"More than Just Words, More than Just God"

Ephesians 1:3–6 ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

          Mercy is keeping from us those things we deserve.  It is simple, the payment for all sin is death, and we all deserve this death because we all have sinned.  Grace is giving us those things we do not deserve. It also is simple, God forgives us and gives us eternal life and relationship with Him. Together grace and mercy is absolution.  We should know this as every other Sunday we participate in corporate confession and absolution. 

It could be that we might not understand what is actually taking place during confession and absolution in the worship service.  At least in hearing and mouthing the words, we participate, or maybe we actually do confess at this time of the worship service. Confessing leads to repenting and actually receiving absolution.  Actually it is not our part of the participation that brings us absolution.  Rather, it is God’s choice and participation as He listens to our confessions and has acted through our Lord Jesus Christ that we receive absolution.  That is we receive God's mercy and grace.

Everything we do in worship is much more than just words that we repeat in unison every Sunday, they actually have great and deep meaning to God and to us.  God's plan from the beginning was to save us from our sinful nature, in sure hope that we will be believers of His salvation for us and faith in His grace and mercy.  It is not our salvation, rather it really is God's salvation that He graciously gives us.  The good news, giving us salvation is His will.  Hard to believe?  The mystery, why does such a righteous, and perfect God want to save those who prove everyday they are not perfect and are indeed sinners every day?  Why send us one who can and does redeem us?

Ephesians 1:6b–10 Beloved.  ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

          United we stand, divided we fall, sounds like a good formula to hold one divided side hostage, to do our will rather than to do God's will for us.  We try to interfere with God's plan thinking we need to make it our plan.  The truth is that forgiveness is something that God gives us, it is not something we earn.  But we say we must repent in order to receive God's forgiveness.  Yes this is true, however the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God which works through us and through being sanctified we come to repentance as we hear the Holy Spirit through our conscience and God's Word. 

          God is always working in us, and especially when we have been opened up by God's word.  Let me repeat this, "God is always working in us, and especially when we have been opened up by God's word."  God's word sings a song to us of His great love for us, and it turns our hearts to love Him more.  I experience this every time I study God's Word, I hope you do to, if you don't come and study with me and I will show you.  The more you experience the love someone gives you the more your heart will want to return love.  God's word does this, and especially, and greatly through the Gospel.

Ephesians 1:11–14 ¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹²so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

          Do you Love Jesus?  Then feed His sheep.  You are His sheep and God's word is the food we should feed on.

          Matthew 4:4 ESV ⁴ But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

          God's Word as described in the first verses of St. John is Christ, and Christ is our savior, and this bread, blood, and Word is something that sustains life.  Christ suffered pain and humility on the way to the cross and suffered even more pain and humility on the cross, and died a sinner’s death for you and me.  This death was not to be something done in vain but to be carried out through the Father’s love for all people, all nations. 

Jesus came not to condemn but to take the condemnation upon Himself for us so that we might live eternal with our Father in Heaven.  What is great is that God's word says there will be a multitude, which gives us sure hope that God will save all believers, all who have faith in Him great and small.  God the Father has blessed us through Jesus Christ to assure He has an everlasting relationship with His creation and you are that creation first through Adam and Eve and then from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the clutches of eternal death so that we are now adopted into eternal life as the children of God.  Amen.

"Purified Through the Gospel and Not the Law"

          Luke 2:22–24      ²² When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

          Jesus was born under the law, He was a Jew, and He came to redeem those who were under the law.  Some call them customs, others call them laws; either way they are rules handed down by God from generation to generation and these laws must be obeyed. 

When the rules become custom we obey them like a habit, this we see in the way we worship when we worship the same way each Sunday repeating the words that have lost their meaning on our lips and no longer effect our hearts.  We make worship a law, instead of a gospel. 

It's like this law is something you have to do, and the gospel is something you get to do.  Law says you follow it or pay the consequences for not.  Gospel says this is a privilege, a gift not earned and it is freely given to those God has chosen to be His children.  We like to make law and try very hard to turn the gospel into law as something we think we have to earn.  But, here it is, we cannot earn the Gospel, but we can enjoy the privilege.  And worship is a privilege that comes from the gospel.

