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Bounce Back to Prayer

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(Ephesians 3:14-21)

When we bounce back to the Word, to our baptism, and to witness, we hear and are reminded of who God is and what he has done for us, and we pass that on to others. We see the value he attaches to us in his willingness to sacrifice his Son. And all of these things are enough to give us a window into God’s heart to see his true colors and how deeply loved we are. And if we had just that and nothing more, it would be magnificently more than we’d ever need or deserve! But God outdoes himself. He isn’t content simply to reveal his own heart to us; he wants to know what’s on our hearts as well. If it’s too trite to say that Christianity isn’t a religion – it’s a relationship, then maybe we can at least agree that it’s a religion that is all about our relationship with God. He craves a connection with us that surpasses the status of mere acquaintance or association. So he invites us to pray. He delights in hearing our prayers. Let us then bounce back to prayer.

How do you feel about prayer? Does the general thought of prayer comfort you? Is it a treasured blessing? Likely you will agree that it is. But if I ask more specifically about your particular prayer life maybe your feelings change a bit. When I ask that question, be honest – does the thought of your prayer life make you tense up just a little, as if I just added one more item to your checklist that you already feel guilty for not accomplishing enough? Does the topic of prayer drum up more feelings of guilt than grace? I ask because when the topic of prayer comes up with Christians, it frequently seems to be followed by a sense of apology or regret over our prayer lives.  

If so, then we have some work to do. Let’s start by asking ourselves a question: what would your prayer life have to look like in order for prayer not to be a source of guilt? Is it a matter of quantity? If you prayed more, would you feel less guilty? OK, then – how much would you have to pray for you to not feel guilty? Several times a day? Throughout the day? Several hours a day? If it isn’t a matter of quantity or frequency of prayer, then is it quality that has you feeling guilty? Do you feel like your prayers don’t have much substance to them, that they’re not “churchy” or “religious” enough (whatever that means!)?  

You really need to think through the answer to this question, because if you don’t, prayer and guilt will always go hand-in-hand. But here’s the real reason: if you view prayer as a performance by which to please God, you’ll always feel guilty – and frankly, you should! Because if our relationship with God is based on pleasing him with our performance, then we will always fall woefully short. We will never measure up in any way, including our prayers. 

So again – and stop me if it sounds like I’m a broken record here – bounce back to the Word and to your baptism. God does not base his relationship with you or his interest in you on your performance; he bases it on Jesus’ performance. And his was perfect. Yours never will be, so stop pretending your connection with God is based on something he needs from you. He already has what he needs in his perfect Son; he needs nothing from you – including your prayers. 

But he does want them. Do you see the difference between needing and wanting? If he has what he needs in Christ’s perfection, then he doesn’t need your prayers. But he wants them. He wants to bend his ear to you. He wants to be your go-to. He wants to show you how good and gracious he is. He wants to demonstrate his superiority to anything else that might make a play for first place in your heart. He wants to satisfy you in ways the world never can. 

Do you sense that Paul was very much aware of God’s desire and ability to do so? He knows full well what he’s tapping into when he taps into God’s power through prayer. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power…” and “to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:16, 20). God is not living below the poverty line. He’s nowhere near middle class, even. The means God has at his disposal to answer prayer are beyond what we could ever comprehend. He is able to answer prayers in such monumental ways that our limited minds aren’t even able to think to ask! So the issue will never be one of our asking too much of God, but rather never asking enough of him. 

Elon Musk was recently crowned the wealthiest man on the planet. Suppose he wanted to showcase how wealthy he was by stating that he was going to pick one lucky person and grant that one person whatever he asked, no matter how much it cost. When the moment of truth comes and that individual reveals his request, he asks for – drumroll, please… a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich. Now I don’t care how good a chicken sandwich is – when the richest man on the planet invites you to ask for anything you want and you ask him for a sandwich, not only is there something wrong with you, but the other – the bigger issue – is that you’ve just insulted his wealth and generosity. What a slap in the face to the world’s richest man to be robbed of the opportunity to display his wealth and generosity!

So then, tell me again why we ask so little of the God who owns the deed to everything on the planet, the planet itself, along with the entire universe? Why do we rob him of the opportunity to display that wealth and generosity? What do we really think of him if he invites us to come in his name and ask him for anything and we either ask infrequently, sporadically, or for so little? How we insult him with our infrequent, small-minded requests in our prayers! Forgive us, Lord, for thinking so little of you!

To help us put it into perspective, suppose I told you that when you get home today, Amazon is having a 24-hour window for you to order anything you want, as much as you want, for absolutely nothing. While I would like to think all of you would at least stick around for the whole service, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some of you immediately pulled out your phone and started ordering. There’s not a single one of us who would not spend the better part of the next 24 hours ordering everything under the sun – if not for you, then to meet the needs of other people.

Of course that’s too good to be true. But you know what isn’t? Taking those requests to God, “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (v.20). Amazon has limitations – believe it or not there are still plenty of things you can’t buy on Amazon. Yet there is nothing God cannot provide, and his window of provision isn’t limited to 24 hours.

Neither is his window of provision limited to physical things. There are just some things that only God can provide. Try searching Amazon for consolation when a loved one dies. You won’t find it. Neither will you find any deals of the day on forgiveness for your past wrongs. You won’t find contentment with the click of a button. The peace to let go of when others have wronged you will never show up in the search bar. Yet God can grant all of this and so much more… if we ask him. 

You know what I find amazing about reading any of Paul’s letters when he touches on prayer? Physical requests are the last thing on his mind, and yet if anyone could have used prayers for physical things, surely it was Paul! Hi concerns are not based on the physical stuff, but the spiritual. No “pray that I get out jail” or “pray that I don’t get beaten again” or “pray that I don’t suffer” or “pray that I have enough clothing and food” Even though these were all constant struggles for Paul, his letters don’t waste any words asking his listeners to pray for his physical health or well-being, but always on the gospel and spiritual things. He doesn’t ask God to remove his suffering, but rather thanks God for using it to spread the gospel!

And before us in his letter to the Ephesians he does the same. The whole prayer here is for the spiritual growth and vibrant faith of the Ephesians! He prays for them to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit so that Jesus might take up permanent residence in their hearts. He prays that the roots of Jesus’ love would be anchored in their hearts to grasp how all-encompassing his love for them really is – a love that goes beyond just head knowledge. He prays that that might happen so that they might be filled to the brim with God. 

What if your prayer life reflected this approach for a week? a month? the rest of the year? For many of us, it’d be a big shift in the way we pray. Less of the physical – jobs, relationships, health, finances – and more of the spiritual – depth of faith, Christ-like love for others, peace that really does defy understanding – but can absolutely be experienced, patience in an impatient world, compassion and contentment, joy in my identity in Christ, self-control that can say no to physical temptations, overwhelming gratitude, a forgiving heart, Godly wisdom, etc. Yes, let us bounce back to prayer the way Paul did – with a kingdom focus – and experience first-hand how much easier we find it to be OK even when life isn’t. 

Bounce Back to Witness

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(John 1:43-51)

A part of embracing our identity is telling others who we are and what we’ve seen. We become increasingly secure in that identity through our time in the Word and as we recall our baptism. Bounce back to those frequently and you will become much more clear and confident in who you are, and OK when life isn’t. But, like at the end of an infomercial, “wait, there’s more!” While the Word and your baptism clearly and repeatedly remind you you are a child of God, we reflect that and reinforce it when we verbalize it to others.

What difference might it make if we shifted the way we think about evangelism and the role of a witness from something we do to something we are? The Word and our baptism provide us with a rock-solid identity that isn’t based on performance or approval ratings. Because of everything that Jesus has done for me, my identity has changed. I am a child of God, bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus. And a part of that identity means that I am also a witness. Another way of saying it is that I am a disciple. Another way of saying it is I am a disciple who makes disciples. That is when it starts to click, when witnessing isn’t merely something some Christians do and others don’t, but is rather who we are. When it becomes as natural as breathing air. When it becomes second nature that we don’t overthink it or talk ourselves out of it, but becomes as routine and habitual as brushing our teeth. Of course it’s far more effective than just keeping cavities at bay; it’s effective at keeping souls from being lost. 

Notice how it happened as John recorded it. Philip followed Jesus. Rejoicing in who he was, he invited others to follow who he had found. And his invitation couldn’t have been simpler: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (v.46). Not complicated at all. Philip was just sharing what he had discovered, something that we typically do without even giving it even a second thought. He found the Savior and he told Nathanael about it. This is simple. It’s easy. But what happened next was terrifying. Absolutely mortifying. It must have been Philip’s worst nightmare come true. Nathanael pushed back.

Ugh. How deflating! How debilitating! Nathanael didn’t simply respond the way we wish everyone would, with a “That’s great – tell me more! I am so interested in what you’re telling me! Is there a service or a class I could join you at?” No, instead he responded in a way that resonates very strongly with us: Nathanael threw up the smokescreen. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (v.46). Nathanael honed in on one little detail of Philip’s good news and missed the forest for the trees. He blew right past Philip’s elation at having discovered the Messiah and sought to detour their dialogue by focusing on Nazareth.

Anyone who has ever witnessed to others has had a relatable experience in one way or another. The testimony of who Jesus is and what a difference he makes or the invitation worship or some other function is met with an attempted detour. “Organized religion isn’t for me.” “The church has done a lot of damage throughout history.” “You really believe in a book that was written by a bunch of old men thousands of years ago?” What then happens we can feel compelled to take that detour and end up in a discussion that is a far cry from both where we started and where we wanted to go. We address one of many symptoms of the problem and not the problem itself. We chase down the rabbit hole and then walk away frustrated because we didn’t successfully or adequately address the detour raised by the other person. It can take the wind right out of our sails. It can be deflating. But, and while I don’t mean to downplay or dismiss our need to and the benefit of getting better at being able to discuss those detours, there is a better way; a way that each and every one of us can carry out. 

Philip’s response demonstrated that way, and it couldn’t have been simpler: “Come and see” (v.46), he said. Not complicated at all. Consider how powerful that invitation is, and why it is so effective. While we may occasionally express our satisfaction with a service or a product for somewhat trivial reasons, the most compelling reason we’ll ever become vocal about something is because we had a positive personal experience with it. Inviting someone to come and see is essentially saying, “Don’t take my word for it – see for yourself.” It is an invitation to test-drive what we’re talking about, an invitation to experience a risk-free trial. That’s why free trials are so popular today! This approach provides another benefit. In addition to taking the burden off of us in having to convince someone else, the best reason for taking this approach is that it lets Jesus do the work. 

Too often we place the responsibility of building Christ’s Kingdom on our own shoulders. Not only is that an uphill battle, it’s impossible. You don’t build Christ’s Kingdom; he does. Remember that Jesus is the one who did the work in you and me. Jesus is the one who continues to do the work in you and me. Let him do the work in others.

Otherwise, our zeal and passion for evangelism or witnessing will wane. Furthermore, it betrays how inherently self-centered we really are. While we naturally avoid witnessing rather easily because we say we’re afraid of doing it, if we dig a little more what we’ll really find is pretty convicting: we’re afraid of failing because we’re overly focused on ourselves. When we make evangelism about ourselves we truly reveal how much we really care about ourselves, not others. We can call it insecurity. We can cower in fear. But those things only come because we’re caring more about ourselves than either that other person or Jesus himself. Stop thinking so selfishly. Stop making evangelism about you and start focusing on the other person and start focusing on Jesus. Let Jesus do the work. 

When I selfishly let my own ego or my own fear quiet my witness and keep my mouth closed, I can downplay it or excuse it or blow it off because it’s such a common struggle, but I finally have to call it what it is: sin. And, while our tendency to rate or rank sin from bad to worse might not see this sin as nearly as bad as others, think of it this way – not only is it a sin against God, but it’s potentially the most harmful thing we can do to our neighbor at the same time by staying silent about their salvation! So who will rescue me from my own fear and ego in failing to witness?

Jesus already has. Bounce back to the Word, where we’re reminded of what Jesus has done for us: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11). Look at that! Even though we’re quiet and we clam up around others instead of making some bold confession of our faith in Jesus, or even inviting others to come and see more, Jesus does not disown us or dismiss us. He made us holy by forgiving our sin and replacing it with his righteousness, and because he did, he still calls us family. He still considers us brothers and sisters. Who doesn’t want a family member like that? So let’s tell others about him. Good things happen when we do, and when we let Jesus do the work.

See how things played out when Philip let Jesus do the work? Good things happened. It strikes me that after Philip’s invitation to Nathanael to come and see, the rest of the account is all about Jesus doing the work. And what happened when he did? “Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel” (v.49). Jesus didn’t get sidetracked by Nathanael’s Nazareth detour, but directed the conversation back on Nathanael. Then, he pointed Nathanael to himself as the Messiah. See what happened when Philip made witnessing not about himself, but about the two others involved in the equation – Nathanael and Jesus? Good things happened! Let Jesus do the work!

I think we forget how easy it is to let Jesus do the work. Do you realize how many different ways you can essentially invite someone to “Come and See” today? Sunday morning worship. Bible class after worship that is specifically for discovering and exploring Jesus more. Share a YouTube video. Every Sunday morning I share this message on Facebook and Instagram. You can listen to the sermon as a podcast. You can read it on this blog. And every one of those is shareable! You can either share them on your own page or send them to someone else. It has never been easier to invite others to come and see! It has never been easier to let Jesus do the work!

And… there have never been so many people needing the work that Jesus does. If we are seriously concerned about where our nation is today, and where it is heading, can we really keep pretending that politicians are going to save us? that the media will come to the rescue? that even a vaccine itself will magically free everyone from fear and replace it with hope and optimism? If so, we’re asking the impossible. None of those efforts will change hearts for the better. But you know who will? Jesus. When you firmly believe that is when you invite others to come and see it, too. And that’s when Jesus gets to work. 

Bounce Back to your Baptism

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(Mark 1:4-11)

One of the most under-utilized resources at our disposal to help us bounce back, or to be OK when life isn’t, is baptism. You may think I am overstating its importance or value in your life, but I would respond by asking how well you rate yourself at being OK when life isn’t. If your answer is anything less than a perfect score, isn’t it at least worth considering how your baptism could play a bigger role in helping you be OK when life isn’t? If so, and if we’re going to leave today with a clearer understanding of and a deeper appreciation for our baptism, we must first start with His.

Here’s something rather fascinating about Jesus’ baptism: it is one of the very rare events in Jesus’ life and ministry that is recorded in all four Gospels. The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – are the books of the Bible that record Jesus’ words and works for us. Now then, to put it into perspective, I think we’d all agree that Christmas – Jesus’ birth – is a pretty big deal, right? You know how many of the Gospels cover Jesus’ birth? Two. Just two. So, without reading too much into it, can we agree that at the very least, an event in Jesus’ life that is covered by all four of the Gospels is deserving of our attention?

If ever there was reason make a big deal of something or to have a high-end ceremony, it might be Jesus’ baptism. But what is recorded couldn’t be more unceremonious. The angels who announced Jesus’ birth are not lined up along the Jordan announcing his baptism. Crowds weren’t flocking to Jesus to witness his baptism; rather, he was a part of the crowds flocking to John to hear his message first-hand and be baptized. John himself was not dressed in some ornately flowing robes, rivaling the pomp of a pope, but rather primitive animal skins. The setting stands out in its stark simplicity.

The simple setting itself wasn’t the only surprise; the matter of why Jesus was even being baptized in the first place added to the surprise even more. Mark detailed for us that those coming to him to be baptized were “confessing their sins,” an activity in which the sinless Son of God could not participate – he had no sin to confess! John even expressed his confusion, asking, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt. 3:14). What business did Jesus have participating in a practice meant for sinners?

Ah, and that last phrase captures it: “meant for sinners.” Jesus and baptism have something in common in that regard: they are both meant for sinners. Baptism was given for sinners, and as we were just again reminded at Christmas, Jesus came for sinners. It wasn’t his own personal need that prompted his baptism; it was yours and mine. Jesus responded to John’s confusion by saying, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). Being righteous meant that Jesus was to carry out the Father’s will. What’s more, imagine how awkward it would have been before Jesus’ ascension if he had commissioned his church to make disciples by baptizing and teaching, while he himself had not carried out the very directive! So in being baptized, Jesus was doing the right thing as our perfect Substitute. 

And now let us zero in on the detail of Jesus’ baptism which must always stick with us if our own baptism is going to serve as the stuff that has real substance to be OK when life isn’t; to bounce back when everything and everyone else may fall apart. That detail happens immediately following Jesus’ baptism. “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open…” (v.10). Now I wasn’t there, but stop and consider how jaw-dropping it must have been to see heaven “torn” open! Was there a seam that split in the skies? Was it as if a curtain had been peeled back for just a moment? 

Even more amazing than the physical occurrence was the spiritual significance of what was going on. To appreciate it, go back to the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve’s sin. God sent them out of the garden and had it guarded by angels with flaming swords. See what sin had done! It had literally separated man from God! God used to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve, but after the bombshell of sin dropped on our world, so did separation from God. But now look what was happening! Jesus was on the scene. The holiness of heaven was split open. Hope was being restored for a restoration and reconciliation between God and men in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our sin separated a fallen world from a holy heaven, but Jesus coming onto the scene was about to change that forever. And the exclamation point on all of it? That was in what happened next. 

