Author: adb

Changed & Charged by Christ

adbLeave a comment

(2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been referring to it as the “new” year, just we do every January when we switch out our completed calendars for new ones. But really, there is nothing intrinsically different between 2024 and 2023 other than the change of the last number. Just to prove my point, I went back and looked at my old calendar from last year and sure enough, there was also a January 21 in that year as well. On the last day of December, we celebrate the final hours of one year as we roll into a new year, but if you’ve ever noticed, there is no magical change that happens between 11:59 p.m. on December 31 and 12:00 a.m. on January 1. Often times the way we use the word “new” may not be in the strictest sense of the word at all, but may refer to something used that is just “new” to us. But even when something is genuinely new, the novelty of newness wears off rather quickly.

But as it’s used in our verses from 2 Corinthians, “new” represents that most dramatic change anyone could ever experience. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (v.17). The newness a person undergoes in Christ is the most radical change that can happen! It starts with trading in self-made notions and narratives of who we are and who God is for reality. Like a magician’s disappearing act, the old “pretty good” or “better than others” version we perceived of ourselves has suddenly vanished. And as it turns out, the depiction of God we had constructed who is just tickled as long as everyone is trying their best and doesn’t bother getting bent out of shape over sin – such a god doesn’t actually exist.

No, the change we’ve experienced started with the revelation of who we really are and who God really is: real sinners absolutely repugnant to a righteous God. Only then, though, is the full picture able to be seen, as the gospel reveals God’s real love that makes us righteous saints. Who we were is not who we are. Condemned sinners have become confirmed saints. The old has gone, the new is here! It’s true! In place of the damnation we deserved is the salvation that God has secured! Praise God, we have been changed in the most profound way possible – and that for eternity!

That change changes how we look at other people. “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (v.16). We see people differently because what Christ has done for us makes us different! We don’t see people the same way we used to. And it’s true. People who used to make our blood boil are souls for whom Jesus died. People who are polar opposites of us politically are souls for whom Jesus died. People who have no filter almost every time they open their mouths are souls for whom Jesus died. People we would otherwise want absolutely nothing to do with in life are souls for whom Jesus died. I see all of them differently now because I am different. I have changed. And I attach to them a value not that the world does (or doesn’t!), but the value of priceless worth that God attaches to each soul. This changed view we have of others also happens to line up very well with one of the reasons God changes us in Christ: we’re charged. 

When we’re changed, it leads us to see that we’re also charged; we are entrusted with a task. But before we further explore what that means, we must recognize that the sequence of these two things – being changed and charged – matters. The order in which they happen matters.

If we jump right to Jesus’ charge before we’re changed, everything is backwards. We then view Jesus’ charge and our ability to carry it out as the prerequisite to God changing how he feels about us. If we do a good job, then he favors us; if we don’t, then he doesn’t. We see his charge to us as an obligation to be fulfilled so that our status before God changes. We cling to Christ’s charge in hopes that our accomplishment of it might cause him to think and feel differently about us. But that’s backwards.

And it is this confusion that turns off many to Christianity – and understandably so! Their perception is that God lays out his demands and prohibitions for us to abide by, favoring only those who follow through with them. Christianity is viewed as a restrictive form of religious oppression or enslavement that only the weak, the disenfranchised, or the brainwashed are sucked into. Then, led blindly by a cult-like commitment, Christians try to satisfy a domineering God in the hope of achieving a better status in the life to come, a hope that is based on how well they adhere to his charge of unquestioning obedience.

So it is instrumental that we understand the proper order: changed first, then charged. Paul stated what initiated that change in verse 15: “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” First, Jesus died, and he died for all – not just for those who made his list. Not just for the obedient. Not just for the religious. Not just for Christians. He died… for all. That death changed our lives so that we live for the one who died for us. And living for the one who died for us means desiring to conduct our lives according to his will. 

What is his will? What has Jesus charged us, his believers to do? “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (v.18-20).

The word Paul uses – reconciliation – isn’t used as much outside of the Bible, so maybe it helps us to think of the word “restore” instead, even if it isn’t an exact synonym. We are familiar with the need for old, uncared for, or broken items or pieces of furniture to be restored, or made like new again.

That restoration (reconciliation) is exactly what we need. God’s creation, including mankind, was perfect right from the beginning, just as it was when he created it by the power of his spoken word. But sin changed that and brought everything, including mankind, into ruin and destruction. Our sin separated us from God, cutting us off from him forever.

But Paul is saying that God changed our eternity by reconciling – restoring – us through Jesus Christ. If it was our sin that separated us from God, and at the cross Jesus rendered full payment for our sin, every last one, then there is no longer any sin remaining to separate us from God. We have been reconciled – restored – into a perfectly lovely relationship with him.

Now, having discovered this lifeline of grace for ourselves, and fully believing it, God charges us to make it known to everyone else, to be, as he calls us, “Christ’s ambassadors.” We have been restored – but so have all people; now we – you and me, those who know it – are called to go out and make it known to those who don’t.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that God would charge us with such a task because anyone in sales knows that the absolute best way to sell a product is through personal testimony or word-of-mouth. A person who has experienced the benefits of a product or service is much more likely to lead someone else to purchase that product or service because they are the proof that it works. An infomercial including the science and the data validating the effectiveness of a product or service might be fascinating, but that alone will not typically generate sales. A humorous commercial might garner some attention about the product or service, but it doesn’t generally drive significant sales, either. But get someone personally talking about and demonstrating all the ways the product or service works for them, and people will buy it. 

You are the proof that Jesus Christ does what he says he will, that he works, that Christianity “works” (to use a term that appeals to our pragmatic culture)!

Others see it in your thoughtfulness expressed to them and your kind words of support. They notice it in how calm you are in stressful, anxious moments. They get wind of it by how quick you are to forgive, how loving you are even toward those unloving toward you. It stands out as you relay the joy and privilege of getting to be a parent raising kids, rather than the complaining and the burdens they hear from other parents.

And, lest we all overlook the signature characteristic of Christianity, they hear genuine apologies and a willingness to say sorry and own up to our mistakes and our sins. We confess to others when we have done wrong or wronged them personally. Who better to serve as ambassadors than those who know first hand the joy of living in reconciliation with God?!? Who better to carry out this important charge than those who have so clearly been changed?!?

Paul is even modeling what it looks like for those who have been changed to then carry out this charge. As an ambassador, He addresses his readers in the same way he is encouraging them to address others: “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (v.20-21).

Paul is not just talking the talk, but walking the walk by demonstrating exactly what he’s calling us to do. He is teaching his hearers about reconciliation and as one who has himself been changed – reconciled – he is carrying out his charge of encouraging the Corinthians to be reconciled. He invites them to believe that what God did for Paul in Christ Jesus, he also did for them (“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ…”).

Changed, Paul carries out his charge. Let us follow suit, always making certain that grace – and not guilt – is what compels us to carry out that charge.

As we carry out this charge, remember the driving force behind it. Read the first five words of verse fourteen again: “For Christ’s love compels us.” We could imagine a lot of other words or phrases in place of “Christ’s love,” that could prompt us. But Paul didn’t write that “guilt” compels us. It isn’t “the hope that we’re good enough for God” that compels us. It isn’t the impossible desire to please everyone else that compels us. It isn’t even that we love God so so so so much that compels us.

Nope. It’s Christ’s love – his love for us – that compels us. He loves you. That’s all I need to hear for me to want to change the world for Christ, just as he has changed me with his love. 

The Glory & Grace of the Gospel

adbLeave a comment

(2 Thessalonians 2:13-17)

Jim Harbaugh, the polarizing head coach of the National Champion University of Michigan football team, has established the practice of asking his players and fans the same question. He brings up the question so frequently that the response is chanted in unison as if just one booming voice. His question? “Who has it better than us?” The response of the crowd? “Nobody!”

As Christians, fresh off another celebration of Christmas and again seeing Jesus reveal himself as the world’s Savior, we can’t help but ask the same question: “Who has it better than us?” “Nobody!”

But when we consider who we were on our own, who we are now in Christ, and what that means for our present and future, do we really know how good we have it? Do we?

Paul wanted to make sure the Christians in Thessalonica knew how good they had it – and why. It wasn’t because of their own achievements or some outstanding accomplishment on their part, but rather because of everything God had done for them through Jesus Christ. So when Paul celebrates them, what he is really celebrating is what God has done for them. He thanks God for them – because they are loved, they are chosen, they are firstfruits, they are saved. And he recounts what brought all of this about: the gospel.

Simply put, the gospel was/is everything. There would be no letter, there would be no celebration, there would be no congregation of believers even gathered in Thessalonica, if not for the gospel. Paul hits that point home directly after all of the reasons to celebrate who they are because of what God has done when he wrote, “He called you to this through our gospel…” (v.14). The gospel was why they were who they were and the gospel is what God used to call them to be who they were.

That is the case for all Christians. Anyone who belongs to God, anyone who has ever believed, including anyone who is right now basking in the sinless joy of heaven while we wait eagerly for the Last Day, is so because God called them.

It’s how he called you and it’s how he will continue to call others. In the Word of God, God has revealed that the Bible is how he has chosen to call us. The gospel message – the good news for sinners that forgiveness of sins and salvation are ours through Jesus – is what God uses to call us today and tomorrow and until he comes again. This good news is God himself calling sinners to him for refuge and rescue. So what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he might as well be writing to us and to anyone else who ever comes to faith in Jesus: “He called you to this through our gospel…” (v.14). 

Since the gospel is how God calls everyone – anyone – to faith in him, then in that gospel we have everything we need to flourish in the ministry that Jesus has given us. Go then and tell people the good news that Jesus is their Savior because he paid for their sins. That’s it. It’s that simple.

Don’t complicate it. Don’t skirt around it. Proclaim it – so that God can call others to faith through it. Don’t argue about it. Don’t apologize for it. Don’t avoid it. Don’t try to sweeten it. Just proclaim it. Just share it. Just pass it on to others, fully trusting that God calls others through the gospel – and only through the gospel.

What makes this gospel so amazing? Through it we know and will continue to know glory and grace. 

The rest of what Paul writes at the end of verse 14 ought to blow your mind. “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.14). What?!? You realize that when we speak of the glory of Jesus Christ that we are on another whole level of glory, right??? Paul described it in his letter to the Philippians, explaining the glory that would follow Jesus’ incarnation (i.e. God becoming man) on earth. 

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Jesus is the glory of God the Father! Every knee bows and every tongue confesses who Jesus is – and YOU share in that glory! Page through John’s visions in the Book of Revelation and see the glory of every creature lavishing praise and acclaim on Jesus on his throne – and YOU share in that glory!

Imagine being brought up on the stage for the Golden Globes or Academy Awards, or with a team after they won the championship game. You had absolutely nothing to do with winning, but they still call you up on the stage to bask in the glorious celebration. Although you made zero contributions, nonetheless, there you are, relishing the glory that someone else earned for you. Christ earned a far greater glory, and he shares it with you!

If there is no greater glory we could ever experience aside from the glory we share in Christ, then why is it that we still seek out self glory? Isn’t that really what we’re doing when our pride is wounded or when we insist on demanding a certain level of recognition or acknowledgment for what we’ve done? Why do we resent the teacher for not rewarding our hard work? Why do we feel that the coach only seems to harp on our mistakes but ignores our contributions? After so many years and all I’ve done for my company, why does the boss still hardly give me the time of day? Why won’t my spouse give me the respect I deserve for all that I do for us? I never get recognized for anything I do at my church.

Friends, do we forget the glory that we share with Christ? How could any of these things, or even the sum of them all together, ever amount to the glory that is already ours in Christ?!? And that is why the gospel is so amazing. We could not know of this glory that is ours with Jesus apart from the gospel. 

That same gospel doesn’t just assure us of the glory we’ll share with Christ; it also reveals the radical side of God that is responsible for that glory, which is totally and completely unique to Christianity: grace.

Christians are familiar with the word “grace.” But if we aren’t careful, something so profound as grace, so radically life-changing and unparalleled anywhere else in the world like grace, can become… ho-hum. When that happens, grace seems less and less amazing. Its usage can become so routine and so frequent in how we speak that we begin to be less in awe of what it really is. So how do guard against losing that awe of grace? How do we recapture its greatness? How does it crash into us a like an ocean wave smashing into a rocky cliff so that we are left completely drenched by it, refreshed and and re-awakened?

We remember what makes grace so amazing. Christian author, Randy Alcorn, shared a story about that very hymn, Amazing Grace:  

Before I spoke at a conference, a soloist sang one of my favorite songs, “Amazing Grace.” It was beautiful. Until she got to the tenth word. “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a soul like me!” My heart sank. The word wretch had been edited out! I thought about John Newton, the songwriter. This former slave trader, guilty of the vilest sins, knew he was a wretch. And that’s what made God’s grace so “amazing.” Mind-boggling. Knockdown awesome. If we’re nothing more than morally neutral “souls,” do you see what that does? It guts grace. (The Grace and Truth Paradox: Responding with Christlike Balance)

When we define grace as God’s undeserved love, we have to remember what makes it so undeserved: we do. If grace is just “God’s generic love in general,” it loses so much. It is love that is undeserved. It is love for wretches. It is love for the worst of the worst, love for me. No matter the sin, there is always more grace. We sin in ways old and new. We sin in ways planned and premeditated. We sin in ways unexpected and even unknown. And grace covers all of it.

And it is the good news of the gospel that assures us that God’s love for wretches will never be exhausted. It is that gospel which takes the ugly reality of my sin – all of it – and crosses it out at Calvary, at Jesus’ crucifixion. It takes the whole record of my sin, every last sin that I’ve stored up over the course of my life, and completely empties it, just as Jesus did his tomb.

Dear Christian, who has it better than us? Nobody. Now if that’s true (it is!) and if you believe it (you do!), then let it be plain as day in how we live our lives, just as Paul encouraged: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (v.16-17). 

It Begins with Baptism

adbLeave a comment

(Romans 6:1-11)

Every amazing contribution that mankind has had throughout history has at least one thing in common: a beginning. Anything meaningful and significant happened because someone started. The first step was taken. The rough draft was drawn up. The initial trial run took place. While the first attempt is rarely the final attempt, since polishing and trial and error are typically required to fine-tune things, none of that happens without a start, without a beginning. Countless good thoughts or ideas never amounted to anything because without taking a first step or beginning, those thoughts and ideas remained just that – thoughts and ideas. Beginnings are hugely important. 

Beginnings are also undoubtedly on our minds at this start of the new year. There is a 100% chance that every one of us will experience new beginnings this year. Some of them will be by choice; others will not. The start of high school or college will mark a new beginning. A new beginning may be in store regarding a job or relationship.

But 2024 may also bring the beginning of a new treatment plan or surgery. For those having lost loved ones, this year will include new responsibilities that used to be carried out either by or with that loved one. Beginnings, both the ones we choose as well as those we don’t, can serve as major turning points in our lives. 

The start of Jesus’ public ministry was one such turning point. As he carried out his work as preacher and teacher of the Word and Savior of the world, how did it all begin? With his baptism. 

During the season of Epiphany, we celebrate that the child born in Bethlehem was born to serve as the Savior not just of one nation or race, but of all people everywhere. And the start of Jesus’ saving work of everyone everywhere began at his baptism. In the days of the early Christian church, in one of his sermons that he preached in the house of a Gentile named Cornelius, Peter highlighted the importance of Jesus’ baptism when he said, “You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:37-38).

Jesus’ baptism was the beginning. It marked him as loved and chosen by the Father. It anointed him with the Holy Spirit, arming him with the power necessary to take the battle to the devil, healing the hurting and freeing those under his control. It was a milestone in his perfect life of obedience, not because he needed to be baptized for the forgiveness of his own sins, but to give power to our baptism for the washing away of our sins.

Baptism didn’t just mark the beginning of Jesus’ ministry; it also marked the beginning of his work in many of our lives as well. Baptism marked us as loved and chosen by the Father. Baptism anointed us with the Holy Spirit, arming us with the power necessary to continue taking the battle to the devil. Baptism was a milestone, a turning point in our lives, because through it God applied Christ’s perfect life of obedience and washed away our sins.

When others limit baptism’s significance to only being reflective of our devotion or commitment to God, they bottle up baptism and the full measure of its power. Baptism is so much more than our effort at grabbing God’s attention so he takes note of our intended allegiance to him! Rather, it is God grabbing us and claiming us as his own to demonstrate how devoted he is to us and to our salvation. Can you think of a better way to begin?!?

There is something we’re drawn to about beginnings. They hold out promise. Beginnings make us optimistic. We get excited about possibilities. Think of the beginning words of a new book or opening scenes of a movie that instantly grab you. Think of that great first day of work or school that far exceeded what you had expected. We love beginnings.

But as important as they are, beginnings are also just that: beginnings. While a beginning can offer unlimited possibilities and potential, what happens after the beginning is going to determine the finish. The statistics of failed new year resolutions serve as a proof that what happens after the new beginning matters very much! Many a sports team has started strong at the beginning only to fall apart after that. Many businesses get off to a flying start at the beginning but still end up bankrupt and broke. What happens after the beginning matters, too!

So, Christian, how has it been going in your life since your beginning, since your baptism? What happens after the beginning matters, too! Like the doting grandparents commenting on how big their grandchildren have grown, would God say the same about you, spiritually speaking? Would he look at how far you’ve come since your baptism and say, “My, how you’ve grown!”?

Are the fruits of the Spirit more abundant in your life, or would you have trouble even being able to list one of the fruits? Are you more likely to invite a friend to church because you’re so excited for them to experience what you have in Jesus? Or, do you tend to be the one explaining to others that a person doesn’t have to go to church to be a Christian? Do you find yourself proud of how consistently you give an offering but quickly overlook that your giving hasn’t increased in years? Do you view needy people as an obstacle or an opportunity? Is your prayer life as active as your social media accounts or is it more like 9-1-1, reserved only for emergencies? Do you have a devotional life? Is it daily? Is it driven by duty or delight? Are you more forgiving? More loving? More discerning? More humble? 

Which one struck a chord? If you need help, it may have been the thing I wrote that caused you to think, “there he goes with that again.”

When we take the time to assess our spiritual growth – which is itself an indicator of growth, as so many don’t ever even bother to do that! – not only do we see areas where little to no growth has occurred, but we also see troubling trends of digression. Instead of making progress, we digress!

Forgive us, Lord, for our lack of attention to the most important matter of our spiritual growth! Don’t treat us with the same indifference that we treat our sanctification! Don’t hold against us that we have made so little of our Christian living that started out with such promise at our baptism! Don’t give us the wretched end we deserve for taking for granted the beginning you graciously worked in us!

And here is what makes baptism so profound and powerful: it isn’t just the beginning; it is everything after as well!

How can this be? Because by your baptism you are handcuffed to Christ. What was his is yours. When he died, was buried, and rose, via your baptism, you died, were buried, and rose. Paul put it this way: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). New life! New beginning! Newness in Christ each and every day – all of which began at our baptism. 

Again, how can this be? Paul explains, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (v.6-7). The old sinner in you was nailed to the cross with Christ. So if that sin has been paid for, then you are no longer a slave to it. If you have already died – which you have, with Christ – then you have been set free from sin.

Now let us make sure we understand the full extent of this freedom that our baptism offers. Baptism isn’t just freedom from the condemnation of sin; it is also freedom from the control of sin! That accuser Satan cannot charge you with sin that has already been paid for and forgiven. By that same token, sin that has already been paid for and forgiven has no power or control over you, either! You are free to choose a different path, the path of righteousness.

At your baptism, the Holy Spirit didn’t just zap you with some spiritual superpower; he completely changed who you are. See in these verses that Paul is revealing how powerful baptism is – it doesn’t just give you the power or ability for good in your life, but also entirely changed your status. You were a slave to sin with a reservation in hell. Now, though, you are free and to you belongs a reservation in heaven, where Jesus still lives in service to God. 

You know the Wanted posters from the wild west. They showed a picture of of an at-large criminal with the promise of a reward if the criminal was turned in – whether dead or alive. One or the other – it didn’t matter, so long as the criminal was no longer a risk. 

In baptism, we aren’t dead or alive, but rather dead and alive. “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v.11). You were baptized, but that was just the beginning. Because of it, you are now very much alive to God in Christ Jesus. This year, perhaps more than any other, let’s begin to live like we’re alive in Christ – because by virtue of your baptism, you are!

The Salvation Song of Simeon

adbLeave a comment

(Luke 2:22-40)

If you were asked to make a list of the top Christmas songs, which ones would be at or near the top? I wonder if your answer to that question on the last day of December would differ from the answer you would have given on the first day of December. After all, part of the “magic” of the holidays is that a month of listening to the same songs can turn the nostalgic into the nauseating.

When it comes to Christmas favorites, we’d probably need to differentiate between the traditional and the trendy, between the hymns we enjoy singing in church and the songs that are played throughout the season on the radio. Some Christmas hymns are so close to our hearts, that to go through the entire Christmas season without singing them in church just wouldn’t seem right. Families tend to have their own particular play list of songs and artists that they find especially meaningful.

Whatever songs might make your list, add to them the one recorded in Luke 2. It is a “Christmas” song that has remained on the top of the chart of Christianity for 2000 years. How many other songs of Christmas can compete with that? So popular is the song that the church still sings it today as a regular part of worship!  It is known as the “Song of Simeon,” or Nunc Dimittis (“Now you dismiss”) in Latin.  

Who is this Simeon? Outside of Luke’s Gospel, we know nothing reliable. Nevertheless, Luke does share with us several telling details. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.  He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25).  He is not given any special title or recognition.  He was not mentioned as being a priest or any other position of authority; just a man in Jerusalem.  He was both “righteous” and “devout.” He took his faith seriously and was a deeply committed man of God – a man who delighted in the Lord.    

This devout man had been waiting patiently in his lifetime for what Luke refers to as “the consolation of Israel.”  Consider that phrase for just a moment.  Who is it that needs consolation?  It is someone who has experienced a loss or disappointment. We think of a person shedding tears to be in need of some sort of consolation to help ease the loss. Even in the sporting world, a team settles for a consolation prize if they can’t compete for the championship. 

But the word used in the context of Simeon is much deeper. The reference is to the One who brings consolation from sin and its guilt.  Simeon is waiting for the Messiah—the Anointed One—the promised of God to every generation.  He was waiting for his Savior.

And by some special revelation of the Holy Spirit, it was made known to him that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (v. 26).  It was not mere coincidence then, that he would encounter Mary and Joseph and their newborn son in the temple. Through divine intervention, the Holy Spirit had led him there, but it was ceremonial law that had led Mary and Joseph there. 

They were there to fulfill law that required every firstborn son to be presented to the Lord. This practice had its origins in the Passover. While still in Egypt, God had initially “passed over” the Israelite homes that had marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb and spared their firstborn son. To serve as a reminder of how God had spared every firstborn son, God’s people were then required to dedicate every firstborn son to his service. Later, even though males from the tribe of Levi eventually overtook this role, parents were still required to present every firstborn son to the Lord by paying a price to redeem him, as he belonged to the Lord. Mary and Joseph had gone to the temple to pay that price for their firstborn son, Jesus.  

So the scene was set for Simeon to meet his Savior, and when he did, “Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (v. 28-32).  Not only are these words a beautiful confession of Simeon’s faith, but they also serve as a wonderful proclamation of all that the infant child in his arms would accomplish.  So magnificent were Simeon’s words that God included them in his Holy Word, and has led the church to include them in regular worship for just about as long as Christians have been gathering for worship!  For these reasons, let us look carefully at these words and come to appreciate them more fully.

Simeon expressed the reason for his rejoicing in his song: “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people.”  With his own eyes, Simeon saw much more than just a baby; he saw his Savior. And, by his words, Simeon expresses the realization that the child in his arms was not only his Savior, but the Savior of all people. Jesus came for the salvation of every soul.  He would secure the salvation of every soul. Some teach that Jesus saves only those who accept him or have a strong enough faith or are generally pretty good Christians. Simeon reminds us that he came for all people. 

This truth is also emphasized by the words, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.”  Throughout Advent and during Christmas we see and hear the recurring theme of Jesus as the Light of the world. Simeon echoes that theme with this very phrase. Jesus was a Light to reveal salvation not only to God’s Old Testament chosen people, the Israelites, but also to the Gentiles—to every nation on earth.  

But that didn’t in any way take away from what he meant to Israel. Israel could still make the claim that no other nation on earth could make: that Jesus came from their people, the people of Israel. Simeon said it like this: “for glory to your people Israel.”  Madonna was from my home town of Bay City, Michigan.  San Diegans can claim a number of famous people had their roots here. Only those of Jewish descent can claim the Savior as one of their own. Whether they acknowledge it by faith or not, Jesus is their greatest glory.

See how the God-with-us/Immanuel Savior affected Simeon! “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  With this phrase Simeon points out something that is unique to God—he keeps his word. God promised that Simeon would live to see his Savior and he did. Keeping promises is really what Christmas is all about. The Savior was born in Bethlehem because God kept his promise. 

The promise kept at Christmas carries a special weight to it for New Testament Christians, because that promise kept gives credibility to all of God’s promises that followed and continue to follow. The Savior was born, just as God promised, and so we know that he would live perfectly as our Substitute, just as God promised. He would die for us, just as God promised.  He would rise again from the dead, just as God promised. Finally, he will come again, just as God promised.

The irony of course is in how badly we, who do not keep promises, need the One who did.  One drawback of God’s Christmas promise is that it serves as another reminder of how bad we are at keeping our promises—promises to ourselves, to others, and to God.  “This year I’m going to get everything done early.  I’m going to eat less.  I’m going to spend less”  Broken, broken, and broken.  “This year we’re going to do something special as a family.  I’ll keep in better touch with my extended family over the holidays.”  Broken and broken.  “This year I’m going to follow through with my commitment to spending more time preparing spiritually.  I’m also going to spend more time in God’s house for worship.”  Broken and broken.  We evaluate our own inabilities to keep our own word, our own promises, and we quickly become aware of how much we needed the one who keeps his every promise, not the least of which is his promise to forget our sins through Christ Jesus. 

That same God is the one who had kept his promise to Simeon, and Simeon in his song then confirmed the peace that had swept over him: “you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  Many assume here that the dismissal to which Simeon referred was speaking of his departure from his earthly life to heaven.  Indeed this portion of Scripture has brought much comfort at the funerals of those who have died in Christ. Such an application is most certainly appropriate, especially given the way it is portrayed in the original language. Quite literally, Simeon said, “Now you release your slave, master.”  Picture a lifelong slave being freed from every labor and toil and the anguish associated with it.  How could such a situation bring about anything less than peace?

And here already we begin to understand and more fully appreciate why these words have been sung for centuries by Christians who have just received the Lord’s body and blood.  For what is it that we receive in that body and blood but release!  We receive release from the guilt of our sins.  We receive release from the heavy burdens of our own disobedience.  Yes, through the Lord’s Supper the chains of sin that bind us to the devil are smashed to pieces.  And as we return to our seats we know personally the very peace of which Simeon spoke in his song.  

It was a peace that a mom discovered unexpectedly. As a thunderstorm rumbled loudly throughout the night, her scared little girl came into her room to slip into her bed and snuggle up. As soon as she had done so, she fell back asleep. While her mother felt her gentle breathing and saw how peacefully she was sleeping, she had a realization. Her daughter didn’t come in and ask her to make the storm stop, she just wanted to be by her during it. How often in her own life had she prayed and pleaded for God to make the storms stop instead of simply seeking out God’s presence to be near her and get through those storms peacefully? 

In the year ahead, friends, you know there will be storms. During those times, with arms of faith, embrace the Prince of Peace like Simeon in the temple courts, and find peace and security. We don’t always need God to put a stop to the storms; we just need him to be near us through them. And he is. And he always will be every time we marvel at him like Simeon and like Mary and Joseph. 

We aren’t surprised to hear the reaction of Mary and Joseph to Simeon’s salvation song:  “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him” (v. 33). Little did they know, they had just heard one of the most popular Christmas songs ever; so popular, in fact, that it has to be sung more often than just Christmas. It begs to be sung by Christians all over the world who experience the same peace that Simeon did—a peace that comes not only at Christmas, but whenever we receive the Lord’s Supper and all other times God’s Word assures us of our forgiveness.

The Savior Who Saves

adbLeave a comment

(Titus 3:4-7)

Admittedly, the title of this post might be one of my least creative yet. It’s the equivalent of calling a plumbing company to fix a leaky toilet and asking if their plumbers have any plumbing experience, or asking an electrician if he’s ever worked with the electrical in a house. Duh. So I get that the title would appear to be stating the obvious.

But the Savior’s role also happens to be only the most important detail about Christmas that we absolutely must get straight. Since Christmas has been celebrated for generations and generations, that means centuries of people attaching their own meaning and significance to it. While it’s one thing to have our personal traditions and fond memories tied to Christmas, it’s another to redefine Christmas altogether. Christmas first began to be observed for a reason; it was first about something notable. And perhaps because that reason is so easily lost in our world today, it’s always the right time for the simple reminder of what Christmas is really all about: the Savior who saves.

So what exactly does it mean that we call Jesus “Savior?” Over time, the meaning of words can change or be lost. Certain words that were spoken regularly in the past would cause great offense today. Words that used to carry a certain weight or significance don’t pack the same punch today. Other times the meaning of the word is simply lost over time.

“Savior” might be one of those words, if we aren’t careful. If you asked someone outside of Christianity if they’ve heard the word “Savior,” if they’ve heard it applied to Jesus, or if they understood what Christians mean when they refer to Jesus as their Savior, I imagine you’d hear a number of uncertain responses. And even though we may see the word “Savior” more frequently around the holidays, that “overexposure” can also sometimes lead people to tune it out.

It’s like one of our local Mexican places that offers new menudo. If you live nearby you may not even realize they had new menudo? Why? Because they’ve had the words “new menudo” on their sign for at least the past ten years. You see it every time you drive by, nothing changes about the sign, and so you tune it out. And since you tune it out, it doesn’t even matter if you know what menudo is or not, because you never notice it on the sign!

That is the last thing we’d ever want to happen with the word Savior, and not just the word Savior, but the Savior himself, Jesus Christ. Perhaps more than any other church services of the year, Christmas services will have the widest variety of attendees. The makeup of guests, friends, and extended family attending hold to numerous backgrounds and beliefs, which means different experiences and understandings about religion, church, and most importantly, Jesus. Here are a few of the more common views people hold to about the Savior.

People view Jesus as a wise teacher. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge of Jesus’ teachings would be right to conclude that he was indeed wise. The way he wove parables into his teaching helped enlighten his listeners. He had a knack for simplifying some difficult concepts with relatable parables.

On more than one occasion, Jesus outsmarted those trying to trap him between a rock and a hard place with their trick questions or hypothetical scenarios pitting one answer against another. They attempted to frame him so that no matter how he answered, he could not avoid giving his enemies ample ammunition. Each time, though, he turned the tables and displayed profound wisdom – so much so that still today people view him primarily as a wise teacher, and perhaps nothing more.  

Many also see Jesus as a good person, a moral example to follow. Regardless of what religion a person is or isn’t, there is a certain level of respect that people have for Jesus. He was someone who lived an upright life and encouraged others to do the same. He not only taught with wisdom, but also walked the walk. He practiced what he preached and treated people the way we would like to see everybody treat others. His encouragement to love and forgive others has great appeal in an often loveless and unforgiving world. We look at how he lived his life and we want our children to learn to follow in his footsteps.

This view of Jesus as an example or guide for good living became quite a trend years ago when the letters “WWJD” found their way onto wristbands, accessories, and apparel. In a bind? Stuck in a tough situation? Unsure of how to decide to move forward? Just let the letters serve as a reminder to guide you by asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

A third popular view of Jesus is to see him as a finish carpenter of sorts. This view is a little bit more of a religious take, holding to the idea that Jesus is for those who do their best in life, who try their hardest, who are mostly pretty good people. Jesus is the guy to fill in whatever gaps our lives leave (after all, nobody’s perfect, right?). So long as we’ve completed most of the work in our lives, we have him on standby to come in and finish everything so that our lives are satisfactory before God. 

While these views – and many others like them – are not uncommon, they miss the mark on Jesus’ role as Savior, and end up stealing the real joy of Christmas, and ultimately compromise a person’s eternity. 

So who is Jesus, really? The angels announced in clearly in Luke 2.  “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord’” (Luke 2:9-11). You heard it from the angels. They didn’t tell the shepherds that Mary had just given birth to a wise teacher. It wasn’t a good example who was born. It was “a Savior” that had been born.

They announced the source of good news for all people: a Savior for everyone all over the world at that time and everyone all over the world today. That, dear friends, includes everyone. That includes you. Regardless of past behaviors or beliefs, that Savior came to save you.

The verses from Titus 3 reinforce this. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 4:4-5). What drove him to save us? His kindness and love. What described the actions he took to save us? His mercy. Not our righteous works or best efforts or good intentions. These amount to nothing before him. We cannot do a single thing to save ourselves.

You may have heard some version of the story about a boy and his mother at the beach. When he asked if he could go into the water to swim, he had to agree to remain close enough so that his mother could keep an eye on him. After some time had passed, the mother looked up to spot him, as she had been doing, but this time she couldn’t spot him. She started scanning back and forth through the waves and eventually found him, but she noticed he was clearly struggling in the water. She immediately ran to the nearby lifeguard station to get help for her son.

The lifeguard grabbed his binoculars and peered through them until he spotted the boy, and kept an eye on him. The mother pleaded for him to go into the water to rescue her son, but he didn’t move. She looked out again at her son and could tell that he was starting to have a hard time staying above the water. The lifeguard looked through his binoculars again but remained right where he was. Again the mother looked at her son, who was now really struggling, waving his arms and doing his best to keep from sinking.

“Why are you just standing there?” she asked the lifeguard, “Please swim out and rescue my son!” The lifeguard looked one more time, left the tower, and swam in to successfully rescue the boy. While the mother was grateful, she resented that the lifeguard had waited so long to come to his rescue. At that point he explained that any attempt to rescue the boy while he was still frantically kicking his legs and swinging his arms could have put both of them at risk of drowning. Only after the boy had given up and was no longer putting up a fight could the lifeguard safely rescue him. 

I don’t know whether the account is based on a true story or not, but it illustrates the truth about our salvation: we can do nothing to save ourselves. In fact, if we want to take it a step further to speak the way the Bible does about us on our own, we aren’t just drowning on our own, but are actually dead to begin with (see Ephesians 2). That’s how we come into the world ever since the fall into sin, and that is how we would remain, spiritually speaking, unless someone saves us.

That someone is Jesus Christ our Savior. He came to save. Christmas is proof, and it fills us with newfound joy when we know and celebrate what it’s all about: the Savior who saves.

As our verses clearly state, God’s mercy alone saves. His mercy moved him to live the required sinless life in our place so that his holy obedience could attain the perfection we need for heaven. His mercy moved him to meet his fate as our Substitute when he was sacrificed for us on the cross. His mercy alone made the final judgment on all people: because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to save by paying for our sins, we are not guilty (“justified”). It is only the grace of God, his undeserved love for drowning sinners, that makes this so.

The result of his work on our behalf – all of which began on Christmas, is that we are heirs of eternal life. So Christmas means that death isn’t the end. Christmas means that condemnation is not a legitimate fear. Christmas means that joy endures. Christmas means that peace is real. And all of this is true because of the Savior who saves. 

He Is Bringing Perfect Joy

adbLeave a comment

(Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11)

What would you say has been the single most joy-filled event or experience in your lifetime? Things like wedding days and the birth of children often top the list. A life-changing travel experience or mission trip might also rank at or near the top. A championship victory after a perfect or nearly-flawless season could be a source of joy. Is there one joy-filled occasion that stands out for you more than all others?

As you think about whatever it is at the top of your list, does it still fill you with the same level of joy as it did when you originally experienced it? Probably not. Remembering such an occasion does not fill us the way experiencing it does. The worldly joys we experience tend to fade over time.

Christians experience an entirely different kind of joy. The Third Sunday in Advent has historically been referred to as Guadete Sunday, which is Latin for “rejoice.” It is the Sunday in Advent on which the pink candle, the joy candle, is lit. As the Church shifts her attention in this season of Advent from the anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming to its celebration of Christ’s First Coming, the theme of joy is certainly an appropriate one. Joy is ours because Jesus became ours at Christmas. Perfect joy is ours only when perfect Jesus is its source.

I recently came across a definition of joy from another pastor/author that continues to grow on me: “a happiness that isn’t based on happenings.” This understanding of joy allows us to experience it independent of circumstances or situations. It isn’t a conditional feeling or emotion that depends entirely on a specific outcome.

That sets joy and happiness apart. As Christians who know joy, we can be happy even when things don’t go our way. We can be happy even in disappointment, even in sorrow, yes, even in loss. Why? That’s what Isaiah 61 explains for us.

When it comes worldly joys, somewhere in the discussion we have to include experiences of being captivated by nature. Anyone who has ever endured a strenuous hike to view a waterfall knows how rewarding it can be to arrive at the majestic waterfall – it leaves us captivated. An evening with minimal light pollution will leave us captivated by the vast array of stars littered across the night sky. A sunrise or sunset may also leave us captivated by the colors it paints as it reflects on the clouds.

It isn’t just nature that captivates us with that kind of joy. When we have the opportunity to watch people at the top of their craft performing at the highest level, it is captivating. To witness a dancer of the highest caliber glide gracefully and effortlessly, a magician shocking onlookers with an inexplicable trick, a comedian crush a gut-busting set, a band put on a once-in-a-lifetime concert – these types of performances are glimpses of greatness that are so captivating that there is nothing that could distract us in that moment. 

Captivated by Christ

When we have the opportunity to reflect on these words of Isaiah, realizing they are essentially the words of Jesus himself, how can it be anything but captivating? Talk about someone at the top of their craft performing at the highest level! There is no one greater at saving than the Savior, and Isaiah captivates us with rich images of how he would carry out his saving work.   

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion” (v1-3a).

There’s something for everyone. “Good news” for “the poor,” “bind[ing] up the brokenhearted,” “freedom for the captives,” “release from darkness,” and “comfort for all who mourn.” 

To be poor is to be without something, to lack something, and the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ richly provides everything that is needed! Paul reflected this when he wrote about Jesus, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

To live in a world covered in sin’s fingerprints is to know heartbreak firsthand. Every one of us has been on the receiving end of sin’s crushing blow, victims of sexual abuse and assault, slanderous gossip, betrayal, and infidelity, to name a few. We have experienced trauma and great loss. We are brokenhearted, but it is for the brokenhearted that Jesus came, that he might bind up our wounded hearts!

To live in a world covered in sin’s fingerprints also acknowledges that far too many of those fingerprints are mine. We aren’t only on the receiving end of the heartbreak we just described; too often we are also the cause of it. By nature we can do nothing but sin. When outside of faith, people are helplessly enslaved to sin and have no choice but to sin – it’s all they can do. Apart from Jesus, we are captive, prisoners to sin and sin’s source, Satan. And for those captives, for those prisoners, Jesus Christ came to provide freedom and release!

To live in a world covered in sin’s fingerprints is to know mourning and grieving, for even when the cause of that mourning and grieving may not directly affect us at all, it still affects us. The internet and smart phones have partnered together to saturate our heads and hearts with more stories of sadness and tragedy from all over the world than any culture has ever before been exposed to. We see citizens of other countries harmed by their own government instead of protected by it, a flood of innocent lives cut short by senseless wars, the trafficking of women and children, those in our own community bending over another garbage can hoping to salvage something for their next meal, cancer diagnoses, tragic accidents – all of it is more than our heads and hearts were ever intended to process. But even as we sit in a pool of tears, Jesus Christ came to comfort and provide for us!

How can we be anything but captivated by Christ and the saving work he came to do? Talk about someone at the top of their craft performing at the highest level! There is no one greater at saving than the Savior! 

Clothed with Christ

Not only are we captivated by Christ; Isaiah reminds us that we’re also clothed with Christ. “he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (v.10). Dressed in Christ, you’ve never looked better! Christ alone has your salvation and your righteousness covered, and by faith he now covers you with them. 

Salvation is a term that is used to frequently that we can easily lose sight of the weight of its significance. Think of the police officer wearing his bulletproof vest. In a non-theological sense, that vest may very well be responsible for his salvation. It could stop a bullet that would otherwise end his life!

If I am wearing Christ’s salvation, then I have protection even greater than a bullet-proof vest. I have something that will protect and save me for eternity. Dressed with salvation, forgiveness is assured and my name is written in the Book of Life. I have his salvation, so nothing more is needed. I am saved. I am safe.

And his robe of righteousness that also covers me means that I measure up. I am good enough. I am right with God. We have a tendency to look back and wonder if we said the right thing, did the right thing, or acted in the right way. But if I am wearing Christ’s robe of righteousness, his “right-ness” means that every right thing that has ever been required for my salvation has already been carried out in Christ.

It’s difficult to imagine Isaiah’s imagery here without considering the place of baptism in the life of the Christian, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Paul explains that these clothes are draped upon the child of God in baptism. In baptism you were dressed with the garments of salvation and Christ’s robe of righteousness. Not only are you the best dressed, but you are also dressed completely with everything you need. I don’t need to keep shopping for another outfit to try to impress God. I don’t need to keep running back to my own closet to pretend I can find there an outfit that has fewer stains or might fool the Father with an appearance of minimal stain or blemish. I am clothed with Christ in baptism!

Now then, being captivated by Christ and clothed with Christ, what is our response? We rejoice, of course! Verse 10 is the believer’s joyful response at all of this joyful news. “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.”  The word translated “delight” is actually the same word for “joy” repeated in the original, so as to amplify the joy. The believer is saying “I rejoiced with great joy” or “I joyfully rejoiced.” Then a different “joy” word is used in the second part, which could also be “exalt” or “celebrate.” The point is clear no matter how we translate it – so long as we have Jesus Christ, we have joy, and reason to rejoice! 

Today, this week, next weekend, and throughout the season of Christmas and beyond, rejoice. Delight in the Lord.

How does one do that? I don’t just mean singing favorite Christmas hymns like Joy to the World (while that certainly can be included as a part of it!).

Delighting in and rejoicing in Jesus is not accidental. It is deliberate. It is intentional. It is planned. It is a priority. It is something we can and ought to do every day as we hit the pause button, whether in the morning or at any time of the day. Reflect and be captivated by Christ. Marvel that you are clothed with Christ (you could certainly use Isaiah 61:1-3 for reflection!). Let no other worries or anxieties rob you of rejoicing, for your joy is not a happiness based on happenings, but a joy in Jesus. A perfect joy from a perfect Savior. 

Prepare to Meet Him

adbLeave a comment

(2 Peter 3:8-14)

The story of Goldilocks and the three bears finds Goldilocks stumbling upon the residence of three bears while they are out on a walk. As she makes herself at home, she first sits down on a chair, only to find it is too hard. The next chair is too delicate. Finally, the third chair is just right. She makes her way over to the table to find one bowl of porridge is too hot and another too cold, but the third is just right. As nap time beckons, she tries out the beds. The first bed is too hard and the second is too soft, but the third is – you guessed it – just right.  

When it comes to our perception of God’s timing, we find Goldilocks’ struggle very relatable. God’s timing in life can often feel like one of two extremes – either too slow or too quick. We pray and pray and pray, and find our patience tested as we wait on God’s answers to that prayer. Or, we are caught completely off guard by an event that happened so unexpectedly, finding us unready and unprepared.

Peter described the apparent discrepancy between our perception of time and God’s when he wrote, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (v.8). While Peter isn’t writing in literal terms, he is reminding us that our view of time is vastly different than God’s, who remember, created time in the first place. When it comes to God’s timing, however, it is not too slow or too quick. No, God’s Goldilock timing is just right.

Not too slow. Not too fast. Just right. 

What that means for us as we prepare to meet Christ our King when he returns again on the Last Day is that he isn’t behind schedule. He hasn’t forgotten. He hasn’t gotten caught up in his other responsibilities so that it just slipped his mind that he does in fact need to return again on the Last Day!

What’s more, as much as we dwell on the time we spend waiting for his return, we’re not the only ones waiting – so is the Lord! For what? “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (v.9). The King Shall Come… when all those he is waiting for come to repentance and turn to him in faith. When that happens, he will return.

With that assurance, our minds are settled not having to worry about whether God’s timing is late or early. When we keep that in mind, we can redirect our thoughts to the here and now – to how we live. As we wait for everything to be just right for Jesus to return, how do we make sure we’re “just right” in our living? How do we make sure we’re prepared to meet him?

Before we explore that more, let’s make sure we grasp a pretty remarkable detail about these verses. We can’t possibly miss the language Peter uses to describe what the end of the world will be like when Jesus returns. “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare… everything will be destroyed in this way” (v.10-11). “That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat” (v.12).

Sounds like a modern-day Sodom & Gomorrah – but at least that destruction was limited to one relatively small area! The devastation Peter describes will involve the whole earth. It will take place everywhere. How terrifying!

Yet that’s what is noticeably missing from Peter. There’s no terror. No fear. This description isn’t fear-mongering on Peter’s part; rather, he is just providing us with the details of how different the world’s destruction will be at that time compared to how God poured out his devastation the first time through the world-wide flood. But nowhere does Peter pen words of fear or trepidation or terror regarding that last day. 

Nor should he, because that will not be a day of dread for the child of God. Jesus has assured us of that through Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian Christians. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). Paul didn’t direct his hearers to terrify one another with this news, but rather to encourage each other. 

That same encouragement is what Peter is providing here so that we pay attention to and to prioritize how we are living in the meantime. Now believers already know that we don’t have to be afraid of that Last Day since we’re saved through faith in Jesus by God’s grace alone. So, one might naturally ask why it matters how we live up until that point. If Jesus has already accomplished forgiveness and salvation on our behalf, then why does it matter how we live right now?

Good question. Peter thought so, too, which is why he addressed it. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (v.9). There you have it. God, whose desire is to not be separated from anyone for eternity, is patiently waiting for repentance. And how you live plays a very significant part in that.

This happens in two ways. We live good lives and we live godly lives.

To better understand the first way your good lives affect others coming to repentance, consider when it is that you are most comfortable doing what you know is wrong (excluding the times you’re by yourself or you imagine no one else will find out). Isn’t easiest to engage in wrong, sinful behavior when you are in the presence of others who are doing the same thing or at least permissive of it?

One rather extreme example of this might be when we hear of mobs or very large groups of people bursting into a store to grab and steal as much as they can before hurrying out. A good number of those participating would never do that on their own, but when surrounded by a group of people doing the same thing, they become emboldened. Their conscience is quieted by a crowd of criminals. When what is wrong or sinful becomes normal and accepted in the world, it’s not only much easier to follow suit, it becomes natural.

How do we change that? Christians wake up from our sleepy, sloppy sanctified living and start being much more intentional about doing good, about doing the right thing so that the world doesn’t feel so comfortable with what is wrong.

“But it’s too late,” you reason. “It won’t make a difference,” you think. “I’m just one person.” Understand that your excuses are directed against the very words of God in these verses when he reveals that he is patiently wanting everyone to come to repentance and calling you to live a holy life that can help that happen!

So if you disagree that how you live will make a difference, you need to take that up with God and explain that you have a better solution in mind than his! Otherwise, if not, then by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s power, let’s “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12)! To “glorify God on the day he visits us” is to carry out the very repentance God is waiting on, which results in turning to Jesus and trusting in him for salvation. That is the best way we can glorify God!

But it isn’t just our good lives that ought to grab the attention of others; it’s also our godly lives. What’s the difference? There is another way your life can affect others’ coming to repentance. Through your own repentance. A godly life is one that shows the place of God in it. That means repentance. Not only are we striving to do right to lead others to repentance, but we also lead others to repentance by… modeling it ourselves.

Paul recognized God’s patience in leading him to repentance served that very purpose. “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16). Paul didn’t try to hide his past or keep his skeletons in the closet. Instead, he willingly confessed his sin, realizing that God’s patience in his own life could serve as an attractive example to others. Paul wasn’t afraid to draw attention to his sin, because he knew that through it, what would really end up in the spotlight was God’s patient grace. 

The most natural place to begin getting better at repentance would seem to be in our own homes, in our marriages, and in our families. After all, those are the people who are most frequently going to witness our words and actions that call for repentance (and sadly, are the same ones who are too often on the receiving end of our sinful words and actions).

How would managing conflict within your marriage look different if each spouse started out with repentance, apologizing for what they did wrong or could have done better (and there is almost always something!)? How could we better show our children what godly living looks like by not only making Sunday morning worship a priority and giving them Jesus every day in our Lutheran elementary schools, but also – and most importantly, I would contend – showing them repentance at home by apologizing to them and in front of them when we have done wrong? We tell children they ought to do this, but we aren’t always so great at it ourselves. 

And what we’re really modeling through regular repentance is not just contrition, a sorrow over sin, acknowledging that sin IS a big deal. No, it also models complete confidence in the gospel, that God’s grace shown to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus means absolute confidence that our sins are forgiven. To live in the joy and freedom the gospel affords us is to have no need of hiding our sin or clinging to it. Instead, we can bring it out into the open, expose it, and kill it through confession, since our Savior has already nailed it to his cross and paid for it in full. It’s already forgiven – but we only enjoy the bliss of that forgiveness when we confess our sin in repentance. 

What do others see when they witness that repentance in us? A total reliance on a God of mercy and grace. A dependence on a God they can’t find anywhere else but where he has revealed himself to us in Scripture. A God who wants to be just as gracious and merciful to them when they are brought to repentance. And then, when that happens, when all those the Lord is waiting for are brought to him in faith, then that day will come, and the new heaven and earth, the new home of righteousness, will not only be ours, but it will be theirs, too! 

He Is Coming to Save Us

adbLeave a comment

(Mark 11:1-10)

“What’s he doing here?” Depending on the circumstances, that question could be asked for a number of different reasons. It could be an expression of delight if someone showed up unexpectedly and made a surprise appearance. It could also be asked out of disdain or disbelief, implying that for one reason or another, it is out of line or inappropriate for that person to be attending. Or, the question could be because the inquirer is unaware of any connection between that specific person and this unique event. Regardless of the motivation or intent behind asking the question, the one asking it is looking for an explanation as to why that person is present. 

As we begin The King Shall Come series, before we feverishly race to get to the end of the month and rush to the base of the tree to tear open presents, we want to pause during this season of Advent to ponder. We do so by starting out reflecting on that very question: “What’s he doing here?” “Why does it matter that Jesus came in the first place?” 

I am aware that if you look at the title of this post, you might be able to provide a pretty quick answer to that question and conclude that this post could be much shorter. But would you agree with me that having certain information or knowledge in your head is not always the same as having it in your heart?

We can learn facts. We can receive information about certain topics. We can be taught to regurgitate answers. But knowing something (head) isn’t the same as knowing something (heart). Through this series, we want to make sure that, regarding the coming of our King, this knowing (head) connects with this knowing (heart). 

It’s one thing to know a headline in the news about a tragedy (head). It’s sad anytime we hear reports of accidents that result in injury or death. Nevertheless, the news cycle continues, right on to the next story and to another one after that.

But when the news report of injury or death involves your family member or friend, the world seems to stop. While the news may continue right on to the next story, you’re stuck; your heavy heart is weighed down more deeply. Suddenly it isn’t just news; it’s your life. A part of your life has been directly impacted and now the head knowledge and the heart are connected.

As we look at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, it’s more than just information that is being passed onto us; what happened there impacted our whole life, even our eternal life.

The event recorded in Mark 11 is a little bit like the movie that starts out right in the beginning by showing a flash forward. As we start out the new church year and are still looking forward to celebrating Jesus’ birth, Mark takes us on a flash forward to the week of Jesus’ death. So why are we focusing on the days before Jesus’ Good Friday death while just weeks away from the celebration of his Christmas birth? We’re here because it provides a crystal clear answer to our question, “What’s he doing here?” Kind of. 

I say “kind of” because while we have the right answer from the crowds, but the answers are not given for the right reason. You know how that can happen sometimes. A student in the classroom who has not been paying attention at all suddenly gets called out by the teacher with a curveball question. Out of nowhere, the student’s long-shot answer to that question is… shockingly, totally correct! But if you press further and ask the student why that’s the answer, he wouldn’t have a clue.

So the onlookers crowding Jesus as he entered Jerusalem gave the right answer to the question we’re asking, but they didn’t really know why it was the right answer. 

Their answer to the question was, “Hosanna!” Yes – that was why Jesus had come. The meaning of that exclamation is essentially, “Save us, Lord!” That was what God said he would do through the Messiah promised by the prophets. He promised to do just that – save his people.

Their answer was also “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Yes – the crowds knew Jesus was not just your garden variety prophet or preacher, but was representing the Lord himself. As such, blessing would most assuredly accompany him, as is always the case for the Lord’s representatives in one way or another. 

Their answer to the question, “What’s he doing here?” was “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” Recall the prophecy from Ezekiel, the promise of the Shepherd King, David. Remember that Ezekiel wasn’t speaking about King David of the Old Testament, who had died generations ago, but rather David’s greater Son, Jesus. The crowds were acknowledging that the One riding into Jerusalem had come as the fulfillment of God’s promise through Ezekiel to send another “David” whose kingdom would never end.

Yes, the shouts of the crowds were all correct answers to the question, “What’s he doing here?” But they were correct in the wrong way. They were the classmate who got the answer correct, but couldn’t begin to explain why it was correct.  Yes, Jesus had come to save them… but not in the way they had assumed he would save them.

To better make sense of their understanding, we don’t really have to look all that much further than the present day conflict over Israel. The expectation of a promised temporal kingdom or state, a reality tied to real estate and boundaries and nationality and earthly government – these same expectations still exist today. 

And still today they miss the point, as they did when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The peoples’ refusal to pay attention to Jesus’ own words, their failure to understand the Old Testament prophets, has resulted in people that are still today looking for the wrong thing. The kingdom Jesus came to usher in has no border or geographical location. The deliverance Jesus came to bring wasn’t a deliverance from physical slavery, oppression, or racism. None of those misunderstandings grasp why Jesus came to save.

But it is hardly just those with Jewish roots or ties to Israel who miss why Jesus came. Like those Jerusalem crowds, people – even those professing to be Christians – can provide the right answer to the question of why Jesus came without being able to explain why their answer is correct. He came to save. Yes, that is the correct answer. 

Some, however, degrade his saving work by redefining it. They believe and teach that Jesus merely made it possible for people to be saved. They contend that Jesus made salvation possible for everyone who does their best and tries their hardest. So long as we give it our best shot trying to be like Jesus, then Jesus will generously fill in the gaps and pick up any slack for us. By that token, what Jesus did hinges on the assumption that you’ve done your best. Only then is Jesus of any benefit.

But he is no Savior who requires or depends on anything at all from us. If we are a part of the equation when it comes to our salvation, then the only thing we can be sure of is our disqualification. For all we can bring to the table even on our finest days are works that are nothing more than the filthy rags described by Isaiah.

Others wrongly conclude that Jesus coming to save means that everyone is guaranteed heaven, regardless of what is believed (or not believed!). All people everywhere, regardless of religious affiliation or any faith at all, will ultimately end up in “a better place.” Call it heaven or paradise or whatever else you like.

While that might seem a nice thought, to hold on to such a thought is to turn a blind eye to the clear teachings of the Bible that warn repeatedly of hell and souls condemned to it specifically as a result of their unbelief and rejection of Jesus. So neither of those misunderstandings of Jesus saving can be correct, no matter how much one’s heart might tell him otherwise.

What then is the correct meaning to attach to this answer that Jesus came to save? The apostle Paul seemed to have a pretty good handle on it. He wrote, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15).

There you have it: Jesus came to save sinners. What exactly is a sinner? It’s the person who acknowledges that his sin slams shut the door to heaven, leaving only the one-way path to hell and eternal suffering. Such a person confesses her wrongs and inability to do right 100% of the time as God demands. Jesus came to save sinners.   

And know that Jesus’ joy and delight is not to judge and condemn, but to save. Jesus explained, “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). Jesus came to save!

What’s he doing here? Jesus came to save! He came to save us from our sins. “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins” (1 John 3:5).

What’s he doing here? Jesus came to save! He came to save us from the devil’s work. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8).

Are you a sinner? Good news – the best news of all: Jesus came to save you! Believe it!

“What’s he doing here?” Depending on the circumstances, the question could be asked for a number of different reasons. When it’s asked of Jesus, make sure we have not only the right reason for asking it, but more importantly, the right answer to the question. The King came on that first Christmas to save, to pay with his life the price necessary to save us. The King will come again on the Last Day to complete the final act of saving and whisk us away from all sin and accompanying sorrow. And who did he come to save?

He came to save sinners. He came to save you. 

Our Shepherd King Secures His Scattered Flock

adbLeave a comment

(Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 23-24)

“Just do it for me, please.” Dad was patiently showing his little boy how to use a hammer to pound a nail so he could complete a small project he had been working on. His son had practiced and practiced, but he was struggling to pound the nail without bending it. The pieces of scrap wood nearby pierced with disjointed nails protruding awkwardly made it quite evident that he hadn’t gotten the hang of it yet. Frustrated and discouraged, he was ready to give up and pleaded for his dad to just pound in the nails for him so he could finish his project. “Please, Dad, just do it for me.”

It’s not just the little boy learning to pound a nail in straight who either has the desire or the need for someone else to do something for him. Pressed for time and leaving precious little margin in our over scheduled lives, we often find it more convenient just to pay someone else to do it for us. We don’t have time to whip up a dish before the get-together, so we stop at the store and pick something up. We don’t have the patience to do the research needed for the repair job so we call a guy to do it for us. No matter the product or service, you can find just about anyone to do it for you if you don’t have the time, patience, or ability to do it yourself. 

In one area of life, however, we couldn’t manage the problem ourselves even if we wanted to – someone else had to do it for us. Forgiveness and our salvation required someone else to do it for us. Even with all the effort, practice, or money in the world, we could not secure these on our own. Our best efforts at holiness still resemble the pile of scrap wood showcasing nothing but bent and broken nails. To a holy God who set the bar of expectation at the highest level – perfection – even “good” people can do nothing but dislodge the high jump bar with every single attempt. Nike’s encouragement to “Just do it” won’t cut it for our salvation; instead, we need to look elsewhere and plead, “Just do it for me, please.”

On the final Sunday of the Church year, observed as Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate that we have just the Savior who stepped in to do it for us. As we do so, with hearts still beating with the gratitude of Thanksgiving, we marvel our Lord’s determination to gather and shepherd his flock. There is no reluctance whatsoever on his part; only resilience. There is no unwilling resentment; only unyielding resolve. We have complete confidence that Our Shepherd King Secures His Scattered Flock. 

At the time of the prophet Ezekiel’s service, God’s people were in captivity in Babylon. Why? Because the leaders God had put in place to take care of his people had done a miserable job. They failed to rebuke and correct God’s people. They themselves failed to heed any rebuke and correction they received from God’s prophets. They failed to lead by example – many kings were even unbelieving idolaters! The leaders God had placed over his people to shepherd his flock had failed. Spectacularly. Their Babylonian exile served as a daily reminder. 

I wish I could point out how much we’ve learned from that lesson of Israel’s captivity. But I can’t. It’s every bit as likely that 2,500 years later, those tasked with leading God’s people in his Church are just as capable of doing just as miserable a job – if not ever more abysmal – than those sorry shepherds of Israel’s day.

Sadly, the church today is a lot like politics – often a matter of having to choose the lesser of two evils. When a Christian is satisfied with a pastor or church that is solid on most of what the Bible teaches (but not all of it!), that ought to be a red flag. That ought to be an indicator to run away and run away fast. Why, after all, should God’s people have to settle for any approach or teaching that compromises God’s Word? Why can’t we expect a church and/or pastor to be faithful to all of it? Why can’t we expect that of our shepherds today? Indeed, we should!

Thankfully, God wasn’t content to leave the salvation of souls in the hands of heterodox leaders. No, God was the originator of the “if you want something done, do it yourself” approach. That was what he was promising his people through Ezekiel.  

Even though his people had turned away from him, God was not one to cross his arms and turn his face away from his wayward people.  No, he’s one to do something about it. And the solution he promised didn’t involve enlisting the help of someone else; he was his own solution. He promised to take it upon himself to come to the rescue of his people. God’s heart for mankind, the crown of his creation, beats with such unparalleled passion that he couldn’t possibly risk leaving the outcome in anyone else’s hands but his own. Only in taking care of the matter himself could he guarantee success. Only in taking complete ownership of the responsibility of the salvation of souls could man’s eternity be secured. 

Ezekiel prophesied as much. “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep’” (Ezekiel 34:11-12a). Appreciate how the Lord speaks here! He says “I myself.” The Lord himself doing a thing makes a difference.

It’s one thing for a friend with expertise in a certain area to offer advice or share some videos explaining how to tackle a repair or DIY project. You’d certainly be appreciative of such an offer. But you know what you’d appreciate even more? If he offered to come by tomorrow and just fix it for you! He knows what needs to be done and he knows how to do it, so rather than insert some middle man or risk you not getting it right, he comes and personally takes care of it for you.

Your Shepherd-King himself claims the responsibility of searching for his scattered sheep and shepherding them as they are brought into his flock. After all, remember that Jesus is not the hired hand, but the Good Shepherd himself (cf. John 10). 

The Lord also referenced the intimate, personal nature of his relationship with us: “I will look after my sheep.” “My” sheep he calls us! We are his! We belong to him, and he doesn’t hesitate to claim it! Embrace that identify before you go seeking it anywhere else only to be disappointed. You are his sheep. You belong to him. Rest in the safe security of that identity. 

Ezekiel then spelled out exactly how God would carry out that intimate, personal relationship with those he desired to save. “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken” (vs. 23-24). At the time Ezekiel was prophesying, David’s story had already played out. His life, his rule over Israel, and his death were already part of the history books. So who was Ezekiel speaking of here when referencing David?

When you hear the echoes of “Hosanna to the Son of David!” shouted as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the lightbulb goes on. They sang their hosannas to “the Son of David” because they were acknowledging Jesus to be the fulfillment of the greater David. This offspring of David would usher in a reign that would never come to an end. Yes, Jesus is the promised David, God dressed up in humanity so that he himself could establish and maintain the personal, intimate relationship with his own sheep by dwelling among them.

While we wait for that Son of David, Jesus, to return on the Last Day, he still secures his scattered flock – through his Church. The church I serve at has as its tagline, “Seeking the Lost and Serving the Found.” By embracing that mission, we are acknowledging that our Shepherd-King carries out his work through us. We are called to gather the sheep outside the pen into the sheep pen. We are called to gather those wandering away from the Shepherd and his Church, either literally as they disengage or become uninvolved with the life of the church. But we are also called to gather those wandering away spiritually, whether neglecting the Bible and sacraments or being swayed by false teachers. Ether way, Jesus enlists our gifts to aid him in carrying out this important work. 

How do we know it’s important? Because we know the price tag he already placed on each soul that he has redeemed. Our King didn’t conquer with an elite army. Our King didn’t conquer with a spectacular special weapon. Instead, our King conquered by offering the perfect peace offering to guarantee victory: himself.

Our sacrificial King won the battle not by littering the battlefield with the dead bodies of his enemies, but by offering up his own dead body to pay the price for our sin. The Bible describes Jesus’ sacrifice this way: “’He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls’” (1 Peter 2:24-25).

The sacrifice made by our Shepherd and Overseer provides the backbone for every other promise that God has made to us, including each of those laid out in Ezekiel’s words. If Jesus has firmly secured our salvation, there is no reason to doubt all other promises that flow from that mighty act of sacrifice.

Our Shepherd-King will search for and look after his sheep. He will rescue them and gather them together from all over the earth. He will tend them. He will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. He will see justice carried out. He will do all of these things, just as he promised.

“Just do it for me, please,” the little boy pleads to his father. He obliges because he loves his son.

“Just do it for us, Lord,” we beg of the Father. He obliges because he loves his sons and daughters. He established his kingdom by shedding his own blood, and he continues to rule over and sustain his kingdom by that same blood, offered in the sacrament and the food of his Word to feed his sheep. So as we close out another church year and start a new one with the season of Advent, let us rejoice in our King who did it himself so that he could secure his scattered sheep for himself and for eternity.

A Time for Faithful Service

adbLeave a comment

(Matthew 25:14-30)

What do you think of the master in the parable? What impression of him are you left with after reading or hearing Jesus’ story? Is he the kind of guy you respect, the kind you could see yourself wanting to spend time with, perhaps getting to know him a bit over a cup of coffee? Or does he rub you the wrong way in how he comes across in the parable? Is he a little too uptight and overly focused on the financials? Do you see him being concerned more about profit than he is about people?

Since the master in the parable represents the Lord, let’s just cut right to the chase and be a little more direct: what do you think about God? What is your view of him? How do you personally see God? When you pray to him, what is the image in your mind of God as you are speaking to him? When you call to mind the promises he speaks to you, what does he look like to you as you are hearing him speak those promises to you? What feelings do thoughts of God evoke in you? How do you describe what he means to you when you’re talking about him with others?

What you make of the Master matters. Why? Because what you make of the Master determines your service to him.

Think about your current job and all of the past jobs you’ve ever held. Didn’t the way you felt about your manager or boss impact your work? If you thought the world of your boss, then you also didn’t think twice about making sure you always did your best and even went above and beyond. But if you couldn’t stand your boss, you were less concerned about wowing anyone with your work and just cared about completing the bare minimum required to keep him off your back. The way we feel about our boss has bearing on the work we do. 

What you make of the Master matters. How you see God impacts how you serve him. If you view him as the third servant did, then what you do with the talents he entrusted to you will be tainted. Fear or guilt will either lead to begrudging toil or burying talents. Either way, it won’t produce the kind of return that God the Giver desires.

So then, how do you view God? Is it possible that you… resent him? Do you hold any sense of spite toward God because you reason that he finds some twisted joy in punishing wrong-doers? If so, where might that perception possibly come from? Might it be driven by our own guilty conscience? Could such a view of God stem from our awareness of our own shameful sins, which at times we carry out so casually? Do we attempt to make God the bad guy for punishing the sins we want to commit, imagining we can somehow shift the blame onto him? Is that how you see him?

Do you perhaps view God as the hard Master who demands far too much of you? Does he place impossible expectations on you? Do you think of him as distant and far off, like the man in the parable going on the journey? Is he out of touch? Do you suppose he cares only about results while being disinterested in you personally? 

Friend, if any of those apply, while I don’t know where those perceptions ever came from in the first place, I do know this: you’ve got the wrong guy. Such views of God don’t line up with how God is portrayed in Scripture. Think about it – would the master really have entrusted his personal property to his servants if he did not care about them, trust them, and yes, even love them? After all, he wasn’t passing along his personal property to strangers, but to his own servants.

Know this about the God who desires grace to be his calling card: his delight in you isn’t dependent upon your faithful service to him, but rather his faithful service to you. He called you to faith. He keeps you in faith. His forgiveness – and all the wealth of spiritual blessings that accompany it – are not extended to you on the basis of how faithfully you manage what he gives you; his forgiveness is extended to you on the basis of how faithfully his Son served by obediently carrying out everything necessary for your salvation. His faithfulness was flawless. That is your Master.

But your Master is even more! He’s also the Suffering Servant. Jesus not only explained the wicked servant’s sentence; he also experienced it. “And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v.30). Jesus was the one who was thrown into the darkness of hell. Jesus was the one who experienced the weeping and gnashing of teeth in the place of eternal separation from his Father. Though his obedient service was flawlessly faithful, he suffered the punishment of the wicked, lazy servant. He suffered our punishment. The Master and Suffering Servant are one and the same – our Substitute and Savior.

Two of the three servants clearly viewed him that right way. We can tell by the quality of their service to him. They set out to put to work what the Master had entrusted to them and their efforts yielded a very nice return – who wouldn’t take a 100% return on any investment? They had faithfully utilized what had been given them, and the Master was delighted, showering them not only with praise, but also entrusting them with greater responsibility. “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (v.23). 

Then there was the third servant. He chose to manage what had been given to him differently. Rather than put it to work, he was concerned about losing it and facing his Master’s wrath. 

He was playing not to lose. You know when that expression is typically used of a team in any sporting event? It’s most often directed at a team that either is losing or has just lost, because rather than focusing on putting in the work to score more points to either take the lead or keep the lead, they were more focused only on keeping the other team from scoring. It rarely works out well for the team that finds itself playing not to lose. 

It didn’t work out well for the third servant, either. And the Master wasn’t buying his excuses. He didn’t hold back in calling him out bluntly. “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest’” (v.26-27). So while the servant supposed his misguided view of the Master would let him off the hook, it did the very opposite. His Master pointed out that if that truly was how he saw him, then he had even less reason to bury his talent and more reason to put the talent to work in an effort to avoid the Master’s wrath!

As we consider this parable in this time in between Jesus’ first and second coming, it is obvious to us that Jesus would have us live not like the third servant, but like the first two servants. So what does the faithful servant look like today?

Assuming we long to please the Master as the faithful servants did, what is required of us? Sometimes this parable has been used to highlight that God gifts us differently. We notice that he didn’t give the same talents to each of the servants. This is true. We do have different gifts and abilities from God. Some can organize and coordinate. Others have musical gifts. Some build and fix with their hands, some find joy in serving and/or cleaning up. The list goes on and the point is stressed that whichever unique gifts we have been given, we are to put them to use faithfully and not bury them. This application definitely has its place as we understand how God has uniquely gifted us.

But it isn’t the only way to consider the faithful service God calls us to carry out. It might also be helpful for us to think of the talents/bags of gold in terms of the responsibilities we have in our lives. Since we have numerous responsibilities across the board in our lives, whatever those responsibilities may be, God expects us to be faithful in carrying them out.

You have a job – do it well with all the strength and ability God provides. You have a house and a vehicle – take good care of them it and maintain them well. You have volunteered your time for this or that cause – follow through with your commitments and see them to completion. You have a spouse to love and serve – do so sacrificially. You are single – use it to your advantage to serve the Lord in that season of life. You have children – raise them to be grace-filled, Jesus-loving Christians who embrace the privilege of serving in Christ’s kingdom. You have neighbors – befriend and help them whenever possible. And we all share responsibilities to the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those treated unjustly, and so on. Some of us have more responsibilities than others, just as the servants had different amounts of talents. Whatever those responsibilities are, faithful service means we don’t avoid them, we don’t wait for others to carry them out for us, we don’t neglect them, and we don’t carry them out half-heartedly. 

No, because we know the Master, and what we make of the Master matters. It makes our heart sing to do a job well for him. It delights us to delight him. It fills us with joy to know that every single responsibility we have is an opportunity for us to worship him with our whole lives, to give him our best as he did for us. We think so highly of the Master who thought so highly of us as to give us the greatest gift possible in Jesus. 

What a wonder that our Master should respond to our faithfulness as he does, and that we are both the source of his happiness as well as the ones with whom he wishes to share his happiness. Your faithful service makes the Master happy. Doesn’t it make you happy to know that? Go then and put smiles on God’s face with your faithful service.