Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Sunday, July 09, 2023
Be Unburdened!
Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus tells you today, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
This is the Gospel, the good news, in today’s gospel lesson that Jesus gives to you, that He does to you and does for you today. Literally, Jesus says, “Come to me, all those toiling and being burdened and I will give you rest.”
Many, if not all of you, are toiling and burdened today.
Some of you toil to be “good” people under the burden of old sins that you confessed and God forgave through Christ long ago.
Some of you toil under the weight of sins perpetrated against you, sins of which you either cannot or will not let go.
Some of you toil under the burden of thinking you must create a “best life” for you, your kids, or your grandkids.
Some of you are working to placate God, trying to pile up enough credits to get yourself into His eternal kingdom.
To you and me Jesus says today, “Let go of your burdens–all your guilt and shame, all your pride and self-righteousness, all your self-promoting or self-destroying religiosity–and I will give you rest. I will give you peace.”
Not everyone finds Jesus’ invitation compelling. In fact, it’s true to say that most of the people who have ever encountered God’s gift of new and everlasting life and of rest with Him through Jesus, most, have repudiated it, ignored it, walked away from it. Even derided it or tried to kill it off.
Jesus first spoke these Gospel words–come to me and I will give you rest–in the face of mass rejection of Him by His own people.
Earlier in chapter 11 of Matthew’s gospel, we’re told that as Jesus preached to crowds of people, disciples of John the Baptist, reflecting their leader’s skepticism, ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3) Jesus points them to what they are hearing and seeing Him do: giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, causing the deaf to hear, raising the dead, and preaching His good news–His gospel–to the poor, to all who can admit that they are not self-sufficient, all who, on hearing Jesus’ word, realize that without Jesus, they can do no good thing. (John 15:5)
Also in Matthew 11, just before Jesus’ words in today’s gospel lesson, He denounces cities whose people have refused to repent–that is, to turn away from sin and the burdensome lie of self-sufficiency.
It’s in the face of this rejection and earthly failure that Jesus, God the Son, prays to God the Father. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” (Matthew 10:25-26)
The Gospel, the good news from God that gives us rest, peace, and life with God is hidden from some people and it is seen and heard and trusted by others.
Now, anybody can see, hear, and trust in Christ’s Gospel. God is not a monster! God doesn’t pick winners and losers of salvation.
God’s message to the people of ancient Israel is His message for us today: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11)
God wants to forgive our sins and give us new and everlasting life with Him.
But most people, thinking themselves “wise and learned,” unwilling to admit their need for forgiveness, or reconciliation, or peace, soldier on under the burden of self-rule. They refuse to daily turn away from the dumpster fire of sin, bitterness, and selfishness that rages in each of us descendants of Adam and Eve and cling to the lie that they (or we) can “be like God.”
These are people like Lot’s wife. Remember her? At the moment she was being graciously delivered from the hell of Sodom, told to not look back but to look ahead to the future into which God was taking her, she looked back anyway.
She may have thought to herself, “If I go back, I can make it better.”
Or, she may have thought, “I know what life was like back there in Sodom. I have no experience of the life God is taking me too.”
The wise and the learned are those who hear the Gospel promise of life and rest with God, but like, in the words of Proverbs, dogs returning to their own vomit, will not give up on the idea that they can be in control, or that they can make their lives right in their own power. (Psalm 26:11)
Jesus says though that “little children” are people who are open to His Gospel.
Don’t misunderstand Jesus here. Jesus doesn’t idealize childhood. The Bible is clear: We are all born sinners, intent on being masters of the universe, disinclined to love God or love neighbor. One of the favorite first words of children is still “No!”
What Jesus is saying is that when children are loved, they credulously and openly receive that love.
When some people hear the Law of God telling them that they were sinful at birth, they take in this truth from God and acknowledge it. (Psalm 51:5)
And when they hear Jesus say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17)--or “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” (Matthew 11:29) their resistance is melted. Their wills are overruled. They trust in Christ.
