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“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”  What beautiful words from the prophet Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28 and following! The verse sums up so much about the difference between our short sighted life experiences and the Lord’s eternal outlook.  

Less familiar to our ears is the verse immediately preceding these words which indicates the attitude of doubt God’s people had which brought about the majestic pronouncement of verse 28, Verse 27 reads: “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right hand is disregarded by my God?”

We hear all of the time in worship how great and mighty is our God.  In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 40 we hear how God is the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and it’s inhabitants are like grasshoppers.  In the Psalm of the day we heard how God determines the number of the stars, ‘Great is our Lord, and abundant in power, his understanding is beyond all measure.’

In the midst of this greatness of the LORD we may feel small in comparison. Could it be that such a mighty God could ever notice us? How could my insignificant life make a difference to God?  Does the LORD almighty really care for me?  The people of Israel apparently felt this way, doubting whether the LORD really cares for them or is able to help them, as if their very way is somehow hidden from the LORD.  Their question of doubt was: “LORD can you really save us?”

In response to this lack of faith the LORD does not punish the people, but instead points them to the truth of how dedicated their God is in caring for them.

 Our God does not grow weary so that the humble and insignificant in this world are not forgotten. In our gospel lesson Jesus demonstrated this remembrance of the insignificant and the downtrodden as he healed many who were sick and cast out many demons.

Jesus who is the everlasting God, the creator of the world, He does not grow weary in his dedication in caring for us.  Jesus gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength.    

Jesus showed this ability to strengthen the weak as he healed all of the sick and cast out demons from those who were oppressed.

After Jesus went to a quiet place to pray early in the morning, Simon and others were searching for him.  “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus knew what was in the heart of man, that people can have their own motivations to seek him in a way where they are not seeking God’s care and provision, but instead their fill of what they want in terms of human needs.

In John Chapter 6 with the feeding of the 5,000 we hear of another instance where after Jesus gave attention to the needs of the multitudes of people, they want to take more from Jesus. The scripture says “Perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” Still the people pursued Jesus, even getting into boats to cross the sea of Galilee to find him. When they finally made it to Jesus he told them “Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”

Jesus made it clear that he has come not just to heal and set at liberty a few, but all.    “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”  That is why I came out.  Jesus came out to preach to all, to heal all.  He came for even the most insignificant among us- not on our terms of what we demand we need, but on His terms based on what we truly need, life and salvation in Him.

Like those in our Old testament lesson who felt “My way is hidden from the LORD” , We may feel like our needs are insignificant to the creator of this world. We may feel that nobody truly cares about our needs when our back is against the wall.    

It is our human sinful nature that we so quickly feel abandoned. We should not mistake it for the truth of how things are. The Father saw our great need ever since the Fall into sin and promised to send us the Savior. He does not faint or grow weary:  His understanding is unsearchable.  Our needs have never been too much for our God to handle. 

Even today in worship, as we confessed our sins and heard the words of absolution, Jesus was present with us.  He cares for us through the amazing authority to take all of the sins we have committed in the past week and count them all as forgiven because of his sacrifice on the cross.  Instead of seeing our sin the Father sees the Righteousness of Christ covering us.

How often do we look at problems in our life and see them as unsurmountable? When I was younger I used to think some people just have things easy. Now, especially doing counseling through the difficulties people face in life- I see that adversity and all maneer of trials comes to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ in this fallen world, likely just as much as we face ourselves.

We know our own limitations and we see with clarity that we do not have what it takes to meet the challenges before us. But we are not meant to take on the challenges of our lives on our own.  ‘Even young men grow faint and weary.’  It is with the help of the LORD that we can run and not be weary and walk and not be faint. 

Through Holy Baptism God’s people are called to a walk of life where each and every day we commit ourselves that we belong to the Lord and we desire to walk in a manner worthy of this calling as His people. 

I often hear people talk in terms of feeling like they do not do enough in their faith to please God- as if it is our role to impress God with how well we can live our lives.

But it is not the accomplishments we obtain that pleases the Lord, but our reliance and trust in Him.   As we heard in the Psalm of the day: “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

We often wish challenges in our life would come together and resolve themselves over night. Certainly, we would like to see a congregation’s  financial challenges resolved, and other barriers to a healthy church removed over night.

Yet it is in waiting for the Lord to answer prayer that we receive spiritual strength from the LORD.  If things come along easy we would easily boast in our own strength. When progress in life takes time and patience our faith grows as we wait to see how His kingdom comes among us.

Waiting on the LORD requires that we see that there are no other options- we cannot push through things to completion on our own.  It may not be easy for us, but we need to accept there are no other options for our lives to move forward in health and wholeness apart from waiting on the LORD.

Our fallen human nature leads us to the type of frantic worry that suggests we think Jesus may not come through for us, and that we better learn to fend for ourselves just in case.  

Instead, we wait on the LORD through a confidence that YHWH will come through for us exactly as he promises in his own time.

As we wait on the LORD we have strength.  The eagle uses the wind for its strength, this is part of the illustration God’s Word uses when it says ‘they who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength.’ 

Eagles soar after positioning themselves high on a rock and waiting for the wind to come and lift them. As we wait on the LORD through difficulties and hardships in life and wait in faith, we will with the LORD’s care for us in due time soar.

It is said that Eagles are the most committed of birds in protecting their young.  Deuteronomy 32:11 reads: “Like an Eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions.” 

This is a picture of the commitment Jesus has for us, that he will not allow one of us to perish and will cover us with His wings of protection.  May this care be known to you richly as you hear his word day by day and receive his forgiveness and wholeness. Amen.

The Winter can start to feel long right after the excitement and activity of Christmas is over. Other than watching for a snow storm, there is not a lot to look forward to this time of the year, not a lot to watch for.  And if you are watching for Spring, there is a long way to go before any sign of better weather.  Yet fortunately with God’s kingdom, there is always a lot to watch for, no matter the season.

In our gospel lesson from John chapter 1, the account of Jesus calling of Phillip and Nathanael, Jesus tells them exactly what to watch for.  By extension Jesus is also telling us what we are to watch for in our lives as Christians.

