Married to Christ by Pastor Zarling

Married to Christ

Isaiah 62:5 5For just as a young man marries a virgin, your sons will marry you, and just as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, your God will rejoice over you.

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he would strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:16-17). Amen.

Perhaps you’ve seen an expression of unity by the bride and groom at a wedding. Perhaps it was at your wedding or another wedding. Maybe it was a unity candle, where two separate candles are used to light a single candle. Or unity sand, where the groom and bride alternate pouring different colored sand into a glass container. Or a unity cross, where two large puzzle pieces are brought together to form a cross.

Yesterday, at the wedding of Caleb and Emma, was the first time I had been part of a hand-binding ceremony. After making their marriage vows, I placed a cord over their arms. They then wrapped the cords around their hands, symbolizing their unity to each other and Christ. I preached on Ecclesiastes 4:12 where Solomon writes that a cord of three strands is not easily broken. That cord of husband, wife, and God.

Since we’re talking about weddings today, did you know that Jesus was married? You are quite familiar with Jesus’ bride.

She’s not the kind of woman you would expect the holy Son of God to pursue. She argues, fights, can’t hold her tongue, but certainly holds grudges. She is mean, hurtful, and spiteful. She is passive aggressive. Other times she’s just plain aggressive. She is anxious and worried. She is fearful and untrusting. She has a bad temper and a potty mouth.

She has a very good Dad, though, who has taken excellent care of her. He provides her with everything she needs and most of what she wants. Yet, she’s not content, so she sneakily steals from others. She’s constantly confused about her identity. She allows her desires to control her. She does whatever feels good. She’s from a pagan culture. She’s certainly not a church-going lady.

She’s been married before. Her ex treated her horribly. She tends to sleep around a lot. She’s the last one who should be wearing a white gown for her wedding.

I think you know Jesus’ wife quite well. She eats at your table and sleeps in your bed.

For those of you who are married, how did you meet your future spouse? Men, did she catch your eye? Ladies, did your friends introduce you? Did you use a dating app and swiped right? After you met and you learned that this person is like everything I described about Jesus’ bride, would you still have married him or her?

Jesus knew everything about his future bride … yet he still pursued her. In fact, he didn’t stop pursuing her until he rescued her from her empty way of life. He didn’t stop until he redeemed her from her broken life. Every marriage counselor in the world would have advised him to let her go and find someone else – someone more attractive, more stable, more honest – more marriage material.

Yet Jesus didn’t stop. He paid off her debts, her guilt, and her shame. He knew he could save her. And even change her. Jesus is so in love with her that he gave up his life for her. He let his accusers bind him, mock him, spit on him, slap him, beat him, nail him, and kill him. All without

saying a word. As a wedding gift to his bride, Jesus died a death and endured a wrath that was meant for her.

You know Jesus’ bride very well, don’t you? It’s you!

This week I asked the third graders, “Who was Jesus’ wife?” They replied that he wasn’t married. I said he was. So they started naming names. I corrected them and said, “Jesus is married to you.” They replied, “What?!” “Even the boys?!” “That’s weird!”

I’ve been blessed to perform the weddings for many couples. Every groom is the same. At the wedding, he’s standing in the front. He’s anxious. His forehead is sweating. His hands are clammy. He shuffles his feet. He can’t wait to see his bride walking down the aisle. A big smile fills his face when he sees her. Tears roll down his cheeks. There is his beautiful bride!

That’s exactly the way Jesus feels about you! “For just as a young man marries a virgin, your sons will marry you, and just as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, your God will rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5).

That joy and delight is what God has for those who believe in him. You make God smile. Allow your jaw to drop in awe at that beautiful truth.

We know what makes God happy – total perfection. God says, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). We also know that God hates sin and will absolutely never allow any sinner to enter into his kingdom. God says, “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (Revelation 21:27). Yet he takes delight in you. Seeing you makes his face light up like a groom seeing his bride on his wedding day.

Before we breathed our infant breath, we were helplessly conceived in sin. That sin makes us selfish, rude, irritable, impatient, and independent. Before we took our infant breath, we were sinners. So, the perfect, sinless Son of God left heaven to be born as an infant taking his first breaths as God and man in one person. Thirty-three years later the Son of God stopped breathing on the cross. He took our sins upon his perfect, sinless body. He gave us his holiness. He laid down his life for us. He gave himself up for us. He loved us with a divine love so that we can now love each other.

The Bible calls Jesus our Bridegroom and you and I as Christians are his bride. He sacrificed everything to win us back from the devil so bride and Bridegroom can be together forever in the heavenly home he prepared for us.

No matter what is going on in your life, or what others think when they look at you, God looks at you with loving eyes. What he sees gives him great joy and will continue to give him great joy for all of eternity.

Did Jesus ever marry? Yes, he married you! He didn’t marry a single woman because he came to make each of us his bride. Though our faith falters, Jesus makes a vow to you, and he is faithful. Though we break our vows, he remains vigilant. In Baptism, Jesus washes you clean of your sin and clothes you with white righteousness. Though we shed tears of regret and shame, Jesus assures us of comfort and forgiveness when he feeds us his wedding feast, “Take and eat, this is my body; take and drink, this is my blood for the forgiveness of sins.” No one has ever seen such a husband as Jesus.

The third graders didn’t get it. It’s a little too figurative for them. I pray you understand this beautiful wedding picture God’s Word paints for us today. Did Jesus ever marry? Yes, he married you!

Jesus’ sacrificial, merciful, gracious love now allows you to express a sacrificial, merciful, gracious love to each other. Jesus forgives you. This allows you to forgive each other. In his compassion he put you first, even before his own life. That compassion allows you to be compassionate to each other, putting the needs of others ahead of your own.

“Then you will be a beautiful crown in the Lord's hand, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God. You will never again be called Abandoned, and your land will never again be called Desolation, for you will be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land will be called Married, because the Lord delights in you, and your land will be married” (Isaiah 62:3-4).

Though these words were first directed to ancient Israel, they also apply to us today. We are not forsaken. We have not been left abandoned in the ruins of our sin. Instead, God has made a way for us to rise from the rubble, to become what he has always wanted us to be – his beloved and beautiful bride. Just like you have a nickname for your spouse, Jesus has a nickname for you – “My Delight Is in Her.”

Jesus will have and hold you for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health. He will love and cherish you. He won’t even let death part you from him. He is the eternal Bridegroom who died and lives forever. When Death threatens to rob him of his beloved bride, he rescues her from Death so she might live with him forever.

St. John writes, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). We may not always feel like that beautiful bride coming down the aisle in a gown of white, yet in Jesus’ holy eyes, this is exactly who we are. We are what he calls us – holy. He dresses us in his righteous robes. While we may not see it now, John tells us that one day, we will see ourselves as Christ sees us – the bride fully accepted and made perfect by her Bridegroom.

You are the object of Christ’s sacrificial love. You are the most valuable thing on this planet. You have a calling and a purpose here for a reason. To be loved, what do you need? You need someone to love you. To have value, what do you need? Someone to value you. To have a calling and a purpose, what do you need? You need someone to call you and give you that purpose. Jesus is that Bridegroom who loves you, values you, and calls you.

So, go to Christ. He has bound himself to you. On the cross, Jesus reached out his nail-pierced hand to you. This was love. Jesus loves you more than you will ever know. He loves you with all his heart. The problem is not that you don’t love Jesus enough. The truth is that you don’t know how much Jesus loves you. Because if you would know this, you would want nothing more than to cherish being bound to Christ and live beautifully and solely for your Bridegroom. Amen.

Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! (Ephesians 3:20-21) Amen.

One cord to bind them all by Pastor Zarling

One cord to bind them all

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their hard work. 10If one of them falls, his companion can lift him up. Pity the person who falls and has no one else to lift him up. 11What’s more, if two lie down, they can keep warm, but how can one person keep warm alone? 12Though an attacker can overpower one person, two people together can stand up against him. A rope with three strands is not quickly snapped.

Caleb and Emma, you will recognize these words:

Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for mortal men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne;

In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,

One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them;

In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

For those who don’t know, this is from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” “One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them” refers to the inscription on the one ring forged by Sauron, the Dark Lord.

This inscription is revealed when Gandalf examines the ring, which Frodo inherits. The ring represents absolute power, allowing Sauron to control the other beings who possess rings tied to it – essentially “binding” them to his will. The one ring corrupts those who possess it, leading them to be influenced by its malice and will to dominate, as seen through the effects it had on characters like Gollum, Bilbo, and Frodo.

Imagine if it wasn’t a ring to bind them, but a cord. Like a cord that King Solomon mentions in our sermon text and the hand binding ceremony the two of you will do today. Also imagine it wasn’t a dark lord who binds you, but The Lord. One cord that binds them all – a cord of three strands – Caleb, Emma, and God.

Solomon wisely writes, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their hard work. If one of them falls, his companion can lift him up. Pity the person who falls and has no one else to lift him up. What’s more, if two lie down, they can keep warm, but how can one person keep warm alone? Though an attacker can overpower one person, two people together can stand up against him. A rope with three strands is not quickly snapped.”

Strength like that is exactly what you seek as you begin your life as husband and wife. It’s the kind of strength we seek in our families and friendships. It’s a strength God wants to give us so our marriages are strong and our relationships are enduring. Unfortunately, it is a strength that isn’t always utilized because of the sin of selfishness that keeps us separate from God and each other.

It isn’t always easy to give willingly of ourselves for someone else. Our nature tempts us to look after ourselves, to assert our own rights, to seek our own needs. Kind of like a Boromir, who tried to take the ring from Frodo.

What benefits are there in marriage as God blesses two people to act as one? There’s the husband who holds back his wife’s hair as she’s throwing up after another round of chemotherapy. The wife who patiently cares for her husband as he gets irritable and forgetful from his dementia. The husband who puts in long hours at work and the wife who puts in long hours in the home –

working together as one to love, support and raise their family. There’s the couple who wants an acre or more out in the country for homesteading and homeschooling. That’s what Solomon means when he writes, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their hard work. If one of them falls, his companion can lift him up. Pity the person who falls and has no one else to lift him up.”

He continues, “What’s more, if two lie down, they can keep warm, but how can one person keep warm alone?” This is more than being cold because your spouse hogs the blankets at night. God wants you to recognize the importance of sharing for the deepening of your marital relationship. Success in marriage doesn’t depend on finding the right person. It’s based on becoming the right person.

That only happens when Christ moves you put the other person’s needs ahead of your own. That’s what St. Paul said in the Epistle when he said that love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful or arrogant, not selfish or irritable. Love is not so much about feelings as it is about commitment. Love is commitment in action.

Jesus told us exactly what kind of action is required for true and ultimate love. “Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:12,13).

That’s exactly how Jesus loves us. He laid down his life on Calvary’s cross to take away our sins, including the sins of selfishness and lovelessness. His sacrificial love for us makes us as Christians able to love one another. When we do this, no one is left out in the cold.

When we’re together in marriage with our spouse, there is someone to lift us up when we fall and keep us warm when we’re cold. There is also someone to help us overcome when we’re under attack. Solomon added, “Though an attacker can overpower one person, two people together can stand up against him.”

There’s strength in numbers, be it husband and wife or good friends or family. To make the point, Martin Luther once explained that when a wise father felt that death was near, he summoned his children together and gave them a bundle of sticks to break. None of the children could break the sticks when they were together in the bundle, but when the father pulled the sticks apart, one at a time, the children could easily break them. In this way, Luther concluded, the father taught his children that their future would be secure if they stayed together and worked together (LW 15:69). There will be times when you will feel threatened, but by remaining together you will not be overwhelmed. It’s kind of like you need … a fellowship. Not a fellowship of the ring, but a fellowship of the cord – the two of you and all your Christian family, friends, pastors, and church.

If you look casually, a rope appears to contain only two strands. But it is impossible to create a braid with only two strands. If the two could be put together at all, they would quickly unravel! It takes a third strand to give strength to the other two. The third person necessary for a strong marriage is Jesus Christ. Solomon writes, “A rope with three strands is not quickly snapped.” It’s like God has placed his hands over yours and bound all three of you together. That kind of cord is not going to be snapped.

Before we breathed our infant breath, we were helplessly conceived in sin. That sin makes us selfish, rude, irritable, impatient, and independent. Before we took our infant breath, we were sinners. So, the perfect, sinless Son of God left heaven to be born as an infant taking his first breaths as God and man in one person. Thirty-three years later the Son of God stopped breathing on the cross. He took our sins upon his perfect, sinless body. He gave us his holiness. He laid

down his life for us. He gave himself up for us. He loved us with a divine love so that we can now love each other.

The Bible calls Jesus our Bridegroom and you and I as Christians are his Bride. He sacrificed everything to win us back from the devil so Bride and Bridegroom can be together forever in the heavenly home he prepared for us.

Jesus’ sacrificial, merciful, gracious love allows you, Caleb and Emma. to express a sacrificial, merciful, gracious love to each other. Jesus forgives you. This allows you to forgive each other. In his compassion he put you first, even before his own life. That compassion allows you to be compassionate to each other, putting the other’s needs ahead of your own.

Jesus is the third strand in your marriage. He is the One who knows when you fall, when you’re cold, when you’re attacked. He knows when you sin, when you’re feeling guilty, and when you feel like a failure as a spouse or a parent in your future. He knows when you need his forgiveness, grace, mercy, healing, and compassion. Because he loves you, lifts you, warms you and protects you, now you can do the same for each other.

The most successful marriages I’ve seen involve two people who agree on what they’re doing. There’s really little ambiguity. When you get the basic stuff settled, you can have real brilliance. Real success. That brilliance and success comes from the two of you relying on each other. But much more than that – the two of you are relying on the Lord. He is the third strand in your cord. One cord to bind them all. Amen.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving by Pastor Klusmeyer

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

It’s a frosty winter day at a church in a large city. The people are excited because today they get to meet their new pastor. About 10 minutes before the service a disheveled and dirty man stubbles in. His jacket is old and filthy, he has an unruly mop of shaggy grey hair, and he doesn’t smell very good. The head elder quietly asks the man to leave because it’s a special day of celebration for the church. The man humbly asks if he can just sit in the back for a few minutes and warm up. The elder reluctantly agrees. As the church bells ring the man gets up and starts walking to the front of the church! The head elder is appalled; you can hear the whispers from the people in the pews. The man boldly stands in the very front of the church and faces the congregation. He takes off the dirty winter coat and underneath he’s wearing a nice shirt and tie. He removes the shaggy grey and reveals that he is their new pastor. He knew that appearances can be deceiving and wanted to see how people would greet a stranger who didn’t appear the way a person coming into a church should.

This is just a story, but it illustrates a critical point. We tend to judge things by their outward appearances. This tendency is so common that we have several cliches to describe it: “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” “Beauty is only skin deep,” and “All that glitters is not gold.” These cliches all express the same idea that appearances can be deceiving. And if we know this to be true in our interactions with things in this world, it is even more true when we are dealing with the things of God. Our Lord often chooses to work in ways that don’t meet our limited human expectations. We wouldn’t think to look for the king of the universe as a helpless baby lying in a manger or hanging from a cross. But this is exactly the way that our God chooses to reveal himself to us. He takes the humble and ordinary things of this world and makes them extraordinary. Simple words of faith shared by a child, water poured on the head of an infant, bread and wine shared by a congregation seem like such ordinary things, but they are powerful miracles of God that give life and faith to his people. Appearances can be deceiving. God does not meet our expectations, because he vastly exceeds our expectations.

The people of Jesus day also judged things by their appearance. God had revealed much about the Savior in the prophecies of the Old Testament and the people of Israel were eagerly awaiting the coming of their Savior. When they heard the fiery preaching of John in the desert, they wondered if he could be the One they had been waiting for. Like Samuel in our lesson today they were only looking at the outward appearance of John, instead of listening to the message of truth he was telling them. How often do we do the same thing? Do we make assumptions about others based on their appearance without getting to know them? Are we quick to judge and slow to listen? Are we reluctant to show love to someone because they don’t appear to be someone who would respond well, or are someone we would not like to associate with? We often make snap judgments about others. Like the people in the opening story, we sometimes think that we are better or more deserving of God’s love than others. John understood that he was only the forerunner of Christ. He gives us a powerful reminder to look at our own lives and realize that we too are not worthy even to untie the laces of our Savior’s sandals.

This is why John must have been confused when Jesus came to him to be baptized. Jesus was perfect and didn’t need to have any sins that needed to be forgiven. This is why John was confused. But Jesus needed to be baptized so that he could fulfill all the commands of his Father. The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry that would culminate in his death and resurrection. Just like we heard how David was anointed as king with oil and the Holy Spirit to show him as God’s chosen king, Jesus is now anointed with water and the Holy Spirit to show that he is God’s chosen instrument of salvation. When the heavens open and God speaks, and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove there can be no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the promised Messiah who comes to save all people from their sins.

God’s powerful voice from heaven announces that Jesus is his Son and that he is well pleased in him. Jesus needed to be both God and man so that he could suffer and die for our sins. As the true Son of God, he could keep the law perfectly and be the only person that God was ever well pleased with. Because he was true man he could suffer and die. When Christ died on the cross, he took the sins of the entire world upon himself and was able to pay for them because he was true God. He then rose triumphantly from the grave and won for us salvation and eternal life. God chose Jesus to suffer and die because he was well pleased with him, he chose us for life even though there is nothing good in us. This is the amazing message of his love which he freely gives to us through the blessing of baptism.

Jesus did not appear to meet the expectations the people had for their Messiah. In the same way, baptism appears to be unexceptional. Human expectations are that for something profound to happen we need special symbols, rites, and words. We mistakenly think that for baptism to work we need special water administered in a special way. But God does not choose to reveal himself to us in special ways, he prefers to remain hidden behind ordinary people, using ordinary water, but speaking the amazing and extraordinary words of his grace. Baptism is an amazing blessing because it gives life to those who are dead in their sins. It is a washing and renewal that connects us directly to the forgiveness that Christ won for us on the cross. It is a free and gracious gift that we do nothing to receive. And this is another way that baptism does not meet our expectations.

By nature, we are inclined to believe that we need to do something to earn the love of our God. We think that if we try hard enough or are good and worthy enough this will make God love us. But the truth is that no matter how much we strive and struggle we will never be good enough to pay for a single one of our sins. Just like babies can do nothing to help with their baptisms, we too can do nothing to earn the grace of God. As Paul tells us in Titus 3, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is the visible sign that our God has sealed us to himself. He made us his own children and made us heirs of his eternal kingdom.

Our baptism is a constant reminder that no matter how much we sin, no matter how often we are unfaithful to our God he remains faithful to us. In baptism, God pledges to wash and forgive us of all our sins. We have been reborn as one of his dear children and nothing we do can change that truth. God has pledged to be faithful to his children and welcome with open arms those who repent of their sins no matter how great they may be. Baptism makes us alive in Christ and empowers us to constantly struggle against the impulses of our sinful nature.

Luther reminds us in his explanation of baptism that baptism empowers us for the battle we fight each day against our sinful nature. Baptism means that the Old Adam should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. This is what it means to be reborn through the washing of water and the Word. We struggle each day to drown our sinful nature and live according to the command of God. We seek to live in humility and faithfulness. We strive to keep from making snap judgments about others based on their appearance and instead show the love of Christ to everyone we meet.

My friends our expectations can often lead us astray like they did the people in that fictional congregation. We all know how foolish we can be when we make assumptions about the things of this world. That problem is so much greater when we start dealing with the things of God. God chooses to work with us through means that seem to not meet our expectations. Their appearance is always deceiving! But we give praise and thanks to our God for choosing to save us in such an amazing way. If we had to work out our own salvation, we would never be able to do enough or be good enough to save ourselves. But the amazing message of the Gospel and the power of baptism is that Christ has done it all for us. We don’t need to do anything; we have received salvation by the love and grace of our God. So, rejoice in the comfort of your baptism knowing that you have been washed and purified. Your salvation is secure, and you are a dearly loved member of God’s family.

How lovely shines the Morning Star! by Pastor Zarling

How lovely shines the Morning Star!

Revelation 22:16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.

The Magi had time to think. Their journey from the east to the little town of Bethlehem likely took them a month or longer. All that time, they had virtually nothing else to think about except this newborn King they were going to see, and what it meant that God had kept his promise to send a Savior into this world.

That’s so often our problem. We don’t have time to think. We fill up our time chasing from one place to another. We fill up our calendar with too much stuff to do. We fill up our minds with endless screens – phone, computer, and TV. We don’t ever allow ourselves to just sit and become bored. To sit and think. To sit and meditate.

What would it be like to sit and spend hours and hours just dwelling on the beauty of God’s grace? A Lutheran pastor from sixteenth century Germany was granted a golden opportunity to do just that. His name was Philipp Nicolai. He was born ten years after Martin Luther died.

During Nicolai’s ministry as a pastor, the Black Death plague swept across Europe. In the worst year of the plague, 1,400 people died in Nicolai’s town. On one day, there were 30 people from his congregation who died and were buried. The cemetery was just outside his parsonage window.

This might not sound like a golden opportunity, but it was. During this time, Nicolai read the Scriptures and prayed. The busier he was, the more he dug into God’s Word. For long periods of time, he contemplated God’s teaching about eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ. He wrote a book of devotions called “Mirror of Joy,” and he included some hymns in the back of the book. One of them was the hymn, “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star,” for which he wrote both the words and the music.

It’s not hard for us to guess Nicolai’s motives in writing this hymn. If you can’t figure it out from reading the words, then take note of this – each of the seven original verses of this hymn began with a letter from the name of one of Nicolai’s dear Christian friends who had died in the plague.

In the preface of the book he wrote, “To leave behind me (if God should call me from this world) as a token of my peaceful, joyful, Christian departure, or (if God should spare me in health) to comfort other sufferers whom He should also visit with the pestilence.” “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star” is one of the monuments of Lutheran hymns and is called the Queen of Chorales. (A “chorale” is a non-Latin Lutheran hymn written between 1520 and 1750.) Another hymn in the book, “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying” is today called the King of Chorales. God blessed Philipp Nicolai to be a pretty awesome hymn writer!

In the first stanza of “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star,” Nicolai connects Christ as the Bridegroom to we in the Christian Church as his blessed and beautiful bride: “How lovely shines the Morning Star! The nations see and hail afar. The light in Judah shining. Thou David’s Son of Jacob’s race, My Bridegroom and my King of Grace, For Thee my heart is pining.” This hymn was used so extensively at weddings, that the idea became common that if this hymn was not sung at the wedding, the couple was not properly married.

This hymn is so beloved that stanzas of the hymn were engraved upon bowls and kettles and vases. It was sung at Communion because of the fourth stanza: “A pledge of peace from God I see When Thy pure eyes are turned to me to show me Thy good pleasure. Jesus, Thy Spirit and Thy Word, thy body and Thy blood, afford My soul its dearest treasure.”

The hymn was used at the deathbed of Christians who had kept the pure faith and were prepared to follow the invitation to the wedding feast in the Kingdom of God. The theologian Johann Gerhard died while singing the words of the seventh stanza: “Oh, joy to know that Thou, my Friend, Art Lord, Beginning without end, the First and Last, Eternal! And Thou at length, o glorious grace! Wilt take me to that holy place, The home of joys supernal. Amen, Amen! Come and meet me! Quickly greet me! With deep yearning Lord, I look for Thy returning.”

Nicolai dealt with untold bitterness in his life, and so do we. It’s hard to have to deal with death. We can try to avoid thinking about it, but eventually it catches up to our loved ones. It catches up to us. Before it catches us, we can feel its icy breath down into our soul. Death is grabbing at us – bringing ailments, illnesses, diseases, injuries, and aging. There are school shootings, terrorist attacks, panic and pandemics. St. Paul is correct when he assesses the moral condition of our world: “They all turned away; together they became useless. There is no one who does what is good; there is not even one. … Their feet are quick to shed blood. They leave a trail of destruction and suffering wherever they go” (Romans 3:12,15,16). Sin, death, and destruction is not just out there in our world, it begins right here in our heart. We have each turned from God. So now we have failure and fear, anxiety and anguish, hardships and heartache. Now our souls are restless, and we long for relief, comfort, and rest.

Nicolai begins the hymn, “How lovely shines the Morning Star.” Jesus said of himself at the end of his Revelation to St. John, “I am the bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16). When you do have time to think, isn’t it usually in the middle of the night when you shouldn’t be thinking? You should be sleeping. But your mind is racing. You are thinking about your aches, your hurt feelings, your guilt - your physical pain, your emotional pain, your spiritual pain. You feel miserable all over. The night seems to stretch on forever. You just want the darkness to be over. You keep waiting for a new day, a better day to dawn.

If you live far from the city, you look for the rising of the Morning Star – the planet Venus. When Venus rises over the night horizon, hope grows in your heart because the new day is not far behind!

The Magi were following God’s miracle star in the darkness … probably for weeks to travel from the east to Bethlehem. Finally, though, their long night was over. They followed the bright star in the sky so they could see the bright Morning Star in the crib.

Jesus is the Morning Star. He brings the bright hope of his love and forgiveness into our darkness. Whatever harm we have caused others or ourselves, Jesus won forgiveness for upon the cross and out of the grave. He comforts us with his unconditional love and promises to care for us every day and every night.

Jesus is the Morning Star. He brings the bright hope that a new day coming. When struggling through a long night of guilt, or a long week of illness, or a long year filled with heartache, we can look for our bright Morning Star. Jesus promises to be with us to bring us to a new day of his love here and an eternity of new days with him in his home.

