Time to focus on the things of God

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the First Day of Lent

Isaiah 59:12-21  +  Joel 2:12-19  +  Matthew 6:16-21

It’s Ash Wednesday. But we’ve never used ashes for Ash Wednesday here at Emmanuel. So it kind of makes sense not to keep using the name Ash Wednesday, doesn’t it? I encourage you to read the explanation in your service folder about the traditional use of ashes and about our preference from now on to simply refer to this Wednesday as the First Day of Lent.

We don’t use ashes, but we do mark the beginning of the Lenten season with this special service, and we are certainly free to observe a fast during this 40-day season before Easter. We can observe it by consciously examining our lives according to the Ten Commandments to identify, confess, and get rid of the sins that we don’t normally take into account. We can observe it by going out of our way to do extra deeds of kindness—as long as we don’t think we’re somehow earning God’s favor or the forgiveness of sins with such deeds. We can also observe it by choosing to avoid certain foods or drinks or desserts, or even by skipping lunch or another meal on certain days during the Lenten season. That sounds “too Catholic” to some Lutherans. But it isn’t “Catholic” at all. It’s completely free and without obligation or regulation. The Lutheran Church has always been in favor of fasting, as long as no one’s conscience is bound to any laws about it and as long as it isn’t seen as an act of worship or as cause for boasting about one’s own piety.

What is the purpose of fasting, then? The purpose is self-discipline, to restrain our bodies so that we can focus on the things of God.

And what are the things of God? It begins with repentance—the kind of repentance Isaiah exemplified in the first reading you heard this evening. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Now, Isaiah was confessing the great idolatries and open rebellion in which Judah had been living and which would result in their almost-complete destruction by the Babylonians. You may be guilty of such open rebellion against God. Or you may not. But all kinds of sin testify against us, the big ones and the little ones. The ones we know and the ones we don’t know. The outright hatred of God and His Word and the indifference toward God and His Word; the hatred of your neighbor and the indifference toward your neighbor. Pride and despair. Jumping into sin together with the world and longing to have the things that the people of the world have, even if you don’t jump into sin with the world. All of these sins reveal the inner blindness and depravity of a sin-sick soul that will never be entirely cured this side of heaven. All of these sins “testify” against us.

You notice, that’s a courtroom analogy, “testifying.” The thing about appearing in court, is that the judge doesn’t care how many times you’ve obeyed the law. All he’s looking at is if you’ve disobeyed the law, and then he’ll make his ruling accordingly. And there are our sins, testifying against us in God’s courtroom, before the Judge whose only real punishment is hellfire.

And there’s no one to intervene. The facts of the case are indisputable. But what else does Isaiah say? Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak…The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD.

A guilty man in court may be very penitent, very sorrowful over crimes he’s committed. That doesn’t change the guilty ruling. At best, it may keep the judge from imposing the maximum sentence. But with God, guilty is guilty, and eternal condemnation is the result for everyone who’s found guilty, penitent or not. Repentance is not the key to forgiveness. Christ is the key to forgiveness; repentance is the path to Christ. Because God, in His mercy, made a way for our guilty verdict to be changed. God, in Christ, became guilty of our crimes, the big ones and the little ones. He allowed our trespasses to testify against Him. And He paid for them all, so that those who are truly guilty might no longer be counted guilty. That’s what makes repentance worthwhile. In the courtroom of the Gospel, the penitent is invited to trust in Christ Jesus and so be declared innocent, righteousness, holy, clean.

So focusing on the things of God begins with a focus on repentance and on the peace of the forgiveness of sins that God grants to all the penitent for Christ’s sake. The season of Lent is meant to drive us back daily, not only to a recognition and confession of our transgressions, but to our Baptism, where all our sins and transgressions were washed away, so that even today, as we continue to trust in Christ, we stand under the protective shelter of Christ’s forgiveness.

