Giving Thanks

 1 Timothy 2:1-8

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.  And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.  Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Sermon for Thanksgiving Day                                          11/24/22

Giving Thanks

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

When Christians give thanks, it is a different sort of activity than when others give thanks.  That assertion can be confusing to someone who doesn't understand the difference between Christians and others - including Christians who do not understand the difference.  First, we Christians give thanks with sincerity, not as though the thanksgiving is extorted from our lips because of some national holiday.  We know that God is the Creator and the Giver of all things, and so we give thanks for everything, not just the things we particularly enjoy and find pleasing to our flesh.  God gives us air and muscle tissue.  He gives light and the power of thought and hearing, and the pleasures associated with our senses.  He also presents us with the challenges we face and with our sorrows, all for our maturing and growth.  It is often in thanksgiving for the hard things and in the midst of the controversies that sorts out who belongs to God, and who is hanging around just for the treats.

Another difference between Christians and others, even observed in thanksgiving, is that everything is not about us, primarily.  Our thanksgiving, as noted by Paul in First Timothy, is on behalf of and for the welfare of others as much as for our own.  The world knows nothing about such things.  The only time the unbeliever truly thinks about others is when it will profit him or her personally.  Otherwise, everything always seems to be all about them.  But our life is never rightly merely about us.  We are called to be like our heavenly Father, concerned about others.  We are also to live out our faith, which means that we live in a way that reflects that we know that we already possess everything we will need, and everything we will genuinely want, so even when we give thanks, it needs to be in that context.

With those few thoughts, let us look at what Paul wrote to the young Pastor, Timothy, with the theme, "Giving Thanks for the Good Stuff."

First, there has never been a time in history quite like the days in which we live.  I don't mean to suggest that these are the best of days or the worst of days.  I imagine how you might judge that would depend on what is happening in your life when you make the judgment.  What is true, is that this time in history is different from any other time.  Of course, some people are looking back on "the good old days".  That phrase, oddly enough, was coined by a 64-year-old former mayor of New York named Philip Hone in the middle of the nineteenth century.  He wrote "This world is going too fast, . . . Railroads, steamers, packets, race against time.  .  .  .  Oh, for the good old days of heavy post coaches and speed at the rate of six miles an hour!"   That should put our "good old days" in perspective, of a sort, but when we speak of the good old days, we still imagine that it was when life was simple and people were honest and decent, and prices were down where they ‘belong'.  Those "good old days" are, of course, more myth than reality.

On the other hand, we have the very modern future before us.  How it looks to you probably depends on who you have been listening to.  We have weird weather, only now they are calling it "climate change" instead of "Global Warming".  We have the MAGA Republican revolution and the big changes that come at us from Washington.  The economy is changing, and people are still talking about run-away inflation.  We have the scandal of the day - this time it is with the election fraud, and, well, the future looks downright spooky to many people.

We stand here, today, on Thanksgiving, sandwiched in between the good old days of yesteryear, and the disquieting possibilities of the future.  Today we are supposed to give thanks.  I am suggesting that we should be giving thanks for the good stuff - but I would describe ‘the good stuff' differently than you might.

To begin with, the life of a Christian is to be a life of thanksgiving.  In our text, St. Paul is urging us to give thanks.  In other places the exhortation becomes a command, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:18:  In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  But notice that in our text, our thanksgivings are not alone - they are coupled with "entreaties, and prayers,. . . and petitions on behalf of all men."  We are to pray for the sake of all men everywhere - and especially for the blessing and benefit of those who are charged by God with governing and protecting us - "for kings and all who are in authority".

We are offering these prayers not just to be praying, but with the goal of being able to lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.  Hidden behind this command is the truth stated clearly elsewhere, that the world exists for our sakes, and for calling the lost and erring into fellowship with Christ.  Luther wrote "The world continues to exist because the Church is in the world.  Otherwise heaven and earth would burst into a conflagration in a moment; for the world, being full of blasphemy and godlessness, is not worth one grain of wheat.  But because the Church is in the midst of the godless, God for her sake permits them also to enjoy the common blessings of this life; and whatever the world has, it has for the sake of the Church.  Thus the angel says to Paul in Acts 27:24, ‘Behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you' though they were certainly idolatrous and godless people."

We give thanks, not because it is a holiday - that only provides us with the day for the special service.  We give thanks constantly, as though we breathe in blessings and breathe out thanksgivings.  We give thanks because are among those chosen by God to be His holy people.  And because we are His people, we give thanks because it is the will of our God and Father that we do so.  St. Paul writes to Timothy that these thanksgivings and entreaties and petitions are good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  What other reason do we need?  God heartily approves of this simple thing.

And such a concern for others, rather than just for ourselves, is so like our heavenly Father, who causes the sun to shine on the good and the evil, and the rain to fll on the just and the unjust alike.  Unlike so much of the world around us, we don't merely say "thank-you" on the way to the TV and football games - we give thanks and we pray for men and women everywhere.  We ask God to create the conditions favorable to life and godliness for all of us.  We thank Him as we entreat Him for those blessings for ourselves and others, because we know that God is listening, and that when we pray as our faith would urge us to pray, "not my will but Thine be done," our heavenly Father smiles and answers each time, "Yes, my beloved child, I shall accomplish my good and gracious will."  Men will climb mountains, travel great distances, beat themselves and deny themselves and starve themselves, trying to do a good work and please God.  Men and women give up their right to marriage and even take vows of poverty for the sake of doing something they believe will look good to God.  Yet none of those things are specifically commanded by God.

Thanksgiving is commanded, along with intercession of behalf of all men everywhere, and it is declared by God Himself through the Apostle to be good and acceptable to God.  Here is something we can do, that God has set before us as pleasing to Him.  This is something the weakest and smallest, the poorest and least talented among us can do that is pleasing to God and acceptable to Him, and we are assured of the good pleasure of our God.  We can give thanks.

Not only does God tell us that this is pleasing to Him, but He provides us a rewarding goal for all of these entreaties and petitions, prayers and thanksgivings, that we might have a life of tranquillity and quietness in all godliness and dignity.

Have you ever wondered why life goes haywire?  One reason, suggested by our text, is that we fail to recognize the Giver of all things and we forget or neglect to give Him thanks, or to ask Him to bless us.  James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus, tells us by the Word of God about this truth.  He writes, "You lust and do not have; so you commit murder.  And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.  You do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motive, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."  See, it is not supposed to be just about us!

What James and Paul are focusing on is that we, of all people, ought to recognize where our blessings come from.  Some people think that they are the source of every good they have, or the processes of life in this world just work the way we observe them working –  rather automatically, as if nothing else could naturally happen. Strangely enough, when people do think of God they often think of Him as the source not of their blessings, but as the source of their troubles.  Some even blame God when things go wrong, when life hurts, and when they suffer sorrow.  "It must be the will of God."  But then, when times are good and abundant, such people tend to forget God, and revel in the THINGS and the PLEASURES of the moment.  But that is not the part of God's holy people.

What do we have to give thanks for?  Whether your immediate circumstances seem pleasant or difficult, we have Jesus Christ and salvation to be thankful for.  That is the primary "good stuff".  No matter what happens in this life, or how we choose to perceive it, we can give thanks for salvation and we can ask God to extend His grace to others.  Remember, this world, as real as it is, is not the main event.  If life is good today, we know that this goodness is a passing condition.  If life is bad or our health is falling, we know that our troubles are temporary at worst.  Resurrection from the dead, eternal life and salvation are going to be vitally important and of ultimate significance for each of us.

We owe God thanks for the gift of His Son.  The world around us gathers to offer up a generic thanksgiving to an unspecified deity.  We gather because of Jesus, to give thanks to the God that really exists – the Triune God.  Think about this; Jesus died in our place.  Now, people visit the graves of those who die for them or lose their lives saving others.  Some visit every year for the rest of their lives.  It is a duty.  They say, "It's the least we can do!"

You and I cannot gather at the grave of Jesus, because He is risen!  No grave holds Him!  We can, however, gather each week to speak aloud our great thanks to God for His gift of forgiveness and life through His Son!  Jesus took our punishment, Thank God!  Jesus died in our place, thanks be to God!  We shall rise from our graves to everlasting life of joy and peace and glory, all thanks be to our God!

Even more, we have a High Priest who stands as Mediator for us with God.  Our text says, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time."  He is not some unrealistic and unknowable God-figure who cannot understand or sympathize with us in our lives, but one who has been here and done all that we must do.  He knows our weaknesses and our sorrows. He cares deeply for us.  He hears our prayers and He loves us so deeply that in all things, He works for our blessing and good.  We can be just like Him - we want to be just like Him - righteous, and holy, and filled with love for those who do not deserve it.  Just as He lived and died for us, we can live for others, and pray for them because we understand by faith that all we need is ours in Jesus Christ - and we have no needs He will not meet.  So we can pray and give thanks on behalf of others, a very Jesus-like thing to do.

We can see the signs of His goodness toward us all around us in our rich and abundant blessings.  We have all that we have from Him, but even if that were all gone, we would still have the bright and certain assurance of salvation.  

Times are generally good, but even if they were not, our salvation is sure, and we have the proven love of God with us.  So let us lift up holy hands, as Paul says, in prayer, petition entreaty and thanksgivings on behalf of all men.  Let us give thanks for the good stuff this Thanksgiving Day, and every day.

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
(Let the people say Amen)

The End Is Near

 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.  For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.  While they are saying, "Peace and safety!"  then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.  For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.  But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.  For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.  Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Sermon for Last Sunday in the Church Year                                         11/20/22

The End Is Near

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Once again, we have come to the end of the Church Year.  One more time God has given us the grace to remember together that this world is not all that there is, and the end is coming.  Our theme, this morning, is; the end is near.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians - and really intended and expected that all Christians everywhere would finally hear his words, that they really did not need to be told what he was about to write.  "You have no need for anything to be written to us about the times and the epochs."  He was reminding them of the obvious - something that they could sense from the world around them and its corruption, and something that was part and parcel of the Christian hope - the end is near.  You don't need to be told this either - you know it already, and you have heard it year after year after year.  We don't know precisely how many "last days" there are, but each day that passes brings the end of time one day closer for sure.  And we know, as Paul says, that the day of the Lord, that last great day of resurrection, will come just like a thief in the night.  It will come suddenly, unexpectedly and with no warning.

That day is described as coming like a thief in the night because it is not going to be generally expected by the world around us when comes, and because it is not bringing good things to all.  In fact, for most people, the day is a day of horror and sorrow and damnation - and the public humiliation of being called out before all of mankind as one of those who stupidly refused the goodness and love of God.

That day is going to come when the world least expects it.  When the world around the church and outside of the church and posing as part of the Church finally convinces itself that nothing is ever going to happen, and that the end, long-promised in Scripture, is really not going to come, that is when it will happen.  It is going to catch them all off-guard.  They will be like the pregnant woman who set out shopping or goes to work in the morning, and is suddenly disabled by the onset of labor.  There will be no warning, no time to prepare, no last-minute accommodations or getting ready.  They will be caught flat-footed and red-handed in their sin and unbelief.

Paul writes, "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day." He means that you, on the other hand, should never be caught off-guard.  You know it is coming.  If you haven't wrapped your mind around that thought yet, get wrapping!  The end is coming and it is coming soon.  The difference between you and the world around you is day and night – you are of the day and in the light of the Lord and His Word, and the world is of the night and in darkness.  The day of the Lord should not catch us unprepared, or surprise us in sin and unbelief.  We know that the end is near.

We also know the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  We know that He died for us.  We have heard and believe what a terrible thing sin is, and how great a price was paid for our salvation!  The price is the cross.  We look at it every week, on the altar, on our hymnals, on our paraments, and on the processional standard.  We rehearse and remember each week what Jesus did on our behalf and hear how He has cleansed us and how He forgives us.  We eat of His body and drink of His blood – the body which was given for us and the blood shed for us in death – and do so, as Jesus commanded, also in remembrance of him.  We walk in the light of God's grace and love day by day – which means that we are to keep that truth uppermost in our minds day to day, not just on Sundays.  Paul suggests, and God says clearly, that we cannot honestly believe all that He has revealed to us and still be caught off-guard, unprepared, and self-deceived.

That is what Paul calls sleeping, in our text.  Sleeping, or drunk.  "For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night." Either we must be wide awake, alert and prepared, expecting Jesus to return, or we are either unconscious or purposefully out of contact with the realities that God has pressed on our attention with so many warnings and exhortations.    "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."  We are the people of the day and of the light – not lost in the dark like the world around us.

That means that there must be a difference in how we handle life and the expectation of the coming of the end, and how we handle ourselves in that expectation.  We are not to be of the number of those who sleep, as though they did not know which day is coming.  Sleep, here, means to act as though unaware of the great spiritual realities confronting us.  We cannot behave as though we have all the time in the world and no urgency about what we do.  We actually do have all the time in the world, but the world is simply running out of time, and there are so many who need to know of Jesus, and we need to prepare ourselves as well.  We need to be alert and sober.  In part that means we need to be honest about our sins - and confess them, and repent of them and hear and believe the gospel of our forgiveness and salvation.  We also face terrible dangers, and not the kind that everyone around us face.  We face discrimination and persecution which God promises will only grow more severe as time passes.  We face strong temptations to doubt.   We face temptations to lusts and pleasures.  We face temptations to fear.  And we face death.

These are not pretend terrors and dangers.  They are effective and powerful.  They are the tools of the enemy – the devil who prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.  All too often, Christians are deceived by what they perceive to be a long time and God delaying His return.  We have each seen friends, and sometimes members of our own families, seduced by this problem of perception and led to walk away.  But the end is coming and it is coming soon!  Those who fall asleep, as regards the faith, are distracted by the pressures of life.  There is so much else to do.  They slowly find themselves weaned of the habit of regular worship – weaned away to visiting, traveling, sporting events, and who knows what all.  They find themselves weaned away from hunger for the truth, and attracted by short services, or entertainment, or a warm and sticky sense of nostalgia - rather than the pure milk of the Word, and the wonderful treasure of the Holy Supper.  Now, occasionally missing worship may be inconsequential, but when we allow ourselves to be persuaded that it doesn't matter at all, sometimes we find ourselves slipping away.  It starts by irregular attendance, perhaps missing once a month, then attending once a month, then once every couple of months, and then it seems to be too much trouble and takes too much time to stop and worship at all.

That is the sleep into which so many are lulled.  That sense that it is not urgent is the drink which intoxicates so many and blinds even our reason and dulls even our senses until those who have become drunk cannot tell that they have stopped believing.  They cannot feel the big emptiness inside until it is too late.  Like the drunk who thinks he is sober and could fool anyone, and yet everyone else can see that he is unsteady, sometimes we become so sure that we know all that we need, and we don't need a sermon or a Bible Study, that we anoint ourselves priest and expert, and then we will just believe what we want to and make sure our religion doesn't get in our way or accuse us of sin.  There are entire church bodies that have followed that path!

But the time for such silliness and unconsciousness is at night, in the dark – that is to say, those are the thoughts and the errors of the world.  We are of the day.  We know our need, we know the danger, we know our weakness, and we know where we find our strength and comfort.    We understand that all we possess in Christ is the gift of God through His Word, through the hearing of His Word.  We need that comfort, even when we are not aware of our need.  We need that strength, even when we do not feel our weakness.  We need the Word – and it is not the Pastor's word, even though he speaks it.  It is God's Word, poured out through the mouth and lips of the faithful preacher.  And we need the heavenly food which God sets before us in this Holy Supper!  This isn't some ordinary bread and wine, this is the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, once given and shed on the cross for us, now offered to us by Christ Himself, from the hands of His called servant.  It is a heavenly mystery which delivers all that Christ won for us by giving His body and shedding His blood.

True, we cannot see all of that or taste it, but we are not so sleepy or intoxicated that we cannot believe that God can do what He promises.  Here is forgiveness, and because it is forgiveness, it is also life and salvation!  This holy food does not merely nourish the tissues of our body, it feeds and strengthens our soul and comforts us in times of distress and temptation.  And since we are of the day, and not of the night, we need to be alert and sober, and prepare ourselves for the coming day, and the dangers that await us on the way.

Paul speaks here of the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of the hope of salvation.  That is our armor – faith in God, love for one another, and the confident expectation that when this life is done, life isn't over, rather, death is.  Our faith is the very thing that the world around us calls superstition, and foolishness, and wishful thinking.  This is the armor against the pessimism of this age, the hopelessness that settles upon so many.  No matter what is happening around us, even in our own lives, we know that we have God's love and that His will for us is always our salvation.  We can trust God – and faith always does.  Knowing God does not decrease your pain or limit your frustrations.  It isn't intended to do so.  The pains and frustrations probably increase.  The devil wants you to doubt, wants you to despair, wants you to give in to hopelessness.

