We are Heirs of Eternal Life (Titus 3:4-7)

Sermon

November 23, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Is your will up to date?  Are all your important papers in order?  Have you decided who your heirs are going to be?  Though these might seem like strange questions to be asked at the beginning of a Thanksgiving sermon, I assure you they have bearing on what we are going to learn today.  For as we study the text before us we will learn one of the greatest truths our God has ever chosen to share with us.  We will learn that we are heirs of eternal life.  In fact, as we study this text we will focus our attention on that simple sentence, and it as our theme.  For today we will be assured that we are indeed heirs of eternal life.  Yes, According to Christ's mercy we are heirs of eternal life!  Yes, Through the washing of the Holy Spirit, we are heirs of eternal life!

What greater news could we receive on this national day of thanksgiving!  What greater knowledge could we obtain than the knowledge that we are heirs of heaven according to the mercy of Christ and not because of anything we have done!  In truth, I can think of no better news than this, because the knowledge that eternal life in heaven is now mine according to Christ's mercy and not because of anything I have done is the greatest news I could ever have received.  It's the greatest news because I know my sinful condition.  I know how I struggle and struggle to keep God's laws as he demands, but continually miss the mark and fall short of his glory.  I know how easily I get distracted and start thinking about all sorts of other things while I'm praying to the Lord.  I know how often I fall asleep at night while I'm in the middle of a prayer to my God.  I know how hard it is to set aside time to read the Bible for the strengthening of my own faith, so that I might always be prepared to strengthen yours.  I know the temptations that never fail to lead me into sin.  I know the pet sins that plague me like an addiction.  No matter how hard I try to give them up, I keep coming back to them like a dog returning to its vomit.  I know the pitiful sinful creature than I am, and you know the pitiful sinful creature that you are.  If the Lord had left eternal life up to us and the righteous things we had done, we could never have achieved it.  For if the Lord had left it up to us, we would be as far away from heaven as Pluto is from the Sun.

But even though we are sinful creatures who deserve nothing but God's eternal wrath and punishment, we can take comfort in the fact that we are indeed heirs of heaven!  We are heirs of heaven not because of anything we have done, but because of everything our Savior has done!  For it is according to the mercy of Christ our Savior that we can look forward to the glories of eternal life. This, in fact, is exactly what Paul is assuring us of as he writes in our text: "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." (Titus 3:4-5)

Yes, it was Christ and his mercy that has made us into heirs of eternal life!  Though we have done nothing to deserve his love, Christ loved us so much that he died for us while we were still his enemies.  Christ made sure that we were washed in the waters of Baptism so that the Holy Spirit might plant the seed of faith in our hearts.  Christ loved us so much that he made sure his Word was proclaimed to us so that faith might sprout in our hearts and grow there.  In fact, Christ loved us so much that he chose us to be his own even before the creation of the world, carefully writing our names into the Book of Life to make us children of God.  This is the mercy that Christ our Savior has bestowed on us and this is the mercy by which we are now heirs of eternal life.  For it is according to Christ's mercy, which our God poured out on us through the washing of the Holy Spirit, that we have been made heirs of eternal life.

There is no greater truth than this!  We are heirs of eternal life through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit!  For it was through our baptism that the Holy Spirit came into our hearts and created faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.  It was through the washing of the water with the Word that the Holy Spirit applied Christ's sacrifice to us completely washing away every spot and stain of our sins.  It is through that washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit that we have been sealed as children of God and made heirs of eternal life.  For this is exactly what our God did for us as Paul tells us in our text: "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:5-7).

And this is exactly what we are!  For through the washing of the Holy Spirit our God poured out his abundant grace on us and made us heirs of eternal life.  Through the washing of the Holy Spirit, the Lord poured his grace into our hearts though Christ Jesus our Savior.  For in the same way that a waitress will pour you cup after cup of coffee until you simply cannot drink anymore, our God has poured his grace into our hearts.  But unlike the waitress who will stop before your cup is so full that it starts to spill over, our God continues to pour his grace into our hearts even after it is filled to over flowing.  Even after his grace has so filled our hearts that it spills over into our bodies and our lives, God continues to pour out his grace for us through the forgiveness of sins that he grants us each and every day.  He pours out his grace into our lives as he works all things out for the good of those who love him.  He pours out his grace into our lives by keeping us faithful to him and giving us the courage and strength to continue on in his service even when things seem their bleakest.  This is the grace that God has poured into our hearts by the washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit which we all received on the day that we were baptized.  For on that day, the Holy Spirit brought us to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, and made us heirs of eternal life.

Though our Lord didn't have to sit down with a lawyer to get everything in order, we know that his will is up to date!  We know that we have been listed as his heirs and that when our time comes we will receive the inheritance that he has promised us.  This is what we have to be thankful for today.  For we are heirs of eternal life!  We are heirs of eternal life not because of anything we have done, but according to Christ's mercy and through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Behold the Savior of the World! (Mark 1:4-11)

August 7, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

When you think of John the Baptist, how do you think of him?  Do you think of him as an impressive figure?  Or do you think of him as just a regular kind of guy?  Do you think of him as a rugged outdoors sort of fellow?  Or do you think of him as a man who’s been softened by city living?  Well, when I think of John the Baptist, I think of him as a man who would do well living out West in cattle country.  Though he never kept sheep or goats, though he never drove cattle, he was a hard man who had a hard life.  He was a hard man who lived out in the wilderness eating locust and wild honey.  He was a hard man who wore clothes made out of camel’s hair with a leather belt wrapped around his waist.  But even though John was a hard man, he was also a privileged man.  For he is the only man, besides Jesus, whose coming was prophesied in the pages of Scripture.  He was the man who was chosen by God to be the forerunner of his Son.  He was the one who was fortunate enough to proclaim the message:  Behold the Savior of the world! 

