1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
A lot of decisions you make in life are based on the recommendation(s) of others. But you rank and evaluate those recommendations based on several factors. For example, if you need to replace the windows on your house, you’ll probably ask someone who just remodeled, “What kind of windows did you get? What brand? Who installed them? Were they punctual?” Depending on their experience, you might get the same brand and kind of windows but have another contractor install them. Or, if you find out that person has only had those windows for a few months, you might try to find someone who got new windows in the past two years because they know how those windows work in the hot and cold. Just one positive or negative recommendation might be all you need to make your decision.
But even when you can’t ask someone you know personally, you might look for recommendations. You shop online, and you’ll read through the reviews of complete strangers. If you see a couple hundred variations of, “Five stars! Works exactly as described. Would definitely buy again.” You’re more likely to buy that product rather than another one that only has a dozen reviews.
Sometimes, you don’t seek recommendations, but they’re offered to you anyway. You meet a friend for coffee, and she tells you that you “have to” try this drink or see this movie or meet Sally because she’s just so great. You might really like that friend. But, depending on how much you trust her taste in those things, you might follow her recommendations or not.
Here, Isaiah is giving you an unsolicited recommendation. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” And it’s a recommendation you can trust because it’s backed by Isaiah’s own personal experience. Of all the prophets the Holy Spirit could have inspired to give this recommendation, of course it comes from Isaiah.
When Isaiah was called to be a prophet (Is. 6:1-7), God was very findable and extremely near. Isaiah was in the Temple, the place where God had promised to dwell among His people. But by God’s design, the Temple had all sorts of separation. There was smoke and walls and curtains to maintain a safe distance between the holy God and sinners.
As Isaiah was in the Temple that day, all of the protection of the smoke of the incense, the walls, and the curtain was stripped away. Isaiah doesn’t just see the ark of the covenant, which represented the throne of God; instead, he sees the actual throne where God sits. Isaiah sees the angels flying and hears them singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of armies.” Again, God was very findable and near. But in that moment, Isaiah would not have recommended that you seek God or call upon Him. Instead, Isaiah wished he wasn’t there. He called down a curse upon himself: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Is. 6:5).
Now, think about that for a minute. When Isaiah woke up that morning, he had unclean lips. He had those unclean lips as he walked to the Temple. Isaiah lived among people of unclean lips long before he saw God on the throne. So, what was it that made Isaiah despair? What caused his conscience to go into overdrive? It was God’s nearness. It was the fact that the holy God had found him, and that terrified Isaiah.
I heard a distinction from another pastor, and I think it’s helpful: There is a difference between a troubled conscience and a terrified conscience. A troubled conscience is aware of sin. A troubled conscience will say things like, “I’ve made some mistakes, but nobody’s perfect. At least I’m better than that guy.” When you have a troubled conscience, you know that there’s something wrong with you and something wrong with the world.
A terrified conscience recognizes more. A terrified conscience recognizes that God is mad because I’ve sinned and that He has promised to punish sin. Think back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had a troubled conscience when they sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame. But then, when God showed up, they had a terrified conscience and tried to hide behind some bushes or trees.
Neither a troubled conscience nor a terrified conscience is going to seek God when He can be found or call upon Him when He is near. If your conscience is merely troubled, you won’t think that you need Him. You’ll wrongly think, “I’ll just make up for my mistakes.” And if your conscience is terrified, you’re going be as silent as possible when God gets close because you don’t want to draw attention to yourself.
Before I go on, I need to make something crystal clear: God doesn’t want you to remain in the state of having either a troubled or terrified conscience. God wants to forgive you and give you a pure, clean conscience (Heb. 10:21-22). But because you and I are sinners, we are going to have a conscience that is either troubled or terrified. And frankly, it’s much, much better to have a terrified conscience. If your conscience is merely troubled, or if you think you will fix your conscience by trying to do better, I have no good news for you. None whatsoever. All I can say to you is that you will always be troubled until you stand before God’s judgment throne. Then you will be terrified, but it will be too late. God will condemn you, and you will spend an eternity in hell and terror. Repent now. Return to God now, now while He is near and may be found.
But if the Holy Spirit has worked a terrified conscience in you, then I do have good news. To you who know you can’t fix your own guilt and shame, to you who know that you cannot hide from the Holy, Almighty, and Just God – know that God is near to you now. And this is a good thing.
When Isaiah’s conscience was terrified to the point that he thought he was finished, God sent one of those angels to touch Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal. That act took away Isaiah’s guilt and atoned for his sin (Is. 6:7). That compassion and abundant pardon from God brought Isaiah even closer to God. But now he had a new, cleansed, and purified conscience.
Because of that merciful, gracious, forgiving, atoning act of God, Isaiah makes this recommendation from his own experience. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.”
When v. 7 of this text says, “let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,” that wickedness and unrighteousness includes all the sinful things you do with our lips, hands, feet, and mind. Sure. But take particular notice of the last half of v. 7, “let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him.” In other words, the wickedness and unrighteousness you are to forsake is failing to seek the Lord while He may be found and your unwillingness to call upon Him when He is near.
Instead, dear saints, return. Return to your God because He will abundantly pardon. Catch that – abundantly pardon. Your God pardons because His thoughts and ways are not like your thoughts and ways; God’s are infinitely higher. That doesn’t only mean God’s IQ is way up here and ours is way down here. While that’s true, that isn’t the context of Is. 55:8-9. Instead, God’s ways are the high, heavenly ways of compassion and abundant pardon, while our ways, frankly, aren’t. That’s even more reason for you to listen to Isaiah recommendation and return to God.
When God’s Word of abundant pardon goes out, that Word does not return empty. It accomplishes exactly what God sends it to do. In other words, when God says, “I forgive you,” what God actually means is, “I forgive you.” That very word of your high, compassionate, pardoning God removes your sin from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12). Because of that you will go forth in joy and be lead in God’s peace. The mountains and hills and trees and all creation will rejoice with you.
Dear saints, return to God. Return to Him for His mercy, for His grace, and for His abundant pardon. He is near. Seek Him now. Return to Him now. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
We’ll get to this text, I promise. But first, I want to make a quick comment on our liturgy. Right away, the term or word “liturgy” might seem dull or dry. But the word ‘liturgy’ is a biblical word that simply means ‘public service.’ It seems less common now, but people used to talk about a church either being ‘liturgical’ or ‘contemporary.’ But that isn’t a helpful distinction because every church has a liturgy. In some churches, that order looks like singing for a long time, hearing a sermon, singing again, and leaving the building. You know what the service looks like here. And in other churches you may have attended, it looks different. When Christians gather together in church, they do things in a particular order, and that order is the liturgy.
I’m not sure when, but sometime in the not-too-distant future I’m going to take the time during a Sunday morning service to explain the different parts of our service and why we do what we do when we do it. But that’s for another time.
Today, I want to highlight one of the parts of our liturgy which is the Collect. It’s that short prayer that is offered right after the Confession and Absolution and before the Scripture readings. The Collect changes every week, because it takes the different Scripture readings we hear during the service and collects (hence the name) them into a prayer that we offer to God. What the Collect does is it sets the theme for what we will hear from God’s Word each week. People have traced the origins of these prayers far back through Church history. They have been used by Christians since the 400-500’s.
I printed the main part of today’s Collect there for you in the Scripture insert, and I want to draw your attention to it again right now. “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds.” It’s a good prayer because we need to have our hearts stirred up by God, and Jesus certainly does that in this Gospel reading. Jesus says that the day is coming when, “The powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Lk. 21:26).
Shaking the heavens is no problem for God. God created all the celestial bodies on the fourth day of creation by simply speaking (Gen. 1:14-19). All the planets, solar systems, stars, and galaxies didn’t get where they are by accident. God did it with precision. Earth is about 91.6 million miles from the sun. If it were a tiny fraction closer to the sun, the whole planet would fry; a tiny fraction further, and it would freeze. And it isn’t just Earth’s proximity to the sun that sustains life. It is tilted in just the right way as well. Also, God created the other planets of our solar system in the right sizes and set them at the right distances to keep our orbit just right and protect us from asteroids. Our moon is just the right size and distance to sustain life on the planet by causing the high and low tides. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Milky Way galaxy is the perfect distance from other galaxies and black holes too.
You probably know the rule In carpentry, “Measure twice; cut once.” I’m not sure how to state a similar rule for creating the universe. Maybe, “Measure twice; carefully place all the powers of the heavens in their positions once.”
Well, Jesus tells us that all of it is going to be shaken. Normally, when things are shaken, it’s a violent and chaotic thing. You shake something and stuff goes all over the place and ends up in random positions when the shaking stops. But the same precision that God used in creating the heavens will also be used when God shakes them. Yes, everything is going to be shaken, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t in control of what’s happening.
Shaking the heavens is no problem for God. The bigger problem is stirring our stubborn hearts. That’s why Jesus tells us to “stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk. 21:36). In other words, don’t get in a tizzy when the powers of the heavens are shaken. Instead, pray that as the universe shakes that God would strengthen you to stand before Him when He returns.
This past Thursday, a news alert came on my phone that there had been an earthquake off the coast of central California and a tsunami warning had been issued. I said a quick prayer for the people and cities. (I’d encourage you, when you get an alert like that or when you hear sirens, the first thing to do is pray. At least send up a, “Lord, have mercy.”) About half an hour after I saw that alert, I took a break to check Twitter – I still can’t call it ‘X’ – to see if there was a tsunami since I know people who live in that area. I found a bunch of posts from people who lived in that area, and most of them were saying that they were more startled by the alert from their phone than they were worried about being swept away. I was fairly shocked. Even though a tsunami could still have been coming, people were complaining that the buzzing and noise from their phone was too loud.
Now, I know those emergency alerts are very shocking, but they’re supposed so they grab our immediate attention. But I found it remarkably interesting that people were scared more by their phones than they were about the possibility of their cars, houses, workplaces, and city being completely swept away in an instant.
But then, I realized that all those comments of misdirected fear is what I and, probably, most of us do. We get riled up about all sorts of things, but the things that get us riled up aren’t what is most important. Especially this time of year, we focus more on what gifts to buy, how much money we are spending, rushing around for all the parties and get-togethers, and the final exams or papers. But are we preparing to stand before Christ, the Son of Man? Our concern for temporary tings often leads to complacency about eternal things. Remember what Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will not pass away” (Lk. 21:33).
When you listen to the world, what do you hear them talking about? You hear about wars and rumors of wars. They talk about the atmosphere and “catastrophic global climate change.” And they’re definitely perplexed about all of it. Many of the signs Jesus speaks about in this text are the constant chatter of our day and age.
Dear saints, God would have you speak differently than the world speaks. You can see the different calamities happening in our world and use them as an opportunity to share the joy and hope you have of the Savior’s return. Yes, it is clear that creation isn’t going to last forever. This world will not endure because of the sin we have brought into it. But you know that Christ is risen. You know that His death and resurrection was to save the world. You know that your Redeemer promises to make all things new, and again, His words will not pass away. What He has promised will surely happen.
Jesus, your Savior, is coming again for your redemption. That puts a new perspective on all the evil and chaos of this world. You have Christ’s promise that the things you struggle with and have to endure in this world will cease and be replaced with the joy of living in God’s eternal kingdom.
Even as the powers of the heavens are shaken, we pray that God would stir up our hearts to be ready for Jesus’ coming. The cares of this life are certainly real, but they are nothing compared to the redemption that is coming and drawing near.
Dear saints, in the midst of the evil of this broken world, straighten up. Raise your heads. Your redemption is coming, and it is drawing near. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, 13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? 14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. 15 I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
When a little girl wakes up in the middle of the night because she’s scared, worried, or thirsty, it’s completely natural for her to wake up her parents. Tired as those parents might be, one of them – in our house it’s usually the mom (Thanks, hon!) – one of them will get up to help that child with whatever she needs. It doesn’t matter if that girl’s need is silly, like the fear of a monster under her bed, and it doesn’t matter if her need is justified like a dirty diaper or a horrible cough. That parent will go and help.
The parent will reassure the child, “No, I looked and there isn’t a monster under your bed.” “Yes, ants are strong, but you don’t have to worry about them carrying our house away.” “Even though you’re perfectly capable of getting your own drink, I know you’re scared to go into the dark bathroom, so I’ll get a cup of water for you.” “I’ll steam up the bathroom to help you with your croupy cough.” If a child doesn’t ask his or her parents for help in that moment of fear and need, it’s strange. Something is wrong or off. Parents are able and willing to help their children. That’s part of the job description.
As kids grow and mature, they become capable of doing things on their own so they need their parents’ help less often. And that is a good thing. Parents want that for their children, so parents teach their children to zip their coat, tie their shoes, and pour a bowl of cereal for themselves. To be a functioning person, you need to be able to do those sorts of things. But there is a sadness that comes along with children becoming more capable and independent. One day, you’re walking your son into his first day of pre-school. Then, what feels like two seconds later, he’s able to drive himself everywhere. But that independence comes with a cost. It means that, instead of being home, he’ll be at practice or work or going out with friends. And when you do see him and ask how his day was, all you get is a quick, “Fine.” Part of a parent’s job is to get their kids to the point where they don’t need parents to do things for them.
Again, this independence isn’t a bad thing, but it comes with a danger. The danger is that it can lead to becoming disconnected from others. We don’t ask others to help us even though they are able and willing to. And this goes beyond asking mom or dad or whomever to help us. It also extends to asking our heavenly Father for help.
As we become more independent and capable, we also get better at lying to ourselves. We wrongly think that we reach a point where we don’t need God’s help with the little things in life, like tying our shoes or driving to work. And those lies tend to snowball.
The lie starts with thinking, “I’m mature enough that I don’t need God’s help to tie my shoes,” which leads to, “God doesn’t help me tie my shoes.” Then, that leads to thinking that God doesn’t help as we go about all the other business of our day, whether it’s commuting, studying, working, eating, and all the other daily things that make up our life.
Of course, none of that is actually true. God does help us in all of those things. He has given us brains that send messages through the nerves He has given us so the muscles and tendons He has also given us so we can tie our shoes. God is the One who created the laws of physics and gravity that cause our shoelaces to move in consistent, repeatable ways. In reality, it’s not an overstatement to say that God tied your shoes this morning. Sure, He did it through you, but God did it. It is sad how we so quickly and easily forget God’s care for us over the entirety of our lives and actions.
Another thing that causes us to forget God’s care for us is fear. Usually, we think danger causes either a fight or flight instinct in us, but what might be even more common than fight or flight is for us to freeze and do nothing. When our brain can’t calculate if it’s better to fight or flee from the danger, we freeze. And when we freeze in the face of fear, we are the most vulnerable. It’s better if that fear causes us to flee toward God, our heavenly Father, just like a child going to her parents in the middle of the night.
The reason a children wake up their parents at night is they have a fear and instinctively flee to their parents to get the help they need. And it doesn’t matter if the fear is reasonable or not. That child’s fear drives him to his parents who love, care for, and help him because he either can’t or won’t fight the monster under his bed.
It’s that kind of good and right, childlike fleeing that is going on here in Isaiah. Isaiah is running back to God his Father in the middle of the night because God is the only One who can help him. Isaiah is saying, “Wake up, God. Wake up. I need Your help. You slew the dragon before and made a highway through the sea. Wake up and help me now.”
There is a beautiful honesty in Isaiah’s prayer here. He knows what he needs, and he’s asking his heavenly Father to give it. But even as Isaiah makes this request, he doesn’t know exactly what God is going to do. None of us mortals know what God is going to do. But Isaiah honest enough to pray to God and say that he wants God to do more than He’s currently doing. Isaiah wants God to do mighty things. He is like that little kid waking up his dad, and he is confident enough to know that God is his loving Father who will take care of him and give him exactly what he needs.
Dear saints, we need to become like children again, as Isaiah does here.
It’s easy for us to spot danger. For example, we think about the future and all of the unknown things the future holds and we are filled with fear and anxiety. Stop doing that.
Scripture would have you do the opposite. Throughout Scripture, people look back to the past and think about what God has already done for them. Those mighty things God did in the past help them trust in the present that God will do similar things in the future. And that is a much better approach than thinking we have to help ourselves by molding and shaping the future on our own.
To put all this into the words Isaiah uses here: If God made everything in the beginning, can He take care of everything now and in the future? Yes, He can. If God stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, can He do something about your life next week? Of course He can! He who made all things throughout all creation simply by speaking can certainly take care of the small fraction of creation that effects your life today, tomorrow, and sixteen years from now. In fact, He promises to. Hear again what your heavenly Father says, “I, I am He who comforts you.”
So, you children of God, return to Him. God wants you to be childlike in your trust in Him (Mt. 19:14). Because He is your heavenly Father, He is able and willing to take away both your stupid fears and your justified fears. God wants you to have that simple faith like the child who runs to his parents in the middle of the night with whatever is causing you trouble. Just like a parent’s job is to check for monsters under the bed and get a drink for her child in the middle of the night, it’s God’s job to care for every big or small, justified or silly thing that troubles you.
You are God’s children. You can be fearless in your prayers. God isn’t going to be surprised at any of them. You aren’t going to ask for something He’s never heard. You aren’t going to confess some sin that He hasn’t already forgiven for someone else. God knows how to do it, so wake Him up and ask Him for what you need.
You don’t have to be like the woman in our Gospel reading (Mt. 9:18-26) who tries to sneak something good from God. You can be much bolder than that. He is the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. None of the things that cause you worry or fear are greater than the one who comforts you, so return to Him.
In the Small Catechism, Luther offers us two prayers, one for the morning and one for the evening. Both of those prayers include the following statement that fit so well with this passage from Isaiah. The statement is this, “Into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.” Our family uses those prayers during our drive to school and in our devotions in the evening, and those words have been rolling around in my brain this past week. And I would encourage you to consider using those prayers as well.
You can confidently place everything about yourself and all the things around you into God’s hands. Because God is your loving Father, He’ll take care of it all. And you can do this boldly. Your heavenly Father has already given you His only begotten Son to forgive you of all your sin, what other good thing would He ever withhold from you? Nothing.
As Ro. 8;31b-32 says, “If God is for us,” and He is, “who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with [His Son] graciously give us all things?”
Children of God, return to Him, and He will comfort you. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Pastorsamwise 
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