God was made man to bring man to God

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Christmas Day

Hebrews 1:1-12  +  John 1:1-14

Everyone can understand a baby. Everyone can accept that a baby was born in the small Judean town of Bethlehem, a baby named Jesus, to a mother named Mary. It’s rather harmless, unintimidating. And in part, that’s the point, and that’s why, sometimes, even unbelievers are willing to hear the Christmas Eve Gospel from Luke 2, because the story of God’s salvation begins, in a sense, with this baby, who doesn’t threaten anyone. The unbeliever can even tolerate, for a night, at least, the notion of angels. Because it’s all good tidings of great joy for all people. It’s a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. It’s peace on earth, goodwill to men!

But we’re careful to explain, even on Christmas Eve, that the good tidings of the birth of an unintimidating baby can only be understood properly through the lens of the sin and darkness into which that baby was born—sin and darkness that permeated even Israel, not to mention the even greater darkness that covered the non-Jewish world, that this Jesus was born because of mankind’s idolatry, because of mankind’s rebellion against God’s Word, because of mankind’s disobedience toward God’s commandments, that He was born to suffer and die for the sins of the world, and that His peace on earth has nothing to do with the absence of war or the end of violence. That’s a little harder for the unbeliever to hear, and yet it’s the only way an unbeliever will ever become a believer, by hearing the whole truth about Christmas and about Christ.

Then we come to the Christmas Day Gospel, and suddenly the unbeliever is confronted with the truth head on, with things that human reason can’t even begin to grasp, with things that sound like foolishness to the modern “scientific” ear. That there was a time when time didn’t exist. That there was a time when there was no matter, no energy, just God who brought all things into being, not with a big bang, but by His almighty Word. And most incomprehensible of all, is that that Word was with God, and that the Word was God, and that this Word that was with God and that was God eventually became flesh. That this Word who existed already in the beginning, outside of time and space and matter and energy, is the very Person through whom all things were brought into existence, including the flesh that He one day became.

But again, if anyone is going to believe in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, it will only be through hearing this truth proclaimed. You can’t argue anyone into the faith. It’s all about the simple proclamation of the Word.

Already in v. 5 of our Gospel, St. John the Evangelist is referring to the Word coming into the world as a man, as “light.” Not some SyFy “being” made of light, but as Jesus Himself once declared, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life…As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. The very One who is true God also became true Man, the light which gives light to every man, just as the sun gives light to every man, except that He was already there before the sun was, and the sun was created through Him. St. Paul once wrote that God alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. So the only way we poor, sinful mortals could truly see the light of God, is if it’s veiled in flesh, if God makes Himself approachable to us. And that’s exactly what He did in the Person of the Word made flesh.

John the Baptist bore witness to Him. This is the light who gives light to every man! Not that every man sees by this light. But He is the only light by which any man may see, and He offers His light to all. What is His light? It is the knowledge of who God is and of how God gave His eternal Son to be born as a man, not to show us how to work our way up to heaven, but to earn heaven for all men, to suffer hell for all men, and to show us that it is by believing in Him who did all this for us that all men might have everlasting life.

That brings us to the tragedy of Christmas. The tragedy of Christmas is not that Jesus had to lie in a manger for a while. The tragedy of Christmas is that He came to save all men from their sins, to give life to all men, and yet most men didn’t and don’t want Him for a Savior, and so most men remain dead in their trespasses and sins. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. Doesn’t it just amaze you that God knew this would happen, and still sent His Son into the world, still holding out salvation to all, knowing that most would never receive Him and be saved?

But, John writes, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This is the glorious victory of Christmas, not that God’s Son was born as a human child, but that He was born as a child in order to give us the right to become children of God.

Because we weren’t. By nature, no one is. Creatures of God? Yes. But children of God? No. As sinners, we had no right to call Him Father, and no expectation of living in His house or of inheriting anything from Him. But now we do. Because we have a Brother who is God’s child. Because we have a Savior who paid for our sins and offers us a place in God’s family through Holy Baptism and through faith in Him. Because He sends His own Holy Spirit to give us that new birth of faith, since we couldn’t come to faith by our own power or will.

