Sermon based on Matthew 20:1-16

1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3″About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7″ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8″When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9″The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12′These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13″But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16″So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Get busy with Kingdom Work

1)  Work a full day.

2)  Expect full pay.

OK, go get it.  Have at it.  Get busy.  While a friend and I were working our way through the Seminary our boss, Glen, would leave us at the jobsite with expressions like those.  See, we worked for him.  He set up the jobs, he set up the hours, he set up the pay he would give us.  We had our good days at work when we would get busy quite well for him and get a lot done.  And there were days when that wouldn’t happen so well.  There were days when one of us would leave early and the other would work late.  There were times one of us would get the day off and the other would pick up the slack. Regardless, our job was to get busy with the work Glen left for us to do for the pay he promised us.

That situation is similar to the story Jesus told in Matthew 20 about getting busy with Kingdom work.  1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning (about 6am) to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3″About the third hour (9am) he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went. “He went out again about the sixth (noon) hour, …  the ninth hour (3pm) …  the eleventh hour (5pm) …’ 8″When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers (Matthew 20-1-8).  Notice that the owner hired the workers.  The owner sent out the workers with a purpose.  The owner set up the agreed upon terms of how much each would get paid.  So what could the workers expect?  They could expect to work a full day—their own full day, what the owner discussed with each of them individually.  It would not be OK for them to sit around at the job site doing nothing after they were hired to work.  It would not be OK for them to go back to the marketplace and go back to doing nothing after they were hired.  It would not be OK for them to gripe about how much work given to them to do.  They were hired to do a full day’s work so they could expect to work a full day—regardless of when they were hired: 6am, 9am, 12 noon, 3pm or 5pm.  Their full day was from when they were hired until they were told it’s quitting time.

Enough about hiring and working.  Why did Jesus tell this story?  Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is like… (Matthew 20:1).  This parable focuses on The Kingdom of Heaven as God’s rule in the hearts of his people through his Word.  God brings people into his kingdom when he brings them to faith.  And because God brings people into his kingdom he is the one who tells people what kingdom work is.  We summarize Kingdom work at St. Mark’s as —Glorifying God as his people, growing in his Word and going with his Word.  And those in God’s kingdom are hired so to speak to do their kingdom work until God says the work day is done—be it when he comes back on Judgment Day or when he calls one of his kingdom workers home to heaven.  For some workers that day is very long—70, 80, 90 years or more.  For others it’s shorter.  God makes those decisions.  Workers in God’s kingdom can expect to work a full day.

So that means you and I can expect to work a full day.  And I guess that gets a Christian thinking, “Have I been working full days for God?”  Have you been making faithful use of God’s Word in your home?  That’s your job.  Have you made faithful use of God’s Word as your guide for making your daily decisions?   Have you been living your faith faithfully outside of Sunday morning worship at work at school at play?  Have you been working full days or do you like to go back to the marketplace and sit around because working full days for God in his kingdom is hard work?  Can you honestly say yes, 100%, I have given myself 100% to my God, to glorifying him in all I do?  And here’s something else for us to chew on, if we are not getting busy working in God’s kingdom, doing his work, feeding our faith and living our faith, just exactly for whom are we working?  The competition?  Ourselves?  The world?

Then there’s the wages the workers in the vineyard were to expect.  ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first’ (Matthew 20:8).  The landowner agreed to pay each of his workers a full, just, wage and that’s what he did.  However, this full, just pay for all didn’t sit well with some, 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. (Matthew 20:10-11).  And they only have a case until we remember, workers don’t set the terms the owner does—and they all agreed on the terms of pay.  Besides, without the owner hiring them, where would those hired first be?  They’d be back at the marketplace with no pay, doing nothing, serving no good purpose.  Remember, the owner didn’t have to hire anyone in the first place!  13″But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous’ (Matthew 20:13-15).  Maybe the problem wasn’t with the pay, but with the attitude of the worker?  The owner promised to pay each worker what was right—full pay—and he did.

And so we too can expect to receive full pay as we work in God’s kingdom.  But at the same time we need to remember we don’t determine what that full wage is—God does.  12‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day’ (Matthew 20:12).  Have you thought that way? “God, what’s with blessing me and worker X over there the same?  I come to church every week, I witness my faith every other day at work, I volunteer time at church every week and all Mr. X does is sit at home watching the Sunday morning news and God you’re going to bless us both with heaven?”  I’ve worked my whole life in your kingdom, sacrificed, faithfully served you and this guy makes a deathbed confession and you’re gonna take us both to the same heaven?  We probably have more in common with Jonah on this point than we think.  Have ¹¹ But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”  The Ninevites?  God’s gonna let the Ninevites into heaven?  Give them the same pay as people like Abraham and Moses?  Now replace Ninevah with whomever.  It’s not our job to determine the pay and who does and doesn’t deserve the pay.

Just stop and think with me about what we really deserve from God and what God decides to give to us anyway.  Listen to how God responds when we get all high on ourselves and down on the way God is choosing to share forgiveness, heaven, full pay to people we think he shouldn’t, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous ” (Matthew 20:13-15).  In other words, maybe there’s nothing wrong with God’s grace and desire to share his love and blessings with people, maybe there’s something wrong with us when we get to thinking so much of ourselves that we lose sight of just how dependent we are on God.  Why do we deserve the opportunity to be part of God’s kingdom in the first place?  Why should God bless us?  When we remember no one deserves heaven or deserves to be called God’s child or is good enough without Christ to be called God’s child, then we have a healthy proper understanding of this parable.  God does not treat us fairly, he treats us justly.  Fair would go like this…the workers came in from the field and the owner said, you messed up here, you ruined this, you didn’t do that you are terribly undependable workers.  You’re fired.  Go back to the marketplace and spend eternity there.

That would be fair.  But God chose to be just instead of fair.  God chose to have Jesus die for our poor kingdom attitudes and work ethics for all our kingdom work failures.  God chose to send Jesus to work faithfully in our place.  God chose to send Jesus to bring us into his kingdom all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood (Romans 3:23,24,25).  We can expect full pay—full forgiveness not because of our work, but because of his grace, his promise, his choice to give us full pay.  We can expect heaven someday because Jesus died for us.

So really we are left with no other option than to praise and thank God for bringing us into his kingdom and live that thankfulness in our lives.  Praise and thank him by asking for forgiveness when you fail to do the kingdom work you have been called to do.  Praise and thank him by asking for forgiveness when you grumble against him and accusing of not giving you what we have coming.  Praise and thank him by digging deeper and deeper into his Word so you can better understand what it means to be fully loved and freely forgiven, humble workers in his kingdom.

May God lead us to have such kingdom minded goals for our kingdom work in his name.   Amen.

Sermon based on Micah 6:1-8

God calls out His people.

1. God calls us on our issues.
2. God calls us to walk with him.

They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

I’ve had the chance to watch some basketball the past couple of weeks—including some St. Mark’s Lion’s basketball.  The players are playing hard and the spirit squad is being loud.  And I observed even at the grade school

level a universal aspect of basketball—the reaction to fouls.  Whether NBA, college, high school and even grade school, it’s always interesting to see the reactions on the players’ faces when a foul is called on them.  If they’re guilty of the foul and they know it, they may smile at the ref saying, “Yeah, you got me.”  Sometimes the player protests the foul called on him or her because the player thinks he or she did nothing to deserve the call.  I don’t think that kind of reaction is unique to basketball.  Don’t you agree that that’s the way we are programmed to respond when people call us on something?  For example at basketball practice, a coach observes a player shooting free throws, notices that player’s elbow isn’t tucked in as it should be so the coach will call the player on it and correct the form.  And sometimes players get upset, even though the smart players won’t vocalize their disapproval with the coaching instructions.  But in their minds some players get irritated by coaching instructions because, “That’s not the way I like to shoot.”  Never mind that if the player took the coach’s suggestion and corrected her form she would make more free throws.  Most of the time people tend to react in a negative way to people who call them on their errors, our issues or shall we even call them mistakes, instead of taking corrections to heart and listening.

God’s people were wrapped up in something similar in Micah’s day, about the year 700 BC.  Micah’s calling was to call out God’s people by calling them on the issues God had with them.  Micah called out God’s people by creating an interesting courtroom scene.  The mountains are the jury.  The Prosecutor is the Lord, and the defendants are the people of Judah.  “Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. 2 Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.  For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel” (Micah 6:1,2). The mountains were there when God brought the people into the land. Mount Zion or Jerusalem was there when the people were faithful to the Lord.  Mount Zion was also there when God’s people left the Lord to marry people from heathen nations. The mountains were also there when a true fear and respect for the LORD was replaced with a “who cares it’s not that big of a deal” attitude toward God led the people away from God.

