191201 Sermon on Romans 13:8-14 (Advent 1) December 1, 2019

191201 Sermon on Romans 13:8-14 (Advent 1) December 1, 2019

I’d like to introduce a term to you that I’m sure some of you know, but perhaps not all of you. The term is “short timer.” A short timer is someone who is on their way out. I think the term might have originated in the military, but now it is commonly used in the work place. A short timer is someone who has turned in their two week notice. They are leaving for another job. Short timers have certain characteristics. That is probably how they got the name. Short timers are not likely to take on new and hard projects. They are not likely to put in extra time pro bono. They are not as good of workers as they used to be. Their mind is elsewhere. They are planning for the next job that is coming. They do not enter into their current job with their whole body, soul, and spirit, because that is passing away. Out with the old, in with the new.

I’d like to apply this short timer mentality to our lives as Christians. As Christians we are short timers. We were born into this old world and this old life—this life where it is typical that a person might live 70, 80, or 90 years. We’ve been offered a promotion, though. There is a new life that has been given to us and awaits us. We have received the upward call in Christ Jesus for a life together with God. You well know how this came about—that you, a sinner, should be called a child of God. It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That, you might say, is the job offer. You have it in hand. What I’d like to speak about today is now what do you do? What I contend is that you should see yourself as a short timer.

The short timer still has ties to the old job. He still shows up. But his hope is somewhere else. His mind is in the thing that is coming up. So it is also for Christians. It doesn’t matter if the Christian is a newly baptized baby or very elderly. We are still in this world, but we know that it is temporary. Our hope is not in anything earthly, but in the power of God to raise the dead. This sets Christians apart from those who still have hope in this old world. These people do not see themselves as short timers, but as lifers who are going to stay forever.

So that we can see more clearly the difference between Christians and non-Christians and the way that they look at this old world, let’s consider how the non-Christian looks at life according to the old rules. The unbeliever thinks that this is the only life that we have to live and so we have to make the most of it. What does it mean to make the most of it? We have to take in as much as we possibly can that is pleasurable, and hold off all that we possibly can that is unpleasurable. The love of one’s self is the goal.

There are a lot of different strategies for attaining that goal. Some take the high road, some take the low road. Some search for honor and glory, scaling the heights, hoping to be found worthy in their own eyes and the eyes of others. These people on the high road are often industrious and careful to avoid anything that might hurt their reputation.

Some take the low road. They despair of gaining approval of themselves in their own eyes or in the eyes of others. The people on the low road seek out pleasure. They have a harder time, though, in keeping this stuff hidden (like people on the high road) and so they don’t have as good of reputations. They might let their love of intoxicants, for example, hamper their ability to work. The people on the high road live life just as much for themselves as the people on the low road, but the people on the high road like to look down at the people on the low road as being altogether different from them.

It doesn’t really matter whether the road is high or low, people live in a remarkably similar way. All are equally interested in their own welfare and don’t give a rip about anybody else (unless they are a friend or relative). Those on the high road might think that they are not guilty of the sins that the people on the low road commit, but is that actually the case? They believe that they are not drunks, even though they, too, drink too much, but they are better at hiding it. They do not think that they are perverts, even though they, too, watch things and think things that they know are wrong. What seems good about the people on the high road is not actually good. It is just hypocrisy.

They refuse to own the label of “sinner,” something that those who are on the low road are more likely to believe, because that is what everybody tells them. This is why it normally happens that the lowly people are the ones who are closer to the Kingdom of God. God despises the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is how it comes to pass that prostitutes and tax collectors enter into the kingdom before the respectable middle class. Those on the high road refuse to take even the first step. They will not own the label of “sinner.”

This is what really makes people into lifers instead of short timers. Those who are lifers believe that if they only try hard enough, they will throw off whatever has been keeping them in shackles. They’ll solve whatever is bothering them. They will finally make it. This keeps them enslaved. They never arrive at sonship. They remain addicted to sin. They are not at all set free from the devil.

The way that someone becomes a Christian is that God comes to them with his word and he says to them, “Doesn’t this old job stink? You work your fingers to the bone, trying to better yourself, and you end up being just as much of a jerk as when you started out! And here’s another little secret: the boss is planning on firing you. After all these years of faithful service to the devil, he’s going to cut you off from his narcotics. You’ll get stuck in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And so God offers this advice, “Go tell your boss, ‘Take this job and shove it. I ain’t working here no more.’ Then come work for me. Come work in my vineyard. You won’t be a slave anymore. You will be my son. A slave does not remain in the house forever. A son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed. Abide in my word and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

This is how we become short timers in this old world, ruled by the devil, where everybody is just looking out for himself. We used to be full time employees—working overtime even. Now we have a better job offer. We’re still stuck here for a little while. Instead of just giving a two week notice, we have already even died to this world by the waters of Holy Baptism. But our sinful flesh is still hanging on. We haven’t yet put it off completely. Although that is the case, we, by no means, have to enter into the flesh’s way of life, our old job, with our body, soul, and spirit. No. Embrace your role as a short timer. Be a crappy worker in the devil’s kingdom. Show up late and go home early. Keep that inbox nice and full when the devil gives you orders to do this and not do that. What’s the worst that the devil can do? Fire you? Good. Let him fire you. You already have a new job, and that job’s better anyways.

Now this kind of talking that I’ve shared with you this morning—I didn’t make all this up wholesale. What I was trying to do was mimic, in today’s language, the way that the apostles speak about our sanctification—the way that we should live as Christians. It is surprising how gentle the apostles are, and that is easy to miss. We are prone to hear them as making demand after demand like an overbearing supervisor. It can get wrongly translated into our heads that all that matters about being a Christian is our behavior. But that’s not how they go about it.

Consider the way that St. Paul speaks in our Epistle reading today. I think there was a little bit of a twinkle in his eye when he wrote, “Owe no one anything, except that you love one another.” It’s rather fun language. He’s saying that we should not hitch our wagons to any man or any spirit, being indebted to them. We’re already hitched do a different horse. But by loving one another, it means that we are under obligation to whoever crosses our path. That is a large obligation, a large debt. So owe no one anything, except to be obligated to everyone because love is the fulfillment of the Law. It’s almost a pun, that he gives there.

