Hymn 713- I Want to Walk as a Child of The Light

One day, while Jesus was walking, he saw a man who was blind from birth. He approached the man, spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.

Jesus does what only the Creator can do - he creates and then recreates humanity with mud. Adam was made by the hand of God and now the Master Potter himself takes a bit of mud and fixes the son of Adam’s broken eyes. The man washed his face in the pool of Siloam and came back seeing … for the first time in his life. Jesus then commented, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5).

This formerly blind man, who had never seen light before, now sees Jesus Christ as the Light of the world. After the man was healed, he found Jesus and confessed, “Lord, I believe!” Then he knelt down and worshipped him (John 9:38). You can imagine the healed man confessing to Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the words of our hymn, “I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus.”

Verse one: I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus. God set the stars to give light to the world. The star of my life is Jesus.

In the beginning of John’s Gospel, we are told that the darkness tried to overcome the light, but could not. We are given a picture of that truth later in John’s Gospel with the healing of the blind man. And it may seem as if the darkness is overcoming the light in your life by forces from outside your home and the struggles of sin within your own body. Perhaps it is the darkness of doubt and worry creeping in to steal your faith. Or maybe the darkness of depression and sadness to rob you of your joy. Or the darkness of anger and resentment to deprive your life of contentment.

But the darkness cannot win. For your triumphant Savior is the Light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome. As you follow him, he strengthens your faith to deal with the worry and doubt. He protects you from the forces of evil outside your home and sends the Holy Spirit to sanctify your sinful flesh. He leads you to find contentment in the forgiveness, peace, and joy he grants you anew every day. In the midst of the darkness of night, you can still see the stars shining in the evening sky. The bright Star shining in the darkness of this world is Jesus.

Verse two: I want to see the brightness of God. I want to look at Jesus. Clear Sun of Righteousness, shine on my path, and show me the way to the Father.

By nature, we are blind and dead sinners. We want nothing to do with God. Apart from Christ, we have no good within us. Yet through Baptism, Christ raises us from death to life. Jesus shines his light into the dark recesses of our soul and the murky underbelly of our world.

He gives sight and life in the forgiveness of our sins. He may not make us see with saliva and dirt, but rather he allows us the sight of faith through water and Word in Baptism. Now that we have a new, sanctified nature, we desire to see the brightness of God. We want to look at Jesus. He is the One who shows us the way to the Father. Jesus teaches, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Now that we have been brought into the light, Paul encourages us to “Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). The difference between darkness and light is dramatic. The difference between what we were and what we are now should be equally so. They are as different as the nursery and the morgue!

Verse three: I’m looking for the coming of Christ. I want to be with Jesus. When we have run with patience the race, we shall know the joy of Jesus. Refrain: In him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike. The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

We have been healed of our spiritual blindness and given the sight of faith. Now we can see the Savior standing in front of us. We see him placing his nail-pierced hands around us. We see him leading us through the dark valley of this sinful world to his heaven of eternal Easter joy. For Christ has washed away our blindness – not in the pool of Siloam, but in his baptismal font.

He has created faith in our hearts with his comforting Words of gospel and absolution. He strengthens our faith with his consumed body and blood. Though the darkness of death continues to be seen and felt all around us, that darkness has been shattered by the light blasting forth from the open Easter tomb.

Now with our eyes wide open, we are looking for the coming of Christ. We want to be with Jesus – now and for eternity. For once we were blind, but now we see. We see that in Christ there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike. The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in our hearts, Lord Jesus.

Hymn 703- I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

“I Heard the Voice of Jesus’ Say” has a simple structure. Each verse begins with a statement made by Jesus that is then followed by a personal response by the worshiper.

Verse one: I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest; lay down, O weary one, lay down your head upon my breast.” I came to Jesus as I was, so weary, worn, and sad; I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad.

The first verse recalls the words of Jesus, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). The worship responds by admitting that he was weary, worn, and sad. But when he came to Jesus, he found his resting place, where his burden was removed, and so he was made glad.

Verse two: I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give the living water, thirsty one; stoop down and drink and live.” I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream; my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him.

The second verse recalls the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well in our Gospel lesson for this Sunday. John recounts this conversation at Jacob’s well: Jesus answered [the woman], “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” she said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.” Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again. Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life” (John 4:10-14).

The worshiper hears these words of Jesus and responds that she came to Jesus and drank from his life-giving stream. She drank from the water of life and was never thirsty again. Her thirst was quenched; her soul was revived; and she now has life in him.

Verse three: I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s light. Look unto me; your morn shall rise and all your day be bright.” I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my star, my sun; and in that light of life I’ll walk till trav’ling days are done.

The third verse recalls Jesus’ words to the crowd gathered on the Mount of Olives: “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The worshiper hears these words of Jesus and responds that he looked to the Son of God. There he found in Jesus, his sun, his star, and the light that he now follows till his traveling days are done. 

Hymn 397- My Song is Love Unknown

CW 397 – My Song is Love Unknown

“My Song is Love Unknown” is a wonderful, biblical, and beautiful text on the passion of our Lord. Much of its popularity must also be attributed to the wonderful tune written by John Ireland.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph dated April 5, 1950, a Mr. Donald Ford stated that the tune was composed in a quarter of an hour. According to the report, it was written while John Ireland was having lunch with Geoffrey Turton Shaw, who requested, “I want a tune for this lovely poem by Samuel Crossman.” The composer then took the paper and picked up the menu. After writing on the back of the menu for a few minutes he handed it to Shaw, with the casual remark, “Here is your tune.

Verse one: My song is love unknown, my Savior’s love to me, love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. Oh, who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh and die?

It seems odd that the hymnwriter describes the Savior’s love for us as “love unknown” and “love to the loveless.” Of course, God’s love is known through Christ, but we stand in amazement at the love of God that surpasses our understanding. The idea of Jesus loving us despite our loveless condition and the wicked way in which he was treated runs throughout the hymn. This idea is found in Romans 5: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God shows us his love by doing the unthinkable – he gives his own Son for people who simply do not deserve it.

Verse two: He came from his blest throne salvation to bestow, but such disdain! So few the longed-for Christ would know! But oh, my friend, my friend indeed, who at my need his life did spend!

This verse brings us into the harsh and heart-breaking reality that Jesus was and is rejected by people. Jesus is the King who came from his throne to his people, and they rejected him, mocked him, and crucified him. But this was prophesied by Isaiah: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (53:2-3).

Verse three: Sometimes they strew his way and his sweet praises sing, resounding all the day hosannas to their King. Then “Crucify!” is all their breath, and for his death they thirst and cry.

This verse takes us through the way the crowds treated Jesus during Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, he was greeted with palm branches and shouts of praise. The crowds were greeting him as the rightful King of Israel, as the One who would rescue them. But a different crowd was turned against Jesus by the end of the week. The devil whispering in their ear, the chief priests urging them on, and their own sinful nature enjoying the mob mentality all conspired to call for Jesus’ death.

Verse four: What makes this rage and spite? He made the lame to run, he gave the blind their sight. Sweet injuries! Yet they at these themselves displease and ’gainst him rise.

Jesus healed the sick, made the blind see, allowed the lame to walk, and even raised the dead. Yet, these things caused great offense and contributed to the anger and controversy from the religious leaders that then led to Jesus’ execution.

Verse five: They rise and needs will have my dear Lord made away. A murderer they save, the Prince of life they slay. Yet cheerful he to suff’ring goes that he his foes from death might free.

This verse points to a great irony. The crowds chose to kill the Prince of life and let a convicted murderer go free. Peter sums this up quickly in Acts 3: “You handed [Jesus] over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this” (13-15).

Verse six: In life no house, no home my Lord on earth might have; in death no friendly tomb but what a stranger gave. What may I say? Heav’n was his home but mine the tomb wherein he lay.

Verse six states that Jesus has no house nor home. This was even demonstrated in Jesus’ death and burial. During Jesus’ ministry, he traveled from city to city so that he said of himself, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (Luke 9:58). Even at his death, Jesus had no family tomb, but he was placed in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was laid in a tomb that should have been ours, but instead heaven, which was his home, will now be our home!

Verse seven: Here might I stay and sing; no story so divine, never was love, dear King, never was grief like thine. This is my friend, in whose sweet praise I all my days could gladly spend!

In this final verse we sing about why we always want to be worshiping our God. Jesus received the punishment for our sin and now we receive the reward of the righteous. We receive the life, joy, and peace of heaven itself. This leads us to joyfully proclaim the love of him who has suffered, died, and risen from the dead for us. We want to sing this song of sweet praise all our days in response to God’s unknown love shown to us in Christ Jesus.

Hymn 574- The Tree of Life

The story of our salvation can be told through trees – three trees to be exact. They are the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of life, and the tree of the cross. Our hymn this week recounts this story of the three trees.

