The God of Justice – Sermon on Matthew 26:1-27:66 for Palm Sunday

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Good job. I know that is a hard reading, but it’s worth the effort. The accounts of our Lord’s Passion in the four Gospels are some of the most precious words ever written. I’d encourage you this week to read the other three accounts. Read Mark 14-15 one day, Luke 22-23 another day, and John 18-19 another. Reading those will prepare your heart and lips to cry out next Sunday, “He is risen indeed!”

Most of the time, we see the crucifixion of our Lord as an act of terrible injustice. Jesus – the only sinless person – is condemned to die a gruesome death. Even Pilate wrestles with the injustice as the crowds keep crying out for Jesus to be crucified (Mt. 27:15-23). He asks, “Why? What evil has he done?” But Pilate was too weak and timid to do the just thing and release Jesus, so he delivers our Lord to be crucified. There’s no question that, from a human standpoint, Jesus’ condemnation is utterly unjust.

But, in the cosmic view of things, the crucifixion, God is accomplishing the greatest act of justice ever. But this act of justice is going on ‘behind the scenes,’ so to speak. So, let me make the case for that, and you can tell me what you think after the service. We have to take a few steps back to see it clearly.

Six weeks ago, on the first Sunday of Lent, we considered Genesis 3 and the Fall. There, in the Garden of Eden, Satan tempts Adam and Eve to sin and rebel against God like he had. Why does he do that? Well, the devil knows he can’t defeat God and that he can’t be redeemed. So, the devil wants to hurt God, and the only way he can figure out how to hurt God is to come after us and try to sever us from God. So, he tempted our first parents to fall into sin, which they do. But God wasn’t about to let the devil have us. God promises to judge Satan by sending the Seed of the woman to crush his head (Gen. 3:15). In other words, God is saying, “I’m not going to let you have them. I will come and crush you.”

Now, fast-forward to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. In the first temptation, the devil says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread” (Mt. 4:3; Lk. 4:3). The devil says, In a sense, the devil was saying, “You’re God. Why should you go hungry when everyone else in the world is eating? Quit trying to save these people. Let me have them.” Of course, Jesus resists all of the devil’s temptations there in the wilderness. But the Gospel of Luke has an interesting line after those temptations are finished. He says, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from [Jesus] until an opportune time” (Lk. 4:13). In other words, the devil had more temptations for Jesus.

One of those ‘opportune times’ came after Jesus told the disciples that He would suffer, be killed, and rise again. Peter rebukes Jesus saying, “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” And Jesus responds to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Mt. 16:21-23). The devil was using Peter’s love of Jesus to try to get Him to abandon His mission of going to the cross. But another ‘opportune time’ is even more explicit in our text today as Jesus is on the cross.

Look again at Matthew 27:39-44. The crowds deride Jesus saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” And, “He saved others, he cannot save himself. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him, if He desires him.”

Satan was using those voices, that mocking and deriding. Picture it. There is Jesus. Naked. Beaten. Bloodied. A crown of thorns on His head. His back whipped to shreds. Nails through His hands and feet. He hangs there dying for their sins and suffering the wrath of God that they deserve. And the very people He’s doing all this for are saying these things to Him.

It’s easy to picture the devil whispering in Jesus’ ear, “Do you hear what they’re saying to you? Why are you doing this for them? You don’t have to do this! You said they would die because of their sin. I thought you are a God of justice? Let me have them. That would be fair. They don’t deserve to have you die for them. It would be just for you to abandon them.”

But Jesus resists the temptation. He wants to redeem you. It would not be just for Him to save Himself. Justice is Jesus getting back what belongs to Him. That’s you. The devil is a thief (Jn. 10:10) and a liar (Jn. 8:44), and Jesus will simply not let Satan have you.

In reality, justice is God winning you back from the clutches of sin, death, and the devil. Justice is God having you as His Own. Justice is you living under Him in His kingdom as He intended. That’s justice. And your God is a God of justice. A God of justice. A God of forgiveness. A God of grace and mercy.

This is why we regularly use 1 John 1:9 before our confession of sins. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Dear saints, your God is merciful and just (Ex. 34:6-7). Your Savior did not come down from the cross because He will not let the devil have you. In His mercy, He gives Himself for you. Christ perfectly obeyed God’s Law for you. Jesus suffers the punishment you deserve. As surely as His mercy is for you and your benefit, His justice is also for you and for your benefit. Psalm 89:14 shows us who God is, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before You.” That truth is most clearly seen in the cross of Christ.

Dear saints, justice and mercy meet you this Holy Week. Jesus stays on the cross that you may be His Own. He refused to save Himself because He is determined to save you. Let His cross be your comfort and His empty tomb your sure hope, now and forever. Welcome to Holy Week. Amen.

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

Call to Keep – Sermon on John 8:42-59 for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Mar22

John 8:42-59

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

We’re going to focus on what Jesus says in Jn. 8:51, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.”But before we do that, I’m sure you noticed as the text was read – Jesus is in the middle of an ugly, heated debate with this group John simply calls “the Jews” (Jn. 8:48). That simply means that Jesus was talking with a group of people that likely included scribes and Pharisees (Jn. 8:3), but it also included regular, everyday people who followed the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees.

We jumped into the middle of it, but this confrontation has been building for several verses. Back in Jn. 8:23-24, Jesus said, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. You will die in your sins unless you believe in Me.” In Jn. 8:40, Jesus exposes their plot to kill Him (Jn. 5:18, 7:1), “You seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.”Jesus knows their secret plans even six months before they kill Him (Jn. 11:53; Mt. 26:3-5; Mk. 14:1-2). In this reading, you heard Jesus tell them, “You are of your father the devil who has always been a murderer” (Jn. 8:44), and, “You are not of God” (Jn. 8:47).

This is not what they teach in the evangelism class at seminary. Jesus isn’t being nice or winsome or polite. He isn’t trying to maintain the relationship just in case they change their minds someday. He isn’t being ‘nice’ for the sake of future possibilities. Maybe the books on evangelism need to be rewritten. Jesus’ main concern here is clarity. He isn’t being mean. Not at all! We’ll see that plainly in just a minute. He loves these people dearly. He just wants to be clear – crystal clear. He wants to tell the truth clearly. And the truth – hard as it is – is that these people are in a dire situation. Their eternal destiny is at risk. It would be unloving to not say these things to them.

Imagine you’re cooking supper on the stove, and you briefly step away to reach into the cupboard for the next ingredient. You see your four-year-old about to touch the burner. You wouldn’t quietly say, “Oh, my sweet, darling boy. Your hand should not go there.” No! You’d yell, “STOP!” You might not even get a “don’t touch that” out of your mouth. It might startle the kid so much that he starts crying, but those tears will dry long before any burn would ever heal, long before the blisters would go away.

Dear saints, I hope this encourages you. One thing you should take away from this text is that some people will simply be angry when you tell them the truth. They got angry at Jesus when He told them the truth, and they’ll get angry when you tell them the truth. In this whole conversation, Jesus isn’t being mean. He’s simply and clearly speaking the truth. He’s warning these very people of the dire danger they are in. And He’s doing it out of love for them.

How do they respond? “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (Jn. 8:48). They start name-calling Jesus. This isn’t just a slur against Samaritans. It’s probably meant as an insult against Jesus’ mother, Mary. People knew that Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph got married (Mt. 1:19). Here, these people are implying that Mary slept around with Samaritans. They’re saying the sort of thing you’d hear in a locker room. To keep the sermon PG, they’re saying that she was ‘loose’ and that Jesus was an illegitimate child, a title that begins with a ‘b.’ On top of that, they accuse Jesus of having a demon and operating as an agent of the devil himself, trying to drag people into hell.

Look how Jesus responds to that, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death” (Jn. 8:51). Do you hear that? He’s holding out a promise for them. After all the filth they just hurled at Him and His mother, Jesus shows them how much He loves them. Just the fact that He doesn’t throw up His hands and walk away is remarkably gracious by itself. But that He gives them this promise – the promise that they will never see death if they keep His word. Do you see how much Jesus loves them, even though He’s said some clear and difficult things to them? Despite their insults, Jesus is giving this promise to them. “If anyone keeps My Word.” He doesn’t say, “The people who keep My Word.” No! Anyone. The people He’s speaking to are included in ‘anyone,’ and so are you.

So, what does Jesus mean when He tells you today, “If you,” you listening to Jesus right now, “If you keep My Word, you will never see death”?

First, just to be clear, Jesus’ Word – the thing Jesus tells you to ‘keep’ (‘keep’ is a good translation; some translations will use ‘obey’ but that’s too narrow) – you are to ‘keep’ all of the Bible. Jesus doesn’t just refer to the red letters. Jesus says that all the Scriptures testify about Him (Jn. 5:39). Christ is the Word who became flesh (Jn. 1:14), the One who came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Mt. 5:17). So, if you keep the Lord’s Commandments, you will never see death.

That might get you squirming a bit. Rightly so. That’s what God’s Law is designed to do. But, Christian, you do keep God’s Commands. You do. Now, that doesn’t mean you are perfect or that you never sin. You do not always perfectly obey God’s Commands, but you do keep them. You order your life around them and conduct yourself according to them. When you sin, when you do what God forbids and fail to do what God demands, you keep Jesus’ Word by running back to Him. You confess your sin and trust His promise of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion.

And that faith, that trust, is the greater ‘keeping’ of Jesus’ Word (Jn. 8:24). Jesus’ Word, the Bible, is both Law and Gospel. You keep Jesus’ Word by striving, working, and obeying. You keep Jesus’ Word by repenting and confessing. And you keep Jesus’ Word by trusting and believing. They all go together. And that isn’t a high bar that you have to clear. This call to keep Jesus’ Word is simply a call to faith. And by the working of the Holy Spirit, He gives you that faith that keeps His Word (Eph. 2:8-9).

Here’s the promise Jesus gives to you who keep/believe His Word: You will neversee death. Never. In Jn. 11:26, Jesus puts it this way, “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” And He means it. That sounds strange, doesn’t it? How many people that we know and love, people who once sat in this sanctuary and were part of our lives, how many of them have we mourned? Links; Malms; Karin, Carol, John, Verdie, Harlen; Jim and, recently, Jeremy; Jim, Phylis, Clara, Ros; and your own dear family members. How can Jesus say they never saw death?

While it’s true that hearts stop beating, brains and bodies stop functioning. And the bodies of those saints have now been laid to rest. But Jesus simply says they have fallen asleep (Jn. 11:11-14; Mt. 9:24). They didn’t die. They live now with Jesus and wait for their souls that God created to be rejoined with their bodies that God also created.

When you keep Jesus’ Word, your merciful God gives you eternal life. Eternal life, by definition doesn’t stop. You always have it – even if your body dies. In Romans 8:38-39, Scripture promises that death will not separate you from Jesus.

If Jesus returned today, our bodies would be immediately perfected (1 Co. 15:51). But let’s say that you go and find your loved ones who did die in the faith and ask them, “What was it like to die?” – you know what their answer will be? “I don’t know. I never died. Jesus was there with me the entire time.”

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me” (Ps. 23:4). Jesus is there. Right beside you. All the way through. This is Christ’s promise to you, believer. Keep Jesus’ Word and truly, truly you will never see death. Amen.

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

Devoted & Multiplied – Sermon on Acts 2:41-47 for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Mar15

Acts 2:41-47

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

It’s not uncommon to hear people – both Christians and unbelievers – say that the current Church is nothing like what depicted here on the day of Pentecost and the first days following Pentecost. You can hear heathen unbelievers say that Christians are just a bunch of selfish capitalist hypocrites while the Church here in Acts 2 was communist. I said it a few weeks ago, but I’ll say it again. Don’t let people who hate God and His Word interpret Scripture for you. Jesus didn’t institute a Communist church. Here, the believers are lovingly and willingly selling their possessions and giving them away. These brothers and sisters in Christ were saying, “What’s mine is yours.” Communism is different. Communism says, “What’s yours is mine. And we’ll make sure the state agrees, takes it from you, and gives it to someone else.” The early New Testament Church wasn’t Communist, but it was commonist [sic.]. There’s a big difference. Communism is when the state breaks the seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.”

But even Christians will lament and say that today’s Church isn’t like the believers here in Act. 2. They’ll say, “That was the real Church. It was vibrant, united, multiplying. And look at it now. It’s antiquated, old, dying.” They think we’ve lost something and that we need to get back to what we see in the early days after Pentecost.

That simply isn’t true. The pattern of life that those first Christians had is exactly what we have here – maybe not identically, but substantively. That isn’t to say that we are flawless – far from it. Do we have issues? Yup. That’s why we confess our sins every week. We do it for good reason. We are in constant need of God’s absolution. But the same living Lord who Baptized those 3,000 souls in May of 33 AD in Jerusalem is the same Savior who gathers us here in East Grand Forks in 2026. Christ’s work in them and among us is the same, and the pattern of life they had is the pattern we have.

After Peter’s Pentecost sermon pierced their hearts (Act. 2:37), those 3,000 repented, were Baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, and received the Holy Spirit. Then, what did they do? They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

That word translated ‘devoted’ is strong. It means they steadfastly persisted in these things. They held on to those things like a man clinging to a lifeline in a storm in the middle of the ocean. It wasn’t optional. It was essential. And notice what these pillars were. In our translation, it looks like there are four, but it might be only three. I’ll explain when we get there.

First, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. The apostles were the men Jesus had chosen, taught, and sent to be His witnesses (Act. 1:8). They proclaimed what they had seen and heard – the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of their Lord and Savior and your Lord and Savior. Through their teaching, the early Christians heard the voice of Christ Himself (Jn. 13:20, 1 Th. 2:13). Jesus sent them to proclaim and teach how Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms – all the Old Testament – pointed to Him (Lk. 24:44-48). Their teaching wasn’t just bland, mundane information. It was life-giving truth that nourished their souls day by day.

Second, the believers devoted themselves to “the fellowship.” The Greek word there is koinonia. It’s two Greek words smooshed together that mean ‘common’ and ‘union.’ The believers weren’t just acquaintances. They were family and a body (1 Co. 12:12ff) bound together by their unity with Jesus.

Next is “breaking of bread.” There’s no question that ‘breaking of bread’ here refers to Communion, the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus gives His true Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins (Mt. 26:26-29; 1 Co. 11:23-25). Grammatically, it could be that Luke intended that the “breaking of bread” is directly tied to the “fellowship” he just mentioned. I won’t get too technical about the grammar. (You’re welcome.) Luke might be mentioning two pairs of things the people were devoting themselves to – the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, as well as Communion and the prayers. But it’s also possible Luke is listing three things – 1) the apostles’ teaching, 2) the fellowship that comes from the breaking of bread in the Lord’s Supper (1 Co. 10:16), and 3) the prayers. When we meet Luke at Jesus’ feet, we can ask if he intended this to be three or four things.

Finally, the first Christians devoted themselves to the prayers. ‘The prayers’ here refers to the liturgical prayers they had been using before they believed in Christ. These prayers included the Psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, and the parts of the liturgies that had echoed in synagogues and temple for hundreds of years. Now, all of those prayers are now rightly centered on Jesus as the fulfillment of those Old Testament liturgies that had been established by God. In other words, the New Testament Church was devoting itself to corporate, collective prayers.

Dear saints, this is also a description of us. Every Sunday we gather around the apostles’ teaching as we hear it in the Gospel and Epistle readings. God’s Word is read, proclaimed, and applied to our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. We share in the same fellowship because we are also Baptized into Christ and break bread in the holy Sacrament, receiving the medicine of immortality. And we pray together as our Lord taught us and as the Psalms direct us. Here in this building, week by week, we devote ourselves to the exact same things. So, the Church here in Acts 2 isn’t a distant memory of some bygone era of Christianity. It’s the living reality we are participating in right now – today and every week.

As we are devoted to those things, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit. Love and concern for our neighbor. Joy and peace that enable us to open our hands to share. Patience that calms us when we have to wait for God to provide. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that are visible to others and appealing to them.

Think of how amazing this newly formed congregation is. Our Gospel reading today (Jn. 6:1-15) was Jesus feeding the 5,000 men plus women and children. Before the meal was distributed, Jesus gave this pop quiz to Philip and Andrew, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?”Both Philip and Andrew throw up their hands. Philip looks at their lack of money, and Andrew looks at the tiny bit of food they do have. Both say, “It isn’t enough.” So, Jesus takes the five loaves and two fish and multiplies them.

Dear saints, it’s nothing for Jesus to do that. It isn’t a problem for Him. And here in Acts 2, this fellowship is formed a little more than a year after the feeding of the 5,000. Apparently, Philip and Andrew get a retake on Jesus’ test. And they teach the crowd about how generously God gives. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they taught the people how Jesus multiplied the bread and fish, which results in such a generous congregation. The same apostles who once despaired of not having enough become instruments through which the Holy Spirit creates this fellowship of radical generosity. “All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Act. 2:44-45).

What changed the apostles and their teaching? It wasn’t a new philosophy or political program. It was Christ’s resurrection. It was the fact that the Holy Spirit now dwelled in them (1 Co. 6:19-20). The One who multiplied loaves now multiplied faith, hope, and love in their hearts. Scarcity gave way to abundance – not because they had more stuff, but because they had a firmer devotion to Christ.

Dear saints, the same Gospel is at work among us. In a world gripped by fear of scarcity – too little money, too little time, too little security – Jesus invites us to trust His provision. He doesn’t always multiply literal bread and fish before our eyes, though He could. Instead, He multiplies grace through His appointed means. Through the apostles’ teaching preached and heard, He feeds our faith. Through fellowship, He binds us together so that no one suffers alone. Through the breaking of bread in Holy Communion, He gives us His very Self, Body and Blood, for the forgiveness of sin and strengthening of our faith. Through the prayers, He draws us into communion and fellowship with Himself and with the Father (Jn. 10:14-15).

Dear saints, we are the same Church with the same Lord and the same Savior. So, when doubts creep in and you wonder if God has forgotten you, the Word declares, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). When loneliness hits you hard, the fellowship of this congregation reminds you that you belong to a family bought with the Blood of Christ. When guilt weighs heavy, the Supper assures you, “This is My blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt. 26:28). When anxiety about the future grips you, the prayers lift you to the throne, where God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding, guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Php. 4:7).

So, continue to devote yourselves to these things. Don’t treat them as optional add-ons to life. Make the apostles’ teaching in the Scriptures your daily nourishment. Read your Bible with your family at home. Meditate on it in quiet moments. Cherish the fellowship. Stay after service to talk. Hear and bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). Come often to the breaking of bread in the Lord’s Supper for your strengthening in faith. And join faithfully in the prayers – our regular services here in this building, where we confess the Creed, pray, sing the hymns, and lift our common supplications to our God who sits on the throne of all creation. These are the very conduits through which Christ pours His life into yours.

Jesus is here now in our midst (Mt. 18:20), and He calls you to His table where He gives you the benefit of His death and resurrection. Here, in this Sacrament, He joins you to God the Father through His Body given for you and His Blood shed for you. And because you are individually joined to God, you are also joined to one another. Forgiven together, fed together, united in the one holy Christian Church. Come, dear saints. Taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8). Amen.

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

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

Mar1

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.

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

Feb22

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

Feb19

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

Feb8

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

Feb1

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

Jan25

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

Jan18

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.

Pastorsamwise

"Don't the great tales never end?"

Category Archives: Historic One Year Lectionary

The God of Justice – Sermon on Matthew 26:1-27:66 for Palm Sunday

Call to Keep – Sermon on John 8:42-59 for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Devoted & Multiplied – Sermon on Acts 2:41-47 for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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