Behold the Savior of the world!  This was the very message that John proclaimed as he pointed the people to their Savior.  As the Bible tells us, “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:4–8, NIV84)

In essence, John’s mission was simply to point people to the Savior of the world, and this is what he did.  For there, in the desert on the other side of the Jordan River, John preached a message of harsh law.  He did not shy away from condemning sins, rather, he proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  He did not falter when people made excuses for the wrongs they had done, instead, he applied the full weight of God’s Holy Law and crushed that sinner to pieces.  Not even when the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day came to investigate him did he back down.  For he went head to head with them condemning their sinfulness and their failure to see it.  Because of this, John’s fame spread and people from all over the region of Judea and Jerusalem came out to hear him.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized in the Jordan, assured of the forgiveness of sins, and pointed to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

This is the same message we need to hear as well.  For even we Christians need to be reminded that our sins separate us from our God.  We need to be reminded that our sins are just like those round bails that we see on farm places throughout the countryside.  Though they may start out small as farmers begin to make their pass through the field, by the time that bail is ejected it has grown so enormous that no one could never hope to lift it.  It has grown so huge that if it rolled on top of you for any reason it would kill you.  The same is true for our sins.  Though they might start out as a few small sins of anger, jealousy, frustration, or even greed, they can grow larger and larger.  Before we know it, that small sin of anger has grown into a grudge you hold against another person.  That small sin of jealousy has lead to hatred.  That small sin of frustration has led to exasperation.  That small sin of greed has led to a desire for more and more, and before we know it, our sins have grown so huge and have wrapped so tightly around us that we are unable to move.  They have grown so enormous that we are crushed under their weight and can do nothing to be rid of them ourselves.

But that’s when John’s message of comfort comes to us as he points us to Jesus, the Savior of the world.  Take a look at what he has to tell us in verses 7 and 8, “7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7–8, NIV84). 

With these beautiful words, John points us to our Savior and the forgiveness he offers.  With these words we are reminded how Jesus was baptized by John on the day he began his public ministry so many years ago, which was the very reason that Jesus came to the earth!  He came to be the Savior of the world, just as had been proclaiming ever since he started preaching.   Mark tells us: “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9–11, NIV84)

Though it doesn’t tell us in this Gospel, we learn from Matthew that when Jesus came to John to be baptized, John didn’t understand why.  Rather, John tried to deter Jesus by telling him that he, John, needed to be baptized by Jesus.  But Jesus simply told him, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”  For the thing was, by being baptized, Jesus was showing his connection to sinners.  Though he himself was sinless, he was identifying himself with sinners by giving himself to the work of bearing our sins.  As Luther points out: Jesus was here rightly beginning to be the Christ, the Anointed One, and “was inaugurated into his entire Messianic office as our Prophet, Priest, and King.”  For through the voice of the Father from heaven and the Holy Spirit lighting on Jesus in the form of a dove, all three persons of the Trinity were proclaiming that this Jesus was the Savior of the world. 

Thus, the one true God, the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit revealed that they were launching the culmination of the plan of salvation through Jesus our Savior.  The long period of expectation and preparation was now over.  The most momentous days the world would ever know, the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, culminating in his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension were now beginning.  Satan’s power and dominion were doomed, because the world’s redemption was at hand.  This, in a nutshell, not only was John calling on us to behold the Savior of the world, but the Holy Trinity was proclaiming the very same thing on the day that Jesus was baptized.  The Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were there calling on each and every onlooker as well as you and me to behold the fact that Jesus was the Promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.

What greater assurance could the Baptism of Jesus give us than the assurance that he is the Lord, our Savior!  For today, as we have heard the voice of the Father proclaiming that Jesus is indeed his Son whom he loves and with whom he is well pleased, we have been assured that Jesus truly is our Savior.  As we have witnessed the Holy Spirit descending upon him as a dove, we have witnessed the fulfillment of the promise that we would recognize the Christ by the decent of the Spirit upon him.  In short, as we have beheld the Lord Jesus, our Savior today, we have been assured that he is our only true Savior who has forgiven all our sins.

How incredible it is to know that as we behold our Savior today, we behold the very Son of God who freed us from the crushing weight of our sins.  Even though we were completely immobilized by the bails of our sins, Jesus came with the John Deer tractor of his grace and lifted those sins from us.  He loaded those sins onto the flat bed trailer of his forgiveness and hauled them away, never to be seen again.   Though we may have been trapped in the sins of anger and grudges, our Savior has freed us from them.  Though we may have been trapped by the sins of jealousy and hatred, our Savior has freed us from them.  Though we may have been trapped by the sins of frustration and exasperation, our Savior has freed us from them.  Though we may have been trapped in the sins of greed and an unholy desire for more and more stuff, our Savior has freed us from them.  Now since we have been freed from our own sins by our Savior Jesus Christ, how can we not follow his example and forgive our fellow Christians from the heart when they do us wrong?  How can we not remember that when we were baptized, each and every one of us was buried with Christ and rose again with him as new creations?  How can we not remember that when our Savior went to the cross, he went, carrying the weight of the sins of the world?  How can we not make the most of every opportunity to gather together as Christians in worship of the Lord our Savior?

Now that we have beheld the Lord our Savior, let us seek to live our lives in service to him.  Let us dedicate our lives to him so that we continue growing in his Word as we read and study the Bible both at home and in Bible Studies during the year.  Let us make the most of every opportunity we have been given to gather to worship the Lord our God and grow in our faith as we encourage our brothers and sisters in their faith.  Let us grow in our baptismal grace, fulfilling the promise that we all made on the day of our confirmation that we would face even death rather than forsake the Lord God our Savior.  Though we don’t know exactly what Jesus looked like while here on earth, today we have all beheld Jesus as the Lord our God and the Savior of the World.  We saw John point him out to us, we heard the Holy Trinity proclaim him, and we have been reminded of how he has freed us from our sins.  This is Jesus, our Savior, who was baptized at the beginning of his public ministry so that he might take on the all important work of redeeming us from our sins and winning us back to the Lord.  Behold him, he is your Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

Embrace the Flame that Jesus Kindled (Luke 12:49-53)

Dear friends in Christ.