This Sunday in particular our worship contains themes of the mysteries of God’s kingdom revealed. First in our Old Testament reading the Lord calls Samuel by his name, and Samuel does not recognize it is the Lord calling him. He thinks it is Eli. He was  not expecting or listening for the voice of the LORD. Only after getting sufficient knowledge from Eli and through his faith and trust in the LORD could Samuel finally knows to respond: “Speak Lord, Your servant listens” 

And in our gospel lesson Jesus reveals to Nathanael that he saw him under the fig tree. And Nathanael goes from the skepticism of thinking nothing good can come from Nazareth to a confession that Jesus is the Son of God.  And then Jesus promises him an even greater mystery waiting to be revealed: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”   

Sometimes the body language and facial expressions seen in church can give the impression that worship, like our everyday life, is at times boring. It would seem we are not always seeing the big picture.  It makes you wonder if we are missing the full scope of what is going on in worship and missing the mysteries that are being revealed in our midst.

Perhaps we struggle to perceive how God reveals himself to us in worship.  We struggle to recall the promise Jesus made to Nathanael: “Truly, truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man?” What does it take to see what God is doing among us in worship?

Our church does not have a special effects department- sound, lighting and video. We believe what our forefathers believed, that worship is not entertainment. In fact we understand that what the Lord gives us in worship is far greater than even the best executed forms of entertainment. In worship we do not need the best man has to offer in order to know the mysteries of God.  Instead we are given what God has to offer.  In our worship God serves us, God comes to us in the person of his Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus promises to Nathanael that he will show him heaven opened, and Jesus shows this to us as well- as long as we have faith to see. The background for understanding heaven opened is in Genesis chapter 28

Jacob is on a journey from Beersheeba to Haran, sent by his family to find a wife for himself of their people. That night as he is dreaming the LORD appeared to him with a vision of a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven.  Jacob saw a ladder bridging the gap between heaven and earth.

How amazing that there could be something like a ladder that could bridge the divide that which was broken since the Fall into sin!  This is such a different picture than the cherubim and flaming sword set up to bar Adam and Eve from returning to the garden of Eden.

The scripture in Genesis chapter 28 records: “And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”   This ladder was bringing the messengers of God’s kingdom, the angels up and down. What a change was present in this dream in relation to our standing before God. What could this ladder possibly represent?  

It was not a thing that the ladder represented, but a person. A God and a man, Jesus the Christ.  The ladder had to do with the promise made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, a promise that the LORD would be with them and their descendants and would make them great. The LORD would make them the fathers of a holy people set apart for the LORD. 

Nathanael was impressed that Jesus knew his name and saw him under the tree.  But Jesus was only just beginning, any prophet can see extra things and know extra things as revealed by the LORD. But only the Son of God can pay for the sins of the world and bridge the chasm between heaven and earth by his death and resurrection.

And Jesus is the only ladder that connects us to the Father.  Many in the world want to believe that their own efforts and diligent life disciplines connect them to God.  People believe in countless gods of their own making and believe that these gods will give them all things desirable.

Yet the scripture is clear that Jesus alone is the Way the Truth and the life and that no one comes to know the Father except through Him.  Jesus is, as 1 Timothy declares, the only ladder that connects us to the Father:  “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.”

This is wonderful news for us. This means that we are not tasked with the mandate to earn our way up to God.  This means that our role in life is to be as a beggars who receive gifts and provision from the Lord day by day.

Like Nathanael we do not always see the full meaning of who Jesus is for us, of what it means to us that through the cross the gates of heaven are opened to us. According to our sinful human nature, we like immediate results.  We would find it easier to see heaven opened in the form of a company of radiant angels surrounded by a big flourish of colors and sounds that would amaze us and bring us sure knowledge of the Lord’s grace and mercy to us.

But instead, we see the gates of heaven opened through the ordinary activities of hearing God’s Word and receiving His gifts to us in worship, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and the preaching of forgiveness in Christ. Just ordinary church activities most of us have seen since we were children.

But they are not ordinary at all.  These things we encounter in worship have the power to change our lives.  Heaven is opened to us in worship because Jesus rose from the dead as the first fruits of our resurrection. Heaven is opened to us because Jesus commissioned the disciples that “All authority on heaven and earth is given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”  

Every time we hear God’s Word we are participating in the putting away of our old sinful nature and the welcoming of new life in Christ. The ordinary activities of our faith bring an exceptional life marked by peace that the world cannot give.  A life of purpose and joy.

Jesus knows us inside and out and sees far more potential in our lives than we ourselves can.  “O LORD you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold O LORD you know it all together.”  That is the psalm appointed for today. A psalm that helps us to see that our own bodies have been fearfully and wonderfully made.   Our own bodies are made for the Lord. 

And as our Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians emphasizes our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Whether it is issues of sexual purity or other ways we need to be careful in respecting our bodies- the message is the same, our bodies belong to the Lord, and it is through our bodies that we serve in God’s kingdom.

Often people in our culture today talk about spiritual matters in a way in which our bodies are inconvenient vessels to our soul that get in the way of our enjoying a certain communion with God.  If we do not value our bodies we are losing sight of the fact that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but also true man.  Jesus connects heaven and earth because he is both man and God. 

Jesus connects us with heaven through Water and the Word.  The ordinary activities for our bodies of hearing God’s Word and eating and drinking the Lord’s Supper, is actually the way that we see heaven opened to us. In seeing our Savior crucified for us and risen from the dead, we know we are beholding something more amazing than any of the disciples first saw in Jesus. 

And as the gates are open, we are united with a God who transcends all of the difficulties of today and tomorrow.  A God who will one day return to us in glory so that all things in heaven and earth will be united forever in the joys of eternal life. May we watch for this day always in anticipation and in hope. Amen.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. What wonderful news. The best of all news. The most beautiful news the world has ever known. Our Old Testament reading talks about the beauty of this news in terms of the very first glimmer of good news coming to us:  “How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says “Your God reigns”

In today’s world we have many ways to watch for the coming of good news. I have seen people check their phones for updates on a Colts or a Packers game in the minutes before an Installation to pastoral ministry, or at wedding receptions,  graduations  and recitals.  

People find themselves in situations waiting eagerly for an email or phone call with a high sense of urgency to find out news.  Maybe a notice of employment, or admission to a school, or perhaps to verify a paycheck has posted to a bank account in time.

