Transfiguration Sunday – B LSB #’s 908, 496, 414
Text –2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. NOT LOSING HEART One of the best stories of the Detroit Lions’ season has been Taylor Decker. He’s been on the team longer than any other player – a total of 8 seasons. During his first 7 seasons the Lions won 44 games out of 114. With that kind of record, any player could easily lose heart. However, Taylor hung in there through all the suffering & this past season it finally paid off. Given how many people are dropping out of church, it may be that some feel like they’re playing for the ‘old’ Detroit Lions. They’ve grown weary of facing constant futility. Many preachers focus on all the things you should do to be ‘good’ Christians. After the initial start people find out that it’s an impossible task to live the life of holiness, so they lose heart. That’s exactly what Martin Luther struggled with, the feeling that God wanted him to earn his place in the kingdom. Yet, no matter how often he disciplined himself, he never seemed to make progress toward the life of holiness he thought God was demanding. However, I think the majority of people today just don’t see a need to be involved with a church. They aren’t sure that God is even real, but if He is, they certainly do not acknowledge His authority in their lives. Rather, they tend to see things along these lines: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath & tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds & shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. Those words are from the poem Invictus, written in 1875 by the British poet William Ernest Henley. His poem gained notoriety when it was chosen by Timothy McVeigh as his final statement before his execution in 2001. McVeigh blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Most people who refuse to acknowledge God’s authority don’t go so far as to kill 168 people, yet, the poem by Henley does express the sinful desire to be one’s own god. People as such do not lose heart in the way that Luther did, nor in the way St. Paul wrote of it. However, you & I may lose heart when it comes to witnessing to, or to suffering at the hands of, people who believe they are their own god. For example, in my opinion, I believe that Donald Trump & Joe Biden both suffer, to a significant degree, from the delusion that they are the master of their fate & the captain of their soul. As sinful human beings, you & I also suffer from that delusion to at least some degree. It goes right back to the very first temptation in the Garden of Eden: “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be like God...’” (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV) You & I do not lose heart over being god. We lose heart, we struggle with life in a broken & sinful world because we are not God. We lose heart because we are not in control of our lives. Take the example of Peter on the mount of transfiguration. Jesus reveals the glory of God, like we’ll see it in heaven, & what does Peter say? “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses & one for Elijah.” (Mark 9:5 ESV) Then the Gospel tells us: “He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.” (Mark 9:6 ESV) Peter was not in control of what was going on, so he was freaking out. All of us know what that’s like, that kind of brain dead moment, or longer, when we are not up to the task at hand. Maybe you’ve hit black ice & are spinning out on the freeway. Maybe someone you love dies unexpectedly. You get fired at work or served divorce papers with no warning. You smash your thumb with a hammer or drop a jar of pickles on the floor & it shatters; you find yourself being confronted & verbally attacked because of what you believe the Word of God says is good & right, your child rejects the clear teachings of Jesus Christ & finally, you just want to throw in the towel. You lose heart & you wonder where is God anyway, & what on earth is He doing to you? To all of that & more, St. Paul writes: “But when [you] turn to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, & where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 & 4:1 ESV) As Christians, our entire lives are a ministry. That means every single aspect of your day is ministry, not by the command of God, or your pastor, or your spouse or your child or your parent. Your life is a ministry by the mercy of God. He’s not about beating us up when we’re down, or criticizing when we’ve failed or done wrong. Romans 8 applies here, “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (8:28 NASB) Jesus gives His disciples the experience of the transfiguration to help them not lose heart. The transfiguration is not meant for us to look at Jesus. It is meant for us to see His work through His glory. Without faith all we see is the corruption & brokenness of this world. Without faith, all we see is what Adam & Eve left for us in their rebellion against God. Without faith, all we see is what Satan shows to us – sickness & death & evil corruption. For Americans, without faith, all we are going to see is nine more months of presidential campaign commercials. Instead, looking through the transfiguration of Jesus, looking through the glory of Jesus, with faith in Jesus, Paul writes, “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold!” (2 Corinthians 3:12 ESV) Without faith, life is all about results. What have you done for me lately? How many Superbowl rings do you wear? Without faith in Christ, all of your life is like playing for the ‘old’ Detroit Lions. On the other hand, with faith in Christ life is all about Christ; life is all about what Jesus has done & about