I Believe in Jesus’ Ascension

Wwe say it. But do we understand it? So often in our lives we are put in places where we speak some words or even sign on the dotted line. But how often do we actually understand what we have spoken or signed? Every monday for ten years I would stand up with my classmates in school and say: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god with liberty and justice for all.” Year after year I would say those words. But only when I had grown up did I realize what those words mean. It meant first, that I agreed that it was true. Then it meant that I would support this nation with my taxes and with my service.

It is so easy to say the words or sign on the dotted line and not understand what we are doing. It is true now and it has always been true. In the gospel for tonight Jesus quotes psalm 110. Psalm 110 was a very popular psalm. Everyone in Jesus’ time knew it. But Jesus asked the people a very important question. He asked how.¹ How is it that the ones who were teaching God’s word could say this psalm but then not understand this psalm?

And so, we too, like every Christian of every age who has ever read these words or spoken the creed—we too need to ask ourselves the question: do we believe it; do we understand it? These words here in psalm 110 are the backbone of the whole second part of the second article. For in the Apostle’s Creed we say: He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. Are those empty words? Or are they words which you know, agree to and understand? And so, tonight we boldly and clearly say along with Christians of all places and time: I believe in Jesus’ Ascension.

In the first verse of psalm 110, we read: “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”” (Psalms 110:1 NIV11-GK) So the Lord says to my Lord… Here is where we ask a simple, but important question, who is speaking? Who is “the Lord” and who is “my Lord?” The special name for our God is the Lord. He is the God of faithful, forever and free grace. And since the name of our God is “the Lord” then we can also call the persons of the Trinity “Lord” as well. I remember when I was young and we used to say the Nicene Creed in church. We would get to the third article and we would say: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. And I had a problem with these words. I was ok with us calling the Father, Lord. I was ok with us calling Jesus, Lord. But can we call the Holy Spirit, Lord? And the Nicene Creed put me on a search for bible passages which called the Holy Spirit, Lord.²

Now, why is it useful for us to know that each member of the Trinity is the Lord? Here in this verse in psalm 110 we have the name mentioned twice. So the Lord, God, the Father says to my Lord, Jesus, “sit!” So here in this verse, King David lets us in on a conversation that the Father is having with the Son. And what is the Father saying to the Son? He says “sit at my right hand.”³

And this brings us to another important question. David says that Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand. And we say that we believe it week after week. But what does it mean? First, the right hand of the Father is not a place. We know this for a number of reasons. God, the Father does not have a body. He is spirit. So he has no right hand. So also, when the bible speaks about the Father’s right hand, very often he doesn’t say ‘hand.’ Instead he says ‘hands.’⁴ God the Father doesn’t have a physical hand. And he definitely doesn’t have many right hands.

So we know what the right hand is not. It is not a place. What is it then? It’s a position. It’s a status. It is a way of reflecting what we say in the Athanasian Creed all the time, that Jesus is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. All the power that the Father has he shares with his Son in this position of power at his Father’s right side.

And so, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we say He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Jesus sits at his Father’s right hand and shares his Father’s power. But that leads us to a very important question. How does Jesus use this power? We read: “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”” (Psalms 110:1–2 NIV11-GK)

Notice what the Father is saying to the Son. He says ‘sit here at my right side…until.’ There is so very much to talk about in that one word, ‘until.’ Jesus ascended into heaven. But what is he doing right now? In verse two David tells us that he is ruling in the midst of his enemies. When you say that you believe in Jesus’ ascension you are saying that you believe that Jesus is here in this sinful world ruling over all things through his powerful word. And that is a lot to ponder. When our nation becomes less and less accommodating to Christians, Jesus is still here ruling in the midst of his enemies. When God allows us to get sick and be in pain Jesus is there ruling. He is there using the pain that Satan uses to tempt us against him. When Jesus promises to us that along with bread and wine he is giving to us his body and blood he wages war against our sinful nature by giving to us forgiveness.

All of this we proclaim when we read psalm 110 and say our creed. We say I believe in Jesus’ ascension. With that statement we say that we believe that Jesus sits at his Father’s right hand. But we also say so much more. In our Creed we say: From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. Where did they guys who wrote the creed get this idea from? Let me read to you these words from psalm 110 to you: “The Lord is at your right hand ; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.” (Psalms 110:5–6 NIV11-GK)

Jesus sits at his Father’s right hand ruling over all things for us, his church. But what will he also do? He will save. He will rescue us from the evil in us and the evil out there. He will come to judge the living and the dead. Notice how this is pictured. He will crush kings.⁵ He will pile up corpses.⁶ He will crush skulls.⁷

And so what the creed speaks, psalm 110 explains. There will be a day of devastation and destruction. There will be a day when Jesus is done ruling among his enemies and then rules by judging his enemies. Here again, we say these words, but do you get what they mean? These words shout out to us two sermons:

1. Justice happens in heaven. Jesus rules over everything and every enemy for us, his church. It should not surprise us when we find out that there are many in governments who are corrupt. It should not surprise us that there are people out there who commit crimes and then get away with it. It should not surprise us that people would do violent acts against Christ and his Christians and even for a time get away with it. Why? Here and now Jesus rules over his enemies in the midst of his enemies. But justice happens in heaven. Jesus curbs enemies now. But Jesus crushes them then, on Judgement Day.




2. Judgement Day is soon. At the very end of the bible we read this verse: “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20 NIV) Final justice happens on Judgement Day. But Judgement Day will be soon. And every single time we say these words From there he will come to judge the living and the dead we say our own ‘amen’ to the fact that he will come.

Notice where all of this leaves us tonight. When we say “I believe in Jesus’ Ascension” we are speaking beautiful, wonderful gospel truth. For, as Luther reminds us, the creed is nothing but gospel. From the beginning to the end of it is a preaching of what Christ has done for you. And so, on this night we say “I believe in Jesus’ ascension.” And with that we say two things. First, we say that Jesus sits at the Father’s right side. He rules over all his enemies for you, his church. Then, we say that Jesus saves. There will be a day when the evil tempting us from within and crushing us from without will be no more. Amen.

¹ Mark 12:35-37

² cf. 2Cor. 3:17-18 et al.

³ שֵׁב לִימִינִי

⁴ Matt. 22:44, et al

⁵ מָחַץ בְּיוֹם־אַפּוֹ מְלָכִים

⁶ מָלֵא גְוִיּוֹת

⁷ מָחַץ רֹאשׁ

You Are Jesus’ Friends

Friendship is a gift. On Call Day all the guys who have finished their time and training at our Seminary gather together along with their friends and family. And in a very beautiful and bitter service, I remember my name being read. And then after my name was read the congregation that called me as its pastor was read. That was the beautiful part. But there was also a bitter part. With the call into the ministry came the slow realization that so many of these guys that I had known for a decade I wouldn’t see for a long, long time. They were my friends. And in the silent, quiet days after graduation from the Seminary I could see that friendship is a gift from God. In the words we look at this morning Jesus speaks about friendship. In John 15, we read: “¹³ No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:13–14 HCSB)

Friendship is a gift from God. But notice what Jesus says here. We have friendship with God. Jesus, himself calls us his friends. And in the words which follow Jesus goes out of his way to show us that these aren’t empty words that sound good but don’t mean anything. Jesus proves to us that we truly are his friends. He does this in two ways:

1. A true friend lays down his life for his friend. That is exactly what Jesus has done for us. Jesus willingly, even joyfully laid down his life so that he would be punished in your place. He laid down his life so that when the Father looks at you he would see that you are just as sinless as his very own Son.




2. A true friend takes his friends into his confidence. In verse 15 Jesus tells us: “I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father.” (John 15:15 HCSB) Jesus makes his Father’s business our business. The Father’s words and the Father’s will is now ours.

Jesus tells us that we are his friends. Jesus proves to us that we are his friends. Then what does he do? In verse 10 he tells us: “If you keep My commands you will remain in My love” (John 15:10 HCSB) So also, in verse 15 he says: “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14 HCSB)

He tells us that we are his friends. He proves that we are his friends. Then he commands us to act like his friends. How do we do that? What does that look like? We keep his commands. Here is where we see our sin. For that is exactly what we don’t like to do. We like to add commands which Jesus did not speak of. And we like to subtract from the commands which Jesus did speak of. Just think of some of the commands Jesus has given to you in his word. He has commanded you to gather together for worship, read his word, ponder his word, pray, support your church with your prayers, with your time, with your money and to treat each other as true friends. And the list could go on forever, couldn’t it? Yet instead of being true friends by obeying and keeping these commands, what do we do? We pretend that these parts of God’s word don’t exist. We read God’s word rarely. We pray shallowly. We like some parts of God’s word but refuse to apply and do other parts of God’s word. But Jesus’ words are clear aren’t they? “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14 HCSB)

Jesus has made us his friends. But so very often we don’t act like his friend. A long time ago there was a philosopher named Aristotle. Aristotle observed that friendship is fragile. It can only endure and prosper when both friends are equal, when they both act with dignity and respect, in short, when they both act like friends. However, when one or the other changes then the friendship falls apart.

Christ has made us his friends. But so very often we don’t treat him like a friend, do we? How thankful we are that Jesus does not do what he should. He should make us know how loveless and selfish we are and then leave us. But he doesn’t.

A couple days ago I was talking to a guy who said ‘If anyone wants to be my friend then you have to take me as I am.’ And what he meant by that was that if I was going to be his friend I was going to look the other way when he lied to me and treated others in unkind ways. My brothers and sisters, this is not what Jesus does for you. He does not just ‘take you as you are.’ He takes you as you are and then shows you that you cannot call yourself the friend of Jesus, the friend of God and then live in your evil sins. You cannot ignore what Jesus commands and still call yourself his friend.

But then what does he do? He moves you to see your sin. And then as your true friend he lays down his life to take away your sin. That is friendship. That is your Savior. That is your God.

Through this willing and complete sacrifice Jesus has made you his friend. You are friends with Jesus your brother and Jesus your God. But what is so beautiful about this friendship that Jesus has brought us into is that it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t just end with the declaration that we are ‘not guilty.’ It does not just stop with the fact that our sins are forgiven by Jesus payment in our place. Jesus has more to say: “¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ¹⁷ This is what I command you: Love one another.” (John 15:16–17 HCSB)

We did not choose this friendship. Jesus chose us. He gave us his Spirit through water and word. And through this Holy Spirit we are not only forgiven, but we also forgive—gladly, freely, spontaneously, joyfully. Just as the Father loved the Son and the Son loves us, so also we show true, Christian love to one another. Finally then, my brothers and sisters in Christ, be what you are. Be friends to each other just as Jesus has made you friends with him. Amen.

Remember Your compassion and faithful love

What do you want to remember? Adam and Dakota, what do you want to remember about this day? As I look back to my confirmation years ago, there are bits and pieces of that day that I remember. I remember wearing brand new dress pants which didn’t fit right. I remember being asked question—questions that I should have known the answers to, but didn’t. And I remember receiving the Lord’s Supper for the first time and realizing that it was worth waiting for.

You will have memories of this day. But what is it exactly is it that your Lord would have you remember today? In Psalm 25 we read: (Psalms 25:6 HCSB) “Remember, Lord, Your compassion and Your faithful love, for they have existed from antiquity.”

If you were listening closely enough what is interesting is that in this psalm it is not the Lord who is reminding David. No, instead, it’s David who is reminding the Lord. Now, here is where we need to go back into what we’ve learned in catechism class. Do you remember when we were going through the book of Genesis and we got to Noah and the flood. The flood waters came. They covered the earth. And there Noah was with his family in the ark. And then Moses tells us that the Lord remembered Noah.

So let me ask you the same question that I asked you then. Did the Lord forget about Noah? Was he so busy filling and flooding the world with water that he forgot about Noah? No. As you remember, we call this an anthropomorphism. It’s Moses’ way of telling us that the Lord will now do something great and glorious.

It is useful for us to remember this today. For David is doing the same thing that Moses was. David knew that the Lord never forgets anything. David was asking, praying that the Lord would do something—that he would act.

And David’s prayer is now your prayer. What is it that David wants the Lord to remember and then do? He wants him to remember his (Psalms 25:6 HCSB) “compassion and Your faithful love”.¹ In the New Testament we know these words as “grace and mercy.” David is asking the Lord to remember that he is gracious and compassionate and then do something in line with who he is.

Now here is where you might ask the question, “what does this mean?” What exactly does he want the Lord to do? In verse seven David tells us: (Psalms 25:7 HCSB) “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion”

David is asking the Lord to forgive and forget the sins he committed when he was young. I had a professor who once told me that you will commit sins between the ages of 15 and 25 that will keep you awake when you are 50. And he’s right. David uses two words to describe your sins:

• Mistakes:² The picture here is aiming your bow and arrow at a target and horribly missing the target. In the next 10 years you will make horrible mistakes. You will say and do things which will be embarrassing and shameful mistakes. You will take your try and be wrong.
• Rebellions:³
  In the next 10 years there will be times when you will know what the right thing is. And instead of following it you will rebel. You will deliberately, stubbornly do what you know angers your parents in your home and your Lord above. And you will remember the pain you will bring on yourself.

Now, in that context we can understand what David is saying here, can’t we? If God remembers our sins, then he has to act on them. He has to punish them. He has to punish them now on this earth and forever in hell. So David prays: Don’t remember the sins of my youth. Instead, David prays: (Psalms 25:7 HCSB) “in keeping with Your faithful love, remember me because of Your goodness, Lord.”

David prays that God would act and forgive in line with and out of his goodness and mercy. And what David prays to the Lord, I pray for you. And what I pray for you, you also pray for yourselves. For there will be the day when your sinful mistakes will embarrass you. There will be the day when your rebellious acts will bring punishment on you. On that day, do not forget the Lord. On that day turn to him. On that day pray this prayer: (Psalms 25:7 HCSB) “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion; in keeping with Your faithful love, remember me because of Your goodness, Lord.”

Remember this prayer. Remember it and then continually receive the forgiveness Jesus offers you. Why do we come to church? Why is it that we come to bible study? Why is it that today you come forward to the Lord’s table? Is it because God needs us to sing to him and pray to him? Is it to do God a favor? No, as you have already learned, let me remind you: Come to bible study to learn of what Jesus did for you to take away your sin. Come to worship to receive the forgiveness Jesus has won for you. Amen.

¹ זְכֹר־רַחֲמֶיךָ יְהוָה וַחֲסָדֶיךָ

² חַטֹּאות

³ וּפְשָׁעַי

Shepherd Your Shepherd

Now what do I do? That was the question I asked myself when our firstborn child, Camille was born. There you are, in the hospital. And all of the events which take place in the hospital are surprising enough. And then you get in your care and go home with a child. And you end up asking that question: now what? Where’s the owner’s manual? At least, when you get a new lawn mower or computer there’s an owner’s manual. You might ignore it. But at least there’s it’s there for you. You take your baby home and sit there staring at her saying to yourself, now what do I do with her?

That is the question we ask when it comes to the children that God graciously gives to us. And that is also the question pastors ask themselves. Picture a guy who goes through schooling for eight or nine years. He’s so eager to get a congregation of his very own to serve. Then what happens? God, out of his grace, calls him to a congregation. Then he sits there in his office asking the question: now what do I do? Notice Peter’s answer to that question. If a pastor asks ‘now what do I do?,’ Peter tells us: “Shepherd God’s flock among you” (1 Peter 5:2 HCSB)

Shepherd God’s flock in your care. That’s what the Holy Spirit invites pastors to do. But, as so very often happens, if we ask the question, ‘what does that mean,’ the Holy Spirit is not stingy in letting us know what this means and what shepherding looks like. Peter uses three adverbs which answer that ‘how’ question:

1. Not…out of compulsion: “not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will” (1 Peter 5:2 HCSB). This is a list of temptations which pastors can fall to. One of these horrible temptations is that your pastor is tempted to serve out of compulsion, not because he wants to, but because he has to. There is this real hypocrisy which happens in every Christian pulpit. The man preaches to his people how sinful it is to have an attitude in their hearts where they have to come to church. And then the next day, what happens? The pastor gets into his car to visit a shut-in. And he says to himself: ‘I don’t want to visit this shut-in. She doesn’t remember my name. I have no idea what she is talking about. But I’ll do it because I have to. That attitude is a sin.




2. Not for the money: “not for the money but eagerly” (1 Peter 5:2 HCSB). There is this temptation for every man who serves as a pastor that he would not be content with what he has, but instead use his position, his power not to serve God’s sheep. No, instead he is tempted to use the money to serve himself. This attitude is a sin too.




3. Not lording it over “not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3 HCSB). There is the old proverb, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And pastors are not immune from this temptation. Instead of using God’s word and his Spirit working through his word to build up his sheep, we are tempted to use this world and its methods to make Christians act like Christians. This too is a sin.

All three of these adverbs show pastors how they are to conduct their ministries and what to avoid. And when we don’t listen to these words, we know what happens. A couple of weeks ago I looked at our synod’s call report. It’s an email the WELS sends out every couple of weeks. It lists the names of pastors who have been called to serve in a different congregation. But at the very bottom of the page there’s also another category. And on this last call report I saw a category I had never seen before. The title was “suspended from WELS ministerium.” You see, that’s where laziness, greediness and tyranny lead. It leads to having Christians say to the pastor: “you can no longer serve as a pastor because of your sins.”

I mention this fact for two reasons. First: Pastors face real temptations and they are really sinners. Second: Just as much as it’s a sin for a pastor to give into temptation, it is just as much a sin for God’s sheep to tempt him to sin. Pastors don’t all of a sudden say to themselves: “I don’t like doing my work.” Very often the very sheep his is serving teach him that attitude. When he preaches God’s word from the pulpit or teaches it in the classroom and God’s sheep yawn with boredom on their lips or in their hearts, you drive a pastor to this attitude. And we could say the same about the money and the leadership.

And there’s the irony. The pastor might say “what do I do with these people—God’s sheep among me?” But, so very often, what to the sheep say? You say “What am I supposed to do with my pastor?” Peter tells the elders: Shepherd your sheep! But it’s just as true for him to say to you: “shepherd your shepherd!” And when you ask the next, inevitable question, Peter has an answer for you. When you ask “How do I shepherd my shepherd” look what the Holy Spirit has to say to you: “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” (1 Peter 5:4 HCSB)

Peter calls Jesus, “Chief Shepherd.” What a beautiful name to call Jesus. And what comfort comes from that word! For, if we think about these words even a little, we can very quickly realize that God has placed an erring, straying sheep over other erring, straying sheep. The solution to all of our sin cannot be found in the sheep in the pew. And it cannot be found in the sheep in the pulpit. The solution is found, and only found in Jesus, our Chief Shepherd.

And with that name there is comfort. There is comfort in the fact that the real shepherd of God’s church is Jesus. The pastor doesn’t need to arm-twist and lord it over the sheep in his care. He doesn’t need to because the Holy Spirit forgives, feeds and fortifies his sheep.

