Look forward to the Day of the Lord's Appearing! (Daniel 12:1-3)

November 18, 2012

 

Dear friends in Christ.

For some reason it seems that it is about the third week in November when we start to look forward to Christmas.  I don’t know why it is, exactly.  Perhaps it is the fact that by this time many of the malls have at least started, if not finished decorating and putting out their Christmas inventory.  Perhaps it’s the fact that so many advertisers have been airing commercials that make us think more concretely about the coming Christmas holidays.  Or perhaps it simply comes down to the fact that by the third week of November, most of us have our Thanksgiving plans well in hand and we can actually start looking ahead to Christmas time.  But whatever the reason might be, our looking forward to celebrating holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas can serve as a lesson for us today in the way that we as Christians also look forward to the day of the Lord’s appearing.  For the truth is, in the same way that we look forward with excitement to upcoming holidays, we can look forward to the Lord’s appearing with confident expectation, excitement and joy.  We can look forward to the Lord’s appearing, because we know that on that day we will be revealed as the Lord’s triumphant saints who will live with the Lord in heaven, forever.

This, in fact, is the very message that the Lord conveyed to his servant Daniel, in our lesson today.  Through the angel that appeared to Daniel the Lord revealed the time of his appearing, when he said, “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:1–3, NIV84)

Now, when the Lord revealed these words to Daniel, Daniel was a captive in Babylon.  He was serving King Nebuchadnezzar as a governor of the Babylonian Empire.  He was looking forward to the end of the 70 years of captivity when the Lord would allow his people to return home to the Promised Land, and now, because of these words, he was looking forward to the day of the Lord’s appearing.  Well, as Christians who are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving in just a few days and Christmas a little more than a month later, we are also looking forward to the day of the Lord’s appearing, because we know that we belong to the Lord.  We know that on the day we came to faith in the Lord Jesus, he wrote our names in to his book of life.  In the same way that I have books in my office that have the names of previous owners written in above my own, so also our names have been written into the Lord’s book of life.  Whether it happened on the day that we were baptized and called to faith in Jesus through the Water and the Word, or it happened when we were called to faith later in life when we learned that Jesus is our personal savior from sin; on that day, when the Holy Spirit created faith in our hearts, Jesus took the quill of his love, dipped it in the inkwell of his blood, and tenderly inscribed our names in his book—marking us as his children through faith in him.

It is because our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, that we, like Daniel, are looking forward to the day of our Lord’s appearing.  We are looking forward to the day when our Savior will appear in the sky in glory and judgment, because we know on that day, our Savior will publicly proclaim us to be his children, and he will deliver us to everlasting life, were we will live in his heavenly home by his side, forever more.

Yes, we are looking forward to the day of our Savior’s return with confident expectation because we know what our Savior did to make us his own.  We know how he sacrificed himself on the altar of the cross to pay for the sins of the world.  We know how he rose again from the dead to prove that he is our all powerful Savior.  Now, through Jesus’ triumph over death and hell we have been made heirs of eternal life through faith in him.  We have no reason to be afraid of anything, because Jesus has saved us.  We do not need to fear the day of our death, because we have been cleansed of our sins by Jesus’ blood.  We do not need to fear the Day of Judgment or worry that we will not be worthy enough to enter heaven, or worry that we have not done enough to gain God’s favor, because Jesus has made us worthy.  We know that Jesus himself has already delivered us from death to life, and when he returns on the last day, he will once again deliver us to eternal life.  This is exactly what the Lord is revealing to Daniel this morning when he says: “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:1–3, NIV84)

On the last day, when our Savior returns, all who sleep in the dust of the earth will be called forth by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our souls will be reunited with our bodies.  We will stand before the Lord as he pronounces his judgment on all people.  But we do not need to fear that day.  We do not need to worry about what will happen, for when Jesus looks at us, he will say to them, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world,” (Matthew 25:34).  Then he will take us to live with him forever in his heavenly kingdom. Not because of anything we have done, but because Jesus himself has washed us clean with his blood. This is why we are looking forward to the Lord’s appearing, because we know that through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be delivered to eternal life.  Though we are living in the last days, and we are beginning to feel the love of the world growing colder; though we are beginning to feel indifference toward God move to hatred of God; we do not need to fear.  Though we may be facing hardships on every side, financial burdens, business problems, health concerns, we are able to rejoice.  Though it seems that the only thing we hear on the news is sad and depressing news, we do not need to be troubled.  Though each day we deal with our own mortality as we grow older, we have nothing to be concerned about. We have nothing to be concerned about because Jesus has already delivered us to eternal life.  What a comfort it is to us that Jesus himself will deliver us to eternal life.  For heaven is our true home and there we will shine like the stars just as the Lord prophesied to Daniel: “Those who are wise  will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever,” (Daniel 12:3). 

