John 16:19-20

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If you go see an orchestra, you might walk into the orchestra hall a few minutes before the beginning of the music, and you might hear this horrific noise. What is this terrible sound? The screeching violins and discordant brass and woodwind. And if you didn’t know that a beautiful piece of music was about to be played, you might go running from that orchestra hall. What is this?

But we know that those musicians are simply tuning their instruments. They’re getting ready to join together in harmony, to play something magnificent and beautiful. So we wait it out. We stay put. Even through that, that awful noise that lasts for just a little while.

Before Jesus was arrested, he was with his disciples in the upper room on Maundy Thursday. He was preparing them for what was about to happen to him. And so he was speaking very bluntly with them. And even though they didn’t quite grasp or understand what was going to be happening to Jesus in the following hours, and the following day, his words were very meaningful to them and would later be recalled. And these are words that Jesus spoke to his disciples, that he also means for you and me. Specifically these words from John 16.

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this [what he had said], so he said to them, “Are you trying to determine with one another what I meant by saying, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me’? Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. (John 16:19-20)

Jesus was preparing them for that little while that would soon come of real sorrow and heartache and grief, as they would watch their Savior be arrested, be tortured, be killed upon the cross. This was a time when our spiritual enemies were rejoicing. The sinful world, satan, they were thinking that they had won. God, Jesus, dead upon the cross. The disciples themselves, they were thrown into despair. They were fearful, We’re told that the following days they were back in that upper room where they had been with Jesus, only this time they were in hiding. They were fearful for their own lives. They thought they would be crucified next.

You and I, we faced little whiles of despair and trouble in our lives as well. I don’t know what it might be for you. Could be a diagnosis from the doctor. It might be a financial crisis or a loss of a job. It might be a close one who is dying or recently has departed. There are these little whiles of life where we feel great despair and we feel the hurt of trouble. Jesus puts it in perspective, though, and he was doing there that night in the upper room with his disciples. It’s a little while, and yes, the world will rejoice and you will have sorrow. But here’s good news for you your sorrow will turn into joy. And that’s true. That happened for the disciples. Think of the open and empty tomb. Jesus who went to the cross, and there he paid for our sins. He didn’t abandon his disciples. He appeared before them and said, it is me. Peace be with you. And their grief turned to joy.

And so too does our Savior and the fact that he has risen from the dead, bring us joy even as we are facing sorrow and trouble and grief. Jesus lives. He’s risen from the dead. And that means our greatest enemy. The thing that people fear the most in this world. It’s nothing to him. He’s broken death. He’s defeated it. And he is for you. He loves you, and he promises that you too will defeat death. Because he lives, we too will live. This gives us such joy.

There’s an ugly noise of trouble that may surround us. But God says, hold on, there’s something beautiful in store for you. So wait out this little while and know that the master conductor is about to take the stage. And something glorious and beautiful is about to be played for you.

Romans 11:33-36

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Does it bother you when there are things about God and His Word that you can’t understand or comprehend? I know I’ve run into people that this really bothers, and so they use that as a reason why they can’t believe in God. There’s too many things that I just don’t understand, that I can’t comprehend too many things that the Bible asks of me that I can’t even fathom.

For us as Christians, we have the ability, though, to say, I don’t know. I don’t know. There are things about God that remain mysteries to us. There are things that God reveals to us in His Word, that we simply have to throw up our hands and say, I’m not sure how that happens, but I do believe that God makes it happen, even though I can’t understand it or scientifically explain it. Is this something that should bother us? The scriptures themselves point out that this is something that should not bother us. Saint Paul specifically talks about this in Romans chapter 11, he brings up a really interesting point.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments
and how untraceable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his adviser?”
“Or who has first given to God
that he will be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

Saint Paul points out that God’s wisdom surpasses ours. His judgment surpasses ours. And really, shouldn’t that make sense? If we have a God who’s bigger and smarter than we are, should he be able to understand and know and fathom things that go beyond our understanding? If everything about God was something that could fit inside of our heads, inside of our brains, if it’s something that we could come to understand, well, then wouldn’t that make us as smart as God is? And if that’s the case, do you want to have a God like that? Or would you rather have a God who’s far smarter, far more powerful, far more knowledgeable, with greater insight to things than you are?

