“Practice Prophetic Patience!” JAMES 5.7-11 ADVENT 3A, DEC. ‘13

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 contrast between the first and second readings on this Third Sunday of Advent couldn’t be stronger. Isaiah chapter 35 paints a picture of the parched land exulting, the desert blooming, and the whole earth rejoicing. In contrast, James encourages the early Christians to stand firm, not to judge one another, but to bear each other’s faults and failings with patience. Isaiah has a theology of exuberance, James a theology of patient endurance.  The message today is entitled, “Practice Prophetic Patience!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  As Christians, we’re invited to live fully in both these realities. We’re invited into the paradoxical place of joy and sorrow, of a grace-filled vocation and the daily grind of duty; of the earth bursting with abundance and the dry-as-dust times when the farmer can barely eke out a living.  This Third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, a command to “rejoice.”  The pink candle on our Advent wreath points us to this. Even in this penitential season of preparation and expectation, we’re commanded to rejoice. Don’t get too serious about your fasting and your prayers, because the birth of Christ is just around the corner.

3.                  James 5.7-11 says, “7Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

4.                  Many of us grew up with the phrase “Patience is a virtue.” It comes to mind as we read the opening words of the text from James: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.” James compares the patience he encourages to the patience of the farmer who waits for “the early and the late rains.” Then, as the passage ends at verse 10, James connects patience with suffering: “As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” What do patience, suffering, and farming have to do with one another and with the season of Advent?  How is James calling us to practice prophetic patience?

5.                  In what circumstances is it appropriate to urge people to be patient? When is patience a virtue? Certain kinds of work require patience. The woodworker refinishing a piece of furniture, the jewelry repairer fixing a broken clasp, the quilter carefully stitching fabric, the accountant running trial balances to make sure all records are accurate: all of these must work patiently, because precision and accuracy are demanded by the work they do. Learning various things often requires patience: years of finger exercises precede playing Bach or Mozart; time on the driving range is needed to master a good golf swing; memorization and repetition are required to learn any new language. All of us understand this kind of patience—the “practice makes-perfect” kind.

6.                  Patience can also be a virtue in situations where waiting is required and where one is powerless to change the circumstances: sitting in the car on the freeway during rush hour, standing in the security line at the airport, waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store at 5:00 p.m. with a checker who is learning how to run the cash register. In these situations, there’s an unavoidable delay. Try as we may, we can exert no control over some important factors in our lives. You can either get angry and fret and feel your blood pressure rise, or you can be patient. This aggravating wait will be familiar to everyone as well.

7.                  Some people may even tell us about how nostalgia and warmth in this joyous holiday season bring out the best in humanity. But don’t we also notice how the stress of these hectic days brings out the worst in human nature? People embarrass themselves and the rest of us by drinking to excess at holiday parties. They push and shove through the stores. And when you get behind these people in the checkout line, they take forever, don’t they? Fumbling with their wallets, talking with the cashier about things unrelated to the business at hand, completely unconcerned about the rest of us who are held up behind them.

8.                  So James urges us to practice prophetic patience while many people grow impatient of waiting (v 7a).  So many get distracted by the busyness of their lives and the pleasures of the world.  Jesus loses his appeal. Jesus seems so far away that it’s easy to lose him as we live our hectic lives. In the parable of the sower Jesus warned us that this would happen: “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures” (Lk 8:14). Just before our sermon text, James utters this stern warning to the rich: “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence” (5:5).  The things of this world, of immediate gratification, not eternal things, things worth waiting for, are consuming them. And even within James’s congregation, there are growing signs of impatience: members grumbling against one another (v 9a), impatient with each others’ faults, placing blame, groaning as if their fellow believers were simply intolerable to be around. Though we live by the Spirit, we’re still sinners and get on each other’s nerves.

9.                  Some even abandon the faith altogether. “Oh, well, I can always repent later” is the attitude of many. “I’ve got plenty of time,” they think, having long ago lost any awareness that they’re waiting for a returning Lord. Many leave Jesus behind in their pursuit of immoral pleasures. Those who do face God’s judgment: an eternity of punishment in hell.

10.              But, James calls us to practice prophetic patience. As the farmer must be patient waiting for the harvest, so we must be patient. The farmer knows that God will bring a harvest in due time. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Is 55:10–11 ESV). And the rains do come—the autumn rains, the spring rains. They do come.

11.              At least for the farmer they usually come. As we wait for Jesus, we have watering and feeding that are even more certain. We have God’s grace, given in the means of grace. By God’s grace, strengthened by his Word and Sacraments, we patiently continue on with our faith. We believe and trust in Jesus as the one and only Savior from sin and eternal death. Jesus is the only one who can save us and give us eternal life. He suffered and died on his cross so that we could have forgiveness of our sins and be restored with God. No one else can do for us what he has. No one else can save! We cling to his cross, for he alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one will come to the Father except by him.   Like a seed, Jesus was planted in the ground by burial after his atoning death on the cross. Then, like a dead seed that is watered, he sprang to life in his resurrection on the third day. He’s the firstfruits of those who die in the faith and await the final harvest: resurrection of the dead.

12.              James tells us to practice prophetic patience because he points us to the second coming of Christ (ESV): “Be patient . . . until the coming of the Lord” (v 7). “The coming of the Lord is at hand” (v 8). “The Judge is standing at the door” (v 9).  When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, he’ll gather us into his eternal Kingdom like a good farmer harvesting his wheat. In the new heaven and the new earth, there will no more sin or crying or pain. In view of this great day that is soon to come, the Lord strengthens us by his Word.  That means living together as brothers and sisters who await the very same glorious day. Not living selfishly, immorally, for earthly riches and pleasures. Not grumbling against one another. Christ lives in you by faith, and he works powerfully in you, influencing your thoughts and actions. He moves you to see others in a good light and not complain about them. In this way we love God so that we love our neighbor, “defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way” (Explanation of the Eighth Commandment). In this way, we use the blessings we’ve received to bless others, sharing, sacrificing, as we await eternal riches.

