The sermon text is from Mark 1:21-28.

            St. Mark wrote His Gospel by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it’s striking how early and often we see Jesus’ ministry as a head-to-head contest with the devil [...]]]>             Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The sermon text is from Mark 1:21-28.

            St. Mark wrote His Gospel by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it’s striking how early and often we see Jesus’ ministry as a head-to-head contest with the devil and his demons.  In our text Jesus is teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum, and a man possessed by an evil spirit challenged Him.  The demon knew Jesus was the “Holy One of God.”  In the original text, Jesus literally said to the man: “Be muzzled!  Come out of him!”  With only His Divine Word Jesus muzzled the mouthy demon.    

            This much is clear in our text Jesus and the devil are not equal powers, like two dogs fighting over the scraps of this world.  Jesus is the 2^nd person of the Trinity, true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus existed from eternity and God the Father made all things through Jesus.  John wrote: “Without Him nothing was made that has been made.” 

As Luther put it: “This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will; he can harm us none.  He’s judged the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”  The devil is a fallen angel who rebelled against God and lost his place in God’s good creation – an evil angel whose pride caused him to seek God’s place.  The devil is not for us to trifle with.  Stay away from Ouija boards and fortune telling and other occult practices.  No Christian has any business messing with that stuff, but there is no parity between Christ and the devil.  Jesus is God.  Mark’s Gospel will make clear to us as we study it this year that Christ came to bind the devil and plunder his crumbling house of lies.

            That’s God’s truth, but it doesn’t take a very long look at the world before we start to question who is the winner?  It feels like our world is a hopeless mess.  The world is what it is and that’s bad enough, but we’re doubly grieved over God’s Church.  We don’t expect much from a fallen world, but you don’t get a strong feeling God’s truth is really important to people.  Too many people who identify themselves as Christian don’t really care about doctrine… their faith isn’t a body of truth revealed from God but some fuzzy feeling.  And that leads us to be careless about what’s really important.  It is simply the devil’s lie to say I love Jesus, but I don’t care what His Word teaches. 

Our love for Christ and our conviction that we are saved by grace alone is what causes us to plant our feet firmly in the shifting sand of this world and say I don’t care what the world says, God’s Word has settled it.  I don’t care how the devil or culture tells me it’s OK to live; God’s Word has settled it.  

The Christian faith isn’t a quaint family tradition or a fuzzy feeling.  It’s not a private matter of the heart that says, “You have your view of God’s Word, I have mine, but there is no right or wrong – there is no truth, no right or wrong.”  It’s these lies of the devil that cause our Bibles to gather dust on the coffee table at home or cause empty seats when God’s people gather for worship or Bible class..  The devil doesn’t want us learning and extolling together in Bible class what God has done.  The devil wants us to focus on what we do, counting up our good works and patting ourselves on the back.

All appearances to the contrary, let’s be clear about this – the devil has lost.  That is universally and unanimously true – the devil has lost.  But this great war which Christ won, has many individual battles, and your heart is the battlefield.  Whose side are you on?  Where will you and your family take your stand? 

            I love our text, because it shows Jesus’ power over the devil.  Jesus was God even when He was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, but He didn’t always use that power.  In our verses, Jesus showed His Divine power by casting out the demon.  But even though Jesus wins in our text, He willingly allowed Himself to be manhandled by the devil.  Jesus wasn’t an unwitting victim.  He willingly laid down His life.  Remember even in the Garden before Jesus was put on trial and killed He knew He was following God the Father’s plan.  He died for you and me so He could crush death and the devil.  He died to empty death of its power, and Jesus said, “Because I live you will live also.”

            The great hymn shouts God’s truth, “Jesus lives the victory’s won.”  The devil is a damned and defeated enemy.  Hebrews 2 says, “Since the children [we] have flesh and blood, Jesus too shared in our humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

            Dr. Martin Luther described the devil as a mad dog on a chain.  Jesus defeated Satan.  He’s bound.  The devil’s territory has been reduced to a puny pittance of what it was.  In our text, Jesus muzzled the demon, but when Jesus rose from the dead Satan was bound – tied in knots.            

This is reality – Satan is bound and defeated.  He’s the loser.  Christ won the battle, and one day He’ll stand triumphant for all the world to see – “for every knee to bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”  But get this – even though Satan has lost, until Christ returns Satan hates God and hates you and wants nothing more than to steal us away from Christ.  Now, it’s still true, if you’ve got a mean dog, you don’t want to put your hand in his mouth, and if you do don’t be surprised if you get bit.  Peter wrote: “Be self-controlled and alert your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”

            We need to put on our “God goggles” – and even if we can’t see the devil – we need to trust God’s Word and stop walking in to pet the cute puppy.  We’ve won the battle in Jesus – why do we choose friends at school or hang out in chat rooms or on websites where the devil is running wild?  Much of popular music is straight from hell; same with many movies.  Why are we opening ourselves to the devil’s power?  Surround yourselves with Christians and be encouraged in God’s Word.  This is no time for cowards but to be God’s men and women in our homes and church and community.  This is no time to leave it to someone else to do but to walk the walk of the Christian faith boldly for the sake of our families and church, friends and community.  Stand unashamedly on God’s revealed Word and in the face of a dying world take your stand, “Thus saith the Lord!”  

The devil is finished.  That raging dog will prowl and growl and foam at the mouth until Jesus comes again, but if you leave with nothing else, believe with all your heart that He’s finished.  He’s the loser and Jesus is alive.  Paul wrote, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  Jesus allowed Himself to be torn savagely at the cross.  He suffered, died and rose from the dead to make you victorious with an eternal home in heaven.  In spite of our fears and failures to stand with our Savior, He never failed in His mission to win your place in His heavenly home.

So what now?  How do we who have been declared victorious for Jesus’ sake live until He comes again?  Ephesians 6 says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

            2 Corinthians 10 says, “The weapons we fight with are not of this world.  They have Divine power to demolish [demonic] strongholds.”  “Pray without ceasing.”  Be bold and prayerful.  Your Savior invites you to come to Him.  Run to the One God and Father who loves you and calls you His dear children.  Pray for God’s strength and wisdom to see the devil’s schemes.  Be strong in God’s Word.  Learn who Jesus is for you and who you are in Jesus, and you’ll be better able to resist the temptation to be a loser on the devil’s side.  Get in the Word.  Pray.  Jesus said, “You are the Light of the Word… Let your light so shine before men that they see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” 

Until your dying day, faith rests in Christ’s victory.  You might say we have a Big Brother Jesus who is stronger than the devil and all the world; a Big Brother who won your fight and stands at your side to the end of the age.  Christ muzzled the demon with only a Word, and His Word of grace and forgiveness shatters the devil’s bondage.  “If the Son sets you free, you will be free, indeed.”  “Neither death, nor life; neither angels nor demons; neither height, nor depth nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text for this morning is from Luke the 1st chapter:

            The angel Gabriel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.  Do not be afraid, [...]]]>             Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            The sermon text for this morning is from Luke the 1^st chapter:

            The angel Gabriel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.  Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever;  His kingdom will never end.”  So far the text.

            Last week someone remarked to me that the Mayan calendar says the world would end in 2012.  For some that seems shockingly soon, but the truth is our Savior could return this very night.  The world continues for the sake of the Church’s mission, because God is patient not “wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance.”  In Revelation 3, Jesus spoke words which aptly summarize Advent: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me… He who has ears let him hear.”  The Church’s Advent prayer is simply, “Maranatha, O Come, O Come Immanuel!”

            It’s hard for us to be watchful and expectant.  It’s hard to live each moment in the expectation of Christ’s return.  God’s timing isn’t ours.  That explains why God’s promise to King David from 2 Samuel 7 had to wait 1000 years.  Generation after generation of God’s people waited for the Messiah King – the long-promised Son of David to establish His throne.  And generation after generation of Jews waiting for the Messianic King died under godless, foreign kings, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians and finally Roman kings, all praying and wondering when the promise would come true.  Galatians 4 says:  “At just the right time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”  In our Gospel lesson God’s time had come.  The Angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary she would bear a Savior Son.  The time was right!  Even Elizabeth in her old age was pregnant and her son John the Baptist would prepare the world for Jesus’ ministry.       

Sometimes as Christians we can become impatient with God and His timing, but think about the Jews.  For 700 years they waited for the Messiah Isaiah prophecied – 700 years wondering what God meant in Isaiah 7  “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel”;  and again in Isaiah 9, “To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Surely they scratched their heads in wonder about a virgin bearing a son – you don’t see that everyday… or how about a Child being born called Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty God.  But Gabriel made the announcement that changed the world – the welcome word that this Virgin would become the Mother of God.  

            Gabriel said:  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.”

            You notice Luke is at great pains to emphasize this Virgin Mother and Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit, because on Jesus’ sinless human nature rests our eternal hope.  This Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  God took from Mary’s egg and fashioned for His Son a human nature, like us in every way, except “He was without sin.”  To take our place under the Law and die for our sins, Jesus had to be a real, true man, but He couldn’t be a sinner like the rest of us.  Jesus died as the greatest sinner of all, but the sins Jesus carried were yours and mine.           

A lot of you are spending a lot of time these days making plans for parties and gatherings that will soon be here and soon be gone.  We wrap presents that will be played with for a time and fall apart or be put away.  Our lives are in constant flux.  By the end of the winter we get too fat to wear all our new Christmas clothes.  If anything is certain it’s change.  The stock market goes up.  The stock market comes down.  Kings and kingdoms rise and fall.  Relationships and friendships built over time are too quickly gone. 

In the shadow of Christmas what’s most disturbing is how we change.  We’re on board with Christ on Sunday and absent-minded through the weak.  When we come to church Jesus is the reason for the season when we go home it’s all the fluff and stuff.  We confess Christ with our lips, but spend too much of our lives denying Jesus in word and action.  Even at Christmas, more words are spoken about Santa than about a Savior.  God forgive us!

            How wonderful for us fickle failures to hear Gabriel announce there is one thing – One Kingdom that has no end.  When all the rulers and kingdoms and the world’s mighty men are erased from our memory King Jesus will rule over a Kingdom which knows no end.  His eternal kingdom is rooted in His eternal nature as the God who always was and ever shall be.  Even the name Gabriel told Mary sheds light on this Infant King’s work, “Jesus, Savior.”  For Christ has come to save His people from their sins, to save us from ourselves and this dying world.  Politics change, economics, friendships, plans, hopes and dreams, even our lives in this world end, yet King Jesus rules on the throne of His Father David forever.  And “those who put their hope in Him will never be put to shame.”              Amazing!  Everything in our lives breaks down, falls apart, it all ends, but God’s love in Christ never ends.  In the water of Holy Baptism and in the body and blood of the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Spirit brings us into a never-ending kingdom.  His promises are spoken over and into you – and God never lies or breaks His Word – enfolding those who trust in Jesus in the eternal security of His love and forgiveness. 

            Who reigns supreme in your heart and life?  Who holds kingship and dominion in your home?  This Sunday before the celebration of Christ’s birth, I invite you again with humble hearts to bow your knee to the Sovereign Lord, who reigns on David’s throne over a kingdom with no end.  He took as His crown those twisted thorns at Calvary and bore as His regal robes the sins of the world.  Here is a King truly worthy of our devotion.  Here is a King in whom we may put our hope.

            The angel’s announcement that Mary would be the Mother of a King to sit on David’s throne would puzzle anyone, no less did it puzzle Mary:  “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”  The angel assured her that the One to be born was conceived in her of the Holy Spirit.  “For nothing,” he assured her, “is impossible with God.”  No arguments.  No demands for an explanation.  With the humble voice of faith, Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  A long and troubling road lay ahead for Mary, no doubt the gossip mill would tear Blessed Mary apart, yet in faith she bowed her knee to the King of Kings.  “With God nothing is impossible.” 

            What an utterly, unlikely way for God to keep His 1000 year old promise to King David.  A virgin mother.  A child conceived by the Holy Spirit.  God becoming man.  And yet God’s promises were true for David and are still true for you.  “Our citizenship is in heaven,” Philippians 3 says.  Sealed with the Holy Spirit you are a citizen in King Jesus’ kingdom “kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 

Even King David, the greatest King of Israel ruled only 40 years, a blip on the screen of human history.  Jesus’ Kingdom will have no end.  His love will never end.  As baptized citizen through faith every step of your life is walked in the presence of the King who cares for and watches over you, who is “with you always to the end of the age.”  The King who sits on David’s throne invites you to storm His royal courts.  He hears you and cares about you.  He guides and guards your future.  Because He wore a thorny crown, you have an eternal crown of glory He earned for you – and freely gives to you.  Amen.

            And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text for this morning is from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24.

            Be joyful always;  pray continually;  give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Do not put out [...]]]>             Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

            The sermon text for this morning is from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24.

            Be joyful always;  pray continually;  give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;  do not treat prophecies with contempt.  Test everything.  Hold on to the good.  Avoid every kind of evil.  May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.

            St. Paul wrote, “Be joyful always.”  Thanks be to God for Advent – for the joy of our preparations to celebrate Jesus’ birth – for the joy of family and children and gifts and all those things that go with this time of year.  We of all people should spend our days, praying, “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, His mercies endure forever.”

But hear me out on what I’m about to say before you dismiss it.  The devil’s great lie for you is that you should be happy always or spend your life searching for happiness.  If people think they know anything about the Christian faith it’s usually something like this, “God wants me to be happy.”  And often people in their pursuit of happiness enshrine themselves as God and break God’s Law, whispering to themselves the devil’s lie, “God wants me to be happy.”  It’s not true, at least not the way the devil wants us to understand being happy – that is, being my own God.  Rather, God wants to give you joy. 

Praise God sometimes life is blissfully blessed and we find great happiness, but even when life isn’t happy – in Jesus you can have genuine joy.  You don’t have to be gigglingly giddy to have joy in Christ – in the assurance that you belong to Him.  Joy is something else – it’s the certainty that Christ your Savior was born, lived and died to bring you peace on earth and eternal joy.  It’s as certain as the watery promise poured over your head.  In your Baptism you may not be endlessly happy, but you may have the joy that God joined you to Jesus and clothed you in Himself, wrapping Himself and His love around you.  The thing that makes joy in Jesus awesome is you can be joyful and certain in Christ, even when your heart is breaking.  God’s Word is sure: “Nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus the Lord.”

            Paul goes on: “Pray continually.”  Think about this.  The God of all creation knows every hair on your head and invites you to “call upon Him as dear children ask their dear father”?  Prayer is a Divine command. 

How nuts we are to think we can handle life on our own and don’t need prayer!  Two of our three boys have now reached or gone through that stage where we can’t help them with anything without being pushed aside with the words, “Myself, myself.”  That’s annoying in a two year old – it’s idolatry when we push God aside like we can handle things ourselves! 

            Between Jesus’ first Advent in Bethlehem and Christ’s Second Advent to judge the living and the dead, we live in prayer: “Pray without ceasing.”  A word here, whether you’re alone or with your family, prayer is something that takes discipline.  If you don’t discipline yourselves to pray, you won’t do it.  If you don’t make prayer a part of your schedule – to say nothing of spontaneous praise and petitions – it won’t happen.  Sometimes we need a kick in the pants to pray and this is it, “Pray without ceasing.”

In life and in our faith-life like 2 year olds we learn prayer under the cross of struggle and hardship.  Hebrews 12 says, “God disciplines those whom He loves.  Rejoice,when you endure discipline God is treating you like His children?”   A certain two year old I know is very stubborn about being helped until he finds himself wedged between the bed and the wall or stuck in some suffering or hardship.  Like the struggles of a small child, the cross of suffering drives us to our Savior.  This is good, because it teaches us trust – it teaches us to rest in Christ and be saved by grace alone.  Romans says, “Suffering produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint us because God has poured out His love in our hearts.”  Hebrews 12 says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline.  He is treating you as children.” 

Whether you’re a victim, or your hardship is self-imposed, “What God ordains is always good: He is your Friend and Father; He suffers naught to do you harm Though many storms may gather.  Now you may know both joy and woe; Someday you will see clearly That He has loved you dearly.”

Too often we want to wiggle out of anything uncomfortable in our lives by lying or cheating – anything to avoid struggling under the cross.  For Christians, it isn’t an option for us to walk away from the crosses God lays on our shoulders – it’s not an option to scheme and squirm to avoid doing the hard work of living the faith.  Faith isn’t about avoiding hardship it’s – as Pastor Niermann put it Wednesday evening – being surprised by your location in the arms of Jesus.    

Jesus said, “Whoever would come after Me must take up your cross and follow Him.”  Is that always comfortable?  No!  But “God’s grace is sufficient for you.  His strength is made perfect in your weakness.”  If you’re a student in any grade, guess what, homework is hard… cheating isn’t an option.  Take up your cross.  Sometimes when money gets tight people try to balance their own books by lying or cheating someone else.  I lessen my suffering by passing it on to you.  It’s nothing more than despising the cross God gives us to carry.  Lots of times we’d rather not deal with the truth, so we lie. 

Luther considered family life to be the highest earthly vocation because it gives husbands and wives, moms and dads, parents and children, the greatest opportunity to be loved and comforted, but also family life teaches us to deny our selfish natures and empty ourselves in service to each other.  Problems and struggles in the home or family or workplace or whatever the vocations drive us to pray.  Our world tells us to avoid suffering and struggle or find a way to pass the pain to someone else.  St. Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing.”  God is big enough to carry your load.  You’re learning what it means to be saved by grace through faith alone – because you’re learning God met your greatest need once for all in the cross of Jesus – and you’re learning God will meet whatever needs you face today.  God the Father doesn’t lie.  He knows how best to care for you.  Call upon Him as “dear children ask their dear fathers.”    

In Holy Baptism you were put into Christ.  In the Lord’s Supper, Christ is put into you for the forgiveness of all your sins.  In Christ through faith, God the Father regards your prayers as Jesus’ prayers.  “Whatever you ask in my name, will be yours,” Jesus promised.  He says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.”  “Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened unto you.”  It’s hard to get a doctor’s appointment or a car worked on, but in this helter-skelter world your Heavenly Father hears every prayer offered through faith in Jesus.

            I’m behind the times, because it never ceases to annoy me when I call a store and get a computer voice menu or put on hold.  But when you call upon God your call goes right through.  Let family trials or financial hurdles, holiday anxiety and sadness or failing health drive you to God in prayer.  Your crosses and struggles in life aren’t too big for God.  Rest in His arms, “Thy will be done.”  God knows how best to save you.    

            Paul concludes:  “May the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. ”  Notice, not only does God save you by grace, but he enables you to bear life’s crosses and sanctifies you by His Spirit.  “May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”  He will do it!  Your life today may be rapturous joy – it may be anything but.  Be filled with joy in Jesus as you cast your cares on Him: “The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it!”  Amen.

            And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            When Elizabeth Barret married Robert Browning, her father disapproved of the marriage and disowned her.  She wrote her dad almost every week—wonderful, heart-rending letters—pleading for reconciliation.  After ten years, she received a huge box in the [...]]]>             Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

            When Elizabeth Barret married Robert Browning, her father disapproved of the marriage and disowned her.  She wrote her dad almost every week—wonderful, heart-rending letters—pleading for reconciliation.  After ten years, she received a huge box in the mail that contained all the notes she had sent.  Not one of them had been opened!  Those love letters are a treasured part of English literature, yet, they were never read by Elizabeth’s father.  Scanning just one of those notes, the broken relationship might have been healed. 

            It’s a tragedy re-lived all too often in homes and families across this country, yet, it pales in comparison to the tragedy that countless millions, even billions, don’t know the Love Incarnate, Christ the heaven-sent Savior.  Into a world of brokenness Isaiah wrote the words of comfort found in our sermon text for this morning from Isaiah 40:

            Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received double from the Lord’s hand for all her sins.  A voice of one calling:  “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;  make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;  the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it.  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah’s ministry began shortly before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was taken into exile by the Assyrians.  For most of his 40 year ministry the Assyrians threatened to ransack Jerusalem and destroy the Southern Kingdom.  When Assyria collapsed, Judah jumped from the frying pan into the fire as Babylon became the world power.  Isaiah’s 40 year ministry ended in 681 nearly 100 years before the Southern Kingdom was taken into exile in Babylon. 

The first 39 chapters of Isaiah have both Law and Gospel, but lots of warnings of God’s judgment.  Our verses begin what’s called the Book of Comfort as Isaiah predicts God’s deliverance from Babylonian Captivity, and 700 years later – an even greater deliverance King Jesus came to bring on the cross. 

“Comfort, comfort My people says your God.”  Those words gave hope to the Israelites during the dark years of Babylonian exile.  Even though they had been taken from their homeland and families, even though Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed – God would remember His children.  Babylon’s devastating victory wasn’t a sign of God’s rejection, rather a loving Father disciplining His wayward children – so that in repentance they return to the Lord. 

Now, I suspect you aren’t likely to be taken into exile.  Most of you will go home and spend the day in warm houses surrounded by family, and our church probably won’t get burned down any time soon.  What could Isaiah possibly say to us?  Sadly, we do know something about the brokenness God sent Isaiah to address.  Maybe we haven’t been separated from family members by great distance, but most of us know the pain of being separated from a loved one by death.  The loss through death of our loved ones creates an emptiness and longing that haunt each waking hour.  Perhaps, your heart aches as you daily watch a spouse or loved one grow weaker.  You may grieve the loss of dreams and plans for your shared years together.

Like Elizabeth Barret and her father, your home may know the pain of physical or emotional separation.  Too many families aren’t places of encouragement and safety, but places where husband and wife, parents and children, tear at and devour one another.  Too many people fill the emptiness of their lives with alcohol – a fool’s crutch whose end is despair and death.  Too many are estranged from the church convinced they or someone else can fill the God-shaped hole in their heart.  Maybe your chosen lifestyle finds you stubbornly clinging to your own sinful choices and to heck with God and His will.  Because it leaves the illusion of being master of one’s own life, unrepentant sin is the most damning estrangement of all.  It allows us contently to be our own “god.”  Scripture warns: “Those who [refuse repentance] will not inherit the kingdom of God.” 

Painful as it is, it is a mercy for us when God’s Word will not silently give us permission to live lives estranged from God and from each other.  The Advent Collect must be our prayer: “Stir up my heart, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, serving you with a pure mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.” 

If you live in the pain of your failures both of God and your neighbor, if you are crushed under your guilt, brought to your knees in sorrow over your sinful choices, Isaiah doesn’t say, “Well, cheer up, you’ve had some bad breaks things have to come around sometime.”  He says, “Comfort my people says your God.”  God’s comfort for you is this – Repentant sinners don’t cease being God’s people.  He doesn’t forget you, but points you back to God’s covenant promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Crushed under the reality of God’s Law and covered in the cleansing blood of Jesus, “Your hard service has been completed, your sin has been paid for.  You have received from the Lord’s hand double for all your sins.”  Not double punishment, but a double measure or an overabundance of God’s love and forgiveness.  That’s God’s way of doing things—forgiveness more than you could ever need, yours in Jesus’ victory.  Isaiah 1:17 says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

Verses 3-5 in our text are well-known and often quoted in the New Testament.  Old Testament prophecy often has more than one application.  In fact, later fulfillments are generally more glorious than the first fulfillment.  St. Mark says this “voice calling in the desert” is John the Baptist, but it didn’t only apply to John.  For the people living at the time of the exile, it meant that even though they were separated from their homeland by hundreds of miles of desert, God would bring them home.  The rough ground will become level and the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, when He brings His covenant people back to their homeland. 

The final fulfillment of verses 3-5 is great Advent stuff.  You see, Advent is more than just preparing for Christmas.  It’s a time when we prepare for Christ’s second coming.  God doesn’t want you to live in a broken, sinful world, estranged from each other and alienated from Him.  2 Corinthians 5 says, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them… God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  In Bethlehem’s Savior, God has broken down the barrier – the dividing wall of hostility that we erect to keep ourselves from Him.  Confessing our sins, God speaks His forgiveness straight into your ears.  Your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name.  The actual body and blood that rested in a manger and stepped alive from Easter’s tomb He gives into your lips with this Divine promise: “This body and blood are for you for the forgiveness of sins.” 

That’s real comfort for the people of God.  The Lord will come again and take us to be with Him.  He didn’t forget His children in exile in Babylon and He won’t forget your family struggling to make ends meet.  He doesn’t forget the grieving widow or lonely shut-in.  Rather, God the Father in Jesus His Son speaks tenderly to His people, “Your hard service has been completed, your sin has been paid for.”

