1 Peter 4:7-14
7The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The end is near. Peter said so nearly two-thousand years ago, and this world hasn’t gotten any better. But we are not told to panic and worry. Instead, Scripture tells us to be self-controlled, sober-minded, loving, hospitable, and to use the gifts God has given us so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Today, we are going to consider God’s good gift of motherhood because whether or not you are a mother, you have a mother. And in the gift of motherhood, we see the beauty of God’s love for us.
When our society decides to dedicate a day to celebrate one of the Ten Commandments, we in the church say, “Fantastic idea. Let’s do it!” Actually, our society has dedicated two whole days to the 4thCommandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
Through the vocation of motherhood, God chose to save the world – literally. God’s act of creation and salvation intersect in the office of motherhood. In the opening chapters of Scripture, God creates man and woman telling them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” However, Satan attacked God’s good creation, and all humanity fell because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
After the Fall, God said that He would put enmity between the devil and the woman, and between the devil’s offspring and the woman’s offspring. God promised that an Offspring of the woman would come and crush the serpent’s head even as the serpent bruised His heel. God was promising to send Jesus as He gave this first promise of the virgin birth of our Savior.
Adam and Eve clearly believed this because it was only after this promise that Adam gives his wife the name Eve. Before that, she was simply called ‘woman.’ Now, Eve was going to be the mother of all the children in all creation. So why does Adam change her name to Eve, which means ‘life-giver’? Because they both believed God’s promise to defeat Satan and remove the curse of sin and death that they had brought into the world.
This is why the devil attacks the family and especially motherhood. Satan attacked the family right away in the jealous feud Cain had with Abel. That attack continued down through the birth of Jesus when the devil roused Herod to kill the infant boys in Bethlehem. And the attack continues today in our culture of death.
Whenever there is a child in the womb of a mother, the devil sees a reminder of the Christ Child. So, Satan has filled our society with his lies thatmotherhood is not a burden worth bearing. Instead, the devil tries to make everything about me: my plans, my rights, my body, my choice. Too often today, children in the womb are said to be parasites when they are God’s greatest gift after the forgiving blood of Jesus.
But even as we Christians point this outand proclaim repentance and forgiveness for those who would kill children in the womb where they should be protected, we are accused of only caring for children in the womb and not when they are born. Let those attacks come. But let us all live our lives in such a way that those attacks are completely baseless and totally untrue.
God’s intent is that we, His creatures, continue with Him in His work of creation having children and continuing life through families – fathers, mothers, and children. Mothers know how to suffer for the sake of the lives of their children. When God said to Eve, “In pain you will bring forth children,” He wasn’t only speaking about the pain of labor and birth. Every mother continues to know the pain and suffering that goes into the responsibility of nurturing, caring for, and raising children. They make sacrifices, shed tears, and worry for their children. Mothers, you are doing God’s good work when you do those things.
So, all of you, thank your mom because mothers are a picture of how Jesus picked up our sorrows and carried our burdens. He suffered for your sake, for your eternal life, and for your salvation. Like Jesus, mothers lay down their lives for the sake of others.
In college, I studied a poem by Billy Collins titled The Lanyard. In it, the poet remembers how he crafted a lanyard for his mother while he was away at camp even though he had no idea what a lanyard was or what a person would do with it. Here is a bit of that poem:
She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
‘Here are thousands of meals,’ she said,
‘and here is clothing and a good education.’
‘And here is your lanyard,’ I replied,
‘which I made with a little help from a counselor.’
‘Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world,’ she whispered,
‘and here,’ I said, ‘is the lanyard I made at camp.’
The poem closes with Collins wishing he could give his mother a different gift – an apology. He wants to confess that when he gave his mother that lanyard as a young boy he thought it was enough to make him even with her.
But here’s the point, mothers are glad to have gifts from their children. They love getting the drawings and sketches, the poorly spelled notes and letters, and the bouquets of dandelions from their children – not because those things are so well-done – but because they love their children. They don’t care about the artistry or worth of what their children give. They love their children and, therefore, they love what their children do.
The same is even more true of God. God isn’t concerned about you repaying Him so that you are even. Your prayers, your tithes, your acts of charity toward your neighbor are infinitesimally less than a son giving his mother a lanyard. But that doesn’t matter to God.
Christian, what you do in faith is never in vain. God takes what you do in faith and uses it to serve your neighbor so that He is glorified.
So, as our text here says, as you see that the end of all things is at hand, as each of you has received a gift, use it. Use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
We think that the opposite of sin is good works. So, we wrongly think our sin is something we can manage on our own. We imagine we can hide our stains by being kind to those around us. We think we can distract God from our lust, anger, pride, and selfishness with a few good works.
This is the Holy Spirit’s work. The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit takes all the work of Jesus and declares it to you. He is your Helper, Comforter, Advocate. Through Spirit’s working, He opens the Scriptures creating, sustaining, and strengthening faith and guiding you into all the truth.
You are God’s children. “See what sort of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.”
So, Blair: Today, God has Baptized you. Today, God has connected His Word to water and joined you to Christ’s death and resurrection (Ro. 6:3-11). God has clothed you with Christ (Gal. 3:27). God has given you the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit and saved you (Tit. 3:5-7). Today, you are born again, and God has made you His beloved child.
When Christ appears, you will be like Him because you will see Him as He is.
And now, you have angel’s work to do. Go. Tell others. Tell them that because Jesus is their brother, they are God’s children. Tell them they are forgiven because of Jesus. Tell them they are made holy because of Jesus. Tell them because everything is finished just as He told you.
The first words of Scripture you heard in today’s service told how Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Matthew tells us that it happened this way to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Zech. 9:9 quoted in Mt. 21:5). That word that gets translated as ‘humble’ means ‘of no importance.’
King Jesus didn’t come to sit as judge. Instead, He came to be judged. He didn’t have subjects who shout, “Long live the king!” Instead, they holler, “Crucify Him!” He didn’t come to command armies. Instead, He came to be beaten by soldiers. He didn’t come to be clothed in the finest garments and crowned with gold and jewels. Instead, He came to have a robe ripped from Him and be thorns pressed into His head. He didn’t come to drink fine wine from a golden chalice. Instead, He came to be offered wine mixed with gall. He didn’t come to sit in a fine hall with nobles surrounding Him. Instead, He came to hang on a splintered cross between two thieves. He didn’t come to execute justice. Instead, He came to die an unjust death.
But Christian, by God’s grace, you know better. You know that those are the very things that God has given and uses to complete the good work of faith that He began in you.
12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
Jesus came to have His back torn by a whip and His forehead sliced open by the crown of thorns. Jesus came to have His body broken. Jesus came to have His hands and feet nailed to the cross, His side run through with a spear. Jesus came to give you every last drop of His forgiving blood. Jesus came to give you eternal mercy, forgiveness, and life.
15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Guard it. Keep it. Take it. Eat and drink it. Because Jesus joins that Word of deliverance and forgiveness of sins to bread and wine. With His little finger, He destroyers the stronghold and armor of the devil. He claims you as His own. And He guards and keeps you now and for all eternity. Amen.
22 The same night [Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When [he] saw that he did not prevail against [him], he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But [he] said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Loaded with your sin and the sin of the whole world, He fights to the very end, to the last breath. And the fight looked lost. Jesus looked like a loser – dead, lifeless, buried. But, even in that apparent defeat, He rose victorious.
But this also means that, in this life, you are in the devil’s crosshairs. Satan hates you and will tempt you to doubt that God is truly your Father who gives you all things. The devil tempts you to sin by putting God’s promises in front of you, but he wants you to lay hold of those promises in your own way and timing. But Satan’s way never brings the joy that God wants to give you.
The second temptation of the devil is for Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. The devil says, “God will protect you by sending angels to make sure you don’t even hurt your foot.”
Instead, rejoice in Jesus’ temptation. Rejoice because Jesus has endured where you have fallen and obeyed where you rebelled. Rejoice because Jesus knows the temptations you face, and He will always provide a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).
Pastorsamwise 
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