CHRIST AND NOTHING ELSE
- He is whom we live for
- We are whom he died for
Today in our gospel reading we meet two very interesting people. A man named Simeon and a woman named Anna. Both of them were faithful Christians. Both of them were some of the first ones to see the Son of God as a true human being. Both of them are painted in a very positive light by the gospel writer Luke. But neither of them is mentioned anywhere else in all of Scripture. The only things we know about Simeon and Anna are found in 13 short verses tucked into the middle of the second chapter of the book of Luke. But although we don’t know a whole lot about the lives of these two individuals, we can say this: Life to them was “Christ and nothing else.”
Take Simeon for example. He was an old man. And he knew he was nearing the end of his life. And so there were many things he probably could have been doing as he approached the day of his death: preparing for his departure from this life, getting things in order for those he would leave behind, spending valuable time with family and friends, visiting places he had never been but had always wanted to see, finishing projects he had started or tying up loose ends. There are plenty of things for any person to do before he or she leaves this earth. But in Luke 2, we don’t find Simeon doing any of these things. We find this “righteous and devout” man “waiting for the consolation [the comfort] of Israel… (because) it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” Simeon was waiting. He wasn’t planning, he wasn’t preparing, he wasn’t traveling, he wasn’t visiting, he wasn’t doing anything of any outward significance. He was just waiting because he wanted to see Christ. That’s all he wanted! He wanted to see the Savior. That’s all he cared about! That’s all he focused on. And when he was finally fortunate enough to see the Lord himself, “He praised God saying, ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’” That was it! Simeon’s life was completely fulfilled as far as he was concerned! He wanted nothing more! He was ready to die. Because to him life was always Christ and nothing else.
Anna wasn’t much different. She, too, was a faithful servant of the Lord just like Simeon was. She, too, was well along in years. She, too, was in the temple that day Mary and Joseph brought their son on his eight day. Anna was a prophetess - a position that probably dealt with some sort of formal responsibilities within the synagogue. And Anna was also a widow and had been for the majority of her life. After only seven years of marriage her husband had died. And at the time of this story she was 84 years old. There could have been many things Anna had the chance to do during those decades alone. But Luke says that “she never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” Just like Simeon, Anna wasn’t doing anything outwardly significant. She wasn’t changing the world. She wasn’t too concerned about her livelihood or retirement savings by living off a meager stipend taken from the funds brought in by the church. But that didn’t matter to her. Her life was Christ and nothing else. She prayed and she fasted and she worshiped the Lord night and day as often as she could. And when she was also given the privilege of seeing the baby Jesus in person, “she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” Christ was on her mind. Christ was on her tongue. And she wanted nothing else.
Both Anna and Simeon are great models for us to follow. Their lives were built around Christ. Their minds were focused on Christ. Their actions were motivated by Christ. Their words were inspired by Christ. And their souls longed to see Christ - and nothing else. There are few people in Scripture that would be better for us to try and imitate than these two elderly Christians who played brief cameo roles in Jesus’ young life.
I spend quite a bit of time preparing for sermons and Bible classes and catechism throughout each week. And I need to spend a lot of time on those things to do them well, to make sure that God’s name is glorified in what I present to you. But there are times when family life gets a little hectic, a special trip takes up a few more days of the week, and extracurricular activities of various sorts use up even more time. And during those particular weeks I find myself scrambling to get things done the way they should be done. I have to find time to prepare and to read and to write and to memorize everything I need to accomplish. It’s times like those when Christ doesn’t seem to be my main focus, but rather something squeezed in wherever I can fit him.
I love to read my Bible. And I try to do so every day. Every night at about 9:30 or so, I read the assigned section of Scripture on the reading list I follow, striving to understand exactly what God is telling me through his holy words. But there are days when that time doesn’t seem to work - I’m at a conference or on a vacation or something different is going on at home - and my daily Bible reading is overlooked or even pushed aside. It’s days like those when Christ seems to be something I have to put on hold in my life for a more appropriate hour.
I pray as often as I can. And I make it a point to pray for different things many times throughout the day. But sometimes, at night, after a long day or at the end of a late evening, my prayers suffer. I’m too tired to pray with my mind and my heart fully concentrating on what I am saying - and sometimes I’m too exhausted to pray at all, falling asleep without going to the Lord even once. It’s nights like those when Christ seems to slip through the cracks without more than a thought until the next morning.
What I’m getting at is: “Christ and nothing else” doesn’t seem to be the motto of my life most of the time. “Christ when it’s convenient” is probably a more accurate description. And I wonder if it can be any different with you… We fit Christ into our lives when we have the time or when we have the chance or when we find nothing else to do. We get to church when there’s nothing else really important going on Sunday morning, we read our Bible only when it crosses our minds, we pray to our God only when it is a habit to pray at that particular time, we think about Christ during a regular day only if by accident. “Christ when it’s convenient” is the way we usually live our lives because we have so many other things going on that take up our time and our thoughts and our energy. It really is a disappointing way we live as Christians, isn’t it? We say that Christ is everything to us but he usually only ends up being a small part of our thoughts and our actions on a regular basis.
But we are no worse than Simeon or Anna. They were just as sinful. They had just as many faults. They were no more righteous, they were no more godly, they were no more Christian than you are. But that’s exactly the reason why they focused on Christ and nothing else! They knew they were sinners. They knew they had faults. They knew whom they needed. They needed the one whom Simeon held in his arms. They needed the one whom Anna praised and proclaimed They needed that 8 day old boy. They needed Christ and everything he would do for them.
And what Christ would do for them and all people is described in these verses in unique and beautiful ways. Remember Anna spoke about Christ “to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem was under the rule of the Roman Empire at the time, and many people expected the coming Messiah to free them from that foreign authority, but that’s not what Luke had in mind when he wrote these words that described believers. Luke didn’t mean the physical city of Jerusalem would somehow be rescued; he was using “Jerusalem” to refer to the holy Christian Church on earth - all believers in Christ - just like the Old Testament prophets did on a number of occasions. One of the more prominent prophecies about the redemption of Jerusalem comes from Isaiah 52 - and maybe Luke even had these words in mind: “When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:8-10). The little boy that Anna saw that day would bring this prophecy to life. He would redeem Jerusalem, he would win salvation for all mankind, he would die to gain eternal life for those who believed in him. And because he would redeem Jerusalem he would also bring “the comfort of Israel.”
That’s what Simeon was waiting for. He was waiting for “the comfort of Israel” Scripture says. And again an Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah comes to mind when we talk about the comforting of believers: “Comfort, comfort my people says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-2). The comfort of Israel - the comfort for all believers is this: that our sins have been paid for, that our hard service in this life is done, and that we will receive more love and grace from the Lord than all of our sins combined. That was Simeon’s comfort and that is ours. We are forgiven. The sins we have committed against the Lord are taken away from us and placed on the baby Simeon held in his hands, the boy whom Anna praised. We can be comforted because Christ was not. He was treated brutally, both by sinful men and by his own heavenly Father. Christ experienced the exact opposite of comfort; he experienced hell for our salvation. And so now we can live in peace and rest in peace knowing that that we are the Jerusalem whom Christ has redeemed, we are the Israel whom Jesus comforts.
“Christ and nothing else.” When we see everything that he has done for us, when we review all of the sacrifices he made for us, it’s hard not to have that as our life’s theme. “Christ and nothing else.” Because what else is there? What is more important? What else could possibly be more pressing or serious or crucial than Christ? That doesn’t mean you have to dedicate your life to be a full-time worker in the church like Anna was, or resolve in your later years to simply wait to see Christ face to face like Simeon did, but to have Christ as your focus and your motivation and your joy in whatever you do, to remember everything that he has done for you, everything he has promised to you, and everything that he is for you - that is the life of a Christian. That is Christ and nothing else. And there is really no more enjoyable life to live than that because that is the life you will be living in heaven. Your life will be Christ and nothing else. It will be Christ forever.
Amen.
“May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” - 2 Thess. 2:16-17
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
12/31/08 - New Year's Eve - Psalm 111
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
- God's promises never change
- God's promises last forever
How was this year for you? Was it exciting? Was it exhausting? Was it a good year? Was it a not-so-good year? Was it the “same old, same old”? Was this year pretty much the same as the year before and the year before that and the year before that? Usually, not a whole lot of things change in a year’s time. There are always ups and downs each year, and there are always a few unique things that make one year different from the other, but for the most part each year is just the “same old, same old.” And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Especially as you get older you aren’t looking for change. If you are relatively healthy and you are around your fellow Christians and you are taking in the Word of God on a regular basis, it’s not a bad thing that each year is the “same old, same old.”
But as this year falls into the next, remember that your life is not the only thing that is the “same old, same old.” God’s promises are too - and to an even greater degree! God’s promises never change. And not only that, but God’s promises last forever. They never get out dated. They never get used up. They never become obsolete. God’s promises are the “same old, same old” year in and year out for every person in every country in every era. Psalm 111 presents that truth to us in poetic language. We read through the 10 verses of this psalm at the beginning of our service tonight, and so I’ve put the four key passages down again for you under the devotion section of your bulletin. The psalm writer says about the Lord, “Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever… He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever… All his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast forever and ever… He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever…” God’s promises to us never change, and we can always count on them because they will remain true forever.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we were that reliable? Because we are completely unstable Christians when it comes right down to it! Just think about what kind of Christian you’ve been this past year. There have been some months in which you were fully motivated and energized to reach out to those around you with the Word of God, and then there were those other months in which you shied away from every evangelism opportunity that the Lord placed in your lap. There were weeks this past year in which you read your Bible faithfully every day, and then there were those weeks that were so hectic that you were lucky to even read it once. There were days during these previous 12 months in which you prayed to the Lord and thanked the Lord in countless ways at numerous times, and then there were other days in which prayer was the farthest thing from your mind. We are not reliable children of God. Sometimes we are acting and speaking and thinking like we should and at other times we aren’t a whole lot different than the unbeliever down the street. We have proved to be very sporadic Christians. Sometimes the Lord may have been pleased with us this past year, and at other times he most definitely was not. Really, the only thing that doesn’t change with us from one year to the next is that we are always sinners. That never changes. That is always the “same old, same old.”
I guess that’s why it’s a good thing that the Lord’s promises are the “same old, same old” as well. It’s a good thing his promises never change. No matter what we do! No matter how many times we have sinned against him this year his promises never changed. Because his promises are not based on your behavior, they are based on what Christ has already done. He promises that whenever you sin, you can find forgiveness at his cross. He promises that whenever you are weighed down with guilt, you who are weary and burdened can come to him and he will give you rest. He promises that whenever you are in trouble you can call on his name and he will rescue you. He promises that wherever you go he will be with you, whenever you sleep he will watch over you, and whenever you die he will take you home.
And these promises never change. They don’t vary from person to person or age to age. They don’t depend on how good you are or how much you have pleased him. They don’t have to be revised and they don’t have to be updated. God’s promises stand as they are. And so whatever happens in your life from day to day or month to month or year to year - God’s promises will remain true. They will always be the “same old, same old” no matter where you are, no matter what has happened, and no matter what you have done. Because God’s promises not only remain the same, they also last forever.
Psalm 111 says that his precepts, his commands “are steadfast forever.” “His righteousness endures forever.” And “He remembers his covenant forever.” Do you know what a “covenant” is? A covenant is an agreement, a promise between two parties. Most often the word “covenant” is used in our society when it comes to homeowners. There may be a homeowners’ covenant you sign within a certain subdivision detailing the way the houses and the properties are to be kept up. God remembers his covenant forever. And what is his covenant exactly? The Lord tells us through his prophet Jeremiah “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time… I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33,34). God’s promise to you is that he will never again remember your sins. He has put them out of his mind and will never bring them up again. Because they have already been paid for. Christ has already taken care of those sins on the cross. So there is no reason for the Lord to remember them. They are gone! They are non-existent! As far as the Lord is concerned, you never even committed those sins because Jesus suffered like he had. That’s the Lord’s promise to you. That’s his “covenant.” He will remember your sins no more. And he will never forget that. That covenant will last until you die or until he comes again on Judgment Day. It will not lose it’s effectiveness over time. And he will not get tired of keeping as the years go on. This covenant will last forever because it’s not based on you; it’s based on the Lord’s love. And the Lord’s love never fails.
In only a few hours, 2008 will turn into 2009. And only the Lord knows what this coming year will bring. There may be a lot of changes in your life in the next 12 months. There may be some great things that happen to you. There may be some tragedies. And then again, it might just be more of the “same old, same old.” But whatever happens, know that the Lord will always be the “same old, same old.” His promises won’t change with the way you feel from one day to the next, they won’t vary with the market, they won’t fluctuate with your health, they won’t be altered at all by any sin or any evil or any catastrophe of any kind. God’s promises will remain exactly the way they were when God first spoke them. And they will remain forever.
Before this day ends tonight, thank the Lord for being the “same old, same old” this year and throughout your life. And ask him to keep you comforted by these promises for as many years as you have left under his grace. Because there is no greater comfort than to know that God will be with you and he will always forgive you - and that will never change.
Amen.
“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” - 1 Cor. 13:14
- God's promises never change
- God's promises last forever
How was this year for you? Was it exciting? Was it exhausting? Was it a good year? Was it a not-so-good year? Was it the “same old, same old”? Was this year pretty much the same as the year before and the year before that and the year before that? Usually, not a whole lot of things change in a year’s time. There are always ups and downs each year, and there are always a few unique things that make one year different from the other, but for the most part each year is just the “same old, same old.” And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Especially as you get older you aren’t looking for change. If you are relatively healthy and you are around your fellow Christians and you are taking in the Word of God on a regular basis, it’s not a bad thing that each year is the “same old, same old.”
But as this year falls into the next, remember that your life is not the only thing that is the “same old, same old.” God’s promises are too - and to an even greater degree! God’s promises never change. And not only that, but God’s promises last forever. They never get out dated. They never get used up. They never become obsolete. God’s promises are the “same old, same old” year in and year out for every person in every country in every era. Psalm 111 presents that truth to us in poetic language. We read through the 10 verses of this psalm at the beginning of our service tonight, and so I’ve put the four key passages down again for you under the devotion section of your bulletin. The psalm writer says about the Lord, “Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever… He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever… All his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast forever and ever… He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever…” God’s promises to us never change, and we can always count on them because they will remain true forever.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we were that reliable? Because we are completely unstable Christians when it comes right down to it! Just think about what kind of Christian you’ve been this past year. There have been some months in which you were fully motivated and energized to reach out to those around you with the Word of God, and then there were those other months in which you shied away from every evangelism opportunity that the Lord placed in your lap. There were weeks this past year in which you read your Bible faithfully every day, and then there were those weeks that were so hectic that you were lucky to even read it once. There were days during these previous 12 months in which you prayed to the Lord and thanked the Lord in countless ways at numerous times, and then there were other days in which prayer was the farthest thing from your mind. We are not reliable children of God. Sometimes we are acting and speaking and thinking like we should and at other times we aren’t a whole lot different than the unbeliever down the street. We have proved to be very sporadic Christians. Sometimes the Lord may have been pleased with us this past year, and at other times he most definitely was not. Really, the only thing that doesn’t change with us from one year to the next is that we are always sinners. That never changes. That is always the “same old, same old.”
I guess that’s why it’s a good thing that the Lord’s promises are the “same old, same old” as well. It’s a good thing his promises never change. No matter what we do! No matter how many times we have sinned against him this year his promises never changed. Because his promises are not based on your behavior, they are based on what Christ has already done. He promises that whenever you sin, you can find forgiveness at his cross. He promises that whenever you are weighed down with guilt, you who are weary and burdened can come to him and he will give you rest. He promises that whenever you are in trouble you can call on his name and he will rescue you. He promises that wherever you go he will be with you, whenever you sleep he will watch over you, and whenever you die he will take you home.
