221127 Sermon on Romans 13:8-14 (Advent 1) November 27, 2022

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St. Paul in our epistle reading says that we should set the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Deeds of darkness, unfortunately, are woven into the warp and woof of us fallen, sinful creatures. That is to say, we like to sneak around.

Sneaking around is for when you don’t want to be found out. You don’t want prying eyes to see what you are doing, so you hide.

What do you not want people to see? You might not want people to see what you are eating. Maybe Mom or Dad wouldn’t want you to eat that. The only way you’re going to get to is if you sneak it. Maybe if people knew what or the amount that you were eating they would judge and condemn you.

Same thing is true with what you drink. Maybe you are too young to drink. If you drank, you’d be condemned. Or people would judge you for the amount that you drank.

The desire to scratch the itch of lust can result in several hidden activities. We want to see what someone looks like under all those clothes. Adultery is committed in secret. Pornography and self-abuse is committed in secret. The easy access we have to pornography with our phones and computers is unprecedented. There has never been in this history of the world the ability to pour into our minds and souls such unheard of things. They call it streaming, and, indeed, it is like a river.

There are signs that this river is changing the mental landscape of our people. Romance and courtship are dying because desires are being satisfied with pornography. Young people aren’t seeking each other out. They aren’t seeking each other out for marriage—which is what God wants us to do. But not only that, they aren’t even seeking each other out for fornication like in the good old days. What is wanted is satisfied with a few swipes and clicks.

But, to be more accurate, I should instead say, “What we think we want” is satisfied. There is a certain kind of thrill that comes from doing things in secret. That which is drunk in secret is exciting. That which is eaten in secret tastes good. But there is a heavy price to pay. The conscience is defiled. We are disgusted by what we have done. Plus even the thrill itself has something missing from it.

Allow me to speak some more about how we are to be with our sexual desires. I probably haven’t given as much guidance on this issue has I should as a pastor. It’s such a terrible problem, and there is hardly any good advice out there. I’d like to share something with you that a wise man once shared with me. He said that romance is like playing a game. Like all games, romance has rules. So how is this game of romance supposed to be played?

First of all, boys and girls are supposed to remain chaste until they marry their wife or husband. Being chaste means that you don’t gratify your sexual desires either by yourself or with anybody else who is not your lawfully wedded wife or husband. An honorable marriage is the goal, so to speak, of this game. And this game, by the way, is then going to result in children and a new family—not an insignificant point, but we will not go any more into that today. A virgin boy and a virgin girl coming together in the marital union is beautiful, high, and practically holy. It is very near the apple of God’s eye, the great procreator.

Towards this end of coming together is a great game of romance that, may God grant it, continues on within the marriage, but I’d like to speak about beforehand. The wonderful thing about this game is that so long as the rule of remaining chaste until being married is followed, our natural desires are going to put us our way. It’s similar to how our natural desire for food makes us ready dinner. The game of the romance of boys and girls, men and women, is so wonderful that it has been written about and sung about for thousands of years.

In every game there are triumphs and set-backs, and so it is with romance as well. Not all courtship will result in marriage. That’s painful. Experiencing love is exhilarating. There will be highs, and there will be lows. That is what makes the whole enterprise so interesting and captivating.

But you can avoid these highs and lows can all be avoided by cheating. This is something that we can all remember from childhood. If you cheat at a board game, say, you greatly increase your chances of winning. You might even just win automatically with the cheating. But there is quite a difference in the feeling that you have after winning a game fair and square and winning after knowing that you have cheated.

This is what I remember so well from that man who talked to me about romance being like a game. We all know that there is a world of difference between man and wife romancing each other—maybe not always successfully, highs, lows, fights and making up again—there’s a world of difference between that and pornography. Or hooking up. Or moving in with each other. The rules of the game are not being followed. Sure, there’s something of a win, but we all know that’s cheating. There is shame. To one extent or another it is therefore in the dark.

Ultimately, operating in the darkness is always bad for us, even if it appears to hold out possibilities of pleasure. Eating in the dark creates food addictions. Drinking in the dark creates alcohol addictions. Pornography creates pornography addictions. All of these things have good and natural—God-given—desires behind them. What happens to us is that we get deceived. Temptation deceives. Through temptations God’s enemies deceive us and mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.

The worst, but oh-so-common, deception is that we have no other choice but to live in the dark. This is the worst deception, because, like all good lies, it has truth to it. If you only want to eat the way you want to eat, then you might have to do that in the dark. If you only want to drink the way you want to drink, then you might have to do that in the dark. If you want to gratify your lusts the way you want to gratify your lusts, then you might have to do that in the dark.

Let me add some plausible sounding arguments to that last one, because that is especially powerful in our day. You have no choice but to break the rules and live in the dark because everybody knows that the church is prudish. But that’s not true. Didn’t I tell you that there is nothing more beautiful or wonderful than a virgin boy and a virgin girl coming together? There is even a book of the Bible that talks about that called the Song of Songs. Such a union is even how God makes children. Or it’s said that the requirement of getting married is too difficult, and, therefore, impractical. Or that marriage can be hard, and so you need to try it out first by living together to make sure that you are compatible.

