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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Last week, we started into the section of Zephaniah 1:4-13, where the Lord said that He would bring judgment against the Southern Kingdom, the Land of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem that remained in Israel. This would happen because many of the people had “turned back from following the Lord” and were following false gods or just not seeking the Lord and His will (Zephaniah 1:4-6).
In 1:7, Zephaniah tells His people to “be silent” before the Lord because “the day of the Lord is near” for them. He describes it as “a sacrifice being prepared,” but in this case, it is not a sacrifice of animals, but a “sacrifice” of many of God’s own people. The “guests” invited to participate and make the sacrifice are another nation, the rising, powerful people of Babylon. This is a very unusual description, because in the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were the means by which atonement was made for the souls of God’s people, and they were forgiven. (See Leviticus 17:11. These sacrifices were a preparation for the “once-for-all” sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to pay for and forgive the sin of the world. See Hebrews 10:5-10.) In this case, though, the picture of a sacrifice is the opposite, the execution of God’s judgment against His own people. Foreign powers will be employed by God to punish His people.
In Zephaniah 1:9, the Lord says He will punish the officials and even sons of the king, who loved “foreign clothing” and apparently, the evil ways of these foreign nations, too. (This did not include Josiah, who was just a young child at this time, with little real responsibility as King.) Also to be punished was “everyone who leaps over the threshold.” This may be a reference again to pagan practices with worship of false gods. (See the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5:1-5 as an example.) This might also be a reference to people in Judah who would break into the homes of others through the threshold and steal and take things in a fraudulent way and by violence. (We hear many stories about people today, too, in high crime areas, breaking into businesses and homes, with violence and theft and great harm. Squatters take over homes and property, too.) Punishment will come to such people.
In Zephaniah 1:12, we hear of people who are “complacent” about what is going on and say to themselves, "God does not care about us. He is doing nothing. He will not do good, nor will He do ill about anything going on. Why should we care about Him and what He says and wants?" They go their own way, against the Lord and His will. But eventually, punishment will come. (The image of the Lord “searching Jerusalem with lamps” is a way of saying that nothing can be hidden from Him. He knows the evil, as well as the good. See the story Jesus tells of the woman who searches with a lamp until she finds her lost coin in Luke 15:8-10. In this case, there is also hope, for one who is lost in evil can be found. We will see more of this hope next week.)
For Judah and Jerusalem, though, there will be cries and wails and loud crashes from various places in Jerusalem (Zephaniah 1:10). Enemies will come against the cities of Judah and even against Jerusalem with its “fortifications and lofty battlements“ (Zephaniah 1:16). Trade will stop (1:11). “Goods will be plundered and houses laid waste. People will no longer be able to “inhabit houses they have built” or “drink the fruit of their vineyards” (1:13).
This is all a prophecy from the Lord, through Zephaniah, of what would come eventually, as the Lord used the Babylonian armies to conquer Judah and Jerusalem and carry many of their people away into captivity in Babylon because of their sin and rebellion. Zephaniah piles up the words about how terrible this “great day of the Lord’s judgment” will be. It is “near and hastening fast.” Even mighty men will “cry out” in agony (1:14). It is described as “a day of wrath,” a “bitter day,” with “distress and anguish, ruin and devastation, darkness and gloom, clouds and thick darkness” (1:14-1:15).
God goes on to say through Zephaniah again that the kind of judgment and wrath coming upon Judah and Jerusalem is a warning of such judgment upon the whole unbelieving world at the end “because they have sinned against the Lord." This will be “distress on mankind” (1:17). “Silver and gold” or anything else they have will not “be able to deliver them.” “All the earth shall be consumed” and there will be “a full and sudden end” for “all inhabitants of the earth” who are without faith in the Lord and His forgiveness (1:17-18).
That warning continues into the New Testament. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus said (Mark 13:31). In His description of Judgment Day, Jesus warned that unbelievers “will go away into eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:41,46). But Jesus also said, “My Words will not pass away.” He has words of hope, that people can be changed and brought to repentance and trust in Him and escape that ultimate day of wrath. We will finally begin to hear more about that in Chapter 2 and especially in Chapter 3 of Zephaniah. (You can also hear that Good News in my sermon from 11/26/23 (you can listen or read it here: https://lutheransermons.podbean.com/e/new-sermon-for-the-last-sunday-of-the-church-year-november-26-2023), reflecting on the Day of Judgment for believers: “Come, Blessed Ones, Inherit the Kingdom.”)
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
NEW Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year
“Come, Blessed Ones, Inherit the Kingdom”
Matthew 25:31-46
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson, read just a few moments ago. You are welcome to look at it, together with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.
This is the last Sunday of the Church Year, and it’s not a surprise that our focus would again be on last things and the end of the world and being ready for that day that is often called Judgment Day. But have you ever asked yourself why Jesus would spend so much time talking about the end just a few days before His own suffering and death and resurrection?
If you look in your Bibles, you will find that in Matthew 24, Jesus talks about signs of the end and the certainty of His return, even though no one knows exactly the day or the hour, and therefore the need is there for us to be ready continually. Then in Matthew 25, Jesus tells the two parables of the end that we heard the last two weeks and then gives our text about the judgment. In Matthew 26, right after our text, we hear these words: “When Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man (referring to Himself) will be delivered up to be crucified.’” And then, in the last three chapters of Matthew, the focus is upon Jesus and His suffering and death and resurrection for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. He is making it clear that it is through trust in Him alone that we are ready for the last day.
Our enemy, the devil, though, always wants to turn things around and put the focus on us, ourselves, and what we have done. The name “Satan” literally means “the accuser,” our enemy who accuses us. Satan likes to ask us, “Do you really think you are good enough and worthy enough that God will accept you?” And deep down, we know that we are not worthy, on our own.
We hear strong Law Scriptures like Matthew 5:48, which says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” - And we know we are not even close to that. Or we hear a strong Law passage like 2 Corinthians 5:10, which says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one of us may receive what is due for what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Satan can take a Scripture like this one and use it out of context and make us begin to wonder, “What if Jesus remembers and exposes all the bad things I have done and that I regret? What if he nails me for all the things I should have done and did not do in my life? We all have plenty of that, too, don’t we?
Or Satan might try to convince us that we’re just as good as anybody else, and we’ll surely be OK on Judgment Day, especially if we try more and more to do what Jesus said in our Gospel lesson - feed more hungry people and visit more prisons and help more sick people and give away more clothes. Surely all that will earn us God’s favor.
All thinking of Satan is actually the opposite of what Jesus says and does. Jesus tells us about the End Times and His return and judgment, but then points us away from ourselves and to Him alone as our Hope and Savior. At His baptism, Jesus said, “I have come to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). And that is what He did. He lived a perfect life, for us, in our place, as our Substitute.
Christ Jesus also “died for our sins. in accordance with the Scriptures,” Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 15:3). Peter says, “Christ Himself bore our sins in His Body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By His wounds, you have been healed”(1 Peter 2:24). Paul again says, “For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19,21). Our sins really are forgiven and paid for already, in Jesus!
And how many sins are forgiven in Christ? The apostle John says, “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And for whom did Jesus do all this? Paul writes, “There is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). And another Scripture simply says, “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
And how does all that Christ Jesus did for us get to us personally? It comes to us through being brought to faith and trust in Jesus, through God’s Word that reveals Jesus to us, and through His gifts of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the forgiveness that Jesus keeps giving us, as we keep confessing our sins.
We also know the Scriptures: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). And, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). It is Good News for all! And it comes “by the grace of God through Faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Now, apply all this to our Gospel lesson, as we listen to it again: (Matthew 25:31-40). Jesus comes, in His glory, on the last day, and all His angels are with Him, and the souls of all believers who have been already in heaven, as we heard a few weeks ago (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). All the bodies of the dead are raised, and all nations are gathered, and immediately they are separated into sheep and goats, believers and unbelievers.
