Your King Will Come

Christ the king sunday

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Daniel 7:13,14

¹³ “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (NIV)

It is difficult for us to imagine how discouraging it must have been for faithful Jewish people around Daniel’s time.  The glory days of Israel certainly had not lasted long, and by now they were a thing of the past.  Division separated the once united monarchy into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  The Northern Kingdom had already been defeated at the hands of the Assyrians, and now Judah was playing the role of punching back to Egypt and Babylon, both vying to take their place of prominence on the world’s stage.  Making it even more difficult to swallow was the fact that the majority of the kings who ruled in Israel and Judah were spiritually and morally reprehensible.  Eventually, just as he had predicted he would through his prophets, God allowed Judah to be delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

In an effort to assist in governing his defeated enemies, part of Nebuchadnezzar’s plan included taking some of them captive in order to assimilate them into the Babylonian culture.  “Then the king [Nebuchadnezzar] ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be rained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service” (1:3-5).  Daniel was one of those young men chosen to be transplanted from his homeland to Babylon, so that he might become familiar with all things Babylonian.

Daniel was faithful to the Lord.  He was a man of integrity and honor.  Even in seeking to remain faithful to his Levitical diet and avoid eating unclean meals in Babylon, he was always very humble and respectful.  The Lord blessed Daniel, so that he was looked upon favorably by the Babylonians.  They witnessed his devotion and trust in God when he was sentenced to a night in the lions’ den, and they saw first hand how Daniel’s God rewarded that trust by keeping him from any harm.  God also blessed Daniel with the gift of interpreting dreams accurately, something their own wise men were unable to do, which endeared him all the more to the Babylonian rulers. 

Daniel was used to being called on to reveal the meaning of dreams for others.  Now, God had given him a vision of his own.  “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (v.13,14).  Daniel had known wicked kings back in his homeland.  In Babylon he was able to witness how kings in foreign nations ruled and carrying out their reign.  But with this vision, God granted Daniel a glimpse of a King who would surpass them all.  With this vision, Daniel saw Christ the King.

While it may be difficult to say with any degree of certainty how much of this was clear to Daniel at the time (the context tells us the visions “troubled” and “disturbed” him), there faith worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit reveals to us that Daniel’s vision is indeed depicting Jesus Christ.  We have the benefit of the New Testament Scriptures, where we again come across the phrase “son of man.”  Jesus himself used the title.  Often times when referring to himself as “son of man,” it was to emphasize his human nature.  When we connect Jesus’ use of the title to Daniel’s vision, we recognize what Jesus was truly revealing: he was the promised one, the Messiah.  He was the living, breathing, walking, talking, fulfillment of the very individual Daniel saw in his dream!  In Jesus, the hope revealed to and through the prophets of old had come. 

And that’s just the beginning.  It’s not just that Jesus is the fulfillment of the  “son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven,” but look at the manner in which he comes! “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (v.4).  Do any of those descriptions sound like a rule that belongs to any earthly king?  Hardly!

Even earthly rulers recognize that Christ’s kingdom is unique.  Comparing Christ’s Kingdom to earthly kingdoms, Napoleon the Great said, “You speak of empires and power. Well, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires, but on what did we found them? Force. Christ founded His on love, and at this moment there are millions ready to die for Him… I see no army, no banner or battering-ram; yet a mysterious power is there, working in the interest of Christianity – men secretly sustained here and there by a common faith in the great Unseen. I die before my time, and my body will be given to the earth as food for worms. Such is the fate of him called Napoleon the Great. But look to Christ, honored and loved in every land. Look at His kingdom, rising over all other kingdoms. His life was not the life of a man; His death not that of a man but of God” (Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, p. 36).

As Daniel’s vision made clear, Christ the King has all authority, glory, and power.  No earthly ruler has ever even come close.  Many claim authority on the basis of the number of books they’ve written or the letters P-H-D after their name.  Jesus wrote a book as well – the Bible – and when your name is spelled G-O-D, you don’t need any extra letters after your name to prove you’ve got authority; you simply speak and it immediately becomes evident.  At Creation he spoke, to the wind and waves he spoke, to the decaying corpse of Lazarus he spoke, and all could do nothing but bend to his authority.  Christ the King is the supreme authority. 

Christ the King has all nations and people of every tongue worshiping him.  Earthly kingdoms have boundaries; they may change over time, but they always exist.  Christ’s Kingdom has no boundaries.  No other kingdom is so expansive that it reaches the ends of the earth.

Christ the King’s dominion – his almighty rule – will continue into eternity.  Earthly rulers seek to grab power in any way possible, but the only certainty that exists when they come to power is that it will at some point be lost.  Nations rise and fall, but only Christ’s Kingdom extends to the heights of heaven, where it is unreachable to those who would oppose it.  It cannot and will not be overthrown.  It will exist forever, and so will its King.  And dear friends, the King who rules forever will return again. 

On the one hand it is beyond terrifying to think that Jesus will return again, knowing that he is coming to judge.  Think back to a time that you were given a task and you knew that someone – a parent, an unforgiving boss, a demanding officer – was going to return to meticulously inspect your task.  Almost worse than the actual inspection is the dreaded anticipation of it; the fear of what will happen if you’ve underachieved.  Now consider all that Christ has called us to do when he departed the first time into the clouds – love your Lord by loving your neighbor, loving the needy, loving the lost, loving your church – and he’s coming back to judge how we did?  We have every right to be terrified!  We’ve failed on all accounts!  When the King returns, we deserve to be treated as traitors who have consistently catered to ourselves at the expense of carrying out all that he has called us to do.  We don’t deserve to be cared for in his kingdom; we deserve to be cast out of it!

Ah, but Christ the King, when he comes, will not be coming to judge us on the basis of our failures, but on the basis of his merits.  And for that reason he cannot come again soon enough.  As we transition next Sunday into the season of Advent, that is our focus.  We long for the King’s return.  We want our Righteous Ruler to come back for us and make things as they should be.  We yearn for an eternity that knows no turmoil, that will not and cannot feel the emptiness of loss.

Christ the King, Christ our King will come.  Because he’s already made you his when he bled and died for you, he will come again for you.  They say there are no guarantees in life, but such a statement doesn’t apply with regard to our King’s return.  He will come again; he will come again because his kingdom is incomplete until all the souls he’s purchased are brought safely within the walls of the new Jerusalem. 

What difference does that make?  All the difference in the world!  When you woke up yesterday, in all likelihood there were a number of problems in your life – some relatively small; others looming large – that you would absolutely remove from your life if you could.  Chances are, when you wake up tomorrow morning, those problems will still be there.  Some of them you cannot do anything about, but dear friends, all of them Christ has done something about; he’s overcome them. He came to overcome – yes, your sin – but also sin’s lingering effects and all that it has touched and tainted.  Christ your King has overcome all.  He rules all, and his kingdom is incomplete without you.  Your King will come; he will come for you.  Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)

Maximizing Marriage with Love and Respect

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Ephesians 5:33

“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (NIV).

It’s hard to believe it was already eleven days ago.  That was the morning that I, like many others, woke up filled with a frustrated and heavy heart.  It was the day after the presidential election.  President Obama had been re-elected, and the next day I was crushed.  I was absolutely down-hearted.  

But I should clarify: it wasn’t President Obama’s re-election that had dashed my spirits; it was rather the embarrassing way so many Christians were responding to it.  For those who had cast their vote for another candidate, it provided a wonderful opportunity to let their Christian light shine by being absolutely gracious in defeat; by seizing the moment and communicating to fellow Americans that Christians respect and honor all who serve in the government – regardless of party affiliation – because they recognize that such authority is given them by God himself.  It was a unique chance to surprise others who didn’t share the same political leanings and blow their mind by actually wishing our President the very best and being eager to keep him in their prayers – even if they didn’t vote for him!  If anyone, after all, should be able to cope with political disappointment, should it not be Christians, who recognize that God is still steering the ship no matter who holds what office in the local, state, or federal government?  But unfortunately so many instead reacted with extreme negativity, whining and complaining as if the end of the world had come.

