Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 13, 2011
Jesus Hates Hate
Matthew 5:21-22
Dear friends,
Is it ever okay to hate something?
If by hate you mean getting emotional and angry, then the answer is no.
But if you mean recognizing that something to be dangerous and saying as much, then the answer is yes, and it would be foolish not to.
Jesus recognizes that sin is dangerous and He says that the sins of murder and hate are really the same sin and both are dangerous to our souls.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:21-22)
Even unbelievers recognize that ending another human life when they have no right to do so is evil. Murder is wrong. There are many unbelievers who recognize the truth that abortion is the murder of unborn children. You don't have to trust in Christ to call murder a sin.
But even believers struggle to properly recognize that hate is sin. Jesus hates hate. That is to say that Jesus, our perfect Savior, recognizes that burning grudges and angry thoughts against our fellow man are dangerous to our souls. He hates hate.
We do everything we can to pretend that hateful thoughts and silent anger aren't dangerous. We even call these sinful feelings good by pretending that they are directed toward people who are different from us. Since we are good and they are bad, then it is okay to hate them. And these “bad” people have probably done something to you, probably something that you never bothered to bring up with them because if they didn't know what they've done wrong, then you have every right to go on hating them.
I used to shepherd a large congregation. It was filled with many wonderful folks. But it was also a place where many grudges were alive and growing. Old conflicts that had never seen the light of Christian conversation or rebuke had become the bitter lifeblood of many members. And not just the older folks.
I've been here less than two years. So far I haven't seen that kind of bitterness here, and I thank our gracious God for this blessing. I mention all of this because it is better to talk about these sins openly and by Jesus' mercy, to run away from the temptation to hang on to hate.
Jesus hates hate. He regards these sinful thoughts seriously and rebukes them harshly. Years after the Sermon on the Mount, He inspired His Apostle John to say that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in Him (1 John 3:15).
This means that all of us don't deserve eternal life because all of us by nature love to hate. Maybe we rarely lose our temper, but hate can be quiet, too. Every time we put our selves first we are hating our brother and loving me first. This is natural. It is also sinful. We love to hate.
But Jesus hates hate and this precisely why haters like us will have eternal life. Only the perfect Son of God who hides Himself in human flesh can perfectly avoid hate and always love others in a perfectly selfless way. His every thought was in perfect harmony with His Father's will and His Father's will is that all should be saved. He wants the best for everyone. And He sacrificed Himself to get the best for us.
So when you hear Jesus' rebuke that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, despair of yourself and put your trust in Jesus, who hates hate perfectly. He is love in the flesh. And His love sent His body to the cross and suffering.
Through Baptism He has given Riley new life and a new heart of love. And for her whole life whenever she is tempted to hate, she can run to her refuge and strength, Riley's every present in trouble. And should anger overwhlem her, she will turn her eyes to the cross and to her heart to her Baptism, where Jesus died and where she personally was made clean forever.
Jesus hates hate, but He loves Riley and He loves you.
Amen.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas Day
The Nativity of our Lord
Christmas Day
December 25, 2010
Proclaim the Good News:
God Has Kept His Promise!
Isaiah 52:7-10
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
Did you do any jumping this morning? Did anyone jump on you?
Why the jumping? Because of the excitement. Why the excitement? Because of the presents.
Presents are great. Toys, tools, music, games, clothes, and more. But the older you get, the less jumping you do as Christmas. Part of that comes from knowing that these superb presents won't last long. Even the ones that last won't make you jump for joy next year.
Enjoy your presents. Say thank you. Write thank yous. Be thankful and show it to the givers of these superb presents.
A long time ago Isaiah jumped up and down (so to speak) about a present he never even got to open. The present was Jesus. Instead of waiting one month to get his present, Isaiah spent his whole life waiting for Him. Instead of waiting one year to get Him, Isaiah's countrymen spent hundreds of years waiting for Him.
But to wise and faithful Isaiah and his countrymen, the present of Jesus was already certain. He was coming down to earth to live for us and to present Himself as a blood sacrifice for all sin of all mankind.
This was His promise to Isaiah, even though he died before Jesus was born. So many Jews had lived and died, waiting for the Present to arrive. Abraham, Aaron, Abner, Amos, and more. So the joy of the anonymous shepherds was the joy of someone who is opening a long-expected present.
Isaiah captures this joy in words.
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
Do some jumping and bursting and singing. It's okay. Who cares about what other think? Or just sing. Sing at home. Take a hymnal or two home with you today. We got plenty. And sing with your family. Sing carols and hymns as you enjoy your Present.
"From heav'n above to earth I come
To bear good news to ev'ry home;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
Whereof I now will say and sing:
"To you this night is born a Child
Of Mary, chosen virgin mild;
This little Child of lowly birth
Shall be the joy of all the earth.
"This is the Christ, our God most high,
Who hears your sad and bitter cry;
He will Himself your Savior be
From all your sins to set you free.
