Monthly Archives: September 2022

The Line – Sermon on Matthew 6:24-34 for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Matthew 6:24-34

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The things Jesus tells us to not be worried about in this text are, typically, not the things that we are actually worried about. The last time you didn’t have a meal was probably because you chose not to eat, either you are on a diet, you chose to do something other than eat, or you didn’t like the food you had on hand. You probably aren’t worried about clothing either. Your dressers and closets are likely full of clothes. Even if they are last year’s styles, they would still do what clothes are meant to do. Yes, clothes wear out, but in a pinch you could stitch together something to keep you warm and covered. You have food and clothing. And here Jesus promises that He will give you everything you need for this life as long as He wants to keep you in this life. And Jesus wants you to trust that He will do this. 

That is why Jesus harps on all of us for our worry over and over in this text. Even though we don’t typically worry about food, drink, and clothing, we certainly do worry about other things. The economy. Gas prices. Inflation. Cancer. Heart disease. The upheaval and unrest in our country and throughout the world. Those things and things like it are the things we worry about, and we try to excuse our worry about those things. But  today, Jesus says, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles,” in other words, the pagans and unbelievers, “the Gentiles seek after all these things.” According to Jesus here, one of the marks of the unbeliever is worry. Yet, you and I still worry. This text gives us all ample reasons to repent. 

Notice how Jesus draws a line in the last verse. After telling us not to worry about food, drink, or clothing or anything else we need for this life, Jesus adds, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Last week, we considered how thankfulness looks back to the good gifts of God in the past. Well, worry does the opposite. Worry looks at the unknown, bad things in the future and has a wrong belief that we have to face that future alone. Tomorrow is clouded in the unknown, but tomorrow is also clothed with the promises of God to be with us, to never leave or forsake us, to provide all that we need, and to protect us with His power and might. God will care for us. Now, that doesn’t mean that we get to be lazy or idle. But too often we sinfully think that worry is the work we need to do to face the troubles of tomorrow.

That is why Jesus draws this line for us. The things that God sets before us today are the things that should have our attention. We are to do everything God gives us to do to confront and combat those evils and troubles that we face each day. Jesus wants us to go about our business and exert our efforts while God promises to give us the strength we need for every moment of today. But when Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow,” He draws a line at the end of today. Anything past that line, we are to leave in His gracious hands.

With all of Jesus’ talk about not worrying, we can fall off the other side of the horse and become sinfully passive and idle. We might be tempted to think we don’t ever have to work or do anything to combat the evils we face and think God will just take care of everything as we can just back and do nothing. Well, that isn’t right either. For example, it is a sin to pray for a hole when God has given you a shovel. God uses you as His hands and feet to combat the evils of the day, and He promises to give you the strength you need as you face those evils. And since each day has enough evil of its own, don’t let tomorrow’s evil distract you with worry from what God has given you to face today. Jesus promises that He will give you everything you need to meet the evil, ugly troubles of today. And, if He gives you another day tomorrow, He will do it again.

Our Old Testament lesson (1 Kgs. 17:8-16) is a great example of God giving what is needed to face the troubles of today. In Elijah’s days, things were bad. God’s own people had given up the faith and were worshipping Baal, the false god of fertility. So many had abandoned the faith that Elijah worries that he was the only believer left (1 Kgs. 19:10). God had sent a drought to punish Israel, but God told Elijah to live by the brook Cherith promising, “I have commanded the ravens to feed you there” (1 Kgs. 17:4). We don’t know exactly how long Elijah lived by that stream with the crows waiting on him, but as the drought went on, the brook dried out, and that is where our text picks up. God tells Elijah to go the city of Zarephath because, “I have commanded a widow there to feed you” (1 Kgs. 17:9).

For however long he lived at Cherith, Elijah had become accustomed to the ravens flying to him and providing his food because God had commanded them to feed him. Now, Elijah gets to Zarephath, but this widow isn’t like the crows who just delivered his food to him. She doesn’t come up to him and say, “There you are. Diner is at my place. God commanded me to feed you.” Not even close! Elijah watches this widow picking up a couple of sticks, asks her for a drink of water, and as the woman heads off to get it Elijah adds a bite of bread to his order. The widow doesn’t say, “No way! I can’t give you anything.” Instead, her response is, basically, “I’ve only got enough ingredients for my son and I to have a bite. I’m grabbing these sticks so we can bake it, eat, and die.” But Elijah gives her a promise from God that the flour and oil will not run out until God would send rain and provide relief from the drought (1 Kgs. 17:14, 16). For the entire three and a half years of the drought, God gave Elijah what he needed to face the evil of each of those days. Dear saints, God will provide all you need for this life until He calls you out of this veil of tears. So don’t worry.

Some of you have watched the pain that a family endures while their child is being treated for cancer. Some of you have gone through this, but for those of you who haven’t, you might think, “I could never handle that the way they handled that. I don’t have the strength.” You were right. You don’t have the strength to handle that because God hasn’t called you to face that – at least not yet. But here’s the thing. When Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow,” Jesus is saying that He doesn’t want you to worry about that diagnosis coming tomorrow because it distracts you from meeting the troubles that God has called you to face today. If the day comes when God calls you to meet that evil (or any other evil), Jesus promises to give you the strength to meet that evil each and every day it is yours to endure.

You see, when you get to the end of the day and are completely worn out, remember, God designed your tank to be empty at the end of the day. So, go to sleep in peace (Ps. 4:8). And when you wake up again, be ready to face the trouble that comes your way that day because God will give you His strength to meet it then.

Dear saints, work and strive and face the evil, troubling that are before you. But draw a line at the end of the day, and don’t worry about anything past that line since you can’t do anything about it anyway. God promises that He will give you the strength to meet the evil things that come your way each and every day of your life, and He is faithful.

Above all, remember what Christ has done by taking on our flesh. Jesus Himself got hungry and thirsty and tired and hot and cold, so He knows the struggles you face. Christ endured it all without a shred of worry because He trusted that God the Father would provide the strength He needed to endure it. Even as He went to the cross, carrying all your sin of doubt and anxiety, Christ entrusted Himself to God (1 Pet. 2:23), and there on the cross Jesus provided what you needed most – His forgiving blood shed for you. On the cross, Christ overcame and defeated all the evils of every day that you face and has now opened the kingdom of heaven to you.

This means that you can face the evils of each day of your life knowing that God will give you the strength to meet those evils, and you don’t need to help Him with your worry. Without fail, Christ will give you everything you need until the day He calls you into His gracious presence. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Worship of Turning Back – Sermon on Luke 17:11-19 for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

In my opinion, this is the third weirdest miracle Jesus does. If you want to know which two top it, you’ll have to ask me after the service.[1] This miracle is weird because of how Jesus heals with a hidden promise, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” In saying this, Jesus instructs the lepers to do what the Law required after being cleansed from leprosy (Lev. 14:2-32), but when Christ tells them to do that, they are still leprous.

I don’t know what it is with this text, but I have a lot of questions about it. Maybe I have these questions because Jesus Himself asks a lot of questions in it. One of my questions is when the ten lepers ask Jesus to have mercy on them, what exactly are they asking for? They have the obvious need of being healed from their leprosy, and Jesus had healed lepers before (Lk. 5:12-16). So, maybe they knew Jesus could cure their disease and wanted Him to do that. It could be that the lepers were asking for something different than healing. Maybe they wanted food or some other form of charity.

Another question I have is why does Jesus heal the lepers this way? Back in Luke 5, a leper came to Jesus saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” And Jesus says, “I am willing; be clean,” then Jesus says, “Go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” Why wouldn’t Jesus do that again? Why not say, “Sure I’ll give you mercy. Be cleansed and go, show yourselves to the priest”? Why does He skip the first part?

Another question I have is how far did the ten go before they were cleansed? Was it after they walked for a couple hours, or was it ten or fifteen minutes and after they got outside the village? Or, possibly, was it as soon as they pivoted away from Jesus and toward Jerusalem? It’s unclear in English, but the Greek verbs can legitimately be interpreted to suggest that it happened more or less immediately. Jesus’ question, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” could be a direct rebuke of the unthankfulness of the nine that they heard with their own ears. Something along the lines of, “Hey, are you nine going to ignore what I have just done for you?”

Now, we don’t know if the lepers were healed immediately or not. And we don’t know for sure what happened to the nine. Maybe they went to the Temple, were declared clean by the priest, offered the sacrifices, and went back to normal life. I’m sure the nine lepers were grateful for their restored skin and the fact they were able to be regular members of society again. But they were not thankful.

Whatever happened to them, it is a reminder of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, that God “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt. 5:45). God is good to all mankind. Anyone can be grateful for a sunny day or a rain shower that provides what we need to eat. Unbelievers can be grateful for all the blessings God gives through creation, but they can’t be thankful because they don’t know whom to thank. Only believers can be thankful to the God who gives good gifts.

There is a difference between being grateful and being thankful, between gratitude and thanksgiving. The two are, certainly, related. But to use a distinction by a pastor friend of mine,[2] gratitude looks at the goodness of the gift while thankfulness looks back behind the gift to the goodness of the giver. Let me give an example:

My first year of Bible College, I was on a choir that went on a tour in Eastern Europe. One church that hosted us was in the Czech Republic, and the church ladies prepared a meal for the entire choir and the chaperones (around 40 people). For them, this was a monumental task and huge cost. We all sat down at the tables as we waited for the ladies to serve us, and out they came with plates loaded with steamed sauerkraut and dumplings. That was the meal. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like sauerkraut, but I like it as a side – not the main dish. But we could tell that those ladies were proud of the meal they had set before us. So, we all did our best to eat as much as possible. Some, of course, ate more than others. I don’t think anyone was grateful for a meal of sauerkraut, but everyone, even those who only choked down a few bites, was thankful to the ladies. After our concert that night, I went to my host family and had a massive spread of food put before me that included several different baked goodies, sliced meat and cheese, fruit, and vegetables. There was more than I could eat. There, I was both grateful and thankful for the food. But, in both instances, those who served the food were good and generous and deserved thanks.

Back to the healed Samaritan leper. I’m sure he was grateful for the healing, but only he was thankful to Jesus, the Giver of the healing. Notice, he “turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks” (Lk. 17:15-16). Now, there is something important here. There are some pagans who say Jesus never claimed to be God. It’s complete nonsense and ignores the totality of Jesus’ sayings and what the Scriptures teach.[3] But look at what Jesus says while this Samaritan is worshipping at His feet, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Right there, Jesus is identifying Himself as God. Dear saints, God has feet – human feet that were pierced for you.

Yes, this text is about thankfulness, but more broadly, this text is about the worship of thanks. Worship is always about turning back. Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” So, one act of worship is repentance. Repentance is nothing more than turning back, turning back from a life filled with sin and the consequences of sin and turning toward God. Another act of worship is thankfulness. Thankfulness is receiving God’s gifts and not just going on to the next thing but turning back to give thanks to the God who gave the gift.

To be thankful, this healed Samaritan leper has to literally turn back to Jesus. And it is the same for us. To offer God the worship of thanksgiving is to first receive God’s gifts and turn back in thanks. Now, I’m using this sermon to prepare us for what we will hear Jesus say in next week’s Gospel lesson (Mt. 6:24-34) about worry and anxiety. This text puts us in the right orientation to hear what Jesus has to say about the future and worry. We can face the unknown future with confidence when we first look back and give God the worship of thanks. You can’t thank God for things in the future because God hasn’t given them yet. Yes, we can look to the future with hope, but even that hope comes through faith, and faith is another form of worship that requires looking back to the promises God has already given us. With those promises in our pocket, we can face the future without fear. Worry and anxiety come by looking at the unknown, bad things in the future. The worship of thankfulness turns back to God who has been faithful to us in the past and given us good things.

Dear saints, you have a giving God. God’s love language is gift-giving. So, the best way to worship a giving God is to come back and receive more of His gifts like this Samaritan does. He receives healing from Jesus, comes back, and receives salvation. The last words of Jesus in this text are literally, “Your faith has saved you.” God is like a grandma. You know how grandma invites you over for a huge meal and stuffs you full of her excellent cooking. The best way to praise and thank your grandma after such a meal is not to help with the dishes. No, the best way to praise grandma is to take another helping of her special green-bean casserole.

Dear saints, God gives you every good thing. He has given you a new day to live and receive His gifts of parents, children, siblings, friends, food, clothing, house, etc. And here, in God’s house, you have received God’s gifts of forgiveness, absolution, His Word, faith, eternal life, and fellowship with your blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus has won all of this for you through His death and resurrection and freely gives it all to you. And He has more for you.

We will continue to worship. We worship our Savior by receiving all these gifts He has already given and we will turn back to fall at the feet of our crucified and risen Savior. And Jesus raises up from His feet to sit at His table where He continues to give us more gifts. The gift of His life-giving Body and Blood in His Supper. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] The two stranger miracles are the healing of the deaf and mute man in Mk. 7:31-37 and the two-part healing of the blind man in Mk. 8:22-26

[2] Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller.

[3] Many of Jesus’ own statements are clear about Him being the Son of God, but those statements can only be understood in light of the Old Testament.

God-Shaped Love – Sermon on Luke 10:23-37 for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 10:23-37

23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach the lawyer that he will never be saved by the Law and that he needs a Savior to have compassion on him and give him eternal life. The lawyer is the one who has been robbed, stripped, beaten, and left dead in the ditch. The Law, represented by the priest and Levite, passes by and can not and does not help him. With the parable Jesus is teaching that to be one who inherits eternal life, we must be rescued by an outsider whom we despised (Is. 53:3-4) and who owes us nothing. We sinners need a love and compassion that we could never repay from One who doesn’t even want to be repaid. This is the only way for this lawyer to be saved and the only way for any of us to inherit eternal life.

So, the parable of the Good Samaritan is about Jesus and what He does for sinners. Christ is the Good Samaritan who finds us dead in sin. He has compassion on us, comes to us, binds up our wounds, pours on oil and wine, lays us on His animal to bring us to the inn, and sets us up in an all-expenses paid room. That is the point of the parable. The parable is not telling sinners that they need to do good to everyone. The lawyer already knew that he needed to love everyone (Lk. 10:27). He knew the Law requires that he love God and neighbor perfectly. So, if you ever hear someone preaching or teaching that the purpose of this parable is to tell us to love everyone, know that you are hearing only a half-truth, and, often, half-truths are more dangerous than full lies.

Jesus is not calling us to be the Samaritan in order to be saved. Jesus is the Good Samaritan who saves us. Then, it is true that Jesus calls us to go and do likewise (Lk. 10:37). We are to be like Jesus. Christians are to be little Christs who have compassion on their neighbor because Jesus has had mercy upon us. Because we have been rescued by Christ, we have become inheritors of eternal life and children of God. This means Jesus’ call to, “Go and do likewise,” is an invitation for us to imitate Him because children are like their father.

So now, please know, I’m not going to be preaching on the main point of the parable for a bit here, but I am going to use the parable to show how we Christians, who have been saved and rescued from the ditch, are to love God by loving our neighbor.

Dear saints, we need God to shape our love, and He shapes our love by two things: First, by the Ten Commandments, and second, by our relationship to the neighbor that God puts in our life in at any given moment. Let’s flesh this out with an example:

God has called me here to be your pastor, so I have a love for you, my neighbors and members of my flock, that is shaped by the 3rd Commandment. I am here to faithfully preach and teach God’s Word to you, and you have a love for me, your neighbor, that is shaped by the 3rd Commandment to faithfully hear God’s Word as it is preached and taught. As a parent, I have a different love for my children that is shaped by 4thCommandment, so I buy them socks. Well, how it actually works in our house is I work to earn the funds so my wife can purchase our kids’ socks because she’s a lot better at finding good deals on the socks my kids like. I have no idea which socks they like. Sometimes, my 4th Commandment shaped love is to take those socks from the clothes drier and help my kids fold and organize them in their dresser. So, I have different vocations, different callings, and different kinds of love that are  shaped by the Commandments and my relationship to my neighbor. And these vocations are what any reasonable person would expect. My love as a pastor is to preach and teach the Word of God to His flock, and as a parent, I provide and care for my kids.

Now, stick with me here while I get a little absurd. It would be wrong for me, as your pastor, to come here on a Sunday morning, stand in this pulpit, and say, “No sermon today, but here are some new socks. I’ll come to your house later and help you organize your dresser.” That would be weird, right? At least, I hope you think it would be weird because it is. You still are my neighbor, and I am still commanded to love you as I love myself. But my 4th Commandment love for you is shaped differently than my 4th Commandment love for my own kids. My 4th Commandment love for you is shaped by my relationship to you. So, I am to encourage you to honor, serve, love, obey, and respect your parents and the authorities that God has placed over you. Now, this doesn’t mean that will never buy socks for you. God might change your needs so it would be good and right for me to buy you socks. But, hopefully, God won’t put you in a position like that. But if He does, let me know, and I’d be happy to buy you socks.

So, God shapes your love by the Ten Commandments, and God shapes your love based on the needs of your neighbor whom He places along your path. The English word ‘neighbor’ comes from the old word ‘nigh’ or modernized, ‘near.’ And it’s the same for Greek word used here. A neighbor one who is near to you. So, when God puts someone near to you, that is your neighbor. The priest and Levite in the parable come across the guy in the ditch and they both un-neighbor him by crossing by on the other side of the road. They refuse and reject the neighbor God has put in their life and refuse to care for his needs. They probably thought, “Everybody is my neighbor, so I’m going to go serve them.” That’s sinful. Your neighbor is the person that God puts in your life – whether you like it or not.

In our text the lawyer asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” and Luke tells us that the lawyer was asking this because he desired to justify himself. So, in the context, this was a bad question with wrong motives. But that question, “Who is my neighbor?” is typically a good question for us Christians to ask. It helps us identify our neighbor and see our neighbor’s needs so our love can be shaped by the Commandments. So, think back to the parable. The Samaritan would have passed by many different people on the road that day. He probably even met the Levite and the priest at some point in his journey, but the Samaritan didn’t put them up in an all-inclusive room because their needs didn’t dictate that he needed to.

In the parable, the Samaritan had his plans for the day. He was going somewhere with some purpose, but God put this robbed, stripped, beaten, half dead dude in his path and upended whatever those plans were. And the Samaritan stepped up in compassion and mercy to meet those needs realizing, “This is the guy that God has put in my path, so I am going to help and love him.”

So, please recognize that God shapes your love and gives you callings based on nearness. This is why God calls you to have more love for your family than for friends or for strangers. The closer people are to you, the more responsibility you have to them, the more opportunity you have to do good to them, the more opportunity you have to serve them. But we often turn aside and try to find excuses to not serve the one God has put near us. Instead, we prefer to choose our neighbor. In our technological society, the devil has ample tools to keep us from showing love to the neighbor that God puts in front of us to love and serve.

Dear saints, whomever God puts near you is the one that God has put in your life for you to serve. So, serve the one God has drawn nigh to you. Let God’s Commands and God’s placing of people in your life shape your love. As a spouse, parent, child, boss, employee, teacher, student, or friend, remember that God is the one who has given you those relationships and has brought that person near you. Love that one, and let that love be shaped by the Commandments and your relationship to that neighbor.

And quickly, this is an aside, but it’s something I thought about months ago and marked this text to preach on this: Many of you have experienced the loss of spouses, siblings, parents, and friends recently. When those who are near to you have died, you still have a God-shaped love for them. Even though they have passed from this world, they are still near to you. So, when they die, your God-shaped love takes a different form or shape, and that shape is grief. Jesus Himself wept when His friend, Lazarus, died (Jn. 11:35). Grief is the shape love takes when those God has brought close to you are gone. So, grieve, but grieve as those who have hope in the resurrection (1 Th. 4:13).

Now, all of that was secondary to the parable. I want to close by returning to the main point of the parable. Again, Jesus is the Good Samaritan who proved to be a neighbor to you. And, hopefully, this idea of loving the one who is near to you gives you a deeper understanding and appreciation of Christ’s compassion for you.

Jesus is God. And because He is God, you weren’t His neighbor, but He chose to become your neighbor. The eternal, infinite Son of God took on your flesh in order to be ‘nigh’ to you. Out of pure compassion, He saw you in the ditch, dead in sin (Eph. 2:1). He chose to become your neighbor and raise you from your deadness in sin.

His love for you took the shape of Him going to the cross. He was stripped, beaten, standing under the wrath of God that you deserved because of your sin, and dead. Dead and buried in a grave. Now, He is risen. And because He has done all of that, you are His child. And He will bring you to your inheritance which is eternal life with Him. He has promised. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.