AN UNLIKELY BATTLE PLAN
- The Immortal becomes mortal
- Death defeats death
The Bible is filled with war. Especially in the Old Testament there were a lot of battles and a lot of killing and a lot of blood. God’s people seemed to be constantly fighting different enemies at any given time and, for the most part, the Lord made sure that the Israelites usually came out on top. But as a person reads about these different wars that are recorded for us in Old Testament history, it doesn’t take a military strategist to see that the Lord occasionally came up with some very unlikely battle plans for his people. Some of the fights were fairly straightforward and nothing out of the ordinary happened; but there were other times in which the Lord purposely asked his people to do something that was completely contrary to the normal tactics of war.
For example, when the Israelites were just fresh out of the land of Egypt and encamped on the shores of the Red Sea, Pharaoh and his entire army came after them. But instead of turning around to fight their former captors, the Lord had Moses stretch out his hands over the water, part the sea right down the middle, and guide the people of Israel through that body of water on dry land to the other side. And, of course, that unlikely battle plan worked! The Lord sent the water back down over the heads of the Egyptian army when they tried to cross the sea behind them and so the Israelites defeated this experienced group of warriors without losing a single person.
Years later, right after the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, the Lord laid out another unlikely plan to capture the city of Jericho. “March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in” (Joshua 6:3-5). It was a strange plan, it was a ridiculous plan, but it was what God told them to do. And so that’s what the people did: they marched around the city, they blew the trumpets, they shouted, and the walls of Jericho tumbled to the ground just like that Lord had planned.
A couple hundred years after that a man named Gideon was the leader of God’s people. And he found himself in a difficult situation: his 32,000 soldiers were up against 135,000 Midianites. But the Lord said to him, “You have too many men for me to give you the victory. Tell anyone who wants to go home that they can.” And so 22,000 soldiers took the Lord up on his offer and left, leaving Gideon with only 10,000 men. He was now outnumbered more than 13 to 1. But the Lord came to Gideon again and said, “Your army is still too large. Have them take a drink of water from the river, and keep only those who drink out of their hands instead of putting their faces in the water.” After that little exercise, only 300 men were left. But with those 300 men, torches in one hand, trumpets in the other, and weapons in neither, the Lord miraculously threw the Midianite army into confusing and they ended up killing each other. The Lord’s unlikely battle plan worked again, without Gideon losing even one of his 300 men.
Throughout the Bible the Lord gained the victory for his people is some highly unlikely ways. But no military engagement of Old Testament lore, no incredible rescue of God’s people, no improbable outcome from a seemingly impossible situation can even come close to comparing to the unlikely battle plan the Lord carried out to save us. The Lord’s unlikely battle plan to rescue us from death and the devil was a bizarre two-pronged attack: 1) The Immortal God would become a mortal human being and 2) Death would defeat death. That was it. That was the Master Plan. And it doesn’t make sense to the normal human mind! No colonel or general or man of war would agree with this tactic. But it’s the plan the Lord had chosen. It’s the plan he carried out. And it worked. The Lord’s unlikely battle plan was exactly what had to be done even though it seemed ridiculous to everyone else at the time and to most people still today. Listen to how the writer to the Hebrews describes this absurd plan for our salvation: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” The Immortal becomes mortal! Death defeats death! It seems so preposterous if we really think about it!
God is immortal. By his very nature he is unable to die. He has existed for all eternity. He does not have a beginning and he does not have an end. He is in control of all things. He cannot be affected in any adverse way by anything at any time. And so the devil could not touch him. The devil could not harm him. In fact, the devil was thrown out of heaven and into hell by the immortal God for rebelling against him. And Satan could do nothing about it. The devil had to take his punishment without so much as a word in complaint because he was powerless against the Lord and his will.
But then the Immortal decided to become mortal. And the devil must have been thrilled! God had become a man! The Lord had seemingly taken off every piece his armor and allowed Satan and all of his murdering cohorts to surround him! Jesus as a true human being placed himself on this earth in a position of vulnerability and permitted the devil to take as many pot shots at him as he wanted. The Lord opened himself up to be attacked. He stepped out of the confines of the castle and onto the front lines of the battle field - all alone. And there he stood - all alone - taking on the full fury of Satan’s hate and jealousy and rage. Because don’t think for a second that the devil ever let up while Jesus was on this earth. He finally had the Lord right where he wanted him: in a place where he could attack him and hurt him and punish him. Christ lived for 33 years on this earth and you can be sure that the devil was right there every step of the way pushing and pulling and poking and prodding and pounding and pounding and pounding as hard as he could… The Immortal and become mortal and the devil was going to take advantage of that opportunity as long as he was able to do so.
What an unlikely battle plan! What an incomprehensible plan of action to win back our souls! You would think that the great and glorious God of our lives would be able to come up with something a little less painful for himself. You would think he could have concocted a plan in which he avoided any discomfort on his own part. But there was no other way. God had to become a man. He had to take the punishment and the beatings. He had to suffer because the only way human beings could be saved was if one of their own suffered and died in their place. And that’s the second part of this unlikely battle plan: death.
Needless to say, death is usually not the objective of any rescue mission. Death might be unavoidable in some cases, but it is not part of the plan and it is certainly not desired. Because death is frightening. Death is not nice. Death is the ripping away of soul from body and the ending of everything we’ve ever known. But death not only has physical implications, it has spiritual implications on this earth as well: death is really the ultimate indication that a person is sinful.
People show their sinfulness in many ways, of course, and we are no different. From the moment we are born we display a brazen sinfulness that is obvious to anyone who sees us in action. And throughout our lives we continue to demonstrate our imperfections: selfishness, laziness, greed, guilt, perversion, pride… the list is endless. But over time we also get pretty good at covering them up, don’t we? We can excuse them or hide them or put up a nice looking façade so that others don’t notice how sinful we really are underneath. But death, death can’t be ignored. The final result of sin in this life can’t be excused or hidden or covered up. When someone dies it is painfully clear to everyone what has just happened. And death makes no exceptions. Death seizes even the most upright and respectable of Christians because death is the ultimate indication that a person is sinful. If a person would never sin, that person would never die. It’s not natural to die. It wasn’t originally the way it was supposed to happen. Life wasn’t supposed to end.
But death was the intention of the Lord the entire time. He planned to die. He even wanted to die in a sense because he knew that was the way he would defeat death. If he would die in our place, he could then rise from the dead and break the chains of the grave forever. It was another unlikely move in the Lord’s campaign against our enemies, but it worked. And it worked even though no one thought it would. His disciples didn’t think this plan would work! Remember how many times Peter and the other eleven disciples with him were confused at Jesus’ words or ignored Jesus’ predictions or even rebuked Jesus for the plans he shared with them? They were not convinced that Jesus’ death would turn out for the best. And the Lord’s enemies certainly didn’t think it would work either. They plotted Jesus’ death, they organized his death, they even pressured the Roman rulers to authorize his death. And when Jesus was dying on the cross they mocked him for it: “‘He saved others, they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him’” (Matthew 27:42)! And I’m sure Satan didn’t think God’s unlikely plan to die would work. In fact, the devil probably thought it was his own plan. After all, it was the devil who had convinced Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus; the devil had moved the hearts of the Jewish leaders to hate Jesus; the devil had prompted the Israelite people and the Roman soldiers to work together in order to carry out this crucifixion of the Lord. The devil was probably happy that Jesus was there, bleeding to death, suffering abandonment from his own Father, being mocked by those who had every reason to love him. No one thought that Jesus would be able to secure the victory for himself and his people through death.
But then Jesus died. And the devil was one of the first ones to find out that this unlikely battle plan of the Lord had somehow worked! The apostle Peter says in his first letter that after his death Jesus went back down to hell and preached his victory to those who were there - including the devil. The Lord’s death had actually defeated death! Anyone who believed in Jesus’ sacrifice would now never have to face an eternal punishment in hell at their own death. They would be saved! They would be rescued from this impending eternal torture because death had been turned into an entrance into heaven and the devil had been stripped of the most powerful weapon he once had at his disposal. Because of Jesus’ death our death no longer needs to be feared because although it is still the ultimate indication that we are sinners, it is now also the ultimate indication that we are saved.
The Lord’s unlikely battle plan to save our souls was perfectly executed. God became man in order to disable the angel who wanted to be God. And then God defeated the power of death with his own death and his miraculous resurrection. Nothing like this had ever been seen before and nothing like it will ever be seen again. Because it was not only an unlikely battle plan, it was completely unique and one of a kind. It will never be duplicated again - mainly because it doesn’t have to be. Although the enemy is still around, the battle has already been won. Although death still has to be faced, it will only bring us face to face with our Savior. The Lord’s unlikely battle plan has worked. He has gained the victory, which means you have gained the victory as well. And you can be sure that you will one day join in the victory celebration with the Mastermind behind the plan.
Amen.
“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.” - Revelation 19:6-7
Sunday, December 27, 2009
12/24/09 - Christmas Eve - Luke 1:35
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT IS ALL ABOUT GIVING
I was watching a cartoon with my kids the other day and one of the characters who is usually a little mean and inconsiderate to others decided to give something back instead of take something away. And when he showed that kind of generous attitude another character standing next to him said, “That’s the Christmas spirit!” “The Christmas spirit” - we’re all familiar with that phrase because it’s used so often during this time of the year. And as far as our culture is concerned, “the Christmas spirit” is all about giving, isn’t it? It is almost an unspoken rule that this is the season in which people are supposed to be more helpful and more patient and more forgiving and more generous than they usually are. Even those who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves Christians are swept up by this cultural mindset. Charities understand this concept very well. Most charitable organizations in this country, religious or secular, bank on the fact that they will take in more than half of their annual donations during the last three months of the year - because this is the time when people feel like giving the most. That’s why the Salvation Army places their bell ringers in front of every store during the Christmas season. That’s why you get letters from all those organizations asking for your contributions during the month of December. They are all hoping that you are affected with “the Christmas spirit” - they are hoping that you have been moved to give.
The Christmas Spirit is all about giving. But as we have already seen in our worship service tonight, we aren’t talking about a loving attitude or a generous mindset or a warm and fuzzy mood that this special time of year puts you in; when we refer to the “Christmas Spirit” we’re talking about the Spirit with a capital “S” - the Holy Spirit. This “Christmas Spirit” is all about giving because two thousands years ago in a non-descript barn on the edge of a little Judean town called Bethlehem the Holy Spirit gave us the gift of Christ. Now we normally don’t think of the Holy Spirit giving us anything at Christmas, but remember what the angel Gabriel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” The Holy Spirit was all about giving on that very first Christmas. He didn’t ask Mary to do anything; he simply gave her a son. And he doesn’t ask us to do anything either. He gives us the same gift he gave to Mary: he gives us our Savior. And it’s the best Christmas present we have ever received.
Of course, we never get anything different from the Holy Spirit each year. The gift doesn’t change. We know that the Holy Spirit will offer us the same thing as he did last year and he’s going to wrap up the same gift for years to come! And because the gift of Christ never changes, Jesus’ birth has the tendency to lose a little bit of its sparkle over time. It’s not quite as exciting after a while when you know it’s coming. It’s not quite as breath-taking as it once was. It’s… it’s just the same. It’s just another year. It’s just another Scripture lesson from the book of Luke about Caesar Augustus and the census and Mary & Joseph and the trip to Bethlehem and the angels and the shepherds... It’s what we’ve known our entire lives. It’s not all that special anymore.
“Oh, but I love Christmas!” you might be saying to yourself. “I would never treat it as something normal or boring! I always look forward to this time of year! Christmas is very special to me!” But what is it exactly that you look forward to during Christmas? I would imagine you enjoy this time of year because of the great music you are able to listen to or the chance to spend time with some family members or the special food that is prepared or the decorations or the shopping sales or the gift giving… And those things are certainly nice blessings that the Lord has supplied for us during this festive season. But if all of those things were taken away, if you happened to be in a place without the music and without the family and without the decorations and without the food, would a Christmas like that still be as special to you as it is now? You would still have the gift, of course, the greatest gift the Holy Spirit has ever given to this world, and you would still have the opportunity to thank and praise him for that gift, but you wouldn’t have any of the “extras”. And I would guess that a Christmas without the extras wouldn’t be as enjoyable to you. I know that it wouldn’t be as enjoyable for me. Because I like those extra things. Those things are what make Christmas “Christmas”! And that is what’s so unfortunate: we are so used to enjoying the other blessings of the Christmas season that Christ’s birth isn’t really enough anymore. Christ’s birth is still the reason for the holiday, of course - none of us would dispute that - but Christ’s birth isn’t always the reason why we like Christmas so much.
My grandmother on my mom’s side always sends us really nice Christmas cards each year. They are multi-page greeting cards that always contain ornate pictures or beautiful paintings of Christ’s birth. This year, like every year, one of the pages had a large section of the Christmas story from Luke chapter two on it. But I didn’t read it. I didn’t bother reading the story about the shepherds and the angels and the baby Jesus in the manger. Why should I? I know the story! I know what happens! I could probably recite it from memory! And so why should I spend time reading it again when I’ve got other mail to sort through and other business to take care of? Why should I read it again? And why should you? Because there is nothing better than this gift. There is nothing more important than this baby. There is nothing else that really matters - at Christmas time or at any other time of the year.
I just have to be reminded about that sometimes. I’m sure we all do. And the best way to be reminded about the importance of the gift of Christ is to be reminded by the Holy Spirit himself through the Word of God. Listen again to the angel Gabriel speaking some very important words to Mary many years ago, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” What an incredible miracle that was! A young woman who had yet to sleep with any man was impregnated by the Holy Spirit himself! The Holy Spirit somehow came upon her, the angel Gabriel explained. The Almighty Lord miraculously overshadowed her with his power like a cloud coming down over a mountain so that her baby would actually be the holy Son of God the Father! What an astounding, incomprehensible gift that is! And yes, you know it all about it, you’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again. But it’s still amazing, isn’t it? It’s still mind-blowing that the same God who formed you in the womb of your mother would himself be formed in the womb of a woman. That a God whom this vast universe cannot contain was contained in certain respects in the flesh and bones of a human baby. Don’t let the impressiveness of this event wear off just because you’ve heard it before! And don’t underestimate how important this gift from the Holy Spirit really is! Because the gift of Christ that the Holy Spirit gave us on that Christmas day in Bethlehem was a gift that we could never afford on our own.
You will probably receive any number of different Christmas presents this year. Some of them will be small gifts and some of them will be a little bigger. But no matter how expensive a present is, you would probably be able to afford it yourself if you really wanted to. Rarely, after you get beyond your childhood years, do you ever receive a gift that you could not afford on your own - a gift so valuable that it is well beyond your means of income, a gift you would not be able to obtain if you had not received it as a present. Those kinds of gifts come around once-in-a-lifetime, if ever.
But this is exactly the kind of gift the Holy Spirit has given you in the birth of Christ. It is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of gift because you wouldn’t be able to afford it on your own. You wouldn’t have the ability to buy it with your own money. You wouldn’t be able to work it off, save up for it, or acquire it in any other way. This gift is well beyond your means of income and it is certainly well beyond mine because the gift of Christ’s birth is our salvation. And you well know that our salvation is something that we cannot contribute to in any way.
Now, we weren’t technically saved from our sins by Christ’s birth, of course, but our salvation was as good as done on that very first Christmas. Because the only reason Christ was born into this world was so that he could one day die for this world. And once he was born there was nothing that was going to stop him from carrying out his Father’s will. No enemy, no king, no devil, no temptation, not even death itself was going to keep Jesus from what he set out to do. He was going to die and his death was going to win forgiveness for every human being who would ever live on this earth. That was the plan. That had always been the plan before God created this world and so that was what was going to happen. There was no doubt about it. And so when the Holy Spirit graciously gave us the gift of Christ on that night in Judea, our salvation was secure.
