Thursday, December 14, 2017
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
The Sun of Righteousness
Malachi 4:1-6 Malachi prophesied in those years
after the return of the Israelites from Babylon . God keep his promise to bring them home. He was faithful. But in very short order their faithfulness to
the Lord who delivered them began to falter.
They became more
interested in their own homes and businesses than rebuilding the house of the
Lord. They didn’t bring their best
offerings to the Lord and simply went through the motions in worship. They couldn’t understand why God wasn’t
blessing them—why the evil seemed to be doing just as well as they were doing. And the Lord spoke through his messenger:
"Behold, the day
is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will
be stubble.
God
had not forgotten about justice—he had not abandoned his expectations for how
people should live their lives—evil would not win out in the end-- for the day
of fiery judgment was coming.
Very few things
are as clearly taught in the Bible as eternal punishment by fire. Human beings are terrified of being burned in
a fire—the pain is unbelievable. To
think of eternal torment in the fires of hell is horrible. It’s meant to be.
Hell was prepared
for the devil and his angels and not for men.
There is absolutely no reason for any person to go to hell. But that punishment will most certainly await
the arrogant and the evildoers. Malachi
says they are ripe for judgment like stubble that quickly catches on fire.
It is important to
note that besides evildoers, the arrogant will also go into the fires of
hell. We would expect the evil to be
cast into the fire. All of us can
picture Hitler and Stalin receiving the just punishment of their evil
deeds. But the arrogant?
That hits a little
close to home. The Lord had a warning
for the people of Malachi’s day who thought that their homes were more
important than the Lord’s house—who thought that the Lord ought to be satisfied
with their worship when their hearts weren’t in it—who questioned the ways of
the Lord—the message was: you too will
go into the fires of hell with all of those who do evil. Malachi said:
The day that is
coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave
them neither root nor branch.
It
is important to note whose words of
judgment these are. Malachi is the one
who is speaking them—but they are the Word of the Lord—the Lord of hosts. This title means the Lord of heavenly
armies—the Lord who cannot be conquered—the Lord of power and might who will
utterly destroy his enemies.
We will listen to
this warning or not-- but there should be no confusion on anyone’s part who it is that is speaking these words
to us tonight.
The judgment and
punishment for the evil and arrogant will mean the destruction of everything
they hoped for—destruction so complete and final that they cannot rise again. Evil was not a part of God’s good creation in
the beginning-- and it will not be part of his new creation at the end.
The evil and the
arrogant and all of those who stand against God’s ways will be separated from
the Lord and his people by a fiery chasm that no one can ever cross for all
eternity—a place of torment and weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Because of the
certainty of that day, because of the eternal consequences of that day, there
is one thing that we need to know and that is:
how to avoid the punishment to come.
The LORD said:
But for you who fear
my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You
shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
When
we recite the Ten Commandments we begin with:
You shall have no other gods
before me. But these are not the
first words that Moses heard on Horeb.
God gave the law to Moses beginning this way: I am
the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt
Before Moses went
to Egypt ,
he asked God his name and God answered:
I AM. The God who was and is and
always will be. Yahweh. Jehovah.
The LORD. God’s name is not just
some title—it is who he is in his very essence.
I take time to
explain this because it is only those who fear
the Lord’s name who will greet the day of judgment with gladness—it is only
those who know God as their Savior who will experience healing rather than
punishment on that day—it is only those who fear him who will know that day as glorious
light rather than deepest darkness.
It was the great I
AM who delivered the Israelites and set them free from Egypt and it was the
great I AM in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who delivered the world and set us
free by his death and resurrection.
During his earthly
ministry Jesus wanted to make sure that everyone knew who he was. He said:
I AM the bread of life. I AM the
light of the world. I AM the living
water. Before Abraham was—I AM.
Those who believe
in him and trust him and receive him in faith as their Savior and stand in awe
of the holy name of Jesus: The LORD
saves—have nothing to fear on the day of judgment. There will be healing and restoration and new
life for us on that day—a day of eternal vitality and gladness where death will
be destroyed and all that is broken, healed.
Malachi says that
on that day when the evil and arrogant are cast into eternal fire, we who fear
the name of the Lord will be like calves let loose from the stall—no longer
constrained by the hardships of this life that pen us in—no longer confined by
the darkness of this dying world--but free to live in the brilliant sun of an
everlasting day.
That day will not
only be vindication for the Lord but victory for us. Malachi said that all who fear the name of
the Lord:
shall tread down the
wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I
act, says the LORD of hosts.
Throughout
the world today there are people in positions of power and influence who misuse
and abuse God’s people. Christians are
imprisoned and killed for their faith—pastors’ lives are made miserable for
speaking the truth—decent, hardworking folks are defrauded and robbed. None of this escapes the eyes of the Lord.
And while the
child of God is called upon to follow in way of the cross in this world, not
avenging ourselves of the wrong done to us—there is a day of vengeance to come
when we will see all of those who have used wealth and power and influence to
misuse and mistreat us-- not only kneel before the Lord as he pronounces
eternal fiery punishment—but we will see them as ashes under our own feet.
These words of
warning must lead us to ask ourselves:
Do I truly fear the name of the LORD or am I deceiving myself and
others? Will I stand victorious on that
day or will I be ashes under the feet of the righteous? The only way to know the truth about whether
or not our faith is real is to ask ourselves how we are living our life. Is our faith shown in what we say and do and
how we treat others? The LORD said:
“Remember the law of
my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel
As we have already
mentioned, when God gave the Ten Commandments at Mt. Horeb he began by
reminding his people of his redeeming work—that it was because he had saved them that he was calling them to live a holy
life, guided and informed and shaped by the statutes and rules he was giving
them.
These words that
call us to remember the Ten Commandments were words that the people of
Malachi’s day needed to hear-- and we do too.
We can fake fear of the Lord by sitting in pews and putting money in the
plate—Malachi’s people did it-- and people still do today. We can deceive others and ourselves-- but we
cannot deceive God.
God sees and knows
the truth. Do we truly love him by
worshiping him and honoring his name and putting him first-- or is our faith
just pious sounding words? Do we love
our neighbor by caring for their physical needs and making sure they have the
necessities of life and speaking well of them to others-- or is our love empty
words?
We have been
delivered and set free from sin by Jesus Christ and are called to holiness of
life—our thoughts, words, and deeds guided by the Ten Commandments so that our
life with God is marked by an active, living faith-- rather than by empty words
which will not stand on the fiery day of his return. The LORD said:
"Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their
children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike
the land with a decree of utter destruction."
Before God sent
the flood that destroyed the world—he raised up Noah to warn the world of
judgment and deliverance. Before God
destroyed Nineveh
he sent Jonah to warn them of God’s judgment and call them to repentance. And before God destroys the world on the last
day he has sent John the Baptist to call people to repentance and faith—warning
that the ax of God’s judgment was already laid at the root of the tree.
The message of God
through these men was exactly the same:
repent and look in faith to the LORD for deliverance and salvation. It is the same message you are hearing
tonight.
Each of us has an
opportunity right now—a moment full of God’s grace—in which to listen to the
voice of God through his chosen spokesmen, repent of our sins, and trust in the
one they all pointed to as the Sun of Righteousness: Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Your Redemption Is Drawing Near!
Luke 21:25-36 The sun came up
this morning just as it always has-- and it will go down tonight just as it
always has—and the moon will rise just as it always has. The earth is beneath our feet, the sky is
above us, and the oceans are kept within their boundaries.
That’s the way it
has always been and even the chronic worry warts among us never give these
astronomical and geographical facts a second thought. But what we take for granted in the heavens
and on earth-- won’t always be that way.
Jesus says:
“There will be signs
in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity
because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and
with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens
will be shaken.
What has existed
in the natural world from the very beginning of time--what countless
generations have experienced to be true and constant--will change as the
broken-ness of creation that is due to human sin reaches its final, horrible
conclusion and the heavens and the earth and the oceans will begin to come
apart at the seams.
In the midst of
these signs in the physical world, Jesus will return and all people will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud
with power and great glory.
When Christ
ascended into heaven, he promised his disciples he would come again exactly as
he left. And so he will return again–down
to the last detail–just like he promised—and if this is the faithfulness with
which Christ will fulfill his promise to return, we can be confident that
Christ is faithfully fulfilling his other promises to us: promises to bless us
and forgive us–promises to abide with us and provide for us.
When Christ came
the first time, he came in the meekness and humility of a little baby. But when he comes again, he will come in
power and glory–everyone will see him, know him to be the King of Glory, and
bow their knees in either in faith or in fear.
Everyone!
During Jesus’ life
upon this earth it was possible to ignore him.
He never preached to great crowds.
As hung upon the cross outside of Jerusalem, people turned their heads
away--glad that some criminal was getting what he deserved. As he comes today through Word and Sacraments,
we know how often he is ignored, scorned, and ridiculed.
But when Christ comes
again, he will come with power and glory–the fullness of his divinity shining
through his human flesh and everyone in the world will see him and know him for
who he really is: the living God of the universe who brings judgment and
redemption.
On that day, there
will be distress among the nations and people will faint with fear. And why not?
Everything that unbelievers have lived their lives for–everything that
they have trusted in–everything that has filled their lives to the exclusion of Christ, will pass
away. Everything that has taken the place of Christ in the
lives of unbelievers will be destroyed.
In God’s perfect
judgment, their empty way of life and foolish thinking will be shown for what
it is. Can you imagine it? Everything gone in an instant and the only
thing that will have ever mattered is what their relationship was with Jesus
Christ--and then the horrible realization that they had traded it away for things that no longer exist.
I can not imagine
anything more horrible than to stand in the presence of the Son of Man knowing
that I had rejected him in life. No
wonder they will be filled with fear and distress!
But for the
believer, just the opposite is true. In
the midst of these frightening signs, even with the world crashing down around
us, we don’t have to be afraid, we don’t have to run and hide. We can lift up our heads-- and see our
redemption draw near as Christ returns. He
says:
Now when these things
begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near.”
On the day of our
Lord’s return, we won’t have hide our face in shame or cower in fear. We will stand in his presence blameless and
holy–not because we are perfect--but because, through faith in Jesus, the Lord
is our righteousness and his perfect righteousness avails in the time of trial
and judgment.
When Christ returns
in glory and power all that we know and believe and hope for and trust in by
faith will be proved true for the world to see and we will be vindicated for having
put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of the
blessings that Jesus earned for us in his perfect life, bloody death, and
glorious resurrection will be ours for eternity. Our full redemption will be at hand.
Of course that
begs the question, if Christ brings full redemption at his second coming what
is it that I have now by faith? Well,
redemption!
Christ has
redeemed us, that is bought us back with the price of his own shed blood on the
cross from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. These evil foes that he has redeemed us from have no right to us at all–we are
God’s own children through faith in Jesus and we live in the power of his
resurrection life.
And yet in this
sinful broken world we still feel the painful attacks and effects of our spiritual
enemies: we are tempted by the devil, the effects of sin batter us about as we
become sick or suffer some other misfortune, and one day, unless the Lord comes
first, we will die.
But when Christ
comes again, the fullness of our redemption will come with him. We will see with perfect clarity what Christ
has redeemed us for. On that day, we will no longer struggle under
the burden of our sinful flesh. No
longer will the hateful effects of sin bring disease and disaster and heartache
into our lives. No longer will we stand
beside the grave side of a loved one and mourn their passing.
When Christ comes
again, it will be a day of rejoicing for all who have received him in faith and
trusted in him for salvation. Not a time
for fear or worry or anguish–not a time to run and hide-- but a time to look up
and see our Savior who comes to us with all the blessings of Almighty God.
Knowing this and
looking forward to it in faith, how then are we to live our lives as we look
forward with joy to that day? Jesus says:
“Watch yourselves
lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of
this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come
upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times,
praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to
take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
As we wait for the
Lord’s return, we are to be careful so that we don’t let our hearts get weighed
down by drunkenness and the anxieties of this life. Jesus warns us about this because even we
Christians are susceptible to this temptation.
This is a
difficult world we live in. There is so much fear and uncertainty that plagues
our lives at times. The devil offers us
an easy solution: drown your sorrows with alcohol or some other substance or
thing like drugs or pornography. Even
Christians have to be on guard so that we don’t fall victim to the devil’s lie
that these are easy ways to deal with the pain of living in a broken world.
These things do
not offer freedom and relief but an ever deeper slavery and addiction to the
things of this world and ultimately to the prince of this world. Satan uses these things to delude us into
thinking that the emptiness that we feel in our lives can be fixed by something
other than God.
That is a lie--
and to continue on in a satanic delusion that anything other than God is the
way to feel better about life will lead to the death of our soul. When we are imprisoned by these Satanic shackles,
the day of judgment will fall upon us like a trap and then it will be too late.
Jesus does not
want this to happen to anyone and so he tells us ahead of time to be watchful
for the signs of his coming—which are as clear as the signs in nature. He says:
“Look at the fig
tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for
yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see
these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God
According to the
Lord’s own promise, the generation of those who know the signs of his coming
and look expectantly and faithfully for the coming of the Son of Man has never
passed away. The gates of hell will not
prevail against us!
To make sure that
we remain steadfast, Christ tells us that we are to strengthen our hearts by
watching and praying and making use of God’s Word which endures forever.
That means that we
are present at the Divine Service when the Word is read and preached and that
we receive Holy Absolution. It means
that devotions and prayers are an important part of our life at home. It means that we receive Christ’s true body
and blood in the Sacrament-often- as God’s own promise that the blessings of
Jesus’ death and resurrection are for us personally and individually.
Amidst all the
uncertainty around us, we don’t have to be apprehensive or fearful. Even when the world itself comes to an end we
don’t have to be afraid. God loves
us. He has sent his Son into this world
to live and die for us. And he is coming
again to bring us the fullness of our redemption–a life of peace and joy and
blessing that will never end. Amen.
Friday, December 8, 2017
The Righteous Branch
Jeremiah 23:5-8 What
does the future hold for us and our nation?
We don’t really know, do we? But
as we look forward there is much to be concerned about.
We have powerful enemies throughout the world who hate us and would
destroy us if they could. Our own
leaders don’t come close to measuring up to those godly men who guided our
nation at it beginning. And even the
visible church is torn apart by faithlessness and the rejection of God’s truth.
Looking towards the future, given what we see right now before our eyes, it is hard for us to hope for
better days.
That was the situation in Jeremiah’s day as well. Josiah had been a great king who followed
after the LORD and ruled his nation wisely but the men who followed him
abandoned the LORD.
Assyria and Egypt and finally Babylon were the great empires on the
world stage and all of them stood against Judah and finally would bring it to
ruin.
And God’s ancient people abandoned the LORD again and again and
followed in the ways and thinking of the pagans around them.
The days in which Jeremiah was called by God to speak his Word
were—like our own days—very dark indeed and hope was in short supply. In the midst of that seemingly hopeless
situation, the LORD spoke these words of better days to come when he would
raise up the Righteous Branch to save and rule his people:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign
as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the
land.
Despite living in dark days, or
perhaps, because of it, we need to be reminded that Advent season is a season
of hope. The LORD points us to better
days to come and we trust his promise that even in the midst of hard times and
dark days he always has the well-being of his people at heart and is working
for our good. This promise of better
days gives us the encouragement we need to face the future unafraid—whether it
is dangerous enemies; or faithless leaders; or churches who have lost their way.
And
so then, as bleak as the situation is on the world stage—as faithfulness as is
many part of the visible church—as lacking are our leaders—God has promised that
we can look to the future with hope.
That
was the promise the Lord made to the people of Jeremiah’s day as well and the
fulfillment of this promise for God’s people of the past -and God’s people of
today-is found in exactly the same person and that is Jesus Christ.
He
is the Righteous Branch from David’s line Jeremiah promised would rule God’s
people in wisdom and justice in a kingdom of grace and peace and truth.
The
northern Kingdom of Israel would be destroyed and lost to history; the southern
Kingdom of Judah would go into exile and never again be a political power; but God’s kingdom and his righteous rule would
go on forever as Jesus Christ took his rightful reign in the human hearts who
trusted in the promise of a Righteous Branch and now know its fulfillment in
Jesus Christ.
That
is what the Kingdom of God is: the reign
of Christ in our hearts and it is mightier and more wonderful than any earthly
kingdom or empire that has ever existed-- for it is not bound by space or time
but is found wherever there are people whose King is the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Our
king rules his kingdom with wisdom and justice and grace and mercy and he rules
all things in heaven and earth in such a way that it ultimately benefits his
people and works for our salvation. God
promises us that:
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell
securely. And this is the name by which
he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
When the Holy Spirit gave Jeremiah these words to preach and write,
Israel had already been overcome by Assyria and their people carried into
slavery. The same judgment was about to
befall Judah at the hands of the Babylonians.
And yet the LORD promised salvation and security to God’s people—all of
them.
That is what the LORD meant when Jeremiah promised that both Israel
and Judah would be saved—this was the biblical way of speaking of the fullness
of God’s people in the Old Testament.
But that fullness of salvation and security that the Righteous
Branch would accomplish, God intended would include people from every place and
time who are brought together by faith in Jesus Christ.
1. He is the one and only one who is our righteousness in God’s
sight. 2. He is the LORD—the Savior God
who has always come to the aid of his people.
3. He is the Righteous Branch who is the true Davidic King.
He is the one who took on our flesh and bore our sins and fulfilled
all righteousness in our place so that believing in him—his own righteousness
and holiness and goodness becomes our own and we take our place in his kingdom.
Judah and Israel and believers in every time and place including us
here today have been saved by his work on our behalf.
Judah and Israel and believers in every time and place can know that
their life with God right here and now --and their eternal future-- rest safe
and secure in his nail-scarred hands.
These things are true for all of God’s people because they are built
on the foundation of the accomplished facts of salvation history. Jeremiah wrote:
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
declares the Lord, when they shall no longer
say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the
people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who
brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north
country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’
When we think about the future,
particularly given the direction that the world is going right now—it is hard
to see how things will get better—it is hard to have hope. And so we are always tempted to look back—to
long for what are called “the good ole days”—to believe that God’s saving work
for us is only in the past
That’s where the people of God found themselves in Jeremiah’s
day. They looked back to God’s mighty
deliverance of their forefathers from slavery in Egypt with a kind of nostalgia
that robbed them of hope in the future.
They believed that the LORD was a Savior God—they trusted that he
really had delivered and cared for his people—but they thought that that God’s
mighty saving works were all behind them.
But Jeremiah assured them (with the same certainly with which they
could look back in salvation history and see the mighty saving acts of the LORD)
that in the same way they could also look forward into the future with hope--
and know that the LORD was still the same mighty, loving God he had always been
and could be counted on to deliver his people from their enemies just as he had
in the past.
Judah would go into exile
in Babylon but just as prophesied by Jeremiah they would also come out of
Babylon and return—and this promised deliverance would also be an accomplished
fact of salvation history just as certainly as their forefathers walked out of
Egypt.
So it is for us. Jesus Christ
has redeemed us at the cost of his life’s blood upon the cross and set us free
from our enemies of sin, death and the devil.
He was raised from the dead to give us a hope that transcends
death. His death and resurrection are
the accomplished facts of salvation history.
They happened in a particular moment on a particular day in history—a
day that is now 2,000 years in the past.
But this same living, ascended, reigning King assures us that his
mighty saving works are not all in the past—that he will come again in glory
and stand upon the earth and bring us to our heavenly home. That is the promise that has always sustained
God’s people. Jeremiah promised: Then
they shall dwell in their own land.”
God kept that promise and brought
them home to the land he had promised to give them many years before. Despite the dark days that were before them;
despite the fact that they would go through years of exile; God would bring
them home.
So it is for us. We are
strangers and exiles in a dark and dying world.
We are a pilgrim people far from our true home. But God is faithful to his promises and he
will bring us to himself in our true fatherland of heaven.
That is our hope and the Righteous Branch, Jesus Christ—who has set
us free from slavery to sin and death at the cost of his own life’s blood—will
rule our live in such a wise and gracious way that he will bring us to the home
he has prepared for us. Amen.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
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