Not the preacher, but the preaching

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Advent 4

Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

As I mentioned last week, we’re going to spend some time today focusing on the preaching of John the Baptist, as we always do on the 4th Sunday in Advent, because as we use this season to prepare our hearts and arrange our lives for Christ’s Second Advent, so the whole purpose of John’s ministry was to prepare the hearts of his hearers for Christ’s First Advent. Not for the Advent of His birth, obviously, but for His Advent, His “coming” onto the scene to begin His three-year ministry, which would lead up to His death and resurrection, which was the fulfillment of His first Advent. The truth is, we need the preparatory preaching that John offers as much today as the people in Israel did back then.

When a preacher steps forward into the limelight, as, for example, just about any televangelist or mega church preacher you’ve ever seen, they tend to focus on themselves, don’t they? Or even if they don’t, their hearers focus on them—how they’re dressed, how cool or hip they are, how charismatic, how “real,” how fiery, or how brilliant. They tend to draw attention to themselves. They often attempt to sell themselves, almost like a used car salesman, as they personally benefit from their “ministry.”

That certainly wasn’t the case with John the Baptist. Now, he was certainly different. He stood out from everyone else by living alone in the desert, by wearing his camel skin clothing and leather belt, by eating locusts and wild honey for his diet. And his preaching was certainly bold, and his baptizing was novel, and it got people’s attention. But as soon as John got people’s attention, he immediately pointed them away from himself, unlike so many preachers today.

I’ve used the example before of a road sign. You’re supposed to notice the road signs, especially the warning signs along the road. They’re supposed to get your attention. But only for a moment. Only so that you get the directions or the message that the sign was put there to communicate. Then you forget about the sign and focus on where the sign was pointing.

So it was with John. He got people’s attention for a moment, and then pointed away from himself. That surprised people. It surprised the priests and Levites who approached him in today’s Gospel. They thought he must be claiming great things for himself, gathering a group of supporters for himself with some cunning political aim. So they came as an official delegation sent from the Pharisees to ask him, Are you the Christ? They didn’t believe he was, or else they would have been out there listening to him, confessing their sins, being baptized, and doing what he said. No, they had come to challenge him, whoever he was claiming to be.

If John had wanted a following for himself, he could have said “Yes, I am!” But the Evangelist John makes it very clear to his readers that John never made such a claim about himself. He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” Well, then, they figured, he must be making some other great claim for himself, if he’s out here taking it upon himself to preach and to baptize. “What then? Are you Elijah?” Some of the Jews wrongly interpreted Malachi’s prophecy that “Elijah will come” before the Christ, thinking that the man who had gone up into heaven in a chariot and a whirlwind would descend from heaven again. And he said, “I am not.” John wasn’t that Old Testament Elijah, although, as Jesus tells us elsewhere, he was the one referred to figuratively in that prophecy. “Are you the Prophet?” they asked. THE Prophet whom Moses wrote would come from among them, referring to the Christ. And he answered, “No.”

“Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Luke gives us more of Isaiah’s prophecy that was fulfilled in John the Baptist. He writes, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” That was John’s job, to straighten the road ahead of the Christ. That’s all. Not to make a name for himself or gain glory for himself. He was a voice, a voice that would carry out the work of a figurative road construction crew.

John wouldn’t do any plowing or bulldozing or repairing of roads. But with his voice, with his preaching, he would do that to men’s hearts by turning their attention to the Lord’s imminent arrival. Now, if you know that the Lord is coming soon, then there is no time for business as usual. He’s coming up the road. So consider how you live. Consider where your heart is, what your heart is focused on, what it’s attached to, what your desires are. Consider the works you have done and are doing. Are they works of obedience? Works of kindness and generosity, focused on the benefit of those around you? Or are they works of which you should be ashamed? Consider the plans you’re making for today and tomorrow and next year and beyond. Is this how you want the Lord to find you when He comes?