Think of hospital waiting room as place to wait for surgery results or the news of the birth of a child. We wait for news with anticipation and the first indication that the news is coming can throw your stomach into butterflies.

In Isaiah’s time there was no instant means of transmitting messages.  “How beautiful the feet of him who brings good news”: The messenger is not really who is beautiful. Just his feet. Just the sign of him coming, the first spotting of the messenger running in the distance as he ascends past the peak of the mountain beyond the horizon and is now visible, moving ever closer to deliver the message.

In Isaiah’s time the message of good news was about the restoration of Israel, the end of their captivity in Babylon. The message was clear, “Your God reigns!” Not Babylon reigns or the gods of the many nations reign.   

This message of victory foreshadowed the reign of God in Jesus, where the captivity to sin of all people would be delivered with an eternal reign of Christ.  Jesus’s birth brought an end to the bondage to sin where people had no hope because they were separated from God in thought word and deed. 

Jesus brought a freedom that was more than a matter of which king or court ruled over the people. He brought a freedom to experience everyday of life here- with life and life to the fullest- connected with God’s purposes and entirely grounded in the future destiny of eternal life with Him in heaven.

The Lord Jesus reigns, and through faith in him we share in an everlasting kingdom!  That is the good news of Christmas, that is the meaning for us of the Word Made Flesh who dwelt among us and showed us his glory. 

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring this message to us!  The other details of what the person looks like does not matter. Whether elaborately dressed or dressed in tattered clothing – the message is going to be the same.  We do not want to get distracted by the details of the messenger himself- lest we lose sight of the message we are waiting for.

We are all in captivity to sin, living in a fallen world. That is why more than ever, we watch for the message of good news, the message that Jesus is here for us. The message that Jesus frees from our captivity to sin, giving us forgiveness, peace, wholeness. 

In recent years we have as a nation been enticed to follow news more than ever before. News comes in from countless avenues, leading many to look forward to catching up each day on what is going on, what there is to keep track of.  And of course these updates to our lives do not fulfill us, they only serve to give us reason for isolation from one another, and worry.

Far more important than watching for the latest news and updates in the faced pace world we live in, we wait and watch for Jesus’ message of forgiveness for us found in God’s Word- even as we watch for Jesus to return.  With this message of God’s Word we know for sure that God reigns in our lives, and what good news that is!  

Sometimes at Christmas we struggle with comparing present situations with the past.  How does this Christmas compare with years back when the church was more full? We think of family members who are not there anymore at Christmas.

Family gatherings at Christmas may change over time, yet the reality is that nothing changes about Christmas from one year to another. Every year we celebrate the same hope, the same beautiful good news delivered to us: Jesus is born.

The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. That is a message that is worth incomparably more than the message of instant gratifications of the news.

This is the message of the perfect grace of God’s unfailing love to us and the perfect truth of the unity of the Trinity.

Jesus is Full of grace and truth. This truth is only properly understood when we see God’s hand in all of creation and ongoing role in upholding our existence. Colossians 1:15-20 describes such truth:

⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

That is beautiful news worth coming together as God’s people to hear.  How beautiful it has been to see our congregation come together in recent months despite the losses in size compared to many years ago. How beautiful to see feet walking into church after overcoming many obstacles, how beautiful to see steady steps to the Communion rail, even with an imperfect gait.  

How beautiful to be the church and remain as the church no matter the challenges our culture throws at us. How beautiful to be the body of Christ and know we are not going anywhere because we have ‘seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’  Amen.

Have you ever tried to restore something? Restoration is to bring things back to their original beauty and place of belonging in the world.  I am not the most skilled builder, but I have restored many items with sufficient sentimental value with super glue, including those items that were a causality of young children’s activity.  Some of the items you would never even know that they were ever dropped- or run through the spin cycle of the dryer.

To bring something back to its original state. There is something very appealing about restoration in our time today.  Many homes in Indianapolis have gone through restoration to make them closer to the original beauty and style that they were built with. Sometimes people find joy in restoring what was almost lost, not giving up on it, putting blood sweat and tears into the project.

Here in the second Sunday of Advent, Restoration is illustrated as God’s plan from the beginning. We heard in the Introit: “Restore us O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!  We know this restoration involves more than what superglue can fix. It’s more than a face lift or a new finish of paint. 

But just like the beloved home that is painstakingly preserved, just like teddy bear whose arm is carefully stitched back on- the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  God looked in love at the vine that came out of Egypt and once filled the land with deep root and blossom, the vine that turned bad and lost all its glory and beauty – and God sought to restore His people. 

Even though the vine failed to produce good fruit, even though the people sinned and sought after false idols God set forth a righteous branch from the stump of Jesse.  The righteousness of Jesus, the Lion of Judah was sufficient to make up for the unrighteousness of all people. 

The Father set forth a master plan whereby the sin that runs as deep as every cell in our body could be cleansed. The plan was executed through His Son sent to die on the cross for us, so that we could be completely restored into the image of God as Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden before the Fall.

We who have been born of water and the Spirit, Jesus looks at us in love and says: “behold I make all things new.” Without doubt we were worth restoring. There never was any question, from the beginning the Father was willing to pay the price in blood for our restoration. 

Because of this great restoration, we have the promise of comfort, hope, and consolation.  These are the messages from God the prophet Isaiah brings to us.  Isaiah is proclaiming a redemption after the destruction sin and idolatry brought to Israel.  

As bad as things are or have been, something has changed in a wonderful way.  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfareis ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” 

The gospel is a double blessing, it is not just that our sins are forgiven and we are spared condemnation, but because of God’s Word, we are also brought beyond the limitations of our lives to the glory of God.  “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

We are restored and brought back to our original state and then some.

We know who was the voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord- it is a particular person in history, John the Baptist.  Jesus says Elijah has come, and he means John.  Jesus described John as in a category above all other prophets: I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Nobody born of woman is greater than John, and what does John say: “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”

John, who is greater than all who are born of woman was born to point to the one who was born of the Spirit.  His purpose was to stir up our hearts to repentance, to prepare the way for Jesus. And to prepare us to be born of Jesus, so that we also would be greater in glory than anyone born of woman who does not have the Spirit.

John brings a message of hope, as he speaks just like Isaiah, about the restoration our Lord has come to do in us.  To be sure he also presents a message of repentance that is quire stern and urgent, he even calls the pharisees a brood of vipers and talks about the coming separation of the chaff and wheat where the chaff is burnt up with unquenchable fire.  Although John calls us to first repent, his message is indeed one of hope as he is speaking tenderly about the One who is to come. 

John brings a message of sweet comfort, just as the prophet Isaiah foretold.  Isaiah spoke words of comfort in chapter 40 after many chapters of warnings of destruction because of sin.  The destruction was still to come for Jerusalem, in fact it was over 100 hundred years away.

But even before the destruction happened in history, Isaiah already pronounced God’s Words of comfort.  Their warfare has ended, their sin has been paid for.

God’s Word speaks comfort to us weary sinners troubled by the coming afflictions in our lives.  We know the time will come when the warfare is over, when we will rejoice in our part in the blessing of God’s kingdom. When the warfare seems too fierce, we do well to stir up our hearts toward repentance to see that no affliction is greater than God’s love.  To hear the sweeping truth about all of creation:  “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.”

The result of this comfort from our God is that we have peace.  “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

We are waiting for the restoration of God’s Word to reach its completion. Right now we are troubled by the hardship life in our fallen world brings. We see people making choices to worship man rather than God more and more each generation. We wonder how long before relief, how long before Jesus returns.

When Isaiah was called into his prophetic role as recorded in chapter 6, he asked how long he was to continue preaching God’s Word. “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people and the land is a desolate waste.”

In other words the answer is to keep proclaiming God’s truth, no matter the destruction around. All through the stage of trials and tribulations this side of eternity the church will continue to point people to Jesus.  Indeed we may face diseases and other trials in coming days more trying than what we face today.

Our task as God’s people is clear, to live as those who have received the perfect comfort and consolation of the good news. To live as his restored people, waiting for the final restoration.  To wait in faith and behold that our God comes to us in might.   

Here as we begin the season of Advent we are waiting.  Our prayer is that our King would come to us.   We are in an in between state, a time of waiting and watching. This is part of the Christian life, we live in a time where Jesus has already won the battle on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven- conquering sin death and the devil. But we are still waiting for Jesus to return to bring us to the full completion of God’s plan for us, life eternal in heaven. As we wait for our king to come, we are in a place of transition.

How often in life do we find ourselves waiting for the next thing. Waiting for Christmas, waiting for the Spring or summer time, waiting to get a new pet, waiting for your child’s wedding day. And of course, here and now as a congregation we are waiting on my decision in regards to the Call extended to me.  

We are future oriented in this way for a reason- we know the best is yet to come.  Although sometimes waiting is simply hard.  Sometimes it feels just too much to keep waiting.  But the waiting for God’s kingdom is different than just waiting for holidays and life events to come. This waiting is the way in which we trust in God, have faith in him and worship him.  If we are not expecting, and waiting and hoping, then we are sleep walking through life.

Many of our hymns and songs for the season of Advent celebrate the end of waiting and the opening of gates and doors as our King comes.  “O Savior rend the heavens wide; Come down come down with mighty stride, unlock the gates, the doors break down; unbar the way to heaven’s crown.”

“Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors, and weep no more! O Zion daughter sing, to greet your coming King: Now wave the victor’s palm and sing the ancient psalm, “Lift up your heads you everlasting gates! Your king awaits!  God will now dwell with man- and never again be separated from us. After so much waiting Israel sees that Jesus’ reign as King has begun.

Psalm 24 provides to us this imagery of the king entering through opening of the everlasting gate: “Lift up your heads, o gates! And lift then up O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.”

The fact that doors are described as ancient and gates as everlasting implies that there has long been a chasm and division between Our God and His people, back to ancient times, back to the Fall into sin- when the entrance to the garden of Eden was so forcefully closed by angels.  The fact that ancient gates and doors should open is also amazing.

This world is so full of imperfection and sin, and Heaven is perfect and full of the glory of God.  How is it that the two can meet? How could it be that the ancient gates could swing wide open.  How is it that Jesus our king can come to us?  How can God come to us when there is a barrier and a chasm between heaven and earth? 

Our Old Testament Reading from Isaiah calls for this divide to be broken wide open: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.”  

Gates and great doors to ancient cities kept control over who could come and go.  The gates protected the city so that those who would bring harm would be kept out and those who would bring prosperity to the city could be let in.

The imagery in the scripture describes all of creation as the city, and in order for the renewal of creation to occur, the gate needs to be open to a visit from a realm beyond our creation, from heaven. Like opening the gates for a king, but with even more excitement and reverence than even a visit from a king would bring to a city.

One thing is abundantly clear, we cannot open the portal, we cannot raise the gates.  We wait for God to come to us and bridge the divide.

We cannot raise the gates, but our Lord Jesus has come to burst open the chains that hold us down in sin, to open the way for God’s kingdom to come among us. Isaiah chapter 64 longs for this coming of the Savior:  “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil- to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence.”

We continue reading in Isaiah chapter 64 with the next verse, 3  “When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”

Nowhere in the world has it ever been heard of where a God who acts for those who wait on Him- except for the God of Israel.  Who parted the Red Sea, who opened the flood gates of the waters to deliver His people from pharaoh’s army.  

Remember when Jesus was in Capernaum it was discovered that he was at a home and many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.  And four men brought a paralytic to be healed by him, down through the roof.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My Son, your sins are forgiven.”

The scribes questioned in their hearts: “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Indeed never since the beginning has anyone ever had the authority to forgive sins- to speak words and change someone’s standing from separation with God to peace, from condemnation to salvation.  

“But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins- he said to the paralytic, “I say to you rise, pick up your bed and go home.”  As he picked up his bed and walked before them all in plain sight, they said: “We never saw anything like this!”  The heavens were opened and God’s kingdom was coming.

We all need this healing for our sins. The unbelieving world does not understand this healing. The world says, we never saw anything like this and never will.  But you have seen.

You have seen the Lord’s work in your lives as the gates of heaven were opened to you in your baptism as the Triune name of God was placed upon your heart and your forehead. There the curse of sin was taken away from you, and every time you remember Your baptism you are reminded that heaven has been opened to you in Jesus.

You have the saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ there in your own life story. You have been healed and forgiven by Jesus just like the man who was lowered through the roof in that house in Capernaum. You have seen the most amazing work in your own life and in the life of your brothers and sisters in Christ here in this church.

The reading from Isaiah continues: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” . As we recognize how unclean all of our deeds are we see that it is entirely in the mercy of the Lord that we put our hope.

Isaiah continues: “There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.” 

On account of our sin we are unable to actually call on God’s name, we cannot rouse ourselves to come to the Lord, instead we push away from God and turn toward ourselves.

But fortunately, we are not on our own, Jesus promised he would not leave us as orphans- but sent us the Holy Spirit. And Jesus told the disciples that when they face the trials of the last days, that they should lift up their heads because your redemption is near. And when this barrier is bridged, take your eyes off of anything else, lift up your heads for your redemption is near.

 We are to lift up our heads because of the promise that Jesus will return to us in the same way that he ascended. At that time He will complete the transformation that he started in us, giving us renewed spiritual bodies without sin.

And in preparation for this day Jesus has already begun to shape us as His own and transform us.  In this time of transition in our lives, we pray for faith to receive his shaping- faith to say Lord you are the potter, we are the clay. Even in this difficult time in our fallen world, even in this time of the summit of darkness Jesus creates us anew as vessels for His glory. We pray “Come to us in our time of waiting so that we see that even on the journey as we wait for the gate to open- you are already with us.”

Christmas decoration are a good thing and may bring joy to young and old alike.  But the decorations are not just there to give us a sense of awe over the moment of the birth of Jesus.  We need more than moments of feeling good and cheerful.  We need the presence of Jesus with us, the presence of the Savior who rends down the heavens and comes down.  Whose death on the cross brought the mountains and the whole earth to quake. 

Open the gates we pray. And as we wait for the gates to open we do not give up, we do not grow weary if we shall be delivered- for we have a God who acts in love. We wait in hope for his coming.  “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in many a recent year the Sunday after Thanksgiving has been the first Sunday of Advent- a time where we turn our attention to the promises of scripture that prepare us for celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Today, as early as Thanksgiving is in the month this year we are instead in the Last Sunday of the Church year.

Accordingly, we have an opportunity to dive more deeply into the meaning of giving thanks and thankfulness in the Christian life. Where many a people started putting Christmas decorations up this year already after Halloween, we can pause to consider what Thanksgiving really means to us.

The scripture described the lack of Thanksgiving as one of the chief marks of Satan and unbelief. In Romans chapter 1 St. Paul writes “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened, Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

The lack of thankfulness goes hand in hand with idolatry.  The people became futile in their thinking when they stopped giving thanks to God and turned inward toward their own wants and demands.  You can see the same lack of thanksgiving today in the attitude and tone of those who want to deconstruct society to a form where anything resembling the goodness and order of God’s creation is called patriarchal oppression that needs to be pealed back.  

Even in the context of this lack of thanksgiving to God, in our society today there is a lot of talk about gratitude in the secular world. People with no religious beliefs seem to resonate with the ideas of gratitude, as in learning to appreciate all of the good things that you have in life. But gratitude is not quite the same thing as Thanksgiving. Gratitude  directs its focus not on appreciating God the giver, but on appreciating the gifts themselves.

If you focus only on gratitude it is contingent on how well things are going in life. It’s easy to be grateful when you have a steak dinner, but not so much if you have a dinner that has accidentally been half burnt.  

With a focus on gratitude alone, you may feel guilty that you cannot feel more appreciative of things during times of difficulty.  If you look inward at your lack of appreciation you are likely to feel bad about yourself that you are not grateful like God wants you to be.

It is a different thing to live in thanksgiving.  Here we focus on what the Lord has given us not only materially in this life , but also spiritually in the next world. When times are difficult we can still be thankful. Martin Rinkart wrote the hymn “Now Thank We all our God” in the context of his pastoral care to a community with so many losses in the 30 years war in Europe coupled with countless deaths from the black plague.

Rinkart was immersed in sorrow during the peak of the plague to where he performed countless funerals each and every day. Yet we see in this hymn the focus was on Thanksgiving for the gifts of Salvation the Lord gives us- valued even more in the midst of losses.  

Our cause for Thanksgiving is centered in our life and salvation in Christ. His gifts to us are immovable and present to us in times of want just as in times of plenty.  As Psalm 30 reflects: “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

A popular mental discipline in our present culture is Mindfulness. Mindfulness tells us to live in the moment and not be weighed down by worries about the future or guilt about the past. There can be some benefit for Christians to be able to live in the present moment, especially in regards to our prayer and worship.  Yet for the Christian the present moment is always defined by the past blessings the Lord has given us, and the future plans the lord has for us.

In our Old testament reading from Deuteronomy we see this exact pattern. The people of Israel are asked to remember how the LORD God has led them these past 40 years in the wilderness, remember how he tested you to strengthen your faith, remember how he provided for your every need even with bread from heaven, how you were never truly in want.

We live our life as Christians remembering the victory over death and Satan’s hold at our baptism. We live as Christians remembering the Lord’s provision to us over time in the form of places to live, schools and friendships, churches where we first learned the story of our salvation.

We remember career successes and avenues of purpose in life as adults. For some of us this has included the Lord’s gift of marriage, and the Lord’s gift of children. We can remember times of going astray and times of testing where the Lord humbled us and taught us to rely on Him all the more.

In our reading from Deuteronomy, keeping the commandments is part of this remembering: ⁶So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 

When we give in to the temptation to sin, it usually means that we are living only for the present moment and are not remembering what the Lord has done for us. But as we remember the Lord’s gifts to us we have the power to resist temptations.

In 1 Timothy chapter 4 St. Paul writes how the Holy Spirit warns about those who will depart the faith by following the teaching of demons. One of the false teachings of demons is to teach people to abstain from what God has given to us. The scripture reads:  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, ³ who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

Notice the counter to the temptations of false teachers to reject what God has given- to receive God’s gifts with Thanksgiving. When we are thankful for what God gives us, we are not going to be so easily tricked into giving up what the Lord gives us as if it makes us more holy and righteous.   Like Israel, we are to look back at what the Lord has given us- so that we may receive all the gifts of His design for creation with Thanksgiving.

As the people of Israel remember the Lord’s faithfulness to them in the past they are also asked to look in faith toward the Lord’s promise to them in the future.

⁷For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills^, 8… 9a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, … ¹⁰And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Just as the people of Israel looked forward to the bountiful gifts of the promised land, we can look forward to the inheritance we have in heaven, the new promised land where all of God’s people will dwell.

When you find yourself weighed down by the circumstance of the present moment. You can always be looking back to what the Lord has brought us through in life year after year- and as we remember the Lord’s goodness to us in the past we have peace, to be still and know that He is God here in the present moment as well.

And we can always be looking to the future in Thanksgiving for the Salvation Jesus has promised us on the last day. When the present moment seems like it has more difficulties, more burdens than we feel we can handle, we know a blessed rest awaits us when all of our needs will be provided for.  

Worship is the chief way in which we can live in thanksgiving. In our gospel lesson only one out of the ten lepers returns to him to give thanks. This man who returned recognized that the healing Jesus performed for him was not the last thing he needed from Jesus. He saw Jesus more than a means to an end who healed him of this awful disease- he saw Jesus as someone who is life himself.

And that is how we can approach our participation in the Divine Service. We are not just here because we know Jesus will heal us of our sin and give us the balm of forgiveness.  We are here to know Jesus and abide in Him who is our life.

When we begin the Divine Service, we know how it will end, with the forgiveness of our sins and the delivery of the renewing word of the gospel. Yet we can enjoy and appreciate every moment of the service because it is spending time in the presence of Jesus, it is our giving thanks to Him with our utmost attention and care. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we can worship him in Spirit and truth.

And the good news for us is that even when we do not feel particularly moved to give thanks, he is faithful to us. He is praying for us, he is interceding to the Father on our behalf.  His attention and care and devotion to us far surpasses anything we can do on our own. His righteousness saves us, his love for us is what moves us to thanksgiving. Thanks be to God for the gift of a living faith that He nurtures in us. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate once again the Sunday of the Reformation, we can turn our attention to one word in particular that is essential to our knowledge of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That word is truth.

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus taught that there is one and only one way to know the truth- to abide in His Word.  And knowing the truth is freedom. 

The nature of man is to try and find the truth for ourselves- and to believe we have the truth when we experience self gratification. Yet no matter how many experts you listen to, no matter the news source you subscribe to- you will not have the truth through the wisdom of man.   

The Reformation is important for us to celebrate because there is always a fierce battle for the truth in the public square.  The Reformation affirmed that truth comes from the Word of God, even if the Pope should begin to say that he has the ability to determine truth and speak truth out of thin air.

Today just as much as in the 16^th century the world we live in, our surroundings shape how we perceive what is the truth. The examples and attitudes of parents and teachers , and our neighbors all shape and influence your character and attitude. Whether I realize it or not, I am going to either imitate or avoid the behaviors I have experienced during my life. I live my life much more like those who influenced me than I might realize.

All the more important that I am shaped more than anything else by God’s Word.  That I am shaped by God’s Word to be the beloved child the Lord has made me to be.

Martin Luther was certainly shaped by the world into which he was born a little over 500 years ago. Jesus was always shown to him as a judge ready to punish what he had done wrong, with a sword in his hand.  The image of God Luther carried and learned from his surrounding culture made him scared. He even confessed , “I hate this God!”

The problem was that the church of his time had fallen away from the truth of the Bible in place of the truth of man, the way of the law. It was all about what you have to do, you have to please God by doing the right things. It’s all about the obedience and sacrifices you make.

Yet God was gracious to Luther and led him to contexts in his life where he was immersed in God’s Word- not man’s word. Although entering a Monastery only made Luther’s desperation worse, he eventually was led to reading the Bible under the guidance of a compassionate mentor Johannes von Staupitz who counseled Luther as any faithful pastor would, to look to Christ instead of looking obsessively at his own sins and his failure to keep from sinning.

Luther read through the scripture and especially in the Psalms he saw that God comes to the aid of his suffering people. As we chanted today: God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.  

In time Luther received a Doctorate in theology and he was appointed professor at University of Wittenburg, where he had to read and study the Bible even more to prepare for his classes.  God was working through his living Word in Luther’s life. Luther was no longer living under the darkness of a gospel obscured- he was living in the dawn of knowing and cherishing God’s truth.

As God’s Word was working in Luther at this time, the Reformation was already taking shape years before October 31^st of 1517. Luther was beginning to see that God is not just a God of justice, but a God of love, who sent his Son Jesus to accomplish all righteousness required from man. As the book of Romans teaches, there is nothing more that man must accomplish for his salvation – everything was paid for by Jesus on the cross.  Jesus brought us from being enemies of God to being beloved children. This is the most important truth about ourselves and about our world that there is to know.

When Luther realized that salvation was a free gift of God by faith in Christ Jesus, he felt he was born anew. He was indeed beginning a new life, where he was no longer living under the shadow of threats and fears, but a life of a free beloved child of God.

And we also are free to live this new life in Christ, Christ has freed us from the bondage and slavery to sin. We no longer need to be slaves of our sin, our envy and coveting of others need not drive our life experiences.  Our continual desire to look out only for ourselves need not drive our lives.  

Jesus has freed us from our obsession with looking out for ourselves, because he has shown us that since he is in charge of our lives- we do not need to look out for ourselves so persistently, we can serve God and serve others, knowing that the Lord has provided and will continue to provide for our every need.      We desire to do the Lord’s will out of thanksgiving for what he has done for us.  As Psalm 143 celebrates: Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!  Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

The Lord provides for us according to His Word and promises, so much better than we could ever achieve on our own.  This truth is greatly obscured by the world, which insists that man knows better than God what is good for him.

But no matter how fiercely the world preaches about the might of man, or the freedom of man to be whoever he wants to be- we do not need to listen to a single word of it. Because we know true freedom comes only from serving the living God.

For we can see right through Satan’s lies. We do not need the world’s truths about anything, because we have our own world in the church where the truth is known and treasured and proclaimed to the world.

We can rejoice that there is a place where Jesus’ truth is proclaimed. If the church itself cannot be relied on to have the truth, then you cannot find truth anywhere.  If even the church you go to only gives you a partial truth, how difficult it would be to see clearly.

What a gift that we have a church right here, where God’s Word is freely taught without hidden agendas! The church is an oasis of freedom in a world overrun by Satan.  And although the church is surrounded by the lies of this world, we continue to be free- because Satan’s lies have no hold here.  Let us be thankful for this most precious of gifts- the truth of the gospel that is alive and well in the Lord’s Church. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you can find much cause for sorrow and even violence in our readings today. In Isaiah chapter 5 and in our gospel reading we have agricultural images that paint a picture of prophecy and judgement. These are negative examples of judgement from a Holy God.

And yet all things in scripture are written for our learning. It is good for all people and God’s people alike to remember the fact that the Lord will judge, that there will come a time when his mercy and patience toward us can end without repentance. Vines that bear bad fruit are cut down and plucked out.

As Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard, his audience would have Isaiah chapter 5 come to mind, where Israel is the vine that has been carefully propagated by the LORD.  After all of the careful care and support and love put into the vine the tragic result is that the vine produced sour grapes. This parable in Isaiah chapter five is told as a judgement on all of Israel for it’s lack of faith.

Yet, although Jesus begins with the imagery of a vineyard, the focus changes drastically from the parable in Isaiah chapter 5. The focus of the parable is not on the produce of the vineyard or any problem with what fruits are yielded. Instead, the focus is on the care takers. The stewards and the caretakers of the vineyard represent the leaders of Israel, the pharisees and scribes and ruling class.

To describe this ruling class Jesus gives details in the parable that are exaggerated and unlike real life, already at the first attempt to harvest the fruits of the vineyard the tenants prove themselves to be exceedingly wicked, they beat one servant, kill another and stone a third. 

The land owner’s response is unlike what would happen in real life.  Instead of punishing the tenants and driving them out, the owner sends more servants, this time more than the first group.

Are the fruits of the vineyard really worth risking such losses? By human standards the fruits of vengeance against the wicked tenants would be sweeter than salvaging what is left of the fruits of the vineyard.

You can picture that in sending the second larger contingent of servants to collect from the tenants the master is giving the tenants an opportunity to finally be good tenants by finally surrendering the fruits of the land.  With such a larger group of servants bearing down on them, surely the tenants would change their ways.

Yet, to add insult to injury, the larger contingent of servants is now met with the same fate from the wicked tenants.  

It almost seems as if the patience of the master was foolish.  I remember hearing this gospel reading at St. John when Isaac was a baby. As a new parent, I felt more fully the tragedy of the details of the parable that these servants should be killed, for nothing other than lust for power and control of the land.  And how much more tragic that the master should send his son next. By human reckoning, no vineyard is worth salvaging to put your own son at risk.

We would argue it is not worth it even to send more servants after how the first group was treated.  Look how the first group was treated, you can just anticipate more of the same.  

Sending that second group of servants, it’s not going to go well for them, you might as well not send them at all. And not only for their sake, but for your own reputation, so that you are not insulted by having servants of your household shamed and even destroyed!

There is a reason Jesus gave this first detail about more servants being sent over to the vineyard. He is describing how the Father sent one Old testament prophet after another to Israel, despite their treatment of prophets of the past.  The prophets spoke to Israel on behalf of the Father. They called the children of Israel to repentance. They called Israel to trust in the Lord and worship him instead of the false gods they were so enamored with.

The prophets may have been well received at first, but in the long run, the message from the Father was rejected. Many in Israel preferred the messages of the false prophets who said, it is well with you, we are on your side.

In the story of the parable it is unreasonable for the tenants to think that by overpowering and destroying all who come to collect the fruits of the land, that they will become the owners. Or that by killing the heir that they would somehow gain inheritance of the land.  But this is exactly what they say to themselves when they see the son: This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him

It is just as foolish for false prophets to think that by getting rid of the Lord’s prophets and promising things that people want to hear, that God will overlook or bless that deception.  

Israel rejected the prophets in failing to learn and listen to the message about the Savior who would come from the offspring of Eve, who would be a prophet like Moses yet greater, who would be a King in the line of David.  The prophets told of a Savior to come who would rescue them just as God rescued through Moses in the Exodus.

Instead, Israel made its own alliances to protect them, instead of putting their trust in a Savior to come.  The leaders and the Pharisees put their trust in what they can do for God with their rigorous practices, they put their focus on their self righteousness instead of their faith in the one to come who would save them.

What need do they have of a Messiah, so well tuned into following scripture and extra Rabbinical laws so that they were more holy than the common people of Israel?

But it was not just the prophets who the Father sent, though they were rejected. He sent his own son. It makes no sense for the landowner in the parable to send his own son, but that is just what our Heavenly Father did for us, he sent his son to the wicked tenants who ruled Israel with self righteousness.  

The Father does not see us as lost causes. Just like the people of Israel of old rejected the prophets, our sinful nature leads us to want to reject God’s rule in our lives and establish our own rule.  Yet instead of condemning us, the Father planned for our sinful nature to be condemned and defeated through the work of the Son.  

There have been times when my wife and I have tried to salvage a houseplant that is not happy and is not thriving. You try to repot it and you get the same results, next a different spot in the house with more light or less light coming through. After a while I begin to think that it is just me that the plant does not like.  I have given away plants that don’t work out as well as I would like. Other times I have just put them outdoors to make it as long as they can until the first frost. A lost cause is a lost cause after all.

The Lord Jesus does not know lost causes. He takes what is dead in us and brings life. He plants new life in us in the barrenness of our hearts.

The judgement to those who do not listen to the prophets or even to the Son is severe. Yet there is a bigger picture we have as God’s people. The Lord sees beyond our short sightedness, the Stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  The vineyard of the Lord may indeed produce only bloodshed. Israel may have failed the Lord, we may have failed the Lord, but the Lord still has a way to salvage what is lost and worthless.  

And the Lord is patient with us until the time when we can be brought back to life! If you look at the patterns in your life you can see how many times you have born bad fruit despite all of the gifts the Lord has provided in your life.

The Lord has blessed you in planting you in the church and nurturing you with His Word, cleansing you with the forgiveness given in the Lord’s Supper.  And yet we still can look at our lives and see our failures, see sins that have hindered us and become snares for us. The Lord is patient with us, leading us back to Jesus, leading us back to Him.

And the Lord has a purpose for us. Jesus is our master gardener who is designing us to become more like him. Pruning us, and propagating our fruits so that we look more and more like the Son, more like the heir- so that when we meet the Lord we will be prepared to receive the inheritance of children of God- life everlasting in the Father’s presence, life everlasting with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen again to the start of our Epistle reading from Philippians chapter 2: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

St. Paul make a beautiful appeal through the work of Jesus in our lives that the church should be all together in every way.  He yearns for the church to be of one mind. The same mind, the same love, being of full accord- which means agreeing fully in matters of life purpose.

It seems St. Paul did not get the memo about the wonders of diversity of thought. Instead of encouraging every church to have its own unique perspective about who Jesus is and how to worship Him and proclaim his salvation to the world- the scripture instead is describing what is the same- the same mind, the same love, the same purpose.

How can Christians be of the same mind and the same purpose? If we are honest we can observe that there are always things we find to disagree about, whether the color of the carpet on a local level within a congregation, or divisions regarding the meaning of the sacraments between different denominations- there always seems to be disagreement.

In the 1950s and 60s many seeds of differences grew in American Christianity. Some traditions bought into historical critical methods without looking back. These were ideas from Universities that tried to use scientific rational methods and historical research theories to reinterpret Christianity through a lens of skepticism as far as what actually happened in Old Testament history. People began to think they were being of service to society by questioning what is recorded in scripture, questioning what Jesus actually said as compared to what the church came to believe and recorded in the scripture.

Our own LCMS needed to face this cross roads in the history of the church. The same questions were asked within the learning institutions of the LCMS, culminating with a poorly reasoned student walk out of seminary in a day in February of 1974.

The students walked out because they succumbed to a group think where they felt the need to defend the professors who they spent time with and looked up to- even though these professors were teaching false doctrine. They were foolishly following false teachers who questioned things like whether Jonah could really have survived in the belly of a great fish.

Professors who tried to make distinctions over what is that which Jesus taught and that which is more of a teaching of the early New Testament Church that collected the gospel accounts- as if there is a difference between what Jesus taught the disciples and what the church confessed throughout the Apostolic age by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But in the end as a church body the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod determined to be of one mind that the Holy Scriptures are indeed the inspired Word of God and that we will be a church that seeks to follow Jesus alone, and not the whims of cultural movements from one generation to another.

The reason why the church was able to choose the truth of scripture over the academic historical methods of the day, was because of the faithful beliefs of the members of congregations throughout the synod who sided with the president of the Synod in his resolve to fire the professors who had departed from the right teachings of the church.

Because the church had been of one mind in doctrine for so many years, the LCMS was able to choose orthodoxy of practice over a departure of the faith.  As a result of being in one mind at this crossroads in the church nearly 50 years ago, we are now of one mind in doctrine today as a church body- as we mark another three year period of the church’s history through the LCMS convention that met over the summer.

No matter how much division our society has over the cultural issues of the day, we can count on the congregations of the LCMS to always choose the side of what is taught in God’s Word- not what is popular with man.

And that is the gift and blessed intention of the Lord for us, that we are of one mind as the church- so that God’s Word can continue from generation to generation without changing. It is indeed vital for the church’s confession to the world that we give a clear witness to the world of who Jesus is and what it means to follow him.

The reading clarifies this: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition, or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” The seat of false teaching always comes from individuals who are self serving in what they are teaching, those who seek to change what the church teaches for the sake of their own ambitions to remake the church in their own image.

History teaches us that the town of Philippi was populated with a high concentration of retired Roman soldiers. As Paul was writing to the Philippians church he was writing to a population who valued being citizens, who are proud of their nation and the service they gave. As a result their ears would have perked up as Paul writes about a deeper and more true citizenship- our citizenship in God’s Kingdom. He was giving them instructions on not just how to be a good citizen in the land you live in, but how to be the perfect Christian citizen, being of one mind in Christ.

Being of one mind does not mean that the church is agreeing to blindly stand together without understanding what we are standing together on- just for the sake of saying, look we agree, look at our unity!  No, instead the reason for being of one mind is entirely from the model of who Jesus is for us.

We look out for others and not ourselves based on the model that Jesus gives to in looking out for others and not advancing himself in the form of his role as a servant who has nowhere to lay his head, who came to serve and not be served, who lived to die for us, obedient to the will of the Father, even to the point of death on the cross.

By sharing in the mind of Christ we can truly be of one mind as a church, we can work out our salvation with fear and trembling which means that living our faith as something that is of first priority in life. We can do this as the rest of the sentence goes in the scripture, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  And God’s good pleasure is for his kingdom to come.  

We are of one mind in Christ so that we can be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in a crooked and twisted generation among whom we shine as lights in the world!

It is true that as a congregation we have many different personality styles, one person is outgoing, another is more quiet. One person likes upbeat fast hymns, another hymns that are more meditative, slow, and almost somber.  But the differences don’t mean anything in light of the mind of Christ. 

If we agree that Jesus is our source of life, then we are of one mind as a congregation. Last week I changed the letters on the church sign to capture as much as I could fit on the sign the short hymn “On My Heart Imprint Your Image”  The hymn summarizes what we all have in common- the desire to reflect the image of Jesus from our heart. “On my heart imprint Your image, Blessed Jesus king of grace. That life’s riches cares and pleasures, never may your works erase. Let the clear inscription be, Jesus crucified for me, is my life, my hope’s foundation, my glory and salvation.”  What a great summary of being in one mind in Christ.

The world is always busy and it is easy to feel overwhelmed or feel insignificant in comparison with all of the different things that matter to this world. It is in fact impossible to be of one mind with the world, because the world is in rebellion against God and is going in countless contradictory directions.

In my work as a counselor, I have heard from many people who describe how they don’t feel like they fit in with society very well, “I am different, I move by a different wavelength and people don’t understand me, and I am not sure I want to understand them.”  It is almost like people are making a testimony to the fallen nature of the world and their own awareness of their fallen nature as individuals.

In Christ, we are a new creation and we are citizens of a New Creation, the kingdom of God. In Christ, no matter how different the way we relate may be, we are of one mind in Christ. And we are of one purpose to live by his mercy, and to rejoice in the place of service he we have in his kingdom. Amen.