earth. This remarkable prophecy was made nearly 700 years before Christ Jesus was born and was the reason the wise men were sent to Bethlehem to find Him.
The Psalm is Psalm 80:1-7, where God is called the Shepherd of Israel, and God’s people pray for Him: “Stir up Your might and come to save us… Let Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.” God did come to save us, at last, in the person of His own Son, the Son of Man (v.17), baby Jesus. In Him, in His face, we receive salvation.
The Epistle is from Hebrews 10:5-10. Another Old Testament prophecy is quoted, from Psalm 40:6-8. As Christ came into the world, He already knew His Father’s plan and was willing to do His Father’s will and sacrifice that human body He was given, through Mary, to pay for all the sins of the world, “once for all.”
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 1:39-45 (46-55), Mary, already carrying the body of Jesus in her womb, goes to visit Elizabeth. Elizabeth is also pregnant with her son, John, and baby John leaps in her womb when Mary comes, carrying Jesus within her. Elizabeth is “filled with the Holy Spirit” and knows that Mary is “the mother of Her Lord,” the Lord Jesus, coming to her. Jesus truly is the promised Savior, as Mary then sings in the words of the Magnificat. She, too, needs God, her Savior, who has come for her in the Person of her Son. He brings her grace, as He does all of us, as we are brought to trust in Him.
Last week, we looked a little more at Jesus as our “Substitute” in a perfect life and in suffering for all our sins, in our place. We also looked at Luke’s preface to his Gospel, where he tells Theophilus and us that he writes so that we may have “certainty” about and believe the things we have been taught about Jesus and God’s plan of salvation.
This made me think again about the very different messages we get about believing from so many today. An anniversary edition of the book The Polar Express came out recently. A popular movie has been made with the same title, starring Tom Hanks. A boy has started to doubt if there really is a Santa, and he and other children are taken on a mysterious train ride to the North Pole. They meet Santa and his elves, and are called to believe in him. The boy even has BELIEVE written on his return ticket, and he does believe - BELIEVE IN SANTA - when he gets what he wants at Christmas. Maybe you have also seen one or both version of the movie Miracle on 34th Street. This time it is a young girl and her mom and many others who do not believe in Santa any more and come back to saying, “I Believe.”
These are interesting, entertaining stories and movies. We know better as Christians, but we can be overwhelmed by all these messages, and what we really need to believe - BELIEVE IN JESUS - can be obscured. Santa and all the presents and family activities and gatherings, etc. are good; but they won’t get us far, unless Christ Jesus is at the center as we believe in Him and His good news for us, above all. We need His guidance and love and forgiveness also at Christmas.
Luke 1:5-25 tells us about the miraculous coming of John the Baptist. According to prophecy (Malachi 3:1, 4:5-6, for example) a messenger had to come first, someone like Elijah, to prepare people for the coming of the Lord Himself, in the person of the God/man Jesus. The miraculous birth of John prepared the way for the even more miraculous birth of Jesus, too.
Luke begins in v.5 with mention of “Herod, king of the Jews,” at the time of the announcement of John’s coming birth. Herod the Great ruled between 37-1 BC, though scholars disagree on the exact dates. He was called “great” because of his building projects, especially the work on the temple in Jerusalem, and other things. At the same time, Herod was not even a Jew and had been appointed king by the Romans and was a very cruel leader. (The Herod we hear about in the ministry of Jesus was a relative, but obviously not this same person.)
Genesis 49:10 had predicted that future leaders who held a “scepter,” a kingly symbol, would come from the line of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. King David was from that line, and so was Jesus, the Bringer of Shiloh, of Peace, (Isaiah 9:6-7) and King of Kings (Revelation 1:5 and 17:14). John would announce the coming of Jesus and the end of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the old way that had been corrupted by Herod and so many others.
Zechariah (Luke 1:5-6) was still a priest of the Old Covenant at this time. Josephus, a Jewish historian, and others estimated that there were then about 20,000 Jewish priests, divided into 4 divisions and 24 classes (family groups; see 1 Chronicles 24:10 for mention of the Abijah family). Zechariah’s wife was Elizabeth, who was also from the priestly line, through the first Jewish priest, Aaron, a brother of Moses (Numbers 26:59).
Zechariah and Elizabeth were “righteous” and “blameless” before God. This does not mean that they were perfect, but that they trusted God by faith and sought to follow His commandments (basic principles, like the 10 Commandments) and statutes (specific regulations, like what priests were to do). They were counted as righteous as they trusted God’s promises and lived with His forgiveness.
A great sorrow was that they were unable to have children. Psalms 127 and 128 speak, for example, of the joy and blessing of children and children’s children. Not only did Zechariah and Elizabeth miss out on this blessing, there was also an attitude among many Jews that couples who could not have children had done some things really wrong and were being punished for their sins. (See how Elizabeth speaks of her “reproach among people” - how they looked down upon her, simply because she had no children) (Luke 1:25). The call in Genesis was to be “fruitful and multiply,"” but that does not always happen in a now fallen world, even for people like Zechariah and Elizabeth, who are clearly called “righteous before God.” Nor do the Scriptures look down on people who are single, or who cannot adopt a child, etc.
It is also clear that Zechariah and Elizabeth had kept their faith and kept praying to God, even when they were beyond childbearing years and did not understand what was going on for them. Zechariah also faithfully went to carry out his work as priest “when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood” (Luke 1:7-9).
Each family group of about 830 priests served for a week in the temple, twice a year. There were many responsibilities, including helping with the weekly Sabbath days and other things, including “burning incense” in the temple, each morning at dawn and each evening, around 3 pm or a little after. (See Exodus 30:7-8.)
Burning incense was a great honor, because it involved going into the presence of God in the Holy Place in the temple, where the Golden Altar of Incense was located. A priest was “chosen by lot” if he drew out a white stone (see also “a white stone” mentioned in Revelation 2:17); and only once in his lifetime could a priest be chosen for this sacred duty. Another priest would put hot coals on the Golden Altar and then the chosen priest would enter and place frankincense or a similar valuable incense on the coals and burn it, until the good-smelling smoky incense rose into the air.
What was the significance? See Psalm 141:2 and Revelation 8:3-4, for example. The incense represented the prayers of the believers rising toward God in heaven and gave assurance that these prayers would reach God and be heard. People gathered at the temple for prayer, but were not allowed into the Holy Place. They waited in outer areas of the temple, while “the hour of incense” went on. When the specially chosen priest had finished burning incense, he would come out to the people and give them a benediction, maybe Numbers 6:24-26 or similar words, assuring them that God did look upon them and hear their prayers.
At dawn, fewer people gathered for prayer, so it was likely at the evening (later afternoon) sacrifice that Zechariah went into the Holy Place alone to do this incense burning. (See Luke 1:10, and Acts 3:1, as an example of how the apostles Peter and John still followed this practice of waiting in prayer at the temple, with others.)
Suddenly, someone else appeared (was seen by Zechariah) to the right of the incense altar, an angel of the Lord. Zechariah “was troubled” and “fear fell upon him.” The angel, though, spoke and told him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah” (literally, “stop being afraid”). This is often the reaction when an angel appears to someone (Luke 1:11-13).( See also how the same angel, Gabriel, appeared to Daniel at the hour of the evening sacrifice, in Daniel 9:21, even though Daniel was in Babylon, praying.)
In the case of Zechariah, the angel went on to tell Zechariah that his many years of prayer for a child had been heard, and that finally he and Elizabeth would have a son, who was to be called John (the Lord is gracious and merciful). This child would bring joy and gladness to this couple and to many others. He would be “great before the Lord” and would take a kind of Nazarite vow, not drinking wine or strong drink, and would live a very simple, sacrificial life (Numbers 6). He would be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in Elizabeth’s womb. (Note the reference to the third person of the Triune God here at the beginning of the New Testament era. The Holy Spirit had already been at work in the Old Testament, but now he would be even more evident and active in the New Testament times) (Luke 1:14-15).
John’s primary work would be to “turn many of the children of Israel (back) to the Lord their God.” He would “go before” the Lord God Himself, who was also coming. “In the spirit and power of Elijah,” the Old Testament prophet, John would “turn the hearts of fathers to their children” (with real repentance and spiritual concern for themselves and their children,) that “disobedience” would be turned into “wisdom that justly,” rightly, wants to follow the Lord. Then people would be prepared for the Lord when He came. (See Luke 1:16-17 and the prophecy of this in Malachi 3:1 and 4:5-6, and words of Jesus in Matthew 11:14 and 17:10-13 that John the Baptist was definitely the one who was to come in “the spirit and power of Elijah” and do this preparatory work.)
Sadly, Zechariah was unprepared for the angel or the angel’s message. Doubt and disbelief seemed to come on him, too. He said, literally, “According to what shall I know this?” It was as if he was looking for a sign or some other evidence for what the angel said would happen. After all, he was an old man and his wife was old, too - far beyond child-bearing years. The angel then introduced himself as Gabriel, the same angel who had appeared to Daniel and who would soon appear also to Mary, as we will see. He had been in the presence of God in heaven and now had been sent to speak to Zechariah and bring him “this Good News.”
However, because Zechariah “did not believe the angel’s words,” he would be “silent and unable to speak until the day that these things took place.” This was a kind of judgment on him for his failure to believe the Word of God; but it was also the very sign he wished for. He would have about nine months to think about trusting God’s Word, no matter what, as he was silent. The angel also promised two more times that Zechariah’s son, John, would definitely be born. The day would come when “these things would take place.” They would be “fulfilled in their time” - in God’s good timing.
This was truly “Good News,” too - Good News for Zechariah and Elizabeth, after all their praying and waiting for a child - and Good News for the whole world, because the Savior of all was coming, and John was coming to prepare the way for Him (Luke 1:18-20).
Meanwhile, many people had gathered at the temple and were waiting for Zechariah to come out from the Holy Place and give them a benediction and assurance that their prayers were heard by God in heaven. They were wondering why he was delayed in coming out to them. Finally, Zechariah came out, but could not speak, and they realized “that he had seen a vision in the temple.” He could only makes signs in order to dismiss the people.
Zechariah finished the remaining days of his priestly service and then went home, and we hear very simply, “After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived.” It was a normal conception between a man and wife, even though it happened by a miracle of God, for two very old people. Elizabeth then kept away from other people for five months, until it was very clear that she really was expecting a child. She said, “The Lord has done this for me, when He looked upon me in mercy, and has taken away my reproach among people” (Luke 1:18-25). (See also Numbers 6:24-26, again. Blessings come when the Lord looks upon His people with His undeserved favor, with His grace.)
If you had been Zechariah, what do you think you would have done in this situation? Abraham struggled when he was told that he and Sarah would have a child, especially as they kept getting older and older, with no son. Yet we read, Abram finally “believed the Lord, and He counted it to Him as righteousness” (Genesis 15). Mary was “greatly troubled” and had questions, when the angel told her that she would give birth to Jesus, as we shall hear. Yet she also finally said, “Let it be to me, according to your Word” (Luke 1:26-38). Haven’t we all struggled, at times, with what is happening in our lives and trying to understand and accept God’s Word and His plans?
We just heard in worship about John the Baptist himself, later on, sitting in prison and wondering if Jesus really was the Promised One from God, when he, John, was having so much trouble. Jesus told him of all the great things happening and reminded him, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:18-28).
Paul also taught, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” The key is staying “in the Lord” and seeking to trust Him and His Word and plans, even if we do not always understand them. Then, as Paul says, “The peace of God which surpasses all” (of our human) “understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7). May the Lord give us grace to trust Him in this way, even in the challenges we face.
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent, based on:
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 7:18-35
Sermon originally delivered December 16, 2012
This is the 3rd Sunday in Advent and is called “Rejoicing Sunday,” (Gaudete Sunday) when the pink candle is lit on an Advent wreath. In the midst of a time of repentance in preparation for Christmas, and even in times of trouble, there is also joy in God’s love and mercy in Christ our Savior.
In the Psalm, Psalm 85, God’s people are grateful that the Lord has forgiven them and restored their fortunes; but troubles and setbacks continue, and they pray that the Lord would “revive them again” and “speak peace” to them and renew their joy in Him.
The Old Testament lesson is Zephaniah 3:14-20. God had sent many strong warning to the people of Judah and other nations; but now the prophet Zephaniah calls for rejoicing, because God will be with His “humble and lowly” people in mercy, to “quiet them by His love and save” them. Even the “lame” and “outcasts” and people “shamed” by others will be blessed by the Lord and Savior.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 7:18-28 (29-35), John the Baptist is suffering in prison for doing the right things and needs reassurance from Jesus that He, Jesus, is the promised Savior. Jesus points to all the ways that He is fulfilling prophecy and helping both the physically and spiritual poor and needy people with His mercy and Good News. “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me,” Jesus says to John. He calls him simply to trust God’s ways and plans, even if he cannot fully understand them.
In the Epistle lesson, Philippians 4:4-7, Paul is in prison for the faith, but still has joy and calls upon us, too, even in difficult times, to “rejoice in the Lord always.” We can turn all of our anxieties and fears and questions over to the Lord in prayer and trust that He will bring us “peace which surpasses all understanding” and will “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Sermon for Midweek Advent 2 - "People of Hope: Finding Hope in Dark Days" - Joseph and Mary
Sermon originally delivered December 12, 2012
Last week, we looked at a lot of short Bible passages that told us why Jesus had to come as He did, as a substitute for us. He had to be a true human man, a second Adam, since the first Adam had failed to do God’s will and brought sin into the whole world and to us, too. Jesus had to be tempted as we are, yet never sin, and be the perfect person we should be but fail to be. God’s own Son had to be the One to take on that human flesh, for only He could be, as God, as well as man, great enough to substitute for and pay the penalty for all sinners, for the whole world, including us.
Look now at a few more Scriptures about Jesus as our Substitute, suffering the punishment for our sin, in our place. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” How could their own sins not be counted against people? V.19 says, “For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is the great exchange. Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and gave us forgiveness and counts us as holy and acceptable to Him, as we simply trust in Him and what He has done for us, in suffering the just punishment for sin in our place.
Look also at 1 Peter 1:18-19. We all lived in futile ways, from Adam onward, but were ransomed by Jesus. We were set free by the “precious blood of Christ " - real human blood, shed on the cross for us. Gold or silver would not be enough, but the sacrifice of the true Son of God, like a perfect Lamb, without spot or blemish - no sin - is great enough to pay for the sins of the whole world. (See John 1:29 and 1 Peter 2:22-25.)
Jesus “committed no sin but “bore our sins in His body (a real human body) on the tree” of the cross. As a result, because He was also God the Son, we “die to sin and live in and for righteousness. By His wounds, we are healed and returned” to Him, our Good Shepherd. In all this, we do not earn or qualify ourselves for forgiveness and new life. God did it all, with His rescue plan for us in the God/man Jesus. “He qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” He delivered us from darkness and “transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14). Christmas happened so that Jesus could come into this world to do and complete this saving work for us.
And how did Christmas happen? We turn now to the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, where we have the true details God chose to reveal to us of the coming of Christ. We begin with Luke 1:1-4. Who was Luke, the author of this Gospel? We actually know very little about him. He was a physician and a Gentile, not a Jew (Colossians 4:11-14). He was somehow brought to faith in Christ and first appeared with Paul on his second and third missionary journeys. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts and indicates his (Luke’s) presence whenever he says “we” did this or that, and these things happened to “us.” (See Acts16:10-40 and 20:5-21:18 and 27:1-28:16.)
Luke also sends greetings, along with Paul, later on in Paul’s Letter to the Colossians and to Philemon. He was clearly very important to Paul and was called “beloved” and a ”fellow worker” of Paul; and he was the only person with Paul when Paul was in prison in Rome for the second time, near the time of his execution for being a Christian, at the hands of Nero and the Romans.
That is all that we know of Luke from the Scriptures, other than what we learn indirectly, as we turn to the Gospel of Luke, Luke 1:1-4. Luke was a very learned man, and his Greek is some of the best in the Scriptures. He begins his Gospel with an introduction, a prologue, as famous Greek historians often did. The difference is that these historians introduced and highlighted themselves. Luke focuses upon “the things that have been accomplished among us” by God - actions done by God on our behalf.
This is not philosophy for our living or what we are to do to succeed in life or be happy. Luke does not mention or identify anything much about himself. He does talk about those original disciples and others who were with Jesus “from the beginning” and how important their teaching and witness had been. (That is apparently how Luke himself had become a believer in Jesus, through their witness.)
See John 15:26-27 and Acts 1:21-22, as examples of the importance of followers “from the beginning” who could tell all about Jesus from the start. See the importance of “eyewitness” testimony, in what Peter says in 2 Peter 1:16-21, and his focus on the “prophetic Word” of God revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. Peter does not “follow cleverly devised myths” but simply proclaims the truth of “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus.” He and others were there and saw and heard these very things when they were with Jesus. See also Acts 6:1-4, where the original disciples knew that they had to be busy with “preaching the Word of God” and carrying out “the ministry of the Word.”
Much was being done, but at this point, probably only the Gospel of Matthew had been put in writing. Some think that Mark’s Gospel was also written at this time, but as I indicated in the Gospel of Mark study, other evidence says that Mark wrote only after both Paul and Peter had died for the faith.
So, “it seemed good” to Luke “to write an orderly account” (see also Acts 11:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 14:40, for emphasis upon speaking and writing in an “orderly” way) about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke says that he had “followed all things closely for some time," and he had surely met many early Christian people and talked with them. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16, while Luke was with him, saying: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” God definitely used Luke to add much to what Matthew had written about the birth and early years of Jesus, as we will see in weeks ahead.
Paul wrote this Gospel and Acts for a friend, Theophilus, whose name means “Lover of God.” (See the mention of Theophilus also in Acts 1:1-2 and the clear mention that Acts was the second book written by Luke, after his Gospel.) Above all, Luke says that through what he has written, he wants to give Theophilus and all of us, too, greater “certainty (firmness, confirmation) concerning the things we have been taught.” The word for what is “taught” is the Greek word from which we get our word “catechism.” The Word of God is our primary “catechism” and we use Luther’s catechism only because it faithful to the Word and filled with the Word.
One final thought for today. Some groups say that as long as we focus on Jesus, the rest of what the Bible says isn’t really so important. Christ is the key to the Scriptures and is our Savior. However, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is useful,” as we heard Paul say. Look at the little story Luke included in Acts 18:24-26. Apollos was eloquent, knew Scripture, and taught accurately about Jesus. Wasn’t that enough? It was not, for Apollos did not even know about Christian baptism. An early Christian couple, Aquila and Priscilla, had to take Apollos aside to teach him the way of God more accurately - especially the meaning and importance of Christian baptism.
Read through Acts and notice how often baptism is mentioned and how many people are baptized, together with hearing the Word. In fact, the word for teaching more “accurately” is the same word used by Luke in Luke 1:3 for following all things “closely." It is very important to follow the Word of God “accurately” and “closely." It all fits together in God’s saving plan for us, and everything is important.
Next week, we will get into what Luke tells us about the one who was prophesied to prepare the way for Jesus, John the Baptist, and how he is important, too.
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent, based on:
Malachi 3:1-7b
Philippians 1:2-11
Luke 3:1-14
Sermon originally delivered December 9, 2012
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent, is Malachi 3:1-7b. The Lord says through the prophet Malachi that He will send a messenger to prepare the way, and then He, the Lord, will come to His people. This will be a time of cleansing and purifying, as people’s sins are exposed, and they are brought to repentance and return to the Lord.
In the Gospel lesson, Luke 3:1-14 (15-20), we hear that John the Baptist is that promised messenger. He calls people to “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” and to “bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” John also promises that people will then “see the salvation of God.”
Jesus is the One who came after John and brought salvation to the world. Paul rejoices in His saving work, in the Epistle lesson from Philippians 1:2-11. Paul is in prison for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus; yet he knows that he and all believers have the grace of God. He prays that all believers will continue in faith and love in Christ Jesus.
The Psalm, Psalm 66:1-12, is an Old Testament expression of joy in the Lord and His “awesome deeds” for His people. Though there are times of trial and testing, the psalmist says to the Lord, “You have not let our feet slip… and have brought us out to a place of abundance.” “Come and see what the Lord has done,” the psalmist says to all people.
Sermon for Midweek Advent 1 - "People of Hope: Finding Hope in Dark Days"
Luke 1:5-25 - Zechariah and Elizabeth
Sermon originally delivered December 5, 2012
Last week, we looked especially at John 1:1-18, the prologue to John’s Gospel, and then other passages in his writings that refer to two key ideas that he presented, as God inspired him to write: 1) God the Son existed from all eternity as the second person of the one true Triune God, as God the Son, and was involved in the Creation and in other activity of the Triune God in the Old Testament; 2) according to God’s plan, God the Son eventually took on human flesh and became a real human male, in the miracle of Christmas - the incarnation - while still being God, in order to rescue us sinful human beings.
John gives us very little information on just how Christmas happened - how God the Son became man - and he does not explain a lot about why Christmas had to happen as it did. Today we will look at other Scriptures scattered through the Old and New Testament which help us understand more about the "why." Then we will get into the details of the real Christmas story itself as told us by God, through Matthew and Luke, in coming weeks. We will go through a lot of short Bible passages. Look up as many as you can, as we go along.
Look first at Romans 9:4-5. Paul speaks of his own fellow Israelites. “From their own (Jewish) race, according to the flesh, the Christ (the promised Messiah) who is God over all” would come, Paul says. He is thinking, for example, of the key Scripture, when God called Abram (later called Abraham) and promised, “In your seed (a particular offspring) all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This is said in Genesis 12:3 and repeated in Genesis 22:18 and 28:14. A particular Jewish man would come from the line of Abraham, who would be a blessing to everyone in the world.
Paul also adds that this real man would also be “God over all," just as we heard John say last week. In Galatians 3:7-9,13-14, Paul quotes this Genesis prophecy and applies it directly to Jesus, who would bring these blessings to Gentiles (non-Jews), too, by being hung on the tree of the cross, as “a curse for us," in our place. Think about it. How could Jesus “redeem” the world in this way, unless He was a real Jewish man, who had a body that could be hung on the cross and die?