With that name there is comfort. For only the Chief Shepherd could lay down his life for his sheep. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus says: “¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me, ¹⁵ as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15 HCSB)

Even if he wanted to, your pastor couldn’t lay his life down to take away your sin. But Jesus did. And not only did he die for you. But he rose for you. And with that victory is your forgiveness. For all the times our serving Christ has been an arm-twisting, a burden and compulsion, our Shepherd now forgives. For all the times we were eager for the money instead of his word, our Shepherd forgives. For all the times we lorded it over each other, our Shepherd forgives.

Finally then, my fellow sheep, let me leave you with this invitation. Shepherd your shepherd. Shepherd your shepherd by listening to him. When your pastor speaks God’s word to you listen to that word. And shepherd your Shepherd by sharing God’s word with him. Amen.

Walk In The Light

God is light. In verse five of John’s first letter, that is what he tells us. God is light. And then, right after that he tells us that there is no darkness at all ever in him.¹ Think about that. There is no darkness at all in him. Way back, when I was in high school, I used to sit in the seats in the theater. And I would watch the guys who were taking care of the lights on stage. They would walk from one side of the stage to the other with their hand up, all the while looking at the curtain. It looked so strange that I asked the guy what he was doing. He was looking for shadows. He was trying to make it so that wherever a person was on that stage there would be lights shining down from above, three in front and several from below. Why? He was on a mission to get rid of all the shadows.

It’s tough, if not impossible to get rid of all the shadows. And yet, that’s the picture that John paints of God. Our God, the triune God has no darkness at all in him. And that leads us to the question: what does it mean that there is no darkness at all in God? It means that there is no evil, no lies, no false teaching in him. And from this fact John draws a very important conclusion: (1 John 1:6 NIV11-GK) “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth”

Through no effort or action of our own, God has made us sharers of his light. We are forgiven. We are declared ‘not guilty.’ We share in that light. But, if we say that we are in the light and then show that we like to walk in the darkness we prove to ourselves and everyone around us that we are liars.

Every Christian who has ever lived and breathed has struggled with this frustration. We are forgiven. We do have the light of Christ in us. If that is true, then why do we sin so much? We are grieved over the fact that, day by day, we show ourselves and those around us that we are liars. For we walk in the darkness—we sin every day.

When we are confronted by this fact we try to change our lives. We try to live for Christ and not ourselves. And, without realizing it, we set traps for ourselves. We set traps for ourselves by trying to walk in the light by…

• Applying the right effort. All the years I was growing up I really liked jokes. I liked to make people laugh. But, so very often, I joked about things and people I shouldn’t have. And when I felt bad because what I had said hurt someone, instead of setting that pain aside, I used to savor it. I used to remember what happened and bring it back to my mind if I started to forget it. Why? I thought that if I could remember the pain that my sin brought, then I wouldn’t do it again the next time. Did it work? No.




• Being with the right people. Later on I thought I began to think that the problem was not me and my effort. I concluded that the problem was the people around me. And so, after a year in Bozeman, MT, I was ready to go to Northwestern College to study to become a pastor. And there, amidst Christian men who cared about God’s word I could begin to walk in the light. And I’ll never forget that first day. I got there some days before class began. It was a hot day. And as I walked down the empty hall to my dorm room I began to smell cigarette smoke. I got to the room with the smoke pouring out of it and I looked in. And there where two guys in their boxer shorts, smoking, drinking and playing cards. And when they lost a hand they used the most unexpected language. And with horrifying shock, I realized that you can’t walk in the light by walking with the right people. For even Christian schools are filled with people who walk in the darkness.

You see, the more you try to walk in the light by applying the right effort and the more you try to walk in the light by being with the right people, the more you trap yourself. And eventually, where does that lead? John tells us: (1 John 1:8 NIV11-GK) “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Eventually we despair. Eventually we give up. Eventually we conclude that if we keep sinning day after day why bother fighting against it. And finally then we teach ourselves a horrible false doctrine.² We teach ourselves that the sins we are committing really aren’t sins at all.

And so, my brothers and sisters in Christ, what is the solution? The solution is found right here in these words. John tells us: (1 John 1:7–9 NIV) “⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The solution is Christ. The solution is a Savior who took away our sins by his own blood. The solution is Jesus who forgives our sins and purifies us from all unrighteousness.

Now, I want you to think about this? Who is the one who created the entire universe? Who is the one who chose you from eternity to be his own? Who is the one who took away the sin of the whole world? If Jesus did all the work when it came to all these, do you think that he will also be involved in your life after he gives you faith in him?

The solution is not to focus on you. The solution is to focus on Jesus. The same Jesus who rose from the dead is the same Savior who takes away your sins every day. The same Savior who rose from the dead is the same God who helps you struggle against sin.

I am emphasizing this for a reason. So very few Christian churches believe this anymore. So many Christian churches believe that Jesus took away some of your sins, but you have to do the rest of the work to earn your way to heaven. Some believe that your baptism only took away some sin. But now you have to work. You have to struggle to use the church to take away your own sins. Other churches teach that the only way you can know for sure if your sins are forgiven is if you both make a decision for Jesus and then work with all that is in you to do good for God.

The solution is not you or anything in you. The solution is Christ. If you want forgiveness, then what does John say? Confess your sins. Don’t turn to yourself. Turn to Jesus. Remember what happened so many years ago in your baptisms. Remember how when you were baptized Christ attached you to the power of his resurrection. Return to the word where Jesus shows you all the many ways he has forgiven you and gives you his forgiveness. Come to the Lord’s Table. Here with his own body and blood Jesus both takes away your sin and strengthens your faith. That is what it looks like to walk in the light. Walking in the light is not looking to yourself. It’s turning to Christ.

John concludes this section of scripture with these words: (1 John 2:1–2 NIV) “¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

It might be tempting for us to think that since Jesus is the one who forgives our sins and strengthens our faith to fight against the darkness, then we don’t need to worry about sin at all. We can just go through life on auto-pilot. Notice what John says. He writes all these words so that we will not sin.

And he finishes with this beautiful promise. Jesus is continually going before his Father in heaven on your behalf.³ And what is Jesus doing there? He is reminding his Father that since he died for the sins of everyone on the face of the planet then the sins of Steve Bauer are forgiven. And your sins are too.

And so, my brothers and sisters, walk in the light. Confess your sins. Receive Christ’s forgiveness. Turn from the darkness…every day. Amen.

¹ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεμία

² ἑαυτοὺς πλανῶμεν

³ παράκλητον ἔχομεν

^{Image courtesy of Stock Xchnge}

What Jesus Says He Means

Say what you mean and mean what you say. Those are words I learned long ago. And if you have talked to people at all you realize that this happens all the time. People use words to say what they want. But, so very often what the other person hears is not what the first person means to say. Years ago there was a mom who came to me. And with real tears in her eyes and real frustration on her face she said that her children didn’t respect her. She said that when she told her little children to do something they deliberately did the opposite. She said “When I tell them to stop pushing each other and hitting each other they don’t listen to me.” And I felt so bad for her. There she was with little, tiny rebellious children. Then I saw her at church with her two small children one day. The one child was beating on the other child. And she stooped down, looked the little child in the eyes and said, “don’t you want to stop hitting your child?” The child thought about it for a second, arrived at his conclusion and then started hitting his sister again. She thought that she was telling her child to stop hitting his sister. But what did say? She was really just giving her child a choice between good and evil. The child thought about it for a second and then chose the evil because he was a little, two year old sinner.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. So very many problems can come into our lives when we don’t mean what we say. But, my brothers and sisters, what can happen if we conclude that Jesus doesn’t mean what he says? And that question brings us here to this church in Corinth. As I read these words, ask yourself, what is the biggest problem these Corinthians have?: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:14–19 NIV)

What is the biggest mistake the Corinthians were making? I studied these words again and again, asking myself that question. And the obvious answer is that their problem is that they were denying the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Last week was Easter. And on that Sunday we proclaimed the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. That is the foundation of our faith. That is the proclamation of our faith.

But then what happened? I kept studying these words and realized that the biggest problem they faced was not that they denied Jesus’ resurrection. That was where they ended up. But where did they start? What caused them to go off the road and into the ditch? The Corinthians had trained and taught themselves that what Jesus said he really didn’t mean. If you want to boil the whole book of Corinthians down to one theme, that could be it: Jesus means what he says. Here in these words they are asking themselves the question: “Does Jesus really mean it when he says that he rose from the dead?” Earlier on in chapter 10 they are asking themselves “Does Jesus really mean it when he says ‘this is my body’ and ‘this is my blood’ in the Lord’s Supper?”

Notice that there were real and horrible consequences to asking these sorts of questions. When they asked the question “Does Jesus really mean what he says” about the Lord’s Supper, they received their answer. Jesus sent them sicknesses and he put them to sleep. Now whether this sleep is a coma or death, I don’t know. Either way, Jesus showed them that what he said, he meant. So too here in these words. Paul tells them: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17 NIV)

Paul tells them that what Jesus said, he meant. He really did rise from the dead. And if you deny that fact then you deny Christ’s forgiveness. You throw yourself in the very same hell that Jesus rose from the dead to save you from.

The church at Corinth was an ugly church. It was full of people who thought that Jesus really didn’t mean what he said. And there’s nothing new under the sun. Just as that church was ugly, so also is this church. This church is full of people who conclude that Jesus really didn’t mean what he said.

Now, at this point, you might be saying to yourself “what do you mean? I believe what Jesus says.” But my question for you is this: Do you? Do you believe that Jesus means what he says?

• About sin: In Matthew 18, Jesus says: ““If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you” (Matthew 18:15 NIV) Jesus says these words. But I ask you, does he mean them? Well, if he means them, then why don’t you follow them? I have been here five years and there have been many, many time I have heard you complain about your fellow Christians and their sins. But, when did you actually get up, go over and tell that other person about his or her sin? And notice what happens then when you don’t: First, you rob yourself of peace. Imagine the peace you would have at night if you actually went over to that person and spoke to him. Even if the person didn’t listen to you, you could at least go to bed at night knowing that you said your peace.

  
  

  But even worse then this, not only do you rob yourself of peace, you also rob that other person of peace. Imagine the joy that other person would have if you showed him his sin. He would repent. He would rejoice that Jesus has covered that sin too with his glorious resurrection. But you rob him of that joy. Why? Because, when push comes to shove, Jesus says ““If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you” (Matthew 18:15 NIV), But you conclude that what Jesus says, he really doesn’t mean.







• About the church: The apostle Paul tells Timothy: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV) So let me ask you, Jesus here in these words is speaking through Paul. So does Jesus mean what he says? Does Jesus actually want Timothy to preach correctly and teach thoroughly? The clear answer is: yes. So then, if it’s true for Timothy is it also true of your pastor? Let me read to you these words from the letter you sent to me in 2006 when you called me to be your pastor:

  
  

In extending this call to you we solemnly charge you…To be faithful in the spiritual care of the young, in particular to instruct our catechumens in the word of God, as it is taught in the word of God…to be diligent in fostering and furthering the education agencies of our congregation.

Jesus has commanded me to teach you God’s word. You have called me to teach you God’s word. So then my question to you is this: Why won’t you let me teach you God’s word? Why is it that there are many of you sitting here this morning who are able to come to Sunday School in the morning, but you don’t. Why is it, parents, that most Sundays in a given year your children are not in sunday school? The result is very clear. You make me into a liar. I am called here are your shepherd. But how does a shepherd water sheep that run away from the stream? Why is it that most people in this church aren’t in Sunday School on a given Sunday morning? The answer is clear: You have concluded that even though Jesus has given you a pastor to teach you, Jesus really didn’t mean what he said.}

This church is ugly, isn’t it? It is just as ugly as the church at Corinth. From the pastor in the pulpit to the person in the pew we have concluded that Jesus does not really mean what he says. But what I love about our resurrected Lord is that he is not like us. He says what he means and means what he says. And we who see our sin and hypocrisy rejoice at what Paul says next: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20–22 NIV)

Now notice what Paul does not do. He does not say “O Corinthians, if you really mean it and really prove to Jesus that you are really, truly repentant, then Jesus might forgive you.” Many Christian churches today preach that way. But Paul doesn’t. What does Paul say? Christ has been raised from the dead. Your sins are forgiven. You have eternal life.

Paul kills the old man inside of us then he lets us know that Jesus means what he says. Yes, he means what he says about sin. But he also means what he says about salvation. My brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has risen from the dead. He has tied you to that resurrection in your baptisms. You preach that resurrection every time you come forward for the Lord’s Supper. And through his word he moves us to say those same beautiful words that Thomas spoke, “my Lord and my God.” Through his word he not only gives us forgiveness, but also a strong faith. He gives us the sort of faith that one-on-one, person to person speaks about sin, so that we can share this forgiveness with others. He gives us the sort of faith that thirsts for his word and learning more of it. All of this comes through our risen Savior who says what he means and means what he says. Amen.

^{Image courtesy of Stock Xchnge}

One of my professors, Daniel Deutschlander, has been walking through the gospel of Mark with some pastors in his area. They recorded his bible study. I listened to all three of the sessions. And even though they are available elsewhere, I thought you might like to have them available in podcast format.

You can download the file either by clicking on the link above or by clicking on the iTunes link in the top left. Here is a link to the first three sessions.

One of my professors, Daniel Deutschlander, has been walking through the gospel of Mark with some pastors in his area. They recorded his bible study. I listened to all three of the sessions. And even though they are available elsewhere, I thought you might like to have them available in podcast format.

You can download the file either by clicking on the link above or by clicking on the iTunes link in the top left. Here is a link to the first three sessions.

One of my professors, Daniel Deutschlander, has been walking through the gospel of Mark with some pastors in his area. They recorded his bible study. I listened to all three of the sessions. And even though they are available elsewhere, I thought you might like to have them available in podcast format.

You can download the file either by clicking on the link above or by clicking on the iTunes link in the top left. Here is a link to the first three sessions.

Do Not Be Afraid

What are you afraid of? Is it snakes? Is it spiders? Is it blood? As a pastor, I have the privilege of presiding over many weddings and funerals. And when it comes to the weddings there are very few people who are afraid of weddings. In weddings there is rejoicing. There is sometimes even joking. And people aren’t at all afraid to let the pastor know what he should do and should not do. They aren’t at all afraid to tell the pastor that he needs to let Aunt Brunhilda sing I got friends in low places as a wedding solo. They aren’t afraid to tell the pastor that he needs to have the little chihuahua dog be the ring-bearer.

That is what a wedding is like. But so very often a funeral looks just the opposite. There are very few who tell the pastor what to preach and how to preach it. Why? It boils down to one word: fear. There is the very real fear of dying. And there is the very real fear of what happens after a person dies.

I’m starting this Easter Sunday sermon out with this one thought and this one word, fear for this reason: Early on that first Easter Sunday morning two women carried spices in their hands to anoint Jesus’ body. But what they carried in their hearts was fear. And so we read in Mark 16: “⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” ⁸ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” (Mark 16:5–8 NIV)

The two Marys go into the tomb. They are greeted by an angel. The angel speaks two beautiful sentences to them. First he tells them that Jesus has risen. Then he tells them that, as a result, he is not there in the tomb.

Those two sentences spoken to these two women are some of the most beautiful words in all of scripture. And in order to understand and appreciate them we need to back up in time and see what brought us to this angel speaking these words.

• Corruption: The first event we need to understand is the word corruption. At the beginning there were only two people. There was Adam and his wonderful wife, Eve. They were perfect and sinless. The Lord gave them a real way to thank him for creating them. He put this tree in the middle of the garden he created for them. He told them to not eat it. But they did. They ate the fruit. They rebelled against their God who was only good to them. And they both at that instant were corrupted. Before they rebelled they were able to be good. After they ate the fruit they were not able to not be good. In other words, they always sinned.




• Curse: Because Adam and Eve rebelled, the Lord cursed them along with all creation. He told Adam “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19 NIV) Because they sinned they would die—and not just them. Everyone would die and face punishment.




• Command: If world history ended with these words it would be a sad, horrible history. But our good and gracious Lord said more. Our Father in heaven commanded his Son to save us from our sin. And the command Jesus was given he gladly received as an invitation.




• Crushed: And how Jesus saved us from our sins was truly amazing. He did not save us from our sins by taking away some of our sins. Jesus died. And when he died God the Father poured out all of his wrath on him. We deserved Hell. But Jesus endured Hell in your place. We deserved to be sent away from Jesus and his Father forever. But Jesus was separated from his Father so that you would never be away from him.




• Conquering: This then leads us to these words here this morning. When the angel says ‘he is risen. He is not here’ they are words of conquering. They are words of victory. These words are the Father’s “amen” to Christ’s payment.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let me pick up where I began. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of death? Jesus endured death. And he rose to show you, to prove to you that you will rise with him. Are you afraid of what happens on the other side of death? Some months ago there was a book written, heaven is for real. But, the opposite is also true: Hell is for real too. How can you know that when you die you do not need to be afraid of Hell? How can you be sure that God will not hold all your sins against you on that day? Listen to those words the angels says: Jesus has risen. He is no longer in that tomb. There is no need. There is no need to be afraid of death. There is no need to be afraid of Hell.

So, do not be afraid For Jesus’ resurrection conquers your sin. But, my brothers and sisters in Christ, wait! There is more to hear. There is more to sink our teeth into this morning. We read: “⁸ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. ⁹ When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. ¹² Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. ¹³ These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.” (Mark 16:8–13 NIV)

As you heard these words, what word and thought do you keep hearing again and again? Unbelief. The two Marys told the eleven disciples that Jesus had risen. And what happened? They didn’t believe. The two disciples talk to Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They see him with their own eyes. And what’s the reaction from the other disciples? They refuse to believe. Next week we’re going to see Thomas tell the others that unless he puts his hands in Jesus’ side and feels the wounds in Jesus’ arms, then he will never ever believe.

Why would the Holy Spirit tell us this? This seems like a bad way to end a book of the bible. And it seems like a bad way to end a sermon, right? Mark wants you to know that it is true that Jesus rose from the dead. And it is also true that Jesus’ death on the cross covers over all the sins of the entire world. But what good is all of Jesus’ punishment and his payment for sins is no one believes it?

You see, unbelief is not just something that happens when we are born. It is also a state we can fall back into. So what is our Savior’s solution to this problem? Does he appear to each one of you every night in your dreams to remind you that he has risen from the dead? Does he appear in your bedroom in the morning every now and then and say “don’t be afraid?” Does he send an angel to sit with you on the way home from work or school? No. Well, what then is his solution to our unbelief? Jesus says: “¹⁵ “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15–16 NIV)

Jesus gives to us his word. And through this gospel, this good news he performs a miracle. He shows us who Jesus is. He shows us that not only is it true that Jesus died and rose from the dead. He also shows us that Jesus died and rose for me—and for you. This is a message and a reminder that we need because we can fall back into unbelief.

And so with these words that Jesus speaks there is an invitation to you. Families, gather together in church for worship. Fathers, sit down with your children and share God’s word with them. Read them bible stories and pray with them. Go home and take out that baptismal certificate and remember what happened on that day. Mark says it here in his gospel so clearly. Baptism saves. The faith we need in Christ baptism delivers to us.