And these promises never change. They don’t vary from person to person or age to age. They don’t depend on how good you are or how much you have pleased him. They don’t have to be revised and they don’t have to be updated. God’s promises stand as they are. And so whatever happens in your life from day to day or month to month or year to year - God’s promises will remain true. They will always be the “same old, same old” no matter where you are, no matter what has happened, and no matter what you have done. Because God’s promises not only remain the same, they also last forever.
Psalm 111 says that his precepts, his commands “are steadfast forever.” “His righteousness endures forever.” And “He remembers his covenant forever.” Do you know what a “covenant” is? A covenant is an agreement, a promise between two parties. Most often the word “covenant” is used in our society when it comes to homeowners. There may be a homeowners’ covenant you sign within a certain subdivision detailing the way the houses and the properties are to be kept up. God remembers his covenant forever. And what is his covenant exactly? The Lord tells us through his prophet Jeremiah “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time… I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33,34). God’s promise to you is that he will never again remember your sins. He has put them out of his mind and will never bring them up again. Because they have already been paid for. Christ has already taken care of those sins on the cross. So there is no reason for the Lord to remember them. They are gone! They are non-existent! As far as the Lord is concerned, you never even committed those sins because Jesus suffered like he had. That’s the Lord’s promise to you. That’s his “covenant.” He will remember your sins no more. And he will never forget that. That covenant will last until you die or until he comes again on Judgment Day. It will not lose it’s effectiveness over time. And he will not get tired of keeping as the years go on. This covenant will last forever because it’s not based on you; it’s based on the Lord’s love. And the Lord’s love never fails.
In only a few hours, 2008 will turn into 2009. And only the Lord knows what this coming year will bring. There may be a lot of changes in your life in the next 12 months. There may be some great things that happen to you. There may be some tragedies. And then again, it might just be more of the “same old, same old.” But whatever happens, know that the Lord will always be the “same old, same old.” His promises won’t change with the way you feel from one day to the next, they won’t vary with the market, they won’t fluctuate with your health, they won’t be altered at all by any sin or any evil or any catastrophe of any kind. God’s promises will remain exactly the way they were when God first spoke them. And they will remain forever.
Before this day ends tonight, thank the Lord for being the “same old, same old” this year and throughout your life. And ask him to keep you comforted by these promises for as many years as you have left under his grace. Because there is no greater comfort than to know that God will be with you and he will always forgive you - and that will never change.
Amen.
“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” - 1 Cor. 13:14
12/25/08 - Christmas Day - Luke 2 & Matthew 2
COME & SEE!
Luke 2:8-14
The angels must have been astonished at what the Lord had just done. Their Almighty God, their Creator had now become one of those whom they were supposed to help and protect. Help God? Protect their Lord? But there he was, God himself lying in a manger! And even one of their own, the angel Gabriel, had been sent months before to announce this incredible miracle to Mary and then again to Joseph. And so the angels knew it was coming but now it was actually here! God had become a man! God had been made - as the book of Hebrews says - “a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7). How could this be? How could the immortal God now be a mortal human being with flesh and blood and pain and tears? But there he was, on a pile of straw, in a little town, in the middle of the night.
And the angels were sent to proclaim it. They were sent to announce the miracle of Christ’s birth to the shepherds on nearby hills. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” The angels must have been ecstatic! “The Lord is here! Listen to us, shepherds! Our God, your God is actually here on this earth! You better go see him! You have the privilege of gazing upon the Lord himself with your own eyes! Don’t pass it up! He is here! Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord!”
I’m sure the angels tried to catch of glimpse of that baby Jesus every chance they had that night. Salvation for mankind was finally underway. It had been prophesied for centuries, but the angels didn’t know when exactly he would come or exactly how. Even the apostle Peter, when writing about the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Christ, said that “even the angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12). They knew God was going to save the human race in some way. They knew he was going to come to earn forgiveness for the sins of the world. But I don’t think they ever expected to see their God as a little human baby, born of a real sinful woman, umbilical cord and all. But that was their Lord! That was their God. And that is yours. Come and see. Come and see with the astonished angels “a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:14-18,20
The shepherds were just minding their own business. It was just another night on the hillsides of Bethlehem. Their sheep were grazing or sleeping or starting to settle down for the night. But the stillness was violently interrupted by an actual angel of God! A real live heavenly angel! Just like the ones they had heard about in the Old Testament! There in the air speaking to them! And oh, what a message! “A Savior? Christ the long expected Messiah? The Lord? Could it really be true? What are the chances?” the shepherds were probably thinking to themselves. “Out of all the eras in which to come, are we lucky enough to have the Savior come in our lifetime? And not only that, but in the little insignificant town right in front of us? Could it really be true? And if so, why tell us? Why would God bother with us? We’re just shepherds. We’re working the graveyard shift while other people sleep!” But they had to believe it. Because the angel was right in front of them speaking the word of God himself. And then an entire army of angels appeared glorifying and praising God. And so the shepherds went to see their Shepherd. And they found him exactly like the angel had said: in a barn, in a feeding trough, wrapped in cloths, accompanied by Mary and Joseph. And so it was true. God was here. And he had come for them. The Good Shepherd had come for normal, regular, every day sheep herders. And the Good Shepherd has come for you: normal, regular, every day people. No one special - except to the Lord, your Shepherd. You are his little lamb. And he will do everything it takes to guard you and guide you, protect you and lead you home. Come and see. Come with the shepherds of Bethlehem and see the Shepherd of your souls.
Luke 2:19
It must have been a strange night for Mary. It must have been a strange 9 months! An angel announcing that she was pregnant when she knew full well that she had done nothing to put herself in that category. Her husband-to-be, Joseph, receiving a similar message about this miraculous conception. A long-distance trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem on the verge of her due date. An unfamiliar town without a hotel room available. A barn. A manger. A baby. One that doesn’t cry or fuss or whine. A perfect baby as far as she can tell. And then some of the local shepherds burst into the opening, most likely telling Mary and Joseph what the angels had said to them, worshiping and praising the new-born son, and then the shepherds rush out, intent on telling this wonderful news to anyone who would listen. And Scripture says that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
It must have been a strange 9 months. It must have been a strange life with Jesus. What would it have been like to raise the Savior? Mary must have struggled to be his mother on the one hand and his servant on the other. And I’m sure she stepped over the line once or twice. She probably scolded him when he was in the right. She probably worried about him when there was, of course, nothing to worry about. She probably used a tone of voice with him at times that was not appropriate for one of God’s creatures when addressing their Creator. Mary treasured up all of these things that happened at his birth in her heart, but she certainly forgot about his glory compared to her sinfulness on quite a few occasions.
Don’t you? Don’t you forget about God’s glory compared to your sinfulness on quite a few occasions? I do. I question the Lord’s plans when he is in the right. I worry about things when, of course, there is nothing to worry about. I use a tone of voice with the Lord that isn’t appropriate when of his creatures is addressing his Creator. There are times in our lives when we don’t treat God like God. We have a hard time sitting back and letting him take the reigns. We have a hard time holding our tongues when we think he should have done things a little differently. We have a hard time remembering that he is God himself and we are nowhere close.
I’m positive that Mary entertained quite a lot of guilt in her years just like we do. Who wouldn’t as a sinful parent of their perfect Savior? But Mary treasured up all these things in her heart. When she faltered, she found forgiveness. When she sinned as a parent, she remembered who her son really was: the Son of God. She knew that the one she sinned against was the one who had come to take away those sins. Treasure up these things in your heart as well. Remember who this son is: not just Mary’s, but God’s Son. Sent for you. Sent for your forgiveness and peace and eternity. And so although you will sin in this life, the Son of God will always forgive you. That’s what he came to do. That’s what he has done. Come and see. Come and see Mary’s son. Come and see God’s Son. Come and see your Savior.
Matthew 2:1-2,7-12
The Magi - men of wisdom from an eastern land - see a star. And it’s no ordinary star. It hasn’t been there before and it seems to be moving in a pattern unlike anything they have ever seen before. And they must have received a special revelation about this star from God himself because they somehow knew it would lead them to the Savior. And so they loaded up their camels or donkeys or carts, made sure they had some nice gifts for their arrival, and they followed that star. Possibly for almost 2 years they followed that star - based on the age of the boys whom King Herod wanted killed when the wise men arrived. But for however long the Magi traveled, they finally made it to Bethlehem. And these wise men, these wealthy men, these Christian men, bowed down and worshiped a little boy. They thanked him for coming. They honored him as their King. And they laid at his feet costly gifts of gold and incense and a special oil called myrrh. A long trip considering the distance. A costly journey taking into account all the supplies they needed and the means of income they put on hold back at home. And they were certainly valuable gifts for a boy who couldn’t really appreciate them yet. But it was all worth it. Because this boy was their King.
I pray that that the birth of this boy moves your hearts as it moved the hearts of the Magi. I pray that you are motivated to make an effort for your King, to praise him, to thank him, to worship him, to offer him your gifts of appreciation for what he has done and who he is. Because this boy is your Ruler. He is your Lord. And he deserves everything we have and more. Because you know that this boy in a barn is Christ on the cross. And he not only received the praise of angels and the thanksgiving of shepherds and the love of a mother and the gifts of wise men, he received their sins. And as their King and ours, he conquered that enemy who had pinned us down and rose victoriously to his heavenly throne. Come and see. Come and see your King before the throne, before the victory. Come and see him small and humbled and unnoticed in a tiny town in a far off land. Come and see God in flesh and blood. Come and see your King begin his rule and your salvation.
Luke 2:8-14
The angels must have been astonished at what the Lord had just done. Their Almighty God, their Creator had now become one of those whom they were supposed to help and protect. Help God? Protect their Lord? But there he was, God himself lying in a manger! And even one of their own, the angel Gabriel, had been sent months before to announce this incredible miracle to Mary and then again to Joseph. And so the angels knew it was coming but now it was actually here! God had become a man! God had been made - as the book of Hebrews says - “a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7). How could this be? How could the immortal God now be a mortal human being with flesh and blood and pain and tears? But there he was, on a pile of straw, in a little town, in the middle of the night.
And the angels were sent to proclaim it. They were sent to announce the miracle of Christ’s birth to the shepherds on nearby hills. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” The angels must have been ecstatic! “The Lord is here! Listen to us, shepherds! Our God, your God is actually here on this earth! You better go see him! You have the privilege of gazing upon the Lord himself with your own eyes! Don’t pass it up! He is here! Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord!”
I’m sure the angels tried to catch of glimpse of that baby Jesus every chance they had that night. Salvation for mankind was finally underway. It had been prophesied for centuries, but the angels didn’t know when exactly he would come or exactly how. Even the apostle Peter, when writing about the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Christ, said that “even the angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12). They knew God was going to save the human race in some way. They knew he was going to come to earn forgiveness for the sins of the world. But I don’t think they ever expected to see their God as a little human baby, born of a real sinful woman, umbilical cord and all. But that was their Lord! That was their God. And that is yours. Come and see. Come and see with the astonished angels “a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:14-18,20
The shepherds were just minding their own business. It was just another night on the hillsides of Bethlehem. Their sheep were grazing or sleeping or starting to settle down for the night. But the stillness was violently interrupted by an actual angel of God! A real live heavenly angel! Just like the ones they had heard about in the Old Testament! There in the air speaking to them! And oh, what a message! “A Savior? Christ the long expected Messiah? The Lord? Could it really be true? What are the chances?” the shepherds were probably thinking to themselves. “Out of all the eras in which to come, are we lucky enough to have the Savior come in our lifetime? And not only that, but in the little insignificant town right in front of us? Could it really be true? And if so, why tell us? Why would God bother with us? We’re just shepherds. We’re working the graveyard shift while other people sleep!” But they had to believe it. Because the angel was right in front of them speaking the word of God himself. And then an entire army of angels appeared glorifying and praising God. And so the shepherds went to see their Shepherd. And they found him exactly like the angel had said: in a barn, in a feeding trough, wrapped in cloths, accompanied by Mary and Joseph. And so it was true. God was here. And he had come for them. The Good Shepherd had come for normal, regular, every day sheep herders. And the Good Shepherd has come for you: normal, regular, every day people. No one special - except to the Lord, your Shepherd. You are his little lamb. And he will do everything it takes to guard you and guide you, protect you and lead you home. Come and see. Come with the shepherds of Bethlehem and see the Shepherd of your souls.
Luke 2:19
It must have been a strange night for Mary. It must have been a strange 9 months! An angel announcing that she was pregnant when she knew full well that she had done nothing to put herself in that category. Her husband-to-be, Joseph, receiving a similar message about this miraculous conception. A long-distance trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem on the verge of her due date. An unfamiliar town without a hotel room available. A barn. A manger. A baby. One that doesn’t cry or fuss or whine. A perfect baby as far as she can tell. And then some of the local shepherds burst into the opening, most likely telling Mary and Joseph what the angels had said to them, worshiping and praising the new-born son, and then the shepherds rush out, intent on telling this wonderful news to anyone who would listen. And Scripture says that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
It must have been a strange 9 months. It must have been a strange life with Jesus. What would it have been like to raise the Savior? Mary must have struggled to be his mother on the one hand and his servant on the other. And I’m sure she stepped over the line once or twice. She probably scolded him when he was in the right. She probably worried about him when there was, of course, nothing to worry about. She probably used a tone of voice with him at times that was not appropriate for one of God’s creatures when addressing their Creator. Mary treasured up all of these things that happened at his birth in her heart, but she certainly forgot about his glory compared to her sinfulness on quite a few occasions.
Don’t you? Don’t you forget about God’s glory compared to your sinfulness on quite a few occasions? I do. I question the Lord’s plans when he is in the right. I worry about things when, of course, there is nothing to worry about. I use a tone of voice with the Lord that isn’t appropriate when of his creatures is addressing his Creator. There are times in our lives when we don’t treat God like God. We have a hard time sitting back and letting him take the reigns. We have a hard time holding our tongues when we think he should have done things a little differently. We have a hard time remembering that he is God himself and we are nowhere close.
I’m positive that Mary entertained quite a lot of guilt in her years just like we do. Who wouldn’t as a sinful parent of their perfect Savior? But Mary treasured up all these things in her heart. When she faltered, she found forgiveness. When she sinned as a parent, she remembered who her son really was: the Son of God. She knew that the one she sinned against was the one who had come to take away those sins. Treasure up these things in your heart as well. Remember who this son is: not just Mary’s, but God’s Son. Sent for you. Sent for your forgiveness and peace and eternity. And so although you will sin in this life, the Son of God will always forgive you. That’s what he came to do. That’s what he has done. Come and see. Come and see Mary’s son. Come and see God’s Son. Come and see your Savior.
Matthew 2:1-2,7-12
The Magi - men of wisdom from an eastern land - see a star. And it’s no ordinary star. It hasn’t been there before and it seems to be moving in a pattern unlike anything they have ever seen before. And they must have received a special revelation about this star from God himself because they somehow knew it would lead them to the Savior. And so they loaded up their camels or donkeys or carts, made sure they had some nice gifts for their arrival, and they followed that star. Possibly for almost 2 years they followed that star - based on the age of the boys whom King Herod wanted killed when the wise men arrived. But for however long the Magi traveled, they finally made it to Bethlehem. And these wise men, these wealthy men, these Christian men, bowed down and worshiped a little boy. They thanked him for coming. They honored him as their King. And they laid at his feet costly gifts of gold and incense and a special oil called myrrh. A long trip considering the distance. A costly journey taking into account all the supplies they needed and the means of income they put on hold back at home. And they were certainly valuable gifts for a boy who couldn’t really appreciate them yet. But it was all worth it. Because this boy was their King.
I pray that that the birth of this boy moves your hearts as it moved the hearts of the Magi. I pray that you are motivated to make an effort for your King, to praise him, to thank him, to worship him, to offer him your gifts of appreciation for what he has done and who he is. Because this boy is your Ruler. He is your Lord. And he deserves everything we have and more. Because you know that this boy in a barn is Christ on the cross. And he not only received the praise of angels and the thanksgiving of shepherds and the love of a mother and the gifts of wise men, he received their sins. And as their King and ours, he conquered that enemy who had pinned us down and rose victoriously to his heavenly throne. Come and see. Come and see your King before the throne, before the victory. Come and see him small and humbled and unnoticed in a tiny town in a far off land. Come and see God in flesh and blood. Come and see your King begin his rule and your salvation.
12/24/08 - Christmas Eve - Galatians 4:4-5
HE SENT HIS SON SO HIS SONS WE COULD BE
- Christ's birth proves we are failures
- Christ's birth makes adoption possible
Christ’s birth was announced to sinners, it was accomplished through sinners, and it was achieved for sinners. And Christ’s birth was absolutely necessary if sinners were to be saved. Without Christ coming to this world the world would defeat us. Without the Savior being conceived by a virgin, the sins we were conceived with would still count against us. Without the Son of God coming to die for our sins we would die as enemies of God. And so God sent us Son so that his sons we could be. And I say “sons” instead of “sons and daughters” because it’s not about gender, it’s about receiving the inheritance. Back in biblical times the first-born son usually received the family inheritance. And so that’s why Paul says in Galatians chapter 4, “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” God sent his Son so his sons we could be. The Son of God came down from heaven so that we might receive the first-born son’s inheritance. And we will receive heaven. We will receive eternal life. We will leave this earth and join a celebration forever in perfection only because God’s Son left heavenly perfection and came to suffer on this earth.
And Christ’s birth was absolutely necessary for all of this to happen because we could not do it on our own. We are failures in every sense of the word. We are failures! And Christ’s birth on this earth proves it! If we could be good enough to get to heaven based on the way we live our lives, if we could do something to gain eternal life by ourselves, Christ wouldn’t have had to been born. If it were possible for us to be God’s sons and to receive the inheritance because of who we have made ourselves to be - we wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas right now. We wouldn’t need to. Because we wouldn’t need Christ. But here we are celebrating Christmas. Christ was born. God’s Son was sent to this earth, born of woman and born under law in a little town called Bethlehem two millennia ago. And his birth proves that we have failed.
If you have plumbing trouble in your house and you finally have to bite the bullet and call a professional plumber, his presence proves that you have failed to fix the problem or have even failed to find it! He wouldn’t be there if you were able to fix it yourself. When a large company sends in a specialist to evaluate a problem and to determine a course of action in order to resolve something that has been left unresolved for quite some time, his presence makes it clear that the people who were supposed to be in charge had failed to carry out the responsibilities assigned to them. When a government sends in its military to one of its own cities, the soldiers’ presence indicates that the local authorities could not deal with the volatile situation in an appropriate and timely manner. The arrival of these different people at these different times reveals that someone has failed to do what they were required to do. Every year Christ’s birth should remind us of that very same thing! His presence should remind us that we have failed. We have not done what we are supposed to do. We have not kept the laws and the commands that the Lord has laid down for us. We have not done enough to get to heaven. And we cannot do anything to fix it ourselves.
According to God’s law, what are we required to do in order to get to heaven? Everything. From the 1st Commandment to the 10th and everything in between. We are not only required to keep some of them or most of them or the majority of them. We are not simply asked to try our best and the Lord will give us a break because of our efforts. No, God’s law says that we are to be perfect in every way. We are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. That means we are never supposed to doubt his plans, we are never supposed to question his love, we are never supposed to place anything above him at any times in our lives. Have you done that? We are to honor our fathers and mothers, honor those in law enforcement, honor those in government positions, and honor all those in authority over us. That means we should never bad-mouth them, never complain about them behind their backs, never think ill of them because of what they have done, never come close to a rebellious or defiant word or attitude. Have you stayed away from all of those faults all of your life? We are not supposed to steal according to God’s law. And that includes not only refraining from taking property that belongs to someone else, but to actually help everyone in any way you can. Never being resentful of loaning your things, never refusing to help someone in need, never letting your innate selfishness overrule generosity. Have you been that person your entire life? And these are just the 1st, 4th, and 7th Commandments. 3 of the 10. 10 of the hundreds. Hundreds of the thousands. And the thousands that really sum up the one command: love. If you have loved God and loved everyone else perfectly, if you’ve kept every one of God’s commands in every way, you will go to heaven. Otherwise, you have failed.
Tonight we are celebrating Christ’s birth. God sent his Son. Why? Not because you have measured up to God’s demands. And not because I have. God sent his Son because we have failed. But God also sent his Son to make our adoption possible. Christ’s birth indicates that we have failed but it also shows us how much God cares. He wouldn’t have sent his Son if he didn’t want to do something to fix the problem we have made for ourselves. And so “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Jesus was born “under law.” That means he was required to follow the law of God just like any other normal human being who has ever lived. Jesus was a real person. And he had to be in order to redeem those under law. Of course, he kept that law perfectly. He never once sinned. He never once fell into temptation. He never once let an errant word slip from his mouth or entertained an inappropriate thought. He truly was - and is - perfect. But his work did not stop there. His perfection alone did not redeem us, buy us back for the Lord. Jesus also had to take the punishment of sin that we deserve. That’s what the cross is all about. That’s where this cute little baby Jesus ends up. He was born in a stable to die on a cross. That’s why he came. And that’s why his birth made our adoption possible. His birth was the beginning of his life for ours.
And those who believe that Jesus is their Savior from sin, 100% their Savior, based on nothing they have done but on everything Christ has done, those souls are adopted as God’s children - as God’s first-born sons. They are adopted into his family because Christ has lived and died and risen for their sins. He has lived and died and risen for yours. So now you will receive the inheritance given only to God’s sons: heaven, eternal life, perfection in Paradise. This is yours not because who you made yourself to be but because of who Christ is. And because of who you are now: an adopted child of God.
And it was all made possible by this Child, this pure and perfect Infant whose birth we celebrate tonight. Our Savior, our King, and our God. A Son who went from being surrounded by the angels of heaven to being looked over by barn animals. A Son who went from being clothed in the splendors of perfection to being wrapped in strips of cloth. A Son who went from standing on the clouds to lying on a pile of straw. God sent this Son, his only Son, so that his sons we could be. God sent his only Son to gain even more. And he has. And he will. And we are included. We are included in God’s perfect family because Christ was born of a sinful family here on earth. And so although this birth reminds us of our failures, it more importantly reminds us of Christ’s victories. Because tonight we celebrate the Son of God becoming the son of Mary so that we could be his sons forever. Tonight we celebrate sinners being saved.
Amen.
- Christ's birth proves we are failures
- Christ's birth makes adoption possible
Christ’s birth was announced to sinners, it was accomplished through sinners, and it was achieved for sinners. And Christ’s birth was absolutely necessary if sinners were to be saved. Without Christ coming to this world the world would defeat us. Without the Savior being conceived by a virgin, the sins we were conceived with would still count against us. Without the Son of God coming to die for our sins we would die as enemies of God. And so God sent us Son so that his sons we could be. And I say “sons” instead of “sons and daughters” because it’s not about gender, it’s about receiving the inheritance. Back in biblical times the first-born son usually received the family inheritance. And so that’s why Paul says in Galatians chapter 4, “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” God sent his Son so his sons we could be. The Son of God came down from heaven so that we might receive the first-born son’s inheritance. And we will receive heaven. We will receive eternal life. We will leave this earth and join a celebration forever in perfection only because God’s Son left heavenly perfection and came to suffer on this earth.
And Christ’s birth was absolutely necessary for all of this to happen because we could not do it on our own. We are failures in every sense of the word. We are failures! And Christ’s birth on this earth proves it! If we could be good enough to get to heaven based on the way we live our lives, if we could do something to gain eternal life by ourselves, Christ wouldn’t have had to been born. If it were possible for us to be God’s sons and to receive the inheritance because of who we have made ourselves to be - we wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas right now. We wouldn’t need to. Because we wouldn’t need Christ. But here we are celebrating Christmas. Christ was born. God’s Son was sent to this earth, born of woman and born under law in a little town called Bethlehem two millennia ago. And his birth proves that we have failed.
If you have plumbing trouble in your house and you finally have to bite the bullet and call a professional plumber, his presence proves that you have failed to fix the problem or have even failed to find it! He wouldn’t be there if you were able to fix it yourself. When a large company sends in a specialist to evaluate a problem and to determine a course of action in order to resolve something that has been left unresolved for quite some time, his presence makes it clear that the people who were supposed to be in charge had failed to carry out the responsibilities assigned to them. When a government sends in its military to one of its own cities, the soldiers’ presence indicates that the local authorities could not deal with the volatile situation in an appropriate and timely manner. The arrival of these different people at these different times reveals that someone has failed to do what they were required to do. Every year Christ’s birth should remind us of that very same thing! His presence should remind us that we have failed. We have not done what we are supposed to do. We have not kept the laws and the commands that the Lord has laid down for us. We have not done enough to get to heaven. And we cannot do anything to fix it ourselves.
According to God’s law, what are we required to do in order to get to heaven? Everything. From the 1st Commandment to the 10th and everything in between. We are not only required to keep some of them or most of them or the majority of them. We are not simply asked to try our best and the Lord will give us a break because of our efforts. No, God’s law says that we are to be perfect in every way. We are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. That means we are never supposed to doubt his plans, we are never supposed to question his love, we are never supposed to place anything above him at any times in our lives. Have you done that? We are to honor our fathers and mothers, honor those in law enforcement, honor those in government positions, and honor all those in authority over us. That means we should never bad-mouth them, never complain about them behind their backs, never think ill of them because of what they have done, never come close to a rebellious or defiant word or attitude. Have you stayed away from all of those faults all of your life? We are not supposed to steal according to God’s law. And that includes not only refraining from taking property that belongs to someone else, but to actually help everyone in any way you can. Never being resentful of loaning your things, never refusing to help someone in need, never letting your innate selfishness overrule generosity. Have you been that person your entire life? And these are just the 1st, 4th, and 7th Commandments. 3 of the 10. 10 of the hundreds. Hundreds of the thousands. And the thousands that really sum up the one command: love. If you have loved God and loved everyone else perfectly, if you’ve kept every one of God’s commands in every way, you will go to heaven. Otherwise, you have failed.
Tonight we are celebrating Christ’s birth. God sent his Son. Why? Not because you have measured up to God’s demands. And not because I have. God sent his Son because we have failed. But God also sent his Son to make our adoption possible. Christ’s birth indicates that we have failed but it also shows us how much God cares. He wouldn’t have sent his Son if he didn’t want to do something to fix the problem we have made for ourselves. And so “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Jesus was born “under law.” That means he was required to follow the law of God just like any other normal human being who has ever lived. Jesus was a real person. And he had to be in order to redeem those under law. Of course, he kept that law perfectly. He never once sinned. He never once fell into temptation. He never once let an errant word slip from his mouth or entertained an inappropriate thought. He truly was - and is - perfect. But his work did not stop there. His perfection alone did not redeem us, buy us back for the Lord. Jesus also had to take the punishment of sin that we deserve. That’s what the cross is all about. That’s where this cute little baby Jesus ends up. He was born in a stable to die on a cross. That’s why he came. And that’s why his birth made our adoption possible. His birth was the beginning of his life for ours.
And those who believe that Jesus is their Savior from sin, 100% their Savior, based on nothing they have done but on everything Christ has done, those souls are adopted as God’s children - as God’s first-born sons. They are adopted into his family because Christ has lived and died and risen for their sins. He has lived and died and risen for yours. So now you will receive the inheritance given only to God’s sons: heaven, eternal life, perfection in Paradise. This is yours not because who you made yourself to be but because of who Christ is. And because of who you are now: an adopted child of God.
And it was all made possible by this Child, this pure and perfect Infant whose birth we celebrate tonight. Our Savior, our King, and our God. A Son who went from being surrounded by the angels of heaven to being looked over by barn animals. A Son who went from being clothed in the splendors of perfection to being wrapped in strips of cloth. A Son who went from standing on the clouds to lying on a pile of straw. God sent this Son, his only Son, so that his sons we could be. God sent his only Son to gain even more. And he has. And he will. And we are included. We are included in God’s perfect family because Christ was born of a sinful family here on earth. And so although this birth reminds us of our failures, it more importantly reminds us of Christ’s victories. Because tonight we celebrate the Son of God becoming the son of Mary so that we could be his sons forever. Tonight we celebrate sinners being saved.
Amen.
12/14/08 - Advent 3 - 2 Samuel 7:8-14
IT'S BETTER TO RECEIVE THAN TO GIVE
- We give our sins to Christ
- Christ gives his life for us
The giving and receiving of gifts has become a big part of the Christmas tradition. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with giving gifts to people and there’s nothing wrong when people give them to you. And I’m sure you expect to get a few gifts this year from certain people and you probably have a list of people that you are going to give Christmas presents to - if you haven’t sent them there already. Of course, some gifts are better than others. Some gifts are practical, some gifts are useable, some gifts are needed or wanted, and then there are those gifts that come out of the wrapping paper only to be placed on the top shelf of the closet never to see the light of day again. Naturally, the goal is to give gifts that will benefit a person in some way. Gifts that will be used. Gifts that fill a need of some kind.
Early on in his reign, King David saw a need and he wanted to give a gift to fill it. He had just taken over as king of Israel, he had captured Jerusalem, he had moved the ark of the covenant there, and he had built himself a palace in which to live. But he noticed that the Lord did not have a temple that bore his name. And so David decided that he was going to build a permanent house of God for the Lord in which he could place the ark of the covenant and at which the people could praise God’s name for generations to come. It was a big gift that David wanted to give. But God said no. The Lord was not going to allow David to praise him in that way! He told David that it wasn’t something he needed at that point. Although it was a very noble thought and a Christian gesture on the part of David to want to build a house for his God, the Lord turned him down.
But the Lord didn’t leave it at that. Instead of permitting David to give him a gift, the Lord told David that he wanted to give him even more than what he had blessed him with before. In 2 Samuel chapter 7 we hear the Lord tell David about all the blessings he planned to give him in the future, “I will make your name great… I will provide a place for my people Israel… The LORD himself will establish a house for you… I will raise up your offspring to succeed you… I will establish his kingdom… I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever… I will be his father and he will be my son.” The Lord planned to do all these things for David. And so in a strange turn of events, the Lord was going to establish a house for David when it was David who had originally planned to build a house for the Lord! And on top of that, God was going to make sure that David’s name would always be remembered, that his successor would build the house of God that David had planned, and that the Savior himself would one day come from David’s line. In a matter of a few words, David went from wanting to give something to his Lord, to receiving more blessings from the Lord than he would have ever dared to ask for. When it comes to the Lord, it’s always better to receive than to give.
And that is still true today. When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, it’s better to receive than to give. Of course, it’s good to give to the Lord - please don’t misunderstand me! He wants you to give him gifts out of thanks and praise. But also realize that your gifts don’t benefit the Lord in any way. He doesn’t actually need any of your gifts. Because consider the things that you are able to give him: You may put money in the offering plate on Sunday, give a special monetary gift to the Synod, or send money to a disaster relief fund overseas, but you aren’t really giving anything to the Lord that he doesn’t already have. Because any money that you give to him has always been his in the first place! He’s just loaning it to you for a while! And the same goes with the talents you use for him or the time you spend for him. He’s provided you with the talents and skills you possess, and he’s blessed you with the time of grace that you enjoy on this earth. Your time and your skills and your possessions are all his. And he can take them back whenever he wants to. And so he doesn’t really need the things you give him, they’re his no matter what. It’s the same as if my daughter took a book that I gave her to read, wrapped it in wrapping paper, and gave it back to me for a Christmas present. Nice thought, I guess, but it’s already mine. I don’t need her to give it to me. That’s why when it comes to the Lord it’s better to receive than to give. Because our gifts that we give to God aren’t truly gifts at all - they’re just returns. Whereas the Lord’s gifts to us are far and above anything we could possibly ask for or imagine.
I don’t think David could have ever imagined the blessings the Lord promised to him that day. Who would ever guess that the Savior himself would be one of their own descendants? But that’s exactly what the Lord promises to David here in 2 Samuel. And I want to talk about this prophecy a little bit because this is a special kind of prophecy. It’s not a direct prophecy like we are used to hearing during Christmas time. For example: Isaiah prophesied that a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). That is a direct prophecy because he is talking directly about Christ and no one else. The prophecy here in 2 Samuel 7, however, is called a typical prophecy. It’s a typical prophecy because it refers a type of Christ as well as Christ himself. Think of it as a layover on a plane trip. It’s not a direct flight, there’s a stop in between your departure city and your final destination. The type of Christ is that stop in between. And a “type of Christ” simply means that the person or event depicted in the prophecy has certain qualities or characteristics that parallel qualities and characteristics of the coming Savior. In this prophecy, David’s son Solomon is the type of Christ. And so I want to read a section of our Old Testament lesson again and I ask you to listen closely and see if you can find those phrases that refer to Solomon and those phrases that refer to Christ. “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him…”
Did any of these predictions jump out at you as referring to one or the other? Obviously, both Solomon and Christ were David’s offspring and came from his body. Both had kingdoms established by God. And neither of them had the Lord’s love taken away from them. Even the sentence, “I will be his father, and he will be my son” can be describing both Solomon and Christ: It is specifically quoted in the book of Hebrews as referring to Christ himself, but the same can be said of Solomon - God was his father and Solomon was his son through faith. On the other hand, only Christ’s kingdom has been established forever - so that can only refer to Christ. But Solomon was the specific person who built a physical house for the Lord during his lifetime. And so here in this one prophecy we have both similar and different descriptions of two different people who lived at two different times all rolled into one. It’s a typical prophecy - a layover prophecy. It can be confusing sometimes, but it is very interesting.
And the most interesting part about this particular prophecy to me is one of the last descriptions I read, “When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.” At first glance, you would think this refers only to Solomon because Christ never did anything wrong, and so he never had to be punished for it. And it’s true that Solomon was punished for doing wrong. He did suffer the consequences of his actions. But Christ was punished too. Christ was punished with the rods of men because of sin. He was flogged at the hands of men on account of sin. The sin wasn’t his own, of course. But Christ took it as his own.
I think you know where this is going. The sin wasn’t his, it was ours. We gave him our sin and he suffered for it. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus had no sin, but he actually became sin for us. He took our sin that we gave him, he acted like it was his own, and he suffered and died in order to pay its consequences. And what a sad thing it is to come to the realization that out of all the things we have given the Lord in our lives, the only thing we have given him that he didn’t already have was sin. That is the only way we have ever affected God by what we have given him. We have provided him with suffering, with rejection from his own Father, with the tortures of hell, and with death itself. That is what the Lord has gained from our generosity. Congratulations. I’m sure the Lord appreciated your gift of sin.
But the remarkable thing about that is: he wanted your sin. He wanted to take it! The Lord knew it wouldn’t be pleasant. He knew it would be worse than anything anyone on this earth has ever had to face. But Christ wanted our sin anyway. Because he knew it was the only way. It was the only way to save us. That’s why he came to this earth. He wouldn’t have bothered to have been born in a manger and live in this sin-filled world and be treated like dirt by a crowd of sinful human beings and be taunted by a devil whom he had kicked out of heaven long ago if he didn’t want to take our sins from us. The reason that perfect baby was born to Mary in Bethlehem 2000 years ago was solely to become sin for us. That is what the Lord prophesied to David in 2 Samuel 7 and that is the way it had to happen. Christ took our sins and gave us salvation in return. It’s surely better to receive than to give when it comes to the gifts of the Lord. Because the only thing we have given is sin; and the everything he has given to us is salvation.
And now with all that being said: because of what the Lord has given you, respond by giving your gifts back to the Lord. He doesn’t need them, of course. We know that. But he wants them. He wants you to return to him some of the blessings he has given you because that shows him your thanks and praise and appreciation for what he has done. It is a form of worship to your Lord. And he is pleased with that. He loves when you give back to him. Not because he gains anything by it, but because you are acting like his dear children by it. And as his dear children he will gladly make sure that you never run out of gifts to return. Just like he did with David. He gave him blessing upon blessing upon blessing and didn’t even allow him to try to pay him back. The Lord loves to give. He loves to give to his children. He loves to give to you. And the Lord’s love of giving to you is never clearer than it is at Christmas. Look at what he gave you. As you see him lying as a baby in the middle of a barn, look what he gave you! As you watch him grow up surrounded by sinful people in a sinful world, look what he gave you! As you see him perform miracle after miracle and preach sermon after sermon, look what he gave you! As he bent his back to flogging and bent his head to thorns, look what he gave you! As he is nailed to the cross and rises from the dead, look what he gave you! He gave you his life. And he gave you yours. It is truly better to receive from the Lord than to give to the Lord. Because we have little to offer, but everything to gain.
Amen.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” - Eph. 1:3
- We give our sins to Christ
- Christ gives his life for us
The giving and receiving of gifts has become a big part of the Christmas tradition. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with giving gifts to people and there’s nothing wrong when people give them to you. And I’m sure you expect to get a few gifts this year from certain people and you probably have a list of people that you are going to give Christmas presents to - if you haven’t sent them there already. Of course, some gifts are better than others. Some gifts are practical, some gifts are useable, some gifts are needed or wanted, and then there are those gifts that come out of the wrapping paper only to be placed on the top shelf of the closet never to see the light of day again. Naturally, the goal is to give gifts that will benefit a person in some way. Gifts that will be used. Gifts that fill a need of some kind.
Early on in his reign, King David saw a need and he wanted to give a gift to fill it. He had just taken over as king of Israel, he had captured Jerusalem, he had moved the ark of the covenant there, and he had built himself a palace in which to live. But he noticed that the Lord did not have a temple that bore his name. And so David decided that he was going to build a permanent house of God for the Lord in which he could place the ark of the covenant and at which the people could praise God’s name for generations to come. It was a big gift that David wanted to give. But God said no. The Lord was not going to allow David to praise him in that way! He told David that it wasn’t something he needed at that point. Although it was a very noble thought and a Christian gesture on the part of David to want to build a house for his God, the Lord turned him down.
But the Lord didn’t leave it at that. Instead of permitting David to give him a gift, the Lord told David that he wanted to give him even more than what he had blessed him with before. In 2 Samuel chapter 7 we hear the Lord tell David about all the blessings he planned to give him in the future, “I will make your name great… I will provide a place for my people Israel… The LORD himself will establish a house for you… I will raise up your offspring to succeed you… I will establish his kingdom… I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever… I will be his father and he will be my son.” The Lord planned to do all these things for David. And so in a strange turn of events, the Lord was going to establish a house for David when it was David who had originally planned to build a house for the Lord! And on top of that, God was going to make sure that David’s name would always be remembered, that his successor would build the house of God that David had planned, and that the Savior himself would one day come from David’s line. In a matter of a few words, David went from wanting to give something to his Lord, to receiving more blessings from the Lord than he would have ever dared to ask for. When it comes to the Lord, it’s always better to receive than to give.
And that is still true today. When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, it’s better to receive than to give. Of course, it’s good to give to the Lord - please don’t misunderstand me! He wants you to give him gifts out of thanks and praise. But also realize that your gifts don’t benefit the Lord in any way. He doesn’t actually need any of your gifts. Because consider the things that you are able to give him: You may put money in the offering plate on Sunday, give a special monetary gift to the Synod, or send money to a disaster relief fund overseas, but you aren’t really giving anything to the Lord that he doesn’t already have. Because any money that you give to him has always been his in the first place! He’s just loaning it to you for a while! And the same goes with the talents you use for him or the time you spend for him. He’s provided you with the talents and skills you possess, and he’s blessed you with the time of grace that you enjoy on this earth. Your time and your skills and your possessions are all his. And he can take them back whenever he wants to. And so he doesn’t really need the things you give him, they’re his no matter what. It’s the same as if my daughter took a book that I gave her to read, wrapped it in wrapping paper, and gave it back to me for a Christmas present. Nice thought, I guess, but it’s already mine. I don’t need her to give it to me. That’s why when it comes to the Lord it’s better to receive than to give. Because our gifts that we give to God aren’t truly gifts at all - they’re just returns. Whereas the Lord’s gifts to us are far and above anything we could possibly ask for or imagine.
I don’t think David could have ever imagined the blessings the Lord promised to him that day. Who would ever guess that the Savior himself would be one of their own descendants? But that’s exactly what the Lord promises to David here in 2 Samuel. And I want to talk about this prophecy a little bit because this is a special kind of prophecy. It’s not a direct prophecy like we are used to hearing during Christmas time. For example: Isaiah prophesied that a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). That is a direct prophecy because he is talking directly about Christ and no one else. The prophecy here in 2 Samuel 7, however, is called a typical prophecy. It’s a typical prophecy because it refers a type of Christ as well as Christ himself. Think of it as a layover on a plane trip. It’s not a direct flight, there’s a stop in between your departure city and your final destination. The type of Christ is that stop in between. And a “type of Christ” simply means that the person or event depicted in the prophecy has certain qualities or characteristics that parallel qualities and characteristics of the coming Savior. In this prophecy, David’s son Solomon is the type of Christ. And so I want to read a section of our Old Testament lesson again and I ask you to listen closely and see if you can find those phrases that refer to Solomon and those phrases that refer to Christ. “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him…”
Did any of these predictions jump out at you as referring to one or the other? Obviously, both Solomon and Christ were David’s offspring and came from his body. Both had kingdoms established by God. And neither of them had the Lord’s love taken away from them. Even the sentence, “I will be his father, and he will be my son” can be describing both Solomon and Christ: It is specifically quoted in the book of Hebrews as referring to Christ himself, but the same can be said of Solomon - God was his father and Solomon was his son through faith. On the other hand, only Christ’s kingdom has been established forever - so that can only refer to Christ. But Solomon was the specific person who built a physical house for the Lord during his lifetime. And so here in this one prophecy we have both similar and different descriptions of two different people who lived at two different times all rolled into one. It’s a typical prophecy - a layover prophecy. It can be confusing sometimes, but it is very interesting.
And the most interesting part about this particular prophecy to me is one of the last descriptions I read, “When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.” At first glance, you would think this refers only to Solomon because Christ never did anything wrong, and so he never had to be punished for it. And it’s true that Solomon was punished for doing wrong. He did suffer the consequences of his actions. But Christ was punished too. Christ was punished with the rods of men because of sin. He was flogged at the hands of men on account of sin. The sin wasn’t his own, of course. But Christ took it as his own.
I think you know where this is going. The sin wasn’t his, it was ours. We gave him our sin and he suffered for it. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus had no sin, but he actually became sin for us. He took our sin that we gave him, he acted like it was his own, and he suffered and died in order to pay its consequences. And what a sad thing it is to come to the realization that out of all the things we have given the Lord in our lives, the only thing we have given him that he didn’t already have was sin. That is the only way we have ever affected God by what we have given him. We have provided him with suffering, with rejection from his own Father, with the tortures of hell, and with death itself. That is what the Lord has gained from our generosity. Congratulations. I’m sure the Lord appreciated your gift of sin.
But the remarkable thing about that is: he wanted your sin. He wanted to take it! The Lord knew it wouldn’t be pleasant. He knew it would be worse than anything anyone on this earth has ever had to face. But Christ wanted our sin anyway. Because he knew it was the only way. It was the only way to save us. That’s why he came to this earth. He wouldn’t have bothered to have been born in a manger and live in this sin-filled world and be treated like dirt by a crowd of sinful human beings and be taunted by a devil whom he had kicked out of heaven long ago if he didn’t want to take our sins from us. The reason that perfect baby was born to Mary in Bethlehem 2000 years ago was solely to become sin for us. That is what the Lord prophesied to David in 2 Samuel 7 and that is the way it had to happen. Christ took our sins and gave us salvation in return. It’s surely better to receive than to give when it comes to the gifts of the Lord. Because the only thing we have given is sin; and the everything he has given to us is salvation.
And now with all that being said: because of what the Lord has given you, respond by giving your gifts back to the Lord. He doesn’t need them, of course. We know that. But he wants them. He wants you to return to him some of the blessings he has given you because that shows him your thanks and praise and appreciation for what he has done. It is a form of worship to your Lord. And he is pleased with that. He loves when you give back to him. Not because he gains anything by it, but because you are acting like his dear children by it. And as his dear children he will gladly make sure that you never run out of gifts to return. Just like he did with David. He gave him blessing upon blessing upon blessing and didn’t even allow him to try to pay him back. The Lord loves to give. He loves to give to his children. He loves to give to you. And the Lord’s love of giving to you is never clearer than it is at Christmas. Look at what he gave you. As you see him lying as a baby in the middle of a barn, look what he gave you! As you watch him grow up surrounded by sinful people in a sinful world, look what he gave you! As you see him perform miracle after miracle and preach sermon after sermon, look what he gave you! As he bent his back to flogging and bent his head to thorns, look what he gave you! As he is nailed to the cross and rises from the dead, look what he gave you! He gave you his life. And he gave you yours. It is truly better to receive from the Lord than to give to the Lord. Because we have little to offer, but everything to gain.
Amen.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” - Eph. 1:3
12/7/08 - Advent 2 - 2 Peter 3:8-14
GOD'S PROMISES ARE PERFECTLY TIMED
- We are impatient with God's promises
- God promises to be patient with us
God’s promises are perfectly timed. We usually don’t know when they will be fulfilled. And we oftentimes don’t know how they will be carried out. But we do know that his promises are 100% sure, and he will bring them to completion at the exact moment he had planned all along. And that’s been true throughout the history of God’s people. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, God promised them that he would guide them to the Promised Land. And he did. But not until 40 years later. The people complained and they grumbled and they were impatient with the Lord during those four decades, but God kept his word and fulfilled his promise to them at exactly the right time. Hundreds of years later, when the Israelites were taken into exile by the Babylonian army, God promised that he would safely return them to their homeland. 70 years later, that’s exactly what God did. He sent his people home just as he had said - even though it took a little longer than what some of them would have liked. And even from the very beginning, back in the time of Adam and Eve, God promised that he would one day send them a Savior who would crush Satan’s head. “And when the time had fully come, God sent his Son” (Gal. 4:4), the Bible says. But that time fully came about 4000 years after God made that very first promise about Christ. Many people grew impatient during that length of time. Many people doubted. Many people lost hope. But God knew exactly when he would fulfill that promise of a Savior and his promise was perfectly timed.
And so are all of his other promises - even those that have yet to be completed. Many people during the time of the apostle Peter were already complaining about God’s promise of Christ’s 2nd Coming to this earth. It had been only about 35 years since Jesus had ascended into heaven. But, of course, the promise had not been delayed. It is not as though God just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And it won’t be a split second decision. God’s promise about the 2nd Coming of Christ was just like every other promise he has ever made: it is perfectly timed. And Peter today encourages us about that very thing: “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” No, the Lord is not slow. He is right on time. And whenever the Lord decides to come again the 2nd time and whenever he decides to fulfill any of his promises - there could never be a better time for him to do it.
God makes perfectly timed promises to us every day. And just like those Old Testament believers and the people who lived with Peter, we usually don’t know when the Lord will carry them out or how he will do it. And it’s frustrating sometimes, isn’t it? We usually don’t like to be kept in the dark. We don’t like to be kept waiting for something or someone when we have no idea when it will happen or when the person will arrive. Because we’re impatient people, aren’t we? We do not like to wait - for anything or anyone. If you find yourself at a stoplight and the car in front of you doesn’t see the light has turned green, what do you do within 5 seconds or less? You either honk the horn, yell at them within the confines of your own car or mumble under your breath, “Let’s go! Come on! Wake up! It’s green, it’s green, hello it’s green!” We are very impatient people. When you are in line at the grocery store, it drives you up the wall when the cashier two people ahead of you calls for a price check over the intercom, doesn’t it? Because now you’re going to have to wait in line another five minutes while some manager double checks whether that item is $1.50 or $1.75. We are very impatient people. In this country we have drive throughs at “fast food” restaurants so we don’t even have to get out of our cars, one-hour photo centers, credit card swipes right at the gas pump, and overnight mail so that we don’t have to wait one second longer than we have to.
The problem is: that impatient mindset doesn’t change when it comes to the promises of God. We get impatient with God, don’t we? It happens on any number of occasions throughout our lives. For instance, we know that God promises in his Word that, “The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:7-8). And so when you or one of your loved ones is sick and in the hospital, and health and strength are not returning as quickly as you would like, you start to think things like, “Come on, Lord. How long is this going to last? Why aren’t you helping those you love as you have promised? When, Lord, when will things start to improve?” We become impatient, too, when we work so hard at something but have yet to see the results. Because we know Jesus promises that he will help us through thick and thin, we know he promises that he is ever-strong and always loving. And so when retirement keeps getting pushed off because you still have to work, when the time you spend writing letters or hanging door hangers seems fruitless, when your savings is turning into your spending, when a church building project is a long time in coming… the thoughts start flooding in, “Lord, lend me a hand, here. Help me out. Please! Be to me what you promised to be: my helper and strength and fortress. Give me something, give me anything positive I can hang my hat on.” And we get frustrated and impatient because the Lord’s plans don’t seem to be matching up with ours.
And that happens with prayer too, doesn’t it? We can boldly say with David based on God’s promises, “Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Psalm 55:17). The Lord listens to every one of our prayers. And so when we are praying for something or someone so often and so fervently for so long - we get impatient when our prayers are not granted, don’t we? Those prayers seem so good! They seem so God-pleasing! But the Lord hasn’t yet said “yes” to them. And so we get impatient with the Lord when we can’t see the reasons why he seems to be waiting so long.
But when we are impatient with God, that’s not just an unpleasant character trait that we possess. When we are impatient with God, we are conveying the attitude that we know better than he does, that God hasn’t made the right decision! Impatience is arrogance. We think that this person should be brought back to health now - but the Lord isn’t doing it! We are convinced that the results of our efforts should already be evident, but the Lord isn’t cooperating! We are of the opinion that this particular prayer should have been answered with a resounding “yes” long ago - but God seems to be dragging his feet and he doesn’t have any reason for it! Impatience with the Lord’s plans and the Lord’s ways is arrogance. As if we knew better than the Almighty God. As if our humanly sinful perspective of what would be good for us and the rest of God’s people is that much more clear than the insight of the God who has been around from eternity. God’s promises are perfectly timed. He will put them into effect at exactly the right moment. How could we be impatient with promises that are perfectly timed for us?
It’s a good thing the Lord is patient with us. Think about that for a second. Think about how patient the Lord has to be with us when we are so impatient with him. He promises us great and glorious things - in this life and the next - and we question him and complain to him and become impatient with him. Think of the patience it must take on the part of our Lord not to completely destroy us or at least become fed up with us because of our arrogance. It must take an incredible amount of patience every day - and that’s Peter reminds us that, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
The Lord could completely wipe us out. And he should have. He really ought to have done away with the human race a long time ago. If everything were fair and right - we should no longer be around. We don’t deserve to be. But God’s patience overrules our sinfulness. He is filled with love. And because he is filled with love he cannot help but be patient. He does not want to destroy us. He does not want us to have to pay for our sins. He wants everyone to repent and believe that he’s the one who already paid for our sins on the cross.
Peter knew a little something about God’s patience. Do you remember what kind of person Peter was throughout his life? He was brash and bold and very impatient - and so the Lord had to demonstrate a lot of patience with him. One day he told Jesus that he would never let him be crucified even though that’s what Jesus said had to happen, and so Jesus turned around and rebuked him. In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter lashed out with a sword and cut off the high priest servant’s ear when the mob was gathered around his Savior - and Jesus had to rebuke him again. Later that night in the courtyard, Peter did exactly what he promised Jesus he would never do: deny that he knew his Lord. And Peter did that three times. And when he verbally denied that he knew who the Lord was that third time, Jesus was being led through the courtyard at that exact moment. Jesus looked at Peter, Peter remembered what Jesus had predicted, he was reminded what he himself had claimed, and he realized what he had just done. And Peter went outside and he wept as a sinner who had let down his Lord. But Jesus was patient with him. He didn’t condemn him. He didn’t disown him as one of his twelve disciples, he forgave him. And Peter himself saw that forgiveness with his own eyes in all of its gore and all of its glory as Jesus was nailed to a cross less than 24 hours later. Peter witnessed that crucifixion. He saw Jesus bleeding to death on a piece of wood. He heard his Savior scream in agony as his Father physically left him when he entered hell. He watched as Jesus closed his eyes and gave up his breath. And Peter knew, he knew everything that he had seen, everything that Christ had done, was all for him. Know that it’s also all for you.
Everything Jesus did that day. Everything Jesus did for the 33 years leading up to that point. And everything Jesus has done after that Friday afternoon - his resurrection, his ascension, and his eternal reign, it was all for you. It was for your forgiveness. Even though you are sinner. Because you are a sinner. It was all for you. The Lord knew most people would reject what he had done for them. The Lord knew even his own children would become impatient with him at times and doubt his good and glorious plans. But he died for you all anyway. Because he is loving. Because he is patient. And because his promises are perfectly timed.
In a little under 3 weeks, we’ll celebrate Christ’s first coming to this earth. And he came to this earth at exactly the right moment. He died on the cross and rose again at the perfect time. And he will come again when the time is right. These are really the two biggest promises he has ever given to us: his 1st coming and his 2nd coming. And we know that just as the birth of Jesus was planned to the very day, the very hour, the very minute, and the very second, so is the reappearing of our Lord on Judgment Day. The very day, the very hour, the very minute, and the very second are already decided on. And we can be sure when that second promise arrives, that glorious day of our Savior’s 2nd Coming will be perfectly timed.
And if these two greatest promises that the Lord has ever spoken have and will be accomplished at precisely the moment he has determined, so will every other promise he has given you. He promises to protect you and guide you and strengthen you and support you and lead you and discipline you… and he will. It may not be tomorrow. It may not be in the time frame that you think it should be. It may not be as soon as you would like it. But whenever he does these things for you - they will be perfectly timed. There will be no other time that could have been better. And so be patient with the Lord. Be patient for his promises. Because you can be sure that you will receive them at the exact moment when you need them the most.
Amen.
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” - Rev. 22:20
- We are impatient with God's promises
- God promises to be patient with us
God’s promises are perfectly timed. We usually don’t know when they will be fulfilled. And we oftentimes don’t know how they will be carried out. But we do know that his promises are 100% sure, and he will bring them to completion at the exact moment he had planned all along. And that’s been true throughout the history of God’s people. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, God promised them that he would guide them to the Promised Land. And he did. But not until 40 years later. The people complained and they grumbled and they were impatient with the Lord during those four decades, but God kept his word and fulfilled his promise to them at exactly the right time. Hundreds of years later, when the Israelites were taken into exile by the Babylonian army, God promised that he would safely return them to their homeland. 70 years later, that’s exactly what God did. He sent his people home just as he had said - even though it took a little longer than what some of them would have liked. And even from the very beginning, back in the time of Adam and Eve, God promised that he would one day send them a Savior who would crush Satan’s head. “And when the time had fully come, God sent his Son” (Gal. 4:4), the Bible says. But that time fully came about 4000 years after God made that very first promise about Christ. Many people grew impatient during that length of time. Many people doubted. Many people lost hope. But God knew exactly when he would fulfill that promise of a Savior and his promise was perfectly timed.
And so are all of his other promises - even those that have yet to be completed. Many people during the time of the apostle Peter were already complaining about God’s promise of Christ’s 2nd Coming to this earth. It had been only about 35 years since Jesus had ascended into heaven. But, of course, the promise had not been delayed. It is not as though God just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And it won’t be a split second decision. God’s promise about the 2nd Coming of Christ was just like every other promise he has ever made: it is perfectly timed. And Peter today encourages us about that very thing: “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” No, the Lord is not slow. He is right on time. And whenever the Lord decides to come again the 2nd time and whenever he decides to fulfill any of his promises - there could never be a better time for him to do it.
God makes perfectly timed promises to us every day. And just like those Old Testament believers and the people who lived with Peter, we usually don’t know when the Lord will carry them out or how he will do it. And it’s frustrating sometimes, isn’t it? We usually don’t like to be kept in the dark. We don’t like to be kept waiting for something or someone when we have no idea when it will happen or when the person will arrive. Because we’re impatient people, aren’t we? We do not like to wait - for anything or anyone. If you find yourself at a stoplight and the car in front of you doesn’t see the light has turned green, what do you do within 5 seconds or less? You either honk the horn, yell at them within the confines of your own car or mumble under your breath, “Let’s go! Come on! Wake up! It’s green, it’s green, hello it’s green!” We are very impatient people. When you are in line at the grocery store, it drives you up the wall when the cashier two people ahead of you calls for a price check over the intercom, doesn’t it? Because now you’re going to have to wait in line another five minutes while some manager double checks whether that item is $1.50 or $1.75. We are very impatient people. In this country we have drive throughs at “fast food” restaurants so we don’t even have to get out of our cars, one-hour photo centers, credit card swipes right at the gas pump, and overnight mail so that we don’t have to wait one second longer than we have to.
The problem is: that impatient mindset doesn’t change when it comes to the promises of God. We get impatient with God, don’t we? It happens on any number of occasions throughout our lives. For instance, we know that God promises in his Word that, “The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:7-8). And so when you or one of your loved ones is sick and in the hospital, and health and strength are not returning as quickly as you would like, you start to think things like, “Come on, Lord. How long is this going to last? Why aren’t you helping those you love as you have promised? When, Lord, when will things start to improve?” We become impatient, too, when we work so hard at something but have yet to see the results. Because we know Jesus promises that he will help us through thick and thin, we know he promises that he is ever-strong and always loving. And so when retirement keeps getting pushed off because you still have to work, when the time you spend writing letters or hanging door hangers seems fruitless, when your savings is turning into your spending, when a church building project is a long time in coming… the thoughts start flooding in, “Lord, lend me a hand, here. Help me out. Please! Be to me what you promised to be: my helper and strength and fortress. Give me something, give me anything positive I can hang my hat on.” And we get frustrated and impatient because the Lord’s plans don’t seem to be matching up with ours.
And that happens with prayer too, doesn’t it? We can boldly say with David based on God’s promises, “Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Psalm 55:17). The Lord listens to every one of our prayers. And so when we are praying for something or someone so often and so fervently for so long - we get impatient when our prayers are not granted, don’t we? Those prayers seem so good! They seem so God-pleasing! But the Lord hasn’t yet said “yes” to them. And so we get impatient with the Lord when we can’t see the reasons why he seems to be waiting so long.
But when we are impatient with God, that’s not just an unpleasant character trait that we possess. When we are impatient with God, we are conveying the attitude that we know better than he does, that God hasn’t made the right decision! Impatience is arrogance. We think that this person should be brought back to health now - but the Lord isn’t doing it! We are convinced that the results of our efforts should already be evident, but the Lord isn’t cooperating! We are of the opinion that this particular prayer should have been answered with a resounding “yes” long ago - but God seems to be dragging his feet and he doesn’t have any reason for it! Impatience with the Lord’s plans and the Lord’s ways is arrogance. As if we knew better than the Almighty God. As if our humanly sinful perspective of what would be good for us and the rest of God’s people is that much more clear than the insight of the God who has been around from eternity. God’s promises are perfectly timed. He will put them into effect at exactly the right moment. How could we be impatient with promises that are perfectly timed for us?
It’s a good thing the Lord is patient with us. Think about that for a second. Think about how patient the Lord has to be with us when we are so impatient with him. He promises us great and glorious things - in this life and the next - and we question him and complain to him and become impatient with him. Think of the patience it must take on the part of our Lord not to completely destroy us or at least become fed up with us because of our arrogance. It must take an incredible amount of patience every day - and that’s Peter reminds us that, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
The Lord could completely wipe us out. And he should have. He really ought to have done away with the human race a long time ago. If everything were fair and right - we should no longer be around. We don’t deserve to be. But God’s patience overrules our sinfulness. He is filled with love. And because he is filled with love he cannot help but be patient. He does not want to destroy us. He does not want us to have to pay for our sins. He wants everyone to repent and believe that he’s the one who already paid for our sins on the cross.
Peter knew a little something about God’s patience. Do you remember what kind of person Peter was throughout his life? He was brash and bold and very impatient - and so the Lord had to demonstrate a lot of patience with him. One day he told Jesus that he would never let him be crucified even though that’s what Jesus said had to happen, and so Jesus turned around and rebuked him. In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter lashed out with a sword and cut off the high priest servant’s ear when the mob was gathered around his Savior - and Jesus had to rebuke him again. Later that night in the courtyard, Peter did exactly what he promised Jesus he would never do: deny that he knew his Lord. And Peter did that three times. And when he verbally denied that he knew who the Lord was that third time, Jesus was being led through the courtyard at that exact moment. Jesus looked at Peter, Peter remembered what Jesus had predicted, he was reminded what he himself had claimed, and he realized what he had just done. And Peter went outside and he wept as a sinner who had let down his Lord. But Jesus was patient with him. He didn’t condemn him. He didn’t disown him as one of his twelve disciples, he forgave him. And Peter himself saw that forgiveness with his own eyes in all of its gore and all of its glory as Jesus was nailed to a cross less than 24 hours later. Peter witnessed that crucifixion. He saw Jesus bleeding to death on a piece of wood. He heard his Savior scream in agony as his Father physically left him when he entered hell. He watched as Jesus closed his eyes and gave up his breath. And Peter knew, he knew everything that he had seen, everything that Christ had done, was all for him. Know that it’s also all for you.
Everything Jesus did that day. Everything Jesus did for the 33 years leading up to that point. And everything Jesus has done after that Friday afternoon - his resurrection, his ascension, and his eternal reign, it was all for you. It was for your forgiveness. Even though you are sinner. Because you are a sinner. It was all for you. The Lord knew most people would reject what he had done for them. The Lord knew even his own children would become impatient with him at times and doubt his good and glorious plans. But he died for you all anyway. Because he is loving. Because he is patient. And because his promises are perfectly timed.