Under the law Jesus the son of God is going through the purification ceremony that was described through the Lord's laws given to Moses.  Joseph and Mary are following the Jewish laws for those who were first born.  Jesus is being welcomed into the world under the law, purified to be a holy first born male child, a visual to the Jewish populace.  Here the son of God is made holy through the law with the sacrifice of two turtle doves to show all people that He was purified to fulfill the law.

Luke 2:29–32      ²⁹“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; ³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation ³¹that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, ³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

          The Lord's Christ, the Lord's Messiah, the Lord's Savior, has now been purified through the law.  Jesus is made holy and is to take the role of the first born son and carry on the Father's business.  The business of God is gifting His Son's holiness through salvation to those who believe.  Even as Jesus was already holy because He is the Son of God, He did not need to be purified except to show us that He came to fulfill the law and to purify each of us, not through the law but through the Gospel.   

Luke 2:33b–32 “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed ³⁵(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

A foretelling again of one who will be pierced for our transgressions.  Though Christ reveals our thoughts and hearts, both good and bad, He also prepares the way for our salvation through repentance and forgiveness.  To us a child, the gospel, is born bringing His salvation to each believer and paving the way for others to believe too. 

Galatians 4:4–7 ⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

          Our inheritance is willed to us by the mighty and awesome will of our God through Jesus Christ our Savior.  It is our Christ who works through the Holy Spirit and His word to sanctify us, purify us, making us holy for everlasting life and eternal relationship with our Abba, Father who loves us first.  Amen.

 

 

 

Luke 2:8-11 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 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.

          On the day that we celebrate Christmas the gospel was brought to us. The angel proclaimed it as bringing the shepherds the good news.  Laying in a manger was the gospel itself, and not just for the Jew but for all the people, all the nations.  It does seem appropriate that the angel confronts shepherds minding their flock of sheep with this good news that the gospel has arrived.

          We have heard that sheep unattended will wander off on their own.  Sheep really don't pay attention to where they are going as they look for their next morsel to enjoy.  The sheep unattended will unknowingly wander into danger, and find themselves as a morsel for their enemy to enjoy.  Shepherds keep their sheep.  Keeping is a means of protecting them, feeding, and making sure they stay together as a community.  Together the sheep are easier to lead; apart sheep are harder to manage because one will wander this way and another will wander that way.

Luke 2:12-14 ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

          To you this day the Gospel is born, a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laying in a feed trough for animals.  This feed trough was not a hospital crib it was not sterilized, it was the most humbling bed a savior could have chosen.  The Christ, our savior, our shepherd, now biding His time as a child of a virgin and a father who had to learn to forgive his bride, and provide for a child that is not of his blood all through faith in our one God.

          A shepherd was born who had not taken up his shepherds staff to lead His flock, those whom God our Father in heavens favor rests.  God's favor is His grace and mercy for a fallen nation or is it fallen nations?  The first chosen will again prove to turn their back on their God.  So has the world turned its back on their God from the time of Adam and Eve and from the time of Noah and his sons?  What we fail sometimes to ponder is that there has only been one true God and He is even if we do not want to confess everyone's God.  Yes God's first chosen had turned away at times, however we should note they did not turn permanently away as did the gentiles from the time after Noah's landing on dry ground. 

          The sheep had wandered, the enemy fed upon them and they were devoured by false gods, and immoral ways.  Where is their shepherd, when will He claim all of His sheep?  He lays there in the manger, humbled being born of a virgin, and waiting for just the right time to take up His shepherd’s staff.

          Luke 2:12-14 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

          THE SHEPHERD has come, the good news is here, the Gospel has been born, and God is with us!  The shepherd’s staff carved from a tree and used to reign in the sheep in the shepherds flock.  Jesus Christ reigns all believers in with another staff made from a tree, like the snake in the Old Testament, Numbers 21:9, Jesus Christ was lifted up on the staff called a cross.  Jesus uses the staff He died on to gather His sheep who are made up of all believers coming from all nations, and all peoples.

          This is the Good News, the Gospel that was born for our salvation and celebration of a beginning of everlasting relationship with our God and eternal life gifted to all believers from this one child wrapped in swaddling clothes and called to be our shepherd so that we might not go astray.  Amen.

"He Will Surely Do It"

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

            Do we rejoice always?  We sin almost always and one of our sins is that we do not exactly rejoice over all that God has given us or entrusted to us. We are much like Moses who didn't feel he was equipped to be entrusted to lead God's people out of captivity, (Exodus 4:10).  Or we are like Jonah who didn't want or care if the people of Nineveh were saved or not knowing God's true grace and mercy.

Jonah 4:1-4 4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. ² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

            Angry, because we can't always have it our way?  Angry because it might mean participation on our part?  Angry enough to go and try to hide from God?  We cannot be sure what was going through Jonah's mind, he knew God and surely had to know you can't hide from God.  Adam and Eve might not have known right away that they could not hide from God, but Jonah knew the history of Adam and Eve and saw through God's word that they could not hide. 

God calls us to serve whether we are young or old, (Moses was in his 80's) to be the body of Christ.  Do we rejoice in that, or do we look at it as we're not equipped, we don't want to be equipped, and we'd rather rejoice about doing nothing for the salvation of others.  God will forgive us, and He will get over it in time, or is this a non repented sin?

God gives us the knowledge and the tools as He did for Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, and all others He has called into service.  One of God's tools is His word, but it does us no good if we despise it, ignore it, don't really know it, or push it away.  We might think God's word is not important, and then wonder why we struggle so in our lives and in the life our part of the Body of Christ.

Do you pray without ceasing?  It is good to be in God's word, it gives us those things from God that we can rejoice in, and know God's love and how it works for us.  Through God's word we can learn to pray for the will of God, to effect what we really want.  It is not more money, a bigger house, a faster cooler car, or anything that is stuff that we really are looking for.  We are not even looking for world peace, no crime, or pay without work. No, what we are really looking for we try to achieve through the means of stuff and situations.  We think we have what we want until we see the stuff wears out, the situation changes, a disaster happens, or we lose what we thought was important to have.  One doesn't appreciate what one has until one loses it, but if one does not realize they don't have what one is truly looking for they keep looking.

What is it that we are really looking for?  We are really seeking joy, a continuous happiness that can't be achieved through stuff and situations.  Joy can be achieved through the one thing that we turn from, push away, ignore, or think we do not need, and I'm not going to tell you what it is because you won't believe me even if I do tell you.  I'm sure you probably think you know what I will say any way.  Joy comes from a relationship to the one who created relationships, and His Word.  Ok I told you but I really didn't mean to.

I guess this is my way of being like Jonah He didn't think the people of Nineveh deserved God's grace and mercy.  Truthfully none deserve God's grace but through His love we receive it.  Or, maybe this is my time to be like Moses and say I'm not eloquent enough to know the right words to say to those held in their own captivity of sin.  Actually this might be our time to take God's word seriously and start to pray without ceasing.  AHA! Let's make our life a prayer.  Let’s pray that God teaches us to grow.  There was a pastor who prayed all day long, and at night before he went to bed he knelt by his bedside said amen and then crawled into bed.

I guess if you do not rejoice in everything there might not be very much to thank God for.  Certainly we can agree that we should thank God for all of the good things we receive from Him.  However, do we understand that even in our difficult situations we have much to thank God for?  Our tough situations force us to grow, and learn how to overcome them through the help of God. And, tough situations teach us to come to God our Father in heaven and depend on His love for us, which gets us through those tough situations.  AHA! This is His will for us, that we rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in every circumstance.

1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰Do not despise prophecies, ²¹but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²²Abstain from every form of evil.

            Have we snuffed out the spirit in us?  Do we despise the word of God?  God's word does not paint a pretty picture for the non believer.  This might find us despising God's word.  God's word does not approve of every life style, or those who try to demean God's word to justify their desires.  This too might find us despising God's word.  It takes time and effort to read God's word, and this too might find us despising God's word.  Our world despises God's word and thinks sin is a recreational drug that changes the way we deal with reality, gives us fun, and justifies our turning our back on God.  Sin is the new correct, bad is the new good, and sick is the new cool.  Opposites are the new equivalents, and lies are the new truths.  But the real truth that never changes is Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            Sanctification is that we are made Holy through the works of the Holy Spirit.  Our works are the works that are sanctified by God through His Holy Spirit when we are listening to the Holy Spirit through God's word.  Test everything means to test how each and everything we do conforms to the word of God.  But here it is, we are sanctified to be Holy in the eyes of our Father in heaven.

            AHA! God gives us gifts to be excited about.  We are justified through the works of Christ, because we are forgiven for our sins.  Christ took our sins and died a brutal death to pay the penalty for all sin.  Christ died to show our Father in heaven we are worthy to be called the children of God.  We are worthy through the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus.  Christ also died and ascended into heaven so that the counselor would come.  The Counselor is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us and makes us Holy in the eyes of God.  And now that we are clothed in our justification and sanctification we are made worthy to have an eternal relationship and everlasting life with our Lord and Savior.

            1 Thessalonians 5:24 ²⁴He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Whatever we ask in His name, in His will, in His love, our God will give it to us.  Do you think that keeping the doors of this church open is in the will of God?  Do you think if we pray that God will equip us to be able to go out and evangelize to our communities around us He will equip us?  Do you think that if through our prayers we thank God for all we have in every circumstance He will joyfully accept that thank you and give us more? Do you think that God saves us for His joy?  Do you think Jesus Christ will come again?  And, do you think that God's love for all is real? If you said yes to all of these questions then you know, He will surely do it. For this is how God builds our faith through the circumstances we face.  Amen.

"Our Shepherd Gathers His Flock"

Isaiah 40:1–2 ¹Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 

            We can take a close look at the history of Jerusalem and quickly see she has suffered much and still suffers today.  Has God pardoned her for her sins?  Has she only received double for all her sins?  Look closely, Jerusalem's plight might raise a couple of questions in our minds.  What were all of her sins, and if she paid double for her sins where does that leave us with our sins? 

            The temple of God, the Holy of Holy place resided in this beautiful city of Jerusalem built under the orders of Solomon.  You might say the whole city was a temple of God's as Solomon was inspired by God to build it.  A temple that gave life to culture designed by God from the time of Moses to the time when all was lost in the Babylonian captivity.  Jerusalem is a representation of every believer (sinner saint) that has walked this earth, as we all have the temple of God within us hidden by our sinful nature.  Sin has a saddened way of destroying what God has entrusted to His people, even today the temple is hidden under the sin of mankind.

            Time had not stopped, generations had past, God's people renewed through offspring of those who lost their beloved city of God.  Jerusalem lay in ruin, its paraments (candles, altar, basin...) all had been looted by their captors taken from their place of duty.  What was of old from Moses and Solomon's time was now gone now just a thoughtless decor or trophy sitting on a pagan mantle.  The only thing that survived from the temple was the true temple, God and His will to stay with His people as they suffer through the consequences of their action and their lack of actions.

            Isaiah 40:3–5 ³A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  ⁵And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 

            If you notice the quotes here in the O.T. are different than those in the N.T.   “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;" so what does this mean? Is it not a prophet who is wandering around in the wilderness where no one else lives or walks?  Maybe what Isaiah has been inspired to write is the wilderness that man himself is, one barren of faith and weeded with sin. 

In the O.T. and N.T. the voice crying also refers to the voice calling in the wilderness, the voice of a man telling us to prepare the way for our Savior.  How do we prepare for the Lord's coming?  What steps should we take?  How do we know when we have prepared the way? 

Isaiah 40:6–9 ⁶A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”  All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.  ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.  ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

            Life on earth is never permanent, like the flower and the grass it has its season and then they are gone.  Then out of the death of winter life comes in its spring and there is a new generation of grass and flowers and life on earth seems to continue on as a pagan dream fulfilled over and over until God puts an end to it.  As the generations have passed of those held in captivity and new generations spring forth, God replants His seed to raise up life in His people, in all those He has chosen.  But like flowers we wither and fade, but we die to sin and spring into life through forgiveness.

            Life in heaven holds no time so a thousand or a day is the same in the realm of heaven.  But not so in the realm of earth.  God did not make us in His realm of heaven and then transferred us to the realm of the earth so a day on earth is a day, there was morning and there was evening there was an earth day. 

However, God's plan was not to keep us on this earth, but to master a means to transfer us to His realm of heaven.  Christ suffered and died for our sins so that we might have life and relationship eternal.  As the old earth and heavens pass away, God ushers us into a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem.

            Isaiah 40:9–11 ⁹Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”  ¹⁰Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.  ¹¹He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

            We cannot prepare the way; Jesus Christ is the way.  It is our Christ who has prepared the way and has prepared a place for each of those who He has called to believe and grow in faith.   Hear it?  Hear the voice? Lift up the voice who shouts joyously "The Good News," the Lord our Shepherd gathers His flock, holds them in His arms, and gently leads them through the gates of everlasting relationship and eternal life as the whole children of God.