What an amazing promise!  When the Lord calls us home, we will go to live with him forever and ever.  We will live with him in his heavenly kingdom and we will shine like the brightness of the heavens!  How amazing it will be on that day when the Lord returns, as he takes us to live with him forever in our new homes in heaven.  But what will it be like on that day when he calls us home?  Can you even begin to imagine the glory that we will see?  Can you even begin to conceive of what heaven will be like?  Though none of us can even begin to contemplate the glories of our true home, we are able to perceive a small part of that glory now, and picture what it will be like.  In fact, each and every one of us holds a different idea in our minds of what heaven will be like, just like Miss Kaltin’s kindergarten class.  One day for art class, Miss Kaltin asked her students to draw a picture of what they though heaven would be like.  Some of the children drew pictures of Jesus and angels living in the clouds, others drew big walls and golden gates, but Hannah drew a big golden castle with towers and spires and battlements, which she covered with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and many other precious stones.  That was her picture of heaven, a huge fortress where she would be safe with God forever.

So, what is your picture of heaven?  What do you see when you think about it?  What would you draw if I asked you to draw a picture of it?  We all have a different idea of what heaven will be like, and nobody knows exactly what the Lord has in store for us.  But I can tell you, heaven will not be a boring place.  It won’t be a place where we stand before St. Peter making excuses for each of our sins as he reads them out of a great book.  It won’t be hectic and frustrating like Wal-Mart, packed with panicky shoppers two days before Christmas.  It won’t even be a place where we are issued a pair of wings and a harp, escorted to our own personal cloud where we are expected to remain all day long singing praises to God every fifteen minutes. That’s nothing like heaven will be like.  For when we are called home we will be carried to our Lord’s side where he will greet us with open arms.  Jesus himself will place a crown on our heads and show us the place he has lovingly prepared for us.  We will be reunited with all our loved ones who have been called home to heaven before us, and indeed all believers.  We will see the river whose streams make glad the city of God.  We will see the tree of life, we will see the multitudes from every tribe, people, and language, and we will live with the Lord in the city of God, where He will spread his tent over us.  Never again will we hunger, never again will we thirst, the sun will not beat upon us nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be our shepherd.  He will lead us to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.  This is what heaven is all about, and this is the reason we are rejoicing today, because when the Lord calls us home, we will shine like the brightness of the heaven in our glorified bodies.

Yes, one day soon, we will see our Savior returning in the clouds and all the angles with him.  But we do not fear that day.  Rather, we look forward to that day knowing that our names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life.  We look forward to that day knowing that our Savior will deliver us from this life to his side forever in heaven.  We look forward to that day knowing that when we are with the Lord we will shine like the brightness of the sun in our Father’s heavenly kingdom.  So, as you leave here today looking forward to both Thanksgiving and Christmas, continue also to look forward to the day of your Savior’s returning.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Enlarge the Place of Your Tent! (Isaiah 54:1-5)

Mission Festival Sunday 

November 11, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

If you’ve ever been camping, then you know that tents come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are so small that all they are able to hold is one person in a sleeping bag, while others are so large that they are designed with as many as four separate rooms in them.  Sometimes you might see a couple camping in a simple dome tent, while other times, you might see a family of eight ingeniously join a pair of smaller tents to make one large tent.  But no matter what kind of tent a person uses, one simple rule always applies:  the more people you have, the bigger your tent will need to be.  The same rule also applies in God’s Kingdom, for as more and more people come into it the larger it will need to be.  In fact, as we study the lesson before us this morning, this is the lesson that the Lord will be teaching us as we hear him calling on us to enlarge the place of our tents.

Just listen to what the Lord is telling us in our lesson today:  “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. 4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54:2–5, NIV84)

Enlarge the place of your tent!  Believe it or not, this is the very thing that the LORD is calling on us to do today!  He is calling on us to enlarge the place of our tent, because, as he tells us, we will spread out on all sides.  However, for us living out here in the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant, this may seem like an almost silly idea!  After all, it is very clear that the exact opposite is true.  We are not spreading out on every side!  Rather, our congregation has been shrinking for the last decade.  As we look around us, we can’t help but notice how few people there are sitting in our pews, and how many churches there are in town.  As we talk to each other it is easy to come to the conclusion that those who want to be part of a congregation already are, and those who don’t want anything to do with church regularly keep themselves away. But, even though this may be the case, the Lord is still telling us, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; " (Isaiah 54:2–3, NIV84)

Now, when Isaiah first spoke these words in Judea, the Israelites were having a pretty tough time.  For even though the Lord had established his temple in Jerusalem, the majority of the people had turned away from the Lord—leaving only a small group of believers.  On top of that, it wouldn’t be long before the Babylonians came to destroy Jerusalem and take the rest of the people off into captivity.  It wouldn’t be long until the Babylonians came and destroyed the temple which Solomon himself had built, bringing a stop to the daily sacrifice for over 70 years.  But even in the midst of this coming trouble, the Lord speaks to his believers and tells them to enlarge the place of their tent, because they would indeed spread out as more and more believers were added to their numbers. 

But even though the Lord never promised that this influx would come right away, he promised that over time they would.  He promised that over time they would grow and he illustrated his promise with the picture of someone enlarging his tent.  For in those days, often times wives would live in their own tents, apart from their husband.  In this tent, children would also live, be cared for, and be schooled.  So, when a wife was expecting another child, that tent would need to be increased in size so that there would be plenty of room for the family as well as the new child.  This was how that small group of believers would grow. It wouldn’t necessarily be quickly, but it would be slow and steady until they reached such a great number that no one would be able to count them.

The same is true for you and me today.  Even though we are but a small group of believers, the Lord is calling on us to enlarge the place of our tent, because we will indeed spread out on all sides.  Now, that doesn’t mean that we need to hold an emergency council meeting to decide how best to remodel our church and make it larger, but it does mean that we need to prepare ourselves for the influx of believers who will be brought into God’s Kingdom, by going out and looking for them! 

Sadly, this is the very thing that we, as a congregation have not been doing for a long, long time.  For nearly as many years as I’ve been here we have turned away from evangelism opportunities because we simply didn’t have the money to fund them.  If we’ve done any evangelism at all, we have only been looking for the right type of people.  We have been looking only for those who are well off so that they can help us pay our bills.  We’ve been looking for the people who have it together and are not carrying too much baggage, and if we are completely honest with ourselves, we have to admit, that in many ways we are only looking for white people.  Let’s face it!  Though we long to be a growing congregation, the truth is the idea of bringing the gospel to the growing Hispanic and Latino community in Le Sure terrifies us.  It terrifies us because suddenly we are crossing cultures, and for most of us crossing cultural boundaries is completely outside our comfort zone. 

Yet, this is what mission work is all about!  It is about going to those who do not know the gospel and sharing it with them.  it is about taking the good news of Jesus Christ to each and every nation of people that we find living right here in our own community.  It’s about talking to your friends, your neighbors and your relatives and simply inviting them to come to church with you to hear the Word of God.  It’s about us as a congregation building a warm and friendly community where people feel welcome to come in and grow in the Word of God together.  It is about us putting the Lord first, trusting his promise that as we seek to do this, as we seek to enlarge the place of our tent, we will not suffer shame as we share his Word with those who do not yet know him.  As he promises in our lesson today, “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54:4–5, NIV84)

What incredible comfort the Lord is giving us today!  Even though we are a small group of believers, he is assuring us that we will not suffer shame as we work to enlarge the place of our tent.  Now, I don’t know about you, but to me these are some very comforting words, because these words assure us that even though taking the gospel to another culture can be terrifying, the Lord will be with us.  We will suffer no shame in sharing his Word, because we are doing his Work.  The Lord is assuring us that even as we work to enlarge the place of this tent, if we should find that the faces of the people around changing we will be blessed as his kingdom continues to grow.  He is assuring us that even if we have to rethink the way we work as a congregation, or even rethink the way that we support this congregation, as we seek to spread his Word, and enlarge the place of his tent, he will bless us, just as he blessed his people Israel.

