March 20, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
If I were to ask you the question, “What is the most beautiful portion of the Scriptures?” What would your answer be? Would your answer be a simple, “Job 19:23-27” where Job confesses his knowledge that his redeemer is living and that one day Job himself will see him standing upon the earth. Would your answer be, “Psalm 23” or, “Psalm 46” where the Psalmists speak of the Lord as our Shepherd and the Lord as our Fortress? Would your answer be, “Isaiah 53” Where Isaiah prophecies about the coming Christ? Would your answer be, “Luke 2” where Luke speaks about all the events surrounding Jesus birth? Or would your answer be, “Ephesians 2:8-9” because there is such great comfort in knowing that our salvation comes by God’s grace and it is not based on anything that we have done! Well, if you’re like most people, these words from Ephesians 2:8-9 are very familiar to you. Even if they are not your favorite section of Scripture, they are words that we have learned since we were little children. They are words that we learned over and over in Sunday school, Confirmation class, and they are words that regularly come up in Bible Study. In fact, these very words that Paul includes in our text, are words that assure us beyond that shadow of a doubt that we have been saved, not by anything we have done! Rather, we have been saved by God’s great love for us. We have been saved by God’s grace!
We have been saved by God’s grace! Now if you really sit down to think about it, that is a very powerful statement! That is a very powerful statement, because by telling us that we have been saved by God’s Grace, the Apostle Paul is assuring us that our salvation did not come by anything we had done! Rather, it was motivated out of God’s great love for us, as he tells us in verses 4 and 5 of our text. Paul writes, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Even though we didn’t deserve it, our God saved us by his grace. Even though we were at one time dead in our transgressions and sins, our God made us alive in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Even though we were nothing but his enemies who wanted nothing to do with him, our God loved us so much that he willingly sent his son to be our Savior. Even though we were once nothing more than a lifeless corpse lying on a mortician’s table, unable to do anything for us because we were thoroughly and completely dead, the Lord God loved us and cared for us. The Lord God in his mercy treated us in a way that we did not deserve. The Lord our God looked upon us poor, reached, dead, damned and detestable sinners, and he showered us with his grace when he sent his Son to make us alive. Though we were dead in our trespasses and sins and couldn’t reach out to our God, couldn’t turn to him, cry out to him for help, or even turn our eyes toward him because we were powerless, in his great grace, the Lord Jesus came to us and made us alive in him by creating faith in our hearts. Through his great grace, the Lord Jesus, our Savior, breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and through faith in him we became his living children!
But that isn’t the end of the story! For Jesus didn’t simply make us alive in himself and then leave us trapped in the tomb of our own sinfulness! Rather, in his great grace, the Lord our God raised us up with Christ, as Paul tells us, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-7)
What an incredible picture Paul is painting for us! For here, with these very words, Paul is assuring us that in the very same way that Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father, we too have been raised from the death of our sins to life in Christ Jesus our Savior. In the same way that Jesus escaped the prison of the tomb that sought to keep him in, so also Jesus released us from the tomb of our sins when he raised us up with him through his grace. In the same way that the angel rolled the stone away so that all the world would see that Jesus was no longer dead, but risen, so also the Lord has rolled the stone of our transgressions away from the tomb of our iniquities so that all the world might see that by his grace, we have been raised from the death of our sins to life with Christ!
Now, just as Jesus has been seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms, our God has seated us there with him! Not that we are actually and physically sitting with our God in heaven or that our faith has projected us to that place as if we were holograms, rather this is simply another assurance for us as forgiven children of God’s grace, that because we have been raised with Christ, heaven is our home. Because we have been raised with Christ, heaven is the place where we will spend eternity. In fact, we can go so far as to say that we have crossed over from death to life because of God’s grace! Though here on earth we will always be plagued with sin and tempted to do evil, because we have been saved by God’s grace, we have already been declared not guilty. We have already been declared citizens of heaven, and we are simply waiting until the day when the Lord Jesus himself will open the door of death so that at his invitation, we can step from this life into our eternal life with him!
What a comfort! What a great comfort it is to know that we have been saved by his grace! What a great comfort it is to know that Christ Jesus, our Savior, has raised us from the death of sin to life by his side, here on earth and forever in heaven! What a comfort it is to know that our salvation has absolutely nothing to do with us, but everything to do with God and his grace! Just as Paul tells us in the last few verses of our text: “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Now, let me illustrate that point with a brief video.
Just like this simple little video showed, we are saved by grace through faith. We are not saved by anything we have done. Rather, we are saved only by the works and the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior. Now that we know that we have been saved by Grace through faith, it is our faith that moves us to go out and show our faith in everything we say and do. Just as Paul tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
What better way could there be for us to show our love for God than the way that Paul just suggested! What greater honor could our God have given us than the honor he gave us in creating us to do the very good works which he himself prepared in advance! What greater thanksgiving could we show the Lord our God who saved us by his grace than the thanks we show in serving the Lord with our lives! For it is true! The Lord our God created us to do good works! Not good works designed to earn us eternal life, as some people believe and teach! But good works that flow out of hearts that are thankful to their God for saving them by his grace.
These are the works that you and I do so naturally as an expression of our faith and our thankfulness to the Lord our God who saved us. These are works that you and I do so naturally that more often than not we don’t even realize we are doing them. These are the works that spring out of our eagerness to serve the Lord with our lives, our willingness to support his work with our gifts, offerings, and our prayers. These are works that spring out of our excitement to tell others about the Lord who has saved us! For now that we have been saved by God’s grace, our love for our God moves us to serve him as we serve each other. In fact, these are the very things that I see in our congregation on a regular basis. I see it in the way we give our gifts and offerings to the Lord. I see it in the way that so many of you give gifts to each other, spend time with each other, volunteer and help in the church, and simply pray for each other. These are but a few of the ways that we accomplish those good works which God prepared for to do to show our great love to him, and there are many, many more.
So then, let us live our lives out of love for our God. Let us be moved by the Lord God who so graciously saved us, and show our love for him in all that we do. Let us go out those doors today and take every opportunity we have to show our love for the Lord by the things we do for him. Not motivated by a need to procure our salvation! Rather moved by our God’s love for us that in his great grace he made us alive in Christ, raised us up, with him, and created us in Christ Jesus to do good works out of love for him.
Though this may not have been one of your favorite sections of Scripture when we began our sermon, has its status changed? I wouldn’t be surprised if it had! After all, what greater news could there be than the news that we have been saved by the Grace of the Lord our God!
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Lord Has Blessed You! (Numbers 6:22-27)
March 6, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
How have you been enjoying exploring God’s Islands of Adventure? Personally I have loved this Bible reading challenge, because so many of you are reading and studying the Scriptures for yourselves on a regular basis. Though only a few people have added their names to ships that have been anchored on the different Islands, so many of our members have told me that they are reading on a regular basis. More and more people are coming to Bible Study to study the Word of God together and discuss different things they have learned, and I have enjoyed preaching on different lessons from the Chronological schedule of readings that so many of you are following. I have enjoyed it, because I have seen just how the Lord has begun blessing us as a congregation through this Bible Reading challenge, for that is what the Lord does as we grow in our faith through his Word.
In fact, this is the very thing we want to study as we take a look at the Aaronic blessing recorded for us in Numbers 6:22-27. I invite you then to open your Bibles to our first lesson, to Numbers 6:22-27. Now, as you are turning to Numbers six, let me give you a little bit of background. The Nation of Israel had been camped at Mt. Sinai for roughly 10 months now, and during their time there they had seen amazing things, been unfaithful to the Lord, forgiven by the Lord, blessed by the Lord and accomplished great things for the Lord. They had seen the Lord appear to them in a fiery cloud on the top of Mt. Sinai. They watched as Moses climb the mountain and disappeared into that cloud of fire and smoke. They grew impatient for Moses return and persuaded Aaron to fashion them a new god, a golden calf. They felt the sword of the Lord’s judgment when Moses returned from the Mountain. They repented and were forgiven. They watched as Moses again returned to the top of the Mountain for another 40 days. But this time, when he came down, there was no golden calf. Rather, whIen Moses returned to them with his radiant face glowing with the glory of the Lord, they set to work constructing the Tabernacle. Now, as the Lord speaks to Moses in our lesson for today, the Lord bestows upon his people, both Israel and all of his followers, what we have come to know as the Aaronic Blessing: Take a look at verse 22: “The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22–27, NIV84)
In such a simple way, with such well chosen words, the Lord our God bestows the gift of his blessing upon his people Israel; both physical descendants of Israel as well as spiritual Israel, people like you and me who are now Israelites through faith in Jesus. What a comfort it is to know that whenever we hear these words of blessing spoken to us, it is as if the Lord himself is speaking to us, placing his name on us and blessing us! Though it could be said that this is a blessing that we take for granted because we hear these words spoken so often, they are still filled with great comfort. Though it could be said that we have emptied the word bless of all its meaning by constantly using it after people sneeze, when we take a close look at the word bless, we find that it is an amazing word filled with layers if meaning.
For example, if you turn to the Dictionary, you will find that the word bless means, “to invoke divine favor upon someone”; to convey well-being or prosperity on someone”; or “to endow, as with a talent.” This pretty much describes how we view blessings in our lives, yet, if you dig a little deeper and take a look at the Hebrew word in our passage, you would find that the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak depending upon how you pronounce it. Hearing that, many of you are probably thinking that our President’s name must mean “bless”. Interestingly that is exactly what it means, in Swahili, which I understand is the language either his Father or Grandfather spoke. However, based on what I could find, when it comes to Hebrew it seems that his name means lightning. This is all based on the length of the vowels and which Hebrew letter is used for the K sound. Anyway, as I was saying, the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak, depending on how you pronounce it and it is a word that carries the idea of conveying favor upon a person. But it also carries the idea of kneeling down on the knees, either with a straight back, or bent over with your face toward the ground as in a position of worship or humility. This paints the picture that the person who is blessing you is greater than you and you are showing appreciation to that person by humbly accepting his gift of favor upon you. But the thing that is even more interesting is what you discover when you take a look at the etymology or the Word History of our English word bless. When we do this we find that it is a word that comes to us from the Old English which conveys the meaning of wishing happiness upon someone or consecrating someone. If we look back even farther we discover that the word can be shown to derive from a Germanic root that literally means “to consecrate with blood”
Though the Hebrew word itself may not convey the idea of consecrating with blood, when we take a look at how the Lord our God has blessed us, we quickly realize that it is the Lord who blesses us with his favor through the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us by washing us clean with his blood and setting us apart as his brothers and sisters, children of God through faith in him. Thus, when we hear those words, “The Lord bless you and keep you” we are assured that it is the Lord our God who is not only continually bestowing his favor upon us, but he is also the one who is keeping us, and guarding us because we belong to him. Just as he assures us in Psalm 91:11, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;” (Psalm 91:11, NIV84)
How often hasn’t the Lord done this for us? How often hasn’t the Lord blessed us when we least expected it or simply needed it the most? How often hasn’t the Lord provided for you exactly what you needed in the very moment you needed? How often hasn’t the Lord protected you from harm? How many situations can you point to in your life that you can see the Lord’s protecting hand keeping you safe from trouble and danger? This is how the Lord our God has blessed us in the past and will continue to bless us into the future as he promises when we hear those beautiful words, “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;” (Numbers 6:24–25, NIV84)
What is the first thing that you do when you walk into a dark room? You flip the light switch and turn on the lights so that you can see where you are, where you are going, and what is in the room! This is something that is so ingrained into our nature that we do it without thinking about it. We often do it when we walk into a room on a sunny day. We even do it when the power is out. Though we know the power is out, we naturally reach out and flip the switch to illuminate the room, only to stand there, befuddled for a moment or two, until we realize that the power is out and there can be no light. The Lord our God works in much the same way, each time we hear that the Lord is causing his face to shine upon us, we understand just how greatly he is blessing us. For throughout the Scriptures, whenever the Lord hides his face from his people they face suffering, hardship, destruction and even death. However, when he shines his face upon them he graciously blesses them with his loving presence.
The Lord has done the same thing for us! In fact, each week as we hear this blessing, we are assured that the Lord our God will continue to cause his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us! Each week we are reminded of how the Lord our God did that for us through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. For Jesus, our Savior is the shining light of the Lord’s grace to us. As the Scriptures tell us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV84) Jesus is the one who came to us, revealing his gracious love for us in all that he did. Though we had done nothing to earn it or deserve it, Jesus willingly carried the concrete slabs of our sins to the execution chamber of the cross. As the crowds gathered expecting to hear his final confession or pleas that he was innocent, they only heard him whisper, Father forgive them. As they taunted him, expecting him to reply, they heard only silence. Though they expected only to hear the strangled gurgle of suffocation when Jesus died, they heard him cry out in a loud voice, they felt the earth quake, and the rocks split. This is how the Lord our God has blessed us, how he has caused his face to shine upon us and been gracious to us! Though we had been lost in the dark midnight of sin, the dawn of the Lord’s grace rose upon us and the Light of Christ our Savior was shown in our hearts. Though we had done nothing to deserve it, it was Christ our Savior who: “redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, and innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him with everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he has risen from death, and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.”
