Faith Waits – Sermon on Matthew 15:21-28 for the Second Sunday of Lent

Matthew 15:21-28

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Last week, we heard how the devil slithered into the Garden of Eden to tempt the woman (Gen. 3:1-21). That worm did what he always does and tried to create space between our first parents and God’s life-giving Word. And his scheme worked. They ate from the forbidden tree and fell into sin. Satan continues to do that work today. His tactic is to drive a wedge to distance you from God and God’s promises. His goal is to get you to doubt – leaving you isolated, anxious, and alone. Today, in this Gospel reading (Mt. 15:21-28), Jesus does the exact opposite work. Our Lord and Savior draws this Canaanite woman closer and closer to Himself and to God’s promises.

This mother comes to Jesus with a real problem. Her daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. At first, it looks like Jesus is the one creating space. He ignores her cries. He says that He’s only been sent for the lost sheep of Israel. He even calls her a dog. There’s no debating that Jesus is putting her through the ringer here. It looks like she should just quit and go home with a crushed spirit. But Jesus knows exactly what He’s doing. He knows and loves this woman and her daughter. He had come to redeem them and shed His blood for all their sin, just as He has come to redeem you from yours.

To see this, let’s try an analogy: Imagine an old tin bucket. It’s corroded, dented, and has several holes. That bucket can’t hold water, which is what a bucket is designed to do. To keep that bucket from running dry, it needs to be filled constantly. Dear saints, that’s us. We leak continuously. We have an inherited rustiness from the Fall and our original sin. The worries of this world keep poking more and more punctures into us. Disappointments open new cracks. Our sinful actions open up more holes. Satan’s accusations evaporate us like a blow torch. All of this empties us and would leave us bone-dry and bouncing through the desert of this fallen world. So, what’s the fix?

Well, according to Christ, we should learn from this woman. Jesus holds her before our eyes as an example by praising her, “O woman, great is your faith” (Mt. 15:28). That should get our attention. She is an example because she plants herself right next to Jesus, the Fountain of Living Water (Jn. 4:14, 7:37-38; Rev. 21:6). Even though it looks like the stream of God’s mercy that flows from Jesus isn’t for her, she presses in closer and closer and waits for the floodgates to open.

We don’t know how long this whole event takes. Matthew doesn’t tell us how long it was between the first moment she presents her problem to when Jesus finally praises her faith. It’s only eight verses, so it doesn’t take long to read. The way Matthew records this, it was probably an extended time.

It all starts with her initial plea and silence from Jesus. But she keeps crying out. You can see it in our translation in Mt. 15:22, “she was crying.” The force behind that verb is that this was a continual thing. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” Nothing. No response. The woman might have thought, “Maybe He didn’t hear me.” So, she cries out again, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” Still nothing. This keeps happening. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” Eventually the disciples get tired of it all. They’re probably wondering why Jesus is ignoring her. Did He suddenly go deaf? Did too much sand blow in His ears? Eventually, it seems that the woman tries to get Jesus’ attention through the disciples because they finally chime in, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” We don’t know how long this all went on. It could’ve been fifteen minutes; it could’ve been several hours.

But just imagine if you were there watching all of this unfold. You hear this woman asking and asking, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” Suppose you took this woman off to the side and asked her, “What are you doing?” She says, “Well, I’m praying.” So, you ask, “How’s that going? Is it working? Do you think it’s going to help your little girl?” She’d say, “I don’t know. He’s not answering me right now.” You might ask, “Well, why are you still praying? He’s obviously heard you, and if He was going to answer you, don’t you think that He would have by now? Why keep making a spectacle of yourself praying the same prayer over and over again?”

I mean, that’s reasonable. That’s how we conduct ourselves in normal conversations with other people. If people keep ignoring us, we just move on and go elsewhere. But this woman doesn’t do that. I think she’d respond to a statement like that by saying, “I’m waiting. I know who He is. He is my Lord. He is kind. He has come to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8). There is no one else who can help me. So, I’ll just keep waiting for Him.”

Finally, of course, Jesus does help her. Not only does Christ give her what she was pleading for, He also praises her. “O woman, great is your faith!” And that’s the point. Dear saints, faith presses in closer and closer to God and His promises. Faith hears (Ro. 10:17) all the things God has promised – mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, deliverance, eternal life. All these things are available only from one Source and that is our giving God. So, even if God seems to be ignoring our prayers and not giving what He has promised, faith waits.

This happens all over Scripture. Think of Jacob wrestling with God all night, refusing to let go until God blessed him (Gen. 32:22-32). Consider Hannah pouring out her longing for a child year after year after year (1 Sam. 1). How many of the Psalms ask some version of, “How long, O Lord?” (Ps. 13, 6:3, 79:5, 89:46, 94:3)? Dear saints, your cries to God do not – they do not – go unheard.

Faith waits even though it isn’t easy. This extremely difficult because you know that God could immediately answer every single one of your prayers quicker than you can even snap a finger. Your merciful Father could make everything perfect in the blink of an eye. The last sentence in our text says, that woman’s daughter was healed instantly (Mt. 15:28). Christ could make everything right this instant. So, why does He make you wait? I don’t know, and I’m sorry that you have to wait. But I do know that God has promised to always give you what is good (Mt. 7:11; Ro. 8:32).

What I do know is what Scripture says. We heard in our Old Testament reading (Is. 40:27-31), “They who wait for the Lordwill renew their strength.” And notice that wording. It doesn’t say, “They who wait for the Lord will become strong.” No. They will “renew their strength.” That means that strength is going to get depleted and will need to be renewed again and again and again. Think back to the rusty, leaky bucket. When your strength is depleted, when it has trickled and poured out of you, you need to be near the Source. Eventually, God will fix all your rust and cracks and holes. But not yet. For now, God lets those remain, and He promises that He will never let you run dry. He will keep filling you. He will renew you in His timing, which is not your timing. So wait, and it’s in that waiting that faith moves and presses in closer and closer to God.

Dear saints, each day has trials, and you are not equal to the task of those trials. And God’s desire is that each day you would come to Him and rely upon Him and His strength. That’s His design. His good and gracious plan is that He will be your Source of power and strength from which you dare never get far.

Wait for Him. Christ has you in His timing and in His strength. He has put all your enemies under His feet by His death and resurrection. He knows how best to rescue you. Your God, who makes these promises to you, is faithful, and He will do it (1 Th. 5:24). So, keep praying to Him, move closer to Him, and keep patiently and faithfully waiting. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

I Am the Light of the World – Sermon on John 9:1-7 for Midweek Lent 1

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 27:1-4; Isaiah 42:1-7; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; and John 9:1-7.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

When the disciples see this man who was born blind, they rightly recognize something is off. Blindness isn’t the way things should be. Eyes were created to see, but this man’s eyes are dark. That isn’t right. There should be light in those eyes, but they are dark with blindness. The disciples are correct in sensing the disconnect, but their answer misses the mark.

Notice that the disciples only ask a question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” but their question assumes that sin is the answer for this particular darkness. Instead of playing “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” they’re playing “Pin the Blame on the Sinner.” They suppose that some specific sin is the reason he had never looked into his mother’s eyes, never seen a sunrise, never seen anything. The disciples were simply trying to make sense of the darkness with guilt and blame. Too often, we do the same.

In a world that is darkened by sin, we want to make sense of why things are off-kilter. We grope around for an answer to why. “Why is there this darkness?” Sadly, the most common explanation we have for darkness is to try to assign blame. We do the same thing all the time. “Whose fault is this?” “Who can we blame?” Those kinds of questions are asked all the time in hospital rooms, at gravesides, when a marriage grows cold, and whenever things aren’t as they should be. It’s our vain search for an answer to why darkness exists.

Jesus’ answer is so wonderful. It’s a shocking answer that should lift our dark hearts. Listen to how it frees: “It wasn’t that this man sinned, or his parents” (Jn. 9:3). In other words, not every blindness, not every broken relationship, not every disease is the direct result of a specific sin. Sure. Of course. Suffering flows directly because of the Fall. Sin is what brought suffering and disease and death and darkness into God’s good creation. But Jesus doesn’t let us play the blame game that crushes others with guilt. Christ says, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (Jn. 9:3). God is going to display His saving works in and toward and through the blind man.

This text we just read was not the first time Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World.” Jesus first said it back in Jn. 8:12during a tense exchange with the Pharisees that we aren’t going to rehash. Just know that Jesus had already said that He is the Light of the World, but He says it again before He heals this man who was blind from birth. 

We heard in our Psalm tonight (Ps. 27:1-4), “Yahweh is my light and my salvation.” Here, Jesus shows that He is that light and salvation. He is the same God who began creation by saying, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3; Jn. 1:3), and here He proves that He is God in the flesh by doing something only the Creator can do. He heals the blind man with actions that replicate the creation of Adam.

In the beginning, God took dust from the ground that was wet from a mist; God used that mud to form Adam’s body and breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:6-7). Jesus doesn’t have that same mist to make mud, so He creates His own. Right there in the dirt of Jerusalem, the Creator is at work again. Our Lord spits on the ground and spreads that mud on the man’s eye sockets (Jn. 9:6). So, we should see that Jesus is not only healing the man – He is creating. He is showing that He is the One who spoke light into existence at the very beginning.

At the end of our Old Testament reading tonight (Is. 42:1-7), Isaiah spoke about Yahweh’s Servant who was coming as “a light for the nations, to open eyes that are blind, to bring prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is. 42:6-7). Jesus is that Servant, and He is doing exactly that here. A little bit later, John tells us that Jesus did this creative work on a Sabbath (Jn. 9:14). It’s a new Sabbath of a new creation that is free – totally free – from the darkness of sin.

Like this blind man, you and I were born spiritually blind. We stumbled around in the darkness of our sin and chased after the shadows. But Jesus has come as the Light and took on our darkness. As He hung on the cross, darkness fell over the earth, and Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mt. 27:45-46). God had forsaken Jesus so that your sin – every dark thought, every selfish choice, every time you blamed someone else for your pain – would be paid for completely.

Three days later, the Light of the World burst forth from the grave. Now, the risen Christ continuously shines out of the darkness and into your heart. In His brightness you have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Co. 4:6).

Dear saints, Jesus, the Light of the World, continues to display the works of God in you (Jn. 9:3). Look again at Jn. 9:4where Jesus says, “We must work the works of Him Who sent Me while it is day.” In the past, I’ve always assumed that Jesus is still talking to the disciples because He’s answering their blame and guilt question right before. But after He corrects their wrong assumption, the disciples drop out of the account. They aren’t involved in the healing of the man in the rest of our text or even in the rest of Jn. 9. In fact, the disciples aren’t even mentioned again until Jn. 11:7. The text doesn’t specifically say it, but the way John writes this, you are to see Jesus dismiss the disciples’ blame question and then turn to the blind man when He says, “We must work the works of Him Who sent Me while it is day,” because it’s the man who was born blind who works with Jesus for the rest of the chapter.

Jesus does the work of creating, healing, and restoring. The blind man does the work of receiving, going, washing, and seeing. And if you keep reading through the rest of Jn. 9 – which I strongly encourage you do – the now-seeing man does the work of believing, confessing, and worshiping (Jn. 9:35-38; cf. Jn. 6:29). But notice that all of the man’s works are a direct result of Christ shining into his darkness. And that, dear saints, is exactly how He still works in you.

Jesus, the Light of the World, has swallowed the darkness and buried it in His now, and forever, empty tomb. Christ’s light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not, and will not ever, overcome it (Jn. 1:5). Jesus is still in the world. He promises to be with you always, to the end of the age (Mt. 28:20). He remains in the world now as the unconquerable Light of the World (Jn. 9:5). Live in His light. Let His glory shine into and through you. And watch the darkness flee. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

War of Words – Sermon on Genesis 3:1-21 for the First Sunday of Lent

Genesis 3:1-21

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 3 is the first battle in the war between the devil on one side versus God and mankind on the other side. Because mankind was the crown of God’s creation, Adam and the woman were Satan’s initial target in his war against God and what He has made. And God knew what He was doing when had Moses record this chapter for us. The Holy Spirit, I suppose, could have inspired Moses to simply write, “But they ate from the forbidden tree, and that’s why everything is messed up,” and move on to Gen. 4. Instead, the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write a detailed account of what happened. One of the reasons for that is so we can see the way the devil continues to fight against God and us. When you are fighting against someone, it’s helpful to know the weapons, tactics, strategies, and goals of your enemy so you can know how counter those attacks. So, that’s what we’re going to do as we consider this text today.

First, the devil’s weapon: He has only one. The devil couldn’t wage his war against our first parents with stones or clubs or swords or horses or tanks or guns or bombs. He couldn’t use anything physical against them because God’s creation was good – so very good, in fact, that nothing physical could harm them. The devil used the only weapon available to him, and that weapon was words.

The most important thing about us is what we believe because what we believe is the foundation of everything else in our lives. Our belief affects what we do, what we say, what we feel, and how we react. So, the devil came into the center of God’s good creation, into the garden, with words to shatter our belief and to wage his war. And the devil uses the serpent as his tool to hurl those murderous words at our first parents. The devil could’ve used anything to toss his lies at Adam and the woman. Just like an enemy could hurl a stone at a you with his arm, a slingshot, a catapult, or by dropping it from a castle wall, the stone can do harm in any of those instances, but the weapon is the same.

Satan uses the serpent here, but the devil isn’t limited to snakes when he wages war on you. He’s very imaginative and crafty with the different methods he’ll use against you. He might use a book, a video, or the news to throw his weaponized words at you to get you to doubt God and His promises. That worm could use, for example, a doctor who gives you a perfectly accurate diagnosis, “You have this disease, this cancer and you have this long to live.” That doctor might be 100% correct with that diagnosis, but that could be the method that the devil uses to hurl satanic lies at you. Remember, the Son of God, your Savior, promises that death doesn’t get the last word on you, believer. He promises, “Whoever believes in Me shall never die. [The one who believes in Me] has [already] passed from death to life” (Jn. 11:26; 5:24).

So, words are the devil’s weapon. Now, what are his tactics and strategies as he uses that weapon? His tactic is to create space, to open just enough room for you to doubt God. Getting you to doubt God is His goal, so more on that in a minute. His tactic and strategy is to separate and distance you from God and His promises. And it doesn’t take very much space. He can slither his way into the tiniest of cracks.

As that slimy worm talks to the woman here, he presents the possibility that God is holding something back and has denied her something. He wants to open up enough space to make her think that she’s insufficient. The thing you need to notice is that God actually was holding something back from the woman and from Adam. He was withholding the knowledge of evil. God never intended us to know, let alone experience and endure, evil. But God was, as He always is, infinitely good by withholding that knowledge of evil from them.

Consider how small the crack is that the devil used to plant that tiny seed of doubt. That loathsome worm says, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5), and that statement was true. God Himself agrees. We didn’t read all of Gen. 3, but in the verse right after our reading ended, God says, “Behold the man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:22). Here’s the thing: Adam and the woman were already created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). So, do you see how tiny the crack is – like vs. in the image? It’s a tiny difference vocabularically [sic.], but it’s a massive difference theologically.

God did not create us to be exactly like Him. He did create us to bear His image, which is much better for us. We can’t handle being like God. That’s beyond our capacity and ability. It’s too much of a burden for us. Scripture teaches that the best way to combat the devil’s tactic of distancing us from God’s promises, to prevent that space being opened up, is to be content with who we are and content with what God made us to be.

Whenever you sin (no matter what particular commandment you break), you never break only one Commandment. You always break at least two, if not three. Scripture clearly teaches this, but we don’t often think of it this way. Both Col. 3:5and Eph. 5:5 tell us that coveting (9th and 10th Commands) is idolatry (1st Command). When you covet, you are putting yourself in the place of God. Coveting is you saying, “God has messed up. That thing over there,” whatever that thing is, “should be mine over here.”

That is idolatry of self and putting yourself in the place of God. If your sin goes no further, you’ve broken two commands. But if your sin does go further, you break more. Stealing starts with you coveting something someone else owns, which is idolizing yourself, and then you actually take it. Lying starts with you coveting the truth to be something different than it actually is – which, again, is idolizing yourself. Then, you lie to make yourself look better or make your neighbor look worse than he/she is.

Contentment is the counter strategy you have to use against the devil’s tactics. In Php. 4:11-13, Paul urges us toward contentment. He says, “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” That secret is contentment. When things are good, be content and don’t seek more. When things are bad, be content. Know that God is in control – even of the evil things you experience, and He promises that He will provide (Mt. 6:33; 1 Tim. 6:6).