For when Isaiah first spoke these words to that small group of believers, and they realized that it was now their mission to enlarge the place of their tent, they might have been a little afraid.  After all, they were only a small group of believers, and now they were being asked to prepare for more.  Perhaps they were simply afraid that if their small group grew large once again, they would suffer the shame of watching another majority of believers turn away from the Lord.  This is why the Lord spoke to them through the Prophet Isaiah and said: “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. 4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." (Isaiah 54:2–5, NIV84)

This is what the Lord is saying to you and me today as well!  He is telling us not to be afraid because we will not suffer shame as we work to enlarge the Lord’s Church.  We will not suffer shame as we go about doing the work for the Lord’s kingdom.  Even though we may be a small group of believers, even though we may feel that there is not much that we are able to do in the Lord’s kingdom, there are quite a few things that we can do to enlarge his Church.  We can give to the Lord out of the bounty with which he has blessed us.  We can give to the Lord so that the work of his kingdom might continue.  We can give our gifts and offerings to the Lord and support the spreading of the Gospel both here at home and all over the world.  We can give offerings to support the work going on at Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Martin Luther College in New Ulm.  We can give our gifts and offerings to the Synod to support the training of Pastors, Teachers, and Staff Ministers so that other churches and schools might have workers to serve.  We can give our gifts and offerings to help support the work of our Childcare so that we might continue to nurture little bodies and souls in the Word of God.

But money is not the only thing we can give to the Lord, for we can also give to him of our time.  We can give our time to the Lord by praying that he would bless us with many more men and women who desire to become pastors and teachers.  You can give your time to the Lord by sitting down each day and praying for the members of your mission board who send missionaries out to foreign lands, by praying for your missionaries, and their families, who are spreading the Gospel in places you cannot go.  You can give your time to the Lord by simply taking fifteen minutes out of your busy day and reading from his Word.  You can give of your time by dusting off your catechisms and reviewing the truths which you learned so many years ago.  For by doing this, you will not only be building up your own faith, but you will be preparing yourself for the time when the Lord does give you first hand experience at sharing the Gospel with someone who doesn’t know Jesus.  These are but a few of the ways we as a small group of believers can work to enlarge the place of our tent.  Only don’t stop working, for there is no shame in doing the work of the Lord Church, however, shame does come when we fail to do it.  Shame does come when we sit idly by waiting for the Lord to do the work we refuse to do. 

So now, as you live your lives in service to the Lord, continue working to enlarge the place of your tent, because you know there is no shame in doing the Lord’s work, and you will indeed spread out on all sides.  Though we may not see much or any of the growth the Lord has promised in our small congregations, we can be assured that by our efforts, we will be working to enlarge the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

The Righteous will live by his faith (Habakkuk 1:1-3; 2:1-4)

November 4, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

If there is one question that all of humanity has in common, that question may well be, “How am I going to live?”  For, if we listen closely, we hear people constantly asking this very question: “How am I going to live if I lose my job?”  “How am I going to live if I don’t get the job I’m after?” “How am I going to live without that special ‘someone’ in my life?”  “How am I going to live until retirement with all these bills?”  “How am I going to be able to live in retirement if I can’t afford to save?”  “How am I going to live in retirement when I’m on a fixed income and nothing else stays fixed?”  For many people, this is an all consuming question.  It is one that keeps them up late in to the night.  For others it is a question that they seldom worry about.  But for the Prophet Habakkuk, it was a question that he may not even have realized that he was asking.  Yet, it was a question that the Lord answered when he told him, “The Righteous will live by his faith.” 

Now, when we meet Habakkuk in our lesson this morning, he has a serious problem.  He is frustrated and upset by all the wickedness and evil that he saw around him day after day. He couldn’t understand why he saw violence, destruction and corruption everywhere he looked.  He couldn’t understand why the Lord seemed to allow the wicked to prosper while the righteous were struggling to get by.  But on top of that, he was tired.  He was tired of living in a nation that had kings who continued to do evil in the eyes of the Lord by actively worshiping false gods and goddesses rather than worshiping the true God, and in his frustration he cries out to the Lord. “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds." (Habakkuk 1:2–3, NIV84)

Though it may have seemed to Habakkuk that the Lord was no longer listening, the Lord heard Habakkuk’s complaint.  But when the Lord answered and revealed his plans for Israel to Habakkuk, Habakkuk was quite surprised; for the Lord’s answer was to prophesy that he was going to do away with the wickedness in Israel by sending the Babylonians.  He was going to send the Babylonians, a people who were known for their ruthlessness, a people who were know for their wickedness, a people who were known for their destruction.  The Lord was going to send the Babylonians in to conquer Jerusalem, destroy it, and take the people off into captivity.  This didn’t make any sense to Habakkuk, because he didn’t understand how the Lord could do away with the wickedness and evil in Israel by sending a nation that was even more wicked and evil to conquer them, destroy them, and lead them off into captivity.

Yet in the midst of Habakkuk’s confusion, the Lord takes an opportunity to teach Habakkuk a very important lesson as he says, “‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by his faith—" (Habakkuk 2:2–4, NIV84)

When Habakkuk heard this prophecy, he knew that it would come true, because the Lord had declared it. Most naturally, Habakkuk would have been afraid because the Babylonians were the most feared nation on the earth.  He knew that they would destroy the city of Jerusalem just as they had destroyed every other city.  But the lesson that Habakkuk learned through this prophecy gave him strength and comfort; for he had learned that no matter what happened, the righteous would live by his faith.  Though the times were evil and they would soon be getting much worse, Habakkuk had learned the lesson that the righteous will live by his faith, and now that Habakkuk had learned this beautiful lesson, his mission was to spread the news to the rest of the Israelites.  It was his job to let them know that they did not need to fear the coming destruction because God himself had promised that the righteous will live by his faith.

Well, that lesson, which the Lord taught Habakkuk so many years ago, is the same lesson that he is teaching us today, and what a beautiful lesson it is for us to learn in these last days.  Even though we might be separated from Habakkuk’s time by nearly 3,000 years, the times in which we live in are not much different than Habakkuk’s day.  No matter where we look, we see the results of sin on every side.  We see violence and destruction and corruption wherever we look.  Like Habakkuk, we are living in a nation that is falling farther and farther away from the true God each and every day.  We are living in a land where many of our leaders have openly lived immoral lives and yet received overwhelming support from their continuants.  We are living in a land that has been actively pushing God out of the picture every chance it gets. 

We are living in a world where Evolution is taught as a fact.  We are living in a world where absolute truth is no longer valued as more and more people seek to find their own truth in this world.  We are living in a world where more and more people are claiming to be Christian, yet fewer and fewer of those claiming to be Christian see any value in growing in their faith or even revealing their faith through their lives.  We are living in a world where we are continually seeing an increase in the number, scope, and ferocity of violent crimes.  We are living in a world whose lust for blood is on the rise, as movies add bloodier, gorier, and more horrific scenes than ever before.  We are living in a time when violence is a way of life, because it is all around us!  Even here in Le Sueur, there are certain times when we would do better to stay off the roads because of the violent ways in which people drive!  Add to that the fact that we are only days away from election day and candidates and their supporters are fighting tooth and nail to discredit their competitors and gain as many last minute votes as possible.

Just like Habakkuk, we are living in troubled times that often caused us to cry out with Habakkuk, “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds." (Habakkuk 1:2–3, NIV84)

Just like Habakkuk, there are many Christians, even faithful Christians who have been tempted to give up, throw in the towel, and simply live like the unbelievers.  Just like Habakkuk, each and every one of us has found ourselves at the end of our rope, angry with God and crying out to him, asking him why he allows the wicked to get away with so much while we who believe in him have to suffer and endure so much.  Each and every one of us has been to that point that we were ready to simply throw our hands up to God and say, “I give up!”  Yet it is in those very moments when the Holy Spirit whispers to us those beautiful words of comfort: “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by his faith—" (Habakkuk 2:3–4, NIV84)

Though at first glance these words might not seem all that comforting, when we take even just a slightly closer look at them, we realize that with these words, the Lord is reminding us of all that he has done.  Though we are not waiting for the judgment of the Babylonians against the sinful nation of Israel, we are waiting for the judgment of the Lord Christ against the sinful-unbelieving peoples of this world.  For on that day, our Lord Jesus will separate the believers from the unbelievers as easily as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.  On that day, we who have believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior, will be recognized as his people made sinless through faith in the one who gave his life to free us from our sins and evil.  On that day, we will hear our Savior welcome us to the kingdom he has prepared for us—not because we had earned it in any way, but because he loved us and freed us from our sins by his own blood.  On that day, the Lord our God will declare that we are his holy and righteous people through faith in Jesus Christ, and will lead us to his heavenly home were we will live with him forever because of the faith instilled in our hearts by his Son.

Though it may linger, wait for it, because through faith you have been declared righteous.  Through faith, you will live.  Though it may be a long time in coming, know that the Last Judgment will come.  Though it may not appear during our lifetime, we can take comfort that we, who are righteous by faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we will live at our Savior’s side for all eternity.  Though we have all had days like Habakkuk, we can take comfort in the life of righteousness that is ours through faith.  Though it still may seem that the Lord is doing nothing to hinder the evil of this world, we know that he is prolonging this world so that even those who are evil might have ample time to turn from their evil ways and live.  Thus we can take comfort in the Lord’s promises and our knowledge that once made, they will be kept!

What a comfort!  What a comfort, indeed, to learn the lesson which the Lord is teaching to us as he taught to Habakkuk nearly 3,000 years ago.  What a comfort it is to know that the Righteous will live by his faith!  For it is faith in Jesus Christ our Savior through which we live as his children here on earth, and will live as his children forever in heaven. Though there may still be some in this world who think of this kind of living as difficult as living on a fixed income, we know that it is the richest living in all the world.  Though here on earth we may seem to be the poorest of the lot, as we look forward to the day of our retirement, we take comfort in the wealth of the riches of our Savior’s home of glory, in which we will live forever through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace EvangelicalLutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Remain faithful to the Lord (Daniel 6:10-12, 16-23)

October 28,2012

Dear friends in Christ.

I don’t know if you realized it when you came to church this morning, but today is a very special day.  Now, I admit, it may not be as special as Christmas or Easter, but it is still an important day.  It is still an important day, because today we are celebrating the festival of the Reformation.  We are celebrating how the Lord used a simple man named Martin Luther to preach the Light of the Gospel to a world that was darkened with false teaching and sin.  We are celebrating the fact that it was the Lord who enabled Martin Luther to remain faithful to the Lord even when it seemed that death was certainly coming down upon him.  And, as we celebrate this festival this morning, we will do so by taking a look at another man who also faithfully served the Lord, even under the penalty of death.  For this morning, we will remind ourselves of Daniels life, how he remained faithful to the Lord and how he trusted that the Lord God would, indeed, deliver him.  Just listen to the situation in which Daniel found himself in our lesson today, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”" (Daniel 6:10–12, NIV84)

Now, as you undoubtedly remember from your Sunday school lessons, the decree Daniel mentions was the decree which some of the governors had persuaded the king to put into effect.  It was the decree that stated that anyone who prayed to any god other than the king for the next 30 days would be thrown into the lion’s den.  It was a decree that they had persuaded the king into making, because those specific governors were jealous of Daniel, who would soon be promoted as head of all the governors, and they simply couldn’t stomach the fact that this captive Israelite would now be their boss.  Yet even when Daniel heard the decree had been made, he remained faithful to the Lord.  Even though he knew it might cost him his life, he went home, opened the windows of his house that faced east, knelt down on the floor and began to pray, just as he always had.

But now comes the question:  “What would you have done if you were in Daniel’s shoes?  Would you have gone home, gone up to your upper room, opened the windows which faced Jerusalem, and prayed to the Lord as you always had?  Or, would you have gone home, closed all your shades and blinds, and timidly prayed to the Lord?”  It’s a tough question to answer, and I have to admit, I don’t know what I would have done.  I hope and pray that I would have had the courage and the faith to remain faithful to my Lord even when my life was on the line, and not hidden out. 

Thankfully, we are not living in a land that passes such laws.  Rather, we are living in a land where we are free to worship the Lord any way we wish to.  We are living in a land, where praying to the Lord does not constitute a danger to our lives.  However, we are living in a land where satan is continually setting subtle traps designed to lead us away from the Lord our God.  For example: how many times this week did a love scene on TV draw your attention that much closer to the program you were watching?  How many times did you laugh at a joke which had sexual connotations buried within it?  How many times did foul language echo from your lips?  How many times did you enjoy hearing and passing on the latest gossip you heard while down town?  How many times did the thought of reading your Bible completely fail to cross your minds?  These are but a few of the traps satan uses to lead us away from the Lord.  For he is truly a crafty advisory!  Rather than hitting us with an all out assault, which threatens our very lives, he comes to us in subtle, tricky ways.  Rather than trying to knock us off the path to heaven in one foul swoop, he patiently moves us away from the Lord.  Inch by grudging inch he works to move us from faithfulness to complacency and from complacency to rampant unbelief.

