Strength for a New Year

When the songwriter asked the musical question, “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” I doubt the answer he expected to receive was “I’m going to church.” But here we are. And it is absolutely appropriate to be here, to gather around God’s Word, to remember our baptism and to eat and drink at our Lord’s Table. I don’t have to tell you, many people will celebrate to excess this evening. We are here to celebrate the excessive generosity and grace of God. I’m bold to say that ours will be the more satisfying celebration.
Tonight you may get the sense that you are standing with one foot in the past and the other in the future. If you were here on Christmas Eve, then you may remember we talked about the tension between “What’s Next” and “What Just Happened?” Maybe we feel that more intensely at the transition from one year to the next. It’s not a bad idea to take a few moments tonight to ponder; to reflect; to ask yourself, with regard to the year now past, “What Just Happened?” My hope is that you will have many reasons to give thanks to God when you do that. We don’t do that nearly enough. Stop and remember and give thanks tonight. Great is His Faithfulness indeed.
At the same time there is also “What’s Next,” and it’s good to be prepared. A new year can symbolize a new beginning, if we want it to be. It can also just be more of the same. Regardless of your mindset going in, there are some things you can count on in this new calendar year. I’m pretty sure you will be surprised at some point by good news, or bad. Things are going to happen that you didn’t see coming. Life is going to throw you some curve balls. When that happens, what will you rely on? What is going to give you stability? Tonight we are going to dip our toe into each of the readings you’ve heard, and by doing so, my prayer is that you will see and trust the strength that is available to you in God’s Word.
We begin with the Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah chapter 30, and when you first listened to it, you might have thought, “that it’s kind of a downer.” Well, it is, because it describes reality. You may sometimes hear people say that you can learn from negative examples how NOT to do things. That’s what we’re invited to do with this passage. We’re introduced to “a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;” people who ask God’s preachers to tell them “smooth things” and “illusions” so that they don’t have to deal with the Holy One of Israel. They’re basically saying, ‘Tell us what we want to hear; tell us that’s we’re basically OK; tell us that everything is going to be all right and that we don’t have to take God seriously.’ But God’s not having any of that. He says, “If you’d rather have man’s lies than my truth, here’s what I would compare your lives to: A bulge in a wall that breaks and collapses, or a clay pot that is shattered so violently that it’s totally useless.”
What does that mean to you and me? It’s simple. When a person ignores God’s Word and does his or her own thing, the outcome is predictable. God himself compares it to collapse and destruction; a shattering. The human preference is for smooth things, illusions, easy-to-swallow teachings that give us permission to do whatever we want. You and I are challenged to ask ourselves, number one, will I be a hearer of God’s Word this year; and number two, being a hearer of God’s Word, will I be a doer of God’s Word? In verse fifteen, the Lord says “In returning and rest you shall be saved.” Did you hear that? You can return to the Holy One; the door is always open; the invitation stands. The result of hearing and doing the Word of God is rest—the deep soul rest of being right with God. The alternative to that is personal collapse. Is that really a difficult choice?
Next we have Romans 8, and the encouragement given by the apostle Paul. Here Paul writes to tell us that God is fundamentally for us. He is on your side. His allegiance is to you. The way you can know that for sure is to look at Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried and who rose again on the third day. He went through all of that to exchange your sin for his holiness, and nothing can take His holiness away from you. Paul gives us that big list: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death, life, angels, rulers, the present, the future, nothing can separate you from the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
Do you see what Paul is teaching us to do? So often we live as surface dwellers; we just look at the surface level of things. What I mean by that is that we tend to interpret God’s love for us based on our current circumstances. If things happen to be going well for us in general, we tend to think we have God’s blessing. And if we’re really being honest, we would admit that we feel we deserve everything going well. We expect it. But if things start to go wrong; when problems come our way (and you know they will) then what’s a common reaction? God must be mad at me! Right? God must be punishing me for something I did! God must really have something against me—a person can really feel that way. But did you hear that list Paul made? Do you see what he’s teaching us to do? He’s teaching to not be a surface dweller. Don’t interpret God’s love for you based on your current circumstances. He, of all people, should know! As a missionary of Jesus Christ, he was beaten with stones, flogged with whips, mobbed and left for dead, lived through a shipwreck, endured assassination attempts, and lived under house arrest. If he interpreted God’s love for him based on his circumstances, he could’ve easily come to the conclusion that God hated him! But that was not His conclusion. Why? Because Paul could look past his circumstances to see Christ. He could see beyond the surface level to the Savior. You can do the same. This is what the Gospel of Jesus is! It is the news that you are loved; you are accepted; you are forgiven; you are a priceless treasure to God! How do you know? He gave up His own Son to get you! Paul’s words come down to you at the beginning of this year, and he says, “Do you ever wonder if God really loves you? Then look to Christ on the cross. Don’t look to your circumstances. Those will always be bad. It’s a sinful world. Jesus died for you. God is for you. Don’t ever doubt it. This is precisely the resource we need to face the future.
One more way to approach the new year from a position of strength—that comes from tonight’s Gospel lesson. There Jesus uses words like “action,”” readiness,” and “service” to describe what his followers ought to be like. He paints a picture of servants in a constant state of preparedness for the master’s return. The servants understand their mission, and they are carrying out that mission with urgency. The master could show up anytime, so they’ve got to be ready.
The application is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Do you understand your mission as a Christian? Do you have a sense of urgency about that mission? Or are you letting other things take priority in your life?
One of my favorite movies is a Japanese film called “Ikiru” that tells the story of an office worker who only begins to really live when he is diagnosed with stomach cancer. He realizes his days are numbered, and only then does he begin to think about doing something of lasting value with his life.
In the closing hours of 2011, please hear me. Don’t wait for bad news to shock you into a sense of urgency. Develop that urgency now. You are here for a reason. Do you know what it is? It is to show God to people. It is to be the hands and feet and mouth of Jesus wherever you go. If you can lock onto this mission in the coming year, it will fill you up. When you do the good God has prepared for you to do, of course it feels right; of course it feels meaningful. It’s what you were meant to do. So go after it.
It’s almost 2012. What has God said to us tonight? He’s said: “Be a hearer and a doer of My Word. Remember that I am fundamentally for you, and if you forget, look to Christ. And commit yourself to the mission I’ve given you with urgency.” Strong Advice from our Source of Strength; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The Light Shines in the Darkness

Christmas presents problems. Can I say that without getting in trouble? It’s the truth. Christmas, and everything that comes with it, creates conflict. That may not be what you expected to hear on this Christmas morning, but deep down inside we all know that it’s true. But here’s the deal: that conflict may not be such a bad thing.

Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people. The Christmas that Christians celebrate is just as cluttered as the rest of the world, but our clutter has meaning because it focuses on Christ. Christmas literally means the Mass or service celebrated in the church to mark the birth of Christ. Christmas is about Jesus Christ. Period. And that presents problems.

A special education teacher once shared a interesting account. Certain children who were apparently not Christian or did not come from Christian homes were noticeably uncomfortable singing Christmas carols—the simple ones we all like, like “Silent Night.” She claimed some of the children even became violent when they heard references to Jesus Christ. This was not merely an emotional issue, though I’m sure it was at least this. When it was time to sing “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” these same children were noticeably relieved. They didn’t have to hear about Jesus anymore. Now we can sing about jolly old St. Nick and jingle bells, because they really don’t matter to us. If, however, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He matters, and somehow these children knew it. They wanted to escape.

