2/24/13 - Lent 2 - Luke 13:31-35

JESUS LONGS FOR YOU

Jesus Came for Those Who Left Him

            From the moment he began his ministry to the moment it ended, Jesus was hated by his own people.  The experts in the law tested Jesus to prove him wrong.  The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus in his words.  Both groups got together to plan for Jesus’ death.  And the regular citizens of Israel demanded miracles from him as if he were a circus side-show, they accused him of being from the devil, they charged him with blasphemy, they blamed him for breaking the law, they rejected his teachings, and they even tried to throw him off of a cliff.  You would think that Jesus would have gotten a little tired of that kind of treatment!  You would think that Jesus would have given up on these people after a while.  Because not only had they done these things directly to Jesus while he was on this earth, the people of Israel had been rejecting him for hundreds of years.

            1500 years before Jesus was born, Moses spoke about him; and Moses almost lost his life at the hands of an angry nation.  1000 years before Jesus was born, King David wrote some beautiful songs about the coming Savior; and David was abandoned by most of the people at the beginning of his reign.  Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the prophet Jeremiah came with words about the Messiah and he was thrown in a well and left for dead; the prophet Zechariah came with words about the Messiah and was stoned to death; the prophet Isaiah came with words about the Messiah and he was supposedly sawed in half for what he preached.  For centuries and centuries God’s own Old Testament chosen nation rejected the only one who could save them.  And so when the one who came to save them was on this earth, it is no surprise that he bore the brunt of their unbelief. 

            I wouldn’t have put up with it!  Would you?  I wouldn’t have wasted my time on a people that had been so ungrateful and insubordinate for so many generations!  I wouldn’t have wasted my breath on people who were so spiritually blind and unspeakably cruel!  I would have left them if I were Jesus and I would have never looked back.  And I don’t think I would have lost any sleep over it either because that would have been exactly what they deserved.

            But Jesus was a little more patient than I am.  Jesus was filled with a little more love and a little more kindness and a little more compassion.  And we see that love and kindness and compassion one day when he opens his heart and shows some emotion for the people who had rejected him for so long: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

            Up to this point in Jesus’ life, the people had tried to trick him and trap him, they had accused him, charged him, and blamed him.  They had plotted his death and had tried to throw him off a cliff.  And what Jesus’ response?  Jesus longed for them!  He preached and he taught, he performed miracles and healings, he cast out demons and offered his services wherever he went without turning anyone away.  Because he truly longed for them.  He longed for them to come back.  He longed for them to believe.  He longed to hold them in his arms and call them his children.  But they were not willing.

Jesus Is Heart-Broken at Times

            Do you here the disappointment in Jesus’ words?  And not only disappointment, but sorrow and even heartbreak.  He loved these people so much and he had done so much for their salvation already that it broke his heart that they did not believe in him.  It broke his heart that they were not his own.

            Think about how much the Lord has already done for you: the beautiful creation he has placed at your fingertips, the area of the country in which you now live, your family, your friends, your job, your health, your mind, your abilities...  Think about what he has done for you spiritually: he has planned for you from before the creation of the world, he has brought you to faith in your Savior through the powerful Word of God, he has preserved that faith through that same Word, he has brought you together with fellow Christians here who believe exactly what you believe, and he has provided for you a congregation that teaches what Scripture clearly says, he has guaranteed eternal life for you in a place of Paradise.  Think about how much the Lord has already done for you.  And now think about what you have done.

            As I look back on my life there are some things that I am completely ashamed about.  There are some things that I have said about other people that still make me feel a little bit guilty.  There are some thoughts that have run through my head that I don’t even want to talk about.  I have done and said and thought things that are completely unbecoming of a Christian, things that have shown how easily I can forget what the Lord has done for me.  And I can imagine the disappointment of my God every time I act that way.  I can imagine the heartbreak.  The Lord truly is heartbroken when we refuse to listen to him, when we ignore his words, when we do things we know we are not supposed to do, when we demonstrate an attitude that is unappreciative of what he has done for us. 

            Years ago I was driving down a two lane highway in the middle of the Minnesota countryside.  I was passing a semi at the time and as we were about nose to nose doing 60 miles an hour, in front of us was a duck and her ducklings making their way across the highway in a line.  And there was nothing I could do about it.  But the time we got to where they were crossing the mother duck had reached the shoulder but her five ducklings were a full lane behind her.  I passed them in the open lane but the ducklings were all lined up in the lane of the semi.  And as I looked in my rearview mirror, there was nothing left.  The ducklings had not been close enough to their mother to even come close to making it.  That had fallen too far behind.

            “O children, my children,” Jesus could say.  “How I long to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you are not willing.  You keep going the other way!  You keep walking in the opposite direction!  You keep falling behind!  You keep purposely turning your back on me even when you know better!  What am I going to do with you?  How long am I going to put up with this?”

            The Lord doesn’t have to put up with it, you know.  He doesn’t have to be so patient.  He doesn’t have to be so kind and understanding.  He can just let us go.  And he doesn’t have to let us back.  After all, what does he benefit from taking us back?  More trouble?  More rejection?  More disobedience?  More ungratefulness?  More selfishness?  More heartbreak?  I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a good deal for the Lord!  It sounds like he’d be better off going on without us.  And he would.  He would be better off.  But he’s not going to.  Because no matter what we have done to him, he still longs for you. 

Jesus Does Something About It
 

             If any of you who have had any experience on a farm, you’ve seen how hens act around their newborn chicks.  They watch over them, they look out for them, and they protect them.  And although the chicks sometimes come close to their mother on their own, it is oftentimes the mother who has to move towards the chicks, change her position, sit down, and cover them with her wings.  In fact, when the hen does that, you can’t even see the chicks anymore.  They are completely surrounded by the feathers of their mother.  “How often I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” Jesus said.  It’s amazing to me that he would long for people like that.  It’s amazing to me that he’d long for someone like me.  That no matter how often I have strayed from his Word, no matter how often I have disobeyed his will, no matter how often I have been completely ungrateful for his love, he longs for me anyway!  He longs to gather me back under his wings.  And he wants nothing more.