Jesus is our Present. Jump for joy, little lambs. Sing your hearts out, you sheep of God's holy flock. Bear this good news to your home this Christmas!
Amen.
Christmas Day
December 25, 2010
Proclaim the Good News:
God Has Kept His Promise!
Isaiah 52:7-10
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
Did you do any jumping this morning? Did anyone jump on you?
Why the jumping? Because of the excitement. Why the excitement? Because of the presents.
Presents are great. Toys, tools, music, games, clothes, and more. But the older you get, the less jumping you do as Christmas. Part of that comes from knowing that these superb presents won't last long. Even the ones that last won't make you jump for joy next year.
Enjoy your presents. Say thank you. Write thank yous. Be thankful and show it to the givers of these superb presents.
A long time ago Isaiah jumped up and down (so to speak) about a present he never even got to open. The present was Jesus. Instead of waiting one month to get his present, Isaiah spent his whole life waiting for Him. Instead of waiting one year to get Him, Isaiah's countrymen spent hundreds of years waiting for Him.
But to wise and faithful Isaiah and his countrymen, the present of Jesus was already certain. He was coming down to earth to live for us and to present Himself as a blood sacrifice for all sin of all mankind.
This was His promise to Isaiah, even though he died before Jesus was born. So many Jews had lived and died, waiting for the Present to arrive. Abraham, Aaron, Abner, Amos, and more. So the joy of the anonymous shepherds was the joy of someone who is opening a long-expected present.
Isaiah captures this joy in words.
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
Do some jumping and bursting and singing. It's okay. Who cares about what other think? Or just sing. Sing at home. Take a hymnal or two home with you today. We got plenty. And sing with your family. Sing carols and hymns as you enjoy your Present.
"From heav'n above to earth I come
To bear good news to ev'ry home;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
Whereof I now will say and sing:
"To you this night is born a Child
Of Mary, chosen virgin mild;
This little Child of lowly birth
Shall be the joy of all the earth.
"This is the Christ, our God most high,
Who hears your sad and bitter cry;
He will Himself your Savior be
From all your sins to set you free.
Jesus is our Present. Jump for joy, little lambs. Sing your hearts out, you sheep of God's holy flock. Bear this good news to your home this Christmas!
Amen.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Third Sunday in Advent
Third Sunday in Advent
December 12, 2010
The Holy Highway
Isaiah 35
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
You don't have to be a perfect driver to drive on our roads. Pass a few tests, pay some money, and you're good to go.
Could it work any other way? Wouldn't it make more sense to thoroughly scrutinize each and every driver? And by scrutinize I mean having someone shadow you for one month every year. Some would talk to your family and friends about how you drive. They'd put a device on your car to monitor speed.
Would this help? Would this make our highways and roads safer? Probably. Would you like these rules to be put into effect? Absolutely not, because no one would be able to drive.
A government official who follows you around for a month is going to observe enough mistakes to keep you off the road. Your family and friends—assuming they tell the truth—are going to give up embarrassing or dangerous anecdotes about your driving. Your speed monitor is going to catch you speeding and beep your transgression over to the DOT.
But as it is now, both good drivers and bad drivers travel on the same roads and highways. It isn't perfect. It was the same in the olden days when everyone walked.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:30-32)
This is the beginning and middle of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told it to make it clear that everyone is our neighbor. But it also reminds us that our journey as believers is not easy. Sometimes we are the guy who gets attacked and gets left in the ditch. Sometimes we are the robbers who beat other people up with our words, instead of our fists. And a lot of the time we are the priest and the Levite—we are indifferent to the needs of our neighbors.
There are a lot of bad people on life's highway. Sometimes they look bad and sometimes they're good-looking. But whether they are ugly or attractive, many are going to the same place. Jesus said: “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” (Matthew 7:13)
But not you. Why? Because our Good Samaritan gives us the credit for all the good things He has done. Consider Isaiah's prediction about the Savior.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:5-6)
These are the same words and more that Jesus used to prove to John that He was the Savior.
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Matthew 11:5)
Jesus is who He says He is. His virgin birth, His many miracles, His perfect life, and His innocent suffering, death, and resurrection prove that He is Emmanuel—God with us.
And He is with us now, and not just one month out of every year. He is with us all the time. This fact should terrify us because He knows all our dirty secrets. But instead, because He has forgiven us, His presence comforts us and encourages us to avoid evil in our lives.
And because of the holiness that Jesus has given to us, we now look forward to His Holy Highway.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way;
wicked fools will not go about on it... But only the redeemed will walk there.
(Isaiah 35:8,9)
In heaven our days of traveling through the dangers of life will be over. Just like the heavenly mansions and the holy city and new heavens and earth, God made this holy highway for His holy people. Just for you.
Amen.
December 12, 2010
The Holy Highway
Isaiah 35
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
You don't have to be a perfect driver to drive on our roads. Pass a few tests, pay some money, and you're good to go.