That’s like saying you only ever want to play a game so long as you will always win. That’s not how marriage is. Marriage always is a leap of faith. Promising to have someone for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health is no joke. But you as Christians are not setting out on this adventure all alone. God is there to see you through—even when it doesn’t seem like it. It’s not at all uncommon for newly married couples to go through some severe challenges. I personally know of more than a couple who found that the darkness was deepest just before the dawn. And what’s the alternative to this adventure? The alternative is to not go on the adventure at all, waiting to see how God will make things turn out. The alternative is to break the rules and live in the dark.

Realize that that is always the deceiver’s goal. The devil wants you to believe that you have no other choice except to live in the dark. Darkness, sadness, a bad conscience—supposedly that just life. The darkness is not strange. The darkness is where you belong. It’s the only place you’ll ever be happy. God’s rules will always make you unhappy, so never think of them. You shouldn’t even attempt to play the game, because you’ll only always lose. The sooner you accept how hopeless Christianity is, the more at peace you will be. Embrace your own thoughts, your own desires, and coast into the ever-increasing darkness. Such is the sad, sad song whereby poor souls get serenaded until they drift off into the sleep of unbelief.

This season of the Church Year, Advent, speaks differently. In Advent we speak of Jesus’s coming. In Jesus is hope and light. During our Wednesday Advent services we sing: “Jesus Christ is the light of the world. The light no darkness can overcome. Stay with us Lord, for it is evening. And the day is almost over. Let your light scatter the darkness. And illumine your church.”

Make use of these Wednesday services. They are purposely offered to help you, not to hurt you, not to bore you. If you feel as though you have been deceived, and are being deceived about the darkness, what better way to alleviate that than by praying to Jesus, the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome?

Paul tells us in our reading that we should understand the times. Understand the situation. Believe me, this darkened world is full of voices that want to keep you in the dark. Even if you want to leave, they will try to pull you back. Paul says, “The hour has come for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation, that is, Christ’s second coming, is nearer now than when you first believe in Jesus. The night is almost over, and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. Let us walk without shame, as one would walk in the daytime, not in stuffing ourselves and drinking ourselves into a stupor, not in sexual sin and with partying, not in ambition and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give any thought to how you can satisfy the desires of your sinful flesh.”

The light is coming. He already has come. Jesus has shown that the deceiver is a liar when he says you have no other choice but to live in darkness, hiding your shame, hoping that what you have done in darkness will never come to light. It is also a blatant lie that you can have no fun unless you are living in darkness. Fine. I suppose there must be something fun about cheating, otherwise nobody would do it, but everybody knows that it is far better to win when you have been playing by the rules.

Jesus has redeemed you, purchased you, from the deceiver, from the devil. His is not the only game in town. His is not the only way a person can live. The darkness of hell is by no means inevitable for anyone, no matter how many deeds he or she has done in darkness. Jesus became darkness for us, so that we should be made light in him.

So maybe you have been sneaking around. Understand that you cannot keep doing that without consequences. If you continue to love the darkness you won’t be fit for the light. You won’t like the light. And the darkness is lame and boring. The adventure of a life that is lived in God is better than the cheap thrills that are had by cheating.

So let us put off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. When you get hungry, thirsty, or lusty, may you look to the source and satisfier of those things—look to God—instead of sneaking around in the dark. He will give you better, healthier, more life giving things. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome.

221123 Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve November 23, 2022

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Thanksgiving seems like it should be easy enough. Many parents teach their children this skill early with the words: “What do you say?” “Thank you.” Giving thanks is polite. Failing to give thanks is impolite. But being polite is one thing. Being sincere is another. What if you don’t feel like giving thanks?

Not feeling like giving thanks is very common. Sometimes things don’t go the way we wish they would go. Why do things go the way they go? Is it a matter of luck? The Bible says nothing about luck. The Bible makes it clear that God is the one who does everything. So if something bad happens to you, if someone is taken away from you, if something is withheld from you, then this is not because you were unlucky. God being God means that he does all things.

You can see that in the readings tonight. In our first reading from Deuteronomy Moses is talking to the people about what had happened for the last 40 years. The Israelites were supposed to go directly from Egypt into the promised land, but they were prevented from doing so. Who is responsible for that? God is. Moses said, “Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you.” God humbled them. God made them hungry until he fed them with manna.

Paul in our second reading spoke about his varying circumstances. Sometimes he had very little. Sometimes he had more than he needed. Sometimes he was full. Sometimes he was hungry. Who is responsible for that? Paul was a tent maker. It sounds like he worked hard doing that when he could in order to pay the bills along with the preaching and teaching that he did as an apostle. So you might think Paul is responsible for whether he had enough.

But things happen. Walmart moves into town, selling a whole bunch of tents that were made in China. There are accidents, thefts, riots, and so on. A person could get sick. Well, then, maybe he could get some insurance, or maybe the government could give him a bailout. Maybe he could go to the doctor. Maybe he could go to the psychiatrist or psychologist. And God likes to work through ordinary means, so God can work through things like that in order to provide some relief, but you’ve probably experienced at some point, or are experiencing it tonight, that you don’t feel like giving thanks. Things aren’t going the way that I want them to.

