A LIFE WORTH LIVING
- Eating flesh
- Drinking blood
I’m glad you’re here today. I’m glad you’re here every Sunday, don’t get me wrong. But today is special. Because our sermon text today is special. The words of John 6:51-58 are some of the most important words in all of Scripture. They have to deal with your salvation, with your eternal life! So these words are perfect for those who have never heard the gospel before, and they are perfect for those who’ve heard the gospel for years. Because Jesus cuts out all the extras, he gets back down to the basics. His words are blunt, his words are straightforward, his words are clear. In these few verses Jesus tells us what the only life worth living is. It’s a life of eating flesh and drinking blood.
The only life worth living is eating flesh and drinking blood. Those words of Jesus don’t seem too clear at first, do they? But trust me, they are. When I read these verses to you as our gospel reading today I said that this portion of Scripture is talking about faith in Christ. Jesus is simply explaining that we are saved by faith alone in picturesque and vivid language. We must eat his flesh and drink his blood if we are to have eternal life. We must believe in him! So why does Jesus bother putting the concept of faith in the words of eating flesh and drinking blood? Well, it stresses in two unique ways that we must believe in what Jesus did as both true man and as true God. And that is the only life worth living. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Any other life is really no life at all.
And I mean that. God means that. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Any other life is no life at all. And I know that we are Christians here. I know that you believe that Jesus is true man and true God. But sometimes that life, that life grounded in faith, takes a back seat to the pursuit of another. For example: what do you live for? What do you plan for, what motivates you to get up in the morning, what do you look forward to? Fishing? Hunting? Seeing your kids or grandkids again? You plan to do things that are months away and you look forward to those events every day up till then. Maybe you live for the weekend. Maybe you live to retire. Maybe you’re already there. And it could be a variety of other things that you live for. Do you see what I mean? There are so many things that we look for and we long for and we want. And those things aren’t wrong in and of themselves. There are many blessing that the Lord has given us in this life to enjoy. But do those things alone make a life worth living?
Sadly, many people who do not know Christ would say it is. They would say, “Sure those things make life worth living. Isn’t it the point to be happy with your life and enjoy the things you can?” Yeah, but that’s not all. In fact, those things aren’t even the most important part about your life. So don’t let them be any longer! Don’t let the earthly blessings that the Lord gives you in this life take precedence over the blessing of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Faith is the most important blessing that you have. It is really the only blessing that matters.
It’s the only blessing that matters. Because earthly blessings come and go. You won’t always be able to fish and hunt and see your kids and grandkids when you want to. Things won’t always turn out the way you planned. You may not be able enjoy next weekend, you may not be able to retire when you want to – if ever. The things that we want in this life and we strive for and we live for, very well may never happen. And, you see, it doesn’t matter. None of those things that might happen or have happened in your life matter, because if you have the blessing of faith in your life, you have the only life worth living anyway. Who cares what else happens. You are able to eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us.” John says earlier in his book that Jesus became flesh. He clothed his heavenly being in earthly flesh. The flesh of one of his creatures. And it was true human flesh. Jesus experienced things in the flesh and suffered things in the flesh just like any of us do. He “grew in wisdom and stature,” he was “hungry,” he was “thirsty,” “he wept.” Jesus’ flesh became tired, it was whipped, it was scourged, it was beaten. His flesh was driven through with nails, jabbed with a spear, pierced with thorns. Jesus’ flesh died. Why? Why did God take on flesh just to suffer? Because he had to. He had to be “made in human likeness,” as Paul says, so that he could save the human race. Somebody had to satisfy the demands of the law. And that’s exactly what Jesus did! In Galatians we read that Jesus “destroyed the law and its commandments in his flesh.” He kept the law, he fulfilled it, he destroyed the consequences of our sins in his flesh. That is the flesh in which we believe. That is the flesh our faith eats. That is the flesh that makes our life worth living.
Of course, Jesus’ flesh is only part of the equation, isn’t it. We are to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jesus is stressing here not only that he is true man, but that he is also true God. Because while his flesh kept the law perfectly, suffered, and died – his blood was the actual ransom to buy us back. “In him,” Scripture says, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Because “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Jesus blood was shed for us. It was no ordinary blood. It was perfect blood. It was God’s blood. It was the ransom price for our lives. So drink it up. Drink it up. Never has blood been so beautiful. And never will blood taste so good.
This is the blood your faith drinks along with the flesh your faith eats. This is the Christ in whom your faith believes. Listen to this beautiful summary in the book of Hebrews: “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—… For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
You have eaten Christ’s flesh. You have drunk his blood. You have been forgiven. That is life. That is the only life worth living. Because Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Knowing this, what else matters? You have eternal life. You will be raised on the last day to go to heaven. What else matters? What else in this earthly life makes a difference one way or another? You have been graciously given faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. You are saved. You will live forever. Period. Any other life could never measure up to the life of eternity.
And that brings us to the final point. Who did Jesus say these words to? He said them to his disciples, he said them to the Jews standing there, and he has them written down in Scripture – so really, he says these words to everyone. Jesus wants these words said to everyone in the world. Who have you said these words to? If faith in Christ is the only life worth living, if faith in Christ is the only thing that really matters, who have you told? Who have you ignored? Who have you given up on?
I know you have a family member or close relative or a good friend who does not eat Christ’s flesh or drink Christ’s blood. I know that you hesitate to say something because the time isn’t right, or you don’t want to stir up an argument, or they won’t listen anyway. When will the time be right? When will the eternal life of your loved one be more important than a little argument? When will their soul be worth a try – again? The time is now, my friends. Eternal life is on the line. Their soul is worth fighting for! Don’t hold anything back! Whatever you do, tell them about your Lord and Savior. Give them chance to eat that flesh and drink that blood. What else matters? Are you happy that they are not filling themselves with “real food” and “real drink?” Are you satisfied that they will go to hell if they don’t believe in their Savior? Are you content to let them live lives that count for nothing?
I know you aren’t content with that. That’s why this is an urgent plea to tell your loved one about the only thing that matters. Tell them about what you have. Tell them about the one in whom you believe. Tell them that Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died in their place, rose from the dead, bought them back from the clutches of Satan, washed their sins away in his own blood, and gave them a sure spot in heaven! Tell them about eternity that is waiting. Tell them about flesh and blood. Tell them, tell them about the only life that is really worth living.
Amen.
Friday, March 20, 2009
8/27/06 - Pentecost 12 - 1 Kings 19:3-8 - Get Up!
GET UP!
- When you're feeling down
- In order to eat
One of my all-time favorite characters in all of Scripture is Elijah. He has fascinated me ever since I was a little kid. He was fed by ravens, he raised a boy from the dead, he prayed to the Lord and fire rained down from heaven, and he was taken directly to heaven in a whirlwind! There are a lot of unique things that happened during his lifetime. But to me the miracles Elijah was involved with aren’t the most interesting thing about him. I think what captivates me about Elijah are his struggles. Because even though he was a prophet of God, he struggled with his faith. He struggled with doubt. He wasn’t always confident that the Lord would see him through. It always amazed me that such an esteemed individual of Scripture like Elijah could feel so down at times – that he could be so much like me: in a constant struggle with his faith.
Our text finds Elijah feeling down. Chapter 19 picks up right after the famous stand-off with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel. They were to pray to their god and Elijah would pray to his to find out whose god was the true God. The prophets of Baal prayed to their false god all day long, but were not able to get a response from Baal – for obvious reasons, but when Elijah prayed to the true God, the Lord rained down fire from heaven and burned up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dirt and the water in the trench. After that decisive victory the Lord brought about Elijah had all of the prophets of Baal put to death. That should have left Elijah feeling pretty good. But Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, sent a letter to Elijah and warned him that she was going to put him to death the very next day.
And so begins our text. Elijah has just received that letter, and he sees that not only is his life in danger, but that the people still were not worshiping the true God. And so he ran away. He went into the desert, sat down under a tree, and prayed that the Lord might take his life. He was depressed by the situation, he was overwhelmed with responsibility, and he felt like a complete failure at the task for which he had worked so long and so hard.
Sometimes we feel the same way, don’t we? We all feel down at certain points in our lives. And we can feel down for a variety of reasons. Some of us have had feelings of hopelessness, feelings of despair. Everything seems to be going wrong. No matter what you do it’s not turning out right. And the way things are going: nothing will ever turn out the way you want it too. Like Elijah you just want to give up. You want it all to be over with so you don’t have to deal with it any longer.
Some of us have had the feeling of being overwhelmed. You’ve got so many responsibilities right now that you can’t handle them all. And you keep getting more thrown on your shoulders every day! Work is stressful, your duties at home are unmanageable, and the bills keep going up when you paycheck doesn’t. How are you going to afford what you need to afford? How are you going to get done what you need to get done? How are you going to hold up under the pressures and responsibilities that are weighing you down? Like Elijah you just want all those weights to be lifted. You want to live without anything hanging over your head.
Some of us have felt like complete failures. Especially when it comes to someone else’s faith. You’ve tried and tried and tried to tell this person about Christ. For hours, for months, for years, you have been working on this person, speaking to them, praying for them – and they refuse to listen. And the worst part about it is: you care about this person. They are close to your heart. But you don’t know if you’ll ever see them in heaven. Like Elijah you just want their hearts to be opened. You want their stubbornness to be broken so that you can at least go to sleep at night with a clear conscience.
This is Elijah. These three situations that make us feel down are exactly what Elijah was going through. That’s why he asked the Lord that he might die. He didn’t want to deal with any of that any longer. He had had enough. But the Lord didn’t agree with Elijah’s assessment of the situation. He didn’t take Elijah’s life. In fact, it’s interesting to note that Elijah and Jonah are the only two people recorded in Scripture who actually prayed to the Lord to die. But God didn’t grant their requests in either situation. And in the case of Elijah – he never died. The Lord obviously had different plans for his prophet. The Lord didn’t think the situation was all that bad. And later in the chapter we see that the Lord was, in fact, a little upset about Elijah’s lack of faith. And so instead of taking Elijah’s life, the Lord renewed it. He sent an angel to tap him on the shoulder. And that angel wasn’t there to take him to heaven, he was there to give him these few words of chastisement and encourage: “Get up and eat.”