Could it work any other way? Wouldn't it make more sense to thoroughly scrutinize each and every driver? And by scrutinize I mean having someone shadow you for one month every year. Some would talk to your family and friends about how you drive. They'd put a device on your car to monitor speed.
Would this help? Would this make our highways and roads safer? Probably. Would you like these rules to be put into effect? Absolutely not, because no one would be able to drive.
A government official who follows you around for a month is going to observe enough mistakes to keep you off the road. Your family and friends—assuming they tell the truth—are going to give up embarrassing or dangerous anecdotes about your driving. Your speed monitor is going to catch you speeding and beep your transgression over to the DOT.
But as it is now, both good drivers and bad drivers travel on the same roads and highways. It isn't perfect. It was the same in the olden days when everyone walked.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:30-32)
This is the beginning and middle of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told it to make it clear that everyone is our neighbor. But it also reminds us that our journey as believers is not easy. Sometimes we are the guy who gets attacked and gets left in the ditch. Sometimes we are the robbers who beat other people up with our words, instead of our fists. And a lot of the time we are the priest and the Levite—we are indifferent to the needs of our neighbors.
There are a lot of bad people on life's highway. Sometimes they look bad and sometimes they're good-looking. But whether they are ugly or attractive, many are going to the same place. Jesus said: “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” (Matthew 7:13)
But not you. Why? Because our Good Samaritan gives us the credit for all the good things He has done. Consider Isaiah's prediction about the Savior.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:5-6)
These are the same words and more that Jesus used to prove to John that He was the Savior.
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Matthew 11:5)
Jesus is who He says He is. His virgin birth, His many miracles, His perfect life, and His innocent suffering, death, and resurrection prove that He is Emmanuel—God with us.
And He is with us now, and not just one month out of every year. He is with us all the time. This fact should terrify us because He knows all our dirty secrets. But instead, because He has forgiven us, His presence comforts us and encourages us to avoid evil in our lives.
And because of the holiness that Jesus has given to us, we now look forward to His Holy Highway.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way;
wicked fools will not go about on it... But only the redeemed will walk there.
(Isaiah 35:8,9)
In heaven our days of traveling through the dangers of life will be over. Just like the heavenly mansions and the holy city and new heavens and earth, God made this holy highway for His holy people. Just for you.
Amen.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saints Triumphant
Saints Triumphant
November 14, 2010
Blessed Eternal Sunshine
Revelation 22:1-5
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
Before he died and went home, St. John, writer of the Gospel and several letters in the New Testament, saw some amazing things.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. (Revelation 22:1-2)
This city, which is heaven, points all the way back to the beginning of the world. It points back to the Garden of Eden. Eden had rivers, and the new city has a river, too. One crystal river, flowing with the water of life. This special river points us back to Eden and also to Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman at the well:
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13-14)
Jesus' living water is the very Gospel itself. We use this picture of water because the Gospel does what water does. It washes us clean before God and we drink it and are refreshed. Thousands of believers throughout time from the beginning have been washed clean and have been refreshed with the water of life, which is the Gospel.
In addition to the water of life, there are trees of life. This, too, points back to the beginning. God made two trees in Eden. If you ate from the first one, you'd live forever. If you ate from the second one, you'd separate yourself from God and die.
Our ancient ancestors, Adam and Eve, ate from the second tree. So out of love for His rebellious creatures God driven them out of Eden so that they would not eat from the first tree, the tree of life, at the wrong time.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)
God did them a huge favor because they wouldn't face an eternity on a sinful planet with their sinful selves. Getting back to this tree and many variations on this theme has been a dream of many throughout the years. But the foutain of youth can't heal you; it can only make you live with yourself forever. Why would anyone want to live with themselves forever? What a horrible prospect. It sounds like hell to me.
But our Savior offers us the tree of life with our sins forgiven and ourselves healed. John spoke more of what he saw: the leaves of the tree [of life] are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2).
Could you imagine the conflict between nations continuing forever? Trade wars and terrorism and low intensity conflicts and failed peace talks... year after year after year? Again, no, thank you, it sounds terrible.
And thanks to Jesus, this will not happen. Wars will cease, but even better, in heaven believers from Russia and Georgia (the one in Asia), the USA and Iran, Pakistan and India, and all the rest will live together in perfect harmony.
But the very best thing about heaven is that Jesus lives there and we will live there with Him and we won't be under a curse anymore.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4)
The curse that we live under right now is our sin that we inherit from our parents and is a daily fact of our lives. Right now the curse of sin is such reality that we learn how to filter it out, just like we filter out trains at night, jets overhead, and farm odors below. God made us to be adaptable creatures, but when this flexibility is combined with the strench of sin, it makes for a deadly combination. We become comfortable in our smelly ways and in our selfish thoughts.
Sadly it takes a death to snap us back to the truth, especially when it is an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years (Isaiah 65:20).