what Jesus is still doing, even today, right here & now, in this place, in this house of God, as He lifts you up & strengthens you for the ministry of your life this week all by the mercy of God. Children of God do not lose heart because Jesus never fails. The cancel culture may be destroying our people & our nation, but they cannot cancel Jesus Christ. People may see no need for being in God’s house, but they face all the sufferings of life that we do. Eventually they will be crushed by this sinful world & then you may have an opportunity to love them. If you do have that opportunity it will be by the mercy of God & so we do not lose heart. Being a servant of Christ is not a burden like some Christians make it out to be. Rather, it is a gift, given to us through Jesus’ death for our sins. And God prepares in advance all the works that He desires to do through us. Those works are how He is transfiguring the world around us today into what we will see one day in heaven. Yahweh is working right now to transfigure the soul of everyone who is sitting next to you, in front of you & behind you. In heaven we will see their glory with our own eyes, but it is the glory of Christ that we will see in them. None of us have any glory of our own. The poem Invictus is not speaking from the perspective of our heavenly Father, but from that of unbelief. Our calling is to not lose heart even when interacting we unbelievers, but to love them with the love that Christ gives. Amen. Holy Spirit, light divine, shine upon this heart of mine; chase the shades of night away, turn the darkness into day. Holy Spirit, power divine, cleanse this guilty heart of mine; in Thy mercy pity me, from sin’s bondage set me free. Holy Spirit, joy divine, cheer this saddened heart of mine; yield a sacred, settled peace, let it grow & still increase. Amen. LSB 496:1, 3-4. 5th Sunday after Epiphany – B LSB #’s 384, 727, 809
Text – Isaiah 40:31 But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run & not be weary; they shall walk & not faint. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? It’s a common rhetorical question used in the hope of motivating someone to action. Maybe you’ve been asked to clean your room, but you haven’t gotten to it yet. What are you waiting for? We spend a lot of time waiting at doctor’s offices, in line for a cashier, during traffic jams. Young people can’t wait to grow up. Other people can’t wait to die. What are you waiting for? Many Christians are waiting for the return of Christ & the end of all the brokenness of this world. In the sermon text, Isaiah writes about waiting for the Lord & he says that if you do so you shall renew your strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run & not be weary, walk & not faint. Those blessings were a much bigger deal in Isaiah’s day. The common people had to walk everywhere. There were no cars to drive, no busses to ride in, & mounting up with wings like eagles was an impossible dream. You & I, we can fly thousands of miles in a matter of hours. Almost no one in our nation walks so far that they could faint. What is it in your life that makes you weary, tired & faint? What is it that causes you to grow weak & to seek relief? To what, or to whom, do you turn when life knocks you down & you can’t get up? That is the you to whom Isaiah is writing. You’ve fallen & you can’t get up. You’re tired, weak, lonely & broken. Even the thought of walking causes you to faint. Chapter 40 of Isaiah begins with great words of comfort. They are needed for God’s people because they directly follow the prediction of disaster in 39:5-7. Babylon would conquer their nation & carry them off into exile, & this because Israel had forsaken the true God. Life was so good, they’d gotten bored with worshipping Yahweh. They were living & walking & running in their own strength. Why bother waiting for the Lord when they could get it done without Him. Heading straight down that road to eternal destruction, their arrogance left God with no choice but to crush them. It was the only way He could save even some of them. However, all that was still a couple hundred years into the future, & this particular prophecy of Isaiah concerned more than 70 years beyond that. The nation of Israel will have lost all hope, having been crushed under the weight of God’s judgment against their idolatry. But in the OT reading, Isaiah predicted that they would be released & allowed to return to Jerusalem. Isaiah makes it clear; no ruler of any nation is anything compared to the Lord. Kingdoms & rulers pass away, but the Lord who is above all things rules & reigns forever. The only God to depend on is Yahweh. Salvation is found in Him alone. Verse 25 invites us to compare God to the things we trust in from our broken world. When we compare our false “gods” to Yahweh, we see that the Lord is different, set apart from everyone & everything. He is holy, & Isaiah’s goal in pointing this out is to help you find more. Israel had been looking for more, but in the wrong places. Every human being on earth is looking for more – more life, more peace, more joy, more strength. All of God’s children have been set on a journey home where there will be immeasurably more of everything that is good & right & salutary. If we search for that anywhere but in Christ, all we find is more death, but Satan disguises that death as life. People who search for more in drugs & alcohol eventually realize it is only death in disguise. People searching for more in power & wealth finally discover it is death in disguise. People who sell their soul for fame & glory ultimately come to the very hollow & empty place of being truly alone as they die. All human beings are searching for more, but ultimately it can only be found in the resurrection from the dead to eternal life. Until then, here on earth, the only way we can truly get more is to wait upon the Lord. That’s what Isaiah was promising for the Israelites who would one day be released from exile in a foreign country – in Yahweh there will be more, so leave behind your false gods & return to your Creator. In your life today, what are you waiting for? Isaiah urges you to wait for the Lord. During this very divine service, the Holy Spirit is calling you to wait for the Lord. Yet, living in an impatient society, we often think of waiting in terms like Pink Floyd used in their song TIME. The opening stanza begins: Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day; You fritter & waste the hours in an off hand way. Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town; Waiting for someone or something to show you the way. In those terms, we think of waiting as simply marking time. We see time as being wasted while waiting for someone or something to show us the way. However, waiting for the Lord is never simply marking time. Waiting for the Lord is actually faith in action. Faith is never about what we do. Faith is always about, & placed in, what God has done, still does, & will do. In this text, Isaiah moves from a God who can do anything, whom no one & nothing can match, to a word of promise to His people – to care for them, to help them & to provide for them: “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run & not be weary; they shall walk & not faint.” (40:31 ESV) Waiting for the Lord is a disciplined reliance upon God through faith. Hopeful waiting, not simply marking time, as Pink Floyd describes, involves three related ideas. 1) It is humble admission that there are no other effective options than to trust God; 2) It is refusal to engage in frantic worry; 3) It is confidence that Yahweh will act in justice & grace in His time. Maybe you recall such a word from Ecclesiastes: “…God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (3:11 NLT) Because God has planted eternity in our hearts, we know this life cannot be all there is. There must be more, & faith in Christ tells us we cannot get there on our own. Faith also tells us that Jesus alone will get us there. We simply need to wait for the Lord, but our impatience keeps getting in the way. We do want more, but we want it now! Our pride tells us, “I can do this myself.” Arrogance says, “I don’t need God. I have better things to do than submit to His will.” Through the words of Isaiah, Yahweh Himself describes our rebellious attitude in verse 27: “Why do you say, O Jacob, & speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, & my right is disregarded by my God’?” (40:27 ESV) Because such people are unable, in any way, to rescue themselves, the infinite God determines to send His Son as a ransom payment for our sin. In the fullness of His time, the One who, “…stretches out the heavens like a curtain, & spreads them like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22 ESV), confines Himself to a manger on the night of His birth. Here in the brokenness & pain of this world, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity took on human flesh & reveals Himself to us as our Savior from sin. To have faith in God is to wait for His timing & not ours. As we learn to wait for the Lord, the power & strength of God shall work through us to accomplish His will. Waiting for the Lord means to lean heavily upon Him for strength & to bide your time until it comes. That waiting, that trust, that faith is a gift from, & brings glory & honor to, our Creator. As Isaiah writes the opening questions of the OT reading, he assumes that the Spirit is working through the Word of forgiveness & is enabling the audience to understand Yahweh’s will & ways. Those who confess they are weak receive Yahweh’s strength & power. What I do not have & cannot do, that Christ has & can do. It is only in weakness & in need that sinners will receive faith in Christ. Confessing our sin acknowledges that truth. In the OT reading, Isaiah encourages us to turn away from anything besides Yahweh where we might seek strength. He encourages us to turn away from nations, idols, politicians & Hollywood stars to seek Yahweh alone. Then, as we wait for the Lord, He will use us to His glory. In the 2nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus is 1st brought to the temple, we’re given two examples of faithful waiting for the Lord. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, & this man was righteous & devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, & the Holy Spirit was upon him.” (2:25 ESV) “And there was a prophetess, Anna… [who] did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting & prayer night & day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God & to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (2:36-38 ESV) The blessing of this OT lesson from Isaiah, is that it begins with a God who is almighty, who can do anything, whom no one & nothing can match. Then it moves to a word of promise for His people, to care for them, to help them & to provide for them. Yahweh chooses the weak in order to shame the strong. He did not come to save the righteous but to save sinners. And sinners we are. We are suffering many of the effects of sin in this life, the chief of which is captivity to sin. By that I mean, you & I are not capable of stopping. We sin daily & we sin much. Yet, the OT words from Isaiah also promise us a deliverance from our exile; a deliverance from the world in which we live that is