13.              And as we practice prophetic patience, we sow the seeds of those eternal riches as well. James calls us to take as an example of patience the Old Testament prophets. They “spoke in the name of the Lord” (v 10 ESV), even as they were enduring suffering. Truth be told, there’s only one thing we’re really waiting for. That is, for all those Jesus will call to eternal life to have heard that call. There’s only one task truly upon us as we wait: to speak, live, witness the name of the Lord. To prepare others for the harvest that’s coming, that’s near.

14.              Jesus has made a promise to all of us: “I shall return.” He will keep that promise. He will return. We don’t know exactly when, but our text assures us that his coming is near.   Until our Lord Jesus returns, you and I practice prophetic patience. We will keep building ourselves up in the faith through God’s Word and Sacraments. By God’s grace, we will endeavor to stop grumbling about others. And, by God’s grace, we will continue to proclaim the Gospel so that many more people will be found in the faith on the day when Jesus returns. We practice prophetic patience waiting for our Lord Jesus’ return. Amen.

“O Come, Adonai” Isaiah 33.22 Advent Midweek 2 Dec. ‘13

1.              Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “You always lose something in the translation.” That’s what people say.  Once at a Lutheran Church in Texas a native Spanish speaker once gave a long prayer at a special dinner held by the congregation. Then the prayer was translated into English. Somehow, the English translation wasn’t as long as the Spanish original. Why?  The translator explained that he couldn’t remember everything that had been said in Spanish, so he gave the Reader’s Digest version in English. The Reader’s Digest version is what we have in the English translation of stanza 3 of the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

2.             In the Middle Ages, stanza 3 was sung in Latin at Vespers in the monasteries on Dec 18, six days before Christmas Eve. Each day of the week before Christmas, one stanza of the hymn would be sung, ending on Christmas Eve with what today is stanza 1.  But the translation has been changed. Rev. John Mason Neale, who translated the Latin into the modern version, was working with four line stanzas, so he couldn’t fit everything in. Our version today says:  “O Come, O come, Thou Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height In ancient times didst give the Law In cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel  Shall come to thee, O Israel!” (LSB 357:3)  Rev. Neale’s version is fine. But, the original Latin version, based on Is 33:22, literally goes on to say, “Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us.” I’d say that’s a big omission, especially from a Lutheran point of view. Isn’t that how we want Jesus to come?  Come, Lord, with an Outstretched Arm to Redeem Us.

3.             Rev. Neale left that part out, but we won’t.  “Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us.”  Our text, Is 33:22: “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.” Even the name of the one who comes is significant. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. In English, we sing, “O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might.” “Lord of might” is an English translation of the Hebrew, Adonai. Adonai is the name for God used here and in the Latin version of our hymn. It’s the third most common name of God in the Old Testament.  Interestingly, like another name for God, Elohim, Adonai is plural. So we could sing, “O come, Thou Lords of Might.” But we don’t, and why not?

4.             If anything is clear in the Bible, it’s that there’s one God, not many. “You shall have no other gods before me,” Yahweh thunders from Mount Sinai in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:3). In Deut 6:4 we’re taught, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Then in Is 43:11, God speaks, saying, “I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.”  The Bible wants us to know there’s only one God. So what do we do with names of God that are plural like Elohim and Adonai in stanza 3 of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”?

5.             Maybe you’ve heard Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain say something like, “We have decided” to do this or that. Everyone knows there’s only one queen, but when she speaks she refers to herself as “we.” Elohim and Adonai are plural because they reflect the revelation of God as the Holy Trinity, one God who always exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So when we sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” for Adonai to come with an outstretched arm to deliver us, we pray that the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—would come to save us. And he does! In the person of Jesus, Adonai comes in all the ways we pray for him to come in stanza 3.

6.             “The Lord is our king,” Isaiah says. “O come, Thou Lord of might,” we sing.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, the same God who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush joins himself to a human body in the womb of the Virgin Mary and is born in Bethlehem as King of Israel and heir to the throne of David. And since the true Israel includes all the redeemed who make up the Church, Jew and Gentile alike, this prayer is already answered. The King born to Mary rules at this moment through his Word and Sacraments in the hearts of all who welcome him by faith.

7.             Adonai, the Lord, comes also as Lawgiver: “On Sinai’s height, In ancient times didst give the Law, In cloud and majesty and awe.” When he appears to Moses on Mount Sinai, Adonai reveals his Law. He carves it on stone and hands them to Moses, who brings them down the mountain for Israel to learn and obey.  But, when Moses comes back, Israel is already ignoring the Lord, so Moses smashes the tablets.  If I were Moses, I think I’d have thought twice about that. After smashing the Ten Commandments, which God had engraved with his own finger, Moses doesn’t have them anymore. He climbs all the way back up the mountain to get another set. The Law of God on tablets of stone doesn’t seem to have much effect on God’s people. They pretty much ignore it and go their own way. What’s needed isn’t the Law of God written externally on stone, but the Law written on human hearts.

8.             And that’s what Adonai does when he comes to each of us personally. When you and I are baptized into Jesus, we’re filled with the Holy Spirit. Alive to God through the Means of Grace—Word and Sacraments—the Holy Spirit begins writing the Law of God on our hearts. So then it’s no longer just commands engraved on stone tablets, but it’s the new delight embedded in the flesh of our own renewed hearts.  Things are different, now that Adonai has come and we’ve been baptized into him. Now God’s Law is written on our conscience. Now Adonai rules from within us. So, a prophecy of Isaiah is partially fulfilled: “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (Is 11:9). I say partially, because complete fulfillment awaits the return of Christ on the Last Day.

9.             But, we also pray that Adonai will come with “outstretched arm and redeem us.” That’s the part that Rev. Mason’s translation leaves out. The Lord of Might terrified Moses in the burning bush and terrified the children of Israel with threats, lightning, thunder, and smoke on Mt Sinai. But, this Lord is also the God who redeems his people.  Can you think of some examples of the outstretched arm redeeming God’s people? In Exodus, God’s people are saved when they are caught between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army. The people cry out to God, and the Lord tells Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.” Moses stretches out his hand over the sea, “and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind . . . and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground” (Ex 14:15–16, 21–22). That’s the strong outstretched arm of the Lord redeeming his people.  Later, the Israelites are attacked by Amalek in Exodus 17. Joshua and the army go out to fight, and when Moses raises his arm, the army of Israel prevails. That’s the strong outstretched arm of the Lord redeeming his people.

10.         But, that was all in the Old Testament. Where do we find the outstretched arm of the Lord coming to redeem his people in the Gospels? It’s two outstretched arms, beaten and bruised arms, bloody and dirty arms, arms nailed to the cross. It’s the arms of Jesus, Adonai, who has come to redeem us through the shedding of his own blood on the cross. Humiliated as a common criminal, our Lord Jesus allows himself to be crucified, that you and I are delivered from the slavery of sin. That’s the strong outstretched arm of the Lord redeeming his people.

11.         A sainted Lutheran professor at one of our church body’s seminaries, Dr. Robert Preus, once told his class about an encounter he had with a person who described himself as “born again”—someone who thinks that unless you remember the day you invited Jesus into your heart, you aren’t really a Christian. This person asked Dr. Preus, “When were you saved?” Dr. Preus thought for a moment and said, “I was saved when in eternity past God elected me in Christ. I was saved when Jesus died for my sins on the cross. I was saved when as a baby I was baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I was saved each time I heard this again and believed. I was saved when I received the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of my sins. I will be saved when I am with Christ in heaven. And I will be saved when Jesus comes in power and glory at the end of the age to raise me and all the dead.”  I hope the person who asked Dr. Preus got the point. Being saved doesn’t depend on the moment you ask Jesus into your heart. Being saved is everything God has done for you in Jesus from his electing love in eternity past to when Jesus comes in power and glory at the Last Day to raise the dead and restore his creation. 

12.         This last part of Adonai’s outstretched redeeming arm we also look forward to as we sing stanza 3 of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” You and I aren’t in heaven yet, though we can taste it in Holy Communion when we partake of the Paschal Feast surrounded by saints and angels in heaven. And we have not yet seen Jesus come visibly in glory, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, to redeem us from this fallen world and take us into the perfect world that awaits us. 

13.         But that day will come, because it’s God’s plan and because he answers all prayers that are asked in accordance with his will (1 Jn 5:14). Confident this is God’s will because he tells us in his written Word, we pray boldly these words from a more literal translation of the Latin O Antiphon for today:  “O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, And gave him the Law on Sinai: Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.”  Prayer:  O Adonai, mighty Lord and Ruler of the Church, come as you have promised with outstretched arm. By the cross of Jesus and his resurrection, redeem us from all the sin, death, and darkness of this world, that we might enter the holiness, life, and light of your kingdom. In his name we pray. Amen.

“IN CHRIST WE HAVE HOPE” Romans 15:4–13, Advent 2C ‘13

1.       In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this 2^nd Sunday in Advent is taken from Romans 15:4-13 and it’s entitled, “In Christ We Have Hope,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      A small boy says to a grocery clerk: “Do you have any Advent?” Clerk: “I don’t think so—what is it?” Boy: “I don’t know either; but Mom says we can’t have Christmas till we have Advent.” Advent is the time when we get ready for the coming of Jesus, his coming at Bethlehem, his coming to our hearts, and his coming at the end of the world. We have to wait a few more weeks to celebrate his coming at Bethlehem, and we don’t know how long we have to wait for his final coming at the end of time. All we know is that we learn to wait by his coming to our hearts every day. Today’s Epistle from Romans says that God gives us hope as we wait, for we know that in Christ we have hope. St. Paul mentions hope four times in these few verses.

3.      In the movie City Slickers three men in midlife crisis are searching to find themselves and their place in life. At one point Mitch, the character played by Billy Crystal, turns to his boss and says, “Have you ever reached a point in your life where you say to yourself, “This is the best I’m ever gonna look, this is the best I’m ever gonna feel, this is the best I’m ever gonna do, and it ain’t so great”? Later in the movie his friend made a similar assessment, “At this point in life, where you are is where you are.” But no matter where we are or where we have been in our lives, through Christ God can give us a new beginning, a new life of faith and hope.  In Christ we have hope.

4.      It’s hope that helps us wait to celebrate Christmas and hope that sustains our faith as we wait for his coming again.  But, Hope may seem elusive in our modern world. “A thing with feathers that perches in the soul,” Emily Dickinson called it. For many of us, hope may be something of a last resort. It’s what we do after all our planning and preparing is done. It’s what we do if we can’t fix whatever the problem is. Such a perspective puts us at the center of the universe, of course, and God is what is there to take up the slack.  But, for others, hope is buying a lottery ticket or going to the casino. It’s imagining that there’s some force in the universe that will come to our rescue and give us what we think we want. We may call this “luck” or “fate” or “chance.” Whatever it is, it depends on the random event that falls our way and that just maybe will change our lives for the better.  We may also use the word hope this way like, “I hope to finish this job today,” or “I hope the rain won’t spoil our picnic.” That use of hope leaves considerable room for doubt and uncertainty as to whether these desires will come to be.

5.      Neither of these meanings fits with Paul’s intention in this passage. For Paul, “hope” is more like “trust.” The ground for hope is neither the last resort nor random chance. The ground is God: the God of “steadfastness and encouragement,” the “God of hope.” Because God is the guarantor of whatever is promised, the believer may live with complete confidence. What God has said, is what will be.  There is none of that uncertainty in what Paul is saying here.  Hope is conviction for the Christian. Our hope as Christians that Paul talks about is more. It’s being sure that what we expect will happen. Joy and peace from God come “as you trust in him.” Hence Paul intends hope to mean “sure and certain confidence.” We might paraphrase the verse as follows: “May the God who gives certainty fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with sure confidence worked by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  In Christ we have hope.

6.      But, the reality is that we live our lives in a fallen, sinful world that’s often full of hopelessness and despair. A great irony of the weeks leading up to Christmas is that, while the air is filled with messages of peace and goodwill, we often struggle more profoundly with depression and despair.  For some of us, Christmas will be hard because of our grief. Someone near and dear to us has died, and there will be an empty place at the dinner table Christmas Day.  For some of us, Christmas will be difficult because of our brokenness. Images of family harmony around the Christmas tree remind us that our lives are often not like that at all. Enmity and strife often accompany family members to their Christmas celebrations.  But, still for all of us, each day is made hopeless because of our sinfulness. The storms of life don’t just come upon us from the outside; they more often are things of our own creation, as we in thought, word, and deed rebel against our God and our neighbor.  We don’t love God with our whole heart and we often fail to love our neighbor as ourselves.

7.      The Christians in Rome also knew about times of hopelessness & despair living in a sinful world.  They were a small group in the midst of an often hostile environment.  They struggled with the tension between Jewish and Gentile Christians.  They were threatened by any number of false teachers who intended to lure them away from the faith by their smooth talk and faithless deceptions.  These first-century Christians in Rome were ever in danger of slipping into hopelessness and final despair.  In the same way, the difficulties of life can lead us away from God and into hopelessness and despair.  The sadnesses even at Christmas can cause us to doubt that God is with us at all.  Then instead of being generous, caring for others, we focus on ourselves. We turn inward.

8.      But, our Lord doesn’t wish us to fall into despair and hopelessness, instead he calls the Roman Christians and us to see that in Christ we have hope! Paul assures us that even in the midst of the difficulties of life in a sinful and fallen world, God gives us hope in Jesus, the Root of Jesse.  Yes, God gives us hope in that Root of Jesse.  Hope is possible even in the difficulties of life because our hope isn’t of our own creation; it’s not just a pious sentiment.  Any “hope” we create is always subject to conditions around us, and in dark times, it fades.  But the hope Paul describes is different.  Our hope is a gift of the Holy Spirit (v 13).  God himself is “the God of hope.”  In Christ we have hope. 

9.      It’s the Holy Spirit’s nature to give hope.  This hope is as sure as its foundation—the sure and certain Word of God (v 4).  That’s how the Holy Spirit gives it. He inspired the Scriptures, “written in former days,” to assure us of God’s care.  There’s no question that God will bring us through the difficulties of life. The question is how? And the answer is found where the Word of God points us.  That Word points us to the Root of Jesse, the ultimate sign of hope (v 12).  Jesus entered this sinful and fallen world to give his life for our sins, including our despair and hopelessness.  The risen Christ comes to us today to bring new life. The Root of Jesse springs forth in our lives. He’s our hope—for comfort in grief, for harmony in brokenness, for forgiveness of sin!

10.  This hope opens us up to welcome and love one another so that together we abound in hope (vv 5–7). As Jewish Christians in Rome learned that Christ was the hope also of Gentiles (vv 8–12), so we embrace all people as heirs of Christ’s hope.

11.  We’re having Advent, as the boy in the grocery store put it. But we know that Christmas will come, and that Christ will come again. We wait, for in Christ we have hope.  Dear friends, it’s real, and it’s for you! In the difficulties of our lives we might at times have trouble even imagining that this hope exists, but it’s ours in Christ, free for the taking, a priceless treasure from the realm of God’s redeeming love. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope!  In Christ we have hope. Amen.

“O Come, Wisdom” Isaiah 11.2, Advent Midweek 1, Dec. ‘13

1.    Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Everybody has Christmas lists. Before the internet, the most waited-for item in the mailbox every fall was the Sears Roebuck Christmas catalog. My, how kids looked for it! Maybe you were one of them. In some houses, the arrival of the toy catalog meant a riot. Brothers and sisters would fight over it. The first one to get his hands on it would take it into the bathroom, lock the door, and devour the pages.  As much as children would beg their parents for all those Sears catalog toys, for countless centuries God’s people prayed for the coming of their Savior. And for more than a thousand years since the Savior, has come, Christians have sung a similar prayer. We know and love it as, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”  “O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.  Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel!” (LSB 357:2) 

2.    The hymn is very old, maybe written in the days of Charlemagne, the 800s, well over a thousand years ago and revised from time to time over the centuries. But, the version we’re singing is the one translated beginning in 1851 by Rev. John Mason Neale, an Anglican clergyman. He tweaked the song a bit, till in 1857 it became the version many people love today.  How we got the song isn’t the most important thing, the prayer in each stanza is. It’s these important prayers that really ought to be on our Christmas wish list, such as the prayer of stanza 2:  “O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who ord’rest all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show, And teach us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!” (LSB 357:2)  I don’t remember as a child praying for wisdom, (I think my parents would have wanted me to though). But that’s what we sing for tonight:  O Come, Thou Wisdom from on High.

3.    What you and I really need for Christmas isn’t something from the toy catalog or the electronics store or “my two front teeth” or even “the doggie in the window.” What we need is “Wisdom from on high.” When we think of wisdom, most of us think in terms of making right decisions or being able to know right from wrong. And, that’s part of what wisdom is about.  In his epistle, James encourages those who lack wisdom to pray for it, but to pray in faith. James goes on to say that every good and perfect gift, such as wisdom, “is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (1:17).  But, Scripture also speaks of wisdom as though it were a person. In Solomon’s Book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as the Lord’s master builder, with him marking out the foundations of the earth, and as the one who gives enduring wealth and righteousness better than gold (Prov 8:12–31).

4.    Ch 11 of Isaiah gives rise to much of what we find in “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” According to Isaiah, the promised Messiah comes from the family of Jesse, father of David, and is anointed by the “Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (11:2).  So what do we make of this? When we put these lessons together, we learn that true wisdom is inseparable from the person Jesus Christ. When someone knows Jesus by faith, he’s found wisdom. Jesus, John tells us, is the very Word of God through whom all things were made (Jn 1:1–3). Jesus is the divine Wisdom through whom God made, sustains, and saves his creation.

5.    This Wisdom from God, Jesus Christ, is the Messiah the people of God in times past always longed for, whom the prophets foretold. He’s the descendant of David, the son of Jesse, the promised King. But the royal family tree of Jesse became a stump when Assyria and Babylon conquered Israel and Judah. The sons of the last king were killed and the people exiled. How could a new king sprout from a dead royal stump? God would make it happen, the prophets promised.  And God did, when Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, into the house of David, being the adopted Son of Joseph, a member of the royal family! But how would the world know Jesus was the heir, the promised shoot growing from the stump? “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (Is 11:2).

6.    And that happened too. When?  At Jesus’ Baptism! At the Jordan River, as John baptized Jesus, the Bible tells us the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son” (Mt 3:17).  “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” stanza 2, prays for wisdom. But, it turns out that the wisdom God wants to give us isn’t just the ability to make good decisions or know right from wrong. Instead, it’s a person, Jesus, the Wisdom of God. So when we pray for wisdom, God answers that prayer by sending us Jesus. He’s the Wisdom we need.

7.    Have you seen the billboards along the highway that say “Jesus is the answer”? It’s true. The answer to our prayer for wisdom is Jesus. But, how can he be the answer to prayer? What if my life is a mess? What if my personal relationships are getting me into trouble? What if I can’t figure out my priorities? What if I can’t sort out right from wrong? Sometimes things aren’t that clear. What then? What if I need a job and I’m blessed with more than one opportunity? What if I’m tempted to do wrong in order to pay the bills? What if I’m tempted to do wrong just because I think it’ll be fun? How is Jesus the answer?

8.    It may seem that we need specific wisdom for each of these situations. But not really. All we need is the wisdom that is Jesus, God’s perfect gift. When we’re joined to Jesus through faith, when we’re buried with him through Baptism into his death, burial, and resurrection, when through Baptism we’re covered with the righteousness of Christ and filled with his Spirit, we have all the Wisdom we need.  How can that be? The hymn tells us. It says Jesus Christ, “ord’rest all things mightily.” Faith in Jesus sees the divine order of things the song speaks of and knows what to think and do. Our world and life aren’t just a confused mess when we realize that everything is ordered by God’s Wisdom. Somehow, everything fits into the wise plan of God, who works all things out for the good of everyone who loves him (Rom 8:28).

9.    The hymn would have us pray, “To us the path of knowledge show.” How does Jesus show us the path of knowledge? Through the Word of God. Proverbs is a great place to start finding that path! But even more than in Proverbs, we see God’s Wisdom in the Gospels. In them Jesus shows us the path of knowledge through his words, life, his saving work on the cross, and the empty tomb. In Jesus, God reveals his priorities, how to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, true from false. And God’s priority is that he’s at peace with you. That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection achieved. Your sin, which disordered everything and threw God’s perfect creation and our relationship with him into chaos, has been forgiven, so that we’re once again with him. All is once again right with the world.  Jesus is God’s Wisdom with flesh on it, Wisdom we could have seen and touched had we been at the manger in Bethlehem, Wisdom we can taste in the Lord’s Supper. 

10.But, God’s Wisdom from on high is more than having your heart and mind filled with the knowledge of Jesus.  Most people forget that Advent isn’t just about the coming of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem. It’s only been in recent centuries that we’ve focused on that.  Historically, Advent was about preparing for the coming of God’s Son in judgment on the Last Day. Advent used to be a darker season for contemplation of the wrath of God, a season for repentance from sin and for fasting. Christmas and Epiphany have always been the bright, happy seasons, not Advent. So praying for the coming of God’s Wisdom from on high isn’t just about welcoming a baby, but it’s about welcoming the Judge of the world who comes to destroy evil and make his creation new again.

11.Praying for God’s Wisdom to come from on high is to pray that we’ll be ready like the wise virgins in a story Jesus tells. You remember that story in Mt 25, don’t you? Ten virgins are waiting with lamps to meet the bridegroom. Soon he’ll be passing by in a joyful wedding procession that they hope to join. Five of the virgins are foolish, and five are wise, we’re told. The foolish virgins bring their lamps but no oil. The ones with wisdom, the wise virgins, bring both.  The bridegroom’s procession is delayed and the virgins fall asleep. Finally, the cry comes at midnight, “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him” (25:6). There’s a crisis. Of the ten virgins, only the five wise ones have oil to light their path and join the procession. “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out” (25:8), the foolish virgins beg the wise. But the wise virgins refuse, saying if they do, they won’t have enough for themselves.  So the foolish virgins go shopping for oil at midnight. Meanwhile the bridegroom and the procession pass by, the wise virgins join in, and they all enter the wedding hall for the feast. Everyone, except those five who lacked wisdom. Showing up late, they find themselves locked out. “Lord, lord, open to us” (25:11), they plead, but the door is shut. “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” (25:12), the bridegroom says from the other side.

12.What does this mean for us? What wisdom are we to gain from it? Jesus tells us: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (25:13). What is Jesus talking about? The day and hour he returns, the day he comes to condemn the unprepared foolish but to welcome the faithful wise into his eternal kingdom. You, my friends, are those wise to enter heaven, for you have Jesus, God’s Wisdom from on high, who by his death on the cross has reordered all things for your eternity with him. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:20).

13.                       Please pray with me.  Gracious Father in heaven, teach us to know that true Wisdom is your Son, Jesus Christ, who comes to us from on high. By your Word and Spirit, enable us to welcome him by faith on the day he comes in power and glory, that we might be received into your eternal kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

“The Advent Call- Wake Up!” (Romans 13.11-14) Advent 1A Dec. ‘13

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.  Happy Advent to you all!  During the Advent season, we as the church prepare for the coming of Christ. Even as we make ready for the baby to be born in Bethlehem, the epistle reading from Romans 13, this first Sunday of Advent, takes us beyond the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to a new moment of expectancy as the Day of Christ approaches and the rule of God is made fully manifest.  Here in Romans 13 the Apostle Paul reminds us that 1). The night is nearly over 2). The day is almost here, 3). So we as Christians are preparing ourselves accordingly.  The message is entitled, “The Advent Call—Wake Up!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      Because Advent proclaims that Christ is here we as Christians are called to wake up.   Jesus is here to see whatever it is we’re wearing.  None of us could endorse the theology of the song, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” There’s that terrible sense of works-righteousness—“He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sakes! Oh, you better watch out!”  Who could possibly have their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds?  We can’t save ourselves by our own works the Bible tells us in Ephesians 2.  But, especially troubling is the image of Santa seeing you when you’re sleeping, knowing when you’re awake. Scary! Do we forget that the one who really came at Christmas does see everything we do, does know everything we think?   We wouldn’t want Jesus to see us clothed in some of the rags of sin we wear.  Romans 13:11-14 says, “¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹²The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

3.      It’s no wonder that most people lie in spiritual darkness because they remain in their sins and seek their heaven on earth.   Unfortunately, this applies not only to poor, blind unbelievers, but also to most baptized, so-called Christians.  They don’t understand how frightful sin is.  That the life of a baptized Christian is a life lived of repentance, daily confessing our sins before God and receiving from Jesus forgiveness.  The Bible tells us that each sin, no matter how small earns hell and eternal damnation.  They also don’t know how blessed are those who cling to God alone, possess His grace, and stand in communion with Him.  Few of those who are surrounded by the dark night are ashamed, even if they wear the most wretched clothes, the clothes of repeated sinfulness.

4.      It’s different for us Christians in how we live.  We live as the people who are awake to the sinful world around us.  Of us Christians it is said, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.”  In the heart of such a Christian, the natural darkness is fading and the day of the knowledge of salvation has dawned.  Jesus Himself has risen in our hearts as the bright morning star.  We as Christians know what sin is.  When we were converted to Christ, we recognized that sin is a horrible offense to God.  You experienced the torment of conscience on account of your sin and you understood that sin separated you from God, stirring up his wrath.  No man can atone for his own sins, and for that reason God’s Son had to die on the cross.

5.      We as Christians have also learned that the whole world, with all its glory, can’t make anyone happy, can’t provide peace and rest, and can’t comfort in a time of trouble.  God alone, with His grace and His Son’s body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins, is the highest good of man.  Isn’t this an urgent reason for us Christians to awaken from the sleep of sin and to walk in a new life?  Yes!  Just as a man can’t remain in his bedclothes when the night is over, we as Christians, in our hearts where the light of Christ has dawned, can’t continue to wear the night clothes of sin.  We must instead strive to live in our baptisms and live the holy and God pleasing life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

6.      Take to heart the phrases that St. Paul uses here in Romans 13, “The night is gone; the day is at hand”; “the darkness, the light”; “clothe yourself with the armor, clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” The imagery here is rich with the themes of Advent. Light and dark strike home this time of year as the days grow darker and it appears as if the sun is about to die. Ancient pagans, that is non-Christians, used to celebrate the death of the light and its dawn at the winter solstice through feasting and drunkenness. Christians certainly were tempted to join the festivities with its orgies and drunkenness. Darkness knows no boundaries or points of reference in reality, and so we stumble around, intoxicated, not knowing where we are going because we can’t see. We give in to the desires of the sinful flesh because we think that in the darkness no one can see our sins. So adultery and sex outside of marriage abounds, and our unfaithfulness breeds quarreling and jealousy. Chaos ensues.  Who can deny that the goddess of sex has taken over the entertainment world of today? The homage which is paid to her has had a corrupting influence on morality in our society. It also constitutes a real danger for us who are Christians.  Today there are those in the church who want to say that same sex marriage is ok, that living together before marriage is fine, that it’s ok to divorce your spouse for no reason, simply because you’ve grown tired of him or her.  But, all of these things are condemned in Scripture.  The works of darkness throw us into a frenzy. No laws, everything goes. Lawlessness rules.  Advent, is the time to clothe ourselves with Christ,

7.   “Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding! ‘Christ is near,’ we hear it say. ‘Cast away the works of darkness, All you children of the day!’ ” (LW 18:1).  So many things we “wear” are things we do as if cloaked in darkness, things we’d never want anyone to see, certainly not Christ.  Do we use his name “Jesus Christ!” as if he really weren’t right here in the room to answer, to include in the conversation?  Do we act in the backseat of a car on dates in a way we wouldn’t if Jesus were in the front seat?  Do we go behind a friend’s back with gossip or undercut him at work as we never would if Jesus were back there watching?  Our coming Savior does see all our works as in broad daylight.  Paul knows we don’t wish to be seen that way.

8.        Jesus has invaded our darkness and shines a light in our dark world and exposes our hidden sins. In the light we see the ugliness of our chaos. Like those who come to John the Baptist for repentance we ask: “But what are we to do?” Paul makes it simple: Throw off those old clothes of darkness and put on the armor of light. That’s why Christians celebrate Christmas at the very moment when the pagans were sunk in the depths of their depravity. We as Christians proclaim to the world: “Let us celebrate the dawn of Jesus Christ, the true light of the world, born in Bethlehem.” And so we put on the Lord Jesus Christ and become what he intended us to be—children of the light.

9.      During this Advent season we want to wear the day clothes of Jesus because we want him to see us as he is.  We desire to behave decently as in the day.  To honor Christ in word and deed, to drink deeply of his Spirit in the Holy Scriptures and at his Table.  To honor him with our bodies and take him wherever we go.  To walk in peace with all those around us, as he himself is holding our hands.  Christ is all of this . . . perfectly.  The Holy One of God, the name that is above every name, the Word that was always loving.  The Holy One who laid down his body, gave his blood to be shed, for our eternal good, never for his own pleasure.  The Prince of Peace who reconciled God to man and man to each other by his sacrifice on the cross.  That’s what it looks like being clothed with Christ.

10.  Now, Advent, is the time to clothe ourselves with Christ, to wake up and put on our day clothes.  Because Advent proclaims that Christ is in you (v 14).  In Galatians, Paul reminds us that “all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (3:27).  That has happened; it’s a done deal.  Everything that Jesus accomplished by his first coming, his perfect life, sacrificial death, glorious resurrection, has been given to you in your Baptism.  You are clothed with Christ by your Baptism.  You are righteous, beautifully dressed for the eternal celebration.  You are people of light performing deeds of light.  By your Baptism, Christ is in you—and he is seen in you.  Paul’s Advent wake-up call, then, is simply to live as the people we are, to walk where we are destined to go.

11.  Dear friends in Christ this is the Advent Call to Wake Up, Jesus is near to us! He is here with us because we are clothed with him and you sit at his Holy Table. The light of Christ has dawned! Listen to that thrilling voice, calling you to wake up, cast off the works of darkness, and clothe yourselves with light.  Amen.

“To Be Content- Four Options” Philippians 4.10-13 Thanksgiving Day Nov. ‘13

1.       Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  The message from God’s Word for us this day we give thanks to God for all the good gifts He’s given to us comes from Philippians 4:10-13 and it’s entitled, “To Be Content:  Four Options.”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      About 20 years ago a woman from the Soviet Union visited New York. She was not too impressed by what she saw. She said Moscow also had a large airport and subway system. But when she was taken into a supermarket, she stopped, looked around, and simply broke down and cried.  I think of that woman and people in other countries of the world where there is a shortage of food. Then I think of how discontented I sometimes feel when I can’t find the exact brand of food I want in the supermarket. It makes me feel ashamed, to say the least. I feel even worse when, though living in the plenty, I become envious of what others have.

3.      Here it is Thanksgiving. We all want to be happy, but too often our joys are tinged with apprehension. Will our happiness end before the day is out? That phone ringing—I hope it isn’t an accident; I hope they’re just late. I wonder if someone here today won’t be here next Thanksgiving. I would truly be happy if only . . . Are we so dependent on circumstances that we can’t be content for longer than a short while?

4.      In today’s Epistle we are looking at part of a thank you letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians. Believe it or not, he was in prison or under house arrest when he wrote, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty” (vv 11–12). If we are to be content, we have to be prepared to accept both good and bad. How do we do that?

5.      A woman came to her pastor with a problem. Her husband had bought a small business. After the first ten months, business grew beyond their expectations. “I have a strange feeling. Don’t smile at me, but I almost think I should feel guilty.”  “Why?” asked the pastor.  “I don’t think that we deserve it,” she answered, “and I don’t think we have earned it.”  He thought for a moment and counseled her, “If business is up, thank God. You could sing ‘Now thank we all our God.’ And when business is down, you could sing the Kyrie, ‘Lord, have mercy on us.’ God walks with you in both situations.”

6.      There are three common ways I have observed in which people try to be content.  First, “If I make enough money and invest wisely, I should have more financial security, so at least I won’t have to worry about money. Then I can be content.” Few people would argue with that, but financial security isn’t a secure foundation for contentment. In the parable of the sower, Jesus warned about the danger of “life’s worries, riches and pleasures” choking out our relationship with God (Lk 8:14).  When you think of the pressure of always wanting more, you can understand the popularity of a book like When All You Have Is Not Good Enough. It’s by a rabbi, Harold Kushner, based on his understanding of Ecclesiastes.

7.      The second way a person tries to be content is this:  “If I could think more positively, improve my self-image, be more assertive, and learn how to get other people to do what I want, I would be able to take control of my life, feel good about myself, believe in myself, and achieve what I want. Then I’ll be content.” But if this is your way of seeking contentment, you must ask, “Can I really change myself for the better?” And other questions arise: “Am I seeking happiness at the expense of others? At what price is contentment?”

8.      And the third way people try to be content:  Some people think they’ll be content if they can just escape the whirl of activity and responsibility. “Stop the world; I want to get off.” There’s too much competition. Maybe they’re exhausted. They seek contentment by sitting on the sidelines. But doing so reduces the possibility of sharing God-given gifts and talents with others who need them, and finding the joy that comes from helping others. There’s no real contentment in being passive, is there? 

9.      I suppose we all have experimented with these options from time to time. But discontentment is a spiritual problem. It afflicts rich and poor alike. We may not want to admit we suffer from it. We may ignore it. But for most of us it is a recurring problem, robbing us of joy.

10.  But, there’s a fourth option—another source of contentment, which is described in our text. Where did the apostle find contentment? In the fact that he was forgiven, justified by God because of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to forgive all his sins. For this reason, the apostle Paul had peace with God—a peace that surpassed all human understanding, a peace that didn’t depend upon his circumstances in life.

11.  If we’re discontented, it may mean that we have become disconnected from God, that we’re not at peace with him. We’re connected to God through faith in his Son. “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).  We heard in the first part of the Epistle for today, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v 7). This peace isn’t just a mood or something we talk ourselves into. It’s the forgiveness from God that Jesus has provided at great cost. This peace protects us. We all need a guardian of peace to accompany us through the twists and turns of life.

12.  Here is what Paul wrote to Timothy about peaceful contentment: “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim 6:6–10).  The apostle was content because he had learned the sufficiency of God’s grace. Do you remember how Paul felt about his “thorn in the flesh?” Three times he pleaded with God to take it away; but the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

13.  The power of God to save is found in the weakness of Christ crucified for us. Paul learned to be content even though he often suffered, because he trusted in the Savior who suffered for him. So Paul could say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9–10).

14.  This contentment, this inner peace, lead him to say, “I can do everything through him [Christ] who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13). Certain of Christ’s gracious presence, his strength enables us to resist temptation, overcome anger, forgive, reach out, make peace, outlast evil, to be renewed, survive, and to love again. “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances,” we heard from the apostle Paul.

15.  One of the most beautiful expressions of Christian contentment came from the pen of the hymn writer Horatio Spafford. He lost his family in a sailing voyage across the Atlantic to Europe. It must have taken great determination and love for him later to make the same voyage. But he came to terms with his God and his grief when he wrote these lines (The Other Song Book [Edina, MN: The Fellowship Publications, 1987] 106, stanza 1):  “When peace, like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”  When the soul finds rest in Christ, there is peace, contentment, and strength to deal with anything life may bring. Having Jesus, we have all we’ll ever need. Peace be with you this Thanksgiving.  Amen.

“Are You Weary? Look to Jesus” (Matthew 26:41; Romans 5:1-5) Henry Junge’s Funeral Sermon 12.2.13

1.            In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  At a time of grieving like this, those who are present, and I on behalf of this church, offer your family and all who were close to Henry our deepest sympathy.  May our Lord, who knows your needs, comfort and give you strength and faith to uphold one another.  Today we’re going to look at Matthew 26:41, Henry’s confirmation verse and also at Romans 5:1-5.  In Matthew 26:41 we hear the words of our Lord Jesus who says, “⁴¹Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This verse is fitting for us to look at, since these last few months have been difficult for Henry and his family.  The message is entitled, “Are You Weary?  Look to Jesus.”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.            Henry was a wonderful person to get to know.  I’m thankful that I had the privilege to be his pastor and give to him God’s Words of comfort, forgiveness, and hope in Jesus through His Word and Sacrament.  Henry’s life the last few years wasn’t always easy.  He was losing his memory and having other health issues, but all the while he went through it, Henry knew that Jesus was with him.  His life was a testimony of his Christian faith. The suffering that Henry endured drew him closer to Jesus who suffered in his place through His death on the cross.  Henry knew that when he became weary, he could look to Jesus for strength.

3.            Henry was a kind, humble, gentle and godly man.  He truly was a man of God.  Did you notice in his biography how he lived out his Christian faith, the faith that he received in his baptism.  For Henry, he would have said, “I am baptized, not I was baptized.”  He lived always in the identity of his baptism, living out his Christian faith in serving his neighbor.  I remember very well how Henry helped my wife and I move over 6 years ago from Red Bud to Baldwin as I prepared to be a pastor here at St. John Baldwin.  Hear again some of the things Henry did in his life to show his faith in Christ and love for his neighbor.  He was a Church President of St. John’s Lutheran Church here in Baldwin.  He taught Sunday School and was a Sunday School Superintendent and Trustee, he was a Youth Group Leader here at our Church.  Henry also served his country and local community, he was a member of the American Legion Post 619 in Baldwin, IL, a former member of District 132 School Board, and for his Christian and spiritual leadership he received the American Legion Chaplain Award.  Henry was a World War II Navy Veteran.

4.            That’s what I love about Henry.  He simply lived out the faith that Jesus had given to him through the hearing of God’s Holy Word and the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  One story that I didn’t know about Henry was that for many years he had sent the Sunday School materials that he had been using here at St. John to Ghana, Africa to be used by a Christian missionary there.  Through something as simple as sending Sunday School materials to another country, Henry was an instrument to spread the Word of Christ to all the world.  Because of the Sunday School materials that Henry sent there to Africa many people came to faith in Jesus.  They even named a building after him there.  But, because Henry was a humble man, he never talked about his accomplishments.  He knew that he was a servant of his Savior Jesus.  Henry also was a godly man in his home, making sure that his wife Marjorie and his children heard the Word of God and were taught the Christian faith.  He even would have his family watch the Rev. Billy Graham crusades on TV whenever they were broadcast.

5.            But, Henry knew that he was a sinner in need of a Savior.  Remember what Jesus says in his confirmation verse from Matthew 26:41, “⁴¹Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Don’t we pray this saying of Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “Lead us not into temptation.”  Our new spiritual nature may be strong, but Jesus reminds us that it’s burdened by the flesh, our old sinful self (Rm 8:1–14). Here, as Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane preparing to die on the cross for our sins, he reminds us that because of our sin we’re weak and ill.  That the trials of our sinful flesh in this world are often severe.  In Matthew 26, Jesus is reminding us to call on Him when we find ourselves tempted to sin so that we may remain faithful to Him. For without God’s grace and help, we’re not able to do anything (John 15:5). 

6.            St. Paul reminds us in Romans 5 that peace and joy are the fruits of justifying faith.  That when we’re weary we can look to Jesus for help and strength.  In this sin cursed world in which we live, things don’t always turn out the way we plan.  As a result our hearts are often filled with sorrow, disappointment, and fear.  What a comfort it is to know that we have a Savior who can say, “I know exactly how you feel.  I faced those same hardships during my life on earth.”  It’s with a full understanding of all our problems, even in the face of death, that our Savior Jesus graciously invites us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)

7.            Here in Romans 5, St. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit comforts us in all our weaknesses by directing our attention to the loving concern that Jesus has expressed for us in his Word.  Are you a young person who sometimes wonders, “Could Jesus possibly know and understand how I feel?”  Remember the rich young ruler in the Gospels?  The Bible shows that Jesus understood that young man better than the young man understood himself.  Are you growing old and feeling concerned that you’re becoming a burden to your loved ones?  Jesus can understand this concern.  Didn’t Jesus, while he was dying on the cross for our sins, appoint his disciple John to care for his mother so she wouldn’t feel unloved in her twilight years!  Have you lost a loved one in death, as we are grieving now over Henry?  Jesus knows the feeling.  He wept at the grave of Lazarus.  Jesus knows the feeling of being so completely exhausted from the work that one can barely keep one’s eyes open.  And, He knows the feeling of pain.  Yes, he even knows what if feels like to die, for remember, he died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and Henry’s too.

8.            Once you know that you’ve been declared righteous by God in Jesus, that He’s taken all your sins and answered for them through his death on the cross for you, you have peace.  What can trouble you?  Not your sins!  They’ve been left under the blood of the Lamb of God.  And so an odd thing happens.  You can rejoice in your sufferings.  How?  Because the sufferings aren’t God punishing you, hating you, or judging, and condemning you.  Instead, they are the Holy Spirit’s tool to lovingly craft the image of Jesus upon your life, this is what God did with Henry’s life as he lovingly served his neighbor living out his Christian faith.  Henry allowed himself to suffer for the sake of his neighbor, just as Christ suffered for us.  So suffering teaches you to endure; endurance produces character, character hope, and hope never disappoints because God’s love has been dumped into your heart by the Holy Spirit given to you. 

9.            St. Paul says that even when you were a rebel and enemy against God, God loved you, gave His Son Jesus for you.  Now, having been declared righteous by his holy blood, will you not be saved through Him from the wrath of God?  If Jesus died to blot out your sins, he lives to apply that salvation to you.  Paul spends the remainder of Romans 5 pondering the similarities and differences between the first and last Adam.  Between Adam the first human being created by God and our Lord Jesus who is the second and greater Adam come to save us from our sins.  Sin and death came to us from Adam, the first man, and this holds true even where people have never heard of Moses or the law, since the law of God is also written on their hearts in their conscience.  They still sin against conscience, and everyone dies, for Paul says in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”  But, look what comes to us and Henry through Jesus!  One sin brought death to everyone and sin to everyone; so by one Man’s act of righteousness, Jesus’ obedience to the will of His Father, brings to everyone righteousness and eternal life.

10.        If sin is death hiding out in our flesh and death is what sin looks like, then forgiveness of sins is eternal life in hiding and eternal life is forgiveness revealed.  In Adam, all die; in Christ, all may be made alive!  In the first Adam all people stand condemned and damned to hell; in Jesus, we are made righteous and given eternal life.  In Adam, all of us became disobedient to God; in Jesus, we have received the Savior’s perfect obedience to our Heavenly Father on our behalf.

11.        Above all, Jesus took our sins away so that we can live in heaven with Him for all eternity along with Henry.  We know that when we are weary and tired we can look to Jesus for help.  He removed from us who believe in Him and for Henry, that which would make our sufferings and tribulations unbearable.  That’s how much he loved us!  Amen.