            But this longing isn’t just a nice feeling he has about me!  It’s not just wishful thinking: “I hope he does well” or “It’d be nice to see him get through this” or “I’m really pulling for him!”  This longing is not passive; it’s active!  Jesus longs for me and he longs for you when we are headed in the wrong direction but then he actually does something about it!

            Think about what he did for people during the time he lived on this earth.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus allowed a mob to gather together in the Garden of Gethsemane so that he could be arrested.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus stood in the courtroom of the high priest as his enemies gathered together against him.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus presented himself in front of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as a crowd gathered together outside shouting for his crucifixion.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus picked up a cross and carried it outside the city as women gathered together around him to see him on his way.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus put his hands on those beams of wood to be nailed down while people gathered together to mock him.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus suffered on that cross as his followers gathered together to hear him say, “It is finished.”  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus died on that cross as a couple loyal men gathered together his body and laid it in a tomb.  “I longed to gather you together,” he had said.  And so Jesus broke death’s hold on Easter Sunday and appeared to his disciples who were gathered together in a locked room.  “I longed to gather you together,” he said.  And so Jesus ascended back up into heaven 40 days later as his disciples were gathered together on a hill outside of Galilee.  “I longed to gather you together,” he said.  And so Jesus sits down on his throne in heaven where all believers of all time have gathered together, singing praises to him at the top of their lungs.  “I longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” he said.  But not only did he long, he did something about it.  And not just for them, for us.  Not just for someone else, for you.  “I longed to gather you together,” he said.  And he did.  Through the forgiveness he won in his blood he has gathered you under his wings.  And now that he has gathered you under his wings, he longs to bring you home.

Jesus Can’t Wait to Bring You Home

            Your Lord is not done.  He has even more things planned on your behalf.  He doesn’t file you away, he doesn’t treat you like another number, he doesn’t gather you together under his wings only to forget about you in the crowd.  Your Lord longs to be with you personally; he longs to be near you because he loves you; he longs to be right there by your side every step of the way.  Your Lord longs to listen to those prayers that you pray at night - no matter how rambling and drawn out they might be; he longs to hear what you think you need and never gets tired of hearing those requests; and he longs to give you what you need according to his will.  Your Lord pays attention to you; he looks you in the face; in fact, he never takes his eyes off of you.  He is never too busy; he is never distracted; he is never too tired to give you his full concentration.  You are that special to him.  You are that precious to him.  And he longs for the day when you will be with him for the very first time in his heavenly home.

            “How I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”  He has gathered you together under his cross and has forgiven all of your sins.  He has gathered you together at his empty tomb and has given you the promise of eternal life.  He has gathered you together in the folds of his Word and is keeping you safe in his arms.  He has already gathered you in.  And soon he will gather you home.

            Amen.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever.  Amen.”  - Rev. 1:5-6

2/13,20/13 - Midweek Lent - John 19:1-5

HERE IS THE MAN!

Look at the Man!

            “Here is the man!” Pilate said while standing in front of the crowds on the steps of the palace.  “Here is the man!”  The man, of course, was Jesus.  And the reason why Pilate was pointing him out wasn’t because the crowds didn’t know who Jesus was, but because Pilate wanted them to take a closer look.  Jesus was now battered and beaten much worse than they had seen him before; he had been tortured and abused at the hands of Roman soldiers; blood was dripping off of his face and pouring off of his back.  “Here is the man!”

            Have you ever seen something so gross or so painful or so repulsive that you had to look away?  When I was a sophomore in highschool, our biology class watched a video of an open heart surgery.  The doctor made a cut down the middle of the sternum, they put an implement in place that grabbed the bone, and then they split open the chest cavity like two petals of a flower.  And I couldn’t take it!  I had to look away!  I felt light-headed and dizzy and there was no way I could watch the rest of the video.  Now blood and cuts and injuries I could handle, but not the shock of seeing open heart surgery for the very first time.

            Pilate seemed to be trying to do the same thing.  He was trying to shock the people into sympathy and convince them that the punishment that he had already carried out on Jesus was enough.  Because the crowds had been calling for Jesus’ crucifixion for hours.  But Pilate couldn’t find one crime that Jesus had committed and he did not want to sentence him to death.  And so Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.  The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.  Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”  When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

            “Look at the guy!  I just had him scourged!  Many people have died from just that!  He has a crown of thorns in his head!  His face is bruised and puffed up from the beating he just took!  What more do you need?  I’ve punished him severely now just let it go!  Look at him!  Aren’t you satisfied?  Here is the man!”  But the people looked at the man and they were unmoved.  “Crucify him!  Crucify him!” they shouted.  And there shouts won the day.

Look at What You’ve Done!

            Here is the man!  What goes through your mind when you look at the man standing there?  He is battered and beaten.  He has been tortured and abused at the hands of the Roman soldiers.  Blood drips from his face because thorns are jammed into his skull and blood pours from his back because of the dozens and dozens of open wounds from those metal tipped whips.  Here is the man!  Look at what you’ve done!  Because this is just the start.  This is just the beginning of the punishment for your sinfulness.  The Jewish leaders aren’t the only ones at fault.  The Roman soldiers aren’t the only ones to blame.  Pilate isn’t solely responsible for what happened to Jesus.  You are.  And I am.  Here is the man!  Look at what we’ve done!

            If we would have never set our faces in defiance against his will, Jesus’ face never would have been struck.  If we would have never bowed our heads to other sources of happiness and satisfaction, Jesus’ head never would have bled.  If we would have never turned our backs on the Lord and his Word, Jesus’ back never would have been scourged.  If we could have been faithful, if we could have been loyal, if we could have been the men and women and children that we were supposed to be, that man never would have had to be standing there in the first place.  But we haven’t been completely faithful, have we?  We haven’t been completely loyal.  We haven’t been the Christians we are supposed to be.  And so Jesus stands there carrying what we have earned, suffering what we deserve.  Here is the man!  Look at what you’ve done!

Look at What He Did!