Verse one: The tree of life with ev’ry good in Eden’s holy orchard stood, and of its fruit so pure and sweet God let the man and woman eat. Yet in this garden also grew another tree, of which they knew; its lovely limbs with fruit adorned against whose eating God had warned.

God told Adam and Eve there were 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. There at the foot of one tree, Adam and Eve worshiped as they showed their love for God by being obedient to his command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There at the foot of the other tree, they received the gift of life everlasting. Two important trees, as man and woman sought to live and walk in the presence of their Lord and their God.

Verse two: The stillness of that sacred grove was broken as the serpent strove with tempting voice Eve to beguile and Adam too by sin defile. O day of sadness when the breath of fear and darkness, doubt and death, its awful poison first displayed within the world so newly made.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God as they ate fruit from the forbidden tree. They gave in to the whispers of the evil one as the ancient serpent enticed them. “You will not surely die,” whispered Satan. “You can be like God,” was the devil’s great lie. They listened to the fallen angel instead of their Creator God. Sadness and sin entered God’s new creation. Fear and darkness now reigned. Doubt and death would now consume Adam and Eve and their countless children throughout the ages.

Verse three: What mercy God showed to our race, a plan of rescue by his grace, in sending One from woman’s seed, the One to fill our greatest need— for on a tree uplifted high his only Son for sin would die, would drink the cup of scorn and dread to crush the ancient serpent’s head!

God saw the sin, but he could not overlook the sin. God witnessed that death had entered his creation, but he could not just wish death away. God observed the great need for the human race, and he knew humans could do nothing to fulfill their own great need.

The Lord himself would deal with sin, death, and humanity’s greatest need of a Savior. He made a promise to Adam and Eve and their countless children with his vow to 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.”

For 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. Only the blood of the Lamb—the Lamb who has no blemish or spot, who is a perfect sacrifice, a holy and precious offering—only the blood of the Lamb is required ... sacrificed upon a tree.

Verse four: Now from that tree of Jesus’ shame flows life eternal in his name; for all who trust and will believe, salvation’s living fruit receive. And of this fruit so pure and sweet the Lord invites the world to eat, to find within this cross of wood the tree of life with ev’ry good.

The Son of Man must be lifted upon a tree just as the bronze serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness. The tree of the cross — an instrument of torture, suffering, and death — is the tree upon which Jesus is lifted up. On the cross, Jesus suffers and dies. On the cross, his holy and precious blood is shed. On the cross, Jesus lays down his life that our lives might be restored. A perfect sacrifice brings salvation and restoration to the crown of God’s creation. There on the cross, Jesus fulfills his Father’s promise to the serpent.

Jesus turns an instrument of death into a tree of life. Christ Jesus has taken the sins of all the world to the tree and been lifted up for all to see, and from there, he draws all people to himself. Now, we gather at the foot of the cross. The cross has become the new 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.

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). This is the life that has been restored to us – life everlasting, life in the courts of heaven, life in the presence of the Lamb, life that is ours in Christ Jesus. The story of our salvation told through trees. 

Hymn 696- Take My Life and Let it Be

In the next portion of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commands us to be holy in our relationships with our brothers (verses 21-24), our adversaries (verses 25, 26), our bodies (verses 27-30), our spouses (verses 31, 32), and our God (verses 33-37). God demands us to be far holier than we are.

If you were to look at your heart from God’s perspective, from the inside, you would see all sorts of things that would shock you: murder, lies, theft, adultery, immorality, greed, lust, idolatry, hatred, envy, prejudice, pride, covetousness. It’s all there lurking in our hearts where the disease of sin lives. The outward sins we do begin with sin hidden in our hearts. We can’t see the disease of sin hiding in our bodies so God must give us a spiritual scan, a divine MRI.

Jesus’ expert medical advice is that once you are a sinner you are going to continue to sin. The Good Doctor’s diagnosis is that you are a sinner - not because you sin, but because you have the condition called sin. It’s fatal. The wages of sin is death. There’s nothing you can do about it. There’s no self-discipline, no religious tradition, no amount of keeping the commandments, nothing in the world’s little black medical bag that can cure a heart infected by sin.

That’s the bad news. A doctor always gives the bad news first, then delivers the good news. Here’s the good news. God has a cure! The cure is found in the blood of Jesus. In his blood shed on Mount Calvary, Jesus paid for our sins by becoming sin for us. He took the disease of sin into himself and allowed it to kill him. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is both the cure and the Physician who administers the cure.

Now that you have been given the prognosis of life, your response is to live your life in grateful thanks and faithful praise. That’s what Jesus is preaching about in this portion of his Sermon on the Mount. Living for Jesus means controlling your emotions. It means ridding your heart of anger and resentment. It means begging your brother for forgiveness. It means turning off the computer and only looking at your spouse. It means working hard on your marriage. It means concentrating on the way you speak.

And it means repenting when you fail to do these things. It means returning again and again to the Doctor’s office of the Christian Church. There Jesus diagnoses you in the confession of sins. He provides the cure in the absolution. He washes your wounds in his baptismal waters. He strengthens you with his Holy Supper. He allows you to live through his shed blood. Through these Means of Grace, now you wish to live as a Christian.

That’s what our hymn is about. “Take My Life and Let It Be” is about praying that we now live as forgiven and sanctified Christians. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to use our moments and days, hands and feet, voice and lips, money and intellect, will, heart, love, and our very selves and bodies always and only for service to Christ.

Verse one: Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Verse two: Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love; take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee, swift and beautiful for thee.

Verse three: Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King; take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee, filled with messages from thee.

Verse four: Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold; take my intellect and use ev’ry pow’r as thou shalt choose, ev’ry pow’r as thou shalt choose.

Verse five: Take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine; take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne.

Verse six: Take my love, my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store; take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee, ever, only, all for thee.

Hymn 390 – Jesus, Take Us to the Mountain

When you study Scripture, you realize that God really seems to like mountains. After the flood, Noah’s ark comes to rest on Mt. Ararat. Abraham has his knife raised ready to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mt. Moriah. God gives Moses his Ten Commandments and shines in his glory on Mt. Sinai. God burns up Elijah’s sacrifice among the 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Jesus gives his beatitudes on a mountain. Jesus prays in the garden on the Mt. of Olives. Jesus dies for the sins of the world on Mt. Calvary. Jesus ascends into heaven from a mountain.

After Peter gives his decisive declaration that Jesus is “the Christ of God” in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus and his inner circle of disciples travel to the top of a mountain. There Jesus is transfigured before them. God really seems to like mountains.

Our hymn for this Transfiguration Sunday is a conversation between Christians and Christ. We are asking, “Jesus, Take Us to the Mountain.”

Verse one: Jesus, take us to the mountain where, with Peter, James, and John, we are dazzled by your glory, light as blinding as the sun. There prepare us for the night by the vision of that sight.

Matthew records in this Sunday’s Gospel: “Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James; and he led them up onto a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured in front of them. His face was shining like the sun. His clothing became as white as the light.”

Jesus experienced a humble birth to poor parents. As a 12-year-old, the religious leaders were impressed with his knowledge of Scriptures, but they didn’t think there was anything truly special about hm. He received a sinner’s baptism in the Jordan River. Then still dripping wet, Jesus marched into the wilderness to fast for 40 days and be tempted by the devil. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was always able to perform special miracles and teach with authority, but most only saw him as human. But there was a hidden glory behind all his actions and words. That full glory was revealed upon the mountain of transfiguration.

Verse two: What do you want us to see there that your close companions saw? Your divinity revealed there fills us with the selfsame awe. Clothed in flesh like ours you go, matched to meet our deadliest foe.

Matthew reports: “Just then, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.” Luke tells us what the three of them were discussing. “They appeared in glory and were talking about his departure, which he was going to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem.” Jesus is on the mountain with Moses and Elijah speaking of his departure – literally his “exodus” in the Greek. They are discussing Jesus going into Jerusalem to be betrayed, arrested, tried, beaten, scourged, mocked, crucified, and buried. This would be Jesus’ exodus. Just as Moses led the Israelites on the exodus out of slavery in Egypt, so Jesus would lead humanity on the exodus out of slavery to the devil. 

Verse three: What do you want us to hear there that your dear disciples heard? Once again the voice from heaven says of the incarnate Word: “Listen, listen, ev’ryone; this is my belovèd Son!”

God the Father speaks from heaven. His testimony trumps everything else. He proudly proclaims, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Jesus receives divine approval for his redeeming work. The Father spoke his approval at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry at his baptism in the Jordan River. God’s final approval of all Jesus’ works will be proclaimed when the Father raises his beloved Son from the dead on Easter morning. We would do well to listen to the incarnate Word of the Son of God in human flesh.

Verse four: Take us to that other mountain where we see you glorified, where you shouted, “It is finished!” where for all the world you died. Hear the stunned centurion: “Truly this was God’s own Son!”