Now, friends, you know that if you are one of Christ’s little ones, trusting in Christ, turning from sin, receiving His promised rest, it isn’t because you’re superior to those still caught up in the lie of their own supposed wisdom or learnedness.
The Bible says “that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)
The rest that you have in God’s grace, given in Jesus, is a gift borne to you by God’s Word: preached, taught, read, heard, and received in the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. The Bible reminds us that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8)
What does all of this mean?
Quite simply, it means this: Today Jesus wants to make a trade with you.
He wants your sins, your death, and all that you try to conceal about yourself from God, the world, even yourself. He wants you to put all of these things on Him. That’s what we do when we repent.
In exchange, He wants to give you all His righteousness, rest, peace, life, hope, joy.
Little children, receive all these gifts from Jesus today.
He tells you again now: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Give Jesus your burdens and He will give you rest in Him.
Amen
God's Law and Gospel, July 9, 2023
Sunday, July 02, 2023
Our Great Reward
At the start of today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus tells the twelve apostles He’s sending with His Word–and He tells us: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) These are jarring words.
But Jesus goes on to be even more jarring, claiming words from the prophet Micah for himself: “For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:35-36)
These words seem strange to us in two ways, I think.
First, we remember that the angels sang on the night of Jesus’ birth: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) Didn’t Jesus, God the Son, come into our world to make peace between God and we sinful human beings?
Second, didn’t God make families fundamental to human life, giving the family first billing in the second table of the ten commandments: “Honor your father and your mother”?
The answer to both of those questions is Yes.
But not everyone wants God’s peace.
As Christians, we know and cherish what Paul talks about in our second lesson, from Romans 7: that by the grace of God given to us in Christ under which we were washed at Holy Baptism, we “died to the [condemnation of the] law [for our sin]” and belong to Jesus, Who will one day raise us up to live with God forever. (Romans 7:4)
God has already done this for us as a gift that we are simply called to receive in faith.
And even the power to believe–to have faith–in Christ is a gift from God, given in His Word. The Bible says, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
But sometimes, even members of our own families will resist the Gospel Word about Christ. They will refuse to trust in Christ.
When I was a teenager, already an atheist myself, I watched my aunt break down in tears as one of my cousins told her he didn’t need God. He had heard the Word about Christ many times. He had seen the peace that the adults and even friends in his life had through faith in Jesus. But he wasn’t buying it.
For many people, the Gospel doesn’t make sense.
Some see the hatred, prejudice, injustice, suffering, and death in this world and can’t imagine that there is a loving and omnipotent God Who, they imagine, does nothing to change things. They don’t realize that God has already done everything necessary to change things, to give us life and peace, one person at a time. He’s done this through Jesus, Who says: “Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life…” (John 6:40) This isn’t a call to wait for the sweet by-and-by. It’s a declaration from God that as you trust in Christ, you are set free to live life to the full without fear of condemnation, setbacks, or even death! You can even fight things like hatred, prejudices, injustice, suffering, and death without fear of the world because you know you belong to Jesus Christ for all eternity!
Others can make no sense of the Gospel–the good news of new and everlasting life with God through Christ–because they’ve been schooled in the ways of a hard world. They’ve been taught that anything worth having must be bought, earned, stolen, or swindled. They think the project of their lives is to keep themselves–and maybe their kids–as comfortable as possible until they die. That’s it. There is no room or desire for Jesus in such a worldview.
Still others can’t imagine that any of their sins–from gossip to sexual intimacy outside of heterosexual marriage, from petty dishonesty in personal business dealings to using God’s name as a punchline–could possibly concern a holy God they’ve never seen.
For people like these, Jesus’ will sound like nonsense when He says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. [literally, the eternal reign of God is here now in Me and the Gospel Word about Me].” (Matthew 4:17)
They’ll find it hard to believe that Christ is as close as His Word or as close as the water of Holy Baptism or the bread and the wine of Holy Communion.