With “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star,” Nicolai remembers what God has done for us. He sent us “David’s Son of Jacob’s race,” a Savior who is both “lowly” and “holy,” “true Son of God and Mary’s Son.” Jesus had to be God because we need a Savior without any sin of his own. He had to be human because we need a substitute whose life and death would count in our place. By his death, that Savior has taken away our sin. Now he has risen and rules, “Great and glorious, O victorious Prince of graces, Filling all the heavenly places.”

Jesus is your “Morning Star,” your light in every dark place, your promise of a new day in God’s good grace. He is your “Bridegroom” who loves you more than any groom has ever loved any bride, who has sacrificed his life for you and who now lives to shower you with the blessings of his love. He is your “Vine” who supplies you, his branch, not just with life but with the ability to bear fruit that will last, even when the world around you looks like a desert wilderness. He is your “Eternal Friend,” your “Alpha and Omega,” your “beginning” and your “end.” Your Savior is God’s answer to your anxiety, fear, grief, loneliness, troubles, pain, sin, and death.

Where else can our restless souls find the peace and joy of God’s love and forgiveness? Where else can our restless souls rest secure and safe in God’s love, no matter what is happening in us and around us? Nowhere else. Lord, “Sighing, Crying For the savor Of your favor, Resting never Till I rest in you forever.”

What was it like for Philipp Nicolai to dwell on the grace and goodness of God’s saving love for hours, days, weeks? In the preface to his book of devotions, Nicolai wrote about what it did for him: “I found myself, thank God! wonderfully well, comforted in heart, joyful in spirit, and truly content.” What was it like for the Magi to dwell on the grace and goodness of God throughout their long trip to Bethlehem, following that star in the sky? We’re told, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming joy” (Matthew 2:10).

Is it possible that God might have similar blessings in store for you? He does! There is bitterness everywhere in this world and in our own hearts, too. There is sin everywhere in this world and in our own hearts, and the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Set aside your phone. Clear your calendar. Just sit and think. Sit and contemplate. Sit and meditate. There is nothing more wonderful, more beautiful, more peaceful for our souls than to be able to think and dwell upon the Epiphany of Christ into our world. Even eternity won’t be able to lessen the joy we have in him. He is our heavenly Bridegroom, an endless source of love, and he has given us all eternity to drink it in. “How lovely shines the Morning Star!” Amen.

1. How lovely shines the Morning Star! The nations see and hail afar. The light in Judah shining. Thou David’s Son of Jacob’s race, My Bridegroom and my King of Grace, For Thee my heart is pining. Lowly, Holy, Great and glorious, Thou victorious Prince of graces, Filling all the heavenly places.

2. O highest joy by mortals won, True Son of God and Mary’s Son, Thou high-born King of ages! Thou art my heart’s most beauteous Flower, and Thy blest Gospel’s saving power My raptured soul engages. Thou mine, I Thine; Sing hosanna! Heavenly manna Tasting, eating, Whilst Thy love in songs repeating.

3. Now richly to my waiting heart, O Thou, my God, deign to impart. The grace of love undying. In Thy blest body let me be, E’en as the branch is in the tree, Thy life my life supplying. Sighing, Crying. For the savor of Thy favour; Resting never, Till I rest in Thee forever.

4. A pledge of peace from God I see When Thy pure eyes are turned to me to show me Thy good pleasure. Jesus, Thy Spirit and Thy Word, thy body and Thy blood, afford My soul its dearest treasure. Keep me kindly In Thy favour, o my Saviour! Thou wilt cheer me; Thy Word calls me to draw near Thee.

5. Thou, mighty Father, in Thy Son Didst love me ere Thou hadst begun this ancient world’s foundation. Thy Son hath made a friend of me, And when in spirit Him I see, I joy in tribulation. What bliss is this! He that liveth to me giveth Life forever; Nothing me from Him can sever.

6. Lift up the voice and strike the string. Let all glad sounds of music ring In God’s high praises blended. Christ will be with me all the way, Today, tomorrow, every day, Till traveling days be ended. Sing out, ring out Triumph glorious, o victorious, Chosen nation; Praise the God of your salvation.

7. Oh, joy to know that Thou, my Friend, Art Lord, Beginning without end, the First and Last, Eternal! And Thou at length, o glorious grace! Wilt take me to that holy place, The home of joys supernal. Amen, Amen! Come and meet me! Quickly greet me! With deep yearning Lord, I look for Thy returning.

Adopted by Pastor Zarling

Adopted

Galatians 4:4-7 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, 5in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. 6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, “Abba, Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ.

Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited us and prepared redemption for his people (Luke 1:68). Amen.

I took Craig and Krista through adult instruction classes five years ago. During our study, they talked about their desire to be parents. After suffering several miscarriages, Krista was not just upset and frustrated, she was mad at God! By her own admission, she was not in a good place spiritually.

God led Craig and Krista to do foster care for three children. They eventually adopted those three children – Gabriel, Roman, and Amelia. In his own way and in his own time, God gave Craig and Krista their children through adoption. Krista loves to say, “God gave me the children I was meant to have.”

Sadly, there are many couples who struggle for various reasons with having children. God doesn’t provide them a miraculous baby like with Abraham and Sarah or Zechariah and Elizabeth.

I have a friend who was moving into the Racine area several years ago. I was helping him look at neighborhoods for purchasing a house. He finally told me that the neighborhoods I was suggesting were outside of his budget. He said, “I can’t afford these houses. I need to save money because I have to buy my kids.” That was his crude, but realistic way of reminding me that his kids are adopted. It cost that married couple $50,000 to adopt each child.

I’ve learned from Craig and Krista that a couple can provide foster care for children and then adopt those children at no cost. But foster care comes with its own challenges. The children are often coming from broken homes. There can be addictions, abuse, and neglect in their background. This may cause them to be angry, anxious, and untrusting. For all these reasons, and many more, foster children can act up and be difficult.

Knowing all this, a couple may still wish to bring foster children into their home. They will be patient with them, care for them, and grow to love them. The children may even learn to trust and love their foster parents. Everything can be going great, and the parents want to formerly adopt the children … but then the birth parents want the children back. So, the foster parents’ hearts are broken.

The apostle Paul talks about adoption: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

We are like foster kids. We are often angry, anxious, and untrusting. We are often difficult and act up. We are just plain naughty! But who could blame us? Look at where we came from. We are the spiritual children of the devil. He doesn’t love us. He hates us. We are his slaves. He owns us. Because of our sinful nature, we are natural-born slaves to sin and the devil – forced to go along with them because their will was all we knew. And as bad as Satan is for us, what do we do? We keep going back to him. Again and again.

Knowing all this, God still adopts us. When the time was right, he sent his only-begotten Son to rescue you from the devil. He came to reconcile you to God because all your anger, anxiety, and mistrust had separated you from him. Jesus came to take all your naughtiness on him and give you his perfect behavior as your own.

Jesus redeemed us by becoming one of us. Like my friend, God had to buy his children. That sounds crude … but it’s true. God bought us back from belonging to the devil. The price was not gold or silver or anything monetary. The redemption price was the broken body and shed blood of the only-begotten Son of God who took on our human body and blood.

Sometimes when foster children are brought into the family where there are already natural-born children, there can be complicated emotions. Do the natural-born children welcome the new children with open arms? Are they going to be willing to share their room, their toys, their parents’ attention and affection? Little kids don’t think about this, but grown adults will certainly consider this: the natural-born children are going to have to share their family’s inheritance with the adopted children.

Before God made us his children – true members of his family – there was only one Child in God’s holy family. He was the only-begotten Son of the Father from eternity. But Jesus wasn’t jealous about sharing his Dad, his home, or his stuff with us. Jesus willingly did his part to bring us into his family. He left heaven to come to earth. He gave up his throne room for a stable. He was laid in a manger so he could be laid on a cross and then laid in a tomb. He was wrapped in strips of cloth at his birth, so he could be stripped of his clothing at his death, and then be wrapped in strips of cloth at his burial. He did this all out of love to redeem us and make us his brothers and sisters.

When our four daughters were born, Shelley taught them each of them to say, “Daddy” as their first word. That sounds very cute. It is. It’s also very cunning. Then when the girls woke up in the middle of the night, they would cry, “Daddy!” What dad can resist the call of his children?

It excites any parent the first time their child calls them “Mommy” or “Daddy.” That’s for natural-born children. Foster children and adopted children have had their natural parents. Again, they may have trust issues. They may difficulty belonging or believing they have a permanent home somewhere … anywhere. Can you imagine how it must warm the adoptive parents’ heart to hear for the first time their adopted child call them “Mommy” or “Daddy”?

Paul writes, “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). God rescued you from the devil’s clutches. Jesus redeemed you from Satan’s slavery. The Spirit created saving faith in you through your Baptism. That means you get to call the almighty Creator of the universe, “Father,” “Abba” – which means, “Daddy.”

Our Heavenly Daddy has included us – his adopted children – in a wonderful inheritance. Paul explains, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7). What are you hoping for in your inheritance from your parents? Your inheritance may include property, vehicles, pictures, and family heirlooms. All are special and important. But all those things will eventually be destroyed by moth or rust. They will all be burned up at the Last Day.

Only our Heavenly Daddy’s inheritance lasts. What does this inheritance include? It starts with forgiveness for all our anger, anxiety, distrust, and general naughtiness. This forgiveness was purchased by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also salvation and eternal life.

Three days after Jesus died, he received his glorified body as his inheritance. The disciples saw it happen with Jesus, and they realized that it would also happen to them. Because we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters, we will receive the same inheritance. Our souls will be separated from our bodies at death. Our souls will be reunited with our bodies with the resurrection on the Last Day. Our bodies that are aging and broken will one day be made whole and perfect. We are heirs of eternal life where we will receive glorified, ageless, and powerful bodies.

Our inheritance continues with heaven. That’s where the Son of God lives, and that’s where we will live eternally as the sons and daughters of God. We can look forward to an eternal existence without sorrow or pain, in the company of all those have also been adopted into God’s family. Jesus, our Brother, is preparing our place for us right now. We will receive our Daddy’s mansion to live in among his perfect paradise. We will get to share this paradise with all our saintly brothers and sisters.

When the time was right, God used Caesar Augustus to move the holy family into the right place at the right time. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father sent Jesus to be the perfect Son he always wanted. This Son returned God’s love, was perfect in obedience, and unwavering in devotion. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us.

Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us … by giving everything that he was and earned over to us. Jesus gave us his perfection and righteousness so that when Abba looks at us, he sees little Jesuses. He sees us wearing Jesus’ perfection and righteousness. He sees that our sins have been removed and placed upon his perfect Son.

Now, as the Father’s redeemed sons and daughters, we enjoy all the rights, the privileges, and the relationship of heirs. Just like Jesus.

Now you can walk right into God’s presence through your prayers, empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak whatever is on your heart. You can call the Lord God of heaven and earth “Abba.” In the middle of the night, you can cry, “Daddy!” What Dad can resist the call of his children? You have access to the Father … through the Son … by faith given to you by the Holy Spirit … because you are now God’s adopted sons and daughters.

This morning in our other Scripture readings, we see the miracle births of Isaac into Abraham and Sarah’s ancient family and John into Zechariah and Elizabeth’s aged family. As miraculous as those births are, our inclusion into God’s family is even more miraculous. Those were natural births. Ours is a spiritual birth. Theirs lasted for this life. Ours lasts for life eternal.

We have been purchased. Redeemed. Adopted. We are the children God has chosen to have. Amen.

I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you (Genesis 17:7). Amen.

Lost and Found by Pastor Klusmeyer

Lost and Found

You have that panicky and familiar feeling in the pit of your stomach. You’ve lost something important, and you have no idea where it is. You’re expecting an important call and can’t find your phone for the fourth time today. You’re late for work and you’ve looked in all the normal places but you have no idea where your keys could be. You frantically search everywhere but as the minutes begin to feel like hours you grow increasingly anxious and worried. But then there’s that moment when you find that missing thing and you are filled with joy and relief. Now take those memories of loss, anxiety, and stress and imagine that it’s not a phone, glasses, or set of keys that you’ve lost, but a child.

This is what Mary and Joseph experienced during a memorable trip to Jerusalem many years ago. Mary, Joseph, and their twelve-year-old son Jesus made their yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem according to the Law of Moses to celebrate the Passover. We can only guess at the details of their family celebration. Did the boy Jesus help his father Joseph with the preparations? Did he think about how his own blood would be shed the way the blood of the lamb was shed? We don’t know. What we do know is that after the feast was over Mary and Joseph began their long journey back home.

During this busy Christmas season, many of you went to visit family and friends. You know the hectic flurry of activity as you are preparing to leave: the packing of luggage, the gathering of coats, the questions in the car of, “Are you sure you remembered everything,” and the inevitable groans at the realization that something important had been forgotten. Have all of that in mind as you imagine making a long journey on foot with most of your friends and relatives from your entire town.

In the flurry of activity Mary and Joseph must have assumed that Jesus was walking with some of their other friends or playing with the boys his age. Mary and Joseph were most likely preoccupied with the other adults and exchanging stories about what they had seen in Jerusalem during the feast. But as evening approached, they realized with growing concern that they had not seen their son all day. That concern grows into panic as the different families get ready to camp for the evening. Where was Jesus? Mary and Joseph quickly realized with a sickening feeling of dread that Jesus was not with them. We can picture them hurrying with fear and dread back to Jerusalem.

For three days Mary and Joseph frantically searched. They visited all the places they had been to during the festival. They urgently ask everyone if they have seen their son. Finally, they go to the temple. Imagine their joy and surprise when they see Jesus sitting among the rabbis and teachers of the law asking and answering questions. Mary asks, “Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” Jesus responds to his mother, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?”

These are the first words spoken by our Savior that are recorded for us in Scripture. In these words, and this story, we see the mystery of the incarnation. We see Jesus Christ the almighty Son of God who existed in eternity from before the creation of the world living as a twelve-year-old boy with a mother and father who loved him, cared for him, and worried about him. Jesus understood even at this young age the reason he had come to this world. He knew that God had a plan to save his children. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought the curse of sin and death upon the entire human race. God as our loving Father was willing to do anything to save his beloved children. We were lost but God was willing to sacrifice his only begotten Son so that we might be found.

This is why Jesus came to this world. The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Therefore since the children share flesh and blood, he also shared the same flesh and blood so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of death (that is, the Devil) and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, yet he was without sin. We see this on display in this story. Imagine being the almighty Son of God and living under the authority of sinful parents. We know how difficult it is for us at times to obey our parents or others in authority when we know deep down that they are wrong, and we are right. We justify our disobedience against authority that doesn’t meet our standards and look for excuses to rebel.

Our perfect substitute Jesus did not rebel against the sinful authority of his parents. He submitted to their rule and kept the 4th Commandment perfectly in our place. Later in his life he willingly submitted to the corrupt rule of the chief priests, Herod, and Pontius Pilate as he allowed himself to be tried, convicted, and crucified even though he was guilty of no crime. Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience in our place. He kept all the laws and commandments of God and submitted to their requirements even though he was the Lord of the universe. For this reason, he had to become like his brothers in every way, in order that he would be a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God, so that he could pay for the sins of the people. Indeed, because he suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Even from an early age, Jesus knew why he had been sent to this world. He knew that will of his Father. He knew that he had been sent for one purpose: to offer his perfect life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Think of the boy Jesus sitting in the temple courts at the Feast of Passover. He knew that in a few years, he would be back in Jerusalem to be sacrificed as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Even as a young boy, he knew the prophecies of Isaiah. He knew that the chief priests and elders of the people would be the very ones who would beat his back, pull out his beard, and spit in his face.

Jesus was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father as he made his face hard like flint and resolutely set his feet upon the path that would lead to the cross. Jesus Christ is our perfect high priest who offered his perfect life as a sacrifice for sin. On the cross, he became our substitute. He became sin in our place and faced the full wrath of God. On the cross, Jesus was forsaken by the Father and endured the torments of hell so that the lost could be found. By his death, all who had been lost in the darkness of sin were found in the light of his salvation. Jesus is the light of the world. He has found the ones who were walking in darkness and restored them as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.

As we see the amazing love of our Savior and the perfect obedience he had to his earthly parents and the will of his heavenly Father, we seek to mirror his obedience. We desire to live our lives according to the will of our Father. We live in service and obedience to those God has placed in authority over us. We lovingly submit to the authority of our parents when we are younger, and care for them when we are older. We live peaceful and quiet lives in submission to the governing authorities. We daily seek to grow in our knowledge and understanding of the Lord as we read and study his Word. We grow in wisdom and understanding as we regularly join with others in worship and Bible study. All this we do because we are obedient children of our heavenly father who were lost and have now been saved.

None of us like the feeling of losing something. We hate the frantic searching and the tense moments as we look high and low for what we have lost. We empathize with Mary and Joseph as they combed the streets of Jerusalem looking for their lost son. We can understand the pain that God felt when his sons and daughters were lost to the darkness of sin. We rejoice that our heavenly Father was willing to do anything to rescue us from that darkness and restore us as his children. We rejoice and praise our Savior who was willing to become one of us so that he could be an obedient sacrifice in our place. Praise be to Christ that we who were lost have now been found.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, That saved a wretch; like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.

