Rejoice patiently in the good things Christ is doing

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/306697684 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Just how hard can things get as we wait for Christ’s second coming? Look at John the Baptist. He proclaimed Christ as the Coming One. In fact, he preached the whole counsel of God, which included God’s design for marriage. He preached openly against King Herod, who had unlawfully taken his brother’s wife to be his own. John was arrested and thrown into prison for it. There he sat in prison, waiting to be executed. And Christ the Coming One wasn’t doing a thing to stop it.

The fact is, Christ’s first coming hadn’t solved the world’s problems, nor had it solved the problems of His faithful ones. On the contrary, things had gotten worse for John, not better. Death loomed before his eyes. The Old Testament prophets, in many places, had painted a glorious picture of the coming of the Messiah, as we’ve been considering on Wednesday evenings. John was seeing none of that glory. Was John himself beginning to wonder about Jesus? Or were his disciples the ones who were wondering? Maybe both. In any case, John’s perspective was limited by the bars of the jail cell; he couldn’t see anything that the Christ was doing. So he sent some of his remaining disciples to Jesus to ask Him about it, which was a very good thing to do.

Are You the Coming One, they asked Him, or do we look for another? The prophets had foretold a time of judgment, a time of justice at the arrival of the Coming One. The prophets had foretold a Messianic era of peace and prosperity for God’s people, safety from their enemies, the spread of God’s kingdom throughout the world. The prophets had also foretold the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Messiah. So far in Jesus’ ministry, they hadn’t seen any of those things. John himself foretold that the Coming One would 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 John didn’t see any of these things, either. Things seemed to have stalled for a little while. God’s plan of salvation didn’t seem to be advancing very quickly or very forcefully, didn’t appear to be moving toward any of the grand accomplishments prophesied for the Messianic era. So, are You the Coming One, Jesus? Or should we expect someone else?

You can understand John’s question, can’t you? We ourselves often fail to understand God’s timing of things. To us, it would make sense for Jesus to come and do everything at once: atone for sins AND convert sinners AND fix the world’s problems all at once, quickly, easily, as soon as He came the first time. But that’s not what we see. We see a world that’s gone mad in every imaginable way, and in some ways that no one could have imagined just a decade ago. We see the Gospel being silenced, being obscured by false doctrine. We see Christians believing for a while and then falling away. We see the Church in shambles. We see the little groups of God’s faithful people throughout the world struggling just to survive. Can this really be the Messiah’s kingdom?

What did Jesus say in response to John’s disciples? Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. It’s true, not everything that the prophets had prophesied was taking place yet. There were things about the Coming One’s kingdom that hadn’t been fulfilled yet when John sent his disciples to Jesus. And there are still things about His kingdom that have yet to be fulfilled. But look, John, at the miraculous things that are being done according to the prophecies, Jesus says, at the Gospel being preached, just as the prophecies said it would be, at the prophecies that are being fulfilled, at the individuals who are being helped by the Christ even now. Or rather, since you can’t look there inside your prison, listen! Listen to the Word of God as your disciples bring it back to you!

Jesus didn’t do everything all at once that the prophets said He would do. But then, the prophets never said that He would do everything all at once. In fact, the prophets, for the most part, foresaw the whole New Testament era, from Christ’s first coming to His second coming, as one enormous painting set before their eyes. Some things that they foresaw are on one side of the painting, in the early days of Christ’s ministry. Other things that they foresaw are on the other side of the painting, waiting for Christ’s return at the very end of the age. And still other things they described in down-to-earth figures of speech, even though they were referring to inward, spiritual events in the Messiah’s reign. Focus on the good things that the Christ has done and has been doing. Be patient! Don’t minimize the importance of the good things, just because you haven’t seen everything yet.

Then Jesus speaks a blessing, laced with a warning: And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. If you insist on putting Jesus on your own timetable, if you’ll only believe in Him if He offers a speedy solution to the trials you’re going through at the moment, if you refuse to rejoice in all the good He has already done and is now doing for His kingdom and for you, then you will be offended by Him. You will stumble over Him, because He rarely works in the ways that seem to make sense to us. If He did, of course, He wouldn’t be God, who says, For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. Hear His Word, calling you to repentance. Hear His Word, calling you to faith. Hear His Word, announcing to you the forgiveness of sins and pronouncing a blessing upon you. And then see all the good things that Jesus has done in fulfillment of prophecy.

John died before seeing any more of God’s saving plan being carried out. But we know how much more the kingdom of God has advanced since that moment. After John was beheaded by King Herod, Jesus continued to preach. His preaching grew more poignant, more direct. He was simultaneously selected by the people of Jerusalem as their Savior and rejected by the leaders of Jerusalem as their Savior. He was crucified. He was raised from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He sent His Spirit into the world. And His kingdom has spread to every corner of the globe, all according to the Old Testament prophecies and His own prophecies. As we heard in last week’s Gospel, Heaven and earth will pass away. But My words will never pass away. Sure enough, we are still hearing His words, speaking them, learning them, confessing them, passing them on to our children. The Church is still being built. The Church hasn’t been snuffed out of existence, nor will it ever be. See the good things Christ has done and is doing! Rejoice patiently in those good things, even as you wait for the rest of the good things to happen in His good time.

For now, Jesus points you back to John. He reminds the crowds who were with Him about John’s ministry. He reminds them why they went out to hear him in the first place. Not because he said nice, pretty things. Not because he was handsome or finely dressed. They went out to hear the truth from him, and the truth isn’t always pretty, isn’t always nice, isn’t always comforting. But it was the truth: This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You. The same truth that John the Baptist proclaimed 2,000 years ago is still the truth today and still applies to you here. The Christ is coming! And with Him, judgment for the impenitent and redemption for the penitent and believing. So prepare the way before Him! Repent of your sins! Look to the Christ for healing and redemption! He is doing great things in the world, even now, although your perspective and your knowledge of it may be limited. Rejoice patiently in the things Christ is doing! And know for certain that all the other good things He has promised will come when He comes again, even the destruction of sin and death and the restoration of righteousness and life. Amen.

 

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Rejoice patiently in the good things Christ is doing

Watch and pray! Pray and watch!

Posted on December 9, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/305381418 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Sermon for Populus Sion – Advent 2

Romans 15:4-13  +  Luke 21:25-36

Johann Sebastian Bach, that greatest of Lutheran church musicians, wrote a cantata for this Sunday in the church year. In English it begins, “Watch ye! Pray ye! Pray ye! Watch ye! Be ye ready, ever ready, till the Lord, the heavens rending, maketh of this earth an ending.” What a beautiful little summary of today’s Gospel! The Lord is coming with destruction for the earth and for most of mankind, but with redemption for the few who are counted worthy to escape the destruction. So watch and pray! Pray and watch, so that you may be among the blessed ready.

But if you’ve ever watched anything, I mean, watching and waiting for something to happen, you know how easy it is to look away when nothing happens for a while. So to keep us from looking away, to keep us watchful, to keep us praying, the Lord Jesus has filled the world with omens, signs, harbingers of His coming, so that, if we ever begin to look away or fall asleep or become weighed down with the things of this life, the signs should serve as merciful gifts of God, intended to shake us out of our slumber and jerk our heads back up again, urging us again to watch and pray! Pray and watch!

Matthew’s Gospel mentions all kinds of signs that Luke omits. Matthew talks about wars, earthquakes, and famines. He says that the love of most will grow cold. He speaks of many false teachers and false teachings and many people being deceived by them; Christians persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death; and a great falling away from the true Church. We see these things happening all around us. And instead of becoming depressed by them or angered by them, let’s view them as fulfillments of Jesus’ prophecy, as leaves on the fig tree, to use Jesus’ analogy, urging us to watch and pray, pray and watch. All these things are signs of Christ’s coming.

Luke, however, focuses on things that cause fear in the world. Signs in the sun, moon, and stars. Now, which things in the sky above are signs of the hastening of Christ’s coming and which things are “natural” occurrences? Well, it’s not an either/or question, is it? Is the budding of leaves on a tree the sign that summer is near, or is it a natural occurrence? Clearly it’s both! And many of those “natural” occurrences in the heavens have sparked fear and dread in the hearts of men over the ages, from eclipses to sun spots and solar flares to comets to “shooting stars” to supernovae. And if God has planned other more terrifying events to come in the heavens, we wouldn’t be surprised. God has worked all sorts of unusual occurrences into the universe—things which may be “natural” or which may be miraculous, but which are also different enough to cause us to remember, “That’s right! Jesus is coming soon! I need to watch and pray! Pray and watch!”

There will be distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. Distress. Anxiety. Perplexity. Confusion. I think those are some pretty good words to describe the state of the nations today, don’t you? People are wringing their hands over just about everything these days. There is actual perplexity and confusion in the world today about even the most obvious things, like what’s the difference between a boy and a girl, and, are boys supposed to fall in love with boys or with girls, or doesn’t it matter? Not only that, but everything seems to be a crisis. Every election spells doom and gloom for the nation and for the world. Every change in the weather is reason to panic. “Oh no! We’re heading for an ice age! Oh no! The polar ice caps are melting! Everything needs to be fixed! Everything needs to be changed, needs to undergo a fundamental transformation!” (So people think.) “We need to make progress!” But progress toward what? And by what means?

 

 

Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. Did you hear that the average life expectancy for Americans has gone down again? It’s due, in part to deaths by drug overdose, and in part to deaths by suicide. Drugs and suicide—two of the most common ways for people to try to escape the despair and the fear that plague them. But everyone seems to know that something is coming, something dreadful, something terrible. Is it aliens? Is it an asteroid? Is it overpopulation? Is it climate change? Is it AI—artificial intelligence? No one knows what’s coming, but everyone is growing more and more afraid.

I should say, no one in the unbelieving world knows what’s coming. But you know. You know what’s coming upon our world. It’s called Judgment Day. It’s the second and final coming of the Lord Christ into this world to expose all the wickedness of men, to condemn every deed, every word, every opinion that goes against His Word. He has announced His coming. He continues to have it announced in the world through His preachers. He has even given signs of His coming to keep men watchful. But the unbeliever is unbelieving, so it will all come as a great surprise to them when they realize too late that there really is a God, and that the Word of Christ was true all along.

The world will melt in fear and dread at the coming of Christ, as well they should. But He doesn’t want that day to be a fearful day for you! Nor does He want you to be surprised by it. What does He say in our Gospel? When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. As long as you are in Christ, as long as you are seeking refuge under the protection of His blood, hunkering down underneath your Baptism, as long as you are looking to Him for forgiveness and help and salvation, as long as your faith is being fed and nourished by His Means of Grace, you are safe! You have His forgiveness! You have nothing to fear on the day of His coming!

And that’s how Jesus wants to keep you—safe, covered in His righteousness, justified by faith. He knows that you still have enemies in the world that would remove you from the shelter of His grace, that would entice you away from it, because that’s the only way they can win. No one can snatch My sheep from My hand, Jesus says. No one can tear you away from Him or separate you from Him. But they can tempt you to leave the safety of Jesus, either by conscious choice or by apathy and atrophy. It’s against that that Jesus warns you in our Gospel:

Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

It’s so easy to get caught up in earthly things—fun, family, pleasure, responsibilities. We have a life here to maintain, after all, and many things to do. It’s true. But one of those things—the most important thing, which can easily be lost in the shuffle—is to watch and pray, pray and watch. Have you been doing that regularly? Earnestly? Purposefully? If so, don’t stop! If not, why not?

Why not? There’s no excuse, just an explanation: because we’re wretched sinners who know the good we should do, and yet don’t do it, because evil is always there with us. The Apostle Paul knew this sin and weakness in himself. It led him to lament, O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Let his answer be your answer: I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Receive His forgiveness again today, all you who mourn over your sins. And take comfort that He has not given up you, nor will He fail to provide all the signs and warnings you need, both out there in the world and right here in His Word, to keep you watchful and ready, penitent and believing. He still calls out to you today, Watch and pray! Pray and watch! Use the means He has given you to stay safe on the Day of wrath, so that you are filled with hope and joy as you eagerly await the day of His coming. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Watch and pray! Pray and watch!

The Branch at His first and second comings

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for Midweek of Ad Te Levavi – Advent 1

+  Jeremiah 33:14-18  +

The Jews were about to go into exile. The Babylonians armies were already gathering, and the Lord had already revealed through Jeremiah that He was not going to step in to prevent the impending destruction. On the contrary, He was the One bringing it about as punishment against His faithless people who had turned away from His Word.

Nations don’t just come back from exile after being conquered by a foreign power. The ten tribes of Israel to the north of Judah never came back after the Assyrians drove them out. So it seemed inevitable that the city of Jerusalem was going to lie in ruins forever and that the house of David was about to become extinct.

But that couldn’t happen. Because God had promised a “good thing” to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: the coming of the Messiah, the Son of David, to Judah, His birth in Bethlehem and His reign in Jerusalem. In order for the Messiah to come from David’s line, the captivity in Babylon had to end; Jerusalem had to be rebuilt; and the throne and the priesthood had to be preserved. And so God promised in the words of Jeremiah, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.

Those were comforting words about Judah’s return from exile and the reestablishment of Jerusalem and the temple, the rule and the priesthood. But not nearly as comforting as the other promise: ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness.

David was like a tree that had grown up from the roots of his father Jesse. David’s descendants, the kings of Judah, were like branches that had grown out from David, but they were far from righteous. Some were better than others, but none were as faithful as David, and none had been able to do the most important thing of all: to save Jews and Gentiles from the curse of their sins.

But then along came Jesus, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday. And you remember what the crowds sang: Hosanna to the Son of David! There He was! The Branch of righteousness! This descendant of David would truly be righteous in every way, sinless according to God’s holy Law.

And what would He do, according to Jeremiah’s prophecy? He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

Now, in this verse, it sounds like Jeremiah might be saying that the Messiah would come as an earthly King, judging, ruling, even conquering. We can understand, to a point, why the Jews in Jesus’ day thought the Messiah would overthrow the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom, based on prophecies like this.

What they failed to do was to combine prophecies like this with those of the other prophets: with Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah’s suffering, death, and spiritual kingdom, and with the Psalms of David himself, which portrayed His greater Son as the afflicted one, even as the crucified one.

When we combine these prophecies, we’re left with exactly what Jesus was and did and said, a King who would come a first time to preach and teach, to make atonement for sin by His death, and to establish a spiritual kingdom on earth made up of Jews and Gentiles, which He would continue to build invisibly until He would come again a second time to usher in the eternal age of justice, righteousness, and peace. First the kingdom of grace, then the kingdom of glory, as we discussed on Sunday.

At His first coming, the Messiah executed judgment and righteousness spiritually, inwardly, by condemning sin in the impenitent and by forgiving sin to the penitent. He judged by means of the Word, by the Means of Grace. And He’s been doing the same through the ministry He established for some 2,000 years.

When He comes again, He’ll execute judgment and righteousness outwardly, openly, and finally. That’s why it’s called the Day of Judgment. All wickedness will be removed; all lies and false teachings will be exposed; all the impenitent will be cast out forever; and we’ll finally live in righteousness and peace.

Jeremiah also prophesied, In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely.

Well, at Christ’s first coming, Judah was saved and Jerusalem did dwell in safety spiritually. What did He say over and over to those whom He healed? Your faith has saved you. Faith in Christ allows sinners to live in safety from God’s wrath, from God’s punishment, from the devil’s ability to drag you to hell. “Judah and Jerusalem” are also meant in a spiritual sense, the true Jews, the true citizens of Jerusalem, according to the Apostle Paul, are those who believe in Jesus the Christ. Here and now we dwell in safety as God’s forgiven children.

And at His second coming, the Church, the New Jerusalem, will be saved and dwell in safety physically, openly, and eternally.

Jeremiah also prophesied something very striking that would take place at the Messiah’s coming: And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Now, back in Jer. 23, Jeremiah prophesied that the Messiah Himself would be called by the name: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Notice what he prophesies here. Not “He,” but “she,” that is, Jerusalem would be called by the same name, by the very name of the Messiah, just as a bride takes on the family name of her husband.

Isn’t this exactly what Christ did at His first coming? He placed His name on us, so that we are called “Christians.” He placed His name on us, when He commanded His apostles to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” He placed His name on us, as Paul says, in that “all who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

This is, again, talking about the spiritual Jerusalem, the baptized believers in Christ. We are already now called by His name. The Father looks at us and says, “Look! It’s My beloved Son!”

Now, I’d like you to think about something that’s repeated a few times in the Book of Revelation. The unbelievers of the world are said to have the name of the beast written on their foreheads. The famous “mark of the beast” is his name. On the other hand, the followers of the Lamb, of Jesus, are said to have the name of the Lamb’s Father written on their foreheads.

But remember, Jeremiah is not only prophesying what will happen at the Christ’s first coming, but also at the second. At His second coming, “she,” that is, the New Jerusalem, the holy Church, will be called by the name of Jesus in perfect fulfillment. Listen to how it’s described in the Book of Revelation:

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

This is what Jeremiah foretold. This is what Advent is about: watching and waiting for the great second coming of our Messiah, when we will dwell forever with Him in safety, bearing His name as kings and queens. And, while we wait for that, we prepare to celebrate His first coming, too, because there would be no future glory to look forward to if it weren’t for His first coming as a baby. Amen.

 

 

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Branch at His first and second comings

Awake for the arrival of the King of grace, King of glory

Posted on December 2, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/304045010 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Sermon for Advent 1 – Ad Te Levavi

Romans 13:11-14  +  Matthew 21:1-9

Today is the First Sunday in Advent, the season of penitent preparation for Christ’s “coming.” We’re preparing to celebrate the King’s first coming, when He was born into the world, but we’re also preparing to receive Him at His second coming at the end of the age, whenever that day may be.

Our Gospel today looks back to the purpose and culmination of His first coming. It reminds us why He was born. The baby would grow up with a purpose, to carry out a mission. He was born of God the Father in eternity, of one substance with the Father, already the King of the universe by virtue of His divine nature. But He would come into the world, born of royal human blood, too, born of the house of David. And on Palm Sunday, the King, the Son of David, would ride into the holy city of Jerusalem. He would ride on a lowly donkey. He would be humble enough that sinners could approach Him, could stand in the presence of God without fear. He would humbly perform the ultimate act of sacrifice, allowing Himself to be rejected and condemned and crucified for the sins of the world: for the sins of those who already were His subjects and for the sins of all who might become His subjects, so that all might hear His gracious invitation to repent and believe in this King and so be eternally saved.

In this first coming, the King came as a King of grace—humble and lowly, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He came, according to Zechariah’s prophecy, righteous and having salvation. Yes, He preached against sin and called sinners to repentance repeatedly, but He never destroyed a single sinner at His first coming. He didn’t shut the gates of heaven permanently to anyone. Instead, He held out that gracious invitation. He offered them God’s grace, His love free of charge, His forgiveness. He came to establish a kingdom of grace here on earth, a Holy Christian Church where sinners are continually called to repentance and faith through the Means of Grace, where sinners are continually justified, counted righteous through faith in the King of grace, continually guarded by God’s grace against the devil, the world and our sinful flesh.

See how the King’s disciples prepared to meet Him! The crowds had been following Him for days, from one city to the next on His march toward Jerusalem. They didn’t know what He was marching toward exactly, but they knew He was coming to Jerusalem to fight for them somehow. So they followed. They watched. They listened. And as they saw Him mount the donkey on the Mount of Olives, they grabbed whatever they could find—palm branches along the way, their own clothing which they spread along the road. And they raised their voices, praising their King for the salvation He was bringing. Hosanna in the highest!

That was how our King of grace came into the world the first time. And He has extended His time of grace for nearly two thousand years, so that we, too, could be brought to know Him and to trust in Him, so that we, too, could be baptized in His name, and hear His Word and receive His body and blood for a little while longer.

But soon this time of grace will run out. Soon people will no longer be allowed to escape the consequences of their sins, and there will be no more chances to repent. Soon the King of grace will come in glory. At that time, those who are found outside the kingdom of grace—those who rejected the King, those who turned away His gracious invitation—will be locked out forever, and those who are found inside the kingdom of grace will be transferred to the kingdom of glory. They’ll go in with the Bridegroom and feast with the King of glory forever.

Today’s Epistle looks forward to that day. It turns our gaze to the second Advent of our King, to His coming as the King of glory who will come to establish His kingdom of glory, not here on this present earth, but in the new heavens and the new earth that our King will bring into existence when He comes. St. Paul doesn’t tell the Romans when the King will come. But he assures us, our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

So wake up! Wake up now, Paul says, and live a life of wakefulness, of readiness, of preparedness, so that you’re ready to meet the King of glory when He comes.

There’s a silly phrase going around these days. To be “woke.” As in, “I am woke. Are you woke?” Have you heard it? It means “to be aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” If you weren’t aware of these issues before, but now you are, you’re said to be “woke.” It’s almost a term of boasting. I’m paying attention! I care! I notice the plight of the socially oppressed! And now that I’m “woke” to it, I’m trying to do something about the problems I’ve become aware of.

It’s a movement that’s misguided, at best. But the point is, these people have become aware of something (even if that something is false), and so they’re living as those who are “awake.”

How much more shouldn’t we Christians wake up to the reality of Christ’s second coming? Paul writes, It is high time to awake out of sleep…The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

It’s time to wake up, Paul says, time to be aware of the King’s imminent arrival, time to be aware of what’s going on around you, aware of what you’re doing, in light of the King’s impending Advent. Do you, God’s people, really want to behave as the sons of darkness? Do you really want to prepare for the King’s arrival by being just like everyone else? Watching the same things the world watches? Spending your time as the people of the world spend their time? Doesn’t waiting for the King mean doing things differently than those who aren’t waiting?

I don’t mean entirely. We eat. We sleep. We work. We fulfill our vocations in the world. We use the things of this world like everyone else does. But we actually believe, don’t we?, that the King of glory, Jesus, is about to mount His cloud and ride down into our world again. The first time, He came in lowliness. He came to join us in this life. He came to suffer for us. He came to die. And He allowed Himself to be rejected, so that His patience might bring sinners to repentance. But it won’t be like that when He comes again. There will be no more second chances at that time. No more patience. No more time to repent.

Jesus’ disciples prepared to meet Him at the gates of Jerusalem with acts of worship and songs of praise, even though they didn’t really have much time to prepare. We, on the other hand, have already had a long time—some of us, our entire lives. And we may still have days or months or years to prepare. So let’s really prepare! Let’s live as those who are awake, who know what’s really going on in this world. The King is still sending out His Word into the world, giving sinners a little more time before He comes. That means that evil and wickedness still have a little time to thrive. War and bloodshed and persecution of Christians will still continue for a little while. It also means that you still have a little while to spend with family, a little while to work or fulfill your vocations here on earth. But as those who are awake, you know that you don’t live for this world. You live for the day of the King’s coming.

May God grant you to live as those who are awake, so that, when the King of glory comes, you’ll be prepared to go in with Him to His wedding hall. And may our preparations to celebrate the King’s first coming at Christmas also keep us mindful of this time of grace that He’s given us, to use His Word and Sacraments here in this kingdom of grace and to take advantage of His grace while it lasts. Amen.

 

 

 

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Awake for the arrival of the King of grace, King of glory

Prepared for a long wait

Posted on November 25, 2018 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/302723413 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Sermon for Last Sunday after Trinity

Isaiah 65:17-19  +  1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  +  Matthew 25:1-13

The Christian life is a life of waiting. Ever since the angels on Ascension Day told Jesus’ disciples that He would one day return from heaven in the same way they saw Him go into heaven, Christians have been looking to the skies, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bridegroom—for the arrival of Jesus, who loved us and gave Himself for us into death so that we might live forever at His side, forgiven, cleansed of our sins, and filled with joy, like a bride who is whisked away by her bridegroom to begin their married life together.

But He didn’t say when He was coming, except for the relative statement, “Behold! I am coming soon!” Generation after generation after generation of Christians have spent their entire lifetimes waiting. We, too, have now reached the end of another church year, and still the Bridegroom hasn’t come. We’ve spent another year watching and waiting, and now we’re about to begin another year of the same. Maybe this year will be the year of His coming. Or maybe it won’t.

The key, then, is to be prepared for Christ’s arrival at any moment, even today, AND prepared for His arrival if He delays a long time, if you have to wait another 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, 80 years. You may even reach the end of your earthly life and fall asleep in Christ, and He still won’t have come. Are you prepared for that?

The five foolish virgins in Jesus’ parable were prepared for a swift arrival of the bridegroom, but not for a delayed arrival. They were excited to meet him when they first went out to wait. They went out with their lamps burning brightly. They waited for a while. But they didn’t figure on such a long delay. The night grew long, and even then, as they waited, the five foolish virgins didn’t think to check the oil in their lamps as the flame consumed it little by little. It never struck them that they hadn’t thought to bring any extra supply along with them. It grew late, and they fell asleep, unconcerned about the state of their lamps, oblivious to their own folly.

The five wise virgins were prepared for a swift or a delayed arrival of the bridegroom. They knew he could come at any moment, or that he could be delayed until midnight. And this is what made them wise: Knowing he could be delayed, they took their oil supply seriously. They thought about it. They calculated how much they might need and made their plans accordingly, so that no matter when the bridegroom came, they would be sure to have working lamps so that they could go out to meet him, to accompany him in his joyful procession to the wedding hall.

Now, as the ten virgins went out together to wait, do you suppose that the five wise virgins were somehow hiding their vessels of oil so that the foolish ones couldn’t see? No, the foolish ones must have seen that their companions had taken along extra oil. That’s why they finally asked for it as they were roused from their sleep. And yet, still, they foolishly assumed that they wouldn’t need any extra supply. They may have even thought that their wise companions were the foolish ones for taking such precautions and for carrying around the extra baggage. What a waste of time, money and effort! But when the cry came at midnight, ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’, then it was clear who the wise ones were, and who the foolish. But then it was too late for the foolish virgins to do anything about it, too late to get more oil, too late to relight their lamps, too late to join the procession. They tried to come late to the wedding hall. “Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Will you listen to Jesus’ warning again this year? Will you take it seriously today? Who are the foolish virgins who waited for the bridegroom with no extra oil for their lamps, who are finally shut out of the wedding all forever? They are Christians. Christians! And not the false prophets or the false teachers, not the wolves in sheep’s clothing who go around telling lies to God’s people in God’s name and leading them astray into false belief and other shame and vice. They are Christians who start out believing in Christ. They are baptized. They are, at first, eager for Christ to come, and they may spend years going to church, with the flame of faith burning in their hearts, with zeal for the Lord and for His Word.

But time eats away at their zeal and their devotion. They begin to realize that this Christian journey through life is a long journey, a long wait. There are lots of obstacles along the way, including the sin that dwells in each of us and keeps struggling to get out, to indulge itself, to quench the fire of faith. They see their non-Christian friends or their nominal Christian friends enjoying life in this world, prospering in this world, having fun with drinking and sex outside of marriage, playing games and making money. They see their counterparts in false-teaching churches rocking to the band and giving touching testimonials and enjoying all sorts of fun programs and activities. And here we are, out in the cold night, with nothing but lamps in our hands, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Bridegroom who never seems to appear. Where is the excitement? Where is the emotion? Where are the results? They feel that the right-teaching simple-Gospel-preaching Sacrament-administering Church has grown stagnant, stale, boring, irrelevant. Always the same thing. Always the same, boring old…Jesus. They lose interest. They fall asleep. And the flame on their lamp flickers and dies as the oil runs out.

The flame dies, the oil runs out—zeal for the Lord dies, faith runs out— because they took it for granted. They assumed, “Well, I’m a believer. I’ll always be a believer, no matter what, no matter whether I actually think about my sins and mourn over them or not, no matter whether I keep going to church and listening and concentrating while I’m at church or not, no matter whether I pray earnestly to God for help and strength as I wait for Christ’s coming or not.”

But faith is not self-sustaining. God sustains it. He sustains it by means of His Word as it is read, preached, heard, meditated upon, poured with water, eaten and drunk with bread and wine, and inwardly digested. God sustains faith in answer to our earnest prayers for help in this Christian life of watching and waiting, of being prepared for Christ’s coming at any moment, or after decades and decades of doing the same things over and over again.

The five wise virgins didn’t do anything amazing or earth-shattering. They just made sure they had a supply of oil handy. So, too, wise Christians don’t do anything amazing or earth-shattering. They just take Jesus seriously, and so they also take their God-given faith seriously. They don’t take it for granted. They consider God’s commandments and how they continually fall short of God’s righteous standard. They seek God’s mercy in Christ, and they know Christ to be a merciful Savior who was crucified for our sins and who wants even sinners like us to flee to Him for refuge, for forgiveness. They know that repentance is not a one-time event, but a daily state in which Christians live, turning to Christ for forgiveness, and turning away from sin and from loveless behavior and from shameful words and deeds.

And because they know that they need Christ every day, these wise Christians make hearing God’s Word a regular part of their life, always hearing, always learning, always growing, always feeding on Christ’s body and blood. They pray. They attend services at church every chance they get, and they gladly attend Bible class, too, if they’re at all able. They take God’s commandments seriously, so that they’re always abounding more and more in works of love and obedience, always fighting against sin and temptation, always growing more and more into the image of Christ. They live a life of self-denial, daily taking up their cross and following Christ. And they do all this, because they know that they are not worthy to enter with the Bridegroom or to have His love, and yet He loves them and wants to spend eternity with them, and so their life—their true life—is not here on earth. It’s hidden with Christ. And so their whole earthly life is a matter of waiting, waiting, waiting for the life that is truly life to appear.

Saints of God, we are in this Christian Church for the long haul, however long it may be. Be wise! Learn wisdom from Jesus. The Christian life is not glamorous. It’s not exciting. But it is fulfilling, and it is wise. Because we know the Bridegroom is coming, and we know who He is—the Lord Jesus Christ who has loved us with an undying love, and who has conquered death for us and appointed us, not to wrath, but to inherit a kingdom. When He comes, it will be well for those who are still trusting in Him, still watching and waiting for Him. Then we will accompany Him into the wedding hall, and the doors will be shut. Then the eternal celebration will begin. May we be found worthy to enter, only for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Spirit, be praise, honor and glory in the Church, forever and ever. Amen

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Prepared for a long wait