And as you do this, day after day, week after week, what does our Lord Jesus promise to us? He says “There’s no need to be afraid.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, do not be afraid of death. For Christ’s resurrection conquers it. And do not be afraid of your own unbelief. For God has given to us his word. And through it he crushes and conquers even our own unbelief. Amen.

What Is The Lord‘s Way?

It is good to read old books. Years ago, when I was in high school, they made us read old books. And in my freshman year one of those books was a book by Charles Dickens, called Great Expectations. And I still remember that book to this day. In that book there is a boy named ‘Pip.’ Pip lives with his sister and her husband because his parents died. Pip’s brother-in-law was Joe. Joe was a blacksmith. He was a hard-working blacksmith. And Pip was embarrassed of Joe. He was embarrassed at how Joe didn’t know many words or how to use them. He was disgusted when he looked at Joe’s hands which were stained by coal soot and calloused.

And there’s a huge irony in these words. Joe caringly and lovingly stained his hands and calloused his fingers to provide food for Pip. And Joe gladly hammered the metal all day long till his back was pulled in the wrong direction to provide clothing for Pip. But is that what Pip saw? Did Pip see the care and compassion? No.

That story reminds me of these words here written by the prophet, Isaiah. In Isaiah 53 we read: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4 NIV)

800 years before the day that we call Good Friday Isaiah spoke of Jesus. And notice in these words what is happening. Jesus, in great love to us, carries our sicknesses, our sins and our sorrows. And what is our response? We treat him as if he deserved to be beaten, abused and humiliated by God. We pretend that Jesus is abused, beaten and humiliated because of his own sin, not ours. And we gladly look the other way.

But in the next verse notice what Isaiah does. He doesn’t let us look away. He makes us see that the more we sin, the uglier Jesus gets. The more we abuse God the Father, the more he abuses his son. In verse 5 we read: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5 NIV)

Jesus was pierced in the place of our rebellions.¹ Jesus was crushed because of our guilt.² We lie to each other and to God above, but who is the one who is embarrassed? Jesus is. We lust after people and things that belong to others, but who is the one who is punished and crushed? Jesus is.

With these words Isaiah makes us know that we cannot just simply look the other direction. There was a reason Jesus was beaten, bruised and bloody. Jesus endured the punishment that we deserve. In our sinful nature we look the other way. But even sadder still, not only do we look the other way, we also go the other way. Isaiah tells us: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV)

I knew a lady once who smoked. But she didn’t just have a cigarette every now and then. She smoked far too much. She got cancer. She had surgery to take out the cancer. She even went through Chemotherapy to get rid of the cancer. Then, when there was no trace in her body of cancer anymore what did she do? She went back to smoking just as she had done before. And not only did she start smoking again, but when her friends and family begged her to stop she defended the path she had chosen.

Isaiah tells us that are all stubborn sheep. We know what the right path is. But we deliberately, stubbornly choose the wrong path. And then, when we choose the wrong path we pretend that we have the right to stay on that path. And we even go so far as to rejoice that Jesus took our sin and our shame and our sorrow on himself. Why? Because that means we can enslave ourselves to sin all that much more. We look the other way. And as if that weren’t bad enough, we go the other way. We conclude that Jesus saved us for our sin, not from our sin.

The Holy Spirit wrote these words about 2800 years ago so that we would see how wretched, disgusting, embarrassing and crushing our sins are. For if we want to see how wretched, disgusting and embarrassing our sins are all we have to do is look at Jesus on this night. The more we sin, the more Jesus is punished.

And this fact causes us to throw away that horrible idea that Jesus saved us for our sins instead of from our sins. When we look at Jesus on this night we see our sin in perfect clarity. But we also see our forgiveness with perfect certainty. Very shortly we will be singing these word in our next hymn:

‘Tis I who should be smitten, My doom should here be written: Bound hand and foot in hell. The fetters and the scourging, The floods around you surging, ‘Tis I who have deserved them well.

A crown of thorns you’re wearing, My shame and scorn you’re bearing That I might ransomed be. My bondsman, ever willing, My place with patience filling, From sin and guilt has made me free.3

We looked the other way. We even went the other way. But what is the Lord’s way? In verse 11 we read: “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11 NIV)

Here in this verse it says that ‘he will justify many.’ And so we ask the question, what does it mean to ‘justify’ someone?⁴ The word, ‘justify’ means “to declare ‘not guilty’.” One day you will meet your maker. You will stand as one sinner before one holy, righteous God. What will be your hope? How will you explain away the many times you have looked the other way and went the other way? The answer is right here in this verse. Because Jesus was punished in your place, God the Father looks at you and says ‘not guilty.’ Because Jesus was punished for all of your sins, all of your sins are forgiven.

This is a fact. And with this fact there is also a gracious invitation. We looked the other way. We went the other way. And this brings us sadness. But, let these words also bring you gladness. For what Isaiah says is true: “my righteous servant will justify many” (Isaiah 53:11 NIV)

God has declared us “not guilty.” That is the Lord’s way. And that is our joy. Amen.

¹ מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ

² מֵעֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ

³ CW: 113, vss. 3-4

⁴ יַצְדִּיק צַדִּיק עַבְדִּי לָרַבִּים

^{Image courtesy of Stock Xchnge}

How Does The Lord Protect his name?

How do you protect your reputation? You can build a wall to protect your property. You can teach your kids to not play on the railroad tracks. If people say bad things about you on the internet you can even hire people to go throughout the internet and bully people into saying good things about you. But how can you protect yourself from having your name dragged through the mud? In the book of Proverbs there’s a saying: “A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.” (Proverbs 22:1 HCSB) When you sit down and think about it, there’s not much we can do at all to protect our name, our reputation. So in this area, like all the other areas, we trust in our Lord above to protect us.

But what about our Lord above? What does he do when his name is trashed? How does the Lord protect his own name? In psalm 8 we find an answer to that question. But what is fascinating isn’t that the Lord protects his own name. What is fascinating is how he does this. And so, in Psalm 8 we read:  “¹ Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty. ² Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger.” (Psalms 8:1–2 HCSB)

Notice in verse two a very important fact that is so very easy for us to overlook. King David reminds us that the Lord has a very real way of defending his reputation. He gives faith to people so that through his word they know Jesus and praise him.

But what is interesting in this verse is who has faith. In this verse who are the ones who are praising the Lord? Little, tiny children praise him.¹ In fact, children who are so tiny that they are still nursing—they are the ones who are praising him.²

It is true that infants are sinners, because every human being is a sinner.³ Every parent who has a child who reaches that ‘terrible two’ age knows this. The surprising part is that they are able to believe in Jesus. But what does our Lord boldly and clearly say? Not only are they able to believe, they do believe in Jesus. They do worship him and praise him.

It is a fact that through the gospel God creates faith in infants. But in this verse there is also an amazing fruit as well. There is an amazing result which flows from the fact that infants have faith in Christ. Let me read this verse again and see if you can figure it out: “Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger.” (Psalms 8:2 HCSB)

The Lord does not hire people to troll the internet to make sure his reputation is clean. What does he do? He gives faith to infants through his word. And then with those precious words what does he do? He silences the enemy and avenger. Literally, the ‘destroyer and attacker.’⁴

My brothers and sisters, these words are humbling if you understand them properly. Even more so, they are humiliating. Like a mirror in the morning light they show us our sin so very clearly. We see God’s reputation and his name being deliberately forgotten all around us. We see false teachers tear God’s name down from within Christian churches. We see wretched unbelievers strive to strangle Christ from being preached out there in the world. And then what do we do with frustration and anger? We are tempted to complain. We are tempted to put our faith in political candidates and temporal governments so that with laws we could protect God’s name. But what does God do? He gives faith to infants so that they can pray, praise and give thanks. God protects his name not by an act of congress, nor by your complaining. God protects his name by having children, even infants praise him.

And that’s exactly what happened on Palm Sunday. The children called Jesus some of the most powerful names for the Messiah in the bible. They called him the “coming one.” They called him the “son of David.” And the Pharisees didn’t like this. They thought that these children were so small that they didn’t know what they were doing. From their way of looking at things, Jesus should have known better. But what does Jesus say in response to them? In Matthew’s gospel we read: ““Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants?”” (Matthew 21:16 HCSB)

There we are, fretting, worrying and maybe even complaining about Christ’s name. But what is Jesus doing? He’s working through water and word to give faith to infants. And what are they doing? They are praying. They are praising. They are giving our Savior thanks for the forgiveness he has won for them and the faith he has given to them.

Our Lord deliberately chooses infants to praise him to shame us. Through these infants our Lord powerfully reminds us that he doesn’t need us to protect his good name. His name protects itself. But our Lord chooses infants to praise him for another reason. Through these infants he reminds us that we have the same faith in Christ as they do. The same baptisms little infants receive we received long ago. And with that water and word the Lord performed a miracle. He gave us faith to know him, to thank him and to praise him. And through that word he gave us the same sort of faith as these little infants. He gave us the sort of faith which holds onto Christ without failing or faltering.

A couple of days ago I visited Hazel Kohley. And what happened on that day is what happens every time I visit her. She forgot who I was a number of times. And then I got to the devotion. I began with the invocation. And she finished by saying “amen.” I invited her to say the creed and she said it with me word for word. We read from God’s word. Then we concluded with the Lord’s Prayer, which she also knew word for word.

After I finished visiting her I ended up talking to some of the people who worked there. They mentioned that Hazel had good days and bad days. They said that what we need more than anything is a cure for Alzheimer’s. And that would be nice, wouldn’t it? It would be good to have a cure for Alzheimer’s? But that’s not what we need. What we need is the sort of faith that Jesus gave to these infants. What we need is the same sort of faith that Hazel has, that she might forget my name and her name but she will never ever forget the name of her Lord above because that’s the sort of faith Jesus has given her. And the faith we need our Gracious Savior gives to us.

And my brothers and sisters, what then is so beautiful to see is what our Savior does with that faith. In verse 2 we read these words: “Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger.” (Psalms 8:2 HCSB)

What does childlike faith do? It destroys the enemy and attacker. When I ponder this verse I think of Martin Luther’s words in the Large Catechism. Martin Luther wrote:

What has stopped or quelled the counsels, purposes, murder, and riot of our enemies, by which the devil thought he would crush us, together with the Gospel? It was the prayer of a few godly people standing in the middle like an iron wall for our side.⁵

What was it that overthrew the wars of the Ottoman Turks? What was it that overthrew the murdering threats of of the pope? One prayer; one treasure prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and us today. A few people with childlike faiths praying the Lord’s prayer—that is what overthrew Christ’s enemies. That is what protected his name.

And so, my brothers and sisters in the faith, I invite you to learn from these words. If with praising from infants the Lord defends his name and destroys his enemies, then what should we do? Sit down with your children or your grandchildren. Read God’s word to them. Have them grow in faith in the Savior they already know. Pray with them. At a very young age, start to teach them the Lord’s Prayer. And year by year they will grow in understanding the words they know, just as you do. And finally, sing with them, that the first songs they sing are songs which uplift God’s name and throw down the names of his attackers. For the Lord protects his own name. He does so through the faith of infants. Amen.

¹ עוֹלְלִים

² וְיֹנְקִים יִסַּדְתָּ עֹז

³ cf. 1 Kings 8:46; Ps 14:2,3; 143:2; Pr 20:9; Ro 3:9–12,22,23; Ga 3:22.

⁴ לְהַשְׁבִּית אוֹיֵב וּמִתְנַקֵּם

⁵ Luthers Large Catechism (CPH, reader’s version) §3,¶31

Do You Want To See Jesus?

Have you ever been on the outside, looking in? There is always an “in” group. And there is always an “out” group. And those who are on the outside want to be inside. The young man at the school dance, he wants to talk to the girl he likes. But how can he get her away from all of her friends who constantly cling to her? A young woman in high school wants to be in the smart group of people, so he studies and studies. And even if he gets into the ‘smart’ group. Then he graduates, goes off to college and has to start all over again. Wherever we are at in our lives we are always on the outside looking in.

That is the situation we find some people in this morning. In John 12 we read: “²⁰ Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”” (John 12:20–21 HCSB)

These people were on the outside looking in. They weren’t part of Jesus twelve disciples. They didn’t even speak the same language that Jesus and his disciples spoke. They spoke greek, not aramaic. They were on the outside looking in. So they went to Philip with this request. They wanted to be in the inside. They wanted to at least see Jesus. What happened next? “²² Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³ Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. ²⁵ The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:22–25 HCSB)

The greek-speaking people go to Philip. Philip and Andrew go to Jesus with their request. And here is where we need to pause and appreciate these words. We might have expected Jesus to simply say “yes.” We might have expected him to carve out some time and visit with these greek people who so clearly wanted to speak to him. But is that what happens? No. Instead, Jesus tells them this proverb: “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.” (John 12:24 HCSB)

It’s a simple statement, isn’t it? You have one grain of wheat. If you put it on your bookshelf it will just sit there. But if you plant it in the ground and let it die, then you’ll have a bunch of grains later on. What then is the point Jesus is making? He’s letting them know that if they want to see him—if they really, truly want to see him and appreciate him, then he invites them to follow him to the cross. He invites them to realize that his glory is not found by being in some inside, powerful group. Jesus’ glory is found there on the cross. Jesus’ glory is hidden in suffering. Jesus’ glory is shown in his death.

These couple of verses are so very important for us to ponder today. For there is a sinful voice inside our hearts which wants to find Jesus’ glory in any other place than where he has promised to show his glory. Jesus promises to show his glory, power and forgiveness there on the cross. Where are we tempted to find his glory? We are tempted to find his glory in visible earthly progress? We are tempted to find his glory in churches that are always filled. We are tempted to find his glory in the downfall of our enemies. We are tempted to find his glory in earthly politics. And all of that is sin. For there on the cross is where Jesus pointed these greek speaking believers.

And my brothers and sisters in Christ, look at that glory for a moment. Ponder the great truth Jesus speaks to you in these verses. Jesus dies so that he wouldn’t be the only human in heaven. Jesus dies so that we who belong on the outside because of our sin would be brought to the inside. With this promise he says to us: “I know about your sin of seeking my glory outside of and apart from my cross. I know it. And I forgive it.”

So then, do you want to see Jesus? See Christ’s glory there on the cross. But, my fellow believers, Jesus has more to say to us this morning: “^{26 27} “Now My soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save Me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name!” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!” ²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him. ³⁰ Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for Me, but for you. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. ³² As for Me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself.”” (John 12:26–32 HCSB)

Have you ever been nervous before a test? Maybe it was a progress review at work. Maybe it was a test at school. A couple of weeks ago I had a little mini-triathlon. A couple of laps in a pool, some time on a bike and then a run on the track. I wasn’t going to be breaking any records. I knew it. Everyone else knew it. I had no reason to be nervous. But when I started you would have thought I was an olympic athlete. All that nervousness for so very little reason. If that’s how nervous I felt for such a small event, just imagine what was going on inside of Jesus. The sins of the entire world were just about to be placed on Jesus. All of the torture, all of the torment was just about on him. His heart was in turmoil.

And yet, what does he say? When I was just about to start my little triathlon I joked, saying that maybe I should have stayed home. What does Jesus do? He says to those around him: “should I pray that my Father would rescue me?¹ Never! I came to this hour for this very reason.” Jesus’ heart is in turmoil. It’s like a sea being torn apart by storms and winds.² But, instead of complaining, he rejoices in his Father. He rejoices in his work. Why? Jesus tells us exactly why: “As for Me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:32 HCSB)

Jesus tells these greek-speakers who were on the outside looking in that they will see Jesus’ glory there on the cross. But the promise here is just as wonderful. He tells an unshakable, unbreakable progression and promise. If they see Jesus lifted up above the earth and crucified, then they can know for sure that something else will happen. If they see Jesus crucified, then they can be sure he will draw them to himself. How can they be so sure? They can be sure for two reasons:

• Ahead of time: Jesus told then exactly how he would die in these words. He would die like a grain of wheat. He would die by being lifted up above the earth. If Jesus dies in this way, exactly as he promised and predicted, then he was in control of all things.




• All: They found so much meaning and hope in that one, little word, “all.” Jesus would drag all people to himself. On everyone’s last day, everyone will see Jesus face to face. All unbelievers will see Jesus face to face and mourn. But these greek-speakers, they will see Jesus face to face and rejoice. And the audience they didn’t get on that day they finally received in heaven.

These words mean so very much for us today, don’t they? There are times when we want to see Jesus face to face. We want to talk to him face to face. We want to get to know him face to face. Then we would know that we are not on the outside anymore. Then we would know we are on the inside and everything is all right.

Such shallow, wimpy thoughts aren’t they? But look what your Savior does with those thoughts. He is perfect when you are not. When your emotions buckle and break when you are tested, look at Jesus in these words. He knew that the world’s sins would be put on him, and he rejoiced! When you worry about being on the outside looking in, cling to this promise. Jesus tells you: “If I have been crucified, then know really, truly and certainly that I will drag you to me. And you will see me face to face.”

And so, my brothers and sisters in Christ, do you want to see Jesus? See his glory on the cross. And see his face in heaven. Amen.

¹ deliberative subjunctive: τί εἴπω

² τί εἴπω

Your King Was Crucified

Where there’s smoke there’s fire. That’s the one, main thought that was in Pontius Pilate’s mind. It wasn’t an accident that this man, Jesus was hated so very much by the Jewish leaders. Why was he there? So, in order to get some answers to these questions, Pilate started asking Jesus some questions. We read: “³³ Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about Me?” ³⁵ “I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”” (John 18:33–35 HCSB)

Pilate wants to find out if there’s fire beneath all this smoke. So he asks Jesus a seemingly simple question: “are you the king of the Jews?”¹ Jesus doesn’t answer his question directly. He asks Pilate a question in reply: “is this from you? Or is if from others?” Pilate is insulted. He tells Jesus “I am not a Jew.{² It was your people and your high priests who betrayed you.” From this point in the conversation Jesus does answer his question, but not exactly in the way Pilate would have expected. Jesus tells him: ““My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. As it is, My kingdom does not have its origin here.”” (John 18:36 HCSB)

These words are quite difficult to translate. Jesus says that “his kingdom is not of this world.”³ In our day the only time we use these words is when we are talking about space-aliens. How many old sci-fi movies were there which mentioned an alien who was “out of this world.” And even in that context we know what those words mean:

1. Source: When Jesus says that he is not of this world he is telling Pilate that he is not just from Jerusalem. He is also not from this world. He is from another place.




2. Possession: Since he is not from this world he doesn’t belong to or in this world. This world does not own him. And every day he spends in this world and with every breath he takes he shows that he does not belong.

So Jesus tells Pilate that he is “not of this world.” But he says even more than that. He says that his kingdom is not of this world. Here again, these words can easily be misunderstood. When I say the word, kingdom, in our language we naturally think of boundaries and borders. When Jesus uses this word he means the act of ruling.⁴ Jesus deliberately uses this word to give Pilate the answer he needs. Jesus is not a king in the only way Pilate knows the word. When Pilate thinks of the word, king, he is thinking about a man who has power over people and possessions. And he uses people and possessions to keep his power. Jesus doesn’t fit into that description, does he? He is the creator of kings, people and possessions. And so, when Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world he is saying that his ruling does not come from this earth or anything on this earth. So also, he doesn’t need anything in this world. And this world has no hold on him.

And yet, just hours after Jesus speaks these words, what do we see? Jesus enslaved himself to the very world which he was free from. And the world crucified him. Jesus allowed himself to be treated shamefully, tortured and then crucified? Why? He endured all this so that just as he can say of himself that he is not of the world, he can also say about us, “they are not of the world.” Just a chapter before this one, in John 17, we hear Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane: “¹⁶ They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:16–17 HCSB)

Jesus, your King was crucified. And the result is that now, just as Jesus is not of the world, so also, you are not of the world. Through water and word you are born from above—in heaven. You belong there.

But, my brothers and sisters in Christ, how sad it is then when we return to the sins of this world. How disgusting it is then when we get sucked into the people, the power and the possessions of this world. Just like Pilate, Jesus offers us a place outside of the sin of this world. But, instead we follow our sinful natures right back into this world. And know where this leads! On Judgement Day this world and everything in it will be destroyed by fire. In our hearts we know this. Yet we keep going back to this world, don’t we?

And so, the gracious King who was crucified for us moves us to repent of our sins. He tells that those words written above Jesus in three different languages, “Jesus Christ, King of the Jews” are for us. For Jesus wasn’t just their king. He is also our King. He paid the punishment for our sin. And now we can ponder this beautiful fact: Now, we are not of the world.

Jesus was crucified to make us “not of the world.” But Jesus has more to say to Pilate. “³⁷ “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” ³⁸ “What is truth?” said Pilate.” (John 18:37–38 HCSB)

Right at the point when Pilate thought he was getting somewhere Jesus brings out the conversation-killer. He says something that Pilate does not want to hear. He tells him that for this reason he was born and for this reason he came: To testify to the truth. And the word that Pilate hated the most Jesus spoke. For if there is one thing the world hates, it’s the truth. And, for Jesus to say that not only did he have the truth, but that the main reason Jesus was there was to boldly and clearly speak the truth—that was more than Pilate could take.

And what was true then is also true now. If you want to kill a conversation you have having with someone out there in the world, say these words: “I have the truth because the bible is the truth.”

A couple of years ago, the president of our synod, Mark Schroeder was invited to a Lutheran congregation who was looking at joining our church body. This was right after the ELCA publicly endorsed the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. They welcomed him warmly. They asked him tough questions. They asked him tough questions. They asked him what he thought about the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. They expected to find some common ground with this WELS pastor. But what he said deeply saddened them. For Pres. Schroeder told them that the biggest problem the ELCA had wasn’t the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. The biggest problem they faced was that long ago they gave up believing that God’s word is the truth—that all of it is the truth. With sad hearts the people gathered there in that church nodded ‘yes’ with their heads. But what made them even more sad was that if God’s word is true, then they had to live according to it. One lady told Pres. Schroeder “do you mean then that we can’t continue to have a joint VBS with the Methodist church down the street?”

If Christians today have such a difficult time dealing with and grappling with the fact that God’s word is true, then how much more of a problem is it for the unbelieving world? Jesus crushed Pilate not just by saying that there was such a thing as the truth and that he had the truth, but by also hinting that Pilate too could be “of the truth.” Then is when Pilate spoke words that we hear so often today ““What is truth?”” (John 18:38 HCSB)

I mention this for one reason. The world rejects the truth. But the truth of God’s word is the tool—the only tool Jesus uses to bring out of the world. When all of us came into the world we could not say like Jesus that we were born and have come to testify to the truth. No, we were born in lies and we loved our lies. But Jesus performed a miracle for us. He died on the cross so that we would be “of the truth” just as he is of the truth. And then after Jesus performed a miracle for us he then performed a miracle in us. His word, the truth gave us faith to know who he is and what he has done for us.

So then, my brothers and sisters, don’t ever give up sharing God’s word. Take this fact to heart: the world cannot stand the truth because it does not know what to do with the truth. But Jesus does. Through it he will gather his elect to the truth. So do not ever tire of sharing God’s word and truth. For your King was crucified to make you “not of this world.” And Jesus was crucified so that you would be what you are, “of the truth.” Amen.

¹ σὺ is front-shifted for emphasis.

² ⲙⲏ is front-shifted for emphasis.

³ ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου

⁴ βασιλεία

Rejoice in the Cross

It’s no fun being out of shape. I used to run the mile. And if you’ve ever run a distance of more than a football field you know what I’m talking about. The first lap you feel pretty good. The second lap you feel horrible. The third lap, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t keep myself from complaining. And on the last lap I just prayed for it to be done.

In that third lap I complained so much. Why? Was it because of the weather or the track or the clothes I was wearing? No. I complained because I was out of shape. And since I was out of shape it wouldn’t have mattered what the weather was or what I was wearing or what the track was like.

As we walk with these Hebrews in the desert, the same is true. They were out of shape. But they were not out of shape physically. Instead, they were out of shape spiritually. Moses tells us: “Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.” (Numbers 21:4 HCSB)

They were worn out. Moses tells us that their courage, their energy, their morale was cut short because of the journey.¹ Now, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Notice what did not happen next. They did not pray to their Lord for strength. They did not go to God’s word to find comfort and support. Instead, what did they do? “The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”” (Numbers 21:5 HCSB)

The people started speaking against the Moses. And as if that weren’t bad enough, they started grumbling directly against the Lord, himself. They grumble against him. And then they despise the good gifts he gives to them. They despise the daily bread he gives to them.

We take note of this pattern. For they were tempted in the same way as we are. And we, just like them, give into this temptation. It is a long, difficult journey through this life. Our God expects us to run our race and keep our pace not just some days, but every day. And there are times—so many times that, just like them, instead of praying to our Lord above for strength to go on; instead of reading God’s powerful word, what do we do? We grumble. We grumble against our spiritual leaders. We grumble against the Lord. We grumble against the good gifts God has given to us. And we can end up in the same place as these Hebrews. We can end up spitting poisonous out of our lips saying “I hate—I hate those God has placed in authority over me. I hate God. I hate what God has given to me. I hate!”

Notice then, what happened next: “Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.” (Numbers 21:6 HCSB) Now, notice who it was who sent the snakes. It does not say that Satan sent the snakes. No, it was the Lord. Do you remember what we learned last week about God’s name from Exodus 20? When it says “The Lord” in the bible we remember that this is the God of faithful, forever, free grace. This is the God who makes and keeps his promises out of love for his people.

I mention this because what the Lord did here in this verse he did out of love. He sent burning snakes.² What we don’t know is exactly how they burned. Was the burning the color of their skins? Was the burning what the people felt when they were bit by the deadly serpents? Whatever the word, ‘burning’ means, the result was very clear. Many Israelites died. They died because of their sin. They died because of their rebellion.

Out of love for his people he showed them that it was a sin to grumble, complain and rebel. It was a sin to blame God because they didn’t have the morale and courage to continue. And after the Lord shows them their sin, we are thankful to hear what happens next: “The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that He will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.” (Numbers 21:7 HCSB)

The people repented. They saw their sin and despised it. They used to despise Moses and manna that God sent. Now they despised their own sin. And what follows next is really quite amazing. We read: “⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.” (Numbers 21:8–9 HCSB)

The Lord could have just appeared in a cloud and told them “I forgive you.” He could have just driven the snakes away. But he doesn’t. He has Moses put a snake on a pole. Why? It was bad enough that they had to look at these ugly, burning snakes on the ground. Did they have to look at this one, burning, ugly snake lifted up above the ground? And the simple answer is ‘yes!’ In great mercy and love for his people he wanted them to see how ugly their sin was. He wanted them to first recoil at this snake on a cross. Then, he wanted them to rejoice in it.

Imagine their relief. Imagine their joy when the stinging and burning of that poison was taken away when they looked at that serpent. Imagine their joy when the punishment for their sin, burning in hell forever evaporated right along with that poison.

In the gospel for this morning Jesus bridges the gap between these Hebrews and us. He tells us: “¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.” (John 3:14–15 HCSB)

When we look at the cross the first thing we see it its ugliness. There we see Jesus’ ugliness lifted up for all the world to see. There we see a Savior who was wounded, crushed and killed. We see it and are disgusted by it. We see it and want to turn away.

But then when we see what Jesus is doing there on that cross just the opposite happens. Instead of recoiling at the cross, we rejoice in it. For there is where our gracious God chose to win salvation for us! There is where he chose to put the ugliness of our sin. There is where all of our rebellions and despising of God’s good gifts evaporate just as the poison evaporated from the Hebrew’s veins so long ago.

At first we recoil at the cross. Now we rejoice at its ugliness. Christ took on the ugliness of your sin to take the consequence of your sin away from you. But, my brothers and sisters in Christ, there’s more in these words than just rejoicing in the ugliness of the cross. Moses tells us: “Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.” (Numbers 21:9 HCSB)

Let me ask you a question: when Moses put this burning snake on a pole and told the people what it was there for where do you think they camped? Do you picture them camping far away from the pole where there were lots of snakes and they couldn’t see the snake? I doubt it.

You see, they didn’t just rejoice at its ugliness—that the ugliness of their own sin was placed on this burning snake. No, they also rejoiced at its nearness. There is such joy in that word “whenever.” Whenever they were bit they looked at that snake and were reminded of their gracious, forgiving Savior. It didn’t matter if they were bitten two times or twenty times. That snake was still there on that pole. And their Lord was ever-ready to heal, ever-ready to forgive. They rejoiced in its nearness.

The same is true today. There are so many times we blame God for our problems. There are so many times we despise the good gifts he gives to us—whether it’s the food on our plate or the leaders in our church. But your Savior is near. He is near to forgive. He is near to hear your cries to him. He is near to heal.

And then, just as the Lord did not come to his people directly in the desert, so also today he does not come to us directly today. He does not speak to you in clouds in the sky or in dreams at night. He speaks to you in his word. He invites you to say those joyous words that Christians always say, “I repent. Have mercy on me. Forgive me.” And through his word he forgives you all your sin.

We rejoice in the cross. We rejoice in its ugliness. For there is where Christ won our salvation. We rejoice in its nearness. For our Savior is ever-willing and ready to forgive.

Finally, my brothers and sisters, when the journey through this life is long and your soul is out of shape, I give you this invitation: When your spiritual tank is on empty pray to your gracious Father in heaven. He is so willing to listen and give far more than you can ask or imagine. Read his word. For there is where the Holy Spirit gives life and strength. And always rejoice in our Savior’s cross. Rejoice in its ugliness. And Rejoice in its nearness. Amen.

¹ וַתִּקְצַר נֶפֶשׁ־הָעָם בַּדָּרֶךְ

² הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים

Who is the Lord?

Who is the Lord? It’s a good question, isn’t it? If someone were to ask you the question, “Whom do you worship? What sort of God is he,” what would you say? It might be tempting to make up something on the spot. But wouldn’t it be a much better idea to let God speak for himself. In Exodus 20 the Lord gives these ten commandments to his people. But he also does much, much more. He tells us who he is: “² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ³ “You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:2–5 NIV)

Who is the Lord? The Lord is the sort of God who punishes sin and sinners. This is one of the main messages of the bible. And it’s a message that our society today doesn’t want to look at. And it’s not surprising since there are so many times we don’t like to hear this message. God hates sin. God hates sinners. Here at the end of verse five it says: …”those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5 NIV). But literally it says “the haters of me.”¹ God hates sin. God hates sinners.

This is an important fact for us to consider. For when we sin our sinful nature tells us “It’s ok. It’s ok to plot and plan sin. It’s ok to do sin. Why? Because our God is a God who looks the other way.” And so, my brothers and sisters in Christ, look at Jesus in our gospel this morning. Does he look like the sort of God who looks the other way when it comes to sin? When he saw what was going on there in the temple complex, what did he do? He was so filled with anger that he set aside the time to weave together a whip.² And then with wrath and anger he drove everyone and every animal out of the temple courtyard—everything! He doesn’t just get angry at sin. He stays angry at sin!

Now, if you understand this point, that God hates sin and sinners both, then we can move on. Not only is God angry with sin and sinners, but he also promises to punish the children of sinners. Those of you who are parents, let me ask you a question. Have you ever found your son or daughter committing a sin that was evil? And then when you saw how evil it was you asked yourself “where did he learn that from?” Then, you realize that your child didn’t learn that on the playground at school. No, instead, she learned that sin from you at home. And how many sins have you learned from your parents? You learn to gossip from them. You learn to welcome gossipers from them. You learn filthy language from them.

Now, do you see the connection? Our Lord doesn’t just punish the parents. He also punishes the children. Why? Because the children don’t just learn to sin from their parents. Because of the sin they are born with they love to learn from their parents how to sin. And when they grow from children to adults, whether knowingly or not, they teach their children to sin.

Who is the Lord? He is not the God who looks the other way. He is the zealous and jealous God who punishes sin and sinners. This single, powerful fact drives us to repent, doesn’t it? It moves us admit before our God above and the sinners gathered around us that we have sinned and we have taught others to do the same. And then when that attitude is in our hearts, the Lord continues to tell us who he is: “…but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:6 NIV)

The Lord hates sin and sinners. Yes, but what else do we need to know about who the Lord is? There are three huge details to look at very closely in these words:

1. The Lord: At the very beginning of these words, before the Lord tells them these commandments, notice what he says about himself: ““I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Exodus 20:2 NIV) The Lord is the God of faithful, free, forever mercy. Above all, what does he start out with? What does he want them to know? He wants them to know that he and he alone brought them out of Egypt. He is the one who showed his great love toward them.




2. Makes mercy: Not only is he the God of faithful, free, forever love. As our translation says here, he shows love. Literally, he “makes/does mercy.”³ We are sinners. We know this fact. And our Lord above knows this too. So our Lord teaches us to both confess our sin and to know that he is the sort of God who forgives sin. Now, notice what I said. I did not say that God overlooks sin. Sin is serious. Sin is punished. Our same Savior who burned with anger in the temple was the same Savior who had his Father’s anger burn against him on Good Friday—because of you, because of me, because of our sin.

3. Thousands: God, the Father poured out his wrath on Jesus. And that leads us to very important question: Because the Father punished the Jesus instead of sinners, does that mean that my sin is covered? Does that mean that my sin is forgiven. And so the Lord uses this beautiful word. Sure, he punishes the third and fourth generation. But he shows his faithful love to a thousand generations.⁴ He uses that word, thousand, to let you know that you are included in that number. Your sins are taken away in Christ and by Christ. Amen.

The Sabbath is rest for souls.

What does “Sabbath” mean? We have just spoken those words, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” But what is the Sabbath? In these words from Exodus 20, the Lord answers our question. He tells us: “⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8–11 NIV)

Notice, my brothers and sisters in Christ what good communication looks like. Good communication is saying what something is not and then saying what something is. First of all, the Sabbath is not work. Notice how clear the Lord is here. Every person, male or female, slave or free and even every animal—nobody does work on the Sabbath.

If you’ve read through the New Testament at all, you know how much of an issue this was with the people living during Jesus’ time. The teachers of the law and Pharisees made a big deal about telling everyone that they couldn’t do any work. And what they said, they meant. And so when Jesus started his earthly ministry he drove out demons. He cured people their illnesses. He gave the blind their sight. But didn’t just do this Sunday to Friday. He also healed people on Saturday, the Sabbath day. Oh, and the Jewish leaders were angry of him. They thought he was sinning because he was working on the Sabbath. On of those times that they were angry at him he told them: “⁵ …haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”” (Matthew 12:5–8 NIV)

The priests work on the Sabbath. That’s their job. But they are not sinning. The Pharisees accused Jesus of sin because they didn’t understand what the Sabbath was. And today the same is true today. There are Christians and Non-Christians out there who don’t understand what Moses means here when he says “keep the Sabbath.” What they don’t understand is that there is a part of this commandment which applies to us. And there’s another part which does not apply to us. There is a part of this commandment which applied only to the Old Testament believers. That part pointed them to the Christ who would come. And when Jesus came that part of the commandment was completed and fell away.

How do we know? In just a couple of weeks we will be at Easter. And, as you know, Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. The Christian church started worshipping on Sunday instead of Saturday. And not only that, but they began to worship every day at the temple.⁵ And we’re waiting for the part where God’s word condemns them for meeting on everyday instead of just on Saturday. We’re waiting for the part where the Lord condemns them for not bringing calves, bulls and other sacrifices. And what do we find? We find no condemnation. For just as sacrifices faded away when Christ came, so also does the gathering together only on Saturday.

So then, my brothers and sisters, I set aside the time today to explain this to you for one reason. The “Saturday” part of the third commandment has faded away now that Christ came. But the heart and soul of the commandment still remains. For our Lord still commands that we set aside time to worship him instead of working. He demands it. So, when we ask the question “what is the Sabbath,” we see that the answer is that it is not work. Well then, what is the Sabbath. The Sabbath is rest. Notice what the Lord says here in these words. Just as the Lord rested, so also, you rest!

Now, there are two huge ironies in these words. First, You will have to work very hard with your hands to carve out room to find rest for your soul. If you haven’t figured it out already it’s not that easy to just magically appear in church on a Sunday morning. It takes work. You need to get the time off from work. You need to go to bed at a decent time. You need to get up at a decent time—and it’s even more difficult on days like this when there’s Daylight Savings Time. Your bodies go through so much work to carve out time and space for your souls to get rest here in worship.

And here is exactly where we see our sin. Children, when you stall and drag your feet. When you stay up late and refuse to get ready to go to church you are sinning. And parents, you are sinning when you teach your children that sports and hobbies are things we “get” to do and church is something we “have” to do.

It is ironic that we have to work so hard to get to church. But, my brothers and sisters in Christ, there’s another irony. It’s a beautiful irony. In this treasured hour of worship we are not the one who serves him. Jesus is the one who serves us. A couple of weeks ago Pastor Hacker and I went went up into the hills to get a restful day of skiing in before he left to Michigan. And what struck me is how many people there are there working so that I can have some rest and some fun. The same is true here in worship. Who is the one who provided this church building for you? Jesus did. Who is the one forgives your sins from the first invocation to the last blessing? Jesus is. Who is the one who comes to you and give to you his body and blood along with the bread and wine to do what he promises—to take away your sins? Jesus is. Who is the one who tells you again and again in hymns, readings and sermons how he has taken away your sin and given rest for your soul? Jesus is.

Here in this hour of worship Jesus works hard for you. My brothers and sisters, that is the answer to the question. If we ask the question, what is the Sabbath, the answer is very clear. The Sabbath is not work, because Jesus is the one who really, truly works on this day. And the Sabbath is rest—not as much rest for your hands, but rest for your souls. Amen.

