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Sermon for 05.19.24
Jesus’ Star Witness
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
John 15:26-27 26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 16: 4-11b 4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 “But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
Whether we like it or not, we are hearing a lot, maybe too much, about testimony these days. The Donald Trump trial is fodder for the newscasts as they talk about the courtroom testimony of Stormy Daniels, or Michael Cohen. Analysts dissect what was said. And defense lawyers claim the testimony wasn’t the truth.
Testify–that’s legal language, courtroom language. And testifying in a courtroom is about speaking and confessing what is true. That’s what’s supposed to happen in a court of law.
So when Jesus was about to leave his disciples through his death and ascension, he told them he would send one who would testify to them, and through them to the world. He would testify the truth about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ Star Witness.
That is the Holy Spirit’s job, if you will, to shine the light on Jesus, to glorify Christ. Sometimes we might wonder why the Bible doesn’t say too much about the Holy Spirit, certainly not nearly as much as we read about Jesus. But actually that is just fine with the Holy Spirit. He wants Jesus to get that kind of attention. The Holy Spirit wants people to look upon Jesus and be saved.
Think of it this way: Your car is out somewhere in a big parking lot. But it is night, it is dark, and you do not know where to your car is. So the security guard comes alongside you, with a flashlight, and leads you to your car, shining the light on it, not on himself. So you see the car, but you do not notice the person holding the flashlight, even though you couldn’t have found the car without the person holding the flashlight.
That is how the Holy Spirit works. We do not notice him much, but all the while he is pointing the flashlight at Jesus, so we can see our Savior clearly and find him, so to speak. As we say in the Catechism: “I believe
that I cannot by my own reason strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel.” The Holy Spirit will guide us into all the truth about our Savior.
We live in a world today where nobody seems to be sure that there is such a thing as truth. Truth, we are told, is whatever happens to be true for you. But that is all so subjective and shaky and uncertain. Yet there is such a thing as absolute truth. Truth is what God says in his Word. That is what we can be sure of.
So if you want to know how things really stand between God and man; if you want to know what is right and wrong in this world from God’s perspective, which is the only one that counts; if you want to know the things that are to come, where this world is headed–then the one place to find that out is in God’s Word. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, will guide you into that truth. He will open the Scriptures for you. As you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as you continue to come to church and Bible class and grow in your understanding of God’s Word, it will be the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor, who will be guiding you into all the truth.
It was that way for the disciples. And so it is and will be for us also. The Holy Spirit is with us. The Holy Spirit will go with us, throughout our lives, to keep us in the Christian faith, to guard and guide us, to sanctify us and help us grow as Christians. The same Holy Spirit, whom Christ poured out on the church on the Day of Pentecost, was given to each one of us on the day of our baptism. That was our own personal Pentecost. The Holy Spirit will go with you, as your Helper, the rest of the way on your Christian journey.
And so He will enable us to be witnesses as well. Not just repeating hearsay but repeating the truth. He will give us the words of truth to speak. It is not about us and our abilities. The Spirit does not do his work because we speak, but through our speaking. The Spirit, working through the truth of the Word, never fails to accomplish God’s will!
Maybe you are thinking, “If God empowered me with tornado sounds, a flame on my head, and the ability to speak fluent foreign languages, people would probably let me tell them about Jesus too, but I have got nothing like that.” No! You have everything! Those signs did nothing but signal the arrival of the powerful, transformational Holy Spirit who did all the converting, empowering, and emboldening. God fills you with the exact same Spirit, to equip and empower us for our purpose—to faithfully, and fearlessly proclaim the resurrected Christ to the unbelieving world. We simply “proclaim the wonders of God” and the Spirit does the rest! It is about the Spirit testifying to the truth through us.
But why us? Why did not God use angels instead? I mean, they were pretty top notch at Christmas and Easter! Why would God choose fearful, stumbling messengers who so often quit, grow apathetic, or lose courage? Why sinful messengers like us and the Apostles to share Jesus with the unbelieving world?
Why us? Because we are living the message we proclaim! Because we have felt the sting as the Spirit crushes us with our failures to keep God’s law. Because we have felt the utter joy of the gospel as the Spirit reminds us that our salvation and forgiveness are certain through faith in Jesus. Because we have lived a life of hatred and blind ignorance towards God, only to have the Spirit shatter our stony, unbelieving hearts and giving us spiritual sight through hearts of faith that fully grasp God’s perfect love for the world in Christ. Because only people who know the pain of starvation can fully appreciate being fed, and the joy of pointing others to the one who can fill them.
And the Holy Spirit will convict the world about sin, as Jesus said, “because they do not believe in me.” The Catechism teaches us to look to the 10 Commandments as the mirror which shows us our sins. (Romans 3:20) Why didn’t he say “because they do not obey the 10 Commandments”? Two reasons. Is the difference between Christians and everyone else that Christians obey the Law and everyone else does not? No. The difference is not obedience vs disobedience; it is faith vs. unbelief. The second reason is that humans are very skilled at distorting God’s Law. But the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus so that we see the truth about sin. God is so serious about sin that he crucified his own Son to pay for it. The truth about sin is that a person either believes Jesus paid for it on the cross or he/she will spend eternity in hell paying for it.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world about righteousness. Whenever the world tries to minimize the severity of sin it simultaneously replaces God’s standard for righteousness with its own standard. The Holy Spirit defends the truth that we are to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) and the result: that no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law. (Romans 3:20)
And so He will convict the world…about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Jesus called Satan the prince of this world (John 12:31) meaning that most of this world’s institutions, ideals and
philosophies are under his influence. He rebelled against God and he leads the world to do the same. He tempts us to live according to our wants, feelings, and desires – instead of according to God’s holy will. And he defends it by lying that there is no judgment by God. But the Holy Spirit testifies that this is a damnable lie – and the evidence is that Satan has already been judged. He has lost the war. His eternal fate in hell is sealed. What God vowed to Satan in the Garden of Eden: he will crush your head and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15) was accomplished by Christ on the cross. So that we can sing with Luther: this world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done! One little word can fell him. (CW 863:3)
Satan has been defeated and damned to hell for all eternity and all who believe his lies will suffer the same fate. That’s a terrifying thought. But you don’t have to be afraid because Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to guard and keep you from Satan’s lies with the Gospel truth that because Jesus was condemned in your place there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) That is the truth about judgment.
Pentecost is the promise that today someone is standing with you whispering in your ear, knocking at the door of your heart, and taking you by the hand. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn closer to Jesus. When the Church in conflict He shows us the truth of the word. When suffering takes our words away, the Spirit continues to speak for us (Romans 8:26). He gives us the very words to testify about him. When we feel lost in the world, the Spirit lives in our hearts reminding us that we are the children of God (Galatians 4:6). The Spirit speaks to us through the Scriptures, brings life through the water and the Word, and gathers us together around the table of Jesus where we remember Him and receive Him in His body and blood.
Thank God for the Holy Spirit and his work of testifying to the saving truth of Christ. Amen.
May 19, 2024
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April 14, 2024
The Resurrection Means God’s Light is Our Delight
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
1 John 1:5–2:2 –This is the message we heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him but still walk in darkness, we are lying and do not put the truth into practice. 7 But if we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us…. My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the entire world.
This past Monday, parts of the United States were able to witness an awe-inspiring sight – the total eclipse of the sun. Isn’t it amazing that the universe is laid out so perfectly that we can calculate the exact time down to the place, day, and minute that such phenomena occur? That could not happen if the universe was just a random accident. It is another proof of the divine majesty of the Creator. By the way, the next full solar eclipse will come right over mid-Michigan … in the year 2205. I’m keeping my eclipse glasses. How about you?
People travelled from all over the United States and the world to see the awe-inspiring sight of moving from daylight into darkness. The birds stop singing. The temperature drops. And there is an eeriness that falls upon the land. Then as the moon keeps moving, light begins to shine again and warmth, and life begins to stir from its unnatural sleep.
Most of these folks, however, miss the real darkness and the real light they should be paying attention to.
How can some not see the darkness in this world? The violence? Shootings in our schools, threats of terror, bombings, wars? Do we not see the collapse of the family and the embrace of an “anything goes” sexuality? Do not we witness a world where neighbor has turned on neighbor for even the most foolish of reasons, including that they belong to the “wrong” political party. Many of you know of someone who wrestles with a personal darkness. Drugs, porn, alcohol, depression? There is darkness out there! But before we get too caught up in the darkness out there in the world, let us remember the darkness that is in here, in us.
That darkness is our own sin, our own failure to live up to God’s standard. This is not just an occasional eclipse of God’s will. It is continual darkness trying to obscure the light of God’s will. At times we may even embrace it. We embrace the idea of getting even with someone who has wronged us. We willingly gossip and spread the rumors we have heard. We let our eyes feast on the images that lead us into sexual sins of thought and deed. We turn our backs on God’s expressed will so that we can do what we want.
It is death that shows us that there is darkness within us. Death is proof that we are not perfect, that salvation is not something we can obtain on our own. That darkness points us to a need for light.
The resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus is the light we need. God’s light is our delight.
This light John writes about is not simply some warm, fuzzy feeling. It is the light of God’s glory – glory that shows itself in diverse ways at various times. In the Old Testament, God would reveal his glory in flames and smoke. In the New Testament God’s glory is seen in Jesus. Today we see that glory in His word and sacraments.
God is light. I think John chose the word light because it carries a positive connotation. Light helps you avoid danger. When you walk in darkness, you may stumble over an obstacle, or fall off a cliff or down the stairs, or worse. Darkness is full of threat and fear. But light changes all that. It exposes dangers and frees you from fear. It is full of hope and promise.
This is the gift that God gave to each of us. He looked at us and saw how broken and how lost we were in the darkness of sin. He saw how sin eclipsed the relationship He wanted to have with us. He saw the shadow of death that hung over us all…and he loved us. He loved you. He came into our world with a bright beaming light and placed it in a manger. That light, Jesus, then lived among us, he was what you and I could not be, he was perfect, he never sinned. He did what you and I could never do, he offered his life as a sacrifice for all sin, everyone’s. He did this to save you and me from darkness, from death, and from hell. This is the light we needed. This is the Savior we still need. He shines upon us lighting the way, being our guide in the darkness leading us home to be with him always, forever, in heaven.
But not everyone wants God’s light to illumine their sin. Satan works hard to get people to sluff off sin as a joke, narrowminded, outdated thinking or the way the church controls simple minded people. Scripture says they hide their sins in darkness because it would shame them if they did them in the light.
But John writes in our text: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
For most of us saying we have no sin is not our problem. God’s light has revealed our sin, and we admit it. Yet our problem may be that we tend to generalize our sinfulness. “I’m a sinner, forgive me.” But do we honestly look at our specific thoughts, our specific actions, and specific words and compare them to God’s law? We admit we are generalized sinners. But our sin tries to eclipse that we are also specific sinners.
But does not John also write here, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” We know not only that we have sinned, but will still sin today, tomorrow and for however long our Lord allows us to live in this broken world. The mark of the saint is not sinlessness but sin-consciousness! In this life we never get beyond the awareness of remaining sin. Therefore one of the great signs of maturity in Christ is a deep and abiding awareness of one’s brokenness in sin.
Yet no one who remains united in fellowship with Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually practices sin. A believer will struggle with sin and sometimes give in, but giving in to sin is no longer the norm. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord we are growing in holy living. The light returns daily in our lives through repentance. As the Spirit leads us, we will walk increasingly in the light of God’s word.
Only through that awareness can we find the cure, the light that shines into our hearts. Not only to show our sin, but to lighten us with God’s grace, mercy, and peace. God’s light is also His love. A love that transcends our understanding. A love that knows no limits or conditions. The love of God shines the light of his forgiveness into our hearts.
And when we do sin, through faith in him, Jesus is our Advocate, who does speak in our defense. He does not claim that we are innocent of the charges against us. Rather He declares that He has appeased the eternal wrath of God by becoming the sinner for us and being punished with our deserved punishment. He paid our debt.
Think of sin as snow that falls in April. In a day or two the powerful sun melts it, and it disappears! The powerful Word of God assures us that Jesus paid for our sins in full. In Christ’s forgiveness, God no longer sees our sin. The Son has taken them away. As Christians, God sees us as saints through Christ’s perfect life no matter what we do! What great news this is for us!
So, we daily fight against our sins in Christ’s strength! How do we get that strength? John wrote, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” (v.7) John pictures Christians gathering together around the Light of God’s Word. If a group of people are camping on a cold April day and someone lights a large campfire, it does not take long for everyone to gather to it to get warm. We gather together here around the light of Jesus to warm ourselves and each other in His love.
Miraculously, the light of Christ is enlarging God’s kingdom. We see it in baptism. It happens as you listen to God’s Word and take it to heart. We reflect his light as we patiently wait for the Lord’s deliverance in dark and trying times. Sometimes sin will try to eclipse the light of God. But it will not happen. God’s light keeps shining and breaks through the darkness with the aura of his grace and mercy.
As extraordinary as an eclipse is, it is simply the natural world behaving in the way the one and only God who created it set it up to behave. But I think anything that can give us a little jaw-dropping awe and wonder to stop us in our tracks — to quiet the din and buzz of everyday busyness — can be a terrific opportunity to reflect on God’s grandeur.
God’s light is our delight. The grandeur of God’s light causes us to quiet the din and buzz of everyday busyness and so we say with the psalmist:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Set this glory of yours above the heavens. (v.1)
Amen
April 7, 2024
Proofs to Confirm our Faith
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
John 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” 22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
There are times that we need a boost of confidence and a lone voice rings out to give you that boost. Perhaps it is when we are standing at the free throw line in basketball and your team needs only one point to win the game. And you hear the coach shout from the sideline, “You can do it!” Or when you are facing the congregation on your confirmation to give witness to your faith and you think you are going to fail. But then the pastor says “you got this!” Or maybe when you have heard that a dear friend was seriously ill and you give them a call just to hear their voice to regain your confidence that they will be alright.
On this Second Sunday of Easter, the Risen Lord Jesus comes to you and to me to confirm our faith. That’s confirmation we all need. For you four young adults about to be confirmed, you have been listening to Jesus’ voice these past years in Sunday School and confirmation instruction. Jesus was speaking to you through the voice of your teachers and through my voice. He was confirming that your faith isn’t a matter of opinion but God’s revelation. He was confirming that what you are confessing this morning isn’t a matter of your choice, but God’s will.
This is what we read in this morning’s Gospel. After Mary and the other women told Jesus’ disciples they had seen the Lord, the disciples did not really believe. By Sunday evening the disciples are behind locked doors huddled in fear. This is the Church at its absolute worst. Hunkered down, huddled together, letting fear rather than faith control their every thought and action.
Then suddenly, Jesus comes and stands among them. It’s Jesus who speaks the first word. And just as was the case at the sound of God’s voice in creation, the sound of Jesus’ voice creates something wonderful and new: “Peace be with you,” he says (v 19).
This is not a wish or a hope. It is his gift to them. This was the whole point of what Jesus had just been through. Jesus’ death on the cross was to reestablish the peace between God and man that had been shattered when we first sinned. Sin will always stand as separation, conflict, between two parties. In sin, we live for ourselves, not for the other. In sin, we cannot be in harmony, gladly yielding for the sake of others. In sin, we could never be with God, because his holiness cannot be in relationship with unholiness. But by taking our sin to the cross, Christ removed the separation and reconciled us to God, bringing us back into peace with him.
The whole scene repeats a week later when Thomas, at last, is with the disciples. He speaks the same word. “Peace be with you.” Rather than scolding, Jesus encourages Thomas to touch and see the wounds. “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (v 27).
Even though two thousand years have passed since that first Easter evening, the church still struggles to get out from behind locked doors and into the world. The fear that kept the first apostles locked up is as crippling in the twenty-first century as it was in the first century.
You young adults have lived in relative safety until now. Soon you will move into high school and college and later the working world. You will be confronted by those who think Christianity is silly or narrow minded. You will be encouraged to open your minds to new ways of thinking, new morality, a new way of living. Some will be subtle, and some will be forceful, even violent. Fear can make you huddle behind the closed doors of not speaking up or even giving in.
For example: A while back there was an article in which a Florida State University professor claimed that Jesus did not walk on water as the Bible maintains. Rather he speculated that some mysterious meteorological phenomena caused the Sea of Galilee to freeze over so Jesus actually walked on ice. Nothing miraculous about that! Would you have the confidence to stand up to a university professor and tell him that he’s wrong? Would your children? Your grandchildren?
Example number two: Have you ever heard of the “Gospel of Judas”? The “Gospel of Judas” was written long after Judas ended his own life after his betrayal of Jesus. This document contends that Jesus told Judas to betray Him as a part of some clandestine scheme to “manipulate” the Old Testament Messianic prophecies to make it look like He was the fulfillment of those prophecies. Would you have the confidence to stand up and say that’s why the book of Judas was discovered in a garbage dump, because that’s where it belongs?
The irony of the disciples’ locked doors is that they weren’t really keeping out the soldiers. The One they were locking out was Jesus. They locked out the word he had so clearly spoken to them about dying and rising again. And in locking out that word, they locked out Jesus. When fear becomes our focus, we fall into the same trap; we lock out the Lord, who time and again tells his Church, “Do not be afraid!”
Jesus will have none of it! And so, he comes and stands among them and among us and speaks words that brings the very thing they say: “Peace be with you.” “Peace, your sin is forgiven!” “Do not fear the world. I have overcome the world. Peace be with you.”
That word comes to you and me today, with exactly the same power as it came to those first disciples on the first Easter and to Thomas a week later. With his resurrection, Jesus barges through our self-made doors that don’t provide us the peace and security we thought they would. Jesus gives us what we most desperately need, but have only failed to find on our own – peace; true, lasting, blood bought peace with God. The peace of Easter is the peace to know that because Jesus lives, the holy God is not an angry ogre waiting to squash you into hell forever – because Jesus has paid the debt of your sin. The peace of Easter is to know that because Jesus lives, you don’t have to be afraid of that day when it’s you who’s lying in the casket – because Jesus has defeated your death with his resurrection. The peace of Easter is to know that the anxiety and the worry and the fear that drain joy from your life, peace from your heart, and sleep from your eyes – to know that all of those pressing concerns that seem to smack you in the face as soon as you wake up aren’t the final word. Instead, with his resurrection, Jesus promises, Peace be with you! The peace of Easter is to know that Jesus lives, and he is alive for me.
This peace is for all of us even if we ran away from Jesus like the disciples, if we denied him like Peter, if we doubted him like Thomas. And we all have at times. Perhaps more than we want to admit. Jesus speaks his reassuring words of peace to even us.
Jesus spoke his peace to us in the water of our Baptism, where we were joined to his death and resurrection and we died to sin and rose to new life. That peace is spoken to us every time we return in repentance to our Baptism, and he says to you through your pastor, “I forgive you all your sins.” That peace is spoken to you at his table, where in, with, and under bread and wine, he comes through space and time to feed you his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins and to lift from you your fears. There his voice speaks peace. “This is for you,” he says, “for the forgiveness of sin.”
And we rise from the table at peace, ready to go into the world. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (v 21). The Lord cannot be bound; his word will not be bound; and his followers do not live behind locked doors. He sends us out into the world, but we do not go empty handed.
He breathes his Holy Spirit upon his disciples, and to his Church, he hands the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And so we have confidence that our message isn’t make-believe. It is the very word of God that stands opposed to the foolishness of this age that pretends to be wisdom. Our voices, our human voices, become voices of power, not because they are louder, wiser, or more entertaining than other voices, but because through our voice, Jesus himself speaks.
“Peace be with you.” And our confidence soars! Amen
March 24, 2024
Sermon for Palm Sunday
Rethinking Real Strength
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us. 2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal. In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne. 3 Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.
Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, arrested by a mob, humiliated by the Sanhedrin, brutalized by the soldiers, and nailed to a cross. If we did not know the back story to these images, we would have to agree that these are pictures of weakness not strength. Yet through the words of our text we see real strength as Jesus entered the week of his passion 2000 years ago. It was a marvelous show of strength because He had his eye on the goal – your salvation and mine.
When Jesus arrived in the city to shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David, he was fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy. This was about making a statement! And the people knew what he was doing. Thousands of hands stripped the palm trees bare on the ascent to Jerusalem to hail the new king who had come to set them free at Passover, the original Independence Day.
The Passover Feast was to Jews what the fourth of July is to Americans only much bigger. It was a rallying point for intense, nationalistic zeal. That is what the palm branches symbolized. Two hundred years before Palm Sunday, there had been a successful revolution led by a man named Judas Maccabeus. He even minted coins with the symbol of a palm tree. This became the symbol freedom for Israel. The people surely hoped for another Maccabean-like revolution. Perhaps they thought Jesus had just been buying time with his teachings but now his intent was clear: to throw the Romans out! And here at the time of festival he had around 2 million zealous Jews gathered in pilgrimage from every corner of the empire. All Jesus had to do was just make the slightest move to revolt—and he would have had massive popular support.
But then, only four days later, we see Jesus arrested, tortured, and crucified. The crowds turned against him. They felt their dreams betrayed. They hoped he was strong enough to throw off the Romans. But now he looked so weak.
Palm Sunday shows us an example of something that happened often in Jesus’ ministry: People give Jesus an identity that is not his, an agenda that is not his, and a schedule that is not his. Then they get upset when his plan is not their plan, when he does not serve them the way they want him to.
From a human perspective, Jesus made all the wrong moves between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. But from his perspective, it was all part of the plan. All the details had to be right, fulfilling prophecy. The place had to be right. The timing had to be right. Even the method of execution had to be right.
Do people still today force Jesus into their personal agendas? Sure we do. We all try to fit Jesus into our own molds. We imagine our priorities must also be his. We praise God when we think our prayers will be answered the way we want. But then we get frustrated when it does not turn out that way. We always try to use things, even God, for our own personal advantage. But thankfully, Jesus refuses to fit into anyone else’s agenda.
It took real strength to not give in to the popular but false notions of who He was supposed to be. It took real strength to endure the scorn, the beatings, and the pain of crucifixion. It took real strength, the strength of divine love to hold him to that cross for sins he did not commit, but for which he was being punished. It was the strength of his divine love for you that helped him endure. He kept his eye on his real purpose-winning the world’s forgiveness and our salvation. His strength was not to be sidetracked or deterred from that goal.
That is why he is our Savior. That is why the writer of the Hebrews tells us to take courage for our own sufferings by fixing our eyes on Jesus and drawing from his strength. “Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.”
It is easy for us to lose heart and grow weary, isn’t it? Let us face it, we battle our sinful natures every moment of every day. We battle the sin around us. We battle the effects of sin on our bodies, souls, and minds. Our expectations and agendas for our life and our faith are often derailed. So we need to refocus our attention on Christ and the great crowd that surrounds us. It is not the Palm Sunday crowd, cheering one moment, condemning the next. It is the crowd of witnesses, who have run the same course as we are running.
This cloud of witnesses is our encouragement to stay faithful. It is through their lives, weaknesses, and struggles that we see what a great God we have. Encouraged, not just because they got through their troubles, but also encouraged because we can see that by placing faith in Christ in each and every circumstance we too will be delivered.
You have been placed into this cloud of witnesses by God’s grace through seemingly weak things. But they actually have God’s strength for you behind them. Though some see baptism as a mere tradition, you know that through the strength of God’s promise your whole life has been placed in Christ. You are forgiven of all of your sins and recreated in the image of God. Your body is now a temple where the Holy Spirit lives, the guarantee of eternal life. That is real strength!
Though some see only bread and wine, you know that through the strength of Jesus’ words you are given his very real body and blood for your forgiveness. And where there is forgiveness there is also life and salvation. There is God’s strength, still focused on you and your eternal life.
In times of stress, trial, and fears the Spirit enables you to focus not on yourself but on your God who is an ever-present Help in times of trouble. Your strength lies in the God who strengthens you through these Means of Grace. Just as He has helped sinners in the past, so too He will deliver you as well. Do not focus on your sinfulness or inability, focus on Christ. Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He has authored all of your days, as clouded and complex as they may seem. He is in the midst of your life giving you strength and hope for each day. In and through all of these trials you are made more like Him. And in the end, you will fully realize this on the Last Day when Jesus comes again to make all things new.
That is why we need to keep our focus on him. Because when we see Jesus as he really is, not just one to make us comfortable now, but one to secure us safely for eternity, everything else starts to fall into place. We will bear crosses in this life and suffer tremendous sorrow and hardship. But we have the strength to endure. Because of Christ’s victory our struggles will not last forever. A time is coming when we will bid this world’s problems, and sorrows farewell and join our Savior in the perfection of eternal life. Will that problem in your life still be troublesome? Yes. Will things still need to be worked out? Yes. But if our focus is on Jesus, we will continue to have eternal perspective. No temptation will overwhelm us. Nothing will separate us from his love. We can trust him today and for eternity that He will be there to save.
Difficulties which make unbelievers surrender in despair can be the means of bringing us closer to God strengthening our faith, deepening our trust, purifying our love. Jesus is the assurance of your victory. Because of his strength the Easter conquest of the grave has given you a title to a room in the heavenly mansions. The decay of the grave gives way to the resurrection of the body. The separation at Christian funerals prepares for the never ending reunion in our better homeland.
In short, let all the enemies of your soul stand in formation against you! Let the devil whisper that there can be no pardon for your sins! Let your conscience protest that you have sinned too often to be restored! Let the world mock and scoff—and it will! As you clasp your Savior's hand more closely, cry out in this triumph of trust: “The Lord is my strength and my song. Of whom shall I be afraid!”
As we journey through this Holy Week, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. See him give his very body and blood with bread and wine for you. See him allow himself to be betrayed for you. See him allow himself to be condemned for you. See him suffer not just crucifixion, but hell on the cross for you. See him conquer sin by his death and conquer death by his resurrection.
Keep your focus on him. He is your real strength!
Amen.
March 17, 2024
Rethinking Commitment
– It’s What Changes Transforms a Promise to Reality
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
John 12:20–33
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew came with Philip and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. 25Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this world will hold on to it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, this is the reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!” A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said it thundered. Others said an angel talked to him. 30 Jesus answered, “This voice was not for my sake but for yours. 31 “Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.
No other human power can match that of determination or commitment. It has the potential to create heaven or much worse not just for oneself, but also for the world. It is the ultimate terminator, unstoppable and invincible; nothing can stand in its way – not obstacles, not dangers, not even death. Nations rise and fall on the backs of a few determined souls. The most glorious as well as the most heinous pages of human history belong to individuals, who are totally committed in their single-minded pursuit, regardless of the costs.
Commitment. Determination. We see it here in this reading about Jesus. And this tells us so much about how Jesus is committed to you.
We meet up with Jesus during Holy Week after his Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem. Some people from Greece had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. They had heard about this Jesus from Nazareth. Perhaps it was about the miracles. Perhaps it was because he openly loved the Gentiles. Regardless, they want to check him out and understand what he was about. So, they track down Philip and make a simple request, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
We don’t know if Jesus met with these Greek people to talk with them. But he does take the opportunity to point ahead to what is coming. In the future, this will be his disciples’ job—to show Jesus to those who need him. But for now, Jesus is set on what is coming in the near future: “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain.” Jesus uses this agricultural analogy to point to what he is going to do in just a few days. These Greeks really did not need to see and meet with him; they needed the work he was going to do. He, one person, would be sacrificed, so that all people would benefit from it—many seeds from one seed.
Jesus knows what is going to happen to him in Jerusalem, the suffering, and the cruel death. Yet he goes through with it anyway. Christ is committed and determined to carry out his mission, knowing full well what it will involve. That will mean a cross. There Christ will shed his holy blood. There, on the cross, the Son of God will suffer and die. For you. To atone for your sins including your lack of commitment to him. To lift the burden and the guilt off of your shoulders and place them on his own. To put you right with God, even as he, the sinless one, experiences the utter abandonment that we sinners deserve. That is how committed and determined Jesus is for your salvation.
But this was no easy commitment. This is weighing heavily on Jesus. We will see it clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane just 4 days later. But even now Jesus is showing the pressure and the hardship that his work is putting on him, “Now my soul is troubled,” Jesus says. But there is no other option. “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?” Jesus asks, as if it is the most ridiculous thing anyone has ever said. “No, this is the reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Should Jesus retreat from what is ahead of him? Should the Father change the plan at the eleventh hour? No! This was the whole reason that Jesus came into the world in the first place. He came to be the seed that dies in the ground which then produces a gigantic harvest!
The Father is as committed to our salvation as His holy Son is. Every step of the way from the fall into sin in Eden to this moment has revealed his determination to save us. Despite mankind’s sin, he promised a Savior. That Savior would be his only-begotten, eternal Son. God worked to mold history to bring about Jesus’ arrival. Even when Israel repeatedly lost their commitment and dedication to Him by worshipping false gods, God stayed committed to them. When the baby was born in Bethlehem, and nobody except some shepherds cared, God stayed committed to his plan of salvation. As Jesus spoke the things the Father gave Him to say, and people rejected his words, he stayed committed to proclaiming the kingdom of heaven. And now, as Jesus talks about his impending death and the disciples were slow to understand, Father and Son showed an unswerving commitment and determination for our salvation.
It continues to happen repeatedly over the coming days. When the Father tells Jesus that he cannot take the cup away from him, they stayed committed. When Jesus submits to the abuse of the Sanhedrin, the High Priest, and Pontius Pilate, he stays committed. When Jesus is tortured, humiliated, and stretched out over the cross, the Father does not change his mind. Would we be so committed to ungrateful people that we would let our child suffer like that and not change our minds? Would our hearts not break, and we change our minds? God stayed committed. When Jesus suffers hell itself, over your sins and mine, there, too, God stayed committed to you and your salvation.
Here is the glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This news of Jesus’ work is for all people. That is exactly what Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Jesus’ death would hurl Satan from any position of power that he might have thought he had and proclaim Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. And in doing so, He will become the Savior for all people of all time. Because he committed to the cross, all people, you and I included—are forgiven.
Now, let us take it from there. If Jesus was so determined and committed for you, will he not see you through your life? Of course he will. Your risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is committed to see you through, all the way. He is determined to get you home safe and sound. Christ your Lord will do whatever it takes to keep and preserve you in the Christian faith so that you make it home. How can I be so sure? Because in your baptism you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of eternal life.
Do you doubt, do you worry? Jesus will see you through. Are you weighed down with a guilty conscience? Hear the freeing words of the gospel preached into your ears. Do you struggle with a lack of commitment and dedication to God? Come to the Lord’s Table today and hear Jesus say to you, “This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus will do whatever it takes to bring you home safely.
How is your commitment to following Jesus? Determination is the ability to make tough decisions and accomplish God’s goals based on the truths of God’s word, regardless of the difficulty. It is the ability to set ourselves toward Godly pursuits, and not allow ourselves to be distracted or discouraged. Is your commitment total and complete? Or does it have weak links? Are there things that, at times, are more important to you than Jesus? Jesus expects the same dedication to him that he has for me, but does he find it? Hardly. When my frustration with other things leaks out and negatively impacts my family, I am committed to my frustration or anger, not Jesus. When laziness leads us to prioritize leisure over responsibility, we are committed to recreation, not Jesus. When we let our focus and energy be on money, we are committed to our greed, not Jesus.
The athlete who fails his carefully regimented diet and spends a day eating junk food is not disqualified as an athlete. But he needs to recommit himself to following the training plan. Likewise, you and I are not rejected by our Savior because we have had poor commitment today, this week, this month, this past year, or even the past decade. Jesus solves our lack of commitment to him by his total commitment to us. And then, in turn, his total commitment to us is what produces our total commitment to him.
So strengthen your feeble knees today, be refreshed and encouraged by means of what Christ gives you.
He is totally committed to you.
Amen
Written Sermon March 10, 2024
Rethinking the Solution for Sin
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
Numbers 21:4-9
Number 21:4-9 They set out from Mount Hor along the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, but the people became very impatient along the way. 5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Look, there is no food! There is no water! And we are disgusted by this worthless food!”
6 The LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and the snakes bit the people. As a result many people from Israel died. 7 The people went to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD to take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed on behalf of the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake and put it on a pole. If anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” 9 Moses made a bronze snake and put it on the pole. If a snake had bitten anyone, if that person looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
Have you ever been told to do something or believe something so bizarre that you thought somebody had lost their mind even suggesting it? The whole snake-on-a-pole thing must have sounded bizarre to some of the Israelites. Stare at a bronze serpent and you’ll be healed? That sounds ridiculous. It must’ve sounded just silly enough that some Israelites started looking for more reasonable solutions for the snake bites.
God finally had enough. His divine patience with the Israelites’ constant whining had run out. They complained about having to wander in the wilderness, they complained about the heat, they complained about not having enough water, they complained about Moses being their leader and they even complained about God’s miraculous food that appeared on the ground every morning.
What would you expect God to do with those ungrateful Israelites? What do you do with your children when they whine, complain, and talk back to you? You need to get their attention so that they understand that what they are doing is not acceptable. It is disruptive. It is contagious. But, above all, it is a
sin. A sin against you. And especially a grievous sin against their holy and just God.
How do we handle their sin? A time-out. A not-so-stern-talking-to. Taking away electronics. Most often they just back to their sinful ways once the discipline is over. That’s because we haven’t gotten to the root of their problem – sin. Our discipline didn’t lead them to repentance, and, ultimately, forgiveness.
Let us take a journey back in time to see how some of the Israelites might have mimicked us if we were in the same situation.
Some might have tried to ignore the snake bite. They called it by other names. They made it a joke. They claimed it wasn’t real. And to look at a snake on a pole-ridiculous! They died. Today many don’t admit there is such a thing as sin. They laugh at the idea. And to look at a man hanging on a cross as a cure that’s even more laughable than suggesting they are dying from sin’s bite. Like the ancient Israelites, they die.
Others didn’t dream of telling the people that these poisonous vipers were the result of God’s judgment on their bad behavior. They didn’t want to wound people’s self-worth. So instead of directing people to the snake on the pole, they tried to make people feel better about themselves. But they still died. Self-esteem thinking has its place, but it doesn’t deal with the root cause – sin. If a person never sees that they’ve been bitten by sin and are dying they will not look to Jesus on the cross--to be saved.
Others suggested that if the people believed hard enough or worked hard enough that they would recover from the snake bit, they would. So instead of looking at the snake on a pole they looked to their own faith and works. They died. It isn’t the amount of faith that saves, or the amount of work or mindless repetitions that save, it’s what one believes in.
Others denied that God really had said to Moses to do this snake-on-a-pole thing. Any healings that might have taken place could easily be explained by natural causes. So some people looked to other cures. And they died. Denying God’s solution to sin doesn’t spare anyone from dying from sin’s curse.
Another solution was that each person had to decide for themselves if looking at the snake on a pole was the way to go. Everybody’s choice was of equal quality. There was no right way or wrong way. All paths lead to the same cure. Those that chose to not look at the snake on a pole died.
We could go on, there are many more modern-day snake oil cures, but I think you get the picture. When the poisonous snakes attacked, God had set up only one way for the children of Israel to survive. Everything else had to be rejected. They had to look up at the bronze snake that Moses made and placed upon the pole. If they were bitten and did this, they would live; if not, they would die. It didn’t matter what else they did, how they felt, how spiritual they seemed. If they didn’t look at the bronze snake, they would die. For that snake on the pole was how God said He would come to them and save them.
Let’s bring this home. There are many different ideas about how to deal with the venomous bite of satan. His bite injects sin into our lives. And sin kills. It kills a person’s life, the lives of people around them, and it kills their eternity with God. And try as hard as some do to ignore sin, to explain it away, to look to counseling, education or other religions to deal with it, they will die. All who sin will die. It’s time to rethink the cure for sin.
There is only one cure God has given – His Son hanging on a cross. This is how much God loves this snake-bitten world. He doesn’t simply love it abstractly: “Oh, nice world, I love you.” He loves the world in a very specific and personal way. He sent His Son Jesus, who provided the cure by being made in the likeness of that which was wounded. Though He was perfectly free from sin, yet He was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3).
Jesus, who knew no sin, was made sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. God laid the sin of the world--your sin and my sin--on His Son made Man. He nailed Him to the wood of the cross and raised Him high--not on a pole, but on a cross--for the entire world to see. Here we see the image of our sin and God’s wrath. The Son hangs dead, forsaken by His Father, cursed and damned in our place. How despicable He looks!
On the cross, Satan’s serpentine fangs sank deep into Jesus’ flesh, pumping the poison and venom of sin into His divine blood. But on that cross, Jesus absorbed the serpent’s strike against His heel so that He might step down hard crushing the Ancient Serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).
As the bronze snake was lifted up and people could fix their eyes on it and live, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, so all may fix their eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and receive life in Him (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus was lifted up and became a spectacle to the world so that the world might be saved through Him.
Jesus is the anti-venom for the snake-bite of the Law; the cure resembles the sickness. Why did God put that snake on the pole? Not just to save the Israelites from death, but to show us how He was going to save this world from death. The snake on the pole pointed forward to Jesus’ crucifixion for our sins. As John 3 says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15). That’s this story with a New Testament twist!
On the pole, the Israelites saw their healing and God’s mercy. On the cross, we see our healing and God’s mercy. As Isaiah the Prophet wrote, “By His wounds we are healed” (Is.53:5). There but by the grace of God go we. There but by the grace of God goes He for us!
Just as God told the Israelites to look at some bizarre bronze snake hanging on a pole for life, so He tells us to look to seemingly foolish things to find Christ hanging on a tree, and so live.
God says look for the crucified Christ in Water, Words, Bread, and Wine. For as many of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). You see Christ crucified every time I absolve you of your sin. You see Christ crucified every time you receive the body and blood of the Christ in His holy supper.
In Baptism, the Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper, your pastor makes the sign of the cross over you. I don’t do this because I’m superstitious. I make the sign of the cross to remind you that the forgiveness you are receiving all flow directly from the Christ who hung on the cross for you.
Through such seemingly bizarre ways, God gives to you--not a snake on the pole--but His Son on the cross. Through these means of grace, God gives to you His anti-venom, His medicine of immortality, for the forgiveness of your
sins. For where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.
When you are tempted by that ancient serpent to deal with your sin by ignoring it, forgetting it, or trying to work it off, rethink the cure for sin. Let nothing--nothing!--turn your attention from your Savior on the cross.
He is the only cure for sin.
Amen.
Written Sermon March 3, 2024
John 2:13-2228
Rethinking the Worth of Worship
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
John 2:13–22
The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting at tables. 15He made a whip of cords and drove everyone out of the temple courts, along with the sheep and oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those selling doves he said, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews responded, “What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” 20 The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! And you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and what Jesus had said.
What gets in the way of your worship? You can probably come up with a long list. How we feel, whether we had an argument in the car on the way to church, if our kids are rambunctious during the service, if the pastor or the subject that Sunday isn’t interesting. All of those things and so much more can get in the way of worship.
I wonder about our commercialization of faith and worship. The church with the slickest advertising, the most throbbing music, the most dynamic preacher, or the most delicious coffee and donuts seems to attract the most attention.
I wonder about the personalization of worship. Some complain: “I don’t get anything out of worship at your church.” I get that. Everybody has different tastes. Others are even more blunt, “Worship doesn’t do anything for me.”
Are those ideas of worship Jesus would shake up? Would he say “wait a minute you’ve got it all wrong. You are missing the focus and purpose of worship?”
So I come back to the question, “What gets in our way of truly worshiping God?” What cleansing do we need to do this Lent that will free us to more fully worship God?
In our text, Jesus enters the temple to celebrate the Passover. Instantly he is surrounded by the commercialism which had become a part of the Jews daily worship. During Passover, moneychangers and merchants did big business. Those who came from foreign countries had to have their money changed into temple currency because this was the only money accepted for the temple tax and for the purchase of the sacrificial animals used during Passover.
Now selling animals and exchanging money was not wrong. Normally, you bought animals and exchanged money outside the temple’s outer court, called the Court of the Gentiles. Since the Gentiles were not allowed to enter into the inner court and worship with the Jews, there was an outer area for them to worship. But now these peddlers set up shop right there in the Gentiles’ worship space. Can you imagine what that did to the Gentiles’ worship?
Imagine someone bringing a barn into our church. As you pray, a cow steps on your foot. You lift your eyes up to heaven in prayer and cannot help but notice a sheep butting heads with another sheep. The lemony pine smell of your incense blends in with the pungent odor of manure. You try to sing, but someone shouts over you: “Exchange your money here!”
Jesus was angry because all of that had caused something to get lost in the shuffle. That something was the most important thing of all. The forgiveness of God. So in anger Jesus overturns tables and scatters the money. He makes a whip out of cords and drives men and animals from the Temple.
This is not the Jesus we’re used to seeing! It is not gentle Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger. It is not the Jesus who dines with tax collectors and sinners and touches untouchable lepers. And yet this is not a different Jesus. This is Jesus still acting out of love and caring for His people. This is Jesus’ love that cannot stand by and watch people lose worship’s true blessing - forgiveness.
It's easy to lose the purpose of worship. Our lives can become so commercialized with the ideas of this world that we have little or no desire to pray, or study God’s word. They can become so busy that we can’t imagine being still before the Lord. Our lives can become so personalized that the thought of serving God or others seems an interruption. Worldly filth can spoil our worship - Greed. Pride. Arrogance. The stubbornness to refuse admitting that you are wrong. Refusal to admit that your lifestyle actually does not match up to God’s commandments. Thinking that your cursing and swearing is acceptable; that your thoughts are yours to think. Your heart can get filled up with all this filth.
If this spiritual filth remains there, then, like these Passover-marketers, you find no reason for Jesus, even if you go through the motions like so many of the Jews of Jesus’ day did. Worship is no longer a hunger for the forgiveness you need, but a desire to get what you want. It’s an empty habit. So many of those who say “I don’t get anything out of worship” are looking for the wrong thing. They are looking for fast-food in a gourmet restaurant.
We don’t go to worship looking to be comfortable. Sometimes the sanctuary is too hot, or too cold. Sometimes there are crying babies or someone has a coughing fit. The reason we attend worship is not to be comfortable, but to be comforted by receiving God’s precious gift of forgiveness.
We don’t go to church to get rules for a better life. We already have those anyway – the Ten Commandments. If we could keep those we wouldn’t need any other rules. But we can’t even keep those simple commands, so why add to the burden of more rules we can’t keep? We worship to be assured of forgiveness for every commandment we have break – which is all of them.
We don’t go to church to get excited. Many want God to be their cheerleader. They want to hear how proud he is of them. But if hearing about the forgiveness of your sins doesn’t excite you, then you don’t realize the severity of your sin. The Jewish offerings pictured that. Constantly the scream of dying animals, the smell of burning flesh and the pools of blood causing them to slip as they walked, reminded them how serious sin was and how much they needed forgiveness. Or at least it should have. Unfortunately the rush of daily living, the lure of money, and the apathy of self-righteousness took the meaning out of their worship.
Many Christians assume that the word “worship” is the same as the word “praise.” This is why many churches, even Lutheran, have a “Praise Service” or a “Praise Team”. The first word for worship that occurs in Genesis actually means to “bow down.” Bowing down is quiet and reverent and submissive. But the lure of the exciting can rob us of being still and knowing God.
Look at Jesus in bloody sweat in Gethsemane’s garden. See the torment of body and soul of God’s perfect Son dying for your sin on the dark enshrouded cross. To pay for your sin God had to die. No animal sacrifice would cut it. Not even your eternal torment in hell would pay for your sin. The sinless, perfect, and holy God had to sacrifice himself willingly for your forgiveness. How could that not bring comfort and passion.
St. Paul wrote, “we preach Christ crucified.” Not a God we can control to hand out the blessings we want. Not a God who is content to let us go our own ways, or who ignores our wrongful actions. We proclaim the holy Son who worshipped His Father in perfect obedience that lead to him sacrificing himself on the cross. He is holy, unstained, while you are stained with the guilt of your sin. Your lack of holiness and perfection is covered by Jesus. This means that when you feel condemned by your sins, when you know you deserve temporal and eternal punishment, when you feel shame, guilt, sorrow, Jesus stands with you before His Father and speaks on your behalf. You are forgiven! You are saved!
When we are confronted by our sins and accused by satan, we need that assurance. That’s why we worship!
As much as we know that worship is about God, we somehow manage to make it about ourselves: how we feel, how passionate we are. We tend to measure worship by crowd size, volume, or how attentive others are. What we are missing is that our desires, planning, and actions aren’t the essence of worship. The essence has been taking place from time eternal. The work of our salvation.
Acceptable worship does not start with human intuition or inventiveness, but with the action of God. In worship, God invites us to join him in what he is already doing. Our response, initiated by God, grounded in the reconciling work of Christ, and enabled by his Spirit, is to gladly participate in the perfect worship of Jesus, who through his once-and-for all sacrifice has made all our offerings acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5).
Far from being a moment in a Christian meeting God-honoring worship is the natural state of our hearts when we seek to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). That’s real worship, whether in this building, in your home or on the street.
The season of Lent is an opportunity for us all to rethink our worship, to be sure that God’ grace is why we are here. Amen.