I am afraid that Christians have missed some special opportunities.  But I don’t think it’s too late.  I don’t think it’s too late for Christians to review and re-evaluate our priorities.  It’s not too late for us to remember that government, while it certainly plays a part in establishing the moral compass of our society, only plays a part.  Let us not forget the part that we play.  For I would say with utmost confidence that every Christian is armed with a much more powerful tool than any government law, any government act, any government tax; we are armed with the gospel, and dear friends, the good news about Jesus will change hearts in a way that no law, act, or tax ever can.  If we are faithful in our proclamation of that grandest news of forgiveness and salvation in Christ alone – which, mind you, is the heart and soul of what Jesus calls his blood-bought followers to do – then sighs of frustration and discouragement at the ungluing of society will be replaced with celebration of kingdom advancements that will inevitably follow in the wake of the all-powerful gospel.

We know what a difference Jesus makes in so many facets of life.  This morning we have the opportunity to focus on one area in which Jesus makes a world of difference.  With all that we are inclined to cry out against in society today, there is really this one area that impacts so much of it.  In fact, to ignore it is to ignore what a former President saw as the greatest threat to the USA.  Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, recently recalled an exchange he once had with then-President George W. Bush.  When he asked President Bush what he thought was the greatest threat to the USA, he expected the President to respond with some sort of mention of terrorism, but the President opined instead that the greatest threat to the USA as he saw it was the deterioration of the family.

I am inclined to agree.  And if we agree on that, then we can also agree that you and I as Christians have perhaps more influence in society than we are aware.  If we recognize that Christ-centered families who live and proclaim Jesus can have a profound impact on the world, then Christ’s love compels us to model the best that families have to offer.  And if we are to do that, brothers and sisters, then we must recognize the importance of God-pleasing, Christ-centered marriage, on which every solid family is based.

“Christ-centered” marriage is the perfect description for what Paul covers at the end of Ephesians, chapter five.  In fact, in order for any marriage to find blessing in the verse on which we’re focusing today, Ephesians 5 verse 33, one absolutely cannot overlook the context which precedes.  The verses that come before verse 33 revolve completely around Christ.  The husband and wife who remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we even call it “Christian marriage,” are the husband and wife who stand to have a richly-blessed marriage together, as well as a faith-focused family.

That means first and foremost recognizing that Paul’s primary purpose in bringing Christ into the topic of marriage between husband and wife is not merely to lay him out as an example.  Christ cannot be relegated to being merely an example; he must rather be what Paul so clearly makes him out to be: our Savior. 

In verse 33 husbands are called to love their wives.  In the verses that precede (vss. 25-32), yes, Paul shows exactly what that love looks like in Jesus, but it’s more than that; he brings Christ into it because apart from Christ, the husband is incapable of loving his wife.  It’s not just that he needs in Jesus an example of how to love his wife, but he needs in Jesus a Savior who has removed his every stain, wrinkle, and blemish so that he even can love his wife.  It’s just not in a husband by nature to love his wife, or anyone else, for that matter.  All he cares about is himself.  Apart from Christ, he will love only himself and despise all others, slavishly serving himself all the way to his grave and beyond, into the eternal torment of hell, where all sin-ridden, self-serving souls are sentenced.  Husbands who are to love their wives need first to see that Christ’s love has rescued them from that punishment, washed and purified them with a new and pristine heart, and through that forgiveness has now made it possible for them to love their wives.