It’s a good thing that the Christmas Spirit was all about giving. He loves to give. And it wasn’t just a one time deal, he keeps on giving. Even if no one cares about his gifts. Even if we don’t appreciate his gifts as much as we should. He just keeps on giving. He gave us the gift of Christ generations ago and worlds away. He gave us the gift of faith to believe in that Savior. And he keeps giving us opportunities now to see this Christ and to hear this Christ and to rely on this Christ every day. The Christmas Spirit is all about giving. And he will never stop. Make sure to thank him tonight for deciding to give these gifts to you. And this year, open up that present with a little excitement and enthusiasm. Because although you know what the gift is going to be, you’ll never receive anything better.
Amen.
I was watching a cartoon with my kids the other day and one of the characters who is usually a little mean and inconsiderate to others decided to give something back instead of take something away. And when he showed that kind of generous attitude another character standing next to him said, “That’s the Christmas spirit!” “The Christmas spirit” - we’re all familiar with that phrase because it’s used so often during this time of the year. And as far as our culture is concerned, “the Christmas spirit” is all about giving, isn’t it? It is almost an unspoken rule that this is the season in which people are supposed to be more helpful and more patient and more forgiving and more generous than they usually are. Even those who wouldn’t necessarily call themselves Christians are swept up by this cultural mindset. Charities understand this concept very well. Most charitable organizations in this country, religious or secular, bank on the fact that they will take in more than half of their annual donations during the last three months of the year - because this is the time when people feel like giving the most. That’s why the Salvation Army places their bell ringers in front of every store during the Christmas season. That’s why you get letters from all those organizations asking for your contributions during the month of December. They are all hoping that you are affected with “the Christmas spirit” - they are hoping that you have been moved to give.
The Christmas Spirit is all about giving. But as we have already seen in our worship service tonight, we aren’t talking about a loving attitude or a generous mindset or a warm and fuzzy mood that this special time of year puts you in; when we refer to the “Christmas Spirit” we’re talking about the Spirit with a capital “S” - the Holy Spirit. This “Christmas Spirit” is all about giving because two thousands years ago in a non-descript barn on the edge of a little Judean town called Bethlehem the Holy Spirit gave us the gift of Christ. Now we normally don’t think of the Holy Spirit giving us anything at Christmas, but remember what the angel Gabriel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” The Holy Spirit was all about giving on that very first Christmas. He didn’t ask Mary to do anything; he simply gave her a son. And he doesn’t ask us to do anything either. He gives us the same gift he gave to Mary: he gives us our Savior. And it’s the best Christmas present we have ever received.
Of course, we never get anything different from the Holy Spirit each year. The gift doesn’t change. We know that the Holy Spirit will offer us the same thing as he did last year and he’s going to wrap up the same gift for years to come! And because the gift of Christ never changes, Jesus’ birth has the tendency to lose a little bit of its sparkle over time. It’s not quite as exciting after a while when you know it’s coming. It’s not quite as breath-taking as it once was. It’s… it’s just the same. It’s just another year. It’s just another Scripture lesson from the book of Luke about Caesar Augustus and the census and Mary & Joseph and the trip to Bethlehem and the angels and the shepherds... It’s what we’ve known our entire lives. It’s not all that special anymore.
“Oh, but I love Christmas!” you might be saying to yourself. “I would never treat it as something normal or boring! I always look forward to this time of year! Christmas is very special to me!” But what is it exactly that you look forward to during Christmas? I would imagine you enjoy this time of year because of the great music you are able to listen to or the chance to spend time with some family members or the special food that is prepared or the decorations or the shopping sales or the gift giving… And those things are certainly nice blessings that the Lord has supplied for us during this festive season. But if all of those things were taken away, if you happened to be in a place without the music and without the family and without the decorations and without the food, would a Christmas like that still be as special to you as it is now? You would still have the gift, of course, the greatest gift the Holy Spirit has ever given to this world, and you would still have the opportunity to thank and praise him for that gift, but you wouldn’t have any of the “extras”. And I would guess that a Christmas without the extras wouldn’t be as enjoyable to you. I know that it wouldn’t be as enjoyable for me. Because I like those extra things. Those things are what make Christmas “Christmas”! And that is what’s so unfortunate: we are so used to enjoying the other blessings of the Christmas season that Christ’s birth isn’t really enough anymore. Christ’s birth is still the reason for the holiday, of course - none of us would dispute that - but Christ’s birth isn’t always the reason why we like Christmas so much.
My grandmother on my mom’s side always sends us really nice Christmas cards each year. They are multi-page greeting cards that always contain ornate pictures or beautiful paintings of Christ’s birth. This year, like every year, one of the pages had a large section of the Christmas story from Luke chapter two on it. But I didn’t read it. I didn’t bother reading the story about the shepherds and the angels and the baby Jesus in the manger. Why should I? I know the story! I know what happens! I could probably recite it from memory! And so why should I spend time reading it again when I’ve got other mail to sort through and other business to take care of? Why should I read it again? And why should you? Because there is nothing better than this gift. There is nothing more important than this baby. There is nothing else that really matters - at Christmas time or at any other time of the year.
I just have to be reminded about that sometimes. I’m sure we all do. And the best way to be reminded about the importance of the gift of Christ is to be reminded by the Holy Spirit himself through the Word of God. Listen again to the angel Gabriel speaking some very important words to Mary many years ago, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” What an incredible miracle that was! A young woman who had yet to sleep with any man was impregnated by the Holy Spirit himself! The Holy Spirit somehow came upon her, the angel Gabriel explained. The Almighty Lord miraculously overshadowed her with his power like a cloud coming down over a mountain so that her baby would actually be the holy Son of God the Father! What an astounding, incomprehensible gift that is! And yes, you know it all about it, you’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again. But it’s still amazing, isn’t it? It’s still mind-blowing that the same God who formed you in the womb of your mother would himself be formed in the womb of a woman. That a God whom this vast universe cannot contain was contained in certain respects in the flesh and bones of a human baby. Don’t let the impressiveness of this event wear off just because you’ve heard it before! And don’t underestimate how important this gift from the Holy Spirit really is! Because the gift of Christ that the Holy Spirit gave us on that Christmas day in Bethlehem was a gift that we could never afford on our own.
You will probably receive any number of different Christmas presents this year. Some of them will be small gifts and some of them will be a little bigger. But no matter how expensive a present is, you would probably be able to afford it yourself if you really wanted to. Rarely, after you get beyond your childhood years, do you ever receive a gift that you could not afford on your own - a gift so valuable that it is well beyond your means of income, a gift you would not be able to obtain if you had not received it as a present. Those kinds of gifts come around once-in-a-lifetime, if ever.
But this is exactly the kind of gift the Holy Spirit has given you in the birth of Christ. It is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of gift because you wouldn’t be able to afford it on your own. You wouldn’t have the ability to buy it with your own money. You wouldn’t be able to work it off, save up for it, or acquire it in any other way. This gift is well beyond your means of income and it is certainly well beyond mine because the gift of Christ’s birth is our salvation. And you well know that our salvation is something that we cannot contribute to in any way.
Now, we weren’t technically saved from our sins by Christ’s birth, of course, but our salvation was as good as done on that very first Christmas. Because the only reason Christ was born into this world was so that he could one day die for this world. And once he was born there was nothing that was going to stop him from carrying out his Father’s will. No enemy, no king, no devil, no temptation, not even death itself was going to keep Jesus from what he set out to do. He was going to die and his death was going to win forgiveness for every human being who would ever live on this earth. That was the plan. That had always been the plan before God created this world and so that was what was going to happen. There was no doubt about it. And so when the Holy Spirit graciously gave us the gift of Christ on that night in Judea, our salvation was secure.
It’s a good thing that the Christmas Spirit was all about giving. He loves to give. And it wasn’t just a one time deal, he keeps on giving. Even if no one cares about his gifts. Even if we don’t appreciate his gifts as much as we should. He just keeps on giving. He gave us the gift of Christ generations ago and worlds away. He gave us the gift of faith to believe in that Savior. And he keeps giving us opportunities now to see this Christ and to hear this Christ and to rely on this Christ every day. The Christmas Spirit is all about giving. And he will never stop. Make sure to thank him tonight for deciding to give these gifts to you. And this year, open up that present with a little excitement and enthusiasm. Because although you know what the gift is going to be, you’ll never receive anything better.
Amen.
Monday, December 21, 2009
12/20/09 - Children's Christmas Service - Mary's Little Lamb
"Mary had a Little Lamb, his fleece was white as snow, and everywhere that Mary went the Lamb was sure to go."
Hebrews 4:14-15
"14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin."
Mary’s Lamb went where we were. He was in heaven and we were on earth - and so he came down. He was surrounded by perfection and glory while we were surrounded by the effects of sin - and so he joined us. But the Lamb of God did not just come down to be among us or to simply be with us; the Lamb of God came down to actually be one of us. And he was one of us in every way. The immortal God became a mortal man. And Jesus did not place a protective barrier around himself so that he couldn’t be touched by the pains and evils of this world. Nor did he separate himself from the “normal” human beings in this life so that he would not have to experience any of the temptations. No, we do not have a Savior “who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.” When Jesus came to this earth he didn’t just cautiously wade out into the pool; he jumped into the deep end. He didn’t just dabble in humanity, he didn’t just taste it; he immersed himself in it. Anything that we suffer, he suffered. Any pain that we feel, he felt. Any temptation we fight, he fought. Jesus was just as human as you are and as I am. Even though he was still true God the entire time, he did not exempt himself from any misfortune that a human being would naturally experience living among sinful people in a sinful world. Everywhere that human beings went the Lamb was sure to go.
And that should be extremely comforting for you to know. Your God who watches over you and cares for you and looks out for you on his throne in heaven is the same God who knows exactly what you’re going through on this earth. He knows what it’s like because he’s been here personally! And he knows what it’s going to take to get you through any situation because he has already made it through every situation himself. Everywhere that you have gone the Lamb has already been.
And so when you pray to him about a problem that you are forced to deal with, he understands. He doesn’t just empathize with your situation; he truly understands exactly what you are facing and he is able to help you. When you go to him because the pain you are experiencing is too much to bear, he understands. He doesn’t just feel sorry for you; he truly understands how much it hurts and he is able to help you. When you cry out to him because life is hard, he understands. He doesn’t just nod his head sympathetically and pat you on the back; he truly understands how difficult this life can be and he is able and he is willing and he is always available to help you. You can go to the Lord at any time with any problem with complete confidence that he is the foremost expert on the subject and he has an answer for you before you ever ask the question.
Mary’s Little Lamb went where we were because that’s where we needed him to be. He went where Satan attacked him every single day. He went where his enemies plotted his death as soon as they knew he existed. He went where everything was sinful in every way all the time. But the Lamb himself remained pure. He remained holy. He remained perfect. Not just so that he could prove he could do it, but because he wanted to give that perfection to you. And through faith in Jesus as your Savior the Lamb’s perfection is all yours. As far as God the Father is concerned, you are sinless because the Lamb of God is sinless. You have been given credit for what the Lamb did! There is no easier way to heaven than that! There is no other way to heaven than through the work of the Lamb of God on this earth in your behalf.
1 Peter 1:18-20
"18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."
Mary’s Lamb went where we deserved to go. It wasn’t enough for the Lamb of God to come down to this earth and take the form of a human being and undergo all of the temptations that human beings have to experience. The Lamb’s perfection wasn’t even enough because there was still a punishment that was hanging over our heads. And it wasn’t about to go away.
Long ago we were guilty. Long ago the sin we were conceived with and the sins we personally committed condemned us. We were saturated with sin from the very beginning. We were dripping with it. And it’s only gotten worse over the years because the stain of sin doesn’t just go away on its own. The stain gets deeper and more imbedded the longer we live. We have managed to compile an impressive assortment of sin upon sin upon sin in our lives, haven’t we? But the problem is that God himself has promised that just one of those sins deserves eternal punishment in hell itself.
That’s why the Lamb went where we deserved to go. Someone had to do it! Someone had to take the punishment that God promised for sin. Because it’s not as if God could change his mind. God couldn’t simply say, “Oh, I guess I was just kidding about this whole punishment for sin deal.” And he couldn’t decide to make an exception in our case either. Because the Lord cannot break his promises. The Lord is perfect; he is incapable of going back on any promise he has ever made. And so he was bound to the promise of punishment for sin just like he is bound to every other promise that he makes to us. Sin had to be punished; there was no way around it.
And so the Lamb stepped in to take our place. He took the bullet for us, so to speak. He said to his Father, “I know they deserve it. I know they have rightfully earned eternal punishment in hell for all they have done and for who they are. But I want to take the penalty. Punish me. Treat me as if I were the sinner. Turn your back on me. Show your wrath to me. Abandon me. Carry out the punishment as you have promised, but let me suffer so that they don’t have to. I will take it all. I will swallow every last drop of your righteous anger so that there is none left to give to them. I am willing to be their sacrifice. I am willing to spill my own blood.” And that’s exactly what the Lamb did. He spilled his blood for you. And so now you are saved “through the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect.”
Way back in the early beginnings of the Israelite nation, you might remember that they were enslaved in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh refused to let God’s people leave, the Lord sent 10 plagues to convince him otherwise. The tenth and final plague was the death of the first born son of every family in the entire country. The one exception was that if any family slaughtered a young male lamb without blemish or defect and spread its blood over the doorframe of their house, the angel sent to kill all of the first born sons would pass over that home and their child would be spared. This event became known as The Passover and the Israelites were to celebrate it every year. Scripture clearly calls Christ our Passover Lamb because the precious blood of our unblemished Lamb has saved us. He has taken the punishment in our place. Eternal death has passed us by. The Lamb went where we deserved to go so that we never have to.
Revelation 7:9-17
9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" 13Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"
14I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Mary’s Lamb went where we will always be. He had come down to this earth and lived a life as a human being because that’s where we were. He had gone down to hell too, suffering an eternity of pain while he still hung on the cross because that’s where we deserved to be. But then Mary’s Lamb went where she and we will one day go. He went back to heaven. And now he sits on his throne. He rules all people. He continues to welcome a new group of believers into his mansion every day. And there the Lamb is waiting for the rest of us. And when we arrive we will be wearing the white robes of the saints that are washed in the blood of the Lamb and we will be joining in this song of praise with those already there: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And we will sing this verse of this song because the Lamb at the center of the throne will be our Shepherd. He will lead us to springs of living water. And every tear will forever be wiped away from our eyes.
This isn’t something we normally think about during the Christmas season. Heaven doesn’t always cross our minds when we look into a manger scene and see a little baby Jesus lying on a pile of straw. But Mary’s Lamb who is lying in that stable is the same Lamb of God who is sitting on the throne. And so do not mistake this Lamb in Bethlehem as being completely vulnerable. He is the same Lamb to whom the angels in heaven sing: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever.” And do not simply look at this little Lamb surrounded by shepherds and their sheep only as a child of peace. He certainly gives us peace through salvation, but this is also the same Lamb of God who came to do battle against our enemies and to wash his sheep clean with his blood on the cross. This Lamb is more than a sweet little child. He is your mighty God. He is your Savior. And one day you will join him in the place that he has died to win and that he is preparing for you right now as we speak.
Mary had a Little Lamb, his fleece was white as snow. And now the place where this Lamb went, his sheep are sure to go.
Hebrews 4:14-15
"14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin."
Mary’s Lamb went where we were. He was in heaven and we were on earth - and so he came down. He was surrounded by perfection and glory while we were surrounded by the effects of sin - and so he joined us. But the Lamb of God did not just come down to be among us or to simply be with us; the Lamb of God came down to actually be one of us. And he was one of us in every way. The immortal God became a mortal man. And Jesus did not place a protective barrier around himself so that he couldn’t be touched by the pains and evils of this world. Nor did he separate himself from the “normal” human beings in this life so that he would not have to experience any of the temptations. No, we do not have a Savior “who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.” When Jesus came to this earth he didn’t just cautiously wade out into the pool; he jumped into the deep end. He didn’t just dabble in humanity, he didn’t just taste it; he immersed himself in it. Anything that we suffer, he suffered. Any pain that we feel, he felt. Any temptation we fight, he fought. Jesus was just as human as you are and as I am. Even though he was still true God the entire time, he did not exempt himself from any misfortune that a human being would naturally experience living among sinful people in a sinful world. Everywhere that human beings went the Lamb was sure to go.
And that should be extremely comforting for you to know. Your God who watches over you and cares for you and looks out for you on his throne in heaven is the same God who knows exactly what you’re going through on this earth. He knows what it’s like because he’s been here personally! And he knows what it’s going to take to get you through any situation because he has already made it through every situation himself. Everywhere that you have gone the Lamb has already been.
And so when you pray to him about a problem that you are forced to deal with, he understands. He doesn’t just empathize with your situation; he truly understands exactly what you are facing and he is able to help you. When you go to him because the pain you are experiencing is too much to bear, he understands. He doesn’t just feel sorry for you; he truly understands how much it hurts and he is able to help you. When you cry out to him because life is hard, he understands. He doesn’t just nod his head sympathetically and pat you on the back; he truly understands how difficult this life can be and he is able and he is willing and he is always available to help you. You can go to the Lord at any time with any problem with complete confidence that he is the foremost expert on the subject and he has an answer for you before you ever ask the question.
Mary’s Little Lamb went where we were because that’s where we needed him to be. He went where Satan attacked him every single day. He went where his enemies plotted his death as soon as they knew he existed. He went where everything was sinful in every way all the time. But the Lamb himself remained pure. He remained holy. He remained perfect. Not just so that he could prove he could do it, but because he wanted to give that perfection to you. And through faith in Jesus as your Savior the Lamb’s perfection is all yours. As far as God the Father is concerned, you are sinless because the Lamb of God is sinless. You have been given credit for what the Lamb did! There is no easier way to heaven than that! There is no other way to heaven than through the work of the Lamb of God on this earth in your behalf.
1 Peter 1:18-20
"18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."
Mary’s Lamb went where we deserved to go. It wasn’t enough for the Lamb of God to come down to this earth and take the form of a human being and undergo all of the temptations that human beings have to experience. The Lamb’s perfection wasn’t even enough because there was still a punishment that was hanging over our heads. And it wasn’t about to go away.
Long ago we were guilty. Long ago the sin we were conceived with and the sins we personally committed condemned us. We were saturated with sin from the very beginning. We were dripping with it. And it’s only gotten worse over the years because the stain of sin doesn’t just go away on its own. The stain gets deeper and more imbedded the longer we live. We have managed to compile an impressive assortment of sin upon sin upon sin in our lives, haven’t we? But the problem is that God himself has promised that just one of those sins deserves eternal punishment in hell itself.
That’s why the Lamb went where we deserved to go. Someone had to do it! Someone had to take the punishment that God promised for sin. Because it’s not as if God could change his mind. God couldn’t simply say, “Oh, I guess I was just kidding about this whole punishment for sin deal.” And he couldn’t decide to make an exception in our case either. Because the Lord cannot break his promises. The Lord is perfect; he is incapable of going back on any promise he has ever made. And so he was bound to the promise of punishment for sin just like he is bound to every other promise that he makes to us. Sin had to be punished; there was no way around it.
And so the Lamb stepped in to take our place. He took the bullet for us, so to speak. He said to his Father, “I know they deserve it. I know they have rightfully earned eternal punishment in hell for all they have done and for who they are. But I want to take the penalty. Punish me. Treat me as if I were the sinner. Turn your back on me. Show your wrath to me. Abandon me. Carry out the punishment as you have promised, but let me suffer so that they don’t have to. I will take it all. I will swallow every last drop of your righteous anger so that there is none left to give to them. I am willing to be their sacrifice. I am willing to spill my own blood.” And that’s exactly what the Lamb did. He spilled his blood for you. And so now you are saved “through the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect.”
Way back in the early beginnings of the Israelite nation, you might remember that they were enslaved in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh refused to let God’s people leave, the Lord sent 10 plagues to convince him otherwise. The tenth and final plague was the death of the first born son of every family in the entire country. The one exception was that if any family slaughtered a young male lamb without blemish or defect and spread its blood over the doorframe of their house, the angel sent to kill all of the first born sons would pass over that home and their child would be spared. This event became known as The Passover and the Israelites were to celebrate it every year. Scripture clearly calls Christ our Passover Lamb because the precious blood of our unblemished Lamb has saved us. He has taken the punishment in our place. Eternal death has passed us by. The Lamb went where we deserved to go so that we never have to.
Revelation 7:9-17
9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" 13Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"
14I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Mary’s Lamb went where we will always be. He had come down to this earth and lived a life as a human being because that’s where we were. He had gone down to hell too, suffering an eternity of pain while he still hung on the cross because that’s where we deserved to be. But then Mary’s Lamb went where she and we will one day go. He went back to heaven. And now he sits on his throne. He rules all people. He continues to welcome a new group of believers into his mansion every day. And there the Lamb is waiting for the rest of us. And when we arrive we will be wearing the white robes of the saints that are washed in the blood of the Lamb and we will be joining in this song of praise with those already there: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And we will sing this verse of this song because the Lamb at the center of the throne will be our Shepherd. He will lead us to springs of living water. And every tear will forever be wiped away from our eyes.
This isn’t something we normally think about during the Christmas season. Heaven doesn’t always cross our minds when we look into a manger scene and see a little baby Jesus lying on a pile of straw. But Mary’s Lamb who is lying in that stable is the same Lamb of God who is sitting on the throne. And so do not mistake this Lamb in Bethlehem as being completely vulnerable. He is the same Lamb to whom the angels in heaven sing: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever.” And do not simply look at this little Lamb surrounded by shepherds and their sheep only as a child of peace. He certainly gives us peace through salvation, but this is also the same Lamb of God who came to do battle against our enemies and to wash his sheep clean with his blood on the cross. This Lamb is more than a sweet little child. He is your mighty God. He is your Savior. And one day you will join him in the place that he has died to win and that he is preparing for you right now as we speak.
Mary had a Little Lamb, his fleece was white as snow. And now the place where this Lamb went, his sheep are sure to go.
Monday, December 14, 2009
12/13/09 - Advent 3 - Zephaniah 3:14-17
IT'S GOING TO BE OK
- You will have to suffer in this life
- You will be quieted with Christ's love
Josiah was the last good king of the people of Israel. There were four kings that came after him in the land of Judah, but they were life-time unbelievers and refused to listen to God’s Word, dragging the Israelite people down with them. Josiah was the last God-fearing ruler the nation had. In fact, just five years after Josiah passed away, God send the Babylonian army to take some of the Israelites into exile for the first time. The reign of Josiah was really the final spiritual bright spot before everything went down hill. The book of the Law that had been lost for generations was discovered in the temple during the reign of Josiah. The Israelites repented of their sins and trusted in God’s promises once again during the reign of Josiah. And during this time of spiritual renewal is when the prophet Zephaniah served the people as well.
You may not know a whole lot about Zephaniah other than there’s a short book of the Bible with that name, but it’s no matter. The important thing to remember about Zephaniah is this: he was God’s prophet during the time of King Josiah, and during those days Zephaniah spoke to the people about two things that they could expect in the future: their punishment of exile as well as their salvation in the Lord. We have in front of us today a section near the end of his book. And here, after he speaks to them about the punishment they would receive, he concludes God’s word to the people like this: “16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, ‘Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The LORD your God is with you, he is a mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.’" “It’s going to be OK,” is really what Zephaniah is saying here. Yes, they would face some terrible things in the near future: pain and death and exile - and they were going to deserve it! But the Lord is a mighty warrior who saves and he would quiet them with his love. It was going to be OK. These were words that the prophet Zephaniah wanted the people to take with them in the days ahead. And these are words that he wants us to remember in the days that are to come in our lives. Because just like the Israelites were about to face some difficulties in the coming years: there will be some tough times for us in the near future too.
Because if there’s anything you can be sure of in this life, it’s that you will suffer pain and you will have to deal with some difficult problems and you will have to stare death in the face: your own death and the death of others around you. You know from experience that this life is not always all that fun. This life is not especially pleasant at times. This life is not smooth sailing on a calm lake; it’s a rough and tumultuous fight for survival in a deep and stormy sea. You will be confronted with tragedies and atrocities in this life. And you know what? You’ll deserve every bit of it! Any misfortune that you have to suffer in this world will be well-deserved! You will have no right to complain about it or to cry out, “Why me?” You won’t be allowed to say, “It’s not fair!” Because you will be far more guilty than anything you will ever have to suffer. The unpleasantries that you will suffer in the years ahead will not even come close to what your sins deserve.
Now let me be clear: I am not saying that every bad thing you have to go through in this life is a direct result of a specific sin you have committed. That is not the case at all. Sometimes bad things happen to Christians simply because we live in a sinful world. But this is also true: We have broken every one of God’s commandments a thousand times over. We have ignored his words, we have doubted his promises, we have loved ourselves more than we have loved God on far too many occasions. We don’t deserve a breath of fresh air. We don’t deserve to have the sun to shine on our faces. We don’t deserve to have the Lord waste a thought on us, let alone guide us and guard us and protect us and lead us every day of our entire lives. And so when we actually do undergo serious pain or unbearable calamities in this life that bring us to our knees, know that these things are nothing compared to what we have earned for ourselves. We deserve those every one of those terrible things and much more - whether they are a direct result of our own personal sins or not!
Zephaniah told the Israelites that they were going to deserve future punishment as well. In fact, Zephaniah spends the entire first chapter of his book explaining this judgment on the people of Judah. He then uses the entire second chapter describing the punishment that the Lord would bring on every other nation when he comes in all his glory. But the third chapter is different. In the third chapter, in the final chapter of his book, Zephaniah’s words are full of hope and joy and salvation. He tells his hearers that although they were going to experience some difficult times in the years ahead, everything was going to be OK. The Lord as their Mighty Warrior would deliver them, and he would quiet them with his love.
It would take 70 years for that to happen, however. These Israelites were in Babylon, the land of their exile, for 70 years. And during that time I’m sure there was a lot of complaining and a lot of groaning and a lot of grumbling and a lot of questioning and a lot of frustration. But the Lord finally did quiet them with his love. As their Mighty Warrior he brought them back to the Promised Land, he moved the heart of the king of Persia to supply them with money from the royal treasury, and he allowed his people to rebuild and restore the city of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord. Their worries and complaining and grumbling and fears were quieted with his love.
Of course, that was not the end of their troubles. Many things happened to the Jewish nation over the following centuries that caused them to question the Lord’s power and to cry out in despair again. And so the Lord quieted them with his love again. Not by bringing them back to the land of Israel this time, but by personally coming to the land of Israel himself. He quieted them with his love not by allowing them to again rebuild the temple of God, but by allowing them to actually see God in human flesh with their own eyes. The worries of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the labor screams of Mary in a Bethlehem barn. The doubts of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the heaven-shaking angelic songs of praise to the shepherds in those fields nearby that little town. The fears of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the shouts of joy from those same shepherds as they told everyone they saw about that incredible miracle of salvation. The pain of God’s people was over that night. The punishment that was set for sinners was canceled. And every contradictory word that had ever been spoken about Christ’s power and his promises was quieted that evening because the Mighty Warrior had come, he had came as a baby, and he had come with the full extent of his love.
We will celebrate the coming of that Mighty Warrior in just a week and a half. We will sing those familiar Christmas songs. We will hear those familiar Christmas stories. And we will be reminded once again just as those believers were back then, that everything is going to be OK. Christ has come for us in love; and in love he will come again. And so in the coming days and weeks if you ever find yourself complaining about anything, just be quiet for a second and take a look at the Lord’s love for you that he demonstrated in the manger of Bethlehem. Is there really anything to complain about? In the coming months if you ever find yourself worrying about something, just be quiet for a second and take a look at the Lord’s love for you while he lived on this earth: suffering every temptation and pain imaginable on your behalf. Is there really anything to worry about? In the coming years if you ever find yourself afraid of what the future will bring for you and your family, just be quiet for a second, settle down, and take a good long hard look at the Lord’s love for you on the cross and out of the tomb and into heaven and on his throne. Is there really anything to be afraid of? The Lord will quiet your complaining and worries and fears, and he will quiet them with his love. He will calm you. He will comfort you. And he will remind you in his Word that anything you have to go through in this life he has already gone through for you himself - and so it’s is going to be OK.
In the coming days and months and years you will have to struggle with many things. And when you find yourself struggling with a severe pain, remember: so has Christ. He struggled with pain far beyond anything we could imagine. And in his love he promises that your pain will soon be over when you reach your home in heaven. When you find yourself struggling with a specific sin, remember: so has Christ. He has been tempted with that same sin too. He has even suffered the punishment for that sin. And in his love he promises that all of your sins are forgiven long before you ever commit them. When you find yourself struggling with a death of someone close to your heart, remember: so has Christ. He lost those he cared for and, in fact, he has suffered death himself. He knows what it’s like. He knows how awful death is. But in his love he also rose from the dead and he promises that everyone who believes in him will rise from the dead as well. When those times come in your life in which you find yourself struggling with your health or with your mind or with your job or with your family or with your faith, know this: it’s going to be OK. In fact, it’s going to be great! The Lord will use whatever unpleasant thing that is happening to you at the moment to strengthen your faith and secure your salvation. He will come through for you when you need him the most. “He will take great delight in you,” Zephaniah says. “He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” He is your Father after all and you are his children. He will never let anything happen to you that isn’t for your good.
And so it’s going to be OK. I don’t know how. I don’t know when. I don’t know where. But I do know why. It’s going to be OK because the Lord will quiet you with his love. He will rescue you with hands that once had nails driven through them. He will hold you by his side that was once pierced with a spear. He will let you rest your head on his shoulders that had at one time carried your sins to the cross. The Lord will make sure that you are taken care of. He will soothe your worries with his Word. He will give you peace through his promises. He will quiet you with his love. It’s going to be OK. It’s going to be OK.
Amen.
“The peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:7
- You will have to suffer in this life
- You will be quieted with Christ's love
Josiah was the last good king of the people of Israel. There were four kings that came after him in the land of Judah, but they were life-time unbelievers and refused to listen to God’s Word, dragging the Israelite people down with them. Josiah was the last God-fearing ruler the nation had. In fact, just five years after Josiah passed away, God send the Babylonian army to take some of the Israelites into exile for the first time. The reign of Josiah was really the final spiritual bright spot before everything went down hill. The book of the Law that had been lost for generations was discovered in the temple during the reign of Josiah. The Israelites repented of their sins and trusted in God’s promises once again during the reign of Josiah. And during this time of spiritual renewal is when the prophet Zephaniah served the people as well.
You may not know a whole lot about Zephaniah other than there’s a short book of the Bible with that name, but it’s no matter. The important thing to remember about Zephaniah is this: he was God’s prophet during the time of King Josiah, and during those days Zephaniah spoke to the people about two things that they could expect in the future: their punishment of exile as well as their salvation in the Lord. We have in front of us today a section near the end of his book. And here, after he speaks to them about the punishment they would receive, he concludes God’s word to the people like this: “16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, ‘Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The LORD your God is with you, he is a mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.’" “It’s going to be OK,” is really what Zephaniah is saying here. Yes, they would face some terrible things in the near future: pain and death and exile - and they were going to deserve it! But the Lord is a mighty warrior who saves and he would quiet them with his love. It was going to be OK. These were words that the prophet Zephaniah wanted the people to take with them in the days ahead. And these are words that he wants us to remember in the days that are to come in our lives. Because just like the Israelites were about to face some difficulties in the coming years: there will be some tough times for us in the near future too.
Because if there’s anything you can be sure of in this life, it’s that you will suffer pain and you will have to deal with some difficult problems and you will have to stare death in the face: your own death and the death of others around you. You know from experience that this life is not always all that fun. This life is not especially pleasant at times. This life is not smooth sailing on a calm lake; it’s a rough and tumultuous fight for survival in a deep and stormy sea. You will be confronted with tragedies and atrocities in this life. And you know what? You’ll deserve every bit of it! Any misfortune that you have to suffer in this world will be well-deserved! You will have no right to complain about it or to cry out, “Why me?” You won’t be allowed to say, “It’s not fair!” Because you will be far more guilty than anything you will ever have to suffer. The unpleasantries that you will suffer in the years ahead will not even come close to what your sins deserve.
Now let me be clear: I am not saying that every bad thing you have to go through in this life is a direct result of a specific sin you have committed. That is not the case at all. Sometimes bad things happen to Christians simply because we live in a sinful world. But this is also true: We have broken every one of God’s commandments a thousand times over. We have ignored his words, we have doubted his promises, we have loved ourselves more than we have loved God on far too many occasions. We don’t deserve a breath of fresh air. We don’t deserve to have the sun to shine on our faces. We don’t deserve to have the Lord waste a thought on us, let alone guide us and guard us and protect us and lead us every day of our entire lives. And so when we actually do undergo serious pain or unbearable calamities in this life that bring us to our knees, know that these things are nothing compared to what we have earned for ourselves. We deserve those every one of those terrible things and much more - whether they are a direct result of our own personal sins or not!
Zephaniah told the Israelites that they were going to deserve future punishment as well. In fact, Zephaniah spends the entire first chapter of his book explaining this judgment on the people of Judah. He then uses the entire second chapter describing the punishment that the Lord would bring on every other nation when he comes in all his glory. But the third chapter is different. In the third chapter, in the final chapter of his book, Zephaniah’s words are full of hope and joy and salvation. He tells his hearers that although they were going to experience some difficult times in the years ahead, everything was going to be OK. The Lord as their Mighty Warrior would deliver them, and he would quiet them with his love.
It would take 70 years for that to happen, however. These Israelites were in Babylon, the land of their exile, for 70 years. And during that time I’m sure there was a lot of complaining and a lot of groaning and a lot of grumbling and a lot of questioning and a lot of frustration. But the Lord finally did quiet them with his love. As their Mighty Warrior he brought them back to the Promised Land, he moved the heart of the king of Persia to supply them with money from the royal treasury, and he allowed his people to rebuild and restore the city of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord. Their worries and complaining and grumbling and fears were quieted with his love.
Of course, that was not the end of their troubles. Many things happened to the Jewish nation over the following centuries that caused them to question the Lord’s power and to cry out in despair again. And so the Lord quieted them with his love again. Not by bringing them back to the land of Israel this time, but by personally coming to the land of Israel himself. He quieted them with his love not by allowing them to again rebuild the temple of God, but by allowing them to actually see God in human flesh with their own eyes. The worries of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the labor screams of Mary in a Bethlehem barn. The doubts of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the heaven-shaking angelic songs of praise to the shepherds in those fields nearby that little town. The fears of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the shouts of joy from those same shepherds as they told everyone they saw about that incredible miracle of salvation. The pain of God’s people was over that night. The punishment that was set for sinners was canceled. And every contradictory word that had ever been spoken about Christ’s power and his promises was quieted that evening because the Mighty Warrior had come, he had came as a baby, and he had come with the full extent of his love.
We will celebrate the coming of that Mighty Warrior in just a week and a half. We will sing those familiar Christmas songs. We will hear those familiar Christmas stories. And we will be reminded once again just as those believers were back then, that everything is going to be OK. Christ has come for us in love; and in love he will come again. And so in the coming days and weeks if you ever find yourself complaining about anything, just be quiet for a second and take a look at the Lord’s love for you that he demonstrated in the manger of Bethlehem. Is there really anything to complain about? In the coming months if you ever find yourself worrying about something, just be quiet for a second and take a look at the Lord’s love for you while he lived on this earth: suffering every temptation and pain imaginable on your behalf. Is there really anything to worry about? In the coming years if you ever find yourself afraid of what the future will bring for you and your family, just be quiet for a second, settle down, and take a good long hard look at the Lord’s love for you on the cross and out of the tomb and into heaven and on his throne. Is there really anything to be afraid of? The Lord will quiet your complaining and worries and fears, and he will quiet them with his love. He will calm you. He will comfort you. And he will remind you in his Word that anything you have to go through in this life he has already gone through for you himself - and so it’s is going to be OK.
In the coming days and months and years you will have to struggle with many things. And when you find yourself struggling with a severe pain, remember: so has Christ. He struggled with pain far beyond anything we could imagine. And in his love he promises that your pain will soon be over when you reach your home in heaven. When you find yourself struggling with a specific sin, remember: so has Christ. He has been tempted with that same sin too. He has even suffered the punishment for that sin. And in his love he promises that all of your sins are forgiven long before you ever commit them. When you find yourself struggling with a death of someone close to your heart, remember: so has Christ. He lost those he cared for and, in fact, he has suffered death himself. He knows what it’s like. He knows how awful death is. But in his love he also rose from the dead and he promises that everyone who believes in him will rise from the dead as well. When those times come in your life in which you find yourself struggling with your health or with your mind or with your job or with your family or with your faith, know this: it’s going to be OK. In fact, it’s going to be great! The Lord will use whatever unpleasant thing that is happening to you at the moment to strengthen your faith and secure your salvation. He will come through for you when you need him the most. “He will take great delight in you,” Zephaniah says. “He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” He is your Father after all and you are his children. He will never let anything happen to you that isn’t for your good.
And so it’s going to be OK. I don’t know how. I don’t know when. I don’t know where. But I do know why. It’s going to be OK because the Lord will quiet you with his love. He will rescue you with hands that once had nails driven through them. He will hold you by his side that was once pierced with a spear. He will let you rest your head on his shoulders that had at one time carried your sins to the cross. The Lord will make sure that you are taken care of. He will soothe your worries with his Word. He will give you peace through his promises. He will quiet you with his love. It’s going to be OK. It’s going to be OK.
Amen.
“The peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:7
Monday, December 07, 2009
12/6/09 - Advent 2 - Philippians 1:3-11
AFFECTED BY CHRIST'S AFFECTION
- It is contagious
- It is one-of-a-kind
I include all of you in my prayers a lot. I do. And I don’t pray for you on a regular basis because there’s a problem or because I’m concerned about what is happening or where we as a congregation are headed. I pray with joy in my heart when it comes to you; I thank the Lord in my prayers because of the fellowship we share in the gospel of our Lord. We have a special bond, an unbelievably strong connection based on our mutual faith in our Savior. And I’m confident that just as our Lord has created in you a heart that loves him and a life that lives for him, he will continue to strengthen you and build you up until the Last Day.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that I pray for you a lot. I’m your pastor after all! I’ve been appointed to be a shepherd of your souls. We don’t have an employer/employee relationship. We don’t have a parent/child relationship. We don’t even have a friend/friend relationship. It’s more than that. I have a vested interest in and am held partly responsible for what you believe and what you do and where you will end up. And I know that you have that same interest in my spiritual well-being. And so on those days when my job of spreading the gospel isn’t all that easy as well as on those days when spreading the gospel seems to be working out just the way I planned, it is a comfort to know that you believe in the same gospel with me and together we are recipients of God’s grace. You are my spiritual support group. And God himself knows how much I care for you. He knows how often you are included in my prayers.
And this is my prayer: that your faith will be strengthened by the words of God that I speak, that your love for others will continue to increase, and that you will be able to recognize every false teaching and fend off every temptation that this world throws at you so that you will remain steadfast in God’s promises and will be seen as innocent and holy in his sight on Judgment Day because of the forgiveness earned for you by your Savior. I long to see you in heaven one day. I look forward to that.
And I feel that way about you because I’ve been affected by Christ’s affection. Christ has shown me an infinite amount of love and so I can’t help but show love to you! It is natural for a child of God the Father to want to show love for his brothers and sisters who belong to that same family. It was natural for the apostle Paul to feel this way too. Because he was also affected by Christ’s affection. And in his letter to the congregation in Philippi, he says some of the same things to those Christians that I have just said to you. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Paul obviously had a heart that was filled with affection for the Philippians. And his affection for the Philippians was modeled after Christ’s affection for all people. And my affection for you is modeled after both Paul’s and Christ’s. It’s an affection that not only feels, but acts. It’s an affection that is not only in the heart, but is also in the mind. It is an affection that is based on unselfishness and self-sacrifice. And it’s contagious. When we hear about Christ’s affection for us in the Word, we catch it. When we read about it in our Bibles, we catch it. When we experience it in the Lord’s Supper, we catch it. When we witness other Christians displaying Christ’s affection to those around us, we catch it.
But it’s also something I don’t do well. Yes, I have a special place in my heart for this congregation and each of you as individual Christians, but the love I have for you is not always that constant. It’s up and down. It’s fickle. It’s unreliable. Because whether you want to believe it or not: I’m plenty selfish! And sometimes I care more about my wants and my feelings and my life than I care about yours. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true! My care and concern for each one of you does not always take precedence over the care and concern I show for myself. I’ve certainly been affected by Christ’s affection but I am also still infected with sin. Sometimes my sinful selfishness gets the best of me no matter how hard I strive to show Christ’s love. And I would guess it gets the best of you on occasion as well.
You love your children and your spouse and your parents and your friends and your congregation because you’ve been affected by Christ’s affection just like I have. But you also know all too well that the love you show for those people in your life is sporadic at best. There are days you do pretty well but then there are those days in which you don’t care about anyone but yourself. There are those days when you are selfish to the core and you don’t care! In fact you like it! There are times when we know we are being selfish but we have no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Because love is hard and selfishness is easy. Love is work and selfishness is all natural. The affection of Christ may be contagious, but the selfishness of the sinful human nature is hereditary - and so there will always be a constant battle between those two as long as we live in this life. Unfortunately, we don’t mind when sin wins every once in a while.
And in reality, sin wins more than every once in a while, doesn’t it? Selfishness has gained the victory over our love on many of the battlefields in our hearts over the years. But no matter how many times we have succumbed to selfishness and no matter how many times we have let sin gain the upper hand on the affection of Christ we have shown to others, Christ’s affection for us has never once wavered. Arguably, the greatest characteristic of Christ’s affection is that although it affects us, we can never affect it. We can never change Christ’s affection for us or diminish Christ’s affection or dampen Christ’s affection. Because Christ’s affection is one-of-a-kind. There’s nothing quite like it. Because every other love changes. Every other love is influenced by something. Every other love has limits. Christ’s love for us does not.
A father on this earth may love his children so much that he humbles himself for his them and get down on his hands and knees and play games with his children that a grown man wouldn’t normally play. But a father’s humility for the sake of his children is nothing compared to the humility Jesus displayed for the sake of those who belonged to him. He went from throne to barn, from glory to poverty, from an eternity of perfection to a world of sin. God stopped showing himself to the universe as God for a time - so deep was the affection Christ had for you.
A good friend may do his or her best to back you up and make every effort to never let you down. They may be dependable and trustworthy and always willing to go the extra mile whenever you need help. But a friend’s dedication to you is nothing compared to the dedication of the Lord. Jesus woke up every morning on this earth knowing that the devil would attack him again, knowing that his enemies would try to trick him again, knowing that his own disciples would doubt him again. Jesus took shots from every angle for his entire life from both earthly adversaries and supernatural ones, and he survived. And not only did he survive, he did it perfectly. He never faltered. He never gave in. He never gave up - so great was the affection Christ had for you.
A mother may very well sacrifice a lot of things for her children. She will sacrifice her time when they are sick, sacrifice her money when they are in need, sacrifice her job to spend just a few more days with them, sacrifice her sleep to make sure they are provided for, sacrifice everything she has to make them happy. But a mother’s sacrifice is nothing compared to the sacrifice Christ made on your behalf. He sacrificed his reputation so that you could be called by the name of God himself. He sacrificed every earthly pleasure so that you could enjoy every heavenly treasure. He sacrificed his body so that yours would be spared. He sacrificed his relationship with his Father for a few horrendous moments on the cross so that your relationship with his Father would forever be secured. Jesus sacrificed his life for you before you ever knew who he was - so passionate was Christ’s affection for you.
A brother or a sister may very well stand up for you when others will not. Your spouse or your parents or your children may look after you and take care of you and be there for you when no one else would bother. But the care and concern of your family is nothing compared to the care and concern that Christ shows to you. He defends you from every evil. He guards you from all temptations. He constantly watches over you so that no spiritual harm will befall you. In fact, he never sleeps. He doesn’t want to sleep because he wants you to be safe. He wants you to be blessed. And so he has made it his goal to take care of you for as long as you live in this world. He’s more than just “on call” 24 hours a day 7 days a week; he’s already there 24/7. He’s holding you by your hand and leading you every step of the way - so complete is Christ’s affection for you.
Christ’s affection is one-of-a-kind. It is all-encompassing, playing an integral part in every aspect of your life. Christ’s affection is completely self-sacrificing, leaving nothing undone. Christ’s affection will never leave you even if you leave him. That’s a love you can count on. That’s affection that affects us.
If Christ cares for us that much and then he asks us to show that same kind of care for others, how could we not? How could we look our Savior in the face and tell him that we don’t want to do that today? That it’s not worth it? That everything he did for us wasn’t really enough to motivate us to want to do the same? It’s unthinkable that we would say anything like that to our Lord because any Christian who has come into contact with the affection of Christ will be affected to act like him and care like him and love like him. No Christian will be able to perfectly emulate Christ’s love, but every Christian will be moved by Christ’s love. Christ’s affection is that powerful. Christ’s affection is that effective.
It affected John the Baptist. Today is John the Baptist Day - the 2nd Sunday in the season of Advent when we look back at what John did to prepare the way for the Savior. John the Baptist was affected by the affection of Christ. That’s why he dedicated his life to preaching and baptizing all that would listen. That’s why he lived out in the desert, unconcerned about the niceties this world had to offer. That’s why he was beheaded by King Herod. Because he longed for the people with the affection of Christ. He wanted them to repent. He wanted them to believe. He wanted them to be saved. And he was willing to say whatever words of God that needed to be said in order to make it happen.
This same love for sinful souls was alive in the apostle Paul as well. “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” he wrote. This is the same affection I have for you. And it’s the same affection I pray you have for me and for all people. The affection we show towards each other may never be the ideal kind of love and it may never be as constant as we’d like it to be, but Christ’s is. Christ’s affection for us will always be as strong as it always has been. And I pray that Christ’s affection will always continue to have a profound affect on us.
Amen.
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5-6
- It is contagious
- It is one-of-a-kind
I include all of you in my prayers a lot. I do. And I don’t pray for you on a regular basis because there’s a problem or because I’m concerned about what is happening or where we as a congregation are headed. I pray with joy in my heart when it comes to you; I thank the Lord in my prayers because of the fellowship we share in the gospel of our Lord. We have a special bond, an unbelievably strong connection based on our mutual faith in our Savior. And I’m confident that just as our Lord has created in you a heart that loves him and a life that lives for him, he will continue to strengthen you and build you up until the Last Day.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that I pray for you a lot. I’m your pastor after all! I’ve been appointed to be a shepherd of your souls. We don’t have an employer/employee relationship. We don’t have a parent/child relationship. We don’t even have a friend/friend relationship. It’s more than that. I have a vested interest in and am held partly responsible for what you believe and what you do and where you will end up. And I know that you have that same interest in my spiritual well-being. And so on those days when my job of spreading the gospel isn’t all that easy as well as on those days when spreading the gospel seems to be working out just the way I planned, it is a comfort to know that you believe in the same gospel with me and together we are recipients of God’s grace. You are my spiritual support group. And God himself knows how much I care for you. He knows how often you are included in my prayers.
And this is my prayer: that your faith will be strengthened by the words of God that I speak, that your love for others will continue to increase, and that you will be able to recognize every false teaching and fend off every temptation that this world throws at you so that you will remain steadfast in God’s promises and will be seen as innocent and holy in his sight on Judgment Day because of the forgiveness earned for you by your Savior. I long to see you in heaven one day. I look forward to that.
And I feel that way about you because I’ve been affected by Christ’s affection. Christ has shown me an infinite amount of love and so I can’t help but show love to you! It is natural for a child of God the Father to want to show love for his brothers and sisters who belong to that same family. It was natural for the apostle Paul to feel this way too. Because he was also affected by Christ’s affection. And in his letter to the congregation in Philippi, he says some of the same things to those Christians that I have just said to you. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Paul obviously had a heart that was filled with affection for the Philippians. And his affection for the Philippians was modeled after Christ’s affection for all people. And my affection for you is modeled after both Paul’s and Christ’s. It’s an affection that not only feels, but acts. It’s an affection that is not only in the heart, but is also in the mind. It is an affection that is based on unselfishness and self-sacrifice. And it’s contagious. When we hear about Christ’s affection for us in the Word, we catch it. When we read about it in our Bibles, we catch it. When we experience it in the Lord’s Supper, we catch it. When we witness other Christians displaying Christ’s affection to those around us, we catch it.
But it’s also something I don’t do well. Yes, I have a special place in my heart for this congregation and each of you as individual Christians, but the love I have for you is not always that constant. It’s up and down. It’s fickle. It’s unreliable. Because whether you want to believe it or not: I’m plenty selfish! And sometimes I care more about my wants and my feelings and my life than I care about yours. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true! My care and concern for each one of you does not always take precedence over the care and concern I show for myself. I’ve certainly been affected by Christ’s affection but I am also still infected with sin. Sometimes my sinful selfishness gets the best of me no matter how hard I strive to show Christ’s love. And I would guess it gets the best of you on occasion as well.
You love your children and your spouse and your parents and your friends and your congregation because you’ve been affected by Christ’s affection just like I have. But you also know all too well that the love you show for those people in your life is sporadic at best. There are days you do pretty well but then there are those days in which you don’t care about anyone but yourself. There are those days when you are selfish to the core and you don’t care! In fact you like it! There are times when we know we are being selfish but we have no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Because love is hard and selfishness is easy. Love is work and selfishness is all natural. The affection of Christ may be contagious, but the selfishness of the sinful human nature is hereditary - and so there will always be a constant battle between those two as long as we live in this life. Unfortunately, we don’t mind when sin wins every once in a while.
And in reality, sin wins more than every once in a while, doesn’t it? Selfishness has gained the victory over our love on many of the battlefields in our hearts over the years. But no matter how many times we have succumbed to selfishness and no matter how many times we have let sin gain the upper hand on the affection of Christ we have shown to others, Christ’s affection for us has never once wavered. Arguably, the greatest characteristic of Christ’s affection is that although it affects us, we can never affect it. We can never change Christ’s affection for us or diminish Christ’s affection or dampen Christ’s affection. Because Christ’s affection is one-of-a-kind. There’s nothing quite like it. Because every other love changes. Every other love is influenced by something. Every other love has limits. Christ’s love for us does not.
A father on this earth may love his children so much that he humbles himself for his them and get down on his hands and knees and play games with his children that a grown man wouldn’t normally play. But a father’s humility for the sake of his children is nothing compared to the humility Jesus displayed for the sake of those who belonged to him. He went from throne to barn, from glory to poverty, from an eternity of perfection to a world of sin. God stopped showing himself to the universe as God for a time - so deep was the affection Christ had for you.
A good friend may do his or her best to back you up and make every effort to never let you down. They may be dependable and trustworthy and always willing to go the extra mile whenever you need help. But a friend’s dedication to you is nothing compared to the dedication of the Lord. Jesus woke up every morning on this earth knowing that the devil would attack him again, knowing that his enemies would try to trick him again, knowing that his own disciples would doubt him again. Jesus took shots from every angle for his entire life from both earthly adversaries and supernatural ones, and he survived. And not only did he survive, he did it perfectly. He never faltered. He never gave in. He never gave up - so great was the affection Christ had for you.
A mother may very well sacrifice a lot of things for her children. She will sacrifice her time when they are sick, sacrifice her money when they are in need, sacrifice her job to spend just a few more days with them, sacrifice her sleep to make sure they are provided for, sacrifice everything she has to make them happy. But a mother’s sacrifice is nothing compared to the sacrifice Christ made on your behalf. He sacrificed his reputation so that you could be called by the name of God himself. He sacrificed every earthly pleasure so that you could enjoy every heavenly treasure. He sacrificed his body so that yours would be spared. He sacrificed his relationship with his Father for a few horrendous moments on the cross so that your relationship with his Father would forever be secured. Jesus sacrificed his life for you before you ever knew who he was - so passionate was Christ’s affection for you.
A brother or a sister may very well stand up for you when others will not. Your spouse or your parents or your children may look after you and take care of you and be there for you when no one else would bother. But the care and concern of your family is nothing compared to the care and concern that Christ shows to you. He defends you from every evil. He guards you from all temptations. He constantly watches over you so that no spiritual harm will befall you. In fact, he never sleeps. He doesn’t want to sleep because he wants you to be safe. He wants you to be blessed. And so he has made it his goal to take care of you for as long as you live in this world. He’s more than just “on call” 24 hours a day 7 days a week; he’s already there 24/7. He’s holding you by your hand and leading you every step of the way - so complete is Christ’s affection for you.
Christ’s affection is one-of-a-kind. It is all-encompassing, playing an integral part in every aspect of your life. Christ’s affection is completely self-sacrificing, leaving nothing undone. Christ’s affection will never leave you even if you leave him. That’s a love you can count on. That’s affection that affects us.
If Christ cares for us that much and then he asks us to show that same kind of care for others, how could we not? How could we look our Savior in the face and tell him that we don’t want to do that today? That it’s not worth it? That everything he did for us wasn’t really enough to motivate us to want to do the same? It’s unthinkable that we would say anything like that to our Lord because any Christian who has come into contact with the affection of Christ will be affected to act like him and care like him and love like him. No Christian will be able to perfectly emulate Christ’s love, but every Christian will be moved by Christ’s love. Christ’s affection is that powerful. Christ’s affection is that effective.
It affected John the Baptist. Today is John the Baptist Day - the 2nd Sunday in the season of Advent when we look back at what John did to prepare the way for the Savior. John the Baptist was affected by the affection of Christ. That’s why he dedicated his life to preaching and baptizing all that would listen. That’s why he lived out in the desert, unconcerned about the niceties this world had to offer. That’s why he was beheaded by King Herod. Because he longed for the people with the affection of Christ. He wanted them to repent. He wanted them to believe. He wanted them to be saved. And he was willing to say whatever words of God that needed to be said in order to make it happen.
This same love for sinful souls was alive in the apostle Paul as well. “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” he wrote. This is the same affection I have for you. And it’s the same affection I pray you have for me and for all people. The affection we show towards each other may never be the ideal kind of love and it may never be as constant as we’d like it to be, but Christ’s is. Christ’s affection for us will always be as strong as it always has been. And I pray that Christ’s affection will always continue to have a profound affect on us.
Amen.
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev. 1:5-6
Monday, November 30, 2009
11/29/09 - Thanksgiving Sunday - Psalm 100
THE BLESSINGS WILL NEVER END
What blessings did you thank the Lord for this last Thursday? I would hope that you took time to thank the Lord on Thanksgiving Day for a whole variety of different things! Most of you probably thanked the Lord for the food he supplied for you that afternoon - that’s usually a popular item for which to give thanks because there is so much of it in front of us on that holiday. Most of you probably also thanked the Lord for the family and friends that were gathered around you - mainly because it’s a special blessing that doesn’t always happen on a regular basis. But what else did you thank the Lord for? What other blessings did you find deserving of a word of thanks to your God? The weather, a steady job, health, financial stability? But did you end up thanking him only for the blessings that were right in front of your face, or did you also thank him for the blessings that were yet to come?
It’s kind of a strange concept for most of us to thank the Lord for blessings that we do not yet have. Thanksgiving is usually something we reserve for those blessings that the Lord has already given us. But thanking the Lord for the gifts he will grant us in the future is a truth that Psalm 100 clearly teaches. Psalm 100 is entitled “A psalm for giving thanks” and the last two verses of this short song of Scripture are printed for you in your bulletins. I want you to look closely at these verses and see exactly what the psalmist thanks the Lord for. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” The psalmist realized that God had not only been good to him in the past, and not only had his love and his faithfulness been evident up to the very day he penned these verses, but God’s goodness and his love and his faithfulness would endure and continue forever. His grace would always be there. And so the blessings would never end. And that is exactly what Psalm 100 thanks the Lord for. It does not dwell on everything the Lord had done in the past or even what the Lord is doing at that very moment. The thanksgiving and the praises of these last two verses of Psalm 100 are focused on what the Lord has promised to do for us in the future.
That’s not something we are in habit of doing, is it? Because as sinful human beings living among other sin-polluted people in the middle of a sin-infected world, we have naturally become a little skeptical. We have come to realize that things do not usually turn out the way they are planned. Accidents happen, problems arise, unforeseen difficulties are inevitable and, in fact, they usually come at the worst possible times. The future is unpredictable. We don’t know what’s going to happen in our lives later today, let alone next week or next month or next year. And so thanking the Lord for the blessings he will continue to give us in the future is almost contrary to the way our minds work. How could we do that? How could we possibly thank the Lord for what’s to come when we don’t know what’s going to happen? What if I get sick? What if one of my family members dies? What if I lose my job or my car or my retirement savings? There are so many terrible things that could happen in the future that I wouldn’t want to give thanks for. And so we feel much more comfortable waiting to see what we get before we actually thank the Lord for it! It makes a lot more sense to us that way, doesn’t it? It’s a little safer (as far as we’re concerned) to thank the Lord after the fact than before it.
It is a very unfortunate thing that our past experiences with sin have hampered our trust in God. We have been burned so many times by the disappointments of this life that we have even become skeptical of what God promises for our future. As if his promises might not turn out the way he planned! As if the future is actually beyond the Lord’s control in some way! We find it so hard to be confident about what lies ahead even though God promises that he will always be good to his people, that his love will endure forever, and that his faithfulness will continue through all generations. And when we do hesitate to thank the Lord for what he promises to do for us in the future we are really implying that he is either not capable, he is not willing, or that he just has no idea what he’s talking about. And I understand that none of us would ever say those things about the Lord out loud, but our hesitation about the future reveals the weakness of our faith. If we aren’t confident about the blessings God has promised us in the future, what can we be confident about?
Because the fact of the matter is: if God promises to be just as good to us in the future as he has in the past, we have nothing to worry about! If God promises that his love will endure forever just as he has always shown his love to us in our lives, we have nothing to be skeptical about! If the Lord promises that his faithfulness will continue through all generations just as it has from the very first generation of Adam and Eve up to the present generation we are now living in, then we have no reason to hesitate to thank the Lord for what is to come! Because just think about the goodness and the love and the faithfulness the Lord has demonstrated on our behalf for the few thousand years this world has existed. When he didn’t have to, when he didn’t need to, when he wasn’t asked to, our Lord decided to create this world. Out of sheer goodness he made the various terrains and climates of this earth, the depth and clarity of the waters, and the vast expanses of the skies. He filled this universe with every living thing imaginable, every shade of color, every texture of fiber, every sound wave that affects our senses, and every shining star that we will never be able to reach. And he hand-crafted every bit of it just for us. So that we could live here and enjoy ourselves. So that we could experience his goodness in so many different ways on so many different levels. This same goodness is the goodness of God that he promises to show us as long as we live. What we will receive in the future will be just as good as what he has done for us in the past. That’s worth thanking the Lord for before it ever happens!
At a time when the Lord was not obligated to, during a period in history when the people of this earth hated him more then ever, God became a man. Out of pure love Jesus subjected himself to the pains and the evils and the dangers of this life. He followed the commands that he had at one time required us to keep, he took upon himself the punishment that we were supposed to receive, and he willingly experienced the death that we were scheduled to die. And he spent those 33 miserable years on this earth just for us. Because he loved us. He wanted us to live with him forever in heaven so badly that he was willing to die for us on this earth. This same love that he has demonstrated for us on the cross is the same love that he will show to us for years to come. That is worth thanking the Lord for before it ever happens!
At times when he never should have, in situations where he could have turned his back on his, the Lord forgave us. Every sin in every place in every way at every time - the Lord wiped away our sins. In fact, we have yet to commit a sin that has not been granted full forgiveness from God himself. And he has forgiven us every time out of unrelenting faithfulness. He has never gone back on his word to us and he has never let us down. This same faithfulness that has forgiven every sin we have every committed is the exact same faithfulness that will forgive every sin that we ever will commit. The nasty sins, the secret sins, the dirty sins, the repeated sins - they will all be forgiven because God is faithful. And he promises that his faithfulness will continue through all generations. That is worth thanking the Lord for before it ever happens!
The Lord’s goodness and love and faithfulness are not only blessings we have right now, they are blessings promised to us in the future. And whatever the Lord has promised us in the future is just as sure as if we had it in our hands right now. Whatever the Lord has planned for us tomorrow and next week and five years from now is something we can be absolutely sure will happen. Sure, the future may still be unpredictable. It may very well be filled with problems and troubles and disasters that are part of living in a sinful world. But the future looks good! Because it is all in the Lord’s hands. And he has promised us that he will continue to shower us with blessings just as he has in the past - whether we see them as blessings at the time or not. The Lord’s goodness and his love and his faithfulness will never end and so the blessings will never end. Yes, thank the Lord for what he has given you in the past. Thank the Lord for what he has blessed you with in the present. But don’t forget to thank the Lord for what he has promised to do for you in the future. He has promised you his goodness. He has promised you his love. He has promised you his faithfulness. And because of all those blessings he has promised you heaven. There is no greater blessing than that. Do not hesitate to thank him now for what you will receive then.
Amen.
“God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Philippians 4:19-20
What blessings did you thank the Lord for this last Thursday? I would hope that you took time to thank the Lord on Thanksgiving Day for a whole variety of different things! Most of you probably thanked the Lord for the food he supplied for you that afternoon - that’s usually a popular item for which to give thanks because there is so much of it in front of us on that holiday. Most of you probably also thanked the Lord for the family and friends that were gathered around you - mainly because it’s a special blessing that doesn’t always happen on a regular basis. But what else did you thank the Lord for? What other blessings did you find deserving of a word of thanks to your God? The weather, a steady job, health, financial stability? But did you end up thanking him only for the blessings that were right in front of your face, or did you also thank him for the blessings that were yet to come?
It’s kind of a strange concept for most of us to thank the Lord for blessings that we do not yet have. Thanksgiving is usually something we reserve for those blessings that the Lord has already given us. But thanking the Lord for the gifts he will grant us in the future is a truth that Psalm 100 clearly teaches. Psalm 100 is entitled “A psalm for giving thanks” and the last two verses of this short song of Scripture are printed for you in your bulletins. I want you to look closely at these verses and see exactly what the psalmist thanks the Lord for. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” The psalmist realized that God had not only been good to him in the past, and not only had his love and his faithfulness been evident up to the very day he penned these verses, but God’s goodness and his love and his faithfulness would endure and continue forever. His grace would always be there. And so the blessings would never end. And that is exactly what Psalm 100 thanks the Lord for. It does not dwell on everything the Lord had done in the past or even what the Lord is doing at that very moment. The thanksgiving and the praises of these last two verses of Psalm 100 are focused on what the Lord has promised to do for us in the future.
