Sermon for Advent 2

“Watch Yourselves”

Jesus said, “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap” (Luke 21:34).

This might be unexpected to some, that we start off December in church hearing a dire, stern warning from the Lord. Judgement Day is coming. Watch yourselves. If someone comes to church with worldly expectations of what we will do here, it might be confusing to hear the Advent message “watch yourselves lest the end of the world come upon you suddenly like a trap.” If a person comes into church expecting to hear a happy Christmassy message, to get some warm feelings on a cold day, to have a comfortable, cozy experience like watching a Hallmark movie, then it’ll be jarring to listen to this message from Jesus: “the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. . . [so] Straighten and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

You notice of course, how there’s a difference between the world’s celebration of Christmas and the Church’s celebration of Christmas. One very significant part of that difference is timing. The world around us has already made a good start on the holiday season. While in the church, we are saying “not yet”. The Gospel reading for the day, is not yet Christmas, it’s an Advent message, preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which will happen soon, we are to expect.

“Not yet” is an important concept of the Church and the Christian life. “Not yet”, we are not in heaven yet. Our journey is not yet complete. Our struggle is not yet over. If you hope to feel good in this life, life will treat you with difficulties that will teach you to say, ‘not yet’ but true and full happiness must wait into the life to come with the Lord.

The church’s disciplined pattern of waiting and saying, “Not yet” is good practice for life. We are living in this “not yet” time. Sure, you know that Jesus has come into this world, born in Bethlehem and crucified outside of Jerusalem. So you know you’ve been saved and given eternal life. But you do not yet feel it, see it, enjoy that new life fully. You gotta wait for it. Faith is edified and strengthened when you tell yourself, not yet, I have to wait for the blessings my Lord has promised me. I have to take his word for it that it is all coming when the time is right. But for now, I have to have patience and exhibit endurance and hope in the Lord.

Patience, Endurance, Hope -- These things are fruits of faith, fruits of the Spirit. The Lord Jesus invites us to take these fruits as we wait for his coming and the consummation of all creation. He says, “watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap”

As we wait and watch, we will see the signs that day is approaching, like the new leaves on the fig tree giving signs that summer is about to return. There will be signs in the universe and signs in people. “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶ people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.” For generations we have been noticing the signs in the heavens and on earth: Natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars. But note also how Jesus says fear that people have is a sign of the approaching end. This worldwide rise in fear and anxiety in the souls of people is a sign for us that the Lord is preparing to bring an end to this world and have His Kingdom come.

So, therefore, “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” says Jesus.

That is his message to you who have this “not yet” attitude, who are waiting for him to come, ready for him to come, because you love him. Have patience. Exhibit endurance. Hope in the Lord and in his promises. “Watch yourselves.” “Take heed” was the old way of saying it. Jesus says, “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

“Stay awake”. What’s that mean for you? Jesus is talking in parables, in figures of speech, in metaphor. This isn’t the physical distinction between sleep and awake. We should all get our needed physical rest. But Jesus hear speaks of spiritual wakefulness.  Here’s three examples of how you stay awake spiritually.

First, pray. Pray that you may have strength to escape all these things. The signs of the end of the world are enough to make those without faith faint for fear. But you, when you see fearful signs, Watch yourselves and pray for strength.

Second, remember His promises. When worries and fears come at you, stay awake. Trust God. Trust his promises. He says he loves you, cares for you. His biggest promise of all was in sending His son into this world so that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.

Third, remember your vocation in this life. Keep doing what the Lord has called you to do. Love your neighbor. Be patient with your neighbor. Anxiety and distress make a person impatient with those around you. When you start thinking, “I don’t have time for this. I don’t have time to listen to them. I don’t have time to go out of my way for them.” Stay awake. God give you your time, your moments and your days. What better do you have to do than to care for the people whom God has sent your way.

You can do that with the hope that is in you. So then we conclude with the blessing given in the Epistle reading of the day, Romans 14: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Amen.

Sermon for October 23

 

The Center of our Faith..

Matthew 9:2

 

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2)

 

This is the center of our faith: Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Everything else in religion and doctrine, life and death, in heaven and hell, has to take a less significant place than this one point: "Your sins are forgiven."

 

You are to believe that, and remember that, because often there will be other things that seem more important to you at the moment -- more pressing. It’s easy to think too little of forgiveness of sins. It becomes something we just assume. We think, “Yes, we confessed our sins at the start of the service. We’ll mention it again the next time we’re in church. But let’s get on with things. There’s so much else we want to think about. There’s so much else we want from God.

