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The Blessed life or the cursed life?

Posted on by nfuller

What makes a person blessed? Is it the good fortune to be skilled at many things and make a good living? Is being blessed about how much money you have and how many choices you have in life on account of your wealth?

Is a person blessed through having many friends, or being part of a church that is large and growing and filled with energy? We covered in confirmation class this past week the question of ‘why do some people face more sufferings than others?’ Are people blessed when they dodge many areas of suffering? And if you don’t have things come easy in your life, if suffering is a regular occurrence, does that mean that you are probably just cursed?

It is a design of Satan that a Christian who has been given all of the blessings of God’s kingdom, should at times feel cursed, or feel that bad things just happen to me more often. Because if you feel things just aren’t likely to go  well for you in life, then God’s love and goodness may just feel far away and inaccessible.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, what really makes a person blessed or cursed? Is it life circumstances and life history, or is it instead the Lord of Life, and the history of his ministry on earth that makes all of the difference! Indeed, Jesus alone is the one who determines the course of our lives. A living faith in Jesus makes us blessed- and regardless of what you might experience in life, as you look to the cross, as you look to your Savior you can know you are blessed. 

If you are feeling cursed, how much can you say to others about the goodness of the Lord? Our memory verse for this week from 1Peter talks about always being ready to share the reason for the hope that is in you. So it is important not only for yourself but for others to know how much you are blessed in the Lord.

In our Old testament reading from Jeremiah we hear about the contrast between the man who is cursed and the man who is blessed.  The single factor that makes someone either blessed or cursed is not the results they get in life, but who they put their trust in.  To the world, my life might look like a failure or look unremarkable- but in the hidden form of God’s kingdom I have great blessing. What makes the difference in how we interpret our lives? The answer is God’s Word, the answer is Jesus the very Word of God.

Ancient Greek historian Herodotus once said of Egypt that it was the gift of the Nile.  Without the Nile river, there would be no pyramids, no tombs, no treasures, no Pharaohs like Ramsey.  Egypt would be like any other place in the Sahara Desert of Northern Africa. But since the Nile flows year round, and since Egypt was not dependent on rain, droughts were no issue in Egypt.  The Nile flooded every year from the snowmelts thousands of miles upstream in the highlands of Ethiopia and Uganda.  Those floods deposited silt to enrich the soil of Egypt. 

But go just a mile away from the Nile, beyond the reach of floods and irrigation, and the desert and brown sand are what you have.  The choice where to plant your crop is obvious. The Nile will give life and the Desert will dry everything out. In our Old testament reading the prophet Jeremiah is describing the choice between the desert of our own strength and the life given in the Lord, who waters us so we may prosper and grow in his green pastures. This is the work of God’s Word to make us fruitful.

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
 whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

The difference between blessed or cursed is whether we receive God’s Word and put our trust in the Lord. It does not matter about how much money we have or how successful we are in the world. If we seek God’s kingdom, we are blessed because the kingdom gives us a key to see differently everything that happens to us in the world.

The choice seems clear, the benefits of trusting the Lord far outweigh what we can provide for ourselves. But do we always at first nature trust the Lord?  Or do we trust ourselves first, and when all else fails we say to ourselves, “Jesus take the wheel.” In this sense it is like the Lord is our second or third choice. “If need be, if things are hard enough, I can always fall back on the Lord.”

God rightly judges those who trust in themselves and is right to condemn them. We deserve what we would get, we deserve to be like those in the desert without water, to be parched, to wither and to die because we have not trusted in God who says to us, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”

We have failed to trust in the Lord; we have failed to seek him first. But there is one who did all things well, who trusted in the Lord with all of his heart, soul and mind.  That is our Lord Jesus Christ. He trusted his Heavenly Father with all of his life.

In the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus trusted the Word of the Lord to take care of him and his life. And when he died on the cross, parched and thirsty, not because of any sin in him, but rather for us and for our salvation, Jesus still said even then: “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”

How do we become blessed? Does Jesus give us a list of things to do to be blessed? Do we earn rewards when we are poor instead of rich, when we learn to be pure in heart and learn to be peacemakers?  Do our good works make us blessed?

The truth is we do not earn our state of blessing. It is all a gift from the Lord.  We are blessed with richness in the Lord because we are made to know the Lord and seek him and follow his laws and decrees. 

The difference between blessing and curse in our lives is the grace of God given to us in Jesus. In Christ the things we do in our lives may seem ordinary, but they are hallowed by Jesus. Everyday activities like caring for family and brothers and sister in Christ in our congregation are activities that are blessed in Christ.

Our Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 reflects on our Lord’s Resurrection from the grave. If Jesus were not risen, if we only had hope in Christ for this life only, we truly would be those who are cursed. “We are of all people most to be pitied.”

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. The fact of Christ’s resurrection means we are blessed beyond compare.  For this means that the blessings we see in this life and in this world are only a tip of the iceberg, the best is yet to come.

Listen again to the close of our reading from Jeremiah: He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Because Christ is raised, we are not anxious when drought comes. In Christ we have deep roots of faith, that keep us bearing fruit even when we feel much in life is barren and hopeless.  The winter can amplify our feelings of the barrenness of life.  But in Christ we have a deep reservoir of joy to hold onto and drink from. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Amen.

Jesus protects life and speaks for life at all times

Posted on by nfuller

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today we take time to understand and appreciate the deliverance from dangers that the Lord has worked for us. Listening to God’s Word, listening to our Heavenly Father’s protecting hand over us, our mood is one of gratefulness.  As we prayed in the Collect Prayer, we realize that on our own we do not have the strength to stand.  From the earliest point in our life, we have depended on God’s provision to even live. 

I may from time to time think of myself as a responsible person in caring for my health, but already when I was first formed in the womb, I depended on the Lord’s protection through the course of pregnancy and child birth. And outside the womb, the care of mother and father were essential for my survival.

This was the Lord’s design for me and for all of you, to have parents to care and nurture and love the child who is completely helpless. Parents are designed as the vessels of God’s perfect love, caring for the need of God’s new creation found in a child, parents standing in the place of God our Father.

Psalm 71 describes this dependence on the Lord since conception:

In you alone O Lord I take refuge.  For you O Lord are my hope, my trust O Lord from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. 

Even through old age the Psalm celebrates the Lord’s complete care for us:

Do not cast me off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength is past

And we ask for this care in our lives today. Again as we prayed in the Collect Prayer, we live in the midst of so many dangers that in our frailty we cannot stand. Amidst all these dangers we seek in the Lord strength and protection through both dangers from the outside and temptations from within.

On our own we are vulnerable to many temptations that come from within us which try to move us love the world more than God’s kingdom.

There are points in our lives where we are particularly vulnerable to danger. Throughout our country Satan attacks expecting mothers and fathers with fear and doubt as they begin to grasp the meaning of a new pregnancy.   From early points in life young people hear messages on tv and in schools talking about a woman’s right to choose as taken for granted good thing about our society, as if there is no murder of a child involved in abortion.  