At this point I could respond with “What do you say?” If I wanted to be insistent I could make a case too. That’s not too hard. All I have to say is, “It could always be worse.” Yes, indeed, it could always be worse. And look at all this nice stuff you have. You know there are starving children in Africa who would just love to have what you have. There. You see? Now be polite.

But this, again, is avoiding what is really going on. This is just a variation of that lucky, unlucky theme. You’re not unlucky. You’re lucky. Just look at how lucky you. You’re so lucky. And, you know what? Chances are you’ll stay lucky too. You just have to look on the bright side of life.

So be polite. Say thank you. And we’ll all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

It will be a wonderful Thanksgiving because we won’t have to bother our heads about God being in control of all things. We won’t have to worry about anybody not feeling like giving thanks. They’re not following the rules. They’re being impolite. We should all just keep it light. Keep it fun. And then the next day we can shop until we drop.

Christian thanksgiving, as opposed to what we’d maybe call “American thanksgiving,” is deeper, more intense. Christian thanksgiving is going to have to wrestle with God working all things. Sometimes he makes us happy. Sometimes he makes us sad. Sometimes he gives. Sometimes he takes away. Luck has nothing to do with it. Neither does having lots of stuff. Shopping is a very poor substitute for a relationship with God.

The one thing the Israelites couldn’t do while they were in the desert wilderness with Moses was shop. There was nothing to buy. That was very hard on those Israelites. They wanted to shop very badly. They wanted to shop so badly that they wished they could go back to Egypt. True, they were slaves there, but every now and then they could afford to buy a melon or some garlic. Not so in the wilderness. The way they survived in that desert was by gathering manna every day. They couldn’t store it up. If they tried, it would spoil. And Moses in our reading tells us why God did this to them. He says that God fed them manna “to teach them that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Does that sound familiar to you? It should. This was the Scripture that Jesus quoted to the devil when he was tested in the wilderness. Jesus fasted for 40 days, and he was hungry. The devil told him he should use his divine power to turn stones into bread. Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

The devil was basically saying to Jesus that he could have it all. He could have his best life now. All he had to do was make use of the resources at his disposal, develop his potential, and then, simple as that, no more sadness. Jesus is basically telling the devil that happiness, that is, the state of being blessed, is much more than the pursuit of property.

Paul also says something very similar in our second reading. He says, “I have learned to be content in any circumstances in which I find myself. I know what it is to live in humble circumstances, and I know what it is to have more than enough. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, while being full or hungry, while having plenty or not enough. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”

Perhaps that last little bit there sounds familiar to you too. It’s not uncommon for folks to snip that verse out of its context and put it on their walls or on decorations: “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” Although I have seen that verse many times on decorations, I have never seen a decoration that says I will be content while being hungry, or I will be content while having not enough. I have a feeling that such a decoration wouldn’t sell very well.

But snipping out that verse from its context really changes the meaning. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That makes it sound as though I can change stones to bread. I can make things just so for myself, however I want them, if I develop my potential—with Christ’s help of course. I can do miracles.

But the actual meaning of Paul’s words is that if there is a miracle here, it’s that he is content in much less than perfect circumstances. Even if he should be hungry or at a lack, he is content. This is not because he is some stoic or because he likes pain. It’s because he knows God in our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not live on bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Being content and giving thanks in sad and uncomfortable situations is supposed to be part of our experience as Christians. The God who reveals himself in the Scriptures tells us that he is a Father who disciplines his children. Moses in our reading says: “So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore you are to keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by revering him.”

Now suppose that we were at the Thanksgiving table. We go around the table and everybody says what he or she is thankful for. Then it comes to you and you say: “I’m thankful for God disciplining me. I’m thankful for God causing me pain, for humbling me. Thereby he has brought me back to faithfulness and the keeping of his commandments.” That would be breaking the rules for how you are supposed to be thankful as an American holiday. However, it would also be refreshing as something that is true, instead of being merely polite.

When the Scriptures are taken seriously there’s no escaping the fact that God deals with those he loves like a Father who disciplines his son. Life is not a matter of luckiness and unluckiness. Stuff doesn’t just happen. Nor is it the case that so long as we have enough resources at our disposal we can keep ourselves happy.

It is instead the case that God makes us hungry so that we may be fed. He makes us sad so that we may be glad. The bones that he breaks eventually make us rejoice. Through all of this it is so that we may learn that we do not live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Knowing God is so much more important than going shopping.

Know God, therefore, and give him thanks. Don’t just be polite. Thank him also for his discipline, for humbling you. Sad, humble times are the times when things get corrected spiritually speaking. That is when we grow in knowing our God. Good and easy times are when people forget God. Hard times are when we almost have no other choice than to be knocking at his door. And since we aren’t that great of human beings, that is almost always exactly what the doctor orders.

Paul, in the same chapter from which we read tonight, says another well-known verse: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I say, ‘Rejoice.’” The key word is “always,” or “at all times.” Rejoice at all times, in trouble and when trouble is passed, knowing that we do not live by bread alone, but by the word that comes from the mouth of our God. Knowing him, and knowing his good and gracious will towards you in our Lord Jesus Christ, gives you the power to be content. That is doing all things through Christ, who strengthens us.

