A way of life is a way of looking at our existence. What is
life all about? What is going on? What is significant about what has happened
in the past and what can we expect in the future?
Unfortunately, asking questions like these is usually seen
as decadent or highfalutin. This is the
stuff of Philosophy 101 and other unproductive, impractical classes like that.
Normal people are too busy working.
Well, without realizing it, that, in itself, is a way of
life. Those questions I started with end up getting answered, even though the
person doesn’t realize it. What is life all about for such a “normal” person?
It’s about doing the best for yourself that you can. What is going on? Each day
is another dollar. If you get enough dollars then you can buy something or do
something. What has happened in the past and what can we expect in the future?
The past and the future don’t hardly exist for these folks. They are too busy
thinking about what they are going to do for the day to think about the past or
the future. One thing they are sure off—it is good to make money. There’s no
doubt about it—this is a way of life. It is a way of looking at our existence.
This is a very common way of life here in the rural Midwest
and so people do not even wonder whether this way of life is good or bad, wise
or foolish. It is just assumed that everybody who is normal thinks and lives
this way. If someone doesn’t have this way of life then they are probably one
of those highfalutin people who don’t have to do real work for a living. Normal
people live day by day, working hard and playing hard. To ask whether you are
looking at life in the right way does not even come onto the radar.
I don’t think it is an accident that people don’t want to
think about serious questions about life. The devil is wise in his own way. He
is quite pleased to have people continue to eat and drink, marry and be given
in marriage, without giving a single thought about judgment day when all people
will be judged. Jesus says, “No one knows the day nor the hour. Watch,
therefore!” What does it mean to watch? It means that we should pay
attention to our way of life. How do we look at our existence? What is life all
about? What has happened? What does that mean? What is going to happen?
The Bible has answers to all these questions. That is why we
read it and consider it. The Bible is quite practical. Christians are the ones
who are practical. They know what’s what. They know that they are God’s
creatures. They know that they have been sold so deeply into sin that they
don’t have a prayer of escaping hell by themselves. They know that God is
gracious and merciful. Therefore, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ,
to die on the cross, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but
have everlasting life. Christians know that Jesus will come at the hour when it
is least expected to judge the living and the dead. Those who are righteous
will go to heaven. Those who are sinners will go to hell.
This is unbelievably practical information. It tells you about
the past and about the future. It tells you what life is all about—namely, it
is all about the love of God shown and given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who is wise will live mindful of being judged by his Creator. This life
is actually quite short, in the end. Eternity is laid out before us. Shouldn’t
these things be thought about?
The fellow who keeps his nose to the grindstone and despises
any questions that don’t have to do with either work or play is incredibly
impractical. We hardly even need God’s Word to show us this. All that is
necessary is to consider that each of us will die (unless, of course, Jesus
comes back first). It is not possible to take our money with us. Many think
that they can take their memories with them, but what if their memories accuse
them of their sins? Then I would much rather be without my memories. When Abraham
speaks to the rich man in hell he says, “Remember.” “Remember how it was? You
had pleasure upon pleasure while Lazarus laid outside your gate. Now he is in
paradise and you are in anguish.” Our memories have to be forgiven and cleansed
in the blood of the Lamb if they are ever to be a joy to us instead of a
terror.
And so God gives us his Word, not to bore us, as many
suppose. The Word of God is not boring. If anything it is a bit too lively. It
gives us thoughts that we certainly wouldn’t otherwise think. These thoughts
are not the thoughts of short-sighted Man, but the thoughts of God.
Our reading from the book of Revelation, this morning, focuses
on the center of God’s thoughts. Behold a host arrayed in white! They are
gathered around the throne and around the Lamb with palm branches in their
hands. They cry out with a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God and to
the Lamb.” This is a revelation of heaven. The Lamb that is spoken of is
the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. It is the
will of God that all people should look to Jesus and be saved. Jesus says, “God
loved the world in this way, that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever
believes in him shall have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
Jesus Christ the crucified and the resurrected and exalted is the center of the
universe. Jesus Christ the Savior is God’s great message towards mankind. That
he should be refused and despised is a great mystery, and yet he is. But not in
heaven. Those sinners who had believed in him now worship him. Because of Jesus
they are without stain, spot, or blemish, for they have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
It is necessary for us as Christians that we understand the
forgiveness of sins for Jesus’s sake as the main element of our way of life,
our understanding of our existence. There is more, though, that we can learn
and should learn about our way of life. Jesus explains some of this in our
Gospel reading. Jesus lists off many blessings. The word “blessings” is often
misunderstood. It’s thought to be churchy language that isn’t terribly
practical. It’s one of those highfalutin things that pastors talk about, but
not normal people. To be blessed, though, is nothing other than to be happy. Or
another word that works here is “successful.” Do people care about being happy
or successful? You better believe it! A lot of drugs are prescribed and a lot
of books are sold that promise happiness or success. So with this list of
blessings, Jesus is teaching us how to be happy or successful.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the
merciful, because they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
because they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be
called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, because there is the kingdom of heaven.
It would be a good thing to take a look at each one of these
blessings and consider each one on its own. We won’t do that right now, but why
don’t you take this bulletin home and think about each one of these later
today. You will be blessed by doing so. I’d like to look at them in an overall
way altogether.
All these blessings can be tied together when you understand
that Jesus is talking about selfless love. Selfless love is quite different
than selfish love. Everybody is capable of a love that enhances the quality of
their own lives. Jesus here, however, speaks about being poor, mourning, being
gentle, hungry, thirsty, merciful and so on. If you go to the self-help section
of a bookstore, or the business section of a bookstore, you are never going to
find this kind of advice for being happy or successful. In fact, basically the
opposite of these things is what those books will say will make you happy and
successful.
What’s going on here? Is everything turned topsy turvy just
for the sake of being topsy turvy? No. What’s going on is that Jesus Christ,
who is at the center of existence of the universe and is even God, is taken as
the model for what is good. He, though he was by nature God, did not consider
equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage. Instead, he
emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant. He humbled himself and became
obedient even to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also
has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every other name, so
that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.
Jesus is good. God has set his seal of approval on his
selfless love. Jesus loved his
enemies—all the godless sinners of this world without exception—and suffered
and died for all of them. Perhaps a worldly-wise smartaleck would say that
Jesus was foolish to do that. He should have lived for himself. Surely the
devil would say that—that is the way that the devil tempted Jesus in the
wilderness. “You don’t have to go through all that trouble. Live your best life
now,” the Devil said.
But Jesus was ever so highly blessed particularly in his
bitter sufferings and death. This is happiness. This is success. In this action
all the world was blessed through him. Loving in this way is good with a
capital G. We know this to be true even though Jesus sweat blood, and prayed to
the Father that if it is possible this cup should pass from him. But not his
will be done, but the Father’s will be done. And so we have a mystery here that
Reason cannot even begin to understand. What Jesus did on the cross was so, so
good, and yet it wasn’t what you might call pleasurable. That is also what we
see in these blessings in our Gospel reading. They are all very good because
they are everything that Jesus himself is all about, but they are not
pleasurable to our flesh. In fact, the flesh must be crucified in these
blessings.
The word “Christian” means “little Christs.” It was a name
that was given to those who believe in Jesus because they have a different way
of life than the rest of the world. Christians know what is truly good. They
try to follow after their teacher—doing the things that he has done, having the
values that Jesus has. Christians are certainly not perfectly successful in
this. Christians have their sinful flesh, are taught philosophy by the world,
and are lied to by the devil. The Christian life consists of trying, failing,
falling, and getting up again. This keeps us humble and reliant upon the
forgiveness of our sins in Jesus our whole life—no matter how much progress we
might make as a Christian. But knowing what is good and striving after it is a
good thing. It is our goal. It is not yet accomplished.
But one day it will be accomplished. This is worthwhile
thinking about here on the observation of All Saints’ Day. It is not until we
die that the sin in our sinful flesh dies. That shows how powerful the fall
into sin has been. No matter how hard we might try, we cannot free ourselves
from our sinful condition. Although the Holy Spirit works sanctification in
this life, the sanctification is not complete until we have died and been
resurrected with bodies that are purified from sin. In this life we struggle
and so often fail in our struggle to love. That is a bitter thing. I don’t know
of anybody who doesn’t want to be able to accomplish what they set out to do,
but that is what happens with every single Christian. None of us loves as we
ought so long as we have this maggot sack of a flesh holding us down.
But finally, in the end, we will be filled with love from
the top of our heads to the soles of our feet. This might not sound like much,
but that is only because even with the very best conditions we haven’t
experienced even the tenth part of it in this life weighed down with sin. Being
filled with love is beyond our imagination. It is our hope. Jesus says,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will
be filled.” It is a good thing to die believing in Jesus. It is a step in the
right direction. Here we can’t help but be estranged from God to some extent.
Not so there. St. John says in our epistle reading, “Dear friends, we are
children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know
that when he is revealed we will be like him, and we will see him as he really
is.” This is a good way of life. May we all make progress in it.
On the observation of this All Saints’ Day we also remember
those who have finished the race by dying with faith in Jesus this past year:
Mary Lou Block, Ann Olander, Marty Wendel, John Barker. Thanks be to God for
his mercy!
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