I take special comfort in the closing word of verse 5.  “The glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.”  Why?  Why should I believe these words?  How can I know this is true?  The answer:  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Little kids like to ask “why” and “how come” all the time, and sometimes all we can say is “because I said so.”  Sometimes that answer is good enough, more often, it’s not.  But here is one time when “because I said so” is more than enough reason.  Because the One saying it is the same One who sent His Son to die on the cross for you and me.  The glory of the Lord will be revealed and all mankind together will see it.  Why is that good enough?  Because God said so.  And when God makes a promise, you can take it to the bank.  His promise sustained the exiles in Babylon.  His promise will sustain you as we await His Second Advent.  Christ lives, and in Christ through faith you will live today and forever – because God says so.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from Mark 13:24-47:  Jesus said, “What I say to you, I say to everyone:  ‘Watch!’”  This is our text. 

            Today as we celebrate with Shawn and Paige the blessing of life and [...]]]>             Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

            The sermon text is from Mark 13:24-47:  Jesus said, “What I say to you, I say to everyone:  ‘Watch!’”  This is our text. 

            Today as we celebrate with Shawn and Paige the blessing of life and of new life in Christ for Jude, we recognize few things in life are as eagerly anticipated as a baby’s arrival.  Well before a child is born the nursery is fixed up; the diapers and clothes are purchased; the doctors visited.  Everything has to be just so… the last thing expectant husbands and wives want is to be caught flat-footed.  Settling in with a newborn is work and so wise spouses do as much as they can before the bundle of joy comes. 

In our text, Jesus says:  “Keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back.”  Being ready for Jesus’ return is important, but too often we don’t get ready!  We may prepare meticulously for every other aspect of our life… On Black Friday you may have breathlessly waited for your favorite store to open, yet few prepare themselves for the Second Advent of Christ the King.

            What are the signs of Christ’s coming?  Financial turmoil and international distress, wars and rumors of war, false prophets and false “christs”, earthquakes and famine.  The hour draws near.  The master has entrusted to His Church the precious treasure of His Word.  He calls us to be vigilant.  He calls us to faithfully prepare ourselves and our families.  He tells us not to be caught sleeping, but that’s just what we do.

            We aren’t surprised that unbelievers go about their business with little thought of Jesus and His coming.  We aren’t surprised that unbelievers always assume things will go on forever as they always have.  Our text for today stands as a wake-up call.  You have heard the word of Jesus.  You know that the Savior who rose from the dead is coming.  What are you doing about it?  What are we as a church doing about it?  Are we getting ready?  Do we make it the highest priority to teach our children and grandchildren?  Have we invited and shared our faith with our friends and neighbors?  Are we so thoughtless that we are not moved to spend ourselves giving the only gift that lasts forever – the Word of Jesus?  It’s time to wake up.  It’s time to stand guard.  It’s time to take up our assigned tasks as servants in God’s house and do the work God has laid before us. 

            I noted several television interviews this past week with Black Friday bargain shoppers.  They had their plans written out down to the store opening, locations, and prices.  They made lists from most to least important.  Few NFL coaches go into games as prepared as these folks were. 

Beginning this Advent re-focus your list and put Jesus at the top!  The most precious and important thing on earth is faith in Christ – it’s the only thing that will last forever.  Don’t go about your life backwards, working on the less important things first, assuming there’ll be time later to share Christ;  time later to focus on God’s Word;  time later to invite our neighbor to church or tell family members how deeply you desire to see them in heaven.

            Jesus’ words and this whole season of Advent are a wake-up call for us who doze sleepily through life.  Wake up!  Keep watch!  When Jesus comes, don’t let Him find you sleeping.  The secret for us to watch wisely is to remember the Master.  Christ Jesus made you a home in His Father’s house.  He called you into His service.  He claimed you in His Baptismal waters.  He spreads His Lord’s Supper feast before you to nourish, feed and forgive you while you await His return with His angels in glory.

            For us who so mightily mess up our priorities, God the Father made you His dearest treasure.  Jesus made you His greatest priority.  He single-mindedly dedicated Himself to purchasing His greatest prize.  He redeemed you.  Our Small Catechism reminds us Jesus bought you “not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood and innocent sufferings and death.”

            In spite of our topsy-turvy priorities and dozing inattention, God the Holy Spirit called you and named you as His own.  He gives you a place in God’s house through faith.  Our epistle says, “You have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge – because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.”

            That changes everything.  You are God’s child bought with the blood of Jesus.  So how ought we to live in these last days?  Be watchful.  Be about the tasks God has given you.  What might that be?  Put simply:  “You are the light of the world.”  Be the light of Christ wherever He has put you; in your family, in your home, in your church, in your community and in your work.  Be watchful and keep first things first.  By God’s grace never let the world’s priorities lull you to sleep.  In your home, work and with your friends, 1 Peter 3 says, “Be self controlled and alert.  Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope that you have.”

            When you find the world stealing away your focus, when you find yourselves living for today and dying things, repent.  Pray for God’s strength and the Holy Spirit’s power for you and all those God has given you.  Pray that God will keep you vigilant and focused on Jesus and His Second Coming, and that He would use you as a servant in His house to do His work.  Our homes should be houses of prayer.  Parents and grandparents, talk with your kids and remind them what’s most important.  Teach them to “fix their eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.”  Let your actions be louder than words.  Let them know God’s Word and Sunday school and midweek isn’t just important for kids during the week’s leading up to the children’s Christmas program.  Live it in your own life. 

            Keep watch!  Stand guard at the door of your home.  Let yours be a home dedicated to Jesus.  So many homes have no connection to Christ.  The Savior’s name isn’t spoken.  The Word isn’t read.  Prayers are not offered and taught.  Please don’t be found sleeping – this really is the most urgent priority.  It’s the top of our list for ourselves and our loved ones.  True love isn’t about buying the coolest cell phone.  It’s about focusing on an eternal home in heaven. 

In this we have been unfaithful, servants.  We haven’t kept watch.  We haven’t focused on our assigned tasks.  But Christ your Master is faithful.  1 Corinthians 1 says, “You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

We don’t know when the Last Day will come.  But God made you His highest priority.  He wants you to live with Him forever.  Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back to take you to be with Me, so that you also may be where I am.”  Keep watch.  Remember how nice it is after a long trip to finally get home.  We’re going home.  Jesus made us a place with Him.  Invite your friends.  Tell your family.  God’s home is awesome, and He wants you and all yours to be there.  It’s free – bought and paid for in the blood of Jesus.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from Matthew 25:31-46 previously read. 

Sometimes we’re confused [...]]]>             Let us pray:  O Jesus Christ, do not delay, But hasten our salvation; We often tremble on our way In fear and tribulation O hear and grant our fervent plea: Come, mighty judge, and set us free From death and every evil.  Amen. 

            The sermon text is from Matthew 25:31-46 previously read. 

Sometimes we’re confused about why there’s a Judgment Day.  It’s true, after all, that once you die – in a manner of speaking – the judgment is already done.  If you die in Jesus, you’re already a sheep.  The sheep receive the inheritance prepared for them “since the creation of the world.”  If you are the “god” of your own life, you’re already a goat.  If you die having lived for yourself, nothing will change the fact all who die outside of Christ suffer the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” 

My suspicion – formed by reading God’s Word – but also based on conversation and observation is: most people believe hell is for people like Adolph Hitler or coaches who molest children or parents who kill their babies.  Most people – even if they have long ago fallen away from the faith – don’t fear God’s Judgment Day!  I suppose consoling themselves with their good intentions, but we know the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  It’s sadly true that more will travel the wide road to hell than will find the narrow path to heaven.  Thus, the question of greatest import for your life is: are you a sheep or a goat? 

On Christ the King Sunday as God’s Church prays for the return of Jesus, do you know with every fiber of your being that because of Jesus’ work Judgment Day will be a good day?  Do you repentantly cling to Christ in a living relationship, or is yours a dead faith – with no connection to your life?  If so, you better wake up and think about this soon: at the most you get 80 or 90 years here on earth – probably fewer – don’t live for 90 years here – at the cost of eternal death in hell.  The very description Jesus uses – “eternal fire” – is so horrific as to make you rethink what’s important in your life, sparing no effort or expense for the sake of making sure you and your family go to heaven. 

If you’ll permit me this side note: that’s what’s so important about church and Sunday school and Messiah Lutheran Preschool & Latchkey, as well as supporting our kids to go to Hoffman and Christ our Rock.  Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice and follow Me.”  Sheep hear Jesus’ voice.  We can’t shelter ourselves or our children from this dying world, but for God’s sake we must let them hear the Savior’s voice.  We must give them the tools to live in a world that wants to drag them down. 

So notice, unlike the previous verses, our verses for today are not a parable.  This is how Judgment Day will actually be.  God’s angels will gather two groups before the throne of Christ: the sheep and the goats, the blessed and the cursed, the saved and the damned.  Of all the great tragedies, nothing is so tragic as the verdict for those who reject Christ as their Savior.  Nothing is so awful as being found among those who are cast into the eternal fires of hell.  Do not by laziness or carelessness allow your lamp of faith and hope in Jesus to burn out.  Nothing is sadder than living for joys here on earth and being stripped of all joy in eternal darkness and suffering – but not merely the absence of joy, rather, the presence of excruciating agony.

Check out our text.  It says, when Christ “the Son of Man comes in glory with all His angels… He will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats… the sheep to His right and the goats on His left.”  In John 10, Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.  My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.  No one can snatch them from My hand.”  God’s sheep are those who hear His voice.  It’s a grace thing – a total gift of God’s undeserved love – that God gathers us into His flock through hearing His voice.  If you can hear these words, then never for a moment doubt Jesus your Shepherd died for you and loves you and wants you in His eternal flock.  In every moment of life and in the hour of your death, run for refuge to pledge and promise of God.  God loved you so much Jesus died to make you part of His flock.  He wants you to be so certain of that truth – He poured it over your head in His baptismal Word; He places His actual body and blood into your lips – so that you can live and die with the comfort of Jesus’ pledge of love given for you. 

When Jesus returns those who trust in Christ as their Savior, will hear the invitation: “Come.”  The goats: “Depart from Me.”  The sheep are “blessed by My Father.”  They are blessed with the gift of faith and eternal life.  The goats are accursed, but Jesus doesn’t say, “Cursed by My Father.”  They are accursed by their own fault.  The blessing is from the Father.  The curse is the fault of those who reject the Shepherd.

The sheep hear the Glorious Gospel – the Good News – “Take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”  An inheritance isn’t earned, it belongs to those who are sons and daughters of God born again in His Living Word.  Talk about grace.  Notice, your inheritance was prepared before you were born. 

The goats, the damned ones, hear, “Depart from Me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  Notice, God doesn’t want people for whom Christ died to go to hell.  Hell was created for the devil and evil angels.  The goats damn themselves to eternal fire with the devil by rejecting the Shepherd’s voice.  In Matthew 23, Jesus wept over unbelievers: “How I longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”  1 Timothy 2 says, “God would have all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Christians are called in Jesus to live every moment of our lives as though our eternal salvation depends on it – relentlessly and selflessly serving God.  But we also live every moment trusting in God’s truth – our future depends on Jesus and His cross-won victory.  Those who are saved, God’s sheep, have received God’s mercy.  It’s God’s free forgiveness in Jesus that allows us to confess with 1 John, “Since God so loves us, let us love one another.”  Having received mercy, God’s sheep are merciful to others.  It’s not a point of pride for us – more often it’s a reason for repentance – yet, God doesn’t snatch you to heaven the moment you come to faith because He’s prepared good works for you to do here on earth for the sake of your neighbor.  God’s free forgiveness in Jesus makes every day another day to see Christ in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked and imprisoned. 

As God’s sheep you are called to reach out to the lowly.  Let God’s love flow through you as you love and care for the people God places in your life.  Start to see Christ in every person you meet.  This is God’s plan to bless others through you and me.  We can see how God reaches through a mom and dad to feed and clothe the hungry and naked, but we can also see how a parent is blessed by the honor and obedience and help that comes from a Christian son or daughter.  God brings His fruit through His children.  Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.  Apart from Me you can do nothing.” 

Our verses don’t teach we are saved by good works we do, but they do highlight the importance of God’s people doing good works.  You sheep who are saved by grace alone – who are blessed by the Father – do good works, because the Christ who lives in you works through your hands and feet to His glory. 

That’s why the sheep express surprise at Jesus’ verdict!  “When did we do that for you?”  God’s people are too busy trusting in Jesus to count up our good works as though we deserve a pat on the back.  God’s sheep seek all our good in the “Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.”  It’s a beautiful truth about Judgment Day, for the sheep, no mention is made of sins.  We are very aware of our sins, yet laying our sins at the foot of the cross, Jeremiah promised: “God will forgive your wickedness and remember your sins no more.” 

 Our text says, “The righteous [enter] to eternal life.” Those who trust in Christ and His work for salvation can echo St. Paul: “Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  Jesus came to be your righteousness.  He shed His blood to wash away your sin.  The Good Shepherd loves you and calls you by name.  The righteous enter eternal life, and that righteousness is always the perfect righteousness of Jesus that covers our sin. 

A living, saving faith trusts and rests in Jesus’ work.  Faith that rests in the blood of Jesus’ alone is a faith that doesn’t have time for patting our own backs.  Galatians 2 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from Matthew 25:14-30 previously read. 

            Fittingly, as the Church Year winds down our thoughts turn to Judgment Day and the Return of Christ to Judge the living and the dead.  In [...]]]>             Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

            The sermon text is from Matthew 25:14-30 previously read. 

            Fittingly, as the Church Year winds down our thoughts turn to Judgment Day and the Return of Christ to Judge the living and the dead.  In the Parable, Jesus is the “man going on a journey.”  When Jesus ascended into heaven, He withdrew His visible presence from His Church.  A few days later on Pentecost He sent His Holy Spirit. 

In the parable, the Master goes away for a “long time.”  Jesus knew, humanly speaking, it would be a long time before Judgment Day.  There would be a long period of time in which the Church puts God’s treasures to work for the sake of His Kingdom.  But don’t let that “long time” make you complacent as Zephaniah warns in our Old Testament lesson.  Our Epistle (1Thess.5:1f) says, “You know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night…Be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 

In our parable, the Master gives different gifts to His servants.  5 talents doesn’t sound like much, but even one talent is big bucks! – 10 years of an average salary!  Here’s the point.  God gives to each one according to His will – to some 5; to some 2; to some 1 talent.  It won’t do for us to launch an Occupy Jerusalem movement to bring down the top 1% and level the playing field.  In God’s wisdom, according to our abilities, God bestows His blessings.  Don’t resent or begrudge your neighbor if they have more.  They may have more money, but you may be blessed in ways he or she isn’t.  1 Timothy 6 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”  Be content with what you have and who you are.  Prayerfully serve God. Be thankful for His gifts.  Don’t worry if you have fewer gifts in one area, because you are surely blessed more greatly in another area. 

Don’t be jealous of your neighbor.  He or she may indeed have been entrusted with 5 talents to your one, but trust that God knows how best to save you.  It won’t do for you to do your job lazily because you think you deserve a better job; or to gripe about your husband or wife thinking you deserve a better spouse.  Trust God and pray that God helps you to be faithful over many or few things.  God’s blessings aren’t static things, you may start out with little and find that as you use your gifts in His service, He multiplies His blessings in your life, however He chooses.  You may start out with a pastor or husband or boss that’s a dud, but as you serve and love and encourage them, you may find God brings incredible blessings to your life and they become a blessing to you.  On the other hand, if you are selfish, lazy or ungrateful with respect to the gifts God gives you – don’t be surprised if you lose them all or hear the chilling verdict: “You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you; then who will get what you have stored up for yourselves.”  

Our text really has Judgment Day in mind, when God will “judge the quality of each man’s work” and render His verdict on our management of His resources.  But in this age, it’s worth saying also… it is a sin and shame against our giving God to be lazy and ungrateful, sitting around burying our talents.   

About this unequal distribution of 5, 2, and 1 Talent, we’re not all the same.  God loves us each uniquely.  Had He wanted God could have made us all identical, but we have gifts in different places and areas; we have different responsibilities that confront us every day.  A baby born with Downs Syndrome is differently gifted by God than an Albert Pujols, but it moves the heart to imagine Jesus taking those precious children into His arms.  God didn’t make us all clones, but we are equally vessels of His care, equally redeemed in Jesus’ blood and called to be saved by grace through faith for Jesus’ sake.   You are uniquely loved and precious to the God who “knit you together in your mother’s womb.”  Your Savior adored all of you from least to greatest and made His highest good preparing a place for you in His heavenly home through His bitter sufferings and death.

Each of you is gifted.  1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  Everything that you have from your families to your mental ability to your musical talent to your money is a gift.  Nothing you have belongs to you.  Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all who live in it.”  God’s gifts He gives for our blessing and benefit.  He gives you a voice to sing so that you can find joy in music.  He gives you money to support your family and enjoy good blessings in life, but these gifts are also to work in service to Christ our Master.  If God gives you the ability to play piano or teach children, if he gives you family members or neighbors, it’s no accident.  If you don’t use them, God can certainly take them away!  Don’t bury the gifts God has given.  Use them to glorify Him.  Use your gifts for God’s Kingdom.  Be faithful.  Serve God by sharing your faith.  Serve God by giving generously to support the work of God’s Church.

As you consider your calling in Christ as a steward, managing the resources God has entrusted to you, you are called to be a first-fruit giver – not giving God the least and last, but in gratitude giving first for His work.  As stewards of God’s treasure, the first and highest priority in your life is God’s Kingdom work.  Your dollars support the Church, buy Sunday school books, support our mission partners in South Africa, care for the poor and hungry through the Carlyle Food Pantry or disaster victims through Lutheran World Relief.  If God has given you a passion for babies, get involved with Lutherans for Life or Lutheran Child and Family Services.  You are uniquely you, with your interests and passions – but not for your own aggrandizement – rather to put your gifts to work before Christ returns so that others may be saved.  Don’t squander the gifts God gives you.  Count it a joy that you can use them to serve God.

Your money is a blessing for you and your family, but you are also blessed to use it for God’s Kingdom.  Give prayerfully and generously.  Don’t bury it away and find it all taken away in the end.  Be faithful.  Your time is a treasure from God.  It’s heart-breaking how few choose to come for Bible class; surprising how few will volunteer to help around the church.  Time, too, is a trust that can be taken away.  The Master Jesus will return one day and Judgment Day will reveal whether you and I used God’s gifts selfishly, burying them away, or if we were lazy and did nothing to work for our livelihoods or for the sake of God’s Kingdom.  You are a steward of your possessions – You don’t own them.  1 Corinthians 6 says, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  You are not your own.  You were bought at a price.  Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.”  Everything you have and are is a trust from God.   

God’s Church has been entrusted with the Means of Grace – His Word and Sacraments.  How are we faithful in spreading the saving Gospel?  How do you share in that work?  Do you refuse to compromise God’s truth or do you bury God’s truth and tolerate lies and false teaching and immoral lifestyles for the sake of appeasing a son or daughter, friend or neighbor?  Again, Be faithful.  Jude wrote: “Contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.”  In these last dying days of this world, our fellow Christians and unbelievers need to hear a clear, faithful witness.  Don’t be afraid to be considered judgmental or intolerant or old-fashioned.  In love and humility take your stand on God’s unchanging Word.  Don’t be blown around by the shameful winds of this corrupt culture.  Whether it makes you popular or not, you may be sure that as you lovingly and humbly stand unflinchingly on God’s Word, you will hear your Master’s verdict: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  It is never those who stand on God’s Truth who are disrupting the peace of the Church.  The devil is fine if we bury God’s pure doctrine in the sand.  God, grant us moral clarity, courage and conviction.  Things won’t get better.  

            Finally, notice this parable is about a Giving Master.  God brought you into His family of faith.  He redeemed you in the blood of Jesus and rescues you from death in His resurrection.  Your bodies and lives and earthly blessings are all given by Christ.  Gifts only come in one way – by grace – by God’s undeserved love.  You and I live all our lives in the shadow of Judgment Day and Jesus’ return.  As you serve God within your vocations, don’t focus on you, but your Master the Giver of all good gifts.  The Savior who returns is the Savior who offered His life in your place.  Trust in Him.  Lean on His promises as the Last Days of this world stretch into the future.  As you joyfully serve Him, find your joy and certainty that He served you by giving His life in your place. 

Assured of God’s love in Christ, ours is the prayer of an old hymn: “Give me a faithful heart, Likeness to Thee, That each departing day Henceforth may see Some work of love begun, Some deed of kindness done, Some wand’rer sought and won, Something for Thee.  All that I am and have Thy gifts so free, In joy, in grief, through life, Dear Lord, for Thee!  And when Thy face I see, My ransomed soul shall be Thro’ all eternity Something for Thee.  Amen.” (TLH, 403, stanzas 3 &4)

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from Revelation 7:9-17, a portion of which follows:  “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?”  I answered, “Sir, you know.”  And he said, “These are [...]]]>             Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from Revelation 7:9-17, a portion of which follows:  “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?”  I answered, “Sir, you know.”  And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation;  they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb…”  So far the text.

Why do we observe All Saints’ Day?  Very simply put, because we’re grateful.  As Christians, we’re always thankful for God’s gifts, but how much more are we thankful for those who have shared our lives; those who knelt by our bedsides and taught us to pray; those who fed and clothed and sheltered us and raised us to love Christ the Lamb; those pastors who pointed us to Jesus; those Sunday school teachers who taught us we never had to fear death when we knew Christ as our Savior; those saints who gave of themselves to share God’s love with us.  How thankful we are for departed spouses who loved with God’s love in sickness or in health; for departed children who received God’s name and promise in Baptisms’ watery Word; for unnamed little ones who never drew a breath outside their mother’s womb, yet known and loved by God.  And not only are we grateful to God that these blessings have been allowed, if even for mere moments to touch our lives, we are grateful that, for all who love and trust in Jesus, our separation is short, but our reunion with Christ in heaven is eternal.  Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their life and imitate their faith.”    

            There is nothing of greater importance on this All Saints’ Day, or any day, than that every man, woman and child know with certainty how you can be numbered with those who sing God’s praises in heaven.  What does it mean when our text describes the Last Days as a “great tribulation” and how can we escape the shipwreck of our faith, arriving safely in the holy Ark of God’s Church to God’s Promised Land? 

            That word “Tribulation” in our text, is a word of warning for us to be watchful, diligently entrusting ourselves to Christ our Savior.  You don’t know your last day or hour; certainly none knows when Jesus will come again.  Each moment God grants you in this world, remember your Savior’s promise, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in.”  Remember the words of St. Paul, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; today is the day of salvation.”  Do not put off till tomorrow God’s invitation in Christ to join the End Times Wedding Feast of the Lamb. 

God’s Word describes the Great Tribulation mentioned in our text.  The Gospels give us signs to watch for preceding the return of our Savior and the judgment of the living and the dead.  Jesus said, “There will be wars and rumors of wars.”  Earthquakes, famines, and floods will convulse our world.  There will be political and economic upheaval.  False prophets will peddle their lies, leading people away from trusting in Jesus as their Savior.  Scripture tells us many who are outwardly connected to the visible church will be lost and damned.  Jesus said, “Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold” and “if those days had not been cut short no would survive.”

            The last days will be characterized by a general spiritual carelessness.  Jesus said, “In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark… that is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”  In the last days, few will heed the Savior’s warning, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his soul.” 

            How can we be sure to be found among those clothed in white robes with palm branches in hand when Jesus comes again?  That’s life’s most important question.  Too many people foolishly go to hell believing all roads lead to heaven – that it doesn’t matter what you believe or whom you trust, as long as you’re good.  The dominant religion in this country isn’t Catholic or Lutheran, Baptist or Methodist, it’s therapeutic deism – a pathetic substitute for Christ that says we’re all ok, just be nice and you’ve punched your ticket to heaven.  Surveys, including at our own LCMS youth gatherings, show a majority of young people who attend Christian churches are in fact deists – that is to say they trust in a generic “god” – they don’t trust in the Savior who died and rose for their sins.  They trust in a Savior who affirms their self-esteem, not the Savior of poor, miserable sinners. 

Dear children of God, wake up.  Get real about the world you live in and the threat it poses to raising a Christian family.  For your child’s eternal life, introducing them to a lifelong relationship with the Living God is one thing you dare not put off or treat lazily.  Jesus didn’t die to be one way to heaven among lots of ways.  He is “The Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Him.”  Only by building your homes and hearts on Christ the Rock will what you have built survive the Great Tribulation.   

            Hebrews tells us “without holiness no one shall see God.”  The glistening purity and holiness that God demands for those who enter His heavenly rest cannot be purchased as one pays a dry cleaner.  No human holiness can reach the standard of purity God demands to stand in the presence of His majestic holiness.  In truth, God slams the door on those seeking a holiness of their own.  Isaiah wrote, “All our righteous acts are as filthy rags.”

            True, perfect holiness can only come from the blood of the Lamb.  Pointing to our Divine-human Savior, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Of this perfect, purifying Agent, St. John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.”  Our sinless Savior by His perfect, life and sacrificial death offered His blood as the final and perfect atonement for your sin and mine.  God’s grace in Jesus allows us to face our own death or the day of Christ’s return, whichever comes first, with joy and expectation.  Because God loves you, He chose to send His Son to wash the filthy robes of your unrighteousness.  Through faith in Christ, God has traded what is ugly and stained and sinful in us.  Jesus carried those sins to the cross, and through faith God offers you the radiant robes of Christ’s righteousness.  1 Corinthians 2 says, “Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God – our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”

            God offers this cleansing, glistening robe of righteousness in Holy Baptism.  Galatians 3 says, “As many of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  Again, Ephesians 5 says, “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  God washes our robes in the blood of Christ by the washing with water through the Word.  Did you catch that?  The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word and the watery Word of Baptism to create a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish. 

            You can’t go back to the cross and wash your robes in the blood of the Lamb.  God brings His cleansing blood to you.  That’s the blessing of Holy Baptism.  God attached His promise and said, “Here, I desire to cleanse you from every stain and wrap you in the robe of Christ your Savior.” 

This gift is yours through faith.  When God the Holy Spirit creates faith through His watery Word, our robes of filthy rags become radiantly righteous.  Isaiah 1 said, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”  Spirit-given faith trusts that what Jesus did at the cross, He did for you – to wash your sins away – to make you His child.  That’s what faith is – it’s the beggar who clutches in trembling hands the gift of God’s grace – who clings to the cross of Christ.   

Dear friends, life and death can sometimes be scary things when the devil uses death to drive us to despair, but cleansed in the blood of Jesus, you can be more certain of this than any truth in your life, “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved.”  Let your fears be swallowed up by God’s guarantee signed, sealed and delivered in the blood of Jesus. 

God gives many blessings in your life, especially the forgiveness of sins and salvation through faith in Jesus.  He gives us the gift of the saints who shared Christ with us to guide us on our way through life.  But, oh, beloved of God, you who know Jesus died for you and lives for you – what joy lies in your future!  Through faith one day you and I will spend eternity singing God’s praises with all the saints.  No choir on earth will thrill our hearts like this!  No more sickness, sadness or suffering, only the perfect presence of God, and all tears are gone.  That’s God’s gift to you in Jesus.  You can’t add anything to it, perfect it or improve it, the way of faith is to receive and rejoice in the free gift of Jesus, “Amen.  It is true.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from John 8:31-36.  Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.  Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”  This is our [...]]]>             Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from John 8:31-36.  Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.  Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”  This is our text. 

            In the Last Days of this passing world, 2 Timothy 4 warned, “Men will not put up with sound doctrine [teaching].”  And so, church-building programs announce with great confidence that God’s Church in the 21^st century must be built on relationships.  Doctrine or the teachings we draw from God’s Holy Word will have to take a back seat and thriving congregations will be loosely bound social networks where all opinions on God’s Word have equal validity.  Since this is so, we are told, names like Lutheran or Catholic or Methodist or Baptist will cease to hold the allegiance of their members.  The name of the game in the 21^st century “church” will be building relationships.

            Of course, relationships have always been important in every century of the Church’s life.  1 Corinthians 12 says, “The body [of Christ] is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into [the body of Christ].”  But notice Christ’s Body, the Church, is not built from the ground up by human ties, but rather from the head down.  Christ calls us into a living relationship with Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is of first and greatest importance, and it’s that living link to Christ through faith that joins us together arm in arm with our brothers and sisters here on earth and with “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.”

            It’s with that understanding, today we celebrate Reformation Day here and later in our circuit gathering at CORLHS.  Today, we give thanks to God for faithful preachers of the Word like Dr. Martin Luther.  Nearly 500 years ago, God restored the truth that what unites us is not a human institution like the pope, but rather the glorious Gospel that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone for Christ’s sake alone; and that God’s truth doesn’t rise from the traditions and teachings of fallen men and women, but rather God’s truth is a treasure revealed in Scripture alone.  Today, we don’t celebrate Martin Luther because of partisan ties, but we give thanks to God that in the course of time He uses sinful people to point us back to our sinless Savior. 

We usually date the beginning of the Reformation to Dr. Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany 493 years ago tomorrow.  But the Lutheran Church, because it aims to be and desires nothing more than to teach God’s Word, walks hand in hand with the Church of every age.  The first president of our Missouri Synod, the Rev. C.F.W. Walther wrote 150 years ago:  

So long as there has been an orthodox church on earth, there has also been the Lutheran Church. She is (as strange as that sounds) as old as the world, for she has no other doctrine than the patriarchs, prophets and apostles had received from God and preached. Certainly the name Lutheran first arose 300 years ago, but not what is signified by the name. So as often, therefore, as the question is to put to us: ‘Where was the Lutheran church before Luther?’ it is so easy to answer: She was everywhere that there were Christians, who believed in JESUS Christ and his holy Word from their hearts, and would not let themselves be dissuaded from this faith, which alone saves, by any human institutions or who finally in their tribulation in death found refuge in [Jesus].

May God deliver us from the ever-present temptation to build His Church on personalities.  The hymnist teaches us the Church’s prayer in every generation: “Grant, then, O God, Your will be done, That, when the church bells are ringing, Many in saving faith may come Where Christ His message is bringing: “I know My own; My own know Me.  You, not the world, My face shall see.  My peace I leave with you.  Amen.”

Back then, Luther wasn’t particularly pleased that his “back-to-the-Bible” movement was ridiculed as being Lutheran – he preferred simply Christian.  We should be pleased to see that name disappear, so long as the words he taught on the basis of God’s Word remain strong – namely, that no human work or merit makes us righteous before God.  “It is by grace you have been saved,” Ephesians 2 says, “through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one may boast.”

Jesus said in our text, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.  Then you will know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.”  Teaching or doctrine drawn from the Living Waters of God’s Word is life itself.  Doctrine, or teaching, that rests on the words of our Savior doesn’t splinter us into disagreeing factions, it unites us to Christ the Vine as living branches nourished by the Holy Spirit.  The words of Christ are not one part of the Church’s life, second to human relationships, they are life and salvation.  Let it be our prayer that God, by a special work of His Holy Spirit, should cause us to love His Word so deeply that we would rather lose every penny and even our lives rather than lose one Word from God’s Book of Life.  That we would suffer every hardship to make it our life’s goal as living links in the Church’s chain to share the Good News of salvation by grace through faith alone with our loved ones and all the world. 

What that means, dear family in Christ, is that God gives you the joyous opportunity to learn what you believe – to dust off the old catechism and read God’s Word; To join in Bible class and become unshakably certain of your soul’s salvation by building your life on God’s Word.  “If you hold to Christ’s teaching, you are truly His disciples.  Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” 

It may seem strange, but I think the first truth recovered in the Reformation teaching is found in our text – that we are slaves to sin and death.  The Jews replied to Christ in disbelief: “We are Abraham’s descendants.  We’ve never been slaves to anyone.”  Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” 

Why was that important to know?  Because until they realized they were slaves to sin, they didn’t care about being set free.  They didn’t care about Jesus as their Savior, because they didn’t think they needed saving.  They thought they were good enough on their own.  If in your mind, sin isn’t too big a deal, you’ll have a very small view of Jesus.  If you have a bloated view of how good you are, you’ll never understand the joy of being saved by grace alone.

It’s in the recognition of our absolute and utter inability to free ourselves – desperately hogtied by the shackles of sin – we finally learn the joy of Jesus’ redeeming work.  God the Father sent His Son – a true Son in the Father’s house – to break the shackles that bind us in death.  Jesus took real flesh and blood in the womb of the Virgin Mary.  A true Son over God’s house, entered into our slavery and bondage.  He chose the path of suffering and death to free you from the hellish curse of dying in slavery. 

Your Lord Christ did what you were powerless to do by living a sinless life under God’s Law.  Jesus wasn’t enslaved to sin, but made Himself a slave, keeping every demand of holiness that you and I don’t and can’t.  The sinless Savior walked in your shackles of slavery and carried your brokenness and bondage as His own.  He died in your slavery and mine, so that you and I could share in His freedom as true sons and daughters of God – adopted children in God’s family.  That’s grace – God’s undeserved love… Grace is God’s love that didn’t wait to find good in us, but demonstrated His grace in that “while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

In the pages of God’s Word, Luther preached the truth that brings us joy today.  To live in slavery is miserable and hopeless.  It’s a living death with hell the only guaranteed future.  But God’s Son has set you free.  Romans 8 shouts God’s freedom promise: “Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Our epistle has it: “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the Law.”

Our freedom in Christ isn’t freedom to sink back into sin’s slavery, but freedom to move joyfully into our daily callings sure of God’s gift of eternal life.  The Holy Spirit liberates you when He called you to Jesus in the waters of Baptism, speaks your sins away in the words of Absolution, and feeds and forgives you in the real flesh and blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.  This same Spirit who saves you by grace alone makes you a part of Christ’s Body the Church, and in this Body of Christ He moves us in love and forgiveness and kindness to one another.  Through our connection to Christ the head, we are joined to each other as fellow forgiven brothers and sisters.

Faith isn’t what you do.  Faith isn’t your ability to climb the last ladder rungs into heaven.  Faith is God’s work when the Holy Spirit sets you free to trust Jesus’ promises washed over you in Baptism and poured into your lips…free to stop counting up your works and rest in Jesus’ work.  Because Jesus lives, you are free to know Christ your Brother is even now preparing a place for you in God’s heavenly home.  Faith is freedom to rest in the most precious words you’ll ever hear – “This Jesus is for you for the forgiveness of your sins – you are free!”  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

            The sermon text is from Matthew 22:1-14:

            Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying:  “The kingdom of heaven is like a King who prepared a wedding banquet for His Son.  He sent His servants [...]]]>             Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

            The sermon text is from Matthew 22:1-14:

            Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying:  “The kingdom of heaven is like a King who prepared a wedding banquet for His Son.  He sent His servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.  For many are invited, but few are chosen.  So far the text. 

             It’s hard to remember now, but do you realize just a few months ago people would have killed to get an invitation to Prince William’s wedding?  It’s not my cup of tea, but being invited to a royal wedding means status!  That’s why Jesus’ parable jars you… to think how people crave an invitation to a royal wedding when God invites us to the greatest royal wedding of all – the wedding feast in heaven.  God our Heavenly King sent out servants to bring in the guests, but they refused.  Bad as that is, still others mistreated the King’s servants and killed them. 

            The parable continues:  “The King was enraged.  He sent His army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.  Then He said to His servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.’”  How utterly terrifying is God’s judgment on those, then and today, who reject His gifts!

But God the King isn’t satisfied with an empty feast.  He told His servants:  “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you can find.  So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

            What immediately struck me about the parable is how intensely God desired that His invited guests come to the feast.  After the unworthy guests were destroyed, He even sent servants out to bring in others, rather than just being done with all of us.  By God’s grace, He still calls today.  Don’t refuse.  Don’t fixate on work and play and worldly things.  Don’t choose dying things over eternal joy, death over heavenly life.  Paul wrote, “God would have all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”  Jesus said, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

            God’s invitation to the feast goes out through His servants, through pastors and parents, as we share the Good News of God’s saving sacrifice.  As the Word is preached and people are baptized in God’s Name, the Holy Spirit reaches the lost and invites them into the banquet.  And yet, we see all around us the rejection of the Gospel as too many build their lives on worldly things, shutting God out.  What a heart-breaking tragedy when we build our homes and hopes on happiness in this world with no thought to true, lasting joy.  God’s Word answers the foolish guests who chose work and play over the King’s call, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his soul.”

            Beloved in the Lord, be certain you don’t put off one hour or day God’s call and invitation to know Christ through faith.  Christ’s call comes marked, Urgent!:  “Now is the acceptable time; Today is the day of salvation!”  Examine your own hearts.  Have you made your life’s goal, the highest priority of your heart clinging to Christ in faith so that one day you take your place at God’s heavenly banquet?  Does your family gather in devotion and prayer in your home?  Do you crave God’s forgiveness and the power of His Word in regular study of the Scriptures?  Do you long for the precious body and blood of Christ offered in the Sacrament?  Has the Good News in Christ become a tired old story or does your Father’s love fill your heart with a joyous, living hope?

For each of us, the honest answer is too often – NO!  No, we don’t honor God’s call by attending Bible study or craving communion.  The Savior’s voice in our homes is too often drowned out by TV or crowded out by a million distractions.  We’re tired.  We’re lazy.  We’re rushed.  We have other priorities and other responsibilities, and as Paul put it: “We do the things we don’t want to do and don’t do the things we should do.”  No, we don’t constantly crave and long for forgiveness in God’s Word and Christ’s true body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.  What’s wrong with us?  What’s wrong with our spiritual lives? 

For us who so often fail to heed our Savior’s call, God’s Good News is Jesus honored God’s call when He left heaven to live a perfect life in our place.  Did Jesus lay aside the glory and riches of heaven to seek and save you, wading into “the mud and muck of your life, lifting your feet upon the Rock”?  Yes.  Did Jesus make you His highest priority, loving you more than His own life?  Yes.  Did Jesus taste death to reserve for you a place at His heavenly feast?  Yes.  Through faith in Jesus’ blood-bought atonement, can you know today that Christ has prepared you a place in His heavenly mansion?  Yes. 

Today, we celebrated with and for Anna and Tristin and Trevor God’s powerful promise, as the Holy Spirit flooded their lives with God’s mighty promises.  What a blessed reminder for each of us to treasure our own baptism where God the Holy Spirit invited and made us sharers in His life and forgiveness, raising us through faith to share in His eternal feast.  Again, at the Holy Communion in Jesus’ body and blood He invites and gives you to share in His life, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

            If you’ve ever wondered how badly God wants you to be at His Heavenly Feast, find God’s answer in the blood-stained brow of your crucified Christ!  From the cross God’s glorious invitation echoes through the centuries, “Whoever believes in me has eternal life.”  “He that believes and is baptized will be saved.”  This engraved invitation from God is pure gift – God’s grace.  Trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection victory and take your seat at His feast.  Repent of your sins and know that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”, even sinners like you and me.

            The second portion of our parable goes on to describe the crowded banquet hall:  “The king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’  The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

            No fair!  The King sent out servants into the highways and byways to bring people into the wedding feast, when one is without the right clothes he’s thrown out!  What did the king expect from someone just off the street?  Maybe he didn’t have nice clothes.  The king asks him to explain his dress, but the poor man has no answer.  We wonder why he didn’t just say, “I’m dressed like this, because the servants just brought me in off the street.  I didn’t know the dress code or have time to change.”

            This sad conclusion is explained when we understand that the king customarily offered a robe for his guests.  Apparently, the man decided his own clothing was covering enough.  He thought he was good enough without the king’s robe.  Beware of insisting that God take you as you are.  Beware of pushing aside the freely offered garment of righteousness and insisting on taking your place in heaven dressed in your own ragged righteousness.  Isaiah wrote, “Our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”  Filthy rags don’t cut it when you’re going to the Wedding Feast in Heaven. You won’t take your seat in God’s Kingdom clothed in your own tattered rags and shabby works. 

Moments ago in the rite of Holy Baptism we heard God’s promise, you and I don’t have to stand before God in our own shabby, self-chosen garments.  Galatians says, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  Through faith, God clothes you in Christ’s righteousness.  Covered in Jesus, you are worthy for Jesus’ sake to sit at His Feast.  Joined to Christ, we rest in Isaiah’s promise, “God has clothed me in the garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.”  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.