I subscribe to John Stott's daily thoughts. Here is another gem:
Materialism is an obsession with material things.
Asceticism is the denial of the good gifts of the Creator.
Pharisaism is binding ourselves and other people with
rules. Instead, we should stick to principles. The
principle of simplicity is clear. Simplicity is the first
cousin of contentment. Its motto is, 'We brought nothing
into this world, and we can certainly carry nothing out.'
It recognizes that we are pilgrims.
It concentrates on what we *need*, and measures this by
what we *use*. It rejoices in the good things of creation,
but hates waste and greed and clutter. It knows how easily
the seed of the Word is smothered by the 'cares and riches
of this life'. It wants to be free of distractions, in
order to love and serve God and others.
--From "The Christian and the Poor" (All Souls Paper:
London: All Souls Church, 16 February 1981).
----------------------------------------------------
--Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity", p. 363, by
permission of InterVarsity Press.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Presents
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
LUKE 2:7
They wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.
In the name of Jesus:
The Time is almost here! After weeks of Christmas lists, Christmas sales, shopping, weaving through masses of people, waiting in lines, purchasing and wrapping presents, the time is almost here! Its Christmas Eve and soon the presents will be under the tree, and the boxes with brightly colored wrapping will be ripped off of the gifts, to reveal what is inside. And if your family is like mine, the gift recipient will take the time to show the gift for all to see, thanking the giver, and at the same time making plans on how to best use the gift.
Christmas is all about the gifts. What you give and what you receive. On this special night, we pause and reflect upon God’s great gift to us, the gift of His Son, the Christ child.
Anticipation was building that first Christmas Eve. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God had promised The Gift. And oh, how the children of Adam and Eve would need this Gift. For Adam and Eve were created had fallen from grace. Theirs was a perfect world, the world WAS their oyster, they were placed in a perfect world, a Garden in which they were to tend and keep. Their only instruction was to trust, to trust in God and obey His command. To take each moment and live in each moment in faith: loving God by gratefully receiving what they had received from Him as a gift: the gift of fellowship with the Maker and Creator of all things. Their call was to live out their lives in the Garden in simple childlike trust, for God had said not to eat of a certain fruit of a tree, Adam and Eve were to simply trust, and obey.
Yet, in their disobedience, they were banned from the Garden and their relationship with God was severed. Perfection was replaced with sin, trust replaced with doubt, worry, anxiety and fear. Life as they knew it was now ending in death as a punishment for sin. Sin always pays off with death. Always. Yes, Adam and Eve still had life here on earth, and they could still enjoy the physical gifts which God had blessed them with, but they had now fallen from God’s grace. They possessed no spiritual gifts. Their souls were now sinful; their entire beings were in bondage to sin. Relationship with God---gone, communion with God---severed, life with God----non existent. The parents of the human race had separated themselves and the entire human race from God. The world, in which God had created, to be in harmony with Him, was not. It was broken. No human being could repair it. Truly it would take a miracle, a gift from God, if you will, to reconcile God with man.
But God had a plan, His plan. Before He created the world, God knew what would happen. He knew that Adam and Eve would forsake Him and live for themselves. But out of love, God STILL created Adam and Eve because He wanted a relationship with the beings He created. God would spare no expense to make this happen. God had no plan B, rather, it was His eternal will and a part of His eternal plan that He would send One who would do battle for Adam and Eve and their descendants. Before God created the world God had determined that he would save the world through the blood of His Son, Jesus. For as John writes in his Gospel: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. God’s plan was set into motion even before the world began. And God revealed this plan to Adam and Eve after the fall, as He promised One who would crush the head of the serpent.
God had promised this miracle, this Gift, this Savior. And so, throughout the pages of the Old Testament, Jesus is proclaimed. God made the promise not only to Adam and Eve, but to each generation of prophets and people. To Abraham God said that He would bless the nations. To David God promised a King to take his place on a throne which would last forever. It was through His prophets that God promised that at the right time He would present Himself in Christ to save His people. A virgin would conceive and bear a Son; His name would be Emanuel which means God is with us. Through the prophet Isaiah a Child would be born, a Son given, His name would be Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, and Prince of Peace. Elsewhere, this One who was to come would bear the sins of the world; by His stripes sinners would be healed. God promised, the anticipation continued to grow, and God’s people waited for the unveiling of God’s gift. And God’s people heard God’s promises, and looked forward to that time, all the while the anticipation was building, and God’s people were waiting in joyful expectation. Even as children look forward to Christmas morning to see what presents are under the tree with their name on them, so too God’s people of old looked forward to that time when God would unveil the Gift of His Son.
And so, at that right time, when Quinerius was governor of Syria, Caesar decreed that the whole world would be taxed. And in that time God spoke, not through prophets, but through angels which spoke to shepherds, watching their flocks at night: To you is born in the city of David a Savior, He is Christ the Lord. The shepherds went to see this One who was promised of long ago, God’s present, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The angels sang praises to God at what God was doing that first Christmas. God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, on Christmas. Christmas is the day when God became man in Christ. Cynics will suggest that Christmas is really a pagan holiday that no one really knows when Jesus was born, that the leaders of the Church celebrated Christmas on a pagan holiday, so as to detract from our celebration of Jesus’ birth. Satan likes to take half truths and turn them into lies.
You see, the early Christian Church chose December 25 not because it was a pagan holiday; in fact the early church took great strides in attempting to veer away from paganism because of persecution. The date was chosen because in rabbincal thinking, Jesus was conceived and died on the same date. Historians of that time figured that Jesus died on March 25; hence it would make sense that He would be born nine months later on December 25. This is why we celebrate Christmas on this eve. As we celebrate Christmas in the darkness of winter, God’s Word brings to mind that Jesus is truly the Light of the world, the Light of God sent into the darkness of our sinful world to show us the love of God for all. And this is the true meaning of Christmas! For God sent His only Son, as His gift to sinners born and conceived in sin. God’s greatest gift, His greatest present was His presence in His Son Jesus Christ. God was in human flesh reconciling the world to Himself. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us for a time, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth….The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [11] He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. [14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1).
The Light of the world became human flesh to enlighten our sinful lives to the grace of God. From the fullness of Christ each of us has received the grace of God, His love, His gifts, His truth, His life. God’s long awaited Gift to you is His Son, Jesus. And He comes, not wrapped in colorful paper, with a bow around it, but He comes in humility. Wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, laid in a feeding box made from a tree, to be later raised up on a tree called the cross, so that He would be the life and salvation of all. Jesus, God’s Son, was nailed to the tree to be cursed by God, so that you might know and possess God’s love, His forgiveness, His life, in Christ.
And these gifts are given to you this Christmas, and every Sunday when you attend worship. We can very really say that Christ is present with us in worship, for where two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus promises to be there, right in our very midst. And Jesus offers Himself tangibly in His Word and Sacraments. In a world that struggles to know if God exists, if God is present, if God speaks today and if God cares, God tells us that He does, and He is present with us in His Word and Sacraments.
The Holy Scriptures is God’s very voice and very word to us today. Some people believe that the Bible just contains the Word of God, and so, they then pick and choose in the Bible what they want to believe, to fit their own lifestyle. But God Himself says in His Word that His Word is truth. The Holy Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and God breathed, God’s very voice to us, revealing to sinners where they have fallen short of God’s will, and God’s grace in Jesus Christ. For while the Law was given to Moses, God sent His Son into the world to reveal the love, grace, and truth of God, that God wills that all be saved in Christ.
In Baptism God speaks His voice, calling you by name so that you would have a new identity. The old things that you have done, including all of your sins and transgressions, have been washed away in Baptism. The Old sinful self has been drowned and died, so that a new person, by the power of God’s spirit, will rise in you. You are a new creature in Christ! God is present in Baptism and gives you new life. God speaks to you in your Baptism and says: YOU ARE MINE, MY FOREVER CHILD, and that absolutely nothing will ever separate you from His Love for you in Christ.
And in the Holy Supper which we call Holy Communion, Jesus is present again, in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus gives His gifts to you in forms of bread and wine, to give you Himself, for the assurance of your salvation. The Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ gift to you, His comfort food for your soul that you might know for certain that He still loves you and will always love you and be with you, even until the end of the age.
God’s gifts, His presents to you this Christmas is found in His Son Jesus. Today God’s Good News is that to you is born the Savior, He is Christ the Lord. You will find Him lying in a manger. And God’s gift to you each Sunday is His Son, Jesus. And you will find Him speaking to you in His Word, and giving you Himself in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Soon we will open presents. But the greatest present, the greatest Gift if Jesus. God’s Gift is that He gives us Jesus in Word and Sacrament. And this is the best present we can receive.
Amen
LUKE 2:7
They wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.
In the name of Jesus:
The Time is almost here! After weeks of Christmas lists, Christmas sales, shopping, weaving through masses of people, waiting in lines, purchasing and wrapping presents, the time is almost here! Its Christmas Eve and soon the presents will be under the tree, and the boxes with brightly colored wrapping will be ripped off of the gifts, to reveal what is inside. And if your family is like mine, the gift recipient will take the time to show the gift for all to see, thanking the giver, and at the same time making plans on how to best use the gift.
Christmas is all about the gifts. What you give and what you receive. On this special night, we pause and reflect upon God’s great gift to us, the gift of His Son, the Christ child.
Anticipation was building that first Christmas Eve. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God had promised The Gift. And oh, how the children of Adam and Eve would need this Gift. For Adam and Eve were created had fallen from grace. Theirs was a perfect world, the world WAS their oyster, they were placed in a perfect world, a Garden in which they were to tend and keep. Their only instruction was to trust, to trust in God and obey His command. To take each moment and live in each moment in faith: loving God by gratefully receiving what they had received from Him as a gift: the gift of fellowship with the Maker and Creator of all things. Their call was to live out their lives in the Garden in simple childlike trust, for God had said not to eat of a certain fruit of a tree, Adam and Eve were to simply trust, and obey.
Yet, in their disobedience, they were banned from the Garden and their relationship with God was severed. Perfection was replaced with sin, trust replaced with doubt, worry, anxiety and fear. Life as they knew it was now ending in death as a punishment for sin. Sin always pays off with death. Always. Yes, Adam and Eve still had life here on earth, and they could still enjoy the physical gifts which God had blessed them with, but they had now fallen from God’s grace. They possessed no spiritual gifts. Their souls were now sinful; their entire beings were in bondage to sin. Relationship with God---gone, communion with God---severed, life with God----non existent. The parents of the human race had separated themselves and the entire human race from God. The world, in which God had created, to be in harmony with Him, was not. It was broken. No human being could repair it. Truly it would take a miracle, a gift from God, if you will, to reconcile God with man.
But God had a plan, His plan. Before He created the world, God knew what would happen. He knew that Adam and Eve would forsake Him and live for themselves. But out of love, God STILL created Adam and Eve because He wanted a relationship with the beings He created. God would spare no expense to make this happen. God had no plan B, rather, it was His eternal will and a part of His eternal plan that He would send One who would do battle for Adam and Eve and their descendants. Before God created the world God had determined that he would save the world through the blood of His Son, Jesus. For as John writes in his Gospel: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. God’s plan was set into motion even before the world began. And God revealed this plan to Adam and Eve after the fall, as He promised One who would crush the head of the serpent.
God had promised this miracle, this Gift, this Savior. And so, throughout the pages of the Old Testament, Jesus is proclaimed. God made the promise not only to Adam and Eve, but to each generation of prophets and people. To Abraham God said that He would bless the nations. To David God promised a King to take his place on a throne which would last forever. It was through His prophets that God promised that at the right time He would present Himself in Christ to save His people. A virgin would conceive and bear a Son; His name would be Emanuel which means God is with us. Through the prophet Isaiah a Child would be born, a Son given, His name would be Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, and Prince of Peace. Elsewhere, this One who was to come would bear the sins of the world; by His stripes sinners would be healed. God promised, the anticipation continued to grow, and God’s people waited for the unveiling of God’s gift. And God’s people heard God’s promises, and looked forward to that time, all the while the anticipation was building, and God’s people were waiting in joyful expectation. Even as children look forward to Christmas morning to see what presents are under the tree with their name on them, so too God’s people of old looked forward to that time when God would unveil the Gift of His Son.
And so, at that right time, when Quinerius was governor of Syria, Caesar decreed that the whole world would be taxed. And in that time God spoke, not through prophets, but through angels which spoke to shepherds, watching their flocks at night: To you is born in the city of David a Savior, He is Christ the Lord. The shepherds went to see this One who was promised of long ago, God’s present, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The angels sang praises to God at what God was doing that first Christmas. God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, on Christmas. Christmas is the day when God became man in Christ. Cynics will suggest that Christmas is really a pagan holiday that no one really knows when Jesus was born, that the leaders of the Church celebrated Christmas on a pagan holiday, so as to detract from our celebration of Jesus’ birth. Satan likes to take half truths and turn them into lies.
You see, the early Christian Church chose December 25 not because it was a pagan holiday; in fact the early church took great strides in attempting to veer away from paganism because of persecution. The date was chosen because in rabbincal thinking, Jesus was conceived and died on the same date. Historians of that time figured that Jesus died on March 25; hence it would make sense that He would be born nine months later on December 25. This is why we celebrate Christmas on this eve. As we celebrate Christmas in the darkness of winter, God’s Word brings to mind that Jesus is truly the Light of the world, the Light of God sent into the darkness of our sinful world to show us the love of God for all. And this is the true meaning of Christmas! For God sent His only Son, as His gift to sinners born and conceived in sin. God’s greatest gift, His greatest present was His presence in His Son Jesus Christ. God was in human flesh reconciling the world to Himself. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us for a time, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth….The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [11] He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. [14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1).
The Light of the world became human flesh to enlighten our sinful lives to the grace of God. From the fullness of Christ each of us has received the grace of God, His love, His gifts, His truth, His life. God’s long awaited Gift to you is His Son, Jesus. And He comes, not wrapped in colorful paper, with a bow around it, but He comes in humility. Wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, laid in a feeding box made from a tree, to be later raised up on a tree called the cross, so that He would be the life and salvation of all. Jesus, God’s Son, was nailed to the tree to be cursed by God, so that you might know and possess God’s love, His forgiveness, His life, in Christ.
And these gifts are given to you this Christmas, and every Sunday when you attend worship. We can very really say that Christ is present with us in worship, for where two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus promises to be there, right in our very midst. And Jesus offers Himself tangibly in His Word and Sacraments. In a world that struggles to know if God exists, if God is present, if God speaks today and if God cares, God tells us that He does, and He is present with us in His Word and Sacraments.
The Holy Scriptures is God’s very voice and very word to us today. Some people believe that the Bible just contains the Word of God, and so, they then pick and choose in the Bible what they want to believe, to fit their own lifestyle. But God Himself says in His Word that His Word is truth. The Holy Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and God breathed, God’s very voice to us, revealing to sinners where they have fallen short of God’s will, and God’s grace in Jesus Christ. For while the Law was given to Moses, God sent His Son into the world to reveal the love, grace, and truth of God, that God wills that all be saved in Christ.
In Baptism God speaks His voice, calling you by name so that you would have a new identity. The old things that you have done, including all of your sins and transgressions, have been washed away in Baptism. The Old sinful self has been drowned and died, so that a new person, by the power of God’s spirit, will rise in you. You are a new creature in Christ! God is present in Baptism and gives you new life. God speaks to you in your Baptism and says: YOU ARE MINE, MY FOREVER CHILD, and that absolutely nothing will ever separate you from His Love for you in Christ.
And in the Holy Supper which we call Holy Communion, Jesus is present again, in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus gives His gifts to you in forms of bread and wine, to give you Himself, for the assurance of your salvation. The Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ gift to you, His comfort food for your soul that you might know for certain that He still loves you and will always love you and be with you, even until the end of the age.
God’s gifts, His presents to you this Christmas is found in His Son Jesus. Today God’s Good News is that to you is born the Savior, He is Christ the Lord. You will find Him lying in a manger. And God’s gift to you each Sunday is His Son, Jesus. And you will find Him speaking to you in His Word, and giving you Himself in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Soon we will open presents. But the greatest present, the greatest Gift if Jesus. God’s Gift is that He gives us Jesus in Word and Sacrament. And this is the best present we can receive.
Amen
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Holy Works
In my devotions today I read a portion of Luther's explanation of the Fourth Commandment. It deals with holy works, and I thought that it was food for thought for you who read this blog.
"143] Now, what a child owes to father and mother, the same owe all who are embraced in the household.
Therefore man-servants and maid-servants should be careful not only to be obedient to their masters and
mistresses, but also to honor them as their own fathers and mothers, and to do everything which they know is
expected of them, not from compulsion and with reluctance, but with pleasure and joy for the cause just
mentioned, namely, that it is God's command and is pleasing to Him above all other works. 144] Therefore they ought rather to pay wages in addition and be glad that they may obtain masters and mistresses to have such joyful consciences and to know how they may do truly golden works; a matter which has hitherto been
neglected and despised, when, instead, everybody ran, in the devil's name, into convents or to pilgrimages and indulgences, with loss [of time and money] and with an evil conscience.145] If this truth, then, could be impressed upon the poor people, a servant-girl would leap and praise and thank God; and with her tidy work for which she receives support and wages she would acquire such a treasure such as all that are esteemed the greatest saints have not obtained. Is it not an excellent boast to know and say that, if you perform your daily domestic task, this is better than all the sanctity and ascetic life of monks? 146] And you have the promise, in addition, that you shall prosper in all good and fare well. How can you lead a more blessed or holier life as far as your works are concerned? 147] For in the sight of God faith is what really renders a person holy, and alone serves Him, but the works are for the service of man." (Tappert, pg 385).
Indeed, how can we lead a more blessed life than to love Christ and seek to serve Him in all we do?
"143] Now, what a child owes to father and mother, the same owe all who are embraced in the household.
Therefore man-servants and maid-servants should be careful not only to be obedient to their masters and
mistresses, but also to honor them as their own fathers and mothers, and to do everything which they know is
expected of them, not from compulsion and with reluctance, but with pleasure and joy for the cause just
mentioned, namely, that it is God's command and is pleasing to Him above all other works. 144] Therefore they ought rather to pay wages in addition and be glad that they may obtain masters and mistresses to have such joyful consciences and to know how they may do truly golden works; a matter which has hitherto been
neglected and despised, when, instead, everybody ran, in the devil's name, into convents or to pilgrimages and indulgences, with loss [of time and money] and with an evil conscience.145] If this truth, then, could be impressed upon the poor people, a servant-girl would leap and praise and thank God; and with her tidy work for which she receives support and wages she would acquire such a treasure such as all that are esteemed the greatest saints have not obtained. Is it not an excellent boast to know and say that, if you perform your daily domestic task, this is better than all the sanctity and ascetic life of monks? 146] And you have the promise, in addition, that you shall prosper in all good and fare well. How can you lead a more blessed or holier life as far as your works are concerned? 147] For in the sight of God faith is what really renders a person holy, and alone serves Him, but the works are for the service of man." (Tappert, pg 385).
Indeed, how can we lead a more blessed life than to love Christ and seek to serve Him in all we do?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A Thanksgiving Commandment
A THANKSGIVING COMMANDMENT
DEUTERONOMY 8:1-10
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word [1] that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
In the name of Jesus:
In the history of America and of the United States, there have been many Thanksgiving proclamations. In 1779 President George Washington wrote that it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge God’s goodness and mercy, to be grateful for His benefits, and that the citizens of this country should have a day of public thanksgiving and prayer so that all would unite in giving thanks to God for His providence and protection.
Later, other Presidents would issue similar proclamations, recommending the citizens of the United States to give thanks to God. That is all any one President or person can do, that is, recommend that human beings give thanks to God. No human being can force another to be thankful. It must come from the heart. That is why these Thanksgiving proclamations are carefully worded, so as to not give offense and so that others will not take offense. But this is not the case when God speaks. God does not recommend that His creatures give thanks, He COMMANDS that they give thanks. His voice THUNDERS FROM HEAVEN ABOVE, calling on His creatures to remember His bountiful goodness, and then God demands thanksgiving. He commands and demands that everyone remembers and gives thanks.
But do we? If we are honest, we fail to give thanks to God, more often than not; we take advantage of God and expect more. We wolf down a meal to feed our hunger rather than pausing to remember who gave us the food so that we might give thanks. We pray to God for healing and help in times of need, but are too busy to set time aside to come to worship and remember and give thanks. We use and sometimes abuse the resources that God gives us, spending our money on frivolous things, and then complaining that we don’t have enough, instead of recognizing that God is good and His mercies lasts forever.
This is why God commands we give thanks, because we fail to give thanks. Like the Israelite people of old, we have forgotten what God has done. In our text for tonight, Moses recounts before his death the history of what God had done for His people. God reminds His people through Moses that: “that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word [1] that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.”
God tested His people, and they were found wanting. They were not thankful to God for what He had done. God had every right to demand that His people remember, and because of their sinfulness, God had every right to punish those who broke His commands. Moses failed to go into the Promised Land because of his pride and sinfulness. Aaron died before entering the Promised Land because he made the calf out of gold. And others who complained and forgot about God’s benefits were similarly punished.
And so it is with us today. God disciplines those whom He loves. He chastises us in our forgetfulness and gluttony. Just as a father will correct a son out of love so that the son will follow in the paths of wisdom, so too God tonight calls us to repentance. He shows to us this Thanksgiving the hardness of our hearts, He reveals to each of us the times when we have not remembered God’s mercies, when we have taken God and His love for granted, and the times when we have hoarded His blessings rather than sharing them. Even as God has punished those who broke His Law and failed to give thanks, so too tonight God promises to punish all who break His commandments. We have failed to keep one and keep all of God’s commands. We have listened to our sinful hearts rather than God and have loved the world in place of God and our neighbor. We really and truly deserve no good thing from God, only His anger and His punishment.
But, thanks be to God, God IS merciful to those whom He loves. God showed mercy and showered His blessings upon the Israelite people on the way to the Promised Land, for God spoke that “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” None of the Israelite people deserved this, God provided it because He was merciful and forgiving, loving His people with an everlasting love.
And God loves YOU with an everlasting love. Even though we are sinners, God so loved us and the world that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. God saw His creatures fall from grace and in need of a Savior. God earnestly desires that every sinner be saved from sin and Hell; He seeks to save those who are lost. And so He sent His Son to lead His people to the Promised Land of eternal life with God. The trail was blazed by Christ, who is the Way to eternal life. He came to pave the way to the Promised Land, living His life in perfect love and thanksgiving to God, placing God first in His life and loving sinners even to the point of death on the cross. By His shed blood you are forgiven, you are saved, not by your efforts, but by the work of Christ. His gift of eternal life is a free gift, paid by the Savior Jesus. Thankfully, God in Christ has done everything needed so that we would be saved. Through His revealed Word the Spirit reveals to sinners their shortcomings and transgressions, and in the story of God’s Good News of Christ the same Spirit creates faith and sustains faith. You have been claimed as God’s child in the washing of your Baptism, you are fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus, and you have tasted the goodness and the mercy of God in Christ, of sins forgiven, of God’s providence and care, of His protection and provision. You have tasted and seen in your own life how good and loving God is, you have tasted that the Lord is good and that His mercy endures forever.
This day, God calls you to remember and give thanks. His commandment to those who are in Christ is not a burden, but a blessing. For we have seen and witnessed what God has done. We have remembered not only God’s mighty acts of mercy in the past, but His mighty acts of grace today. We remember that we have been bought with a price and that all that we have and all of who we are is of a free gift of God’s love for us in Jesus.
We remember what God has done for us this day, and we are humbled. Who are we, to receive these bountiful blessings? We in and of our selves are nothing. But God loves us in Christ. In Him we live, move, and have our being. Sinful as we are, we humbly confess our sin beseeching God to be merciful and gracious. If the Lord would remember sins, who of us could live? But He is faithful and just and forgives sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, including those times when we forget His mercies. And for that, we can truly give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His mercy endures forever.
DEUTERONOMY 8:1-10
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word [1] that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
In the name of Jesus:
In the history of America and of the United States, there have been many Thanksgiving proclamations. In 1779 President George Washington wrote that it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge God’s goodness and mercy, to be grateful for His benefits, and that the citizens of this country should have a day of public thanksgiving and prayer so that all would unite in giving thanks to God for His providence and protection.
Later, other Presidents would issue similar proclamations, recommending the citizens of the United States to give thanks to God. That is all any one President or person can do, that is, recommend that human beings give thanks to God. No human being can force another to be thankful. It must come from the heart. That is why these Thanksgiving proclamations are carefully worded, so as to not give offense and so that others will not take offense. But this is not the case when God speaks. God does not recommend that His creatures give thanks, He COMMANDS that they give thanks. His voice THUNDERS FROM HEAVEN ABOVE, calling on His creatures to remember His bountiful goodness, and then God demands thanksgiving. He commands and demands that everyone remembers and gives thanks.
But do we? If we are honest, we fail to give thanks to God, more often than not; we take advantage of God and expect more. We wolf down a meal to feed our hunger rather than pausing to remember who gave us the food so that we might give thanks. We pray to God for healing and help in times of need, but are too busy to set time aside to come to worship and remember and give thanks. We use and sometimes abuse the resources that God gives us, spending our money on frivolous things, and then complaining that we don’t have enough, instead of recognizing that God is good and His mercies lasts forever.
This is why God commands we give thanks, because we fail to give thanks. Like the Israelite people of old, we have forgotten what God has done. In our text for tonight, Moses recounts before his death the history of what God had done for His people. God reminds His people through Moses that: “that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word [1] that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.”
God tested His people, and they were found wanting. They were not thankful to God for what He had done. God had every right to demand that His people remember, and because of their sinfulness, God had every right to punish those who broke His commands. Moses failed to go into the Promised Land because of his pride and sinfulness. Aaron died before entering the Promised Land because he made the calf out of gold. And others who complained and forgot about God’s benefits were similarly punished.
And so it is with us today. God disciplines those whom He loves. He chastises us in our forgetfulness and gluttony. Just as a father will correct a son out of love so that the son will follow in the paths of wisdom, so too God tonight calls us to repentance. He shows to us this Thanksgiving the hardness of our hearts, He reveals to each of us the times when we have not remembered God’s mercies, when we have taken God and His love for granted, and the times when we have hoarded His blessings rather than sharing them. Even as God has punished those who broke His Law and failed to give thanks, so too tonight God promises to punish all who break His commandments. We have failed to keep one and keep all of God’s commands. We have listened to our sinful hearts rather than God and have loved the world in place of God and our neighbor. We really and truly deserve no good thing from God, only His anger and His punishment.
But, thanks be to God, God IS merciful to those whom He loves. God showed mercy and showered His blessings upon the Israelite people on the way to the Promised Land, for God spoke that “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” None of the Israelite people deserved this, God provided it because He was merciful and forgiving, loving His people with an everlasting love.
And God loves YOU with an everlasting love. Even though we are sinners, God so loved us and the world that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. God saw His creatures fall from grace and in need of a Savior. God earnestly desires that every sinner be saved from sin and Hell; He seeks to save those who are lost. And so He sent His Son to lead His people to the Promised Land of eternal life with God. The trail was blazed by Christ, who is the Way to eternal life. He came to pave the way to the Promised Land, living His life in perfect love and thanksgiving to God, placing God first in His life and loving sinners even to the point of death on the cross. By His shed blood you are forgiven, you are saved, not by your efforts, but by the work of Christ. His gift of eternal life is a free gift, paid by the Savior Jesus. Thankfully, God in Christ has done everything needed so that we would be saved. Through His revealed Word the Spirit reveals to sinners their shortcomings and transgressions, and in the story of God’s Good News of Christ the same Spirit creates faith and sustains faith. You have been claimed as God’s child in the washing of your Baptism, you are fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus, and you have tasted the goodness and the mercy of God in Christ, of sins forgiven, of God’s providence and care, of His protection and provision. You have tasted and seen in your own life how good and loving God is, you have tasted that the Lord is good and that His mercy endures forever.
This day, God calls you to remember and give thanks. His commandment to those who are in Christ is not a burden, but a blessing. For we have seen and witnessed what God has done. We have remembered not only God’s mighty acts of mercy in the past, but His mighty acts of grace today. We remember that we have been bought with a price and that all that we have and all of who we are is of a free gift of God’s love for us in Jesus.
We remember what God has done for us this day, and we are humbled. Who are we, to receive these bountiful blessings? We in and of our selves are nothing. But God loves us in Christ. In Him we live, move, and have our being. Sinful as we are, we humbly confess our sin beseeching God to be merciful and gracious. If the Lord would remember sins, who of us could live? But He is faithful and just and forgives sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, including those times when we forget His mercies. And for that, we can truly give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His mercy endures forever.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Your Important Right
November 3 is an important day in America. It is your opportunity to vote. Every Election Day is an important day, so exercise your right to vote on November 3.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Why I find preaching so interesting....
I am on John Stott's daily mailing list. His ministry sends snippets of quotes from his writings and Bible commentaries to those who are interested. John Stott is now retired but he has been, and in my mind remains, one of the giants of the Church for this generation. His thoughts for today include the challenges of communicating the Good News of Christ to a people of a different culture. Even though he writes in the context of cross cultural communication in the mission fields of Africa, his words apply to the homiletical task. He writes:
"How can I...take the Gospel from the Bible which was written in the cultures of Judaism and the Greco-Roman world....and communicate it...without either falsifying the message or rendering it unintelligible? It is the interplay (of cultures) which constitutes the exciting, and yet exacting, discipline of cross cultural communication." From "Culture and the Bible" (Downers Grove: IVP, 1981, pg 40).
"How can I...take the Gospel from the Bible which was written in the cultures of Judaism and the Greco-Roman world....and communicate it...without either falsifying the message or rendering it unintelligible? It is the interplay (of cultures) which constitutes the exciting, and yet exacting, discipline of cross cultural communication." From "Culture and the Bible" (Downers Grove: IVP, 1981, pg 40).
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Encourage One Another
ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
HEBREWS 3:13
“But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
In the name of Jesus:
My wife, Luann, has a saying which goes like this: “History is prologue”. The meaning is simple, if you know a little history; you can have an indication of what may happen in the future. I look at this saying, history is prologue, and takes it to mean that you learn from history, from the experiences of others, so that you can grow and benefit from their trials and errors. Life is full of trials and errors, and in the terminology of our text for today, it is filled with discouragements and disappointments. Discouragements abound in life. Things which can go wrong often do go wrong. It is not Murphy’s Law, it is realism. A realistic look at life will take into account the disappointments and discouragements that will inevitably occur along life’s way.
God’s people have faced disappointments and hardships in the journey of life. The Children of Israel, even though they were chosen by God to be His people, had their share of hardship. That is not to say that they were not blessed by God. The children of Israel under the leadership of Moses were released from the bondage of their captivity in Egypt. Their release from bondage did not come easy. Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and his plea to let God’s people go. Pharaoh hardened his heart to God and His word. So God used Moses to do great things in Pharaoh’s sight, ten plagues were sent by God to show the power of God to the unbelieving Pharaoh. But Israel was still in bondage; their labor and hardship were increased.
God kept true to His word, He kept His promises to His people and through the Exodus God delivered His beloved people. He led the children through the parted waters of the Red Sea, safely to the other side. Pharaoh and his army pursued in vain, the waters of the Red Sea swallowed God’s enemies. His people were saved. And yet, some complained, saying that it was only wilderness in front of them and it would have been better to stay in Egypt than face the hardships of the wilderness and desert.
In spite of the bitterness and complaining, God provided for His people, leading them through the wilderness, by fire at night and a cloud during the day. When they were hungry, God sent manna and quail from heaven. When they were thirsty, God led them to springs of flowing water. God saved His people and continued to provide for them. But it was not enough.
God, as we see in the Book of Hebrews, was provoked. He was angered at His chosen people. Why? Because they complained bitterly to God, they did not see what they had; they only saw what they thought they didn’t have. They complained about their journey in the wilderness, because the journey was hard and it was long. They became discouraged in their journey. The writer to the Hebrews says that they, God’s children, went astray in their hearts, building a golden calf, worshipping the idols of their enemies, and wanting to become more like the nations surrounding them rather than the people of God that they were called to be. And so God dealt with His people. He disciplined them so that they would turn to Him in faith. However, they did not enter into God’s promised rest. They did not live to see the fulfillment of God’s promises, so a new generation would then learn to not only trust in God but follow Him into the Promised Land.
The tale is the same in our age as well. Many people today have heard of God’s mighty acts in history. Many have tasted and seen the goodness of God. They have become God’s children in the waters of Baptism. They have worshipped and communed at the altar of God. They even have experienced the grace of God today in that they have received the blessings and provisions of God in their lives. And yet, even as God was provoked in the past, even now He is not pleased.
Why? Because His own have lost sight of who they belong to and what God has done for them. It is true that the journey of life is long; man is born of a woman and lives 70-80 years in life. The human life is filled with disappointments and discouragements. The journey of following Jesus in life is difficult, Jesus says that the way is narrow, and sadly, many have lost their way.
Some have become discouraged and have given up the faith and the Christian walk. Others have gone astray, leaving the faith and following the gods of this world: money, pleasure, fame, popularity. They have sought to become like the world rather than live out their faith as the people of God. They have become interested in being popular or hearing the plaudits of man rather than the word of God. They absent themselves from the hearing of the Word, and the reception of the Lord’s Supper.
Will they ultimately receive their heavenly reward? That is left for God to decide, judge not, lest we be judged. And yet, Jesus says that you know a tree by the fruit it bears. Note what Martin Luther says in his Large Catechism concerning Christians who absent themselves from worship and the reception of the Lord’s Supper: that there are those who think that they are such strong Christians that they need not go to church or the Lord’s Supper. They become quite brutish and finally despise both the Word and the Sacrament. Now it is true that no one should be forced to go to the Sacrament, but it must be known that such people as deprive themselves of, and withdraw from, the Sacrament so long a time are not to be considered Christians. For Christ has not
Instituted it to be treated as a show, but has commanded His Christians to eat and drink it, and there by remember Him. And, indeed, those who are true Christians and esteem the Sacrament precious and holy will urge and
Impel them unto it.
Now it is not our purpose or intent to brow beat those who call themselves Christian and do not take part in the life of the church. Rather, we are called to be the voice of Christ. Jesus never forces or coerces anyone to follow Him, He merely invites and encourages. This is what our text says today: “But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
God calls His children to be encouragers of brothers and sisters in the faith, particularly those who have fallen away from the faith. This is in accordance with God’s will, for the Bible says that God wants all to be saved and come to know the truth of His love and salvation for all in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, God’s faithful witness to sinners as to the heart and mind and will of God. To know Jesus is to know the Father, for Jesus and the Father are one. The Father’s heart and nature towards sinners is revealed in Jesus, He who knew no sin who became sin for all of us. God doesn’t condemn the sinner in Christ; rather He condemns Christ to save the sinner. Faith receives God’s salvation in Jesus. Faith receives God’s good and gracious invitation to a new life with Him in Jesus.
God invites us and every sinner to come to Him. Through the prophet Isaiah God invites: “Come now and let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18). God is ready and willing to forgive all sin. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse all from all unrighteousness.
God has cleansed you in the precious blood of Jesus shed on Calvary’s cross. That cleansing is given to you in Baptism, where you have become God’s child. You have been given new life, an eternal life with God in Jesus Christ in your Baptism. You have been given a new life in Christ so that you would walk daily with Jesus, journeying with Jesus until you reach your heavenly home. In the midst of the discouragements and trials of life, and they are many, you know them all too well, Jesus is ever present to give you strength for the journey. He daily speaks to you in His Word. Today He gives of Himself in the Sacrament, for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith, all so that you will leave with God’s peace knowing that He is on your side. As you live for Him He contends for you, working all things out in your life to your good and His glory. God’s challenge to you is to be faithful to your Savior, to strive to enter your heavenly rest, so that you may hear the beautiful words of the Master: Well done good and faithful servant, enter now into your heavenly reward.
This is why we contend for the faith, why we seek to be faithful to Christ, and this is why we exhort and encourage others to be faithful to Jesus as well. We live our lives not to brow beat, not to find fault, not to nag, or even give a sinner a guilt trip. We live to proclaim Christ and Him crucified and raised again. We come in the name of Christ to share the power of Christ in and through us. We continue not to lose heart, but to invite, encourage and plead all sinners to come and be God’s friend in Jesus Christ. For those who are wearied by the journey we seek to give them the strength that comes from Jesus. We know that the devil always opposes the Christian, seeking to drive the child of God from Jesus, seeking to separate them from His peace and love. This is why we continue to encourage and invite, giving of ourselves to Christ’s cause and work. Now is the day of salvation, now is the time for all to believe. Now is the time that God gives us to work, to strive, to encourage, to invite all to believe in Jesus, so in keeping with God’s good and gracious will of seeking and saving the lost.
During a championship prize fight, the trainer said to the battered fighter between rounds: “"Champ, you’re going great! He ain't laid a glove on you!" The fighter responded: “"Well, you better keep an eye on the referee then, because somebody in this ring is beating the daylights outta me."
There are brothers and sisters who feel like a battered fighter, losing the fight for the faith. Still others don’t even know that they are in a battle. But we know differently. Satan is alive and well. As Luther writes in his Large Catechism: ““We Christians must be armed and daily expect to be constantly attacked. No one may go on in security and carelessly, as though the devil were far from us. At all times we must expect and block his blows. Though I am now chaste, patient kind, and in firm faith, the devil will, this very hour, send such an arrow into my heart that I can scarcely stand. For he is an enemy that never stops or becomes tired. So when one temptation stops, there always arise others and fresh ones.”
We need encouragement, and so God gives it to us in His Word and Sacrament. And He sends us out that we might be encouragers to others, inviting others to hold fast to Christ, in whom there is eternal life.
Amen
HEBREWS 3:13
“But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
In the name of Jesus:
My wife, Luann, has a saying which goes like this: “History is prologue”. The meaning is simple, if you know a little history; you can have an indication of what may happen in the future. I look at this saying, history is prologue, and takes it to mean that you learn from history, from the experiences of others, so that you can grow and benefit from their trials and errors. Life is full of trials and errors, and in the terminology of our text for today, it is filled with discouragements and disappointments. Discouragements abound in life. Things which can go wrong often do go wrong. It is not Murphy’s Law, it is realism. A realistic look at life will take into account the disappointments and discouragements that will inevitably occur along life’s way.
God’s people have faced disappointments and hardships in the journey of life. The Children of Israel, even though they were chosen by God to be His people, had their share of hardship. That is not to say that they were not blessed by God. The children of Israel under the leadership of Moses were released from the bondage of their captivity in Egypt. Their release from bondage did not come easy. Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and his plea to let God’s people go. Pharaoh hardened his heart to God and His word. So God used Moses to do great things in Pharaoh’s sight, ten plagues were sent by God to show the power of God to the unbelieving Pharaoh. But Israel was still in bondage; their labor and hardship were increased.
God kept true to His word, He kept His promises to His people and through the Exodus God delivered His beloved people. He led the children through the parted waters of the Red Sea, safely to the other side. Pharaoh and his army pursued in vain, the waters of the Red Sea swallowed God’s enemies. His people were saved. And yet, some complained, saying that it was only wilderness in front of them and it would have been better to stay in Egypt than face the hardships of the wilderness and desert.
In spite of the bitterness and complaining, God provided for His people, leading them through the wilderness, by fire at night and a cloud during the day. When they were hungry, God sent manna and quail from heaven. When they were thirsty, God led them to springs of flowing water. God saved His people and continued to provide for them. But it was not enough.
God, as we see in the Book of Hebrews, was provoked. He was angered at His chosen people. Why? Because they complained bitterly to God, they did not see what they had; they only saw what they thought they didn’t have. They complained about their journey in the wilderness, because the journey was hard and it was long. They became discouraged in their journey. The writer to the Hebrews says that they, God’s children, went astray in their hearts, building a golden calf, worshipping the idols of their enemies, and wanting to become more like the nations surrounding them rather than the people of God that they were called to be. And so God dealt with His people. He disciplined them so that they would turn to Him in faith. However, they did not enter into God’s promised rest. They did not live to see the fulfillment of God’s promises, so a new generation would then learn to not only trust in God but follow Him into the Promised Land.
The tale is the same in our age as well. Many people today have heard of God’s mighty acts in history. Many have tasted and seen the goodness of God. They have become God’s children in the waters of Baptism. They have worshipped and communed at the altar of God. They even have experienced the grace of God today in that they have received the blessings and provisions of God in their lives. And yet, even as God was provoked in the past, even now He is not pleased.
Why? Because His own have lost sight of who they belong to and what God has done for them. It is true that the journey of life is long; man is born of a woman and lives 70-80 years in life. The human life is filled with disappointments and discouragements. The journey of following Jesus in life is difficult, Jesus says that the way is narrow, and sadly, many have lost their way.
Some have become discouraged and have given up the faith and the Christian walk. Others have gone astray, leaving the faith and following the gods of this world: money, pleasure, fame, popularity. They have sought to become like the world rather than live out their faith as the people of God. They have become interested in being popular or hearing the plaudits of man rather than the word of God. They absent themselves from the hearing of the Word, and the reception of the Lord’s Supper.
Will they ultimately receive their heavenly reward? That is left for God to decide, judge not, lest we be judged. And yet, Jesus says that you know a tree by the fruit it bears. Note what Martin Luther says in his Large Catechism concerning Christians who absent themselves from worship and the reception of the Lord’s Supper: that there are those who think that they are such strong Christians that they need not go to church or the Lord’s Supper. They become quite brutish and finally despise both the Word and the Sacrament. Now it is true that no one should be forced to go to the Sacrament, but it must be known that such people as deprive themselves of, and withdraw from, the Sacrament so long a time are not to be considered Christians. For Christ has not
Instituted it to be treated as a show, but has commanded His Christians to eat and drink it, and there by remember Him. And, indeed, those who are true Christians and esteem the Sacrament precious and holy will urge and
Impel them unto it.
Now it is not our purpose or intent to brow beat those who call themselves Christian and do not take part in the life of the church. Rather, we are called to be the voice of Christ. Jesus never forces or coerces anyone to follow Him, He merely invites and encourages. This is what our text says today: “But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
God calls His children to be encouragers of brothers and sisters in the faith, particularly those who have fallen away from the faith. This is in accordance with God’s will, for the Bible says that God wants all to be saved and come to know the truth of His love and salvation for all in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, God’s faithful witness to sinners as to the heart and mind and will of God. To know Jesus is to know the Father, for Jesus and the Father are one. The Father’s heart and nature towards sinners is revealed in Jesus, He who knew no sin who became sin for all of us. God doesn’t condemn the sinner in Christ; rather He condemns Christ to save the sinner. Faith receives God’s salvation in Jesus. Faith receives God’s good and gracious invitation to a new life with Him in Jesus.
God invites us and every sinner to come to Him. Through the prophet Isaiah God invites: “Come now and let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18). God is ready and willing to forgive all sin. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse all from all unrighteousness.
God has cleansed you in the precious blood of Jesus shed on Calvary’s cross. That cleansing is given to you in Baptism, where you have become God’s child. You have been given new life, an eternal life with God in Jesus Christ in your Baptism. You have been given a new life in Christ so that you would walk daily with Jesus, journeying with Jesus until you reach your heavenly home. In the midst of the discouragements and trials of life, and they are many, you know them all too well, Jesus is ever present to give you strength for the journey. He daily speaks to you in His Word. Today He gives of Himself in the Sacrament, for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith, all so that you will leave with God’s peace knowing that He is on your side. As you live for Him He contends for you, working all things out in your life to your good and His glory. God’s challenge to you is to be faithful to your Savior, to strive to enter your heavenly rest, so that you may hear the beautiful words of the Master: Well done good and faithful servant, enter now into your heavenly reward.
This is why we contend for the faith, why we seek to be faithful to Christ, and this is why we exhort and encourage others to be faithful to Jesus as well. We live our lives not to brow beat, not to find fault, not to nag, or even give a sinner a guilt trip. We live to proclaim Christ and Him crucified and raised again. We come in the name of Christ to share the power of Christ in and through us. We continue not to lose heart, but to invite, encourage and plead all sinners to come and be God’s friend in Jesus Christ. For those who are wearied by the journey we seek to give them the strength that comes from Jesus. We know that the devil always opposes the Christian, seeking to drive the child of God from Jesus, seeking to separate them from His peace and love. This is why we continue to encourage and invite, giving of ourselves to Christ’s cause and work. Now is the day of salvation, now is the time for all to believe. Now is the time that God gives us to work, to strive, to encourage, to invite all to believe in Jesus, so in keeping with God’s good and gracious will of seeking and saving the lost.
During a championship prize fight, the trainer said to the battered fighter between rounds: “"Champ, you’re going great! He ain't laid a glove on you!" The fighter responded: “"Well, you better keep an eye on the referee then, because somebody in this ring is beating the daylights outta me."
There are brothers and sisters who feel like a battered fighter, losing the fight for the faith. Still others don’t even know that they are in a battle. But we know differently. Satan is alive and well. As Luther writes in his Large Catechism: ““We Christians must be armed and daily expect to be constantly attacked. No one may go on in security and carelessly, as though the devil were far from us. At all times we must expect and block his blows. Though I am now chaste, patient kind, and in firm faith, the devil will, this very hour, send such an arrow into my heart that I can scarcely stand. For he is an enemy that never stops or becomes tired. So when one temptation stops, there always arise others and fresh ones.”
We need encouragement, and so God gives it to us in His Word and Sacrament. And He sends us out that we might be encouragers to others, inviting others to hold fast to Christ, in whom there is eternal life.
Amen
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