“God Resolves to Save Us” Rom. 8.31-39, New Year’s Eve Dec. ‘17

1.       Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this New Year’s Eve is taken from Romans 8:31-39 and is entitled, “God Resolves to Save Us,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.       Today is New Year’s Eve. For many Americans, today is the day to leave the old year behind. Tomorrow is the day to begin the new year with a fresh start. Some people have made lists of things to change or to accomplish. Others have simply thought it over and have a strategy and plan to take a turn in a new and better direction. How about you? On this New Year’s Eve, what’s your resolution?

3.       Today is our last chance to make a new year’s resolution. Is there some bad habit you want to break and leave behind? Is there some better habit you wish to form? You and I aren’t alone. Watch the New Year’s Eve TV shows from Times Square tonight, and you’re sure to hear one of the roving reporters asking folks in the crowd about their resolutions. For some reason, a new year gives us the sense of a fresh start and more promising future.

4.       But, unfortunately, we’re often setting ourselves up for disappointment. A survey of many studies done on new year’s resolutions reveals that only a small fraction of our resolutions are kept. Most of us fail in the second month. The new year once had the feeling of a fresh start. Now it becomes a nagging reminder of how difficult it is to change ourselves.

5.       Last year, many of us hoped we’d spend more time with family and friends. But we didn’t. We thought we’d be in better shape, lose some weight, quit a bad habit, get out of debt, and get organized. But we failed. Instead, we’re more disillusioned than ever.

6.       And honestly, these are the small things. We’ve been talking here about things that we at least have a chance, that we’re at least theoretically capable, of improving somewhat. The bigger thing that needs to change we can’t change at all. This year, last year, every year we’re on earth, we’re sinful. By nature, we’re sinful through and through. Try as we might, resolve as we might, we can’t do a thing about that. On our own, we’re still thoroughly selfish, completely bent on having things our own way, always happy to care about the other guy if—but only if—it serves me. No resolution of ours is ever going to change that.  Still resolved to try? Then what’s your resolution?

7.       Or maybe a better question is what should our new year’s resolution be. What should chiefly occupy our minds and priorities? Many of the things we’d like to change about ourselves are good and worth the effort. But our Epistle Reading offers us the best resolution we can have—St. Paul’s resolution.

8.       Paul says in Romans 8:38, “For I am sure.” The Greek word pepeismai can also be translated “resolved.” “For I am resolved.” About what is Paul resolved?  Paul’s resolution isn’t about himself. It’s about his Lord. It’s a resolution of faith. His resolution is that there is no safer place than the love of God. It’s a growing trust in a loving Savior. Paul is resolved that nothing can surpass, overpower, or destroy the love God has for us, His children.  Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure,” resolved, Paul says, “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, 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.”

9.       Paul’s resolution is that God is for us! Our enemies don’t stand a chance. He boasts in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” So resolved, Paul doesn’t even expect an answer. “Who can be against us?” No one of any significance is a real threat if God is on our side. God has not held back any of His resources and power—He has sent His own Son for us all. He died for us. He was raised for us. The Gospel declares us innocent for Jesus’ sake.

10.    Paul tells us to be resolved, to stand firm, in Christ and say to our accusers, “Your condemnation, your charges against me, a child of God—they mean nothing. Your voice carries no weight in the courtroom of God’s justice. God the Judge has cleared me of the guilt of all my sin. I’ve been declared ‘not guilty’ by the one mouth that matters.”

11.    So confident of this reality, Paul isn’t distraught over the suffering and death we experience in this life. He asks in Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”

12.    Paul is persuaded, convinced, and resolved that the love of God through Jesus Christ is what the whole world needs. It’s the love of God that brought the Son of God to humanity. It has bridged the gap between man and God. It’s the love of God that caused His Son to endure death on the cross with joy for our salvation. It’s the love of God that caused our Lord Jesus to be raised from the dead as a pledge and guarantee of our eternal life.