            But as you look at this man standing here, don’t just think about what you’ve done.  Look at what he did!  Because this scene of Jesus standing in front of the crowds next to Pontius Pilate battered and beaten, tortured and abused, bloodied and hated, isn’t just of a man who is in the middle of suffering; this is a man in the middle of saving.  This is not just a visual picture of the seriousness of your sin; this is a part of the only solution for your forgiveness!  So do turn your eyes away from this horrible scene!  Keep looking!  Keep watching!  Here is the man!  Look at what he did!  He carried the pain.  And he carried it for you.

            Years ago, at the age of 14, I broke my left arm for the first time.  And as I set on a chair in the emergency room with my head down and my arm up on the table, the doctor had to reset it.  And so he put his left hand on my wrist and his right hand around my elbow and he pulled as hard as he could so the bone could slip back together.  And I threw up everywhere.  The resetting was more painful than the actual break.  And I lost it because of the pain.  And I’m sure many of you could tell stories about excruciating pain: like giving birth to a child or a serious injury or an unbearable operation.  In fact, many of you could tell stories about the pains you are going through right now, couldn’t you?  Because backs aren’t as straight as they once were and joints aren’t quite as fluid as they were in those younger years and internal organs don’t function as well as they used to.  Physical pain is part of this life.  But Jesus carried those pains for you.  He shouldered every ounce of pain that day, and more.

            He knows what you’re going through because he carried it, and more.  He knows how bad you feel because he carried it, and more.  He knows what makes you grit your teeth, he knows what make you clamp your eyes shut, he knows what makes you let out airy breaths laced with agony because he carried every bit of it for you, and more.  And because he carried it for you, he also knows how to comfort you, to soothe you, to calm you.  And he comforts and soothes and calms you with his love, his mercy, and his promise of a pain-free life to come.

            That doesn’t mean he will take away all of your physical pain now.  Because sometimes that physical pain draws us closer to him, so it is something that your Lord will allow for the benefit of your faith.  But you can be sure that Jesus will be right there with you to help you deal with that pain.  He will be there to remind you of the forgiveness he won through the pain he went through; he will reassure you of the salvation that is now yours free of charge; he will convince you of the eternal life that you have waiting for you in a Paradise that is beyond anything you could ever imagine.  And although that pain may still hurt here, it doesn’t hurt quite as much with Jesus by your side.  And although that physical suffering may not ever completely go away here, it’s a little more bearable with Jesus holding your hand.  And although you may go through even more things in this life that make your eyes water and your body curl and your stomach churn, it’s going to be alright lying in Jesus’ arms.  Because he is the one that carried all of that pain for you already.  And he is the only cure.  Here is the man!  Battered and beaten, tortured and abused, bloodied and hated.  The man who suffered more pain than anyone else ever has.  The man who carried it for you.  Here is the man!  Here is your Savior!

            Amen. 

2/17/13 - Lent 1 - Joshua 7:16-26

SIN IS SO EASY, SALVATION SO HARD

The Easy Sin of Achan

            The walls of Jericho came tumbling down.  Many of you know this great Old Testament story when the Israelites and their leader Joshua came into the Promised Land for the very first time, marched around this walled city for seven straight days, blowing trumpets and shouting at the top of their lungs, and by the power and promise of the Lord, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.  It is a unique story in the pages of Scripture, a story that even young children learn in those Sunday school classrooms.

            But there’s an aftermath to that story that not everyone remembers.  After the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, the Israelites rushed in and destroyed everything in that city just as the Lord had commanded.  But in the middle of the chaos, as people were dying and houses were burning, a man named Achan did something he was not supposed to do - and he did it when no one else was looking.  Everyone had been directed by God himself to destroy every single thing in the town of Jericho, taking nothing for themselves.  But Achan gave in to temptation.  He saw a few valuable items in the rubble and instead of burning them he took them for himself and hid them in his tent so that no one would know.  But someone did know: God knew.  And through a series of events God allowed Joshua, the leader of the people, to find out who had broken one of God’s commands.  And so Joshua had Achan brought out in front of the Israelites.  Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”  Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”  So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.  They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.  Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.  Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”  Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.  Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger.

            It was easy for Achan to do what he did.  No one was watching, there was probably a little bit of confusion as the entire nation of Israel rushed into a crumbling city, it wouldn’t hurt anyone to take the gold and the silver and the robe, the people of Jericho certainly didn’t need them anymore, and no one would ever have to find out.  It was easy to give in; it was a natural thought to have a simple thing to do.  And so Achan gave in to the temptation.

Our “Easy” Sins

            But sin is almost always easy, isn’t it?  It’s natural; it’s instinctive; it’s even fun at times.  Sin doesn’t have to be taught, it doesn’t have to be learned, it doesn’t have to be worked at.  Sin is simple because it’s right there in front of us all the time and it’s easy to give in.  Too easy, in fact.  That’s why it’s so hard not to sin!

            And when we speak about the word “sin,” we aren’t just referring to those big nasty things that other people might do like going on a mass murdering spree at a middle school.  “Sin” is anything you do, anything you say, and even anything you think that is contrary to God’s will.  Sin even includes those things you are supposed to do but don’t!  Sin is breaking God’s law, whether knowingly or unknowingly, whether willingly or reluctantly.  Sin is anything that God does not like or agree with.  And so there is a lot of sin in this world.  And it’s so easy! 

            Satan sets before us a beautiful spread of sins.  And he makes sure that wherever we go and whatever we do and whomever we see, another selection of sins is right there waiting for us.  And they all look so tempting; they all look so enjoyable; they all look so… easy.  And it’s not just the temptation to do something or say something, it’s the temptation to think something as well.  Just as it was with Achan.  “When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them…” Achan “coveted” those things.  That means he wanted something he could not have.  He wanted something that God had told him to destroy.  And even the thought was a sin!  The thought that passed through Achan’s mind, his desire to keep something that he could not have was a sin.  And I’m sure it was easy!  I’m sure it was natural!  Because it’s easy and natural for us to have the same kind of thoughts!  “Why can’t I have what that person has?  Look what he gets to enjoy!  Look what she gets in her life!  I wish I had that.  And I really want that over there.  And I don’t know why I can’t have that over here…”  And of course those kinds of sinful thoughts can lead to other sins like jealousy and envy, hatred and bitterness, anger and discontent.  Just like Achan’s sin of coveting led to other sins of stealing and lying and deceit.  But even when no other sins are attached, even when there is just the sin of coveting and nothing else, even that is bad enough.  Because the Lord hates it.  It doesn’t matter if it’s easy to give into temptation.  It doesn’t matter if it’s simple to fall into the sin of coveting before you even know what you’re doing.  The Lord hates it.  And he doesn’t just let it slide.