corrupted by sin. Isaiah promises that God will renew our strength & deliver us, in many temporary ways here in this life, & in a permanent way in the next. To wait for the Lord to come in His final fullness is not just a passive thing, a pious, prayerful, churchly thing. On the contrary, to wait for the Lord to come in His fullness is above all else to act in His stead as fully as we know how. To wait for the Lord is, as best we can, to be Jesus to those who need us to be Jesus in their lives. And God specifically places people into our lives for that very reason, that we might be the means by which the Holy Spirit brings the Gospel to them. Waiting for the Lord is simply trusting that God is at work through all the circumstances of our lives. Amen. You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in His shadow for life, say to the Lord, “My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!” And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, & hold you in the palm of His hand. The snare of the fowler will never capture you, & famine will bring you no fear; under His wings your refuge, His faithfulness your shield. And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, & hold you in the palm of His hand. Amen. LSB 727:1-2. Life Sunday – 2024 LSB #’s 790, 570, 740
Text – Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. CREATED FOR A PURPOSE All created things have a purpose. Nothing that someone makes is built without purpose in mind. These intentional designs run from the obvious to the less obvious. We know the purpose of a shovel or a chair or a pencil. They were created for digging, sitting & writing. Even things that seem pointless, like the hole in the tab of a pop can, are made for a purpose. Did you know those holes were created to be twisted over the mouth of the can to hold a straw? Just because we have not figured out an item’s purpose, does not mean that the item has no purpose. Humanity’s ability to purposefully create is a gift from God. Since mankind possesses the ability to create with purpose, it’s not a stretch to argue that humanity itself was created with purpose. And that conclusion implies there is someone who created us. We live in a time & place where the mention of a Creator can be unpopular, but that attitude does not square with the obvious fact that created things have a designer. We perceive beauty in creation, & no one has conceived of an evolutionary purpose for the beauty of a clear night sky. Therefore, beauty is evidence that a Creator exists. Christians believe that this Creator is the God who revealed Himself in the Bible. In all human experience, nothing complex functions well by accident. Human beings are incredibly complex. According to a study conducted by Monitoring the Future, nearly 45% of middle & high school students say that their life is not useful. That’s a stark increase from the year 2000, when only 25% of those students chose that answer. It is up nearly 10% from the beginning of the Covid pandemic. The research reveals a mindset that has led youth & adults alike to suffer depression & other insecurities. Devaluation of human beings as nothing more than an evolutionary accident has led many to self-harm & other destructive behaviors & addictions. The consequences of this are tragic, & sadly, they hit close to home for many. A soul unconscious of his or her purpose inevitably faces futile disappointment in a broken world. To counter this, God assures readers of His Word that they do have purpose. In Ephesians, Paul says to those redeemed by Christ, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (2:10 ESV) In this single verse, God declares to us something incredible. He says that human beings, created in His image, redeemed by the blood of Christ through faith, are His workmanship – His creation. This God, who created the world & all that exists by speaking it into existence, is the same God who created us in Christ Jesus. Through His Word, He calls us who were dead in sin to life through faith in His Son Jesus. In Genesis, when God created the world, He called each work of His hand “good.” (1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25) When He created Adam, He called him ‘very good.’ (1:31) Our Father, through the redeeming work of His Son, Jesus, now bestows upon believers that same declaration of approval. Because we are God’s workmanship, we can rest in the certainty that none of us are a mistake, not an accident, not a blob of cells, not a bag of chemicals reacting to create an illusion of purpose. Believers in Jesus Christ are the choice, carefully handcrafted treasure & apple of God’s eye – His creative masterpiece. From the moment you were knitted together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), God began his careful construction of His chosen jewel of redemption. There is tremendous value, meaning & purpose in being God’s masterpiece. Imagine traveling back in time to witness one of the great artists like da Vinci, Michelangelo, or van Gogh creating one of their masterpieces. There isn’t one of us who, while witnessing the master attend to his craft, would walk up to him & say, “I think you could use another star in that sky,” or “Perhaps you should consider taking just a bit more stone from that part of the sculpture.” Nor would we, once they were finished, attempt to add our own brush strokes or chisel marks to the finished piece. We’d simply enjoy the opportunity to witness the master at work, & when he was done, we’d take in the beauty of the work he created – that is to say, we would appreciate its intended purpose. Yet, people who’d give one of their limbs for such an opportunity can