Love is the new way of life that is given to us in the upward call in Christ Jesus. Therefore he says that we should not slave away for the devil by adultery, stealing, coveting, or seeking out some other way to love ourselves instead of the other. This is the old. Out with the old, in with the new, or, as St. Paul says, “Put off these things.” It’s like how you would take off some clothes that have gotten dirty and itchy. They’re infested with insulation. Why do you want to wear something so uncomfortable? Instead, says St. Paul, “Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Here’s a clean shirt for you, after taking a bath. Isn’t that better?

We are not accustomed to talking this way. This can make some people get frustrated at the Bible. They want to be able to understand it on their own terms. But surely St. Paul has a point in talking this way. St. Paul was certainly capable of making lists for acceptable behavior. Talking that way would perhaps even be more natural. But these to-do lists don’t have the power to actually get stuff done. If we were able to shape up by just trying harder, then certainly the Lord Jesus died for no purpose whatsoever. A list a mile long won’t make anybody any better. The best that it can do is to make people into hypocrites.

What is needed is divine strength—gifts—and that is what St. Paul is getting at with this language. Being clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ is not something that we can do if only we try hard enough. God’s working in us by his Word and Holy Spirit—God’s giving more and more to us—is the way that progress is made in sanctification. We have to be renewed in our bodies, souls, and spirits in a way that this old world isn’t capable of doing. Spiritual, supernatural gifts are necessary, and this is what Jesus gives to those whom he has called.

To want to ignore this kind of talking because it is unusual and incomprehensible to our flesh, is to want to ignore the Gospel itself. We do not believe in salvation by the accomplishment of certain tasks. We believe in the Son of God becoming one of us, flesh of our flesh, and making us fit before God through his working and giving. This is a gentle, giving message. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, will make you complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The day of our Lord Jesus Christ is when the day dawns. That is St. Paul’s picture that I’ve tried to translated over to being a short timer. He says, “It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 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.” This is an encouraging picture. The night of sin is almost over. The day of righteousness is almost here. Hold on for just a little bit longer. You are closer to your salvation now than when you first believed. You’re a short timer who has already put in your week and a half.

Jesus is coming soon. A new life is just around the corner. Set your mind on that—on the things that are above, on the things that are to come. Let the devil have to try to manage without you.

191127 Sermon on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019

191127 Sermon on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019

The Thanksgiving holiday gives us an opportunity to consider what giving thanks is. The first thing that might come to mind is a tradition that some people have for this holiday. It’s where each person at the table, in turn, mentions the things they are thankful for. Because of this tradition and others like it that have been attached to this holiday, some people might think that giving thanks is kind of stuffy and formal and artificially pious. Invariably, the stock answers are given, like “family” or “good health” or the memories that have been enjoyed the past year. Some people answer these questions sincerely and whole-heartedly—and God bless them. Other people find it rather burdensome to go through the whole rigmarole. It can kind of be like having to thank your grandma for the socks she gave you instead of getting the toy that you actually wanted. Here the mouth is not in agreement with the heart. The mouth is saying what is social acceptable. The heart may very well be saying the opposite. This is not giving thanks. It is just hypocrisy.

Genuine thanksgiving, rather than hypocrisy, is not burdensome and forced. It is a natural response to good things that make the heart glad. Happiness and contentment are the driving force behind it. If this mindset should be translated into words that others can hear, then that’s all well and good, but giving thanks doesn’t need to be spoken. The attitude of the heart is what is important.

We, however, aren’t really in control of our heart. Telling someone to be more thankful is like telling someone to smile more. Such demands are likely to have the opposite effect of what the words are asking for. But if the right, happy attitude is in the heart, then thanksgiving is something that is very pleasurable. It is not stuffy at all. It is jubilant and boisterous.

This kind of thanksgiving is a rare guest. With our cold hearts it often takes a surprise to squeeze it out of us. When someone does something unexpectedly, or gives us something unexpectedly, and that thing is something that we really wanted—then we can get that good feeling. It rushes upon us, but, have you noticed: it dissipates very quickly. In a matter of minutes we are basically back to our normal equilibrium.

Note, here, though, that I’m not even thinking about thanksgiving towards God, but rather thanksgiving for the stuff that has been given. Those two things are not the same thing, even though both have to do with thanksgiving. The difference is in what is being worshipped.

In order to conjure up some kind of thankfulness you will sometimes hear people say that we should count our blessings. This might produce some kind of thanksgiving, but thanksgiving to whom? It is entirely possible—in fact, it is natural for us—to take delight in counting and enjoying our wealth. Like Scrooge McDuck, we’d like to dive off a diving board into a swimming pool of our own money and swim around in it. Desperate, usually poor, people spend hundreds or thousands of their hard earned dollars on lottery tickets, hoping to have a swimming pool of money of their own. I don’t care who a person is, if money rolls in, then we can’t help but be a little happy, a little joyful, a little thankful. It’s mine! It’s all mine!

But what is being worshipped here? It isn’t the Lord God. The thing that’s worshipped is the mountain of money. Look what we have here. We are hardly able to give thanks to idols, to say nothing about God!

Our sinful hearts are dreadfully diseased. When it comes to giving thanks to the true God, it only becomes harder for us. In fact, we are so bad that genuine thanksgiving towards God can only happen by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a little thought experiment for you, that I think will prove my point to you. Think of when you are stepping away from the communion rail. The true body and very blood of God, the creator of the universe, has just been given to you as a gift. How are you feeling? Compare that feeling to the feeling you would have if a thousand dollars were slipped into your pocket. Over which would you be happier, more thankful: Communion or a thousand dollars?

This thought experiment, which I’ve taken from Martin Luther, by the way, who understood the depth of the evil in our sinful nature—this thought experiment shows that if there is to be even an ounce of proper thanksgiving towards God it is going to have to come from the Holy Spirit. We have the ability to give thanks to idols. That is when we look at that thousand dollars or whatever other stuff we have and our hearts are gladdened. We are capable of that, but even here, strangely, our hearts are quite cold. But when it comes to thanksgiving to God himself—that requires a miracle. It requires us to be converted from believing that our blessing is found in our wealth to believing that our blessing comes only from God. The eyes must be raised above the stuff to God as our only hope.

