“Happy Lent” Phil. 3.4-14 Lent5C April ‘25

 

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 on this 5^th Sunday in Lent is taken from Phil 3:4-14, it’s entitled, “Happy Lent,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                A man once confessed to his pastor, “I don’t particularly like Lent, but I love Christmas and Easter.” After a brief pause, the pastor said, “I don’t particularly enjoy Lent either, but I need it.” The forty days of Lent are “a holy season of prayerful and penitential reflection. Our attention is especially directed to the holy sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. From ancient times the season of Lent has been kept as a time of special devotion, self-denial, and humble repentance born of a faithful heart that dwells confidently on His Word and draws from it life and hope” (LSB Altar Book, p 483). We reflect on God’s Law and on our failures, sins, and mortality. We also fix our eyes on Jesus, the holy Lamb of God, whose suffering, sacrifice, and death saves us from the darkness and death of our unrighteousness.

3.                The word enjoy requires an object. We don’t enjoy joy. That is like saying, “I’m in love with being in love.” Love requires an object outside of oneself, or it is nothing more than selfishness. Real love says, “I love my wife,” “I love my children,” or “I love Jesus.” Likewise, one can say, “I found joy in winning the race,” or “I found great joy in seeing the rescue party coming through the woods the day I was lost in the wilderness and near death,” or “I enjoyed hearing the doctor say, ‘Good news, we found a cure. You will not die but live!’ ” The apostle Paul gave thanks as he remembered his congregation in the city of Philippi, and he encouraged them to “rejoice in the Lord”(Phil. 1:3–4; 3:1). On this last Sunday in Lent, as your pastor, I also give thanks to my God for you and encourage you to, rejoice in the Lord as you follow Paul’s repeated warnings.

4.                First, Paul warns, to “beware, beware, beware!” then to put our confidence in Christ, and, to press on. Beware of putting your confidence in works of the flesh, the righteousness that comes from the law (Phil 3:4b–7). Beware of the Judaizers who put their confidence in their own works of the flesh. “Beware of the dogs” (Phil 3:2). Paul isn’t talking about the sweet, cuddly family pet, the faithful dog who watches and protects the children. He’s warning the children about vicious “pit bulls” who bite you unexpectedly. The skin is torn. Many of us have childhood memories of the feared neighborhood dog. Paul is not opposed to the proper use of circumcision as prescribed by the Lord. He is opposed to those who demand Gentiles be circumcised and obey the Old Testament ceremonial law in order to become true, full Christians.

5.                “Beware of evildoers” (Phil 3:2). In 2 Cor 11:13, Paul refers to Judaizers as evil workers because they disguise themselves as apostles of Christ but are false prophets whose deeds will expose them. “Beware of those who mutilate their flesh” (Phil. 3:2). Again, when circumcision is turned into a good work upon which to base one’s certainty of righteousness and salvation, it becomes a perverted mutilation, that is, “another Gospel.”

6.                What does a Judaizer look like today? There are many denominations and religious movements that share a theology and practice with the first-century Judaizers: Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, The Worldwide Church of God, Zionists, Sabbatarianists, and Holiness denominations. The spirit of the Judaizers is also alive in pietism, rationalism, and decision theology.

7.                Rather than listing all such groups, it’s more helpful to follow the apostle Paul’s admonition to recognize rubbish when we see it and reject anyone who tells us to put our hope and confidence in our own works and inner desires rather than solely in the righteousness of Christ. Paul’s clear articulation of the pure Gospel should be used to test all teachings that come our way. What is at stake is eternal salvation—heaven and hell itself.  

8.                Airports repeatedly issue verbal warnings over the loudspeaker such as, “Anyone seeing anything suspicious, please notify airport security.” “Seeing” is the key word. If you see an abandoned suitcase or nervous-looking individual, you’re to inform the authorities. In Philippians 3, Paul issues a warning to watch out for dogs, workers of evil, and people with mutilated flesh. He’s warning about people who are intent on destruction worse than a terrorist bomber. They infiltrate the Lord’s Church with faith-destroying lies that will result in eternal destruction. “Watch out!” They can be seen, but like many modern-day terrorists they can be very difficult to identify until one listens carefully to what they’re saying. The primary way for detecting false teachers is the ear. So, Paul is saying, “Listen, listen, listen.” He then teaches the Philippians and us how to listen with theological discernment so that we can identify the enemies of Christ and the Gospel.

9.                Paul says put your confidence in the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, that is, in the righteousness of God (Phil 3:8–11). The righteous Christ took our best efforts—all failures!—to the cross. So, we count all our righteousness, our good works, and good intentions as loss and as rubbish, and we rejoice in the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. We have been baptized into Jesus’ death, our sins washed away, and the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us so that God now counts us righteous.

10.             Having obtained this righteousness of God, press on toward the certain hope of the resurrection (Phil 3:11–14). Why is it that like Paul, we still strain under the guilt and burden of sin? We sit in the pew throughout the Lenten season, and we will be here again during Holy Week. We sing and pray with other Christians, yet in our heart, where no one can see, we are ashamed. We acknowledge this in the confession of sins in the Order of Compline: “I confess that I have sinned against You this day. Some of my sin I know—the thoughts and words and deeds of which I am ashamed—but some is known only to You” (LSB, p 254).

11.             Remember this is a common confession. The people sitting next to you, in front of you, and behind you, including the pastor, are making this same confession. Second, the apostle Paul also confesses this with you. He tells the congregation in Philippi and our congregation today that he has not yet obtained the final resurrection from the dead on the Last Day, when he will be raised in perfect holiness. He makes it clear he is not already perfect (Phil 3:12). Paul is describing the sinner-saint dichotomy. We are counted totally righteous by grace through faith in Jesus and yet continue to sin. Paul describes his own struggle in Romans 7: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. . . . For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:15, 19, 24–25).

12.             With Paul and all those around us who have been baptized in Christ, into his death and resurrection, and have been clothed with Christ’s righteousness, we press on toward the hope of the resurrection. Paul compares this to a demanding race in which sin and all the suffering it brings will end at the glorious finish line of the final resurrection, the resurrection that churches around the world celebrate together on Easter Sunday.

13.             We don’t enjoy Lent in the same way we enjoy the Resurrection of Our Lord on Easter Sunday. But it’s a joy unlike any other, a very profound joy in God’s mercy to us. O come, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). Come, let us enjoy Lent and Holy Week, and in two weeks, let us enjoy the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord on Easter Day. A very happy Lent to all of you. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

“The Joy of Our New Life in Christ” 2 Cor. 5.16–21, Lent 4C March ‘25

 

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 on this 4^th Sunday in Lent is taken from 2 Cor. 5:16-21, it’s entitled, “The Joy of Our New Life in Christ,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                        Historic lectionaries call this Sunday Laetare, from Latin “to rejoice.” Even during this season of repentance and sorrow over our sins, the Christian rejoices that with repentance comes forgiveness, life, and salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection. This joy is expressed in our Old Testament Reading. Isaiah records a song of joy because God’s anger is turned away and the people receive his compassion. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Is 12:3). This is a personal joy, but it quickly moves to a national and universal level: “Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 12:6).  

3.                        So, this Sunday we have great joy for those who are reconciled in Christ Jesus! Christ Lutheran, an LCMS congregation in Gilbert, AZ, has midweek services that reach out to the homeless and working-poor. Recently a woman visited one of those services and shared with the church some personal needs that had caused her to be separated from her five children. The church was able to assist her getting a placement at a residential shelter home that offers help to women who have addictive behaviors, who have been abused, or who suffer with life-controlling problems, as well as women who have small children. Since completing this program, this woman has been restored to custody of one of her children, is working full-time, and is able to provide housing and necessities for her daughter. Not only that, but her four other children were able to move through the foster care system successfully and be placed back with their father. It’s not perfect, but five children were restored to relationships with at least one of their parents. That Lutheran Church prays for them—that God would give each of them the joy of family. Certainly, it’s given the Lutheran Church at Christ Lutheran Gilbert, Arizona joy to see their Lord beginning to reunite them. Jesus is at work to reconcile the world, and there is great joy for those reconciled to God and one another by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

4.                        Selfish living—which is really living apart from God and others—is not joyful living. By nature, we’re all living for ourselves. Paul says that being a Christian means “the old has passed away” (1 Cor. 5:17), even that “all have died” (1 Cor. 5:14). But I don’t want to “die” or lose myself for another. This is the natural worldview that our culture fosters with advertising that promises we can always be young and beautiful, with thinking that says I can always be what I want to be, even with technology that isolates individuals from working together. Paul says we should “regard no one according to the flesh” (1 Cor. 5:16), but this is exactly what we’re doing—not seeing all people as created in the Creator’s image.