His emissaries–parents, pastors, friends, family–will tell these folks, “The kingdom of heaven has come near [in Jesus]” and they’ll resist. (Matthew 10:7)
Or turn a deaf ear.
Or maybe lash out.
Or maybe even betray you!
Of course, no Christian filled with Jesus’ compassionate Spirit will be satisfied knowing that we have everlasting life with God and not want to share it with others. We won’t want to let others’ negative reactions to Christ’s Gospel keep us from sharing it!
So, Christians will want to see their children and grandchildren, all the children in their families, baptized. In Baptism, children are covered with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Their spirits are crucified and raised and the Holy Spirit is unleashed in children’s lives that they may come to the point where they confess Jesus as their Lord. “Baptism…” the apostle Peter says, “saves you…It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 3:21)
Christians will want to let family members see that Christ is their hope and their life. Peter also told Christian women that their disbelieving husbands “may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives…” (1 Peter 3:2)
And Christians will also want to be able to share the hope of Christ’s Gospel with family members when they have the chance. Peter also writes, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15)
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus tells Christians, “Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.” (Matthew 10:41)
Considering just the prophets for a moment: If you’ve ever read the Old Testament, you know that God’s prophets weren’t always rewarded in enjoyable ways. (Neither have those been made righteous by God’s grace in Christ, by the way.)
When we, like the prophets, speak God’s Word, we must first speak His Law that all people are sinners, deserving of eternal punishment and separation from God, before we speak God’s Word of promise, His Gospel, that our sins are forgiven and we have everlasting life with God through Jesus.
These words call us, and all people, to repent–to turn from sin–and to believe in Jesus as our only God and Savior.
The prophets were often slighted, hunted down, condemned, killed.
That was how the world rewarded them for their faithfulness.
It’s how the world today, even the worlds of our families, often reward Christians. Jesus doesn’t sugar coat that truth and neither should we.
But God has another reward for our faithfulness to Christ.
It’s the reward of which the prophet Isaiah spoke seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, pointing to Jesus, God the Son, Himself, Isaiah wrote: “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” (Isaiah 40:10-11)
Jesus promises us, “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)
In Jesus Christ, all your sins are forgiven, friends. That’s your reward from God.
And in Jesus Christ, you know, intimately and personally, the God of all Creation Who saves you to be His forever. That too is your reward from God.
And in Jesus, you know that God is with you always. He will never abandon you. That also is God’s reward to you.
In the end, Jesus is your reward, friends!
And He is all the reward you and I could ever want or will ever need.
Amen
[I'm grateful for the scholarship of Drs. John Hoyum and Steve Paulson and others in the development of today's message.]
God's Law and Gospel, July 2, 2023
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Monday, June 26, 2023
Don't Fear, Follow Christ No Matter What
Matthew 10:5a, 21-33
As Christians, we take comfort from the promises of God found in places like the last verse of our second lesson for today: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Not everyone finds comfort in God’s promises though. To be told that Jesus says, “Whoever believes in [Jesus, God the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” arouses their anger. (John 3:17) They get angry too when they hear Jesus claim, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
You see, we all are born under the condemnation of the Law. The Law is, essentially, the moral law of God as given to us in the Ten Commandments which Jesus summarizes in the Great Commandment: Love God and love neighbor.
Apart from faith in Jesus and the power of His death and resurrection to save us from sin and its result, death, we human beings, incapable of perfectly obeying God’s Law, are condemned for all eternity.
People have all sorts of reactions to hearing that they live under condemnation by God’s Law.
Some deny the existence of God or of things like right and wrong. These folks try to wriggle out of responsibility for their actions when confronted with God’s will by telling Christians, “That’s your truth.” But there is only one truth. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
Other people live in self-righteousness, convinced they are decent, righteous people whose every second is lived above reproach. A prominent Baptist theologian told of the student who, beaming, told him after class one day that it had been three years since he had been tempted to sin. The theologian told him, “That’s about the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” For the student to have been unconscious of temptation may have meant that he was so deeply mired in self-righteousness that he was insensitive to the constant temptations presented to God’s people by the devil, the world, or our sinful selves.
Other people live in constant fear of God’s condemnation. They think their salvation depends on them being perfect moral beings. Every time they become conscious of their sins, they think that until they make things right, they’re damned for all eternity. Many of these people give in to despair and give up on having life with God.
All of these folks–and you and I who are prone to falling into precisely these patterns of thinking at different times in our lives, first of all need to hear–really hear–God’s Law.
The Bible tells us that we were born in sin (Psalm 51:5) and “were by nature deserving of wrath” from the moment of our conception (Ephesians 2:3).
Lest we try to evade this truth about ourselves, we also need to hear what sin is spelled out for us.
We sin when we worship God’s creatures rather than God the Creator; when we dishonor our parents or those in authority; when we murder in thought as well as deed; when we use God’s gift of sex outside the bounds of heterosexual marriage; when we speak falsely or uncharitably of others; when we swipe what’s not ours; or when we covet what others have.
We need to hear this Law to remind us of the distance we are, by our natural inborn inclinations, from God and from life with God.
We all also need to hear the Gospel.
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus, Who died and rose to set you from sin and death, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
We need to hear Jesus tell us again this morning: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
We need the Word of God for us again this morning: “...a person is justified by faith [in Jesus] apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus sends the twelve apostles out to share His Word with the people of Israel.
Their mission foreshadows the mission that you and I have, to make disciples of all nations.
Jesus says that not everyone will want to receive God’s Word, Law or Gospel. The message of Christ to repent and believe in Him always arouses opposition.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death,” Jesus warns. “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but [then He promises] the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:21-22)
But, how do we stand firm in our faith in the face of opposition? Jesus goes on to tell us how in our lesson.
First, Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid of [those who come after you for following Him], for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” (Matthew 10:26-27)
In the past few weeks alone, I’ve been called “a tool” and judgmental by different people when I’ve tried to share God’s Word in love with them.
But friends, we need not fear Christ’s opponents! The plans God has revealed to those who listen to His Word, will one day be revealed to all. Christ will return. Then death and everything that intimidates us in this world will die.
What we see today by faith through the power of God’s Word--that Christ has triumphed over sin and death, and that all who trust in Him live with God now and forever--will only then, on His return, be seen by those who reject Christ today. We take comfort from knowing that even now, we live in Christ’s eternity and we belong to Him!
Second, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
Don’t be afraid of the world, Jesus says. The most it can do is kill us.
Instead, we should have a holy fear of God, the One Who can condemn people to hell.
When we die, our bodies and souls are separated. Our bodies decay in this world, but the souls of those who trust in Jesus will rest in His presence until the Day of Jesus’ return.
Meanwhile, the souls of those who refuse to trust in Jesus will be in torment.
On the day Jesus returns to this world and establishes the new heaven and the new earth, our bodies will be raised and gathered again with our souls.
Those who have refused Jesus will be sent to eternal condemnation.
But those who trust in Jesus will hear Him say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)
Those who trust in Christ know that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)
Finally, Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)
If you follow Jesus, you will encounter opposition, ridicule, maybe even persecution or death. But Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5) Jesus says elsewhere, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
As, by the power of the Gospel at work in the Word and the Sacraments, you turn to Christ in daily repentance and faith, you live in the certainty that your sins are forgiven and you belong to God forever!
At the end of our lesson today, Jesus tells us, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)
Friends, I love telling you what God has called me to tell you: In Jesus Christ, all your sins are forgiven and your eternity with God is secured.
Acknowledge Jesus as your Savior and Lord by turning to Him each day for the forgiveness of your sin and for life with God.
No matter what this world may say about you, think about you, or do to you, you can trust in Christ to be Your Savior for all eternity.
Amen