Matthew 25:1 - 13 Ready for Christ's Return?

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

       The word “parable” comes from a Greek word that means “putting things side by side”. Somebody said that a parable is a heavenly story with an earthly meaning. Somebody else said this: “a parable is one of those stories in the Bible that sounds like a pleasant yarn but keeps something up its sleeve that pops up and leaves you flat.” In other words, Jesus’ parables are meant to wake us up from complacency and get us to think.

       When I was a seminary student, I learned that although our Lord’s parables have many details, most of them have one central point of comparison and one basic message they want to get across. I’ve never been very good at figuring out these central points, so if I want to get to the heart of Jesus’ stories, I need to consult the writings of experts. This morning’s parable is the same as the others: we need to do some thinking to get to the main points.  

       Jesus uses the parable of the wise and foolish virgins to be ready for his return. That’s its basic meaning. A day is coming when he will return in glory to claim his beloved people with all the love and joy with which a new husband claims his bride. He will bring his faithful children into eternal happiness. He will wipe away sin and death and every evil to such an extent that we won’t even remember the things that may trouble and vex us today. Instead, there will be gladness and rejoicing forever. The love God has for his people, which we now experience by faith, will be clear to us and visible and unmistakable.

       The Lord commands us, meanwhile, to be ready. The word “readiness” suggests certain things to us. We get ready for winter by getting our heavy clothes in order and making sure the care is shipshape, if you have one. A student gets ready for exams by studying faithfully.

       We get ready for the Lord’s second coming in a different way, not by taking external measures, but by trusting in Christ now, in his friendship, his goodness toward us, his promise that we are saved by God’s love through our faith in him. Somebody explained the details of the parable this way: the oil we need is God’s grace and the power of Christ and the flame the oil produces is faith together with the good works we perform today and tomorrow and the inner changes we undergo as the Holy Spirit works to transform us.

       Faith in Jesus means more than agreement with certain facts, such as the ones we’ll recite in the Apostle’s Creed. It isn’t just carrying out the forms of religion or being active in the church. Faith is a living trust that Jesus is our friend and savior – that he died on the cross to win the forgiveness of sins for each one of us. Faith in Jesus means a profound certainty in our hearts, which only God can give, that Christ hears our prayers, that he’s present in our worship and in the sacraments, and that he has prepared a place for us in heaven. Faith in Jesus means assurance, confidence, that we ourselves are saved. If when we read the Bible or hear God’s Word spoken, we are convinced of Jesus’ friendship for us, then we have a good supply of oil and the flame of faith is burning. We’re ready for the second coming of Our Lord.

       Let’s think about how this readiness works by imagining a few people in everyday situations. Nelson is an intelligent and searching person. He wants to know about salvation. He reads a wide assortment of material and talks to many people. He often hears the idea that he doesn’t need God for salvation because he can earn it on his own through good works and pushing himself to live by a strict code. But because he knows very well he isn’t perfect and is likely to make mistakes, he doesn’t take these ideas seriously. He knows that he needs help. He turns to the Bible where he learns that Jesus is his help and he comes to trust what Scripture says about the Lord. Nelson is ready for the second coming.

       Mary Beth is a young lady from a strong Christian background. She goes to school and then to work, where she meets a variety of people whose faith isn’t so strong. They tease her and tell her she ought to get more fun out of life. Going to church every Sunday won’t do anything for her, because there is no evidence that Jesus will come back. Mary Beth says that it isn’t just a matter of going to church. It’s true that for some people turn religion into a routine, but she herself has a strong personal trust that Jesus is her savior. He refreshes her and gives her energy. He removes her sins and fills her with confidence. Her lamp is filled with oil. She’s ready for the second coming of our Lord.  

       Warren is an older man. He’s had a wide experience of life and contact with hundreds of people. Many have done better than he in a worldly sense, and he has endured more than one heavy disappointment. Without his faith in God, he would be tempted to sink into despair and give up on life. He’d be inclined to blame himself for everything he thinks has gone wrong. But Warren is a Christian. He brings his troubles to the foot of the cross and he feeds on our Savior. Even while he knows the heaviness of life, he trusts in the mercies of Christ. He is ready for the second coming.

       Hilda has had a long life. She knows what it means to be active and she’s had many joys. She’s also experienced a lot of sadness and frustration in recent years together with physical pain. People she loves have moved away or passed on to eternity. She’s tempted to wonder if life has meaning and purpose, but only tempted because she believes in her heart that Jesus walked the earth before her and that he passed through every sorrow that she’s now experiencing. She leans on Jesus’ companionship and his compassion for the wounded. She trusts that he died for her and that in his rising to new life again she herself gains new life. As she turns to Jesus, she discovers that her joy revives and she’s ready for the second coming.

       We’ll take one more example. Priscilla is a new Christian. She has many questions and she isn’t sure that other Christians accept her. But she knows that Jesus is her savior and she has experienced his power to renew. She knows that Jesus’ blood washes away her sins and that she has a never-failing friend in our Lord. She is ready for his return.

       These five people of faith are prepared for the second coming because by God’s grace they trust in Jesus now. They know he is their savior; their lives are safe in his hands. It would be easy to imagine five people of a different sort, who thought they were ready for Jesus’ return but actually were not because although they had the right lamps, they lacked the oil that brings faith. They went to church; they did good works, but their souls were elsewhere, focused on themselves and on the world rather than God’s will for them.

       The Savior’s parable teaches several lessons. First, that automatic religion doesn’t do much for us. It’s possible to know all the teachings and to do good works and practice all the rituals, but to be dead inside. True religion comes from personal contact with our Savior, who makes alive and who brings joy. People who look for a lively, strengthening faith will find it. They will be ready for Christ when he returns.

       Similarly, borrowed faith doesn’t help. The foolish virgins believed that when the time came they could get oil from their friends. But their neighbors had none to give. They had just enough for themselves and nothing left over. It isn’t enough to say, as some might, though no one here this morning, I’m sure, “Well, my grandparents had lots of faith and I will attach myself to theirs.” We need our own relationship with the Savior.

       Thirdly, God’s grace is abundant. He is very patient, slow to anger and quick to forgive. He continues to reach out his hand. But a time is coming when it will be too late. There will be no chances for sinners to repent and faith to be renewed. The Lord has included us among the wise. We ask him to keep us there and to build up our understanding of what it means to be ready for his return.

       In the fourth place, Jesus points out that we do not know exactly when he will come back. It could be next month. There could very well be a long delay. We do not know. this is not a case, however, where ignorance is bliss. We are not to use our lack of knowledge as an excuse for laziness. We should regard each day as if that were the day of Christ’s return. When we think this way, we find that the Lord is bringing out the best in us. He motivates us to do good works – to spread the gospel, to help the needy, to visit the sick, to pray for ourselves and our neighbors, to read the Bible every day. We find then that we are not living by automatic religion or leaning on the prestige that previous generations built up. We are living by our own faith with plentiful supply of oil to fill the lamp when our Savior returns. What opportunities he has given us! What ways to be active as we get ready to receive him on the day of his second coming. In his name we rejoice. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.

                   

   

Revelation 7 -- The Lives of Saints

Grace and Peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come,

       All Saints’ Day gives us a chance to do something a bit unusual – we dip into the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, which wraps up a story that began in Genesis. You’ll remember that in the 3^rd chapter of Genesis, Adam and Eve fell from grace and were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Not only that, they passed on the guilt of their sin to every succeeding generation, so that even God’s chosen people had their share of bad moments as well as good ones. Christ came to earth centuries after the Fall and gave his life as a payment for sin. He rescued all believes from the clutches of the serpent and from bondage to sin. The Book of Revelation foretells the final outcome of Jesus’ work. A multitude of people from all over the earth will sing God’s praises in heaven. Although evil is powerful, God is even more powerful, and Revelation looks ahead to his triumph over everything bad and hurtful and worrisome, including death itself. The last book of the Bible has quite a few dramatic moments, but its main point is the victory of God. So the Bible has a happy ending. It begins with Creation and the Fall and ends with rejoicing in heaven, through the grace of God in Christ.