At the beginning of his gospel, John speaks of a conflict between light and darkness. As much as our Christmases try to cover up this struggle—with lights, parties, presents, etc.—the struggle goes on. John says that the light was shining in the darkness and the darkness tried to overcome the light but it was unsuccessful. Still this conflict between light and dark, between God and Satan, between belief and unbelief will continue as long as the world keeps spinning. Jesus is the light of the world. The ultimate proof that He is that Light is His resurrection from the dead. In our lives today He remains in combat with Satan, the Prince of Darkness.

Christmas would be a lot more fun for some folks if they just didn’t face to face the person of Jesus. The prophet Simeon told the mother of Jesus that He would be an obstacle; He would make people feel uncomfortable. He still does this. We Christians admit that we don’t understand everything we should about Jesus, but we do believe He brings a new dimension into our lives, and because he brings a new dimension into our lives, we can look at our own death differently. In Jesus, God is making a claim on everyone’s life, a claim that cannot be avoided.
We, like everyone else, can be carried away with Christmas busyness that has very little to do with Christ. You have given yourself a great gift today, by being here. You have given yourself the gift of time; time to reflect on what all the fuss is about. This is supposed to be a birthday celebration, with an important twist. Behind the manger; behind Joseph, Mary, and the Baby, something much more important and mysterious was happening. Jesus is not just one more child among other children. He is the one child who calls people, wherever they are, to worship Him!

Today’s Gospel reveals the mystery at the heart of our worship: “The Word was made flesh and He dwelt among us.” By these words the broad expanse of time and space are brought together. Heaven becomes part of earth. God becomes Mary’s child and this child becomes the brother of every man and woman who has ever lived. God has chosen to share permanently in our humanity: “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” He did not come down to look around like a King walking among his people in disguise, only to retreat to the comfort of his castle. He came down to take our pain and misery upon Himself.

The book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then Genesis says that God spoke words to arrange what he had created. This Word that God spoke was not a sound that was heard and then lost into space. The Word that God spoke was the Word that was always with God. This Word has always lived face-to-face with God, and this Word was God himself, and by this Word God made all things. The opening verses of John’s gospel tie this all together for us. The creative Word is Jesus, who entered a flesh and blood body like ours, not just to live among us for a time, but to execute the ultimate rescue mission. That’s who is sleeping away in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

This is Christmas. Our eyes see a baby. Faith looks at the baby and confesses, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him. And the Word was made flesh.” The God who cannot be seen can now be seen in His Son. The Creator has joined his creatures as a creature. “He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” The God whose existence cannot be counted in days, weeks, months, years, or centuries was born and died. He was born, not for himself, but for you. He died, not for his sins, but for yours. As an infant, he took upon himself all the ills that belonged to us. All our sicknesses were transferred to him. All of our problems were presented to Christ. He suffered them patiently until He could pay for them in full. Christmas created a conflict that climaxed at the cross; a conflict in which Jesus conquered on Easter morning. This is the light that shines in the darkness. This is the light that shines in your heart. This is the lamp that lights your way. This is the light that will surround you for eternity. This is the joy of Christmas.

Adapted from a sermon by Rev. Dr. David Scaer

How to Ponder Christmas

I don’t know if you noticed. I don’t know if you pay attention to such things or particularly care. But this year, Christmas stuff began to appear in your local big box retailer before Halloween. Before a single “trick or treat” was spoken, aisles of red and green stuff began to take over the seasonal section. I make this observation not to condemn the commercialization of Christmas, but just to say, boy, we seem to be stuck on “What’s Next.”Think about your own life. How much time do you spend getting ready for the next thing? How much energy do you spend preparing for the next big event? What happens after the next big event takes place? Is there any time to reflect on what just happened? Christmas is a perfect example. Think of everything that you have done over the past couple weeks to get ready for tonight and tomorrow. Will there be any time for you to just sit back and enjoy yourself? And after Christmas Day has come and gone, will Christmas stay with you? Or will we set our sights on shopping, or New Years, or just the routine of life as usual? We are great at looking forward to things. We’re stuck on “What’s Next.” We’re not so good at “What Just Happened?” We don’t give ourselves much time to reflect—or even much time to enjoy the moment. We’re missing out when we just scramble towards the next thing without taking time to think about what has happened and what it means.Now, having said that, I’ve met plenty of people who have a defining experience in their lives that they think about often. For some, that defining experience was their military service in a war. For others, it has to do with their first taste of independence, or meeting their future spouse, or becoming a parent. For still others, that defining experience may be decidedly negative: the breakup of a marriage and family; a horrible accident, or just cruel, heartbreaking words that can’t be forgotten. I would guess that most of us do have a memory that we return to time and again—one that seems to define us, for better or for worse.On this Christmas Eve, we are invited into the defining experience of a young virgin mother named Mary. We are invited to imagine what it might have possibly been like to give birth to the Son of the Most High God in a stable. We are invited to put the brakes on the holiday express—if only for a few moments—and think about what happened there in Bethlehem, for Scripture tells us that “Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”What are the things that Mary treasured and pondered? I think we can safely start with the angel Gabriel’s announcement to her: that she would conceive and have a son named Jesus, who would take the throne of David and be the Son of God. Then to feel the unmistakable signs of that life growing inside of her. Certainly she would have reflected on Joseph’s reaction to this news—his own experience with an angel messenger—his acceptance of her and her miracle baby. She would have remembered the rough road to Bethlehem and the mounting frustration of being turned away again and again until the stable was offered as an option. Then there was the pain of childbirth, surpassed only by the wonder of this baby boy. As she held little Jesus that night, did she ponder the promises the angel had made? Did she run them through her mind again? “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. And the Lord will give him the throne of His ancestor David. He will be King over the people of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” We can only wonder if she heard those words as she wrapped her little one in strips of cloth to keep him warm and secure. It’s safe to say she would later ponder the abrupt arrival of shepherds from the fields, breaking the relative peace of the stall with a fantastic story. No doubt she would treasure the memory of their weather-worn faces as they reported their angelic encounter. She now had more words to turn over in her mind: “A great joy will come to all the people: the Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was born for you today in David’s town. This is how you will know him: you will find a Baby all wrapped up and lying in a manger.” That was her boy—her Yeshua. It was all happening just as the Lord had said. It is no wonder that Mary treasured and pondered these things. She would return to this defining experience and probably cling to it with all her might in the challenging years ahead.You would do well to ponder these things yourself—and not just the events of Jesus’ birth, but the rest of His life as well. We would all do well to stop and create the time we need to reflect on the good news of great joy which is for us and everyone! As I mentioned before, this big event called Christmas is a perfect example of busyness versus reflection. It’s a timely example of “What’s Next” versus “What Just Happened?” But it is hardly the only one we could name.The fact is, we fill our lives—we jam pack our lives—with stuff. Our homes are filled with possessions, our calendars are filled with events, our hearts and minds are filled with ideas and needs—but how much of that “filling” is truly “of God?” Wouldn’t we really rather get possessions for ourselves than give them away in God’s name? Don’t we effectively schedule God out of our plans—making Him the first option to get cut from our calendars? And don’t we really prefer the thoughts and ideas generated by Hollywood and man’s imagination to the ones generated by Holy Scripture? It turns out that this reflection stuff can be awfully uncomfortable, when it reveals that we often live our lives as if God doesn’t matter.This Christmas Eve there is good news of great joy for you, because God still does what He did in Bethlehem. He breaks into our reality. The power of His message breaks into our lives like a brick being thrown through a pane of glass. Jesus comes to you whether you’re ready for Him or not; whether you’re looking for Him or not; and His arrival in your life demands a response. Jesus was not born into our world of a virgin mother so that you and I would have an excuse to party and exchange presents. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, did not agree to lower himself to the point of having his first crib be an animal’s feeding trough so that you could have a day off from work. No. The shadow of a cross falls across the manger where that baby lies. He will grow up to do what you and I could never do—that is, live a perfect life; exactly the way God wants us to live. But then he does something unexpected with that perfect life—He gives it as a sacrifice. He breaks into this world to lay down his life for you. He comes to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins, and he will pay for our selfishness dearly, nailed to a cross. He comes to become one of us in order to switch places with us—he gets our sin and our death; you and I get his forgiveness and life. And let’s not forget that He broke into our world not just to die our death but to defeat death. A ray of morning light also falls across the manger where the baby lies—the light of Easter morning! He rose from the dead physically, three days after dying, so that we would not fear death. Moreover, we rightly look forward to a time when we too will rise physically because Jesus did first. He broke into our reality to change it—to rise from the dead and to give us confidence that death is now nothing more than a doorway to a new kind of life made possible by his resurrection.In your hearing of these words, the good news of a Savior, Jesus has broken into your reality right now. He wants you to know the peace of forgiveness. He wants you to know the confidence of life with him that never ends. He wants to show you the best way of life there is. He wants you to follow Him; to stop serving yourself and to start serving Him by serving those around you. But first, he wants you to believe that He broke into this world at Christmas to begin a journey that would save you from the slavery of sin, the terror of death, and the punishment of hell. He wants you to believe that He broke into this world to make a connection with you—a connection that gives you hope and happiness today—a connection that will never be broken. His arrival in your life demands a response. What is yours? My prayer is that your response will be the “yes” of faith; the greatest gift of all. Ponder these things, and may it be a Merry Christmas for you

Have A Radical Christmas

There once was a man who was kind of a bum. Talented and successful, he neglected his wife and his children, his work and his friends, his community and his colleagues. He drank too much, lost his temper too often, was cruel too many times. Then one day he had a tremendous religious experience and was transformed totally. He became a good and loving husband, a generous and sympathetic father, a diligent and creative worker, a loyal friend, a dedicated member of his community. He was sober and kind and patient and gentle. At first everyone rejoiced in the change. They said that they had known all along that he was a good man. Then they realized that the change was for real and that, to continue their relationships with him, they would have to change too. He lost his wife and his family and his job and his friends. He went back to being a bum and got everything back.
Today, in great Advent tradition, we have John the Baptist coming out of the wilderness, wearing wild animal skins—kind of an Old Testament prophet costume—looking, acting, probably smelling wild. But his message is even wilder. He’s preaching repentance. He is not genteel or polite, and he’s not there to spare peoples’ feelings. If anyone is offendable, they will be offended. He cuts right to the chase, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. You have been waiting for the Messiah, pay attention – he’s coming.” He is saying to anyone who will listen: “repent, get ready, prepare the way of the Lord.” Cut through all the distractions, eliminate the nonsense in your lives. Stop turning away from God. God is searching for you so quit running after stupid stuff. Let him find you.
Surprise, surprise: There are “religious” people who have a problem with John. He’s not one of them. Plus, he’s popular; his message of radical change threatens to upset the status quo. And, they’re about to find out just how radical John is. Pedigree and lineage—values so dearly held by the religious people—are meaningless to this wilderness weirdo.
On the television show M*A*S*H, Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester III made it clear what separated him from everybody else: "I’m a Winchester," he would say. For him, it was his family name that made him superior to everyone else. Other people do it in different ways. One woman received her education at Harvard and found a way to work Harvard into every conversation. That’s what John the Baptist was dealing with here. John the Baptist was completely unimpressed with the very thing that the religious people had built their lives upon. They were the "children of Abraham." It’s like they said, “I’m a Winchester.” That settles it. That’s all you need to know.
Then comes John the Baptist, who tells them, in so many words, “That don’t mean a thing.” Now you probably know where this is going; maybe you sense how John translates to our situation. We can hear him now. "Just because your name is on the membership roster, just because you give an offering, just because your parents or grandparents were in this church, just because you are a volunteer, just because you are the minister; none of those things alone are what saves you. Just saying, “I’m a Winchester," “I’m a Lutheran,” “I’m a Christian,” doesn’t make it so. What’s in your heart? What’s in your mind? That’s the question.
John shows up during this “most wonderful time of the year;” He crashes the “Winter Holiday Party” and makes a scene that we dare not ignore. “Repent!” he says. Take a look at your life, see where you have put your priorities, where your treasure really lies. To "repent" means literally to "change one's mind." When you repent of sin, you're saying, "I thought it was a good thing, but now I know it's not.”
Repentance is not a once-in-a-lifetime event, but a daily action. We need to “die daily to our sin,” as Martin Luther reminds us. Richard Jensen says it powerfully, “the repentant person comes before God saying, ‘I can’t do it myself God. Kill me and give me new life. You buried me in baptism. Bury me again today. Raise me to new life.’”
Repentance is to stop running after everything else and see that God is pursuing you. Repentance is to make decisions for God each day that show your connection to Him. Clothes, status, the right friends or address means nothing – only the fact that God has claimed you and loves you. Repentance – live like it is true.
And still there’s a Pharisee in us, who says, "What I want out of Jesus is help for this life. If He gets me out of a jam, or cures my sickness, or keeps me wealthy and prosperous and out of most trouble, well, that's the savior I'm looking for. I'm not really concerned with those abstract concepts like final judgment, resurrection of the dead, heaven or hell or eternal life. I want a savior who's going to show results." But if this is the Savior you're looking for, you'll pass right by Jesus. He sacrificed Himself to make you holy with God, not popular or successful. He warns that the world will persecute the Church. He tells you that He disciplines His children and even uses affliction and weakness to strengthen our faith. If you're looking for a savior to make this world paradise, you'll go by Jesus; He came to deliver you from this world to everlasting paradise. Better change your mind while there's time. In other words, repent.
Repent, repent, repent…there’s that side of us that just doesn't want to be righteous, that wants to hold onto sin. That sinner in us constantly tempts us with thoughts like, "Jesus is so loving that I can hold onto this sin. Maybe it makes my life easier. Maybe I'm afraid to live without it. Maybe I just like it. Maybe I'm addicted to it. At any rate, the savior that I have in mind is one who tells me that those sins are okay, that he'll save me anyway." That's a popular idea of Jesus, too; but it's not the Jesus the Scriptures proclaim.
That Jesus says, "Let you hold on to sin? I've already carried all your sins to the cross and suffered them there. The only way you can have them now is to take them back from Me. I didn't go to the cross to let you hold onto poison; I swallowed it all!" Do you see? To hold onto sin now is to say that you want a Savior who dies for most of your sins, but not all of them. It's to say that Jesus isn't quite so holy that He won't let a few sins go by. That's not the Savior Jesus Christ who promises forgiveness and eternal life. Change your mind while there's still time. In other words, repent.
We look forward to our Christmas celebration in just a couple weeks' time. But the King is just as near to you as He was to Mary the day of His birth. He’s here for you in Scripture and at His Supper table. His kingdom of radical forgiveness and new life is here for you, if you want it. Stop running. Surrender control. Trust in Jesus and live like you mean it. Clear a path for God to come in and demolish your old self; then watch as he crafts a beautiful new person. Don’t wait. Change your mind.

Wait Until Your Father Gets Home

“Just wait until your father gets home.” Did you ever hear that growing up? Maybe some of you are still hearing that today. “Wait until your father gets home.” What events do those words bring to your mind?

We are now in the season of Advent, and the whole point of Advent is to remind us that God is coming. During this season, Christians are invited to have a twin focus: we remember the first coming of the baby Jesus at Christmas, AND we look forward to His second coming as our King on Judgment Day! Let’s be candid: we often think of Advent only in terms of getting ready for Christmas. And I strongly suspect that we will do far more preparation for Christmas this year than we will for the Second Coming of Christ. Now listen; I’m a huge fan of Christmas; I’ve been to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan literally dozens of times. Christmas creates opportunities for us to talk about Christ in a culture that increasingly tries to silence the Christian voice! And that’s all good, as long as we acknowledge that the baby in the manger didn’t stay a baby; that he grew up into a man who would live and teach and heal and suffer and die and rise and ascend…AND…that He is most definitely coming back again! So while Christmas is wonderful, and we can’t not prepare for it, let me suggest to you that it is infinitely more important that you prepare your heart for the next arrival of Christ.

Advent reminds us: He is coming. A holy God will one day show Himself. The catch is…we are sinners. What’s our Father going to find when He gets home?

In the Old Testament Reading for today, the prophet Isaiah at first sounds quite eager to have the Father come: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens—that means rip them open—and come down!” But then, it’s like he reconsiders what he just prayed for...it seemed like a good idea at first, but Isaiah immediately puts it together: If God comes down, there’s going to be consequences! So he says to God, “Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” Um, now that I think about it, Father, maybe you coming down here is not such a great idea. Isaiah knows that God has reason to come to us in terrible judgment.

Not even our so-called good deeds can prevent God’s judgment. Isaiah admits, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Even the good stuff we do is tainted with sin and self-interest. Holding up our good deeds as a reason for God to spare us is like trying to buy gold with dirt. And yet that’s exactly what conventional spiritual wisdom holds to be true. You’ve heard it before: “I’ve been a good person; I’ve tried not to hurt anybody; I’ve never stolen or cheated or murdered anyone. I’ve tried to take care of my family, so I think God’s going to look at that and let me into heaven.” The Bible describes a different reality. Isaiah has the courage to be honest at least. He says, “All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, blow us away.”

Enjoying Advent yet? Looking forward to the Second Coming? This would be a terrible place to stop, wouldn’t it? Well, we can’t stop here, because it’s only half the story.

Advent means God is coming, and that fills some people with terror. Advent means your Father is coming home, and some people pretend that they don’t care—that it’s not going to affect them. But it doesn’t have to be that way with you. In fact, if the thought of God returning soon fills you with dread, then I would have to ask if you really understand the gospel.

See, the Bible is clear: God loves justice and He will deal with sin. The same Bible also makes it doubly clear: God is your loving Father. You can truly say, “I can’t wait until my Father gets home!” Isaiah says it in a wonderful way here in verse eight: “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter, we are all the work of your hand…Remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.”

God is the potter. You are the clay. You belong to Him. You are the work of His hands. He has personally created you. You are precious to Him; so precious that He has forgotten iniquity; He has forgotten your sins; he has forgotten, the worst, most stomach-churning thing that you have ever done. Why? Because He has a bad memory? No. Because He just decided to “let it go?” No. He has forgotten your sins because they have been paid for. They have been paid for in full; they no longer appear on your account. God has forgotten your sins because they have been paid for by His Son. That was the point of the first Advent: God coming into the world as one of us.

Look inside that Christmas manger. Look inside the feeding trough. What do you see? A cute baby boy, sure. But that’s God in our flesh. He’s been born into this world to rescue us.

Look at the cross of Calvary. What do you see? That’s not just someone wrongly convicted; that’s God in the flesh, paying the cost for your sins! He’s doing it for you!

Look in that empty Easter tomb. What do you see? Nothing, right? He’s not there! He has risen! God in the flesh could not be held in the grave! As one of our hymns says, Jesus was “first to break the bonds of death.” Because He did, you will too.

That God in flesh is the same one who will return at a day and time of His choosing to take you to be with Him. Yes, this world will end. Yes, there will be a Day of Judgment, and it will be a fearsome day, a terrible day—unless you know what He’s really like—unless you know what He did through Jesus. If you know Him that way, then his appearance will be something you long for…something your whole life is aimed at. You’ll be counting on the fact that your Father is coming home to make everything new and right. If you’ve lost that expectation, God’s Word calls to you today to find it again in Jesus, God in the flesh. If you’ve lost that expectation, then you’re just existing. Trust in God’s promises that have been and will be fulfilled in Jesus and start living again. Start living a life that’s not controlled by fear, but by faith.

Start living a life of faith in a God whose every impulse is controlled by fatherly love.

I’d like to paint a picture of that fatherly love, if I may. The words are not mine; they are the words of Pastor Steven Harold of British Columbia, who wrote the following:

“We were a poor family. We lived on government assistance. We had to give up on the farm and move into town. Dad got a job as a hospital janitor. After a while, he desperately needed new work shoes. The ones he wore had holes in the soles; you could see daylight through them. He had been saving money to get new work shoes.”

“At just the same time, I very much wanted a new baseball glove, which we definitely couldn’t afford. But my father put cardboard in his shoes to cover the holes and spent that money for a new baseball glove for me! Oh, I loved that glove. Dad taught me to take care of it, how to break it in the right way. But then one day, I did the unthinkable. I left the glove outside overnight, and it rained, and the glove became soaked through with water.”

“When I found it, I was heartbroken. I knew what my dad went through to get me that glove. My mother then said those famous words, “Wait until your father gets home.” I was not looking forward to his arrival.”

“Dad came home. I showed him the ball glove. I waited for the worst. What happened next completely surprised me. Dad did not get angry.”

“His eyes were wet with tears. He knew I was sorry. He knew I loved that ball glove. He knew I deserved punishment.”

“Instead, he showed me how to dry out the glove by putting it in the oven on low heat. He showed me how to rub some mink oil into the leather to preserve it. After a couple of days of this, the glove was as good as new. I waited until he came home, and he came with mercy and forgiveness and love. How my dad loved me! I was so glad he came home, and that he came home for me.”

Advent tells us our Lord is coming. Let’s take the last prayer recorded in the Bible and pray it eagerly, today and every day, from Revelation 22: 20: “Come, Lord Jesus.”

ADVENTure Stories

Discoveries of Judgment

In 2006, scientists gazed into the heavens. A spacecraft was returning from a seven-year mission and brought with it particles of comet dust. Having gazed into the heavens, the scientists now gazed through microscopes at the dust of heaven, hoping to discover within this material clues to the mystery of life.

Before science became the final court of meaning, however, artists were busy gazing into the heavens, creating paintings of a different court and of a different day: a day of judgment, when Christ would return and reveal for all people the meaning of life.

Taking a quick glance through paintings of the last judgment, one discovers a common theme. The heavens are torn open as Christ descends on a throne and the earth is breaking apart as the dead rise from their graves. While the paintings are usually too busy, with many human bodies mixed together with many angels and demons, one factor is fairly consistent. If you look closely; if you stare at the face of just one human being, you’ll find on that face a look of discovery. People look as if they’re waking from sleep and only beginning to discover the meaning of the world, of their Lord, of the life that once surrounded them.

In Matthew’s gospel, we learn exactly what those people are discovering. A division takes place on the Last Day: a division between sheep and goats. Those who are right with God—the sheep—will inherit the kingdom of God, while the goats—those who rejected God in this life—will enter into unimaginable torment. What they are discovering is which one they are. What we have to have an answer to as we think about the coming judgment is this: What is the dividing line? What makes a sheep a sheep and a goat a goat?