¹ פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבֹת עַל־בָּנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים לְשֹׂנְאָי

² ποιήσας φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων

³ וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד

⁴ לַאֲלָפִים

⁵ Acts 2:46

Do Not Weep For Jesus

It seemed right at the time. I remember telling myself those words later on. This was the context: I was in high school. And at the end of each year each club, sport and organization has their awards ceremony. I had tired out for and got a part in a play that year. So I was at the drama awards ceremony. So, what you have to picture is a bunch of students sitting at tables with their parents. And the drama teacher makes the mistake of reminding them of the happy times they all shared during the year and we all should treasure these memories. Well, there was one student who pondered that thought a little too much. She started to cry. Then, not to be outdone, other students started to cry. Finally, there I was thinking to myself, “Why am I not crying? Maybe I should be crying too—if everybody else is crying.” So, picture two dozen or so high school weeping and wailing. Picture a whole bunch of parents looking around at each other in confusion as if to say “what just happened here?” Finally, all the parents fixed their eyes on the teacher and without any words asked the question “what sort of creepy, sideshow carnival are you running here?”

It seemed right at the time. Afterwards, that’s what we told ourselves. As humans, we can be like that, can’t we? We can get caught up in the moment, caught up in the crowd and end up saying and doing things that seemed right at the time, but ended up wrong. That is the context we need to keep in mind when we read these words in Luke 23: “A large crowd of people followed Him, including women who were mourning and lamenting Him” (Luke 23:27 HCSB)

Jesus was tortured. Jesus was sentenced. And now Jesus walked the long road to his death. There was a massive crowd following Jesus. But this crowd had no idea what to do with Jesus. They saw him as a pitiable victim, not a suffering Savior. So, they did what seemed best at the time. They gave to him what they thought was an appropriate gift. They mourned his death. They took up a lament and sang the sad songs people sang as people died.

What they did seemed right at the time. But what they were doing was sinful. And Jesus was not at all afraid of showing them their sin: “²⁸ But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and your children. ²⁹ Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘The women without children, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed, are fortunate!’” (Luke 23:28–29 HCSB)

Jesus starts out with a warning. It is sad when there’s a married couple who want to have children but they can’t. They mourn and many mourn along with them. But, Jesus tells these wailing women who are following him that there will be a time when just the opposite is true. There will be a time when “the women [and wombs] which did not give birth, the breasts that did not nurse—they are the ones who are blessed!”

Jesus starts out with a warning. Then he speaks about a judgement: “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’” (Luke 23:30 HCSB)

With clear words Jesus lets them know that there will be a time when it will be so bad that they will pray that God would put them to death rather than endure the pain and torment of living in this life in this world.

Jesus gives them warning. Jesus predicts the judgement. And then Jesus give them the reason. Why should they stop weeping for Jesus? Why will the childless women be happy? Why will pray for death rather than endure earthly life? Jesus says: “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”” (Luke 23:31 HCSB)

In these words Jesus uses an argument from the lesser to the greater. He tells them that if someone can be tried without proof, tortured without mercy and taken away to die when there is a working government, then what hope do they have when the government doesn’t work? If the innocent are treated this way when times are good, how bad it will be for them when times are bad.

These words pull us into the history of the time. Years before this the Jews had the Greeks over them. They hated the Greeks, so they invited the Romans to come in and conquer the Greeks. They did this. And then the Jews rebelled against the Romans just as fiercely as they had done with the Romans. Finally then, the Roman general Vespasian raised an army. He came into Israel from the north and destroyed every army in his path. His son, Titus took over by the time they got to Jerusalem. And what Jesus predicted came true. Mothers saw their children starve in front of them. And they prayed for relief. And when that didn’t come, they prayed for death.

And so Jesus tells them “do not weep for me! Weep for yourselves!” For what seemed right was really, truly wrong. And this leads us to a very important question: What was their sin? They did what seemed right instead of what God’s word said. They listened to their emotions. They listened to the people around them. But they didn’t listen to everything that Jesus had been saying in front of them the previous week.

Jesus tells them “do not weep for me! Weep for yourselves!” And what he says to them he says to us today. How many times can we look back in our lives and say “It seemed right at the time, but it was evil?” We have every privilege of learning the truth from God’s word. But, instead we let the world share its wisdom with us. I remember years ago my roommate’s little sister died. In the midst of his grief his good friend came to him and told him that he just needed to get over it and move on. I’m sure, looking back, he could say “it seemed right at the time.” But he learned those words from the world around him—not from God’s word.

And just as easily as we can sin by listening to the world, we can be just as easily led astray by listening to false-teaching churches. In every church I’ve been, whether as a pastor or parishioner, the pastor has asked the question: “How do find out what God wants for your life?” And in every church there is always that person who says “Pray!” God does not speak to us through prayer. Prayer is how we speak to him. Where did all these people learn this false teaching? From false-teaching churches.

Our sin is the same as these wailing women following Jesus. We do what seems best and right even if it’s against God’s word. And what he said to them he now says to you: “don’t weep for me, weep for yourselves. Weep and wail over your own sin.”

No, my brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus does not need your pity. But you do need his passion. When I use this word, ‘passion,’ I mean his suffering.¹ He does not need our tears. But we do need his suffering. You needed someone who knew God’s word so well and so perfectly that even when he had been beaten and tortured he still loved you enough to set aside the time to tell you the truth!

Just look at Jesus here on this road. Who of us, if were beaten and tortured would care? Who of us would care enough to stop and speak to those following us? We would only care about somehow, someway getting out of our pain. But Jesus didn’t. He endured the pain so that he could speak the truth to you.

We need his passion. We need a perfect prophet to speak God’s perfect word to us even when he was dying. And right along with this, we need a high priest who would be willing to have his Father’s judgement against sin fall on him. In 69 and 70 AD there were many people who prayed for this hills to fall on them. And hills didn’t fall on Jesus. But the judgement of hell did. Jesus endured hell in your place for you, to take away all of your sins.

Jesus doesn’t need your pity. But we all need his passion. We need a prophet who loved us enough to perfectly share God’s word to us even when he was in such pain. We needed a High Priest to offer up a sacrifice to take away the sins of the world.

This then leads us to one, final question. Jesus commands us to not weep for him. Well then, what can we do for him? When it comes to our salvation, the answer is: nothing. Jesus is the one who chose you. Jesus is the one who saved you through his suffering. Jesus is the one who brought you to faith through his word.

We cannot earn Jesus by our asking or our effort. But we can thank him. We can thank him by going back to the very same words we neglected. We can thank him by picking up those bibles on our shelf and reading them. We can thank him by staying from church-bodies which in key parts of their doctrine go away from what God’s word says. We can thank him by praying based on the great and wonderful promises we find in his word.

And so, my brothers and sisters in Christ, do not weep for Jesus. Weep for yourselves. Weep for your own sins. And then keep yourself in his word. Amen.

¹ passion comes from the latin word, patior: to suffer.

Follow Jesus

Shame is powerful. If you want proof that shame is powerful, just watch a high school sports event. The referee makes a call. And there always seems to be that parent who thinks its his or her mission to fight against the coach or the referee. And when the referee makes that call, the parent climbs down the bleachers and yells at the referee. And if you want to see the shame, don’t look at the parent. No, instead look at the team. And when you see someone whose face is bright red or whose head is dropped down in shame, there is where the shame is. Oh, but that’s not the only place you will see shame. After the game is over you’ll see it too—if you look closely. You’ll see teenagers who go up to their parents just long enough to get money for food or permission to go home with their friends. They will hang out with the parents just long enough to get what they need, then they will vanish. And why are they so quick to leave? Shame. They are ashamed of their parents. For real reason they are ashamed of them.

Shame is powerful. And we see that so very clearly in Mark’s gospel this morning. He tells us: “³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31 NIV)

Here in these words, just like parents minding their own business on the bleachers in a basketball game, Jesus is doing nothing wrong. In fact, he is doing everything good and right. In clear, simple words he is not just telling his disciples what is going to happen in the days to come. Even more than that, he is telling him his plan for salvation. He is telling them the way his Father had planned to rescue the world from its sin. His words are beautiful and meaningful. But, how does Peter recieve them? “³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” (Mark 8:32 NIV)

Jesus simply and clearly spoke about the path ahead of him. But he didn’t just mention it once or twice. He said it again and again.¹ And every time Jesus spoke and every minute that went by Peter was filled with shame. Peter was ashamed of what Jesus said. He was embarassed at what it meant. So, always being the man of action, he dealt with the situation. He took Jesus off to the side. He rebuked Jesus. And what happens next is shocking and sudden: “³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”(Mark 8:33 NIV)

Peter talks to Jesus privately. But Jesus turns and talks to everyone publicly. And then, when everyone could hear him he addresses Peter as if he were Satan. In the most blunt and bold way he tells Peter that the words coming out of his lips were straight from Satan. Then, as Jesus so often does, he used this as an opportunity to teach his disciples. He tells them: “³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34–35 NIV)

Do you want to follow Jesus? Do you really want to follow Jesus or not? That is the question he is asking them. And he’s letting them know that if their answer is “yes” then this is what that “yes” answer means. Jesus’ path is pain. Jesus’ destination is death. And if you follow Jesus then it show itself in two ways:

1. Deny Yourself: If you want to follow Jesus, then you must deny—you must say “no” to that sinful person inside of you. Any Christian parent knows this. You have that little baby. And then around that age of two or three, that child wants everything. And even if you are so stupid as to give that child everything, it still isn’t happy. And the godly, Christian parents says “no.” Faithfully, persistently, the parent says “no.” They say “no” to that sinful person inside of their children so that when their children are older they will learn to say “no” to that sinful person inside of themselves on their own.




2. Destroy Yourself: Not only do you have to say “no” to that sinful person inside of yourself. You have to put it to death.² Because, my brothers and sisters, there will be a day when your sinful nature will die. Either on Judgement Day or on the day of your death, that sinful person inside of you will die. Day by day you need to destroy it, or it will destroy you.

That is what it means to follow Jesus. It means that we continually and constantly say “no” to our sinful self—but even more. We, day by day, put it to death. But, maybe you are there sitting in your pew saying to yourself “I’ve got this denying myself and destroying my sinful self thing down. Jesus, you can stop talking now because I have this figured out.” Well, if there is where your thoughts are, then hear what Jesus says: “³⁶ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷ Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”” (Mark 8:36–38 NIV)

What does it look like to deny yourself and destroy your sinful nature? Well, Jesus tells us. Following Jesus means destroying…

1. Your plans and pleasures: Every time you say those words “your will be done” in the Lord’s Prayer, notice what you are praying. You are asking God to put your will, your plans to death. The problem is that we all have plans. We all have places we want to go to, tasks to accomplish. Dear Christian, you could die tonight. What about your plans then? And so we subject our plans to God’s plan.




2. Your popularity: Jesus says here in bold and clear words that if you are ashamed of Jesus’ words now, he will be ashamed of you on the Last Day. My brothers and sisters in Christ, Christianity is very often the opposite of popularity. And instead of standing with Jesus and following Jesus in the midst of this wicked and adulterous world around us, we, like teenagers, are ashamed of our Father and of our Savior.

So, let me ask you again, do you really want to follow Jesus? When I read through these words I realize how powerful that sinful person is inside of me. For I should say “no” to that person, but I say “yes.” I should day by day put it to death. Instead, I breathe life into it day by day. I should let go of earthly plans and possessions, but I dream about them. I should not be embarrassed of the cross. But there are times I am.

And if, my brothers and sisters, you feel the same (and you should), then you are in the same place Peter was. Do you think that Peter was happy to be called “Satan?” If he was ashamed of his Savior and his cross, then Jesus made him ten times as much ashamed of his own sin. And it’s very good for us to look at Peter here. For the Peter here who was filled with shame was the same Peter who ran to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning with joy. And the same Peter who had joy in his heart shared that joy with the world. In Peter’s first letter he writes these words: “⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9–10 NIV) And the same Peter who proclaimed Jesus and his cross is the same Peter who saw God’s glory in heaven and was welcomed by holy angels in heaven.

I mention all of this because what happened to Peter is the exact same thing that happens to us. Peter was crushed. He was humiliated because of his sin. He was horrified by the death that Jesus endured on that cross. And then he was uplifted and overjoyed when he saw that empty tomb. And as one who knew his sins were forgiven—even those sins of shame and embarrassment—as one who knew he was forgiven he went and shared what he knew with the world.

We feel that same shame. We repent of that same sin. We see the same punishment for us on that cross as he did. But Jesus tells us in his word that there’s more to following Jesus than a shameful cross. There’s also those words “It is finished.” There is also that empty tomb.

So then, as you consider all these words of Jesus, I invite you to follow Jesus. Follow Jesus to the cross. Put to death the plans, the pleasures, the popularity your sinful self craves. And then, along with Peter, rejoice in the victory Jesus won over Satan. Receive the gift of forgiveness through God’s word. And finally then, after you have followed Jesus to the cross, follow him faithfully into heaven. Amen.

¹ ἐλάλει: Imperfect.

² ὃς δ᾿ ἂν ἀπολέσει τὴν ψυχὴν

Christ’s Love Conquers

Are you for me or against me? There are times in our lives when we have to ask that question. Whether we are talking to a friend or a family member, there are those times we have to stop and ask that person: are you for me or against me? But what if we don’t ask our friend or family member that question? What if the person we need to ask that question of is our God above? Martin Luther once said that if he did not have the sure, reliable promises in scripture that God was for him, he would have concluded long ago that God was against him. For, with the trials and tribulations he faced, outside of the promises in God’s word there was no way to tell if God was for him or against him as he looked at his own life. In the words we look at this morning in the book of Romans Paul gives to us a beautiful promise. He tells us: “³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32 NIV)

Notice the powerful promise God gives to you. It’s an argument from the greater to the lesser. If as a free gift, only by God’s undeserved love¹—his grace, God gave up his one and only Son, whom he loved to take away your sins—if he gave up Jesus to be tested, tried and taken away to be crucified for you, then won’t our Father give us all good things? To emphasize this point, Paul makes a list of all the things that could get in the way of us and God: “³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:33–34 NIV)

On your last day and on every day Jesus is not the ones who condemns you. No, just look at all the ways he shows his great love to you and for you. Jesus died for you. Jesus was raised for you. Jesus rules in heaven for you. Jesus intercedes for you.

If Jesus has done and continues to do all these things for you then what will get in the way of you and Christ’s love for you? Go ahead, use your memory or use your imagination. If you can’t think of a list, Paul does. Notice the real examples of real trials and test which threaten to tear you away from Christ: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35 NIV)

What will make you lose your faith? Will it be pressure from the inside or pressure from the outside? Will it be the threat of losing your job or retirement? Will it be the threat of persecution? What will it be?

Paul makes this list for a reason. In each and every one of us there is a list too. There is this list of dangers which terrify us and threaten to tear Christ’s love out of us. When I think of this list I think of my previous congregation. This section of scripture meant so much to my associate pastor’s mother. Way before they knew what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder was, she had it. An idea would get into her mind and there it would stay. She lived in fear that something horrible would happen to her or to one of her family members. And, like a faithful Christian woman, where did she go to find a refuge from all these fears and tears? She went to God’s word. And I’d like to say that as soon as she opened up her bible and started reading it everything worked out just fine. But it didn’t. She read her bible and read it again and again. She wore our several bibles. Finally where did she find peace? Where did she find solace? Here in these words she found her peace and Christ’s love for her: “³¹ If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32 NIV)

Each of us has a list. Each of us has a list of fears we bury deep down within our souls. On Wednesday night we placed ashes on our foreheads. And I went down the line saying those words “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.” That part was pretty easy. It was easy to look at the forehead of men and women who were 40, 50 and more than 60 years old. It was easy to say to them “remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.” Then I got to my little girls and the full weight of the words I was saying sank in. Here I was reminding them and me that, if the Lord delayed in coming, they would die. And when I realized that such fear and panic filled me. That fear was on my list. What is on your list? What sinful fear threatens to tear Christ’s love from you? How wonderful and amazing it is to know that the promises Jesus gives to us conquer our fears. How consoling it is to know that the great love that Christ has for us conquers even our greatest fears.

Paul gives to us this list of fears. But, as if to dig down deep into our souls and find even more fear there, what does Paul do? First he finds the enemies we face every day and know about. But then what does he do? He tells us that Christ’s love doesn’t just conquer the enemies we see. It also conquers the enemies we don’t see. He tells us: “³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39 NIV)

As if the enemies we knew of weren’t bad enough, Paul lets us know that there are worse things to fear than pressure and persecution. He tells us that neither life nor death, present nor future will separate us from God’s love for us. One of the most terrifying fears we can endure is trying to face what we cannot see. As so many of you know, a couple of weeks ago I flew out to California to be with my brother. And it was almost like we were in high school and college together. We caught up. We joked. We mourned together. We rejoiced together. And then, before I knew it I was back home.

Nobody told me that time would be such a tyrant. Everybody tells you that your children grow up so very quickly. But nobody tells you that time never really prepares you for it. Everybody knows that your parents grow older. But time ambushes you and leaves you completely unprepared. Life, death, present, future—they all fill us with fear.

Who can see time? It’s such a silent threat that fills you with sadness. But Paul isn’t done yet. There are more threats we do not see. There are evil angels, demons and powers. Years ago I got into a car wreck. And it was such a wreck that I quickly saw that God had sent his angels to guard me. But, if there were good angels guarding me, there were also evil angels attacking me. You can’t see them. But they are there.

Finally, after listing all these enemies we cannot see, time, death, demons, what does Paul say?: “³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39 NIV)

Christ’s love conquers the enemies we see. And even greater still, Christ’s love conquers the enemies we do not see. No pain, no pressure, no persecution, no death, no demons will separate you from Christ’s love for you.

My brothers and sisters, since all of this is true, I urge you to repent. I urge you to take out that secret list inside of you. Take out that secret list with all the fears you have—those fears which threaten to steal your confidence in Christ. Take them out and confess them to Jesus for the sins that they are. Then, hear these promises! For Christ’s love conquers all the enemies we see. Christ’s love conquers all the enemies we do not see. Amen.

¹ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται

It’s No Secret

Everyone hates hypocrisy. Even though I’m not a very political person, some days ago I did something I had never done before. I watched a live hearing in our U.S. Congress on the internet. Six men from various religions were seated at a table. And, one by one, they were asked many questions by many congressmen. One of the congressmen said that he was deeply troubled that there weren’t any women on the panel. To him, it seemed unfair or unright that there should be talking about issues that affect women without being a woman. As I heard him speak, for a second, I thought to myself, “I guess he’s right. They should have gotten some women to speak about this issue which affects women too.” But then there was this part of my brain which woke up. And you all have it. I call it my hypocrisy warning meter. And in my brain I said “wait a minute. This congressman is condemning these six men for speaking on behalf of women. But he’s doing the same exact thing. He is speaking on behalf of the women who elected him. What a hypocrite!”

Everybody hates hypocrisy—everybody. There are many sins that sinful people will put up with. But nobody is able to tolerate someone else’s hypocrisy. It’s true when we’re talking about our U.S. Congress. It’s also true when it came to the courtrooms in Jesus’ time. John the evangelist tells us: ““¹⁹ Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ²⁰ “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. ²¹ Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”” (John 18:19–21 NIV)

Five times in these three verses Jesus answered the questions from Annas. Jesus said that he spoke openly to the world. He said that he always taught where all the Jews gather. And he spoke nothing in secret.

