Tag Archives: Righteous

Loved Ones – Sermon on 1 John 3:1-3 for All Saints’ 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.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Typically, names are given. When you’re born, you’re given a name. Whether or not you like your name, doesn’t matter. The name your parents gave you is your name. Sometimes, you are given a nickname, which you may like or dislike.

In junior high, my schoolmates called me ‘string-bean.’ I didn’t like it so much. But being over 6 ft. tall and weighing maybe 120 lbs. soaking wet, it fit. When I made the varsity swim team, I thought, “This is my chance for a cool nickname,” because no one else from my school was a swimmer. So, I tried to give myself a nickname. The movie Rudy had just come out, and the story of that weak, little football player who finally got a chance and proved himself on the field was so inspirational that I told my teammates to call me ‘Rudy.’ I even had it printed on my first varsity swimming t-shirt. Long story short, ‘Rudy’ didn’t stick, sadly. Even worse was that one of the other swimmers was dating a girl from my school. As soon as he found out that I was called ‘string bean,’ the name followed me into the pool.

The Bible has lots of names and titles for people who are saved by grace through faith in Christ – Christian (Act. 11:26), believer (Act. 5:14), child of God (Jn. 1:12-13), people of God (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 21:3), citizens of the kingdom of heaven/God (Php. 3:20), people belonging to the Way (Act. 9:2). I could go on and on. All of those names and titles have a different focus, and you are probably comfortable with some of those titles and names for yourself. But the Bible has another name for you. Even though it’s a name that you might not like, even though it’s a title that you wouldn’t claim for yourself, it’s a name that is true and accurate. You, Christian, are a ‘saint.’

A saint is not someone who does a lot of good works, has witnesses who can verify two miracles, and gets recognized by people wearing funny hats at the Vatican. No! To be a saint literally means to be a ‘holy one.’ And no; you aren’t holy by your own works or efforts. You aren’t holy when it comes to keeping God’s commands. You aren’t holy because of your obedience. Instead, you are made holy by grace through faith in Jesus. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). That means Jesus takes all your sin and shame and guilt and bares it to the cross. In exchange, Jesus gives you His perfect obedience, His total righteousness, His pure holiness. Because of Christ, God makes you holy. The fact that you are a saint is God’s work – not yours.

Here in chapter 3, John wants you to see, to behold, to recognize that you are a saint. Even though the word ‘saint’ doesn’t come up in the text, there are three other terms or titles in this text that point to the fact that you are a ‘saint.’

First, you are God’s child, and John wants you to bask in the fact that God has made you His child. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we…” we who are sinful and unclean, we who rebel against God, we who by nature are enemies of God, “See the love God the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.” And John drives the point home, “And so we are” (1 Jn. 3:1).

You, dear saints, are God’s children. Jesus Himself said so. The morning of the Resurrection, shortly after Jesus finished tidying up His grave, folding up His burial cloths, and making the bed, He tells Mary Magdelene to tell the disciples, “Go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God’” (Jn. 20:17).

In Hebrews 2:10, Jesus is referred to as the Founder of your salvation who brings “many sons to glory.” Then, Hebrews goes on to say, “He who sanctifies,” (in other words ‘makes holy’), “and those who are sanctified,” (in other words, ‘who are made saints’), “all have one source. That is why [Jesus] is not ashamed to call [you who are made holy] ‘brothers’” (Heb. 2:11). Since Jesus, the Son of God, is not ashamed to call you ‘brothers,’ then you also are children of God. And children inherit characteristics from their parents. Since God is holy, holy, holy (Is. 6:3) – you also are holy. You, children of God, are saints.

John goes on to acknowledge that the world doesn’t recognize you as the children of God. People can’t look at you and say, “Oh, I see you’re a Christian. You look just like your heavenly Father.” You and I don’t bear that divine resemblance because even though we are children of God, we still sin and fall short of the glory of God (Ro. 3:23). In the eyes of the world, we look like sinners, so the world doesn’t see us as children of God. But the fact that the world doesn’t recognize that we are children of God shouldn’t surprise us. The world doesn’t recognize us as children of God because it didn’t recognize Jesus as the Son of God when He came to earth.

The second term John uses to point to the fact that we are saints is “beloved” or lit. ‘loved ones.’ God has poured His love into you. And by His love, He has given you the right to be His children who are born of God (Jn. 1:12-13; 3:5). And in that love you receive grace on top of grace (Jn. 1:16). Because of Jesus, God’s love washes over you. His love makes you clean, forgiven, and sanctified, i.e. holy and sainted (1 Co. 6:11). That is what it is to be God’s beloved. As God’s loved one, you also have His promise that the day is coming when you will be like Jesus because you will see Him as He is (1 Jn. 3:2).

And it’s a good thing that we need to wait for that transformation before we look like Jesus. Can you imagine if you already had the glory of being God’s beloved child? Imagine if as soon as you were Baptized and given the gift of faith that you started to radiate like Jesus did in the Transfiguration. You face shines like the sun (Mt. 17:2), and your clothes become radiant and intensely white (Mk. 9:3). You’d probably get pulled over all the time, and the police would demand that you have more tint on your windows.

The third term John uses to ‘saint’ you is in this text is in v. 3. As you have this hope of being like Jesus when you see Him John says, “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” The root of the word for ‘purifies’ and ‘pure’ is the same as ‘holy’ and ‘saint.’

This purification doesn’t happen by you doing good works and no longer sinning. This purification comes through faith and the hope you have of being like Jesus – which is, again, only by God’s love and grace. To live by grace through faith is to have this hope. The picture here is that, through faith and hope, Jesus’ purity is given and poured into you. The Old Testament had all those regular sacrifices that delivered this same purity by pointing people forward to the cleansing that comes only through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Now, you have the fullness of what those were pointing to. Faith in Christ continually purifies you as Jesus Himself is pure.

Since the last time we celebrated All Saints’ Day, one of our sisters in Christ became like Jesus. On Tuesday, March 25th, Ros, who was already a saint in this life, saw Jesus as He is. She entered that great multitude around the throne of Jesus. She exited this great tribulation and got her white robe. She is now sheltered in God’s presence where Jesus will shepherd her to springs of living water (Rev. 7:9-17). Now Ros and every other believer who has gone to be with Christ surrounds us and cheers us on as we look to Jesus, the Founder and Perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2).

Dear saints, behold what manner of love the Father has given unto you, that you should be called children of God – and so you are. God your Father now invites you to His Supper. God the Son comes to serve you. And God the Holy Spirit comes to continually purify you by grace through faith. This is God’s promise, and this is our hope. Amen.

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

Determined – Sermon on Job 14:1-6 for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity

Job 14:1–6

1 “Man who is born of a woman 
is few of days and full of trouble. 
2 He comes out like a flower and withers; 
he flees like a shadow and continues not. 
3 And do you open your eyes on such a one 
and bring me into judgment with you? 
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? 
There is not one. 
5 Since his days are determined, 
and the number of his months is with you, 
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, 
6 look away from him and leave him alone, 
that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Seasons change. This year, we’re having a particularly long Fall. We’ve been hitting 50°F regularly. The forecast says we’ve got a couple more days of that, but it’s definitely Fall. The sun is lower in the sky, and it’s getting dark earlier and earlier each day. Your grass might still have some green in it, but the brown is steadily progressing. Most of the leaves have fallen off of the trees, and you’re probably ahead of me in getting them off the lawn.

We’re used to these seasonal changes in this part of the world. During the months that end with ‘-ber,’ we start smelling autumn in the air. And I know some of you are already eagerly waiting for March and April when you get those first, faint scents of Spring. This portion of Job is like those brief whiffs of new life. But, because of his suffering, Job is deep in the declining days of autumn, and yet he is determined to smell the sweetness of Spring again.

To get the context of where we are in Job 14, remember: Three times in the first two chapters, Job is described as a man who is blameless, upright, one who fears God, and turns away from evil (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3). In other words, Job is a Christian. But God allows Satan to cause him all sorts of suffering, both in material and physical ways. Job’s suffering puts him in this autumn season of death.

As he suffers, Job’s three friends come to talk with him. Well, we call them “friends,” but that’s using that word extremely liberally because, honestly, they’re really, really bad friends. Each of them thinks he’s wise enough to know why Job is suffering and tries to explain it. The problem is that their ideas of why Job is suffering only make Job’s suffering worse. In fact, the conversation Job’s friends have with him is, basically, a third round of suffering inflicted on Job.

The first friend, Eliphaz, basically tells Job, “You’re suffering because you are being punished for some sin. But you should be thankful because this suffering is going to make you a better person” (Job 4-5). The second one, Bildad, basically says, “You’re getting what you deserve. Just repent, and your pain will go away” (Job 8). The third, Zophar, basically says, “Actually, Job, you deserve a lot worse. Make yourself worthy to stand before God and then your life will get better” (Job 11). It’s almost like each one of those friends is actively trying to be worse than the previous at explaining why Job is suffering.

Job had responded to each of those friends’ claims, but our text today is the second part of Job’s reply to the three of them collectively. The summary of what Job says in Job 13 is, “This suffering isn’t because God is punishing me for some particular sin. You guys can say whatever you want, but I have no problem insisting that I am righteous before God.” And remember, Job is right when he says that. Job hadn’t heard it, but God Himself declared Job to be blameless and upright. And even though Job is in the autumn of suffering, he stands righteous before God through faith (Hab. 2:4; Gen. 15:6).

Now, here in Job 14, Job longs for Spring and the season of new life. But he speaks about it in ways where we only get the faintest whiff of it. He’s still deep in the autumn of his suffering. That’s why Job talks about the few, troubled days of all mankind (Job 14:1). Job rightly says that all of us are like a flower that sprouts up but then withers (Job 14:2).

Look again at in v. 5. Job says, “[Man’s] days are determined, and the number of his months is with You, [God]. You have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.” Yes, Job is in a very dark place. He’s enduring a suffering that is hard for us to fathom. He’s lost his all of his income, and his children have died. But Job still recognizes that God is the One in control of all his days. Job knows that God determines both the beginning and end of a person. Because of sin, all of us are mortals. We all die, and each person has a God-determined number of days (Ps. 39:4, 139:16).

But then, in the verses that follow immediately after our text (Job 14:7-9), Job says that he longs for Fall to be over and Spring to come again. He says that there is still hope for a tree that is cut down because it can sprout again. Job acknowledges that roots grow old in the earth and the stump dies in the soil, but it will still put out branches at the first scent of water.

In other words, Job believes that, in spite of his current condition, God hasn’t and won’t abandon him – even after Job has breathed his last. Job believes in the Resurrection. In spite of his suffering, Job knows that he will rise again, and his own eyes will see his Redeemer standing victorious on the earth. That will become crystal clear in what Job says in ch. 19:25-27. But here in ch. 14, Job is still mostly in his “Fall funk.”

Now, I want to dig into v. 6 here a little bit. Listen to it again, “look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.” When I was initially reading this text to prepare for this sermon, that verse reminded me of other verses of Scripture like Ecc. 2:24 which says, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.” The way I understood it was that Job was asking God to look away from him and leave him alone so he could just enjoy the rest of his days. But after doing more study on the text, I realized that’s not what is going on here. Not at all!

If you look in your pew Bible, you’ll see that the ESV (which is what is printed for you) has a footnote that says the way we should probably read that first line of v. 6 is, “Look away from him that he may cease.” In other words, Job isn’t asking God to leave him alone. Instead, Job is saying that, as soon as God looks away from us, we die. Now, it might not seem like it at first, but there are actually two bits of comfort there.

The first comfort is that Job recognizes God is not ignoring him or looking the other direction. Even though Job is suffering, God is looking at him and is aware of his situation. Since God knows Job’s suffering, He also knows your suffering. God sees. God is alert to all the causes of your pain. That’s precisely why He sent Jesus to rescue and deliver you.

The second comfort is a little harder to recognize – like the first scent of Spring. What Job is saying here is basically, “Look away from me so I can come to the end of my days and die because I know there is a resurrection where there will be no more suffering.” Now, Job isn’t suicidal here. Instead, Job recognizes that his life is like the changing of seasons. He’s in the Fall of suffering and decay. The cold, dead of winter will come when God decides it will come. But after winter comes the new life of Spring and resurrection. That’s what Job is longing for.

In context, that first line of v. 6 is Job saying, “God, I know that I’m not going to live forever. I know that this suffering is temporary. Eventually, I will die, but You will raise me again. Even now in this suffering, my life is in Your hands. But I also know that my eternal future is in Your hands. And my preference right now is to move on and get to the resurrection stuff.”

That understanding gives us a better picture of what the second line of v. 6 says where Job talks about a hired hand enjoying his day. During the sweat and toil of work, a hired hand looks to the end of the day when he will rest and receive his wages. That’s what Job longs for. Through faith, Job knows that God will reward him when his life has ended, and he will have eternal rest.

So, dear saints, let’s apply all of this to you. You aren’t suffering like Job is here, and may God grant that none of you ever do. But everyone suffers to one degree or another in this broken world. Like Job, you can confidently place yourself in God’s hands. Yes, you are a sinner, but God can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing (Job 14:4). Your God brings life out of death. God cleanses, restores, and forgives. No matter what you suffer in this life, God still and always loves you because of what Christ has done on the cross for you.

We suffer many things in this broken, sinful world. Whatever we suffer points to the fact that this world is ending. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus will mention several signs of the end of the world, and they are all some form of suffering. But Jesus wants you to take courage. Every war and rumor of war; every earthquake and hurricane; every corrupt government and politician; every sickness, disease, death, and threat – all of them are only signs that this world is broken and will not last. But know that even in the midst of all those signs, God hasn’t forgotten you.

Jesus lives, and He is returning for you. You belong to Him. Through Jesus, God has delivered you and declared that you are His people. Christ is determined to rescue you. He brings life out of death, and He will lead you in green pastures and beside still waters (Ps. 23:2).

Jesus is your God and Savior, and He is absolutely determined to bring you safely through the autumn of this broken world into the eternal Spring of the New Creation. Amen.

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

The Righteous Live by Faith – Sermon on Habakkuk 2:1-4 for Reformation Sunday

Habakkuk 2:1–4

1 I will take my stand at my watchpost 
and station myself on the tower, 
and look out to see what he will say to me, 
and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 

2 And the Lord answered me: 
“Write the vision; 
make it plain on tablets, 
so he may run who reads it. 
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; 
it hastens to the end—it will not lie. 
If it seems slow, wait for it; 
it will surely come; it will not delay. 
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, 
but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Completed – Sermon on Matthew 5:17-26 for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

Matthew 5:17–26

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This Gospel reading today is all Law. These verses begin a long section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is, basically, giving a long commentary on the Ten Commandments which runs all the way to the end of chapter 5 – thirty-two verses worth of our Lord’s teaching on the Ten Commandments. Now, God’s Law, which is succinctly given to us in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17), does a couple different things.[1] Let me just briefly tell you what they are before we focus in on one.

First and foremost, God’s Law shows us how creation works. It reveals what is good in this life. In other words, the Commandments teach you how to be happy and how to live in perfect harmony with God, harmony with your neighbor, and harmony with the rest of creation. Because God’s Law does this, you can think of it as a ‘curb,’ and keep that term in your mind because we’re going to come back to it in just a bit.

Second, because the Commandments teach us how creation works, they also show us where we are living in a way that is contrary to how creation works. The Law shows us how we have violated God’s will, how we have offended Him, and have earned His wrath because of our sin. In other words, the Law accuses us. It stands there like a perfect, clear mirror showing us what we really look like, and it isn’t a pretty picture.

As far as your salvation is concerned, this is the most important thing the Law does. It accuses you and exposes the fact that you are not what you are created to be. So, when you see yourself in the mirror of God’s Law, run to Him in repentance seeking His mercy which He freely gives to you for the sake of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Again, as far as your salvation is concerned, this is the most important thing God’s Law does. But! Make sure you notice that the Law is only a mirror because of that first function, the ‘curb,’ which again simply shows us how God has ordered creation.

So, back to the ‘curb.’ Unless you have really poor spatial awareness, you probably don’t think about curbs very often. Maybe, you hit the curb when you’re driving your spouse’s vehicle that has a longer or wider wheelbase than you are used to, but that curb just bumps you back onto the street keeping you off the sidewalk and lawns. Typically, if you hit a curb when you’re driving, it’s no big deal. It just means you’ll need to get your tires realigned a bit sooner.

But know that there are different kinds of curbs. If you’re driving on I-29 or Hwy. 2, there aren’t what we normally call curbs, but there are those rumble strips that shake the car and make a loud noise to keep you from straying off the road. You might hit those rumble strips periodically on a curve or when the wind is blowing exceptionally hard. But there are still other curbs. If you’re driving on the freeways in the Cities, the curb might be a thick, four-foot concrete wall to keep the traffic traveling in opposite directions from colliding. Those, you avoid, and, hopefully, you’ve never hit or scraped one of them because it’ll do extensive damage to your car. Rumble strips, normal neighborhood curbs, and concrete barriers are all types of “curbs” that keep vehicles where they should be – on the road and away from danger.

Now, take that idea of those different types of curbs to God’s Law and the Ten Commandments. We might hear the 5th Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” and think of the curb of the 5th Command as the thick, four-foot concrete barrier. It’s big, but it’s also quite easy to avoid running into it. You can always see it and know that hitting it would cause significant damage. Because the 5th Command is so big and impending, you easily avoid it. But just because you’ve never physically murdered someone, don’t think that you’re righteous according to the 5th Command.

Here, in this Gospel text, Jesus says that the 5th Command is also a regular curb. Christ says, “Don’t relax on this command because everyone who is angry with his brother is also guilty of murder” (Mt. 5:22a). Jesus shows that the 5th Command isn’t just a concrete barrier to keep us from physically murdering someone, it’s also a curb that keeps us from being angry toward our neighbor. Again, when you’re driving your vehicle, you might bump a curb a couple times a week or once a month. But just because you don’t think much about your anger toward others doesn’t mean that God doesn’t notice. Even nudging the curb of anger toward your neighbor makes you liable to judgment and earns you an eternity in hell.

Think back to Genesis 4. Before Cain murdered Abel, God asked Cain, “Why are you angry?” (Gen. 4:6). Even though God hadn’t yet given the command, “Thou shalt not kill,” God was warning Cain there with the 5th Command because Cain was angry. But Cain blew right over the curb of anger that God had constructed and smashed into the concrete barrier of murder.

Jesus goes even further and tells us about the 5th Command rumble strips. Calling someone a fool is the same as murder (Mt. 5:22b). And Jesus still isn’t done. Christ teaches us that the 5th Command demands that if we remember that someone has something against us that we must go to them and try to reconcile, or we are violating the 5th Command (Mt. 5:23-24).

When it comes to keeping the 5th Command, it’s not enough for you to not physically murder someone or never be angry. It’s not even enough for you to never call someone a fool. You also need to seek reconciliation with others who are angry against you. Otherwise, you have 5th Commandment blood on your hands. Jesus is teaching here that you’ve run into all kinds of 5th Commandment curbs. You do it every day. And because of that, you are guilty before God and liable to His eternal judgment.

Jesus, who was the One who spoke the Ten Commandments, clearly spells out what they mean. You could say that He is giving us the “fine print” of the Commands explaining the full, complete picture of what they demand. But don’t misunderstand that either. It isn’t as though the Ten Commandments weren’t enough. They are enough. Imagine you told your teenage kid to clean the kitchen, and all he does is wipe down the exposed counters and leaves a pile of dishes by the sink. (To be clear, this is not an example from my household. My kids know better.) You come into the kitchen and see all the greasy, grimy pots and pans. You’d rightly get after him and say, “I told you to clean the kitchen. Get back in there.”

Here, when Jesus teaches us the “fine print” of the Ten Commandments, we are left with no excuse for hitting any of the curbs of any of the Commandments. Christ says, “Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. You need a righteousness that exceeds the goodest [sic.], most moral person you know of, or you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:19-20). And when Jesus talks about the “least command,” He is not saying that the Ten Commandments have a ranking where some are more important and some less. No! Christ is saying that the tiniest infraction of any of the Commandments, even refusing to reconcile with someone who is angry with you, makes you unrighteous and means that you are outside the kingdom of heaven. In other words, we’re all in deep, deep trouble. Repent.

Repent and know that Jesus completes and fulfills the Commands in another way than just explaining them more fully. Jesus also keeps all the Commands, all of God’s Law, perfectly and completely – for you. Every aspect of every command was perfectly obeyed by Jesus. And His obedience is yours through faith in Him.

Think of it this way: God is going to grade you on one test, and that is the test of keeping His Law, and you need to get a perfect score, 100%, never hitting any curb – ever, or you will spend eternity in hell. Even with an open book, the best, most righteous person is going to bomb that test. Maybe get a score in the teens or something. But also know God has told you that you can use a partner to take the test. Through faith, Jesus is your Partner for this final exam, and He answers every demand of the Law perfectly. Through faith in Him, His full, complete righteousness is yours. 

And now, He invites you to receive that righteousness as He gives you His righteous Body to eat, and His holy, cleansing, forgiving Blood to drink. So, come to His table and receive His perfect righteousness. Amen.

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

[1] The Formula and Epitome of Concord Art. VI. both talk about the three uses of the Law – 1) curb, 2) mirror, and 3) guide. This sermon is written with the understanding that the 2nd and 3rd uses of the Law are both subsets of the 1st. So, I’m not denying the 3rduse of the Law in any way. Instead, it is a clear extension of the 1st use as is the 2nd.

Roadblock – Sermon on Proverbs 4:10-23 for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

Proverbs 4:10–23

10 Hear, my son, and accept my words, 
that the years of your life may be many. 
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom; 
I have led you in the paths of uprightness. 
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble. 
13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; 
guard her, for she is your life. 
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, 
and do not walk in the way of the evil. 
15 Avoid it; do not go on it; 
turn away from it and pass on. 
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; 
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. 
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness 
and drink the wine of violence. 
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, 
which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; 
they do not know over what they stumble. 

20 My son, be attentive to my words; 
incline your ear to my sayings. 
21 Let them not escape from your sight; 
keep them within your heart. 
22 For they are life to those who find them, 
and healing to all their flesh. 
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, 
for from it flow the springs of life.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

In 2019, the AFLC’s Annual Conference was held near Scranton, PA. To save our congregations a bit of money, four other pastors and I decided to travel together. We rented a vehicle in Minneapolis which ended up being a brand new, black GMC Yukon with tinted windows and all the bells and whistles. Our first day of travel together was from Minneapolis to a hotel in Toledo, OH which is just under 700 miles and would take about 10 hours. We had Google Maps plot our course to avoid toll roads, made our way through Wisconsin, and started to enter the Chicago metro. As we got deeper into Chicago, Google kindly told us that our current course had congested traffic and that there was an alternate route which would save us 45 minutes. That’s what you call a no brainer. Reroute.

We got off the freeway and quickly found ourselves driving through the neighborhoods of Chicago. Sure, there were stoplights and stop signs, but we kept moving. Now, one of the other pastors had grown up near Chicago, but he had been asleep in the third-row seat when we decided to reroute. I’m not exactly sure what woke him up, but he looked out the window and asked, “Where are we?” We told him that we were still in Chicago and that we had left the freeway to avoid traffic. He looked at a couple of street signs and said in the most serious voice I had ever heard him use. “We need to get out of here. Now!”

We had been redirected to the south side of Chicago, not only that, but a neighborhood notorious for stray bullets and carjackings. Apparently, Google Maps can help you avoid tolls and traffic jams, but it isn’t able to assist five, slightly overweight, mostly Scandinavian pastors avoid being robbed at gunpoint. We did make it out safely with the rented Yukon.

The point is this: it is easy to quickly and unintentionally end up on the wrong path. For us five pastors, the address of our destination didn’t even change, but we were deeply down the wrong path.

Now, there is a temptation for us to hear about the two paths described in these verses and lull ourselves into a false sense of security. We can wrongly think, “I’ve been taught the Bible which is the Word of Life. I’m not overly influenced by all that bad stuff ‘out there.’ I’ll just set the cruise control on my mostly moral life, make sure the lane departure warning system is enabled so I keep being virtuous, and everything will be just fine and dandy.”

Dear saints, beware of that attitude sneaking up on you because when it does, you are already several steps down the dark path of wickedness. The fork in the road between the path of life and the path of the wicked isn’t just ‘out there’ and clearly marked with signs. No. The exit down road of evil is always in the heart of each of us sinners and you can start down it without realizing that your destination has changed. Repent.

Go back for just a minute to that picture of the wicked being unable to rest or sleep unless they have done wrong or made someone stumble. If it weren’t so haunting, it would almost be comical. Imagine the wicked getting ready for bed. They put on their pajamas, brush their teeth, go to the bathroom, fluff their pillow, snuggle up under the covers, but toss and turn because they realize they haven’t gotten someone else to sin. It sounds so ridiculous, but, if you’re honest, you’ve probably experienced that restlessness and sleeplessness when you realize you haven’t caused someone else to stumble.

Stick with me on this. The most natural reaction we sinners have to our sin is, sadly, not to repent, not to get off the dark, evil path of the wicked. Instead, our natural reaction is to recruit other sinners by trying one of two things:

First, we try to recruit other sinners when we play the comparison game. We compare our sin to the sin of others. We search high and low for people who have fallen into sin and think that God will look more kindly on us because there are others who fell harder or further than we did. In our opinion – which, frankly, doesn’t matter – our sin isn’t as grievous as those other people’s. That comparing our sin to the sin of others brings us to a place where we celebrate the sin and downfall of others. We hope to find others stumbling.

But the second way we recruit others to sin is more dangerous and, I think, more common. We recruit other sinners when we try to defend ourselves and make excuses for our sin. When we make excuses for our sin, we are foolishly trying to rig a jury that has no jurisdiction over our case. We figure if we can get enough people to understand why we did that sinful thing, whatever it was, then they will be ‘on our side.’ We lose sleep thinking of ways to convince others that our sin was justified. We want them to make us comfortable with our unrepented sin.

Adam tried to pull this asinine trick when he ate the forbidden fruit. He tried to excuse his sin by convincing God that the reason he ate the fruit was the fault of God Himself. Adam basically says, “Listen God, the only reason I ate the fruit was that this woman, whom You gave to be with me, gave me that fruit. You’re responsible and culpable for my sin” (Gen. 3:12).

When we make excuses for our sin, what we are actually doing is we are trying to get others to fall into their own sin. We want them to lie by calling the evil, sinful thing we did ‘good’ or ‘ok’ or, at least, ‘neutral.’ But Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe,” in other words, ‘damned,’ “are those who call evil good and good evil.” When we try to excuse our sin before others, we are trying to get them to call something evil we have done ‘good.’ Again, repent.

Dear saints, constantly be on the alert for the path of the wicked knowing that you are always inclined to reroute yourself to it. See the roadblock that this passage puts in front of that wicked path. “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on” (v. 14-15). Don’t be like a foolish child and blow through that roadblock.

Dear saints, stay on the righteous path. Hold fast to the Words of Scripture. Notice how the opening verses also call this righteous path the way of wisdom. This wise, righteous path is clear of obstacles. When you walk on this path, you will not be hampered, and if you run (I’m so glad that the text leaves that as optional by saying, ‘if’) if you run on this path, you will not stumble. This path is life – it is full of life, and it grants life.

To follow this path means that when Scripture points out your sin, be wise. Confess that sin. Receive God’s mercy and forgiveness freely given to you because it has been bought and paid for by Jesus’ holy and precious blood. Confess that sin and be filled with Christ’s righteousness.

And know that this path is like the light of dawn. You who are righteous through faith in Christ, you don’t walk in the light of the full day – not yet. But you do walk in the light of the dawn which is always growing brighter and brighter so you see the righteous way more clearly as the day of your Savior’s return draws ever nearer. Amen.