Satan’s attack is always to replace the truth of God’s Word with the lie that man is god.  And the lie about the good of a woman’s right to a choice to have an abortion is no different.  At the root of Satan’s lie is the idea that what human’s choose to do is by definition good, even if it goes against God’s Word and can come at the expense of a living baby.

Satan is looking for weak points to exploit in our lives, so there is a need for us to seek the Lord for safety each and every day.  As Psalm 71 speaks: “Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come. You have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”

As we reflect on how we have always been cared for by the Lord without our realizing it- we can see that here and now it makes no sense to look anywhere else than the Lord. For Jesus alone is who we can come to time after time and someone who forgives us time after time.

In the gospel reading for today the people of Capernaum are astonished at the authority with which Jesus teaches to them on the Sabbath.  In the synagogue Jesus is approached by a man with an unclean demon. The demons recognize who Jesus is, yet they think they are somehow safe in saying they are not impressed by Jesus and know who he really is as the Son of God.

It seems like they are implying to Jesus that as the Son of God he is a fool to even communicate with them, as in, ‘why don’t you concern yourself with higher things and let us possess these lowly men and women who we strike terror in.’

“Be silent and come out of him!”  Jesus would entertain the insults of the demons no longer and with one command the man was thrown down, but ok- and the demons were gone. 

The word of Jesus has the power to save us, to lift us up, to drive out demons.  When Jesus speaks, we are hearing God’s love for us- from the foundation of the world.  His living word has given us spiritual life from the beginning. He has given us physical life and come to us through the waters of Holy Baptism to bring spiritual life.

This spiritual life he gives us means that we have a share in the power of His Word.   As a result of this gift of Jesus, we can fight the dangers of this world with the power of God’s Word!

In the gospel lesson we hear about how as the sun was setting Jesus healed all of those who were sick with various diseases, laying his hands on them and restoring them to life to the full.

And as we appreciate what the Lord has done for us, we appreciate the importance of speaking up for the afflicted, and praying to the Lord for protection of those who are afflicted.

We confessed in the Introit: Arise O LORD, lift up your hand, forget not the afflicted.

We ask for the Lord to deliver the oppressed and we as the church are the voice of Jesus for the afflicted, and we are given the power of his voice to speak for the afflicted.

Often the argument is made by American politicians that men cannot be involved in the public conversation about abortion because they do not have the first hand experience of childbirth.  Yet God’s Word gives all of us, men and women alike, the authority to speak on behalf of the most vulnerable among us. 

To say that men cannot have an opinion about the taking of human life is absurd. It would be like saying only those who have been slaveholders can actually say that slavery is wrong, because of their firsthand experience.

The voice of Jesus needs to go out powerfully from the men in our churches, and men must not be afraid to speak up, as it is particularly the role of men to speak up for and defend the most vulnerable among us.  

We sang in our Hymn of the day: Son of God, eternal Savior,
Source of life and truth and grace, Word made flesh, whose birth among us Hallows all our human race. Jesus is indeed the source of life, truth and grace.  Because Jesus is life itself born among us, truth itself born among us, and grace itself born among us- His birth hallows all of our human race. 

His birth hallows even those who are the most defenseless and vulnerable and the most oppressed. If the world seeks to deprive the dignity of certain groups of people, Jesus hallows the oppressed and restores dignity. As we heard in our Introit, “O Lord you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”

Even if you do not consider yourself as someone who faces a good deal of oppression and affliction- Jesus will carry you in your time of need. On the Great Day of the Lord,  the danger that the fallen world brings no longer will strike you, because Jesus has spoken those words: “It is finished.”  He has defeated all death by his death on the cross.  When your last hour comes Jesus will carry you in all of your infirmities and bring you to himself.

It indeed can be a dangerous world we live in, filled with perils from all directions. Yet the living Word of God is here to defend us and build us up against the attacks of the enemy. Find your refuge in this Word, and look to Jesus in all needs- He will deliver you.  Amen.  

With Jesus: the best is yet to come

Posted on by nfuller

At weddings, wine is more than just a festive beverage. It’s a sign. In the Old Testament, wine was a sign, a symbol of God’s grace.  A symbol of joy and abundant blessings and even hope for the future. And at weddings it’s that for us too. Wine is a sign, a symbol that God has blessed this couple and this family with good things. Wine is an invitation to make merry- with appropriate moderation. 

Wine is even a sign, a symbol of the couples joyous future life together- as wine takes time, loving care, patience and the payoff is down the line, something to enjoy to the fullest a little later.

In our gospel reading Jesus goes to a wedding, and that wine which is a wonderful sign of God’s blessing runs out.  Jesus is going to take care of that.  But in doing so he gives a gift greater than just wine for a wedding feast.

At the wedding at Cana Jesus gives us signs of things to come. Filling the six stone jars was a sign that the old Covenant was coming to fulfillment in the new. The famous wedding at Cana for whatever reason was a wedding that wasn’t well planned for.

Relatives had come from all over the region to celebrate with a couple whose names we are not told. The emphasis is never on the couple who are married, but on the wedding party and their family as a whole.  Jesus and his disciples are there at the wedding, connected in some way by a close family relationship.  In one way or another this wedding is part of Mary’s family.

And Mary informs Jesus of the problem the wedding is encountering early on in the celebration. She tells Jesus, “They have no wine”.  Nearby there are six stone jars, usually used to hold water for ceremonial washing before offering sacrifices and prayers.

As is the case throughout the gospel of John, symbols are used as signs of deeper meanings. The Holy Spirit is communicating something about God’s kingdom with the stone jars. The stone jars are a symbol of the old covenant between God and his people Israel.  Now after the Word made flesh was born to us and is at this wedding at Cana, the purification jars stand empty.

If wine is a sign of abundance and blessing over time, what are empty stone jars a sign of? Like an empty swimming pool or an empty store front avenue that is not what it once was, the jars were no longer serving the purpose they were made for. Purification would no longer be coming from ceremonial washings and sacrifices at the temple or any of the other mean revealed to God’s people- instead people will now become holy and pure through Jesus- God’s own Son.

Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says, and he gives the commands. The stone jars are to be filled with water.  What was once used for ritual washing is now turned into the wine of the new kingdom. 

The covenant was always intended to run its course as a placeholder, and now keeping the law has been replaced with a new covenant of the forgiveness of sins through new life in Christ.  This new covenant is a gift, it is a God’s grace, it is a joyful wedding celebration that we are all invited to.

God’s perfect law, that light to guide our path, now had begun to be fulfilled by Jesus the light of the world. His light will lead his people into eternity. 

What an amazing sign Jesus gives with those 6 simple stone jars- the Old Covenant coming to fulfillment in the new. But there is more in the miracle. Before Jesus turned the water into wine he spoke about the time it is.  Not the time such as 3’ o clock in the afternoon, but the time in God’s kingdom, the season in salvation history.

Turning water into wine was a sign that the coming Messiah was here. As Galatians describes, the Fulness of Time had come. The servants take a sample of the wine from the water jars to the master of the feast.  The master of the feast tastes the wine and discovers that it is better than what they had before. The wedding party now was in possession of gallons upon gallons of the choicest wine, the good stuff.

The feast can now continue without embarrassment.  Only the servants are aware what has happened behind the scenes with the wine shortage and the provision Jesus created.  It is our human nature to be highly motivated to avoid embarrassment.

People will indeed go to great lengths to give to the public the appearance that all is well.  In our previous few generations in America, covering up embarrassment was from my observation- particularly important to people.  So many of us Midwestern European Americans cared more about their family looking good to the outside world than they cared about how healthy those within the family are. The result of this foolish concern with outward appearances is that love and empathy toward one another in the family was often put aside.

God’s Word is not concerned about such outward appearances in society.  Saving people from embarrassment in society is not the great priority of God’s kingdom. The miracle of changing water into wine was about more than saving the wedding family from embarrassment. It was about things that matter far more. Things of God’s kingdom.

As is the case with so many of Jesus’ miracles, he took a bad situation and made it a moment to show the kingdom of God is at hand, he showed the time of the reign of the Messiah was now here.  This first miracle of Jesus, this first sign as John calls it, brings them to believe in Jesus. The Messiah the world has been waiting for is here!

Jesus’ words to Mary were a sign of things to come. Recall how Jesus first answered his mother: “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come”

Although it sounds to our modern ears as a put off, it is not impolite at all.  Jesus knew he would not put off when his hour would come.  Jesus’ words to Mary were a sign of the time, the hour for which he had come into the world. 

Jesus knew the cross loomed ahead of him. That would be his hour, his time. This would be the hour the time when he would redeem the whole world from sin.

That is what it, everything is all about- your life, your family and friends, your joy and abundant blessings, your future hope -Every good gift is our because Jesus’ death on the cross has reconciled us to the Father, brought us back together with the Giver.

The master of the feast comments how refreshing it was to save the best wine for the end, when people are not going to notice as much in the spirit of merriment.  This man had no idea how true his words were with respect to Jesus.  Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world

In the fullness of time Jesus came as the last of the prophets because all prophets pointed to him. And Jesus death on the cross was the- save the best for last- act of unimaginable love. The greatest of his miracles was the crucifixion and his resurrection.

Because Jesus turned the water into the wine and showed he was the Messiah, because Jesus willingly laid down his life on the cross and became exalted above every name under heaven and on earth, we know with absolute certainty that the best is yet to come for us.  

In the meantime, our Christian faith is one of waiting in patience and in prayer for those gifts Jesus brings to us. When you feel weighed down by life challenges, that is particularly when the events of John chapter 2 are very important to listen to and meditate on.

Jesus made himself known as Messiah with his first miracle in a context of merriment and joy- at a wedding feast.  This joy is here for you and I today.  The Lord’s Supper is given to you today as a sign and participation of the wedding feast of the lamb and His kingdom, of we the church the bride and Christ the bridegroom. And as we pray in our liturgy, this is indeed a fore taste of the feast to come, this is only the beginning.

Water into wine at the wedding at Cana is more than a party saved- It’s a sign of the time, the hour Jesus would save all of us- save us from our old sinful lives, save us for new lives of love and marriage and caring and serving, save us for eternal life, and the feast where the wine never runs out. Amen.  

Real world peace from a Savior who is real.

Posted on by nfuller

Half awake, slightly more asleep, I lie still in bed thinking about how I need to get up on a dark cold morning. I look at the clock and it says 6:55 or so. I will need to get up soon. In my half awake state I think about how since my eyes are closed and I lie still, warm under the covers that I don’t really know what time it is, because I have looked at the clock in my dream like state in my mind.

Sure, I have been realistic, I did not make the clock say 5:30am and tell my self you have an hour and a half left, go back to sleep. But maybe I will need to break down, and sit up, put on my glasses and see what the clock says in the real world, the one that everyone else in the world is more or less going by. The digital clock says 7:05 AM, and even more, now my dog is scratching at the door, scratching at the door in the real world, so I get up.

Dreams and wishful thinking can only get us so far in life and they could get you late to work or school, or even late to church.  That is how it is with our dreams for peace and deliverance from sin and death, wishful thinking is not going to save us. Instead, we rely on God’s Word.  Like that clock in the real world that helps you be honest with yourself about what time it really is, God’s Word has the truth about where our peace and salvation is found.   

Had we lived seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, rather than two thousand years after, we could already have known where he would come, the place of his birth.  We heard the beautiful prophecy from our Old Testament Reading: “But you O Bethlehem Epthrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.  The little town of Bethlehem would one day become the center of the whole world. 

Even more important than knowing the place of the Savior’s birth is that we know the reason for his coming.  Micah tells us that too: “And he shall be their peace.”

We all want peace.  Nobody just goes looking for strife, unless that person is really confused about what is important in life. But where does peace in our lives come from? Can we will it into being, like a dream? Does it come from a place we can go to, like a say a gym or a spa?

Bethlehem seems like an unlikely source of peace for us.  How can peace come from a place that is so insignificant? Our reading from Micah specifies that Bethlehem was so small it was not even listed as one of the clans of Judah. It was off the map.  If you were using GPS you would have to zoom in to one of the closest views possible just to see it. 

Rome in contrast was the center of power in the 1st century. The Romans boasted of how they brought peace to the world because they were so powerful and wealthy no major nation could even try to challenge them.

Throughout the Old Testament God does not use the most powerful of kingdoms to deliver his saving message.  It was not to the kingdoms of Egypt or Assyria or Babylon that God appeared, but to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a nomadic family.

The promise made to Adam and Eve is that a Savior would be born who would crush Satan.  The seed of a woman was prophesied as having the power to reverse the curse of our rebellion into sin. How could a young woman named Mary, a virgin of the tribe of Judah who was young and without any wealth or power, how could she deliver peace?

What abilities or resources could she have that others in the world do not? How could a woman in the little town of Bethlehem bring forward the Savior promised from ancient of days? How can someone so low and humble bring peace to the world?

How about in today’s world? Can we find peace in today’s modern world? Have we come far enough as a society to learn from the mistakes of the past? Sometimes you can find articles that describe how much advances in medicine and science help with our health and lifespan. Some advertisers talk about how social media and connections on the internet bring people together from around the world, a new community where people can experience support and love.  Are we now living in a golden age of peace and prosperity?

Advances in medicine may be present, but at least in America most people have a worse diet, so we are if anything probably less healthy than  in the past. And as you have probably noticed, when it comes to the internet sinful fallen people in new ways actually just multiplies sin and misery.

Some people also think today’s world is more humane and less violent than the past. Indeed during Herod’s time and Ceasar’s time there was plenty of bloodshed and violence. When news of the birth of Jesus spread to king Herod, he even went so far as to order that every male child two years and younger should be killed. 

Herod did this of course in the tragic pride of thinking he could remain king if he were to eliminate the Savior who was born to the world. This is called the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Of course there is no peace and there is no salvation in killing.  And to wake up from our wishful thinking dream state, we should take note of the real world fact that millions in our nation celebrate the right to abortion.                                                  Like King Herod, self interest is used as a reason for killing. Real world statistics record that 62 million babies have been slain in their mother’s womb. And often the dreamlike rationale for these killings is that there is a salvation to be found for a mother or both parents through exercising a right to choose death for an innocent baby.  There is no peace in the world with this slaughter of the innocent.

Our society also preaches a false gospel that we can find peace from within ourselves. People in a dreamlike state of wishful thinking believe that Jesus is a cheerleader for them to achieve inner peace and prosperity in life.  People overlook what Jesus teaches as recorded in Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

Our society today seeks to blame others for the evil within.  But there is no peace in  blaming others for what is not right in our own lives.  We wont find peace coming from our own hearts.

We can find peace from nowhere other than Bethlehem. Just like the prophecy from Micah foretold, God sent his Son to be born in the little town of Bethlehem, to be born into our fallen world with all of its violence.  Jesus was born so that he could die a violent death at the hands of war loving people, so that we might be saved.

Because of the birth of this baby, peace between God and man is restored. After all of the years in which our sin put a wedge between us and God, after all of the years living as enemies of God, the baby born in Bethlehem shall be our peace. He shall bridge the gap between God and man so that once again we can know Him as our loving Father and we his dear children. He was born so we can receive both the blessings of this world and eternal blessings.

From Bethlehem he brings us peace by creating in us a new heart.  The human heart, which is the source of all evils and sins, is reborn in God’s gift of a Savior.  With a new heart we know a peace that the world cannot give.

With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are led to Bethlehem to find the gift of Jesus.  And as we look upon Jesus we see peace personified.  Jesus the Son of David, the Son of Mary carried the peace of God. He brings the unity with the Father that had been lost since Adam and Eve first rebelled against God.  

And we have been joined to the peace Jesus has in a very intimate way through the waters of Holy Baptism. We have been united in a death like his so that we can be united in a resurrection like his. We have peace with God no matter what we face in life.  Romans chapter 8 reminds us: “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

And we also participate in the peace of Jesus through the Lord’s Supper, where we are granted pardon and peace with his body and his blood given for you.

The true and lasting peace that we seek cannot come from the powers of this world, nor from the advances of our modern world. And this peace certainly is not found in our own hearts and good intentions. Instead, peace comes as God humbles himself for us, a baby born to a young maiden in a small town. In Bethlehem God’s peace comes to us. This peace comes to us as a free gift simply by receiving the babe of Bethlehem, our Lord Jesus.

As we are on the brink of Christmas, what a wonderful time it is to ponder the real life peace and wholeness Jesus brings to our lives. “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” That was Mary’s response of learning about the peace God was bringing to the world in the birth of Jesus. This week I urge you to read those spontaneous words of joy that Mary spoke, the what we call  the Magnificat.  Read those words in faith pondering in your heart how they are your words of praise and wonder as well, because the joy and the peace is yours as well in Christ Jesus.  

The unborn John the Baptist, leaped for joy in the womb at coming in contact with Jesus, when Mary and Elizabeth visited on that day recorded in our gospel lesson.   Already at that time the peace which Jesus brings created a living faith for John, already in the womb. May we also leap for joy at the faith Jesus builds in us today and has been building since our first contact with him in Holy Baptism.  Ponder the real world deliverance Jesus has in store for you, and be glad in this great season of hope.

The permanent nature of the Incarnation is a cause for rejoicing.

Posted on by nfuller

This is the Sunday of Advent that we light the pink candle, because this Sunday of Advent stands out with the theme of joy. Our readings and propers wasted no time getting to the joy theme. The Introit shouts out: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. And then our Old Testament reading from Zephaniah: 14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!  The cause of this singing and celebrating is the Lord’s deliverance of His people.   15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.

Our Epistle reading from Philippians says so much in one sentence: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.  And the reason for rejoicing is because the Lord is at hand. The Lord is not far off, but near and present. Whatever may bring sorrow is only temporary because in a permanent way God joined himself to the world he created in the birth of Jesus.

And by this birth none of the old things remain, even death is transformed by this birth of Jesus. One of our Easter hymns says it well: “Weeping be gone, sorrow be silent, death put asunder and Easter is bright. Cherubim sing: “O grave be open!” Clothe us in wonder and adorn us in light.

In the time when John the Baptist sat in prison, the Lord was at hand in the form of the miracles of healing Jesus performed. In our time the Lord is at hand through the miracles of salvation that are worked through the church. We who are dead to sin are brought near to God with clean hearts. That is a miracle that the Lord works right in our midst, that helps us to know without doubt that the kingdom of God is here. As we see right before our eyes how the Lord saves our brothers sisters here and elsewhere we have joy.

This joy comes in a time when the prince of this world scowls fierce as he will. We are in a time when the days are short, and at least in our part of the world, the cold winds howl. The backdrop of joy in the liturgical setting of this Sunday includes the trying situation in our gospel lesson where the greatest prophet born of woman, John the Baptist is imprisoned in a dungeon.

Not because he committed a crime, but because the world rejected the light of Christ that he preached about. Remember the 1st chapter of John verses 9 and 10  “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” Just as the scripture warned, John and many others who follow Jesus are persecuted for righteousness sake.  And somewhere in the context of this persecution is joy. The joy that says:  Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.

Sometimes when you are told to be happy and there is nothing apparent to be happy about it rings hollow.  How can we rejoice when we face so much suffering? In times of distress we wonder what is there to be so joyful about?  Sometimes those who have been the most severely neglected and abused in early years of life have a hard time following Jesus and rejoicing in God’s promises, because it feels like  the  good news of the kingdom has not applied to them.

John the Baptist was born to point to Jesus, born to be a prophet, yet in the dungeon he sits, not many to preach to isolated and alone in a cell- a far cry from the crowds of people that flocked to him in the desert and in the wilderness.

For all those who have been brought low and humbled and have cried out in desperation too many times, John asks the question you wish you could ask, the question of, is this what the nearness of God looks like, is this what rejoicing is about?

John did not have the cross and resurrection in clear sight as we have, so we wouldn’t quite ask the same question, but listen again to his question  “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 

Jesus, who are you? Who are you for me? What can I expect? The darkness of our hearts looks for a sign and feels the despair of life in our fallen world.

Jesus answers by telling John’s disciples: to look to his actions. Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Jesus was pointing the people to look to his actions to see that the Lord is at hand. The works of healing Jesus performed helped illustrate the coming of the Messiah.  These miracles were signs of the joy of God’s kingdom coming right to before the people of Israel, right in their midst.

Today, whenever we feel short on joy, the Lord provides the joy. After giving the signs of the Messiah’s reign now present Jesus says: “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  Blessed is the one who is not scandalized, embarrassed, or turned off by Jesus.  Blessed is the one who faces persecution with courage and faith. 

John was not offended by Jesus, as in John did not say or do anything to distance himself from Jesus for his safety or ease of transport in this fallen world.

There is joy following this example of John, to say that I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation. There is joy is saying, I will not leave you, ‘Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life.’  

When we surrender all our claims for comfort in this world and look to Jesus for our comfort there is great joy, because the comfort of Jesus cannot be taken away from us. That is how St. Paul was able to say: rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.  Paul could rejoice because he considered himself dead to the world and he knew that his life was in Christ. His life was in a Savior who came to our world to save us and will not let Satan snatch any of us away.

We are all invited to place out trust in Jesus, and we are blessed by God when we do this. Like John we can expect that our place in the world is none other than to find hardship and persecution.  Anyone can find appeal in the easy parts of being a Christian without ever clashing against the values of our culture. But true joy is following Jesus in good and bad alike.

Zephaniah describes in detail how the joy comes from the Lord and not us:

16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.  17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.  

What will our Savior do for us? He will rejoice over us. He will see us as the lost sheep who are in need of rescue, and when we have been saved he will rejoice over us. 

God is at peace with us because of the cross. Salvation is near to us, Jesus speaks peace to us because we are made righteous and holy before the Father.

The real work of preparation for Christmas involves John the Baptist.

Posted on by nfuller

The Christmas season is upon us. Stores have been selling Christmas items for weeks and weeks already by now.  Everyone is making preparations for the holiday. Without such preparations the holiday would not be as special or memorable to us. Just about everyone is preparing in one way or another.

But do as many people think to make spiritual preparations for Christmas? We all know Christmas has become a commercial holiday in many ways. Parents who think little of the spiritual meaning of Christmas talk about giving each child their Christmas- which means one thing, a big haul of presents. Jesus is left out entirely in such family Christmas settings. There is no thought of giving children  the gift of Jesus.

For this reason, John the Baptist’s message in our gospel lesson is of great importance for our society today. John comes to prepare the way of the Lord. Our gospel lesson gives the specific details of history in which John was born, the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

In a specific time and place in history God sent a great prophet to prepare for the coming Messiah. The promise of the Savior which began just before Adam and Eve were sent outside the gates of Eden, that promise is now coming to the people of Israel in the first century, during the reign of Tiberius Caesar.

John has been called the last Old Testament prophet. His message fits in line with all of the Old Testament prophets with their message of preparation for the coming Messiah and their message of repentance and turning from false idols.

And in fact even the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah predicted the coming of John: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight..”  Many of the prophets of old received the Word of the Lord in the wilderness. The wilderness is apart from the comforts of society, stark, desolate, without distraction.

The last book in the Old Testament is from the Prophet Malachi. As we heard from Malachi chapter 3 the coming of John the Baptist is the start of the coming of the Messiah.  “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.  

John is a Herald preparing for the New Covenant and he was sent to prepare us for the coming of Jesus. Because of this privileged role Jesus calls John the greatest of the prophets.

“Behold the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent.” In the gospel of Matthew John says this, and then one chapter later Jesus says this.  At the moment when Jesus is about to begin his ministry John refines us with this message of repentance. The prophet Malachi described this function of refining that John played.  2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 

John directed the people’s attention to one who is more powerful than Him, the one who is to come.  John baptizes with water, but Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

Advent is a time for wonder at the Old Testament prophecies coming to fruition. The years of history coming together all toward one great purpose of the birth of Jesus.  What all of the messages of the prophets throughout the ages has in common is the good news that salvation is found in Christ.

As the last of the great prophets John allows us to prepare and be prepared for the way of the Lord.  We are first prepared through repentance.  Many self righteous people listening to John believed that they were saved because they were children of Abraham. They saw their salvation as a birthright and so thought repentance was beneath them.  

Yet John made clear that judgement awaits the unrepentant.  The axe is already at the root of the tree, and those who do not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  We prepare, as we talked about in the children’s message, through repentance.  Through turning back from our wayward path of sin and destruction and seeking the Lord’s guidance in all things.

But it is not just repentance that prepares us for Christmas, even more so we are prepared through forgiveness. While John’s baptism was for repentance, in our own baptism we receive the benefits of Christ’s victory on the cross. These are the glad tiding John brings to us, the good news of the kingdom.  If Jesus calls John the greatest of prophets, it is not soley because of his call to repentance, what we call in catechism class the  preaching of the Law.  John is the greatest because he is delivering the message of good news, Your Savior is here!

The Christian celebration of Christmas is less something that we prepare for and more something that God prepares us for. He prepares us for Christmas with his boundless mercy and love for us. As we come to realize that the Savior who was promised from of old is born unto us, we respond in thanksgiving. 

As we hear the good news of the gospel through the season of Advent we can respond with fruits in keeping with repentance. True repentance and forgiveness always leads to concrete actions of love toward others. John gave the crowd examples of how good fruits look for those who are tax collectors and those who are soldiers. It is always the case that those who are truly repentant receive God’s forgiveness in full, and this forgiveness produces much fruit.

Consider Zacchaeus, the short dishonest rich tax collector who climbed up in a tree to see Jesus passing by.  Surprisingly Jesus did not pass him by. He called Zacchaeus by name, visited with him in his home. Zacchaeus, moved to repentance by Jesus’ mercy and love cried out, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham.”

Later on in history there was a man named Martin of Tours. Martin was born to a pagan family, and he later became a Christian and became a soldier in the Roman army. One afternoon, approaching the gate of the city, Martin encountered a beggar, cold and half naked.  Martin drew his sword and cut his heavy soldier’s cloak in half, wrapping it around the shivering man.

These are two examples of reactions to Jesus’ mercy.  What fruits of repentance will Jesus; mercy bring forth in your life? Perhaps selfless  care for someone else in your life? Perhaps the gift that sustained dedication and focus on a goal can bring to the church and bring to society.

Baptism and forgiveness of sins empowers us to do great things in God’s kingdom and in the world.  Are you prepared? Are you bearing fruits of repentance? Christmas is just a few weeks away. Use the time wisely to prepare your hearts for the coming of Christ this Christmas: Confessing your sins, meditating on His Word, receiving the sacrament, singing his praises. He will make the holiday everything you desire and more!

The church looks forward to one Great Day.

Posted on by nfuller

What are you looking forward to? The holidays? The next congregational voters meeting? The next vacation? High School Graduation? Maybe a better question to ask is, what does the church look forward to? We heard the answer in our Introit: “We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” Put quite simply, the church waits for Jesus, the church longs for Jesus to return.

There are a lot of voices in our world that say it is a bad idea to think about the future too often, and that the best thing to do is live in the moment. They say if you can’t live in the moment there are too many regrets from the past that will weigh you down, and too many worries about the future that will make your heart tremble.

However, looking for the return of Jesus in the future is a faithful action, and an undeniably good thing. This longing for the future does not introduce an undue extra stress or worry into our lives.  Instead as we look forward in hope we are grounded in our current life challenges with the sure and certain hope of Jesus as our hope and joy.  

When Jesus returns our role is to take in the unsurpassed joy of the Last day. Until that time Jesus urges us to stay spiritually vigilant. Stay awake!

There are no shortage of examples in the scripture of the followers of Jesus falling asleep and missing the mark to be ready in faith. Our sinful human nature draws us to see much more of the task and challenges of everyday life before  us- so that we can relegate watching for Jesus to return as an afterthought.   

It is perhaps even hard for us to picture this day, because we have not had any day like what it will be.  You can think of past Christmases that brought joy and wonder to your heart, past Easter services, weddings and school graduations. Or perhaps world events you watched on tv,  the coronation day of a king or queen.  Maybe you remember watching the scenes on the news the day the Berlin Wall fell down, and the surprising relief that after so many years the cold war was over just like that.

The Day of the Lord is different than any holiday or big event in history because it will change everything about the world and our lives. It will be the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation, our faith will become sight. We will be with the Lord forever, the final act of the Bible will play out before us as Jesus is in the air with all of the Saints in the great resurrection.

What was thought of as long dead and broken, and decayed will be brought to life, the bodies of believers and the church itself will have her faith now as glorious sight.

Listen to the word of Scripture in 1Thesalonnians: 4:16 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” What a picture of the future that awaits us, of what we have to look forward to!

In our gospel lesson Jesus gives another perspective of what there is to look forward to or more precisely what t here is to expect. Namely complete destruction until the time Jesus returns 24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”

The same things was prophesied by Isaiah: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

 The earth and even the heavens will be destroyed, but God’s Word remains, Jesus remains as he comes down from the clouds and makes all things new. It is important for us to remember and pay attention to the reality Jesus gives about the sun darkened and the moon not giving its light, because it helps for us to fully grasp that this world is passing away, that our emotional attachment cannot be for the things of this world.

As a result we are prepared to look forward to a new heaven and a new earth that Jesus creates. Once we clearly see that this world is passing away, we are truly prepared for Jesus to return.

Our congregation is going through a difficult period for our worship attendance. A few have been called to the Lord, a few people moved out of the area, some have stopped attending worship since Covid, and health problems have created a barrier for  attending regularly for some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who would like to be here.

Virtually every congregation has dropped in attendance after the events of the past few years, but the difficulty is particularly felt for us as a small congregation. It is hard to come to a nearly empty sanctuary and not feel a little outnumbered by empty pews. It can be discouraging to be here without those who were once with us.

But despite the discouragement, we are here as an outpost of Christ’s love and truth in a world where the lies of Satan so often seem to rule the day. God’s kingdom grows in ways we do not always see and expect and God’s Word has the power to grow this congregation again because the Holy Spirit is always working in our lives and in the world.

And we are part of a larger Lutheran church that also walks with us. In a few weeks our choir ranks will double as St. Paul joins with us again in Christmas Caroling.  Our children’s choir has provided extra life to our ministry to our youth, with participants from 3 other Lutheran congregations and counting.

I have talked with some of you already about the mission possibilities of outreach to the deaf community through Peace Deaf Lutheran. 

We need to know that although this world is passing away, God’s Word remains, and His church will remain no matter what the situation.  

In 1Kings chapter 6 there is an account of how the king of Syria has sent and army with chariots to surround the city where Elisha and the King of Israel are. When the servant of the Lord felt overwhelmed by the danger Elisha told him:

“Do not be afraid, those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

7 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Just like the nation of Israel under siege all those years ago, we are in a time where it looks like we are outnumbered. We need to pray that our eyes are opened to see the Lord’s armies supporting us. We need to see the great scope of support we have in the Lord Jesus who now reigns over heaven and earth.

We need the Lord to open our eyes to see how we are not alone, how the Lord and the entire heavenly host cheers for us. We will soon be in the joy of being counted with people from every tribe and nation coming before the throne of the Lamb.   

The 3rd stanza of our hymn of the Day, Lo! He comes with Clouds Descending paints a picture of the bliss we will have in seeing the Lord Jesus in his exalted state after the resurrection. We will see the marks of his crucifixion as the greatest of all pictures of love.

“Those dear tokens of His passion, still His dazzling body bears, Cause of endless exultation To His ransomed worshipers. With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture gaze we on those glorious scars!

Washed clean by the blood of the Lamb

Posted on by nfuller

Many people say, there are good days and there are bad days.  Why is that? Why are some days better than others? Is it a superstitious thing, cross your fingers and hope it is a good day? Sometimes we know what kind of day it is going to be and sometimes we do not know.  What kind of day is today? Does anyone here know? According to the book of Hebrews, today is a bloody day. But it is not the first of its kind or the last.

There will be a bloody day. We heard from our Old testament reading in Daniel and from our gospel lesson, blood violence and destruction will mark the Last Day and even the days before it. This is what the world has coming on account of sin.  Remember Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

Who will be delivered from this body of destruction, this time of trouble? They will be the saints, the excellent ones in whom the Lord delights, who will not see corruption, but walk in the path of life. Psalm 16 says this much. They are the ones who receive the free gift of God in the second half of the verse Romans 6:23.  Are you in the category of Saint that the Psalm talks about?

Listen to our reading from Daniel again: “They will be ‘those who are wise and therefore shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who may turn many to righteousness , like the starts forever and ever.  Are you wise? Have you turned many to righteousness?

Or listen to what Revelation chapter 7 says about the Saints. “They will be the ones coming out of the great tribulation, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.”

Will you be delivered from bloody destruction? Yes, for their already has been a bloody day for you!

There was a bloody day. Jesus sacrificed himself. On the day of his bloody destruction, Jesus fulfilled all prior sacrifices. The whole priesthood and even the temple were destined for destruction with a single sacrifice.  Where none of our sacrifices and self justifications can do anything, Jesus did it all with that one sacrifice.

Jesus was delivered over to a bloody death and he was destroyed in order to deliver you from the coming destruction you deserve. He the righteous was delivered for you the unrighteous.

Jesus knew this was coming, he told the disciples that the chief priests and the scribes would condemn him to death and deliver him to Gentiles who would mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.

Normally Jewish people went to Jerusalem to worship the LORD by making animal sacrifices. The innocent blood of the animals paid for the sins of the people.  Jesus went to Jerusalem to be the sacrifice himself. The sinless sacrifice that took away the sin of the world.

As Jesus sacrificed himself, Jesus made you holy, He sanctified you.  Jesus has cleansed you by his blood and Jesus has forgiven you all your sins.  Jesus has claimed you by His blood to be his holy one, his saint. “As for the Saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

Jesus opened for you by his body and by his blood the “new and living way” to approach God and stand before him in holiness now and forever.”  Our reading from Hebrews talks about this new and living way that Jesus brings for us to come into God’s presence.

In the Old testament time people were kept from the holiest presence of God with the curtain of the Tabernacle. We are now on the other side of the curtain! What no one could ever have dreamed of, we are right there in the holy presence of God- this is the new and living way!

Because Jesus opened this way for you this is a bloody day. Jesus is present with you in His body and blood, and He is your new and living way to enter the presence of God in confidence. Hebrews 10:22 talks about drawing near to God with a true heart.  If you think about the beginning of our worship service, we draw near with a true heart through the practice of Confession.

Before we dare approach our God in the Heavenly Sanctuary as we do in our worship service, we must confess our sins and receive absolution from Jesus our great High Priest. As the Concordia Commentary series puts it: “The Father’s Word of pardon opens the door for entry into the heavenly realm and admits pardoned sinners into God’s Holy presence.”

During those Sundays when we have a cross processional, this occurs right after confession and absolution.  The processional cross is meant to illustrate to us that it is by Jesus’ blood and with Jesus himself that the congregation enters the presence of God.

The processional cross in this way provides a picture of Jesus walking down the aisle and leading us to the throne of God’s mercy at the altar. We come before God this day because we have entered by his blood.

And now that we have entered into his presence Jesus calls us to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Christ calls you to embrace the future he has prepared for you.  You are called to remain steadfast in your faith until you stand before God on the last Day.

 Jesus calls us to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. He calls you to forget yourself and remember others, not neglecting them, but being compassionate for them- just as he has had compassion for you by his blood.

May we continue here at Christ Lutheran to stir up one another to do the works of love God calls us to do. We stir up one another through encouraging one another to not be content with what good works we have done, but to instead strive to serve in new and more meaningful ways, reaching our potential as the Holy Spirit would guide and direct us.

And the Holy Spirit is working in us through God’s Word. As you draw near, the Holy Spirit descends to destroy you and deliver you through Jesus’ blood.  He destroys you.

The Spirit aims to destroy every idol, including your own righteousness. The Spirit aims to release us from the bonds of our sins which we have brought upon ourselves. The Spirit aims to put to death self centered ways in you by writing his laws on your heart and mind. There is indeed destruction today.

And he delivers you today. Just as he delivered you on the day you were washed, when your name was written in the book. Just as he forgives your sins today and forgets them again, just as he brought you near by the blood of Christ, so he brings you near today by Jesus blood in His Supper.   

Today is a bloody day as the Spirit sanctifies you, makes you holy by Jesus’ blood, and gives you all the gifts Christ won for you by his sacrifice on the cross.  Therefore everyday is a bloody day. By the blood of Jesus, you, God’s Church are the excellent ones in whom the Lord delights, who will not see corruption but walk the path of life.

By the blood of Jesus you will shine with the brightness of the sky above like the stars forever and ever. Now every day is a day to be the Church by the blood of Jesus.  Everyday you are cleansed by the blood of Christ, every day you are confident by Jesus’ blood, and every day you are compassionate by Jesus’ blood.  There may be good days you have or bad days, but every day is defined by Jesus’ blood for you. Amen.

True Riches in the Kingdom of God

Posted on by nfuller

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you just can’t get away from hearing about money and power can you? So often in our conversations and in our life- things come back to the question of ‘how much does it cost?’ Or when it comes to national news- the sobering observation of follow the money-  look what is going on in our world today!  

We have been hearing in our scripture reading about wealth and about a greater joy that there is in knowing the Lord as our treasure. The formula is simple, attachment to wealth leads to tragedy, but life lived joyfully in God’s kingdom brings peace and contentment.

But it’s not so easy for us is it? The world operates by money and those who have tight budgets may worry about money as much as those who are rich.  It has become common in our day for people to view their self worth by how much money do you make?  If you don’t have a lot of money coming in, you may think to yourself, “I’m not very good at the game of life.”

And concern about money is not all about greed and wanting nice things for yourself. Think of how fragile the freedoms are in the church today.  There are many causes unbelievers take which seek to persecute the church, and much money is directed toward disarming the church.

 Money can be used as power to influence elections and policies that aim to systematically destroy the church and make the values we hold as God’s people scorned by the world.  More money could mean more security and safety for you and I and for the church. And less money could mean more danger and more persecution.

I have talked to people in counseling appointments who live in neighborhoods where gunshots are a common sound. More money means a safer neighborhood and less money means you maybe just need to skip the luxury of going out for a walk on a nice Fall day.

It sure seems like you are better off with more wealth when you look at the dramatic differences of how life is experienced. But if we only look at what money can do, then we are losing sight of what God can do.   

Listen to St. Paul confessing his faith in Galatians 2:20  “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

What an amazing confession of faith that is, I no longer live, it is Christ who lives in me.” That means my decisions are not bound by questions of what is in my best interest of my wealth, but what is right and true and good in Christ. Listen again to the  end of our reading from Ecclesiastes:

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

What is good and fitting is to be content and appreciate the gifts the Lord has given us. In confirmation class last week the youth learned about the meaning of the petition “Give us this day our daily bread.”  The Lord God gives us all that we have and all that we need, not just bread, not just the money in our bank account, but the air we breathe, our health our life and our eternal security in Christ.  These gifts from the Lord are present all around us and we can even rejoice in the toils we have, because even hard work provides us with many gifts of perseverance and growth.

And verse 20 provides us with a picture of more than just contentment for the gifts God provides, but also hope everlasting in Christ. “For he will not remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.”

Psalm 34 in our Introit speaks of this joy: 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

Our joy comes in what the Lord has done for us eternally, which far surpasses any benefits of wealth or prosperity.

In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dicken we find a literary character who illustrates the misery and tragedy of pursuing wealth as the sole purpose in life- Ebenezer Scrooge.

Ebenezer Scrooge values money over people and profit over generosity. His judgment comes in a nightmare that exposes his lack of compassion and reveals his ultimate fate: he will die alone, remembered and mourned by virtually no one. The words of Solomon from our Old testament reading come to life: At death, one shall “take nothing for his toil that he may carry away with his hand.”

When Scrooge finds himself awake and alive the next morning, he receives the new day as a gift of undeserved grace, a grace that transforms him into an instrument of generosity and joy for his community and the needy Cratchit family. 

It is quite enjoyable to hear in the story how surprised and deeply encouraged people are by Scrooge’s new attitude and approach to life.  We can live in this same joy of a second chance at life. We can live with a greater joy in fact, because we have been given more than a series of powerful dreams and visions,

we have been given a Savior who has drowned our selfish and miserly ways in the waters of baptism, a Savior who stands in our place and makes us a new creation in Christ. Each and every morning He gives us a reason to trust in his love and share his generosity with others.

In our gospel lesson, a continuation of what we heard last Sunday, the rich young man asking what he must do to be saved, goes away discouraged when Jesus has asked him to give up his riches and follow Jesus.  Jesus addresses his disciples immediately after the man goes away dejected: 23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

The scripture says that the disciples were amazed at his words and then a few verses later it says they were exceedingly astonished! Who then can be saved? In the ancient world people often associated wealth as a sign of God’s favor. If not even the rich who God blesses can be saved, who could be saved.

Jesus says that a rich man cannot enter the kingdom of God, it would be as impossible as a person passing through the eye of a needle. Yes riches can be a stumbling block for our faith. But even a poor man cannot enter the kingdom of God on his own.

But what is impossible for man to do is possible for God.  27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Yes, wealth is potentially a stumbling block to our faith, but so is any other means of trusting in ourselves that we inevitably will have on account of our fallen sinful human nature.

What is impossible for a rich man or a poor man is accomplished by Jesus, as he takes our broken hearts and our sin unto himself and by the cross has made us righteous before God.   

2 Corinthians chapter 8 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by you his poverty might become rich.” Jesus invites you to receive his rich expression of love shown to you on the cross. Rejoice in the treasure of eternal life and forgiveness in Him! Rejoice in the daily blessing of food and drink and work.  And rejoice in the opportunities God gives you to bless others with the wealth he has entrusted to you to manage.

In Christ we see the shape of life lived richly and with prosperity. It is a life of hope and joy ,and urgent thankfulness to a God who truly cares about our best interests, who pays the ultimate price for our prosperity.

Just what are you really seeking?

Posted on by nfuller

“What are you looking for?” It’s the middle of the afternoon, and a Saturday. You have wandered into the kitchen, you have opened the pantry door, and you are staring at what is in there.  Another family member may see you standing there and ask, “what are you looking for?” You do not know exactly what you are looking for. Something sweet, something salty, something crunchy?

You probably are hungry, you might be bored too. Nothing stands out.  “What are you looking for” is a good question to present to people in the world we live in today.  What answers might you hear to this question?

“I’m looking for happiness, I’m looking for excitement, love, a place to belong, purpose, a good time or an escape from the routine. One way or another we are looking for something that makes us come alive.

In our gospel lesson we are introduced to a man who is seeking something from Jesus. Kneeling before the Lord, he asks “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.”

The man seems to be seeking an easy solution to life. “What can I do to earn my way to paradise?” He must have felt that something was missing, why else would he have gone up to Jesus with this sense of urgency and kneel down before Him to ask this question.

In fact something is missing in his attitude and approach to Jesus. He tries to flatter Jesus by saying “Good teacher.” In the scripture those who desire to follow Jesus consistently call him Lord. Those who wish to test him or those who have confused motives call him ‘teacher’.

He is not seeking Jesus’ company, he is seeking information, to him Jesus represents a means to an end- someone he can consult and afterward be on track to stay in God’s favor.  Jesus rebukes this address as ‘good teacher’ “Why do you call me good, no one is good except God alone.”

Is Jesus denying that he is himself good, or denying that he is God? Obviously not.     Jesus can tell that this man only sees Jesus as a teacher of the law and does not recognize him as Lord and God. He is pointing out the man’s inconsistency in selling short the Lord of all standing before him. “If you don’t recognize me as God, then don’t use the word good in addressing me.” 

The man asked Jesus a contradictory question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” What is inherited is a gift and is not earned. God’s gift of salvation does not in any way involve the question of ‘what must I do’.  Instead of developing a trusting relationship with God, the man is seeking a short list of how to make himself passable to God.

Jesus recognizes that the man sees him as only a teacher of the law. Accordingly, Jesus gives a teacher of the law type of response- he summarizes the commandments that touch on our relationship with one another.   The man answers “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 

Perhaps he was not satisfied with what Jesus says as he reports he has kept these laws since his youth. If he were satisfied with what Jesus said he might have responded in thanksgiving or asked about how he could keep the commandments better.  Could it be that he was communicating, ‘teacher, what else can you tell me? Is that all ya got to say?’

Jesus looking at him loved him.  Jesus loved him enough to say something that would cut through his transactional approach to Jesus, his ‘what can you tell me that will make me in better standing attitude.’ 

“You lack one thing; go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.”   Was Jesus giving him an extra piece of information about keeping the law that the casual religious person might easily miss?

No, Jesus was not instructing that if you really want to keep the law well you need to give to the poor. Jesus was breaking the man’s trust in himself and his attitude of trying to treat God’s Law as a ‘to do list’, without a loving and grateful relationship with God.

We now learn that this man had great possessions. He was secure in life with material provisions and he came to Jesus and addressed him as teacher so that he could secure some spiritual provisions as the icing on the cake of his foundation of material provisions. Does it sound like his priorities were mixed up?

But what about a relationship with God? Does this man want to walk with God, or is he only seeking to comply with God’s rules and get his reward?  

So that takes us back to my initial question, “What are you seeking?” Are you seeking a God who is just icing on the cake for the life you have secured for yourself? Is Sunday morning one last thing you try and do before the weekend is over, or is it the beginning of your week- your foundation?

The man in the gospel lesson was disheartened by Jesus’ instructions. He might have been ok if Jesus said give 10% of what you have and follow me once a week, or whenever I am in your region next. But to give all he had to the poor and leave everything that gave him security and follow Jesus? This was not in his range of expectations for life.

To the son of Adam living in the fallen world we live in, self sacrifice and blind trust in following Jesus is not appealing at all. Our sinful nature rebels against giving up control. Our sinful nature sees our possessions as essential to the point where in a manner of speaking our possessions posses and own us. We do so much in our life toward the effort to maintain them and grow in our economic security.

In Psalm 90, a psalm of Moses, written no doubt after many years of learning from the LORD, Moses writes: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  The rich man lacked wisdom. He had the opportunity to follow Jesus and experience a freedom from the hold his possessions had over him. Instead- he calculated the cost, and went away troubled and with all his possessions.

Can you see yourself in this man’s shoes? Have you ever wanted to find a short cut to how your faith applies to your life, so that you can give up as little as possible?  When you think this way, the sacrifices of the Christian life seem hard. 

In the next chapter of Mark, chapter 11 we have the beginning of the events of Jesus’ crucifixion in the form of the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The choices we need to make in life to give up things don’t seem so hard compared to the betrayal, and crucifixion Jesus set his face toward without looking back.

And Jesus did this so that we would live as those who are redeemed by Him. Jesus did this so that we would know Jesus not as a teacher who shows us an easy way, but as a Savior who walks with us all the way to the hour of death and beyond.

What are you seeking in life? God is seeking so much more for us than we can find ourselves.  We heard in our Old Testament Reading: “Seek the Lord and live, Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so the Lord, the God of hosts will be with you.” Jesus alone is able to give us this life. John 10:10 “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

With the new life we have in Christ, earthly treasures mean a different thing. As we live in thanksgiving to the Lord for all that we have, giving to others is a joy. As we grow in our awareness of heavenly treasures, material possessions just don’t mean the same thing.

He comes to us today and invites us to seek our life in Him, with the promise that we will find it. Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.” 

Jesus comes to us as we hear the words of Absolution following our confession of sins. Jesus comes as we hear the gospel communicated in our scripture readings and the sermon. Jesus comes to us when we receive His very presence to us in the Lord’s Supper. 

As we seek Jesus and find him, we are able to see people rightly, not for what they can do for us, but as people who receive God’s love and who can receive our love. Often we don’t really know what we are seeking, but we do know that God has found us in Jesus so that we might seek and know him.

God has found us. And in a world of people who don’t really know what they are looking for, we relish this opportunity to seek the God who sought us and to seek the good of others, so that they too might know the love of our God through us. May God grant this abundantly in us through His mercies which are new every morning. Amen.