 

Of course, you expect many and great things from God.  But consider this, why would you expect blessings from God like healing of your ailments and maladies or other miracles if your sins are not forgiven? How can you expect heaven to be open to you and the angels coming down and up to help and minister to you, without first and foremost having your sins forgiven?

 

At the center of the Lord’s Prayer is this petition, “forgive us our trespasses.” We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.

 

It would be foolish to assume good things from God before the forgiveness of your sins. You’d be denying your condition as a descendant of Adam and Eve. You’d be arrogant claiming your sins aren’t a problem.

 

This is the center of our faith: Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” This gets to the center of God’s heart, his favorable stance toward us his children. God is love. For the righteous and holy God of heaven to love us sinners, he must forgive us. So from the foundation of the world he had his heart set on forgiving us sinners by sending his only Son, Jesus Christ to take our sins away.

 

In this gospel reading today, some scribes were very critical of Jesus, his words and his actions. Scribes were the religious scholars of the day, experts on the Bible, which at the time of Jesus was just the Old Testament. They seemed to expect God would be stingy with forgiveness. They knew all about his judgement and his retribution for sin. But they knew little about his forgiveness. It’s like they preferred his judgement and wrath and hoped his forgiveness would be rare and difficult to come by. So when Jesus so freely announces to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.” They object. Jesus was interfering with God’s work. God is against sin, don’t you know. For Jesus to say otherwise was blasphemy.

 

Jesus miraculously healed a paralyzed man in our Gospel reading today. He did so as a lesson to anyone who would hesitate to believe him when he says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus says, “what’s easier, to say, “Your sins are forgive,” or to say, “Rise and walk?” Then he shows that both are easy, for Jesus. It’s easy for him to fix problems of the body and physical life. It’s easy for him to fix our problems of the soul and spiritual life.

 

People like the Scribes will say, “no, it can’t be that easy.” Especially when we see the sin in someone else’s life, it’s mean of us to say, “that stuff is not going to be easy to forgive.” That attitude is mean and misguided. It shows a false understanding who Jesus is. The Scribes didn’t believe that Jesus could forgive sins, because they didn’t believe that Jesus was God come down from heaven and made man. So also, when we hesitate to forgive those who sin against us, when we say something like, “No way! That sin is too big, too evil, it can’t be forgiven.” We show that we are not believing Jesus, not believing who He is and what He says. For Jesus sake, put aside grudges. Get over the hard feelings. Forgive as Jesus forgives. When he says, “Your sins are forgiven,” It’s that easy.

 

Now, here’s another problem we might have. The thinking can go like this: “Well if forgiveness is so easy, it must not be that important. If forgiveness is free, it must not be that valuable.” Remember, it’s free to you. But it was costly to Jesus Christ. He paid all for it. You who have truly received that forgiveness free and easy, know how precious that forgiveness is. That’s why it remains at the center of our faith.

 

Let’s never think that forgiveness is cheap. Let’s never take it for granted. We go back again and again to the forgiveness of our sins. It is our practice to recite it regularly, weekly in our church, daily in our prayers. There is a great value to the faith to belong to a church that keeps the forgiveness of sins at the center. Some have let it fall to the side. Some have replaced forgiveness with other ideas like acceptance and tolerance. Many churches nowadays are trying to baptize worldly, liberal ideas, trying to make them seem religious. There are Churches preaching a message of acceptance and tolerance for those who take pride in deviant behavior and immoral lifestyles.  Let’s be clear: forgiveness is not the same as tolerance.

I think of someone who’s family member has been murdered. In Christian faith, the survivor will strive to find forgiveness. But they would never want to show acceptance or tolerance. Forgiving sin, does not mean accepting sin, nor tolerating sin.

 

When sin is accepted and tolerated, the result is no repentance, no faith, no hope. God calls sinners to repent of sin and go forward in faith, as Ephesians 4 says,   22Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Amen.

 

 

Service on October 16

 Our Sunday Divine Service was livestreamed here:

https://fb.watch/geGCiRSeq_/

Sermon for Trinity 13

 Luke 10:23-37

The Eighth Commandment

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God

so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor,

betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation,

but defend him, speak well of him,

and explain everything in the kindest way.

Our text for our meditation this morning is the Gospel reading of the day, the Good Samaritan. A lawyer was trying to justify himself. Trying to show that he was a good neighbor. He asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Answering, Jesus tells this story.

Jesus is the best storyteller; his stories are so easy to relate to. Because he was able to know human nature perfectly, his stories have these characters that seem more real than real life.