Then the Father spoke – and do not let his words fall on deaf ears this morning. He proclaimed to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.11). Psychologists have studied the impact that parental approval – or lack thereof – can have on the development of children. Some children struggle well into adulthood because they never felt they had either one or both of their parents’ approval. They always fell short and never lived up to their expectations. It can drive us to prove ourselves in unhealthy ways as adults while still striving to achieve approval from parents. And it isn’t just family. It’s friends. It’s the workplace. It’s social media followers and likes. We constantly crave approval. 

And here, on this divine day in the desert, the Father gives his full approval to his Son. Not only does he pour out his Father’s heart, verbalizing his love, but he also expresses the delight, the pleasure, the pride he has in Jesus. Let there be no doubts about Jesus’ calling and credentials to serve as the Savior! The Father himself approves, giving consent with his own voice to Jesus and the work of salvation that he was born to carry out. The Father approves!

Friends, the Father approves. The Father approves. The words he spoke at Jesus’ baptism live on in our own baptism. THAT is why Jesus’ baptism matters – it is what makes ours matter! 

Siblings help us understand the connection between Jesus’ baptism and our own. If there is one thing we can count on when raising kids, it’s that siblings will be absolutely determined to do everything in their power to make sure they get what their sibling got. Go ahead and throw any rational or logical thinking out the window. “If my brother got it, then I should get it. If my sister got it, then I should get it.” They will not be shortchanged. They will not be slighted. They will get what their siblings got, and will whine and complain and fuss until it happens. 

Stated positively, that is exactly what we receive in baptism – we get what Jesus, our brother, got: the Father’s approval. The Second Lesson today from Romans helped explain how that happens. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). The point is that baptism binds us to the blessings Jesus won for us. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and through baptism we died that death. That means there is no more punishment for our sins – the death penalty has already been served! But Jesus didn’t stay dead; just as he was raised from the dead, our baptism means that we have been raised to a new life. 

Do you know what comes with that new life because of the blessings bound to our baptism? The Father’s approval! It is as if we can take the very words the Father spoke to the Son at his baptism and insert our first name: “You [name] are my son/daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.11). This isn’t just fluffy church talk or spiritually sappy stuff – baptism in Jesus is the assurance that the Father loves you and that he is pleased, thrilled, delighted with you! 

And the love he has for you and the delight he has in you is not performance-based. It isn’t because you managed to impress him or win his favor by anything you ever did. But neither does your track record disqualify you! That means he isn’t waiting for you to right all your wrongs, as if any of us ever could. It means that no matter what you did in the past, no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself it’s beyond forgiveness, or how much others have condemned you, baptism even washes away that past. So if no such sin any longer separates us from God, as Adam & Eve’s cast them out of Eden apart from him, then you have God’s approval. Jesus’ baptism, life, death, and resurrection, made that possible. And your baptism guarantees it.

So if you want to be OK when life isn’t, remember to bounce back to your baptism. Remember that it isn’t just some event that happened in the past, but it’s who you are. That day was not just the day on which you were baptized, but on that day and every day after, you were set apart as a baptized child of God, bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus. As a baptized child of God, the Father approves.

You don’t have to try to please everyone to get their approval. You don’t have to be the best at your job to get recognition from your boss. You don’t have to be more like that parent so your kids think you’re the greatest. You don’t have to buy this or own that to seek out validation. Stop feverishly chasing from others what you already have from the Father: approval. After all, whose opinion of you matters more – theirs, or His? He has already spoken. He is pleased. The Father approves. Jesus and your baptism guarantee it.

Bounce Back to the Word

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(John 7:40-43)

Five years before the world was introduced to Harry Potter, JK Rowling was a struggling single mother living on welfare. She wrote while working as a teacher at night, and her manuscript was rejected 12 times before finally being published. Walt Disney’s first animation company went bankrupt, he experienced other failures, and some of the most loved characters today were initially panned by critics. Rowland Macy had four failed retail stores before opening his first Macy’s, and even his first Macy’s had to close because it didn’t bring in enough. Not until he opened another one fifteen years later did the store stick. Abraham Lincoln failed at multiple businesses, lost one election to Congress, two elections to Senate, and even the vice-president election before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Great as all these stories ended up, you know what it sounds like? It sounds like they all went through their own 2020. They all had their share of experiences that they wouldn’t have asked for at the time, but which allowed them to get where they ended up! Bitter before the sweet!

Will 2021 be your comeback story? Will it be the year that you bounce back? Will you turn a set back into a comeback?

If so, the single greatest key to your ability to bounce back in 2021 is to realize that it doesn’t depend on your ability to bounce back. Rather, it depends far more on how much you depend on the single greatest comeback story of all time: Jesus Christ. There’s no greater comeback story that will ever be written than the One who bounced back from death to rise up and live again. And don’t dare forget that he did not accomplish this for himself, but for you. He came back from the dead so that your comeback story could be written. Christmas was the start of what would become the greatest comeback story ever written. So if you want to bounce back in 2021, hear me out: doesn’t it make good sense to make the greatest comeback story in history a bigger part of yours?

That was basically the issue at hand as our text today picks up the people’s response to Jesus. What did they think of him? Who was he? Was he of any benefit to them or not? Was he to be followed, his advice acted on, his counsel considered, his teachings to be trusted? Guess what? “On hearing his words… the people were divided because of Jesus” (v.40, 43). Not everyone came to the same conclusion about Jesus’ place and role in their lives. Some acknowledged his place as a prophet. Others saw him as Savior, the Messiah and long-awaited answer to sin and salvation. Others still struggled and were on the fence with questions and answers that didn’t add up for them. 

It’s no different today – outside of the church to be sure. Prophet, preacher, pacifist – opinions vary, but there is a consistent theme to the world’s view of Jesus: they use him as they see fit. There is no small amount of animosity toward Jesus when his teachings don’t approve of a certain way of life that a person insists on living. Most, though, will not direct their disdain at Jesus himself, but ease their own consciences by claiming to be just fine with Jesus, while pretending the problem is with Christians themselves or with organized religion – as if those are in some separate category into which Jesus doesn’t belong. They become experts in their own minds at using Jesus’ words against Christians to point out where his followers are failing. Such people clearly are not familiar with Jesus’ own words to comfort his followers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil” (John 7:7). No matter how they may disguise it then, the world’s differing views of Jesus are ultimately a dismissal of Jesus.  

But that wouldn’t apply to those of us inside the church, to believers, would it? Surely our words and actions couldn’t be perceived as a dismissal of Jesus… right? What would a quick glance back over the course of 2021 reveal? Did we ever find ourselves as activists more concerned about a movement or a cause than about Christ? Did we ever stoop into the darkness to dabble in debate with others steeped in the dark rather than letting Christ’s light shine through us? Did we look to worldly solutions – sometimes even destructive ones – to console us and help us cope with crisis, rather than to Christ? Ah, then perhaps we shouldn’t be too quick to deny dismissing Jesus the way the world does, for the ugly reality is that we are quite adept at it. In fact, we’re so good at it that we even manage to pull the wool over our own eyes so that we don’t recognize how frequently we dismiss Jesus. 

2020 also provided us with another challenge to reflect on our relationship with Jesus: our relationship with church. Gathering restrictions have forced us to think about the role a local congregation may or may not play in fostering our faith in Jesus. In our case, some leaders were concerned that if members couldn’t meet for worship, some may not be spiritually disciplined enough to personally keep growing in their faith on their own. Others saw a positive opportunity for individuals to take more ownership of their faith, rather than presuming that worshiping for an hour on Sunday is sufficient for spiritual growth. I don’t know that anyone can claim to have the answer, but the past year has required us to evaluate our connection to Jesus and his Word and where our church fits into that.

But enough about the problems and challenges. While we could spend all day discussing such matters – and much of it would be very profitable to be sure! – let us instead focus on the solution, for the solution in all of these matters of what one thinks of Jesus is the same solution: the Word. Truly, if 2021 is to be a bounce-back year, the Word alone will serve as the catalyst to make it happen. Sure, there are certainly other solutions that will help in other areas of life, but if this year is going to count in the one area that matters most – our walk with Jesus – then let us get back to the Word. 

Why? Because it works. “For the word of God is alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12). God says through the prophet Isaiah, “[My word] will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Is. 55:11). The Word works. We want stuff that works, right? More than ever, we don’t have patience for things that don’t work. How many times would you guess you’ll Google something this year to find out how to do something or where to buy something? Whatever you’re searching for, the desired outcome is the same: you want a solution that works. You don’t want to purchase something that doesn’t work. You don’t want to learn a new tip or fix-it trick that doesn’t work. You want what works – we don’t have time for what doesn’t. 

