“Hearing the word, hold it fast” Luke 8:15

Luke 8:15

    As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Our Lord Jesus Christ wants us to hear what He says. All of the Scripture readings today are about this. The third commandment is about this. Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and God’s word but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. The Lord demands that you to listen to Him not because he is craving the attention, but because what He speaks to you is for your good and for your abundant blessings. He truly desires to produce in you all the results of faith that come when you believe what He says.

Jesus tells this parable about the Sower and the seed to show how His kingdom comes. The seed is the word of the Lord. He speaks and His word is like planted in the hearts of those who  hold it fast. There it grows and matures and produces a hundredfold crop. 

Let's consider now that hundredfold crop. I’m going to list some things that you can have in mind as you meditate on this crop that the Lord has planted and is growing in you.

Salvation.

First of all, it’s your salvation. Jesus is describing His work. He is the Sower. His word tells you about His Kingdom and how He has done everything to make and to keep His Kingdom. He came to this world, lived in this world, suffered here, dying on the cross outside of Jerusalem, and rose again on the third day, all for your salvation. Hear what He says about that. Believe it. Hold it fast in an honest and good heart and you will, as Jesus promised, “bear fruit with patience.” And chief among that fruit is your salvation. You are saved, redeemed, won by Jesus from your sins, from death and from the power of the devil. 

Your salvation in this life and in eternity is the crop and harvest Jesus, the Sower is sowing for. He was sowing seed for that harvest when He spoke to crowds in the towns and countryside of Judea. He has been sowing seed for that harvest in every generation since, as His church continues to preach His Word and His followers continue to testify to Him. He Sowed that seed in you when you were taught about Jesus by your pastors and parents and Sunday school teachers. He sows His seed when architects and craftsmen depict His salvation in wood and precious metals and paint and pixels. He sows His seed when you sing His Hymns and show His love and tell others the salvation that is yours and theirs, too.

Repentance.

Now, this crop that the Lord is sowing within you can be thought of in another way. The harvest, the result, is repentance. Repentance means to turn around -- to turn from the old, bad, sinful ways, to turn back to God and His good ways,

This Word of God, that is the seed to be planted, is described in the Epistle reading from Hebrews as “a two-edged sword”. Hebrews 4:12 :    For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It cuts, both ways. It cuts in the way of the Law and in the way of the Gospel. It comes to you bringing both warnings and promises. It cuts though your defenses like a sharp sword, exposing your sin and guilt. All that which for shame, you hoped would be hidden -- so no one, not even God, would know what you think and do in secret --  This the word of Christ cuts right through to open up hard hearts, that the Lord can replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

There are some sharp warnings for us in this parable that Jesus tells. Some seed falls on bad ground and when it sprouts, the roots cannot penetrate the rocky ground. Some seeds fall where the devil can snatch it away before it even sprouts. Other distractions in this world can be like weeds and thistles, choking out the tender life of faith.  

Heed such warnings, examine your heart. If there is any barrier to hearing and believing the word of God within you, do whatever it might take to remove it and let it be destroyed by the sharp sword of God’s Holy Word. Repent of behaviors that go against the way of the Lord. Avoid the distractions that keep you from hearing and believing and living the Lord’s Gospel. 

Lent starts in a week and a half. Again this year, I want to tell you, make the most of it. We will take some extra time to hear God’s word and have it planted in our hearts. We will come here on Wednesdays at 7:30 to hear His word, pray the Psalms, and sing the hymns of Lent. Use the discipline of Lent to heed the warnings of the Word of Christ. 

And use the discipline of Lent to prepare your hearts to hold fast to the promises of Easter. That’s what Jesus wants mostly. He wants you to have the full understanding of these warnings, in order that you have a full understanding of all His good promises. And that understanding is a part of the great crop we have a part of. 

Understanding.

We understand that because of the Lord’s salvation “we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”, as we say in Psalm 23. In the Psalm appointed for today, Psalm 84, we hear these words:

How lovely is your dwelling place,

        O Lord of hosts!

    Even the sparrow finds a home,

        and the swallow a nest for herself,

        where she may lay her young,

    at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

        my King and my God.

    For a day in your courts is better

        than a thousand elsewhere.

    I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

        than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Not everyone understands this. Not everyone believes it. Not everyone would agree with this opinion, or so they would call it. Some are so bold as to say things like this, “Wait, if I have to repent of my sins, and believe in Jesus and then I’ll go to heaven and have a place in the Kingdom of God for eternity. . . .No. I don’t want to. It’s not worth it to me.” It can be so disturbing, so frustrating to us when we come across someone with such a hard heart toward Jesus Christ. But Jesus doesn’t seem to let it bother Him so much. He just keeps on sowing the seed.  

This is the parable of the Sower. He is not the planter. The planter of seeds is careful and protective of each seed, placing carefully just so, in a row, at just the right spacing, just the right depth of soil. The Sower broadcasts the seed freely. That's Jesus. Spreading His love and His word to all, even while some won’t take it, won’t hold it firmly.  . . .. .

Jesus said to His disciples, Luke 8:10, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

To you who hear the word of the Lord and hold it fast in your heart, it grows to bear a good crop of understanding. And with that understanding you can appreciate the other ways we can talk about the crop that is harvested from faith.

Assurance of His love.

There is assurance of His love. You can count on it. When you pray, be assured that you have a God who is behind you on all this. He is pulling for you. He wants what’s best for you. There is this concern that can crop up in our minds that God’s got good reason to hold a grudge. When we hear from our Lord both the warnings of the law and the promises of the Gospel we must remember that He always wants us to have the last word be His Gospel and that we His people rest on those promises.

Consider the structure and order of this parable, the promises predominate. As Jesus describes all that can happen to the seed the Sower is scattering, He saves the best for last -- the seed falls on good soil and produces a crop a hundredfold. That’s the word Jesus leaves us with, that’s the line He wants to stick in our mind. He is speaking this to His disciples, His believers so that we can get the understanding of our salvation, the assurance of His love and the comfort from His Gospel. 

Comfort in your suffering.

In the passage from Isaiah that was today’s Old Testament reading, we hear again how God sends His word to accomplish His purposes: 

Isaiah 55:10-11

    "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

        and do not return there but water the earth,

    making it bring forth and sprout,

        giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

    [11] so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

        it shall not return to me empty,

    but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

        and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Then it goes on to list one of the purposes for which He sends forth His word. Isaiah 55:13

    Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

        instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

    and it shall make a name for the Lord,

        an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

In the midst of our temporary discomforts and sufferings all we can see is the thorn and the brier. God’s word calls us to trust in more than what we can see with our eyes and experience in this fallen world. God’s promises continue to assure us that He is working for our good. We need not be frustrated when we can’t see all the answers, when we haven’t yet realized all the solutions. We and the Sower of the seed are both waiting for the harvest to come. In the meantime, that growing faith within in us produces the comfort God has for us, that even in suffering, His good purposes are being accomplished.

Training in Righteousness.

The word of Christ produces within you the growing ability to live as children of God, so that your thinking, your saying, your doing may be pleasing to God and good for your neighbors sake. Keep that in mind now and through Lent. How can we observe Lent in righteousness? Perhaps there is some individual practice you will want to do. You are certainly not required to, but you may give something up in Lent, as a regular reminder of the season.

Perhaps you can give up some treat that you’re used to buying and your savings can go toward your offerings to God or to someone’s needs. Perhaps you can work on cleaning up your language, or cleaning up your thoughts. I’m going to suggest that you give up 15 minutes a day of TV watching or internet surfing and use the time to prayerfully read the Psalms. I hope to give out a guide for you to do that next Sunday.

So you see, you who hear the Word of the Lord and hold it fast have a crop coming, repentance, salvation, understanding, assurance of God’s love, comfort in your suffering and training in righteousness.

Amen.

Christ is the Rock -- 1 Corinthians 10:4

Septuagesima

February 9, 2020

1 Cor. 10:1-5

    I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, [2] and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3] and all ate the same spiritual food, [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. [5] Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

This is our text.

“On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.” This image of the Rock is one that can easily come to mind -- The solid rock; the sure foundation of our faith; the immovable mooring of our life and destiny. Here we have it depicted in colored glass window and connected with patience. We can be patient knowing our steady Rock won’t ever let us down.

The Rock followed them.  Seems that in their journey through the wilderness they would on different occasions come across this miraculous Rock. Now initially, it looked like a rock. So how can one say that the Rock was Christ? They couldn’t see Jesus, but He was there. They only saw a rock, but there was Jesus giving flowing water for thirsty people.  

Today we want to review those events from at Meribah and Massah, in the wilderness and learn from them. In those Olden days of the Exodus, a pillar of cloud led the people of God, through land and sea, through sunshine and storm, through days of terror and days of blessing until they reached the promised land. Hidden in the cloud was God their Savior, watching over them and leading them on their way. The Pillar of Fire by night and the Pillar of Cloud by day went before the people, just as now in these last days, Christ our Savior goes before us. He goes before us into baptism and to the cross and to the grave and the resurrection. He leads us through sunshine and storm, through days of terror and days of blessing until we reach our promised land.

Three times in today’s Bible readings the events at Massah and Meribah are recorded. Exodus is the first recorded history of the events. Then also, in 1 Corinthians 10 St. Paul explains them and teaches that it was Christ who was there giving blessings. And then in the Psalm 95 appointed for the day, the Lord mentions this event and warns us, future generations, not to grumble and whine like they did back then. Psalm 95:7-9

    Today, if you hear his voice,

        [8] do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,

        as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

    [9] when your fathers put me to the test

        and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

It’s sort of surprising to hear it this way. Despite all the overabundant blessings that God gave the people of Israel, they put him to the test at Meribah and Massah. They felt God had dealt poorly with them. He hadn’t given them what they wanted. They demanded more and doubted that God would do more.

With 10 miraculous plagues, God had freed them from bondage and slavery in Egypt.

God had rescued them from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea

He rained down on them food from heaven, manna

He provided fresh water from a rock

And most significantly He was right there with them, His gracious glorious presence in the cloud

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.     

They didn’t believe Him. They put him to the test.

They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" (Exodus 17:3) and they said, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7).

It’s sad how we human beings can be so ungrateful toward our Creator. “As we live and breathe and have our being, our rude minds say, is he even here? As we are showered with gifts, new every morning, we look at them and say, “Oh, that’s nice, but it’s not what I wanted.”

The Israelites foolishly thought back to the days of slavery in Egypt and thought, “You know, it wasn’t really that bad being slaves. It was better than this trouble out here in freedom.”

If you ever have a chance to go on Google maps and search for Egypt and then look at it in Satellite View you can plainly see the environment where these events took place. As you pan across Northern Africa and onto the Sinai Pennisula and the Middle East it’s all just this light brown, sandy tan. It’s the wilderness a great desert. But in Egypt there is this beautiful lively, green strip running from South, North into the Great Mediterranean Sea. Rich, fertile Farmland is thriving with grain, and vegetables and fruits watered by the Nile River. For thousands of years there has been a land of plenty of water and food in the Nile River of Egypt, surrounded by the harsh barren Wilderness of North Africa and the Middle East.

Out in the wilderness of Sin, Sinai, the people of Israel longed for the tasty food and refreshing water of Egypt’s verdant Nile Valley. In longing for the good things, they thought little of the bad things that were back there: They were slaves. They were forced to build the great projects that their Egyptian overlords demanded. They had to build huge buildings with bricks made with no straw. The Egyptians controlled their lives, even to the point of controlling how many babies they could have, who could live and who had to die. It must have been horrible to be treated this way. And the Israelites are thinking, “but wasn’t it nice to have plenty to eat and drink?” When people are singularly obsessed with material things, the passions of the flesh, the pleasures of the moment, they are not mindful of how good or how bad off they really, truly are.

