Our Declaration of Dependence

Presentation of the Augustana

June 25, 2017

Matthew 10:28

Our Declaration of Dependence

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Have you ever looked closely at the back of the two-dollar bill? You see all the founding fathers gathered around King George III handing over the Declaration of Independence in his royal throne room in London. It’s impressive to see them putting their lives into direct risk before a powerful king.

But, of course, that is not how is it happened. They did put their lives on the line, but in Philadelphia, far away from King George.

But something like I described did happen. The founding fathers of Lutherans, rulers and kings and princes, put their lives into immediate jeopardy by handing a confession of faith into the hands of a powerful king. This king, Emperor Charles V, had the legal right to put to death these men for what they were doing.

What were they doing? They had read and signed a statement of the true Christian faith. It declared that we humans are sinful from birth and that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is our only hope for salvation. They took Jesus at His word when He declared:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

MATTHEW 10:26-28 NIV 1984

These powerful men humbled themselves before God. They saw their sin and how death would after them, save for Jesus’ sake, for His death and rising from the dead. They declared their dependence on Christ and Him alone for their rescue.

Unlike Mr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, and even Mr. Washington, these men:

John, Duke of Saxony;

George, Margrave of Brandenburg;

Ernest, Duke of Lueneberg;

Philip, Landgrave of Hesse;

John Frederick, Duke of Saxony;

Francis, Duke of Lueneburg; and

Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt; along with

the city councilmen of Nuremburg and Reutlingen

were glad to declare how helpless they were standing before the holy God. They knew they had nothing to offer Him, except for their pathetic attempts at self-salvation. So by faith they received life from Jesus’ death and placed their lives into His hands, come what may: persecution, insults, poverty, family strife, and death.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Amen!

Mark 10:45

Helpless Sheep Need the Compassion of God’s Shepherds

Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 18, 2017

Matthew 9:36

Helpless Sheep Need the Compassion of God’s Shepherds

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

You see a whole family—mom, dad, kids—begging for money at the entrance of a fast food restaurant in Davenport.

You hear about little children left on purpose overnight in a car in Texas.

You see your own grown children ignoring the Word of God on a daily basis and especially on Sunday.

These are all things are not right, even bad. And when you see or hear bad things, you have an emotional reaction. You get sad or mad. Or both.

Jesus saw bad things, too. He saw and heard about dead children. He saw poor people begging for money. And He saw grown children who ignored His words.

What was His reaction?

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

MATTHEW 9:36 NIV 1984

Just before this, He had seen a dead girl and a bleeding woman, two blind men, and a demon-possessed man who couldn’t speak. And that just Tuesday!

In other words Jesus daily saw a great deal of misery and sadness, things that shouldn’t be, and things that were downright evil. And just like us, His reaction was mercy and compassion. This isn’t a big surprise, because He is the same God who said to Moses in the Book of Exodus:

“I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

EXODUS 33:19 NIV 1984

This is after He had led Moses and the people of Israel out of Egypt. After! But Moses still needed reassurance of God’s love for him. Instead of becoming sad or mad at Moses for his weak faith, the Lord strengthened Moses’ trust by talking to him and repeating His promises of mercy and compassion.

This compassion is heard and seen throughout the words of the prophets. A good example is God’s compassion on Nineveh. He had sent Jonah there to call them to repentance and by the work of the Holy Spirit, they listened and repented and turned away from their violence and false religion.

And then we have Jesus at work. He had compassion and raised a dead girl to life, healed a bleeding woman, gave sight to two blind men, and drove out a demon so that a man could speak again. And but it doesn’t stop: the bad things or Jesus’ compassion.

He saw the crowds and more than just feeling sorry for them, He did something to save them. He sent them shepherds.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

MATTHEW 9:37-38 NIV 1984

He sees helpless and harassed people. Back then and now. Just like then, we see bad things around us: poverty, violence, neglect, false religion. And we realize something even worse: that we ourselves are bad and do bad things. So what can we do? Where can we turn for help?

By ourselves we are helpless, but Jesus sends preachers and tellers to tell of God’s compassion and mercy. So you are no good and deserve death and hell, but Jesus is good for you. By suffering and dying on the cross for all and then baptizing you, He makes a trade: He takes the blame for all bad things and He gives you the credit for all His goodness.