5.                        As a result, we don’t think about sharing the truths of the Gospel with others. There are many reluctant witnesses who do not see the charge of following Jesus to include sharing the faith with anyone. “In 1993, 89% of Christians who had shared their faith agreed this is a responsibility of every Christian. Today, just 64% say so—a 25-point drop” (“Sharing Faith Is Increasingly Optional to Christians,” Barna Research, accessed April 28, 2021, https://www.barna.com/research/sharing-faith-increasingly-optional-christians/). This is all actually a denial of the reconciliation that Christ has secured for all creation on the cross. It’s saying that I’m on my own, not joined together with God or other people.

6.                        But there’s no joy in that. See through the lie, and look more closely at how lonely life is when we’re not connected to anybody else. It was a family occasion and one of those now-rare opportunities for Dad and Mom to have a conversation with their now adult kids. Nothing planned, just dinner conversation, but once a question about parenting came up, they always had wisdom to share. Their children were parents now too—and their spouses were with them here around the table while the next generation was out of earshot at their own “kids’ tables.” “When you guys were young, we talked with you often about how other people might be feeling.” “We talked about how you can forgive the class bully and invite the new kid at school over to play to feel welcome.” “We talked a lot about how blessed our family is and how maybe some kids have it tougher at home, so we always want to be sensitive to that.”

7.                        The life reconciled in Christ—back together with God and others—is joyful living. In the cross of Jesus Christ, “God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (1 Cor. 5:19). We are back together with God because the sin that separated us from him has been removed when Jesus died for it. That makes us all new creations with a new life. We have died, and now we’re alive, brand new. God’s children are not refurbished or repaired. No, they are made completely and utterly new in Christ Jesus.

8.                        In this new, reconciled life, there is great joy. During Lent, this Sunday serves as a respite from the season’s penitential character. Even while we weep and mourn because of our many sins, God’s mercy is greater than our sin. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Is 12:3), Isaiah sings—joy in the midst of all that besieges the world. In Christ, we are righteous and completely new already now and even more fully at his return. Even though in this life many things attack us because of sin, unbelief, the evil one, and death, we can be resolute in our joy because of Christ.

9.                        A great joy of this reconciled life is bringing others back together with God. God has now entrusted to us the message of reconciliation: “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (1 Cor. 5:20). Followers of Jesus Christ are made new and are then sent to proclaim the story, the message of reconciliation, to the world. Each one of us has a unique role in this ambassadorship.

10.                    And being ambassadors of the reconciled life to others is one of our greatest joys as Christians. Speaking the Gospel is prompted by the Holy Spirit through his promises fulfilled in Baptism. We who are reconciled to God and each other in Christ Jesus have great joy for all eternity. What greater joy can there be than seeing others share the same joy?

11.                    The delight over at the “kids’ table” was obvious. You could hear the banter, the squeals. The cousins loved being together. And back at the big table, they understood why. There’s real joy in living not just for yourself but also for others. Christ has done all the living—and the dying—for us, reconciling us to God and to each other for eternity, leaving to us the joy of living for others. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

“The Good News of a Savior Who Unites Heaven and Earth” Gen. 28.10–22 Lent.Mid5 Apr. ‘25

 

1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word for our 5^th Lenten Midweek service with the theme, “Good News from the Beginning, the Gospel in Genesis,” is taken from Gen. 28:10-22, it’s entitled, “The Good News of a Savior Who Unites Heaven and Earth,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                God created man to live in paradise, in perfect fellowship with him. And it was very good. By our sin, though, we broke the fellowship between God and man—and we were thrown out from the paradise of Eden. The result is that, since the Fall into sin, we have been missing the goodness that God created for us to enjoy. That has left us longing for something we were designed to have but now are missing. In his Confessions, St. Augustine once described that longing by saying that “our hearts are restless.”

3.                Seeking to regain what was lost, we keep trying to make a way back to paradise. Eastern religions and even some Christians try, by meditation or mysticism, to ascend to the divine realm in their minds. More commonly, we try building towers of good works, thinking that by them we can make our way to heaven. But, no matter how hard we try, those efforts are in vain. What separates us from God and his glory is our sin—and nothing we do can free us of that sin. No attempts at self-enlightenment can erase what we in fact have done and said and thought. No good works can cancel them out. The answer doesn’t lie within and isn’t something we can work out. As long as we rely on our own efforts to reach God, we remain exiled from paradise. As long as we try to make our own peace, our hearts remain restless.

4.                That is the situation Jacob found himself in at the beginning of our Old Testament Reading, our 5^th midweek text from Genesis. Jacob was an exile with a restless heart. He had managed to obtain the birthright and blessing that ordinarily would have gone to his older brother, Esau. But he had obtained them by manipulating Esau and deceiving his father, Isaac. When Jacob had learned that Esau was planning to kill him in revenge, he fled for his life. The plan was that he would travel far away to the hometown and relatives of his mother, Rebekah—and would come back if and when his brother’s anger had died down. Jacob had been pursuing blessings on his own terms. But it wasn’t making his life a paradise. In fact, as he now fled in search of safety, it meant leaving behind the Promised Land—which was part of the blessing he had sought. The name Jacob means “deceiver”—and Jacob was finding out that deception and self-promotion can be tiring work. They do not calm a restless heart, and they can’t pry open the door to paradise.

5.                As Jacob traveled, night fell, and he lay down to sleep, using a rock for a pillow. “And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you’ ” (Gen. 28:12–15).

6.                When Jacob had sought blessing on his own, the results had been conflict, fear, and flight. Instead of bringing him peace, it had sent him packing. But now he saw God coming to him and blessing him. The blessings he had sought by cunning were now being given to him as a free gift from the Lord. What he had tried to reach out and grab for himself was now being given him by grace. Because the Lord had come to him, the one who had been running could now sleep in peace. Even as he left his homeland, Jacob knew the Lord would be with him wherever he went and that he would also bring him back home.

 

7.                We can’t make our own way to paradise. But as Jacob saw, there is another answer. God can open heaven and come to us. We can’t build or buy a stairway to heaven unlike what Led Zeppelin says. But God can extend a stairway down from heaven to earth. As God opened heaven and revealed himself to Jacob, he also spoke of how he would open heaven for all of us.

8.                The Lord made the same promises to Jacob that he had made earlier to his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham. Those promises included descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth and a land where God would be with them. But, most importantly, God renewed his greatest promise—the promise of a Descendant (an Offspring) through whom all nations would be blessed.

9.                In our Gospel reading, we see that promised Offspring—and we hear him point back to the dream God had given Jacob in our text. As Jesus was beginning to call his disciples, he said to his newest disciple, Nathanael, and to the other disciples who were with him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (Jn 1:51). Here, Jesus directs our attention back to Jacob’s dream of a stairway to heaven—and he opens our eyes to see by faith that he is the fulfillment of that dream. Jesus is the true stairway to heaven. He is the one who unites heaven and earth. He is the one who brings the riches of heaven to us—and who brings us to heaven.

10.             We can’t work our way up to God, but in Christ, God comes down to us. He came down from heaven to earth in his incarnation, as the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. He willingly made his home with us in this sin-stricken world so that we can one day be at home with him in Paradise. And to open the doors to Paradise for us, he let the doors of heaven be slammed shut on him as he was forsaken in our place on the cross. There Jesus bore in his body all our sins—and as the just judgment for those sins, he suffered the exile of being cut off from all the comforts of heaven and cut off from life itself. By passing through that judgment in our place—by his suffering and death—Christ opened to us the way of eternal life.

11.             In fact, not only has he made a way for us. He himself is the way. Jesus Christ is the way to paradise. He is the stairway to heaven (John 14:6). All those who have Christ have the doors of heaven thrown open for them—and those doors will not be closed. That’s why you don’t have to worry about trying to find a way to reach paradise. The other religions of this world all try to tell you what you have to do to make your way to paradise. But the Christian Gospel is entirely different. Christianity is a “down to earth” religion in that it gives you the good news of God coming down to earth so that you don’t have to try to climb up to him. He comes to you and freely gives to you himself and all that is his—so that in him, paradise is yours, and your heart can be at rest.

12.             When Augustine described mankind’s longing by saying that “our hearts are restless,” he also pointed to where the rest that we need can be found. He said to the Lord, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” In Christ, we do have rest for our souls—and in him, the paradise that we lost by our sin is ours by God’s grace. We rest in the peace of Christ now, in the comfort of the Gospel and in the Lord’s Supper as a foretaste of the feast to come. One day we will be with Christ in the Paradise of heaven as we rest from labors. And ultimately, we will experience the fullness of Paradise when Christ comes again in glory to make all things new—making a new heaven and new earth where God and man will live together in Paradise in perfect fellowship. It will be very good—and it will be that way forever. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ, Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.