Wives are called to respect their husbands.  Again, in the verses that precede (vss. 22-24ff), Paul brings in Christ, but not primarily to serve as an example.  Wives too need to see that have had every stain, wrinkle, and blemish removed so that they even can respect their husbands.  Recall that immediately after the Fall, as a consequence of sin God had established that husbands would “rule over” their wives.  They would abuse their God-given roles as leaders, as heads of the family and lord it over their wives.  And guess what?  No one by nature wants to have anyone rule over them at all, and certainly not in a way that abuses such authority.  So the natural response for a fallen sinner is not to joyfully and willingly respect such a person and submit to him; it is rather to rebel and attempt to usurp that authority for self.  That is to say that apart from Christ, wives naturally desire to undermine the roles God gave to men and women, in rebellion they refuse to serve under or be ruled over by anyone, and will go kicking and screaming into the eternal torment of hell, where all such insubordinate souls are sentenced.  Wives who are to respect their husbands need first to see that Christ’s love has rescued them from that punishment, washed and purified them with a new and pristine heart, and through that forgiveness has now made it possible for them to respect their husbands.

So if spouses desire to maximize their marriage; if they long for the ability to give and receive love and respect with one another, which relationship is the most important relationship in their marriage?  Their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus is not just an example for marriage; he’s the essence of it.  Without his redeeming work, without his meticulous life of perfection, his undeserved death, and victorious resurrection, we would still be in sin, uninterested and unable to show love and respect to our spouses.  But in Christ we have been forgiven – freed from sin and freed for a marriage that is characterized by love and respect. 

Now the husband with a holy heart lives for loving his wife the way he is called to.  He hears Paul write that “each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself” (v.33) and it starts to make sense.  Only the dullest, most clueless husband fails to see the tell-tale signs all around him that indicate that his wife longs to be loved.  Books and movies filled with romance and love aren’t marketed to guys – didn’t you ever notice that you never see a commercial for the latest Nicholas Sparks book during the football game?  Why can your wife talk with her mother or her girlfriend for an hour, when even a five-minute conversation between you and a buddy is pushing it?  It’s because your wife is wired to connect emotionally and relationally with others, and she is at her best when her love tank is full through such things.  But don’t make the mistake of assuming that just because you throw an “I love you” her way frequently, that she feels that love on her end.  You might be saying it, but that doesn’t mean she’s feeling it.  Take the time to clarify with your wife how you can express love to her in a way that she also receives it, whether it be words of affirmation, quality time together, gifts, or simply holding hands (cf. “The Five Love Languages”).  Husbands, you are in a unique position in that your wife wants your love more than anyone else’s in the world.  Your marriage will be richly blessed when you bend over backwards to show it to her.

Wives, Christ has replaced your rebellious heart with one that seeks to support and serve your husband.  But don’t make the mistake of assuming that because your greatest concern is feeling love from him, that that’s what he wants in return.  Again, no Nicholas Sparks commercials during the football game… why? Because being loved by you isn’t his greatest need.  More than anything else – and he may not even clearly communicate this to you – but more than anything else, he wants your respect.  Paul identified that when he called wives to “respect [their] husband(s)” (v.33).  Your husband needs to know that you are in his corner no matter what, that you look up to him and appreciate what he does for your family as a husband and father.  He needs affirmation that you know he works hard to take care of you.  Speak highly of him to your friends and family members.  Follow his lead, and where leadership isn’t his strong suit, help and encourage him to step up and be the godly leader Jesus has redeemed him to be.  Your marriage will be richly blessed when you respect your husband, even when his own actions don’t deserve it.

Husbands and wives will maximize their marriages the more they see that Christ has renewed them to be able to show love and respect to each other.  The beauty is that as the husband loves his wife, the respect tends to naturally follow, and when the wife respects her husband, the love from him flows all the more freely to her. Husbands, love your wives.  Wives, respect your husbands.  Lord Jesus, richly bless their marriages as a result.  Amen.

 

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)

Called to Give our Best

end times 1 (CLOC year three – true riches)

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

1Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God. 2 With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: 4 three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?”

6 Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly. (NIV)

She’s the woman of your dreams, so you want to make sure tonight, the night you ask her to be your wife, is memorable.  You both arrive at your place.  As you open the door for her, a wretched smell causes her face to wrinkle with disgust.  But she quickly forgets about the smell when she sees your roommate and his disgusting buddies lounging around and spread out all over a filthy living room, playing video games.  You proceed to the kitchen, where you eagerly pull out a Styrofoam container with some leftovers that you know she will love, and you throw them on a plate and toss it in the microwave.  While that is reheating you grab a cheap bottle of wine that was given to you years ago and pour it into two glasses.  The microwave dings, and dinner is served.  Before she’s hardly had a chance to dig into her delectable second-hand meal, you’re down on one knee, amidst the loud cheers of recent video game success in the other room, and you peel back the lid of a tiny black box to reveal… the most affordable cubic zirconia placed in a such a chincy, cheap setting that it looks like it would bend or break at even the slightest hint of pressure.  And then you ask her to be our bride.  How could she say no?  How could she refuse when you have so clearly shown her how much you treasure her by giving her your absolute best?

Now obviously that’s not giving your best.  In fact, that better not be anyone giving his best!  No, you would strive for something on a much grander scale if this was the woman you were going to spend the rest of your days with – you’d pull out all the stops and put your best foot forward in addressing every last detail of this special occasion.  You wouldn’t settle for mediocrity or anything that’s simply “good enough” in that case, and the same holds true when it comes to our relationship with God.  He deserves our absolute best – no shortcuts and no excuses will do – only the best for the one who has given us the best in Jesus.  He has given us true riches, and the only appropriate response is for us to give him our best.

King David recognized an opportunity to give his best to the Lord.   His life was coming to an end and David longed to build a temple worthy of the Lord, sparing no expense to construct a dwelling that would be set apart from any dwelling of man.  He could not stand to live in a luxurious palace while the Ark of the Covenant was stored in a tent (and the parking lot was in shambles, the lawn was dotted with circular patches of dead brown, the roof leaked, the windows needed replacing, etc…).  And even when God had revealed that his son and not he would be the one to build a temple for the Lord, David made the most of the opportunity to give his best to the Lord.  David was well aware of how richly God had blessed him throughout his life and his reign, and he wanted to express his thanks to God by building him a temple. But the Lord made it clear that it would not be him, but his son Solomon who would build the temple.  Not to be discouraged, David got everything prepared for the new king, his son Solomon, and collected the supplies for the project so all would be ready when Solomon assumed the throne.

A building project today is no small thing; imagine what all was involved in David’s day.  Building a temple was a serious undertaking, and one which David was eager to take on, even if it meant that his role was acquiring the necessary materials so that someone else would be responsible for the finished product. “With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities.  Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple:  three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings,  for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen” (v.2-5).  David provided funds from the state treasury, but then added his own offering over and above the treasury, out of his own pockets.  How much?  The most expensive building in the world today is the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, costing over $2.5 billion.  David gave enough to build almost two of them.  David gave his best.  As far as David was concerned, a cheap bottle of wine and reheated left-overs weren’t good enough for God.

This is the third of a four year stewardship focus under the theme, “Christ’s Love, Our Calling.”  The first year emphasized the management of our time as children called by Christ’s love.  The second year emphasized the management of our unique gifts and talents as children called by Christ’s love.  This year we emphasize the management of our financial blessings as children called by Christ’s love.  Whether it be time, talents, or treasure, Christ’s love calls for our best in each and every case.

I’ll leave it to you to answer: when we flip to month eleven out of twelve on the calendar and not so much as a penny has been recorded in our offerings to the Lord, is that giving our best?  Or is that a cheap bottle of wine and reheated left-overs?  Is it really worth anyone’s time to talk about tithing – giving 10% – when the sad reality is that Christian giving in this country doesn’t even scratch the surface of 3%?  Is that giving our best, or is that a cheap bottle of wine and reheated left-overs? 

When we talk about our giving, we rightly discuss it within the context of giving with a cheerful heart.  But have you ever stopped to consider that a person’s heart can give cheerfully for two completely different reasons?  One can thankfully give a generous amount to the Lord and be cheerful that God has blessed him to give so much.  But another could also be giving cheerfully because he knows that in his giving so little to the Lord, he’s got plenty in the bank to satisfy his out of control spending.  Both hearts are cheerful, but only one is pleasing to the Lord, while he despises the other.  Which kind of “cheerful” heart is truly giving God his best? 

And, while we do well to speak about giving in terms of percentages, it might be helpful to consider which amount of money strikes you as being “a lot” when it comes to giving: $20 a week? $50? $75? $100? Over $150?  Now do those same amounts still strike you as being “a lot” if they’re going toward your texting and data plan for your smart phone, or for cable, or NFL Sunday ticket, etc. – you get the point.  Does the amount of my offering reflect the best I can give to God, or am I keeping the best and giving him the rest?  Is my best going to the God of my salvation, or the god of spending? 

As Christians, part of the reason that materialism and greed are so important to talk about and warn against is that greed is a unique temptation in that it blinds people. What do I mean by that? Well, it’s fairly difficult to commit adultery and not know you’re an adulterer. It’s hard to steal and not know you’re a thief. But how many people legitimately consider themselves truly greedy? Bottom line, there’s never been a group of people as wealthy as we are here in the U.S., and yet we continuously pursue more. Do you know what is the number one determining factor for an undergraduate to declare a major in the U.S.?  The anticipated salary upon graduation.  And yet, you would be hard pressed to find too many people who categorize themselves as “greedy.” We relativize it. As long as we can find one person in our lives with a more lavish lifestyle, we are blind to our own luxury, and we want more.  We can’t see our sinful and damning greed, even though it’s right under our nose. 

Is that why our offerings are such a private thing to us?   Are we ashamed that others might clearly see what we refuse to, that our meager giving can sometimes be the result of greedy hearts not making God a top priority?  Notice that David did not hide his offering from anyone, claiming it was a private matter.  He let his offering be known before the entire assembly, not to boast in himself, but to lead by example. He then called on the other leaders to do the same.  It wasn’t a command or threat, but an opportunity for them to take ownership of the temple in a way that showed their love for the Lord.

The people responded by matching their king’s offering, and then some.  “Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord.  David the king also rejoiced greatly.” (v.6, 9)  Like David, they recognized what the Lord had done.  Grace had brought this people from the prison of slavery to possession of the Promised Land.  God’s mercy gave them peace with their neighbors.  God’s undeserved love promised a Savior would come through their nation.  God’s forgiveness freely given for when they failed to give him their best or make him a priority allowed them to stand before him now and for eternity.  In response to him, they gave him their best. 

We find ourselves in much the same situation as the people of Israel.  Like them, we have been freed from slavery of sin and given possession of the Promised Land of heaven.  Our sin tormented us incessantly, owning us.  Even though we have robbed God of our best, he still offered up his best.   For every time he has fallen from our top priority and we’ve given him less than our best, Jesus came to be punished.  For the times we offer what we have deemed as “good enough,” Jesus came to be better than “good enough.” He came to be perfect in our place.  The debt of gratitude we owe for the love he has shown is immeasurable.  Suffice it to say, it calls for our best.  Giving our best starts with giving him our whole hearts in response for giving us pure hearts.  It’s possible to give your money away without giving yourself, but it’s impossible to give away yourself without giving away your money. God’s primary concern is where your heart is.  He knows that if your heart is his, everything else will reflect that, including offerings.  Hearts that belong to God long to give him the best, because his grace moves us to it.

Hearts redeemed by Jesus give with an open hand, not a clenched fist.  A clenched fist is unwilling to part with money, but an open hand is open both to give freely, but also to receive freely the blessings that God pours out abundantly.  The clenched fist, the miserly heart, is not ready to receive more from God.  How can God place more blessings into a clenched fist?  Instead, look at what happened when Jesus opened his hands and spread his arms wide to give you blessing, the blessing of forgiveness and peace with God, which in turn opened up the storehouses of heaven, where God lavishes on you true riches. Open your hands and let go to see what God accomplishes through your open fists as well as what God puts into your hands.

God doesn’t need your money, but he loves it when we find joy in saying thank you to him.  He loves it when we prioritize our lives around him by returning a portion – the first and the best – back to him.  The key to Israel’s offering was that it was freely and joyfully given in response to God’s goodness and grace to his people.  What a joy it is for the Church when God’s people respond to the encouragement to keep him their priority!  Let’s keep the cheap wine and leftovers at home, and give God our best. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)

Reformation and Pottery

Reformation sunday

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Jeremiah 18:1-11

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. ⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. ¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ (NIV)

If you are anything like me, then probably the closest you’ve come to any experience with sculpting or shaping pottery is playing with Play-Doh.  But it really is quite impressive to see a potter throwing pottery at a potter’s wheel.  Those of you who have actually tried your hand at it might be even more impressed, knowing from experience how difficult it can be (and all of those clay “ashtrays” in the back of the closet at home are evidence of how hard it is to make anything that resembles a useful item out of pottery).  Yet, what makes the art of pottery appealing is that it can be quite forgiving.  If the potter makes a mistake, he can pound his creation back into a lump of clay and start all over again.  He can reshape and reform it.

In that sense, pottery really has quite a bit to do with our observance this morning of the Reformation, which, at its core was really about reshaping and reforming.  In fact, that was really all that Martin Luther was interested in bringing about: reform.  Luther, the man after whom our church body is named, was schooled in Germany to become a lawyer, then joined a monastery, and eventually became a priest, a professor, and an academic (some might say was a bit of a theologian as wellJ).  He was a very learned man, but his intent was never to put the Roman Catholic Church in its place or radically branch out and found his own church, so that jokes and anecdotes about Catholics and Lutherans would be told for centuries to come.  No, his purpose was to reform. 

Like the potter who recognizes that his piece is ever-so-slightly uneven or misshapen, Luther started to identify such imperfections in the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.  And, the more he read and studied the Scriptures, the more readily apparent the discrepancies became.  If a potter is trying to imitate or copy a particular vase or pot, he’ll look at the original to see how it compares.  In doing so, he can see where his replica needs work.  The more Luther looked at the original teachings in the Bible, the more visible the problem areas in the Roman Catholic Church became.  He identified a number of these concerns in his 95 Thesis, seeking to correct the problem areas in Roman Catholic teaching and bring about reform.  Of all those concerns, the greatest was his realization that the Roman Catholic Church was not teaching what he discovered to be the essential truth of Scripture, that man is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, revealed in Scripture alone.  Jesus, not works, was the way to heaven.  God’s grace and mercy, not man’s efforts and good intentions, were the only hope for salvation.  These were the central truths that came out of the Reformation.  Yet as much as the Reformation is arguably the most identifiable reform movement in history (for it alone is referred to as “The” Reformation), and terribly needed, it certainly wasn’t the first one necessary.

In fact, the prophet Jeremiah might today be considered just as notable a reformer as Luther, except for one significant difference: his call for reform fell on deaf ears.  Making his calling from the Lord even more of a challenge was the realization from day one that Jeremiah’s message wouldn’t stand to make him Mr. Popularity among his people.  The Golden Age of the United Kingdom had come and passed. The land flowing with milk and honey had become a house divided, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom; Israel and Judah.  At the time of Jeremiah’s ministry, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been crushed.  Now only Judah remained, and she was a small bit player in the grand scheme of things, although she served as a geographical buffer between two world powers of the day, Egypt and Babylonia.     

Reform was needed during the time of Jeremiah, as God’s people had yet again fallen into the trap of doing what they knew so well how to do, which essentially amounted to anything that God told them not to.  God had always made it clear to his people that they were his special, chosen nation.  He loved them dearly and wanted them to be unique, to be set apart from all other nations.  The problem?  They didn’t want what God wanted.  Rather than being unique and set apart, they wanted to fit in.  Like a rebellious, insecure teenager who views mom & dad as out of touch and behind the times, so the people to whom Jeremiah was sent considered God’s call to turn away from worldly ways a reflection of an out of touch, behind the times God.   Because surely if adultery and idolatry were commonplace everywhere else, then they should be commonplace among God’s people as well. 

Now you and I know that in reality it was God’s people at the time who were out of touch and behind the times.  Jeremiah knew it, too.  The problem was that God’s people seemed to be the only ones who didn’t know it.  So what did God try to do?  He tried to straighten out and reform his people.  And as Jeremiah’s luck might have it, he was the one God appointed to call his people to reform.  What’s more, when they brushed off God’s call for reformation, Jeremiah was that man again and again and again.  His ministry was as thankless as they came.  When he spoke a message of God’s word to God’s people, they shrugged it off as coming from the no-good Jeremiah and of no real value.  Rather than trying to imagine how heart-wrenching Jeremiah’s ministry must have been, do yourself a favor and read through his take on it in his book of the Bible.  You will quickly wee why Jeremiah has been called the “Weeping Prophet.”  He loved his people and he loved his God, so it tore him to pieces when his own people failed to show that same love to God.

But God is persistent in trying to bring about reform in his people.  So he gave Jeremiah another set of instructions.  “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”  So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  Then the word of the Lord came to me.  He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel” (v.2-6).  God was establishing that he was free to do with his people what he wanted, as a potter is free to shape and mold a lump of clay.  If Israel would refuse to reform its ways, finally God had every right to reject them and start all over again.

God still has every right to do just that with his church today as well.  Will he need to?  If we’re not careful, we can miss how easily the church today can start to resemble God’s people at the time of Jeremiah.  We can start to want it both ways.  We certainly want to retain our identity as Christians, but we kinda sorta also want to retain it alongside our identity as people of this world.  Inevitably this will result in a compromise when it comes to doctrine and practice.  For example, God’s Word is clear on what it says about divorce – don’t do it.  But we see it everywhere we look in the world around us, and we attempt to justify the breaking of marriage vows simply because that is the common practice in the world.  Or consider our Sunday morning habits.  Christians know full well where God wants them to be each and every Sunday morning – hearing God’s Word in God’s house.  But influence from our friends and coworkers in the world around us slowly softens our stance on keeping Sundays sacred, so that we feel more and more OK with not being in church more and more often.

Now these may seem like little things, trivial things, really.  But there’s no such thing as far as God is concerned.  If you look at the churches that have sold out and truly gone off the deep end, blatantly denying the clear doctrines of Scripture without apology, chances are, they started with the little things.  Eventually the little things blew up into the big things, and then the very foundation of the Christian faith was called into question.  Yes, just as in the days of Jeremiah and Luther, there is as much a need for reform today, so that we don’t risk undermining the very essence of the Christian faith.

When God calls for reform, whether it be at the time of Jeremiah, Luther, or today, he essentially holds out two choices: 1) repent, and God will relent, or 2) don’t, and God won’t.  God spoke to Jeremiah, “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.  If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned”   (6b-8).  God in his abundant grace has ways of warning his people when they go astray.  In doing so he is providing an opportunity for reformation.  He is also extending his grace, grace which assures that repentance is met with forgiveness.  The Lord can make such a promise because of all that Christ Jesus did on our behalf.  In Jesus life was lived in perfect obedience.  In Jesus the death sentence was served in our place.  In Jesus is God’s righteous demand met and offered to all by faith, not by earning it. In and through Jesus alone does God promise to relent against those who repent. 

There are, however, consequences for those who don’t repent, who don’t see any need of being reformed.  God said to Jeremiah, “And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it” (v.9,10).  Again, repent and God will relent; don’t and he won’t.  If, when God calls a people to repentance or promises them blessings, they refuse to repent, then like a marred pot at the potter’s wheel, God will ruin the pot that was being made and mash the clay back into a lump to start over again.

Jeremiah’s call for reform fell on deaf ears.  Luther’s call for reform, while refused by the Roman Catholic Church, was nonetheless effective in freeing others from the slavery of salvation by works and restoring the gospel to its rightful place of prominence in the Scriptures.

How effective will God’s call for reform be among us today?  Will it go unheeded, as it did among Jeremiah’s people?  Or, will it take root, as it did at Luther’s time?  May it take root in such away that with humble and penitent hearts, we – the clay – allow God – the potter – to shape us with his grace and forgiveness into beautiful vessels to be used by him in this world and to bring him great glory.  Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)