221120 Sermon on Luke 23:27-43 (Last Sunday in Church Year) November 20, 2022

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Jesus was arrested for being disruptive by the chief priests, elders, and other leaders of the church. Jesus was being disruptive because he was bringing to bear on people’s lives the Word of God. The Word of God is disruptive. It doesn’t just affirm everything we already think and do. So they hated Jesus—they would say for being disruptive, but really for exposing their evil. In Jesus the light came into the world, but they preferred the darkness instead of the light so that they could carry on doing what they were doing. They had to get rid of that light.

As it turned out, this was a whole lot easier than they were expecting. They were prepared to go to great lengths—securing a spy, arresting him at night, in a secluded space. These were folks who knew how to turn a screw. But they didn’t need to go to all that trouble, because Jesus wasn’t a liar. If Jesus were shrewd like we pride ourselves as being, they wouldn’t have been able to nail him so easily. But Jesus told them exactly what they wanted to hear.

They asked him, “Are you the Son of God?” Jesus said, “Yes, it is as you say.” Case closed. “What need have we for further witnesses? You heard it from his own lips! That is blasphemy if I’ve ever heard blasphemy. How can someone claim to be God’s Son?” So ended that trial.

Then, when Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, they had to change tactics a little bit. Pilate couldn’t care less about what is orthodox and what is unorthodox. Politics is how Jesus could be nailed here. He’s been letting himself be called a king. They had a parade for him just the other day. They were singing, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord, even the king of Israel!”

Of all the things that Jesus could have been charged with, this was, in fact, something that always did prick up the ears of the Romans. The Romans were very practical people, dollars and cents kinds of people. Believe whatever you want so long as you keep working, keep paying your taxes, and aren’t disruptive to the status quo. Rival kings would not be tolerated.

Of course, Pilate thought Jesus was no rival. He thought he was nuts. Pilate tried to get him off the hook. But Jesus didn’t help him in this regard. When Pilate asked him, “Are you a king?” he didn’t lie. “I am as you say.” So be it. Pilate sent along a special sign for Jesus’s cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

The idea of Jesus being king provided all kinds of comedic material for everybody involved. The soldiers at the chief priest’s house blindfolded Jesus, punched him, and then said, “Prophecy, O Son of God. Who struck you?” Later a purple robe was draped upon him, a crown of thorns was put on his head. They broke off a stalk of reed for him to carry as a scepter. “Hail, king of the Jews.” Then they took the scepter out of his hand and bopped him on the head with it. What an idiot!

You heard some of this kind of thing in our reading: “He saved others. Stands to reason, then, that he should be able to save himself! Come down from that cross, O Christ of God, then we’ll believe you. Oh, you can’t come down from that cross? Have some nails got you stuck there? I guess you aren’t much of a God, then, are you?”

Even the two criminals, who, themselves, were fastened tightly to their own crosses by nails joined in on the reviling. They were as guilty as guilty can be, but at least they weren’t naïve idiots like this Jesus. How common that is in the minds of evil people: “At least I’m not like that person. I might be mean, and I might be greedy, but at least I’m not like him.” Maybe that’s the devil’s motivations for all his temptations. He can point at us poor sinners and say, “At least I’m not like that.” I wonder if that thought still gives any comfort in the dark halls of hell: “At least I’m not like that!”

But Luke gives us a gift when it comes to these two criminals. As you heard in our reading, one of these two criminals comes to his senses. The other Gospels don’t get into that. But Luke does, and it’s quite something to hear. May we all become like this thief on the cross. He gives the Christian confession. In fact, there is no other kind of confession that is Christian.

As you know, confession has two parts: first, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness. This is what this man does. He chastises the other thief with tremendous words: “Don’t you fear God?” That is the question, is it not? Do you fear God? Or do you keep him safely out of mind so that nothing disrupts your practicing of evil? Do you console yourself with the thought: “It will probably be fine”?

Then the thief says, “We deserve the punishment we are receiving. We’ve done wrong. This man between us has done nothing wrong.” This, also, is an amazing thing for anyone to say, and so incredibly rare.

I’m always picking on you guys and how you live your lives, so I’ll pick on some strangers for a change, to illustrate how rare this is.

In 2008 the financial sector collapsed. Why did it collapse? Because bankers and investors and a whole bunch of other already filthy rich people were making ridiculous bets, raking it in, never able to make enough for sitting there and doing nothing. Plus all kinds of people were lying their heads off. The ratings agencies, for example, were lying to beat the band. Why? Because if they didn’t lie they’d have to go out of business. If they didn’t lie, their clients would just go elsewhere. They didn’t have a choice, you see. The house of cards had to collapse because it was built on lies. Then, when it did collapse, the richest ones who should have lost everything ended up making even more money.

This fraud changed everything. We’re still living in the shadow of it, and we will continue to live in the shadow of it until our current house of cards gets blown over. This was the biggest fraud in history. But not a single one of these greedy, lying, lazy cheats spent a single day in jail. They weren’t even charged and put on trial. They didn’t have to go through that stress.

Every day tiny little sneak thieves and embezzlers get the book thrown at them and they get locked away for 10 or 20 years for stealing infinitesimally small fractions of what these giants stole. The two men crucified with Jesus were thieves, but in our society we name buildings after our thieves. They are held in high esteem. And, of course, the last thing they would ever do is say that they were sorry. Because, of course, it’s not their fault.

Or take this insane virus that has made our life miserable and killed a huge number of people. This virus was almost certainly cooked up in some lab somewhere. Even if this particular one wasn’t, there’s no disputing the fact that scientists are doing “gain of function” research on viruses, bacteria, and funguses.  “Gain of function” means that they’re purposely making the diseases deadlier, more contagious, and so on.

Even though perhaps millions of people have been essentially murdered by these scientists and the governments who pay them, nobody’s said they’re sorry. If there were ever a time for sackcloth and ashes, wouldn’t it for those involved in this conflagration that was unleashed upon the earth? But not only is there no sackcloth and ashes, you can’t even ask the question of where it came from. The powers that be have wanted everybody to assume that it came from a pangolin, whatever that is, and let’s just leave it at that. What bigger investigation could be possible than this one—what news story, even? You’d think just the love of money or the love of fame would propel people to ferret out the truth.

But we’re not living in a time of truth. And that’s not surprising, if only we consult our own ways of doing things. We don’t want to take responsibility for what we’ve done either. It’s not our fault, you see. We don’t want the light anywhere near those portions of our life that we want to keep hidden in the dark so that we can keep doing what we want. We, like the bank executives, don’t want to say we’re sorry. And why should we? Here’s a bit of truth actually: They’re not sorry and neither are we. Maybe we won’t be sorry until we land ourselves in hell. Then, boy oh boy, will we be sorry. We are so proud and tight-lipped in this life. We won’t say we’re sorry. We’re probably fine. Nobody will know because we’ve kept it in the dark. Why confess or change your ways?

But here’s the question: Do you not fear God?

There is one last thing that is extraordinary about this thief’s confession. There’s one more true thing that he says: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Remember how all the big wigs and the powers that be have been amusing themselves: “He fancies himself a king! How droll!” and they carry on with their wicked lives. Meanwhile this guilty, punished, humiliated thief actually believes that Jesus is king.

And so he is. Jesus always spoke the truth. “Are you the Son of God?” “Yes,” even though it meant death. “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes,” even though it meant mockery and death. Jesus, unlike us, never lies. He is truth and light and life, instead of lies and darkness and death.

So Jesus says another true thing to this poor man: “Amen. Today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus would remember him in his kingdom. And what is Jesus’s kingdom? It is truth and light and life.

Jesus says in another place: “This is the basis for the judgment—this is how people are judged: The light has come into the world, yet the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed. But the one who does what is true comes toward the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in connection with God.”

Since this is the basis for judgement, come toward the light. Sure, that light is going to expose your evil deeds. That’s no fun, I know. There’s a good reason why tears so often accompany confessions of guilt. But the only other alternative is to shun the light for the next 10 or 20 or 80 or however many more years you have left to live, and then your wicked deeds will then be exposed.

The books are opened then to all, a record truly telling, what each has done both great and small, while he on earth was dwelling.

Learn from this wise criminal. He is so much wiser than our titans of finance and our oh-so-clever scientists. His wisdom did not come from flesh and blood. It had to have come from God because he is simply bursting with truth. By God’s truth he was transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus.

So it was for him, so it is now, and so it will be for all those who follow his example: “Jesus, remember me in your kingdom.” Then, when the time is right, you will be with him in paradise.

221113 Sermon on Luke 21:5-28 (Pentecost 23) November 13, 2022

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Our Gospel reading today is Jesus’s prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. Jesus said these things about 40 years before it actually took place. This prophecy is also, at the same time, about the end times and the last day. At the end of our reading Jesus says that he will come with great power and glory. What I would like to focus on today, then, is how we should prepare for the end times according to what Jesus says in our reading.

However, before we speak more positively about how we should be, it is helpful, I think, to point out two very common false beliefs about the end times. First of all, there are many Christians who do not believe that there will be any end times at all, or at least they never wish to talk about them. We confess in our creeds that Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. You heard Jesus say that there will be signs and wonders in the sky and tribulations on earth. Peter says in his second epistle that the elements will melt as they burn.

For many people these kinds of things are just too unusual. We want life to go on as it always has. It is unsettling to think that the existence of the universe could be so devastatingly altered. Plus, probably in the back of our mind, we think it is just mythical make-believe anyway. You know those ancient people. They weren’t too smart. If they knew what we know they wouldn’t have made such wild and impossible prophecies.

This false belief is common among us Lutherans. We are pretty staid and steady people. We don’t like to get too worked up about anything, and, in general, that’s a positive thing. The teaching in the Bible is clear. If it’s alright to disbelieve in the wrath of God at the end of days, why should we believe anything that we don’t like?

The other false belief seems like it is almost the opposite. Instead of despising the end times, never talking of them, there is an obsession with end times things. This is understandable. The signs and wonders are stupendous if you are willing to take them seriously. It can be thrilling to know things that others don’t know.

I remember as a kid sometimes seeing on TV a man named Jack Van Impe and his wife, Rexella. They would have a stack of newspapers on their set and they’d go from one to the next, citing bible passage after bible passage: “This news story fulfills this passage, and this news story fulfills that passage.” The take-away was always the same: “The end is near. There is going to be widespread collapse.”

And there was always a kind of glee in the prospect of the widespread collapse. The TV prophet was quite happy to tell you about it. You can be happy too if you believe him, because you can prepare accordingly. Make sure you’ve got food and water in the basement. Maybe these days you need to make sure that you’ve got some crypto-currency. Be one of the smart ones so that you can ride out the end of days in style. You can be comfortably sitting in your bunker, armed to the teeth.

Although these folks seem to be highly believing because they only want to talk about these conspiracies and prophecies, they, too, are unbelieving and unprepared. How may anyone escape the wrath that is about to be revealed? The true and infallible preparations are being baptized, feeding one’s faith with the Word of God, receiving the Lord’s Supper, praying, praising, and giving thanks. Repentant faith in Jesus, who has turned away God’s wrath, is the only way to make it through any terrors or difficulties. As for what we should eat and drink, or what we should wear, Jesus tells us that we should not worry about these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of them.

These two false beliefs look like they are practically opposites. Some Christians never think or speak of the end times. Other Christians never stop thinking or speaking of the end times. Neither approach avails anything. Baptism is our spiritual ark. Faith in Christ is the only preparation. Flesh and blood cannot see the kingdom of God, but only a new creation. We must be born again by the water and the Spirit.

As we now turn to Jesus’s words in our Gospel reading, I would argue that this is Jesus’s concern as well. He wants us to guard our faith. He forthrightly says that terrors and convulsions are coming. How we are to be prepared, however, has to do with our faith and the confession of our faith. So that is what we will turn to now.

Jesus’s talk is begun by the disciples commenting on the massive and impressive temple. The temple truly was a sight to behold. If anything seemed permanent, it was this temple, but Jesus said one stone would not be allowed to remain sitting upon another. Then the disciples asked Jesus to tell them more about that.

I’d like to you pay attention to how Jesus does not tell them to form militias or shadow governments. He doesn’t tell them to make any kind of physical preparations. The wrath of God is coming and there isn’t anything anybody can do to stop that. Instead Jesus wants to guard their faith.

Jesus said, “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then.”

 As you know there are many people who rise up all the time, saying that they have their finger on what is going on. They know the secrets. They know what is going to happen. Follow them because the end is near. Their exciting messages of doom and deliverance through prudent preparations stir up those who believe in them so that they gain their cliques and cadres of people in the know.

Jesus says to beware people like that. Why? Because they are worthless. You already have all that you need in the true Jesus. If you have Jesus you don’t need some guru to read the tea leaves or the newspapers. Gurus might tell you all kinds of secret and exciting things, but their wisdom is nothing compared to the wisdom even of our humble little Catechism. If you want to know what you are to do, turn to the Ten Commandments—and you won’t find anything about crypto-currency or bunkers in there. If you want to know what you are to believe, consult the Creed. These truly make you wise for salvation.

Let us turn again to Jesus’s words, and he goes on for some time: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and diseases in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. It will turn out to be your opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By patient endurance you will gain your lives.”

Jesus lays out frightening things: wars, earthquakes, famines, and diseases. Perhaps the most frightening things, though, are the personal betrayals and tests of one’s confession of faith. It’s like it was with Peter on the night when Jesus was betrayed: “Are you one of them? Are you one of Jesus’s disciples? Are you an enemy of enlightened progress or an enemy of the state?”

But, again, notice where Jesus directs us—not to swords or guns. We are to maintain our faith in him. If we have faith in him, then we can even rest assured that we will say what he would have us say before those who persecute us. The one thing that Jesus tells us we should make our mind up about beforehand is that we are not going to defend ourselves. The kingdom of God is not the product of human cunning, logic, or political manipulations. The kingdom of God is the testimony of Jesus, the one who has overcome this world. And if you have him, then not even a hair of your head will perish. Even if you are put to death for our faith, not one hair of your head will perish. By patient endurance in your faith you will be saved.

One outward action that Jesus does recommend is the fleeing from Jerusalem. He told his disciples that when they see the armies coming upon Jerusalem that they should get out. Forty years later it appears that the Christians remembered Jesus’s prophecy. They fled before Jerusalem was surrounded and hemmed in on every side.

So also we Christians may flee from danger. You see this in the book of Acts. When Jerusalem was thrown into an uproar with the stoning of St. Stephen the Christians fled to other lands and cities. This was, in fact, how the Gospel came to the Gentiles. The Christians who fled Jerusalem preached the Gospel to their Gentile neighbors and by the power of the Holy Spirit they were converted to faith in Christ.

You also see in Acts that St. Paul did not purposely hand himself over to those who were wanting to put him to death. Once he escaped under cover of night, being lowered down from the city wall in a basket. When he was arraigned in Jerusalem he appealed to Caesar, which was his right as a Roman citizen. So we do not need to go looking for trouble and martyrdom. However, if we are called upon to make the good confession, then we must do so regardless of the consequences.

I can give you a contemporary example. Years ago a militant Islamic group called ISIS rose to power in the Middle East. They conquered some territory in Syria and Iraq. There are some towns in that area that have Christians in them. When ISIS would come to a town they would round up the people and ask them if they were Christians. If they said they were, their heads would be chopped off. They would do this even with Christian children.

If you were one of those Christians, you would need to continue to confess Christ, come what may. If you confessed Christ and your head was chopped off, ultimately not even a hair of your head would be harmed, for you will live again. It is not optional for us to confess Christ. If we deny him we would be like faithless Simon Peter. As the Scriptures say, “If we deny him, he will deny us.”

However, on the other hand, if you know that ISIS is heading towards your village, you do not need to stay there. You do not need to hand your children over to be slaughtered. You should try to go where you will be safe. However, if you end up before the executioner for your Christian faith, or if you should be fired from your job for your Christian faith, or some other persecution comes upon you, then you should know that this is God’s will. He will keep you safe even if your head gets chopped off. It is your opportunity to testify of this hope that is within you.

So, to sum up: The only true way to be prepared for the end times is always internal. Being prepared for the end times is a matter of repentance and faith. If we fear God’s wrath for our sins and believe in Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins, then we are in good stead. With such a faith we are in good stead even if the earth gives way and the mountains go crashing into the sea. Jesus has reconciled you to God. All things, then, must turn out for the best for those who trust in him.

So when you see Jesus coming on the clouds with power and great glory, do not curl up into a ball or put your tail between your legs. Straighten up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near.

221106 Sermon for All Saints' Day, November 6, 2022

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

Several years ago I ordered a print of a painting to hang in my office. When I was considering that, I had some qualms. It wasn’t the usual kind of painting that hangs in pastors’ offices.

The painting depicts the final judgment. In the middle of the painting there is a grave yard. It shows the resurrection from the dead, so the people are stepping out of their graves. Then they are being separated to the right and to the left. The angels are guiding the people on the right. Demons are prodding and grabbing and dragging people on the left. The people on the right get clothed with white robes to enter into the light that radiates from Jesus. The people on the left tumble down into the chaos and the flames of hell.

This painting hangs immediately in front of my desk. When I look up from my computer this rather large print is what I see. I got this painting for me, for my benefit, but I was a little concerned about what people might think when they visit my office.

What can be offensive to people is that this picture is saying, “This is how it is, and this is how it will be.” All people, and every individual, either goes to the right or to the left. Each individual either goes to heaven or to hell. The natural question is “what about me?” “Which way will I go?” And “what about those I love?”

This painting brings to the fore something that most people don’t think about—at least not seriously. When someone is dying or when someone has died the automatic answer for their ultimate destination is heaven. It’s always heaven. If in doubt, they’re in heaven. If I chopped off the left side of that painting, that would maybe be more in accord with the way people think.

Of course, the way that we think is one thing, the truth is another. I, in fact, noticed yet another detail about this painting that I’ve looked at for years while I was working on this sermon: there are more people who are being driven into hell than there are people who are being escorted into heaven. This is in accord with Jesus’s words. There will be more who take the broad and easy way into hell rather than the hard and narrow way that leads into heaven.

I don’t enjoy thinking about people possibly going to hell any more than anybody else does. Frankly, it frightens me and horrifies me—especially when I think of specific people. I see the reason why people say that hell doesn’t exist or that it’s practically impossible to end up there. If that’s the case, we don’t have to worry about anything. We can all live our lives however we want—to hell with God’s commandments. You do what you want, what you think is good enough. Then, at the end of it all, we can have a nice celebration of life service.

And, to be sure, nobody’s the wiser. You can’t tell the difference. When an unbeliever dies the corpse looks just the same as a believer’s corpse. We don’t see demon’s pulling on it, dragging it into hell against the person’s will. The slight smile that the undertaker puts on it is the same as everybody else’s. If their corpse is smiling just like everybody else’s, then why not live how you want? Why not follow your thoughts? They’re probably wiser than that dusty old Bible’s thoughts anyway—lots of smart people say that the Bible is hopelessly outdated.

These arguments, evidently, are extremely persuasive. Very few worry about going to hell themselves even though they live in rebellion against God. They habitually, purposely live against God’s commandments. Even very few Christians can stand the thought of loved ones going to hell. Even very few pastors can bear the scorn and the hatred if they refuse to give an honorable funeral, full of sweet nothings, for someone who did not live as a Christian. So, of course, our congregations do not have the strength to discipline or eventually remove those who are living unrepentantly, and, therefore, are living in such a way where they are preparing themselves for hell.

It is very common for Christians to complain about the decline of the church. All the congregations are getting smaller. Shame on the younger generations. Tsk. tsk. tsk. They should come back to church after they’ve sowed their wild oats just like we used to do. We sowed our wild oats, but then we settled down with the kids. But maybe the younger generations are just more honest and clear-headed. Why should they participate in an organization that acts like it doesn’t believe in heaven and hell? What purpose does Jesus serve if we can just ignore the possibility of hell, wish it out of existence, and thereby no longer fear it? What kind of Savior would that be? Jesus saves us from something that we never needed to fear in the first place?

Grandpa Jones, that old blasphemer, had just as nice of a smile and just as honorable of a funeral as anybody who is faithful, who suffered, who fought, and barely held on. Actions speak louder than words. Giving funerals for everyone and anyone powerfully teaches that the church doesn’t care about what is true and not true. The church only cares about being polite. The truth is that the church is supposed to teach us to fight against our sinful flesh. If we stumble and fall, may we be forgiven and lifted up, but then we fight some more.

The assumption of forgiveness, the assumption of going to heaven—this has to be one of the manifestations of the anti-christ. The assumption that you’re forgiven no matter what, you’re going to heaven no matter what—anybody with half a brain draws the conclusion that repentance, faithfulness, sacrificing, suffering, bearing the cross—all these things are stupid, because they are totally worthless. Live as selfishly as you want, of, if you’re a little wiser, as selfishly as you can get away with—that’s how you play the game. It might seem that the assumption of everybody going to heaven is tolerant and loving, but underneath it is the promotion of evil, the encouragement not to fear God.

We have a difficult challenge before us as a Christian people and as a congregation. We must be willing to be different. We must renounce this assuming that everybody is going to heaven regardless of their lives, regardless of whether they have made use of the means of grace. We must begin being serious with one another when we have fallen into sin. Unrepentant sin is what brings people to hell. We must help one another. Is this fun? No. Is it helpful? Absolutely!

Imagine someone who has gotten an infection in their leg. It’s swollen, nasty and full of pus so that it gives off an awful smell. To clean it out will hurt like the dickens for the patient. It will be very unpleasant for the doctor too. But what’s the alternative? Just let it go? Hope for the best?

That’s what we’ve been doing for a long time as congregations. We haven’t cared enough to get our hands dirty in the muck and the pus. We don’t help people who need help. The goal, it seems, is to get them just to come on Sunday mornings and give their offering. That will keep the lights on for another year.

Is it any wonder, then, that God has punished our land, emptying our churches? What purpose can these churches serve if they will not lift a finger to help in the very thing that God cares about most? What does God care about most? There’s no mystery about that. All four of the Gospels are emphatic about it. After Jesus rose from the dead he gave his Christians what they were to be about. Repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’s Name is to be preached to all people, because Jesus is the Savior of sinners from the hell that they deserve. Repent and be baptized. Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, whoever does not believe will be condemned. Whosoever’s sins we forgive, they are forgiven them. Whosoever’s sins we retain, they are retained.

By essentially, practically, denying the possibility of anybody going to hell, we’ve lost the reason for our existence. Why repent or be forgiven? There’s no need to clean out wounds, bandage people up, and return them to health, because supposedly they will survive regardless.

Think again of that patient I made up. Let’s say that we all pretend it’s impossible for such a patient to die. Why, then, would the doctor go to the trouble of cleaning it out when it’s all messy, nasty and smelly? The patient would be happy too, because cleaning it out hurts like the dickens. Of course the patient still has the infection, nasty as ever, but everybody just lives and let’s live.

So also our people and we ourselves have horrible spiritual infections. Here’s a list from Paul’s letter to the Romans, and see if it doesn’t fit perfectly: We are full of all unrighteousness, having sex with all sorts of things that are not our spouse, having no qualms, never satisfied with what we have but always wanting more, mean, full of envy, murder, unable to get along with others, dishonest, ornery, gossiping, condemning, haters of God, proud, haughty, boastful, inventing ways to be evil, disobedient to parents, devoid of understanding, untrustworthy, unaffectionate, unmerciful. All of these infections make the patient miserable, but they go unaddressed. The infections get worse and worse. Maybe we hope that they’ll heal themselves, but there is only one physician who can heal these infections, and that’s Jesus.

The way that Jesus works as the physician is by means of Christians who are believing enough to speak his word. May we be such Christians in this congregation! Christians help others as they themselves have been helped. Christians comfort others in their afflictions the way that they themselves have been comforted.

We have been given God’s commandments to diagnose our spiritual maladies. We have been given the forgiveness of sins as the remedy. We have been given the new birth in baptism. We have been given the body and blood of Jesus to eat and to drink the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our faith, and for the fervency of our love. These work the cure. These forgive sins now and going forward. At the end, at the resurrection from the dead, there is the promise of complete and total healing.

That complete spiritual healing will be tremendous and beyond anything that we can imagine. We all were born into this world diseased. We all have our latent pockets of spiritual infection. That is why Jesus says that no flesh can see the kingdom of God. We must be born again by the water and the Spirit to see the kingdom of God. Even whatever spiritual healing God works on us Christians in this life is going to be incomplete. God helps us, but we will continue to have our flesh, and so we will stumble, fall, and may God lift us back up again so that we may fight yet another day. But with heaven and with the resurrection from the dead it is finished. Our sinful flesh dies. The resurrected flesh will not have sin in it. Since we have never experienced anything like it in this life, we will experience it for the first time in the life to come.

Popular notions of the life to come do not really have any healing that goes with it. Sure, aches and pains get taken away, but heaven is supposedly for doing hobbies, a better version of this life.

As it turns out, then, in a way, with the painting that I began with, it’s not just hell that gets chopped off. The true heaven gets chopped off too. No spiritual healing is even on the radar. Heaven is just a lame continuation of this life without any spiritual transformation. But things cannot keep going on like they have been. Good things must get better and bad things must get worse.

We now live in the time of grace when good and bad are all mixed together. The goal we should have for ourselves is to sort out the good from the bad. The good is not sin or deceitful desires. The good comes from God. The bad is the infections. We need to be students, disciples, to learn what is good and what is bad. We need to learn to love the good and hate the bad. It is by loving God and what is good that we fight the fight of faith. It is by faith in Jesus that we may look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.