The Powerful Word!

[Below you'll find the text of the message prepared for both worship services of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, this morning. The live stream videos of both services are also here.]

Matthew 1:18-25

Few incidents in Scripture more forcefully convey the power of God’s Word than does today’s Gospel lesson, Matthew 1:18-25. In it, Joseph, the Nazareth handyman God had chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus, God the Son, moves from fear to faith in facing the role God marked out for him.

Let’s be clear. God makes a big ask of Joseph. It is, from the standpoint of human beings, one that will upend the plans he’s made for his life and subject him to all kinds of trouble.

You know what happens: Joseph is betrothed to Mary and learns that Mary is pregnant. Joseph knows that he’s not the father and is devastated, certain that Mary has been unfaithful. 

In those days, a betrothed couple was considered legally married among God's people. They were also expected, by law, not to consummate their marriage until the betrothal period, usually lasting a year, ended. Sexual relations outside of marriages between husbands and wives were punishable by death by stoning. It had ceased being customary for betrothed women who were pregnant by relations with men other than their husbands to be executed. Instead, under provisions in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the violated husbands could write a bill of divorce to end the betrothal. 

When Joseph learns of Mary’s pregnancy, deeming the idea that her pregnancy has come by way of the Holy Spirit unbelievable, he has two bad options. Option one: he can go ahead with the marriage, in effect, creating the impression that he and Mary had violated the sixth commandment–”You shall not commit adultery.” But if he does this, he’ll be subject to condemnation, ex-communication from the synagogue, and a loss of reputation leading to loss of work in Nazareth or the surrounding area.

His second option is to divorce Mary. This is the option he decides on, hoping to do so “quietly.” This means basically that, to protect Mary, the bill of divorce he signs will make no mention of why he’s divorcing her. But everyone in Nazareth will assume that Joseph is the father of the child. Joseph will ruin his own reputation in order to shield Mary and her baby from a lifetime of harassment and shunning.

While still thinking about all of this, Joseph goes home and hits the sack. In a dream, an angel comes to Joseph and says: “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

Now, these words are so freighted, they must be unpacked. 

First, the angel addresses Joseph as a “son of David.” Joseph was a descendant of King David of Old Testament times. While the baby in Mary’s womb is God the Son in human flesh, He would have none of Joseph’s DNA. (Or Mary’s either, for that matter.) He was conceived, as we confess each Sunday, “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” But the Messiah or the Christ, God’s Anointed One, was prophesied to come from David’s family tree. So, a son–a descendant–of David needed to adopt this child as his own. God had chosen Joseph for that role.

Then the angel tells Joseph, “do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.” “Don’t be afraid of the neighbors’ condemnation or possible poverty,” God is telling Joseph through the angel. “If you take Mary as your wife, you’ll be doing the will of God.” Following the God we meet in Jesus isn’t always easy, friends. To be a disciple of Jesus means we may be asked to do crazy stuff, like confessing our sins, forgiving our neighbors, loving the unlovable, and telling others about new life through Jesus. We’ll incur rejection from some. But when we turn to Jesus in daily repentance and faith, we needn’t fear what the world says about us or does to us. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” Jesus says elsewhere. “Rather, be afraid of the One [God] who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

After confirming that Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit, the angel tells Joseph, “you are to give [the child born of Mary] the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) The name Joseph is to give the son Mary bears is, in the Hebrews of the Old Testament, Yeshua, transliterated into English as Joshua. In the Greek, it’s Yesus, rendered in English as Jesus. It means, Yahweh, the Lord, our salvation. Jesus’ name describes His mission. Jesus is God come to save us! The angel emphasizes this when he tells Joseph that Jesus: “will save his people from their sins.”

You and I know, friends, that every person born into this world except Jesus, needs the forgiveness of sin. We are born in sin and there’s nothing we can do to erase its power to condemn us to everlasting separation from God. But Jesus, the Messiah, came into the world to take the condemnation for sin we deserve. He takes our condemnation, then gives His righteousness to all who turn to Him in repentance and faith. The Bible says that, “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

But there is even more to being saved than having our sins forgiven and having life with God right now, wonderful though those things are! Every person who believes in Jesus looks ahead to the day of Jesus’ second advent, His second coming. On that day, we’ll also be saved from the gravest consequence of sin, death itself. In a section of the Old Testament book of Isaiah that describes Jesus and what He will do, we read a prophecy written in the past tense: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering…and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5) On the day of His return, Jesus will usher those who have believed in Him into eternity, where, Revelation says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”(Revelation 21:4) Jesus, the Messiah, has come to save us so that when we, like Him, are raised from the dead, will be saved to live for eternity, without suffering, grief, or death. Jesus, the apostle Paul says, “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:21) Jesus the Savior has come to save us eternally and totally!

The end of our gospel lesson brings us to one of the greatest Christmas miracles. It’s this: “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” (Matthew 1:24)

How did Joseph, who had gone to sleep intent on quietly divorcing Mary, end up taking Mary as his wife and the child in her womb as his earthly son, despite all the challenges it would bring to him? The same way we can leave our worship today knowing that our sins are forgiven, that God is with us always, that we can live in the freedom of the Gospel, that we can ignore the cynicism of the world and live with faith in God. By the power of God’s saving Word!

The angel’s words from God rang true to Joseph because, as a faithful man who knew God’s Word, he would have been aware of the child promised in Isaiah 7-9, from which today’s first lesson comes. That child was a sign sent by God pointing to another Child God promised to send, One born of a virgin from the house of David, One who would save the people He created from their sins. Of that Child, God said through Isaiah: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Joseph knew God’s Word when he heard it. And just as God’s Word came to him through an angel in a dream and so was given renewed faith, God comes to us in His Word to call you and me to repentance, faith, and new and everlasting life through the crucified and risen Jesus. By Jesus, the Word made flesh, and the Word about Him we encounter Scripture and the Sacraments, we can celebrate Christmas and each day in the certainty that we have been saved, now and for all eternity. We know that Immanuel, God with Us, always. That is the power of the Gospel Word about Jesus that transforms our fears to faith, our sins to righteousness, our despair to hope, our death to life! May you live in the power of Jesus, the Word made flesh, this Christmas and always! Amen

Joy in Jesus!

[Below, you'll find live stream video of the modern worship service with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. (The video of the traditional service has major video issues. So, I'm not sharing it.) Also below is the text of the message. Have a great week!]



Matthew 11:2-15

Charlie was an old man, a member of Ann’s and my home church. Afflicted with arthritis, he could barely walk. But he was in worship every Sunday and served with the church in many ways. Charlie had painted houses and put up drywall his entire working life, but had been retired twenty years when I got to know him. For many years of his retirement, except for when his daughters spelled him, he took care of his bed-ridden wife. Following a long illness, his wife died. On the day of her funeral, Charlie spent time talking with me and another twenty-something. This man, who would have seemed to have every reason to complain told us, “Mark and Whitie, the Lord has been awfully good to me. All I can do is thank and praise Him.”

What I saw in Charlie at this moment when he was grieving was Christian joy! Joy in the midst of this world’s darkness and fallenness.

That’s what this Third Sunday of Advent is about: joy. It’s called Gaudete Sunday or Rejoice Sunday. It comes to us from Philippians 4:4-5, which was historically used for the procession to the altar on this Sunday of the Church Year. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” the passage tells us, “I will say it again: Rejoice!”

So, what exactly did Charlie, broken down by aging, work, arthritis, and taking care of his wife for long years, have to rejoice over on the day of his wife’s funeral?

And, for that matter, what do we, in a crazy world filled with war, hatred, suffering, and death, have to rejoice over?

John the Baptist may have wondered the same thing. John was the only prophet who was himself the subject of Old Testament prophecy. In about 430 BC, God told His people through the prophet Malachi: “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” (Malachi 3:1) John fulfilled his call of preparing God’s people and all people for the saving work of the Messiah, the Christ: Jesus. In today’s lesson, Jesus confirms the greatness of John. “...among those born of women,” Jesus says, “there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…” (Matthew 11:11)

But, as we meet John today, he’s in prison for his faith, hardly a joyful thing.

Whether for himself or for his own disciples, who were undoubtedly reeling, questioning God, as they’ve seen John put in chains, John sends messengers to ask Jesus a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3) Is Jesus the One Who’s finally going to make this sin-imprisoned, death-filled world right? Is Jesus God in the flesh?

A cynical world writes faith in Jesus off as closed-minded stupidity. A brilliant young woman from Brazil named Sarah, who I follow on Twitter, who recently became a Lutheran Christian, reported this past week of the the place where she works, “Today I heard a ton of jokes about my faith…” She held her tongue although the group of men who joked about her faith all are living lives of unrepentant sin.

Sarah might well wonder if Jesus really has conquered sin and death when she, seeking to follow Jesus faithfully, is subjected to such nastiness and derision.

So might Christians in other parts of the world who are persecuted, facing arrest, violence, arson, and death.

Before getting self-righteous though, honesty compels me to say that while I am a baptized believer in Jesus, I only have to look in the mirror to see the same sin and insanity that makes being a disciple of Jesus hard.

I’m a sinner prone to breaking every one of God’s ten commandments, whether by thought, word, or deed.

I daily fail to love God completely.

Daily I fail to love others as I love myself.

I’m still a sinner.

So are you.

Does that mean Jesus is less than God the Son?

Or, are we to look for someone else, something else?

When John’s messengers asked Jesus this question, Jesus didn’t respond directly.

Instead, He pointed them to the things He was doing, things that the Old Testament, at various places, said the Messiah, the Son of God, would do when He brought God’s kingdom into this fallen world: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:5)

The world waits–we wait–for Jesus’ second advent when He will make all things right.

But, for now, we know that Jesus is our strong fortress and our eternal hope in the midst of a crazy world.

We hold onto Jesus in faith because, sinners though we are, we also know that Jesus has conquered our sin and our death for all eternity! Jesus’ words stand in Scripture: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Many wonder if Jesus really is a conqueror who has overcome the world’s troubles. This appears to be the question that rattled either John the Baptist, his disciples, or both.

If Jesus was the Savior, why was John about to lose his head?

If Jesus is the conquering Lord, why is there cancer, war, despots and dictators, pandemics, ERs, and funeral homes?

A hint to the answer to these haunting questions can be found in our first lesson for today, Isaiah 35:1-10. Isaiah narrates the salvation story. All began in a garden, where God put the first human beings, Adam and Eve, in charge. Of course, humanity fell into sin, that condition of inborn distrust of God, our inborn predisposition to not trust God to take care of us which leads us to individual sins against God and others. Ever since then, God has been about calling us to repent and trust in Him, to trust that one day, beyond death and beyond the end of this cosmos, He will usher those who trust in His Son will live once more in a lush and perfect garden.

It’s a reign or dominion where the blind will see, the lame will walk, the leprous will be cleansed, the deaf will hear, and the poor, those laid low by sin and death, will hear the good news of Jesus that brings us life.

Many of the things prophesied by Isaiah were already seen in what Jesus did when John’s messengers went to Jesus.

But Isaiah said there was to be more even than these things to the kingdom brought by the Messiah.

While at his first advent, in His earthly life which began on Christmas, Jesus came submissively, dying for our sins like a lamb led the slaughter, there will be a time, according to Isaiah, when “[Jesus] will come with vengeance; with divine retribution…to save you…” (Isaiah 35:4)

It will be a time when “no lion…nor any ravenous beast,” not even the sin of the devil, the world, or our sinful selves, will be able to attack or wreak havoc on the lives of those who live daily turning from sin and daily turning to Jesus in faith.

The wilderness will rejoice and blossom, blessing all people with God’s plenty!

So, how can we be certain of Jesus and the Bible’s promises about Him?

How can we have joy in Jesus as our Savior and Deliverer even in the midst of the madness of this world and in the face of our own intractable sin?

When John asked a similar question, Jesus pointed John to what He was already doing, the very works the Old Testament prophets said that the Messiah was going to do when He brought His kingdom to us. “I’m doing the works of the Messiah,” Jesus was telling John, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (Matthew 11:6)

And when you and I today, on December 11, 2022, look at what Jesus has done, we can see even more than John could have from Herod’s prison cell!

We can see Jesus crucified for us, praying for our forgiveness with His dying breath.

We can see Jesus risen, showing Himself to be what He claimed to be: “...the resurrection and the life,” the One in Whom we can believe and have everlasting life with God! (John 11:25)

We can see Jesus today in His Word–preached and shared and sung, imparted in water and bread and wine.

We can pray to God in Jesus’ name and know the peace of God that passes all understanding.

We can live with joy even in sorrow and uncertainty, knowing that, though everything around us crumbles in uncertainty, the God we know in Jesus Christ can be counted on to stand by us always, forgive our sin, redeem our lives, and, at the end of all ages, raise our dead bodies to live with God always.

Jesus is the source of unending joy, even now.

With Charlie and all the saints, living and dead, we can join the apostle Paul in saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Amen

Why Watch?

[Below is the sermon prepared for this past Sunday's worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. You can also view live-stream videos of both worship services. Have a good week!]

Matthew 24:36-44

Back in the days before cell phones when I was a new pastor, I was late for a wedding. Ann will vouch for me that on this occasion, my lateness wasn’t my fault. (There’s a long story about that which I won’t tell at this time.)

I’ll never forget the frenzy I was in to get to that wedding!

I drove at seventy miles an hour on country roads in Defiance County to make it.

Once I’d arrived, I saw the entire bridal party, including the bride and the groom, already standing before the altar while the organist, stalling for time, improvised the world’s longest version of Here Comes the Bride.

At last, sweaty and disheveled, I took my place before the couple. The groom leaned forward and whispered to me, “I knew you’d make it, pastor.”

I patted him on the hand and said, “You have more faith than I do.” 

The word advent, for which this season is named, means arrival or appearance. During Advent, we remember the first appearance of God among us in Jesus Christ on the first Christmas.

We also remember that Jesus will one day appear again.

In His second coming, He will judge the living and the dead and He will fully establish the Kingdom of God.

To those who have rejected Jesus’ gifts of forgiveness and new life, Jesus will say, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

To those who have lived in the daily repentance and faith to which the crucified and risen Jesus calls all people, He will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

For believers in Jesus, His second advent on what the Bible calls the Day of the Lord, will be vindication for trusting in Him. Jesus will prove good for His promise: “....the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

In today’s gospel lesson, Matthew 24:36-44, Jesus calls us to believe in Him not just to take care of us when we die, rise, and go to Him, but also to trust that one day, He will return to this physical universe He created and make all things right.

The crucified and risen Jesus intends to make His whole creation, from human beings made in His image who trust in Him all the way down to the smallest atom, new, eternal, healthy, sinless, pulsing with the very life of God!

Four times in today’s lesson alone, Jesus promises that He will be back. This is a gospel promise.

Jesus calls us to be as watchful for and certain of His return as that bride and groom were for me on their wedding day.

Jesus says that the people of Noah’s day were so caught up in living their everyday lives, like we can be, that they weren’t ready for the flood. They weren’t watching for God to act. As a result, they were all taken away and only eight faithful people who anticipated God’s action were left behind to live in God’s provision and grace.

Jesus tells us that no one knows the day of His return, but that we should always be watching for it. You “must be ready,” He tells us, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:44)

So, why? If the day of Jesus’ return is in His hands, not ours, why do we need to be watchful for it?

New Testament scholar Jeffrey Gibbs rightly says that we can only speculate as to why Jesus tells us to watch for Him. But Gibbs offers five possible reasons that, I hope, will help you watch for Jesus not just in Advent, but in your whole life.

First: If we fail to watch for Jesus, we can lose our faith and fall away from Jesus. When we forget that Jesus is returning to judge the living and the dead, we can make ourselves “open…to distraction and temptation.” The time between Jesus’ first advent on the first Christmas and His second advent is, as Gibbs says, a time of great spiritual danger for all Christians.

A pastor Ann and I knew was well-loved by his family and congregants, a magnet for new members, an excellent preacher. But over time, being successful and comfortable became more important to him. He annually charmed his congregation into big pay increases, took up hobbies that occupied chunks of his time, seemed always to be buying or wanting something new, and eventually, left his wife for another woman. Quite simply, he had stopped watching for Jesus. I don’t know if that pastor ever repented, I pray he did. But when I learned of his death several years later, I couldn’t help reflecting on how sad it is when we Christians take their eyes off Jesus!

The apostle Peter tells us: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

A second reason to keep watching for Jesus: We can forget what we’ve been given to do as disciples. Every baptized believer in Jesus has been given a mission and the ability to do our part in it. We’re to make disciples by sharing Christ and His gospel with others. But if our focus is always on our careers, our kids, our happiness, our leisure, we’ll forget all about our mission as Christians. Christ empowers us to care about whether our neighbors know that Jesus is coming back one day. When we forget Christ, we lose our power to love as we’ve been loved.

Third: When we forget to watch for Christ, we can start to think that the world around us doesn’t matter. But it does matter! The Bible says: “​​This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9) When Jesus comes back, it will be to save the world, the cosmos. He cares about it and calls us to care about it too.

Fourth: When we forget to watch for Christ’s return, “we can get discouraged,” deciding just to pull back and just survive.

Early in one of my favorite movies, Casablanca, its main character, Rick, says, “I stick my neck out for nobody.” That’s the motto of a person who’s given up all hope in God. You even hear it from people who call themselves Christians. The preachers of false gospels lie to you and tell you that if you just “believe in Jesus,” your life will be trouble-free, even prosperous. But God’s Word tells us, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 16:19)

When we watch for Jesus’ return, we can face the challenges and adversities of this life, even stick our necks out for our neighbors, knowing that Jesus will give eternity to those who watch for Him!

Fifth: In watching for Jesus’ return, we look for the One everyone secretly longs to see. Billy Graham told the story of a missionary in China who was stopped by an elderly man on the streets. What brought the missionary to China, the man wondered. The missionary began to tell Him about Jesus: how God so loved the world He sent His one and only Son so that all who turned from sin and believed in Him would have everlasting life with God. The old man began to weep. He said, “All my life I knew He was there, I just didn’t know His name.”

Dear friends in Christ, you and I know the name of Jesus.

We have been blessed to be baptized into His name, His death, and His resurrection.

We have heard His Word of all Law that calls us to repentance and His Word of Gospel that assures us of His love and teaches us that we can trust in Him for life and wholeness, forgiveness and peace.

We know that one day, He will return, as the Bible tells it, “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead [who have trusted in Christ, watched for Him], will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52)

Today, Jesus tells you that as surely as He died and rose for you, He will return for you!

When we see Him, all who have watched for him will be able to say, “I knew you’d make it, Jesus.”

Watch for Jesus, dear friends, because, out of His infinite love for you, He is watching for you! Amen