Keep Christ

People look forward to this time of year for a lot of different reasons. Some people look forward to some time off from work. Others get excited about spending some time with relatives. Lots of people look forward to unwrapping presents on Christmas.

If you think about it, none of those things are really unique to Christmastime. You probably get some time off of work periodically throughout the year. You may get to see members of your family at other times as well. Plenty of people get birthday presents as well as Christmas presents. There is, however, one part of Christmas that's unheard of at any other time of the year.

Christmas music! It's the only Christmas tradition that I can think of that has a generally accepted rule about when you can observe it. No Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. To be honest, I've never quite understood that rule. If Christmas music is something that makes you happy, why not listen to it all year?

Unfortunately, there might be one other thing that is only socially acceptable to talk about at Christmastime – Christ. I always cringe a little bit when I hear someone say, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” Now, I can understand that statement properly. We want to make sure that our focus is on the Word becoming flesh, which is the reason for our joy this time of year. That's good. I'm all for keeping Christ in Christmas, but I don't want to leave him there. I want us to take him with us throughout the rest of the year as well. So, let's keep Christ in December 26^th, after you've thrown away all the wrapping paper. Keep Christ in January 7^th, after you've put all the decorations away. And keep Christ in June 6^th as well, because he's the reason for our joy then too. 

Luke 2:10,11 tells us about the reason for our joy. It says, “But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'” This joyful message didn't just stay with the shepherds in the fields that night. It was intended for all people of all time, and it's repeated all over the world every year. It brings joy to all of us because everyone has a need for a Savior. That need is fulfilled by Jesus. May this good news bring you joy this Christmas season, and may it continue to give you joy throughout the months and years to come.

Bless the one whose grace unbounded has this wondrous supper founded.

Of all the ministry experiences I've had, few are more remarkable than distributing communion.  I enjoy seeing the fruits of hard work pay off in a sermon.  I appreciate the opportunity to share the gospel with someone who is confined to a nursing home bed.  I know that God works through his gospel, whether it's preached from a pulpit or a living room.  But that is never so evident as during the distribution of the Lord's Supper.

I've had the opportunity to commune the pastor that confirmed me.  I've communed pastors that taught me in high-school and encouraged me to enter the ministry.  I've communed the pastor who will write my vicar report.  I've communed my parents.  When I have given the Lord's body and blood to these people, it's so obvious that it's God working...not me.  "May this true body and blood strengthen and preserve you until life everlasting.  Depart in peace; your sins are forgiven."  That has nothing to do with me; it's all God.  And that's awesome.

Today I got to give someone his¹first communion.  It was so exciting to get to pronounce the forgiveness of sins to someone in such a tangible way for the very first time.  Now, every first communion may not be quite as exciting as this one was. However, I pray that I never lose appreciation for the fact that God has used me to accomplish such an awesome task.

To God be the glory!

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1 Just like with my last blog, the gender of a person who is mentioned in a post may or may not correspond with reality.^↩

Winning!

You remember when Charlie Sheen went crazy?  There he was, the star of television's #1 comedy.  Then, in a matter of a few days, he threw it all away.  His motto during all of this?  "Winning!"

It was pretty obvious to even the casual observer that Charlie Sheen wasn't making winning choices.  Actually, you could say that those choices made a winner into a loser.  People make all sorts of losing choices every day, but, most often, they're far less obvious than a Charlie Sheen type bender.

So where do you look for your victory?  Lots of people seek victory in their employment.  While your earthly vocation certainly provides you with meaningful opportunities, it's not going to last forever, and any job can take a turn for the worse without much warning.  Lots of people try to "win" by seeking the approval of others.  While it's not bad to do your best to please a spouse, employer or parent, it's not their approval that matters in the end.  I'm obviously not going to be able to name everyone's personal quest for victory here.  But it's something for you to reflect upon.

Where should we look for victory?  Is it too simple to say, "Jesus"?  Today was, "Saints Triumphant" Sunday in the church year.  It's the day that we celebrate the victory that is ours because of Jesus.  Today's second lesson was from Hebrews chapter ten.  Look at verse 17:

         “Their sins and lawless acts
         I will remember no more.”
Now that's winning.  God has put our sins completely out of his memory.  He's forgotten them.  This is our victory.  So, if you, as a Christian, claim to be, "Winning!" it'll be true.
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Honor Jesus

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Last year, while I was at seminary, I worked a retail job at a store in a rather affluent part of the community. Sometimes people's behavior would shock me. They'd just about throw a temper tantrum if we didn't have this or that product just the way they wanted it. Most of the time, dealing with these customers was the most frustrating part of the job. But, a couple times, after such a person would leave the store, another employee would say, “Do you know who that was?” Then I'd find out that I had just checked out a professional athlete or a newspaper writer or an executive from a major company. Now, this didn't necessarily make these sorts of encounters any more pleasant, but it changed my perspective a little bit. Rather than feeling annoyed that I had to deal with people with an unrivaled sense of entitlement, I maybe felt a little bit important because I was brushing shoulders with some big shots. It certainly made me wonder how I would have treated them differently had I recognized who they were.

Today is Last Judgment Sunday. You probably realized from the other readings that this is the Sunday in the church year when we focus our thoughts on Jesus' return. As we say in the Apostles' Creed, he'll return to judge the living and the dead. When you realize this about Jesus, you'll naturally give him the honor he deserves. So, honor Jesus because he is your God and your gracious judge.

In the section just before we pick up our text for today, there were some Jews who would've treated Jesus quite a bit differently if only they had recognized him for who he was. They were upset by some of the things he said, specifically that he claimed to be God, so they persecuted and tried to kill him. They probably wouldn't have done that if they had recognized that his claims were true.

People today are still offended by some of the things Jesus says, aren't they? People are offended when Jesus says that he should come first rather than family. People don't like it when Jesus tells them to give up whatever's gonna get in the way of a good relationship with him. People think that it's simply unloving that Jesus refers to himself as “the way” rather than “a way”.

Do you see any of that in yourself? We may not like it when we hear Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek or to love our enemies. Our sinful, human nature wants to rebel against words like those. And sometimes we do rebel. So we, too, need to recognize Jesus for who he is. We need to honor him as God.

But if we're gonna honor someone as God, we want to be absolutely sure that they deserve such honor. So, how can we be so sure that Jesus is true God? Well, we see a couple proofs of that in our text today. When the Jews got upset with Jesus for claiming to be God's Son, he said, ““I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus tells us here that he really is God. He's so equal to the Father that he saw whatever the Father was doing and he acted in perfect harmony. It's only because Jesus was true God that he was able to act in perfect harmony with God's will. Because you and I are sinful people, we can't do that. We come up short. So we needed someone to live the perfect life that we couldn't. And Jesus was the one who could do that, and did, because he is true God.

In fact, Jesus couldn't have done anything differently. He is so equal to the father that it would be impossible for the two to be at odds. This can be said only of Jesus, who, as we confess in the Nicene creed, is, “one being with the Father.” He drives that point home very clearly here. The Jews were upset with him for making himself equal with God, so he told them in some pretty clear terms here, “I really am God.”

So, Jesus has claimed to be God. But then he went on to say, “the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” Now, at this point you might be thinking, “Wait a second, doesn't Jesus already know everything?” Well, yes. Jesus is true God and, as true God, knows everything. But while Jesus was on earth he didn't always use his divine attributes as much as he could. This is why he was born as an infant that communicated by crying. This is why he sat at the feet of the teachers in the temple, asking them questions. He didn't always make use of his omniscience, but he certainly always had it.

But, even at this time when Jesus didn't make use of this knowledge, the Father loved the Son, and showed him all that he did. This really is just another demonstration of Jesus' oneness with the Father. Even while Jesus was in his state of humiliation, the Father loved and blessed him so much that he gave Jesus this special knowledge. That's not something that God does to simple, sinful human beings. Jesus demonstrated his divinity in what he knew and did, in that it demonstrated his oneness with the Father.

So, these verses show us pretty clearly that Jesus truly is God. But why is it important for us to recognize that? Well, it's crucial for us to recognize that Jesus is God because it was his divinity that enabled him to redeem us. Because he is true God, he was able to live a life that was free from sin. And it's only because he is true God that his perfect life and sacrificial death count for everyone. And then, because he was God, he rose again. You see, it's so important for us to recognize and honor Jesus as God because our salvation depends on his divinity. If he hadn't been God, his death couldn't save us. And if he hadn't risen from the dead, we'd have no hope for ourselves.

But Jesus is God. We just saw a couple clear proofs of that. And because he is God, we're confident that our salvation is secure and that he will also raise us from the dead. Verse 21 says, “the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” And this is where we get to last judgment Sunday. As God, Jesus will also stand as your judge. So we honor him also, because he is a gracious judge.

Jesus said, “the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ” On the last day, Jesus will be there as judge. That might be a scary thought for some people. This was certainly intended as a warning for the Jews who refused to honor him in his day, and that warning rings true today too. People recognize Jesus as an important person, a good teacher, a loving leader, but God and judge? Maybe not so much. For someone who only views Jesus as a moral teacher, the thought of him as judge would be pretty scary, because who of us has lived up perfectly to his moral teachings?

But for you, who recognize that Jesus is far more than a moral teacher, the picture of him as judge is comforting. You all know that you've fallen short of God's glory, and that you'll die one day because of it. That'd be a scary thought, if it weren't for the fact that Jesus will be your judge. But because Jesus will be your judge, when you face the final judgment, you will hear the same “not guilty!” verdict that was pronounced to you at your baptism. Just as that not guilty verdict is repeated in the absolution every week in church, so it will be repeated again on the last day. How beautiful it is, that the person who will judge you is the same one that died for you. May that be your comfort as we consider the last judgment today.

So, because Jesus is our gracious judge, we give him all glory. Jesus said, “all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.” This is how we praise God. God has revealed himself to us in Jesus, so we give him all the honor that he deserves. And this comes naturally when we realize that Jesus is God incarnate, who has forgiven all of our sins and who will graciously judge us on the last day. In thanksgiving, we worship him, just as we worship the Father.

There were a few times at my last job where I was a little bit embarrassed for not putting my best foot forward when there was an important person around. But you know who Jesus is, so honor him. Give him all the honor and glory and praise that he deserves, because he is your God and your gracious judge. Amen.

1 John 3:16-18

The sermon that I preached on 10/14

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

In 1993, while on a trip to Sudan, a photographer by the name of Kevin Carter took one of the more remarkable photos of all time. Maybe you've seen it. Just outside a U.N. Feeding center, there's a child hunched over on the ground, with a vulture standing right behind it. This photograph so strikingly captured the starvation that takes place in that part of the world that this photograph won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. But that's not the end of the story. When Carter returned to the US, people wanted to know what happened to the child. All Carter could respond with was, “I don't know.” We might look at a story like that and think, “How could he do that?!” But before we point the finger at him, let's take a look at ourselves. There might be times in our lives when we see someone in need and then just walk away. Our sinful nature wants us to be selfish and think only of our own needs and desires. But In our text today, we see what Christian love really is and how it'll show itself in our lives. As we examine John's words, we'll see that

Christian love is sacrificial

1. He urges us to Know it
2. and to Show it

People talk a lot about love in the world today. They say that the world would be a better place if we could all just love each other a little bit more. But what is love? And how do we show love? Well, John tells us pretty clearly in our text, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” Now, that's love. This isn't some warm, fuzzy feeling. No, it's far more than that. Jesus shows us here that his love is sacrificial. We had a need. Our sins had separated us from God. But Jesus loved us, so he laid down his life for you. That's how you know what love is.

So, Jesus has shown us the most perfect love there ever was. Now, what's our response to that? Maybe it's too simple for me to just stand up here and say, “Be like Jesus.” But John's instructions for us are basically right along those lines. He says, “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” So, be like Jesus. But how do we lay down our lives for our brothers? Well, that's gonna look different in each person's life. Maybe a husband would sacrifice a few minutes of sports center each day to talk and listen to your wife. Perhaps as a father you sacrifice a couple hours at work to spend some time with your kids. A student might drop her homework for a little bit to chat with a friend who's going through a rough time. We could go on all day giving examples of how each one of you could sacrifice for others in the different roles that you fill. But you've gotta make that application for yourself. You know your situations in life a whole lot better than I do, and you know the opportunities that come your way to demonstrate Christ-like, sacrificial love. But no matter what place in life you find yourself in, Jesus' sacrifice for you shows you how you can sacrifice for your brothers and sisters in Christ. When we know this perfect love, we are able to show others love in our own lives.

But if I let any of you leave here with the impression that Jesus laid down his life primarily to give you an example of how you should show love in your life, then I haven't done my job, and we're missing the big picture altogether. Jesus' sacrificial love isn't some story that we listen to on Sunday mornings so that we're better people throughout the week. And it's not just knowledge that we've stored away in our minds along with the other facts of history. Instead, your knowledge of Jesus' love is based on the experiences you've had.. I'm not talking about some mystical experience here. No, I'm talking about the very real, life-changing ways that you have experienced Jesus' love in your life. For example, because of Jesus' sacrificial love, God welcomed you into his family at baptism. The love of Jesus allows you to experience God's peace as you read the promises that God has recorded for us in his Word. You experience Jesus' love every time you receive his body and blood in the Lord's Supper. Jesus' love is far more than an exemplary story.

Let's take a look again at the passage to see exactly why Jesus laid down his life. “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” The most important thing for you to know about love is that Jesus loved you enough to lay down his life in your place. Because of that sacrificial act of love, eternal life is yours.

This knowledge of Jesus' sacrificial love for you is really where our conversation about Christian love always needs to start. It's only when we properly know about Jesus' love for us that we're able to show that love to others in our lives.

We have to start there because any Christian love that we have in our hearts is a response to God's grace. Later on in the letter of 1 John there's the familiar passage that says, “We love because God first loved us.” That principle is something that I think we've covered pretty well: Christians love because Jesus loved us. But in the next two verses John gives some pretty specific and striking applications of that principle.

Verse 17 says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” That's a pretty convicting statement in Scripture, isn't it? I think that, if we're honest, we'll admit that there are some times when we would rather just turn a blind eye to someone in need. Now, let's be clear that this doesn't mean that you should doubt your salvation if you don't donate to every cause that comes along asking for money. No, we're saved by grace alone, not grace plus donations or anything else. But still, the natural conclusion that we come to is this: If Christian love is a fruit of faith, a lack of Christian love shows a serious, spiritual problem. If you know and understand the sacrificial love that Jesus has shown to you, how could you not have compassion on a fellow Christian in need? But, I'm confident that you all know what it's like to feel pity when you see or hear about a fellow believer in need.

But it doesn't stop there with feeling pity. When Jesus saw us in our fallen state, he did more than simply pity us. His compassion moved him to action. It moved him to sacrifice his own life for the sake of ours. The same is true for us. When we see fellow believers in need, we don't simply feel bad for them and then do nothing about it. No, Christian love moves believers to sacrifice in order to meet the needs of others.

John encourages us to demonstrate that love by saying, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” For an example of how to put our love into actions, think about how Jesus interacted with people during his time on earth. The Bible tells us that he had compassion on the crowds that came to him. This compassionate love led him to heal many of their sicknesses and diseases, but there was still more to it than that. He not only took care of their physical needs, but he also shared God's Word with them and prayed for their spiritual condition.

As we show love to fellow Christians, we follow Jesus' model. We show our love in deeds. Those deeds will vary based on the situation we're in. While we can't heal sicknesses like Jesus could, we can provide physical and financial assistance to people in need. Perhaps that would be sending a few dollars to a relative who's fallen upon some tough times. Maybe it would mean donating to a food pantry. But maybe you're not in a position right now where you can give much money to other people. That doesn't mean that you can't show people your love through your actions. As you come across people in your life with needs, you can love them by praying for them. You can love God's people by volunteering your time and talents in the service of the church. However it is that you show love to fellow believers through your actions, all these deeds give thanks to Jesus for the love that he showed us.

While it is true that part of us might want to just turn a blind eye when we see people in need, we can overcome that sinful desire. Listen again to the secret to showing love in our lives: “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” When we know that sacrifice and what it means for us, we respond by showing Christian love with our own sacrificial actions.