Category: Sermons

Commitment

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(Luke 9:51-62)

Are we really that bad at commitment, or are we just over-committed? There is a difference. Being bad at commitment simply means you don’t stick with doing what you say you’re going to do. Companies and services are well aware of our lack of commitment. Cell phone providers offer great deals in exchange for a one or two-year commitment because they know that otherwise you’ll likely jump ship and go somewhere else. 

They also offer free trials. “Try this service for free for so many days and if you don’t like it, just cancel at no charge.” Now we could presume that they are so convinced you’ll be won over by that trial period that you’ll continue paying for their service or… they have studied the statistics that support the number of people who will not follow through with their commitment to cancel before being charged for a subscription. Those people then go on months or years somehow unaware of the ongoing charge. 

We could look at marriage and divorce statistics to support our lack of commitment, too. The number of billboards for divorce lawyers would imply that business is good. And of course, fewer and fewer couples are even getting married in the first place, which also reflects an unwillingness to commit. 

Or, if it isn’t that we lack commitment, it may be that we are over-committed. Do we still fool ourselves into thinking that we can say yes to an endless list of commitments without ever giving anything up? We try to squeeze one more thing into the same 24-hour day that we’ve always had, and wonder why we end up dropping the ball here and there. Commitment is more than just saying “yes” to some event or activity; it is also saying yes to the necessary responsibilities that accompany that commitment. My kid playing the sport doesn’t just mean showing up for a game once in a while; it means multiples practices each week, perhaps weekend tournaments, coordinated pickups and drop-offs, snacks, plans for where the other kids are going to be, end of the year party, coach’s gift, etc. – and that’s just one commitment! How many of those types of commitments can we successfully pull off? And more importantly, how many of those commitments end up squeezing out the other commitments that we’ve already told ourselves are the ones that matter?

If that is where we’re at culturally, struggling so much with commitment, should we really be surprised to see a struggle with commitment in the Christian church?  

As Jesus walked with his disciples, he had three separate exchanges with individuals. Each one demonstrated a deficiency when it comes to commitment. These three individuals will serve to display three prominent struggles stifling Christian commitment today. As we look at these three “commitment killers,” listen to each. Each scenario may apply to us in different seasons of life.

Yet, while we struggle at various times and in various ways with each of these “commitment killers,” there is likely one of them that stands out among the others as the most challenging for us. Identify which one it might be for you, and you’re already on your way to allowing God to help you overcome it.

The three commitment killers can be broken down into these three struggles: “Nice vs. Sacrifice,” “Divided vs. Devoted,” and “Past vs. Present.”

Nice vs. Sacrifice captures the first individual’s struggle. “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’  Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head’” (v.57-58). There was certainly an appeal to following Jesus. Miracles happened. Needs were met. Lives were changed. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of something so positive? So this individual expressed his desire to join Jesus – sounded nice!

But Jesus didn’t just respond with an “OK – fall in line and let’s get after it!” No, by his response he communicated to the individual the need to count the cost of discipleship before making such a commitment. Even though foxes and birds have a place to call home, Jesus did not (v.58). And if Jesus himself did not then his disciples needed to be ready for that same type of lifestyle – one that would involve sacrifice. 

What a commitment killer! And one that has filtered out casual Christians from committed Christians for centuries! It’s a popular idea even today. Many jump into Christianity being drawn to everything that is nice about it. Belonging to a church can be a great way to find friends. It can be a nice place to hear a generally positive message or uplifting music. It might be a good place to turn when I’m in a bind and need something. Maybe it’s good for my kids. There are lots of nice things about a church.

But often the cost is not counted. When commitment means sacrifice, it loses its appeal. When we’re so overcommitted in so many other areas, Sunday morning is relegated to just one more commitment. When it church life cuts into other commitments, we don’t see it any longer as a place to eagerly serve and make a difference, but a place that demands more of my time and responsibilities. When things get messy and I am expected to forgive and reconcile instead of just forget and leave awhile, that’s more than we signed up for. Too often we just want nice without the sacrifice.

The second commitment killer is represented by the individual Jesus calls out to next. “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God’” (v.59-60). Divided vs. Devoted. This almost sounds downright cruel – how can Jesus say no to burying his father?!? He was illustrating the difference between being Divided and Devoted. The point Jesus was stressing was that commitment to him is not a both/and, but an only. If anything is allowed to precede one’s commitment to Christ, it’s a divided commitment. That is not the kind of dedication Jesus calls us to. 

It has been shown time and again that a significant shortcoming of multi-tasking is that it results in doing multiple things poorly. Yet, rather than focusing on doing one thing well, we still try to get away with getting multiple things done at once.

We even do this when it comes to our commitment to Jesus. We want Jesus… and the priorities that my worldly friends have. We want Jesus… and the material things I can’t live without. We want Jesus… and whatever else it might be, not realizing that Jesus and anything else means a divided heart. My heart wants what it is convinced is the best of both worlds. When we keep living that lie we don’t see that our commitment to Jesus is not devoted, but divided.

The third commitment killer, “Present vs. Past,” is illustrated by the final individual in these verses. “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’” (v. 61-62).

How we long for the things that were! We crave the good ‘ole days. We want things the way they were, leaving us stuck reminiscing on the past while missing out on the present and the future. That means we aren’t using the present and the future to plan, prepare, and carry out the ministry to which Jesus has called us!

How long do you think you could successfully drive your car from where you are to where you’re going with your eyes glued to the rearview mirror? I don’t encourage you to find out! Yet, we are satisfied with a commitment to Jesus that can’t get beyond the way things used to be. And then we fail to see how that stifles our present and future personal and congregational growth and ministry. 

Furthermore, if we insist on looking back into the past at the expense of the present, then let us also compare the commitment of generations past to current generations. Shall we compare the commitment to church attendance, when commitment meant attending every Sunday? Shall we compare commitment to keeping the church and school up and running by rolling up the sleeves and putting in some sweat equity rather than writing a check to pay someone else to do it? Shall we compare generations past when young people were encouraged to serve in the public ministry as pastors and teachers versus pursuing successful careers that make more money? 

These three individuals and their examples – “Nice vs. Sacrifice,” “Divided vs. Devoted,” and “Past vs. Present” – are not insignificant! They might shock us. We might be rather sympathetic toward the requests these individuals made. They were not just along the lines of, “May I return home and feed my pet?” No one would balk at Jesus refusing that less significant request.

But burying your dead or saying bye to family??? What is Jesus’ point? If these requests had been merely small things, and Jesus had permitted them, we would reason that there are some things that would understandably come before Jesus – for the right reason(s), of course! But Jesus goes big to make a big point: nothing comes before him. Commitment is a serious thing! 

Commitment has sometimes been broken down into three levels: commitment to Christ, then to his church, and finally to his cause. Where are you at on that spectrum? Wherever you may be, we’re all in the same spot: we have room to grow when it comes to our commitment to Jesus and his church. Assessing our level of commitment to Jesus can lead us to draw only one conclusion: our diluted commitment to Christ deserves condemnation from Christ. 

But instead of condemnation from Christ, do you know what we get? Complete commitment. We don’t have to question Jesus’ level of commitment to us. Jesus was perfectly committed. In fact, a word that Luke uses to introduce these verses reflects that very commitment: “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (v. 51).

“Resolutely” describes Jesus’ commitment to the destination where he would die. Jesus would not be deterred. Jesus counted the cost. His priorities were not divided. He was not longing for the good ‘ole days where suffering and death were not a part of the discussion. Jesus was fully committed… to you. He committed to being ridiculed and bullied for you. He committed to suffering excruciating punishment for you. He committed to dying for you. He committed to condemnation in hell for you. 

And his commitment is why you will never feel the lick of hell’s flames. His commitment is why you will never be abandoned by the Father. His commitment is why you can give it right back to Satan instead of giving in to him. His commitment is why your place in heaven is never in question, never in doubt. His commitment… is what makes it possible for us to deepen our commitment to him. To level up. To number our days on earth as days of committed service to Christ and his kingdom. 

Jesus’ commitment has made you fit for service in his kingdom. His Word possesses the power to take your commitment to new heights. Tap into the power of his Word daily. Choose sacrifice over nice. Choose dedicated over divided. Choose present and future over the past. What difference would it make if each one of us moved one level forward in our commitment? How healthy and vibrant would our congregations be? How impacted would our communities be? What could Jesus do with us, with a church filled with intensely committed Christians? I’d sure love to find out – wouldn’t you?

Freedom

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(Luke 8:26-39)

We have a unique relationship with freedom in our country. We certainly appreciate our freedom as a nation and the many liberties we enjoy because of it. Free speech affords us the opportunity to speak without fear of being silenced or censored. The right to bear arms means we are able to defend ourselves. But we also know the tension that exists when those freedoms are abused and taken too far. Free speech seems to have its limits if what is said qualifies as hate speech. The right to bear arms has been abused and results in calculated acts of violence and murder. So as much as we have been, and will continue to be willing to fight for such freedoms, wonderful as they are, such freedoms will always be abused by some and taken to shameful extremes. As long as that happens, tension will exist and turmoil will surround our freedoms to some extent. 

The people in the region of the Gerasenes seemed to take issue with the matter of freedom, too. They didn’t seem to think that freedom was good for the demon-possessed man in their midst. At least that would appear to be the conclusion one could draw based on their reaction after Jesus healed him. Luke described how they responded in verses 35-37: “When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear.”  

Jesus had just freed a man from the demon that had been tormenting him, and that, more than even the demon-possessed man himself – was what frightened them! What is wrong with this picture? How could a man being healed cause more consternation for a community than the same man did when he was demon-possessed? How could his freedom cause them so much fear? What was wrong with them?

Here we have another scenario in which we have issues with freedom – when we’re talking about the freedom of others. It’s one thing for us to expect and appreciate freedoms when they apply to us, but we don’t always have the same standard when freedoms are applied to others. Do we celebrate when a convicted criminal, on the basis of either good behavior or some legal loophole, is granted a reduced sentence and given freedom earlier than his original sentence? No, we typically want to see more time served, more punishment meted out, not less. “Those” kind people don’t deserve freedom! And when the co-dependent relationship falls apart because I am no longer needed, I resent that freedom or independence the other person has gained. Spiritually speaking, it takes some time for us to be OK with the “really-awful-guy-turned-committed-Christian” conversion stories, too. Freedom… for “those” kinds of people?

May God forgive us for being so selfish about the freedom he grants to others! We’re really no different from the unmerciful servant of Mt. 18 who, after having his own debt canceled, went out to wring the neck of the man who owed him a pittance by comparison! The good news of the gospel means that we have been freed from spiritual slavery! Jesus snapped the chains of our slavery by his crucifixion, but we want to play the role of arbiters determining whether or not others deserve that same freedom we enjoy.  

May we instead appreciate the freedom Jesus came to bring much as the demon-possessed man did! And, may we appreciate the power of his Word by which he grants that freedom. In this series, we are focusing on the power God’s Words possess, and here we see exactly how powerful those words are. The demon-possessed man was not the only one who witnessed the power of Jesus’ words. 

Not even Satan’s henchmen could ignore Jesus’ powerful words! They had to comply! “For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man” (v.29). Jesus’ words are never empty. They are never spoken carelessly. They are never powerless. Jesus speaks and action takes place. The one identified as “Legion” was well aware of Jesus’ power and the power of his words, not just because he put an end to the possession, but also because of what else Jesus was capable of doing. We know this from the pitiful begging that followed.

“And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss” (v.31). Hell is not a popular concept today, and fewer and fewer people continue to even believe there is a hell. Or, they joke rather lightly about it. Don’t ever buy into the garbage about people preferring heaven over hell because heaven is full of hypocrites. Don’t ever believe the lie that the company in hell is somehow better or that there are certain spaces in hell that would be preferable over places in heaven. Some sell the lie that preachers and the Christian church just use the imagery of Satan and hell to strike fear and to terrify people so they fall into line and submit to the church’s authority.

None of it’s true! But you don’t have to take my word for it; pay attention to how the demons react upon recognizing the authority of Jesus! There was nothing pleasant about hell – they begged to possess pigs, to be sent into swine, over being sent back to hell! What does that tell you about the reality of hell?!?

Let’s stay on this topic for a bit, as it isn’t one that gets perhaps as much attention as it deserves. What about demon possession today? Why is it not more prevalent in our culture? Well… who’s to say it isn’t? What if it’s every bit as prevalent, just not labeled as such? Without diminishing the very real turmoil and devastation that mental illness causes in our world today (or the great progress we’ve made in not treating it as some taboo), is it possible that some of the extremes we witness – on the streets, in school shootings, in other random violent acts that have no logical explanation other than chalking it up to the convenient “mental illness” – could be Satan’s work? Or did you suspect that demon possession would naturally involve Satan or his demons openly identifying themselves and taking credit for it? 

Let me ask you this: in a culture increasingly disinterested in religion – which is great for business as far as Satan is concerned! – what would Satan have to gain by drawing attention to religious stuff like demon possession? He’s got a good thing going – why risk ruining it? Remember, it isn’t a popularity contest with Satan. He isn’t concerned about making a name for himself. His goal is not to attract followers, but to distract followers from Jesus. He doesn’t need his TikTok to go viral – he just wants to make sure Jesus doesn’t.

So frankly, the more damage he does “under the radar,” in ways that carry no overt religious or spiritual undertones, he’s tickled pink. Meanwhile, in other countries all over the world, countries which cling heavily to a variety of religions, know this: demon possession is quite common, alive, and very well-known. Satan simply isn’t clamoring to make a name for himself in our society in which so few barely even believe he exists. He’s not looking to rock the boat in a society in which so many boats are heading exactly where he wants them to be. 

But for those who know Satan exists and the very real threats he poses, as the demon-possessed man from Luke 8 did, see what a difference that freedom made in his life! “The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with [Jesus]…” (v.38). What shockingly different reactions between the townspeople and the man! They witness Jesus disarm and dismantle evil and they begged Jesus to leave, but the man experienced freedom from evil and he wanted to stay with Jesus! The townspeople had almost gotten accustomed to living with the demon-possessed man and his eccentrics and didn’t know what to do when things were normal. But for the man, being demon-possessed had given him a personal glimpse into the very real and deadly dangerous spiritual realm, and once freed from it, he had a new lease on life and a radical shift in perspective on what really mattered: Jesus!

And what a difference that freedom makes in our lives! Do not take for granted that you don’t experience any more days in the darkness of unbelief. All you know is light. All you know is life. All you know is the very real freedom from the fear of sin condemning you, from the fear of Satan controlling you, from the fear of death consuming you. That is your reality in Jesus Christ because of the freedom he won from all three of those enemies by his death and resurrection. His death made the full payment for your sin. His death crushed Satan’s head. His resurrection undid the permanent hold death had on us. You are free! Freedom in Jesus Christ is yours. And it is yours because of the power God’s Word possesses. You have heard and believed those words. You continue to hear and believe those words, and wherever the Word is heard and believed, there alone is freedom.

And here’s more evidence of the power God’s Words possess: he doesn’t even have to be the One speaking them for them to be effective! Why else would Jesus willingly oblige and grant the request of the townspeople for him to get out of Dodge? Because he knew that even though he would be leaving, the power of his Word would not. No, he entrusted that powerful word to the newly freed man. As much as the man begged to bask in his newfound freedom at the feet of Jesus, Jesus had other plans in mind. “Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him” (v.38-39). 

How powerful do you think that word was coming from the mouth of the freedman? Evidence suggests a large number from this region came to faith, as crowds of believers from this region are mentioned later on in the Gospels following Jesus. The Word worked on the man to bring him freedom and the Word worked through the man to bring others freedom. The Word worked on you to bring you freedom and the Word will work through you to bring others freedom. 

As long as secular freedoms are abused, there will always be a certain amount of tension when it comes to freedom – at least in the temporary, worldly sense. But spiritually speaking, there is no greater gift that grace bestows than the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. This gift is so valuable that it holds up no matter our circumstances, no matter what is going on at any given time in our lives, we wake up free, we go to bed free, we live free every single day. 

Yet another benefit of that freedom? We are free to commit. Forced commitment is nothing more than slavery. We aren’t slaves. We’ve been freed and we will remain free – the power of God’s Word possesses that promise. In the next post, we’ll see how to maximize that freedom by committing to following Jesus.

Scattering & Gathering

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(Genesis 11:1-9)

Ever since man has worked the ground to grow food and live off the land, scattering and gathering have been a part of life. First, the seed for crops is sown – spread out and scattered. That scattered seed is then watered, either by means of rain from the sky or different types of irrigation that have been designed or developed over time. The crop is cared for and tended to, and finally, when the time is right, what is grown is harvested. The seed that was first scattered is then finally gathered at the harvest. 

Scattering and gathering is also a picture of what God has been doing with his people throughout history.

From the very beginning, God called his people to scatter. God’s instructions to the world’s first family was this: “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Following the Flood, God called for his people to scatter again. “Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1). We might notice also that each time God called for man to scatter over all the earth and fill it, it had the promise of his blessing attached to it. It was therefore a good thing God was calling man to do. Scattering was sanctified!  

Whereas scattering took place from the beginning, gathering will take place on the last day. In reference to his return on the Last Day, Jesus explained, “And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (Mark 13:27). In the very first days, God called for man to spread out and scatter, but on the last day, those who are his will be gathered together. Paul, who teaches about what that Last Day will be like in 2 Thessalonians, introduces his teaching with the words, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him,…” (2:1). At that point, there will be no more need to scatter, for after all things have been carried out as the Lord said they would be, all that will remain is for Jesus to return to gather his believers together to be with him in the new heaven and earth at his designated time. 

This morning, we see a smaller scale picture of the scattering & gathering in two major events that are sandwiched in the timeline of history. And we see it being carried out whether mankind initially desires to oblige or not. If God desires to scatter, and man rebels, God will make a way to ensure that his desire is carried out. Furthermore, where it would appear from a human perspective that there are far too many obstacles or hindrances in the way of the gathering of people of all tribes, nations, and languages all over the world, God will make a way, as he did on the Day of Pentecost. 

Some might write off the account of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11 as a man-made story to explain the origin of multiple languages. If the Bible is viewed like any other normal book, this account might conveniently suit such an interpretation. But the Bible isn’t like any other book.

However, even if it did read like any other book, then what would the context tell us? So far in Genesis, we have had only narrative accounts, including historical events with historical people and places named. From where would we suddenly be justified in writing off this event as a made-up tale to explain the origin of languages? What this account shows instead is the sad reality that even after the Flood, mankind was still naturally egotistical and rebellious against God. He continued to disregard God’s clear command to scatter, the command given both at creation and repeated again after the Flood.

But why should God be so bothered by this tower building? Why did this matter? Wouldn’t it be a good thing for people to band together? Why would God be opposed to that? Was he just salty that they disregarded his command?

The answer, in part, is found in the purpose behind the plan to build: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves” (v.4). “So that we may make a name for ourselves.” Where were their hearts? Where was their concern? What does it mean to desire to “make a name for oneself?”

It means to make it about me. That was their concern. It has been and continues to be one of the greatest fears we face: insignificance. Irrelevance. The result is insecurity. Why else was there such a concern about making a name for themselves?

Doesn’t this reflect something rather telling about human nature? We know something is off. We’re naturally like the individual in the relationship who cannot trust, who has a paranoid fear that the other is either ready to move on or is cheating or it’s only a matter of time before they will.

That insecurity comes from the fear of insignificance, and it’s normal for us because it’s justified. We are so well aware of our offenses against a holy God that we rightly sense insignificance. We might mask it behind bravado or brash confidence, but even that is to go out of our way to make sure others don’t sense our insecurity. We posture and puff ourselves up to hide any scent of insecurity that others may pick up. We are terrified of our worst fear being realized: that we don’t matter. 

And while we are so focused on our fear of not mattering, of not being significant, our attention is not on the compassionate God who loves with an everlasting love and longs for everyone to know that love. We’re so preoccupied with worry over being insignificant that we fail to turn our attention to the God who assures us that we aren’t! So we build, we achieve, we produce, we create, we… do whatever we can to make a name for ourselves, to be significant – the whole while overlooking the God who made us significant by redeeming us in the first place!

When we are so enamored with significance, we will resort to anything for attention. Even disobedience. Children disobey, yes, because they are sinners and disobedience comes naturally. But it is often more than that. As the competition for mom or dad’s attention intensifies (due to busy schedules and attachment to screens, for example), even the negative attention due to disobedience is still attention. And attention = significance in their minds. 

By default then, it isn’t about God, which the people at Babel make abundantly clear in seeking to avoid the very thing God commanded them to do! They stated, “otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v.4). There it is, plain as day – direct defiance to what God commanded them to do, and so casually, at that, as if it made perfect sense for them to want to avoid being scattered, to avoid doing the very thing God commanded them to do.

How relatable! Christian congregations have always reflected this same challenge. When a mission congregation is established, it starts with not only a genuine desire but also a need to reach out, to scatter, to carry out the mission Jesus gave his Church at Ascension. If they don’t grow, they won’t be around very long!

But, as God blesses those efforts and the mission congregation grows, its focus slowly starts to shift to internal priorities. Property is purchased. Buildings are constructed. Various ministries are established to meet the members’ needs. And the spirit of scattering to reach the lost becomes overshadowed by the preference to gather with the saints. Ministry becomes about maintaining and sustaining what has been built; scattering becomes work for others to do. 

But the scattering and gathering are an ongoing cycle that will repeat until Jesus returns. It wasn’t only at Babel that the Lord scattered; he did the same thing after he gathered his Church at Pentecost! Those believers who had gathered from “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2) would be scattered back to their respective homes. The good news – the same news that had converted 3,000 souls on Pentecost – would be scattered to the ends of the earth. 

That is the same cycle God calls us to today. Gather, as we do each week, so that the Spirit may continue in us the same work he poured out on his church on Pentecost – filling and fueling us with Word and Sacrament, to equip and stir us up to be scattered out again for his work each week.

It never stops and it will always be necessary. As long as we look to all of the wrong places for significance, it will leave a trail of sin, which calls for the ongoing pattern of confession and absolution. Again and again we turn away from God and to the world in so many little ways, looking for what only God can give. Instead of allowing us to stumble away in such selfish pursuits, he gathers us again and again to show us how much we matter to him by directing us to his cross.

And we are renewed. We are restored. We are refreshed to carry out the work of scattering once again to go gather in other souls to become saints as the Holy Spirit works the same work in their hearts. 

It isn’t just on Sundays that God comes down to his people personally in Word and Sacrament; he has come down to his people personally throughout history. He did that very thing at Babel, too: “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building” (Gen. 11:5). The Lord came down – don’t miss this! If God doesn’t come down to intervene, our situation is hopeless! God does this repeatedly in the OT, paying visits to mankind (pre-incarnate Christ), and thank goodness he does! (Gen. 18; Ex. 3:8 burning bush).

Yet the greatest “coming down” of the Lord was at the incarnation. When God-in-the-flesh was born into this world on Christmas, he did more than simply stop in for a visit; he lived and dwelled among those he came to save! What does that say about a personal God and how much he cares about his fallen creation?

This really gets at the other reason God was concerned about the building going on at Babel. In addition to the self-centered desire for significance, God’s name was at risk of being left on the back burner. God knows what happens when people make it a goal to make a name for themselves. When concern for our own name and reputation is what fills our hearts and drives us, then there is no more space in our hearts for the LORD. And that is the greatest tragedy imaginable. 

The reason God wanted them to scatter? So that his name would reach the ends of the earth! So that no one would fail to be able to hear of the salvation promised only through him. The importance of this cannot be understated. Just recently in Bible Information Class, the question came up, as it often does: What about those in such and such places/countries who never had the chance to hear about Jesus? Well, this very lesson underscores why it was so important for God’s people to scatter and take God’s name with them. Because when that doesn’t happen, false religions and all forms of idolatry will fill the vacuum left in man’s heart. 

So, for the sake of souls, God took matters into his own hands at Babel and forced his people to spread out. On Pentecost, God again took matters into his own hands and miraculously equipped the gospel to be scattered, removing any language barrier that might have hindered it. Still today God will take matters into his own hands to see that his Word is scattered. Where believers are reluctant to do so, he is not above taking matters into his own hands to see that this important work is carried out. After all, he desires that when he returns, it will be to gather a large harvest of souls for eternity. Let us then be a part of his scattering and gathering so that he returns on the Last Day to find the large harvest of souls for which he longs.

Victorious Over Meaninglessness

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(Luke 24:44-53)

Aristotle was on to something with the phrase, “well-begun is nearly done.” He was emphasizing the importance of not only getting a project started, but starting it in a strong or favorable way. The theory is that the rest of the work comes much easier from that point on, significantly increasing the likelihood of completion. 

The expression also applied to Jesus’ words at his ascension. Well-begun is nearly done. Jesus got the mission of the church rolling, and he got it off on the right foot: he suffered, died, and he rose. That’s a great start! When on the cross Jesus cried, “It is finished,” he was speaking of your salvation. That part is done. There is no unfinished business or requirement that needs to be met in order to restore a perfect relationship with God that had previously been ripped apart by our sin. It’s all done. We’re all good with God.

But just as surely as Jesus stated, “it is finished,” from the cross on Good Friday, from the clouds at the Ascension, Jesus might as well have said, “It isn’t finished.” Because it isn’t – that is, his mission. No, Jesus’ mission – your mission, our mission, the church’s mission, is why we’re here – because that job is not yet finished. We’re here – living, breathing, alive – because that mission has not yet been completed. You’ll know when it is completed because that will be the day Jesus returns to put a permanent end to suffering and sin.

Until then, though, our mission continues. After beginning the mission and completing the backbone of it in order for us to continue carrying it out, Jesus spelled out our mission. Before returning to the right hand of the Father, he said, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (v. 46-48).

Jesus did the heavy lifting to solidify our salvation. In truth, Jesus is still every bit as much the one who does the heavy lifting today. His disciples are the ones who bring that mission to completion by witnessing to others that Jesus has already done the heavy lifting. Let’s be a little clearer: you are the ones who bring that mission to completion by witnessing to others that Jesus has already done the heavy lifting.

You get to tell others to put down their heavy burdens. You get to tell others to set down their work righteousness. You get to tell others they can let go of their guilt. You get to tell others they do not need to keep carrying their past record of wrongs. You get to tell others their sentence of an eternity of community service has been commuted. You get to tell others there is rest in Jesus, forgiveness from the Faithful One and salvation in the Savior. 

That is your mission, my mission, our mission. Is it clear? Do you need more explanation? Is something fuzzy? Good news: Jesus stands by ready to clarify, just as he did with the first disciples. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (v.45).

Consider how the phrase “open-minded” is used today. It is not usually a compliment when someone tells you that you need to be more open-minded about something. It implies you’re stuck in your ways, that you can only see a matter one way, that you are incapable of viewing it any other way. So here, Luke uses the phrase to indicate that Jesus’ disciples had a very limited understanding of Scripture. The very purpose of opening their minds was for them to gain a better grasp of Scripture. Why did they need a better grasp of Scripture? So they could understand the mission better, not just in terms of what to do, but why to do it.

Much is made of this in the way of leadership development these days, and rightly so. If people are only given a “what” – the nuts and bolts and ABCs of carrying out some task, they lack the drive to carry it out. They need to know the “why” – “why does this matter? why is this important?” Jesus covered the “why” by reviewing his suffering, death, and resurrection, thereby setting the tone for rolling out the mission: “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (v.47-48). 

When a believer or a group of believers has lost sight of the mission, minds need to be opened to understand the Scriptures and get back to the “why” of our mission: the good news of Jesus’ perfect life, willing suffering, innocent death, powerful resurrection, and glorious ascension. These are the bedrock of our very being. These remind us of where we stand with God and why – we are at peace with him – sins paid for in full – because Jesus did it all. That news is for us to soak up for ourselves!

That news is also for us to share with others! Nothing has changed in the 2,000 years since Jesus ascended; the mission remains the same. We soak up that message; we share that message.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, located in Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia, is a monument dedicated to all of the unidentified military service members who have died fighting in our nation’s wars. It is guarded by soldiers of the United States Army, and it is considered one of the highest honors to be selected to serve as a sentinel (fewer than 20 percent of volunteers are accepted). Visitors can watch the ceremony that takes place as the guard is changed at various times. When that takes place, the guard being relieved will state to the oncoming guard, “Post and orders remain as directed.” The other then responds, “Orders acknowledged.” In other words, the mission to stand guard at the tomb is the same today as it was on the day it was first given, to stand guard at the tomb. 

We need to hear the same reminder today, “post and orders remain as directed.” The mission that Jesus gave to his church at his ascension is the same mission of his church today. Nothing has changed. “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (v.47-48). Nothing has changed. That is our mission. 

In addition to speaking of opening the disciples’ minds, there is another term that Jesus used that includes the idea of changing one’s mind. That is essentially the meaning of the word, “repentance,” which Jesus stated was a part of our mission. As disciples today witness, the Holy Spirit changes minds through the Word. Repentance takes place as others are led to see their sin and rejoice in their Savior and his forgiveness. Minds – and eternities along with them! – are changed as the mission is carried out. Repentance changes minds about Jesus.

Do our minds “need to be changed?” Does repentance need to take place where we have lost sight of the mission? Do we need to confess that the reason we’re not carrying out the mission is that we’re not caring about the mission? Do we need to acknowledge that we’ve too readily admitted to failing at the mission but have not been very quick to make any changes and resume carrying out the mission we’ve been given? Have we too often told ourselves the “I’m too _______ to carry out the mission” – too timid, too inexperienced, too young, too old, too tired, too… etc.? 

The truth is that we’re “too” forgiven not to carry on the mission. Jesus takes the least qualified, and sends them – sends us – to carry out his mission. That was who he sent at his Ascension, and that is who he sends today. And those he sends, he equips, just as he did ten days after his Ascension through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. That was what Jesus was promising in verse 49: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 

To those willing to carry on the mission today, Jesus promises the same powerful Spirit. He equips us with the Word of God, he has dressed us properly in our baptism, and he feeds us regularly through the Sacrament. We lack nothing for carrying out the mission. Jesus needs only hearts stirred by the gospel and lips willing to speak. That’s really all he is looking for, and he can work with that wherever he finds it. Will he find those two things when he looks to you for them?

We live in a culture that clamors for fame. Influencers hope their social media accounts blow up and lead to fame. YouTube offers the hope of a viral video that might pave the way to fame. Sadly, the prevalence of shootings can be tied to a desire for fame – even from such tragedy. In a fame-focused culture, let’s commit to the same pursuit; let’s chase after fame.

But not for you and me. Let’s make Jesus famous. Let’s recapture for a world disenfranchised by the Christian Church what Christianity is all about: Jesus. Let’s stop praying small and start playing big. Let’s stop tearing down the world and focus more on lifting up Christ. Less of digging in our heels and more of digging into the Word. Let’s worry less about making Christianity unpopular and focus more on making Jesus famous.

After all, he got it all started – “well begun is nearly done.” Let’s faithfully finish what he started. Let’s let him bring to completion through us what he brought to completion on the cross. At his Ascension, he spelled out his mission clearly for us. Let’s recommit to carrying it out by making our lives less about us and more about Jesus as we carry out his purposes. Jesus’ resurrection – and ascension – have given your life meaning – let’s let our lives mean as much as possible in pursuit of winning as many souls as we possibly can together!

Victorious Over Grief

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(John 16:16-24)

Agree or disagree? Christians are better off than non-Christians. You might presume that how a person answers that question depends on whether or he or she is a Christian. If you are not a Christian, you would likely disagree with the statement (otherwise you’d have become a Christian, right?). If you are a Christian, then you might either agree or disagree. One Christian might have a number of unbelieving friends who appear to have great lives, while another Christian might completely agree on the basis of God’s promises in Jesus, he is always better off. 

Either way, the point is not to nail down who is better off, but rather to nudge us to think about exactly what criteria we’d consider to determine our stance. If the criteria is based on circumstances or situations, then disappointment will always follow. At that same time, how is it that some Christians who have endured exhausting lives are some of the most joy-filled people you’ll ever meet?

That would seem to go against the flow of conventional thinking. We tend to think that joy and happiness exist in the absence of adversity, not in the presence of it. How then does one explain it? How can some who have had a very rough life still be so full of joy? Let Jesus explain for us this morning. 

Be ready, though, because his words might catch you off guard. “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve… A woman giving birth to a child has pain  because her time has come; So with you: Now is your time of grief…” (v.20-22a). Jesus plainly states that life right now will be painful and hard! So for those who aren’t Christians, after reading that, let me try to read your mind. I’m guessing you hear those words and say to yourself, “Where do I sign up??? This whole Christian thing sounds like a blast!”

Now you can be turned off by that, embittered by that, resentful of Jesus for that… or you can be comforted, because as it turns out, Jesus was a straight-shooter with us. He didn’t paint some pretend pollyanna promise for us, but gave it to us like it is.

If you’ve ever watched the WandaVision series, it’s based on a main super-hero character who has gone through some heavy trauma. In response, she fabricates an ideal “Leave it to Beaver”-type life. Her husband and family are perfect. Her neighbors are perfect and the neighborhood is perfect. Everything is perfect.

Jesus didn’t pretend. He said, “Life will stink. Life will be hard.” And he told us this not to embitter us, but to prepare us, so that when we encounter that reality, we aren’t shocked, we aren’t surprised or taken aback. Rather, we conclude, “Huh, it’s just like Jesus said it would be.” 

Now some may take issue with this because they’ve been sold on the idea that if there’s really something to this whole God thing, then nothing bad should ever happen in the world. However, that starts with a the false premise that the world could even come to an agreement on what is good (e.g., is the right to have an abortion good or not?)! All we have to do is ask opinions on hot-button issues and we see very quickly that no two people agree on what “good” is. Therefore, how could God possibly satisfy every individual’s idea of good in the face of so much contradiction?

Another thought presumes that if the world is good and bad things happen, then those bad things stand as evidence against God. But what if, on the basis of all-too-common atrocities like church and store shootings we flip that thought around: the world actually isn’t a good place – it’s a bad one! Then any good experience at all in such a bad world would be evidence of a good God!

Friends, if Jesus tells us what to expect now, and it plays out just like he said it would, doesn’t that grab our attention? If it’s just like Jesus said it would be now, doesn’t that give Jesus more credibility when he also tells us what it’s going to be like later? Doesn’t that make us think twice before dismissing what he says about our future as well?

If a year ago your financial advisor predicted accurately exactly where your tanking investments would be today, as tough a pill as it might be to swallow, wouldn’t you have more faith in him, not less, despite a plummeting portfolio? Wouldn’t you feel more confident with someone like that managing your retirement than an advisor who predicted earth-shattering gains, only to have to come up with some excuse or explanation for why he was so horribly mistaken? 

So let’s look at what else Jesus promises in these words, for they are far from all gloom and doom! “Your grief will turn to joy” (v.20)… “you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (v.22)… “your joy will be complete” (v.24). That’s Jesus repeating himself quite a bit in just these few verses – you think maybe there is a point he’s trying to get across? What was to be the source of all this joy?

In this case, it was Jesus promising his disciples that death wouldn’t have the last word, but that he would return to them from the grave. In his first words of this section, “Jesus went on to say, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’” (v.16). In a few days, Jesus would die and his disciples would not see him. Three days after that, however, they would see him again after he rose from the dead. He would vacate his tomb and through his victorious resurrection restore their joy. He would permanently rewrite the story so that death would not be the end. Gut-wrenching grief would give birth to the most jubilant joy!

For us that joy doubles, for not only do we have the benefit of looking back to see that Jesus made good on his promise to the disciples, but we also have the joy of looking ahead to his return on the last day when he ushers in eternal victory! Even before that, the assurance of Jesus’ resurrection and undoing of death makes a world of difference in the face of the ultimate grief of losing a loved one. 

It has not escaped my notice over the course of my life that there is a drastic difference in how people of other religions or no religion speak in the face of death compared to how Christians speak at the death of fellow Christians. I have observed others speak of a hope or an optimism that their loved one is in a better place, but noticeably lacking in that hope and optimism is any confidence. The Christian, though, even through countless tears, is able to confidently find peace not in hoping or being optimistic, but in knowing their loved one is in heaven. 

And before one writes off such confidence as misguided arrogance, realize that the difference comes from the founder himself. The best every other religion or religious figure or book ever promises is a chance at eternal life if the individual has been good enough.

Not so with Jesus! Jesus promises eternal life to all who are in him. So call him a liar, dismiss his promise, but at least acknowledge that the Christian’s confidence in the face of death is based on a very real and very clear promise, and not possibility, which is the best every other religion claims. And being fully confident of what the future holds is why many a Christian is so filled with joy in the present, right now. Yes, even in the face of grieving. Even in the face of adversity. 

We have an elementary school at my church, and in the morning I am there to greet kids an parents as they arrive at school. I think if you were to ask the students and parents how many times they’ve seen me in a bad or bitter mood, they wouldn’t likely recall any. But if you think that’s becuase I’ve never had a bad day or had anything go wrong on any of those mornings, you’d be wrong! Of course I have! We all have!

But still there is joy – every single day there is joy. Why? Jesus. My joy comes as a result of confidence of knowing exactly who I am in Jesus Christ, and the joy of knowing exactly what my future in Jesus Christ holds. In Jesus I am forgiven. In Jesus I am loved. In Jesus my reservation and home in heaven has already been secured. So there is joy. Always joy.

Yes, troubles will come. But Jesus overcomes trouble. In fact he said that very thing! At the end of this same chapter from John, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v.33).

Jesus’ words this morning are profound. They aren’t what we might expect. They’re profound in part, at least, because they’re… normal. Average. Real. He’s not the helicopter parent who pretends that nothing bad will ever happen to us in this world. It will, because it’s not the world he created, but a broken knock-off. Of course it will let us down! 

But that trouble won’t last. While I can’t personally relate to the comparison Jesus makes, the mothers gathered here this morning can. In referring to the temporary grief of this world that will be followed by the permanent joy of the next, Jesus compared it to a woman in childbirth. “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world” (v.21). That moment when a mother first holds in her arms the very baby that she has been holding in her womb for 9 months is a moment of elated joy that eclipses the pain of childbirth. Gone is the grief; it has been overshadowed by overwhelming joy!

Yet even that joy will eventually fade. All of this world’s joy is short-lived and fleeting. It is quickly countered by discouragement and disappointment. The quick expiration date on the world’s joy means that it has such a short shelf-life! It spoils so soon! 

But you know what joy will not fade? The joy of Jesus, a joy that can never be taken away. That joy will lack nothing, but will “complete” and “no one will take [it] away.” That joy permeates our school – students and teachers alike! That joy is evident in our church congregation and compels us to gather together in an often joyless world. Because we know that here, in this place, where Jesus is the center of all that we do, his resurrection promises us joy; it is the promise that in him we are victorious over grief!

Victory Over Lovelessness

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(1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

You could write this post. Help me out here. It goes something like this. We read this description of love from 1 Corinthians 13 and are moved by it. These are the kinds of poetic verses young couples want to include in their marriage ceremony. These are the kinds of words we want bursting out of the greeting card we give to that special someone. We are drawn to the beautiful depiction of love in these verses.

We are also conflicted. Beautiful as they are, they serve a dual purpose. They do not only show us what ideal love looks like; they expose quite clearly what our love does not look like.

You’ve seen the side-by-side pictures comparing the frame-worthy picturesque Pinterest project right next to the real-life cringe-worthy attempts at those projects. It’s laughable how drastically different the ideal is from the real-life attempt. By comparison, the DIY attempt looks as if a toddler tried it (no offense, toddlers). That’s how we feel about this description of love. It is a breathtakingly beautiful, awe-inspiring ideal. But it also makes our attempts at love look like a disastrous DIY fail. 

Then we return back to these verses again to see the perfect love of Jesus. Thank goodness in his perfect love he forgives our lovelessness. Phew! The end.

Then what? What changes? Eventually, we’ll come across the same section of Scripture again, but what will have changed? Anything? Or have we become so accustomed to the same pattern that we haven’t even bothered to notice how little our love changes from one “love sermon” to the next?

As we consider these words yet again, let’s do so in light of Paul’s reasoning in verse 11. “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” While Paul is making the point that our Christian lives on this side of heaven will never measure up to our perfect knowledge and understanding on the other side, his words force us to deal with the question of whether we’re still babes in the faith. Are we children or are we maturing and developing into adult Christians? More specific to these verses from 1 Corinthians, how is that reflected in the way that we love others?

Let’s start with revisiting how instrumental love is to God. Consider where love ranks in God’s eyes, based on what the Holy Spirit led Paul to write in chapters 12 & 13 of 1 Corinthians. The chapter right before this one covers what is an extremely popular topic among Christians: spiritual gifts.

Read through it and you’ll see Paul mention all of these super cool gifts that the Holy Spirit poured out on all believers to serve each other and build up the early church. He refers to stuff like the ability to heal sick people and perform miracles and speak in tongues and prophesy – all kinds of awesome gifts, and all of them important! As Paul wraps up the section encouraging the believers to put their respective gifts to work, he writes something that catches our attention: “But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31).

What? Does Paul mean to say that as amazing as stuff like the ability to heal sick people and perform miracles and speak in tongues and prophesy are, there is something greater??? An even more excellent way??? Something even more worthwhile to pursue???

You might understandably expect that Paul would be talking about faith. After all, it’s one of his favorite themes in so many of his letters in the New Testament of the Bible: righteousness by faith; faith, not works; saved by faith; the gift of faith, etc. Paul covers the topic of faith so much that it would be a relatively safe bet to presume that’s where he was going with this, that surely faith would be the greatest gift, the most excellent way. 

And indeed Paul does mention faith, but not to stress it in the way we might have expected. He writes, “and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (v.2).

Whoa. Is that a typo? Did Paul – the fanboy of faith – really just write that a person who has a mountain-moving faith but is devoid of love is nothing??? Yes, he did. Yikes!

And that’s not all! It isn’t just faith that love leaves in its dust, but hope as well. Check out the last verse of the whole love chapter and see what Paul says. “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (13:13). So love does not merely trump all of those outstanding spiritual gifts, but also tops even faith and hope! Is Paul being clear enough here for us? Love is apparently a big deal – like, the biggest deal of all! 

For that reason, this description of love in these verses ought to trouble us mightily, because if love is such a big deal to God, these verses clearly cry out against us that we’re a long way away from it!

There’s an exercise you can follow that really brings this point home. In verses 4 through the beginning of verse 8, replace the word “love” – or reference to it – with your name. So for me it would read like this: “Aaron is patient, Aaron is kind. Aaron does not envy, Aaron does not boast, Aaron is not proud. Aaron does not dishonor others, Aaron is not self-seeking, Aaron is not easily angered, Aaron keeps no record of wrongs. Aaron does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Aaron always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Aaron never fails.” Now that may have a nice ring to it, but if I actually rejoice with the truth, as the verses state, then the painful truth is that none of those statements is true! Not even close! Not for any one of us!

But that’s not the worst part. We all know our love falls short – that part’s plain as day. And we know that alone is more than enough for God to turn away from us. But it’s worse than that. I’m talking about the true barometer of our lovelessness in 12:31: “But eagerly desire the greater gifts.” It’s one thing to be willing to admit that our love falls short, to walk away confident in our forgiveness, then presume that all is good. 

But are we as willing to admit that we don’t eagerly desire to get better at it? Let’s be upfront and honest with each other: most of us really don’t want to change that much. We don’t mind admitting how loveless we often are, but it’s painful to admit the other reality of how little we desire to get any better at loving others. That might just be the hardest thing of all in the Christian faith. 

We can talk all day long about faith and hope – delightful spiritual topics, and topics that deal primarily with our personal relationship with God. And how convenient for us! After all, no one can really measure how much faith or hope I have in my heart in terms of my relationship with God. Those aren’t visible.

But love… that one can be seen. It can be felt. And so can the lack of it. And that stings us. 

We avoid becoming better at loving others because it involves real sacrifice. It involves inconvenience. It doesn’t just mean talk of putting others first, but actually loving them enough to do it. And we’d simply rather not. It’s much easier for us just to confess our love falls short, thank goodness we’re forgiven, and move on. So can’t we just confess we’re no good at it and be forgiven and call it good?

No. No, we cannot. The forgiven child of God is a changed child of God. We desire to get better at loving others. We take very seriously Paul’s charge in Romans: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (13:8). Loving others isn’t only a debt that we cannot pay off, but a debt that we don’t want to ever pay off.

Do you suppose Paul has any Spirit-inspired opinions on how best to put love into action? He does. Read what Paul writes after chapter 13 and it is quite clear that the highest expression of love is to speak God’s Word. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ by speaking the Word of God to them. Love those outside the church by speaking the Word of God to them. Love expresses itself best through lips that speak of God’s love for us in Christ and through his cross.  

There alone do we see the perfect expression of love. There we come to know what love is (1 John 3:16). There we come to appreciate how deep, how wide, and how high Christ’s love is for us (Ephesians 3:18). There we will come to see that our desire and ability to grow in loving others always flows from a deeper understanding of knowing Jesus’ love for us.

Let’s repeat that exercise from earlier and fill in the only name that works. “Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, Jesus does not boast, Jesus is not proud. Jesus does not dishonor others, Jesus is not self-seeking, Jesus is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails.”

Jesus is all of those things for us, and that is the driving force behind our desire to eagerly pursue great love, a radical love, a Christ-like love. That’s the kind of thing Paul was talking about when he wrote elsewhere, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Jesus’ love for us does not yield stagnant hearts, but servant hearts – hearts that are eager to get better at loving others. Jesus’ love for us begs to be displayed to others in a loveless world. When a loveless world sees how radical Jesus’ love is – radical enough to forgive and transform loveless you and me! – that’s how Jesus’ love changes the world, one soul at a time. 

Victorious Over Falling

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(John 10:22-30)

It’s an exciting time for parents when a child transitions from the crawling stage to starting to take those first steps. But that exciting time comes with a catch: the fear of falling. Once crawling gives way to walking, gravity suddenly becomes a much more significant concern. Parents are faced with the newfound fear of their child possibly being injured as a result of falling.

Fast-forward to the other end of life, the season of life that might find canes, walkers, or wheelchairs either welcome friends or necessary evils, depending on how one views them. Regardless, they serve a very important purpose: to help us keep our balance to avoid falling. A fall at that stage of life can result in critical injury or require surgery, and since our bodies don’t heal or recover as effectively or as quickly as they used to, falling is a legitimate fear.

But during the time in-between those two stages where, frankly, most of our lives takes place, falling isn’t as much on our radar. It’s during that time that we’re beyond the stage of those first shaky steps but not yet to the stage where our muscle strength and balance have deteriorated notably, increasing the risk of taking even the smallest steps. During that time in-between there just isn’t that much risk of falling. 

At least physically, anyway. But what about spiritually? If you think about it, the risk of falling spiritually is almost inversely proportionate to the risk of falling physically. We tend to give the most attention to spiritual things at both the early and the end stages of life, but not always as much in-between.

Look at what often happens when adults for whom spiritual matters have not been on the radar suddenly have children. Now they are thinking about baptism and what to teach their children when it comes to spirituality. We make a big deal about confirmation and are concerned about how our kids are doing spiritually in middle school and high school. Then, at some point, it becomes their responsibility and we carry on with life.

Then, as the reminder of our mortality sneaks up on us in the final stages of life, spiritual concerns bubble up to the surface once again. A family member is diagnosed with a terminal illness and we realize we don’t know what they believe. A friend of a friend asks for prayers for her elderly parents, and we don’t know where they stand spiritually. The health of a dear friend is slowly declining and, as it takes a turn for the worse, we regret not having talked more about Jesus and find ourselves worrying about what will happen when death arrives.

But in the middle, in-between those two stages, well, we get busy and life happens. So many things going on. So much to do. We have so many responsibilities and obligations for others that we shelf the spiritual stuff for ourselves for a time, promising we’ll get back to it later, when we have more time. And we know how that plays out. 

As we give our attention to where we stand spiritually, let’s be aware that perhaps the season of life that poses for us the greatest risk of falling away might just be the season of life during which we are least concerned about it. Nevertheless, it is one thing to be aware of it, and another to be worried by it. The Word of God does warn us frequently about being aware of it – no doubt about it. However, Jesus himself speaks to us words of safety and security in the face of uncertainty so that we are not unsettled or overwhwelmed by worry.

That’s the difference between believers and the unbelieving Jewish group crowding around Jesus in the Colonnade during Hannukah. Jesus couldn’t provide them with any hope.

If we were recreating the scene from John 10 today, there would be a van nearby with individuals monitoring the situation and recording the conversation. Those gathered around Jesus would have wire taps hidden on them to make sure they catch Jesus’ response. In other words, their inquiries were not coming from a place of curious, inquisitive exploration, as if they were genuinely seeking spiritual truth and yearning to know the way to salvation. No, those were things they were already convinced they knew. 

The real intent of their question was to hear Jesus make what they had already concluded were blasphemous claims that he was in fact God. In their minds, their question was an open door for Jesus to incriminate himself by his response. “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly” (v.24). If he had told them plainly what they wanted to hear they would have had enough witnesses to convict him of blasphemy. 

Instead of giving them the response they hoped for, Jesus called them out with a blunt, straightforward condemnation. “Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep’” (v. 25-26). Ouch. “You do not believe. You are not my sheep.” Jesus very pointedly stressed what was lacking in their spiritual lives, and the problem was not on his end; it was on theirs. It didn’t matter who he was if they refused to believe it. 

After Jesus called them out in their unbelief, he then offered some of the greatest comfort possible for believers. Jesus’ describes the relationship he has with his sheep. When the devil raises question marks in your mind over whether or not salvation or forgiveness are really yours, replace those doubts and that despair with the confidence that you are numbered among the sheep of Jesus’ flock. But how can you ever really be sure? Listen to – and believe – the words of Jesus, our Good Shepherd.

When you get into a car, there are a number of features that provide assurance that you’ll be safe while driving. You buckle your seat belt. Air bags will deploy in the case of an accident. Even before any of that happens, there are cameras and sensors and beeps and dings that alert you if you are too close to another vehicle or object.

Just as all of these safety features work together to help you feel secure while driving, so Jesus provides a number of descriptions that apply to believers that help you feel secure as sheep of his flock. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (v.27-28).

In contrast to those individuals challenging Jesus in the temple, the ones who don’t believe because they aren’t Jesus’ sheep (v.26), Jesus states, “My sheep listen to my voice… and they follow me” (v.27). Jesus is reassuring us by reminding us that doubts about whether or not we’re really his sheep can be put to rest by the fact that we long to hear his voice and follow him.

While no flawed sheep will ever demonstrate a round-the clock perfect desire to listen to Jesus’ voice at every moment, any desire whatsoever to listen to his voice is a reflection that we are his sheep. While sheep may from time to time ignore the voice of their shepherd and may wander off, that doesn’t discount that his is the only voice they will follow when they do listen.

Jesus even spells out why his sheep will listen and follow when he says, “I give them eternal life” (v.28a). The shepherd speaks words of life and forgiveness and his sheep listen and believe. As one of Jesus’ imperfect sheep, Peter explained why he listened to and followed Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Only Jesus gives away for free what every other religious teaching demands must be earned. So who else would we listen to? Who else would we follow?

Even more comforting is the flip-side of that relationship: the familiarity that Jesus has with his sheep. “I know them, ” he says (v.27b). Jesus does not know of you. Yours is not merely a name that has passed by his ears. He hasn’t simply heard your name come up here or there in conversation. You aren’t to him a friend of a friend of a friend.

He knows you.

He knows you better than you know you. He anticipates your needs before you express them. He plans to meet your needs even before you’ve worried about them. Even though our knowledge of him is so limited, his knowledge of us lacks nothing. Our knowledge of Jesus will always be lacking; his knowledge of us never will.

And speaking of “never,” there are two promises Jesus makes about his sheep that offer more security than anything else. Jesus promises that his sheep will “never perish” and that “no one will snatch them out of [his] hand” (v.28).

Do not allow the skeptic inside you spring up to cast doubt on these words of Jesus! They are words of rich gospel comfort for wandering and wondering sheep! If you are a sheep who has wandered, straying for a time, hear these words of Jesus and take them to heart! If you wonder if you have met the necessary requirements for being included as a sheep of Jesus’ flock, drop those doubts and believe these words of your Good Shepherd! There is no requirement you or I could ever meet – nor is there a need to, because our Good Shepherd has met them all.    

At the cross, we see the Good Shepherd double as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). The price he paid is how we know we are his sheep – sheep who will never perish or be snatched away! These words of Jesus this morning are not a “how to” primer on what is required in order to be Jesus’ sheep; they are so much more! They are the blessed assurance that what the Good Shepherd has already done is what alone qualifies us to be his sheep. 

Notice that of all that Jesus says about his sheep, he only mentions two actions on the part of his sheep – listening and following (and even those are only to direct us to the source of eternal life!); the rest is all on the Good Shepherd, Jesus.

So he consoles concerned sheep not by emphasizing the need to act more like good sheep or behave more like sheep should so you can be sure, but by pointing out what he has done and who he is. It’s what the Good Shepherd has done – and not the sheep – that lets us know where we stand before him! Let these words of Jesus be what they are: comforting assurances for shy sheep unsure of where they stand before God. 

Don’t let Jesus’ promises here be stripped of their power and peace! Do not immediately ask yourself, “Well how can I be sure of this? How can I know that this promise applies to me, that I will never perish or that I will never be snatched out of his hand?” Stop the self-evaluation that insists on tying the confidence of our salvation to what good sheep we are! Stop evaluating whether or not this truly applies to other Christians on the basis of what good sheep they are (or aren’t)!

Jesus says nothing about the sheep being good enough or too bad to be his sheep; he is simply describing his sheep, the ones he redeemed, the sheep he brought into his flock by his grace – not because they were “good enough” sheep!

We rob ourselves of the comfort and peace that are so unique to Christianity when we insist on twisting Scripture into a metric or a gauge which has as its sole purpose to help us determine who’s in and who’s out! 

The Scriptures were not given for that purpose, but rather to point us to Christ, to the Good Shepherd, so that if we truly want to know if we are his sheep, then we don’t look in the mirror; we look to the cross and to the tomb. There alone will we see all the proof we need that Jesus’ promises are true: we – his sheep – will never perish or be snatched away. Thank God for our Good Shepherd! 

Victorious Over Failure

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(John 21:1-14)

Have you gotten used to it yet? Being a failure? Wait, am I not supposed to say that? Is it not OK for me to say that about you? Why not?

After all, you say it to yourself more than anyone else, don’t you? Where would you like to start? How about relationships? Single? You can try to convince yourself that it’s because you’re picky or have high standards or that there are too many jerks in the world, but the whole reason you try to convince yourself of that in the first place is to counter the much louder voice in the back of your mind contending that you’re single because you’re not good enough and you’re a failure when it comes to relationships. Married? The same voice calls you a failure as a spouse when compared to that other wife or husband. Would you prefer to talk about your job? Why are you still stuck at the same job or haven’t advanced at all? Try to convince yourself it’s because you like it or that it’s good enough to pay the bills, but the reason you have to convince yourself of that is to counter the louder voice inside your head that is constantly murmuring what a failure you are. Would you like to talk about how you rate as a Christian? That might be the loudest voice of all: “Failure.”

Failure, or more accurately, our fear of failure, is crippling. Have you ever stopped to think about how many absolutely amazing advancements, how much progress, and how many good things have never happened simply because people with great ideas and the ability to back them up were afraid of failure? How many times have we let past failures predetermine future failures and give up? And how many times have we legitimately been crushed by failure?

I don’t know that they were crushed by it. Perhaps they were used to it and realized it went hand-in-hand with the profession of fishing, but the disciples who made a living by it had just experienced it again. John tells us, “It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing” (v.1b-3). Again, it not an uncommon experience as fisherman to come up empty-handed. But any way you look at it, they failed at catching anything all night.  

While this definition of insanity has repeatedly been misattributed to Albert Einstein, you’ve likely heard someone share it: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. The point of the expression is to state the foolishness of continuing to take the same actions or make the same choices that haven’t worked, but expecting that eventually, you’ll get different results. The intent is to encourage a person to stop wasting time doing what isn’t working and try something else. Change it up. If doing the same thing over isn’t netting you any result, then do something different.

So how do you suppose it sounded to the disciples to hear a voice from the shoreline engage them: “‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered. He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some’” (v.5-6). Basically then, what Jesus was saying to them was, “You know that thing you’ve been doing all night that hasn’t worked yet? Do it again and this time it will work.” Remember that they didn’t know this was Jesus speaking to them, so it would have made perfect sense for them to respond by saying, “Thanks for the advice, but we’ve been at it all night and haven’t caught anything, so we’re gonna call it a day.” 

But they didn’t. Perhaps they were compelled by the fact that they had nothing to lose – after all, what’s the worst that could happen? Their empty nets would remain empty? Or maybe they reasoned that the man from the shore had seen evidence of a school of fish on the other side of the boat. Or, maybe they recalled a previous miraculous experience when Jesus had told them to do something similar and the haul of fish nearly sunk not one, but two boats (cf. Luke 5)! 

Whatever it was that compelled them to follow the advice, the results were far different from the experience they had had all night: “When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish” (v.6). Where they had failed, Jesus blessed them with success. Throw out whatever definition of insanity you have – Jesus changed the rules. 

Doing the same things over and over, spiritually speaking, is not insanity at all. It is in fact the recipe for spiritual growth. And when we don’t tap into it, we don’t grow. Or, when we tap out of it too soon, we miss out on the benefits.

Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed illustrates this. The new believer who is overjoyed by the good news of the gospel suddenly shifts the focus to the cares and concerns of the world and away from the Word, and what happens? Shallow roots. Weeds. Growth is stunted because the new believer stopped doing the same thing – feeding that newfound faith with the Word. 

We pray… once. Twice. Nothing happens, so we stop praying for that thing. We commit to worship for a couple of weeks. Nothing happens, so we fall back into old routines of not worshipping. We give a little bit more in our offerings, but don’t see any return on my “investment,” so we resort to giving what we were previously. I do the devotional thing for a time, but it doesn’t immediately fix all of my problems, so I go back to neglecting it.

If there is one area of life in which that definition of insanity does not apply, it is in the realm of spiritual things. Our problem is not doing the same thing over and over and not getting any results; our problem is a lack of committing long-term to doing the same things over and over. Or, we give up doing the same thing before we ever see the results. We quit too soon. In that regard, in these spiritual applications, in our faith life, let’s fess up: we truly are failures. Yes, in that regard we are failures.

No, actually we’re not. The Resurrection changed that. We were failures, but Jesus’ victory over sin means our sin no longer counts against us as failures. But in order for that to all take place, Jesus had to first appear as a failure. 

There was not a single person witnessing the Crucifixion on Good Friday who would have come to any other conclusion than that Jesus had failed. Some, certainly his disciples and followers, must have put the best construction on it and concluded that his failure was no fault of his own, but the fault of a corrupt trial system and government that ensured Jesus would not get a fair shot. But still, there Jesus was, hanging on the cross, a failure.

To others, the cross was seen as the exclamation point of Jesus’ failure. Those harboring hatred and animosity toward Jesus, who had maliciously plotted his demise, were undoubtedly delighted to claim responsibility for Jesus’ failure – that was their goal all along! 

It was not only earthly opponents rejoicing in what appeared to be Jesus’ failure, but also the hoards of hell, the demons, the evil angels, collaborating to bring down the Son of Man and Son of God. They viewed Good Friday as their crowning achievement, their revenge on the God who had cast them out of heaven for their rebellion. The failure fixed to the cross was to them the view of victory.

How right they were! The cross was the symbol of victory! The death he died was the sacrifice necessary to cement certain victory! Yes, everything had gone according to Satan’s plan.

But remember that Satan is not omniscient. He had come up woefully short in his estimation of God’s almighty power and eternal plan. Satan did not even know that he and his plans were merely putty in the hands of the Designer of the universe and every living thing, and that just as he had shaped everything out of nothing, so also had the infinite God shaped his purposes out of the devil’s deplorably defiant act of rebellion.

Jesus hadn’t failed. Jesus wasn’t a failure. Not once during his lifetime, and not even in his death! Rather death meant victory! In crucifying Christ, in the ultimate act of irony, Satan was responsible for offering up the very thing sacrifice that would be his undoing. By hammering nails into Jesus on the cross, Satan effectively hammered the nails in his own coffin. 

This is all true because Jesus is gone from the grave. This is all true because the tomb is empty. This is all true because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead! For that reason, seemingly insignificant accounts like the one before us this morning are so significant. With each resurrection appearance, Jesus rubbed his victory in Satan’s face. He turned the tables on Satan and made it abundantly clear that it was not Jesus, but the father of lies who had failed. Satan had failed. Satan is a failure.

Do you remember to remind him of that when he whispers words of failure in your ears? Do you remind him of that in the thick of the battle when he presses his hardest against you in the heat of temptation? Do you remind him even then that he has failed, that he is a failure, and that in Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection you are a victor who refuses to be his victim? Do you remind him that even in the moments when your sin appears to hand the victory trophy over to him, he still has no right to it because grace and forgiveness flow from the tomb with such a force that not even his successful temptations can withstand it?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Easter Sunday means that grace wins! Forgiveness wins! Jesus has won – and his victory frees us to live in the supreme confidence that we are victorious over failure. Now then, dear friends, do just this one thing: live like it! 

This wasn’t the first miraculous catch of fish for the disciples. The disciples had previously had an experience with Jesus nearly swamping their boats with a huge haul of fish.

But the outcome this time was different. Peter previously was wrought with fear at his realization of who Jesus was in that former experience, pleading that the Lord depart from his presence, for he was a miserable sinner. Now we see Peter behave quite differently! He doesn’t shy away from the Savior in fear, but rather jumps out of the boat in an effort to get to him as quickly as he possibly can. “Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.” (v.7). He can’t get to his risen Savior soon enough! And notice, even though John is very specific about how abundant their catch of fish was, the disciples are hardly distracted by the fish because they’re so focused on Jesus!

What accounts for the totally different reactions from the disciples in these otherwise somewhat similar miraculous events? The Resurrection. Jesus lives, and the impact, the difference it makes, is shown in how changed their reactions and their lives are. 

The Resurrection has really changed your life, too. It turned failures into followers. It took us from failure to faithful. So be unafraid to do the same thing over and over and over – to put your faith into practice again and again, because the result will not be failure, but fruit – fruit in your own life and fruit that the living Jesus will use to build up his church. 

Victorious Over Suffering

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(Revelation 1:9-18)

What’s the most painful experience of suffering you’ve ever had? Was it physical or was it an emotionally draining experience? Some of us have sustained multiple significant injuries as a result of a devastating accident, possibly resulting in chronic pain. Severe sickness – or the treatment of it – can lead to pretty serious suffering, too. Maybe the worst bout of suffering came because of financial loss or a relational hardship. It’s a sobering reminder of the reality of this fallen world we call home that we could go on for quite some time sharing stories of personal suffering that we’ve experienced or even are currently in the midst of experiencing.

Then there is the kind of suffering we want to give our attention to in this post: spiritual suffering. What’s been the most painful experience of suffering you’ve had because of who you are in Jesus? I probably tend to diminish this area of suffering because it seems so unfair for us to complain of spiritual suffering when there are Christians in parts of the world who live in daily fear of physical injury or even death because of their faith. They worship Jesus where laws forbid it, resulting in their living under a cloud of constant suffering. 

But we, too, experience spiritual suffering because of Jesus. Relationships have ended or become extremely strained because of how others view our faith or have fallen from it themselves. Hostility or ridicule in the workplace, whether on a small or a large scale, is not uncommon for some of us. Some experience the suffering of spiritual isolation because they are not near any Christian congregations faithful enough to God’s Word with whom they can gather.

We suffer from the frustration of being a part of an increasingly godless society, seeing sin not just tolerated, but celebrated, and it weighs heavily on our hearts. And of course, we will endure seasons of self-inflicted spiritual suffering while we grapple with certain sins that may even threaten to sever our relationship with Jesus. Those times of real testing and struggle pummel us with guilt, even causing us to tiptoe dangerously close to Judas if we despair of our forgiveness and salvation. Yes, we experience very real spiritual suffering on a variety of levels.   

So as John reveals his visions in the book we call Revelation, right away we see that the one writing these words is relatable. He isn’t addressing us as the book-smart expert with no actual experience, but one who has been – and is, even as he writes – in the midst of spiritual suffering. “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). 

He identifies himself as our “brother” and “companion” – and on what basis? On the basis of suffering as a Christian. He wrote these words while in exile, banished to isolation on an island, not because of insurrection, murder, or genocide, but because he was a Christian. It was “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

John lived during the time of guys like Saul – not the first failed Old Testament king, but Saul the persecutor and public enemy number one of Christians before he was converted to that very same Christian faith and became the apostle Paul. There was persecution against Christians on multiple fronts, from both non-Christian religious zealots and the Roman government. John was experiencing real suffering and was writing to Christians in real congregations to uplift them with real hope in the face of real suffering. This hope springs from the Resurrection and the confidence it gives us that Jesus’ victory ensures that we, too, are victorious over suffering. 

What is John’s solution to suffering? “Look at the view!” My family just returned from Yosemite. As we made our way through all the twists and turns and started to come into the Yosemite valley, we suddenly noticed some pretty impressive waterfalls to our left and pulled over to check them out. We all escaped the van to get a closer look. After some “ooohhhing” and “aaahhhing,” eventually someone in our family redirected our view to the road right in front of us and our jaws dropped as we saw the first glimpse of a truly breathtaking view: Half Dome! We had been so singularly focused on a waterfall that we missed the bigger picture – the whole view that included the majestic Half Dome!

This picture of Jesus here in verses 12-15, as well as other portions of Revelation, can grab our attention with their vivid and detailed imagery. We can easily get caught up focusing on one specific descriptive element or another, like a smaller picturesque waterfall, and end up missing out on a far more spectacular view as we fail to see the big picture

Notice who we’re seeing in these verses! This is not the Good Friday Savior who in perfect humility allowed himself to be the ultimate picture of weakness and suffering. There is no groaning, no supposed helplessness; there are no cries of mockery or jeering nearby!

No, this is a picture of the Easter Sunday Jesus, the victorious Jesus, the One who overcame our every enemy and now stands as an imposing picture of power and authority. While the many details of this image of Jesus carry with them a symbolism and figurative meaning (most of which are rather easily discovered by using the rest of the Scriptures), don’t miss the big picture; look at the view! See our victorious Savior in his resurrected and returning glory. He won! We win!

We can miss that important faith builder and confidence booster if we focus painstakingly on the details. It can be like coming across a gigantic work of art in a gallery and being so caught up in the masterful detail and skill in just one small portion of the work of art that we forget to step back and take in the whole picture. See the whole picture John is sharing with us in his vision here. Look at the view! See our victorious Savior!

It certainly left an impact on John. He shared, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (v.17a). Remember this is a vision John is having. He is not yet in heaven, where there will be no fear. He is caught up in a vision from God that depicts in very colorful imagery the victory we have in Jesus Christ. We can hardly imagine our response being any different if viewing this in a vision ourselves!

Then notice something profound that solidifies for us that victory over Satan and our sin is certain. “Then he placed his right hand on me…” (v.17b). God is personal. God cares not just about the world, but about you. The power of personal touch in the face of dread fear is an expression of hope beyond hope! A simple gentle touch from Jesus calms John like no drink or pill or other earthly escape ever could. He is reassured by Jesus’ gentle touch, and even more so by the soothing words that follow.

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last” (v.17c). It’s as if Jesus is saying, “John, you have no reason to fear, for the ‘I AM’ God stands before you, the eternal God who always has been and always will be, neither preceded nor succeeded by anyone.” If he is the First and the Last, then he shall also have the first and the last word. What he says goes. What God promises stands. What Jesus carried out is trustworthy and reliable. There is no one else who can speak with any greater authority. So listen to what he says and to how he reveals himself to John.

“I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (v.18). See how Jesus identifies himself! He calls himself “the Living One,” and not “I was the Living One,” but “I am the Living One.” Good Friday happened. Jesus died. But it is not his death that defines him, but rather that he overcame death, that he is now the living one. “I was dead, and now look (“Look at the view!”) I am alive for ever and ever!” Death has no more part in the storyline. His role has been played and his character killed off, never to return again. Now life rules the day, because of Jesus Christ, the Living One.

How can we be sure? Because he holds the keys! Keys mean control. Keys mean authority. Keys are the power to give or withhold, to open or close, to grant or deny access. And see what keys he holds – the keys over life and death, over heaven and hell!

Ever lose your keys and immediately experience that feeling of dread the instant you realize it? You’re overcome with anxiety over realizing they aren’t in the pocket or purse where you thought they were and immediately fear the worst? You scramble frantically to find them while every possible place they could be is still fresh on your mind. Only after doing so do you think to ask someone else. Then, just as quickly as you were filled with anxiety, you are calmed down by the assurance someone else has them. A flood of relief washes over us.

How much more so to realize the one standing victorious is the one who holds the keys – and not just any keys, but “the keys of death and Hades.” That is to say, Jesus holds the power of life and death!

Now then, with all of this in mind, let us speak again of our Christian suffering. This picture from Revelation changes the conversation just a bit, does it not? No, we will not walk away with the fairy-tale notion that our spiritual suffering will suddenly disappear, as with the waving of some magical wand. We will still suffer specifically because of our Christian faith. Jesus himself promised it.

But it is his greater promises that allow us to endure, to patiently bear up under such suffering. Not the promise that suffering in this life will go away, but the promise that the victory of the Living One outshines our suffering. We are victorious over suffering, and that makes a very real and noticeable impact when we get better at doing in our daily lives exactly what we have done throughout this post: Look at the view!

Stare at your suffering, focus on that, become consumed by it, and it will consume you. 

But when you shift your gaze away from your suffering and onto your Savior, the very one who holds the keys of death and Hades, your suffering seems so much smaller. Because it is. In the grand picture of eternity, the joy of Jesus’ victory of Satan, over sin, and yes, even over suffering, is forever. Your suffering, dear friends in Christ, is not. It is temporary. Let your focus on Jesus’ eternal victory allow you to see more clearly that he has also made you victorious over suffering.

Defeated

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(Luke 24:1-12)

While the Battle of Waterloo was being fought, the people of England were eagerly awaiting news of the outcome. England’s own Duke Wellington was a part of a coalition facing the mighty Napoleon. Finally, the news came. The result of the battle had been transmitted across the English Channel.  Though foggy, the gloomy message was received: “Wellington defeated.”  The devastating news spread rapidly across England, and its people were crushed.  

So the women and the disciples, unprepared as they were, initially understood the message that Easter morning to be, “Jesus defeated.” Just the emotional drain associated with experiencing their Savior’s crucifixion would have been heavy enough on its own. They were still reeling, grappling with the reality that only a week ago their beloved Jesus had entered Jerusalem accompanied by cheering crowds and “Hosannas.” Now there they were, expecting to care for a dead body that was the aftermath of a corrupt trial that resulted in an innocent man condemned to crucifixion. That would have been heavy enough on its own.

As if to add more unbearable weight to an already crushing burden, his body wasn’t there! They couldn’t even carry out the simple act of tender care and compassion, an act of respect and honor for the Jesus who had touched their lives in ways that no one else ever would. And instead of clearly understanding what was going on, Luke tells us the women were “wondering about this” (v.4). There was confusion. The women felt defeated. 

Is it safe to say that a good number of us can relate to that emotion in one way or another – feeling defeated? Over the course of your lifetime, has there ever been a span of time like the past couple of years where so many things have changed so much, whether we like it or not? Have you felt at times as if your own life is not yours to control? Has it felt like one thing after another happens just as soon as we thought we had adjusted, and now we are right back to adjusting yet again? It can – and has! – left many of us feeling helpless, feeling defeated. 

That feeling of defeat can be caused by any number of other emotions. We see two of them in the Resurrection account: fear and skepticism. There are many experiences and emotions that can leave us feeling defeated, but fear and skepticism are perhaps two of the most notable. 

We first see fear from the women. (As an aside, sometimes critics of Christianity or the Bible paint a pretty dismal picture of women and their role. The impression some have is yet another reason why I love the Easter morning account: it was not Jesus’ disciples, the ones we’d expect, the ones who were by his side for the three years of his ministry, who were the first arrivals; it was women. Women were the first to experience the most monumental event in history!)

Understandably, the women were frightened. They had arrived at the tomb to honor their Savior by properly caring for his deceased body. But to their surprise, the entryway to the tomb had already been opened, and when they stepped inside, there was no deceased body. Then, as they were trying to process everything and put all of the pieces together, two angels appeared! Luke describes their reaction: “In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground…” (v.5). Of course they did! What other reaction would one expect when in the midst of an emotional rollercoaster already, two supernatural beings beamed brightly before them? So the women did what any of us would do in the face of something similarly terrifying: they dropped facedown to the ground.

Now maybe you haven’t experienced that level of fear, the kind that left you on the ground, but you’ve experienced it recently. Fear of unrest and rioting in our own country. Fear of a virus or fear of a vaccine. Fear of political corruption. Economic fear. Fear for our children and the world into which they’re growing up and being influenced. International fear of war. Whatever our fears are, they end up feeding our feelings of defeat even more. 

Or maybe you can relate to the other reaction described in this morning’s account that can also leave us feeling defeated: skepticism. Look at how everyone reacted to the resurrection message the women delivered: “When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (v.9-11). The women – now named by name, mind you! – rushed back to report what they had not only experienced but also what they had been reminded of by the angels. 

On the one hand, we ought to find the reaction of the other believers to be shocking, because Jesus had on numerous occasions plainly said to them before all of this that he would die and then rise again. What Jesus had said would happen had happened, and it should have surprised no one.

Yet every one of us can relate to their reaction because dead people don’t rise from the dead! That’s the stuff of stories – fictional books and movies! So of course no one believed the women – who could blame them for being skeptical of what they determined was all “nonsense”???

Wherever you stand regarding politics or social justice or war or vaccinations or… the list goes on – we’re all in the same boat – skeptical of others. We’re skeptical of some of the information we’ve received. We’re skeptical of the source of that information, trying to determine who is following an agenda and who genuinely has my best interests in mind; we’re skeptical of other viewpoints on the topic. We’re all skeptical about everything, so a little skepticism on the part of some believers who had just been told that their crucified, dead Jesus was now very much alive, does not shock us at all!

So for those of us who can relate to the defeatism caused either by fear like the women experienced or by skepticism like the disciples, what is going to change? Are you happy to coexist with feeling defeated and allowing fear and skepticism to linger or is there another option? There are two, actually. 

One, take note of what the angels encouraged the fearful women to do: remember. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words” (v. 5b-8).

Remember. Remember that Jesus said this would happen. Remember that the prophets said this would happen, just like Isaiah did when he prophesied 700 years beforehand this very event – Jesus’ resurrection: “he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth” (Isaiah 25:7-8).

Remember that God had repeatedly promised a solution for sin, and that solution was his Son – the same one nailed to the cross on Good Friday who forever turned the tables on death and overcame it for all. And Paul, the writer of 1 Corinthians, remembered the same picture, that by Jesus’ resurrection, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (v.54c).

So in response to fear, remember; remember along with Isaiah, along with Paul, and along with the women, that Jesus was only doing everything that had been promised from the beginning – paying the price for our sin by his death, and promising us eternal life by his resurrection. He has risen, and fear and death have been defeated!

And what to do in the face of skepticism? Look at what Peter did. He investigated. He did not hunker down at home and hang on to his skepticism, reinforcing it further by gathering together with other skeptics who felt the same way. No, Peter challenged his skepticism. He didn’t just accept what others took as nonsense and rule it out; he looked into the matter more. He investigated it for himself. “Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened” (v.12). 

Follow in Peter’s footsteps and do what the skeptic did: investigate. Peter may not have gotten a clear answer right away when he arrived at the tomb that morning, but he would eventually. If you aren’t as familiar with the Bible, the book of Luke is right near the beginning of the part of the Bible we call the New Testament. If you continue on past Luke, though, you’ll come across a very different Peter.

Check in on him in the book of Acts. Read his own perspective from his own two letters, the books of the Bible that bear his name. You will see a different Peter! You will not see the skeptic, but a fearless follower of Jesus. His doubt and skepticism are replaced with unwavering conviction and rock-solid determination that everything in life that matters for every single soul hinges entirely upon the Resurrection, which he resolutely commits to spreading for the rest of his life. 

Investigate. Read the Bible for yourself. Study it with others. Ask questions. Explore. Look into these things to see if they’re true. It’s the absolute best next step to investigate and allow God the opportunity to convince you as he did Peter. Or, reach out to me and ask about upcoming opportunities to do so in person.

So if your feelings of defeat are the result of fear, remember; if they are the result of skepticism, investigate. When you do, you’ll find that God can turn feelings of defeat into victory.

That was what happened when the fog cleared. The message that had deflated a nation, the message, “Wellington defeated,” was incomplete. There was more, and it changed everything. As more of the signal became clear, the message brought hope to a crushed nation. That complete message was, “Wellington defeated the enemy!” Gloom had turned to glee.  Sorrow turned into song, for what at first appeared to be defeat was in reality victory after all. 

You know what? Defeat is a good thing. You just have to make sure you’re on the right side of it. And Jesus guarantees that we are because he was not the One defeated, but rather the One who brought about the defeat. He was the victor who defeated his enemy – check that – enemies! For it was not just Satan himself who was defeated, but his empty threats of death and sin as well. While we still experience those, we are not enslaved by them. Sin doesn’t master us. Death itself doesn’t need to terrify us if the One who himself defeated death promises the same outcome for all who are on the side of victory!