God seems to like his mountains. Jesus and his disciples descend from the mount of Transfiguration so that weeks later Jesus can ascend another mountain. This is the mount of suffering, bloodshed, and death. There on Mt. Calvary, Jesus reveals his greatest glory as he dies for the sins of humanity. As the Son of God breathes his last and the earth quakes in mourning, the stunned centurion gives voice to what has just happened, “Truly this was God’s own Son!”

Verse five: We who have beheld your glory, risen and ascended Lord, cannot help but tell the story, all that we have seen and heard, say with Peter, James, and John: “You are God’s belovèd Son!”

It may seem odd that as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave the disciples orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead (Mark 9:9).  This was a mystery that took place on the mountain. It was something the disciples would not be able to accurately describe until much later. On the mountain, the disciples didn’t quite grasp everything that was taking place, so Jesus told them to remain quiet until the Holy Spirit came on them and they could then explain and proclaim what had happened.

We may not always grasp everything that takes place upon all of God’s mountains. But the Holy Spirit has come upon us so that what we have seen and heard, we are now invited to show and tell others. We are inviting others to follow Jesus through all the peaks, valleys, and plains of this world until we join our glorious Savior upon the mountain of the Lord in his heavenly kingdom. Until then, we share the same message that Peter, James, John, and the rest of the apostles proclaimed after Christ’s ascension: “You are God’s belovèd Son!”

CW 713 – I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light

Where do you see darkness in our culture? As Christians, you will notice how we are not so much living in an immoral culture as an amoral culture. The difference is that in an immoral culture, people know right from wrong, but they choose to do what’s wrong. In an amoral culture, people don’t know what is right or wrong, so they gleefully choose what feels good based on their sinful nature.
 
We are living in a culture that welcomes the darkness. They don’t know any better. They’ve lived in the shadows so long they are afraid of the light. And they want us Christians to not only tolerate their amoral behavior, we must also accept and promote it. They want to drag us into the darkness.
 
Our Old Testament lesson for this Sunday promises that Christ will come to be the Great Light that shines in the darkness. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).
 
In our hymn for this week, we pray that we walk in the Light. We want to follow Jesus. Verse one: I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus. God set the stars to give light to the world. The star of my life is Jesus.
 
How have you experienced darkness in your life? Perhaps it is constant pain, depression, or desperation. Or maybe it is the loss of a family member or a close friend. Maybe it is the break-up of your marriage or your family. This darkness is felt in the hearts of the elderly abandoned in the nursing homes. This darkness is experienced by children living in broken homes. This darkness is suffered by parents who lose their child to drugs or cancer or death. This darkness is endured by all of us as we live in a broken and desperate world. Walk out of the darkness by following the Light. The Bible encourages: “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). This Light entered the darkness of our world in the person of Jesus Christ. St. John wrote of Jesus, “The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
 
Verse two: I want to see the brightness of God. I want to look at Jesus. Clear Sun of Righteousness, shine on my path, and show me the way to the Father.
 
God did not leave the earth wrapped in darkness. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light that pushed against the darkness (Genesis 1:3). Nor did God abandon his children to sin’s darkness, either. Since the darkness is not disappearing, our Savior Jesus stepped into the darkness. “[God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13,14). Now that we have been rescued from this darkness and brought into the Light of Christ, we need to keep following the Light. Jesus teaches, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
 
Verse three: I’m looking for the coming of Christ. I want to be with Jesus. When we have run with patience the race, we shall know the joy of Jesus.

Our world is filled with darkness. There are all kind of monsters who wish to prey on the innocent. There are plenty of scary things that fill the nightly news. Our world seems to get creepier and weirder, darker and scarier all the time. But we don’t need to be afraid. Jesus is here with us. He has entered our darkness to shine the light of his salvation. He places his hand around ours to rescue us by moving us through the darkness into his wonderful light. He is the Savior who was born for us, lived among us, suffered our punishment, and died our death. The risen and ever-living Christ is present to listen to our prayers, protect us from the monsters, scare away the scary things, crush the creepy things, and direct us through any darkness the devil, death, or this world can produce.
 
Yes, I know, the evening news still says there is a lot of darkness in the world. That cannot be denied. But the angels lighting up the night sky, the star leading the Wise Men during their evening travels, Jesus praying for us in dark Gethsemane, Calvary’s cross standing tall in the darkness of midday, and the tomb opening at the break of daylight – all these events proclaim that there is a Light in the world. And where the Light is present, darkness cannot remain.
 
The refrain of our hymn: In him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike. The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

Hymn 690 - Blest Are They

This Sunday begins a set of five Sundays that feature Jesus’ sermon on the Mount. After Jesus called his disciples and crowds began to follow him, he began teaching them what it meant to be his disciples. Jesus begins his Sermon with the Beatitudes or statements of blessing. Our Hymn of the Day wonderfully summarizes the Beatitudes in musical lyrics.

Verse one: Blest are they, the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God. Blest are they, full of sorrow, they shall be consoled.

In his Beatitudes, Jesus represents a radical reversal of almost everything we have ever been taught about the meaning of blessing. We like to believe we are blessed if we have wealth.

Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We believe that sorrow over death is awful and should be avoided. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted.”

We are poor in spirit when we see that we are nothing but beggars in total need of God’s help. We recognize our spiritual poverty, our sinfulness, and our unworthiness in God’s sight. We are blessed when we get rid of those sins and receive Christ’s forgiveness in return. We mourn at the death of a Christian loved one. But we are blessed at the same time with joy because we know that our Christian loved one is with Jesus around his glorious throne with all other blessed saints.

Verse two: Blest are they, the lowly ones, they shall inherit the earth. Blest are they who hunger and thirst, they shall have their fill.

We believe we get what we want if we are noisy and demanding. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth.” We act like God, church, and the Bible are boring. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.

When we are gentle and patient, when we are not noisy and demanding, when we do not put ourselves ahead of others, we will inherit the earth. God will bless us with the things we need in life, not because we deserve them, but because God wishes to give them to us. Being meek means that we realize that we don’t get what we deserve. Instead, we get so much more.  

We are like beggars, hungering and thirsting for the righteousness we receive in Christ’s Bread of Life and Living Water. Make the Word of God a part of your daily life. Assemble regularly with your fellow Christians hearing God’s Word in worship and Bible study. Receive the Lord’s Supper often. Live in daily appreciation of the blessings of your baptism. Then you are filled with all the blessings of salvation God has granted you through Jesus Christ.

Verse three: Blest are they who show mercy, mercy shall be theirs. Blest are they, the pure of heart, they shall see God!

We have been taught that mercy is a sign of weakness. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the merciful, because they will receive mercy.” It is in our human nature to lie, cheat, and steal to get ahead in life. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God.”

God’s kind of blessings comes from imitating Jesus. We are merciful to others because Jesus was merciful to humanity. Jesus has been merciful to us by dying and saving us, even though we didn’t deserve it. He forgives us, even though he knows we will keep on asking for more forgiveness. Imitating Jesus means having a pure heart. But having a pure heart does not come naturally to us. Every day we need to ask, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10) When we have this pure heart, we will be able to stand before God on the Day of Judgment and we will dwell in his presence for all eternity.

Verse four: Blest are they who seek peace, they are the children of God. Blest are they who suffer in faith, the glory of God is theirs.

We believe that revenge leads to satisfaction. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.” The peace of Jesus flows into us so that this peace flows out from us to others. Then we are called peacemakers. God’s kind of blessing also comes from suffering for Jesus’ sake. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Verse five: Blest are you who suffer hate all because of me. Rejoice and be glad, yours is the kingdom; shine for all to see. Refrain: Rejoice and be glad! Blessèd are you, holy are you! Rejoice and be glad! Yours is the kingdom of God!

We have tended to call people who are being persecuted “fanatics”. Jesus teaches, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. In fact, that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We are abused and shamed just as Christ was abused and shamed. We are enduring it all for him. We endure this suffering because he endured it first for us. We rejoice in our persecution because we are being counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41).

People are searching for blessing. Where can it be found? On a hill along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Upon the bloody Roman cross standing outside the walls of Jerusalem. In the open and empty borrowed tomb. Blessing is found in water, Word, bread, and wine. May you be blessed in Christ.

Hymn 705 – Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount moves from the promises of the Beatitudes to his commands for the Christian life. In this week’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to be salt and light. His words remind us that we don’t need to discover how to become salt and light. Jesus simply calls us to be what we are. Salt preserves. Light shines. We do what God calls us to do. We are what Jesus makes us to be.

It is no surprise to you that we are living in an evil and corrupt world. The world needs to be salted. The world is shrouded in the darkness of sin and unbelief and death and needs to be lighted. We cannot do this naturally on our own. On our own, we are corrupt and evil, dwelling in darkness. So, we need God to make us into what we are not by nature.  The Word of God converts and sanctifies us to be salt and light. Our hymn proclaims how important it is for the Lord and his Word to guide our ways.

