Palm Sunday – B LSB #’s 828, 835, 830
Text – John 12:17 The crowd that had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb & raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. CONTINUING TO BEAR WITNESS Do you consider yourself an average American adult? A study done in 2018 found that fewer than one in ten Americans talk about God, faith, religion or spirituality once a week. The actual number was 8% who think about eternal things at most – one day in seven. The average adult says they have only one spiritual conversation per year.[1] In the same study, data suggested that while non-Christians are open to having spiritual conversations, their overwhelming answer was, “No!” when asked if they’d like to talk to a pastor or some other church professional. And yet, more than half of those respondents said they would speak to a friend.[2] In every person’s life, under the surface, there are unresolved tensions, unanswered questions, unfulfilled longings, unspeakable sins, unrelenting fears. To speak about them threatens us with a strong sense of vulnerability. Whatever a person’s perspective on spiritual issues, it always involves risk & for that reason spiritual conversations require trust. Whether we like it or not, our culture has lost trust in religious institutions & those, like pastors, who represent the church. But people still do trust their friends. A friend values you as you are & is willing to meet you where you are. Jesus met Lazarus where he was – dead in the tomb. Lazarus did not pray for help, yet Jesus called him back to life anyway. That is essentially our task as God’s children – to call others back to life. Granted, we don’t have the power to call them back to life from physical death. You & I are tasked with calling people back to life from spiritual death. We do that by declaring the Good News that Christ has set us free from our sinful condition. Jesus has made up for our failures. Our heavenly Father reconciled all people to Himself with the sacrifice of His only Son. Will you allow God to meet you where you are? Will you allow Him to lead you on the path to paradise? The gate is narrow. The way is hard, but it does lead to living joyfully & forever. Very few people will reject the goal of living joyfully & forever. The arguments arise over how to get there, & what to do in the meantime. The struggle of calling others to life, is that people are looking for a broad & easy road right here & now. Compared to many people around the world, & throughout history, we have had an easy life. We’d like to keep it that way. Satan has other plans, & that is the problem. Adam & Even had an easy life in the Garden of Eden. Satan had other plans then as well. Many people were cheering at Palm Sunday but all of them, other than Jesus, had a different view of what exactly was going on. Jesus was entering Jerusalem to be sacrificed as their Savior. The people thought He was entering the city as their king. He will be coming back as King one day to usher in the heavenly broad & easy road. Until then, it’s the narrow gate & the way is hard, but not because God wants it that way. The problem is not with Him. It’s with us. Even though many people are willing to say they believe in Jesus, the truth is, they believe in Him like they believe in the Easter bunny. How many of you believe in the Easter bunny? Certainly no self-respecting adult in a Lutheran church service would admit that, but every year, 91 million chocolate Easter bunnies are sold. The Easter bunny is definitely real. It just depends on how you define it. Research has even been done showing that 59% of all chocolate Easter bunnies are eaten ears first! Millions of people do believe in the Easter bunny. It’s just not a real live rabbit that lays eggs. People believe in the Easter bunny as something you eat & then it’s done. They don’t trust the Easter bunny to deliver them from or through the trials & tribulations of life. You’re not going to open your heart & spill your guts to a piece of chocolate formed into the shape of a rabbit. Neither do most people open their heart & spill their guts to Jesus. They might say they believe in Him, but in truth it’s no different than the way they believe in the Easter bunny. The reason the gate to salvation is narrow & the way is hard lies in the sinful human heart. That means you, & it means the preacher man standing before you. It also means the people who welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem 2000 years ago. It means the generation of Israelites that were delivered from Egypt, “Yet God was not pleased with most of them, & their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” (1 Corinthians 10:5 NLT) Jesus made it perfectly clear where the problem lies when He spoke to the issue of divorce: “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” (Matthew 19:8 ESV) As Jesus entered Jerusalem, on what we call Palm Sunday, crowds of people were willing to say they believe in Jesus, yet, by Friday, they were shouting, “Crucify him!” The gate is narrow & the way of salvation is hard, because even those who believe in Jesus as Savior from their sins, due to their nature as sinful creatures, have hearts that are hard & closed to God in so many different ways. The Holy Spirit wants to open our hearts because that is how Yahweh enters in. The only way we can describe what we see is that some people are just given the gift to believe. Their hearts are naturally open to God. Many others need to have their hard heart crushed by the trials & tribulations of life. Only then, will those hearts be opened to God. Only when the Holy Spirit has opened your heart can you bear witness to God’s love & mercy. Unfortunately, we feel a lot less vulnerable when we press our heart shut & keep all the struggles of life inside. Those struggles are evidence that our Creator is working to shape & mold us into the image of His Son. It can be through those struggles that God reveals Himself. On Palm Sunday, believing in Jesus & shouting Hosanna was the broad & easy road. Everyone thought they knew what Jesus was doing. By Good Friday they had no clue what He was doing. To believe in Jesus when we have no idea what’s up that is faith. And it’s that faith which bears witness to the power of God the Holy Spirit at work in us. Unbelievers will call that blind faith, because they are blind & unable to understand the things of the Spirit. Do not be deterred by their unbelief. All of us know people who’ve chosen to take the broad & easy road. We know people who’ve rejected God’s call to live, & we also know there is not one thing you or I can do to save them. God does work through our witness, but it is still & always the work of God when a person’s heart is opened to Him. John recorded in his Gospel, “The crowd that had been with [Jesus] when He called Lazarus out of the tomb & raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.” (12:17 ESV) John also mentions that Jesus’ own disciples did not understand. After the resurrection, & especially with Pentecost, the disciples finally understood. Jesus’ victory was far bigger than conquering Rome or the greedy, threatened religious leaders. It was bigger even than raising people from the dead only to have them die again. Jesus’ victory over death was about recreating everything, perfectly for eternity. His victory was over everything sin & death can do to us. Jesus went to battle against the dark places in our hearts & minds, the things we shy away from speaking of because that leaves us vulnerable. Jesus took on our worst enemies: sin, the wickedness infesting this world we live in, & Satan himself. Ultimately, Jesus’ victory was over our greatest enemy – death & our grave. What sin works in our lives – the unresolved tension, unanswered questions, unfulfilled longings, unspeakable sins, unrelenting fears – Jesus can erase forever & leave in their place the peace & harmony of heavenly paradise. Will you allow God to meet you where you are? Will you allow Him to lead you on the path to paradise? The reality is that most people answer no. They’d rather sing the song, “I did it my way.” They would rather see than believe. As far as continuing to bear witness goes, the truth is that most of the good that God does through us is unseen. For salvation, the gate is narrow & the way is hard, because our sinful hearts are hard & unyielding. They are blind to the things of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus’ victory over evil came in totally unexpected ways. It came riding into town on a donkey. It came by way death on a cross. It came through His resurrection from the dead. Our calling & privilege is to continue bearing witness, no matter what we see. In heaven we’ll see perfectly. Until then, the heavenly Father sees all things on our behalf, guiding & directing all of history to bring good to those who love Him. As a sign of His goodwill, Jesus rode into town on a donkey instead of a war horse, & He is still working in ways of kindness rather than bloodshed. That leaves us vulnerable, if we follow Him, yet Jesus meets us there, not to crush us, but to renew us & to recreate us. You may even have an unbelieving friend who trusts you enough to ask about it. Amen. On Galilee’s high mountain Christ gave the great command in words of strength & promise which all can understand: “All power to me is given to do what I shall choose; therefore I send My children, their witness I will use.” Lord, gather all Your children, wherever they may be, & lead them on to heaven to live eternally with You, our loving Father, & Christ, our brother dear, whose Spirit guards & gives us the joy to persevere. Amen. LSB 835:1, 6. [1] Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age, Barna Report produced in partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries (2018) 7. [2] Ibid., 50. Midweek 6 – 2024 LSB 560, 431, 430:1, 7; 878
Text – Psalm 41:7-8 VINDICATION David prayed in Psalm 41, “All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.’” In our everyday speech, the word enemy might seem to overstate our situation. The devil, the world & our sinful nature are certainly mortal enemies; they oppose us with deadly intent. But those are spiritual enemies, not physical, human enemies who look us in the eye. Not many of us have those enemies these days; King David & our Lord Jesus did. Even if there might be loveless people in your life who drum their fingers, waiting for you to die, so they can have your money, hopefully they will not scheme to commit murder. Treacherous, murderous men schemed against David: “They imagine the worst for me. They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him.’” Christ Jesus, our Lord, likewise endured the deadly designs of murderers: “The chief priests & the elders of the people... plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth & kill Him.” (Matthew 26:3–4) Our situations are measurably different. We do not (yet) have people who directly seek our death. Most of our enemies are less violent: people who are just plain mean; people who speak evil about us; those who seem oddly gratified by our pain; people who selfishly take but refuse to give; those who willingly commit injustice & leave us feeling miserable; people who at times make us wish we actually were dead. Perhaps the worst thing about such people is that they seem to get away with it. Rest assured: those who treat you badly will NOT. God is patiently waiting. David’s enemies thought that they would get away with their injustices against him. They poured out a deadly thing for him, then foolishly said concerning him, “He will not rise again from where he lies.” They were wrong. No one who dies stays dead. All people shall rise, “some to everlasting life, & some to shame & everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) Jesus spoke the truth that gives shape to all eternity when He declared: “…I say to you, an hour is coming, & is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, & those who hear will live... Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice & come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, & those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:25, 28–29) Those words speak the certainty of the resurrection. David lived in that certainty. Jesus of Nazareth embodies that certainty. You have been baptized into that same certainty! “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ...If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” (Romans 6:3, 5) The certainty of the resurrection allowed David to live in confidence & hope, even while his enemies said, “He will not rise again from where he lies.” David knew very well that he would rise & that knowledge gave David comfort & power. First, his faith in the resurrection indicated that, whatever he might have been required to suffer, it would not last forever. David’s psalms are full of the hope of the resurrection, even while he teetered on the brink of death. The resurrection is why he could pray confidently – & why you also can pray with equal confidence: “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around,” (Psalm 3:6); &, “I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise You,” (Psalm 22:22); & yet again, “I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!” (Psalm 27:13) Relief from suffering is only the 1st comfort of the resurrection. The 2nd comfort is vindication. Vindication is when all wrongs are made right. It happens when those who suffer loss have their loss restored. Have you suffered unanswered injustice so that you long for & await vindication? You are not alone. The souls of countless Christian martyrs wait with you. They loudly cry out from the pages of the Word, in Revelation, “O Sovereign Lord, holy & true, how long before You will judge & avenge our blood?” (6:10) “All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.” (Psalm 41:7) David knew that although his enemies might win a battle here or there, they could not win the war. David knew he would be vindicated; you shall be as well. That is why David could pray – & why you also can pray with him: “All my enemies shall be ashamed & greatly troubled; they shall turn back & be put to shame in a moment” (Psalm 6:10); & “His mischief returns upon his own head” (Psalm 7:16); &, in Psalm 41, “By this I know that You [Lord] delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. But You have... set me in Your presence forever.” (vs. 11–12) How do we know that David’s enemies did not finally get away with it? More to the point, how do we know that your enemies will not get away with what they’ve done to you? We know this because the enemies of Jesus could not & did not get away with their plans against Him. Psalm 41 speaks in the voice of the Christ, as surely as it speaks in the voice of King David: “All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.’” The enemies of Jesus were so desperate that He not “rise again from where he lies” that they posted a guard & imposed a seal upon His tomb. “…the chief priests & the Pharisees gathered before Pilate & said, ‘Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, “After three days I will rise.” Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the 3rd day, lest His disciples go & steal Him away & tell the people, “He has risen from the dead,” & the last fraud will be worse than the first.’ Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.’ So they went & made the tomb secure by sealing the stone & setting a guard.” (Matthew 27:62–66) The plan did not work. Jesus rose from the dead. God the Father “crowned Him with glory & honor.” (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7) Jesus was vindicated in His resurrection, & so shall you. Those who have committed injustices against you shall not remain unanswered forever. Those who have harmed you have only harmed themselves. You shall gain back all that has been taken from you. You shall rise again from where you are finally laid down, & King David shall rise with you, in the power of God’s Son who rose before both of you. (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5) You shall say on that great day, with David & with Jesus: “You have upheld me because of my integrity, & set me in Your presence forever. Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen & Amen!” (Psalm 41:12–13) Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away; a sacrifice of nobler name & richer blood than they. Amen. LSB 431:1-2. 5th Sunday in Lent – B LSB #’s 434, 433, 421
Text – Hebrews 5:8 Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. LEARNING OBEDIENCE The author of Hebrews is preaching a sermon, & he has a congregation that is exhausted. They are tired of serving others, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being peculiar & rejected by their world. They’re tired of prayer & spiritual struggle. Their hands droop & their knees are weak. Attendance is down & they are losing confidence. The threat facing this congregation is not that they might charge off in the wrong direction. They do not have enough energy to charge off anywhere. Tired of walking the walk, many of them are giving thought to taking a walk, away from the community & away from the faith. Does any of that sound familiar? The author writing the sermon, we call the book of Hebrews, does not appeal to improved group dynamics, to conflict management techniques, the reorganization of mission structures or to snappy worship services. Rather, he preaches about the nature & the meaning of Jesus Christ. Jesus, & He alone, can generate surprise, wonder, gratitude & obedience.[1] Although He was a son, [Jesus] learned obedience through what He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8 ESV) What does it mean to learn obedience through suffering? We talk of learning things in the school of hard knocks & that’s heading in the general direction. Hopefully, you’ve heard of Job & know something of his suffering. He traveled a long way down that road. Each of us has known some form & degree of suffering. It’s the nature of being alive in a world broken by sin. However, living in a society with all the modern conveniences we have, it is possible to avoid much of the suffering of days gone by. Manual labor is something that many people no longer put up with. No matter how hot or cold it is outside, we have central heat & air conditioning to make our lives more bearable if not downright comfortable. We have heating pads or ice & ibuprofen or morphine if physical pain is too much to suffer. Death is something we have not been able to put off or cure. Could it be that in the past God used the lesser forms of suffering to help us prepare for the suffering involved in taking our last breath? Job learned obedience through his suffering, but all he had to treat the boils on his body was a piece of broken pottery. He scraped the sores with them. It was then that his wife compassionately told him, “Curse God & die.” (Job 2:9 ESV) Although Satan killed their children, apparently he allowed Job’s wife to live in order to cause him even more suffering. By chapter 3, Job is cursing the day of his birth & complaining, yet, by chapter 42, he has learned obedience & repents in dust & ashes. Our sinful nature is all too willing to bail out on the suffering God sends, or allows, into our lives. If we quit, we short-circuit God’s plan to teach us obedience. Jesus did not quit. He endured the suffering right down to His very last breath from the cross. And He did not learn that obedience for His own good, but for your good & for mine. God calls us to learn obedience not just for our own spiritual development, but for the good of our neighbor. You & I learn obedience for the good of our spouse & siblings, for our parents & children, for our coworkers & employers. We learn obedience in order that we can walk in the good works that God prepares in advance for us to walk in. As Jesus suffered & died so that you & I might be made whole, we suffer, & one day die as well, that God might bring blessings to the people around us, through us. All joking aside, it may seem strange to think of your death as a blessing to others. Nevertheless, I was able to be present for the death of each of my parents & I do count that as a blessing from God. To be with them, the moment they passed from death into true life, from this vale of tears into paradise, was a profound experience that is impossible to put into words. Suffering tends to strip away all the frivolous realities of life to focus our attention on what is eternal. Things that were so important to me during my teenage years became totally irrelevant once the navy locked me up underwater for months at a time. I have no doubt that you also can name once important issues which faded into oblivion as times of trial & tribulation came into your lives. The author of Hebrews stated in chapter 12: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness & peace for those who have been trained by it.” (12:11 NIV) Learning obedience is but another blessing that comes with righteousness & peace. If we would just be perfect in everything we do, there’d be so much less stress for us to deal with. Since we cannot be perfect in anything, the Holy Spirit calls us to repentance. He enables us to repent, & then teaches us obedience through what we suffer. Learning obedience means accepting & even rejoicing that God is good & He is allowing or even causing what we view as suffering in order to bless us. As the apostle Paul wrote: “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28 NASB) Just making the effort to hear a sermon is suffering for our sinful nature, but to those who love God, He works even painful sermons together for good. He works painful worship services together for good, & painful reunions, painful employers & coworkers, etc. Suffering is the nature of living in a world broken by sin. Why do ever think it should be otherwise? Certainly it was God’s plan for Jesus to suffer & die here in this world, but most of the world hated Jesus even though they knew nothing of God’s plan. They did not kill Jesus because they wanted Him to save the world. As grim as it sounds, we should expect to suffer in this life & not only because the world also hates us. Our own sinful nature hates God, hates the Word of God, hates the songs that praise God or lift up His name. We do not want to endure any sort of suffering in order to learn obedience, & for that reason God must allow us to suffer. How many of your parents or teachers taught you obedience by only giving you everything you ever wanted? Practicing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that is translated as self-control, is all about denying ourselves some or all of what we desire. Jesus subjected Himself to the most horrific of suffering & denied Himself even life. We hear of His struggle: Jesus said to them, “‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, & watch with me.’ And going a little farther He fell on His face & prayed, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ And He came to the disciples & found them sleeping. ‘So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch & pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, for the 2nd time, He went away & prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’” (Matthew 26:38-42 ESV) The human nature of Jesus developed & learned just as we do, except without sin. We see a great contrast in that text between Jesus & His sinful disciples. Although I’m using the law to show us our sin, it is legitimate to ask, “What price are you willing to pay in order to learn obedience to God? What are you willing to suffer?” Looking at our lives, our answer is embarrassing! We know nothing of what the disciples suffered, let alone what the Son of God, our Savior, suffered. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 ESV) Was Jesus talking there about losing 5G cell service? He wasn’t even talking about losing electricity. Jesus was talking about being persecuted or killed for following His teachings. “But take heart; I have overcome the world,” means that Jesus has overcome the people who would persecute & kill Christians for what they believe. Since Jesus has overcome them, He certainly has also overcome all the lesser injustices we suffer & endure in this life. Jesus has even overcome sinners like us when our answer is embarrassing to the question, “What are you willing to suffer in order to learn obedience?” If you are going to take heart because Jesus has overcome the world, you’ll need more than snappy worship services to endure suffering. Our nation is not headed in the right direction according to the teachings of Jesus, regardless of what the polls say. If our people keep going that way there is plenty more suffering to come because that’s the only thing that causes sinners to take note. At times, God even brings the suffering into our lives specifically in an attempt to turn us back from our sins. If God’s children are going to live our lives in surprise, wonder, gratitude & obedience, it’ll take far more than snappy worship services or clever mission statements to empower us. Instead, we daily will need the power of God’s almighty forgiveness to strengthen us for the onslaught. Only God’s Word, Baptism & Holy Communion convey that power to sinners. There is nothing that we can do, on our own, to love being in the house of God, or to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Holy Spirit has to create that love within us each & every day, because each & every day our sinful nature goes with us everywhere we go. Here’s one last story to illustrate why Jesus needed to learn obedience. One December afternoon just before Christmas vacation, parents stood in the lobby of a preschool, waiting to claim their children. When the bell rang, the youngsters ran from the classroom, each child carrying in his or her hands a special “surprise” – a brightly wrapped package containing a project that each child had diligently worked on for weeks to give Mom & Dad for Christmas. One little boy was trying to run, put on his coat, & wave all at the same time. He slipped & fell, the “surprise” flying out of his hands & landing on the tile floor with an obvious ceramic crash. There was a moment of stunned silence immediately followed by the little one’s inconsolable wail of tears. The boy’s father tried to be strong & comfort the little guy, kneeling down & saying, “It’s OK, son. It really doesn’t matter. It’s OK.” The boy’s mother was wiser about such things. She swept the little boy into her arms & said, “Oh, but it does matter. It matters a very, very great deal!” And she wept with her son. The human nature of Jesus had to learn obedience, & one of the ways He learned it was through suffering. This learning through suffering also taught Jesus how & when to weep with us as you & I live in a world that is so terribly broken by sin. “But take heart; Jesus has overcome the world.” And He overcomes our sins as well. Amen. Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pains poured for me the lifeblood from His sacred veins! Blest through endless ages be the precious stream which from endless torment did the world redeem! Lift we, then, our voices, swell the mighty flood; louder still & louder praise the precious blood. Amen. LSB 433:1, 3, 6. [1] Long, Thomas, G., Hebrews: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), P. 3. Midweek 5 – 2024 LSB 420:1-3, 6-7; 432, 430:1, 5; 880
Text – Psalm 41:6 EMPTY WORDS David prayed in Psalm 41, “When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.” “He utters empty words,” said David. When people say empty words to you, they’re saying things that might seem appealing, important, & true – but ultimately they are not. Empty words are not necessarily lies, although they can be. Empty words can simply be evasive in what they say. Empty words have little or nothing behind them: no concrete truth, no commitment, no endurance. We Americans are comfortably accustomed to empty words. We routinely speak them, & never stop hearing them. Our everyday language uses empty words as standard speech. We include them in our conversations with friends & strangers alike: “How are you?” “I’m fine.” “I hope you have a good day,” & sometimes even, “I will pray for you.” Even if you sincerely mean it when you make such inquiries & pledges, how long do you remember? Does anyone remember their conversations, even thirty seconds after they are spoken? The lack of memory might indicate a certain emptiness to the words. It would be okay for us to admit (or to confess) that most of our conversational phrases actually mean very little. That’s why Solomon admonished, “Let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2) It’s why James encouraged us to be “slow to speak” (James 1:19); & why he compared some of our conversations to forest fires. (James 3:5) In addition to using empty words, we regularly hear empty words by virtue of the fact that we are constantly immersed in advertising. We see empty words on every flat surface at the baseball stadium. We hear a stream of empty words every time we turn on the radio. We even wear empty words on our forehead & chest because of the way we like to dress. We ourselves have become walking billboards that tout empty words. Everyone, including the preacher, participates in this emptiness. We are so accustomed to the puffery, evasiveness, & false urgency of advertising that we don’t even notice empty words when we hear them. Pledges from politicians are good only for the chuckling entertainment of the moment, not for actual policy. Personal promises have come to mean very little, even in marriage & family relationships. Long-term commitments rarely endure the latest wave of emotion. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of God’s living Word. (John 1:1–4) He alone speaks “the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) When you were baptized into the living Christ, you were individually drawn up & out from the cesspool of the world’s “empty words.” In Baptism, the blood of Christ did something more than wash you clean from every sin of empty words & “evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21). Through Baptism, you were relocated to that one, eternal place in which words still matter: “the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.” (Apostles’ Creed, Third Petition) “When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.” As David prayed those words in Psalm 41, he was praying in the voice of Christ. All the psalms are about Christ. (John 5:39) Like us, Jesus of Nazareth had plenty of empty words around Him all the time. The empty words that surrounded our Lord proved to be deadly & there are no emptier words than those of the devil. That skeevy snake started in the Garden of Eden: “You will not surely die,” he hissed. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be like God.” (Genesis 3:4–5) Thousands of years later, the devil’s empty words focused their intent upon Jesus: “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down,” he said; “all these [kingdoms of the world] I will give You,” he said. (Matthew 4:6, 9) Empty words. Peter, despite his earnest desire & best intentions, likewise uttered empty words to God’s Son, & Jesus endured those words: “Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You!” swore Peter. (Matthew 26:35) Then to the servant girl, he declared “with an oath: ‘I do not know the man!’” (Matthew 26:72) Empty words. All the other disciples joined their empty words to Peter’s, making vacuous pledges that they also would never deny the Christ. (Matthew 26:35) Among the Twelve, the empty words spoken by Judas Iscariot stand out as the deadliest: “Is it I, Rabbi?” (Matthew 26:25) “Greetings, Rabbi!” (Matthew 26:49) Empty words. “When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.” (Psalm 41:6 ESV) Thus, the Lord of Life was sentenced to death on the testimony of those who spoke empty words: Now the chief priests & the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put Him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward & said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, & to rebuild it in three days.’” ...Then the high priest tore his robes & said, “[Jesus] has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need?” (Matthew 26:59–61, 65) In these midweek Lenten sermons, two things have been emphasized: 1) that the Psalms speak about Jesus (John 5:39) & 2) that because the Psalms speak about Jesus, they therefore speak about you. In Baptism, you were “joined to the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 6:7) Through your Baptism into Christ, the Lord’s burdens have become yours, just as surely as your burdens have been fully taken up by the Lord. Jesus assured & promised you that His burden would not be too heavy for you: “Take My yoke upon you, ...for My yoke is easy, & My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29–30) “When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.” (Psalm 41:6 ESV) Because David’s words speak the pious lament of Jesus, those same words are also available to you for your lament. Have you felt the urge & the need for such a lament? Has a dear friend betrayed you, allowing you to treat him as a confidant, only to turn around & tell it abroad, verbally or on social media? Has your marriage vow been broken & the marriage bed defiled (Hebrews 13:4), by someone who spoke “empty words” to you on your wedding day? Have you entered into a business contract with someone you thought you could trust, only to have your trust violated? If you have suffered such things as these, then David’s words, & our Lord’s words, are also yours: “When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.” (Psalm 41:6 ESV) When you pray those words, you can know & trust that you are not alone. The entire Church in this vale of tears, & all her Christians, have always had plenty of reasons to pray those words with you. Psalm 41 indicates that Jesus & David prayed those words before you. Take special comfort in the fact that your Lord Jesus prayed those words before you. He knows well the heartbroken feeling of betrayal. He knows personally the dismay that rises from a sense of exposure. He knows intimately the devastating pain that is caused by a close friend, “even my close friend in whom I trusted” (Psalm 41:9), as it is written later in the psalm. Jesus also said in another place, expressing personal familiarity with your pain, “I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.” (Psalm 35:14) Again, Jesus said in the voice of yet another psalm: “It is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me – then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We talked in sweet fellowship, & walked with a crowd into God’s house.” (Psalm 55:12–14) Believe the words of the Scriptures: Jesus knows the feeling of betrayal by empty words. He died for that betrayal & its shame. Jesus promises you, by the power of His glorious resurrection, that you will not be tortured forever by empty words. Amen. In silent pain the eternal Son hangs derelict & still; in darkened day His work is done, fulfilled, His Father’s will. Uplifted for the world to see He hangs in strangest victory, for in His body on the tree He carries all our ill. He died that we might die to sin & live for righteousness; the earth is stained to make us clean & bring us into peace. For peace He came & met its cost; He gave Himself to save the lost; He loved us to the utter most & paid for our release. Amen. LSB 432:1-2. 4th Sunday in Lent – B LSB #’s 555:1-2, 6, 9; 904, 703
Text – Ephesian 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses & sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body & the mind, & were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. CHILDREN OF WRATH I heard these words after a particular service: “Good sermon pastor. There were a lot of unbelievers here today.” I realize that it was meant to be a compliment, however, it also bothered me. What I found troubling is that it could also be taken as a condemnation of many of the people who were in God’s house that day. It did not strike me as love for our neighbor. Certainly, there are unbelievers in the world – multitudes of them. Yet, we need to be careful that in ‘labeling’ them as such we are not thinking less of them & more of ourselves. In the letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul writes that even believers were at one time “…children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (2:3 ESV) That we no longer are such people should inspire thankfulness & not pride, as Paul makes clear later in the Epistle reading, “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (2:8b-9 ESV) Paul warns us specifically against being prideful because it is such an easy, & deadly, trap to fall into. Complimenting a pastor on his sermon, does nothing for the lost. What might be a more Christ-like approach when you find yourself among a church full of unbelievers? Praying for them ought to be #1. It does not cost you much in the way of time & effort, but it does engage your heart & your soul in love for your neighbor. Prayer makes our heart & soul available to God for His use in serving our neighbor. Paul reminded us in the closing verse of the text from Ephesians, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (2:10 ESV) The God who creates all human beings also goes before us & prepares in advance opportunities to love our neighbor through good works. Striking up a conversation with an unbeliever & listening to their concerns is far more productive than labeling them. Unbelievers are not able to save themselves. Children of wrath will never pray that God would save them, unless they already have faith created within them by the Holy Spirit. And then, they are no longer children of wrath. The gifts of repentance & a heart that turns to God in prayer are received from the Holy Spirit along with faith. We can lose those gifts & once again become children of wrath. Giving counsel, St. Paul wrote: “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith & a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus & Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (1 Timothy 1:18-20 ESV) Because Jesus can see the heart of all people, while speaking to a group of Jews, He said: “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God & I am here… Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil…” (John 8:42-44 ESV) Jesus makes it clear that children of wrath is equivalent to children of the Devil. They are unbelievers because they cannot bear to hear His word. Yet, Jesus dies for those very people & all others throughout human history, believers or not. John Fischer, in his book On A Hill Too Far Away, tells of a church in Old Greenwich, CT. It contains a one-of-a-kind cross. Not that the cross is overly unique; the positioning of the cross is what is truly unusual. It’s not behind or above the altar. It is bolted into the concrete floor in the middle of the aisle, between the pews & the altar. It’s a sturdy, 10 foot tall cross, made of raw, untreated wood. It is clearly an obstruction. The pastor’s words have to pass through it. The congregation’s eyes always have it somewhere in view. The cross of Jesus was an obstruction to those Jews who could not bear to hear His word. As you & I are called, to take up our cross & follow Jesus, there are times when we view our cross as an obstruction. When we see a church full of unbelievers do we shy away from loving our neighbor as ourselves? It’s all too natural for our sinful nature to do so. As followers of Jesus, we recognize that all of us are born children of wrath needing the work of salvation accomplished only by Jesus Christ. The irony of our secular culture is that it views all people as good when they are born. They only do bad things as bad parents, pastors & priests, or the narrow minded & bigoted church people label their actions as sinful. Yet, that same culture finds it perfectly okay to kill those good children before they are born. But once those good children have turned bad, through something like committing murder, then the culture is generally against capital punishment. It’s the irrational nature of sin to kill children while they are considered good, & to spare their lives once they’re considered bad. Unbelievers in any culture continue to be children of wrath. Believers in any culture are never far from returning to that state of unbelief. The gospel of John clarifies things as it says: “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light & does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:20-21 ESV) We can simplify that by saying, “Are your actions leading you towards God, or leading you away from Him?” A clear example was given in the OT reading. If those bitten by a fiery serpent only looked at the bronze serpent set upon the pole, they would live. Those who did not look would die. In the struggles & trials of living are you looking to the cross of Jesus? His death erased your sins & is able to transform you from a child of wrath to a child of the heavenly Father. Are your actions leading you towards God, or leading you away from Him? Are you a child of wrath or a child of the heavenly Father? It’s natural for us to focus our thoughts & energy on the things we do. It takes all of that in order to accomplish anything good in this broken world. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV) Those are great words straight out of Holy Scripture. God’s children love to hear them. However, when we study the text of Ephesians, V. 4 is God’s intended focal point. Verses 1-3 set up our dilemma. Then V. 4 delivers the punch line. Verse 4 delivers the real good news. “And you were dead in the trespasses & sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body & the mind, & were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV) Verses 1-3 deliver the bad news of our utter failure to be what God created us to be. Without God there is never a time that you or I or anyone else in the entire world is good. If Mother Nature is real, then she is evil, for all of us were by nature children of wrath. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:4 ESV) It is God, & Him alone, who is moving us from wrath & death to reconciliation & life. We were dead men walking in trespasses & sins. God’s grace transformed us into His children walking in good works. Just as Christ was physically dead, but God raised & exalted Him, so you & I were spiritually dead but God raised & exalted us in Christ. At the resurrection we will be raised & exalted with Christ, never again to follow the course of this world, or the prince of the power of the air. After the resurrection, our actions will always be leading us toward our heavenly Father. The words of V. 4, not V. 10, have the power to change us from children of wrath to children of light. In this life, none of us live up to the promise of verse 10. It is a statement of fact, but strictly speaking, it is not the Gospel. We all, like sheep, go astray. (Isaiah 53:6) But God, always lives up to His promise to make us alive in Christ. Have your actions been leading you away from God? Then remember the promises of your Creator & Savior. How do we get from the walk of the dead to the walk of the living? Since Christ died, due to our baptism into Christ, we also die, every day, even every hour. Paul’s claims about our existence are not based upon observable phenomena in you & me, but on observing the Christ in whom we live. Those daily deaths are also preparation for our final death at the end of our lives. The Law is meant to return us to our baptism by the daily drowning of the old man within. The Law is good, but sin causes our misuse of it, & our conflict with it. Sin works through the Law to bring death. Returning to our baptism reminds us of the life given to us by God’s Spirit. We believers used to be one thing – now we are another. We were dead, but now in Christ, we are a new creation. Our new life, our identity, our purpose & future is all the result of God’s action for us in Christ Jesus. That news inspires thankfulness & joy, not pride. None of us can see inside the heart of another person to know if they are an unbeliever. There are times when God calls us to make decisions regarding the faith of another person. We try to do that based upon that person’s own words, rather than upon our opinion. Satan loves to tempt us to elevate our opinions, & our sinful nature loves to wallow in them. Satan loves to divide us. It is God who has the power to unite us & make us alive together with Christ. The text from Ephesians gives us a picture of “the two kinds of righteousness.” The first portion focuses on the grace of God: dead in sin, made alive in Christ, because of His great mercy. That is passive righteousness; the righteousness of Jesus given in exchange for our sins. It is all God’s doing, God’s giving – God’s choosing of us that goes back even before creation & the beginning of time. This is the righteousness that defines our relationship before God, & because it is all God’s doing, we can rest assured in His word & promises. It does not depend on us or our good works, but depends entirely on Jesus & what He has done for us. In verse 10, St. Paul goes on to instruct us about the 2nd kind of righteousness, the active kind that is still God’s work in us. This active righteousness is the good works He wants us to do, & has prepared in advance for us to do. They are not necessary for our salvation. They do not define our status before God. But they are necessary in our lives for the good of our neighbor, & they do describe our relationship with our neighbor. Ephesians 5 & 6 describe how this work that God has planned in advance for us to do, shows itself in our relationships: husband & wife, children & parents, employee & employer. Secure in our relationship with God, by grace through faith, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live as His people in this world, loving our Lord, by loving our neighbor. No matter what the world may say, that is a far better life than living as children of wrath. Amen. All our knowledge, sense & sight lie in deepest darkness shrouded till Your Spirit breaks our night with the beams of truth unclouded. You alone to God can win us; You must work all good within us. Father, Son & Spirit, Lord, praise to You & adoration! Grant that we may trust Your Word, confident of our salvation, while we here below must wander, till we sing Your praises yonder. Amen. LSB 904:2, 4. |
AuthorPastor Dean R. Poellet Archives
March 2024
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