Are you feeling down? Get up and eat. These are the words of the Lord to you. These are the words of the Lord that I need to listen to on occasion also. Get up and eat. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop thinking that the situation is hopeless. Stop wondering if you are a complete failure in preaching the Word. Get up and eat. Now, you’re not obviously going to eat physical bread like Elijah did. But like Elijah you will eat bread from heaven that will revive you. And that bread, of course, is exactly what we heard in our gospel lesson today: the Bread of Life – our Savior himself. Where can you eat this bread? Right here, in Scripture. This is the heavenly bread. This is the bread that will revive you. This is the bread that clarifies what God thinks about the situation you’re dealing with.
Feeling down because a situation is hopeless? Get up and eat this bread from John 16: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” There is no hopeless situation! There is no moment in which things will not work out for your good! Here’s some more bread from Romans: God “will work out everything for the good of those who love him.” Your life is securely in the palm of your Savior’s hands. And everything that happens around you he will work out for your best interests. There is no reason to feel hopeless about any situation. But there’s every reason to find hope.
Feeling down because you are overwhelmed? Get up and eat this bread from Psalm 68, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” Nothing can overwhelm you. Nothing can weigh you down. Here’s some more bread from 1 Peter, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Stress, worry, exhaustion – thrown out the window. The Lord will take care of you and your problems as he always has.
Feeling down because your evangelism efforts to your relative have failed? Get up and eat this bread from Isaiah 55, “As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth… so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The words you speak are the words of God. And the outcome is always in line with the Lord’s will, whether or not you understand it at the time. But know your job is to plant the seed; God’s job is to make it grow. So if you do speak his words you are not a failure, you are a faithful messenger of the Lord himself.
So again, get up and eat. Go to Bible class and fill yourself up. Read your Bible at home and get that daily nutrition. Because a day in which you do not read your Bible is a wasted day. That might be a little bit of an overstatement, but it’s to make the point that the most important thing you could do during any given day is read the Word. And I know that it’s one thing to say it and another thing to actually do it. That’s why I have placed a sheet of daily Bible readings on the back counter near the bulletins. Each day about 4 chapters or so are scheduled for you to read. It takes about 10 minutes. It’s the one I use because if I didn’t have a schedule that told me what to read, I never would. And by using that schedule you will read through the entire Bible in a year every year. If you have a system already, great. If you don’t or you want a change, I encourage you to take advantage of this. After church, if you need one, pick one up. I won’t hand them out, I won’t watch to see who takes one. They are there for you and they always will be so that you can effectively feed yourself with the Bread of Life.
And may I make a suggestion? Write questions down. When you read your daily Bible readings or meditations or whatever, write down questions you have and bring them to Bible class. Or ask me personally if you’d like. That’s why I’m here. That’s why we are here. To grow in the faith and to eat the Bread of Life together – especially when we’re feeling down.
There will be times in which you will feel down. And when you do: get up and eat. Eat this Bread. Continue to feed yourself with this Bread of Life because in it your soul will be revived with forgiveness. Bread from Romans: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” There it is. That’s the good stuff. That’s your forgiveness for the sin of feeling down, for doubting God’s love and power. That’s the Bread you need to continue to go to, to eat, to have your fill. Because that’s the Bread that you can take with you all the way to your grave and beyond.
Looking at our text, Elijah didn’t know God’s plan for him, but God gave him bread from heaven to renew his strength so that he could continue on his journey, carrying out God’s will. The Lord does the same for us. Thank the Lord that he taps us on the shoulder and gives us what we need to really live: the Bread of Life. And with that Bread of Life filling our souls we will live like no one can on this earth. Because although we may some day die, we really never will.
Amen.
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
- Psalm 68:19-20
- When you're feeling down
- In order to eat
One of my all-time favorite characters in all of Scripture is Elijah. He has fascinated me ever since I was a little kid. He was fed by ravens, he raised a boy from the dead, he prayed to the Lord and fire rained down from heaven, and he was taken directly to heaven in a whirlwind! There are a lot of unique things that happened during his lifetime. But to me the miracles Elijah was involved with aren’t the most interesting thing about him. I think what captivates me about Elijah are his struggles. Because even though he was a prophet of God, he struggled with his faith. He struggled with doubt. He wasn’t always confident that the Lord would see him through. It always amazed me that such an esteemed individual of Scripture like Elijah could feel so down at times – that he could be so much like me: in a constant struggle with his faith.
Our text finds Elijah feeling down. Chapter 19 picks up right after the famous stand-off with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel. They were to pray to their god and Elijah would pray to his to find out whose god was the true God. The prophets of Baal prayed to their false god all day long, but were not able to get a response from Baal – for obvious reasons, but when Elijah prayed to the true God, the Lord rained down fire from heaven and burned up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dirt and the water in the trench. After that decisive victory the Lord brought about Elijah had all of the prophets of Baal put to death. That should have left Elijah feeling pretty good. But Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, sent a letter to Elijah and warned him that she was going to put him to death the very next day.
And so begins our text. Elijah has just received that letter, and he sees that not only is his life in danger, but that the people still were not worshiping the true God. And so he ran away. He went into the desert, sat down under a tree, and prayed that the Lord might take his life. He was depressed by the situation, he was overwhelmed with responsibility, and he felt like a complete failure at the task for which he had worked so long and so hard.
Sometimes we feel the same way, don’t we? We all feel down at certain points in our lives. And we can feel down for a variety of reasons. Some of us have had feelings of hopelessness, feelings of despair. Everything seems to be going wrong. No matter what you do it’s not turning out right. And the way things are going: nothing will ever turn out the way you want it too. Like Elijah you just want to give up. You want it all to be over with so you don’t have to deal with it any longer.
Some of us have had the feeling of being overwhelmed. You’ve got so many responsibilities right now that you can’t handle them all. And you keep getting more thrown on your shoulders every day! Work is stressful, your duties at home are unmanageable, and the bills keep going up when you paycheck doesn’t. How are you going to afford what you need to afford? How are you going to get done what you need to get done? How are you going to hold up under the pressures and responsibilities that are weighing you down? Like Elijah you just want all those weights to be lifted. You want to live without anything hanging over your head.
Some of us have felt like complete failures. Especially when it comes to someone else’s faith. You’ve tried and tried and tried to tell this person about Christ. For hours, for months, for years, you have been working on this person, speaking to them, praying for them – and they refuse to listen. And the worst part about it is: you care about this person. They are close to your heart. But you don’t know if you’ll ever see them in heaven. Like Elijah you just want their hearts to be opened. You want their stubbornness to be broken so that you can at least go to sleep at night with a clear conscience.
This is Elijah. These three situations that make us feel down are exactly what Elijah was going through. That’s why he asked the Lord that he might die. He didn’t want to deal with any of that any longer. He had had enough. But the Lord didn’t agree with Elijah’s assessment of the situation. He didn’t take Elijah’s life. In fact, it’s interesting to note that Elijah and Jonah are the only two people recorded in Scripture who actually prayed to the Lord to die. But God didn’t grant their requests in either situation. And in the case of Elijah – he never died. The Lord obviously had different plans for his prophet. The Lord didn’t think the situation was all that bad. And later in the chapter we see that the Lord was, in fact, a little upset about Elijah’s lack of faith. And so instead of taking Elijah’s life, the Lord renewed it. He sent an angel to tap him on the shoulder. And that angel wasn’t there to take him to heaven, he was there to give him these few words of chastisement and encourage: “Get up and eat.”
Are you feeling down? Get up and eat. These are the words of the Lord to you. These are the words of the Lord that I need to listen to on occasion also. Get up and eat. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop thinking that the situation is hopeless. Stop wondering if you are a complete failure in preaching the Word. Get up and eat. Now, you’re not obviously going to eat physical bread like Elijah did. But like Elijah you will eat bread from heaven that will revive you. And that bread, of course, is exactly what we heard in our gospel lesson today: the Bread of Life – our Savior himself. Where can you eat this bread? Right here, in Scripture. This is the heavenly bread. This is the bread that will revive you. This is the bread that clarifies what God thinks about the situation you’re dealing with.
Feeling down because a situation is hopeless? Get up and eat this bread from John 16: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” There is no hopeless situation! There is no moment in which things will not work out for your good! Here’s some more bread from Romans: God “will work out everything for the good of those who love him.” Your life is securely in the palm of your Savior’s hands. And everything that happens around you he will work out for your best interests. There is no reason to feel hopeless about any situation. But there’s every reason to find hope.
Feeling down because you are overwhelmed? Get up and eat this bread from Psalm 68, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” Nothing can overwhelm you. Nothing can weigh you down. Here’s some more bread from 1 Peter, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Stress, worry, exhaustion – thrown out the window. The Lord will take care of you and your problems as he always has.
Feeling down because your evangelism efforts to your relative have failed? Get up and eat this bread from Isaiah 55, “As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth… so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The words you speak are the words of God. And the outcome is always in line with the Lord’s will, whether or not you understand it at the time. But know your job is to plant the seed; God’s job is to make it grow. So if you do speak his words you are not a failure, you are a faithful messenger of the Lord himself.
So again, get up and eat. Go to Bible class and fill yourself up. Read your Bible at home and get that daily nutrition. Because a day in which you do not read your Bible is a wasted day. That might be a little bit of an overstatement, but it’s to make the point that the most important thing you could do during any given day is read the Word. And I know that it’s one thing to say it and another thing to actually do it. That’s why I have placed a sheet of daily Bible readings on the back counter near the bulletins. Each day about 4 chapters or so are scheduled for you to read. It takes about 10 minutes. It’s the one I use because if I didn’t have a schedule that told me what to read, I never would. And by using that schedule you will read through the entire Bible in a year every year. If you have a system already, great. If you don’t or you want a change, I encourage you to take advantage of this. After church, if you need one, pick one up. I won’t hand them out, I won’t watch to see who takes one. They are there for you and they always will be so that you can effectively feed yourself with the Bread of Life.