Friends, we have 100% guarantee that this (Word) works! It is alive and active. It will accomplish what God desires and purposes. It will work. If. We. Work it. See, it doesn’t matter if we have a solution that works if we never bother to use it. When I make pizza dough for pizza and a movie with the family on Fridays, yeast does a great job of making the dough rise… if I use it. It’s not so effective, however, if it doesn’t ever get mixed in. Your phone is a great tool for keeping in touch with family members who live in another state… if you use it. A dumbbell will help you add muscle and build strength… if you use it. You get the point. 

So it works, if we use it. Here’s the bigger question: why should we use it? Ultimately, we’re only interested in using something that works if it achieves something I am interested in. I am glad your curling iron works, after all, but I don’t have much of a need for it. Unless we see why it matters for us that the Word works, we aren’t likely to use it. Now I could go a step further and tell you it matters because it will strengthen your relationship with Jesus, but you might naturally go the next step and ask, “So what? Why does it matter that I have a stronger relationship with Jesus? After all, I already have faith and I know I’m going to heaven – isn’t that good enough?”

You know why you want a deeper relationship with Jesus through his Word? Because he is the only one who will be 100% real with you all the time. He isn’t going to be fake with you to suit his own purposes. Neither is he going to cater to your every whim and demand, like so many are willing to do in this cancel culture. He isn’t afraid of showing you tough love. He isn’t going to tell you one thing and then do another. He won’t make a promise and then break it. He is 100% real with you all the time.

That can be extremely painful when he is blunt about how disgraceful our sins are and how much he despises them. He will not buy our excuses or accept our ignorance when we try to downplay our violations of his commands. He will not hesitate to be completely transparent about the hell we deserve for dismissing him and despising his Word for so much of our lives. He will be real with us, and it will hurt when he exposes what’s really buried within our hearts. 

But he will be real with us as well when he lavishes us with an unwavering love that will not be deterred by even our worst sins against him. He is 100% committed to you, proving it by his willingness to have his body pounded to a cross while his own life was slowly drained from him. He was not interested in seeking out revenge for all the wrongs you’ve done against him, but seeking out forgiveness for them, not so that he could get even, but so that you could have peace. No one – NO ONE – on this earth will ever care enough about you to show you that level of commitment. That kind of loyalty, that kind of love, will never be found but in Jesus Christ. You want 2021 to be a bounce back year? It’s got to include more of Jesus and less of anything and everything that gets in his way.

Fast-forward to New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31, 2021. Look back on this year. Will you reflect on this year and see it as a bounce-back year from 2020? That depends on what happens after today. What happens this week? next month? this summer? I will boldly guarantee you this: if you are committed to reading and applying the Word of God this year like never before in your life, 2021 will easily exceed your wildest expectations.

Hope for Messed-up Plans

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(Matthew 1:18-24)

If we had to choose just one of the themes throughout this series as an appropriate caption for 2020, this morning’s might be it: the year of messed up plans. Back still near the beginning of the year in March, children had to adjust their plans to accommodate online learning from home while adults across the board learned to work from home. Remember being hit at Easter with the reality of not being able to worship in a sanctuary filled with lilies and flowers (maybe some with allergies didn’t miss it!)? High school and college graduation plans needed to be altered. Summer vacation plans changed. Back to school plans were up in the air until the last minute. Thanksgiving plans and Christmas plans, together with many time-honored traditions, have been tweaked or set aside. This is the year of messed-up plans!

Such messed-up plans can be like riding a rollercoaster. Some people love them, while others can’t stand them. Some of us may actually handle the unexpected ups and downs and roll with them quite capably, occasionally even finding them thrilling, appreciating the spice and spontaneity last-minute changes bring. But those same ups and downs make others nauseous and fill them with anxiety. Those who crave routine and structure and familiar schedules have really struggled with messed-up plans. But even this year has tested the limits of everyone, even those who typically handle messed-up plans effortlessly. 

Yet as hard as 2020 has been, we also have to acknowledge that sometimes messed-up plans are our own fault. Sometimes we fail to plan anything at all. We talk about what we hope will happen or what we want to happen but never set a single step toward completing any goals or plans. Other times our plans just flat-out stink. We plan poorly or don’t seek the counsel of others or of God. And sometimes we even go directly against God’s will when we know better, downplaying it as no big deal or justifying it in this case or that one. In these cases should we be shocked when a dumpster fire results? Of course not – the messed-up plans were our own fault!

But what about when plans were made – and made well! – and didn’t violate God’s will, and they still didn’t turn out the way we had hoped or expected? When this happens, we sometimes draw the wrong conclusion from it: that if it didn’t happen the way we thought it was supposed to, then it must not have been God’s will. We interpret a messed-up plan as a clear indicator that it somehow opposed God’s will. This or that didn’t happen, so we shake it off and tell ourselves and others that it wasn’t what God wanted, because otherwise, it would have worked out. Of course, we don’t draw the same conclusion when bad things happen to people, that God clearly must have wanted it to as part of his plan. But we have no problem applying that logic to when something good that we have planned doesn’t come to fruition – then God must not have wanted it to happen. 

Consider a current issue to help see how flawed it is to presume God’s will or plans on the basis of how ours play out. One Christian has been fervently praying for a vaccine to put an end to COVID, knowing that vaccines have been a blessing in many ways to help eradicate certain diseases in the past. Another Christian, however, who has researched the possible risks of vaccines, has been fervently praying for some solution that doesn’t require her to be vaccinated. Which one was correctly praying for God’s will? Do we wait until there is a clear-cut “winner” to determine which Christian was praying for the right plan of God and which one was praying for the wrong one? 

No – whether or not our plans play out as we had hoped is not the clear sign from God that a plan was or wasn’t aligned with his will. What we DO know about God’s will is clearly recorded for us in his Word; apart from his Word, though, it isn’t our place to try to determine his plans. One plan may work out and God may bless it accordingly; another plan may not work out and… he may still bless it accordingly! His plans are not dependent upon ours; rather, we’re much better off binding our plans to his. But what DO we know when it comes to plans? We know this: our failed plans don’t deter his faithful promises. The backstory of Jesus’ birth shows us that. 

How’s this for messed-up plans: planning to get married and finding out your bride-to-be is suddenly a mother-to-be as well, even though you know with 100% certainty (because you paid attention in biology class) there is no way you are the father? Welcome to Joseph’s world! Whatever plans he had for his dream life with Mary were suddenly out the door! And so, as messed-up plans require, Joseph adjusted his. “Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (v.19). He didn’t want to see Mary’s name dragged through the mud, but that didn’t mean he was going to be played for a fool and stay in that relationship, either. His plans were messed-up, so he made different ones. He may even have concluded that since Mary had gotten pregnant and he wasn’t the father, it must clearly have been God’s will for him not to follow through with his marriage plans.

But he would have been wrong. For just as soon as Joseph had in mind to change his messed-up plans, God had a way of changing Joseph’s mind. “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (v.20-21). Suddenly it turned out plans weren’t as messed-up as he thought; rather, God had been involved in the planning process all along!

Stop there for a moment. Does that help us realize that when our plans go south, it doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s have? No, it could very well be that God’s plans involved your plans going south all along! Do you see that in the case of Joseph? Our failed plans don’t deter his faithful promises. How many times in your life has a plan fallen apart or something undesired and unexpected soured it like spoiled milk… only to see a greater good result from all of it in the end? Do you remember the stories around 9/11 of people missing flights or having to miss work that morning – wouldn’t those classify as messed-up plans? Yet, many of them are still alive today because of those messed-up plans! How many other stories like that, if even on a much smaller scale, have we experienced? Again, our failed plans don’t deter his faithful promises. 

When the disciples got wind of plans to put Jesus to death, they wanted none of it. What if they had succeeded in their plans? What if Peter’s mighty swing of his sword in Gethsemane the night before Jesus’ death had been enough to dissuade the enemies from capturing Jesus and later crucifying him? Thank goodness Peter’s plans were messed up – that allowed God’s plans not to be! His messed-up plans didn’t get in the way of God’s carefully measured-out plans.

In fact, God’s carefully measured-out plans have been taking place in the midst of our messed-up plans ever since the very first one! God didn’t need Adam & Eve to take a do-over and get it right the second time when they messed up in Eden. He revealed his plan right in the middle of the mess! When Abraham and Sarah hatched their Hagar plan to fast-track God’s promise, their mess of things didn’t derail God’s plan. Not even the nation of Israel’s waywardness and unbelief, resulting in their exile from the very birthplace where the Savior was to be born was enough to botch God’s plan from being carried out! He masterfully managed all the major players in foreign kingdoms to allow a remnant of Israelites to return to their land so that at just the right time, the Savior could be born. 

From Joseph’s perspective, everything was just a mess, but from God’s, it was just right. It was just right for God not only to direct his plans from behind the camera any longer, but to insert himself into the action as the drama unfolded. He ensured the plan could not fail by not only drawing it up and keeping it on track throughout history, but also by carrying it out personally, taking it on himself to complete his plan and cement our salvation. He used angel messengers, a trusting virgin, a devout husband, and himself to complete the plan. God himself played the key role, taking the plan from the manger to the cross, attaining the perfection we needed by his holy life, and paying the price for our sin by his undeserved death. And so he leaves us with hope in the mess, the reality of righteousness and the certainty of sins forgiven. 

God is right this very moment carrying out his plans in your life… even when your own plans are messed-up. He can work in a messed-up world, with messed-up people, lamenting messed-up plans. His plans don’t require our plans to work out; rather, we ought to rejoice that even when our plans don’t work out, his still do. And they will continue to until the final phase of his plan is carried out and Jesus returns. When that plan is finalized and followed through to its end, there will be no more mess. 

It’s going to be a different Christmas than anyone could have planned 12 months ago. But only in regard to our plans. Regarding God’s plans, his plans are still right on track. He delivered the goods on the first Christmas when Jesus arrived on the scene, and his plan is still being carried out as he works through his church – believers – to bring hope for everyone.

Free! to Be Ruled

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(Matthew 27:27-31)

It’s not hard to see why Christianity isn’t terribly attractive. People are drawn to dominance. We’re sucked into stories of success. We gravitate toward greatness, which is reflected by how much money a person makes, how many wins and championships a team has, or how many followers someone has. Oh, and if you think Christians are immune to this, ask them to consider what a successful church looks like and internally even Christians first think about size and how large a church is as the metric by which it’s determined to be successful. So if even Christians themselves have the idea that “bigger” and “more” are the most attractive qualities, it probably shouldn’t shock anyone that Christianity isn’t winning too many popularity contests these days.

Unsurprisingly then, witnessing Jesus as he is depicted in our verses from Matthew this morning doesn’t align with our idea of greatness. To the excruciating physical pain he had already suffered at being flogged, he could now add the mental and emotional exhaustion of being ridiculed and publicly humiliated by not just a few, but “a whole company of soldiers” (v.27). They then “stripped him.” Ever have anyone walk in on you while you’re changing your clothes? Then you might have a small taste of how humiliating this was. They “mocked him.” Ever been insulted by someone who made fun of you for believing something to be true, especially when you were right? They “spit on him” and “struck him on the head again and again.” Have you ever actually had anyone spit on you? Is there a more blatant to degrade or defy someone? How demeaning all of this must have been for our Savior!

Now when we consider all of this, we may experience a slight amount of pity for Jesus, but I wonder if we would acknowledge another feeling that possibly bubbles to the surface as we consider all of this: disappointment. Pity lasts for a moment, but it gives way to disappointment. Why? Two reasons, really.

One: if anyone in history had both the right and the ability not only avoid this ridicule, but to avenge it, it was Jesus! No matter how familiar we are with this account, no matter how often we’ve heard it, there is something inside each of us that finds a slight satisfaction in considering how Jesus could have – and perhaps we feel should have – handled the situation differently. He could have turned the tables and completely and utterly bullied and humiliated every last soldier and any onlooker involved to an unparalleled degree that the world has never seen. He could have rained down on them unrivaled wrath and the most wretched revenge. He could have put them to death on the spot in some manner by which even the most demented human mind had not yet fathomed. 

Two: throwing more fuel on the fire of disappointment is the reality that they deserved it. There would have been no sympathy from us whatsoever. The way they mistreated and abused Jesus left the door of justice wide open for Jesus to storm through and give them what they rightfully had coming. We don’t bat an eye at the good guy giving the bad guys what they deserve. In fact we have come to expect it and are disappointed when they don’t get it. 

So all of that brings us back to the cold truth. We each have to honestly ask ourselves: “Am I disappointed with Jesus?” Don’t answer too quickly; rather, hold off on your answer until you’ve had some time to evaluate your own behavior. If you are not disappointed or let down by Jesus, then what other reason(s) might you offer for giving him so little time in your life? 

After all, my book doesn’t disappoint me – I can’t put it down until I read the last word! My shows don’t disappoint me – I just let one episode roll into the next until there’s no more to watch. My game doesn’t disappoint me – I’d play it all day long if I had no other responsibility in life. My work doesn’t disappoint me – I might complain about it every waking hour, but even then I wouldn’t dare consider giving that up before anything else in life. 

So we talk about God ruling over everything for our good. We pay lip service to seeking God’s will in our lives. We boldly profess before others that we are proud to be Christians. We do all of these things, except willingly submit to God. We do all the things we think demonstrate his sovereignty in our lives, but neglect to realize that we’re not really submitting to him; we’re not really letting him rule in our lives. He’s there, to be sure, but more or less in the background. Jesus is too often like that app that you heard someone rave about, so you downloaded it to your phone. Maybe you opened it initially and tinkered with it. But then, there is sits on your phone, unused and in the background. There, but never accessed. There, but not on our radar. There, but… might as well not be. 

And what do we deserve for neglect Jesus like this? At best, to be exposed as the frauds we are; at worst, to be charged with treason against him and treated like traitors, like those who give the impression of willing servants, but instead turn the master – servant relationship around so that we call the shots and God does our bidding when and where it serves us, if and when it suits us.

If we are seeking in Jesus the kind of glory the world seeks, we will be disappointed and turned off by him. Yet ironically, if Jesus exerted the kind of power, posture, and dominance that lines up with worldly ideas of glory and rule, it would mean our undoing. It would be our demise. He would have to destroy us. If Jesus sought to appeal to the world’s idea of glory, it would involve flexing his muscle and crushing all who crossed him – which would be the destruction of every last person. No one – not you, not me, not the most “righteous” or goodest of the good among us could stand before him! So the very dominant alpha-male authority that many wish to see in Jesus would be their undoing if Jesus actually exerted that kind of power! It would mean our downfall! Our sin and unrighteousness would not stand a chance in his presence!

So instead, he displayed greatness differently. In humility. In mercy. In sacrifice. Jesus showed his glory by giving – giving up himself. It is no secret that Jesus became less – not more – to win us over. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Listen to the apostle Paul’s descriptions in Philippians 2: “being in very nature God…made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,… he humbled himself and became obedient to death…” (v.6-8). Jesus demonstrated his power, his might, and his authority… by willingly setting it aside to suffer for us. Ah, and that is something when we fully grasp the degree of power, might, and authority that are rightfully and solely his! It is unmatched. Unfathomable. And set aside, so that he might save us. 

The picture we’re left with from Matthew today is precisely what sets Christ apart from every other authority. He made himself nothing so that he wouldn’t have to send sinners to suffer eternally and to show the full extent of his power and might. He endured the painful irony of being made fun of and mocked like a clown instead of magnified as a king, though he alone of all the greatest rulers and powerful leaders throughout history has the sole right to the claim of King. 

Why go to such lengths? Why not go the route of establishing his divine dominance with a show of strength that would put all the Roman and Greek gods to shame? Ah, it was to show that his kingdom truly is like no other. Grace and mercy are his scepter. Kindness and compassion are his crown. And all under his rule are free.

Let me say that again. All who are under his rule are free. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? How can someone be ruled and be free at the same time? Yet this is how Jesus is described in the very last book of the Bible, “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth… who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5). Jesus Christ is our King, who rules all things for our good. 

How can being ruled be for our good? Consider the popular trend in individuals and companies using coaches and consultants. It’s big business these days. People are looking to be mentored. Why? Because, although it might be tough at times, and even involve some blunt, uncomfortable stuff, the person who enlists the help of a coach or mentor knows that they have their best interest in mind. Coaches and consultants want to help their clients grow or get unstuck or achieve some goal, so people willingly pay them to push them and do what is best for them. 

In Christ, we have better than a coach or client; we have a King. Not a king who selfishly rules in his own interest, for his own benefit, but a King who rules for the good of his people, the Church – believers. So not only in Christ are we fully and completely free, but we also have a King who rules over all things for our eternal good, for our benefit and blessing. What could be more attractive than that?

Free! – to Face Death

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(based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

I must confess I am somewhat puzzled by our current relationship with death. It would seem we’re all over the place on our views of death. There is a strong demand in our country for the freedom to put children to death through abortion. Euthanasia and suicide appear to be increasingly acceptable options. Yet, a virus that kills only a minuscule percentage of the population has multitudes paralyzed with fear. I can’t make sense of it. I don’t know if we care too much about death, or not enough as a society. But, society’s relationship with death is not what informs or influences our relationship with death – at least one would hope. For the freedom we have in Christ is a real thing, and it has a direct impact on how we as Christians approach and deal with death. 

The freedom we have in Christ not only frees us from the fear of facing judgment on the Last Day; it also frees us to face something most of us are more than likely to experience before Jesus returns: death. The apostle Paul addresses the very subject of death in our verses this morning. He acknowledges that a lack of knowledge around death and what happens when we die is a legitimate cause for concern and even fear. Often fear flows from what is unknown, so Paul seeks to address that ignorance by educating us under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. 

He introduced the subject matter with these words: “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (v.14). Notice the connection between being uninformed, or ignorant, about death, or as Paul puts it in reference to Christians who have died, “those who sleep,” and hopeless grieving. That is to say, those who are uninformed or ignorant about this matter of death are understandably left mourning inconsolably because they have no hope. So then, how do we ensure hope in the face of death? We make sure we’re informed. 

People speak in all kinds of ways about what happens when a person dies, as if this is some unknown area where one person’s guess is as good as another’s. But the Bible, while it doesn’t come close to answering every single question we have surrounding death, is nonetheless clear on what happens when a person dies. Ecclesiastes 12:7 states, “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Every human being has both a body and a soul, and at death, the two are separated. The body or its remains are placed into the ground, while the soul goes immediately to either heaven or hell. There is no purgatory or place of limbo where souls are placed “on hold” until the Last Day. There will be no rapture or second chance for people to believe at another point in time, for the writer to the Hebrews established that “people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Then, as Paul describes in the last four verses of our text, Jesus will return on the Last Day. Every dead body, both believers and unbelievers, will be raised and rejoined together with its soul, and will then be permanently and publicly permitted to the final destination of either hell or heaven.   

While many of us have questions about heaven and hell, many of which the Bible doesn’t answer, again the Bible is clear enough in its descriptions about hell that we know it isn’t something we’d wish anyone to experience. The pictures of eternal agony and torment and suffering without any relief whatsoever rule out any foolish idea that maybe there are a few spots in hell that aren’t so bad, as if court-side seats or VIP suites would somehow make it more bearable. While people make passing comments about experiencing hell on earth, such flippant descriptions only serve to seriously downplay the reality of real condemnation in hell. 

Heaven, on the other hand, only gets five-star ratings throughout the whole Bible. It is only ever described in desirable, favorable, blissfully blessed terms. All suffering and sorrow, all letdown and loss, all hardship, hurt, and heartache – all of it is filtered out of heaven so that all that remains is every day is the best day you could ever imagine. And while it will surely be a joyful reunion of the saints, including our loved ones, even those hoped-for reunions will be overshadowed by the beautiful reminder Paul provides: “And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thes. 4:17b). We will no longer know Jesus just from hymns and songs, Bible verses, or artistic renditions, but in reality, face-to-face, in the flesh, in person, in his presence, forever. Any fear in the face of death fades even just by contemplating that magnificent reality of heaven: being with the Lord forever.

What makes the difference? What determines our final destination? We touched on it last Sunday, but have it again here today from Paul in verse 14. “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” It’s that simple. There need be no uncertainty in the face of death if we can affirm our confidence in this simple statement of Paul. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. Period. And, that means we believe we’re going where Jesus goes, because his death and resurrection have already punched our ticket.  

That means we’re going where six of our church family members have already arrived this year. Each of them believed that Jesus died and rose again, and so God brought each of them to be with Jesus to their final destination of heaven. While gathering restrictions this year did not permit us to hold services for each of these sainted brothers and sisters, nevertheless, no restrictions can ever rob us of the comfort we have in knowing they are with the Lord forever.

And someday, we will be, too. For we, too, “believe that Jesus died and rose again” (v.17b). If Jesus did, and if we believe it, then we’re free. We’re free from the fear of death. So much fear, after all, is based on the unknown. But when we take whatever is unknown and make it known, fear dissipates. When we don’t have to wonder what happens when a person dies, when we don’t have to worry about where we’re going or how we can be sure of it, we’re free to face death. It holds no terror over us. 

But it does more than that, actually. It isn’t about simply making something we all face less scary; it’s about putting what we’re all facing right now in the proper perspective. When we have the peace of knowing that death means being with the Lord forever, then we can take in stride everything this year has thrown at us. While we’re all mentally and emotionally worn out from hearing the same nauseating news over and over and over again, we can temper it with the triumph that is in store for us in heaven. Ah, but friends, if Sunday morning is the only time each week when we think thoughts of Jesus, our salvation, and our place with him forever, but the rest of the week let the news and headlines tickle our ears, are we making the most of every opportunity for the gospel to keep us uplifted and inspired? Are we giving it a fair chance to counter the chaos of our culture right now? 

When Paul wrapped up these verses the same way he did the verses we heard last Sunday, do you think he had in mind just occasionally? Did he just mean once in a great while? Or does his last verse, “therefore encourage one another with these words” (v.18) sound like something we ought to implement as often as necessary? I don’t know about you, but I have not yet had anyone turn down any extra encouragement these days. And I myself appreciate it when you all encourage me. Could we do more of that, especially with an eye toward eternity? Friends, listen to me: this. will. pass. But even better than that, we don’t have to just “get through this”; we actually have something better in store!

With that in mind, and perhaps as a way to keep the encouragement of this Saints Triumphant Sunday before us, here is a planning guide for you. It’s a guide to help you plan your funeral. It doesn’t cover every detail, but does allow for giving consideration to appropriate or favorite Scripture sections or hymns that you would like to have played at your funeral. I invite you to grab one, take some time to think through it, and when you finish it, return a copy to your church and keep one for yourself. Now this might sound like a weird thing to do, but if we’re truly free to face death – and we are – then aren’t we also free to plan for it?

One of the many added blessings of this kind of planning? It is a blessing to a congregation. When we think through and plan for such things because of the confidence we have “that Jesus died and rose again” (v.17b), we can bless Christ’s church long after we leave earth and are with the Lord forever. That is exactly what one of this year’s sainted members did when planning to leave 25% of their estate to support the continued proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Is that not encouraging?!? That member, blessed by the message of Jesus for so many years here, planned to ensure that same blessing would continue for others after departing for home in heaven. Friends, when we are free to face death, that is the kind of impact we can make! So no, we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (v.14), for we know “we will be with the Lord forever” (v.17b).

Free! – to Face Judgment

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(based on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

I don’t imagine the first three verses of our text this morning would serve as the ideal bedtime story as you’re saying goodnight and tucking in your little one. “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (v.1-3). “Sweet dreams.” These aren’t the kind of soothing, calm words that would put a child at ease when lying down for the night!

For that matter, these aren’t the kind of words that go over all that well with adults, either. In fact, some might point to verses just like these in Scripture as the reason they never have and never will give Christianity the time of day. The gloom and doom version of God doesn’t go over so well in a society that has given itself permission to redefine or design the divine according to personal preference. When we’ve allowed our ideas of religion to closely resemble ordering a pizza with our favorite toppings and leaving off the stuff we don’t like, is anyone surprised that most people would prefer to leave off the toppings of hell, destruction, wrath, or judgment? Hardly.

However, though we may not readily admit it, we are all in favor of judgment. Imagine you’re a small business owner and someone breaks into your store and makes off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of product or goods. If the police caught the guys that did it, you’d likely be in favor of justice being carried out and a judgment being rendered. The same would also be true if a drunk driver hit and killed a member of your family, or if someone published an unfounded, slanderous report about you online or in a magazine or paper. When we’re wronged, we’re not opposed to judgment at all when it means justice is being carried out. But when God talks about judgment, it doesn’t sit as well with people. 

You know why that is, don’t you? Consider the child who suddenly hears his father call out to him, “Son, come here right now. We need to talk.” Those words are able to evoke totally different responses in the son. On the one hand, he might immediately react with curiosity, wondering what it could be that his dad wants to talk about. On the other hand, those words can be totally terrifying if he happens to know exactly what dad wants to talk about and it isn’t going to be good. In that situation, what is that determines the son’s perception of his dad’s words? It’s not anything on dad’s end but on the son’s. If he did something wrong, that’s what makes those words terrifying. But if he didn’t do anything wrong, those words are relatively harmless.

So when people balk at the notion of God and judgment, it’s clear why. We don’t want to consider God’s judgment, because our conscience makes it pretty clear what he means when he says, “Come here right now. We need to talk.” When we consider that God is omniscient – all knowing, omnipresent – everywhere, and omnipotent – all powerful, that pretty convincingly rules out any of our wrongs going unnoticed, doesn’t it? There’s no chance that God just happened to be looking the other way. There’s no chance that maybe he didn’t hear us. There’s no chance of anyone pulling one over him.

That means you didn’t actually have to speak your bitter response to that political comment someone made recently, the Judge knew your thought well enough. It means he doesn’t need to check your browser history to see what sites you visited online – the Judge has a browser history that can’t be erased. That means you can lie to your parents, deceive your spouse, and fool your boss – the Judge knows the truth in each and every case, right down to the last disgraceful detail. So it’s no surprise that the idea of God and judgment going together isn’t a popular one with many people.

Especially when we consider the sentence that such judgment deserves. There were two words Paul used in the text this morning to describe what awaits those who don’t meet God’s standards of judgment: “destruction” (v.3) and “wrath” (v.9). Here we must explain another sticking point many have with Christianity. It’s one thing for people to believe in a heaven – that’s all well and good. The struggle for many, however, is the only alternative that exists outside of heaven: hell. They see no reason whatsoever that a loving God could send anyone to a place of such suffering. No heaven? That’s one thing. But why the extreme pain and torment and suffering of hell? Does God delight in that? Then why else would it exist? 

But that misunderstands what heaven is and what it means to be in the presence of God. What makes hell so wretched and unyielding is the absence of God. It’s not that God deliberately or intentionally wished to set up such a place of suffering as some curb or threat so that people would be drawn to heaven instead. Rather, when God is not present, all that remains is unyielding and relentless agony. Not because God wants it, but simply because that’s all that exists when God is removed from the picture.

However, remember that judgment is only something to be feared if you are guilty of something. If you haven’t done anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear. And if Jesus is in the picture, then you have nothing to fear. “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him” (v.9-10). Paul is addressing believers – then AND now. Believers know that they have been chosen – “anointed” as Paul writes – to receive salvation. That salvation is received not by going to church, not by voting for the right presidential candidate, not by anything you could do on even your best day, but only “through… Jesus Christ.” And then, lest we try to make it too terribly complicated, Paul also lays out how Jesus made that possible: by his death. 

This is where the focus ought to be. When so many defiantly denounce God because of their disdain over realities like judgment and hell, they’re pouting over something that doesn’t have to be anyone’s reality – including theirs! Since we’ve already agreed that most everyone is in favor of judgment when it means that justice is being served, we ought to dumbfounded that God chose to carry out the sentence of his just judgment on his own Son instead of you and me. So rather than being disgruntled about judgment and hell, we ought to be delighted that we don’t have to fear it! God’s judgment to all who believe is that since Jesus died, you will live. What’s to fear?

With no fear of judgment then, we live as we have been made to live – not as those who belong to the night, but as those who live in the light as those who belong to the day. That’s how we’re free to live. “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, …let us be awake and sober. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet”  (v.5, 6, 8). Faith, love, and hope. Do those sound like the qualities that embody your day-to-day living? 

The verdict has already been made. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Let every man and even your own conscience itself be liars, but let God’s declaration and promise stand true. If you are in Christ Jesus, you have nothing to fear. There is no condemnation for you. You are free to face judgment because you already know the verdict. 

Could I ask something of you? Could you please – please – follow Paul’s advice? “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (v.11). So many in our world right now need so much encouragement, and you have the best encouragement imaginable to share with them. You have no fear of judgment. Encourage others by reminding them that in Christ Jesus, neither do they.

Free!

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(based on Galatians 5:1-6)

This week we elect the next President of the United States. Today we observe Reformation Sunday. What do the Reformation and a National Election have in common? How are they similar? One might say they both have to do with the important matter of freedom. Regardless of political party, each side has expressed its concern over loss of freedom, whether that concern is tied to the fear of an agenda on the part of one political party or the fear of unilateral actions on the part of the President. During the Reformation, the freedom Jesus came to bring was being stripped by the Roman Catholic Church.

Yet, it is that similarity that could potentially cloud how drastically different each event is. One deals with what is temporal; the other what is eternal. One deals with our role as citizens of an earthly nation; the other deals with our place in the spiritual kingdom. One may some day be taken from us or limited; the other never can.

During the month of November until Thanksgiving, we’ll be directing our thoughts not on the temporary, worldly freedoms we enjoy, which have undoubtedly been a blessing to us in this great nation for so long, but rather on the freedom that lasts forever and is a far greater blessing to us now and into eternity. We will see how the freedom we have in Christ plays a role in our lives on a daily basis. The freedom we have in Christ allows us to Face Judgment, to Face Death, and to Be Ruled. 

For starters, though, we must understand the source of the freedom we have as Christians, and why that freedom we have in Christ is so very important. It is not just because of the liberties it allows us in our Christian living, the freedom to live for and serve God and others not out of coercion, fear, or obligation, but rather with love and gratitude and thanks. These are tremendous blessings, indeed! But they pale in comparison to the greatest blessings of being free – the blessings of being free from the guilt of sin, free from Satan’s control, and free from the fear of death. These, friends, are the blessings of being free!

The Galatian Christians were at risk of losing those blessings of being free. They had heard and believed the gospel message that salvation was God’s gift to them through faith in Christ Jesus. They had experienced the joyful realization that a perfect Savior had fully satisfied every requirement necessary to be at peace with God, and had paid with his own life to cover the cost of their own inability to do so. But Paul wrote this letter to them because they were in danger of trading all of that in – and the freedom that comes along with it. He put it this way in the beginning of his letter: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7).

What was the big deal? What was Paul so concerned about? Some among the Galatians were insisting that being a Christian still had its requirements, that faith in Jesus didn’t mean that God had let his people off the hook of ceremonial requirements and restrictions, but that those were still binding. What a person ate and wore and the rules you kept – they were insisting that those were still essential. In fact, they accused Paul of deliberately removing such requirements from his preaching and teaching to make his message more attractive to his hearers. The scary part was that the Galatian Christians were starting to buy it. 

Have you noticed that the same threat to the gospel appears today? While it may perhaps be a bit more subtle, it’s present. In fact, you may even have been guilty not only of believing it, but declaring it yourself. Today’s version of it sounds like this: “No Christian would ever eat/drink/wear/watch/listen to [blank].” “You can’t be a Christian and support this company or that organization.” “No God-fearing Christian could ever vote for [blank].” “You can’t be a good Christian and [blank].” It doesn’t matter how one fills in any of those blanks, either, because even implying that there are such conditions to Christianity puts an asterisk by our salvation. It implies that Jesus and his work alone aren’t all that really matters for salvation, but that certain requirements and restrictions still apply. If we start believing that rhetoric or find ourselves speaking that way, are we any different than the enemies of the gospel that Paul was addressing in Galatians?

And if anyone thinks this is a little matter, listen to Paul: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (1:8-9). Those are strong words directed at anyone that wants to convey that Christianity is based on the good news of the gospel AND anything else! If anyone teaches that it’s necessary to “read the fine print” or that “certain restrictions apply” when it comes to the gospel, Paul says, “let him be eternally condemned!”

Do those words sound familiar? Ironically, it was the same threat directed at Martin Luther and others who questioned the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that works were necessary for salvation. So in essence, the church in Luther’s day was guilty of committing the exact same crime as those Paul was addressing in Galatians, implying that only the gospel AND works could save, but here the tables are turned and it is the church of Luther’s day condemning the very teaching Paul was defending in Galatians – that we aren’t saved by what we do, but through faith in Jesus and what HE did for us! Paul condemned anyone insisting that what we do saves, and the church of Luther’s day condemned anyone who denied it!   

In an effort to defend the good news of the gospel, Paul encouraged the Galatians and us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (5:1). Paul plays off the words of Jesus, who invited us to come to him when we’re spiritually worn out and need the rest of forgiveness that only he can provide. Jesus invites us to rely on the “yoke” that he bore for us to provide that rest. But to resort to the law is essentially to remove Jesus’ yoke of rest from our shoulders and replace it with the unbearable yoke of slavery to the law. Paul is trying to establish how ludicrous it would be to exchange the freedom we have in Christ for suffocating standards of the law. And he doesn’t just stop there, but goes on to highlight three devastating consequences of trading in the yoke of Jesus’ rest and forgiveness for the yoke of slavery to the law.

The first Paul lays out in verse two: “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.” What Paul is saying that if you want to insist on bringing observance of the law back into the equation, then Christ holds no value to you. Imagine an edited Bible that cut out out every reference to Jesus Christ, Savior, Messiah, etc. What would you be left with? You’d have nothing but law. Sure, there would still be talk of God’s love, but any assurance of that love would be entirely dependent upon one’s ability to keep the law – an impossibility! Without Christ in the picture, all that is left is the law. That leads into Paul’s second devastating consequence of putting on the yoke of the law.

To be bound to any part of the law is to be bound to all of it. Paul wrote, “Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law” (v.3). There is no middle ground with the law – it is all or nothing. The law makes clear that God isn’t interested in you giving it your best effort or the old college try. Only perfection from A to Z is acceptable. Martin Luther’s experience in a monastery enlightened him to how deceiving the appeal to observance of the law can be. He wrote, “Thus it is certainly true that those who keep the Law do not keep it. The more men try to satisfy the Law, the more they transgress it. The more someone tries to bring peace to his conscience through his own righteousness, the more disquieted he makes it” (LW, 27:13). He spoke about having seen many murderers facing execution die more confidently than “these men who had lived such saintly lives” [monks]. The law appears to offer the promise of a legitimate utopian oasis, but it is nothing more than a mirage that leaves souls parched with unquenchable thirst. 

Finally, if Christ is of no value and we have obligated ourselves to the whole law by thinking we could keep any part of it, the ultimate consequence is that we fall out of grace. “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (v.4). Picture God’s grace as him scooping you up in the palm of his hand. You did nothing to deserve it. He chose you, even working in you the faith to believe that Jesus is your Savior. As you rest, suspended up in the palm of his hand, you see the exemplary achievements of the law falling all around you, enticing you with their promise of acclaim and worth if only they can be accomplished. Wondering, imagining, that you can perhaps reach out and grab just one or two of them, you stretch yourself too far, falling out of the his palm, out of his grace, into the abyss that awaits all who make the mistake of thinking God’s favor can be earned instead of freely given by his grace. Shudder the thought!

No, friends, the law will never earn us the righteousness God demands. That is ours only through faith. Martin Luther rejoiced to discover what Paul wrote, “For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope” (v.5). Luther knew that his freedom wasn’t granted to him by the pope or an emperor, but by faith. Faith alone made him righteous before God – and free! Friends, faith alone makes us righteous before God – and free! No earthy election can ever rob us of that freedom. 

Divine Dress Code

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(based on Matthew 22:1-14)

You may not know the name Mouna Ayoub, but she likes clothing. That is an understatement. The French socialite has arguably the most expensive wardrobe in the world. She possesses over 1,600 pieces of haute couture, each costing up to $400,000. All of the high-end fashion labels, like Chanel and Christian Dior, for example, have there own mannequin replica of her to allow them to tailor clothes to her size when she is unavailable for fittings. Where does she keep all her clothing, you ask? In her apartments. Not apartments in which she lives, mind you, but apartments which she has solely for the purpose of serving as large closets for her clothing. 

Yet, as much coin as she may be willing to spend for a personally designed and fitted dress, not one of them would be spectacular enough to allow her to gain access into the banquet Jesus talked about in this morning’s parable. In the last parable of Jesus that we’re looking at in this series, while there are a number of points Jesus makes, we want to pay special attention to the dress code required to get into heaven. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (v.11-13). The man was speechless. Why? Not because he wasn’t an invited guest – remember the invitation had been extended to everyone. However, the invitation for everyone was clear: only those wearing the proper attire would be welcome to the wedding.

Anyone who has attended a wedding knows you get dressed up. You don’t just throw on a T-shirt and tennis shoes and show up. You dress up. You wear something special. It’s just what we do, and for many it’s even a fun excuse to go out and buy a new suit or dress for the occasion.  

But if we think we do the same when it comes to the wedding banquet Jesus is referring to in his parable, we risk finding ourselves in the same situation as the speechless man in the parable, the one who ended up booted from the banquet. 

Honestly, though, does this really resonate with us? If there’s one thing we know as Christians, it’s that our only hope for heaven is Jesus’ righteousness, his perfection, his holiness. Right? Yes, we may know this. We may have been taught this. We may confess this. But… do we believe it? Do we live it? Or, do we still find ourselves slipping on this attire or that outfit, just to be sure? If we know what we need to be wearing to be welcomed into the banquet, what warning is there for us in this parable?

Could it be that we may have to be wary of trying to squeeze in with a knock-off or some off-brand imitation of Jesus’ righteousness? We know that righteousness is the requirement that needs to be met to gain access to the banquet, but can we deceive ourselves into thinking that maybe our self-righteousness is sufficient to make the grade? Sure, it’s not the real thing, but it’s pretty close, right? We uphold traditional values. We treat people well. We go to church. Basically, we’re good people – the kind of people that by default everyone presumes will populate heaven. So maybe our righteousness will make the cut.

But do we really think our imitation haute couture will stand up to the Divine Tailor’s inspection? Will he not see right through the poor stitching of our self-righteousness with all its loose threads? Will he not notice the inferior fabric and materials from which the garments of our works are made? Will the mismatched cuts and disproportionate lengths of our obedience escape his notice? If we think we can don our own look-alike knock-off garment of righteousness to be allowed in, we will only end up embarrassing ourselves and dishonoring the king by thinking we could pull it off and fool him!

Maybe we’re not so brazen. Maybe it’s a little more subtle. Perhaps we aren’t foolish enough to imagine that a garment made up entirely of our own righteousness would ever pass the test… but we still find ourselves clinging to that little something extra, just in case we may need it. Like that lucky pair of socks or that lucky jersey we only pull out when our team really needs a win, we insist on bringing something of our own to wear beneath the provided wedding attire of Jesus’ righteousness, just in case, for a little added insurance. So beneath Jesus’ robe of righteousness, we sport that lucky sock or undergarment of status or achievement (“I’ve been a Christian/Lutheran my whole life,” “I read the Bible every day,” “I’m a devoted spouse,” “I… anything”) that we don’t presume will replace Jesus’ righteousness, but we figure it can’t hurt to wear that into the banquet just for good measure. 

But do we really suppose we can improve on the wedding garments the host freely provides? What an insult to imply that what he provides is somehow lacking! Imagine interrupting the photographer at a wedding to insist on a little change here or there to improve on the wedding party. You’d insult both the photographer, as well as the bride and groom for their choice of attire for the bridal party! Who are you to suggest such things? Who are any of us to think that Jesus’ righteousness isn’t enough, but must also be accompanied by this or that accessory to make the outfit complete?

The bridegroom himself provided the only clothing necessary and permitted to the party – his righteousness. Paul captured this very truth in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God made him without sin – no sin, perfectly right with God – for the specific purpose of being our righteousness! Jesus alone is the righteousness we need to meet God’s standards. Jesus alone is the righteousness we need to gain access into the eternal heavenly banquet. Let us leave our own personal attire at the door – it will amount to nothing but an eternal fashion disaster!

Rest assured, the garments provided for you will be enough. They have been washed. They have been made clean – not with detergent, not with dry cleaning chemicals, but with the blood of the Lamb, the bridegroom himself – Jesus Christ. The picture from Revelation is a vivid one describing the saints in heaven: “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

That guest list of gathered saints that John saw in his vision is pretty extensive. In Jesus’ parable, the king wanted a banquet hall filled with guests, so when those he invited first declined his invitation, he simply invited anyone and everyone else to be his guest. There is room for everyone, and the king’s genuine desire to have everyone join him was expressed by his patience even with the underdressed guest. Could it be that Jesus was illustrating how extensive the king’s patience is? He didn’t remove the guest outright, but gave him one last chance to acknowledge that he was underdressed. Would it have been too late for the guest to apologize – repent – and ask the king for the wedding garments instead? There was still a chance! He needed only to speak up and in humility ask for the proper attire! But he was speechless. If he wasn’t allowed to the banquet wearing what he already had on, then he wasn’t interested in sticking around. But still today, to you, to me, to everyone, the king is patient and loving – not hesitating to point out that our filthy rags are not welcome in his holy hall, but still today, to you, to me, to everyone – offering the only attire that is, the Son’s righteousness.

And there is added peace of mind for you in the present, not just waiting for you in the future: friends, you do not need to wait until the banquet doors are opened to wear your attire. In fact, you wear it today. You were dressed in it in your baptism. Though not as common as it used to be in the church, baptismal gowns would adorn infants as they were brought to the font to be baptized – white gowns that symbolized the very attire required to be a guest at the banquet. In baptism we were dressed in that righteousness. Today you wear it. Today you live in it.

What peace of mind that offers a world caught up in trying to measure up! You already do! There is no pressure from God to achieve the highest test score, to be the perfect spouse, to be the next YouTube sensation, to get more likes, to be good enough for your parents’ approval, to get recognized by the boss. Jesus’ righteousness that covers you this very moment means that you quite literally cannot be more perfect in God the Father’s eyes! The Son, the bridegroom who gave himself up for the church, for believers like you and me, has clothed us with his holy righteousness. Because of him you are more than good enough! Live with that peace of mind.

It’s OK if you enjoy finding a good deal on used clothes at Goodwill. It’s alright to wear hand-me-downs. You don’t need an extravagant wardrobe sporting designer labels that fade out of style faster than you can say Loius Vuitton or Armani. In Jesus, you already meet the divine dress code necessary for a place at the banquet. But the good news is that you don’t have to wait until you get there to start celebrating. Start celebrating today – every day! – knowing that Jesus’ righteousness makes you good enough. Amen.