Death is a harsh reminder that all are sinful, even the very old and the very young, people who couldn't hurt a fly. But we are all sinful and death follows us around down here on earth.
But in heaven the curse of sin will be long gone. Death will never again haunt our steps. Isaiah put it like this: he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed (Isaiah 65:20).
That's his inspired way of saying: you're never going to die. Ever. And for eternity we will talk with Jesus face-to-face. Our eye-closed prayers here will turn into actual eye-to-eye conversations up there. All this will come true because will bear Jesus' name. As Christians here on earth we bear the name of Christ—Christians. This will not change in heaven.
But there will be one big change in the new city.
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)
Two pastors I know just took calls to serve congregations in Wasilla and Kenai, up in Alaska. In June the sun will rise at 4:30 in the morning and it will set at 11:30 at night. But in heaven we won't have to depend on the rotation of the earth for light because the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp (Revelation 21:23).
We will be blessed with eternal sunshine. Our dearly departed in the Lord are enjoying this paradise right now. And you will join them for Jesus' sake.
You will drink from the crystal river.
You will eat from the tree of life.
You will bask in eternal sunshine.
And best of all, He will gather us up and we gather around His heavenly throne. And you will see the face of the Lord.
I myself will see Him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:27)
Amen.
November 14, 2010
Blessed Eternal Sunshine
Revelation 22:1-5
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
Before he died and went home, St. John, writer of the Gospel and several letters in the New Testament, saw some amazing things.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. (Revelation 22:1-2)
This city, which is heaven, points all the way back to the beginning of the world. It points back to the Garden of Eden. Eden had rivers, and the new city has a river, too. One crystal river, flowing with the water of life. This special river points us back to Eden and also to Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman at the well:
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13-14)
Jesus' living water is the very Gospel itself. We use this picture of water because the Gospel does what water does. It washes us clean before God and we drink it and are refreshed. Thousands of believers throughout time from the beginning have been washed clean and have been refreshed with the water of life, which is the Gospel.
In addition to the water of life, there are trees of life. This, too, points back to the beginning. God made two trees in Eden. If you ate from the first one, you'd live forever. If you ate from the second one, you'd separate yourself from God and die.
Our ancient ancestors, Adam and Eve, ate from the second tree. So out of love for His rebellious creatures God driven them out of Eden so that they would not eat from the first tree, the tree of life, at the wrong time.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)
God did them a huge favor because they wouldn't face an eternity on a sinful planet with their sinful selves. Getting back to this tree and many variations on this theme has been a dream of many throughout the years. But the foutain of youth can't heal you; it can only make you live with yourself forever. Why would anyone want to live with themselves forever? What a horrible prospect. It sounds like hell to me.
But our Savior offers us the tree of life with our sins forgiven and ourselves healed. John spoke more of what he saw: the leaves of the tree [of life] are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2).
Could you imagine the conflict between nations continuing forever? Trade wars and terrorism and low intensity conflicts and failed peace talks... year after year after year? Again, no, thank you, it sounds terrible.
And thanks to Jesus, this will not happen. Wars will cease, but even better, in heaven believers from Russia and Georgia (the one in Asia), the USA and Iran, Pakistan and India, and all the rest will live together in perfect harmony.
But the very best thing about heaven is that Jesus lives there and we will live there with Him and we won't be under a curse anymore.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4)
The curse that we live under right now is our sin that we inherit from our parents and is a daily fact of our lives. Right now the curse of sin is such reality that we learn how to filter it out, just like we filter out trains at night, jets overhead, and farm odors below. God made us to be adaptable creatures, but when this flexibility is combined with the strench of sin, it makes for a deadly combination. We become comfortable in our smelly ways and in our selfish thoughts.
Sadly it takes a death to snap us back to the truth, especially when it is an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years (Isaiah 65:20).
Death is a harsh reminder that all are sinful, even the very old and the very young, people who couldn't hurt a fly. But we are all sinful and death follows us around down here on earth.
But in heaven the curse of sin will be long gone. Death will never again haunt our steps. Isaiah put it like this: he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed (Isaiah 65:20).
That's his inspired way of saying: you're never going to die. Ever. And for eternity we will talk with Jesus face-to-face. Our eye-closed prayers here will turn into actual eye-to-eye conversations up there. All this will come true because will bear Jesus' name. As Christians here on earth we bear the name of Christ—Christians. This will not change in heaven.
But there will be one big change in the new city.
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)
Two pastors I know just took calls to serve congregations in Wasilla and Kenai, up in Alaska. In June the sun will rise at 4:30 in the morning and it will set at 11:30 at night. But in heaven we won't have to depend on the rotation of the earth for light because the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp (Revelation 21:23).
We will be blessed with eternal sunshine. Our dearly departed in the Lord are enjoying this paradise right now. And you will join them for Jesus' sake.
You will drink from the crystal river.
You will eat from the tree of life.
You will bask in eternal sunshine.
And best of all, He will gather us up and we gather around His heavenly throne. And you will see the face of the Lord.
I myself will see Him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:27)
Amen.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
The Festival of the Reformation
Reformation Sunday
at St. Paul's Lutheran Church
October 31, 2010
The Righteous Will Live By Faith
Romans 1:17
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
The two most important events in the last 2,010 years are the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and, coming in at a distant second place, the Reformation. An atheist who's had a pint of good Wittenberg beer has to be honest and admit that these events changed the world. If you really wanted to write a good sci-fi thriller, get into your Way Back Machine or DeLorean and travel to the year 1517 and remove the doors of the Castle Church, so that Martin Luther, the Augustinian friar, can't post his 95 Theses.
But do you really want to know why the Reformation happened? Luther posting the 95 Theses is a good touchstone for the Reformation, just like the Fourth of July is a good reference point for the Revolutionary War. We celebrate these days not because King George threw in the towel or because the pope took off his tiara, but because they have become days that we can point to as a bookmark into history.
So even though the 95 Theses were important, it wasn't Luther's concerns about bribing God with money—indulgences—that God used to spark the Reformation. For years good Catholic folks had been fed up with the false teaching that you could use money to buy forgiveness from the Church. Martin Luther was hardly original in his thinking on that point.
Here's secret of the Reformation. It happened because Luther went head-to-head with the question: “What is God's righteousness?” This is the key question of the Reformation.
For his whole life, Herr Doktor Luther had been taught and he believed that God's righteousness was the Law. He believed that whenever Holy Scriptures talked about God's righteousness—and they talk about it a lot—it meant that you needed to be perfect just like God is perfect (see Matthew 5:48). It was a demand to be holy without assistance in being holy. In fact God's righteousness was a death sentence.
And this freaked him out far more than any haunted house or corn maze. You can walk out of those; you can't just walk away from God's righteousness and what that means. Luther was a smart guy who was honest with himself—he knew he was bad by nature and by deed. His unrighteousness was the haunted house he lived in, day after day, with no escape.
Luther hated himself and hated God for what he thought God was doing to him. He hated the demand to be righteousness like God. Near the end of his life he wrote about his past,
“I hated that word, the righteousness of God... [meaning that] God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner... Though I lived as a monk with reproach, I felt, with the most disturbed conscience imaginable, that I was a sinner before God. I did not love, indeed I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners and secretly I was angry with God.”1
He hated righteousness... until he read Romans 1:17 and read it again and again and again and the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to the secret of the Reformation.
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed,
a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,
just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
When the Bible talks about God's righteousness, it means that God was, is, and always will be righteous and that He demands every human be just like Him. But God's righteousness also means the righteousness that God gives to you in Christ. God's righteousness is the Gospel.
This means that instead of going up to heaven and trying to grab righteousness from God, Christ came down to earth. You can't do a song and dance that will make God like you. But so to speak, Jesus sang and danced for you, in your place. He did this by living up to His own standard of righteousness and then transferring His righteousness to your favor. He transfers His righteousness to your favor through the Sacraments, when He washes away your sin and gives you His holiness in Baptism, Absolution, and Communion.
The secret of the Reformation—that God's righteousness isn't a demand, but a promise—changed everything for Luther. Now instead of trying to earn God's righteousness, he trusted that he already possessed God's righteousness in Christ and through the Sacraments. Instead of gazing at his navel, searching for something good, by faith in Christ he looked to his Savior's cross and to his holy Baptism. These are the concrete events in the world's history and in his own life and yours that changed everything.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood...
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law...
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him. (Romans 3:21-25, 28; 4:4-8)
Now that the secret of the Reformation was no longer a secret, Luther read the rest of Romans and the Psalms and Galatians and indeed the whole Bible with new eyes of faith. And as he read God's Word, he saw the most important event in history with joy and gladness, because it was the day he died to sin and was raised to life in Christ through Baptism. He and you and all believers are righteous and will live by faith!
Praise be to Christ, who is literally our Righteousness!
Amen!
at St. Paul's Lutheran Church
October 31, 2010
The Righteous Will Live By Faith
Romans 1:17
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
The two most important events in the last 2,010 years are the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and, coming in at a distant second place, the Reformation. An atheist who's had a pint of good Wittenberg beer has to be honest and admit that these events changed the world. If you really wanted to write a good sci-fi thriller, get into your Way Back Machine or DeLorean and travel to the year 1517 and remove the doors of the Castle Church, so that Martin Luther, the Augustinian friar, can't post his 95 Theses.
But do you really want to know why the Reformation happened? Luther posting the 95 Theses is a good touchstone for the Reformation, just like the Fourth of July is a good reference point for the Revolutionary War. We celebrate these days not because King George threw in the towel or because the pope took off his tiara, but because they have become days that we can point to as a bookmark into history.
So even though the 95 Theses were important, it wasn't Luther's concerns about bribing God with money—indulgences—that God used to spark the Reformation. For years good Catholic folks had been fed up with the false teaching that you could use money to buy forgiveness from the Church. Martin Luther was hardly original in his thinking on that point.
Here's secret of the Reformation. It happened because Luther went head-to-head with the question: “What is God's righteousness?” This is the key question of the Reformation.
For his whole life, Herr Doktor Luther had been taught and he believed that God's righteousness was the Law. He believed that whenever Holy Scriptures talked about God's righteousness—and they talk about it a lot—it meant that you needed to be perfect just like God is perfect (see Matthew 5:48). It was a demand to be holy without assistance in being holy. In fact God's righteousness was a death sentence.
And this freaked him out far more than any haunted house or corn maze. You can walk out of those; you can't just walk away from God's righteousness and what that means. Luther was a smart guy who was honest with himself—he knew he was bad by nature and by deed. His unrighteousness was the haunted house he lived in, day after day, with no escape.
Luther hated himself and hated God for what he thought God was doing to him. He hated the demand to be righteousness like God. Near the end of his life he wrote about his past,
“I hated that word, the righteousness of God... [meaning that] God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner... Though I lived as a monk with reproach, I felt, with the most disturbed conscience imaginable, that I was a sinner before God. I did not love, indeed I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners and secretly I was angry with God.”1
He hated righteousness... until he read Romans 1:17 and read it again and again and again and the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to the secret of the Reformation.
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed,
a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,
just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
When the Bible talks about God's righteousness, it means that God was, is, and always will be righteous and that He demands every human be just like Him. But God's righteousness also means the righteousness that God gives to you in Christ. God's righteousness is the Gospel.
This means that instead of going up to heaven and trying to grab righteousness from God, Christ came down to earth. You can't do a song and dance that will make God like you. But so to speak, Jesus sang and danced for you, in your place. He did this by living up to His own standard of righteousness and then transferring His righteousness to your favor. He transfers His righteousness to your favor through the Sacraments, when He washes away your sin and gives you His holiness in Baptism, Absolution, and Communion.
The secret of the Reformation—that God's righteousness isn't a demand, but a promise—changed everything for Luther. Now instead of trying to earn God's righteousness, he trusted that he already possessed God's righteousness in Christ and through the Sacraments. Instead of gazing at his navel, searching for something good, by faith in Christ he looked to his Savior's cross and to his holy Baptism. These are the concrete events in the world's history and in his own life and yours that changed everything.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood...
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law...
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him. (Romans 3:21-25, 28; 4:4-8)
Now that the secret of the Reformation was no longer a secret, Luther read the rest of Romans and the Psalms and Galatians and indeed the whole Bible with new eyes of faith. And as he read God's Word, he saw the most important event in history with joy and gladness, because it was the day he died to sin and was raised to life in Christ through Baptism. He and you and all believers are righteous and will live by faith!
Praise be to Christ, who is literally our Righteousness!
Amen!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
10/10/10
Slaves to Righteousness
Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Dear friends,
As I prepared for the sermon, I went over my notes on sermon text, Romans 6. I found a poem in margin of my notes that I had taken seven years ago. It is the poem Invictus and it ends like this:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Invictus was written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. This poet is convinced that he's in complete control of his future. This statement is based on personal observation, but concerning the one things that he needed, he was dead wrong. Humans do have ability to pick which crop to grow and who to marry and even sometimes correct injustice from a time. But when it comes to salvation, we are not in control. So the reason I made a note of this poem next to Romans 6:18 in my class notes was because this poem and verse 18 are opposites.
Mr. Henley the poet wrote, “I am the master of my fate.” St. Paul wrote, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18). The poet thought that he was in control of his fate. Paul knew the truth. We used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness.
Slaves don't control anything. They are told what to do and when to do it. So slaves hope that they have a good master. But when your master is evil, life's bad.
St. Paul talked about this bad life. He described it from personal experience.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:14-25)
When we were conceived in our mother's womb, we were sold into slavery. And we were slaves to our evil impluses and desires. Our old master was the devil. But it goes deeper. Our sinful nature was our master, too. Like Paul said, he wanted good, but he did evil. There was a civil war going on inside of Paul, but it was a war Paul would have lost on his own.
But see how Paul ends? Not in defeat, but in victory! Who won? Jesus did and so did Paul because of Jesus. Jesus traded places with Paul on the cross. On the cross Jesus took responsibility for Paul by being punished for Paul's wretchedness. But Jesus also happily gave Paul the credit for Jesus' own lifetime of righteousness and perfection and goodness. God now looks at Paul and sees Jesus.
When we were born, we were slaves to sin. When we were baptized, we were born again as slaves to righteousness. Our new master, Jesus Christ, bought us. Dr. Luther said it best.
[Jesus] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.
All this He did that I should be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He has risen from death and lives and rules eternally. (Luther's Explanation to the Second Article)
We serve Jesus in righteousness. Because Jesus has set us free from our slavery to sin, we are now different kind of slaves. In the upper room on the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Jesus said to His disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love each other.” (John 15:14-17)
Slaves to righteousness love to love and love to do good. But the most important thing we share is our Master, who calls Himself our Friend and who died as our Savior. We were slaves to sin, but now we thank our Savior Jesus for our new status as slaves to Him, our righteousness, the One who God sees when He looks at us.
Therefore, I speak to you on behalf of Christ, our many sins have been forgiven and therefore we love much. Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace (cf. Luke 7).
Amen.
10/10/10
Slaves to Righteousness
Romans 6:18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Dear friends,
As I prepared for the sermon, I went over my notes on sermon text, Romans 6. I found a poem in margin of my notes that I had taken seven years ago. It is the poem Invictus and it ends like this:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Invictus was written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. This poet is convinced that he's in complete control of his future. This statement is based on personal observation, but concerning the one things that he needed, he was dead wrong. Humans do have ability to pick which crop to grow and who to marry and even sometimes correct injustice from a time. But when it comes to salvation, we are not in control. So the reason I made a note of this poem next to Romans 6:18 in my class notes was because this poem and verse 18 are opposites.
Mr. Henley the poet wrote, “I am the master of my fate.” St. Paul wrote, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18). The poet thought that he was in control of his fate. Paul knew the truth. We used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness.
Slaves don't control anything. They are told what to do and when to do it. So slaves hope that they have a good master. But when your master is evil, life's bad.
St. Paul talked about this bad life. He described it from personal experience.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:14-25)
When we were conceived in our mother's womb, we were sold into slavery. And we were slaves to our evil impluses and desires. Our old master was the devil. But it goes deeper. Our sinful nature was our master, too. Like Paul said, he wanted good, but he did evil. There was a civil war going on inside of Paul, but it was a war Paul would have lost on his own.
But see how Paul ends? Not in defeat, but in victory! Who won? Jesus did and so did Paul because of Jesus. Jesus traded places with Paul on the cross. On the cross Jesus took responsibility for Paul by being punished for Paul's wretchedness. But Jesus also happily gave Paul the credit for Jesus' own lifetime of righteousness and perfection and goodness. God now looks at Paul and sees Jesus.
When we were born, we were slaves to sin. When we were baptized, we were born again as slaves to righteousness. Our new master, Jesus Christ, bought us. Dr. Luther said it best.
[Jesus] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.
All this He did that I should be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He has risen from death and lives and rules eternally. (Luther's Explanation to the Second Article)
We serve Jesus in righteousness. Because Jesus has set us free from our slavery to sin, we are now different kind of slaves. In the upper room on the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Jesus said to His disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love each other.” (John 15:14-17)
Slaves to righteousness love to love and love to do good. But the most important thing we share is our Master, who calls Himself our Friend and who died as our Savior. We were slaves to sin, but now we thank our Savior Jesus for our new status as slaves to Him, our righteousness, the One who God sees when He looks at us.
Therefore, I speak to you on behalf of Christ, our many sins have been forgiven and therefore we love much. Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace (cf. Luke 7).
Amen.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 3, 2010
Jesus Brings More of Everything
Revelation 2:8-11
To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Dear friends,
The final book of the Bible is a book that is filled with comfort. Jesus' revelation to St. John is a message of free forgiveness and accomplished victory. We see this victory that was won on the cross when Jesus introduces Himself as the Savior who died and came to life again.
He died and came back to life. He died and came back to life. This is too good to be true, but God does impossible things. So He died and came back to life. This is Jesus talking and when He speaks, we listen.
And this is what Jesus says. He tells you that He knows you, just like He knew each individual believer who lived in Smyrna around AD 90. (Smyrna was a port city on the eastern coast of Turkey. It was the location of an early Christian church.)
Jesus says that He knows your problems, just like He knew the problems in Smyrna. And listen carefully: He doesn't know about your problems; He knows your problems. We often know about the problems of others. And maybe for a moment we feel bad. But Jesus' concern and empathy—feeling the misery of others—isn't a fleeting feeling. He knows our problems, because He has experienced the same problems and suffered from them, too.
Hebrews 2:9, 17, 18 says that Jesus suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone... For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
Jesus knows how you suffer. And in this revelation to the church in Smyrna, Jesus knew the suffering that came to them because they were Christians. This kind of suffering is different than the suffering that believers and unbelievers alike endure from disease, calamity, and other people.
Jesus is telling those in Smyrna, “You are standing firm in My hidden glory because I have made you My people. Stand firm until this suffering is over. What waits for you when this is over is My glory made visible in you to all the earth.” Here's how He actually said it: I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!
We are poor and rich at the same time. We look poor to the world. We look poor to our children and friends. We even look poor to ourselves. We look poor to everyone because bad things do happen to us.
The Christians in Smyrna faced evil words, jail time, and violence. Today we face cruel words. Christians face these things because we follow Jesus. We look poor because we are Christians. Our lives are more difficult because we are Christians.
When an unbelieving relative dies, we can't sugarcoat it by pretending that they'll be in heaven. We take this tragedy personally and it hurts. Unbelievers can lie to themselves, but we can't. Knowing the truth can bring more pain into your life. But knowing the truth of Jesus and His cross also bring us peace.
As Jesus' followers we have more of everything: more pain, but also more peace. Just go to the deathbed of a believer and be amazed at the peace they possess and confess in Christ. They know they have a crown. Jesus gave them this crown. It is a crown that proclaims that they are forgiven. This victory wreath on top of their heads shouts that when Jesus died and rose from the dead, they too were connected to this victory in Baptism. Perhaps they remember their confirmation verse: Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. What sweet comfort this sentence gives!
Our suffering and pain often threaten to hide our crowns. But in a strange way, they are marks of our Christian faith. When you are agonizing over a sin that you know is too cruel to be forgiven, remember that you are in agony because you take God's Word seriously. John's fellow apostle Peter urged his fellow believers to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)
When you feel this war in your soul, remember not only the Law, but also the Gospel. Hear the words of Paul in Romans 5 as he rejoices: The law was added so that [sin] might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)
This grace, this crown which He puts on your head, these riches that He pours out on you are gifts from Jesus. He wants you to have them because He knows that since you belong to Him, your life will tougher. You will suffer more. You will experience more pain. So He gives you more comfort, more peace, more joy because He died and came back to life. He died and came back to life.
Amen.
October 3, 2010
Jesus Brings More of Everything
Revelation 2:8-11
To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Dear friends,
The final book of the Bible is a book that is filled with comfort. Jesus' revelation to St. John is a message of free forgiveness and accomplished victory. We see this victory that was won on the cross when Jesus introduces Himself as the Savior who died and came to life again.
He died and came back to life. He died and came back to life. This is too good to be true, but God does impossible things. So He died and came back to life. This is Jesus talking and when He speaks, we listen.
And this is what Jesus says. He tells you that He knows you, just like He knew each individual believer who lived in Smyrna around AD 90. (Smyrna was a port city on the eastern coast of Turkey. It was the location of an early Christian church.)
Jesus says that He knows your problems, just like He knew the problems in Smyrna. And listen carefully: He doesn't know about your problems; He knows your problems. We often know about the problems of others. And maybe for a moment we feel bad. But Jesus' concern and empathy—feeling the misery of others—isn't a fleeting feeling. He knows our problems, because He has experienced the same problems and suffered from them, too.
Hebrews 2:9, 17, 18 says that Jesus suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone... For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
Jesus knows how you suffer. And in this revelation to the church in Smyrna, Jesus knew the suffering that came to them because they were Christians. This kind of suffering is different than the suffering that believers and unbelievers alike endure from disease, calamity, and other people.
Jesus is telling those in Smyrna, “You are standing firm in My hidden glory because I have made you My people. Stand firm until this suffering is over. What waits for you when this is over is My glory made visible in you to all the earth.” Here's how He actually said it: I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!
We are poor and rich at the same time. We look poor to the world. We look poor to our children and friends. We even look poor to ourselves. We look poor to everyone because bad things do happen to us.
The Christians in Smyrna faced evil words, jail time, and violence. Today we face cruel words. Christians face these things because we follow Jesus. We look poor because we are Christians. Our lives are more difficult because we are Christians.
When an unbelieving relative dies, we can't sugarcoat it by pretending that they'll be in heaven. We take this tragedy personally and it hurts. Unbelievers can lie to themselves, but we can't. Knowing the truth can bring more pain into your life. But knowing the truth of Jesus and His cross also bring us peace.
As Jesus' followers we have more of everything: more pain, but also more peace. Just go to the deathbed of a believer and be amazed at the peace they possess and confess in Christ. They know they have a crown. Jesus gave them this crown. It is a crown that proclaims that they are forgiven. This victory wreath on top of their heads shouts that when Jesus died and rose from the dead, they too were connected to this victory in Baptism. Perhaps they remember their confirmation verse: Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. What sweet comfort this sentence gives!
Our suffering and pain often threaten to hide our crowns. But in a strange way, they are marks of our Christian faith. When you are agonizing over a sin that you know is too cruel to be forgiven, remember that you are in agony because you take God's Word seriously. John's fellow apostle Peter urged his fellow believers to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)
When you feel this war in your soul, remember not only the Law, but also the Gospel. Hear the words of Paul in Romans 5 as he rejoices: The law was added so that [sin] might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)
This grace, this crown which He puts on your head, these riches that He pours out on you are gifts from Jesus. He wants you to have them because He knows that since you belong to Him, your life will tougher. You will suffer more. You will experience more pain. So He gives you more comfort, more peace, more joy because He died and came back to life. He died and came back to life.
Amen.
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