And news of this trade must be told. So He sends out tellers and preachers. In these New Testament times, He started with 12. Some doubted Him, all deserted Him, one betrayed Him. But by His compassion, many were faithful tellers of this grand trade made on the cross. Preachers like Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew, and many more have gone out among fellow sinners to tell of God’s compassion.

When you see bad things, you’ll react with emotion. Sometimes you’ll be able to react with merciful action. And when we meet a fellow bad person who has done bad things (which isn’t some random scenario, but often happens at home or even at church!) tell them what you’d want them to tell you in the situation was reversed: that Jesus gives us the opposite of what we deserve. Instead of harassing, He helps. He gives life instead of death.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Amen!

Mark 10:45

His Creeds Against Our Doubt

Trinity Sunday

June 11, 2017

Matthew 28:17

His Creeds Against Our Doubt

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Matthew 28:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I Am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Why do we have Creeds? The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed? Why do we agree with these Creeds? Why do we make them our personal statement of what we believe? Why? “Because some doubted.” The text from Matthew that I just read to you said,

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted.

But some doubted. Creeds are meant to be universal truths drawn from Scripture to nail down the faith in a short and simple way. The Creeds of the church developed because some doubted and others failed to listen to Jesus.

Sixty years or so after Jesus’ ascension, a man named Cerinthus (SIR-RIN-THUS) who claimed to be a Christian, but he doubted the actions of the true God. This man taught that God the Father did not make the physical world. He taught that Jesus was not God. Cerinthus did not listen to Jesus’ command to observe all that Jesus had taught them.

In response to this false confession of faith, the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds teach the truth:

they teach that Jesus is the only Son of the Father,

they teach that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary,

they teach that He is God of God and Light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made,

and they teach that He is perfect God and perfect Man composed of a rational soul and human flesh.

What does this mean for you? It means that your forgiveness isn’t fake, it’s real forgiveness, it’s not an illusion, it’s not imitation forgiveness. It also means that Jesus Christ who is God and man, is who Scripture says He is, and that He died fully and completely for your sins. God didn’t skip out on the suffering of the cross or death upon the cross, it was not the man only who suffered and died, who took the cup of wrath down to the dregs. He suffered hell for you and then He died.

He did this dying for you; He died for every single last person, whether they are over 100 years old or still in their mothers’ womb. Jesus died for liars, cheats, thieves, those who curse His name and use it falsely, those who sleep around or dream of sleeping around, for those with covetous hearts, and those who refuse to hear His Word: He died for you and for me and for all our sins.

But you might wonder, “I’ve failed at making these confessions my confessions, I’ve not taught them well, I’ve not always honored what Scripture teaches about Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I’ve not had a faith that confessed these things consistently or with great conviction, I’ve been a doubter . . . is their hope for me?”

Yes! and I’ll tell you why.

When you read the Gospel of Matthew you’ll notice that when Matthew uses the word disciple he doesn’t use it to mean everyone who follows Jesus. When Saint Matthew uses disciple he is speaking of the specific men that Jesus handpicked to be the twelve, when the eleven went up on the mountain to hear the words spoken by the resurrected Christ it was the same handpicked group of men (minus Judas).

So when Matthew says that the disciples worshiped Jesus as God, it was out of the same eleven that you hear that “some doubted.” The Greek word translated some is an interesting one: it could mean that some of them doubted or it could mean the ones there doubted. Why is this important?

We just had Pentecost Sunday and the events of Matthew 28 happen before that day when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples. Now think of it: the resurrected Jesus,

Who could not be stopped by nails and spears and a crown of thorns,

Who could not be stopped by the chains of death,

Who could not be stopped by locked doors,

Who they had witnessed alive and glorious on a number of occasions together as a group,

Who had eaten with them in those days after His resurrection and done all that He said He would do,

this living Jesus stands before them yet again and there is still doubt. Yet Jesus doesn’t say, “Well, I will only send the Holy Spirit to those who muster up perfect faith; sorry guys, but not all of you will receive the promised Comforter.”

No! Jesus forgave their doubting and loved them just the same. Jesus forgave them; Jesus will forgive you. He didn’t withhold the Holy Spirit from any of them on the day of Pentecost and He doesn’t withhold the Holy Spirit from you in your baptism. Jesus will forgive you if you’ve failed in having perfect faith: ask and you shall receive.

And on the last day when the disciples, like we are risen with our bodies, remember that the deeds you give an account of will be washed clean in the blood of Christ Jesus. Sins forgiven and good works made righteous by the same blood of Christ Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will see these works and declare them good and you will enter into eternal life. So dear believers, believe and teach and confess that:

the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Amen!

Christians Dream of Christ

Day of Pentecost

June 4, 2017

Joel 2:28-29

Christians Dream of Christ

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

I.

Daydreams are a part of human life. Someone’s talking to you and you start thinking about something else. Often this dreaming is triggered by something the talking person has just said, and off goes your mind (or maybe on goes your mind). You enter a state of meditation and it comes to an end when the preacher says, “Amen!” or your wife says, “Dear?”

You should listen carefully when others talk to you, but dreaming can be good if you’re dreaming about something good.

So, do you dream about Jesus?

II.

Joel was a prophet of God who lived and preached hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Lord spoke through Joel’s pen and the Lord said:

²⁸After this I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. ²⁹I will even pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days.

JOEL 2:28-29 CSB

We need to explain a few words: prophesy and vision, dream, and pour out.

We usually think prophecies and visions will tell us the future, but it’s also about speaking to the present. Joel was a prophet—he spoke about God’s promises for the future, but he also spoke of the situation of his own time. And usually there are strong connections between the present and the future. For example, the Lord sent Joel to call the people of Israel back to God, so they would be ready for the Day of the Lord, when they would meet their Maker and Savior.

When dreams paired up with prophecies and visions, we are right to think about prophetic dreams of God’s people (and sometimes God’s enemies). These dreams were interpreted to reveal God’s promises. For example, God showed Joseph in Egypt that Pharaoh’s dream about fat and skinny cows meant that there would be seven years of good harvests and then seven years of no food.

But for us, dreams aren’t so much about predicting the distant future, but instead are much more a way to think about the present and the past. Night dreams draw on our past experiences, even if it’s just chewing on what happened that day. On the other hand, daydreams chew over things that are on our mind for the present and near future.

III.

So, what’s on your mind? What do you dream about? What keeps you up at night?

Missing library books. Overdue bills. Angry children. New ideas. Tricky surgery. Usually bad stuff, right?

So put some good stuff on your mind. Put Jesus on your mind. Dream about Him. And we will because of that last verb: pouring out the Spirit.

The Lord God in our time pours out His Spirit on all His people, His Church. The Christian Standard Bible’s translation of “humanity” gives the impression that the Holy Spirit is poured on unbelievers, but the original Hebrew says that the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. Flesh means all living things. Since unbelievers are not alive, the Spirit comes only to God’s baptized and living people.

This pouring and coming of the Holy Spirit is the hearing of God’s Word. At the original Pentecost dramatic signs and wonders (wind and fire) accompanied the preaching of Jesus Christ. And they preached:

²²Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. ²³This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. ²⁴But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.

ACTS 2:22-24 NIV 1984

The prophets on that day spoke of Jesus dying as our Savior; they did not talk about themselves. They did not call on their listeners to perform signs and wonders; they simply showed them Jesus and called on them to repent of their sin and trust Jesus.

IV.

This pouring is happening right now. I’m not speaking to you in some strange ecstatic speech; there is no fire or wind. (Although think of how interesting it can be when listening to a sermon through a thunderstorm!) I’m just talking Jesus to you. The Spirit through the Word pours out Jesus on you and all of God’s people. When Joel mentions sons, daughters, old men, young men, and slaves, he means that all of God’s people will prophesy and all of us will dream. We speak and dream of Jesus. In the past He was crucified for all our sins, in the present His Holy Spirit speaks Jesus to us, and in the future He will return to take us home.

So dream, day and night, of Jesus, who has saved you!

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many, for you. Amen!

Suffer as a Christian

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 28, 2017

1 Peter 4:16

Suffer as a Christian

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

I. Suffering because of me

Much, if not most, of the pain and suffering we endure is our own fault. And a lot of this self-inflicted pain and suffering is done intentionally by us. This means that we know what is wrong, but we do it anyway. This is what St. Paul meant when he wrote:

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

ROMANS 7:19 NIV

We know they are evil, but we so often end up doing them anyway. And we hurt ourselves and others that we never dreamed of hurting, and above all, we dishonor Jesus. The evil that we don't want to do is what Peter wrote about in his first letter:

If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.

1 PETER 4:15 NIV

We might try to dance around his warning with a trite, “Well, I’m not a murderer or thief. I’m not a criminal—I’ve never been in trouble with the law. And I’m not a meddler; I stay out of other people’s business.” If we take this approach to Peter’s words, we are wrong. Jesus said that anger is as evil as murder:

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subject to judgment.

MATTHEW 5:21-22 NIV

Jesus, God and the Judge of all, regards hatred and anger and murder as one evil thing. And we certainly are guilty of hatred and anger, both letting our anger rage and fly (losing our temper) and holding onto hatred and packing it deep inside ourselves (holding grudges).

Same with thievery and meddling: we steal from God in how we use our money. We treat our money as though it were actually ours, and not the way it truly is, on loan from the Lord Jesus to use for our daily bread and for the good of others. As to meddling, we have talked behind the backs of others to harm them, and not to build them up. We have listened to gossip and chosen not to defend the person being trashed.

So we are guilty, guilty of all of it. To pretend otherwise is to despise Christ and His holy law. So we say: “I am guilty, Lord. I have sinned.” And we also say: “Have mercy on me, a sinner! Treat me the opposite of how I deserve! Give me Your life instead of the death I have earned! Be kind to me and speak gently to me!”

And His answer is always the same: “Yes, I forgive You. Because of My blood and death, I will not hold Your murder, thievery, and meddling against you. I will give you life in the name of My Father and Me and My Spirit!”

II. Suffering because of Him

He makes and keeps you as His Christian. And while our suffering won’t stop there, our suffering will change.

By faith in Christ we now suffer because we wonder why we still suffer. The difference is subtle, but vital.

Unbelievers suffer for their murdering, thievery, and meddling, like us, but their misery only goes to the tips of their noses. They curse fate or chance or humanity or the government or their family for their predicament.

On the other hand, believers suffer because we struggle to see how it could possibly be any good that Jesus still leaves us here on earth. We suffer, wondering if Jesus really loves us since He is allowing us to dangle in our lowliness. We suffer, thinking that if we are still messing up and sinning, we must not really be Christians. The Devil delights in accusing us with these questions, and he leads us into suffering, hoping that the last thing we will do is resist him by:

Cast[ing] all your anxiety on [Jesus] because He cares for you.

1 PETER 5:7 NIV

Suffering is part of the Christian life. We might even say: “No suffering, no Christian.” To be clear, we don’t go looking for suffering as though the most miserable person is the most loved by Christ. But suffering will find us, and when it does, we hold on to Jesus and the name He put on us in Baptism.

The suffering Peter mentioned in his letter is in the context of actual physical persecution, in his days being crucified or burned in Rome or stoned or flogged in Jerusalem simply because you confessed Christ the Savior, or in our day men, women, and children being machine gunned on a bus in Egypt.

Our time and place is different. No one is killing our children, but many are trying to drag them into the worship of happiness at any cost. No one is trying crucified you, but we are surrounded by a business culture and co-workers that will kowtow to any lie, no matter how perverted or ridiculous.

And so we suffer, from within and without, for the name of Jesus. And when His glory is revealed when He returns to the earth—we pray sometime today—He will lift us up from our troubles and bring us into His everlasting peace, where where only the truth is sung and death and pain and suffering will be a distant memory, if not completely forgotten. Godspeed the day!

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many, for you! Alleluia! Amen!

Lift Up Your Hearts

Ascension

May 25, 2017

Luke 24:50-51

Lift Up Your Hearts

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

There is something special about lifting up your hand over someone else’s head and speaking Jesus to them.

It happens during the ceremony of Baptism, when a sinner is saved by Jesus. The baptism itself is the pouring of water on the head as the eternal name of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—are spoken over the baby or adult. And then the pastor will place his hand on the head of the baptized and bless them some more.

It happens during the service of ordination and installation, when a man is placed into the office of holy ministry and over his congregation. This will happen soon in Freeport and Elizabeth and if you get to go, you’ll see the other pastors put their hands on the head of this new pastor and bless him with promises from Jesus.

For both the baptized and for pastors, the blessing is the same: God is with us. Jesus said,

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20

CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

Jesus says, “I am with you.” This is the promise that lifts us up when we are afraid, when we are worried. And we fear and worry about many things in this life, usually about losing things. Think of the disciples. They were doubtless worried about losing Jesus. What would happen when He left? How would they survive? What were they supposed to say and do?

For the forty days after leaving His tomb, Jesus had been answering their worries. He has been preparing them for the time when He would be lifted up into heaven and hidden from their eyes. He prepared them by showing them that His dying and rising was their life. He did it first and for us. And we follow Him by dying and rising in Baptism. And in the Lord’s Supper we confess His presence with us—His I-am-always-with-you-ness—by saying back and forth: “The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord.” We could say like this: “Ascend your hearts. We ascend them up to the Lord.” This isn’t some mystical buzzing, but rather the confession of the reality that right now through the means of His Word Jesus is present with us. Right now.

This is why we are blessed. When Jesus stands with you, seen or unseen, the many losses of this life cannot harm you.

You lose your job; Jesus says, “I am with you.”

You lose your health; Jesus says, “I am with you.”

You lose your child, your spouse; Jesus says, “I am with you.”

Prepare your children, your grandchildren, for the many changes of life with the only blessing that lasts. The promise of our lifted-up Lord to never leave you or forsake you.

So tell your children how much you love them. That no matter where they go, you will always care for them. And that even better, there is One who loves them even more than you. He proved it by being lift up on the cross and He blessed them when they were lifted up to the baptismal font.

So go ahead, fathers. Bless your children. Speak Jesus to them and lift up your hands and bless them, saying, “The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.”

Then He led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven.

LUKE 24:50-51

CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE

Amen!

It’s What Christians Do

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 21, 2017

John 14:15

It’s What Christians Do

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

A man is running across a sky scrapper. He’s being chased by men in suits. There’s a helicopter. Quickly the man is trapped on the roof. Suddenly he gets a call … from his mother.

Yes, you’ve been tricked into another insurance ad. The narrator explains that moms always call at the worst times. It’s what they do. This, of course, is the pitch: switch to this company, because they'll save you money. It’s what they do.

Of course, companies can’t always save you money. And moms never call at bad times. But this idea that there are just certain things that certain creatures do because they are that way has the ring of truth. And this is nowhere more true than for Christians.

Today Jesus assures you that you love Him and this love for Him shows in how you live. You live by obeying His commands. He almost makes it sound as though He won’t save you unless you obey Him! He said,

If you love Me, you will obey what I command.

JOHN 14:15 NIV 1984

But a bit later in verse 21, He said:

Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me.

JOHN 14:21 NIV 1984

You come to know Jesus and His Father through His Word that kills the old you and bring you to new life. This is life is from His obedience and death, not ours.

⁴We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ⁵For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.

ROMANS 6:4-8 NIV

People who are alive do things. And people who live with Jesus obey Him and do His things. What are His things?

Think back to your confession earlier in the service where we all confessed that we are sinners:

¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… ¹⁸I 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. ¹⁹For 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.

ROMANS 7:15, 18-19 NIV

Our new life in Christ is dogged by our old flesh that keeps trying to drag us back into the worship of all the different known and unknown gods of this world. But we obey none of these idols; we obey Jesus. It’s what you do. And what He wants I want. And what He doesn’t want I don’t want. But how do we know which is which?

He told us. He had Moses them down: His commandments. Do you remember them?

Say the commandments.

We obey His commandments by not doing certain things and by doing other things. For example, you will not stay mad at people who you think deserve it, but instead you will assume that their words and actions are done with good intentions. It’s what Christ does. It’s what you do.

And when we don’t, Jesus does. And He gives you His obedience to His Father as His gift to you. He was crucified for your disobedience and was raised to life to tell you that your disobedience is forgiven. And we agree with what He says. He says, “You are alive and you obey Me.” And we agree with what He says. We obey. It’s what you do for Jesus’ sake, who died and lives for you.

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

JAMES 1:22-25 NIV

We do what Jesus says. It’s what we do. When Jesus calls on us to obey Him, He is simply describing His people and how they live in Him.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Amen.