And may I make a suggestion? Write questions down. When you read your daily Bible readings or meditations or whatever, write down questions you have and bring them to Bible class. Or ask me personally if you’d like. That’s why I’m here. That’s why we are here. To grow in the faith and to eat the Bread of Life together – especially when we’re feeling down.
There will be times in which you will feel down. And when you do: get up and eat. Eat this Bread. Continue to feed yourself with this Bread of Life because in it your soul will be revived with forgiveness. Bread from Romans: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” There it is. That’s the good stuff. That’s your forgiveness for the sin of feeling down, for doubting God’s love and power. That’s the Bread you need to continue to go to, to eat, to have your fill. Because that’s the Bread that you can take with you all the way to your grave and beyond.
Looking at our text, Elijah didn’t know God’s plan for him, but God gave him bread from heaven to renew his strength so that he could continue on his journey, carrying out God’s will. The Lord does the same for us. Thank the Lord that he taps us on the shoulder and gives us what we need to really live: the Bread of Life. And with that Bread of Life filling our souls we will live like no one can on this earth. Because although we may some day die, we really never will.
Amen.
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
- Psalm 68:19-20
8/20/06 - Pentecost 11 - Eph. 4:17-24 - A Work in Progress
A WORK IN PROGRESS
- Off with the old
- On with the new
Isn’t it disheartening to see a “work in progress” sign when you’re driving? Things have been going great, traffic is light, you’re making good time, when all of the sudden you see that bright orange sign: road work ahead. And oh, what a terrible sign to see, right? Because any of those work in progress signs mean that you’ll inevitably have to slow down, and you’ll have to pay more attention because the road may narrow, and you’ll have to concentrate a little harder because workers are standing right on the side of the road. And on top of all that, you don’t always know how far this work stretches. It could be 50 feet or it could be 15 miles, you just don’t know how long you’ll have to suffer through this “work in progress.”
My friends, I want you to slow down. I want you to pay more attention to road ahead of you. I want you to concentrate a little harder on avoiding the dangers on both sides. Because your life is a work in progress. You are a work in progress. And so am I. It is critical that we see that bright orange sign in front of us. We can’t just fly through life and think everything is fine. Everything is not fine, it’s not perfect. Because although we know we are Christians, we don’t always act like Christians, do we? We are always striving to be more like Christ. We are constantly trying to live, like Peter says, “as servants of God.” We continually attempt to be a brother or sister to our fellow family members in Christ. But we fail. All the time. We are a cracked highway, a road under repair. We are a work in progress.
We are a work in progress because we are missing something. We are missing the image of God. In Genesis we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.” Adam and Eve were created in the image of God and that’s the way it was always supposed to be. And the image of God is not a physical appearance. Adam and Eve were not made to look like God – because God the Father doesn’t even have a physical body. The image of God refers to an inner image. What God thought, they thought. What God wanted, they wanted. Adam and Eve were perfectly in tune with God when they were in his image. They were on the same page with the Lord’s will in every situation.
Until they threw that image out the window by eating from that infamous tree. Then it was over. From then on no human being has possessed the image of God because God’s image in us has been mangled and disfigured by sin. And we can’t just blame Adam and Eve for that. We take our own shots at the image of God. We do just as much damage. Think about how many sins you’ve committed in your lifetime. Think about those sins you commit without even thinking about them anymore. Every one of those sins mutilates the image of God in you – to a point where the image of God is sometimes unrecognizable in your life.
Because those sins, especially the ones you commit without thinking, have calloused you. If you work with your hands you get calluses on them and you can’t feel the pricks and pinches anymore. If you cook or wash dishes your hands are no longer affected by the heat or the hot water because they have become calloused. And the same thing happens to our consciences. We all have different sins that have calloused us. We talked about this a little bit last Sunday in Bible Class. The sin that you’ve been calloused by may be gossip: saying something about another person that gives them a bad name – even if it’s true! Or maybe your lingering sin is coveting: wanting something that you cannot have, whether it be a person, or a possession, or a talent, or a different life. Maybe your sin is hatred. You don’t like that person, you never will, and you’re not going to try. All these things are sins. Gossiping, coveting, hatred. Sins that can callous a heart and destroy the image of God. Sins, by the impression they give to others, may call into question the sincerity of your Christianity! We are Christians, but sometimes we don’t act Christian at all.
It must pain God to see us act in this way, but that’s exactly why he sent the one we are named after. That’s why he sent Christ. Because when Christ came to this earth he was not a work in progress. He wasn’t lacking anything. He had it all. In fact, Paul says in 2 Corinthians that Christ actually “is the image of God.” So Jesus thinks as his Father thinks. He wants what his Father wants. He does what his Father wants him to do. “I have not come to do my will,” Jesus said, “but the will of him who sent me.” And what is God’s will? That all people “be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” So that’s exactly why Jesus came to this earth. To save you. To reinstate you in the image of God you lost. And because of the fact that Christ is the image of God, he is able to include you in that image. He stepped up in your place. He was your substitute. He transferred his glory and perfection to you so that he can “present you before God’s glorious presence without fault” in eternity. Even though you are not able to regain the image of God on this earth, Christ has gained it for you in heaven. Which is all the better.
So as far as your salvation is concerned, that work is done. But as far as your Christian life on this earth concerned, that is still a work in progress. We don’t need to live God-pleasing lives to regain that image, because we already have it guaranteed to us by Christ. Instead, we strive to live God-pleasing lives out of thanks for what Christ has guaranteed to us. And that is what Paul uses in our text to motivate a Christian life. “You heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self.” Put it off. Take off your old self like a dirty pair of clothes. That really is the picture that Paul is painting for us here. Take off your old self.
When I worked in the Nebraska cornfields for 8 summers, I would come home with my clothes just covered with mud and dirt and sweat. It was always a relief to take them off at the end of the day and put some clean clothes on. But the next day, I’d have to do again. And the next day. And the next. I couldn’t avoid the mud and the dirt and the sweat. Every day I would come home with my clothes covered in filth.
Every day we are covered in the filth of sin. And so every day we must take off our old self again. It is constant. It is continual. It never ends. And the way you take off our old self is by repenting of those sins and clinging to the cross of Christ for your forgiveness. That is taking off your old self. That is what you must do every day because every day you get that robe dirty again. So the trick is: avoid that filth. Stop wallowing in the mud of gossip. Stop playing in dirt of covetousness. Stop covering yourself in the sweat of hate. Avoid every sin that stains the Christian clothes you are wearing. And I know it’s easier said than done. I struggle with my own sins. We all do. So we must constantly be at work, taking of our old self day in and day out because we all are a work in progress.
But we can’t stop there can we? We can’t just take off our old self and hope to hide from sin as spiritually naked Christians, can we? No! We have to also put on our new self! Paul says, “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Your new self is created to be like God! Your new self is as close as you can come on this earth to the image of God that we will only regain in heaven. Put it on! Every time you take off that old self, put on the new! Because if your old self is you the sinner, then your new self is you the saint. It is you the Christian. That Christian that we all strive to be out of thanks for what Christ has done for us.
But how do you do that? If taking off your old self is repenting of sins and avoiding them, how do you put on the new? Fortunately, Scripture tells us: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” If these are the fruits of the Spirit, they are the fruits of the Christian. The fruits of you new self. Put them on. Clothe yourselves with these things. Especially the first. The first fruit of the new self mentioned is love. Love means no more gossiping. Say things that will improve your brother’s or sister’s reputation instead of harming it. Love means no more coveting. Thank the Lord for what he has given you instead of wishing you had something else. Love, of course, means no more hate. Go out of your way to be nice. Give someone a shoulder to lean on even if they give you a cold one. Love them like they are your own children. That is the love of your new self that is to be put on every day. And every fruit after love stems from it: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Put on this clothing. Even if it’s not all that easy. Even if it doesn’t feel all that comfortable. This is the clothing of a Christian. A Christian who is, nonetheless, a work in progress.
The Lord knows you are a work in progress. He knows you strive to put on your new self and take off the old. And he knows that you will sometimes fall. So that is why he is right here with us. He is by our side every day giving us the strength to battle on. And that is what verse 23 says in our text. We are being made new. We aren’t doing it to ourselves, we aren’t making ourselves new. God is making us new. And it is a process. It is an ongoing thing that will not end until we go home for good. But be assured: even though you may be a work in progress, God will not give up. He will guide you, he will help you, he will forgive, because he has already saved you. So you will go home. You will receive that lost image once again. You will be presented before the throne by your Savior himself “in true righteousness and holiness” – absolutely clean in the blood of the Lamb.
Amen.
“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
- Jude 24-25
- Off with the old
- On with the new
Isn’t it disheartening to see a “work in progress” sign when you’re driving? Things have been going great, traffic is light, you’re making good time, when all of the sudden you see that bright orange sign: road work ahead. And oh, what a terrible sign to see, right? Because any of those work in progress signs mean that you’ll inevitably have to slow down, and you’ll have to pay more attention because the road may narrow, and you’ll have to concentrate a little harder because workers are standing right on the side of the road. And on top of all that, you don’t always know how far this work stretches. It could be 50 feet or it could be 15 miles, you just don’t know how long you’ll have to suffer through this “work in progress.”
My friends, I want you to slow down. I want you to pay more attention to road ahead of you. I want you to concentrate a little harder on avoiding the dangers on both sides. Because your life is a work in progress. You are a work in progress. And so am I. It is critical that we see that bright orange sign in front of us. We can’t just fly through life and think everything is fine. Everything is not fine, it’s not perfect. Because although we know we are Christians, we don’t always act like Christians, do we? We are always striving to be more like Christ. We are constantly trying to live, like Peter says, “as servants of God.” We continually attempt to be a brother or sister to our fellow family members in Christ. But we fail. All the time. We are a cracked highway, a road under repair. We are a work in progress.
We are a work in progress because we are missing something. We are missing the image of God. In Genesis we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.” Adam and Eve were created in the image of God and that’s the way it was always supposed to be. And the image of God is not a physical appearance. Adam and Eve were not made to look like God – because God the Father doesn’t even have a physical body. The image of God refers to an inner image. What God thought, they thought. What God wanted, they wanted. Adam and Eve were perfectly in tune with God when they were in his image. They were on the same page with the Lord’s will in every situation.
Until they threw that image out the window by eating from that infamous tree. Then it was over. From then on no human being has possessed the image of God because God’s image in us has been mangled and disfigured by sin. And we can’t just blame Adam and Eve for that. We take our own shots at the image of God. We do just as much damage. Think about how many sins you’ve committed in your lifetime. Think about those sins you commit without even thinking about them anymore. Every one of those sins mutilates the image of God in you – to a point where the image of God is sometimes unrecognizable in your life.
Because those sins, especially the ones you commit without thinking, have calloused you. If you work with your hands you get calluses on them and you can’t feel the pricks and pinches anymore. If you cook or wash dishes your hands are no longer affected by the heat or the hot water because they have become calloused. And the same thing happens to our consciences. We all have different sins that have calloused us. We talked about this a little bit last Sunday in Bible Class. The sin that you’ve been calloused by may be gossip: saying something about another person that gives them a bad name – even if it’s true! Or maybe your lingering sin is coveting: wanting something that you cannot have, whether it be a person, or a possession, or a talent, or a different life. Maybe your sin is hatred. You don’t like that person, you never will, and you’re not going to try. All these things are sins. Gossiping, coveting, hatred. Sins that can callous a heart and destroy the image of God. Sins, by the impression they give to others, may call into question the sincerity of your Christianity! We are Christians, but sometimes we don’t act Christian at all.
It must pain God to see us act in this way, but that’s exactly why he sent the one we are named after. That’s why he sent Christ. Because when Christ came to this earth he was not a work in progress. He wasn’t lacking anything. He had it all. In fact, Paul says in 2 Corinthians that Christ actually “is the image of God.” So Jesus thinks as his Father thinks. He wants what his Father wants. He does what his Father wants him to do. “I have not come to do my will,” Jesus said, “but the will of him who sent me.” And what is God’s will? That all people “be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” So that’s exactly why Jesus came to this earth. To save you. To reinstate you in the image of God you lost. And because of the fact that Christ is the image of God, he is able to include you in that image. He stepped up in your place. He was your substitute. He transferred his glory and perfection to you so that he can “present you before God’s glorious presence without fault” in eternity. Even though you are not able to regain the image of God on this earth, Christ has gained it for you in heaven. Which is all the better.
So as far as your salvation is concerned, that work is done. But as far as your Christian life on this earth concerned, that is still a work in progress. We don’t need to live God-pleasing lives to regain that image, because we already have it guaranteed to us by Christ. Instead, we strive to live God-pleasing lives out of thanks for what Christ has guaranteed to us. And that is what Paul uses in our text to motivate a Christian life. “You heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self.” Put it off. Take off your old self like a dirty pair of clothes. That really is the picture that Paul is painting for us here. Take off your old self.
When I worked in the Nebraska cornfields for 8 summers, I would come home with my clothes just covered with mud and dirt and sweat. It was always a relief to take them off at the end of the day and put some clean clothes on. But the next day, I’d have to do again. And the next day. And the next. I couldn’t avoid the mud and the dirt and the sweat. Every day I would come home with my clothes covered in filth.
Every day we are covered in the filth of sin. And so every day we must take off our old self again. It is constant. It is continual. It never ends. And the way you take off our old self is by repenting of those sins and clinging to the cross of Christ for your forgiveness. That is taking off your old self. That is what you must do every day because every day you get that robe dirty again. So the trick is: avoid that filth. Stop wallowing in the mud of gossip. Stop playing in dirt of covetousness. Stop covering yourself in the sweat of hate. Avoid every sin that stains the Christian clothes you are wearing. And I know it’s easier said than done. I struggle with my own sins. We all do. So we must constantly be at work, taking of our old self day in and day out because we all are a work in progress.
But we can’t stop there can we? We can’t just take off our old self and hope to hide from sin as spiritually naked Christians, can we? No! We have to also put on our new self! Paul says, “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Your new self is created to be like God! Your new self is as close as you can come on this earth to the image of God that we will only regain in heaven. Put it on! Every time you take off that old self, put on the new! Because if your old self is you the sinner, then your new self is you the saint. It is you the Christian. That Christian that we all strive to be out of thanks for what Christ has done for us.
But how do you do that? If taking off your old self is repenting of sins and avoiding them, how do you put on the new? Fortunately, Scripture tells us: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” If these are the fruits of the Spirit, they are the fruits of the Christian. The fruits of you new self. Put them on. Clothe yourselves with these things. Especially the first. The first fruit of the new self mentioned is love. Love means no more gossiping. Say things that will improve your brother’s or sister’s reputation instead of harming it. Love means no more coveting. Thank the Lord for what he has given you instead of wishing you had something else. Love, of course, means no more hate. Go out of your way to be nice. Give someone a shoulder to lean on even if they give you a cold one. Love them like they are your own children. That is the love of your new self that is to be put on every day. And every fruit after love stems from it: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Put on this clothing. Even if it’s not all that easy. Even if it doesn’t feel all that comfortable. This is the clothing of a Christian. A Christian who is, nonetheless, a work in progress.
The Lord knows you are a work in progress. He knows you strive to put on your new self and take off the old. And he knows that you will sometimes fall. So that is why he is right here with us. He is by our side every day giving us the strength to battle on. And that is what verse 23 says in our text. We are being made new. We aren’t doing it to ourselves, we aren’t making ourselves new. God is making us new. And it is a process. It is an ongoing thing that will not end until we go home for good. But be assured: even though you may be a work in progress, God will not give up. He will guide you, he will help you, he will forgive, because he has already saved you. So you will go home. You will receive that lost image once again. You will be presented before the throne by your Savior himself “in true righteousness and holiness” – absolutely clean in the blood of the Lamb.
Amen.
“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
- Jude 24-25
8/13/06 - Pentecost 10 - John 6:1-15 - The Lord is Patient with His People
THE LORD IS PATIENT WITH HIS PEOPLE
- He forgives our doubts
- He puts up with our pride
I have a quiz question for you today – so I hope you were listening to the Scripture readings a couple minutes ago: how much do you remember about the gospel lesson that serves as our sermon text today? I’ll give you a hint: the gospel lesson was: the feeding of the 5000. Don’t look! Don’t look at the back of your bulletins. How much can you tell me about that famous miracle of Jesus? Do you remember how many loaves of bread there were? Five. Do you remember how many fish there were? Two. Do you remember how many basketfuls of pieces were left over? Twelve. You see? It wasn’t all that hard. You remember a few details about the Lord’s great miracle. But what I’m really wondering is: do you remember the Lord’s patience? Did the Lord’s patience jump out at you when I read through John 6 today? Because the Feeding of the 5000 is more than just an event about Jesus supplying us with what we need. The Feeding of the 5000 is really an amazing story about the Lord’s patience with his people. We see the Lord’s patience with the disciples, the Lord’s patience with the crowd, and the Lord’s patience with us. And today, it really is the intent that we clearly see in this story that the Lord forgives our doubts and he puts up with our pride, because the Lord is forever patient with his people.
The Lord’s patience with his disciples surprises me all the time. They were with the Lord. They heard him speak. He told them things he didn’t tell anyone else. And they still doubted Jesus’ power all the time. And this story is a case in point: Our text comes from chapter 6 of the book of John. But the Feeding of the 5000 wasn’t the first miracle they had seen, of course, In chapter five, it’s recorded that the disciples saw Jesus heal a man who had been crippled for 38 years. In chapter four, John tells us that the disciples saw Jesus heal a boy he never even saw. He just said the words and the boy was healed. And in chapter two, we have Jesus changing water into wine. Jesus clearly displayed his power to the disciples on more than one occasion, but as they stood together in that field in front of that huge crowd, they still doubted what their Lord could do.
When Jesus saw the crowd coming to him, asked one of his disciples a question. Do you remember who that disciple was? Philip. He asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” And Scripture tells us that Jesus said this to test him. But what did Philip say? We would have liked him to say, “Lord, you can supply our needs.” But no, he doubts the Lord and responds: “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Philip had no confidence that the Lord could and would solve the problem. He let his doubts overshadow his faith. But then Andrew, another one of Jesus’ disciples, saw a boy with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish. But Andrew didn’t have much more confidence than Philip did, even he doubted what the Lord could do. Andrew said, “but how far will they go among so many?” Again, he let his doubts overshadow his faith.
But the Lord didn’t chastise his disciples. He didn’t rebuke them for doubting his power. Instead, he performed another miracle! He showed them once again what he could do. He demonstrated that despite their doubts, he has patience with his people.
And it’s a good thing. Because I imagine that dealing with people like us requires a lot of patience. How many times have we doubted what the Lord can do? And the thing is: we’re his disciples! We’ve been with him. We’ve heard him speak. We’ve seen him demonstrate his power time and time again, but time and time again we let our doubts overshadow our faith.
Do you have doubts about a new church building in the near future? Look where we are! We’re still in a store front. We’ve been here for years. And I know some of you are thinking: “Where are we ever going to get the money? Eight years worth of paychecks wouldn’t come close to covering the cost! And look at how many people show up for services! How can so few offerings be spread so far?”
It’s true: we are nowhere close to having enough money to start building. And it’s true: it’s hard to stretch offerings into a future building when we are plenty busy paying the bills here. But have you forgotten what the Lord can do? He fed 5000 men, which means there were women and children there too, so Jesus fed probably over 10,000 people with a handful of food. Don’t you think he could put up a church building with a handful of Christians? Of course he can. He can do anything he wants because “nothing is impossible with God.” Nothing. And he has shown us that throughout Scripture. He has shown us that throughout our own lives. So how can we constantly let our doubts overshadow our faith? I’m embarrassed to say I do. I humbly fall at the feet of our Lord because I do. How could I ever doubt my Lord? How could I ever doubt my Creator, the one who made me, the one who loves me, the one who saves me? How little we remember what he has done. How little we believe what he can do.
But “the Lord is gracious and compassionate. Slow to anger, abounding in love.” These beautiful words from Psalm 103 are really found throughout the OT. And what comforting words they are of the Lord’s patience with his people. He is slow to anger, abounding in love. So when we don’t remember what he’s done, he reminds us again in his Word, and when we doubt what he can do, he does more than we can ask or imagine. He does not condemn us because of our doubts – he forgives us. Because he was patient enough to send his Son to this earth for the people who didn’t want him at all. Christ forgave those who doubted he would ever come. He forgave those who doubted who he really was. He forgave those who doubted what he would accomplish. He forgave those whose doubts sometimes overshadow their faith. Because of our doubts, we sometimes fall. Because of God’s patience, he always forgives.
It is a great comfort to know that Jesus always forgives our doubts, but it’s very comforting to know that he also puts up with our pride. He puts up with us for thinking we know better than he does – which is exactly what happened during the Feeding of the 5000. After Jesus had performed that great miracle and had given that entire crowd as much as they wanted to eat – do you remember what the crowd wanted to do? “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again into the hills by himself.” After the Lord’s incredible display of power, the people were thinking, “Hey, let’s make this guy king whether he likes it or not. If we need food, he can get it. If we need water, he can get it. If we need clothes, he can get it. In fact, we’re not going to need anything for the rest of our lives! He says his kingdom is in heaven? Hey, his kingdom is going to be a lot better for us here on earth.”
What a haughty attitude that crowd had. They had an attitude that was filled with pride. An attitude that really said: our idea is better than what the Lord has come up with. But is that such a surprising attitude? Don’t you think the same things and say those same words? And, unfortunately, it usually happens during prayer, doesn’t it? You’ll sit down to pray tonight and you’ll say, “Here’s the problem, Lord. This is the way I need you to fix it. And the sooner the better. Amen.” Now you might not be that blunt, but that’s the outline of a lot of your prayers, isn’t it? And wow. How can we be so arrogant in our prayers as to think that we actually know what we’re talking about? God may not even see that “problem” as a problem because it’s good for your faith. There may be 127 different ways to fix it and he knows a better one than “the only way” you suggested. Or maybe his timetable is a little different than yours, and he knows that now is not the best time to do what you want him to do. God knows how to how to oversee your life. He doesn’t need help, he doesn’t need suggestions, and he certainly doesn’t need his children acting as if they know better than he does.
It’s a good thing that the Lord is patient, and that he puts up with our pride. Because how many times have we been wrong? Think back to certain times in your life and what you prayed for. You absolutely needed this, or things had to turn out this way, or there was no way you could go on without this problem disappearing. Now how many of those things happened exactly the way you wanted them to at exactly the time you had planned? I can’t answer for you, but I know that my opinions have rarely matched up with what God knew was best for me at the time. And thank the Lord that he still puts up with my pride because I still do it! I still pray to him like that and narrow-mindedly think that the only way something can work is the way I suggest to him. Who do we think we are, that we know better than God?
Thank the Lord that he puts up with our pride and doesn’t immediately cut us off from his love because he would have every right to do it. And thank the Lord that he forgives our doubts and doesn’t give up on us. And the only reason the Lord does that is because he is patient with his people. “Our Lord’s patience means salvation,” Peter says in his second letter. Because of the Lord’s patience, we have a chance to repent. Because of the Lord’s patience, we have an opportunity to see his amazing love for us over time. Because of the Lord’s patience, we have salvation. What a great God we have. And may he always grant us the patience to remember that.
Amen.
“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”
- 2 Thessalonians 3:5
- He forgives our doubts
- He puts up with our pride
I have a quiz question for you today – so I hope you were listening to the Scripture readings a couple minutes ago: how much do you remember about the gospel lesson that serves as our sermon text today? I’ll give you a hint: the gospel lesson was: the feeding of the 5000. Don’t look! Don’t look at the back of your bulletins. How much can you tell me about that famous miracle of Jesus? Do you remember how many loaves of bread there were? Five. Do you remember how many fish there were? Two. Do you remember how many basketfuls of pieces were left over? Twelve. You see? It wasn’t all that hard. You remember a few details about the Lord’s great miracle. But what I’m really wondering is: do you remember the Lord’s patience? Did the Lord’s patience jump out at you when I read through John 6 today? Because the Feeding of the 5000 is more than just an event about Jesus supplying us with what we need. The Feeding of the 5000 is really an amazing story about the Lord’s patience with his people. We see the Lord’s patience with the disciples, the Lord’s patience with the crowd, and the Lord’s patience with us. And today, it really is the intent that we clearly see in this story that the Lord forgives our doubts and he puts up with our pride, because the Lord is forever patient with his people.
The Lord’s patience with his disciples surprises me all the time. They were with the Lord. They heard him speak. He told them things he didn’t tell anyone else. And they still doubted Jesus’ power all the time. And this story is a case in point: Our text comes from chapter 6 of the book of John. But the Feeding of the 5000 wasn’t the first miracle they had seen, of course, In chapter five, it’s recorded that the disciples saw Jesus heal a man who had been crippled for 38 years. In chapter four, John tells us that the disciples saw Jesus heal a boy he never even saw. He just said the words and the boy was healed. And in chapter two, we have Jesus changing water into wine. Jesus clearly displayed his power to the disciples on more than one occasion, but as they stood together in that field in front of that huge crowd, they still doubted what their Lord could do.
When Jesus saw the crowd coming to him, asked one of his disciples a question. Do you remember who that disciple was? Philip. He asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” And Scripture tells us that Jesus said this to test him. But what did Philip say? We would have liked him to say, “Lord, you can supply our needs.” But no, he doubts the Lord and responds: “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Philip had no confidence that the Lord could and would solve the problem. He let his doubts overshadow his faith. But then Andrew, another one of Jesus’ disciples, saw a boy with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish. But Andrew didn’t have much more confidence than Philip did, even he doubted what the Lord could do. Andrew said, “but how far will they go among so many?” Again, he let his doubts overshadow his faith.
But the Lord didn’t chastise his disciples. He didn’t rebuke them for doubting his power. Instead, he performed another miracle! He showed them once again what he could do. He demonstrated that despite their doubts, he has patience with his people.
And it’s a good thing. Because I imagine that dealing with people like us requires a lot of patience. How many times have we doubted what the Lord can do? And the thing is: we’re his disciples! We’ve been with him. We’ve heard him speak. We’ve seen him demonstrate his power time and time again, but time and time again we let our doubts overshadow our faith.
Do you have doubts about a new church building in the near future? Look where we are! We’re still in a store front. We’ve been here for years. And I know some of you are thinking: “Where are we ever going to get the money? Eight years worth of paychecks wouldn’t come close to covering the cost! And look at how many people show up for services! How can so few offerings be spread so far?”
It’s true: we are nowhere close to having enough money to start building. And it’s true: it’s hard to stretch offerings into a future building when we are plenty busy paying the bills here. But have you forgotten what the Lord can do? He fed 5000 men, which means there were women and children there too, so Jesus fed probably over 10,000 people with a handful of food. Don’t you think he could put up a church building with a handful of Christians? Of course he can. He can do anything he wants because “nothing is impossible with God.” Nothing. And he has shown us that throughout Scripture. He has shown us that throughout our own lives. So how can we constantly let our doubts overshadow our faith? I’m embarrassed to say I do. I humbly fall at the feet of our Lord because I do. How could I ever doubt my Lord? How could I ever doubt my Creator, the one who made me, the one who loves me, the one who saves me? How little we remember what he has done. How little we believe what he can do.
But “the Lord is gracious and compassionate. Slow to anger, abounding in love.” These beautiful words from Psalm 103 are really found throughout the OT. And what comforting words they are of the Lord’s patience with his people. He is slow to anger, abounding in love. So when we don’t remember what he’s done, he reminds us again in his Word, and when we doubt what he can do, he does more than we can ask or imagine. He does not condemn us because of our doubts – he forgives us. Because he was patient enough to send his Son to this earth for the people who didn’t want him at all. Christ forgave those who doubted he would ever come. He forgave those who doubted who he really was. He forgave those who doubted what he would accomplish. He forgave those whose doubts sometimes overshadow their faith. Because of our doubts, we sometimes fall. Because of God’s patience, he always forgives.
It is a great comfort to know that Jesus always forgives our doubts, but it’s very comforting to know that he also puts up with our pride. He puts up with us for thinking we know better than he does – which is exactly what happened during the Feeding of the 5000. After Jesus had performed that great miracle and had given that entire crowd as much as they wanted to eat – do you remember what the crowd wanted to do? “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again into the hills by himself.” After the Lord’s incredible display of power, the people were thinking, “Hey, let’s make this guy king whether he likes it or not. If we need food, he can get it. If we need water, he can get it. If we need clothes, he can get it. In fact, we’re not going to need anything for the rest of our lives! He says his kingdom is in heaven? Hey, his kingdom is going to be a lot better for us here on earth.”
What a haughty attitude that crowd had. They had an attitude that was filled with pride. An attitude that really said: our idea is better than what the Lord has come up with. But is that such a surprising attitude? Don’t you think the same things and say those same words? And, unfortunately, it usually happens during prayer, doesn’t it? You’ll sit down to pray tonight and you’ll say, “Here’s the problem, Lord. This is the way I need you to fix it. And the sooner the better. Amen.” Now you might not be that blunt, but that’s the outline of a lot of your prayers, isn’t it? And wow. How can we be so arrogant in our prayers as to think that we actually know what we’re talking about? God may not even see that “problem” as a problem because it’s good for your faith. There may be 127 different ways to fix it and he knows a better one than “the only way” you suggested. Or maybe his timetable is a little different than yours, and he knows that now is not the best time to do what you want him to do. God knows how to how to oversee your life. He doesn’t need help, he doesn’t need suggestions, and he certainly doesn’t need his children acting as if they know better than he does.
It’s a good thing that the Lord is patient, and that he puts up with our pride. Because how many times have we been wrong? Think back to certain times in your life and what you prayed for. You absolutely needed this, or things had to turn out this way, or there was no way you could go on without this problem disappearing. Now how many of those things happened exactly the way you wanted them to at exactly the time you had planned? I can’t answer for you, but I know that my opinions have rarely matched up with what God knew was best for me at the time. And thank the Lord that he still puts up with my pride because I still do it! I still pray to him like that and narrow-mindedly think that the only way something can work is the way I suggest to him. Who do we think we are, that we know better than God?
Thank the Lord that he puts up with our pride and doesn’t immediately cut us off from his love because he would have every right to do it. And thank the Lord that he forgives our doubts and doesn’t give up on us. And the only reason the Lord does that is because he is patient with his people. “Our Lord’s patience means salvation,” Peter says in his second letter. Because of the Lord’s patience, we have a chance to repent. Because of the Lord’s patience, we have an opportunity to see his amazing love for us over time. Because of the Lord’s patience, we have salvation. What a great God we have. And may he always grant us the patience to remember that.
Amen.
“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”
- 2 Thessalonians 3:5
8/6/06 - Pentecost 9 - Jer. 23:1-6 - The Lord will Gather His Flock
THE LORD WILL GATHER HIS FLOCK
- To the pasture
- Around the Branch
587 BC. 587 years before Christ came into the world, the prophecy came true. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was burned to the ground. Israelite kings would never sit on the throne again. The Israelite people were taken into exile. And the prophet who was unfortunate enough to serve the people during this time was Jeremiah. He must have had a miserable ministry. Not only did God promise that the people wouldn’t listen to him, not only did the leaders try to kill him on a number of occasions, not only did the Lord allow him to preach only the law almost exclusively, but on top if all that the people Jeremiah was trying to serve kept being shipped off into exile! During the reigns of the last three kings of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came in three separate times and took the Lord’s people away. And after the fall of Jerusalem Jeremiah was left there with just a handful of stragglers. What was he supposed to do? All the people that he was responsible for had been scattered to a far off country.
And how do you think the people who were left felt? Their family, their friends, their relatives were gone! They could no longer worship with them or live with them or even see them. And even though Jeremiah was still there, they must have been losing hope. They must have wondered if they would ever see their family and friends again – if they Lord would ever bring them back, if they would ever be united again with the ones they loved. They were tumultuous times during the ministry of Jeremiah. Times of instability. Times of little hope.
Let’s be frank. Let’s not beat around the bush. Living Word Lutheran Church, and you, the members of Living Word Lutheran Church, have gone through some tumultuous times lately. Times of instability. Times of little hope. People have been scattered. Your family, your friends have been scattered to different churches in different towns. And many of you may have begun to wonder: will I ever see my friends in this church again? Will the Lord gather us together again to worship? Will the Lord bring the remnant of his flock back to the pasture?
Friends are gone, membership has dwindled, but that’s no reason to lose hope. Because our Lord, the Good Shepherd, speaks to you just as he spoke to the Israelites. Listen closely to these words God has meant for you right now: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the [places] where I have driven them and I will bring them back to their pasture.” The Lord is in control now just as he was back then. He knows who his sheep are no matter where they may be. He tends his flock with unparalleled care. And he promises that he will bring those who are scattered back to the pasture.
Or course, you have to realize that it doesn’t necessarily mean the pasture here at Living Word. It could include that – God is perfectly able to bring friends and family members back here into the fold. But that’s not what God promises. And that’s not what God promised the Israelites either. He said that he would bring his flock back to their pasture, but remember, the Israelites were in exile for 70 years! That means almost all of the people that went into exile never made it back! Their children made it back and may have been reunited with the children of other families. But the people themselves who originally went to Babylon never made it back to the pasture. That’s because God didn’t promise to bring them back to an earthly pasture. He promised to bring them to the pasture of heaven.
And that is a promise to you. That is where you will ultimately be reunited with your friends and family members. Even if they never show their face at this church again, you will see them face to face in the eternal church. And really, that’s what matters the most. In the end, it doesn’t matter if they come back here. In the end it doesn’t matter if our membership numbers grow. In the end it doesn’t matter if we ever move into a new church building. What matters is that we will one day be gathered together with all believers in heaven. And that which matters most, is the very thing that God promises. The Lord will gather his flock. And we his sheep long for the day when we will graze forever in the pastures of Paradise.
But we aren’t there yet. We aren’t there yet. For now, we must live on this earth, and struggle, and battle, and fight for the faith – even if the circumstances here at Living Word are not ideal. But hey, the circumstances were not ideal for the Israelites either. Not only were the people being exiled, but they were also spiritually malnourished. The Israelites did not have a steady diet of the Word. All of the other prophets besides Jeremiah were telling them lies, the priests were neglecting their spiritual duties, and the kings were failing to nurture the souls that God had placed under their care. The Israelites were dying – from the inside out, and their leaders didn’t help at all.
And so God gave them one. God promised them a leader who would care, who would tend his flock with love. In a rare gospel section of Jeremiah, the Lord promises them, “The days are coming when I will raise up [from] David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” This “Righteous Branch” from the line of David is none other than Christ himself. And this promise of a Savior must have sent shivers down the spines of the Israelites as well as the prophet Jeremiah. Because now as they waited for the Lord to gather his flock to the pasture, they could be content with the Lord gathering his flock around the Branch. And even though this prophecy would not be fulfilled for almost 600 years, this promise of the Branch is what gave every Israelite hope in any situation. It was that on which their faith rested, it was that which the Lord’s flock gathered around for generations to come.
We have an advantage over the Israelites. For them, the days of the Branch were still coming. For us, the days of the Branch have already come. We don’t need to look into the future at a few random details about Christ because we have the works and words of Christ right here in front of us. We are able to see that these wonderful words of this prophecy have already come true. We don’t have to wait for the Lord to gather his flock because he is gathering us together right now around the Branch.
Look at this! The Lord has gathered us together today around the Branch! And it is an incredible blessing from the Lord that we can do so – that we can gather together as fellow sheep in his flock. We are fellow sheep. We are fellow Christians. We are brothers and sisters in Christ gathered around the Branch. It is a disgrace to the one who gathers us when we don’t treat each other like it. And we don’t always treat each other like fellow sheep, do we? We complain about others. We argue with others. We gossip about others. We give up trying to get along because the cut has been too deep, the bruise has grown too dark, the wound has festered for too long.
Is that really a legitimate excuse? Because Jesus felt those same cuts, he experienced those same bruises, he took on those same wounds – and he has forgiven them all. He has forgiven everyone of every sin. He looks at us here at Living Word and considers us one flock. He sees everyone in this room as his sheep. And if that’s the way the Lord looks at the person across the aisle, shouldn’t you? Shouldn’t you treat everyone here as fellow sheep and fellow members of the body of Christ?
And, I know, it’s easier said than done. But don’t think for a second that it was easy for Jesus to forgive you! He was tortured on the cross because of you! He went through hell itself because of you! It’s not easy to forgive! It’s not easy to treat others as brothers and sisters in Christ. But it’s possible with the Lord’s help. And it’s necessary. And it starts right here. Gathered around the Branch. Because no matter how many differences you may have with someone else, the Branch is our common ground. The Branch is our common Savior. He is our common Righteousness! “The Lord Our Righteousness” – that is the name by which he will be called God said. Our Righteousness. Not just yours, not just somebody else’s, but our Righteousness. The Lord gives his perfection and forgiveness to all of us, as his flock, as his people, as his children, as his sheep. That means when you look at anybody in this congregation, you are not looking at a sinner, you are looking at one of God’s own children, at a sheep in the Savior’s arms. Because that sheep has been washed clean in Christ’s forgiveness. You have been washed clean in Christ’s forgiveness. And together, the Lord has gathered all of us around the Branch, around our Righteousness, so that we can grow together in faith and live together as one flock in our Savior’s care.
Life won’t be perfect. Unity will be a long road. And there will be tough times ahead. That is why we need to continue gathering around the Branch. Read your Bibles on a daily basis – that’s where you find the Branch. Come to worship regularly – that’s where we have the opportunity to worship the Branch. Come to Bible Class – that’s where we can dig in and find out all of the wonderful little things that the Branch does for us. And if you are having problems, if you are having struggles, if you are having a hard time living with the sheep of God’s flock – talk to me. And together we will gather around the Branch so that he can guide us and comfort us through his holy Word.
My brothers, my sisters, my fellow sheep. I ask you today to think of your fellow sheep before you think of yourself. Do things and say things for their sake and not for your own. And yes, I’m talking to you – don’t think I’m only talking to someone else. Forgive, encourage, and gather around the Word. Because that is where the healing starts. That is where the Branch is. That is where the Lord Our Righteousness is. And with the Lord at the center, with his love for us guiding our love for others, we will grow closer. We will overcome the attacks of Satan. We will live in peace as one flock under Christ. May the Lord strengthen us as he gathers us around the Branch, and may he comfort us as we await the heavenly gathering in the pastures of Paradise. I pray this for our sake and in the name of Jesus our Savior.
Amen.
“The Lord will rescue us from every evil attack and will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
- 2 Timothy 4:18
- To the pasture
- Around the Branch
587 BC. 587 years before Christ came into the world, the prophecy came true. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was burned to the ground. Israelite kings would never sit on the throne again. The Israelite people were taken into exile. And the prophet who was unfortunate enough to serve the people during this time was Jeremiah. He must have had a miserable ministry. Not only did God promise that the people wouldn’t listen to him, not only did the leaders try to kill him on a number of occasions, not only did the Lord allow him to preach only the law almost exclusively, but on top if all that the people Jeremiah was trying to serve kept being shipped off into exile! During the reigns of the last three kings of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came in three separate times and took the Lord’s people away. And after the fall of Jerusalem Jeremiah was left there with just a handful of stragglers. What was he supposed to do? All the people that he was responsible for had been scattered to a far off country.
And how do you think the people who were left felt? Their family, their friends, their relatives were gone! They could no longer worship with them or live with them or even see them. And even though Jeremiah was still there, they must have been losing hope. They must have wondered if they would ever see their family and friends again – if they Lord would ever bring them back, if they would ever be united again with the ones they loved. They were tumultuous times during the ministry of Jeremiah. Times of instability. Times of little hope.
