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Strong Weakness

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(2 Corinthians 12:7b-10)

The retail store flyer advertises, “The more you spend, the more you save.”  Oscar Wilde wrote that life was much too important to be taken seriously. In the song Hotel California, Don Henley laments “You can check out, but you can never leave.” These paradoxes serve to emphasize an important opinion or truth by stating what appears to be a contradiction. If a person is spending more money, then she is saving less, not more. If life is important, then it ought to be taken seriously. You don’t check out of a hotel unless you are leaving. Yet upon further reflection, we understand the point being emphasized. 

For these final three Sundays of this season of Epiphany, we will see several paradoxes in Scripture: strong weakness, loving hate, and visibly hidden. The intent is not to leave us confused or confounded, but rather comforted and confident, as powerful spiritual truths deepen our appreciation of and our connection to our Savior. Today we want to revisit – and if needed, rewrite – our understanding of what it truly means to be strong.

Our American view of strength has shifted somewhat in recent years, which in some ways is definitely for the better. We can much more openly discuss the matter of people’s emotional health without immediately viewing it as a weakness. In the past an Olympic athlete would not have considered pulling out of an event for anything other than a legitimate physical injury – to do so would have been viewed as being weak. At last summer’s Olympics however, a world-class gymnast was praised for being brave and strong for pulling out of an event because of concerns of emotional health. And in the past, victims of physical or sexual abuse were expected to stay silent; but today they are rightly encouraged and emboldened to be strong and speak up.

Yet the underlying problem remains nonetheless when it comes to the world’s view of strength because the world’s source of strength is the same: self. And no matter how much mankind progresses, we’ll never reach a level of advancement that can escape this reality: when self is the source of strength, it will eventually crumble.

Adam & Eve relied on their own strength and stumbled tragically. Sin has seen to it that the same result will inevitably play out every time we rely on self for strength. A husband and wife who rely on self for strength in their marriage are stacking the deck against themselves. The saint who leans on self for strength in the face of temptation is poised for a fall. The Christian who relies on self for strength instead of Word and Sacrament will not bear the name Christian for very long.   

If self is the source of focus for strength, it will always come up short. Paul was aware of this, even warning the Corinthians of it in an earlier letter he had written to them. He said, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12). Look in the mirror, look at your own two feet, look to self, and don’t be surprised by the inevitable fall.  

So what is Paul’s solution? A paradox. He says, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (v.10). He says that real strength is found in weakness. And he was speaking from experience! “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (vv.7b-9).” We don’t know all of the details, but we don’t need to. We can relate to being conceited – that’s us every time we mistakenly think we’re strong enough on our own! Then God allowed some hardship or suffering in Paul’s life as a “thorn in [his] flesh.” That thorn led Paul to plead for God to take it away. 

And God gave Paul everyone’s favorite answer: no. But the next time you think God’s “no” will leave you worse off in your prayers, pay attention to why God said no to Paul. He said no so that Paul would see something greater than merely the absence of suffering. He said no so that Paul could more clearly see his need for grace, as well as the abundance with which God poured grace out on him. 

Do not let that escape you this morning. God said no, and his no to Paul left Paul far better off than if God had given Paul the yes he hoped for. Maybe that’s something to consider in your prayer life. Instead of, “Lord, take it away,” what if our prayer was “Lord, let it stay?” What if we came to so firmly believe that grace was sufficient for us that our conviction in that truth equipped us to bear up under and endure any hardship?   

Do you know what happens when God uses thorns to make us painfully aware of how good we have it in him? Paul gave us an example when he commended the Thessalonian Christians for getting it. He wrote to them, “For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord” (1 Thes. 3:8). What a contrast to the warning he had given in his earlier letter to the Corinthians, about thinking they were standing firmly in self. To really live is to stand firm in the Lord and his strength. And we simply will not do that until we are emptied of every sense of self strength; until nothing but our many weaknesses are exposed. 

That’s why we confess our sins. We empty ourselves of sin so that grace can fill us up. But when we fail to confess, when we hold on to or hide our sin, when we repeat it willfully or persistently defend it, where is grace supposed to fill in? How can it fill up a vessel where sin refuses to budge? How can grace be sufficient while we also savor sin? 

So we confess. We do it in church collectively as we worship, but if it is good and beneficial to do in God’s house, is it not also beneficial to do in our own house? If it is good to do on Sunday, is it not good to do every day? If it is good and beneficial in our relationship with the Lord, is it not also good and beneficial to do in every other relationship as well? But of course it is! In fact, one might rightly question how well anyone can know grace without equally knowing confession. When we know grace we have nothing to hide. When we know grace we don’t have to pretend. When we know grace we can admit to and own up to every sin and weakness, for grace has already covered it. Completely. That was Paul’s point in verse nine: “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Think about when you’ve had a nice dinner, followed by an outstanding dessert, and the portions were all just right. You’re satisfied – that sweet spot between not being hungry anymore, but knowing that eating any more will leave you feeling worse. What you’ve eaten is sufficient – you don’t need anymore but you didn’t eat too little. That is the idea behind Paul’s words, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” “Sufficient” and “made perfect” carry the same idea – when we have grace, we have exactly what we need. If we set grace aside, then we’ll be lacking what we need. If we insist on adding something to grace, then we nullify grace. Anything less than all of Jesus is not full power; anything more than only Jesus is an unnecessary and unhelpful addition, undermining the role of grace.

This applies to every area of life in our relationship with God. When Jesus called us to deny ourselves and follow him, he didn’t mean a portion of self or just one area of life where we admit our complete and utter weakness before him, but in every area of life. In work. In relationships. In marriage. In finances. In planning. In managing material blessings. All of it calls for us to acknowledge our weakness so that we might therefore depend on his strength. To the degree that we insist on our own strength in any one area of our life, we will be lacking. Grace cannot fill in and be our strength. Grace isn’t just for forgiving sin, it’s for renewing the whole self. 

When I see that grace really is sufficient, my world changes and I can handle any thorn in my flesh. When another has gossiped or slandered against me behind my back, what if that person who wronged me is never corrected or rebuked, what if she never apologizes? What if justice is not carried out and others believe her slander or gossip against me? Grace is enough. What if my spouse doesn’t appreciate my sacrifice, express thanks, or ever bother to reciprocate it to me? Grace is enough. What if my superior at work either fails to credit me with my outstanding performance on the job or mistakenly believes that I am the one to blame for someone else’s poor performance? Grace is enough. No matter the struggle or the season of suffering, God provides strength in our weakness because grace is enough. 

Grace jars us from seeing ourselves as victims in life and instead takes the view of victors that Jesus has made us by his own victory on our behalf. That’s when we look at things differently. That’s when the words of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts start to make sense. Here is a portion of the speech Roberts gave at his son’s ninth-grade commencement five years ago.  

Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes (access a transcript of the speech here. or watch it here).

That sounds similar to Paul’s summary in verse ten. “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Friends, grace is enough – and not only is grace enough, but there’s more than enough grace. God has at his disposal more than enough grace to cover anything needed in your life. Being confident of that then, go, and grow in your ability to find more of his strength in your weakness.

Messengers Uncovered

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(Luke 5:1-11)

The Super Bowl is next Sunday. To make it to that level, your team has to have a pretty solid quarterback. It would be pretty big news then, if one of the teams’ starting QBs was not going to be playing. It would be even bigger news if none of the backups were going to be replacing him because the coach made a last-minute decision to someone else in that position: the janitor. Not only would he not know how to pull off the plays; he likely wouldn’t even know how to put on the pads! It’s not just another football player in a different position, but someone totally lacking any of the skills necessary to even fake it. Let’s just say that running a sweep would take on a whole new meaning with a janitor taking the snaps!

Is it any less absurd that Jesus chose who he did to be his messengers? He didn’t hit up the religious experts. He didn’t tap the experienced public speakers. In fact, if you want to search for what was likely the bottom of the barrel when it came to necessary communication skills, you might just find fishermen about as low as you can go. They didn’t need people skills – they were out on boats half the time fetching fish, not striking up a conversation with locals. But fishermen were exactly the ones Jesus called to spread the word! Yet if you find that shocking, try this on for size: it’s not just fishermen he called his messengers; it’s also you and me.

There was definitely something different about the crowds this time around in our verses from Luke. Two weeks ago the crowds rejected the message (Lk. 4). Last week they wanted more of Jesus – not necessarily because of the message, but because of the miracles. Today we finally see it: the people are “crowding around him and listening to the word of God” (v.1). Let’s start there. People were listening to the word of God! Good things happen when we listen to the word of God. Actually, maybe that needs clarification, as have a tendency to interpret the word “good” according to our own definition of good. Maybe we should say it a little bit differently: “God” things happen when we listen to the word of God. Simon Peter would find that out. 

Simon was patient. Fishing was not easy work and he had just been up all night busting his tail for nothing. Now he’s cleaning everything up at the end of his shift, and along comes Jesus to tell him how to do his job. Peter must have been physically drained from a night of hard work. He undoubtedly was emotionally drained by the frustration of coming up empty-handed. That makes his response to Jesus all the more remarkable. “Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets’” (v.5). 

“Because you say so…” How different would our lives be if that was the only change we made? How blessed would we be if we let those words guide our lives more? Trust the Lord your God… give generously… love your enemies… forgive one another… pray for your president and leaders… stay married, etc., and all “because [Jesus] says so.” 

Of course we would let Jesus’ “because I said so” guide our lives; it’s just that we happen to know better than he does. Now that may come across as a little extreme for me to state it that way, but isn’t that really the simplest conclusion we can draw? When a parent tells a child to do this or that and the child doesn’t (isn’t the child’s least favorite explanation “because I said so”???), or when the superior directs an employee to take care of something and he doesn’t, what does that say if not, “I know better than you do, so I am not going to bother doing what you told me to do?” So when we ignore the many exhortations in Scripture to do this or that, what are we saying to God but that we know better than he does? 

When this is our natural rebellious attitude, should it surprise us that we excel at ignoring Jesus’ commands “just because he said so?” Today though, our verses key us in on one specific area that Jesus tells us so: “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people” (v.10). We are pretty good at dismissing Jesus’ double directive there, aren’t we? Not only do we know better than he does, resulting in our contentment to leave the fishing up to other people, but we also fail to take to heart his initial words, “Don’t be afraid.” In fact, that is probably the most common excuse given for not fishing for men – we’re too afraid. While we use it to justify our aversion to evangelism, what we really end up doing when we extend such an excuse is incriminating ourselves! Not only are we ignoring the second part, but we’re also failing to live out the first! We let fear cripple us when Jesus says not to!

How quickly we forget what Jesus is able to do, as he had just demonstrated to Peter. “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break” (vv.4, 6). No fish all night, then one net cast and the boats almost sink because of such a large haul of fish! Look what Jesus is able to do!

Do you really doubt that he can haul in as big a catch of people if you get over yourself and your fear? Do you really doubt that the One who just humbled a bunch of experienced fisherman with as big a catch as they probably had ever had could also do the same through you?

Imagine that you were required to fill out an application to be one of God’s messengers. On that application, there were two sections, one for listing all of the qualifications that makes you ideal for serving as one of God’s messengers, and another section that listed shortcomings that would not provide evidence for why you would not make a good messenger. On which of those two sections do you think most of us would have more to write? Based on what I have heard most from others, not too many would be listing much of anything in the “qualification” section, but just about everyone would probably need more space for the “shortcomings” section. You’d include things like “I don’t know the Bible well enough,” “I’m not a strong enough Christian,” “I am not good with words,” “I don’t have any non-Christian friends,” “I’m too afraid,” etc. For those really willing to be honest, we might also include, “I am too busy” or “I just don’t care that much” to the list. Now those things may or may not be true, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter because any application you would fill out and turn in to Jesus, he would return it back to you stamped in large letters with the word, “QUALIFIED.” 

Why? Because the ability to be Jesus’ messengers is not based on your ability to be Jesus’ messengers; rather, it is based entirely on the fact that he is the One who sends you to be his messengers. And the One who sends you doubles as the One who saved you. Remember the whole cross thing, the very foundation of the message he is sending you to communicate? Don’t forget that that cross is just as much for you as it is for anyone else. Don’t forget that you need that cross just as much as anyone else. That cross was necessary to cancel out every instance in which your actions revealed your rebellious “I know best” directed at God. That cross was necessary to cancel out the prideful control you insist on having in your life instead of the humble submission God calls you to. That cross was necessary to qualify you to be God’s messenger. And it has, for at the cross God’s righteous justice and his undeserved mercy collide and we are the beneficiaries. Jesus paid the price of our rebellion and arrogance against God, and only because of that grace and forgiveness are we qualified to be his messengers.

If the Lord chose us to be his messengers on the basis of our qualifications, he’d have a total of zero messengers. Go back to Simon. Remember how much success he had fishing all night? Zero. So why would Jesus send a fisherman who caught zero fish for something as important as fishing for people. It wasn’t because of Simons’s success, but because of the Savior’s sending. Jesus qualified him. Jesus sent him. And follow Peter’s ministry in the book of Acts after Jesus’ resurrection – Jesus gave him success.

What stood out in Peter’s case was not his expertise, but his obedience. Wasn’t Jesus illustrating something extremely powerful – and confidence-boosting – in this account? He was foreshadowing that Peter’s success on the lake that day had absolutely nothing to do with his own ability or qualifications and everything to do with the simple fact that he did what Jesus told him to do. That is exactly how God grants success to his messengers – not because we are superb evangelists, but because we have a superb Savior who can bless our obedience a thousand times over and far more than we could ever expect or imagine! 

Don’t hold your breath waiting for either team next on Super Bowl Sunday to start a janitor as their quarterback. But as crazy as something like that sounds, God has actually determined to do something far crazier – he chose you and me to be his messengers!

Will you go? Will you go for no other reason than that the Lord says to each one of us, “because I said so?” Will you give him some effort to bless? Will you throw your nets out again and again, even after one unsuccessful try after another, just because he said so? Will you give him nothing but your faith-filled obedience? Will you be his messenger?

Agenda Uncovered

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(Luke 4:38-44)

I know that by now Christmas is in the rearview mirror, but bear with me for one last reference. Watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become a Christmas tradition for many, as the movie has so many memorable scenes and plenty of quotable material. Perhaps because as a dad, I can sadly relate it all too well to it, one scene that never gets old is watching Clark Griswold put up the Christmas lights. That scene all-too perfectly captures the role of the dim-witted doofus of a dad entertainingly enduring slips and falls as he attempts to cover the whole house in lights. Of course, all of this build-up is merely setting the scene for the moment of truth when Clark is ready to plug everything in and dazzle his family with the most amazing array of lights ever. But after all that hard work and all the effort he put into it, when he goes to plug in the lights, spoiler alert: nothing happens. It’s obvious that something is wrong because the lights don’t light up. 

There are signs when something doesn’t appear to be working. Those signs may not always be as obvious as thousands upon thousands of Christmas lights failing to light up, but there are different ways of telling when something is not working. The bathroom scale reiterates that the diet isn’t working. Increased squinting and blurry signs in the distance indicate that the eyes aren’t working like they used to. Limited functionality on a phone or device reveals that something isn’t working. 

If you recall last Sunday’s account of Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue, one might make interpret the signs and conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. That certainly appeared to be the case in light of the response to his preaching! The crowd marched him to the edge of a nearby cliff with the intent of tossing him over. To a bystander assessing how effective Jesus’ preaching was, that might be all the evidence needed to conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. Otherwise, we’d expect increased crowds and more ears arriving to give a listen; not an attempt on the preacher’s life!

Sometimes it doesn’t appear like the Word is working in the local congregation, either. Are there any signs that might indicate as much? Certain mission and ministry efforts are discontinued. Familiar faces and families have either moved on to other places. Church attendance isn’t what it used to be. Bible study participation has dipped. We may not be facing the extreme of looking down the edge of a cliff, but might a combination of these realities lead us to conclude that the Word is no longer working like it used to?

What do you do when something stops working? Do you quit? Do you try to fix it? Do you ask for help? Do you try something else? Clark Griswold checked all the lights and connections. He made sure everything was plugged in. He thought through every possible problem to get those lights to work. He was determined to do whatever it took to figure it out. 

If we aren’t as persistent as Clark Griswold, we might find it tempting to quit or to try something else. Some simply stop gathering for worship, ghosting God’s house without any explanation. Others are eager to chase after what seems to be the latest fad working somewhere else. We pass along success stories from other churches and presume that someone else has figured it out, that they’ve found the secret sauce to spiritual success.

Or maybe we consider going the route Paul mentioned in our Second Reading:  “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). We entertain the possibility of altering our message to see if it draws more of a crowd. But, if we are tempted to alter our message to cater to what people want to hear rather than hearing what God says, then we miss the whole point Paul was making to Timothy.  This was not an invitation or a how-to from Paul to Timothy to help him grow his church; rather, this was a warning of how God’s Word would be received. And regrettably, that time has clearly arrived our day.

Actually, that time had already arrived even before Paul warned Timothy. It was exactly that attitude that Jesus encountered in our verses from last Sunday. So how did he respond when it appeared the Word wasn’t working? Jesus didn’t quit, even after an attempt on his life! Instead, he continued preaching. He went to Capernaum (see the verses prior to ours). Then we see him in our verses today again right where we were introduced to him last week – in a synagogue, preaching no less! Finally, at the close of our verses today, after a whole night of healing the sick and suddenly finding a crowd begging him to stay at daybreak, Jesus had this to say: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Lk. 4:43). Jesus could have catered to the crowd and stayed to keep on fixing their physical health, but he was more concerned about their spiritual health, so he had to keep on preaching the good news. And Luke closes by telling us, “And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea” (v.44). He preached the Word.

Jesus was carrying out perfectly the sound advice Paul would later write to Timothy: “Preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). Give the Second Reading for this morning another look over the course of this week and notice that the entire section is essentially summarized by that encouragement to stick to the Word. When things are going great, stick to the Word. When things aren’t going so great, stick to the Word. When things are uncertain, stick to the Word. When correction is needed, stick to the Word. When growth is needed, stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word.

It isn’t the expectation. When something doesn’t work, we don’t expect to keep doing the same thing and getting different results. When it appears that the Word isn’t working, it seems sensible to fall back to plan B. But that is what Jesus reveals, what he uncovers for us today – his agenda didn’t change during his ministry, and his agenda doesn’t change today as he continues his ministry through us: stick to the Word. The Word works, as the prophet Isaiah beautifully pictured: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (55:10-11). 

As our truly perfect preacher, Jesus stuck to the Word. That’s very comforting news to any man called to preach to God’s people today! Daily we pastors are reminded of our failings as God’s undershepherds. Regularly our preaching misses the mark. Too often we fail God’s people. So what a comfort to see the perfect preacher in our Gospel today, a Savior who was resolute in his determination to stick to the Word, realizing that was what he “must” (v.43) do if he was to perfectly carry out his Father’s will. The perfect preacher measures up where imperfect preachers fall woefully short. 

Jesus, though, wasn’t done there. He not only came to be our perfect preacher, obediently proclaiming the Word of God, but he came to be the Word in the flesh, to fulfill what he preached. To seal the deal on the salvation he taught about. To suffer, die, and rise again to provide the Word with its power and punch. Had the words Jesus preached not also been fulfilled by Jesus, they would have been worthless and empty – meaningless chatter! But Jesus carried out at the cross what the Word promised: forgiveness and salvation were not just a nice idea, but a reality. 

And how we need that to be a reality! For our sinful second-guessing of the Word, for every time we have passed it up in favor of some inferior alternative, the Word turns us away with is well-deserved judgment and condemnation. Yet that same Word of God draws us back with its assurances of grace and forgiveness, promising restoration with God once again because of Jesus. Forgiveness is found in unlimited capacity within the very Word we are tempted to trade in, so we are drawn back to it again and again, no matter how often we stray from it. Stick to the Word. It is life.

Clark Griswold was committed to finding out why the lights weren’t working. In the end, it was his wife who figured it out, but his determination was rewarded nonetheless. Finally, the right switch was flipped, the lights plugged in, and the Griswold home lit up like a bright star. The house became a ridiculously bright beacon of light from blocks and blocks away!

So it is with the gospel in our midst. When we stick with the Word, it lights each of us up, like those thousands upon thousands of lights on the Griswold home. As Jesus shines through us, may others be attracted to him through us. May they then have the opportunity to receive not only the temporal blessings, but the eternal blessings that come when we go with the agenda Jesus has given to his church, when we stick to the Word.

Reception Uncovered

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(Luke 4:16-30)

Perhaps you experienced it not too long ago when exchanging gifts at Christmas. You were genuinely more excited about giving a certain gift to a certain person – even more excited than you were about the anticipation of receiving any gifts. As you shopped for it, your face lit up when you came across it while thinking of the individual to whom you were going to give it. You had a beaming smile on your face while wrapping it as you imagined their reaction upon unwrapping it. You couldn’t wait for them to receive it!

And then they did.

And it fell flat.

It was not at all the ecstatic reaction you had played out in your mind. Their ho-hum reception of the gift didn’t come close to matching the eagerness with which you gave it, leaving you deflated. 

Could you imagine God feeling similarly about how his Word is received? Consider the eternal plans God had in place for our salvation and all of the details involved in carrying it out. He countered the very first death-inducing sin with the very first promise of a life-restoring Savior. To the patriarchs God personally repeated that promise numerous times. He sent his private army of prophets throughout the Old Testament, armed with the promise and his powerful Word. Rulers were raised up and brought down, empires rose and fell, language, commerce, technology – God brought all things under his control and used all of it to establish the ideal time for the Savior to be born. And it was finally happening! Jesus’ message and ministry were underway. The good news was starting to spread. God was unveiling his precious, priceless gift to the world – surely the world would receive it with eagerness and delight!

We have the same expectation, don’t we? Those of us who have been accustomed to listening to sermons for perhaps the better part of our lives expect that the natural response to the Word of God will be a positive one. Hearts that have been made alive in Christ know how precious his Word is. We expect that whenever it is preached, taught, read, or studied, it will be received with eagerness and joy. We know the Word of God is a good thing, a necessary thing, a beneficial and blessed thing. Therefore, whenever it is heard, the normal response we anticipate is a positive one. We even refer to the Bible as “The Good Book.” We keep coming back here to God’s house not primarily out of obedience or obligation, but because we find value in hearing the Word of God. It is a good thing for us and we presume the same about the others around us. So a positive reception to the Word of God is our normal expectation.

And it even seemed as if a positive reception was going to be the case initially in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Following his reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and his initial part of his message, the listeners were eating it up. “The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him” (v.20). They couldn’t take their eyes off of him as he spoke! “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” (v.22). This was no ordinary Sabbath at the synagogue – they were hearing something special! 

But by the end of Jesus’ message, things had taken a drastic turn. “All the people… were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff” (v.28-29). What on earth happened? How had things taken a turn for the worse so quickly and to such a degree?

In short, Jesus called them out. When it clicked for them that this Jesus was no one more than the neighborhood boy who had grown up in their community, Jesus knew where their hearts were going. He knew they’d demand to see the proof that he was someone more special than just the hometown kid who had grown up a bit. Familiarity breeds contempt, and apparently, it eventually demands to see the amazing miracles that other villages and towns got to witness. For without those, all the buzz surrounding Jesus would quickly die down. Then, just as Jesus made clear to them with the examples of Elijah and Elisha, God would take his message outside of Israel to people who might be willing to listen.

Let’s not pretend we don’t know what was going on, for the hearts that beat inside our chests are every bit as capable of turning against God and his Word. Oh, the message is positive enough! It’s uplifting. It’s inspiring. It’s encouraging. Just take the words of Isaiah that Jesus quoted. They are filled with all kinds of positive pictures: “good news,” “freedom,” “recovery of sight,” and “favor.” These are word pictures and concepts that any inspiring or memorable speech is sure to include!

But its sweet taste turns suddenly sour when its intended audience is revealed. “Poor,” “blind,” “prisoners”? Wait, who are you calling “poor,” “blind,” “prisoners”? Those labels aren’t being applied to me, are they? Surely they must refer to someone else not quite as righteous as I am, for those aren’t very flattering terms!

Here’s the odd thing about the relationship we sometimes have with the law: sometimes we pride ourselves in not shying away from the law or talking about sin. We even say we crave it. We want to hear it. We want to confess it. We conclude that other larger Christian churches must only grow because they don’t take sin as seriously as we do. I have been encouraged over the course of my ministry to preach the law in this area or that, to speak more pointedly about this sin or that sin. And yes, this is necessary – the law must be preached. 

But may I provide you with some food for thought? If we want to hear the law, if we clamor for it, if we find comfort in hearing the law preached and sin condemned, then there’s a problem. If the fire and brimstone preaching of the law ever leads us to favorably cheer on the preacher, there’s a problem. If the idea of railing on the blatant and besetting sin of others around us prompts sadistic thoughts of “Yeah, give it to ‘em, pastor,” there’s a problem. If the appeal of coming to church is to get beat up by the law each week, there’s a problem!

No, the law should have the same effect on us that it did on Jesus’ listeners that day in the synagogue – it should drive us to the point of wanting to throw Jesus – or those speaking on his behalf – off the nearest cliff. It ought to make you want to forcibly tie any preacher, drive out to Sunset Cliffs, and toss him over! That’s how the law should make us feel! Because that means it has led us to connect the dots and see that the law is actually referring to me when it talks of being poor, blind, prisoners, hostile to God, etc.! 

Our relationship with God’s Word is a lot like sitting around a campfire. We can become entranced almost by the flicker of the fire, sitting in enjoyment of its warmth and cozy crackle. But if you’re roasting marshmallows and using a small stick, it requires you to be so close to the fire’s heat that it becomes unbearable. What is nice and enjoyable from a ways away becomes painful when it gets too close. So it is with the law and repentance. The law cannot deliver pleasure, but only pain!

When the law is worked properly in us, though, then those words of Isaiah breathe life into beaten-down souls. Then the message of the sweet gospel hits its mark with pictures like “good news,” “freedom,” “recovery,” and “favor.” When the law has revealed how truly enslaved and imprisoned by sin I am on my own, along comes the good news of freedom. When the law has beaten me up and left me for dead, along comes the good news of restoration and rescue. When the law shows how blind and lost I am on my own, along comes the good news of recovery of sight! When the law condemns me as forsaken and forgotten, along comes the good news that we are favored!

This was the good news Jesus came to bring! This was the salvation he came to secure! He was stripped of his freedom so that we could be free. He was arrested and chained up for our crimes. He was beaten up and left to die the death our sins deserved. He was forsaken and forgotten by the Father in our place on the cross. It was the same prophet quoted by Jesus that day in the synagogue, Isaiah, who prophesied another event Jesus would fulfill: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (53:5). That is good news, promised by God, preached by Christ, and made possible by him. The same Savior preaching the law in the synagogue is the one who came to endure the wrath of that law in our place. May we always receive that amazing news with joyful hearts!

Let us not stop there, though. Let us carry on the work Jesus started in the synagogues. Let us be proclaimers of that peace to others. You know when that becomes easier to do? When rejection – not acceptance – becomes our expectation. That’s when our view starts to shift. That’s when “no” isn’t seen as rejection, but rather as redirection. Move along and take the good news to the next person. Jesus didn’t sit and sulk in Nazareth, “But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (v.30). Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to change hearts and minds from loathing God’s Word to loving it. Be patient with them so that the law can do its work of convicting and killing, so that the gospel can do its work of setting free and giving life. 

Delight Uncovered

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(John 2:1-11)

The way we view God tends to swing back and forth like a pendulum between two extremes. On the one end, we view him as our Savior God whose sole care is the big matter of our souls and our eternity, concluding that he’s unconcerned with the smaller, trivial matters in our lives. On the other end, we view him as the One who is able to address and fix every little detail of our lives, leading us to lose sight of the big reason he came: to forgive and save. Viewing God in only one or the other category fails to fully see him as he wants to be seen and known. 

This morning he reveals both sides to us, that he is a God who delights in taking care of the big and the small matters in our lives. Leave behind the notion that the little things are a bother to your Father, as if you could ever possibly pester him with anything that is on your heart. Bring it all to him, from the smallest hangnail to the most shattering heartbreak – it all matters to him.

Can’t we draw that very conclusion from the first of Jesus’ miracles ever recorded for us, the wedding at Cana? Did Jesus stop the heavenly bodies in their orbit or rescue millions from some natural disaster or catastrophe? No, no he didn’t. He turned water into wine. Not, mind you, at some royal reception celebrating the uniting of two prestigious families in some powerful political alliance, but at a no-name wedding with a nameless bride and groom in an otherwise unknown city except for this miracle. Does Jesus care about the little details? Of course he does!

But you know that there is more to it than meets the eye in our Uncovered series. We are privy to this party for a purpose far greater than even the amazing truth that God does care about the details; there was much more being revealed about Jesus at Cana than just party tricks and wine tasting. In fact, John clues us into as much in his conclusion of this account: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (v.11). So let us explore this morning exactly what was being uncovered for us about Jesus, the Savior of the world. 

We simply aren’t given many details about the wedding itself – just that the wine was gone, which was a notable cultural taboo of the day. What stands out though, amidst the lack of other details, is Jesus’ curious response to his mother’s observation that the wine was gone. He says, “My hour has not yet come” (v.4). What exactly did Jesus mean by that statement? Well, obviously he wasn’t defying his mother and refusing to do anything about the wine, as he proceeded to do just that, revealing the finest wine ever sampled! So then what did he mean that his time hadn’t yet come?

It is worth noting that John records Jesus using the same phrase later in his Gospel. In chapter seven, his disciples urged him to ride his wave of growing popularity by making himself a public figure and joining them on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus declined their invitation to accompany them to Jerusalem in a showy way, but then later ended up showing up in a low-key, under-the-radar fashion. It was clear that he was not interested at that time in drawing attention to himself in the ways and for the reasons that the disciples had in mind. 

So if not at Cana, and not later in Jerusalem, when would Jesus’ time come? Jesus’ hour, – his time – came at the close of Holy Week, at the arrival of his hour of suffering and death (cf. Mt. 26:44-46). That was why he had come. To many though – including his own disciples – Jesus’ suffering and death didn’t appear to be the reason for his coming, but a roadblock in the way of something greater.

The disciples and the crowds had become so accustomed to witnessing Jesus address pain and problems and death and dying and sickness and sorrow on a small scale. They couldn’t imagine him addressing all of those things on the grandest scale of all. They couldn’t envision him doing what needed to be done to address those pain points not just temporarily, but to address their underlying cause permanently. Suffering and pain were merely the symptoms; sin was the cause. Jesus ultimately came to address the cause and not just the symptoms. Jesus came for a greater purpose than changing water to wine; he came to change sinners into saints.

When in our pursuit of Jesus we reverse those priorities and are more concerned with having Jesus treat the symptoms than the cause, we run the risk of being disappointed. Disappointed because in some cases he may not choose to deal with the symptom the way we’d like – he may let it languish. A season of unemployment lingers for weeks and then months. A chapter of life filled with sickness isn’t followed by recovery, but by an even more discouraging diagnosis. An individual who has wronged us in the past does so yet again while it seems God stands idly by doing nothing.   

And when we are more concerned with having Jesus treat the symptoms than the cause, we also run the risk of being disappointed because when we zero in so much on just seeing the symptoms in our lives, we can’t see the bigger picture. It’s like the child parked inches away from a screen. When looking at it that closely, he can really only see one or two details of what’s happening on the screen. But when he backs up a bit he can see the whole picture. When we stop focusing on just the symptoms of sin and step back to see the big picture, that is when we get a fuller sense of everything that Jesus is able to do. 

At Cana, Jesus took care of a rather trivial thing – running out of wine – but not for a trivial reason. John highlighted the reason: this was a miracle – better yet, a “sign.” A sign points to something. A sign makes something known or uncovers some information that wasn’t previously known or if it was, makes it more commonly known. If you’ve been a member here for a while, you don’t have to ask where the restrooms are, but if you’re a guest or first-time visitor, a sign is a pretty helpful thing to make that information known. At Cana, Jesus was making it known that his power to miraculously provide wine from water made him different. He was getting attention, not just for the same vain purpose so many today seek attention, but ultimately to turn more eyes and hearts toward the Savior. 

Behind all of Christ’s kindness to others throughout his ministry as he compassionately cared for and healed others was a great purpose: that through his kindness others might see not just a good samaritan, but their God-sent Savior. One of our readings from last Sunday captured it well: “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 3:4-5). 

When we only look to Jesus for the little things, we run the risk of missing out on the bigger thing – the biggest thing. But when we see him first as coming do deal with the biggest thing, we get the other stuff, too. If we look to Jesus only to “get us through” this life, where does that leave us for the next life, the real reason he came? 

Notice how surprised the wedding guest was that the best wine was saved for last? Don’t be shocked – that’s also what the Lord promises to you today. Oh, he may – he will – do some absolutely amazing things for you during your life here on heart, but like the wine at Cana, the best is being saved for last. 

Heaven will hold nothing back. While we see glimpses and samples of God’s kindness and love and infinite blessings during our time here on earth, the door to storehouses of eternal blessings will be thrown open in heaven, revealing the full measure of God’s goodness and grace. The best is saved for last. 

So with that confidence, stay dialed into that truth and appreciate more fully the stuff that God does for you here and now, because you know that something better is coming along. But if you’re looking for God to bring you heaven on earth right now, then step away from the screen so you can see the big picture and see that God has done so much more for you. 

Changing water into wine was pretty impressive, but not nearly as much as changing sinners into saints! The large jars that held the wine were there for ceremonial washing, but the kind of washing that Jesus came to bring would render them useless! He came to wash away sin, to forever repurpose every jar previously used for ceremonial washing. They could only serve as a symbol of the kind of washing Jesus came to do. There is no washing, no works-righteousness, no penance possible – or necessary! – that can achieve for us what Jesus came to do: forgive sins and save sinners.

Jesus shows us that God isn’t interested only in the small details of your life – he cares about the big things and the little things. He will keep food on your table and clothing on your back. But he does so much more. He forgives and restores. He refreshes and fills us. Do not look to him for just the little things, for he has taken care of the big things, too. And if he takes care of the big things, look to him for the little things as well. He delights in handling all things for you.

Anointing Uncovered

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(Luke 3:15–17, 21-22)

Plot twists. Remodels. Voting results. Learning in general. There are things in life that have to be revealed to us – things that we either do not have the authority, the ability, or the necessary information to figure out. Such things need to be made known to us. They need to be revealed and/or explained to us.

As we shift in this new year from the church season of Christmas to the season we call “Epiphany,” we are entering a season in which the entire focus is on something that needs to be revealed. That is actually what the word epiphany means in the first place: “to make known” or “to reveal.” So over the course of these weeks of Epiphany, just what needs to be made known or revealed? This simple, yet essential truth: Jesus Christ, the very One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is the Savior of all people. 

In this series then, Uncovered, we follow Jesus at the outset of his ministry, stopping at key events through which he reveals – uncovers – for us truths about God that we simply cannot discover on our own. For unless Jesus had revealed these truths to us and God had recorded them in the Bible, we would remain in the dark, closed off and clueless to the realities of a gracious God who both laid out and carried out every minute detail necessary for our salvation. 

We need only look at the history of man’s contrived religious efforts to see failure after failure at achieving any closeness or relationship with God on our own. Mankind is driven toward the divine, for it is imprinted in us by God himself that he exists. But apart from what must be revealed to us about him, man will only succeed in drawing up a woefully inadequate version of God. Man’s best effort at identifying God on his own will be a far cry from the faithful Triune God who delights in revealing himself as the Lord who saves. 

This morning, God uncovers for us something that at the time was quite unexpected: Jesus, not John the Baptist as some had surmised, was in fact the Chosen One, the One anointed by God to carry out our salvation. There was obviously enough about John that led people to the conclusion that in him God was finally making good on his promise to send a Savior. “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah” (v.15). John, the desert-dwelling hermit, was different, and not just in terms of his diet and dress. His preaching was powerful and the number of his followers was trending upward. 

But as John explained, he was not the One; rather, he came to ready the world for the Anointed One. As God has made clear time and again, he doesn’t look at the things man looks at. John clarified it this way: “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (v.16-17). John was not the One, but rather came to prepare people to receive the One. He came to pull back the curtains and uncover the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. 

This needed to happen, for Jesus had not been on anyone’s radar. Of course, his birth had been a big deal, as we were just reminded in so many ways during the season of Christmas. Since then, though, there had not been much about Jesus’ life that was all that noteworthy, as God didn’t see fit to record any of it for us until this point in Jesus’ life. Aside from Jesus staying behind as a twelve-year-old in the Temple, we know nothing of Jesus’ life until the Gospel writers pick up his life with the event recorded for us this morning, Jesus’ baptism. Prior to this, not much had been revealed about Jesus; he was largely unknown.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It could still be said today that Jesus is largely unknown. Sure, people know the name, Jesus, but that isn’t the same as knowing Jesus, is it? A recent interview with Elon Musk revealed that he agreed with the teachings of Jesus. While being familiar with the teachings of Jesus may put him in a different class than those who know nothing other than his name, isn’t that still quite a different thing from knowing why Jesus came and actually believing it? Still today then, how many “know” the name Jesus, but remain in the dark about the salvation he came to bring? 

But God’s people don’t gather together on Sunday morning to focus primarily on what the unbelieving world knows or doesn’t know of Jesus. No, our time is better spent reflecting on how much of Jesus has been revealed to us. How much still needs to be uncovered for us? How much still needs to be made known to us? 

If we can get straight to the point, if our Christian faith was compared to an end-of-the-year performance review at work, many of us would be fired! We show up at work (church) once in a while. We’ve learned nothing new in our field, acquired no new skills, and concern ourselves only with the bare minimum – just enough to pull in a paycheck. Some of Jesus has been revealed to us – the veil has been lifted ever-so-slightly, but we have never bothered to uncover more of Jesus in our lives. WE know him only slightly better than the unbeliever! 

So Jesus needs to be uncovered for us as much as ever! We know him so little! We are far too satisfied with far too simple an understanding of the One who gave himself up for us to that we might have a future, an eternity. Meanwhile, the devil runs about in the world today, trying to cover up any light with darkness, always seeking to snuff it out so that we are not drawn to it. He would keep us in a dimly lit room, unable to see and experience the full light of our salvation. 

And we are a willing party to it. We sample the light, but it bores us. We find so much more fun in the dark. We want to celebrate what the world celebrates, to think as the world does, to elevate what it does, praise what it does, and pursue what it does. The dark, after all, is so much easier on the eyes, isn’t it? The glaring light of salvation not only hurts our eyes, but it also exposes those things about ourselves which we’d prefer to keep hidden in the dark! 

See how desperately we need his light to shine into our lives, to see him for who he is! It was so in his day, too – it was necessary that the world come to know who he was. And the Father made it so at his baptism, leaving no question about who the Messiah was. It was not John the Baptist, but Jesus. The Father made it known in a spectacular scene. “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.21-22). 

Think of all the effort an individual or a business has to go to today to get noticed: ads, social media campaigns, word of mouth, etc., and still it may not bear any fruit! The Father left nothing up to chance, splitting open the heavens so the Holy Spirit could make a visible entrance in the form of a dove, and doing his own voiceover in one of the most iconic scenes ever witnessed in history. 

Do not let Satan keep this significant event hidden in the darkness of so many other meaningless historical events. This one matters! This is God making it official: the Messiah was on the scene. The Savior had been revealed! 

This was so much more than the high school Senior making a big deal on signing day by revealing the college he’ll play for. This is so much more than the teaser trailer revealing an upcoming flick. This is bigger than the tech giants revealing the game-changing new device or next model. This is God uncovering for the entire world to see: Sin wouldn’t win! Satan would be smacked down in defeat! Eternal death’s suffocating grip would be loosened forever! The Savior was ready to be set apart for his saving work and to get his elbows dirty working out our salvation for us!

And so he was baptized. And friends, this was not just a meaningless dunk in the Jordan River. This was not just an empty ritual required of him. This was not merely an act of obedience to be imitated. No, this was his anointing! This was the equivalent of the Old Testament prophets and kings having oil poured out over their heads to mark them as designated by God himself! This was the Father saying, “Look not to John the baptist for your salvation. Look not to the nation of Israel for your salvation. Look to Jesus, my Son, the Promised One – he alone saves!”

What did the Father say of his Son? “With you I am well pleased.” The Father is pleased with the Son! And what does the Scripture call you again and again? Children of God through faith in this very Jesus. Daughters! Sons! The Father is pleased with his Son – he is pleased with you. He delights in you. He wants forever with you, and the Son is the proof, for he came to make it so. And the One set apart for that work carried it out all the way up until his “It is finished!” from Calvary. It is done.

His work is done. Yours is not. Pull the veil back further this year on your relationship with Jesus. Uncover more of him. Know him better. The Holy Spirit is not content merely to have shown up in a remarkable scene at Jesus’ birth and then exit stage right. He wants to continue to reveal more to you about your Savior. He wants to uncover the blessings that you have allowed to remain hidden from you for far too long. Why not this year? Why can’t this year be the year you come to know Jesus better than ever before? Why can’t you allow the Holy Spirit to uncover more and more and more for you about Jesus? He stands by. He waits. Let him uncover more of what the Father revealed at Jesus’ baptism – your Savior has come, and he can be the best thing that ever happens to you this year.

Substitute

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(Luke 2:41-52)

Sometimes we want a substitute; other times we need one. There are certain social situations when we wish we could simply hit the pause button and be replaced by a substitute to allow us to be anywhere but there. But there are also scenarios in which we simply cannot be two places at once. When work and family obligations collide, it would be nice to have a substitute so you could be two places at once. This morning, whether or not we want him, we see that Jesus is the Substitute we need. So far our Christmas series, “What Child is This?” has provided two answers: this child is the Prince of Peace and our Redeemer. The final answer provided in our series highlights that this child is also our Substitute.

You think time flies (wasn’t it just Thanksgiving???), how about jumping from infant to adolescent in one week! Just last weekend we were celebrating Jesus’ birth and here we find him twelve years old already. While it seems like quite a jump, the Bible doesn’t really cover much of Jesus’ life until he is baptized and begins his ministry around the age of 30. So this glimpse of twelve-year-old Jesus is a rare one.

And it’s interesting, isn’t it, that the one account we have of Jesus over that thirty-year period is Jesus sticking around at church long after the service was over? Of all of the curiosities and questions we might have about Jesus’ upbringing, his teenage years, and his twenties, God provides one account for us, and it is centered on worship and the Word. At the very least, we can conclude that gathering in God’s house for worship ought not to be an afterthought or treated as an optional leave-it-or-take-it element of the practice of one’s faith. At most, we could conclude that by covering just this one account of Jesus’ life over the span of 30 years, God is emphasizing the prominence and priority that public worship should be in the Christian’s life. 

There is a need for this conversation among Christians today. While I don’t question the intent behind the encouragement often provided for attending worship, I don’t know if the way we have tried to get there has always been the best. The one making the case for an increase in church attendance often points out that church attendance has been on the decline for decades now, and since that’s bad, we should correct that trend by going to church. Not only is such an argument ineffective, but it also fails to address that church attendance isn’t primarily a habit issue, but a heart issue.

Listen, a church on Sunday morning can be just as easily filled with empty people as it can with empty pews. These are the empty people Isaiah described: “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught’” (29:13). While we often imagine the church was much healthier in “the good ‘ole days,” which tend to be whatever we subjectively presume them to be in our own minds, the number of people worshipping on a Sunday morning is not the only metric for church health, and I would submit that it isn’t even the best one. 

As I said, we’re dealing with a heart issue, not a habit issue, and a heart issue is more difficult to treat than just measuring a metric. Many lament how Christianity is on the decline. It may appear that way based on church attendance, but what if not as much has changed as appears? What if it isn’t actually a reality that there are fewer Christians, but rather it just appears that way, as many more unbelievers/hypocrites used to hide in the church than outside it? So we lament those not in church, but how many in the past who were actually in church were simply doing so to meet an expected requirement or to be seen? Pride can work with either one – “look at what a fine Christian I am who worships regularly” or “look what a fine Christian I am who is so strong in his faith that I don’t need church attendance to showcase or prove my faith.” Pride can work with either scenario – being present without being present or being absent without being active.

But… shame on us if we are inclined to use that as justification for not worshiping weekly. There is a real need to emphasize corporate worship in an individualized church culture. A personal relationship with Jesus doesn’t mean that’s the only personal relationship I have with the body of Christ. To belong to the body of Christ is to belong to more than just Christ, the head, but also the whole body! And where more than anywhere else does the body stay connected to the other parts and Christ, the head? When we gather for worship.

Trying to change behavior by increasing worship attendance fails to address the real issue – the heart. Only Jesus does that. Look at how Jesus did that in our account this morning. After his mother expressed her dismay at his behavior, his response – a question of his own – explained his behavior perfectly: “‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’” (v.49). He was honestly surprised. He had to be in his Father’s house. Let’s understand that in two ways. 

We talk that way when trying to convince someone else of something. “You have to try this food at this restaurant.” “You have to listen to this song by this artist.” “You have to get this gadget or that device.” When we convey that level of passion to someone else we are stressing that how much it has meant to us personally. We feel so strongly about it that we want someone else to have the same positive experience with it. Jesus felt so passionately about being in his Father’s house that he had to be there.

But he also literally had to be there. Remember that God created us to love and worship him with pure holy hearts. Yet ever since worship first went wrong when Adam and Eve cast aside God’s command and ate from the tree, not one human heart has ever been able on even a single occasion to worship God in purity and holiness. Even our best worship is but worthless waste before God! Sin stains our worship! If even attending worship regularly in the first place, we are so easily distracted, disinterested, and disengaged when in God’s house. That’s if we’re attending regularly and not believing whatever lie it is that tells us there’s something better going on Sunday morning than gathering with God’s people around God’s Word to glorify God together. So Jesus literally had to be in the Temple to meet God’s demand that pure and holy hearts love and worship him. 

Even more astounding is that rather than being the One worshipping, Jesus had every right to be the One worshipped! He ought to be the object of worship, not the one offering up his worship. The One the wise men journeyed great lengths to worship in person with precious gifts was the same twelve-year-old boy offering up his worship in the temple courts. The One who would make the ultimate sacrifice on Good Friday deserving of ultimate praise and worship is the same One humbly offering up his worship among the adult spiritual leaders of his day. 

Into a me-centered world came a Father-focused Substitute. We make public worship about us; He made it about his Father. Our lives are an act of worshiping according to our own will; his perfect life was an act of worshiping according to his Father’s will. Where we casually dismiss the Third Commandment’s call for weekly worship, Jesus embraced and kept it perfectly. What we don’t even have the will to carry out perfectly, Jesus not only had the will, but also the obedience to carry out perfectly. We needed One who could put the Father first at all times, including love for his Word and worship, and we have One who met that demand. We have Jesus. Holy Jesus. Perfect Jesus. Substitute Jesus. 

Notice that his perfect obedience to his heavenly Father also expressed itself in obedience to his earthly father and mother. “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them” (v.51). When we see Jesus as he came to be seen – as our Substitute – we appreciate even more his perfect record of obedience. He was not born into our world for some short-sighted purpose like setting an example for us to follow – that is too small a thing! Instead, he came to achieve what we could not, cannot, on even our greatest days. He came to obey as a Substitute for those who disobey. He came to live in righteousness to be our righteousness. He came to be the purity and holiness required for entrance into heaven. He came to be the perfect child we could not, loving God’s Word and worship in ways we cannot. 

Children, follow suit. Do not disregard your parents’ commands, whether by defiance or indifference. That applies to the home and it applies to the church. You do not yet know what is best for you, so God has given you parents to guide you. When it is time for church each Sunday morning, do not burden or exasperate your parents with your stubborn whining, but be a joy and blessing to them, so that worship might be a joy and blessing to both you and them.

It’s that time of year again when goals and resolutions are on our radars. What’s easier when it comes to hitting the mark with goals – hitting the goal or maintaining it? Suppose you’ve wanted to organize the garage for years. But whenever you think about it you get overwhelmed because you don’t know where to start. Truth is, you’re not just talking about one goal, but a project requiring many steps to achieve that goal. Organizing the garage includes sorting through stuff, then determining which stuff you’re going to keep, what’s going to Goodwill, and what’s getting pitched. It likely includes determining whether or not you need shelving or bins to store things more efficiently. It will obviously include a good measure of cleaning, too. So it’s quite a project that you’re talking about!

But wouldn’t it be so much easier if an expert organizer came and did it for you? Wouldn’t it be so much more enjoyable if all you had to do was maintain a garage that has already been sorted and organized and cleaned for you? That would be much less overwhelming! You might even be energized and excited to keep it the way it is after someone else already did the hard work – and did an exceptional job at that!  

Jesus has done just that for you. He had more than a resolution on his mind; he had your righteousness, and he came with his perfect obedience to tidy up your disorganized, disobedient life. He did all of the work for you as your Substitute. He kept God’s law. He was the “good Christian” we could never amount to. He treasured Word and worship with an honest and sincere heart. He already did the hard work for you, and an exceptional job at that! Now the burden of having to be like Jesus has been replaced by the joyful freedom of wanting to be like him, with no strings attached. He met his Father’s demand of holiness, leaving us to enjoy the blessing of walking in his footsteps. What Child is This? This Prince of Peace is your Redeemer and Substitute. May the blessing of his perfect obedience bring blessings through your guilt-free obedience in the new year! 

Redeemer

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(Galatians 4:4-7)

While a sermon isn’t typically the place to look for hot stock trading tips, this morning you’re in for a treat. Years ago you might recall a video rental chain by the name of Blockbuster. There was a new service entering the movie rental industry that allowed you to go online to choose which movies you wanted to rent, and this company would mail the DVDs directly to your home. This company was called Netflix. Its growing success was threatening Blockbuster’s business model, causing Blockbuster’s stock price to decline significantly as a result. But, since Blockbuster was starting to get on board with the mailing model and already had 1,000s of physical locations from which to operate, I jumped on the stock, convinced it would be a matter of time before it caught up and jumped back to the top in the industry. 

I was wrong. Would you care to know how much each share of Blockbuster is worth today? About 1/10 of a cent. It’s worthless. It is of no value whatsoever. Be sure to follow me for more hot stock tips! 

Share prices of stocks go up and down in value. In fact, the value of a thing can fluctuate, can’t it, as its value is really determined by how much someone thinks it is worth. This morning as we continue our What Child Is This? series, in addition to the answer Isaiah provides us with on Christmas Eve, that this Child is the Prince of Peace, we also today see that he is our Redeemer. Through this title, we see how valuable we are to God because of the worth he attaches to us.   

Most of us are familiar enough with the term redeemer. We will talk about a person needing to redeem himself. When we speak of it in this sense the implication is that someone has carried out some wrongdoing in general or some damage to a relationship with another individual. When sufficient effort is then made to remedy the situation or reconcile with the other individual, we speak of that person having redeemed himself. So there is a sense of righting a wrong when it comes to the idea of a redeemer. 

Now that may work in a court of human law or public opinion, but there is a courtroom where no man can redeem himself or another: God’s. The psalmist writes, “No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them – the ransom for life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (49:7-8). Suppose I borrowed $10,000 from you to buy up all that Blockbuster stock. Now, years later, you ask for your money back. For obvious reasons, I don’t have the money, but offer to pay you back in shares of Blockbuster. Would you accept? Of course not! It’s not worth anything! No lender would accept payment in the form of the same worthless investment that just lost you a significant investment! So neither can we who have by our own sin made ourselves worthless, pay back anything to God! The very thing that put us into the position of needed to be redeemed – sin – is what taints us so much that we can never offer anything of ourselves of value to redeem ourselves before God!

But boy do we still try! We have solutions for trying to redeem ourselves. Some religions emphasize the ongoing effort to redeem ourselves by becoming better, by being good people. Sounds good enough, but it ignores the real issue that needs redeeming: sin.

An increasingly popular approach in our age of secularism is to deny God and any need for redemption at all, but this, too, falls short. Sin is real. It separates. Ignoring it, calling it something else, pretending there is no God who takes issue with it, these offer no redemption.

So Paul helps us understand precisely why God came into our world bearing a body. “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4-5). First, let’s talk timing. Paul says “when the time had fully come.” What he means is that in God’s governing over all things, he had determined the exact time for the promised Savior to arrive on earth. One can look at the Roman world at the time and see how ideal it was for Jesus to be born. The Roman Empire was enjoying a season of peace from war. A universal language was used, making communication much more effective. The Roman system of roads made places far more accessible for travel. It was an ideal time.

Yet, we might think that today would be much more suitable. After all, consider all of the technological advancements. Think of all the ways we could communicate the birth of Jesus if he had been born in 2021. Seems like now, not 2,000 years ago, would have been a better time, doesn’t it? 

Ironically, one could also argue that all of the reasons for now being a better time could also be used to argue against it. How well would the message be received in an age when we are inundated with more information in a month than people of the past were in a lifetime? And the technology – a blessing, for sure, in so many ways… and yet a constant distraction at the same time. Does technology serve us or enslave us? So maybe Paul had it right when under divine inspiration he argued that God had determined the best time for the Redeemer to enter our world. And how would he carry this out? Why did it have to be done the way it was done? 

If a person is to be rightly rescued – redeemed – then it stands to reason that he must be rescued from the actual threat facing him. You don’t save a drowning person by running to the hospital to grab a stretcher. You don’t treat a broken bone with a band-aid. No, for the solution to provide an actual cure, it has to address the real problem. What is the problem that we all needed solved? Make no mistake – the real threat is having to answer for our sin or suffer the consequences of a real hell.

To rescue those being crushed and condemned under the weight of the law, God – who by his holiness established the law in the first place! – bound himself to keeping it so that, placing it on his shoulders and flawlessly fulfilling it, he could keep it from crushing us with its eternal condemnation in hell. While by our disobedience we disqualified ourselves according to the law, Jesus was born to keep the law, so that by his obedience God’s expectation of perfection could be met. Since only man and not God himself who gave the law is bound to it, God became a man so that he could keep it. 

Imagine a youth claiming to be able to drive her whole life without ever breaking the speed limit. While that’s a bold claim to make, she has no way to prove it. She must first be of the legal age limit to drive, and then pass her test to get a license. Once she does those things, she could then set out to prove her claim by maintaining a perfect driving record. But until she is actually bound by the law, it’s not possible for her to keep it. So it is with God – to keep the law he had to first bind himself to it, so he was born into this world bearing a human body, so that he would be bound to the law.

Notice how Paul effortlessly slips into his next thought with the clear implication that Jesus did in fact keep the law. After explaining how it would happen so that we might be adopted as God’s sons and daughters, the verse that immediately follows point out that we are sons and daughters! Jesus did it! He succeeded in perfectly obeying the law, for we are now adopted sons and daughters, no longer slaves, but free heirs to receive the glorious riches of an eternal inheritance, along with all the treasure house of blessings lavished on us while here on earth in the meantime! Now we have that most intimate of relationships, being able to address the Father as “Abba,” akin to “daddy,” a relationship unique to father and child. Now the Son born in Bethlehem calls our hearts his home. 

Now we are worth something, for we have been redeemed. Jesus’ redemption is what has given us value. Apart from him we were worth nothing. We are by nature just like all the BOGOs and discount coupons for this store and that restaurant stashed in your drawer at home – worth nothing until actually redeemed! Until you actually show up, purchase something, and redeem the coupon for whatever discount it is, the coupon is worthless. It has to be redeemed to be of any value. 

So it is with us. Christmas means we are worth something, for that child, that Prince of Peace came into this world to be our Redeemer. And because he redeemed us with his own precious blood, we are worth something. How much, you ask? Considering no price can be attached to Jesus’ holy, innocent blood, and that that was the price paid for you and me, how valuable does that make us? If something of inestimable value was used to buy us back, to redeem us, then how valuable are we – priceless! And that is just how God sees us. For he would not have offered up his only Son as the redemption price for our very souls if he did not treasure us beyond measure! 

What Child is This? He is our Redeemer. Because we have been redeemed, we are sons and daughters who are God’s own heirs, standing ready to receive his greatest blessings both now and for eternity. What other gift that you unwrapped this year even begins to compare to that!?! Merry Christmas!

Prince of Peace

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(Isaiah 9:2-7)

One of the simple things in life that brings joy to just about everyone every time it is shared is the announcement that a couple is expecting or a baby has been born. I know of at least one friend whose family gathering this Christmas will include his daughter sharing the news that they are expecting. Whether it’s the shared anticipation of a couple who is expecting or the exciting news of the baby’s arrival at birth, it’s the kind of news that just makes us happy. 

News of a birth also means wanting to hear all of the details. When was the baby born? How long was labor? Boy or girl? How much did it weigh? What’s the length? These curious questions are a natural follow-up to news of any birth, as we want to get to know a little bit more about the baby.

We heard a baby announcement today from the prophet Isaiah. While we aren’t used to such announcements being given any further out than about nine months at the most, Isaiah shared his announcement some 700 years before the due date! And, he didn’t wait until the baby had been delivered to share the details, but declared them ahead of time. His words today, and the words we’ll look at for the next two Sundays of Christmas, will provide us with the necessary information to answer the question raised by the beloved Christmas hymn, What Child Is This? 

So just who is this Jesus whose birth is celebrated across the world by people of every nation and language? He must matter a great deal, for who else’s birth has been cause for such universal celebration every year ever since it happened?!? That fact alone deserves our attention, doesn’t it? Regardless of what anyone believes, isn’t this birth worth looking into if so many people all over the world have celebrated it for so many years?

What, then, does Isaiah tell us to provide insight into an answer for the question, What Child Is This? Quite a lot, actually! Isaiah tells us he’ll be a beacon of light in a world steeped in darkness. He will be a source of joy. He will bring victory. Then, we get to verses that have served as the basis for some of the most beautiful music ever played or sung; words that have inspired so many in the world of music and the arts; words that have filled hearts with hope for 2,700 years – the words of Isaiah 9, verse 6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” While each of these designations could provide sermon upon sermon or even series upon series, on this day we will give our attention to just the one title that answers the question before us, the title, Prince of Peace. 

To be designated as the “prince” of something is to say the one bearing the title is considered to be the authority in that field or area. The dictionary describes the title as “a man or thing regarded as outstanding or excellent in a particular sphere or group.” So what does it say about Jesus that his birth announcement 700 years before his arrival did not merely associate him with peace or describe that he might bring in a season or period of peace, but that he himself is the prince of peace? It means that any understanding of peace apart from Jesus is either an inadequate or incomplete understanding of what peace is, for he is the prince! A person cannot, therefore, have peace apart from the One called the very Prince of Peace!

But sadly, that doesn’t stop the world from either pursuing peace in all the wrong places or simply flat-out avoiding the things we perceive to be disrupting it. We do have phrases that incorporate the word peace, like “peace of mind,” being “at peace” with a decision, or “making peace” with someone. In one way or another, each of these expressions has to do with something that is unsettling or causing tension or conflict. To achieve peace, then, is to settle the matter, ease the tension, or eliminate the conflict. The result should then be peace. 

Another solution is to simply avoid the things that are unsettling or cause tension or conflict. But with a few rare exceptions avoiding such things isn’t a real solution. It may perhaps buy some more time toward a solution, but the act of avoiding is itself no solution, and very often only exacerbates the problem. This happens especially when avoiding is paired with some attempt at escape like substance abuse or any of the other escapes we explored back in our October and September sermon series. 

If any of these supposed solutions for peace worked, then how does one explain why our world is as unsettled as it’s been in any of our lifetimes? If these solutions worked, then do so many express the feeling that things are getting worse, not better? Shouldn’t we be “at peace” and finding “peace of mind” if we’re finally addressing climate change, calling out privilege and racism, if “our guy” is finally elected President, if individuals are free to identify as whichever gender they prefer, if… the list goes on. But how come all this “progress” hasn’t resulted in more peace? Why is drug and alcohol abuse on the rise? Why is depression debilitating more and more? Why are suicides so regularly in the news? Where is the peace? Is this what peace looks like?

The answer is “no.” This isn’t peace. Peace isn’t found in the absence of COVID or conflict; it’s found in the presence of Christ. Remember, Isaiah already told us what peace looks like! It’s not just Isaiah, either. Peace and God go hand-in-hand throughout all of Scripture. Micah, another prophet at the same time as Isaiah, said this when describing Jesus in a birth announcement of his own: “And he will be our peace” (5:5a). The apostle Paul, who wrote a good chunk of the NT, frequently referred to the God of “grace and peace” in the greeting of his letters. Another writer in the Bible wrote, “Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20). Peace and God go hand-in-hand!

So just how did Jesus secure this peace that all the progress in the world cannot provide? “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [the Son], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). Jesus came not just to be born in a manger, but to die on a cross. His very life was the price for our peace with God. Someone had to answer for our sin that separates us from God, or heaven would have been permanently shut off to us. God had communicated through Old Testament sacrifice that payment for sin was required. Jesus made that payment for us. Since we are no longer in debt to God for the payment of our sin, then we are at peace with him.

And the added bonus that comes with this peace? When you have it, it won’t ever run out. It isn’t a passing peace or a fleeting peace, but a permanent peace, as Isaiah shared in his announcement: “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (v.7a). This kind of peace won’t end. That also means your circumstances won’t change it. The things that happen to you can’t diminish it. Wherever you are, God’s peace through Jesus is with you – even if you’re in jail, like Ruffino Fernandez. 

It was in jail that Ruffino came to faith in Jesus after hearing the Word of God during a seminar. Being so positively impacted by the Word of God in that seminar, he attended another the next time it was offered, explaining, “The teaching and love in these seminars has meant so much to me. I wanted to learn more before I left [prison].” Later, a third such seminar was announced, and Ruffino was very eager to attend. The problem? It was set for the same day as his release from prison, meaning he would miss it because he was being set free. So what did he do? He asked his parole officer for his release from prison to be delayed until after the seminar! (Source: Prison Fellowship fundraiser letter dated July 24, 1984, signed by Charles W. Colson.) Who would do that? Why would anyone do that? Because the prison walls made no difference at all to someone who knew the Prince of peace. Whether held inside the walls of a prison or released into freedom, it didn’t matter – he had peace either way. And because of Christmas, because God made good on Isaiah’s baby announcement and gave you the gift of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, you have peace, too.

He Lifts Up the Humbled

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(Luke 1:39-55)

How many gifts will it be this year? Do you have a record of how many gifts it’s been in the past? You know the ones I’m talking about – the ones we made a big deal about, the ones we convinced ourselves and others we really wanted – no, needed… only to see them end up unused, forgotten, or re-gifted to someone else. I would imagine you could spend some time over the holidays just looking back on everything in your home, your garage, and/or a storage unit if you have one, and so much of it would be a record of things that at one point were “must-haves.” Going through that process would probably serve to give us pause the next time we convince ourselves that we have to have something. We may not want it as badly as we think we do.

Couldn’t we say that about humility as well? We’ve reflected on humility for the past three Sundays, and honestly, isn’t humility a bit like that gift you think you want, but when it comes right down to it, isn’t as interesting as we thought? We even know that humility is one of those desirable qualities God wants us to have, so we should want it, but really we don’t. Because humility means giving up something I’m really good at: me. Humility means actually doing what Jesus called us to by denying self. Humility means going against my natural self-interest and doing what I’m best at by nature, making my life about me. So humility sounds virtuous and noble and it should be not only on our Christmas list, but an ongoing pursuit of ours, but… the reality is that we aren’t too willing to part with our pride. Like a child throwing a tantrum after being stripped of a toy for misbehaving, we naturally kick and scream against anything that threatens our pride. And humility does just that. 

That’s what makes it so difficult. “No pain, no gain” – it’s unlikely you’ll open up a Christmas card to find those words inside. I don’t recall the phrase being included in any Advent or Christmas hymns. Spend as much time perusing the aisles of Hobby Lobby for something to add to your collection of Christmas decor, but you won’t see the words, “no pain, no gain” painted across a piece of wood in some nostalgic font. The words would seem to be out of place for this time of year.

But maybe they’re more applicable than we might think. As we conclude our Humble Expectations series this morning and you reflect on the past three weeks, has the concept of humbling yourself or being humbled resonated with you as a pleasant experience? If so, forgive me for saying so, but I think you’re a little bit weird. Being humbled – more specifically, the repentance required for that to take place – is a tough pill to swallow. Who likes to be put in their place? Who enjoys having their faults found out and exposed? Who likes being at the dead end where no blame, no excuses, and no rationalizations allow us any outs, where there is nowhere to turn for escape? No one! Provoking our pride is a painful process!

But it’s a necessary one, and this morning we focus on why. Today we look at the end result of that process of humbling and being humbled; today we look at the gain that results from the pain. 

How refreshing it is this morning to see what humility looks like in not one, but two of the women, Elizabeth and Mary, who played important roles in the birth of our Savior. While what has come to be called The Song of Mary, or The Magnificat, is the focal point of these verses, don’t miss the humble greeting that Elizabeth expressed upon Mary’s arrival. “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (v.41-43). Remember that Elizabeth was the once-barren, but now-expecting mother herself, and she could have very understandably been bitter toward Mary for arriving and stealing her thunder, or for rubbing it in that she was the one chosen to be the mother of the Savior. But we don’t see that from Elizabeth at all. Moreover, Elizabeth not only acknowledged Mary’s blessed privilege of being the mother of the Savior, but counted herself unworthy of a personal visit from her. This was not false humility. This was not Elizabeth trying to butter up Mary or get on her good side. This is what genuine humility looks like. And Mary takes a page out of the same book of humility.

Mary didn’t spring into a self-centered song spelling out all of the understandable reasons why she was in fact such a good candidate to be the mother of the Savior. Instead, notice who is at the center of her song: the Lord. Her song is not filled with “me’s,” but “He’s.” 

That’s an important element of humility. Humility doesn’t toot its own horn. Humility doesn’t call attention to itself. Humility doesn’t announce its presence in the room. Instead, humility is made known only when all attention is directed elsewhere. Mary does just that, highlighting God’s glorious resumé of rescuing his people throughout history. And how might we describe that resumé? She points out that God has a track record of doing two things: 1) humbling the haughty who think they can stand against him, and 2) lifting up the lowly, those who in genuine humility know and believe that they have zero business seeking an audience with a holy God. 

Mary described the various ways the Lord has for humbling the haughty. “He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts… has brought down rulers from their thrones… has sent the rich away empty” (v.51-53). To those thinking they can hide their pride by keeping it limited to their thoughts – he shoos them out of his presence. To those in positions of power or authority who pat themselves on the back as if achieved by their own doing – he topples them from their lofty place. To those relying on riches or truly believing there is such a thing as a “self-made man,” he sends them away empty-handed. 

Here’s the problem with pride: we think our pride is justified. We think we actually have some good reasons not to be humble, that being humble is actually beneath us. Actually, we don’t even see it as pride. We wouldn’t call it that at all. It’s rather just who we are. We know that no sinful pride is justified, so what we feel, what we think about ourselves must not be pride, because we know that’s not acceptable for God’s people… so we don’t identify it as such. Nevertheless, we still struggle with humility, because we think too highly of ourselves to think humility should apply to us. Mary’s song glorifies God for humbling the haughty, for not allowing others to pridefully rob him of his glory.

Mary’s song also glorifies God for lifting up the lowly. “He has… lifted up the humble… has filled the hungry with good things” (v.52-53). The good news for those who know they have no business in God’s presence is that he will in fact lift them up in his presence! Those who know how spiritually starving they are on their own will be permitted to taste and see how good the Lord truly is! God has no time for the proud because his schedule is booked with raising up the repentant to the joyful heights of forgiveness and salvation! He is far too busy filling up the empty-hearted with grace and all of his richest gifts!  

So as we wrap up this series, into which of these categories do you wish to find yourself? The haughty will be humbled while the lowly will be lifted up. I think we all know what the answer should be, but will our attitude and actions reflect that, or will everything stay the same? Will we continue thinking of humility as a virtue, a noble thing to pursue, but defiantly refusing to trade in our pride for humility? Or, can we see the bigger picture and in humility make our lives less about us, confident that in due time, Jesus will lift us up to himself and exalt us in a way the world never can? Knowing that it isn’t natural to us to desire humility, consider bringing that desire before the Lord. Ask him to help us imitate the humble spirit demonstrated by Elizabeth and Mary, who found genuine joy, not based on all the pregnancy preparations they had to do, but on what God had done. Let your joy this Christmas be based not on your planning and preparations, but in humble gratitude for what God has done.

And ask him to wrap you in his humility. Ask him to help us see that apart from him we are nothing so that we truly embrace that in him, we have everything. Bow low then, as you prepare to gaze again at the manger and see with eyes of faith the one born into humility, that he might raise you up and fill you with good things for now, for Christmas, and for eternity.