How many men and women, boys and girls in our generation are going through life loving just for the pleasures of the moment? They don’t care about God, and so they give no thought to the fact that there is nothing but hell at the other end of their short lives.

It’s just the same now as it was back then. Those ancient people at Meribah and Massah were only thinking about satisfying their cravings. They didn’t believe that the Lord was with them. It was so completely unsatisfying to them to hear that the Lord was there hidden in the cloud, hidden in the rock. They only cared for what they could see, and feel, and fill their bellies. They thought they lacked food and water and the comforts of life. But by God’s judgement what they lacked was gratitude and patience and faith.

Learn from the Israelites to count our blessings and to count our deficiencies – to be truly mindful about what we have and also what we lack.

Do you lose sleep worried that your accounts don’t have enough money in them? Count your blessings instead, knowing that your heavenly Father has given you His Kingdom and an eternity of joys in His presence.

Are you proud of your possessions, your success in this life, your position in this world? Don’t forget to count your deficiencies. Your possessions will go to others when you die. Your good name will eventually be forgotten here in this world. Your earthly success has no bearing on your spiritual failures as a sinner.

Then count your blessings. You have been baptized into Christ, so now you live in Christ. He promises you, I will be with you always. You have eternity with Christ to receive His constant blessings.

About the whining, complaining children of Israel, it says this, Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.     Dear children of God, know this, God is pleased with you in Christ. You who believe and are baptized and are daily receive the blessings God has to give, God is pleased with you. So don’t be tempted to despair about what you lack. Rejoice in what you have, the good favor of your God.

Going back to the Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians, St. Paul says something that might sound kind of weird, He says, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).

This is weird because it is an idea that is pretty much unheard of nowadays: Self-discipline. It doesn’t come up enough. Instead we are encouraged at every turn to spoil ourselves. In the parable Jesus tells about the workers who worked different hours but all got the same pay, it’s almost comical how some of them got so upset. They thought they deserved much more than they got. Indignantly they tried to tell the boss, how according to their logic and their feelings, he must give them more than the agreed upon wage.

Let’s not foolishly assume we deserve more than what we are getting in this life. No instead, we must teach ourselves, train ourselves, discipline ourselves to say “no” to unrighteous, impure and unhealthy things that please the flesh, that we may look to the Lord for what He gives which is truly pleasing.

It would be good for us modern people to learn from the wisdom of the past when it comes to disciplining the body. It will help us get our minds off the passions and cravings of this earthly, momentary life and strive instead for those things that are truly wholesome, righteous and lasting for eternity.

And that’s gonna take some faith -- Faith that realizes that Christ is there for you -- Hidden though he may be. As He was hidden in the rock and in the cloud and in the preaching of Moses, so Christ is now here for you, even though He is hidden behind the things God now provides you, the preaching of the church, the water, the bread and the wine and the suffering of bearing the cross in this short but troublesome life.

Christ is with us. He is our rock. In Him we have hope and salvation -- only in Him. He alone deserved all glory and honor and praise. He alone deserves more than what He got in this life. Because actually, He just got what everyone else gets -- Suffering, pain, and Death a horrible death. But he never complained about what he lacked. Instead He lived and died for what He knew was truly important, truly righteous, truly eternal – you, His beloved friends.

Amen.

Promises Kept -- Matthew 2:23

The First Sunday of Christmas

January 5, 2020

Matthew 2:22-23

    But when [Joseph] heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. [23] And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene." This is our text.

  

            Notice how they had a lot of dreams back then? Vivid dreams. Very specific and memorable dreams. This Joseph’s namesake was the Old Testament Joseph, whose brothers had teased him and called him the dreamer. He had special dreams too, insightful dreams. God allowed him revealed information in his dreams, such that he was able to predict for the Pharaoh in Egypt that there would be a great, world-wide famine. Thanks to Joseph, Pharaoh had the Egyptians prepare for it and many lives were saved.

            But this fist Joseph, lived centuries before the second Joseph and both lived many centuries before us today. When you read these Bible passages, you may get to thinking that such dreams are so common as to be expected. It may seem like you and I should be having better dreams. But across the great span of time, such dreams from God are very rare. We shouldn’t expect them. We shouldn’t feel disappointed if we don’t have special dreams.

Now in recent years there have been stories of men and women in Muslim countries who are seeing Jesus in their dreams. This has led some of them to stop thinking of Jesus a stranger, but to call him their friend and even their Savior. Such accounts are at the very least intriguing.

            And there are these weird dreams that some people have talked about when they have had what’s called “Near Death Experience”. They report seeing God and feeling welcomed into heaven.  Many people have bought books written by people who have had such visions; there’ve been some successful movies. But the discerning Christian will be skeptical of these of stories. They may be entertaining and heartwarming, but the biggest problem is they are uncertain. You and I cannot be sure about what others say they dreamed or what visions they had. And uncertainty is dangerous to faith. Uncertainty produces doubts.

Our Lord would not have us remain in doubts. Over and over again He comforts us with His sure and certain word. He says things like this:  “Truly! truly, I say to you. . .” It’s as though He says to you, “Just listen to me. Hear my word. I know you are curious and preoccupied with so many ideas and questions. Much of what your imagination wants to wonder about is not important now. It will be better for you to wait. When the time is right, you will understand. For now, hear what I have to tell you. Listen to my word. Believe my word”

And He says this, not just because He is God Almighty; we should do as He says. But also because He is our compassionate Good Shepherd, Who leads us into salvation and leads us out of trouble and sin and unbelief. He gently and lovingly warns us that there are other voices, appealing voices, interesting voices, but they will lead you astray. They are as wolves in sheep’s clothing. We can’t let pride say, “Ach! We’d never fall for false ideas. We’d never be led astray.”

There are those who feel it’s their mission in life to spread their imagination, their vision, their idea. Some may be motivated by a beneficial intention, wanting to improve others. Some are downright liars, like King Herod lied to the wise men. And often, we have to admit, our own human nature would rather listen to what it feels is more interesting, more sensational, more pleasurable, than what we get from the Lord and His word.

So, the mystery of dreams and visions is more art than science. Such visions will more likely than not arise from the human imagination and the difficult to understand connection between the physical, the mental and the spiritual. It is all so unclear, unpredictable and uncertain.

But, oh, so much better are the clear and reliable words and promises of God. Hear Him. Believe Him. Knock down any barriers that get in your way of believing and listening to him. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to hear and understand the Word of God and to keep it in your hearts.

So if we should not expect God to speak to us through dreams and visions, what’s the deal with the dreams that Joseph and the others in Bible times?

In today’s gospel reading from Matthew 2, it’s shown very nicely how Joseph’s dreams and the wise men’s dreams were confirmed by fact and reality, and more importantly, they were showing how the promises of God’s Holy Word were being fulfilled. Three times in this short reading Matthew comments that these events fulfilled what God had said.

1. Jesus had to hide in Egypt for a little while and when it was safe He could return. This fulfilled the promise of God in the book of Hosea, “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”

2. The death of the innocent babies in Bethlehem fulfilled what God said had in Jeremiah’s prophecy about Rachel, one of the ancient matriarchs of the town, she’s weeping for her children and refused to be comforted because they are no more.

3. And Joseph’s dreams that safely led him to settle his young family in Nazareth fulfilled the prophecies of God’s Word that Jesus would live in Nazareth as a Nazarene.

When Matthew inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us the story of the life of Jesus, it is important to him that we hear all these promises that were fulfilled.

These promises kept by God, show us how God works. He is the faithful Creator. He keeps His promises. He comforts sinners in their sorrows and strife with promises. He leads sinners to believe promises and trust that their fulfillment will be their salvation.

