Midweek Advent 3

The work of the church revolves around the absolute truth of God’s Word and his work in the creation. It has been kept from some and revealed to others, made manifest to gentiles and Greeks, even to the far ends of the world. Saint Paul calls them mysteries… and this is true: God has sent servants, stewards, to minister to you with an unchanging, unbudging, performative, and absolute truth. Therefore, the work of a pastor and the content of what goes on in the church is the truth and a pastor must be trustworthy. The work is dependent upon a foundation that was laid by God himself and maintained by the God who has been born of the woman.

That makes the work of these stewards the work of the Word of God in this place. We would like to interject reason and feelings. We would be sensitive to whether or not we understand the things of God and whether or not reason can properly tear apart the things revealed in Holy Writ. Preachers and pastors tossed to and fro by every whim of the world, of reason, and popularity contests will do much harm to the flock of God.

The Word of God has been under attack by the devil and the world since the Garden of Eden. The very word, “Satan,” means deceiver. The truth is something that Satan wants you to think is malleable. Opinion is something that weighs at or above what we know to be true and the idea, the thought, that someone can be judged or weighed against something outside of themselves is absurd to today’s world. We are labeled haters and bigots.

But the Word of God is not malleable and the work of that Word in the lives of Christians makes us different from the world. It makes the judgment of the world a small thing… it focuses us on the very gifts that come from heaven and the love that is manifest by the Babe of Bethlehem —crucified on Calvary’s cross.

And this truth, these mysteries are proclaimed here today. The absolute truth of God’s work for sinners is shown as that Word breaks into the darkness and tears apart the reign of death and the devil… Jesus proclaims the victory won and the devil a footstool.

This is the great absolute truth seen and made known, proclaimed and preached, to the world tonight. God has united with Benjamin and Logan and with you against the tyranny of Satan and death in the waters of Baptism. Baptism now saves! Baptism unites sinners to the death of Christ, destroying the debt of sin, Baptism unites sinners to the resurrection of Christ, giving the life of Jesus to you and me.

Today the mysteries of God are made known to you! Christ our Lord has done a great work. Satan cannot accuse you and neither can the Law or the world, culture, or any enemy. Death cannot end your gladness. When you die, you leave all sadness to inherit paradise. You inherit paradise, a child of God. An absolute truth is proclaimed, an absolute truth is made known. Angels rejoice and the whole cloud of heavenly witnesses rejoice… You have a treasure worth more than anything… it has brought you salvation free lasting to eternity, Jesus has made you his own and forgiven all your sin.

In the name of +Jesus. Amen

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Seeing the Empty Sack in our Sorrow

“Dear God, I’ve got an empty sack!”  That was the theme of President Matthew Harrison’s sermon to the 25,000 youth and youth leaders gathered for the 2013 National Youth Gathering in San Antonio, Texas last month.  (In a nutshell: We come to church with an empty sack and throughout the Divine Service, God fills it – with Holy Absolution, with the declaration of his Word, and with the Holy Sacrament… only for us to leave church and use it up, give it away… all the way down to the bottom.  So when we come to church again, we have an empty sack.  Dear God, I’ve got an empty sack.  You have promised to fill it, fill it now.)

The empty sack that we come to church with – empty and expecting to be filled by our loving and merciful God – isn’t something that we knit together in our depravity.  Yet it is in our depravity and the depth of our sorrow that Jesus has given us that sack.  The question of our day isn’t about whether a loving God would let us suffer, but that we have a God that suffered who loves us and came to us in our depravity and washed us in the blood he shed while being sacrificed for our evil.  God, this Jesus, came from heaven down into our very existence to suffer for us and with us.

From the depth of your sorrow and your hurt Jesus knows your pain and listens to your cry.  The view from our eyes can get blurry through the tears, but God has sent forth preachers to let you know that you have a God that has put a sack in your hand.  It will not tear or rip like paper or plastic; it is yours in your baptism and God promises to fill it up.  He keeps putting his good grace and mercy in it.  He knows your pain.  He has suffered your tears.  Jesus wept in love for you.  He has died to pay your debt.  He lives and reigns to bring you life.

Dear ones, God loves you – this way: he sends Jesus to you.  This Jesus takes your sin from you.  He wants it, he takes it, he has it.  In its place he gives his forgiveness, life, and salvation.  He is the one that has taken the eternal sting out of death.  He knows that you are victorious with him.  He knows that you need a savior and he is the one for you.  The only one to save you and to carry you to his eternal peace is Jesus.  Take your empty sack to his throne.  Speak to him all your sorrows.  He wants to hear your voice.  Even through all the tears, you have a God that gives ear to your prayers.  Even in pain and sorrow you have have a God that thinks on you.  Even in the face of death and certain earthly destruction, you have a God – this Jesus – that loves you and intercedes for you and prepares a place for you at his side.  You are loved.  You are his.

Love

We always seem to get this one wrong. For some reason the world wants love to be a feeling or something that we do in bed. If that is the case, then we can fall into love or out of love. Of course that isn’t what the Bible says about love. It isn’t how God is. He doesn’t fall in love with us and he can never fall out of love with us. He is love and loves us by giving us his only Son.

Jesus said, “No greater love hath a man than that he lay down his life for his friends.” That is the very essence of God’s love for you. God has done just that. First, when the time was perfect, when you and I were condemned under the law, God took on human flesh. The Son of God became our brother… with a beating heart and eyelids and hands. He skin tented with us, choosing to humble himself even then to the point of death on a cross. And upon the cross of Calvary he shed his blood and died to have you forever. It was his death that undid death and killed Satan’s nasty plans. He’s judged and the deed is done.

You are alive and forgiven and free. For God has loved you, and the Son has made you free. Thus Jesus knows what love is. He gives his love again to you and showers you with himself…changing you. In his death he makes you cruciform like him. He makes you a little Christ… a little lover. We can’t love without him. But with him we lay down our lives for our neighbor. He loves even you. If there were only one… he would have still done it, taken on death and loved you just the same. He’s yours forever.