Verse one: Oh, that the Lord would guide my ways to keep his statutes still! Oh, that my God would grant me grace to know and do his will!

Jesus teaches in his sermon, “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus calls you salt because you are precious. You serve a purpose. You are baptized to be the salt of the earth. You are baptized to be the light of the world. Jesus calls you salt not because of how much you can do, but because of how much he has done. He loves you. He declares you forgiven of your sin. He has spared you from hell. He chases the devil away from you. He has rescued you from death. He has made you his own. He sets you apart from the rest of the world to know and do his will.

God’s will is for you to live as a sanctified Christian keeping God’s statutes and also telling others about Jesus who kept God’s statutes perfectly for you and for them. Your privilege is to talk about all the wonderful things Jesus did out of love. This is who you are as salt of the earth. As Jesus has confronted your sins, now you are to confront the sins of those around you. As Jesus has forgiven your sins, now you are given the opportunity to forgive the sins of the repentant around you. Your life is the salt that penetrates the hardest heart. Your Christian love adds flavor to an otherwise bland life. Your example of Christian living may work to preserve and purify another person’s eternal soul.

Verse two: Order my footsteps by your Word, and make my heart sincere; let sin have no dominion, Lord, but keep my conscience clear.

We know that this world is very dark. The Lord knows it, too. Sin and the darkness it causes appear to have dominion over the world and its population. To dispel the darkness, Jesus Christ entered the world as Light from Light, true God from true God (Nicene Creed). He is the Word who spoke light into the darkness at creation. He is the Word made flesh in his incarnation in the darkness of Mary’s womb. He is the Word made flesh that breathed his last in the darkness that shrouded the Judean countryside on Good Friday. He is the Word made flesh that broke the darkness when he bodily burst forth from the tomb on Easter dawn.

Jesus teaches, “You are the light of the world. … Let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” As Christian parents, Christian citizens, and members of the Christian Church, we are called to be a part of a counterculture which works hard to shine the light of Christ into the shadowy corners of the world and the dark recesses of people’s souls. You are light, shining the Light of Christ. You are the moon, reflecting the greater light of the Son. This is your identity. This is your calling. Let your light shine and “live such good lives among the pagans that … they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12).

Verse three: Assist my soul, too apt to stray, a stricter watch to keep, and should I e’er forget your way, restore your wand’ring sheep.

We are salt that can lose its saltiness. We are light that can be overcome by the darkness. We are sheep who love to wander. We pray for the Holy Spirit to continually sanctify us through his Word to assist our souls so that we are salty again, so that we are lights in the world, and so that we are sheep who are restored to the Good Shepherd’s flock.

Verse four: Make me to walk in your commands— ’tis a delightful road—nor let my head or heart or hands offend against my God.

Jesus teaches, “Whoever practices and teaches [these commandments] will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” We bristle that God is so demanding with his commands. Still, his commands leave us with two options. We can either reject God in our self-righteous anger, or we can rely on the solution he has provided in his Son. Jesus came into this world to be our Savior and Substitute. He lived the life of perfect righteousness God required. He walked the way of God’s demanding commands. He never once let his head or heart or hands offend against his God.

Jesus offers his righteousness and fulfillment of God’s commands to us. We pray that we remain in God’s Word so the Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us, so we now walk in God’s commands. Instead of them being demanding, we see this as a delightful road. It is delightful because Jesus has already walked down this road for us. And when we mess up and stray from the road, we ask for Jesus’ forgiveness, and he applies his righteousness to us. Because of Jesus we can enter the kingdom of heaven. As we walk to heaven, let us keep praying and singing that the Lord would guide our ways there.

#7 - Hymn 377 - To Jordan's River Came Our Lord

Over the past few weeks, we have knelt with the shepherds to worship the Infant in the manger. We’ve traveled with the Persian astrologers who followed the star to praise the Christ Child. Today we take a huge leap – 30 years later. We are on the banks of the Jordan River with John the Baptizer to celebrate the Baptism of our Lord.

Until his baptism, Jesus was recognized and worshiped only by a handful of people. Shepherds at his birth. Simeon and Anna in the temple when he was 40 days old. Magi from the East when he was a toddler. The neighbors in Nazareth probably didn’t have a clue. To them, Jesus was the carpenter’s son, working in his father’s shop.

And then one day, Jesus stood in the Jordan River, shoulder to shoulder with the people he came to save. What a day this is! Christmas joy becomes baptismal joy. No longer do we celebrate the birth of a baby, now we rejoice in his baptism. Our hymn for this Sunday focuses on Jesus’ baptism.

Verse one: To Jordan’s river came our Lord, the Christ, whom heav’nly hosts adored, the God from God, the Light from Light, the Lord of glory, pow’r, and might.

Jesus is the long-awaited Christ. That title means he is anointed. He will be anointed with water and the Holy Spirit. He comes to the Jordan River as we confess in the words of the Nicene Creed: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”

Verse two: The Savior came to be baptized—the Son of God in flesh disguised—to stand beneath the Father’s will and all his promises fulfill.

As Jesus is standing in the water, God’s Son is standing in solidarity with sinners. God is standing in the river on the edge of the desert and he is not ashamed to be counted among the same people who rejected him in the lush Garden, thus turning this world into a desert. Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness in this water, so we might be made righteous ones through that same water. Jesus is baptized in our sewer, to put our sins upon him, so that with that same water, we might be cleansed. He takes the filth, stench, and sewage upon himself so we might be purified, rinsed, and restored.

Verse three: As Jesus in the Jordan stood and John baptized the Lamb of God, the Holy Spirit, heav’nly dove, descended on him from above.

When he sees Jesus, John objects and tries to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” Don’t step in this water, Jesus! It’s filthy! It’s full of sins! But Jesus steps right on in. It’s where he wants to be. It’s where he needs to be! The Holy Spirit descends upon the Son in the form of a dove. Just as Old Testament prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil, so the Father sends the Holy Spirit to anoint the Son for His office as Prophet, Priest, and King.

Verse four: Then from God’s throne with thund’rous sound came God’s own voice with words profound: “This is my Son,” was his decree, “the one I love, who pleases me.”

Matthew writes that “suddenly the heavens were opened.” Such a small sentence. It’s easy to miss. But do not take this phrase lightly. When this happened before “when the floodgates of the heavens were opened,” (Genesis 7:11) God sent a flood to destroy the sinful humanity with whom he was displeased. He sent down judgment. He commissioned his wrath upon the world. He deluged the world with the waters of absolute annihilation. But now God opens the heavens to announce his pleasure, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him.” He sends down the Holy Spirit with power and peace. He commissions his love upon the world in the form of his Son. He deluges the world with the waters of pure grace.

Verse five: The Father’s word, the Spirit’s flight anointed Christ in glorious sight as God’s own choice, from Adam’s fall to save the world and free us all.

The Spotless One was washed in Jordan’s baptismal water so you might be spotless in your baptismal water. Jesus’ work at the Jordan River was not in power, but in weakness. Not by force but in love. Not by separating himself, but by joining us in our cesspool. So that, through faith in him, we might be saved, freed, and join Jesus in the heavens.

Verse six: Now rise, faint hearts: be resolute! This man is Christ, our substitute! He was baptized in Jordan’s stream, proclaimed Redeemer, Lord supreme.

When Jesus stepped into the Jordan River that day, everything was changed. Not for him, but for you. Not for him, because he came for this; but for you because he came for you. Because you have been baptized, you don’t need to fear or faint. You can be strong. You can be resolute. You no longer live a life that will end in death, but you will die a death that will end in life. You no longer live a life under the condemnation of sin, but under the forgiveness of sin. For in Jesus’ baptismal river and your baptismal font, with Word and water, heaven has been opened to you … and it shall never be closed again.

#6 - Hymn 333 - O Little Town of Bethlehem

In 1865, Rev. Phillips Brooks went to the Holy Land. He was especially impressed by a Christmas Eve service at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus’ birth.  

Three years later, Brooks needed a Christmas song for the children’s service at his Episcopal church in Philadelphia. He wrote the song himself. For inspiration, he thought back to his experience in the Holy Land and wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” 

The beautiful song paints a word picture of peace and faith as seen through the eyes of those within the little town of Bethlehem. The song is sung to this day and has become one of the classic Christmas carols of all time.  

Verse one: O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by; yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. 

To our 21st century thinking, we may find the imagery of Bethlehem quaint, but it was confusing for the people of the 1st century. In his Gospel, St. John writes about how many people in Jesus’ day were confused. They knew the prophecy that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. But they also “knew” that Jesus was from Nazareth. The Savior was God’s Son. But they knew Jesus to be the son of Mary. Many of them just could not reconcile this paradox. That’s why St. John records these words: “Some of the people said, ‘How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.’ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus” (John 7:42-43). 

Verse two: For Christ is born of Mary, and, gathered all above while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wond’ring love. O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God the King and peace to all the earth. 

It seems that those who knew Jesus did not understand this paradox. The One who had no place to lay his newborn head … would have no place to lay his head as a traveling rabbi. The One the religious leaders rejected in Jerusalem … was the One praised by the angels in the Bethlehem sky. The One sleeping through a storm … had the power to still the storm. The One who could raise the dead … wept when his friend, Lazarus, died. The One who had no beauty of majesty to attract people to him … had mobs of diseased and crippled and hurting people attracted to him. 

Verse three: How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv’n! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heav’n. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in. 

Think of how God the Father loves us so much that he has sent his only begotten Son to have us children as his own. It wasn’t alchemy but the incarnation that made this possible. That is what we are still celebrating on this first Sunday after Christmas. We celebrate that God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. God entered this world of sin so meek souls will receive him. We celebrate that God lived here. God cried as an infant. God was the Son of a carpenter. God touched lepers. God struggled under the weight of the cross. God was nailed to that cross. … God died. And in the darkness of the grave, God’s body was laid. 

In all this we see how much our God loves us! God humbled himself. God was born in Bethlehem. God died in Jerusalem. God rose from the grave. God is seated on his throne in heaven. 

Verse four: O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel! 

Humble yourselves before the Lord. But please do not miss the significance of this – you are humbling yourself before the Lord who humbled himself before you. That humiliation began in the little town of Bethlehem. How glorious it is that you get to join your human mouth with the angelic choir to sing every Christmas “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” 

#5 - Hymn 337 - Silent Night, Holy Night

Our hymn for Christmas Eve is “Silent Night.”

Verse one: Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright round yon virgin mother and child. Holy Infant, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace. 

Verse two: Silent night, holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar, heav’nly hosts sing, Alleluia! Christ, the Savior, is born! Christ, the Savior, is born! 

Verse three: Silent night, holy night! Son of God, love’s pure light radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. 

Silent night. It is late in the evening. The little town of Bethlehem is settled down for the night. The sheep are sleeping. The shepherds are dozing. 

Silent night. It is late in the evening. Everyone is exhausted. It’s been another stress-filled day. Parents working long hours. The long drive home. Making dinner. Chasing to practices. Doing homework. Finally, everyone is in bed sleeping soundly. 

Silent night. It is late in the evening. The house is finally quiet after all the arguing. Parents fighting. Kids screaming. Baby crying. The dog howling. Everyone is in bed, but no one is sleeping. They’re all too upset with each other. 

Silent night. It is late in the evening. The house has been quiet for a while. Everyone is in their individual rooms, playing on their phones, ignoring all their family members. They’re too self-absorbed and indifferent to show love and care for the others in the household. 

Insert your own silent night. The silence of depression. Or heartache. Or mourning. Or fear.  

The silent night sickens you when all you can hear is your own voice. Or tears. 

The long silent night was broken in the beginning when the Father spoke the universe into existence with his Word. Millennia later that Word was made flesh in the holy infant so tender and mild. 

One dark, silent night God stepped into our darkness. The Word had not only been spoken but was now made flesh. 

Holy night. “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him” (1 John 4:9). Holiness sent to earth to make us holy through the only-begotten Son. 

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). The dark night was illuminated by the glory of the Lord that shone around the angels. The silent night was broken by the song of the angelic multitude, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind” (Luke 2:14).  

Holy night. The holy Son of God entered our world. Despite your exhaustion, there is excitement to welcome the Christ into your home. 

Because of your anger, the holy Christ entered our world to receive all the anger, shouting, and yelling upon himself. Then he could return peace on earth and good will toward mankind. 

Because of your indifference, the holy Christ was not indifferent. He stepped into this cold, uncaring world to demonstrate the warmth of his divine love. “If we love one another, God remains in us and his love has been brought to its goal in us” (1 John 4:12).  

All is calm. The Word was spoken. God has come. So there’s nothing to worry about. God’s silence is filled with his pronounced promises through Christ. Our black night has been filled with the glory of the Lord in our midst here in Word and Sacrament, prayer and hymn. Our poverty has been replaced with the inheritance won by the faithful Son of God. Our sin, shame and striving are exchanged for forgiveness, honor and rest in Christ.  

All is bright. Enlightened by the Word, we see clearly now. Your night may seem darker than ever. But as our candles shine brighter tonight in the darkness of the church, so the Light of the Christ shines brighter in your darkness. “The real light that shines on everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). 

Sleep in heavenly peace. Christ has come. Your sins are subtracted. Your flaws are forgiven. Your guilt is gone. Christ is the connection between heaven and earth. He is the reconciliation between Creator and creation. Rest because all is calm. Rest because Christ stilled the hand of death and crushed the devil. His eternal victory is yours. Rest because all is bright. 

Sleep in heavenly peace. 

#4 - Hymn 327 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

“God helps those who help themselves.” It almost sounds biblical. Some people think it does come from the Bible, but it doesn’t. It is unbiblical, even anti-biblical. For the Bible says the opposite: God helps the helpless, those who cannot help themselves. God saves those who cannot save themselves. For we are prisoners who cannot free ourselves. We are dead and cannot raise ourselves. We are hell-bound and cannot change our direction. 

God must come to us to help us. He must reach down to us; we cannot reach up to him. He must come to be with us.  

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Emmanuel means “God with us.” God sets down his crown, takes off his royal robes and puts on the work clothes of a servant. In humility he takes our humanity. Emmanuel works and weeps and suffers and sleeps and bleeds and dies. God comes to help those who cannot help themselves – for he is Emmanuel.  

Verse one: O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel! 

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). The Root of Jesse is God’s Promise that David’s throne would stand forever. Jesus is in the family tree of David, Israel’s greatest king. Jesse is David’s father. Even when the tree of the nation of Israel was cut down and reduced to a lifeless stump, the Promise lived on in the Root. 

Our sin goes all the way to the root. Not only is the fruit tainted, but the whole tree is bad, roots and all. That’s why God says in Malachi 4:1: “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire. Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”  

We must be grafted to a new Root. We must be joined to the Root of Jesse and connected to the Vine who is Jesus. We are now the living branches grafted to the living Root of Jesse. Jesus is your Vine and your Root. Apart from him you can do nothing. Joined to him, believing in him, you bear much fruit. 

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

God is Light, and in him there is no darkness. God spoke Light into the darkness. Light is life. Without light there is no life. Darkness is death, the silence of God, the absence of God. 

Our sin plunged the creation into darkness and death. Sin loves the darkness and hates the light. Sin loves the death and hates the life. Adam hid in the darkness of the trees. Judas betrayed his Lord at night. Sin seeks shelter under the cover of darkness. Darkness cannot produce light. It is nothing, formless and void, empty. Light must be spoken into darkness from the outside. 

God sent his Son, the light of the world thrown into darkness. He is the light no darkness can overcome. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). Jesus is the Morning Star, the Dayspring from on high, the signal of the coming morning. Day is at hand. The Dayspring has risen. The sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings. He was born in darkness that we might be reborn as children of the light. He died in the darkness that we might live in the light of his life. He rose at dawn to usher in the new day of his resurrection. He shines into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who works through the Word, dispelling the darkness, killing the death and bringing light and life. 

Verse three: O come, O Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by your drawing nigh; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.  

Isaiah had prophesied: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (22:22). Sin locks the door to heaven. It makes our lives a prison of fear of death. Like the disciples in the locked upper room on Easter evening, we are hiding from our enemies, hoping death doesn’t find us. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. No matter how much we struggle against the chains and rattle the bars, we are unable to break out of prison. The eternal penitentiary of hell is waiting us once death finds us. 

But Christ has come and entered the prison. He endured the Law’s death sentence. He stormed the gates of death and hell with his death and his descent into hell. He turns the key to our prison cell. He is the Key that closes hell’s cell doors and unlocks heaven’s gates and breaks the chains of death. He sets us free to live as free children in his free city. For Jesus is the Key of David who opens and no one can close, and who closes and no one can open. 

Verse four: O come, O Key of David, come, and open wide our heav’nly home; make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery. Refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel! 

#3 - Hymn 308 – There’s a Voice in the Wilderness Crying

John the Baptizer is on the scene again this third Sunday in Advent. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of a voice in the wilderness crying and preparing a highway in the desert (Isaiah 40:3). Our Hymn of the Day builds on this prophetic picture language.  

Verse one: There’s a voice in the wilderness crying, a call from the ways untrod: Prepare in the desert a highway, a highway for our God! The valleys shall be exalted, the lofty hills brought low; make straight all the crooked places where the Lord our God may go! 

“There’s a Voice in the Wilderness Crying” also builds on the prophetic picture language of Isaiah 35:1-10. “The wilderness and the desert will be glad. The wasteland of the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like a crocus. It will bloom lavishly, and there will be great joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it. It will be excellent like Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” 

“Strengthen the weak hands, and make the shaky knees steady.  Tell those who have a fearful heart: Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your God will come with vengeance. With God’s own retribution, he will come and save you.” 

“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. The crippled will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. Waters will flow in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland. The burning sand will become a pool, and in the thirsty ground there will be springs of water. There will be grass, reeds, and rushes where the haunts of jackals once lay. A highway will be there, a road that will be called the holy way. The impure will not walk there. It will be reserved for those who walk in that holy way. Wicked fools will not wander onto it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious animal go up on it. They will not be found there, but only the redeemed will walk there. Then those ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with a joyful shout, and everlasting joy will crown their heads. Happiness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” 

Verse two: O Christians, you bring good tidings; get up to the heights and sing! Proclaim to a desolate people the coming of their King. Like the flow’rs of the field they perish; like grass their works decay. The pow’r and pomp of nations shall pass like a dream away. 

Outwardly, we may appear lame and mute, harassed and haggard, like we’ve been traveling for decades in the desert. But Isaiah promises that we are really lavish oases refreshed and nourished by the forgiveness and salvation of Christ. Isaiah’s prophecy is a metaphor for the beauty of the grace and love God has for his people. As parched and dry as God’s Old Testament people were or – you, his New Testament people are – the Lord remembers his covenant promise. He will alter fortunes by grace. You cannot not bring forth beauty on your own so God graciously bestows this beauty. Grace is always unnatural to human soil. It can only occur if God acts. The Lord does not hide his work. It is for all to see.  

Verse three: But the Word of our God is eternal; the arm of the Lord is strong. He stands in the midst of the nations, and he shall right the wrong. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, the lambs shall gently hold, to pastures of peace shall lead them, and bring them safe to his fold. 

Isaiah is clearly prophesying Christ’s ministry. What a dramatic reversal there will be! A world previously destroyed by sin is filled with sorrow and sighing. But with Christ’s coming a desert will become a lush pool; the thirsty ground will be a future streambed. But that’s not all. The eyes of the blind will be opened. The ears of the deaf will be unstopped. The mute will shout for joy. And the lame will leap like a deer.  

When Jesus appeared in this world with his first advent, these are the kinds of things that happened. These miracles verified the Messiah’s identity to John the Baptizer while he was in prison (Matthew 11:4-6). They are signs that point us to Jesus as the Lord. The recipients of these miracles leapt for joy. 

But these miracles only served as a prelude to a greater joy. Our Savior did not just come to save a few select individuals from their physical problems. He came to save the entire world from our spiritual problem of sin. We were spiritually crippled by our own wickedness. Christ healed us through his word of peace. We were spiritually blinded by our sinfulness. The Holy Spirit opened our eyes to see Christ’s saving work. We were in the desert created by our own barrenness. The Lord caused baptismal waters to flow and cause life to spring in our hearts.  

Because of this we can dwell in the glory of the Lord.  

When does all this take place? Right now! We are blessed to be living in the time of refreshment in the desert. Jesus has brought healing and health. With his presence, he has made it possible to be in God’s presence. With his humility, he has allowed us to see God’s glory. With his death on the cross, he has removed sin’s curse. With his resurrection from the grave, he has brought life and salvation.  

All of this will become a final and lasting paradise of health and healing, sights and sounds with Jesus’ second advent.  

#1 - Hymn 305 - Lift Up Your Heads, You Mighty Gates

It is estimated that twelve million people died across Central Europe during the Thirty Years War from 1618-1648.  Historians suggest that twenty percent of the people of Germany died during the conflict that ripped their land and people apart. 

Despite the darkness from tremendous loss of life – or perhaps to shine light in the darkness – Georg Weissel wrote the beloved Advent hymn, “Lift Up Your Heads, You Mighty Gates.” It is a hymn of joy shining in the dark days of the seemingly never-ending war. 

“Lift Up Your Heads You Mighty Gates” is based on Psalm 24 where the author of the psalm, King David, is calling for the people to celebrate the King of Glory entering the city gates of Jerusalem. Some biblical scholars believe this was a call to the people of Jerusalem to welcome the return of the Ark of the Covenant. Both the psalm and the hymn are calling for all God’s people to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ, the King of Glory.

King David writes in Psalm 24:7-10: “Lift up your heads, you gates. Lift yourselves up, you ancient doors, and the King of Glory will come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates. Lift up, you ancient doors, and the King of Glory will come in. Who is he, this King of Glory? The Lord of Armies―he is the King of Glory.”

Georg Weissel writes in verse one: Lift up your heads, you mighty gates! Behold, the King of glory waits. The King of kings is drawing near; the Savior of the world is here. Life and salvation he will bring; therefore rejoice and gladly sing. To God the Father raise your joyful songs of praise.

Advent is a season of waiting and watching. Jesus is the King of glory. He is the Savior of the world. He is coming with life and salvation, so rejoice and sing joyful songs of praise to God the Father for the gift of his Son.

Verse two: The King is born in poverty, his chariot is humility, his kingly crown is holiness, his scepter, pity in distress. The end of all our woe he brings; therefore the earth is glad and sings. To Christ the Savior raise your grateful hymns of praise.

Weissel portrays the paradox of Jesus Christ as the King of glory. He is the King, yet he is born in the poverty of a Jewish couple who have no place to stay for the Child’s birth. The King rides into our world upon the chariot of humility. His only crown is his great humility. The scepter he holds is made from strands of hay and straw. Yet he comes to end all earthly woe. So raise glad songs of praise to Christ the Savior for being the gift of the Father’s Son.

Verse three: How blest the land, the city blest, where Christ the ruler is confessed! O peaceful hearts and happy homes to whom this King in triumph comes! The cloudless sun of joy is he
who comes to set his people free. To God the Spirit raise your happy shouts of praise.

As we examine our world, it seems to have no interest in Jesus Christ as King and Savior. Yet, the land and city is blest that confesses Jesus Christ as its ruler. The hearts are at peace and the homes are happy where Jesus Christ rules above all else. He sets his people free from their sins and brightly shines the rays of joy into the darkness of their often self-imposed depression. So happily shout praise to God the Holy Spirit for the gift of faith he brings in the gift of Jesus Christ.

Verse four: Fling wide the gates; prepare your heart to be a temple set apart from earthly use for heav’n’s employ, adorned with prayer and love and joy. So shall your Sov’reign enter in and new and nobler life begin. To God alone be praise for word and deed and grace!

During the Advent season, the days are short and the nights are long. Our culture has no need for Jesus Christ. Our culture’s disdain for Christ is evident and obvious. Yet King David and Georg Weissel both invite you to separate yourself from the crowds of culture to personally prepare your heart to welcome Jesus Christ to enter in.

Verse five: Redeemer, come! I open wide my heart to you; here, Lord, abide! O enter with your saving grace; show me your kind and friendly face. Your Holy Spirit guide us on until our glorious goal is won. Eternal praise and fame we offer to your name.

The fifth verse is the most personal of all. It is a call for the singer to open wide your heart so the Lord may abide. Welcome your King with joy when he comes. The King of glory entered our world the first time in humility and quiet in the manger. The King of glory now enters through the humble and quiet means of the gospel in Word and Sacraments in our churches, homes, and schools. The King of glory will return on the Last Day with the trumpet call of God and the voice of the archangel announcing his arrival. Jesus’ full glory will be on display when he comes to judge the world.

When Jesus returns, the angels will gather all believers so that all of us can welcome him. When Jesus returns in glory, he will receive from his people a royal welcome that will last forever. He will open wide the gates of New Jerusalem to welcome home those who opened wide their gates of their hearts to welcome him into their homes.

#44 - Hymn 487 - Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending

We conclude the Christian Church Year this Sunday with the Festival of Christ the King. Our Hymn of the Day is “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.” For our devotion we’ll hear the verses of the hymn interspersed with the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 and Revelation 1 speaking about him coming with the clouds descending.  

Verse one: Lo! He comes with clouds descending, once for ev’ry sinner slain; thousand thousand saints attending swell the triumph of his train: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Christ reveals his endless reign. 

“Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father―to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen” (Revelation 1:4-6).  

Verse two: Ev’ry eye shall now behold him robed in glorious majesty; those who set at naught and sold him, pierced and nailed him to the tree, deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing, shall their true Messiah see. 

“Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes. Amen” (Revelation 1:7).  

Verse three: Those dear tokens of his passion still his dazzling body bears, cause of endless exultation to his ransomed worshipers. With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture, gaze we on those glorious scars! 

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ … Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:31-34, 41). 

Verse four: Yea, amen, let all adore thee high on thine eternal throne; Savior, take the pow’r and glory, claim the kingdom as thine own. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Thou shalt reign, and thou alone! 

“’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).  

#43 - Hymn 488 – The Day is Surely Drawing Near

The last day! Children know when the last day is coming. The last day before Christmas break or the last day of the school year. Adults know when the last day of work is before their two-week family vacation. Our Hymn of the Day celebrates a very different day – the Last Day – the day that is surely drawing near.  

Verse one: The day is surely drawing near when Jesus, God’s anointed, shall with great majesty appear as judge of all appointed. All mirth and laughter then shall cease when flames on flames will still increase, as Scripture truly teaches. 

We don’t always think of God as a Judge. In fact, we often like to – wrongly – view both the Father and the Son as non-judgmental. This is a wrong view of our God because the Lord certainly does judge. God says through his prophet Malachi: “Look! The day is coming, burning like a blast furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord of Armies, a day that will not leave behind a root or branch for them” (Malachi 4:1) 

That’s what those who disobey God have waiting for them. They will be stubble in God’s furnace. That day will set them on fire. God says, “Sinners, you’re living on borrowed time! The Day of Judgment will come!” And on that day, God’s anger will burn hot, not like the crackling flames of a campfire, but like the iron-melting heat of a blast furnace. All mirth and laughter shall cease when flames on flames still increase. No unbelieving evildoer will escape that Day of fiery judgment.    

Verse two: A trumpet loud shall then resound and all the earth be shaken. Then all who in their graves are found shall from their sleep awaken and with the living in that hour, by God’s almighty, boundless pow’r, be changed at his commanding. 

One day, the ages of earth will end. It will be a day of wild extremes. There will be a final judgment when God separates the evildoers from those who call on his name in faith. The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Then those who are still alive will meet those who have been awakened from the sleep of death.  

Verse three: A book is opened then to all, a record truly telling what each has done, both great and small, when they on earth were dwelling, and ev’ry heart be clearly seen, and all be known as they have been in thoughts and words and actions. 

The Book of Life will be opened on that Last Day (Revelation 20:12). God has recorded the names of God’s saints, along with those actions they have done by faith. All their evil deeds, all their wicked actions, all their unbelief and doubts have been erased by the blood of Jesus. 

Verse four: Then woe to those who scorned the Lord and sought but carnal pleasures, who here despised his precious Word and loved their earthly treasures! With shame and trembling they will stand and at the judge’s stern command to Satan be delivered. 

The saints on Jesus’ right will be filled with joy and exhilaration. They will receive what they have not earned and will enjoy what they do not deserve. Those on Jesus’ left will be filled with shame and trembling. At his second coming, Jesus will find those people who have foolishly pushed aside the umbrella of his mercy. On Judgment Day they will be caught unprotected and will be drenched in Jesus’ holy anger. They will have hellfire rain down on them. Scripture teaches, “Such people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious strength” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). 

Verse five: My Savior paid the debt I owe and for my sin was smitten; within the Book of Life I know my name has now been written. I will not doubt, for I am free, and Satan cannot threaten me; there is no condemnation! 

There is a separation that is coming. Believers will be separated from their sins – as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Therefore, they are welcome in Jesus’ presence. But unbelievers retain their sins. Throughout their lives they have separated themselves from their Savior. Therefore, they are banished from Jesus’ presence.  

Hell is the ultimate expression of a fair and just Creator. He is God who is punishes evil. He is also God who has been patient for several millennia. But like the father who counts to three before the spanking and grounding in order to teach his son a lesson, so our Heavenly Father has been counting for thousands of years, but there will come a time when his patience runs out and the unbelieving world will receive more than a tanned behind and a timeout. When Judgment Day comes, it will be a day of ultimate terror and misery for those who removed God from their lives here on earth. For God is a just God and he will honor their choice and remove himself from their eternity.  

Verse six: O Jesus Christ, do not delay, but hasten our salvation; we often tremble on our way in fear and tribulation. Your saints are waiting patiently; come soon, Redeemer, make us free from ev’ry evil. Amen. 

People will claim that Judgment Day isn’t fair. As Christians, we willingly admit it isn’t fair. It isn’t fair that we are forgiven. It isn’t fair that Jesus’ brings salvation. It isn’t fair that we are loved so much. It isn’t fair that we receive heaven because of Jesus’ cross. But that is the way it is. And aren’t you grateful that it is? 

The people who go to hell deserve to go there. The people who go to heaven don’t deserve to go there. How wonderful is that? 

That means that we can look at the Day of the Lord much, much differently. We pray that Jesus not delay his return, but hasten our salvation. We are God’s saints who are waiting patiently for God’s righteous judgment which brings the end of our tribulation and the beginning of our salvation. For us who accept Jesus’ sacrifice and believe in him as our Savior from hell, the Day of the Lord won’t be a day that burns like a furnace. It will be a day that brings life. That day will be the first day of our new life, our life free from sin, free from pain and trouble and sorrow and death. Look forward to this Day. 

#42 - Hymn 889 – Jerusalem the Golden

Bernard of Cluny was a Benedictine monk in the 12th century. The verses of “Jerusalem the Golden” are just a minute portion of a three-thousand-line poem written in meter form. Bernard of Cluny’s poem was a bitter satire on the fearful corruptions he saw in the year 1145. He contrasted those corruptions with the magnificent glories of what heaven will be like for God’s saints. This hymn gives the opposite of what we see and experience. “Jerusalem the Golden” proclaims confidence God’s saints have for the future.  

Verse one: “Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest.” This is a beautiful picture of what the Israelites would find when they entered the Promised Land of Canaan. Our Promised Land is heaven.  “The sight of it refreshes the weary and oppressed.” We have been living in the desolation and desert of this sinful, barren wilderness. We are worn out and weary. We are oppressed by a culture that hinders the vocal expression of our faith. But we are excited and refreshed to go home to heaven.  

“I know not, oh, I know not what joys await us there, what radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.” Jerusalem the Golden is full of bliss and glory. We cannot know what joys await us there. We cannot even begin to imagine what heaven is like – perfection, without sin. We have tastes of it in absolution and communion. But we cannot fully understand or appreciate it until we arrive in the new heaven and new earth. There in the New Jerusalem, “the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 65:25). 

“To sing the hymn unending with all the martyr throng, amidst the halls of Zion resounding full with song.” The halls of Zion are Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the holy city. God was in the temple. God’s temple on earth is the Christian Church. We gather in church as the halls of Zion. Christ in us and us in Christ – a mystical union. In worship in our churches, the Christian saints on earth join our voices with the martyr throng of saints who have already gone home to heaven. Our combined voices shake the halls of Zion.  

Verse two: “Oh, sweet and blessed country, the home of God’s elect! Oh, sweet and blessed country That eager hearts expect.” God’s elect are the heirs of this sweet and blessed country. They had been chosen in eternity to be with God for eternity. Revelation 22 is the fitting conclusion for the events of Genesis 3. Because of the Fall, humanity was driven out of the Garden. But God promised to send the seed of the woman to destroy the serpent and to bring the blessing of life once more to dead and dying people, to remove the curse brought by sin. That promise was kept when the woman’s Son came into the world to destroy the power of the ancient serpent.  

“Where they who with their leader have conquered in the fight forever and forever are clad in robes of white.” The pierced Lamb sitting on his throne is holding his captain’s flag. This is an apocalyptic war. Here on earth we are part of the Saints Militant – we are saints at war – at war with our sinful nature, at war with Satan and his demonic horde, at war with the enemies of the gospel. But in heaven we will become a part of the Saints Triumphant – our sinful nature will be gone, Satan will have been hurled down into the abyss once and for all, and the enemies of Christ will be locked up in their hellish prison. The curse of sin that we feel in this world will be gone once and for all (Revelation 12:3).  

The saints are clad in robes of white. We will wear our white baptismal gowns for eternity. We are pure. We are sacred. We are holy. The only reason why we will be able to stand before a holy God and see his face (Revelation 22:4) is because Christ has made us holy in baptismal waters.  

“Jesus in mercy bring us to that dear land of rest where sings the host of heaven your glorious name to bless.” Jesus brings us, not in justice, but in mercy, for we need mercy. It is because of this mercy that we will join in singing to the Lamb for eternity. We often think that we are silenced upon our death. Not so. We will join with the martyr throng. In church is where heaven comes down to earth. It is where Jerusalem the Golden comes to us. … Until we can go there.  

Verse three: “The Christ is ever with them; the daylight is serene, the pastures of the blessed are ever rich and green.” Jesus died outside of Jerusalem. He was the sacrifice. He died in the darkness so that there is no more darkness. He is the light of the world so there is no need for the sun in heaven. “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light” (Revelation 22:5). The pastures are ever rich and green. The tree of life produces twelve crops of fruit, one crop each month. The picture is that the Church in glory will be nurtured for all time by the tree of life, refreshed by the river flowing through the city, and enjoy the green pastures of paradise.  

