tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447465538299002762024-03-13T19:43:24.808-05:00Prince of Peace Lutheran SermonsSermons delivered at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Hecla, SDPastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-26488927912135431352011-08-21T11:58:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:18:23.562-05:00Joshua 23 - "The LORD Fights For You"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX9uL6YU5RdqtwvotfZSfj1S6LR3hPSsPzbxT4eN9bse0XYjOs2s0vFl6Yh8WgsmehyphenhyphenWWK5i8wvlonPS_QXDKfdp_ftc1f-CNprbk_m4p3S_lIdwF4t-uXEThnHSJr8SO9T_87SH1x4uiT/s1600/mighty2.tiff" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643355214116664082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX9uL6YU5RdqtwvotfZSfj1S6LR3hPSsPzbxT4eN9bse0XYjOs2s0vFl6Yh8WgsmehyphenhyphenWWK5i8wvlonPS_QXDKfdp_ftc1f-CNprbk_m4p3S_lIdwF4t-uXEThnHSJr8SO9T_87SH1x4uiT/s320/mighty2.tiff" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 250px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a>Theme: THE LORD FIGHTS FOR YOU
- The war is won
- Our battles continue
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Joshua 23 - Now it came to pass, a long time after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age. 2 And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them: "I am old, advanced in age. 3 "You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has fought for you. 4 "See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. 5 "And the LORD your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you. 6 "Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, 7 "and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, 8 "but you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 9 "For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. 10 "One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you. 11 "Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God. 12 "Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations -- these that remain among you -- and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, 13 "know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. 14 " Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. 15 "Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. 16 "When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you."</span>
Dear fellow soldiers of the cross, fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
The current War on Terror has changed how we view war, hasn’t it. In most wars of the past, our nation had clear cut enemies. They wore a particular uniform, fought as a unit, and were usually backed by a nation or government. We knew when the war came to an end because a treaty of some sort was usually signed, the fighting ended, and our soldiers came home. But our current War on Terror knows no such boundaries. The War on Terror is more a war against an ideology than a war against a nation. Those who hold the ideology of so-called Muslim extremists want to kill or convert anyone who is an infidel, or a non-Muslim. They don’t wear a uniform or pledge allegiance to a certain country, but the abide by a certain way of thinking and religious view.
Because of the nature of the War on Terror, there may never be a clear-cut end. We may be winning the war, but that doesn’t mean our battles against terrorists are over. Take Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance. We have defeated both former governments in those nations and new governments are now in place. I think we could say we won those wars. Yet there are battles that continue on against insurgents. Just over two weeks ago, 30 U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. While the war may be won, the battles wage on.
As we come to the closing chapters of our series on Joshua, we hear this morning General Joshua’s farewell address to the people of Israel. As Joshua speaks to the leaders of Israel, they face a similar situation. The war was won. Israel now occupied Canaan. Joshua reminds them that this was because the LORD fought for them. Though the war was won, there were still battles that remained ahead of them. Battles in which they would be victorious only if the LORD fought for them. We find ourselves in the same position. Jesus fought for us and won the war, yet there are battles that remain. Battles in which we will be victorious only if the LORD fights for us. With that let us hear the Word of God recorded in Joshua chapter 23 -
So far the Word of God. And this is God’s Word. Each word of it was breathed into the holy writer by God the Holy Spirit Himself. Because it is from God Himself, it is truth. And because it is truth we can base your life and eternal salvation on it. Therefore we pray, “Lord, sanctify us by Your truth, Your word is truth.” Amen.
THE WAR IS WON
It is hard to imagine all the things that Joshua had seen the LORD do in his lifetime. He started out as a slave in Egypt, he witnessed the plagues and the Passover, he crossed the Red Sea on dry land, he ate the manna and drank water from a rock, he saw the rebellion in the wilderness, when Moses died he took over leading Israel, he led Israel across the Jordan River on dry ground, he saw the miraculous defeat of Jericho, he saw the sun stand still, and he had seen Israel take possession of the Promised Land of Canaan. Now in Joshua 23, the aged General is 110 years old and about to die. He could now say with Israel, “You know in your hearts and in your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you, and not one word of them has failed.” Joshua and his audience knew that everything the LORD had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had come to pass in their generation, just as the LORD had promised.
As Joshua gives his farewell speech he reminds the Children of Israel that they were able to take possession of the Promised Land only because the LORD fought for them. Verse 3, “You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has fought for you.” Israel was not victorious in this war because they were a military super power. In many of their battles they were out numbered and out gunned. Yet they had the Super Power of Almighty God fighting for them. “For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day.” The Israelites were victorious in their war against the Canaanites only because it was the LORD who fought for them.
What the LORD did for the Children of Israel is a picture of what the LORD has done for us. Our war was not against “great and strong nations” like the Children of Israel faced. No, the enemies trying to keep us from entering the Promised Land of heaven were much more sinister and eternally destructive than the Hittites and Amorites.
One of the mighty enemies that was barring us from the Promised Land of heaven was our own sin. The sin we inherited from our parents. We were naturally sinful and enemies of God. Furthermore, when tempted to disobey, we have rebelled against the will of God time and time again.
Since we lost the war against sin ourselves, God sent His Champion, His own beloved Son Jesus to win the war against sin for us. The writer to the Hebrews says that Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15b) Jesus fought every sin that we are faced with. In the wilderness He was tempted with the sins of pride, greed, and idolatry. Yet in each case He defeated those temptations. He slew those temptations with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. His death on the cross was sacrifice to remove the debt of our sin. Jesus fought for us and won the war against sin.
Another one of our great enemies is death. We are powerless against death. We can do nothing to stop it or overcome it. Jesus also fought death for us. This enemy He charged head on when laid down His life on the cross. There Jesus died - just as Joshua died. Just like Joshua, He breathed His last and gave up the ghost. Like Joshua, the body of Jesus was laid in a tomb. But unlike Joshua, Jesus defeated death by rising from the dead three days later. And this victory God gives to us as well. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15:57)
And yet there still remained one enemy who is so crafty and so cunning, that he even led Adam and Eve in their state of perfection and holiness to sin against God and disobey His commandment. The crafty serpent who leads the whole world astray, wanted to lead us to spend an eternity in hell with him. So he fought against us to keep us out of the Promised Land of heaven with his temptations.
Because we were unable to win against the temptations of the devil, Jesus fought Him for us. Jesus is the One the LORD promised to Adam and Eve who would give a fatal head-blow to the devil while suffering only a bruised heel. Again we read in Hebrews that by His death on the cross Jesus “might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Heb 2:14b-15) Jesus fought the devil for us and won. We know He won because Jesus was not confined to the tomb, but Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Jesus fights for us and has won the war against sin, death, and the devil.
OUR BATTLES CONTINUE
You can imagine the temptation for the Israelites, can’t you. They got what they wanted, they inherited the promised land, now it was time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the spoils of victory. Yet in his farewell address, General Joshua reminds them that while the war is won, the battles must continue. There were still heathen nations living among them, most notably the Philistines. The battles must continue to be faithful to the LORD their God, His commandments, drive out those heathen nations, and have nothing to do with their false gods.
Joshua reminds them of the same. “Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, and lest you go (or associate) among these nations, these who remain among you.” Joshua then commands them not to have anything to do with their false gods, but remain loyal and faithful to the LORD their God - to love Him above everything else.
Joshua warns them of what will happen if they were to intermarry with the heathen and join in the worship of their false gods, verse 13, “know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you...” Joshua goes on in verse 15, “Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.” Indeed, these battles would prove to be much more difficult for the Children of Israel to win than the battle against Jericho. Their only hope for victory in these on going spiritual battles is if the LORD continued to fight for them and give them the victory.
We face some of the same battles that Israel faced, don’t we. We know all that Jesus has done to win the victory for us. We know our sins are forgiven through His death and resurrection. We know His resurrection from the dead means that we will rise too. And we know that in Christ the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. And sometimes knowing we have all these spiritual blessings in Christ we think the battle is over. We think that it no longer matters what we do or say, we are forgiven and that we are going to heaven no matter what.
Well, to the sin-troubled conscience the cross of Christ is great comfort and assurance. Yet when we feel comfortable in our sins and comfortable with our relationship with the unbelieving world around us, we must remember these words of Joshua. The LORD who is faithful in delivering the good things He has promised us, is also faithful in delivering the harmful threats to those who despise Him and His Word.
Though the war is won, we must battle on against the temptations of our sinful flesh and the temptations of the world around us. The world has a way of making its sinful behavior look appealing. As though it is fun and if we don’t join in, we are missing out. Our sinful flesh wants to go right along with it. If left to ourselves, we will lose that battle every time. But thanks be to God that He continues to fight for us. He has given us His Holy Spirit which wars against our old Adam. And through Jesus Christ our Lord, God delivers us from our this body of death. Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that has spoken to us in His Word. Take diligent heed, as Joshua says, to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God who fights for you.
It is a rather confusing situation we have in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war is largely won, but the battles continue. But in that, we are reminded of our own spiritual condition. Jesus fights for us and has won the war. He has given us the victory over sin, death, and the devil. He gives us the Promised Land of heaven as His free gift of grace. Yet our daily battles against sin still continue. Daily battles which can only be won if Jesus continues to fight for us. Therefore let us continue hold fast to the LORD our God who fights for us, as we have done to this day. Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-61061797916227995692011-08-17T10:54:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:18:33.486-05:00Joshua 6 - "Jericho: A Preview of the End"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRYvpETECndtLNKP7xwjnBwq8PAE9ZNvPthyphenhyphenFJBY7Nozl5X_070jSwz1yDy-WdW1BT-OxD5twGN_T51cYDHpOudRu2guAYj9IeGOokImmTUDXoCLJaFj-QMRphFELuhPkzaDXXKoli2Ds/s1600/Jericho+falling.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641854766125754994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRYvpETECndtLNKP7xwjnBwq8PAE9ZNvPthyphenhyphenFJBY7Nozl5X_070jSwz1yDy-WdW1BT-OxD5twGN_T51cYDHpOudRu2guAYj9IeGOokImmTUDXoCLJaFj-QMRphFELuhPkzaDXXKoli2Ds/s320/Jericho+falling.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 294px;" /></a>
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Theme: JERICHO: A PREVIEW OF THE END
- God’s “foolish” plan of victory
- Utter destruction
- Salvation for God’s precious possessions
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
Joshua 6</span> - Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. 3 "You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 "And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 "It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him."</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> 12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the LORD, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days. 15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. 16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city! 17 "Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18 "And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 "But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD." 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. 22 But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, "Go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her." 23 And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. 24 But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.</span>
Dear fellow sinners made righteous in the blood of the Lamb, God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, dear fellow redeemed,
If you’ve rented DVD movie releases recently you’ve probably noticed a clever scheme that the movie makers have come up with recently. It used to be that when you rented a DVD, if you didn’t want to watch all the previews at the beginning of the movie you could just press the “SKIP” button to skip through them. The producers of DVD’s must have realized that people weren’t watching their previews any more, so many have programed DVD’s such that you HAVE to watch the previews.
Why is that? Why do movie makers want you to watch previews of other movies before you watch the movie you paid to see? Well, they are hoping that their previews will get your interest and you will want to give them more of your money in the future so you can see their movie. Unfortunately, many of us have had the sad experience of the movie preview being better than the movie itself!
Throughout Scripture, God gives us previews of things that are to come. The book of Revelation is a preview of things that would happen to the church throughout the centuries. While there are some scary images in the book of Revelation, in the end the Lamb - Jesus - wins. In our on going series from the book of Joshua, we find another preview as we hear about the victory and destruction of Jericho. With Jericho we find a preview of the End of the World. As we examine this preview we will be reminded of God’s “foolish” plan of victory, the utter destruction that will come at the End, and the salvation of God’s precious possessions.
GOD’S “FOOLISH” PLAN OF VICTORY
The first preview of the end we see with Jericho is God’s “foolish” plan of victory. Is it odd to hear of anything God does as being “foolish,” isn’t it? When we speak of the plans of God, we usually speak of His infinite wisdom - and for good reason! He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He created all the laws of physics, the universe and the seasons. He created us! We are fearfully and wonderfully made! How could we, the creature, ever think of describing anything our Creator does as being “foolish”?!
Yet when you hear of the battle plans the LORD has drawn up for an attack on Jericho, it sounds foolish. Imagine being a soldier in the army, about to attack your first city and hearing these battle plans: have the army march around the city walls of Jericho once every day for six days, bring the ark of the covenant with you, say nothing - let the only sound be that of the seven ram’s horns blown by the seven priests. On the seventh day, march around the city walls seven times, again saying nothing - the only sound coming from their marching feet and the seven ram’s horns being blown by the seven priests. But on the seventh time around the city walls on the seventh day, when the people hear the rams horns sound, then shout with a great shout. Then, the LORD said, “the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” (v.5)
This sounds like a foolish battle plan, doesn’t it? If our commander in chief sent our soldiers into battle with a ram’s horn and bible, giving them the same directions he would probably be impeached. Yet what do we find happening in our text? God says it, General Joshua relays the order to the army of Israel and the army follows these “foolish” plans. The result? Verse 20, “And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.” God miraculously caused the walls of the city to fall flat and He gave the Children of Israel the victory over Jericho.
For those who have a child-like faith in the promise of God, such a battle plan does not sound foolish at all. We don’t hear of anyone questioning Joshua’s orders. In fact, for six days the people march silently around Jericho. They had faith in the so-called “foolish” plan of God and God gave them the victory. In Hebrews 11:30 we read, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.”
In this preview of the end we are reminded of God’s “foolish” plan of victory for us. Paul writes to the Corinthians that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor 1:18) The Gospel, the good news about Jesus dying on a cursed cross to save sinners, is just as foolish to the unbeliever as trying to defeat a city by shouting at its walls. The unbeliever thinks it is foolish to put your trust in someone who died 2000 years ago to be saved. The unbeliever thinks it is foolish that you cannot do anything to save yourself, that only God can save you and give you the victory.
But to you who have been brought to faith, the message of the cross is not a foolish plan of victory, it is your only hope. The Gospel is the power of God to rescue you from your sins. By faith you know that you can do nothing to save yourself your sins, only God can do that. And you rejoice in this “foolish” plan, because it means God gives you the victory in Jesus Christ and in the End will grant you eternal life as His free gift through Jesus. Just as He gave the Children of Israel the victory over Jericho through His “foolish” plan.
UTTER DESTRUCTION
The next preview we have of the End we find is what happened to that wicked city of Jericho. Once the walls came tumbling down, we read in verse 21 that “the utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” And verse 24, “They burned the city and all that was in it with fire.” To our politically correct ears, this is a little unsettling to hear. Everyone in the city of Jericho is utterly destroyed? Men and women, young and old? Everything but those precious possessions which we will talk about shortly, was destroyed?
Make no mistake about it, this was a judgment from God against the people of Jericho. Jericho, which means something like “moon god,” was a center of pagan worship for many false gods. It is believed that their pagan worship involved child sacrifices and ritual prostitution. In His infinite wisdom He had determined their time of grace had come to an end, just as He determines the end of the time of grace for all people - young and old alike.
The utter destruction of Jericho is a preview of the utter destruction of the world that will take place at the End of the World. We heard Peter remind us in our New Testament Lesson (2 Pt 3:10) that “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” When Jesus returns on the Last Day, He will separate the believers from the unbelievers. The believers will be welcomed to the inheritance of grace which Jesus has prepared for them in heaven, while the unbelievers will be condemned to an eternal death in the fires of hell.
Then, Peter tells us that this world and everything in it will be utterly destroyed. EVERYTHING will melt with a fervent heat. The tall sky-scrapers, the family farm, the mountains - everything will be burned up. Peter says that if such an utter destruction awaits this world and everything in it, “what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” (11-12) We work hard not to accumulate stuff for ourselves (stuff that will be utterly destroyed), but to glorify the God who saved us. So in the utter destruction of Jericho we see a preview of the End of the World and remind ourselves that all our possessions will be destroyed on the Last Day.
SALVATION FOR GOD’S PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS
Not everything was utterly destroyed in Jericho, though, was it? In verse 19 we read that the silver, gold, bronze, and iron were to be collected from the city and put in the LORD’s treasury - as a sort of offering to the LORD. Over 400 years later, these items would later be used by Solomon in the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. These precious possessions were to be rescued from the destruction of Jericho.
But that was not the only thing that was rescued from the destruction. Verse 17, “Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.” There was something in Jericho that was even more precious to the LORD than that silver and gold - there were believing souls. Believing souls that had earlier protected the Israelite spies, when they were spying out Jericho. Believing Rahab was saved from the destruction of Jericho, along with her family. After being rescued Rahab lived among the Israelites, even going on to marry an Israelite man. Rahab was the great-great grandmother of King David. And from the descendants of Rahab would eventually come our Savior, Jesus.
This too is a preview of the End of the World. This precious possession was saved from the utter destruction of Jericho. We read in Hebrews 11, “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.” (v.31) Rahab was a believer. We see her faith in her works, that she received those Israelite spies with peace and protected them from the soldiers of Jericho. God saved this precious possession, one of His believers, from the utter destruction.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we too have been rescued from the utter destruction on the last day and the eternal destruction of hell. We are just as undeserving as Rahab. Remember, she was a prostitute, a woman of sin. Yet God called her to repentance and faith in Him. Her sins were forgiven for Jesus’ sake. It is the same with us! We are men and women of sin. God has called us to repentance - to turn away from those sins - and turn to Jesus in faith for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus suffered the wrath of God for the sins of Rahab and for the sins of each one of us. He did this to rescue us from the utter destruction at the End of the World. God has called us out from the destruction and made us His people, just as He did with Rahab the prostitute. This is salvation by grace - undeserved salvation - for Jesus’ sake!
So when we read Joshua chapter 6 and hear about the destruction of Jericho, we see a preview of the End of the World. We see what the world would call a “foolish” plan of victory through the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. We see the utter destruction of Jericho and we are reminded of the utter destruction that awaits this world. And we see how God saved His precious possessions from destruction, just as through faith in Jesus we are His own precious possessions for whom His Son died and are rescued from the destruction to come. May God ever keep us steadfast in this faith unto the end and by His eternal grace, give us that crown of life in the end. All praise be to our Savior God! Amen!
Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-74310349367299450102011-07-31T11:56:00.002-05:002022-06-08T09:18:43.529-05:00Joshua 4 - "Memorial Stones"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZi3LmmfJZy9Mx5F693tpgGNs7DUEWhITrB6FaOI847tFCDQtvU67HqtOqoSb0fWXWVZADQXgh1yCnBveUH6keoRvGD-6Hh5dw62WoJ8OUczcNbChkcodarlyi6-BDZC9lb9Ln8JwW0Kp1/s1600/Joshua+4+-+stone+memorial.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635565363696114562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZi3LmmfJZy9Mx5F693tpgGNs7DUEWhITrB6FaOI847tFCDQtvU67HqtOqoSb0fWXWVZADQXgh1yCnBveUH6keoRvGD-6Hh5dw62WoJ8OUczcNbChkcodarlyi6-BDZC9lb9Ln8JwW0Kp1/s320/Joshua+4+-+stone+memorial.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 289px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a>
<div style="text-align: center;"> Theme: MEMORIAL STONES
- Remind us of the gracious work of God
- Used to teach our children
- Require strong shoulders
</div><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">
Joshua 4</span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;">And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying: 2 "Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, 3 "and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.' " 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them: "Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 "that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' 7 "Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever." 8 And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the LORD had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day. 10 So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. 11 Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. 12 And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. 13 About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life. 15 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, 16 "Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan." 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up from the Jordan." 18 And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. 19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' 22 "then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; 23 "for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever."</span>
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus who have crossed over from death to life in Him,
Sometimes I wonder what I would do without lists and a calendar. I have a hard time remembering dates and schedules - even important things! I can easily imagine forgetting some, if I did not write it down. I imagine each of you can identify with such forgetfulness. Maybe it’s not a calendar for you, maybe its sticky notes, or a string around your finger. Nonetheless, sin has affected our memories and we forget many things - even important things - in our lives.
It is with this in mind that we return to our series from the book of Joshua. Chapter four is kind of a replay of chapter three, with a more in-depth look at the Jordan crossing. In chapter three we were left wondering why one man from each of the twelve tribes were selected before the crossing of the Jordan into Canaan. But here in chapter four our questions are answered. These twelve men were selected to haul stones from the dry riverbed of the Jordan to its western shores where they would erect a memorial. As we examine these memorial stones, let us learn to take advantages of similar memorials to the LORD in our midst as teaching tools for our children. As we do, we will be reminded that the instruction of our youth requires strong shoulders. May the Lord bless us as we study His Word.
REMIND US OF THE GRACIOUS WORK OF GOD
Unless you were personally involved in it yourself, events of the past are very easy to forget. One way to remember events of the past is to memorialize them. If you visit our nation’s capital you will see that there are endless memorials around the Capital Mall. Most prominent are the Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln memorials. All of these stone monuments were erected to remind people about these men and what they did as leaders of our country.
Last week we heard how the LORD safely guided the Children of Israel into the promised land of Canaan. Though the Jordan River was at flood stage, this was no obstacle for the LORD to fulfill His promise and land the people safely on Canaan’s side. The almighty Creator of heaven and earth held back the waters of the Jordan and dried up the riverbed, so His people could cross safely.
This was an amazing work of the LORD. An event which that generation would not soon forget. But the LORD knows how easily we tend to forget from one generation to the next. So He commanded Joshua to tell the twelve men, “Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.” Those twelve stones would then be used to build a lasting memorial of the gracious work of the LORD in bringing them safely across the Jordan on dry ground.
Indeed, how easily we forget things - even important things! Could there be anything more important in our lives than our eternal salvation? Just as He brought the Children of Israel safely over into Canaan, so He has promised to bring us safely over to eternal life in heaven. But this is only possibly because of the cross of Jesus Christ. If Jesus had not suffered and died on the cross, we would still be responsible for our sins. If the eternal, almighty Son of God had not been born of the virgin Mary, if He had not taken on flesh and blood, He could not have died for our sins. If the Son of God did not do it, there would have been no sacrifice great enough to save our souls from the eternal fires of hell. But thanks be to God, as John writes that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 Jn 1:7)
This is the gracious work of God to rescue us from our own sins. We did nothing to deserve it, God did it all for us out of His undeserved love. And we do not want to forget the gracious work of God, so we too set up sorts of memorial stones. Do you have memorial stones in your home which remind you of the gracious work of God? Sure you do! Some of you may even be wearing one today. Maybe they are not a pile of stones, such as was erected at the Jordan, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all sorts of memorial stones at your homes. Think of the number of crosses you have in your home! The cross is a reminder of the cost of your salvation and the love of God for you. It was on a cross that the Son of God was sacrificed to give us eternal life. It was on the cross of Christ that we were redeemed unto God.
We have all sorts of “memorial stones,” don’t we. When our Voter’s set up the quarterly calendars, we speak of certain services that are “set in stone.” We have special services in December to mark the birth of our Savior. We have special services in the Spring to remind ourselves of the cost of our salvation and the life that Jesus won for us. We have the baptismal font at the front of church to remind us of the gracious work of God in your baptism. How in we were baptized into Christ, your sins were washed away, and you were adopted into God’s family. We have candles on the altar ro remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. We have the altar to remind us of Jesus as the Lamb of God who was sacrificed on the altar of the cross for our sins. We have a picture of Jesus saving sinking Peter, even as He rescued when we were sinking in our sins.
We even celebrate a memorial meal, don’t we? When we celebrate Lord’s Supper we receive the very body and blood of our Savior Jesus in, with, and under the earthly elements bread and wine. His body and blood which was given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. When Jesus instituted this sacrament He also said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Lk 22:19) In receiving Lord’s Supper we are not only receiving spiritual blessings, but we are also remembering the gracious work of our God as Jesus gave His body and shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. All of these memorial stones are set up to remind us of the gracious work of our God.
USED TO TEACH OUR CHILDREN
So why did God want to have this memorial erected? I can’t imagine that any of those who were present that day would ever forget how God held back the waters of the Jordan and allowed all those people to pass over on dry ground. We learn in our text that it wasn’t so much for their sakes, as it was for the sake of the generations to come. These memorial stones were valuable teaching tools about the gracious works of God. We read in last four verses of our text, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." God had those stones set up because He knew that in coming generations children would see those stones and ask, “What does this mean?” The parents would then have a wonderful opportunity to tell their children about the wonderful works of God.
It is so important to the LORD that parents tell their children about all that He has done to save them. Jesus scolded His disciples when they tried to prevent the little ones from coming to Him. Jesus did not just come to save grown-ups from their grown-up sins, He also came to save the little ones from their own sin and the sin they inherited from their sinful parents. Jesus loves the little children, He died to save the little children too, and He wants them to know how much He loves them.
The various memorial stones we have can also serve as excellent teaching tools for our children. We can tell them the reason they have a cross hanging on the wall in their bedroom. When we go to Lord’s Supper and our children ask why, we have the opportunity to tell them that Mom and Dad are sinners too and need forgiveness from God. We can point them to the baptismal font where they were baptized and made God’s precious child. Our catechism serves as a sort of memorial stone too, doesn’t it? We take our children through the basic teachings of Christian faith. And then we teach them to ask, “What does this mean?” and teach them the basics of the Christian faith.
All of these so-called “memorial stones” are used to teach our children. We do this, as Joshua says in the last verse of our text, that they “may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” Let us use these memorial stones to teach our children about the mighty acts of the LORD to save us, that they may stand in awe of the LORD forever.
REQUIRE STRONG SHOULDERS
So in your mind’s eye, how big are those memorial stones that these twelve men are bringing up from the riverbed of the Jordan? Listen again to verse 5, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel.” These stones were of such a size that they required strong shoulders to carry them to the western shore of the Jordan. Furthermore, keep in mind who each of these twelve men were representing - the twelve tribes of Israel. The men that carried these heavy memorial stones not just the professional “church people” from the tribe of Levi, but instead the lay-men of Israel who were carrying these memorial stones.
These are important truths for each one of us to keep in mind as we consider teaching our children about the gracious works of God. First of all it requires strong shoulders. Christian education is heavy lifting. Families are busier than ever with athletic obligations and school work. It seems that it is becoming harder and harder for families to find quality time to spend together. Which means it is harder to have family devotions and family Bible study. It requires strong shoulders to spend time in God’s Word as a family every day. But God wants such memorial stones erected not just on Sunday mornings at church, but everyday at home. He wants Christian parents, especially fathers, to bring up their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph 6:4) In fact, Martin Luther originally drew up his Small Commandment, not necessarily for pastors to teach members, but for fathers to teach their children at home.
And remember on whose shoulders it fell to bear the burden of carrying those memorial stones out of the Jordan? It was not just the professional clergy from the tribe of Levi, it was also the laymen of the twelve tribes of Israel. Even so, telling the next generation about the gracious works of God does not fall just on the shoulders of the pastor - God calls on laymen and women to take up this eternally important work. Therefore we call on laymen and women to tell our children in Sunday School about the gracious works of God. At home we work listen to our children recite their memory work, we talk about what we heard in church, and we make time for home devotions. Indeed, it requires strong shoulders to set up memorial stones and teach our children about the gracious works of God.
We forget things, so easily, don’t we. It is one thing to forget to buy desert when you are at the grocery store. It is another thing entirely to forget about the gracious works of our God to save us. Let us not only remember His gracious work ourselves, but let us remember to tell our children and grandchildren about all Jesus did so we could go to heaven. May God ever help us to be faithful in proclaiming all His wonderful works to the generation to come! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-45295676906147795762011-07-24T11:46:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:18:54.825-05:00Joshua 3 - "Land Me Safe on Canaan's Side"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGHZg1odAALTnBOdY323dq4Mb00bFm8SfDQXTimr5Sq5MJdOGm27ZSX7Y9ipBQl0SnLmvx-RhNyNfyNBFHsmRWlm0yjBZd_zhFSP_MPdfiBPqwlTvXgaRtbUYFCsZXmecnGb4USqik3LW/s1600/Crossing+Jordan.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5632961832123175314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGHZg1odAALTnBOdY323dq4Mb00bFm8SfDQXTimr5Sq5MJdOGm27ZSX7Y9ipBQl0SnLmvx-RhNyNfyNBFHsmRWlm0yjBZd_zhFSP_MPdfiBPqwlTvXgaRtbUYFCsZXmecnGb4USqik3LW/s320/Crossing+Jordan.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 245px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a>
<div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
Theme: “Land Me Safe On Canaan’s Side”
- Obstacles
- The LORD’s safe deliverance
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
Joshua 3</span></span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before." 5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 "You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.' " 9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God." 10 And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12 "Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." 14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.</span>
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
When I was in grade school, one of the things we enjoyed doing with our free time was playing the computer game “Oregon Trail” on our ancient Apple II GS school computers. The basic premise of the game was to get your character from Independence, Missouri to the Willamette Valley in Oregon by covered wagon in 1848. The journey was a difficult one. You had to withstand attacks by Indians, hunt for food to feed your family, deal with snake bites, and avoid all sorts of deadly diseases! But there was also the difficulty of river crossings in the covered wagon - most notably the Snake River. Sometimes you could ford the river with your covered wagon and survive in tact. Other times you and your party would perish by the mighty torrent of the Snake River. The game was intended to be educational as it taught students about the various challenges pioneers would have faced as they made their way west to settle the territory of Oregon.
What the Children of Israel went through during their journey from Egypt to Canaan was no video game. They suffered through plagues, diseases, hunger, thirst, fiery serpents, and death. People suffered and died because of their own sinful choices. They disobeyed and rebelled against the God who freed them from slavery in Egypt. The suffering they brought on themselves was greater than anything on the Oregon Trail.
Many of the things that happened to the Children of Israel remind us of things that happen to the Church. As they wandered in the wilderness, so we are pilgrims and sojourners in the wilderness of this world. As they waited and hoped for the Promised Land of Canaan, so we wait and hope for the Promised Land of heaven. As they brought many difficulties on themselves because of their sinful choices, so we bring many difficulties on ourselves because of our sinful choices.
In our text we hear that the Children of Israel are finally ready to enter Canaan. Only on thing stands in their way - the Jordan River. Let us examine the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River and consider our crossing over to the Promised Land of heaven. Our theme is taken from our closing hymn, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” We pray with the hymn writer that the LORD would “Land Me Safe on Canaan’s Side.” We will examine the obstacles that stood between the Children of Israel and their entrance into Canaan and consider the obstacles that stand between us and the Promised Land of Canaan. Then let us be amazed at how the LORD lands us safely in the Promised Land. May the Holy Spirit bless our study of His holy Word.
- OBSTACLES
One big obstacle that stood between the children of Israel and the Promised Land of Canaan was the Jordan River. Now when the two spies crossed the Jordan to spy out Jericho, it did not sound as though they had too much difficulty. They probably paid to have a ferry take them across, or they were able to ford the stream itself. But now an entire nation of approximately 2 million people are preparing to cross the Jordan River. And this is no trickling stream. They were about to cross the Jordan in the spring time when the snow melt from Mount Hermon and the spring rains caused the Jordan to swell and flood.
How would could they get all these people across safely? If they did it too slowly, the enemies on the other side of the river might take advantage of the situation. After a few had crossed they could ambush them and slowly kill off the Children of Israel as they tried to cross the river. If they weren’t careful and rushed things, people could get swept away and perish. They obviously had a huge obstacle in front of them.
What obstacles stand between us and an eternity with the God of heaven and earth? It is something much worse than a flooded river. It is much deeper than the Jordan River ever was. It’s torrents sweep us off our feet. It is the deluge of our sin. Isaiah writes, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Is 59:2) Our sins are like a giant barrier between us and God. They separate us from the one true God. They are an obstacle that keep us and God apart - now on earth and forever in hell.
We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that we should be able to go to heaven because we’re not as bad a sinner as others. After all, we’ve never killed anyone. We don’t sleep around. There are worse sinners out there than us. We should be able to overcome our obstacle of sin if we work hard enough. That is an unscriptural mind set. Listen again to what Isaiah writes, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” (Is 64:6) In God’s sight, even our
best deeds are stained with the ugliness of our sin.
And James writes, “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (Jam 2:10) It doesn’t matter how much or how little of the Law of God we’ve kept. If we even STUMBLE at one point - not fall into gross sin necessarily - but STUMBLE at one point in God’s law, it’s as if we had broken all His commandments. That is because when we stumble at obeying one of God’s commandments, we are breaking the First and great Commandment by not fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. Sin is our obstacle that is keeping us apart from God and an eternity in the paradise of heaven.
THE LORD SAFELY DELIVERS
“My Lord is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing that my Lord cannot do. The mountains are His, the valleys are His, the stars in the sky are His too. My Lord is so great, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my Lord cannot do.” Our VBS kids should remember this as one of the songs they sang during their music break. We are reminded in our text that there really is nothing that the Almighty cannot do. While the Jordan River was an obstacle too large for the people, it was not too large an obstacle for the LORD. The LORD safely delivered His people on Canaan’s side.
How the LORD overcame this obstacle is a miracle. The moment the priest who were carrying the ark of the covenant set foot in the Jordan River, the LORD held back the water upstream in a heap, we read. But if up in Jamestown they were to stop the flow of water into the James River, what would you expect the bottom of that river to be like? Probably smelly, mucky mud. Even though there would be no water in the Jim, it would take days if not weeks for the muddy bottom to dry up and be cross able.
Was a muddy river bed another obstacle for the Children of Israel to cross over? We again see the miraculous working of almighty God as He not only stops the flow of the flooded Jordan River, but immediately dries up the river bed. In the last verse of our text we read, “Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.” Obstacle removed by the Lord of all the earth. His people landed safely on Canaan’s side.
The obstacle of our sin that separates us from God is broader than the Jordan. Our river of sin does not just have a muddy bottom, it is a bottomless pit that sinks into hell. The current of our river of sin sweeps us off our feet and into the eternally Dead Sea. Our sins have separated us from God and we are unable to cross. Yet this obstacle is not too great for our God. Even as He allowed Israel to cross safely to Canaan’s side, so too He does with us.
But something had to be done with our obstacle of sin. God is a God of justice. That is, He always does what is right and just. As a just God He cannot simply ignore our flood of sin, He cannot simply look the other way. Sin, disobedience, and rebellion against His will must be dealt with. The punishment for these sins must be carried out. Justice must be served. How did God overcome this obstacle? He overcame it Himself for us. The Son of God took on flesh, He became one of us to take our sin and our punishment on Himself. On the cross, Jesus suffered the wrath and punishment of God on account of our sin. Justice for our sins was carried out on Jesus. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Is 53:5) “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12) He has cast our iniquity into the depth of the sea (Mic 7:19) - never to be seen again.
Jesus stopped the flood of God’s wrath against our sins Himself. Just as the Jordan was held back, so God’s wrath was held back by Jesus stepping in. And because of Jesus, we can pass over on dry ground. Rather than a muddy river bottom that we might sink into because of our unrighteousness, Jesus has given us firm ground to walk on in His righteousness. Through faith in Jesus, His perfect righteousness is credited to our account. We are healed. Through Christ we have direct access to the throne of Almighty God.
In Jesus we will land safe on Canaan’s side. As the Way, the Truth, and the Life we follow Him into death knowing that our eyes will open in the Promised Land of heaven. In fact, Jesus says that we have already passed over from death to life. Peter writes that our eternal inheritance in heaven is reserved for us. Our Triune God who overcame the obstacle of the Jordan River for His people, has overcome our obstacle of sin and removed it forever through Jesus. Now He leads us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death to the eternal mansions He has prepared for us in heaven. Praise be to the living God who is among us, the Lord of all the earth who safely delivers us from this veil of tears to Himself in heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-91236103779516620482011-06-19T12:12:00.004-05:002022-06-08T09:19:47.172-05:00Numbers 6:22-27 "Go, My Children, With My Blessing"<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0vD3261JOVFU8SieF7VV7CefbKZDKVSqlMvCYDLAK34bi69bcioKm8g77uop8VQ5P2tvt9z7HKHzPHTU2BbchDunWydlFRH8WFlNfoGWpAJwHLp2s8GscwyAMuJmWp6jOQJt99HkcaGW/s1600/trinity_1622c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619980432815339810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0vD3261JOVFU8SieF7VV7CefbKZDKVSqlMvCYDLAK34bi69bcioKm8g77uop8VQ5P2tvt9z7HKHzPHTU2BbchDunWydlFRH8WFlNfoGWpAJwHLp2s8GscwyAMuJmWp6jOQJt99HkcaGW/s320/trinity_1622c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 243px;" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
NUMBERS 6:22-27</span> And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”’ So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”</span>
Theme: “GO, MY CHILDREN, WITH MY BLESSING”
- His name
- His blessing
- Our response
THE INTRODUCTION: (at the beginning of the worship service)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
Have you ever become so familiar with something, that you loose sight of how great it is? This being Father’s Day, one example that comes to mind immediately is our Christian fathers. Men who not only cared for our physical needs - they worked hard to put a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, and food in our belly - but our Christian fathers cared for something even greater. They cared for our souls. They made sure we were baptized in the name of the Triune God after we were born. From infancy, they brought us to church. They led table prayers and family devotions.
And yet, we became so familiar with the things our Christian fathers did for us, that we easily lost sight of how great these things were that he was doing for us. Seldom did we thank our Dad’s when they came home after a hard day of work. Work which they were doing to care for us. Seldom did we thank Dad for bringing us the word of God in our family devotions. Seldom did we thank Dad for taking us to church and making us do our memory work. These were just things that Dad did, which we became familiar with, and took for granted. It usually took days like the third Sunday in June or even the death of our father to make us pause and consider all the amazing things our father’s did for us. May our father’s forgive us for our thanklessness and thoughtlessness!
We all have experienced that feeling of being so familiar with something that we loose sight of just how awesome it is. I want to point you to another example this morning. It is a part of a worship service that we are all quite familiar with - the Benediction. I have seen elderly women mouth these words along with me as I’ve given them. I’ve seen youngsters in the pew mimic my hand gestures as I give the benediction. From the pastor standing up front, to the members in the pews, we are very familiar with the words of the Benediction.
And yet, how many times have we glossed over the words of the Benediction? To my shame I confess that sometimes I say the words without thinking about what I am doing. And I there were times, probably too numerous to count, when I was in your position and I didn’t really pay attention when the pastor was giving the Benediction. I imagine that most, if not all of you, know exactly what I am talking about. May God have mercy on me for taking for granted the amazing words of this blessing.
On this Trinity Sunday we want to remind ourselves of just how awesome this Benediction is. These are not words well-wishing, that some man decided would be a nice way to end a worship service. The words of the Benediction were divinely inspired - given by the Triune God Himself. He commanded His priests to bless His people in this way. We use these words of the benediction as we leave the Lord’s House and return to our lives in the world of sin and evil. Our theme is taken from that beloved hymn based on our text, “Go, My Children, with My Blessing.” Our text is taken from fourth book of Moses, Numbers, chapter six, beginning with twenty-second verse. Please rise for the reading of our text.
<span style="font-weight: bold;"> And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." ' 27 "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."</span>
This is the Word of God. Amen.
I) HIS NAME
Last Sunday we were privileged to attend my brother’s installation and ordination service at Ascension Lutheran Church in Batavia, IL. When it comes to the installation of a pastor, one of the neat traditions we have in our circles deals with the giving of the Benediction. You may remember from the various pastors you have had installed over the past decades, that the first words the pastor speaks to his new congregation after his installation are the words of the Benediction. And what better words are there a pastor can use to begin his ministry, then the words of the Benediction.
The giving of the Benediction has long been an honor for preachers of the word. It was an honor for the Old Testament priests since the days of Aaron and Moses, and continues to be a high honor some 3500 years later. One reason it is an honor is because of what the priest or pastor is doing when he gives the Benediction. The LORD says in the last verse of our text that in giving this Benediction the priest or pastor, “shall put My name on the children of Israel.” Let’s first remind ourselves of what this means, that in the Benediction the LORD’s name is being put on us.
First of all, what does it mean to “put one’s name” on something or someone. Well, when I was confirmed my parents got me a Bible as a gift with my name engraved on the front in gold letters. Why did they do that? Why put my name on a Bible? So that everyone would know that Bible belongs to me. It is my possession and no one else’s. Couldn’t we say the same when the LORD puts His name on someone? That person becomes His own special possession. We were purchased with that priceless blood of Christ. We were bought back by God. We are His own. He puts His name on us and blesses us.
What name is used in the Benediction? The name LORD, in all capitals. This is the unique name of our God, like Allah or Baal are unique names for two false gods. Any time you see the name “LORD” in all capitals, this is the great “I AM” who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He is not “I was” or “I will be,” He is “I AM.” He is the eternal, unchangeable God. He is the Covenant God who makes promises and sticks by them. The God who promised to send a Savior to rescue us from our sins and has done just that in Jesus.
The fact that the name “LORD” is repeated three time in the Benediction is of great significance to us, especially on this Trinity Sunday. He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God, three separate, but equal persons. The God who created and preserves us, the God who died to save us, and the God who converts us and makes us His children. It is this God who commands this blessing because He wants to put His name on His people to bless us.
HIS BLESSING
In verse 23 He commands Moses to tell Aaron to bless the Children of Israel in this prescribed way. Think of that! The great “I AM,” the unchangeable covenant God, desires to bless His children! He wants to bless YOU! And He wants you to know that with these words He is blessing you. “I will bless them,” the LORD says at the close of our text.
This is His blessing. First of all, with these words He is blessing us and keeping us. To bless means to shower favor upon. The Triune God wants to shower His favor upon us. And He has done just that, hasn’t He. Think of all the countless ways God has given you. All you need to do is survey your bedroom at home to see all the ways the LORD has blessed you.
But the LORD blessing you goes far beyond showering favor on you with material blessings. The LORD has showered many spiritual blessings on us. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph 1:3) He has given His one and only Son to die for us and take away all our sins. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, our huge debt of sin has been paid for and removed forever. By the work of the Holy Spirit we have been adopted into the family of God. He is our Father and we are His children. By the faith the Holy Spirit has worked in us in Christ Jesus, we have become heirs of eternal life.
The LORD also keeps us. That is, He defends us from all danger, He guards and protects us from all evil. It is true, He may test our faith from time to time by causing hardship to come into our lives. And even when those trials come, the God who keeps His promises tells us that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor 10:13) He keeps us. We leave God’s house knowing He has put His name on us and will continue bless us and keep us in Christ.
But the words of blessing continue from our Triune God. “The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.” It is a terrible thing to have the Triune God turn His back on you. He is the worst enemy any one can have. And because of our sin, that is the relationship we have by nature with the LORD. But all that changed on the cross of Jesus Christ. There God forsook His Son, on whom He had laid the sin of us all. There Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mt 27:46) There God turned His back on His Son. Because Jesus endured the suffering of separation on account of our sins, the LORD face now shines upon us in Christ Jesus. Just as the sunshine after a storm brings us joy, even more so the face of the LORD shining on us brings even more joy as we hear how He has been gracious and merciful to us in Jesus.
“The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” To lift up ones countenance upon someone else, is to look with favor on someone. In the Benediction, the LORD is looking with favor on you. This is only be possible through Jesus Christ. Only cleansed in the blood of the Lamb, can the LORD possibly look with favor on us wretched sinners. But He does! And He wants to! And He wants you to know that because of Christ and in Christ He looks on you with favor. You are His own beloved child!
The result of the LORD blessing and keeping us, making His face shine upon us and being gracious unto us, and lifting up His countenance upon us, is peace. He gives us peace. Peace for our troubled consciences in the knowledge of sins forgiven. Peace with Him because we have been reconciled unto Him in Christ. Peace with our brother and sister in Christ. This is the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Peace is the culmination of Christ’s redemptive work, the culmination everything you have heard in the worship service, and the culmination of everything said in the Benediction.
OUR RESPONSE
How do we respond to this amazing blessing? In our liturgy we sing a “triple amen” to the LORD who wants to put His name on us and bless us. And that is the perfect response to this amazing blessing. Contrary to what our little ones think, “Amen” does not mean “all done” or “the end.” “Amen” means “YES!” Or as our catechisms explain it, “Yes, yes, it shall be so.”
So when we sing our triple Amen after the Benediction, we are saying, “Yes, LORD, bless and keep us! YES, LORD, make Your face shine upon us and be gracious to us! YES, LORD, lift Your countenance upon us and give us peace!” “YES, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit put your name on us and bless us!” What a fitting response to this amazing blessing!
It is true that familiarity breeds contempt. That is, the more familiar we are with something, the more we take it for granted. We must confess that has been true when it came to our Christian fathers. But just because that is the case, doesn’t mean that is right. Even more so with this blessed Benediction which we get to hear every Sunday. Let us rejoice and cherish the Benediction as the Triune God puts His name on us and blesses us as we leave His house and hear Him say, “Go, My Children, with My Blessing!” Praise be to God the Father, praise be to God the Son, praise be to God the Spirit, great Jehovah three in one! Amen, that is “yes, yes, it shall be so!”Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-58742655818205677392011-06-02T21:01:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:19:55.627-05:00Ascension Day - Ephesians 1:16-23 "The Greatness of the Power of God"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJ26Qof_Woyli406bYnw2J0lP0PmncRs2c-xDcdOM7UwzaJNuWV5nBcjdZ7yYyaHLvpJ7Vefb5fDZmSlD8WluIkqxue-1hu9tuy5SpIW2Y16YGdMwYWzL8W-hhOMOwSTb9pLOJAdqnZqa/s1600/ascension_8206c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613808442222635394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJ26Qof_Woyli406bYnw2J0lP0PmncRs2c-xDcdOM7UwzaJNuWV5nBcjdZ7yYyaHLvpJ7Vefb5fDZmSlD8WluIkqxue-1hu9tuy5SpIW2Y16YGdMwYWzL8W-hhOMOwSTb9pLOJAdqnZqa/s320/ascension_8206c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 160px;" /></a>
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Text: Ephesians 1:16-23
Theme: THE GREATNESS OF THE POWER OF GOD
- Worked in Christ
- At work in us
In the name of Jesus, who has gone up with a shout, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, almighty, grace and peace to you in His name!
How powerful is God? Some have posed the silly question if God could use His power to make a rock so big that not even He could move it. I call it silly, because God doesn’t use His power for such silly demonstrations.
None of us would deny the power of God. We see it all around us in the world and universe He created. But how does the power of God impact our lives? How does the power of God affect us personally?
Sometimes we loose sight of God’s power. Though we know in our head that God is all-powerful, we often forget with our heart. We have a problem in our lives, whether it be with our health, our family, our finances, or our personal life, and we don’t go to God first in prayer with our problem. We try ever other avenue to take care of our problem, rather than casting our care on Him first. Sometimes we might even go so far as to think that we don’t want to bother God with our problem. When we do this, we are making God smaller than He really is. It amounts to thinking that God is so busy with the affairs of this world that He either doesn’t have the time or, even worse, the ability to help you with your problem.
But when doubting or forgetting about the power of God really affects us, is when we begin to doubt our salvation. We wonder whether God has really forgiven all of our sins. We wonder whether we are really going to heaven. After all, our conscience keeps reminding us of those dirty, filthy, embarrassing, and secret sins. And if we know about them, God, who tests the heart of man, knows about those sins too. And if God knows about them, how could we ever expect Him to allow us into heaven?!
This is one of the tremendous blessings of Ascension Day. Ascension Day is a day in which we see the greatness of God’s power. We see it at work first of all in Jesus and are reminded that the same great power is at work in each one of us! Let us therefore turn our attention to the Word of God as recorded in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1. Verses sixteen through twenty-three are included in the text to give us some context, but tonight we will be especially focusing in on verses nineteen through twenty-three.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">(I) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.</span>
So far the Word of God.
WORKED IN CHRIST
The power of God is so great that the Apostle Paul has trouble describing it. Take a look at verse 19 again. How many different words for power or strength does he use in that one verse? He writes of the “exceeding greatness of His power” and of His “mighty power.” Even the word “working,” from which we get our English word “energy,” implies power. In verse 19, Paul heaps synonym upon synonym to describe the power of Almighty God. The point we take away from this is that the power of God is so great that there really aren’t enough words in the human vocabulary to describe it.
To help us see the greatness of God’s power, Paul points us to two specific events in Jesus’ life. First is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. “According to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.” Could there be any greater evidence of God’s power than the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? After all, death is the one thing that no man has power over. No medicine, be it ever so strong; no doctor, be he ever so wise, can stop or over come death. Only the mighty power of God could give life to the dead.
For 40 days after His resurrection from the dead, we read in Acts that Jesus gave many “infallible proofs” that He was truly alive. He wanted there to be no doubt in the mind of His disciples that He had truly risen from the dead. He showed them His hands and His feet. He let them feel His body, that He was not just a ghost or a spirit, but a living human being with flesh and bones. Though He did not need it, He ate food in their presence to give further proof that He was living. The disciples had a hard time believing He had really risen from the dead because it seemed impossible. But Jesus used those 40 days from Easter to Ascension to show them the greatness of God’s power.
Today we find ourselves 40 days from Easter. It was on this day that we see once again the greatness of the power of God as Jesus ascended from the earth to the right hand of God the Father almighty. Again we read verses 19 and 20, “According to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” Who do you know who has the power to overcome the laws of gravity? Certainly we can strap jet engines or rockets onto something and we are able to ascend from the earth. But no one has the power in and of themselves to do what Jesus did and physically ascend from the ground into the clouds.
But the greatness of the power of God isn’t just seen in Jesus’ physical ascension off of this planet. The greatness of His power is seen where Jesus went when He ascended. He left this universe to heaven itself, the dwelling place of God - “the heavenly places,” Paul calls it. And there Jesus was given a position of power at the right hand of the Father. Now the Father has placed everything under the feet of His Son. As powerful as some of this world’s rulers might be, Jesus is more powerful and He rules over them. None shall rise to the greatness of Jesus. All in the past, in the present, or in the future are under the feet of Jesus and are subject to Him, whether they want to be or not.
Think of the great power it took for Jesus to leave the world of time and enter eternity. Consider how He left the realm of the finite and entered the infinite. How He left the physical and entered the spiritual. Jesus went from being in one place at one time, to being all places all the time as He now fills “all in all.” Truly, on Ascension Day, we see the greatness of the power of God which He worked in Christ.
AT WORK IN US
But what does any of this have to do with us? This has everything to do with and our salvation! As Paul offers up his prayer of thanksgiving for the Christians in Ephesus, he makes mention of the specific thing he prays for them. One of the things he prays for them is that they may know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ.” Paul says that the same great power that brought lift to Jesus dead body on the third day, the same great power by which Jesus ascended from earth to God’s right hand in heaven, is the same exact great power that is at work in every single believer!
It does indeed take great power to give life to the dead. And that is what God did in each of us when He brought us to faith. He gave spiritual life to a spiritual corpse. Paul goes on to write in Ephesians 2, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” (2:4-5) By faith in Christ we are united with Him. The same great power that raised Jesus on the third day, raised us to spiritual life as well. He made us believers in Christ. He adopted us as His children and made us heirs of eternal life. What amazing power our God has!
But the greatness of His power at work in us does not end there. On Ascension Day we see a clear demonstration of God’s mighty power as we hear how Jesus ascended from the earth to the right hand of God in heaven. Do we doubt His power on Ascension Day? Of course not! Paul writes in our text that Christ is our head, and we the church is His body. And where the head is there the body will be also. Even so by His great power God has “made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (2:6) By the great power of God we are connected with Christ and in Christ. Heaven is our home. Christ has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven, and will return to take us to be with Him forever. This is all the great power of God at work in us to save us and make us His own forever!
So you see, dear Christians, the power for your salvation is not in your hands, but was in the hands of almighty God! Almighty God who showed us how powerful He was when He raised Jesus from the dead. Almighty God who shows us on this day, the greatness of His power as Jesus ascended to His right hand in the heavenly places. It is this same Almighty God who has done everything necessary for you to be saved. He put all of your sins - even those secret sins - to death in the body of Jesus. He raised you up to new life in Christ and made you alive together with Him. He chose you from eternity to be His child and worked faith in your heart by the greatness of His power. You are His own dear child and whatever the problem might be in your life, it cannot be bigger than rising from the dead. God has the power to do that and God has the power to aid you in every situation in life. May the power of Ascension Day ever cause you to rejoice knowing that it was the same mighty power of God that is at work to save you! In the name of our Ascended Lord, Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-23188273311152516672011-05-29T11:58:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:20:05.968-05:00Acts 17:22-31 "The 'Unknown God' Who Wants to be Known"<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-lNMA_d9L-DTmbsAx4MPAhSjqam2rcu3X4tvtkHoTYhfeoe9J0M7dO3OByJ7SeWu_xEd31PG4_3GrfnxlTa-xpJJ_uIXvfSUM4O2EnwbvrFjYIQdqC7jUlf48PtYF3ItX8SzSC2esRVO/s1600/acts17b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612184114019491522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-lNMA_d9L-DTmbsAx4MPAhSjqam2rcu3X4tvtkHoTYhfeoe9J0M7dO3OByJ7SeWu_xEd31PG4_3GrfnxlTa-xpJJ_uIXvfSUM4O2EnwbvrFjYIQdqC7jUlf48PtYF3ItX8SzSC2esRVO/s320/acts17b.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 238px;" /></a><br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Acts 17:22-31</span> Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”</span>
Theme: THE “UNKNOWN GOD” WHO WANTS TO BE KNOW
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
In our text we find the Apostle Paul in the midst of his second missionary journey. On this journey, Paul had parted ways with Barnabas, and taken along Silas, Timothy and Luke. In the weeks leading up to his time in Athens, Paul and Silas had been imprisoned in Philippi for preaching that Jesus was the only way of salvation and casting a demon out of a girl in Jesus’ name. As depressing as it might have been to be thrown into prison for preaching Christ, Paul and Silas spent the night in that Philippian jail singing hymns and praying to God. And it was this imprisonment that God used Paul and Silas to reach a heathen jail keeper with the Gospel. The result was that very night the jailer of Philippi and his household were brought to faith and baptized in Jesus name.
From Philippi, they journeyed to Thessalonica and were able to start a church. But here again, they met opposition. Unbelieving Jews and some wicked men of the city stirred up the whole city and drove Paul and his missionary helpers from the city.
From Thessalonica they journeyed to the city of Berea. It was in Berea that the encountered some very noble spirits. Luke reports that the Bereans received the word with “all readiness” and would search the Scriptures daily to see if the things Paul was telling them were true. Yet the rabble-rousers from Thessalonica learned that Paul was in Berea, they came and tried to turn the city against them. Because of the persecution in Berea, the brethren in Berea sent Paul away to the great Greek city of Athens, where he was to wait for Silas and Timothy, who were to meet up with him later.
While Paul was waiting in Athens, he began to tour the city and as he did, the Holy Spirit reports that “his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.” (Acts 17:16) Greek culture is well known for its many mythological gods. It seemed there was a god for every occasion under the sun. Zeus was the king of all Greek gods. He was the god of the sky, weather, and fate. All Greeks wanted Zeus on their side. If you were a fisherman or going to travel on the sea, then you would want to make sure you were good with the Greek god Posiedon and probably Hermes, the god of travel. If you and your wife were childless, then you would offer sacrifices to Hera, the Queen of marriage, and maybe also Aphrodites, the goddess of beauty and love. Our farmers would have wanted the favor of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and harvest.
But among their many gods, Paul saw that the Athenians realized something wasn’t quite right. The feared that among that they may have missed a god and did not want to offend him. Therefore they had an altar with this inscription: VAGNW,STW| QEW/ - “To the Unknown God.” Paul sees this as an opening to testify to the learned people of Athens about the God they did not know about. The one true God of heaven and earth. It is this God, that Paul wants to make known to the Athenians. Therefore, let us consider this morning, the Unknown God who wants to be known. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditation of His holy Word.
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” So writes King David in the opening verse of Psalm 14. We know we are not supposed to call anyone a fool, because it is such an unloving term, but David uses the term “fool” in a correct way. A fool is someone who denies everything he sees before him. Only a fool would say that the sun is not bright. Only a fool would say that fire is not hot. Only a fool would look at the world around him, the stars in the heavens, and his own body and say “There is no God.”
The Greeks seemed to go overboard in the other direction. They knew there was something bigger than themselves out there, so they began to worship all sorts of different deities. And their deities were only as big as their imagination. They had imperfections, so they imagined the gods had imperfections. They lusted after women, so they imagined that the gods lusted after the women of the world. They fought with one another, so they imagined that the gods fought with one another. They couldn’t imagine one god being able to control all aspects of the world around them, so there were different gods that ruled over different aspects of their life.
As Paul toured the city of Athens he saw that they were quite dedicated to their religious ways of life. “Men of Athens,” he said, “I perceive that in all things you are very religious.” The Athenians weren’t fools. They were aware there was something out there bigger than themselves, but they didn’t know who that God was. Until Paul came to visit. “I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” The Athenians knew in their heart of hearts that there was a God out there greater than their folly-filled Greek gods. A God they did not know. A God they did not want to offend by ignoring Him, so they set up an altar and called Him the “Unknown God.”
This is what we refer to as the “Natural Knowledge of God.” It is what man can surmise about God from looking at nature around him - the planet, his body, and the universe. By nature all men know there is something out there, something greater than themselves. It is the fool that has to convince himself that there is nothing greater than himself in the universe. Many devise different gods to worship - like the Greeks did.
Paul had a different kind of knowledge. He had a “revealed knowledge of God.” Paul knew who the true God was. And Paul knew that this God did not want to remain unknown. “Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” The God Paul proclaimed is not weak like the factitious gods of the Greeks. The God Paul proclaimed is Almighty. He is the maker of the world and everything in it. He is the Lord or Master of heaven and earth. He is not weak and puny like the Greek gods who were said to be living in the temples made by the hands of men. As Isaiah writes of the one true God, “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool.” (Is 66:1)
The one true God is not needy like the Greek gods were, who would get angry if they did not get what they wanted. “Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath and all things.” God doesn’t need anything, rather He gives all things. He gives us our lives, He gives us our breath, and He gives us all our possessions. If we give our lives or our possessions to Him, we are merely giving to Him those things that are already His.
The maker of heaven and earth is also the God of history. “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” Greeks, Romans, Jews, Indians, Chinese, European, were all made by God from one blood, that is Adam. And this God is not abstract and uninvolved in His creation. He has “determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” Think of it! In world history we read of nations rising and falling. Some, like the mighty Babylonian empire, seemed to fall over night. This was God’s plan and will for the Babylonians. The Greeks existed because it was God’s plan. The United States of America exists today because it is God’s will and this nation will fall some day, in accordance with God’s plan.
God’s purpose in determining the pre-appointed times and boundaries of habitation of men on the face of the earth is one - “so that they should seek the Lord, in hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Like a man in the pitch black of night groping for a light switch that he knows is there somewhere, so too God wants man to grope for Him. His purpose in guiding and directing history is that man might search for Him and find Him. We have seen this in our Bible Class series on the book of Daniel, haven’t we. As amazed as we are about the accounts of the 3 men in the fiery furnace and the hand writing on the wall, we are even more amazed to read how God, through Daniel, was reaching out to the heathen kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius.
This is true of every nation that has ever existed. God allows them to exist for His divine purpose. And His ultimate purpose is that they might know Him the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Paul was in Athens, speaking to the Greeks for this very purpose! Ascension Day being this Thursday, we are reminded of what Jesus commissioned His disciples to do. “Go therefore and make disciples of ALL nations.” (Mt 28:19) And to “Go into ALL the world and preach the Gospel to EVERY creature.” (Mk 16:15)
The “Unknown God” wants to be known. He has always made Himself known, if man would only search Him out. He has left His fingerprint on creation. But this knowledge is only a limited knowledge. By it man can know of “His eternal power and Godhead.” (Rom 1:20) They can know He is powerful and wise. God intends this that men will further grope for Him and find Him. In Old Testament days, those searching would have found out about Him from the Children of Israel. In our New Testament era God calls on us to go out and tell the world about Him. Tell how He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ez 33:11) Tell how He was so determined to save the wicked that He gave His own beloved Son into death for sins. How He punished His one and only Son for the sins that we had committed. And how He raised His Son to life. And it is His risen Son who will come again one day to judge the living and the dead in righteousness.
God wants to be known. He directs history in the hope that men might look to Him and find Him. That is why He formed a nation called the United States, states called North and South Dakota, and a city called Hecla - so that men might know Him. So that His Gospel would be preached. So that men would be called to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. That is why God has you going to school where you are going and working in the job you are working. So that you can be the light of the world to those who are in darkness groping for this “Unknown God” that wants to be known.
It is amazing to consider the workings of almighty God and how He guides and directs the history of the world. Did Paul consider the reason he was forced from Berea, was that he might make known the one true God to the idolatrous people of Athens? Maybe it wasn’t Paul’s plan, but it certainly was God’s. Because God wants to be known. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4) He gave His Son into death for the sin of ALL men, because He wants ALL men to be saved. May the Lord of heaven and earth use us even as He used Paul to make His name known wherever we go! Praise be to the one true God! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-14744673714448485602011-05-22T18:25:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:20:18.971-05:00Confirmation Sunday: 1 Timothy 6:12 "Something Worth Fighting For"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJRh0bIM5zf_FaGFAXJ7kKa3Ax_a_vj8g7Z3FgOXzweza5OQ8xvuuxUkUeB7T0eY3yQPqYrkJdo4VID1TwBsHxajPyMhIQb5Bu3G6u_DT9X6E_yO_Nic2Br8ANbTVzgX561OhSGGF8VO7/s1600/confirmation2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609686220695932562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJRh0bIM5zf_FaGFAXJ7kKa3Ax_a_vj8g7Z3FgOXzweza5OQ8xvuuxUkUeB7T0eY3yQPqYrkJdo4VID1TwBsHxajPyMhIQb5Bu3G6u_DT9X6E_yO_Nic2Br8ANbTVzgX561OhSGGF8VO7/s320/confirmation2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 301px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 300px;" /></a>
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Theme: SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, especially on this day, our dear confirmands, Lydia and Shelby,
What is there in your life that you think is worth fighting for? Your dignity? Your pride? Your iPod? That’s right. If one of your brothers or sisters tried to take your iPod you would probably argue and fight to get it back. After all, it’s yours. It belongs to you and is important to you. But what if someone tried to hurt, or worse yet, take that same brother or sister of yours? Would you fight to defend him or her? Certainly a family member is worth fighting for. We are willing to fight to protect, defend, and rescue things that are important to us.
When our soldiers go off to fight for their country, they need to know what they are fighting for. After all, it is their bodies, their lives that they are putting on the line. It is essential for moral that understand their mission objective and that they support that mission. If it is a cause they can get behind, like defeating Nazi Germany or winning the war on terror, you can bet that they would be glad to shed their blood and even give up their lives fighting for this cause.
So we see why it is so important that if someone going to fight or compete in something, it is vitally important that they feel it is something worth fighting for. On this Confirmation Sunday we realize that there is one fight that is truly worth fighting for. It is not a fight over money or a fight for a piece of real estate. It is a fight for your soul and your eternal future. As we consider something worth fighting for we turn to the word of God as recorded in the first epistle of the Apostle Paul to the young pastor Timothy, where we read,
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;">1 Timothy 6:12 - </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.</span>
So far the Word of God. That the Holy Spirit would sanctify us, that is to set us apart for His holy purposes, we pray, “O Lord, Sanctify us by your truth, Your Word is truth.” Amen.
The Apostle Paul is fond of describing different aspects of the Christian faith by using athletic terms. In 1 Corinthians he writes of his journey of faith in Christ as a race. A race in which he is determined and focused. A race in which the finish line is heaven. As Paul talks about another aspect of our Christian faith, the athletic term he uses is a “fight.” But this isn’t like those petty, shallow, fights that you had with your siblings at home or peers at school. It’s not even like the many wars that have been waged in the history of the world, regardless of whether men thought they were worthy of fighting or not. Paul in our text talks about a “fighting the good fight of faith.”
What makes your fight of faith such a good and noble fight? First of all it is good because of the OBJECT of your faith. You believe that God rescued you from an eternity in hell by sending His Son. You believe that the Son of God became man to be what you were not and to save you from what you had done. Because you did not obey the commandments, Jesus came to obey them for you. Because your disobedience deserved God’s wrath and punishment, Jesus came to take the wrath of God on Himself and suffer in your place when He died on the cross. And you believe that because of what Jesus did you are forgiven. You believe that in Jesus you are a child of God and you will inherit eternal life.
We rejoice in Jesus because, as Joshua told the Children of Israel, the LORD your God is He who fights for you. (Jos 23:10) Jesus has fought our battles for us and won. He fought the temptations to sin and won. He was tempted as we are, and yet without sin. He fought death for us and won. He rose from the dead on the third day and He gives us His victory!
This is your faith. It is a faith worth fighting for because of the OUTCOME of your faith. God couldn’t have been more definite about the outcome of our faith, could He? You told us this morning already that God says in His Word that whoever believes in His Son will not perish, but have everlasting life. And that he who believes and is baptized WILL be saved. The outcome of your faith is eternal life with God in heaven. This is the faith that you just confessed in the presence of many witnesses at your examination and will confess again in a few moments as you are confirmed.
But you didn’t get to this point on your own. No, God’s grace, His undeserved love is at work in you. God gave you this faith. He gave you Christian parents who made sure you were baptized into His Triune name, only a few days after you were born. Your parents brought you to church regularly. They made sure you heard His Word at home and in church. And through that Word, the Holy Spirit was at work in your hearts strengthening your faith. They talked to you about Jesus, who loved you and died to save you. Your parents brought you to Sunday School and Vacation Bible Schools so you could hear the precious Word of God more and more. They made certain you were instructed in the Word by bringing you to Catechism classes. They made sure you were committing the Word of God to memory and had you recite your memory work to them. All so you would be able to hear and learn God’s Word.
But the grace of God was at work LONG before your parents had you baptized. Yes, even before God created light, His grace was at work to save you. Paul writes in Ephesians that God the Father, chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. From eternity, God chose you to be His child. He was determined to save you even before He created the heavens and the earth. He decided that His own beloved Son would live and die for you. Through His Word and through your baptisms, He poured His Holy Spirit on you abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ, and brought you to this point today. And so you are child of God because of His amazing grace.
This is the faith to which you have been called. This is the faith which you are about to make a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. This is a faith worth fighting for.
But any time you are fighting, you are fighting against someone. So who is your opponent as you fight the good fight of faith? Let us begin with the most obvious opponent, the one who has been fighting against the children of God from the beginning. That old evil foe, the devil. Peter says of him, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pt 5:8) We need to be alert and on guard, because the devil is a very real opponent that is after your soul. His goal is to draw you away from your faith. He has many tricks to deceive with. He loves to lie about the words and promises of God. He loves to cause doubt and confusion. He will try to affect your life, as he did with Job, and try to get you to give up on God. That is one opponent every Christian faces.
Another opponent is the unbelieving and ungodly world around us. The world will try to put obstacles between you and your relationship with your Savior God. This may include colleges or awesome job opportunities that are far away from churches within our fellowship. Or maybe you will be near an orthodox church, but friends may try to lure you away to worship at their false teaching church. Or maybe your friends will want to engage in activities on Saturday night or Sunday mornings that will take you away from the Lord’s house. This may include peer pressure to go on the broad road that leads to destruction, rather than the Narrow Gate that is Jesus (Mt 7:13). They will try to get you to compromise this faith into which you have been called.
A third opponent to your faith that you must content against is your own flesh. Your flesh will not want to continue reading and studying the Bible. Your flesh will want to listen to the lies of the devil and the temptations of the world. Your flesh will try to convince you that your faith is stronger than it really is and that you don’t need to get up early on Sunday mornings any more to hear the SAME Gospel message from your pastor AGAIN.
You have noticed that as you have grown older and grown in the Word and faith, that the attacks have become a little more intense. And you can expect the same as long as you are a Christian in this world. But Jesus has not left you defenseless. He has given you everything you need to strengthen you for your good fight of faith. First of all He has given you His Gospel in Word. His Word is the Sword of the Spirit. With the Word we are able to both defend our faith and fight off would be attackers. But in order to do so, the sword of the Spirit needs to be out of its sheath. You need to be in the Word. At the Lord’s house on Sundays, in Bible Class, when you go to bed at night and when you rise up in the morning - listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd Jesus as He speaks to you in His Word.
Another tool Jesus has given you as you fight the good fight of faith is His Gospel in the Sacraments. Having been baptized into Christ you have put on Christ. He is your defense and shield. You have been adopted into the family of the Triune God. God is your Father, who hears and answers your prayers, for Jesus’ sake. And beginning this morning you have a new tool to aid you in your fight - Lord’s Supper. In this sacred meal, Jesus gives you His very body and blood. He assures you that your sins are forgiven and that He has given you a right relationship with God. But it also strengthens faith, for those daily battles from within and without.
So dear Lydia and Shelby, here is something worth fighting for - your faith in the Triune God and Jesus as your Savior. A faith in which the outcome is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Make regular use of the Means of Grace. Continue in the faith into which you have been called and made the good confession this morning. That is my prayer for you, that is your parents prayer for you, and that is the prayer of this your congregation for you. We pray with Paul that you would continue to “fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” May God the Father who created and chose, may God the Son who loved you and laid down His life to save you, and may God the Holy Spirit who called and sanctified you, keep you faithful unto the end and give you that crown of life. In His name, Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-47668719090283977712011-05-15T12:05:00.005-05:002022-06-08T09:20:29.797-05:00John 20:19-23 "EASTER PEACE"<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdm1YpYFCpWT2plHZDCrJzgxfciU33tiMC8daAVmPaSMSqp0lIboDnrSvQ7_3-H37E18TkEOl3VtFZcX_vt6k4EsNWhsQvLW45BFdx1Pn2R0_9BMVwxYt0KOfKNOAYZzo8NanJgDYs5Gd1/s1600/peace_4766c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606990624163762226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdm1YpYFCpWT2plHZDCrJzgxfciU33tiMC8daAVmPaSMSqp0lIboDnrSvQ7_3-H37E18TkEOl3VtFZcX_vt6k4EsNWhsQvLW45BFdx1Pn2R0_9BMVwxYt0KOfKNOAYZzo8NanJgDYs5Gd1/s320/peace_4766c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 204px;" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;">
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John 20:19-23</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”</span>
Theme: EASTER PEACE
- Peace with God
- Peace for the troubled conscience
- Peace to be proclaimed
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who rejoice to hear that the Lord is risen indeed, peace to you in His name,
Peace is an interesting thing, isn’t it. It’s something that just about everyone wants, but it is so hard to attain. We want peace within our homes, peace with our relatives, peace with our neighbors, peace within our borders, and peace with other countries. And why is that? Why do so many people want peace? Peace at home means not arguing with your teenage kids and your kids not fighting with one another. Peace at school means everyone gets along with everyone else. Peace between nations means no more sending our sons and daughters off to war. Isn’t it because we feel that when there is peace life is better? Simply put, when there is peace life is better.
So if everybody wants peace so much, why does it seem that there is so little peace in the world and in our lives? Simply put, sin prevents there from being peace in the world. Sinful pride, sinful greed, sinful hunger for power and possessions destroys any hope for true and lasting peace in this world. It is sinful pride that causes arguments between spouses and nations. Greed for power and possessions causes strife between neighbors and nations.
However, Easter tells us a much different story, doesn’t it. While we see so much unrest in the world around us, on Easter we see peace. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead brings with it real peace, lasting peace. Peace between us and God. Peace for our troubled consciences. And peace that Jesus wants us to proclaim throughout the world. So let us consider this morning, “Easter Peace.”
PEACE WITH GOD
As our text begins, we find the disciples, along with the two Emmaus disciples, and more than likely some of the women, together in a locked house. Already it doesn’t sound like a very peaceful setting. There was confusion and unrest among the disciples. That morning some of the women and Mary Magdalene had come and told the disciples that the tomb was empty. John and Peter had raced to the tomb and found it empty. Mary Magdalene told the disciples that she had seen the risen Lord. And now two other disciples reported that they walked, talked, and ate with the risen Jesus as they were on the road to Emmaus.
Among the disciples there seemed to be a great deal of confusion, distrust, and fear. We would describe the scene as anything but peaceful. The men did not trust the report of the women. Luke reports that they seemed to them like idle tales. They were also afraid of the unbelieving Jews coming after them, as they came after Jesus. So they locked themselves in as they tried to sort out the days events.
But then Jesus suddenly appeared. With His resurrected and glorified body, He makes full use of His divine powers. He is able to appear and disappear as He pleases. Locked doors cannot keep the Son of God out of a room - He needs no doors to enter. And the risen Lord says, “Peace be with you.” While this would have been a pretty common greeting between Jews in those days, on this day it took on special meeting. The risen Lord came bringing them peace. First of all, peace with God.
There was once perfect, tranquil peace between God and man. In the Garden of Eden, God created man and woman in perfect harmony and peace with Him. There was peace all around. God had a peace-filled, harmonious relationship with man. Adam and Eve had a peace-filled marriage. There was no hostility between man and woman, or mankind and any creature. All was well. It truly was paradise.
What happened to this peaceful paradise? When Adam and Eve chose to disobey the commandment of their Creator and ate from the forbidden fruit, sin entered the world and destroyed the peaceful relationship that had once existed between God and man. Now Adam and Eve tried to hide from God. They were afraid of Him. No longer did they have a peaceful Father/child relationship, but they hid from Him as though He were an angry judge. The same continued for all the descendants of Adam. Because of sin there is enmity or hostility between God and man.
This is why Jesus came. Jesus came to reclaim for man the peace that we had forfeited because of our sin. He came to reconcile us unto God. But in order to give us a right relationship with God, Jesus had to remove that which had ruined our relationship with God. Jesus did just that by taking the sin of the world on Himself. Jesus “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Col 2:14) Everything that had separated us from God, or sin, our iniquity, our rebellion, Jesus took on Himself and had it nailed to the cross with Him. And there on the cross every mark that was against us died with Jesus on the cross.
When Jesus rose on Easter day it was God’s declaration of peace between us and Him. Paul writes to the Romans that Christ “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Rom 4:25) Jesus was raised from the dead because God was declaring us “not guilty” in His sight. And if His resurrection means we have been declared not guilty, that means we are at peace with God. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” (2 Cor 5:19) The sin that had once separated us from God has been removed forever. This is Easter peace, we are at peace with God.
PEACE FOR TROUBLED CONSCIENCES
We certainly rejoice over this peace with God that Jesus secured for us by His death and resurrection. A peace that cannot be undone, because Jesus lives never to die again. A peace which surpasses all understanding. And yet, there still is a peace we struggle with, isn’t there. An inner peace. Peace for our trouble consciences. Though we know that Jesus died for our sins, though we know that Jesus resurrection from the dead means we are at peace with God, still we have trouble convincing our hearts of this, don’t we? Our conscience regularly accuses us and reminds us of past sins which we have committed. After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the murder of her husband, a repentant David wrote in Psalm 51 (v.3), “My sin is always before me.” Any time he looked at Bathsheba or looked at the grave of his dead child, he was reminded of the sins of adultery and murder which he had committed. His conscience troubled him about his sin.
Maybe you know well the feeling David had. Maybe some sin you committed in the past is always before you. Maybe you’ve even confessed it to God, repented of it, and been assured of your forgiveness - yet there is no peace for your trouble conscience. Maybe it is some sin that your conscience tells you is too great to be forgiven.
When your conscience troubles you and you doubt your relationship with God, return in your heart to Easter and hear these words of Jesus, “Peace be with you.” When Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst Easter evening and they had trouble understanding what was going on, what did Jesus do? He showed them His hands and side and John reports that then they were filled with joy.
What a fitting thing to do when we are troubled - look the hands and side of the risen Jesus! There we find Easter peace. His hands show the nail prints which prove that our sins were paid for. His side shows the mark of the spear proving that He really did die for our sins. The fact that He is able to show them to His disciples prove that He rose bodily from the grave. This is the Jesus that says to our troubled conscience, “Peace be with you!” Repent of your sins and rejoice that all I have suffered and died for them all. My resurrection proves that you do not need to be troubled by them any more.
Easter peace for our troubled conscience is this, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12) Jesus removed our sins so far from us that they can no longer be found. Also the prophet Micah speaks of Easter peace when he writes, “You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19) When Jesus was dead and buried our sins were buried with Him, never to be seen again. The LORD Himself gives peace to our trouble conscience when He says in Isaiah, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” (Is 43:25) The God who knows all things and remembers all things, has forgotten only one thing - our sins. All this is assured to us when the risen Savior Jesus shows us His hands and His side. That is Easter peace for our trouble conscience.
PEACE TO BE PROCLAIMED
Maybe you’re old enough to remember or maybe you’ve seen the black and white pictures from the 1940's of Navy sailors kissing random women in New York City’s Times Square as confetti fills the air. Do you remember why they were kissing and why there was confetti filling the streets of New York City? It was V-E Day, the day victory was proclaimed in Europe. It was a reason to celebrate and throw parties, because World War II was nearing an end. I imagine the day that Germany and then Japan surrendered everyone was talking about the peace that had broken out. People couldn’t wait to tell their relatives, neighbors, and friends. “The strife is o’er! The battle done!”
If that is what they did when victory was declared in Europe and Japan, what should be our reaction to even greater news that PEACE was declared when Jesus rose from the dead? This is peace that is to be proclaimed throughout the world. Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” The Father had sent His Son to secure peace by His suffering, death, and resurrection. Jesus now sends us to proclaim that Easter peace throughout the world.
We proclaim Easter peace through the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. In verse 21 Jesus gives His Church some very powerful keys. The keys to the kingdom of heaven. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” These keys unlock heaven to the repentant sinner by announcing to them that their sins are forgiven for Jesus sake. But these keys also lock the way to heaven when we tell an impenitent or unrepentant sinner that forgiveness his withheld or retained for him.
These are the keys Jesus sends us out with. He gives us the peculiar authority to forgive and retain sins. This is what Jesus earned by His death and resurrection - forgiveness. And this Easter peace is what Jesus commissions us to proclaim throughout the world!
Peace. The world is looking for it, but it is looking for it in all the wrong places. True peace, lasting peace cannot be found apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection - because only Jesus death and resurrection removes that which hinders peace - sin. This Easter peace is the peace which Paul speaks of, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:7) The extent of this peace of God is greater than we can even begin to understand. Yet this Easter peace guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This is the peace of Easter. Peace between God and us. Peace for our troubled conscience. And peace that we want to proclaim throughout all the world. Praise be to Jesus for securing peace for us through His death and resurrection! Amen!Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-64388566161238065762011-05-08T12:10:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:20:36.560-05:00"EASTER JOY" Psalm 30:4-5<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzwPJ1m0f6j2cRsUAw9J4Dqj47ud5WQrxeiJZBZ8IJwiLSrcfJ21PWHnlRdUSJKOZ1LtWKnC0kVsxh95SQosYGUF-6lnrlYPRhxEXCkn0IOoz5ZUhyphenhyphenZSbWPY4fR3agFskuXWe30DJ999t/s1600/raised_3731c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604395192243371906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzwPJ1m0f6j2cRsUAw9J4Dqj47ud5WQrxeiJZBZ8IJwiLSrcfJ21PWHnlRdUSJKOZ1LtWKnC0kVsxh95SQosYGUF-6lnrlYPRhxEXCkn0IOoz5ZUhyphenhyphenZSbWPY4fR3agFskuXWe30DJ999t/s320/raised_3731c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 214px;" /></a>
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Psalm 30:4-5</span> Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.</span>
Theme: EASTER JOY
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised again because of our justification,
Joy is certainly something we all want in our lives. But what is it that brings you joy in your life? New babies and expectant mothers bring us joy in our lives. Weddings of friends and family bring us great joy - especially when we like both the bride AND the groom. At this time of year, green buds in a field bring joy to a farmer. Coming home to a clean house or not having to worry about Sunday dinner, would bring joy to any mother’s heart. We all want to have lives filled with joy.
As Christians, joy is to be a defining characteristic, a fruit of the Spirit who is at work in us. The Scriptures speak at length about the joy that is ours. Just in the book of Psalms alone, the word joy or rejoice is used 75 times. The Kingdom of God is described by Paul as “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 14:17) In our Epistle Lesson from 1 Peter last Sunday we heard, “Though now you do not see (Jesus), yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” (1 Pt 1:8) Paul writes to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil 4:4)
The unique thing about Christian joy is that it is even present amidst adversity, suffering, and persecution. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this, “Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.” (Lk 6:22-23) Jesus speaks of “leaping for joy” when you are persecuted and reviled because you believe and confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Joy is a main part of the lives of Christians. Yet, would you say you have much joy in your life? Do other people describe you as being full of joy? Are we always rejoicing in the Lord, as Paul says? When we reflect on our lives it seems that there is more sorrow than joy, more hardship than happiness. When we get bogged down by the sorrows and hardships of this life, that we need to go back to the empty tomb on Easter. It is there that we find our joy, our joy that knows no limits, our joy that has no end, because Jesus is risen! He is risen, indeed! Let us this morning examine the words of Psalm 30 and consider our “Easter Joy.” May the Holy Spirit fill us with His joy!
Many Christian holy days give us joy. The birth of our Savior brings us joy. We even sing, “Joy to the World” as we celebrate His birth. We even call the day on which Jesus died “GOOD” Friday, because He died to pay for our sins and purchase our redemption. So even that day brings us some joy, albeit mixed with sorrow as well. But can there be any more joyous day for the Christian than Easter? Easter, the day when our Savior rose triumphantly from the dead, assuring us that our sins are forgiven and that we too shall rise. Certainly there is great joy on Easter.
But there wasn’t a lot of joy on that first Easter, was there. There were no beautiful music pieces being played or choral pieces being sung. There were no “Hallelujahs” on that first Easter. That first Easter was somber, terrifying and confusing. Can you imagine what that weekend would have been like for the apostles, followers, and friends of Jesus? While Scripture never explicitly tells us what the apostles and followers of Jesus were doing from Good Friday to Easter Sunday or how they felt, we can piece together a pretty good picture.
There would certainly have been feelings of tremendous sorrow at the loss of such a great man. And the horrible way in which He suffered and died, was even worse. Along with the sorrow and grief, there was probably also a great deal of guilt. Guilt for abandoning Jesus when He was arrested. Guilt for not speaking up when innocent Jesus was condemned. Guilt, especially for Peter, who swore up and down that he didn’t even know who Jesus was.
Along with the sorrow and guilt, there was also a feeling of confusion and disappointment from the followers of Jesus. In our Gospel lesson this morning, we heard just that from those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. As they spoke to a man they did not realize was Jesus, they said to Him, “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” (Lk 24:21) They were hoping He was going to free Israel, but when He died, their hope died with Him. To them, Jesus had failed in what THEY wanted Him to accomplish.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning,” we read in our text. There was no doubt a great deal of weeping from that first Easter weekend. But on Easter, when the tomb was empty, when angels announced that Jesus had risen from the dead, there should have been great joy. But there wasn’t. There was worry and confusion. Mary Magdalene thought that somebody had stolen the body of Jesus. When the women came and told the disciples about the empty tomb, the angels, and seeing Jesus, Luke records that “their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” Where was their Easter joy?
Had they kept their minds focused in the words and promises of Jesus, their weeping would have seemed like it endured for only a short night. They probably would still have wept over Jesus. After all there was still the guilt and shame for abandoning and denying Jesus. There also would have been sorrow over seeing all that Jesus endured. But if they had they kept their minds focused on the words and promises of Jesus joy would have come on Easter morning. Then the women would have never wasted their money buying spices to embalm a body that was no longer dead. Then they would have all gone to see that the tomb was empty as Jesus rose just as He said He would.
Even though they forgot, ignored, or did not believe the promises of Jesus to rise from the dead, that did not stop God. Paul writes, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Tim 2:13) Even if we falter and fail, that does not mean God will. In fact, God can’t falter or fail. He must succeed every time, because He is God. The angels said as much on Easter morning, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” (Mt 28:6) Even though the followers of Jesus did not appreciate it at the time, there was joy in the morning, just as Jesus had said there would be.
So often we feel like we are stuck between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Guilt, confusion, and sorrow are a big part of our lives. Like the followers of Jesus on that Saturday, these things affect the joy that is ours in our risen Lord. Maybe we made a sinful choice and our conscience is continually reminding us and accusing us of our sins. Maybe we were out with friends, and rather than letting the light of our faith shine, like Peter we denied knowing the Lord by our actions. A guilty conscience removes any joy we might have in our lives.
When the weeping over sin happens, remember Easter. Listen again to the words of our text, “His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” The anger of God against our sin has already been handed out. God poured out His wrath on Jesus as He laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Weeping over our sin should now only endure for a short time.
That phrase “endure for a night” carries a pretty neat word picture in the Hebrew. It is a word that might be used of a traveler who needs lodging at the inn. He needs a place to stay only for the night and then he is going to move on. So it should be with weeping over our sins. After a short stay it should move on. Joy comes in the morning - at the break of day. The joy comes when the light of the Gospel shines in our hearts. When we hear that Jesus has already suffered and died for our sins and God raised Him for our justification. Easter is God’s declaration to us that we are “not guilty” in His sight. Now the favor of God in Christ Jesus is for a lifetime. There is Easter joy for the guilty conscience!
Sometimes confusion affects our joy. Certainly from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, the followers of Jesus were confused as to what was going on. And that confusion drowned out any joy that might have been theirs. We are confused as to why God is allowing certain things to happen in our lives, much like the disciples might have wondered how God could allow such horrible things to happen to Jesus. We are confused as to why we, the Children of God, are suffering while we see the ungodly and heathen prospering. We are confused why God is sending the weather He is sending, preventing us from being able to farm as much land as we might normally be able to.
When confusion tries to drown out your joy, return to the promises of Jesus. There was no reason why the followers of Jesus should have been confused as to what was going on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. Jesus told them exactly what was going to take place. He told them He was going to be betrayed. He told them He was going to suffer. He told them the Gentiles were going to crucify Him. He told them He was going to die. But He also told them that He was going to rise on the third day. Joy came in the morning, just as Jesus said it would.
When we keep our eyes on Jesus and listen to His Word, it drives away the fog of confusion. Jesus rose from the dead, just as He said He would. And if Jesus rose from the dead it means that every other promise He has made He will do. Though you may not be able to plant all of your crops, though it cause you great financial hardship, Jesus rose from the dead and has promised in His Word, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28) Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!
Or maybe we have no joy because of sorrow that is present in our lives. Maybe we are suffering or someone close to us is suffering. Certainly we have no joy in our own suffering or seeing someone else suffer, much as the friends of Jesus suffered heartache after they saw what happened to Him. Maybe a loved one has died or is close to death. Again we find as little joy in death as the friends of Jesus had in His cruel death.
Whatever may be bringing you sorrow in your life, keep going back to the empty tomb of Easter and there you will find joy. There you will not find the dead body of Jesus to anoint with your spices of sorrow. He is risen! But in the midst of your suffering, remember Easter and there find your joy. He has conquered the mightiest of enemies - death. These bodies are our temporary dwelling - much like tents were for the Children of Israel in the wilderness. They were looking forward to a permanent home in the Promised Land. We too look forward to our permanent dwelling in the Promised Land of heaven. Jesus’ resurrection means that these mortal bodies will one day put on immortality. These corruptible bodies will put on incorruption. (1 Cor 15:53-54)
Yet, while we are here, in these bodies of sin and death, there will be death, there will be suffering, there will be sorrow. And sorrow tries to chase Easter joy out of your heart, remember, JESUS IS RISEN! He dies no more! Death no longer has power over Him. And in Christ we too shall live! We have this promise from our risen Lord, that in heaven, "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev 21:4) There is our Easter joy!
Weeping may endure for a night. I may take up lodging for the evening. But when the first beams of the Gospel rise in your hearts, it chases away the weeping and joy breaks through the clouds. The joy of Easter. The joy of knowing, “My Redeemer Lives!” The joy of knowing, “He has risen, as He said He would!” The joy of knowing that Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised again because of our justification. The joy of knowing, “Because Jesus lives, we too shall live!” Therefore, lift up your voices and lives in rejoicing, for Jesus lives! “Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His. And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.” Thanks be to our risen Lord. Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-40478659141700285192011-05-01T12:15:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:20:46.591-05:00Acts 2:22-32 "Easter Confidence"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH90P2IqO95ALl-VCbO8pU5a7q_eyvtw9c3g4aS_FS37nIAMZOJTBgoovRSq8uEHKXOWXbUjAUBoWg3VVYx8WdCmWoPTR0yemjnM15HY0u2-wXIAFmOyq3lePQyqp1Gs-2tATpMW3SYZmq/s1600/tomb4c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5601798751126567394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH90P2IqO95ALl-VCbO8pU5a7q_eyvtw9c3g4aS_FS37nIAMZOJTBgoovRSq8uEHKXOWXbUjAUBoWg3VVYx8WdCmWoPTR0yemjnM15HY0u2-wXIAFmOyq3lePQyqp1Gs-2tATpMW3SYZmq/s320/tomb4c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 219px;" /></a>
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Acts 2:14a, 22-32</span> But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “...Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.” </span>
Theme: EASTER CONFIDENCE
- Jesus’ confidence about Easter
- Our confidence from Easter
In the name of Jesus Christ who lives, and was dead, and behold is alive forevermore; dear fellow redeemed in His name,
Confidence is a tricky thing, isn’t it. Confidence can be a great attribute or it can be a great weakness. On the night of Jesus betrayal, Peter sounded pretty confident in himself. Though Jesus warned Peter that he would deny Him three times that night, Peter confidently asserted that he would face death with Jesus rather than denying Him. We know well how that evening went for confident Peter, as he folded under the pressure of a servant girl and denied knowing who Jesus was. Peter’s problem was that he had confidence in himself and his own strength to stand side by side with Jesus. However, life without confidence can be paralyzing. Lack of confidence makes one afraid to ask for a raise at work or ask a girl out on a date.
But what about confidence as a Christian? Are we confident about our faith and about our future, or are we paralyzed by uncertainty? When we talk about confidence as Christians, it is very important that we recognize where our confidence lies. God wants us to be confident about our relationship with Him and about our future with Him. But where do we find our confidence as Christians? Does our confidence lie in ourselves, in our abilities, and in our perceived strength of faith? If so, we are no different than Peter on the night he denied Jesus. Rather our confidence is to be found outside of ourselves. It lies in Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. Let us therefore consider this morning “Easter Confidence” by looking first at the confidence which Jesus had about Easter and the confidence Easter gives us. May the Holy Spirit strengthen our confidence in the words and promises of God!
JESUS’ CONFIDENCE ABOUT EASTER
Would you describe Jesus as being a confident person? Absolutely! While He was humble, loving, and gentle, He was by no stretch of the imagination wishy-washy or milquetoast. He was confident in His teaching. He was confident in His work. He was confident in His mission in life. In the weeks leading up to His suffering and death on Good Friday, Jesus tried to prepare His followers for what was coming. In Matthew 20 we read, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify.” (Mt 20:18-19a) Jesus knew exactly what was waiting for Him in Jerusalem - death. And not just any death, possibly the most cruel form of death man has ever conceived of - death by crucifixion.
But Jesus never ended the discussion of His crucifixion by just saying that He would die. No. He always ended it by confidently saying, “And the third day He will rise again.” (Mt 20:19b) Every time He told His disciples about what was going to happen to Him, He always ended by saying He would rise from the dead. Jesus was confident that He would rise from the dead on Easter.
Where did this confidence of Jesus come from? As the omnipotent (all-powerful) Son of God, Jesus certainly had every right to be. He had all power in heaven and on earth. If that doesn’t give one confidence, nothing will. Yet, when Jesus humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, He relied on His Father. Unlike Peter, Jesus found His confidence in the words and promises of His heavenly Father. We hear of that in our text for today. Our text is taken from the Pentecost sermon of Peter, but is quite fitting to consider on the Sunday following the resurrection. In his sermon Peter speaks at length about the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Peter says in verse 23 that Jesus was, “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Jesus’ death and crucifixion was part of God’s plan from eternity. While God didn’t make the unbelieving Jews or the Romans do what they did to Jesus, it was all part of God’s plan.
Jesus betrayal, beating, and crucifixion was God’s plan to redeem us and Jesus knew this because He knew the Word of God. He knew Isaiah was writing about Him in chapter 53, when Isaiah wrote that He would be “stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.” Jesus knew that Isaiah had written that He would have to be “wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Is 53:4-5) Therefore Jesus was confident of the suffering and death that awaited Him in Jerusalem, because He was confident of God’s plan of salvation as laid out in Scripture.
But as we said early, Jesus always ended the discussion of His Passion by saying that on the third day He would rise again. This too Jesus was confident of and His confidence came from the words and promises of God. Peter tells us of this when he quotes from the words of King David in Psalm 16 in our text, “ For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. ”
Peter makes known in our text that David was not writing of himself in this text because David is dead and buried and had been decaying or corrupt for many centuries. David was not writing of himself in Psalm 16. Rather the Holy Spirit was using David to write of Jesus. God would not abandon the soul of Jesus to Hades, or the realm of death. God would not let the body of Jesus decay or become corrupt. David was prophesying of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
This is where Jesus got His confidence. He knew the Word of God. He knew God would not abandon Him in the grave but would raise Him to life again before decomposition set in. Jesus was confident because of the words and promises of God. He knew the word of God could not lie. Therefore, David prophesied of Him in verse 25 and 26, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.” Jesus always kept the LORD before Him. His Word and will was always foremost in His life. He confident He would rise from the dead because the Scriptures said He would. And when Jesus appeared to His disciples on Easter eve He told them the same. “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.” (Lk 24:46) Jesus’ confidence about Easter was grounded in the words and promises of God.
OUR CONFIDENCE FROM EASTER
At the end of verse 25, we hear David speak of Jesus saying, “the Lord is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” That word “shaken” is a word rich in meaning. It refers to something that was thought to be very stable unexpectedly and disastrously shaken. It would be a fitting word to use after an earthquake. You never expect the earth beneath you to move. But the people of Japan could tell you a much different story. Jesus did not expect to be shaken because the Lord was at His right hand. He always kept the Lord before Him. He knew the words and promises of God, and because of that His confidence in the resurrection would not be shaken even as nails were pounded into His hands and feet.
There are many things that shake our confidence. Things that we think are stable and certain in this life. We think our parents, spouses, or friends will always be there for us. We think that we will always have our health or our finances. We think those things are stable and not going anywhere. But then those things that we thought were very stable in our lives are suddenly shaken up. Cancer hits us or a loved one. A parent, spouse, or child dies and it shakes up our whole world. Suddenly nothing seems certain anymore.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” (Is 40:8) Every aspect of our lives in this world is affected by sin. Sin affects our health and our finances. Sin affects our families and our marriages. “The grass withers, the flower fades,” God says. But let us learn from the events of Easter to find our confidence in the words and promises of God that stand forever.
Now if Jesus had not risen from the dead on Easter, we have many things to worry about. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor 15:17) If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, none of God’s promises are valid. Our faith is worthless and we are still accountable to God for our sins.
But, Peter writes in the last verse of our text, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.” God DID raise Jesus from the dead. Jesus used the 40 days between His resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven to PROVE that He was alive and had really risen from the dead. He wanted witnesses that were CONFIDENT that He was alive. And Peter says, we are all witnesses. We saw it. It is true. He has risen, just as He said He would.
What does this mean for us? Easter means that we can now be confident that ALL of God’s promises ill be kept. God has promised that His Son’s sacrifice on the cross paid for all your sins. Easter proves it. Paul writes to the Romans, “(Jesus) was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Rom 4:25) The reason He died was to take away all of our sins. When He was raised to life, it was God’s declaration that we are not guilty in His sight. We have been reconciled to God. Through Jesus we are at peace with God. He is our loving, heavenly Father and we are His children. As His children God has many precious promises for us in His Word. As He says in Jeremiah, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11) This is the confidence we gain from Easter.
What is it that has shaken your confidence right now? Finances, crops, health, family, marriage? God has much to say about these things in His Word. Let us search diligently His Word and learn those precious promises He has made to us. If Jesus rose from the dead, that means God means every one of them and will keep every one of them. Let us learn not to place our confidence in ourselves, but in the words and promises of God who loved us, gave His Son into death for our sins, and raised Him from the dead on the third day for our justification. This is our Easter confidence. Praise be to our risen Lord! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-16916894017731809582011-04-22T09:42:00.002-05:002022-06-08T09:20:56.047-05:00Matthew 27:50 "Jesus - A Profile of Love"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8scYHGC7VEk9zkKoFRoY6jIO0p5v0jb6X6FJC0kr77vzfumC1j2PvVy35b_P53x3PW7wkH0KXyYengzSqzOK6y87Mwe1DaZDyA04VTdGL_HJGLxBzCUf9pSlxyFDZafrSC1wPFemUtQr4/s1600/Christ1A2.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598418945543983170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8scYHGC7VEk9zkKoFRoY6jIO0p5v0jb6X6FJC0kr77vzfumC1j2PvVy35b_P53x3PW7wkH0KXyYengzSqzOK6y87Mwe1DaZDyA04VTdGL_HJGLxBzCUf9pSlxyFDZafrSC1wPFemUtQr4/s320/Christ1A2.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 178px;" /></a> Profiles of the Passion -
#7) Jesus - A Profile of Love
Text: <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Matthew 27:50</span> Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit.</span>
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who loved us, and gave Himself up for us, dear fellow redeemed in His name,
What does love look like? If I asked you right now to describe love or draw a picture of love, how would you describe it or picture it? Valentine’s Day is a day of love and often love between two people is depicted with a heart-shaped symbol to represent that love that a person has in his or her heart for that other person. Or maybe the description of love you would give would be that of a man and woman, standing before God, pledging to be faithful to one another. A faithfulness that only death can separate. Maybe it is the bond between a parent and a child. Or maybe the image of love you have in your mind is an aged wife at her husband’s bedside, holding his hands during his last moments of life. To different people, love will be described in different ways.
During our Mid-Week Lenten services we’ve been considering different profiles of the Passion. A profile is a brief depiction or description of someone. Many of our young people are familiar with this word “profile” thanks in part to Facebook and the profile pages they have. These pages describe things about people - such as their age, their interest, and the like. We considered the a profile of betrayal, a profile of lost opportunity, a profile of denial, a profile of unbelief, a profile of sinful convenience, and last week a profile of repentance.
Tonight, as we gather together during this week that is most sacred and dear to us Christians, we want to consider a profile of love. We all know that Jesus was loving. We see His love in everything He did. How He fed the 5,000 when they were hungry. How He healed those who were physically tormented by diseases and demons. How He took up the little children in His arms and blessed them. We see His love in raising to life again, the widow of Nain’s only son who had died. But as we consider this profile of love, we will not be using any of those Scripture accounts. Instead we turn to the Word of God as recorded in Matthew 27, verse 50, where we read -
Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit.
So far the Word of God.
If you’ve ever read Genesis chapter 5, you’ve read a summery of life in this world. We read that Adam begot Seth, and he died. Seth begot Enosh, and he died. Enosh begot Cainan, and he died. And so, as chapter 5 of Genesis continues on recounting the genealogy of Adam to Noah and Noah’s three sons, we hear the story of lives beginning and lives ending.
Life and death. It really is the story of life in this world, isn’t it. Sure none of us expect to live to be 930 years old like Adam or 969 years like Methuselah, but we all expect our beginning and ending to be the same as what we read in Genesis 5. We are here because our parents begot us and we will be here until we die. It has been this way since Adam and it will be this way until the Last Day. While we would much rather focus on the begetting of life, the birth of a new child, we know that death is a very real thing in our lives - something none of us can avoid or escape.
This is the result of being a descendant of Adam. When God created Adam, He created Adam in His image. An image of perfection, holiness, and righteousness. Death was not a part of the picture at that time. However, death was a threat for disobedience. After God created Adam, He told him that he was free to eat of any tree in the Garden which He had made. Except for one. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it (dying you shall die).” (Gen 2:17) Death would be the result of disobedience.
Yesterday in Confirmation class, we talked about what death is. Death is defined as a separation. When we speak of death, we are usually speaking of the soul separating from the body. However the Bible speaks of death in two other ways. The Bible speaks of eternal death, that is an eternal separation from God in hell. The Bible also speaks of a kind of death that was the immediate result of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden - spiritual death. It is a spiritual separation from God while still living here on earth. While Adam was initially created in God’s image of perfect righteousness and holiness, when Adam disobeyed and ate of the tree, he suffered spiritual death - a spiritual separation from the holy God because of His sin. Adam’s rebellion also, ultimately led to his physical death as well at the age of 930.
Because of Adam’s sin, none of his descendants have the image of God anymore - that is an image of perfect holiness and righteousness - but instead we all have the image of sinful Adam. In Genesis 5:3 we read, “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Seth was born spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins. And so it has continued for all mankind. All of us are born spiritually separated from God, awaiting our physical death, and because of our sin an eternal separation from God in hell. “For the wages of sin is death,” Paul writes to the Romans (6:23).
So we have come to accept that death is just a part of life. A part of life for all of us, except for Jesus. What makes the death of Jesus a profile of love, is WHO it was that breathed His last and yielded up His spirit on Good Friday and WHY He breathed His last.
Though there are hundreds of deaths recorded in Scripture, there are none like the death of Jesus. The Roman centurions who were charged with supervising and carrying out the crucifixion of Jesus, had probably seen hundreds of crucifixions and they knew what to expect. But they had never seen anything like the death of Jesus. Jesus who prayed to His Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him. Jesus who cared for His mother from the cross. Jesus who assured another man being crucified for the crimes he committed of eternal life. No other death or crucifixion included three hours of darkness. Never had the earth quaked and the rocks split at the death of any other man. These things only at the death of Jesus. This lead one of the Roman centurions even to proclaim at Jesus’ death, "Truly this was the Son of God!" (Mt 27:54)
The death of Jesus was so different because Jesus was so different. Unlike every other person that had been born into this world, Jesus was not born of the sinful image of Adam. He had a human mother, but He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was a true man, but He was also true God. John writes of Jesus, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (Jn 1:4) As the Son of God, Jesus was FULL OF LIFE. As the Son of God, He was the author of life. Again, John records, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (Jn 1:3) Without the Son of God, there would be no life on this planet at all.
Yet what do we hear happened to the Author of Life? Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. Jesus died. Not an unusual thing for any of us. But think for a moment on what a remarkable statement that is about Jesus! The Son of God, in whom was life, the One through whom all things were made, the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, DIED. Death is not a part of who God is.
But why? Why did the Son of God “yield up His spirit?” Why did the author of life breath His last and die? This is where we begin to see the profile of love that is Jesus. Jesus never disobeyed one of God’s commandments, though He never had a sinful thought or an unloving thought toward His neighbor. Paul writes that Jesus, “knew no sin.” Jesus had no personal experience with sin. And thus, having never sinned, He never earned the wages of sin - that is death.
Yet He dies. He dies a most horrible and wretched death. He dies because He loved us. While Jesus had no personal experience with sin Himself, we know a lot about sin. We were born in the sinful image of our first father, Adam. The Son of God knew we were born spiritually separated from God and unless He did something, we would be eternally separated from God in hell. And so He yielded up His spirit and breathed His last. He died so that we could live.
This was plan of the Triune God from the beginning. He didn’t want us to perish eternally, apart from Him. He wanted us to be in fellowship with Him forever. But God could not simply ignore our sin problem. He is a just God and justice requires that punishment for rebellion be carried out. And that is where the Son of God came in. It was either us or Him. Either we would be punished eternally for our rebellion, or the sinless Son of God would have to suffer and die in our place.
What happened? Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. Jesus, the Son of God, died. God placed all our sins on His sinless Son and punished Him in our place. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, Paul writes. (2 Cor 5:21) We heard the Prophet Isaiah write of Jesus, “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Is 53:4-5)
THIS is what love looks like. Love looks like a lifeless Jesus on the cross. Jesus our Good Shepherd lays down His life to save the flock. On this night of Maundy Thursday, Jesus told His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13) What greater act of love could Jesus do than to lay down His life to save us? To endure the wrath of God against sin on the cross? To suffer hell on the cross so that we could go to heaven?
THIS is what a profile of love looks like: Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. Praise be to our Savior Jesus! Amen!Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-23817617533725837562011-04-17T12:24:00.002-05:002022-06-08T09:21:09.841-05:00"The King that rode on a donkey's colt"<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRg3QTXdgHgGn5gHNrFteU37Mn0wc82i3GDuH-ewsPIAAZ2szib9Id5DiMCGmOgNXjLqHScsnteP2TZVNTxujr2BhIM45UL0d6-iO3kptkZhQRej7idE5mQNe0iip02sgeOf_w1oEMq5If/s1600/palms8c_sca.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596605079835606354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRg3QTXdgHgGn5gHNrFteU37Mn0wc82i3GDuH-ewsPIAAZ2szib9Id5DiMCGmOgNXjLqHScsnteP2TZVNTxujr2BhIM45UL0d6-iO3kptkZhQRej7idE5mQNe0iip02sgeOf_w1oEMq5If/s320/palms8c_sca.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 222px;" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;">
Zechariah 9:9-10</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’</span>
Theme: THE KING THAT RODE ON A DONKEY’S COLT
- A humble King
- A powerful King
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, fellow subjects of the King of kings!
Only 12 more days! Have you cleared your schedule for that day so you can watch the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton? Can you hardly handle the wait? Watching many of our news stations, you would think this royal wedding is a monumental event in American history. Yet their marriage does not affect our nation in any way. The monarchy in Great Britain is largely for show. Queen Elizabeth and her family really have little say in policy making or national defense. Yet this royal wedding seems to have captured the imagination of many Americans. I suppose hearing that a prince is going to get married makes many girls think of the fairytales they used to hear as children. Stories of Prince Charming coming to rescue the damsel in distress and make her his bride, a princess.
But of all those Prince Charming stories you’ve ever heard of, what have you imagined Prince Charming to be riding on? Isn’t his trusty steed always a white stallion? And why is that? Isn’t it because Prince Charming’s strength and power is reflected his mode of transportation? Speaking in today’s terms, we wouldn’t expect Prince William and his new bride to ride around in a rusted out 1985 Ford Escort. That would be beneath royalty to ride in such a contraption! Rather we expect them to ride around in some of the finest transportation available - like a Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, or Mercedes Bends.
We have come to expect powerful people to demonstrate their power in their choice of transportation. Isn’t that one of the things that is so striking about the Palm Sunday account? The prophet Zechariah writes of a King who’s dominion or rule would be “from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.” There has never been a king that ruled an empire which covered the ends of the earth, except for the King of whom Zechariah writes. Yet how does this powerful King get around? We would expect to find Him on only the finest chariot, pulled by the finest breed of horse in His day. But Zechariah writes of this King that He comes “riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” That is like Prince William and Kate pulling up to their wedding in a 1971 Ford Pinto! Sure it will get you where you need go, but it is not very regal at all.
Today we mark the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, some 500 years later, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem the Sunday before His death. I think most of us are very familiar with the Palm Sunday account. We colored pictures of it when we were in Sunday School, we have the opportunity to be reminded of it each year, but have you ever stopped to ask yourself WHY Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey? When Jesus sent His disciples into the village of Bethphage to bring get a donkey and a colt for Him to ride on, was He just looking to show that He was the one Zechariah was writing about, or was there something more at work here? We want to answer that question this morning as we examine “The King who rode on a donkey’s colt.” May the LORD God bless us and be with us as we examine the words of His holy prophet. Amen.
A donkey certainly has it’s value and purpose in our world. A donkey is often called a beast of burden, because it was frequently used to haul heavy loads. Donkeys can run, but they are not very fast. You would not want to ride a donkey into battle or run one in a race. Furthermore, donkeys are known to be rather stubborn and difficult to work with. They were something that was reserved for the poor and lowly, who couldn’t afford a horse. While they do have their purpose, given the choice between a horse and a donkey, I sure most of us would prefer a horse to ride on. And yet on the Sunday before His death, we hear that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on colt, the foal of a donkey.
Along with the donkey, what we are most familiar with on Palm Sunday is the hosannas that the people shouted to Jesus and how they hailed Him as their king. Much as our children did this morning. But Palm Sunday was not the only time the people of Israel spoke of Jesus as a king. Right after Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000 (Jn 6), there were some who wanted to make Him a king. And why not?! He gave them food that they didn’t have to work for! Who could ask for a greater king than that! Yet Jesus was not a bread King come to meet people’s physical needs. He would not allow them to make Him King and left that area.
But on Palm Sunday He didn’t shy away from people hailing Him as a King (Lk 20), waiving their palm branches, and proclaiming their hosanna’s to Him. Many kings were praised as they rode into the capital city of Jerusalem. But I doubt any of them were riding on a donkey’s colt. This happened to demonstrate the kind of King Jesus was and the truth about His kingdom. He is a humble King riding on a humble donkey’s colt.
This is exactly the King that Zechariah prophesied of in our text. “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zion and Jerusalem are the Church. And the Church is to rejoice and shout for joy over their King. Their King that comes to them. Their King that is righteous and brings salvation. But their King that is lowly and humble. That is the reason this King rode on a donkey’s colt, because He is humble.
We would expect nothing different from Jesus, would we. When He was born, He was not born into a noble and powerful family, but to a peasant girl from Nazareth. During His life, though He is the powerful Son of God from eternity, He took on a servant’s form. On the night before He died He washed His servant’s feet. Though He did many miracles, He never used His almighty power for Himself, but to help others. When He did help people, He told them not to tell anyone what He had done. Jesus did not want fame as a miracle worker, but as the Prophet and Teacher. Though He created the heavens and earth, He had no place to lay His head and call His own at night. The King of kings had no palace and no army, but was followed by the poor, lame, and uneducated. This King then died a servant’s death when He was crucified to save His people.
Though King Jesus rode on a humble donkey’s colt, we the Church are to rejoice and shout for joy over our humble King. We rejoice that He is humble. We rejoice that He does not come by force and displays of power. This humble King continues to come with humble means. He rides into the hearts of a little baby with the humble water and word of Holy Baptism. He rides into the hearts of His repentant followers, through the humble means of bread and wine. He rides into our hearts through the humble preaching of the Word. He does not just associate with the mighty and powerful, but with the lowly, the downcast, the repentant sinner. This is our humble King who rides on a donkey’s colt.
“Only the strong survive.” “Might makes right.” “The meek inherit...nothing.” The people of this world have always despised humility. Humility to the world is a sign of weakness. That is why so many who passed by the cross on Good Friday mocked and scorned Jesus. They saw no strength and power on the cross, only defeat and humiliation. "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Mt 27:42-43) The world thinks that a powerful King would do some powerful act like coming down from the cross. The world sees a crucified Jesus and thinks He is weak and defeated.
We should not let the world fool us into thinking that humility is a sign of weakness. Though this King rode on a donkey’s colt, He was powerful. Listen to the power Zechariah writes of about King Jesus. “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the battle horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” This King that looked so humble riding a donkey and so defeated nailed to a cross, was actually defeating great spiritual enemies and establishing peace. By His death on the cross He was removing the enmity that existed between God and us. He was reconciling us unto God. He removed our sin by taking it on the cross and suffering our punishment. His blood bought peace between God and us.
And the rule of King Jesus? From sea to sea. Though the servant Jesus had no place to lay His head, His rule is over all of creation. We heard from Paul in our New Testament lesson (Phil 2:5-11) that after Jesus humbled Himself, God highly exalted Him, giving Him the name above every name and that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow - even those who mocked and blasphemed Him on the cross. Think of how many call on Jesus as their Savior today! Wherever the Gospel is being preached, Jesus is extending His kingdom.
So we see once again, that the Kingdom of Jesus and the kingdoms of this world could not be more different. Jesus told His disciples, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mt 20:25-28) Greatness in the Kingdom of Jesus is seen in humility and serving. Not putting oneself first, but putting one another first, even as Jesus put us ahead of Himself as He laid down His life to save us.
The greatness of Jesus was not the power He displayed, but the love He showed by coming to earth to serve us. The Son of God didn’t HAVE to become man, but He did so that He could die for us. Jesus didn’t HAVE to take on a servant’s form, but He did to serve as our Substitute before God. He served us by obeying God’s Law perfectly for us. Jesus didn’t HAVE to die the humiliating death on the cross, but He did to pay for all of our sins and ransom us. The greatness of King Jesus would not have been coming down from the cross, but the greatness of Jesus is that He STAYED on the cross to save us!
In the verses leading up to our New Testament lesson (Phil 2:5-11), Paul writes, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2:3-5) As subjects of King Jesus let us not make ourselves greater than our King who rode on a donkey’s colt. Let us see how Jesus humbled Himself to save us and likewise humble ourselves in loving service to one another.
What other animal would you have Jesus ride on? He is our humble King riding on a humble donkey’s colt. He who bore the burden of our sins did Himself ride on a beast of burden as He came to save us. Therefore let us join the glad throng on Palm Sunday by proclaiming - HOSANNA! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD! PRAISE BE TO KING JESUS! AMEN.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-9942162668413279942011-04-10T12:18:00.002-05:002022-06-08T09:21:20.493-05:00Romans 8:11-19 "We Are Children of God"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlE6m0Xam7vsrlLTLtoZE-eyIcS5zOK2YIdsPn_PjGYJJcWVzhhbbZAiAHoIOcslQHA3WQNMSgq9iwtdqUKJ07Q5ZxN4-ByomsFBv7wzkSwNDn7ZaOjWKO5DZ0USHi43045v06zx4481nW/s1600/38sca02c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594006215873164514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlE6m0Xam7vsrlLTLtoZE-eyIcS5zOK2YIdsPn_PjGYJJcWVzhhbbZAiAHoIOcslQHA3WQNMSgq9iwtdqUKJ07Q5ZxN4-ByomsFBv7wzkSwNDn7ZaOjWKO5DZ0USHi43045v06zx4481nW/s320/38sca02c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 226px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div>
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<div><b><i>Romans 8:11-19</i> But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors -- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Theme: WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Adopted by the Spirit</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Led by the Spirit</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- To be raised through the Spirit</div><div>
</div><div>Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who have been called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified with the whole Christian Church on earth, by the working of the Holy Spirit,</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Did you find our Old Testament lesson as captivating as I did? (Ezekiel 37:1-14) It is like a scene right out of a hit Hollywood movie! The LORD takes Ezekiel and sets him down in a valley where it looks like World War III has been fought. The floor of the valley is full of dead men’s bones. Bones that had been picked clean by predators and left to bake in the hot Mid-Eastern sun. But then, at the word of the LORD, those dry bones are covered with muscle and skin. And when the LORD commands it, life enters those once dry bone. They then rise to their feet and stand as a great army.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What a sight that must have been! How amazing it must have been to see those once dead and lifeless collection of bones, rise to life at the LORD’s command, and stand as a mighty army ready to do the LORD’s bidding. Don’t you wish you could have seen what Ezekiel saw in that valley?</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet, if you have ever witnessed a baptism, you have seen something just as amazing! It may not have looked as spectacular with your eyes as what you imagine Ezekiel to have seen, but the LORD did the very thing He showed Ezekiel. Here in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God sent His Holy Spirit and created life in someone who was spiritually lifeless. He raised that person to spiritual life, made him or her part of His mighty army, ready to do His bidding.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This life which the Holy Spirit gives is emphasized throughout our text from Romans 8. Let us consider what an amazing thing it is, that the Holy Spirit has taken our once dry and spiritually lifeless bones, and made us children of God. Let us hear how we were adopted by the Spirit, how we are led by the Spirit, and how we will be raised through the Spirit. May the same Holy Spirit who has called us to faith through His Word ever strengthen us through the same. </div><div>
</div><div>ADOPTED BY THE SPIRIT</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Adoption is a pretty amazing act of love, isn’t it? A man and a woman decide that they want to bring a child who is not theirs into their family. Those parents will feed that child, clothe that child, and provide shelter and protection for that child. They will provide a home for that orphan. But the greatest thing they share with that child is love. They will love that child, as if he or she was their own flesh and blood, even though it wasn’t their child by nature. What an amazing gift to give a child that otherwise wouldn’t have it - a home, parents, and love!</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Isn’t this exactly what God has done for us? We were not naturally His children. In fact, we were His enemies by nature. He told us what His will was and we wanted to do the exact opposite. He said, “Thou shalt love Me above everything else,” we said, “We’ll love ourselves first and if there is love left over, maybe we’ll share some with you.” By nature, man views God as an angry and demanding Judge, rather than a gracious and merciful Father. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet God changed all that. Paul writes in verse 15, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” God sent His Holy Spirit to breath spiritual life into these dry bones and adopt us as His children. Think of that! God brought you into His family and made you one of your children! </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The result of being adopted by the Holy Spirit, is that we no longer fear God as an angry Judge. Instead we see Him as Jesus would have us see Him, as our loving, heavenly Father. We speak to Him the same way in which His Son Jesus spoke to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Abba, Father.” “Abba” is an Aramaic word like our word, “Daddy.” It is a very tender, loving word. It implies a close, loving paternal relationship. And that is the relationship we have with the Father by the Holy Spirit. When He brought us to faith in Jesus, He brought us into a close, loving relationship with God the Father. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But how can we know if we have been adopted into God’s family? Paul continues on in verse 16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Like a witness in a courtroom who has to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so too the Holy Spirit is testifying of the truth with our spirit. When the Holy Spirit brought us to faith in Jesus, He created a new man of faith in us. This new man of faith, along with the Holy Spirit bears witness to us that we are God’s children. Do you call God your Abba, Father? When you read Scripture, is God speaking to you about your sin and about Jesus as your Savior? That is the testimony of the Holy Spirit with your spirit that you have been adopted by the Spirit and made a child of God!</div><div>
</div><div>LED BY THE SPIRIT</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Who here remembers the McDonald’s jingle from the 1970's, “You deserve a break today?” They wanted you to think of McDonald’s as a break from the hard work of preparing a meal or a break from the normal daily routine. You deserve it! This was not just a marketing scheme for McDonald’s, it is also a marketing scheme used by the sinful flesh. The sinful flesh tries to convince us that we’ve been pretty good and so we deserve a break from denying the desires of our flesh. Go ahead, have a couple extra drinks. Go ahead, look at that dirty website or movie. You deserve a break today.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Though we have been adopted as children of the heavenly Father, we still have a sinful flesh to contend with. Our flesh wants to please itself rather than please God. Our flesh wants to follow the world rather than the Word. Our Old Adam, will want to serve itself and join in sins of adultery, theft, fornication, false witness, covetousness, and the like. Maybe not always in an open way, but to lust after the things of the flesh in the heart. The Apostle Paul spoke of the same thing a chapter earlier when he wrote of himself, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” (Rom 7:19) As an adopted child he knew what God’s will was and wanted to do that, but his sinful flesh prevented him from doing so.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Because we have the same sinful flesh we need to hear this stern warning from Paul in verses 12 and 13, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors–not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” As children of God (fellow brethren with Paul), we are debtors - but not to the flesh. We don’t owe the flesh anything. We are not obligated to serve it and obey it. The only fruit the flesh can produce is death! Spiritual death and, eventually, eternal death. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Paul continues, “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” The difference could not be more striking between those dry bones on the valley floor that we used to be, and the vibrant, full of life, children of God that we are now. Then we were led by the flesh to serve the flesh. Now we are led by the Spirit of God to serve God. Led by the Holy Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body. Rather than letting the flesh rule us, by the Spirit we are empowered to mortify the sinful flesh. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How are we led by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body? Well, do you remember how it was that muscle and skin were formed on those dry bones? The LORD said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!” (Ez 37:4) And do you remember how those lifeless bodies were filled with breath and rose to their feet to make an exceedingly great army, ready to do the LORD’s bidding? “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the LORD God....’” (Ez 37:9) It was only by the word of the LORD that those dry bones were able to do anything.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Spirit works through the same means in us. He leads us always and only through His Word. Through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament He leads us to put to death the deeds of the body and gives us life. Through the Word the Spirit leads us to crucify and drown our old Adam through daily contrition and repentance. Through the Word the Spirit leads our new man of faith to daily come forth and arise. We are children of God who are led by the Spirit.</div><div>
</div><div>RAISED THROUGH THE SPIRIT</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This struggle between our old man of sin and our new man of faith is one that will continue on until we die. But there is a great day that is coming. A day that is so great, that all of creation is eagerly awaiting it. The great day when all the sons of God will finally be revealed. That great day, will be the last day, when the Spirit will raise us to life. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Verse 11, “But if the Spirit of Him (the Father) who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He (the Father) will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” The same Holy Spirit who came to you through the Water and Word of baptism; the same Holy Spirit who adopted you, and made you a child of God; the same Holy Spirit who testifies that you are a child of God; the same Holy Spirit who dwells in you will also raise to life your physically dead body on the Last Day.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Paul speaks of the glory that awaits the children of God at the resurrection on the Last Day. Verse 17, “and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” As the adopted children of God, we are allowed to share in everything that was Jesus’. We are joint heirs with Him and will be glorified together with Him. That is what Jesus gave us. And what did we give Jesus? Our sin. Our sorrow. Our hell. All of which He willingly took on Himself when He suffered and died in our place. What love! What grace!</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But until that day, there is a cross we must bear. It is the cross of discipleship. Jesus told us to expect suffering in this life for following Him. He said, “'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (Jn 15:20) If you have a chance later, you can read of just such an example in our bulletin. Missionary Koenig tells of how Pastor Parandaman in India, was once a Hindu. But the Holy Spirit breathed life into his dry bones and adopted him as a child of God by bringing him to faith in Jesus. The result was suffering. His family ostracized him and still does today. We should expect the same from the world, from friends, and even from family as we follow Jesus and His Word.</div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But don’t focus on the cross-bearing or suffering. Instead, Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” None of that suffering we endure in this life can even BEGIN to compare with the glory that is to come. You see where Paul’s focus is? Where ours needs to be - the glory of the life of the world to come. The glory that Jesus earned for us, which makes our present sufferings seem so insignificant. The glory that will be revealed when we see Jesus face to face. The glory when these corruptible bodies put on incorruption and these mortal bodies put on incorruption (1 Cor 15:53). We will be raised to this life through the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead and who dwells in us.</div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We were once those dry bones scattered about the valley of the shadow of death. We were spiritually lifeless and without hope. But thanks be to God that He sent His life giving Spirit to us. Through the water and Word of holy Baptism and through the preaching of the Gospel, God sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts. His Spirit adopted us as God’s children. Through the same Means of Grace the Spirit leads us to repent of our sins and put on our new man of faith. And creation joins us in eagerly waiting for the great day when the sons of God will be revealed in the glory that Jesus has won for us. May the Spirit who called us, gathered us, and enlightened us ever keep us steadfast unto the end. Amen.</div></div></div>Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-53309059822000246532011-04-03T16:45:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:21:46.787-05:00Hosea 5:15-6:3 "Adversity's Question: Where did God go? OR Where did WE go?"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYQTWuzPwFCiBrOcH1OMLPEw5ffFxPpcnJQVT2hkeQ_YPbP1FclCxy-mheVMWcqKs1Yd-bPP9kZihG2ltJHNjoQWXtxlb8BgiZoaVzlAe5LZt5AWTvwczOAj6bdK5F5wDNZXEiNRpjmjB/s1600/pray58.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591477718349324898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYQTWuzPwFCiBrOcH1OMLPEw5ffFxPpcnJQVT2hkeQ_YPbP1FclCxy-mheVMWcqKs1Yd-bPP9kZihG2ltJHNjoQWXtxlb8BgiZoaVzlAe5LZt5AWTvwczOAj6bdK5F5wDNZXEiNRpjmjB/s320/pray58.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 214px;" /></a><br /><div>
<div><b><i>Hosea 5:15-6:3</i> I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” </b> (ESV)</div><div>
</div><div>Theme: ADVERSITY QUESTIONS: Where did God go? OR Where did we go?</div><div>
</div><div>Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In today’s terms, the story of the prophet Hosea might be described as scandalous. The prophet Hosea lived at the same time as the prophet Isaiah - a little over 700 years before Christ was born. While Isaiah mainly prophesied to the southern Kingdom of Judah, Hosea mostly prophesied to the northern Kingdom of Israel, but in his book he also has some words for the southern Kingdom of Judah. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The book of Hosea opens by the LORD commanding Hosea to take a wife. Seems harmless enough, right? After all, God invented marriage and said that it was not good for man to be alone. Yet what makes this so peculiar is the type of wife God commanded Hosea to take. The kind of wife that parents would tell their sons avoid. In chapter 1 verse 2 we read, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.” God wanted Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife! An adultertress! Someone who slept around! </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet God had a purpose in this. He wanted Hosea’s relationship with his wife and children - if they even were his children - to be a reflection of the relationship the LORD had with Israel and her people. While Hosea loved and cared for his wife, she cheated on him and was unfaithful to him. So too with the Israelites. Though the LORD loved them, cared for them, promised to protect them, and supplied for all of their needs, they were unfaithful to Him. They practiced spiritual adultery by worshiping other gods. When they were in trouble, when enemy nations were on their doorsteps, threatening to destroy them, rather than going to the LORD their God for help - the same LORD God who had saved them from the Egyptians and delivered them from all the heathen nations living in Canaan - rather than going to that God for deliverance, they instead turned to other heathen nations for protection. Israel was sleeping around with the heathens and now her smaller sister nation, Judah, was beginning to imitate her.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>By the time we reach chapter 5 of Hosea, the year is about 735 B.C. Though Israel still exists as a nation with it’s own king, it is all but owned by the nation of Assyria, the superpower of the day. But Israel is getting tired of paying Assyria’s king Tiglath-Pileasar III’s heavy tribute. So Israel teams up with the nation of Aram to try and defeat mighty Assyria. They also asked Judah for help. But when Judah won’t help, Israel and the Arameans attack Jerusalem. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Where does Judah’s king Ahaz go for help? Not the LORD, but Tiglath-Pileasar and the Assyrian army. In order to get Assyria’s help, Judah basically indentures itself to Tiglath-Pileasar. King Ahaz says, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me." (2 Kings 16:7) Assyria then invades Israel from the north and Judah from the south, carrying out God’s judgment against the spiritually adulterous nation of Israel. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet, in all this, Judah is not held guiltless either. Not only did Judah seek aid and protection from a heathen nation rather than the LORD God, but she also trampled on her sister nation of Israel. Therefore the LORD was going to pour out His wrath on Judah like a flood. In the verse right before our text the LORD says, “For I will be like a lion to Ephriam, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.” (Hos 5:14) The LORD was prepared to tear through Judah like a lion would tear through its prey.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And then we come to verse 15. The LORD says “I will return again to my place.” Like a lion returning to its den after the hunt, the LORD was going to return to His place in heaven and abandon Judah and Israel. By the year 700 B.C. the Assyrian army had defeated the northern Kingdom of Israel and carried her people away never to be seen again. Assyria would turn its attention to Judah. They would tear through Judah in an attempt to destroy them as well.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As all this was going on, all this adversity, many probably wondered, “Where did God go? Why is He not helping us as He helped us in the past? Why is God allowing these bad things to happen to His good people?” Like many people, they may well have blamed God for all the distress and adversity to come upon them. And had God abandoned them? It certainly sounds like that when God says, “I will return again to my place.” God had left them. But is that really the question they should have been asking? Should have they really be asking where did God go or should they instead have been asking, “Where did we go? Where did we go wrong that God is no longer with us to protect us and help us?”</div><div>
</div><div>WHERE DID WE GO?</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This departure of the LORD from Israel and Judah should have come as no surprise. Countless times the LORD sent His prophets warning Israel and Judah not to continue any longer on their path of spiritual adultery. Again and again He called on them to repent and return to Him. But they would not listen and so the LORD left them to their own devices. God did not depart from Israel and Judah first, Israel and Judah had long ago departed from the LORD and His ways.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But like Hosea who loved his wife, even though she cheated on him, the LORD was ready to take back His adulterous bride, Israel and Judah. “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.” Now we begin to see WHY the LORD came after them like a lion, tearing at them like prey and then returning to His den. He hoped that in their distress they would repent of their spiritual adultery and earnestly seek Him. Rather than asking, “Where did God go?” God would have them examine themselves and ask, “Where did we go? What sins have we committed that God would cause such distress to come into our lives?”</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The prophet Hosea calls out to the people to repent, “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” Rather than wondering where God has gone, Hosea urges them to return to the LORD in repentance. Return to Him and His ways. The LORD is merciful, gracious, and longsuffering. He will heal and will bind up the wounds with His forgiving love.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hosea continues, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” Notice the confidence Hosea has in the steadfast love of the LORD! Hosea is certain that the LORD will give them new life. It may involve a couple of days of suffering, but if we repent, if we turn away from our sin and to Him, He will raise us up to life again in Him. </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Therefore, Hosea urges again, “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD.” Can you hear the urgency in Hosea’s words to those spiritually adulterous people? He urges them to seek to know the LORD. This is done by first finding out what His will is and what is pleasing and displeasing in His sight. The LORD is known by His Word. In His Word He reveals Himself and His will.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hosea then speaks of the confidence and trust they can having in turning to the LORD in repentance, “His going out is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea knows the LORD as his God. He knows the LORD is forever merciful and gracious. If the people humble themselves in repentance, the day of the LORD’s salvation will certainly rise upon them just as certain as the dawn means the sun is rising. He will shower them with His grace just like the fall and spring rains. </div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We certainly have much to learn from this text, don’t we. When adversity strikes us it may feel that God has left us and isn’t helping us as He promises to in His Word. It may seem that God has torn us, wounded us, and returned to His den. Like the psalmist said in our Psalm for this morning (Psalm 43:2), “Why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” We may be left to question with others, “Why would a loving God allow such a thing to happen to us?” </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But is that the question we should really be asking? Should our little minds be trying to comprehend the greatness of God’s wisdom and mind? Or should we instead be asking, “Where did we go?” Rather than trying to examine God’s heart, let us instead learn to first examine our own hearts. Are we guilty of committing spiritual idolatry? Well, as far as I know, none of you have a statue of Baal or an Asherah pole or a golden calf in your house or garage that you bow down to and offer sacrifices to. That is, I don’t think anyone here practices open idolatry like Israel and Judah did. But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been unfaithful to our God in ways similar to Judah and Israel.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Consider this, when Judah and Israel were under assault from the enemy, where did they go first? Didn’t they first to go to the heathen, the unbeliever for help. When we have health problems, where is the FIRST place we go for help? The doctor, right? When we have financial problems, where is the FIRST place we go for help? The bank. When we are having family problems, where is the FIRST place we go for help? When we are having homework problems or school problems, where is the FIRST place we go? Maybe our parents or our teacher. When the weather is looking wretched and we fear what may happen to this year’s planting or this year’s harvest, where is the FIRST place we go? The almanac or an old timer, who has much experience in farming? Or maybe we look to ourselves first for solutions to these problems.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now, please understand me clearly - there is nothing wrong with going to a doctor or a bank or your teacher for help. The point of our examination is to see where we are going FIRST for help when adversity strikes. Isn’t it true that so often we turn to the world first for help, and then if that doesn’t then we wonder where did God go? Why does He seem to be hiding Himself from me?</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When adversity strikes, when it seems that the LORD is tearing our world apart, that is the perfect time for us to examine our hearts. Let us acknowledge our guilty before the LORD and earnestly seek His face. Let us confess that we did not seek Him FIRST for all of our needs and the needs of our family. Let us press on to know the LORD. Let us open our Bibles and hear the voice of our God as He makes Himself known to us by the pens of His holy writers. Let us make use of the man God has called to be our spiritual overseer.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As the psalmist wondered in our Psalm why his soul was downcast and in turmoil within him, what did he resolve to do? Ignore it? Fix it himself? No. He tells his soul, “Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (Ps 43:5) While the assaults of his enemies left him with many questions, he rests his hope in God, certain that God will help him.</div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>That is the same thing Hosea says in our text, isn’t it. The LORD may allow us to suffer for two or three days, but He will raise us up again as we return to Him in repentance. As sure as the light in the Eastern sky means that the sun is on it’s way up, so too God’s aid and help is certainly coming. He has torn us, that He may heal us. He has struck us down, and He will bind us up. He will come with His comfort and grace, just like those Palestinian rains each spring and fall.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As for the question, “Where did God go?” there is One who had the right to ask that question. One who never practiced spiritual adultery and never deserved to be abandoned by God. Jesus was never unfaithful to the Father. When the enemy was assaulting His soul in Gethsemane, He went to the Father in prayer and trusted Him to do the right thing.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet like a lion and a young lion, God tore into Jesus on the cross and then returned to His den, leaving Him alone on the cross. This God did because on the cross Jesus became each of our sins us as the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all. God made Jesus to be Judah and Israel’s spiritual adultery. God made Jesus to be our sin. And Jesus suffered the wrath of God in our place. God left His Son on the cross and returned to His place, because at that moment Jesus was no longer His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased, but instead the His cursed Son who was bearing the sin of the world.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Though suffering all this adversity, Jesus continued to call God “My God” and “Father.” And on the third day God raised Him up to life again. Because Jesus already suffered the punishment of God for our sins, God has healed us and bound our wounds from our great distress of sin. In Jesus, God comes to us with healing in His wings. He waters us with His grace and love.</div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So, no matter what distress and adversity God has allowed to come into your life, rather than wondering where God may have gone, let us question where we have gone wrong. Rather than examining God’s heart, let us examine our own hearts. Let us really repent of real sins. “In our distress let us earnestly seek Him. Come, let us return to the LORD; let us know; let us press on to know the LORD. ” Amen.</div></div>Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-18604673839848318792011-03-27T15:56:00.002-05:002022-06-08T09:21:54.936-05:00John 9 - "The Works of God Revealed"<div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>
</i></b></div><div><b><i>John 9</i></b> <b>Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" 9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he." 10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight." 12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know." 13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. 17 They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." 18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 "but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." 25 He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." 26 Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" 28 Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. 29 "We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34 They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" 36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." 38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him. 39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." 40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.</b></div></div><div>
</div><div>“The Works of God Revealed”</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Seeing</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Confessing and worshiping</div><div>
</div><div>Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who once were lost, but now have been found, were blind but now see,</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As we read through John 9, what struck you as the most remarkable event of the chapter? It’s quite a bit longer of a sermon text than we are used to. Yet it is quite easy to follow the narrative which the Holy Spirit has preserved for us today. Was there anything that struck you as we read through it? Certainly the man born blind receiving his sight is pretty remarkable! He is even amazed as he says in verse 32, “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.” That is pretty amazing! There is no record of anyone being born blind in the Old Testament receiving their sight. Never from the beginning of the world until Jesus healed this man, has anything like this ever happened.</div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Imagine how amazing it would have been for this man born blind. He had never seen the face of his parents. He had never seen a sunset or the stars in the sky. He had never looked upon the amazing colors and shapes of God’s glorious creation. He didn’t even know what his house looked like or the Temple he worshiped at. Since there was no real work a blind man could do in those days, he had to rely on the love of his fellow Jews to survive. He sat outside the entrance Temple or city gates and ask for handouts from passers-by. But all this changed when Jesus came into his life and gave him sight.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet, I would argue that this man receiving sight is not the most remarkable event in our text! Let us look closer at this portion of God’s Word to learn some spiritual truths as we see the work of God revealed in the life of this man born blind. We will see the work of God revealed in this man’s seeing, confessing, and worshiping. May the Holy Spirit strengthen our spiritual eye-sight through His word, that we may see Jesus our Savior more clearly with our eyes of faith.</div><div>
</div><div>SEEING</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Isn’t this the one who sat and begged?” “Nah! Can’t be! That man was blind, this man can see!” “It is him! I recognize him! But how did this happen?” You can imagine the confusion and excitement as the friends and neighbors gathered around this man born blind to find out what happened to him. Even his parents seemed dumbstruck by what had happened to their son. The man born blind has only a limited idea of how this had happened. “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.” He knew Jesus had given him his sight, but he didn’t know where Jesus now was. The last contact he had with Jesus was while he was still blind and Jesus told him to wash the clay off in the pool of Siloam.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This amazing event had to be brought to the attention of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were supposed to be the spiritually enlightened ones of the day. They begin their inquisition of this man born blind. They too wanted to know how this man was now able to see. The man born blind again repeated the events that had transpired in very simple, straight forward terms, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Pharisees were divided about Jesus doing this amazing thing. Some ignored that which was right before their eyes and said, “This Man (Jesus) is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Some were offended that Jesus had supposedly done work on the Sabbath by spitting on the ground, making clay, and applying it to this man’s eyes. Then He told this man to do unnecessary work by washing his eyes in the pool of Siloam. This was a violation of the rules they had added to God’s Word about the Sabbath. Others replied, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So they ask the man who was healed what he had to say about Jesus. “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” To which the man said, “He is a prophet.” </div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But this was not enough. They thought this was all a hoax and that he wasn’t really born blind. So they called his parents to testify. His parents were afraid to tell what they really thought - that Jesus had healed their son who was born blind. They were afraid to say that because the Pharisees had already threatened to excommunicate from the synagogue anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ. So they told the Pharisees to ask their son themselves, he was old enough to answer for himself.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So again, they call the man born blind to testify. They continue to badger him with questions. One is not sure what they were hoping to get out of him. Were they hoping he would say Jesus was a horrible person and did not really heal him? Were they maybe hoping that he would say that Jesus called upon Beelzebub to heal him? We’re not sure. One thing is for sure, the ones who claimed to have spiritual sight, were blind to what was right before them and refused to accept what their eyes were seeing - the work of God revealed in this man.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yet what do we find with the man born blind? Verses 30-33, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” Do you now see the truly remarkable event that unfolds in our text? While it is remarkable that Jesus was able to give this man born blind his physical eyesight back, the truly remarkable work of God that is revealed in him is the spiritual sight God gave this man. Though this man has not yet seen Jesus with his new eyesight, with his eyes of faith he clearly saw Jesus for who He was. “He is a prophet. ...He is a worshiper of God and does His will. ...this Man is from God.” He saw Jesus as a Man sent from God and doing God’s work.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We often wish we could have seen the miracles Jesus did. We wish we could have seen Jesus give sight to the blind! But the work of God revealed in this man born blind has also been revealed in you. God has given you the same spiritual sight He gave this man. You see Jesus as the Son of God, sent to be your Savior. You see Jesus as your Substitute who came to do the will of God in your place. You are no different than this man in our text. You were born spiritually blind, but have been given sight. Paul said in our New Testament lesson, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” (Eph 5:8) Like this man, though you haven’t seen Jesus with your physical eyes you have heard His voice and with your eyes of faith you see Him just as clearly as this man born blind. This is the work of God!</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div><div>CONFESSING AND WORSHIPING</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is striking to see how everyone seems to have abandoned this man born blind. His neighbors and those who had previously seen that he was blind, were very interested in how he was able to gain sight. But once they hear that Jesus had healed him, they bring him before the Pharisees and there he stands alone to explain himself. Then his parents are called before the inquisition. They are only willing to say that he was born blind, they don’t want to stick out their necks and suggest that he was miraculously healed by Jesus. They too abandon him before the Pharisees, saying, “He is of age; ask Him. He will speak for himself.” John explains that they said this because they were afraid of the Jews and afraid they might be excommunicated from the synagogue.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This too is quite remarkable, isn’t it? We would think that everyone would be overjoyed and ecstatic about this amazing miracle that had taken place in their midst. We would expect that especially his parents would be giving glory to Jesus for healing their son! We would think the Jews and Pharisees would want to meet with Jesus and glorify God for the great thing He had done for this man. Yet this healing seems to be a matter of controversy and offense, more than a matter of joy. This shows us the sad spiritual condition of Israel at the time of Jesus. God was at work among them and, more than anything, they seem troubled by it.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But the fact that this man was abandoned by his neighbors and parents, makes the work of God in this man’s life all the easier to see. We have already seen how the work of God was revealed in his life by his faith in Jesus. But faith in Jesus is never alone, is it. It is always accompanied by good works. We see the fruits of the work of God revealing themselves in this man’s confession and worship of Jesus.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>While his parents are afraid they will be kicked out of the synagogue, their son with his new eyes of faith does not hesitate to confess Christ publicly to the Pharisees. When they continue to badger him about how he was healed, the man born blind almost becomes a bit sarcastic with them. Verse 27, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” When the Pharisees reviled him and said that they follow Moses but not Jesus because they do not know where he is from, the man born blind continues to confess and defend his faith in Jesus. Verse 30, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He has opened my eyes!”</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The work of God is revealed in this man as we see him confess and defend his faith in Jesus. In the end he is excommunicated from the synagogue for confessing that Jesus was sent from God. While everyone else seems to treat this man like a pariah, Jesus does not. Upon hearing that he had been excommunicated, Jesus deliberately seeks out the man that had been born blind and said in verses 35-38, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. Here the work of God is revealed in the confession and worship by this man. He believed Jesus is his Lord and the Son of God and he bowed down and worshiped Jesus as his God. This is the work of God! This man didn’t care how everyone else felt, he knew Jesus was his Savior.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Every time you confess your faith in Jesus, the same work of God is revealed in you! Paul writes to the Corinthians, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor 12:3) It was the Holy Spirit who was at work in the heart of this man born blind and led him to confess his faith in Jesus before the Pharisees and before Jesus. It is the same Holy Spirit that leads you to confess the same thing. After Peter gave his rock-solid confession about Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 16:17) Faith and confession are the work of God! It is the work of God when you tell your friends, your neighbors, your relatives that you believe Jesus is the Son of God, sent from heaven to take away all your sins, and give you the gift of eternal life. It is the work of God revealed in you when you stand here in church and publicly confess your faith in Jesus by one of our creeds. This is the work of God revealed in you when you confess that you see Jesus as your Lord and your God!</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And we cannot but join this man born blind in worshiping Jesus as our God. We cannot help but worship Jesus who gave His life for us to save us. The fact that you are here this morning, is revealing the work of God in you. We must sing to Him. We must praise Him. We must pray to Him. Believers have done this from the beginning. Abel offered sacrifices in worship to God. David wrote countless psalms of worship to his Savior God. Daniel would go to his room three times a day to pray to God. The man born blind bowed down and worshiped Jesus as His Lord and Savior. This is the work of God revealed in us that we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and worship Him as our God.</div><div>
</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So what is the most remarkable event in our text? It is Jesus giving sight to those who do not see, but not in the way we first expected. We first thought it was remarkable to hear that a man born blind was able to see with his eyes. But as we looked deeper into our text we saw that the work of God revealed in this man was the faith God created in His heart. Faith which saw Jesus his Savior. Faith which freely confessed itself in Jesus. And faith which worshiped Jesus as Lord and God. And this is the very reason why God caused this man to be born blind in order to reveal the work of God in him. We praise God that He has worked in us as well. That we who were born spiritual blind have been given the sight to see Jesus as our Savior from sin, confess Him to one another and throughout the world, and worship Him as our Lord and God. May the Holy Spirit ever give us 20/20 vision for our eyes of faith, that we may always be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (Heb 12:12) Praise be to God for this amazing work which He has begun in us! Amen.</div>Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-76358357621822314142011-03-23T21:15:00.004-05:002022-06-08T09:15:39.605-05:00Profiles of the Passion: Peter - A Profile of Denial<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5I4U0KxEdGY09ttVpgQPxZBv-o0EyxqyaeAcwALDZcoQzKwlBWfJl3qdkfxOyO-f113XhgGWFjJACC4_i2Lt6V5VgObwJwzKCZ6jktuPWhPiUKtwG5C9lEk94Fv15hOHuF8mCdO8jkD1c/s1600/rooster_4748c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587467320406176034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5I4U0KxEdGY09ttVpgQPxZBv-o0EyxqyaeAcwALDZcoQzKwlBWfJl3qdkfxOyO-f113XhgGWFjJACC4_i2Lt6V5VgObwJwzKCZ6jktuPWhPiUKtwG5C9lEk94Fv15hOHuF8mCdO8jkD1c/s320/rooster_4748c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">PROFILES OF THE PASSION
3) Peter - Profile of Denial
Luke 22:61-62</span> And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.</span>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Jesus, grant that balm and healing In Thy holy wounds I find, </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Ev-ry hour that I am feeling Pains of body and of mind.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Should some evil tho’t within Tempt my treach’rous heart to sin,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Show the peril, and from sinning Keep me ere its first beginning. Amen. (TLH 144:1)</span>
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(Taken from 1 Peter 1:1-5) To the pilgrims of the Dispersion (at Prince of Peace), elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
My name is Simon, son of Jonah. But you probably know me better by the name which Jesus gave me, Peter. Tonight I have been asked to share with you my profile and help you to see something about yourself. I think you will be surprised how much you and I have in common.
Allow me first to share a little about myself and my background. I grew up in the Galilean town of Bethsaida, on the Northwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee. Over time my brother Andrew and I moved to the town of Capernaum, where we took up the fishing trade with two other would-be apostle brothers, James and John.
My brother Andrew, like John, was a disciple of John the Baptist. And it was actually Andrew that first brought me to Jesus. After John the Baptist had pointed out Jesus to Andrew as the Lamb of God, my brother followed Jesus and spent the day with Him. Andrew came found me and told me that he had found the promised Messiah, the one that the prophets had spoken of. And more than just telling me about Jesus, Andrew actually physically brought me to Jesus. And it was at that moment that my life changed. Upon Jesus seeing me, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone). Cephas is Aramaic for the Greek name of Peter, which you are all quite familiar with.
It wouldn’t be until much later that I understood why Jesus gave a name that means “A Stone.” At one point during the three years that I followed Jesus and was taught by Him, Jesus asked us what people were saying about Him - who they though He was. Well, there were various opinions among the people as to who Jesus was. Some people thought He might be John the Baptist or the prophet Jeremiah, back from the dead. Other people thought that maybe the prophet Elijah had returned from heaven.
Jesus then asked us who we thought Jesus was. I couldn’t help myself from speaking up. I had no doubt about who Jesus was. I believe the same thing about Jesus as you believe. I said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I said that because I was certain that Jesus really was the prophesied Messiah, just as my brother Andrew told me. But as He taught us and we saw all the good things He did, I knew that He was true God, the Son of God. Is this not the same thing that you just said about Jesus earlier in your worship service?
Jesus then revealed to me that the reason I was so confident about who He was, was because God had revealed this truth to me. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:17-18) I didn’t just believe that Jesus was the promised Christ, the Son of the living God because Andrew had told me that. I believed that because God Himself had created faith in my heart. Faith which believed the rock-solid truth that Jesus is the Son of God. The rock-solid truth that Jesus would build His Church upon. The rock-solid truth that all believers would confess - just as you believe and confess. So rock-solid that Hell was powerless against it. And so I began to see why Jesus called me Peter, which means “a Stone,” after He spoke of the rock-solid confession I gave about who Jesus is.
But for me, it was often one step forward, two steps back. No sooner had I spoken this rock-solid truth about Jesus, then I said something stupid. Jesus had just said how blessed I was because of what God had revealed to me. Jesus then went on to talk about His suffering, death, and resurrection. This was an offensive thought to me! The thought of Jesus being mistreated and put to death was unbearable. I pulled Jesus aside and I actually rebuked Jesus for what He had said! How foolish of me to rebuke the Christ, the Son of the living God. "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" (Mt 16:22) Somehow I thought I knew better than Jesus.
What I didn’t realize, but Jesus did, was that Satan using my words to tempt Jesus to not go through with His Passion. Jesus promptly rebuked me, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (Mt 16:23) So Jesus went from speaking about how blessed I was because of what God had revealed to me, to calling me Satan for tempting Him not to go through with His mission. This is kind of a summary of my life of following Jesus. I was so often bold and confident, which was not a good quality but a weakness.
My involvement in the events of Jesus’ suffering and death, is my greatest shame and embarrassment. It is an account that you hear of every year, so I’m sure you are quite familiar with it. After we had finished celebrating the Passover with Jesus and He had instituted the Lord’s Supper, we left the Upper Room and headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. Along the way, Jesus said these ominous words, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” (Mt 26:31) Jesus was warning us - all of us, including me! Jesus was making known that another prophecy of the Old Testament would be fulfilled when we would abandon Him that night.
Once again, I thought I knew better than Jesus - and for that matter, better than the Old Testament! I boldly promised Jesus, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble." I just couldn’t imagine myself stumbling, and falling into sin on account of Jesus! Jesus warned me, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." This couldn’t be! Jesus couldn’t be right! He was my God, my Savior, my Teacher, and my Friend! How could I ever deny Him once - let alone three times and all in that very night! I told Jesus He was wrong, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" I was ready to stand at Jesus’ side - all the way to death, if I had to!
I thought I was pretty strong. I thought my faith could handle anything that came my way. What I didn’t realize was just how weak I was. That night, the very thing Jesus warned me about, the very thing I told Jesus He was wrong about, took place. After Jesus was arrested, John and I followed from a distance, so we could see what was going to happen to Jesus. John was able to get us access to the courtyard of the high priest, where I warmed myself by a fire, with others, paying close attention to what was happening with Jesus.
That is when it began. An unarmed servant girl approached the fire I was sitting at and began starring at me. Then she said, "This man was also with Him." I began to panic! What if they found out I was one of Jesus followers? I was in the enemies territory now. They might arrest me as well and treat me like they were treating Jesus! "Woman, I do not know Him," I told her.
But it did not end there. A little while later I was approached again by the servant girl, "This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth. This is one of them." She was starting to attract attention. I again denied it. But others started joining in, so I swore to them with an oath, "Man, I am not. I do not know the Man." I thought I was off the hook, but about an hour later I was approached a third time, "Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it." This couldn’t be happening, I thought! Now I am doomed too! I feared for my life! I began to curse and swear, "I do not know the Man. I do not know this Man of whom you speak."
Then it happened. The rooster crowed for the second time that night. From where I was I could see Jesus and as the rooster crowed, He turned and looked at me. It was a look that pierced me to my very soul. The very thing I promised Jesus I would never do, I had done, just as He warned me. I was so ashamed of myself. I had denied my Lord! It was so overwhelming, that I ran away crying. There was my Lord suffering scorn and shame, being slapped and spit upon. And what was I doing? Cowering in fear in front of a servant girl, trying to save my hide by denying I was with Him or even knew who He was! My profile is a profile of denial.
My friend, the Apostle Paul, wrote, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor 10:12) I thought I could stand, but boy did I ever fall. But God used my denial to humble me and teach me to find my strength in Him. I needed to see how great of a sinner I was in order to see just how much I needed a Savior. Jesus’ look that night, revealed just how weak of sinner I was. But on Easter Sunday morning, I learned the greatness of Jesus’ grace and power to save. I ran to the tomb to find that Jesus had risen from the dead. He had paid for all my sins - including my sins of denial. He died to forgive me and He rose to assure me that I was forgiven.
The Lord went on to use me for great things in His church. He used me to deliver a powerful sermon on Pentecost. A powerful sermon which the Holy Spirit used to bring many people to faith in Jesus. Later, as I stood before the same Jewish council that Jesus stood and was commanded to stop preaching about Jesus, HE gave me the strength to defy them and continue preaching the good news about Jesus. And it was Jesus who gave me the strength to remain faithful unto death, when I died a martyrs death even as Jesus told me would happen.
You and I have so much in common! Which one of you doesn’t think you believe so firmly in Jesus and your faith in Him is so strong, that nothing would ever deter you from being faithful to Him. Yet, how many times have you denied Jesus? Maybe you didn’t curse and swear that you don’t even know who Jesus is, but haven’t you denied Jesus by your words and actions? Like that time your unchurched friends started making fun of Christians and you joined right in because you didn’t want them to make fun of you too. Or that time that you joined in, using the same dirty language that they use, because you didn’t want them to think you were different.
What about denying Jesus with love? On the same night I denied Jesus, He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34-35) Jesus loved us and died for us! Aren’t we denying that we are one of His disciples every time we speak or act unloving toward one another?! What if Jesus looked at you at those times? How would you react? You and I have a great deal in common. We both think we are stronger than we are.
So join me in repenting and humbling yourself before God. Rejoice that Jesus died even for our sins of denial and pride. Run with me to the empty tomb and see that Jesus has risen from the dead! God accepted the payment He made for every last one of your sins and my sins. Look to Him for your strength and rely on Him for your protection. And be amazed, as I was, at how the Lord could use such a foolish sinner like me to do great things in His Kingdom. May Jesus keep you faithful unto the end. Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-81078835320503810902011-03-20T12:06:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:22:04.861-05:00Genesis 12:1-8 "God Speaks and Faith Responds"<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3raTVhHRpytBt-h_ttYyFn9OaxuSezSH0G11IsSdT2mNT8ORmaGpUWBaEQ513g3huYYCvv-cGB6ekxdnUM4XJrgB0qiSrj0un7HCdVoyMeN_y4ULAilCALa3EpX2Sk6qlSYXOGon3dKRd/s1600/genesis12_231.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586210151983451010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3raTVhHRpytBt-h_ttYyFn9OaxuSezSH0G11IsSdT2mNT8ORmaGpUWBaEQ513g3huYYCvv-cGB6ekxdnUM4XJrgB0qiSrj0un7HCdVoyMeN_y4ULAilCALa3EpX2Sk6qlSYXOGon3dKRd/s320/genesis12_231.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 300px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Genesis 12:1-8</span> Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.</span>
Theme: GOD SPEAKS AND FAITH RESPONDS
- Cheerfully obeying His commands
- Worshiping Him for His promises
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
How much do you know about Abraham? When we think of Abraham we might think of a man to whom God promised he would have a son, but that son was not born until he and his wife were well into their 90's. Or we might remember how years later God tested Abraham’s faith, by telling him to kill that only son as a burnt offering to him. Or maybe we remember how Abraham pleaded with God many different times to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, if there were enough righteous people living there.
But have you ever stopped to think about how similar we are to Abraham? While we don’t expect God to give us a child when we are in our 90's nor do we expect Him to ask us to sacrifice any of our children, we are very similar to Abraham. When God first called Abraham, or Abram as his name was then, he was living in Ur of the Chaldees and later in the city of Haran - both in modern day Iraq - Abram was an idolator, just like his family was. They did not worship the one, true God of Creation. But all that changed when God called Abram. By His almighty power He took Abram from the power of darkness and unbelief to the light of faith in Him.
Do you begin to see how similar we are to Abraham? While I am not aware of any of you ever openly worshiping false gods, we all were born in the same spiritual condition as Abraham. God had to call us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. Abram’s call was a call of grace. He did not deserve to be called into the Kingdom of God, much less become a forefather of our Savior Jesus. Ours was an election of grace as well. We do not deserve to be members of the Kingdom of God. But out of His undeserved love, God has made us His children. And as God called Abraham His friend, Jesus calls us His friends. All this by the grace of God.
So what binds us together with Abraham is God’s grace and our faith. Abraham had faith in the promises of God and we have faith in the promises of God. In fact, we heard the Apostle Paul write in our New Testament lesson that those who live according to faith are, in that way, children of Abraham (Rom. 4:16). So let us this morning, examine our faith and the faith of our father Abraham. Let us examine how for both of us, God speaks and faith responds. It responds in obedience to His commands and in worship for His promises. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditation on His holy word!
CHEERFULLY OBEYING HIS COMMANDS
None of us enjoys being told what to do. Whether we are 2, 22, 42, or 82 - we don’t like being told what to do. We may obey, but rarely do we consider it a joy to obey. We don’t like being told we can only drive so many miles per hour. We may do it, but we want to go faster. Or we don’t like being told we have to fasten our seatbelt in the car. We may do that too, but we don’t like being told it is the law and we have to buckle-up. In each one of us is a sinful old man that is selfish and wants to be its own boss. Our old man is kind of like a three year old in the grocery store who lays down on the floor kicking and screaming because mom told him to do something he doesn’t want to do. We may hide it better as we get older, but our old man feels the same way about being told what to do.
That is what makes the events in our text so remarkable. Here we have a command from God that Abram seems to cheerfully obey. Listen again to what the LORD said to him, “Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” What is the LORD telling Abram to do? He’s commanding him to leave everything he knows and is familiar with, and journey into the great unknown - to a foreign and unknown land. The LORD is asking Abram to blindly follow Him in faith and trust Him.
Imagine the LORD saying this to you! Imagine if the LORD asked you to pack up all your belongings and get on an airplane to an unknown destination. Leave behind your parents, most of your relatives, your friends, your hometown, your state, and even the country that you had grown up in. What a command!
Yet how did Abram respond to this command from the LORD? Did he lay down on the dirt floor, kicking and screaming, saying “I don’t wanna! I won’t! I won’t!” What do we read this 75 year old man did in verse 4? “So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him.” God said it, Abram did it. Abram took up his wife, his nephew lot, boxed up their possessions, gathered all his servants, and left for Canaan. Canaan, a land hundreds of miles away, a place Abram had likely never been, and a place where the people likely spoke a different language.
This is faith at work, isn’t it. This is that child-like faith which takes God at His word. Abram doesn’t question, “Where will I live? Where will my livestock feed? What will I do when I get there?” Faith doesn’t question the word of God, but simply trusts it and obeys. This is what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 112, “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments.” This is faith which is willing to leave everything behind that it knows, and cheerfully obeys the commands of God.
Now the LORD hasn’t asked us to leave the Dakotas and move to a foreign country. But the LORD has given us similar commands to leave behind all that we know and follow Him. Leave behind the world and it’s empty pleasures. The world tells us that we need to take care of ourselves first, our needs, our wants, our desires, and everything else comes second. Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Lk 9:23)
How do we respond to denying ourselves, denying our fleshly desires, and following Jesus? Well our sinful flesh doesn’t like it, but our faith does it cheerfully! The new man of faith which the Holy Spirit has created in us DELIGHTS to do the will of God, just as Abram and the psalmist did. Likewise Jesus has promised be with us as we journey through the valley of the shadow of death. He has called us to follow Him to a land that He will show us. None of us have seen the Promised Land of heaven, yet faith cheerfully follows Jesus, trusting His Word with that child-like faith. In faith we seek to deny ourselves, and follow only Jesus.
WORSHIPING HIM FOR HIS PROMISES
We teach our confirmation students that throughout Scripture there are two main doctrines or teachings - Law and Gospel. Law is anything God tells us to do or not do something. The 10 Commandments are law. We would say that the LORD’s command to Abram to leave his father’s house was law. The Gospel, on the other hand, is a promise from God that He will do something. A promise to bless. A promise to save. The Gospel is the good news about Jesus doing everything necessary for us to go to heaven.
So as we return to the LORD speaking to father Abram in our text, what do we find in verse 2 and 3 of our text? “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” And then again in verse 7, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So, Law or Gospel? Gospel! The LORD tells Abram I WILL do these things for you. I WILL make you a great nation. I WILL bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. This is the LORD promising to do great things for Abram out of His undeserved love.
The LORD did indeed make a great nation out of Abram. From Abram’s lineage would come the great nation of Israel. The LORD did indeed make Abram’s name great, didn’t He. People today of many different religions admire Abram as a great man of faith. The LORD did indeed bless Abram and make him to be a blessing - a blessing for all the people of the earth. This was the LORD promising that from Abram’s descendants Jesus would eventually come. Jesus who is the Savior of not just the physical descendants of Abram, but of all the families of the earth. Abram’s descendant, Jesus, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Abram’s son, Jesus, would be his Savior as well - and in this way Abram would be greatly blessed!
But how many of these things would Abram see in his lifetime? When Abraham died, his son Isaac had only two sons, Esau and Jacob. It wouldn’t be for many centuries after Abraham’s death that a great nation would rise from his offspring. And it would be centuries before his descendants would take possession of Canaan and form the nation of Israel. Abraham certainly did not live to see how all the families of the earth would be blessed in him. Though Abram saw very few of these things come to be, that didn’t stop him from believing they were true. And how do we know? Well we see the fruits of his faith once again, don’t we! Wherever Abram settled, there he would build an altar to worship the LORD God. When Moses writes in verse 8 that Abram, “called on the name of the LORD,” that means he worshiped and prayed to him. No longer did Abram worship false idols, but the LORD God was now his God and the only God he worshiped.
In this life, like Abraham, we do not always see the blessings God promises us. So often our eyes seem to be telling us a different story than what our hearts believe. Most often what we do see with our eyes are the crosses that come with following Christ. The Apostle Paul encouraged the suffering believers in Asia-minor, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22) Just as Jesus endured much shame and persecution, we should expect the same when we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him. Our suffering is not to pay off our sins, because Jesus already completed that payment when He announced, “It is finished,” from the cross. Our crosses are the cost of discipleship.
But the LORD God has made just as many precious Gospel promises to us, hasn’t He! We haven’t seen Jesus face to face, but we believe in Him and love Him as our Savior. We didn’t see Jesus die on the cross, yet we believe that He was sacrificed to purchase our forgiveness. We’ve never seen someone who was raised from the dead, yet we believe Jesus rose on the third day and we believe that we too will rise from the dead on the last day. We haven’t seen heaven, yet we know the dwelling place of God exists and because of all that our Savior Jesus did, we too will inherit and enjoy the bliss of eternal life with Him in heaven. As Paul wrote, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)
And though unseen, we worship the God who loved us and saved us. He has given us faith in Him, faith which exercises itself in worship. We call upon His name as we praise Him, pray to Him, and give Him thanks. And not just on Sundays and Wednesdays. Just as Abram built an altar to the LORD wherever he moved, so too wherever we go, we worship our Savior God in our daily lives. Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Faith responds to the promises of God by worshiping Him.
So, you see, we do have a great deal in common with Abraham. We worship the same Triune God. Though Abraham looked ahead to a Savior yet to be born and we look back at Jesus who already lived, suffered, and died for us - we both believe in the same Savior. Through the faith God gave both Abraham and us, we gladly obey the commandments which He speaks. And our faith responds to the promises of God by worshiping Him for His goodness and grace. May God ever continue to work in us, as He worked in our father Abraham, to keep us steadfast in this faith unto eternal life. Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-83505809809907566732011-03-13T15:52:00.003-05:002022-06-08T09:22:16.867-05:00Matthew 4:1-11 "Our Lord was Tempted as We Are"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHa4_SZ0e63ufaDLU6CD4PWWoDmzdMj7_8UaAR_g9k1Z7f9wz0G7CeevTrF1gSdc_0EDZZ8oO_2lRO3wVylChhWVWML6QEIKdl5PQE1XCRbL3f7Wuo13HSN2K1kue5nqhAeKCzaN7FR4_K/s1600/ThirdTemptation.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583671091734668914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHa4_SZ0e63ufaDLU6CD4PWWoDmzdMj7_8UaAR_g9k1Z7f9wz0G7CeevTrF1gSdc_0EDZZ8oO_2lRO3wVylChhWVWML6QEIKdl5PQE1XCRbL3f7Wuo13HSN2K1kue5nqhAeKCzaN7FR4_K/s320/ThirdTemptation.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 208px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " 7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' " 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.</span>
Theme: OUR LORD WAS TEMPTED AS WE ARE
I. Tempted to distrust God
II. Tempted to test God
III. Tempted to be disloyal to God
Dear fellow wanderers through this desert, redeemed in Jesus Christ,
Lent has been described as a scene of battle for men’s souls. In today’s text we find just that, don’t we. A battle for the salvation of our souls. We find two princes engaged in combat. We hear how the prince of the power of the air, the devil, tempted the Prince of life, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. As we come upon this battlefield we can rejoice because we hear that Christ was victorious. The writer to the Hebrews says of Jesus, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15) Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted. The old evil foe regularly engages in battle with the Children of God. He tempts us just as he tempted our Savior. As we examine our text today, we not only see the weapon Jesus used to battle Satan, but we also see that Jesus was victorious in every single one of His battles. Let us examine how even as the devil tempts us, so too he tempted Jesus to distrust God, to test God, and to be disloyal to God. May God the Holy Spirit ever strengthen us by His Word as we find that the Lord is our refuge!
TEMPTED TO DISTRUST GOD
The setting couldn’t be more different from our Old Testament lesson (Gen 2-3) to our sermon text. In our Old Testament reading we heard just how blessed Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. God had given them everything. They could eat from any of the trees in the Garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet when the devil came to the blessed man and woman, they chose to disobey God, give heed to the temptation, and eat of the forbidden fruit.
But the scene we come upon in our sermon text couldn’t be more different, than the plush conditions of the Garden of Eden. Jesus had just been baptized in the Jordan. The Holy Spirit had descended and remained on Jesus. God the Father had spoken words of endorsement and encouragement to His Son. Then He was led by the Spirit to the desert. In the desert where there was nothing for Jesus to eat. For forty days and forty nights Jesus went without food. And consider how amazing it is to hear that Jesus was hungry! For us this is normal. But for true God to be hungry? Here we see the depths of humiliation the Son of God was willing to go to save us. Conditions could not be more different for the second Adam, than the first Adam. Adam in the Garden had countless trees to eat from, Jesus in the desert had nothing to eat and He was hungry.
The devil tries to capitalize on those hunger pangs to tempt our Lord. As Satan so often does, he tempts with questions. “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” It’s as if the devil were saying: “If it’s really true, Jesus, that You are the Son of God, making these stones into bread should be no problem. We’re here alone in the middle of the desert. No one will know. You’re hungry and here’s an easy way to prove that you really are the Son of God. Surely God does not want His ‘beloved Son’ to go hungry, does He?” Seems harmless enough, doesn’t it? We can hardly see any harm in bread, can we? After all we all need to eat. Jesus was hungry. He’d done bigger miracles than changing stone into bread.
But what this sly devil was doing, was tempting Jesus to not trust in God. To not trust that God would take care of Him. To convince Him that feeding His flesh was the most important thing. But Jesus replies, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " Notice the humility of the Son of God. He does not argue back with His authority as the Alpha and Omega. Rather, Jesus points to Scripture, Deuteronomy 8:3. Earthly bread is secondary to the Bread from heaven. Jesus belly was not His first concern, living on every word that comes from the mouth of God. The devil would have Jesus use His power to serve Himself. Jesus was not about to do so.
The devil comes after us with the same temptation, doesn’t he? He tempts to compromise our trust of God for the needs of our flesh. He tempts us to place our bodily needs ahead of our spiritual needs. Maybe it’s a great job offer or a scholarship at a university that is hard to pass up, but would result in you moving away from your church. Maybe it is choosing work over church. Maybe it’s spending 10 more minutes in the field rather than taking 10 minutes to have a devotion with your family. Whatever the devil’s approach or angle might be, know this, that He does tempt us to distrust God and take matters into our own hands.
How have we handled such temptations? Have we always trusted God above everything else? Hardly! So often we try to make bread out of stone by taking things into our own hands. And in doing so we sin against God. We sin against the very first commandment by not TRUSTING in God above everything else. Yet what do we see with Jesus? Jesus who is our Substitute under the law? We see Jesus standing victorious on the battlefield, conquering this temptation for us and being faithful to God in our place!
TO TEST GOD
“Alright,” the devil would say, “You want to quote Scripture - here’s Scripture for you.” The devil takes Jesus to a high wall in Jerusalem, possibly one with a 400 foot drop into the Kidron Valley. The devil then questions Jesus again and quotes from Psalm 91, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " “God said it. It’s His Word. Are you afraid God won’t keep His word? Don’t you believe God will do what He says He will do?” The devil would have Jesus test God and make God prove that He means what He says in His Word.
It is true that the devil quoted from Psalm 91, but he purposefully left out a very important part. In Psalm 91:11 we read, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.” Yes, God promises to watch over and protect all His children. He promises to provide His angels to protect us, to keep us in all our ways. To keep us in all our ways means that as we live in accordance with the way God wants to live. But the devil loves half-truths. He loves to misquote, misapply Scripture and lead into temptation and sin by twisting the Word of God.
Again, notice how Jesus replies. He does not reply with a logical argument as Eve did in the Garden. He does not call upon the authority that is His as the Son of God. In humility Jesus relies on the power of the simple and clear Word of God to combat Satan."It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' " Why test God when there is a perfectly fine staircase over there? To put God to the test is contrary to the simple and clear Word of God as Jesus quoted form Deuteronomy 6.
He was tempted as we are, isn’t He? Aren’t we tempted to tempt the LORD our God? How many times haven’t we, knowing what God’s Word says, been tempted to either make God prove He is serious about something or tempted to push God to see what we can get away with? And how often don’t we give into those temptations! Even if it was testing God just once, that makes us guilty of all and worthy of God’s eternal wrath. But what do we see with Jesus? We see our Champion standing firm in the face of the very same temptations we fall into. Our Lord was tempted as we are, yet without sin!
TO BE DISLOYAL TO GOD
It seems that the devil was getting frustrated with Jesus. He had not proved such an easy target as did Adam and Eve. But the devil continues to lie and manipulate. He finally tries to appeal to greed for power. Here is the Son of God who from eternity had all authority in heaven and on earth, but now had taken on the humble form of a servant. From eternity He had all the riches of the universe at His fingertips, but now He was poor and without a place to lay His head.
The devil takes Him to a high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. Where or how this took place, our minds struggle to comprehend. But this we know by faith - it really happened. And the devil really tempted Jesus saying, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." All the power and wealth and might of the kingdoms of the world would be a great temptation to the Son (as it were) of a carpenter. Everything anyone could ever desire, right at His fingertips - if only He would bow down and worship the devil.
This is the last straw for Jesus. For the first time addressing him by name, Jesus says, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " Satan would have Jesus be disloyal to His Father. He would have Him worship Satan instead of God. And this Jesus cannot tolerate, for it goes against the 1st and greatest commandment.
Someone once said that sin can kind of be like a painting. If it’s in the right frame it doesn’t look so bad. Satan loves to put idolatry in a pretty frame, doesn’t he. He shows us how fun the pleasures of the world can be on TV. He makes the women of the world look so appealing to our flesh. He makes fame and power look so wonderful. Satan would have us believe that we have to look out for number one - ourselves! He would have us be disloyal to our Father in heaven.
A few weeks ago, we heard Jesus say, " No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt 6:24) But Satan would have us believe that the pursuit of happiness should be our first goal in life. It’s one of our “inalienable rights” we are told. Not so, our Savior says. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (6:33)
We are assaulted by these temptations, too, aren’t we? How do we fare? Do we stand firm at the time of temptation? Do we always and only seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that God will take care of us? We don’t, do we?! We covet, we lust, we seek first our own kingdom, rather than the kingdom of God. Time and again we have been disloyal to God and instead bowed to the gods of this world - pride, possessions, and power.
While we have failed to fear, love, and trust in God above everything else, Jesus did not give into such temptations. Jesus was tempted just as we are, yet without sin. He was our Substitute under the law and obeyed it perfectly in our place. The devil tried to get Jesus to distrust God, just as he does with us, but Jesus did not sin and by faith God credits Jesus victory to our spiritual account! The devil tried to get Jesus to test God, just as he does with us, but Jesus did not sin in this way either, and by faith God credits Jesus’ victory to our spiritual account. And the devil tried to get Jesus to be disloyal to God, even as he tries and so often succeeds with us, but Jesus remained loyal to God unto death, and God credit’s Jesus’ victory to our spiritual account. Jesus was victorious in His all battles over sin and by His amazing grace gives His victory! Praise be to our Champion, Jesus, now and forever!
With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected;
But for us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected.
Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is.
Of Sabaoth Lord, And there's none other God;
He holds the field forever. AMEN! (TLH 262:2)Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-59103698775550599702011-03-09T21:23:00.003-06:002022-06-08T09:16:09.816-05:00Profiles of the Passion: Judas Iscariot - Profile of Betrayal<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7owZ_u60-XZtazqS-KcmTGUjnTDarUFW8a5s6AxFtUISMdWdAFgJTyWrCaO9zv06XcPPW9_25LajGjTI0UUAZygZqn6ZYy9z4etb9oVuppVbi143LYW35BGLFlFIy8_PytX0CcnOXbME/s1600/ash_7970c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582287655584095394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7owZ_u60-XZtazqS-KcmTGUjnTDarUFW8a5s6AxFtUISMdWdAFgJTyWrCaO9zv06XcPPW9_25LajGjTI0UUAZygZqn6ZYy9z4etb9oVuppVbi143LYW35BGLFlFIy8_PytX0CcnOXbME/s320/ash_7970c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 241px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 244px;" /></a> Mid-Week Lenten Theme: PROFILES OF THE PASSION
1) Judas Iscariot - Profile of Betrayal
Text: Matthew 26:14-16
Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the cross we spend,
Life and health and peace possessing
From the sinners’ dying Friend.
Lord, in loving contemplation
Fix our hearts and eyes on Thee
Till we taste Thy full salvation
And Thine unveiled glory see.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who gather together this night to ponder our Savior’s passion - His suffering and death to purchase our salvation, grace and peace be multiplied to you in His name!
Profile - those of you who make use of the social networking tool called “Facebook” will be very familiar with that word “profile.” On Facebook you have the opportunity to tell your friends and the world something about yourself and you put that on your “profile” page. You can include such information as a picture of yourself, your birthday, your relationship status, your political views, your religious views, your hobbies, your favorite quotes, and who your Facebook friends are. But even if have never been on Facebook, you probably know what a profile is. When we are talking about a personality profile, we are talking about an informal biography of someone. A sort of sketch or outline of their life and characteristics.
The Passion account of Jesus suffering and death is made up of many different people who were involved in different ways. Certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Passion. It is His Passion. It is the account of His suffering and death for our salvation. But as we read the Passion account, we hear about different people. Who were these people? What role did they play? Why did they do the things they did?
During our Mid-week Lenten services we want to consider just that - profiles of the Passion. We want to examine the profiles of different players in the Passion account. My plan is that by drawing on what Scripture tells us about these people, to present their profile in the first person - let them tell you their story and what we can learn from them as we examine their profiles. Tonight we begin by examining the Passion profile of Judas Iscariot, a profile of betrayal. To guide our meditation this evening, we turn to the Word of God as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, reading verses 14 through 16:
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.</span>
So far the Word of God.
Good evening. My name is Judas. I imagine you know my name pretty well and probably don’t anything good with my name. I am not speaking to you tonight to make light of or excuse the things that I did. You have every right to be disgusted and appalled at me.
Let me begin tonight by telling you a little about myself. I am often referred to as Judas Iscariot. I am referred to this way so that you do not get me confused with another one of the 12 apostles, Judas, the son of James, sometimes also called Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus. I was called Judas Iscariot, because Iscariot means “man from Kerioth-herzon,” the region of Judea that I came from.
Out of the many disciples that Jesus had, he chose me to be one of the 12 men to be His special students. As one of the 12 apostles I was with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. Along with men like Peter, James, and John I followed Jesus for three years. I saw many, many miracles performed by Jesus. I was there when Jesus fed the 5,000 and then the 4,000. I helped collect the baskets of leftovers. I saw Him heal the sick and paralyzed, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute. I saw Him cast out many demons. I was in the boat when Jesus calmed the seas. I saw with my own two eyes, Jesus walking on the water and then calling Peter out of the boat to walk on the water too!
But more than what I saw is what I had the opportunity to hear from Jesus. From His own lips I heard Him expound on the Gospel. I was there when He delivered His Sermon on the Mount. I heard Him tell those many parables that you even teach your children about in Sunday School. I heard Him say so many things about what the Kingdom of God was and what it was not. I heard the Gospel from the mouth of Jesus.
And after following Jesus and being taught by Him for a couple of years, He sent us out. Along with the other 11 apostles, He gave me power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. Along with 11, He commissioned me to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick among our fellow Jews.
Though I saw all this, heard all this, and did all this, there was one thing I loved more than all of it combined. I loved money. I coveted it. I wanted as much as I could get my hands on. And I loved my job as one the 12 apostles. I was in charge of the group’s money bag. As Jesus would preach, teach, and heal, people would give us money - in the same as you take up an offering during your worship services here. What was so great about being the treasurer of this group? Well, the other 11 were so gullible and trusting, that no one ever audited me. I could take as much as I wanted out of the money bag for myself and no one was ever the wiser! Meanwhile I was accumulating much wealth for myself!
It was my love for money that led me to eventually sell-out to the enemies of Jesus. For some time I had known that they were looking for a way to get rid of Jesus. The leaders of the Jewish church couldn’t stand Him or His teaching and wanted to kill Him. I thought this seemed like a great business opportunity for me and my bank account. After all, if Jesus was really who He said He was, He could certainly escape unharmed from the hands of these men, just as He had done before! But if Jesus did not escape, and they killed Him, He would be shown to be the fake Messiah that they thought He was. Either way, I thought, I was going to get paid!
So during Holy Week, I snuck away from Jesus and the other apostles, and met with the chief priests. I proposed the following business transaction with them, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” They couldn’t have been more pleased to see me and hear my proposal! And then, right there in front of me, the counted out 30 pieces of silver. It was amazing to see that silver shine! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. So I waited for the right opportunity to trade Jesus for those 30 pieces of silver. Those 30 pieces of silver would have been something like 70 of your U.S. dollars today.
During the celebration of the Passover, I found my opportunity. Jesus was alone with the other 11 apostles. There were no big crowds that would cause trouble. And I knew where Jesus would be. Jesus had often taken us to the Garden of Gethsemane to get away from the crowds and pray. So toward the end of the Passover meal, I left the table and went to the Temple to arrange the exchange - Jesus for those 30 pieces of silver.
The chief priests and elders of the Temple sent with me a detachment of well armed temple troops and officers. I had the perfect plan. I arranged to give the soldiers a sign, so that they would know who they should arrest. I would give Jesus a friendly kiss. I thought it was the perfect plan because then they could get their man and the other apostles wouldn’t suspect a thing. I would just tell them that the troops and officers must have been following me.
But it didn’t go the way I had expected. That silver that once shimmered and looked so beautiful, now looked like the ugliest thing I had ever seen in my life. Jesus knew! Jesus knew exactly what I was up to! I should have known I couldn’t hide anything from him! When I kissed Him, He spoke these words that have haunted me ever since, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk 22:47) Then they bound Jesus and took Him away! Jesus didn’t resist, He didn’t fight. He went along with them willingly. When they spit on Him and mistreated Him, He didn’t fight back. When He was being whipped, He did not slip away from their grasp as He had before, but endured it silently. And then the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, condemned Him to die by crucifixion.
I couldn’t take it. The silver that seemed so enticing before, now made me sick when I thought about how I had gotten it. I went back to the chief priests and elders and told them, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But do you know how they responded? They who had been so glad and eager to work with me before, now said coldly, “What is that to us?” (Mt 27:4) They didn’t care what I was going through! They only cared that they got Jesus and He was on His way to die.
That was the last straw. Not all the money in the world could comfort my soul! I couldn’t show my face again to the apostles. I betrayed my own Master and Lord! I betrayed the Son of God! The only escape I could think of, was to kill myself. So I went out and hanged myself only to find that this was no escape but entrance into an eternity of torment in hell!
So what can you learn from looking at my personal profile? There is much my wretched example can teach you. The chief lesson I have for you, is to not harden your hearts to warnings from the Word of God. Time and time again, Jesus warned me about the path I was headed on. He loved me and was trying to call me to repentance. Jesus never extended anything but love to me, even though He knew I would betray Him. In fact, just hours before I would betray Him, Jesus washed my feet. Something only the lowliest of servants usually does for their master and his guests. He washed my feet! The feet of His betrayer!
At the Passover meal, Jesus came right out and told me that He knew I what I was up to. But I ignored Him and played dumb. When Jesus said that someone at the table was going to betray Him, all the other apostles asked if they were the ones that was going to betray Him. So rather than being obviously guilty, I joined in by asking, “Rabbi, is it I?” knowing full well that I was going to betray Him that night. Jesus, once again, reaching out to me in love, trying to call me back to Himself said, “You have said it.” (Mt 26:25)
Jesus also warned me that night saying, “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” (Mt 26:24) Jesus was trying to get me to think about what I was doing. Not only was Jesus warning me about it, but the Old Testament prophets were warning me about what I was about to do! They prophesied that I was going to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver - the value of a dead slave! It would have been good for me if I had never been born, rather than choosing the road I chose, which continues on forever in torments of hell.
My heart was cold to the words and love of Jesus. That is because something else was more important to me - money. What the Apostle Paul would later on write about money, might as well have been written on my gravestone. “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Tim 6:9-10) I loved money more than I loved Jesus. And the devil took advantage of my desire to be rich. When faith in Jesus left my heart, the devil entered in and worked with my sinful desires to betray Jesus into death.
Learn from my profile. Do not follow on my path to destruction. Nothing is more valuable than Jesus. When Jesus calls out to you in His Word warning you about the path you are on, do not ignore Him. When a follower of Jesus warns you about your sin, examine your heart to see if it is true, repent, and look to Jesus for forgiveness. The death that Jesus died was not in vain. He died to pay for all sins of betrayal. I rejected His forgiveness and redemption and am now paying the price forever in the darkness and unquenchable fires of hell. Jesus is your hope, your forgiveness, your salvation, and your life. There is no sin too great for Him to forgive.
May my horrid profile cause you to examine your hearts, repent of your sins - even your sins of betrayal - when something in your life became more valuable to you than Jesus, and in faith look to that Jesus who was sold for the price of a dead slave and see your Savior. When you fall into sin, do not hopelessly despair unto death as I did, but in sorrow over your sins run to Jesus and find cleansing in His innocent blood. Please, learn from my horrid profile of betrayal! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-55071624862522162422011-03-06T12:36:00.003-06:002022-06-08T09:22:31.107-05:002 Peter 1:16-21 "'Tis Good, Lord, to be Here!"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYx1huTUEoZGUc33E0bdbl-nFq8QhaP1hj6eiAo7Poj9w9N-UGiBf5Dhdieqa9uX7RvI8wJx4TGzARzgEoXSsrkJs59jjHJMHX7GdpPXoOP2GszbDnSzj5pdHolGyQJ5LS2bmEwWSDKQzf/s1600/transfiguration.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581039131210597842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYx1huTUEoZGUc33E0bdbl-nFq8QhaP1hj6eiAo7Poj9w9N-UGiBf5Dhdieqa9uX7RvI8wJx4TGzARzgEoXSsrkJs59jjHJMHX7GdpPXoOP2GszbDnSzj5pdHolGyQJ5LS2bmEwWSDKQzf/s320/transfiguration.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 344px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 260px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 2 Peter 1:16-21</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. </span>
<span style="font-style: italic;">Theme: “‘Tis Good, Lord, to be Here!”</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> - Here, where we have the prophetic word</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> - Here, where we listen to the voice which came from heaven</span>
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
If I could be anywhere right now I would be . . . where? Sipping mai-tais on a beach in Hawaii? Playing baseball in Arizona? Anywhere that is warmer than here? Usually at this time of year, we begin to get that dreaded cabin fever. We feel like we’ve been cooped up inside for far too long and it is time to get out the short sleeve shirts and enjoy the sunshine! Then we turn on the weather to hear that another round of snow is headed our way this week. Oh, for the warmth and sunshine! No wonder so many of our members enjoy traveling to warmer climates at this time of year!
But right now, at this very moment, is there somewhere else you would rather be than here in the Lord’s house, praising Him in His temple? Well I suppose that depends on what you think of coming to church. If I had you fill in the blank to the following statement, what word would you use? “Church is <span style="font-style: italic;">____________</span>.” Church is something my parents make me go to? Church is boring? Church is for older people? Church is redundant - that is I feel like I hear the same thing every time I go?
In the last year, many of our CLC congregations and at least one of our pastoral conferences have taken up a study of why CLC congregations seem to be losing so many of their young people. Right here at Prince of Peace, this is something we have had great concern about as we consider ministering to our young people and building them up in Christ. Our West Central Pastoral Conference took up a study of this matter and asked several of those who left the CLC, why they left. Some had personal reasons, such as they had a fall out with their pastor. Others did leave because they did not agree with the teachings of our church. Still others said they left their church because they felt their congregation and the CLC at large was old, stuffy, and boring.
For those who felt that the church was old, stuffy, and boring, what could have we done to keep them as members? Add a contemporary service complete with drums and guitar? What about when that got old and boring? Would a pastor in jeans and a t-shirt be more acceptable than a suit and black gown? Become more of a house of entertainment than a house of worship?
But what if . . . what if we could offer something here at Prince of Peace similar to what Peter, James, and John experienced on that mountain top? On this Transfiguration Sunday we heard in our Gospel lesson the amazing account of Jesus being transfigured in front of the eyes of these three disciples. We heard how Jesus shone with His glory as the Son of God. Glory which was His from eternity, but which He laid aside when He humbled Himself and became true Man. We heard how Moses and Elijah, those heroes of the Old Testament, appeared in glory and talked with Jesus. We heard how, as Peter says in our text, “a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” What if church was like that every Sunday?
As we turn to our text for this Transfiguration Sunday we find out from the Apostle Peter that we actually have something just as good, if not better than the events that transpired on the Mount of Transfiguration. Just as Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount to talk about Jesus death, we have the same here every Sunday in the prophetic word. Just as God the Father spoke from heaven about His Son on the mount, we have the same thing here every Sunday. So just as Peter said on the Mount of Transfiguration that it was good to be there, let us echo that sentiment about coming to church, “‘Tis Good Lord, to be Here!”
I) Do you wish you had been there on the Mount of Transfiguration? Of course, who wouldn’t! To see Jesus shining in all His glory and those great patriarchs of the faith, Moses and Elijah, standing there, talking with Jesus. But what is it that they talked to Jesus about? The current political news? The weather? Whether there was going to be an NFL lockout? Luke writes that they “appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Lk 9:30) Not soon after the Mount of Transfiguration was Holy Week. And at the end of Holy Week? Good Friday - Jesus’ crucifixion. That is what these saints in glory were speaking to Jesus about! They were talking about His suffering and death.
And doesn’t that make perfect sense? These two saints in glory were discussing the most important thing anyone can talk about. They were talking with Jesus about the very reason they were in heaven. Though Jesus would not be born for another 1500 years after Moses and a few hundred years after Elijah, while they walked this earth they had faith in the promises of God. They believed that God would send someone to save them from their sins. They believed in Jesus even before He was born.
And wasn’t Jesus the focus of their work and writings? Moses is credited with having written the first five books of the Old Testament. And what is the focus of Genesis through Deuteronomy? A Savior. True, we often think of Moses as the giver of the Law, but by the Law is the knowledge of sin. And we need to know that we are sinners, so that we might look for a Savior. And Jesus is the promised Savior that Moses and all Old Testament believers looked for.
Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. And what was the message of the Old Testament prophets? The coming of the promised one! From Samuel to Elijah to Isaiah to Malachi, all of them foretold of a coming Savior who would save us. After John the Baptist was born, Zacharias his father, filled with the Holy Spirit said, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began.” (Lk 1:68-70) Zacharias knew that the birth of his son John, meant that the promised Savior was on His way - just as God had foretold by His holy prophets.
While we were not there on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have something even better. That’s right, better than the appearance of Moses and Elijah in their glory! Peter says in our text that even though he was there on the mount and saw all this take place, we have the prophetic word made more sure. We have Moses and Elijah with us today, every time the Old Testament Scriptures are read in church. It is made more sure, because Jesus fulfilled every prophecy written of Him. We are able to hear them speak about the coming decease of Jesus in Jerusalem, written several hundred years before Jesus was even born. That is why it is good to be here! Because of the prophetic word which Jesus fulfilled by His life, death, and resurrection. Let’s listen to Moses and Elijah talk about Jesus!
II) I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD." (Ps 122:1) King David said he was GLAD when people talked about going to church! Which one of us can truly say, we feel the same way as King David about going to church? Or consider what the psalmist writes in Psalm 84, For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Ps 84:10) The psalmist says there is no place else he would rather be, than in the courts of the LORD’s house! These men of God would agree, “‘Tis good, Lord, to be here!”
Or consider Jesus. Jesus who was the very Son of God. Jesus who as the Word made flesh, knew the Scriptures better than anyone else. Jesus who as true God should have been worshiped. Yet what was Jesus custom on Saturdays? We read in the Gospels that it was His custom to go to the synagogue, to church, on Saturday, their day of worship. What a remarkable thing Jesus did! He who should have been worshiped, Himself went to worship God! Why? I would suggest two reasons. One, is that He went to worship because it was the God-pleasing thing to do. And as our Substitute under the Law, He did what was right in God’s sight for the times we failed to do so. But the second reason I would suggest, is that He was showing us that it is good to worship God and to hear and learn His Word. Even at age 12, Jesus was in the temple discussing God’s Word!
Often times I think we lose sight of why we go to church. We feel that we HAVE to go to church. Maybe we feel that we are doing God a favor by going to church. But we do not go to church to earn brownie points with God. Jesus has accomplished our salvation. There are no works we could do to earn our salvation, Jesus has earned it for us by His perfect life. Going to church on Sunday is not about us, it is about God! We are here to worship the Triune God who created us, the God who preserves us, the God to saved us by dying for us, and the God who rescued us from hell and adopted us as His children. We are here to pray to Him, to praise Him, and to give thanks to Him. It is so easy to lose sight of that!
But when we go to church God also does something for us. He speaks to us in His Word. We come to church to hear the very thing Peter, James, and John heard on the Mount of Transfiguration. They were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ majesty. They heard the voice of God the Father from the Excellent Glory, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
We come to church to listen that same voice from heaven! Peter says of Scripture, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Think of what this means! When we read a psalm responsively, or when we hear portions of Scripture used throughout our liturgy, or when the pastor reads the Scripture lessons, or when the sermon text is read, you are not hearing an award winning story from the fiction section of the library, but you are hearing the words of God Himself! The things that the holy writers wrote down are the very thoughts and word which God gave them. The Holy Spirit gave them the words to write. So when you hear the Scriptures you are hearing the voice of God! And when the pastor faithfully delivers to you the teachings of Scripture, you are hearing the teachings of God! And if we are hearing the word of God, we too can say, “‘Tis good, Lord, to be here!”
What is it that God had to say about Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” Don’t we hear the same thing when we listen to the Scriptures? We hear that the Father is well pleased in His Son because of who His Son is and what His Son was doing. He was pleased with His Son because He was willing to do the most loving thing He could - lay down His life to save sinful man! He was pleased with His Son, because His Son obeyed Him in every respect. Even dying on the cross, because that was the Father’s will to save mankind! And so the beloved Son of God, in whom the Father was well pleased is the central message of all of His Word! When you come to church to hear the voice from heaven as recorded in the Words of Scripture, you should expect - even demand! - to hear about the beloved Son of God who came to be your Savior and give you eternal life! When this is the case, we may say with Peter, “‘Tis good, Lord, to be here!”
Where else would you rather be than right here? When Peter was on the mount of Transfiguration he said it was good to be there with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. In his confusion Peter said he wanted to build tents for these three in glory. Peter didn’t want that amazing moment to end! But as amazing as that scene was, it came to an end just as quickly as it began. Jesus had work to do. He had to save us!
‘Tis good, Lord, to be here! Here where we have that prophetic word made more sure by Jesus fulfilling it through His life, His death, and His resurrection. It is good to be here to listen to Moses and Elijah speak of Jesus’ redemptive work. It is good to be here to listen to that voice from heaven, God’s Word, as recorded on the pages of Scripture. Here where God speaks to us of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Let us give heed to this light of God’s Word that shines in a dark place, until the day of Jesus’ return dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. ‘Tis good, Lord, to be here! Amen!Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-52389984360914804652011-02-20T11:48:00.003-06:002022-06-08T09:22:42.879-05:00Matthew 5:17-20 "Jesus Sheds Light on the Law"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpVt_VCdHGFec5M73nJTZ-fa8svLQxPCayrRnVHMKNKb4gRhmtIplqeKenS9dkbAqfL6ZOkTFfDHnmlBEpJP8H-A6c1J74XYPWcUqwtC2e67vqHMmggRKVqk_dxc_swv9x-66RqWUAE6G/s1600/rocks_7519c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575831717119678994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpVt_VCdHGFec5M73nJTZ-fa8svLQxPCayrRnVHMKNKb4gRhmtIplqeKenS9dkbAqfL6ZOkTFfDHnmlBEpJP8H-A6c1J74XYPWcUqwtC2e67vqHMmggRKVqk_dxc_swv9x-66RqWUAE6G/s320/rocks_7519c.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Matthew 5:17-20</span> “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”</span> (ESV)
Theme: JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON THE LAW
- By His teaching
- By His living and dying
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, fellow believers who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, grace and peace to you in His name!
“Where in the Bible can you find the Law and where in the Bible can you find the Gospel?” This is one of those trick questions that pastors like to ask their confirmation students. We teach that the Law and the Gospel are the two main teachings of the Bible. Simply put, the Law is any commandment God tells us to do or do not do. The Gospel is the good news of God loving us and sending His Son Jesus to save us. Anytime we are told to do something in the Bible, that is Law - such as the 10 Commandments. Anytime we are promised something out of God’s grace, that is Gospel. Most confirmation students figure that since God gave His 10 Commandments in the Old Testament and Jesus lived in the New Testament, that this means that the Law is found in the Old Testament and the Gospel in the New Testament.
But this cannot be true, as we see in our text for today. Jesus in the New Testament speaks about the Law of God. Actually, His entire Sermon on the Mount is basically all Law. Furthermore, the Old Testament is full of Gospel promises - from the promise of a serpent crusher who would undo the effects of sin in Genesis 3 to the Prophet Isaiah expounding on the sacrifice Jesus would make as He was wounded for our transgressions. So the Law and Gospel are contained in both Old and New Testaments.
As we continue to look at portions of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we hear this morning of Jesus the great Prophet, speaking about the Law of God. Jesus came to shed light on the Law given in the Old Testament. He did so by His teaching, and also by His living and dying. May the Holy Spirit work mightily in us through His Word, that we might better understand the will of God for our lives and live according to it.
BY HIS TEACHING
When Jesus began His teaching ministry, there was a common misconception - namely that He had come to change things. The Jewish people thought of the Scribes and the Pharisees as the religious authority of the day. Both were very well versed in the Law. The Scribes were professional students of the law and supposed to be experts in its understanding. In a way, we might compare them to professors of the Old Testament. When the Wise Men visited King Herod looking for the new born King of the Jews, one of the groups Herod consulted was the scribes. The scribes knew their Scripture and would have known where the Messiah was to be born. If your wife burnt your dinner and you needed a certificate of divorce, you would go to the scribes to present your case to receive approval and a certificate.
The Pharisees were a sect of Jews that emphasized the strictest observance of the law. They were the ones that would watch your life to see if you were obeying not only the Mosaic moral laws and ceremonial laws, but also the traditions of the Jewish elders. They were always focused on the external keeping of the law. When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, the Pharisees were ready to accuse Him of sinning against the Sabbath by doing work. When Jesus’ disciples picked some grain from a field to eat on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath by doing work. After all, they were harvesting the wheat, grinding it with their hands, and preparing it for food! After Jesus healed another man on the Sabbath, He told that man to pick up the mat his crippled body had been lying on, and go home. When the Pharisees saw this man carrying his mat on the Sabbath, they accused him of sin because he was doing work by moving furniture on the Sabbath.
In both the scribes and the Pharisees, the people saw men that were leading outwardly very religious lives. The knew all the commandments of God and the were very zealous in living and enforcing that Law. Maybe we could compare them to the monks of today. Men who dedicate their lives to the service of God and live outwardly righteous lives. Men whom we would look at and say, “Now that is a person who is really committed to their religion!” Indeed they were very zealous in their beliefs.
But when Jesus began His ministry, He seemed to bring a teaching that was different from the religious leaders of the day. Since the scribes and the Pharisees were such authorities on the Law, they thought Jesus was doing away with all of the Old Testament with His “new” teachings. Here in our text, Jesus says that this couldn’t be further from the truth. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Jesus did not come to undo those 39 books of the Old Testament. Not at all. Much rather, Jesus came to expound on them. He came to shed light on them. His teaching WAS quite different from that of the Scribes and Pharisees, but not because He was teaching something new. What Jesus was teachings, was the Law and the Prophets as God had intended them to be understood.
The scribes and the Pharisees had gotten away from the heart of the Law. They were focused on the externals. God is not interested in beings who simply go through the outward motions of His Law. God is interested in hearts. The Apostle Paul gets at the heart of the Law when he writes to the Romans, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom 13:10b) Love is at the very heart of the Law. Love for God above all things, and love for neighbor as self.
Jesus came to shed light on the Law by His teachings. As Jesus goes on in His Sermon on the Mount He teaches just this, that love is the very centerpiece of the Law of God. Jesus says of the 5th Commandment, that God wasn’t just addressing the act of killing someone. Rather Jesus teaches, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” (5:22) With regards to the 6th Commandment and committing adultery, Jesus teaches that God was not just addressing cheating spouses. Rather Jesus teaches, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery.” (5:28) And rather than seeking revenge on those who wrong you, Jesus teaches, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (5:43-44a)
So, you see, Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to teach it in all it’s fullness. To shed light on the truth of the Law that God is not interested in outward acts, but a loving heart that expresses itself in loving acts. And Jesus says that this will never change. This has always been God’s intention with the Law and it will remain so until the end of time. This is the light that Jesus shed on the Law by His teaching.
BY HIS LIVING AND DYING
When our confirmation students study the difference between the Law and the Gospel, they learn that the Law accuses and condemns. The Law says, “Do this, don’t do that. And if you disobey God, you will be punished eternally.” Paul writes of the Law, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Gal 3:10) How does your life measure up to God’s high standards? Jesus says in our text, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” God is looking for more than the empty, outward observance of the regulations of His law, such as the scribes and Pharisees did. God is looking to your heart. And what does He find there? Does He find a heart warmed with love toward Him and toward our neighbor?
If love is to be the motivating factor in obeying the law and those who do not obey the law of God are cursed, we are left to ask with the disciples, “Who then can be saved?” (Mt 19:25) The law has done it’s job. It has shown us our sin, our failure to love our God above everything else, and our failure to love our neighbor as ourselves. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Rom 3:20b) And it has condemned us for failing to live up to God’s high standards. And if our righteousness needs to exceed that of the outward righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, indeed who then can be saved?
We return to Jesus. Jesus whose Epiphany sheds light on the law. But when it comes to the Law, Jesus did not just talk the talk, He walked the walk, as the saying goes. In fact, He walked the walk all the way to the cross. As the eternal Son of God, He was the author of the Law and as such He was above the Law. Yet Jesus humbled Himself and was born under the Law to redeem us who were under the curse of the Law. He came to be our Substitute under the Law. And Jesus lived His life the way God intended with the Law.
Jesus fulfilled the law with His love. While Jesus never used His divine power as the Son of God for His own benefit, when He saw someone sick, paralyzed, or demon possessed He would use that power to help them in every bodily need - even when He was tired or hungry. When He saw the only son of the widow of Nain lying dead on a cot, He raise that son to life and returned him to his mother.
Even when Jesus was spit upon, mocked, and beaten, He loved His enemies. He blessed them that cursed Him. He prayed for them that despitefully used Him and persecuted Him. He literally loved them to death as prayed that the Father would forgive them and laid down His life to save them. He loved us to death as well. He became our sin. He became our curse. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).” (Gal 3:13)
And it is in Jesus that our righteousness exceeds that external righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus who alone had such exceeding righteousness, takes our sins on Himself and gives us His righteousness. This was the law of love seen in its greatest action as Jesus lived and died for His neighbor, because He loved them.
Jesus did not change anything in the Law. He came to shed light on the true meaning and depth of the Law and Prophets. And what Jesus teaches us does not change. As His redeemed children He desires that we teach and live this way. In doing so we flavor the earth as the salt of the earth and we light of our faith shine, through the love in our hearts shown in acts of love for one another, even as Jesus has loved us, lived for us, and died for us. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34-35) Praise be to Jesus! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-46270574218607619132011-02-13T17:11:00.003-06:002022-06-08T09:22:51.709-05:00Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the Light of the World"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxuhT3vQwc3pvfYIuB6dVvH0qxKJvceitXj34cRfzbCWPVKorefyTCD2U2vJXaiINWfyUytt1PwaTLcv6HpQbRP4vMPnKuOySgTH2oIiqaQwcpZNpoCHFZLeV5Xdq-LzKJBsKoPYDp1vj/s1600/cityc_2322.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573316565799220098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxuhT3vQwc3pvfYIuB6dVvH0qxKJvceitXj34cRfzbCWPVKorefyTCD2U2vJXaiINWfyUytt1PwaTLcv6HpQbRP4vMPnKuOySgTH2oIiqaQwcpZNpoCHFZLeV5Xdq-LzKJBsKoPYDp1vj/s320/cityc_2322.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 222px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Matthew 5:14-16</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light at lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”</span>
Theme: YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
- You cannot be hidden
- You should not be hidden
- You shine to give glory to the Father
Dear fellow luminaries of the world, fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen 1:3-5) Light. Light is the first thing that God created in the beginning. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that while light was created on the first day of creation, the sun, moon, and stars weren’t created until day four. So the sun cannot take credit for bringing light to creation, it was God who gave light to His creation days before the sun existed!
Throughout Scripture the work of God is associated with light in several different ways. Last month we heard Jesus says that He is “the light of the world.” (Jn 8:12) He brought light into this dark and dying world of sin, much like God made created light out of the dark chaos on the first day of creation. Jesus is light because He is the only source of eternal life, as opposed to the eternal darkness of hell. God’s Word, the Bible, is also spoken of as being light. The Psalmist writes, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” (Ps 119:105) God’s Word guides us to our Savior Jesus and shows us that He is our only Savior from sin and hope for eternal life. Scripture also talks of believers as being “in the light” as opposed to the darkness of unbelief. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” (Eph 5:8)
Every light has a source. The sunlight we enjoyed so much yesterday has as its source the burning gases of the sun. The light that comes from this flashlight, comes from the electricity produced by its battery causing the bulb in this light to shine. This morning we hear from Jesus that as believers in Christ we are “The light of the world.” The source of our light is Jesus Himself. We reflect Him who is the light of the world. When the Holy Spirit created faith in our hearts, we speak of Him as having “enlightened us with His gifts.” The Holy Spirit made us the light of the world. The Christian is light in the Lord as opposed to the darkness of unbelief and sin that is in everything else in this world. We have been rescued from the darkness, brought into the light of God by the Holy Spirit, and now have ourselves become the light of the world.
As the light of the world, Jesus teaches us some very special truths this morning in our text. As the light of the world we cannot be hidden, should not be hidden, but instead shine in order to give glory to our Father! May the Holy Spirit who made us the light of the world help us to shine!
YOU CANNOT BE HIDDEN
Who here likes to stick out? For instance, when you are walking in a crowded mall, which of you would like to stick out like a sore thumb in that crowd? Few, if any of us. There are, however, people I know who like to stick out in a crowd. So rather than wearing commonly colored clothes, they will wear bright neon colors. They want to be noticed as being different. Some of us may want to be noticed, but we do not want to be noticed for being different.
Well, dear Christians, I have some news for you. As believers in Christ you are different. You are different from a majority of the world. The number of believers on earth has always been a small minority. In the days of Elijah the prophet, God said that there were only seven thousand men who were following him. (Rom 11:4) A majority of the world has rejected Jesus as their Savior from sin and are living in unbelief or worshiping a false god. Whether we are talking about the un-religious person who just tries to live a good life, or the many false religions of the world - the Buddhist, the Muslim, the spiritualist, or even most Catholics - they are all told that the only way you can get to heaven is by your good works. You have to live a good enough life, you have to obey the tenants of their particular religion, in order to impress God enough that He will let you into heaven, paradise, or nirvana. They are all based on work-righteousness.
You, however, are different. Your faith, the Christian faith, is different from anything else in the world. You believe that your only hope for eternal life is Jesus. He had to earn heaven for you. He had to live a perfect life in your place. He had to suffer and die to pay off your debt of sin. He had to rise from the dead to free you from the bondage of death and sin. And only through faith in Him are you credited with righteousness. You believe that only through Him are justified in God’s sight.
Even this faith you have, you believe you cannot take credit for. You believe that God the Holy Spirit has changed your heart and your life. Now you live for God and not for yourself. You believe you are His temple, His dwelling place. You are the light of the world. You are different.
Jesus says in our text, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” We can understand exactly what Jesus is saying here. Because a hill is elevated above its surroundings, if someone builds a city on it, there is no way of hiding it. It cannot be hidden because of its very nature. Especially at night, when all the townspeople have their houselights and streetlights on. For miles around, that city will be aglow in the darkness of night.
As the light of the world, you are that city set on a hill. You cannot be hidden. The rest of the world can see you as Christian and is watching you. They see you dressed up on Sunday mornings and they figure that you must have gone to church. You are different from the rest of the world and thank the Lord for that! I don’t mean that in a snobbish or stuck-up way. As if we are better than the world because we Christians. We are no better than anyone else on this planet. There but for the grace of God, go I. We thank the Lord that He has rescued us from the darkness of unbelief and pray that as a city set on a hill, people may see us from the darkness of unbelief and we can shine the light of Jesus on their hearts as well! So know this, as the light of the world you cannot be hidden.
YOU SHOULD NOT BE HIDDEN
How does it make you feel to hear that as a Christian, it means that you are different from the rest of the world? How does it feel to hear from Jesus that you cannot be hidden? That your life as a follower of Christ is out there for the world to see? Maybe we feel embarrassed. After all we spend so much of our time and energy trying to fit in. As we mentioned last week, we’re willing to go to great lengths just to fit in. We do not want people to see us as different. We want to be with the “in” and “cool” crowd. So we use the same fowl language and tell the same dirty jokes that the world tells. We join in with the under-aged drinking parties. We want to listen to the music and watch the movies that the world speaks approvingly of. Oh, the lengths we are willing to go to avoid being seen as different.
But Jesus says that you are the light of the world! What is the purpose of light, but to shine! Verse 15 of our text, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” Nobody does that. Nobody lights a lamp and then puts a basket over it to cover up the light it is giving. While we might not light lamps in our houses today, we get what Jesus is saying. When it gets dark outside, none of us turns on a lamp in our house and immediately covers it up with a blanket to keep the light from shining. That would defeat the purpose of light in the first place.
The analogy Jesus is making here is that as the light of the world we should not hide our faith. Imagine if the sun in the sky behaved like that. Imagine if the sun thought, “Well out here in space everything is black and dark except for me. The planets in my solar system don’t give off any light of their own like me. I’d much rather fit in with my surroundings than risk being seen as different from the rest of my solar system.” With that the sun would then go black and no one would benefit from its light. You are the light of the world. A light that should not be hidden!
YOU SHINE TO GIVE GLORY TO THE FATHER
Rather than hiding your faith, Jesus says, “Let it shine!” “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” You are the light of the world, you were made to shine. And you shine by the way you live your life. You shine by the good works that you do.
We know what works are good in God’s sight. We have a summary of what is good in the 10 Commandments. It is good to fear, love, and trust in God above everything else. It is good to not take God’s name in vain but to use it to call upon Him in every trouble, to pray to Him, to praise Him, and to give thanks to Him. It is good to remember the Sabbath day by gladly hearing and learning God’s Word. It is good to honor our father and our mother. It is good to help and be a friend to our neighbor in every bodily need. It is good to honor and love our own spouses. It is good to help our neighbor improve and protect his property and business. It is good to defend our neighbor, to speak well of him, and to put the best construction on everything. It is good to help our neighbor, be of service to him, and urge him to stay in do his duties.
These are ways in which we let the light of our faith shine. Our faith in Jesus is an inward light which shines its beams in the world through our works. What makes these works good is faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. “He who abides in Me,” Jesus says, “and I in him, bears much fruit.” (Jn 15:5) In Jesus we live fruitful lives. Our faith shines through our good works. Good works which the Holy Spirit produces in us. It is faith in Jesus producing works of love for God and our neighbor.
Notice who these good works benefit. “That (others) may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This is the opposite of the world’s motivation for doing their “good” deeds. The billionaire wants his charitable giving to be published so people will praise him for his generosity. The monks and nuns think that by taking vows of celibacy and poverty they will benefit because God will reward them for doing this. All of this is selfish and self-centered. It is doing good for the sake of self.
But as the light of the world, we let our light shine that our Father in heaven may get the glory for what we have done. When men see that our lives are different, when they see the love of Christ at work in our lives, when they see the fruits of faith that abound in our lives they give glory to our Father who created us, made us the light of the world, and caused such good works to abound in our lives. Some may glorify the Father in this life as from the darkness they are attracted to the light that they see shining from us. They see we are different. We are the city on a hill and they want to find out what makes us different. We then have the opportunity to bring the Word to them, whereby the Holy Spirit brings them into the light. Or it may not happen that they glorify the Father until Judgment Day, as we heard Peter write in our New Testament lesson, “They may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Pt 2:10) But the purpose of letting our light shine is to give glory to God who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.
“Let there be light!” These first creating words of God could be echoed in our lives in several different ways. God said, “Let there be light” when He sent His Son into the world to be the Savior of the world. God said, “Let there be light” in our hearts when He called us to faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. God said, “Let there be light” in our lives as we let the light of our faith shine in the world through good works. May the Father ever keep us as the light of the world, may He forgive us for the times we tried to hide our faith, and may He ever work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. To God be all the glory! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-76613627640195522592011-02-07T14:40:00.004-06:002022-06-08T09:23:00.385-05:00Matthew 5:13 "You are the Salt of the Earth"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTda-SOY5TA2s2__5m-f8urcv-_V-WLp_bvzABvtWCwcJdTq11yuu_WQ71iMDmS-FSblwTTlAiRseaP9PFN72FWuBl_0R_bCsRRCBZLEap3Qqot_J_J4eKCnAHyDqxAid6GLS-EJn39Sy/s1600/salt3.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571050945041523586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTda-SOY5TA2s2__5m-f8urcv-_V-WLp_bvzABvtWCwcJdTq11yuu_WQ71iMDmS-FSblwTTlAiRseaP9PFN72FWuBl_0R_bCsRRCBZLEap3Qqot_J_J4eKCnAHyDqxAid6GLS-EJn39Sy/s320/salt3.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”</span>
Theme: YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
- Flavoring and preserving it
- Beware of losing your taste!
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
God did a pretty amazing thing when He combined the elements of sodium and chloride. Those of you who know your chemistry, know that sodium chloride is nothing other than salt. Whether we are talking about the salt in your kitchen or salt in the ocean, it is all as a result of the Master Chemist, God, combining sodium and chloride. While doctors may warn us that too much salt in our diet may cause high blood pressure, it is also true that without salt we could not live.
While we have found many different uses for salt, such as using it to make glass and soap, or to melt the ice on our sidewalks and roads, historically salt has been used for two purposes - to flavor food and also to preserve foods. Without salt food tastes bland or even flat. But salt gives food flavor. No doubt Sarah put salt in the food she prepared for Abraham, and so too Mary when she was cooking for her Son, Jesus. And in the days long before refrigerators and freezers, people would use salt to keep their food from decaying. Whether it was meats or vegetables in the garden, salt was used to preserve the food. Salt draws the moisture out of the food by osmosis, thus preventing or at least delaying the decaying process.
This brings us to our verse this morning. Jesus says to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” As Christians, we provide flavor tasteless world and preserve a decaying world. But let us beware, just as salt that has lost its saltiness is worthless, so is a Christian who no longer flavors the world! May the Holy Spirit be with us that we may continue to be the salt of the earth.
FLAVORING AND PRESERVING IT
Our verse for today comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Last week we heard the beginning of it with the beatitudes. These are a series of statements from Jesus about the blessed state of His followers. For instance, “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” (Mt 5:4) Though as Christians we mourn now over our sin and the sin in the world around us, we are blessed because we know we will be comforted eternally in Jesus.
In verses 13 through 16 of Matthew 5, the focus shifts a little bit. Jesus goes from the beatitudes to talk about Christian sanctification. What we mean when we talk about Christian sanctification in this context is the sanctified or holy living of the Christian. We are talking about the good works that Christians do.
As we talk about Christian sanctification it is very important that we make clear why and how we do good works. As with everything in the life of a Christian, sanctified living is the work of our gracious God. It is God who became man to save us from our sins. Because we disobeyed the law of God, He kept it perfectly as our substitute. Because we sinned and earned God’s wrath and punishment, the Son of God took that punishment on Himself and suffered God’s wrath in our place. Jesus earned our salvation and paid for our punishment. Then, when we were born dead in our trespasses and sins, it was God who made us alive together with Christ. He called us to faith. He made us His children.
The same is true when we talk about the sanctified living of the Christian. This too is the work of God. When the Holy Spirit brings us to faith, He creates in us a new man. Our new man of faith is created in God’s image and desires only to do God’s will. Paul writes to the Philippians that “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13) Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) Believing and abiding in Jesus, the Christian leads a fruitful life, one that is full of good works. From beginning to end, from our redemption, to our faith, to our Christian lives, from beginning to end God gets all the glory. With this in mind, let us return to our text.
As we mentioned earlier, God showed Himself to be a master chemist when He created salt. God also did an amazing thing when He combined His Holy Spirit in our lives. He made us believers in Jesus Christ for salvation. Now as believers in Christ, Jesus tells us, “You are the salt of the earth.” Now, what does Jesus mean in calling us “the salt of the earth.” Well, we need to remember what salt was used for in those days - flavoring and preserving. And that is the very thing that we do as Christians.
First let’s consider how we flavor it. The world we live in is full of sin. Even man’s best deeds are made sour by sin. Remember what the LORD said about the earth before He sent the flood? “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen 6:5) Selfishness and hate abound. The world calls that which good evil, and that which is evil good.
This is where we as Christians come in. We supply flavoring to this world by the good works which the Spirit works in us. Take for instance your station in life. Christian husbands and wives, think of the flavoring you bring to a world that despises and belittles sin. Husbands, as other men around you act like pigs and treat women like they are nothing more than sex objects, you bring flavor as you love your wife as your own body. You bear with her in her weaknesses. You support her, you defender, and you love her with a sacrificial love such as Christ had for the Church that caused Him to die for her.
Wives, while women around you bad mouth their husbands and talk about how childish they are, as the salt of the earth you bring flavor when you willingly submit to your husband as your head, just as the Church submits to Christ as her head. While other women disrespect and talk down their husbands, you flavor the world by respecting your husbands. You reflect the attitude of Sarah who called her husband Abraham her lord out of submission and respect.
You young ladies. The young girls of today act and dress pretty racy. They try to show off their bodies to get attention from boys. But as the salt of the earth, you flavor the earth by remembering that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Rather than focusing so much on your external looks, as Peter writes, “rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Pt 3:3)
Children, as Christians you too are the salt of the earth. Just think about how your classmates and friends disrespect and despise their parents and teachers. As the salt of the earth you bring flavor to the world when you honor your parents and teachers. When your friends talk about how stupid their parents are for the rules they made, you give the world flavor when you speak lovingly and respectfully about your parents.
We even bring flavor to the world in our jobs. Think of how your co-workers belittle and despise the job they have and their employers. Maybe they are only hard workers when the boss is around. They bad-mouth their boss and their fellow workers. But you are the salt of the earth. You realize the work you are doing, you are doing to the glory of God. We serve the Lord and that flavors our work ethic, how we treat our co-workers, and respect we show our employers.
This is all the work of the Holy Spirit in us. He has made us the salt of the earth. If Christians were not supplying flavor to the world, God would have long ago destroyed this tasteless world. It is only the Christians who make this world palatable to God. And in this way we serve as preserving agent as the salt of the earth.
A comparison of the preserving power of the Christian’s salt, might be that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember how the LORD revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy these cities, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave.” (Gen 18:16) At that point Abraham began to ask the LORD that if there were 50 righteous persons in the city, would He still destroy it? Then he asked about 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10. The LORD’s response for each - 50 through 10 - was that for the sake of the righteous He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The salt of the earth would preserve those cities.
The fact that the world is still spinning today is because of the salt of the earth. If not for the flavoring that the Christian brings by his good works, God would have long ago spit out this distasteful world of sin. In a world that is dying and decaying because of sin and death, God is preserving the world for the sake of His elect. As the salt of the earth we flavor and preserve it.
BEWARE OF LOSING YOUR TASTE!
How much of our daily activity and choices, do you think we make out of a desire to fit in? Think about it. The clothing we wear, the things we say, the shows we watch, the music we listen to, it seems that so much of our time and energy is spent on trying to fit in. We do not want to be seen as odd or weird. But with whom are we trying to fit in? We must confess that all too often it is with the unbelieving world. It is one thing when trying to fit in influences the brand of jeans we are going to buy, it is entirely another thing when trying to fit in with the world determines our choice of activities.
This is where Jesus’ words of warning come into play. “If salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” If salt no longer supplies flavor and cannot be used for preserving foods, what good is it? It is good for nothing. In Luke we hear Jesus saying of such salt that it is not even fit for the land or for the manure pile. So to get rid of that useless salt, people would simply throw it out into the street where it would be trampled under people’s feet.
Do you understand the comparison and warning Jesus is giving us here? If we are the salt of the earth, but we are not flavoring the world with our good works - what good are we? We are like saltless salt! We are good for nothing. We are no different than the unbelieving world! We are distasteful to God and are spit out. The writer to the Hebrews warns of the same thing, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Heb 6:4-6)
We must confess that we have often failed in bringing flavor to this sinful world. All too often we have tried to fit in with the bland flavor of the unbeliever. Praise be to God that He has had mercy on us! He gave His Son Jesus into death for our sins and weakness. And for Jesus’ sake God has forgiven us for our lack of saltiness.
How can we keep from losing our flavor? This too is the work of God. God keeps our faith alive and active by His Means of Grace. This morning, right now, the Holy Spirit is at work in your hearts to build up your faith through His Word. Soon, our communicant members will be coming forward to receive the body and blood of Jesus for the strengthening of their faith. These are the tools that the Holy Spirit uses to keep your faith alive and active. Abiding in Jesus, you will bear good fruits. Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit keeps us flavorful!
You are salt, Jesus says, so be salt! May the Holy Spirit ever work in us and through us that we may bring flavor to this tasteless world of sin, that we may preserve this dying world to spread the Gospel to all creatures. May the Holy Spirit ever keep us salty! Amen.Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1944746553829900276.post-7207349228099907362011-01-30T11:48:00.003-06:002022-06-08T09:24:04.158-05:001 Corinthians 1:26-31 "Look at what God has done!"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFguev9TLMhjum1y2slGOOd3sZHsOTk4AKpKBXv27jYu_sasxdJpaS9UX1-uI-hWyQmsHfKdWaQCyMrmY45oQCVKVzfQzdhMqcaoLGphhOYbsxP6qq_IwLzEvNLqlgiWZ94t1KnX9Ul7C/s1600/jeremiah+09.23-24.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568039064795564306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFguev9TLMhjum1y2slGOOd3sZHsOTk4AKpKBXv27jYu_sasxdJpaS9UX1-uI-hWyQmsHfKdWaQCyMrmY45oQCVKVzfQzdhMqcaoLGphhOYbsxP6qq_IwLzEvNLqlgiWZ94t1KnX9Ul7C/s320/jeremiah+09.23-24.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 203px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 1 Corinthians 1:26-31</span> - <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption -- 31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."</span>
Theme: LOOK AT WHAT GOD HAS DONE
- Taken away any reason to boast
- Given us every reason to rejoice
Dear fellow fools made wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, fellow redeemed,
“You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:5) We are familiar with these tempting words of the Devil to our first parents. Eve was enticed by the idea that she was missing out on something and could possibly attain the position of being like God. Ever since the Devil has been putting forth this temptation to man - to be like God.
After the waters of the flood covered the whole earth, the only family left was the family of Noah. Noah’s family, obviously, all spoke the same language and this continued for their descendants after them. This unified language came to a head at the Tower of Babel. The people of Babel said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the earth.” (Gen 11:4) Those at the Tower of Babel conspired to make a name for themselves by reaching the heavens themselves. They wanted to be like God.
The temptation to be like God is a mighty one and the devil has many tools he uses to tempt us in this way. It can be that fruit which God has commanded not to eat. It can be pride that wants to make a name for himself. Natural man has no greater desire than to be like God. We see this also in any number of false doctrines that have corrupted hearts and minds. Take for instance the false teaching of “Decision Theology.” Decision theology teaches that we, of our own strength, are able to choose to come to faith in God. That is, man deciding what he will and will not believe. Work righteousness is also the work of the devil. Work righteousness teaches that we do something to earn God’s forgiveness and thus earn our salvation. That somehow our deeds are so great that God has to reward us and let us into heaven. This is sinful pride at it’s worst. It is man reaching to the heavens to make a name for himself.
But what do the Scriptures make known to us? Scripture tells us that it is not about all us. Luther rightly stated, in the explanation to the Third Article on the Holy Spirit - “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, nor come to Him; But the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” It is God the Holy Spirit who calls us to faith. It is God who works our salvation. Let us this morning look at what God has done. By His will and work He has taken away any reason for us to boast and given us every reason to rejoice. May God the Holy Spirit bless us by His Word.
TAKEN AWAY ANY REASON TO BOAST
Say that God allows the world continues on for another 500 years. 500 years from now a school boy has to do a report on the culture of United States during the early 21st century. What would he write we value? Gathering research from archived magazines, newspapers, television ads, and internet pages he would learn all he needed to know about our nation and people. He would learn that our culture places great value on wealth, wisdom, power, fame, and pleasure. It is in these things that our society commits a great deal of time and energy.
In so many ways our culture is a mirror of the Greek culture in Paul’s day. The Greeks put a great deal of value in wisdom. The wisdom they pursued was that of philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates. We read in Acts that in Paul’s day “all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” (Acts 17:21) The Greeks also valued power and strength. It was Greek culture that gave birth to the olympic games several hundred years before Jesus’ birth. The Greeks also valued one’s station in life. The greater prestige, the greater fame. Our culture is not all that different. We speak of the pursuit of wisdom at our universities. We just about worship our athletes. And we all scramble to get close to someone who is famous or to have our own 15 minutes of fame.
These are things man glories in - wisdom, power, and fame or nobility as our text calls it. But as much wisdom as a wise man might have, how will that benefit him eternally? The university professor with his three best selling books and his PhD’s, what does all his wisdom get him? Is his wisdom going to aid him as he stands before Almighty God? Almighty God who put the stars in the sky and Himself created gravity?
Or take the Super Bowl athlete. We admire him so for his strength. We are in awe and wish we could run like him and catch a football like him. But as this athlete lays on his deathbed, his lungs gasping for that last bit of oxygen, will having been the MVP of the Super Bowl make him more ready to meet his Maker? Will the strength of this man mean anything to the God who with His might keeps all creation moving?
Or what about the movie star or musician? They may bring entertainment to our lives and millions of dollars to their sponsors, but will a fan club be something that God will take into consideration on Judgment Day? Will God say, “Come! Enter heaven! For you won an Oscar AND a Grammy!”
We place so much emphasis on them and glorify those who have wisdom, power, and fame. But God shows no partiality. God is not so easily swayed by things like we are. He shows no favoritism. When God looks upon man He sees only one thing. He sees sin. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) As highly as man may think is, as highly as he might value his accomplishments, before God he has nothing to boast about.
Paul would have us all reflect on who we were. Were we anything special? Did God call us to faith because of some special quality we had? “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” The Church has always been a pretty pathetic looking group of people. Few of us have anything the world would marvel at. No high profile jobs. Few, if any, highly educated in the wisdom of the world, with PhD’s or a Masters Degree. We are nothing special in the eyes of the world.
Our lack of anything keeps us from boasting of anything before God. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. God is not an elitist. He does not chose some for Himself because they are of such high pedigree. In fact much the opposite. The ones who have the least to boast of, He has chosen for Himself. Take a look at the thief on the cross, the adulterous woman, the man possessed by Legion, little Zaccheus, Matthew the tax collector, or those uneducated fishermen.Did any of them have a reason to boast before God? Did Jesus choose and call them because of some special quality? And yet these are the one Jesus called to follow Him. No man, NO MAN has any reason ever to boast before Him. As much as man wants to reach heaven all by himself, he is unable. Man has nothing which he can bring before God and say, “See, look what I have done. Aren’t You impressed, God?” Look at all that God has done and we see that we have no reason to boast about anything.
WE HAVE EVERY REASON TO REJOICE
So why are you a believer in Christ Jesus today? When I ask this question in Catechism class, I sometimes get the answer, “Because my parents are believers.” As if to say, that genetics played a role in their faith. It is true, God places people in our lives to carry out His calling. But remember, the reason you are a believer in Christ Jesus today has nothing to do with you. You have nothing to boast about. Rather it is solely His grace, His amazing, undeserved love that brought you to faith. In verses 26 and 27 of our text Paul uses the word “calling” and “chosen.” These are things that God did. GOD chose you from eternity to be His child. In time GOD called you to faith. And yes, He may have had you born to Christian parents whom He knew would bring you up in the Word of God and thereby bring you to faith. But this faith has nothing to do with your family’s heritage, but instead it has to do with God’s grace.
In verse 30 of our text Paul tells us more of God’s grace without ever using the word grace. “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” What an amazing statement Paul is making here! Outside of the New Testament, I know of no other literature that speaks of someone as being “in” a person. But because of God we are in Christ Jesus. We are a part the eternal Son of God. Elsewhere Scripture speaks of the believers being the body of Christ. That is how intimately tied to Christ Jesus we are. You are IN Christ Jesus, and has been done OF GOD.
What does it mean to be “in Christ Jesus?” Well this too is quite amazing. In the eyes of the world we our fools. We are viewed as sort of bigots, who say that our Savior Jesus is the only way to heaven. We believe that God created the heavens and the earth in 6, 24-hour days. That is foolish. We are also weak. We confess that we sin often and are in need of forgiveness. Forgiveness that only Jesus gives through His death on the cross and resurrection. We are nothing, humbled, weak, and base.
But of God we are in Christ Jesus. HE has become for us wisdom. Wisdom that the world has no clue about. Paul wrote of this earlier - “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Cor. 1:20) Christ Jesus is our wisdom. We know who the true God is. We know Jesus is the only hope for eternal life. Thus even our pre-schoolers are wiser than many university professors. To we who are unrighteous nothings, Christ Jesus is our righteousness. To we who are unholy, Christ Jesus is our holiness. To we who are slaves to sin, Christ Jesus is our redemption. Without Christ Jesus we have none of this - no righteousness, no holiness, no redemption. But of God we are in Christ Jesus and we have every reason to rejoice. We who are nothing, have been chosen by God in His grace to be something and have been given everything. Faith, salvation, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and heaven itself. It is because of GOD that we are in Christ Jesus. Just look at what God has done and we find every reason to rejoice!
Therefore dear fools, do not value things as the world values them. The wisdom of this world, the fame of this world it cannot hold a candle to the brilliance of the wisdom of God and the power of God that is in Christ Jesus. Look at what God has done. It was the Almighty God who by His grace has called us from darkness into His marvelous light. We who have nothing to boast about, have every reason to rejoice in God our Savior. As we look at what God has done for us we can rightly see a reason to boast. Boast in what God has done for us! “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” Glory be to God! AMEN!Pastor Nathan Pfeifferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08434955056749041167noreply@blogger.com0