Thanksgiving Eve

Eve of the National Day of Thanksgiving

November 27, 2024

Text: Phil. 4:6-20

            v. 6 (ESV): “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

            In everything… with thanksgiving.

            Gratitude… thanksgiving… is the corollary of humility and faith.  And it is the secret of happiness.

            Of humility, because, in giving thanks to God, you recognize your utter dependence on Him for everything.  He is your Father.  You are His child.  He is the Giver.  You, the receiver.  You are helpless.  He is your Helper.  The goodness of this life, and the good things you have in it, you have not provided for yourself.  These are gifts from God.  They are His answer to your prayer for daily bread.  In fact, He gives them to you (and to all people) anyway, whether you pray for them or not.  In humility, you realize this, and thank Him for it.  You haven’t earned this providence.  You don’t deserve it.  It is pure gift to you, from your heavenly Father, not because you are good, but because He is good, and because He loves you as His dear child.  To give thanks to Him is to acknowledge that.

            And even the difficult things, the things you think are not good, and the things that are not good in fact… He works for your good, because that is His Promise.  That is what St. Paul teaches us: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  So, in humility, we recognize that even the cross and suffering are gifts bestowed by God’s fatherly hand, the means by which He brings us to the end of ourself, so that we realize that He alone is our help and salvation.  And that He might shape us into the cruciform image of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Therefore, we give Him thanks for the precious and holy cross… above all, that of His Son, by which He saves us… but, so also, that which He lays upon us, as He knows best.  Gratitude is the corollary of humility, for the humble heart recognizes that all it possesses is pure gift of grace. 

            And of faith… gratitude is the corollary of faith, because you know that God will not cease giving to you.  You know that he will not cease caring for you.  He will not abandon you.  The devil would like you to think that He will, and your sinful flesh is all-too-willing to believe it.  But it is a lie.  That would be contrary to His very nature.  God is not only faithful, He is faithfulness.  He is not only gracious, He is grace.  God cannot act contrary to His essence.  And so, you can be certain… He will never leave you, nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).  God, Luther says in the Large Catechism, “is like an eternal, unfailing fountain.  The more it pours forth and overflows, the more it continues to give” (LC III:56; McCain).  To give thanks to God, therefore, beloved, is to acknowledge… to preach, to confess, to your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ, and to the world… to remind yourself what you so readily forget… that God is good.  That He loves you, and protects you, and provides for you completely.  And that He does all things well for you.  He orders all things for your good.  And what He has done for you in the past… what He is doing for you even now… He will continue to do for you, as long as you live.

            So, Paul says, “do not be anxious about anything,” and that includes all the difficulties of this life, the unknowns, the needs, and yes, the crosses… “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,” what?... “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Let God worry about it.  He can handle it.  He wants you to let Him handle it.  Truth be told, He will handle it, anyway.  He doesn’t need your help, and He wants you under no illusion that you are, in fact, helping, or that you even can help.  When you try to help God, you only hinder.  Do what you’ve been given to do, yes.  And do it faithfully.  And tell Him your anxieties.  Speak to Him of your pains.  Confess to Him your sins.  Commend all things to God.  Pray.  And then rest in God’s loving protection and providence.  Rest in the knowledge that there is nothing to be anxious about, because all things are in the hands of your Father, who loves you. 

            And it seems to me that, all anxieties having been removed… taking your place as God’s own beloved child, redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and baptized into Him… knowing that He, who has never yet failed to sustain you, will most certainly not fail you now… it just seems to me that that is the secret of happiness.  To know and believe it, to give thanks for it and preach it to yourself and others… that is to be happy... content in God, who does all things well. 

            In everything, Paul says, thanksgiving.

 

            Thank You, Father, for life and breath,

            For body, soul, and gracious care.

            For the heavens and the earth,

            For creatures You have fashioned here. 

 

            For daily bread and gracious bounty,

            For house and home, for friends and family.

            For those in whom we see Your Face,

            Those who give and need our grace.

 

            For the Spirit’s consolation.

            Your Son’s Sacrifice, and pardon.

            For this people gathered here.

            Under One Shepherd, free from fear.

 

            We thank You, Lord, in everything,

            In joy and sorrow, ease and pain,

            Knowing You will always hear

            Our supplicating cry and prayer.

 

            And so, dear Father, glory be

            To You, to Son, and Spirit Three,

            Ever one God, Whom we adore,

            With praise and thanks forevermore. 

 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

    

Last Sunday of the Church Year

Last Sunday of the Church Year (Proper 29B)

November 24, 2024

Text: Mark 13:24-37

            “‘Wake, awake, for night is flying,’ The watchmen on the heights are crying; ‘Awake, Jerusalem,’” Church of God, “‘arise!’” (LSB 516:1).  Because the Son of Man is coming.  He is coming soon.  All will see Him, coming in clouds with power and great glory.  We are living in the Last Days.  Now is not the time to yield to spiritual drowsiness, the drooping eyelids and nodding heads.  Stay awake.  Watch and pray.  The spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak.  Satan is singing his lullaby.  The world is lulling you to sleep.  And you become complacent.  Wake up.  You’ve been dreaming and snoring.  The things you think are important are really just distractions.  If you really believe, as you say you do, that Christ is coming to judge the living and the dead, and that it could happen at any moment, then that ought to order your whole life.  Christ should be your all in all, all-consuming.  And everything else, from your opinions on world affairs, to your favorite sports team, to your morning cup of coffee, should find its place in Him.

            Your priority is not living the American Dream.  It is not providing for a cushy retirement (Look, I have high hopes for retirement someday, and retirement is a good gift of God, but you realize, right, that in comparison with the rest of your life, and especially in comparison with eternity, your golden years are all too few).  Your priority is not comfort.  It certainly isn’t money or things (even the most secular among us expend an awful lot of energy denying that material wealth is a priority, because we know instinctively that it shouldn’t be.  But here in Christ’s Church, we’re honest with ourselves and with God about our sins and idols, because that is the only path to forgiveness, healing, and life.  Repentance.  Confession.  That we may receive the Absolution.  And so, repent of it, confess it, and be forgiven of it).  Your priority is not your hobbies.  It’s not even your career or your education, as noble as those pursuits may be.  In fact, it’s not even your family.  Not first and foremost.  The priority is Christ.  Because in Christ, all of those other things… many more than I’ve listed… find their place in God’s good order.  To hold any of those things as a priority before or above Christ, or apart from Christ, is to put everything else in your life into disorder and disarray.  It’s idolatry, is what it is.  And mark my word on this: All of the brokenness in your life… all of it… comes from this disordering.  In other words, from sin and its consequences.  The fallenness of the world.  The fallenness of the body.  And so, this is not an issue to be put on the back burner, something to be dealt with later.  Christ is coming, but you don’t really think He is.  You’ve fallen into sleepy self-security.  Well… the time has come for you to wake up. 

            This is what will happen.  As in the days before Noah entered the Ark, the world will turn as it always has.  The sun will rise and set.  People will eat and drink, marry and give in marriage.  Life will go on as it always does.  When, all at once, the trumpet will sound.  The heavens will be rent asunder.  The Old Creation will be unmade.  We have a vivid description of that in our Holy Gospel.  Sun and moon darkened.  Stars falling from heaven.  The heavens themselves shaken.  And then, the Son.  The Lord Jesus Christ, in glory, with the holy angels.  Every eye will see Him.  Even those who pierced Him.  Because the dead will come out of their graves.  The books will be opened.  The Judgment will commence.  And those who are in Christ will enter into life with Him, in the Creation made New.  But those who are not in Christ, the unbelievers, will enter into eternal damnation.

            Now… don’t believe it will happen in your lifetime?  Read the signs, says Jesus.  When the fig tree puts out its leaves, you know the summer is near.  When you see the signs we heard about last week… false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, persecutions, etc. … you know that He is near, at the very gates.

            Don’t believe it will happen in your lifetime?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Jesus could come at any moment, and the fact that He has delayed His coming is only evidence of His patience and longsuffering.  He has given us a time of grace for His Church to proclaim the Gospel, and for unbelievers to hear, and so believe, because He does not desire the death of a sinner, but that the sinner should turn from His evil ways, and live (Ez. 33:11).  But even if He doesn’t come in your lifetime, He will come for you.  Never forget that.  Memento mori, remember your death.  “O LORD, make me to know my end and what is the measure of my days,” we prayed in the Introit; “let me know how fleeting I am!” (Ps. 39:4; ESV).  Judgment Day is the public proclamation of our Lord’s verdict over you.  But unless that Day comes first, you will meet Him on the day you die.  And that will be the day of your judgment.  Righteous in Christ by faith, and therefore a recipient of His gift of eternal life.  Or unrighteous apart from Christ, and therefore sentenced to eternal death in hell.  You do not know the day or hour of the Lord’s coming, and neither do you know the day or hour of your death.  Therefore, stay awake.  Watch.  And pray. 

            Don’t believe it will happen in your lifetime?  No one knows the day or hour.  Not you.  Not the angels.  Not even Christ in His state of humiliation, when He did not always or fully use His divine powers.  Certainly not the false prophets who predict the day or hour, claiming some special knowledge or ability to “crack the code.”  Only the Father knows.  And His knowing is perfect.  He knows the very moment, just right, for Jesus’ coming.  It could be yet today.  It may be generations down the line.  But in terms of God’s charge to you, it doesn’t matter.  You… stay awake.

            And how?  Jude, our Lord’s brother, gives us some very practical advice.  First and foremost, “build yourselves up in your most holy faith” (v. 20); that is, be edified.  How?  You know.  It’s not actually that hard.  Be in Church.  Hear the Word.  Receive the Sacrament.  Be grounded in your Baptism.  Repent and receive the Absolution.  Bible Class.  Sunday School.  The gathering of the saints.  The Bible in your home.  The means of grace, beloved, Word and Sacrament.  Hold fast to Christ’s Words.  His Words make the eternal difference.  “Heaven and earth will pass away,” says the Lord, “but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).  Pray in the Spirit, Jude says.  Keep yourselves in the love of God, which can mean one of two things, both true… Keep yourselves in God’s love for you, by always pondering it and believing it.  You do that by keeping your eyes on Christ, and your ears on His Word.  Or, keep yourselves in your love for God, which is the result of God’s love for you.  And then, wait patiently in that love for the Lord Jesus to appear in His mercy, which leads to eternal life.  Then, Jude says, have mercy on one another.  Help each other stay awake.  Encourage those who doubt… put the courage into them by speaking Christ into them, the courage of those who know the Lord is coming.  Snatch others out of the fire; that is, rescue those who are falling into temptation, into damaging and faith-destroying sin.  To others, show mercy with fear; that is, the tender balance between patience and compassion for those who have gone astray, all the while watching lest you fall into the same snare.  And, very helpful in our day, Jude says, “hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (v. 23).  Loving the one who has sinned enough to hate their sins, call them to repentance for their sins, and yes, forgive their sins.  That is snatching them out of the fire.

            So… stay awake!  And help your neighbor stay awake.  But, so also, rejoice.  For you who are in Christ, Judgment Day is not a Day you have to dread.  In fact, you pray for its coming, the Church’s Marana Tha!  “Come, Lord Jesus,” we pray at our tables.  “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus,” we pray at the Lord’s Table (Rev. 22:20).  It is not simply a prayer for the Lord’s presence with us here and now, though it certainly is that.  It is a prayer for His coming in glory on the Last Day, to deliver us.  Or, as we say it in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come.”  We long for this Day.

            After all, who is it who is coming?  The One who gave Himself into the accursed death of the cross for you, to make atonement for all of your sins.  The One who is risen from the dead, and lives for you, to be your life, and reigns for you, to bring you into His life.  The One who comes for you here and now in His blessed Word and Sacrament, to speak Himself into you, wash away your sins, clothe you with Himself, and feed you with His risen body and blood.  And, don’t forget this… The One who has let the verdict of your judgment slip out ahead of time.  He lets it slip every time you hear the Words, “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

            We get so sleepy.  We are so easily overcome.  Thank God, this Lord Jesus, who is coming soon, keeps us in the meantime by His Spirit and His grace.  He comes to us, and He wakes us, just like He woke those three sleepy disciples in the garden in the midnight of His betrayal.  Attend to Him.  He attends to you.  Stay awake.  Watch and pray.  He gives you to do that very thing.  Jesus is your all in all. 

            “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen” (Jude 24-25).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                   

Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28B)

November 17, 2024

Text: Mark 13:1-13

            The signs of the End are not yet the End.  They are but the beginning of the birth pains.  Contractions indicate the beginning of labor, but there is an ordeal to be endured before the child is born.  So also, the signs of the End indicate that we are in the End Times.  We’ve been in the End Times since our risen Lord ascended into heaven with the Promise He would return to judge the living and the dead.  But the signs themselves are ordeals to be endured between now and His reappearing.  Jesus warns us beforehand, lest we be led astray… lest we fail to watch and pray… lest we lose heart in the midst of the promised trials and tribulations.