You can just know what that priest in the story was like. He was dressed well, clean and proper. He comes across a bleeding, needy victim of an ugly crime and he says, “Ew! I’m going to pretend I don’t even see that.” You can picture that scene vividly, can’t you? Because you know someone like that. You can be taken aback a little by that scene, can’t you? Because you’ve at times acted like that, for whatever reason, reluctant to help a poor, pitiful neighbor in need. It’s all too relatable.

But I tell you, I can’t relate exactly to one aspect of this parable. I don’t know about all of you, but it’s been years since the last time I was walking along a road and came across somebody laying in the ditch, unconscious, bloody and bruised. Fortunately, we live in an easier world, with less violence and crime than in some places and at other times.

But of course, Jesus’ lesson here can be applied to many situations in life. Every day we have opportunities to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and “How can I show mercy to him or to her?”

I hope it’s rare or never that you have to help someone who has been beaten up by robbers. But I’m sure you will have many times where you can help and show mercy to someone who has been beaten up by just life and the problems of life in this world.

It’s unlikely that in the near future you’ll need to use your first aid knowledge and skills on someone who has been beat up with fists and clubs and has been left half dead. But it’s very likely that you’ll hear someone, some neighbor get beat up with words, until his or her reputation is half dead.

Good Samaritans help their neighbor, according to the 5^th commandment, by tending to the needs of the neighbor’s life and health. Good Samaritans will also help their neighbor according to the 7^th commandment, by helping with the needs of possessions and property. And Good Samaritans will help their neighbor according to the 8^th commandment by protecting and defending the neighbor’s good name and reputation.

We should fear and love God

so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor,

betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation,

but defend him, speak well of him,

and explain everything in the kindest way.

The easiest thing always is to do nothing. To be like the priest and the Levite, who say, “This is none of my business”, turn and walk the other way. But the 8^th Commandment instructs you to do what’s uncomfortable, what’s risky. It’s hard to speak up for someone when the crowd is tearing them apart. It’s uncomfortable to speak well of him, when everyone else is enjoying the juicy gossip.

The Good Samaritan used medicinal oil and bandages to help the wounded, he got him to shelter, and got him cleaned up and fed. How do you help out someone who is being attacked by gossip. I’ve got three examples of things you can say.

1.       “Are you certain about that?” In this world of sin, lies get more traffic than truth. Let’s agree together that we are going to no longer let lies stand, nor half-truths. If we aren’t certain about the story, let it go untold.

2.       “Maybe you should talk to so-and-so about this?” When people are complaining about so-and-so, behind their back, the right thing to do is stop the gossip and lead it toward a conversation of reconciliation. Jesus says, If you’ve got something against another, Go, show him his fault, “just the two of you, and if he listens, you have won your brother” (Matthew 18:15). Let’s agree to no longer be partakers of gossip, but instruments of reconciliation. Direct those with complaints and grievances to work it out face-to-face. Behind the back, it won’t get fixed.

3.       “I think you’ve been talking to the wrong people.” This is a wise one I just heard recently. A good neighbor was hearing some gossip that was just not even believable. So she stopped the gossiper and told them to consider the source of the gossip. Let’s all agree to strive for such wisdom. Realize that there are going to be some around us who love to spread gossip, whether true or not, doesn’t matter as much as if it’s juicy. Choose carefully who you listen to. Gossip spreads worse than contagious diseases. We got some good practice on social distancing a couple years ago. You might consider how to keep a safe distance from those who spread mean lies.

With the 8^th Commandment we hear how words can be powerful for evil or for good. Know that your good Lord in heaven wants you to use words for the good, even as He constantly speaks good words to you and for you. At the end of the service he are going to sing “MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS”

His oath, His covenant and blood

Support me in the raging flood;

When ev’ry earthly prop gives way,

He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

“His oath, His covenant and blood.” Christ speaks good words. His oath and covenant are that he will care for you, forgive you and love you forever. His words, are coupled with his actions, referred to in the song as “his blood,” his sacrificial dying for us. His words and his actions are powerfully good to save us and sustain us. That’s his mercy.

He calls us to show mercy to others.

When we show mercy, we’re showing Christ’s mercy. We’re showing that we get it. And we want others to get it, too.

Amen.

Sermon for Trinity 11

The Sixth Commandment

You shall not commit adultery.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.

