MarkDaniels.Blogspot.com

The Shrewdness of the Saints

2025-09-21T16:39:00.002-04:00

Few passages of Scripture have more confused Christians through the centuries than the verses of our Gospel lesson. So, let’s clear some of the confusion from the outset: Jesus isn’t here telling us to steal or lie like the dishonest business manager in His parable. But Jesus is telling us to be like the business manager in one way. We are to be shrewd–wise–not in the ways of the world like the manager was, but shrewd about our need for God.

One day, every human being, whether they want life with God while living on this earth or not, will see how much they need God at that moment when they die and, for the first time ever, see God face to face. The Bible tells us that, “each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12) And Jesus tells us today that we must, before that moment arrives like “a thief in the night,” be shrewd about life with God and how it can be received. But what does it mean to be shrewd or wise in our relationship with God?

First, we must be shrewd about the gap that exists between God in His holiness, and us in our sin. It’s a gap we can’t bridge by our good works, offerings, prayers, friendliness, or piety. To see the gap between God and us is to admit, with King David, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me…” (Psalm 51:5) Or, with the apostle Paul, we need to admit, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” (Romans 7:18) By nature, we are unrighteous, born sinners. If righteousness, which means to be innocent of sin and right with God, were a bank account, you and I would be born with an infinite deficit from the beginning. And by the wrong we do and the right we fail to do, we would only add to the tons of red ink in our accounts from the moment we’re born until the day we die.

This is like the wise insight of the dishonest manager in Jesus’ parable. Evidently, irrefutable evidence is given to his boss that he has been stealing, embezzling money. The master calls him in and tells the manager that he’s fired. “Turn in your books.” The manager doesn’t waste breath trying to convince the master that he isn’t guilty. Both he and the master know he’s guilty. The master was right, and he was wrong. This is precisely what wise people, shrewd people, understand in their relationship with God. God is right, and we are wrong. After being called out by the prophet Nathan for committing adultery and murder, King David didn’t try to excuse himself before God. Instead, he cried out to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalm 51:4) When we are wise, we see that David’s prayer must be our prayer too.

But there was another element to the shrewdness, the wisdom, of the dishonest manager in Jesus’ parable. In that culture, a wealthy master had the power to execute or make miserable the life of someone like the manager on the spot. Instead, the master only fires the manager. Knowing that he has a short amount of time to act, the manager hits on plan. Before the word gets around that he has been fired, and why, the manager calls in all his master’s debtors. He has them write new IOUs to the master, telling them to reduce what they owe his master by massive amounts. Folks, this would be like a bank officer calling in a farmer and saying, “Reduce what you owe this year for feed, seed, and machinery by $150,000,” or telling a homeowner, “Knock 80% off of the mortgage on your house.” Because the debtors don’t know the dishonest manager has already been fired, each of them walks away from having their debts dramatically reduced thinking what a fine man the master is and what a great guy the manager is. This way, though he no longer has a job with the master, the manager knows dozens of other people in the neighborhood willing to welcome him and hire him. Pretty shrewd, huh? And when the master finds out what his manager has done, costing him the ancient equivalent of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of dollars, he doesn’t blow up, kill the manager, or call the sheriff to have the manager arrested. Instead, Jesus concludes His story by saying, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.” (Luke 16:8) Now, why did the manager know his ploy would work? Because he knew the master was merciful.

And this brings us to the second way you and I must be shrewd, or wise, in our relationship with God. Our sin, the sin of us all, is serious business. God’s Word is clear: “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) We are bound to agree with The Small Catechism, when it says, “we sin every day and deserve nothing but punishment.” But in the face of the reality of our sin and the condemnation we deserve for it, here is the second bit of shrewdness we must have in our relationship with God: In Jesus Christ, God has forgiven you all your sins and opened up eternity with God for all who believe. No exceptions. Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) We can repent and believe in Jesus because we know our Master, the Lord we meet in Jesus, is merciful. The psalmist says, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 145:8) Jesus says, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:17)

The shrewd person knows that the God Who sent His Son Jesus to take the death sentence for sin we deserve and raised Him up to tear open eternity to all who repent and believe in Jesus, also knows something else. We have no idea about how long we have to repent and trust in Christ. Not a moment of this life, the life in which Christ calls us to repent and believe in Him, is guaranteed to us. The manager acted when he could. And we too, must act when we can, living in “daily repentance and renewal,” daily turning from sin and death, and daily falling into the forgiving embrace of Jesus Christ, God the Son.

In another one of his parables, Jesus tells the story of a man who focused on making lots of money, building bigger and bigger barns to hold his crops. He does this only thinking about life in this world. Finally, Jesus says, God came to the man, and said, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20) That man was shrewd about the ways of the world, but he had no shrewdness about God. He had no repentance, and he had no saving faith. He met death naked in sin, not covered by the forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus. He condemned himself by His foolishness toward God.