       This victory will take place through the church. This morning’s reading from Revelation shows the church in two phases – the church on earth and the church in heaven. The earthly church exists in the middle of the trouble and turmoil of the world; the church in heaven will praise God in endless rejoicing. God protects the earthly church so that there will be a loud and joyful chorus in the heavenly church. As John the evangelist wrote, in heaven there will be no hunger or thirst or penetrating heat. Jesus will lead his people to springs of living water; he will wipe away every tear. All evils will pass away.

       Now, in order to appreciate the happy ending that God is preparing, we celebrate All Saints’ Day once a year, and also take a moment to define the word “saint”. When people speak of “saint” in every day conversation, they sometimes do so in a mocking way. According to popular definition, a saint is a superior person who lives a rigorous life and performs wonderful deeds for God day after day, someone who hardly ever commits a sin. But the Lord has another understanding of sainthood. A saint is a person who is aware of his or her capacity for sin, who accepts God’s pardon through the death of Christ, and welcomes his guidance. A saint is a person whom God is gradually changing so as to become more and more like Christ – in virtue and godliness of life. A saint holds onto the Lord by faith no matter what trials he or she may be passing through. In other words, you and I are saints, even though the word might embarrass us because of the uses to which it’s put in daily life; we are saints because of our faith in Christ. The Lord sees us as saints; he looks on us as his chosen people; he sees us as brothers and sisters of Christ. All because of our trust in our Lord. He includes us in the long line of saints that has existed since biblical times. He has a high opinion of us. We are his constant delight. As someone once said to me, we are twinkles in the eye of eternity.

       Now, the Lord wants to keep it that way, and so he brings us and all his other saints into his church on earth where he can protect us and feed us and watch out for us.

You probably know that John wrote Revelation during a time when the church suffered heavy persecutions. Many Christians feared that they would crumble under the pressure the Roman government placed on them. John reassures his readers that God protects his church. He keeps faith alive in the hearts of his people. He puts a seal on their foreheads – a brand, a special mark – that only he can see. This invisible seal identifies them in God’s eyes as one of his chosen people. What a terrific reassurance. Even on bad days when nothing went right and they felt like closing in on themselves, the Lord still saw the early Christians as his saints.

       Nothing can prevent him from completing the work of bringing saints into his kingdom – not wars or plagues or the forces of nature can keep him from drawing saints into his church and keeping us there. To take a present-day example, we know there has been a resurgence of faith in areas where the former Soviet communists held sway. I came upon these words of a 21 year old Russian: “I believe in God now. Lenin and Marx said there wasn’t a God...but I thought, that can’t be. It’s too primitive to look at humans as pieces of fat and molecules. A person can’t live if he or she doesn’t have a soul.” What a powerful witness! It’s happening all over the world. God draws people to him out of the cesspool of materialism and makes them saints. We should pray that people now turning to God stay in the faith and treasure their place in the Lord’s kingdom.

       Closer to home, we don’t have to look far to find the ills of materialism at work in our own society. We sometimes hear it said that our neighbors are hungry for God, that folks want the guidance and consolation of his Word. That may be so, but the loudest voices they hear urge them to seek comforts and pleasure, to live for status and achievement. Government and the schools, business and the media – all ignore God. Everything is tolerated, it seems, except the good news of salvation in Christ. Society overlooks the golden rule and the Sermon on the Mount, not to speak of the good news of forgiveness and new life in Christ. Outside Christian circles, we don’t hear the message that a day of judgment is coming. And people who don’t hear about sin and wrath never see their need for a Savior.

Even with a spiritual climate like ours, however, the Lord calls people to him and raises up saints, like you and me, who don’t think of ourselves as anything special. He equips us to witness to others about their needs and God’s mercy and love. He calls us to work with his help against the trends of the day. He encourages us to speak the truth in love, even words of reproach, and to reach out to the spiritually hungry with his offer of love and friendship; he urges us to ease aching hearts with the message of the gospel; he invites us to comfort the fearful with his offer of hope.

       In other words, we do Jesus’ work while we have the chance. We point others to the kingdom – whether children or neighbors or people who have fallen away – so that they, too, may live as God’s blessed saints.

       Our lives now are a curious mixture of ups and downs. We have great joys and deep sorrows. Things we look forward to are rarely as fulfilling as we had hoped. We enjoy beautiful things, but moments of beauty never last very long. We turn away after the sunset or when a favorite song is finished only to find that we must go back to our familiar routine. Worse things than that happen to us. What are we to make of this strange mixture, earthly life?

       We bring our concerns to God. His Word tells us that life has a purpose that will be revealed to us in heaven. Meanwhile, painful moments refine us and bring us closer to Jesus in faith. We learn to see the best moments of earthly life, which for Christians are likely to occur at church during worship, as a foretaste of what is to come.

       Ups and downs will end. We will join the multitude of saints in heaven, where there will be no grief or hunger or tears or war. We’ll emerge from our present tribulations, whatever they may be, and we’ll stand before the Lord in white robes of righteousness. If you like conversations, there’ll be plenty to talk about. If you like singing, there will be plenty of music. If you like sports, there will be physical activity. Most of all we’ll be in the presence of Christ. As John wrote, he will feed us and lead us to fountains of living water and he’ll wipe away every tear.

       So – you and I will be included in the happy ending that concludes the Book of Revelation. The ups and downs won’t get the best of us, because God has put his mark on us. He knows exactly where to find us, and in his own good time, he’ll deliver us from every evil. Our task now is to give him thanks and praise as we will do when we reach the church in heaven. In Jesus name. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.

2 Timothy -- St. Paul, the Master Teacher

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord,

       It was during the last years of his ministry that Paul wrote to Timothy. Paul had a lot of experience and wanted to pass on his wisdom about life as a servant of the gospel so that Timothy could carry on with the work that he was about to leave behind. The two letters he wrote to Timothy give us an example of an older Christian training a younger one and also a picture of one Christian writing to a friend. Some of the details are quite down-to-earth. “When you come,” Paul wrote near the end of the second letter, “bring the cloak I left with Carpus..., also the books and above all the parchments.” We’re used to seeing important documents expressed in official language without ordinary feelings or homespun details. If private letters become public, they usually have to do with scandal or tragedy. As a general rule, nobody cares about the prime minister’s winter coat, but for 2000 years readers have known about Paul’s cloak. The public side of our way of life is often cold and rushed and unfeeling, while the genius of the Christian faith is partly our appreciation for down-to-earth, ordinary, homespun things. Our Lord had the common touch. So did Paul. As an apostle, he lived a public life, but he cherished everyday contacts and close friendships. This love for the personal is part of the church’s witness today. The Lord keeps us close to the earth, in touch with basic things and relationships. Perhaps the cold world will get the message. “I am reminded of your sincere faith,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you.”  Paul cared about the private life of his student. Public life is built on the private. There shouldn’t be a disconnect between them.

       The letters also bring out Timothy’s humanness. He had many fine qualities: loyalty, a warm nature, stamina, and faith, but he had weaknesses, too. He was timid and fearful at times and no stranger to youthful lusts, possibly reluctant to take on important work. Paul admonished him, and the two letters are filled with instructions. “O Timothy,” Paul wrote, “guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by possessing it, some have missed the mark as regards the faith.” Timothy must have lived a busy life in the world, familiar with many of its twists and turns. Paul needed to caution him about what to stay away from.

       Timothy’s humanness is another hallmark of life in the church that goes along with our Lord’s emphasis on the personal. The Spirit gathers the church from ordinary, frail human nature. Secular society encourages the so-called best and brightest; the Savior calls sinners into his kingdom. He washes us clean in His blood; he declares us to be righteous and whole – just as if we had never sinned; he gradually strengthens us and transforms us. He calls unlikely people to be his servants, folks who are aware of their unworthiness. His love breaks down the greatest barriers of timidity and shyness. He chooses as his servants people whom the world would never pick. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Not in virtue of our works, but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace that he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago.” God has his own way of doing things. His actions – like the manger and the cross – astonish human ways of thinking. We rejoice that he includes us in his kingdom, along with Paul and Timothy.