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

Eden to Heaven – Sermon on Genesis 3:22-24 & Revelation 22:1-5

Genesis 3:22-24 & Revelation 22:1-5

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

God created you to live in perfection. In six days, God created everything in the universe. He created light and darkness. He placed the sun, moon, stars, and galaxies in their places. God established land, sea, and plants and filled the earth with birds, fish, and every kind of animal. And God planted the garden of Eden. Only after all that was completed did God create the crown of creation – man and woman. And Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

But it wasn’t the kind of work that we experience – it was pure joy. There was no need to look at the forecast to see what the weather would be. No worries about gas prices and inflation. No crisis. No war. No disease or pandemic. Everything was in perfect harmony. In God’s own estimation, all that He created was good, in fact, very good (Gen. 1:21). Best of all was the perfect relationship that existed between God and man. God freely giving and man graciously receiving. Even the one command that God gave was gracious, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

Now, some suggest that God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden so Adam and Eve could choose to trust or reject God. But this is not the case. God’s prohibition to eat from that tree was a promise for Adam and Eve to believe. Just track with me for a minute here. Scripture repeatedly says, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Ro. 2:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). In other words, to be righteous is to have faith. We know that for us sinners to be righteous is to have faith in Jesus as our Savior. But what kind of faith did Adam and Eve have before the Fall? They already knew the mercy, goodness, and graciousness of God because they constantly experienced it in everything that God had given and in everything God was to them. So, what is it that Adam and Eve believed before the Fall that made them righteous through faith?

Well, at some point in those first six days, God created the angels. Now, Scripture doesn’t tell us specifically when, but at some point in those days of creation the devil and demons rebelled and fell. In other words, evil existed. When God banned Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God was giving a promise, “Evil exists, and I just want you to trust Me on this. When you find out what evil is, it won’t go well for you, in fact, you’ll die.” So, Adam and Eve could go to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and know, “What a good God we have. He has given us everything and doesn’t want us to experience or even know what evil is.”

But, as you heard in Sunday’s Old Testament lesson (Gen. 3:1-21), Satan stirred up discontentment in Adam and Eve. The devil told Eve that she could become something more than God had created her to be. Satan said that she would become like God. So, deceived as she was (Gen. 3:13; 2 Cor. 11:3), Eve took the fruit. Adam was even worse; he wasn’t deceived and knew exactly what he was doing (1 Tim. 2:14). They both sinned and fell. They took. They ate. Their eyes were opened. They had become something more. You heard God say it Himself tonight, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:22).

But Adam and Eve knowing evil wasn’t better. Not even close. Now, because the head of creation had fallen into sin, creation fell with him (Ro. 8:20-21). And Adam and Eve were sent into exile – away from God’s presence, away from the Garden of Eden, and away from the tree of life which was now guarded by the cherubim and a flaming sword. But God sent them into this exile with a new promise to believe. A promise that paradise would be restored to them when the seed of the woman would come and crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). And it was through faith in that promise that God went with them.

Dear saints, you and I live in exile. We wander about sinfully trying to become like God by our own works, but all our effort is curved in upon itself. Instead of being like our giving God, we seek after our own comfort and desires. Unlike God who is generous and giving, we try to pile up riches for ourselves. We try to create our own little gardens of Eden in an attempt to regain the paradise we lost. But we never achieve the perfection we long for. The treasures we acquire quickly fade and fall apart in our hands.

We cannot return from this exile by our own reason or strength. Yet, God walks alongside us, calling us back unto Himself. Out of His great love for us, He continues to give us promise after promise. And God delivers on every one of His promises. He has sent Jesus into this world of exile to bring us back to paradise. He comes to us who are bent over in our sin and frees us. He delivers us from the bondage of Satan (Lk. 13:16) and gives us rest. He announces to us that because of what He has done by His death and resurrection, we will be eternally restored. While Jesus was on the cross, He told the thief next to Him, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43). That word ‘paradise’ means ‘an enclosed garden.’

In our reading from Rev. 22:1-5 tonight, we get a picture of that garden of paradise. And that is what lies ahead for you, dear saint. Through faith in Jesus, you are righteous. Your destination is the bright crystal river, the tree of life yielding its twelve kinds of fruit, and leaves for the healing of the nations. There you will see God’s face, and there will be no more night. You will need no light of lamp or sun, for you will be restored to God, and He will be your light. Your time in exile has an end. And there, in eternal bliss, you will reign forever and ever. Amen.

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