But Baptism does more than that. It was a new birth into a new life. Our first birth made us children of this world. But that second birth of Holy Baptism made us children of heaven, children of God. It means that this world, this life, is not our forever home. This world is passing away. Boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, houses, games, movies, careers, money, pastimes—those things won’t be around for much longer. And so Jesus urges us in the Gospel, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How do you lay up treasures in heaven? With Bible reading and study, because the God who speaks to you in Holy Scripture will still be the same God who speaks to you in heaven. With prayer, because the God to whom you speak here without seeing Him will be the same God to whom you speak openly and visibly in heaven. With deeds of love and kindness, because those things prepare you for life in heaven, where love and kindness will be the continual way of life of God’s people. With love and encouragement for your fellow Christians, because they will be there, rejoicing with you in heaven. With a readiness to confess your faith before men and to invite others to know the Gospel that you know, because some of those who hear will believe and will be there in heaven to share eternity with you. With self-denial and earthly sacrifices, because the things you give up here will be multiplied many times over in heaven. With patient endurance of suffering here for Christ’s sake, because your reward in heaven will be great.

Take the time, make the time over the next six weeks to discipline yourselves, to focus on the things of God, to restrain your flesh, to evaluate your life and to get rid of the sins that lurk in your thoughts, words and deeds. Take the time, make the time to live in daily contrition and repentance, to meditate on the things of God, to receive the preaching and the body and blood of Christ, and to serve your neighbor in love. Amen.

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Seeing begins with listening, and with love

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Quinquagesima

1 Corinthians 13:1-13  +  Luke 18:31-43

On this last Sunday before Lent, we join Jesus, His disciples, and the multitudes who were marching in procession with Him on His way to Jerusalem for Holy Week. It gives us a final opportunity to prepare before we step into Lent this Wednesday. Our goal is to see Jesus, to really see Him and to understand what He came to do, and why, and what He would have us do with the life He’s given us. Today in our Gospel, the Lord teaches us to listen, and to love, so that, eventually, we may learn also to see.

For at least the second time, Jesus took His twelve apostles aside and taught them plainly about the things that were about to happen to Him: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.

Listen! Jesus tells His disciples. Listen to the Old Testament prophets. They wrote so many things about the Son of Man, about the Christ. Jesus’ apostles had already confessed Jesus to be the Christ. Now they were told to listen to what that meant. Everyone seemed to know that the Christ would be the Son of David, and that meant, He would be a great King who would rule in righteousness over His people and save them from their enemies. They also seemed to know that He would be a great Prophet who would reveal God to them and explain God’s will to them. What few people recognized was that the Christ would also be a Priest who would offer one great sacrifice to God, a sacrifice that would change everything, a sacrifice that would make atonement for all the sins of men. He would offer up Himself to God, just as God intended it to be.

Listen! He will be delivered to the Gentiles. David was one of the prophets who had said that that about the Son of David: Why do the nations (that is, the Gentiles) rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed? And just as Israel was handed over to the Gentiles in the Old Testament during the Babylonian captivity, so the Christ, who was often referred to simply as Israel, would be handed over to them.

Listen! He will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. Again, David prophesied these things about his greater Son in Psalm 22: All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” And Isaiah said of the Christ in chapter 50, I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.

Listen! They will scourge Him and kill Him, as Isaiah had prophesied in chapter 53: But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (Stripes, of course, are the result of scourging with a jagged whip.) He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. We’ll hear those words again on Good Friday. But Jesus calls on His disciples to listen now, before Good Friday, so that when Good Friday comes, they’ll be able to see the reason for it: It was all because of love—God’s great love for fallen, sinful mankind.

And finally, Jesus called on the apostles to listen to that other thing the prophets had prophesied, that the third day He will rise again, as David prophesied in Psalm 16: Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life.

The disciples knew all these prophecies. They knew the Old Testament well. Yet still we’re told that they understood none of these things.

We can’t fault the Jews for not understanding all those prophecies ahead of time. But why is it that the twelve apostles can’t even understand them when Jesus openly connects the dots for them? This saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken. They weren’t supposed to understand yet. For now, they were only supposed to listen. And to follow on. It’s a good example for us when we don’t understand. Keep listening! And follow on! All will be made clear eventually. For now, trust Jesus in the things He has made clear to you, above all, His great love in going willingly into the hands of wicked men, to be put to shame and to death for our salvation.

The disciples had their physical sight, but their spiritual insight was, at the moment, somewhat blurry. The opposite was true of the blind beggar whom they encountered on the way to Jerusalem. He had no physical sight, but his spiritual insight was rather keen. Far better than the crowds that were in this procession with Jesus.

He’s listening, as all blind people tend to do very well. He hears the commotion of the large procession and asks what it’s about. So they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by!

So the beggar cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Again, the blind beggar showed that he had been listening—listening to the good word going around about Jesus, of His miracles and of His kindness. And by that simple word that had filtered down to this blind street beggar, the Holy Spirit had enlightened the eyes of his heart to know Jesus as the Son of David, the Christ. He may not have understood much, but he understood this: the Son of David is known for His mercy—His mercy toward the sinners, His mercy toward the pitiful and miserable, His mercy toward those who had nothing to offer Him except their sin and their misery. So, trusting in the Savior’s mercy, He cried out for it.

The crowds, though, the ones who were marching with Jesus to Jerusalem, reacted terribly to the beggar’s cries. They did something awful. Those who went before warned him that he should be quiet. Now, why would they do that? They did it, because they were focused on the Son of David as glorious King, not as merciful Savior. They did it, because, in their excitement or in their pride, they had forgotten about the most important thing: they had forgotten about love.

The same would later happen among the Christians in Corinth. They were so proud of how wise they were, how much they knew, how many spiritual gifts they had. But St. Paul reminds them that all of that is meaningless without love.

And not “love” in the modern sense. The term has been twisted almost beyond recognition in our society. Very often, “love” in America means supporting people in their sinful choices, while doing your best to crush anyone who opposes those sinful choices. You can see the devil’s own influence on our language.

And you can surely see the devil’s influence on your heart, too, if you compare your attitudes and your actions with St. Paul’s description of love in today’s Epistle. It’s the love that Jesus showed to everyone all the time, but especially in His willing march to the cross. And it’s what the crowds in our Gospel failed to show to the blind beggar.

But faith allowed him to look past the lovelessness of Jesus’ follows to see Jesus Himself with the eyes of faith. He cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

After listening to the word about Jesus, after trusting in Jesus, after receiving the gift of Jesus’ love, the beggar finally received his sight. And he praised God. And the multitude of people who, a moment earlier, had wandered away from love, witnessed the mercy and the love of Jesus and then gave praise to God. Love had been restored, and with it, sight—the sight of Jesus, not as a glorious earthly King, but as a merciful and loving Savior, who forgives sins to all who trust in Him and who is ready and willing to help all who seek His mercy. And seeing Jesus in that light, we’re moved not only to greater faith, but also to greater love.

Pray for such spiritual sight, for the Lenten season and beyond! It begins with listening, and with love. And it continues with more listening and more love. I sincerely urge all of you to set aside some of the distractions of daily life to attend all the extra services we’ll be observing over the next seven weeks or so. Here God will speak so that you may listen. Here God will reveal His love in Christ, so that you may receive it and so that you may learn more and more to reflect it. May God bless His Word among us and cause His face to shine on us! Amen.

 

 

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A plea to use your God-given ears

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Sexagesima

2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9  +  Luke 8:4-15

Last week we talked about the vice called Pride as Jesus attacked it in His parable of the laborers in the vineyard. Today’s parable of the Sower and the Seed also attacks Pride from yet another angle: as it gets in the way of hearing God’s Word so that it actually produces a crop in your heart.

It’s easy to picture what’s going on in the parable of the Sower and the Seed. The farmer walks through his field, tossing a handful of seed in an arc as he goes. His field lies close to the walking path, and some of the seed falls there by the wayside. The wayside is hard, compacted soil, so the seed never penetrates. Some of it gets trampled or snatched away by the birds. Some of the seed falls on rocky soil. It sprouts quickly, but the rocks keep the young plant from sending down roots to find moisture, and when the sun gets hot, it withers and dies. Some of the seed falls among the thorny weeds. It starts to grow, but it’s choked and overwhelmed by the weeds before it can produce any fruit. And finally, some of the seed falls on good soil, where it can sprout, send down roots to find moisture, sustain the heat of the day, and grow up into the plant it was meant to be, so that a single seed produces a plant that produces lots of fruit.

But what heavenly lesson does Jesus want to teach with this parable? We probably wouldn’t understand the parable at all, if Jesus’ disciples hadn’t asked Him what it meant. Imagine if their Pride had kept them from asking! They asked, because they were humble enough to know they needed Jesus’ guidance. They asked, because they cared; they wanted to understand what Jesus was teaching. Caring about the meaning of Jesus’ words and humbly seeking to understand them and put them into practice is, in fact, one of the points of the parable. The disciples asked, and Jesus did explain it to them, and through them, to us, for which we can be eternally grateful, because it means that these words of Jesus are there for us to hear and to learn from.

The multitudes who came to hear Jesus heard, but for the most part, didn’t understand, and, apparently, weren’t too eager to seek the meaning from Jesus. In that way, they were like the seed that fell along the wayside or the walking path. The seed is the word of God—everything Jesus speaks, everything recorded in Holy Scripture, everything preached by the ministers of Jesus (assuming they are preaching in line with His revealed word). It’s the word of God that tells how this universe was created in six days, how mankind sinned against God and brought sin and death into the world. It’s the word of God that tells how the nations all went their own way, but God preserved His word in Israel until the coming of the Christ. It’s the word of God that tells how Jesus Christ is true God and true Man, how He obeyed God’s Law in our place, how He allowed Himself to be rejected and crucified as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, how He rose from the dead and sends out His Spirit into the world in the Gospel to gather a holy Church to Himself, to bring sinners to faith. It’s the word of God that tells Christians how to use the Word and Sacraments that God has provided and how to live as saints in the world. It’s the word of God that tells you, repent and believe the Gospel!

But what happens sometimes? A person hears God’s Word and doesn’t understand what he hears. So what does he do about it? Nothing. Oh well, he says. I don’t understand. I’m just not smart enough, I guess. That sort of sounds like humility, but in reality, it’s a form of Pride. I don’t understand it, but I don’t want anyone else to know that I don’t understand it. I don’t understand, but that’s OK. I don’t have the time or desire or need to seek out someone—like a pastor—who might explain it to me. I don’t need to study it. I don’t need to pray for God’s help in understanding. In the end, I have all I need; I don’t need God’s Word.

At other times, the wayside-hearers are just so distracted with other things that they aren’t really listening. If I asked you who were here last Sunday to give me a general outline of the sermon, I wonder how many would be able to. If I asked the children to explain the Bible stories from the last two Sundays, I wonder if they could. If I asked you to summarize the text of the hymn we sang right before the sermon this morning, I wonder, could you? Or has the word of God that was in those hymns already been snatched away by the devil? Is God’s Word being trampled by your smartphone, or by the to-do list running through your mind, or by some bitterness or anger you’re harboring? Do you fail to think about the things you hear or read? Or if you do think about them, are you content not to understand them? He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

As for the seed that fell on the rocky soil, it’s the word of God that’s heard by people who nod their heads in agreement and in appreciation for what God is teaching. They become members of the Church. (Some even become pastors!) But when troubles or persecutions arise because of the word of Christ, they let go of God’s Word in order to avoid trouble, or in order to hold onto some earthly thing, like a possession (or like a synod). Pride says, I’ll only stay with God’s Word as long as it doesn’t hurt me. So ask yourself, is God’s Word pleasant and sweet in your ears on Sunday morning, but absent from your speech the rest of the week, because you have so many troubles to deal with, because speaking God’s Word would make you seem weird to your friends, or hated by your society, or your job could be on the line if you confess your Christian faith? He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

As for the seed that fell among the weeds, it’s the word of God that’s heard by people who come to Church, but then do nothing with it all week, because they have so many other things to take care of, so many fun things to do, people to see, money to make. Pride says, I’ll only stay with God’s Word as long as it doesn’t get in the way of all the other things I want to do. And faith is starved. Prayer and good works are choked by the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life. Is that you? He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Finally, there was the seed that fell on good soil. The ones that fell on the good ground, Jesus says, are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. If you’ve been listening to the sermon, if you’re listening now, then God’s Word has already found its way into your heart. What will you do with what you’ve heard? Your heart doesn’t have to be hard like a walking path; the devil can’t snatch God’s Word away if you’re paying attention to it and care about it. Your faith doesn’t have to be shallow; God’s Word is like a hammer that shatters the rock, and He is able to preserve you in times of trouble and persecution. Your faith doesn’t have to be choked by the cares, riches, and pleasures of life; God’s Word is even now warding off those things so that you don’t get distracted by them or caught up in them. Your heart can be noble and good. You can keep God’s Word. You can bear fruit with patience. Not because you are your own source of strength, but because the Spirit of God is present in the word you’re hearing to help you. His grace is sufficient for you. Don’t let Pride get in the way of His help!

Christ calls on us all today to get serious about hearing God’s Word and doing what it says, consciously watching out for all the obstacles He mentions in this parable. Take His warnings to heart. Because He loves you and doesn’t want to see His Word snatched away, or your faith withered or choked to death. He wants to see you grow up into the flourishing tree He means you to be, so that you can not only remain in His kingdom, but be a blessing to everyone around you. Amen.

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A remedy for Pride

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Septuagesima

1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5  +  Matthew 20:1-16

Two and a half weeks from today, the Lenten season begins, at the far side of which, roughly 70 days from now, stands Easter Sunday. We have a lot of ground to cover between here and there as we follow Jesus in earnest to receive His teaching and His salvation. And today’s Scripture Lessons provide the necessary first step in that journey. From two different angles, they both tackle the vice that lies at the root of all other vices, that sin that’s so easy to recognize in others, but almost impossible to recognize in ourselves, that’s so ugly when displayed by your neighbor, but nearly invisible when you look in the mirror. It’s the vice we call Pride.

Pride is competitive by nature. It wants to outdo others. It wants to be recognized above others, as having done a better job, as being more deserving of reward. And so Pride is, by definition, self-centered, which is why it’s such a deadly sin, because if you are the center of your thoughts and desires, then not only is there no room in your heart for your neighbor; there’s no room there for God.

C.S. Lewis once suggested that the easiest way to diagnose how proud you are is to ask yourself how much it bothers you when other people act proud around you, or, when you don’t get the recognition you think you deserve for the work you’ve done or for the sacrifices you’ve made.

Isn’t that what happened in today’s Gospel, in Jesus’ parable of the tenants? The owner of the vineyard went out early and hired some who ended up working a 12-hour day. He went out again and again throughout the day, hiring others, who worked either a little or a lot less than 12 hours. Some of them worked only one hour. He had agreed to pay the 12-hour workers one denarius at the end of the day, and they were happy with that—until they saw all the other workers, even those who worked only one hour—receiving the same one denarius for their work. They expected to receive more—more than they themselves had agreed to! And when they didn’t receive more, they were angry. These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.

And so their Pride was revealed. And it was ugly, wasn’t it? The owner of the vineyard sure thought so. Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

That’s the problem with Pride. Even when you get what you deserve, you’re still angry because someone else is getting the same good things you’re getting, “Because,” you think, “they didn’t deserve it! Now I deserve even more!”

Jesus’ disciples may have fallen into such Pride, especially after what Jesus had told them in the verses just before our text: And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Jesus promised great rewards to His Twelve Apostles and to all who sacrifices much for His sake. But what of those who don’t sacrifice as much? What of those who don’t labor as long in His vineyard? What of those who have lived in sin their whole lives, indulging their flesh, living outside the Church? What will they receive if they are brought to repentance and faith, if they are brought into the Christian Church late in life? Will they receive a hundredfold and eternal life, too? Will they receive the same reward I will receive? That’s not fair!

Yes, Pride is very concerned with “fairness.” But God would remind you today that “fairness” would mean your eternal condemnation. If God treated you as you deserve, then He would judge you according to the strictness of His holy Law, and you would fail miserably. Because His Law doesn’t compare you with other people. It compares you with God. It explores all your thoughts and motives. It reveals how bothered you are when you don’t get recognized for the work you’ve done, or when others get recognized who haven’t done as much. It finds Pride in you and condemns you for it.

That condemnation should produce the opposite of Pride in you. In should produce humility. Humility looks outward, not inward. Humility looks up, not down. It doesn’t look for repayment based on merit; it hopes for mercy, based on the grace of the Giver. And God is rich in mercy and grace. He gave His Son to us, so that He could earn God’s favor for us, so that He could merit eternal life for the unworthy and suffer and die the death that proud people actually deserve.

God has called you into His vineyard, which is the Church. He has washed away your sins in Holy Baptism and given you work to do in His kingdom, until the end of the day, when Christ returns to give you even far more than you could ever have in this life. Don’t let Pride keep you receiving God’s gift of eternal life. Because, if at the end of your life you find yourself despising God’s grace to others, thinking that you do actually deserve something from Him, then you will have fallen from grace yourself, and you will hear the tragic, “Go your way!” from God.

It’s that very thing that the Apostle Paul writes about to the Corinthians in today’s Epistle. They had many gifts in Corinth—so many gifts, that they began to think very highly of themselves, comparing themselves with others. They began to think that they were secure in God’s kingdom, no matter what, that they stood firm. Nothing could possibly jeopardize their salvation. Yes, Pride was a real danger in Corinth.

But what does Paul tell them? Even he, a chosen Apostle of Christ Jesus, didn’t dare become proud. I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. And then he points them to the example of the Old Testament Israelites, who also thought they stood firm in God’s kingdom. After all, He had just rescued them from the slavery of Egypt and brought them safely through the Red Sea with Moses. But what happened to them? In their Pride, they became so secure that they thought they could go ahead and make a golden calf for themselves and bow down to it, that they could ignore the very First Commandment that God had just given them. The result? God put tens of thousands of them to death, so that they their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

What’s the antidote for such Pride? First, a hard look in the mirror of God’s holy Law, where you are forced to compare yourself with God and realize how far short you fall of His glory. There in the Law you find out that there is no place for the proud in God’s kingdom. Second, an urgent appeal to the Throne of Grace, seeking God’s mercy, not for your sake, but for Christ’s sake, who earned God’s favor for you. To those who trust in Christ, God gives the forgiveness of sins and promises the reward of eternal life at the end of the day. And He does promise to reward your work and give you far more than you have ever sacrificed for Him. But He reminds you to seek Him by grace, for Christ’s sake, not to focus on how much work you’ve done. And then St. Paul tells you how to labor in the vineyard from now on: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

Live your Christian life as one who is running a race, as if competing for the prize, recognizing that the prize only goes to the one who comes in first, so you want to come in first. Now, Pride likes competition, but you’re not actually competing with other people for the prize. Everyone runs his own race. The point of St. Paul’s analogy is that, to reach the end of your life still clinging to Christ in faith requires effort, requires discipline. Not that it all depends on you; it doesn’t. God Himself provides the Means of Grace and the Holy Spirit and the strength you need to run. But, as a Christian, you do have to run.

That means bodily discipline. It means regular prayer. Fasting is OK, too, and has been used by Christians over the ages as a form of bodily discipline. Running the race to win also means time each day for Bible reading and for Catechism review. It means going out of your way to help someone, whether it’s at the soup kitchen or here at the Church. It means, if you’re able, you come to Bible class as well as the Divine Service, and to the services in between, too. It probably means less Facebook. Less TV. Less time in front of a screen. More exercise, eating better, and certainly eating and drinking the Lord’s body and blood in Holy Communion whenever possible.

All of these things are useful for warding off that inborn vice called Pride, which still threatens to turn Christians from loving God to loving themselves. But we have the powerful Word of Jesus in today’s Gospel and in today’s Epistle to keep us running in the right direction, to keep us focused on the God who has given us His Son and has called us into His vineyard, where He daily hands out, freely and generously, the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Amen.

 

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The glory of Christ, the hope of the Church

Posted on February 10, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

2 Peter 1:16-21  +  Matthew 17:1-9

We always end the Epiphany season with this climactic celebration of the Transfiguration. There are two reasons. First, the other revelations of Christ’s glory—His miracles and His teaching—were certainly evidences of His divinity, but never for a moment did Jesus Himself appear to be anything but a lowly human being; those other epiphanies were all building up to this ultimate, visible revelation of Jesus’ glory to three of His disciples. Here in the Gospel, here on the Mount of Transfiguration, we’re finally given a glimpse of the glory that is Christ’s by nature and by right. Secondly, we’re about to follow Jesus toward the cross in our annual observance of Lent, where we’re going to lose sight, for a while, of the truth of Jesus’ glorious divinity, where we’re going to observe His glory in choosing humiliation, pain and death in order to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil. The Transfiguration gives us a glimpse of the heavenly glory that belongs to Jesus at all times, even when He appears weak and a failure. And if it belongs to Him, then it will also belong to us who have been baptized into Him.

So, first of all in today’s Gospel, know the glory that is Christ’s.

Jesus took just three of His disciples up onto the mountain with Him for the Transfiguration: Peter, James, and John. That tells us something: you didn’t have to see this glorious event in order to be one of Jesus’ followers, or even to be one of Jesus’ apostles. It was enough that three disciples should be witnesses of it. After the resurrection, Jesus gave them permission to tell the others about it. That was enough.

We may ask, why these three? These three were often the ones chosen by Jesus to witness certain miracles or certain events. We don’t why, but we can guess at it a little. Peter would stand up as a leader in Jerusalem. James would be the first martyr of the twelve apostles. And John would outlast them all, being forced to watch as the hatred of the world was poured out on the rest of the apostles and on the young Christian Church. It would be good for these three to have a special revelation of Jesus’ glory.

They went up on the mountain, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

This is the glory that no one would have ever guessed by looking at Jesus. He normally looked “normal,” like any man. He wore a normal man’s clothes—not even the clothing of the rich, much less clothing that was white as the light. He talked with normal men—even with the outcasts and the sinners. He certainly didn’t normally go around talking with the sainted prophets.

But here, for a moment, Jesus shows His three disciples how not normal He really is. He is God, and He is surrounded by the great believers of the past. Moses is a witness for the Law. Elijah is a witness for the Prophets. They all had been pointing to this Man, to Jesus the Christ, who had to come into the world as a Man, and live, and die, and live again in order to make atonement for the sins of the world and to bring His atonement to sinners through the Gospel. These famous Old Testament prophets were faithful to God in life, and even now they were not dead. They were alive and shared in the glory of Christ.

 

 

That brings us to our second point this morning: Knowing the glory that is Christ’s, remember the glory that awaits the Church.

Moses grew up around pagans in the palace of Pharaoh. He murdered an Egyptian at age 40, was exiled for 40 years, then spent the next 40 years trudging through the desert leading a stubborn and disobedient people who kept him from entering the Promised Land. He died right there on the edge of Canaan. Elijah spent his entire ministry opposing the wicked kings and queens of Israel, confronting the idolatry of Israel, feeling like he was all alone in the world as a believer in the true God who had promised to send the Christ one day. For as great as these men were in their day, for as great as the miracles were that they performed, neither of them saw days of peace on earth. Both of them were sinners who lived in hope—hope of a future peace, a future glory, a future without the evils of this world surrounding them and pressing down on them at every moment, a future in the presence of God.

God shows us in the Transfiguration what the outcome was for them. They were not disappointed. They obtained the blessed crown of life. They shared in the glory of Jesus. They were able to look back on the story of this world as those who had already read to the end of the book. They know that it all ends well for Christ and for the people of Christ.

Here God gives us a vision, a picture of our hope as Christians. This is what we have to look forward to: blessed conversation with Jesus in glory, separated forever from the filth and from the insanity of this world, freed from our sins and failures, free from having our souls tormented by the horrific wickedness in which this world seems to be drowning. Jesus and His apostles were not joking when they taught us to long for that day when He returns. The more you feel the weight of the world’s wickedness pressing down on you, the more hope the Transfiguration offers, because not only is this the glory that awaits those who persevere in the faith until the end, but this glorious Jesus is even now reigning in the midst of man’s wretchedness, somehow turning the course of this hate-filled world to benefit His holy Church, so that we and many others may reach the glorious finish line.

That brings us to our third and final point this morning. What to do now? Very simply, listen in humility until the glory is revealed.

Peter wants to stay on the mountain: Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. We can sympathize with Peter. But the Father knows the disciples have to go back down the mountain. The Transfiguration has been a blessed reprieve in their journey; they haven’t reached the finish line yet.

So what are the Father’s instructions? He speaks from the bright cloud: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him! Listen to My beloved Son!

But, but, Jesus had told His disciples just six days earlier that He would have to suffer and bear the cross! That they, too, would have to suffer and bear the cross for His sake! Yes, says the Father. Listen to Him! It’s true! He must suffer and die, and you must deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow Him. The path of the cross is painful and deadly to your flesh, but it’s the only path that ends in glory and in life. So hear Him! Listen to Him! That’s the only way you’ll be able to walk the path of the cross.

We, too, would love to be in heaven already. We might wish that we didn’t have to face another day in this world (and if you don’t wish that now, I promise, you will before the end comes). The world is crumbling. We’re losing our rights. We’re losing our freedoms. Children are being murdered, on both sides of the womb. The borders are being breeched. Sex trafficking is going on all around us. We’re literally surrounded by a world that has openly abandoned God. And the Christian Gospel has been reduced to a still small voice in the world.

Yes, yes, I know, says God the Father. Now here’s what I want you to do. Hear Him! Listen to My beloved Son! I give Him to you as Savior from sin and as Ruler at My right hand. Listen to His Gospel when it is preached! Really listen! Really work at paying attention! And when you feel like you’re immersed in the world’s raging and in the devil’s temptations, let the words of My Son rise up in your ears and in your hearts above the chaos and let them drown out the world below!

What we do here in the Church, what we confess, what we believe, what we focus on seems increasingly irrelevant to and at odds with the daily life we have to live in the world. This here hardly seems real. But the Transfiguration reminds us that the opposite is really true. This here—the preaching of the word of Christ and the administration of the Sacraments of Christ—is what’s real and what’s eternal, while the antics of society will soon be over and done. Heaven and earth will pass away, Jesus says, but My words will never pass away. So hear Him and see to it that His words bring you back to the reality every day, not just on Sundays. As Peter wrote in the Epistle, we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

The day will surely dawn when we see the glory of Jesus with our eyes, when the hope of the Church is fulfilled. Until that day, hear Him in humility and keep your eyes trained on Christ crucified, who, by His death, has purchased for you the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, who, by His glorious resurrection, has conquered death, and who, by His word and Sacraments, will strengthen and preserve you in the faith, so that one day, with your own eyes, you will see Him and join Him in His glory. Amen.

 

 

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