Where there are valleys—unrepented sins against God’s commandments, a heart and life that are engaged in shameful deeds—let there be repentance and a confession of sins to raise the valley up. Where there are mountains and hills—pride in how good and decent you are, and how lucky God is to have you in His family—let there be recognition that God doesn’t see you nearly as highly as you see yourself, and let there be repentance and a confession of sins to bring the mountain down, so that it’s level with everyone else. Where there are crooked places and rough places—sinful habits and harmful behavior and a haphazard treatment of God’s Word and Sacraments—let there be repentance and confession of sins to make your heart and your life straight and smooth for the coming Lord. And you will see—all flesh will see—the salvation of God.

Why? Because when God comes, when the Lord Christ comes and finds penitent hearts, neither secure in their sins nor proud of their own decency, then He can announce the good news, the Gospel, that He is the One who would pay (or now, has paid) for all sins on the cross. Then He can invite the weary and heavily burdened to come to Him and find peace and rest and forgiveness and salvation. But if He comes and finds people secure in their sins, or indifferent toward the things of God, or proud and arrogant, then He has nothing to offer but Law and accusation and condemnation.

So John was sent to get the people ready, as all ministers are still sent to get the people ready before Christ’s Second Coming. And we, like John, point away from ourselves. As John wore that strange camel skin garment, so we wear this strange clothing, these vestments, when we’re carrying out our ministry. Always remember why: only to draw your attention for a moment, like a road sign, so that you may see Christ in the preaching office He gave us so that we might preach Him and not ourselves.

“Oh,” the world says. “That’s all you are? A nobody? A voice? A road sign? Then why should we listen to you?” As the envoys said to John, “Why do you baptize, then, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” Why do administer this new Sacrament? John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water. But there stands among you one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, who is already ahead of me, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie.”

Why do I baptize? Why do I preach? So that you may not be destroyed due to your ignorance of who Jesus is. You dismiss Him at your peril. You think He will come and deal with all the other sinners out there, but you—you must be safe, because, well, you are you. No, it doesn’t work that way. There’s only one way to be safe and ready for the coming of the Mighty God, who comes with vengeance against His enemies. “I baptize with water.” It doesn’t hurt, although it does kill the Old Man. I baptize with water, not with destruction, not with consuming fire. He will do that when He comes, if He doesn’t find you already washed in a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Well, you here have been baptized. That’s good! That was a first and very important step. Now continue to listen to the preaching of the preacher who doesn’t matter, but whose preaching does, turning your attention from the preacher to the Christ who is preached, so that you may live daily in repentance and faith, doing works of kindness and generosity and love at all times, and rejoicing while you’re doing it. Isn’t that how you want the Lord to find you when He comes? May God mercifully grant it, for Jesus’ sake, by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Small Catechism Review

The Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer

In any need, in any trouble, facing any hardship or any dire situation, there are two little prayers a Christian can always pray, two little prayers that capture and beautifully summarize everything we might ask of our Father in heaven. The first is, Lord, have mercy! The second is the 7th petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Our Father, Deliver us from evil! Two short prayers that take all our needs in this life and lump them all together in one simple but profound request. At another time, we’ll talk more about “Lord, have mercy!” This evening, our focus is the 7th Petition.

The 7th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer is, as Luther says, a summary of the first six petitions.

Deliver us from evil.

What does this mean?

We ask in this prayer, in summary, that the Father in heaven would deliver us from every sort of evil of body and soul, of property and honor; and finally, when our last hour comes, grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

So, from what evils are we praying for deliverance?

We pray, Hallowed be Thy name! Deliver us from the evil of false doctrine and from the evil of bringing shame and disgrace to Your name, O Father in heaven, by leading ungodly lives as those who call ourselves Christians. Deliver us from the evil of blasphemy!

We pray, Thy kingdom come! Deliver us from the evil of perishing outside of Your kingdom, from the evil of being trapped in the devil’s kingdom, from the evil of being without Your Holy Spirit, from the evil of not knowing You rightly, from the evil of following the devil as our king instead of Christ Jesus, Your dear Son, who gave Himself for us so that we might live under Him in His kingdom.

We pray, Thy will be done! Deliver us from the evil of falling into the hands of the devil, the world, and our flesh! Deliver us from the evil of carrying out the devil’s will by loveless behavior, by rushing into sin, by distrusting Your good and gracious will for us, and for the Church, and for the world.

We pray, Give us this day our daily bread! Deliver us from the evil of scarcity and want, from the evil of not having what we need for today, from the evil of storm and tempest, from the evil of bad government and ungodly rulers, from the evil of going through this life without the companionship we need.

We pray, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us! Deliver us from the evil of living under Your just condemnation for our sins! Deliver us from the evil of falling away from faith in Christ, from the evil of becoming Your enemy again, from the evil of losing the life and salvation You gave us when we were baptized in Your name! And deliver us from the evil of holding a grudge against those who have sinned against us and from the evil of losing Your forgiveness by despising Your forgiveness in failing to forgive others.

We pray, And lead us not into temptation! Deliver us from the evil of giving in to the temptations of the devil, the world, and our flesh! Deliver us from the evil of false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice! Deliver us from the evil of growing bitter under the cross! Deliver us from the evil of crumbling under adversity and from being defeated by our enemies instead of standing victorious in the end!

So, you see, that little prayer, Deliver us from evil!, really does cover just about every evil or bad thing we may encounter in this world. When you see the world crumbling, Deliver us from evil! When you think about all the things that threaten, Deliver us from evil! When you feel the weight of this world’s darkness pressing down on you, turn to our Father in heaven and pray, Deliver us from evil!

And He will. He’ll do it in any number of ways. He may keep some evil from touching you at all. He may lessen its effect on you or strengthen you sufficiently, so that you can bear up under it. He may take the evil away after allowing you to be tested for just long enough. And finally, He will take you out of this evil world entirely, out of this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven, where no evil is allowed to enter, ever.

Lord, have mercy! Deliver us from evil! Those are two good little prayers to say at any time. They go right along with that third little prayer, our regular Advent prayer, that’s also always relevant: Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

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Blessed are those who are willing to wait

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Advent 3 – Gaudete

1 Corinthians 4:1-5  +  Matthew 11:2-10

The last two Sundays in Advent introduce us to the preacher of Advent, John the Baptist. In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls him a prophet, and more than a prophet. A prophet, because John prepared the people of Israel for the Advent of Christ, preparing the way of the Lord by turning men’s hearts to the things of God, to the readiness of repentance and faith. A prophet, because he foretold the coming of the Christ. More than a prophet, because John himself was prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. More than a prophet, because when Jesus was ready to begin His ministry, John proclaimed, not as a prophet, but as a herald, “The Christ is here!”

Next week we’ll look deeper into John’s ministry and preaching. But this week, the Gospel turns our attention to the final days of John’s life, after his preaching and baptizing were done. It shows us a minister of God who has done exactly what he was sent to do, who willingly set aside the comforts of life and society because he was thoroughly devoted to the mission God had given him. But now he sits in prison for doing what was right, for doing the very thing God had sent him to do, for preaching the truth to King Herod. He’s facing the end of his life, and he’s confused, because he spent his short ministry zealously pointing people to Jesus as the Christ, as the One who was to come, and yet to this day, Jesus has not done a single thing John said he would do, at least, not that John can see. But, again, he does exactly the right thing. Instead of trying to figure it all out on his own, or worse, giving up on Jesus, he sends two of his own disciples to Jesus, to ask Him for clarity and for help.

Through his disciples, John asked Jesus the question that was pressing on his heart and mind, Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another? Since the days of Adam and Eve, God had been announcing, through the Old Testament prophets, the coming of a Messiah, a one-of-a-kind Savior, a Man who would also be God, a Christ who would do a whole list of things: He would teach the people of Israel with divine authority. He would speak to them in parables. He would perform miracles of healing. He would preach good news to the poor. He would institute a New Covenant (or Testament). He would be rejected by the people. He would suffer and be put to death, as the Lamb of God, for the sins of the world. He would be raised from the dead. He would reign as a King and bring justice to the world and righteousness to Israel. He would gather people from all nations into His kingdom. He would pour out His Spirit on His Church. He would raise all the dead. He would create new heavens and a new earth. He would get rid of pain and suffering and sickness and death. He would gather His people Israel together to dwell in safety, and He would destroy the wicked forever. All of those things were prophesied about the coming Christ in the Old Testament, and many of those things were also preached by John the Baptist as things that Jesus, the Christ, would do.

But how much of it had Jesus actually done since He was baptized by John in the Jordan River? Not very much. And from Jesus’ words and actions, it didn’t seem like most of it was even part of the plan. Jesus was intentionally not running a political campaign, was not overthrowing the wicked, was not releasing His people, like John, from prison or from suffering at the hands of sinners. John had said about the Christ, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. But where was the fire? Where was the winnowing fan, or the cleaning out, or the gathering of the wheat, or the burning up of the chaff? John expected all of those things from Jesus, not only because he had proclaimed it, but because the Old Testament Scriptures had proclaimed it. How could Jesus be the One who was to come if He wasn’t doing what He was supposed to do?

Here was Jesus’ answer that He gave John’s disciples to bring back to their teacher: Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. You see, Jesus was doing some of the things that the coming Christ was supposed to do, and they weren’t little things. The miracles He was performing were unprecedented, and He performed them easily, usually with nothing more than a word. He performed them with grace and mercy—the grace and mercy that were so characteristic of God Himself. Even His preaching to the poor was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Anointed One: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.

But what were the good tidings Jesus was preaching to the poor? That they’re going to become less poor? No, Jesus never raised anyone out of poverty. The good news was for the rich and the poor who were poor in spirit, for those who admitted that they were poor, miserable sinners, that they had nothing to offer to God. To them Jesus gave the handout of the free forgiveness of sins, to all who believed in Him. And what about this “proclaiming liberty to the captives” and “opening the prison to those who are bound”? Even as John was sitting in prison! Ah, but that’s the thing. Many of the things that the Coming One was supposed to do were to be done in a figurative way, in a spiritual way. Those who had turned away from God had become captives of sin, slaves of sin, as Jesus puts it elsewhere. But the Son of God had come to set them free through the forgiveness of their sins, because having your sins forgiven by God is like having the prison doors thrown open, no longer held captive by guilt or condemnation, no longer destined to rot in hell, but made a child of heaven.

So some of the things the Christ was supposed to do, He was doing, either literally or figuratively or both. He was literally giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, cleansing to the lepers and life to the dead. But He was also doing those things for people on the inside, spiritually, removing spiritual blindness and deafness. He was preaching good news to the spiritually poor and freeing the spiritual captives from their slavery to the devil. These are the things Jesus wanted John’s disciples to witness for themselves and to go and tell John what they saw and what they heard.

And then He spoke a word of encouragement and of warning, Blessed is he who does not stumble over me. In other words, “I know I haven’t done all that you expected, all that I’m supposed to do. But I will, when the time is right and in the way that I intend. So don’t allow your expectations to dictate what I must do or when I must do it or how I must do it. The Scriptures will all be fulfilled wonderfully, perfectly. Don’t stumble over Me just because you don’t understand everything yet. You will be blessed if you don’t stumble, if you have patience. Because all will be fulfilled in due time.”

And more of it has been fulfilled since then. John proclaimed Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus hadn’t yet been offered up as that sacrificial Lamb when John sent his disciples. But within a year or two, He would be, at just the right time and in just the right way. He hadn’t yet been raised from the dead, but He would be. He hadn’t yet instituted the New Testament in His blood, but He would, soon. He hadn’t yet poured out the Holy Spirit, but He would. He hadn’t yet gathered the Gentiles into His kingdom, but He was about to begin that lengthy task.

As for the rest, the other things we are to expect in the Coming One, in the Christ—for those things we still wait, for the judgment of the wicked, for justice for the righteous, for the removal of pain and suffering and sickness and death, for the creation of the new heavens and the new earth. Jesus will do those things, too, just as He has already done all the other things that were rightly expected of Him. He’ll do it at His Second Advent, when He comes again at the end of the age.

What do you expect from Jesus? Be careful not to lump together all the good things He has promised to those who love Him, as if He had to give it all at once, and make everything better all at once, and do everything He has promised to do all at once, or else He won’t do it at all. He has done enough, hasn’t He?, to prove that He is the Christ, and that He’s faithful and trustworthy and good? Blessed are those who are willing to wait. Blessed are those who patiently wait for Jesus to do the rest of the things Scripture says He will do. Blessed are those who see all that He has already done and who take comfort in His promise to come again, as He said He would, to accomplish all that remains to be done for the good of His Church, for the good of each baptized believer. Amen.

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The Lord’s Prayer: Sixth Petition

Posted on December 8, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for midweek of Advent 2

Small Catechism Review: The Lord’s Prayer, Sixth Petition

Including this evening, there are three Wednesdays left in the Advent season. And it so happens that we have three sections left to consider in the Lord’s Prayer: The 6th and 7th petitions, and the Amen at the end. So tonight let’s turn our attention to the 6th Petition. Our Father, Lead us not into temptation.

What does this mean? God surely tempts no one, but we ask in this prayer that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world and our flesh may not deceive us, nor mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice; and although we are troubled by these things, that we would, nevertheless, overcome and stand victorious in the end.

What is a temptation? In Scripture, there is a single Greek word that is sometimes translated “temptation,” sometimes translated “trial,” and sometimes translated “test.” It all depends on the context. For example, Scripture says that God does test people, as He tested Israel in the wilderness. At the same time, it says that God tempts no one. To test someone is to put him through some hardship in order to see what comes out on the other side, not unlike a test at school. More than once the Bible gives us the analogy of a lump of gold ore which is heated up in the fire to a very high temperature. All the impurities are burned away in the fire and heat, while the gold comes through it unscathed and purified. That’s testing. And a trial is just a time or an instance of testing.

So God does test or try people, and the purpose of that testing is never to harm, but only to help, to teach, to discipline. It’s never to drive someone away from Him, but always to drive them closer to Him, to depend on Him and Him alone.

So God tested Abraham when He told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. His purpose was to put Abraham through that trial, through that hardship, so that, not God, but we could see the purity of Abraham’s faith (and Isaac’s faith, for that matter!) on the other side. As we know, it was never God’s intention for Abraham or Isaac to be harmed, but to be stronger in the end, to become examples of faith, and even to be praised by future generations for their devotion to God above all things.

God tests believers. But God doesn’t tempt anyone. As James says, Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Temptation is the attempt to get someone to sin against God. The devil tempts us. The world tempts us. Our own flesh tempts us. These enemies afflict us with some hardship, or they entice us with some promised benefit held out in front of us like a carrot on a stick in front of a horse, with the intention of getting us to disobey God, to curse God, to give up on Him, to turn away from Him.

They use deception as their primary tool. Think of the temptation of Eve in the Garden. The devil deceived her, tricked her, told her things that were either only partially true or completely false. He held up a fake hardship in front of her eyes, as if she and Adam were lacking some good thing in the Garden because they had been deprived of the fruit of that one tree. His intention was obvious: to get her to disbelieve God’s Word and to disobey God.

They also attempt to lead us into false belief, either believing something about God that isn’t true, or even believing something about our neighbor that isn’t true. And you know how dangerous that is, to believe something that’s false, to rely on something that isn’t reliable, to lean on something that won’t support your weight.

Our enemies also attempt to lead us to despair. The devil would gladly deceive us so that we despair, so that we lose hope, lose hope in God, lose hope in His forgiveness in Christ, lose hope in His good and gracious will for us, lose hope in His mercy.

And then there’s the great shame and vice to which temptation leads, all the filthy sins of the flesh, idolatry, blasphemy, lawlessness, murder, adultery and sexual sins, theft, drunkenness and drug abuse, and the list goes on and on. These are things toward which the devil would lead us with his temptations, and the world and our flesh are his willing allies.

We are so weak in the face of all these temptations. But we have a Savior who is strong. As it says in Hebrews, We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so we pray, Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation! Spare us! Deliver us! Have mercy on us! Don’t punish us on account of our sins by allowing our enemies to be successful in their temptations.

But when you pray, Lead us not into temptation, don’t mean the wrong thing by it. Don’t ask God not to test you. He must test you for your good. And don’t ask Him not to allow you to face hardships, or to spare you from all earthly troubles, or to keep the devil, the world, and your flesh from tempting you at all. As the Apostle Paul said (after being nearly stoned to death), “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” And Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” What’s more, St. Peter says this about the devil: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

No, the devil is not going away until Christ’s second Advent. He will tempt you to sin against God. And you will face troubles and crosses and testings and temptations throughout your earthly life. But we pray in the 6th petition that although we are troubled by these things, that we would, nevertheless, overcome and stand victorious in the end. That’s what we’re praying for in the 6th petition, for God’s help to resist the devil, to resist temptation, to enable us to bear our crosses with patience. And our Father in heaven will certainly hear us when we pray. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. May our Father grant it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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Signs to keep you watching and praying

Posted on December 5, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Advent 2

Romans 15:4-13  +  Luke 21:25-36

The Lord is coming. But we don’t know when. And not knowing when can be both a blessing and a challenge. If you knew He was coming in five years, would you really be too concerned with getting yourself ready over the next 4-1/2 years? Wouldn’t you wait until closer to His coming to get ready? If you knew He wasn’t even going to come back during your lifetime, how would that affect how you live? Your sinful flesh would surely take advantage of such knowledge. There would be no urgency to repent when you sin, or to confess the faith, or to help your neighbor. And by the time you decided you should start getting your heart and your life together, there would be no faith left to revive. And you would be caught unprepared, and the snare of Christ’s coming would close around you, and you would be eternally trapped. So Jesus’ decision not to tell us when He’s coming was really a blessing.

But it’s also a challenge, because there’s plenty going on down here on earth to keep our attention. We have homes here. We put down roots here. And it’s not easy to view our homes and our earthly lives as just temporary stops along the way to a greater destination. Our homes and our earthly lives can easily become our destination—the goal around which we make all our decisions, the things our hearts are tied to.

So to help us watch and pray, to keep us from being caught unprepared, to keep us from getting so bogged down here that we forget about our heavenly destination, Jesus gave us some reminders which He calls signs, to keep us looking up, to keep us watching and praying.

There will be signs, He says, in the sun and the moon and the stars. And He adds, The powers of heaven will be shaken. What does all that mean? It’s intentionally vague. But very simply, it means that every time you see something out of the ordinary in the sky, it should make you pause and look up and remember what you’re living for, who you’re living for, how you’re living. It should urge you to repent, and to watch and to pray. It should make you think about Jesus, reigning at the right hand of the Father. It should remind you that Jesus is coming soon.

On the earth there will be distress and anxiety among the nations, and the sea and the waves will roar. And men will lose heart from fear and dread of the things that are coming on the world. Every time you see “the nations” distressed and anxious—worldwide distress and anxiety—whether it’s due to war or pandemic or fear and dread of climate change or asteroids, every time you hear of a hurricane or a typhoon or a tsunami, or an earthquake, or a famine, or a war (which Jesus mentions elsewhere as signs of His imminent coming), it should make you pause and look up and remember what you’re living for, who you’re living for, how you’re living. It should urge you to repent, and to watch and to pray. It should make you think about Jesus, reigning at the right hand of the Father. It should remind you that Jesus is coming soon.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus adds this sign: Lawlessness will abound, causing the love of many to grow cold. It’s hard to watch lawlessness and injustice abound in the world. It’s hard to watch loveless people screaming about their right to kill unborn babies, gangs carrying out violence and destruction, sex traffickers and drug dealers and the streets of our cities being lined with filth. But instead of fixating on those horrors when you hear about them on the news and wringing your hands over them, it should make you pause and look up and remember what you’re living for, who you’re living for, how you’re living. It should urge you to repent, and to watch and to pray. It should make you think about Jesus, reigning at the right hand of the Father. It should remind you that Jesus is coming soon.

Also from Matthew’s Gospel: They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Yes, terrible things will happen among Christians and to Christians. They’re already happening. But when you see the Church fractured and broken by false doctrine and the multitude of denominations that are the result of it, when you see the world coming for Christians to silence us and to marginalize us, it should make you pause and look up and remember what you’re living for, who you’re living for, how you’re living. It should urge you to repent, and to watch and to pray. It should make you think about Jesus, reigning at the right hand of the Father. It should remind you that Jesus is coming soon.

A final sign recorded in Matthew: This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. That’s a good sign, isn’t it? And it’s happening, too. The gospel has been and is still being preached in all the world. In fact, sixteen children were baptized just last week in the tribal villages of the Amazon jungle in Peru. When you see that Christians are still gathering all over the world and that the gospel is being preached at all, it should make you pause and look up and remember what you’re living for, who you’re living for, how you’re living. It should urge you to repent, and to watch and to pray. It should make you think about Jesus, reigning at the right hand of the Father. It should remind you that Jesus is coming soon.

These signs may intensify as the Lord’s second Advent approaches. We expect that they will. But they’ve already been in place for a long time, so that Christians have never been without the constant encouragements to watch and to pray. That’s why Jesus said, When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near! These things began happening since almost the beginning of the New Testament era. And Christ’s coming is much nearer now than it was then.

Now, there’s another sign, or even two signs, Jesus gives to demonstrate the truthfulness of His words. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all this takes place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. “This generation” can refer to at least two groups of people. It could refer to the people alive at Jesus’ time, and that would make sense, because really the signs Jesus gives did already start happening in the first century AD. Or it could refer to the unbelieving race of the Jews. That’s how Luther took it, and that would make sense, because contrary to all probability, the Jewish race does continue to exist still today, and most sadly continue in their unbelief. Either way, the signs have been and are being fulfilled, just as Jesus promised. And the fact that Jesus’ words have not passed away, but are still being heard and read and fulfilled even today, is yet another sign that should lead Christians to watch and to pray.

And to drive home the urgency of constantly watching and praying, Jesus adds a warning: Be on your guard, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come like a snare upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Therefore, always watch, and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man. Be on your guard. Why? Because earthly things are heavy. Like weights on the heart. Carousing is basically partying, and while it may seem uplifting, it can actually weigh a person down to avoid watching and praying for a while. Drunkenness puts you in a state of mind that makes it nearly impossible to watch and to pray and to be filled with the Spirit. Cares of this life are always there, but if you get wrapped up in them, they’ll consume you, body and soul. And suddenly Jesus will appear, and you’ll realize you hadn’t given Him a thought in quite a while. Believers in Christ are destined to be lifted up from this world. But if your hearts are weighed down and entangled in earthly things, you won’t be ready to be lifted up away from it. You’ll sink down into the earth like a rock sinks to the bottom of the ocean, never to be seen again.

That day will come like a snare upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. That’s an interesting analogy. A snare is hidden until the last moment, when an animal that was just running along, going about its business, runs right through it, and it traps the creature. The animal didn’t see the snare, how close it was. In the same way, leading up to the last day, people will be going about their business, doing harmless things like eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage, and also doing sinful things, thinking they’ll get away with it again, maybe thinking they’ll have time to repent later. And then, in the next moment, the snare closes around them. Christ will appear, and it will be too late to repent.

So always watch. Watch and pray. Pray that you may be counted worthy to escape “all these things.” Escape what? Escape the signs? Hardly. We’re meant to notice the signs. That means we have to live through them. No, pray that you may be counted worthy to escape being caught in the snare at the coming of the Lord, and pray that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. To stand, not in pride, but to stand as in to pass the test, to pass through the judgment unharmed, uncondemned, righteous, innocent, to stand as one of those who will be allowed to accompany the Son of Man into His glorious kingdom.

How will you be counted worthy? By still believing at the end, by still mourning over your sins and relying only on Christ crucified as the One who paid for your sins and who offers you eternal life as a gift. So watch out for all those things that would entangle you in sin and keep you distant from Christ and His Word and His Sacraments. And as you watch, pray for God’s mercy, to keep you from going astray. And as you pray, recommit yourself to leading a holy life in the time you have left, a life of love and service, a life that confesses Christ before the world, a life that testifies to your hope in the Lord Jesus.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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