Faith gives us the answer.  Trust in God is powerful stuff.  God's strength is perfected in our weakness.  His power shines through our troubles when we give up on ourselves and trust Him instead.  Then His Word carries remarkable power!  It doesn't magically make our troubles go away, like in a Harry Potter movie.  But, through His Word, God strengthens us to be equal to the obstacles, challenges, and dangers that we confront.  He may even use them for His glorious purposes.  Eventually the troubles of life will go away, or God will take them away, or He will take us away out of all of them, but while we struggle, He is there to strengthen us, protects us, and bring us through.  So our hope is in Him.

And we have one another.  We are the ones who are to be like "God with skin on" to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  God has given us to each other to encourage and comfort one another, to hold our hands in times when we need that, and to help us bear the load.  We work for one another.  We feed one another.  We drive one another places.  We sympathize, and weep with, and rejoice with, and confess the faith with one another.  We do it out of love – not obligation.  That is why the last verse of our text says, Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Then, while we stand protected by faith and encouraged by our love one another, we have the helmet of the hope of salvation:  For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

On this last Sunday of the church year, we face the end of the world.  It is a somber and serious topic.  But it is not a cause for fear for the Christian.  God is with us every step of the way, and we know that the end of the world is not the end.  Of the world, yes, but not for us.  God has destined us for salvation!  Whether we live, which Paul refers to here as "awake", or we have passed on, which Paul calls "sleep", we are with the Lord, and our hope is sure and we will live forever.  So, for the Christian, the end of this life and the end of this world are, like the end of the church year, part of the plan of God.  They are a cause for remembering God's faithfulness and love, and encouraging one another to hold fast and be faithful and never lose hope.

We know that it is not death to die – and while we live, we have God's help, comfort and strength.  And so we prepare.  We live as His holy people and we encourage one another, and we share the good news of Jesus and of forgiveness and of salvation.  We don't hide, and we don't run, and we don't try to blind ourselves with the intoxications of this world.    For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.  But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.  For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.  Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
(Let the people say Amen)

It Just Goes to Show You

 2 Peter 3:3-14

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."  For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.  But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.  Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.

Sermon for The Second-Last Sunday in the Church Year              11/13/22

It Just Goes to Show You

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I once drove – briefly – in a "white-out".  I was driving my brother to catch a  bus at the depot the next town over, when, as I drove out of town, I drove into the white-out.  It looked like someone had painted the outside of my windows white.  I stopped the car, and then realized that someone could just drive right into me without ever seeing me, so I turned around and carefully and slowly drove a few hundred yards back into town.  As I drove into the town, past the wind-break, the windows cleared and I could see outside of my car again. As I think about it, it seems to me that my experience in the white-out is a great image for how we live life.

We cannot see much of life.  We cannot see the future – very quickly our vision fails when we try to forecast or foresee what is going to happen.  We cannot keep the past in clear view – it fades quickly and everything about it is very transient.  We often remember it as it seemed to us rather than how it actually was.  We cannot see the realities around us, except for a very few and very close to us.  Not even the immediate area around my car was visible.  Just the interior, the things closest to me.  Similarly, only the things right around us in life are really clear.

If I had decided to stop my car and get out on that road, I could see no reason not to.  I could imagine them, but I could not see anything.  I could have turned circles where I was, or walked down the road, or done all sorts of things that I wouldn't normally do on the road.  As far as I could see, there was no reason not to do so.  Of course, I couldn't see very far – and there could have been dangers coming from any direction, and any decision to stop or get out and walk could have presented tragic consequences that I could not see coming from where I was.  

Life is like that.  I cannot see very far.  If I make my decisions just on the basis of the moment, and how it feels or how it seems without taking into account what may be coming, or of realities that I cannot see right now, I could be setting myself up for real pains and problems down the line.  It just goes to show you – you never know, until its too late, sometimes.

Peter writes to the church as an old man.  He was approaching the end of his life in this world, and he was fully conscious of that fact.  He was writing to warn and awaken and prepare the Church for the future.  God showed him a little bit about the future, and Peter knew that he needed to warn us.  He could see how little we knew or understood about reality because we can each just see our own little piece of it.  Peter wanted to give us more so that we would not make long term trouble for ourselves by making short-term decisions.  He wrote about the future.  He was writing about now.

In the last days, Peter says, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."  For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.

Peter was describing our days.  We are in the Last Days.  We have been in the Last Days since Jesus ascended – the very end of the world!  It is just taking longer than anyone imagined, because with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day, so even many of the last days are last only from God's perspective and plan.  We would like to know just how many "last days" there are left to us, but God has chosen not to reveal that to us.  He clearly wants us to be ready at all times.  He says so explicitly in some places in the Bible.

But we are living in a world that fits Peter's description.  Mockers are telling us that there will be no end – that the world is self-existing and self-sustaining and eternal, more or less.  We call that proclamation of the world ‘the theory of evolution'.  The so-called "experts" tell us that the world is billions of years old, and has billions of years to go.  Just as Peter prophesies, it escapes their notice that the heavens exist by the Word of God, and that the earth was formed out of water and by water – and they deny the flood of Noah, just as Peter said they would!  Their understanding of how things came into existence is hot and dry – not cool and wet, as the Bible tells us it was – and out of fire and explosions – the big bang.  They scoff at the idea of a catastrophic, world-wide flood.  That can only happen, they say, if we cause global warming and melt the polar ice-caps.  The days described in Peter's prophecy are these days, the days when people try to quench our expectation of the coming of Christ, and try to seduce us into believing that there is no end coming, no judgment to fear, no God above to call on.  It just goes to show you how clearly Peter saw that coming day – and that day is now.

The fact that these things are happening just goes to show you that you should be careful to believe all that Peter writes here.  He says, "Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved."  The world lives in that "white-out", but you should not – you cannot, because if you do, you may do things that will have far-reaching consequences that you don't foresee or intend.  So you have to keep the truth in your mind as you walk among those blinded by the blizzard of unbelief.

The first truth you need to keep in mind is that God is not delaying or slow – He is patient.  He is patient toward you and me, that all to come to repentance.  The end of all things is at hand, but God holds it back so that you and I have time enough to discover our sinfulness and repent – and time to learn and believe the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  This world is ending because of sin.  This world is going to be destroyed by God with tremendous heat and all that is of sin and all that is evil will be burned up with this world.  Only those whose sins have been forgiven, who have been cleansed by the salvation won by Jesus on the cross will be spared.

The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  He is patient for you to repent and for you to share this truth with others.  The day is coming, and coming soon, when God will judge all mankind, and destroy the earth, and ungodly men with it, in eternal flames.  We have this window of opportunity to spread the Word and to show forth His glory by holy conduct and godly lives.  We have this patience of God to use for rescuing our loved ones and our neighbors before the day when the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.  How do we know for sure that these thing will happen?  How can we be positive?  Because God says so, in His Word..  But the present heavens and earth by His word  are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Peter describes our day to a "T" and then tells us that the only reason it is taking so long to come to the end is so that we have time to repent, and to call others to repentance.  The truth of the one – of the patience of God – just goes to show the truth of the other – the end is coming.  And since the coming end is so true, and the promise of salvation is so sweet, we need to respond.  Peter asks,   Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

What sort indeed?  We need to be men and women of repentance.  That much is clear – and that means that we know what is right and wrong, and that we confess with humility our failures and our sins.  We are often guilty of living our lives like this world is not coming to an end.  But it is!  We are often guilty of living as though we are permanent and we are worthwhile, and others maybe are not.  But that isn't true!   We live as though there is time and more to spare – but, according to God through Peter, we are living on borrowed time, and we have a purpose, and it is God's purpose, to call men to repentance and hold out to them the sweet hope of resurrection and life everlasting with Jesus Christ.

What sort of people ought you to be?  Diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.  We ought to be diligent and deliberate about being Christians.  Peter called it "holy conduct and godliness."  That isn't to be our behavior in order to win a prize, but our behavior that comes from knowing the truth – and having been promised the prize already.  Evil burns.  Ungodly men and women are reserved for fire and judgment and destruction.  We want to be spotless and blameless in Jesus Christ.

We ought to be people of peace.  That means confidence in God, trust in His promises and His love, and the daily expectation of His blessings: in other words, that means people who live by faith.  It also suggests people who create peace around us by spreading the good news of the wonderful promise and the cause for certainty that it is true.  We should each one of us, be evangelists – missionaries to Verndale and Bartlett Township, Bertha and Hewitt and wherever else we might go or live.  It also means that we must live in peace with one another.  No anger.  No grudges.  Forgiveness is how we get to be at peace with God – He forgives us – and forgiveness is how we get to be at peace with one another.  You need to ask for forgiveness where you cause offense, and give forgiveness where you are given offense.

We aren't there yet.  We are not fully the sort of people we ought to be in holy conduct and godliness.  Thank God He is as patient as He is, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  Just goes to show you how good it is that God hasn't ended everything yet.  As we approach the end of the church year, our Epistle reminds us of the patience of God.  It is clear that Peter meant these words for us.  Some days, the Bible speaks right to us personally.  It just goes to show you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
(Let the people say Amen)

Strong in the Strength of His Might

 

Ephesians 6:10-17

 

Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Trinity 11/06/22

 

Strong in the Strength of His Might

 

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

There are few more profound or important passages in Scripture than the one which stands before us as our text this morning. This is not a Gospel text in the sense that it lays Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf before us. It is not a Law text in the sense that it gives us rules for living or a pattern for holiness. We can find both Law and Gospel here, but the importance of these words is that they set before us the reality of our lives, of the struggle of the Christian faith, and prescribe how we must approach these things if we are to endure. Our only hope, and our greatest defense is if we are, in the words of our theme this morning, Strong in the Strength of His Might.

 

The lessons, particularly the Epistle lessons, for Trinity season focus on living the life we called to live as Christians. Some have focused on values, and some on morality, and some on the temptations that face us. The lesson today has a broader focus, although it is still about living out our life in Christ. I hope that you have noticed that I am avoiding using the phrase "the Christian life." There is nothing wrong with the phrase, except that when I hear it used commonly, it seems to be used in a way that suggests that the life of all Christians is pretty similar – that there is this distinct thing called "the Christian life." But there isn't. Each Christian has a life, and we all face different challenges – or the same challenges and temptations confront each of us differently.

 

Of course, there is a common thread in our lives. It is faith in Jesus Christ, and the knowledge of God and His love for us. We face common temptations, and we have a common morality – we call it the Ten Commandments. But there is nothing about how we live out lives that we can take for granted, after those few things. Being Christian does not mean that you will be a Republican, or a Democrat. Being Christian does not determine your taste in music. One Christian may enjoy science fiction while another is driven to distraction by it, and the third is bored by it. So the phrase "the Christian life" can be confusing – because every Christian has a life, and whatever it is, and however it goes, as long as that individual remains a believer, it is "the Christian life" for that Christian.

 

So I prefer to speak of the life which Christ has called us to live – which for me is as a pastor, and a husband; for Cheryl is as the wife of a pastor, and a woman who works outside of the home, and for each of you is what and where you are. We have what one might call "common-places" in our lives, however. We all have the Word of God. We share in worship. We are each tempted. We each have those particular people we like and those we don't enjoy so much. We each have enemies and we each are confronted by troubles and tribulations tailored for us personally by the Adversary, the enemy of God and man, the devil. Our text gives us some fundamental perspectives and principles to work with as we live out the life we have been called to live in Jesus Christ.

 

The basic things is that we understand that we are called to live our life strong in the strength of His might. That means that just as we could not choose to be a Christian, but God had to choose us and change us and make us His own, so we are not adequate to face the challenges of the life in Christ by our own strength. Our only hope is that we live this life by His power – strong in the strength of His might.

 

That is where Paul begins this exhortation: Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Oddly, you grow stronger in the Lord by growing weaker within yourself. Strength in the Lord is faith in Him, and loss of confidence in your own fitness and ability. That makes this strength challenging for sinful man, and particularly hard for us self-sufficient Americans. You have to humble yourself, a tough thing for us proud people, and learn what God says about the battle we are to fight and the enemy we are to confront. We must face the uncomfortable truth that we simply are not up to the battle, in and of ourselves, and the enemy is overwhelmingly powerful and our only real hope is in the strength of the might of God.

 

Once you understand that reality, you are ready to put on the armor of God – the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Without that armor you will not stand. Period. You will fail if you try to confront the battle by your own strength. I tell young people that when they confront a temptation – and they confront so many – that they need to put physical distance between themselves and the temptation, whenever possible. You cannot eat a forbidden dessert if it is in the kitchen and you are out in the yard. You cannot succumb to the temptation to satisfy any lust of the flesh if the object of your lust is not at hand. So young boys and girls need to resist the temptation to immorality by fleeing one another in the hour of temptation – not by saying, "I am a Christian. I am strong! I can resist!" I can report on personal experimentation in my youth that proves that temptations faced, and not fled, mean victory for the Tempter. That is why the Bible says, "Flee youthful lusts."

 

Of course, youth aren't the only ones who face temptations, or the schemes of the devil, which is why we all need to be prepared. And the first thing we must understand if we are going to be prepared to live this life in Christ in a God-pleasing and holy manner is that our enemy is always the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Our enemy is never really the person before us. It isn't the one who makes us angry, or the one who does such hurtful things or says such obnoxious things. They may well be serving our true enemy, usually are – whether they know it or not. But the man or woman who may be troubling us is not the enemy. They are trapped, enslaved, in need or rescue and redemption, just like the rest of us. Our enemy is always the devil.

Since our enemy is the devil, and the war, however it may look or feel to us, is spiritual in nature, we need the armor of God. And Paul tells us to put it on. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. You put it on by Faith, which is to say, by knowing the Word of God and trusting God's promises. 

 

Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with the truth. These words echo Isaiah 11:5. "To gird" means "to equip, to prepare for action." You must equip yourself with the truth. Jesus said "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Since our enemy is the father of lies and the great deceiver, we must be girded with the truth and ready to answer the lies and deceptions of the evil one.

 

Next we need to be prepared by having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Paul is describing the preparation of the Christian in terms of the armor of the Hoplite – the Roman foot-soldier, the most efficient and effective military force known before the advent of gunpowder. The word for "full armor" in our text is "panoply", the technical military word for the armor worn by the Roman soldier. An essential part of that armor was the breastplate. It protected the heart – and therefore the life – of the soldier against the swords and arrows of the enemy. You had to strike around it, you could not cut through, not in the heat of battle.

 

The righteousness of Christ is our breastplate. It protects us from sin and death. It is the answer of God to the accusations of the devil, whose title, "devil", means "the accuser". He will accuse us of sin. He will accuse us of weakness. He will accuse us of deserving death and damnation along with him. And it is all so true, in and of ourselves, – but we Christians wear the righteousness of Christ. We stand empty-handed, offering no defense except that Jesus died in our place, and has bestowed on us His own righteousness. We ask God to judge us by His Son, just as He has judged His Son by our guilt and sin. That is our breastplate – Christ's righteousness.

 

Then we shod [our] feed with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. No army could long endure or fight effectively without shoes. Rocks and sticks and sharp, pointed things in the ground would bring any army to its knees without proper footwear. We are prepared for the battle with the footwear of the Gospel of peace. God is at peace with us, and we are at peace with one another. Our sins are forgiven, so we know that whatever we encounter in the battle, God is not against us, nor are things out of control and hopeless, but we are at peace with God and He with us. And we are to be at peace with one another! Four Roman soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, back to back formed the most effective fighting team history has ever known. We, too, need to stand shoulder to shoulder in this battle, and know that the danger is from the enemy, not from those who should have our backs as our brothers in Christ.

 

Then we take up the shield of faith. Trust in God and in His promises can extinguish all the flaming arrows of doubt, of guilt and of fear that the devil can send against us. We can shout, in faith, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" We also wear the helmet of salvation, which keeps us in every circumstance in contact with our head, namely Christ.

 

Finally, being fully protected with the panoply of God, we pick up the sword – the Word of God. The battle in Christ is not fought with fists or bullets. Not with parliamentary procedure and by-law changes. Not with shouting and shoving. It is fought with the Word of God. The Word of God is the power of God for the fight, and the only effective weapon, for our enemy is not the bodies of flesh before us, but the demonic, spiritual powers at work behind the terrorism and persecution and hatred of the world for all that is of God.

 

The Battle is engaged, and we can fight effectively, and we are protected by the power of God. We wear the strength of His might by faith – which means we must know what He has promised, and trust Him to do all that He has said He will. To fight effectively we must be armed with the Word – which is accomplished by knowing it. We put on the Gospel armor by study and hearing the Word of God. That means regular, faithful participation in worship, and joining with the congregation in the study of the Word. I have been asked many times, can you not study on your own? The answer is, Yes – the real question is, will you?

 

God has given us the armor, and He has given us the power, and He has given us the weapon for the battle. We must also remember that He also has given us the ultimate victory as well, in Jesus Christ, so we have no need for fear. Put on the full armor of God, and finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

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