            He didn’t just let it slide for Achan, did he?  The entire community stoned Achan and his whole family!  They then burned everything that had belonged to Achan because God takes sin seriously.  He does not let it go unpunished.  And he does not let our sins go unpunished either.

Jesus’ Hard-Fought Salvation

            Which is why salvation is so hard.  “Salvation” means you are “saved” from the punishments of sin.  And so if sin is easy, then salvation is hard.  It’s difficult not to fall into sin in the first place, let alone be saved from it.  But that’s where Jesus comes into the picture.

            The picture we have from Jesus in Luke chapter four this morning is Jesus out in the middle of the desert all alone.  And while he was out there for 40 days, the devil came and tempted him.  “If you’re the Son of God, prove it!  Turn these stones into bread if you’re hungry!”  “Don’t you trust in the promises of your Father?  He said that he will send his angels to guard you so that your foot won’t touch a stone.  So throw yourself off of the highest point of the temple and show that you trust him!”  “Do you see this world, Jesus?  This is the world you came to save and I am willing to give it to you if you just bow down and pretend to worship me!  You don’t even have to mean it!  I’ll hand it over to you and won’t even put up a fight.  You can avoid all of the pain and suffering and the torture that you know you’re going to have to go through!  I’ll make it easy for you!”  Do you think it was easy for Jesus to stand there and face the onslaught of temptations that the devil through at him for over a month?  Do you think it was easy for Jesus to endure all of the attacks of Satan that he undoubtedly experienced for the 33 years of his life on this earth?  I’m sure the devil pulled out all the stops and brought as many evil angels as he could with him to pound Jesus with temptation after temptation after temptation.  It couldn’t have been easy for him.  But salvation wasn’t supposed to be easy.

            Of course, since Jesus did go through all of those temptations and win, because Jesus did stand up to the devil and win, because Jesus did stare death in the face and win, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15).  Jesus was tempted just like we are - just like we are! - and yet came out just as pure as he was going into it.  And not only was he able to accomplish what we could not, he accomplished it for us!  He held off temptations for us.  He turned his back on what was easy for us.  He resolutely continued toward what was hard and difficult and terrifying for us.  He was not going to take the easy way out.  He was not going to put his comfort over our salvation.  And so into the desert he went and in the middle of his enemies he sat and in front of those who hated him he stood and up on the cross he hung.  And it was hard.  It was difficult.  But he did it.  And he did it for you.  He did it for you!  So that now you will not be punished for your sins because Jesus already has been.  It’s that simple.  Not easy but simple.  The only one who didn’t deserve punishment was punished and those who deserve punish get heaven.  It doesn’t seem fair, does it?  It doesn’t seem fair at all.  But that is God’s plan of salvation.  That is God’s love for you.

Our Reward for Jesus’ Work

            I wonder if Achan is in heaven.  He did come clean in the end and admitted that he had sinned.  And if he believed that God forgave him through the coming Savior, then he is in heaven.  But regardless of where Achan ended up, the rest of the Israelites were left standing there, with nothing else to do but continue on with their lives.  And you can be sure that they had to go through plenty of temptations themselves while they lived on this earth, because everyone does.

            You will continue to be confronted with temptations in this life too.  Especially in this country, the temptation to covet will be extremely difficult to avoid.  Because there is so much out there and so much other people have and so much that you can’t have, that coveting will be something you’ll have to watch out for.  But whenever you find yourself in a situation where you are tempted to want something you cannot have, go to your Lord.  Pray to him for strength and search his Word for guidance.  Because he’s gone through those temptations already!  He knows how difficult they can be!  He knows how tricky the devil is!  And he knows what to do to see you through.

            And if, by chance, you give into sin - even if it’s only a thought in your mind - go to your Lord again.  Admit your sin and ask him to forgive you.  And know that he does.  He does not withhold forgiveness, he does not put you on probation until you prove yourself worthy.  He always forgives you instantly because that’s what his perfect life, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead won for you a full and free forgiveness that is yours for every sin every time.  It wasn’t easy for him to win it, but it’s easy for him to give it.  Because he loves to give you his forgiveness that he worked so hard to win.  And he loves to give it to you.

            Amen.

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.  Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”  - Psalm 68:19-20

2/10/13 - Transfiguration - 2 Cor. 3:12-18

FROM REFLECTION TO TRANSFIGURATION

Moses’ Face

            His face was glowing.  The face of Moses, the man of God, was actually glowing.  But it wasn’t just glowing; it was radiating a light that was so intense that when his people saw him walking down from the mountain they ran away.  They could not bear to look at a face that even reflected the glory of the Lord.  That’s where Moses had been after all: he had been high up on Mt. Sinai in the presence of the Lord himself.  And the Lord’s glory was so permeating and penetrating that when Moses came down from the mountain his face shined with a brilliant light.  And the only way he could keep the people from running away from him was to put a veil over his face to shield their eyes from the reflection of the glory of their God.  And so that’s what Moses did: every time he would go up onto the mountain to talk to God, he would remove the veil; but every time he would come back down to talk to the people, he would put the veil back in place.  It was too much for the people to see the reflection without a screen.  But it was also a healthy reminder about who their God was and what he could do.

            Now jump ahead 1500 years.  It’s the time of the apostle Paul and the era of the early Christian Church after Jesus ascended into heaven.  And although those Christians were far removed from the events that happened to God’s Old Testament people on Mt. Sinai, God’s servants were still reflecting his glory for all to see:  But “We are not like Moses,” Paul once wrote, “who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away… [Instead] we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.”  Paul and those believers with him were not covering themselves up; they were not hiding the glory of the Lord from those around them.  Instead they were letting the brilliance and the majesty of the gospel of Jesus Christ shine brightly wherever they went and whenever they had a chance to share the Good News about their Savior with those who needed to hear it.  Those faithful Christians made sure that there was no veil, no screen, no shroud that could possible conceal or even obscure the radiant glory of the Lord that they wanted all people to know and believe. 