The Gift by Pastor Zarling

The Gift

John 1:9-14 9The real light that shines on everyone was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognize him. 11He came to what was his own, yet his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. 13They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband's will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

It’s Christmas morning. The kids are up before sunrise. They burst into their parents’ bedroom. They jump on mom and dad, telling them it’s time to open presents. Then the kids run downstairs to the Christmas tree. They are excited as they see all the wrapped presents stacked under the tree. They look at the tags to see which ones are theirs. They shake the presents to guess what they’re getting.

Mom has started brewing coffee. Dad has turned on Christmas music. Finally, it’s time to open presents. Then the five-year-old stands up, waves his hand, and says, “No thanks.” He walks away to find something else to do.

That’s not realistic at all, is it? That’s like Ralphie not wanting a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas. Or Kevin not wanting to be with his family at Christmas. Or Buddy not wanting to see Santa at Christmas.

Who doesn’t love opening gifts? Especially at Christmas? Who doesn’t love receiving gifts from loved ones – gifts that are unearned and undeserved?

Yet, that’s exactly the way most people treat the greatest gift ever given. John writes about the gift of Jesus, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, yet his own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11).

It’s true that people in John’s day in the first century and also in our day in the twenty-first century have no interest in the gift of a Savior. That’s why so many oppose Christ, his words, and his morals in society. That’s why Christians are arrested and put in prison for praying outside of abortion clinics. That’s why there are statues glorifying Satan set aside nativity sets glorifying the baby Jesus in government buildings. People are not interested in Jesus. They don’t recognize him as God. They do not accept him as Savior.

Even those who are Christians who know Jesus as God’s greatest gift are sometimes not interested in spending the time with him that he deserves. That’s why churches are empty while basketball courts and soccer fields are full on Sunday mornings. That’s why we spend more time stressing about the decorations and presents of Christmas than spending time with Christ in his Word and in prayer. That’s why we like watching secular Christmas movies and listening to secular Christmas music than filling up our music playlist with “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” and “Joy to the World.” We have so much going on in our lives and we are so busy that we set aside this greatest gift. We’re not always excited to open up this gift. We don’t make time to use this gift.

That’s about as ridiculous as a five-year-old not being excited to open presents on Christmas morning.

Let’s change that. Let’s spend more time with the One who always has time for us. Let’s receive and appreciate this gift. Let’s spend time with Jesus and his Word.

Why? John tells us why. “But to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband's will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13). We receive him who came down to earth to receive us. We were born belonging to the devil. Through faith in Jesus as our newborn Savior, we are reborn and made children of God. This isn’t a birthright that’s ours because of our parents’ DNA or last name. This is a gift that God gives us simply because he desires it.

What is this gift? John tells us, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

What has all our busyness gotten us? Has it lessened our stress? Improved our health? Strengthened our marriage and family life? Nope. Our busyness usually adds to our stress, hurts our health, and causes rifts in our marriage and family.

That’s why God sent his Son in the flesh to dwell among us. We can’t fix our problems on our own. We just make things worse. So, “the Word became flesh.” God’s Son didn’t wait for humanity to clean up our messes. He just came. He became one of us. He took on our flesh and blood in the womb of a woman. He was born to die. He was laid in a manger so he could be laid on the cross. He was wrapped in strips of cloth so he could clothe us with his righteousness. He took all our sins upon himself so he could give us his perfection. He came to fix our human problems by providing divine solutions. He came so we could set aside our busyness and be about his kingdom business.

What does this good news about this great gift do to us? Hopefully, you’ll be as excited to receive Jesus as Mr. Parker was excited to receive his leg lamp award. Hopefully, you’ll be as protective of your time with Jesus as Kevin as protective of his house against the Wet Bandits. Hopefully you’ll be as anxious to meet Jesus every Sunday as Buddy was anxious to meet his dad.

Let’s be as excited to open this gift of Jesus as a real five-year-old is excited to open his Christmas presents. Because this gift of Jesus is the Son of God becoming man so that the sons and daughters of men could become children of God. This gift of Jesus came to make his dwelling among us so that we might go to have our dwelling made with God. What a gift! Amen.

The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Amen.

Marvel at God’s Majestic Might by Pastor Klusmeyer

Marvel at God’s Majestic Might

After living in the city for a few years there is one thing I’ve decided I really don’t like: the streetlights. Sure, they make it easier to drive and walk at night and help with public safety. But I miss being able to see the night sky ablaze with stars. I loved being able to see all of the constellations and even on very dark nights the hazy arm of our galaxy.

The heavens are a testament to the might and power of our God. As we look at the vastness of his creation, we cannot help but marvel at God’s majestic might. Throughout history, God has done great things for his people. He brought plagues on Egypt, made the sun stand still in the sky, and rescued them from hungry lions and fiery furnaces. But God’s greatest deed was accomplished when he sent his Son to be born of a Virgin. God’s might and power were on full display as he broke the power of sin and death by his death on the cross. As Advent draws to a close, we join with Mary and magnify the greatness of our God and marvel at God’s majestic might.

Imagine Mary’s awe as she considered the proclamation of the angel Gabriel that she would conceive and give birth to the very Son of God. The long years of waiting were over. The Savior God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was about to be born. The anticipation of God’s amazing grace was about to be fulfilled. Gabriel told Mary that as a sign of God’s power and promise her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant in in her old age even though she had been called barren. In her joy, Mary hurried to see this miracle and to share her joy that she was carrying God’s promised Savior.

We can only imagine Elizabeth’s joy and anticipation as she neared the end of her miraculous pregnancy. The son promised to her and Zechariah was soon to be born. As she heard the greeting of her cousin Mary the baby John leaped in her womb in joy as his Savior approached. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and marveled at God’s majestic might as the promises of God were fulfilled in her very presence.

When Mary heard the Word of the Lord spoken by her cousin she was filled with joy. Her soul could not help but magnify the glory of the Lord. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, is a glorious hymn of praise to our awesome God. It reminds us that our God is a powerful warrior who fights for his people and who keeps all his promises. It is a song of joyful anticipation that points us to the fulfillment of God’s amazing grace in the birth of our Savior. As we think about her song, we too marvel at God’s majestic might.

As we look at the beauty of creation, the expanse of the starry heavens, the roar of the vast oceans, and the multitude of life in this world, we marvel at God’s majestic might. Our souls magnify our Lord, and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior. Yet there is still a part of us that cannot help but be afraid of God’s marvelous might. When we are confronted by the awesome majesty and holiness of God our sinful natures cower in fear. We know that for a sinner to stand in God’s holy presence and see his face means death. Adam and Eve knew this as they hid themselves from his presence after they ate from the tree, he commanded them not to eat from. We hear this fear echoed in God’s chosen people as they heard God’s holy law at Sinai. All the people saw and heard the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the ram’s horn and the mountain smoking. The people saw, and they trembled and stood far away. Then they said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, or we will die.”

Because of sin, this is our natural response to the holiness of God. We know that our sinful nature and our sins of thought, word, and action separate us from him. We know that by nature we deserve only his wrath and punishment. But God does not want us to live in fear of his wrath. God wants to comfort us with his grace and shower us with his blessings. This why: when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. God sent Jesus to fulfill his law and be punished in our place. Our God is a God who fights for his people. He sent his Son to fight a battle we could never win. Jesus came to destroy the power of the devil and break the chains of death. On the cross, Jesus paid the debt of our sins. Through the waters of baptism, we have been reborn as God’s dearly beloved children.

Mary knew the promises of God. She knew that God’s strong arm was not something that his people needed to fear but to marvel at. Our God is mighty to save. We know the great things he has done for his people. Thinking of God’s mighty arm calls to mind God rescuing his people from Egypt. At the Red Sea God

used his might to save his people. He bared his mighty arm and parted the waters so Israel could pass through in safety. He then brought those waters crashing down and cast the army of Pharoah in the depths of the sea. God scatters the proud and casts down the mighty. God is a fearsome and powerful foe to those who reject and oppose his will. But to those who love him and trust in the name of Jesus, he is a mighty warrior who fights for his people. We marvel at the majestic might of our God who still fights to save us. Who rules over all things for the good of his church and sends his angels to guard and keep us.

The song of Mary calls to mind all the great and mighty things God had done to save his people. As she praised God, she marveled that his greatest act of salvation was about to be fulfilled through her. Mary knew that there was nothing majestic or awesome about her. She was just a lowly virgin who had been chosen by God to bear his Son. Mary wanted people to remember her throughout the ages because of what God had done through her, not because of anything she had done. In the same way, there is nothing glorious or majestic in us. By nature, we are all sinners, but in his great love, God chose each of us to be his dear children. Through the cross of Christ, he adopted us as his children and made us heirs of his kingdom. We marvel that our mighty and majestic God loved us enough to die to save us and we live in humility because we know that we have been saved by grace alone.

Mary knew the history of her people. She knew the promises that God had made to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his children forever. She rejoiced that our mighty God is faithful to his promises. Even when the children of Israel abandoned their covenant with God, he did not forsake them. He remembered his promises. He sent his prophets again and again to call his people to repentance. He brought them out of captivity in Babylon and preserved them so a Savior could be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah. He showed the full depth of his mercy to his servant Israel as he fulfilled his promise and sent his Son to free all people from their sins.

Our merciful and mighty God continues to show us his mercy. He calls us to repentance through the preaching of his law. He invites us to turn to Jesus in faith and trust the promise that all our sins have been forgiven by the blood of Christ. At the shore of the Red Sea God bared his mighty arm and cast the army of pharaoh into the depths of the sea. God was about to accomplish an even greater act of salvation through the child Mary carried. We marvel at the majestic might of our God as he suffered and died on the cross for our sins. On the cross, Christ bared his mighty arm and crushed the head of Satan. On Easter morning Christ defeated the power of death and hell and gave us the certainty of eternal life with him.

The next time you gaze up at the night sky take time to marvel at the majestic might of our God. Consider all the great and mighty deeds he has done for you. Remember how he fulfilled the promises he made to Abraham and to his children. Wonder at the warrior who defeated the power of death and hell for you. And gaze in awe as we celebrate the night the heavens were filled with songs of angels as they announced that Emmanuel had been born to free the world from sin.

O come, O Root of Jesse free your own from Satan’s tyranny; from depths of hell your people save and give them victory o’er the grave.

The Tree of Life by Pastor Zarling

The Tree of Life

Revelation 22:1-5 The angel showed me the river of the water of life, which was as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb. 2In the middle of the city’s street and on each side of the river was a tree of life that yielded twelve kinds of fruit. The tree yields its fruit every month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. 3There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him. 4They will see his face. His name will be on their foreheads. 5There will no longer be any night or any need for lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

There is an extraordinary tree on Kalaloch Beach inside Olympic Park in Washington state. Some people call it “The Tree of Life” because of the way the tree continues to thrive – even though its roots travel to nowhere. If you look at the picture on the screen, the tree appears to be suspended in the air.

Erosion under the tree has taken away its ability to grab water and nutrients from the soil. Still, it continues to thrive and grow green leaves every spring.

The roots have no soil to hold it in place during the intense storms on the west coast. There is no logical explanation for why it hasn’t toppled over yet. Healthy trees fall victim to vicious wind and rain, but this tree is cemented in place without having an anchor.

It’s called “The Tree of Life” since it continues to live by resisting extreme conditions with limited resources.

God placed two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden. They were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve disobeyed God as they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. “You will not surely die,” whispered Satan. “You can be like God,” was the devil’s great lie. God’s children listened to the fallen angel instead of their Creator God. Sadness and sin entered God’s new creation. Fear and foreboding now reigned. Doubt and death would now consume Adam and Eve and their countless children throughout the ages.

God said, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, so that he does not reach out his hand and also take from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever …” he drove the man out, and in front of the Garden of Eden he stationed cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned in every direction to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22-24).

God banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden was both punishment and protection. God’s children had sinned. They had brought death upon themselves and all of creation. But God did not want his children to go back into the Garden to eat from The Tree of Life. It would have been like they were zombies – destined to be like the living undead.

Who would want that?!

Death is a curse. It is a punishment for sin. Death will eventually claim one hundred percent of people. We will all get older. We will get wrinkles and grey hair. Our bodies will age. They’ll break down. They’ll fall apart. Our minds won’t be as sharp as they once were. As my mom told me with her myriad of health problems, “Getting old isn’t for wimps.” My mom has moved in with my sister and my dad has moved in with me. My dad spoke honestly for most people in getting older, “This isn’t the way I wanted it to be.”

We don’t want life to be this way. We want to be young and spry and healthy. Some people in our culture try to cheat aging. They will use dyes, creams, and clothing to appear more youthful. They will use Botox injections to remove wrinkles. They’ll drive expensive sports cars to look

younger. There is a tech millionaire who receives regular blood transfusions from his teenage son to supposedly reverse his aging.

But aging gracefully is a Christian characteristic. We may not like it that we are slowing down, having more dental work done, and getting stronger prescriptions for our glasses. We may not enjoy the doctor visits filling up our calendar and the pharmacy filling up our bathroom counter. We may not appreciate having to use a cane or a walker or a chauffeur to get around. But these are all the effects of God’s curse upon his creation after the fall, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

We certainly don’t like it when we get older and frailer … and our children have to start caring for us. I remember years ago when I was visiting one of our shut-ins at her daughter’s house. The sweet saint was in her 90s. She told me she felt guilty that her daughter and son-in-law had to care for her. I asked her, “Did you teach your daughter the Fourth Commandment?” “Of course, I did, Pastor,” she said. I replied, “Your daughter taking care of you is her way of honoring you as her mother. She is showing her love for God by showing her love for her mother.”

The husband painting the fingernails of his wife with dementia is his way of keeping his marriage vows of loving her in sickness and in health. The wife helping her weak husband to the bathroom so he can vomit from the chemotherapy is fulfilling her marriage vows of cherishing and supporting him. The children are showing familial love by changing the adult diapers of their parents who once changed their diapers when they were babies.

Getting older is not easy. It is not fun. It’s not for wimps. It’s not the way we want it to be.

Yet, like The Tree of Life on Kalaloch Beach, we continue to live and thrive during extreme conditions. We live and thrive – not because we are so strong – but because Jesus is so strong.

God immediately saw his children’s sin in the Garden. He couldn’t overlook the sin. God witnessed that death had entered his creation, but he could not just wish death away. God knew that his children would be cursed by death, so he made a promise to rescue his children from death. God told the serpent, “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” (Genesis 3:15).

Just as the devil overcame man by a tree, so in turn would the devil be overcome by the Son of Man on a tree. God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son. Jesus, God’s Son, comes into our flesh and blood that he might crush the ancient serpent and pay the price demanded by sin. Christ Jesus was born of a woman, so he had human flesh and blood. For the price God demanded for salvation was blood – divine blood. Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, shed his divinely human blood upon the altar of a tree.

The tree of the cross — an instrument of torture and death — is the tree upon which Jesus is lifted up. On the cross, Jesus suffers and dies. On the cross, Jesus lays down his life that our lives might be restored. Jesus hung his head crowned with thorns so he could restore humanity as the crown of his Father’s creation. The Son of God dies on the tree of the cross to bring life to the sons and daughters of God.

Jesus turns an instrument of death into a tree of life. We gaze upon the One who became sin for us that we might be saved. He was struck by the serpent’s poison. But at the same time, he crushed the Ancient Serpent’s head.

Because of Jesus, we no longer need to fear death. Aging and dying still stink. Yet, death is also a blessing. Continuing to live in this sinful, fallen world like zombies? Who would want that?!

God allows us to get older, to become weaker, to fall apart. This is both for our punishment and our protection. This is so that we realize that this world is not our real home. We are strangers here. Heaven is our real home. Jesus has made death a blessing for us. There is no logical explanation on why God gives us this great blessing of dying so we can truly live. Only we as Christians can view death as not the end … but only the beginning. We die to this sinful, painful, yucky life. We rise to a new, exciting, glorious life. Upon our resurrection on the Last Day, we will be given new, imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

Upon our death as Christians, we will once again be able to eat from the transplanted Tree of Life. The apostle John describes the fruit of this tree in the Book of Revelation: “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1–2).

Ah, now we are back where we started, only better! This is paradise restored, and then some. The Tree of Life. No more deadness of winter. Fruit twelve months of the year. Healing and wholeness and life forever. Yes, this is what is in store for us, dear saints in Christ! Access to the Tree of Life once again, no more being kept out or driven away. The Tree of Life transplanted from paradise lost to paradise restored. Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from its fruit so they would not live in their sin forever. But now, they and all their Christian children, will be able to eat of its heavenly fruit and truly live forever.

This Tree of Life is yours because of what Jesus accomplished for you on the tree of the cross. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and so that they may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).

Life is not easy. Aging is challenging. Yet, that’s how God teaches us patience and perseverance. Caring for those who are aging is demanding. Yet, that’s how God allows us to keep his commandments and our vows. Dying is often hardest of all. Yet, Jesus turns death into a blessing for us. Aging and dying keeps us focused on one day eating from the Tree of Life.