13.    Paul’s resolution is grounded in God’s resolution for us. Paul wants to work His resolution into us—a resolution in the love of God that has already defeated our sin and weaknesses. It has already defeated death. It has already claimed eternal victory for us. Can anything we face in this life finally defeat us? Paul’s answer is a resounding no! He boldly proclaims in Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

14.    Sure, we face trials and tribulation. But we have something even more awesome, even more powerful than all the forces of hell—the love of God in Christ Jesus. It’s Jesus, our Savior, who made the greatest resolution in all eternity: His love for us. His love has never failed. His plan to make us His own has never been forgotten. His resolution is to unite us to God and one another forever.

15.    In John’s Gospel, we hear the Lord’s determination. We hear His resolution for us in his own words. He says in John 10:28-29, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

16.    The Father is resolved. He sent His only Son to secure us unto life everlasting. The Son is resolved.  He lived, died, rose, and intercedes for us even now. The Holy Spirit is resolved. He creates and strengthens faith in us. He secures us in the Gospel. The triune God’s grip on us is infinitely firm. He’s resolved never to let us go. Even though we face a year of challenges ahead, we need not despair. The bonds of love between Him and us can’t be broken. It is this, His resolution for us, that really counts. We can all bank on that. And not just for a new year, but for eternity!   God has resolved to save us, and that’s the greatest resolution that we can know about coming into this New Year!!!

17.    We begin this new year confident, convinced, and sure of God’s resolution—“that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, 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” (vv 38–39).  Amen.

“The Life in the Light!” John 1.4-5, Christmas Day Dec. ‘17

1.                  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this glorious Christmas morning is taken from John 1:4-5 and is entitled, “The Life in the Light,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  A blessed Christmas Day! The whole Christian Church on earth is celebrating the birth of Jesus, born in a stable, in the little town of Bethlehem, the city of David. Even though his birth was over 2000 years ago, after all these centuries we continue to celebrate, because Jesus is the light shining into the darkness of the world, the light that brings life, and the life in this light is eternal.

3.                  Christmas lights have been used since the 18^th century when Christians in Germany would use candles to decorate their trees with the light of Jesus. By the late 19^th century, light bulbs were beginning to be strung on Christmas trees to replace the more dangerous candles. One Christmas light has an interesting history. It was purchased by Edward and Lydelle Decker, from Evansville, Illinois, just 2 days after they were married on Thanksgiving Day in 1946. Out of a package of four, one bulb has continued to light up for over 70 years as it’s been placed on all those years of Christmas trees, as well as on indoor and outdoor decorations. An ever-present light in their lives during the many Christmas seasons! Amazing it’s lasted all these years!

4.                  Once, for a shorter time on earth, there was a light that was supposed to burn forever, not only during a brief season each year but every second. This light was the life that began with the creation of Adam and Eve. At their creation, they knew nothing but the holy life and light God had created and placed in and around them. A life and light that continued for them until Satan lured them with temptation and lies, convincing them there was a better life. With sin, the light of life was extinguished, snuffed out.

5.                  Isn’t it interesting the way we mix that metaphor? Life, we say, is extinguished, snuffed out. But extinguishing, snuffing, actually has to do with light. You extinguish a fire. You snuff out a candle, the way the acolyte does at the end of the service. So, when life ends, the light goes out. We get the picture, don’t we!

6.                  Now sin had been born in the world, and with it came the darkness of death, lives snuffed out. Death for Adam and Eve, death for their children . . . and for theirs . . . and for theirs . . . and for us. A vicious cycle, as the darkness of sin continued with each new life that would be born.

7.                  Unfortunately, we often find ourselves needing to be convinced of this truth today. Each of us can come up with various excuses for our sinful thoughts, words, and actions. We want to be the creators of our own lives, regardless of the inevitable outcome of forfeiting our life with God and being “people who walked in darkness” (Is 9:2). Wasn’t this Adam and Eve’s situation after they sinned? Wasn’t this Israel’s situation after they sinned and rejected God after entering the Promised Land? Isn’t this our situation in our sinful nature? Walking, sitting, living under the cover of darkness (Is 60:2), content and oblivious to the life in the light?

8.                  But in God’s faithfulness to Adam and Eve, to Israel, and to us, a new life was brought forth into this world. A baby in the likeness of all other babies, so meek and mild. From his appearance, it seemed the darkness would extinguish his life too. But, this was no ordinary child. It was Jesus, the one who would save his people from their sins, bringing them life out of the cover of darkness. As John declares in our text, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (v 4).

9.                  Jesus, true God from the beginning, was born of man to become man for the purpose of bringing you life and salvation. What was born on that night in Bethlehem wasn’t just any ordinary life. It was the life that would overcome the death of the world. Sin, death, and darkness wanted to snuff out His life too, but they weren’t able. Death wanted to swallow up His life from His birth all the way to His cross, yet Jesus is the life in us, born to crush the head of death, born to destroy the shadow of darkness, and born to remove the curse of sin. Born to bring hope and salvation, through faith, that we would become the children of our heavenly Father. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (v 5).

10.              In Leviticus 23, the Lord gave instructions to Moses for the Israelites to celebrate His appointed feasts at specific times and according to His detailed instructions. The last of those feasts was called the Feast of Booths. It was also called the Feast of Tabernacles. In celebration, the Israelites would build booths, or small huts, outside their homes, where they were to live and eat during the 8 days of the Feast, reminding them and teaching the next generations how the Lord had the Israelites live in such temporary shelters as they traveled through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

11.              At the end of the first day, there would be a ceremony called the Illumination of the Temple, which involved the priest going into the Court of Women, where there were 4 golden oil-fed candelabras, or menorahs, standing 75 feet tall. After the ritual lighting, the lamps would remind the people of the pillar of fire the Lord used to guide them on their journey. All night the light would shine, giving light to the entire city. This ceremony was a reminder that God promised to send a light, the Light, to a sin-darkened world.

12.              It may surprise some, but Jesus kept the Feast of Booths as well. Just imagine Jesus standing at the base of one of those huge candelabras and saying those comforting words in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus is the light piercing the darkness, giving light not just to a city but the whole world, bringing the lost out of the darkness and into his marvelous light.

13.              We rejoice today as we celebrate the light coming into the world, piercing the darkness of night with the angelic announcement of His arrival to the shepherds as a baby lying in a manger. We also rejoice with the women who went 33 years later to His tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, just 3 days after He was crucified. Those women believed they were going to a closed tomb with their dearly loved Jesus dead and lying inside. The light of their hopes had been extinguished on the cross, but upon their arrival they were greatly surprised by the shining presence of more angels, lights that cancelled the darkness of death. Again, the angels announced the life in the light as they said in Luke 24:5-6, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”  Jesus, is the life and the light illuminating the whole world! The grave can’t hold Him. Darkness can’t cover Him. Even though death gripped Him, it couldn’t snuff Him out.

14.              There’s an interesting effect that this light generates, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the life of a Christian. It’s called faith, faith that trusts in the forgiveness of sins. Faith that comforts us in our daily lives as we face the constant attacks of sin and darkness in this world. Faith that assures us in knowing Jesus is still with us and will come again in the brightness of His glory to take us to our heavenly home. And so we faithfully rejoice in our life’s struggles just as Paul and Silas did as they were locked up in jail and singing hymns in faith, or as Stephen did when he was being stoned for his faith, rejoicing in the vision of his Savior, Jesus, welcoming Him home.

15.              Yes, in faith, we rejoice. We celebrate that God loved us so much that He sent his light into the world to be born as a human, to be the long-awaited Messiah, to be the Suffering Savior, to be the conqueror of darkness, to be our life and light, our sure defense over sin and death.

16.              As I think of Edward and Lydelle’s Christmas light, I wonder just how long that light will continue to shine. It’s quite impressive that it’s burned during the Christmas seasons of more than 70 years. The celebration of the Illumination of the Temple was also quite impressive as those 4 huge menorahs lit up not only the temple but the whole city of Jerusalem.

17.              As remarkable as those lights have been, we know they will burn out. By contrast, the light of Jesus will never burn out, for it is the light that needs no electricity or oil to burn. It will never be snuffed, extinguished, because Jesus is the light of God’s love, full of grace and truth. He’s the life in the light that brightly shines God’s loving forgiveness for all eternity, lighting up the darkest fears and sins in our lives with mercy and peace. He’s the life in the light of Christmas, shining continuously in this world until the new dawn comes and we meet Him face-to-face. Amen.