This is not a long, drawn-out process, because Jesus already knows those who are His own and those who are not. Other Scriptures say that this happens “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51), and Jesus the King simply says to those on His right, the believers, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father.” Eternal life really is a gift, a blessing from God Himself. It is an inheritance - and an “inheritance” is usually something given as a gift to a family member or friend because of some relationship. We, as believers, are now children of our Heavenly Father, through what Jesus has done for us, and we inherit heavenly blessings, as part of a heavenly Kingdom, through Jesus.
And notice the great mercy of Jesus, as he continues to speak and mentions only good things that we, as believers, try to do, in gratefulness for the mercy and love and forgiveness we have seen first and received, in Jesus. Why is nothing of the bad we have done mentioned? Because it is all paid for and forgiven and forgotten in Christ, as we trust in Him.
We don’t do merciful things to earn anything, either, but just to help others and to be a witness to Christ’s mercy to others. The believers are not counting what they have done. In fact, the believers ask, “Lord, when did we do all these things?” And Jesus answers, “When you did these things to the least of these, you have done it unto Me.” These don’t have to be big things, either. How many of us have gotten up in the middle of the night and given a drink to a child or grandchild? Jesus says, “I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.”
Finally, we hear the warning of eternal sorrows coming for unbelievers. Judgment day will be too late for them, but the fact that hell was prepared for the devil and his evil angels is a reminder that no human needed to end up there. Until Christ returns on the last day or until a person dies, there is still time for God’s love and the forgiveness and faith Christ wants to bring, to be brought to others, perhaps through our witness and acts of mercy and care and hope for them, in our Savior, as a means Christ’s Spirit uses.
But for us, in Christ, Judgment Day is a day of great joy. The Scriptures say, “When the Son of Man, Jesus, comes in a cloud with power and great glory… straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is near” (Luke 21:27-28). One commentator, Martin Franzmann, has written, “All that was bad or broken in our lives will then be as if it had never been, and God’s long plan of salvation will be fulfilled. Christ has returned. He will take us to eternal life. He is our hope and glory forever.”
Let us rise for prayer: Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year, based on:
Sermon originally delivered November 20, 2011
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
On this last Sunday of the Church Year, the Scriptures turn our thoughts again to the last day, Judgment Day, and our confidence in Christ our Savior on that day. In the psalm, Psalm 95:1-7a, we make a “joyful noise “ with “songs of praise” to the Lord. We “kneel” before Him, “our Maker” and “the Rock of our Salvation.” We are “the sheep of His hand.”
In the Old Testament lesson, Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, the Lord God says that He will go into action “as a Shepherd,” “seeking out” and “rescuing” His “lost” and “straying” and “injured” sheep because many religious leaders of this time were not caring for these people, these sheep. He will judge between (His) sheep” and “sheep who push others aside and scatter them.” “He will set up over them one Shepherd,” the “servant Son of David” - a prophecy of Jesus our Good Shepherd and Servant Savior.
The Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, tells of the victory of Christ Jesus over our “enemy," “death,” and “every (evil) authority and power,” through His own servant death and “resurrection” for us. He will come back, and “at His coming,” He will bring with Him, all “those who belong to Him,” by faith in Him as “the Christ,” their Savior. He then “delivers this everlasting Kingdom to God the Father.”
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus gives us a picture of that last day. He gathers all people and immediately “separates His own sheep,” who have followed and trusted in Him, from “the goats,” who have rejected Him. Jesus already knows His own and can tell them also by fruits of faith in their lives, as they have shown mercy and love to others, in gratefulness that Jesus first loved and showed mercy and rescued them. As other Scriptures say, in “the twinkling of an eye,” as those “blessed by God the Father,” they will “inherit the (everlasting) Kingdom prepared for them” as a gift from Christ. In contrast, those who have rejected Christ and the one way to salvation, through His mercy and saving work, will “go away,” whether they realize it or not, “into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (I am preaching again this Saturday, on this passage. Check the podcast next week for more explanation of this in my sermon.)
