You are given a mission by Pastor Zarling

You are given a mission

Acts 5:12,17-32 Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. With one mind, they all continued meeting in Solomon's Colonnade. 17The high priest rose up, along with his associates (that is, the party of the Sadducees), because they were filled with envy. 18They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, brought them out, and said, 20“Go, stand in the temple and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life.” 21After they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began to teach.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin (that is, the whole council of elders of the people of Israel). Then they sent orders to the jail to have the apostles brought in. 22But when the officers arrived, they did not find them in the prison. They returned and reported, 23“We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” 24When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were puzzled about them, wondering what could have happened.

25Then someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courts and teaching the people.” 26Then the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles in without force, because they were afraid that the people might stone them. 27After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin. The high priest asked them, 28“Did we not give you strict orders not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man's blood down on us!”

29But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you arrested and killed by hanging him on a cross. 31God exalted him to his right hand as Ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:4-5). Amen.

James Bond, Ethan Hunt, and Jason Bourne. Gru and Lucy, Carmen Sandiego, and Inspector Gadget. Spies. Secret agents. This is the way my favorite spy showed up for the first time: Major Monogram says, “Good morning, Agent P. The evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz is up to his old tricks. … Find out what he’s up to and put a stop to it. As always Agent P, it is imperative that your cover identity as a mindless domestic pet remains intact. Now, get out there. We’re all counting on you.” Agent P with his fedora is also known as Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb.

Secret agents are given a mission. Beat the bad guy. Foil evil plans. Save the world. Be silent. Be sneaky. Work behind the scenes. Lead a double life. Be a master of disguise. Use wits and gadgets.

You are given a mission. As we’ll see from the example of Peter and the apostles, it is not the mission of a spy or a secret agent. Your mission is out in the open, public, visible and audible. We pray that you are as courageous and resilient as Peter and the apostles. Also, notice that not everyone is excited about your meaningful mission.

The apostles were rapidly making enemies, especially since these events were happening only a few months after these same religious authorities had condemned Jesus. Jesus’ followers were branded a cult. They were labeled as freakish disciples promoting the teachings of a dead rabbi

whom they claimed had risen from the dead. As the apostles’ message began to spread, so did opposition to their message.

Peter and the apostles were facing the Sanhedrin – the same religious council who presided over Jesus’ phony trial. The Sanhedrin were made up of Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees were “not fair you see” because they opposed Jesus on Old Testament rules and Messianic prophecy. The Sadducees were “sad you see” because they did not believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees opposed Jesus’ apostles because they kept preaching about Jesus’ resurrection.

Earlier in the temple courtyard, Peter and John met a man lame from birth. Peter said to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk” (Acts 3:6)! The Sanhedrin called Peter and John before them because of all the commotion in the temple courtyard. They commanded the apostles not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). Peter and John answered them, “Decide whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God. For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). The Sanhedrin threatened them some more but let them go.

The Holy Spirit blessed the mission of the apostles. Luke writes, “Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. … More and more believers in the Lord were added to their group, large numbers of both men and women” (Acts 5:12, 14). People were being healed of their illness, lameness, and demon possession by the apostles’ touch and words. People were even healed if Peter’s shadow fell on them (Acts 5:15)!

Luke adds some strange commentary, “No one else dared to join [the apostles], but the people held them in high regard” (Acts 5:13). The people were afraid. The Sanhedrin had the authority to kick people out of the temple. To be barred from the temple was like being ostracized from society. If this happened, other Jews would not be allowed to communicate or do business with them. It was a powerful card to hold, but the Sanhedrin was not shy in playing it.

The members of the Sanhedrin discovered that crucifying Jesus did not stop the movement he started. They were surprised. And they were jealous (Acts 5:17)! This conflict was about religion. But it was also about power and politics. So, they arrest the apostles and throw them in prison (Acts 5:18).

But God’s mission will not be stopped! His messengers will not be muted! His witnesses will not be silenced! The Lord sends an angel who opens the prison doors. The angel reminds the apostles that God had given them a mission. “Go, stand in the temple and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life” (Acts 5:20). So, the apostles go back to the temple courtyards at daybreak and begin to preach about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

The Sanhedrin is puzzled about what happened to the apostles. Until someone reported to them, “Hey! These guys you put in prison for preaching about Jesus are back in the temple courts preaching about Jesus” (Acts 5:25)! The temple guards go out and arrest the apostles again. This time very timidly and politely because they are afraid of being stoned by the people. The Sanhedrin challenge the apostles, “Did we not give you strict orders not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man's blood down on us” (Acts 5:28)!

Peter and the apostles reply, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). It is this obedience that fuels their witness even in the face of ostracization, beatings, imprisonment, and eventually a martyr’s death. They tell the Sanhedrin they have been given a mission from God, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you arrested and killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his right hand as Ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the

forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:30-32).

God has given you a mission. You don’t have to save the world. You are to tell the old, old story that Jesus has already saved the world through his crucifixion and resurrection. You get to tell people that Jesus not only saved the world, but he also saved them. You are going up against the biggest bad guy of all – the Devil. But Jesus has already beaten this bad guy. You get to tell people that the Devil no longer has to have influence over them. Jesus now rules for our good by being exalted to God’s right hand as Ruler and Savior.

On this mission, you don’t have to lead a double life as a normal person and a secret agent. You can tell people about your normal life – your known sins and your secret sins, but how you repent of them and receive forgiveness from Jesus. Then you lead people to Jesus’ cross and open tomb so they can repent and receive forgiveness, too. You may not know what to say, but Jesus has sent you the Holy Spirit in your Baptism. Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will give you the right words to say at the right time (Luke 12:12).

God has given you a mission. This mission is not going to be easy or pleasant. People are naturally resistant to Jesus’ message because they are hostile to God by nature. We are not to expect popularity, but persecution. We will not receive unflagging adulation, but ardent flogging. We will not receive applause and gratitude, but arrest and the grave.

Jesus’ words will come true, “All men will hate you because of me” (Luke 21:17). We as twenty-first century Christians and modern-day witnesses do not go looking for trouble – enough trouble will find us. It has been said that where Christ builds a church, the devil builds a chapel. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed, Satan must attack. Wherever we soldiers of Christ lift high the cross, Satan’s minions dig a grave. Wherever Christ reigns as King, this world’s prince still scowls.

Remember this as you suffer at the hands of governments, unbelievers, social media bullies, and so on. Their opposition will be about religion. It will also be about power and politics. We don’t take revenge. We leave room for God’s vengeance. Until then, we turn the other cheek, forgive seventy multiplied by seven times, pray for our persecutors, and live as lights in the darkness. God will bring trouble on those who trouble us. St. John prophecies, “Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him” (Revelation 1:7).

Sadly, we often cower from our God-given mission. We keep our heads down and our mouths shut. We don’t want to be judged in the court of public opinion. We don’t want to be vilified on social media. We don’t want to offend anyone, so we accept the sin that is all around us, even within our own homes, rather than confronting it. We are afraid to go on the offensive.

Or we try to avoid the sinful culture altogether. We hide in our churches, schools, and homes, and shut the door on the evil that influences our culture. We are hunkered down on the defensive. But Jesus challenged his followers to go on offense — to proclaim the truth without shame.

Our churches and schools should become staging areas rather than fortresses – places that equip God’s people to confront a sinful world instead of hiding from it. Church memberships may shrink, and churches may close their doors, but the Christian Church will never die out. It can never be defeated. “Steeples may fall and spires may crumble, but bells still are chiming and calling the young and old to rest, but above all the soul distressed, longing for rest everlasting” (CW 856:1). Jesus promises, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last— the Living One. I

was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell” (Revelation 1:17-18).

On Wednesday, I gave my last chapel at WLS. I dressed like this (picture on screen) – black suit, black hat, sunglasses, and earpiece. I was trying to look like a spy. The point I’m making is that God is giving you a meaningful mission. Unlike a spy, you are not to keep it secret. You are not to be silent. You don’t need to work behind the scenes. You don’t have to be a master of disguise or lead a double life or use nifty gadgets. You don’t have to dress all in black and look cool. Although, the hat is always a nice touch.

Dress however you want. Be yourself. Speak normally. But know that God has given you a mission. You don’t have to save the world. Jesus has already saved the world. He will use you to save souls, though. Jesus has defeated the biggest bad guy and given the victory to you. You may be ostracized from society, mocked in the college classroom, and bullied on social media. The government may oppose, fine, and jail you. That’s to be expected. You obey God rather than people. You are going right back to the temple courts, to the public square of social media, and to the homes of your friends and family. Be bold. Be courageous. Be resilient. Like the apostles, you aren’t afraid. You won’t keep your head down or your mouth shut.

You are on a mission from God. God’s mission will not be stopped! His messengers will not be muted! His witnesses will not be silenced! Amen.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever (Revelation 1:6). Amen.

It Was God’s Will to Crush Him by Pastor Klusmeyer

It Was God’s Will to Crush Him

There once was a man who had a young son he loved very much. The father worked as the bridge keeper for a railroad bridge that needed to be raised and lowered to allow ships to pass. The son loved to go with his father, watch the trains, and see the important work that his father did.

One day, a ship approached the bridge and was allowed to be let through. The bridge keeper did what he was supposed to. He changed the warning lights to let approaching trains know that the bridge was being raised to let a boat through. But there was a problem. The train conductor was distracted and didn’t see the warning light, and failed to slow the train. The bridge keeper didn’t know anything was wrong and went about his normal work. However, his son saw the train approaching and realized there was a problem. He called for his father, but his father didn’t hear him.

The son knew he needed to do something and remembered that his father had once shown him a special way to lower the bridge in an emergency. But the son didn’t know what he was doing, he slipped and fell among the mechanisms of the bridge. His father suddenly heard the train whistle and realized what was happening. He knew he had to act quickly, but suddenly realized his son was missing. Faintly, he hears his son’s cries for help and realizes what has happened. The father is horrified as he realizes he needs to make a terrible choice: does he save his beloved son and allow all the people on the train to die, or does he sacrifice his beloved son to save a train full of strangers who will never know the cost of their salvation?

The father makes his choice: he sacrifices his son for the good of the many. This is a difficult story to hear. We don’t want to imagine being in such a horrible situation. Our hearts go out to the father who sacrificed his son that day. But imagine if we later found out that the father had planned the whole thing. How would we feel then? We would likely think the father is a monster for doing such a terrible thing. But isn’t this exactly what Good Friday is all about?

Isaiah tells us that, “it was the LORD’s will to crush him and to allow him to suffer.” God created this world to be a paradise free from pain, suffering, disease, and death. But when Adam and Eve sinned, God knew there was no way they could save themselves. God did not want to leave humanity lost in the darkness of sin and death forever. But our God is holy and just. He must punish sin and cannot leave the guilty unpunished. There was a debt that needed to be paid, and it was a debt that fallen humanity could never pay. As Adam and Eve realized the depth and consequences of their actions, God provided a solution. God himself would pay the debt our sins deserve. God promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior to rescue them and their descendants from the sting of death and sin. God promised, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.”

God fulfilled this promise by sending his one and only Son to suffer in our place. For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This is the story of Good Friday. This is what the two pictures at the front of our church show. The sin of rebellion that put all humanity under the curse of sin and the terrible price that was paid to free us from the sin. Hundreds of years before the events of Good Friday, the Prophet Isaiah, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, foretold the pain and suffering that our Savior would endure. This was God’s holy and righteous plan. A plan that makes no sense to our sinful, human way of thinking. God should have crushed us and allowed us to perish because of our rebellion. But our God is merciful and loving. He did not want any of his beloved children to perish, so he did the unthinkable. He saved his fallen children by crushing his perfect only-begotten Son.

Good Friday reminds us of the depths our Savior went to save us. The picture that Isaiah paints is not pretty or glorious. It is a picture of pain, suffering, and humiliation. Isaiah tells us, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root from dry ground. He had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man who knew grief, who was well acquainted with suffering. Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at, he was despised, and we thought nothing of him.” Jesus gave up the joy and splendor of heaven to be born as a helpless child. While he lived in this world, he lived a life of poverty. He knew what it was like to feel pain and loss. Jesus did not look like a King or a Savior. He was not what the people of his days expected; he is not what people today expect, and so he was despised and rejected.

Isaiah foretold the hatred the people would have toward Jesus. He gives us vivid details of the suffering our Savior endured for our sins. How he was flogged and beaten, so that just as many were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form was disfigured more than any other person. Isaiah reminds us of the injustice that our Savior endured—He was taken away without a fair trial and without justice. Even Pilate himself decreed that he had found Jesus guilty of no crime, and our Savior was still sentenced to death. The death our Savior endured was humility and horrible. Crucifixion was a punishment that was reserved for the most despised of crimes. Even God himself had declared that everyone who hangs on a tree is a curse. But this was the plan that God had ordained from eternity. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the message of Good Friday. Good Friday is a day of injustice because God crushed Christ instead of us. We sin every day of our lives, and we break God’s commands in countless ways. As Isaiah says, “We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way.” God could rightly crush us for the guilt of our sins, instead, he crushed Christ. The message of Good Friday, the message of the Gospel, is that Jesus Christ willingly offered his perfect life as payment for our sins. We could never pay the debt of our sins, but Jesus, because he was both God and man, could. He could offer his perfect life as payment for the sins of the whole world. As true man, he could die, and as a true God, his death paid for all of our sins. This is the beating heart of the message that Isaiah wants to reveal to us. Surely he was taking up our weaknesses, and he was carrying our sufferings. We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced. He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the LORD has charged all our guilt to him.

Good Friday is a day of sorrow and sadness because we know that it was because of our sins that God crushed his only Son. But we also know the story doesn’t end on Calvary or even in his tomb among the rich. No, we know that God’s righteous plan included our Savior rising victorious from the grave and conquering death and hell once and for all. This is the hope that Isaiah began with as he described the suffering of God’s Servant, and it is the hope we leave with as we look forward to the joy of Easter. Look, my servant will succeed. He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted. Amen

He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Jesus’ Last Will and Testament by Pastor Zarling

Jesus’ Last Will and Testament

Jeremiah 31:31-34 Yes, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. 33But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will each one teach his neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.

Let us hold on firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. (Hebrew 10:23). Amen.

I helped my parents write their will several years ago. We decided that 10% of their assets would be gifted to the Lord’s kingdom for mission work in the WELS. My dad commented that the remaining 90% could be divided equally in thirds for me and my two younger sisters.

I told my dad that in the Old Testament, the eldest son received a double portion of his parents’ inheritance. That meant I would receive 60% and my sisters would each receive 15%.

My dad thought about that for a while and then said, “I don’t think your sisters will like that.” I replied, “I know they won’t. But I was only teasing.”

In Jeremiah, God the Father is promising a new covenant – a new will – for his children. “Yes, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will each one teach his neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

God had treated the Israelites like children with the old covenant. Like when you tell your children that if they get good grades, they can go out for sports. Or when their room is clean, they can have friends sleep over. God told his children that if they fulfilled their end of the covenant, then God would bless them nationally, physically, and spiritually.

But the rules and regulations of the old covenant were so detailed and different than the nations around them that the Israelites had difficulty separating themselves from their pagan neighbors. In fact, they often joined their pagan neighbors.

Every one of you had parents who challenged you after you did something stupid with your friends. “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?!” The children of Israel did jump. They jumped right into the sin of idolatry of their pagan friends.

The rules and regulations of the old covenant were difficult to keep, but the Israelites’ old sinful nature made it impossible to keep the covenant. Israel’s kings were weak and corrupt. They corrupted their people’s faith in the true God by setting up altars on high places to pagan gods. Israel’s priests were cheats and drunkards. They allowed the people to do what they wanted. The

people worshiped fertility gods like Baal and Asherah. They sacrificed their children to demonic gods like Molech and Chemosh.

As God’s modern-day children, we aren’t any better than those Old Testament children. We follow our unbelieving friends, our unchristian family, and our pagan culture by jumping off the bridge into their same sins. We worship false gods like the pillow god, the liquor god, or the money god. We fall into the sexual sins of Baal and Asherah. We do not strongly speak out when we see women going to and our government funding the sacrifice of unborn infants to the gods of Molech and Chemosh. Any time we are not putting the true Triune God first we are placing him behind gods of our own making.

We often behave like the naughty children we see screaming and running and pitching a fit in the grocery stores. We think to ourselves, “Those kids are out of control. I would never let my kids act like that. If they tried it one time with me … it would be the last time.”

Yet, we are those kids. Except as teenagers, as grown-ups. We cry when we don’t get our way with a promotion at work or a team we try out for. We roll our eyes and argue with our parents – whether our parents are in their 30s and 40s or in their 70s and 80s. We complain when God allows hardship or health issues to visit our homes. We whine about bullies, not realizing how much we bully other people to get our way. We whimper when others are mean to us, not recognizing how mean we are to others – to their face, behind their back, and on social media.

We are out of control! Why would God ever let his kids act like that?!

We behave like children of Satan – because that’s what we are by nature! God should treat us like children of Satan. He should punish us for our wickedness. He should let us die for our trespasses into dangerous areas. He should damn us to hell for our insubordination. He should at least write us out of his will. He should remove our inheritance.

God gave his people a new covenant – a new promise. But it was actually an old promise. This was God’s promise to send the Crusher to stomp on the head of the Ancient Serpent, the Devil (Genesis 3:15). This was God’s promise to send a perfect Passover Lamb, One without blemish or defect, who would be sacrificed for the sins of the world. The Seed of the Woman crushed Satan’s head. He received the venom of the Serpent into his perfect body to spare you this deadly venom. He shed his holy precious Lamb’s blood on the altar of the cross so Death would pass over you.

God does deal with our hurtful words and our harmful behaviors. He does deal with our idolatrous worship of pagan gods. He does deal with us for breaking his covenant with us. He deals with all of it on Christ’s cross. The new covenant relationship with God won’t be based on what people do. It will be based on the One in whom they believe.

In the Upper Room on Holy Thursday, Jesus and his disciples were gathered to celebrate the Passover meal. There was roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and grape wine. Jesus replaces the Passover meal with the Lord’s Supper. He replaces the old covenant with a new covenant.

Luke records this momentous event. “He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, he took the cup after the supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is being poured out for you’” (Luke 22:19-20). You’ll notice that the EHV has the word “testament” instead of “covenant”. It’s beneficial to hear what the EHV commentary says about this. “The Greek word diatheke may be translated testament or covenant. These two English terms overlap. A covenant or solemn promise is made by someone who expects to

continue living while the agreement takes effect. A testament is made by someone who expects to die before the agreement takes effect. In Holy Communion, we have the last will and testament of our Savior, the God-Man who died so that we would inherit forgiveness and eternal life. But we also have the covenant of the God-Man who rises from the dead to live forever, in order to give us a place at his heavenly table.”

In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is giving us his last will and testament. That’s why we know that when Jesus says, “this is my body” and “this is my blood,” he’s not playing word games. He doesn’t really mean “this represents my body” or “this symbolizes my blood” as many non-Lutheran Christians believe. If you have made out your will, your lawyer makes sure your language is very clear. It is very precise. This is Jesus’ last will and testament. He is very clear and precise with his language. “Is” means “is.”

When you are giving your heirs their inheritance, you are very specific with who gets what. Your eldest son gets the double portion while the other siblings get smaller percentages. I’m teasing. You list who gets Grandma’s fine China, who gets Grandpa’s woodcarving tools, and so on.

Jesus is very specific about the inheritance God’s children – Jesus’ brothers and sisters – will receive in this Holy Meal. St. Paul explains, “Brothers, I am speaking in human terms. When someone has established a last will and testament, no one nullifies it or adds to it” (Galatians 3:15). Jesus’ true body is really present with the bread and his true blood is really present with the wine in Holy Communion.

The Lord promises, “I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.” The all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God forgets. He has amnesia when it comes to your sins. He forgets to punish you for your wickedness. He forgets to penalize you for your trespasses. God forgets your rolling eyes, talking back, complaining, bullying, and downright meanness. He forgets to give you the death penalty for your murder of his Son. He forgets how you fail to live up to the standards of his old covenant by replacing it with his new covenant.

Wickedness forgiven. Sin forgotten. Trespasses pardoned. Jesus promises you this inheritance in his last will and testament. No strings attached. No fine print at the bottom of the page. No surprises when the will is read. This is a one-sided, unilateral covenant sealed and secured with Christ’s signature written in divinely human blood at the bottom.

Imagine the surprise of God’s unfaithful children when they hear their heavenly Father proclaim, “I will be their God and they will be my people.” That’s a promise. God is determined to be faithful to it. God promises to come to his people with grace and forgiveness. This is the surprising message Jeremiah proclaimed to the unfaithful children of Israel. They were not cut out of the will.

God also promises to come to you. He comes to you in the unleavened bread that is also Jesus’ broken body. He comes to you in the wine that is also Jesus’ shed blood. You taste forgiveness. You have grace on your lips. You have mercy on your tongue. Since Jesus is really present in this Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, this is one-on-one time with the very Son of God.

This is the surprising message Jesus proclaims to you this Holy Thursday. You are not cut out of the will. The Sacrament upon the altar is Jesus’ last will and testament to you.

When your parents die, Lord willing, everything will be equal for you and your siblings in the inheritance left for you. Before Jesus died, he proclaimed his last will and testament. He wills us his body and blood. He wills us his forgiveness of sins. This is the new covenant, the new testament, in his blood. Jesus so fervently desired his siblings to have these blessings that he

willed us his estate the night before he died. Then on Thursday evening through Friday afternoon, he proceeded to his death to accomplish those blessings upon which his last will and testament depend.

You will taste God’s forgiveness in a few minutes after reviewing the terms of the new will and testament in the words of institution, “This is my body given for you. This is my blood shed for you.” Amen.

So let us approach with a sincere heart, in the full confidence of faith, because our hearts have been sprinkled to take away a bad conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water (Hebrew 10:22). Amen.

What Kind of King is This? by Pastor Klusmeyer

What Kind of King is This?

In the Apostle Paul’s day, when a victorious king or general returned from war, he would publicly display the spoils of battle for his own personal gain and glory. The Romans, especially the Caesars, were renowned for their extravagant displays of personal glory. When a victorious general returned to Rome, they would treat him as a living god and shower him with glory. The general would ride through the streets on a chariot with the might of his legions on display, all to show his power and majesty. Many kings throughout history have wanted to see themselves as living gods. Pharaohs, emperors, Caesars, and kings deluded themselves with their own pride and glory and tried to seize God’s glory.

But Jesus is a different kind of king. As true God, Jesus could have ruled this world with an iron fist. All dominion, power, and might were his by divine right. He could have ruled as a literal god on earth. But that is not what our Savior did. He was a different kind of king. Instead of using his power for his own advancement, he humbled himself. Paul writes, “Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”

On the screen this morning are two pictures. The first shows how the world expects a king to act—with pride, glory, power, and splendor. The second shows how the world sees the message of the cross—as foolishness to those who are perishing. The second picture is a piece of graffiti that was scrawled on a wall in Rome around the year 200 AD. The caption reads, “Alexamenos worships his god.” On the cross, we see a man with the head of a donkey being crucified. This is how the world sees Jesus. The world simply cannot grasp how the Son of God would willingly set aside his divine power and allow himself to be humiliated, tortured, and nailed to a cross. This is not how a king acts, and this is certainly not how a god acts.

Palm Sunday allows us to see exactly what kind of king our Savior is. He is a king who is both glorious and humble. He is a king who sacrificed everything for those he loves and a king who continues to rule over everything for the good of his people. He is a king who rode into Jerusalem in humility on a donkey, knowing that he was riding to his death, and he is a king who will return on the Last Day with all the might of heaven at his side to welcome us into his kingdom.

In Philippians 2, Paul gives us a beautiful hymn of praise that teaches us exactly what Christ has done for us. Our Savior is a profound mystery. He is true God from eternity, united with God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the mystery and majesty of the Trinity. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman so that he could be born under God’s law for us. Christ gave up the joy and wonder of heaven to be born as a helpless human baby. Instead of being born in a marvelous palace as would be fitting for the King of kings, he was born in a stable. Instead of living in luxury, he lived a life of poverty. Instead of coming to be served, Christ came to be the servant of all.

Our Lord Jesus Christ endured all the humiliation of the human condition. Jesus knew what it was like to feel sorrow and pain. He knew what it was like to know hunger and thirst. He willingly endured every hurt and sorrow of the human condition so that he could be tempted in every way that we are and yet be without sin. He suffered in every way that we do, so he could sympathize with our human condition and intercede on our behalf before the throne of God.

As true God, Jesus lived a perfect life free from every sin of thought, word, and action. He was perfectly obedient to the will of his Father. While he lived in this world, Jesus had all the power of God at his command, and yet he chose not to use that power so he could be our substitute. Unlike an earthly king who would use his power for his own glory, Jesus used his immense power to serve others. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and fed the hungry. Paul tells us that Jesus willingly chose to empty himself and not use his power.

He did this so he could offer himself as our Passover lamb. If Jesus had always appeared as he did at Transfiguration or used his power as he did in Gethsemane when he made the soldiers fall back, he never would have been crucified. This is what is so incredible about the passion of our Savior. This week, we will hear all the suffering that he endured on our behalf. Jesus knew what was going to happen to him. He knew the suffering, torment, and agony that awaited him in Jerusalem, and yet he willingly went to suffer and die in our

place. Our Savior could have used his power to thwart the plans of the chief priests and teachers of the law. He could have stopped the soldiers of Pilate with a word of command.

Our Savior shamed himself by suffering the most shameful and hideous death imaginable when he was nailed to the cross like a wretched criminal. He could have listened to the words of those who taunted him at the foot of the cross and saved himself. But because of his great love for us, our Savior endured the agony and shame of the cross for us. On the cross, our mighty and perfect King offered his life as a payment for our sins. On the cross, Jesus endured God’s almighty wrath and suffered all the torments of hell that our sins deserve. He did all this willingly so that he could pay for our sins with his holy, precious blood. Our God died and was buried so that we might live.

The humiliating work of our Savior was complete. On the third day, our Savior once again made full use of his mighty power. On Easter morning, Jesus rose victorious from the grave. He shattered the power of sin and death. He descended into hell and paraded his glory and power before the devil to show that his power had forever been broken. By his resurrection, Christ removed the sting of death and gave the promise of the resurrection and eternal life to all who believe and trust in his name.

Our king is now glorious and exalted. In his hymn of praise, Paul tells us what kind of king we know has been ruling over us. Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Our Savior is ruling over all things for the good of his church. Our mighty king is with us every day of our lives. He had kept all his promises. He has defeated the power of death and hell for us. He has assured us that he will come again on that Last Great Day to take us to his eternal kingdom where there will be no more weeping, or crying, or pain. This glorious kingdom is ours because of the amazing love of our king, who willingly suffered and died to save us. As we consider the events of our Savior’s passion this week, we marvel at his amazing grace.

Was there ever love like this? Was ever grace so amazing? Many people devote their entire lives to avoiding any kind of pain, be it mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical. But Jesus entered into the state of humiliation at the moment of his conception. In the human nature, which possessed all divine power and might by the gift of the divine nature, Jesus did not make full or complete use of his divine attributes. In the process, he left us the most powerful example of humility that seeks only to serve. In the process, he demonstrated the greatness of his grace and love for us, the he willingly suffered as no man has ever suffered or could ever suffer. For his was the suffering of the punishment that all the rest of us deserve on account of sin. His suffering was so great that it paid for all sins. Amen.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

St. Paul’s Rubbish Sale by Pastor Zarling

St. Paul’s Rubbish Sale

Philippians 3:4b-14 If anyone else thinks that he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. 7But, whatever things were a profit for me, these things I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. 8But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. 10I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it yet, but there is one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and straining toward the things that are ahead, 14I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73:26). Amen.

St. Paul is in prison in Rome. There isn’t a lot of room in his prison cell. He decides to downsize. He needs to get rid of a few things. There are a few items that Paul once valued highly that are no longer valuable to him. He asks his guard to hang a sign outside his cell door. The sign reads, “St. Paul’s Rubbish Sale.” Not “Rummage” Sale. “Rubbish” Sale.

Paul lists what is for sale. “If anyone else thinks that he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:4-6).

Before Shelley and I move to Casper, we will have a rummage sale. We want to decrease our stuff by at least half. When you decide to move from your house into a condo, you need to downsize. We must select a price for the once-prized, new items that are now the well-used and once-loved items. Then we allow people to rummage through our old stuff.

St. Paul’s sale is different. His items are well-used. They were once well-loved. But he doesn’t want them anymore. These are items tell his life story. They aren’t rummage items. They are rubbish items. They are items that were the result of his “confidence in the flesh.”

First on the sale list is Paul’s circumcision on the eighth day. Every Jewish male infant would have received the mark of God’s covenant one week and a day after he was born. That made the child one of the “people of Israel.”

Next on the list is that Paul is from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul’s birth name was Saul. He was named after the most famous person to come from the tribe of Benjamin – King Saul, the first king of Israel.

Paul used to be stuck-up about the next few items on the list. They were like trophies proudly displayed for everyone to see. He was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” – he had an impeccable ancestry. “In regard to the law, a Pharisee.” Among the Jews, Paul was a religious leader whom everyone looked up to. “In regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.” When Paul graduated rabbi school, he was at the top of the class.

That’s the good stuff. The stuff Paul used to be proud of. The stuff that is all clean and neatly polished. This next item is dirty and grungy. It’s shameful stuff. It’s embarrassing to have it sitting on the table for everyone to see.

“In regard to zeal, persecuting the church.” Paul is rightly ashamed about this last item. He had once gone out of his way to persecute, imprison, and kill Christians. He was so good that he describes it as being “zealous” in his persecution. He was passionate about it. And his passion made Christians know and fear the name of Saul of Tarsus.

What does Paul say about all these things on his list? “Whatever things were a profit for me, these things I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish” (Philippians 3:7-8).

Rubbish! That’s a pretty strong word in the English. It’s even stronger in the original Greek. It means dung, excrement, cow pies, meadow muffins. There’s no polite term for what Paul has laying the table at his rubbish sale.

Everything set out on these tables had been used to create his identity as a Hebrew of Hebrews. His identity was wrapped up in what he had accomplished. These items had been originally prized by Paul. Now that he had a greater prize, these items were rubbish. Now that Christ became number one, all these items became number two.

Only one kind of event could cause this kind of reversal in Paul. That one event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was the event of meeting the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus that knocked Saul on his butt (Acts 9:1-9). Seeing the risen Christ blinded Saul’s eyes but opened his heart.

What about you? What have you relied on to create your identity? Do you find your identity in your job, your degree, your income, your athletic ability, or your children’s athletic ability? On our podcast this week, I teased Pastor Klusmeyer that my college and seminary diplomas are bigger than his. He rightly reminded me that the grades on his diplomas are higher than mine.

We had an older pastor at a recent pastor circuit meeting mention that when he was having health issues, he thought he might no longer be able to be a pastor. He really struggled with that. He properly warned the rest of us pastors not to find our identity in the title or vocation of pastor. As good and godly as it is to be a pastor, we need to find our identity elsewhere.

What about you? Where do you find your identity? Where do you find your value? What do you value?

Which do you value more – being in God’s house to worship or your house to sleep and relax in?

Are you clinging to the things of this world – money, titles, degrees, vehicles, or vocation? Or are you using the things of this world – money, titles, degrees, vehicles, and vocation – to support God’s kingdom work and demonstrate Christian love to your neighbor?

As we remember today’s Gospel, how have you treated God’s Son? How have you treated God’s servants of prophets and apostles, his servants of pastors and teachers? Do you love them, listen to them, and honor them to their face and behind their back? Or do you ignore them? Do you beat them up with your words and actions to their face and behind their back? Do you abuse the Father’s grace by abusing the Son he sent to save you?

In your mind, do you make a list that’s much like Paul’s? Do you put on your list your baptism as an infant, your confirmation as a youth, your great worship record, or the amount of your

offerings? If you do, then you are putting your confidence in your flesh. That’s counting up points thinking they are making you right before God. Those are exactly the kind of things Paul used to do. But now Paul realizes those things are rubbish when it comes to salvation.

Join Paul in getting rid of those things in a rubbish sale of your own. You need to downsize from the trash to make room for the treasure. “But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).

From trash to treasure! From rubbish to wealth! From manure to inheritance! That’s what happens when we get rid of the garbage of our own righteousness and rely solely on the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ.

Jesus didn’t look like much. This is the way Isaiah describes Jesus. “He had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man who knew grief, who was well acquainted with suffering. Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at, he was despised, and we thought nothing of him” (Isaiah 53:2-3). Humanity treated the Son of God like trash.

Jesus didn’t look like much. He was born among the cattle. He was the foster son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth. And can anything good come from Nazareth? As a traveling rabbi, he had no home, bed, or pillow. His friends were smelly fishermen, a reviled tax collector, and a greedy traitor. He ministered to other reviled tax collectors, damaged prostitutes, and despised lepers.

Much of the world still considers Jesus to be either a nice guy with some pithy sayings or a raving lunatic. Many consider Jesus as nothing more special than yesterday’s trash.

Yet Jesus is our righteousness! Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. He came down from heaven to take on human flesh. He was perfectly righteous according to God’s law. Everything that we think we do well, Jesus did better. Everything that Paul thought he had done more than other Jews, Jesus did perfectly. We find our identity in Jesus who took on our human identity – except without sin.

Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. That’s when he first shed blood for mankind’s salvation. He was of the people of Israel. A true Hebrew of Hebrews. He was from the tribe of Judah. He was the heir of King David, yet he was also King David’s greater King. Jesus never sinned … not even once. He was truly blameless. He did everything he was supposed to and he didn’t leave anything out.

Our righteousness always fails. It is dung. But Christ’s righteousness works. It is a treasure beyond compare.

As Christians, we do not find our identity in who we are or what we do. Our identity is not in our titles or diplomas. Our identity is in what Christ made us to be. It is Christ putting his name, his righteousness, and perfect works on us. If you want to find your identity in any certificate, let it be your baptismal certificate. That’s a valuable document. Its value is not in what you did, but what Jesus did for you in baptismal waters. That’s when you received what Christ gained for you

in his resurrection. And that was Paul’s whole desire: “I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).

When someone in your neighborhood puts up a rummage sale sign, suddenly others in the neighborhood start going through their homes and garages to try to sell their junk. Well, St. Paul is having a rubbish sale. It is a good time for us to get rid of our rubbish, as well.

When we get rid of our rubbish of righteousness, then we can exchange it for a true treasure. This treasure is the righteousness that makes us right with God – not by our flawed and filthy works, but by the perfect redeeming works of Jesus Christ. This righteousness is ours through faith in Christ. It is completely free, and it will keep its value for eternity.

Pretty good pick-up at a rubbish sale! Amen.

As for me, God’s nearness is good for me. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so that I can tell about all your works (Psalm 73:28).

Reckless by Pastor Klusmeyer

Reckless

What do you think of when you hear the word reckless? Here in Southeast Wisconsin your mind probably goes to the problem of reckless driving. Recklessness often means that you are doing something without thinking about or caring about the consequences. Our parable this morning is about recklessness. We see the reckless actions of the younger son who despises the love of his father, leaves home, and lives a life of wanton and reckless abandon. We see the reckless arrogance of his older brother who despises the love and mercy of his father. He is filled with bitterness that his father would dare to forgive his younger brother. But most of all in this parable we see the reckless love of a father who shows love to both of his sons regardless of the consequences.

The Parable of the Lost Son is all about the reckless love of our heavenly Father. In Luke chapter 15 Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees who are appalled that he a righteous and learned rabbi would sully himself by eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus shares a series of three parables about the joy God has when lost sinners repent and return to him. This is what God wants. God does not want to punish us as our sins deserve. God does not want people to perish in the fires of hell. God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God is like the father in this parable. He waits and watches hoping that his lost children will return and when they do he is filled with joy.

Our God is a God of reckless love. He loves all the people of this world even though he knows that most will reject his love. God is reckless as he sows the seeds of his Gospel. He know that much of that seed will be wasted, but still he hopes that it will take root. God wants all his children to come to life through the message of the Gospel. God freely offers his forgiveness to all. But there are dangers. Satan is always trying to snatch the joy of the Gospel from our hearts. He wants us to be like the two sons in this parable; either taking advantage of God’s reckless love and using it as a license to sin or becoming proud, arrogant, and complacent in our faith.

Satan wants us to abuse and take advantage of God’s love. He wants us to live like the younger son who boldly went and demanded from his father his share of the inheritance. The younger son chafed under the rules and authority of his father despite his father’s love. He wanted more freedom and thought that doing whatever he wanted would bring him happiness. When he went off to a distant country, he found misery instead of happiness. After he wasted all his wealth on reckless living, he was left destitute. The young man hit rock bottom and found work as a swineherd. Soon, the young man began to envy the pigs and realized that life in his father’s house, even as a lowly servant, was better than the mess he had gotten himself into.

Like the young man, there are times when we find life in the household of our heavenly Father to be burdensome and chafe under God’s Commandments. Satan tempts us with promises that if we just throw off our shackles and follow his way, we will find happiness. And so, for a time, we wander as the young man did. We chase the passions and desires of our sinful natures. We live selfishly and hurt those around us. We live recklessly and embrace every lustful passion of our sinful hearts, and perhaps for a time find the illusion of happiness. But eventually, the reality of sin comes crashing down. Our conscience burdens us with guilt and shame. We see the wreckage our sins have caused in our lives and how we have hurt those we love.

Like the young man, we find ourselves in dreadful conditions of our own making. Our consciences burden us with guilt and shame. Satan whispers in our ears the terrible truth that we are sinners who have broken God’s righteous commands and the terrible lie that there is no way that God could ever forgive us. But the central point of Jesus’s parable is the powerful reminder that our God is filled with reckless love. When we wander into the ditch of reckless sinning, our God is waiting to welcome us home. In the parable of the Lost Son, Jesus wants us to picture the father as a man who waits and looks every day to see if his wayward son has returned.

Then we hear of that great and joyous day when the father sees his lost son returning home. The father rushes down the road to greet him. He throws his arms around his neck and kisses him. The son, filled with shame and remorse, repents. But the father is so filled with joy that he barely hears his son’s words; instead, he commands his servants, “Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate, because this son of mine

was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.” This is the beating heart of our heavenly Father. He loved us so much that he sacrificed his only Son to suffer and die to save us.

God does not want to punish us as our sins deserve. God wants to shower us with blessings. God wants to call us his beloved children and welcome us into the eternal banquet he has prepared for us. This is why God sent Christ to this world. Jesus descended from the heights of heaven to place himself under God’s righteous law. Christ was a perfectly obedient Son who never wandered from the path of his heavenly Father. Jesus lived a perfect life in our place so he could die on the cross to save us. God accepted the sacrifice of his Son as payment for our sins. For this reason, when we wander from God’s righteous path and wander into the ditch of reckless living, God is waiting with open arms to forgive us. Our sins have been completely washed away, and through faith in Christ, we who were dead have been made alive.

As Christians, we also need to be mindful that we do not abuse God’s reckless love in another way. The older brother did not find joy in his father’s great love, but was filled with anger and resentment towards his father. The older brother simply could not believe that his younger brother, who had betrayed their father, squandered his wealth, and had wallowed in every depraved kind of behavior, was now welcomed home. How was this fair? Shouldn’t the good and righteous son be rewarded for his years of faithful and dutiful service?

This was the attitude of the Pharisees, who condemned Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. This, unfortunately, can be our attitude as well. It can be very easy to think that we, as lifelong members of God’s household, are better than others. After all, we come to church every Sunday wearing the right clothes. We help with projects around the church and regularly give our offerings. We do all the right things; therefore, we should be rewarded for our efforts. Surely it isn’t fair that God would love us the same as that person who comes to church late, wearing not-so-nice clothes. Surely, I am more deserving than the person who only comes to church every few weeks and certainly doesn’t do as much as I do for God’s church?

This attitude of pride forgets that in God’s eyes, we are all sinners who have wandered away. None of us are righteous and none of us can do anything to make ourselves righteous. We were all born dead in our trespasses and sins. It is only by God’s reckless grace and love that we have been called to faith through the Gospel. It is only by his reckless love that our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ. The older brother was filled with bitterness that his father forgave his brother. But what did the father do, he went out to his older son. He showered him with love and asked him to come and join in his happiness. God gives us the same invitation to repent of our pride and rejoice when sinners come home.

Dear brothers in sister in Christ I urge you also to love recklessly. Our heavenly Father has shown such great love to us that we cannot help but show that love to others. This is who we are. As Christians we want to love as Christ showed us. We love all people with reckless abandon without any expectation of repayment. We want to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as we have been forgiven. We want to withhold our judgment about others, realizing that we are all sinners who deserve God’s judgment and all saints who have been freed from our sins by the death of Christ. We want to shout this message of amazing grace from the rooftops because we know what it is like to experience the reckless love of God. Amen.

See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are! The world does not know us, because it did not know him.

The lesson of the fig tree by Pastor Zarling

The lesson of the fig tree

Luke 13:1-9 At that time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too.” 6He told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. 7So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil?’ 8But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. 9If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down.’”

The psalmist declares, “Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him, so that glory may dwell in our land” (Psalm 85:9). Amen.

The man bought land in Judah. He thought it would be great for a fig tree orchard. All the trees were planted the right depth and right spacing from each other. The trees received regular fertilizer, watering, and pruning. After three years, the trees began bearing figs.

The trees were producing an abundant crop. Well worth the wait. Except for one tree. It looked good. It looked healthy. It just wasn’t bearing any figs. The owner had invested three years in this tree waiting for it to bear fruit! And nothing!

The owner tells his gardener to cut it down, dig up its roots, throw it in the fire, and start over. Hopefully, another tree will start bearing fruit in its place. “He said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil?’” (Luke 13:7).

The gardener calmly asks the owner for another year. The owner has already invested three years in it. The gardener will personally oversee the fruit production of this tree. If it doesn’t bear fruit the following year, then it can be thrown into the fire. “The gardener replied to [the owner], ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down” (Luke 13:8-9). The owner likes the passion of the gardener and agrees to be patient for one more year.

Jesus is teaching us an important lesson with the parable of the fig tree. He’s teaching about God and his kingdom. God is the owner of the vineyard. You are the fig tree.

You can understand the owner’s frustration. Over three years, there is a lot of time, effort, fertilizer, rain, etc., that has gone into this tree for it to do nothing.

Three years is perhaps an illusion to the three years of Jesus’ ministry. He’s been looking for fruits of repentance from the Jews. God’s judgment to dig them up to make room for more trees to bear fruit – the Gentiles.

God is the owner of all of us. He has waited for fruits of faith from his people for a long time. God is patient beyond description. To Jesus’ first hearers and you his current hearers, this patience is shockingly generous. No normal orchard owner would wait so long for fruit. But God puts away his wrath and turns away from his anger as we sang in Psalm 85 (v2-3).

Like the owner who waited all those years for his tree to bear fruit, so God is generous and patient with you. He desires for you to bear the fruits of your faith. These fruits can be in the form of worship attendance, Bible study participation, and financial support of your church’s

ministries. This fruit can be in the form of being a light in the spiritual darkness of your workplace. It can be seasoning your speech with salt among the spicy language of our culture. It can be raising your children and grandchildren in the Christian faith in our church, school, and high school. It can be encouragement to a friend who is feeling down or giving up your Saturday to help someone move or going regularly to check on your elderly neighbor.

Look at your life. Assess your actions. Ponder your priorities. Are you bearing good, healthy fruit for the Lord? Or is your fruit puny, meager, and wormy? Or is it nonexistent?

God is incredibly gracious and merciful. He is also incredibly patient. Thank the Lord he is! Though God is incredibly patient, he is not eternally patient. God’s Word is clear. God’s time of grace will come to an end. His patience will run out. Then judgment is coming. If there is no fruit … then there is fire.

Jesus is the gardener. He comes with a word of extended patience. He puts himself between the owner and the judgment the unfruitful tree deserves. He serves as its mediator and caretaker. He acts to redeem the fruitless tree. He says to his Father, “Leave it alone. Let it be. I’ll take care of it. It’s now my responsibility.”

Jesus promises personal care for you. He doesn’t want to give up on you. You are his priority. Redemption does not come from you or your fruit. Your redemption comes from Jesus Christ. Redemption – buying back for a purpose – is God’s work in Christ. He saves the tree. He saves you.

You are saved for a purpose. You are redeemed to bear fruit. The tree is not given a pass. The unfruitful tree is not told to stand there and be beautiful. It’s not told that God will just gather fruit from others. Fruit is still purpose both of the tree and of God’s work to save the tree. Redemption will either result in fruit or judgment.

The lesson of the fig tree is God’s generosity. We are not moved to repentance by fear but rather compelled by God’s grace and his Holy Spirit. Yet there is a limit to that grace. Today is the day of salvation … but the day is coming when salvation will be replaced with judgment.

The lesson in Jesus’ parable is repentance. The lesson in the stories preceding the parable is also about repentance. “There were some who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too.’” (Luke 13:1-5).

The mixing of the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices was a heinous crime. Pilate violated all holiness codes by sending his Roman troops into the temple to slaughter Galilean Jews while they were slaughtering their lambs for the Passover Seder. During this holy feast the blood of these Jews was mixed with the blood of the lambs.

Jesus then discusses the accident at the tower of Siloam. Eighteen people died when the tower fell on them. Jesus says this was a sign from God, just like the previous incident was also a sign. Jesus says that these tragedies were not signs of God’s judgment on specific people for specific sins. But they were signs of God’s judgment on all people that they are sinners living in a sinful world. God hates sin. He hates the sinners who commit the sin.

Jesus says that these signs are not calls for speculation, but signs for contrition and repentance, for faith and fruits of faith. When the Jews saw this massacre and this tragedy, they should have immediately come to God with repentant hearts begging for forgiveness.

There are accidents and tragedies that happen constantly in our world and in our lives. Some bad things are relatively small. Skinned knees. Traffic jams. Broken appliances. Other bad things are much bigger. Divorce. Disease. Death. Sometimes these bad things happen as a direct result of our own bad decisions. A man gets into his car after spending all day at the bar. He pulls onto a busy road, runs a red light, and slams into another car, injuring a young mom and her newborn baby. A bad thing happened to him because of his own bad decisions.

But sometimes bad things happen not because of our own bad decisions. A young mom gets in the car and straps her newborn baby into the car seat to get some groceries from the store. She drives the same route that she’s driven hundreds of times before. As she crosses a familiar intersection, a car runs through a red light, slamming into her with metal screeching and glass shattering. The drunken man’s driving was not her fault. A bad thing happened to them because of someone else’s bad decisions.

When we see massacres and tragedies, our natural reaction is to think that those people must have done something awful to get God so angry at them. When we endure suffering or accidents, our natural reaction is to wonder what we must have done to get God so furious with us. Jesus says this thinking and wondering is wrong. We should not speculate. We should repent.

We must view massacres and accidents from the perspective of the cross. It is here the suffering Christian meets the suffering Christ. God does not repay an individual’s sin with individual punishment. God put all our individual punishments onto his Son. But we remain sinners living in a sinful, fallen world. So, we need to keep repenting. That’s the lesson of these tragic stories. That’s the lesson of the parable of the fig tree.

This call to repentance seems strange because we normally think of repentance as something we do when we’ve done something wrong. But Jesus is talking about repentance more broadly. Don’t just repent when you’ve messed up. Repent when any bad thing happens. Repent when any good thing happens. The entire life of the Christian is to be one of repentance. Repent of being a sinner living in a sinful world.

That brings us back to Jesus’ story of the fig tree. Jesus continues his call to repentance by telling a story of mercy and patience in the light of coming judgment. The fig tree deserved to be cut down and destroyed. It had not been right for years. But the gardener asked for mercy. He nurtured and cared for this tree, patiently cultivating it so that it might bear fruit. That’s how Jesus responds to those who repent. Judgment is coming. That much is certain. If there is no fruit … then there is fire. But those who repent will receive mercy.

It doesn’t matter your age. God is patient with you. But his patience can wear out. God is incredibly patient, but he is not eternally patient. Be in God’s Word. Cherish your Baptism. Receive the Lord’s Supper. Fulfill your vocation in your home, church, school, and workplace. Support the ministry of your church and church body. Be light and salt in the world. Jesus puts his personal effort into you. He says to his Father, “Leave him alone. Let her be. I’ll take care of them. They are now my responsibility.” The Gardener of Jesus Christ is digging around you, fertilizing and nurturing you with his Word and Sacraments. All so you can bear the fruits of faith.

By God’s grace, our God is patient with us. He gives us this time of grace on earth to repent. We repent so we may bear fruit in the prosperous and sunny seasons, when everything is going well.

We repent so we bear fruit even in the difficult dry seasons, as we struggle through accidents and tragedies. That’s the lesson of the fig tree. Amen.

The psalmist declares, “The Lord will indeed give good things, and our land will yield its harvest” (Psalm 85:12). Amen.

A better sympathizer by Pastor Zarling

A better sympathizer

Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever (Revelation 1:5–7). Amen.

Every morning, Alex passed the same old man sitting on a weathered bench in the park, feeding peanuts to the squirrels. The man always looked nice in a buttoned-down shirt and coat. But he also always had a lonely look in his eyes. Alex was too busy to slow down to say “hello,” and certainly too busy to stop and have a conversation.

One day, as Alex rushed through the park, he noticed the old man on his hands and knees picking up the peanuts that had spilled from his broken bag. Alex stopped to help. They put the peanuts in Alex’s backpack. They sat down together on the weathered bench and introduced themselves. The man said his name was Tom. He used to come to the park every day with his wife to feed the squirrels. But she had recently passed away. For the first time, Alex truly saw the old man, not just as a passerby, but as a person carrying deep pain.

The next day, Alex left his house earlier so he could spend time sitting next to Tom, hopefully to help heal the loneliness. They talked about the weather, Alex’s work, Tom’s retirement, Alex’s girlfriend, and Tom’s memories of his wife. Over the following weeks, Alex made it a habit to visit, bringing coffee and listening as Tom shared stories of his past, his dreams, and the weight of his loss. In turn, Alex shared his own struggles, finding comfort in the shared silence. Though Alex couldn’t erase Tom’s grief, he realized that sometimes the most meaningful connection comes from simply sympathizing with someone.

The writer to the Hebrews gives us this encouragement, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus purposely spends his time with us. You can talk to him about the weather, your work, your retirement, your children, your losses and gains, your joys and pains. He will sit with you on the park bench or the church pew or at the dining room table. He is always available for you to converse with. You talk to him in your prayers. He talks to you in your Bible.

What a blessing to know that when you talk to your Savior, he’s not at the edge of some distant galaxy in deep thought. Because of his divinity, he is at God’s right hand in heaven and at the same time right here with you. Because of his humanity, he has been right here in this world to know exactly what you’re going through.

Poverty? He knew it. Pain. He suffered it. Rejection? He endured it. Temptation? He felt it. Betrayal? He lived it. Loneliness? He experienced it. God’s wrath? He tasted it. Death? He let it touch him. Innocent suffering? He could write the book on it. Loving the unlovable? He did write the book on that.

But remember: Jesus did this not only so he could feel what we feel. He did it to be our perfect Substitute. He willingly took the punishment for our failures and paid for them completely at the cross.

God had been teaching his people about the need for substitution even before he started anointing men like Saul and David as king. Several centuries earlier, he anointed men like Aaron to serve as high priests. The high priest was selected from among the people to represent them before God. He was able to sympathize with the people he represented because he knew temptation like they did.

The writer encourages us to approach God’s throne. It is a heavenly throne of infinite majesty and divine justice. As sinners, we should approach God’s throne with terror and remain mute with guilt. But Jesus turns us from sinners into saints. As our Greater High Priest, Jesus turns the throne of justice into a throne of grace. Instead of being mute with guilt, we can approach with shouts of praise with forgiven hearts and lips. The writer encourages us, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Now we can approach God’s throne of grace in our congregational prayers or in our personal prayer life. In the nick of time, right when we need it, when temptations come and troubles abound, we can approach our Greater Sympathizer who knows exactly what we need and knows just how to give it.

We approach this throne to give God our sins and receive back his forgiveness. We pour out our sorrow and receive resurrection comfort. We lay down our weakness and receive strength from the Almighty. We tell God our needs and he gives us what we need at that time.

I’ve been told in my ministry that I’m not always very sympathetic. And that’s probably true. First, I’m a guy. And guys may often not be very sympathetic. Second, out of the 34 strengths on my StrengthsFinder test, empathy is number 28 – way at the bottom. Third, I married a woman whose number one strength is empathy. Her strengths cover many of my weaknesses. Pastors, teachers, parents, friends, counselors, can all give you advice or counsel, but none of them have experienced what you are going through. They don’t know what you know. But there is One who does. He understands. Jesus knows. He is the Better Sympathizer. He felt repeated and very real temptations, so he understands what it’s all about. Jesus experienced what we experience, so he can sympathize with us.

Jesus had this in common with the Old Testament high priests. He had been tempted in every way, just as we are. The battles he experienced against the great enemy of the Devil are not all that different than the ones we experience. He knows what it’s like to face the temptations we face, like every high priest before him.

That’s part of what makes Jesus so much better. In his life on earth, when he took on our human nature and became true man, Jesus was also “tempted in every way just as we are.” From the beginning to the end of that earthly stay, Jesus faced temptations more severe than we will ever know. He felt the full force as hell’s barracks emptied with as demons stormed against him. He felt Satan’s temptations even more than we do because while we so often fall under temptation’s first round, he remained standing to the final bell to receive every assault.

He willingly underwent hunger, thirst, cold, heat, exhaustion, ridicule, persecution, sorrow, poverty, scourging, the piercing of thorns, and even a bitter death on a cross. How wondrous is this kind of love that plunged our Savior willingly into a sea of that kind of suffering for miserable and ungrateful slaves such as us. We committed the crime. He underwent the punishment. We plundered. He made amends. We caused the debt. He became our defendant.

Because of everything we have done, because of everything we have left undone, because of who we are, and what we have become, we rightfully deserve to be assigned to the unceasing, scorching flames of hell. But our Better Sympathizer boiled with the fire of love on the altar of the cross, setting us free from those hellish flames. We should be cast away from God’s presence forever. But our Great High Priest chose to be abandoned by his heavenly Father and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We deserve to be taunted daily by the devil and tormented eternally by demons. But with immeasurable love, Jesus cried out that all of that is finished!

Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet he remained without sin. Have you ever wondered about some of those temptations? As Jesus lay down on a hard mat in Peter’s guest room, because he had no place of his own, do you think Jesus was ever tempted to reclaim the majesty of his heavenly mansion?

In the middle of a long trip, did he ever consider transporting himself to the next city? When the rain chilled his bones, was he tempted to change the weather? When the heat parched his lips, did he give thought to popping over to the Caribbean for some refreshment?

If ever Jesus entertained such thoughts, he never gave in to them. Not once. Stop and think about this. Not once did Christ use his supernatural powers for personal comfort. With one word he could have transformed the hard earth into a soft bed, but he didn’t. With a wave of his hand, he could have boomeranged the spit of his accusers back into their faces, but he didn’t. With an arch of his brow, he could have paralyzed the hand of the soldier as he braided the crown of thorns. With a single word, he could have called down a legion of angels to wipe out his enemies. With the breath of his mouth, he could have wiped out this whole earth and started over. But he didn’t do any of that.

Why is all of this so important? How is Jesus’ coming so vital for us to understand? What is the coolest thing about everything Jesus did do and didn’t do leading up to his death on Good Friday?

It’s not that in a few moments of time, Jesus went from needing nothing to needing air, food, and water. He needed a diaper change and to take a bath. It’s not that he kept his cool while his twelve best friends felt the heat and got out of the kitchen. It’s not that he gave no command to the angels who begged, “Just give the nod, Lord. One word and these demons will be deviled eggs.”

It is not that he literally turned the other cheek so the high priest could strike another blow. It is not that he prayed for his disciples before they fled or that he reached out to Judas before his betrayal. It is not that he declined the tears of the women but told them to weep for Jerusalem. It is not that the Palm Sunday King was crucified as a criminal on Good Friday. It is not that a crowd cheered for him on a bright Sundy morning, while a mob jeered him on a gloomy Friday morning.

It is not that he refused to defend himself when God blamed him for every sin since Adam. It is not that he endured the poisonous bite of the serpent on his perfect heel, while then stepping down with that bloody heel to crush the Ancient Serpent’s head. Or that he stood silent as the Ancient of Days’ verdict of judgment was pronounced upon him.

It wasn’t even that after three days in a dark hole, Jesus stepped into the Easter sunrise with a smile on his lips, a swagger in his step, and a question for lowly Lucifer: “Is that your best punch?”

That was cool. Undeniably cool. Incredibly cool.

But do you want to know the coolest, most vital, most important thing about the One who gave up the crown of glory for a crown of thorns? He did it all … for you. Just for you. To save you. To live with you. So you can live with him. To sympathize with you. Amen.

Now to the King eternal, to the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory forever and ever (1 Timothy 1:17). Amen.

The Danger of the Easy Path by Pastor Klusmeyer

The Danger of the Easy Path

Have you ever been fooled by something that sounds too good to be true: an infomercial that promises amazing weight loss results without the hassle of diet or exercise, a sure investment with a massive rate of return and no risk on your end, a Cliff’s notes that promises you an excellent grade on a test without having to actually read the book or do any of the studying? We all know the dangers of taking the easy path. Things are never as easy as they look, and the end result never lives up to the promises that were made.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, Satan does everything in his power to trick us into taking the easy path. He promises that his way is the easy way, and God’s way is filled with trials and hardship. He wants us to believe that he is our friend and has our best interests at heart. He wants us to believe that God is holding out on us by denying us the things that will make us truly happy. He did this with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, he did this when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and he does this to us each day of our lives.

But Satan isn’t our friend. He doesn’t want us to be happy, he wants us to suffer with him eternally in hell. Unfortunately, so many people listen to the lies of Satan. They believe that God’s way is the hard way because God is telling them to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him. They want the quick and easy way that satisfies every sinful want, lust, and desire. As Paul tells us in Philippians 3, “Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, and their glory is in their shame. They are thinking only about earthly things.”

Jeremiah the prophet must have faced the temptation to take the easy path. When the Lord called him to be his prophet, he warned him that his message would be met with opposition. Look, today I have made you like a fortified city, like an iron pillar, and like bronze walls, to take a stand against the whole land. Stand against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, because I am with you to rescue you, declares the LORD. During his ministry Jeremiah was opposed by the rulers of Judah, the priests, false prophets, the people, and the king. Jeremiah was beaten, imprisoned, and hated. At one point, as King Jehoiakim was being read the scroll of Jeremiah’s words, he cut off each section and threw it in the fire. Jeremiah knew what it was like to walk the hard path in service of the Lord.

In our lesson this morning, Jeremiah was commanded by God to preach against the temple in Jerusalem. Jeremiah told the people because they had broken the covenant with God by worshipping false gods, the Lord would destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The people were outraged by the preaching of Jeremiah and wanted to kill him. They had fallen for the devil’s lies and took the easy path. They thought they could follow the desires of their hearts and ignore the commands of God. They thought that because they were God’s chosen people and had his holy temple in their midst, they were safe. Surely God would not destroy them if they went through the motions of worshipping him. They could worship God and still worship other gods as well.

We fall for this lie of Satan as well. We think that we can be good Christians and still conform to the patterns of this world. We can be a good Christian and break any Commandment we want as long as it satisfies our sinful appetites. If it feels good, do it because God will just forgive that sin. We make a mockery of the Gospel and ignore the warnings of the Law. We want to have our cake and eat it too. We want to follow the easy path. We want the name of Christian without the struggle of denying ourselves and bearing our crosses.

Jeremiah knew this temptation as well. There undoubtedly were days when he did not want to proclaim the message God had given to him. He must have wanted to run away like Jonah did because he knew the opposition and pain he would face. But Jeremiah remained faithful. He did not take the easy path but remained faithful and preached a message of repentance that the people needed to hear. We do not like to hear the message of Jeremiah either. We don’t like to be reminded that we are sinners who have failed to live as God demands. We don’t like to have our pet sins exposed by the blinding light of the Law. But it is a message we need to hear. We need to be called to repentance so we can confess our sins and turn to Christ.

The world needs to hear this message as well, but the world hates the Word of God. People don’t want to hear how they are sinful. They don’t want to hear that they can’t give into their desires and satisfy every craving of their hearts. The world doesn’t want to hear that God promises a life of hardship and suffering for the people of his kingdom. The world wants to follow the easy path. And we at times want to let it. It is far easier to

remain quiet than to share the message of our Savior. Like Jeremiah we know that we will face hatred and opposition for proclaiming God’s Word. The world will call us unloving and hateful for daring to say that Jesus is the only way to salvation. We don’t want to have those difficult conversations. We don’t want to feel embarrassed that we are talking to someone about religion. And we certainly don’t want people to know that we are Christians because then they might look at us differently or judge us when we join with them in doing things that a Christian really shouldn’t be doing.

It is very easy for us to follow the easy path. It is easy for us to conform to the patterns of this world to avoid the troubles and hardships that come with being a Christian. We know this, but we also know what waits at the end of the easy path. Paul reminds us that the easy path leads to destruction, but the difficult path of being a Christian ends with our citizenship in heaven.

Like Jeremiah, Jesus faced intense hardship and persecution. He could have taken the easy path. He could have avoided the terrible fate that awaited him in Jerusalem. But that is not what our Savior did. Jesus did not take the easy path, but instead resolutely made his way to Jerusalem and ultimately Calvary. Jesus never wavered in his mission. Our Savior loved us so much that he lowered himself to save us. Christ gave up the joy and glory of heaven to be born as a helpless child. He endured all the pain and sorrow of human life for us. He who had never known pain or discomfort knew what it was like to know hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. He became true man so he could place himself under God’s law and keep it perfectly in our place.

Christ never wavered from his path but willingly went to Jerusalem so he could suffer and die. Jesus knew the horror, pain, and agony that awaited him on the cross. He knew that he would have to drink deeply of the cup of God’s wrath and endure the torments of hell for us. Christ never wavered in his commitment because he wanted to save us. Christ offered his life on the cross to pay for our sins and give to us citizenship in heaven.

During the season of Lent, we remember the sacrifice of our Savior. We confess and acknowledge that it was because of our sins that he was nailed to a cross. Jeremiah called on the people of Jerusalem to repent of their sins and return to the Lord. “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the things that you have heard. Now reform your ways and your actions, and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring about the disaster he has pronounced against you.”

We know that we are sinners. We know that we often listen to the devil and his lies and take the easy path. We ignore the commands of God so we can satisfy the cravings of our sinful hearts. We avoid proclaiming the message of God’s Word when it is inconvenient or will bring hardship into our lives. We sin against God in countless ways and know the disaster that God has pronounced against us. We know that we deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. But we also know that God in his great mercy sent his one and only Son to suffer and die to save us. We desire to reform our ways and actions. We want to confess our sins and repent because we know that through Christ God has relented in his anger. He has spared us from the destruction that we deserve and instead has made us his dearly beloved children. We seek to avoid the easy path because we know it leads to disaster. Instead, we seek to walk according to the pattern given to us by Christ and look forward to that great and glorious day when we will be freed from all sorrow and pain and our bodies will be transformed to be like the glorious body of our Savior. Amen.

Reflecting God’s Glory by Pastor Zarling

Reflecting God’s Glory

Exodus 34:29-35 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not realize that the skin of his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord. 30When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, they were amazed that the skin of his face was shining, so they were afraid to come close to him. 31Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the rulers of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32Afterward, all the people of Israel came close to him, and he gave them all of the commands that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses was finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out again. Then he would come out and tell the people of Israel what he had been commanded. 35Whenever the people of Israel saw Moses' face, they would see that the skin of Moses' face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with the Lord again.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). Amen.

Moses was a great mountain climber! This was the second time he had hiked up and down Mt. Sinai. Forty days earlier, Moses had been on top of Mt. Sinai receiving the two tablets of the covenant. This covenant was God’s two-way promise with the children of Israel. He would be their God if they loved and worshiped him.

When Moses came down the mountain the first time, he heard the sound of celebrating in the campground (Exodus 32:18). The Israelites had talked Moses’ brother, Aaron, into making a golden calf. The people worshiped the calf saying, “This is your god, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Moses was rightly disgusted by their idolatrous and adulterous breaking of God’s covenant. He smashed the two tablets of the testimony.

Now, forty days later, Moses makes the long trek down from Mt. Sinia and into the Israelite campground. But the people are afraid. They see Moses’ face glowing with the glory of the Lord. Moses has no idea that after being in God’s presence for the past forty days, his face is reflecting God’s glory. The people should have been thrilled when they see God’s glory. The reflection of the glory of the Lord on Moses’ face was a sign that the two-way covenant between God and his people was reinstated. God was not leaving them.

But the people are troubled instead of thrilled. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not realize that the skin of his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord. When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, they were amazed that the skin of his face was shining, so they were afraid to come close to him. Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the rulers of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them” (Exodus 34:29-31).

Like a father coaxing his fearful children, Moses had to coax the children of Israel into his presence. God had mercy on them. Instead of destroying them with fire from heaven or leaving them alone in the desert to die, God would be present with them. His presence would be present among them as they traveled through the desert to the Promised Land of Canaan. God would go with them. They were his special people.

“Afterward, all the people of Israel came close to [Moses], and he gave them all of the commands that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. When Moses was finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak

with him, he would take the veil off until he came out again. Then he would come out and tell the people of Israel what he had been commanded. Whenever the people of Israel saw Moses' face, they would see that the skin of Moses' face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with the Lord again” (Exodus 34:32-35).

Moses’ face reflected God’s glory contained in the two-way covenant. Yet, this glory needed to be veiled, because the reflection of glory would not last. Moses wore a veil so the people would not see God’s glory fading away after every time he went into God’s presence.

St. Paul teaches about that veil covering the fading glory. “We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the Israelites could not continue to look at the end of the radiance, as it was fading away” (2 Corinthians 3:13). The glory of the old, two-way covenant would not last. It was just for the time being. Eternal life is found in another face – in the face of Jesus Christ. The glory the people saw in Moses’ face was temporary. It was fading.

God knew his people would continue to break the old covenant. That’s why he established a new covenant. The Lord declares, “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days … I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). Jesus promised, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

This new covenant is a one-way covenant. It is only from God to his people. This covenant is established through the death and resurrection of God’s Son. This is a permanent promise. God promises that he will not leave us. He will never forsake us. He is our Father. We are his children. Instead of destroying us with fire from heaven or leaving us alone in this world to die, God is present with us. He will lead us to the Promised Land of heaven.

Yet, like those Old Testament children of Israel, we don’t act like God’s beloved children. We don’t behave like we are going to heaven. We act like we enjoy this world more than the world Jesus won for us.

We should be thrilled at seeing the glory of God. But we often act like we are afraid of God’s glory. We recoil at God’s holiness. We withdraw from God’s presence. We cringe at God’s righteousness.

We are afraid that God’s purity is going to ruin our party. We’re terrified he’s going to shine his glorious light into the dark crevices of our lives, our hearts, and our minds. We are often like those Old Testament Israelites. We want to party, drink, and indulge. We want the sound of celebration in our campground. We want to worship when we want, how we want, and what we want.

God’s purity petrifies us. His sanctity scares us. His reverence for holy things reviles us. And so, we are afraid of God’s glory. St. Paul states that we live like there is a veil over our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:15).

Paul continues, “But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16). By God’s grace, the Holy Spirit removes the veil from our hearts. He connects us to Christ. He cleans out the filth in our hearts to make room for loving and living for purity. He shines his holy light into our minds to sanctify us for holy living. He changes our view of fun from indulging our sinful nature to finding fun in living for Christ.

Today we celebrate the Transfiguration. Frightened disciples on another mountain saw the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Moses was there as the mediator of the old covenant. He was happy to be replaced. Jesus is the new Mediator between God and people. He is the new covenant in the

flesh. “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Standing next to Moses was Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of those two tablets of the covenant. Jesus said of himself in his Sermon on another Mount, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus is the permanent glory, the glory that would never end. “Indeed, if what is fading away was glorious, how much more glorious is that which is permanent” (2 Corinthians 3:11)!

Jesus’ glory shone in all its brilliance there on the Mount of Transfiguration. Savor that glimpse of glory. For during the dark days of Lent, we will see our Savior betrayed, denied, and forsaken. We will see Jesus climb Mt. Calvary and put his greater glory on display on the cross. It is a glory hidden under bruised cheeks, swollen lips, pierced hands, bloodied head, and torn back. Christ’s hidden glory is in his suffering. Hidden glory in the curse of his crucifixion. Hidden glory in his substitutionary death.

God continues to hide his glory among us. The glory of God hidden in his plain words – read from Bibles, sung from hymnals, taught in classrooms, and preached in sermons. The glory of God hidden in water and Word splashed on a saint’s head at the baptismal font. The glory of God hidden under the bread and wine placed on our lips as the body and blood of Christ.

As you go out in the world, by God’s grace, you reflect God’s glory. As you curtail your cursing at work. As you discipline your children at home. As you go on a date with your spouse. As you moderate your drinking and partying. God’s glory is reflected in your face, your mouth, your hands, your attitude, and your whole life.

There is another face that shone in Scripture. Another face that reflected God’s glory. It was Stephen, the first martyr in Acts. It happened after Stephen was seized, before he was stoned. “All those who were sitting in the Sanhedrin were looking intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). Do you know what Stephen did as his face looked like that of an angel? He talked about Moses and preached about Christ. Then, as the Sanhedrin brutally stoned him to death, Stephen called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59-60).

Stephen’s face reflected Christ’s glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. His words echoed Christ’s words on Mt. Calvary.

Stephen died a condemned man in the eyes of the world. But he was free in the eyes of God – the freest of anyone there. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Stephen was free because he had seen the glory of Christ through the Spirit, who brought him to faith, and kept him safe – even as he was pummeled with rocks. Christ had shone the light of faith into Stephen’s heart. That light shone brightly even in that dark hour. As a man freed of his sins, Stephen forgave freely, as he had been freely forgiven.

St. Paul – who in his previous life as Saul, stood on the side holding cloaks as Stephen was stoned – could have been referencing Stephen when he wrote, “But all of us who reflect the Lord's glory with an unveiled face are being transformed into his own image, from one degree of glory to another. This too is from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). When Christ’s glory shines in us through Word and Sacraments, we will reflect that glory with unveiled faces. The world will see. They will notice. They will react. Either positively or negatively.

Stephen saw Christ and then was taken to Christ’s home. St. John writes of our heavenly home, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God has given it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:23). Our faces will shine when we are in our heavenly home reflecting the face of Christ in his full, unveiled glory!

Until then, shine for Christ now. For we end each worship service with the blessing, “The Lord makes his face shine on you.” You don’t have to be a great mountain climber like Moses to see God’s face. You see God’s face here in worship. Your face is shining as you reflect the glory of God that you have heard, spoken, sung, felt, and tasted in Word, water, bread, and wine. Shine and talk and reflect God’s glory like Moses, like Stephen, and even like Christ, our Lord and our Light! Amen.

But all of us who reflect the Lord's glory with an unveiled face are being transformed into his own image, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Amen.