Now, Jesus didn’t say anything here which should have caused them to get angry. He taught publicly. He healed openly. He taught where all the Jews gather. But they hated what he said. They hated it because it exposed their hypocrisy. They wanted to keep their hypocrisy a secret. But Jesus dragged their hypocrisy out of the dark into the light.

And just how are they hypocrites? In order to have a real trial, you have to have a real judge. Annas wasn’t even a real judge. He was deposed by the Romans in AD 15.¹ Not only was he not a real high priest, but the trial wasn’t even a real trial. According to the law, they could only have trials during the daylight. And here they are, holding their secret meeting around 1 or 2 in the morning in the darkness. Hypocrisy upon hypocrisy. And it stinks, doesn’t it? Their meeting was in secret. But their hypocrisy wasn’t. No doubt, all of Jerusalem was aware of the fake meetings being held by the fake highpriest, Annas.

But, what if, my brothers and sisters—what if what Jesus invited came true? Jesus said: “Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”” (John 18:21 NIV) What if they found Jesus’ disciples? What if they found them and brought them into this trial? Would they look any better than Annas? They could say to Peter “If you are such a faithful follower of this ‘Jesus,’ then why did you deny him not just once, but three times?”

You see, it’s no secret that Annas and his followers were hypocrites. And very quickly, if they took Jesus up on his invitation, we would see that Jesus’ followers were hypocrites too. And my brothers and sisters in Christ, if it’s true about Jesus’ followers then, how much more true is it now? How many of you would like to be there on the witness stand? How many of you would like to be asked the question “So, you follow this Jesus—You believe what this Jesus teaches—You do what he teaches you to do…right?” And then, when we nod our heads to say “yes,” then the lawyer shows us in so much detail all the times we have spoken evil and done evil. He shows us all the times we were taught that the third commandment is good and right, but instead of keeping it, when it came to worship and growing in God’s word we were bored; we were distracted; we showed by our actions that we didn’t believe in the third commandment. And what about the fifth and sixth commandments? We memorize those commandments, ‘do not murder, do not commit adultery,’ but then we hate people and think lustful thoughts toward others. It’s no secret that all of you are hypocrites. You gather together here in the light and then sin in the darkness. It’s no secret. And your hypocrisy condemns you and me too.

And now, what will you do with your hypocrisy? Will you try to hide it? Will you try to change the subject? Will you get angry at me and say “Look at you and all your hypocrisy!” And you might be able to say that to me. But you could never say that to Jesus. He has no hypocrisy to bury. He has no hypocrisy to convict him. No, my brothers and sisters, we do not bury our hypocrisy. And we do not ignore it. We confess it. With dust and ashes we confess our sin before our fellow Christians who see our sinful actions and before a Holy Christ who sees our hypocritical hearts.

Then, when we do that, see what Jesus does with our hypocrisy: “²² When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. ²³ “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.” (John 18:22–24 NIV)

It’s no secret: our hypocrisy condemns us. But it also no secret that Jesus’ honesty saves us. And notice, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the many ways this is true:

1. Jesus taught purely: Jesus was always truthful. He was alway consistent. He always spoke the truth. And he did this for you. He did this in your place. He taught purely to replace all the times you proved your hypocrisy with what you said or should have said.




2. Jesus acted purely: How often do we say that God’s word is good and true and then show just the opposite in our actions? We say that it’s wrong to lie, and then we lie. We say that it’s wrong to lust, and the we lust. Jesus acted purely. And instead of seeing our hypocritical actions, our Father sees Jesus’ pure and perfect actions.




3. Jesus was punished completely: And finally, Jesus endured the punishment you deserved. The official struck Jesus because he told the truth. You deserved that slap. You deserved far more and far worse than a slap. You deserved to be taken away to suffer physical death and spiritual hell just as Jesus did. But Jesus was honest. Not only did he say that he would be perfect in your place, he also said that he would be punished in your place. And his honesty saves you from the hypocrisy of your sin and punishment it deserves.

It’s no secret that Christ’s honesty saves you. So then, my brothers and sisters, let Christ’s honesty be yours. Always run from Satan and his temptations. But when you are snared in his trap, be honest. Don’t cover up your hypocrisy. Don’t misdirect and redirect. Openly and honestly confess your sin. But my brothers and sisters, all that much more so, confess Christ’s honesty. Preach and proclaim a Savior who taught purely and acted purely and was punished completely for you. Be open and honest about who Christ is and what he has done that everyone—especially those living out there in the darkness will have some place to go with their hypocrisy. For it’s no secret. It’s no secret that our hypocrisy condemns. And it’s no secret that Christ’s honesty saves. Amen.

¹ Philip W. Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary (Accordance electronic ed. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008), 316.

What Does Christ’s Glory Mean For Me?

Toys are fun. It’s a simple truth. But it’s amazing how true it is. Toys are fun. I remember when I was little one of my favorite toys was a glow in the dark cross. It was this small, white cross about this big. And it glowed in the dark. I remember holding the cross up to the light after I was supposed to be asleep. I’d turn off the light and just stare at the greenish glow. And then when it would fade away I’d turn on the lamp again. I’d hold it there until it got warm. Then stare at it again. Toys are fun. And that toy was really fun.

This morning we focus in on a light that was very much like that glow in the dark cross. The apostle Paul tells us: “¹² Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.” (2 Corinthians 3:12–14 NIV)

The light of that little plastic cross faded over time. But it wasn’t the only light that faded. When Moses used to go up and speak with the Lord, the Lord would make his face shine. And Moses used to put a veil over his face. He did this for two reasons. He did this to keep them from being afraid of him. But he also covered his face for another, vitally important reason. He did it because his glory, his radiance, his shining faded. Paul here tells us in such clear words that Moses did this because he didn’t want his people clinging to words and commands which were temporary and transitory.

Just think of all those old testament laws—hundreds and hundreds of them. All of those ceremonial laws accomplished two purposes:

1. Infected: Those old testament laws showed them in graphic detail that they were infected with sin. And since they were infected with sin they were separated from their fellow believers and from God above. That was the purpose of these old testament laws.




2. Connected: These old testament laws also showed them in graphic detail that were connected to God above through blood. Whether you’re looking at the Day of Atonement or the Passover the message is the same. All these animals that were killed pointed ahead to The Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world—one sacrifice to take all the sins of the whole world.

These old testament laws were good. But when they served their purpose and faded away Christ set them aside. Think of our church bulletins. They are wonderful in that they guide us in worship. But when our service ends what happens to them? They are recycled. They served their purpose. Then they are set aside. It is the same with these old testament laws. They showed them that they were infected by sin. They showed them that they were connected to Christ. But when Christ came, he set them aside.

This is why Moses put a veil on. He didn’t want them to obsess over a tool that would be set aside. He wanted them to worship the Messiah, whose glory would never fade. And this brings us to Jesus. Moses’ glory faded. But what about Christ’s glory? What does his glory mean to us and give to us? Paul tells us “¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17–18 NIV)

Moses’ glory faded. But Christ’s glory is forever reflected in us. And this is a very important point to ponder. Jesus once said: “¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14–16 NIV)

When other people look at you there are times that they see Christ’s glory reflected in you. It’s a fact. It’s inescapable. And when this happens—when Christ’s light, his glory shines out into the world through us we are tempted to sin. For the world out there is usually content to let Christ be here among us here for this hour of worship. The world is ok with Christ’s glory shining for this hour in this church. But if Christ’s light shines not just on Sunday morning, but every day—and if we reflect this glory not just here in church but everywhere we go, that’s what the world hates. And the world is not at all afraid to try and box up your light. It’s not at all afraid whether by guilt, peer pressure or intimidation to get you to not reflect Christ’s glory.

And it is a sin when we snuff out the glory of Christ. It is a sin when we let the world tell us what true religion is. But even worse than this is when the world doesn’t even have to push us at all. Worse than this is when we hide Christ’s glory not because the world pushes us to do so, but instead when we are embarrassed of this glory, this light shining in us. We reflect Christ’s glory. It is a sin to snuff that light out. And it is a sin to let the world snuff that light out.

And so, it is true that the world sees Christ’s glory in us. But do we see that glory? Years ago, when I was in school there was this friend I had. She was beautiful. In fact she was so beautiful I found it hard to speak around her. I stumbled and fumbled when I spoke only for one reason: she was just that captivatingly beautiful. But what did she see? She would look at herself in the mirror and complain about how she didn’t look like others.

Her dilemma is our own. Christ’s beauty is in us. Others see it if they look at us at all. But, in all truth, what do we see? If we look with any amount of clarity and sincerity we see our sin. We see the blemishes of sin. We see the beautiful actions that others do and we do not do.

So then, my brothers and sisters, if we can’t see it, how do we know it’s there? And even more importantly, how do we know that for all the times we have been ashamed of Christ we are forgiven?

Christ’s glory is in you because Jesus died for this sins of all people. And when he baptized you he clothed you with Christ. Paul writes to the Galatians: “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27 NIV) If in your baptisms you have been clothed with Christ, then you have also been clothed with his glory too. The forgiveness that he won for you he gives to you in baptism. The glory that he wore from eternity he gives to you. You cannot see it your skin. You cannot find it in your DNA. But it’s there in you because that is what Christ has promised to you.

So, already we have learned so much about Christ’s glory. Moses’ glory faded. Christ’s glory is forever. And it is reflected in us. And he promises to us both that our sin is forgiven and that we wear Christ’s glory. But that leads us to a very important question: where do we find these promises? Paul tells us: “¹ Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ² Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:1–2 NIV)

We find Christ’s glory in God’s word. It is a simple truth. But it is a very easy to lose sight of. It is ever so easy to try to find Christ’s glory outside of God’s word. It is ever so easy to try and find God’s glory in big, emotional songs that are composed for church use. But when all they have to offer is so very much emotion and so little of God’s word, they rob of of Christ’s glory. And it is ever so easy to try to find Christ in tradition. It is ever so easy to try to find Christ’s glory in the colors on the altar and the clothes a pastor wears. But if these colors and clothes do not preach and teach God’s word they do not give us Christ’s glory. In fact, they might very well rob us of Christ’s glory.

And my brothers and sisters, when we see our great temptations and our great sin, then is when we fully appreciate the glory we find in God’s word. For Christ’s forgiveness covers over all the times we have trusted in emotion and tradition instead of his word.

Finally then, notice Paul’s encouragement to us. Paul presented himself to the people in his church and to his God above as one who had a clear conscience. Since God’s word is true and since it contains Christ’s glory, our great job—our great joy is to share it. And so, I invite you do do just that. If we ask the question, ‘what does Christ’s glory mean for me,’ the answer is: We reflect it in our lives and we find it in God’s word. Amen.

Let Sufferings Overflow

Sin—there’s your answer. Sin. Maybe we should back up a little bit and ask the question before we give the answer. If the question is “why is there suffering in the world,” God’s word gives us a three-letter answer, sin. God’s word takes us back to the Garden of Eden. In that garden everything was good—very good. But, at the same time and at the same moment, Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord. The Lord came to them and promised a Savior to take away their sins. But there was an everyday result of their sin. The Lord spoke these words: “¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”” (Genesis 3:16–19 NIV)

Life is pain. Life is suffering. This is all because of sin. The reason why we need to start with this truth is because of the strange ways people speak about suffering today. For, when suffering comes into our lives, there are actions we don’t get to take. There are words we don’t get to speak:

1. Blame God: When we suffer we don’t get to blame God. The bank robber doesn’t get to blame God for being caught and punished. When you get a cold or a disease, when you hurt on the inside or the outside, you don’t get to blame God. He did not fall into sin. Adam and eve fell into sin. And now you are born in sin.




2. Answer for God: We don’t get to say “God did this because…” Did you ever notice that when someone dies people are ever-so-eager to tell you why God did what he did? “God had this person die because he didn’t want her to suffer anymore.” How do you know? Did God send an angel to you and pour out his hidden will to you? No. You have every right and opportunity to acknowledge that suffering has happened. You do not get to answer why God allowed this suffering or tragedy.

When we blame God or try to answer for God we show either that we are angry with God or are embarrassed of him. And both of those are sin. Well then, if we don’t get to blame God or answer for him, what do we get to do? When suffering comes into our lives or into the lives of others, what does God’s word move us to do? Paul writes these words to the Corinthians: “³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NIV)

When our Father brings suffering into our lives, we welcome it. What a strange thing to say! Only the Holy Spirit would give us an answer like this! When suffering comes to you rejoice in it! And naturally, we ask the question, why. Why should we rejoice in it? Notice the answer Paul gives us here. Paul gives us two reasons why, as Christians, we rejoice in suffering:

1. Reminder of Christ’s forgiveness: Last Summer we were at the beach. And I saw a father with his little daughter. They were playing in the ocean. And it looked like this: The father went ahead of the girl. And when the wave came along he would stick out his chest and take on the full weight of the wave. And the girl, with giggles of glee she would hide behind her father. And even when water sprinkled on her face and saltwater got in her eyes she was happy. For it just reminded her that her father was there protecting her from the wave. My brothers and sisters, Christ’s sufferings overflow to you. He is the one who was punished in your place. We blame God and pretend to be God. But Jesus is the one who endured our punishment. And so, when suffering comes into our lives, it is a reminder of forgiveness. Despite how hard and harsh the pain is, they are only reminders of the forgiveness Jesus won completely for you.




2. Promise of consolation: Even more than a reminder, this suffering that Christ brings to you is a promise that he will bring you comfort, consolation and courage. It’s an invitation for us to look back at our lives as Christians and see all those times we have endured pain on the inside and on the outside and how our Father in heaven has then afterward comforted and consoled us.

It is in that context that we can rejoice in suffering. If the sprinklings and splashings of Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, they are reminders of the forgiveness Jesus won for us on the cross and delivers to you through his word. If we agonize on the inside or outside we have this promise that he will, according to his good time, bring us consolation. And so we can pray to Jesus, “Let your sufferings overflow to me.” Remind me of your complete forgiveness. Promise to me your complete consolation. But, what I love about God’s word is that, just when you think you fully understand it, the Holy Spirit has more to teach. And so Paul tells us: “⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:5–7 NIV)

We pray “O Jesus, let your sufferings overflow to me.” But, from there our prayers take a different direction. From there we pray “Let my consolation overflow to others.” Notice the double blessing that comes from suffering:

1. Genuine Connection: When God brings suffering into our life we now have a genuine connection with others who are suffering the same hardships we are. Now, notice what I did not say. I did not say that the suffering we bring on ourselves is good. If you gossip, don’t be surprised if you don’t have any friends. If you despise what God’s word says about dating and marriage, don’t be surprised is both your dating and marriage is filled with pain—not from God, but because of your sin. But when God brings suffering into your life you then are able to relate to and speak to someone who has gone through that same pain. That is a genuine connection and a great gift.




2. Hope-filled Conviction: Paul says that his hope for them is firm. Since has endured suffering and has seen the Lord bring him consolation, he can now share that conviction with the Corinthians. He now shares this promise with you. And when you endure suffering; and then when God brings you consolation, you have the privilege of sharing this promise with those around you who are suffering.

Notice then, my brothers and sisters, how the Christian response to pain and suffering is so much different than the world’s. The world ignores this result of sin, pain. We deal with it head-on. The world blames God for suffering. We repent of our sin. The world turns away from suffering because it is only a reminder of sin and judgement to them. We pray for it and welcome it because it is a reminder of the suffering that Christ endured for us to completely take away our sins by God’s grace—and his grace alone!

With all of this in mind, as you go home today and during this week, let this be your prayer. Open up your voice to Our Father above, and with joy in your heart pray: “Christ, let your suffering overflow to me, that I may be reminded of your forgiveness and share your consolation.” Amen.

Share The Gospel

There is no salvation outside of the church.¹ This is a truth I learned in college and at the seminary long ago. And to drive the point home the professor I had told this story: The angels were talking to the Lord right after they drove Adam and Eve out of the garden. The angels said to the Lord “Adam and Eve are going to have children who are unbelievers. And their children are going to be unbelievers. Soon, there will be a whole world of unbelievers. O Lord, what is your plan to save these unbelievers?” The Lord told them “I will send people to share my promise of salvation with them.” The angels looked at each other with clear uneasiness and hesitation in their faces. Finally, one of them spoke up: “Lord, do you really think that’s wise? I mean, these humans haven’t been doing so well so far. What is your plan B?” With clear and deliberate words the Lord told the angel, “there is no plan B.”

There is no salvation outside the church. The Lord uses people to save people. He uses frail, faltering, feeble humans to accomplish this amazing work of bringing souls to him and saving them. That is the one simple thought that Paul is speaking about in these words this morning in 1 Corinthians 9. Paul simply states that he shares the gospel. And that is his simple invitation to you this morning: Share The Gospel. He writes to the church at Corinth: “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.” (1 Corinthians 9:16–17 NIV)

These words that Paul speaks here are very important. But they are also very easy to misunderstand. Paul here says that whenever he preaches he has no boast because necessity drives him to preach. You see in these words Paul is applying a principle he has spoken about elsewhere. If we ask the question “why do Christians do good works?”, what is the answer? In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians Paul writes: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8–10 NIV)

Notice the word that Paul uses here. He says that God saves us by grace—his undeserved love. And he saves us by grace alone. It is not mingled and mixed with our own efforts and our own works. For if we were able to partner together with God and help Jesus out we would have room for boasting. But notice what Paul says here. He says these clear words “so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:9 NIV)

There is no room for boasting. Christians do not do good works to help save themselves. They do not do good works to get something from God. And since it’s true in a general way, then it’s also true in the very specific way of sharing the saving message about Jesus. Here in 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says that he has no boast.²

Paul did not share the gospel to get into heaven or to get closer to heaven. And neither do you. And if we travel down this road of thinking that we need share the gospel in order to get into heaven it will lead us into two very dangerous places:

1. Pride: If God gives us an occasion and opportunity to speak to those around him about Jesus and we do; and if that person hears and believes, it is every so tempting to give into pride and to give into boasting—as if God needed me in order to save this other person. God might use you. But God does not need you.




2. Despair: What if we go out and share Jesus with those around us and they don’t believe? As a Christian pastor I have done this many, many times. I have spoken to people about Jesus and from every outward appearance it had no impact and impression. If the work of conversion is not in the Holy Spirit’s hands, but instead is in your hands, that is a world of darkness and despair.

And so, my brothers and sisters, note well what Paul says here. We do not share Jesus and his saving gospel in order to get salvation. Well then, why then do we share the gospel? We share the gospel because we have salvation. Paul tells us: “If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me” (1 Corinthians 9:17 NIV)

If we were to share the gospel in order to get a reward and a boast, there is a word for that. We call it a mercenary. But we are not hired guns. No, instead we are slaves. For that is the words that Paul uses here. Paul says “I am simply discharging the trust committed to me” (1 Corinthians 9:17 NIV) The word that Paul uses here for ‘trust’ is the word for the work that a slave does.³ In God’s kingdom we are not mercenaries who choose Jesus for a boast and a reward. No we are slaves. In Luke 17 Jesus speaks about our role as slaves: ““Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:7–10 NIV)

Do you get the point that Jesus is making? We do not share the gospel in order to earn salvation. We share the gospel because we already have salvation. Jesus has both won forgiveness and given forgiveness to you. All of your sins are forgiven. Every little, stabbing, piercing sin is forgiven—even those sins we commit where we share the gospel for the wrong reasons.

No, Jesus forgives all your sins. But he does much more. He moves you to share his saving gospel freely and spontaneously. No longer do we share the gospel because we have to. No, instead we share his word because we want to. We used to share the gospel out of prideful boasting and despairing guilt. Now we share it out of joy and thanks to a God and Savior who freely forgave all our sins.

So Paul invites you to share the gospel. He invites you to share what you know about this Savior, Jesus who has taken away your sins. So share the gospel not in order to be saved, but out of pure thankfulness because you have been saved. That is what Paul teaches and preaches in the first paragraph of these words. But what follows is just as important. Paul says: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:22–23 NIV)

Yes, the Holy Spirit moves us to share the gospel spontaneously. But notice that the opposite is also true. The Holy Spirit also moves us to share God’s word with thought, with care, with deliberation. Whenever Paul was preaching to people he made every effort to ask the question “what do these people need? What are areas I can be like them, for them?”

So, when Paul was sharing the gospel with Jewish people who had grown up with these laws and traditions all their lives, he became like a Jew for them, so that he wouldn’t offend them. So also, when he was speaking to people who did not grow up with a bible he started them out with spiritual milk and then moved to meat.

Paul shared the gospel with such care, such forethought, such concern for others. And so, let me ask you, what would that sort of concern look like today? Years ago, there was a pastor who was giving advice to young men at our Seminary. He was sitting front of a room of Packers fans. And he said: “guys, when you get your calls to your congregations, don’t put on your Packer green and beat them over the head with Packer stories from the pulpit. If you get called to Colorado, you are a Broncos fan. If you go to Pittsburgh, you’re a Steelers fan. There are enough barriers to the gospel as it is. You don’t need to add any by your own stupidity.”

His words are good, aren’t they? My brothers and sisters, in the ways that you can—in the ways that don’t go against what God’s word says, bend, yield, give in. In our first lesson this morning we read from the book of Job. Job’s friends were at their best when they were sitting with him in the dirt not saying any words at all. They were at their worst when they got up to preach down to Job.

And so, my brothers and sisters, share the gospel. Share the gospel freely and spontaneously because your are saved. And share the gospel selflessly and deliberately for the same reason—your sins, all your sins are forgiven in Christ and by Christ. Amen.

¹ extra Ecclesiam nulla salus

² οὐκ ἔστιν μοι καύχημα

³ οἰκονομίαν

What Does Believing Look Like?

Green and growing. The color for the season of Epiphany is green. Green is the color of growth. During this season we see Jesus growing. At every stage and every age of his life Jesus became our Savior. He perfectly obeyed God’s law in our place for us. But this season of Epiphany doesn’t just teach us that he grew. Jesus gives to us the Holy Spirit. He gives to us this gift of faith. Now we are his disciples. And this morning it leads us to ask the question: What Does A Believer Look like? And so, in the Old Testament, we find this prophet Jonah. And through his ministry the Holy Spirit leads us into an answer to that question. And so we read in Jonah 3: “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” (Jonah 3:3–5 NIV)

What does believing in the Lord look like? Here in these words we see it in action. Believing means leaving. Years ago there was a boy in a field. He spent hours playing with his friends in the field. And, at the end of the day he was hungry. And off, in the distance, he saw an apple tree. “who knows” he thought to himself “maybe this tree has some apples on it still. He got to the tree and couldn’t find any apples. So, in the sunset light, he looked in the grass for an apple. He found one. He picked it up and brought the apple to his mouth. But then he suddenly stopped. With shock and horror he remembered that there were horses in this field. And with how horrible this apple smelled, he realized that he was not holding an apple. And so, what did he do with the apple? He dropped it?

Think of this picture when you think of the Ninevites. Jonah came through town and in one day crushed them. He preached his sermon theme: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” (Jonah 3:4 NIV)¹ And the weight of his words crushed them. All of a sudden their sinful lives smelled as good as a horse-apple.

They felt the crushing weight of Jonah’s words. But even worse, the heard the crushing verdict of Jonah’s words. Because they were sinful God would overturn Nineveh just as he did to Sodom and Gomorrah. And then after that God would punish them in hell.

And so, my brothers and sisters. That is what they left. But along with that we need to ask another question. What did they leave? Their lives had changed. And they quickly gave up people, places and things. The people they used to lead into sin and be led into sin with—they abandoned them. The places that tempted them to sin, they left. The things which were their lives meant nothing to them anymore. So they left them.

And what was in their hearts showed itself in their hands. Jonah tells us that they declared a fast.² And they put on sackcloth.³ Now, my brothers and sisters, this is something you have to picture. Picture a hundred thousand people sitting in the streets. Picture the ones who used to wear comfortable and costly clothing now wearing sackcloth. Picture a hundred thousand people burning trees to make ashes. And then when they had those cold ashes on their heads to show everyone around them and God above that they were worth as much as dirt, or even less because of their sin. They left their sinful lives. If you want to know what believing looks like just look there. Look at those dusty streets filled with people pouring dusty ashes on themselves.

Believing the Lord means leaving a sinful life. If that’s what it looks like for them, it hasn’t changed for us. And, unless you find yourself there with the Ninevites with the sackcloth on your back and the ashes and dust on your head, you will never make it into heaven. What I mean it this: Jesus doesn’t just call on us to leave our sinful lives behind on that one day he came to us with water and word and gave us this gift of faith and forgiveness. No, he calls on us to leave our sinful lives every day.

Believing is leaving. And so, let me ask you questions that you can ask yourself. Are you leaving your sinful life or are you loving it? There might be people in your life who are constantly seek to take you away from Jesus. Are you willing to follow them or Jesus? There might be places which you know you shouldn’t be—places which lead you back into your sinful life. Are you wiling to leave them and follow Jesus? And finally, what about the things? If ever there were a source for temptation for us, it’s our things. Whether it’s your hunting rifle or your sewing needle; your book in the bedroom or your cable tv in the living room, how often do they tempt you to cling to them and to love them instead of following your Savior? How often will you gladly buy a book, pay a cable tv bill or go to a movie, but when it comes to giving generously and graciously in the offering plate, there is where we hesitate.

Believing is leaving. If the people, places and things of this life are more precious and more of a priority than the Lord you need to sit there in the streets of Nineveh. You need to smell the stench of your sin. You need to see the hell where it leads to.

Believing is leaving. That’s what being a disciple of Christ looks like. But my brothers and sisters, that’s not all that it looks like. Believing is also receiving. Jonah tells us: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:10 NIV)

Years ago I remember seeing a little boy about two years old. He was in his little car seat in the back seat of his mini-van. He was playing with his ball with such joy and such contentment. Then he looked out of his window. And there above the trees he saw the water tower. But the boy didn’t know it was a water tower. His eyes got big. His mouth dropped. And with profound wonder in his voice he said “BALL!” And the ball in his hands silently fell to the floor.

And my brothers and sisters, that is what believing is. Believing is not just leaving the sinful life. It’s receiving far more than we can ask for or imagine. And that is exactly what the Ninevites got. They didn’t ask for it. They didn’t didn’t search for it. But God searched for them and found them.

And through this gift of faith they dropped their sinful lives and received God’s great gift of forgiveness and all that comes with it. Jonah tells us that the Lord had compassion on them.⁴ He poured out his mercy on them. He rescued them from the fire falling from the sky. He rescued them from the eternal fire of hell. Why? It all comes down to that one word, mercy.

And when God showed that mercy to them it changed their lives. It changed the people, places and things in their lives. With only a little imagination we can picture a hundred thousand people who are moved by God’s Spirit to lead each other to God’s word instead of to sin. With only a little imagination we can see the places changing too. They used to go to pagan temples. But now they gather together. And they maybe even built synagogues and new places to worship the Lord. And what about the things? With so little imagination we can see a people who used to save up money for themselves—their clothing, their hobbies. But now, picture people saving up money for a place of worship. Or, picture people saving up money so that they can take that long journey to the temple in Jerusalem. They received this forgiveness gladly. And then they lived gladly for their Lord.

My brothers and sisters, look at these Ninevites and see yourselves. See a pagan people whom God has showered his mercy on. See a people who used to bear the shame and guilt of sin, but now wear Christ’s righteousness. See a people who willingly leave their sinful lives behind. One of the most treasured parts of Luther’s Small catechism is the fourth part of baptism. Do you remember it? Listen to these familiar words yet once more and see what God moves you do and to be:

Fourth: What does baptizing with water mean?

Baptism means that the Old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Baptism moves us to drown our sinful nature and all its evil desires every day. It moves us to confess our sins. It moves us to leave our sinful life because the faith he gives us through baptism is that strong. And the Savior to which our faith clings is just that merciful.

Believing is leaving. And rejoice! For it is also receiving. After that day, those Ninevites gathered together. But they no longer gathered together in sadness. Instead they gathered together in gladness. They gladly heard God’s word. They gladly shared God’s word. They gladly gave to support the ministry of that word. I invite you to do the same. Look back at those dusty streets and dusty heads and take to heart what believing is. Believing is leaving. And believing is receiving.

¹ עוֹד אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְנִינְוֵה נֶהְפָּכֶ

² וַיִּקְרְאוּ־צוֹם

³ וַיִּלְבְּשׁוּ שַׂקִּים

⁴ וַיִּנָּחֶם

There Is More To God’s Word.

But wait! There’s more! If you’ve ever watched TV on Saturday morning or late at night, you’ve probably heard that phrase, “but wait! There’s more!” You hear those words in advertisements. They say “this knife is great. It cuts through tomatoes. But wait! There’s more! It also cuts through tin cans!”

In the words we are looking at this morning, in a very non-joking way, the apostle Paul is telling us this fact. There’s more to God’s word than you might have known. And so Paul tells us: “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV)

Paul told the Christians in Thessolonica that God had chosen them and saved them through belief in the truth. And here is where that phrase “But wait! There’s more!” comes true. God saves us through belief in the truth.¹ Human trust is always shaky, isn’t it? We put our trust in many things here on this earth knowing that we can’t fully trust in them. You take your car to the mechanic trusting that he will fix it and charge the right amount of money. But you have no guarantee. Your tooth is causing you mass amounts of pain. So you go to the dentist trusting that he will be able to fix it. But you have no guarantee. At the very most in all these examples we put our trust in ourselves.

However, we trust in the truth of God’s word in a completely different way. You see, we trust in God’s word not because we are able to convince ourselves that it is true. We trust in God’s word because it convinces us that it is true. And that’s where we say “but wait! There’s more!” We all know that we as Christians are supposed to trust God’s word. But, what you probably haven’t thought about is that it is up to God’s word to prove to us that it is true. Or, to word it as Paul does here, “he chose us for salvation…through faith in the truth.”

But here is where there is that voice inside of every Christian which speaks up and shouts at us from the depths of our soul. If God’s word convinces me that it is true, then why do I doubt? If God, right here in these words is promising to me that I am saved from sin, death and the Devil, then why do I continually fear dying?

The answer to that question is very clear. You have a sinful nature. Adam and Eve rebelled in the garden. They abandoned God. And that hatred toward of God they passed down to us so that now, when God’s word promises something to us our natural reaction is to doubt. Our natural reaction is to be terrified. Our natural reaction is to despair.

But wait, my brothers and sisters, there’s more to know about God’s word than this. Yes, we have this sinful nature. And we will have it till our last day and last breath. But what else do we have? As Paul tells us, we have the Holy Spirit continually making us holy. We have the truth of God’s continually comforting and convincing our doubting and despairing hearts.

And so, my brothers and sisters, what a joy it is to know that there’s more there to learn about God’s word than we initially thought. We don’t convince ourselves that God’s word is truth. No, the truth of God’s word convinces us that it is true. But wait! There’s more to God’s word than this. It does much much more. Paul tells us: “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14 NIV)

God convinces us through his word. But what does he do? He calls us through his word too. Now, this word, call, is a very important word.² It’s the picture of a king who wants someone. So what does he do? He sends one of his servants out to find the person he wants. The servant says to that person “The king wants you.” You can see then why this is a very fitting word for what we would call ‘conversion.’ We all were unbelievers. But then what happened? Jesus chose you from before the beginning of the world. He sent someone to speak this word to you. Oh, but here is where it gets interesting. Here is where we can say “but wait! There’s more!” The gospel, the good news doesn’t just let us know that there is a king. The gospel introduces us to the King. God’s word doesn’t just say “you need to be saved.” No, instead it also brings to us the salvation that Jesus won for us on the cross. God’s word doesn’t just offer to you the glory of God. It gives to you the glory of God.

My brothers, this fact that God calls you through the gospel is such an important fact. It is so vitally important because so many churches miss this point. So many teach and preach that Jesus died for your sins. But then they miss this great and wonderful truth here in these words. They say that you can only get it if you show enough effort. They say you can only get salvation if you show enough intellect. They say you can only get it if you show enough emotion.

There is more, my brothers and sisters. There is so much more to God’s word than what we might initially think is there. It is more and does more than we can grasp or imagine. So then, the words that Paul speaks in the next verse don’t surprise us at all: “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15 NIV)

Since there is so much more there in God’s word than we might expect, notice what Paul encourages his people to do. He encourages them to continually hold onto it. And here is where we see our own sin. Have you ever been waterskiing? Waterskiing is tough. It’s tough because you have to hold onto that rope with just the right balance when you start. But, what makes it even more difficult is that you need to continually and constantly keep holding onto it with all your strength. For, if you don’t, when that wave comes up, if you’re not holding on, you’ll let go and slam into a lake-full of water.

For us, as Lutherans, our sin isn’t as much that we fall into the trap of thinking that we can get to God by choosing him or earning him. No, we have learned from little on up what grace is—God’s undeserved love for us. No, instead, our sin is that God’s word is something we visit on Sunday mornings but let go of during the week. And so we preach, not with our mouths, but with our actions, that we are far more willing to watch the Steelers lose for three hours straight than sit down and see Jesus win against the Devil day after day. Paul, with urgency and sincerity tells you to hold onto God’s word. But you don’t. You don’t continually and constantly cling to his word by reading it and growing in it. There is more. God’s word shows us that there is more sin in us and it is more evil than we might have thought.

There’s so much more. There is so much more sin in us that we see. But, my brothers and sisters, there is so much more grace, mercy and forgiveness in Christ. This morning we see it so clearly in his word. Jesus doesn’t come to us and say “my word is true, now convince yourself that it is true.” No, just the opposite, he says “This is my word. Let it convince you!” He comes to us. But he doesn’t say “I made forgiveness available.” No, instead he says “I promise that you are forgiven.” He doesn’t say “let go of what was handed down to you.” No, instead he says “hold onto it.”

So then, my brothers and sisters, hold onto God’s word. Set aside time day by day to read God’s word because there’s more. Yes, there’s more to learn about your sin. But even more so, there is so much more to learn about God’s word. Here this morning you learn that God’s truth convinces you that your sins are forgiven and you have eternal. Here this morning you learn that God has called you through the gospel. Through the gospel in word and sacrament he has brought you into his kingdom. But, there is more. There is more that our Savior has done. And there is more that he does through his word. Set aside the place in your heart and the time in your day and read it! Hold onto it—constantly and continually. Amen.

¹ εἰς σωτηρίαν ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος καὶ πίστει ἀληθείας

² ἐκάλεσεν ὑμᾶς

^{Image courtesty of Stock Xchnge}

I Am Pleased With You

How does the OT connect with the NT? Have you ever asked yourself that question? If you pick up any bible the first three-quarters of the book is the Old Testament. But, where do we spend most of our time and energy? We spend most of our time in the New Testament. And that is proper and good, since, in the New Testament we see Jesus so very clearly. But what does the Old Testament have to do with Jesus? In the words we read from the beginning of Mark we see that they are intricately connected to the Old Testament. Mark tells us: “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”” (Mark 1:9–11 NIV)

John baptizes Jesus. And when that happens the sky tears itself open. The Holy Spirit comes down and rests on Jesus. And God, the Father says “You are my son; my beloved one; I am perfectly pleased with you.”¹ And there, right there we have an impressive and important bridge between the Old Testament and New Testament. Did you hear it? Did you understand it? Did you see the Holy Spirit bridging the gap between the Old and New Testaments?

You see, when God, the Father says “You are my dear Son; I am perfectly pleased with you” he is taking us back, deep into the Old Testament. He’s taking us back to the words we read in our first lesson. In the prophet Isaiah we read these words: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;” (Isaiah 42:1 NIV)

Through Isaiah, the Lord says that he “delights in” his servant.² About 800 years before John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan the Lord speaks the same words about his servant as he speaks to Jesus. Here in Mark 1 we find a beautiful bridge between the Old and New Testaments. The servant that is mentioned in Isaiah’s time is Jesus.

And what’s even more impressive is that, as we read through these words in Isaiah 42 we can see Jesus fulfilling them throughout this season of Epiphany. We see this in two ways:

1. Gently: Jesus reaches out and acts gently. Isaiah tells us: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (Isaiah 42:3 NIV) What an amazing picture. One of the biggest problems we face is trusting that what God’s word says is true. And the longer we are away from God’s word and his church the more we are like a bruised reed. The reed is so close—so very close to dying. But Jesus does not act quickly or harshly to step on it. We are like a flickering flame and smoldering wick. At any moment we could be extinguished. But gently, carefully he cares for our faith. He tends it so that instead of knowing that there is a god out there somewhere we know who the true God is. We know our Father above. We know this gentle servant, Jesus. And as you travel throughout this Epiphany season leading into Lent you will see many examples of this.




2. Gentiles: Not only does the servant, Jesus reach out gently, he also reaches out to the gentiles. Isaiah tells us: ““I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:6–7 NIV) Jesus is a light for the Gentiles. We who are not children of God by bloodlines get to be children of God by grace. This servant, Jesus shines out to us who dwell in darkness. And again, throughout Epiphany we see this theme fulfilled. Look for it in the weeks to come.

And so, on this day when Jesus is baptized by John, God the Father speaks from heaven, saying “You are my son, my beloved one; I am perfectly pleased with you.” And as we look back to Isaiah we see why the Father was pleased with him. He was pleased with him because Jesus is the gentle servant that Isaiah predicted and promised.

And my brothers and sisters, here is where we see that this gentle servant is exactly what we need. If our Father in heaven opened up the skies and came down to you could he say the same thing? Could he say that he was perfectly pleased with you? Would he see someone who continually and perfectly was careful and gentle with those who weak in their faith? Would he be able to see someone who saw those who were on the outside-looking-in and reached out and brought them in?

With sober and sad reflection, we have to say “no.” God, the Father can say “I am perfectly pleased” to Jesus and about Jesus. But he cannot say that to us as he looks at the many sins we have piled up. But here my brothers and sisters is where the good news is. Jesus wasn’t a perfect servant to inspire you to somehow be better. No, he was a perfect servant as your substitute and savior. Jesus was perfect because you could not be. His perfect service for more than 30 years here on earth and his perfect payment on Good Friday—they are what God sees.

So, with these words the Holy Spirit bridges the 800 year gap between the Old And New Testaments. With these words he so clearly shows that this gentle servant is Jesus, our Savior. But in these words there is more. Mark doesn’t just bridge the gap between the Old Testament and the New. He also bridges the gap between Jesus’ baptism and ours. In the beginning of these words, in verse four we read: “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4 NIV)

Baptism brings the forgiveness of sins. Why did all these great crowds of people come out into the desert to be baptized? They came to receive the forgiveness of sins.³ But this passage forces us to ask a question. Why did Jesus allow himself to be baptized? Jesus didn’t have any sins to be forgiven. In truth, Jesus did not need to be baptized. But we needed him to be baptized. We needed him to be baptized to fulfill scripture. We needed him to be baptized to show us and all those living at that time that Jesus was officially beginning his ministry as the Lord’s servant. We needed him to be baptized so that our baptisms would have power.

In verses 7-8 John tells the people: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7–8 NIV) John is the guy who pours the water on the people. But who is the one who wins the forgiveness and brings the forgiveness promised in baptism? Jesus is.

And so, with every good thought and reason, God, the father can look down from heaven and say to his Servant and Son, “I am perfectly pleased with you.” He won your salvation by being the perfect servant you could not be. And he was baptized so that when that water rolls down your forehead and those words reach your ears it would actually do something. Your baptisms bring the salvation to you that the Lord’s servant won for you. And finally then, with all joy and confidence, the Lord doesn’t just say “I am perfectly pleased” to his Son. He says these words to you. Amen.

¹ σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα

² רָצְתָה

³ εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν

^{Image courtesy of Stock Xchnge}

Who Follows A Star?

Do you like surprises? There are those people out there, aren’t there? There are those people out there who like surprises. They like not knowing what might be around the next bend. They like the thrill of having to think on their feet. On the other hand, there is the other group of people. There is the group that likes to see what it coming around the next bend. There is the group that knows that the surest way to make a fool of yourself is to be surprised.

In the words we look at tonight, whether the people were ready or not, God was just about to shock and surprise them. Matthew tells us in chapter two: (Matthew 2:1–3 NIV) “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”

Whether two or twenty—those wise men showed up. And they surprised everyone. The word Matthew uses here is a very powerful word. It describes water that should be calm and smooth. Instead it’s turbulent and torn-up.¹ These wise men showed up and everyone was surprised and scared.

And, as we look at the context of these words there were two huge reasons why Herod and all Jerusalem were surprised and scared. The first reason people were scared was the wise men. It was either really, really good if wise men showed up or really, really bad. Kingdoms rose and fell at the words of wise men. Just look in the Old Testament. Daniel was one of these wise men.² The king Belshazzar was giving a banquet. A hand appeared on the wall and wrote “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.” (Daniel 5:25 NIV) Daniel told Belshazzar that his kingdom would be taken from him and that very night Belshazzar was killed.³ When wise men spoke, people listened.

So, first of all, Herod was surprised and scared. But then very shortly after that all of Jerusalem was surprised and scared. Because if Herod was scared he had usually one way of dealing with the source of his fear. He killed it. In the ten years before Jesus was born Herod killed three of his sons because he was scared that they were trying to take the throne away from him. And, as if that weren’t scary enough, his sister, Salome told him that his wife was plotting against him. And so his beautiful wife that he loved, he killed.⁴ And so all in Jerusalem were surprised and scared. Herod was scared at what the wise men might predict. The people were terrified that when the wise men predicted Herod would persecute.

And so, when these wise men appeared everyone, the king, the scribes—everyone listened to them. But what did they say? What did they want? Matthew tells us: ““Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”” (Matthew 2:2–6 NIV)

In their minds, all of them, from Herod to the lowest servant in the court, they all wanted to know what these wise men wanted. What would drive them to cross the hundreds of miles of desert sand to come to Jerusalem? They didn’t hear them predict the downfall of a nation. But what they did say might have been even worse. They came for one purpose: to worship the newborn king. That was their plan. That was their purpose.

Since these wise men knew that the king of the Jews was just born another question needed to be answered. Where? Where was this king born? Now, my brothers and sisters in Christ, listen very closely to what happens next: “Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”” (Matthew 2:7–8 NIV)

Herod tells them to go and find the king so that he could worship him. Now here is where there is a bizarre twist. Here is where the wise men show that instead of being the wisest men in the room they are the stupidest. Everyone in that room from Herod, all the way down the lowest slave holding a pitcher of water knew what Herod meant. They knew that when he said “worship him,” what he really meant is “so that I can kill him.”

And, my brothers and sisters, in the midst of Herod’s lies we find our sin. It is so very easy for us to look back and know what happened. It’s so very easy for us to look back and see that God took care of everything. God would protect the wise men. He would protect the newborn king. And through him he would take away the sins of the world.

We see this looking back. But it is so very easy for us to forget this today. It is so very easy to see all of the enemies of Jesus waging war against him and his church. It is so very easy to doubt that he has a plan and a purpose. Just look at the last ten years in Iraq. Iraq might have a working democracy. Iraq might even have peace. But the Christian church that used to at least endure in Iraq has all but been driven out. For every two Christians that were in Iraq a few short years ago, there is only one left.

And even worse than this, not only do we doubt that God has a plan and a purpose, but, when he doesn’t come to us in our dreams and tell us exactly what that plan is we are tempted to get so angry with him. For not only does it seem like he is allowing so much evil in the world, but he also seems to go out of his way to make us look stupid.

Just look at those wise men. On that day, in that room, everyone there knew what Herod meant—everyone except the wise men. I don’t know if they were tempted to be angry with God. But I know I have been. There have been many times I have gone into places and into conversations blind. There were times that the only thing that person I was talking to wanted was to tear down the nearest Christian. And when the conversation is done and you’re replaying the tape in your mind of what you and the other person said, at some point you just get angry and say “God you knew this would happen. Why did you let it happen?”

In all of this we see our sin. We sin when we do not trust God’s protection. We sin when are angry at God in our times of persecution. And, as we see our sin, it drives us to look again at those wise men. What sort of people were they? What drove them to cross the desert sand? What drove them to endure Herod’s lies? What drove them to endure such embarrassment? To answer that question we need to see what they saw in the manger: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” (Matthew 2:11–12 NIV)

After months and months of travel they found him. And when they found him they fell. Gladly, joyfully, they fell before this child. And they didn’t just fall before him in obedience. They fell before him in worship. This was the king who would pay the price for their sin. This was the king who would allow them into his kingdom even though they were not God’s chosen people. This was the king that they met so many months ago in his word and now see face to face.

And tonight we have the same privilege. We have the same privilege of bowing before him and simply worshipping him. For we know what this king did and we know how he did it. We know the king who perfectly trusted his Father in heaven. We know the king who was never angry at his father even when it meant he would die an unfair, unjust death. We know this king and how he ruled. We know the price he paid. We see the victory he proved when he rose.

And so, my brothers and sisters, what sort of a person follows a star? The person who follows a star is the same sort of person who worships a child. Let us ever and always bow before our King, Jesus. For one day, along side those wise men we will see this king. And with the same joy in our hearts we will fall before him. We will worship him. Amen.

¹ ἐταράχθη

² חַכִּים

³ (Daniel 5:31)

⁴ Surburg, Raymond. Introduction to the intertestamental period. p. 47

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Call On The Name Of The Lord

Call on the name of the Lord. When I think of this phrase I think of a story I heard years ago. The story was about the art of translation. A person told me that translating one language into another is like biology class. You’ll remember back to those days in high school. And how was it that you were supposed to learn about how beautiful and wondrous God’s creation of a frog was? The first thing you did was kill it. Then after there was no more life left you then took out a scalpel and cut it apart. Translation can end up being the same sort of thing. There is the danger that when we take these words from their original language and try to convey the beauty of it in english we can end up killing the meaning of the word.

I mention this because there is so much meaning and beauty in that phrase, call on the name of the Lord. We first see it being used in the book of Genesis. The descendants of the unbelievers went to work learning about food, technology and arts. That was their life. That was their god. But the believers—what did they spend their time in? They began to call on the name of the Lord.¹ That phrase means more than you might expect. It means to call to the Lord. It means to call based on the name of the Lord. We would call this preaching. In other words, while the world was so busy and engaged in its hobbies and work, what did the believers spend their time doing? They set aside time for public worship. That is what it means to call on the name of the Lord.

This evening, our psalm is really quite simple. In these words the psalmist invites us to call on the name of the Lord in the fullness of its meaning. He invites us to call to the Lord and speak based on the Lord and his name. And, after giving us the invitation, he gives us real reasons for calling on his name: “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, save me!”” (Psalms 116:1–4 NIV)

The psalmist says “I love the Lord and I called out to him.” Why did he do this? Why did he call out to the Lord? He called out to him because “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me” (Psalms 116:3 NIV) You’ll notice something in how he speaks. He doesn’t give us many details, does he? We might like to know more about what he went through. But, what we do know is enough. What he went through was enough to bring him to the brink of death.

Now this torment could have been an anguish on the outside. It could have been a physical problem. He could have had a disease. He could have been wounded. But the Lord rescued him. But this problem could have instead been a problem on the inside. He could have had something so traumatic happen to him or someone around him that it caused him to doubt his faith and tempt him to despair. And so, the death he speaks of here could have been spiritual death, hell, instead of physical death.

We don’t know all the details. But what we do know is enough. What the psalmist went through was bad—very bad. But the Lord heard him. And perhaps it’s good for us to not know the details. For if we knew the details we might be tempted to say “Well, I didn’t go through that. So this part of God’s word doesn’t apply to me.” But with the wording as open as it is we can find find ourselves in them. For, if you have a pulse and if you live in this sinful world, then whether physically or spiritually, all of you have had times when death was at your door or despair almost overtook you.

And our great sin, especially tonight, as we look back at the past year, is that we know two things. We know that we have had this deep anguish in the past. And we know that the Lord has delivered us. We know these things and yet we forget. We forget that these evil events happened to us. We forget to praise and call on the one who rescued us from them.

And even when we ponder this fact these words very quickly become important to us, don’t they? For here in these words the Psalmist is doing what we so very often do not. The Lord rescued him because he called out to him. And because the Lord rescued him, now he continues to call out to him.

And with these words he invites you to call on his name too. Call on his name because you can look back in the past and see many times that he has rescued you from strangling and entangling of death. And even more times he has rescued you but you can’t see him working with his angels. All that much more so, call out to him because of what he did.

The psalmist continues though. And he answers another question we might have. If we have the question “why did the Lord rescue him,” notice what the answer is: “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” (Psalms 116:5–7 NIV)

The Lord didn’t rescue the psalmist because he was good enough or smart enough or in any way deserved his help. The Lord rescued him because of who he is. Notice the three words the psalmist uses to describe the Lord:

1. Merciful:² Mercy is this amazing quality where God looks down on us, his fallen creation. And he has pity on us. It’s like all those people out there who never planned on having pets. But, either on the street or in their back yard they saw a dog or cat. And they knew that if they didn’t didn’t take care of it, then it would die. That is the same sort of attitude our Lord has for us.




2. Righteous:³ This right here is the word that Luther stumbled on for months and years. God is righteous. God is holy. God is without flaw or sin. And the only way we can come into his presence is we are holy. And Luther was so joyous and so thankful to be taught by the Holy Spirit that the Holiness God demands he gives to us in Christ. This is the sort of God we have—one who knows how helpless we are, so he declares us “not guilty.” Then in our baptisms he clothes us with the righteousness Jesus won for us.




3. Compassionate:⁴ This word is a very motherly sort of word. It describes the tenderness, the care and the concern a mother has for her children.

The psalmist invites us to call on the name of the Lord and worship him. He invites us to do this because of what he has done in the past. But, even more so, he invites us to do this because of who the Lord is and what he is like. He is merciful, righteous and compassionate. And then, just so that we know what he means, in the next verse, he moves on from abstract adjectives and gives examples of how the Lord shows that he is merciful, righteous and compassionate: “The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me” (Psalms 116:6 NIV)

Simple and small. These are the two types of people the Lord guards and guides. These two words describe the humility we have. As Christians we know how weak and helpless we are. We also know that it is not our job and task to get vengeance. It is not our goal to get even. So, day by day, we learn to call on the name of our Lord. We learn to go to him when we need justice. We learn to cry out to him who is perfectly able to make things right and fair.

Years ago, I remember visiting one of my shut-ins. She was a widow. But every month I stopped over to visit she had her bible on the desk and the offering envelope on top of her bible. She suffered from health problems on the outside and loneliness on the inside. But she had joy and strength in her Lord. For she had learned what the psalmist here sings about. Her goal in her life was not to be more and more self-sufficient. No, instead, her goal was to be more and more Christ-dependent. And so she called on his name daily.

My prayer for you this evening is that the Holy Spirit would continue to give this sort of attitude to you. Call on the name of the Lord. Call on his name because of what he has done for you in the past. But also call on his name because of who he is. He is merciful, righteous and compassionate. And he shows it by guarding the simple and small. Amen.

¹ Gen. 4:26

² חַנּוּן

³ צַדִּיק

⁴ מְרַחֵם

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What Do You See In The Manger?

Seeing isn’t always believing. One of the harsh lessons you learn when you are a child is that the biggest presents aren’t always the best. You found a present under the tree with your name on it. It’s big. It might even be heavy. It has to be a good gift. But, then when you open it, what do you get? Your present is 5 lbs of fruitcake. Fruitcake! You can’t eat it. You can’t use it as a bookend. You can’t even use it as a door stop out of fear that you might damage the door. Oh, but that present looked so good before you opened it.

Sometimes seeing isn’t believing. Sometimes seeing is just simply deceiving. It’s true when it comes to the presents under the tree. It’s even more true when it comes to Jesus, this baby in the manger. And so, this Christmas, since our eyes so easily deceive, we choose a better way of finding the truth. We hear God speaking to us in his word. In the book of Hebrews, chapter one, we read these words: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)

What do we see there in that manger? In order to answer that question, we will spend our time in this one verse in the book of Hebrews. And, trust me, it’s enough. For, if we ask the question “What Do We See There In That Manger,” the answer here in this verse is far above and beyond what we might see with our eyes. There in that manger we see who God is.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the “radiance of God’s glory” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)¹ These are words to pause on and ponder. The glory of God is a very important phrase to understand. God is holy. He cannot sin. And he cannot tolerate sin. Later on in this book, the writer to the Hebrews tells us that our God is a consuming fire.² What does a raging forest fire do to everything it comes in contact with? It devours it.

This is something we so very easily forget. Adam and Eve sinned. And through them all of creation is corrupted by sin. Your are corrupted by sin. I am corrupted by sin. And if we came into contact with God in his glory it would devour us because God’s glory and sin cannot be with each other.

We forget what happened in the garden. We also forget what happened what sin has done to us now. I remember when I was a little child. And there were times after church when my parents would be talking to seemingly everyone they could. So, as so many children, I would start running around in the church. And I remember when I was running by my mom and she quickly grabbed my arm. She looked at me right in the eyes and said: “You don’t run in this house. This is God’s house.”

What was she trying to teach me? She wasn’t just teaching me how to be polite. She was teaching me theology. God is a consuming fire. We tread in his house carefully and reverently. Jesus is a consuming fire.

When we look in that manger, be thankful that you don’t see the glory of God. Be thankful that in his great love for you, God hides himself. He wraps up his punishing perfection in flesh and blood. He covers his consuming fire in strips of clothing.

Jesus’ disciples often forgot this. Towards the beginning of his earthly ministry Jesus went to the temple for the festival. And what he saw there caused him to burn with anger. Instead of worship and prayer he saw stealing and greed. His burning anger moved him to set aside not just the time to weave together a whip. His burning anger moved him to drive all the animals and all the people out of the temple area. The disciples were shocked at how brightly Jesus’ anger burned and how long it burned.

Jesus is God’s glory shining out to us. But he is also much more. The writer to the Hebrews tells us: “The Son is … the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV) If ever there were a more difficult phrase to translate into english, I couldn’t find it. What does “exact representation” mean?³ What does “being” mean?⁴

The word used here, translated at “exact representation” is an impression. Our girls have play-doh. And they have these molds for the play-doh. When you look at the mold, you have a very difficult time figuring out what shape it is supposed to be. But, when you put the play-doh in the mold and press it down, then, when you take it out of the mold, you know exactly what that mold is for.

Jesus is the exact shape. But he’s not the exact expression of a play-doh. He is the exact expression of God’s being. In other words, if you want to know who God is—what he is truly like and who he truly is, then look at this child in the manger.

Every year in our catechism class we teach our children that there are many ways that people can conclude that there is a god. People can look out at creation. They can look up at the stars above or the valleys below and conclude that someone had to make this. And that someone had to be powerful. So also, every person on the face of the planet has a conscience. They all feel bad over what they have done. And they live in fear that when they die there will be someone who will punish them because of their sins.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, what a dismal and abysmal conclusion to reach, because all of that is true. There is a God. He is powerful and he does punish. That is what we see. But seeing can be deceiving. For that is not all of the truth. In Christ, in that baby in the manger we see the rest of the truth. In that manger we do not just see an all-consuming fire. We also see God’s great and amazing grace to us. And, as if to answer the question that immediately pops into our heads, the writer to the Hebrews tells us more about this Son of God. If we ask the question “If God punishes, then what is the other side of the coin? What is the grace and good that he shows to us?” We read: “sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)

Jesus provided purification for sins. That’s what that child in the manger was for. He was there to be perfect in your place. He was there to grow up so that as a man he could die for your sins. And there is where we really, truly begin to understand who God is. Yes, his glory is a consuming fire. But God pours out all his wrath on that baby in your place. Yes, God’s glory is a consuming fire that does not tolerate sin. So what does God do? He sends to you his word. And through these pages and promises of scripture he gives you faith so that you know not just God’s punishing glory, but also his promise of purification from sins. And the glory that should have burned against you now burns in you.

Years ago, when I was a little child running around in church with too much candy coursing through my veins, I did not know how sinful I was. And I did not fully appreciate that God’s glory is a consuming fire. And it was good to have my mom remind me of this fact. But, my brothers and sisters, there are many today who do not need that lesson. There are many who if they know anything about God at all, that’s all they know—that God is a consuming fire.

And so, my brothers and sisters, above all, when you look at this manger see this: See how God’s consuming fire was poured out on Jesus. See a Savior who purified us from sin. See God’s glory shining out to you and given to you. See who God really and truly is. And then when you have seen this tell others where to look. Tell them not to find salvation in a science lab or in stars in the sky. Show them that they cannot find salvation in the emotions in their hearts or the opinions in their brains. Teach them to look there in the manger. There God’s glory shines out to us. There God’s grace is revealed to us. Amen.

¹ ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης

² Heb. 12:29

³ χαρακτὴρ

⁴ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ,