Dear friends in Christ.
Back in the 1800’s or possibly even earlier than that, an unknown hymn writer wrote the words to the hymn which our hymnals number as 545, Send, O Lord, Your Holy Spirit. Originally appearing in a book containing both secular and sacred songs for use in Lutheran elementary schools, the heading for this hymn read, “For the installation of a Teacher.” And if you think about it, what better song or hymn could be sung at the installation of a Teacher than a song that is a prayer to the Lord that he would send his Holy Spirit upon this servant so that he might faithfully carry out his duties of teaching young children the precious truths of salvation in Christ Jesus our Savior. Well, today, as we celebrate the festival of Pentecost, we join our hearts and voices in that same prayer as we ask the Lord our God to send his Holy Spirit just as he promised to do. In fact, this is the very thing that our Savior is promising to do for us as John records in our text. Jesus says, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. ” “I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ” (John 15:26,27; 16:4–7, NIV)
Now, when Jesus spoke these words, it was the second time he had clearly promised his disciples that he would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to them who would teach them all things, remind them of all he had told them, and enable them to testify to the Word. Though he had promised to send the Holy Spirit maybe an hour earlier while he and his disciples were reclining in the upper room, they had now left the comfort of that room and were most likely sitting together in Gethsemane where Jesus would soon be arrested and taken from their side, be handed over to be crucified, and give his life over to death. Though the disciples would see him again after his resurrection, no longer would have spend time with them like he did before his crucifixion. Thus in his last moments with his disciples, he promises them that he would not leave them alone, but that after he had departed, he would send them the Comforter—the Holy Spirit who would testify about Jesus, who would enable the disciples to testify as well, and who, through that very testimony, would convict the world of sin and unbelief.
It was this very promise, to send the Holy Spirit that Jesus fulfilled as he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples roughly two months later, on the Day of Pentecost. Just, as Luke told us in our second lesson, from Acts 2: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ” (Acts 2:1–4, NIV)
What an incredible day it must have been for the disciples when Jesus delivered on his promise to send the Holy Spirit. What an incredible thing it must have been to be in that house, hearing the sound of a rushing wind moving through the house and yet, not a single curtain, drapery, or even shade fluttered in the slightest. What an incredible thing it must have been to see the tongues of fire separating and lighting on their heads, yet not one of the hairs on their heads was singed. What an incredible thing that suddenly these men who had received little to no schooling were able to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit enabled them! What an incredible thing it must have been for them to realize that this was the very thing of which Jesus had been speaking when he had told them, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ” (John 15:26,27; 16:7–11, NIV)
Jesus delivered exactly what he had promised when he sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples on that Pentecost Day, for just as Jesus had said, the Holy Spirit came to them testifying about Jesus to the disciples upon whom he came and through the disciples upon whom he came. On that day, the Holy Spirit testified about Jesus to all the peoples of the world who had gathered in Jerusalem. Through the disciples whom he had blessed with the ability to speak all sorts of different languages, The Holy Spirit testified about Jesus and convicted those present in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Just listen to what Peter had to say in his sermon to the people present that day: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. …Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. …Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. …Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. ” (Acts 2:14–17, 22–24, 29–33, 36–41, NIV)
Through the work of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to his disciples, 3000 people were cut to the heart and convicted of their sins. 3000 people realized that they were sinners who had not believed in the Jesus, the Messiah whom the Lord had sent to save them from their sins. 3000 people came to realize that the righteousness they thought they had could not possibly measure up to the righteousness of Jesus, the Sinless Son of God. 3000 people realized that if they continued on in the way they were going they would receive the very same judgment that satan had received when Jesus died and rose again. Through the testimony of the Holy Spirit proclaimed by the disciples on that Pentecost Day, 3000 people came to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, received the declaration of God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus and found that since they had been judged as God’s chosen people through faith, they were free from the judgment that the Lord had declared on the prince of this world.
This is what the Holy Spirit is still doing for you and me today, which is why our prayer today is that the Lord would send his Holy Spirit to us so that he might still testify to us about Jesus Christ our Savior. Our prayer is that the Lord would send his Holy Spirit to us so the Holy Spirit might continue to testify to us about Christ Jesus our Savior, so that we too, through the Holy Spirit might go out and testify to the world about our Savior. This is why it is so important for each and every one of us to gather regularly for worship whether we are enjoying time at home or we’re away on vacation. This is why it is so important for each and every one of us to be in the Word of God on a regular basis. This is why it is so important for our children to gather for Sunday School and confirmation Class. This is why it is so important for our Adults to gather each week to delve deeper into the truths of God in Bible Study. It is so important to us because it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit still comes to us, speaks to us, testifies to us about Jesus, and prepares and enables us to testify about Jesus whenever we are asked about our faith.
This is also why I have often encouraged you to consider sending your children to Christian Grade Schools in St. Peter or Belle Plaine, and to consider sending your children to MVL for a Christian High School education. I have often encouraged you to consider our Lutheran Elementary Schools and High School because it is in these schools that children are surrounded with the word of God in the same way that children in our public schools are surrounded by evolution. Not please understand what I’m saying. We have a great public school system here. Our children receive an excellent education in our public school. Never the less, many of you parents have spoken about how your children speak about evolution as fact, and I have had students question the validity of the Creation account in Confirmation Class, and even argue against it. This is why I have encouraged you to consider utilizing our Lutheran Schools so that your child might be surrounded with the Word of God, so that your child will be taught from the perspective of Scriptural authority, so that through that daily connection with God’s Word, the Holy Spirit can continually work in your children’s hearts and strengthen their faith and their love for their Savior. In fact, if you want an example of this, just look at my children know about their Savior and how their faith shines through in everything they say and do simply because the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to testify to them through God’s Word on a daily basis.
Because the Lord Jesus has sent his Holy Spirit to us through his Word, we now hear him testifying to us about Jesus our Savior. He is also the one who now enables us to testify to the world about Jesus our Savior. He is the one who enables us to share our faith with others in the world so that they too might know what we believe. He is the one who uses those small testimonies to convict the world in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment. For through those moments when we share our faith, he is able to speak to the heart and convict that person in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sometimes it will be a clear victory as the person reacts like the 3000 on Pentecost who recognized their sins and were called to faith in Jesus and were added to the kingdom of God on that day. Sometimes it will be a more prolonged process as the Holy Spirit continues to convict that person in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment through our regular discussions of faith or our continually invites to worship. But sometimes it will be victory that displays the Lord’s glory and righteousness as the person simply refuses to listen to the Holy Spirit, remains trapped in their sins and unrighteousness and continues on the path that will lead to their eternal judgment. Though God our Savior does want all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth not everyone will. Though we are saddened to see those who reject the Holy Spirit in this way, God’s righteousness shines through in their choice to refuse the gift of salvation which the Lord Jesus has given us through the Holy Spirit.
Thus, our prayer today, has been that prayer written so many years ago, by an anonymous German hymn writer, “Send, O Lord, your Holy Spirit,” which is exactly what our Savior has done for us. He is the one who promised to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples, even before he was taken from them. He is the one who delivered on that promise on the Day of Pentecost when he sent the Holy Spirit in a stunning display of power and might. He is the one who continues to send His Holy Spirit into our hearts through the Word that he has given us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label repentance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repentance. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Let the Lord's Messenger Clear the Way (Malachi 3:1-4)
Dear friends in Christ.
I think it was about this time last year when we began talking about the construction project that took place in St. Peter this past summer. I remember hearing people saying things like, “I wonder how they’re going to do it?” and “That’s sure going to be a mess.” Already back around Easter Time. Then sometime in April or May we saw semi trailers positioned all around St. Peter, with their Discover 169 banners, proclaiming that the down town would still be open during the construction. There were articles in the newspaper and even pictures of what it would be like when the project was completed. In short there were quite a number of messengers clearing the way and preparing us for the project that was to come. In our text today the Lord did the very same thing for us and for his people as he sent the Prophet Malachi as the Lord’s Messenger to begin the process of clearing the way for the Lord. In fact, nearly 400 years before the Savior was to be born, the Lord began clearing the way for the Savior through his messengers, just as Malachi wrote in our text: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 NIV).
Now, when Malachi first spoke these words, he was speaking to the people of Israel a little more than 100 years after they had returned from their Babylonian captivity. Though the people had originally been very excited about returning to the land, rebuilding their homes, the city of Jerusalem, and even the temple of the Lord, by this time, the Israelites had become very apathetic toward the Lord and his worship. Rather than bringing to the Lord the first and the best of their livestock for their offerings, they were keeping the best for themselves and offering to the Lord the blind, the lame, and the crippled animals from their flocks and herds. But the worst part of all of this was the fact that the Levites were accepting these animals and offering them to the Lord on behalf of the people! The very people whom the Lord had established as the spiritual leaders of the community and put in charge of worship were disregarding the Lord’s commands by their actions. They were mocking the Lord by accepting these sub-standard offerings, and they were allowing the people to feel at peace as they continued in their sinful lives.
Because of this, as Malachi begins to clear the way for the coming Savior, he reveals that coming Lord would be the one to refine and purify the Levites so that they might once again bring acceptable offerings to the Lord! And as we know, this is exactly what the Lord Jesus our Savior did. For already with John the Baptist, the messenger whom Malachi promises will prepare the way for the Lord, the Lord began his refining the Levites and the people Israel. For as a refinery will pass precious metals like gold or silver through an extremely hot fire so that the impurities might be melted out of them, the Lord began this refining process with the fiery preaching of John the Baptist. As the people came to him by the Jordan River, he did not wink at their sins, but he stood before them proclaiming the truth of God’s Law. Unlike the Levites of Malachi’s day, John breathed the fire of God’s Word, designed to burn away the impurities of sin, and to purify the people of Israel by assuring them of the forgiveness that the Lord offered them through Jesus the Lamb of God. Even when the self righteous Pharisees and Teachers of the Law came to him, he did not hold back, but unleashed the flame thrower of God’s Word at them, going so far as to call them a brood of vipers so that even their sins might be burned away and so that they might turn to the Lord in repentance, receive his forgiveness and pass through to the other side as God’s refined people.
It was in this way that the Lord used John as his messenger to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus so that when Jesus did come to his people he would be able to not only continue refining, but add fuel to the refiners fire so that it might burn even hotter. And that is exactly what Jesus did, for he is the one who traveled throughout all of Israel proclaiming the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” He is the one who continually went head to head with the self-righteous religious leaders of the day. He answered every challenge they gave him and continually used his word to burn away stubbornness and sins so that he might forgiveness. Though there are very few recorded instances of religious leaders turning to Jesus and following him on the way that had been prepared, through his preaching and teaching, there were many in Israel who were convicted of their sins, turned to him in repentance, and received the forgiveness that he offered them. There were even some from the Sanhedrin, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were refined by the Lord’s Word and brought from their self-righteous ideas to the forgiveness that Jesus provided.
Just as the Lord Jesus traveled the road that his messengers had prepared him and then served as a refiner and purifier of his people, so also the messenger of the Word has been doing the same thing for you and me. In fact, for the past few weeks, we have been reminded again and again of how our Savior will return on the Last Day. We have heard the Word of our Savior proclaiming to us our need to repent of our sins, draw near to him, and receive the gift of his forgiveness. In many ways the Lord has used that message of his imminent return as a flint and stele to light our hearts on fire so that the impurities or our sins might be burned away so that we might receive his forgiveness and pass through to the other side as God’s refined people! Just as Malachi said in our text: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 NIV).
This is exactly what the Lord has done for each and every one of us! Through the messengers he sent, messengers like Malachi and John the Baptist, the way was cleared for Jesus to enter our hearts and create faith there. Through messengers like Malachi and John, the way was clear for Jesus to enter our hearts and assure us that through his perfect life lived on our behalf that we are now without sin in God’s eyes. It was through God’s messengers that we have are now assured that when our Savior went to the cross, he not only carried the full weight of our debt on his shoulders, but he went so far as to replace our guilt with his innocence. Now, through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we have been refined and purified before him and the Lord for all our days. Through faith in Jesus Christ we have come to enjoy our daily trips through the fire of his Word. We have come to enjoy our daily trips because we know that it is only through his law that the impurity of our sins is melted away, and we are purified before the Lord. We enjoy those trips because we know that once purified through our sorrow over sins and the repentance to which the law moves us, we are once again molded into God’s holy people through the press of the gospel.
Now, because of all the work done by the Lord’s messengers, to prepare the way before him, we look forward to the Lord’s appearing with nothing less than joy. Since we know that he is the one who came as a little child so that he might free us from our sins forever, we joyfully look forward to the celebration of his birth. Because we are so familiar with every aspect of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection through which we have been made righteous before the Lord our God, we give praise to the Lord who loved us so much. Because we know that we have been made righteous before the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ, we not only reflect on the fact that he will return, but we look forward to it with all our hearts. We look forward to that grand and glorious day, because when Jesus does return we will be refined and purified one last time. For on that day, as all believers are gathered before the Lord, all the world will hear that we who believed in him are his holy people. We have been declared not guilty through faith in him, and all people will see as we are made righteous forever!
How well we have been prepared for that day! In the same way that the messengers prepared the way for the construction project through St. Peter, so also the Lord’s messengers have prepared the way for our Savior to enter our hearts. We have heard the call to repentance, we have been refined by the fire of God’s law and formed into his people through the gospel, and we are now looking to our Savior’s appearing as the baby in Bethlehem as well as his reappearing on the last day. Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
I think it was about this time last year when we began talking about the construction project that took place in St. Peter this past summer. I remember hearing people saying things like, “I wonder how they’re going to do it?” and “That’s sure going to be a mess.” Already back around Easter Time. Then sometime in April or May we saw semi trailers positioned all around St. Peter, with their Discover 169 banners, proclaiming that the down town would still be open during the construction. There were articles in the newspaper and even pictures of what it would be like when the project was completed. In short there were quite a number of messengers clearing the way and preparing us for the project that was to come. In our text today the Lord did the very same thing for us and for his people as he sent the Prophet Malachi as the Lord’s Messenger to begin the process of clearing the way for the Lord. In fact, nearly 400 years before the Savior was to be born, the Lord began clearing the way for the Savior through his messengers, just as Malachi wrote in our text: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 NIV).
Now, when Malachi first spoke these words, he was speaking to the people of Israel a little more than 100 years after they had returned from their Babylonian captivity. Though the people had originally been very excited about returning to the land, rebuilding their homes, the city of Jerusalem, and even the temple of the Lord, by this time, the Israelites had become very apathetic toward the Lord and his worship. Rather than bringing to the Lord the first and the best of their livestock for their offerings, they were keeping the best for themselves and offering to the Lord the blind, the lame, and the crippled animals from their flocks and herds. But the worst part of all of this was the fact that the Levites were accepting these animals and offering them to the Lord on behalf of the people! The very people whom the Lord had established as the spiritual leaders of the community and put in charge of worship were disregarding the Lord’s commands by their actions. They were mocking the Lord by accepting these sub-standard offerings, and they were allowing the people to feel at peace as they continued in their sinful lives.
Because of this, as Malachi begins to clear the way for the coming Savior, he reveals that coming Lord would be the one to refine and purify the Levites so that they might once again bring acceptable offerings to the Lord! And as we know, this is exactly what the Lord Jesus our Savior did. For already with John the Baptist, the messenger whom Malachi promises will prepare the way for the Lord, the Lord began his refining the Levites and the people Israel. For as a refinery will pass precious metals like gold or silver through an extremely hot fire so that the impurities might be melted out of them, the Lord began this refining process with the fiery preaching of John the Baptist. As the people came to him by the Jordan River, he did not wink at their sins, but he stood before them proclaiming the truth of God’s Law. Unlike the Levites of Malachi’s day, John breathed the fire of God’s Word, designed to burn away the impurities of sin, and to purify the people of Israel by assuring them of the forgiveness that the Lord offered them through Jesus the Lamb of God. Even when the self righteous Pharisees and Teachers of the Law came to him, he did not hold back, but unleashed the flame thrower of God’s Word at them, going so far as to call them a brood of vipers so that even their sins might be burned away and so that they might turn to the Lord in repentance, receive his forgiveness and pass through to the other side as God’s refined people.
It was in this way that the Lord used John as his messenger to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus so that when Jesus did come to his people he would be able to not only continue refining, but add fuel to the refiners fire so that it might burn even hotter. And that is exactly what Jesus did, for he is the one who traveled throughout all of Israel proclaiming the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” He is the one who continually went head to head with the self-righteous religious leaders of the day. He answered every challenge they gave him and continually used his word to burn away stubbornness and sins so that he might forgiveness. Though there are very few recorded instances of religious leaders turning to Jesus and following him on the way that had been prepared, through his preaching and teaching, there were many in Israel who were convicted of their sins, turned to him in repentance, and received the forgiveness that he offered them. There were even some from the Sanhedrin, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were refined by the Lord’s Word and brought from their self-righteous ideas to the forgiveness that Jesus provided.
Just as the Lord Jesus traveled the road that his messengers had prepared him and then served as a refiner and purifier of his people, so also the messenger of the Word has been doing the same thing for you and me. In fact, for the past few weeks, we have been reminded again and again of how our Savior will return on the Last Day. We have heard the Word of our Savior proclaiming to us our need to repent of our sins, draw near to him, and receive the gift of his forgiveness. In many ways the Lord has used that message of his imminent return as a flint and stele to light our hearts on fire so that the impurities or our sins might be burned away so that we might receive his forgiveness and pass through to the other side as God’s refined people! Just as Malachi said in our text: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 NIV).
This is exactly what the Lord has done for each and every one of us! Through the messengers he sent, messengers like Malachi and John the Baptist, the way was cleared for Jesus to enter our hearts and create faith there. Through messengers like Malachi and John, the way was clear for Jesus to enter our hearts and assure us that through his perfect life lived on our behalf that we are now without sin in God’s eyes. It was through God’s messengers that we have are now assured that when our Savior went to the cross, he not only carried the full weight of our debt on his shoulders, but he went so far as to replace our guilt with his innocence. Now, through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we have been refined and purified before him and the Lord for all our days. Through faith in Jesus Christ we have come to enjoy our daily trips through the fire of his Word. We have come to enjoy our daily trips because we know that it is only through his law that the impurity of our sins is melted away, and we are purified before the Lord. We enjoy those trips because we know that once purified through our sorrow over sins and the repentance to which the law moves us, we are once again molded into God’s holy people through the press of the gospel.
Now, because of all the work done by the Lord’s messengers, to prepare the way before him, we look forward to the Lord’s appearing with nothing less than joy. Since we know that he is the one who came as a little child so that he might free us from our sins forever, we joyfully look forward to the celebration of his birth. Because we are so familiar with every aspect of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection through which we have been made righteous before the Lord our God, we give praise to the Lord who loved us so much. Because we know that we have been made righteous before the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ, we not only reflect on the fact that he will return, but we look forward to it with all our hearts. We look forward to that grand and glorious day, because when Jesus does return we will be refined and purified one last time. For on that day, as all believers are gathered before the Lord, all the world will hear that we who believed in him are his holy people. We have been declared not guilty through faith in him, and all people will see as we are made righteous forever!
How well we have been prepared for that day! In the same way that the messengers prepared the way for the construction project through St. Peter, so also the Lord’s messengers have prepared the way for our Savior to enter our hearts. We have heard the call to repentance, we have been refined by the fire of God’s law and formed into his people through the gospel, and we are now looking to our Savior’s appearing as the baby in Bethlehem as well as his reappearing on the last day. Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Draw Near to the Lord (James 4:7-10)
Dear friends in Christ.
At one time or another during their years in grade school, children learn about magnets. They learn how magnets attract metal objects to themselves and how those metal objects can become magnetized by prolonged exposure to a magnet. But they also learn about the positive and negative attraction of magnets. For example, when you take two magnets that are both positively charged and try to force them together, they will repel each other, and the same thing happens when you try it with negatively charged magnets. But if you take one magnet that is charged positive and one that is charged negative, and bring them together, there will be a point when they almost try to leap out of your hands and snap together. In fact, if you would set them down at just the right distance apart, you could watch as the two magnets draw themselves closer and closer to each other until they finally connect. Well, in our text today, this is the point which James is trying to get across to you and me as he encourages and assures us that when we draw near to the Lord, the Lord will draw near to us. Just listen to what James it telling us in verses 7 and 8 of chapter 4: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you,” (James 4:7-8a).
Now, when James wrote this letter less than twenty years had passed since Jesus had ascended into heaven, and yet there were many Christians who had simply forgotten what being a Christian was all about. There were some Christians who were simply going through the motions of Christianity without really letting the message of salvation affect their hearts. There were others who had stopped focusing their attention on God and the blessings he had bestowed upon them and were focusing on all the great things they could get for themselves so that they could rise in stature and power within their congregation. There were even others who were so taken with their Christian freedom that they really didn’t worry about how they lived their lives, they went out and did pretty much whatever they wanted to, figuring that Jesus’ death and resurrection was their get out of jail free card—their license to sin and do whatever they wanted to because they had been forgiven. So when James wrote these words calling on them to draw near to the Lord and submit themselves to him, these were words that hit them hard. They were words that cut them deep making them realize how they may have proudly walked around with their Christianity on their shoulders for all to see, and yet they failed to act like Christians. They were words that made them realize that by not submitting themselves to God they were not drawing near to God, and because they were not drawing near to God they were not resisting the devil, and because they were not resisting the devil, they were falling into his many traps and in many ways finding that they were actually lost in their sins.
How often don’t we find the same thing to be true in our lives? Rather than drawing near to the Lord and submitting ourselves to his will, how often doesn’t it happen that we actually distance ourselves from the Lord because we can’t stand the idea of submitting ourselves to anyone? After all, isn’t the idea of submission connected with the feeling of weakness? Doesn’t our national pride scream out that as Americans we never submit? We may make others submit to us, but we never submit? Isn’t it true that as soon as we hear even the remotest concept of submission our sinful nature rears up its ugly head and cries out, “Why do I have to submit to God? Why must I be subservient to him? Why must I be treated as his slave?”
Yet when we look at the truth of it, submitting ourselves to God and his will simply means that we are drawing ourselves closer to him so that he might draw himself closer to us. When we look at the truth of submitting ourselves to the Lord we begin to understand that placing ourselves under our caring and gracious God is not such a terrible thing, after all, it is exactly what Jesus did for each and every one of us. Even Jesus, who is God himself, submitted himself to the Lord, followed his will and saved us from our sins. And this is what the Apostle James is calling on us as Christians to do today. He is calling on us to submit ourselves to God and draw near to him by listening to his Word. For it is through his Word, which we have gathered to hear, that we draw near to the Lord and the Lord draws near to us, and it is through that Word that he calls us to repentance.
Back on April 30, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln was essentially calling on the American Nation to the very same thing when he proclaimed a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer. For on that day he said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us. It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.[1]
Well, in the same way that our 16th president called on a nation to draw near to the Lord and repent of her sins, so also James is calling on each and every one of us to do the very same thing. James writes in verse 7-10 of chapter 4: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you, wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:8a-10).
Though words like this can be difficult to hear, as we draw near to the Lord we begin to realize the extent of the sins that have piled up in our hearts like the leaves piling up on our front lawns. When we draw near to the Lord and hear his word proclaimed to us, we are reminded of the perfection we have failed to achieve. When we meditate on the commandments of our God we are reminded that no matter how hard we’ve tried to honor him above all things, we have not succeeded. No matter how hard we’ve tried to love our neighbor as ourselves, we have failed. No matter how hard we’ve tried to honor our parents, to keep our hearts pure from evil, keep from lusting, coveting, and hating, we have simply not been able to do it. For we know how we have sinned against our God with the words we have spoken, the things we have done, the thoughts that have echoed through our minds and we are laid bare and all our many sins are exposed before the Lord!
Yet, even as we draw near to the Lord and are condemned by his word, it is through that same word that we are moved to repent. It is through that same word that we are enabled to confess our many sins and iniquities to the Lord, and it is through that same word that we draw near to the Lord our God who covers over our many sins with the blanket of our Savior’s forgiveness. For it is through that message of Law and Gospel that we are convicted of our sins, comforted by our Savior, assured of his forgiveness and drawn closer to our God through repentance. It is through the message of the gospel that we learn about God’s Son, who threw himself in front of the bullet of sin so that it wouldn’t take us to hell with it. It is only in the gospel that we learn how Jesus ran into the street to push us out of the path of the Mac Truck of death, which was speeding toward us, and was killed in our place. It is only in the gospel where we learn about Jesus who gave us the life saving transfusion of his blood, which cleanses us from our sins, makes us members of his family, and gives us the gift of eternal life. This is why James calls on us to draw near to the Lord in repentance so that through his forgiveness he might draw himself closer to us and move us serve him with gratitude as we seek to follow his will for our lives.
It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean...For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun, and even starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. They knew it would take a miracle to sustain them, and a miracle occurred. In Captain Eddie's own words, "Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don't know how I knew, I just knew. The gull meant food...if I could catch it." Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice. Captain Eddie made it, and he never forgot, because every Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast...you could see an old man walking...His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls...to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle...like manna in the wilderness.[2]
As Christians who have drawn near to the Lord who has forgiven their every sin, we now seek to live lives of gratitude and thanks like Captain Eddie. But unlike his life of feeding gulls, we seek to live our lives in service to the Lord. We seek to follow his law for our lives, not because we have to, but because Jesus fulfilled every demand of that law for us. We seek to follow his law for our lives in order that we might say thank you to the one who gave us the life giving transfusion of his blood. We seek to follow the Law of our God so that by our lives we might please him and thank him for the salvation he bestowed upon us. We seek to follow his law so that as we live our lives in service to him, we might continually draw near to him in the same way that oppositely charged magnets will draw themselves to each other.
For in the same way that grade school children learn about magnets and how they can attract and draw other magnets to themselves, so also today we have learned why it is so important for us to draw near to the Lord our God. So let us do just that, as we continue on in our lives. Let us draw near to the Lord in repentance submission and thanksgiving, so that the Lord our God may continue to draw near to us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
[1] http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/repentance.htm (Accessed Oct 8, 2009)
[2] Paul Aurandt, "The Old Man and the Gulls", Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story, 1977, quoted in Heaven Bound Living, Knofel Stanton, Standard, 1989, p. 79-80. From http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/t/thanksgiving.htm (Accessed October 10, 2009) Modified
At one time or another during their years in grade school, children learn about magnets. They learn how magnets attract metal objects to themselves and how those metal objects can become magnetized by prolonged exposure to a magnet. But they also learn about the positive and negative attraction of magnets. For example, when you take two magnets that are both positively charged and try to force them together, they will repel each other, and the same thing happens when you try it with negatively charged magnets. But if you take one magnet that is charged positive and one that is charged negative, and bring them together, there will be a point when they almost try to leap out of your hands and snap together. In fact, if you would set them down at just the right distance apart, you could watch as the two magnets draw themselves closer and closer to each other until they finally connect. Well, in our text today, this is the point which James is trying to get across to you and me as he encourages and assures us that when we draw near to the Lord, the Lord will draw near to us. Just listen to what James it telling us in verses 7 and 8 of chapter 4: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you,” (James 4:7-8a).
Now, when James wrote this letter less than twenty years had passed since Jesus had ascended into heaven, and yet there were many Christians who had simply forgotten what being a Christian was all about. There were some Christians who were simply going through the motions of Christianity without really letting the message of salvation affect their hearts. There were others who had stopped focusing their attention on God and the blessings he had bestowed upon them and were focusing on all the great things they could get for themselves so that they could rise in stature and power within their congregation. There were even others who were so taken with their Christian freedom that they really didn’t worry about how they lived their lives, they went out and did pretty much whatever they wanted to, figuring that Jesus’ death and resurrection was their get out of jail free card—their license to sin and do whatever they wanted to because they had been forgiven. So when James wrote these words calling on them to draw near to the Lord and submit themselves to him, these were words that hit them hard. They were words that cut them deep making them realize how they may have proudly walked around with their Christianity on their shoulders for all to see, and yet they failed to act like Christians. They were words that made them realize that by not submitting themselves to God they were not drawing near to God, and because they were not drawing near to God they were not resisting the devil, and because they were not resisting the devil, they were falling into his many traps and in many ways finding that they were actually lost in their sins.
How often don’t we find the same thing to be true in our lives? Rather than drawing near to the Lord and submitting ourselves to his will, how often doesn’t it happen that we actually distance ourselves from the Lord because we can’t stand the idea of submitting ourselves to anyone? After all, isn’t the idea of submission connected with the feeling of weakness? Doesn’t our national pride scream out that as Americans we never submit? We may make others submit to us, but we never submit? Isn’t it true that as soon as we hear even the remotest concept of submission our sinful nature rears up its ugly head and cries out, “Why do I have to submit to God? Why must I be subservient to him? Why must I be treated as his slave?”
Yet when we look at the truth of it, submitting ourselves to God and his will simply means that we are drawing ourselves closer to him so that he might draw himself closer to us. When we look at the truth of submitting ourselves to the Lord we begin to understand that placing ourselves under our caring and gracious God is not such a terrible thing, after all, it is exactly what Jesus did for each and every one of us. Even Jesus, who is God himself, submitted himself to the Lord, followed his will and saved us from our sins. And this is what the Apostle James is calling on us as Christians to do today. He is calling on us to submit ourselves to God and draw near to him by listening to his Word. For it is through his Word, which we have gathered to hear, that we draw near to the Lord and the Lord draws near to us, and it is through that Word that he calls us to repentance.
Back on April 30, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln was essentially calling on the American Nation to the very same thing when he proclaimed a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer. For on that day he said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us. It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.[1]
Well, in the same way that our 16th president called on a nation to draw near to the Lord and repent of her sins, so also James is calling on each and every one of us to do the very same thing. James writes in verse 7-10 of chapter 4: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you, wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:8a-10).
Though words like this can be difficult to hear, as we draw near to the Lord we begin to realize the extent of the sins that have piled up in our hearts like the leaves piling up on our front lawns. When we draw near to the Lord and hear his word proclaimed to us, we are reminded of the perfection we have failed to achieve. When we meditate on the commandments of our God we are reminded that no matter how hard we’ve tried to honor him above all things, we have not succeeded. No matter how hard we’ve tried to love our neighbor as ourselves, we have failed. No matter how hard we’ve tried to honor our parents, to keep our hearts pure from evil, keep from lusting, coveting, and hating, we have simply not been able to do it. For we know how we have sinned against our God with the words we have spoken, the things we have done, the thoughts that have echoed through our minds and we are laid bare and all our many sins are exposed before the Lord!
Yet, even as we draw near to the Lord and are condemned by his word, it is through that same word that we are moved to repent. It is through that same word that we are enabled to confess our many sins and iniquities to the Lord, and it is through that same word that we draw near to the Lord our God who covers over our many sins with the blanket of our Savior’s forgiveness. For it is through that message of Law and Gospel that we are convicted of our sins, comforted by our Savior, assured of his forgiveness and drawn closer to our God through repentance. It is through the message of the gospel that we learn about God’s Son, who threw himself in front of the bullet of sin so that it wouldn’t take us to hell with it. It is only in the gospel that we learn how Jesus ran into the street to push us out of the path of the Mac Truck of death, which was speeding toward us, and was killed in our place. It is only in the gospel where we learn about Jesus who gave us the life saving transfusion of his blood, which cleanses us from our sins, makes us members of his family, and gives us the gift of eternal life. This is why James calls on us to draw near to the Lord in repentance so that through his forgiveness he might draw himself closer to us and move us serve him with gratitude as we seek to follow his will for our lives.
It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean...For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun, and even starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. They knew it would take a miracle to sustain them, and a miracle occurred. In Captain Eddie's own words, "Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don't know how I knew, I just knew. The gull meant food...if I could catch it." Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice. Captain Eddie made it, and he never forgot, because every Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast...you could see an old man walking...His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls...to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle...like manna in the wilderness.[2]
As Christians who have drawn near to the Lord who has forgiven their every sin, we now seek to live lives of gratitude and thanks like Captain Eddie. But unlike his life of feeding gulls, we seek to live our lives in service to the Lord. We seek to follow his law for our lives, not because we have to, but because Jesus fulfilled every demand of that law for us. We seek to follow his law for our lives in order that we might say thank you to the one who gave us the life giving transfusion of his blood. We seek to follow the Law of our God so that by our lives we might please him and thank him for the salvation he bestowed upon us. We seek to follow his law so that as we live our lives in service to him, we might continually draw near to him in the same way that oppositely charged magnets will draw themselves to each other.
For in the same way that grade school children learn about magnets and how they can attract and draw other magnets to themselves, so also today we have learned why it is so important for us to draw near to the Lord our God. So let us do just that, as we continue on in our lives. Let us draw near to the Lord in repentance submission and thanksgiving, so that the Lord our God may continue to draw near to us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
[1] http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/repentance.htm (Accessed Oct 8, 2009)
[2] Paul Aurandt, "The Old Man and the Gulls", Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story, 1977, quoted in Heaven Bound Living, Knofel Stanton, Standard, 1989, p. 79-80. From http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/t/thanksgiving.htm (Accessed October 10, 2009) Modified
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