THE DAY OF THE LORD
MATTHEW 24
JANUARY 25, 2009
Will Willimon tells this story. “Early in my ministry, I served a little church in rural Georgia. One Saturday we went to a funeral in a little church not of my denomination. I grew up in a big downtown church. I had never been to a funeral like this one. The casket was open, and the funeral consisted of a sermon by their pastor. The preacher pounded the pulpit and looked over at the casket. He said, “It’s too late for Joe. He might have wanted to get his life together. He might have wanted to spend more time with his family. He might have wanted to do that, but he’s dead now. It is too late for him, but it is not too late for you. Today is the day of decision. Then the preacher told how a Greyhound bus had run into a funeral procession once on the way to the cemetery, and that that could happen today. He said, “You should decide today. Today is the day to get your life together. Too late for old Joe, but it’s not too late for you.” I was so angry at that preacher. On the way home, I told my wife, “Have you ever seen anything as manipulative and insensitive to that poor family? I found it disgusting.” She said, “I’ve never heard anything like that. It was manipulative. It was disgusting. It was insensitive. Worst of all, it was also true.”
If you have hung around certain church denominations a little bit you have heard some sermons like that. Although I have to admit, I have never heard one like that at a funeral. But I have endured my fair share of ones like it on a typical Sunday visiting one of my friend’s churches growing up. I was Lutheran and he was fire and brimstone Pentecostal, talk about a cross-cultural experience. The preacher would get up and talk about how God as Judge knew exactly what was going on in our lives and that if we didn’t repent like right now, he might take us tonight, you know we wouldn’t see that car coming, or some other bad accident would occur, and it would be too late and we would spend eternity burning in hell. And then of course there would be an altar call where dozens of scared wide eyed people would head toward the altar seeking fire insurance. I was one of those people a couple of times. When you’re a teenage kid you always feel guilty and have plenty of sins to confess, especially when your Lutheran and then you add in the Pentecostal guilt factory, and there were a couple of times I just knew I wasn’t going to see that car coming or that something was going to happen to me later that night and God was going to mete out his punishment on me for all of eternity. I don’t know exactly how many times I prayed the sinner’s prayer during my later teen years, but I know it was more than a couple of times. And it was always based on the fear of hell; it had nothing to do with actual faith in Christ. And then of course the Lutherans always made me feel guilty telling me that good Lutherans don’t pray the sinner’s prayers. I couldn’t get a break.
But I very clearly remember the fear that the preacher put in me about the coming judgment, about that day. It was a day to be afraid of. I have watched through the years as certain portions of the Christian community have continued to spread that fear. Preachers on TV and on the Radio have spread it around the globe. Christian authors such as those who wrote the left behind series, have taught such a fearful convoluted heretical view of that day that most Americans think that is what the Bible actually teaches. The main result, fear. I have people in a pretty regular basis ask me questions about the last days and usually there is always some fear of it involved. So what about that day, that day of the Lord? Where did the teaching come from? And what is it all about? The Day of the Lord is an Old Testament prophecy that talks about the end of the world. It talks about its destruction and also the destruction of humanity, in particular God’s enemies. And throughout the Old Testament it is presented in very fearful terms. This is something that people needed to worry about. This was not going to be a pleasant event. And yet it was also a day of great prosperity for God’s people. So in most circumstances it is presented as a day that unbelievers need to be afraid of, they are going to get theirs. At the same time God’ people are not let off the hook either. If they do not repent they too will be punished. For instance in the book of Amos chapter 8 God says, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord, the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies – flung everywhere! Silence! Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat? The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget anything they have done.” Then he proceeds to tell them all the horrible, terrible things he is going to do to them if they don’t repent. In Chapter five of Amos he says this about the day of the Lord, “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness not light. It will be as though as man fled from a lion only to meet a bear.” Or there is Isaiah 13:9, “See the day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.”
Pretty scary picture. Makes you want to come up and throw yourself across the altar and beg for mercy. Makes you wonder what is waiting for me after I leave here this morning. Maybe there is a bus with my name on it. But thankfully the day of the Lord is more than just a day of wrath and retribution. It is also a day of great promise. A day full of God’s glory, a day of full of God’s light. Zephaniah and Zechariah point out that God is preparing a sacrifice which will consecrate the people and remove their sin. There is a remedy for this wrath; there is a way to avoid God’s retribution. Zephaniah 1:7 we read, “Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited.” And in Zechariah 13:1, “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” Wait a minute the Lord has prepared a sacrifice? He has invited people? There will be cleansing from sin and impurity? Does this mean there is hope? Yes not only is there hope there is a promise of a sure and certain hope. God is not going to hold back his wrath to punish sin mind you but there just might be a way to avoid being the one taking it on the backside. The day of the Lord will be a fearful day for many, but for others it will be a day of great joy and blessing. It will be a day that was promised back in Genesis 3:15 that would come from the seed of the woman.
In Luke 4:18-21 we see this Seed of the woman, Jesus talking about what he has come to do for people on that day of the Lord. He visits the synagogue and gets up to read publically from the scroll. He reads to them, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Whoa! Now that is a strong claim of authority and fulfillment. He is quoted directly from Isaiah 61 which talks about the work of the Seed of the woman, of the Messiah, the Savior of the world and he ends by saying standing before you, is the fulfillment of this prophecy, I’m it. The one and only, simply the best, better than all the rest. A bold claim, but true. Jesus has come on a saving mission to get people ready for the great day of the Lord. He is not here to bring it to its end yet as he says in John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And that is exactly what he would do.
After living the perfect life here on earth he would go to the cross for our sins and die in our place and as his blood flowed our sins were washed away forever. The wrath of God was carried out on Jesus on Good Friday. He suffered every pain we deserve to suffer. In the end he suffered our death for us. He was in the words of Zephaniah the sacrifice that God has prepared. He was in the words of Zechariah, that fountain that was opened to cleanse away our sin and impurity. He was the light in the midst of the darkness. The hope in the midst of despair. He was the answer to people’s fear of that coming day of the Lord. He was the good news in a world of bad news. That is why we call it the gospel. Deliverance had come. Which also meant that there was still something to be delivered from. The coming of the Messiah did not mean that the great day of the Lord was cancelled it just put it in a different light. But the day well it is still on its way.
In Matthew 24 and 2 Peter 3 we hear Jesus and Peter say things like this about it, first that it will come like a thief in the night, ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house by broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Or “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” Jesus and others also warn about wars, famines, and natural disasters that will lead up to it. “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Jesus also indicates that the gospel will be preached to the entire world, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Jesus also warns of much satanic evil, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” At that time the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect form the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” And again in the words of Peter, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
Some very dire warnings there. But the warnings have more than just the purpose of scaring us or alarming us, although sometimes we need that, no they are there to point us back to Jesus and the fact that we need him in our lives to face all of this. That is because Jesus has already faced all of this for us. He has endured God’s wrath for us. He has endured God’s destruction for us. So all this scary stuff about the day of the Lord, we don’t need to be worried about. Yes it will happen on a perfectly normal ordinary day, yes he will come like a thief in the night, but through our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are already prepared for that. And when he does come it will be not to punish us or make us suffer but to take us home to be with him forever in heaven. Jesus explains it this way in Luke 21, “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” In other words while the unbelieving world is passing out in terror of what is happening as a believer you can without fear stand up and lift up your heads because its just the bus coming to take you home. There is nothing to be worried about if you have faith in Jesus Christ.
The day of the Lord is going to be a frightful day for those who do not believe in Jesus. But for those who do believe in Jesus it is going to be a glorious day full of wonder and excitement as we see heaven opened and Jesus returning in all his finery to take us to be with him. There is nothing to be worried about if we are prepared and the only way to be prepared is to have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have that you are ready to go. Let me end here with a story of another funeral which was totally unlike the funeral at the beginning. Tony Campolo tells this story about a funeral he went to when he was a kid. He says, “I went to my first black funeral when I was 16 years old. A friend of mine, Clarence, had died. The pastor was incredible. From the pulpit he talked about the resurrection in beautiful terms. He has us thrilled. He came down from the pulpit, went to the family, and comforted them from the fourteenth chapter of John. “Let not your heart be troubled,” he said, “You believe in God, believe also in me,’ said Jesus. Clarence has gone to heavenly mansions.” Then, for the last 20 minutes of the sermon, he actually preached to the open casket. Now, that’s drama! He yelled at the corpse: “Clarence! Clarence!” He said it with such authority. I would not have been surprised had there been an answer. He said, “Clarence, there were a lot of things we should have said to you that we never said to you. You got away too fast, Clarence. You got away too fast.” He went down this litany of beautiful things that Clarence had done for people. When he finished – here’s the dramatic part – he said, “That’s it, Clarence. There’s nothing more to say. When there’s nothing more to say, there’s only one thing to say. Good night. Good night, Clarence!” He grabbed the lid of the casket and slammed it shut. “Good night, Clarence!” Boom! Shock waves went through the congregation. As the preacher then lifted his head, you could see there was a smile on his face. He said, “Good night, Clarence. Good night, Clarence, because I know, I know that God is going to give you a good morning!” The choir stood and starting singing, “On that great morning, we shall rise, we shall rise.” We were dancing in the aisles and hugging each other. I know the joy of the Lord, a joy that in the face of death laughs and sings and dances, for there is no sting to death, on That Day!” Amen.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Faith forming politics or politics forming faith?
First of all let me say that I did not vote for Obama for President in November. Secondly let me say that I fully support him as our president, I hope that he is successful and I pray for him daily. I also know that some people nodded their heads in agreement with my first statement and then lost all faith in me when they read the second. I also know that some people shook their head in disapproval when they read the first statement and are thinking I had a conversion when they read the second statement. Thankfully I really couldn't care less how anybody feels about my politics and also refuse to conform to any norms that people might expect of me. There is no Christian or non-Christian party. No party has a monopoly on faith or on morality, or on compassion.
Faith is certainly not divorced from politics. When people say that it should be they exhibit a complete ignorance of American history and attempt to put God and Christians in a box. As Lutherans we do teach a separation of Church and State, but not a separation of our faith and how we vote and act in the public square. Although churches and church leaders should not endorse political candidates, faith should help form our political thoughts and ideas and it should influence how we vote and who we vote for. As Christians we need to look at the moral issues of our day and vote the way our faith, informed by Scripture, leads us to. We should also examine candidates and their stand on major issues and using God's Word sort out who best represents God's will. In doing so we also must realize that there is much room for disagreement even among Christians concerning many of these things. Just because person A votes for this guy and person B votes for the other guy does not mean that one of them is not a Christian or didn't vote their conscience. We as Christians are called to use our faith in making political decisions.
The problem I have noticed lately though is that this has been completely turned around. Far too many Christians are letting their politics form their faith. Many people spend more time listening to talk radio than they do reading or listening to their Bibles. I do not know anything about the faith of those in talk radio but I do know they are not the conveyors of Scriptural truth. It has been disheartening to me to listen to and read about Christians making racist statements about Hispanics because of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is something that needs to be addressed because, well, its illegal. I think we can all agree on that. But it is unchristian to be racist, plain and simple, there is just no excuse for it. I have heard Christians say that they will not pray for President Obama because they don't like him or maybe his policies. Again everyone has the right to vote for who they want to, and to write letters, protest and do other legal things to make their thoughts known. But to not pray for the president of the United States is unscriptural. God commands us to pray for our rulers, and it has nothing to do with whether we like them or agree with them.
It is time for Christians to turn off the radio and pick up their Bibles and start reading what God actually says about these issues. Many of them will be surprised at what they find and realize that they need to repent. God calls for us to take a strong stand for our faith and for moral issues. He calls for us to be a light to the world and that involves standing for the truth but also doing it with compassion and love. If not done with compassion and love than the truth is just mean useless dogma, and as we read, especially in the Old Testament, God is not pleased with it. As I said at the beginning I did not vote for President Obama in November and I do not regret that, I think I did the right thing. I probably will not vote for him in 2012 either, but right now he is the duly elected President of the United States and therefore I pray for him, that he will be safe, that God will fill him with wisdom and lead him to make the right decisions. I wish him well and support him because that is the Scriptural thing to do.
Pastor Fred
Faith is certainly not divorced from politics. When people say that it should be they exhibit a complete ignorance of American history and attempt to put God and Christians in a box. As Lutherans we do teach a separation of Church and State, but not a separation of our faith and how we vote and act in the public square. Although churches and church leaders should not endorse political candidates, faith should help form our political thoughts and ideas and it should influence how we vote and who we vote for. As Christians we need to look at the moral issues of our day and vote the way our faith, informed by Scripture, leads us to. We should also examine candidates and their stand on major issues and using God's Word sort out who best represents God's will. In doing so we also must realize that there is much room for disagreement even among Christians concerning many of these things. Just because person A votes for this guy and person B votes for the other guy does not mean that one of them is not a Christian or didn't vote their conscience. We as Christians are called to use our faith in making political decisions.
The problem I have noticed lately though is that this has been completely turned around. Far too many Christians are letting their politics form their faith. Many people spend more time listening to talk radio than they do reading or listening to their Bibles. I do not know anything about the faith of those in talk radio but I do know they are not the conveyors of Scriptural truth. It has been disheartening to me to listen to and read about Christians making racist statements about Hispanics because of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is something that needs to be addressed because, well, its illegal. I think we can all agree on that. But it is unchristian to be racist, plain and simple, there is just no excuse for it. I have heard Christians say that they will not pray for President Obama because they don't like him or maybe his policies. Again everyone has the right to vote for who they want to, and to write letters, protest and do other legal things to make their thoughts known. But to not pray for the president of the United States is unscriptural. God commands us to pray for our rulers, and it has nothing to do with whether we like them or agree with them.
It is time for Christians to turn off the radio and pick up their Bibles and start reading what God actually says about these issues. Many of them will be surprised at what they find and realize that they need to repent. God calls for us to take a strong stand for our faith and for moral issues. He calls for us to be a light to the world and that involves standing for the truth but also doing it with compassion and love. If not done with compassion and love than the truth is just mean useless dogma, and as we read, especially in the Old Testament, God is not pleased with it. As I said at the beginning I did not vote for President Obama in November and I do not regret that, I think I did the right thing. I probably will not vote for him in 2012 either, but right now he is the duly elected President of the United States and therefore I pray for him, that he will be safe, that God will fill him with wisdom and lead him to make the right decisions. I wish him well and support him because that is the Scriptural thing to do.
Pastor Fred
The Eternal Dynasty Sermon from Jan 18, 2009
THE ETERNAL DYNASTY
2 SAMUEL 7:11-16
JANUARY 18, 2009
Craig Brian Larson writes, “Since 2004 Time magazine has each year recognized 100 people as the most influential in the world. As heady a thing as it would be to find your name on such a list, the recognition also highlights the fragility of life and power in this world. In May 2008 Time recognized journalist Tim Russert as one of the 100 most influential people for the power he wielded over politics on the program Meet the Press. In June of 2008 the respected and beloved Russert suffered a heart attack at age 58 and died. Also named among the most powerful in the world were the three candidates still in the race for president: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. One month later, Hillary Clinton ended her campaign, and before the year was out McCain had lost the election. Follow the others on the top 100 list and you can depend on it: their influence will pass, some in fading glory like the leaves of autumn, others overnight like a towering tree felled by a lumberjack. Even for the most tenacious, life and power are brief.” No one lasts in power forever. No type of government last forever. Just think of the changes that have happened in your own lifetime. Even the things and monuments we think are forever are not. Even the pyramids of Egypt which are thousands of years old are slowly being eaten away and if not constantly preserved will eventually disappear. When we think of ourselves it can be even scarier. In a hundred years no one is probably even going to remember us or anything that we did. In the words of Scripture we are but a breath.
Yet in the midst of this transitory world there are some eternal things. And there was one person in Scripture that was told that his kingdom would last forever. That his throne would be part of an eternal dynasty. That would be King David. In 2 Samuel chapter seven we see Nathan telling David what God has revealed to him. He says, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will rise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
God is telling David that the throne that he occupies will always be occupied by one of his descendants. That is quite a promise when you think about it. What if for instance you had started a family business and you wanted to pass it down to your children but you were always nervous about whether it was going to make it or not and God told you that not only would your business survive but that generation after generation of your descendants would inherit this the business and build it up, that at some point in the future it would become the world’s largest business. How would that make you feel? Well that is exactly what David is being told here. Except he is being told that it is going to be eternal. What we see here in this promise, remembering that the Seed of the woman also goes through David, is that the promise of the Seed from the first week and the promise of the eternal kingdom are tied together. In fact there is an eternal kingdom for David because the eternal king is going to come from his seed. Not only will kings come from his loins but so will the ultimate king, the Messiah, the Savior of the World.
In Psalm 89 we have a prayer that mourns the downfall of the Davidic dynasty and yet pleads for its renewal. And so there is a reminder that thought there will be bad kings and there will be punishments meted out to them that the promise of the eternal kingdom will endure. The individual kings will be punished but the covenant will not be torn up. We read, “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statues, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness – and I will not lie to David – that his line will continue forever and his throne will endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Again this is an everlasting kingdom, no matter what happens to it through the years, it will endure forever.
In Psalm 110 David talks about his kingdom and how strong and victorious it is and will be. “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing rulers of the whole earth.” This will not only be an enduring kingship but a victorious triumph one.
This is again promised along with some very specific prophecies about the coming the king, the Messiah who will be the ultimate fulfillment of this promise in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” This Messiah will reign forever; he will be the eternal king. So these are some very interesting promises and prophecies we see running throughout the Old Testament. I say throughout because I just gave a small sampling of the many references we could go and on about this morning. This is a huge theme in the Old Testament. But what we are really concerned about this morning is how that is fulfilled in the New Testament. And more importantly, who fulfills it.
The Jews were definitely looking for this king. They were in fact living in great expectation of him. Unfortunately they were thinking too small. They were looking for a king that would simply deliver them from their Roman occupiers. But the King that Scripture was talking about was going to deliver them from much more than that. He was going to deliver them from Satan, sin and death and give them eternal life in an eternal kingdom. And before we get too judgmental on them for that, we many times do the same thing. We focus on immediate deliverance from the problems right in front of us. Especially the ones that threaten to immediately overwhelm us. Whether it is a relationship problem or a financial one or a health one or a tax one or you name it. All these real problems that we deal with in real life. And God is not unaware of or unconcerned about those things either. He cares about everything that goes on in our lives. But he also has a much bigger plan and has much bigger things to deliver us from than just those things. He will get us through that stuff, but he also has much bigger fish to fry. The Israelites were always worried, like us, about what was around the next corner. That, like with us, sometimes became so much of their focus that they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. If you read through the Old Testament you see that God let them go through suffering but he always rescued them in the end or got them through it. He didn’t forsake them and he won’t forsake us today either. He will get you through that stuff but in the process he doesn’t want you to get so focused on it that you lose sight of the big picture. The big picture which contains your real problems, sin and death and that fact that he is going to deliver you from them. Sin and death make the rest of our problems look small in comparison.
Jesus stresses this fact by beginning preaching in Mark 1:15, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” In other words the physical kingship of David is not here to physically continue, no we are beyond that. This is the kingdom of God baby! This is the eternal kingdom; this is the real eternal of the eternal kingdom. It is time to turn your hearts to God, this is good news. This is time to look beyond your immediate circumstances and see that you are included in God’s eternal kingdom and the king has arrived. He makes this very clear in Matthew 12:28 where he says about himself, “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” He said this after the teachers of the law questioned by what authority he was casting out demons, admitting that he did it by the way but asking how. Jesus says well either it is by the power of the devil, but then why would the devil be casting out his own people, so it must be by the power of the God’s Spirit. And if that is the case, which it obviously is, then guess what the kingdom talked about in 2 Samuel, the kingdom talked about in Psalm 89, Psalm 110. The kingdom prophecies in all the prophecies throughout the Old Testament, well guess what guys he’s here, I’m the man!
He points this out directly to the Pharisees in Matthew 22 when he applies the words of Psalm 110 directly to himself, “While the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “The Son of David,” They replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him Lord? For he says, “The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” Then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son? No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.” What Jesus is saying that is that He is more than just a descendant of David but that he is also superior to David, that he is David’s Lord as well. We also see numerous other fulfillments as well. Matthew 8:16-17 records this about Jesus, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Jesus is king over all things even disease and sickness. In fact as the eternal king he is head of everything, Colossians 2:15, “and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” And Philippians 2:9, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave them the name that is above every name.”
Jesus is the king that God talks about the in Old Testament. He is the King that first of all comes and suffers for his people. That is why the prophet Isaiah talks about his suffering on the cross and his death and resurrection. This is not just a king that puts on a crown and grabs a comfortable seat on a throne. This is king that becomes one with his people, lives like them, suffers normal everyday suffering with them, and goes through what they go through, what we go through. And then even though he is innocent he declared guilty of all of man’s sin and is put on a cross to die a slow painful death in our place. In doing so he pays for all of our sins and wins us forgiveness. And then in the end rises victoriously from the grave declaring that Satan, sin and death have been defeated. This is a warrior king like his forefather David, except where David defeated earthly enemies Jesus defeats the bigger spiritual ones. And he is a king who reigns on high, whose name is above every other name.
In two days we are going to inaugurate a new President in this country, a new leader. A leader who is normally thought of as the leader of the free world. He will be the leader for at least 4 years, but that the most 8 years. And then he will become just another former president like all the others before him. His hold on power you could say will be brief. In contrast Jesus leadership will never end. He is clearly the ultimate eternal king that is talked about throughout the Old Testament. A king that is yes concerned about your everyday problems and needs. A king who has promised not necessary to remove you from them, but to get you through them. But more importantly a king who has promised you eternal deliverance and eternal things. Deliverance from Satan, sin and death. And the promise of his continual forgiveness and salvation. A king who has promised you a place in his eternal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. To echo the words of Jesus the Kingdom is near, in fact the kingdom is here in our faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
2 SAMUEL 7:11-16
JANUARY 18, 2009
Craig Brian Larson writes, “Since 2004 Time magazine has each year recognized 100 people as the most influential in the world. As heady a thing as it would be to find your name on such a list, the recognition also highlights the fragility of life and power in this world. In May 2008 Time recognized journalist Tim Russert as one of the 100 most influential people for the power he wielded over politics on the program Meet the Press. In June of 2008 the respected and beloved Russert suffered a heart attack at age 58 and died. Also named among the most powerful in the world were the three candidates still in the race for president: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. One month later, Hillary Clinton ended her campaign, and before the year was out McCain had lost the election. Follow the others on the top 100 list and you can depend on it: their influence will pass, some in fading glory like the leaves of autumn, others overnight like a towering tree felled by a lumberjack. Even for the most tenacious, life and power are brief.” No one lasts in power forever. No type of government last forever. Just think of the changes that have happened in your own lifetime. Even the things and monuments we think are forever are not. Even the pyramids of Egypt which are thousands of years old are slowly being eaten away and if not constantly preserved will eventually disappear. When we think of ourselves it can be even scarier. In a hundred years no one is probably even going to remember us or anything that we did. In the words of Scripture we are but a breath.
Yet in the midst of this transitory world there are some eternal things. And there was one person in Scripture that was told that his kingdom would last forever. That his throne would be part of an eternal dynasty. That would be King David. In 2 Samuel chapter seven we see Nathan telling David what God has revealed to him. He says, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will rise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
God is telling David that the throne that he occupies will always be occupied by one of his descendants. That is quite a promise when you think about it. What if for instance you had started a family business and you wanted to pass it down to your children but you were always nervous about whether it was going to make it or not and God told you that not only would your business survive but that generation after generation of your descendants would inherit this the business and build it up, that at some point in the future it would become the world’s largest business. How would that make you feel? Well that is exactly what David is being told here. Except he is being told that it is going to be eternal. What we see here in this promise, remembering that the Seed of the woman also goes through David, is that the promise of the Seed from the first week and the promise of the eternal kingdom are tied together. In fact there is an eternal kingdom for David because the eternal king is going to come from his seed. Not only will kings come from his loins but so will the ultimate king, the Messiah, the Savior of the World.
In Psalm 89 we have a prayer that mourns the downfall of the Davidic dynasty and yet pleads for its renewal. And so there is a reminder that thought there will be bad kings and there will be punishments meted out to them that the promise of the eternal kingdom will endure. The individual kings will be punished but the covenant will not be torn up. We read, “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statues, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness – and I will not lie to David – that his line will continue forever and his throne will endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Again this is an everlasting kingdom, no matter what happens to it through the years, it will endure forever.
In Psalm 110 David talks about his kingdom and how strong and victorious it is and will be. “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing rulers of the whole earth.” This will not only be an enduring kingship but a victorious triumph one.
This is again promised along with some very specific prophecies about the coming the king, the Messiah who will be the ultimate fulfillment of this promise in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” This Messiah will reign forever; he will be the eternal king. So these are some very interesting promises and prophecies we see running throughout the Old Testament. I say throughout because I just gave a small sampling of the many references we could go and on about this morning. This is a huge theme in the Old Testament. But what we are really concerned about this morning is how that is fulfilled in the New Testament. And more importantly, who fulfills it.
The Jews were definitely looking for this king. They were in fact living in great expectation of him. Unfortunately they were thinking too small. They were looking for a king that would simply deliver them from their Roman occupiers. But the King that Scripture was talking about was going to deliver them from much more than that. He was going to deliver them from Satan, sin and death and give them eternal life in an eternal kingdom. And before we get too judgmental on them for that, we many times do the same thing. We focus on immediate deliverance from the problems right in front of us. Especially the ones that threaten to immediately overwhelm us. Whether it is a relationship problem or a financial one or a health one or a tax one or you name it. All these real problems that we deal with in real life. And God is not unaware of or unconcerned about those things either. He cares about everything that goes on in our lives. But he also has a much bigger plan and has much bigger things to deliver us from than just those things. He will get us through that stuff, but he also has much bigger fish to fry. The Israelites were always worried, like us, about what was around the next corner. That, like with us, sometimes became so much of their focus that they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. If you read through the Old Testament you see that God let them go through suffering but he always rescued them in the end or got them through it. He didn’t forsake them and he won’t forsake us today either. He will get you through that stuff but in the process he doesn’t want you to get so focused on it that you lose sight of the big picture. The big picture which contains your real problems, sin and death and that fact that he is going to deliver you from them. Sin and death make the rest of our problems look small in comparison.
Jesus stresses this fact by beginning preaching in Mark 1:15, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” In other words the physical kingship of David is not here to physically continue, no we are beyond that. This is the kingdom of God baby! This is the eternal kingdom; this is the real eternal of the eternal kingdom. It is time to turn your hearts to God, this is good news. This is time to look beyond your immediate circumstances and see that you are included in God’s eternal kingdom and the king has arrived. He makes this very clear in Matthew 12:28 where he says about himself, “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” He said this after the teachers of the law questioned by what authority he was casting out demons, admitting that he did it by the way but asking how. Jesus says well either it is by the power of the devil, but then why would the devil be casting out his own people, so it must be by the power of the God’s Spirit. And if that is the case, which it obviously is, then guess what the kingdom talked about in 2 Samuel, the kingdom talked about in Psalm 89, Psalm 110. The kingdom prophecies in all the prophecies throughout the Old Testament, well guess what guys he’s here, I’m the man!
He points this out directly to the Pharisees in Matthew 22 when he applies the words of Psalm 110 directly to himself, “While the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “The Son of David,” They replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him Lord? For he says, “The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” Then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son? No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.” What Jesus is saying that is that He is more than just a descendant of David but that he is also superior to David, that he is David’s Lord as well. We also see numerous other fulfillments as well. Matthew 8:16-17 records this about Jesus, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Jesus is king over all things even disease and sickness. In fact as the eternal king he is head of everything, Colossians 2:15, “and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” And Philippians 2:9, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave them the name that is above every name.”
Jesus is the king that God talks about the in Old Testament. He is the King that first of all comes and suffers for his people. That is why the prophet Isaiah talks about his suffering on the cross and his death and resurrection. This is not just a king that puts on a crown and grabs a comfortable seat on a throne. This is king that becomes one with his people, lives like them, suffers normal everyday suffering with them, and goes through what they go through, what we go through. And then even though he is innocent he declared guilty of all of man’s sin and is put on a cross to die a slow painful death in our place. In doing so he pays for all of our sins and wins us forgiveness. And then in the end rises victoriously from the grave declaring that Satan, sin and death have been defeated. This is a warrior king like his forefather David, except where David defeated earthly enemies Jesus defeats the bigger spiritual ones. And he is a king who reigns on high, whose name is above every other name.
In two days we are going to inaugurate a new President in this country, a new leader. A leader who is normally thought of as the leader of the free world. He will be the leader for at least 4 years, but that the most 8 years. And then he will become just another former president like all the others before him. His hold on power you could say will be brief. In contrast Jesus leadership will never end. He is clearly the ultimate eternal king that is talked about throughout the Old Testament. A king that is yes concerned about your everyday problems and needs. A king who has promised not necessary to remove you from them, but to get you through them. But more importantly a king who has promised you eternal deliverance and eternal things. Deliverance from Satan, sin and death. And the promise of his continual forgiveness and salvation. A king who has promised you a place in his eternal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. To echo the words of Jesus the Kingdom is near, in fact the kingdom is here in our faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Raising Charlie
I love both of my kids the same, but there is something unique about a father-daughter or a father-son relationship. As I dropped my close to four year old son off at school today I realized how blessed I am to have him. He insisted on me taking him to school. Usually mom takes him but since I was home he wanted me to do it and wouldn't take no for an answer. So I got him dressed and made sure he brushed his teeth and had his backpack and out the door we went. We keep the car seats in the van so that is the vehicle that the kids always ride in. Very rarely is there a car seat in my car, but apparently when there is it is a special treat. Charlie saw my car and wanted to ride in it instead of the van, I couldn't figure out why but remembered the pure joy he exhibited the last time he rode in my car, but we didn't have time for a car seat change so he had to settle for the van today.
His desire to ride in my car brought back an old memory from my own childhood when I was maybe just a little older than he is now. My dad had an old pickup that I always loved to ride in. It was different from the family car so it was special when you got to go someplace in it. Now for years I always thought it was the truck itself, but now I am not so sure that was it. I remember soon after getting Charlie thinking about getting an old truck because of that memory, but the money was never really there and it just wasn't a reasonable thing to do. I wanted the truck because I wanted Charlie to have that same wonderment that I had. But after today I don't think it was so much the truck itself as it was that it was my dad's truck. It was his truck, only he drove it. To ride in the truck meant to be alone with dad in his terrain. I say that because Charlie seems to have that same fascination with my simple every day car. He gets a real kick riding in it with me, especially when it is just him and I. Maybe the kid just likes being with his dad in something that is dad's domain.
I thought about that as I was pulling into the school parking lot and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that smile. We weren't in the car but it was just me and him taking a ride. And that seemed to bring him great joy. In that smile I could see my smile from forty years ago. I have to go pick him up from school in a couple of hours, so I think I am going to go out and move one of those car seats into the back of my car and create some memories.
Pastor Fred
His desire to ride in my car brought back an old memory from my own childhood when I was maybe just a little older than he is now. My dad had an old pickup that I always loved to ride in. It was different from the family car so it was special when you got to go someplace in it. Now for years I always thought it was the truck itself, but now I am not so sure that was it. I remember soon after getting Charlie thinking about getting an old truck because of that memory, but the money was never really there and it just wasn't a reasonable thing to do. I wanted the truck because I wanted Charlie to have that same wonderment that I had. But after today I don't think it was so much the truck itself as it was that it was my dad's truck. It was his truck, only he drove it. To ride in the truck meant to be alone with dad in his terrain. I say that because Charlie seems to have that same fascination with my simple every day car. He gets a real kick riding in it with me, especially when it is just him and I. Maybe the kid just likes being with his dad in something that is dad's domain.
I thought about that as I was pulling into the school parking lot and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that smile. We weren't in the car but it was just me and him taking a ride. And that seemed to bring him great joy. In that smile I could see my smile from forty years ago. I have to go pick him up from school in a couple of hours, so I think I am going to go out and move one of those car seats into the back of my car and create some memories.
Pastor Fred
Monday, January 12, 2009
A Blessing To The World - Sermon from Jan 11, 2009
Christopher Wright in an article in Christianity Today entitled, "An Upside-Down World," writes, "The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down. At the start of the 20th century, only ten percent of the world's Christians lived in continents of the south and east. Ninety percent lived in North America and Europe, along with Australia and New Zealand. But at the start of the 21st century, at least 70 percent of the world's Christians live in the non-Western world - more appropriately called the majority world. More Christians worship in Anglican churches in Nigeria each week than in all the Episcopal and Anglican churches of Britain, Europe, and North America combined. There are more Baptists in Congo then in Britain. More people in church every Sunday in Communist China than in all of Western Europe. Ten times more Assemblies of God members in Latin-America than in the U.S." And I would add that there are many more Lutherans in Africa then there are in the United States now, also Latin America. The promise given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and 22 has been fulfilled in ways that no one could have expected. Who would have ever thought that the center of Lutheranism would end up being Africa instead of Germany or Scandinavia or America? But that is what has happened. Who would have thought that there would end up being more Chinese Christians than European ones? But that is what has happened. Who would have thought that Africa would start sending Christian missionaries to America to bring the gospel to people who at one time were the dominate force in Christianity? But that is what is happening. Abraham would have bowed down in worship if he had seen this for himself. God has been true to his Word.
Abraham, a blessing to the world is today's theme. You could almost say that this is a sermon about the history of missions in the church. In Genesis 12:3 we hear God say to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse: and all people's on earth will be blessed through you." God here is singling out Abraham to start a line of people that will be his people, his nation. These would end up being the Israelites or as a smaller group of them would later be called, the Jews. But here he points out that, that is just an intermediate step that in the end all peoples on the face of the planet will be blessed through him. Later in Genesis 22 God reissues this promise. The plan was that the Nation of Israel would draw other people around them to God. When people saw how the Israelites were blessed they would desire to have what they had. We see this start to happen in the book of Exodus. We see that some of the people listen to Moses' warnings about the plagues and take actions to protect themselves. In Exodus 12 we see that when the Israelites finally do leave Egypt that a number of the Egyptians go with them. They had come to the realization that this God was the one true God, they had become believers.
We see this promise continue to be talked about throughout the Old Testament. We also see many Gentiles brought into the Israelite nation. Gentiles like Rahab the Canaanite prostitute in Jericho and Ruth the Moabitess. We see God continues to send out his Word promising salvation for the Gentiles. In Isaiah 49 he says, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." In Isaiah 52 we see that the Messiah suffers for all men's sins. It reads, "So will he sprinkle many nations." This is alluding to the high priest sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat in Leviticus 16:14. The servant doing the sprinkling of his own blood is of course Jesus Christ. The sprinkling brings forgiveness of sins and redemption. And it is for all people, for all nations.
Unfortunately God's people are not so generous at times. Sometimes we tend to want to limit God's promises to people like us. For instance in the book of Jonah, Jonah is ordered to go and witness to the gentiles in Nineveh, but he does everything he can to avoid it. Eventually he ends up going and is very angry when they do repent and God forgives them. He does not think they deserve to be forgiven. But that is what God does because he desires that all men be saved.
This line of promises about the gentiles continues throughout the Old Testament. The prophets Jeremiah, Zechariah and Malachi also look forward to the time when all the gentiles surround the throne and worship hm as Lord and king. The most remarkable thing we see about this is that God always seems to use humans to do his work in this area. He usually doesn't just bring people to faith he generally works through other people to do this. We really see this in the New Testament. In Matthew and Luke all Christians are given the directive to out and baptize and teach all nations about Jesus Christ. And we see this happen for instance in Acts 8 where the Ethiopian eunuch is brought to faith through Philip explaining Isaiah to him. In Acts 10 we see Cornelius, a gentile and centurion in the Roman Army brought to faith through the ministry of Peter. All of this by the way resulted in much consternation in the church at first. They did not like the idea of the gentiles coming into the church. They were unclean and didn't follow the traditional customs. But in Acts 12 we see Paul saying that he and Barnabus will bring the message of salvation to the gentiles. In Galatians 3 Scripture talks about the gentiles being justified by faith in Christ alone. In Ephesians it talks about how the gentiles and the Jews are united in one church. Finally in the book of Revelation we see the multitude praising the Lamb and counting him worthy to open the book. This multitude is from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
The book of Revelation is book that looks into the future which means we are also part of the process of getting this blessing out to others. You could say that this is a promise that is not completely fulfilled yet and that we have a part in filling it. We are included in that directive of Matthew 28 to go out into all the world and baptize and teach about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The history of missions is impressive to say the least. Through the past two thousand years Christians have risked life and limb and even died doing missionary work in the hardest of circumstances. Yet there is much work yet to do.
At the same time we have many Jonah moments when it comes to missions. Most of those Jonah moments have to do with local missions in our own backyard. There are certain people that some do not want in their churches. In one of my previous ministries I was at a function where an elder in another Lutheran church, which was in the inner city, told me that some people in his church wanted to call an African American pastor because most of the community was African American, but he said he was against that, after all the good African Americans went to the Baptist church and we didn't want the other kind. When I started doing developmentally disabled ministry I found that 80 percent of that population had no church, not because they didn't want to go but churches didn't want them because they made too much noise and sometimes messed up the carpets. So much like Jonah we don't care if someone burns in hell as long as we have good people like us in the church and our carpets are clean. When God told Abraham that through him all peoples would be blessed he meant just exactly that, all peoples, even Ninevehites.
The fulfillment of this promise though has been nothing short of amazing to watch, whether it has been following it through the Old Testament and into the New or whether it has been looking at the history of missions in the couple of thousand years that have followed it. God has succeeded in keeping his promise and he did it through us, humans. Whether it was the Israelites witnessing and demonstrating their faith, or the Apostles spreading the Word or modern missionaries covering the planet. God has kept his promise. Through the Seed of Abraham we have the Messiah dying on the cross for us and rising from the dead, paying for our sins and redeeming us and also through the blessing given to Abraham we have the message shared with everyone, no matter their tribe or language. We as Gentiles have been the recipients of that blessing. The early church did not want our kind in their church with our non-Jewish ways and unclean habits, but God through his Word brought us in any way. And thank God for that. Thank God that the Lamb of God sprinkled his blood on the altar for the healing of all nations, because that means we are the forgiven and saved people of God. And it also means that now we have the joy of sharing that with all the others that Christ died for as well. Amen.
Abraham, a blessing to the world is today's theme. You could almost say that this is a sermon about the history of missions in the church. In Genesis 12:3 we hear God say to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse: and all people's on earth will be blessed through you." God here is singling out Abraham to start a line of people that will be his people, his nation. These would end up being the Israelites or as a smaller group of them would later be called, the Jews. But here he points out that, that is just an intermediate step that in the end all peoples on the face of the planet will be blessed through him. Later in Genesis 22 God reissues this promise. The plan was that the Nation of Israel would draw other people around them to God. When people saw how the Israelites were blessed they would desire to have what they had. We see this start to happen in the book of Exodus. We see that some of the people listen to Moses' warnings about the plagues and take actions to protect themselves. In Exodus 12 we see that when the Israelites finally do leave Egypt that a number of the Egyptians go with them. They had come to the realization that this God was the one true God, they had become believers.
We see this promise continue to be talked about throughout the Old Testament. We also see many Gentiles brought into the Israelite nation. Gentiles like Rahab the Canaanite prostitute in Jericho and Ruth the Moabitess. We see God continues to send out his Word promising salvation for the Gentiles. In Isaiah 49 he says, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." In Isaiah 52 we see that the Messiah suffers for all men's sins. It reads, "So will he sprinkle many nations." This is alluding to the high priest sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat in Leviticus 16:14. The servant doing the sprinkling of his own blood is of course Jesus Christ. The sprinkling brings forgiveness of sins and redemption. And it is for all people, for all nations.
Unfortunately God's people are not so generous at times. Sometimes we tend to want to limit God's promises to people like us. For instance in the book of Jonah, Jonah is ordered to go and witness to the gentiles in Nineveh, but he does everything he can to avoid it. Eventually he ends up going and is very angry when they do repent and God forgives them. He does not think they deserve to be forgiven. But that is what God does because he desires that all men be saved.
This line of promises about the gentiles continues throughout the Old Testament. The prophets Jeremiah, Zechariah and Malachi also look forward to the time when all the gentiles surround the throne and worship hm as Lord and king. The most remarkable thing we see about this is that God always seems to use humans to do his work in this area. He usually doesn't just bring people to faith he generally works through other people to do this. We really see this in the New Testament. In Matthew and Luke all Christians are given the directive to out and baptize and teach all nations about Jesus Christ. And we see this happen for instance in Acts 8 where the Ethiopian eunuch is brought to faith through Philip explaining Isaiah to him. In Acts 10 we see Cornelius, a gentile and centurion in the Roman Army brought to faith through the ministry of Peter. All of this by the way resulted in much consternation in the church at first. They did not like the idea of the gentiles coming into the church. They were unclean and didn't follow the traditional customs. But in Acts 12 we see Paul saying that he and Barnabus will bring the message of salvation to the gentiles. In Galatians 3 Scripture talks about the gentiles being justified by faith in Christ alone. In Ephesians it talks about how the gentiles and the Jews are united in one church. Finally in the book of Revelation we see the multitude praising the Lamb and counting him worthy to open the book. This multitude is from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
The book of Revelation is book that looks into the future which means we are also part of the process of getting this blessing out to others. You could say that this is a promise that is not completely fulfilled yet and that we have a part in filling it. We are included in that directive of Matthew 28 to go out into all the world and baptize and teach about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The history of missions is impressive to say the least. Through the past two thousand years Christians have risked life and limb and even died doing missionary work in the hardest of circumstances. Yet there is much work yet to do.
At the same time we have many Jonah moments when it comes to missions. Most of those Jonah moments have to do with local missions in our own backyard. There are certain people that some do not want in their churches. In one of my previous ministries I was at a function where an elder in another Lutheran church, which was in the inner city, told me that some people in his church wanted to call an African American pastor because most of the community was African American, but he said he was against that, after all the good African Americans went to the Baptist church and we didn't want the other kind. When I started doing developmentally disabled ministry I found that 80 percent of that population had no church, not because they didn't want to go but churches didn't want them because they made too much noise and sometimes messed up the carpets. So much like Jonah we don't care if someone burns in hell as long as we have good people like us in the church and our carpets are clean. When God told Abraham that through him all peoples would be blessed he meant just exactly that, all peoples, even Ninevehites.
The fulfillment of this promise though has been nothing short of amazing to watch, whether it has been following it through the Old Testament and into the New or whether it has been looking at the history of missions in the couple of thousand years that have followed it. God has succeeded in keeping his promise and he did it through us, humans. Whether it was the Israelites witnessing and demonstrating their faith, or the Apostles spreading the Word or modern missionaries covering the planet. God has kept his promise. Through the Seed of Abraham we have the Messiah dying on the cross for us and rising from the dead, paying for our sins and redeeming us and also through the blessing given to Abraham we have the message shared with everyone, no matter their tribe or language. We as Gentiles have been the recipients of that blessing. The early church did not want our kind in their church with our non-Jewish ways and unclean habits, but God through his Word brought us in any way. And thank God for that. Thank God that the Lamb of God sprinkled his blood on the altar for the healing of all nations, because that means we are the forgiven and saved people of God. And it also means that now we have the joy of sharing that with all the others that Christ died for as well. Amen.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Seed - Sermon on January 4th, 2009
People pass down a lot of things to their children. They pass on their appearance, their attitudes, their property, their businesses, their money among other things. That is why some businesses have been in the family for years, why people in certain professions also have had dads, granddads and even great-granddads in the same profession. Scripture is also full of things being handed down through the generations, things being given to their seeds. Land in the OT was one big thing that was handed down. The biggest thing that was handed down though was the Promised Seed. I am not talking about plant seeds here but human seed, offspring would be another way to put it. What we are talking about here though is not just any offspring but the one offspring that had been promised clear back in the Garden of Eden. Immediately after the fall God pronounced judgment on Satan. That judgment would include the seed of the woman crushing Satan's head and Satan's offspring striking his heel. God does not reveal who that seed is at the time, just that he will come from the woman. We of course know that Seed as our Savior Jesus Christ.
What we have here is the greatest promise ever given to mankind bar none. Man had just lost everything and had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden and was told that now he would die. The ground was cursed because of him and he was forced to work it. Nothing would ever be right again. Because of that sin we now have death and disease, conflict you name it. But in the midst of it all God made a promise that one day paradise would be restored. The people were to look for the Seed of the woman which would bring it all to pass.
Well Eve did not have that promised man herself instead generations of people came and went and time passed on, but God had not forgot. The next major time we hear of the promise is in Genesis 17 and 22 where God promises Abraham that he will be the Father of many nations and that all people on earth will be blessed through him. The seed was going to pass through Abraham. Then in Genesis 49 we hear Jacob blessing his children and when he comes to Judah he tells him that the scepter will not pass from him until the one to whom it belongs comes. This messianic prophecy was fulfilled in two ways. David fulfilled it in the short run as the first king of Israel who was after God's heart. Ultimately though it would be fulfilled again in Jesus.
The next big mention is in 2 Samuel chapter seven where David is promised by God through the prophet Nathan that his throne will be established forever. The final inheritor of that throne is of course Jesus who came from the line of David.
Paul takes up the prophecy of the Seed in Galatians 3:16 where he says, "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ." This was the Seed that Adam and Eve had been promised. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that promise. He was the one who would crush Satan's head by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.
In conclusion, the promise that was given to Adam and Eve that their seed would crush Satan's head was fulfilled at Christmas when Jesus was born to Mary. Eve would not have the promised seed, instead her descendant Mary would literally thousands of years later. It is the most important promise ever fulfilled in all of Scripture. People pass down a lot of things to their descendants. Adam and Eve passed down sin and death to us. But thankfully God in his mercy had his Son Jesus Christ, the promised Seed, passed down to us. Through his life and death and resurrection he brought forgiveness for those sins and he brought us back to life with him. That is truly something worth inheriting. May it be yours in Jesus Christ. Amen.
What we have here is the greatest promise ever given to mankind bar none. Man had just lost everything and had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden and was told that now he would die. The ground was cursed because of him and he was forced to work it. Nothing would ever be right again. Because of that sin we now have death and disease, conflict you name it. But in the midst of it all God made a promise that one day paradise would be restored. The people were to look for the Seed of the woman which would bring it all to pass.
Well Eve did not have that promised man herself instead generations of people came and went and time passed on, but God had not forgot. The next major time we hear of the promise is in Genesis 17 and 22 where God promises Abraham that he will be the Father of many nations and that all people on earth will be blessed through him. The seed was going to pass through Abraham. Then in Genesis 49 we hear Jacob blessing his children and when he comes to Judah he tells him that the scepter will not pass from him until the one to whom it belongs comes. This messianic prophecy was fulfilled in two ways. David fulfilled it in the short run as the first king of Israel who was after God's heart. Ultimately though it would be fulfilled again in Jesus.
The next big mention is in 2 Samuel chapter seven where David is promised by God through the prophet Nathan that his throne will be established forever. The final inheritor of that throne is of course Jesus who came from the line of David.
Paul takes up the prophecy of the Seed in Galatians 3:16 where he says, "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ." This was the Seed that Adam and Eve had been promised. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that promise. He was the one who would crush Satan's head by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.
In conclusion, the promise that was given to Adam and Eve that their seed would crush Satan's head was fulfilled at Christmas when Jesus was born to Mary. Eve would not have the promised seed, instead her descendant Mary would literally thousands of years later. It is the most important promise ever fulfilled in all of Scripture. People pass down a lot of things to their descendants. Adam and Eve passed down sin and death to us. But thankfully God in his mercy had his Son Jesus Christ, the promised Seed, passed down to us. Through his life and death and resurrection he brought forgiveness for those sins and he brought us back to life with him. That is truly something worth inheriting. May it be yours in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
If you missed the sermon
If you missed the sermon there will be a cliff notes version of it on this blog the next week. I am not going to put my whole sermon on because it is just too long. But if you want just the main points then this will be the place to come to. Those of you out there in churches that follow the church year, well I don't. At least not much of the time I should say. Right now we are doing a series on Old Testament prophecies and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament.
For those of you interested in Bible study, this coming Sunday we are starting a new Bible study on the book of Daniel in the Adult Sunday School class which is at 9:30 a.m. in room 9. This is an important book in the Old Testament and is also important for understanding the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So come and join us.
Pastor Fred
For those of you interested in Bible study, this coming Sunday we are starting a new Bible study on the book of Daniel in the Adult Sunday School class which is at 9:30 a.m. in room 9. This is an important book in the Old Testament and is also important for understanding the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So come and join us.
Pastor Fred
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