And when it came time for the Lord to prosecute, he wasn’t messing around–3 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me” (Micah 6:3) was the question he presented to his people through Micah.  How had the Lord mistreated them?  What did he demand from his people in return for his love?  What had he taken from them in exchange for his forgiveness?  With what conditions had he burdened his people?  How had he failed his people?  Had he mistreated them, robbed them of anything, or set conditions on his love.  NO.  He freely forgave them, freely loved them and freely made them his own at no cost to them.  And as the people on trial are standing there without a defense or reply to God’s question, God answers the question for them.  3 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.” 4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. 5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord” (Micah 6:3-5). We know how God led his people out of their slavery in Egypt.  Balak and Balaam are perhaps lesser known names.  On their way to the Promised Land, Balak king of Moab hired a heathen prophet Balaam to curse God’s people.  Instead of a curse God delivered a blessing from Balaam.  (Numbers 22-24).  God was faithful to them.  God protected them.  Shittim was on one side of the Jordan River and Gilgal on the other.  When you’re standing along the banks of a River, maybe the Sacramento or the American, what normally happens?  The water flows to where it’s going, right?  That stopped happening at Gilgal.  Can you imagine standing on the banks of the Jordan, ready to cross, ready to enter the land promised hundreds of years earlier, and suddenly the waters of the Jordan stop flowing downstream and instead pile up into a big wall so you can cross (Joshua 3)?  Who could forget all God had done for them?

God’s people had.  They were guilty as charged.  And instead of taking God’s rebuke to heart and admitting, “Guilty as charged” they began making excuses.  They began searching for a way to appease God and get on with their sinful lives.  6 “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6,7). Will more sacrifices do it?  If we go to the temple more often, is that enough?  If I give God my firstborn child will that get him off my back?  Like a basketball player refusing the instruction of a coach, God’s people refused to confront their issues, they refused to deal with their sins.

What do you suppose the mountains would accuse us of today?  The Sierra or the hills to the west of us, if they were to give God a report what would they say?  What changes might the walls of your homes accuse you of?  What secrets might the walls of your workplace reveal?  What about the bones that make up your skull?  What terrible thoughts might they report to God?  What about your pericardium—the lining of your heart? What covetous thoughts, lusts and hateful thoughts might your pericardium reveal to God?  The point is, Micah’s point is, God’s point is, can we actually hide from God the issues we let come between him and us or the issues we actively place between us and God?  Can we really hide our own indifferences from God—our “personal Bible reading, Bible study, growing God’s Word and growing in living more in line with God’s Word aren’t that big of a deal” indifferences?  Can we really hide the way our hearts almost curse God when he takes blessings away from us or chooses to not bless us with those things for which we are praying or blesses in ways we didn’t pray for or ask for?  Is God truly going to overlook our shortcomings, our issues?

What’s your response going to be when God calls you on your issues?  Are you going to say, what do you want from me God?  Do you want more money, I’ll give it.  Do you want me to read 100 pages of my Bible every night?  Just tell me what to do and get off my back.  Pastor, just tell me Jesus loves me, just tell me what to do and leave me, my issues, my sins alone.  Is that your response to God’s Word calling you on your issues?  God doesn’t want your money; he doesn’t want you going through the motions of skimming over 100, 1,000 or even 10,000 pages of the Bible per day.  He wants your heart.  God calls out his people to call us on our issues so that we might turn from sin and walk with him now and walk with him forever.

Notice how God refers to the people on trial.  Three times he calls them his people.  And at first we might think, “Yeah so.”  The “yeah so” is this.  God never stopped loving them.  He continually sent them prophets to call them back to himself.  He took their issues their sins very seriously, but he also took his promises to love and forgive very seriously.  And in return for his forgiveness, he asked for nothing but their hearts, 8“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

That’s all God would have us do in response for all he’s done for us as well.  We don’t have to earn his love, pay for his forgiveness or pay dues to be his children.  God calls us out on our sins so we see our need for him in our lives.  He calls us out on our sins so he can show us the forgiveness Jesus won for us.  He calls us out on our sins so we will turn back to him from our issues and not let our issues, our sins, crowd him out of our lives as happened to his OT people in Micah’s day.  And we know he has forgiven us.  We know we are God’s own forever because after he paid the price for all our issues, for all our sins John tells us, “Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). God calls un on our issues so we can live in the wisdom that comes with knowing Jesus, It is because of (God) that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

No doubt if Micah were talking to us this morning he would take us back to Jesus’ words, 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). He would tell us don’t finds ways around God’s will, don’t try to see how far you can push it before you are disobeying God’s will, don’t see how much of God’s Word and will you can do without.  Instead hunger and thirst to live for your God who gave us his Son for you.  Hunger and thirst for those things God says are good and desirable.  And when you fail, when you do let God down don’t reject God when he calls you on your sins.  Instead see God calling you out on your issues, your sins, as his loving means to bring you back to him and keep you as his.

Good things happen when athletes listen to their coaches, take their advice, and follow their directions.  Better things happen when God keeps us close to himself through his Word.  May God keep us close to himself by calling us on our issues that we might walk with him in the confidence that Jesus shared with us, Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven (Matthew 5:12).

Sermon based on 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Epiphany Grace Enriches Our Lives.

1.  In all our speaking.

2.  In all our knowledge.

Does the name Sanford mean anything to you?  Some of you might be thinking Sanford and Son.  But the Sanford I’m thinking this morning is Denny Sanford, a successful business man who made a gift, a donation that enriched the lives of many people in many ways.  A few years ago he gave $16 million to fund a children’s hospital.  No one made him do it and he accepted very little praise and media coverage for doing it.  A couple of years later, he gave another gift, $400 million to a local hospital and health care system.  He said why he did it and ABC news covered it, “I am pleased to make a gift with the potential to have a lasting, positive impact on the health and well-being of children and adults in (the area) and throughout the country,” ABC news also reported on the benefits of his gift, Over 10 years, Sanford’s donation is expected to result in 9,200 jobs and $1 billion in economic development. The money will fund research, children’s health initiatives, and medical education.”  Helping sick children, creating jobs, boosting a local economy—talk about enriching the lives of many through a gift, right?

God’s gifts that come through the Epiphany have also enriched the lives of many.  And St. Paul calls himself the best living example of Epiphany grace enriching lives.  Here he was, self-proclaimed chief number one sinner to ever walk and defile the face of the earth with his sin says this about himself, ¹ Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God (1 Corinthians 1:1). God called Paul, God made an epiphany to Paul, God revealed Jesus and full and free forgiveness through Jesus to Paul.  That’s grace.  God gifted something to Paul that enriched his life.  God then said to Paul, I am sending you out to enrich the lives of many through this gift.  Is there a better example of grace, of free, undeserved love, of being gifted something so wonderful?  God enriched his church through Paul’s ministry, ² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: ³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2-3).

People without a spiritual penny to their names, people without any form of currency with which to buy forgiveness from God, purchase heaven from God or acquire a temporary reprieve from the their guilt before God, were gifted a status from God, sanctified, that is set apart as a holy people belonging to God, forgiven children of God, heirs of heaven.  I realize being enriched through a $400million gift is good, I realize being enriched by happiness is good, I realize being enriched by your plans for your life going the way you want to them go is good, but what better blessing could a person have than knowing they have been enriched in their relationship with God through Epiphany grace?  ⁴ I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way (1 Corinthians 1:4-5). That’s Epiphany grace, God’s gift of the Epiphany, enriching lives.  God gives his grace to his church by revealing Jesus to his Church.  God’s church then share Epiphany grace with people. People become enriched in Jesus.  That’s how Epiphany grace enriches our lives.

Paul makes a general announcement, ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way and then he shares two specific ways in which Epiphany grace enriches God’s people—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge (1 Corinthians 1:5). The first specific enriching that Paul mentions is God enriching his people in their speaking.  Listen to what God said through Isaiah about his Son, Jesus, 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”… “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49). That’s what God made Jesus and through Jesus that’s what God has made you.  A spokesperson with a piercing message.  A spokesperson with a message that can cut through any sin, any guilt, any doubt, any problem, any stony heart with the good news of Epiphany grace through Jesus.      

So do you do with your Epiphany grace what Andrew did?   ⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus (John 1:40-41). Andrew was gifted Epiphany grace, “We have found Messiah” and what did he run and tell Peter?  “Fishing’s good today, nice weather today, the daily commute time to the lake is rather short today”?  NO!  “We have found the Christ!”  “Here he is.”  Epiphany grace enriched Andrew’s speaking and he shared his new found riches with his brother.