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Last week, we looked at an introduction to Zephaniah, one of the last of the Old Testament books. Today we will begin to look at his message, as “the Word of the Lord came to him” (Zephaniah 1:1). Zephaniah has some of the strongest predictions of judgment for sin and evil, as “the Day of the Lord” draws near for individuals who are far from the Lord, as well as for Judah and Jerusalem, and for many nations who have opposed the Lord and His will, and for the whole sinful, unbelieving world. There are also words of hope, as the Lord takes away judgments from His humbled people, through His coming and saving work (through Jesus.) Watch for these messages scattered through this short book.
Zephaniah 1:2-3 begins by warning that the Lord will eventually “sweep away everything from the face of the earth, including “mankind,” in the final judgment. These words remind us of what was said at the time of the great flood, where nothing was left but Noah and his family, in the ark. (See Genesis 6:5-7, 6:11-13, and 7:4. “Fire” is connected with the final judgment, though, instead of water, in Zephaniah 1:18. Peter speaks of the same in his prophecy in 2 Peter 3:6-7 and 3:10,12-13, along with “new heavens and a new earth,” the whole new eternal existence that will come for all believers.) Zephaniah will return to mention this final judgment in other places, as we will see.
Zephaniah then speaks of a “day of judgment” coming much sooner for the land of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, in Zephaniah 1:4-13. The Lord says that He will “stretch out His hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Remember that the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already fallen to Assyrian invaders in 722-721 BC because of its wickedness. Now the same would happen to the Southern Kingdom, for the same sorts of reasons. The Lord gives examples, through Zephaniah, of how His chosen people had drifted far away from His will, especially with the worship of false gods. Manasseh and his son, previous kings of Judah, had made worship of the Canaanite fertility god, Baal, very popular (Zephaniah 1:4), and there were many priests of this false god still around in Judah and Jerusalem. There were also those who worshiped the sun, moon, and star gods introduced by the Assyrians, who were now very near and influential. These were “priests, those who bow down on their roofs to the host of the heavens” (Zephaniah 1:5). There were also those “bowed down and swore to the Lord,” but who also “swore by Milcom,” a god of the Ammonites (Zephaniah 1:5). (See also 2 Kings 21:1-9, for a dramatic description of how bad it was under King Manasseh.)
How different and opposite this was from the Lord’s First Commandment and its explanation. “I am the Lord your God… You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…” (Deuteronomy 5:6-9). Also in trouble, of course, are any who “have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of Him,” who are atheists (who believe there is no god) or agnostics (who are not sure if there is a god or not and so ignore Him) or just don’t have time for the Lord (Zephaniah 1:6).
Dr. Franzmann, in a commentary, also reminds us of the importance of continuing to “inquire of the Lord.” He points to King Josiah, who reigned during the time that Zephaniah was a prophet. When Josiah was 26, he had the temple in Jerusalem repaired, and “the Book of the Law,” which had been lost and forgotten, was found there. Josiah heard some of what that book of Scripture said and was shocked at how much was wrong in Judah. He knew the need to “inquire of the Lord” about all this, asked the help of Hilkiah the priest, and listened to prophetic messages and the Scriptures. As a result, the Lord led him to repent for his sins and the sins of his people. He made many reforms and rid the land of many false gods; and it was said of him that “there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might.” He was not perfect, but trusted the Lord and was spared from terrible times to come, much of his life. (You can read about this in 2 Kings 22-23:25.) Things went downhill again soon after his time, though; and what Zephaniah predicted did happen in 587-586 BC, when Judah was totally conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem was destroyed. It was a day of the Lord’s judgment for them.
The Lord had also said earlier through the prophet Isaiah, “When (people) say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and necromancers,'"( those who try to consult the dead and try to get other supernatural messages) “should a people not inquire of their God?… To the teaching and the testimony! If they will not speak according to this Word (of the Lord), it is because they have no dawn” - they are living in “distress and thick darkness” (Isaiah 8:19-22).
How do we “inquire of the Lord” today? We certainly pray, but especially we also listen to the Word of God, the Scriptures, which come from the prophets and apostles, inspired by God. We can do that by reading our Bibles and listening to the Word in worship and Bible studies. We don’t have “priests,” but we do have pastors and teachers and others who can help us understand the Word better and help us avoid false teachers. We can ask questions, too, and seek better understanding. (See the warning God gives through the prophet Malachi, in his day, to some priests: “The lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your teaching” (Malachi 2:7-9).)
I will stop here, and we’ll continue next week, as we hear more warnings about what is predicted for Judah and Jerusalem and other nations and the whole world. Obviously, God had not totally given up on people, as He was still sending prophets like Zephaniah to wake people up, as he did with Josiah.
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Sermon for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered November 13, 2011
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
The Scripture readings this week are heavy with the Law, warning of the coming judgment of God upon individuals and Israel and eventually upon the whole earth because of sin and rebellion against God by so many. There is still hope in the Lord, through Christ, for those brought to be faithful servants, trusting the Lord.
The Psalm is Psalm 90:1-12, a prayer of Moses, recognizing that God was to be the “dwelling place” of people; yet because of “our sins and iniquities,” we are under the anger and wrath of God, with much “toil and trouble” and a limited life. Moses prays that we may be “taught” to “number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom,” and right after our reading, prays that God would “satisfy us with His steadfast love” and “make us glad,” even in times of “affliction” (v.14-15).
The Old Testament lesson is from “the Word of the Lord” given to the prophet Zephaniah in Zephaniah 1:7-16. The people of Judah and Jerusalem are to be silent because a day of wrath is coming to people who are “complacent,” following the practices of false gods and saying, “The Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.” Therefore, “a day of clouds and thick darkness” will come upon them - and eventually, “the great day of the Lord’s “ruin and devastation” and “distress on mankind” because they have sinned against the Lord.” (Hope in the Lord does come, but not until about the middle of Zephaniah 3:9ff.)
The Gospel lesson is another of the parables of Jesus, told during Holy Week, just a few days before His suffering and death. Jesus tells of a Master entrusting His money to His servants to take care of while He is away, giving to each according to his ability. When He returned, a servant given five talents of money had earned five more, and a servant with two talents had earned two more. Each is called a “faithful servant” and “enters into the joy of his Master.” One servant, however, sees his master as a hard man and is afraid and hides his talent of money and earns nothing. Only he is in trouble, being “wicked and slothful.” That “worthless” servant, who does not trust his Master, is cast into “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” - one of the Biblical descriptions of hell.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. Paul also speaks of “the day of the Lord” as coming “like a thief in the night,” at an unexpected time, bringing “sudden destruction” upon those unprepared. God’s people are in the “light of Christ,” though, and are not “destined for wrath,” but will “obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.” We will live with Him always,” even if we die, as we stay awake, spiritually, with the Lord’s gifts of “faith and love and hope.” We can “encourage and build up one another” with this amazing hope in Christ.
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
One of our Scripture readings for this coming Sunday is from the book of the prophet Zephaniah, from the Old Testament. (See the “Preparing for Worship” for this week to see how this reading fits in with the other readings for November 19, 2023.) I don’t think that I have presented a study on Zephaniah for a long time and so decided to make this our new study. I will mainly focus on an introduction to Zephaniah today.
Zephaniah is one of the “Minor Prophets” found near the end of the Old Testament. They are called “minor” only in the sense that they are shorter prophetic books than much longer books like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Zephaniah has only three chapters, yet it is equally and entirely “the Word of the Lord,” just as the rest of the Old and New Testament writings are.
We know nothing about Zephaniah, other than what is told us in his book. Zephaniah 1:1 tells us that the Lord revealed His Word to him during the reign of Josiah as King of Judah. Josiah ruled from 640-609 BC, after the terrible reign of Manasseh from 687-642 BC, and his son, Amon, for two more years. Manasseh is considered the worst of the kings of Judah, pushing idolatry, injustice, and cruelty. “He shed very much innocent blood,” and led the people into much sin (2 Kings 21:16).
Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king, when the evil influence of Manasseh was still very great. It was likely during these early years that Zephaniah did much of his prophecy and writing, condemning the wrongdoing in Judah and other nations. It was not until the 18th year of Josiah’s reign that “the Book of the Law” was found in the temple, having been lost and ignored for many years. Josiah was shocked at what he heard and began to introduce many reforms in Judah, calling people back to the One True God, as Zephaniah did. The strong warnings of Zephaniah, along with the prophecy of Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Nahum, would have been very helpful to him.
The genealogy of Zephaniah is long, including a reference that might be to Hezekiah, an earlier king, and to Cushi, normally an Ethiopian or Nubian name. That means that Zephaniah may have had both some royal and foreign blood in him, though we do not know for sure. Scholars even argue over what Zephaniah’s name means, “The Lord (Yahweh) has hidden” or “treasured” or “cherished,” etc. All this about Zephaniah is not so important, though. As Dr. Franzmann says, “The divine message is more important than the messenger; Zephaniah lives in history and is significant to us because the Word of the Lord came to him” (Zephaniah 1:1). Next week, we will get into what that Word was. The Lord’s blessings.
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Sermon for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered November 11, 2023
We Will Always Be with the Lord
We are now in the last three weeks of this church year, and the Scriptures turn our thoughts to times of the end of the world and the return of Christ on the Last Day.
Paul was inspired by God to write the words of our text because there was confusion and uncertainty among some about what would happen. Some seemed to think that Jesus was coming back very quickly, within their own lifetime. But now, some of their loved ones, who were believers, were beginning to die. What would happen to them? Would they be OK, even though Jesus hadn’t yet returned?
Paul writes, “We do not want you to be uninformed (to not know), brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul uses the term “sleep” here, referring to “death.” That does not mean sleep as we know it, though. We can’t explain how all this works, but other Scriptures describe death as the separation of the body and the soul, or spirit, of a person. An Old Testament passage says, “The body goes to the ground, but the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Paul described death as “departing and being with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
Jesus Himself said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also” (John 14:3). We also heard last week of John’s vision of countless believers, saints, already in heaven, enjoying its blessings, with Christ, the Lamb of God. The spirits of our loved ones who have died are clearly already in heaven, with its blessings.
We grieve at the death of loved ones because of our being separated from them and the pain that brings to us, but we do not sorrow as others do who have no hope. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “the ones who have no hope” are those who lived and died, “separated from Christ” and are “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
As Paul goes on to say in our text, we have absolute confidence about our loved ones and ourselves, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again” for us (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and to forgive us for all our sins and failures that would otherwise separate us from God.
And, Paul says, Jesus also “rose again” from the dead, in a bodily way. The grave was empty on Easter morning. Not only the spirit of Jesus was alive, but His body, too - and His body was raised and changed and glorified, and He ascended bodily into heaven to prepare a place for us.
And since Jesus is God the Son, along with being a true man, to do His saving work, He is also able to be with us in this life and give us what we need to sustain us as His people. Paul put it this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10, not long after the words of our text: We have “the breastplate of faith and love” as a gift from the Lord, “and for a helmet, the hope of salvation” - the certainty of our eternal future. “For,” Paul writes,” God has not destined us for wrath (though we do deserve it because of our sins) but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.”
The souls of our loved ones are already enjoying the blessings of heaven, and we, still alive on earth, have Christ with us, too, through His Word and Baptism and the amazing gift of His Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper. We are all united in our Savior’s love.
What happens then on the last day, with the return of Christ? Look again at our text. Paul writes, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The souls of all those who have died in Christ and have been in heaven will now come along with Jesus. As Paul said earlier in this same letter - this will be “the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Why do they need to come along, too?
Paul writes, in our text, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” This will be the day of the resurrection of the bodies of all believers! Their bodies and souls will then be reunited.
But what happens to believers who are still alive at the return of Christ? Paul answers that question, too, in our text. He says, “For this we declare to you by a Word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede (go ahead of) those who have fallen asleep… The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). If we are still alive when Jesus returns, we won’t have to die. We will simply be raised and changed to our heavenly body and soul.
This is what was described by Paul also in 1 Corinthians 15:51: “Behold! I tell you a mystery... we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” God will do all this for us, in the twinkling of an eye. And Paul then ends our text with the statement, “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
We need that encouragement always, don’t we? We live in such a troubled world, and we face lots of challenges and difficulties and even death itself, with the loss of family or friends and our own illnesses. Sometimes we have doubts and questions that we struggle with, and we hear people's voices and ideas that are very different from what you just heard from Paul.
As I was beginning to work on this sermon, a few weeks ago, I saw a list of best-selling books in our local newspaper. #7 on that list was a book called The Great Disappearance: 31 Ways to be Rapture Ready, by a fairly famous preacher, in some circles. I listened to a sermon of his on the internet to see what he really said, based on the same Scripture text we just looked at. He says that this is not about the second coming of Christ at the end, but about a “secret rapture” when all Christians on earth will suddenly disappear, to escape seven years of great trouble on earth (even though Jesus said that we would have tribulation in this world in John 16:33 and Revelation 9:14). This preacher also says that our loved ones who died have never yet been in heaven, but are sleeping in a sort of hotel of the resurrection and won’t be awakened until this “rapture” happens. He even predicts that he will still be alive when this “secret rapture” happens, very soon.
I don’t have time to go on and on with this, but watch out for misleading ideas about a rapture and talk about several comings of Christ in the future and a millennial kingdom when Christ comes back to reign on earth in Jerusalem, etc. Ignore such talk and just trust simple, straightforward Scriptures like the one we just looked at, with a focus on Christ as our Hope and Savior and His one return on the last day.
We say with Paul, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Let us rise for prayer. “Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds safe (only where they can be safe) in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Philippians 4:7). Amen.
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Monday Nov 06, 2023
We are now in the last three weeks of the Church Year. There is a lot of focus on the “end times” and the return of Christ. We see that already in our readings for this Sunday.
The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 5:18-24. Amos warns the people of Israel that “the day of the Lord” could be a day of judgment and “darkness and gloom,” if they are just going through the motions of worship and offerings and actually are following false gods and false ways. Amos calls them back to God’s ways of “justice “ and the “righteousness” that comes only from Him and trusting His mercy and truth and forgiveness, ultimately in Christ Jesus.
The Psalm is Psalm 70. David’s life is in danger from his enemies. He prays that the Lord would “make haste” (hurry) to “deliver and help” him. He is confident that the One True God is “great,” and he “loves” and trusts His “salvation” through the Lord, even though he is “poor and needy” as he writes this psalm. All can “rejoice and be glad” in the Lord and His mercy for them.
The Gospel lesson is a parable of Jesus from Matthew 25:1-13. Ten virgins were assigned to wait for the coming of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, at an unknown time. Five were foolish and unprepared, without enough oil for their lamps. Five brought extra oil with them and were prepared and welcomed the Bridegroom. They went into the marriage feast, but the door was then shut, and it was too late for others to be allowed in. The fact that Jesus says to those left outside, “I do not know you,” indicates that they did not have the saving gift of faith in Jesus. Jesus calls His followers, then, to watch and wait for His return with confident faith and trust in Him and to keep listening to His voice, in His Word. (Jesus said, in John 10, “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name… The sheep follow Him, for they know His voice" (v.3-4)... "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know Me" (v.14).
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul speaks about those who have already “fallen asleep” (died) in faith before Jesus returns on the last day. Do we still have hope for them and their eternal future, too? Absolutely, says Paul, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” for the salvation of all believers. When believers die, their souls, their spirits, depart and are with Christ in heaven (Philippians 1:21,23). Their bodies return to the ground. When Jesus returns, “God will bring with Him the souls of those who have fallen asleep” (died) in faith. Their bodies will be raised first and changed and glorified and reunited with their souls. Then, the believers who are still alive on earth at that time will be “caught up together with them” and changed and glorified, and we will always be with the Lord in eternal life. This is a message of great encouragement and hope for and about all believers, past, present, and future.
Our future is secure in Christ. And until Jesus returns, on that last day of this existence, there is still time for more people to be brought to faith in Jesus. As Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”