The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 35:10

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, or so the famous Christmas song tells us.  Although there is great joy this time of year, there is also an increase in loneliness, sadness, depression, and heartache.  Maybe you’ve had one of those weeks already: you’re fighting that cold that just won’t go away; you’re just plain tired and frustrated.  Or maybe you’ve been shopping and have become discouraged in what you’ve been able to find.  Or you’re overcome by thoughts of a loved one who has recently passed away, and you’re filled with loneliness or some other burden on your heart.

So how can we find joy in the midst of all the troubles and worries that this world brings?  We turn to Christ and His Word.  Martin Luther writes, “To achieve joy we must cling wholeheartedly to the Word and find comfort in the thought that Christ has so solemnly promised to be with us, together with the Father, and to protect us, so that no misfortune will harm us, no power of the devil and the world will crush us or tear us away from Him.  In this way we constantly find comfort and joy, and we become increasingly happy as time goes on.  The joy of the Christian endures forever (as its foundation stands forever), remains firm and increases in the midst of external sorrow and misfortune.”

As we cling to Christ and His Word we find a real joy – a lasting joy.  He promises that out of our limitations, He brings possibilities.  Out of our weaknesses, He brings strength.  Out of our timidity and fear, He brings confidence.  It is God’s intention that we be filled with joy.  The Good News is that we are not left on our own to find or achieve this joy.  We are given this joy in the gift of Christ.  The gift of Jesus, the living Word made flesh, full of grace and truth is what allows us to rejoice.  Lasting joy is found by trusting the Word of God and what is says about us: we are redeemed through Jesus Christ!

Rejoice this Advent season in the Good News that Christ our Savior is born for you!

Wake Up!

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake up from sleep.  For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”  Romans 13:11-13

The Advent season will begin anew in a few short days.  It’s a time for living in the forgiveness of sins that God offers us daily through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It’s a time to be thankful and expectant as we look forward to Christ’s return in glory.  And according to Paul – it is time to “wake up” and to “put on Christ”.

The Christian author, Max Lucado writes, “Don’t be troubled by the return of Christ.  Don’t be anxious about things you cannot comprehend.  For the Christian, the return of Christ is not a riddle to be solved or a code to be broken, but rather a day to be anticipated.”

Advent is the season of expectancy – looking forward to something God is doing.  What could possibly be new and exciting about the season of Advent, you say?  “We go through it every year!”

Well, because of what God has already done – the sending of His Son on that first Advent to become the Word made flesh to live, die, and rise from the dead to pay for our sin and redeem us for salvation as His adopted children – we are to “wake up” to what God is doing right now to bring this same salvation to the world around us.  God is with us through the means of grace – Word and Sacrament – strengthening and nourishing us for life in Him.

That’s the excitement and the expectancy of Advent.  Christ comes to us.  He is Immanuel – God with us!  In and amongst the darkness of our world, Christ comes to us and abides with us.  He has given us the gift of salvation that is ours now!  The day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works or darkness and put on the armor of light.

What a great gift our Savior gives to us this Advent!

Throwback Thursday

Thursdays on social media can be fun.  Many people participate in the #ThrowbackThursday craze.  Pictures are posted all over of good memories from the past.  Trips and vacations.  Good times from back in college.  Memories of growing up.  Remembering friends and loved ones.  The list could go on and on.  I'm sure one of the reasons Throwback Thursday is so popular is because of the good feeling we get when we remember fond times from the past.

The devil, though, would have us celebrate a different kind of Throwback Thursday.  You see, one of the many devices the devil uses is to throwback sins in our faces.  The devil loves to bring back old feelings of guilt over poor decisions.  He loves to drudge up old grudges, open old and painful wounds, and throw past sins back at us.  As the devil puts up his slideshow of our painful memories and failures, he throws some difficult questions our way.  "How could God possibly love you?  How could God really forgive you for that?"

The good news is that no matter what kind of accusations the devil throws our way we have the cross of Jesus Christ.  "If we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:8-9.  Our Savior lived the perfect life that we simply could not, died for the very sins the devil accuses us of, and rose victoriously from the grave to ensure victory over death and the devil - for us!

So when the devil throws your sins, guilt, and pains back at you - respond with the cross.  Throw back at him the victorious words, "I am baptized into Christ".  The devil has no response for that - for you are a forgiven and redeemed child of God!

Satan, hear this proclamation:  I am baptized into Christ!

Drop your ugly accusation, I am not so soon enticed.

Now that to the font I've traveled, All your might has come unraveled,

And against your tyranny, God, my Lord, unites with me!

LSB #594



Veterans Day

Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

As our nation celebrates Veteran’s Day, we have the privilege to say “thank you” and offer our collective debt to our fellow citizens who have served our country well.  We live in a country that offers far too much honor and recognition to sports figures, movie stars, music and TV personalities whom we misguidedly call “heroes and role models.”  On this one day of the year, we thank our Veterans and remember their bravery and courage – but this day should inspire and encourage us to honor our Veterans – our true heroes and recognize them as role models for they are truly the finest soldiers in the world.

Veterans Day must never be relegated to a one-day remembrance but a daily prayer of thanksgiving to God for the men and women - our grandparents and great grandparents, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, sons and daughters - whom we honor as we live in the freedom they have given to us with the gift of themselves to serve both God and country.

So as this Veterans Day evokes such great emotion and patriotism, I pray that it also leads us to seek the comfort and promises of God as we honor our heroes to the glory of Jesus Christ.

In Joshua chapter 1, we find Joshua, mourning his mentor and friend, Moses, who had died; but his greatest challenges still were ahead of him – the Promised Land wasn’t theirs yet; there were battles to be fought, a war to be waged – but all he had to do was remember the promise God had given him.

“The Lord your God is with you wherever you go”.  That is the promise Joshua held onto, the promise our Veterans held onto as they served God and our country, and the promise that all of us as Christians hold onto as we live daily in the freedom God has given us through the service of our Veterans.

May God continue to bless our Veterans and our Country this and every day – and may the freedom we enjoy lead us to give thanks to God for His steadfast love and His sure and certain promises!

 

All Saints' Day

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. 1 John 5:4

The celebration of All Saints' Day can be summarized in one word – victory! This is not victory in the worldly sense of winning a game or something like that – but the victory we celebrate is the victory won for us and given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The world sees victory in a different way. In the sports world, one of the most recognizable symbols of victory is the Nike “swoosh”. Nike has made millions of dollars because people want to wear that same “swoosh” that numerous championship athletes wear. In fact, the brand name “Nike” comes from the Greek word “nikos” which means – victory. But of far more importance than any sports victory is the victory spoken of in 1 John 5:4, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world”.

This All Saints' Day we celebrate the victory that was won for us by Jesus Christ – a victory that has overcome the world and the sin and death that it includes. As we remember our loved ones who have died and are now rejoicing in eternal life – we give thanks to God for the victory he won for them to give them eternal life. We also rejoice in the certain fact that Christ’s victory is our victory – not just when we die, but right now that victory is ours!
As we celebrate All Saints' Day, let our hearts and minds rejoice along with all the saints on earth and in heaven as we remember the victory that is ours through Jesus Christ!



Reformation Freedom

“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:34-36

Are you free? Sometimes we’re not sure how to answer that question. We live in a “free” country but there always seems to be something that has a hold on us. Professor Higgens, in the movie “My Fair Lady,” has this line: “I am an ordinary man who desires nothing more than just an ordinary chance to live exactly as I like and to do precisely what I want.” That’s what freedom means to most people. The chance to do whatever we want, whenever and however we want to do it.

Which is more frightening to you – slavery or freedom? Why would freedom be frightening? Because it involves the most change. As frightening as slavery is, especially slavery to sin which causes death, it seems safe because we’ve been down that road before. The road looks something like this: we sin, we feel guilty, we promise to do better next time, we sin again, we feel guilty, and after many times down this road, we come to the resolution: maybe it’s just the way I am. I just wasn’t cut out to be what God calls me to be.

Freedom from and freedom to are often in conflict. Christian freedom is freedom from the bondage of sin, death and the power of the devil but not freedom from God. Christian freedom is freedom to live according to God’s will, not freedom to do whatever we please.

The Pharisees said, “We are free! But were they really? All slavery is bad, but a slavery that parades around as freedom is worse. Like the Pharisees, we too will listen to Jesus about many things. We love to hear of eternal life, about God giving us our daily bread, about Jesus being with us always and we like the idea of His judging those wicked people - but confront us with our grudges, our lack of stewardship, our lack of daily devotions and Bible Study - and we put up our defenses. It has been said, “You can tell a Lutheran from far off, but up close, you can’t tell them anything.” It’s not that we deny our sins. But being slaves to sin? Never. And yet, whenever we sin, we do not do what we freely choose, but we have done what sin demands.

One of the tools of slavery is legalism. Legalism is slavery made easy. If the sermon today had a list of 10 rules to make you free – that would be so easy. You could go home today and begin working on completing the list. But what would be the result? Your outside would sparkle. But inside, something would be missing. Legalism is a slow torture - suffocation of the Holy Spirit and an amputation of the cross. And the question will always be - have I done enough to be set free? 

We know that there is no way we could ever do enough to earn freedom on our own. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:20 says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” But thanks be to God, for he gives us the free gift of redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is the pathway of the most resistance. The Gospel meets the resistance of sin head on with the cross of Christ. The Law shows us our sinfulness but the Gospel shows us God’s freeing rescue from that sinfulness. You know why roads and rivers so crooked. It is much easier to avoid confrontation than to burrow through the obstacle. This is especially true when it comes to sin – but Jesus leads us on the pathway of the most resistance: freedom!

The freedom Jesus had shows us our bondage. John chapter 8 begins with a mob bringing a woman to Jesus who had been caught in the act of adultery. The mob wanted to stone her, but here Jesus reveals freedom. “Let him who is without sin throw the first stone to condemn her.” Freedom is grace. Our freedom is found in what Christ has already done for us and gives to us.

Martin Luther knew all about the chains of sin, legalism and slavery. He was a serious young man but was bound by the terrible chains of guilt and the compulsion to save himself. He tried to break the chains with hours of study, becoming a monk, training to be a priest, begging, fasting, and praying.

Luther discovered that God pronounced us free. Luther stated that before this discovery through the Holy Spirit, he had looked on Jesus as an angry judge and taskmaster ready to strike him down in his sin, rather than a Savior who had become man to set him free from that sin. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul gave the assurance that Luther cherished: “We hold that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.” This is the heart of the Reformation - receiving the gift of freedom through the saving work of Christ.

God’s freedom is ours by grace alone. Grace is God’s idea, God’s work and His expense - His Son on the cross. He offers grace to everyone who believes – not everyone who achieves; not everyone who succeeds - but everyone who believes. We are now free to forgive rather than hold a grudge; free to pray rather than worry; free to love rather than squabble; free to face temptation head on rather than fall into sin.

God’s freedom is ours by faith alone. God wants us to be “at home” in His freedom. Knowing that the devil is always seeking to lead us astray, to attack the freedom God gives - faith leads us to stand on the Rock of Jesus Christ. Faith clings to the cross alone and rests in Jesus’ strength and refuge, not our own.

God’s freedom is ours by Scripture alone. To keep us steadfast in the Truth, God has given us His Word. Freedom for God’s people always came from getting back into the Word. The Word reveals God’s will and plan for us as His people - to be His people enjoying the quality of freedom that lasts.

Freedom has the last word: Truth! Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And that Truth supercedes all that we have learned, all the traditions we have followed, all the ways that have been practiced in the past. It is the place where we begin our new life of freedom.

The Truth of the entire Scriptures is the source of our faith and life. When we are faced with illness, tragedy, dissension, or weakness; we can look to our Heavenly Father through the Cross of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We were not made for the bondage we keep living in.

The walk of freedom happens on the narrow road of continuing in God’s Word. John 8:31-32 says, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus says that, by abiding in His Word, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Note the word – abiding, continuing to be in God’s word. It is active and progressive.

Daily satan tempts us. Daily he speaks the lie that freedom is frightening and slavery is safe and secure. But Jesus provides the last word for daily victory: The salvation and new life revealed in His living Word - our Savior. That is our Reformation heritage. Repentance and faith are not once-in-a-while actions but the entire life and attitude of the Christian. To shatter our chains, Jesus revealed the Truth - His obedient life to the will of God, His sacrificial death to pay for our sins and the resurrection from the grave to give us victory.

Again I ask you: Are you free? Through the cross, your answer is yes! Jesus gives us our freedom and defends our freedom with the cross - the very same cross we received on our foreheads and hearts in Baptism. Enjoy the freedom that God gives, pronounces and defends for us through the cross of His Son. And by that Truth alone, live now in the freedom that makes a difference for eternity!

 

Royals

As game 3 of the World Series approaches the excitement is building, especially in Missouri as Royals fans have been waiting 29 years for this World Series!  The excitement has affected many things, including the music that is played or not played on the radio.

Before the World Series began, a radio station from San Francisco announced they would not be playing a popular song by Lorde called "Royals", which was inspired by a picture of Royals great George Brett.  A Kansas City radio station responded by saying it would be playing the song every hour on the hour in honor of the American League Champion Royals.

The song taking center stage has a refrain that begins with the phrase, "And we'll never be royals".  As Christians we can rejoice that we are indeed "royals".  1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

As Christians we have been chosen by God through the work of the Holy Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth.  Through His gift of Baptism, we have been made God's children - heirs with Christ of the everlasting riches of heaven!  We have been clothed with the royal robe of Christ's righteousness which makes us blameless in God's sight and worthy of the royal banquet He has prepared for His people.

We have to admit that there are a lot of times we don't feel so royal.  We face many "giants" in life such as our sinful nature, relationship issues, financial issues, health problems, loss of loved ones, and the list could go on.  Take heart Christian royals, by God's help we have a good track record against the giants...just ask David!