In a little under 3 weeks, we’ll celebrate Christ’s first coming to this earth. And he came to this earth at exactly the right moment. He died on the cross and rose again at the perfect time. And he will come again when the time is right. These are really the two biggest promises he has ever given to us: his 1st coming and his 2nd coming. And we know that just as the birth of Jesus was planned to the very day, the very hour, the very minute, and the very second, so is the reappearing of our Lord on Judgment Day. The very day, the very hour, the very minute, and the very second are already decided on. And we can be sure when that second promise arrives, that glorious day of our Savior’s 2nd Coming will be perfectly timed.
And if these two greatest promises that the Lord has ever spoken have and will be accomplished at precisely the moment he has determined, so will every other promise he has given you. He promises to protect you and guide you and strengthen you and support you and lead you and discipline you… and he will. It may not be tomorrow. It may not be in the time frame that you think it should be. It may not be as soon as you would like it. But whenever he does these things for you - they will be perfectly timed. There will be no other time that could have been better. And so be patient with the Lord. Be patient for his promises. Because you can be sure that you will receive them at the exact moment when you need them the most.
Amen.
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” - Rev. 22:20
11/30/08 - Advent 1 - Matthew 1:1-17
GRACE PREVAILS
- Using sinners
- Choosing sinners
I can almost guarantee that you have never heard a sermon preached on the portion of Scripture we have in front of us today. Because not only is it different from the three Scripture lessons that we read for today’s service, it is not found in any of the weekly readings for any of the Sunday in the church year. And not only have you probably never heard a sermon on these verses before, but I’m sure that many of you oftentimes quickly skip over this part of the Bible whenever you’re reading God’s Word at home. The text is Matthew 1:1-17 and it is printed for you on the insert inside your bulletins. And if you would scan over this part of Scripture you’re first reaction might be: “What’s the big deal about these verses? It’s just a bunch of names. It’s just a genealogy of Jesus’ forefathers. So what? There are a lot of different parts of Scripture that are more interesting than this is.” But it’s more than just a bunch of names. And it’s more than just a genealogy of Jesus’ line. And I would even go as far to say that this is one of the more interesting sections of all of Scripture. Because the first 17 verses of the New Testament don’t just show us where Jesus came from, they are also a beautiful and historical demonstration that God’s grace prevails.
In your bulletin inserts, I’ve underlined some names in bold print, and I’ve highlighted others. The underlined names are to demonstrate how God’s grace has prevailed by using sinners and the highlighted names are to demonstrate how God’s grace has prevailed by choosing sinners. And I want to start with those names that have been underlined - beginning at the top with Abraham.
Abraham was a man of faith - no doubt about that. He was a valiant Christian and the patriarch of patriarchs. And he was also a sinner. God promised him that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. But his wife Sarah was both old and barren. And one day so Sarah told him that he should sleep with her maidservant, Hagar, so that he could produce a male offspring. Abraham unfortunately agreed. He slept with the servant Hagar and a boy named Ishmael was born. Of course, this was not God-pleasing nor was it according to God’s plan. And so the Lord told Abraham, “You will have a son with your wife Sarah. And he will be the one through whom I will bless all nations.” And shortly thereafter, Isaac was born to Sarah and he was the one to carry on the line of the Savior. Abraham most definitely sinned - he tried to circumvent God’s original plan by taking things into his own hands, but God used him anyway and his grace prevailed.
His son Isaac wasn’t the picture-perfect model of a Christian either. Years later, even though God told him directly that his younger son, Jacob, was to receive the all-important family blessing instead of his older son, Esau, Isaac decided to ignore God’s directive. And he was fully intent on blessing his son Esau until Jacob tricked him into giving him the blessing because Isaac had become blind in his old age. So despite Isaac’s intentions, God used him anyway to continue the line of the Savior through the man God had decided on and grace once again prevailed.
Jacob, other than deceiving his own father, took two different wives and slept with two different maidservants, producing sons from all four women. And on top of that disregard for God’s word on marriage, he loved a couple of his sons more than the others and visibly treated them better. But God used Jacob anyway, not by steering the line of Christ through one of the sons Jacob loved the most, but through his fourth eldest son, Judah. God’s grace prevailed - regardless of whom Jacob preferred.
And this is where it gets interesting. This is where we see the Lord’s grace prevailing in the worst of sins and through the worst of sinners. Judah had a son whom the Lord struck dead shortly after he got married. Judah then gave his daughter in law to his next son to take as his wife - as was the custom and law of the Lord of the time. But his second son also died because he was wicked in the Lord’s sight. Fearing that his third son would die if he gave the girl to him as a wife, Judah decided to let his daughter-in-law live as a widow for the remainder of her days although that was clearly against God’s law. His daughter-in-law, Tamar, underlined in verse three of Matthew 1, decided to dress up like a prostitute and stand out where her father-in-law, Judah, was working. Judah fell into that temptation and slept with Tamar without knowing who she was because she kept a veil over her face. Twin boys were the result of that incestuous relationship, and one of them, Perez, is mentioned for us in our text as one of the forefather’s of Christ himself.
Along those same lines, a couple verses further down the mother of Boaz is mentioned. Here name was Rahab. The same Rahab who was a Canaanite prostitute during the time of Joshua and the Israelites in the Promised Land. And a couple verses after that, David is on this list - who happened to have a son named Solomon with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. Judah & Tamar. Rahab the prostitute. And David & Bathsheba. All sinners against the 6th Commandment. All involved in very public scandals. And all ancestors of Jesus Christ the Lord. God’s grace prevailed to bring Christ into this world.
Of course, everyone on this list was a sinner. I simply mention a few of these people and a few of their stories to point out how God’s grace prevails by using sinners. His grace is that powerful that he could use awful sinners to carry out his good will. His grace is that loving that he would bother using such awful sinners to carry out something so spectacular as the birth of Christ. And so it should go without saying that God’s grace prevails by using sinners not only back then, but God’s grace prevails by using sinners to carry out his will today.
And so I think we insult the Lord quite a bit by the way we sometimes think about his grace. Has this ever crossed your mind? “I am so sinful. I am so hopeless. There are so many more qualified and more experienced and more Christian people than I am. I don’t see how God can use me for anything good.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty! His grace prevails even by using the worst of sinners. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace ever start depending on how good you are?
Or maybe this has gone through your mind once or twice: “There is no hope for that person. He is so anti-religion. He is so blatantly sinful and against everything that Christ is and Christ has done. I would highly doubt God’s grace will ever enter his heart.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty. His grace prevails even in the worst of sinners. Think of the apostle Paul. He was the biggest ant-Christian there was before he traveled on that road to Damascus. And yet God’s grace prevailed and Paul was turned into the best missionary of Christianity there ever was. Think of Naaman from Old Testament times. Not only was he a foreign general who attacked the Israelites, he even took back some Israelite children to serve his household. And yet God’s grace prevailed. Naaman was brought to faith in the Lord and he returned to his country a believer. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace ever depend on how receptive a person originally was to his Word?
How many times has this gone through your mind, as it has mine: “I kind of want to pray for this, but it’s so ridiculous, it’s so beyond the realm of possibility that it’s probably never going to happen anyway. So I guess I’ll tone down my prayer a bit and be a little more realistic.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty! His grace prevails through the prayers of the worst of sinners. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace depend on the way things are normally done, the laws of nature, or human reason? God’s grace prevails. If it is his will, if things are to be accomplished that are according this plan, his grace will prevail. And he will use sinners - the worst of sinners - to carry it out. And it’s an insult to our Lord when we imply that sins or sinners might be able to stand in his way.
They certainly didn’t stand in his way throughout the history of Christ’s ancestors. In fact, in Matthew chapter one we see that God not only used sinners, he chose sinners. That’s what the highlighted names are for. And you’ll notice that the first highlighted name is someone we’ve already mentioned: Rahab. God didn’t just use her so that grace prevailed, he chose her when he had no reason to. Because she was not only a prostitute, she wasn’t even an Israelite. She lived in the city of Jericho when the walls came crashing down. By God’s grace her life was spared even though 1) all people in the land of Canaan were originally supposed to be destroyed, 2) all prostitutes in Israel were supposed to be put to death, and 3) the Israelites were not supposed to inter-marry with foreign nations. Rahab lived however, married an Israelite man, and God chose her to carry on the line of the Savior.
Her son was Boaz. Boaz you should remember from the book of Ruth. He was Ruth’s husband. But Ruth wasn’t an Israelite either. She was a Moabite. She was from a nation that was a constant thorn in the Israelite’s flesh. But God chose this foreigner, whose husband was the son of a former prostitute, to be the ancestors of Christ.
At the bottom of the first big paragraph you see Manasseh is highlighted. He was a king of Judah who did some wicked thing while he was on the throne. He built altars to Baal and Asherah. He worshiped the stars, he set up false gods in the Lord’s own temple, he sacrificed his own son in the fire and he was involved with sorcery and divination. He led the Israelites into more sin than the nations that were there before him. But God’s grace prevailed. He chose this king, this sinner, and brought Manasseh to faith. Manasseh repented, got rid of the altars to the false gods he had made, and turned the Israelites back to the Lord. And, of course, he was chosen to carry on the line of Christ.
The last two names we’ll look at today are near the end of our lesson. Joseph and his wife Mary. Sinners, without question. Joseph, just a carpenter. Mary, no one special other than she was from the line of David as well. But God chose them. He picked them to be the parents of the Lord Almighty. He chose them to bring Jesus up in the training and instruction of the Lord. He gave them the responsibility of raising their own Savior. They were not qualified. They were certainly not deserving of this honor. But God’s grace prevailed by choosing these two sinners so that Jesus would come into this world.
You certainly are not qualified to be a Christian. You certainly aren’t deserving of that honor. And neither am I. We are sinners. The worst of sinners. And yet here we sit as Christians nevertheless. Because God’s grace has prevailed. He has chosen you specifically as his child before he ever created the world. He came to this earth so his grace would prevail. He died so his grace would prevail. He lives so his grace prevails. He sent his Holy Spirit to work in your heart through his Word and sacraments so that you would be brought to faith in him. Because God’s grace prevails despite sin, despite the devil, despite death, and despite sinners themselves. And God’s grace will prevail until the end of time when we will all experience God’s grace in its absolute fullness in the glories of heaven.
The next time you read through the book of Matthew, don’t scan so quickly over these first 17 verses. You don’t have to spend too much time on them, but at least notice some of the names. At least remember their stories. And notice how God’s grace prevailed by using those sinners and by choosing those sinners. And know that he does the same for you. He has chosen you to be saved. And he will use you to spread that message of salvation to the world. What an honor. What an honor to be a recipient of God’s unending grace. What an honor to be used to share that with others.
Yes, we are sinners. There’s no arguing that. But we are sinners who are saved. Because we are saved by God’s grace. And his grace prevails.
Amen.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ… to him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 5:10,11
- Using sinners
- Choosing sinners
I can almost guarantee that you have never heard a sermon preached on the portion of Scripture we have in front of us today. Because not only is it different from the three Scripture lessons that we read for today’s service, it is not found in any of the weekly readings for any of the Sunday in the church year. And not only have you probably never heard a sermon on these verses before, but I’m sure that many of you oftentimes quickly skip over this part of the Bible whenever you’re reading God’s Word at home. The text is Matthew 1:1-17 and it is printed for you on the insert inside your bulletins. And if you would scan over this part of Scripture you’re first reaction might be: “What’s the big deal about these verses? It’s just a bunch of names. It’s just a genealogy of Jesus’ forefathers. So what? There are a lot of different parts of Scripture that are more interesting than this is.” But it’s more than just a bunch of names. And it’s more than just a genealogy of Jesus’ line. And I would even go as far to say that this is one of the more interesting sections of all of Scripture. Because the first 17 verses of the New Testament don’t just show us where Jesus came from, they are also a beautiful and historical demonstration that God’s grace prevails.
In your bulletin inserts, I’ve underlined some names in bold print, and I’ve highlighted others. The underlined names are to demonstrate how God’s grace has prevailed by using sinners and the highlighted names are to demonstrate how God’s grace has prevailed by choosing sinners. And I want to start with those names that have been underlined - beginning at the top with Abraham.
Abraham was a man of faith - no doubt about that. He was a valiant Christian and the patriarch of patriarchs. And he was also a sinner. God promised him that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. But his wife Sarah was both old and barren. And one day so Sarah told him that he should sleep with her maidservant, Hagar, so that he could produce a male offspring. Abraham unfortunately agreed. He slept with the servant Hagar and a boy named Ishmael was born. Of course, this was not God-pleasing nor was it according to God’s plan. And so the Lord told Abraham, “You will have a son with your wife Sarah. And he will be the one through whom I will bless all nations.” And shortly thereafter, Isaac was born to Sarah and he was the one to carry on the line of the Savior. Abraham most definitely sinned - he tried to circumvent God’s original plan by taking things into his own hands, but God used him anyway and his grace prevailed.
His son Isaac wasn’t the picture-perfect model of a Christian either. Years later, even though God told him directly that his younger son, Jacob, was to receive the all-important family blessing instead of his older son, Esau, Isaac decided to ignore God’s directive. And he was fully intent on blessing his son Esau until Jacob tricked him into giving him the blessing because Isaac had become blind in his old age. So despite Isaac’s intentions, God used him anyway to continue the line of the Savior through the man God had decided on and grace once again prevailed.
Jacob, other than deceiving his own father, took two different wives and slept with two different maidservants, producing sons from all four women. And on top of that disregard for God’s word on marriage, he loved a couple of his sons more than the others and visibly treated them better. But God used Jacob anyway, not by steering the line of Christ through one of the sons Jacob loved the most, but through his fourth eldest son, Judah. God’s grace prevailed - regardless of whom Jacob preferred.
And this is where it gets interesting. This is where we see the Lord’s grace prevailing in the worst of sins and through the worst of sinners. Judah had a son whom the Lord struck dead shortly after he got married. Judah then gave his daughter in law to his next son to take as his wife - as was the custom and law of the Lord of the time. But his second son also died because he was wicked in the Lord’s sight. Fearing that his third son would die if he gave the girl to him as a wife, Judah decided to let his daughter-in-law live as a widow for the remainder of her days although that was clearly against God’s law. His daughter-in-law, Tamar, underlined in verse three of Matthew 1, decided to dress up like a prostitute and stand out where her father-in-law, Judah, was working. Judah fell into that temptation and slept with Tamar without knowing who she was because she kept a veil over her face. Twin boys were the result of that incestuous relationship, and one of them, Perez, is mentioned for us in our text as one of the forefather’s of Christ himself.
Along those same lines, a couple verses further down the mother of Boaz is mentioned. Here name was Rahab. The same Rahab who was a Canaanite prostitute during the time of Joshua and the Israelites in the Promised Land. And a couple verses after that, David is on this list - who happened to have a son named Solomon with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. Judah & Tamar. Rahab the prostitute. And David & Bathsheba. All sinners against the 6th Commandment. All involved in very public scandals. And all ancestors of Jesus Christ the Lord. God’s grace prevailed to bring Christ into this world.
Of course, everyone on this list was a sinner. I simply mention a few of these people and a few of their stories to point out how God’s grace prevails by using sinners. His grace is that powerful that he could use awful sinners to carry out his good will. His grace is that loving that he would bother using such awful sinners to carry out something so spectacular as the birth of Christ. And so it should go without saying that God’s grace prevails by using sinners not only back then, but God’s grace prevails by using sinners to carry out his will today.
And so I think we insult the Lord quite a bit by the way we sometimes think about his grace. Has this ever crossed your mind? “I am so sinful. I am so hopeless. There are so many more qualified and more experienced and more Christian people than I am. I don’t see how God can use me for anything good.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty! His grace prevails even by using the worst of sinners. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace ever start depending on how good you are?
Or maybe this has gone through your mind once or twice: “There is no hope for that person. He is so anti-religion. He is so blatantly sinful and against everything that Christ is and Christ has done. I would highly doubt God’s grace will ever enter his heart.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty. His grace prevails even in the worst of sinners. Think of the apostle Paul. He was the biggest ant-Christian there was before he traveled on that road to Damascus. And yet God’s grace prevailed and Paul was turned into the best missionary of Christianity there ever was. Think of Naaman from Old Testament times. Not only was he a foreign general who attacked the Israelites, he even took back some Israelite children to serve his household. And yet God’s grace prevailed. Naaman was brought to faith in the Lord and he returned to his country a believer. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace ever depend on how receptive a person originally was to his Word?
How many times has this gone through your mind, as it has mine: “I kind of want to pray for this, but it’s so ridiculous, it’s so beyond the realm of possibility that it’s probably never going to happen anyway. So I guess I’ll tone down my prayer a bit and be a little more realistic.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty! His grace prevails through the prayers of the worst of sinners. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace depend on the way things are normally done, the laws of nature, or human reason? God’s grace prevails. If it is his will, if things are to be accomplished that are according this plan, his grace will prevail. And he will use sinners - the worst of sinners - to carry it out. And it’s an insult to our Lord when we imply that sins or sinners might be able to stand in his way.
They certainly didn’t stand in his way throughout the history of Christ’s ancestors. In fact, in Matthew chapter one we see that God not only used sinners, he chose sinners. That’s what the highlighted names are for. And you’ll notice that the first highlighted name is someone we’ve already mentioned: Rahab. God didn’t just use her so that grace prevailed, he chose her when he had no reason to. Because she was not only a prostitute, she wasn’t even an Israelite. She lived in the city of Jericho when the walls came crashing down. By God’s grace her life was spared even though 1) all people in the land of Canaan were originally supposed to be destroyed, 2) all prostitutes in Israel were supposed to be put to death, and 3) the Israelites were not supposed to inter-marry with foreign nations. Rahab lived however, married an Israelite man, and God chose her to carry on the line of the Savior.
Her son was Boaz. Boaz you should remember from the book of Ruth. He was Ruth’s husband. But Ruth wasn’t an Israelite either. She was a Moabite. She was from a nation that was a constant thorn in the Israelite’s flesh. But God chose this foreigner, whose husband was the son of a former prostitute, to be the ancestors of Christ.
At the bottom of the first big paragraph you see Manasseh is highlighted. He was a king of Judah who did some wicked thing while he was on the throne. He built altars to Baal and Asherah. He worshiped the stars, he set up false gods in the Lord’s own temple, he sacrificed his own son in the fire and he was involved with sorcery and divination. He led the Israelites into more sin than the nations that were there before him. But God’s grace prevailed. He chose this king, this sinner, and brought Manasseh to faith. Manasseh repented, got rid of the altars to the false gods he had made, and turned the Israelites back to the Lord. And, of course, he was chosen to carry on the line of Christ.
The last two names we’ll look at today are near the end of our lesson. Joseph and his wife Mary. Sinners, without question. Joseph, just a carpenter. Mary, no one special other than she was from the line of David as well. But God chose them. He picked them to be the parents of the Lord Almighty. He chose them to bring Jesus up in the training and instruction of the Lord. He gave them the responsibility of raising their own Savior. They were not qualified. They were certainly not deserving of this honor. But God’s grace prevailed by choosing these two sinners so that Jesus would come into this world.
You certainly are not qualified to be a Christian. You certainly aren’t deserving of that honor. And neither am I. We are sinners. The worst of sinners. And yet here we sit as Christians nevertheless. Because God’s grace has prevailed. He has chosen you specifically as his child before he ever created the world. He came to this earth so his grace would prevail. He died so his grace would prevail. He lives so his grace prevails. He sent his Holy Spirit to work in your heart through his Word and sacraments so that you would be brought to faith in him. Because God’s grace prevails despite sin, despite the devil, despite death, and despite sinners themselves. And God’s grace will prevail until the end of time when we will all experience God’s grace in its absolute fullness in the glories of heaven.
The next time you read through the book of Matthew, don’t scan so quickly over these first 17 verses. You don’t have to spend too much time on them, but at least notice some of the names. At least remember their stories. And notice how God’s grace prevailed by using those sinners and by choosing those sinners. And know that he does the same for you. He has chosen you to be saved. And he will use you to spread that message of salvation to the world. What an honor. What an honor to be a recipient of God’s unending grace. What an honor to be used to share that with others.
Yes, we are sinners. There’s no arguing that. But we are sinners who are saved. Because we are saved by God’s grace. And his grace prevails.
Amen.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ… to him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 5:10,11
11/26/08 - Thanksgiving Eve - Isaiah 25:6-8
A FEAST ON THE MOUNTAIN
- With all the fixin's
- With everything else taken away
- With all the fixin's
- With everything else taken away
What you are going to eat tomorrow? Turkey, golden brown cooked to perfection, sitting in the oven throughout the entire morning so that the smells fill the house. Stuffing, moist and homemade, so filling that it could be a meal in and of itself. Potatoes, real mashed potatoes, smothered with a turkey gravy that probably coagulates inside your arteries the moment it hits your tongue, but worth every ladle-full nonetheless. Cooked carrots, golden corn, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, sliced pickles, fruit salad, fresh vegetables, and crescent rolls that are so fluffy and flaky they seem to melt in your mouth. Maybe you’ll enjoy a glass of wine, a pastry or two, and a hunk of pumpkin pie covered in whipped cream that tastes so good it almost makes you want to cry.
Many of you may eat one or two things on the menu I just described, some of you will eat different things I didn’t mention, and others of you can no longer eat - or at least you aren’t supposed to eat - some of these traditional Thanksgiving foods because of your change in diet. But regardless of what you eat, there are certain things during Thanksgiving that make that day special, that make the holiday enjoyable. Often times it’s a specific food, some times it’s a family tradition that you always do on that day, and many times it’s specific people with whom you eat: family members, children and grandchildren, neighbors, friends - these people make that day special. And all of these things are blessings you thank the Lord for, don’t you? These things make you happy and allow you to enjoy Thanksgiving Day.
But what if the turkey burned? What if somebody forgot to make the mashed potatoes? What if the pumpkin pie came out of the oven only to be dropped on the floor? Would you still be just as happy? Would the day be just as special if your favorite foods where not there? Or what if the people whom you share Thanksgiving with weren’t there tomorrow? What if no one was around to share that day with you? No children, no grandchildren, no parents, no friends, no neighbors, not even any congregation members to enjoy Thanksgiving with? Would you still be just as happy tomorrow? Would you be just as thankful? Would you look forward to Thanksgiving just as much if it were not filled with the normal blessings that you usually enjoy?
I’ve got to tell you: I would have a hard time being just as happy or just as thankful if some of those things were not there. I would be a little disheartened if I didn’t have some of the blessings tomorrow that I’m used to enjoying. And I think that’s pretty typical for everyone throughout their lives - whether on Thanksgiving Day or on any other day. The blessings that we receive or don’t receive determine how happy and thankful we are. But should they? Should the earthly blessings we receive in this life make us happier or more joyful? Should the absence of earthly blessings in this life make us less happy or disappointed? I would contend that the day to day blessings we have or don’t have should not change our attitude at all. Because the greatest blessings, the most important blessings, and the only essential blessings are already taken care of, they are guaranteed, and they will never be taken away.
And these blessings that are ours we will enjoy at the Thanksgiving feast prepared for us on the mountain in the kingdom of heaven. Scripture itself promises that “6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.” The Lord will prepare a feast for you in heaven that will be the Thanksgiving dinner of all Thanksgiving dinners. It will have all the fixin’s - everything you ever wanted and more. And you have a reserved seat at that table. You get to attend free of charge. You will never get full, you will never get tired, and you will never have to leave. This is promised to you. You will feast forever in heaven with your Lord and Savior. What could possibly make you happier than that? What in this life could possibly take that joy away?
But despite that promise from the Lord himself, our happiness and joy in this life fluctuate to the extremes depending on the earthly blessings we receive here, don’t they? Some days we’re happy, other days we’re not quite as much. And it usually depends on the blessings or lack of blessings we are experiencing at that particular time. We forget that the food and the family and the marriage and the house and the vehicle and the health and the safety that the Lord blesses us with in this life are just extras! They are little extra blessings the Lord throws in on top just because he loves us as his children. Now we should certainly thank the Lord for these blessings he gives us - that’s what Thanksgiving Day is partly about. But these temporary blessings should not be the reason for our joy, they should not be the source of our happiness. The reason and the source of our thankfulness should be Christ and everything he has promised us for eternity. Because Christ and his promises are what really matters. They are the only blessings we could not live without. Because no matter what earthly blessings you do have or don’t have, nothing really changes. The heavenly feast with all the fixin’s is still yours, everything Christ has gained for you is still yours - so what is there to be unhappy about?
When we’re a little down or stressed out or worried because an earthly blessing has been taken away in this life, I would compare that to a person who looks over a Thanksgiving dinner table filled every kind of holiday food imaginable, but is still disappointed because there are only 14 pickle slices on the platter instead of the normal 15. Wouldn’t that be ridiculous? Why would anyone be dissatisfied with such a minor detail when the table is overflowing with more food than one person could possibly ever eat in a week? And so how could any of us be dissatisfied with blessings that may or may not be present in our lives when the banquet table in heaven is overflowing with countless blessings of forgiveness, salvation, peace, joy, happiness, and eternal life that will take us an eternity to fathom? And so realize how disrespectful it is to the Lord when you are unhappy or depressed or bitter or discontent if something has happened to those extra blessings! We lose sight of God’s goodness and his superabundant blessings far too often. We are so stuck sometimes on what we get here, what we can enjoy in this life, what will make us happy today. Certainly thank the Lord for those things, but it is terribly disrespectful when we let them affect our happiness and joy when they should be based in Christ. Of course, everything we will receive in heaven is made possible by what Jesus did on this earth.
And Jesus came to this earth to die. That was his ultimate goal. He wanted to die because he knew it would be a ransom-death. His blood would cover our sins. His suffering would satisfy sin’s punishment. And because Christ died we won’t have to experience the sentence that we deserve for our sins. That’s why Isaiah describes the Thanksgiving feast on the mountain the way he does, “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations.” The shroud that covers us on this earth is sin. The same sin that takes our attention away from God’s sure promises and places it on the absence of earthly blessings. The sin that separates us from God. The sin that we were born with. This shroud of sin was destroyed by Christ on the cross and it will be completely lifted from our heads when we sit down at that heavenly table on the mountain. Sin will no longer affect us. Sin will no longer count against us. Sin will be taken away just as Christ’s life was taken on Calvary.
Of course, Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave three days later. And because he rose from the dead he promises that we will too. And so at the feast on the mountain, “He will swallow up death forever.” What a blessing! As we eat and swallow all the blessing prepared for us on that table, the Lord himself will swallow death. Death will no longer exist in heaven. There will be no more aging, no more pain, no more loss, no more medicine, no more discomfort. Death will be banned from heaven and you will enjoy a new life like you have never experienced before.
And because there will be no more death, “The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces,” as well. Sadness: gone. Sorrow: gone. Disappointment: gone. Regret: gone. Frustration: gone. There will only be happiness and joy at this Thanksgiving banquet because everything will be absolutely perfect. And everything will be perfect because, “He will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.” Coming into the feast I think I will feel a little disgraced. Because I have often times allowed the extra blessings of this life to overshadow the great blessings of eternal life. I have become unhappy when I should have been filled with joy. I have become disappointed when I still really had everything I could ever need. As sinners, we should feel a little disgraced because of how much the Lord has blessed us and how we have repaid him. But when we arrive at that feast, the Lord will remove that disgrace we carry. We will be the honored guests at this Thanksgiving celebration and he will give us the best seats in the house. Not because of who we have proved ourselves to be, but because of who Christ has proved himself to be - our Savior. And we are his children. And as our Father he will proudly welcome us home.
These blessings that the prophet Isaiah describes for us here are interesting, because they aren’t so much what the Lord will give us at the feast on the mountain, but what he will take away. He will take away sin, death, tears, and disgrace. And when he takes all of those things away, there will be nothing left but joy and happiness and celebration and peace. It will be an incredible feast on the mountain of the kingdom of God. Nothing will be left out. Everything will be perfect. And we will be sitting around that table with our family members, and friends, and neighbors, who believed in the Lord as their Savior just like we do. And you can be sure we will be giving thanks. Not for the extra blessings he had given us while we were on earth, but for the blessings we will be enjoying at that very moment because of Christ. That Thanksgiving Day will be unlike any other. And that Day will never end.
I hope you eat well tomorrow. I hope you are surrounded by the people you care about. And I hope you thank the Lord for that food, for those friends and family members, and for the extra blessings he has given you throughout this year and throughout your life. But as you look at that table filled with the delicacies of this earth, and as you take in the different faces around you that you know so well, remember the feast prepared for you on the mountain. Remember those who will gather with you there. And remember Christ. Your only source of true happiness. The chef of the feast. The host of the banquet. And the Savior who will one day carry you there in his arms.
Amen.
“May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.” - Psalm 134:3
11/23/08 - Christ the King - Ezekiel 34:11-16,23-24
DAVID II: OUR SHEPHERD-KING
- He stays to tend his flock
- He comes to save his flock
This is Christ the King Sunday. And so, of course, today’s entire service is focused on Christ the King. The hymns are focused on Christ the King. The sermon is focused on Christ the King. And the three Scripture lessons read today were focused on Christ the King. In our gospel reading we saw Jesus being mocked as a king by the soldiers before he was led away to be crucified. And in 1 Corinthians 15 we saw Jesus rule as a king over all things after he rose from the dead. But the first lesson we read was from the book of Ezekiel. Do you remember seeing Christ the King there? Take a look at Ezekiel 34:11-16,23-24 again and see if you can spot Jesus in those verses. Do you see him?
If I could, I want to give you a brief timeline of the Old Testament. And this chronological timeline will actually help you see Christ the King in Ezekiel 34. Adam and Eve were created in about 4000 B.C. - 4000 years Before Christ the King came into this world. Noah was born a little after 3000 B.C. Abraham in about 2000 B.C., Moses 1500 B.C. and King David in about 1000 B.C. (this is the important date you need to remember today…). After David and his son Solomon died, the Promised Land was divided into the northern part of Israel and the southern part of Judah. Judah had its own kings and Israel had its own kings for the next few hundred years. Now fast-forward to 722 B.C. That is when the northern land of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and many of the Israelites were taken into exile. Judah still existed. But 140 years later in 586 B.C. the Babylonians conquered Judah and the city of Jerusalem and almost all of the rest of God’s people were taken into exile by that country. This is when Ezekiel served the people: when they were destroyed by the Babylonians and taken to that foreign land as a punishment for rejecting the Lord. Ezekiel was there. He experienced the destruction of Jerusalem. He accompanied the people into exile even before 586 B.C.. And he faithfully preached the Word of the Lord to them while they lived in Babylon. And there, in and around that time, the Lord spoke these words through his prophet: “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them.”
Do you remember where David was on that historical timeline? 1000 B.C. But Ezekiel is writing these words about a future David in about 575 B.C. - 400 years after David died! So who could Ezekiel’s “David” be? It can’t be the original king David. And so it must be King David II, the true Shepherd-King. The King “David” whom Ezekiel speaks about must be Christ the King, the first David’s most important descendant, the first David’s Savior, the first David’s King.
And you can be sure that the Israelites knew exactly whom Ezekiel was talking about. They knew David had long since passed away. And so this David was the one who would save them, the one whom had been prophesied about for centuries - long before they had been taken into exile. But it was probably the first time they had thought about King David II in a long time. Because that’s why they were there in Babylon in the first place: they had rejected the Lord, they had neglected his Word, and they had separated themselves from their Shepherd-King.
I would hope that this kind of prophecy shook them up a little bit, brought them back to their senses. Because this is the first time it is recorded for us that a prophecy of the coming Christ was spoken to the people since they had been in exile - and I hope they took notice! They had been separating themselves from their King for so long that they didn’t even notice that the King had never left. He had always been tending his flock and he was one day going to physically come down to this earth to prove it.
And I hope you take notice of this prophecy too. Your Shepherd King has always been tending his flock, including you, his sheep, even at those times you have separated yourselves from him. Now, I know that you have not completely forgotten your Lord or have entirely separated him from your life, but you designate him to specific areas of your life, don’t you? Right now it’s not a problem, of course, because we’re in church! This is the Christ-time of your life, isn’t it? This is when you focus on your King and worship your Savior. And maybe when you’re at home reading your Bible or saying your prayers and when you attend Bible classes - those times are “Christ times” for you, and they should be. But then there’s your “work time” - whether at a full-time job or the chores and activities you do around the house - during those times you don’t really think about Christ, do you? Your Shepherd King is the farthest thing from your mind during “work time.” And then there’s “family & fun time.” Spending a few hours with your spouse, children, grandchildren, friends, relatives… don’t you usually have a hard time including your Shepherd King in those times too? And, of course, you have your “self time” - the times you spend for yourself reading a book, watching tv, winding down after a long day, or just relaxing. Those times are good to have, but they too are strangely absent of Christ your King. And I do that as well. I have moments or activities in my life in which the mindset is almost as if Christ doesn’t belong there. There are times when I try to do things non-church related, which is fine, but then they too often end up being non-Christ related as well. And that should never be. We all tend to relegate Christ to Sunday mornings and to reading the Bible and to prayer, but rarely does he come up in any other aspect of our lives. He is separated. He is segregated. He is kept apart from our secular lives and we only bring him to mind when the time calls for it.
Isn’t that dangerously close to what the Israelites did to get themselves thrown into exile? Christ our Shepherd King should never be separated, segregated, or kept apart from any facet of our lives. Because he is the Shepherd-King of our lives! He tends to his sheep every day, guiding them, guarding them, protecting them, feeding them, blessing them, loving them. Why then would his sheep want to isolate themselves from their Shepherd in any way at any time? What a dangerous thing to do with all of the predators around us. What an ungrateful thing to do with all of the grace he has shown us. But we do it anyway. We even like to separate ourselves from him at times so we don’t have to think about his Word or follow his will or bother with his plans. Because we like to do what we want, think what we want, and say what we want. It’s amazing that the Shepherd-King still tends to his flock even though we keep wanting to wander off by ourselves! I can’t imagine we would be sent into exile by a foreign country any time soon, but an exile might do us good.
I would like to think it did the Israelites good. I would like to think that the exile showed them that God wasn’t joking around. It showed them how serious sin was and that sin’s punishment is never pleasant. I hope the exile was a wake-up call. And it probably was because an exile is never easy. It must have been depressing for them to be away from their homeland in a foreign country in a foreign culture with a foreign language. And so it must have surprised them after all the suffering they had to endure and after all the law that they heard from the prophets, to actually hear some gospel. It must have been a shockingly refreshing piece of news to hear about their Shepherd-King! “King David II was coming! The Lord has not forgotten! The Lord has not abandoned us! Even though he has kicked us out of the Promised Land because of our sins, he still remembers! And he is going to send his servant David to tend us and lead us and be our Shepherd-King!” What a relief it must have been to hear Ezekiel say those words. Because Ezekiel had said a lot of things to them before, and most of it was not good news. It was anger and judgment and impending doom. But these words about King David II were words of hope and salvation impending happiness. The Lord had not gone back on his promise! The Lord had not changed his mind. The Lord had forgiven them! And he was going to send them their Shepherd-King to save them.
The Lord will never go back on his promise to us either. The Lord will not change his mind. He has forgiven us and he has already sent his Shepherd-King to make it happen. And as we look back on Jesus’ life recorded for us in Scripture, we see that he proved himself to be a gentle and powerful Shepherd-King in many different ways. As a Shepherd he started this life on earth among animals in Bethlehem, and as a King his birth was proclaimed by the angels of heaven. As a Shepherd he patiently instructed the Pharisee Nicodemus, but as a King he vehemently condemned the Pharisees who were hypocritical liars. As a Shepherd he blessed the disciples with a great catch of fish, and as a King he called the storm. As a Shepherd he knelt and prayed for his people, and as a King he was transfigured before them. As a Shepherd he went out of his way to heal the daughter of a Roman soldier, but as a King he was mocked as one by the company of Roman soldiers in Pontius Pilate’s court. As a Shepherd he suffered at the hands of sinful men. As a King he allowed them to do it. As a Shepherd he went to hell while hanging on the cross and experienced an eternal punishment for us. As a King he survived it. As a Shepherd he died for his sheep. As a King he rose victoriously.
King David II, the Shepherd-King foretold by Ezekiel and adored by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is your Shepherd-King. As a Shepherd he guides you, feeds you, takes care of you, protects you, and loves you. As a King he has fought for you, he has conquered for you, he reigns for you, he rules for you, and he will come back again for you - just like he did the first time.
Jesus had to come the first time because he couldn’t rely on us, his sheep, to come to him. We wander off, we go our own way, we separate ourselves from him and from the rest of the flock as often as we can. And so Jesus had to come to us. He had to be like one of us and live like one of us and be tempted like one of us and suffer more than one of us and die as the One in our place. The Shepherd-King came to us. He sought us out. He sacrificed his life. And he brought us back into the fold through faith in the Word. He has used his rod to defeat our enemies and has used his staff to corral us home. He truly is our Shepherd-King. He truly is King David II.
Early on his life, the original David, the sinful human being David, was standing on the battle lines as a young man. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He wasn’t a soldier. He was just a boy checking on his older brothers. But there, between the battle lines of the Israelites and the Philistines, standing in the middle of the valley, was the giant Goliath. Taunting Israel. Challenging anyone. Blaspheming the Lord. And so David said to King Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:34-36). And you know the rest of the story: David, this shepherd boy who had demonstrated his bravery and strength by protecting his flock, went out on that battlefield and killed Goliath with a slingshot and Goliath’s own sword. David, the shepherd, was the champion. And he soon became Israel’s greatest king.
1000 years later King David II arrived. A Shepherd who protected his flock. A King who conquered the enemy. A Champion who still lives and rules and reigns today. Your Shepherd. Your King. Your Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord. He will always stay to tend us as a Shepherd because he came to save us as a King. And our Shepherd-King will come again.
Amen.
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 1:17
- He stays to tend his flock
- He comes to save his flock
This is Christ the King Sunday. And so, of course, today’s entire service is focused on Christ the King. The hymns are focused on Christ the King. The sermon is focused on Christ the King. And the three Scripture lessons read today were focused on Christ the King. In our gospel reading we saw Jesus being mocked as a king by the soldiers before he was led away to be crucified. And in 1 Corinthians 15 we saw Jesus rule as a king over all things after he rose from the dead. But the first lesson we read was from the book of Ezekiel. Do you remember seeing Christ the King there? Take a look at Ezekiel 34:11-16,23-24 again and see if you can spot Jesus in those verses. Do you see him?
If I could, I want to give you a brief timeline of the Old Testament. And this chronological timeline will actually help you see Christ the King in Ezekiel 34. Adam and Eve were created in about 4000 B.C. - 4000 years Before Christ the King came into this world. Noah was born a little after 3000 B.C. Abraham in about 2000 B.C., Moses 1500 B.C. and King David in about 1000 B.C. (this is the important date you need to remember today…). After David and his son Solomon died, the Promised Land was divided into the northern part of Israel and the southern part of Judah. Judah had its own kings and Israel had its own kings for the next few hundred years. Now fast-forward to 722 B.C. That is when the northern land of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and many of the Israelites were taken into exile. Judah still existed. But 140 years later in 586 B.C. the Babylonians conquered Judah and the city of Jerusalem and almost all of the rest of God’s people were taken into exile by that country. This is when Ezekiel served the people: when they were destroyed by the Babylonians and taken to that foreign land as a punishment for rejecting the Lord. Ezekiel was there. He experienced the destruction of Jerusalem. He accompanied the people into exile even before 586 B.C.. And he faithfully preached the Word of the Lord to them while they lived in Babylon. And there, in and around that time, the Lord spoke these words through his prophet: “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them.”
Do you remember where David was on that historical timeline? 1000 B.C. But Ezekiel is writing these words about a future David in about 575 B.C. - 400 years after David died! So who could Ezekiel’s “David” be? It can’t be the original king David. And so it must be King David II, the true Shepherd-King. The King “David” whom Ezekiel speaks about must be Christ the King, the first David’s most important descendant, the first David’s Savior, the first David’s King.
And you can be sure that the Israelites knew exactly whom Ezekiel was talking about. They knew David had long since passed away. And so this David was the one who would save them, the one whom had been prophesied about for centuries - long before they had been taken into exile. But it was probably the first time they had thought about King David II in a long time. Because that’s why they were there in Babylon in the first place: they had rejected the Lord, they had neglected his Word, and they had separated themselves from their Shepherd-King.
I would hope that this kind of prophecy shook them up a little bit, brought them back to their senses. Because this is the first time it is recorded for us that a prophecy of the coming Christ was spoken to the people since they had been in exile - and I hope they took notice! They had been separating themselves from their King for so long that they didn’t even notice that the King had never left. He had always been tending his flock and he was one day going to physically come down to this earth to prove it.
And I hope you take notice of this prophecy too. Your Shepherd King has always been tending his flock, including you, his sheep, even at those times you have separated yourselves from him. Now, I know that you have not completely forgotten your Lord or have entirely separated him from your life, but you designate him to specific areas of your life, don’t you? Right now it’s not a problem, of course, because we’re in church! This is the Christ-time of your life, isn’t it? This is when you focus on your King and worship your Savior. And maybe when you’re at home reading your Bible or saying your prayers and when you attend Bible classes - those times are “Christ times” for you, and they should be. But then there’s your “work time” - whether at a full-time job or the chores and activities you do around the house - during those times you don’t really think about Christ, do you? Your Shepherd King is the farthest thing from your mind during “work time.” And then there’s “family & fun time.” Spending a few hours with your spouse, children, grandchildren, friends, relatives… don’t you usually have a hard time including your Shepherd King in those times too? And, of course, you have your “self time” - the times you spend for yourself reading a book, watching tv, winding down after a long day, or just relaxing. Those times are good to have, but they too are strangely absent of Christ your King. And I do that as well. I have moments or activities in my life in which the mindset is almost as if Christ doesn’t belong there. There are times when I try to do things non-church related, which is fine, but then they too often end up being non-Christ related as well. And that should never be. We all tend to relegate Christ to Sunday mornings and to reading the Bible and to prayer, but rarely does he come up in any other aspect of our lives. He is separated. He is segregated. He is kept apart from our secular lives and we only bring him to mind when the time calls for it.
Isn’t that dangerously close to what the Israelites did to get themselves thrown into exile? Christ our Shepherd King should never be separated, segregated, or kept apart from any facet of our lives. Because he is the Shepherd-King of our lives! He tends to his sheep every day, guiding them, guarding them, protecting them, feeding them, blessing them, loving them. Why then would his sheep want to isolate themselves from their Shepherd in any way at any time? What a dangerous thing to do with all of the predators around us. What an ungrateful thing to do with all of the grace he has shown us. But we do it anyway. We even like to separate ourselves from him at times so we don’t have to think about his Word or follow his will or bother with his plans. Because we like to do what we want, think what we want, and say what we want. It’s amazing that the Shepherd-King still tends to his flock even though we keep wanting to wander off by ourselves! I can’t imagine we would be sent into exile by a foreign country any time soon, but an exile might do us good.
I would like to think it did the Israelites good. I would like to think that the exile showed them that God wasn’t joking around. It showed them how serious sin was and that sin’s punishment is never pleasant. I hope the exile was a wake-up call. And it probably was because an exile is never easy. It must have been depressing for them to be away from their homeland in a foreign country in a foreign culture with a foreign language. And so it must have surprised them after all the suffering they had to endure and after all the law that they heard from the prophets, to actually hear some gospel. It must have been a shockingly refreshing piece of news to hear about their Shepherd-King! “King David II was coming! The Lord has not forgotten! The Lord has not abandoned us! Even though he has kicked us out of the Promised Land because of our sins, he still remembers! And he is going to send his servant David to tend us and lead us and be our Shepherd-King!” What a relief it must have been to hear Ezekiel say those words. Because Ezekiel had said a lot of things to them before, and most of it was not good news. It was anger and judgment and impending doom. But these words about King David II were words of hope and salvation impending happiness. The Lord had not gone back on his promise! The Lord had not changed his mind. The Lord had forgiven them! And he was going to send them their Shepherd-King to save them.
The Lord will never go back on his promise to us either. The Lord will not change his mind. He has forgiven us and he has already sent his Shepherd-King to make it happen. And as we look back on Jesus’ life recorded for us in Scripture, we see that he proved himself to be a gentle and powerful Shepherd-King in many different ways. As a Shepherd he started this life on earth among animals in Bethlehem, and as a King his birth was proclaimed by the angels of heaven. As a Shepherd he patiently instructed the Pharisee Nicodemus, but as a King he vehemently condemned the Pharisees who were hypocritical liars. As a Shepherd he blessed the disciples with a great catch of fish, and as a King he called the storm. As a Shepherd he knelt and prayed for his people, and as a King he was transfigured before them. As a Shepherd he went out of his way to heal the daughter of a Roman soldier, but as a King he was mocked as one by the company of Roman soldiers in Pontius Pilate’s court. As a Shepherd he suffered at the hands of sinful men. As a King he allowed them to do it. As a Shepherd he went to hell while hanging on the cross and experienced an eternal punishment for us. As a King he survived it. As a Shepherd he died for his sheep. As a King he rose victoriously.
King David II, the Shepherd-King foretold by Ezekiel and adored by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is your Shepherd-King. As a Shepherd he guides you, feeds you, takes care of you, protects you, and loves you. As a King he has fought for you, he has conquered for you, he reigns for you, he rules for you, and he will come back again for you - just like he did the first time.
Jesus had to come the first time because he couldn’t rely on us, his sheep, to come to him. We wander off, we go our own way, we separate ourselves from him and from the rest of the flock as often as we can. And so Jesus had to come to us. He had to be like one of us and live like one of us and be tempted like one of us and suffer more than one of us and die as the One in our place. The Shepherd-King came to us. He sought us out. He sacrificed his life. And he brought us back into the fold through faith in the Word. He has used his rod to defeat our enemies and has used his staff to corral us home. He truly is our Shepherd-King. He truly is King David II.
Early on his life, the original David, the sinful human being David, was standing on the battle lines as a young man. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He wasn’t a soldier. He was just a boy checking on his older brothers. But there, between the battle lines of the Israelites and the Philistines, standing in the middle of the valley, was the giant Goliath. Taunting Israel. Challenging anyone. Blaspheming the Lord. And so David said to King Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:34-36). And you know the rest of the story: David, this shepherd boy who had demonstrated his bravery and strength by protecting his flock, went out on that battlefield and killed Goliath with a slingshot and Goliath’s own sword. David, the shepherd, was the champion. And he soon became Israel’s greatest king.
1000 years later King David II arrived. A Shepherd who protected his flock. A King who conquered the enemy. A Champion who still lives and rules and reigns today. Your Shepherd. Your King. Your Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord. He will always stay to tend us as a Shepherd because he came to save us as a King. And our Shepherd-King will come again.
Amen.
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 1:17
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