“There is the throne of David; and there from care released, the shout of them that triumph, the song of them that feast.” The king is coronated on the throne of David. Jesus is crowned with thorns. The cross is Christ’s glory. In suffering we see God’s true glory. Jesus was hanging naked on the tree so that he is now robed in glory for eternity. It is because of Christ’s suffering, wounds, and death that we can inherit this New Jerusalem. It is ours already right now. But it is only when we finally arrive in Jerusalem the Golden will we be released from all cares – free from sickness, sin, death, the devil. That’s why we have shouts of triumph. We are with our leader. There at the throne of David, our leader is coronated as the king over all creation.  

“To God enthroned in glory the Church’s voices blend, the Lamb forever blessed, the Light that knows no end.” The Church’s voices blend – all saints of all places and all times. Not a church confined to one location, but the Christian Church that combines heaven and earth. We join with the saints in singing praises to the Lamb upon his throne. It is one long continuous liturgy – it is the work of the people in praising God; it is the work of God in being present among his people.  

“Jerusalem the Golden” is an ancient hymn that has found new life in our churches. We sing it for festival services. We’ve used it for Christian funerals. It is a hymn that comforts and consoles, while at the same time proclaiming and professing our faith. It is a faith that announces that we Christians are more comfortable and confident in the future than we are in the present. Because our future is with the Lamb on his throne gathered with the saints triumphant in Jerusalem the Golden.  

#41 - Hymn 863 - A Mighty Fortress Is Our God 11/2022

As my four daughters were growing up, I would sit on the floor with each of them to prep and plan for mighty battles. We would set up a castle with its king and his blue army of knights and warriors. Out on the battlefield was the opposing army in black armor. The fight seemed fair … until the king of the black army would unleash his dragon … and his ogre. 

That’s when we would have the blue army retreat into the safety of the castle. We would pull up the drawbridge. Then they would begin firing their catapults of huge plastic boulders. Those weapons were the equalizer to the dragon and ogre. The king’s army was safe inside the walls of their mighty fortress.  

That’s the way my little girls and I would fight an imaginary battle on our living room floor. Martin Luther pictures a very real battle that rages every day of our lives in his battle hymn of the Reformation, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” 

Verse one: “A mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon; he helps us free from ev’ry need that has us now o’ertaken. The old evil foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight; on earth is not his equal.” 

Because of our inherent sinful nature, we were not born into God’s mighty fortress. Instead, we were born living in a dilapidated fort where the walls were made with our good works and splendid deeds – which really aren’t good or splendid, at all. This fort is not built by God but owned by the devil.  

But across the plain we can see God’s mighty fortress. There is a gate on the side of God’s fortress that is always open. It is inviting us to come in. Above the gate is a sign that reads, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). It is our means of escape out of our fort and away from the old evil foe who enslaves us.  

Verse two: “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected; but for us fights the valiant one whom God himself elected. You ask, “Who is this?” Jesus Christ it is, the almighty Lord, and there’s no other God; he holds the field forever.” 

No truer words do we sing than these from Luther’s hymn: “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected.” We cannot escape the old evil foe on our own. We cannot free ourselves from the slavery of our sins. We cannot flee from our derelict forts.  

Unless someone greater than us fights for us. And fight he does! From our ramshackle fort, we can look across the horizon. The almighty fortress gate opens and a gloriously brilliant light pours forth. Out steps the Valiant One, whom the Fortress Master himself elected. His path is certain. His glory is unmatched. He charges across the plain on his white horse. It is a battle between the prince of this world and the King of kings. This battle lasts 40 days and 40 nights. In this celestial battle, the Valiant One is wounded – his hands are pierced; his feet are gashed; his side is sliced open. But he strikes the final killing blow – crushing the evil foe’s skull. The Valiant One stands triumphant over the vanquished one.  

You come out of your little fort asking, “Who is this?” From across the way, from the other fortress, you can hear the voice of other rescued beggars. They have been gathered from other forts from all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages. They have been made citizens of this almighty fortress. They answer your question by shouting in unison, “Jesus Christ it is. The almighty Lord. And there’s no other God. He holds the field forever.” 

Verse three: “Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no ill; they shall not overpow’r us. This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.” 

The devil and his demons seem overpowering – like the make-believe dragon and ogre that would attack my daughter’s castles. Though the devil and his demons really do fill this world, we see this world’s prince for who he really is. He is Satan, the liar and deceiver. When he comes at us with his little lies and petty deceptions, we don’t have to fall for them anymore.  Now he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done. All we need to do is call out the little word of “Jesus” and we can fell the fallen angel.  

Verse four: “The Word they still shall let remain nor any thanks have for it; he’s by our side upon the plain with his good gifts and Spirit. And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, though all may be gone, our victory is won; the kingdom’s ours forever!” 

Daily, Jesus removes our filthy fig leaves of our own self-righteousness and dresses us in the regal robes of the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. He takes us in his nail-pierced hands and ushers us through the door he has opened with his holy life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. He washes away the filth of our sins in his blessed baptismal waters. He spoon-feeds us the manna of his body and holds to our lips the chalice filled with his blood that flowed from his pierced side. He has painted the doorways of his fortress with Lamb’s blood – his divinely human blood. To prepare us for battle against the devils that fill the world and this world’s scowling prince, he gives us his good gifts and Spirit.  

He holds the field forever. Therefore, we will not fear. Though an unmighty fort is our life, a mighty fortress is our God. Though the earth should change; though mountains slip into the sea; though its waters roar and foam; though the mountains quake and break; we will not fear. Take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife; take they our reputation, dreams, friends, and health; do what they will – hate, steal, hurt, or kill; though all these be gone, our victory has been won. The kingdom’s ours forever. 

#40 - Hymn 717 – What Is the World to Me

We desire to follow Jesus … but often it is on our own terms. We try to follow Jesus without denying ourselves. We compartmentalize areas of our lives we don’t want Jesus to have access to. We try to negotiate the terms of the deal. “I’ll follow Jesus, but I’m not going to sell my possessions.” Or “Don’t ask me to forgive the people who hurt me; they deserve me holding a grudge against them.” Or “Don’t ask me to save sex for marriage; I can’t help my desires.”  

In the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, a rich young ruler comes to Jesus, desiring to follow him. He wanted to follow Jesus, but he also wanted his money. He wished to compartmentalize, attempting to follow Jesus on his own terms. He chose his idols over Jesus, his heart’s desire over God’s desire.  

Luke recounts the events: Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich (Luke 18:22-23). 

By God’s grace, Jesus has entered our lives. He has converted us and called us to faith in him. Our hearts and minds are converted. But so are our wallets and purses, our savings accounts and 401Ks. The desire for earthly treasures has weakened. We now desire the spiritual treasures of heaven.  

In our Hymn of the Day for this Sunday, we sing in the first-person about what our treasures mean to us now after our conversion. Verse one: What is the world to me with all its vaunted pleasure when you and you alone, Lord Jesus, are my treasure! You only, dearest Lord, my soul’s delight shall be; you are my peace, my rest. What is the world to me! 

Jesus desires that we surrender our idols to him. We repent of our false worship. We put repentance into action and bear the fruits of repentance. That means we reorder our lives. We rearrange our time. We renew our tithes. This world with its vaunted pleasures means nothing when the Lord Jesus is our treasure.  

Verse two: The world seeks after wealth and all that money offers, yet never is content though gold should fill its coffers. I have a higher good, content with it I’ll be; my Jesus is my wealth.     What is the world to me! 

The world follows wealth. You have been called out of the world. Now Jesus calls you to follow him … even with your money. The inhabitants of this world are never content. They always desire more. The Holy Spirit has made you content. He has given you a higher good. You give of the Lord’s blessings by supporting the blessing of the preaching of the Gospel. You no longer compartmentalize, but rather offer your whole self to God in worship. You have changed your priorities. And the world notices. The world sees that you value the Word more than money and possessions. 

Verse three: The world is like a cloud and like a vapor fleeting, a shadow that declines, swift to its end retreating. My Jesus shall remain, though all things fade and flee, my everlasting rock. What is the world to me! 

We must admit that we work and play so hard, even on vacation, and cannot find rest. Jesus is our Sabbath rest for weary and worn-out souls. Though moth and rust destroy, Jesus is our treasure that endures forever. The things of this world fade and flee, but Jesus is the rock of our salvation that remains through eternity. Though everything in this world is so uncertain, Jesus is the only certainty we have.  

Verse four: What is the world to me! My Jesus is my treasure, my life, my health, my wealth, my friend, my love, my pleasure, my joy, my crown, my all, my bliss eternally. Once more then I declare: What is the world to me! 

Through his ascension into heaven, Jesus saves up and stores away a treasury of merits in your place. His goodness, his love, his passion, his suffering, death, and resurrection are your true treasures – treasures for this life that will last for the life to come.  

Once more you can declare: What is the world to me!