            What are the signs?  Well, the Temple prophecy has already been fulfilled.  AD 70: The Roman siege of Jerusalem, the devastation of the Holy City, the annihilation of the Temple.  Not one stone left upon another.  All of them thrown down.  Simply the consequence of Israel’s rejection of her Lord.  False christs… those coming in the Name of Jesus, saying of themselves, “I AM”?  Yes, we have plenty of those.  And along with them, the false teachers who claim they can predict the day and hour of the Lord’s return.  Jesus specifically says that only His Father knows that (Mark 13:32).  Wars and rumors of wars?  Nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom?  We’ve had a lot of that these days.  And we always have.  Reminders, always, each of them, of God’s impending Judgment.  “This must take place, but the end is not yet” (v. 7; ESV).  Earthquakes?  Famines?  Every natural disaster preaches the Eschaton.  That is to say, the Last Things.  Paul says it this way: “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Rom. 8:22) as it waits for the revealing of the sons of God (v. 19).

            So also, there are ordeals to be endured personally.  Jesus prophesies precisely what the Apostles and the first Christians will endure in the Book of Acts.  Being delivered over to councils, the Sanhedrin.  Beatings in the synagogues.  Testifying to Christ before governors and kings.  These things happened.  Remember the Apostles in Acts 5 (apparently all Twelve of them!), arrested and tried before the High Priest and the Council and Senate of the people, beaten and commanded no longer to preach in this Name (the Name of Jesus).  And they left the prison “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (Acts 5:41).  And then they kept on preaching.  Openly.  Because they knew that, before the End, the Gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.  Remember Paul’s sufferings.  Beaten.  Stoned (essentially to death, but he got up again, miraculously, and kept preaching).  Imprisoned.  He testified before governors and kings (Felix, Festus, Agrippa), as his Lord had done before him (Pilate, Herod).  And we know he was taken in custody to Rome, where he eventually suffered martyrdom. 

            Families torn apart over the Name of Jesus.  These are the signs.  Brother against brother.  Father against child.  Child against father.  You all know stories of this very thing.  Perhaps you’ve suffered it yourself.  Rejection on the part of loved ones because of your faith in Christ.  You will be hated by all for My Name’s sake, Jesus says.  Yes, we all know about that.  And you may suffer the other trials the Apostles and the first Christians suffered on account of your faith, the beatings, the imprisonments, death.  Yes, it could happen.  It happens now, in many places, to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We’ve been lulled into a false sense of security here in America, but we are not immune.  These are the signs.  The End is not yet, but the End is coming.  Jesus is coming.  He is coming soon. 

            And when we encounter the signs, beloved, we are not to despair.  We are to take them as confirmation of all that our Lord teaches us in the Scriptures.  These signs are reminders to stay alert, be on your guard, be prepared.  And above all, keep your ears on the Promise of the Lord Jesus Christ: “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). 

            How do we endure?  Well, perhaps most practically, don’t get distracted.  So many things in life, even though they are blessings in themselves, take our eyes off of the reality… these are perilous times… take our eyes off of Jesus, our only help, now, and in the Day of Judgment, who is coming soon.  You know the things that distract you from Him.  Politics.  Your job.  The busy-ness of life in the modern world.  Hypnotic glowing screens everywhere you turn, and in your very pocket.  Etc., etc.  Again, fine and good things as far as they go, but you get wrapped up in them, and allow them to become the main thing in your life, excuses to turn your ears away from Jesus, to not go to Church (or, as the writer to the Hebrews says in our Epistle, neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, 10:25)… You make them idols.  Repent of that, and look up at the One who was crucified for you, who is risen for you, and who is with you always, that you may endure. 

            Help your children to look up, to be vigilant, to interpret the signs.  Jesus is coming.  Teach them that.  Bring them here.  And teach them, here, how to participate in the full life of Christ’s holy people, as we endure the signs and await our Lord’s appearance.  This is actually a lot easier than we think, guys.  But we do have to do it.  Show them where we are in the hymnal.  Show them the words, even before they can read.  Teach them the words, here and at home, so that they know them by heart.  Have them say the words with the congregation (and with your family at home), starting with the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.  Help them to listen.  Tell them (especially when they get loud), “listen to the pastor.  He’s telling us about Jesus.”  Teach them when to stand and when to sit.  Bring them to Sunday School.  Teach them to tithe (have them put a little money in the offering plate when it comes by).  Set an example by your own words and actions.  Speak joyfully and positively to them about your Church.  These may seem like mundane things (and they are), but they have eternal consequences.  Because you are helping them to be ready for the End.  You are equipping them to endure, come what may, until that day.

            Help one another to look up.  Always be pointing one another to Jesus.  Away from the distractions.  To Jesus.  Help each other to hear and learn the Words of Jesus, because these are the Words that will carry you through the ordeals to be endured.  When you stand before governors and kings, or hostile family members, or the judge in some lawsuit because you didn’t use the right pronouns, you don’t have to be anxious what you will say.  The Spirit will give you the words to say.  Because He already has.  The Scriptures.  The Liturgy.  The Creed.  The words you know by heart, and that you are teaching your children to know by heart.  Just faithfully confess what you know and believe.  And then endure, whatever happens.  Endure by the strength of those Words of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit who is in those words, knowing that the one who endures to the End will be saved. 

            And don’t let the ordeals themselves distract you from keeping your eyes, and ears, on Jesus.  That is so easy to do.  Watching the evening news is an exercise in despair.  What man does to man.  The lies.  The agendas.  The violence.  The murder.  The wars.  Creation itself subjected to futility by our sin (you know, hurricanes and destructive storms, fires, yes, earthquakes, famines, drought).  Don’t let Satan and his acolytes in the world convince you this is evidence of some sort of meaninglessness: a meaningless end to a meaningless life in a meaningless world.  That is called nihilism, and it is the hopelessness in which so many people increasingly live and die in this world.  But you know better than that.  You have a Lord who was crucified, but who is risen from the dead.  So you know how this works.  These evil things are signs that the labor is about to end.  Endure for just a little while longer.  The pain will cease.  Joy will come.  Jesus is coming.  And then, He will raise all the dead, and give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ.

            In fact, that is, finally, the ultimate sign.  Never mind the earthly Temple.  “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” Jesus says (John 2:19).  You know that He was speaking about the Temple of His Body (v. 21).  He is the Temple.  His flesh is the dwelling place of God with man.  His flesh is the place of sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.  His flesh is the Sacrifice.  They destroyed this Temple… we destroyed this Temple by our sins (crucified, dead and buried)… and in three days He raised it up again.  For our forgiveness, life, and salvation.  And that is the pattern.  So as we see death on this side off the veil… false teachers, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, persecutions… we understand that this is the Good Friday to our Easter.  Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  We are dying.  But He will raise us.  On that glorious Day when He comes again.  Until then, be on your guard.  Read the signs.  Look up, believe, and rejoice.  Jesus is coming.  The End is near.  And the one who endures to the End will be saved.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

        

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27B)

November 10, 2024

Text: Mark 12:38-44

            As he made his way into the building, little Jack Gulseth showed me the shiny new dime he’d found.  “Wow, you’re rich!” I exclaimed.  The Gulseths, as you know, had come to our capital campaign kick-off dinner.  It was a beautiful night, wasn’t it?  Made all the sweeter by the presence of our guests, friends from our mother Church, Messiah, Seattle, the circuit visitor and his dear wife, and the Gulseth Family from Concordia, a fitting expression of the healing and goodwill between our two congregations.  At any rate, as the evening was coming to a close, Pastor Gulseth appeared at my side, wielding the dime.  “Jack listened very carefully to the devotion and the speeches,” he said, “and he took them to heart.  And I want you to know, it is very important to Jack that you accept his dime as a donation to your capital campaign.”  Five years old!  It may have been the most touching moment of a very touching night.  And I immediately thought of our text.  Though Jack lives on the providence of his parents, it is nevertheless true: He gave all he had.  That’s faith!  And God will bless it.  God does not count money as we do.  He does mightier things by the pennies of widows and the dimes of children, given in faith, than we can even begin to imagine.

            Now, I think we’re too hard on all the other people putting money into the offering box.  Especially the rich people.  Thank God for them.  Of course, as I said at the dinner, in God’s economy, there is no such thing as a small gift, at least not when given sacrificially and cheerfully, for, as Paul says, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7; ESV).  I suppose a small gift in God’s economy is one given begrudgingly or miserly, whatever the amount.  But I think we can all agree, thank God for what are, humanly speaking, big gifts, as well.  Realistically, we need them, and you’ve given them.  Out of your abundance (and thank God for your abundance), you’ve given some of it, as did the people at the Temple that day in our text. 

            But the widow gave more than all of them, and that is something to give us pause.  Not that she gave more money.  Two copper coins.  Maybe they make a penny by today’s standards.  Why, then, does the Lord praise her?  Because proportionately she put in more than all the others?  True.  True enough.  She did, and that is good.  But do you think… not that most of us knows what anyone else gives, and where that stands in proportion to our various and variable incomes… but do you think that God declares you more righteous than your neighbor because you give a bigger proportion of your income than he does?  And do you ever stop to think that, if that is true, that would mean He declares others of your neighbors more righteous than you, because they give a larger proportion of their incomes than you do?  Just stop it.  That’s not what this is about.

            Why, then, does the Lord praise her?  He says, “she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all that she had to live on” (Mark 12:44).  And see, now our Lord’s sermon, like any good stewardship sermon (and therefore unlike most stewardship sermons), redirects our eyes from the amount put in, to the miraculous, God-given faith, the fruit of which is the sacrificial giving.  The point is this: In faith, the woman didn’t just give God two copper coins.  She didn’t just give God her whole income.  She gave God her life.  All of her.  The whole of her.  All she had.  All she is.  Trusting that He who gave it all to her in the first place, her life and all she had, would continue to provide for her, continue to give to her, continue to pour forth His all for her.

            And what makes this all the more remarkable, is that, though she appears here in the New Testament, she’s really an Old Testament believer.  Right?  We find her in the Temple, making her Temple contribution.  And that is to say, she is still looking forward to Messiah’s coming.  Trusting in the Christ who, as far as she knows, is yet to come.  She hasn’t yet seen the fulfillment of the Old Testament Promises (though that fulfillment is sitting off to the side watching her).  Yet she believes, she trusts, with her whole life… all she has to live on… that those Promises are true.

            And in giving everything, her whole life, in sacrifice… she is a prophetic picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His giving His all, His whole life, in sacrifice on the cross, for the forgiveness of our sins.  She is the Church.  This is what we get to be in our giving.  Icons of Christ.  Picturing for one another, and for the whole world, the redemptive sacrifice of Christ for us.  “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).

            And there is another thing we learn from her.  She knows this, perhaps only implicitly, but here is wisdom to carry in your heart your whole life long: Whatever you keep back from God, in the end, you lose.  But whatever you give up to God, surrender to God for His purposes, you keep eternally.  And, in fact, as we heard recently, you are rewarded a hundredfold.  It is as Pastor Elliott preached to us at the dinner… On your death bed, you won’t be thinking about how much money is in the bank.  All of that will cease to matter.  You can’t take it with you, as the old saying goes.  But what will follow you are the people for whom God has used you to bring them to faith in Christ, or strengthen their faith, encourage their faith, sustain their faith.  Through your words.  Your example.  Your prayers.  Yes, your offering.  Think about little Jack’s words about his dime.  Think of his example to us.  Undoubtedly, his prayers.  Think of that mighty little dime doing the work of God’s Kingdom.  More than a mere 10 cents, I can tell you, will follow Jack into heaven.  More than two copper coins will follow the widow.  We will follow them.  Our children will follow them.  All those impacted by the Gospel ministry of this congregation will follow them.  These are the true riches.  Surrendering all, including their very selves, Jack and the widow have unimaginable treasure in heaven.  Because it is as Jesus says in another place in the Gospel: “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). 

            What is the pride of the scribes against which Jesus warns us at the beginning of our Holy Gospel, but the holding back of something (in this case, honor) for the self, and from God?  Right?  “Look at me.  Give me the place of honor in the congregation and at the feast.  Listen to my long and eloquent prayers.  And widows?  Give all you have to live on to me.”  The scribes, for the most part, like pastors today, lived on the offerings of the people.  Nothing wrong with that, as far as it goes.  You shall not muzzle the ox while it is treading grain, and all that (1 Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18; Deut. 25:4).  But these widow’s needed charity from the scribes, not the other way around.  This is a warning to the clergy.  To the Apostles, who were in attendance at Jesus’ discourse.  To the Christian pastors.  But also, beloved, to every well-respected and pious Christian.  Don’t make it about you.  Don’t revel in the honor others bestow upon you.  Direct it away from you.  Toward Christ.  Don’t hold back the honor due to God for yourself.  He must increase.  You must decrease.  You are nothing.  He is everything.  Give even that.  All of you.  Your whole life.  St. Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6).

            Now, if you are hearing this sermon as an admonition to put more money in the plate, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said.  But if you are hearing this as an admonition to lose yourself in Christ, who loves you, and gave Himself for you, all that He is, and all that He has, into humiliation and death for your salvation… that’s it!  That’s it!  You’ve got it!  Because to lose yourself entirely in Him, is to find yourself as you were always meant to be!  As God created you to be!  To take up your cross and die in that way, that is really to live!  In Him, the One who died for you, and who is risen from the dead.  That’s the widow.  That’s little Jack.  That’s you joined to Christ in the blest baptismal waters.  Crucified with Him.  Raised with Him.  We saw it again this afternoon, praise God.  God gave you all that you are and have in the first place.  It all belongs to Him.  God redeemed all that you are and have by the blood and death of Jesus Christ.  Now it belongs to Him doubly.  He is not going to forsake you now!  Quite the contrary.  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).  You know the answer to that. 

            Beloved, rejoice in the self-sacrifice, the whole burnt offering, of our Lord Jesus Christ for you.  And then, be like the widow.  Be like Jack.  Which is to say, live in it.  Live in that sacrifice.  Embrace it.  Own it.  Be the picture of it in your own life of generosity and sacrifice.  Absolutely trusting that having Christ, you have everything.  In the end, you lack nothing.  Not even one shiny little dime.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                                

All Saints' Day (Observed)

All Saints’ Day (Observed)

November 3, 2024

Text: Matt. 5:1-12

            “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’  ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Rev. 14:13; ESV).

            Our Lord calls “Blessed” what we, at least according to our fallen human nature, would consider a curse.  The beatitudes of the Bible are often counter-intuitive.  We would say, “Blessed are those who are rich!”  Not only in spirit, but in money, in things.  In beautiful homes, and with well-funded retirements.  And, yes, rich in spirit, which is to say, rich in works, rich in personal righteousness.   The poor in spirit are blessed?  Those who have nothing in themselves, who bring nothing to the table before God, before the Church?  Yes, those very ones, says Jesus.

            We would say, “Blessed are those who have nothing to mourn over; those who have power, and know how to use it; those who are filled, and fulfilled.”  But those who mourn, the meek, those hungering and thirsting after righteousness?  They are blessed?  Yes, says Jesus.  Those very ones. 

            And we get that the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers should be blessed.  Those sound like very blessed character traits.  But it so often seems so futile.  You can be merciful toward others, but where does it get you?  Your mercy is taken for granted.  Your forgiving those who sin against you, who aren’t even sorry.  Your generosity toward those who aren’t even thankful, and who misuse your gifts.  Then, meekness?  What is that, anyway?  The best definition I’ve read is that someone who is meek, is someone who has the power to do something, and doesn’t.  The Josephs of Holy Scripture are the picture of meekness.  Joseph in the Old Testament had the power to punish his brothers for selling him down the river, but ultimately, he didn’t.  He forgave them and provided for them.  Jospeh in the New Testament, the adoptive father of our Lord, had the power, not only to divorce Mary when she was found to be pregnant, but to stone her to death.  But he didn’t.  He protected her, and provided for her, and for her Son.  Meekness.  Admirable.  Blessed.  But who can do it?  And when you do, it can sure heap an awful lot of misery on oneself.  And peacemaking?  The fruit of mercy and meekness.  But good luck.  It’s a lot of work, a lot of frustration, and who is to say, in the end, whether it will be successful? 

            And, last but not least, we would say, “Blessed are those who do not suffer pain and rejection, much less beatings, imprisonments, the loss of all earthly goods… death.”  Quite the contrary, says our Lord.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.  Blessed are you when you are reviled, persecuted, and slandered for Jesus’ sake.  It’s strange, to say the least.  The Beatitudes have confounded Christians for centuries.  (Beatitude, by the way, simply means blessed.)  But we count them precious, because we sense their profundity, and we know our Lord’s Words, here, are doing something, making things happen, acting upon us as we hear them.  Our Lord opens His mouth to speak His creative Word, the Word that brings forth out of nothing (ex nihilo) all that is, visible and invisible.  And so, upon us, His Word is an act of re-creation.  New creation.  It puts to death our old conception of what it means to be blessed.  And it conceives within us the true blessedness.

            But it isn’t easy for us to comprehend.  The Beatitudes are not platitudes.  They are not simple.  And so there are some misconceptions to untangle.  Particularly when it comes to why the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those hungering and thirsting, etc., are blessed.  The first misconception to get over is this idea that poverty… specifically financial poverty… is a virtue in itself.  Our society loves that one, but it isn’t what the text says, nor does it say it anywhere in the Bible.  As it happens, though in Luke Jesus pronounces the poor blessed (Luke 6:20, and that is important for those who are financially poor to hear… they are not something less in the eyes of God than those who have been blessed with material wealth), here in Matthew, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3; emphasis added).  And that is to say, those who make no claims to merit or worthiness before God.

            Now, the rest of the Beatitudes are really an unpacking of that first one.  One who mourns his own sin, and that of others, the state of the world under sin’s curse, injustice, death and its attendant suffering… that one is poor in spirit.  One who is meek, who does not use his power to oppress, that one is poor in spirit.  And so on.  You get the picture. 

            Now, it is not the poverty itself that is the blessedness.  It is not the hungering and thirsting after righteousness, or the persecution, that is the blessedness.  It is rather what God, by grace, gives to the one in that state.  The Kingdom of heaven.  Comfort.  The very earth (think, here, New Creation).  Satisfaction, mercy, the beatific vision of God, divine sonship.  This is why you can rejoice and be glad in your poverty of spirit, even under intense persecution, because that kind of suffering simply means your reward is coming.  Jesus is coming to deliver you and to give you all that He here promises.  Yes, rejoice.  Because you are blessed, indeed. 

            And understand, these aren’t rewards that you earn.  That would be the opposite of poor in spirit, wouldn’t it?  These are rewards given by and on account of Christ to those who are baptized into Him.  Who have suffered for and with Him.  Who have died to themselves, and so received their life in Him, and who will receive the resurrection of their body in Him.

            And that leads us to the beatitude I quoted at the beginning of this sermon from Revelation 14, and it really is the focus of our mediation on this All Saints’ Day.  As counter-intuitive as it may be… as much as we think of death as the ultimate evil (well, it is… St. Paul calls it “the last enemy to be destroyed” [1 Cor. 15:26]… Death is never a friend, and we were not created to die.  We were created for life eternal with God!)… Nevertheless, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord!”  Yes, blessed!  Why?  Because they rest from their labors, their poverty of spirit, all the things described in the Beatitudes.  And their deeds do follow them.  No, this isn’t works righteousness.  In Christ, all their sins are forgiven, so their wicked deeds, their sins, don’t follow them.  But all of Christ’s perfect fulfillment of the Law in their place, as well as the good deeds the Spirit has wrought through them, cleansed of all impurity, bright and shining as stars, the works prepared by God beforehand that the saints should walk in them (Eph. 2:10)… these do follow them…  Their poverty of spirit.  Their meekness and mercy and peacemaking.  Their sufferings.  These do follow them, and receive their consolation.  So as you think about your loved ones who have died and are now in heaven with Jesus, think of that.  They are blessed.  They are comforted.  They are satisfied with Christ’s own righteousness.  They see God.  Think of that, beloved, and be comforted.

            But there is yet one more key to understanding the Beatitudes in our text, and really, all beatitudes in Holy Scripture.  And it is THE point.  The Beatitudes are not, first or foremost, descriptions of us suffering the cross in this world for Christ.  They are, above all, descriptions of Christ suffering the cross for this world, and for us.  Christ, true God, the eternal Son of the Father, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but gave it all up (Phil. 2:6-7) to become poor in spirit (and literally poor!) for us, and for our salvation.  He mourned our lost estate, wept over Jerusalem, at some point (though it is not recorded in Scripture) grieved over the death of His dad, Jospeh, and wept at the tomb of His dear friend, Lazarus.  He is meek… He has the power to send us all to hell, body and soul, for all eternity, but instead, He comes to save us.  Hungering and thirsting for our righteousness, He gives us His own, and credits it to our account.  Not only merciful… He is Mercy Incarnate, shedding His precious blood, dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and to give us eternal riches, eternal life.  He is the Pure in Heart… sinless, righteous, holy.  He is the Peacemaker… reconciling us with God, reconciling us with one another (Christians, dear redeemed of God, we have no business being at enmity with each other.  If you have an issue with any person in this assembly, go and be reconciled right now, in the Name of Jesus Christ).  He is THE Persecuted One.  All the way to Calvary.  All the way to the cross.

            And so He dies.  And He rests from His labor.  Rests in the tomb.  Sabbath.  And His deeds do follow Him.  And so, on the Third Day, He rises.  And so, He is Blessed.  And we are blessed, and we will rise, in Him.

            Jesus is our Beatitude.  Our Beatitude is always and only in Jesus.  And that is why those we commemorated this afternoon, and all the blessed dead, really are not dead.  They live.  And they gather with us around the Altar, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.  Behold, a Host arrayed in white.  God wipes away their tears.  They have come out of the great tribulation.  We feebly struggle yet for a little while, but they in glory shine.  And all of us are blessed.  Because we are in Jesus.  One holy Christian and apostolic Church, gathered around the throne of God, and of the Lamb.

            The Beatitudes are counter-intuitive, but so is the very Gospel.  Jesus died, and behold, He lives.  We die in Jesus, and so we live in Him.  Blessed are you who believe this.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.