In Genesis chapter 4, Adam and Eve obeyed God. In Chapter 3 they had disobeyed God. They had disregarded his command and ate the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden. But now they, with repentance and faith, obeyed God.  The Lord God had said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” They obeyed him. “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain . . . And again, she bore his brother Abel” (Genesis 4:1). “Adam knew his wife.” That is a pure and decent way of saying it. They followed the 6^th Commandment, even though it hadn’t been written down yet in any Bible or on any stone tablets. God’s law is inscribed on the hearts of all men and women. Adam and Eve understood clearly that the commandment of God against adultery is a command for husband and wife to love and honor each other. So in knowing each other, loving and honoring each other and having children together they obeyed God. They obeyed him because of his law.

They also obeyed him because of his gospel. God had made a promise that they had heard and believed. God promised them a descendant of theirs, a seed that would grow from their family, would save them -- that the serpent, that old evil foe, would bruise his heal. But the Savior would crush the serpent’s head.

It's impossible for us now to imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve. All the rest of their life they were living with this memory, struggling with the reality, that they had paradise and they lost it because they sinned. They went through their days longing for redemption, for salvation, for a new life. And in faith and hope they held on to that promise of the Seed of their marriage and family, the descendant who would come to crush the serpent’s head and all his works and all his ways. So they had babies. And it seems as though Eve like many other pious faithful mothers coming after her for generations, would wonder and hope, is this child to be born the one promised? It took thousands of years of waiting, but then Jesus Christ was born of Mary. And there was glory to God on high and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. 

As we sing in the hymn, “Built of the Rock the Church shall stand, Longing for rest everlasting,” so Adam and Eve and all Old Testament believers were longing for a Savior, “Could this be the Promised One?” They would ask. And that is not a bad way for faithful people to live—longing for the Lord and the life everlasting. We kinda do that too, we believe that Christ will come on the last day. And we are ready for that to be any day, because we will greet him with rejoicing. So every day we could ask ourselves, “Is today the day?”

Longing for the Lord’s salvation, Adam and Eve had babies with the promise in mind that one of their children, grandchildren, great grand children or somewhere down the line, the Savior would be born. In the meantime, they lived together as faithful husband and wife, as devout parents to their children, trying to raise them up as best they could.

As Cain and Abel grew up, they learned the things the children must learn, how to walk, how to talk, how to tend the crops, how to care for the livestock – and significantly how to worship the Lord. When both boys brought offerings to the Lord, it is evident that their parents had taught them about the Lord. There were no preachers around that time. Adam and Eve were the preachers. There were no Sunday school teachers. Adam and Eve taught their children the lessons. This family would sit down to pray, to learn their lessons about God, to serve God with their offerings, the first fruits of their labors.  

I know, it’s hard to think of them as a nice, sweet family, because we just heard again how things turned out. Cain killed Abel, the first murder, actually the first human death. But God didn’t blame their upbringing, or their dysfunctional home life. He doesn’t say, Adam, Eve, what have you done. The responsibility is all Cain’s, “Where is your brother, Abel?” It was Cain’s sin. God had just warned him about it. “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? . . .  Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

What a shame! Such a nice family. And see how those kids turned out. Adam was heartbroken. Eve was heartbroken.

Christians are heartbroken when their loved ones don’t keep the commandments, like this sixth one for example. Adultery is a selfish, inconsiderate act that hurts everyone involved. Divorce hurts. It hurts every relative and it hurts all society. It breaks Christian parents’ hearts when their kids don’t keep the 3^rd commandment and stop going to church. We suffer the most from those sinners who are closest to us.

And as I listen to people talk about the heart-breaking situations in their families, I hear a great deal of shame. I suppose it’s shameful because we have this assumption that good Christian homes should consistently produce good Christian people who always make the best choices and live-long and prosper. When things go bad, it’s a shame. Is it that you are longing for forgiveness for the bad decisions and bad actions someone else is making? Know and believe that the blood of Jesus Christ has removed your sins and covered your shame.

So What’s the use? Why even remember the 6^th commandment. How can we honor marriage and the family when our own lives are so marred by sin and death. Are our families any better than those of the unbelieving world around us?

No, we cannot brag about the goodness and righteousness in our homes and in our families. But we can boast in the Lord who has done good things, and continues to give good blessings.

We must continue to speak to each other and to speak out to the world about the will of God expressed in the 6^th Commandment. He wants husbands and wives to love and honor each other. He warns about the sins of adultery and sexual perversion that have devasting consequences. We can never give up on the ideal of marriage and family – especially because it shows us the love of Christ.

When we know what a good, honorable, love-filled home is, we learn a priceless lesson on the love of Christ. Ephesians 5 --  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Adam, created in the image of God, was to love like God loves. He was given Eve to love and adore. As Adam loved Eve he was teaching a lesson to her and to his sons about Christ’s love and salvation. We’re not going to give up on the truth of marriage and the pure and decent love and honor of one man and one woman. Despite the heartbreaks and shame, we’re not going to give up, because Christ who loves us His church, will not give up on us.

Amen.

 

 

Sermon for Trinity 10

\Romans 10:4 -- For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Every man, woman, boy and girl should know the 10 Commandments. God wants you to know the 10 Commandments. They show you what God wants you to do. That’s the law: God’s statement of what you are to do and not to do. It’s also good to know, as it says in the Epistle reading today that Christ is the end of the Law. That’s good to know. It should be a relief to know.

It’s good to know what’s the end, what’s the point we’re getting at. So as we have been going through the commandments and their meanings, we need to bring up the question, “what’s the end?”

Or perhaps, as we go through these you might be saying, “when will it end?” That’s how the law of God can strike a sinner, making you ask, “Aah! Where will it end?”

Take the 5^th Commandment for example, “You shall not murder.” Those of you who have never killed anyone, may have the quick thought of “No problem.” “I’m clean on that one. Tick, check the box. I’ve finished here.” But oh no, that’s not the end. Jesus says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” The fifth commandment does not merely condemn the outward act of murder, and end there. It gets at what’s in the heart: anger, resentment, contempt, jealousy, rivalry, impatience, all these vile thoughts and feelings that are basically saying, “I wish that so- and-so would just drop dead.” Likewise with all the other commandments, they don’t end with your outward acts and the outward appearance you can put on to make yourself look right. The commandments keep going until you are guilty of sin.

In this letter to the Romans, Paul reaches out to members of the church in Rome pointing out the difference between those who were pursuing righteousness on the basis of their works, versus those who have attained righteousness by faith. It was specifically the Jews who were relying on their works, their outward zeal for God to make themselves righteous. Because they were so good at following all sorts of rituals and gestures of outward righteousness, they assumed that they accomplished the law, even the end of the law. Verse 3 says, “For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”

Human nature tries to find its own righteousness. But God’s righteousness is Christ. He is the end of the law for all who believe. God gives you the end. It is the person, Jesus Christ. God doesn’t want anyone to die. So He gives Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life. He is the opposite of the murderer. He lays down his life so you can live. He died so you don’t have to die eternally. He takes your away your guilt for not following the law. He gives you his righteousness. When is this all going to end? When Jesus says to you, I forgive you all your sins.

Actually that’s the end God had in mind all along. That’s the intended end point. From our perspective we hear, “Christ is the end of the law”, and we say, “Finally! Our struggle is ended because Jesus died for us. Our sin is atoned for. Our regrets are washed away. Our guilt is removed. We can stand righteous before God.” From God’s perspective, that was the end all along. The end of the law, the goal, the intention of telling you things like, “Do not murder” is Christ, that you believe in Him and find your righteousness not in yourself but in him. That was the end God had in mind all along.

You can see this with the first murder that ever happened. Cain killed his brother Abel, because of jealousy and out of spite. And God came to Cain and said, ““Where is Abel your brother?” (Genesis 4) That was a hard law question; it brought out the guilt. And the Lord said, “What have you done?”

God’s law says, “Do not murder.” The point to all humanity is clear. Don’t go around killing each other. Respect life. Respect God. He is the One who gives life and controls life and death. You don’t. You don’t get to decide who gets to live and who should die. Don’t despise the life God gives to the other guy. And the other guy should hear that too – for your good and your safety. You want the other guy to hear God commanding him not to murder you. That’s the point of the 5^th Commandment.

But God’s end point for the 5^th Commandment and all the commandments is that a guy like Cain, or any sinner would see their sin, and be sorry for it. God’s end point is that no one can find their own righteousness, but instead, believe in the righteousness of Christ.

That’s the end, that’s the goal.

Look to the end. Keep your eye on the goal, which is Christ. Like running a race, focus on the finish. Don’t have your head down looking inward at yourself. That’s what those are doing who think they can have righteousness themselves, by their own work. If your looking inward, looking to your own self and your own power you will stumble. The Bible says, “Christ is a stumbling block, a rock of offense” (Romans 9:33). If you are not running to Him, you’ll stumble on him. What a shame that’ll be. But then the Bible says, “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

The only hope for the world and any sinner in it, is Christ. Those who do not have him as their end, stumble on him. He is in their way because they are running after something else. And eventually they stumble over him, and their end is destruction and shame. Even in his own temple Christ found those who were not focused on him and his righteousness. Jesus Christ visited the temple in old Jerusalem, and he found people chasing after other things. He warned them of the destruction that was coming. He said it was because “you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Friends, know the time of your visitation. God comes to you. He visits you and speaks to you. Each week, in church, every day in your heart, he says to you, “Follow my commandments. Repent of your sins. Believe in me. Believe in my Christ. Don’t have your own ends in mind. But know Christ. He is your end point. Your focus and your goal.” Amen.

Sermon for Trinity 8

 

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

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 His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

 

Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15). He warns his little flock, telling them to expect that there will be “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.

You know what that’s like. You’re hearing the voices of false prophets all the time, spewing forth ideas about religion, or ethics--what’s right and wrong, ideas about the philosophy of life; ideas that clearly go against the Word of God.

Some of these false prophets know exactly what they are doing: they are intentionally subverting the Lord and His good ways.

But many of the proponents of false ideas do so because they have been deceived, led astray. Unwittingly, carelessly, they pass on the ideas of false prophets who have gone before them which appeal to their sinful minds--deceived to think they are doing good, even as they live and work against the Lord and His Word.

Jesus indicates what it will be like on Judgement Day. Many will say to Jesus, when he comes to judge the living and the dead, “Lord, Lord, we have been prophesying in your name. We cast out demons in your name. We did great things for you.”

And Jesus responds to those poor misguided souls, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23).

That’s what they will hear. In this life they were happy to follow and spread ideas of religion and the philosophy of life that were against the Lord and His Word. The were happy to come up with ideas out of their own imagination. But come Judgement Day they will hear, “Depart from me.” And then there is only hell. Hell was created for the devil and any angels or archangels or men or women who depart from the Lord.

Hell is not a pleasant thing to talk about. It’s not a comfortable easy thing to think about. But we must. Remember what the Holy Spirit said in the Old Testament reading from Jeremiah about those who say to those who despise the Word of the Lord, “‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you’” (Jeremiah 23:17).

It is better to warn of hell, than to deny it or ignore it. There will be disaster for those who follow their own ideas of religion and the philosophy of life.

And they have no excuse, for God himself gives true religion and the true meaning of life in the preaching of His Word for you.

We are pleased to confess this each time we remember the Third Commandment. God has not left us to our own devices, our own imagination, our own hearts and minds to figure all things out. He gives us the preaching of his Word to hold sacred and gladly hear and learn.

Over the years, Lutherans have observed the ways people try to know God and His ways – how they’ve tried to build a relationship with God, even make deals with God. Already back in the 1500s, Martin Luther and his co-reformers pointed out how so many turned to human experts like popes, and priests and scholars who could mediate the way to know God and his ways. You can’t rely on human experts, even if they are powerful, captivating personalities, if they prophesy contrary to the Word of God. All humans have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Lutherans observed that many tried to find within themselves the ideas of religion and the way of life. Some rely on their own reason and intellect, supposing themselves to be smart enough to figure things out. Others rely on their own hearts, their emotions—what feels right, that becomes the deciding factor. But human reason and emotion are full of sin and incapable of grasping God. Imagination is a Fawlty guide. Emotions are shaky ground on which to base your life and faith.

So in 1530 our Lutheran forefathers confessed before the world and the Roman Catholic Emperor at that time, these words: “God cannot be dealt with, he cannot be apprehended, except through the Word.” (The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV, “Concerning Justification”.)

That’s why God wants you to know and keep the Third Commandment. “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” Never despise or neglect God’s Word and its preaching. But hold it sacred. Gladly hear it. Gladly learn it. And by it, as through means, apprehend God.

That commandment is for you, who gladly hear and learn the Word. That commandment is for me, that I diligently work to preach it to you and those not here. Pray for this please.

The Holy Spirit says in the Jeremiah passage for today, “Is not my word like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (23:29)

The word of God is power. Power is the ability to do work, to accomplish great things. The Powerful Word of God does things. So, Let it be so. Hear it. Believe it. Let it guide you, shape you, comfort you.

Jesus says a good tree is recognized by its fruit. Your Lord Jesus is recognized by his good fruit – His word. His word of Law that tells you what to do for your own good and tells you when you have done wrong, to admit it and do right. And his word of Gospel, which is His word from the cross, where in his dying breath He says to his Father in heaven, “Forgive them.” And to the believer with him there, he doesn’t say, “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness”. He says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Amen.