Is that what you do with the Epiphany grace God has shared with you?  God has gifted you the full revelation of his Son Jesus.  Do you gather around it with other believers, do you gather your family around it and talk about it?  ² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours (1 Corinthians 1:2). Is that element missing from your speaking?  Are you bringing your spiritual riches (forgiveness, comfort and heaven through Jesus) to your friends the same way you bring a new gardening tip or hot stock tip or latest gaming tip?  To know Epiphany grace, to gather around epiphany grace and use it to carry out God’s work is not optional for us—I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49). We have been sanctified from all our sins in Christ.  Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We have been scrubbed clean by the blood of Jesus.  We have been enriched.  The Epiphany grace we sometimes don’t make time for and are hesitant to share, is the same Epiphany grace that assures us we are forgiven.  And the fact that God uses us to enrich others is proof of his grace, is it not?  Epiphany grace has enriched you in all your speaking, so God says speak!  Remind yourselves you are forgiven, find comfort in that good news for yourself, but don’t forget to share it.

And God has enriched you with the knowledge to do so.  ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— ⁶ because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. A commentator I was reading reminded me that the Greeks, the Corinthians, prided themselves on their ability to know things and to talk about what they knew.  And I would imagine that one of the worst things that could happen would be for you to given the floor and you don’t really know what you’re talking about so you talk, but you end up looking like a fool when the next guy gets up and shows you up with his knowledge and proves you wrong.  Paul says, won’t happen to you when you share Epiphany grace because God has confirmed his message in you. God’s message worked in your hearts the way he said it would.  Someone shared Epiphany grace with you and God gave you full knowledge of Jesus, full knowledge about what Jesus did with your sin, the relationship with God Jesus opened up to you, life with God that Jesus promises you when you leave this earth.  Epiphany grace has enriched you in all knowledge.

The short version is this.  I found myself having a conversation with our server.  She said she was upset by what was going on in life and the world around her (I believe it was around Katrina time) and she saw on the Discovery channel how the world was going to end in some great big natural disaster and there was nothing anyone or anything or any “god” could do about it. That conversation confirmed what God says it true—we need more Jesus and less Discovery Channel.  We need less of what we bring to the table in our relationship with God and more of what God brings.  We need less of what the world says is going on and more of God’s confirmed truth.  Now Discovery Channel isn’t in and of itself bad, our minds and human reason in and of themselves are not bad, not everything that comes out of this world is bad, but Paul just wants to remind us this morning, don’t let these things or anything replace the knowledge God has enriched you with through his Epiphany grace.

In Corinth, some of God’s people were struggling with recognizing Paul’s authority as an apostle.  Some were struggling with how to properly administer and receive the sacrament.  Some were struggling with sexual sins and how to properly follow and honor the sixth commandment.  Paul didn’t say, “Well, let’s go see what the 6 o’clock news out of Rome has to say about these issues.”  He didn’t say, “Let’s go listen to the deep thinkers downtown.”  “Let’s put our heads together and come up with a solution to these problems.”  No, Paul said look at the Epiphany grace God has shared with us, ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— ⁶ because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. God has also so enriched you, our congregation and our ministry.  Remember to go back to the Epiphany grace God has shared with you and God will give you the answers and guidance you need and are looking for.

If I had $400million I’d like to think I would share some of it with you.  I’d like to think I would try to better those in my life and try to find a use for my money that would truly enrich those around me.  But I have been given something better to share with you, the same thing you have been given to share with me, the same thing our congregation has been given to share with as many people as God gives us the opportunity to do so, Epiphany grace, the Lamb of God who not only takes away the sin of the world, but has also taken away your sin and my sin.  That revelation of that grace enriches our lives, enriches our speaking, and enriches our knowledge. You know Jesus.  Find comfort, strength and guidance in him.  You have been shown Jesus.  Share him as a member of this congregation and an individual who has been enriched by Epiphany grace.  God is faithful and promises to bless us and those with whom we share Epiphany grace.

Sermon based on Isaiah 60:1-6

God’s Glory Shines in Jesus.
1.  Jesus brought light to God’s people.
2.  You need the light.
3.  The nations need you.

Intro
If you are God Almighty, there are many ways you can reveal your power and glory.  You could destroy people who fail you in all kinds of creative ways:  fire and brimstone from heaven, sending the angel of death to kill them in their sleep raise up a whole nation to rise up against another and completely wipe it out, line up people who rebel against you and cause the earth to open up and swallow them.  And yes, God did those things, but that’s not how he revealed his glory and power as God.  You could intimidate people into living for you, you could lavish money and riches on people who out of fear do what you want them to do.  You could buy people’s loyalty with financial success (by kicking Rome out of Jerusalem).  You could periodically back out on your promises just to let people know you’re in charge and are going to do whatever, whenever you want.  God could have revealed his power and glory in any way he wanted to.  But he chose to reveal his glory primarily by showing mercy.
Just think back through the Bible to the times God revealed his glory.  When God’s people were suffering under Egyptian rule, God remembered his people and told Moses in the burning bush: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.  7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them (Exodus 3:6-8).
After God gave Moses perfect laws the people could never keep perfectly, God’s in all his glory revealed his plan to maintain his justice by insisting that his laws be kept, but to also love them unconditionally and forgive them unconditionally when they fail, 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7).
It was a dark time for God’s people and God’s people needed him again.  The temple was nothing like it used to be in the days of Solomon.  Romans occupied Jerusalem.  God hadn’t sent a prophet to his people for many years.  And then God finally revealed his glory, 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:9-11).
In a grand ceremony God lifted back the sheet and revealed his promised Messiah, humble and lying in a manger. That’s how God revealed his glory.  God’s people finally fully saw the light, light of God’s glory, the full light of God’s love. Isaiah saw this revelation, this epiphany, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, and it brought him great joy and he wanted to share that joy with God’s people—1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you (Isaiah 60:1). .
Now I know not many of us, if any of us, can claim a blood and DNA relationship with God’s Old Testament people.  But do you know what we can claim is the same need for the light of Jesus. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples (Isaiah 60:2). You know the expression, I’m in a funk?  Athletes, writers, artists they just can’t think, they can’t perform, they’re not living up to their potential and they don’t know why.  They just can’t function.  That’s kind of like the darkness Isaiah is talking about—a heavy thick sheet preventing people from knowing God and God’s love.  Preventing people from seeing God’s presence.  Preventing them from living for God.  Here’s why St. Paul said many people are in such a funk, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18).  That funk clouds their hearts and minds from seeing Jesus and a need for him in their lives.  That funk can also set in on people who do know Jesus.  Have you ever been in a “sin funk”?  Felt like you just can’t fix a certain sin in your life—you feel the guilt, your conscience is telling you “no” but your sinful heart is saying “yes.”  Being caught up in sin can put a person in a funk.  And that funk can settle in and cause all kinds of problems in life and in a person’s relationship with God.  It’s not good to be afraid of God, is it?  It’s not good when your only thoughts of God are thoughts of guilt or defensive retorts to God’s law.
The world we live in can also put us in a funk.  Sadness, sickness, chronic pain, loneliness, a lack of self-worth.  Add to all this the times we actively seek out and invite the darkness into our lives:  God says, “No” to this, but our own sinful hearts say, “This just might be the thing I need to be happy.”  God says “Try this,” but the world says “This way is easier.”  And even if we get a little temporary lift out of the darkness, in the end we sink deeper and deeper into a funk. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples (Isaiah 60:2). We need the light of God’s glory in Jesus to break the funk.
That is why God had Isaiah write the second half of verse two, 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you (Isaiah 60:2).  The thick darkness is real, but God has revealed his glory to you.  He promises that no matter how deep your darkness of sin is, no matter how deep of a funk you are in, the LORD’s glory rises upon you in Jesus.
Back to Paul, 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).  God’s Son coming into the world to sacrifice himself for sins we ourselves could never pay for is the power of God to reach down into and even through the darkest darkness in our lives and pull us out and show us the light of Jesus.  God’s Word says, 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38,39).  Paul expounds on that in the first lesson for this morning, 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus…12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:6,12).
Is there any part of the darkness of sin or of this world or in your hearts and minds that can prevent God’s glory in Jesus from comforting you?  Is there any darkness that can separate you from God?  Is there any darkness too thick, any funk too deep that the glory of God cannot shine on you and comfort you and rescue you and lift you up?  God says, “No.”  God knows you need the glory of his light so God revealed the glory of his light to you in Jesus.  No matter how much guilt you are dealing with, God’s light says you are a sharer in God’s promises because Jesus has died for your guilt.  No matter what is going on in your life, no matter how much darkness you are dealing with, you can approach God with confidence and ask him for anything through Jesus.  And as he revealed his glory in the past by coming to the rescue of his people, so he will come to your rescue you and reveal his glory by forgiving you, comforting you and helping you with the good news of Jesus.
And because you have the light, the nations need you, 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD (Isaiah 60:3-6).  The visit from the wise men certainly fulfills this prophecy, does it not?  The fact that we are in God’s house this morning receiving comfort and hope and light from God certainly fulfills this prophecy, does it not?  The fact that we are worshiping God with our songs this morning certainly fulfills that prophecy, does it not?  The fact that we are going to worship God with our gifts in just a few minutes certainly fulfills this prophecy, does it not?  And do you know what else fulfills this prophecy?  When you bring the light of Jesus to someone.  Whether it’s someone who has no knowledge of Jesus.  Whether it’s someone struggling with sin or the darkness of life or some other funk, when God uses you to bring the light of Jesus to that hurting soul, God is fulfilling this prophecy.  The “nations” need you.  And just as God has comforted you through the light of Jesus, God wants to comfort others through you and the good news you have to share.  The nations need you; and what could make your heart swell with joy more than knowing that God used you to fulfill this prophecy?  Be looking for ways to share the light of Jesus with the nations so more people may know the joy you know, 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12).
In a little bit we are going to sing, My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared for every people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.  That really sums up the message of Epiphany.  God Almighty has revealed his glory by revealing his Son, the promised Savior, to his own people Israel and he has also shared that Savior with all people because he loves us and knows we need the light of Jesus.  God bless you this Epiphany Season as you soak in the light of God’s love for you in Jesus.

Sermon based on Hebrews 1:1-9

God Chose the Perfect Gift

1. More than something neat.
2. Exactly what we need.
3. It’s “wow” will never wane.

Let’s blame it all on Elmo.  Maybe on the cabbage patch kids, but definitely on the 1996 release of Tickle Me Elmo.  I can remember Cabbage Patch Dolls being rare around Christmas time and people maybe hunting them out a little.  But no one expected the Jeckle Hyde response to the Tickle Me Elmo—someone described it, “The release of Tickle Me Elmo turned otherwise sane parents into angry, stampeding hoards as they tried to get their hands on one.”  And why, why did they have to get their hands on one?  Because it was a latest, greatest, neatest, newest toy.  No one really needed a Tickle Me Elmo.  Today people barely remember Tickle Me Elmo.  And I would guess a few days, after Christmas, a few rounds of replacing the 6 “AA” batteries the Wow waned.  Kids got bored with it, parents got annoyed by it and innocent by-standing relatives and friends visiting for Christmas wished the thing was never invented.

In the year 2000, 5 million Razor Scooters hit the scene.  And although they are a little more practical, and at least kids can get some exercise with them, and kids still scoot around on them today, they were not the be all end all of Christmas gifts.  Do you remember RoboSapiens?  Kung-Fu robots?  Not many people do.  RoboSapiens didn’t even hold the top selling toy spot for a year.  Now, there are so many, too many, toys, so many techno this and that’s, so many I’s (pod, phone, pads) so many best selling everythings that people don’t line up to get one, they line up to get one at the best price, and not just one, but more than one of everything,  Listen to this: Waiting the longest for Black Friday shopping appears to be Isaac Bowser. He began camping outside the Best Buy in Fairview Heights Monday night. Yes, Monday night. Bowser, 22, was third in line last year. He wanted to make sure he was number one this year. And he was. A tent with generator had served as his temporary home. His roommate, Jake Meiergerd, 20, joined him on Tuesday. Inside Best Buy, Bowser picked up an Xbox 360, a 42-inch plasma TV and an assortment of laptops (www.stltoday.com (11-26-2010 by KAVITA KUMAR).  Here’s my point:  all these gifts, wonderful advancements in technology and fun—all gifts from God, but are these things really, truly important or are they just really really neat?  Are they really things we need, or do they just make life a little more fun, easier, are these gifts, gifts really things we are going to be enthralled with in a week or two after they lose their wow?

And isn’t that kind of what makes gift giving so difficult?  There are very few basic essentials that we don’t already have.  So we go a hunting for something neat, something that will wow the recipient of our gift, and maybe we really nail it, but in the end, was it more than something neat?  Was it exactly what someone needed?  Will it’s wow make it past Easter?

God chose a gift.  God didn’t choose it because it was something neat—it wasn’t on the new millennium’s top 10 must have in the holy land.  It wasn’t a gimmick or a gadget or a ten minute wonder of a gift.  But it looked like it, didn’t it?  How long did it take God’s gift to be looked on as a passing fad, not really what people wanted, something not having that wow people were looking for?  John told us, 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it….9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John 1:1-11).  More than something neat, right?  More than a kitchen gadget.  More than a toy for little Jewish kids to play with a for a week and then lose interest in. But people didn’t like it because they couldn’t understand it or didn’t want to understand it.

So, does that mean there was something wrong with God’s choice?  No, there was something wrong with the people to whom it was given.  The people were living in spiritual darkness.  A darkness they received from their fathers—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The darkness of an inherited sinfulness.  The darkness of a lack of knowledge of who their Savior God was.  The darkness of being spiritually unclean because of sinful thing they had done—pictured by their constant need to ceremonially cleanse themselves for temple worship and interaction with other people.  The prophets announced this gift and many rejected it.  Jesus came as the gift and many thought an earthly king would b a neater gift, someone to thumb Rome in the eye, someone to restore Israel’s military dominance as in the days of King David.  People didn’t want to hear about sin and the need for a Savior, they didn’t understand what God sent in Jesus, they were unable to fully appreciate God’s choice of gifts for them.

What a response to God’s gift, right?  Do you know why we are able to recognize that response as an improper response to God’s gift of Jesus?  It’s because we respond the same way.  When we don’t treasure Jesus every day, all the time, we are telling God—not neat enough.  When we say, OK God, talk to about how you plan on loving me, and providing for me and caring for me, but don’t talk about how I offend you with my sin and sinfulness, we are telling God we don’t want what he says we need.  When we go running after gifts and pleasures from the world or the gifts and pleasures our own hearts want instead of what God offers us in a relationship with him and his Son, Jesus, we are telling God, you know God, the Wow factor of your gifts to us—Jesus, and baptismal grace and comfort in the Lord’s Supper that come with your gift of Jesus, the wow factor of your gift is quickly losing it’s luster with us. Now we would never voice those exact words to God with our mouths, but our actions and attitudes certainly can communicate such thoughts.

Our imperfect response to God’s gift, makes God’s gift all the more impressive and unique.  God could have given us a neat gift, like an angel or some other miracle working gadget that would give us whatever we want whenever we wanted it and never talked about sin and sinfulness and our need for a Savior.  But God didn’t want to give us something neat.  4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?  6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire” (Hebrews 1:4-7). The angels are neat, but Jesus is God’s Son.  The angels are powerful, but they serve the one more powerful.  The angels watch and protect, but Jesus watches and protects our souls.

The angels can give us neat things, but only Jesus gives us what we really need: 1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 1:1-4). Jesus brings us the truth of God’s Word.  When we see Jesus, we see God.  We see God’s love for us, After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 1:1-4). Just how did Jesus provide purification for our sins?  He poured out his life on a cross.  He poured out his life on a cross because we sometimes view God’s Word, our need for forgiveness, and the absolute necessity of living according to God’s Word as thing that just are that neat, just aren’t what we need, things that don’t excite us that much—Jesus provided purification for those and all our sins.  It didn’t take a neat gadget kind of a gift from God to bring us the peace of forgiveness; it took the best gift, the gift of God’s own Son.

TMX

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Sermonette based on Psalm 46:10

¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God.”

There’s a lot of pressure that comes along with children’s Christmas services:  From the faculty’s point of view: “Are my kids ready, will they remember their lines, will I remember their cues?”  From the parent’s point of view: “Is my child going to be the child that does a little dance in front of church with “a dress over the heard” grand finale, will my son’s hair last through the whole service or will the large sum of gel I used attempting to tame his sticky uppies hold up, will my camera battery last through the whole service?” From the child’s point of view: “Why is that person in the congregation looking at me, what if I speak out of turn, what if we don’t do a good enough job?”

Some of you have probably brought other pressures to church this morning: Your pay checks aren’t what they used to be, aren’t what you thought they would be, aren’t what they were supposed to be, your IRAs and other retirement and investment accounts aren’t averaging those fat 8-12% returns that were forecasted not too long ago, you have to be so many places in the next few days, you have to do so many things before Christmas, you’re already dreading getting the kids back into school routines after a Christmas break, your personal relationships aren’t where you would like them to be (the relationship with your parents, a child, a spouse), your relationship with God isn’t where you want it to be (some of you might even be uncomfortable being in this building, you don’t necessarily buy into God 100%, ), you just know Pastor’s gong let that word fly, he going to talk about our guilty pleasures, our sins.  Isn’t there that part of your life that God says needs fixing to which you might say, “Mind your own business” and that causes some contention and discomfort and pressure this morning?  You or someone very close to you is physically not well, you’re stressed, depressed,—there is so much in this life causing so much physical, emotional and spiritual stress and this morning God finally says, “STOP!  BE STILL!”  If for just 59 ½ minutes this morning, ¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). And doesn’t it sometimes take something like a children’s service to force us to take a break from life and sit and listen and be comforted by God?

So, if you are struggling with guilt and sin, if you’d rather that I not even talk about it, be still and listen to God tell you what the kids are going to tell you very shortly, God has sent you a Savior and his name is Jesus, (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  Are you troubled by what you know to be wrong in your life, troubled by what someone calls “sin” in your life, troubled because you’re not sure if you buy into Jesus and don’t really know if God has anything to offer you?  Be still and listen to God comfort you this morning, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Be still and hear out God.  Sin and guilt are big problems and they cause big problems in our lives and in our relationships with God, but God has addressed that problem by sending his Son to die for sin.  That’s how God deals with sin and guilt—not by belittling us because of our sin, not by having us deny sin in our lives, not by telling us to ignore sin, not by telling us to hide sin deep in our hearts so it eats us up day and night.  God says, “I have sent Jesus to take your guilt away and give you peace in your hearts.”  Or as the children will sing it in a bit, His name is Jesus! Gift of God’s love. The Son who frees us, Hope from above. It’s not just a nicely sounding song or convenient service theme.  It’s God’s promise and encouragement—be still and know that God can and has dealt with sin and guilt for us.

And what about all the stresses and worries and deadlines and difficulties you have in life?  God cares about that too, Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows (Luke 12:6-7). If God has taken the time to take notice of the birds and the number of hairs on a person’s head, don’t you think he’s also concerned with what’s troubling you?  Be still and know that God knows and God cares and God’s on top of your issues to see you through them.  Here’s how Peter tells you to be still, ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:6,7).  Be still and remember when you can’t handle life any more, God can and he wants to hear from you and help you.  Now this is no magic charm.  It’s not like those state Farm commercials on TV where you sing the State Farm jingle and immediately an agent appears and fixes everything.  I will grant you your problems in life will not instantly go away just because you were still and listened to some kids sing some songs this morning.  But God does want you to know that he’s here for you, he cares for you and he will help you through your difficulties.

Just think about how much he has invested in you and your eternal well-being:  Thousands of years of prophecies about his love for you, a hand-picked couple who journeyed to Bethlehem to fulfill his prophecies, his very Son whom he led to a cross, his very Son whom he raised from the dead, page after page of carefully written words telling you of his great love for you in Jesus.  He did all that for you.  He cares for you.  He’s fully invested in you.  Be still and listen to what he has to say to you in good times and in difficult times.

There’s not much you can do to keep a 3 or 4 year old from elevating a dress above head level, you can only do so much to get kids ready to say their parts, there’s only a certain amount of gel, mousse and hair spray you can apply to attempt to hold a little child’s hair in place, there’s only so much you can do in life to take care of your issues, and then things are going to go the way they go.  And in the end, everything will be just fine dress over the head, sticky uppies in the hair a missed cue here or there…not a big deal.

But what is a big deal is that there’s only so much you can do to ease a guilty conscience, there’s only so much you can do to find confidence in this life, there’s only so much you can do to convince yourself that you and your loved ones will be OK in the life that follows this life.  And then, when we are all out of solutions, all out of energy, all out of answers and all out of hope, God says, Be Still. Listen to me.  Find peace in me.  Find comfort in what I have done to take away your guilt, what I have promised you to help you through life, what I have promised you in the life to come—the promises I have kept through what my Son, Jesus, has done for you.  Be still and know that God is God, your God, who is here for you.

Sermon based on Matthew 3:1-12

Two Advantageous Advent Announcements

1. Prepare.
2. Prepared.

Today’s sermon information in the bulleting and what Matthew recorded for us to read doesn’t really follow all that well.  Aren’t you either preparing for something or prepared for it?  Either you’re packing for the trip (preparing) or the trunk is jammed tight and you’re set to go (prepared).  Either you’re gathering the sugar and flour and two eggs to bake a cake (preparing) or everything’s already out on the countertop (prepared).  Either the altar committee is pressings linens, filling cups and arranging the altar (preparing) or everything is just right on the altar (prepared).  But today, John the Baptist tells us we are both preparing for Jesus’ Advent and we are at the same time prepared for Jesus’ Advent.  And he tells us not to overlook either aspect of his Advent message as it is advantageous to know both aspects of John’s message.  We are to prepare and we are prepared.

Are you curious to know what days Matthew’s talking about when he says in those days?  Luke gives us the specifics, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (Luke 3:1). Tiberius Caesar came into power in 11 AD.  This is the fifteenth year of his reign.  So we can date the ministry of John the Baptist at 25 or 26 AD or approximately a year before Jesus’ public ministry started 27 AD.

In those days John the Baptist came doing what prophets do, “John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’” (Matthew 3:1-3). He also looked the part of a prophet.  We have this description of Elijah, on OT prophet: “He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist” (2 Kings 1:8). And here is a description of John’s appearance, “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist” (Matthew 3:4). John was a prophet in every way and his message was clear, “God is ready, his plan of salvation is ready, his plan for judging the world at the final advent or coming of his Son is ready.  So prepare.”

And how to do that; how to prepare?  John was pretty straight forward about that, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). God’s plan of salvation was coming to fruition in Jesus.  And what would follow on the Last Day would be that same Savior coming again as judge of all.  So prepare by repenting.  And don’t just go through the motions or say the right words to the right people, Produce fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8). You say you’re a repentant child of God. You say you’re making your Advent preparations.  Do it.  Live it.  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  That was John the Baptist’s message back then.

Now, what does John’s first advantageous advent announcement, prepare, mean for us today?  First we need to begin by making sure we are all talking the same language when we talk about the word repent.  The word itself means to have a change of mind. Repentance begins by doing a side by side with how God’s Word says to live and how you are choosing to live.  When they don’t match up, one of a few things can happen.  You can say, “Oh well,” and do nothing about it.  You can get all worked up and come up with 27 reasons why you don’t like what God says, or, by God’s grace you can make a change—a change that starts with a confession, “God, I’m sorry for doing this,” followed by a change in the way you value what you’re doing, followed by an actual change in what you’re doing.  Obviously God is looking for such a response.

And none of this is easy, is it?  In John the Baptist’s day, being sorry was for “sinners,” people who didn’t have their lives together.  Today, being sorry is for no one.  Why?  Because there is an excuse for everything and an excuse for everyone.  Nothing is our fault any more.  Everything is acceptable and excusable.  People, and I think at times you and I are in this group as well, become confused by the way society has contorted Jesus’ words, “don’t judge,” “take the plank out of your eye,” “if you’re without sin, throw the first stone.”  The misconception easily bought into is that we have no business ever talking about any sin.  Repentance is bad and hurtful and damaging.  Repenting, we are told (and maybe we are even led to wrongly agree), is one of those things we should just leave alone.

What a terrible response to God’s call to prepare, to repent.  Since when is it ever OK to tell God, “No, I’m not going to do that.”  “I’m not going to do that because it will hurt my child’s feelings to call her to repentance.  I’m not going to do that because it will make me feel badly.  I’m not going to do that because Aunt Tilly will never talk to me again if I call her sin, sin and encourage her to repent”.  What’s God’s response to such a mindset?  10 “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire . . .  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:10,12).

What is John telling us this morning?  “Repent,” because Jesus’ final coming is closer then we think.  “Repent,” because when you meet Jesus after you die, he’s not going to care if someone’s feelings are hurt or if your false sense of self-esteem is damaged of if Aunt Tilly has removed you from her list of Facebook friends.  What Jesus wants for you, for me, for your children, for Aunt Tilly is for us all to be prepared to meet him some day.  If loving a sin is going to keep you away from Jesus don’t you want that out of your lives?  If a particular sin or attitude is going to keep your child out of the kingdom of God, don’t you want that out of your child’s life?  If Aunt Tilly’s is in danger of losing her faith, isn’t it worth the risk of ruffling her feathers?  God prepares us for judgment day by his gift of repentance.

But after an honest assessment of how lax our desire to repent can be/has been, and after taking inventory of all the things in our lives for which we need to repent, how could we ever repent enough to get back into God’s good graces?  We can’t.  We can’t repent our way back into a good relationship with God.  In fact there’s nothing we can do to undo the damage our sin and sinfulness do to our relationship with God.  On our own we would never be prepared to stand before Jesus some day.  That’s John’s point.  And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. No one is able to stand before God’s judgment throne on their own.  But Jesus doesn’t leave us on our own.  Just as he didn’t leave those listening to John the Baptist alone.

Let’s take a look at how it went when John the Baptist he had the gall to tell people to repent.  “Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River” (Matthew 3:6).   This response to God’s call to repentance should not shock us, but it does, doesn’t it?  God says, “Share my Word and it will work.”  Share my Word and it will prepare people for Advent, for my Son’s coming on Judgment Day.  John shared the Word of God.  He didn’t give anyone a pass on sin.  He didn’t call for their excuses.  He didn’t ask if God’s message was upsetting or if anyone didn’t like what God’s Word said.  He shared the Word of God and the people repented.  He showed them areas they needed to improve on, areas of their lives that didn’t match with God’s will for their lives.  The people then realized their sin, confessed their sin and John comforted them with the God’s gift of baptism that connected them to everything Jesus was about to win for them on the cross.  They took John’s first advantageous advent announcement to heart and as a result, they were put at peace having confessed their sins to their God.  They were assured they were prepared to meet Jesus, because of what Jesus was about to do for them.

Did you catch the connection between preparing and being prepared?  Through Advent preparations, God assures us that we are prepared, prepared to live as God’s people now and prepared to live when his Son Jesus returns.  And there is tremendous comfort in knowing we are prepared.  Hear the Psalmist express the comfort and confidence of being prepared, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

Paul told us this morning in the lesson from Romans 15 that “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). All of God’s Word was written to teach us that we need peace with God and through Jesus we have peace with God.  And because we have peace with God through Jesus we also have hope.  And the hope we have is that at Jesus’ final coming, we are prepared to meet him, because Jesus, into whose name we have been baptized, has prepared us for that meeting.  Yes, when he comes again Jesus will, strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked as Isaiah told us this morning. But Jesus is also the one coming with ⁵ Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist (Isaiah 11:4,5). He is going to be faithful to his promise to bring his righteousness along with him when he comes to judge and to share his righteousness with all who know him and trust in him as Savior.  God promises, For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). We are not perfect in our advent preparations, we have failed God, we have not always faithfully repented, but Jesus faithfully takes those and all our sins on himself and faithfully gives us his righteousness (his perfection).  That’s how we can know we are prepared for Jesus’ coming again.

Having the Word of God lead us to repentance is such a blessing.  Although it’s tough work, repenting takes the burden of guilt off our shoulders and puts it on Jesus.  Repenting and turning to God’s baptismal promises to us takes the guesswork out of our relationship with God and our readiness to meet Jesus at his final coming.  In Jesus’ baptismal promises we can know we are prepared.  That confidence and preparedness is shared very clearly for us in Galatians chapter 3: 26 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26,27).

Every day we live is an opportunity to continually prepare our hearts for an eternity with our God.  Every day we live is an opportunity to confidently live as people who know we are prepared for Jesus’ coming.  It is advantageous, not beneath us as people of God to evaluate our lives and repent as necessary.  It is also advantageous for us to know and to enjoy the peace and comfort that comes from knowing we are God’s now and will be forever because God has prepared us for his Son’s return.  Two advantageous advent announcements for you this Advent, God’s people:  Prepare is God’s encouragement to you to keep you close to him.  Prepared is God’s eternal promise to you. Prepare this Advent knowing you are prepared.

The peace of Jesus be with you this Advent!   

Sermon based on 1 Samuel 12:24

Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

Be Sure to Take a Timeout and Thank the Lord!

1. A timeout to fear the Lord.
2. A timeout to serve the Lord.

Chances are pretty good that as you enter the Thanksgiving/Christmas season, you will at some point find yourself running out the door with some last second instructions.  Maybe you will be sent out with a shopping list, or maybe you will be dashing out of the classroom for Christmas break or maybe you will be prepping the house for an extended weekend and whoever is seeing you off gives you one last instruction starting with the phrase, “be sure to . . .”—be sure to get Ready Whip, not the store brand knock-off, be sure to read chapter 11 over your break and be ready for a quiz, be sure to cover the plants before you leave for the weekend because it’s going to freeze.  “Be sure to” highlights for you, sets you up, prepares your brain to process what comes next.  It’s like saying, “Time out, stop and listen, no matter what, above all, if you do nothing else do this one thing.”  We have an example of this in 1 Samuel 12.

In 1 Samuel chapter 12, Samuel is giving his retirement speech.  He is graciously stepping aside from being the spiritual leader of God’s people.  Here is a summary of Samuel’s speech: “Do not turn away after useless idols.  They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.  For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own” (1 Samuel 12:21,22). The Lord had done such great things for his people.  He made them his own, promised to be faithful to them, and kept that promise over and over again.  So as a final encouragement, Samuel said, “Time out.  Be sure to do this one last thing:” Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you (I Samuel 12:24). This morning through responsive readings, a reading from God’s Word, prayer and song, we have already considered what the Lord has done for us.  And we considered why he does what he does—because he is our faithful God.  Now it is time for us to take a serious time out and do what Samuel encourages us to do, “Be sure to take a time out to fear and to serve the Lord.”

Now the whole idea of fearing God is something we do but we don’t always call it “fearing.”  My wife, Shannon, and I once had the chance to tour an aircraft carrier, the Carl Vincent.  And as we walked around this massive ship one thing that I couldn’t help but notice is the respect the sailors had for their superiors.  Someone can correct me after the service if I’m wrong, but in the military, when you come into the presence of someone deserving respect, especially someone who outranks you, you don’t slap him or her in the back and say, “What’s up guy,” do you?  Or guys, when you met the future father-in-law for the first time you didn’t start razzing him like he was one of the guys, did you?  Or, if all of us were invited to the White House for Thanksgiving dinner, we wouldn’t show up in our Saturday morning comfies and say, “Hey Barry, send the taters on my way,” would we?  Of course not!  We would never disrespect Mr. Obama in such a way.  We know how to show respect and honor.  We know how to act in the presence of greatness.  We know how to honor those people in our lives who deserve honor.  That’s what Samuel means when he tells us to be sure to fear or honor and respect the Lord.

Just recall some of the great things the Bible tells us God has done.  As we were reminded in the Bible lesson for this morning (Deuteronomy 26:1-11), God faithfully shepherded his people through tough economic, tough political, tough spiritual times and planted them in the Promised Land—just like he promised.  And that’s big because God promised a Savior would one day come from that Promised Land who would one day make this happen, “God was reconciling to world to himself in Christ Jesus, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). God took every offense ever committed against him, anything that ever violated his will, his mandate for living, God took all the guilt of thousands of years of imperfection, rolled it all into one huge burden, placed it on his Son and then declared, “The sin debt of the world has been paid for.”  “My relationship with the entire human race has been repaired or reconciled because of my Son, Jesus.”  And then he made sure that declaration was personalized to individuals like you and me through faith:  “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it has been written: ‘the righteous will live by faith’’ (Romans 1:17). Have you ever considered the greatness of our God who could wipe us out, destroy us on the spot, send us to an eternal punishment in hell and be perfectly just in that decision; and yet does not?  Has the greatness of God ever knocked your heart to its knees?  God has given us preferred status in his holy family.  Jesus has earned for us a place at God’s heavenly banquet.  That’s what leads us to honor and respect him, to give him praise and glory.  

And he still pours on additional blessings.  I was watching some cartoon critters the other day—some cartoon on Nick JR.  And they were running around singing a song about Thanksgiving and how it’s all about being thankful and how thankful they were—and I found myself irritated.  I was irritated because the producers of the cartoon for many, many possible reasons (political correctness, protecting their contract, the one angry viewer who would call and complain) wouldn’t say to whom these little cartoon critters were thankful.  You can’t be thankful without having someone to whom to be thankful—it’s silly.  Wealth, health, family, 5-25 pound turkeys, cheering for a first down for the good guys, a church in which to worship, friends with whom to worship, a church we can call home, a safe place in the middle of a sometimes hectic world, the promise of heaven because Jesus lived and died for you—these are all great blessings from an exceedingly loving God.  So remember to take a timeout this Thanksgiving and don’t just be thankful, but be thankful to God and fear and honor him for all his many blessings.

And when we take time out to thank the Lord, and to fear the Lord, what naturally follows is a life of service to him.  That is Samuel’s second encouragement to us this evening.  Be sure to take a time out and thanks the Lord by serving the Lord.  When Samuel was talking with the people in his retirement speech, he was making reference to a two-way agreement God had made with his people as we see in verses 14 and 15 of 1 Samuel 12, “If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God—good!  But if you do not obey the LORD, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.”

Today, although God does not promise us that the US will be a powerful nation, or promise physical enemies and physical challenges will never plague us again if we follow him and remain true to him, although God nowhere promises to bless us with piles of cash in return for our offerings or guarantees us that we will be physically healthy wealthy and wise if we play by his rules, He does promise he will work out every event of our lives for our good, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). He does promise great things upon great things in heaven, “be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And how do we remain faithful?  Through faith in his promises.  He makes us faithful.  He guarantees for us a crown of life.

That is why we can take on with confidence the assignment to serve God “faithfully with all (our) heart(s)” (I Samuel 12:24). We can serve him by loving him more than anything else.  We can serve him by worshipping him.  We can serve by telling our children and grandchildren bible stories and sharing Jesus’ love with them in family devotions.  We can serve him by being the salt of the earth, by letting family and friends at the table tomorrow know what God has done for you, for them.  And do not let the words “faithfully with all your heart” deter you because you know and have confessed to your God that you have not always served him faithfully and with all your heart.  First when we fail to do this, Jesus’ perfect life in our place has already won forgiveness for us.  Second, “faithfully with all your heart” simply shows us how many opportunities we have to fear and serve him.  Everything we do, every day we live is an opportunity to fear and serve our God.  Doing our best at work, doing your best when you do homework, loving a spouse, teaching a child how to live as a young Christian adult, fearing and obeying God’s Word, praying for our pastors, missionaries, and teachers, taking time to be involved in activities and ministry here—basically our whole lives are all opportunities to fear and serve God faithfully with all our hearts.  Don’t ever think your acts of service and thanksgiving to your God are worthless because you are not perfect or you think your acts of service are insignificant because they are not what someone else can do.  Jesus has already perfected you, your life and all you do in your God’s eyes.  All service done for your God is faithful service.  So be sure to take a time out to serve your Lord with your lives.

Thanksgiving is not a church service on the last Thursday of November. Thanksgiving is not a turkey, ham, goose or duck on the table; it is not football classics on TV.  Thanksgiving is every day for God’s people as every day God’s people have a chance to thank God in their lives and with their lives.  We just need Samuel’s reminder every once in a while.  And we thank God today for his encouraging word to us, “But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully” (I Samuel 12:24). That is something we can do because we are God’s people, something we want to do because we are God’s people.  Be sure to thank the LORD by fearing him and serving him faithfully.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe (Proverbs 18:10).

Sermon text: Isaiah 12

¹ In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” ³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴ In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵ Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. ⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

It’s a good day in Zion.

1. To praise God for your salvation.

2. To make God’s salvation known.

3. To thank God for your school.

Dear people of God,

Do you know who first said, “It’s a good day to die.”  It was a member of the Lakota people who held that it would be honorable to die in battle and go and float with the Great Spirit.  Do you know who said, “It’s a great day to be alive.”   He has rice cooking in the microwave, a three day beard he doesn’t intend to shave and he’s going to make some homemade soup.  So where are you today?  Is today such a day for you that not much in life is going OK or even good and you’d just as soon have Jesus call you from this life so you could go home to heaven—much like St. Paul said, ²³I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body (Philippians 1:23,24).  Or are things going so well for you this morning or last week that you’re just fine with life like Travis Tritt?  The thing about Isaiah’s message to us this morning is this, no matter what’s going on in your life today, Today is a good day for you because you live in Zion.

Yeah, you live in Zion.  Isaiah made reference to Zion, ⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you” (Isaiah 12:6).  So what in the world does that mean?  We look to Scripture for some clarification, ²²But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12:22-24).  Zion is your relationship with Jesus.  Isaiah promised God’s people, among other promises, that God’s Messiah would come, bring salvation, deliverance from sin and guilt and put joy in people’s hearts.  Isaiah was so certain that God would keep this promise and all his promises that he used the phrase, “In that day.”  In that day, when not if it happens, when God delivers, when God sends his Messiah, his Savior, then God’s people will know life in Zion, enjoy life in Zion and praise God for life in Zion.  Hear that promise, In that day the Root of Jesse (Jesus) will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious (Isaiah 11:10).

So are we really in that day?  Do we really live in Zion?  Do we really rallying around Jesus as the Messiah, as their Savior?  ¹ In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:1,2). Now wait a minute.  Do you anger God?  I’m not asking if God has ever knocked on your door and chewed you out, but have you ever done anything to make God angry with you?  Are you currently doing something that makes God angry?  Specifically have you ever angered God by making someone or something other than God your strength and your song?  That’s the language Isaiah uses this morning.  When God says, ⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you” (Isaiah 12:6), do you say, my heart can’t sing this morning because life has gotten me down?  Do you say The Holy One of Israel isn’t so great in my mind, look at what’s going on in our little corner of the world:  two people driving in a car, another car pulls us along side it and opens fire on the two in the first car, just north of here, two girls are standing outside their school and several men grab them and force them into a car.  Or you think of the commercials on TV about families with no food, or families destroyed by war and natural disasters, or you think of the general moral decline you see around you.  Have you ever questioned God’s greatness with these things going on?  Or have you ever looked for strength outside of where God says you find it?  You have to find strength in a green up arrow next to the DOW, in a stronger network of contacts and friends, you have to equate strength with good health and a bottom line that’s where a financial expert says it ought to be for you to feel safe.  Now I realize we don’t set out to spite God by finding strength in these areas, but to say we can’t be strong without these  is to say Isaiah is using hyperbole in Isaiah 12.  I realize the facts of life can be unsettling, but to say we are only strong when certain worldly indicators say we’re strong is to call God a purveyor or untruths because of what he says in Isaiah 12.  To doubt the strength God offers or to go looking in the world for strength you can believe in is a sin that angers God.  So let me ask the question again, are we really living in that day?  Are we really living in Zion?  Do we really have this wonderfully strong relationship with God?

Isaiah says, yes, and here’s why and how, ¹ In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” ³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12).  The Great One God promised has turned away God’s anger over our doubts and weaknesses and sins.  We heard that in the second lesson, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”^…“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:12,13).  Jesus was slain for our weaknesses, doubts and sins.  Because we don’t always see and trust in and praise God for the strength we receive in his promises, Jesus sacrificed himself.  That’s the good news with which God comforts and strengthens us through Isaiah.  The good news of Jesus is our strength and comfort so Isaiah says go to that well often.  When you are weak, God is strong.  Go to that well.  When your conscience is terrorized by guilt or the uncertainties of life cause you to fret, go to God’s well of salvation.

Today is that day, a good day in Zion.  So praise God for your salvation.  Praise God by being confident in your relation with him and his ability to comfort you and forgive you and make you strong.   Praise God by going to his well.  You know the saying you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink?  God leads us to the waters of his salvation, his powerful Word leads to drink it and makes us joyfully want more and more of it–³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12).  Praise God for your salvation.  Make God your strength and your song and don’t keep something so wonderful to yourself.

When the Old Testament uses the phrase, Call on the name of the Lord, it means more than just praying to God or asking him for things.  It involved public worship that let those living near you that you rely on God for everything and thank him for what he’s promised and delivered.  So Isaiah this morning says to us, ⁴ In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵ Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world (Isaiah 12:4,5).

People like to hear about heroes and like to tell other people about their own heroes.  I found no shortage of hero talk online.  Here are two posts that really jumped out at me:  one was a student asking people to post their heroes for his research project.  His only request was that people not say Jesus was their hero because that was too generic and didn’t require enough thinking.

Neighbors hearing about Jesus and his salvation doesn’t just happen—we have to make it happen.  Did you catch Isaiah say make known, proclaim and sing—let this be known to all the world?  When someone does something great, people get out the word, don’t they.  I’m thinking of a news segment called, People you should know.  Local news channels around the county have them.  They highlight neat people they think you should know about.  Take 5^th grade 10 year old LilyAnn Watts for example.  Since second grade she has been raising money for her organization, KICCs, Kids Into Curing Cancer.  Every year she raises money to help find a cure for childhood cancer. And to raise that money she collects donations to shave off her hair.  But what is extraordinary about her is that kids make fun of her every year when she cuts her hair, they call her a boy, they tease her about having to use the boy’s’ restroom, but still this year, she cut her hair and she’ll do it again in a year.  When asked about the publicity and being on the news she said, “I hope they know I’m trying to help them and that they’ll get better. I want them to get better,”That’s what makes her someone you should know.

Great story, right?  Extraordinary kid for sure.  Wouldn’t you want to share that story with someone?  God has done something great.  Isaiah calls what God has done, majestic.  Like something a king would do for those who could not do it themselves.

In the past God spoke…through the prophets…but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Heb. 1:1,2).

Sermon text: Hebrews 7:27

²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

He served as no other priest.

1. He had no sin of his own.

2. He offered himself for others.

Dear people of God,

If you are a golf fan, you are giddy with anticipation of the Masters, a golf tournament that happens about this time every year.  It got the name, the Masters because only those who had mastered the game were invited.  Initially the organizers thought the title, the Masters, to be too presumptuous.  Apparently the organizers of the tournament have become OK with being presumptuous because today, the Masters tag line is this, The Masters, a Tradition unlike any other.  That got me thinking, what makes the Masters unlike any other tournament?  The green jacket the winner receives?  OK.  The gold medal or the invitation to the Champion’s dinner the winner wins?  I guess those things are unique but they still play the same game as they play at other tourneys.  It’s not like it’s the only place to go to see good golf, amazing shots and the best in the game.  It’s called The Masters and dubbed  “a tradition unlike any other” so that golf fans will think it’s really neat, so organizers can charge the sponsors more and more money and so they can get the general public to believe this is the golf event to end golf events.  True or not true, people believe The Masters is a tradition unlike any other, it’s PR at its best.

Is that what the good news about Jesus is?  PR?  Come and see “Jesus, a high priest unlike any other.”  What if calling Jesus “a high priest unlike any other” is just PR campaign?  Just a white lie, just an embellishment, to get people to church, to get people to give more offerings, get people to feel better about themselves and their relationship with God or just a made up piece of a made up plan of salvation in a made up book?  What if, hugh?  Well, this afternoon, our meditation on Hebrews 7:27 shares with us why we can truly call Jesus a high priest unlike any other.  This isn’t my opinion about Jesus, this isn’t my Jesus PR push to get you to believe something about Jesus that isn’t true, this isn’t an embellishment on my part to make Jesus into someone or something he’s not.  Here’s what the Bible through the writer to the Hebrews says makes Jesus a high priest unlike any other—he served as no other high priest because he had no sin of his own and he offered himself for others.

You know, we hear a lot this time of year about the unfaithfulness of the high priests in Jesus’ day.  Jesus was brought before Annas.  It doesn’t take one long to see that neither Annas nor Caiaphas, whichever was the legitimate high priest, was too concerned with honoring the law of Moses in Jesus’ trial.  Signing off on paying Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus, allowing the giving of false testimony, an illegal midnight trial, an official hitting Jesus in the face—these were not in line with the Law of Moses.  Yet, the High Priest didn’t care.  As long as Jesus was taken care of and the people were settled down, neither Annas nor Caiaphas did anything to honor the Law of Moses.

Can you imagine if when it came time to appease God’s anger over your sin, all you had was Caiaphas or Annas’ life to pay for your sins and your ticket to heaven?  What would be your odds of getting in to heaven?  40/60, 30/70/, 20/80?  God would take one look at your offering and say what am I supposed to do with this?

Now just because we hear a lot about the corrupt high priests, doesn’t mean all the priests that ever served God’s people corrupt.  Think back to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.  I realize he was not a high priest, but he was a priest nonetheless.  God describes him as, upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly (Luke 1:6).  He did his job, served the Lord faithfully.  Remember how he offered incense on behalf of the people and the angel appeared to him announcing he was going to have a son and was to call him John?  We’d call him a good man, a believer, a faithful servant of God.  But he wasn’t perfect, was he?  He didn’t live the perfect life God demands.

Can you imaging if when it came time to appease God’s anger over your sin, all you had was Zechariah to offer God?  Would that bump up your chances of getting into heaven to 50/50, 60/40, 70/30 because he was a good man?  Do you like those chances?

Or, let’s stop talking about priests and high priests all together.  Let’s say you know a pastor.  A good guy.  A faithful servant of the Word who has served you and your family for years.

Now imagine if when it came time to appear before God all you had was this pastor and his years of faithful service to offer God.  Would your chances of getting into heaven now be 80/20 or even 90/10 in your favor?  Maybe your chances would get better, but would my chances of getting into heaven get better?  No, because that pastor’s life would already be used up by you.  I, my family, my loved ones, and all of you would be excluded from heaven until we found a good enough guy to sacrifice to get us into heaven.  Get the idea?  One sinful man cannot do anything for sin except suffer forever in hell for his own sins.

Regardless of whom you bring with you: Annas or Caiaphas, Zechariah or even the most faithful pastor you know, God is going to look at the individual you brought with you and say, “What’s this?”  “What am I supposed to do with this?”  “I demand a perfect sacrifice, a sinless sacrifice and you brought me these?”  Forget 50/50, 70/30 or 90/10, God says your chances of getting in to heaven through these priests or servants is 0.  Why zero?  Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins (Hebrews 10:11).  Nothing we offer God can take away sin.  Only a sinless sacrifice can take away sin.  Annas, Caiaphas, Zechariah, your favorite pastor, even if they would sacrifice themselves for you, it would do no good, because they would be sacrifices tainted with sin.

So maybe you try to fly solo.  Forget the priests, forget your pastor.  You intensely focus on the 10 commandments.  You further narrow your focus on one of the commandments you’re really good at keeping.  The 4^th.  You go back and undo your cheats on your taxes, you start driving the speed limit and stop rolling stop signs.  You stop disrespecting your elected officials when you disagree with them.  Or if you are younger you start working really hard on respecting your parents.  You stop mocking that teacher on your school’s staff no one really likes or respects.  You start taking your school work seriously again.  You work hard on your attitude toward school work and school rules.  You take your accomplishments to God and say, “Here, God, here’s what I have to offer you.”  God says, “What do you expect me to do with this?”  Have you forgotten, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)?  Have you forgotten ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).’”, have you forgotten For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10).  Have you forgotten, We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way (Isaiah 53:6)?  How arrogant, God might say, how misinformed, how sad to think you can get yourself into heaven.  I demand a sinless sacrifice.  I demand perfection and holiness.  If you don’t have these to offer me, you have nothing, no hope of getting into my heaven, your chances are not “not good,” your chances of enjoying a relationship with me now and eternal life with me in heaven are zero.”  And having said that, God would walk away from you forever.   That’s where we find ourselves.

Enter Jesus, a high priest unlike any other. ²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself (Hebrews 7:27).  Jesus had no need to first purify himself, because he was pure and holy, without sin.  God is please with that, please with Jesus.  And remember earlier I read, Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins (Hebrews 10:11)?  About Jesus God says, , ¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake (1 Peter 1:18-20).   And God also says this about Jesus which can only be said about Jesus, Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)—doesn’t take away his own sin, doesn’t take away the sin of two or three.  When the holy Son of God, God almighty himself, Jesus, sacrificed himself, his sacrifice took away the sin of all people of all time.

And that was Jesus’ plan from the beginning—to do what we never could.  Jesus was set apart from every high priest, priest or pastor because he was holy.  And he set himself aside as a sinless, once for all sacrifice so we too might be set apart for God, for holy living, for eternal life with Him.  We recently came across that promise in a staff Bible study ¹⁹For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified (John 17:19).  Jesus set aside himself and the perfect life he lived as a substitute life for our lives—something Annas, Caiaphas or Zechariah, your favorite pastor or you could never do—because he loves you.

Jesus, a high priest unlike any other, is not PR spin, is not a ruse, is not a made up pacifier to help you sleep better at night.  Jesus your crucified, great high priest is God’s promise to you that your chance of being forgiven today is 100%, your chance to be blessed by your God is 100%, your chance of spending eternity with God in his house is 100%.  Because he had no sin, because he offered himself as a sinless sacrifice for the world’s sin—and that includes your and my sins.  Jesus served as no other priest when he lived a perfect life and then hung on the cross for three hours so he could be our Savior.             

Amen.