When I was about 12 I became the grill master for our family. Though it started off rather slowly with only a few opportunities, I quickly embraced my new position because I loved everything about it. Though we didn’t have a gas grill, or even a Weber, I embraced every part of my task, but my favorite part was lighting the charcoal. Now, you have to understand, we didn’t use lighter fluid. We had a charcoal lighting cylinder type of thing. We placed crumpled newspaper on the bottom. Over the newspaper was a metal grate where we first put the charcoal we had used for the last grilling before we added the new stuff. I can still remember how fun it was to light the newspaper kindling and watch as the flames grew, lighting first the older charcoal before it light the new. I remember watching with amazement as the kindling gave way to glowing briquettes that eventually produced flames that leaped out of the top of that cylinder. Well, in the same way that I used to kindle the flames that cooked the food on our family’s grill, our Savior has kindled the flames of faith that we embrace in our hearts to this day, by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

In fact, now that our Savior has done kindled the flame of faith in our hearts, our we hear our God calling on us to embrace the flame that Jesus kindled. To do that we want to take a closer look at our Gospel lesson in Luke 12:49-53, which can be found on page 1032 of your Bibles. As you’re turning to Luke 12:49 let me refresh your memories as to what has been going on. Though we’ve been studying chapter 12 for the last three weeks, we have not been wanting for good teaching. After all, it was in this chapter that Jesus warned us against all kinds of greed as he taught us to find our true wealth in the Lord our God. It was in this Chapter that we saw just how precious we are to the Lord our God and how the Lord invites us to rejoice as we look forward to the return of our Savior; knowing that our God has already given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven through faith in Jesus. Now, today, as Jesus continues his discourse with his disciples and the crowd of thousands he is revealing to us the very nature of his mission here on earth, and he is inviting each and every one of us to embrace the flame that Jesus himself kindled when he went to the cross. Let’s look at Luke 12:49-51 where Jesus is speaking and says: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” (Luke 12:49–51, NIV)

As Jesus spoke to the thousands who had gathered to hear him, he revealed to them the very purpose of his mission here on earth. Though so many had thought of the Messiah as the great peace bringer who would bring an end to the Roman tyranny, re-establish the sovereignty of the Jewish Nation, and rule on the throne for many years, returning the glory days of David and Solomon along with the same level of peace and prosperity, Jesus clearly revealed that his mission was not an act of peace, but an act of war! Jesus mission was to infiltrate satan’s territory, to seek out the lost sheep of Israel, and to proclaim freedom for the captives. This is what Jesus had been doing for the last three years as he cut a path of destruction through satan’s territory. Not actual destruction, mind you, but spiritual destruction; for everywhere that Jesus went he proclaimed the gospel of salvation. He preached the harshest law against the self-righteous servants of satan who thought that they did not need Jesus; and he preached the sweetest gospel of forgiveness to those whom he rescued from satan’s grip; soothing their wounds with the salve of his grace. Now, with only a few months left, Jesus is already preparing himself for the final showdown, the final battle between himself and satan, our enemy—the battle where Jesus would light the fire that will cover the earth. Look back with me at what Jesus is saying in verses 49 and 50: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” (Luke 12:49–50, NIV)

With only a few months before the conclusion of his earthly ministry, Jesus tells us that he is more than ready for the conclusion of his mission. He is more than ready to completely destroy satan’s power over us by his death and resurrection from the dead. This is the baptism of which Jesus speaks—his crucifixion where he would forgive the sins of the world, destroy the power of the devil, forever, and where he would kindle the flame that would burn in the hearts of every man and woman until the very last day. This is the flame that was struck when Jesus was crucified; the flame that burns in some hearts as the flame of faith and the flame that burns in other hearts as the flame of offense and unbelief. Though Jesus was by no means eager to see people turn against him in unbelief, he knew it was best to carry out his saving work so that some might believe, be freed from satan, be forgiven of their sins, and receive the gift of eternal life. Though Jesus was by no means eager for his disciples to suffer and be persecuted, he knew that the result of his death and resurrection would be that the message of salvation would be preached to all people. Though Jesus was by no means eager for us to suffer persecution and divisions because we have embraced the flame that Jesus kindled—the flame which now burns in our hearts as faith—he knew that we would find peace, comfort and strength in the message of salvation whenever we faced fiery persecution from those who do not believe. He knew that because we had embraced the flame of faith that Jesus himself had kindled in our hearts, we would take comfort in the knowledge that satan’s power had completely been destroyed. We would take comfort in the knowledge that our enemy no longer holds any power over us. We would take comfort in the knowledge that eternal life in heaven is waiting for us because Jesus’ death and resurrection has washed us clean of all our sins; lighting the flame of faith which we have embraced since we were little children!

The problem is, however, that even though we have embraced the flame of faith that Jesus has kindled in our hearts by his death and resurrection, there are many others who have not embraced it. Instead they have embraced the flame of offense and unbelief where Jesus is concerned, which is exactly what Jesus is speaking about in verses 51-53 of our lesson today. Let’s take a look at what Jesus is saying in Luke 12:51-53: “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51–53, NIV)

Sadly, this is exactly what we are seeing in our world today! We are seeing more and more divisions where Jesus is concerned. We are seeing more and more people who are embracing the flame of offense and unbelief. Though Jesus completely destroyed satan’s power when he went to the cross, satan still hasn’t given up! Unlike Lee who simply rode away after the surrender at Appomattox, satan has refused to surrender. Even though Jesus has completely forgiven all sin, satan continually works in the hearts and minds of people doing everything he can to cause people to take offense at the idea that 2000 years ago, some man died on a cross and rose again from the dead. Whenever the message of salvation through faith in Jesus comes up, he is right there whispering to the heart about how foolish it is to believe something like that. He is right there stoking the fires of logic against the idea that the death of some person could possibly forgive sins, because something like that is simply too easy to believe. He is right there in the brain, screaming about how difficult salvation truly is and that if we ever want to attain it we must get busy right now to make it happen for ourselves. Thus, more and more people each day embrace the flame of offense and unbelief rather than the flame of faith.

But what is even sadder still is that we see these very divisions coming to light in our own families! Some of you have seen your own children, who so firmly embraced the flame of faith begin to loosen their grip on that flame and allow the flame of doubt and offense to take up at least partial residence in their hearts soon after the day of their Confirmation. Some of you have seen teens on our own families begin to question the value of worship, fight against their need to go and be bored for an hour by the Word of God, and even begin to keep themselves from fueling the flame of faith that Jesus kindled in their hearts. Some of you have watched your children leave the nest for school or work knowing that now it is up to them to make the decision to embrace the flame of their faith or to allow the flame of offense and unbelief to grow in their hearts. Some of you have seen your adult children change as they began embracing the flame of offense and unbelief. Some of you have faced the frustration of divisions between you and your children or you and your family because these very divisions have taken hold and not every member of your family is embracing that flame of faith that you hold so dear. Some of you may even be at your wits end because of the heart ache you feel for your family, your children, or even your relatives and you are worried about what you can do. Some of you may even be angry with the Lord for allowing such terrible divisions to come from the flame he kindled when he went to the cross.

If you have ever faced divisions like these, or if you’ve ever been worried that they might happen to you, allow me to share with you an illustration of God’s faithfulness to encourage you as you embrace the flame of faith that God himself kindled in your hearts. This illustration comes from a sermon by James MacDonald, which I’m sure that God saw to it that I heard when I was running errands so that I could share it with you. (Clip)

Though some of you may be facing divisions in your families, always remember the faithfulness of our God. Though some of you may be facing difficulties with children who are beginning to embrace the flame of offense rather than the flame of faith, place them in the Lord’s hands through prayer. And trust what the Lord has to say. Look back at Luke 12:52-53 with me one more time, and as we read pay attention to what Jesus does not say. “From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:52–53, NIV)

Though our Savior tells us that divisions like these can come into our lives, he does not say that they are permanent. He does not say that once the flame of offense and unbelief begins to grow in your heart forever will it dominate your destiny. He also gives us the very weapons we can use against divisions like this. For even before we face divisions like these we need to live our faith as an example to our families, to our children, and even to others. We need to speak with our children and teach them the precious truths of salvation so that as proverbs says, “when they are old they will not turn from it.” We need to encourage our children as they grow, especially if they begin to fall from their secure footing of salvation. We need to pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, and pray for ourselves, for our children, for our families, for our friends, for those who are slipping, for those who are struggling to hold on to the flame of faith, for those who have begun to embrace the flame of offense and unbelief, for those who have fallen away from the faith completely, and especially for those who have not yet heard the message of salvation. We need to do this so that our Savior might kindle or rekindle the flame of faith in the hearts of those who are struggling, fallen away or who have never heard the message so that they too can live in the salvation that Jesus won for them and once again embrace the flame of faith that he first kindled in their hearts.

So, dear friends, heed the invitation of your God to embrace the flame of faith that Jesus has kindled in your hearts. Embrace it in the same way that I embraced the task of grilling and lighting the charcoal for my family. Embrace it, feed it, and watch it grow into an all consuming flame of faith; one which you will never set aside or let go of, ever.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN

Wield the weapon of God’s Word (Luke 4:1-13)

Dear friends in Christ.

In 2008, DreamWorks Entertainment released the computer animated movie, Kung Fu Panda. Now, if you have kids at home, or Grandkids that like to spend time with you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve seen this movie on at least one occasion. But if you haven’t seen it, permit me, if you will, to tell you a little bit about it. Kung Fu Panda is a movie about a lazy, irreverent, slacker panda named, Po, whose greatest desire is to become a kung fu master and fight alongside his heroes—the Furious Five—even though his destiny, if you will, is to follow in his father’s footsteps and one day take over his noodle shop. Yet Po continues to hope that his dreams might come true. A few days later, on the day when the entire village gathers to see who will be chosen as the Dragon Warrior, Po is unexpectedly chosen as that warrior. From that point on, Po goes into strict training to learn how to wield the weapons of a kung fu master. At first things don’t go so well for Po, but as the movie progresses, we see how Po grows in his knowledge and his ability to wield the weapons of a kung fu master.

Now some of you might be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Some of you might be wondering why on earth I’m spending so much time talking about a cartoon panda and his struggles to learn how to wield the weapons of a Kung Fu Master. Well, the reason is simple. For in the same way that Po was taught by his master in the movie, so also, our Master, Jesus is taking time to teach us how to wield the weapon of God’s Word against our enemy, the devil, and the temptations that he continually brings against the fortress of our hearts. Thus, as our text begins this morning, we have Jesus teaching us his first lesson of wielding the weapon of God’s Word when satan seeks to make us doubt God’s promises. Luke writes: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” (Luke 4:1–5, NIV)

Now, to fully understand what’s going on, we have to go back a few weeks to the First Sunday after the Epiphany, when we heard about how Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. We have to go back to that day when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke from heaven giving his approval and saying, “This is my Son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” We have to go back to that point, because it was immediately after Jesus was baptized that the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to do battle against the devil. It wasn’t that Jesus decided to go head to head with satan on the spur of the moment, rather, he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness according to the will of his heavenly Father so that during those 40 days Jesus might be tempted in every way, just as we are. Though the gospels of Matthew and Luke list only three temptations that Jesus faced, the three temptations serve as a summary of all the other temptations going on during that forty day period. For as the battle began, satan came to Jesus with the very same temptation that worked so well on Eve; the temptation of doubt. Satan sought from the beginning to cause Jesus to doubt who he was and to make him wonder why he, the Son of God, must face such mind numbing hunger from fasting for 40 days and nights. Thus, Satan sought to make Jesus doubt his father’s will for him and tried to move Jesus to act with a demonstration of his power, turning the stones around him into bread. Yet, even as satan attempted this with one single question, Jesus wielded the weapon of God’s Word and said, “Man does not live on bread alone.” Though Jesus could have defeated satan with a single, divine command, he fought against satan according to his human nature, using the weapon of God’s Word, thereby beginning our lesson on how to wield that same weapon when satan seeks to make us doubt God’s promises.

This is truly an important lesson for each of us to learn, because in the sparring match that is our life, doubt is one of the most powerful weapons that satan has in his arsenal. Although we are Christians who have every reason to be confident in the Lord and in his promises, how often doesn’t it happen that a single drop of doubt begins to permeate our hearts and minds in the same way that a single drop of food coloring will begin to permeate the water into which it was dropped? How often doesn’t it happen that our enemy creeps into the garden of our hearts and plants a simple seed of doubt which can quickly grow into a giant tree before we know it? In fact, I don’t want you to raise your hands or anything like that, but how many of you were dealing with doubts when you walked in that door this morning—doubts of whether or not God really loves you, or has forgiven you for the things you have done. How many of you walked in with doubts about God’s care because your health has taken a turn for the worse, or someone you know and love is sick, or suffering, or even dying? How many of you are facing worries and doubts this morning because your expenses have far exceeded your income or your investment portfolio is no longer what it used to be? How many of you are afraid because your position at work has already been eliminated, or may soon be eliminated? How many of you have found that one of the questions echoing in your mind more regularly is, “If God really loves me, why is this happening to me?”

Yet it is against onslaughts such as these that our Savior shows us how to wield the weapon of his Word to defeat our enemy. For when doubts arise in our lives, our Savior simply leads us back to his Word where we are reminded again and again that we are dearly loved children of God. Just as Paul reminded us in our first lesson this morning when he wrote, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” (Romans 10:8–13, NIV)

When we wield the weapon of God’s Word against our enemy, it works every time. His attack is met, his advance is slowed, and he immediately finds himself in a battle not with us, but with God himself who fights for us, who encourages us, and who helps us in every situation in life. When we wield the weapon of God’s Word, our enemy is then forced to make a choice either to retreat, or to change tack and press the attack harder, as he did against our Savior. Though Jesus had completely resisted satan’s attack and used God’s word to parry temptation, satan quickly changed his approach from that of doubt to that of making Jesus his slave. Luke tells us, “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” (Luke 4:5–8, NIV)

Satan knew why Jesus had come. He knew the glory that Jesus had set aside when he took on human flesh and blood. He knew that just a few weeks earlier, God the Father had declared Jesus to be the Messiah who had come to crush satan’s head. He knew all this and he also knew how terrifying the idea of suffering and dying at the hands of a righteous God would have been to Jesus human nature; so he tries to tempt Jesus to take the easy way out. Rather than go through all that suffering satan offers Jesus another option. He offers Jesus the opportunity to bow down and worship him so that he might give to Jesus all the authority and honor that Jesus would have earned a couple of years sooner. All satan was asking Jesus to do was pay a small price on the front end which would have resulted in exorbitant fees on the back end, because Jesus would have failed his Father and become the slave of his enemy. Yet even as satan hoped and almost prayed that Jesus would fall into his trap, Jesus again withstood the temptation as he wielded the weapon of God’s Word, saying, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Thus Jesus delivers to us his second lesson on wielding the weapon of the Word when satan tries to make us his slaves.

How often doesn’t satan do that same thing to us? How often doesn’t he display before our eyes the “glories” of our own sinful desires and addictions? How often doesn’t he ask us why we pay such a high price for good grades when it would be so easy to sneak the answers into class? How often doesn’t he ask us why we pay such a high price to teach our children about their Savior when it would be so much easier to drop them off for an hour and let the Church teach them once a week? How often doesn’t he ask us why we pay such a high price to make certain that everything is correct when we turn in our 1040 form when it would be so easy to invent a few key deductions that would help save some money. How often doesn’t he ask us why we seek to spend so much time with your husband or your wife and your children, especially when you know that there are so many other interesting and captivating people to be found online? How often doesn’t he ask you why you wake us so early on Sunday morning just to come to church and hear Pastor Shilling drone on and on when you could have stayed home, slept in and read the Bible for yourself?

These are but a few of the blows that satan seeks to land even before we are able to wield God’s Word against him. These are but a few of the ways he hope to counter our defenses so that he can make us his slaves and lead us captive into the dungeons of everlasting damnation. Yet, as we wield that weapon of God’s Word, we are assured that our God is also fighting for us. Though there are times when satan’s blows land on our flesh and we are deeply cut by his temptations and infected by our sins, it is our Savior who heals us with the salve of the Gospel. For in the same way that the Lord led his people out of slavery he also leads us from the slavery to our sins, into the freedom of his Gospel. He drives back our enemy and even knocks him to the ground for us, the only problem is, that in the same way that a prize fighter refuses to lay down on the mats, but gets back up to continue the battle with his opponent, so also our enemy, continues to get up and advance against us again and again. But even as he continues to advance, we continue to wield God’s Word, just as our Savior did when satan came back at him with one last strategy. Luke tells us, “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. ” (Luke 4:9–13, NIV)

Since none of his other tactics were working against Jesus, satan sought to use Jesus’ own weapon against him. He took Jesus to the highest point of the temple and then dared him to jump off quoting the Psalmist who said that God would protect him even if he acted so rashly and so foolishly. But, of course, our Savior immediately saw through satan’s misuse of God’s word, setting one Scripture against another, in an attempt to deceive him into the rash action of testing the Lord his God. So, once again Jesus wields the weapon of God’s Word saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and in doing so, he bestows upon us his final lesson of wielding his word to combat against satan’s continual desire to elicit rash disobedience by his constant misuse of Scripture.

For the truth is, satan’s misuse of the Scriptures is probably the most effective weapon that he has at his disposal. Just think about how our enemy has made each and every Christian afraid to judge anyone or anything by continually pulling out of context the simple passage in Matthew: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1, NIV) Though this passage speaks about judging, from the context it tells us not to judge rashly or without all evidence while other passages of the Bible tell us that it is our Christian Duty to judge sin and sinners according to God’s law. Or think about how many people believe that money is the root of all evil, rather than sinful human nature, when the Bible clearly tells us, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10, NIV) Or how many people have bought into the idea that we can do whatever we want with our body and our life even though the Bible tells us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. ” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NIV)

But the biggest misuse of Scripture that leads even the most faithful Christians into rash actions and sinful lives is the misuse of the passage, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NIV) The misuse of this passage is the whole basis for the acceptance of living together before marriage, experimenting with sexuality, and engaging in same sex unions, and countless other ideas and perversions. It is the whole basis because by leading people to focus on the fact that God is love, then it logically follows that God loves us for who we are and what we are as long as we continue acting in love. Thus, it naturally follows that if we are acting in love, then no matter what we do, we must be acceptable in the sight of God because by that logic, love becomes our god. This, is by far the worst misuse of Scripture by our adversary, because it is a misuse that is leading countless millions away from the truth and down the path that leads to destruction. Thus, it becomes all the more necessary for us to wield the weapon of God’s Word boldly against these false ideas spawned from satan’s misuse of the Scriptures. For when we wield that weapon, we know our God is fighting for us and beside us. When we wield that weapon we are able to see through the misuses our enemy brings and even avoid the traps into which they lead. When we wiled the weapon of God’s Word and immerse ourselves in his word, we are ready to resist satan’s logic when he places one Scripture against another, or even one Scripture against the rest of the Word.

These are the lessons that our Master is teaching us today. These are the lessons that Jesus teaches in his battle against our enemy, the devil. Though we may sometimes face difficult times as Po did, even as he sought to become a kung fu master, with the training we have received win God’s Weaponry today, we are ready to wield them against our enemy. We are ready because we know that even as we wield them, our God fights alongside us so that through his Word, we might be victorious in Christ Jesus our Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN

Let's go Fishing (Luke 5:1-11)

This sermon was preached from the perspective of Peter


Dear friends in Christ.

I have to say that it is such an honor to be given this opportunity to serve as a guest preacher and share the message of salvation with you, just as so many others have done in the past. For as I understand it, over the past few years you have had the opportunity to hear from such pillars as Adam, King David, The Prophets Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; and just a few weeks ago, you had the opportunity to hear from my dear friend John. Did he tell you about us? Did he tell you how we were good friends even before we met Jesus and how we worked together as partners in our own fishing company up in Galilee? Did he tell you how my brother Andrew ran to find me on the day that he and Andrew followed Jesus and spent the day with him? Did he tell you about the Wedding at Cana? I’m sure he did! After all, it was because of that pinnacle event that we all placed our faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But even though that event marked the beginning of my Christian faith, I did not become a professional follower of Jesus until much later. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I considered myself a disciple of Jesus from day one. I had followed Jesus to a number of different places, heard him preach on a number of different occasions, even seen him perform a number of different miracles, yet it wasn’t until that day by the Sea of Galilee that I left everything behind so that I could go fishing with Jesus.

That day, when James, John, Andrew and I left everything to go fishing with Jesus is a day that I will always remember. It was roughly a year after the wedding in Cana. Jesus had returned to Capernaum after preaching his way up from Jerusalem and after his own town’s people had attempted to push him off a cliff because they didn’t like what he was saying. We had finished a long night of fishing with nothing to show for it. We had pulled our boats up on shore, and we were washing our nets and getting them ready for the next night of fishing when I looked up and saw Jesus standing on the shore. He was standing there teaching the people the word of God, and they were listening. The problem, however, was that there were so many people crowding around Jesus that he wasn’t able to communicate effectively with them. So he came over. He stepped into my boat, and he asked me to put off a little ways form shore. When we had done so, Jesus was able to sit down and continue teaching the people certain that everyone would now be able to hear him, because by going out a little ways into the water, Jesus was able to use the natural properties of the water and the landscape as a type of amphitheater, which allowed his voice to clearly carry to everyone present.

I remember sitting and listening to what Jesus had to say. I remember being amazed at how he taught such truth with such simplicity and such authority. I remember how my faith grew on that day through the very words that he spoke. But the thing I remember the most was the test which he laid before me and my faith, as he finished speaking to the people. For as soon as he had finished teaching, he turned to me and said, “Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4 NIV) Essentially what Jesus said was, “Simon, let’s go fishing.” Now, I’m a fisherman by trait. There is nothing I liked better than putting forth the effort of casting the nets, hauling them in and seeing how many and what types of fish we caught, but what Jesus was suggesting was the exact opposite of what my family had learned from our many years of fishing on the Sea of Galilee. For the truth is, if you want to catch fish in the Sea of Galilee, you don’t go out to the deep water, and you don’t go out during the day! Those are ingredients for coming home empty handed. Instead, when you fish the Sea of Galilee you fish from the evening until the morning when the fish are most active, and you fish the shallows where the fish come to feed, which is the exact thing that Andrew and I had done the night before and caught nothing.

This was the test that Jesus laid before me! Do I listen to what I knew by experience and the aches and exhaustion of my body? Or, do I listen to what Jesus says because I know that he is the Messiah and so much more than a mere mortal? I can imagine the shock that must have crossed my face when Jesus suggested that we go fishing, yet I humbled myself and my ego to his wishes. “Master,” I said, “we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5 NIV) So we put down the nets and the rest is history! We caught so many fish that the nets began to break! So we signaled James and John to come out and help us and they arrived just as quickly as they could. When they got there, we filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Now, don’t think that we started to take on water or anything like that. But the truth is because of the weight of so many fish, we were riding so low in the water that it if we hadn’t been careful, the sea could have easily poured over the side as easily as bath water flows into a child’s play cup at bath time. When I saw this, I was so overwhelmed that I ran over to where Jesus was sitting, fell at his knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8 NIV)

It wasn’t that I wanted Jesus to leave, but it was in that moment that I realized all the more fully who he truly was. In that moment, I knew for a fact that this Jesus was the Lord God Almighty. He was the sinless Son of God whom the prophets had promised would come into the world as the Messiah. He was the Almighty Lord, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and he was calmly sitting in my boat, blessing me with the largest catch of fish I had ever seen. In that moment I was so overwhelmed by his holiness, his graciousness, his mercifulness, and his love, and by contrast all of my sins, that I did not fell worthy to be in the same boat with him, let alone on the same lake with him. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt completely unworthy of a blessing that the Lord has bestowed upon you? Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by the Lord’s gracious providence in blessing you with what you need? Have you come face to face with the seriousness of your sins, even as you felt the kind, loving, and forgiving hand of your Savior pulling you close to him and assuring you of forgiveness? Well then you know exactly how I felt. I didn’t want Jesus to leave me, but I knew that because of my sinfulness I was not worthy to stand or even kneel in his presence.

Yet, when Jesus looked at me he said the two most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. He said, “May Phobou” which simply means, “Don’t be afraid.” Or as a better translation might say, “You no longer have any reason to be afraid.” For you see, with those two simple Greek Words, Jesus was telling me that the reason for my fear, those sins that separated me from him, they were forgiven. Not only were they forgiven, but they were forgotten. I was in a right relationship with him, and any reason I had to be afraid had been removed so completely that there was no reason for me to be afraid ever again. Then he said to me, “Let’s go fishing, for people.” So James, John, Andrew and I we pulled our boats on shore. We left everything behind, and we followed him.

Well, Jesus is also saying the same thing to each and every one of you today. He is inviting each and every one of you to come fishing with him. Not that he’s planning to take us all down to the river or to some lake for a spot of ice fishing; instead he is inviting you to go fishing for people with the message of the gospel. For in the same way that fishermen used to cast nets out into the water to catch fish, you are now the ones who cast the net of the Word into the waters of the world in order to catch more and more people for the Lord and his kingdom. But unlike the fish whose lives are ended when they are pulled out of the water, those who are caught in the net of the Gospel are brought to life for the first time in Jesus Christ our Savior. Though I’m sure you feel just as unworthy of this task as I did and though you probably have no more experience in catching people with the gospel than I did when I started, the comfort we find is knowing that the catch does not rely on us or our abilities. Rather, it rests completely in the Lord and his Word. Though there will be times when you feel that you simply cannot accomplish this task, remember the miracle of the great catch of fish and how the Lord displayed the power of his Word in such a visual way. Though there will be times when you will feel afraid or unprepared to even say something about your Savior, remember that by gathering here each week you are regularly prepared to go out and do a little fishing for your Savior. For every time we gather to hear the Word of God we are built up in our faith and prepared to go out and do just what our Lord would have us do. We are prepared to cast the net of the Gospel into the streams and the ponds of our own communities. We are prepared to cast that net into the rivers of our county and the lakes of our state. We are even prepared to cast that net into the ocean of our country and of the world. For we who have heard and listened to the Word of God all our lives already know what we need to tell our friends, neighbors, family, and even strangers, all that they need to know about Jesus their Savior.

So now, as you leave this place, take up your favorite gospel fishing tool, whether it be the net, the cane pole, the graphite rod, or even the spear and regularly cast it into the waters of the world. Take time each day to do a little fishing for your Savior as you speak to your friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. Make the most of every opportunity given you express your Christian faith, invite people to come and worship with you so that they too might hear the gospel, and simply live with a Christian attitude. Though there may be times when you fish all night like we did in the boat and catch nothing, remember it is through the gospel message that the Lord changes hearts and calls people to faith at the proper time. For you see, it is only through the preaching and teaching of the Word that sinners are caught alive, brought to repentance and receive forgiveness for all of their sins through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is what happened on Pentecost when the Lord allowed me to stand up and proclaim his word to the crowds there, and through that word called over 3,000 people to faith in one day. It was through that same word that the Apostle Paul was converged from persecutor of the faith to professor of the faith. It was through that word that the heart of a murderer like Jeffery Damer, might well have been changed from unbeliever to believer, and it was only because of the Lord’s Word that our hearts have been changed, that we have been added to the congregation of all believers, and that we now marvel at all that the Lord’s Word has accomplished.

If you think about it, it is truly amazing that the Lord was able to take someone like me and change my heart from that of sinner to that of believer through the preaching of his word. But what is even more amazing is that the Lord was able to do the same thing with you! For you see, it was the Lord who fished for you and caught you alive with his gospel. It is the Lord who changed your heart from that of unbeliever to that of believer. It is the Lord who made you his own and has given you the assurance of the forgiveness of sins and salvation by his side forever in heaven. So now comes the question, if the Lord could do that for me and you through the hearing of his precious Word, what wouldn’t he be able to do for someone who doesn’t yet know him? What wouldn’t he be able to do for my brother, or sister, for my family or neighbor, for my friend or even my enemy through the preaching of his Word! There is nothing that our Lord’s Word cannot accomplish when people have the opportunity to listen to his Word, and now that we know the truth of that Word, we are the ones whom the Lord has commissioned to cast the net of that word into the waters of the world. So grab your gear and let’s go fishing.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN

A simple question reveals the Lord’s Messiah (Luke 3:15-17, 21, 22)

Dear friends in Christ.

A friend once asked Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel prize winner in science, how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but she always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?" "Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist." Well, in the same way that a simple question asked by his mother eventually revealed Isidor Rabi as a scientist, so also a simple question asked by a group of Israelites on the banks of the Jordan River was the avenue the Lord used to reveal his Messiah to his people, as our text tells us: “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.” (Luke 3:15 NIV)

Now, as our text opens, roughly 30 years have passed since last week. The Magi had come, worshiped the Savior, and returned to their home by another route. The Lord had sent an angel to warn Joseph to take his family to Egypt so that they might all be safe from Herod and his murderous plot. Herod had died, Joseph and Mary had returned to Bethlehem, discovered that Herod’s son was now ruling in his place, and quickly moved back to Nazareth because they knew no one would be looking for them or their son in what was essentially the smallest and poorest community in all of Israel. Though the Bible mentions how Jesus traveled to Jerusalem with his family when he was 12 years old, it says nothing else about him until a simple question reveals him to be the Lord’s Messiah. It was the question that all the people were wondering, because John had done his job so well!

So expertly had he prepared the way for the coming Messiah that the people wondered if John might actually be him! After all, John was the first Prophet the Lord had sent to the Israelites in nearly 400 years. He came, wearing the traditional marks of a prophet, garments made out of camel’s hair and a leather belt, just as the Prophets of the Old Testament had warn (see: Zechariah 13:4 and 2 Kings 1:8), and even though there were undoubtedly others who were traveling as prophets throughout the land of Israel, John preached with such authority that the people were drawn to him. He was the one who called the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers. He was the one who condemned the people’s superstitious notion that they would be saved simply because they were descendants of Abraham. He was the one who so forcefully preached the message of God’s law that the people were moved to repentance and were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. He was the one who so lovingly and so regularly preached the gospel of forgiveness that the crowds continually asked him for advice on how they could live their faith in their everyday lives. In short, as John prepared the way for the coming Messiah, the people were simply buzzing with anticipation, expecting that in any moment the Messiah might come walking down the road, step out from behind a tree, or simply miraculously appear right before them. So primed were they for the Messiah’s appearing that they began wondering if the Messiah might already be standing before them.

Well, even as they asked their simple question, wondering if John might possibly be the Messiah, he simply told them that he wasn’t and once again called on them to prepare for his coming, as our text tells us, “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’” (Luke 3:15–17, NIV)

Unlike we Lutherans, who will simply look in the guest book if we really want to know who a visitor is, the crowds directly asked John their question, and through their simple question John had the opportunity to once again prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. In short, his answer was a resounding, “No. I am not the Messiah.” Rather, he was the voice of the one calling in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” He was the one who was constantly pointing the people toward the Messiah, encouraging them to look for him, and calling on them to put their faith and their hope in him. John was not out to make a name for himself, no! His sole purpose was to bring glory to the Lord by preparing the people for their Messiah, and that is exactly what he did with his answer! For even as he answered, John told them that he was merely the Lord’s humble servant! He was the Lord’s humble servant who wasn’t even worthy to stoop down and untie the Messiah’s sandals. Even though John was a powerful and authoritative preacher, his mission was to point to the one who was more powerful than he, the Messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Now, when people hear this statement, that the Messiah would come to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, so often, they get all bent out of shape. They begin to think that John’s baptism wasn’t up to scratch and they now need a special baptism by the Holy Spirit in order to be faithful Christians. The thing that they don’t realize is that with this simple sentence, John is summing up the entirety of the Savior’s mission on earth. When the Messiah came, he would come to his people in love and grace proclaiming the message of salvation to all who believed. He would be gentle with those of weak faith and build them up in their trust in him, just as Isaiah had prophesied: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.” (Isaiah 42:1-4, NIV)

Jesus was the one who would come as the Lamb of God to be the sacrifice for all people, just as the Lord had demonstrated through all of the sacrifices he had commanded. He was the one who would take back his life and return to heaven, and only then, after he had been gloried, on the Day of Pentecost, would he baptize the people with the Holy Spirit and Fire. For it was on that day, as I said last week, when all the nations were gathered in Jerusalem that the Lord Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit on his disciples. Not merely the 12, but all the disciples who had gathered together in that house, and they were given the opportunity to proclaim the message of the Messiah to the peoples of the world right there in Jerusalem. He is the one who would winnow and separate the believers from the unbelievers and at the end of days take the grain into the barn and the chaff into the fire. Right now the harvest is taking place. Each day the workers harvest more and more grain from the harvest field of the world and bring it to the threshing floor of the Lord’s presence, where the oxen of the Lord’s Word continually walk its prescribed path, breaking up the kernels, beginning the separation of the grains from the chaff. Each day our Savior stands with his winnowing fork in his hand, observing the process, and waiting for the exact moment to begin the winnowing. On the Last Day, he will use his fork to toss the kernels into the air so that the grains might fall back to the ground and the chaff be separated landing elsewhere. When the winnowing is done, all the grain will be gathered up and taken into the store house of heaven, but the chaff—those who did not believe in Jesus as their Savior—they will be burned up in the unquenchable fires of damnation.

In such a simple, and yet straight forward way, John answers their question, revealing that he was not the Messiah, and yet preparing them for his immediate arrival. However, when the Lord answered their question, he clearly revealed Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Messiah for whom they had been so well prepared. Our text tells us, “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:21–22, NIV)

At the very height of John’s preaching career, while all the people were coming to be baptized, in a rather quiet and unassuming way, the Messiah appears on the scene to be baptized. Though it doesn’t tell us here, from the other gospels we learn that John was so surprised that Jesus would come to him to be baptized that John was rather hesitant to do it. Instead, John insisted that he needed to be baptized by Jesus. Though John would have been correct on any other occasion, Jesus showed him that it was necessary now, at the start of his earthly ministry that John baptize Jesus in order that Jesus might be anointed and revealed as the Messiah who had come to his people!

It was in that moment, after Jesus had come out of the water and was praying on the shore that the Lord answered the people’s question revealing Jesus to be the Messiah. For in the same way that characters in a play will be lit by spotlight in order to emphasize their performance, the God the Father tore open the heavens revealing his glory. The Holy Spirit descended from the heavens in the form of a dove, lighting on Jesus, and remaining with him, as the Father proclaimed, “You are my most beloved Son, with whom I am completely pleased!”

How incredible it must have been on that day when the Lord God simply pointed at his Son and said, “Behold! Here is your Messiah!” How incredible it must have been to have the question of Messiahship answered. How incredible it must have been to realize that the Lord who had sent John into the wilderness, baptizing the people for repentance, just gave his seal of approval to their baptisms by using the baptism of his Son to mark him as the Savior of all people. How incredible that on this day, when Jesus was baptized there would have been at least a few people who had heard the message of the shepherds and seen the Magi come to town some 30 years before. But how much more incredible that the Lord our God saw to it that this account was recorded for our learning! For from these words, our question of who the Messiah is, is clearly answered. We are assured that Jesus is the one whom God the Father chose to be our Savior.

Now, because Jesus’ baptism was given the approval of God his Father, we can take comfort and assurance in our baptisms, because our baptism today is no different than Jesus baptism by John. In fact, by John’s confession that he needed to be baptized by Jesus, baptism was marked even then as a Sacrament by the Authority of Jesus from whom baptism derives its divine power. Even though the Lord Jesus did not command baptism to be carried out by all believers among all nations until the day he returned to heaven, those who were baptized by John and by Jesus’ disciples received the same blessings as we do today, the forgiveness of sins, life, and the assurance of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.

What an amazing question we have answered today! Though it isn’t a question from our mothers asking us about school or if we asked good questions today, it is a question of utmost importance. For today we have asked a simple question about the Messiah and learned who he truly is and all that he has done for us.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN