Tag Archives: Easter 4

Holy Hope – Sermon on 1 John 3:1-3 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

1 John 3:1-3

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

At some point every child learns that plants come from seeds. I can’t tell you exactly when I learned it, but I must have been very young. When I was four years old, my friends and I had epic watermelon seed fights at Blue Dog Lake near Waubay, SD. We’d take a big ol’ bite and spit the seeds at each other like tiny black bullets. A grandpa who was there warned me, “Don’t swallow one of those seeds or a watermelon plant will grow out of your stomach!” Of course that isn’t actually possible, but I did know those seeds could grow into watermelons. So that warning terrified me, and I made sure I spit out every single seed.

But just imagine for a moment that you never learned that plants came from seeds. If you saw those tiny black seeds, you would simply think they were annoying little inconveniences that come with enjoying the sweet fruit. You wouldn’t guess that inside that little shell is everything needed for a sprawling vine that will produce two to four melons, each weighing fifteen pounds that are bursting with hundreds of more seeds. The potential is hidden.

This touches on the picture of what it is to be a child of God right now. Now, please know that this is not a perfect analogy. It fits with this text, but don’t use it with other texts like Jesus’ parable of the Sower and the Seed. Fair?

Dear saints, see what the kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God—and we are. The world glances at you and sees nothing special. Sometimes, we look in the mirror and wonder the same thing: “Am I really God’s child?” But don’t let the world fool you. The world did not recognize the eternal Son of God when He came, so it should come as no surprise that it does not recognize us either (1 Jn. 3:1). That’s why the apostle John presses his point. “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 Jn. 3:2). The living DNA of Jesus’ divine sonship is alive inside of you. It’s growing. It’s maturing. It’s advancing—even when no one else can see it.

But there is more still to come. “What we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when Jesus appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2). One day Jesus will appear in glory, and suddenly the full-grown plant will be plain for everyone to see. No more hidden potential. Fully ripened. Glorified. Pure. Perfect. Recognizable as the Father’s own.

Even now, before Christ returns, this hope is doing something powerful in you. Listen to v. 3 again, “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” The words translated ‘purifies’ and ‘pure’ both have the root word ‘holy,’ so ‘pure’ is a good translation. That means this hope is active and purifies you right now. It purifies you as Jesus Himself is pure. This hope works like sunlight and steady rain on that buried seed. It draws outward and upward from the life of Christ. It cleanses your thoughts, words, and choices. It makes you holy today because you know what you will be on the day of Christ’s return.

When temptation rises and anger spills out, this hope remembers, “I am a child of Jesus, the Pure One. I don’t need to live like the world lives.” When guilt tries to bury you, this hope declares, “My sins are already washed away in the blood of the Lamb.” When the world mocks your faith or you begin to doubt your own identity, this hope lifts your eyes to Christ, “The world didn’t know Him, so it doesn’t know me. But He knows me. And one day everyone will see what He has been growing all along.”

That brings me to each of you confirmands. Today, you stood before us to say, “Yes, this holy hope is mine.” The seed planted in your Baptism is still growing, and this hope will keep purifying you until Jesus appears.

Wes, you were made God’s child on December 9th, 2012, right over there when God used my hands to Baptize you. Whenever fears or doubts creep in, keep hearing the promise that nothing is impossible for your God (Lk. 1:37).

Graeham, you were made God’s child on August 4th, 2013, at your home in Fargo when your grandpa, Pr. Steve Papillon, Baptized you. Keep confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus died and rose for you (Ro. 10:9).

Taavi, you were made God’s child on January 19th, 2014, when I placed those waters on your head from that font. Remain strong and courageous. Do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Josh. 1:9).

Sutton, you were made God’s child on November 23rd, 2014, when I Baptized you right here. All of your life, cast every anxiety and care on your God who cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7).

Alex, you were made God’s child on March 3rd, 2015, when I had the joy of Baptizing you. Always call on your God who answers and is always by your side (Is. 58:9).

Syneva, you were made God’s child on June 28th, 2015, at Trinity Free Lutheran Church in Grand Forks when Pr. Dan Antal Baptized you. Continue to be adorned by the gentle, quiet spirit God has given you (1 Pet. 3:3-4).

You Confirmands and all you saints, when the world fails to recognize you and when you even fail to recognize yourself, remember the seed. The Father planted it. Christ is tending it. And the Holy Spirit is causing it to grow. This holy hope purifies you today, tomorrow, and every day until Jesus returns. Live in it. Abide in it. Let it shape your thoughts, your words, your choices, and your love for others.

Dear saints, you are God’s children now. And there is even more to come. Hold fast to this holy hope. Let it purify you as Jesus is pure. The day is coming when we will see Him as He is. On that great day, we will be like Him. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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

Waiting & Receiving – Sermon on Isaiah 40:25-31 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Isaiah 40:25-31

25 To whom then will you compare me, 
that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: 
who created these? 
He who brings out their host by number, 
calling them all by name; 
by the greatness of his might 
and because he is strong in power, 
not one is missing. 

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, 
and speak, O Israel, 
“My way is hidden from the Lord, 
and my right is disregarded by my God”? 
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? 
The Lord is the everlasting God, 
the Creator of the ends of the earth. 
He does not faint or grow weary; 
his understanding is unsearchable. 
29 He gives power to the faint, 
and to him who has no might he increases strength. 
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, 
and young men shall fall exhausted; 
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; 
they shall mount up with wings like eagles; 
they shall run and not be weary; 
they shall walk and not faint.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

One of the greatest spiritual dangers that we all face is that, as we go through difficulties in life, we forget very obvious things – especially the fact that God loves us and is in control of all things. But it’s not as though you’ve actually forgotten it. It’s just that you don’t believe it. You don’t live your life in what you know to be true.

Smack in the middle of this text, God asks a question, and it sounds like He asks it out of frustration. “Why do you say, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.’?” God doesn’t even wait for an answer. Instead, He addresses His question with a question. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.”

Your God doesn’t wear out like you and I do. It’s not as though He needs to go sit in His lazy chair and kick His feet up to take a nap. He never encounters a situation where He isn’t quite sure what to do. We have known and we have heard that God is everlasting, that He is the Creator of the ends of the earth who does not grow faint or weary. We know that God has infinite understanding, that He gives power to the faint and strength to the weak. Our problem is that we don’t live like that is true. We encounter difficulties and live as though God does none of those things.

Dear saints, your God created every single star in the universe. Scientists guess that there are somewhere between 100-400 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. They don’t know the exact number, but that’s the estimate. Think about this – even if we took the small end of that estimate – if it only took God one second to name each star, 100 billion seconds is equivalent to 3,171 years, 66 days, 17 hours, and 46 minutes. And that’s just our galaxy.

Scientists estimate that there are between one to two trillion galaxies. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me that as we learn how to look farther we found out that the universe is even bigger than that. And it was nothing for God to create all those things. God created all of those things simply by speaking, “Let there be lights in heavens,” (Gen. 1:14) and there they were. Every one of them with a name and carefully placed in its position by your mighty God.

Now, contrast that with how God created you. When God created Adam, He didn’t simply speak. He got down into the mud and dirt and dust. He molded, formed, and shaped you from that dust and breathed into your nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). He intricately knitted you together in your mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13, 15).

Beyond that, God saved you by taking on your flesh and blood. He entered into His creation and subjected Himself to the weariness and fatigue that you endure (Jn. 4:6). Christ knew suffering and pain (Is. 53:3). Jesus did all of this to step between you and the wrath of God that you and I deserve because of our sin. He came to die and rise again in order to win you as His own.

In other words, God is much more invested in you than all the rest of creation. He’s more interested in what goes on in your life and what happens with you than with all the stars and galaxies that He calls by name. Again, we know this, but by the way we often live, it sure doesn’t look like it. Instead of waiting upon the Lord and soaring like eagles, we flap around like chickens.

I’m no expert on chickens, but the few times I’ve seen them “in flight” it’s pretty unimpressive. When they do get airborne, it’s usually because they’ve jumped as high as they can. They beat their wings – feathers flying all around. And the best they can do is just to fall less quickly. That’s the picture of us when we aren’t waiting upon the Lord. The best we can do in our own strength is fall a bit slower.

Eagles are completely different. This past Tuesday, Sarah and I just got to watch three eagles soaring in the distance. I don’t know what they were looking at, but for, maybe, five minutes they kept circling round and round. They would swoop down periodically, but then they would ascend on the invisible updrafts. The whole time we watched those eagles, none of them flapped their wings even once. They were just lifted by those updrafts. Those huge birds didn’t need to extend any effort to fly.

Dear saints, that is the picture of those who wait upon the Lord. This waiting on the Lord isn’t simply marking off time and watching the minutes and seconds tick by. This waiting is living in a confident expectation of God’s action on our behalf. This waiting is simply resting in God’s mercy which lifts us up to heaven. Romans 4:5 puts it this way, “To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”

I’ll confess my own weakness in this. I’m not good at waiting. I don’t like doing it. I don’t have the patience I should have. Waiting is difficult, and I suspect this is true for all of us. We wrongly live as though everything around us is dependent upon our work, our effort, our wisdom. We think we have to get everything figured out on our own. It’s exhausting. Waiting might feel like we’re descending or, even, free-falling. But this waiting is waiting in faith where we receive from God, and He lifts us up.

I want to change gears for a minute to talk about this upcoming sabbatical. Dear saints, my prayer for this sabbatical is that all of us would come to a better understanding that this is God’s congregation and that He is more interested in His Word being proclaimed here than we are. I’ll confess that I start to slide into the sinful attitude that certain things are dependent on me and what I do. If that were actually the case, you, dear saints, are in deep trouble.

So, during this sabbatical, I’m going to do my best to rest. In 1 Co. 3:5-7, Paul tells the congregation in Corinth that he and other pastors are nothing. He says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” This sabbatical will help all of us remember that.

God loves His church. He loves this congregation. He is more ready to give than we are to receive. So, thank you for the gift of this sabbatical so I can stop, wait, and receive from God for an extended time. I trust that God will use this time to renew and refresh me in ways that will benefit me and in ways that will benefit you.

May God remind all of us that when we are weary and exhausted that He is our strength. He is the One who lifts us up by His mercy and grace. His incomparable love carries us along. He protects and keeps us. He grows His church. He forgives our sins. He makes a place for us in eternal life through His inexhaustible love and work for us in Christ Jesus. May we all wait and receive from Him. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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

Now & Not Yet – Sermon on 1 John 3:1-3 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter and Confirmation Sunday

1 John 3:1–3

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

We live in a noisy world. On any given day, all sorts of things are constantly trying to grab your attention. We get dings and vibrations and taps that let us know who sent a message, what news story is breaking, or who liked that thing you posted. If you have to spend even ten minutes in a waiting room or a restaurant, you’ll find televisions turned to a game or news channel with the constant crawl of information that isn’t important enough, at least at that moment, to be on the main part of the screen. You’re watching the news about what’s going on in the Middle East and get the latest OJ Simpson’s death. Or you’re watching the NBA playoffs and learn about some guy’s hot take on what the Vikings are going to do in the first round of the NFL draft. And on and on it goes.

Now, this isn’t a sermon about how pointless and exhausting this barrage of information is. It’s just an acknowledgement of the conditions in which we live. Our attention is being constantly pulled in a myriad of directions, and all sorts of things shout at you, “Pay attention to me!” Well, this epistle reading (1 Jn. 3:1-3) is calling for your attention. In fact, it’s commanding you to pay attention. So, for the next few minutes, don’t be distracted, don’t be pulled, don’t be thinking about what’s going to happen this afternoon or this week or next summer. Right now, God, through His holy Word, calls you to focus and see. See this.

See the kind of love the Father has given to us. It is the kind of love that calls you, believer, a child of God. It is a love that calls all y’all, Christians, children of God. That is who you are – a child of God. Look around at the believers surrounding you here today, people whom you love and who love you, see that they through faith are also children of God.

See the kind of love that turns sinners and enemies of God into children. See the kind of love that isn’t earned or deserved. See God’s love for you that is demonstrated in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Ro. 5:8). This is the purest kind of love. It’s God’s love that is not based on the lovableness of the individual. It’s a love that is freely given because, in spite of our unloveliness, God determined to seek your highest good and make you His child.

God’s own child, that is what you are, believer. That is what God has called you, and what God says creates reality. Everything in this world – including your own thoughts, opinions, and experiences – will try to convince you otherwise. It will attempt to get you to believe this isn’t true. Don’t listen to any of that. See. Behold. God’s love has made you His child.

Christian, God’s love has given you a new birth. In his Gospel, John says this explicitly. To all who did receive Jesus, those who believe in His name, He gives the right to become children of God (Jn. 1:12), and this right came when you were born again of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:3, 5-6).

You confirmands, you have this new birth as a child of God. Logan, you received this new birth when you were Baptized on July 3rd, 2011 at Bigwoods Lutheran Church in Bigwoods, MN. Brayden, you were born again as God connected His Word to water on November 16th, 2013 at St. Henry’s in Perham, MN. Maddie, same place, but for you on April 16th, 2011 that was when and where you were born as a child of God. Brady, July 7th, 2013 right there at that font, you became a child of God. And Asher, same font, on November 25th2012, God declared that you are His child. The rest of you here, I’m sorry, but I don’t have your exact information in front of me.

This command to see this kind of love is in the present tense. That means it is a command that you always and continually see this kind of love. That love is to color everything else in your life. Keep holding on to that love because it is the most precious thing you could ever have. That love makes you God’s children now. Right now. What will we children of God be when we grow up? We don’t know, not yet.

John admits that even he doesn’t know exactly what glorious things are in store for us children of God. Think of that. John had seen some glorious things. He saw Jesus’ miracles and transfiguration. John saw the empty tomb. It was so glorious that he kept bragging about the fact that he outran Peter and was the first disciple to see it (Jn. 20:2-5, 8). The evening of Jesus’ resurrection, John had seen Jesus’ resurrected hands, feet, and side (Jn. 20:19-20; Lk. 24:36-43). As best as we can tell, John wrote this epistle after he had seen the vision of recorded in Revelation. That means John had seen Jesus clothed in a robe with a golden sash. He saw Christ’s eyes like a glorious flame of fire. John saw Jesus’ face shining like the sun in full strength (Rev. 1:13-16). And still John says here, “I don’t know what we children of God will grow up to be. I haven’t seen it yet because it hasn’t appeared” (1 Jn. 3:2). “But,” John says, “But we know that when Jesus appears we will be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” 

You confirmands and everyone here today, it can be dangerous to look to the past. And it can be troubling to think about the future. If you do look to the past, look at it through the lens of being God’s beloved child. When you consider your present, keep this command and see the constant love God has for you. When you look to the future, have in mind that you, through faith, are a child of God. And keep longing and hoping for that moment when Christ, your Savior, returns knowing that then you will be like Jesus.

That faith, that hope is what makes you pure – pure as Jesus is pure. God wants to orient you to the present reality that you are His child. Because of His love, you have a seat at His table where He gives you His Body to eat and His Blood to drink for the forgiveness of all your sin. You have a seat at His table. Child of God, as you wander through this world, know that you belong among God’s family. Welcome home, children of God. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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

Micro Sorrow, Macro Rejoicing – Sermon on John 16:16-22 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 16:16–22

16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today, Jesus teaches us about sorrow and joy, and it is only through Jesus’ teaching that we can properly understand the sorrows we face in this world.

Jesus tells the disciples, “A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” They are confused, but they don’t tell Jesus they are confused. Instead, they whisper to each other, “What’s He talking about?” You can almost picture it. Matthew asks Thomas, but Thomas doesn’t know. So, Matthew leans over a little further to ask Andrew while Thomas whispers to Nathaniel, but they don’t know. Maybe Peter, James, and John know since they get to go on special trips up mountains with Jesus (Mt. 17:1-9), but they don’t know either. The disciples are all asking each other, but notice whom they are not asking – Jesus! They are looking for the answer in all the wrong places. Maybe they are embarrassed about their ignorance.

But their ignorance isn’t hidden from Jesus, so He tells them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” Catch that because it’s really important. Jesus does not say, “Your sorrow will go away and then you will be happy later.” No! “Your sorrow will turn into joy.” To get this across, our Lord uses the analogy of a woman giving birth. I’ll be honest with you, I always get a little nervous preaching on these words. I am a man, so I have not, will not, and cannot give birth – no matter what politicians or celebrities say. But the analogy comes from the mouth of our Lord who created women and is the One who said women would have great pain in giving birth (Gen. 3:16), so He knows what He’s talking about. Deep breath, here we go.

To understand the analogy, we have to understand the most basic thing about it. When a woman is in labor, what is the cause of her pain, her anguish, and (to use the word Jesus uses here) her sorrow? The baby. The baby is causing the sorrow and pain. But once she has given birth, what is the cause of the mother’s joy? The baby. The pain caused by the baby gets transformed and converted into the joy of the newborn baby, but you could not have the joy without that initial sorrow.

This is why, when Jesus is teaching the disciples that their sorrow will turn into joy, He uses the analogy of a woman giving birth. Our Lord doesn’t use the analogy of passing a kidney stone. Now, I’ve never passed a kidney stone, but I’ve read and heard that the pain is similar. (Please don’t feel obligated to tell me your kidney stone stories after the service. I worked for a group of 16 urologists, so I’ve heard the stories.) If a person has a kidney stone, they are glad once it’s passed. They have joy, but that joy is only because the pain is gone. Their joy is because they have relief from the pain. The person who has the most joy is the one who passed the stone. Probably, those who are caring for the person rejoice too, but that’s it. You don’t bring a kidney stone into work and show it off. Your coworkers don’t throw you a party for passing a kidney stone. But you do bring a baby into work for a baby shower or party. I think I’m done talking about kidney stones now, so let’s get back to the text.

When Jesus is talking about the sorrow that the disciples will have, He’s talking about His death. But their Good Friday sorrow will turn into Easter joy. Easter turns sorrow into joy. Imagine if Jesus’ death and resurrection happened this way. Imagine Jesus told the disciples, “I’m going to go away for a few days, but then I’ll come back.” And imagine that is all that happened. Jesus was gone, He returned, and He told the disciples, “I’m back. While I was gone, I died for you. I suffered God’s wrath in your place, and I paid for all your sins.” Do you suppose the disciples would have had the same joy? Probably not. Their Easter joy is greater, deeper, and fuller because they endured the arrest, the trial, the beating, the cross, the suffering, the blood, and the tomb of Good Friday (Jn. 19:35). For the disciples to have the joy of Easter, they had to go through the sorrow of Good Friday.

Now, these words of Jesus aren’t only for the disciples. These words were recorded for you and for your comfort when you endure pain and sorrow (Jn. 20:30-31). To help us latch on to what Jesus says, we’re going to get a little philosophical. And I want to make something clear: Philosophy is a fine discipline and area of study. But philosophy is most helpful when it is guided by good theology. That’s what we’re going to do today because this will be beneficial when you face times of sorrow and help you navigate those feelings of sorrow in a good, godly way.

To understand what sorrow is, we have to start with an understanding of what evil is. At its most basic level, evil is a lack, it’s when something is missing, when the fullness of God’s good creation is disrupted leaving a hole or vacancy. So, death is evil on several levels because it causes a lack of life, a lack of a relationship, a loss that is horrible. When there is a death because of murder, it gets even more evil because there is also a lack of justice. Stealing is evil because it causes a lack of someone’s property that God had given them. With every evil, there is some sort of lack; something that should be there is missing. Poverty is a lack of resources. Hunger is a lack of nourishment. You get the picture?

Sorrow, then, is a recognition of evil and an awareness of that lack. I should add this: Something is still evil even if there is no sorrow or awareness of the evil. This is important today because so many people will say we shouldn’t care about many of the evils that exist in our culture. They will say, “It doesn’t affect you, so why do you care?” Evil does not have to directly affect us for it to be evil. Ultimately, all evil has ripple effects throughout creation. If someone steals an apple in Cairo that is evil, but you probably won’t have sorrow about it here in East Grand Forks. That evil, because it disrupts creation, still does affect you because that evil ripples through creation. There is a lot to explore there, but it falls outside the scope of this sermon.

Proper, legitimate sorrow will include, most importantly, sorrow over our sins. When we recognize our lack of righteousness it is good, right, and proper to have sorrow, but don’t only have sorrow. Keep going to repentance of those sins and faith that God forgives those sins for the sake of Jesus.

Sorrow over our sins isn’t the only proper sorrow. It is right to have sorrow in the face of death. Jesus had sorrow and wept when His friend, Lazarus, died (Jn. 11:35). The pain you have whenever you are sinned against is good, right, and proper. Also, it is proper to have sorrow when you see another person experiencing evil and lack. That is the sorrow of pity.

But you can also have improper, misplaced sorrow. Envy is a misplaced sorrow because envy is when we wrongly think it is evil for someone else to have something we don’t have. Anxiety and worry ends up being a misplaced sorrow because we think something evil will happen in the future even though it has not, and may not, happen. When you have a misplaced sorrow, recognize it as sin. Then, have genuine sorrow because of your lack of righteousness. And be filled with the righteousness Christ has won, purchased, and freely gives to you.

Dear saints, Jesus promises that the sorrows you face in this life will be transformed and converted into joy. Another pastor gave a great illustration about this, and the example he uses is boot camp. When a Marine is in the middle of boot camp, he doesn’t like it. It isn’t fun. He wants it to be over. He doesn’t lie in his bed at night and hope that the next day will be harder. He wants the drill sergeant to give them a day off. When he’s in the middle of it, he wants to quit. But once he graduates, he brags about how hard it was. The fact that he made it through is a great honor and joy. And afterward, he’s glad it was hard. It has made him a better soldier. He didn’t think that as he was going through it. The joy he has after making it through is built on the very hardship and sorrow he didn’t want to have while he was in the middle of it.

Dear saints, we live in the little while between Jesus’ ascension and His return on the last day. We are in boot camp that is filled with difficulties, hardship, and sorrow. We might want to know why God allows the sufferings we endure in this life. And we might search for answers in all the wrong places. But there are times when the only answer Jesus gives us is His promise to transform our sorrow into joy.

We want our sorrows to be over and be delivered from them. We might pray – and we should pray – that God would remove the sufferings and sorrows we face in this life. God could do that. God doesn’t always tell us why we have to go through the sorrows of this life, but Jesus teaches us that our sorrows are critical to our long-term, eternal joy in heaven.

If it would be to our benefit to remove the sorrows we endure, God would do it. He would do it. But if God doesn’t, it will be to your ultimate, eternal benefit. God works all things, even your sorrows, together for your good (Ro. 8:28). Dear saints, Romans 8 says that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Ro. 8:18). 

Your sorrows and sufferings in this life are not trivial, but neither are they eternal. Jesus says, “You have sorrow, but your sorrow will turn into joy. And you will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (Jn. 16:20, 22). That’s His promise. 

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

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

Never-Ceasing Mercy – Sermon on Lamentations 3:22-33 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Lamentations 3:22-33

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 
his mercies never come to an end; 

23 they are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness. 

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, 
“therefore I will hope in him.” 

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, 
to the soul who seeks him. 

26 It is good that one should wait quietly 
for the salvation of the Lord. 

27 It is good for a man that he bear 
the yoke in his youth. 

28 Let him sit alone in silence 
when it is laid on him; 

29 let him put his mouth in the dust— 
there may yet be hope; 

30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, 
and let him be filled with insults. 

31 For the Lord will not 
cast off forever, 

32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion 
according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 

33 for he does not afflict from his heart 
or grieve the children of men.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I mentioned the name of this Sunday at the beginning of the service; does anyone remember what today is called? (Yes, “Make a joyful noise,” Sunday.) So, why, on a day where we are making joyful noises, are we listening to a sermon from Lamentations, the book of the Bible whose name contradicts the name of the Sunday? Why even bother with Lamentations? I’m glad you asked.

The book of Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah and is basically a funeral hymnal with five dirges; each chapter is its own song. But whose funeral is Jeremiah writing about? It is the funeral of God’s people. The Babylonian empire has come. Jerusalem has been destroyed. The leaders of Judah have been taken into exile. The Temple has been torn down and left in charred ruins. And the Ark of the Covenant, the place where God had promised to meet with His people, was gone. God’s punishment of His people has been severe.

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, begins the book, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people!” (Lam. 1:1). He says that Jerusalem had been “the perfection of beauty” but is now the laughingstock of the world (Lam. 2:15). God’s punishment against the sins of idolatry, wickedness, and injustice that were so prevalent among His people has come, and it stinks. And Jeremiah calls on the people to recognize that God’s intention with this punishment is to bring the people to repentance. God longs for His people to confess their sins and be forgiven. All this punishment isn’t just to make God’s people uncomfortable and miserable; instead, this suffering is meant to heal and restore them.

So, Jeremiah paints this pathetic picture about the suffering of God’s people. He asks that God would see all their suffering under the punishment of their sins. Then, Jeremiah just sits back and waits….

Jeremiah can wait because he knows, “though [the Lord] cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not afflict from His heart or grieve the children of men” (Lev. 3:32-33). Dear saints, the only rescue from God’s wrath against sin is found in the very nature of God Himself. Let me say that again in case you missed it:

The only rescue from God’s wrath against sin is found in the very nature of God Himself. That is why there is hope throughout the funeral songs of Lamentations. The reason for this hope is that God’s steadfast love never ceases, and His mercies never – never ever – come to an end. They are new each and every morning. Great is His faithfulness (Lam. 3:22-23). That is why Jeremiah can wait for God, and that is why, in the midst of suffering and sorrow, you can too. “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3:25-26). “[God’s] anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Ps. 30:5).

Dear saints, whenever you face suffering, whether it is because of your sin and God’s punishment or whether you are suffering because of the devil’s attacks or whether you are simply suffering because of this fallen, broken world, whenever you face suffering that is not the time to run from God; that is the time to run toHim. His steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, and compassion is your hope.

Whenever you face trials, tribulations, hardships, and suffering, it is always, always, a call to faith. When we suffer, we try to look for answers, answers to questions like: Is God punishing me for some sin; if so, what is that sin? Is Satan tormenting me? Am I suffering because of the evil that surrounds me? We look for answers to those questions, but in the midst of suffering, both the cause of our suffering and the answers to those questions are often hidden from us. Remember Jesus, even in the midst of His suffering on the cross, asks the why question. “My God, My God, why? Why have You forsaken Me?” (Mk. 15:34).

In the book of Job, we see Job looking for those same answers. Job’s friends are all insisting that Job must have some secret sin that he needs to confess. But we know that isn’t the case. Repeatedly in the book of Job, God says that Job is righteous, blameless, and upright (Job. 1:8; 2:3). But God does allow the devil to cause Job great suffering – the loss of all his property and even the death of his children. God knows that Job can handle and navigate all of that and still retain his faith (Job 2:6). And of course, Job does. He continues to trust in God’s mercy and grace. And at the end of it all, Job is restored (Job 42:10-17), and his faith is strengthened.

Now, in the case of God’s people in Jeremiah’s day, God’s people were suffering because God was sending the punishment for their sins and calling His people to repent. Even when you are suffering because of your sins, it is a call to faith. Repentance always requires faith. You don’t repent or bring your sins to God, unless you know there is the possibility of forgiveness. Otherwise, you simply try to hide your sins, pass the blame to others, or ignore them all together. But none of those options ever work.

To repent and confess your sins is always an act of faith. Both repentance and confession is simply believing and saying what God says about your sins. First, you say that those sins have angered God and harmed your relationship with Him. They have brought God’s anger and wrath. Typically, we don’t have a problem with that part of confession and repentance. We know that. But the other part of repentance and confession is to continue saying what God says about those sins – that they are taken by Jesus (Jn. 1:29). That the wrath those sins deserve has been poured out upon Christ as He hung on the cross (1 Thess. 1:10). That those sins are removed form you as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12).

So, again, whenever you face trials, tribulations, and suffering, faith and trust is always the proper response. In suffering, God doesn’t always give you answers to all the questions you have, but He does always give you promises.

Most importantly, God has given you the promise of His grace and mercy. God has sent His own Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus bore the yoke of our sins (Lam. 3:27; Is. 53:6, 12). Jesus put His mouth in the dust (Lam. 3:29) when He took on your humanity. He gave His cheek to be struck (Lk. 22:63). Christ took the insults that belonged to you. And on Good Friday, as darkness covered the face of the earth, Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mk. 15:34). There, in that moment, God forsook His own Son so you could be accepted as God’s own child. But God did not reject Jesus forever.

When Jesus cries out, “It is finished,” (Jn. 19:30) on the cross, God’s wrath against sin was done, completed, and ended. The resurrection proves that God accepted the offering Christ made for you.

Dear saints, God’s anger has an end. God’s anger ended with the death of Christ. The only way God’s anger could continue against your sin is if you continually reject what Jesus has done for you. Those who are lost in their sins and spend eternity in hell are those who reject God’s mercy in Christ.

But, dear Christian, that isn’t you. You trust in God’s mercy. You repent, confess, and receive forgiveness for all your sins. For you, God’s wrath and punishment, what the theologians call God’s ‘alien work’ – in other words, what God doesn’t naturally do – has come to an end. You live and abide in His mercy.

 And His mercy is even more certain than the rising of the sun. Mercy is who God is and how God is toward you who believe in Christ.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

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

Unseen, but Not Away – Sermon on John 16:16-22 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Listen here.

John 16:16-22

16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 

19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

We’re still in Easter season. We’re still celebrating the resurrection. But this text takes us back to the night Jesus was betrayed. And these words from Jesus in our Gospel text are important for us Resurrection folk to remember – especially in times of suffering. To get at this, we are going to weave back and forth through this text because Jesus weaves back and forth talking about suffering and joy.

Christ tells His disciples that in “a little while” they are going to endure suffering, but that suffering will only last a second “little while.” Then, they will have joy that no one will be able to take from them. So, recognize that Jesus tells the disciples about two distinct “little whiles.”

The first “a little while” refers to the short amount of time that takes place between the time Jesus speaks these words to the time when they will no longer see Jesus. For most of them, they no longer see Jesus once He is arrested. For Peter and John, it’s a little after that. After this first “little while,” comes the second “little while” when the disciples won’t see Jesus anymore because He is dead, buried, and sealed behind the stone in the tomb. And during this second “little while” they have sorrow, weep, and lament.

Now, we need to recognize just how profound and unique the disciples’ suffering was. While Jesus was away from them between Good Friday and Easter, their suffering was quite unique. A major reason the disciples’ sorrow was so pointed and painful is not only did they lose Jesus, their leader and friend, even more importantly, they lost hope that salvation was even a possibility.

Remember the two disciples that Jesus meets on the road to Emmaus Easter afternoon (see Lk. 24:13-35)? Jesus meets them and asks them what they are talking about, but they don’t recognize Him. They’re surprised this stranger hasn’t heard about everything going on in Jerusalem. So, ironically, they tell Jesus about Jesus. How He was mighty in deeds and words before God and all the people, but the chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be crucified. Then, they say something very important, and what they say reveals how painfully sorrowful they are. They say, “We had hoped,” (and the grammar suggests that their hope is now gone), “We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.” In other words, their hope was that Jesus would save them, but they don’t hope for salvation anymore because, in their minds, He is dead and is in the tomb for good. They thought that Jesus’ death was the end of salvation rather than the thing which accomplished their salvation. So, do you see the sorrow they were enduring?

Now, back to our text here from John, Jesus tells the disciples, “You will weep and lament and be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.”

Jesus compares this sorrow the disciples experienced to a woman in labor. There is no denying the pain and anguish of a woman in labor. And, you mothers, Jesus knows the pain you have in labor because He is the one who said that a woman’s pain in childbirth would be greatly increased after the Fall (Gen. 3:16). But Jesus compares the suffering of the disciples to a woman in labor because of what comes after that suffering. After a mother has delivered the baby – and remember this is according to Jesus – she no longer remembers the anguish because that pain is replaced and swallowed up by joy. Joy that a child has been born into the world.

Jesus doesn’t say that a mother’s memory is erased, and she totally forgets the pain she just experienced. Jesus doesn’t say that she doesn’t have any pain while she recovers – that is not what Jesus says. Instead, her anguish is swallowed up and replaced by the joy that she now has a child to love and cherish.

Jesus compares the disciples’ suffering to the suffering of a mother in labor because of what comes at the end of that suffering. In other words, the sorrow and complete loss of hope that the disciples had while Jesus was in the tomb was painful and real. But that sorrow was swallowed up in joy when they see Jesus after the Resurrection. And the sorrow and lamenting and weeping they had during those days wasn’t worth comparing to the joy that the Resurrection brings them.

This is the main thing Jesus is teaching us in this text. Sorrow and suffering is temporary for you, Christian. 

What Jesus says in these verses applies first to the disciples and the sorrow they had between Good Friday and Easter. But these words of our Lord are also written for us Christians whenever we have sorrow. That little while of sorrow that the disciples experienced mirrors the sorrow that we experience. Our sorrows are a microcosm of theirs. 

The major difference between the disciples’ sorrow and our sorrow is that they endured their sorrow without any hope. That is not our experience. Even though we have real, painful sorrow in this world, we have sorrow with hope that the sorrow will end and turn to joy just as theirs did.

Notice very specifically what Jesus tells the disciples. First, the period of time of sorrow will be only “a little while.” Now, I don’t want in any way to minimize the suffering of the disciples while Jesus was in the tomb. In fact, I don’t think we can compare any suffering we have to what they went through. But we also know that their sorrow, as profound as it was, only lasted a couple days. Jesus was buried just before sunset on Friday and was seen by the disciples Easter evening.

The same is true for us. Jesus has been unseen for a long time. Since His ascension, Christians have endured all kinds of suffering, persecution, pain, and distress. But the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Ro. 8:18).

Again, note specifically that Jesus says their sorrow is that they won’t see Jesus because He is, “going to the Father.” He doesn’t tell them that He is going away; He just tells them that they won’t see Him because He is going to the Father. The same is true for us now.

Jesus has now ascended to the Father and is where the God the Father is. In other words, He’s everywhere. Remember what Jesus says at the end of Matthew’s gospel (Mt. 28:18-20), “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So, yes, He is unseen, but He hasn’t left us. Jesus isn’t gone from us. In fact, Jesus is nearer to us than we can possibly know. 

So, let’s try to bring this all together. There is no denying that Christians suffer in this life, but we can be comforted even in the midst of suffering because of what Jesus says in this text.

First of all, when you suffer, you don’t have to put on a brave face and say things like, “I know other people have it worse than I do.” No. No matter how great or small, call suffering what it is – suffering. In the midst of sorrow, pain, and anguish, we can call all of that what it is – it is suffering and not something that God ever intended you to experience.

And yet, God promises that He will use that suffering for your good because God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Ro. 8:28). 1 Cor. 10:13says that we do not suffer any “temptation that is not common to man. But God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” So, even though our suffering is unpleasant at the time, it is through that suffering that God chastens us, keeps on track, draws us to Himself, and teaches us to be dependent on Him.

Christian, God sent Jesus to die and rise again for you, and He counts every hair on your head. God cares about the details. He knows your sorrow and suffering, and He is paying attention to it. And Christ is with you even in that suffering. Jesus promises that He is with you with all authority to the end of the age. He will bring you through it. And when He returns, that suffering will be eternally replaced with joy.

So, in the midst of your suffering, know that those around you are suffering too. Don’t think that some people are suffering more or less than you. We don’t know what kind of suffering others are going through, but we do know that they are suffering what is common to man (1 Cor. 10:13).

So, have some sympathy for others. Life is hard on everyone. Maybe that person is being a jerk because his mother just died or she is fighting with her husband or their parents are neglecting them. A little sympathy for others and a willingness to make excuses for someone else’s bad behavior can go a long way toward a more peaceful and loving world.

Ultimately, dear saints, whenever you suffer, know that Jesus is with you. He is crucified and risen for you. Though you do not see Him, He is with you in every trial and tribulation. He will bring you through it. You are God’s children now. He has not abandoned you. And when He appears you shall be like Him. Your suffering will end and be replaced with joy that no one will be able to take from you.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

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

The Exiled Life – Sermon on 1 Peter 2:11-20 for the 4th Sunday of Easter

Listen here.

1 Peter 2:11-20

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

In this text, God is calling you to something that is difficult. You are called to be a citizen of heaven while living here on earth. And the difficulty lies in the fact that you are a sojourner and exile. Christian, you are not at home here even though this world, this planet, this existence, this country, and (for some of you) this town is the only place you have called ever called “home.” And yet, because you are a Christian, this world full of sin and vice and virus and pandemic is just the place you are passing through.

Hebrews 13:[14] puts it about as plainly as possible, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” As a Christian, you are a citizen of the eternal, lasting city of heaven, but for now, you are a citizen of East Grand Forks (or Grand Forks or Fisher or Crookston or Thompson or Olso or Warren or Drayton or any other town you dear saints live in that I forgot to mention). Seriously, I never figured that I would serve a congregation in a decent-sized city that would draw people from as far away as many of you live. But that’s beside the point.

Christian, you are a citizen of heaven, and yet, here you are. Minnesotans, North Dakotans, Americans, and yet citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The fact that you are a citizen of the kingdom of God means you have great hope and expectation. But God has seen it fit for you to be a sojourner and exile – for now.

So, how are you to live right now as an exiled citizen of an eternal city and kingdom while you are in this world that is very much proving itself to be extremely temporary?

Well, this text has the answer, but again it isn’t an easy answer. As God’s people, you occupy a middle ground, and you are called to stand in that middle ground. You are not to be like the people of this world; you are not to be like unbelievers who think that the only good is to enjoy earthly delights. But neither are you to be such sublime, euphoric citizens of heaven that you are of no earthly good.

As a Christian, you live in a suspended state. You are heading toward your eternal habitation, your lasting city that is to come. But you are not to live separated from your neighbor who isn’t a citizen of heaven. Instead, you are to live a life of service, honor, and love because what is good for your neighbor and your land is good for you.

When God sent His people into exile in Babylon, God had Jeremiah write against false prophets who were telling God’s people that they would return home soon. Because of these false prophets, God’s people weren’t working or trying to earn a livelihood. So God sent this word through Jeremiah, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:5-7).

God wanted His people to pray for the welfare and well-being of the city and empire that had destroyed their home and held them captive. So how much more for you, Christian, should you pray for and seek the well-being of the nation where God has blessed you? No, we don’t live in a perfect country – Lord knows we don’t live in a perfect country. But the welfare of our country, our state, our city means our own welfare. But at the same time, we long and yearn for our eternal city and habitation. So we live this exiled life.

Christian, you are to live as free citizens of the kingdom of heaven. You have been bought and freed from sin, death, and the devil. Christians are, as Luther once said, “perfectly free and lord of all, subject to none.” Yet at the same time you are, “perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

Instead of indulging in your self-centered, fleshly lusts you are to consider what will help and benefit your neighbor. This starts with your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ, the people on your block, your coworkers, and it keeps extending from there. And how you love your neighbor is informed and directed by the Commandments and also by the laws and rules of the community you live in.

Because we are sinful and self-centered, these laws and rules often feel like they constrain our freedom, but most of the time they don’t. Law and order is the road to freedom. If there are no laws to protect you and keep you safe, if you cannot buy something and reasonably expect that it will be yours until you sell it or give it away, if you cannot know that people will be punished when they wrong you, you cannot live free. And this is why God has given us the gift – yes, the gift – of rulers, government, and police.

Here, in our text, and in Romans 13, Scripture tells us that God has given us a good gift in government to keep order in this world where are sojourners and exiles through the rules and laws of the land. Romans 13:1–4, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

Don’t forget when these verses of Scripture were written (both that passage from Romans and this text from 1 Peter), the ruler of the day was the evil, wicked, godless emperor Nero. The apostles Peter and Paul would be put to death by his order. The very guy who brutally persecuted Christians and would burn them alive to light his evening garden parties is called God’s servant for your good.

Too often, we see the resident in the White House or governor’s mansion as our enemy. And the only excuse we have for our despising of the rulers is our selfish pride – which is no excuse at all. It doesn’t matter if that leader’s party is represented by an elephant or a donkey, we Christians are to willingly submit to their authority because that authority has been given to them by God. Trying to assert our freedom from earthly rulers simply points to the fact that we are hypocrites who think we can pick and choose which verses of God’s Word are relevant or not. Repent.

Jesus said (Lk. 14:11), “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Christian freedom does not come from self-assertion. Christian freedom comes only from what Christ has done for you on the cross.

Now, of course, none of this guarantees that the rulers that God places over us will rule and govern fairly according to the law – either God’s or man’s. And when and if that is the case, we write, we petition, we vote. But their bad behavior as rulers is never an excuse to get out of our God-given duty to honor those authorities. Instead, we remember that God has established the authorities above us. And God will hold those authorities that He has put in place accountable for their actions. And we remember and trust what the Scripture says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will” (Pro. 21:1).

By submitting to the rulers and authorities – whether they are just or unjust – we are living lives that show our love for God. And living that way is going to attract the attention of children of the world, of unbelievers, so that when they look at us they say, “Boy, those Christians live as they believe. They have conviction. Maybe there is something about them that is honorable and worthy of praise.”

Dear saints, we live a life that shows that we do not need to earn our salvation because Jesus has won it for us. Instead, we live as sojourners and exiles for the glory of Christ. We can live this way because we know that it doesn’t matter if the world continues to grow worse. We know that it doesn’t matter if we are mocked and reviled as holding to ideas that the world finds “old-fashioned” and “backwards.” We know that it doesn’t matter if our candidate loses or if the world ends tomorrow. We are sojourners and exiles who have and are waiting for a city that endures for all eternity.

So, live as a servant of all. Pay your taxes. Pray for your leaders. Social distance. Wear your mask. Give to Caesar and Trump and Pelosi what is Caesar’s, Trump’s, and Pelosi’s. And give to God what is God’s (Mt. 22:21).

And when you fail – not if – but when you fail, remember that Jesus picks you up. He forgives you of your sins. And He calls you to walk with Him through this pilgrim land living the exiled life and waiting for the life of the world to come. And whenever you grow weary, don’t forget to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.”

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Amen.

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

I’ll invite you to stand for our closing hymn Lord, as a Pilgrim.

A Little While – Sermon on John 16:16-22 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Listen here.

John 16:16-22

16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’;and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”

19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus says, “I’m here, but in a little while I won’t be here. Then, a little while later I’ll come back.”And the disciples are confused. They whisper to each other about this and none of them knows what this ‘a little while’ means. So, Jesus explains it to them.

First and foremost, this ‘little while’ refers to what would happen in a couple of hours. Jesus is soon to be betrayed and arrested. He will be tried, crucified, killed, and buried. Somewhere in that sequence, all of the disciples will no longer see Jesus. For most of them, it is when Jesus is arrested. For Peter, it is during Jesus’ trial while he is out by a bonfire denying he knows Jesus the third time (Lk. 22:61). And for John, it is either at the cross or at the burial. The disciples don’t see Him anymore, and they weep and lament because Jesus is dead, buried, and sealed behind the stone in the tomb.

But it is only for a little while – Friday evening and night, all day Saturday, Saturday night through Sunday afternoon before they see the resurrected Jesus once again. Again, first and foremost, this is the ‘little while’ Jesus is referring to.

But Jesus also alludes to something more. He is also speaking about His ascension, which is what Jesus was referring to when He said He was “going to the Father.” Don’t miss that part of our text. The morning of the Resurrection, Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene. When she recognizes Jesus, Mary falls at His feet and embraces Him (Mt. 28:9), but Jesus says to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

So, yes, He is referring to the time that the disciples weep and lament and have sorrow between His burial and resurrection. But here, in this text with this ‘little while,’ Jesus is also referring to the time while you have sorrow between His ascension and return in glory on the last day, which means, you, dear saint, are even now living in the ‘little while’ Jesus refers to.

A Little While WaitingThis ‘little while’ has lasted nearly two thousand years and counting. Yet, two thousand years is nothing when you compare it to everything that lies ahead for you in eternity. And it is even more miniscule when you realize that it will only be a few short years before you meet Jesus face-to-face – even if you live to be one-hundred-twenty. But we still have a problem. During our pain and anguish, our difficulties and seasons of tribulation, time seems to stand still while we suffer. But we can take heart and be encouraged. Jesus says it will only be ‘a little while.’

This little phrase from Jesus – ‘a little while’ – is meant to be comforting in the midst of sorrow, pain, anguish, trials, and tribulations. First, it lets us call that trouble what it is – it is suffering and not something that God ever intended you to experience. When you suffer, you don’t have to put on a brave face and say things like, “I know other people have it worse than I do.” No. No matter how great or small, call suffering what it is – suffering. The second reason this is comforting is that you can know that your God and Savior promises that your suffering can only last ‘a little while.’

Mothers, you understand Jesus better than anyone else which is why He uses you as an example here. As a man who has never and will never give birth, and as a father who has been present at the births of all four children, I hesitate to speak too much about this – especially on Mothers’ Day. But as a pastor who has been called to preach God’s Word, I must echo what Jesus says.

Kids, your mom suffered to bring you into this world. The pain and anguish of a woman in labor is real – there is no denying it. And, mothers, Jesus knows the pain you have been through, not because He ever gave birth, but because He is the one who said that a woman’s pain in childbirth would be greatly increased after the Fall (Gen. 3:16). But when a mother has delivered the baby – and remember this is according to Jesus – she no longer remembers the anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.

It is not as though her memory is erased and she forgets the pain of labor – that is not what Jesus says. Instead, her anguish is swallowed up by joy that she now has a child to love and cherish. This is the main thing Jesus is teaching us in this text. Sorrow and suffering is temporary for you, Christian. It can only last ‘a little while’ and no more.

Grace is Sufficient, suffering, new creationNow, there is no denying that your suffering is real. Some of you are currently enduring that suffering in severe ways right now. We pray that your relief will be soon and swift. But know this: God is working through those sorrows. He is using your trials to keep you close to Himself, to work virtue in you, to teach you to trust in Him. This does not mean that you should rejoice because of trials and tribulations. Instead, it is a reminder that you can rejoice in spite of and in the midst of that suffering. Like buds on a tree indicate that full blossom is coming, those troubles, trials, sorrows, and crosses are harbingers of the joy that is to come.

And if you aren’t currently going through trials right now, you will. Jesus says that you will weep and lament, and you will be sorrowful. Jesus has called you to take up your cross and follow Him. Good Friday always comes before Easter, but Easter joy always overcomes Good Friday sorrow. Resurrection always defeats death.

Christian, the crosses you have borne in the past, the crosses you bear now, and the crosses you will bear in the future will and must give way to Resurrection joy because – already and now – Christ is risen.

Pain, sorrow, trial, and tribulation is real and there is no getting around it. A slave is not above his master. If Jesus is persecuted and suffers, you will be persecuted and suffer (Jn. 15:20). And Jesus promises, “You will weep and lament, and you be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. And no one will take your joy from you,”because Jesus has promised it will only be ‘a little while.’

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

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

Children of God – Sermon for Easter 4 on 1 John 3:1-3

Listen here.

1 John 3:1–3

1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

One question repeatedly comes up in life. And though the form of the question changes, it really is the same. When you are young, the question is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As you grow, the question changes, “What are you going to study in college?” Later, the question gets dumbed down, “What do you do?” Eventually, it becomes, “When are your plans for retirement?” Then, when you do retire, “What do you do with all your free time?”

Can I just be honest? I hate this question. Today, when I get asked, “What do you do?” I’m tempted to tell people I’m a plumber. It wouldn’t be a lie per se because I am in the business of dealing with people’s… stuff. All kidding aside, I do love to be able to do what I do.

Anyway, this question, in its various forms, is continually asked because you are someone who is somewhere, and you will be someone doing something different somewhere else later. It’s a question of identity which is continually changing.

Well, today, this text gives an answer to the question of your identity. And it’s not just any answer – it is God’s answer.

Child PrayingYou are God’s children. “See what sort of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.”

Generally, children resemble their parents. And you, Christian, know your sin. You aren’t as loving or forgiving as you should be. And you certainly aren’t perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. So, it is easy to doubt the truth of what John says here. Maybe, it was an exceptionally windy day when that apple fell from the tree.

It’s hard to believe that you are children of God, but it’s true. Hear it again because John doesn’t want you to miss it – he emphasizes it, “See the kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God – and so we are.”

It wasn’t easy – God making us to be His children. And yet, God, out of His great love for us, sent His only begotten Son. Jesus went to a Good Friday death on the cross and was raised that Easter morning all so that you could be God’s children. Nothing less.

Now, the world looks at you and scoffs at the idea that you are children of God. The world doesn’t know you as a child of God because, frankly, they don’t know who God is. Some think He is a type of Santa Claus who rewards those who are good and punishes those who are bad. Others think God is just an old man in the sky with old-fashioned ideas and is spiteful and full of vengeance. Their perceptions of God are wrong. And because their ideas about God are wrong, their ideas about you are wrong.

Because they do not know God as He has chosen to reveal Himself in Christ, they do not recognize you who are in Christ as the children of God.

Baptism 2So, Blair: Today, God has Baptized you. Today, God has connected His Word to water and joined you to Christ’s death and resurrection (Ro. 6:3-11). God has clothed you with Christ (Gal. 3:27). God has given you the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit and saved you (Tit. 3:5-7). Today, you are born again, and God has made you His beloved child.

Blair, and all of you here, God has brought you out of darkness into His light. God has caused you to be reborn. You were living a lie and have been brought into the truth. So, John says it again. “Beloved, we are God’s children now.”

So, you children of God, what do you want to be when you grow up? Different questions rise from there. All sorts of specifics we would like answered. “What will I do this summer?” “Where will I be enrolled next semester?” “Will my business grow or hold steady?” “Will I get married, and to whom and when?” And some of you might even be wondering, “How much longer do I have left in this life?”

Sorry, but God doesn’t answer to those specifics. And, honestly, it is foolish to search for those answers because God hasn’t given them. But God does give the answer, the final and ultimate answer to what you, child of God, will be when you grow up.

Children of GodWhen Christ appears, you will be like Him because you will see Him as He is.

You will be like Jesus. On that day, it will be enough to see Jesus as He is. It will change you. You will be pure, perfect, and loving – just as Jesus is.

Until then, purify yourself. When you see that you are sinning and living like a child of the devil, purify yourself. Turn away from that sin. Turn away from your anger, your apathy, your self-centeredness, your gossiping, your coveting, your lust. Repent. Give that all over to the cleansing blood of Jesus and trust His forgiveness.

Instead, honor and love one another. Let us, as this little band of God’s children here at Christ the King, radiate God’s love and light in our relationships, in our homes, in our workplaces, in our community, and throughout the world.

Live as you are. Live as God’s forgiven, beloved children. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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