This is why our God is calling on us today to remain faithful to him, because even though our physical lives are not being threatened, our spiritual lives are on the line.  If we should fall to our enemy’s temptations, we could easily be led into unbelief.  If we should be led into unbelief, we would miss out on the forgiveness which Jesus alone can offer.  If we miss out on the forgiveness which Jesus offers, we will miss out on eternal life all together.  This is why our Lord calls us to remain faithful to him, because the only way to fight against temptations like these are to remain rooted in the Word of God.  The only way to avoid the traps that satan continually places before us is to make regular use of the opportunities we have to worship the Lord our God here in church and to partake of the Sacrament of Holy Communion.  When we do these things, we will be growing in our faith and knowledge of God.  We will be better prepared and equipped to fight against the assaults of satan.  We will even find that through the working of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God, our desire will be to remain faithful to the Lord whatever the cost.  For even if we should lose our physical lives in faithful service to him, we know eternal live awaits, because as we know, he alone is our Salvation.  This is why the Lord is calling on us to remain faithful to him even though it might cost us our lives here on earth.  Remain faithful to him, trusting that the Lord our God will indeed deliver us.

This is exactly what Daniel did!  Even though he knew his faith might cost him his life, Daniel remained faithful to the Lord and trusted that the Lord would indeed deliver him.  He trusted that the Lord would either deliver him from the hand of the king and the paw of the lion, or the Lord would simply deliver him to eternal life where he would never have to face the troubles of this world ever again.  For Daniel, the outcome didn’t matter, he remained faithful to the Lord and the Lord delivered him from the paw of the lion, as we learn in our lesson today: “At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God." (Daniel 6:19–23, NIV84)

Well, in the same way that Daniel remained faithful to the Lord, the Lord wants us to remain faithful to him in how we live our lives.  He wants us to remain faithful to him all the days of our lives, trusting that he will deliver us from whatever calamity befalls us.  But how do we do this?  How do we remain faithful to the Lord in any and every situation trusting that he will deliver us just as he promised?  We dive headlong into the Word of our God!  Though our faith is strengthened by regularly gathering together for worship, when we realize that we are awake for an average of 120 hours each week, spending only one hour with God means that there are 119 hours each week that you are being bombarded with worldly ideas and philosophies.  That’s 119 hours each week that satan is working to confuse us and cause us to doubt the Lord’s promises to deliver us from every circumstance.  That means that during those 119 hours each week, satan is doing everything he can to keep us from remaining faithful to the Lord.

Sadly, this is the type of faith-life that the average Christian has.  1 hour with God a week, and then the rest of the week is spent without even thinking about him.  Would you even think about feeding your family only once each week?  Yet this is what many Christians do and struggle all the harder to remain faithful to the Lord because of it.  This is why we need to be in the Word of God each and every day.  For it is in the Word of God where we receive the soothing balm of the Lord’s comfort; the comfort that we receive through the gospel message of salvation.  For it is in the Gospel that we are reminded of Jesus Christ our Savior. It is in the Gospel that we are reminded how God took us from our dry, dusty and dirty existence as sinners and led us into the cool refreshing showers of Jesus blood which washed away every spot and stain of our sins.  It is in the Gospel that we are reminded how Jesus has already delivered us from the curse of our sins and the punishment of eternal death by bringing us into a right relationship with our God.  This is the comfort we find in the Gospel, and this is the comfort, which moves us to remain faithful to the Lord, trusting that he will indeed deliver us.  Though we may not be facing the threat of death at the paws of hungry lions, though we may not be facing a room crowded with people who are calling on us to renounce our Savior, we do face many things which satan uses to lead us away from the Lord.  Knowing this, continue to stand fast in our Savior’s teaching!  Continue to remain faithful to the lord trusting that when he does deliver you, it will either be from harm while in this life, or it will be to his side in the life to come.

This is how Daniel was able to remain faithful to the Lord.  He remained faithful to the Lord in all things because he was rooted in the Word.  This is how Luther was able to do it.  Though there were many people who wanted to take his life and many temptations to turn from the Lord, because he was constantly in God’s Word, he, through the power of the Holy Spirit was able to remain faithful as well.  So then, heed the examples the Lord has given you.  Dive into the Scriptures so that you might continually strengthen your faith, and remain faithful to the Lord in all things.  Remain faithful to the Lord even if it should one day cost you your life.  Remain faithful to the Lord trusting that he will indeed deliver you from harm.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN