The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - October 31, 2021

October 31 is now Halloween; but in the Lutheran church, it is the 504th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation, when Martin Luther posted on a church door (the "internet" in those days) in Germany 95 Theses, statements about church beliefs that he thought ought to be discussed. Eventually, out of that discussion came the Lutheran church. The Scriptural readings for this Sunday help us reflect on some of the key Biblical ideas that Lutherans emphasize.

The first lesson is not from the Old Testament, but from the last book of the New Testament, Revelation 14:6-7. Here is a prophecy of an “angel” (a messenger) proclaiming an “eternal Gospel” to everyone on earth. “Worship” must be in God and His Word, not based on the ideas of human beings. Only then, trusting that Word from God, are we ready for the return of the Lord and the “Day of Judgment.”

The Psalm is Psalm 46, which reminds us that “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help” in all the troubles and challenges we face in our lives. He is with us and like a “fortress” for us, helping us to deal with all our fears, as we trust in Him. This psalm was a great inspiration for Luther in writing his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”

The Epistle lesson is Romans 3:19-28, a key passage that helped Luther and helps us to understand that we can never be justified, acceptable and right with God, by our own efforts to do enough good to please God. Instead, the Law of God “shuts our mouths” and shows us what sinners we really are. It was Jesus Who was perfectly good and righteous in our place and Who redeemed us by paying for all our sins on the cross. We are justified simply “by faith in Jesus, apart from works” that we have done to keep the Law.

There are two choices for the Gospel lesson. The first is John 8:31-36. Jesus told believers, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Jesus was speaking of slavery to sin and the condemnation for sin, a problem for everyone, from which only Jesus could set people free. He is “the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6); and only through “faith in Him” are people “free indeed” and heirs of eternal life.

The other Gospel reading is from Matthew 11:12-19. Jesus is speaking here, too, and says that those in “the kingdom of heaven” by faith, while still here on earth, often “suffer violence.” It was true for John the Baptist and is true for Jesus, also, because people are often like selfish children, wanting what they want instead of what God wants for them in John and especially in Christ. But the “wisdom of God” would ultimately show itself and be “justified” (shown to be true) in the saving work of Jesus. Jesus Himself is later called “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).

All these are truths we still try to proclaim to the world, as Lutherans.

Bible Study on 2 Thessalonians - Part 3 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

Last week, we heard warnings about Satan and his continuing desire to draw people away from Jesus and the truth about Him as our Savior. Satan often uses people who are forces for evil, sometimes called “antichrists” or “antichrist” or in 2 Thessalonians, “the man of lawlessness” or just “lawlessness.”

In spite of all this, Paul went on to give strong encouragement to the believers in Thessalonica, in 2 Thess. 2:13-15. He said for the third time in these two short letters, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you.” (See also 1 Thess. 1:2 and 2 Thess. 1:3.) God is and must be thanked because of all that He has been doing for these believers, to bring them to faith and to keep them in that faith in Him.

Paul piled up the words, describing the blessings God had given them to help them deal with the challenges they faced. God “dearly loved” them. God “chose” them, as some of the first people (“firstfruits” of God’s work) to be “saved” (rescued by God). God had “sanctified” them through the Holy Spirit. They were forgiven and counted as holy people, acceptable to God, “by the Spirit,” as they were also brought to “belief in the truth” of Jesus and His perfect life and saving work, credited to them. To this belief, centered in the “Lord Jesus Christ,” God Himself “called” them, “through the Gospel” that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy preached. Through trust in this Good News, the believers in Thessalonica would one day be able to be with Christ in “glory” in eternal life. (Notice that everything that Paul mentioned in v. 13-14 was Christ's work and doing for them. None of it was earned or deserved by any of them. It was all the gift of God.)

In verse 15, Paul called upon the believers in Thessalonica to “stand firm” in their faith and to “hold to what they were taught” by the “words spoken” or the “letters written” by Paul and the others. Paul used here the word “traditions” which simply means the “teachings handed down” by God to the prophets and apostles, including Paul, and then handed down by them to others.

In this passage Paul was clearly talking about the Word of God itself that Paul shared with others. Remember what He had said in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 - that what he spoke and wrote was “really the true Word of God” and not “the word of men.” (See 1 Corinthians 11:2,23 and 15:3 and Hebrews 2:3, where “things handed down” were also the Word of God. In fact, all of the Scriptures are “God-breathed” and come from God and are delivered to us through these prophets and apostles. See 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and John 8:31-32 and 17:14-17, for example.)

At the same time, the Scriptures also warn about “traditions” handed on from generation to generation  that are simply "words of men” and did not come from God and even contradict what God says in the Scriptures He gave us. (See the discussion of Jesus with the Jewish religious authorities in Mark 7:1-12.) Frankly, many of the differences among various religious denominations and groups come from people adding traditions, “words of men," to the Word of God, or from people using “words of men” to reject Scriptures they do not like, and then insisting that others must do what they do to have the real “truth.”

Scripture does not “contain” the Word, and then we have to figure out what is “true” and what is not. Scripture is entirely the Word of God; and conservative Lutherans say it is ”the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged.” (See Psalm 119:105 and Galatians 1:8, for example.) “Other writings of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their names, should not be put on a par with Holy Scriptures. Every single one of them should be subordinated to the Scriptures.” This includes Martin Luther or Popes or Church Councils or any particular pastors, including the one who is writing this today. You should always compare what is said with what the Scriptures say.

One last thought: most churches do have certain human “traditions” that they follow. That is OK, as long as these traditions do not contradict Scripture and as long as we do not make these traditions into new “Laws” that everyone must follow or they are doing wrong, as if these human ideas were clearly taught and commanded in Scripture.

As he sometimes did, Paul then stopped and offered a prayer at this point in his letter, 2 Thess.2:16-17, that God the Father and God the Son (together with God the Holy Spirit) would bring “comfort to the hearts” of the believers in Thessalonica  and “establish” them in doing all sorts of “good works” and in speaking “good words.” Again, Paul prays that these believers would be enabled to use good words and do good works in order to thank God for His good gifts and honor Him and be useful people and help others in this life. They are not to do good works thinking they will earn God’s favor and be able to attain salvation, as a result. Earlier in this prayer Paul had affirmed that God already “loved” all believers and had given them (and us) “good hope” for their future and even “eternal comfort” for their future after this life “through His grace.” All this is through His good news and mercy and favor toward us, given as a gift. It does not need to be earned.

As 2 Thess. 3 begins, Paul asked the Thessalonian believers to pray for him and his fellow workers, too. First, he needed their prayers “that the Word of the Lord would speed ahead (literally, “run”) and be honored by more people as they heard that Word. (v.1) Paul knew that the Word had power and was “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12), because the Holy Spirit was at work, whenever that Word was used.

Paul had seen the power of the Word in the short time he had to speak it to the people at Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1:4-7). “It happened among you,” he reminded them. Paul also needed prayer because of continuing trouble “from wicked and evil men” who opposed him sharing it with others because they did not “have faith.” He need to be “delivered” from such people. Also, the evident fact that “not all have faith” was a clear indication that many more people needed to hear the Good News of Christ. But, Paul said, “the Lord is faithful” (2 Thess. 3:2-3).

The Lord would be faithful in helping Paul and Silvanus and Timothy in their work; and He would be faithful to the Thessalonian believers in their struggles, too. The Lord “will establish you and guard you against evil and the evil one.” Paul had confidence that this would happen because he had confidence in the Lord and His promises. Paul was confident that the Lord would also lead the believers to keep on doing the things Paul commanded them to do. (We will hear more about this and what he wants to have happen, next week, as Paul closed this letter (2 Thess. 3:3-4). 

All this will happen, Paul said, as “the Lord kept directing their hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness (the patient endurance) of Christ in His dealings with them and others (2 Thess. 3:5). (May our own study of the Word help us to see more clearly God’s love and Christ’s steadfastness toward us, too. He is also faithful to us. And may we, too, pray that the Word of God will reach more and more people these days, as well. For certainly, it is still very true that “not all have faith.”

Sermon for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost - October 24, 2021

Sermon for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Jeremiah 31:7-9

Hebrews 7:23-28

Mark 10:46-52 

Sermon originally delivered October 28, 2012

Preparing for Worship - October 24, 2021

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, has Good News for his people in Jeremiah 31:7-9. After the weeping and sorrows of exile in Babylon, because of their sin and rebellion, God will bring a remnant of His people back to Israel in joy. He will be like a shepherd to them, and ransom and redeem them from hands too strong for them. Read also v.10-11.

The Psalm, Psalm 126, is a psalm of joy at the return of God’s people to their homeland after the exile, as God had promised through Jeremiah. “The Lord has done great things for them.” At the same time, there are still sorrows and troubles, even in Israel, and the people need to keep praying, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord.”

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 10:46-52, Jesus shows that He is that promised Shepherd for His sheep. He even gathers in a “blind beggar," as predicted in the Old Testament lesson. Jesus heals the man physically, so that he can see again, but also heals him spiritually, so that he follows Jesus in faith and salvation.

The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 7:23-28, explains why Jesus could be the Savior of people. He was a sinless high priest who offered Himself up once for all, like a perfect sacrificial Lamb, in payment for the sins of all people by His death on the cross. He also rose from the dead and continues alive forever in order to intercede on behalf of all those who draw near to God through Him. Through Him, they (and we) are helped and saved.

Bible Study on 2 Thessalonians - Part 2 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Last week, we studied 2 Thessalonians 1 and heard Paul reassuring the people of the Thessalonian church that their eternal future was secure, whenever Jesus returned, as they continued to trust not in themselves and their goodness and efforts, but in the grace of God and what He had already done for them in Christ Jesus their Savior. In contrast, those who lived and died without faith, apart from Christ, would continue always apart from God and all His blessings in Christ.

As Chapter 2 begins, Paul spoke about “the coming or our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him.” Apparently, some people were confused and thought that Jesus had already come back again and they had somehow missed Him. Some may have thought that they had received a direct message from some sort of “spirit” who told them this. Others may have have heard this from someone claiming to be a Christian disciple like Paul. Still others may have heard this from a letter claiming to be from Paul and yet which was not genuine or true (2 Thess. 2:1-2).

Paul told the Thessalonians “not be be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed" by such messages. “Let no one deceive you in any way,” he said. The return of Christ has not yet come, and “That day will not come” until other things have taken place (v.3). Paul also reminded the people that when he had been with them before, he had told them “these things” (v.5). There would be “rebellion” against God and “the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction” would be revealed. This one would “oppose and exalt himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (v.3-4).

Something was “restraining him," this evil one, at the time Paul wrote. However, “the mystery of lawlessness” was already at work in the world (v.6-7). All of this seems to be a reference to the work of sin and Satan in what are called in other places “antichrists” - people rejecting Christ Jesus and God’s plan of salvation through Him, revealed in God’s Word.

Such opposition to God and His will was prophesied in the Old Testament and in the rebellion of many of God’s own chosen people against Him. See passages in Ezekiel and in Daniel, for example. (See Daniel 7:23-27, 8:23-25, 9:27, 11: 31,36-37, 12:11, etc. If you want to study this more, go back in the podcasts to the study of Daniel and see comments there.)

Jesus also had predicted such troubled times ahead and opposition to Him and His Gospel. See Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, where there are predictions of weeds being planted among wheat, where Satan will try to do his evil work among believers. See also the predictions in Matthew 24:4-5,15-16,24-25. Paul was likely quoting from Jesus in 2 Thess. 2:2-3, for he uses some of the same words that Jesus uses in Matt. 24. See predictions that the Apostle John also made in 1 John 2:18-20 and 4:1-6, about “antichrists” and “antichrist” and “false prophets."

Go back to 2 Thess. 2:6-7 now. We do not know just what Paul meant by someone or something “restraining” the lawlessness for a time. Some think it was the power and control of the Roman Empire, until it collapsed. The Romans persecuted Christians at times and were very opposed to them. The Romans also did some good, too, with good roads and some peace and stability in the Empire, allowing Christianity to spread to many places, through the witness of Christian people about Jesus and His Word.

In the Dark Ages and Medieval times that followed, much power became concentrated in the Roman Catholic Church in the Western world. Popes grew in power and many traditions and new teachings were added that went far beyond Scripture and contradicted the Biblical teaching of salvation through Jesus and what He did for us. By 1302, Pope Boniface VIII declared in Unam Sanctam that “It is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff” (the Pope). One could not be saved without following what the Pope said, whether it agreed with Scripture or not.

By the time of the Reformation in the 1500’s, Luther and others concluded that the Office of the Papacy (the Pope) sounded a lot like what Paul warned about in 2 Thess. 2:4: “he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself” almost “to be God” and taking on powers that belong only to God and making laws and decrees that are not Scriptural and making salvation dependent upon our works, in addition to the grace of God.  

Since that time, there have been changes in the Roman Church, but still concerns about mixing faith and works as the means of salvation and about other teachings. Sadly, some Lutherans and other Protestant groups have drifted away from God’s Word, too. Note what Paul warned about in 2 Thess. 2:8-12, as well, in describing this “lawlessness." “Sin is lawlessness,” John wrote (1 John 3:4). This does not refer to breaking the laws of our government, though that can also be sin. This passage refers to breaking any of the laws and will of God and anything God tells us and wishes for us in the Scriptures.

The one behind all lawlessness is Satan himself. Jesus said to those who opposed Him, ”You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:44-45).
Satan wants to keep unbelievers in unbelief and draw believers away from the truth of God and His Word and from Jesus and pull them into error and unbelief.

Paul put it this way: The coming of the lawlessness is by the activity of Satan, “with false signs and wonders and all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thess. 2:9-10). Paul also gave the sober warning that if people “do not believe the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness," they can eventually have “strong delusion” and really “believe what is false,” ending up in “condemnation” (2 Thess. 2:11-12).

Other Scriptures warn about the same dangers. See Romans 1:18-32. People “suppress” the truth of God and His Word and begin to “worship and serve things in the created world, rather than the Creator.” Over time, “they become futile in their thinking," though, “claiming to be wise.” They “do what ought not to be done.” (Here is one of the strongest Biblical condemnations of homosexual behavior, with its possible consequences. But, if you read on, Paul mentions “all manner of unrighteousness," and all of us can find our own sins and struggles in the list, for which we too need to repent and return to our Lord for His mercy and forgiveness. Verse 32 warns that if we follow down the wrong path, away from our Lord, we continue to do much wrong and even “approve of those who practice” the wrong things. Doesn’t that sound too much like our own society today?)

See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 to see what Satan and “the man of lawlessness” want to do - to blind people to the truth and try to pull them away from God. But read also what God continues to do, in 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 and 5-6. God provides His Word, and the Holy Spirit working through that Word, to give us the truth, as we keep reading and studying it, as we are doing right now. And He provides teachers like Paul, “who proclaim not themselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,” with the eternal “light” He brings us, “out of the darkness.”
   As we go back to 2 Thess. 2, then, remember what Paul also said in v.8. The "lawless one will be revealed,” but Jesus has already won the ultimate victory for us, as our Savior, and when He returns on the last day, He will “kill” all this evil “with the breath of His mouth” and “bring it to nothing” and “gather” us and all believers, living and dead, to Himself in everlasting life and joy (v.1 and 1 Thess. 4:16-18). That is our hope and confidence in Christ.

Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost - October 17, 2021

Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

Hebrews 4:1-16

Mark 10:23-31

Sermon originally delivered October 21, 2012

Preparing for Worship - October 17, 2021

The Old Testament reading, Ecclesiastes 5:10-20, focuses on a theme we heard last week - the danger of the love of money. “He who loves money will not be satisfied.” There never seems to be enough, others want more from us, we lose sleep and can have bad ventures and can take none of it with us when we die, and on and on. Rather, we are called to do our work, whether rich or poor, and find joy in the gifts God gives us.

Those gifts of God are evident as we listen to and meditate on His Word, the psalmist tells us in Psalm 119:9-16. The teachings of the Lord are better than “all riches” and guard us from evil and guide us into what is best for us. We say, “Blessed are You, O Lord.”

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 10:23-31, Jesus talks about “how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God” when we are depending on our riches or anything we are or have or can do on our own. That path of self-reliance can never save anyone. “With man it is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God,” Jesus says. Trust then in God and His Good News in Christ!

Our only hope is in Christ, our Epistle lesson, from Hebrews 4:1-16, tells us. The Word of God is “a sharp, two-edged sword” which shows us our sins and our need for a Savior. The Word also shows us Jesus, “Who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet was without sin.” Through His perfect life in our place, and His sacrifice to pay for all of our sins, we can approach God “with confidence” and find His “mercy and grace in every time of need.” We “rest from our works” and trust in the work of Jesus for us; and one day, we will have eternal rest and peace in heaven. “We who have believed enter that rest.”

Bible Study on 2 Thessalonians - Part 1 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

This week, we begin a study of 2 Thessalonians, Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica, a city in the Roman province of Macedonia and today a city in the northern part of Greece. I will not repeat background information already covered in the introduction and study of 1 Thessalonians. You can look back in the podcasts to see that information if you have joined us after we started 1 Thessalonians. You can also read Acts 17:1-14 and 18:1-11 again. It was likely from Corinth that Paul wrote both letters to the Thessalonians.

Most likely, Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians within 6 months or so after he wrote his first letter. He had somehow heard that some people had misunderstood or were reacting in wrong ways to what he had written in the original letter. Some seem to have heard that they were to be “blameless” on the day of Jesus’ return and thought they had to live perfect lives and knew they were far from perfect and unprepared. (See 1 Thess. 3:12-13 and 5:23-24. Paul had already said that they were counted “sanctified” and holy, “blameless” through what God did for them, in Christ, and not through their own efforts. He wanted to emphasize that grace of God even more, though, in this second letter, as we will see.)

Others seemed to be thinking that maybe Jesus had already come back, and they had somehow missed Him. Still others seemed so sure that Jesus was coming back very soon, that they might as well quit their jobs and other responsibilities and just sit and wait for Him. Paul responded to these false ideas, too, and told a little more, as God inspired him to write about what would still happen before the return of Jesus and what God’s people were to be doing in the meantime, as they waited for Him.

2 Thessalonians begins with almost the same words as 1 Thessalonians (2 Thess. 1:1-2). Paul identified himself as the author of this second letter, along with his co-workers, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy. The people of the church existed “in” and “from” “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” All Christian believers, including Paul and us today, have come to faith only through “grace” - the undeserved love and favor and saving work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (spoken of in 2:13). This grace from God gives believers the blessing of peace with God and helps us to live in greater peace with one another, as well. (Again, I will not repeat all that was already said in my notes on 1 Thess. 1:1-2. Go back to that for more detail.)

In 2 Thess. 1:3-4, Paul said that he was “obligated” to give thanks to God for the believers in Thessalonica, “as is right” and proper, because of their growing faith and love for each other, even in the midst of continuing “persecutions” and “afflictions." Note that Paul did not boast about himself or even about the believers themselves. He gave thanks to God, because God was enabling all of this. It was by God’s love and work in these believers that they were remaining “steadfast” in faith. For that, Paul is thankful to God.

These verses are still a reminder to us today that God is also at work for our good, even in our troubled times, and can help our faith in Him to grow stronger. See other Scriptures, such as Romans 5:2-5 and 8:17-18, 28, and 2 Corinthians 4:17. (If you have the latest version of a Lutheran Study Bible, you will find a great description on p. 2061, in comments on 2 Thess. 1:4, of what we can learn from our Lord in times of difficulty. If you would like me to include those words in the next study, let me know.)

In 2 Thess. 1:5-7, Paul also said that these tough times will not last forever. As Jesus suffered in this earthly life, so we will also “suffer” some trouble in this life, as we seek to follow Him. This is “evidence” and points out that we are still in “the kingdom of God“ as we continue to trust our Lord even in hard times. (See also Romans 8:14-17 and Philippians 1:27-30.) There will be “relief,” in God’s good timing, and for sure at the return of Jesus, when we will have perfect peace and rest in eternal life, with our Lord. (See, for example, Hebrews 4:9-10 and Psalm 30:5.)

Paul went on to talk about another aspect of the second coming of Christ, that he had said little about in 1 Thessalonians. The return of Christ will also be a time of judgment for those who “afflict” believers and continue in unbelief and oppose God and His will in Christ. Jesus will return "with His mighty angels in flaming fire” (2 Thess. 1:7-8). Fire can be a symbol of God’s good presence, as in Exodus 3:2 and the Holy Spirit’s work in Acts 2 and the angels in Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7. But the Scriptures also speak of the “consuming fire” of judgment for those apart from the Lord. (See Isaiah 66:15-16 and Hebrews 10:26-27 and Jesus’ own words in the Gospels. See Luke 16:22-24 for example.)

There can be consequences of sin in this life. See Romans 1:18 and 1:24,26,28. The worst consequences, though, are after this life, in “hell.” God wants no one to end up there. (See 1 Timothy 2:3-4.) That is why the warnings of hell are in the Scriptures and why Jesus speaks about hell more than anyone else in the Scriptures.

There is still time to be brought to faith, as long it is “today,” before the return of Christ. See Hebrews 3:12-15. But if one dies in unbelief, without Christ, that is how one will be for eternity. See Paul’s words in 2 Thess. 1:8-9. People will not be eternally destroyed, in the sense of being annihilated. They will be “away forever from the presence of the Lord” and all His blessings. Literally, they will be away from “the face of the Lord”.

In contrast, the believers in Thessalonica and all believers who continue in faith will have eternal life and joy and enjoy God’s presence and blessings always. A benediction we often use in worship says, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance (His face) upon you and give you peace” (Leviticus 6:22-27).

We have the blessings of God already, as we trust in Him. His promises are sure for us. At the same time, as sinners, we can only “see” God indirectly, through His Word (which tells us all that we need) and in our baptism (the water with the Word, blessed by the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith) and the Lord’s Supper (where we still see only bread and wine, but know by faith that Jesus actually is with us, in His very Body and Blood, in this Holy Meal, for our forgiveness and strength). See 1 John 3:1-2. We are God’s children, and in heaven “we shall see Him as He is.” The psalmist says, “I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15).

In the final verses of chapter 1, Paul went out of his way to try to make clear again to the Thessalonians that those who will be in heaven will be there, not by their own “blameless” living, but by the blameless work of God in Christ and His perfect blessings earned for us. The “saints” are not especially holy people who merited eternal life. The saints are simply “all who have believed” the “testimony” of the Scriptures about God and Jesus as Savior (2 Thess. 1:10).

Paul prayed, too, that the Thessalonian believers would know by God’s grace through faith that God “makes us worthy of His calling." He calls us and “fulfills every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power" - not by our power and goodness. The One Who is glorified is Jesus and His perfect life, death and resurrection for us. Only indirectly are we glorified and counted blameless, in and through Him (2 Thess. 1:11-12).

Isaiah trusted, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). Paul wrote, near the end of his life, “I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That includes the believers at Thessalonica, and you and me, too. May Paul’s prayer be answered in our lives also. That is “the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:12). “He will surely do it” (1 Thess. 5:24).

Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost - October 10, 2021

Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

Hebrews 3:12-19

Mark 10:17-22

Sermon originally delivered October 14, 2012

Preparing for Worship - October 10, 2021

The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is from Amos 5:6-7, 10-15. Amos had been sent to warn the Northern Kingdom of Israel to repent and return to the Lord. Things seemed to be going well under King Jeroboam, but there was much evil and corruption and refusal to follow the one true God faithfully. Amos preached, “Seek the Lord and live.” but also warned of coming judgment, if apart from the Lord. God still wanted to “be gracious to the remnant” of His people - as He was with the coming of Jesus as Savior.

The Psalm is a psalm of Moses, Psalm 90:12-17. In the opening verses, Moses warned of the shortness of life and the consequences of sin (Romans 6:23). Then he prayed, “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” That wisdom only comes from God and seeing His steadfast love and forgiveness and favor for us, as we repent and rejoice in Him.

The Epistle is from Hebrews 3:12-19 and is another warning for people not “to fall away from the living God" into “evil, unbelieving hearts.” We “have come to share in Christ” and by His grace we can “hold our original confidence firm to the end.” The greatest danger for us or anyone is “unbelief.” (See Mark 16:16.)

In the Gospel lesson, Jesus meets a rich man who trusts in his own goodness and his wealth. Jesus challenges him to give up his tight hold on his possessions. “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said. Instead, the man “went away” from Jesus, still in false trust in himself. (That is still a danger. See Luke 12:32-34 and 1 Timothy 6:16-21.)