That’s not something we are in habit of doing, is it? Because as sinful human beings living among other sin-polluted people in the middle of a sin-infected world, we have naturally become a little skeptical. We have come to realize that things do not usually turn out the way they are planned. Accidents happen, problems arise, unforeseen difficulties are inevitable and, in fact, they usually come at the worst possible times. The future is unpredictable. We don’t know what’s going to happen in our lives later today, let alone next week or next month or next year. And so thanking the Lord for the blessings he will continue to give us in the future is almost contrary to the way our minds work. How could we do that? How could we possibly thank the Lord for what’s to come when we don’t know what’s going to happen? What if I get sick? What if one of my family members dies? What if I lose my job or my car or my retirement savings? There are so many terrible things that could happen in the future that I wouldn’t want to give thanks for. And so we feel much more comfortable waiting to see what we get before we actually thank the Lord for it! It makes a lot more sense to us that way, doesn’t it? It’s a little safer (as far as we’re concerned) to thank the Lord after the fact than before it.
It is a very unfortunate thing that our past experiences with sin have hampered our trust in God. We have been burned so many times by the disappointments of this life that we have even become skeptical of what God promises for our future. As if his promises might not turn out the way he planned! As if the future is actually beyond the Lord’s control in some way! We find it so hard to be confident about what lies ahead even though God promises that he will always be good to his people, that his love will endure forever, and that his faithfulness will continue through all generations. And when we do hesitate to thank the Lord for what he promises to do for us in the future we are really implying that he is either not capable, he is not willing, or that he just has no idea what he’s talking about. And I understand that none of us would ever say those things about the Lord out loud, but our hesitation about the future reveals the weakness of our faith. If we aren’t confident about the blessings God has promised us in the future, what can we be confident about?
Because the fact of the matter is: if God promises to be just as good to us in the future as he has in the past, we have nothing to worry about! If God promises that his love will endure forever just as he has always shown his love to us in our lives, we have nothing to be skeptical about! If the Lord promises that his faithfulness will continue through all generations just as it has from the very first generation of Adam and Eve up to the present generation we are now living in, then we have no reason to hesitate to thank the Lord for what is to come! Because just think about the goodness and the love and the faithfulness the Lord has demonstrated on our behalf for the few thousand years this world has existed. When he didn’t have to, when he didn’t need to, when he wasn’t asked to, our Lord decided to create this world. Out of sheer goodness he made the various terrains and climates of this earth, the depth and clarity of the waters, and the vast expanses of the skies. He filled this universe with every living thing imaginable, every shade of color, every texture of fiber, every sound wave that affects our senses, and every shining star that we will never be able to reach. And he hand-crafted every bit of it just for us. So that we could live here and enjoy ourselves. So that we could experience his goodness in so many different ways on so many different levels. This same goodness is the goodness of God that he promises to show us as long as we live. What we will receive in the future will be just as good as what he has done for us in the past. That’s worth thanking the Lord for before it ever happens!
At a time when the Lord was not obligated to, during a period in history when the people of this earth hated him more then ever, God became a man. Out of pure love Jesus subjected himself to the pains and the evils and the dangers of this life. He followed the commands that he had at one time required us to keep, he took upon himself the punishment that we were supposed to receive, and he willingly experienced the death that we were scheduled to die. And he spent those 33 miserable years on this earth just for us. Because he loved us. He wanted us to live with him forever in heaven so badly that he was willing to die for us on this earth. This same love that he has demonstrated for us on the cross is the same love that he will show to us for years to come. That is worth thanking the Lord for before it ever happens!
At times when he never should have, in situations where he could have turned his back on his, the Lord forgave us. Every sin in every place in every way at every time - the Lord wiped away our sins. In fact, we have yet to commit a sin that has not been granted full forgiveness from God himself. And he has forgiven us every time out of unrelenting faithfulness. He has never gone back on his word to us and he has never let us down. This same faithfulness that has forgiven every sin we have every committed is the exact same faithfulness that will forgive every sin that we ever will commit. The nasty sins, the secret sins, the dirty sins, the repeated sins - they will all be forgiven because God is faithful. And he promises that his faithfulness will continue through all generations. That is worth thanking the Lord for before it ever happens!
The Lord’s goodness and love and faithfulness are not only blessings we have right now, they are blessings promised to us in the future. And whatever the Lord has promised us in the future is just as sure as if we had it in our hands right now. Whatever the Lord has planned for us tomorrow and next week and five years from now is something we can be absolutely sure will happen. Sure, the future may still be unpredictable. It may very well be filled with problems and troubles and disasters that are part of living in a sinful world. But the future looks good! Because it is all in the Lord’s hands. And he has promised us that he will continue to shower us with blessings just as he has in the past - whether we see them as blessings at the time or not. The Lord’s goodness and his love and his faithfulness will never end and so the blessings will never end. Yes, thank the Lord for what he has given you in the past. Thank the Lord for what he has blessed you with in the present. But don’t forget to thank the Lord for what he has promised to do for you in the future. He has promised you his goodness. He has promised you his love. He has promised you his faithfulness. And because of all those blessings he has promised you heaven. There is no greater blessing than that. Do not hesitate to thank him now for what you will receive then.
Amen.
“God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Philippians 4:19-20
Saturday, November 28, 2009
11/25/09 - Thanksgiving Eve - Psalm 136
IT'S WORTH HEARING AGAIN
Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.
16 to him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever.
17 who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever.
23 to the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever.
25 and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.
Psalm 136 is quite clearly one of the most unique psalms in all of Scripture. No other psalm is laid out in the same way Psalm 136 is. And no other psalm repeats the same phrase over and over again like Psalm 136 does. But there’s a reason for that. There’s a reason why this psalm repeats “His love endures forever” after every single line. And the reason is simple: it’s worth hearing again. It’s worth hearing again that the Lord’s love endures forever. It’s worth being reminded that in every day of this life and behind every blessing and through any hardship or disaster “His love endures forever.” It’s worth hearing again because we forget it so often!
Think about how many times you have wondered if you would be able to get through a difficulty in your life. A lingering sickness, an unrelenting pain, a family relationship problem, a tragedy that ends in the death of a loved one, a financial crisis, an inner emotional battle… There are plenty of things in this sinful world that have harassed us and have caused us to question what the future would bring. But in any difficult situation you have ever been in, was the outcome ever outside of the Lord’s control? Was he ever only a passive observer and unable to do anything about it? Was his love for you ever absent from any problem or trouble or dilemma? No! He was always in control. He was always an active participant. His love was always there. Because “his love endures forever.” It doesn’t go away. It isn’t overpowered. And it will never let anything happen to God’s people that isn’t ultimately for their good. We just forget about that sometimes. We are so overwhelmed by the problems sometimes that we forget the promises.
The Israelites struggled to remember the promises of God because of their problems at times as well. They had to undergo some very stressful and life-threatening events throughout their lives and Psalm 136 even recounts for us a few of those instances in the history of God’s people - when God’s love prevailed despite the situation. They were at one time enslaved in the land of Egypt. They were mistreated by their rulers there, they were required to meet impossible demands on penalty of severe punishment, and their sons were even ordered to be killed so that their nation would stop growing. They were in a difficult situation and the Lord’s love seemed to be far away. But on the contrary, Psalm 136 says it well, “To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt - his love endures forever - and brought Israel out from among them - his love endures forever - with a mighty hand and outstretched arm - his love endures forever.” The Lord’s love rescued them from the land of slavery even though the situation seemed hopeless. But soon after they were trapped in between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army! What was going to happen! How were they going to escape? Why did Moses bring them all the way out there just to die? Psalm 136 again, “To him who divided the Red Sea asunder - his love endures forever - and brought Israel though the midst of it - his love endures forever - but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea - his love endures forever.” The dangerous situation they were in was no match for the Lord’s love. He took care of everything - just like usual. And his love continued to guide his people for centuries to come. He led them through the desert for 40 years. He struck down kings and armies. He defeated the Canaanites before them. He gave them the Promised Land as an inheritance. Despite the odds and the doubts and the complaints, the Lord always took care of his people because “his love endures forever.”
And we could even add to this psalm the many things the Lord has done for us. Psalm 136 very well could continue: “He came down to this earth as a human being - his love endures forever - to become one of us - his love endures forever - so that he could live perfectly in our place - his love endures forever. The Lord willingly gave himself up into the hands of his enemies - his love endures forever - he stood on trial - his love endures forever - he was sentenced to death - his love endures forever. He sacrificed himself - his love endures forever - he bled - his love endures forever - he lives - his love endures forever.” There are so many things we can say about what our Lord has done for us that could be followed by “his love endures forever.” In fact, everything that has ever happened can be explained with that phrase because the Lord’s love is always at work. God’s love is always taking every miniscule thing in this life and re-working it for the best of believers. It’s a wonderful thing to know that God’s love is always around, it always has the last say, and it will always be the driving force behind everything God does. After all, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He is not hate, he is not anger, he is not revenge. God is love. And his love endures forever.
And what a fitting thing to remember on an evening like tonight. We gather together on Thanksgiving Eve to thank the Lord for what he has done throughout our lives this past year; we gather together to thank him for his love. And his love is clearly evident from all of the wonderful blessings he has given us. We have been showered with blessings - more than we could possibly count. It is a good thing to thank the Lord for the blessings we enjoy. But also remember his love when the blessings aren’t so evident. When you’re hurting, when you’re failing, when you don’t know where to turn, when there is no one else to help. Because God’s love is still there even at those times. It is still active. It is still in control. It is there when you can’t see it or feel it or even notice it. Thank the Lord for that. Thank him that his love is much more stable than our lives or emotions or feelings will ever be. Give thanks “To the One who remembered us in our low estate - his love endures forever - and freed us from our enemies - his love endures forever - and who gives food to every creature - his love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven - his love endures forever.” These final verses of Psalm 136 might be a good prayer to pray at your Thanksgiving table tomorrow. In fact, it might be a good prayer to pray every day. It’s worth repeating. It’s always worth hearing again.
Amen.
Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.
16 to him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever.
17 who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever.
23 to the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever.
25 and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.
Psalm 136 is quite clearly one of the most unique psalms in all of Scripture. No other psalm is laid out in the same way Psalm 136 is. And no other psalm repeats the same phrase over and over again like Psalm 136 does. But there’s a reason for that. There’s a reason why this psalm repeats “His love endures forever” after every single line. And the reason is simple: it’s worth hearing again. It’s worth hearing again that the Lord’s love endures forever. It’s worth being reminded that in every day of this life and behind every blessing and through any hardship or disaster “His love endures forever.” It’s worth hearing again because we forget it so often!
Think about how many times you have wondered if you would be able to get through a difficulty in your life. A lingering sickness, an unrelenting pain, a family relationship problem, a tragedy that ends in the death of a loved one, a financial crisis, an inner emotional battle… There are plenty of things in this sinful world that have harassed us and have caused us to question what the future would bring. But in any difficult situation you have ever been in, was the outcome ever outside of the Lord’s control? Was he ever only a passive observer and unable to do anything about it? Was his love for you ever absent from any problem or trouble or dilemma? No! He was always in control. He was always an active participant. His love was always there. Because “his love endures forever.” It doesn’t go away. It isn’t overpowered. And it will never let anything happen to God’s people that isn’t ultimately for their good. We just forget about that sometimes. We are so overwhelmed by the problems sometimes that we forget the promises.
The Israelites struggled to remember the promises of God because of their problems at times as well. They had to undergo some very stressful and life-threatening events throughout their lives and Psalm 136 even recounts for us a few of those instances in the history of God’s people - when God’s love prevailed despite the situation. They were at one time enslaved in the land of Egypt. They were mistreated by their rulers there, they were required to meet impossible demands on penalty of severe punishment, and their sons were even ordered to be killed so that their nation would stop growing. They were in a difficult situation and the Lord’s love seemed to be far away. But on the contrary, Psalm 136 says it well, “To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt - his love endures forever - and brought Israel out from among them - his love endures forever - with a mighty hand and outstretched arm - his love endures forever.” The Lord’s love rescued them from the land of slavery even though the situation seemed hopeless. But soon after they were trapped in between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army! What was going to happen! How were they going to escape? Why did Moses bring them all the way out there just to die? Psalm 136 again, “To him who divided the Red Sea asunder - his love endures forever - and brought Israel though the midst of it - his love endures forever - but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea - his love endures forever.” The dangerous situation they were in was no match for the Lord’s love. He took care of everything - just like usual. And his love continued to guide his people for centuries to come. He led them through the desert for 40 years. He struck down kings and armies. He defeated the Canaanites before them. He gave them the Promised Land as an inheritance. Despite the odds and the doubts and the complaints, the Lord always took care of his people because “his love endures forever.”
And we could even add to this psalm the many things the Lord has done for us. Psalm 136 very well could continue: “He came down to this earth as a human being - his love endures forever - to become one of us - his love endures forever - so that he could live perfectly in our place - his love endures forever. The Lord willingly gave himself up into the hands of his enemies - his love endures forever - he stood on trial - his love endures forever - he was sentenced to death - his love endures forever. He sacrificed himself - his love endures forever - he bled - his love endures forever - he lives - his love endures forever.” There are so many things we can say about what our Lord has done for us that could be followed by “his love endures forever.” In fact, everything that has ever happened can be explained with that phrase because the Lord’s love is always at work. God’s love is always taking every miniscule thing in this life and re-working it for the best of believers. It’s a wonderful thing to know that God’s love is always around, it always has the last say, and it will always be the driving force behind everything God does. After all, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He is not hate, he is not anger, he is not revenge. God is love. And his love endures forever.
And what a fitting thing to remember on an evening like tonight. We gather together on Thanksgiving Eve to thank the Lord for what he has done throughout our lives this past year; we gather together to thank him for his love. And his love is clearly evident from all of the wonderful blessings he has given us. We have been showered with blessings - more than we could possibly count. It is a good thing to thank the Lord for the blessings we enjoy. But also remember his love when the blessings aren’t so evident. When you’re hurting, when you’re failing, when you don’t know where to turn, when there is no one else to help. Because God’s love is still there even at those times. It is still active. It is still in control. It is there when you can’t see it or feel it or even notice it. Thank the Lord for that. Thank him that his love is much more stable than our lives or emotions or feelings will ever be. Give thanks “To the One who remembered us in our low estate - his love endures forever - and freed us from our enemies - his love endures forever - and who gives food to every creature - his love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven - his love endures forever.” These final verses of Psalm 136 might be a good prayer to pray at your Thanksgiving table tomorrow. In fact, it might be a good prayer to pray every day. It’s worth repeating. It’s always worth hearing again.
Amen.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
11/22/09 - Christ the King - Revelation 1:4-8
WE ARE ON THE KING'S STAFF
- We are part of his kingdom
- We are priests of God
Whenever a new president takes office in this country he is allowed to appoint any number of different individuals to fill various government positions. He chooses his own staff; he decides who he wants to sit on certain committees and boards and judge’s seats; he determines who the administrators and representatives and ambassadors will be in many different areas; he is even able to select who he wants on the staffs that are under those whom he appoints. A president has a lot of control over who he wants working for him and he naturally expects that those he appoints will carry out his will and do the things he asks them to do. These people owe him, after all! Their jobs and promotions are based solely on the fact that the president has hand-picked them. And so most people want to do all they can to prove to the president that he made the right decision.
This morning we are celebrating “Christ the King” Sunday. We praise him for being the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the author of our salvation who has defeated our enemies and now sits on his throne with all things under his feet. This King, the Almighty Ruler of all things, also appoints people to fill positions under him. He chooses his own staff. And he considers every one of the positions he fills extremely important. Listen to how the apostle John describes whom this King appoints and to what positions he appoints them. “Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” Jesus Christ is the “ruler of the kings of the earth” and he has “made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” The King appoints us! We are on his staff! We have been chosen to serve under the administration of the Lord God Almighty! In fact, we as believers make up his kingdom!
The kingdom of God is composed of believers. We have been hand-picked by God himself to serve under him, to carry out his will, to do his bidding, to follow his commands. He has appointed us to be administrators and representatives and ambassadors in many different areas of life. And he expects that because he is responsible for the positions we now hold, we will do everything we can to follow his directives and do whatever he asks us to do.
Of course, that doesn’t always happen, does it? We don’t always want to do what the King wants us to do. We don’t always have the motivation and we don’t always make the time to carry out what we have been appointed to carry out. We are not always loyal subjects to the King. We have our own agendas and our own ideas and our own personal objectives that we would like to get done instead of God’s will. Because let’s face it: the 10 Commandments are not always all that convenient to keep sometimes. Loving our neighbor just as much as we love ourselves is a little too time consuming and much too self-sacrificing to be enjoyable most days. Sharing the Word of God with others is usually a bit embarrassing and all too often more stressful than what we want to deal with. What the King wants us to do isn’t always what we want to do - and so we just flat out don’t do it half the time! And because the King does not immediately strike us dead for disobeying his commands, we become all the more bold each passing year because we know that we will not have to suffer instant consequences for our actions. And so we go about our lives, doing our own things, and taking the King’s order into consideration only if they happen to match up with our own plans.
When a president appoints a particular person to a specific position, the president expects that his directions and plans will be followed by the person he has appointed to that office. The president might tolerate a few mistakes. He may overlook a stupid decision here and there. But if that person he appointed begins to do things directly against the president’s wishes and orders, that person will not hold his position for long. That kind of insubordination will not be allowed. The president will not hesitate to relieve that person of his responsibilities and give the position to someone who will do what the president wants him to do. If an appointed member of the president’s staff decides to do his own thing, he will be replaced.
We should be replaced. We should be replaced as members of Christ the King’s staff. Because we have decided to do our own thing for the majority of our lives. We ignore what the King has written down more often than we would admit. We have pretended not to hear what he asks of us on quite a few occasions. We have often times determined that what we want is a little more important and little more pressing at the time than what the King wants. We should have been replaced along time ago! Someone else, who actually follows the King’s commands a little more carefully and honors the King’s wishes a little more faithfully, should have taken over for us almost immediately.
But here we still are. The King hasn’t replaced us. And he isn’t going to. Because unlike presidential appointments, Christ our King does not base his decisions on our qualifications or abilities or past record or potential. Christ the King appointed us to positions on his staff because of his mercy and compassion. Christ the King chose us not because of anything he saw in us, but because of all the love in him. And so not only will he never replace us, he has even given us a promotion! On top of being made a part of his kingdom, we have also been given the title and the unbelievable privilege of being his priests. “He has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” And he calls us his priests for a very important reason.
In Old Testament times the priests stood before God on behalf of the people. They were the ones that were allowed to come into God’s presence when no one else could. The priests were the ones through whom God gave forgiveness to those he loved. And now we have been appointed priests of Christ the King and have been given the very same duties. We stand before God on behalf of the rest of the people in this world - praying for them, pleading for their salvation. We are the ones allowed to come into Christ’s presence when no one else can - because unbelievers are separated from God on account of their lack of faith. We are the ones through him God gives forgiveness to those in this life - by sending us out with the words of the gospel and urging us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and his salvation to all people. We are priests of Christ the King. We hold special positions on his staff that are essential to God’s plan of salvation for all of those lost souls throughout this world. Even though we are sinners and even though we have failed to carry out our priestly duties time after time, we are still the perfect people for the job. We are the perfect people to be appointed as priests of Christ not because we are so godly, but because we are so sinful. We are the perfect people to be God’s priests because of our sinfulness - we know exactly what the King has done for us! We know what he went through to save us from the enemy, we know what kind of sacrifice it took to win us back, and so there is no better group of people than saved sinners to share this exciting news of salvation with others.
Don’t forget how hopeless it once was for us: We were confined in the chains of sin and rotting away in a dungeon of spiritual darkness until Christ the King came. When Christ the King had his hands and feet nailed to the cross, the chains of sin that held our hands and feet broke free. When Christ the King gave up his life into the hands of his Father, our death sentence was lifted. When the first rays of light pierced through the blackness of the empty tomb when the stone was rolled away on Easter morning, the light of the gospel filled up the dark prison where we had been lying and dying and gave us life. Christ the King came and he was victorious. He rescued us from our enemies: Death the Consequence, Sin the Instigator, and Satan the Accomplice, and brought us into his kingdom, into his castle, into his arms. And we know this from experience. We understand what the King sacrificed to pay the ransom for our souls. And there are so many more people need to hear that. They need to hear that Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” They need to hear that he “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” And they need to hear it from those of us who used to be in the same situation that they are in now! They need to hear it from the priests of Christ the King - all of us who are appointed to the task of spreading the gospel! That is how we can serve the King! That is how we can thank and praise him for choosing us to serve on his staff and in his kingdom. Sharing this gospel message is how we can glorify his name not only for appointing us to these positions but also for making our positions permanent.
Usually, an individual appointed by the president is able to keep his/her job as long as the president who appointed them remains in office. But as soon as someone else takes over the presidency, those who had been previously appointed are replaced by new people in a new administration. But there will be no new administration now that Christ the King sits on the throne. There is no term limit with the “Ruler of the kings of the earth.” He will never be defeated. And he will never die - he will never die again anyway. The reign of Christ our King will last forever and so the appointments that he has made will last forever as well. We will not be removed because of a new administration taking over. We will not be replaced by anyone else. And we will always be forgiven when we don’t do justice to the office we are honored to hold. And all of these truths about Christ and his rule motivate us all the more to work as hard as we can to honor, thank, serve, and obey him. Because there is no other King who could possibly show us so much love. There is no other King who could have saved us from where we were confined. There is no other King who would want to give up his own life for people like us! There is no other King. Period. Christ the King really is the only Ruler, the only Emperor, the only Leader, the only President. All others serve him. And so whether the rulers of this earth believe in Christ as their King or not is inconsequential. Because the King of kings will make sure that every one of their decisions and every one of their actions will work out according to his ultimate plan for his chosen people. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’” says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Christ our King is the Almighty. He is the Beginning and he is the Last. He is the one who always has been, the one who is right now, and the one who will always be. And we have been chosen to serve on his staff. It is a privilege to be where we are. It is joy to know where we will one day be.
Amen.
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” - 1 Timothy 1:17
- We are part of his kingdom
- We are priests of God
Whenever a new president takes office in this country he is allowed to appoint any number of different individuals to fill various government positions. He chooses his own staff; he decides who he wants to sit on certain committees and boards and judge’s seats; he determines who the administrators and representatives and ambassadors will be in many different areas; he is even able to select who he wants on the staffs that are under those whom he appoints. A president has a lot of control over who he wants working for him and he naturally expects that those he appoints will carry out his will and do the things he asks them to do. These people owe him, after all! Their jobs and promotions are based solely on the fact that the president has hand-picked them. And so most people want to do all they can to prove to the president that he made the right decision.
This morning we are celebrating “Christ the King” Sunday. We praise him for being the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the author of our salvation who has defeated our enemies and now sits on his throne with all things under his feet. This King, the Almighty Ruler of all things, also appoints people to fill positions under him. He chooses his own staff. And he considers every one of the positions he fills extremely important. Listen to how the apostle John describes whom this King appoints and to what positions he appoints them. “Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” Jesus Christ is the “ruler of the kings of the earth” and he has “made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” The King appoints us! We are on his staff! We have been chosen to serve under the administration of the Lord God Almighty! In fact, we as believers make up his kingdom!
The kingdom of God is composed of believers. We have been hand-picked by God himself to serve under him, to carry out his will, to do his bidding, to follow his commands. He has appointed us to be administrators and representatives and ambassadors in many different areas of life. And he expects that because he is responsible for the positions we now hold, we will do everything we can to follow his directives and do whatever he asks us to do.
Of course, that doesn’t always happen, does it? We don’t always want to do what the King wants us to do. We don’t always have the motivation and we don’t always make the time to carry out what we have been appointed to carry out. We are not always loyal subjects to the King. We have our own agendas and our own ideas and our own personal objectives that we would like to get done instead of God’s will. Because let’s face it: the 10 Commandments are not always all that convenient to keep sometimes. Loving our neighbor just as much as we love ourselves is a little too time consuming and much too self-sacrificing to be enjoyable most days. Sharing the Word of God with others is usually a bit embarrassing and all too often more stressful than what we want to deal with. What the King wants us to do isn’t always what we want to do - and so we just flat out don’t do it half the time! And because the King does not immediately strike us dead for disobeying his commands, we become all the more bold each passing year because we know that we will not have to suffer instant consequences for our actions. And so we go about our lives, doing our own things, and taking the King’s order into consideration only if they happen to match up with our own plans.
When a president appoints a particular person to a specific position, the president expects that his directions and plans will be followed by the person he has appointed to that office. The president might tolerate a few mistakes. He may overlook a stupid decision here and there. But if that person he appointed begins to do things directly against the president’s wishes and orders, that person will not hold his position for long. That kind of insubordination will not be allowed. The president will not hesitate to relieve that person of his responsibilities and give the position to someone who will do what the president wants him to do. If an appointed member of the president’s staff decides to do his own thing, he will be replaced.
We should be replaced. We should be replaced as members of Christ the King’s staff. Because we have decided to do our own thing for the majority of our lives. We ignore what the King has written down more often than we would admit. We have pretended not to hear what he asks of us on quite a few occasions. We have often times determined that what we want is a little more important and little more pressing at the time than what the King wants. We should have been replaced along time ago! Someone else, who actually follows the King’s commands a little more carefully and honors the King’s wishes a little more faithfully, should have taken over for us almost immediately.
But here we still are. The King hasn’t replaced us. And he isn’t going to. Because unlike presidential appointments, Christ our King does not base his decisions on our qualifications or abilities or past record or potential. Christ the King appointed us to positions on his staff because of his mercy and compassion. Christ the King chose us not because of anything he saw in us, but because of all the love in him. And so not only will he never replace us, he has even given us a promotion! On top of being made a part of his kingdom, we have also been given the title and the unbelievable privilege of being his priests. “He has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.” And he calls us his priests for a very important reason.
In Old Testament times the priests stood before God on behalf of the people. They were the ones that were allowed to come into God’s presence when no one else could. The priests were the ones through whom God gave forgiveness to those he loved. And now we have been appointed priests of Christ the King and have been given the very same duties. We stand before God on behalf of the rest of the people in this world - praying for them, pleading for their salvation. We are the ones allowed to come into Christ’s presence when no one else can - because unbelievers are separated from God on account of their lack of faith. We are the ones through him God gives forgiveness to those in this life - by sending us out with the words of the gospel and urging us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and his salvation to all people. We are priests of Christ the King. We hold special positions on his staff that are essential to God’s plan of salvation for all of those lost souls throughout this world. Even though we are sinners and even though we have failed to carry out our priestly duties time after time, we are still the perfect people for the job. We are the perfect people to be appointed as priests of Christ not because we are so godly, but because we are so sinful. We are the perfect people to be God’s priests because of our sinfulness - we know exactly what the King has done for us! We know what he went through to save us from the enemy, we know what kind of sacrifice it took to win us back, and so there is no better group of people than saved sinners to share this exciting news of salvation with others.
Don’t forget how hopeless it once was for us: We were confined in the chains of sin and rotting away in a dungeon of spiritual darkness until Christ the King came. When Christ the King had his hands and feet nailed to the cross, the chains of sin that held our hands and feet broke free. When Christ the King gave up his life into the hands of his Father, our death sentence was lifted. When the first rays of light pierced through the blackness of the empty tomb when the stone was rolled away on Easter morning, the light of the gospel filled up the dark prison where we had been lying and dying and gave us life. Christ the King came and he was victorious. He rescued us from our enemies: Death the Consequence, Sin the Instigator, and Satan the Accomplice, and brought us into his kingdom, into his castle, into his arms. And we know this from experience. We understand what the King sacrificed to pay the ransom for our souls. And there are so many more people need to hear that. They need to hear that Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” They need to hear that he “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” And they need to hear it from those of us who used to be in the same situation that they are in now! They need to hear it from the priests of Christ the King - all of us who are appointed to the task of spreading the gospel! That is how we can serve the King! That is how we can thank and praise him for choosing us to serve on his staff and in his kingdom. Sharing this gospel message is how we can glorify his name not only for appointing us to these positions but also for making our positions permanent.
Usually, an individual appointed by the president is able to keep his/her job as long as the president who appointed them remains in office. But as soon as someone else takes over the presidency, those who had been previously appointed are replaced by new people in a new administration. But there will be no new administration now that Christ the King sits on the throne. There is no term limit with the “Ruler of the kings of the earth.” He will never be defeated. And he will never die - he will never die again anyway. The reign of Christ our King will last forever and so the appointments that he has made will last forever as well. We will not be removed because of a new administration taking over. We will not be replaced by anyone else. And we will always be forgiven when we don’t do justice to the office we are honored to hold. And all of these truths about Christ and his rule motivate us all the more to work as hard as we can to honor, thank, serve, and obey him. Because there is no other King who could possibly show us so much love. There is no other King who could have saved us from where we were confined. There is no other King who would want to give up his own life for people like us! There is no other King. Period. Christ the King really is the only Ruler, the only Emperor, the only Leader, the only President. All others serve him. And so whether the rulers of this earth believe in Christ as their King or not is inconsequential. Because the King of kings will make sure that every one of their decisions and every one of their actions will work out according to his ultimate plan for his chosen people. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’” says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Christ our King is the Almighty. He is the Beginning and he is the Last. He is the one who always has been, the one who is right now, and the one who will always be. And we have been chosen to serve on his staff. It is a privilege to be where we are. It is joy to know where we will one day be.
Amen.
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” - 1 Timothy 1:17
Sunday, November 15, 2009
11/15/09 - Saints Triumphant - John 5:25-29
"ALL RISE"
- There is only one Judge
- The Judge is on our side
As a general rule, judges are treated with respect. They are given the seat that is raised up above everyone else in the courtroom. When anyone addresses a judge they refer to him or her as “Your Honor.” Even when a judge walks into the room the bailiff instructs those who are present: “All rise!” - implying that this person in the judicial robe is to be respected by all those gathered there. Judges are usually treated this way because they have gone through the necessary schooling, they have passed the exams, they have paid their dues, and now they are in control of their respective courtrooms. They have the gavel, they keep the order, they set the pace, many times they make the final decisions, and they hand out sentencing according to their expert assessment of the situation. And everyone must listen to the judge. Disorder, unruliness, and disrespect are not tolerated. There may be many different opinions and ideas and beliefs in any given courtroom, but there is only one judge. And he has the final say.
There may be many different opinions and beliefs and ideas among the people of this earth, but there is only one Judge. And he has the final say. And when that Judge decides it’s time, he will come back robed in all of his glory, he will hold court, and all will rise to meet him. “Do not be amazed at this,” Jesus says. “For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.” This Judge whom Jesus is speaking about is himself. And all people will have to listen to him. He will make the final decision. He will determine who is guilty and who is not. And he will hand out sentencing according to his good and perfect will. Jesus is the Judge. No one else is. Jesus is the Judge. We are not. No matter how often we act like it.
It is pretty typical for us to act like judges, isn’t it? There are very few of us who actually are patient and understanding and put the best construction on everything people say and everything people do. And I don’t mean simply determining that a word or an action is sinful - we are called on to make those kinds of “judgments” as Christians when we compare those things to God’s Word. I’m talking about making that final judgment call, that ultimate decision about a person’s faith or their true motivations behind their actions or where they will eventually end up - making a judgment about a person’s heart. And before your tell yourself that you would never judge a person’s heart, let me tell you this: I do it all the time. Instead of giving a person the benefit of the doubt, I tend to immediately make the determination that this person is too stubborn and too far gone to save, and that person has proved to be unapproachable with the gospel so I won’t even try, and this person may seem like he is doing good things but I’m sure he has sinful intentions and motivations, and that person is so far off the deep end in what she believes that there is no way she will ever accept the Truth of God’s Word. I like to be the judge! I like to pound that gavel and make my ruling based on outward appearances and first impressions and past experiences. And those are the determining factors because I certainly can’t base my judgment on what is really in their hearts!
And if I’m not mistaken, you can’t either. Only God can judge the heart. Only he knows why someone does what he does or says what she says; only God knows what their final sentence will be. Not that it stops us! We regularly usurp the authority away from Christ and pretend as if it were ours. We make the decisions about others for him before it is time. We act like we are insightful enough to determine whether or not it is possible for a person to come to faith. We are think we are allowed to write someone off because their hypocritical actions and half-hearted attempts at Christianity aren’t going to fool us - since we really know what lies beneath their supposedly good intentions.
I’m not sure if this is going to be too obvious: but Jesus doesn’t like when we do that. He doesn’t appreciate it when we take the authority that his been given to him alone and then attempt to make the decisions that only he is capable of making. He doesn’t hand us the gavel. He doesn’t give us his seat. He doesn’t rise when we walk into the room. No, on the Last Day we will rise for the one and only Judge along with all those who have gone before us. And he will command us to be quiet. He will tell us to pay attention. He will let us know that every decision and every judgment that we had made about others on this earth does not matter. Because he is the Judge. It is his job to weigh the evidence. It is his call. And we will get what is coming to us just like everyone else.
When I was at the Seminary in Milwaukee, I regularly attended and helped out one of the WELS churches there during my first two years. One of the members of that congregation was a circuit judge who had served in the city of Milwaukee for decades. I took a trip to the courthouse one afternoon to watch him in action and so that he could show me around the back rooms and let me know how the court system worked. When I arrived at the courthouse and found the room in which this WELS judge was residing, court was in session. And so I sat down behind the glass partition in the back with a few other spectators and watched. Judge Manian was sitting on his judge’s seat and there in the center of the room was a teenage kid and his mother facing the front. Their lawyer was sitting down, the bailiff was there and the court reporter, but no one else was in the courtroom proper. Apparently, this young man had been at a party a few months back. And, after an argument with someone there, had left the house in anger. But as he was walking away from the house, he had pulled a gun from his pants and shot a few rounds back at the front side of the home he had just left. No one was hit, no one in particular seemed to be the target, but this kid was in trouble nonetheless. The evidence had already been gathered, this teenager was obviously guilty, and so now it was time for the sentencing.
After Judge Manian recounted his crimes the boy’s mother who had been standing by his side asked for permission to speak. When her request was granted she began to beg for leniency. She said that her son really was a good boy, that she would keep a close eye on him, that he has never done anything like this before, that a prison sentence would ruin his life at such a young age… After she spoke for almost ten minutes, it was time for Judge Manian to make his final ruling. “Whenever you pull a gun and shoot it,” he began, “that is automatic jail time. It doesn’t matter if you hit anyone or not. It doesn’t matter if you were aiming at anyone or not. It doesn’t matter if you are 16 years old or not. When you pull a gun and shoot it, that is automatic jail time.” Judge Manian then went on to express his disappointment in this young man’s behavior and the lack of common sense he had displayed that night. He warned him about the dangers of getting involved with the wrong people and about carrying a firearm as a minor. He informed him about the miserable life of prison and reminded this teenager that his permanent record would be marred because of his actions. In fact, his speech was longer than the mother’s had been. And when he had finally said all that he wanted to say to this boy, he finished his ruling like this: “Whenever you pull a gun and shoot it, that is automatic jail time. But I’m not going to send you to jail. I believe your remorse is sincere. And I don’t want to send you to jail and watch your life come to an end when you have so much of your life ahead of you. But I never want to see you back here again. If I do, the results will not be this pleasant. Do you understand me?”
The mother began to cry, her son was visibly grateful for the mercy he had just been shown, and those two left the courtroom that morning with a renewed sense of life and hope. Now, this kid was put on probation, of course, he had to do quite a bit of community service, and there were other stipulations to his punishment. But the sentence he deserved to receive was not handed down him. Judge Manian had shown compassion to this young man not because of what he had done (of course!) and not because of who he was, but because Judge Manian wanted to have compassion on him. He pardoned him from his crime and had given something back to him that this 16 year old boy had given up when he had pulled that gun and shot it months before. He had been given life again.
On the Last Day each one of us will rise and stand before the Almighty Judge. The evidence will have already been gathered and it will be obvious that we are guilty. There will be no trial; there will only be sentencing. And the Lord our Judge will pull out the long list of offenses that we have committed throughout our lives and say, “Your sins deserve automatic jail time - an eternal life sentence. It doesn’t matter how hard you tried. And it doesn’t matter how “good” you were compared to others. Every sin means automatic jail time in hell for eternity. But I’m not going to send you to jail. Because I have already been there for you myself. I have already taken the punishment. I have already suffered for these sins. They no longer count against you. This rap sheet is mine. And I have already done the time. And now you get to live with me forever in heaven.”
And there’s the difference. There’s the difference between God our Judge and any earthly judge in this life. I can use all of the courtroom analogies that I want, but nothing will ever be able to come close to what our Judge did for us. He not only pardons us, he paid for us! He not only is our Judge but he is the condemned criminal! He was arrested by the posse of the high priest. He stood on trial before his own countrymen and a roman judge. He was sentenced to an execution. He was posted to a beam of wood. He was sent to hell to experience an eternal torture. He was the recipient of the death penalty and much, much more than we can possibly imagine. The one who will sit on the judgment seat on Judgment Day is the one who has hung on a cross and laid in a tomb. The one who will be responsible for our sentencing is the one responsible for our salvation. Our Judge is on our side. And that is the very reason he has been given the authority.
“[God] has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” Because the Son of Man has taken on the body of a human being, he has been given the honor to judge his fellow human beings. Because the Son of Man has suffered an eternal amount of pain, he has been given the honor of judging those for whom he suffered. Because the Son of Man met death face to face and conquered it, he has been given the privilege to judge those for whom he died and rose again. Because the Son of Man became one of us, he has been given the honor to judge those who do not believe in him and all of us who do. The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, is our Judge, and there is no one else that we would want with the gavel in his hand. Because he is a merciful God. He is a kind and compassionate God. And he is compassionate not because we have done something to earn it, of course, but because he wants to be compassionate to us. And on the Last Day he will give us what we have thrown away. He will give us life. That is his promise to us. Our life is what he died for after all. And so what a glorious day it will be when he comes again! We will all rise to meet our Judge. And then we who believe in him will rise to be with him in heaven for all eternity. There will be no greater day for Christians than Judgment Day. Because on that Day we will see our Savior face to face for the first time. On that Day we will be freed from sin forever. On that Day we will finally go home. And that one Day will last forever.
Amen.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
- Rev. 4:8
- There is only one Judge
- The Judge is on our side
As a general rule, judges are treated with respect. They are given the seat that is raised up above everyone else in the courtroom. When anyone addresses a judge they refer to him or her as “Your Honor.” Even when a judge walks into the room the bailiff instructs those who are present: “All rise!” - implying that this person in the judicial robe is to be respected by all those gathered there. Judges are usually treated this way because they have gone through the necessary schooling, they have passed the exams, they have paid their dues, and now they are in control of their respective courtrooms. They have the gavel, they keep the order, they set the pace, many times they make the final decisions, and they hand out sentencing according to their expert assessment of the situation. And everyone must listen to the judge. Disorder, unruliness, and disrespect are not tolerated. There may be many different opinions and ideas and beliefs in any given courtroom, but there is only one judge. And he has the final say.
There may be many different opinions and beliefs and ideas among the people of this earth, but there is only one Judge. And he has the final say. And when that Judge decides it’s time, he will come back robed in all of his glory, he will hold court, and all will rise to meet him. “Do not be amazed at this,” Jesus says. “For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.” This Judge whom Jesus is speaking about is himself. And all people will have to listen to him. He will make the final decision. He will determine who is guilty and who is not. And he will hand out sentencing according to his good and perfect will. Jesus is the Judge. No one else is. Jesus is the Judge. We are not. No matter how often we act like it.
It is pretty typical for us to act like judges, isn’t it? There are very few of us who actually are patient and understanding and put the best construction on everything people say and everything people do. And I don’t mean simply determining that a word or an action is sinful - we are called on to make those kinds of “judgments” as Christians when we compare those things to God’s Word. I’m talking about making that final judgment call, that ultimate decision about a person’s faith or their true motivations behind their actions or where they will eventually end up - making a judgment about a person’s heart. And before your tell yourself that you would never judge a person’s heart, let me tell you this: I do it all the time. Instead of giving a person the benefit of the doubt, I tend to immediately make the determination that this person is too stubborn and too far gone to save, and that person has proved to be unapproachable with the gospel so I won’t even try, and this person may seem like he is doing good things but I’m sure he has sinful intentions and motivations, and that person is so far off the deep end in what she believes that there is no way she will ever accept the Truth of God’s Word. I like to be the judge! I like to pound that gavel and make my ruling based on outward appearances and first impressions and past experiences. And those are the determining factors because I certainly can’t base my judgment on what is really in their hearts!
And if I’m not mistaken, you can’t either. Only God can judge the heart. Only he knows why someone does what he does or says what she says; only God knows what their final sentence will be. Not that it stops us! We regularly usurp the authority away from Christ and pretend as if it were ours. We make the decisions about others for him before it is time. We act like we are insightful enough to determine whether or not it is possible for a person to come to faith. We are think we are allowed to write someone off because their hypocritical actions and half-hearted attempts at Christianity aren’t going to fool us - since we really know what lies beneath their supposedly good intentions.
I’m not sure if this is going to be too obvious: but Jesus doesn’t like when we do that. He doesn’t appreciate it when we take the authority that his been given to him alone and then attempt to make the decisions that only he is capable of making. He doesn’t hand us the gavel. He doesn’t give us his seat. He doesn’t rise when we walk into the room. No, on the Last Day we will rise for the one and only Judge along with all those who have gone before us. And he will command us to be quiet. He will tell us to pay attention. He will let us know that every decision and every judgment that we had made about others on this earth does not matter. Because he is the Judge. It is his job to weigh the evidence. It is his call. And we will get what is coming to us just like everyone else.
When I was at the Seminary in Milwaukee, I regularly attended and helped out one of the WELS churches there during my first two years. One of the members of that congregation was a circuit judge who had served in the city of Milwaukee for decades. I took a trip to the courthouse one afternoon to watch him in action and so that he could show me around the back rooms and let me know how the court system worked. When I arrived at the courthouse and found the room in which this WELS judge was residing, court was in session. And so I sat down behind the glass partition in the back with a few other spectators and watched. Judge Manian was sitting on his judge’s seat and there in the center of the room was a teenage kid and his mother facing the front. Their lawyer was sitting down, the bailiff was there and the court reporter, but no one else was in the courtroom proper. Apparently, this young man had been at a party a few months back. And, after an argument with someone there, had left the house in anger. But as he was walking away from the house, he had pulled a gun from his pants and shot a few rounds back at the front side of the home he had just left. No one was hit, no one in particular seemed to be the target, but this kid was in trouble nonetheless. The evidence had already been gathered, this teenager was obviously guilty, and so now it was time for the sentencing.
After Judge Manian recounted his crimes the boy’s mother who had been standing by his side asked for permission to speak. When her request was granted she began to beg for leniency. She said that her son really was a good boy, that she would keep a close eye on him, that he has never done anything like this before, that a prison sentence would ruin his life at such a young age… After she spoke for almost ten minutes, it was time for Judge Manian to make his final ruling. “Whenever you pull a gun and shoot it,” he began, “that is automatic jail time. It doesn’t matter if you hit anyone or not. It doesn’t matter if you were aiming at anyone or not. It doesn’t matter if you are 16 years old or not. When you pull a gun and shoot it, that is automatic jail time.” Judge Manian then went on to express his disappointment in this young man’s behavior and the lack of common sense he had displayed that night. He warned him about the dangers of getting involved with the wrong people and about carrying a firearm as a minor. He informed him about the miserable life of prison and reminded this teenager that his permanent record would be marred because of his actions. In fact, his speech was longer than the mother’s had been. And when he had finally said all that he wanted to say to this boy, he finished his ruling like this: “Whenever you pull a gun and shoot it, that is automatic jail time. But I’m not going to send you to jail. I believe your remorse is sincere. And I don’t want to send you to jail and watch your life come to an end when you have so much of your life ahead of you. But I never want to see you back here again. If I do, the results will not be this pleasant. Do you understand me?”
The mother began to cry, her son was visibly grateful for the mercy he had just been shown, and those two left the courtroom that morning with a renewed sense of life and hope. Now, this kid was put on probation, of course, he had to do quite a bit of community service, and there were other stipulations to his punishment. But the sentence he deserved to receive was not handed down him. Judge Manian had shown compassion to this young man not because of what he had done (of course!) and not because of who he was, but because Judge Manian wanted to have compassion on him. He pardoned him from his crime and had given something back to him that this 16 year old boy had given up when he had pulled that gun and shot it months before. He had been given life again.
On the Last Day each one of us will rise and stand before the Almighty Judge. The evidence will have already been gathered and it will be obvious that we are guilty. There will be no trial; there will only be sentencing. And the Lord our Judge will pull out the long list of offenses that we have committed throughout our lives and say, “Your sins deserve automatic jail time - an eternal life sentence. It doesn’t matter how hard you tried. And it doesn’t matter how “good” you were compared to others. Every sin means automatic jail time in hell for eternity. But I’m not going to send you to jail. Because I have already been there for you myself. I have already taken the punishment. I have already suffered for these sins. They no longer count against you. This rap sheet is mine. And I have already done the time. And now you get to live with me forever in heaven.”
And there’s the difference. There’s the difference between God our Judge and any earthly judge in this life. I can use all of the courtroom analogies that I want, but nothing will ever be able to come close to what our Judge did for us. He not only pardons us, he paid for us! He not only is our Judge but he is the condemned criminal! He was arrested by the posse of the high priest. He stood on trial before his own countrymen and a roman judge. He was sentenced to an execution. He was posted to a beam of wood. He was sent to hell to experience an eternal torture. He was the recipient of the death penalty and much, much more than we can possibly imagine. The one who will sit on the judgment seat on Judgment Day is the one who has hung on a cross and laid in a tomb. The one who will be responsible for our sentencing is the one responsible for our salvation. Our Judge is on our side. And that is the very reason he has been given the authority.
“[God] has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” Because the Son of Man has taken on the body of a human being, he has been given the honor to judge his fellow human beings. Because the Son of Man has suffered an eternal amount of pain, he has been given the honor of judging those for whom he suffered. Because the Son of Man met death face to face and conquered it, he has been given the privilege to judge those for whom he died and rose again. Because the Son of Man became one of us, he has been given the honor to judge those who do not believe in him and all of us who do. The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, is our Judge, and there is no one else that we would want with the gavel in his hand. Because he is a merciful God. He is a kind and compassionate God. And he is compassionate not because we have done something to earn it, of course, but because he wants to be compassionate to us. And on the Last Day he will give us what we have thrown away. He will give us life. That is his promise to us. Our life is what he died for after all. And so what a glorious day it will be when he comes again! We will all rise to meet our Judge. And then we who believe in him will rise to be with him in heaven for all eternity. There will be no greater day for Christians than Judgment Day. Because on that Day we will see our Savior face to face for the first time. On that Day we will be freed from sin forever. On that Day we will finally go home. And that one Day will last forever.
Amen.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
- Rev. 4:8
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Subscribe to Sermons
Posts
All Comments