Category Archives: Sermon Manuscript

I Am the Good Shepherd – Sermon on John 10:11-18 for Midweek Lent 3

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 100; Jeremiah 23:1-3; Hebrews 13:20-21; and John 10:11-18.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Picture a father and his daughter. The father works every day to provide food, clothes, and a house for his little girl. His daughter puts on a dress and invites him to her tea parties with all her stuffed animals. Every night, that father sings to his little princess, tucks her snugly under the covers, kisses her forehead, and whispers, “I love you.” All of those actions – his work, his play, and his care –are all ways that father tells his daughter, “I love you.”

Keep picturing that same father and daughter. Now, she’s a teenager and the father is going to meet her at the county fair. He walks through the grounds and sees a crowd standing in a circle. They’re shouting. Dust is flying in the air. The father pushes his way to the center only to find three grown men shoving his daughter to the ground. She’s scraped up and dirty. Her shirt sleeve is torn. That’s his precious girl. So, the father leaps into the fray hollering, “That’s my daughter!” He fights fiercely. He takes some punches in his gut and a few blows to the back of his head, but he begins to get the upper hand. With all his might, he shoves the first man headfirst into a trailer. He spins, winds up, and punches the second man square in the face, knocking him out cold. He locks the third in a chokehold until the man slumps face-down in the dirt.

Now, which version of that father is loving? Is it the father who provides, has tea parties, and quietly tucks the girl in with a kiss? Or is it the father who immediately jumps into a fight, even though he is outnumbered, and rescues her with violence? It’s both, isn’t it? It’s both, and equally so. Tender care and fierce defense are two sides of the same love. The daughter interprets both as her father saying, “I love you, my daughter.”

I mentioned this last week, but it needs repeating. When Jesus declares, “I Am the Good Shepherd,” here, He’s addressing the Pharisees. So, this statement isn’t initially directed to believers to comfort them. It’s judgment on false shepherds. But as Jesus’ sheep, you overhear them and are comforted by them – and rightly so. It’s like the father yelling, “That’s my daughter!” not first to her but to warn the attackers that he’s coming for them. But she hears it and recognizes the echo of him whispering, “I love you, dear girl,” as she is tucked into bed.

This metaphor of God as the Shepherd of His people is all over the Bible. Many of those passages are spoken directly to God’s people as comfort. Isaiah 40:10-11, pictures God tending His flock, gathering lambs in His arms, carrying them in His bosom, and gently leading His sheep. Psalm 78:52 recalls how God led His people like sheep out of Egypt and guided them through the wilderness. And Psalm 23, of course, is David’s song of the tender care of his Shepherd.

But a number of other passages use the same image as a stern warning. Our reading tonight from Jer. 23:1-3 thunders against the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of His pasture. God says, “I will attend to you for your evil deeds. Then I will gather My flock, bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful.”

As I prepared for these services, I had a hard time deciding between using Jer. 23 and another text – Ezk. 34. (I went with Jeremiah because you’ll hear Ezekiel on Easter 3 in about a month.) But as I wrote this sermon, I wished I’d chosen Ezekiel because it lies behind what Jesus says to here in Jn. 10. So, let me summarize it for you now. Ezekiel 34 begins with God’s woe against faithless shepherds. They weren’t caring for God’s sheep; instead, they were using the sheep for their own comfort and benefit. They didn’t strengthen the weak. They didn’t heal the sick or bind up the injured sheep. They did not bring back the strayed or seek the lost sheep. The end result was that God’s flock was scattered over the face of the earth with no one to seek after them (Ezk. 34:1-6). So, God says, “I am against the shepherds and will require My sheep at their hand” (Ezk. 34:7-10).

Then, Yahweh, the Great ‘I Am,’ promises, “I, I Myself will search for My sheep. I will rescue them. I will gather them into their own land. I will feed them in good grazing land and rich pasture.” Then in Ezk. 34:15-16, Yahweh says, “I Myself will be the shepherd of My sheep, and I Myself will make them lie down. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.”

So, when Jesus proclaims, “I Am the Good Shepherd” (Jn. 10:11), He’s echoing that warning and promise from Yahweh back in Ezk. 34. So, hear this text in that light.

When you lie in the dust, surrounded by enemies, Jesus says, “I Am the Good Shepherd” (Jn. 10:11). He has come to rescue you because you are His. Jesus says, “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep,”(Jn. 10:11, 17). He has counted the cost and judged you to be worth His blood. Unlike the hireling who flees when he sees the wolf, Jesus stands firm by your side and will never abandon you (Jn. 10:12-13). Jesus knows you and you know him (Jn. 10:14). And notice how intimate this knowing is. Look again at Jn. 10:15, “Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father.”Dear flock of God, you share that same, intimate fellowship with your Good Shepherd.

There’s one more beautiful aspect to this image of Jesus being your Good Shepherd. It isn’t directly from this text, so I’ve saved it for the end. In this text, Jesus only names the wolf as the enemy of His flock. But the wolf stands in for all your enemies of sin, death, and the devil. We can easily picture two-thirds of that. When the devil comes at you, Your Good Shepherd steps between you and his claws. When death and the grave opens its mouth wide, your Good Shepherd stuffs Himself into its jaws so fully that it gags and has to spit Him out three days later. It easy to picture how your Good Shepherd shields you from the devil and the grave.

But how does Your Good Shepherd stand between you and your sin? Your sin isn’t ‘out there’ like the death and the devil. Sin is the enemy within all of us – in our hearts and minds. In fact, we are sinners. So how could Jesus stand between us and sin? Well, it turns out that the Good Shepherd is also a sheep. Rev. 7:17 says, “The Lamb who sits in the midst of the throne [is your] Shepherd,” and He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29).

Dear flock, your Good Shepherd sought you. He drew near to you. He came so close that He became one of you. He took on your flesh and blood so He could stand between you and the punishment you deserve because of your sin. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, all your enemies are utterly scattered. They flee at the sight of your Shepherd standing by your side.

Dear saints, your Good Shepherd has arrived. He will never leave or forsake you. He has died for you. He forgives all your sins. He is risen and will shepherd you through all the troubles of this life until He brings you to the joys of eternal life with Him in pastures that are forever green. Amen.

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

I Am the Door – Sermon on John 10:1-10 for Midweek Lent 2

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 118:19-24, 28-29; Isaiah 26:1-3; Hebrews 10:19-22; and John 10:1-10.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

John 10 is widely known as the Good Shepherd chapter because it’s where Jesus has two “I Am” statements, “I Am the Door of the sheep; I Am the Good Shepherd” (Jn. 10:7, 11). Both of those declarations are comforting. Very comforting for us. But in context, dear saints, both statements are actually judgment against the Pharisees because they have turned their back on Jesus, the Shepherd of their souls (1 Pet. 2:25).

Last week, we heard the beginning of Jn. 9 where Jesus declares “I Am the Light of the world.” Then, He healed the man who was born blind. A tense exchange follows. The Pharisees pressure the formerly-blind man to deny Jesus (Jn. 9:8-34). They fail. Instead, the man boldly confesses that only someone from God could perform such a miracle. Later, Jesus finds him again, and the man worships and believes in Christ (Jn. 9:35-38).

John 9 closes with Jesus saying, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (Jn. 9:39). The Pharisees hear this and ask Jesus, “Are we also blind?” Jesus responds, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains” (Jn. 9:41). That conversation flows directly into our text tonight, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber” (Jn. 10:1-10). Notice that Jn. 10:6 says that Jesus is addressing this figure of speech to people who are identified only as “them” and “they.” The ‘them’ and ‘they’ are the Pharisees who have rejected Jesus as the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11). The Pharisees did not understand (Jn. 10:6).

Now, I admit that Jesus doesn’t explicitly say, “I Am the Good Shepherd,” until Jn. 10:11 – one verse after our text. But Jesus has implicitly said it. He begins by mentioning the sheepfold. In Jesus’ day, and still today, a sheepfold was often a cave that was partially closed by a rock wall along the opening. There was just a small gap so the flock could enter the sheepfold for safety or exit it to find pasture. The way that sheepfold was closed is that the shepherd would station himself at the opening and be the door himself. So, to reach the sheep, you had to go through the shepherd. If anyone tried to enter by a different way than through the door (i.e. the shepherd), that person was trying to harm the sheep.

Jesus is that Door because He is that Shepherd. Whoever enters through Him will be saved. When Jesus talks about going in and going out, He isn’t talking about being saved in the sheepfold vs. being not saved when you are out of the sheepfold. Instead, the saved are the ones who go in and the ones who go out and find pasture. The coming and going of the sheep (which needs to happen) is all through Him.

So, being in or out of the sheepfold isn’t equal to being saved or damned. The parable of the Lost Sheep in Lk. 15:1-7 is different in that way. Here, in or out doesn’t matter. Instead, the focus is on the fact that the saved have access through Jesus, the Door. That’s what saves. Christ is your Shepherd-Door. Because of Him, you are safe whether you are in or out. You have peace in the sheepfold, and you have freedom from danger when you are out in the pleasant pastures. Psalm 121:7-8 is a nice parallel to what Jesus says in Jn. 10:9, “The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

With this image, Jesus also recalls parts of our Psalm tonight (Ps. 118:19-24, 28-29). This text takes place when Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn. 7:2), when parts of Ps. 118 were sung. As the people entered the Temple during the feast, they would sing, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it” (Ps. 118:19-20).

Jesus is the Door through which you have access to and encounter Yahweh, the Great “I Am.” By Christ’s blood, you can have confidence to enter the holy places. He has opened that way for you through His flesh (Heb. 10:19-20). 

Let me switch gears for a moment here. I can’t preach on this text without mentioning how the sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd, Who is also the Door.

In Jesus’ day, everyone owned a handful of sheep because that was how you got your clothing, milk, meat, and leather. But daily life – farming, cooking, chores – meant that people couldn’t tend the flock full-time. So, families in a neighborhood would combine their sheep into one larger flock of 60, 80, 100 sheep, and one person would shepherd them all. In large towns, there would be several different flocks that were tended by several shepherds.

By day, each shepherd would lead his flock to pleasant pastures. At night, the shepherd would bring his flock back into the village where there was a large sheepfold. And all the different flocks would spend the night together so most of the shepherds could go home and sleep. Only one of them would be the Door for the night as all the sheep slept in the pen.

In the morning, the shepherds returned to that pen where the flocks were all mixed together. You might think it would be chaotic to try and sort out which shepherd was responsible for which sheep. But, no. It wasn’t a problem. Each shepherd simply called his sheep by name, “Come, Long-ears. Up, White-nose. Let’s go, Stubby-legs.” Each sheep would hear the familiar voice of its own shepherd, and they would all follow him to go frolic in the fields for the day. That’s the picture Jesus uses throughout John 10.

Dear saints, you know the voice of your Shepherd. He softly, tenderly, and kindly calls to you in the Scriptures. Enter through Him and you will be saved. He calls you by name (Is. 43:1-2; Jn. 10:3), and He has called you to life – abundant, eternal life in Him. Amen.

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

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

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

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Word Among Us – Sermon on John 1:14-18 for Midweek Advent 3

John 1:14-18

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Moses saw some amazing, glorious things during his lifetime. It began when he was an 80-year-old shepherd for his father-in-law. Moses saw and talked with God at the bush that burned but wasn’t consumed (Ex. 3:1-2). When Moses approached the bush, God told him to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground (Ex. 3:5), so Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. Rightly so.

Later, as we heard in tonight’s Old Testament reading (Ex. 33:18-34:8), Moses got a lot bolder than he was back at the burning bush. He asked to see God’s glory. God agreed but with a big caveat. “Ok, Moses, I’ll let you see all My goodness and will proclaim My name, Yahweh, before you. But you cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.” In short, God’s presence is dangerous for fallen mankind. God has to hide His glory from sinners. So, God put Moses in the cleft of a rock and shielded Moses with His hand. And God only removed His hand after He had passed by so Moses could see His back.

There in the cleft of the mountain, God revealed Himself. But even better than that, God proclaimed and defined what His name means, “Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Moses was the only human on the mountain when he saw God’s glory (Ex. 34:3) because God had something better in mind for how to reveal Himself to His people.

Shortly after God appeared to Moses, God’s people constructed the Tabernacle. God had told them build the Tabernacle so He could dwell among them (Ex. 29:45-46; Lev. 26:11-12). God needed to contain His holiness and glory in a way that His people could approach Him without being destroyed. That is why the Tabernacle was constructed the way it was. For God to dwell among His people, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the blood, the incense, and all sorts of offerings were required.

Even with all the safeguards of the Tabernacle, it was only on one day out of the year, the Day of Atonement, that the high priest, and only the high priest, could enter the Holy of Holies where God dwelled. And even then, the high priest would have to change his clothes fourteen times, wash himself almost 10 times, and offer dozens of sacrifices to safely approach the awesome, holy glory of God. That’s the theology of the Tabernacle. Yes, God wanted to dwell with His people, but they needed protection from His holiness and glory so they wouldn’t be consumed.

But now, here in John 1:14, John says, “the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.” Now, the Greek word translated ‘dwelt’ is skēnē, which literally means ‘tabernacled.’ “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Because of this fact, we can truthfully sing, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; / Hail th’ incarnate Deity, / Pleased as Man with man to dwell; / Jesus, our Immanuel.” And this is the wonder of all wonders.

The Incarnation, the fact that God became one of us, is how God reveals Himself and His glory to us. Yes, God wraps Himself in flesh, but He wraps Himself in a different way than how you use wrapping paper. When you wrap your gifts, you are trying to keep the gift a secret from the person you are giving it to until he or she opens it. Once they tear the wrapping paper off the gift, the gift isn’t a secret anymore. The Incarnation isn’t like that – it isn’t a secret. Instead, it’s a mystery. And the difference between a secret and a mystery is that a secret is no longer a secret once it is revealed. A mystery is different. A mystery remains a mystery even after it is revealed, and the more you think about a mystery the more mysterious it becomes.

The Eternal Word wraps Himself in flesh so He can tabernacle and dwell with you. In Col. 2:9, Scripture says, “In [Christ] the whole fullness of the Deity dwells bodily.” Jesus does this so you can see and behold His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. And this Eternal Word who tabernacles with you is full of grace and truth.

Back in our Old Testament reading, God proclaimed that He is the God who abounds “in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Without getting into too much grammar and vocabulary stuff, that is very phrase – ‘steadfast love and faithfulness’ – that John is picking up when he says that Jesus is “full of grace and truth.” But notice the difference here in Jn. 1. Jesus doesn’t just proclaim that He abounds in grace and truth like He did when Moses was safely nestled in the cleft of the rock. No. Now in Christ, God reveals it.

The Eternal Word humbled and emptied Himself by being born in the likeness of men. God came in human form and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Php. 2:8). And from the fullness of Christ’s grace and truth, you receive grace on top of grace (Jn. 1:16).

Dear saints, Jesus makes God known. He reveals what God thinks of you. He gives you His grace, and on top of that, He gives you more grace, and more grace, and more grace…

I want to close these Advent services pondering that:

In our normal, human lives, growing up and maturing is a gradual shift from dependence to independence. When you’re born you are totally dependent on others doing things for you – feeding, cleaning, clothing, sheltering, protecting, etc. And as you grow, you become more independent. You don’t need others as much because you can do it yourself.

Spiritual growth is the opposite. Growing and maturing in faith is becoming more and more like a child (Mt. 18:3-4). Being a stronger Christian is learning that you are needy, learning that you need to borrow all that you are and all that you have from Jesus. Dependent upon Him, you receive grace upon grace from His fullness. That is how you mature as a believer. You receive from Him more and more.

That is precisely why the Eternal Word became flesh. He did it so He could dwell with you. So He could live for you. So He could die for you. So He could rise again for you. So He could ascend into heaven and rule over all creation for you. So He could forgive you. So He could give you His mercy. So He can give you grace upon grace. And so you could live and reign forever and ever with Him. Amen.

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

The Word & Children of God – Sermon on John 1:6-13 for Midweek Advent 2

John 1:6-13

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

These verses make the Advent and Christmas seasons feel like the coming of Spring. And I know we just had our first major snowstorm. We’re currently in meteorological Winter, but astronomical Winter is still eleven days away. Daylight keeps getting shorter. I get it. But even though the coldest days of winter are, probably, still ahead of us, this text fills our sanctuary with a hint of Spring. Can you smell it?

Jesus, the Eternal Word, was there at the beginning of creation with God and as God. All things were created through Christ. In Jesus was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. That Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus, the true Light has arrived, not as a conqueror from a far, distant country, but to rescue you from the darkness of death. The winter of sin is passing. Jesus, the Word made flesh, has come. And the Life that Christ brings is budding all around you even now. Dear saints, because Jesus has come, you now live in the never-ending Spring of the new creation (2 Co. 5:7).

John the Baptizer came as a herald to point to Christ, the Light. John was there calling everyone into Jesus’ Light. But then, when the Light burst through the darkness to shine on everyone, many sank further into the shadows (Jn. 1:10-11). And sadly, this is still too often the case. The Light can be rejected. In Jn. 3:19-20, we learn why it is rejected, “Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Light reveals the things hidden in darkness. That’s why, when Jesus came as Light, it seemed to many as though judgment had come. But Jesus was not sent into the world to judge the world. No. He came in order that the world would be saved through Him (Jn. 3:17). Jesus came to give Light to the world, to take away sin, and to give eternal life. But His coming felt like judgment because His presence exposes the darkness and filthiness of sinners. In the Light of Christ, there is no hiding. So, the Light is a threat to the will and the way of every sinner. That’s why sinners hate and reject the Light. Even though the darkness cannot overcome the Light (Jn. 1:5), people can love and choose the darkness instead of receiving the Light (Jn. 1:11).

But to all who did receive the Light, to all who believed in His Name, He gave the right and the authority to become children of God (Jn. 1:12). That’s you, dear saints. You, believer. You are rightfully children of God through faith in Christ. And this idea of being God’s child here in Jn. 1 is so rich and unique. But first, we need to recognize what that phrase ‘children of God’ doesn’t mean – at least not in these verses.

The Bible does talk about all humanity being children of God by virtue of our creation. Because Adam was created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), he is called the son of God – lowercase ‘s’ (Lk. 3:38). Since your first ancestor is God’s son, you also are a child of God. Malachi 2:10 says that since God created us, He is everyone’s Father. In Act. 17:28-29, Paul says that all people are God’s offspring. So, yes, we are God’s children by virtue of creation. The Bible does teach that. But we have a severe problem if that’s the only kind of childhood we have because our sin has totally and completely alienated us from God. It isn’t a stretch to say that we divorced ourselves from Him by our sin. So, being God’s child by virtue of creation is not the childhood John has in mind here.

Better than the childhood that comes by virtue of your creation is the fact that the eternal Son of God took on flesh and became one of you. So, Moses in our Old Testament reading (Dt. 18:15-19) could rightly prophesy that God would raise up a prophet like him “from among you, from your brothers.” By virtue of Jesus’ incarnation, He has become your Brother. Since Jesus is your brother, you share a Father with Him, which means that you are a child of God. And this is amazing news that we will be pondering for all eternity. But even as wonderful as that is, it still isn’t the kind of childhood that John talks about here.

Dear saints, here John says that you are a child of God by virtue of a birth. None of us here can say that we chose to be born. You didn’t cause your birth or make it happen. In the same way, it isn’t your will, or the will of any other human, that causes you to be born of God. James 1:18 says this plainly, “Of [God’s] own will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (also 1 Pet. 1:23).

So, John is not talking here about a physical birth. It wasn’t anything that nature can accomplish. It’s a miraculous birth that God Himself brings about by the means that He has established. And Jesus teaches about this birth in Jn. 3 when He sheds His Light as He talks with Nicodemus at night. It is a birth that comes from above (Jn. 3:3). It is a birth of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:5). It is your birth that God has given you through your Baptism. That kind of birth from and of God is solid and sure. God Himself caused it. It’s His action, His working, His doing (Jn. 15:16, 19) that has made you His child.

The Light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world, and because of what Jesus has done by His death and resurrection, you are born as God’s own child.

Dear saints, again, can you smell it? The winter of sin and death is passing away. The never-ending Spring of the new creation has dawned in Christ. As His Light shines on you now, receive it again. Let it expose and scatter the shadows in and around you. Always cling to the sonship that you have been given. You are God’s child. And in the Spring of Light that He has brought, you will bloom forever in His unending grace and mercy. Amen.

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

The Word, the Light, & the Darkness – Sermon on John 1:1-5 for Midweek Advent 1

John 1:1-5

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Texts like this are one of many reasons why I’ll never attempt to create a chronological Bible reading plan. I’m familiar with several of those plans, but none of the ones I’ve seen have these verses from the opening of John’s Gospel anywhere near Genesis 1. And they should be. Parts of these verses are chronologically before the beginning. But I don’t know how exactly how a person could decide where to put them. You have Gen. 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” and Jn. 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Which of those should come first? How do you order those? Would you put them parallel to each other? I don’t know. There are valid arguments to go either way.

Then, what do you do with v. 3-5? I suppose you could put v. 3-4 after the, “and there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Gen. 1:31). But then, what do you do with v. 5, “The light shines in the darkness”? You might consider putting that back on the first day of creation when God creates light and separates light from dark. But ‘the Light’ there doesn’t refer to light as we know it. There, ‘Light’ refers to Jesus Himself, and He existed even before God said, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). On top of that, “The light shines in the darkness,” is present tense and is always true. Jesus constantly, continually, always shines into and pierces the darkness, and He will never be overcome. So, maybe you’d need to put v. 5 running down the margin of every single page from Genesis to Revelation.

John 1:5 is so comforting. It’s a verse that I would recommend that you tuck in your back pocket so you can contemplate and meditate on it whenever you get the sense that the darkness of this world is gaining the upper hand. It isn’t. Not now. Not ever. The darkness will never win. It can’t. Use Jn. 1:5 to constantly remind yourself, “Jesus is my Life and Light. No darkness will ever overcome Him, so no darkness will overcome me. The darkness simply isn’t strong enough.” Isn’t that a wonderful, comforting thought?

The reason no darkness can overcome Jesus is that He is eternal. There was never a time when He was not. In fact, time itself exists through and because of Him. He created time and everything else that has been made. Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was not His beginning. He always is. Notice it’s not, “He always was” but is (Jn. 8:58; Ex. 3:14).

Look again at our Old Testament reading (Pr. 8:22-31). Jesus, the Word and Wisdom God, is there before the beginning of the earth (Pr. 8:22-23). He was there before the depths were carved. He was there before the mountains were stretched into the sky. He was there before the stars were placed into their orbits and before the foundations of the earth were laid (Pr. 8:24-29). Jesus was right there beside God the Father like a master craftsman (Pr. 8:30). Jesus Himself was the Word that God that the Father spoke and which gave shape and order and beauty to all of creation. And notice the joyful exchange between God the Father and God the Son at the end of that text. God the Son says, “I was daily [the Father’s] delight,” and, “[I was] always rejoicing before [the Father]” (Pr. 8:30).

Jesus delighted in all of God’s creation. But He especially found delight in the crown of God’s creation – the children of man (Pr. 8:31). Just stop and think of that. Do you ever think of yourself as Jesus’ delight and source of joy? You should! Imagine Jesus watching over God the Father’s shoulder as Adam is being formed from the dust of the ground. He stares in amazed joy as God shapes him and uses Adam’s rib to make Eve. And even now, Jesus delights as God knits together every subsequent human who has ever been born – including you (Ps. 139:13-15).

Jesus, the eternal Son of God and God’s life-giving Word, delights in you to the extent that He can’t stand the thought of you being severed from Him. Whenever we sin, we start walking away from God’s Light and into darkness. That is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14). (We’ll cover that verse in a couple weeks. And I hope I’m not preaching myself into a corner here.) God became flesh for you.

Jesus’ delight in you is so great that even though He was God, He became one of you. He took on your flesh. Now, because of the incarnation, part of God’s nature is that He has a human body. Even though Jesus is true God, He doesn’t refuse to endure the same things that you experience as a human. Jesus got hungry and thirsty. He became tired and weary. Jesus prayed to His Father when He was in danger. 

As God, Jesus is always feeding everyone everywhere in the world. But as a human Infant, Jesus nursed from Mary’s breast and was fed from Joseph’s hand. As God, Jesus never needs to sleep. But as a Man, He sleeps on a pillow in the stern of a boat during a storm (Mk. 4:38). As God, Jesus is the commanding General of all the angel armies. But as a Man, Jesus was strengthened by an angel (Lk. 22:43-44). As God, Jesus put into place the entire starry height of planets, stars, and galaxies. But as a Man, Jesus’ Body is nailed to a block of wood in the shape of a cross. As God, Jesus gives life to all. But as a Man, Jesus’ side was pierced by a spear. Jesus is the One who raises the dead, but He was laid in a tomb for you.

Dear saints, the eternal Word of God – begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God – came down from heaven and was made Man. He did all of this for you. He did this to give you Life and Light. He did this because you are His delight. He will not let the darkness overcome you. And He will bring you to Himself in His eternal city where there will be no more night or darkness. He is and will always be your Light, and through faith you will reign with Him forever and ever (Rev. 21:22-22:5). Amen.

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

Telos (Why We Exist) – Sermon on Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 for Midweek Lent 5

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 111:10, 73:24-26, 19:14; Ecclesiastes 12:1-14; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; and John 6:28-29.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Throughout your life you will have different goals at different times. When you return home from the grocery store, your goal is to bring all the groceries into the house. And even that goal gets subdivided. You have to get everything that needs to go in the refrigerator or freezer or cupboards in their proper places. At work, you have different goals. You have to finish that task, talk to that client, meet that deadline. In school, your goal might be to finish that assignment, read that chapter, and study for the test or quiz. After you eat, the goal is to put all the leftovers away, do the dishes, and tidy up.

When I started this Lenten series, I had a goal of introducing you to Ecclesiastes and the Holy Spirit-inspired wisdom contained in it. The goal was never to exhaust and cover everything there is to learn from the book. Now that we’re in our final week of it, I’ve done the best I could to give you a taste. The thing about goals on this side of eternity is that there’s always more to do – more things to be completed, more tasks to be done, more goals to reach.

Hopefully through this series, you’ve seen some of the ways that God delivers joy – both in your work and in your leisure. This life is fleeting. It’s like a breath – not ‘vain,’ as it’s often translated. Life like a breath. It’s here one moment and gone the next, and you can’t put the various moments of life in your pocket only to deal with them when you decide. So, take the moments God gives you to work and let your goal be to do what God gives you to do. Take the moments God gives you leisure and let your goal be to enjoy His blessings.

Tonight, we come to the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about “the end of the matter” (Ecc. 12:13). He says, “Everything has been heard,” and this is the conclusion, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is (lit.) the all of man” [sic.].

The Greek translation of that phrase, “the end of the matter,” uses a word that is really useful (and that I would like to popularize). The word is ‘telos.’ It’s the final thing Jesus says on the cross when He cries out, “It is finished”(Jn. 19:30). The word ‘telos’ simply means ‘the end, the purpose, or the goal.’ An Olympic athlete’s telos would be to win a gold medal. To reach or attain that telos, that athlete is going to work really, really hard. They’re going to train hard, eat right, get enough rest, and all the other things that an athlete needs to do to reach that telos of winning a gold medal.

Throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon described all the different ways he tried to find joy, the ways he tried to find pleasure, the ways he tried to find fulfillment, but those things did not give him joy because simply squeezing pleasure out of life isn’t why God created him or you. Accumulating pleasure isn’t the telos of mankind. Instead, the end goal, the purpose of life, the reason you exist, your telos is 1) to fear God and 2) to keep, guard, or observe His commandments. Without that, you are not what God intended you to be. You might have some fleeting, pleasurable experiences along the way, but those pleasures won’t last because they can’t, not without the fear of God.

Now, when the Bible talks about ‘fearing God,’ it is often a synonym for faith, for rightly believing and trusting in God. A right fear of God is to believe that what God has said is good and right and true. To fear God is to believe that God is the One who will judge us for what we have done. To fear God is to believe that God is working on us to make us what He wants us to be.

But we sinners didn’t want that. Instead of fearing and believing God, we chose our own way. We decided to rebel against Him. We decided to try to be more than God’s creatures. We tried to be like God. In that sinful idolatry, we broke God’s good creation. The good news is that God did not leave us in that brokenness. Instead, He sent Jesus to be our Redeemer and atone for the sin of the world. God gave His only begotten Son to bring us back into harmony with Him and with creation. And the Holy Spirit now uses God’s Word to make us holy. He continues to shape us into Christ’s image. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us on the way to our telos, to be God’s creatures. In other words, He brings us back into alignment with what God had intended for us from the beginning of creation.

Your telos is that God wants you to receive from His hand all the blessings that He gives to you and to receive those things with a good, right, clean conscience. That’s the summary of the book of Ecclesiastes and, ultimately, all of Scripture.

Look at our Gospel reading (Jn. 6:28-29) again. The crowd who had eaten their fill of the five loaves and two fish asks Jesus, “What must we do to be doing (or ‘working’) the works of God?” They want to know the things that God requires of them so that they can do those things and please God. But Jesus’ answer isn’t a long list of things for them to do. Instead, it’s singular. Jesus says that there is only one work of God. That one work of God is to believe in Jesus whom He has sent (Jn. 6:29). And that work is something that God does.

Faith is God’s gift. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

So, when Solomon says here that the telos of humanity is to fear God and keep His commandments, he is saying nothing more than what Jesus says. To be doing the work that God wants us to do is to believe in Jesus, and receive what God gives us. We hear from God’s Word, and we believe as the Holy Spirit works faith within us. This, and only this, makes us right with God and with God’s creation. 1 John 3:23 says, “This is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He has commanded us.”

Dear saints, your telos, your goal, your purpose is nothing more than to 1) believe in Christ and 2) to open your hands to receive everything else God gives you.

The only way to reach your telos and be rightly ordered is to believe and trust that Jesus has redeemed you. Next week, Holy Week, we will hear how He has paid the price for all of your sins. You will hear how He can rightly and justly remove you sins from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12). Only Jesus can make you righteous before God. And Jesus then sends you back into the world so you can live righteous in relation to the rest of creation as you order your life according to God’s will as it is expressed in the Ten Commandments.

Through faith in God’s goodness, fully and freely given to you in Jesus, you reach your telos. Through faith in Christ, you are exactly what God intended you to be, rightly oriented toward your Creator and toward the rest of His creation. Amen.

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

The Joy of Life with a Clean Conscience – Sermon on Ecclesiastes 9:1-10a for Midweek Lent 4

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 32:1-5, 11; Ecclesiastes 9:1-10a; Titus 3:3-7; and John 10:7-10.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I know we’re making a big jump forward in the book of Ecclesiastes. Last week was Ecc. 3 and we’re leaping all the way to Ecc. 9. But the wisdom here in Ecc. 9 continues what we covered last week. Again, to briefly recap from last week, God makes all things beautiful (‘pleasant, right, fitting’) in their given time (Ecc. 3:11). In last week’s sermon, I intended to spend a little time on what we had in last week’s Gospel reading (Mk. 12:41-44) about the widow and her offering. I didn’t get to it last week. I know it isn’t in front of you tonight, but that text sets up tonight very well.

Jesus and His disciples go to the Temple. The impression Mark gives is that they basically go there to watch people put their offering into the box. A widow comes and puts in two small copper coins, and Jesus says that widow put in more than everyone else because she put in everything she had to live on (Mk. 12:44).

Normally, those two copper coins wouldn’t catch anyone’s attention. They were the lowest valued coins used in Jesus’ day. Each of them was just over a half inch in diameter, and they aren’t even as pleasant-looking as our pennies today. They didn’t have a person’s profile stamped on them, just a simple design. (If you’re interested in seeing what they looked like, I can show you a picture of them after the service.) Those coins aren’t flashy and made of gold or silver. They were just a couple slivers of copper. But even though those coins weren’t anything to look at, they became beautiful in their time as the widow put them in to offering box.

Again, everything is beautiful, pleasant, right, fitting in its proper time time (Ecc. 3:11-12). The fact that everything is beautiful in its time sets up these verses tonight. Christian, this text is the key to unlock a life filled with joy.

Look again at Ecc. 9:7, “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart (or that could be translated ‘a good conscience’), for God has already approved what you do.” Does anything about that verse surprise you? “God has already approved what you do” (or ‘your works’). Christian, this is only true for you who have a cleansed conscience (Heb. 9:14). This is not the case for unbelievers. They do not have a pure or cleansed conscience. They do not have God’s approval. Only those who have faith in Christ have God’s approval. As our Psalm said, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Ps. 32:1-2).

Christian you are blessed because, when the goodness and loving kindness of God your Savior appeared, He saved you, not because of your works, but according to His own mercy as He washed you in holy Baptism and renewed you by the Holy Spirit. Now, justified by that grace of God, you are an heir of God (Tit. 3:3-7). 

Dear saints, you are part of the royal family of God and an heir of all that belongs to God, which is… everything! And as heirs, you receive all the royal gifts that God gives, and those gifts are 1) your work and 2) your leisure. This verse (Ecc. 9:7) is an application of Ro. 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” So, “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved your works.”

Dear saints in Christ, God approves of your work even before you start doing it. Back in college, I had a good friend who was always stressed, always trying to figure out God’s will for his life. He wanted to make sure he was pursuing a career that would be pleasing to God. But if an opportunity didn’t open up right away, he would get frustrated and try another thing and another thing and another. Every time he’d switch paths, he had to start from scratch – new schooling, new training, new job, etc. It was hard to watch. Sadly, I didn’t understand this verse well enough to tell him, “Look, buddy. You are in Christ. You belong to Him. You are His child and His heir. God already approves what you do.” Since I couldn’t tell him this back then, I’m telling you now.

You don’t need work that is more meaningful or prestigious or powerful. You don’t need to seek out some secret plan God hasn’t revealed to you. God isn’t up in heaven watching your every step and throwing up His hands in frustration when you miss some imaginary, unmarked path that He’s set out for you. No! Whatever God puts in front of you to do, do it. Do it, and know that God approves of it, or He wouldn’t have given you that opportunity in the first place. Also know that, in Christ, God absolves, He forgives, He wipes away any of your failures you will commit in that work even before you begin it because He already approves what you do. In other words, the stakes are really, really low!

Creation doesn’t hang on how well you do your work. So, no. You don’t need to be stressed out all the time trying to figure out God’s secret will or plan for your life. God’s will for you is that you do the thing He gives you to do. And know that He is already pleased with your work, even before you begin it. This fact gives you joy as you work and as you have those God-given moments of leisure.

Moving on to Ecc. 9:8, “Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.” This isn’t literal. It isn’t as though God is giving you a dress code and a grooming routine. Think of it this way: generally, when do people wear white garments? Usually, at some festive celebration. Brides wear white on their wedding day. White is the color of joy and celebration. The same thing is true for oil on your head. You can think of this as perfume. When would a woman put on her special perfume, or when would a man put on expensive cologne? Only on special occasions. Especially in Solomon’s days, you’d wear white and don special perfume at the high points of life.

Here Solomon says, “Go ahead. Let your garments always be white and wear perfume. Don’t just wait for special occasions to rejoice. Treat each day – whether you’re working, eating, or drinking – as a reason to rejoice.” Or, at Paul puts it, “Rejoice always” (Php. 4:4; 1 Th. 5:16). Because of the forgiveness you have in Christ, every moment (whether you’re working or relaxing or celebrating something) it’s all a time to rejoice.

And Ecc. 9:9, “Enjoy life with the wife (you can think ‘spouse’) whom you love, all the days of your [not ‘vain’ but] fleeting life.” When you enjoy something by yourself, that’s good. But it’s even better to enjoy the blessings of this life with the one you love. Beauty and joy are multiplied by sharing them with someone else. Shared enjoyment is enhanced enjoyment. 

Finally, Ecc. 9:10a, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Whatever God gives you to do today, right now, is worth doing with all your might. Give it all you’ve got. Go full-throttle. Do it with enthusiasm and gusto. It’s energizing to be around people who have a zest for living. That enthusiasm is infectious – in a good way. When people complain and whine and slack off, it drags everyone down to their level of misery. But when even one person enjoys what they’re doing, it spreads.

All of this joy that comes from eating and drinking, from constantly celebrating, from enjoying life with your spouse, and from working zealously – it can only come from a good conscience.

You have that, believer. Dear saints, God has forgiven you in Christ. God-given joy comes from being given a merry heart which, again, could be translated as a ‘clean’ or ‘good conscience.’ This clean conscience comes only from your Savior, Jesus Christ. And in Christ, God already approves your works because He approves of and delights in you. That confidence is your joy. Amen.

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

Beautiful Time – Sermon on Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, 22 for Midweek Lent 3

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 31:14-15; 145:17-19; 16:7-8; Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, 22; 1 Timothy 6:6-11; and Mark 12:41-44.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Last week, we heard how God gives us Christians joy in this life in two simple things. He gives us joy in our leisure or in our eating and drinking; and He gives us joy in our work – not from our work but in our work (Ecc. 2:24). Scripture is clear, you won’t to find enjoyment in the fruit of your work by getting money that buys you things. That won’t work. Instead, you are to find enjoyment in the work God gives you to do. Your work and the effort you expend on all your God-given tasks is a gift from God’s hand. There is goodness and joy in you doing that work. If you didn’t hear that sermon from last week, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to it.

Tonight, as we consider this portion of Ecc. 3, I’d like to pick up our thinking with some words that you heard last week, but you need to hear them again because they set up these verses which, probably, are more familiar to you – even if it’s only because of the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” by The Byrds.

Ecclesiastes 2 closed with these words, “[T]o the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God” (Ecc. 2:26). This is an amazing thing for God to say, and you have to have this clear in your mind. You, Christian, are one who pleases God. You please God because Christ has forgiven you and made you His child and because the Holy Spirit has made you holy. But to the sinner (and, yes, we are all sinners in a general sense, but ‘the sinner’ here refers to who is one who does not have faith in Christ’s forgiveness) to the sinner God has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give what’s been gathered and collected to one who pleases God.

In short, people who aren’t Christians only gather and collect, but they don’t get to keep anything. People who aren’t Christians are always working to try and get some future joy that they will never achieve or attain because they try to find joy apart from God. So, they can’t enjoy either their work or their leisure.

There are really wealthy unbelievers who have a lot more than any of us here have. Dear saints, you are far better off than the richest people you can think of if they aren’t a Christian. Just because they have all that stuff doesn’t mean they are able to enjoy it. They might have a house with way more rooms than your house has, but they – just like you – can only be in one room at a time.

That’s where Ecc. 3 comes in. The simple fact is that we creatures of God are only given one moment at a time. Time comes to us moment by moment. Just as you can’t cling to those moments and make them stay, you also cannot reach out and grab future moments to make them come sooner. They only come in God’s timing.

Solomon summarizes this in v. 11 saying, “[God] has made everything beautiful (or ‘pleasant, right, fitting’) in its time.” Each moment is beautiful in the time that God gives it. And notice, that also means when something is outside of that time, it’s no longer beautiful, pleasant, enjoyable.

In that little poem that opens Ecc. 3, Solomon gives sixteen pairs of opposites: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; and so forth. Those pairs encompass everything in life, but to make sure that point gets across, the Holy Spirit inspired Solomon to preface all those pairs with, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter (or ‘activity’) under heaven.” So, you could add anything to this list.

There’s a time to drive a car, and a time to be chauffeured everywhere. There’s a time to be active and play sports, and a time to sit and watch sports. There’s a time to make a grocery list, a time to go fill up your shopping cart, a time to prepare food, a time to enjoy the food, and a time to clean everything up. Everything you do has a time to do it, and the time to do it is when that thing is before you to do.

Again, this sounds so simple, but think of how many people do not realize this and hijack and sabotage their joy by trying to live in moments that aren’t given to them. God gives a season to be a child and play with dolls or Lego’s and be joyful as a child. But children want to be older, get their driver’s license, and be independent. The young want to be older instead of enjoying the joy of childhood. You’ve heard the saying, “Youth is wasted on the young”? There is some truth to that. But what might be even sadder is when adults try to clutch and hang on to their youth and long-gone ‘glory’ days. We all easily fall into the trap of not having joy in the season of life that God has given.

Parents long for the days when their children can cut their own food and clean themselves and do some chores. Then, when the kids become teenagers and let their parents know how much they hate doing the chores, a parent longs for the former days of diapers, baths, and mushed peas.

Again, the problem is, when you try to find your joy in the future or in the past, you rob yourself of the beauty and joy of the present moment. But God makes everything beautiful (or ‘fitting’) in its time and in the season in which God gives it.

Imagine you’re on a camping trip in late August. The sun has set; you’re zipping up your tent and climbing into your sleeping bag. Suddenly, a massive fireworks show starts. You’d probably be fairly perturbed. It’s not the time for fireworks. But if you’re camping on the 4th of July, you’d disappointed if there wasn’t fireworks. You see? The fireworks aren’t the problem in August, it’s the timing. Or try this, if one of you right now started pitching a tent here in the sanctuary and rolling out a sleeping bag, we’d all look at you like you’re a crazy person because you would be. Same thing – it isn’t the tent that’s the problem, it’s the timing. Firework shows, tents, and sleeping bags are all fine and good and right and enjoyable – in their proper time. Which leads me to this…

Right now, dear saints, God has given us the moments that are mentioned in Ecc. 3:4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. And we’re going to be bouncing back and forth in those. With Jesus (Jn. 11:35), we weep because of the passing of our sister, Ros. We miss her. Rightly so. And as we weep, we share memories and laugh and mourn and weep again. And in the midst of that, we can dance because we know that she is with Jesus and we will see her again.

All of that leads me to the other part of v. 11. Hear it again, “[God] has put eternity into man’s heart.” This phrase is difficult to understand, but try this: We humans have a capacity that other creatures don’t have. 1) We can remember the past, and 2) we can anticipate the future. But those abilities can be dangerous if we use them for the wrong reasons. God allows us to remember the past so we can give thanks to Him for it. And God allows us to anticipate the future so we can have hope for what lies ahead.

Even though you can’t hold on to a moment. It’s here one second and gone the next. But God has given you memory. What the Holy Spirit wants you to do with that gift of memory is to use it to thank God for what He has done and given. Even though you can’t reach into the future and force those moments to come sooner, God has given you the capacity to anticipate the future. And the Holy Spirit wants you to use that gift so you can have hope, which is a good thing.

In other words, you can remember the past and be thankful. You can anticipate the future so you can have hope. But Ecclesiastes is clear. You can’t have joy either in the past or in the future. Joy is only given in each present moment, and God makes those moments beautiful in their times.

So, dear saints, receive the beauty and joy in every moment God gives you. When you have past joys, thank God for that gift, but don’t try to go back because you can’t, and you’ll miss the beautiful moment now. Don’t try to pull the future into the present. Don’t do that first, because you can’t. But also, don’t do it because that moment hasn’t ripened yet. Leave the future in God’s good and generous hands so He can deliver those gifts to you in the right, beautiful time.

Finally, dear saints, let the beauty and the joy that God gives in each moment give you a hunger and a hope for the eternal joy that God has promised to give you. What a joy that will be. Amen.

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

Life’s Sacred Rhythm – Sermon on Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 for Midweek Lent 2

The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 127:1-2, 104:24-25, 29-30; Ecclesiastes 2:18-26; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; and Matthew 11:25-30.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

How you talk matters. The words you use shape how you and others think. You can call a house “small” or “cozy. Someone who has lived several more decades than you might be “over the hill” or have “a lot of life experience.”

Think about the words you use for eating. You eat many different things of many different qualities for many different reasons, and the language you use reflects that. You might “have a snack” of carrots and hummus. You might “treat yourself” to a candy bar or a bowl of ice cream. You might “pig out” and eat an entire bag of chips. All of that language refers to eating. But the purpose or result of eating is always the same. Eating gives your body calories and fuel to function.

At Thanksgiving, Christmas, or when grandma makes her pot roast for your extended family, it’s “a feast.” Everything tastes wonderful, there’s more than enough for everyone, and it is great to be at a table with people you love. Now, is the food you eat at that feast going to give your body the energy and fuel that it needs to function? Yes, of course. Again that’s the purpose of eating. But when you thank grandma for all of her work preparing that meal, are you going to use words and phrases only reflect that? “Grandmother, you have given my body the calories I need to live”? Of course not! You’ll say, “Grandma, what a tremendous, tasty feast!”

Tonight’s verses from Ecclesiastes focus on our work. How we talk about work matters. You might talk about your “job” or your “work.” Both of those terms can be fairly neutral. But you might also use the word “job’ in a negative sense. “This is my job, but I don’t want it to be my career” because that shows a lot more commitment. You might refer to your work as “the daily grind” or “my 9-5.” Those types of phrases make your work sound like toil.

One of the Hebrew words for ‘work’ (there are several of them) comes up ten times in the text. And, to it’s credit, our translation is quite consistent in how that word is translated – 9 of the 10 times that word occurs, it’s translated as ‘toil’ and one time (in v. 20) it translates it as ‘labor.’ But do the words ‘toil’ and ‘labor’ have a good or a bad connotation in your mind? Probably bad. The word ‘toil’ probably puts an image of a witch stirring pot of glowing green stuff over a fire, “Double, double, toil and trouble.” And ‘labor’ might make you think about being sentenced to decades of difficult life in Siberia. But the Hebrew word simply refers to putting effort into something. Exerting effort isn’t a bad thing. All sorts of things we enjoy require effort.

Maybe some of you went outside close to 2:00 AM this past Friday to see the ‘blood moon’ eclipse. That required effort, both to get out of bed at that time (or to stay up that late) and then to push through the next day. Baking, gardening, knitting, reading a good book, playing an instrument, camping, jogging, cheering your favorite sports team – all of those things require degrees of effort. Everything you do requires effort – even sleep.

With that simpler meaning of the word that gets translated as ‘toil,’ I want you to follow along as I slightly rephrase v. 21, “Sometimes, a person puts in effort that requires wisdom and knowledge and skill, [but] must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not put in any effort for it. This is breath [vanity] and a great evil.”

Sticking with food analogies: imagine that you’ve spent hours of effort making a brisket, prime rib, or turkey. It’s cooked and is just resting on the kitchen counter before you serve it so you don’t lose all the juices. But you leave the kitchen for a minute only to come back and find that Fido has devoured the whole thing. This is, indeed, a great evil. All your effort and toil has become like a breath that’s instantly vanished.

Are there times when your work and effort is wasted and done in vain? Sure, of course. But that isn’t always the case. It doesn’t mean that all your work and all your effort is vain, meaningless, and evil toil. Not at all! Look again at v. 24-25. These are the verses we’ll focus on for the rest of the sermon because, in them, Solomon gives us one of the ingredients for a life that is filled with God-given joy. “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the effort he expends. I saw that this [joy] is from the hand of God, for apart from God, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”

This is so beautiful and comforting. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Solomon wisely tells us how to find joy in life. Joy comes from eating and drinking and finding enjoyment in your effort. This is God’s design. It is the holy, sacred rhythm of your life. God gives you moments when you need to work, sweat, and strive with all your strength. Then, God gives moments when you live quietly. The point Solomon is making here is there is joy in both (1 Thes. 4:11). 

Notice especially that Solomon says that joy comes in your effort. This is so simple, but it’s the opposite of how we often think. We think that we work and work and work to get a paycheck. Then, we take that paycheck and use it to buy things that we think we will enjoy. In that perspective, we enjoy the things that come from the work we did, but not the work itself. What that does is it makes our work a sort of punishment, a penance or purgatory, that we have to endure to eventually, maybe, get enjoyment. Our typical mindset that we work to get something from our work that we hope will bring us happiness. But it doesn’t bring happiness.

Through all of ch. 2 prior to this text, Solomon talked about all the wealth and stuff he accumulated in an attempt to find joy. He had more than we can even imagine, but Solomon says that those things didn’t bring him joy or satisfaction. Solomon even tried saving for the future, but it didn’t bring joy because you can’t enjoy the future. The future isn’t here. You can only enjoy today, this present moment.

Solomon’s correction for us, and the wisdom he gives us is that we are not to work so we can get joy from our effort; instead, find enjoyment in our effort. That’s a big difference. God gives us work to do, and He wants us to find enjoyment in the work – not from it, but in it. A more literal translation from the Hebrew of v. 24 goes like this, “eat and drink and see in your soul the good in your effort.” In other words, open your eyes and see the good in all the things where you spend your effort and work because that work is given to you by God’s own hand.

I remember being in school and thinking about all sorts of subjects, “What’s the point of all this? When will I ever use this information?” Do you see how that orients things? It assumes there can only be a benefit in the future, which, again, isn’t ours to control.

Christian, is it true that God is in control and directs all things? Yes, “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Act. 17:28). And is God good? Yes. So, if God has put you in a classroom where the teacher wants you to be able to locate Djibouti on a map, calculate the volume of a sphere, diagram a sentence, or identify the parts of a flower – your loving, heavenly Father has given you that task from His good hand. The effort you spend on that task is good. Your opinion of the importance of any task is irrelevant. God is the One who put that task in front of you. And because He is good, that task and the effort you spend on it is good. This is true for all your efforts. It includes your job, the ways you serve your parents and family, the ways you volunteer, your prayers, etc. Seeing your tasks, whatever they are, is a gift from God’s hand, and recognizing that will give you joy.

And God doesn’t only give you work and tasks. He also blesses you with the leisure of eating and drinking. This is how God has ordered and established the rhythm of creation. The God-given rhythm of your life is work and eat and drink, you can think of this as having time to enjoy the gifts God gives you. Have a little leisure and enjoy God’s gifts. Get a bit of sleep. And wake up again and go, enjoy your work. Again, this might sound simple or even naive, but this is what the Bible gives us to find joy in. This is all a gift of God.

Finally, dear saints, notice who receives this wisdom and knowledge and joy. Your told who in v. 26. This joy is given to the one who pleases God.

And you are pleasing to God because Christ has removed all of your guilt. In Jesus, God absolves your sins by His death and resurrection. Jesus is your Savior so you can have joy in your work and in your leisure. This is the kind of rest Jesus talked about in our Gospel reading. Christ places His easy yoke and light burden upon you. In Him, and in Him alone, you find rest and joy for your soul (Mt. 11:28-30). Amen.

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