I want a God who is bigger than I am, and that’s the God that we have in Scripture. Should it bother us that there are things that that we can’t fathom, that we can’t understand? No. Instead we simply say, I don’t know, but God knows. God is smarter than I am. And that’s the very nature of God. That’s what makes him God. But what we do need to know about God is what he proclaims to us in His word. And he says, trust me on these things. What you need to know is that I love you, that I care for you. That in Jesus Christ, my son, I forgive you all of your sins, that you are right with me by simply repenting of your sins and turning to me with faith. And I will take care of the rest.

Maybe you’ve heard this before. There was a small child who brought his remote control to the TV to his dad and handed it to his dad and asked, how does this work? Now that dad could have peeled off the back and explained infrared technology to his son, the small toddler, but he realized that would go way over the child’s head. So he takes the remote and he says, how does this work? You push this button and the TV will come on. And so it is sometimes with God. If he were to reveal the whole plan and system and wisdom to us, it would go flying way over our head. And so he tells us what we need to know. And he does that in his word. And he tells us about the love that he has for us. And he opens up all sorts of different understandings and knowledge to us that we can continue to explore. And that’s a good thing. But should it ever be an excuse to doubt God or to not put our faith in him, no. We should rejoice in the fact that we do have a God who’s bigger, smarter, more powerful than we are. And may that God’s peace be with you.

Revelation 21:1-2

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Brides are really careful with their dress. If you’ve ever watched a bride on the day of her wedding, she is watching like a hawk to make sure no little kids, no one, stains her dress. She wants that dress to remain pure and white. She wants to look her best for the bridegroom. John saw an image coming down out of heaven in the book of revelation, chapter 21.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer existed. 2 And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2)

John saw a fantastic representation of the church, this new Jerusalem, that’s all who believe in Jesus the Savior. And he specifically saw that she was adorned, dressed, as a bride for her husband. So that image of the bride dressed in a white dress is very fitting for Christians to consider. If you then are a bride, figuratively dress for Jesus the bridegroom, how careful have you been with your dress?

I know that I have often rolled around in the mud of sin with my lies, my laziness, my greed, and smeared myself with the mud of those sins. It’s just like Isaiah said, all of us have become like one who is unclean.

Notice in the image, though, that John saw the bride is adorned for her husband. Something has happened. If we were to read more of the book of Revelation, we would see that this New Jerusalem, the people that belong to the church, have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

The bridegroom sacrificed himself, shed his blood to cleanse the bride of all of her sins. That’s what Jesus was doing on the cross. He was taking the grime of your sins and actually claiming it as his own. Suffering and pouring out his blood in payment to cleanse you from all your sins.

So now God has a challenge for you. And that challenge is not to dwell on your sins, not to see yourself with all of your guilt, but to keep your eyes fixed on the bridegroom, Jesus the Christ. To see yourself as he sees you. Washed clean in his purifying blood.

Then you can be confident that you are part of this new Jerusalem. You are the bride adorned for the husband.

Your sins are forgiven because Jesus has washed them away in the flood of his blood. May God bless you and increase your faith so that you live out your life as the Bride of Jesus, the Christ in His name. Amen.

Isaiah 43:1-3

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I grew up in Southern California, and a lot of people have asked me if I ever tried surfing. It really wasn’t my thing. I tried to go surfing one time with some friends who really enjoyed surfing, and so we went out. And of course, because they were good surfers, we had to go out on a day where the waves were really big. They loaned me a board, they loaned me a wetsuit. They thought I was going to be good. I remember trying to paddle out past those incoming waves that were so big, so scary, and you’re paddling out and you’re going up the face of a wave. And I thought I was going to make it, I didn’t. Went tumbling backwards. Crashed on my back. You get sucked under the water. You’re so completely disoriented you have no idea which way is up. Meanwhile, you’re panicking and you’re losing your air. You’re thinking, I’m about to drown. I’m going to die. And then your foot, your foot touches the bottom and you know I can jump up and you do it. It’s such a great feeling. You jump up, you take a huge gasp of air. You open your eyes. And then for me, I saw another wave. Come and do it all over again. It was terrifying. Three times in a row I got tumbled between those waves. I nearly drowned. I said, nope. This is not for me. It was a scary experience.

There’s a Bible verse that reminds me of this, Isaiah chapter 43, verses one and two. When in life we feel like we’re getting sucked down and we’re getting knocked down by one thing or the next, and maybe, maybe you’re in a season of life where you feel that all these terrible things keep coming at you. We face these things. We face these, these troubles, and it feels like we’re not going to get out. It feels like we’re about to drown and we’re about to perish at any time. Well, God has these words for us. Isaiah 43, verses one and two.

Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name. You are mine.
When you cross through the waters, I will be with you.
When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away.
When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,
and the flame will not set you on fire.
Because I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, (Isaiah 43:1-3)

When we feel like we’re getting sucked under the waves of life, God says, cling to me. Trust me, I’m here for you. God has made a promise to never leave us or abandon us. And he’s given us this promise. He renews this promise to us through His Word and through his sacraments. When you’re feeling down and out, return to your baptism. Remember those waters that washed over your head, those comforting waters that proclaim to you that you are God’s own child, that he loves you, that you belong to him, that he is promised to always forgive you, to be at peace with you. When you’re feeling overwhelmed by all those waves of life, and you feel those anxieties and troubles of life coming your way, come to the Lord’s altar and turn to him. Hear his invitation to come and receive Jesus.

And for us we have that wonderful blessing of coming forward to receive the body and blood of Christ Himself in the Lord’s Supper, and with that the forgiveness of all of our sins. We are right with God. We are at peace with God. Turn to his word. Turn to God in prayer. Know that he is for you, especially in these troublesome, difficult moments of life you can have confidence in God your Savior. Do not be afraid, he says, because I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.

Don’t let those waves of life bowl you over, cause you to drown. Don’t drown in the despair of this world. Know that you belong to God and have peace. The peace that comes to you through the forgiveness of sins won for you by your Savior Jesus. Peace be with you.

Genesis 24:1-6,9

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The patriarch Abraham was very concerned about the influences on his son Isaac. And you should be very concerned about the influences on your children, too. We read from Genesis chapter 24.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. (Genesis 24:1-6,9)

Abraham is very concerned about who his son marries, and you should be too.

Our culture prioritizes youth in all kinds of ways. We appreciate youth style, youth culture, youth music. But that’s not a given in all cultures, and definitely not in the past. Yes, there is a certain youthfulness and optimism and freshness that older people can benefit from, but by far the weight is generally on what is old and what is established and what is proven. And that past tradition is embodied in elders. People who are older, who have gone through the experiences of youth and are able to help those who are younger, learn to control their passions, learn to temper some of that optimism with a realism that will make them truly effective people in the world.

The Fourth Commandment tells children to honor their father and mother that it may go well for them. Kids, this is a call for you to respect your parents, to take their counsel, even when it doesn’t totally make sense to you as a good counsel born out of love. That will be for your ultimate and long term good. Parents, this is a call for you, like Abraham, to step into that role in a way that our culture would not necessarily encourage you to do. Abraham is very meticulous about who his son marries. This doesn’t just apply to who our children marry. But of course, marriage is one of these most important decisions that will have one of the greatest impacts on their lives.

So Abraham says to his servant, who is going to go source a wife for his son, don’t take a wife from the Canaanites among whom I live. Not only do they have a different culture, but that culture is rooted in worship of false gods, and I don’t want my son going astray spiritually. Instead, go to this place which we know from the rest of scripture was Harran, where some of Abraham’s extended family lived. Go get a wife from there. But he’s also very clear. Don’t let Isaac come with. Because God had promised to Abraham’s branch of the family that not only would Abraham have descendants which would be fulfilled through Isaac, but that he would take possession of this land of Canaan. And the people in the land were for the purpose of providing a blessing to all nations.

This is a promise of Jesus, who would be born almost 2000 years later, yet from this earthly human line. Isaac’s life had a purpose that went far beyond himself and his own wishes and desires. For Abraham, there was no other option. This was the promise of a Savior by which Abraham would make it to heaven. This was the Savior who would sacrifice himself for Abraham’s sins, who in the future had already as certainly provided the righteousness that Abraham needed as God had promised it. Abraham knew this was a case of spiritual life and death, not just for himself, but for the world.

Your children are not going to be in the line of physical descent of the Savior. However, they are going to be the ones to carry the same Savior through whom alone we have peace with God, forgiveness of our sins, and heaven ahead of us. They will be the ones to bring it into the coming generation. They will be the ones to bear it into the future. Be meticulous about who they marry.

There’s the old cliché about the father sitting on the porch, maybe cleaning his shotgun as his daughter brings her first boyfriend home. Kind of a blunt form of intimidation, saying, if you don’t treat my daughter well, watch out. But maybe we need a little bit more of that. Maybe we need parents to be more hands on where the culture tells you to fulfill yourselves, we Christian parents should say, fulfill the purpose and plan of God. Which is a much greater purpose than you could ever come up with on your own. And for your Christian children, they should be inviting their spouse to participate in that purpose with them. Now, this goes far beyond marriage to your children’s friends, the music they listen to, the movies they watch, the social media they engage with. And this shouldn’t be done to stifle them, but instead to support them and help them lean in to the great purpose God has for their lives.

Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:28

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Do you have myopia? I do, and it’s really bad. Myopia is the medical term for nearsightedness, so I can see things that are close up, but the further away they get, the fuzzier they get. And most people that have myopia need contacts or glasses to correct the problem. And in some cases, depending on how bad it is that they really need those to, to legally drive to, to see much of anything.

We all have spiritual myopia. We see real well what’s going on right here, right now in front of us, but we don’t know what the future holds. We don’t always understand why things go the way that they do. And it can be real easy to worry, to fret, to be concerned. You know, does God actually see me? Does he know what’s going on in my life? Does he care about me? Well, yes, he does, but his ways are higher than our ways. As we read in Isaiah 55.

Certainly my plans are not your plans,
and your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my plans are higher than your plans. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

And that makes sense, right? I mean, he’s God, we are not. And so his ways are going to be beyond our ways, beyond even our comprehension. So how do we know that his ways are for our good? Well, because he promises that they are. We read in Romans 8:28,

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, (Romans 8:28)

And then he gives us the proof. The proof is in the gift of His Son. A few verses later we read,

Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him? (Romans 8:32)

The proof is in the fact that he saw your sinfulness and he saw your brokenness. He saw the brokenness of the world. And so what did he do to correct that? He sent his one and only Son to live here among us, to die for us. He sent his Son to die for you so that you might be forgiven. So you might, through faith in him, be a member of his family. So you might have an eternity in heaven with him. If he didn’t withhold his only Son. He’ll give you whatever you need, he’ll do for you, whatever needs being done.

But it can be easy to forget that. So how do we correct our spiritual myopia? Are there glasses? Are there contacts? Yeah, it’s his word. This is where he shows us his love. This is where he keeps our eyes on the big picture. This is where he promises that he will work all things for your good. And this is the record of his perfect faithfulness to those promises.

So put on the glasses. Stay in the word. Fix your eyes on Jesus and know that he’s working all things for your good as he leads you to your heavenly home.

Amen.

Joshua 5:13-14, Romans 5:8-10, 2 Corinthians 5:18

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Whose side are you on? There’s a scene in Joshua that I always find so fascinating when Joshua is leading God’s people into the Promised Land. And so they’re going, they’re getting ready for battle and for what’s ahead of them. We’re told that when Joshua’s by Jericho,

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” (Joshua 5:13-14)

Such an intriguing scene, because Joshua is leading the people of God. It would seem like if Joshua is saying, oh, hey, whose side are you on that it would be a pretty clear answer. Well, I’m with you guys, but the answer isn’t that the answer is no. I am the commander of the Army of the Lord. It’s not about being on the people’s side. It’s about being on God’s side. And for us, it’s not about trying to get God onto our side. It’s about being on God’s side. What is God doing? What is God up to? What does God want?

That’s something really worth pondering today in our world where people are so quick to take sides. Are you a Democrat or a Republican? Are you for this or against this? On Facebook, if there’s a post, are you liking it? Are you hating it? Are you commenting this or commenting that? Are you for this thing at church? Or are you anti this thing at church? Or are you a yes vote? Are you a no vote? We’re so quick to take sides, but as a Christian there’s only really one side to take and it’s the Lord’s, the Lord’s side.

When we get off thinking about, okay, my opinion, my side versus their side or what they think versus what what I think, we so quickly go down a wrong path. And perhaps that’s a big part of why there’s just so much hostility and hate in our world today. And social media definitely doesn’t help with that.

So what do we do when we realize we’ve taken the wrong side? Well, first of all, we lay that before the cross and then we remember this in Romans chapter five, verses 8 to 10. It says,

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8-10)

Let’s think about that. We were enemies of God. We were naturally a sinful people. We didn’t do things God’s way. We did things our own way. And that went against God. And yet God, God is so for us that Jesus came into this world. God the Son became human and then lay down his life and died, absorbing all the justice that your sins and mine deserve. He took the death that we deserve, and he rose again so that God can now see us through him, so that through faith in Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, now we are new people. We are new creations. We are children of God.

We are no longer enemies of God. You are now on God’s side and now, by the Spirit, you are free to live as someone who is on God’s side. How different might we approach things? How different might we look? How much of a light might we be in this world if we approach things and go towards things, not thinking about what side I want to be on. What’s God up to in this? What does God want to do in this? What would the Lord’s army, if you will, what would their mission, God’s mission, be in this situation?

One thing I know that God’s mission would be in second Corinthians 5:18, we’re told that

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18)

So much as we think about the gospel and our role in this world, is to be people who are now sharing the good news, sharing forgiveness and people of reconciliation, where people are brought together around the cross through Christ and united in him. When we were his enemies, he died for us. We are now on the Lord’s side. And what is his side up to today?

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Mark 8:34

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The older I get, the more I find myself making little deals with the devil. And these aren’t interesting deals at all. I don’t get any wealth or magical powers or anything like that. These are mostly deals that center around a very particular teaching of the Christian church, something called theology of the cross. The way the Bible puts it in Mark chapter eight, verse 34, it says.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

When you are a Christian, your life is going to contain some suffering that’s particular to you being a Christian. It’s colloquial if something very bad has happened to you, especially if it’s ongoing, you’ll say that you’re carrying your cross, right? You get cancer and now that’s just your cross to bear. These are definitely things that are suffering. There’s certainly the result of life living in a sinful world, but they aren’t actually crosses that we’re bearing. This isn’t suffering that’s unique to a Christian.

So what is then, this unique suffering of a Christian? Well, the core of it is that there is a tension that exists between what I want and what God wants. And oftentimes because I’m sinful and he’s perfect, those things are in direct opposition with each other, and I end up suffering as they contend with each other. My will is not in line by nature with what God’s will is, and that hurts. I end up having to deal with that my whole life. Maybe you’ve had this experience, actually. You’re sharing the gospel with somebody and you can see it’s clicking, right? Their head is nodding. You can see, man, the Holy Spirit is doing something. And then all of a sudden, there comes this moment where their face kind of falls, right? There listening, and then they go, oh, right. And we refer to that moment as cost of discipleship. But really it’s an extension of theology of the cross.

They have faith now. And the same moment that they got faith, they also got their cross. They realized there are things in their life that are not compatible with what God wants, right? That God’s will is not the exact same thing as their will, and that now they’re going to have to deal with some of that. That’s the special, unique pain of a Christian. If you don’t believe in God, there’s no reason to, you know, try to conform your life to what God wants.

And so to avoid this pain, this is where we make those little deals with the devil, right? Where I’ll say there’s some temptation that plagues me. And so I will shake the devil’s hand a little bit and say, I’m just going to go this far with this temptation, And I won’t go any further. And, God, you’re just going to have to be good with the fact that I’m not doing the big sin, the really big like noteworthy thing. But I’m going to go this far, and this idea that God’s just going to have to be happy with the fact that we are going only this far with things, and that he’s going to have to be okay with that. Reality is, he’s not.

This is one of those places where Christians end up in this bounce between self-righteousness and despair. So what’s the antidote here? The antidote is exactly what it says inside of our verses here. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me. Right? The word deny, actually, in these verses is kind of interesting. It’s just as well maybe even better to translate disown, to disown yourself. How does one even do that? How do you, how do you disown yourself? Well, the key to it is acknowledging who actually has ownership over you. You don’t have ownership over yourself. The devil, when you were born, had ownership over you to some extent, right? We were dead in sins and trespasses. But as soon as you were baptized, as soon as there was faith in your heart, that moment Jesus puts you on his father’s knee and said, look, here is another one for whom I died. Here is another one who gets the rewards of heaven.

The way in which we find our peace, and the way in which we make God happy in this is not by something we’ve done. It makes him happy that we’ve received the blessings that he has won for us in His Son, that we are the recipients of the grace that he has laid out for us. That’s what it means when he says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

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I was going through the car wash and it dawned on me that as I was going in there and they instructed me to follow and get into line and then put the car into neutral. Take your hands off the wheel. Don’t hit the brakes. You have to have a lot of trust in this process in order to get your car clean. And it dawned on me that in many ways, it’s similar to the work of the Holy Spirit. This is something that Martin Luther in the Small Catechism really emphasized in his explanation to the third article of the Creed when he wrote,

I believe that I cannot, by my own reason or strength. Believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Ghost has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

We’re tempted sometimes to think that we have to do things in order to get ourselves clean, and we take a lot of that credit. We take a lot of that pressure. We internalize it. What does God want from you and me? He wants us to come to him and let him do the work. And at times that work can be pretty intense. Just as you’re going through a car wash and and you’re hearing that beating of the brushes on the car, and you see the spray, and you can almost feel the vibrations through the window of that powerful washing. So too is it as God, the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, to make us what he wants of us, to strengthen us, to make us holy and beautiful creatures before him. That work of sanctification that the Holy Spirit does. Sometimes it can be alarming, and we might be tempted to try and take control of things ourselves, but that can be really dangerous.

In fact, I saw a video recently of someone who ended up rear ending a car in front of them in a car wash, and it caused damage to their car, the other car, it caused thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage to the car wash itself. No, you have to keep your hands off the wheel. You have to leave it in neutral. You have to let the car wash do its work.

So to with us. Are we willing to let God do the work of cleansing us? As Christians, we know that he is the one who takes care of us. He’s the one who has already gone to all the effort. He’s already put the payment down for your cleanliness. And that payment, of course, was the blood of Christ your Savior. Jesus has done all the work, and now God wants to come and give that to you. And that’s the work of the Holy Spirit who goes to work in your heart, cleansing you by bringing Jesus to you, installing Jesus in you, putting faith in Christ into you. It’s not something we do. We get to be the passive passengers. And yet God does that incredible work for us.

What a blessing the pressure is off of us. Thank you Lord for giving us this cleansing. God’s peace be with you.

Ephesians 2:8-9

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I need to be loved, but I want to be lovable.

It’s a strange thing that I find in myself, and I want to share it in case it’s something that you can relate to. I find that with people in my life who love me, I want there to be reasons that they love me. Like, I’ve done something to be a really good husband or father or, you know, son or brother and friend and that they can look and say, yeah, because of that, like he’s done this or he will do this, or he’s a stand up guy in this way. That’s why I love him.

I want to be lovable, but I need to be loved. And the thing about love, true love, agape love, that “all in” love of God is that that love isn’t based on being lovable. Actually, if it’s a love that’s based on being lovable, it’s not really true love. “All in” love says that yes, you have faults. You have these different things. It’s not based on you being good enough. It’s the fact that I’m going to love you anyway. It’s the fact that I am for you anyway. It’s the love that we see ultimately from our God, who, when he looked at this world and saw that we had turned away from him. That we’ve been stuck in our sin. That he says, I’m going to love you anyway. I’m going to send my son Jesus into this world to die for your sins and to rise again, anyway. His grace is nothing about anything we do. It’s a free gift. It’s not at all about us being lovable. Ephesians two says this so beautifully,

Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

God’s love, true love, has nothing to do with how lovable you are.

I think maybe I fall back in wanting to be lovable because since sin came into this world, what, what do we do? We try to do things our own way, gain wisdom, our own way. Even, you know, think about the temptation in the garden of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The temptation was that they would be like God, knowing good and evil. The ironic thing was that when God created humanity, how does scripture describe humanity? That they were created in the image and likeness of God. They already were like God in many ways.

Sin was getting them to try to get what they already had. And do it their own way. And trying to be lovable, being caught up with being lovable is the same thing.

You don’t have to earn love. You can’t. Love, by definition, true love is something freely given. It has nothing to do with you. You don’t have to try to be lovable today. I mean, go be lovable. Be nice to people in your life. Don’t get me wrong, but not to be loved. You already are. It’s a free gift. God’s grace. God’s love for you. You are loved.

Colossians 2:13-14

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One summer during high school, a friend and I spent nearly our entire summer riding bikes around town, having fun, doing all sorts of things that kids do, mainly stayed out of trouble. But we got ourselves into a little bit of trouble when one day we were really hungry. It was about lunchtime and so we went to a local bar and grill that my friend would go to quite often with his dad. We’d go in and we didn’t have any money. My friend said, it’s okay. “My dad has a running tab here at this restaurant. We can just order what we want and it’ll go on the tab.”

And so we did, and we started making that a more regular habit. Hey, we’re hungry. Let’s go over and eat. And before we knew it, my friend’s dad came rolling up into his driveway as we were sitting in his garage working on our bikes, and he said, you guys ran up a huge tab. I think you’re going to be going to work with me for the next two weeks in order to pay it off.

So it came back to haunt us. We had run up this great debt on someone else’s bill, and now we were indebted to him. Now, this is a slightly silly example, but this is also how it works quite often when it comes to sin. When you and I end up breaking God’s law and we make mistakes, we make terrible, selfish decisions. We’re running up a debt. A debt that we can’t repay, a terrifying debt. A debt that we deserve to suffer and die for. To die eternally for. But we have a loving father in God the Father who comes to us. And even though he knows and understands that this debt that we have worked up is one that’s beyond our capability to repay. He forgives us of that debt.

Let me share with you a verse, a really powerful verse from Colossians chapter two that speaks about how God forgives us our debt.

Colossians 2:13 and 14.

God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses. God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

Our debt was nailed to the cross and to the person that was on the cross in our place. We have a Savior, Jesus, who came and said, I’m going to pay your debt for you. And because of that, there is no longer any debt that you and I have as we stand before God. There is no anger. There is no fear as we stand before God, everything that should separate us from God: it’s been nailed to the cross. It’s been nailed to Jesus, and he has paid for it in full.

What a gift. What an awesome treasure this is that you and I have in our Savior Jesus. He has removed our debts from us. He had it nailed with him to the cross. Our sin is now forgiven, wiped out. So we now stand before God. And God smiles at us. And he says, my beloved children, yes, your debt has been paid. You have nothing to worry about. Do not be fearful. Do not run away from me. Instead, know that I am your loving father and I am here for you. What a gift that is. Glory be to Jesus for covering our debt of sin.

Peace be with you.

Ephesians 4:14-15

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I want a stronger faith. Maybe you’ve thought that before. Maybe you’ve prayed that before. If we want stronger muscles, we got to work out. We got to lift weights. We have to eat, right. We have to push ourselves. If you want to get better at piano, if you want to get better at shooting three pointers, if you want to get better at painting, you have to practice over and over and over. Is faith like that? Is it about grinding really hard and putting all of our effort into being a better Christian, and to digging deep to believing more?

Not quite. Faith is more like hunger. You can’t make yourself feel more hungry. You’re either hungry or you’re not. In a similar way, we can’t force ourselves to be stronger believers.

And yet in Ephesians, Paul says this

The goal is that we would no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching… Instead, speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. (Ephesians 4:14-15)

So how do we grow? How do we do that? How do we get a stronger faith? To strengthen our faith, the answer is never to turn inside. It’s not about trying really hard. It’s not about putting in more effort. The answer really isn’t about you at all. It’s about turning to the things that God says and promises will strengthen our faith. Those things are his Word. His Word attached to water and baptism and his Word attached to the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper.

When doubts come, when questions roll around in our minds, questions like am I good enough? Am I strong enough? Is my faith big enough? Am I Christian enough? Have I done too many bad things? Is God’s grace for me? The answer is never found here [inside you]. The answer is always found here in His word.

And the biggest answer that we find is, no, we are not good enough. But Jesus is. His grace and his mercy are enough. His righteousness is enough. His forgiveness is enough to cover up every single sin, every regret, every single mistake in our life. When you want a stronger faith, remember that the answer is not found inside. Remember, the focus of our faith is always on Jesus. And that’s what Scripture does. It continually points us to Christ. It is through that that we find our ultimate assurance and comfort, and it’s through that that our faith in him ultimately grows. Amen.