Our Partnership in the Gospel

Our Partnership in the Gospel

Philippians 1:2-11 Paul’s letter to the Christians at Philippi has been called “the epistle of joy” because the Spirit’s gift of joy colors and shapes and informs every word he writes.  Next week we will hear him say, “Rejoice in the Lord always!  Again I say:  Rejoice! 

What is so remarkable about his joy is that as he writes these words, he is imprisoned for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He did not know how his case would turn out—whether he would be released or executed.  He was literally chained to a guard.  He had to depend on the support of friends for food and clothing. 

And yet it is joy and thanksgiving that fills his heart because he knows that he is not alone but there are thousands of Christians all over the world who love him and are concerned for him and are praying for him and who will help him—thousands of Christians who are partners with him in the Gospel. 

Today we are going to hear from a letter he wrote to some of them in Philippi and as we do so we will learn what a blessing it is—what a source of joy and thanksgiving—that we too are partners in the Gospel with all our fellow Christians.  Paul wrote:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

            Last May, the healthcare giant, Cigna released a study they did on loneliness.  The results are sobering.  54% of Americans identified themselves as lonely and isolated even when they were not alone. 

What that means is that the majority of Americans, even when they are surrounded by people, have no real connection to them at all.  Quoting from the study, respondents said that “their relationships were not meaningful” and they were “isolated from others”.

And yet Paul, separated from those he loved—having not a clue what the future held for him—surrounded by people who were violently opposed to everything he loved—is filled with joy and prayers of thanksgiving to God! 

Why is that?  Because of the partnership—the fellowship—he shared with his fellow Christians.  Even though he was alone—he was not lonely because of the connection-- the life-- he shared with his fellow Christians.

He knew that there were Christians who are praying for him.  There were Christians who shared his faith in Jesus.  There were Christians who would come to his aid.  There were Christians who loved him.  Their partnership in the Gospel gave him joy.  So it is for us.

            We spend a great deal of time in workplaces with people who do not share our faith.  We live in culture that rejects our values.  Many of us will spend time alone in a hospital room or nursing home.  Most of us will go through a trial that is deeply painful.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to feel depressed and downcast—isolated and lonely.  But we are not alone!  Dear friends in Christ, we are not alone! 

We have one another:  fellow Christians who share our faith and values—fellow Christians who are praying for us—fellow Christians who will help us—fellow Christians to whom we are joined together in the Body of Christ—partners with us in the Gospel that has changed our lives for time and eternity.  Paul wrote:

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

            Paul, of course, was inspired to write these words by the power of the Holy Spirit but they were written with a deep personal conviction of their truth that was born out of his own experience at the moment. 

From the very beginning of his apostolic ministry, Paul had a desire to preach throughout the Roman Empire and especially to preach in the very heart of Rome.  But how could he make that happen?  What he discovered in a personal, powerful way is that God would make it happen!

The violent persecution of the Jews and the self-serving, self-interest of petty government officials had all served God’s purpose for Paul to bring him to the very center of the greatest empire of the day so that the Gospel could be preached to all people. 

Yes, he was bound with chains!  But the Gospel was not bound and was being preached and shared in places that Paul could never have envisioned it going. 

The good work begun by Jesus in Jerusalem at the cross; the good work begun in Paul as he met the risen Christ; the good work begun in people from all over the world at Pentecost; was being brought to completion as more and more people—including those in Philippi—heard the Gospel and were baptized and came to faith in Jesus.

Paul had absolute confidence (born of the promises of God fulfilled in his own life) that the saving purposes of Jesus Christ would not be thwarted by anything in this world.

So it is for us.  We are partners in the Gospel:  with Paul and the other apostles; with the early Christians; with the saints that we have known in our own life, all of who testify to us with their own lives that the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, begun in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, will continue to work in us until God’s saving purposes for us are fulfilled and we live in his glory and peace forever. 

The testimony of God’s people from generation to generation is that God is faithful!  God is faithful!  God is faithful!  We are a part of those people.  We share their faith and we have fellowship with them in the Body of Christ. 

And so no matter what we face or the hardships we endure, our partners in the Gospel assure us that God will accomplish his saving purposes in our lives and that the complete fulfillment of his eternal love for will be accomplished in us as we stand before our Lord Jesus Christ on the Last Day with all our fellow saints.  Paul wrote:

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

            The local church is an interesting place.  It’s a lot like a family in that we are bound to people that we would not necessarily choose for ourselves as friends.  And the Lord has a purpose in this in both church and family:  that we would learn to love others like Jesus loves us. 

We are loved by Jesus—not because we deserve it—not because there is something in us that draws him to us—but we are loved by Jesus because of who he is in grace and mercy.

So it is for us and our fellow Christians.  All of us are children of God by his grace.  Our place in this congregation is secured, not by who we are, but because of what Jesus did for us in the cross.  We all stand there by faith as beggars with open hands, waiting for our Lord to pour out his merciful love upon us.  That is true for us and that is true for everyone sitting around us.

And so we love one another and hold them in our heart and desire the best for them because they are partakers with us of God’s gracious love in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We are not always going to agree with one another on every issue.  Some of us will always be oil and water.  But those human emotions and personalities have absolutely nothing to do with our life together in the church. 

We are all in this together—loving one another and helping one another in good times and in bad—just like for Paul and his partners in the Gospel.

 There were times of great joy for Paul and the Philippians as they saw their congregation begin with the conversion of Lydia and her household and then spread far and wide as the Spirit did his saving work. 

And there were times of sorrow and suffering as Paul was imprisoned for the faith.  But no matter what, in every moment, they were partakers together of God’s grace and had the best interests of each other at heart and in their prayers.  Paul wrote:

It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

            Many times over the course of my ministry I have been asked by the elderly and those in nursing home and hospital beds:  why am I still here?  What’s the purpose of my life?  What can I do? 

And I always say the same thing:  pray for me.  Pray for your fellow Christians.  You are still my partner in the Gospel!  You still are united to others in Christ!  We share a common faith.  We have a common hope.  Pray for us!  And Paul tells us how.

Pray that we may have an ever deeper love for one another and God.  Pray that we may grow in our knowledge of God and his will.  Pray that we may be filled with the righteousness of Christ.  And especially pray that we may stand before Christ, holy and blameless on the Last Day.   Just imagine if we were all praying this prayer for one another—for greater love of Jesus and deeper knowledge of God and more abundant fruits of the Spirit—what a difference that would make in our life together as members of the Body of Christ! 

It was this deep understanding of his connectedness to every other Christian that gave Paul joy even in the midst of suffering and hardship for he knew that it glorified his Savior God.  God grant it to us in our day as well.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Righteous Branch

The Righteous Branch

Jeremiah 33:14-16 The covenant that God established with his Old Testament people was a two-sided covenant—God would do his part—and the people would do theirs.  God did his—but they didn’t do theirs.  They broke their part of the covenant again and again.  In mercy God took them back again and again—to no avail.  They never really changed—and by this time in their history, they made no pretense of even wanting to change.

Jeremiah was sent to them to let them know that God was going to execute that part of the covenant that the people had ignored—the covenant curses for disobedience.

That message should have led the people to repent—but it didn’t!  Instead they surrounded themselves with false prophets who promised them what their itching ears wanted to hear:  that there would be peace and plenty—that there was no need to change the direction of their lives-- and that they had nothing to fear from God’s judgment.

How wrong they were!  In that terrible moment, when thousands of Babylonian soldiers surrounded Jerusalem—they knew that Jeremiah was right and that the judgment of God was at hand and that there was nothing that they could do to change it—they knew that they were beyond human help.  That is the context for the words that we hear tonight from the prophet Jeremiah: 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” 

What a comfort these words of promise must have been in that dark hour!  To know that just as surely as God had kept his word and was poised to bring judgment—so he would keep his promise to raise up a deliverer for them—that as bleak and as desolate as things were—there was still hope in the Righteous Branch that God would graciously raise up from David’s line.

The challenge for us is to hear Jeremiah’s words as God’s Word to us no less than it was to the people of that day—for they truly are.  The same message of judgment and salvation is intended for us too.  PAUSE!

Each week we confess that, because of our sins, we justly deserve God’s punishment in time and eternity.  Those words are intended to make us realize that what we really deserve for our sins is what the Israelites in Judah received—the destruction of all we love and hold dear—in this world and the next.

I think that most of us struggle to believe that our sins are really as bad as all that—especially since, for the most part, we live outwardly upright lives.  I think that most of us struggle to believe that God is really as demanding as all that-- since nothing in this world can reveal or measure the true holiness of God.

And what the devil, the world, and our flesh tell us is the same message of the lying prophets of old:  peace, peace where there was no peace.  That God really won’t judge.  That things are not as bad as all that.  That we can continue on as before.

But the truth of the matter is that God is holy and righteous in a way that we can’t even begin to comprehend and our sins ARE as bad as all that.  In fact, our sins are really not much different at all than the sins of the people of that day.

We too struggle with idolatry—maybe not the obvious kind of bowing and worshiping before an Asherah Pole like the Israelites engaged in--but the more subtle and sinister idolatry of trusting in our money and efforts for our security or making an idol of our health and recreation and family.

We too are part of a culture that murders its children—and even if we have not engaged in abortion ourselves—how many of us have failed to lift our voices to stop it—how many of us have worked to end it?

We too are a part of a culture that has reduced God’s gift of sexuality down to its basest forms.  And even if we have never committed adultery—even if we have been married for decades-- how many of us can say that we have never lusted—how many of us can say that our entertainment is not filled with filth—how many of us can say that our moral compass has not been badly skewed by what we see and hear and read.

And just like the tribes of Judah who turned a blind to what happened to their kinsman in the north at the hands of the Assyrians, and refused to see it as judgment from Almighty God, and a warning to leave their own lives of sin—we have done exactly the same thing—failing to recognize the temporal judgment of God in the circumstances of this world that befall us.

It didn’t use to be that way.  In our parents and grand-parents day, when they experienced a severe drought or terrible storm or the curse of war, the church would begin her prayers for deliverance by first asking for forgiveness for themselves—knowing that God does indeed exercise his judgment in time to rebuke and warn and correct his people.

Now we regard these events as some else’s fault-- or the luck of the draw for an unfortunate few-- or merely “natural” disasters with no cause or purpose-- rather than recognizing them for what they are—a sign of the broken-ness of this world and God’s impending, final judgment on mankind on account of sin.

When we see these things for what they are—when the truth about our own lives is revealed for what it is—when our half-hearted confessions and past resolutions to do better have not brought us very far in turning from sin and to the LORD-- we are struck with the same kind of emotions and thoughts as the Israelites who looked over the walls of Jerusalem and saw their destruction at hand—that we are beyond human help.

That is why these words from the prophet Jeremiah are just as true and meaningful and important to us as they were to the people of that day.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

Just as Jeremiah prophesied, the “days to come” came to an end some 600 years later, and in the town of Bethlehem, the city where David was born, a baby was born to a virgin named Mary and her husband named Joseph, both direct descendants of David.

            That baby’s name was Jesus and he was the fulfillment of that gracious promise of God made through the prophet Jeremiah–he was the Righteous Branch who would execute justice and righteousness in the land and save his people–a newborn King who would reign on the throne of David forever.

            This child, unlike any born of a woman before or since, was righteous in God’s sight.  The holy perfection of the Living God was his own for he was not only the Blessed Virgin’s son but was also God’s Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

            And yet in every other way he was just like us--real flesh, real bone, a real human soul.  He was part of the human family–born under the righteous demands of God  in the Law.  But he was never touched by the stain of original sin and he never failed at even one point of the Law to please his heavenly Father as he lived out his life.

Jesus the Righteous Branch came into the world to bring life and salvation for all people—to deliver us from God’s judgment in time and in eternity--and that is what he did. 

Jesus Christ took upon himself the sins of his ancient people the Israelites and our sins and the sins of the whole world and the One who was born possessing the perfect righteousness of Almighty God was judged a sinner and punished, in our place.

By his death, the dead tree of the cross became the “tree of life” as God grafted in it the Righteous Branch of his son Jesus so that everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ receives his perfect righteousness in place of their sins.  As Jeremiah promised:  “The LORD is our righteousness” and through faith in him our “hearts are blameless in holiness before our God and Father.”

            God fulfilled his gracious promise made through his prophet Jeremiah to do what was just and right in the land through the work of his own Son, the Righteous Branch, Jesus Christ. 

That promise fulfilled changes our life in this world.  Yes, we are still surrounded by enemies on every side.  But we have the promise of Jeremiah that there is a day coming when, “Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely.” 

The people of Jerusalem had to wait for that promise to be fulfilled and we do too—for it is the day of our Lord’s return in glory.  But that day will come and when it does all the threatening enemies of God and his people will be destroyed—once and for all—and we will dwell securely in the Lord’s presence.  Amen.

Stay Awake!

Stay Awake!

Mark 13:24-37 Taking a nap after a satisfying meal or laying our head on the pillow after a productive day of work are some of the great blessings of life.  Our bodies need that rest.

But drowsiness and sleepiness when it comes to our spiritual life can be deadly.  In today’s lesson we hear Jesus warn us about the necessity of being spiritually awake and aware of the signs of his coming so that we can be ready to meet him when he comes again.  Jesus says that:

“In those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

            Throughout the thirteenth chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, Jesus lists various signs of his second coming in glory:  signs among the nations such as wars and rumors of wars; signs in the family such as parents and children fighting against one another; signs in the church such as false prophets and the persecution of Christians; and signs in the natural world like those mentioned here.

            When we look out at the world around us and see the never-ending conflicts among the nations of the world-- and the destruction of marriage and family-- and the crumbling edifice of the church--Jesus wants us to understand these events for what they are:  sure signs of his return in glory to judge the living and the dead.

            From the moment that the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed (an event prophesied by Jesus exactly as it took place forty years before it happened) signs in nature and in the church and in the family and in the nations of the world have clearly revealed that Jesus will come again and that we need to be ready.

            The events that Jesus describes here in these verses will occur immediately before his return as the heavenly bodies he set into place at creation—heavenly bodies that men have regarded as eternally constant as the course of the stars and the rising and setting of the sun and the waxing and waning of the moon-- will be no more as this world and all that is in it is destroyed to make way for a new heaven and a new earth. 

In that moment, when the world is literally crashing down around us, Jesus says that: They will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 

            Occasionally you will hear Christians worry that they will not know Jesus when he comes again in the same way that so many of his own people who did not know him or acknowledge him during his earthly ministry.  But that is nothing for us to worry about!

When Jesus comes again it will not be as a tiny baby or a humble carpenter.  He will come again as the King of kings and Lord of lords.  He will not arrive in a crib or carry a cross.

Instead, as the heavenly bodies fall to the earth, he will come in the clouds with the power and glory of God himself and everyone will look upon him, even those who pierced him and every knee will bow before him and every tongue confess that he alone is Lord.

That will be a moment of abject terror for all who have rejected him in this life-- but for all who have trusted in him, for all who have followed him, for all who have confessed him as Lord and Savior-- it will be the greatest, most joyous day in the history of the world for he will come to gather his people to himself.  Jesus says that:

He will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

            In that glorious moment of his return, everything that God has purposed and planned for our salvation from eternity will be accomplished for you. 

God chose you in Christ from before the earth’s foundations to be his own in time and eternity.  He worked throughout salvation history so that his plan to save the world would be made known.  He sent his Son Jesus Christ to live and die for you.  His Holy Spirit caused you to be born again in the waters of Holy Baptism, and he strengthened and sustained your faith and ordered your life in such a way that you would endure to the end in the faith.

On the day of his return, the everlasting love of God has for you in Jesus Christ will reach its divine, saving purpose as he raises the dead and gathers you with all the other faithful and brings you safely to the heavenly home he has prepared for you.

The second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will be the greatest, most glorious day the world has ever known and we are to be spiritually awake and watchful for its coming.  Jesus says that:

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 

            The signs of our Lord’s return in glory are not any more difficult to understand or interpret than a fruit tree putting out buds in the spring. 

The temple in Jerusalem lies in ruins to this day, not even one stone left upon another.  All over the world earthquakes shake the foundations of the earth and tsunamis sweep thousands to their death.  Nations war again nations in never ending violence and hatred.  The fundamental building blocks of society in the marriage and family are under attack.  And the church is persecuted by her enemies and destroyed from within by false prophets.

When we see these things taking place, we are not to say to ourselves:  “Well, that’s just the way it is.  It’s always been that way—it will always be that way.”  No!  Instead, we are to see these events for what they are—signs of the Lord’s return.  Jesus says:

When you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

            There’s always been some question about what Jesus meant when he said that this generation would not pass away until they saw these things happening.  The simplest way to explain it is that those people who see the signs of his coming and hear his word will not pass away until he comes again.  And so it has been from then till now.

There were those listening to Jesus that day who saw the destruction of Jerusalem.  They saw family members turn against them on account of Christ.  They saw the apostles go to a martyr’s death.  And the words of Jesus promising to return for his people rang in their ears. 

So it has been in every generation and still is today as we listen to the voice of our Lord and see the same signs of the end all around us. 

The comfort for us is the same as it has always been for God’s people: the enduring power of God’s Word. 

It is his mighty word, spoken to us in Holy Baptism that has caused us to be born again.  It is his word preached in this pulpit and read in our homes that convicts us of our sins and comforts us with Jesus’ forgiveness.  It is his word that will endure and stand and save us even when heaven and earth comes crashing down around us.  It is word that will prepare us to meet him when he comes again.  Jesus said that:

“Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Be on guard, keep awake.  For you do not know when the time will come.

            From almost the moment these words were spoken by Jesus, there have been those who turned aside from them in an attempt to predict the day of the Lord’s return.  It happened in the ancient world and the medieval world and the modern world. 

History is littered with false prophets who would not yield themselves to the plain words of Jesus—false prophets who thought themselves better informed than Jesus himself who did not know that day when he spoke these words.

No one knows the day of the Lord’s return except for our heavenly Father and so we should immediately reject as false prophets those who claim they do and instead listen to our heavenly Father and believe him when says that there will be a day when this world comes to an end- and the dead are raised- and all are judged -and the elect are saved.

God has not revealed that date to us or anyone else because he wants us to be spiritually awake and aware throughout our lives so that no matter when Jesus comes we will be ready to meet him.  Until that day, Jesus says that our life as his people is like this:

It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.  Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

            Occasionally you will hear about some doomsday cult that has sold all their possessions and gone out into the desert to wait for the supposed return of the Lord only to be disappointed.  But that is not what Jesus wants us to do as we wait for him.

As God’s people, this time between our Lord’s ascension and his return in glory is not a napping time. 

It is a time to be active and involved with the work that Jesus has given each of us to do—work that serves others and brings glory to him. 

It is a time to use the gifts he has given us to extend his kingdom. 

And it is a time to be aware of the signs of his return so that we will be ready to meet him when he comes to judge the world.  Amen.

Praise Is Due to You, O God!