Let’s be frank. Let’s not beat around the bush. Living Word Lutheran Church, and you, the members of Living Word Lutheran Church, have gone through some tumultuous times lately. Times of instability. Times of little hope. People have been scattered. Your family, your friends have been scattered to different churches in different towns. And many of you may have begun to wonder: will I ever see my friends in this church again? Will the Lord gather us together again to worship? Will the Lord bring the remnant of his flock back to the pasture?
Friends are gone, membership has dwindled, but that’s no reason to lose hope. Because our Lord, the Good Shepherd, speaks to you just as he spoke to the Israelites. Listen closely to these words God has meant for you right now: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the [places] where I have driven them and I will bring them back to their pasture.” The Lord is in control now just as he was back then. He knows who his sheep are no matter where they may be. He tends his flock with unparalleled care. And he promises that he will bring those who are scattered back to the pasture.
Or course, you have to realize that it doesn’t necessarily mean the pasture here at Living Word. It could include that – God is perfectly able to bring friends and family members back here into the fold. But that’s not what God promises. And that’s not what God promised the Israelites either. He said that he would bring his flock back to their pasture, but remember, the Israelites were in exile for 70 years! That means almost all of the people that went into exile never made it back! Their children made it back and may have been reunited with the children of other families. But the people themselves who originally went to Babylon never made it back to the pasture. That’s because God didn’t promise to bring them back to an earthly pasture. He promised to bring them to the pasture of heaven.
And that is a promise to you. That is where you will ultimately be reunited with your friends and family members. Even if they never show their face at this church again, you will see them face to face in the eternal church. And really, that’s what matters the most. In the end, it doesn’t matter if they come back here. In the end it doesn’t matter if our membership numbers grow. In the end it doesn’t matter if we ever move into a new church building. What matters is that we will one day be gathered together with all believers in heaven. And that which matters most, is the very thing that God promises. The Lord will gather his flock. And we his sheep long for the day when we will graze forever in the pastures of Paradise.
But we aren’t there yet. We aren’t there yet. For now, we must live on this earth, and struggle, and battle, and fight for the faith – even if the circumstances here at Living Word are not ideal. But hey, the circumstances were not ideal for the Israelites either. Not only were the people being exiled, but they were also spiritually malnourished. The Israelites did not have a steady diet of the Word. All of the other prophets besides Jeremiah were telling them lies, the priests were neglecting their spiritual duties, and the kings were failing to nurture the souls that God had placed under their care. The Israelites were dying – from the inside out, and their leaders didn’t help at all.
And so God gave them one. God promised them a leader who would care, who would tend his flock with love. In a rare gospel section of Jeremiah, the Lord promises them, “The days are coming when I will raise up [from] David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” This “Righteous Branch” from the line of David is none other than Christ himself. And this promise of a Savior must have sent shivers down the spines of the Israelites as well as the prophet Jeremiah. Because now as they waited for the Lord to gather his flock to the pasture, they could be content with the Lord gathering his flock around the Branch. And even though this prophecy would not be fulfilled for almost 600 years, this promise of the Branch is what gave every Israelite hope in any situation. It was that on which their faith rested, it was that which the Lord’s flock gathered around for generations to come.
We have an advantage over the Israelites. For them, the days of the Branch were still coming. For us, the days of the Branch have already come. We don’t need to look into the future at a few random details about Christ because we have the works and words of Christ right here in front of us. We are able to see that these wonderful words of this prophecy have already come true. We don’t have to wait for the Lord to gather his flock because he is gathering us together right now around the Branch.
Look at this! The Lord has gathered us together today around the Branch! And it is an incredible blessing from the Lord that we can do so – that we can gather together as fellow sheep in his flock. We are fellow sheep. We are fellow Christians. We are brothers and sisters in Christ gathered around the Branch. It is a disgrace to the one who gathers us when we don’t treat each other like it. And we don’t always treat each other like fellow sheep, do we? We complain about others. We argue with others. We gossip about others. We give up trying to get along because the cut has been too deep, the bruise has grown too dark, the wound has festered for too long.
Is that really a legitimate excuse? Because Jesus felt those same cuts, he experienced those same bruises, he took on those same wounds – and he has forgiven them all. He has forgiven everyone of every sin. He looks at us here at Living Word and considers us one flock. He sees everyone in this room as his sheep. And if that’s the way the Lord looks at the person across the aisle, shouldn’t you? Shouldn’t you treat everyone here as fellow sheep and fellow members of the body of Christ?
And, I know, it’s easier said than done. But don’t think for a second that it was easy for Jesus to forgive you! He was tortured on the cross because of you! He went through hell itself because of you! It’s not easy to forgive! It’s not easy to treat others as brothers and sisters in Christ. But it’s possible with the Lord’s help. And it’s necessary. And it starts right here. Gathered around the Branch. Because no matter how many differences you may have with someone else, the Branch is our common ground. The Branch is our common Savior. He is our common Righteousness! “The Lord Our Righteousness” – that is the name by which he will be called God said. Our Righteousness. Not just yours, not just somebody else’s, but our Righteousness. The Lord gives his perfection and forgiveness to all of us, as his flock, as his people, as his children, as his sheep. That means when you look at anybody in this congregation, you are not looking at a sinner, you are looking at one of God’s own children, at a sheep in the Savior’s arms. Because that sheep has been washed clean in Christ’s forgiveness. You have been washed clean in Christ’s forgiveness. And together, the Lord has gathered all of us around the Branch, around our Righteousness, so that we can grow together in faith and live together as one flock in our Savior’s care.
Life won’t be perfect. Unity will be a long road. And there will be tough times ahead. That is why we need to continue gathering around the Branch. Read your Bibles on a daily basis – that’s where you find the Branch. Come to worship regularly – that’s where we have the opportunity to worship the Branch. Come to Bible Class – that’s where we can dig in and find out all of the wonderful little things that the Branch does for us. And if you are having problems, if you are having struggles, if you are having a hard time living with the sheep of God’s flock – talk to me. And together we will gather around the Branch so that he can guide us and comfort us through his holy Word.
My brothers, my sisters, my fellow sheep. I ask you today to think of your fellow sheep before you think of yourself. Do things and say things for their sake and not for your own. And yes, I’m talking to you – don’t think I’m only talking to someone else. Forgive, encourage, and gather around the Word. Because that is where the healing starts. That is where the Branch is. That is where the Lord Our Righteousness is. And with the Lord at the center, with his love for us guiding our love for others, we will grow closer. We will overcome the attacks of Satan. We will live in peace as one flock under Christ. May the Lord strengthen us as he gathers us around the Branch, and may he comfort us as we await the heavenly gathering in the pastures of Paradise. I pray this for our sake and in the name of Jesus our Savior.
Amen.
“The Lord will rescue us from every evil attack and will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
- 2 Timothy 4:18
7/30/06 - Pentecost 8 - Eph. 1:3-14 - You've Got It All in Christ
YOU'VE GOT IT ALL IN CHRIST
- What
- Why
Do you know someone who’s “got it all?” You know, that person who has a great job and a huge house and nice vehicles and the perfect family, they’re always happy and everything seems to be going so well for them… And you look at the person and you think to yourself, “Wow, that person has got it all. They’ve got everything they could possibly need and more.” I think we’ve all seen people like that, whether in person or on tv. People that shouldn’t have a care in the world because they’ve got everything else.
Have you ever considered that you have got it all? It probably hasn’t crossed your mind too often because you know the ups and downs of your life. You know what you have and especially what you don’t. But as I look at you today, and I see what you have compared to what everybody else has, I’m telling you: you’ve got it all! Everything that you need, everything that has ever mattered and everything that ever will you’ve got. Because you’ve got it all in Christ. And that’s not just some arbitrary phrase I’m using because I’m preaching a sermon. It’s not just a catchy theme that means nothing at all. You’ve really got it all in Christ. And this text before us today beautifully explains that from beginning to end and everything in between. It tells you what you’ve got and why. And as you will see, the answers to these two questions are ultimately found in Christ.
So what do you have? If I said you’ve got it all in Christ, I better let you know what you have, right? Well, the answer to that question really starts at the beginning – before the beginning. Because Paul tells us: “He chose us in him before the creation of the world.” That’s the first thing you’ve got: the joy of being God’s number one pick. God chose you. Out of all the people of the world, out of all those centuries, God picked you! And this isn’t some kickball game on the school playground. God picked you not just to be on his side but to be his very own child! And that’s the second thing you’ve got: “He predestined us to be adopted as his [children] through Jesus Christ.” You aren’t his servant, you aren’t his subject, you aren’t just a part of his creation, you are his dear child. And that means you have all the benefits of being his child: his love, his care, his attention, his patience. You’ve got the joy of being the number one pick, you’ve got the privilege of being his child, and you’ve got the adoption papers right here to prove it.
Of course, none of that would have happened if it weren’t for Christ. Because in Christ everything God has planned for us is accomplished. Only in Christ can a sinful human being approach the perfect God. Because Jesus was and is true God and at the same time Jesus was and is true man. He is the bridge, he is the connection, he is our Mediator. We can only receive the blessing from God the Father in Christ. In fact, in our text today, from verses 3 to 14, the phrase “in Christ,” or “in him,” or “in the One he loves,” is used eleven times in the Greek text. Eleven times! That’s a lot of repetition. Paul is obviously trying to make a point here. And the point is: Christ is the key. We have nothing without him. We have everything in him.
And that’s why Paul continues by saying, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” You’ve got that in Christ. And redemption and forgiveness are really two words saying the same thing – but in two completely different ways. Redemption means that you are bought back with a ransom. You were bought back from Satan’s grasp, and the ransom was the blood of Jesus on the cross. But our sins are also forgiven, Paul says. They are no longer counted against us, they are wiped completely away. And because of that redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins you have salvation. Salvation!
We use that word so often I think that it has lost its flavor. Salvation in the Bible means more than being rescued. It means more than being rescued from a burning building. It means more than being rescued from drowning in a lake. It means more than being rescued from underneath an overturned car. Salvation in Scripture means being brought back from the dead. “We were dead” in sin, Paul says in the next chapter, but “he made us alive” in Christ. You are Lazarus walking out of the tomb! You are the widow’s son stepping out of the coffin! You are Jairus’ daughter being brought back to life! You now have new life in Christ. You have salvation.
So, let’s review. You’ve got the joy of being the number one pick, you’ve got the privilege of being an adopted child of God, you’ve got the adoption papers to prove it, you’ve got redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation? Is there anything else the Lord gives you? Sure there is. He gives you faith to believe all that. And that’s a very important gift because when it comes down to it: Jesus died for all people. His blood was the ransom for every sin. But the Holy Spirit worked faith in your heart by the grace of God. Listen to how Paul explains it: “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” And the faith the Holy Spirit gives you is your guarantee. Your guarantee that you’ve got it all.
Because sometimes people wonder, “How do I know I am chosen? How do I know that God adopted me?” Well, here’s the test: Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins? Then there you go. If you believe that, that means the Holy Spirit has worked faith in your heart. You can’t believe without the Holy Spirit. And so he’s your guarantee. Your guarantee that you’ve been chosen. Your guarantee that you’ve been adopted. Your guarantee that you’ve got it all in Christ.
But why? Why you? Why do you have it all in Christ and somebody else doesn’t? Why did the Holy Spirit work faith in my heart, but not in that guy’s? Now be careful. Be careful. Because this is where you can get into a lot of trouble. In the back of your mind don’t let yourself thing: Well, it must be something in me. I must be easier to convert than that other guy. No, you’re not. No you are not. You are just as difficult to convert than someone else. That includes mass murderers, that includes rapists, that includes Saddam Hussein. It took a miracle from the Holy Spirit to work faith in your heart just as it would with the worst of criminals. Because we’re all in the same boat. We were dead to sin.
Now if you went to a cemetery and you saw a grave stone that said a 9 year old girl died in 1934, and right next to it another grave stone said that an 90 year old man died in 1934, who is more dead? That’s a stupid question, right? Dead is dead. A corpse is no more dead than another corpse. There aren’t any levels of deadness. And the same goes for us. Before the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts, we were dead to sin. Just as any other unbeliever is dead to sin. There aren’t any levels of spiritual deadness either. So there is nothing in you that could have prompted or enabled the Holy Spirit to work faith in your heart over someone else. Nothing.
So what is it? The question still remains: why you? Our text tells us: God chose you and adopted you “in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace.” God wanted to. It was God’s grace, plain and simple. Because God loved you, he chose you. It wasn’t anything you did to prompt this love. It wasn’t anything you did to earn this love. It wasn’t anything you did to deserve this love. God loved you because he wanted to. Why you and not someone else? Doesn’t say. But in his infinite wisdom, God decided to choose you. No other explanation is found in Scripture. No one deserves to be God’s child, and the fact that he actually chose you is an awesome display of his love. We are forever indebted to him. Thank the Lord for his glorious grace.
And that’s exactly what he wants you to do. He wants you to glorify him. Paul says to us here, we were chosen “in order that we… might be for the praise of his glory.” And that’s why we live how we live. That’s why we do what we do. So that we might be for the praise of his glory. That others may see our actions, hear our words, and glorify the Lord.
My Christian friends, by the grace of God you have been chosen, you have been given salvation, you’ve got it all in Christ. Act like you do. Speak like you do. Live like you’ve got it all in Christ so that all others may hear and believe – to the praise of his glory.
Amen.
“May the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be gloried in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
- 2 Thessalonians 1:12
- What
- Why
Do you know someone who’s “got it all?” You know, that person who has a great job and a huge house and nice vehicles and the perfect family, they’re always happy and everything seems to be going so well for them… And you look at the person and you think to yourself, “Wow, that person has got it all. They’ve got everything they could possibly need and more.” I think we’ve all seen people like that, whether in person or on tv. People that shouldn’t have a care in the world because they’ve got everything else.
Have you ever considered that you have got it all? It probably hasn’t crossed your mind too often because you know the ups and downs of your life. You know what you have and especially what you don’t. But as I look at you today, and I see what you have compared to what everybody else has, I’m telling you: you’ve got it all! Everything that you need, everything that has ever mattered and everything that ever will you’ve got. Because you’ve got it all in Christ. And that’s not just some arbitrary phrase I’m using because I’m preaching a sermon. It’s not just a catchy theme that means nothing at all. You’ve really got it all in Christ. And this text before us today beautifully explains that from beginning to end and everything in between. It tells you what you’ve got and why. And as you will see, the answers to these two questions are ultimately found in Christ.
So what do you have? If I said you’ve got it all in Christ, I better let you know what you have, right? Well, the answer to that question really starts at the beginning – before the beginning. Because Paul tells us: “He chose us in him before the creation of the world.” That’s the first thing you’ve got: the joy of being God’s number one pick. God chose you. Out of all the people of the world, out of all those centuries, God picked you! And this isn’t some kickball game on the school playground. God picked you not just to be on his side but to be his very own child! And that’s the second thing you’ve got: “He predestined us to be adopted as his [children] through Jesus Christ.” You aren’t his servant, you aren’t his subject, you aren’t just a part of his creation, you are his dear child. And that means you have all the benefits of being his child: his love, his care, his attention, his patience. You’ve got the joy of being the number one pick, you’ve got the privilege of being his child, and you’ve got the adoption papers right here to prove it.
Of course, none of that would have happened if it weren’t for Christ. Because in Christ everything God has planned for us is accomplished. Only in Christ can a sinful human being approach the perfect God. Because Jesus was and is true God and at the same time Jesus was and is true man. He is the bridge, he is the connection, he is our Mediator. We can only receive the blessing from God the Father in Christ. In fact, in our text today, from verses 3 to 14, the phrase “in Christ,” or “in him,” or “in the One he loves,” is used eleven times in the Greek text. Eleven times! That’s a lot of repetition. Paul is obviously trying to make a point here. And the point is: Christ is the key. We have nothing without him. We have everything in him.
And that’s why Paul continues by saying, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” You’ve got that in Christ. And redemption and forgiveness are really two words saying the same thing – but in two completely different ways. Redemption means that you are bought back with a ransom. You were bought back from Satan’s grasp, and the ransom was the blood of Jesus on the cross. But our sins are also forgiven, Paul says. They are no longer counted against us, they are wiped completely away. And because of that redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins you have salvation. Salvation!
We use that word so often I think that it has lost its flavor. Salvation in the Bible means more than being rescued. It means more than being rescued from a burning building. It means more than being rescued from drowning in a lake. It means more than being rescued from underneath an overturned car. Salvation in Scripture means being brought back from the dead. “We were dead” in sin, Paul says in the next chapter, but “he made us alive” in Christ. You are Lazarus walking out of the tomb! You are the widow’s son stepping out of the coffin! You are Jairus’ daughter being brought back to life! You now have new life in Christ. You have salvation.
So, let’s review. You’ve got the joy of being the number one pick, you’ve got the privilege of being an adopted child of God, you’ve got the adoption papers to prove it, you’ve got redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation? Is there anything else the Lord gives you? Sure there is. He gives you faith to believe all that. And that’s a very important gift because when it comes down to it: Jesus died for all people. His blood was the ransom for every sin. But the Holy Spirit worked faith in your heart by the grace of God. Listen to how Paul explains it: “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” And the faith the Holy Spirit gives you is your guarantee. Your guarantee that you’ve got it all.
Because sometimes people wonder, “How do I know I am chosen? How do I know that God adopted me?” Well, here’s the test: Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins? Then there you go. If you believe that, that means the Holy Spirit has worked faith in your heart. You can’t believe without the Holy Spirit. And so he’s your guarantee. Your guarantee that you’ve been chosen. Your guarantee that you’ve been adopted. Your guarantee that you’ve got it all in Christ.
But why? Why you? Why do you have it all in Christ and somebody else doesn’t? Why did the Holy Spirit work faith in my heart, but not in that guy’s? Now be careful. Be careful. Because this is where you can get into a lot of trouble. In the back of your mind don’t let yourself thing: Well, it must be something in me. I must be easier to convert than that other guy. No, you’re not. No you are not. You are just as difficult to convert than someone else. That includes mass murderers, that includes rapists, that includes Saddam Hussein. It took a miracle from the Holy Spirit to work faith in your heart just as it would with the worst of criminals. Because we’re all in the same boat. We were dead to sin.
Now if you went to a cemetery and you saw a grave stone that said a 9 year old girl died in 1934, and right next to it another grave stone said that an 90 year old man died in 1934, who is more dead? That’s a stupid question, right? Dead is dead. A corpse is no more dead than another corpse. There aren’t any levels of deadness. And the same goes for us. Before the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts, we were dead to sin. Just as any other unbeliever is dead to sin. There aren’t any levels of spiritual deadness either. So there is nothing in you that could have prompted or enabled the Holy Spirit to work faith in your heart over someone else. Nothing.
So what is it? The question still remains: why you? Our text tells us: God chose you and adopted you “in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace.” God wanted to. It was God’s grace, plain and simple. Because God loved you, he chose you. It wasn’t anything you did to prompt this love. It wasn’t anything you did to earn this love. It wasn’t anything you did to deserve this love. God loved you because he wanted to. Why you and not someone else? Doesn’t say. But in his infinite wisdom, God decided to choose you. No other explanation is found in Scripture. No one deserves to be God’s child, and the fact that he actually chose you is an awesome display of his love. We are forever indebted to him. Thank the Lord for his glorious grace.
And that’s exactly what he wants you to do. He wants you to glorify him. Paul says to us here, we were chosen “in order that we… might be for the praise of his glory.” And that’s why we live how we live. That’s why we do what we do. So that we might be for the praise of his glory. That others may see our actions, hear our words, and glorify the Lord.
My Christian friends, by the grace of God you have been chosen, you have been given salvation, you’ve got it all in Christ. Act like you do. Speak like you do. Live like you’ve got it all in Christ so that all others may hear and believe – to the praise of his glory.
Amen.
“May the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be gloried in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
- 2 Thessalonians 1:12
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