Friends, the God we know in Jesus Christ loves you with an everlasting love. He wants you to be with Him forever. He wants to forgive your debts, your sins–whatever they may be: idolatry, covetousness, lying, adultery, thievery, murder by thought, word, or deed. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the tomb to erase sin’s power to condemn you. To all who are shrewd enough to know they are sinners and need help from outside themselves–from God through our Savior Jesus–and shrewd enough to see how merciful, and forgiving, and kind, and loving, God is, there is a welcome to God’s “eternal tents” now, even in this fallen world, and, one day, in the new heaven and the new earth Jesus will bring on the last day when He returns to set all things right, and in which we will live with God and His people for all eternity. This is the shrewdness of the saints of God, sinners covered by the forgiveness God gives through Jesus Christ alone. Again today, Jesus tells you, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Because of His death and resurrection for you, friends, you can believe that ALL of that is true and that it is true now and for all eternity for you. Amen

You Can Trust in Christ Now

2025-09-21T16:37:00.001-04:00

[This is a sermon for September 28, 2025, the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Churches without pastors, pastors whose other pressing duties have prevented them from preparing sermons, Bible study leaders, and others are free to use it. Just let me know if you do.]

Luke 16:19-31
The story or parable that Jesus tells in today’s gospel lesson is well known to you. As Jesus tells it, there was a rich man, “who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.” (Luke 16:19)

From what Jesus says here, we know that the rich man wasn’t just rich; he was fabulously wealthy. Only the wealthy or kings could afford clothing made of linen or dyed purple. The rich man also lived in luxury, meaning that he didn’t just feast at weddings or holidays, but all the time. He wasn’t satisfied with what Jesus calls, “our daily bread.” This guy’s motto in life was, “More!”

Jesus then tells us about another character in the story: “At [the rich man’s] gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” (Luke 16:20-21)

Lazarus, not to be confused with Jesus’ friend of the same name, is helpless. When dogs lick his open sores, he’s too weak to fend them off. And he can’t even place himself at the rich man’s gate. Someone else has to do that for him.

Maybe someone set Lazarus there, hoping the rich man would take pity on Lazarus. If that had been the hope, it was an unwarranted one. Lazarus lays at the rich man’s gate until he dies. The rich man dies at the same time. But when Lazarus dies, Jesus says, “the angels carried him to Abraham’s side,” or, more literally, Abraham’s bosom. Lazarus is in a place of peace and contentment to which those who trust in the God of Abraham, the God the whole world can now know in the crucified and risen Jesus, go.

Of the rich man, Jesus says he “died and was buried.” (Luke 16:22) But Jesus tells us that, unlike Lazarus, the rich man went to “Hades [hell], where he was in torment…” (Luke 16:23)

Let’s be clear. The rich man isn’t damned to an eternity of burning in unquenchable fire because he was rich in this world. Rather, he had condemned himself by putting his trust in the things of this world rather than in God. The Old Testament patriarch Abraham was, you’ll remember, wealthy. But Genesis 15:6 tells us that despite his sins and faults, about which the Bible was quite open, Abraham “believed the Lord, and [God] credited it to [Abraham] as righteousness.” Abraham was saved from sin and death by God’s grace through faith in the God you and I now meet in Jesus. The rich man in Jesus’ story didn’t trust in God.

As Jesus tells it, the rich man can see Lazarus, the poor man he once ignored, in the bosom of Abraham, safe in that place with God that all who believe in Him go to await their resurrections on the day Jesus returns to the earth. “Father Abraham,” the rich man cries, “have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.” (Luke 16:24)

The rich man calls Abraham “father” because he, a Jew, is genetically descended from Abraham. But as Jesus once told Jewish believers who were turning their backs on Him: “If you were Abraham’s children,...then you would do what Abraham did…” (John 8:39). In other words, if they were like Abraham, they would, like Abraham, trust in the God incarnate Who stood before them.

Abraham is tender, yet firm, in his reply to the rich man. “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” (Luke 16:25-26)

Friends, once we are dead, it will be too late to turn to God for life.

It will also be too late to share with others the good news, the Gospel of new and everlasting life with God for all who trust in Jesus.

The rich man was a descendant of Abraham and Sarah, an heir of God’s salvation promises. But he had forgotten God.

One of my joys as a pastor is baptizing people—young or old, anyone who has never been previously baptized—in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In Holy Baptism, we are crucified and raised again as God’s own children. God never reneges on the covenant He makes with us in Baptism. In the water connected with Jesus’ Gospel Word of promise, in the Bible, and in Holy Communion, Jesus sends His saving Word to call us to daily repentance and eternally saving faith in Jesus.

The rich man tragically walked away from God’s covenant with Him. He refused to receive God’s saving Word, which works faith in us. And so, Abraham says, the rich man must live with the consequences of his faithlessness, even as Lazarus enjoys the consequences of his faith: eternal life with God!

Now the rich man, resigned to an eternity separated from God, finally thinks about someone besides himself.

He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers–Luke actually says, to thoroughly witness to them–so that they can repent for their sins and trust in God for life.

Abraham tells him, “No,” and that the rich man’s brothers already have Moses and the Prophets to be warned and have good news preached to them.

The phrase, “Moses and the Prophets,” refers to the witness of the entire Old Testament that God would send a Messiah, God in the flesh, to die for our sins, destroy their power to condemn us, and to rise for us, opening up life with God to all who trust in Jesus.

Today, the Word of God, both Old and New Testaments, and the Word given to us in Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, give witness for Jesus: His saving love, His power over death, His call to repentance and faith. God’s Word shows us that God loves us and that He has done everything needed to save us from sin, death, futility, and eternal condemnation.

The rich man says that if Lazarus went back to the world from the dead with the message that this heaven and hell thing is true and that they needed to put their trust in the God revealed in the crucified and risen Jesus, and not in the world, his brothers would repent and believe. But Abraham says, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31)

You and I are blessed. Not only do we have the Word of Moses and the Prophets pointing forward to Jesus’ cross and empty tomb, we have the witness of the New Testament testifying that hundreds of people, however imperfectly, followed, witnessed, and risked their lives to tell the world that Jesus Christ died to destroy the power of sin and death and rose to give us eternity with God! And they had seen Him after He rose!

We have the witness of the once-tongue-tied and fearful Peter, who told the crowds on the first Christian Pentecost: “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:22-24)

When the crowds, recognizing that it was their sin–as it is our sin–that put the sinless Jesus on the cross, asked Peter how they could avoid the condemnation they deserved–the same condemnation we deserve for our sin–Peter told them: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)

That promise, friends, is for you and me too! Jesus has prepared a place at His everlasting banquet for all who trust in Him. By God’s grace, He died on the cross to give us His righteousness and gain a place for us in the Kingdom of God. Even when the world despises, dismisses, misunderstands, or slanders us for our faith in Jesus, we can trust in Him. All who trust in Christ know, like Lazarus in today’s lesson, that we will have an eternity of joy with our Savior.

For those who trust in the God we meet in Jesus, “weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning…” (Psalm 30:5) Trust in Jesus, friends, until that bright morning when we see our Lord face to face in eternity. Amen

Faith Beyond Our Fears

2025-08-06T13:45:00.000-04:00

[This is also a sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, August 10, 2025. Churches without pastors and others are welcome to use it as they wish. God bless you.]

Genesis 15:1-6
Often in both the Old and New Testaments, when God or an angel sent by God encountered human beings, the first thing God or His messengers told people was, “Don’t be afraid.” One reason for saying this is that it’s intimidating to be in the presence of God or of angels who directly reflect the glory of God.

But there are other reasons for these admonitions. In one of his Christmas sermons, Martin Luther recounts how, on Christmas night, an angel visited shepherds.”Fear not,’ said the angel,” Luther noted. Luther then confessed: “I fear death, the judgment of God, the world, hunger, and the like.” Luther is right, isn’t he? We fear many things.

Parents fear for the safety of their kids when they send them off to school and when they see their teens get behind the wheel of a car. Grandparents fear that their children and grandchildren will turn from Christ and the Church. Employees fear being laid off. Consumers fear that inflation will eat up their savings and retirement accounts.

Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith trusts in God, in the promises of God, in the finished work of the crucified and risen Jesus assuring us that God will never leave us nor forsake us and that all who believe in Jesus will be raised from the dead even as Jesus was raised. To Christians who receive the Holy Spirit at their baptism, God’s Word says: “The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the same Holy Spirit [The Holy Spirit Who enables you to believe in Jesus. If the same Holy Spirit…] lives in you, He will give life to your bodies in the same way.” (Romans 8:11) Because faith is foreign to our natures, God even gives us faith in Jesus. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” we’re told in Ephesians 2:8. Faith overcomes fear when, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in God’s Word, we trust that “the one who believes in [Jesus] will live, even though they die…” (John 11:25)

In saying that fear is the opposite of faith, we’re not saying that we should throw caution to the wind! When the devil tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, Jesus didn’t do it. Stupid is still stupid, even when you have faith! God’s Word tells us that our “bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit…You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Jesus, by His death on the cross, has bought us out of our slavery to sin and death. We believe that these bodies, even after they’ve aged and deteriorated, even after death when we’ve been reduced to dust, will rise to live eternally with God. Since God values our physical bodies so much, we also are called to treat them with reverence.

But, friends, we need never fear that God has forgotten us. Or that we are alone. Or that our sins are too great for Him to forgive. Or that our prayers are too insignificant for Him to hear. Or that Jesus’ resurrection promises are for everyone but us. Because God acted on Good Friday and Easter Sunday to save us from sin, death, and condemnation, we need not fear anything! But as long as we live on this earth, the battle between faith and fear will rage within us.

We see this battle in Abram, later renamed Abram by God, the ancestral father of God’s people, ancient Israel, in our first lesson for this morning, Genesis 15:1-6. The book of Hebrews tells us: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8)

Abraham had faith in God. He also often caved into fear, afraid that God couldn’t be trusted to keep His promises. Twice to save his own neck, he lied to kings through whose territory he traveled, claiming that his wife was actually his sister, nearly tripping the kings into adultery with Sarah. Afraid that God had forgotten His promise to provide Sarah and him with a son and many descendants, he went along with Sarah’s plan of impregnating Sarah’s slave Hagar. Fear can also cause us to underestimate God and to take sinful shortcuts because we don’t trust God to fulfill His promises.

When we join Abram in our lesson today, God has just done two amazing things for him. First, he helped Abram, in concert with some local potentates, to save the family of his relative Lot after they were kidnapped by several strong armies. It was, of course, God who had accomplished this impossible thing, an act of grace by God toward Abram and his family. After that, God sent Melchizedek, the king of a place called Salem, now known as Jerusalem, and also a priest of God, to Abram with bread and wine as signs that He hadn’t forgotten His promises.

After these things, Abram’s faith should have been strengthened. Instead, God finds Abram wallowing in fear. God tells Abram: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)

As Lutheran Christians, you know that God speaks to us with two Words. The first Word God speaks to us is His Law. The Law is His perfect will for human beings. The first of those laws is that we trust in God. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” God’s Word tells us. Proverbs 3:5) And, more directly, the First Commandment tells us: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” But, have you noticed that being told things like, “Trust in God” or “You shall have no other gods before Me” doesn’t make us less prone to putting other things ahead of God? At most, hearing God’s Law, even from the mouth of God Himself, makes us conscious of our need for repentance. But God’s Law, perfect though it is, cannot save us. It can’t make us righteous, acceptable to God, or prop up any religious self-improvement program.

So, after God tells Abram to not be afraid, Abram vents his fears: “‘Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.’” (Genesis 15:2-3) Think about Abram’s words! “Elohim Yahweh,” he’s saying, “you’ve done some interesting things in my life. But when are You going to come through for me? When will You start paying off on that promise of nations of faithful people descending from my wife and me?”

Now, at this, God would have been justified in giving Abram a smackdown. But it’s now that God speaks not the Law to Abram, but the other Word God speaks to needy sinners like Abram…and you and me. God speaks words of promise, what we call Gospel, good news. “This man [Eliezer] will not be your heir,” God says, “but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” Then God takes Abram outside and God tells Abram, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them….So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)

Nothing about Abram’s objective situation has changed as of this moment. He and his wife are still childless. (And it will be another twenty years before their son Isaac is born.) They still aren’t sure where they’re going to live permanently. They can’t see the multitudes of nations that were to issue from them. But, by the power of the Word of God, Abram, at least at that moment, believed God’s gospel. Faith supplanted fear. God, you remember, once brought the universe into existence by speaking His Word into lifeless, disordered chaos. God brings faith into the lives of sometimes fearful people as He speaks His Word of promise and love into our chaos.

And so, the last verse of our lesson tells us that after God had preached His Word of promise to Abram: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) Abram’s faith wasn’t Abram’s accomplishment. Faith, faith that saves us from sin and death, that takes hold of the promises of God, comes to us through God’s Word as a free gift. Standing under God’s Word of promise, hearing it, receiving it, as we do when we gather with God’s people to hear the promise delivered to us through the mouth of a preacher and to receive the promise delivered to us in, with, and under the bread and the wine–it’s is God’s Gospel Word of promise that gives us a faith in Christ that knows, in spite of our sins, including the sins of fear, dread, and despair, God counts us as righteousness. In Christ, God counts you as righteous. In Christ, all your sins are completely forgiven and you belong to God forever!

This is the faith that Abram had when He heard God’s Word. It’s the kind of faith that turns back to God again and again, even after sin and failure. It’s the kind of faith that today, the Word of God about Jesus Who died and rose for you, gives to you as you receive it.

In the Law, God tells us, “Do not fear.” In the Gospel, God says, “I have already overcome all that causes you to fear.”

Today, friends, God tells you that you need not be afraid. Nothing this world or our sins can do to us can separate those who take refuge in Jesus, from the God Who loves us and gave Jesus to die and rise to make us righteous, innocent, and fit for God’s kingdom in the eyes of God Himself. Just like Abram, we may not be able to see how God will fulfill His promises to us, promises of forgiveness and eternal life. Nonetheless, His Word comes to you who confess faith in Christ again this morning and He tells you, “You belong to God, now and forever.” This promise, more than any promise you have ever heard, you can believe is true. It is Christ, Who died and rose for you Who makes it true. Amen!

Who does Jesus say will be caught flat footed by His return?

2025-02-17T17:06:00.002-05:00

The return of Jesus to this world will mark the moment when those, both living and dead, who have spurned Him will taken away to hell, while believers will remain with Him in the new heaven and the new earth.

Who does Jesus say will be caught off-guard by His return?

A few thoughts were brought home to me during my quiet time with God this morning. In addition to looking at two chapters from the Old Testament, I also read the last verses from Matthew, chapter 24, in the New Testament.

There, Jesus describes the signs that foreshadow His return (signs that have already happened long ago, by the way) when He will give eternal judgment on those still living and on the dead. Jesus charges believers to be ready for His return.

We can be fearful about Christ’s return and there’s a lot fear-mongering on that very subject in some circles of the Church. But Christ’s teaching that He will return one day is also a great promise for those who, by the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit coming to us in God’s Word and in Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, have put their trust in Christ for God’s forgiveness and for eternal life with God! Believers in Jesus can look forward to the day of Christ’s return with hope, confidence, and anticipation!

Knowing all that, we see this verse in which Jesus says, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44)

I have two thoughts about some of the kinds of people who will be caught off-guard by Jesus’ return, beyond those not reached by the Church in proclaiming the good news of new life through faith in Jesus and beyond those who have definitively rejected the good news of Jesus and gone their own way. (As I did during my decade as an atheist.)

One group that will be caught flat footed by Jesus’ return are those who have received the good news about Jesus, understand that His death and resurrection happened for them, but have rejected trusting in Him or the faith available to all through the “means of grace.” The means of grace are God’s Word and the Sacraments (Baptism and Communion) through which God’s Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith in Christ within those who receive them. The people in this category are in overt rebellion against Christ, God the Son, Who tells us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” and not to delay in doing so. (Luke 9:23; 9:59-60)

People in category one are like the medieval kings who put off being baptized so that they could go on sinning and treating people with injustice until, on their deathbeds, they were baptized and confessed faith in Christ.

But none of us is guaranteed a peaceful and recognizable moment of death for which we can prepare. The possibility of death looms over all of us and can come at any time. Back in November of last year, I nearly died of salmonella poisoning during a European trip; I hadn’t planned on that!

There’s another group of people who will be caught flat footed by Christ’s return. Unlike the people in the first category, people in this group are wrong about their own position with Christ. This is what I wrote in my journal:

”Christ will return at precisely the moment when some, desensitized to the sin and injustice in which they participate, everything seems to be going well spiritually. Christ will come when these people, feeling vindicated and righteous, feeling themselves better than other people, are actually far from God and, absent repentance and filled with faith in their own goodness, will be taken away and sent to hell.” (Matthew 24:40-41)

A very dangerous sin we can fall into, particularly enticing for those who think of themselves as Christians, is self-righteousness, to think that we’re really good and others aren’t as good as us. This way of thinking is a common impulse in human beings.

Jesus is telling us is that our call is to put our faith in His righteousness. This means daily turning to Him for the forgiveness of our sins and daily turning to Him, trusting that what He has already done by dying on the cross for sinners and rising from the dead to open eternity with God to those who believe in Him is sufficient for a life with God now and forever.

During life in this world, all who believe in Christ will have that life with God in spite of our sins and imperfections, suffering, and death. In eternity, God will wipe away every tear from the eyes of believers in Christ, give us our glorified bodies, and allow all believers to live in the direct presence of God!

Jesus puts it all very clearly in John 6:29: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” When you believe in Jesus, you won’t be caught flat footed by His return to this world or by meeting Him when He has raised you from the dead. When you believe in Jesus, you will be ready…you will even be excited…to see your Lord face to face!

God bless you. See you soon.

Jeremiah, Part 25

2025-02-13T21:34:00.002-05:00

Jeremiah, Part 25 by Mark

The idolatry of the nations

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 24

2025-02-13T21:33:00.002-05:00

Jeremiah, Part 24 by Mark

When people close their ears to God

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 23

2025-02-13T21:32:00.003-05:00

Jeremiah, Part 23 by Mark

Conquest, faith, deliverance

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 22

2025-02-13T21:31:00.003-05:00

Jeremiah, Part 22 by Mark

The last days of Jerusalem

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 21

2025-01-20T00:04:00.001-05:00

Jeremiah, Part 21 by Mark

Promises, warnings, a lesson at the Temple

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 20

2025-01-13T23:11:00.002-05:00

This episode covers Jeremiah 32:36-33:18.

Jeremiah, Part 20 by Mark

Jesus: God, King, and Great High Priest

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 19

2025-01-13T23:09:00.003-05:00

In this episode, the focus is on Jeremiah 31:27-32:35.

Jeremiah, Part 19 by Mark

The New Covenant and the Mystery of God's Grace

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 18

2025-01-13T23:07:00.001-05:00

This episode covers Jeremiah 31:1-26.

Jeremiah, Part 18 by Mark

New Life and Forgiveness for Dead Sinners

Read on Substack

Jeremiah, Part 17

2025-01-13T23:05:00.002-05:00

Here, we look at Jeremiah, chapters 29 and 30.

Jeremiah, Part 17 by Mark

Punishment and promise

Read on Substack

Prepared to Meet Jesus

2024-12-02T23:27:00.001-05:00

[Any congregation without a pastor, whose pastor is strapped for time, or whose pastor becomes sick or is called away, is welcome to use this sermon for December 8, the Second Sunday of Advent. Sunday School classes or adult small groups should feel free to use it, if you think it would be helpful, as well.]

Luke 3:1-20
Today is the Second Sunday of Advent. This season, of course, is one of preparation. We prepare for the celebration of Christmas remembering when Jesus, God the Son, came to us as a sinless human baby to save us from sin and death. We also prepare for the day when Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead and to usher those made righteous through their faith in Him into “the new heaven and earth” He has reserved for all who believe in Him.

But how can you and I be prepared to meet Jesus, either when we see Him after He calls us from our graves or, if we’re still alive when He returns, we witness Him descending from heaven?

The answer is given in today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 3:1-20. Before John the Baptist was born, his birth was foretold to John’s father, Zechariah, by an angel. The angel said that John would appear among God’s people before Jesus began His public ministry “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared…” (Luke 1:17) And in today’s lesson, we’re told how God was going to use John to prepare people to meet Jesus when He came to them: “...he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 3:3)

Now, there’s something we should say before we move on. John’s baptism was different from Christian baptism, the baptism practiced by the Church since the first century. As with Christian baptism, John’s baptism brought people “the forgiveness of [their] sins,” but we should notice three differences.

First, John did not baptize people in the triune name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Second, John’s baptism didn’t bring the gift of the Holy Spirit, as Christian baptism does today. Remember, in our lesson, John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming [Jesus], the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

And third, John’s baptism did not baptize believers into Jesus’ death and resurrection. Only those who have undergone baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as we are baptized today in the Church, share in the overwhelming blessing that the apostle Paul dedclares in Romans 6: “We were buried therefore with [Christ] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4) In Christian baptism, we die with Christ and we rise with Christ!

But John’s baptism did prepare people to meet Jesus by giving the gift of repentance to those he baptized.

It may seem strange to speak of repentance as a gift. When we think of repentance, we likely see one or two unbiblical pictures in our minds. We may picture grim-faced people living in perpetual sorrow for their sins. Or, in a related image, we may picture people engaged in constant good works to impress God with their holiness, hoping that by their good lives or good works they can reverse the condemnation they deserve for their sins.

Repentance isn’t just acknowledging our imperfections. Most people will do that. “I’m not perfect,” we’ll say. But being a sinner and our sins are a lot more than being imperfect, as though our sins were akin to hitting a wrong note while singing or calling up the wrong suit while playing euchre.

The word translated in verse 3 of our gospel lesson as sins is ἁμαρτιῶν. It’s a word that means to miss the mark. You and I were born into sin. By birth and inclination, we are sinners. That means that we’re born wanting to do and we often do anything and everything but what God’s law commands of us. We don’t want to love God and we don’t want to love others. Instead, we want to be our own gods, decide our own destinies, and do things our own way. We sinners miss the mark of holiness and righteousness that God’s Word tells us is the basic requirement for having life with Him, now and in eternity. There is absolutely nothing about us that commends us to life with God or to be forgiven by God. We fall short of that, as Paul puts it, “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:24)

Repentance then has two parts and both parts are things done by God to us, not things we do for God or others. Both parts of repentance are done by God to us through the proclamation of His Word, whether through believers (including preachers), through reading His Word, or receiving His Word in Holy Baptism or Holy Communion. God wants to give the gift of repentance in both of its parts in this sermon today. I pray you will be open to receiving this gift.

The first part of repentance is contrition. The Apology to the Augsburg Confession, a basic statement of faith in the Lutheran tradition, says that contrition “takes place when sins are condemned by God’s Word.” We are condemned by God’s Word when we recognize how we utterly fail to meet God’s standards as enunciated in the Ten Commandments. When we hear God’s Law, we’re inclined to justify ourselves by saying things like, “I may take God’s name in vain, but I don’t commit adultery,” or “I may not regularly take advantage of the sabbath by gladly hearing and learning God’s Word, I’ve never stolen anything,” or “I may bear false witness by my gossiping, but I only worship God.” But God’s Word doesn’t let us off the hook that easily. James 2:10 tells us, “...whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” The first part of repentance, contrition, happens when God’s Word convicts us of the fact that we are sinners guilty of profaning all of God’s Law and that we’re worthy of only condemnation and hell for our sins–the bad we have done or thought and the good we have failed to do or think.

But it’s here when, in the words of Lutheran confessions, we experience “the true terror of the conscience…[feeling] that God is angry with sin” and we grieve that we have sinned, that God comes to us with another Word. It’s the Word that John proclaimed at the Jordan. It’s the Word of the Gospel about the crucified and risen Jesus that gives us the gift of faith.

Listen, friends, God knows that you and I are sinners and that if we were to meet Jesus when He comes naked in our sin, we would be without hope for life with God. But Jesus Christ came into this world, led a sinless life, bore the condemnation for sin that you and I deserve on a cross, and then rose from the dead to bring forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life with God to all those who, by the power of the Gospel Word, repent and believe (have faith in) Jesus.

When repentance, both contrition and faith, are worked in us by the Word of God, we are saved from sin and death. We are justified before God, declared innocent not because we are sinless but because the Savior Who died and rose for us is sinless. We belong to God forever. Jesus says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…” (John 3:36) And He says, “...this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:29) And Jesus tells us, “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) And God’s Word tells us of this saving, faith-giving, Word, “...since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

In Jesus Christ, friends, all your sins–all that you’ve done, said, or thought that grieves God for the hurt it has brought to Him, to your neighbor, or yourself–all your sin is forgiven.

Daily repentance, daily receiving the Word of God that tells us both the truth about our sin and the truth about God’s grace, is how God prepares us to one day–maybe today or tomorrow–to meet Jesus face to face.

Receive these gifts of contrition and faith again today, friends, and be prepared to live with your Savior now and forever. Amen

[Saint John in the Wilderness by Jose Leonardo, 1635]

Jeremiah, Part 16

2024-11-30T16:20:00.001-05:00

Jeremiah, Part 15

2024-11-30T16:19:00.001-05:00

Hold Your Head High...Jesus is Coming!

2024-11-26T18:41:00.002-05:00

[This sermon is based on the Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday, December 1, 2024, the First Sunday of Advent. Congregations without pastors or whose pastors are unable to deliver sermons this week may feel free to use it if you find it helpful.]

The Gospel Lesson: Luke 21:25-36

During a recent eleven-day stay at a hospital in Rouen, France, one of my nurses keyed words in her native French onto the Google Translate app of her smartphone, then told me in English, “You’re too brave. You should cry.” Her words were kind and I didn’t feel brave. But I knew this was not a time for crying.

I was in the hospital because I had acquired salmonella bacteria somewhere in England. By the time we arrived in France for a river cruise, I was sick. I got sicker over the next three days. I became severely dehydrated, my kidneys shut down, the defibrillator in my chest was activated, and, at one point, I collapsed in our bathroom. I was only sporadically aware of my surroundings when I was taken by ambulance to a major hospital. I was aware enough to know how hard all of this was on my wife, that my earthly life hung in the balance, and that I needed to pray.

I didn’t cry though. The reason was simple. By the power of God’s life-saving Word about Jesus Who died and rose for sinners like me, by this Word that gives me the holy gifts of repentance and faith in Christ, I know who I belong to. I know that Jesus had once uttered a Word from the cross that applies to me as much as it did to the crowds who growled for His death on Good Friday, as much as it applies to you: “Father, forgive them [forgive him, forgive her], for they do not know what they are doing.” I didn’t cry because I know that Jesus is the Savior Who has erased the power of sin and death over sinners like me. And like all believers in Jesus, I can say with Saint Paul, “there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8) I didn’t cry because I knew–I know–through the faith in Jesus God has given to me through Word and Sacrament, that Jesus, crucified and risen, has accounted this sinner righteous in the eyes of God. I have been made fit by Christ Himself, to live with God forever. With that old Easter hymn, I can say, that in Jesus Who fought to save me at cross and empty tomb, “The strife is o’er, the battle done; Now is the Victor’s triumph won! Now be the song of praise begun. Alleluia!”

The Gospel lesson for this First Sunday of Advent, finds Jesus with His disciples during Holy Week. A short time before, Jesus had cleansed the temple of extortionists who exploited people who had come to worship and offer sacrifices to God. Not long after the events recounted in today’s lesson, Jesus will be arrested, tried, and nailed to a cross for our sins, then rise from the dead to set believers eternally free of sin, death, and condemnation. At this moment though, Jesus is talking with the disciples.

One of them has commented on how beautiful the temple is. But Jesus tells the disciples that soon–in an event which we know happened in 70 AD–the temple, where people repeatedly offered sacrifices for their sins, would be destroyed. The temple, of course, would no longer be necessary because Jesus is the one perfect sacrifice that destroys the hold of sin and death over us; all who trust in Jesus have everlasting reconciliation and life with God. But the temple was such a central part of the lives of good Jews like Jesus’ first disciples that, shocked, they asked, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” (Luke 21:7)

Jesus proceeds to tell the disciples about all the events and circumstances that will surround the destruction of the temple. Soon though, Jesus shifts to a discussion of the events and circumstances that will surround the end of the heavens and the earth of this creation.

This old creation exists under a death sentence. When Adam and Eve, our ancestors, fell into sin, they ushered chaos, death, and darkness not just into the lives of each of us, all of whom will one day die, but into the whole created order God once made in love for us.

And so Jesus tells the disciples and us that, “there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Luke 21:25-26) Some will try to brave it out or laugh it off. But in the end, all who place their hopes in what this dying creation has to offer will cry. The end of this universe and the ends of their lives will give rise to grief and tears.

Their sadness and grief will only be heightened when they see, as all people then living will and as all called out of their graves by Jesus will, what Jesus says will come next at the end of this cosmos. “And then,” Jesus says, “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:27)

At that moment, for many, the crying will really begin. Why? Because, having refused to take seriously Jesus’ call to repent, that is, to turn away from sin–away from putting their hope in anything or anyone other than God, away from honoring God’s holy name, away from joining God’s people and gladly hearing His Word, away from honoring parents and those in authority, away from cherishing others’ lives, away from reserving sexual intimacy for the beds of husbands and wives, away from respecting the property and reputations of others–after refusing to repent, then refusing to trust in Jesus for forgiveness, hope, and life, they will know they stand naked before God in their sin. They will know there is no hope for them, no one to go to bat for them as Jesus pronounces their sentence: “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness…” (Matthew 7:23)

But for those who have welcomed Jesus, at the baptismal font, at the Communion table, in the Word proclaimed, taught, and shared, Jesus’ coming at the end of this world will be a time of rejoicing.

They will eagerly crane their necks to see their Savior Jesus Who will tell them–Who will tell you, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

And then you, dear saint, who by the power of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, believe in Him as your Lord, God, and King, you will be ushered into the new heaven and the new earth, and incorruptible and indestructible eternal kingdom in which God will wipe every tear from your eye and where sin, and death, and slights, and arguments, and wars, and pain will be no more!

This creation will be burnt and dissolved, but you who believe will be forever new in the presence of the One Who made you and died for you and rose for you.

And so, as we watch this world lurch toward its end point and as we ourselves age and decay, Jesus says, “when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28) Whether any given day is your best day or your worst day, Christian, you can hold your heads up and hope because even now, you are one day closer to seeing Jesus. And then, you will see the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to you: “the one who endures [the one who daily repents, daily turns to Jesus, daily receives forgiveness and new life through Jesus, the one who endures] to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

What a promise! Don’t yield to anxiety and fear. Hold your heads high, pray, and watch. Jesus is coming and all will be well.

Jesus tells you today: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Luke 21:33) And the Savior Jesus, by His death and resurrection, shows you that His promise is true…and that it is true for you.

Amen!

Jeremiah, Part 14

2024-10-10T15:10:00.001-04:00

Jeremiah, Part 13

2024-10-03T13:21:00.004-04:00

Jeremiah, Part 12

2024-09-26T10:01:00.001-04:00

Jeremiah, Part 11

2024-09-12T21:42:00.003-04:00

Jeremiah, Part 10

2024-09-05T17:10:00.004-04:00

Jeremiah, Part 9

2024-08-29T08:54:00.001-04:00

Jeremiah, Part 8

2024-08-22T11:41:00.001-04:00

This is the latest episode of my podcast, 'Route 66.' It's part 8 of my look at the Old Testament book of Jeremiah.

Please subscribe to my Substack account, which is free unless you decide to pay for a subscription, enabling me to purchase books and equipment to help me make the podcast better. If you like the podcast, linked to YouTube below, please like and subscribe.

There are different places you can find the podcast weekly, in addition to Substack and YouTube:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

On those sites, please like, subscribe, and leave a five-star review. That ensures that more people will be made aware of the podcast. Thanks!

Jeremiah, Part 7

2024-08-15T12:24:00.003-04:00