These promises kept by God, train us to listen to God’s Word. Listen for His promises when you hear God’s word. Trust God to keep them all.

When you have the Lord’s Supper, hear the promise: for the forgiveness of sins. Then depart in peace with the reliable, certain conviction that you are saved, forgiven and holy in the sight of God, fit for a life of service to him and to those around you.

When you remember your baptism, hear the promises God has for the baptized and these promises come back to something that Joseph heard in a dream. The angel of the Lord said to Him that He should name Mary’s baby Jesus, as the word Jesus means, He will save His people from their sins. By baptism into Jesus, you have the kept promises of Jesus, you are saved from your sins.

As we move through this year ahead, listen to God, listen for His promises. We will move to Lent and Good Friday and hear how our Lord died for us, uttering these beautiful words to the believer, “today you will be with me in paradise.”

As we celebrate Easter after a few months, Hear the promise of your Lord, “because I live, you will live also.”

Hear that promise.

Trust that promise.

Live as a child and heir of that promise.

Amen.

Cause for Joy and Singing -- Zephaniah 3:14-17

3rd Sunday in Advent

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ    

    Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;        shout, O Israel!

    Rejoice and exult with all your heart,         O daughter of Jerusalem!

    [15] The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

        he has cleared away your enemies.

    The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;  you shall never again fear evil.

Thus far our text.  

    [15] The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

There is the essence of the Gospel. This is exactly what Jesus has done. He has  forgiven you your sins. They are removed as far as the east is from the west. He has thrown them into the depths of the sea and they are drowned. You have been absolved, purified, made righteous and guiltless. Because of that you are on good terms with God almighty and you have  eternal life.

The Savior Jesus came into this world, to be born in human flesh. He took on our flesh and our weakness and took from us our sins. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Because of Jesus [15] The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

Let that Gospel be cause for joy and singing. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;        shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,         O daughter of Jerusalem!

The Epistle of the day has this holy command of God to each of you:  Philip. 4:4

    Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Notice that this is not an optional sort of thing. There’s no “ifs”, “ands” or “buts”, like “If you feel like it, Rejoice.” “On good days rejoice.” “When you are winning, rejoice.” No. It simply says, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Rejoice in the Lord, and in His Gospel of the forgiveness of your sins. This is not based on other conditions like how you feel or how your day is going. The cause for joy is from the Lord Jesus and His favor to you.

Now this is it not meant to sound forced. It can be really annoying when you are in a grumpy mood and somebody tells you, “oh, lighten up;” “Have a good day;” “Turn that frown upside down”.

No when God tells you to rejoice, it is an invitation to hear again and remember the many things He has given you to rejoice about.

Zephaniah 3:15 is chuck full of those reasons.

Listen to the cause for singing and joy here, phrase by phrase.

   

    [15] The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

        he has cleared away your enemies.

    The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;  you shall never again fear evil.

In the Gospel reading for today John was preaching and baptizing to prepare the way of the Lord. This is the way to prepare for the Lord, in sorrow for sins, prayerfully look to the Lord above and say, take away the judgments against me, clear away my enemies of sin, death and the devil. Help me in my fear of evil.

Next Sunday as part of the regular Sunday service we will have the Children’s Christmas program. They are organizing their parts around a hymn that Luther wrote, “From heaven above to earth I come.” And one of the verses especially is a beautiful Advent and Christmas prayer, asking the Lord the to forgive us, make our hearts right, so that He can be with us.

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,

Prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,

A quiet chamber set apart

For You to dwell within my heart.

Zephaniah 3:15 preaches a great Advent gospel message for us: The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; 

The consequence of sin has been felt by human kind from the beginning. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, out of the presence of God.  Every sin you commit puts you farther and farther out of God=s presence.

The beauty and glory of forgiveness of sins is that now you are brought back into God=s presence.  That=s heaven.   The worst thing about hell is the Absence of God, the separation from God..  How sad that some go there for eternity, eternally separated from God. How sad also that some live their lives now in hell on earth, without God in their lives.

The Lord is with you. That’s our Advent theme and hope.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; 

The King of Israel is Jesus. Pontius Pilate labeled as such, when he had a sign placed above Him on the cross. Pilate meant it as mockery, but it was the truth.

There on the cross was King of Israel. There He was in our midst, right in the midst of our broken, sin-filled lives, that our tumbling out of control toward death. In life, in death, He is in our midst. He is with you always, even to the end of time.

We have to listen to that. Hear and believe that. Because we get so many signals, daily that would lead us to think that He is now around. Not here. Not anywhere.

The world wants to remove Him. The world wants to celebrate His birthday without Him. Can you imagine anything so rude as to have a birthday party and not invite the man of honor? Keep that in mind as you celebrate Christmas. It’s Christ’s birthday. Don’t leave him out.

What is more our sinful nature would rather the Lord not be around. So we are constantly tempted to think and to live as if Christ isn’t around and as if He doesn’t matter anyway.

He who has forgiven you your sins, who has taken away the judgement you deserve is now with you.  The best way to hear this good news is in Holy Commmunion. At His table, He serves you heavenly food and He is Himself the food, given for you, the forgiveness of your sins.

He is with you. Rejoice.    Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;        shout, O Israel!

Be happy about all this. Rejoice and sing. Because, by the way, the Lord is happy to. He is rejoicing to. Listen to Zeph. 3:17 and try to picture it.

    The Lord your God is in your midst,

        a mighty one who will save;

    he will rejoice over you with gladness;

        he will quiet you by his love;

    he will exult over you with loud singing.

In the gospel reading we heard Luke 7:21

    In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.

There must have been a line of people waiting to have Jesus help them out. They were coming out of the woodworks. Wouldn’t it seem like the Lord must get tired of saving so many people.

No. He doesn’t save us reluctantly. It is His pleasure. He’s happy to. He even likes to sing about it.

Every once in a while I notice that someone is hesitant to sing. Maybe because they are very self-aware, or maybe they feel like it’s not very dignified. As if you had to sing when you were a kid, now it’s just not for you.  But if God does it, He sings loudly. So should we. He sings out of the joy of salvation. So should we. Now and forever. Amen.

   

   

We will stand in God’s Glory -- Jude 24-25

May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Jude 2

That’s the greeting and blessing to the reader at the start of Jude, the 2^nd last book of the Bible, from which today’s Epistle reading is taken, hear again verses 24 & 25:

 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

This is our text.

Looking through my files, it looks like this is the first time I have ever preached on a text from Jude. It’s just a little book – a couple pages in our English Bibles. It’s not big enough to have chapters, only verses. That’s why the reading today is Jude 20-25. No Chapter mentioned.  Jude wrote this little document, this short sermon in response to some bad behavior and misguided attitudes among the Christians of the time, a few years after Jesus’ ascended into heaven.

Jude says in the 4^th verse that there are people who Jude 1:4

    For certain people have “crept in unnoticed  . . . ungodly people, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

This is a problem that will come up every so often. Jesus died for our sins. Because of Him we are forgiven and made pure. In God’s eyes, it’s as if we have never sinned. So then some people, the devil and our own sinful nature would like to change that grace of God into license, or freedom and permission to sin again, and come up with new ways to sin.

So to counteract this false and misleading attitude Jude tells us Christians what to do. You can easily follow the teaching of Jude in this reading, by concentrating on some keep words: Build, Pray, Keep  and Wait.

First, Build

    Jude says, “But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith.” Christians aren’t to be lazy about this most holy faith we have. It’s good you’ve got faith. It’s a gracious, good gift. But you ought not be complacent about it. Build yourself up in the faith. False and misleading attitudes easily creep in when faith is neglected, and not built up. You build yourself up in this most holy faith by reading and hearing the Word of God, and by having communion in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Second, Pray

 Jude says, “Pray in the Holy Spirit.” Our highest concern in this life should be that our faith not grow tired or worn out, or distorted by false ideas. And we should bring our highest concerns to the Lord in prayer with the help of God the Holy Spirit. So pray for the strengthening of you faith. And you can pray for such with words like these: “Thy Kingdom come.” Lord, we want to be in and remain in your Kingdom until we die. So strengthen our faith.

Third, Keep

Keep yourselves in the love of God. Jude is troubled by those who turn God’s grace into license for immorality. So he tells us all, keep yourselves in the love of God. All morality is summed up with love. Love for God and love for others. Keep yourselves in the love of God.

The false attitude that we can do whatever we want because the Gospel gives us freedom, is a very unloving attitude. If your thoughts and words and actions are motivated by the license to do what you want, then what others want suffers, and your love for God and His righteousness grows cold.

Fourth, Wait

“. . . waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”

Jude is writing words of encouragement here to people who must wait for the salvation of the Lord to be revealed.

That’s the message Jesus gave to His disciples as they would have to wait for the salvation to come, even as it seems like everything in heaven and earth was falling down around them. Waiting is the message of the fig tree, whose buds are a sign that spring is coming, just wait. Our Lord’s command to “Wait” is a call to stay awake, to stay watchful, and to believe continually the promises He has made that He will come and save.

Jude writes to give us a blessing and comfort for this meantime, while we wait for the Lord.  Here’s His very encouraging blessing:

Jude 1:24-25     Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25] to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.

Your God and Savior is able to keep you from stumbling. That is a very important word to hear when you consider that the times are going to get worse toward the end. The end times can be fearful. These end times can make us doubt ourselves. We might, in fear say something like, when it comes down to it, will I be able to stand strong?

Your God and Savior is able to keep you from stumbling. Stumbling – it reminds me of one of those bad dreams, where you are in a hurry, running from some evil, time is running out and you stumble and fall at every other step.

I hear people, good Christian people, say things like this: “Why do I keep sinning?” “Am I not a good believer if I keep stumbling on the same sins?” “Why can’t I ever seem to get better and experience some victory over sin?” Why do I continue to look at others with lust or with coveting in my thoughts? Why do get so angry and impatient with my spouse and others that I love? Why do I procrastinate and not carry out my responsibilities faithfully?”

Will the initial answer is kind of discouraging:  It’s your nature to do so. It is impossible not to sin. That’s a big part of the reason why we so long for the Lord to come and bring us salvation and rescue us from our sinful nature.

But there’s a further answer given here in Jude’s blessing to us at the end of his little book: God is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

If you are frustrated with your own inabilities to do right and to stop sinning, I ask you this, do you believe what Jude says? Do you believe that God is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless?

There’s a great Gospel message there. Jesus has been sent by God into this world and into our human history to be the Son of God and the Son of Man at the same time. He lived a perfect life, but then sacrificed that perfect life in place us. He took the blame for us, that we might be blameless. Blameless. Isn’t that a good feeling, if you can fully believe it.

When you are in the midst of struggling with your sins and feeling the ugly consequences they have in your life, look to Jesus who stood up for you and took the blame for you to make you blameless. Now your Lord is at work to keep you from stumbling. And He is able; He can do that.

And on the last day he will present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

“Present you” is the best way to say it in English. But the word that Jude used here is the root word of our word “Status” it’s first meaning is to stand. It’s the picture we can have in our mind. The Lord keeps you from stumbling, He lifts you up, He stands you up in the glory of God His Father.

When you feel self doubt, like you cant win, you can’t do anything right, nothing good enough. Hear the blessing Jude has for us. And remember that the Lord has promised He will keep us from stumbling. He will lift us up. He will stand us in the glory of God.

 Bold shall I stand in that great day,

for who aught to my charge shall lay?

Fully absolved through these I am,

from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

Amen.

Now receive the blessing

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.