Last Sunday of the Church Year: Audio Sermon (25-Nov-2012)

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Last Sunday of the Church Year [Matthew 25:1-13] (25-Nov-2012)

This sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Matthew 25:1-13)

But at midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send us the Holy Spirit, so that by your grace we may believe your holy word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. And today is a kind of New Year’s Eve before we begin a new year of our lives with Jesus, a new year of living our life next to him and with him next to us, a new year of our sin and his forgiveness, a new year of expectation and hope in Jesus.

And our Gospel reading today sets before our eyes a parable. And with each parable there is a great mystery, a profound reality that is so wonderful and is so magnificent that words almost can’t describe it.

The gospel today starts with the words: “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins.”

Why can’t Jesus tell us what the kingdom of heaven is? Why can’t he describe it piece by piece, and actually give us a living picture of what it is?

Of course, he could if he wanted to. But it would be too much for us. It would be too magnificent, too glorious, too wonderful that we wouldn’t believe him even if he did tell us. So Jesus always tells us a parable.

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant is search of fine pearls.

The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

All these pictures – all these parables – one mystery after another. And each of these parables is like holding a crystal up to the light and the sun shines through it with a different pattern, from a different angle, with a different perspective.

And no one sermon could fully explain even the smallest parable in all its richness and all its detail.

In fact, in our reading today, the banquet is not even described. All we know is that the five wise virgins went in with the bridegroom and the door was shut.

We cannot begin to imagine what wonderful things are hidden behind that wonderful door! We cannot begin to fathom just how wonderful, how joyful, how happy, our glorious our life together with Jesus in eternity can possibly be!

Our earthly life is just such a small speck on the surface of our life. From the time we were in our mother’s womb, our life was begun not for this small time, but for rest of eternity. The small, tiny journey through this valley of tears, the valley of the shadow of death is nothing compared with what be revealed to us by our heavenly bridegroom!

St Paul says in Romans 8: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

And nevertheless, our Lord Jesus Christ paints us the picture of 10 virgins.

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.

Do you see that all the virgins were there to await the bridegroom! All of them are virgins, all of them have lamps! And all of them are asleep!

Just like Peter, James and John in the Garden of Gethsemane. All of them were told to watch while Jesus went to pray, and all of them failed. All of them fell asleep!

Here Jesus shows us a picture of what this earthly life really is. We are asleep. We are overshadowed with a grey haze of drowsiness, of dreams, of confusion. Unbelievers think that Christians are the crazy ones. Karl Marx called religion the opium of the people. People today think they are so clever, so scientific, so enlightened, so wise, so knowledgeable.

We are living in a world of fools! Psalm 14 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no god’.”

And the foolish virgins in our reading say in their hearts, “There is no bridegroom.” The foolish virgins have lamps, but they either think that the bridegroom is not coming, or they think that he doesn’t care about these silly lamp-lighting customs.

What a serious, tragic, awful word it is at the end of the reading: “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he answered, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.”

See the connection between these things: There five foolish virgins, they have no oil for their lamps, and the bridegroom says, “I do not know you.”

St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall now fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Do you see that what we can see about our life, and what we can know about our life is only a small part of the reality. We can’t see God. We can’t see him at work. We can’t discern what plans he has for our lives. But he knows. He knows us fully, we only know in part. We only see in a mirror dimly. We are sleeping. We are in the dark.

But there is one message that the Christian church has cried out from century to century, from year to year, from day to day. Where the Christian church has stopped proclaiming this message, the Christian church has died, and it has run out of oil. And the message is simply this: there will come a time when we will wake up from our sleep and the bridegroom will call us to himself. When that time comes we should be ready and waiting for him and prepared, with lamps trimmed and burning.

From year to year the church throughout all time has said, “The end is near!” “Wake up, be ready!” And the world looks at this suffering church, carrying the cross on its back from year to year following its crucified bridegroom, and all it sees is a clown on the stage, telling everyone to get out of the theatre because the roof iss on fire. And everyone laughs!

But they are the fools, not us. But it’s not just the unbelievers, the mockers, the scoffers, who don’t understand. There are plenty of Christians themselves who have not heard this message and taken it to heart. There are plenty of Christians who consider themselves waiting for the bridegroom, but the truth of the matter is that they simply don’t believe he is coming. They look at centuries of Christians proclaiming this same message, and they say, “Christians have always thought that they are living close to the end! It’s no different now.”

Listen to these words from 2 Peter: “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”… But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

So are you a wise virgin or a foolish virgin? Are you ready for the bridegroom? Are you lamps trimmed? Have you brought oil? Are your lamps burning?