(We could spend weeks and weeks just looking at many prophecies of the coming Savior, but do not have time in this study to do that. We will focus on just a few this week, related to the New Testament Scriptures I’ll mention, and we will look at more that are specifically referred to when we get into Matthew and Luke.)
Go back then to Romans 5:12, where Paul reminds us of Genesis 3, where “sin came into the world through one man,” Adam, and his wife, Eve, “and death through sin," and then, as the Old Testament goes on, “death spread to all men because all sinned.” (See Genesis 6:5 and Psalm 14:1-3 and Romans 6:23, for example.) The first Adam was created perfect and yet failed miserably and brought sin and death into all the world. He is then called, in Romans 5:14, “a type of the One who was to come."
A second Adam had to come, a real man like Adam, but who would live perfectly and not sin, even when great temptations continually came to Him. See Romans 5:19. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” That “one man," the new Adam, is clearly identified in v. 21 as Jesus, who brings people to eternal life through what He came to do.
Jesus clearly knew that a key part of his work was to live a perfect life in our place, for our benefit, since we all fail to do so. See the words of Jesus at His baptism in Matthew 3:14-15. He had no sin and did not need baptism for Himself. Yet it was fitting for Him to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to do everything the right way, for our sake.
Jesus also had to die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, by all that happened to Him in His suffering and death, for our sake. See Acts 2:23-24, where we hear: “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up.” This was the plan of the Triune God for the rescue of sinful people in this world. The Father would send His Son. The Son would come willingly, as we will hear. He would give up His heavenly glory and come humbly, conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and do His saving work. So, God the Son, Jesus, came.
See how this is put so simply in other places in the New Testament:
- In Galatians 4:4-5: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
- In Philippians 2:5-9: “Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him.”
- In 1 Timothy 3:16: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of Godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”
- In Hebrews 2:9: “We see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone”
- In Hebrews 2:14-18: (This is a very important passage for the “why” of the incarnation - the coming of God the Son as true man, a real human being.) “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest, in the service of God, to make propitiation (a sacrificial offering of Himself) for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, (without sin - Hebrews 4:15) He is able to help those who are being tempted.”
- In Hebrews 10:5,7,10: (This passage clearly tells us that God the Son totally agreed with the saving plan and knew what would finally happen.) “When Christ came into the world, He said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but a body have You prepared for Me’… Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book’…. And by that will we have been sanctified (set apart and counted as holy) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
As a summary of all this, you might look at Colossians 1:16-23, where the creation and preservation of all things by God the Son is described and that “in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Yet for our sake, He came into this world, “making peace, by the blood of His cross.” And Paul tells us, “you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if you continue in the faith… “
One more question. Could not God have just created another perfect man, just like Adam, to do the saving work? Did he really have to send His Son, His Only Son, to become man for us and be our Savior? Read these words from Psalm 49:7-9: “Truly, no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.” No human being alone can save himself and, especially, anyone else. That is why Psalm 49 goes on to say, “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me” (Psalm 49:15).
Only God’s Son could fit with the saving plan. He could and did become a real man who would do perfectly what Adam and each of us ought to do, but do not do. And though He often did not use His Godly power while on earth, Jesus was God and could make a sacrifice great enough to pay for the sins, not just of one more person, but of the whole world, including you and me. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says that Jesus “gave Himself as a ransom for all.”
Next week we will talk a little more about Jesus as our “substitute” and then get into the Christmas story in Luke and Matthew. We will see the same ideas emphasized that we have already heard from other parts of the Bible.
Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, based on:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36
Sermon originally delivered December 2, 2012
This Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent and the beginning of a whole new church year. The word “advent” comes from a Latin word meaning “coming to.” We spend four weeks thinking about various “comings” of Jesus: prophecies of His coming, His coming at Christmas, His coming to us personally as we are brought to trust in Him and are strengthened in our faith and belief, and His coming again on the last day to bring us eternal joy. Watch for readings that focus on these “comings” on Sunday and in the weeks ahead.
The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 33:14-16 and is a prophecy of the coming of Jesus, Who would be a “Righteous Branch” coming from the line of King David. We are sinners, but Jesus would be the Lord, coming to us to be “our Righteousness” and to bring us salvation and security for our future.
The Psalm is Psalm 25:1-10. King David admits that he has strayed from God’s way and path. He prays that the Lord would not remember his sins, but remember His own mercy and steadfast love for people, including him. David will humbly wait for the Lord to teach him and lead him in His truth.
The Epistle is from 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. Paul gives thanksgiving to God for the believers in Thessalonica and prays that they will grow in love and be established in the “holiness” that is theirs through faith in Jesus and His Righteousness. They will then be ready for the coming again of Jesus on the last day.
There are two choices for the Gospel reading. One is Luke 19:28-40, where Jesus humbly comes into Jerusalem, riding on a young donkey and heading to the cross, later that week. Religious leaders want people to be quiet, but many still say, “Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord.” That is who Jesus really is - our servant King and Savior.
The alternate Gospel reading is from Luke 21:25-36. Jesus speaks of His visible return to earth in glory on the last day. Believers who “stay awake” in faith in Him will raise their heads in joy, for their Redeemer is drawing near. Unbelievers will have fear and foreboding because they are unprepared and their day of judgment is coming near.
Last week, we talked about the tendency in our world to focus on so many other things than the true Christmas story in these weeks before Christmas. Entertaining music and heartwarming stories and gift-giving, etc., are not bad things, but we need to be sure to hear the Christmas story from the Scriptures, above all. There is our real hope and joy, in the coming of Christ.
We began with the Gospel of Mark, which tells us that the really Good News is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but then takes us directly to the grown-up Jesus, beginning His public ministry, along with John the Baptist. Mark, as God inspired him, did give some insight into what is sometimes called the “holy family.” Jesus was without sin, but the other family members had trouble accepting what Jesus was doing and trusting in Him. Clearly, some did not believe in Him, but later on they are listed as His followers, after His resurrection. Mark likely did not include the stories of the birth and early years of Jesus, since the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were already written, and God did not lead him to repeat all these.
John’s Gospel was likely the last of the four Gospels to be written, and probably for the same reason as with Mark, God chose to have him start with the adult Jesus and John the Baptist. John does have a “prologue” of 18 verses, though, (John 1:1-18) in which he makes several very important points.
First, God the Son had already existed from all eternity. See John 1:1-4. He is called “the Word” and was God and was with God, even before the creation. He was with the Father and the Holy Spirit and was involved in the creation of all things “in the beginning," as Genesis describes. “In Him was life,” new and eternal life, too. John uses the word “life” 36 times in his Gospel. See John 5:24-26 and 10:27-30 and 14:6, for example. His life and His Word would bring “the light” to the people of this world, living in darkness. (See passages like Psalm 119:105 and 130; Psalm 36:9; John 8:12; and Proverbs 6:23. Notice how light and life and the Word go together, especially in Jesus. See also John 12:35-37.)
Sadly, the forces of darkness would not understand and would oppose Jesus, finally sending Him to the cross, but they would not overcome Him. John the Baptist would also come, sent by God as a “witness” for Jesus and His “Light,” but he too would be rejected. Jesus would make available “the true Light” for everyone, as he came into the world. Yet the sinful world “did not know Him” and “His own people did not receive Him,” including His own family at times, though He was their Creator (John 1:5-11).
Some would “receive” Jesus, though, and become “children of God,” “born” into a new life of faith and belief, not by their own power and choice and will but by the grace of God, in Christ Jesus. That would not happen, though, unless “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” in this world, as a real human being, along with being “the only Son from the Father.” He would be “full of grace and truth” as He dwelt (literally, “tented”) among us. As God showed His glory in the Old Testament tent, the Tabernacle (see Exodus 40:34-38), so Jesus would show the glory of God through His life and ministry and Word and even His suffering and death (John 1:12-14). (See John 12:27-33 and Paul’s words about living in our own “tent," our body, in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5.)
John 4:24 tells us that God is a Spirit. Yet for God the Son to do His saving work for us, He had to became a real man and take on flesh and blood, as well as being true God. The Latin word for “flesh” is “carnis." One who eats meat is called a carnivore. So, the “incarnation” is the event of God the Son taking on human flesh, as He was conceived and born as a real baby boy, born of the Virgin Mary, by the power and miracle of the Holy Spirit. That is what actually happened in the true Christmas Story, as we shall see in weeks ahead. We will learn more about why it had to happen, too.
In John 1:15-18, we hear that John the Baptist witnessed about Jesus that Jesus existed before him, though John was actually born first. God the Son was God, at the Father’s side, and had existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the one true God, from all eternity, before becoming a man, Who could make God known and bring us “grace upon grace” in His “grace and truth” for us, that would save us. He had always existed, but now He came also in the flesh, for our good. Notice how many other passage in John’s Gospel make these same points. Though we cannot explain it, God the Son became man in Jesus Christ and was sent from the Father to do just this. See John 3:16-17, 5:23-25, 8:23-24, 8:49-58, 17:4-5, and 18:33-37, for example. In the last passage, Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to beat witness to the truth.”
Finally, see 1 John 4:9, where John says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.”
John also summarizes the main purpose for writing his Gospel, as God inspired him to do, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). That is why John uses the words “witness” and “testify” many times in his Gospel, and uses the verb “believe” 98 times! The Lord really wants us and all others to come to faith, above all.
We will hear more about all this and the purpose of the incarnation of Jesus next week.
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year, based on:
Isaiah 51:4-6
Jude 20-25
Mark 13:24-37
Sermon originally delivered November 25, 2012
This is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. There are two possible choices for almost all of the readings. I will write about the most likely readings to be chosen, but will also list the alternatives at the end.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 51:4-6. God calls His people to pay attention and listen to Him; for He says, I will provide “My law, My justice as a light, My righteousness, My salvation, and My arms” to bring hope for you who “wait for Me." Though the heavens and the earth pass away, God’s salvation will be forever for His people.
The psalm is Psalm 93. It, too, emphasizes the everlasting nature of God. Though floods and seas and storms may threaten, the Lord is “mighty” and “trustworthy,” as He reigns over His people forever.
The Epistle is Jude 20-25. As God’s “beloved” people, we are called to continue in the “most holy faith,” trusting in God’s love and “waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” We are also called to share that mercy of Christ with others, especially those who are struggling in faith. The Lord, who has been working for our good “before all time and now and forever,” is able to is “keep us from stumbling.”
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 13:24-37, as Jesus assures His disciples and us that He, “the Son of Man,” will return one day in “power and glory” and gather all believers to Himself for eternal life. No one but the Father knows when that Day will come, so we are all called to be spiritually awake and ready by continuing faith in Jesus. The heavens and earth will pass away, but God’s Word and His promises will not pass away.
Alternative readings, which might be used in some churches, are:
- Old Testament: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
- Epistle: Revelation 1:4b-8
- Gospel: John 18:33-37
All of these readings emphasize the eternal nature of God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” His “kingdom is not of this world,” but we are part of it through faith in Jesus, “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His Blood” and is “coming again with the clouds for us, and every eye will see Him.” There is eternal joy for those who have the gift of faith, but eternal sorrow for those who have rejected Christ and lived without Him.
As we approach the Christmas season, it is good to take some time to look at what the Bible actually says about Christmas. We will hear much about Christmas in the weeks ahead; but how much will be about the real and true story of Christmas, as God has revealed it to us in Scripture?
This is not a new problem. Irenaeus, a Christian church leader in the 100’s AD, wrote a book about false teachers and spoke of “an indescribable number of secret and illegitimate writing which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish people who are ignorant of the true Scriptures.”
Do you remember The DaVinci Code and other books from the early 2000’s which were based on these and other false writings, written long after the time of Christ; and yet the claim was made that these were telling the truth — even though these writings were all rejected as false by the early church? These false books have had a very negative influence on too many people.
Come now to 2021. How many of our Christmas songs and stories will have to do with Santa and reindeer and presents, white Christmas, and on and on. There is nothing wrong with these things, as such - but they miss the real point of Christmas and can lead people astray, away from the real and true message of Jesus as Savior.
Too often, too, things are added to the simple Christmas story and bring more confusion to people. Someone once jokingly asked me where one could find the story of the little drummer boy in the Bible. It is a nice song, imagining a little boy honoring the baby Jesus with the music he plays - as we can still honor Jesus with our songs and music; however, this story is not in the Bible, and it can confuse people, in sorting out what is true and what is not. There is a popular show in the US that can be streamed called The Chosen. I have not seen any of it, but some say it is well done and presents stories about Jesus pretty well. The problem is that other stories and characters, not in the Bible, are also mixed in for greater impact and entertainment. Again, I wonder how many people can tell or bother to check what is Biblical and what is not.
There are also two Hallmark TV channels in the US. Since October 22, they have been running their own two-hour Christmas movies, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as a “Countdown to Christmas,” on both channels. The shows tend to be better than many one could watch. They are primarily the stories of people falling in love and tend to (but not always) emphasize more traditional values, like commitment in marriage and the importance of family and children, and helping other people in love and care at times like Christmas. There are a number of Christmas hymns sung and once in a while you actually hear the name of Jesus, in passing, or people are pictured in a church. All this is better than what one sees in most TV shows and movies; however, there is never a clear message of Jesus and Who He is and why He was born into this world at Christmas. There is much more about “angels” and what they do to help people - though it is far different from what angels so often do in the Bible, as messengers for God’s plan of salvation in Christ. The angels in these movies have a very human view of things and emphasize your free will and following your heart and your feelings, not God and His will, in Christ, which alone can free us from the bondage of sin and bring us to freedom only in Christ. There is also the usual mix of gay couples and non-Christian beliefs and supernatural events, with no indication of what might or might not be so good.
All this introduction is a very long-winded way of saying that we really need to get back to the Scriptures this Christmas and make sure we know what they actually say and present about Christ and Christmas. That is what we will try to do in this study.
God in His wisdom chose to give us four Gospels, not just one, to tell us the story of the life of Jesus. Each writer wrote, as inspired by God Himself, and included just what God wanted. Only two of the Gospels, Matthew and Luke, include the story of the birth of Jesus, with those details God wanted us to have. John takes us through the whole story of the coming of Jesus in a summary way, in 18 verses. Mark tells us nothing about the birth of Christ and His early life, but starts in with the work of John the Baptist and then the baptism of Jesus, when he was about 30 years old.
We start the Bible study part of the podcast with a quick look at what Mark wrote and why he may have emphasized what he did. Christian tradition says that Mark worked closely with Peter and was in Rome with him at the time of his death. Mark wrote his Gospel for the Roman Christians, most of them Gentiles (non-Jews), as a summary of the life of Christ, with special insights from Peter. This would likely mean that Mark wrote his Gospel in 68 AD or a little later, after the Gospels of Matthew and Luke had already been written. There was no reason, then, that Mark needed to repeat in his Gospel what was already told by Matthew and Luke about the birth and infancy and early years of Jesus.
Look at Mark 1:1-4. Mark starts his Gospel when Jesus is already about 30 years old, just before his baptism and the beginning of his public ministry. John the Baptist had already begun his ministry, calling people to “a baptism of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins” (v.3). This was needed, so that people would be repentant and ready for the coming of the Lord Himself to His people (v.2-3). Jesus Christ is that “Lord,” and Mark writes of the Gospel, the Good News coming to the world, in and through Him, as “the Son of God” (v.1). (We will see much more about these terms in the Christmas story itself in the other Gospels. If you want to review more about the Gospel of Mark, you can scroll back on the podcast site until you reach our earlier study of the entire Gospel of Mark, also.)
Move ahead now to Mark 3:20-21 and 31-35, and Mark 6:1-4. While Mark does not tell us anything about the birth of Jesus, he does tell us some things about what is often called “the holy family.” Joseph, the husband of Mary, is not even mentioned, as he had likely died by this time. Jesus is called “the carpenter, the son of Mary,” by the people of Nazareth, likely because He, as the oldest son, had to take over His father’s job and help support the family by his carpentry work, until his public ministry began (6:3). Four brothers and some sisters of Jesus are also mentioned (6:3). These are most likely the children of Mary and Joseph, born the normal way after the birth of Jesus when Mary was still a virgin.
What Mark makes clear is that this family (other than Jesus) was not a perfect family. They were holy, eventually, simply by the grace and forgiveness of Jesus in His saving work for them. When “his family” heard about His ministry in Capernaum and what was happening to Him, so that He did not even have time to eat, properly, they came to “seize” Him and take Him back home to Nazareth, saying that “He is out of His mind” (literally, “He is beside Himself”) (3:20-21). They did not believe in His ministry and that He was doing the right things He should have been doing.
In Mark 3:31-35, we hear that Jesus’ mother and brothers were standing outside the place where he was and “calling to Him,” seeking Him. Jesus ignored them and said to the people listening to Him, as they should be, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” The will of God is to listen to and trust Jesus and His Word. At this point, though, the brothers and seemingly Mary herself were not trusting Jesus and accepting Him, as they should. See also John 7:1-5, where His brothers were again questioning what He was doing; and John says, very clearly, “For not even His brothers believed in Him” at this time.
Finally, in Mark 6:1-4, Jesus went to Nazareth, his hometown, where he had grown up; and there He received a very cynical, questioning reception. They were “offended” at Him and what He said. Jesus responded that He was “without honor” there and “even among His relatives and in His own household.” And we hear in v.6 that “He marveled because of their unbelief.” That unbelief still seemed to include many, if not all, of His immediate family.
The Good News, of course, is that other Scriptures tell us that Jesus’ family did finally come to faith and trust in Him, by God’s grace, by the time of His death and resurrection. See Acts 1:14, for example. Maybe the Lord guided Mark to tell these stories, so that people would not think too highly of Jesus’ family, in an improper way. Later on in the history of the church, some elevated Mary and Joseph to sainthood, above everyone else, through their own merits. Mary is even eventually called sinless, like Jesus, and even called the “Co-Redeemer” with Jesus, by some. All such thinking was wrong, as Mark indicates, and as we shall see in other Scriptures. too.
Finally, turn to the Gospel of John, 1:1-18. This is the way John described the coming of Jesus to this world. We did not get far into this passage in the study, but it is clear that the Word referred to in v.1 is God the Son, Who existed from eternity, from the beginning, and was God, and was very involved in the Creation, and then, in verse 14, “became flesh,” became a human being, the man Jesus, as well as being God.
We will continue with this passage next week, for it has much more to say to us. Do note, though, that John immediately went on, after v.18, to John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus and His ministry, just as Mark had done. As far as we know, John’s Gospel was the last of the four to be written, and God led John not to repeat what was already said in Matthew and Luke, as He had done with Mark, but only to re-emphasize a few things he, John, already spoken of in Chapter 1.
Do keep your focus on what these Scriptures say and avoid speculation about what they do not say. God has given us just what we need, and that is enough. Keep your eyes on Jesus, above all. Who He is and why He came is at the center of the real Christmas story.
Sermon for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Daniel 12:1-3
Hebrews 10:11-25
Mark 13:1-13
Sermon originally delivered November 18, 2012
There are only two more weeks in our church year, and our thoughts turn to the end of our life and end times and the return of Christ our Lord.
The Psalm is Psalm 16. Though David still has struggles, he takes refuge only in the one true God, Who has given him so many blessings and continues to give him counsel and guidance for his life. He does not even fear death, for he has “the path of life” with the Lord forevermore. (His words are quoted in the New Testament as a prophecy of Jesus and His death and resurrection and life eternal.)
The Old Testament lesson is from Daniel 12:1-3. There will be much trouble near the end of the world. The Lord Jesus will then come, and all the bodies of the dead will be raised. Those whose names are in the book of life (by trust in God’s saving plan in Jesus) will be raised to everlasting life, where they will shine forever with the light of the Lord and His righteousness. The others, who lived apart from the Lord, will be raised to shame and everlasting contempt.
The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 10:11-25 and begins with the contrast between the continual priestly sacrifices of Judaism and the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which brought forgiveness of all sins and confidence to approach and worship God, in full assurance of faith in Him, and the personal cleansing in our baptism. We are warned not to forsake meeting together with fellow believers, but to encourage one another to love and good works and holding fast to our faith, as we await the Day of Christ’s return.
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 13:1-13. Jesus Himself answers questions and comments from His disciples about times to come. He predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and much trouble for His disciples and for the believers in the church. At the same time, the Holy Spirit will be at work through the Word, as the Gospel is proclaimed to all nations, including ours still today. Jesus warns his followers to be on guard and watch out for false teachers who seek to lead people astray. He calls believers to stay in faith in Him and His Word no matter what goes on, for those who “endure to the end will be saved.”
I read an article in our local newspaper on Saturday, written for the Associated Press by a Roman Catholic theologian and professor, Dorian Llewelyn, on miracles and how one can be declared a “saint” by the Roman Catholic Church. Pope John Paul I, who served as Pope for 34 days before dying in 1978, will soon be “canonized,” given the title of “Blessed” or “Saint” and formally declared to be in heaven. This process of being declared a “saint” can take years or even centuries. How does it happen? This is what the Catholic theologian described:
A bishop of the church must open an investigation, a rigorous examination of the life and holiness of a person, with several stages. The person has to have had a reputation for exceptional holiness, as shown by the investigation, and then can be called a “Servant of God.” Much more research and investigation must take place, affirming the holiness of the person, and then one can be declared “Venerable.”
Then, the Vatican must confirm that the person performed a “miracle” by interceding with God on behalf of someone. In the case of Pope John Paul I, an 11 year old girl had been very ill and expected to die. There was no hope for her until her mother, the nursing staff, and a priest all prayed to heaven, to this pope, this holy person, and the girl was suddenly healed. To verify this miracle, Catholic theologians had to study the whole situation and agree that it was a miracle. An independent medical team also had to be hired and investigate and by a two-thirds vote had to say that the healing could not be explained in a natural or medical way. Only then, through this miracle, could this former Pope be given the title “Blessed." A second miracle, done by this same person, must also be verified before that person can be officially declared a “Saint.” This whole process can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which must be raised by those wishing someone to be declared a saint.
I thought about this description in light of the Scriptures and what we have been reading in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Have you ever read about any process like this in the Bible, in determining if one is a saint? Clearly, this is a human tradition developed in the history of the Roman Catholic church and not handed down from God Himself. If we have to be exceptionally holy ourselves even to be in heaven, and we are not sure that Popes are there yet, what hope do we ordinary people have?
Above all, this process contradicts the teaching of Scripture. Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2, for example, where Paul speaks of the church of God in Corinth, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” In v. 4, Paul thanks God for “the grace that was given them in Christ Jesus” and in v. 7 speaks again of “our Lord Jesus Christ Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are guiltless saints, not by our exceptional holiness, but by the grace of God and the forgiveness earned for us by Jesus our Savior. See also 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Romans 1:6-7 and 3:19-24,28, Ephesians 1:1-4, Colossians 1:2, 12-13, and on and on.
Remember again the words we recently studied in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Again Paul wrote: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He Who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). And in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, Paul wrote: “We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Again he wrote, “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
The Apostle John also saw a vision of heaven, recorded in Revelation 7:9-17, where there were present not just a select small number of especially holy people, but “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (v.9). They were “clothed in white robes… washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.” None of these people were in heaven by their exceptional holiness, but by the gift of God through trust in Jesus, the Lamb of God and their Savior. How else could the great promises of the Scriptures have been made?
- “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
- “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household… and they spoke the Word of the Lord… and he was baptized at once, he and all his family” (Acts 16:31-33).
- “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16).
In all of these passages, the focus is upon God and His saving work through Jesus, not on our efforts. Ephesians 2:8-10 puts it all in perspective: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Yes, God wants us to seek to do good, not to earn anything from Him, but in gratitude for what He has made us to be, as a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19), headed for heaven (Ephesians 2:4-7). “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Remember also that there is no Scripture that teaches us to pray to saints or angels or anyone else other than the Triune God Himself, when we need help or a miracle or anything else for us or others. God is the only one who can ultimately do miracles, though He did sometimes work through a few disciples - who always gave Him the credit. (See Acts 3:1-15, for example,)
The Scriptures say that there is only one “mediator” between God and man, and it is Christ Jesus, true God and true man. Only He is described in the Bible as One “at the right hand of God, Who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).
In summary, then, a “saint” is simply any believer in the one true Triune God and who trusts in the saving work of Jesus. That includes you and me, too, as we trust in what Jesus has done for us, and continue in Him and His Word. I conclude with one of my favorite Bible passages, 1 John 5:11-13: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” This passage is talking about you and me, too. We are saints through Christ.
If there is anyone listening who is not so sure about all this, I encourage you to keep listening to the Scriptures and God’s great promises to all in Christ. (This lesson is also not just to speak about concerns we have with some teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Any time any church or religion mixes faith and our own works and efforts together as the means of being saved, that is a problem according to the Scriptures.) Next week, unless I get sidetracked again, I will have us turn to the Christmas story and what the Scriptures actually say about Christmas. The Lord’s blessings to all.
Sermon for All Saints' Sunday, based on:
Revelation 7:2-17
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon originally delivered November 4, 2012
The readings for this weekend are for All Saints Sunday, which many churches will observe this weekend, though the actual All Saints Day was Monday. November 1.
In place of an Old Testament reading, this week is a reading from Revelation 7:(2-8) 9-17. This is a vision that the apostle John saw of the saints in heaven - people from every nation and background, worshiping and singing praises to God. They wear white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus, their Shepherd. Through Him they are forgiven and holy and have eternal joy in the presence of the Lord.
The Psalm is Psalm 149. Again we see the children of God singing praises to the Lord, for He has “adorned the humble with salvation” - those who praise His Name and will be victorious with Him, their King, on the Day of Judgment.
The Epistle is from 1 John 3:1-3. John speaks of the great love the Father has given to us by making us His children through true knowledge of and trust in Jesus. Through Him we are purified and will one day “see Him as He is” in eternal glory.
The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 5:1-12. This is the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes, where He speaks of the blessings He brings. We can only receive from Him, since we are spiritually poor and meek and mourn over our sins and can only hunger and thirst for His righteousness and mercy for us. Jesus gives us His mercy, through His sacrifice for us, and makes us children of the kingdom of heaven. In the future, He will give us even more of His blessings, as we trust in Him - though now we will face persecution and evil.
Last week we heard Paul again emphasizing the faithfulness of God to the believers at Thessalonica. He had established this church and given them so many gifts and would guard them against the evil one. In turn, they were to hold fast to what had been handed down to them, the very Word of God, in which God would direct them especially to His love and the steadfastness of Christ and to thank Him with their good words and works in everyday life. Paul also asked them to pray for him and his fellow workers, that this Good News of Jesus would “speed ahead” to many other people through their witness.
Then, in 2 Thess. 3:6, Paul returned to a concern he had already raised in his first letter - that some people were living in a disorderly way, especially in being idle and not working and supporting themselves and others when they could do so. (See 1 Thess. 4:11 and 5:14.) Paul must have heard that this problem was continuing among some and may have been because of the idea that “the day of the Lord had already come” (2 Thess. 2:2) or would come so soon that they might as well just quit their jobs and whatever else they were doing and just sit and wait for Jesus.
Remember that the Greek word for “idleness” was a military word which meant “getting out of line,” not marching in step, and even ”deserting one’s post” or place of responsibility. Paul called such disorderly conduct, such “idleness," “not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.” Here he was clearly speaking of God’s Word, not just a human tradition, since he said, “We command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness.”
Paul then used himself as an example, calling upon the Thessalonians to “imitate” him and his fellow workers (2 Thess. 3:6-9). Paul’s previous job was as a tentmaker, and he went on remind the people that he was not “idle” but had worked at this job or another the whole time he was in Thessalonica. The same was true of Timothy and Silvanus, so that none of them would be a burden on the people they were reaching out to with God’s Word.
Paul made it clear that they had the right to ask for help and support. (See v.9 and 1 Corinthians 9:9-12,18 and 1 Timothy 5:18, for example. Paul often welcome and received such support.) In this case, though, he and the others chose to work hard, to set an example for the Thessalonians and to show that the Gospel is “free” and they were not preaching for profit or out of greed, for themselves (1 Thess. 2:5).
Paul also wanted to show that he tried to practice what he preached: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2. Thess. 3:10). Some in the church at Thessalonica were not listening, though, and were “walking in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies,” bothering and interfering with lives of others and doing nothing useful for themselves or others (v.11). (See a similar situation and the concern of Paul in 1Timothy 5:13.) Paul then “commanded” and “encouraged in the Lord Jesus Christ” such idle persons to “work quietly and to earn their own living” (literally, “to eat their own bread”) without expecting others to take care of these and their needs. (See what Paul had already said in 1 Thess. 4:11-12, with similar words.)
Obviously, other Scriptures also recognize that not everyone can or must work for pay. Some have illnesses or disabilities or problems of many kinds. Others are elderly or infants and children and cannot work and support themselves. The Scriptures say much about the need to help the widows and orphans, the poor and the needy, and others who cannot help themselves. A parent staying home and caring for children, and a spouse caring for home duties or helping other family, a student and many others are all doing plenty of “work” without being paid, too.
Paul was not trying to put an unnecessary “guilt trip” on people. So he added, “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” Every Christian has callings, vocations, in life and can do good in a whole variety of ways. Keep doing what you can, Paul was saying, for yourself and others, even if it is very limited. We don’t have to do spectacular things. “Work quietly,” Paul wrote. An elderly person who just prays is still doing much good. Keep doing what you can until the very moment Christ returns. Just don’t be lazy and idle and be a “deserter” about what you can do, until He returns.
In closing, Paul spoke once again about “taking note of an ‘idler’ and having nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” The goal of any “warning” or use of God’s Law is to wake a person up to realizing wrongdoing and to call him or her back to the right and better way, according to God’s Word. We need to try to treat each other as “brothers” in Christ, Paul said, as we all fail at times and need warnings about various things to wake us up to repentance, too. See, for example, Galatians 6:1-2. And thank the Lord that He is willing to forgive and lift us up, too.
We could do another whole study on what “having nothing to do with” someone might mean. Jesus gave us direction for discipline in the church in Matthew 18:15-18. The last step is removing someone entirely from the church, though even then, the hope and prayer is that the person would repent and be restored to the church. You can find examples of that in 1 Corinthians 5, with gross immorality, and Romans 16:17-18, where false doctrine is harming and leading others astray, away from the Lord.
In this 2 Thess. situation, though, Paul still seemed to be at an earlier stage of warning people, while still treating them as brothers in the faith. Notice in the final verses of this letter, Paul twice said, “The Lord be with you all” - with everyone, including those who were weak and struggling in some way. That means that we are included, too, even in our own low moments in life (2 Thess. 3:16,18).
Paul ended this letter with a prayer that “the Lord of peace” would give the Thessalonian believers “peace at all times in every way” (2 Thess. 3:16). We may not seem to see and feel that peace, but it is the promise of God and the way God looks at us through Christ, as we trust Him. See the words of Jesus in John 14:25-27 and Paul’s words in Romans 5:1 and Philippians 4:6-7 and many other places. All this comes through “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the love and favor and forgiveness that Jesus earned and gives to us, though we do not deserve any of it (2 Thess. 3:18).
Paul added one more special note to this letter. He signed it in his own hand (2 Thess. 3:17). This was the way he wrote, so that there would be no question about whether this letter was genuinely from him.(Remember the rumors mentioned in 2 Thess. 2:2. We are told in other places that sometimes Paul dictated his letters to other Christian leaders, who actually wrote them down for him. God guided this whole process, though, so that we have exactly what He wanted written down and have all the letters He wanted to have preserved for us. See also Colossians 4:18 and 1 Corinthians 16:21, where Paul indicated that he signed those letters in the same way.)
Next week, we will move on to another portion of Scripture - possibly to the passages in the Gospels that tell of the birth of Christ, since we are now only three weeks away from the beginning of the Advent/Christmas season, where we focus on the specific first coming of Jesus, as God and man, into our world. Best wishes in Christ to you all.
Sermon for Reformation Sunday, based on:
Revelation 14:6-7
Romans 3:19-28
John 8:31-36
Sermon originally delivered October 31, 2010
October 31 is now Halloween; but in the Lutheran church, it is the 504th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation, when Martin Luther posted on a church door (the "internet" in those days) in Germany 95 Theses, statements about church beliefs that he thought ought to be discussed. Eventually, out of that discussion came the Lutheran church. The Scriptural readings for this Sunday help us reflect on some of the key Biblical ideas that Lutherans emphasize.
The first lesson is not from the Old Testament, but from the last book of the New Testament, Revelation 14:6-7. Here is a prophecy of an “angel” (a messenger) proclaiming an “eternal Gospel” to everyone on earth. “Worship” must be in God and His Word, not based on the ideas of human beings. Only then, trusting that Word from God, are we ready for the return of the Lord and the “Day of Judgment.”
The Psalm is Psalm 46, which reminds us that “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help” in all the troubles and challenges we face in our lives. He is with us and like a “fortress” for us, helping us to deal with all our fears, as we trust in Him. This psalm was a great inspiration for Luther in writing his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”
The Epistle lesson is Romans 3:19-28, a key passage that helped Luther and helps us to understand that we can never be justified, acceptable and right with God, by our own efforts to do enough good to please God. Instead, the Law of God “shuts our mouths” and shows us what sinners we really are. It was Jesus Who was perfectly good and righteous in our place and Who redeemed us by paying for all our sins on the cross. We are justified simply “by faith in Jesus, apart from works” that we have done to keep the Law.
There are two choices for the Gospel lesson. The first is John 8:31-36. Jesus told believers, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Jesus was speaking of slavery to sin and the condemnation for sin, a problem for everyone, from which only Jesus could set people free. He is “the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6); and only through “faith in Him” are people “free indeed” and heirs of eternal life.
The other Gospel reading is from Matthew 11:12-19. Jesus is speaking here, too, and says that those in “the kingdom of heaven” by faith, while still here on earth, often “suffer violence.” It was true for John the Baptist and is true for Jesus, also, because people are often like selfish children, wanting what they want instead of what God wants for them in John and especially in Christ. But the “wisdom of God” would ultimately show itself and be “justified” (shown to be true) in the saving work of Jesus. Jesus Himself is later called “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
All these are truths we still try to proclaim to the world, as Lutherans.
Last week, we heard warnings about Satan and his continuing desire to draw people away from Jesus and the truth about Him as our Savior. Satan often uses people who are forces for evil, sometimes called “antichrists” or “antichrist” or in 2 Thessalonians, “the man of lawlessness” or just “lawlessness.”
In spite of all this, Paul went on to give strong encouragement to the believers in Thessalonica, in 2 Thess. 2:13-15. He said for the third time in these two short letters, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you.” (See also 1 Thess. 1:2 and 2 Thess. 1:3.) God is and must be thanked because of all that He has been doing for these believers, to bring them to faith and to keep them in that faith in Him.
Paul piled up the words, describing the blessings God had given them to help them deal with the challenges they faced. God “dearly loved” them. God “chose” them, as some of the first people (“firstfruits” of God’s work) to be “saved” (rescued by God). God had “sanctified” them through the Holy Spirit. They were forgiven and counted as holy people, acceptable to God, “by the Spirit,” as they were also brought to “belief in the truth” of Jesus and His perfect life and saving work, credited to them. To this belief, centered in the “Lord Jesus Christ,” God Himself “called” them, “through the Gospel” that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy preached. Through trust in this Good News, the believers in Thessalonica would one day be able to be with Christ in “glory” in eternal life. (Notice that everything that Paul mentioned in v. 13-14 was Christ's work and doing for them. None of it was earned or deserved by any of them. It was all the gift of God.)
In verse 15, Paul called upon the believers in Thessalonica to “stand firm” in their faith and to “hold to what they were taught” by the “words spoken” or the “letters written” by Paul and the others. Paul used here the word “traditions” which simply means the “teachings handed down” by God to the prophets and apostles, including Paul, and then handed down by them to others.
In this passage Paul was clearly talking about the Word of God itself that Paul shared with others. Remember what He had said in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 - that what he spoke and wrote was “really the true Word of God” and not “the word of men.” (See 1 Corinthians 11:2,23 and 15:3 and Hebrews 2:3, where “things handed down” were also the Word of God. In fact, all of the Scriptures are “God-breathed” and come from God and are delivered to us through these prophets and apostles. See 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and John 8:31-32 and 17:14-17, for example.)
At the same time, the Scriptures also warn about “traditions” handed on from generation to generation that are simply "words of men” and did not come from God and even contradict what God says in the Scriptures He gave us. (See the discussion of Jesus with the Jewish religious authorities in Mark 7:1-12.) Frankly, many of the differences among various religious denominations and groups come from people adding traditions, “words of men," to the Word of God, or from people using “words of men” to reject Scriptures they do not like, and then insisting that others must do what they do to have the real “truth.”
Scripture does not “contain” the Word, and then we have to figure out what is “true” and what is not. Scripture is entirely the Word of God; and conservative Lutherans say it is ”the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged.” (See Psalm 119:105 and Galatians 1:8, for example.) “Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, should not be put on a par with Holy Scriptures. Every single one of them should be subordinated to the Scriptures.” This includes Martin Luther or Popes or Church Councils or any particular pastors, including the one who is writing this today. You should always compare what is said with what the Scriptures say.
One last thought: most churches do have certain human “traditions” that they follow. That is OK, as long as these traditions do not contradict Scripture and as long as we do not make these traditions into new “Laws” that everyone must follow or they are doing wrong, as if these human ideas were clearly taught and commanded in Scripture.
As he sometimes did, Paul then stopped and offered a prayer at this point in his letter, 2 Thess.2:16-17, that God the Father and God the Son (together with God the Holy Spirit) would bring “comfort to the hearts” of the believers in Thessalonica and “establish” them in doing all sorts of “good works” and in speaking “good words.” Again, Paul prays that these believers would be enabled to use good words and do good works in order to thank God for His good gifts and honor Him and be useful people and help others in this life. They are not to do good works thinking they will earn God’s favor and be able to attain salvation, as a result. Earlier in this prayer Paul had affirmed that God already “loved” all believers and had given them (and us) “good hope” for their future and even “eternal comfort” for their future after this life “through His grace.” All this is through His good news and mercy and favor toward us, given as a gift. It does not need to be earned.
As 2 Thess. 3 begins, Paul asked the Thessalonian believers to pray for him and his fellow workers, too. First, he needed their prayers “that the Word of the Lord would speed ahead (literally, “run”) and be honored by more people as they heard that Word. (v.1) Paul knew that the Word had power and was “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12), because the Holy Spirit was at work, whenever that Word was used.
Paul had seen the power of the Word in the short time he had to speak it to the people at Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1:4-7). “It happened among you,” he reminded them. Paul also needed prayer because of continuing trouble “from wicked and evil men” who opposed him sharing it with others because they did not “have faith.” He need to be “delivered” from such people. Also, the evident fact that “not all have faith” was a clear indication that many more people needed to hear the Good News of Christ. But, Paul said, “the Lord is faithful” (2 Thess. 3:2-3).
The Lord would be faithful in helping Paul and Silvanus and Timothy in their work; and He would be faithful to the Thessalonian believers in their struggles, too. The Lord “will establish you and guard you against evil and the evil one.” Paul had confidence that this would happen because he had confidence in the Lord and His promises. Paul was confident that the Lord would also lead the believers to keep on doing the things Paul commanded them to do. (We will hear more about this and what he wants to have happen, next week, as Paul closed this letter (2 Thess. 3:3-4).
All this will happen, Paul said, as “the Lord kept directing their hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness (the patient endurance) of Christ in His dealings with them and others (2 Thess. 3:5). (May our own study of the Word help us to see more clearly God’s love and Christ’s steadfastness toward us, too. He is also faithful to us. And may we, too, pray that the Word of God will reach more and more people these days, as well. For certainly, it is still very true that “not all have faith.”
Sermon for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Jeremiah 31:7-9
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 10:46-52
Sermon originally delivered October 28, 2012
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, has Good News for his people in Jeremiah 31:7-9. After the weeping and sorrows of exile in Babylon, because of their sin and rebellion, God will bring a remnant of His people back to Israel in joy. He will be like a shepherd to them, and ransom and redeem them from hands too strong for them. Read also v.10-11.
The Psalm, Psalm 126, is a psalm of joy at the return of God’s people to their homeland after the exile, as God had promised through Jeremiah. “The Lord has done great things for them.” At the same time, there are still sorrows and troubles, even in Israel, and the people need to keep praying, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord.”
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 10:46-52, Jesus shows that He is that promised Shepherd for His sheep. He even gathers in a “blind beggar," as predicted in the Old Testament lesson. Jesus heals the man physically, so that he can see again, but also heals him spiritually, so that he follows Jesus in faith and salvation.
The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 7:23-28, explains why Jesus could be the Savior of people. He was a sinless high priest who offered Himself up once for all, like a perfect sacrificial Lamb, in payment for the sins of all people by His death on the cross. He also rose from the dead and continues alive forever in order to intercede on behalf of all those who draw near to God through Him. Through Him, they (and we) are helped and saved.
Last week, we studied 2 Thessalonians 1 and heard Paul reassuring the people of the Thessalonian church that their eternal future was secure, whenever Jesus returned, as they continued to trust not in themselves and their goodness and efforts, but in the grace of God and what He had already done for them in Christ Jesus their Savior. In contrast, those who lived and died without faith, apart from Christ, would continue always apart from God and all His blessings in Christ.
As Chapter 2 begins, Paul spoke about “the coming or our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him.” Apparently, some people were confused and thought that Jesus had already come back again and they had somehow missed Him. Some may have thought that they had received a direct message from some sort of “spirit” who told them this. Others may have have heard this from someone claiming to be a Christian disciple like Paul. Still others may have heard this from a letter claiming to be from Paul and yet which was not genuine or true (2 Thess. 2:1-2).
Paul told the Thessalonians “not be be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed" by such messages. “Let no one deceive you in any way,” he said. The return of Christ has not yet come, and “That day will not come” until other things have taken place (v.3). Paul also reminded the people that when he had been with them before, he had told them “these things” (v.5). There would be “rebellion” against God and “the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction” would be revealed. This one would “oppose and exalt himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (v.3-4).
Something was “restraining him," this evil one, at the time Paul wrote. However, “the mystery of lawlessness” was already at work in the world (v.6-7). All of this seems to be a reference to the work of sin and Satan in what are called in other places “antichrists” - people rejecting Christ Jesus and God’s plan of salvation through Him, revealed in God’s Word.
Such opposition to God and His will was prophesied in the Old Testament and in the rebellion of many of God’s own chosen people against Him. See passages in Ezekiel and in Daniel, for example. (See Daniel 7:23-27, 8:23-25, 9:27, 11: 31,36-37, 12:11, etc. If you want to study this more, go back in the podcasts to the study of Daniel and see comments there.)
Jesus also had predicted such troubled times ahead and opposition to Him and His Gospel. See Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, where there are predictions of weeds being planted among wheat, where Satan will try to do his evil work among believers. See also the predictions in Matthew 24:4-5,15-16,24-25. Paul was likely quoting from Jesus in 2 Thess. 2:2-3, for he uses some of the same words that Jesus uses in Matt. 24. See predictions that the Apostle John also made in 1 John 2:18-20 and 4:1-6, about “antichrists” and “antichrist” and “false prophets."
Go back to 2 Thess. 2:6-7 now. We do not know just what Paul meant by someone or something “restraining” the lawlessness for a time. Some think it was the power and control of the Roman Empire, until it collapsed. The Romans persecuted Christians at times and were very opposed to them. The Romans also did some good, too, with good roads and some peace and stability in the Empire, allowing Christianity to spread to many places, through the witness of Christian people about Jesus and His Word.
In the Dark Ages and Medieval times that followed, much power became concentrated in the Roman Catholic Church in the Western world. Popes grew in power and many traditions and new teachings were added that went far beyond Scripture and contradicted the Biblical teaching of salvation through Jesus and what He did for us. By 1302, Pope Boniface VIII declared in Unam Sanctam that “It is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff” (the Pope). One could not be saved without following what the Pope said, whether it agreed with Scripture or not.
By the time of the Reformation in the 1500’s, Luther and others concluded that the Office of the Papacy (the Pope) sounded a lot like what Paul warned about in 2 Thess. 2:4: “he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself” almost “to be God” and taking on powers that belong only to God and making laws and decrees that are not Scriptural and making salvation dependent upon our works, in addition to the grace of God.
Since that time, there have been changes in the Roman Church, but still concerns about mixing faith and works as the means of salvation and about other teachings. Sadly, some Lutherans and other Protestant groups have drifted away from God’s Word, too. Note what Paul warned about in 2 Thess. 2:8-12, as well, in describing this “lawlessness." “Sin is lawlessness,” John wrote (1 John 3:4). This does not refer to breaking the laws of our government, though that can also be sin. This passage refers to breaking any of the laws and will of God and anything God tells us and wishes for us in the Scriptures.
The one behind all lawlessness is Satan himself. Jesus said to those who opposed Him, ”You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:44-45). Satan wants to keep unbelievers in unbelief and draw believers away from the truth of God and His Word and from Jesus and pull them into error and unbelief.
Paul put it this way: The coming of the lawlessness is by the activity of Satan, “with false signs and wonders and all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thess. 2:9-10). Paul also gave the sober warning that if people “do not believe the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness," they can eventually have “strong delusion” and really “believe what is false,” ending up in “condemnation” (2 Thess. 2:11-12).
Other Scriptures warn about the same dangers. See Romans 1:18-32. People “suppress” the truth of God and His Word and begin to “worship and serve things in the created world, rather than the Creator.” Over time, “they become futile in their thinking," though, “claiming to be wise.” They “do what ought not to be done.” (Here is one of the strongest Biblical condemnations of homosexual behavior, with its possible consequences. But, if you read on, Paul mentions “all manner of unrighteousness," and all of us can find our own sins and struggles in the list, for which we too need to repent and return to our Lord for His mercy and forgiveness. Verse 32 warns that if we follow down the wrong path, away from our Lord, we continue to do much wrong and even “approve of those who practice” the wrong things. Doesn’t that sound too much like our own society today?)
See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 to see what Satan and “the man of lawlessness” want to do - to blind people to the truth and try to pull them away from God. But read also what God continues to do, in 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 and 5-6. God provides His Word, and the Holy Spirit working through that Word, to give us the truth, as we keep reading and studying it, as we are doing right now. And He provides teachers like Paul, “who proclaim not themselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,” with the eternal “light” He brings us, “out of the darkness.” As we go back to 2 Thess. 2, then, remember what Paul also said in v.8. The "lawless one will be revealed,” but Jesus has already won the ultimate victory for us, as our Savior, and when He returns on the last day, He will “kill” all this evil “with the breath of His mouth” and “bring it to nothing” and “gather” us and all believers, living and dead, to Himself in everlasting life and joy (v.1 and 1 Thess. 4:16-18). That is our hope and confidence in Christ.
Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Ecclesiastes 5:10-20
Hebrews 4:1-16
Mark 10:23-31
Sermon originally delivered October 21, 2012
The Old Testament reading, Ecclesiastes 5:10-20, focuses on a theme we heard last week - the danger of the love of money. “He who loves money will not be satisfied.” There never seems to be enough, others want more from us, we lose sleep and can have bad ventures and can take none of it with us when we die, and on and on. Rather, we are called to do our work, whether rich or poor, and find joy in the gifts God gives us.
Those gifts of God are evident as we listen to and meditate on His Word, the psalmist tells us in Psalm 119:9-16. The teachings of the Lord are better than “all riches” and guard us from evil and guide us into what is best for us. We say, “Blessed are You, O Lord.”
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 10:23-31, Jesus talks about “how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God” when we are depending on our riches or anything we are or have or can do on our own. That path of self-reliance can never save anyone. “With man it is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God,” Jesus says. Trust then in God and His Good News in Christ!
Our only hope is in Christ, our Epistle lesson, from Hebrews 4:1-16, tells us. The Word of God is “a sharp, two-edged sword” which shows us our sins and our need for a Savior. The Word also shows us Jesus, “Who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet was without sin.” Through His perfect life in our place, and His sacrifice to pay for all of our sins, we can approach God “with confidence” and find His “mercy and grace in every time of need.” We “rest from our works” and trust in the work of Jesus for us; and one day, we will have eternal rest and peace in heaven. “We who have believed enter that rest.”
This week, we begin a study of 2 Thessalonians, Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica, a city in the Roman province of Macedonia and today a city in the northern part of Greece. I will not repeat background information already covered in the introduction and study of 1 Thessalonians. You can look back in the podcasts to see that information if you have joined us after we started 1 Thessalonians. You can also read Acts 17:1-14 and 18:1-11 again. It was likely from Corinth that Paul wrote both letters to the Thessalonians.
Most likely, Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians within 6 months or so after he wrote his first letter. He had somehow heard that some people had misunderstood or were reacting in wrong ways to what he had written in the original letter. Some seem to have heard that they were to be “blameless” on the day of Jesus’ return and thought they had to live perfect lives and knew they were far from perfect and unprepared. (See 1 Thess. 3:12-13 and 5:23-24. Paul had already said that they were counted “sanctified” and holy, “blameless” through what God did for them, in Christ, and not through their own efforts. He wanted to emphasize that grace of God even more, though, in this second letter, as we will see.)
Others seemed to be thinking that maybe Jesus had already come back, and they had somehow missed Him. Still others seemed so sure that Jesus was coming back very soon, that they might as well quit their jobs and other responsibilities and just sit and wait for Him. Paul responded to these false ideas, too, and told a little more, as God inspired him to write about what would still happen before the return of Jesus and what God’s people were to be doing in the meantime, as they waited for Him.
2 Thessalonians begins with almost the same words as 1 Thessalonians (2 Thess. 1:1-2). Paul identified himself as the author of this second letter, along with his co-workers, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy. The people of the church existed “in” and “from” “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” All Christian believers, including Paul and us today, have come to faith only through “grace” - the undeserved love and favor and saving work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (spoken of in 2:13). This grace from God gives believers the blessing of peace with God and helps us to live in greater peace with one another, as well. (Again, I will not repeat all that was already said in my notes on 1 Thess. 1:1-2. Go back to that for more detail.)
In 2 Thess. 1:3-4, Paul said that he was “obligated” to give thanks to God for the believers in Thessalonica, “as is right” and proper, because of their growing faith and love for each other, even in the midst of continuing “persecutions” and “afflictions." Note that Paul did not boast about himself or even about the believers themselves. He gave thanks to God, because God was enabling all of this. It was by God’s love and work in these believers that they were remaining “steadfast” in faith. For that, Paul is thankful to God.
These verses are still a reminder to us today that God is also at work for our good, even in our troubled times, and can help our faith in Him to grow stronger. See other Scriptures, such as Romans 5:2-5 and 8:17-18, 28, and 2 Corinthians 4:17. (If you have the latest version of a Lutheran Study Bible, you will find a great description on p. 2061, in comments on 2 Thess. 1:4, of what we can learn from our Lord in times of difficulty. If you would like me to include those words in the next study, let me know.)
In 2 Thess. 1:5-7, Paul also said that these tough times will not last forever. As Jesus suffered in this earthly life, so we will also “suffer” some trouble in this life, as we seek to follow Him. This is “evidence” and points out that we are still in “the kingdom of God“ as we continue to trust our Lord even in hard times. (See also Romans 8:14-17 and Philippians 1:27-30.) There will be “relief,” in God’s good timing, and for sure at the return of Jesus, when we will have perfect peace and rest in eternal life, with our Lord. (See, for example, Hebrews 4:9-10 and Psalm 30:5.)
Paul went on to talk about another aspect of the second coming of Christ, that he had said little about in 1 Thessalonians. The return of Christ will also be a time of judgment for those who “afflict” believers and continue in unbelief and oppose God and His will in Christ. Jesus will return "with His mighty angels in flaming fire” (2 Thess. 1:7-8). Fire can be a symbol of God’s good presence, as in Exodus 3:2 and the Holy Spirit’s work in Acts 2 and the angels in Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7. But the Scriptures also speak of the “consuming fire” of judgment for those apart from the Lord. (See Isaiah 66:15-16 and Hebrews 10:26-27 and Jesus’ own words in the Gospels. See Luke 16:22-24 for example.)
There can be consequences of sin in this life. See Romans 1:18 and 1:24,26,28. The worst consequences, though, are after this life, in “hell.” God wants no one to end up there. (See 1 Timothy 2:3-4.) That is why the warnings of hell are in the Scriptures and why Jesus speaks about hell more than anyone else in the Scriptures.
There is still time to be brought to faith, as long it is “today,” before the return of Christ. See Hebrews 3:12-15. But if one dies in unbelief, without Christ, that is how one will be for eternity. See Paul’s words in 2 Thess. 1:8-9. People will not be eternally destroyed, in the sense of being annihilated. They will be “away forever from the presence of the Lord” and all His blessings. Literally, they will be away from “the face of the Lord”.
In contrast, the believers in Thessalonica and all believers who continue in faith will have eternal life and joy and enjoy God’s presence and blessings always. A benediction we often use in worship says, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance (His face) upon you and give you peace” (Leviticus 6:22-27).
We have the blessings of God already, as we trust in Him. His promises are sure for us. At the same time, as sinners, we can only “see” God indirectly, through His Word (which tells us all that we need) and in our baptism (the water with the Word, blessed by the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith) and the Lord’s Supper (where we still see only bread and wine, but know by faith that Jesus actually is with us, in His very Body and Blood, in this Holy Meal, for our forgiveness and strength). See 1 John 3:1-2. We are God’s children, and in heaven “we shall see Him as He is.” The psalmist says, “I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15).
In the final verses of chapter 1, Paul went out of his way to try to make clear again to the Thessalonians that those who will be in heaven will be there, not by their own “blameless” living, but by the blameless work of God in Christ and His perfect blessings earned for us. The “saints” are not especially holy people who merited eternal life. The saints are simply “all who have believed” the “testimony” of the Scriptures about God and Jesus as Savior (2 Thess. 1:10).
Paul prayed, too, that the Thessalonian believers would know by God’s grace through faith that God “makes us worthy of His calling." He calls us and “fulfills every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power" - not by our power and goodness. The One Who is glorified is Jesus and His perfect life, death and resurrection for us. Only indirectly are we glorified and counted blameless, in and through Him (2 Thess. 1:11-12).
Isaiah trusted, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). Paul wrote, near the end of his life, “I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That includes the believers at Thessalonica, and you and me, too. May Paul’s prayer be answered in our lives also. That is “the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:12). “He will surely do it” (1 Thess. 5:24).
Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Hebrews 3:12-19
Mark 10:17-22
Sermon originally delivered October 14, 2012
The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is from Amos 5:6-7, 10-15. Amos had been sent to warn the Northern Kingdom of Israel to repent and return to the Lord. Things seemed to be going well under King Jeroboam, but there was much evil and corruption and refusal to follow the one true God faithfully. Amos preached, “Seek the Lord and live.” but also warned of coming judgment, if apart from the Lord. God still wanted to “be gracious to the remnant” of His people - as He was with the coming of Jesus as Savior.
The Psalm is a psalm of Moses, Psalm 90:12-17. In the opening verses, Moses warned of the shortness of life and the consequences of sin (Romans 6:23). Then he prayed, “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” That wisdom only comes from God and seeing His steadfast love and forgiveness and favor for us, as we repent and rejoice in Him.
The Epistle is from Hebrews 3:12-19 and is another warning for people not “to fall away from the living God" into “evil, unbelieving hearts.” We “have come to share in Christ” and by His grace we can “hold our original confidence firm to the end.” The greatest danger for us or anyone is “unbelief.” (See Mark 16:16.)
In the Gospel lesson, Jesus meets a rich man who trusts in his own goodness and his wealth. Jesus challenges him to give up his tight hold on his possessions. “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said. Instead, the man “went away” from Jesus, still in false trust in himself. (That is still a danger. See Luke 12:32-34 and 1 Timothy 6:16-21.)
In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Paul had finished answering questions raised by some of the believers at Thessalonica and assured them all of the certainty of their eternal future through the salvation earned by our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the loved ones who had died in faith were taken care of, in Jesus.
In 1 Thess. 5:12-13, Paul asked those in the Thessalonian church to respect and esteem very highly their leaders. (Likely, Paul had Timothy make sure that they had such leadership when he had visited them. See again 1 Thess. 3:1-2.) These leaders should be respected and loved, not because they were perfect, but because of their work among and over the congregation and their important responsibilities in teaching and sometimes admonishing the people in the will of the Lord, according to His Word. (See again the way Paul himself did such work in this letter in 2:11-12 and 4:1ff. and 4:9-12.)
In 1 Thess. 5:13-15, Paul also reminded the people that they, too, had ministry that they could do with and for each other within the church. Peter described this in 1 Peter 2:9-10, as what some call “the priesthood of all believers.” Pastors and teachers and others in leadership have unique callings, but every Christian has been called to faith in Jesus, “out of darkness into His marvelous light,” and has “received mercy” and forgiveness through Him. That means that every Christian can also “proclaim the excellencies” of the Lord and share His love with others.
That such love and mercy shared among members was also needed was clear from what Paul wrote next. “Be at peace among yourselves,” he wrote (1 Thess. 5:13). Evidently, the church was not always at peace; and no church is, because it is made up of forgiven sinners, who have ups and downs and struggles and need to encourage and be encouraged by one another. Note what Paul wrote, as he continued: “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess. 5:14). The Greek word used for “the idle” literally means “the disorderly," those who are undisciplined and unruly and “get out of line” in some way or another. The word is a military word for those who can’t follow orders and can’t march properly. It may refer to people in the church who won’t work and take care of themselves. (We will hear more about that problem in 2 Thessalonians.) It can also refer to other kinds of disorder among people, though, for which people need to be called to account.
There are also in the church “faint-hearted” people who need encouragement. The word can be translated “small-souled” people - people who don’t have much courage in facing affliction from the Jewish synagogue leaders and others who are hostile to Christians. (How often do we still today back down, rather than stand up strongly for what we believe?) We all need encouragement, in those times.
There are also people in the church who are “weak” and need to be helped and supported in some way. This can refer to physical and emotional ills and other troubles, or to moral struggles, or to those who are powerless when confronted with seemingly impossible situations. (Who among us has not been “weak” in one or more of these ways, at times, too?) The verb for “helping” has the idea of “holding on to.” The author, Lenski, says that such people “are not be to let go and to be abandoned as persons who amount to little, but are to be held to and to be supported.
Paul ended this very challenging sentence with the words, “be patient with them all.” The word for “patience” can literally be translated as “long-suffering.” God is long-suffering toward us and our sins and weaknesses, and we have forgiveness through Jesus, as we come to Him in repentance and faith. Otherwise, none of us could survive and live. Knowing that, we are called to be patient with one another and especially with others in the church.
The church is a kind of hospital for sinners. (See the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:10-13. Think about how overwhelmed hospitals are right now, with the Covid situation. There are so many people in the church with problems, too. We as individuals cannot do something for everyone; but together, if we all pitch in, we can do something for many - to help and encourage.)
This “helping” can all be very challenging; and sometimes we are hurt by others, even within a church. Paul added a word of warning, “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seeks to do good to one another and to everyone” (1 Thess. 5:15). It is so easy to want to retaliate when we are wronged; but in the church, forgiveness should rule, as we think of what Jesus has done for us. Proverbs 20:22 says, “Do not say, 'I will repay evil'; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”
This same advice and encouragement are found in many other places and in other letters of Paul. As I have mentioned before, some think that 1 Thessalonians may have been the first letter (epistle) that Paul wrote to a church. Others think the first may have been the Letter to the Galatians. Regardless, what Paul says very concisely to the Thessalonians, we see in much more detail in, for example, Romans 12:14-21 and in Paul’s description of Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
How can such “patient” love and care grow in our churches? Paul went on to write, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Here again, Paul is very concise. We can look at other Scriptures that give us more help and direction. See Ephesians 5:20 and Philippians 4:4-13 and Romans 5:1-5, for example. The more we rejoice in God’s love and mercy for us, the more we talk things over with God in prayer and listen to His answers in Scripture, especially in Jesus, the more we can be thankful for all that we do have as God’s people, and can share that hopeful attitude from the Lord with others.
We cannot do any of this on our own, of course. Paul added, pointing us again to God and to the Scriptures, “Do not quench the Spirit, Do not despise prophecies; but test everything; hold to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:19-22). God often showed His presence with smoke and fire in the Bible, in the wilderness wanderings and at Mt. Sinai and other places. God’s Holy Spirit also showed Himself at Pentecost with tongues of fire that rested on all the disciples; and they were able to speak the Word in other languages to people. Don’t quench that fire of the Spirit, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Spirit works through the Word of God and gifts like baptism, where the Spirit comes through water and The Word. Use those gifts! See Acts 2:1-11 and 2:37-40 and John 3:1-6.
We also hear what we know is truly prophecy, what God wants to speak to us when we hear His Word, through the Scriptures. All of the Bible is God’s Word, and that Word is the means for testing anything else that claims to be a message from God. See 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and 2 Peter 1:16-21 and 1 John 4:1 and the way that the Bereans tested what Paul said by comparing it with Scripture in Acts 17:11, as they should have done. That is still the test for whatever we hear and read. Compare it with the Word of God. Then, as Paul said, “Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
This is the very high standard that God has for the church and for His people in the church, as Paul described it. Paul also knew that none of us lives up to this standard. We try, but none of us comes close to following God’s will as we should. That is why Paul gave the Thessalonians two more great promises from the Lord. The first, in 1 Thess. 5:23, is a prayer that “the God of peace” would bring us peace, through Jesus, and count us as blameless, forgiven and acceptable through what Jesus already did for us, until Jesus returns and declares us “not guilty” on that last day. See again 1 Thess. 1:9-10 and 3:12-13 and 5:9-11.
Paul added one more promise: “He Who calls you is faithful, and He will surely do it.” God will do what He has promised. See Old Testament passages such as Genesis 18:25 and Numbers 23:19. See also Philippians 1:6: “I am sure of this, that He Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” See 2 Timothy 2:10,13, as well.
Paul knew that his own salvation depended not upon how perfectly he did things, but upon Jesus. He too needed prayer, so that he continued in faith and faithfully sought to do his work, in sharing the Gospel. So, he asked in 1 Thess. 5:26 for prayer for himself and his fellow workers. He also spoke of a greeting with a holy kiss, as an expression of Christian love and concern for others. See Romans 15:30, as another example of this. It would probably be the equivalent of a handshake or hug in our culture or the greeting of peace that some churches use in worship. In these Covid days, it might be a wave to someone from a bit of distance
Paul had one more serious request, which he asked the people to be sure to do in Thessalonica. This letter that Paul had written was to be read to all the people of the church. It was a Word from God, through Paul, and everyone should hear it and pay attention to it. The Jews had read Old Testament Scriptures in their synagogues and in the temple. Now the words of the New Testament were also to be read in the churches. That is what we still do, to this very day. God’s Word is vitally important for us all always.
Paul closed this letter with a blessing, as he did in his future letters. He wanted the people of the church to remember and be guided and blessed especially by “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is only through His undeserved love and favor for us that we have salvation and hope. Hang onto these and similar promises of God in Christ as you close this letter. See also John 10:27-28 and 2 Timothy 4: 8, 18.
Next week, the Lord willing, we will move on to a study of 2 Thessalonians.
Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 2:18-25
Hebrews 2:1-18
Mark 10:2-16
Sermon originally delivered October 7, 2012
Several of our Scriptures this weekend deal with questions about marriage. The Old Testament lesson, Genesis 2:18-25, is the foundation passage for God’s institution of marriage. God created the first man and then the first woman from a rib of the man to show how they would be just right for each other and compliment and help each other, in the lifelong commitment of marriage.
The Psalm, Psalm 128, gives the promise of the Lord’s blessings to His people and to families who fear and trust in Him and seek to walk in His ways. This is a tough passage, since in our sinful world, with so much trouble and temptation, things don’t always seem to work out so well. Yet we have God’s Word and His direction to guide and forgive us. Ultimately, we also have God’s peace and His promise: “You shall be blessed and it shall be well with you,” in the promises of eternal life.
Our Epistle lesson, Hebrews 2:1-13 (14-20), calls us to keep Christ and His saving work for us at the center of our personal and family life. “We need to pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it," the author says. If we neglect the "great salvation” of Christ for us, “how shall we escape” God’s judgment?
Jesus became a true man, lower than the angels, to suffer and die for us and defeat the power of death and Satan. Through His resurrection and ascension, He is now “crowned with glory and honor”, though it does not always look that way right now, in our troubled world. By God’s grace and faith we say, "I will put my trust in Him - I and the children God has given me.”
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 10:2-16, Jesus is asked if it is “lawful” to get a divorce. Jesus says that Moses allowed it because of the hardness of sinful human hearts. Jesus calls people back to the OT lesson in Genesis 2 and God’s high standard that He wishes for marriage - seeking a lifelong commitment of one man and one woman in marriage together. Jesus also highlights the importance of children, when the disciples do not want Jesus to be bothered by them. Jesus blesses children and calls for a childlike faith in Him and the Kingdom of God He brings.
You may have noticed that in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul talked only about what happens to believers, living and dead, when Jesus returns on the last day. He did that because he was writing the letter especially to encourage the church at Thessalonica, made up of believers. He wanted them (and us) to know that we would all be taken care of, whether living or dead, because of Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Because He lives, we also will live forever with Him
As Chapter 5 begins, though, Paul briefly reminded the church again that there was a whole world of difference between them and unbelievers. Believers trust in Jesus and the light and love and future He gives to them by His grace. Unbelievers may think they have “peace and security,” but it is a false sense of security in themselves and what they have and what they have done or in false “gods” who cannot help them in any real way.
They have their own “truth," but they are actually living in darkness. When Christ returns on the last day, they will face “sudden destruction” and “they will not escape” (1 Thess. 5:1-3). (Paul used a Greek double negative for these words. It means, “They will not, they definitely will not escape” judgment.) If they choose to live their lives apart from God and their Savior, Jesus, in this life, they will live an eternity separated from Christ and His love and His goodness. (We will hear more about this in 2 Thessalonians.)
To make this point, Paul used the same words and picture images used by Jesus Himself and other Biblical writers. The last day and the return of Jesus is definitely coming, but no one knows when that will happen - what “the times and the seasons” will be (1 Thess. 5:1). See Scriptures like Luke 12:40 and 21:34, Matthew 24:3-4. 36-44, and Acts 1:7.
For images of the end coming like “a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2), see Matthew 24:43, Luke 12:39-40, 1 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3, 16:15. etc. The image of the end coming like “labor pains” for a pregnant woman simply emphasize the sudden and unexpected nature of the return of Jesus. His return cannot be avoided. It will come, though none of us knows when (1 Thess. 5:3). And it will be a time of great sorrow for the “sons of disobedience” whose nature is to follow Satan and the ways of this world instead of Jesus. See Ephesians 2:1-3 and 5:6-7 and Colossians 3:3-6, for example.
Paul quickly switched, then, to remind the believers in Thessalonica, “You are not in darkness… You are children of light and… of the day.” Believers know that they must continue spiritually “awake” and “sober," self-controlled by Jesus and His Word and will.
As we heard in 1 Thess. 4:11, believers still quietly carry on their own lives and work, but connected to Jesus and with His spiritual armor - “faith and love” and “the hope of salvation” as gifts of God provided by the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:4-8). See similar passages such as Romans 13:11-14, 1 Peter 1:13-14, and Ephesians 6:10-17.
Believers do none of this on their own, in their own power. As Paul said so clearly, “God has not destined us, appointed us, for wrath,” for judgment and punishment for all our sins. Rather, God has prepared us “to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This salvation comes to us because “Jesus died for us,” for our sins, in payment for them all; and He has brought us to faith in this Good News. The barrier of sin that separates us from God is taken away and now, “whether we are awake or asleep, alive or dead, we can live with Him.” That is the certainty of our eternal future, as well, because Jesus died and rose again for us (1 Thess. 5:9-10). See also Romans 14:8-9, John 3:16-18, 35-36, etc.
Paul encouraged the Christians of Thessalonica with these great promises of God and what He had done for them and given them in Christ Jesus. And, as we also heard last week, Paul called the believers to encourage each other also with these words of hope. In that way they could help build one another up in faith, as the Holy Spirit worked through that Word in them, too (1 Thess. 5:11). See also Ephesians 2:19-22.
Next week, we might be able to finish the closing words of this letter of Paul and then move on to 2 Thessalonians, which fits in so closely with and follows 1 Thessalonians.
Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
James 5:1-20
Mark 9:38-50
Sermon originally delivered September 30, 2012
In the Old Testament lesson, Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29, God’s people again are weeping and complaining that they have only manna to eat, even though it provided plenty of food and could be prepared in various ways. Moses is sick of trying to deal with these people and wishes he could be killed, coming close to the complaints of other prophets in weak moments. (See Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:7, 14-18, and Elijah in 1 Kings 19:4.) God is angry at these sins, but is also merciful and gives Moses more people to help him and people who have the Spirit of God clearly at work in them, too.
In Psalm 104:27-35, the psalmist is grateful for God’s mercy in providing food and other good things for His creation. The psalmist knows that if God hid His face, all would die without Him. God rejoices in His works, though, and provides new life through His Spirit. The psalmist therefore seeks to meditate on the Lord and to sing praise to Him and rejoice in Him as long as he lives.
The Epistle lesson is James 5:(1-12) 13-20. James warns about the wealthy who gather riches for themselves in ways that are hurtful and harmful to others, and about those who are always grumbling and complaining about others. “The Judge is standing at the door,“ James warns. Instead, God’s people are to be patient, like a farmer or like Job in his times of personal and family trouble, and to know that the Lord will be compassionate and merciful, as we pray and wait upon Him and forgive and receive forgiveness along with other believers. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power.” That is most especially true of our Lord Jesus, our Savior, as He prays on our behalf. He will care for us.
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 9:38-50. The disciple, John, was critical of someone who was casting out demons in the name of Jesus, but was not one of His regular disciples. Jesus was not jealous but grateful for any who help others in His name, including help for “little ones” who have received the gift of faith, by God’s grace. Jesus went on to warn about the seriousness of sin that could lead people away from Him. People need to battle that sin and seek to cut it out of their lives, by God’s grace and help. Jesus is not speaking of literally cutting out hands or eyes. They are not the problem, but sinful temptation within us. Three times, Jesus spoke of the reality of hell and of unquenchable fire, quoting from Isaiah 66:24. He does not want anyone to end up there, but to be “salt of the earth” (Mathew 5:13), trusting in Jesus and His love and forgiveness for us, and seeking to live in peace with others and help them see the Savior, too.
Last week, we heard warnings about temptations to sexual immorality and possibly also to dishonest dealings with others, in business and other matters. These were real dangers for the Thessalonian believers, living in their Greek/Roman culture in a busy commercial seaport city. They are still real dangers for us today.
Paul went on then to write in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 about “brotherly love.” The people of the church at Thessalonica were already doing well with this, but Paul encouraged them to seek to do even more, because they had been “taught by God to love one other.”
The word for “brotherly love” is the word “philadelphia,"from which we have the United States city of the same name, called “the city of brotherly love.” In classical Greek, the word almost always referred to love between literal brothers and sisters, who have the same parents. Christians took over the word to refer to love between brothers and sisters in Christ, within the family of God - special care and concerns for fellow believers in Jesus. Since Christ died for all, and wants all to be saved, that love is also to extend to our “neighbors” - care for all those God has placed around us in our life. Jesus, the Son of God, had taught, in His summary of the 10 Commandments, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
He also taught that as God has shown great love and mercy to us, we are to seek to show such love and mercy to one another, especially in forgiveness. See, for example, Mark 12:28-31 and Jesus’ parable of the servant who was forgiven a huge debt and refused to forgive his fellow servant a tiny debt - Matthew 18:23-23 and especially vs. 32-33.
Paul also applied such love to the way Christian people are a “witness” to “outsiders,” people who are not Christians. God’s people are to “aspire” - to make it their goal, their ambition - to “walk properly before outsiders” in several ways: “to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs and to work with your own hands… and be dependent on nobody” (1 Thess. 4:11-12).
Christians do not have to make a big show of what they do; nor do they need to be “busybodies," being “nosy” and interfering with the affairs of others. They can just go on with their lives and try to take care of their own needs as best they can and not idly depend on others for what they could do themselves. Greek culture often thought that “working with one’s hands” was degrading and should only be for slaves or servants. Paul said the opposite. Any honest work, even with one’s hands, is good. Jesus was a carpenter before his public ministry began; Paul was a tentmaker; many of the disciples were fishermen; parents must care for their children, often with their hands; we all have a variety of vocations, of “callings,” in everyday life, etc.
From what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians, it is possible that some Christians thought Jesus was coming back very soon, and just quit their jobs and everyday responsibilities, and were sitting in idleness, waiting for Him. This is not what God wished. Christians are to go on with their daily lives, doing their work faithfully, but ready for Jesus by faith in Him above all. Neither does God demand that everyone must have a “paying” job. Some cannot work, for a variety of reasons, including disabilities, or may be busy as a parent or a caregiver, without pay, or be an older retiree, etc. However, our quiet, ordinary life can be a positive witness for Christ and Christian values, as much as possible. See also 1 Peter 3:15-17, for example.
Paul then moved on in his letter to address a concern he had likely heard from Timothy, when Timothy returned from his visit to Thessalonica. Some must have been wondering and worrying about people who died, who “fell asleep” before Jesus returned, on the last day. What would happen to them? Would they be OK, somehow? Paul wrote to give these questioners comfort and encouragement.
The loss of a loved one is always difficult. There is grief and sorrow. But God’s people do not need “to grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). The NIV Study Bible notes say, “Inscriptions on tombs and references in literature show that first-century pagans viewed death with horror, as the end of everything.” Paul wrote so that Christians would not be “uninformed” and without hope, even in the midst of death. (The Greek word here is the word from which we get the English word “agnostic." An agnostic is someone who just does not know, for example, whether God exists or not. He may hope God exists, but thinks he just doesn’t know.)
Paul wrote because he wanted the Christians in Thessalonica to know for sure that their loved ones who lived and died in faith in Christ would be taken care of. Paul based his certainty upon the fact that “Jesus died and rose again.” Jesus did not just die a tragic death on our behalf, in payment for our sins. He also “ROSE AGAIN.” That was the unanimous testimony of the early Christian church. Paul himself had not believed that truth and was very anti-Christian until the risen, living Lord Jesus appeared to him and turned him into a believer and witness for Jesus. See Acts 9:1-20. The death and resurrection of Jesus are the foundation of the certainty that though we die, we shall also live, through faith in Jesus and what he has done for us. See John 11:23-26, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, 2 Corinthians 4:13-17, and on and on.
“Even so,” Paul wrote, “through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” Paul declared this “by a Word from the Lord” (probably revealed directly to him by God) and then described what would happen on the last day, the day of Christ’s return in glory. People who are still alive at the return of Jesus will not “precede” (go ahead of) those who have already died, have fallen asleep (1 Thess. 4:14-15).
The fact that Paul says that God will bring with Jesus those people is an indication that the souls, the spirits, of believers go to be with Jesus in heaven as soon as they die. Death is not a “soul sleep,” where people are somehow not conscious until Jesus returns, as some try to say. Only the physical body is resting in the grave. The souls of believers do rest from their earthly labors, in peace and joy with the Lord in heaven (Revelation 14:13).
- Jesus said to the thief on the cross who came to trust in Him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise”(Luke 23:42-43).
- As Jesus died, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit”(Luke 23:46).
- On the third day, Easter Sunday, Jesus’ grave was empty and the body of Jesus had been raised and changed and glorified (Luke 24:1-7).
- As Stephen was stoned to death, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).
- In Philippians 1:21, Paul said, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
- In verse 23, he said, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
These Scriptures tell us that our loved ones who have died are taken care of. Their souls are with Christ in perfect peace. Their bodies rest on earth.
What happens on the last day, then? Paul wrote that the Lord Jesus Himself will descend from heaven in a very loud, visible way. (This will not be a “secret rapture” of all living believers” for a period of time, while life goes on on earth, as some say.) Instead, there will be “a cry of command,” “the voice of an archangel," “the sound of the trumpet of God," and “the bodies of the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16) and be changed and glorified and reunited with the souls that Christ is bringing with Him, for the fullness of eternal life with the Lord. (Paul writes more about all this in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, 42-44.)
The last part of all this is that the bodies of believers who are still alive on that last day will also be changed and glorified (1 Thess. 4:17 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-56) and “caught up” together in the clouds to meet the Lord, and all the heavenly believers, in the air, and all believers will always be with the Lord, in the fullness of what the eternal existence will be.
Paul has answered the concern of the Thessalonians about their loved ones who have already died. All believers, living and dead, are taken care of by Jesus, in His love for them. As Paul said, in another letter, “So, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8-9). (See also Romans 8:11 and 38-39 and many other such Scriptures.) Paul ended this part of his letter by adding, “Therefore, encourage one another with these words.” Death and separation from our loved ones still brings sorrows and hurts us, so much. But we have hope for our loved ones, in God’s promises in the living, risen Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 4:13) and for ourselves, in the promises of Jesus for us, living, too: “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
The Words of 1 Thess. 4:13-18 are often read at funerals or memorial services to give comfort and hope to families. That fact that Paul tells the Christian congregation at Thessalonica to encourage one another with these words reminds us still today that this is the very Word of God Himself, coming through Paul. This Word works, whenever it is used, as we heard in 1 Thess. 2:13, whether spoken by a pastor or teacher or spoken and read by you. Share the Good News of God’s Word! The Holy Spirit is always at work through that Word.
As 1 Thess. 5 begins, Paul wrote about a related issue that some Thessalonians must have been bringing up: Just when will Jesus come back? Paul used two picture images to emphasize that it will be sudden and unexpected: like “a thief in the night” or as “labor pains” suddenly “come upon a pregnant woman” (1 Thess. 5:1-3).
We will talk more about this next week and see how Jesus and others used the same images to show that no one knows when the end will come, except the Heavenly Father. Even Jesus, as true man, did not know during his earthly ministry (Matthew 24:36). We can be prepared, though, by continuing to trust in Jesus our Savior, by God’s grace, and using the powerful Word of God. Again, we will be OK, in and through Christ Jesus.
Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Jeremiah 11:18-20
James 3:13-4:10
Mark 9:30-37
Sermon originally delivered September 23, 2012
People often think today of the hard time we have as believers in Lord in a very troubled, sinful world. It is not anything new. This week, we see the opposition to God and His will being experienced in each of our lessons. Yet, God is still with His people, serving them.
The Psalm is Psalm 54. David is in danger from King Saul and is in hiding. People around him tell Saul where he is, and Saul is coming to capture him. You can read the story in 1 Samuel 23:19-29. David writes and prays this psalm, asking for the Lord’s help. “O God, save me by Your Name… Behold, God is my Helper, the Lord is the upholder of my life.” And the Lord continues to care for him.
In the Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah 11:18-20, God reveals to Jeremiah that enemies are out to destroy him, including people from his own home town. He is “like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter” simply because he is speaking the true Word of God and warning people who are unbelievers of their sins. Yet, God will “judge” the situation “righteously” and care for Jeremiah.
The Epistle is from James 3:13-4:10. James speaks of the “jealousy and selfish ambition” of so many people who oppose “the wisdom from above,” from God, and create “disorder and every vile practice,” and so many “quarrels and fights.” James calls all to repent and “humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 9:30-37, Jesus takes His disciples aside to teach them about His coming suffering and death and resurrection, for them and for the world. They only care about themselves, though, and “had argued with one another about who was the greatest” among them. Jesus has to teach them again that in the Kingdom of God, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Jesus then used the example of receiving and helping a little child, as that kind of service; and He would soon give up everything by dying in our place on the cross, to serve and forgive and save us.
In the first three chapters of 1 Thessalonians, we have heard of Paul’s gratefulness to God that those who came to faith in Jesus were continuing in that faith, even with times of persecution from Jews and others opposed to Christ. Paul continued to pray for the Thessalonian church and hoped to visit them in the future. He rejoiced in the good report about the church from Timothy, but wanted to strengthen the people’s faith and understanding on certain issues of concern that he had heard from Timothy. Paul dealt first with sexual immorality.
This was a huge problem for most areas where Paul went, sharing the Word of God and the Good News of Jesus with people. The Greek and Roman cultures had very few standards about sexual activity, for a variety of reasons. This is very simplified, but:
- They did not know the one true Triune God and the moral standards God had set for the Jewish nation in the Old Testament and the very similar standards of the New Testament. (This could be another extensive Bible study, but in summary, God created the first marriage, bringing the first two people, one male and one female, together in a life-long commitment. Sexual activity was to be within the marriage, with the possibility of children being born, but in a stable atmosphere.) (See Genesis 1-2, and Jesus‘ affirmation of this in Mark 10:2-9.)
- Ancient philosophies often said that all that mattered was the soul or spirit of a person. What one did with the body did not really matter. For some, “hedonism”- the pursuit of pleasure and sensual self-indulgence - was the highest good. Most anything was permissible, if it felt good.
- Many ancient religions and temples had temple prostitutes. Having sex in this setting could help fertility of nature and crops and stir up the “gods” and “goddesses” to act in favorable ways.
- Some leaders were moral, but many were extremely immoral in their own sexual behaviors and the bad examples they set. As a result, immorality was rampant. Sailors in a seaport city like Thessalonica had the supposed “lovers in every port” where they went. And on and on.
- Women often had equally low standards, and male homosexuality and sex between men and boys (that even today many would call “child abuse”) was all too common. (If we think standards are low now, they were even worse in those days - and sadly, we seem to be moving back into pre-Christian times, where most anything was OK.)
Paul wrote, as I Thess. 4 begins, with God’s standards, “in” and “through the Lord Jesus.” He and Timothy and Silas had already taught these principles, but they needed to be reinforced: how believers “ought to walk” and “please God” and follow “the will of God.” Paul put it very simply - “abstain from sexual immorality.” The word he used is a general term for all kinds of sexual immorality - premarital sex, breaking the bond of marriage by adultery, prostitution, homosexual behavior, rape, incest, and on and on (1 Thess. 4:1-3).
Paul complimented the Thessalonian believers, as they were trying to follow God’s standard. This was a way to “please God,” in gratefulness for all that God had done in sending His Son to be the Savior. It was and is also right and best for people themselves and is not self-centered “passion or lust” and does not “transgress” against and “wrong” others in this matter, by taking advantage of them and upsetting families and children
Paul also spoke of the fact that our bodies are not our own to do with what we want, but can be “controlled” in “holiness and honor” and not in “impurity.” (See the words of Colossians 1:9-14, where we can be strengthened by God’s Word and remembering how much God has already done for us, in His great love for us, in Jesus. He will surely also tell us what is really best for us and others.)
See a much longer discussion of this same issue of sexual morality and immorality in 1 Corinthians 6:13-20. Note that as believers, we are a “walking temple,’ belonging to God, in which the Holy Spirit lives, purchased by the sacrifice of Christ for us. Our bodies are important, and we can glorify God by what we do with them, according to His will. This ties in with 1 Thess. 4:8, where Paul reminded the Thessalonian believers that “God gave His Holy Spirit” to them to bring them to faith and enable them to follow their Lord’s will “more,” as he encouraged them.
(See also the promises of God in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 36:25-28, where He predicted the gift of Holy Baptism, where the “stony heart” of our sinful nature would be taken away and we would receive a “new heart” and God would put “His Spirit within us” Who can “cause us to walk more in His statutes.” There is our power, in the Lord working in us.)
Paul “asked” the Thessalonian believers to go in this direction, but he also “urged“ them to do so and “gave them instructions” (the Greek word means almost like a manual for military service, with rules to be obeyed). Finally, he also gave them a “solemn warning” that the Lord could be an “avenger," bringing judgment, if people continually resisted God’s will. (Think of all the sexually transmitted diseases floating around, these days.) These people could eventually drift away from God himself and abandon their faith, too. This is not at all what God wants, though.
There are also a few alternative ways to understand a few of these verses. Some translate verse four to mean that God’s will is “that each of you should know how to take a wife for himself.” The Greek literally says something like “how to receive a vessel for himself, in holiness and honor.” (See the text notes in an ESV Bible, for example.) There is at least one other place in the New Testament where a wife is called a “vessel” - 1 Peter 3:7. This translation would emphasize the seriousness of making the choice about the person we marry and wanting to do so in a way that honors God and His Word. What a blessing when we do find the right person, too, and both seek to act in God’s love and forgiveness.
If you looked at a King James Bible, you would find that verse six is translated: “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter” (in business dealings or in coveting what others have so much that we hurt or harm them or in other such ways). That translation would mean that God is also warning about dishonest dealings in business and acting in evil and covetous ways, too. This is possible, as Thessalonica was a commerce center between areas to the east and west, and advice about dealing honestly with others would be important, in this context. Some point out, too, that there are other Scriptures where Paul closely ties sexual immorality with greed and coveting. (See Ephesians 4:19-20 and 5:3, 5, and Colossians 3:5, for example.)
Finally, take seriously that “This is the will of God: your sanctification.” God really wants us to try to do the good things He teaches us. They honor God and are best for us and our marriages and families and are helpful for others around us, too, as we interact with them. We have also heard in this lesson that God gives us His Word to guide us, and the Holy Spirit is working through that Word within us, and Jesus promises that he will be with us always. We do have His strength to help us always.
At the same time, do not think that your salvation depends upon finally being holy enough and doing God’s wishes well enough. If that were true, none of us could be saved.
For example, we just had James 3:1-12 as a reading in worship, and we are called to have holy, sanctified tongues. In that same passage, though, James reminds us that “No human being can tame the tongue.” We try, but we do not always use our tongues in good and right ways. Finally, our hope and salvation are only in Jesus and His perfect life lived for us, and His sacrifice on the cross to pay for all our sins - past sins and failings, too. We are declared forgiven and holy only through trust in what He has already done for us.
Read again the words of Ezekiel 36:25 and the promises of 1 John 1:7-2:2, including “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There alone is our hope - not in ourselves, but in Jesus.
Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 50:4-10
James 3:1-12
Mark 9:14-29
Sermon originally delivered September 16, 2012
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 116:1-9. The writer is not identified, nor are the specific problems he has been dealing with; but he “loves the Lord” because when he “was brought low, the Lord saved him,” and “delivered his soul.” This is a good Psalm for any of us, when we are struggling. It reminds us that “the Lord is gracious… and merciful,” and he will hear our “pleas for mercy.” We can trust Him and call on Him all our life.
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 50:4-10. In prophecy, the coming Servant of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, says that he will “not be rebellious” but will listen to and do what He has been “taught” by His Heavenly Father, even if it means being “struck” and “disgraced” and “spit upon.” He says, “The Lord God helps me; who will declare Me guilty?” Yet he will be declared guilty, as He suffers and dies in our place to pay for our sins, in His love for us.
In the Epistle lesson, James gives a very strong indictment of us and our human condition. He uses the example of our tongues. “We all stumble in many ways.” None of us is perfect, even if we are teachers. We can sometimes create a “forest fire” of trouble with our tongues, as if we were speaking words from hell instead of words from heaven. “No human being can tame the tongue.” How much we all need the mercy and forgiveness Jesus came to bring to us.
The Gospel lesson is from Mark 9:14-29. A boy is possessed by a terrible evil spirit; but the disciples cannot cast out that spirit, even though they have been given such power, through Jesus. It seems as if they were trying to use their own power and forgetting to pray and ask Jesus for His help and power. Jesus then called His generation a ”faithless generation.” The boy’s father admits his lack of faith, crying out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” No one has perfect faith; but Jesus is the perfect Savior. He is able to and does cast out the evil spirit from the boy, and He brings us to new life and hope and faith in Him, too, by His mercy and His Word and promises.