Our Face

            “We are not like Moses,” Paul stressed.  “We with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory.”  And my first thought is: Yeah, well speak for yourself, Paul.  That’s a nice thought and I certainly want to “let my light shine” as Jesus tells me to in the Bible (Matthew 5:16).  But I think I’m a little more like Moses than I am like Paul in that regard.  Because a veil makes things easier, a screen provides a buffer between what I believe and what others reject, a shroud allows me a comfortable conversation or two with other people - at least for time. 

            Two of the piano students Jessica has right now have been coming to our house for lessons for a few years.  About six months or so after they started, their mother was talking to Jessica after a lesson and in response to something that was brought up their mother said, “Oh, I didn’t know your husband was a pastor!”  When I heard that I thought to myself, “She must be completely oblivious to what is going on!  What did she think I was always dressed up for?  What did she think I was doing in my office at the house all the time?  Is she really that unobservant that she wouldn’t know I was a pastor?”  Then again, maybe it wasn’t her fault at all.  Maybe it was mine.  Maybe I was being too much like Moses and not enough like Paul.  Maybe the veil needed to be taken down that I didn’t even realize I was putting up.

            Sometimes I’m a terrible mirror.  Sometimes when I should be reflecting exactly what God says and exactly what God does and exactly who God is (and exactly who God wants me to be), I shade it a little bit.  Because I don’t want to have that kind of conversation right now or because I don’t want someone to automatically tune me out or because I don’t want to make that person fell uncomfortable or embarrassed that I am a Christian and that I stand on what Scripture clearly says.  And so I shade instead of shine.  I deflect instead of reflect. 

            But are those really legitimate excuses?  Are those really God-pleasing reasons not to boldly demonstrate God’s glory to everyone I see?  If they don’t like what they see they may run away; they may shield their eyes; they may even hate the light that is being reflection.  But not reflecting the Lord’s glory in the first place so that others could at least have a chance to see that light is an even greater sin because it affects far more people.

Jesus’ Transfiguration

            Ironically, when Jesus was on this earth he had to be veiled.  Jesus was true God after all and he could not display his full glory to human beings without them being completely consumed by his raw power.  Just as the Lord had once said to Moses up on the mountain: “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Ex. 33:20).  No one on this earth would have been able to look into the face of Jesus and live if he were not veiled.  And so he was veiled in human flesh and covered in human skin.  He was masked in the body of man and shrouded in the form of a servant.  And he lived his life on this earth behind that unassuming screen - not so that people would never know who he was, but so that he could live with all of us and be exactly like one of us, just like we needed him to be. 

            But then there was that day up on that mountain north of Galilee that we are celebrating this morning.  He was there with three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John.  And while he was praying he peeled back that veil just a little bit.  The writer Luke says that “the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning” (Luke 9:29).  Mark says that “his clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (Mark 9:3).  Matthew says that “he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun” (Matt. 17:2).  For a split second Jesus unveiled himself.  Not revealing his full glory, but it was glorious nonetheless; not all of his brilliance, but it was brilliant nonetheless; not every ounce of his majesty as the almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful God, but it was majestic nonetheless. 

            And you’ll notice that when you read through any one of these three accounts about Jesus’ transfiguration that the disciples were not scared; they did not run away like the Israelites had when they saw the face of Moses reflecting the glory of the Lord; these three disciples did not shield their eyes from this overwhelming sight.  They were certainly frightened when the Father’s voice thundered from heaven, but not when they caught a glimpse of the glory of the Lord in the face of Christ.  Because this was the face of their Savior.  This was a demonstration of power and authority from their loving Lord.  And Peter was so thrilled to be a part of it that he wanted to put up three shelters - one for the Lord and two more for Moses and Elijah who were standing there with their God.  Because no one had ever seen Jesus like this before!  No one had ever witnessed such an amazing unveiling on this earth!  And no one else would.  Because soon enough Jesus put that veil back over his face.  And the glory was gone.  The brilliance and the majesty vanished.  And whereas Moses had once gone down the mountain with a face glowing with the glory of God, Jesus came down the mountain no different than before.  Because it wasn’t yet time to display his glory for all to see.  It was time for him to be displayed on the cross for all to see.

            Jesus wasn’t here to unleash his power.  He was here to die in weakness.  He was here to suffer like a criminal and to be tortured like an enemy and to be crucified like a murderer.  And so he came down that mountain plain and bland and human because that’s what we needed him to be: human.  Our forgiveness, our salvation, and our eternal life was riding on Jesus’ humanity.  And he was not about to give us up to punishment for a few more moments of sublime splendor on top of a mountain 100 miles from Jerusalem.  And so he put that veil back on and he walked back down and he traveled to the capital city and he made his way up a hill called Calvary with a cross on his back.  And there he bled and there he writhed in pain and there he died.  But it was there, it was there at that place where Jesus underwent about the most undignified death there could be, it was there where we gained the glory.  We weren’t going to gain the glory with Jesus radiating up there on top of the mountain; we were only going gain the glory with Jesus bleeding out on the hill.  And he bled.  So we are gloried.  And not only gloried, but transfigured.

Our Transfiguration

            Listen again to what Paul wrote: “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.”  The word “transformed” here is the exact same word used by Matthew and Mark to describe Jesus’ transfiguration.  The exact same thing that Jesus showed his disciples on that mountain will happen to us.  We will be transfigured: our bodies will be the same bodies as we have on this earth, but they will be changed, they will be stripped of their sinful exteriors, they will be purged of their corrupted interiors, and they will shine, they will radiate, they will be transformed in heaven. 

            In fact, Paul says that we are being transformed, we are being transfigured, right now!  The process has already begun!  He has taken us from his enemies and transformed us into his children!  He has taken us from abject unbelief and transformed us into his disciples!  He has taken us from weak Christians and ignorant Christians and immature Christians and is transforming us into solid, unshakeable Christians right now through the power of his Word.  The transformation is in progress!  And although we won’t be completely transfigured until the Lord brings us home to heaven, you can already see a few minor improvements in that direction from time to time.  As the Lord works on you through the gospel, he is reworking your mind, your heart, your emotions, your intellect, and your soul to be more like the new person instead of the old, controlled by the Spirit of God instead of the spirit of sin.  And it’s an exciting process to go through, isn’t it?  It’s exciting to know that the Lord is building us up and it’s an exciting thing to look forward to the ultimate fulfillment of that process in in the glories of heaven.

            Right now we just reflect that glory, of course.  And even though we might be a dim image of God’s glory now and a sometimes a sorry semblance of something greater, that will not prevent the Lord from transfiguring us in the end.  He isn’t going to transfigure us because we reflect his glory so well right now!  None of us would be transfigured if that were the case.  No, he will transfigure us because of his love and mercy and compassion.  And when that day comes we will not only be changed, but we will see Jesus in all of his glory for the very first time.  Not just a hint of glory, not just a glimpse, not even Jesus transfigured like he was up on that mountain.  But we will see Jesus as God in full splendor with nothing held back.  And if you thought Moses’ glowing face or Jesus’ earthly transfiguration was a sight to see, Jesus in heaven will be a sight to see!  And you will see it because that’s God’s promise to you.  And it will be something we can look on for the rest of eternity.

            Amen.

“May the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” - 2 Thess. 1:12

1/27/13 - Epiphany 4 - Luke 4:23-30

PICK & CHOOSE

A World Full of Options

            This world is filled with options, isn’t it?  We live in a country that provides us with so many different choices that we are used to picking and choosing whatever we want.  And those things that we don’t want we can either throw away or leave on the shelf or just ignore.  When you go to a restaurant you have an entire menu of choices - and if there is something on your plate that you don’t like, you can leave it there.  When you grab the newspaper or look online you can pick and choose what you want to read and what you don’t - and if there is an article that isn’t as interesting as you thought it would be, you simply stop reading and move on to the next one.  When you walk into a store you have thousands of different pieces of clothing from which you can pick and choose.  And if you pick something, bring it home, and find out that you don’t really like it, you can take it back and choose something else.  We have been blessed with so many options in this world that we have little tolerance for what we don’t like.  We aren’t going to put up with it; we aren’t going to deal with it.  We are going to fill our plate only with those things that appeal to us and nothing more.

Jesus Was Treated Like an Option

            Jesus appealed to the people in his home town at first.  The local kid made famous had come back!  The one everyone was talking about had come home!  “I went to school with him!”  “I grew up down the street with him!”  “I’ve known him for 20 years!”  And so the townspeople wanted this young man they had known before he became famous to be their guest speaker one Saturday morning in the Synagogue.  And so Jesus took the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, he read a very specific passage from the 61^st chapter, and he began to tell them that he was the Messiah whom this Old Testament prophecy predicted.  Many of them were impressed, “This carpenter’s son turned out alright!  He can really turn a phrase and hold an audience’s attention for someone who grew up around here!”  But their positive first impression soon turned sour.

            Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.  I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”  All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.  They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.  But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

            The people liked Jesus explaining Old Testament prophecy.  But they didn’t like the law.  They didn’t appreciate Jesus insinuating that they were sinners and that the Gentiles were just as important as God’s own Israelite nation.  And they were not going to put up with something they did not want to hear - especially from this self-proclaimed prophet who dared to lecture the people whom he grew up with!  And so they physically grabbed Jesus and threw him out of the city.  And then they pulled Jesus to the edge of a cliff to get rid of him once and for all, only to have Jesus walk right through their hands and go on his way.

            The people in Jesus’ hometown picked and chose what they wanted to hear and what they didn’t.    They were OK with Jesus teaching them about the words of Isaiah, but they weren’t happy when the topic switched to their unbelief.  They were OK with Jesus’ words of wisdom, but not with his words of conviction.  They were OK when Jesus was talking about himself, but not when he started talking about them.  When Jesus started speaking about things that were contrary to what they thought and what they wanted to hear, they weren’t going to listen anymore.  And no one was going to make them.  They treated God’s Word like it was just another option: We’ll pick this but not that.  We want to hear that but not this.  And we have every right to do so.

 The Bible Isn’t a Buffet

            That same attitude is still around today, isn’t it?  People pick this out of God’s Word but ignore that.  And other people pick that out of God’s Word but refuse to believe this.  As if the Bible were a buffet: a spread of food from which people can pick and choose whatever suits their fancy.  A little of this and a little of that.  If it looks good I’ll try it; if it tastes good I’ll keep it; if my stomach agrees with it then I might come back for me.  But there are things I don’t like; there are items I don’t even want to try; and there are things that I will throw away if it upsets my stomach.

            But let’s not just blame this attitude on nameless and faceless people “out there.”  Let’s take a close look at our own attitudes when it comes to God’s Word - because we do the same thing!  I do the same thing anyway.  I’m OK when the Bible talks about what Jesus did on this earth for me, but I’m not too thrilled about reading how I am supposed to act like as a Christian.  I don’t mind reading about the gospel, but I don’t really like reading about the law describing my sinfulness.  I don’t have a problem listening to the songs of praise in the book of Psalms for example, but I don’t usually feel like listening to those books that point out my faults and failures.  And at those times when I read something in the Bible or I hear something in the Bible that I know I should be doing but I don’t really want to do it, sometimes I just don’t think about it.  Because if I don’t think about it then I won’t feel guilty!  And if I don’t feel guilty then I can go about my life how I want to instead of listening to what the Bible says!  I might not be physically dragging Christ to the edge of a cliff in order to throw him off, but I am certainly picking and choosing what I want to listen to and what I don’t.

            What are those topics that you pick and choose?  And what are those verses of the Bible that you leave there on the buffet table because you don’t even want to touch them?  Usually those things that we leave are those words that confront us with the reality of our sins.  Because no one likes be told that they are wrong, do they?  No one likes to admit that they are at fault and are responsible for their actions.  No one likes to hear: “You are not right in what you are doing.  You are not justified in your actions.  You are being selfish and conceited.  You are being stubborn and unloving.  You are acting like an unbeliever, not like one of God’s children.  You can try to convince yourself otherwise, but you are not as good as you pretend to be.”

            Do you like hearing that?  Do you enjoy reading those words of the Bible that prick your conscience and make your stomach churn with guilt because of what you do and who you are?  I know I don’t.  And I also know that I ignore those words sometimes and pass over those words sometimes and purposely forget to put them into practice sometimes.  It’s a wonder why the Lord doesn’t start to ignore me, why he doesn’t pass over me and purposely forget me.  I think I would if I were him.  Because why should the Lord bother with us if we don’t want to bother with his Word?  Why should the Lord choose to stand by our side when we pick and choose only what we want to hear and only when we want to hear it?

Jesus Picked & Chose Us

            Jesus chose to go into Nazareth that day and preach to the people of his hometown even though he knew they wouldn’t like what he had to say.  Why did he do that?  Why did Jesus choose to spend time preaching the Word to people who weren’t going to want to listen anyway?  After they tried to kill him, after they attempted to throw him off a cliff, Jesus continued to go from town to town preaching and healing and leading the people.  And sometimes people believed.  But a lot of times people did not.  In fact, he spent quite a bit of energy answering questions and telling parables to the chief priests and the teachers of the law who would end up plotting his death.  Why did Jesus do that?  Why did Jesus choose to put all of that effort into explaining the Word of God to those who would ignore it?  Of course, Jesus chose to spend a lot of time with Judas too - the man who would betray him.  Jesus chose to expend some effort explaining to the Jewish leaders who he was while they were putting him on trial.  Jesus even chose to be patient with Pontius Pilate, revealing to the Roman governor what the “truth” really was and what Jesus had come to do.  Jesus spent a lot of time on these people who refused to hear his words and who ended up going in the opposite direction.  And so why would Jesus do that?  Why did Jesus choose to spend his time (and we might even say “waste his time”) on people like that?  Because he loved them.  He loved them even if they didn’t love him back.  And he wanted them to be brought to faith in their Savior through the powerful Word of God that he preached.  He loved them.  And he was not going to let them go without a fight.

            And so he fought.  And he battled.  He preached and he taught and he healed.  And he got caught.  And he was tortured.  And he died.  But he won.  Jesus won the war.  And he won it for those who didn’t want to listen and for those who refused to hear and for those who had rejected his Word.  And although most of them never did believe in him as their Savior, he chose to go through all of that for them anyway because he loved them.  He wasn’t forced to do it.  He wasn’t required to do it.  He chose to.

            And here’s the amazing thing about God’s love: out of all the people of this world, out of all of the human beings of this earth, out of all the people he could have picked, your Lord has picked and has chosen us.  Why?  Because he loves us.  And why does he love us?  I don’t know!  Why should he love people like us?  But he does.  Because he has chosen us.  And how do we know that he has chosen us?  The Bible says that we know we have been chosen because we believe in Jesus as our Savior.  Which means he has worked faith in our hearts through his powerful Word of God and he wants us to end up in heaven with him forever. 

            Even though there are times when we ignore his Word and refuse his Word and pick and choose from his Word, he continues to pick and choose us.  No matter what you have done in the past he picks and he chooses you.  Even if you act like those people from Nazareth sometimes, he will not give up on you.  Even if you refuse to apply God’s Word to your life at times, he will not turn his back on you.  Even if you completely ignore his instructions for a while, he will not walk away.  Because he has picked you.  He has chosen you.  He has died for you.  He has risen for you.  He has forgiven you.  And he has given you this forgiveness through the marks of the Church: the gospel in Word and sacrament.  What a gracious God we have!  What an amazing Lord that he would pick and choose people like us!  We truly are blessed.  And under the Lord’s love, we always will be.

            Amen.

 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.” Ps. 33:12

2/3/13 - Stewardship Sunday - Matthew 25:14-30

NOT WHAT BUT WHY

Whom Was God Pleased With More?

            Jesus had a couple of disciples named James and John.  John, the younger brother, ended up writing an account of Jesus’ life that we now call the “Gospel of John.”   Later on he wrote three other letters that were inspired by the Holy Spirit and are also found in the Bible.  Near the end of his life John was given a vision and he wrote it down in what is referred to as the book of Revelation.  John was the last original disciple to die and he was a key leader in the early Christian Church.  And while he was on this earth with his Savior, John was referred to as “the one Jesus loved.”  His older brothers James, on the other hand, didn’t write any books of the Bible.  He didn’t receive any visions that we know of.  He barely spoke in the pages of Scripture.  In fact, he didn’t even live very long because King Herod had him murdered.  So whom was Jesus pleased with more: John who wrote numerous books of the Bible and was a leader of the early Christian Church or James who died at a relatively young age?  Jesus was pleased with both of them!  He hadn’t called on James to write any books of the Bible and he hadn’t asked John to preach to people who would murder him.  They both used their own talents according to their abilities, taking advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves.  And so Jesus didn’t care so much about what they did as he cared about why they did it.  And both of them lived their lives to thank their Savior for everything he had done for them.

            The Lord has given each of us a different set of skills and a different amount of time and a different collection of means according to our abilities.  And so he isn’t concerned with what or how much.  He is concerned with why you would use the gifts he has given you.  Why would you want to use your time to the Lord’s glory?  Why would you want to put your talents to work for the Lord’s glory?  Why would you want to share your earthly treasures for the Lord’s glory?  It’s not the “What” but the “Why.”

Ungratefulness Dishonors God

            To demonstrate this truth, Jesus told the parable of the talents.  “The kingdom of heaven will be like a man going on a journey,” Jesus said.  “He called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.”  A “talent” in this story is not an ability or a skill, but a sum of money that was worth thousands of dollars.  And notice that the man in this parable didn’t give each of his servants the same amount.  He gave them “each according to their ability” so that they could put whatever they received to use with the skills they had.  And you know what happens in the rest of the parable because we just read it a couple minutes ago: The servant who had received the most produced the most, the second servant who received a little bit less produced a little bit less, but the third servant didn’t use what he had been given at all.  He was lazy and irresponsible.  And so when his master came back home he was furious at what the servant had not done.  “You wicked, lazy servant!” he said.  “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  The Master did not expect that third servant to produce as much as the first - and he didn’t ask him to.  But he did want that third servant to at least use what he had been given.  The Master, the Lord, does not tolerate ungrateful attitudes from those who owe him everything.  And he is upset when people waste what he has so graciously given them and he has every right not only to take away what he has given, but to also throw away those who have acted so ungratefully.