Yes, the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. He became Immanuel, God with us, so that we might follow Him in faith, be safe on the Day of Judgment, and live with Him forever.

The angels worshiped the Person of the Word since the moment they were created. But now God has taken on human flesh, and all God’s angels worship Him also as a Man. If the angels worship Him for taking on human flesh to save sinful human beings, will you human beings fail to worship Him? May it never be. On this Christmas Day, may the truth of the God-Man in the manger fill your hearts with wonder and with joy. And let your worship of Him today change the way you live your life tomorrow, so that you who have received Him and been given the right to become children of God may live as children of God in the world, that your life may be a song of joy and thanksgiving. Amen.

 

 

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A message from God’s angel on Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Christmas Eve

+  Luke 2:1-14  +

God has a message for you all tonight—a message to the whole world of men, but specifically to you, who are here on Christmas Eve, regardless of your motives or your intentions or your reason for coming. It’s a message that may well be familiar to you, and yet it has been sent out from heaven again, because it’s more than a bit of information to learn. It’s God reaching down from heaven to speak to you, to convict, to convince, to enlighten, and to comfort. His message is scattered throughout all the seven lessons you heard in our service, but we’ll focus on the Christmas Gospel from Luke 2.

God’s message first given through Luke the Evangelist takes us back in time some 2,017 years—or perhaps a few more—to the days of Caesar Augustus, the first real emperor of the Roman Empire, the very emperor for whom the Roman poet Virgil wrote the famous Aeneid some 20 years earlier. Caesar Augustus was the one who issued that decree that forced Joseph and Mary to leave Galilee and to journey south to Bethlehem, the ancestral home of Joseph’s family going all the way back to Ruth and Boaz, and their son Obed, and his son Jesse, and his son David, the great king of Israel. We know why they had to get to Bethlehem. Micah told us that in the lesson you heard tonight: because the Christ was to be born there. But no one had told Caesar Augustus that, nor did Mary or Joseph seem to have it mind. No, this was God working in history, behind the scenes, invisibly, turning the events of the world to get His Son born in just the right place, at just the right time—a message to the world that God is in control of everything.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born—the baby who had been miraculously conceived in the virgin Mary’s womb nine months earlier by the working of the Holy Spirit. He was born, so it seems, in a stable where animals were kept, and placed in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Let’s not blame the innkeeper. We are told of no malice on his part. If the hotel is full, the hotel is full. So the little town was making room for these travelers who were compelled by Roman law to return to their ancestral homes, and it happened to be a stable. Well, not “happened” to be. God saw to it that the circumstances of His Son’s birth were special. “Special” as in, humble, unattractive, uncomfortable, but also safe and sheltered. And memorable! Who can forget the manger which served as the royal cradle of God’s Son? A message to all that God did not send His Son into the world to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many, that the Father’s will was always to humiliate His beloved Son for our sake, that we, through Him, may be lifted up, not to earthly wealth, but to the heavenly riches of God’s favor and eternal life.

God then saw to it that shepherds would the first ones to know of this birth—shepherds, who were considered to be least in Jewish society. And that has a message in it, too. A message that God shows no favoritism, that God sent His Son into the world for the lowliest of men, even for you. A message which Jesus repeated many times in His ministry, the last shall be first and the first shall be last, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Or as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

All those messages of God to the world are subtle and require the rest of God’s Word to make the messages clear. But the message of the angel, the word of God spoken by the angel to the shepherds and echoed down to us through the ages, couldn’t be clearer.

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. The birth of Jesus is a message intended to drive out fear. It’s a good message, good tidings, of great joy, intended for all people.

Still, for as clear as the message is, the world has trouble hearing it, because, even though every single person desperately needs a Savior from sin, they don’t recognize it. People today have one of two messages pounded into them from the time they’re little children: either that nothing is their fault, and they deserve to have everything they want; or that everything is their fault, and no one cares for them at all. But both of those messages are false.