We began this lesson with prayer and then remembered what Paul had been discussing as we ended last week - the persecution that had happened at the hands of Jewish religious leaders. Jesus had warned of this. Read Matthew 23:31-34. Note the predicted crucifixion of Christ Himself and “persecution from town to town” in the early Christian church, by people who were like “serpents” and “vipers," images of servants of Satan.
Paul had, in fact, been chased out of Thessalonica by Jewish opposition, as we have heard. In 1 Thessalonians 2:17, Paul described it as being “torn away” from the group of people who had come to faith in Jesus in Thessalonica. His heart was still with them, though he could not be with them in person. He used a Greek word that meant that he was “orphaned” from the believers there - the only time I think this particular word is used in the New Testament.
The Bible speaks of God’s concern for literal orphans and widows and the very vulnerable situations they were often left in, with the troubles of this life. (See James 1:27 and Psalm 146:9, for example.) Jesus also promised that He would not leave us as spiritual orphans, even though He would have to leave His disciples, with His suffering and death to pay for our sins. He would be raised to life again, though, and even when He returned to his Father in heaven at His ascension, He would “still be with us always, to the end of the age.” (See John 14:18-19 and Matthew 28:20.)
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul had already called the Christians there his “brothers," part of his Christian family. He had spoken of working with them as “a nursing mother” and as “a father with his children” (2:7,9,11); but now he felt and was “orphaned” from them. “Satan was hindering him,” though he tried to return to them (1 Thess. 2:17-18).
We don’t know just what other barriers Paul had at this point, though he had been chased far away from Thessalonica, into Athens and then Corinth, in a different Roman province. Some think that he would have endangered Jason and others who had hosted him in Thessalonica if he tried to come back, too. Remember again Acts 17:5-9, where Jason and others had to put up money as security, as a kind of bond, as protection from more trouble for Paul. If Paul returned and trouble broke out, many people could be in big trouble.
In 1 Thess. 2:19-20, Paul also called the Thessalonian believers his “hope” and “joy” and “glory” and “crown of boasting” on the last day, when Christ returned. This was not “self-boasting” by Paul at what he had done. It was simply rejoicing in more believers standing firm in faith, who would also have eternal life in heaven, by God’s grace.
We look forward to seeing loved ones again in heaven, some of whom we have not seen for a long time. Won’t it be great, too, to see believers we have worshipped with and prayed for and maybe helped and encouraged in the faith or taught Sunday School to, together with us on the last day? (See how Paul spoke of other believers in the same way in 2 Corinthians 1: 12-14 and in Philippians 4:1, about fellow believers still alive.)
As Chapter 3 of 1 Thess. began, Paul admitted that he could finally not wait any longer to hear what was happening with the people in the Thessalonian church. He decided to send Timothy to Thessalonica to strengthen and exhort the people in their faith, even though that meant leaving him alone to do what he could in Athens and then in Corinth.
Paul knew that the believers faced continuing affliction and suffering for their faith. He had warned them of such dangers in the short time he had been with them and told them, “We are destined” for this kind of trouble (1 Thess. 3:1-4). (There are many other Scriptures where we hear the same message. Here are just a few examples from Jesus and others: Matthew 5:10-12, 10:21-22, Mark 4:17, John 16:33, Acts 14:22.) At the same time, God assures us that He is working for our good and the good of the church and sharing of the Gospel, even through times of trouble and persecution. (See Acts 11:19, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, 4:16-18. Ephesians 6:18-20, etc.)
Paul often taught Christians not to worry; but he struggled with his own fears and worries at times. Would the believers in Thessalonica be able to withstand temptations of the tempter (Satan, again) as Jesus had to handle just such temptations? (See Matthew 4:1-11, for example.) Could they have fallen away and all the work in Thessalonica been in vain? (1 Thess. 3:5)
Finally, Paul reported that Timothy had made it to Thessalonica and spent some time with the church there and encouraged them and returned with “good news” about their faith and love in the Lord. This may be the only time in the New Testament when Paul used the term “good news” to refer to anything other than the Gospel of Jesus our Savior. In this case, though, too, faith is only there in the Thessalonians because of hearing and being brought to trust in the good news of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Remember what Paul had said earlier about the power and trustworthiness and effectiveness of the Word of God, working in people through the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 2:13 and 3:6).
This good news from Timothy brought great comfort to Paul. The ministry of Paul and Silas and Timothy had not been in vain. (See 1 Corinthians 15:58.) In fact, Paul spoke as if he were really alive, because these Thessalonians were “standing firm in the faith” (1 Thess. 3:7-8). Paul talked then about giving great thanksgiving to God for what He had done for these people and the joy that is restored to him.
Paul had been praying again and again for this church, that he could one day see them again in person and he could continue to teach and “supply what is lacking in their faith” (1 Thess. 3:9-10). This does not mean that the people did not have saving faith, as a gift from God. They knew and trusted their Savior; but there was always room for growth in their understanding and confidence in the Lord and in dealing with practical concerns for their Christian life. We will see more of that as we get into Chapter 4, next week. That is a good reminder that we all can grow in what is lacking in our own faith and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, above all. See 2 Peter 3:18.
As happened in other letters, Paul then broke into a spontaneous prayer to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ. (Clearly Jesus is God, together with the Father, and can be addressed in prayer, too!) He prayed that he could eventually have the way open to see the Thessalonians again. That prayer did seem to be answered later on, if you look at Acts 20:1-4. At least a few of the people of the Thessalonian congregation were with Paul.
Paul also prayed for the Thessalonians to have increasing love and hearts firmly “established “ in Christ. That word “established” is used by Paul in 3:2 and again in 3:13. In classical Greek, that word was used to speak of building buttresses to strengthen and support buildings. By the time of the New Testament, that word was used for strengthening many other things, including spiritual life, as Paul did here.
Paul would continue to do what he could, by prayer and by this letter and by sending help; but finally, only God could “establish hearts blameless in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” Even as Christians, we are not blameless in our life and actions. Only through the perfect life of Jesus for us and His forgiveness of every one of our sins, by His sacrificial death on the cross in our place, are we counted as acceptable to God on the last day. We wear by God’s grace, received through the gift of faith, the robe of righteousness earned for us by Jesus. The “saints” are not the especially good people who have merited God’s grace by their good deeds and actions. The saints are simply those who trust in the Triune God and His saving work for them through Jesus. That means that you are a “saint,” too, in God’s definition, as you keep on trusting in what Jesus has done for you. (See 1 Corinthians 1:2 and 1 Thessalonians 3:13.)
We will hear more about this and being ready for that last day, as our study continues next week.
Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 35:4-7a
James 2:1-10, 14-18
Mark 7:24-37
Sermon originally delivered September 9, 2012
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 35:4-7a, where God calls His people to “Be strong; fear not!” because He will “come and save” them, bringing healing and joy and a new creation, where it is as if even the desert is transformed. This is a prophecy of the coming of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, and what He will eventually bring to all believers in eternal life.
Jesus is “a Son of Man” in Whom there is salvation, as the Psalm of the Day, Psalm 146, predicts. He is God become man to help and give hope to all, including the widow and fatherless and sojourners (even non-Jews). We praise Him, because he is One in Whom “we can put our trust” now and always.
In the Gospel lesson, Mark 7:(24-30) 31-37, Jesus shows that He is the Promised One, the Lord and Savior, as He fulfills portions of the Old Testament lesson and Psalm. He heals a deaf man who also is mute and cannot speak; and He meets a non-Jewish woman who has faith that even a few crumbs from Jesus would be enough to help her little daughter - and a demon is cast out of the little girl by Jesus. Jesus does all things well - exactly what is said of God at Creation, too.
In the Epistle lesson, James 2:1-10, 14-18, we are called to show no partiality, but to love the people God has placed around us, no matter who they are, as Jesus taught us. God has chosen us to be rich in faith, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. That faith shows itself in words and deeds of mercy for others.
We began this week’s study with prayer and a quick review of last week’s lesson. In Chapter One, Paul is so thankful to God that some people in Thessalonica had come to faith in Jesus and were continuing in that faith by the grace of the Triune God. News of their faith and love and hope was already spreading to other places, as a good witness and example to people. Thessalonians had been turned away from idols to serve the “living and true God” and were now “waiting” for the return of His Son, Jesus, on the last day (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
Paul talked about the second coming of Jesus here and in each chapter of I Thess., because there apparently had been questions from the Thessalonian believers about the when, and how, and the judgment and the “wrath of God” and what happens to those who had already died before Jesus came back.
Jesus and John the Baptist had already spoken about the wrath of God in the Gospels. Sin is evil and is rebellion against God and His will and deserves punishment. (See passages like Matthew 3:7, John 3:14-18 and 3:36.) Paul assured the believers of Thessalonica, though, in I Thess. 1:10, that Jesus had delivered them and us from that wrath to come, because of His payment of that debt of sin on the cross and brought His forgiveness and faith to us.
In Chapter Two of 1 Thess., Paul asked the Thessalonian believers to remember how he had come to them and had presented the Gospel in a sincere and honest way. He called them “brothers” here and 27 other times in the two letters to Thessalonica. They, both men and women, had become part of the “family” of faith by trusting in Jesus. (There were many “preachers” traveling around in those days, supporting many gods and goddesses and philosophies of life. Often these people did so for personal gain or honor and in dishonest ways.)
Paul then reminded the believers in Thessalonica of how he had come to their city. He and Timothy and Silvanus had already suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi, by Jewish authorities and public officials, just for telling people of Jesus as the Messiah and Savior, as we heard in the introduction to this letter. They were falsely accused and beaten and imprisoned and then forced to leave the city. If Paul and the others were imposters and false teachers, would they have then continued to preach the same message that got them in such trouble and gave them no benefit? Yet, Paul and the others spoke “boldly” of God and his “good news” in Jesus, even when it brought them “much conflict” in Thessalonica, too. It was not “in vain,” though, because a church of believers was established there (1 Thess. 2:1-2).
Paul went on to give a long list of what false teachers did that he did not do, in presenting the Gospel. His message did not spring from “envy or impurity (uncleanness) or with deception.” He did not speak just “to please” others and give them what they wanted to hear, or to “flatter” them or to “seek glory from” them and not “with a pretext for greed” and personal gain. He simply wanted to ”please God, Who tests the hearts of all.”
Paul knew well his owns unbelief and sin against God in earlier times. Only by the grace of God was his life turned around and he “was judged faithful” through Christ. See 1 Timothy 1:12-17. His goal now was simply to love and serve God and share His good news, as he was doing in Thessalonica and wherever he went, by God’s power and grace (1 Thess. 2:3-6).
Paul went on to explain that he could have expected help and support from the people in Thessalonica, as an “apostle." He chose instead to work (likely in his earlier “vocation” as a tent maker) and support himself in that way, so as not to be a “burden” on the Thessalonians. He and the others worked “night and day” at their jobs, while still “proclaiming the Gospel of God.” He and the others truly cared about the people they were serving, and the people became “very dear” to them (1 Thess. 2:6-9).
Paul also used the picture image of being like “a gentle nursing mother who takes care of her children, in love” and yet also being like “a father with his children, exhorting and encouraging and calling them to walk in a manner worthy of God, Who had now called them into His own Kingdom and glory" as they were brought to faith. In Lutheran terms, Paul laid down the Law, when needed, but also gave them the Gospel of God’s love and grace and forgiveness and hope. Paul and the others sought to do all this with as much good and righteous conduct as they could, too (1 Thess. 2:7-8, 10-12).
Paul went on to make two more very important points. He was especially grateful that the Thessalonian believers had heard and accepted the words of Paul, “not as the words of men,” but as they really are, the very “Word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13). That means that all of the Old Testament and New Testament, all of the Bible, including this letter of Paul that we are studying, is the Word of God. (See, for example, also, 2 Timothy 3:14-17.) The Bible does not just contain God’s Word, and then we have to try to figure out what is true or not or what we like or not. All of it is inspired, breathed out by God, and all of it is His Word, to be heard and trusted by us.
Paul also added one more very important point about the Word of God. The Word of God is at work in us who believe (1 Thess. 2:13). It is not just ordinary words, but the Holy Spirit is at work in us through that Word, whenever we read or hear the Word. Read again what Paul said in 1 Thess. 1:5, in what we heard last week. Look at Ephesians 6:17. “The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.” See also 1 Corinthians 2:12-13. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in Words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” The Word of God is effective and can accomplish what God wants, when we use it.
This does not mean that understanding the Word is always easy. See 2 Peter 3:16, where Peter says that there are some things in Paul’s writings that are “hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people can twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” That is why it is important to pray and ask for the Spirit’s wisdom, as we study, and let Scripture interpret Scripture for us, and be willing to ask questions, if we do not understand, and look at other good resources to help us, as study Bibles do.
Paul adds, in 1 Thess. 2:14, that through the powerful Word of God, the Holy Spirit has also made the believers in Thessalonica “imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.” They by faith in the Word are truly “brothers” in Christ and members of the one Holy Christian Church, with all the promises of God.
That also means that they will have some suffering and trouble just for being Christians, as others in the early Christian church and even our Lord Jesus had suffering. In the early days, much of that came from Jews who rejected Jesus and His Word and claims to be Lord and Savior. See 2 Timothy 3:12-13 and 1 Corinthians 2:8, for example.
Paul is telling the Thessalonians not to be surprised that following Jesus and His Word might bring even more persecution and other challenges. If Jewish people helped kill Old Testament prophets and Jesus Himself and drove away Paul and others from city after city, then who knows what else might happen. Most sadly, Paul said that opponents of Jesus were really opposing “all mankind” because they did not want the good new of God’s love to get also to non-Jews (Gentiles) so that they also could be saved through faith in Jesus, or to get to their own fellow Jews! This was a tragic, sinful situation, and God’s wrath would eventually come upon Jews and the Jewish nation, if they kept rejecting the Jewish Savior, Jesus, Paul concluded. (1 Thess. 2:14-16. See also passages like Mark 13:1-2, and 14-18, and Romans 9:30-10:4.) But there is still hope for all, in listening to Jesus and His Word.
Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Ephesians 6:10-20
Mark 7:14-23
Sermon originally delivered September 2, 2012
Moses has just been given a glimpse of the Promised Land to which he had been leading the people of Israel for forty years. He will die before Joshua will lead them into the land; but his work, now, is to prepare Joshua and the people and call them to be faithful to the Lord and His Word and will, as they live in the land that the Lord is giving them. The Old Testament lesson, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, summarizes the message of God, delivered through Moses. The people are to listen and follow the Word of God and not add to or subtract from it, or forget it. They are to teach it to their children and future generations. This Word will give them the “wisdom and understanding” that they need and enable them to be a witness to the nations around them, too, of the One True God.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:129-136, part of the longest psalm in the Old Testament, celebrating the greatness of God’s Word. His Word gives “light and understanding” as it is “unfolded” and listened to. The Law “keeps steady our steps” and the Gospel shows God’s gracious redeeming work for us, as His “face shines upon His servants who trust His “promise.”
Jesus reminds us, though, of the difficulty of following God and His will, in the Gospel lesson, Mark 7:14-23. We have a sinful nature, and out of our sinful hearts come many “evil things” that “defile a person.” The problem is not what we eat, but what we are. We need forgiveness and new life and hope that will not come from us and our efforts.
The Epistle lesson, Ephesians 6:10-20, points us away from ourselves and to our Lord and His “strength and might” and the spiritual gifts He provides for us: “truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, (the sword of the Spirit Who fights with and for us), and prayer.” These are pictured as “armor” that will help and protect us, defensively and offensively, as we are battling not only our old sinful nature, but the “spiritual forces of evil” that are more than “flesh and blood.”
Much of the “armor” we need is described in the Old Testament as what God used and uses as the Lord, for our sake, and what His promised Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, our Lord Jesus would use to bring salvation to us. In Him and His power, we can stand firm in faith, even in “evil days.” Paul needed this power from God, too, as he asked the Ephesians to pray for him to be able to speak boldly about his Lord, even while in prison “in chains.” We need and have that power, too, in Christ and His Word.
We began this portion of our study with prayer and then looked at 1 Thessalonians 1:1. The Apostle Paul is the author of this letter, but Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy are also mentioned, as they had helped with the founding of the church in Thessalonica to which Paul writes.
You can find more information about Silvanus in Acts 15:22-23, 30-32, 40-41. He was a Jew who became a Christian and then became an important leader in the early Christian church, telling others of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, and then helping Paul and Peter and others. From what we read in 1 Peter 5:12, Silvanus had written down what Peter dictated to him in 1 Peter. See also 2 Thessalonians 3:17, where Paul says he wrote the “greeting” with “his own hand.” This may indicate that Silvanus or someone else may have written down what Paul dictated to him in that letter, too, except for Paul’s signature of its genuineness. The Lord God was behind and guiding the writing of every part of the Scriptures, though, so that we have exactly what God wanted us to hear - in 1 Thessalonians, too.
You can also read more of Timothy and his background in Acts 16:1-5. Timothy had a Jewish mother but a Greek father. He had come to faith through the ministry of Paul (1 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Timothy 1:2) and he then served as a pastor with Paul.
Paul wrote to the church, the gathering of believers, in Thessalonica, who were there in the name of God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:1, 5,6). This is how the one true Triune God is often presented in the New Testament. There is no neat description of God - just God at work through His Word to bring people to faith in Jesus and to strengthen them in that faith and life.
Do think about the meaning and significance of every word used in these Scriptures. God is our heavenly “Father,” the Father and Creator of all things. We may not always have an earthly father with us, but we have a heavenly Father. God the Son is also “Lord” - the special name for God in the Old Testament. God the Son came into this world to become the promised Messiah (the Christ, the Anointed One of God), Jesus, (the Savior), true man and the son of Mary (1 Thess. 1:1). The Spirit is also God, “Holy” and coming with “power” and “joy” (1 Thess. 1:5,6).
Paul then wishes for the church at Thessalonica what God does bring to them (and to us, still today) - “Grace.” Grace is the gift, the undeserved and unearned love and favor that come to people through Jesus and what He has done for them and the whole world by His saving work. No one can earn and no one deserves God’s grace. Receiving that grace also brings “Peace” - peace with God, in spite of our sins, and greater peace with one another, as well.
Paul then gives thanks to God for every single person in the church at Thessalonica. Paul does not thank the church, because he knows the churches are the creation of God; but he thanks God for all, because Christ died for all, and everyone is important to Him. Paul also prays for the church regularly, again and again. He cannot pray for everyone all the time, because he is not God; but God does know us by name and Jesus is praying for us from heaven (1 Thess. 1:2, Romans 8:34). How often do you pray for your church and your fellow believers?
Paul goes on to remember before God in prayer the “faith” and “love” and “hope” of the believers in Thessalonica. These are all gifts and fruit of God’s Holy Spirit, as people are connected to our Lord Jesus Christ. It all begins as people are brought to faith in Christ and are turned away “from idols” and turned to "the living and true God." That faith in Jesus is living and active in believers and produces “works” and “labors of love” in them, where they “serve” the Lord and one another. They also have “hope” about themselves and their future and “wait” in hope because of what Jesus did, dying for them and rising from the dead and promising to return from heaven for them. All this helps them to be “steadfast” in faith even in times of trial and trouble. See how that faith and love and hope are described in the believers in 1 Thess. 1:3 and repeated again, using different words, in verses 9-10.
All this is evidence that these believers in Thessalonica are “brothers” in the faith, related to each other as the family of God, “loved by God,” and “chosen,” selected and elected by God Himself to be His believing people (1 Thess. 1:4). (The word “brothers” is used 28 times in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, usually describing this family of all believers in Christ.)
All this happens because the Word of the Gospel is not just ordinary speech, but the very Word of God, in which the Holy Spirit works with power and conviction. God not only calls people to faith through the Word, but also enables and empowers them to come to faith, by His grace, through that same Word of Good News in Jesus and the Word connected with water in baptism (1 Thess. 1:5, Ephesians 5:25-27). See the difference between mere talk and words, which Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 4:20, and his preaching “Jesus and Him crucified” in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, by “the Spirit and power” of God. It is not smooth talk or lofty human wisdom by a powerful speaker, but the power of God’s own Word and promises at work.
As a result of God’s work and power, even though they “received that Word in a time of “much affliction” (the trouble they received from Jews who rejected Jesus and His teachings, as we heard in the Introduction last week) the believers in Thessalonica received the Word “with the joy of the Holy Spirit” and began to “imitate” the faith of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy and what the Lord wished for them. Over time, word about their faith spread to others and “went forth everywhere” as another witness to and “example” of the power of God in Christ. It even went to the Roman province of Achaia, in the southern part of Greece, where Athens and Corinth were located, and from where Paul was now writing this letter of encouragement to them (1 Thess. 1:6-9).
What Paul describes was truly a witness to God’s grace and peace in Christ and the power of His Word and the “steadfastness of hope” for the believers at Thessalonica and for us still today, even in difficult times. Read, in closing, these promises of God also for us who are believers in Christ, in Romans 8:18-26 and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 and Romans 5:1-5. Next week, we will also begin to hear more of the ultimate deliverance that Jesus brings to the believers at Thessalonica and to us, in His return from heaven (1 Thess. 1:10 and verses in the chapters that follow in this letter of Paul).
Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Isaiah 29:11-19
Ephesians 5:22-33
Mark 7:1-13
Sermon originally delivered August 26, 2012
In the Old Testament lesson for this Sunday, Isaiah 29:11-19, God speaks of a sleep and blindness that have come upon His people (v.10). Their hearts are far away from the Lord. and they have turned things upside down. They think they are the “potter," not the “clay,” and they can do whatever they please They are unwise, following human ideas, and have no real understanding. They are in great danger and need to have their eyes and ears opened and find “fresh joy in the Lord.”
Jesus quotes from the Old Testament lesson in the Gospel reading from Mark 7:1-13. When he came to be the Savior, Jesus said that His own people were again following the “tradition of men” and were “making void the Word of God." Their hearts were far from what God really wanted for them, and they were missing the truth about God and His Word.
The Psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 14, is a very strong indictment of our human condition, left on our own. Some are so foolish as to say that “There is no God.” In fact, as God looks at the world, “There is none who does good, not even one,” according to God’s standards. “They have all turned aside," away from God in their hearts and are evildoers toward others. Paul quotes this passage in Romans 3:10-12, along with other Scriptures, and concludes, “By works of the Law, no human being will be justified in God’s sight.” Yet the Psalm writer, David, says that there is a “generation of the righteous” - people who receive salvation through the Lord.
How can we sinners become righteous? The Epistle lesson, from Ephesians 5:22-33, is about what God wants for wives and husbands in marriage; but right in the middle of that is the Good News we all need. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” We are forgiven and counted righteous only through the sacrifice of Christ, in His love for us. Those blessings come to us in the Word connected with water in Holy Baptism. In response, husbands and wives are called also to love each other, with husbands carrying the biggest responsibility, as head of their family.
This study is an introduction to I Thessalonians. I chose this portion of Scripture because I thought you might be ready for a shorter study than the long Mark study we just finished. This letter of Paul can also help us with some issues that seem very relevant to many these days. Some say that there is more persecution of Christians than ever before in some parts of the world - and more criticism of and attacks on Christian beliefs and morality. Because of this and other things going on, some also think that the second coming of Christ might also be soon. Paul deals with these concerns and others in I Thessalonians and how we can have hope and confidence in our Lord in spite of many challenges in our own lives.
We looked at the background of how Paul came to Thessalonica and why he wrote this letter later on to the church, the believers in that city. We looked especially at a portion of The Book of Acts, the history of the early church written by Luke, who also wrote the Gospel of Luke.
Paul was on his second missionary journey, sharing the Good News of Jesus with as many people as possible. Scholars date this as about 49-51 AD. Turn to Acts 16:6 and the verses that follow. Paul had plans for where he wanted to go, in the Roman province of Asia. (This is not Asia as we think of it today. Asia back then was a Roman province and a part of what is now the country of Turkey.) God directed Paul in a different direction, though, through His Holy Spirit and a vision of a man calling Paul to come farther west, into the Roman province of Macedonia, to help people there. This was the first time that Paul had gone to any part of what we now call Europe (Acts 16:6-10).
Paul then traveled by boat to Macedonia and soon to the city of Philippi. which is what we now call the country of Greece. You can read of the work there and people who came to faith and were baptized, including whole households. Paul also got in trouble there, by casting an evil spirit out of a slave girl and angering her owners. Paul and Silas, his co-worker, were beaten and thrown in prison. They befriended the jailer, and he and his whole household were baptized and became believers. City officials realized that they had badly mistreated Paul, who was a Jew, but also a Roman citizen. They asked Paul and Silas to leave their city, and they then moved on to Thessalonica (Acts 16:11-17:1).
Thessalonica was the largest city in Macedonia, about 200,000 people, and was the capital of that province. It was a busy seaport city. The Romans had also built an important highway through Thessalonica that linked them with Byzantium (later called Constantinople and now Istanbul) and places farther east, and with the Danube River to the North. The city was named for a relative of Alexander the Great. It seemed to be a good place for Paul and Silas to carry on their mission, even though they had been forced out of their previous work in Philippi.
For three Sabbath days, three weeks, Paul taught at a synagogue in the city. Though he was called to reach out to Gentiles, non-Jews, it was his custom to start out talking with fellow Jews, since they should have recognized the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures as the Word of God.
Paul taught from those Scriptures, showing that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah and Savior, sent from God, who had to suffer and die and rise again to do His saving work. Some Jews believed in Jesus, but many more Greeks, both men and women, also came to believe in Jesus. They became the core group, the believers in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-4).
However, the Jewish majority rejected Paul and his message about Jesus and were jealous of people going away to follow Paul. These Jews created a riot against Paul and Silas and anyone who helped him in any way, including a man named Jason. They accused Paul and the Christians of being anti-Roman and against Caesar, the Roman emperor (Acts 17:5-9).
Once again, Paul and Silas had to escape from this city, only being in Thessalonica for a short time, and went on to Berea, where the Jews were more open at least to hearing what Paul said and were searching the Old Testament Scriptures. Again, some Jews and non-Jews came to faith in Jesus. But again, Jews in Thessalonica heard of this and sent agitators to Berea to work against Paul and Christianity. Paul was quickly sent off to Athens, much farther south, since he was the prime target of the Jews. Silas and Timothy were able to stay on there for a while, though, helping the believers (Acts 17:10-15).
Paul spent some time in Athens, sharing the faith there, too. You can read about that in Acts 17:16-34. Athens was a heavily Greek city, with many temples of gods and goddesses and human philosophies very different from Christianity. Some came to faith in Jesus, but it was a tough, skeptical crowd to talk with.
Paul then moved on to Corinth (Acts 18:1). He stayed at least a year and six months there, sharing the Word of God (Acts 18:11). (There is a reference in Philippians 4:16 to help sent to Paul in connection with Thessalonica, but we don’t know just what that refers to or if Paul was able to get back there for a short time.)
It was most likely from Corinth that Paul then wrote the letter of I Thessalonians to the believers in Thessalonica. If you turn to I Thessalonians 1:1, right after Colossians in the New Testament, you will see mention of Paul and Silas (called here by his Roman name, Silvanus - Silas is his Hebrew name) and Timothy, who were also along with Paul on at least parts of his second missionary journey.
Turn briefly also to I Thessalonians 3:1-5, where Paul explained that he could not return to Thessalonica at that point, but was so concerned about the believers there, left alone so quickly, that he sent Timothy back to them to do more teaching and encouraging in God’s Word.
I Thessalonians 3:6 reports that Timothy then returned to Paul with news that the people were staying in faith, but had questions and concerns and were still being harassed and persecuted by others who did not believe. Paul then wrote the letter we will study in weeks ahead, helping them and us, still today, with the message God Himself gave him, centered in the hope found in the risen Lord Jesus. Every part of God’s Word is important, but may God bless us as we get into this letter and what God wants to tell us here, too.
Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Proverbs 9:1-10 / Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
Ephesians 5:6-21
John 6:51-69
Sermon originally delivered August 19, 2012
These notes follow the regular Scripture readings for this Sunday. (Some churches may use readings about Mary, the mother of Jesus; but this study does not include those.)
There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson. The first is Proverbs 9:1-10, where Wisdom is pictured as a woman who provides a banquet and invites “simple” people to come and eat the food provided - insight, instruction, correction when one is doing wrong, and knowledge of the “Holy One,” of God Himself. This “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
The alternate Old Testament reading is from Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18. Joshua calls God’s people together and tells them also to “fear the Lord and serve Him alone, in sincerity and faithfulness.” The people affirm that they will follow the Lord, for He rescued them from slavery in Egypt and has cared for them, ever since. “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord,” they say. Note the emphasis upon this in what Jesus asks the disciples, and what Peter answers, in our Gospel lesson, too.
The Psalm is Psalm 34:12-22, a continuation from last week’s reading, also from Psalm 34. David, the author, assures us that though we have “afflictions” and may be “broken-hearted” and “crushed” by our sins and other troubles, “the Lord redeems the life of His servants… and none who trust Him and take refuge in Him will be condemned.”
The Epistle is again from Ephesians, Chapter 5, verses 6-21, where Paul continues to remind us to live in the “light” of our new life in Jesus our Savior. The Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God will help us to “discern what is pleasing to the Lord” and to “expose” what is dangerous and evil in others and even in us, when we need to be “awakened” and receive the Lord’s forgiveness. We walk as ”wise” people, as we stay in Christ and His Word.
The Gospel reading is the 3rd reading in a row from John 6, verses 51-69. Jesus calls upon people to keep on “feeding” on Him in the spiritual sense of believing that Jesus is “the Holy One of God” and trusting that in Him, we have “the Words of eternal life,” even if some things are hard to understand. (The Lord’s Supper had not yet been given when these words were spoken; so this passage does not focus on that. It does prepare the way, though, for the miracle of the receiving of Christ Himself, not just a “spiritual eating," in the unique gift of Holy Communion, given later on, the night before Jesus’ death, and still given as a great blessings for us “prepared” believers.)
We began this portion of our study with a few more comments on the argument about whether verses 9-20 should be included at the end of Mark, Chapter 16. Some, including some Lutherans, feel that we should not include or study these verses, primarily because two important, early manuscripts of the New Testament, rediscovered in the last few hundred years, do not include these verses.
On the other hand, others, including older Lutheran scholars, feel these verses belong, because the great majority of other manuscripts do include these verses. Also, a number of early church leaders, who lived before the time the two manuscripts mentioned above were copied, written down, quote from verses 9-20 of Mark. These verses clearly existed in the very early church and were considered part of God’s Word, from Mark’s Gospel, by Irenaeus, Tatian the Syrian, Hippolytus, and Justin Martyr, who all lived in the 100’s to early 200’s AD, not long after the Gospel of Mark was written.
I am no great scholar, but only a retired parish pastor. I will let the scholars argue more about this. Most important, though, what is in Mark 16:9-20 clearly agrees with what we can find in other New Testament passages. We can trust what is said, based on letting Scripture interpret Scripture for us. I have gone on, therefore, in this study, including and talking about these final verses of Mark’s Gospel.
We heard last week that the women left the angel and the empty tomb, ecstatic with the news that Jesus was alive, but also astonished and fearful about what to do (Mark 16:8). Mark tells us in verses 9-12 that the appearances of the living Lord Jesus to some of them made all the difference.
Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9). Mark tells this in his typical simple, straight-forward way - just the facts. He also includes the detail that Jesus had earlier cast 7 demons out of this Mary, whom he had mentioned already in Mark 15:40-41 and 16:1ff. (Read Luke 8:2 and John 20:11-18 for more detail about this resurrection appearance of Jesus.)
Mary Magdalene and other women then had courage to go and tell the disciples about the risen Lord, as they were instructed to do. The disciples were still in great sorrow and mourning, though, and would not believe the women (Mark 16:10-11). (See also Luke 24:10-11.) This fits with what Jesus had said earlier in Mark’s Gospel, when He had often spoken of the lack of understanding and the hardness of heart of the chosen disciples. This passage also emphasizes that women, as well as men, were important in both hearing and sharing the Good News of Jesus. Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Lord, and she and other women were the first to be witnesses for the risen Lord.
In Mark 16:12-13, Mark again just gives the fact of the appearance of Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, that same Easter day. Jesus appeared in such a “form” that they could not recognize Him until He “broke bread” with them. (See details of this in Luke 24:13-35. Note how these disciples still did not seem to be grasping and believing this, until Jesus Himself appeared to them.)
Mark then tells in a very simple way of the appearance of Jesus to the “eleven” chosen disciples. (See, for example, Matthew 27:5, where we hear what happened to the 12th disciple, Judas.) Mark emphasizes again the call of Jesus for them to believe in Him and His resurrection and not be so skeptical. (Mark 16:14). (See how these same things are described in much more detail in Luke 24:36-43 and John 20:19-29.)
This is the whole point of Mark’s Gospel - to help people to believe in Jesus as their Savior and to keep trusting in Him. The disciples would soon be facing the same doubt and skepticism, too, that they often had struggled with, in the people they were now to be witnesses to.
In Mark 16:15-16, then, Mark records words of Jesus telling His disciples what their chief message and work would be in the future. They were to “go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.” They were also to make it clear that “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,” but also speak of the grave danger of unbelief. (See Matthew 28:16-20 for a close parallel to what Mark tells us here - make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching all the Word of Jesus. See also Luke 24:44-48 - proclaim in Jesus name to all nations; and John 21:15-22 - Peter is to “tend“ and “feed” God’s sheep, His people, and he is to “follow Jesus” above all.)
In Mark 16:17-18, Mark also records the promise of Jesus that God would sometimes give “signs” that would go along with proclamation of the Gospel and help and encourage “those who believe” and support the sharing of the faith “in Jesus’ name.” Some would be able, by God’s gift and power, to “cast out demons” and heal people who were sick. (Remember that Jesus had already given this gift to His chosen disciples, as we heard in Mark 6:7,13, when they were sent out to assist His work. See also Matthew 10:1 and a number of examples in the Book of Acts, when healings look place. Read Acts 3:1-16, and note how Peter and John make it clear that a man lame from birth was healed by God’s power in the name of Christ and not by their own power or piety.)
Jesus also promised that some would “speak in new tongues.” That happened very dramatically on Pentecost, when believers could suddenly speak in languages that they had never learned in order to communicate the message of Christ to people from many nations who had come to Jerusalem. (See Acts 2:1-21 and also Acts 10:44-48 as examples.)
Jesus also said that some would “pick up serpents with their hands” and “drink deadly poison” and not be hurt. A New Testament example of the first is when Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta and bitten by a deadly viper and was not harmed. Read Acts 28:1-6. See also the words of Luke 10:17-20, where “demons are subject to“ and defeated by the disciples, through Jesus’ power. Jesus also said, “I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions.”
The only portion of Mark 16:9-20 where there is not an example in the New Testament is someone drinking deadly poison and surviving. However, there is an ancient tradition that the Apostle John once drank poison and survived. There is also a story from the early Christian leader, Papias, recorded by the early Christian historian, Eusebius, that a follower of Jesus, Justus Barsabas, had drunk poison and was not harmed. These are only traditions, not Scripture. They do reflect, though, the confidence that God is with His people and caring for them, and if it is His will, He can help them through very dangerous situations in life. (Read Hebrews 11:32-38, for a list of Old Testament people who were helped in dramatic ways, according to God’s plan. Note, though, that some of these people died in faith, sometimes in very tragic ways, yet confident that they would “rise again to a better life.”)
The Scriptures also warn that people are not to “put the Lord God to the test” by doing foolish or dangerous things, just to see if God will take care of them. Jesus was tempted by Satan to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, because surely God’s angels would take care of Him. He refused to do such a thing. (See Matthew 4:5-7). This also rules out what some cultic groups have done - handling poisonous snakes in worship and assuming that God will take care of them, for example.
Mark 16:17-18 is also not a guarantee that all believers will have these “signs” in their own lives, either, as some “charismatics” have tried to say. God gives His gifts and blessings as He chooses. We cannot demand that God must do what we want. Some also think that these “signs” were especially designed for the early Christians, so that the early church could be off to a great start in the age of the apostles. There are also indications that some of these “signs” would cease, after the apostolic age. See 1 Corinthians 13:8.
We do not for example, look for new Scriptures to be added to the Bible, as the Mormons and other groups have done. We have what we need already in Christ and His Word. Remember also that the chosen disciples could not always cast out evil spirits. Read again Mark 6:17-29. Jesus also did not give “signs” and miracles just because people wanted them. Read again Mark 8:11-13.
God can and does also work through ordinary means. “Anointing with oil” was a kind of medical treatment in the ancient world. The Good Samaritan used it, and a badly beaten man was healed. See Luke 10:30, 33-37. We have doctors and nurses and medicines that can help so many people today, too.
People today also have a gift for learning languages and thus can become missionaries to share the Gospel with other cultures in other languages. Others become Lutheran Bible Translators and can translate Scriptures into languages for people who have never had a Bible in their own tongue.
We have antidotes available today, too, that can help with snakebites and poisons. We thank the Lord for these advances in knowledge and treatment, and for people willing to help and serve us with these gifts in so many ways.
God is still God, of course, and He can still do miracles today or whatever He knows is best. Many of us know people who were not expected to live, but have lived through terrible illnesses and other troubles, by God’s grace. We have also had times where we prayed and prayed for help and did what we could, but people still died and things did not turn out as we wished. We simply have to trust God and His plans, in His wisdom, as hard as that sometimes is.
Above all, God has provided the primary way He still works for our ultimate good, through His Word and Sacraments, by which we are brought to faith in Christ and continue in faith and receive the strength to live this life and be prepared for eternal life, through Jesus and what he has done for us. One of the greatest miracles today is that through Baptism and the Spirit’s working through that Word, we who were dead in our sins and sinful nature have been brought to a whole new life and an eternal future, in Christ. (See Mark 16:16 and Romans 6:3-4 and Ephesians 2:1-6.) The last two verses of Mark’s Gospel, Mark 16:19-20, assure us of God’s continued work for us, in Christ, in this way.
Verse 19 tells of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and His place now at the right hand God, after He had completed 40 days of appearances alive again, after His resurrection, and His teaching the disciples and other followers. Mark puts it very simply again, and affirms that Jesus is Lord, as shown by all that this Gospel tells us. Jesus lives and reigns with God the Father and can still, as Lord, be with His believers, in all that is also described in verse 20. (See also Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:4-14 for more detailed descriptions of the ascension and the call of the disciples to go to “the end of the earth’ as witnesses for Jesus.)
That work of witnessing is summarized in Mark 16:20, again in a very direct way. “They went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them,” giving His good gifts and confirming the message of salvation that they brought. The whole Book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament is a dramatic description of verse 20, as the Gospel was spread. Read Acts 1:15; 2:41,47; 5:14,42; 6:7; 8:4; 9:31; and on and on.
Verse 20 continues to be carried out even today. Remember the first verse of Mark’s Gospel: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. The spread of the Gospel continues and will continue until the last day, when Jesus returns in glory.
See again Mark 13:24-27. We have been reached with the Gospel and trust in our Savior and still have time to share that Good News with others. That is what our Lord wanted to have happen, when He gave us the Gospel of Mark and all the other Scriptures. See 2 Peter 3:9. It is still a story also about us and how we are saved: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). And it is a story also about how others can also be saved through Christ and His working through our witness to His saving sacrifice for the world.
Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
1 Kings 19:1-8
Ephesians 4:17-5:2
John 6:35-51
Sermon originally delivered August 12, 2012
I am including for a few weeks, at least, a summary of another weekly Bible study I help lead, where we look briefly at the Scripture readings for worship for the coming Sunday in our LC-MS churches, when they use the three year series of readings. It can help to look at the readings before you come to worship, for better listening and understanding of what they say and how they fit together. Here are some thoughts for the coming Sunday, August 8, 2021.
The Old Testament Lesson is 1 Kings 19:1-8. Elijah had faithfully followed God and stood up against the 450 false prophets of Baal and by God’s power had eliminated them. Queen Jezebel, however, who favored the false gods, vowed to kill Elijah by the next day. Elijah had to run away and was very discouraged and wanted to die. Instead, God sent an angel to him to provide him with physical food and drink, in the wilderness, and strengthened him to be able to travel to Mount Sinai, where the Word of the Lord would come to him again.
The Psalm for Sunday is Psalm 34:1-8. See the introduction to the psalm. David was the writer and was in danger and had to run away from King Saul. At one point, he had to pretend to be insane to escape from another king. God provided for him, though, with food and kept him safe. (See 1 Samuel 21:6,10-15,22:1) In the Psalm, David praises the Lord for His saving help and calls upon fellow believers to praise the Lord, together with Him. David, too, knows that the angel of the Lord is with him, and he uses the picture image of food, “tasting” the goodness of the Lord and taking refuge in Him.
These readings fit with the Gospel lesson, from John 6:35-51, where we hear again of Jesus calling Himself “the living Bread that came down from heaven.” He is the very Son of God, Who had come from heaven to rescue people. He promises, “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life.” This is the bread, the food He brings, as He sacrifices His flesh, His body, on the cross. (See also Hebrews 10:5-7,10-13.)
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 4:17-5:2, Paul speaks of the new life we now have in Christ. By our baptism (see Romans 6:3-4) and the gift of faith in Jesus (see Ephesians 2:4-10), our old life is done away with and we have a new self, considered holy and righteous, through the love and sacrifice of Jesus for us. The old sinful nature still troubles us, though, and we need constant forgiveness and “renewal” through the working of the Holy Spirit in us through the Truth that is in Jesus and His Word and Sacraments. Paul gives many examples of the contrast between the old life and the new life in Jesus, and what Jesus wishes to renew in us.
Now we hear, in Mark 15:40, of some of the women “looking on from a distance” at the death of Jesus, probably because they were not allowed to be any closer. There was Mary Magdalene, of whom Luke tells us that Jesus had cast out seven demons. See Luke 8:1-3, where she and other women are mentioned who had been healed by Jesus.
Another Mary was also watching the crucifixion - Mary, the mother of James the younger (another of the 12 disciples) and Joses. Salome, the wife of Zebedee and mother of two of the other disciples, James and John, was also there. They and other women had become followers of Jesus and helped support Him and His disciples and came also to Jerusalem with Him for the Passover celebration (Mark 15:41).
They knew that Jesus had now died and watched closely to see what would happen to His body, as they hoped to be able to have a chance to anoint His body with spices, as was the Jewish custom (Mark 15:47, 16:1). Actually, as we heard earlier, another Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, had already anointed the body of Jesus before His death, in Mark 14:3-9. Jesus said of her: “She has done what she could. She has anointed My body.”
Two men, who had been attracted to Jesus but had not been willing to admit it in a public way, now stepped forward to help take care of His body. Mark tells us of Joseph of Arimathea, who was “respected” (the Greek word suggests that he had both wealth and high standing among the Jews) and was also a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council that had condemned Jesus to die. This Joseph had been “looking for the Kingdom of God” to come (see Mark 1:14-15) and may have hoped that Jesus might be the promised Messiah. John’s Gospel also tells us of Nicodemus, who had come secretly at night to talk with Jesus (John 3:1-10) and was also a member of the Council. Both men, now that Jesus was dead, “took courage” enough to want to help out with His burial. Unclaimed bodies were just thrown away in unmarked places. That is likely what happened to the two robbers’ bodies.
Joseph of Arimathea went, though, to Pontius Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead and called the centurion to testify that Jesus was actually dead. The centurion knew that Jesus was dead and also knew of the spear that was thrust into Jesus’ side so that they could be absolutely certain of His death. (See John 19:32-36.) Only then did Pilate release the “corpse” to Joseph (Mark 15:43-45).
The fact that Jesus was certified to be dead was important, as later on, after the resurrection of Jesus, Jewish authorities and others tried to start rumors that the body of Jesus was stolen or maybe that Jesus had not really died, but was only revived by His disciples. See Matthew 28:11-15, for example. Such stories are still told today by some who want to deny the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Jesus was dead; so Joseph, aided by Nicodemus (John 19:38-42), took down the body of Jesus, wrapped it in strips of linen cloth, into which spices provided by Nicodemus had been put, and laid the body in a new tomb nearby that he (Joseph) had prepared for himself or family members. This also fulfilled prophecy that the grave of the Messiah, of Jesus, would be “with a rich man in His death” (Isaiah 53:9). Joseph was that rich man, and he made sure that the grave was then properly closed with a “very large stone” (Mark 15:46 and 16:4). All this had to be done quickly, though. Jesus had died around 3 pm, and Jews were allowed to do no work after sundown that Friday, when the Jewish Sabbath, the day of rest, would begin.
The Sabbath lasted from sundown Friday until sundown on Saturday. Only after that could the women, who had hoped to anoint Jesus’ body itself, buy and prepare what they needed for the anointing. Mark mentions the two Marys and Salome. There was also Joanna and likely some other women who came to help, too. (See Luke 8:3 and 24:10.)
They came just after sunrise on what we now call Easter Sunday. They had been worrying about how they could get the huge stone rolled away from the entrance of the tomb; but when they arrived, they found the stone already “rolled back” from the entrance (Mark 16:1-4). When they entered the tomb, they found “a young man in a white robe” sitting there.
They were alarmed, but the person, clearly an angel, (angels do not have physical bodies, but this is how they often appear in Scripture), reassured them. They were seeking the crucified body of Jesus of Nazareth. Instead, the angel gave them the wondrous news, “He has risen. He is not here.” The women could see for themselves that the tomb was empty and that there was no longer a body where Jesus had been placed. (Mark just gives the simple fact - Jesus has risen! Mark does not give details that some of the other Gospel writers were inspired to include. He sticks with the basics, as he had done throughout the Gospel of Mark. Jesus had clearly died, and Jesus had clearly risen from the dead. It was a bodily resurrection, too, not just some sort of spiritual resurrection, as some people later tried and still try to claim.)
The women now had a very important job to do - to tell the Good News of the risen, living Lord Jesus. They were to tell the disciples and Peter first. Peter is specifically mentioned, probably to assure him that he was still loved and forgiven by Jesus, even though he had failed Jesus so miserably, in denying Him three times. Remember that Peter was especially helpful to Mark in writing this Gospel with such information, as the Holy Spirit inspired them to do. The angel also gave a promise to give to the disciples and others. Jesus “is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you” (Mark 16:6-7). Jesus had predicted this Himself in Mark 14:28; and He tells this again in Matthew 28:10, after His resurrection.
The women then quickly left the tomb. They were shaken up by what they had seen and heard and by the appearance of the angel, as well, as people often were in the Scriptures. “Trembling and astonishment had seized them,” along with “fear." (From the Greek word for “astonishment” we get the English word “ecstasy.") The women were also amazed and stunned and joyful that Jesus was really alive. At first, “they said nothing to anyone," Mark tells us. But soon, as Jesus Himself appeared to some of them and strengthened them, they were able to share this Good News, as other Gospels tell us (Mark 16:8).
We will talk more about this next week, but at this point, most of your Bibles, other than the King James version, will have a note, indicating that some of the earliest manuscripts of Mark stop as this point and do not include Mark 16:9-20. (The King James Version was translated and published before some of these ancient manuscripts were even discovered by Biblical scholars. The King James used a long recognized “received text” that did not have and thus did not use these undiscovered texts.)
That raises the question of whether they were originally in what Mark wrote or were added later. If there were things in Mark 16:9-20 that contradicted other Scriptures, or could not be found in other Scriptures, then that would create problems. However, the Good News is that everything in these verses can also be found and supported in other Bible passages. Therefore, we will study those verses next week, too, and give other reasons for why these words are reliable for us.
One last comment. If Mark’s Gospel did end with Mark 16:8, why would he end so abruptly? We do not know; but some think Mark is saying, in effect, that Jesus did really die and rise again. That is certain. But what ending will be put on this Gospel for you? Will you, by the grace of God, believe that Good News for yourself? That is what God wishes and can do and will do by His grace and His Spirit and His effective Word for you, too. This is all Good News for you, too, and to be shared with others, as well. God “wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Sermon for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Exodus 16:2-15
Ephesians 4:1-16
Mark 6:22-35
Sermon originally delivered August 5, 2012
Today we hear of the actual crucifixion of Jesus. He had been so badly beaten, as we heard last week, that He could not carry His cross all the way to Golgotha, the place for the crucifixion, outside of Jerusalem. Golgotha means “Place of a Skull,” probably because it was a round hill shaped almost like a skull. The Greek word for skull is “Cranium” - the word still used in medical science for a human skull.
Maybe this hill was chosen for the crucifixion because of its looks and because it was at a place where many people passed by, going in and out of Jerusalem. The Romans liked to do very public executions of this sort, as a warning not to go against their wishes. The Romans controlled the country, so they could also compel a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross of Jesus for Him. Simon’s sons are mentioned, possibly because they were known to Christians who would read this Gospel later on, though we are not sure of that. See the Alexander and Rufus mentioned in Acts 19:33 and Romans 16:13 (Mark 15:21-22).
The soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh, because it could sedate Him, stupefy him, dope Him up, so that He would be easier to handle as they crucified Him. Jesus refused, probably because He needed to suffer fully what we human beings deserve for our sins, in payment for them. He also had seven important “words” - simple statements to speak from the cross - and he needed to be clear-headed for all this, too (Mark 15:23).
As God inspired Mark, he told what happened, very simply. He left out many things included in some of the other Gospels and just told things concisely and directly. (Maybe some of the other Gospels had already been written, and he did not need to repeat all that they told us, too.) Mark simply said, “They crucified Him” at the third hour, around 9 am, “and divided His clothes, casting lots" (a form of gambling) for them (Mark 15:23-25, Psalm 22:18). Much of what happened had been predicted already in the Old Testament, in passages like Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 18 and Isaiah 53:3-6, 8-9, 12. Watch for other predictions you can find that are fulfilled in the rest of the crucifixion story.
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, had ordered that an inscription of the charges against Jesus be posted: “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26). This was a key charge that the Jewish authorities had emphasized, though they did not really believe that Jesus was a king at all. Pilate also did not really see Jesus as a king who was a threat to the Roman government. He let the charge stand, though, as he realized that the Jewish religious leaders felt very threatened by Jesus and envied Him (Mark 15:10.12). We also hear that two robbers were crucified, along with Jesus, a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12 (Mark 15:27).
Many who came and saw Jesus “derided” Him. Literally, the Greek text says that they kept on “blaspheming” Him. They had earlier accused Jesus of being a blasphemer - one who spoke against God. Actually, they were the ones who were speaking against God, because Jesus was the Son of God, doing His Heavenly Father’s will and speaking the truth. They were “wagging their heads” against Jesus, fulfilling another prophecy, in Psalm 22:7, saying “No” to Jesus and all He stood for. They made fun of Jesus saying that He claimed He could destroy the temple in Jerusalem and rebuild it in three days, when He could not even save Himself and come down from the cross (Mark 15:29-30).
As we have already seen in an earlier lesson, Jesus was referring to “the temple of His body,” which would be killed but then raised from the dead in three days (John 2:19-22). The sanctuary of God was no longer to be in the Jerusalem temple. Jesus was God. He was the sanctuary, the dwelling place of God on earth. In destroying Jesus, they were destroying their own sanctuary and dooming the Jewish temple in the process, as the sanctuary. Jesus had earlier taught that in the future, people would not worship the Father in Jerusalem, but “in spirit and in truth,” in Jesus, Who is the Christ. (See John 4:19-26 and Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the temple, in Mark 13:1-2.)
The chief priests and other Jewish religious authorities also mocked Jesus, speaking “to one another,” as if Jesus were not even worthy to be spoken to directly, “He saved others. he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:31-32). Notice what they are actually saying: Jesus does not have the power to save himself, by getting off the cross. Therefore, he cannot really be the Christ and the King of all Israel and has no ability to save others; and they will never believe in him. They reject him and his claims completely. In their eyes, Jesus is a failure, because he cannot save himself.
The Jewish religious authorities were missing the whole point of Jesus coming into the world, as Messiah and Savior. He came not to save Himself, but to sacrifice Himself for the Jews and us and all the sinful people of this world. Remember again Mark 10:45. Jesus came “to serve and to give His life as a ransom” to pay for the sins of the world. The Jewish authorities thought they could and had to save themselves by their own efforts to keep the laws they had established. They had self-interest; and grace and mercy that cared for others, as Jesus cared for sinners, did not make sense to them.
Remember the teaching of Jesus in Mark 10:24-27. With man, it is impossible to be saved. But not with God - and the saving work He would do through His Son, Jesus.
That saving work culminated in what happened with Jesus in Mark 15:33-38. From the sixth to the ninth hour, from noon until 3 pm, darkness was over the whole land (Mark 15:33). Darkness had often been predicted at times of judgment for sin. See Old Testament passages like Joel 2:1-2, 31; Joel 3:14-15; Isaiah 5:30 and 13:9; and Jesus words in Mark 13:24.
Many of these passages about the sun being darkened have to do with the last times and day of the Lord’s judgment, when Christ returns and rescues all believers and brings final judgment on those part from Christ. In Mark 15, though, it is Jesus Who was being judged and suffering the punishment in our place, for what we and all people deserve for our sins. It was a very dark time for Jesus, and the darkness made that clear.
In Mark 15:34, we have the only words from the cross that Mark tells us about. Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 and cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why (for what purpose) have You forsaken Me?” At that very time, Jesus was suffering the worst punishment of hell for us, in our place, being totally “away from the presence of the Lord.” See 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10. We do not know how this could be - how Jesus could be totally forsaken by His Heavenly Father for our sake and our forgiveness of all of our sins. But that is what happened for us by the love of Jesus for us and this sinful world. See such passages as 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Galatians 3:10-14 and 1 Peter 2:21-25.
The commentator Lenski says, “Jesus thirsts for God, but God has removed Himself. It is not the Son that has left the Father, but the Father the Son. The Son cries for God, and God makes no reply to Him…. Even though God turned from Him and left Him, He cries to Him and holds Him as His God. The divine perfection of Jesus appears as the Lamb without blemish, though made sin and a curse, in the hour of His sacrifice…. Only thus, by Jesus being actually forsaken, could the full price of our redemption be paid… Though He saw only God, and that God was far from Him, Jesus did not waver. (He trusted His Father, no matter what happened.) That, too, was needed for our redemption.”
Some people at the cross misunderstood Jesus and thought that He was calling on Elijah to come and help Him (Mark 15:35-36). Jesus had already taught, though, that John the Baptist was the “Elijah” who was to come and prepare the way for Jesus. John had completed his preparatory work; but only Jesus could complete His saving work for us all. He did so, in His suffering the wrath of God for us and His final work of being God-forsaken for us. Now Jesus could take a sip of sour wine lifted to Him on a sponge; and though Mark does not tell us, Jesus could finally say His last words from the cross, with a loud voice, and breathe out His spirit in death (Mark 15:36-37).
Then, as the commentator Lenski says, “Jesus is dead, His lips are silent; God now speaks a language of His own.” The curtain in the temple in Jerusalem, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, where only once a year could the high priest enter into the presence of God - that curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. Jesus, by His sacrifice for us and the world, had earned forgiveness for us and access for us into the very presence and blessings and eternal life with our Lord in Heaven (Mark 15:38). That will become even clearer in what we hear next week, with the resurrection of Jesus from death.
The Roman centurion, who saw all this and saw Jesus die, said “Truly this man was the Son of God.” In effect, he said, “Amen. This is most certainly true about Jesus.” This was exactly what both Jesus, and Mark, in writing about Jesus, wanted all people to come to believe. Tradition says that this centurion did become a believer. May the Lord increase our own confidence in Jesus and in His completed saving work for us, through these God-inspired words given us by Mark.
Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Genesis 9:8-17
Ephesians 3:14-21
Mark 6:45-56
Sermon originally delivered July 29, 2012
When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was quickly taken to the high priest, Caiaphas, and the ruling Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:53). (Caiaphas was the actual high priest at this time, but his father-in-law, Annas, had been high priest for a long time earlier, and sometimes was also still called the high priest. See Acts 4:5-6. for example.)
Peter had run away with the other disciples when Jesus was arrested, but wanted to see what would happen to Jesus and followed to the outdoor courtyard around the place where the Sanhedrin met (Mark 14:54).
Several rules of the Jewish Council were being broken in this “trial” of Jesus. There were to be no night trials, but this trial was happening quickly, at night. There was to be an “indictment" with clear charges, before a person could be put on trial. At this meeting, the Council was still trying to come up with some charges, but was having trouble doing so (Mark 14:55). The verdict and punishment should not have been decided beforehand, but it had been (Mark 14:1-2). Also, the Old Testament required that there needed to be the agreement of at least two or three witnesses, before a person could be found guilty, and especially if there was the death penalty involved. (See Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15-21, and Proverbs 19:9 and the 8th Commandment, Exodus 20:16.)
The testimony of witnesses about Jesus did not agree (Mark 14:56), and some misquoted and misunderstood Jesus and what He had said (Mark 14:57-59). (See the true account of John 2:18-22, early in Jesus’ ministry, when He “cleansed” the temple in Jerusalem for the first time.)
The high priest, Caiaphas, finally realized that he needed to step in and question Jesus. Jesus said nothing at first, fulfilling Isaiah 53:7 (Mark 14:60-61). (See the comment in 1 Peter 2:22-23, also.) When Caiaphus directly asked Jesus, though, if he was “the Christ, the Son of the Blessed” (the Son of God), Jesus answered, “I am." He used the same words which He had used so often before in His “I am” sayings - “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35), “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6), and on and on. Jesus had even used the Old Testament name of God, (Exodus 3:13-14), “I am Who I am” and “I am” for Himself in John 6:56-58, too.) Jesus always spoke the truth (John 8:44-47).
He then quoted from Old Testament passages we have discussed before, saying that He was “the Son of Man” (Daniel 7:13) Who had been and would be “seated at the right hand of Power, of the Lord” (Psalm 110:1) and would come again “with the clouds of heaven” on the last day (Mark 13:26-27).
The immediate reaction of Caiaphas and the Council was to accuse Jesus of “blasphemy,” of speaking against God, in claiming that He was the “Christ, the Son of God,” the promised Savior. (Go back to that claim of Jesus and the Christian Church in Mark 1:1 and the comments made there, at the beginning of this Bible study.) This was a key, crucial truth of the Christian faith, but immediately rejected again by Caiaphas and the Jewish authorities. Caiaphus even tore his clothes, as a sign of how shocked and offended he was at this claim of Jesus. This was enough to condemn Jesus to die, Caiaphus and the Jewish authorities said (Mark 14:61-64).
They showed their outrage also by spitting on Jesus and hitting Him again and again and mocking Him and covering His face and daring Him to “prophesy” about who had struck Him (Mark 14:65). Again, this was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus as the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 50:4-9, in the Old Testament. Jesus had predicted this Himself in Mark 10:33-34. The same kind of treatment would come also from the Roman authorities, Jesus said, as we see happening in Mark 15:15-20.
Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard outside, and a servant girl said to him, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” Peter denied that and pretended that he did not understand what the girl was claiming about him. He moved away from her, and a rooster crowed (Mark 14:66-68). That should have been a strong warning of what Jesus had predicted earlier that evening - that Peter would deny Jesus three times, before the rooster crowed twice (Mark 14:30-31).
The servant girl said again, “This man was one of them” and Peter denied it again. Finally, another said, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” His accent, being from Northern Israel, where Jesus had been known to do much ministry, gave Peter away. Right away, Peter began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man”; and right away, the rooster crowed again. Peter then remembered what Jesus had said and how he had claimed he would even dies for Jesus. How badly he had failed.
Other Gospels tell us that he left the courtyard (Matthew 26:75) and as Mark tells us, “He broke down and began to weep” (Mark 14:70-72). The Greek verb indicates that he kept on weeping for quite some time. He was truly sorry, repentant, for what he had done. He did not end up, though, in total despair, as Judas had done. Later on, after the resurrection, Jesus forgave and strengthened him for future service to his Lord. This is good news for all of us, for things we have done, of which we are very ashamed, in the past. The mercy and forgiveness of Jesus are great! That is why He died for us all, for our forgiveness and new life, as He brings us to trust Him.
The Jewish authorities had a problem, though. They had condemned Jesus to die; but they were in a country occupied by the Romans and were not to put people to death themselves, though sometimes they did. (See Acts 7:51-60. Notice who it is that Stephen sees in a vision of heaven.) The leaders had to take Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate (Mark 15:1).
The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of many things, but the only thing that concerned Pilate was whether Jesus was claiming to be a King who wanted to rebel and overthrow the Roman authority. Pilate asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus simply said, “You have said so,” and gave him no other answers at this point (Mark 15:2-5). (Other Gospels tell us that there was other discussion; but Mark was satisfied, as God inspired him, just to make it clear that Pilate did not believe the Jewish authorities and did not see Jesus as a real threat to him. In fact, he tried to find ways to set Jesus free.)
Pilate had a custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover feast. (Mark 15:6). He suggested that he was willing to release Jesus. He realized that the chief priests were trying to get rid of Jesus out of “envy” at His popularity with some of the people (Mark 15:8-10). The chief priests, however, used their influence to stir up many people in the passover crowds to be against Jesus and to ask for the release of Barabbas instead. Barabbas was a rebel and murderer and supporter of insurrection against the Roman government - the very opposite of a person Pilate would have been in favor of releasing (Mark 15:7,10,11). The crowds then cried out for Pilate to “Crucify” Jesus. Pilate even tried to defend Jesus, sensing that He was not an evil man at all; but the crowds kept shouting, “Crucify him” (Mark 15:12-14).
Pilate finally caved in to the pressure of the wishes of the crowd and the religious leaders. He released Barabbas and delivered Jesus up to be crucified. Pilate did one more thing. He had Jesus scourged. This was a unique Roman punishment. Jews used rods to give beatings. The Romans used whips with several leather lashes, with pieces of lead or lumps of bone attached. The skin and the flesh were gashed to the very bone of a person being beaten, in every direction where the lashes hit. It was a terrible beating (Mark 15:15).
Some think that Jesus died sooner than some expected, because of this beating before He was even nailed to the cross. This also might have been why Jesus was so weak that He could not carry His cross all the way to the place where He was crucified, as we will hear next week. Some also think that Pilate might have ordered this beating, hoping that people would see how weak and suffering Jesus then was and have sympathy and back off from calling for His crucifixion. It did not work, regardless of what Pilate might have intended.
Pilate also allowed his soldiers to do whatever they wanted with Jesus, before leading Him out to be crucified. The whole battalion was called in (as many as 600 soldiers, though probably a smaller group than that). They put an old purple robe on Him and a crown made of thorns and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They struck His head with a reed, driving the thorns in deeper, and spit on Him. They knelt before Him in “mock” honor. Finally, they stripped off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on Him. One can only imagine the agony of that, after his earlier beating. Then, “they led Him out to crucify Him” (Mark 15:16-20).
Next week, we will hear of the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and Mark’s simple, short description of all that, as God inspired him to write it. Remember again that all He went through was for us and our forgiveness and salvation, available now for us and all the world. It was a very “bad” Friday for Jesus, but a very “Good Friday” for us.
Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-44
Sermon originally delivered July 22, 2012
Another Supplement to Mark 12:28-34
Another question came to me regarding “Love of the Neighbor." Are we really to “love“ our enemies, even if they have badly hurt us? That would be very difficult. Here is a response to that question.
Honest questions are good, and follow-up questions for more clarity are also good. (We have seen lots of times in the Gospel of Mark where the religious leaders, though, are questioning Jesus to attack Him or to try to trick Him and to get Him into trouble. That is not a good way to ask questions, and the questioners usually were not even wanting to listen for the answer or genuinely wanting to learn something from Jesus.)
You are asking a good question about something that is very difficult, impossible to live out perfectly in our lives. Jesus is very clear about love for others, even our enemies. See Matthew 5:43-48. See also the verses just before, v. 38-42. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus describes what the Law of God really means and is calling us to do it perfectly (5:48). If we are honest, we know we cannot do all this as we should. This is the Law at work to show us our sins and that we are hopeless without Jesus and what he did for us.
Jesus did live a life of perfect love for us and the world. He gave His life for us and for the world to forgive all our sins and make us acceptable in God’s eyes. He prayed from the cross for the forgiveness of the very people who put Him on the cross, including us, as our sins helped put Him there (Luke 23:34). Read Romans 5:6-10. We were “weak," “ungodly," “sinners," even “enemies” of God, when Jesus gave His life for us to “reconcile” us to God and “save” us. It was by the “amazing grace," the undeserved love and favor of God for us, in Christ, that we were saved and now can be called “friends” of God.
If Jesus loved us that much, then we are called to try to love others, even our enemies, as He has loved us. That does not mean that we have to “like” others and what they do. We cannot approve of the evil that is done to us and others by some. We can even fight against that evil and defend ourselves. We can also get away from evil people and situations, when that is possible and best for us. At the same time, we are still called to “love” those people, in the sense of caring about them and wishing and praying that they find forgiveness and peace, too, as we have, in Christ.
This kind of “love” is very difficult to have, and not one of us has that love perfectly and at all times. Only Jesus has had that love for us and others, in our place. We too need continual forgiveness for our failures and lack of love. We live only by the grace of God. If there is to be vengeance and judgment, let that be up to God, in His time and way. See passages like Romans 12:14-21 and 1 Peter 2:21-25 and 3:9. And as we know we need God’s mercy, so we try to wish that mercy for others, too. But it is very hard to do, at times.
Much more could be said. God also provides government and courts to keep some peace and order in a very sinful world. Sometimes governmental authorities rightly carry out judgments for wrongdoing. When the Old Testament speaks of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" in the laws of a nation, it is referring to what we would say today in terms of “letting the punishment fit the crime.” But that is for government to determine, not for us as individuals to determine and carry out in our personal lives. We can try to influence the laws of a nation for good; but government has different responsibilities from what we have as Christians and churches. See Romans 13:1-10.
Finally, we can keep praying that the Lord will give us more caring, forgiving hearts, for very difficult people we sometimes have to deal with, and that their own hearts may change over time, too, as we try to reflect Christ’s love and care to them. People may resist all that we try to do, but we at least have tried to respond with care, not hate.