Again, the devil’s weapon is words, and his tactic is to create space between you and God’s promises. But that worm’s goal is to get you to doubt God. Don’t! God is no liar. God is faithful. He’s true to His Word.

So, your goal when fighting against temptation should be twofold. First, know God’s Word – more and more, better and better. And second, use that Word. 

You need to know that word extremely well. The woman ended up adding to God’s Word when she says that God didn’t allow them to touch the tree (Gen. 3:3). That wasn’t what God said. God never forbade them to touch the tree (Gen. 2:16-17). But the woman adds to God’s command, which shows that she thought God’s Word was insufficient.

Also, notice how during the temptation, Adam is absolutely silent. He doesn’t respond, interject, or interrupt. Adam doesn’t do or say anything. He just sits there and listens while this all plays out. That’s never the right approach when the devil attacks. When facing temptation, don’t be like Adam. Instead, follow your Savior’s example.

In our Gospel text (Mt. 4:1-11), Jesus counters all three of the devil’s temptations with Scripture. With the temptation to turn stones into bread, Christ quotes God’s Word that focuses on God’s promise of provision (Mt. 4:3-4; Dt. 8:3). Your life doesn’t consist in temporal, earthly food. Your life comes from every word that comes from God’s mouth.

When the liar (Jn. 8:44) realizes that Jesus is using Scripture to fight back, Satan tries to use Scripture against Jesus. Think of that. The devil tries to use God’s Word against the Word of God in the Flesh (Jn. 1:14). He says, “God has promised to protect You (Ps. 91:11-12), but have You ever tested that? Jump off this building and see if it’s actually true.”

Dear saints, Satan is still doing this today. Today, he’s using all sorts of voices to pluck Scripture out of context to try to accuse you. The devil will use people who hate God and His Word to quote God’s Word at you and to accuse you of ‘not being very Christ-like.’ Don’t fooled by that. 

Yes, of course, God will protect Jesus from every trouble. But God isn’t a worthless father who will bail his kid out of every trouble that kid gets himself into. To be able to counter the slimy attacks of the worm, you need to know your Bible and know it well so that you won’t be fooled by the satanic twisting of God’s Word. So, Christ counters with Scripture, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”(Dt. 6:16). 

Also, notice Jesus’ response to the third temptation. Yes, He quotes Scripture, but even before He does that, our Lord simply says, “Be gone Satan.” And the devil is forced to flee (Mt. 4:11). Sometimes, you simply need to do the same thing. Tell that vile worm, “Get out of here. I’m not falling for your lies, and I don’t want to listen to them anymore.” There’s a time to tell the devil, “Be gone, you little worm.” That’s a good strategy for you to resist Satan’s attacks.

Finally, dear saints, be comforted. You will fall in this war of words. You will fall into sin. But don’t despair. You have a God who seeks you out like He seeks Adam and the woman saying, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). In that moment, know that God isn’t coming after you to punish you. He’s calling you back to Himself. Be quick to acknowledge and repent of whatever sin you have. Your Savior has come. He has crushed the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15), and He knows the temptations you face because He was tempted in every way as you are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). So, He sympathizes with you and your weakness. Even better, He has paid the price for your sins with His own blood (1 Pet. 1:18-19). And He clothes you, not just with animal skins (Gen. 3:21), but with the perfect, spotless robe of His righteousness (Is. 61:10; Php. 3:9).

So, fight the good fight (1 Tim. 6:2). Take up the weapons of righteousness and fight against the enemy of your soul. Your Savior is returning with the sound of His war trumpet (Mt. 24:31; 1 Co. 15:52). And in that day, you will be forever changed to be like Him (1 Jn. 3:2) – immortal, at peace, at rest, and altogether alive. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Aligned – Sermon on Matthew 6:1, 16-21 for Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6:1, 16-21

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I thought about starting this sermon with a question, but I’m going to start with the answer first. So, here’s the answer, “No. Absolutely, positively, definitely not!” That’s the answer. You’re probably wondering, “Ok, pastor. What’s the question?” Here it is: “Is Jesus telling us to be hypocrites here?” Again, the answer is, “No way. No how. Nuh-uh.” One of the common definitions of a hypocrite is ‘someone who says one thing and does another.’ Or we can flip the order – a hypocrite is ‘someone who does one thing and says another.’

That definition is overly simplistic because here Jesus says that when you fast you are to make it look like you aren’tfasting. And Jesus isn’t telling you to be a hypocrite. So, we should probably get better get a better, more Biblical definition of what hypocrite is. A hypocrite is someone who removes God from the equation of everything they do.

Scripture clearly teaches that everyone knows that God exists. Ro. 1:19-21 says that God has revealed Himself in the things that have been made. But instead of acknowledging God, people do not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. The short way to say that is that atheists don’t exist. Sure, there are liars who falsely call themselves atheists. They claim to believe that God doesn’t exist, but they’re lying to themselves.

So basically, a hypocrite is someone who seeks the approval of men rather than of God. Jesus repeatedly says so here in Mt. 6. Christ says that hypocrites sound a trumpet before they give so that they can be praised by others (Mt. 6:2). He teaches that hypocrites pray so that they can be seen by others (Mt. 6:5). In this reading, our Lord says that hypocrites make themselves look gloomy and miserable when they fast so they will be seen by other people (Mt. 6:16).

In other words, hypocrites do good works. But they do those good works to get the approval of other sinners instead of God. Again, they remove God from the equation. Ultimately, hypocrisy is idolatry. It makes people into little gods. And if you do good works for people, Jesus says that you already have your reward which won’t last. But Jesus promises that if you do your good works for God, you will be rewarded by God, and that reward will be eternal treasure that will last forever (Mt. 6:4, 6, 18).

With all of that said, I’m going to give you the entire sermon in one sentence. Ready? There is a spiritual benefit to the bodily practice of fasting because fasting helps align our body and soul.

Christian, you are justified and saved by grace through faith and not your works (Eph. 2:8-9). Faith is not just something that happens in your heart and that’s it. No. Faith changes everything about you. Faith changes both your soul and your body. In other words, faith is lived out. We know this because God works on you to sanctify you, to make you more and more holy.

There are two aspects of sanctification. First, sanctification comes about when the Holy Spirit comes to live in you and gives you the strength to love God and love your neighbor. Sanctification is that growth in good works and acts of love. The second side of sanctification is that the Holy Spirit gives you strength to fight against your sinful flesh. Ro. 6:12-14 puts it this way, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” In other words, don’t go on sinning. Don’t let yourself to continue living in sin.

That’s where fasting comes in. You can think of fasting as practice. Just like a basketball player will run ‘crushers’ and do dribbling and shooting drills so, when they face an opponent in a game, all of those things come naturally. Fasting is like doing those drills. It gives you the endurance and discipline and skill that you need to fight against sin when it really counts.

Before I go on, I have to add this. You can’t fast when it comes sinful actions. If you’re a kleptomaniac and habitual liar, you can’t say, “I’m going to fast from stealing and lying.” No! Those are sins; don’t do them. Fasting is temporarily denying yourself and not doing things that aren’t sinful. You do that so that you know what to do when you stand face-to-face with sinful lusts and desires.

Normally, we think about fasting as not eating. That is one way to fast. When you fast from eating and your stomach growls and starts preaching to you, “Hey, you should feed me,” you say to your stomach, “You’re not the boss. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4; Dt. 8:3). Then, instead of eating, you read Scripture or pray. That discipline helps bring your body in alignment with your redeemed and forgiven soul.

So, I would encourage you, give fasting a try. It doesn’t have to be giving up food. Use your God-given wisdom to pick something that you regularly do and don’t do it for a certain amount of time. Let me give you a few possible examples:

Maybe, you decide that you won’t go on YouTube or social media for a few days, or you decide to limit yourself to a certain amount of time on those apps each day, or only during a certain window of the day. You get to pick. Then, when you have the desire to go on them outside of your window, read your Bible or pray or sing a hymn instead.

Maybe, you decide to give up watching a news program for a while. Instead of watching it, read the Psalms to remind yourself that God is in control. This will help you learn that the world won’t fall apart just because you don’t know what’s going on. Use that time to pray for our leaders.

Maybe, you normally listen to something on your headphones while you’re plowing snow. Instead of doing that, meditate on a passage of Scripture. Maybe, you set your alarm 15 minutes earlier and deny yourself that bit of sleep to pray for your family and friends or text them a Bible verse.

The possibilities are endless. By doing those things, you train your body and mind and bring them into alignment with your redeemed soul. You gain self-control and see that you have the strength to fight when you have desires that are actually sinful.

Yes, keep your fasting secret, but remember that Jesus promises that your heavenly Father sees your fasting and will reward you. In other words, fasting lays up treasures in heaven for you. And where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Mt. 6:21).

Dear saints, know this – God loves you whether you fast or not. He has come to win your forgiveness and salvation, and His work is finished, complete, and perfect. Certain of that restored relationship with God, know that you are His, and you are free. Free to spend your life on things that matter. Free to store up eternal treasures in heaven. 

And your Savior freely invites you now to His table to receive the greatest treasure of His Body and Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Full Stop – Sermon on Hebrews 4:9-13 for Sexagesima Sunday

Hebrews 4:9-13

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

When we think of rest, we think of it as the opposite of work. Most of the time, rest means we can change into comfy clothes and sweats and sit on a couch or recliner after a long day at work or school. Monday through Friday, rest probably means going to bed at descent time to gain enough strength just so you can get up and get back to work tomorrow and the next day and the next day until the weekend comes. Sadly, many Christians have accepted and adopted the phrase, “Everybody’s workin’ for the weekend.” We’ll work hard for days, weeks, and months to go on vacation – notice how the word ‘vacate’ is the root of the word ‘vacation.’ We vacate our work to visit sandy beaches, cruise ships, or lake cabins where there are no alarm clocks or calendars or to-do lists. Often, rest is nothing more than being inactive or idle. Even though this idea of rest isn’t completely contrary to the Bible – in fact, some of those ideas are right – but the concept of rest in the Scriptures is much fuller and more beautiful than that. 

We know that rest is something more than just recuperating from work because the first being to rest in Scripture is God. And He doesn’t need to recuperate! God’s work of creation ends with Him resting on the seventh day. Gen. 2:1-3 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.” The Hebrew word translated ‘rest’ there means “cease” or “come to an end,” which has a different nuance than our concept of ‘rest.’ But that word alsohas a specialized meaning of ‘celebrate.’

The first Sabbath day was God celebrating the finish and completion of His work of creating. It wasn’t as though God needed to catch His breath and sit on His Lazy-boy in the clouds to regain strength. No! His work was done, complete, nothing more to do. Everything was in harmony. Everything was ordered exactly the way God intended it to be. God’s rest on the seventh day was His delightful celebration that He had finished His work, and He had done it well.

You’ve probably experienced this kind of rest when you’ve finished a project that has cost you effort, time, and skill. You step back and see that everything is spot on. Imagine the satisfaction of when all the ice and snow is cleared from the cement of your driveway and sidewalk. Or when the house is clean and the meal is spread out on the beautiful table. The job is done, and you have that sweet sense of satisfaction. That’s the idea of rest in Gen. 2, and that’s why God blesses the seventh day and makes it holy.

All of God’s work of creating was moving toward that holy, blessed seventh day of rest. But also, each individual day of creation has hints of moving toward this rest. The picture Gen. 1 gives us is that God works for a time each day and has mini rests each night. But notice how the summary of each day in Gen. 1 is ordered. Each of the six days of creation end with the statement, “And there was evening and there was morning the X day” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). The thing you need to notice with that phrase is that each day starts from the time of rest. Evening is mentioned first, then, comes morning. The time of rest comes first. The picture is that God doesn’t get His work in so that He can rest; instead, He works from or out of rest; His work is the fruit of His rest. Then, when the six days are done and everything is complete, God takes a whole day to celebrate and rejoice in His orderly, finished, beautiful creation. God’s rest isn’t Him pulling back from creation. Instead, it’s Him delighting in His creation. He’s celebrating and enjoying everything that He done and accomplished.

Also, think about what the timing of that first Sabbath means our first parents. Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day and were the final two pieces of God’s creation. So, their first full day of existence is the seventh day – the day when God rests. God ordered creation so that He could share His celebration of its completion with mankind. Adam and Eve hadn’t done anything yet. They hadn’t done any work, but they are there to celebrate with God in the ‘very goodness’ (Gen. 1:31) of His complete creation. 

This is the background of why God gave us the third Command to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). The Sabbath day was established so that you would remember and celebrate the wonder of God and all that He has done. In Ex. 20:8-11, when God first gave the Ten Commandments, He gives a long explanation of why the Sabbath Command exists. It’s the second longest explanation of all the Commandments. The only one that has a longer explanation is the First Command. And God ties the Sabbath Command to the fact that He made the heavens and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day and blessed and made it holy (Ex. 20:11). The interesting thing is that when the Ten Commandments are repeated right before Israel entered the Promised Land, God ties the Sabbath Command to something different. God ties it to the fact that He had brought His people out from slavery in Egypt (Dt. 5:12-15). God connects the Sabbath Command to two things: 1) creation and 2) redemption.

So, the Sabbath Command to rest exists so that we can celebrate with God in the goodness of His works of creating and saving every week. God did all the work of creating humanity, and God did all the work of redeeming His people. The people didn’t do anything because they couldn’t do anything. God did everything that needed to be done. So, the point of the Sabbath Command isn’t only to get you to stop working. The point of the Sabbath is so you can sanctify, honor, and celebrate the work God has done for you. That point is so you would delight in the wonder and joy of His creation and His redemption.

After all that, we can get to this text from Hebrews. When our text talks about the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God, God is promising more than a time for you to physically recover and get back to work. Instead, God is promising that you will rejoice with Him in the abundant gifts He gives. It’s a reentrance into the same rest with God that Adam and Eve had with God before the Fall into sin. This Sabbath rest is delighting in all of God’s works which make and redeem everything so it is all perfect, pristine, and complete.

One of the ways the text highlights this isn’t clear in our translations, but it is clear in the Greek. In v. 9, the text says that a ‘Sabbath rest’ remains for the people of God. In Greek, ‘Sabbath rest’ is a single word sabbitismos, and it’s a word that only appears here in the entire Bible. It’s like the author of Hebrews had to make up a new word to capture all of the meaning of the rest that is in your future. It’s a rest that is greater than all the rest that has come before. Then, in v. 10-11, the text uses a different word that gets translated as ‘rest’ three times. The word is katapausis. You can hear in it the word ‘pause’ and the ‘kata’ at the beginning just amplifies it. It means a ‘complete stop’ or a ‘full stop.’ 

Dear saints, your Sabbath rest is full and perfect because it is found in the perfect restoration that Jesus has worked and won for you. By His death and resurrection, Jesus has completely redeemed you. And because of His work, you are a new creation (2 Co. 5:17).

This Sabbath rest, this full stop, is something you have to strive after. You have to strive after it because you aren’t God. Because God is eternal and all-powerful, the reason for His rest is different than yours. Sharing in God’s rest isn’t about recovering after work. Instead, it’s the pure delight of being exactly what you are created and redeemed to be.

You have to strive to enter this rest because you want to be your own god and master. And you’ll never have God’s rest if you think that you are your own master and that everything depends on you. That kind of independence is actually horrifying because it requires and demands constant vigilance, work, and activity. Stop deluding yourself! You aren’t in control or responsible for everything. God is. Strive to let go of your need to control your corner of creation because you’ll always need to control a little more. And you can’t. Instead, be still (cease) and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10).

You enter God’s Sabbath rest by hearing His living and active Word. In John 6, Jesus is asked by a crowd point-blank, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” In other words, “How can we strive to please God?” And Jesus responds, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (Jn. 6:28-29). So, let’s drive all of this home:

There is a Sabbath rest for you, people of God (Heb. 4:9). This rest is yours now, but it is also a future promise. It’s yours now because God the Father has finished His work of creation. And God the Son has finished His work of saving and redeeming you. But the permanent possession of that rest is still in the future. God the Holy Spirit keeps working on you through God’s Word. That’s why you need to strive and work to not fall into the disobedience of unbelief and of giving up faith in God’s promises. You need to strive to give up on trying to be your own master. You need a full stop. And how do you get that?

Well, you come here. You begin each week in the rest that is yours right now. You come into this sanctuary where Christ is (Mt. 18:20). By coming here, you receive what He promised in Mt. 11:28, “Come to Me all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” or, more literally, “I will rest you.” And it is from that rest that you are strengthened to go out from here and live your life day after day, week after week. You go back into creation after celebrating the fullness and completion of God’s work in you. You go back to your vocations knowing that God is in control, knowing that He is busy completing the good work that He began in you (Php. 1:6).

This place is truly a sanctuary. It’s a holy place where holy people meet with the holy God. From Him, and from Him alone, you receive the full stop from your futile works of trying to claw your way back to God. And always, we look forward to the day when we will forever enter into God’s rest and joy and celebration of His redeemed and sanctified creation. May that day come soon. Come quickly, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Pursue What Never Fades – Sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5 for Septuagesima Sunday

1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Before we get into the text something needs to be abundantly clear in our minds. Salvation is a gift. It is freely given by God because He is merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6). You are saved by grace through faith and not because of your own doing; salvation is a free gift given by God and isn’t a result of your works (Eph. 2:8-9). You don’t earn your way into heaven. You don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and mercy, but He loves to freely give you His forgiveness, mercy, and grace because of what Christ has done by His death and resurrection. That needs to be firm in your mind because that isn’t what Paul is dealing with in these verses.

What Paul is dealing with is the fact that salvation can be neglected and cast aside. Salvation can be lost. That’s why those first few verses from 1 Co. 10 talk about how God’s people were overthrown in the wilderness. They prayed, and God delivered them from bondage and slavery in Egypt. God sent His judgment on their oppressors, and His people left with the treasures of Egypt (Ex. 12:35-36). On top of that, God gave them every spiritual blessing. They were Baptized in the cloud and the sea. God fed them with spiritual food and gave them spiritual drink. But even though they had received all those gifts, they didn’t enter the Promised Land. Instead, they were overthrown in the wilderness (1 Co. 10:5). Or, to use the word Paul uses at the end of ch. 9, they were disqualified.

So, what Paul is dealing with here isn’t about becoming saved. That’s a free gift. What he’s talking about is being a Christian, living a Christian life, denying self, and bearing the cross (Mt. 16:24). He’s talking about walking in the good works that God prepared for you (Eph. 2:10) and about bearing the fruit of good works that proves that faith is living (Jam. 2:17-18).

When you aren’t striving to walk in the good works God has prepared for you, Paul says you look absurd. You look like an athlete on a track who isn’t even trying. The gun goes off, and you’re still standing at the starting line as though nothing is happening, or you’re ridiculously dancing across all the lanes while the other competitors are finishing the race. When you are complacent in your faith, you’re like an unfocused boxer. The bell rings, and you’re swinging punches in the air willy-nilly while the other guy in the ring is waiting to knock you out cold.

Yes, God has saved us and freely granted us salvation. The point here is that salvation places us into a life that is filled with good works, a life where we fight against the sins of being lazy and complacent, a life where we are devoted to loving God and our neighbor, and a life where we are determined and disciplined to do better at keeping His commandments. This kind of life is what gives us a deeper and firmer faith in and devotion to Christ.

This pursuit to faith, this growth in and devotion to good works isn’t just a minor teaching of Scripture. It’s all over the New Testament. In Lk. 13:24, Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” In Jn. 6:27, He says, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but [work] for the food that endures to eternal life.” 1 Co. 15:58 says, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Gal. 6:9, “Let us not grow weary of doing good.” Php. 2:12“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Tit. 2:14 says that Jesus purified us to be His people who are “zealous for good works.” Heb. 4:9-11 says, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God; …strive to enter that rest.” 1 Pt. 1:22, “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” This teaching everywhere.

But one of the problems that we have with these many calls to good works is that we look backward. We think about how it went when we had opportunities to do good works. We look back at our failures to be diligent and how un-zealous and lazy we were. We realize that we aren’t what God calls us to be. So, the Bible is pushing us forward to good works, but we look back and see our failures. That kills our drive and motivation. Instead of being inspired by these calls to good works, we are discouraged. We think, “With all the times I’ve failed, why would I even try?” The very thing that is meant to encourage us ends up discouraging us. And that isn’t a problem with the Scriptures. The problem is our sin and looking backward.

What Paul is doing with this text is trying to get us to quit looking at our past failures and laziness. Instead, we are to look forward to the prize. In Php. 3:13–14, Paul puts it this way, “[O]ne thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

This is why Paul uses this sporting analogy here and says that he disciplines his body and keeps it under control. The Greek there literally says, “I pummel my body and make it a slave… lest I should be disqualified.”

To compete in the games that Paul mentions here, athletes in Paul’s day would devote themselves to ten months of training. They would go on strict diets and give up anything that hindered their training. Those competitors had to have the will and self-control to let go of everything that would distract them from winning. And when it was time to compete, they had one goal – winning the prize.

The prize the athletes won at the games near Corinth wasn’t a gold medal. No, they got a wreath made of dried, withered celery. Dear saints, if an athlete is willing to do all that for celery – something that you buy at the store simply so you can throw it away after it sits in your fridge for a week – how much more should you work and strive and discipline yourself and use self-control? You should do all that because your prize, your aim, your goal is the resurrection? Your goal is eternal life. It’s peace and rest with God Himself (Heb. 4:9-11).

The parable in our Gospel lesson today (Mt. 20:1-16) dealt with this too. The problem with the workers who were hired at the beginning of the day was that they kept looking backward at their work and toil and were focused on the wage. That perspective wrongly led them to think they were owed more than the guys who were hired later. The problem with those workers was that were looking in the wrong direction. They figured the goal was the paycheck when, in reality, it was a place in the vineyard. That’s why they are told to exit the vineyard.

Dear saints, pursue what never perishes. Chase what never fades because that is actually worth having and attaining. 2 Tim. 4:8 points you to the crown of righteousness which the Lord, your Savior and righteous Judge, will award to you because you have loved His appearing. That is what is before you, and that is worth striving for.

Look to that. When you wake up every morning, you are to see a track, a race, a finish line, and a prize. That prize is the imperishable crown of righteousness and life with your Savior. Get up and run that you may obtain it. Dear saints, pursue that because it will never fade. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Timing – Sermon on Matthew 17:1-9 for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

Matthew 17:1-9

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Transfiguration is unique. It is the only time that the curtain gets pulled back and Jesus’ glory, His divine splendor, is allowed to shine through His human nature. Sure, the night Jesus was born, the glory of the Lord shined, but it was in a field outside of Bethlehem to a bunch of shepherds (Lk. 2:8-9). But when the shepherds found newly-born Jesus, the glory of the Lord wasn’t radiating from baby Jesus. Instead, He was surrounded by animals, wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a feeding trough. In last week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding at Cana, and John says that miracle is how Jesus manifested His glory (Jn. 2:1-11). But it was with and through the sign. Jesus didn’t start shining like He does here in the Transfiguration. Probably, the bride would’ve been upset by that. Brides don’t want to be one-upped in appearance at their wedding.

The amazing thing about the Transfiguration isn’t that Jesus gets all shiny and glorious. Instead, the amazing thing is that Jesus wasn’t always like that during His time on earth. Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, and He was able to conceal His glory when He came to earth. That’s miraculous, and unfortunately, we (myself included) are a little numb to that. The infinite, eternal, glorious God wrapped Himself in human flesh so thoroughly that He looked like a normal 1st century Jewish son of a carpenter (Mt. 13:55).

Jesus only let His glory shine forth once, and it’s here before the small audience of Peter, James, and John. If I were God (and thank God I’m not), I probably would have timed the Transfiguration differently.

Maybe, I would have done it when the 5,000 men plus women and children are surrounding Jesus in the wilderness (Mt. 14:13-21). That’s when Jesus was at the height of popularity and had the most people following Him. There, the day is coming to an end, and the crowds have been listening to Him teach all day. They are hungry and far from home. To me, that seems like a good time for Jesus to get shiny. Pull back the curtain and let everyone in that massive throng see Jesus’ divinity before He feeds them. But Jesus didn’t time His Transfiguration then.

Maybe, I would have had it happen during the trial before all the religious leaders (Mt. 26:58-68). Seventy of the most important priests and leaders, who were all legal experts and oversaw civil matters. It’s like a presidential cabinet meeting; they’re all gathered together. It’s like a presidential cabinet meeting. And the high priest says, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” To me, that seems like good timing for the Transfiguration. That seems like a good time to shine brighter than the sun. But Jesus didn’t time His Transfiguration then.

Maybe, I would have done it when Pilate was asking whom he should release instead of crucify (Mt. 27:15-23). Pilate walks out on the balcony of the palace with Jesus and Barabbas there standing before the crowd, and Pilate asks, “Which of the two do you want me to release for You?” And the crowds keep crying for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be crucified. To me that seems like a good time to show the hidden glory and have clothes as white as light. But Jesus didn’t time His Transfiguration then.

Maybe I would have timed the Transfiguration to happen right before the beating and whipping. Or, maybe, while Jesus was laid on the cross and right as the soldier held the nail in one hand and raised the hammer in his other hand. Imagine that for the timing of the Transfiguration. The soldiers would’ve dropped the hammer and nails and run for the hills. But Jesus didn’t time His Transfiguration then. In all of those instances, Jesus keeps His majesty concealed.

Well, I’m not God. You and I can be thankful for that because, if any of those instances were when Jesus was Transfigured, people would have ran away from Him. In God’s infinite wisdom, Jesus’ Transfiguration happens here in Mt. 17. He does it when only three of the twelve disciples are with Him. Jesus chooses this as the timing of His Transfiguration so we sinners can approach Him unafraid.

Let’s get a little more context for the timing. Later today, go back and read the last half of Mt. 16. There, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples answer, “Some say John the Baptizer, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus turns the question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter makes his great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus goes on to promise that upon Peter’s confession He will build His Church, which the gates of hell will never overcome (Mt. 16:13-20).

Right after that, Jesus starts telling the disciples that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and rise again. Then, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him saying, “That will never happen to You.” But Jesus rebukes Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man”(Mt. 16:21-23). That’s the context for the Transfiguration.

Peter’s just been praised for confessing Christ as the Son of God. Then, Peter is harshly rebuked for saying that Jesus isn’tgoing to die and rise again. So, the disciples are wrestling with these two things that seem to contradict each other. On the one hand, they have heard that Jesus is the Messiah, and on the other hand, they’ve heard that He’s going to die. So, the disciples are probably starting to wonder if all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah wasn’t going to be nearly as great as they thought. They’re wondering if all that talk about glory and triumph and thrones and scepters is totally wrong. Well, if that’s what they were thinking, they were wrong.

To be the Christ means to suffer. To be the Christ means that God comes to bear the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29). To be the Christ means that God comes down to be rejected (Jn. 1:9-13). To be the Christ means that God comes down to go to the cross, shed His Own blood, die, and rise again. That is how the Christ enters into His glory (Lk. 24:26) and through that suffering Jesus grants to sinners, who believe in Him, the same glory that He had in the Transfiguration (Jn. 17:22; Ro. 8:17, 29-30; Php. 3:21; 1 Jn. 3:2).

All of this is to say that the timing of the Transfiguration is exactly when it needed to be, and it occurred before the exact audience who needed to see it. Peter, James, and John needed to see it then so they would know that while Jesus suffered all those horrific things in His Passion, God was working to redeem them (Act. 2:36; 3:14-15; 1 Co. 2:8).

This is also why the church has decided to place the Transfiguration on this Sunday to prepare us for Lent and Holy Week. Starting next week, the names of the Sundays orient our hearts and minds toward Easter. Today as we turn our focus toward the Resurrection, we are grounded in the fact that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God who suffers the wrath of God that should have been reserved for us. But Jesus has humbled Himself to be our Friend and Savior.

Dear saints, Jesus hid His glory for most of His ministry, but it was always there. Yes, it was hidden, but it was certainly there. Just because something is hidden doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Remember that. Remember that especially when you face difficult times, when you are suffering, when you feel distant from God. Jesus still has that full glory that is revealed in the Transfiguration – which is the same glory that He had throughout His time here on earth. The day is coming when He will once again put it on full display at the proper time. And that day is the same day when you will share in His glory.

Your glorious Savior is coming again soon. Until then, listen to Him and hold fast to His Word. In 1 Tim. 6:14-16, God encourages you to cling to His Word until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will be revealed at the proper time. The text goes on to say that Christ is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light. 

And dear saints, you share that glory. As you wait for Christ’s return, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you (1 Pet. 5:6). Know that God’s timing is always good. When it fits God’s purpose, when it will benefit others, and when it will benefit you most, God will pull back the curtain again. Jesus promises that the day is coming when you who are righteous by grace through faith will shine like the sun in the kingdom of your Father (Mt. 13:43). May that day come soon. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Unblemished – Sermon on Ephesians 5:22-33 for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

Ephesians 5:22-33

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This is a sermon on marriage. When I’ve preached on marriage in the past, I’ve offered a disclaimer, and I’m going to do that again today. This sermon isn’t intended to address all the different aspects of marriage. We’d be here for days and weeks. And this is a mixed audience. Many of you are currently married. Some have been through divorce. Some of you aren’t married, at least not yet. Some of you might never get married; know that Scripture says that remaining single is a good gift from God (see 1 Co. 7). And some of you have been married but are now widowed. You’ll hear in a minute that the reason being widowed is so hard is that you have, very literally, lost a part of yourself. To you, be comforted by Christ and the fact that your spouse will rise again (Jn. 11:23).

My intention with this sermon is show how marriage is God’s idea. Then, I’ll make four assertions about marriage to show how it is a good gift from God. Also, with those four assertions, I’d like to offer some Biblical advice for your marriage. If you have any questions about things I don’t address, feel free to ask me. So, with that said, are you ready?

When God created man (singular) in His image, He created them (plural) male and female (Gen. 1:27). Part of man (and here, please think ‘mankind’ or ‘humanity’) is to have a duality – two parts, or even better two persons. Scripture teaches that there is one God (Dt. 6:4), but three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt. 3:16-17; Mt. 28:19). The creation of man (again think ‘mankind) in the image of God is that man has a plurality which we see in Adam, the male, and the woman,[1] the female.

In Gen. 2:18-25, Scripture gives us the play-by-play of the creation of mankind as man and woman. But before the play-by-play we learn how in Gen. 1, God gave Himself a grade each day of creation. Day 1, God sees the light He created and sees that it is good – A+ (Gen. 1:4). Then, Days 2, 3, 4, and 5, God sees what He makes and it’s all good. A+’s all around (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Finally, on Day 6 God creates mankind to be the crown of His creation and sees that it was very good (Gen. 1:31) – A+++! But, again, Gen. 2:18-25 gives a little more insight into Day 6. God created Adam and decided it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone (Gen. 2:18). God wasn’t saying that because He made a mistake. He was saying that to show Adam the goodness of what He was about to do.

God put Adam to sleep, removes Adam’s rib (in Hebrew it’s literally Adam’s ‘side’), and from that chunk of Adam, God created Adam’s bride (Gen. 2:21-22). And Adam was really happy when he saw his bride. He said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). Then, we have the statement that gets quoted in this text from Eph., “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:31).

So, from its beginning and institution, God made marriage to be one man, who has given of himself, to have a bride who is literally from his own flesh. Dear saints, this is what marriage is, and it doesn’t matter how the world might try to redefine it. This one man and one woman union, this way that husband and wife complement and complete each other is God’s design, God’s invention, and God’s very good gift to all mankind.

In a real way, we can say that everyone who has ever lived and will ever live is here because of marriage. Even if the conception and birth of a child happened without a marriage (and instead a distortion of it), that individual is procreated by a man and a woman engaging in an act that God gave as a gift for marriage. I’m keeping this sermon PG, but, again, if you have any questions about what I said there, feel free to talk with me.

Keeping in mind what marriage is, we can talk about these four assertions that Scripture makes about marriage.

First, every marriage is God’s work, God’s joining. Jesus plainly says this about marriage. He talks about a man leaving his parents and being joined to his wife and becoming one flesh. Then our Lord says, “What God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mt. 19:6; Mk. 10:9). To you who are married, remember this. Even when things get tough, even when you get into fights and arguments, even when you struggle, remind yourself, “God joined me to that person. My husband/my wife is God’s good gift to me.”

Second assertion, marriage is good. We already know this because God created the institution of marriage before He saw that everything He had made was very good – again that A+++ grade. But can we also see that marriage is good because of how the devil attacks it. I could spend weeks on how he attacks it, but I won’t. The devil hates marriage because he envies humans because we have the ability to procreate and he doesn’t (Mt. 22:30). Satan hates all marriages because they remind him of Christ and the Church. He also hates them because they are how children are procreated, which reminds him of God becoming flesh to crush his head (Gen. 3:15). So, the devil attacks marriage from all directions. Because marriage is good, Scripture’s advice to you who are married is this: defend your marriage against all attacks. Be in God’s Word together as a family. Be quick to forgive each other when you do wrong. Because of the Fall, marriages are built on the foundation of forgiveness. If your spouse does something wrong and apologizes, don’t just say, “Oh, that’s ok.” Instead, say, “I forgive you.” The words ‘sorry’ and ‘I forgive’ need to be normal, regular vocabulary in marriages.

That leads me to the third assertion. Marriage is hard work, but even that is good. It’s an delusion to think that the best marriages happen when a couple is ‘completely compatible’ with each other. It’s a delusion because we are sinners, and no two sinners are completely compatible. Sinners look out for their own interests and not the interests of others. So, in your marriages, sacrifice for each other and for your children. Don’t insist on your own way. Just as God took a chunk of Adam to create marriage, marriages are still a continual, sacrificial giving of self for the benefit of the spouse (Eph. 5:25).

Finally, fourth. Marriage is a mystery (Eph 5:32). We think we know what marriage is, but we can only scratch the surface of the mystery of marriage. Remember, God is the One who joins (Mt. 19:6; Mk. 10:9) a husband and wife together in marriage. It isn’t them making a choice to get married. God joins them, and God continues to join you to your spouse each and every day.

But the greatest mystery of marriage is that marriage is one of the ways that God manifests Himself. In marriage, God manifests Himself as the Groom of you, believer. You, the Church, are His bride. He gives Himself up for you. He sanctifies you, making you holy. He cleanses you by Baptism, by washing of water with His Word.

Dear Charlotte, today in your Baptism, God washed and cleansed you so that you would be His. Because of your Baptism, you are completely and totally unblemished. All you believers here today, God did that for you as well in your Baptism.

Dear saints, you are the unblemished Bride of Christ. The reason you are unblemished is that He has made you unblemished, and God doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t cut any corners. So, rejoice that you are His Bride. And strive to make His love for you the foundation upon which you build your marriage. The marriage feast of the Lamb is coming soon. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

[1] She isn’t given the name “Eve” until after the Fall in Gen. 3:20.

Chosen – Sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 for the Baptism of Our Lord

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

How did you become a Christian? I bet, if we gave everyone a chance to share their story, that we we’d be sitting here for a really long time – and not just because of the number of you here. The one thing this text makes clear is that you didn’tbecome a Christian because of your own doing. You are a Christian because you were both called and chosen by God. It’s because of God that you are in Christ Jesus (1 Co. 1:30). Salvation belongs to God (Jon. 2:9; Ps. 3:8; Rev. 7:10, 19:1). It is His work, His doing.

Today, let me slightly reword the question “How did you become a Christian” to this: How did you get onto God’s team? I’m rewording it that way because this text reminds me of a schoolyard pick where two captains chose their teams. I’m guessing that most of you, at some point in your lives, have been involved in a schoolyard pick. You awkwardly stand around waiting to be called and chosen by a captain so you can go join the team and give everyone high fives and celebrate your victory before the game even begins. Being the last one chosen in a schoolyard pick stinks.

At the beginning of my 8th grade year, a friend invited me to a back to school event at his church. The other kids who were there were, basically, all people who were in my class or the classes above and below me. We were going to divide into teams to play kickball. Kristen was one of the team captains, and I don’t remember who the other captain was. Kristen and the other captain alternated picking individuals. The first kids picked were strong, fast, and good athletes. They were the kind of people I would have picked first to assemble a good kickball team, but I just stood there in the pool of kids waiting for my name to be called.

As the pool of kids shrunk, some people were chosen before me who were slow and completely unathletic. And I knew that Kristen didn’t like me very much, so I comforted myself, “She’s just picking them because she hates me.” (I wasn’t very popular in Junior High.) Anyway, it ended up that I was the final kid left. I wasn’t chosen at all. So, I was automatically on Kristen’s team, and she was greatly annoyed by that. But it was her response that hurt the most. She realized that I would be on her team and said, “Great, we’re stuck with ‘String-Bean.’” It was a severe blow to my adolescent pride to be so unwanted.

Dear saints, in the eyes of the world, not many of you are wise or powerful or influential or noble. In the eyes of the world, there isn’t much that is appealing about us citizens of the kingdom of heaven. On top of that, if God were to measure us according to the standards of His Law, He wouldn’t pick any human to be on His team, except Jesus. But that is exactly why Christ has come.

Because of our sin, we are all in opposition to God. But Jesus came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). He takes undesirable sinners who recognize their sinfulness and repent. He makes them His children and heirs. God chose the foolish, the weak, the low and despised – even things that are not (1 Co. 1:28). God calls, chooses, and puts them on His team. And He chooses them for a purpose. And that purpose is to remove any reason or cause of boasting.

Now, I need to pause for a second because whenever we talk about why some people are saved and some are not, we need to recognize that those must remain two, separate questions. On the one hand, people are saved because of God’s doing, God’s choosing (Tit. 3:5). Again, salvation belongs to God, and He freely gives that salvation by grace through faith, which is not of our doing (Eph. 2:8-9). On the other hand, people who are not saved, they are condemned because of their own hardness of heart. Because of their refusal to repent. Because of their rejection of what Jesus has done. Because of their unbelief.

So, with that analogy about a schoolyard pick, don’t imagine for one second that the other captain is the devil and that he picked some before God picked them. That’s not the case – not at all. Jesus died for the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29, 1 Jn. 2:2) and is the Savior of the world (1 Jn. 4:14).

The picture is this: When God chooses His team, the world laughs at every one of God’s selections because it looks like it’s going to be a losing team. But this is how God has always done His choosing.

In Dt. 7:7-8, God reminds His people through Moses that they are going to take over the Promised Land by saying, “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you,” that He chose you.

When God chose Gideon to defeat the Midianites, He chose Gideon because he was part of the weakest clan and the lowest son in his father’s house (Jdg. 6:11-16). And then, remember how God whittled down Gideon’s army before they fought against the enemy. Gideon started with 32,000 men, but God had him reduce it to the 300 soldiers who lapped water like dogs (Jdg. 7:1-25). God did that so His people wouldn’t dare to even imagine that their own strength had delivered them. All the glory for their victory would go to God alone.

Remember the people Jesus chose to be disciples and apostles. Most of them were fishermen and tax collectors, people who were viewed as normal, working-class laborers and people who were despised in their culture. Later, Jesus called Paul to be an apostle after he had persecuted the Church of Christ (1 Co. 15:9). The world sees these picks and laughs at God’s calling and choosing because it looks like a losing team.

Even Jesus Himself looked like a foolish pick to the world. He was a Man of griefs and acquainted with sorrows. He was despised and not esteemed (Is. 53:2). Even Nathanael, one of Jesus’ disciples, balked at the idea that Jesus could be the Messiah because He came from Nazareth, saying, “Can anything good could come from Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46). God’s choosing always looks utterly foolish to the world. But that is so God can bring to nothing the things that are (1 Co. 1:28).

Dear saints, God has called and chosen you even though you are completely unattractive to the world. And He made His choosing sure and certain. He doesn’t leave that calling to chance or to your own efforts. No, He has placed you firmly in Christ (1 Co. 1:30) through the waters of your Baptism.

In Gal. 3:27, Scripture says, “For as many of you as were Baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” In those waters, God wrapped you in His Son. You were clothed with Jesus Himself – with His perfect life, His atoning death, His victorious resurrection. Baptism is not some symbolic thing. No! It is God’s doing; it is His choosing in action. There, He called you by name (Is. 43:1), washed away your sins (Act. 22:16), and chose you to be on His team – not because you were worthy, but because He is faithful (Tit. 3:5-8).

So, as you live each day in this reality of having been chosen and placed into Christ, God calls you to grow in this faith. Growing in faith is not to become stronger in yourself or more impressive to the world’s eyes. It’s the opposite. To grow in Christ is to become more and more dependent on Him because He promises to be your all in all. To grow in Christ is to trust more and more deeply in what He has done for you.

And yes, the world will see you as foolish, weak, low, and despised (1 Co. 1:26-27). But in Christ, you are none of those things because Jesus has become for you wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Jesus is your everything. He is your wisdom when the world calls you foolish. He is your righteousness when the Law accuses you. He is your sanctification when sin clings closely. He is your redemption when the grave opens its jaws to claim you. But it can’t because you, through faith, are in Jesus who is the Resurrection and the Life (Jn. 11:25).

This is why your worth, dear saints, is not found in your achievements or your status in the world’s eyes. No. Your worth is fixed and seen in the wounds of Christ.

God loves you. He loves you in such a way that He sent His beloved Son to take on your flesh and blood, to live under the Law in your place, to suffer your condemnation, and to shed His holy Blood for you on that cross (Jn. 3:16). In the wounds of Christ, God declared your value and shouted it into all creation. God determined that you are worth His own precious blood (Act. 20:28). The world may laugh at the fact that you are on God’s team, but heaven rejoices when you are chosen as a citizen of the kingdom of God (Lk. 15:7, 10).

So dear saints, go ahead and boast. Boast loudly and without shame. But boast only in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31). Do not boast in anything in yourself – not in your wisdom, not in your strength, not in your goodness. Instead, boast that your value was fixed at Christ’s cross. Boast that the God who chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong has also chosen you. Boast that the One who called all things into existence by His almighty Word (Ps. 33:6, 9; Heb. 11:3) has called you His own child by that same Word. He has placed you in Christ. And He promised you eternal life.

This is the wisdom of God that the world will always consider foolish. This is the weakness that overcomes the world. This is the choosing that silences all boasting except in the cross of Christ. And because He chose you, you are His – now and forever. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Not Routine – Sermon on Luke 2:1-20 for Christmas Eve 2025

Luke 2:1-20

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Joseph and Mary knew that was a night they would not forget – not ever. The birth of a child is always memorable and remarkable, but this birth was even more so. Both of them knew that this Child was God coming in the flesh to save His people. They both knew that because both had been independently told by angels (Lk. 1:30-35; Mt. 1:19-23). But even beyond that, the birth of Mary’s firstborn Son was memorable because of the circumstances.

Like all governments, Rome wanted to count its citizens and, of course, to collect taxes. So, Joseph and Mary took the trip from Nazareth and headed south roughly 80 miles to Bethlehem. They are probably lodging with one of Joseph’s relatives, but not in the guest room. Instead, they had to make do with a spot where the family’s animals were kept. Far from their home and in unsanitary conditions, Mary goes into labor and gives birth to her firstborn Son. Again, for Joseph and Mary, that night was anything but routine.

But, for everyone else, it was – at least at first. None of the residents in and around Bethlehem were expecting anything special to happen. For them, that night was like any other night. Anyone walking around Bethlehem could have seen Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus lying in a feeding trough. That might have thought it was odd, but they wouldn’t have known that it was the greatest miracle ever in the history of the world.

Same for the shepherds. They began that night like any other night. Watching flocks in the dark of night was nothing new for these guys. They were on a rotating shift, and these guys had the night watch. So, they headed off to work figuring that it would be a normal night of finding pasture and water, protecting the flocks, and sitting around with little to do while the sheep did sheep things.

Imagine those shepherds that night. They were likely thinking about the same sort of things that you think about while you’re just waiting around and not expecting anything extraordinary to happen. Imagine one of them leaning against a rock and contemplating the politics of his day and how bad a ruler Herod was. Two of them are little further down the hill so they can twirl their staffs. As they chat with each other, one is concerned about finding a wife while the other is disturbed because he and his wife hadn’t had any children yet. One off to the side is excited about his new house. One rummages through his lunchbox, and disappointed by the contents, he starts thinking about learning how to make jerky. The lead shepherd is thinking about the aches and pains in his back and knees and about the number of days until his retirement. Of course, we don’t actually know what any of them were thinking. But as that line we just sang earlier, “the hopes and fears of all the years,” were likely on the minds and hearts of the shepherds on that normal, routine night.

For these shepherds, it began as a night filled with the same tasks, the normal thoughts, and the typical monotony of shepherding. Sure, it was dreary, but they’d been doing it for years. And they would continue the same pattern for years to come. A pattern where nothing new or exciting happened to break their routine.

Routine is reasonable. Having one makes sense. It helps you know what to expect hour after hour, week after week, month after month, year after year. Routines can help you handle things that don’t exactly fit together the way you think they should. They help you recover and adapt when interruptions come up and you hit life’s speed bumps. Those bumps might be things you like; they might be things that you dislike. But your routines help you get back on track when you are interrupted and thrown off your ‘regularly scheduled programming.’ They can help maintain the discipline to focus on what is important and the ability let go of what isn’t. Routines can be good, but routines can also make life monotonous, rigid, boring, and predictable.

Mary and Joseph might have been alone in all the earth in knowing that that night was special. That that night would matter more than any other night – ever. But the residents of Bethlehem and shepherds outside of Bethlehem all kept to their normal routine. No one that night was expecting a miracle from heaven – at least, until that first angel showed up.

Suddenly, it all changed. That first angel appeared to the shepherds saying, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel goes on to tell the shepherds how to find and identify the Baby. Suddenly, the multitude of the heavenly host appears.

Now, there’s no way to prove it, but I wonder if every angel was dispatched to that field and given orders to sing to those shepherds. I wouldn’t be surprised if every single angel got a night off from their normal routines and patrols. We’ll have to ask them some day. Anyway, the multitude of the heavenly host appears to the shepherds, and they are all singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

This angel choir is pretty unique. Sure, angels regularly show up in Scripture, but there are only a few places where a whole choir of angels sing. In Job 38:4-7, God seems to refer to how the angels sang as He created and established the foundations of the earth. There are a few passages in Revelation that talk about choirs of angels singing (Rev. 5:11-13; 7:11-12; 19:1-9). But the closest comparison to this angelic choir singing to these shepherds is when God called Isaiah to be a prophet. There, angels are flying around the throne where God is seated singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6:3).

But here, the angels sing to the shepherds on the hill outside of Bethlehem. The shepherds probably thought it was a mistake. “If the Christ Child is over there in Bethlehem, what are you angels doing out here? Why sing to us?” Really, it’s like the angels are singing “Happy Birthday” to someone who isn’t even in the room. I can just imagine – when the shepherds tell Joseph and Mary what had happened, what they heard, and why they’ve come – I can imagine Mary explaining, “They’re probably protecting Baby Jesus’ hearing from too much noise because this little boy’s been here ‘pa-rum-pum-pum-pumming’ on his drum all night.”

So, consider this: God directs that angelic choir to a bunch of shepherds who weren’t expecting anything but a routine night of watching sheep. But they are the first to hear heaven’s announcement that the entire cosmos had changed. Just think of the shepherds in the days, months, and years that came after this night. After a night like this, I can’t imagine they thought any other night of their lives would be routine. Their entire world – filled with schedules, tasks, and to-do lists – had been changed forever. But it wasn’t just their world that had changed. Yours did too – even though you weren’t there.

Dear saints, routines are fine for a world that doesn’t have God becoming Man inside of it. But you live in a world that God has entered. Because of that, there is nothing routine about your routine. Still, routines can be helpful, but now only when they center your life around the most not routine thing that has ever and will ever happen. Your God has entered creation to be near to you, to forgive you, to pour out His blood His mercy upon you, to die on the cross for you, to rise again for you, to grant you His peace, and to save you.

Christ is born. He is born to join Himself to you and to every second, every minute, every hour, every year of your life. The Incarnation, the fact God has come in your flesh, infuses your entire life with significance and eternal meaning because the Eternal God is born to save you. Even though the Incarnation doesn’t demolish your need for rhythm and routine, it does rescue your routine from them being meaningless.

Jesus has joined Himself to you and promises, “I am with you always, to the end of the age. And I will never leave you or forsake you” (Mt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5). Christ has entered creation, so even the most mundane things in your life are not routine. Your showers, your commutes, your work, your vacuuming and dishwashing and folding laundry – all of it is done with Christ at your side. Your interactions with family and friends and neighbors and strangers that can, sometimes, be messy – all of those are now moments where Jesus, Immanuel, can shine through you. So, be slow to speak, quick to forgive, and patient with those who are hurting.

The Eternal Word has become flesh. Change your routines to make room for Him. He is eternally with you. Every moment He guides you, and He fills every moment with greater purpose and holiness.

Unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among you because God is pleased with you. Because of Him and because He has joined His life to yours, your life is not routine. Not now, not ever. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.