Psalm 95:5

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We’re continuing to talk about the Venite, that Psalm 95 song that’s often sung in the mornings, that perfect morning hymn as we get ready to go about our work day. I want to read the next verse in Psalm 95. This is verse five.

The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. (Psalm 95:5)

This is again emphasizing the work of the Father’s hands. As we prepare for our work going about our day, we look at our God’s hands that formed the earth. When we think of how God created Adam, we think of the sculptor who’s so intimately and delicately forming the clay to build a human being in his own image, in order to accomplish the work that he has for him, and to receive the blessings that he wants to bestow upon him. But God is not just a sculptor, he’s a landscape painter. He built the whole earth. All the dry ground was formed by him. You can picture him lifting it up out of the sea. Of course he accomplished all of this by his word. So the hands are a metaphor here, but his hands hold the earth. Form it, shape it. When you see a beautiful landscape that was designed by the painter, God, and not just the dry land, but the sea also is his.

There’s an old school of thought about the sea and the land. The land is stable. The land is where you can rest secure. You know you’re safe when you’re on dry land. The sea, however, is chaotic, especially if you’ve ever been caught in a wave in the ocean and totally subsumed by it. There’s a moment while you’re tumbling through the water where you don’t know which way is up. Direction makes no sense. Space makes no sense. Time makes no sense. The sea is chaos. That’s a picture that we have in Genesis two that when God created the world, it was formless and void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters and then created a perfect, beautiful order out of it. So we can start to think of the sea as something evil. But it’s not. It also belongs to God. It is the good thing out of which he has brought his creation.

Think of a painter using the pools of paint and splattering them around, mixing them around. It looks like a mess, but what a good thing that is to create beauty out of and the sea that our God owns. He commands as well. And we can see when Jesus was on the boat with his disciples numerous times how he calmed the stormy seas, it obeyed him. The disciples asked, who is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? This is none other than God. God owns the sea. He owns the sea of troubles that come against you, also. He owns your entire environment so that when you feel lost and alone, so that you don’t know which direction is up or where you’re headed, God has this in control. He formed the dry land, and the sea also is his, and you are his. And he has redeemed you through the waters of baptism and adopted you as his child to give you peace and life everlasting.

John 1:40-41

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In the last 20 years the name Chad, perfectly normal name for men, has come to have the connotation of an alpha male, competent, confident, athletic, socially successful. Of course, it can be used ironically to illustrate some of the excesses of men.

Do you want to see the example of a biblical Chad? Take Andrew. Andrew’s name literally means in Greek manly, bold, brave. He was a fisherman with his brother Simon Peter, and even though they were engaged in physical work, that doesn’t mean that they were backwater folk. They grew up in Galilee, which was connected even more than southern Judea to the outside Greco-Roman world. His name in Greek reflects this contact with the broader society. Andrew is known as being one of the two disciples who first followed John the Baptist, and then turned to follow Christ. He had heard the call, “look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and in reverent repentance and holy joy he followed Christ. The one to whom John the Baptist was pointing.

Significantly also is that he directed his brother Peter to follow Jesus. He is the one who introduced Peter, who would become the leader among the disciples and early Christians, to the Savior in the first place. We know Simon Peter for his great confession about Jesus. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. But it actually may be that he was parroting his brother Andrew. John records in the first chapter of his gospel that when Andrew met Jesus, the first thing Andrew did was to find his own brother Simon and say to him,

“We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated “the Christ”). (John 1:41)

Andrew is sometimes found in the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. This inner circle of three Peter, James, and John. Andrew is sometimes included as a fourth. He’s also participating in the conversation with Jesus and Philip when they’re trying to feed the 5000. Andrew is actually the one who finds the boy with the five loaves and the two fish, which Jesus miraculously multiplies.

Andrew did not write any scripture, but it’s believed that he, like his brother Simon Peter, was crucified for his faith and also didn’t believe he should be crucified as Jesus, that that was too dignified for him. So they crucified him on beams set in an X. Not only does this in a way represent Christ, this letter X is the first letter of Christ in the Greek language. It said that Andrew preached from the cross for three days while he was hanging there before he died. Of course, this is tradition, but is very much in keeping with his life of faithfulness, of doing the practical things that the kingdom needed while he was a disciple, as we find him in the Gospels.

So let’s review. Andrew, no stranger to physical work was a successful fisherman in his previous life. Yet he has a spiritual sense about him, follows John the Baptist, and then follows John’s pointing to follow Jesus. He introduces Peter to Jesus, supplying the church with one of its first great leaders. Oh, and it’s also said that Andrew went on to do mission work among Slavic peoples in modern day Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan before being crucified for his faith.

You know that X-shaped cross is known as Andrew’s Cross and has become a symbol of the country of Scotland. So in addition to doing mission work, following his Lord, trusting in that Savior for salvation as the one who had come to redeem Israel and redeem all people. And now a rugged nation of Celts known for their fine spirits and golf, reveres his memory and his faithful service. Chad moves indeed, man or woman, be like Andrew. Believe like Andrew.

Psalm 95:1-4

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There’s a song that we often sing in our church services, especially in the Office of Matins, and you find it there under its Latin name, The Venite. And that’s the first word in the Latin version of Psalm 95. And I want you to consider Psalm 95, or the Venite, as the perfect morning hymn. The perfect way to start your day. I want to read the first few verses here, but then I want to focus, especially on this picture of the hands of our God. And we’ll talk about that over a couple more devotions here. But the first few verses of Psalm 95,

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.

Psalm 95, verses one through four. Now picture the hands and the picture the start of your day. You’re getting ready to use those hands. The day has been prepared for you to go and take your hands and do the work that God has prepared for you. Whether you’re working outside the home, inside the home, at your studies, work is objectified in the hands.

Think of the work that Adam had to do in the Garden of Eden, digging those hands in the dirt in order to plant and cause things to grow. All that work went out into a more difficult sphere after the fall into sin, and now that work is filled with pain and trouble and sorrow. But we’re to be reminded as we go to our work, which is going to be a day filled with our own sins and sins committed against us too, that we shouldn’t look just at our hands, but at the hands that are holding us and all things. Look at these hands. The hands of God hold the deep places of the earth and the heights of the hills. Not only does this emphasize the power of our great creator, but he’s the one who formed us out of the dust of the earth and who holds us still. And in a prophet, it also says that he has engraved us on the palms of his hands.

Where you see the hands of God most vividly are in those hands that are pierced by the nails on the cross. In Jesus hands your name was engraved. He holds the deep place of your sin, your death, your suffering. He holds that in his hands to bring you up onto the mighty hills of salvation, the hill on which he was crucified, the hill from which he ascended into heaven. The hill on which God comes to meet you with His Word and Sacraments, and ultimately will bring you again to be caught up with your Lord in the air. To be embraced by those hands once again. The hands of God hold you.

Matthew 16:16, 21-23 14:28-30, 26:69-74, Acts 2:14-41, 10:9-23, Galatians 2:11-15

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Simon, originally a fisherman from Galilee, was not the first to follow Jesus, but he quickly became a leader among the disciples and is labeled a pillar of the early church by Paul. It may not have been lost on the early Christians either, that his name Simon was also sometimes spelled Simeon, which was the name of Jacob’s second son. In the new leaders of God’s People, the new 12, there is also continuity with the old. But Jesus also gave Simon a different name. That name was Cephas (כֵּיפָא) in Aramaic, Petrus (Πέτρος) in Greek, both of which mean the rock.

You couldn’t always depend on Peter to get it right, but you could depend on him to show up and take action. Peter is the one who gives us, at a poignant moment, the rousing confession about Jesus. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Peter walks on water, (Matthew 14:28-30) speaks at Pentecost. (Acts 2:14-41) He sees a vision for a church that includes Gentiles as Gentiles in the book of Acts. (Acts 10:9-23) And yet it’s Peter who denied knowing Jesus during Jesus trial. (Matthew 26:69-74) Who before had shirked back and wanted Jesus to turn away from this plan of crucifixion as the way God’s mission would be fulfilled. (Matthew 16:21-23) Peter doubted on the water and began to sink. Peter, who could see this future, who was given so much instruction by God about how Gentiles could be incorporated into the church, failed to perfectly put it into practice. (Galatians 2:11-15) Peter was not infallible. He had to be rebuked by Jesus and Paul.

But Peter, especially in the epistles he wrote by inspiration first and second Peter that we have in the New Testament expresses a deep sense of humility that over time, through his instruction and as he grew in his faith, that assertive boldness in his personality was refined, was sanctified. He knew that not only were his excesses forgiven alone through this plan of crucifixion, which Jesus went through for him, but also that his personality was now at the disposal of God.

From a book outside of Scripture, we hear that Peter was crucified at the end of his life for his faith. But by that point, he who had repudiated the vision of crucifixion as the path of God now didn’t even consider himself worthy to be crucified the same way Jesus was, and he asked to be crucified upside down. You who come with your bold sins like Peter, take heart. Jesus boldly went to the cross to forgive all of those sins, to lay his life on the line and take the wrath of God for all the ways that our assertiveness can turn into violent aggression, into arrogance, into boasting, into recklessness.

But also you who share the personality traits of Peter take heart as God shaped him to be used powerfully for his kingdom, so he can also use you. And we all should be a bit more assertive like Peter, because in the many situations we find ourselves, when there is an opportunity for truth, a word fitly and maybe even boldly spoken in that moment off the cuff is worth far more than our perfectly worded response long after the opportunity has passed. The time is short dear friends, take hold of the opportunity, whichever is before you, to serve the Lord. And, like Simon, take hold of Christ.

Matthew 6:7-8, Romans 5:6-8, John 16:13, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 4:13, 19

So you’ve been praying to God. You’ve talked to him about what’s on your mind, what’s on your heart. You ask him. You ask him again. You pray in the morning. You pray in the middle of the day. You pray in the evening. But you’re still just so stressed. You’re still so worried and you’re still just so anxious.

I’ve been there. And it can happen partly because you’ve prayed and nothing has changed. Or maybe you don’t see how it’s all going to work out, but the sense of still being so stressed and anxious. Actually, there are roots to this that have to do with the way we now naturally relate to God as sinful people in a sinful, broken world.

When you go back to the beginning, to the scene in the garden when you have Adam and Eve and they have the opportunity to trust God to be their source of life, what’s at the core of what breaks everything is this thought that maybe we can’t trust God. Maybe he isn’t actually going to do the good thing for us. Maybe we need to do it our own way. And so, as people born sinful in a broken world, we have this natural sense that maybe God isn’t going to do the good thing. Maybe we can’t trust him. We have to try to do it our own way, which means we got to figure out how this is all going to play out. If we can’t figure it out, then maybe it’s not going to turn out good.

But Jesus says this in Matthew six, verses 7 to 8.

“And when you pray, do not babble like the heathen, since they think that they will be heard because of their many words. However do not be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

So God already knows what you need. And in the sense then, as Jesus brings it up, is that he knows what you need and as a good father, he’s going to provide. And he knows this, and he has this provision in mind before you even ask him, before you even say that prayer. So what does God know that you need? What is God looking to provide? And where can we find this out?

Actually, if you look throughout the scriptures, God tells us again and again what we need and what he has done and will do to provide. For instance, look at Romans chapter five, verses 6 to 8.

For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

See, before you and I were born, God knew that we would need a Savior. And even when we were his enemies, born into this world, naturally not believing him, walking with him, the reality is, long before we were born, Christ, God himself, became human. The Son of God became human, was born. The man Jesus lived the life you and I were meant to live. Lay down that life and died for your sins and mine to take that justice. He rose again to set us right with God, to give us life forever with God. God knows that that’s what we need. And he provided.

What else has God known that we need? How else has God provided? In John 16:13 Jesus said,

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak. He will also declare to you what is to come. (John 16:13)

He speaks these words to his disciples, but it lets us know that God would provide the Spirit to not only give us faith, but to teach us and help us grow. He knows that we need the Spirit today, and he has promised that Spirit. Ephesians chapter two in verse ten, he says,

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

He knew that we would need things to do. A calling, a purpose, a significance. He had plans for how he would use us in this world, and he has provided those works, those things for us to do. Or think about Philippians 4:13. This is a verse that often gets quoted kind of in the wrong way. This is the verse that says,

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

And this usually gets used by people or often I should say to say, well, I can do anything I set my mind to. That’s not really what it’s about. This verse is in the context of how do I be content? God knows what you and I need to be content, to have enough. And later in that same chapter of Philippians, he says,

And my God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

Again and again we see Scripture tell us that God knows what we need, and God continually provides.

And so today, bring your needs before him. Ask him for these different things, but don’t stop there. Think about what has God already said he knows that you need. How has God already promised to provide? It may not change things right this moment. You may not see the way he’s going to provide. But how might things change if you shift from just your asking for things to thinking about how has God already answered?

12 men, 12 men with personalities, passions, ambitions, flaws. Too often we see them cast in black and white, stilted figures, stoic faces. We are going to cast them in color, as the scriptures do, sense the fire in their bellies, squirm at their competition, relate to their outbursts, ask their questions as they’re caught up in the most momentous events in human history the ministry of Jesus from Nazareth, the Son of God.

First, why 12? We all use numbers in ways that signify more than the numerical value. 5:00 isn’t just a time. It’s signals the end of the workday. 13 stripes on the American flag signal the 13 original colonies. 50 stars, the 50 states. The biblical importance of the number 12 starts with the 12 sons of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. It actually connects to the earliest chapters of Genesis. Genesis in many ways a structured as a search for the people of God through which God will save the world.

In Genesis three, Adam and Eve fall into sin, fall to the deception of Satan, the tempter. You were in Adam and Eve, born into this death grip of the serpent. When God addresses Satan in his curse to him, however, he gives a promise to humanity, to you. God said,

I will put hostility between you, [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head and you will crush his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

This seed to come from Eve is Christ. After the flood, God identifies Abraham as the one through whom the Savior would be born, and he systematically eliminates branches of Abraham’s family, going son after son down the line as the bearer of the promise. Not that other branches wouldn’t be saved, but that through this line the Savior would come into the flesh, and this promise of God would be preserved for all nations. But reaching Jacob’s 12 sons, it’s not one of them chosen, but all 12. They lay the foundation of this people of God. They become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Importantly, it’s not because of their faithfulness or deserving nature. It’s because of God’s gracious choosing. Now, in the time of Caesar Augustus and King Herod, the Savior has still not come. But lo and behold, in the city of David, Bethlehem, from the line of David, from the line of Judah, one of Jacob’s sons is born Jesus, who is Christ the Lord.

Jesus had many people follow him during his ministry, but he gathers 12 close disciples. This is not insignificant. Jesus is saying, here is the continuation of Israel, those with faith in me. Here is the true people of God, you who descend in your faith from these 12 spiritual brothers. These men would go on to lead the church to such a great extent in this symbolism, that when Judas would betray Jesus and bring about his passion and death for our sins, the 11 would gather after Judas committed suicide and choose another to round out the grouping of the 12.

You are part of the 12, you who hold on to Jesus in faith, trusting in him. You who are undeserving on your own but made through Christ, true children of God, and true people who can bear his name.

Finally, in the book of Revelation, there is a group whose symbolic number is based on 12. Who is the great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language who are crying out. Salvation comes from our God and from the lamb. Salvation does come from this lamb, indeed slain for our sins and raised to rule over us forever by grace now and in heaven. And you who follow him by faith are heirs of the inheritance of the faithful 12.

Genesis 1:14-16, Psalm 147:4, Psalm 8:3-4

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Genesis chapter one, verse 14

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. (Genesis 1:14-16)

I’m Pastor Pittenger from Bethany Lutheran Church out in Port Orchard, Washington. And I want to talk to you a little bit about those stars. Nowadays scientists, astronomers, they estimate, it’s an estimate because they can’t count, that there are about one septillion stars in the universe. That’s so number one with 24 zeros after it.

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

So that’s a septillion. Whole lot of stars out there. And stars have been important throughout the history of God’s creation, we use them to navigate both on land and at sea. Because of the stars, people were able to sail over the horizon and find their way to where they’re going or find their way back home. But man, one with 24 zeros after it, we can’t even count that high. We can only estimate that high.

Let me share something else with you. Here’s something I think equally or even more amazing. Psalm 147, verse four, speaking about God. Praise the Lord. The psalm begins, but verse four,

He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names. (Psalm 147:4)

We can’t even count that high. And yet God has got names for all of them, which is absolutely amazing. And but why should we really care about all this? Now flip over to Psalm eight. Psalm eight, verse three.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

When you go outside and look up at the stars, and you see how many there are. And if you look up in a book and find out how big they are. Well, who am I? What am I that God should care about me? I am so small. I am so insignificant. Add my sin to that equation. I’m so unworthy of God’s attention, let alone anything good from him.

Well, the answer to that is found in that phrase the Son of Man. That’s reference to Jesus. Hebrews chapter two makes it clear that Psalm eight is talking about Jesus, who was made, as it says, a little lower than the angels, who that is, who humbled himself. God. God the Son became one of us. He didn’t become a star to save the stars from eventual decay and running out of fuel. He didn’t become a bird to save the birds. He didn’t become an angel to save the angels. But he became man, the Son of Man in order to save us.

So next time you’re outside on a nice, clear night and you look up at those stars, marvel at how many of them there actually are or may be. And when you consider yourself in comparison to them and the seeming insignificance that you might feel. Remember the Son of Man has come to save you. God, who numbers the stars, even names those stars, knows your name. And he’s even given you a new name. A name, the name Christian. You’re named after his son, in whom we have eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, redemption.

John 6:38-40

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Dear friends, if you’re ever like me, you’re probably notorious for losing things. I tend to set something down and then totally forget where I put it. Where are my keys? Where did I leave my coffee mug? I probably have like, ten coffee mugs scattered throughout this church that I’ve forgotten about that no doubt someone will find. We forget about a lot of things, don’t we? As human beings, we lose things rather easily.

One of the wonderful comforts that we have, in the Bible is God tells us that he does not forget or lose things like we do. He is not careless and forgetful like we human beings. These beautiful words from John chapter six Jesus says to us,

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:38-40)

Such comforting words. God never loses us. He doesn’t forget where he places us in life. He’s with us at all times. He knows about what’s going on in our life. And most importantly, he doesn’t lose us to death. Sometimes it may seem that way. When we look at death, it can be a really scary, sad thing. We lose a friend. We feel like in our hearts, if we go to a funeral of a dear friend or family member, we maybe are worried that we ourselves are going to be lost and buried in that earth. And that can be a terrifying thought. But God promises us that he will not forget us. Jesus says that he’s going to raise us up on the last day. Jesus, by his cross has taken away all of our sins, brought us peace with God, and by his resurrection on Easter morning, he’s destroyed the power of death for us.

And so he promises us that he’s not going to forget about us. He’s not going to lose us somewhere in the earth. He’s not going to forget about us, but rather he’s going to take our souls to be with him in heaven when we die. And on the last day, he’s going to raise up our bodies to be perfect and whole forever. He’s not going to forget about us. Like we forget about our keys in the couch. This is a wonderful comfort for us, friends. So we rejoice in our Lord Jesus, who never forgets us but is always with us and always remembers us in our lives.

Philippians 2:3-8

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In the United States, we have a kind of specific idea about what constitutes a hero. Who might we look to for as like a great example of an American hero, somebody like Abraham Lincoln, right? Abraham Lincoln starts at the bottom. He’s born in a log cabin. But through sheer grit and determination, he becomes president of the United States. And, of course, then the union collapses around him. He fights his way through the Civil war, comes out on the other side. The slaves are freed. The Union is preserved. That is the story of an American hero. Somebody who starts at the bottom and crawls their way up to the top.

It’s inspiring. We like that sort of story. What is a Christian hero, though? The Christian hero kind of goes the opposite direction. Let’s take a look at these verses in Philippians.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8)

These verses are describing Jesus in his state of humiliation. That is, a man who started at the top, right? He started off not even a man. The second person of the Trinity, God himself. And he becomes confined in a human being’s womb and is born of a human being. Even just the process of being born is suffering. He spends his whole life crawling down, becoming a servant, even to the people who are supposed to be serving him. He started on top and through sheer grit, determination and love for us, spent his whole life crawling downward.

We imitate Jesus Christ in His state of humiliation. It’s a challenging teaching of Scripture and we try to insulate ourselves from it. In fact, I hear Christians try to find ways to get out of this particular kind of obedience. You’ll hear things like, won’t people take advantage of me if I do this?

Yep. Yes. People are definitely going to take advantage of you.

Won’t that be really, really hard? Won’t that be painful? Yes, yes, that will be hard. That will be painful.

Well, what about me? When do I take care of myself? Who’s supposed to take care of me? Nope. That’s, that’s not your concern. God gave you the concern of looking after other people. He’ll send other people to look out for you. Your job is to think about other people as better than yourself. Put other people first.

This particular teaching of Scripture shatters any illusions of self-righteousness that we might have. This is not the way that we live. As soon as we start thinking about the life that we’re supposed to be living, it leads us really quickly into despair. And it leaves us with very few recourses except to turn to Jesus. This is the beauty of Theology of the Cross. Me carrying my cross directs me to Jesus on His cross. The devil might be able to torment me and say to me, you don’t deserve heaven. You have failed completely in this regard, and the only thing I have to say to the devil is “you’re right.”

You are right. I have not done what I needed to do. I’m not doing what I need to do now. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t even begin to approach what’s necessary of me for heaven. And yet, clinging to and leaning on my Savior, bracing myself against his cross, I have the assurances of his heaven. It’s the antidote to my self-righteousness to look at and compare what my righteousness is able to achieve, which is literally nothing against what Jesus’ righteousness has accomplished for me. This is how we are ultimately the beneficiaries of the true Christian hero, that he carried our self-righteousness and replaced it with his actual righteousness, that he carried our despair at everything that we deserved and paid the penalty for it, giving us instead the reward that he earned.

John 15:4-5

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Dear friends, today I’d like to share with you words from Saint John’s Gospel, chapter 15, where our Lord Jesus speaks these comforting words to us. He says,

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

This time of year it’s summer. It’s beautiful to see all the plants growing outside right now. And if you have a garden like me, you probably have some vining plants, maybe some squash or cucumbers or pumpkins that are growing. And it’s always amazing to see those vines grow out. They start with just that little seed. You can just see the amazing wonder that is God’s creation there in nature. How God designs this world to be so beautiful and just the power that’s in that little seed as it grows out. Of course, if you have a garden too, there’s a good chance that you’ve accidentally stepped on one of those vining plants before. When that happens, you know that everything on the other end of that vine where you’ve stepped is gone. It’s not coming back.

Jesus gives us an admonition that we are to stay connected to him, the vine, so that we can be alive and grow in our faith. There’s always the danger that we can be cut off from our faith. And so the way that we stay connected to Jesus is to stay connected to him and His word and his sacraments. And we have the comfort there as we do that we have life in Jesus where we’ve been grafted into him. We have new life in him. We’re true living vines. Jesus also says that we’ll produce fruit naturally as we stay connected to him and keep receiving that sap of word and sacrament. We’ll do good works of love for him and for our neighbor.

But it’s so important for us to stay connected to Jesus, who is our vine. He has completely taken away our sin, canceled our guilt before God. He’s destroyed the power of death and the devil over us. We don’t want to be disconnected from him in any way. There’s always that danger for us to be distracted and to not focus on our faith, and maybe even to forget about our faith, to not come to church, ever. Jesus lovingly invites us to come to him and to receive that sap that we that is, that comes from him, the vines that we can grow and live in him.

And if you go to church this time of year, you’ll even notice that the colors on the altar and on pastor stoles are green. And that’s the color of growth. It was something we focus on this time of year. Matches nature outside in many ways. We want to grow in our faith and the way to do that is to stay connected to Jesus, who is our vine. What wonderful joy and comfort it is to know that we are connected to him who loves us. That wonderful forgiveness and peace and love flows into our life as we draw from him who is our vine.

So stay connected to Jesus the vine, friends in Word and Sacrament in the means of grace, and know that the Holy Spirit will work in you and cause you to grow in your faith and help you to do good works of love too, for him and for those around you.

Isaiah 46:10-11

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Here in Mankato the congregations of our Evangelical Lutheran Synod have been working together the past few months to establish an association with the idea that we might be able to serve many more children in a larger Christian day school setting here. And those who have been involved in this very ambitious and complicated project have followed a slogan that someone expressed early on in their meetings. And that slogan is this “I don’t know the plan, but I know the planner.” And what a comfort that is for us, as we consider that God is the one who brings about the things that we can only hope will happen.

I’d like to just read a verse from the prophet Isaiah that speaks to this. God says,

I am the one who announces the final outcome already in the beginning.
I announce ahead of time things that have not yet been done.
I am the one who says, “My plan will stand,
and I will do everything I want to do.” (Isaiah 46:10)

And going on there in Isaiah chapter 46, he says,

Yes, I have spoken. I will certainly bring it to pass.
I have formed a plan, and I will certainly carry it out. (Isaiah 46:11)

Our gracious planner, our loving God, has done everything necessary for us, both for our lives here, as we naturally wonder and worry about our next doctor appointment, or our finances, or our national security, our society, and the upheaval we face, we wonder, how will this all end? We’re not sure. There are times it’s sort of thrilling not to know if we’re attending a sporting event and our favorite team is playing in an important game. That’s part of the fun that we don’t know the outcome, but we don’t like that uncertainty when it comes to, especially the eternal things pertaining to our soul. For we know that we’ve all sinned against God and not obeyed him and loved him as we should and as he deserves. And we wonder, what will things be like for me after I’ve died? Will I be in the joy of heaven with my dear Lord, or will I be separated from him?

I think it’s only natural, as honest Christians, that we are concerned about that question. How great that our planner assures us in no uncertain terms, about what he has in mind for us to fulfill his loving plan for each one of us. We know that God sent his only begotten son and assures us that all who believe in him have eternal life, for he gave his life for the sins of the whole world. Our dear Lord Jesus lived for each of us and died paying for our sins, the sins of the world, that we may have eternal life in heaven. And the Apostle Paul said, all things work together for good to those who love God. And he said, the gift of God, not something we earned, is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And he promises again through Paul in Romans eight, there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You and I don’t always know the plan. Thankfully, we know the planner, and we know of his love for us and the certainty that the things he promises will be fulfilled as we repent of our sins and as we trust in the solution, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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.