            If I went around the room and asked each one of you which servant you think you are the most like, which one would you pick?  I have a feeling that if I asked that question and you had to answer it out loud for everyone to hear, most of us would probably pick servant #2.  Because we wouldn’t want to pick servant #1 and give the impression that we have not only been superbly blessed but also extremely faithful in those blessings!  But we wouldn’t want to admit that we are most like servant #3 either because we wouldn’t want to give the impression to everyone else that we have been lazy and ungrateful for what the Lord has given us.  But could I be so bold as to say that almost none of us in here are like servant #2.  I would probably say that most of us here are a combination of servants #1 and #3.  Because first of all, we have been blessed in thousands of different ways.  And not just in the physical things we have been given either.  Each one of us also has an amazing amount of talents and a skill set that is absolutely unique.  Each of us has been given time to do different things for different people in different ways.  Each us of has been given the means to help out and contribute to a variety of people and groups throughout the world.  If we aren’t like the first servant when it comes to our blessings, who is?  That little Christian child in Malawi who has nothing more than the shirt on his back isn’t blessed like the first servant.  That Christian 12 year old who is so physically handicapped that his only talent is to sit in a wheelchair and smile isn’t.  That young Christian grandmother in the inner city who has no time to do anything else but work three jobs seven days a week so that she can support her grandkids isn’t either.  If we haven’t been blessed like that first servant, who is?  The Lord has given us a tremendous amount of blessings, there is no doubt about that.

            But do we always put our blessings to use like the first servant did?  Or are we more like the third servant in that regard?  Every once in a while I will dig into the fridge to find something for lunch and I’ll be moving jars out of the way and shifting things around and I’ll find something and say, “Oh, I forgot we had that!”  But by the time I finally find what I didn’t remember we even had, it’s usually too late.  The contents now have mold on it or the container is out of date or it’s simply a little too old to eat safely and I have to throw it away.  It was good at one time, it could have been used in the past the way it was meant to be used, but not any longer.  Unfortunately, that has happened to more than just left overs in my fridge.  That has happened to many of the blessings and the talents the Lord has given me as well.  I let them sit.  I let them gather dust.  I let them lie unused and undisturbed, either forgetting about them completely or simply not wanting to put them into practice.

            God has every right to throw me outside in the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  I have been ungrateful, I have been lazy, I have been irresponsible with the amount of time he has given me, with the variety of talents he has given me, and with the volume of treasures he has given me in my life.  I have been a “wicked, lazy servant” like the third servant in the parable even though I have been blessed like servant #1.

Jesus Used Everything to Save Us

            The Lord had once given King David a lot of time to use as he pleased.  But David didn’t make use of that blessing of time very well.  He used his free time by looking at a woman bathing on a roof; he then slept with her, and then devised a way to cover it up.  But the Lord didn’t throw David out for misusing his time; instead, he brought him to repentance.

            Judas Iscariot was given the blessing of being responsible for the money that Jesus’ disciples received.  But Judas didn’t use that blessing of money very well.  He stole it, he used it for his own benefit, and he even sold Jesus to his enemies to earn some more.  But Jesus didn’t throw Judas out for misusing that money; instead Jesus did everything he could to reach out to this disciple, begging him to come back.

            A man named Saul, who would eventually become the apostle Paul, was given an immense amount of talent.  But Saul did not use that talent very well.  With the skill and abilities he had been given, he hunted down Christians and threw them in jail.  But God didn’t throw Saul out for misusing his talents; instead he miraculously brought him to faith in his Savior.

            The Lord does not throw us out when we misuse his gifts or when we don’t even use them at all.  Instead he comes to us in his Word to convict us of our sins; he comes to us in his Word to show us his mercy; and he comes to us in his Word to prove to us his love.  And in his Word we find that Jesus used every one of his talents, every one of his abilities, every one of skills, all of his time, and the riches of his perfection to win salvation to us.  He used himself up for us.  He spent himself completely for you.  There was nothing he held back.  There was nothing he left undone.  He expended an eternity of energy to fulfill the plans and the promises that he had given you and that he had been giving his people for thousands of years.  Jesus emptied himself so that you could have it all.  A beautiful Bible passage in 2 Corinthians says, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich [in heaven], yet for your sakes he became poor [as a human being on this earth], so that you through his poverty [death on the cross] might become rich [heaven]” (2 Cor. 8:9).  Jesus does not throw you out when you have failed to use the gifts he has given you because your salvation does not depend on your faithfulness.  Your salvation depends on how faithful your Lord was to you when he hung on that cross.  He spent some time on that cross, he used all of his abilities to make his death on that cross work, and he won the riches of heaven for us on that cross when he died.  That’s why you are saved.  That’s why you are forgiven.  Not because you are a good Christian but because Christ is a good Savior.

Use What You’ve Been Given Out of Thanksgiving

            Which is why the first two servants in the parable did what they did.  Their Master had given them some incredible gifts.  And they wanted to thank their Master for his love and kindness.  And so the first two servants produced five more talents and two more talents not for themselves but for their Master.  Remember that they presented all of their talents to their Master because what the servants did wasn’t for themselves, it was out of thanks and praise to the one who had done so much for them. 

            That is the attitude we now can have as we look at the blessings we have been given in this life.  We have time, we have talents, and we have earthly treasures of various kinds.  And the Lord has given these things to us according to each of our abilities.  And so he understands what you can do with the gifts he has given.  But he isn’t so concerned about what you do, he cares about why you do it: out of thanks to him, out of praise to him, out of appreciation for him and for the eternal life in heaven that he has already guaranteed.  Not “How much do I have to do” but “How much has God done for me?”  Not “When must I do it” but “When can I?”  Not “Why should I bother” but “Why wouldn’t I want to?”  He has given me time to praise him with.  He has given me talents to thank him with.  He has given me treasure to show my appreciation.  What a joy it is to be able to give everything to my Lord who has given me more than I’ll ever need.

            Amen.