Jesus says: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Psalm 119 says: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” Do you gladly listen to and learn the powerful living words of God?

Let the word of God be your lamp!

But what about the oil? What is the oil that makes the lamp burn?

It is one thing to hear the word of God, and the word of God is living and active in itself. But you must not reject it, and you must not reject its power. The Word of God is not an empty word, it is not a whole bunch of rhetoric, of poetic niceties, of expressions, of turns of phrase, of jokes, of games, of tricks. The Word of God is living and active. It will pierce you through and kill you and it will raise you to everlasting life. It will bring you down into the deepest pit and it will raise you up to the highest heaven.

But what so many Christians today don’t realise is that the Word of God, the very words of Scripture themselves are full of the Holy Spirit, they are living words, full of eternal life, overflowing with God’s mercy. People think that they only have the Holy Spirit when they feel good. But you were created by the Word of God—it is the Words of God that are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God. They are not living and active because they sound nice or they make me feel good, but they are living and active because they are true, they are powerful, and they reveal to you the burning love of God your heavenly Father.

If we don’t recognise this, then our lamps will remain empty. May God send us his Holy Spirit that our ears may hear his word!

Our bridegroom will come, and he will call us! But the kingdom of heaven is not simply something that we will only taste in the future, but it is something that we are made part of right here and now.

At the end of the book of Acts we read that St Paul was “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

Two things St Paul was talking about: the kingdom of God, and Jesus Christ. These two things go together. Because wherever the word of God is spoken, the Holy Spirit is given. Where the Holy Spirit us, there is Christ, true God and true man. And where Christ is, there is the Holy Spirit. Wherever Christ the King is, there is his kingdom, and he gives to all the citizens of his kingdom to drink abundantly from the deep fountains of his Holy Spirit.

So here in the church on earth, we have a wonderful gift given to us by God: we are part of a living kingdom, through the forgiveness of sins, spoken to us in the church week after week, given to us in baptism, the Lord’s Supper and in the preaching and absolution of the church.

Holy baptism is not an empty lamp. It is filled with the Holy Spirit and with God’s Word. The bread and wine is not an empty lamp. It is filled with the body and blood of Christ, so that his kingdom may grow and increase in us. The forgiveness of sins which you hear today is not fake, but it is living and real, in such a way that it is in actual fact Christ’s own forgiveness that is spoken to you.

And when you believe this, that the gospel is for you, that these things are given for you and for the forgiveness of your sins, then the lamp of your body and of your soul is not left empty, but is filled with the living power and energy of God’s own Holy Spirit and is kept burning through the presence of your heavenly bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are living in a dark world, and we are living in dark times. Many people have rejected the living oil of God’s Holy Spirit. Many families who were once Christians have rejected their living master Jesus Christ as the head of their family. Many churches have rejected their living master as the head of their church. The old churches have stopped reading the bible, and sects and cults have picked the dusty bible off the shelf, twisting the words to suit their own fantasies. And so many Christians treat the word of God like a dead thing, a lamp that has gone out, and that the real work of Christianity is to build some sort of social-justice earthly kingdom here.

Wake up! Awake, sleeper, from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

The marriage feast is already here, the bridegroom is already here, the marriage supper of the Lamb of God is here, the Supper of the Lord is here, the oil for your lamps is here. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Let your Lord Jesus draw you to himself, so that where he is you may be also!

Let the last words of Jesus in the last book of the bible be your motto, and your life: “Surely, I am coming soon.” And let his beloved bride sigh in return, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” Your tears will not be in vain. “I am coming!” he says. Yes, Lord Jesus, draw me after you. Let us run! Let the world with is sufferings and its tribulations be gone! Let your cross be mine! Let my joy be full!

Our gospel reading today is about the kingdom of heaven. It is the kingdom of heaven that is like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. At midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Then those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Amen.

When darkness round me gathers,

Thy name and cross, still bright,

Deep in my heart are sparkling

Like stars in blackest night.

O heart, this image cherish:

The Christ on Calvary,

How patiently He suffered

And shed his blood for me! Amen.