Let’s back up for a second. As we think about Judgment Day—a Day the Bible says is absolutely going to come—we need to know God calls us not to speculation but to preparation. Scripture develops a picture of that preparation for us. Preparing for Jesus’ return includes diligent use of God’s Word. Preparing for Jesus’ return includes investing ourselves in His kingdom, making the most of the talents He’s given us. Jesus adds to the picture today. Within the drama of this division between sheep and goats, Jesus teaches that preparing for his return includes service to our fellow human beings. I’m sure you noticed in this scenario that the sheep were the ones who served the hungry; the homeless; the poor; the sick; the prisoner. So, is that it? Is that the answer to the question, what makes a sheep and sheep and a goat a goat? Well, in a sense the sheep are identified as having served others—but we need to know why. That’s the key. Why do the sheep serve others?

They serve because that’s who they are. They do not serve to save themselves. In fact, in the story, they seem shocked to discover that they were actually serving Jesus when they were serving people. Again, the sheep serve because they have been named heirs of the kingdom. Please notice, that naming is God’s activity! That’s His action! That’s the Father’s will and testament. The sheep—those who, in faith, serve others—are simply reacting to what God has said and done in Christ. Nothing Jesus says here challenges our understanding of how God saves people. The hymn writer Paul Speratus said it well when he wrote: “For faith alone can justify; works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living.” The service the sheep are engaged in is an unavoidable result of living faith! In other words, with faith in Christ in their hearts, they can’t help it. They can’t stop it. They don’t want to stop it. They’ve been freed to serve. Serving others, for the sheep, is not “I ought to.” Instead, it’s “I get to! I want to! I love to!”

So are you a sheep? How do you know? Don’t look to your works. Just ask yourself, have you been named an heir of God’s kingdom? Have you been baptized into the family name—the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Your baptism makes this a matter of family identity. It is an act of undeserved love on God’s part in adopting you. Not only that, baptism creates faith—faith that relies completely on the death and resurrection of Jesus for eternal life. That very same faith cannot help but carry with it actions—service to others—call them “good works” if you must. I like to think of it as Jesus’ love being poured into you, and He just keeps pouring it in until it spills over, out of us and into the lives of others. That’s just what happens when you’ve connected to Christ Jesus through faith. The good things we do are God’s mercy spilling out of us. That’s the life God wants for you.

In this portrait of Judgment Day, on the other side of the aisle you’ve got the goats, and what a sad, pathetic group this is. Did you notice—they ask exactly the same question the sheep did: “Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, in jail?” But they’re asking for a different reason. You see, all too late, the goats are really saying, “Lord, if we would’ve known it was you, of course we would’ve served you. But all we saw was this homeless guy! All we saw was an ex-convict! All we saw was a woman with a bad reputation! All we saw was someone with no way of paying us back—someone who probably wouldn’t appreciate our help anyway! If we would’ve known it was you behind the mask, we would’ve fallen all over ourselves to serve you!”

And the King replies, “You had your chance.” Now why do you think Jesus tells this story ahead of time—in advance of the judgment? What’s scary is that sometimes sheep can think and act like goats! Sometimes sheep can come up with all kinds of wise-sounding reasons why certain people should not be served or helped. I don’t see that kind of wiggle room in this story. Do you? The goats, who are identified by their lack of action, are not spared.

It reminds me of a brief story, about a well-dressed European woman who took a tour of Africa. Her group happened to stop at hospital for those afflicted with leprosy. The heat was intense. Flies were buzzing around. This woman noticed a nurse bending down on the dirt floor, tending to the pus-filled sores of a leper. Sick to her stomach, the woman said, “Why, I wouldn’t do that for all the money in the world.”

Without looking up, the nurse quietly replied, “Neither would I.”

That nurse was not working for reward. She was working for the Lord. She was willing to wade into someone else’s pain and misery and to try to bring comfort—why? Because that’s what Jesus does. He will use you the same way if you let Him. He may not send you to Africa, but will make you an agent of His mercy; a carrier of His kindness; a distributor of His strength and truth. He will pour His compassion into you until it spills over. That is why you are here. That is why God’s flock remains in this desperate, groaning world. The sheep are the ones who serve the world with the Shepherd’s riches.

Who can you help? Whom can you serve? Keep asking that question, and I guarantee that Jesus, will show you. When He shows you, follow through and serve, knowing that whatever you do for the least of these brothers, you do for Him. It is Christ you are serving. What a discovery.

God's Kingdom Economy

One of my favorite seminary professors used to constantly remind us, “Jesus told stories. So should we.” Today’s gospel lesson is one of those stories Jesus told. It’s a story that’s pretty easy to understand. Accepting its truth and living it out—that may be more of a challenge.

Here’s the basic plot: Jesus said that a master was getting ready to take a long journey. So he called in his servants and distributed his wealth among them. Then he left. And then he came back. And when he came back he called for an accounting, and those who had invested wisely, he rewarded. And the one who did not invest is punished.

Jesus told this story to show us what we ought to be doing while He’s away. This story shows us what Christian readiness—preparedness for Jesus’ return— looks like. It looks like making an investment. It looks like putting our resources of time and availability to work. It looks like giving our best effort to serving Jesus. And, yes, it looks like investing our financial resources in God’s kingdom, so that the work of making disciples would continue. Current events have made this a scarier idea than ever. As investors are warned, investment involves risk and that risk is often significant. In this story Jesus sends the message that as you watch and wait for his return, you have two options: you can use what God has given you to invest in His Kingdom, or you can sit on what he has given you. In each case, the outcome is predictable. Those who invest their “talents” do the right thing and are rewarded. Those who bury their “talents” are condemned!

Let’s zoom in on the story. Scene one opens with the master calling in his servants. He says to them, "I am going to entrust you with my wealth." So he gives 5 talents to one, 2 talents to another, and 1 talent to the third. Talents were a unit of currency, (think of it as a thousand-dollar bill) but it’s not out of bounds to think of “talent” in the modern sense of “ability.” He distributed his wealth among them and said, "While I am gone I want you to be stewards of this wealth."
He is the master. They are the servants. He owns everything. They own nothing. They depend upon him. Now he has called them in and said, "I am going away, and I entrust you with my wealth. You take care of it.” That’s the end of Scene one.

So far, so good. God owns everything. He has entrusted us with the wealth of the Gospel—the wealth of His saving Word in all of its forms. He wants to see what we will do with this treasure. I think we get that.

Scene two: the Master comes back. When He came back, the 5 talent man came in and said, "Look, master. I have taken the 5 and invested them, and now I have 10." "Well done, good & faithful servant," He said. "You have been faithful over a few things. I’ll give you many."
The 2 talent man came in and said, "Look, master. I have taken the 2 talents you gave me and I invested them. Now I have 4." "Well done, good and faithful servant," He said. "Because you have been faithful over a few things, I’ll make you a ruler over many."
Then the 1 talent man came in. He said, "Lord, I knew that you were a hard master, and that you reap what you have not sown. So I wrapped up the talent and I buried it in the ground. Here it is. No scratches. No mildew. I’ve cleaned it up. It is just exactly the way you gave it to me."
The master called him a "wicked, lazy servant," and later, a "worthless servant." And He threw him out into the darkness where people are deeply distressed. End of story.

Does that bother you at all? Make you a little uneasy? You might feel a bit sorry for the one talent man. He didn’t steal the money. He didn’t embezzle the talent. He just didn’t do anything with it. He buried it, kept it safe. And this greatly displeased the Master.

You can bet that if the five talent man had buried his talents in the backyard, he would’ve been treated the same way —talents taken back, disgraced, sent away. You can also bet that if the one talent man had just taken that humble sum and invested it and turned it into something more, he would have been praised by the Master.

What if the one talent man had invested his talent only to lose it in a volatile market? While common sense would urge us to worry about the risk, the crystal clear point of this parable is that burying the talents God gives us—for whatever excuse we choose—is a bad, bad decision.

I’m going to tell you something that may surprise you. It may confuse you and you might need a minute to get your arms around it. But here goes: God’s Word never commands us to be successful. God’s Word never commands us to be successful. I have yet to find a place in Holy Scripture where God says: “If you try and fail, I will condemn you.” On the other hand, I can show you plenty of places where he says, “Trust me. Just try. Invest yourself in my Word. Invest yourself in my Church. Invest yourself in being my disciple. Invest yourself in making disciples.” God has nothing good to say to the Christian or the church who takes His gifts and buries them to keep them “safe.” He has great things to say to the Christian and the church that takes His gifts and looks for new ways to put those gifts to work. He will provide the increase. The success and victories are His. He just needs us to be faithful—to trust Him and to try.

In God’s “Kingdom Economy,” you don’t lose talents by investing them. You lose talents by burying them. With that in mind, let’s take a moment to let this sink in.

What “talent” has God given you? Don’t say “none.” That’s an insult to the Master. There is some ability that he has given you that can be an asset to His kingdom. Are you investing it in service to Jesus? Or is it buried right now?

If the Master were to examine me as a pastor and us as a congregation, would he praise us for taking bold and faithful risks? Are we investing our collective talents in a way that is leading an expanding circle of people to Jesus? Do we sometimes bury our talents, afraid of losing what we’ve got? Thinking, we tried that once, and it didn’t work, so let’s just keep this talent nice and safe and wrapped up here in the ground?

Look; I will be the first to admit the many times I have buried my talents and was even pretty pleased with myself for doing so—mistakenly, sinfully. But this story leads me to the conclusion that if I’m going to be faithful to Jesus, then I’m going to have to step out of my comfort zone, and say goodbye to the safety of keeping that talent to myself. If you also recognize this tendency in yourself, I invite you to come with me to the cross of Jesus Christ. I invite you to hear Jesus say, “tetelestai—It is finished—the price for sin is paid in full.” Let’s go to the baptismal font, where we recall what water and God’s Name did to us. It made us His. Let’s take our places at the Lord’s Table, where his forgiveness is served. These are the places where the talents are disbursed, where the most precious gifts are distributed. Here, the treasury of heaven is opened and offered to us. More valuable than silver and gold, the body and blood of Jesus, given and shed for you, settles your account with God the Father Almighty. In addition, the Holy Spirit has gifted you with skills and interests that are unique to you. He has given you a set of tools that are unique to you. He asks that you use those skills and tools to serve Him. It should come as no surprise that when you do, you will feel useful as never before and you will grow in your faith as never before. Trust Jesus and try it.

I’ll say it once more: In God’s “Kingdom Economy,” you don’t lose talents by investing them. You lose talents by burying them. Let’s work together while there’s still daylight. Let’s invest in God’s kingdom while there’s still time. When the Master returns, let’s be found using what he has given us

A Sneak Preview of Heaven

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.””

These in white robes—who are they? Each one of us here today could name at least a few of those wearing white robes before the throne of God. Today is a day set aside to remember those who have fallen asleep in faith; to remember the example of those who now worship in the Church Triumphant. It is also a day to vigorously take hold of our identity as saints of God in the here and now. But let’s not lose sight of the picture painted in Revelation.

The images in the scene are stunning and beautiful; a true melting pot of people from around the world, gathered into one countless mass of white-robed worshippers; palm branches are being waved about, as if another Palm Sunday is breaking out, which in a better sense, it is; the Lamb is not riding into Jerusalem to bleed and suffer and die; that is past. The living Lamb here in Revelation 7 has accomplished that mission and is now ruling over all things in the realm of heaven. The Hosannas continue. On the dusty road into Jerusalem the people had shouted “Save now!” Here in heaven they sing “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.”

We need to look into the picture and study the details. We need to let these images and words speak to us. We need this because we need to be reminded, again and again, that this will truly be our experience someday, and for our loved ones who have died in the Lord, it already is. Our stories turn out this way in Christ. With faith in Him, you will find out what John was trying to describe here. We must not lose sight of this picture.

We need these word pictures of heavenly beauty, worship, and comfort to be held before us again and again because life can often be so ugly. Life in a sin-polluted world can become so grotesque and so sick that in our terror and fear we forget. We forget or discount the fact that this life, so marred by sin and darkness, so twisted by bitterness and evil, so haunted by loneliness and apathy, is not all there is. We forget that day by day we come closer to singing at the Lamb’s High Feast. We forget that we are strangers here and that heaven is our home. And when we lose sight of the Lamb, what else is there but despair? What else is there but pain? Hopelessness?

That’s why we need this picture to be painted. We need to know that every single person who has been touched by the blood of the Lamb and who has washed themselves in Jesus’ shed blood by faith will inherit this heavenly life. We need to know that those who have preceded us in faith and death have received a clean robe from Christ, and now they are—before the throne of God—serving Him with perfect purpose—no longer affected by hunger, thirst, or any type of suffering—and are in joyful and total communion with God.

We also need to know that the white-robed faithful are there for no other reason than this: Jesus the Lamb paid for their sins with His blood, and they trusted in His payment. In this life we loved them and they loved us; in this life they were good to us and others; but it is not their goodness that got them to heaven. Nor will it be our goodness that gets us there. We must abandon any sense of “Well, God’s got to let me into heaven because I’ve been a good a person.” There is no such thing as good enough for heaven, if we are measuring the good we’ve done versus the sin we’ve done. The only way to appear before God’s throne in a white robe ready to sing and serve and celebrate is to depend totally and completely on the Lamb who was slain and who lives again. The only way into heaven is through faith in Jesus, crucified for your sins and raised to life to be your life forever.

This is the sum and substance of the Christian faith. This awe-inspiring picture of the saints in triumph is what it is all about. One of the boldest statements in all of Holy Scripture speaks directly to this point. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15: ‘If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is nonsense and sin still has you in its power. Then those who have died as believers in Christ no longer exist. If Christ is our hope for this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people. But Christ has come back from the dead. As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ.’

These in white robes—who are they? As John said to the elder, “Sir, you know.” These are the people who lived real lives in this world; lives affected by sin, hatred, disease, hardship, persecution, and everything else that life can throw at you, and yet these people remained faithful. They trusted not in themselves but in Christ; they knew the key to heaven was not their personal goodness but the shed blood of the Lamb.

Hold onto this key through faith in Christ. Look often into this picture of the gathered multitude of saints, knowing that by God’s merciful decision, the white robe and the palm branch and His never-ending love will always be yours.

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb! Amen.

Still Reforming

On October 31, 1517, 493 years ago, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed a paper to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This in itself was not unusual. In those days the church door served as the town bulletin board. But this particular notice written by Luther was quite unusual compared to the conventional religious wisdom of that time. That paper began the Reformation, a worldwide revolution that has continued relevance today.
The subject of this paper was the sale of indulgences. Martin Luther had 95 things to say about indulgences and hoped someone would be willing to debate them in a scholarly setting. Why was this so revolutionary? Because Luther was starting to lead a charge back into the Word of God. The Church of Luther’s era had built something almost unrecognizable over the foundation of God’s Word—a religion governed by human tradition—a religion by which heaven could be purchased by the consumer. Luther would lead a charge back into the Word of God—a charge to dig back into the foundation—a charge to discover what God really has to say to His creation.
One of the Bible passages that would come to mean so much to Luther was today’s Epistle reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans. The parallels between Paul’s situation and Luther’s are obvious, but no less striking. Paul was writing about his own people—the Jewish people at the time of Christ. The Jewish leaders had developed a distorted picture of themselves. By thinking they could fully obey the Law of God, they had developed a pride that was destroying them. The religious system of the Jewish leaders no longer required God. They felt they could fulfill the Law themselves.
But the Law, Paul asserts, cannot make us righteous. The Law shows us our sins. What we do to keep the Law will not make us right with God, because we could never do enough. And it was not only the Jewish people who had a problem with pride. Paul also cautions his Gentile audience. No one is righteous, he says. There is no difference. All have sinned. What then becomes of pride? It is excluded. A person who is truly walking with God has nothing to be prideful about. We are justified, literally, declared “not guilty,” by faith, apart from works of the Law.
The Church of Luther’s time declared just the opposite. Pope Leo X wanted to complete St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Much money needed to be gathered before the mammoth project could be completed. Pope Leo ruled that indulgences—certificates of God’s pardon—should be sold in Germany. Chief among the pardon peddlers was a monk named John Tetzel. When Tetzel rolled into town, bells tolled, organs sounded, a red cross was set up bearing the pope’s coat of arms. Once in the town church, Tetzel would preach about the miraculous power of indulgences. It was proclaimed and believed by most that whoever bought an indulgence not only received forgiveness of sins, but would also escape punishment in purgatory, a kind of holding tank for souls never once mentioned in Holy Scripture.
The pope, Tetzel claimed, had more power than all the apostles and saints, even more than the Virgin Mary, for all of these were under Christ, while the pope was equal to Christ. Tetzel claimed to have saved more souls with his indulgences than Peter with his sermons. He even had a little commercial jingle—way ahead of his time, that Tetzel—“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” As a result, many were led to believe that they did not need to repent of their sins, and that trust in Jesus Christ was unnecessary. Just buy some indulgences, and you’d be straight.
Luther was incensed when he heard about this. He knew that souls for whom Jesus died were at stake! The Gospel of Jesus was being denied by the very organization that was supposed to proclaim it! Luther protested the sale of indulgences because it threatened to destroy a Christian’s relationship with God. As Luther wrote in Thesis # 62: “The true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.”
It is that same concern for souls; that same concern for getting the gospel of Jesus right that moved Paul to write to the Roman Christians. It was of utmost importance that they understood that Jewish tradition did not give Jewish people an advantage with God. Knowing the Law does not save people. Only those who always do exactly what the Law says can be saved by the Law. Since all—both Jew and Gentile—have sinned, all will die.
Luther used what Paul wrote here to demonstrate from Scripture that we are not saved by the things we do. We are saved by what Jesus has done for us. God offered His Son as “a sacrifice of atonement.” We have life “through faith in His blood.” The Church of Luther’s era had deteriorated into a self-serving, self-preserving organization. In almost every important way, God’s Word was only historically incidental to the organization. The immediate needs of the organization and its security took precedence over the Word of God. Luther used this passage and others like it to tear away the human organization where it needed to be torn. The Word itself was the demolishing and reforming force. The Law tore down. The Gospel built up. The Gospel built on the only real foundation—Jesus, the Messiah.

Let’s stop for a moment to consider the question: when is the best time to repair your home? Let’s say you notice a problem with a board on your porch. When should that be fixed? What will happen if you wait too long to fix it?
The Reformation at the time of Luther was a major event because the necessary ongoing repairs had not been done. Forget a loose board; the whole house was about to collapse. The foundation of the Church had been undermined. Because smaller repairs had been ignored, pride in tradition grew as Christ was displaced.
If reformation can be compared to keeping our house in good repair, then it is worth asking today, of ourselves, what do we need the Word of God to fix? What does the Law need to tear out of us? What does the Gospel need to build in us?
If we think of Reformation Day primarily as a day where it’s okay to slam Roman Catholicism, then we’ve missed the point entirely. We are no different than the Jews and Gentiles Paul wrote to. We are not “better people” than the Catholics, ancient or modern. We are always in danger of slipping across the boundary from confidence in what God does for us to pride in what we think we can do ourselves. Perversely, there is even a type of pride we can take in being “heirs of the Reformation” that amounts to a schoolyard attitude of “We’re smart and they’re dumb.”
But pride, of course, is excluded, according to the apostle Paul. How—by the way of works? No, by the way of faith. We are convinced that a person is justified by faith without the works of the Law. Pride is excluded by the faith that the Holy Spirit gives to us. Faith builds. Faith reforms in line with God’s Word.
The Law tears down our efforts to build a proud tradition. The grace of God points us to people who need to hear the Gospel in a way that makes sense to them.
The Law tears down our efforts to “protect the church.” The Gospel sends us to be God’s ambassadors, to take risks in showing Jesus to those who are as of now estranged from Him.
The Law breaks down our self-righteous attempts to make the church an exclusive club. The Gospel opens our hearts to other sinners that Jesus wants to reform.
The Law finds what is broken, what is rotten, what is dead, and rips it out. The Gospel of full forgiveness of sins in Jesus repairs. It makes new things. It reforms us in the likeness of Jesus, as we live through faith in His blood.

Loving God and Neighbor

What is your definition of love? The way you answer that question says a lot about you. The word “love” is pretty elastic; it can be stretched to mean all kinds of things. Maybe that’s part of the problem we have understanding love, especially as the Bible describes it.

Most people enjoy a good story. Wouldn’t you agree? Whether it’s a movie or a novel or a song, most people will listen to a good story to see how things turn out. Well, just think of the sheer volume of love stories that you’ve been told; think of the enormous number of love songs you’ve listened to; all of them putting their own spin on what love is; how to get it; how to keep it; and what happens when you lose it. And what do they say?

Most of the time, the storytellers tell us that love is first and foremost a feeling; an emotion; but not just any feeling; we are told that love is overwhelming; intoxicating; earth-shattering; and that feeling that feeling is just about the most significant experience that a human being can have. It outweighs everything. It is the deal breaker in every situation. We are told that if you’re feeling that feeling, go for it. Do it. Nothing is more important.

But then the storytellers also tell us that that feeling has a way of evaporating, and there’s nothing much you can do about it; and when it’s gone, it’s time to go looking to feel that feeling somewhere else with someone else. And so we’re left with the idea that number one, love is primarily an emotion or a feeling; and, number two, it is something over which we have little to no control. That’s a picture of romantic love that we get over and over again. Let me be very blunt and say that the storytellers have done us no favors by telling us this. Not only has this definition of love led people into countless disastrous relationships, it has also needlessly confused us when it comes to our relationship with God. How can that be?

Listen: in today’s Gospel lesson Jesus says this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now if the storytellers are right, and love is an earth-shattering feeling over which we have no control, these words Jesus spoke mean next to nothing. But if the love that Jesus was talking about is different somehow—if He was talking about something beyond fickle human emotion, then we’d better pay attention. We need only look at the man who spoke these words to see that He’s going deeper. Jesus would demonstrate, in the most dramatic way possible, that real love is deliberate, it is intentional, it may involve feelings but is not controlled by them, and ultimately, godly love is a matter of willing sacrifice. Godly love is a matter of willing sacrifice. Where do we see that? At the cross of Jesus.

When Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” He’s not saying, “Hey, listen, you need to drum up some positive emotions towards God. You need to fall in love with God all over again.” We couldn’t do that if we tried! No, loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind is deliberate. It is a matter of mindset, of intention. It is routinely, consistently making choices that honor God as #1 in your life. And that is going to involve sacrifice. The sacrifice of what, exactly?

Basically, the sacrifice of yourself. To love God with all my heart, soul, and mind means that I acknowledge Him as God—as Lord of my life, and if He’s Lord of my life, that means I am not. If I am ever going to have a meaningful relationship with God, it has to start here. I have to give up being God. Are you doing that? If you’re not letting God call the shots in your life, do you realize what that means? It means you don’t love him like you should! It doesn’t make any sense: Oh, I love God, but I don’t care what He says. What should you do? Repent! Return! Come back to Jesus. Look at the price Jesus paid to forgive you. Have you really counted the cost of this forgiveness? It cost Jesus His life. He zeroes out your balance by suffering and dying on a cross! Do you see? Love is willing sacrifice. You and I cannot love God this way automatically. But we’ve been brought back into deep relationship with God by the willing sacrifice of Jesus. That’s love. The Apostle John said it best: “This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us.” Willing sacrifice.

How do you respond to that? With thanks? With praise and worship? With faith? Yes, with all those, and also with love. And not love as just a feeling of gratitude, but a spirit of willing sacrifice. “If Jesus did that for me, then I want to do this for him.” And if I have to sacrifice some of my old prejudices, fine. And if I have to sacrifice some of my time to serve him, fine. And if I have to sacrifice some of my finances, fine! I love Jesus, I’m not going to say no to Him. Is that Spirit alive in you?

One way to tell is to think about your relationships. Think about the most important people in your life. Think about your friends and acquaintances. Do you remember what Jesus says about them? “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Do you see where this is going? Jesus is saying that the needs of the people around you should be just as important to you as your own. He doesn’t even say the needs of others should be more important—they should just be as important. Well, you probably guessed it; for us, even that is a sacrifice.

There is a bomb, a land mine, sitting there in the middle of all our relationships, just waiting to explode, and this is it. How do you set it off? When you go into that relationship, whatever it is, and the most important thing to you is getting your demands met, prepare for an explosion. When you insist that people need to sacrifice for you, but you see no need to sacrifice in return, get ready for an explosion. If you want to detonate the most important friendships in your life, then just insist, “You have to do for me, but I’m not about to do for you.” Then watch it go up in smoke!

If Jesus has come to you and claimed you; if you’re depending on Him to renovate your heart and soul and mind; if His willing sacrifice really is changing you, then that is going to spill over into the way you treat people. These two statements of Jesus go hand in hand. If the willing sacrifice of Jesus has captured your heart and you love Him in return, then you’ll bring that spirit into the way you deal with your spouse or your family or your friend or the person you just met. You will give up pride and the need to be right. You will give up some of what you have to meet someone else’s needs. You’ll look for reconciliation instead of revenge. Hopefully this doesn’t sound crazy to you, because it is the way of Jesus. Willing sacrifice is the way of life for Jesus and His people!

But let me just say one thing in conclusion. When you hear and when I hear the word “sacrifice,” we immediately don’t like it; we’re set against it. Why? Because it sounds like we’re losing something. It sounds like we’re going to go without. But here’s the secret:

You have a God who gave up everything to get you. So the more you give up for Him, the more you get Him. That’s not losing—that gaining the one thing you really need. Let God flood your heart, soul and mind with His sacrificial love. Everything depends on it.

Are You Thankful?

In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty Years' War, a German pastor, Martin Rinckart, is said to have buried five thousand of his parishioners in one year—an average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, plague, and economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with the cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and wrote this table grace for his children: 'Now thank we all our God / With heart and hands and voices/ Who wondrous things had done/ In whom His world rejoices. /Who, from our mother's arms/Hath led us on our way/ With countless gifts of love/ And still is ours today.'" Here was a man who knew thanksgiving comes from love of God, not from outward circumstances.

Some of you may be having a pretty hard time giving thanks today. Certain realities in your life may have you feeling less than thankful. If that’s true for you, you’re not alone. After hearing your story, most people would probably agree that you don’t have much reason for gratitude. But then there are people like Martin Rinckart, who find reasons to thank God in the middle of an unimaginable experience. If you’re wondering if you could ever be like that faithful pastor, please listen carefully to the following words written by the apostle Paul:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Are there things in your life that make you anxious? Stressed-out? Lift them up to God in prayer and give thanks. That’s Paul’s message. Lift your requests to God, tell him about everything that’s troubling you, and give thanks at the same time. Give thanks before you lift up your concerns. Give thanks while you lift up your concerns. Give thanks after you lift up your concerns. And then what?

Then “the peace that transcends all understanding will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace that goes beyond understanding is a gift that comes in the midst of our need. It doesn’t remove every care and solve every problem; rather, it guards our hearts and minds in Christ; It keeps you pointed at and plugged into Jesus, so that your problems do not overwhelm you.

In other words, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that being a Christian means that life will never be hard. Believing Him means that joy and peace are available to you even when life is hard. It is possible to give thanks while we lift our concerns to the Lord. Sometimes we’d rather hide our hurt, bury our anger, pretend we’re not afraid or cling to our worry, than open ourselves to the healing touch of Jesus. By nature we resist it. But if we know Jesus at all, we know we have reason to give thanks. Eternal thanks. And through even the tiniest act of thanksgiving, the Holy Spirit can begin to break down our resistance by putting Jesus in focus.

Christian author Henri Nouwen put a human face on our resistance when he described an elderly woman brought to a psychiatric center. He writes: “She was wild, swinging at everything in sight, and frightening everyone so much that the doctors had to take everything away from her. But there was one small coin which she gripped in her fist and would not give up. In fact, it took two people to pry open that clenched hand. It was as though she would lose her very self along with the coin. If they deprived her of that last possession, she would have nothing more and be nothing more. That was her fear.”

Giving thanks reminds us that we are nothing apart from God. Giving thanks loosens the grip of our clenched fist, so that we might let go of ourselves and receive the fullness of Christ and his blessings.

Is your clenched fist clinging to guilt over a long ago sin? As you give thanks to God, you are reminded of the awesome magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Your sin pales in comparison to his self-giving love. Let your coin of guilt fall at the foot of Jesus’ cross, and see which is bigger.

Is your clenched fist clinging to bitterness because you have been wronged by someone? There is no undeserved suffering that Jesus cannot identify with. In my suffering, I may get a glimpse of the cross of Jesus. For that, if nothing else, I can give thanks. Let your coin of bitterness fall at the foot of Jesus’ cross—the cross that makes forgiveness possible.

Is your clenched fist clinging to possessions or people or the desire for future security? Anxiety about the possibility of losing someone or something leads us to cling even more tightly—but that makes things worse, not better. The more we give thanks for God’s faithfulness in the past, the more we come to trust in God’s future faithfulness. By reflecting on God’s past guidance and help, you may be able to drop your coin of worry at the foot of the cross, where real and lasting security was purchased for you.

And if there is something going on that is preventing you from giving any type of thanks to God, then lift your clenched fists to Him and ask Him to pry them open for you. Rejoicing and peace will not be out of your reach forever.

When you consider that the Son of God allowed himself to be rejected, battered, and killed for you--for your eternal well-being—is there anything more appropriate than thankfulness? When you remember that the same Jesus rose again and ascended into heaven to secure your eternal future, what else is there but overwhelming gratitude? Living in that gratitude and thankfulness then makes us who we are meant to be.

It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit a broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, as he fed them. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life.

Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean. For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The biggest shark...ten feet long.

But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred. In Captain Eddie's own words, "Cherry," that was the B- 17 pilot, Captain William Cherry, "read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off."

Now this is still Captian Eddie talking: "Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don't know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food...if I could catch it."

And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Parts of it were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice. Captain Eddie lived to tell the tale.

And he never forgot. Because every Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast...you could see an old man walking...white-haired, slightly bent. His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls while he walked...to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle.

Jesus Christ has saved you through his self-sacrifice. What walk of giving will you take now? What “thank you” do you have for the One whom, on a day long past, gave himself without a struggle?