Sermons from Grace/Bethel

After a long day of work, you have earned the right to sit in your favorite chair, put your feet up, and watch your favorite program. After a hard week on the job, you have earned the opportunity to relax a bit that weekend. After doing your job well for many months, you have earned those two weeks of vacation at the beach. This is how everyone thinks: rest is something you earn through hard work. We even teach that to our kids: no gaming until homework is done, no playing with friends until chores are complete. Since the concept of rest being earned is deeply engrained in us, properly understanding spiritual rest requires a top-down faith. God needs to send us the Spirit so that we can grasp this truth. True spiritual rest cannot be earned. In fact, the harder you try, the more restless and the less peaceful you become. Spiritual rest is a gift that God gives. The rest we need most—from guilt, from worry, from shame, from hopelessness—is graciously given to us by the Lord of the Sabbath.

Christianity, at its heart, is all about relationships. It’s about our relationships with God and with one another. And it’s about how, even though we have broken these relationships with our sins, God has fixed them by sending his Son Jesus into the world to accomplish the work of our salvation by his death on the cross.

Jesus told his disciples that, though he was going to ascend into heaven, he wouldn’t leave them alone. He would send “the Advocate,” a title for the Holy Spirit. But Jesus wasn’t sending the Spirit to keep us company. Jesus would have the Advocate give us spiritual power so that we might participate in Christ’s saving work. Here is the final resurrection reality. The Spirit gives us the ability to raise the spiritually dead to life. We see this happen on Pentecost. The festival of Pentecost was held fifty days after the Passover. (Pentecost is Greek for “fifty.”) It was a time to thank God for the harvest. But on that day, through the Church at work, the Holy Spirit gathered another harvest, a harvest of souls. Therefore, Pentecost is the third great festival of the Church, along with the Nativity and the Resurrection. With the Festival of Pentecost, the festival half of the Church Year comes to a close.

This world is broken. Oh, certainly, we still see beauty in nature. By God’s grace, we have plenty of happy moments. But that does not change the fact that this world does not function as God designed it to. It is dangerous, especially for God’s children. Jesus once promised that those who live for him will be hated (just as Christ was hated) by those who live for the world. The even greater danger is that the priorities prompted by this broken world tempt the careless Christian to devalue what truly matters. This world is very broken. For that reason, our gracious, living Lord promises that one day, soon enough, he will take us to a better world. Moreover, he promises that until that time, his Father will protect us, preserving our faith through the truth of his Word. This is the resurrection reality. By God’s grace, we will overcome this broken world.

God’s Word can be summed up in one word: love. God’s Law is all about love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39). The gospel is all about love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16). From his compassion for the sick and broken to his sacrificial death on the cross, to the peace he provided after his resurrection, Jesus was the perfect embodiment of love. Love is his business. Therefore, love is our business, too. The resurrection reality is that with the same supernatural power by which God raised Jesus from the dead, God now enables us to live a new life, one marked by radically selfless love. The motivation and ability to do this come from seeing the endless love Christ has for us. We love only because he first loved us.

Generally, our actions are shaped by our beliefs. People who eat low-carb diets do so, probably not because they hate pasta but because they believe it is the healthiest. If a man buys stock in a company, it probably is because he believes in its business plan. Our beliefs shape our behavior. This is true of Christians’ belief in the resurrection. We believe Christ’s resurrection guarantees our resurrection to a glorious eternal life. That inevitably shapes how we will act now. However, not simply the facts of the resurrection shape our behavior. It is the person of the resurrection. Jesus is not some wise, dead sage whose advice is in dusty books. Jesus lives! Therefore, he can work on our minds and hearts through His Word, molding them to his perfect will. Here is a resurrection reality. Jesus fills us with his Spirit, not only so that we have faith but also so that we produce the fruits of faith he seeks.

Scripture frequently pictures spiritual care in terms of a shepherd watching over sheep. Even folks unfamiliar with shepherding can grasp the meaning. Sheep are helpless animals—an easy meal for predators. For sheep to survive, they needed a shepherd who not only leads them to sources of food but who also is willing to tangle with a pack of wolves. Jesus is such a shepherd. He proved he was willing to lay down his life for his sheep. The word “pastor” comes from the Latin word for “shepherd.” Today, there are plenty of people— pastors, religious leaders, etc.—who claim they can provide healing for your soul. Yet, Scripture warns that “many” of these are “false prophets” (1 John 4:1) who “distort the truth” (Acts 20:30). Many! But the resurrection reality is that our Good Shepherd is faithful. He will raise up true sub-shepherds who know Christ and proclaim the truth of his gospel.

A platitude is a statement aimed at helping soothe some sort of emotional unease. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Or “Life is a mystery.” Or “Good things come to those who wait.” While platitudes may be well-intentioned, at best, they come off as trite. And since platitudes provide no real help, they can actually make a situation worse. Tell the one whose heart is shattering, “Life is a mystery.” They won’t appreciate your platitude or you. The resurrection gives believers the ability to offer more than platitudes. We have a meaningful message to share—of repentance, of forgiveness, of peace, of power. The reality is we have something important to say to every single person that God brings into our sphere of influence. And our risen Savior gives us the courage and power to share that meaningful message.

In most world religions, the alleged foundational event was experienced by only one person. A self-proclaimed prophet would allege he alone had some special encounter with God. “No, really! Just trust me. It really happened.” The resurrection reality is so very different. In the Great Resurrection Chapter (1 Corinthians 15), St. Paul writes an entire paragraph listing all the people to whom Jesus appeared after he rose, including a group of over five hundred at one time. It is like St. Paul is telling skeptics, “You don’t need to take my word for it. Hundreds of us saw Jesus back from the dead.” The proof of Jesus’ resurrection brought peace and strength to those early believers. They knew there was more to their existence than their time on earth. They knew the reality that eternal life was theirs, a gift from their living Lord. It gave them incredible joy and courage. May the resurrection reality give us the same.

The film director Woody Allen once said, “I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Studies have shown that most people fear death to varying degrees. This fear is so common that there is even a field of psychological study called thanatology. It examines human reactions to death and dying. One of the biggest reasons people fear death is the perception of its permanency. In the normal realm of human existence, dead is dead. Someone dies, and all you have are pictures and memories. That is how people typically think, but it is far from reality. Today, Christ proves to us that death is not final at all! Easter teaches us that Christ is the first fruits of those who have died. Just as Christ rose, “so in Christ, all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). That changes everything: the way we grieve the death of a Christian loved one, the way we feel when our health fails, the way we look at the purpose of life right now. Let us rejoice in this resurrection reality: All will be made alive!

Most religions believe in a powerful God. It is assumed that God will use that strength to benefit his followers. That is a reasonable assumption, but it begs the question. What is real strength? It is easy to assume that real strength means exerting your will over another using any necessary means, including force. But this week, we see Jesus Christ demonstrate a different kind of strength. We have come to Holy Week. It begins with Jesus humbly riding a donkey colt straight into the hands of his enemies. As the week progresses, it will appear that Christ’s adversaries are the ones in a position of power, and Jesus is in a position of weakness. Yet what Christ does this holy week—setting his divine strength aside, being passive in the face of death—would change the world. To do what Christ did for us and our salvation took real strength.

Religious sociologists sometimes divide Christians into two groups: committed Christians and cultural Christians. The former are usually defined as those who are active in a congregation, pray regularly, and read Scripture. The latter are those individuals who call themselves Christian and perhaps have some Christian beliefs. Yet, they do not strive to live a Christian life. They are not interested in church involvement. Those definitions are interesting when trying to understand shifts in American Christianity. However, they demonstrate a false assumption about the Christian religion. There is indeed a devoted commitment at the center of Christianity, but it is not man’s commitment to God. Even believers will, at times, demonstrate lukewarm commitment at best. Instead, at the heart of Christianity, we find God’s devotion and commitment to us. It is a devoted commitment so strong that it puts God on the cross.

While not every religion uses the word “sin,” they all embrace the concept. Every religion acknowledges that mankind’s flawed attitudes or misguided actions are a source of pain, both now and potentially in eternity. So, every religion offers a solution: a set of laws, a moral code, a path to more enlightened behavior. What do they have in common? We are to solve sin through human effort. Be better! Try harder! This is the heart of every false religion. Those who correctly understand they will never overcome their sin are crushed by guilt. Those who ludicrously believe they have defeated their sin are killed by pride. True religion offers a better way—one that frees us from guilt and has no room for pride. Jesus teaches that the solution to our sin is not to work harder. It is to trust in the work he has done for us. Salvation comes through Spirit-wrought faith in Christ.

Person A never attends worship. He can’t see the point. Person B attends every week out of a slavish sense of obligation. Her mind wanders during the services, for she views the activities of worship merely as tasks for her to complete. Who is worse off? Rather than debating the point, let us just admit neither understand the true worth of worship. And that is exactly what Satan wants. Many think worship is about what we do for God. It is the other way around. As we gather around Word and sacrament, the Spirit moves us to love and trust in God above all things. Moved by the cross of Christ, we bow down before our God. We commune with him. And that’s exactly what God wants.

We know that the cross was an instrument of torture and execution. However, Scripture also uses the term “cross” to refer to any suffering that one endures because he is a believer: the painful denial of the desires of the flesh, ridicule and persecution from unbelievers, etc. This is one reason people reject religion. They see Christians struggling in life with these crosses, while non-Christians often seem perfectly happy. Even the prophet Jeremiah asked, “Why do all the faithless live at ease?” (12:1). Today, Jesus asks us to rethink suffering under the cross. It is not pointless pain. Our crosses are not how we pay for sin. Jesus already did that on his cross. Our crosses are not redemptive, but they are constructive. Any suffering unbelievers face is only bad, a foretaste of worse to come. But the suffering believers face under the cross is only good, a way Christ connects us tightly to himself with fire-tested faith.

“If God loves us, why doesn’t he remove all the trials, tests, and temptations we face?” That question demonstrates the religious assumption that those things are bad. They aren’t. In the hands of a loving God, they are tools by which he refines our faith. He uses tests as a way to compel us to be less self-reliant and instead trust in his strength. He uses trials to teach us that this broken world is not our true home. God even takes Satan’s temptations and uses them for our good. Trials, tests, and temptations are not exceptions to God’s love. That’s a false assumption! These are examples of God’s love. Proof that God allowed his beloved Son Jesus to face trials and temptations so that he might be our perfect savior and substitute.

We began this worship series in the Jordan River. At his baptism, Jesus heard his Father’s glorious voice: “You are my Son, whom I love” (Mark 1:11). From that day, in word and deed, Jesus began to reveal more about himself. He demonstrated the extent of his authority, power, and love. Along the way, we had an epiphany. Jesus has to be the very Son of God! Yet, Jesus looked so normal, like an ordinary carpenter or your average rabbi or just another prophet, until today. We have traveled from the river to the mountain. Today, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus gives us a glimpse of his true glory. As we see him in his dazzling brilliance, the Father speaks again, this time to us: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” This final epiphany prepares us for the journey of Lent, where we will witness the most glorious work that Jesus would do when he came down from this mountain.

Martin Luther once said, “Where God built a church, there the devil would also build a chapel.” Satan and the other demons hate God. They demonstrate hatred by hurting those that God loves in any way they can. The epiphany Christ wants us to have is this: demons are real, they are plenteous, and they are dangerous. But Christ would also have us see that he is continually undoing the devil’s work. More, through his Word, Christ Jesus gives us the power to resist the devil and stand firm in the faith.

Authority is the power to determine what happens, the ability to give direction or even commands. Authority is limited. Authority is limited in duration. Parents have authority over their children until they grow up and move out. Authority is limited in scope. A governor has authority over the people of his state only, not the neighboring state. Authority is limited by levels. A manager has authority over employees unless the company owner—a higher authority—demotes him. Authority is limited in duration and scope. It is limited by higher levels of authority. This week we see that there is one man—only one!—who has absolute authority. There is no one, not even the demons, who is outside his authority. As the Son of God, there is no higher authority than Jesus. And his authority is everlasting. But here is the best part of this epiphany: Jesus graciously uses his absolute authority for our benefit and blessing.

To whom does the work of salvation belong? Simple question. There is only one Savior. But this is how good Jesus is. So that our lives might have profound meaning and eternal purpose, he shares some of that work with us. He calls us not just to be followers, but to be follower-makers. Jesus asks some — prophets, apostles, pastors, missionaries, teachers — to do this full-time. But ultimately, Jesus asks all believers to serve as his ambassadors, sharing the gospel with whomever he brings into our sphere of influence. This lofty charge requires commitment — a willingness to abandon everything else should faithfulness require it. This is the life-changing revelation for this week. Jesus has committed us to a lofty charge: the privilege to play a role in his saving work.