God made man in His own image, good and upright and just. But that was a long time ago, and early on, mankind turned away from God to make our own rules, to do what we wanted, and look where it has gotten us. Sin has infected everything. It’s real. It has consequences. And it’s not just something ugly to see in other people. Oh, no, not something to see in other people. It’s something to recognize and to despise in yourself, whoever you are. Everyone bears the blame for failing to acknowledge our Creator, for failing to worship Him as He deserves to be worshiped, and for failing to love our fellow man as He commands in His Word. That is our fault, and so we don’t deserve to have everything we want. What we deserve—all any of us deserves—is God’s wrath and punishment.

On the other hand, the demonic notion that no one cares for guilty sinners, least of all God? That idea couldn’t be dispelled any better than with the angel’s words to the shepherds. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Born to you. To a world made up entirely of guilty sinners, God came. God the Son, sent by God the Father, through God the Holy Spirit. He came as promised. He came as Savior. As Jesus would one day say, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” And so the angel attaches this name to the infant, Savior, Jesus. This is the one—the only One—to whom the name Savior has been attached. Nothing else in the world bears such a title. Nothing else and no one else is the Savior. Only the one who was born of Mary, who is Christ the Lord, who didn’t show up out of nowhere, but has a long history already behind Him the moment He’s born, a lineage going back to David, back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, back to Shem and Noah and Seth and Adam. But even further than that. For He is Christ, the Lord, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting, finally born so that He could grow up and die and so destroy death and purchase heaven for all men by His blood.

After announcing the birth of this Child, the heavenly host of angels couldn’t help but sing, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to men. Not the peace and goodwill of “you’re going to have a wonderful life in this world,” but the peace and goodwill of “you have a God who cares for you this much, that He would enter your fallen race to suffer, not just with you, but for you, that you may become children of God.”

Let the praise of the angels be the praise of all God’s people on this Christmas Eve. And let it become the praise of those who have not been God’s people, but who have heard the message God has directed to you this night through a much humbler angel. The Savior, Christ the Lord, has been born. That makes today the day of salvation to all who hear and believe God’s message. Amen.

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Be ready for the coming Christ!

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Rorate Coeli – Advent 4

Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

Until the sun sets today, we’re still in the season of Advent, the time of earnest, penitent preparation for Christ’s second Advent. We’ve talked quite a bit about John the Baptist over the past several weeks. He is the traditional preacher of Advent. He helps us, by his divinely inspired testimony, to prepare for Christ’s second coming, even as he helped the people of Israel to prepare for His first.

Not for His birth, though—although John did leap for joy in his mother’s womb when the newly pregnant virgin Mary greeted John’s mother Elizabeth. No, John prepared the people of Israel for the Advent of Jesus as He was just about to step out onto the public scene and reveal Himself, by His preaching and by the miraculous signs He would do, as the promised Messiah, the Christ.

But many people mistook John for the Christ, or at least for one who was claiming to be the Christ, and that’s understandable, for several reasons.

It’s understandable, because, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament, and especially the prophecies of Daniel, it was time for the Christ to appear. World events had played out just as Daniel prophesied some 600 years earlier: the Babylonians were defeated by the Medes and Persians, the Medes and Persians by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, who came in and took over the land of Israel. It was during the reign of that fourth kingdom that the reign of the Christ was to begin. Not only that, but Daniel’s prophecy of the “70 weeks,” or, as most have interpreted, 490 years from the decree to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, were just about up. If the Old Testament was reliable at all, then the Christ had to arrive soon.

It was also understandable that John was mistaken for someone claiming to be the Christ, because there had been other preachers who showed up and made that claim for themselves, although they never made much of an impact and quickly showed themselves to be imposters.

Finally, it was also understandable because no one—no man, no priesthood, no human council—had sent John to preach. That may not sound very significant to you; today there are lots of people whom no one has sent, no one has called, but they get up in pulpits or on stages or in stadiums and claim to have a message directly from God. But in John’s day, the people of Israel were well aware that it was a rare thing for a person to be sent immediately, directly by God. And yet, here was John, preaching and even performing this new ritual of Baptism—a ceremonial washing with water for the forgiveness of sins. No one has the right to preach, no one has the right to baptize in the name of God, unless God has sent him, either through the legitimate call of the Church, or directly. The fact that John was preaching and baptizing without a human call could only mean one thing: he was claiming to have been sent directly by God, and that would fit with the Christ.

So the Jewish religious leaders, wary as they were of someone attracting crowds and exposing them for the frauds they were, sent to John to interrogate him. Who are you? And without hesitation, John confessed. I am not the Christ. Very simple. That was the first part of his testimony.

Well, again, this presented a problem. If John is not claiming to be the Christ, then why is he preaching? Why is he baptizing? Are you Elijah? they asked. You remember, I hope, what the prophet Malachi had prophesied—the last words of the Old Testament—Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Actually, Jesus would later identify John the Baptist as the fulfillment of that prophecy, but not like the Jews thought, as if Elijah himself would come down out of heaven. So John denies being such an Elijah.

Are you the Prophet? they asked. They seem to be referring to the Prophet whom Moses said the Lord would one day send, but that was a reference to Christ Himself in His prophetic office. So, again, John said, No.

Who, then? That’s the second part of John’s testimony. I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said. Why weren’t the Jews thinking about this prophecy of Isaiah? It turns out they missed a lot of what Isaiah said about the coming Christ, maybe because they took Isaiah’s prophecies to be only about the return of Israel from exile in Babylon, as if Isaiah had nothing to say about the Christ as the one who would expose the sins of Israel, as the one who would be rejected by Israel, as the suffering Servant who would be led like a lamb to the slaughter, who would bear the sins of sinful men, and then be raised to life again. All of that was in the book of Isaiah, but the Jews couldn’t accept a Christ who would do those things, and so they didn’t even have this “voice of one crying in the wilderness” on their radar as the prophet who would show up to announce the Advent of the Christ.

But John was that prophet, that voice, crying in the wilderness. And you know how he made straight the way of the LORD. He preached against the sin of those who were secure in their sins. And he preached the forgiveness of sins to those who were overwhelmed by the weight of their transgressions against God and men. That was the testimony of John the Baptist. All are sinners who must fear the coming judgment of the Christ, but God will also provide safety and forgiveness for all in the coming Christ—forgiveness that is received through Baptism and faith.

The final part of John’s testimony followed. I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. Not only is the Christ about to come. He is here! He stands among you, ready to be revealed. In fact, the very next day, John would see Jesus coming and declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

But I am not worthy to loose the sandal straps of His feet, says John. Because He is not like me—a mere man, a sinful man. No, the Christ is both David’s Son and David’s Lord. The Christ is both true God and true Man—another bit of blasphemy in the eyes of the Jews, a blasphemy for which they would one day crucify their Christ, because He claimed to be the Son of God, who holds the power over life and death, and who will give life to all who believe in His name.

Well, as Jesus would soon demonstrate, He is the Son of God, and He does hold the power over life and death, and tonight we’ll celebrate His birth, and tomorrow we’ll sit back in awe and contemplate the mystery of the Word made flesh. If you acknowledge your sinfulness, if you sorrow over your sins, if you know the grace of God in giving His Son for poor sinners, like you, the Son of God who was born to be sacrificed as the Lamb of God for the sins of all, if you rejoice in the Lord Christ, who came and is coming, then John’s testimony has borne its fruit again this year, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. And you are ready to receive the Christ, whenever He comes, and ready, once again, to celebrate the good tidings of His birth. Amen.

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What to expect while you’re expecting the coming Christ

Posted on December 17, 2017 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Gaudete – Advent 3

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

In this Advent season, as we focus on waiting for the coming Christ, we’ve talked about what the coming Christ will be like, and what will happen when He comes. He’ll come in glory. He’ll come for judgment. He’ll come with eternal salvation for those who have persevered in the faith, and with vengeance against all His foes.

But, as we’ve also discussed, that’s not how or why He came the first time. He came the first time in humility, in poverty, in meekness, not to condemn anyone, but to save everyone by His sacrificial death on the cross, and by sending out ministers in His name, equipped with His Holy Spirit, to preach His Gospel and to build His Church throughout the world until He comes the second time.

You and I have been told what to expect from Jesus. We may even take that knowledge for granted. But it wasn’t so clear for the Old Testament believers, and it’s still something that New Testament believers struggle to keep straight—what to expect from Christ here and now as you wait for Him to come, what to expect while you’re expecting.

John the Baptist knew that the Christ was coming, and that Jesus was the Christ. But the Old Testament was intentionally vague and blurry in its prophecies about Christ’s coming and often blended together prophecies of His first coming and His second coming into one great prophecy of the future, so that many Old Testament believers expected the Christ to come only once, both to make atonement for sins and to remove all wickedness from the world, to usher in the eternal kingdom of God in a visible way. John the Baptist knew that the Christ was coming, but he—or, at least, his disciples—seemed to be struggling with the lack of change Jesus was bringing into the world. His miracles were amazing. But they weren’t solving the larger problem of evil.

When John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

John, the great forerunner of the Messiah, as Jesus Himself testified about him, wasn’t leading a quiet, peaceful life as a prophet of God. He was in Herod’s prison, because he had preached against Herod’s adultery. He was in prison, waiting to be beheaded, even as the promised Christ walked about the land of Israel in the flesh. It’s not that John was complaining about his plight. It just didn’t make sense.

Are You the one who was to come? We’re wondering, Jesus, because it doesn’t look like You are. We were expecting bigger things at Your Advent: vengeance against Your enemies. Salvation for God’s people. The end of pain and suffering. The restoration of Paradise. As John had preached earlier about the Christ, 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 is the winnowing fan? Where is the gathering of the wheat? Where the burning up of the chaff? The wicked still prosper. The wicked still preside over a corrupt church. Meanwhile, the godly are in prison. The godly are still weak. The godly still suffer. Sickness and death still reign. The Christ is supposed to fix everything at His coming, isn’t He? How did Jesus’ actions harmonize with the promises of the Coming One?

Jesus answered and said 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. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Jesus helps to correct the misunderstanding of John’s disciples, still without explaining everything in detail. He tells them, stop focusing on the things I’m not doing that you think I should be doing. Focus on what you see Me doing. You see Me doing the very miraculous signs that are predicted in the Old Testament Scriptures. You hear Me preaching the Gospel to the poor—not the Gospel of riches here on earth, or the Gospel of a reasonably comfortable middle-class life, but the Gospel of the riches of God’s love for poor, miserable sinners, love that is personified in Jesus Himself, who came in humility that He might live under the Law in our place, be righteous in place of all our unrighteousness, and suffer the Law’s condemnation, so that we could be justified by faith and made heirs of everlasting riches in the new creation, when Christ comes again.

You can’t see it all yet, John, and I can’t explain it all to you yet, either. You can’t see how I will be crucified and raised on the third day. You can’t see yet how I’ll send the Gospel out into the world, or how I’ll gather My Church over the centuries, or how I’ll preserve a remnant of believers throughout the whole world all the way up to the end. All you can see and hear is Me, right now, preaching the Gospel. That’s all you should expect for now. Don’t be offended by it. Don’t be offended by Me, the humble Preacher of the Gospel. Instead, rejoice!

What should you expect from the Christ while you’re expecting His return? Maybe your life isn’t what you think it should be, what you’ve asked God to make it. Maybe things aren’t going well. Nothing’s easy. And it’s getting harder. Jesus keeps saying things that you don’t understand, or worse, that you don’t like or agree with, that go contrary to our culture and our cultural beliefs. Is Christianity really the right way?

It is. And not our culture’s twisted version of Christianity, either, but the genuine Christianity presented in the Scriptures and carried on by the Church catholic, by the churches that are faithful to the Lutheran Confessions. Because true Christianity teaches now what Christ Himself always taught: suffering here. Humility here. Humble preaching of the Gospel here, in the ministry of Word and Sacrament, as the way in which Christ will gather and preserve believers until He comes again to fix everything that is wrong.

To highlight that very point, Jesus then turns in our Gospel to the crowds who were there with Him, many of whom had first followed John the Baptist out in the wilderness.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.’

Think back, Jesus says, to when John was baptizing in the wilderness and you all went out to him. What did you go out to him for? Did you think of him as a prosperity preacher? No, you didn’t. Did he dress in fancy clothes and impress you with his oratory skills or with his wit? No, he didn’t. Did you expect him to adjust his message to the liking of the leadership? Did you expect him to be nice and friendly and relational, to preach a soft, sweet message of peace on earth, an easy life, an earthly kingdom of glory? No, you didn’t. You went out to him because you believed he was a prophet from God, with a message from God. And you were right. He is a prophet, and more than that, the prophesied forerunner of the Christ, sent to prepare the way for Me!

So, does it surprise you that he’s in prison, that God would let that happen to His prophet? Or even that he’s sending to Me to ask questions? It shouldn’t. What you see in John is what you should expect of every genuine prophet—a somewhat strange preacher of the truth who doesn’t fit in, who suffers for his preaching, who may even struggle to understand what he preaches, but who always points to Christ as the answer to your sin, and who always sends you to Christ to answer your doubts.

This is a lesson for us about the ministry of the Word. What should you expect while you’re expecting Christ’s return? Expect that He will keep sending ministers, prophets, preachers who will be a lot like John the Baptist, and know that Jesus expects you to listen to them. Not necessarily preachers who are nice or friendly or who tell cute stories or run a good church activity or community outreach program. No, what you should expect, if it’s a Biblical ministry, is a minister who preaches nothing but the pure Word of God, who regularly calls you—and all people—to repentance and faith in Christ, who administers the Sacraments, and, to some degree, who suffers for all of it. You should expect exactly what St. Paul tells the Corinthians to expect: Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

It’s helpful to know what to expect while you’re expecting Christ to return. Then you won’t be disappointed. Then you’ll see that Christ is doing everything He said He would do and giving you exactly what He promised to give you in this life—not comfort, not ease, not a growing church, not perfection, but the humble ministry of the Gospel, through which He Himself calls you to repentance, kindles your faith and fans it into flame, comforts you under the cross, and even enables you to rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Amen.

 

 

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The trees are full of leaves. Christ is coming soon!

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Populus Sion – Advent 2

Romans 15:4-13  +  Luke 21:25-36

The trees are almost bare in Las Cruces. The hard freeze this week brought down most of the leaves, a sign that winter is coming, just around the bend. But winter won’t last forever. It never does. It won’t be long before you see the trees starting to bud again, and when they’re full of leaves, you’ll know that summer is almost here.

We go through that cycle every year. And today in the Gospel, Jesus uses that familiar picture of leaves on a tree to keep us mindful of His coming. Because, as leaves on a tree are a sign that summer is near, so there will be terrible and tragic events in this world that serve as signs of the nearness of Christ’s coming, and the end of the world.

We don’t really need to wade too deeply through the list of signs every year, because all the things that Jesus tells us to watch for have been going on around us for a very long time; they really don’t change much from year to year.

Each year there are yet more signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars, which may be no more significant than alignments of planets and solar eclipses, like the big one that ran across our country back in August.

Each year there are yet more signs in the earth—distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, fear and dread filling the hearts of men, the love of most people growing cold. Or as Jesus adds in St. Matthew’s Gospel, famines, earthquakes, disease, wars and rumors of wars.

Each year there are yet more signs in the Church, as St. Matthew also records—persecution against Christians, the spread of false doctrine far and wide, false prophets deceiving many, and many being deceived. Apostasy, a great falling away from the truth of the Gospel. The man of lawlessness—the Antichrist—still pretending to be the head of the Christian Church and leading many astray. But also, the Gospel of Christ still being preached in all the world.

Tell me, which of these things is lacking? Which branches on the fig tree are still bare? Which word of Christ has fallen to the ground, unkept and unfulfilled? No, my friends, heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus’ words will never pass away. The things going on around us in the world are the very signs that Jesus told us to watch for, to know that the kingdom of heaven is near. The tree is full of leaves, as in late spring. The only sign that is still lacking is the actual sign of the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory, descending from heaven for judgment, and for the final redemption of all who are waiting for Him in hope.

For as terrible as most of the signs are of Jesus’ coming, the danger that Jesus warns us of in the Gospel is not the danger posed by the signs themselves. Wars? Famines? Earthquakes? Hurricanes? Disease? False doctrine? Persecution? These things can’t harm us Christians. Not really. They can affect us. They can cause us suffering and pain. But they can’t rob us of the treasure that is laid up for us in heaven. They can’t steal Jesus away from us.

What is the danger, then? The danger is that, even though we see the signs of Christ’s coming all around us, we stop caring about what they’re pointing to.

 “But 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 understandable (though certainly not excusable) that the world—those who are still wallowing in sin and unbelief—should be busy carousing, partying, getting drunk, pursuing pleasure and accumulating wealth. Their god is their belly, after all. But their behavior is awfully attractive to our own sinful flesh. The temptation to go along with the world, to think like the world thinks, to plan like the world plans—those are strong temptations for us who are so weak, according to the flesh. You know how that overarching phrase, “the cares of this life,” fills your agenda every single day. But your daily agenda will be your undoing, if you don’t keep at least one eye on the leaves of the trees, and on the thing they’re intended to remind you of, the thing that comes shortly after the leaves have budded, the coming of the Son of Man.

Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Watch, therefore. Watch the signs taking place around you. But don’t get caught up in them. Remember that they must happen. They’re part of God’s own plan and prophecy for this world. Remember what they’re for—to keep you looking for Jesus’ coming.

Watch, therefore. Watch out for pleasure-seeking and for getting caught up in the cares of this life, because they will weigh you down so heavily that spiritual things—God, God’s Word, your soul, Christ, His righteousness, His forgiveness—will never be able to get your attention.

And pray always. It’s hard to forget about God if you’re praying to Him regularly with a heartfelt “Our Father.” It’s hard to forget about His name and His kingdom if you’re continually praying, “Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.” It’s hard to forget about the danger of sin if you’re constantly praying, “Forgive us our trespasses.” It’s hard to get caught up in the cares of this life if you’re regularly praying, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

But it’s not just about remembering to pray the Lord’s Prayer. It’s about the reason why you need to pray it. Because whether you want to acknowledge it or not, this world, with all its cares and pleasures, is ripe for judgment. The Day is coming. And the truth is, God’s Law reveals you to be unworthy to stand before God in the coming judgment, just as unworthy as everyone else in the world. But God the Father, in His great love and mercy, gave His Son into death for your sins, because He wants you to escape the destruction that is coming on the world and to live with Him in joy and peace forever. Christ is the refuge God the Father has provided against all the accusations of the Law, the only Shelter that will be safe on the Day that is coming. He has brought you into that shelter through Holy Baptism and feeds you there in the Lord’s own Supper. By faith in Christ, God has made you worthy to stand before the Son of Man, who loved you and gave Himself for you. And because He knows that you are prone to wander, He keeps sending signs of His coming, and then calls out to you in the Gospel to see the signs and remember their meaning. Here His Spirit is working. Here His power is shielding you and strengthening you to look up from this dying world and to long for the redemption that is drawing near.

Christ is coming. The signs are everywhere. The trees are full of leaves. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

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