Trinity 26: Audio Sermon (18-Nov-2012)

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Trinity 26 [Matthew 25:31-46] (18-Nov-2012)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Matthew 25:31-46)

Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Bia, lö nɛy tin ca poth ɛ Gua̱a̱r, ka̱nɛ nyin kuäärä tëë ca rialikä kɛ kui̱dun ni tukä ɣɔaa.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send us the Holy Spirit, so that by your grace we may believe your holy word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the book of Genesis, we read about where Joseph makes himself known to his brothers. Joseph had been sold into slavery by them, and now he was a prince in Egypt, second-in-charge to the Pharaoh. And after giving his brothers various tests, he is eventually overwhelmed and says to them, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”

Can you imagine the emotion and the joy and the relief on this occasion! Joseph says, “It’s me. You can trust me. I won’t hurt you.”

In the same way, we read in our Gospel reading today: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

We see something very special here: who’s coming in glory? Who’s sitting on throne of his glory? We read: The Son of Man. It’s Jesus. As we read this passage, remember that it will be our brother in the flesh that we meet on the last day. Sure, with Judas, we were responsible for selling Jesus over to be killed, we sold him into the slavery which we ourselves deserved, and we spit in his face and nail his hands continually through our sin. But then Jesus will reveal his loving face to us on the Last Day, just like Joseph, and say: “Look! It’s me! Don’t be afraid!”

The disciples were very much afraid when they saw Jesus walking out to their boat on the water in the last watch of the night, and said, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus said, “Take heart. It is I! Do not be afraid!”

It’s the same here in our reading today where Jesus, the Son of Man, reveals his love and his friendly face, just like Joseph to his brothers.

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The judge in our gospel reading today is not God the Father. But God the Father has conferred his authority to his Son. As Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

And so now, we see Jesus sitting on this glorious throne, but not as someone who is nothing like us, but a human being, a man, with flesh and blood and skin and bones, just like us, who was born of the Virgin Mary in the simple, humble stable with all the animals around, all those many years ago. It’s this same Jesus who we read about in our reading today.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

It has often been said that many people would like to go to heaven, but they just hope that God won’t be there. And it’s funny: many people don’t believe in God, but they still believe in a judgment, or as many people say today, they believe in “karma”.

Christians don’t believe in “karma”. Karma is the belief, which comes from Hinduism originally, which says that if you do something good, good things will happen to you, and if you do something bad, bad things will happen to you. If you step on an ant in this life, you will be reincarnated in the next life as an ant that gets stepped on.

I can’t emphasise enough that the belief in karma is pure, unadulterated evil, and gives birth to evil attitudes, and is completely and totally unchristian.

Recently, I heard someone say that the storms in America recently were karma. “The Americans had it coming to them”, this person said, with no sympathy, no care, no love, and nothing but contempt and self-righteousness. Since when did the Americans have anything come to them, that shouldn’t come to us in Australia?

Karma is the belief in judgment with no judge. So you can’t pray to karma, because karma doesn’t listen. It just punishes without listening to you, without caring about you, without any love, without any concern. The belief in karma is the belief that world is governed by pure hate. God is not like this, and this is not what Christians believe in.

Christianity believes in a Judge. And he threatens to punish sin, and promises to reward good. But if you have done evil, he doesn’t have to punish you. He’s like a parent: in fact, he’s our heavenly Father, and he only punishes us when he feels it serves his glory, and our benefit. But he does it, not because he hates us, but because he loves us. Hebrews 12 says: The Lord disciplines the one he loves. There are so many things in this life we get away with, and God doesn’t punish us for everything we have done. When everyone around us tells us what we deserve, God gives us something good anyway.

And to top it off, God has exalted his crucified and resurrected Son to do this work. Jesus himself has lived a life on this earth, he’s had food and drink with real people like us. He himself was a real person like us. He knows what life’s like. He knows hunger, and thirst, and sickness, and nakedness, and imprisonment. And this same Jesus now governs the world and cares for it, and most importantly, he shares all of the world’s tears, and prays for everyone who suffers, and has died for each and every single sin.

So the Son of Man comes in his glory with every single holy angel. And before him is gathered every single nation. And before him is separated every single sheep and every single goat. Jesus is not a judge simply for Christians or religious people, but he is the judge of all: believers and unbelievers, Christians and atheists, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. Many people say: “You’re only answerable to yourself.” Not true: Everyone is answerable to our brother in the flesh, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And so, we read: Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Listen to those friendly and loving words: Come! Come to my arms, let me take you in. See Jesus’ arms outstretched on the cross in love for you, with his hands and feet and side pierced for you, and he says: Come!

Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew he says: Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now he says, Come to me, you who are blessed by my Father.

Don’t you know that the blessed ones and the weary ones are the same people? In this life, Jesus gives holy rest through his living words and living gospel to those who come to him weary and heavy-laden, worn out from their battle with sin and completely despairing of themselves and their abilities. Now, the rest begun here continues: Come to me, you who are blessed by my Father. The rest that was hidden in baptism, the rest that was hidden in the holy absolution spoken in churches throughout the world by its pastors, the rest that was hidden in the body and blood of Christ distributed in the Lord’s Supper, is now spread on a table before your eyes, with your living master, our Lord Jesus, calling you. Come to me, you who are blessed by my Father.

And what’s the gift that Jesus will bestow on us on that last day? He says: Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Sin, shame, sickness, weariness, heartache, falsehood, betrayal—all these things have come lately onto the scene. But God the Father himself has prepared a kingdom for us to enjoy, right from the creation of the world. And now Jesus gives it to us to inherit, completely and totally freely. This inheritance is given to all people in holy baptism. This kingdom must live and dwell in us, but it is not begun in us. It begins with God speaking his word from eternity, and bringing new children day after day to him into his arms through the washing of rebirth. Unless you are born again by Water and the Spirit, says Jesus, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

We enjoy this kingdom here today in the presence of Jesus. He speaks his word to us again, afresh, anew. And he speaks his Holy Spirit and his living kingdom into us as a deposit, a down-payment. And on the last day, he will give this same kingdom to us as our inheritance.

Then we read: For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty…or naked…or sick or in prison…?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Here we read that Jesus will not be finished simply by giving them the kingdom, but he wants to take a few moments to brag about them, and commend them, and praise them for their good works. He wants to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

But then we might think, “Well, are we saved by works (and not faith) after all?” “Does it really all come down to whether we did good things or bad things?”

Well, if we had to earn our salvation, then it wouldn’t be an inheritance anymore prepared for us from the foundation of the world. We can’t have it both ways, either we are saved by our works or not. Lutherans say, that we are not. The bible says that we are not saved by our works, but through Christ’s works.

So what’s all this about the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, etc.? Well, Jesus rewards our good works, but he doesn’t save us because of them. If we have proven to be a good tree, it’s important that Jesus speaks about the tasty fruit. Good works are the fruits of faith. Later on in the passage, we read that the evil one didn’t produce these fruits—that’s because the tree was bad: there was no living faith.

But listen to Jesus’ words: Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

So who are these brothers and sisters of Jesus? Does he mean Christians? No. He hasn’t simply brought Christians before his judgement, he has brought all nations before his throne, with all the angels watching on. Here, Jesus’ brothers and sisters are every member of the human race. Because when Jesus took on flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he makes himself a part of the human race together with every person who’s part of it.

And so, we should think the same way. Every person of every country is a precious creation of God. And Jesus calls us to take notice of the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the naked, the stranger, the imprisoned—and he promises that he himself, in the flesh, will meet us in those very people: The least of these my brothers. Remember where Jesus says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Christian charity is not public charity—as soon as we want to show it to the world, we have ceased to follow Christ’s command. As soon as churches call the newspaper to report on their charitable activities, they’ve lost the plot. When we do this, then Jesus says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” I was to be found, but you wanted the world to find you, the world to commend you, and the world to judge you. But the world is not your judge: Jesus is, and he wants you to find him in the least of his brothers and sisters on earth.

If you want let your light shine, so that others may see your good works and give glory to your Father, then shine your light in a dark place, where no one else is shining it, and where no-one else will notice. Shine your light in the dark recesses of Australia, of Victoria, of Gippsland, of your family, where no-one cares, and where no-one will notice.

Just as we believe that in the Lord’s Supper, the true body and blood of Jesus is given for us to eat and drink, so also in the least of these Jesus’ brothers and sisters, Jesus is there in his true body and blood, not for us to eat and drink, but for us to feed, to give drink to, to clothe, to visit, to care for.

But there will always be old Nick, the devil, Satan himself, whispering in your ear, saying, “You haven’t done it.” “You’re no good.” “You’re doomed.” “You’re cursed.” “You will depart from Jesus on the last day into the eternal fire prepared for me and the demons.”

Well—say to the devil, “I’m baptised, and you can’t touch me.” Say: “Look, what makes you think, devil, that the book of Matthew and James teaches me that I’m saved by works after all? It’s not true. Jesus’ inheritance of the kingdom of heaven has been prepared from the beginning of the world, and it is given to me in baptism, and through God’s word. So buzz off, and dribble in someone else’s ear.”

Do you think that when Jesus commended the sheep for their good works, that they all said, “Yes, Jesus! Aren’t we good? Haven’t we been better than those goats? Yes, we’re really proud of ourselves.”

No. Not at all. When the sheep get to heaven, and when they are commended for their good works, they can’t see any of it at all. And that’s the way it has always been and that’s the way it always will be. We might look back at all the good things we’ve done in our life, but in fact, it’s Jesus that notice the pearls and the gems, not us. We were just being ourselves.

So the people say: “When did we see you hungry? When did we see you thirsty? When did we see you a stranger?”

You see, they didn’t even know that they had done these things. Even if they sought to go and do them, they still don’t what good they had done. That’s why it’s so important for us, not to worry about saving ourselves through works and brownie points, but to listen to Jesus’ promise: Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

St Paul says: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Your baptism is your death. As soon as you are baptised, you are dead and raised from the dead with Jesus. Your life is hidden, and most of all, your good works are hidden from you, because they are God’s work through you. And so just now, your life is hidden with Christ in God, so also your life will only be revealed before your eyes on the last day. And those who have sown abundantly will reap abundantly.

So today God our heavenly Father promises to us in his word his love, his forgiveness for all our sins, and peace in our conscience from his own throne, to prepare us for that day when the Son of Man will come in glory, and all his angels with him, to sit on his glorious throne, and just like Joseph to his brothers, reveal his friendly and loving face to us in a wonderful family reunion.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, our Judge and Saviour, we thank you for baptising us into your own body, and we pray that you work your powerful salvation in us through your Word and Holy Spirit. Also, perform your works of mercy and love to others through us, even though these things are hidden from our eyes. Amen.

Trinity 25: Audio Sermon (11-Nov-2012)

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Trinity 25 [Matthew 24:15-28] (11-Nov-2012)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Matthew 24:15-28)

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

The last three Sundays of the Church Year focus on the last times, the judgment of the world and Christ’s return.

God’s judgment and the Last Day, which we call the Day of Judgment, is something that many modern Christians simply don’t think about all that much. Many Christians don’t believe in the Day of Judgment. And this is a very, very dangerous thing in our church today.

Preparing the world for God’s judgment is the whole mission of the church. It’s the only reason we’re basically here. A church that doesn’t equip people with the truth that they need to hear concerning God’s judgment is a church that is preaching a false message. People would be happy and comfortable if Christianity were just a nice helpful myth, but in fact God does his work in history and actually cares about our lives.

Every Sunday when we come to the Divine Service, we present ourselves to God’s judgment. God’s living presence and his living judgment go together. We begin our service with confession and absolution. We confess our sin before God’s throne and before his judgment, and because of Christ’s death and Christ’s blood, we receive God’s verdict of complete forgiveness spoken over us through the pastor, just as if it were Christ himself who spoke those words. In fact, it is Christ who speaks these words through the pastor, because Jesus promises, “If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven.”

The whole purpose of Christ’s death was to present his holy body and his precious blood before his Father’s judgment seat so that the sentence and the punishment which we deserve against us would be removed and cancelled and that we could enter God’s holy and living presence, clean and pure, not because we see the cleanness and the purity in ourselves, but because of Christ’s own purity, and because Christ himself died for us, in such a way that our sins are no longer held against us and accounted to us before God’s judgment.

Even when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we come to receive Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ comes to be our forgiving judge. Martin Luther said: “When you come to the Lord’s Supper, come to it as if you were going to your death, so that when you die, it will just like going to the Lord’s Supper.” Christ comes into the world, into our own church, Sunday after Sunday, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is what Christ does week after week and day after day in his own church.

We have to understand this sort of thing if we are going to make sense of our Gospel reading today.

Today Jesus is teaching us about the end of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, but also he is talking about the end of the world. He speaks about the one thing and then the other.

First of all, he says:

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

Many Christians today don’t believe that the end of the world is upon us and that we are living in the end times. But as Christians, we have already been living in the end times ever since Jesus’ death, resurrection, his ascension and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

The days of the Christian Church are always the days of the end times. Christ has paid the one sufficient sacrifice for our sins, and we are simply waiting now for his appearing at the end of the world.

On the day of Pentecost, St Peter preached on the words from the prophet Joel which say: “In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” This is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost. And the prophecy says that this will happen “in the last days.”

On the other hand, there are all sort of crazy people around today, who in the name of Christianity, want to predict the date of the end of the world. When Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles said, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [Jesus] said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

Of course, we are living in the end times, and Christians should always be living with the expectation that Christ may return at any time and on any day. This should not be a reason for us to panic, but it should be a great joy for us, because of the Christ’s promise to us of the forgiveness of sins, his great love for us, and his power to save us.

Now, in the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks about himself as the temple of God. For us, Jesus is a place where we meet together. He says: “Abide in me, and I in you.” When we come together as a church, we don’t come together to meet in a building, but we come to meet together in Christ himself. All throughout the letters of St Paul, Paul says that the baptised people are “in Christ”, and says that we were baptised “into Christ.” St Peter even says that we are built as spiritual stones into a spiritual house, with Christ as the cornerstone.

So you see that Jesus is our temple. Every Divine Service begins with the words of Baptism: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We gather within Christ our temple, where the Father promises to dwell and where we receive the Holy Spirit.

So what about the Jewish temple, which was made with stones and bricks? Jesus prophesies that it would be destroyed, and that a great abomination would be set up in the sanctuary. This happened when the Romans invaded Jerusalem in 40 AD and the Roman Caesar, Caligula, ordered for a statue of himself to be placed in the sanctuary of the Jewish temple. Now this man was a true tyrant and was known to indulge in ruthless killings and sex parties. So in the most holy place of God’s temple in Jerusalem is set up the exact opposite of holiness: a sinful man, a tyrant, inflamed by power and lust and corruption.

But Jesus is the temple. So what does it matter too much what happens to the old Jewish temple?

Well, if you read the book of Acts, you can see that in the early days of the Christian Church, the apostles and disciples of Jesus used to go and worship in the Jewish temple. But what happened is that the high-priests forbade the apostles to preach in the name of Jesus. They even locked the apostles up in prison. And so Peter preaches against them, and says: “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”

So you can see that the Church was kicked out from the established Jewish religion, meaning that the two things became separated. You can see here in history that Jesus Christ himself is exercising his judgment through his church in such a way that leaves the Jewish temple abandoned. Still until this day, the Jewish temple has been unable to be built.

The high-priests and such like thought that the temple would always stand. Jeremiah, years before, had said, “Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord’.”

And so Jesus says, after this abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet Daniel, there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.

Many people will look at the church and think that it is a big joke. People aren’t going to church like they used to, to unbelievers the church is obviously full of sinners and hypocrites, and then the church has continuously compromised its beliefs time and time again, in such a way that many Christians think that it doesn’t matter what you believe any more, as long as you’re sincere about it.

But your good intentions won’t save you—only Christ’s good intentions, his works, his death, his resurrection will save you.

Christ prophesies that the church is always going to be a suffering church. Jesus never promised that the true church will always necessarily be the largest church. Large numbers of people in church does not necessarily mean that Jesus blesses the church. Jesus says: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

In many situations, the church has been pushed out of old institutions that have failed to be faithful to Christ’s pure and clear word, and have pushed out the church from its midst, because they have replaced Christ and his true living presence in the church with some other abomination. At the time of the Reformation, the old established church forced out and excommunicated those who were faithful to God’s word. And even today, faithful Christians are being forced out of various old churches which have now become unfaithful, hollow religious institutions.

Today, the great false teaching that is spreading in the church is what is called “The Church Growth Movement.” This is basically a teaching that says, the most important thing about a church is not what it says or believes, but how many people are coming, how people feel, and how much money is in the plate. And so churches see their mission as all about how to entertain people. So Christians throw out Christ’s real gifts—his words, his sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper—and replace it all with things that are seemingly attractive to the world. Now of course Christians love to see their church grow, but just because people are attracted to a certain church, doesn’t mean that they have been attracted to the crucified Jesus, or that the Holy Spirit called them there. And then so-called experts make all sorts of categories that judge whether certain churches are “healthy churches” or not. Who cares about their judgment? What about Jesus’ own judgment? What about faithfulness to Jesus? Has that ever mattered to people?

So many churches are just waiting for the latest expert to write the latest book to come off the shelf so we can all mess around and fail to implement their latest hair-brained idea in Christ’s own church. And that’s not to mention false prophet after false prophet who claims to speak for God himself, performing miracles and so-called “faith-healings” around the back-blocks of towns and cities all throughout the world, calling upon everyone to trust in them as God’s  newest and latest Messiah, and to give them all of their money. As Psalm 2 says: “He who sits in the heavens laughs.” Right in the midst of God’s temple, even in Jesus’ name, the exact opposite it set up—human efforts, human works, and the latest thrills and novelties.

Jesus in our Gospel reading says: “And if those days have not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightening comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

We cannot be smug. We cannot afford to point to finger at others and say that other churches are the ones with all the problems. We are just as much at fault as any other.

But the church was never put here to make people feel comfortable or smug or holier than other people. The Holy Bible is not even there first of all to edify you, but to stand as a testimony to God’s truth. Jesus himself says all sorts of things that could be misunderstood in the worst way, like “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Is Jesus teaching us to hate our parents? But it also doesn’t seem to bother Jesus that his words could be misunderstood, and he doesn’t take it as his fault when people do.

When God sent out the prophet Ezekiel, he told him ahead of time that the people wouldn’t believe what he said, but that he should go and prophecy anyway. He says: “The house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me. Because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.”

But you see—God’s word still stands. People often don’t take notice of Jesus’ words of judgment, but his words in our Gospel reading today still stand. There will be people who call themselves Christians who are always drawn away from the cross to glitz and glamour and the latest fad. But the times of the church really are times of great tribulation, and there will be many false prophets, who will perform many miracles and wonders and draw large crowds and build big churches, and Jesus says: “Do not believe it.” Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Friends, we are not gathered around a corpse like vultures. We are gathered around a living master, a living Jesus. He is risen from the dead, with the holes still in his hands and feet and side, and comes and breathes his own Holy Spirit upon us, and forgives us our sins. He is present here on earth, and we are also waiting for him. And so he forgives us our sins, so that when we see him face to face, and he comes like lightening stretching from the east to the west, we will not run from him, but to into his loving arms.

Lord Jesus, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Lord God, our heavenly Father, bless us as we gather around your Son, and let the fact that your Son is present here in the flesh be the most important thing to us. Don’t let us be sidetracked by how many people are here or not here, or how many people go to other churches, but let our trust and hope be on your Word and your word alone. Sanctify us by the truth. Your word is truth. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

All Saints Day: Audio Sermon (4-Nov-2012)

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All Saints Day [Matthew 5:1-12] (4-Nov-2012)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Matthew 5:1-12)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Our gospel reading today is often called the “Beatitudes”. This word comes from the Latin word for blessed: “Beati”. Jesus begins each of his little sayings with the word “blessed”. Blessed, blessed, blessed, ringing like church-bells over the centuries—Jesus scattering his blessings over his disciples of all times and places.

And these words of Jesus are his first words as a teacher of the people. We read at the beginning of the chapter: Seeing the crowds, [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them.

Do you notice how everything that happens here is described in detail: he went up on the mountain, he sat down, his disciples came to him. It even says that he opened his mouth in order to teach them. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit wants us to take notice of what a wonderful occasion all this was. It’s almost like the words describe a ceremony, where Jesus opens his mouth.

And Jesus says:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So what do you think when you hear these words of Jesus? Do you qualify for his blessings? Are you poor in spirit? Are you meek? Are you merciful? Are you pure in heart?

I want to have Jesus blessings rest upon me, but I know that I don’t like to be poor in spirit. I want to think as though I am spiritually rich. But also, I know that there’s a lot of darkness in my heart and sin—will I see God as Jesus promises here?

But first of all, Jesus is not talking about us. In fact, these descriptions of blessed people here, actually describes Jesus himself. Jesus fits these descriptions the best.

These blessings of Jesus sound a bit like the very first psalm, which says:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Jesus fulfils these words perfectly. He is the man who is truly blessed, because he is completely free from sin by nature, and as a man he is also true God perfectly united in one person. He never walked in the counsel of the wicked—he never took advice from the devil and evil people. He never stood in the way of sinners—he always did away with sin, and forgave people’s sin, and ate and drank with them, and took on their sin upon himself. He never sat in the seat of scoffers—he never scoffed, he only blessed and healed and showed friendliness and love to people. He delighted in God’s law day and night—even when he was on the cross he was praying the psalms: Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

But also, the blessings of Jesus in our reading today, the Beatitudes, also describe Jesus most perfectly:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was poor in spirit. He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross. He didn’t live a life royalty in this world, but he was the king of glory himself. He owned very little, and what he did have, he had taken away from him, so much so that he was left to die a lonely death, naked, wounded, and nailed to a cross. But the kingdom of heaven belonged to Jesus, and he was the king of heaven himself.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Look at Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus says: “My soul is greatly troubled, even unto death.” The prophet Isaiah says that he was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Jesus knew mourning, depression, sadness like no-one on this earth has ever known it. But also, he is comforted—he even defeated death himself through his own resurrection.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Jesus says: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart -- (I am meek) – and I will give rest for your souls.” He rode into Jerusalem, lowly and meek, not riding on a great majestic horse, but on a humble donkey. He submitted to his Father’s will. And also Jesus inherited the whole earth. He says before he ascends into heaven: “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.”

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Jesus hungered and thirsted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. He was tempted by the devil. He thirsted for water on the cross. But also, after he rose from the dead, he was exalted and seated at the right hand of God. He was satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Jesus is perfectly merciful—he always shows mercy to people, and especially today he shows mercy to us, and promises to show mercy to us.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Jesus heart is perfectly pure, and he continually sees the face of God.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

Jesus made peace for the whole world through his blood on the cross, as it says in Colossians. And he is the only begotten Son of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was persecuted, and he was completely innocent. All throughout the time he was teaching people, the high priests and such like were conspiring to put him to have him arrested and put to death. And finally he was persecuted through his suffering and crucifixion in one of the most brutal ways that the world has ever seen.

So we can see that all of these beatitudes, these blessings, is perfectly fulfilled by Jesus himself.

But we’re not finished yet, because Jesus isn’t talking about one person, he’s talking about many. He doesn’t say: “Blessed is the poor person in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to him” or “her”, but he says, “Blessed are the poor people in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them”, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

And Jesus here shows us that he is not just going keep all these wonderful gifts for himself, but that he will share his blessings with all his disciples of all times and all places. He won’t just die on the cross by himself, but throughout history he will place his church and everyone in it constantly at the foot of the cross, and he will say to each Christian, “Take up your cross and follow me.” And when on Easter Sunday morning he stands up and walks out of the tomb, he doesn’t just do it for himself, but he does it so that each of us will do the same. It says in 1 Corinthians 15: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

Do you hear those words? “Then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” He is the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

And this is especially important for us as we remember today on All Saints Day all those who have fallen asleep with Christ in the faith, all those who belong to Christ. Christ is not so selfish as to keep eternal life and the resurrection from the dead just to himself, but he wants to share this great gift. And he shares this gift by uniting each person to himself in Holy Baptism, and pouring out his Holy Spirit on them through the water and the word, and forgiving each and every single sin of the past, present and future.

And so, Jesus begins this great sermon in our Gospel reading with the words: Blessed, blessed, blessed. Let me share my blessing. Let me throw my blessings over here, and scatter my blessings over there. There’s enough blessings for everyone.

He is the vine, and he makes us his branches. All the juices that flow through him flow into us.

Jesus is not stuck up in heaven in such a way that he is not with us on earth. He says: “I am with you to the end of the age.” He unites himself to us, his baptised people, and lets us plant each footstep we take in his footprint. And through the forgiveness of sins, he promises to dwell in each one of us, even through we see still our sin clinging to us.

You see, Jesus only lives in sinners. He doesn’t live in saints: saints don’t need him. If you think you’ve made it in your spiritual life, and that you’re free from sin, then go home—you don’t need Jesus, and Jesus won’t live in you. He will only make his home in a sinner. He knows what sins looks like, he knows what it feels like. He took it upon himself and died for all of it.

And now he says:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who need me, says Jesus, who are poor, who have been made destitute by sin, by the world, by the devil, who are helpless to save themselves. I myself will come and be your Saviour. I will forgive you in baptism, and through that forgiveness, and through that forgiveness alone, I will dwell within you. If you are poor, then hear the living voice of God in his Scriptures, and those living words will enter your ears, go into your heart and Christ himself will build his kingdom there.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are those who are depressed and grieving. Come and be sad with me, says Jesus. Let me share it with you, let me drink that cup for you and die for you. Let me be your sadness in my crucifixion, and let me be your joy and your happiness and your gladness in my resurrection from the dead.

And so we can go through each of the beatitudes in the same way, and see the way in which Christ shares his kingdom with us, his living presence with us, and all his blessings with us. Read each of these beatitudes, study them, learn them, and drink deeply from them. Jesus embodies each of them himself, but he also embodies each of them in us through uniting us to be part of his own body together with all Christians throughout the world of all times and places—all the disciples, all the martyrs, all the saints.

So let the Holy Spirit call you to Jesus’ feet, let the Holy Spirit draw you to him and place you at Jesus feet. Jesus sits down, opens his mouth and teaches you himself. But he doesn’t simply teach you information, he teaches you living mysteries of the faith, living blessings.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Amen.

Teach us, Lord Jesus, your words of blessing, your words of salvation, your words of blessedness. Send us the Holy Spirit from your Father and purify our hearts through the forgiveness of our sins that we may see God. Make us poor in spirit that the kingdom of heaven may be ours together with all the little, humble people you have called to yourself throughout all time. Amen.