       Now, as we all know, once he saves us through our faith in Christ’s blood and brings us into his kingdom, he teaches us. We are lifetime learners. Every teacher will tell us that there are different kinds of learning. One kind of learning takes place when we absorb new facts and information. Another kind is the development of skills. Both kinds of learning – facts and skills – are important. Our culture excels in passing knowledge and techniques on to us. But in Timothy’s case, Paul was interested in still another kind of learning –the shaping of his soul. Timothy had had experience working with the church; Paul assumes that he knows the doctrines and how to express them. Now, he puts Christian teaching to work to help the Spirit transform Timothy, slowly, patiently, maybe even invisibly, into a new person, aiming not at externals but things deep inside Timothy’s heart.

       Now, we’ll look at some of the highlights of Second Timothy to watch Paul, the master teacher, at work, bringing the Christian best out of Timothy.

       Another of Paul’s letters reports that Timothy passed through a spell of disappointment when he worked in Corinth. He may have wanted to lie low for a while to give emotional scars a chance to heal. Paul urged him, however, to rekindle or stir up the gift of God within him. “God did not give us a spirit of timidity,” Paul wrote, “but of power and love and self-control.” Discouragement is part of life, no question. Even young folks with fresh minds, unacquainted with life’s severe rough spots, can be cast down in spirits. Paul tells Timothy to lift up his heart.

       We find encouragement ourselves in Paul’s admonition. For one thing, Paul offers the hope that burned-out spirits can be revived. God’s Spirit gives new life to tired souls. The point is to ask him for renewal, to stick with him, to seek his help. The Savior promises through Isaiah to renew the spirits of God’s people so that we soar like eagles. You see, while God likes fresh blood in his kingdom, he also relies on experienced folks who know the gospel and who have received God’s comfort so many times that it’s second nature to offer it to others. Just when we think we can’t take another step, God zooms in and refreshes us. This must be what Timothy felt when he read Paul’s letter – uplifting from the hand of God for continued, even enlarged service. Because he had passed through a dark valley, he knew what others go through. Because God had revived him, he knew that help was available. He knew just what to say to point them to God. What a fruitful servant the renewed Timothy must have been.

       In the second place, Paul advised Timothy not to be ashamed of testifying to our Lord. Paul doesn’t mean that Timothy has actually ever been ashamed of the Savior. He is simply encouraging him never to be so. He gives him the strongest of reasons to speak up for the Lord, for Christ abolished death, he wrote, and brought life and immortality to light. Timothy should concentrate on the main point. He should trust that God will protect until the last day the truth about Christ he has given to Timothy. Then he will never find a reason to be ashamed of the Lord.

       The same is true for every other Christian. The world tempts us; we hear lots of different opinions; human beings are by nature proud and love to do things on our own. But one thing even the proudest person knows he can’t do is abolish death and create everlasting life. Only God can do that, and because of his grace and his love toward us, he put his power to work on our behalf. He shares his immortality with us. He died so that we might live forever. When we keep this in mind, the problem of being ashamed of the Lord doesn’t come up. Even the most reticent of believers, equipped with the truth about Christ and the hope of immortality can be an effective witness for the Lord.

       Paul then encourages Timothy to accept his share of suffering for the gospel like a good sodier, to be strong in the grace that is in Christ. Christian living brings challenges to the flesh. These challenges involve sacrifice and sometimes public disfavor. Paul was in prison when he wrote his second letter to Timothy. Nevertheless, he advised his assistant to persevere.

       The church has a lot of wisdom about suffering. We never enjoy the dark days that come our way, but the Lord brings good out of them. He carries us through. He sees to it that we derive benefits from stormy days. Accepting hardship for the Lord chastens us; it refines our faith. Welcoming adversity for the sake of the gospel allows us to experience a small portion of what our Lord passed through for us.  It weakens our hold on earthly things and encourages us to look for the better life that is coming.

Paul didn’t promise Timothy that his days would flow along smoothly without bumps, but he did invite him to look ahead to receiving a reward from the Savior for his faithful service. A successful athlete who competes according to the rules wins a prize, Paul said. A farmer has the first share of his crops. A good student gets good marks and the hope of advancing to another level. Part of our reward for keeping faith with the Lord comes in the present life – inner strength, increased understanding, the habit of hope and joy in all seasons. But a greater reward is to come. The Lord broke the bonds of death and brought in the hope of everlasting happiness for all believers, a kind of happiness we can’t really understand right now, but that God encourages us to look ahead to. Paul encouraged Timothy to hold onto God’s promise of blessedness in eternity as the younger man prepared to take up where the apostle would leave off. The same applies to us. It’s easy to let the troubles of each day obscure our vision, but this is not what our Lord intends for us. He instructs us to hold onto the big picture – the rewards of faith now and the great reward that is to come.

       Someone summed up all of Paul’s admonitions to Timothy under one theme – endurance, which is one of the great Christian qualities, the ability to persevere in spite of hardships. God creates new people by giving frail humans a surprising capacity to bear up. The point is this – endurance is not our own doing, but a gift from God. For believers, it’s another word for faith. From time to time, we all ask how we can possibly stand such and such a thing. God puts us into situations where we know that on our own we would crumble. He teaches us to rely on him. Without our knowing it, he is shaping our souls along good solid lines so that we will be worthy of the reward on the great day to come. The Lord answers our questions about endurance. Yes, we will be able to bear up, he teaches us. We will survive and endure and give a strong testimony to him. We will be good servants and faithful witnesses, because this is his will for us – the direction in which he leads us. We will thrive in the faith now and sing his praises on the last day. In His name we rejoice. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.  

Psalm 65 -- On Giving Thanks

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

       “Praise waits for you, O God, in Zion.” King David, the psalm writer, describes the position of God’s people before him. Because we are saved, we wait silently for him to come to us. We are ready to offer him praise. We give him thanks. Thanksgiving is part of every Christian’s life. Someone said that our thanks rise up automatically from the spirit of joy that distinguishes God’s people. Our Heavenly Father created us to rejoice in his works and to receive his gifts with humble and hearty thanks. We thank him every day as well as on the special day that comes once a year. It’s not hard to think of reasons to give thanks that we all have in common – physical blessings such as a place to live, enough food to eat, the benefits we receive from living in Canada. We give thanks for loving friends and family and the support of a stable community. We thank God, too, for his word, our faith, and the church. We thank him for his Son, who died for our sins, and for the hope of eternal happiness in heaven. We thank him for the willingness to hear our prayers and for the promise that he will sustain our faith so that we don’t fear that we’ll lose hope tomorrow or fall into despair. His blessings to us will continue and for this we give him thanks.

       A wiser Christian than I said that our thanks are echoes of the praise and thanks that the heavenly choirs place before the throne of heaven. Our thanks come from our close fellowship with the Lord. Thanksgiving completes our enjoyment of God. When he commands us to thank him, the Father invites us to enjoy him.

       Let’s have a look for a moment at Psalm 65, which draws us into an atmosphere of thanksgiving, for we have many of the same reasons for giving thanks as King David. He praises God for the strength that created the mountains and the power that quiets roaring seas and ends turmoil among nations. Storms come, but they are the exception rather than the rule. God calls us away from harmful violence to peace and rest in him; he quiets the ambitions of rulers and nations. We ask him to bring peace where conflict and fighting are taking place. We’re grateful for the Lord’s steadying hand. Without him, the turbulence of the world would be much worse than it is.

       David thanked God for the care he gives to the land and the bounty he brings from the earth. He described the prosperity of his own nation, Israel – an abundance of rain, plentiful harvests, and enough grazing land for livestock. He said that the meadows were covered with flocks and the valleys with grain. Then he tells us that God thinks differently from the way we do.

       Jesus sees the parts of creation that seem speechless to us as shouting and singing for joy. We can find the same picture in Psalm 96, “Let the seas resound...let the fields be jubilant...then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.” The author of Psalm 148 invites the sun and moon and shining stars to praise God. “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals, cattle, small creatures and flying birds...let them praise the name of the Lord.”

We could find quite a bit in the Toronto area to include in the list of thankful, rejoicing nature – trees and parklands, rivers, one of the Great Lakes, a wonderful zoo, sun and stars, clouds and rain, the four seasons, and lovely twilights typical of northern places. To the eyes of God, all his creatures praise and thank him and testify to his great power.