The story of salvation told through Christmas trees. Amen.

Happy Advent, you brood of vipers by Pastor Zarling

Happy Advent, you brood of vipers

Luke 3:7-18 So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 9Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?” 11He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.” 12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.” 14Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?” He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”

15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ. 16John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18Then with many other words, he appealed to them and was preaching good news to the people.

Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice (Philippians 4:4)! Amen.

You know Christmas is near when John the Baptist appears on the scene to say, “Happy Advent, you brood of vipers.”

Christmas is coming soon. John the Baptist wants to know if you are ready. He isn’t so concerned about whether your decorations are up, gifts are bought, and baking is done. John isn’t concerned if your house if ready for Jesus. He wants to know if your heart is ready for Jesus.

John doesn’t care if your eggnog tastes OK or if your child gets the latest “must have” toy. He’s concerned whether you are living like a follower of Christ now. And he’s concerned whether you’re going to be living with Christ forever.

That’s why John is so blunt. He calls you a brood of vipers. He’s calling you offspring of the original viper – Satan. In his sermon in the wilderness, he says that you are like a fruitless tree that is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire. You are like chaff in the barn that will be shoveled into unquenchable fire.

He lumps you in with the tax collectors, soldiers, and others in his congregation. He says that you are greedy and unwilling to share your clothing and food with others. You steal from other people. You cheat your employer because you aren’t satisfied with your wages.

John is very direct because he wants you to see your sin, repent of that sin, and receive forgiveness from Jesus for that sin, so you can be with Jesus without sin forever.

John knows we are lazy with our faith. We are apathetic toward Christian living. We are distracted by pleasures and treasures, family, friends, work, sports, and more. That apathy means we are not ready for Jesus’ return.

We are constantly in danger of losing our faith. Sometimes from open sin and vice. But even more from laziness and lukewarmness.

We can easily be like the Jews in John’s audience who thought they were good enough because they were Abraham’s children. “Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones” (Luke 3:8).

Years ago, while I was still at the Seminary, I went to a nursing home to visit a shut-in member. When it was time for the confession of sins, I asked her, “Is this your confession, then answer ‘yes.’” She said, “Vicar, I’m in a nursing home. How can I sin?”

I was so new, I didn’t know what to say. I finally asked, “Do you like your roommate?” “Oh, no! She leaves her TV blaring at all hours!” “Do you like the food here?” “Oh, no! They serve runny Jell-o and soggy vegetables!” “What do you think about your family?” “I don’t like them! They stuck me here and never come to visit me!” I replied, “Well, let’s go with those three sins.”

We can be like that older lady, can’t we? We know we’re not perfect. But we’re pretty good. We’re certainly better than offspring of Satan or rotten trees or worthless chaff.

That’s what we think of ourselves. But we’re wrong. We need someone like John the Baptist or a pastor, a teacher, a parent, or a good friend to point out our sins to us. As sanctified saints, we should be struggling with our sin all the time. As God’s baptized children, we should be fighting against Satan who is trying to bring us back into his brood. When we’re not struggling, that means we’ve given into temptation. When we’re not fighting, that means Satan is winning. When we have become lukewarm and lazy in our faith, then we are in danger of losing our faith and ending up in the unquenchable fire of hell.

John appears on the scene every Advent calling us a brood of vipers to shock us with some straight talk. He is calling us to repent and return to Jesus.

If you’ve been Lutheran for a while, you understand that we begin each worship service with straight talk. Right after we invoke the name of the Triune God, we confess that we are sinful by nature, and that we have sinned against God in our thoughts, words, and actions. We also admit that we deserve punishment now and forever.

This is a shock to the system for those outside the Lutheran Church. They are hearing some strange, new ideas. Most have never heard all this talk about sins, a sinful nature, or eternal damnation.

New visitors need to hear this. Long-time members need to hear this. That’s because we tend to picture God as an over-indulgent parent. A parent who is indifferent to the sins and faults of his children. And, if the children sin, they can ask for forgiveness … then go right back to sinning some more.

When we begin to think like this, we need to hear God’s prophets, apostles, and present-day pastors shocking our system with the straight talk of God’s Law. The Law shows our sin.

The Law makes you uncomfortable in the pew. (Well, the pew is already uncomfortable, but even more so.) Then Jesus comes along to comfort you with his forgiveness.

The Law makes you feel the flames of hell licking at the soles of your feet. Then the Gospel – that shows your Savior – makes you feel like you are walking on the golden streets of heaven.

The Law cuts open your soul like an ugly growth where all the ugly pus oozes out. Then Jesus comes with the salve of his grace to heal your wounded soul.

You first recognize your sin. You admit your sin. You repent and turn from that sin. Then you ask for forgiveness for that sin. You acknowledge you are part of Satan’s brood of vipers. You confess you are a rotten tree. You admit you are worthless chaff. You repent of sins caused by your roommate’s TV, the watery Jell-o and soggy veggies, and your family ignoring you.

Then Jesus will come along to fix you. John the Baptist points you to the water of Baptism. He says, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16).

Your parents didn’t bring you to the baptismal font as an infant because it’s a cute religious rite. You didn’t come to be baptized as an adult because it’s a cool spectacle. You come to baptism because you are in desperate need. We are all addicted to sin. We are dead, rotten, worthless on our own. Baptism is about death and life, sin and grace. Baptism is about the Holy Spirit cleansing us with fire and making us holy with faith in Jesus. John knows we need to know that.

I’ve been blessed through my ministry to talk to a lot of outreach prospects about Jesus. Many people want to start conversations discussing the “hot button” topics of Christianity – infant baptism, closed communion, the doctrine of fellowship, the roles of men and women, and so on. These have been “hot button” topics since the beginning of the Christian Church.

When people mention they want to talk about those things, I suggest that we will eventually get there. But those are “meaty” topics – tough to chew on. I like to start with something simpler like the “milk and bread” of the Bible. Then we open our Bibles to Romans 6 and 7. We talk about how we are in a constant struggle with our sinful nature. Like the apostle Paul, we can say about ourselves, “What a wretched person I am” (Romans 7:24)! But then we hear Paul’s next words, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25)!

We are frustrated with our sin. None of us can live a perfect life. None of us can rescue ourselves from sin and its consequences. We are in need of a Savior from sin. Thanks be to God that he gives us that Savior in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Brand-new outreach prospects need to hear that in our conversations with them. Longtime Lutheran church members need to hear that every Sunday. Our children and teens need to hear that in our Lutheran elementary and high schools. And saints on their deathbed need to be reminded of that.

We see what we are. Then we see what Christ has made us to be.

Jesus makes you offspring of your heavenly Father through Baptism. He makes you a fruitful tree through his holy Word. He makes you worthwhile wheat that will be gathered for the harvest on the Last Day. He makes you appreciate that you are a sinner so that you can be grateful for the salvation he won for you as your Savior.

He makes you not only a follower through faith. He also makes you a doer of that faith.

He changes you through recognition and repentance, through Word and Sacrament. Instead of being selfish, you gladly give others clothing and food. John advises, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same” (Luke 3:11).

Instead of lying and scheming, you are honest in your dealing. John advises, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to” (Luke 3:13).

Instead of using extortion or accusations to get what you want, you are content with what God gives you. John advises, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages” (Luke 3:14).

John is talking about doing our faith – fulfilling our Christian vocations. Fulfill your Christian vocation as a spouse, parent, child, employer, worker, citizen, etc.

Being ready for Jesus begins with repentance. Then comes forgiveness from Jesus. That’s followed by living for Jesus.

Being ready for Jesus to return involves more than just claiming to be a Christian and acting like one a couple hours a week at church. Be a Christian at church, at home, at work, at school, on the athletic field, and in the stands. Strive to act like a Christian everywhere and at all times. Christianity is not just a name thing, like the Jews thinking they were OK because they were the physical descendants of Abraham. True Christianity is a lifestyle thing – those who share the faith of Abraham in their heart and live that faith in their daily lives.

Take to heart the words of John the Baptist. Stay prepared for Jesus’ return through humble, daily repentance – repentance that uses the Law to admit to being a sinner, but also has a genuine desire to fight temptations to sin. Stay prepared for Jesus’ return by believing the Gospel that Jesus has declared you not guilty of any sin in God’s sight, rescued you from the punishment of hell, and empowers you to live a God-pleasing life until he comes to bring you to his eternal home in heaven.

Then John the Baptist may begin his sermon saying to you, “Happy Advent, you brood of vipers.” But he ends his sermon saying, “Happy Advent, you children of the heavenly Father.” Amen.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Amen.