This is a struggle. The Bible has many examples of God’s people losing heart when their wealth or other resources are taken away. The good things that they can see are gone. The good One, who is not seen, is still there, but they’d rather have the stuff that God gives rather than God himself. The forty years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land was a veritable pressure cooker of tribulation. They were always lacking. They didn’t have food one moment; another, they didn’t have water. Now they are without strength; then, they have powerful enemies bearing down on them.

Without faith, the only possible reaction that anybody could have in such desperate situations is that they were in a bad spot—that it stunk to be them. And that is how they so often felt too. Their unbelieving flesh caused them to hate Moses who spoke God’s Word to them and they wanted to go back to Egypt. The promises that God had given them of their own land, but more importantly, the special relationship of them being his nation and he being their God was worthless in their eyes. They wanted cucumbers and garlic and leeks instead. They wanted to count their blessings. As they were, stuck in the wilderness, they didn’t think they had very many blessings to count.

But that is a delusion that the god of this world, the devil, is always trying to foist upon us. Instead of being thankful, he wants everyone to be envious. Instead of people sighing to God, he wants them grumbling. With our envy and greed we become blind to the daily bread God gives day in and day out. Daily bread is more than just food. It is also our clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. Our souls have been so terribly poisoned by the fall into sin. This is perhaps nowhere as pronounced as in the way that we are blind to God’s generosity and do not give him thanks. The only thing we are capable of by nature is a half-hearted thanks to idols when our envy has been satisfied by getting more stuff. Soon, we turn envious towards something else. We are never satisfied for long. Those who become rich only want to become richer still.

This poor, miserable condition of ours should cause us to turn away from any hope in ourselves, lift our eyes to God, and ask him to open our eyes and open our mouths, so that they may show forth his praise. It is not possible for our old selves to praise God. A new heart is required. But that is what God gives us when he creates faith in his Gospel. No amount of hounding and demanding can ever make anybody thankful towards God. And so, instead of beating a dead horse, God steps towards us with even more goodness than he already supplies with our daily bread. He tells us that he has reconciled us to himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. We are his people now. He is our God. Come what may, God will bring us to the promised land.

Like the Israelites of old, we will continue to have to be urged to lift up our eyes beyond what we have or don’t have to the God who determines everything. We still have our flesh. Our flesh would rather sing praises about cucumbers, garlic, and leeks than to sing praises to the true God. But that is foolish. We can see that better than the Israelites could at the time, because we have a better perspective. We know that God brought the Israelites into the land that he promised them when the time was right. In the midst of their tribulations, however, it was difficult for the Israelites to see that.

The same thing is true for us. Perhaps not everything is perfect this Thanksgiving. Perhaps your hearts are weighed down with worries or sorrows. Does that mean that you can’t give thanks? No. Put your trust in God. St. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. We just don’t have the proper perspective yet to see where we are, and that the promised land is just around the corner for us. From the perspective of heaven, we would see that these difficulties that God gives us are just part of the story of his salvation. Our thanksgiving is not dependent upon our comfort or discomfort, our wealth or poverty, our sickness or health, or any other earthly thing that can be here today and gone tomorrow. Our thanksgiving is dependent upon our God whose promises never fail. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. The Lord is good, and his steadfast love endures forever.

So here’s a thought that I’d like you to take with you into the observance of this holiday: It is possible to give thanks to the gifts rather than to the Giver. It is possible to count your blessings, but still have a heart that is a million miles away from God because the stuff you are counting is regarded as the source of your blessing rather than God. Not only is this possible, but it is likely, because of the way that we are. Don’t give thanks to stuff. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord. Lift them up. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is meet and right so to do. God is no stranger to you. He has come to you, baptized you, made you his own. Your future is not tied up with whatever stuff you have or don’t have, but with this God who has chosen you. When you are aware of that, then you can give thanks in sunshine and rain, in good times and bad, in life and in death. The time is coming and is now here when the renewal of our sinful hearts will be complete. Then we will know the splendor of giving thanks to God with our whole heart. Our sinful flesh won’t be able to get in the way anymore.

191124 Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13 (Last Sunday of Church Year) November 24, 2019

191124 Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13 (Last Sunday of Church Year) November 24, 2019

What are you looking forward to? Is there some family gathering that is coming up? Christmas is around the corner. What gifts do you think you might get? Retirement? Vacations? Weddings? Children or grandchildren? There are a lot of possible entries on a list of things to look forward to.

What about Jesus Christ’s second coming in power and great glory? Is that on the list? There’s a proverbial saying that I don’t think people really know what they are saying when they use it. They say, “It’s not the end of the world.” My family knows that sometimes I respond, “If only it were!” But there’s good reason for why people use that expression the way that they do. The end of the world means the end of our earthly activities. This earthly life moves into the past. A somewhat unknown future rushes upon us. There are also a lot of scary sights and sounds that accompany the end of the world as all the old gods are failing that people put their trust in.

You, who trust in Jesus, though, should not be afraid of him coming in power and great glory. This is not something you can do just by mustering up your nerve to not be afraid. That won’t work—at least it won’t work when things actually finally begin to move. There is only one reason why you should not be afraid of Jesus coming again, and that is the message of the Gospel. Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy that is for all people. Unto you is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord. The hostility between foul sinners on the one hand and a holy God on the other has been overcome by the sacrifice of God on the cross. This means that Jesus comes, and the Father together with him, with a different disposition than we otherwise would expect.

What do we otherwise expect? God, with another word, even tells us. Meeting your Maker, face to face, immediately thrusts before us God’s judgment. The trial is started. The books are opened. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. What we otherwise expect, apart from the Gospel, is that we will be horrified—and rightly so.

There is a stupendous truth here. It is the greatest of all truths but one. St. Paul calls it the ministry of the letter. This is the glory of Mt. Sinai when the whole mountain shook, and the people buried their faces into their hands and pleaded with God to stop speaking otherwise they would die. This is the glory that so enlightened Moses’s face that the people couldn’t stand to see God’s glory reflected from it. He had to wear a veil. Otherwise the people couldn’t stand looking at him. St. Paul says that the end of this ministry of the letter is death—eternal death. That is what the Law calls for. “In the day that you eat of it you will surely die,” for the wages of sin is death.

Now I said that this judgment by God is the greatest of all truths, save one. The truth that surpasses this truth is the Gospel. The Gospel says that Jesus, who is true God and true man, was condemned in our place. He was declared guilty, having taken upon himself our sins. He was punished so severely that he sweat blood in anticipation of it, and he truly died as a result of it even though he is God. Therefore, whoever believes in him will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in him will never die. The stupendous truth of the Law has been swallowed up by a greater truth that is of God’s own making. The righteousness that we can never have a ghost of a chance of attaining by the keeping of the Law is fulfilled by Jesus in our place, and we are given an even greater righteousness with which we need not be ashamed. It is the righteousness of Jesus, given to us as gift, held to by faith. It is even the righteousness of God himself. That is what has been given to you and is continually given to you every day in the Holy Christian Church.

So let’s go back to how we might feel about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody has a part of them that is afraid of it. To be perfectly unafraid would mean that you have a perfect faith. That isn’t possible in this life where we are constantly under assault from the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. There’s an element of fear in each of us because the Law is true, and the Law says that God should punish us eternally in the lake of fire.

But here we should recall something that happens so often in the Bible. So often God’s people are confronted with terrible facts—similar to the one I’ve just mentioned with the lake of fire. The laws of nature say they are going to be crushed or drowned or burned. The laws of military science say that they are going to die. The laws of nutrition say that they are going to starve. But into these terrible situations the Lord God himself steps in and he says, “Do not be afraid.” God says, “Do not be afraid,” countless times in the Scriptures. It’s as though he is saying, “I understand that these laws are calling for your destruction, but I am the Lord of all laws. I’m going to enter into the fray myself, and then just be still and see how I am God.”

And so on Judgement Day we will be witness to the working of a Law that is much greater than the laws of nature or military science or whatever else we might be familiar with from our earthly life here. This day will also be witness to how this Law of laws wreaks its terrible vengeance upon those who have transgressed it, but have no faith in Jesus. But for those whom God has chosen for salvation, whom he has baptized, whom he has nourished with his word, whom he has strengthened when they stood and raised when they have fallen, whom he has shepherded safely through the valley of the shadow of death—for these who have believed in Jesus to the end, God will say, “Do not be afraid. This Law has called out for your punishment, but I have silenced all accusations against you when I sent my Son to die for all the sins of the whole world including yours.”

That experience will be similar, but vastly greater, than the acts of deliverance that we hear about in the Bible. We will experience something greater than the ark floating upon the waters of judgment, the passage through the Red Sea on dry ground, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, the storm on the Sea of Galilee. When it comes to the Day of Judgment, our danger is greater than any of these biblical examples. God’s act of deliverance is more drastic. In none of these other examples did God lay his very self on the line, but that is what he has done to save us from the Law’s judgment against us. The price for our deliverance was costly. He gave his dearest treasure.

So what we can see from all of this is that the day of the Lord is tremendous. Nobody will have experienced anything like it before it happens. It is not something that can just be taken for granted—some future event that is nothing to get excited about. If ever we have been excited about anything, then all of that has to pale in comparison to this day. It will be the worst day that has ever happened for some people. It will be the best day that has ever happened for others.

The prophet Malachi brings this out. We’ll have this reading in a couple weeks. The day of the Lord is coming, burning like an oven. The hot sun of God’s glory is going to scorch some so that they are burned. That same hot sun is going to be like the spring sun that calves feel when they are put out to pasture. It will have healing in its wings. We will go out leaping. We will frolic, soaking up that heat from the sun.

We have a happy picture in our Gospel reading too. Here Jesus is the groom. The bride is the Holy Christian Church. He is coming for her. The folks in this parable are not sad. They are not dreading the coming of the groom. They want him to come. If they are sad about anything, then it is that he has been delayed. When the cry comes at midnight, “Wake, awake, he comes!” Those young women are roused from their sleep with great happiness.

It’s like Christmas morning. You don’t have to prod the children to get out of bed. They come a-running like calves out of the stall. They can’t wait to see him. And so it is for us too. We know Jesus. He has made himself known to us. We’d like to see him.

But Jesus also has a reason for telling us about the foolish virgins too. They wanted to go to the wedding. They thought it would be a lot of fun. When they wake up they discover, to their horror, that they have forgotten to bring oil along with them. This always makes me think of recurring dream I used to have when I was in college and seminary. I dreamed that I had my schedule of classes that I was supposed to attend. I went to them, but then there was a class that I forgot about. Having forgot that I had the class, I obviously didn’t go. Time passes, and then I suddenly realized that I had this class the whole time and I didn’t have any of the work done for it. I was so dreadfully sorry in those dreams. Once I discovered my mistake, it was too late to do anything about it. I ached with sorrow. I’d wake up in a cold sweat. I was relieved to learn that it was only a dream and wasn’t real.

That, unfortunately, is the feeling that these foolish virgins had. They thought they were in. They thought that they were fine. They thought that they were members of the congregation in good standing. It turns out, by their negligence, they have lost the one thing needful. They are unprepared, and that dreadful sentence is spoken against them, “Amen, I tell you: I do not know you.”

As Jesus finishes this parable he says, “Watch, therefore, because you do not know the day nor the hour.” That helps us understand what happened with the foolish virgins, and it gives us our cue so that we do not end up in the same boat. These nominal Christians quit watching for Christ’s second coming. They quit living for the life of the world to come, and started to live for this earthly life that will not endure. They lost hold of the tremendous day with its stupendous events. They said, “We know all that stuff already. There’s no need to go on talking about it.” In this way they are slowly lulled into negligence and sleep. If they do not wake up, and get some oil for their lamps, they will end up like we hear about in our Gospel reading.

So how do we keep oil in our lamps? How are we to prepare? How are we to watch? The fear of failure or the fear of punishment will never do it alone. If we prepare only by being fearful, then we will inevitably meet God as though he were our enemy. Perhaps, by fear, we can prepare somewhat for battle against him, but I don’t like our chances in such a fight. Fear alone won’t do.

But among us, this is not really a problem. Among us, it is rather the opposite. Fear of the Day of Judgment is shrugged off. It’s as though it’s no big deal. Or it isn’t talked about at all. A person might wonder with this parable how it is possible that these church members, these virgins, were foolish and unprepared. Well, might it be that when they congregated as a church they never talked about Judgement Day, or it was explained away as nothing to worry about? Do you realize how rare it is to find a congregation that takes God’s judgement seriously? Our land is littered with churches, but I don’t know if a tenth of them take such things seriously. And yet they have well meaning people in them who are quite sure that they are Christian. Tell me, how can you be prepared for this great and awful day if you are never told anything about it?

And so we dare not shrug off this day or the fear that we now feel concerning it. But that person is only truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in Jesus’s words. And what are Jesus’s words? Why is he coming? Is it not true that he says that he has come, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him? Is he not the groom, hastening to the bride whom he loves?

The Christian’s strength is never in fear. Fear is still a part of the Christian’s life in this world, because we still have our flesh and our faith is not perfect. Fear can’t get us one inch closer to heaven. It is faith in God’s promises that are our strength.

The day of the Lord, the Day of Judgement, lies in the future. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. If ever we have looked forward to anything, then we should look forward to this day. Even with the happiest days that we have in this earthly life, defects are inevitably mixed in. It can’t be any other way. That is not so with Judgment Day. That is when all things will be set right. It is a thrilling cry: “Wake, awake! Here he comes!”

191117 Sermon on Daniel 7:9-14 2 Peter 3:3-14 Matthew 25:31-46 (2nd Last Sunday of Church Year) November 17, 2019

191117 Sermon on Daniel 7:9-14 2 Peter 3:3-14 Matthew 25:31-46 (2nd Last Sunday of Church Year) November 17, 2019

Monuments are not made of paper or wood. Monuments cannot be made with things that quickly rot, otherwise the whole purpose of the monument is nullified. Monuments are supposed to be long standing reminders so that we do not forget something or someone who is important. They are not made with perishable things, but with relatively imperishable things. They are made with metal or stone so that they are not so quickly destroyed. When a monument is put in place, it is hoped that the monument will last an indefinitely long period of time and that the people of the coming generations will continue to remember and appreciate the thing that is commemorated.

Making monuments is a way to try to overcome death and decay. We are not made of stone or metal. We live seventy years, or by reason of strength, eighty; but they are toil and trouble. We soon pass away and are gone. We’d like to go on being remembered. Our family isn’t good enough, either. Surely our children and grandchildren will remember us, but what about our great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren? We’ll be lucky if they even remember our names. Monuments are a way to try to conquer the forgetfulness and apathy of people. It is a way to try to make a lasting mark.

All attempts at immortality, all attempts at cheating death and decay, must necessarily end in failure. People forget us. Monuments eventually become illegible or are thrown into the garbage or get covered over by dirt. Archaeologists have only found a tiny fraction of monuments that the people who made them thought would last forever. We do not last forever. Even if we are only talking about some kind of ghostly, insubstantial immortality—where we are remembered by the people who live on after we die. That, too, must end in failure.

King David has quite a different perspective about the nature of our life and death. He prays to God in Psalm 39:

Teach me to know my end and the number of my days so that I may know how frail I am. You have made my days just a few handbreadths long. My age is nothing before you. Truly, every man, even when he is in his best and strongest state, is altogether vanity, is altogether nothing. Truly, every man walks about and is no more substantial than a shadow. We busy ourselves, but to no purpose. We heap up riches, but do not know who will gather them.

It wouldn’t be hard to find people who would say that these kinds of thoughts are defeatist, unwholesome, and a danger to society. “We should be thinking about how we can make the world a better place. This depressing talk takes away people’s ambition for making monuments of themselves. It’s a good thing only a very small minority allows themselves to be subjected to this abuse, otherwise the world would fall apart!” This is typical.

I think I’ve learned a little something about the way that the devil, the god of this world, operates. His primary strategy is that we should not have serious thoughts about our mortality even come up. It is to his advantage that people are content to die, believing that all is well with themselves and with the world and that their life was very special and will be remembered. He wants everyone to believe that everybody goes to a better place. What’s really important is that the world is making giant strides in the right direction. This is the world’s standard, orthodox teaching that suppresses the very different thoughts that are given to us in the Bible. The first strategy of the devil is to keep us ignorant of what the Bible says in preference to an eternal world that will always remember and value everyone. But, of course, we know that this is a lie.

If this first strategy fails, and somehow the Bible’s thoughts about the impermanence of this world comes out, then he turns to fear. It is best for him if we never think these thoughts, but if we do, then he is going to say that it is weird and kooky and dangerous to society. And in a way, the devil has some truth on his side when he says this. The Christian message most certainly is not that everybody should just go on making monuments for themselves. As Paul says, every high and exalted thing is to be torn down and brought into subjection to Christ. All the things that people are proud of, all the things that people believe in, are to be exposed for the impotent idols that they really are, so that we can believe in the truth of Jesus, which will not disappoint us.

The devil is our enemy, and so we do well to know his tactics and strategies. He prefers to keep us in the dark. He prefers to keep us blind to our sin, to the true nature of our death, to God’s judgment, and the possibility of going to hell. He wants all these things kept off the table, for otherwise we might start to prepare to fight against these things. He’s got us licked as we are in and of ourselves, and so he’d like to keep it that way. If he doesn’t succeed in keeping us blind, if he doesn’t succeed in keeping us living for this world only, then he will rage and fume. And he’s got plenty of allies in the world (and even in our own flesh) who will join in. The Christians who have been martyred in the past were killed because the society was against them. They were seen as evildoers. The Christians were fighting against things that people loved and believed in. That made people angry. They preferred the darkness to the light, and so they tried to snuff out the light.

This is all bluff and bluster, though. We shouldn’t allow it to make us turn tail and run. The devil cannot actually do anything to us that is eternal so long as we do not believe his lies. Remember the last verse of “A Mighty Fortress”: And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife—though these all be gone, our victory has been won. The kingdom ours remaineth. Might it hurt to lose your money? Might it hurt to lose your reputation? Might it hurt to lose your child and spouse? Of course! But even if the devil should take our earthly life, our victory has been won. The kingdom ours remaineth. When we die as Christians we lose nothing. Rather, we gain everything. We achieve victory over our flesh, the world, and the devil. We lose our mortality and put on immortality. We join in communion with God and with Jesus whom he has sent as our Savior.

The only truly fatal weapon that the devil has in his arsenal is his lying. He actually does not possess any real hold on anybody. Jesus redeemed us from him with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. The truth is not on the devil’s side and he knows it. That is why he fights against the truth ever being brought to light. If it should ever be brought to light, he calls it names. He tries to make the lives of those who believe in the truth miserable. This is childish and silly, but that’s what the devil does. He works with what he has, and since he has no claim on us, this is all he is left with.

Now let’s briefly take up our readings today in more detail. In our epistle reading from 2 Peter we hear about the end of the world. The world that once perished through water in the flood is being stored up for fire. Not only will all the money and property of this world be destroyed in the end, but even the elements will melt as they burn. No monuments will remain. The only things left of this world will be God and the resurrected bodies of all people who will be judged.

Both our Old Testament reading from Daniel as well as our Gospel reading from Matthew deal with this judgment. Daniel receives a vision of the end. All people are gathered. The books are opened. There is nothing that can remain hidden anymore on that day. This is why this day will be awful and the beginning of the fullness of hell for those who do not have a good conscience towards God. All the things that we might think we get away with on this earth, are not actually gotten away with.

Our only hope is to believe in the one whom Daniel tells us about who is given dominion and a kingdom by the Ancient of Days. Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord, and there’s none other God. Jesus’s dominion and kingdom is of grace and the forgiveness of sins. He does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. The only way that anyone can be accounted as righteous before God is through the sacrifice for sin that Jesus made for us on Good Friday. Jesus’s dominion and kingdom is the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world that has the power to save sinners from hell.

The Gospel reading is also about the judgment. The sheep go to the right. The goats go to the left. The sheep inherit the kingdom that God prepared for them from before time began. The goats depart into the eternal fire that was prepared for the devil and all his angels. One facet of the final judgment is given great prominence in Jesus’s teaching here. The determining factor for whether someone is recognized as a sheep or a goat is the way that the least of Jesus’s brothers are treated. Those who are Jesus’s brothers are the ones who hear the word of God and believe and do it. That is to say, Jesus is speaking here about Christians—not just Christians in name, but Christians by conviction and public confession.

These are different than the silent masses. They open their mouth. They speak uncomfortable truths. This marks them as enemies to the devil and the world, his princedom. This means that Christians end up being badly treated. They end up being rejected by family and friends. They might also lose the food and drink and clothing. They might even be put in prison.

A question is then posed to each of us. This is the question that will be asked at the final judgment, according to Jesus’s words: “What are you going to do about it?” Are you going to sit idly by while those who speak and promote the truth are being called names? Are you going to help them when they lose their jobs or are rejected by their families? Are you going to comfort them and visit them? Jesus says that insofar as you did it to the least of Jesus’s disciples, you did it unto him. This is actually a high privilege. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do something for Jesus? Do it to those whom the world rejects as foolish or dangerous or unsuccessful.

We have an overly romantic view of St. Paul and the other apostles. We think that they went from triumph to triumph, converting the whole world by the power of their preaching. When you actually read the book of Acts and the epistles you get a very different picture. They only converted a small number when you compare it to those who remained unconverted. The world most certainly thought that they were foolish, dangerous, unsuccessful—and so they had no problem putting them to death. Think of the intensity that is required to put someone to death. That is what the apostles worked in these unbelievers with their provocative preaching. But at the same time, there were sinners who came to believe in Jesus rather than the greatness of this world. These are children of God who will live in happiness and be honored forever. The apostles’ preaching was certainly not vain.

As it was at the time of the apostles, so it is now. If Christians just box the air and make a show of their Christianity, then nobody is going to get upset. But if they start landing punches with their testimony, then there is going to be a reaction. When that reaction comes, whose side will you be on? The proof is in the pudding. It is quite easy to say that you are a Christian. It is altogether different when your Christianity requires you to do things that are not popular. The most important thing that happens in this old world, that is so very ripe for judgment, is the preaching of the saving Gospel. When people defy the devil and all his threats and courageously stand together in preaching the Gospel, unbelievable good is done. On the other hand, when we, like St. Peter, say: “I do not know the man,” we do irreparable, and even eternal, harm.

It is hard, even impossible, to fight the devil and his world on our own. “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected.” If it were just up to us we all would do our part in fighting against the kingdom of God either by our actions or by our inaction—trying to save our own skin. But God does not leave us orphans. He gives us the Holy Spirit so that we believe in Jesus and do not give way to fear. The devil has no power, except for lying. The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth.

191110 Sermon on Luke 17:20-30 (3rd Last Sunday) November 10, 2019

191110 Sermon on Luke 17:20-30 (3rd Last Sunday) November 10, 2019

Today I’d like to speak about the kingdom of God. When people hear the phrase, “kingdom of God,” they might think of many different things. A king, a throne, a crown might come to mind. Politics and borders and wars might come to mind. All these things can be incorporated into the understanding of the kingdom of God and it wouldn’t be wrong to do so. But I think it is helpful to have something that pulls all this stuff together. The thing that does that is the verb that is hidden behind the phrase “kingdom of God.” The verb is “reigning” or “ruling.” What makes a kingdom a kingdom is that you have a king who reigns and rules. If the king isn’t doing what kings do in a certain place, then that is not part of that kingdom. So with the kingdom of God we are talking about the way that God reigns and rules.

There are at least two ways that we can speak about God’s reigning and ruling. One way is to speak about the way that he is in control over all things as the Creator. He keeps the oceans and seas in their places. He keeps the heavenly bodies on their regular and predictable paths. He knows when one sparrow falls to the earth or one hair falls out of your scalp. There is nothing whatsoever that does not happen without God being behind it.

Trying to understand what God is like while he does all this stuff was something that occupied philosophers for many hundreds of years until recently when people decided that he doesn’t exist. God’s people, unlike the philosophers, do not try to pry into these things beyond what is proper. Like St. Paul says in Romans 11: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his advisor?”

The other way that we can speak about God’s reigning and ruling is according to what God has spoken to his people through the ages, beginning with Adam and Eve. Studying nature or mathematics or any other aspect of creation will not help us understand God’s reigning and ruling in this second sense of the word. Only the Bible is of service here. Only the Bible teaches us that all people are born under the reign and rule of the devil because of original sin. We voluntarily became subject to him when we obeyed him rather than God. But God promised liberation from the devil’s tyranny. In the Garden of Eden, God said that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. The reign and rule of the devil would be brought to an end, and the Messiah, the Christ, would rule in his place.

This is exactly what happens when people are baptized. The devil is renounced with all his works and all his ways. This is similar to the way that a citizen might renounce his citizenship in a certain country. By renouncing the devil and all his works and all his ways we are declaring our desire to no longer live under his rule. Then the Creed is confessed so that we may know our new king—God himself. Jesus is now to be the Lord of the person who is baptized, for he has redeemed, purchased, and won the person from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil—not with gold or silver—but with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Because of what Jesus has done we are now his own and will live under him in his kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

This second way of speaking about the kingdom of God is different from the first. There are a lot of people who believe that God exists and that he is in charge of all things, but who don’t believe that Jesus is God, or that God reigns and rules in him. People might be convinced by philosophy or a study of nature to believe in the existence of God. The only way that someone can believe in Jesus is by believing the Gospel. The word “Gospel” means “good news.” God has good news of great joy that is for all people. Jesus is the Savior who has redeemed us from the devil’s reign and rule. When we believe in him we will not perish, but have eternal life. By the proclamation of the truth in Jesus—by the proclamation of the Gospel—God reigns and rules in his kingdom. He converts sinners from the lies that everybody otherwise naturally believes.

And so we can see that the kingdom of God, the reigning and ruling of God, is done using the means of words—specifically the words of the Gospel. The devil’s power over people is brought to an end by them hearing Good News. Sinners are adopted as the beloved children of God when they believe the announcement of the forgiveness of their sins for Jesus’s sake. Those who believe are in the kingdom of God, because God is reigning and ruling in them through faith in the Gospel.

This creates a bit of an odd situation as far as kingdoms are concerned. God’s reigning and ruling is done solely by the means of words, by speaking. You can’t see words. You also can’t see faith. Earthly kingdoms are much more visible. The king is visible. His might is visible in the armies and police that are under his command. If seeing is believing, then there is no reason to wonder whether an earthly kingdom exists so long as you can see it. But Jesus, our king, is not yet visible to us. There are no borders and so there are no maps that can be made of what is Christian or not Christian. Christians only exist where the Gospel is preached and believed. If the Gospel is there, then there will be Christians. If the Gospel departs, then there won’t be Christians.

In our Gospel reading the Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God will come. When they ask Jesus this, they are obviously not talking about the kingdom of God in the first sense that we spoke about where God is in control of everything. They are asking about the reign and rule of God that God’s people have been looking forward to since the fall into sin. They are wondering about the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of David. When is it going to happen that God will set things right again through him?

Jesus responds, “The kingdom of God is not going in a way you can observe, nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘Look, there it is!’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

The Pharisees were not expecting such an answer. Even Jesus’s own disciples and apostles were not expecting this kind of answer about the kingdom of God. What they were expecting was a kingdom that was quite visible. They thought that when the Christ came he would assume power and rule over the territory that God had given to Abraham and his descendants. They thought that he would be a king like his father David who would be wise and strong and kick out all the enemies that had ruled over the Jews for so many years. The Jews to this day are waiting for just such an earthly king to show up.

When you understand that the people were expecting a Christ who would sit on a throne and rule over a visible kingdom, then you can understand why Jesus’s crucifixion was so devastating to his friends and delightful to his enemies. When Jesus was crucified the disciples were crushed. They had believed that Jesus was the Christ. Now he’s dead! How can someone who is dead be king? Are you going to try to prop up his slumped body on a throne? Even that can’t be done for more than a couple days before corruption really starts to set in. The disciples believed that they had been terribly mistaken about Jesus. Jesus’s enemies were delighted for the opposite reason. They believed that they had been proven right. They had believed that Jesus was an evil doer from the moment he healed someone on the Sabbath without their say-so. They believed that he was a blasphemer when he said that he was God’s Son and that God and he were one. “Now look at him on that cross!” they said with glee. “That will teach you not to blaspheme!”

Jesus knew that his kingdom would be a kingdom of preaching and faith. In point of fact, God’s kingdom had always been a kingdom of preaching and faith. Abel believed. Cain did not. Noah believed. The rest of the world did not. Abraham believed. Isaac believed. Jacob believed. The kingdom of God was at work in these people through the Gospel, but if you looked at them you wouldn’t necessarily be able to see God’s reigning and ruling. On the outside they did not look any different from anybody else.

The same is true to this very day. God’s reigning and ruling is hidden from those who do not believe. Consider this place where we gather together. We have the Gospel here. We have the Sacraments here, which bestow the Gospel. We have the reigning and ruling of God here unto the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But supposed you grabbed some stranger from off the street and showed him our Divine Service and asked him whether God was reigning and ruling here. What do you think he would say?

But maybe we don’t even need to be grabbing strangers. Do we ourselves understand the greatness of the reigning and ruling of God that we have because of the Word of the Gospel that is given to us? I don’t think so. It is quite hidden even to us even though we believe. We’re prone to thinking that the congregation is just a group of people thrown together by history or happenstance, rather than being a family of God’s children who have been gathered together in God’s war against the devil. People cannot see this war just as they cannot see God’s reigning and ruling in the hearts of his people, but that does not mean that it does not exist.

Jesus warns us against those who would point to a certain place or to a certain person and say, “Look, here,” or “Look, there,” as though the kingdom of God came in a visible way that can be observed. If anyone says, “I am the Christ,” do not believe him. If anyone says, “If you are not under the authority of the Pope then you are not really a Christian,” do not believe him. If anyone says, “You have to be a part of such and such a Church or you cannot be saved,” do not believe him. Salvation is not found in outward associations and organizations and memberships. The kingdom of God is within you. It’s faith. St. Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

This hiddenness of the kingdom of God will not go on forever, however. We are entering into the end of the Church year and looking ahead to the season of Advent. During this time of the Church year we focus on the end of this world and Christ’s second coming. When that happens our king will become visible to all people. The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise. This will be unmistakable and will come all at once. That is why we should not be deceived by those who say that Christ has come here or come there. Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “The Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning that flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other side.”

There are a lot of misguided teachers in Christianity who trouble themselves and their hearers about end times things. It’s as though the signs of Jesus’s coming were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and they try to put it all together. This easily grows into an obsession where it becomes the only thing that is talked about. Weighty matters and edifying instruction are pushed aside for more exciting talk about the admittedly stupendous things that will happen at the end.

These folks are quite like the Pharisees in our Gospel reading who are wondering when the Kingdom of God will come, and they should take instruction from Jesus’s words, “The kingdom of God is not coming in a way you can observe, nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘Look, there it is!’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Until the time when Christ comes in glory the reign and rule of God takes place through the preaching of the Gospel to be received by faith. The end of the world is up to God. He will bring it about. When the time comes nobody will be confused about whether it is the end or not. In the meantime we have enough to teach and believe and do. The reign and rule of God is not something we have to wait for. It is among us now as Jesus faithful dispenses our forgiveness and salvation day after day, week after week.

191106 Funeral Sermon for Marty Wendel (Job 14 Matt 10)

191106 Funeral Sermon for Marty Wendel (Job 14 Matt 10)

I received the phone call from Lavonne on Saturday around noon. She was at the emergency room. Marty had died. I was shocked. What happened? We don’t really know. He just got suddenly sick and died.

Everybody who has heard about Marty since then has had the same reaction. It is unusual for people to die suddenly. We’re used to hearing about people being sick before they die. That provides some kind of warning. Unexpected deaths hit the loved ones harder than deaths that come after extended illness or old age. I’m sorry for the shock and grief that this has caused.

What shall we say about these things? How can we explain this? Is this just bad luck? The answer that the Bible provides is an emphatic “no.” Jesus says, “Two sparrows are sold for a penny, and yet not one of them falls to the ground without the knowledge and consent of God.” His point is that birds aren’t that important, and yet God orders the course of their lives. Or how important is it that a hair should fall from your head so that you have one less than you previously had? God knows this knowledge also. How many hairs we have on our head isn’t very important to us, for what difference does it make?

Something that we care a great deal more about is also known by God. This thing we learn from Job in our Old Testament reading. God determines how long each will live. The number of months has been set by him. There’s a limit, and nobody is able to live one day past that limit. So God determined that Marty was to live exactly 56 years not one day more or one day less. Of course, also, then, God knew the way that Marty would die—that it would be unexpected and come as a shock to us.

What we can see from all this is that God is not far away. He is not detached from his creation. He knows everything, great and small. Not a single hair falls from our head without his say-so.

Because God is so close and determines everything, we should see the importance of a good conscience. When we are burdened by a bad conscience we wish that we could be far away from this God who is so intimately tangled up in our lives. It’s like how a kid, who has done wrong, stays away from its parents, or the way that a criminal stays away from the police. It is very unpleasant to be together with the judge and the executioner when a person has a bad conscience. Therefore, when it comes to God, people will retreat to hopes and dreams that God isn’t real, or that he isn’t close, or that he doesn’t care about how I live my life. This is wishful thinking that will not come true, but if we don’t have any hope of having a good conscience, then maybe this is the best that we can do.

God does not want us to have a bad conscience. He wants us to have a good conscience. In the Christian Church we hear a lot about the word “peace.” That’s talking about having a good conscience towards God. A good conscience is another way of saying that there is peace between God and you and you and God.

How can there be peace between God and you? Is it by living a good life? Theoretically, and perhaps ideally, that would be the case, but that ship sailed long ago. How, then? It is by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. The sin of the world was placed upon Jesus’s shoulders and he was punished for the sins that we have committed. By this atoning sacrifice the air has been cleared. Through faith in Jesus we may have a good conscience towards God because in Jesus is the forgiveness of all sins. St. Paul says, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It can be hard to believe that there is peace between God and you for Jesus’s sake. As soon as just one past sin comes to mind it is easy to believe that God could never approve of you. That is where it is necessary to remind yourself that Jesus took your sin away from you and suffered God’s fearsome wrath for it on the cross. You’re right: so far as you yourself are concerned, apart from Christ, it would be good to be a million miles away from God, if that were possible. But that fear is not necessary. This is the privilege of being a Christian. The good conscience toward God is given to us as a gift to be received and held to by faith.

Having a good conscience for Jesus’s sake changes everything so far as the nearness of God is concerned. Instead of being a bad, terrifying thing, it is recognized by faith as being a good thing—even the very best of things. Jesus, in our Gospel reading, says that God is very near and he knows and works everything that happens to us. Not a sparrow falls from the sky or a hair from our head without his say-so. Then he says, “So do not be afraid.” No matter what might happen, God is near and God is for you.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend that is rich and powerful and could help you out of every possible predicament? We’d be quite delighted just to have a friend like that who is a normal human being. God’s Gospel reveals that that friend is God himself. There is no trouble that is too much for God. If God is for you, then who cares what might possibly be against you. If God is for you, then even the devil, even death, even your sins, even hell itself must submit to him, for he is God.

Think of Marty’s last moments on this earth. There isn’t a single one of us who wouldn’t like to have been there so that we could help him in whatever way we could. But who was there? It’s not inconceivable to me at all that when Marty knew that he was in trouble that he asked his Lord Jesus for help. Jesus heard his prayer and shepherded him through the valley of the shadow of death. Marty feared no evil once he learned that Jesus was near him, his rod and his staff comforted him.

A goodly part of the training that Christians undergo is to learn about God’s nearness, how God is for us in Jesus, and that we have been given God’s name to call upon in every trouble. Marty was faithful in his training as a Christian. He knew what to do when death came calling. No matter how strong death is, Jesus is stronger. Easter is testament to that. Although death holds Marty in its grip at this moment, death’s back is already broken. It can only hold on for a little bit longer. For soon, very soon, Jesus will come on the clouds and say, “Marty, my friend, get up.” His body will rise again to life, just as we hear about in the Scriptures.

Now that Marty has gone through what he has gone through, he has witnessed the saving power of his God. He has learned even more thoroughly the importance of a good conscience towards God. So I imagine that if he could give all of you who love him a message it would be this: “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Come out from whatever rebellion you have had against God and embrace the gift of peace that God gives you in the crucified and resurrected Jesus.

191103 Sermon on Rev 7:7-17 Matt 5:1-12 (All Saints' Day) November 3, 2019

191103 Sermon on Rev 7:7-17 Matt 5:1-12 (All Saints' Day) November 3, 2019

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!