       We know from our own experience as well as the news that the world is fractured and full of sin, but God sees all creation as unified under his rule through the restoring work of Christ. The whole world exists because of his gracious willingness to restore and renew. He sees in the unity he created a wonderful hymn of praise and thanksgiving to him. God’s faithful people join all creation in a chorus of thanksgiving. There is joy at the center of the universe, and Jesus invites you and me, all people everywhere, to take part in it. He delights in our praise and worship; the joy of his people pleases him. He is happy with the gratitude that rises up to him even though we may be passing through a time of trouble and testing. Paul once wrote that he was glad and rejoiced even though he might be poured out as a sacrificial offering. The thanksgiving of God’s Christian people that takes place every day soars above trials and tribulations like fragrant smoke that rises above a pile of burning leaves. We rejoice that God has given us the habit of thanks and praise. We praise him for his plentiful supply. We thank him for Christ’s death and resurrection, which brings hope and meaning to every moment of our lives.

The thanksgiving of Christians expresses our faith that God is good and that he brings plenty of good things and that he turns every evil into good in his own way, not just in general but for ourselves, each one of us. The parable in this morning’s gospel, however, gives an example of the opposite of faith and thanksgiving. Some guests invited to a certain king’s wedding were too busy to attend. They were absorbed in their own private affairs. Some even had murder on their minds. They didn’t care that their king had honored them. The parable draws a picture of the selfish world, with people wrapped up in comfort and material gain, even to the point of committing a crime. Anyone who lives only for material things builds a house on quicksand. No one can say when earthly things will be taken away.           Materialism dishonors God. It shrivels souls and cheats neighbors and cancels the blessings of salvation, but God’s justice will prevail. The parable reminds us that the Lord will reverse all wickedness on the last day. Those who repent of their sins and keep the faith and live in thanksgiving will receive an eternal reward. The rest will not, because it will be too late. We are thankful that God sees things differently from worldly minds. Faith toward him and love for our neighbors is what counts with him. He sees deeply into every heart and rejoices when one of his own recognizes his or her need and reaches out in faith to take hold of his promises.

       What a witness to God’s love his people make as we live day by day in faith.  We are not perfect. We always need the forgiveness he provides. At the same time, he uses our lives to make a statement. Material things don’t shape us. Jesus does. He uses us to show that even in a tarnished world it is possible to live for him and to be generous to him even before we are generous to ourselves. He molds us so that materialism doesn’t capture our souls. We don’t fret about nice things we may lack. Though temptations abound, we don’t envy the rich or covet their worldly success. Jesus teaches us how to be content with what we have. He forms us so that we don’t respond to material things with greed for more, but with joy and thanksgiving.

       How easy it is to be caught in a conflict between desire for worldly goods and the repose of spirit that brings thanksgiving. Jesus uses his thankful people to help folks who are still struggling find the trust in God to let go of the world. Without your knowing it, your spirit of praise and rejoicing may give someone close to you just the environment he or she needs to seek God. We testify that Jesus works miracles of contentment and thanksgiving even in today’s world.

       Jesus once met a rich young man who wanted heaven but not at the expense of his good life on earth. His soul was caught in a terrific tug of war. He needed God, but it seemed impossible that he could ever live with him. Impossible for him, that is, but not impossible for Christ. All things are possible with God. His people give a witness to our neighbors that Jesus can solve all human dilemmas – including those of the rich young man – by giving us faith in the value of his life and death and resurrection.

       It’s not that we’re better than others but that we live in the assurance of our Lord’s forgiveness. “Praise is due you, O God in Zion,” David wrote, “you who hear prayer. To you shall all flesh come on account of sins. When our transgressions prevail over us, you do forgive them.”

       Heaven’s pardon washes us clean every day: it renews us. The heavenly Father declares us to be righteous in his sight because of Jesus’ death on the cross. He has adopted us as his sons and daughters. David affirms that the people whom God brings near him are blessed, and we are chiefly blessed because the good Lord has brought us full and abundant lives through the gift of his forgiveness.

So, to conclude, we remember that Thanksgiving as a holiday in North America began among native people, and early Christian settlers adopted their custom. Our thanks delight the Heavenly Father. Giving thanks helps to clear our brains and free us from the vice of tunnel vision. The spirit of thanks lifts us up. It works to strengthen our relationship with the Lord. The more we thank him, the easier it becomes to give thanks. We find, like St. Paul, that we can thank him in every situation. With the assurance that he will hear us, we ask the Lord Jesus to lift us up and keep us his thankful people every day...day after day, now and always. In his Name we rejoice. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN. 

Luke 17:1 - 10 On Faith and a Mustard Seed

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

       Jesus’ brief parable of the mustard seed often gets Christian people thinking about faith. The human heart wants to believe. It’s natural for our souls to reach out to take hold of Jesus’ promises. “Increase our faith,” the disciples pleaded, and Jesus was only too willing to oblige them. He never turns anyone away – not one person – who calls out to him.

       There are different aspects of faith. First is knowledge – the facts that come to us in the Bible and that the church teaches – the facts about the life, death, resurrection, and ascension that we’ll say, for example when we recite the apostle’s creed in a few minutes. Then there is agreement that the facts are true – that Jesus is God’s Son, God himself, that he died for our sins, that he will come again to be our judge and take all believers into heaven with him. We can agree with these facts in the same way we agree that the multiplication table is true. But that’s not enough. Jesus said that even the devil has that kind of knowledge. A third aspect of faith – and the most important – is trust in our hearts, conviction in our souls that Jesus is our personal savior, that he intends good for us, now and in eternity, that our sins are washed away in his blood, and that he has claimed us as his own forever. This saving faith is a gift from God. If you find that you believe the word of God when you read it or hear it read to you, then you may trust that God’s Holy Spirit is working faith in your heart. Saving faith is not a rational act of the human mind, or a turn of mind we build up in ourselves. Faith comes from God. We are dependent on him.

       We also say that the size of faith is not what counts. The crucial point is what our faith is directed toward. A small faith in Jesus has more weight and significance than an enormous faith in anything else, such as our own abilities, say, or the goodness of humanity or an unknown God who somehow works things out. Faith in Jesus brings salvation. That’s what matters. He also looks out for our day-to-day lives.  We’ll come back to this point in a moment.

       First, we need to mention that faith doesn’t depend on feelings. We don’t say – my faith must be strong today because I’m feeling joyful or – someone said something good about me today, so I have lots of faith. Our faith clings to God’s Word – the truths and promises of the Bible, not what may be going on inside us on any particular day. Our faith is especially useful and uplifting on those days when we’re not feeling good but rotten. On the days when it feels like heaven and earth will cave in on us, we remember our Lord’s promises to us – that he has hold of us, that he will turn evil into good for us, that nothing can stand between us and him, and that his love for us will last forever. Our baptisms are a sign of his enduring love. We can turn away from Jesus, of course, but our baptisms can’t be erased or washed away. They are forever. God will not forget. He uses our baptisms to strengthen our faith.

We point out as well that the life of faith is never easy. God commands us to hold on by faith to things we cannot see or touch. The letter to Hebrews offers a well-known definition of faith – the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We don’t see God but we believe in him. At the same time we live in a world of things that we perceive with our senses and that we think about with our logical minds. What’s more, the world is full of pride, envy, hatred, malice, lust, fighting, and wars. Our faith clashes with the conditions of earthly life. We may wonder how God’s will can possibly prevail when there is so much evil in the world. Or we may say that life with God isn’t very exciting and I want a share of the world’s excitement for myself. Or we may be in some difficulty and wonder why God doesn’t get us out of it right away. Conflicts like these make the life of faith difficult and full of challenges. At the same time, the Bible teaches us that if we are dithering, God is faithful. He won’t let go of us. He puts us in choppy seas to chasten us and test us and strengthen our faith.

       Here are two familiar examples from the Old Testament. Job, for one, suffered all kinds of physical and mental torment without losing his faith. “Oh, that my words were written...oh that they were inscribed in a book,” Job said, “for I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God...and my eyes shall behold and not another. My heart faints within me.”

       And you may remember the story of a pagan king in the book of Daniel who threatened to cast three believers into a fiery furnace. The three answered: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King.” Young people of faith, you see, whom God protected even in a furnace and brought our alive.

       We could multiply examples. Believing people hold onto God in the most trying times; their faith shines through, and he delivers them. It sometimes takes a crisis for us to get back into line and to seek the benefits of the sturdy faith that God makes possible for us in Christ.

       Now, faith in Christ is not just for this life. Otherwise, there would be no point in bothering with it. The Christian faith has a final outcome. It brings us to salvation. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John’s gospel also reports that the Savior said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” A verse in Paul sums up the whole matter: “...if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We live in a world of trouble, sin, and death. A better life is coming. Jesus rose from the dead to glory. So will we. The only requirement is faith in Christ.

       The Lord can use even a small amount of faith in a believer’s heart to make big things happen that are impossible for humans. Faith in Christ is one of those big things. Most of us can tell stories about miracles close to us. Sinners mend their ways and turn to Jesus. Hatred becomes love. Lazy people bestir themselves to perform good works. Forgiveness breaks down hardness of heart. God works all kinds of big things in the lives of faithful people. As we said at the beginning, it’s not the size of faith that counts but what faith is directed toward. We Christians put our faith in Jesus.

       From God’s point of view, lack of faith in him is a big problem. Unbelief has many causes, and one major one is the notion that we can do everything on our own. Our secular ways teach us to be self-reliant, and this frame of mind spills over into spiritual life. “I’m strong. I stand on my own two feet,” someone might say, “I make my own salvation and God is pleased with me.” Not so. We aren’t perfect; we stumble and fall. We shake our fists at God, which is not an act of faith but rebellion that displeases God. He loves the humble, faithful heart that relies on him for everything. The disciples learned this, so do we. Some one once asked Jesus what it means to do the work of God. He answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

       Now, Jesus didn’t discard his disciples if they let him down in favor of a better model. He forgave them, picked them up, dusted them off, and sent them out to serve him again. That’s his way. He doesn’t quit on people. He is persistent, loving, and faithful. He binds up wounds and eases consciences that are troubled by sin. He trusts his people. He believes in you and me.

       In the passage in Luke about the mulberry tree, Jesus draws a picture that we don’t take literally even though we understand its force and emphasis. “The Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be rooted up and be planted in the sea and it would obey you.” Instead of lying uselessly at the bottom of the sea, this tree would grow in the sea and flourish and put forth fruit – not possible even for today’s advanced science. Again, Jesus is pointing out that what’s impossible for human beings is possible for God. Besides that, the tree flourishing in the salty sea stands for something.

       The apostles would soon use their faith to bring the good news that God’s kingdom of mercy and love would be transplanted from ancient Israel into the huge pagan world, a great sea of people if you come from a small country. Christian congregations sprouted up all over the Mediterranean. Faith would flourish where no one ever thought it would. God’s Word has come to midtown Toronto and other faraway places.

       It doesn’t take a mountain mover to spread the gospel, just ordinary faith, such as most of us have, and the willingness to act on God’s behalf. We read the Bible. We say our prayers. We talk to friends about Jesus and the gospel. Nothing dazzling or spectacular is required. Just persistent plugging away in the life of faith.

       This is how the Lord deals with the evil of the world – not by showy methods but by getting his Word planted in individual hearts and building us up in faith. It’s a quiet process. It doesn’t draw attention to itself. Results can be slow in coming, but God’s Word is powerful and sure. It never goes back to him empty.

       We’ll end with a question. How can we possibly stand up when the news of the day can be very depressing? God’s answer is – by faith in Jesus, who heals and lifts and builds a kingdom where you and I can feel safe and know that we are loved. We don’t see the kingdom, except when we come to church, but we take hold of it in trust and if we stop and think about it and don’t mind picture language, we’ll see that we know exactly what Jesus was talking about when he mentions the faith that can move mountains.  In His Name we give praise. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.

Luke 16:19 - 31. Lazarus and Us

Grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come,

            Why should we pay attention to the beggar Lazarus?  After all, he’s only a character in a parable.  First, Jesus tells the parable, and we take to heart anything he says.  Second, we ask what Lazarus’ situation illustrates for us.

            For one thing, we have a chance to reflect again about what God thinks about the differences between riches and poverty.  The Bible teaches us that laziness, love of pleasure, drunkenness and gluttony can all lead to poverty.  “A little sleep, a little slumber,” one of the proverbs says, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a vagabond and want like an armed man.”  At the same time, Scripture assures us that God cares for the poor.  The prophet Jeremiah wrote,  “Sing to the Lord...for he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.”  God insists on justice for the poor.  Here’s another proverb: “Whoever stops his ear at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself but not be heard.”  Jesus encourages kindness to the poor.  I’m sure you remember what he said to a rich young man: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.”

            But Lazarus is not only poor, he is also very ill and can’t move unless someone helps him, the sort of person who needs support and ought to receive it, but his neighbors neglect him, and so he lives on the street, begging and in pain.  He stations himself in front of the home of a rich man and people ignore him.

            Riches in themselves aren’t evil.  King Solomon wrote: “Every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and has given him the power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.”  But riches are fleeting and deceptive.  They can be a powerful temptation to greed and to forgetfulness of God.  Riches can lead to shallowness of life and can hinder entrance into God’s kingdom.  Riches can also disappoint and bring worries.  Psalm 39 speaks of a man who heaps up wealth and doesn’t know who will gather it in.

            The rich man in Jesus’ parable lives in comfort; he has his bit of revelry every day, but his life is hollow.  He doesn’t put his earthly possessions to work in a way that pleases God.  What’s more, as an expert on the subject wrote, Jesus told his parable to the Pharisees, who believed that wealth was a special gift from God to people he highly favored.  The man in our parable was not only very rich, he was also very religious.  He knew God’s teaching about justice and kindness to the poor, but he was proud of his wealth and the life it made possible for him.  He ignored the suffering on his doorstep.

            But God did not ignore Lazarus.  He didn’t make him rich; he didn’t heal his skin disease so that he could work; he didn’t even satisfy his longing for the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.  Instead, he gave him something else – saving faith, which not only provides the strength to endure the hardships of this life, but also filled Lazarus’ soul with the assurance that rest and peace would come to him in the next life.  Lazarus was like Job, who suffered unspeakable miseries and yet held on in faith; he was like Paul who suffered numerous discomforts – and without complaining – as he served the Lord.  In a physical, earthly sense, he was even like Jesus, who suffered on the cross for all of us.

            Faith in Christ works that way.  Despite all external evidence to the contrary – his abject poverty and the fact that his hunger and pain went on and on – Lazarus knew that God was on his side and would not let him down.  Jesus had wonderful things in store for him that our human imaginations can’t grasp now, and by the grace of God Lazarus was able to hold onto Christ in faith.

            The case of Lazarus reminds us that our own society is turned toward comfort.  We feel deprived if we lack one nicety or another.  When I was in a barbershop years ago, I heard another customer say in a loud voice, “The problem with people today is that they don’t know how to suffer.”  I don’t suppose that’s true, because there’s plenty of suffering in the world and lots of poverty, but the preferences of our day give suffering a bad name.  “If you suffer there must be something wrong with you,” people mistakenly say, “or else God must be mad at you.”

            Lazarus’s story reminds us that the problem was not with him but with the shallow values of a materialistic culture.  Anything inconvenient is to be pushed out of sight.  Lazarus is different.  The neglect he experienced didn’t break his spirit. He didn’t ask to die.  He asked for food instead so that he could go on living, however cramped and maimed his life may have looked to the people who passed by him day after day.  Lazarus, like God, was on the side of life, and Jesus gave him the faith to endure the horrible suffering that came to him.  Better days were coming – much better days, as the parable tells us.  A great reversal of fortune would take place.  The one who lived in heedless splendor would suffer.  He wouldn’t receive even a drop of water to relieve his torment.  And as for Lazarus – we ourselves who stick with Christ by faith will discover firsthand the blessed joys the Lord put before him after the cares of earth had ended.

            Jesus’ parable also teaches us that when God dispenses rewards and punishments he demolishes earthly expectations and man-made traditions.  The world separates into categories and classes.  God looks at the heart.  The rich man had the advantage of theological training and knowledge.  The Lord blessed Lazarus abundantly with faith of the heart.  Even in destitution, Lazarus gave a powerful testimony to God’s love.  Jesus intended that Lazarus and the rich man not be divided from each other but to work together to build and expand his kingdom, each benefitting the other and together they would spread the good news of God’s blessings to the world around them. 

            Lazarus reached out to the rich man, not only to receive some of the earthly things he needed but also to offer him the love of God, a sign of friendship from a faithful heart or even a stern warning from the law that the rich man had put himself in eternal danger.  Lazarus may have had in mind a picture of God’s community of faith, but the rich man did not.  He recognized only people like himself as worthy in God’s eyes.

            This was not what Jesus wanted, but even so he used the corrupted situation to serve his kingdom.  He raised a street person up and brought him into the comfort and rest of paradise.  He uses Lazarus to remind us of a basic Christian teaching.  The formerly rich man begged Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers as a messenger of warning, but Abraham, wiser, advised the man that if they failed to listen to Moses and the prophets in God’s written word, they would pay no more attention to a special ambassador from heaven.  Faith in God’s Word is the key that opens the door to his blessings – now and in eternity.  It’s one of God’s miracles that a man whose life was in crisis received the gift of faith and lived on it in trust.

            Now, one final point.  Martin Luther once wrote that every believer is a true Lazarus, for we are all of the same faith, mind, and will as he, centered in trust that salvation comes only through what the Bible teaches about Christ.  Anyone who isn’t willing to be like Lazarus will share the fate of the rich man in hell.  We are to trust in God as Lazarus did, subdue our rebellious wills and surrender ourselves to him so that he may work in us as he pleases.  Even though we don’t suffer the way Lazarus did, we should possess a mind like his, cheerfully bearing whatever fate God sends us.

            Luther said that humility of spirit like that of Lazarus may exist even in people who are rich in possessions.  Job, Abraham, and Jacob were all outwardly rich but poor in spirit in the way that pleases God.  David as king owned a lot of land and even large cities, but he said nevertheless, “I am a stranger here, a sojourner as all my fathers were.”  He saw life from a Christian point of view.  Though he was rich, he didn’t cling to earthly things.  His heart was with God.  He valued much more highly the riches he received from the Heavenly Father.  Bodily health, too, for David, was nothing compared with the health of his soul.  He would not have complained if he’d been afflicted with the sores and sickness of Lazarus.  The same is true for Abraham, Luther said, and even of ourselves, for God’s people have one and the same mind and spirit directed toward him, even though our outward circumstances and the degree of suffering that falls to each of us are different.  This is why Abraham recognized Lazarus as one of his own and received him at his side.  The suffering of his saints is precious to God.  He will reward his people in the next life.

            Extreme differences of wealth and poverty are nothing to God.  All of his people are like Lazarus in faith and the willingness to endure trials.  No matter how the times tempt us, we do not cling to dreams of riches or regret the absence of wealth we may not have.  Instead, Jesus opens our hearts and with the astonishing freedom he gives to his people, we become like Lazarus, trusting in the Lord, happy to obey his will, whatever it may be.

            The week ahead may have good times; it may have trials.  I hope that all of us will abide in the assurance that our sins are washed away in the blood of Christ and his promise that he will keep us through every circumstance, as he did Lazarus.  The key is to keep the Bible’s teachings about Jesus in our hearts.  Nothing then can do us permanent harm, for he is our friend and guide and savior.  In his name we give thanks.  AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.             

                                    

Amos 8:4 - 7 -- Living in Kindness, Faith, and Justice

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

       God often uses ordinary people we might not expect to help him carry out his work. The disciples whom Jesus sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel are one example. The prophet Amos is another. Amos was a shepherd who also tended fig trees in the southern part of Israel, which was called Judah in his time. You may remember that Israel was divided into two parts after King Solomon died, with two kings and two governments and two armies. To make his assignment even more of a challenge, the Lord didn’t keep Amos at home, but sent him to the nation in the north, which kept the name Israel.

       Now, Israel was prosperous and strong at that time, the way North America is today. The people were secure and comfortable. They believed God favored them with the earthly blessings they deserved, because of what one biblical scholar  called their extravagant support of official government shrines. They paid their dues and more.

       But there were lots of problems from God’s point of view. It was Amos’s task to deliver his judgment on their way of life to people who were pretty comfortable and didn’t want to be told about their failings.

       Amos delivered God’s message forthrightly. He didn’t shrink from speaking bad news. You see, while God loves justice and righteousness, all the nations of the area gained their wealth and power by unjust means and wrongful behavior. Pagan nations enslaved their neighbors and sent whole countries into exile; one nation pursued her own people with the sword. We ourselves live in blessed circumstances, but if you follow the news – and hardly anyone misses the main facts – you know that in other parts of the world things just as horrible as the crimes and abuses mentioned in the Old Testament take place in our day. Our own laws permit abortion and same-sex marriage, and we know what God thinks of that. Anyway, the world always finds paths of sin and injustice when it refuses to follow the word of God.

       Even Judah, where Amos came from and which the Lord loved, rejected God’s law and lived by falsehood. They would pay a price. God said through Amos, “I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds pf Jerusalem.” Amos especially emphasized the sins of the northern kingdom: They sold the righteous for silver. They trampled the poor into the dust of the earth, and they wallowed in immorality. Above all, they worshiped false gods and practiced automatic religion. They believed that God rewarded them simply because they carried out the prescribed animal sacrifices and made offerings from their rich harvests.

       True religion has to do with the heart and not externals. A heart that is close to God and is moved by him will rejoice and be thankful. Faithful hearts love justice and do numerous good works without thinking twice. They are humble before God and loving to their neighbors. The nations of Amos’ time, including the Lord’s beloved Israel and Judah, practiced injustice day in and day out. “They do not know how to do right,” the Lord said.

       Wickedness and injustice never, never have the last word. God promised to punish heathen nations severely for their crimes. He would punish Judah and his wrath would fall on Israel. He would send drought and famine and a foreign army would surround the land. “I will punish the altars of Bethel and the houses of ivory shall perish.”  Although he had sent plenty of warnings in the past, the nation didn’t return to the Lord. “I know how many are your transgressions,” he said through Amos. They afflicted the righteous; they took bribes; they turned the needy aside at the city gates. But a price must be paid. “In all the squares there shall be wailing,” The Lord said. “And in all the streets they shall say ‘Alas, alas’. Farmers would mourn there would be wailing in the vineyards. “I despise your feasts,” the Lord said. He would not accept their offerings. “Take away from me the noise of your songs.” Instead, the Lord commanded, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” A bad time would come, Amos foretold, if God’s chosen nation continued to ignore his wishes. “I shall raise up against you a nation...and they shall oppress you.”

       Now, nobody wants to hear a message like that, and the leaders of Israel sent Amos back home so that he couldn’t prophesy any more among the wonderful people of Israel. Amos did as he was told, but not before he issued another warning – that there would be violence and division in the land and the leaders would be sent away into exile.

       This is a strong message, and sometimes God needs to speak strongly or else no one will listen, and even then some folks still don’t pay attention. As it turned out, the leaders of the northern kingdom disregarded what Amos and other prophets told them, so a few decades later the nation’s leaders were sent into exile, and Judah’s turn came not too long after. Although Amos delivered his message thousands of years ago, the words he spoke about faithfulness to God and his commands apply to the world today, and if you find yourself taking his message to heart, praise the Lord for giving you wisdom.

       We also praise God that Amos’s message isn’t made up completely of reproaches. For one thing, Amos teaches us that God loves justice. He hates oppression and wickedness and the crimes and misdeeds of people in high places, of which the news is often very full. What a blessing for ordinary folks like ourselves that Jesus is on the side of good and that he will eventually make right every injustice for his glory and the benefit of his people. He punishes unrepentant sinners and lifts up the humble of heart. He helps strengthens us to endure inequities now so that we may rejoice with him when we reach the next life that he has prepared for us.

       He gives us hope in God’s justice and makes us workers for justice ourselves. We are fair and just in our dealings with others. We comfort neighbors who may be victims of injustice or crime. We pray for justice here in the Toronto area and in the world at large. We are beacon lights for the justice and fairness of our Lord. We set examples in our own lives of trust in heaven’s justice. We thank God for making it possible for us to live by his standards rather than the imperfect ways of the world.

Amos prophecies good news as well as bad in still another way. He promised at the end of his book that the God who shakes the house of Israel will also lift her up again. “In that day, I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its branches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in days of old....I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel...I will plant them upon their land and they shall never again be plucked up.”  The Lord who brings down in order to chasten and teach wisdom also rebuilds and gives back. He replaces sorrow with joy in his own good time. When the Israelites went back home after 70 years of exile, they sang this psalm: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy...He that goes forth weeping shall come home with shouts of joy.” God removes the heavy yoke in his own good time. He sends joyful days even in this life.

       Now, joys come because of the goodness of Christ. We find joy in his justice. Human justice is flawed, but God is perfect. We know how it works. Every sin of people and nations must be paid for, but not even death can make amends for the depth and height of the world’s sin. So God sent his son to die in our place and to take our penalty upon himself. He loves life and his creation, and so he died to bring us life and abundance.  When we read about the trespasses of God’s Old Testament people, we think of our own. When we hear about the wrath that came upon them, we are reminded of what we ourselves deserve. The Lord took our sins upon him, however, and endured the wrath of God in our place. His justice includes mercy and pardon. All he asks of us in return is faith in him.

       The unbelieving part of the world is hard of heart and turns away from the God who loves it. Jesus calls us to walk along a different path – of tenderness and mercy, faith and justice. We’re kind to the unfortunate. We don’t oppress. The earthly goods we have come to us by honest means. We don’t practice a religion of show; we worship Jesus with purity of heart. We rejoice that God’s justice rolls down upon us like a river and we freely offer it to others – to children, to old people, to folks in need who can’t do for themselves. We share with others the good news that God has shared with us – with friends who may be discouraged at the way the world works, with loved ones who feel the unfairness of earthly life. The Lord’s justice is strong; it won’t fail. It reaches out to everyone.  The proud will be brought down, the lowly raised up. And sinners are forgiven, for God’s justice includes mercy. He is just to everyone, and so are we, thanks to Jesus, who clears the way for us. If Amos were at Our Saviour this morning, he would encourage us to keep on walking alongside our Lord, who will continue to shower the blessings of his justice upon us. In Jesus Name, we give thanks. AMEN.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.   

Luke 15:1 - 10 A Lost Sheep and a Lost Coin

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ  

       The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin are well-known to us. If we take them seriously, we’ll learn something from them about God and about ourselves. To help us get at what they mean, we’ll lean on the thinking of some wise Christians of days gone by, though I’ll try to put their ideas into present-day language so that our sermon-time doesn’t seem like a trip to an old warehouse.

       Our first point is that God seeks sinners. He takes the initiative and comes to us. His active seeking surprises us, because our human minds like to think of God as remote and demanding. We naturally think that God has nothing to say to sinners, that we need to be truly sorry for our faults first and then divine justice will reward us. The Pharisees and the scribes were shocked when they learned that Jesus spent time with sinners. Their ideas about faith create rigid minds and cold hearts, the sort of personalities that make us feel guilty. There are dangers in thinking that we are good; there’s no joy in lifting ourselves above others. Jesus never did that. He came with forgiveness, with an invitation to enter his father’s kingdom and the assurance that salvation takes place now, in the present, and not after a period of arduous penitence. It goes without saying that Jesus doesn’t approve of sinners. He comes, instead, with an offer of love and friendship and the hope that his power will work on our behalf and that life will be better in the future than in the past.

       God is a seeker. He looks for lost souls even more diligently than a shepherd looks for a lost sheep or a needy housewife looks for a lost coin. A Christian poet once referred to God as the hound of heaven, who pursues his quarry until he catches him. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” Jesus said. He’ll keep on finding us until the last day.

       The two parables also teach us what the Lord does with the lost when he finds us. He doesn’t reproach sinners or force us to walk along beside him. Instead, he carries us on his shoulders to the better life he has prepared.

       Now, we need to know what means he uses since we can’t be content with vague or sentimental images.

       God’s law reproaches us. The law always accuses. It shows us our sins, because our flesh needs the reproaches of the ten commandments and the prodding of the law to love our neighbors. It also drives us to seek the mercy of Christ. But the law is external, outside us. It doesn’t save, neither does it help us meet its demands. As a result, the law frightens us. But Christian hearts aren’t filled with terror and self-reproach. We live by trust in Jesus. This is what it means to say that he carries us. He lived and died and rose again so that we would receive heaven’s forgiveness. We are sinners, we do wrong, but we don’t despair or run away from God in fear, for we take hold of Jesus, who comes looking for us and claimed us in our baptisms and promises all his blessings and benefits to us through our faith in him. As Christians, forgiven by our Lord, with Jesus in the center of our hearts and minds, we command the accusations of the law and the threats of the devil to be silent. Even though we haven’t followed it and can’t because of our weakness, the law has no right to make demands on our souls. We have all things in abundance in Christ – everything we need or lack.

       God does not offer his assurances, though, to satisfied consciences, to folks who feel secure or to people who are rebellious or shallow. He makes his promises to lost sheep, whose consciences may be in torment and in terror because of their sins. Jesus deals tenderly and gently with wounded consciences. As Luther said, he takes us dear sheep upon himself with all our distress, our sins and anxieties; he calls us by the gospel in the most friendly way so that we will come to him to be taken up and carried on his shoulders and stay as his dear sheep. So, renewed and refreshed, with Jesus alive in our hearts, we take up the good works that God’s law asks of us, not to win his favor, but to give glory to the Shepherd who has saved us.

       So we come to another lesson from this morning’s parables – the importance of a clear understanding of Jesus’ intentions toward us. Some folks think of God as a task master, a tyrant who frowns at us from dawn to dusk. Jesus shows us that he rejoices when he finds a lost soul. He delights in his faithful people, he takes pleasure in his kingdom. We are the apple of his eye. He won’t let us go.

How much we benefit when we hold onto the promise that our Shepherd rejoices and that he comes after us – not to frighten or strike us, but to help us and bring us home again and to share his joy with us. The devil likes to afflict our minds and to fill our hearts with self-doubt. Jesus does the reverse. He makes our hearts joyful and fills us with a strong confidence, not in ourselves, but in him.

       God is a seeker, then; he carries us on his shoulders; he rejoices over the lost when he finds us. Martin Luther put it this way: he lays us on his shoulders, carries and defends us, so that we’ll be safe from all the dangers of sin, death, and the devil, even though they terrify us and look as if they want to devour us. Christ’s act of carrying us is our salvation; we remain safe from every peril and don’t need to fear a thing. He carries us home, rejoicing. Heaven will receive us with joy.

       The parable teaches us that Jesus looks for lost souls more diligently than any human looks for earthly things. If we want true comfort and joy, we take hold of the gospel’s promise that we find them in Jesus and nowhere else. The most important thing for us is to believe him, to trust in him, for we are the lost sheep and the lost coin whom he diligently seeks and over whom he rejoices.

       The seeking work of the Lord continues in the church today. He commissions his people to find the lost and bring them the law and the gospel. Where do we fit in? Each of us has a few others whose spiritual welfare concerns us. The parables show us how to proceed – we persist in seeking, we carry the lost on our shoulders, we rejoice with them when they turn to the Lord.

       Luther said that it’s our Christian duty, for love’s sake, to serve our neighbor in all things. Outward works of love are important, such as times we share material goods with others. It’s more important, though, to share spiritual goods. We surrender our own righteousness, as Luther put it, and make it serve for the sins of our neighbor. We point out their sins and vices, if need be, but we love the sinner and become his or her friend to cover her or his sins with our righteousness. “We descend and get mixed up,” Luther said, “in the mire of the sinner as deeply as he sticks there himself, taking his sin upon ourselves and floundering out of it with him, not acting otherwise than as if his sin were our own. We should rebuke him in earnest, yet we don’t despise but sincerely love him. If we are proud toward the sinner and despise him, we are utterly damned.”

       It’s against God to become so proud and harsh that we can’t show any love at all. It’s wrong to think: “This person isn’t worthy to untie my shoes; therefore, don’t say to me that I’m supposed to show him affection.” Pride can be a great problem, as we know, but fortunately God takes action to solve it. He lets the proud receive a severe shock.  They fall into grave sin, despite their pretensions, and find themselves saying, “Keep still and restrain yourself, you’re made of exactly the same kind of flesh as the person you look down on.” Luther said that in God’s eyes there is no greater sin than when virtuous people build themselves up at the expense of their neighbor’s sin.

       Instead, we look for our neighbor as we might look for a lost sheep. We use our honor to cover his shame, our piety to cover his sins. We don’t backbite to prove how virtuous we are or cause wounds we can’t heal. A good reason for speaking well of others is very near at hand: Jesus commands us to do unto our neighbors as we would have them do unto us.

       We follow the example of Jesus, who was an expert at bringing sinners to the Lord. Paul wrote that he emptied himself and took on the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man. More than this, he was obedient to his Father’s will and accepted death on a cross. He gave himself to be our servant. His righteousness stood in the place of our sins, and his fullness for our weakness. Our method is the same. We befriend our neighbors, we pray for them, we stand beside them. This morning’s parables encourage us to keep on the path we’ve been following, trusting in the depths of our new-born hearts that we are sheep in Jesus’ flock and that he is carrying us on his shoulders. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.       

Hebrews 11 -- On Faith

St. John’s – August 11, 2013 – Hebrews 11:1 – 16,

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

      The passage we read from Hebrews begins with a two-part definition of faith. First, faith is a firm confidence in things that we hope for. We take some examples from everyday life. When a man and a woman marry, they usually have a firm confidence, without any tangible proof they can put their hands on, that their lives together will work out. When people move to a new city or a new country, they don’t move into the unknown with blind trust but with confidence that their preparations will bring good results. Similarly, we’re usually confident that dentists and other experienced people who help us know what they’re doing. We’re often confident as well that we’ll make wise choices ourselves and that rough patches we have to plow through will lead us to a smooth road.

       It seems that some folks are born with this kind of earthly faith. It’s a great blessing and they can benefit others.

       We Christians have an advantage of our own, though. We don’t rely on our own strengths or qualities in ourselves, for these are always imperfect. We trust in God’s promises. We’re firmly confident that he will provide for us, that he’ll bring us good schools and good jobs and long-lasting relationships, that he’ll smooth out rocky roads and lead us to good decisions. We trust, moreover, that he washes away our sins in Jesus’ blood and that he won’t abandon us. He will be our loving God forever.

       This brings us to the second part of the definition – faith is conviction about things we cannot see. We’ll take a couple of everyday examples again. Most of us have loved ones who are far away from us. We don’t see them, but we’re sure of their love for us and our love for them. We don’t see the future, but we’re convinced that our lives will work out, and so by heaven’s grace, we take joy in living each day. We’re glad to be alive.

       The author of Hebrew reminds us in particular that we don’t see God and yet we have faith in him. Our hearts are convinced that his promises to us are true; we trust his good intentions for us. The apostle Peter put it this way: “Without having seen him, you love him; though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with an unutterable and exalted joy.” Our faith in the unseen is a wonderful thing. It gives us assurance for this life as well as the next.

       The author of Hebrews points out, however, in the chapter just before this morning’s reading, that it’s possible to lose this faith, especially if our problems aren’t solved right away and we think that God has left us to work on them by ourselves. It’s possible not to pay attention, to drift into unbelief – just by being lazy or taking things for granted.

       We need reminders, then, about the value of the Christian faith, and this is what the letter to the Hebrews provides. The author gives plenty of reasons to stick with Jesus and not slip away. The letter describes the superiority of Christ. He is superior to the prophets, to angels, to Moses or any other spiritual adviser we may encounter. And because of the sacrifice he offered, Jesus is superior to Old Testament priests. He didn’t offer a goat or a ram in payment for sin. He offered himself. God promises that because of Christ, he will not remember our sins and misdeeds. The sacrifice for sins has been made once for all.

       To paraphrase the author of Hebrews, since the blood of Jesus gives us confidence for life by the new and living way he opened for us through his flesh, we draw near him with true hearts in full assurance that our sins are washed away in his blood. We hold onto our hope without wavering, for the God who makes promises to us is faithful.

       The letter to Hebrews issues a strong warning. If we stray from God after we receive the knowledge of the truth, the saving gospel, and don’t return to him, then Christ’s sacrifice doesn’t work for us. “What punishment,” the author asks, “do you think will be deserved by the person who spurns the Son of God and profanes the blood of the covenant and outrages the Spirit of grace?” ‘Vengeance is mine,’ God says. “I will repay.’”

       We don’t throw away our confidence, then, our faith, for they will have a great reward. We take hold of heaven’s gift of endurance so that we may do the will of God and receive what he promises when Jesus returns. “My righteous one shall live by faith,” God proclaims, confident of the things we hope for, convinced of the truth of things we can’t see. “If anyone shrinks back,” God says, “my soul has no pleasure in that person.”

       But like the folks for whom the Letter to the Hebrews was originally written, I suspect the people of St. John’s aren’t the sort to shrink back. I believe that you’ll hold on in faith and conviction and greet the Lord with rejoicing when he returns.

       Now, after a long introduction, we come back to this morning’s text, which is one of the most uplifting chapters in the Bible. You see, Abraham and Sarah, our earthly forebears in the faith, received the same buffets and blows that come to us. In response to God’s command, they left comfortable lives in a pagan land, where they were established and respected, and lived as wanderers, in tents rather than pleasant houses. They lived among strangers in a land they couldn’t claim as their own. They didn’t know what would happen to them from one year to the next. God’s promises, especially his promise of a family to carry on after them, were delayed of fulfillment.

       But they lived by faith. They didn’t fall away from trusting God’s promises, even though they couldn’t see either him or the fruits of their steadfastness. They held on in trust; they kept on going; they endured. We don’t know why God sent them on an unexpected journey, but we do know that he tested their faith and refined them and used them as the founders of a great nation of believers that’s still going on today. The same is true for Christians now. To our own eyes, our lives may seem unimportant and full of frustration, but God sees things differently, with meanings we don’t know now but that will be revealed to us in the life to come, so we hold on in faith, for the Lord holds on to us.

       The passage from Hebrews describes four features of the life of faith to help us persevere. First, as we’ve been saying, the countless spiritual offspring of Abraham and Sarah do not receive the fulfillment of all God’s promises in this life. We ourselves see the fulfillment from afar off. In the words of Isaiah, “Their eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall see the land that is very far off.” We abide in God’s promise that we will see his face.

       Secondly, the faithful people of Bible times believed that God’s promises are true. This is the case for us. We trust that God is able to perform everything he promises. Some familiar words of St. Paul apply: “I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” He will not abandon us, in other words. He will bring us to him.

       Thirdly, God’s faithful children welcome and embrace his promises. We live by them. David wrote in Psalm 62: “For God alone, my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.” And we find these words in Psalm 123: “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he have mercy upon us.” God’s promises are a part of our souls. By the grace of God, they are always present with us, like our breathing or the beating of our hearts.

       In the fourth place, faithful people confess that we are strangers and pilgrims on earth. We don’t have an earthly home that will last forever. Our home is with God. We accept this situation, as hard as it is for our human flesh, and we come to rejoice in God’s will for us. David confessed to the Lord in psalm 39: “I am a passing guest, a sojourner like all my fathers.” And the author of Hebrews wrote in the last chapter: “We have no lasting city; we seek the city that is to come.” We take part in the joys of the earth without clinging to them. We’re ready to let go whenever the Lord calls us, and he calls to us every day in his Word.

All these signs of faith show that God’s people look for a different country from an earthly one, a better life than the one they would leave behind. Faith in God’s promise of a heavenly city to come keeps us from pining for the good old days. We may have plenty of wonderful memories, but the past doesn’t rule us. Like the faithful people of Bible times, we live in Christ and work for the good things he promises.

       As a result, God accepts us. He isn’t ashamed to be called our God. He strengthens us. He gives us the power to endure and the blessings of faith. Like believers in all times, we have confidence in what we hope for, we’re convinced that things we can’t see are true. So in Jesus’ name we give thanks. AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN.