The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the epistle lesson appointed for New Year’s Eve. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Every year at this time, the major news outlets come out with their “Year in Review” specials—and they list all the major events and news stories of the last year as a kind of measure of whether 2010 was a “good” year or a “bad” year. And based on this, they wonder what 2011 will hold. What will happen on the Korean Peninsula? Will the economy recover? What can we expect from the last election?
We have the same human tendency to conduct our own “year in review”. Did my bank account go up or down? Did I have a major health crisis? Did I lose a loved one? And we look forward to the New Year with either hope or trepidation based on these kinds of material markers.
But as children of the heavenly Father, our view of the past and our confidence in the future should not be based on the changes and chances of this life-- but rather upon the constancy and consistency of God’s love for us-- and his promise to us, that nothing, absolutely nothing in all creation can separate us from Christ’s love. It is that promise that relieves us of the burden of the past and shapes our view of the future in this new year of 2011. Paul writes:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
With that big “IF” at the beginning of the sentence, it seems, at first glance, as if Paul finds himself in the same place as the world, wondering what God is about. But this is one of those places where the Greek grammar matters very much indeed. In the original, there are grammatical cues that alerted Paul’s audience that he was affirming in the strongest terms that God is for us. They would have read: “SINCE God is for us, who can be against us?” Or: “If God is for us—AND HE IS—who can be against us?” And even if we know nothing about Greek grammar, and care less, we still know that God is for us beyond any shadow of a doubt-- because of what comes next:
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
During the Christmas Season we give gifts to our friends and family because we love them-- and when we receive a gift that was selected with care, we know their love for us. But the real marvel of this season is God’s gift of his Son for us—for it is a gift that was given, not to those who were his friends or his family—but to those who were by nature his enemies. And it was not just a small token of goodwill—but that which was most precious to him.
When we look at the year in review—both on the world stage and in our own lives—the world, our flesh, and the devil may tempt us to doubt God’s love. But God draws our attention away from our external circumstances back to the manger and the cross and the empty tomb and the One who is the enduring, undeniable sign of his love: his own Son Jesus.
As we stand on this dividing line between an old year and the new, Jesus invites us to cast our burdens of the past upon him: the guilt of our sin—the sorrows of our losses—and our concerns for the future as well—and to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that God is for us: that we are the objects of his enduring love and members of his own family and that having given us his Son—the most precious gift of all—we can be confident that our heavenly Father will give us all that we need—both materially and spiritually—in this new year. For the gift of God’s Son is not just the Good News of the past—it is also God’s promise for the future. Paul writes:
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Oftentimes, these “Year in Review” specials are almost seen as an indictment of God’s love and even his existence. The focus seems to be on all that is wrong with the world. Fighting in the Middle East. Rising unemployment. Politicians on trial for ethics charges. And then there is that cheery list they always run of all those famous folks who have passed away this last year. The unspoken question seems to be: where is a God of love in the midst of world like this?
That thought comes unbidden even to our own minds at times. When the broken-ness of this world comes close to home—when we struggle financially—when we suffer the loss of one we love—the accusation of the world, our flesh, and the devil is that we are not really God’s child—that we are really all alone in a universe devoid of meaning.
In answer to this charge-- is God’s judgment—his justification—his declaration: that we are indeed his children for he has redeemed us from our sins in the death of his own Son and he has forever removed the oppressive reality of our human frailty by raising his Son from the dead and promises the same eternal life to us.
And this Good News is not just about the events of the past-- but is also a present and future reality for Jesus lives at his Father’s right hand, continuing to work for our salvation.
Much too often we think of our salvation in Christ only in terms of his birth, death, and resurrection but forget about his ascension to the Father’s right hand—and what that means for our lives right now and in the days and years to come. It’s like we watched him ascend into the clouds-- and as he faded from view-- he also faded from being a present reality in our lives and what he has promised for the future is forgotten.
But the same Jesus who was born and lived and died and rose again still lives at this very moment-- and for every moment of the future and into eternity. This upcoming year holds no fear for us because Jesus continues his saving work on our behalf.
Paul says that he is “at the right hand of God interceding for us.” When I was a kid and I heard that phrase in the creed that comes from this verse—that Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand—I pictured God with his hands spread out and Jesus sitting on his right hand. But of course that is not what’s meant at all.
That Jesus is at this moment at the right hand of God is an ancient way of saying that he occupies the central place of power and authority in heaven—that he is the One who is in control—that our Savior is the king and ruler of the universe. And that is the best possible news for us-- for when Jesus ascended to heaven, his work for our salvation did not cease.
Jesus continues to intercede for us—which means that he is our advocate of heaven: constantly lifting up his sacrifice for our sins—ruling the world in every moment and circumstance for our ultimate good—and providentially ordering our lives so that we will be brought safely to our heavenly home.
The first thing that occupies my day when I come into my study in the morning are my prayers—and a very big part of my prayer life concerns you folks here tonight. I pray that God would richly bless you in body and soul—I pray for all of those who are near and dear to your own hearts—and I especially pray for your final salvation. That has been my routine in the past and it certainly will be in the year to come.
But what is much more important-- and I hope much more comforting for you than the knowledge that I am praying for you-- is the Good News from God’s Word tonight is that Jesus himself is praying for you—your lives are the object his love and concern and prayers.
And what a comfort this is because we have not yet been delivered from this vale of tears and we are not immune from the hardships of this world. Paul writes:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What Paul is essentially asking us to do is weigh the evidence of God’s love for us. When it comes to our concerns about the past and our confidence concerning the future, what are all the hardships and trials of our life in this world compared to what God has done for us in Christ? Given the love that he has shown to us and continues to show to us, how can anything cause us to doubt that love-- no matter what happens—even if it involves hardship and suffering?
Let us resolve once and for all tonight that we will never again listen to any person-- or buy the book of any person-- claiming to speak for Christ-- who tells us that we Christians are somehow immune from the adversities of life or that if we suffer from them it is only because our faith is somehow deficient. This kind of thinking goes all the way back to the enemies of Jesus who stood at the foot of the cross who ridiculed him and mocked his suffering--calling upon him to end it by coming down from the cross.
But the love that compelled him to remain on the cross-- is the same love that abides with us even in the darkest moments of our own lives.
Not only can tribulation, distress, and the lack of material necessities be a part of the believer’s life—so can outright persecution on account of Christ. It certainly was for the Christians of Paul’s day and for Paul himself and for all the Holy Martyrs of every time and place. And that same cross will mark each of our lives as baptized believers in Christ in one way or the other—to one degree or another.
But nothing in this life—and nothing on this earth—and nothing in the spiritual realms—and not even death-- can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In fact, it is the very midst of real hardships that we truly discover how much more powerful is the victorious love of Christ than any pain or weakness or defeat we may suffer in this life. It is his victory for us—a victory won at the cross—that makes us more than conquerors in our own hardships. That was certainly what Paul learned.
Paul faced a crisis that threatened to undermine his ministry and he prayed earnestly for God to remove that thorn in his flesh. But God did not. Instead, his answer was this: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul learned that the greatness of God was seen most clearly when Paul was weakest and that same promise of God’s grace is made to us in this new year.
No matter what 2011 holds in store for us--earthly blessing or hardship--or as is most likely, a little of both—we know the One who holds the future in his nail-scarred hands and he promises that we will be more than conquerors through him and nothing can separate us from his love in 2011. Amen.
And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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