look in the mirror at God’s masterpiece & fail to see the beauty of what our Lord has made. In Christ, you are God’s workmanship, & God Himself calls you to recognize that truth. We know that as God’s creative masterpiece, you were created for a purpose. Yahweh created you for good works. Often, Christians have confused good works as a means by which to obtain the favor of God, but the Bible doesn’t allow for that misinterpretation. God’s favor is achieved before the works are assigned. The workmanship is completed so the good works can be accomplished. Just as an instrument cannot produce music until its construction is complete, the believer’s works aren’t good until the Master has accomplished His masterpiece. Good works are the fruit of the Master’s labors. This truth illustrates what good works actually are: God’s purposes being fulfilled through us. Yahweh creates vessels to accomplish His work, in His way, on His behalf. Believers accomplish good works serving their neighbor as the hands & feet of Jesus. Lutherans call this the doctrine of vocation. The concept isn’t new, but it is transformational. The doctrine of vocation describes the believer’s purpose. The word vocation carries the idea of calling. In the case of Christian vocation, the callings come from God. Everyone has these callings in the areas of society, family & the Church. Being a child is a calling. Being a parent is a calling. Being a student is a calling. Being a citizen is a calling. Each so-called vocation is a calling from God Himself. The role you fill in your church is a calling. As God crafts each of us in our callings, He places us in the presence of neighbors whom we are to love on His behalf. An example may help to illustrate this. Take the calling of motherhood. They are given neighbors to love, namely their children. As mothers serve their children by feeding them, dressing them, changing their diapers, potty training them, disciplining & comforting them, they serve as Jesus to their children. According to Matthew 25:40, in being faithful to her duties, the mother is also serving Jesus, who is “hidden” in her child. Although those tasks seem mundane, it is paradigm shifting. When people search for purpose & meaning in their lives, they tend to look for extraordinary goals – the next mission trip opportunity, the new promotion at work, the charitable venture. Those are good things & certainly are ways to love our neighbor, but they account for a very small portion of the vocations God gives to believers. The doctrine of vocation teaches that in even the most mundane aspects of life, which are by far the majority, as masterpieces of the Almighty, you & I have a purpose. There is no such thing as a useless human being. This is what Paul means in the sermon text when he says that God has good works for us to do, which He “prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) The Creator, who chose us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), had a planned purpose for who you were to be. He knew your vocations & prepared them for you as He knitted you together in the womb of your mother. (Psalm 139:13) He knew the neighbors who would need His love – physically, spiritually, emotionally – & He prepared you to be vessels of that love & service. God also knew that in fulfilling your purposes, you would serve Him as He is hidden in your neighbors. Those callings are not something we chose. They are placed in the path on which Yahweh calls you. We “walk in them,” as the text says. In the ordinary, & at times boring stations of life, we are called to be faithful. Also, we don’t always have the privilege of seeing the final product of what our Lord is accomplishing through us. We see the proverbial back of the tapestry. We see the messy incompleteness. But as we walk in the paths God calls us down, faithfully practicing good as we seek to love our neighbor, you & I are assured that God is working all things “together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Brothers & sisters in Christ you are God’s masterpiece. You were created for a purpose. You are the hands & feet of Jesus demonstrating His love in a world that desperately needs it. Live out that purpose in the strength that comes from your Lord, & wait joyfully for the day when you get to see His finished product. Amen. Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me & that Thou biddest me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am; Thy love unknown has broken every barrier down; now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Amen. LSB 570:1, 4, 6. 3rd Sunday after Epiphany – B LSB #’s 396, 856:1-2, 4-5; 830
Text – Mark 1:15 The due time is now fulfilled & the reign & rule of God has drawn near. Repent & believe in the Gospel – now! THE REIGN & RULE OF GOD A dog & cat are chasing each other around the yard. At one point, the cat runs into the street with the dog in hot pursuit. Neither one looks before they fly onto the pavement as a truck happens to be coming by. There was no way the driver could stop in time. Both the dog & the cat end up at the pearly gates. There sits God, on His throne, & He asks dog, “Why should I let you into heaven?” Dog replies, “I always fetched my master’s slippers. I never chewed on the furniture. I did not dig up the flower beds, & I was always nice to the children.” God replies, “Well done, good & faithful dog. Enter into the joys of heaven.” Still on His throne, God turns to cat & asks, “Why should I let you into heaven?” Cat, glaring at God, replies, “You are sitting in my chair!” If you know what cats are like, that joke nails their personality, & that leads me to wonder what is your personality like? I could frame the question this way, “How do you respond to the reign & rule of God? Is it more like the dog or more like the cat? Is your spirit compliant & obedient, or is it rebellious & independent?” We celebrated Christmas because Jesus was born in a stable to rescue us from sin, death & the devil, but not everyone reacts to Jesus in the same way. In fact, the Bible describes two personality types – believer & unbeliever. Every single human being ever conceived falls into one of only those two categories – saved or not. In the Gospel reading, around 30 years after He was born, Jesus officially began His ministry, & with that the reign & the rule of God had drawn near. Jesus offered the only appropriate response when He said, “Repent & believe in the Gospel – now!” (Mark 1:15b ESV) Every human being reacts to those words in one way or the other. There is no in between, & the reign & rule of God is not optional if you want to experience the fullness of life that Jesus offers. All of us have a rebellious spirit – our sinful nature. Only through repentance are we actually alive. Only through repentance can we participate in the joyous reign & rule of God. Otherwise, like the cat, you see God as sitting in your throne. Ultimately, all unbelief is the desire to take God’s place. The slogan, “My body, my choice” is a perfect example. God says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a ESV) Jesus paid that price in order that you might experience the eternal fullness of life that He offers. “For the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:31b ESV) And if you reject His gift of a repentant heart you will experience eternal death instead of life. Jesus radically affects people. Church leaders hated Jesus enough to kill Him because when you meet Jesus, the reign & rule of God is undeniable. Confronted with that reign & rule, it is clear to anyone who rejects Jesus where their heart is at. You & I may not see, but they know. They can feel the alienation & rebellion in their bones. Out of love, Jesus said, “Repent & believe in the Gospel – now!” (Mark 1:15b ESV) He wants everyone to have life instead of death! Being repentant is allowing God to remain on His throne. You are sitting in my chair, is not the response of faith. It is through the reign & rule of God that people enter the kingdom of heaven, or exclude themselves from it. Jesus Christ is the Word of the OT made flesh. He is the new promised action of God (Isaiah 43:19) that gathers up the promises of the OT & brings them to their final interpretation & conclusion. Through Jesus’ conception in Mary’s womb, God invaded history in order to rescue us from Satan & from our own rebellion. Even those brought to faith are born inside the gates of hell, but those gates cannot prevail against our Lord’s decisive action to save His people. It brings our Lord great sadness that so many behind the gates of hell refuse His efforts to save them. Rather than repenting, many people tell God, “You are sitting in my chair!” People, with the cat’s attitude, feel that God is too demanding even though Jesus gave His life on the cross for them. They’d rather have life be about their own reign & rule. Other people feel that God is not forceful enough. In the OT reading, Jonah finally made his way to Nineveh. He refused to go the 1st time he was called because he knew that God is merciful. Jonah wanted to see Nineveh destroyed, not saved. In the NT, the Pharisees did not believe that sinners & tax collectors should be given mercy. For example, they wanted the woman caught in adultery to be stoned to death as the Law prescribed. Jesus, however, “…came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17 ESV) Jesus would fulfill the Law so that He could pronounce mercy & forgiveness instead of death. In fact, Yahweh is reigning & ruling over our world right now with mercy & forgiveness. That is His choice of power until the Last Day. That choice doesn’t always make us happy either. With the way our nation’s people are rapidly moving away from God’s Word, we should be honest that at times, we’d like to see a little fire & brimstone as well. In that, we’re in good company with some of Jesus’ disciples: “But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because He was on His way to Jerusalem. When James & John saw this, they said to Jesus, ‘Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’” (Luke 9:53-54 NLT) That’s no different than Satan who loves to steal, to kill & to destroy. If Yahweh was reigning & ruling with power, instead of mercy, He would never have sent His only Son to die for your sin & for mine. And since Yahweh is reigning & ruling with mercy & forgiveness, that’s how we are called to respond to our world. Do you remember the opening words of the Gospel lesson? “Now after John was arrested…” (Mark 1:14 ESV) That’s the sign for Jesus to begin His ministry. The people who first read Mark’s gospel would have known that John was killed shortly after. They knew that Jesus had come to suffer & die. They knew as Mark records the calling of Simon & Andrew, James & John, to follow Jesus, that He was calling them to die as well. That is how our Savior reigns & rules over His creation. Paul wrote, “For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:22 NLT) Nothing in creation has escaped the horrible effects of The Fall into sin. So if God reigns & rules in power, He’d have to destroy everything including you & me. St. Peter writes what will happen on the Last Day: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, & then the heavens will pass away with a roar, & the heavenly bodies will be burned up & dissolved...” (2 Peter 3:10 ESV) For now, God chooses to reign & rule with mercy & forgiveness in order that some might be saved. And how are we saved? Through repenting & believing in the Gospel. To us in the church, those words are so familiar it’s easy to blow by them & immediately move on with the action. But what does it mean, “Believe in the Gospel”? The Twelve disciples learned that in calling people to follow Him, Jesus was calling people to die to themselves, to die to the things & even the people of this world. We die to them because in reality, Jesus is calling us to the next world, to the world that will be re-created to all the perfection of the Garden of Eden. God is fulfilling everything He has promised... so repent. Turn back to God. In this world, it could not be less glamourous or less glorious. The path of the Gospel is the path to the cross. By God’s grace it will end in glorification, but for now, that is not the call, the journey, or even a dangled carrot. Ultimately, it is simply God’s promise. The decisive time is now here. This is the fullness of time. Each & every human being has their own decisive time; their own fullness of time, to repent & believe. In Jesus, power came into the world that’s in conflict with the powers & policies of sinful flesh. God’s reign in Jesus offers the possibility & opportunity to live by a different power & order than that of culture, society or government. Jesus expressed power & authority, yet His life was characterized by lowliness & suffering which culminated in His crucifixion, for us. He claimed power in lowliness, victory in defeat, control in serving. His preaching challenged & invited people to change their minds & come to trust & hope in God, especially through weakness. Jesus met people with the demand that they deal with the power of sin in their lives. The treatment He prescribed was repentance & faith. Jesus not only announced the arrival of God’s reign & rule, but He set up the community in which God reigns & rules. On earth that kingdom exists only where there are people who believe in Him. And if you believe in Jesus as Lord & Savior, then wherever you are the reign & rule of God is there with you. And Christ will reign & rule even through your weakness. Living on this side of the cross does not modify how God works. Living on this side of Easter does not change how God brings people to life. His reign & rule is still a call to trust our Lord & His gracious work. It is still a call to repentance & faith. To repent & believe in the Gospel is simply to receive life from the Creator. It’s to accept His cure for the disease of sin. For now, & for eternity, Yahweh offers that to believers from His throne of grace. It is a throne upon which God alone has the right to be seated. If there are cats in heaven, that is the one place you will never see them sitting. Amen. O Christ, who sent the Twelve on roads they’d never trod to serve, to suffer, teach, proclaim the nearer reign of God: Send us on ways where faith transcends timidity, where love informs & hope sustains both life & ministry. O Christ, the apostles’ Lord, the martyr’s strength & song, the crucified & risen King to whom the saints belong: Though generations pass, our tribute still we bring, our hymns a sacrifice of praise, our lives an offering. Amen. LSB 856:4-5. 2nd Sunday after Epiphany – B LSB #’s 589, 850, 827
Text – 1 Samuel 3:13 And I declare to [Eli] that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, & he did not restrain them. RESTRAINING EVIL In professional sports like football & basketball you hear a lot of trash talking. Then, there are other sports like tennis & golf that adhere to fairly strict rules on etiquette & showing respect to your opponents. Instead of loudly talking trash, while a player is putting on the green or making their serve on the court, polite silence is expected. Because all current humans beings are sinners, etiquette & respect are behaviors that need to be taught, whereas trash talking comes naturally. And what is God’s design for children to learn respect & etiquette? He gives children to parents & the parents are responsible to train them. They are to address the wrong behavior of their children & teach them what is right. That is not easy work, as any parent already knows. Even those who are not parents certainly should remember, & feel at least a tinge of regret, that we were not always perfect children. The 1st order of business for any parent is to lead their children to Christ. After that, parents teach their children to do good & help them learn to restrain their evil nature. It is especially in that latter task that Eli failed as a father. Because he did not restrain his sons, in the evil they were doing, Yahweh would bring judgment upon Eli’s entire household. Ironically, Eli has been training his own replacement, & that’s where we are in the OT reading for this morning. Samuel is about to graduate: “And the Lord came & stood, calling as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant hears.’ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, & he did not restrain them.’” (1 Samuel 3:10-13 ESV) Many people in our nation no longer restrain evil but celebrate with it. All manner of sinful behavior, in direct contradiction to the Word of God, is being encouraged by our leaders. From not working, when someone is able, to glorifying abortion as a path to choice & freedom, Americans are refusing to restrain evil. People think Christians are fools for trying. Our culture no longer defines marriage or gender as does the word of God. Lawlessness is celebrated as the right to free speech & political corruption is winked at as some kind of cost of democracy. In many cities the very people who are supposed to work at restraining evil are encouraging it by refusing to enforce the laws that have been legally enacted by legislatures. The demise of Eli & his sons should serve as a warning to our nation & to us. Shortly after Samuel graduates, Israel goes to war. Four thousand of their soldiers were killed, so they call for the Ark of the Covenant to be brought. Eli’s sons come with it. This time 30,000 Israelites are killed, among them Eli’s sons, & the Ark of the Covenant is captured. A messenger came to Eli with the news. He was so stunned by it that he fell over backward such that his neck was broken & he died. Thus, the first prophecy given to Samuel was fulfilled. After this, he directed the people of Israel to repent. They did so & the Lord once again gave them victory over the Philistines. Eventually, the Ark of the Covenant is returned. Like the people of Israel, when you & I, or our nation, live apart from God, it causes us to experience frustration & defeat. That should lead us back in repentance, to seek His mercy. Then, He restores us & makes us whole in Christ our Lord. Eli’s sons refused to repent. Eli failed to remove them from their positions in the temple. God removed all three of them, & put Samuel in their place. The 2nd sentence of the OT reading set the tone regarding the priesthood of Eli, “And the word of the Lord was rare in those days…” (1 Samuel 3:1 ESV) People in our country no longer respect the Word of the Lord, at least not the Word that tingles the ear. They assume that whatever god there is loves them & that repentance is a thing of the past. The Word of the Lord has become rare in our day & people do not miss it at all. Only 20% of Americans attend church weekly, & 31% never attend church at all. In verse 9 of the OT reading, Eli tells Samuel to listen to God. The irony is that Eli himself was not listening. Finally, the Word did come to Samuel, not to Eli, & that Word brought judgment. Restraining evil is something we cannot do without the power of God’s Holy Spirit. We must accept that restraining evil is necessary in order for life on earth to flourish. Accepting that is also something you & I cannot do without the power of God the Holy Spirit. Satan works hard against any sort of restraint of evil, because evil brings death & that is his joy. It is a sick & twisted creature that finds joy in the death of others. Yet the world wants us to believe that restraining evil is for prudish & narrow-minded bigots. Satan & his demons want you to believe the saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” However, the truth that Jesus’ Gospel shares with us is that God’s children have already beaten Satan & his hordes. We beat them when Jesus died & then rose from that death to eternal life. We beat Satan & his demons when the waters of Holy Baptism washed our sins away by the power of God’s Spirit. We beat them when Christ joins Himself to us in His body & blood. When you hear the true Word of God preached to you, when you read, mark, learn & inwardly digest the Word of God, then Satan & his hordes are defeated as surely as when Christ Himself said, “It is finished!” Right this very moment, the Creator of the universe is calling to you, like He called to Samuel. The Creator wants you to know His love, because that love alone can empower you to turn away from your sinful heart & back to the loving heart of Yahweh. Satan takes joy in your death & that is all he offers to you, no matter how he disguises it. Christ is offering life to you in its fullest & eternal form, in a place where death will be no more. Still, Eli’s sons chose death disguised as earthly power & pleasure. Samuel listened to the grace of God & said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Any time we even attempt to restrain evil, it is a blessing from the heavenly Father. It is living out the life that Christ offers to us already here on earth. In heaven we will experience that life completely & fully. In heaven there will be no more evil to restrain. Yes, even as children of God, here on earth we still experience the tinge of regret for failing to be perfect children of God. There are even times when, like Peter, we literally weep over our failures & our sins. Yet that weeping is a blessing from God as it reveals that our hearts are not indifferent to His will. Revelation is one of the themes of this season of Epiphany. As the OT reading begins, the word of the Lord is rare in those days. By the end of the reading, “…all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 3:20 ESV) A thousand years later, the Word of the Lord had again been rare in those days. When it finally arrived, it was Gentiles – the Magi – who revealed its arrival. By the end of Christ’s life, another Gentile, proclaimed who Jesus was: “And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39 ESV) Through that word, God is calling us to restrain evil, & once again return to the house of the Lord that we might receive His blessings. Amen. Lo, the hosts of evil round us scorn the Christ, assail His ways! From the fears that long have bound us free our hearts to faith & praise. Cure Your children’s warring madness; bend our pride to Your control; shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things & poor in soul. Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore; let the gift of Your salvation be our glory evermore. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage lest we miss Your kingdom’s goal. Amen. LSB 850:2-4. |
AuthorPastor Dean R. Poellet Archives
May 2024
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