How greatly the Lord has blessed us that he should make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us, or that he should even turn his face toward us and give us peace. (Numbers 6:25–26, NIV84) Yet this is exactly what the Lord our God has done for us. He has blessed us not only by causing his face to shine on us but by turning his face toward us and giving us peace. Now I realize that the final clause of the Lord’s blessing sounds very similar to the second clause. Interestingly the same Hebrew word is used in both verses when speaking of the Lord’s face. Yet while verse 25 speaks about the Lord causing the light of his face to shine upon us, verse 26 speaks about the Lord fixing his loving gaze upon us; not only fixing his loving gaze upon us, but giving us his undivided attention. In such a simple way the Lord is assuring us that he is intensely interested in each and every one of us, and he will give us the individualized attention that each and every one of us needs!
What a comfort it is to know that the Lord our God cherishes us so much that he blesses us with his peace, which is the peace that goes beyond all understanding, the peace of the forgiveness of sins! This is the uplifting peace that the Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts as he assures us of the forgiveness of sins won for us by our dear Savior Jesus. This is the peace that builds us up when we are weak and sustains us when we cannot stand. This is the peace through which the Lord our God assures us that we have been completely forgiven of all our sins, that our slates have not only been washed clean but have been completely replaced without any chalk to keep a record of wrong, and that continues to assure us that we are, once again, in a right relationship with the Lord our God.
What greater blessing could there be than this blessing that the Lord our God bestows upon us each and every week! For it is through this very blessing that the Lord our God places his Name on us and blesses us as his people. It is through this blessing we are assured that he is watching over us, guarding us, and protecting us. It is through this blessing that we are assured of his peace and that we are in a right relationship with him through the forgiveness of sins. Though there are times when we take this blessing for granted, as you hear it one more time, let it wash over your heart and mind as you hear it one more time: “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ (Numbers 6:24–26, NIV84)
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Dear friends in Christ.
How have you been enjoying exploring God’s Islands of Adventure? Personally I have loved this Bible reading challenge, because so many of you are reading and studying the Scriptures for yourselves on a regular basis. Though only a few people have added their names to ships that have been anchored on the different Islands, so many of our members have told me that they are reading on a regular basis. More and more people are coming to Bible Study to study the Word of God together and discuss different things they have learned, and I have enjoyed preaching on different lessons from the Chronological schedule of readings that so many of you are following. I have enjoyed it, because I have seen just how the Lord has begun blessing us as a congregation through this Bible Reading challenge, for that is what the Lord does as we grow in our faith through his Word.
In fact, this is the very thing we want to study as we take a look at the Aaronic blessing recorded for us in Numbers 6:22-27. I invite you then to open your Bibles to our first lesson, to Numbers 6:22-27. Now, as you are turning to Numbers six, let me give you a little bit of background. The Nation of Israel had been camped at Mt. Sinai for roughly 10 months now, and during their time there they had seen amazing things, been unfaithful to the Lord, forgiven by the Lord, blessed by the Lord and accomplished great things for the Lord. They had seen the Lord appear to them in a fiery cloud on the top of Mt. Sinai. They watched as Moses climb the mountain and disappeared into that cloud of fire and smoke. They grew impatient for Moses return and persuaded Aaron to fashion them a new god, a golden calf. They felt the sword of the Lord’s judgment when Moses returned from the Mountain. They repented and were forgiven. They watched as Moses again returned to the top of the Mountain for another 40 days. But this time, when he came down, there was no golden calf. Rather, whIen Moses returned to them with his radiant face glowing with the glory of the Lord, they set to work constructing the Tabernacle. Now, as the Lord speaks to Moses in our lesson for today, the Lord bestows upon his people, both Israel and all of his followers, what we have come to know as the Aaronic Blessing: Take a look at verse 22: “The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22–27, NIV84)
In such a simple way, with such well chosen words, the Lord our God bestows the gift of his blessing upon his people Israel; both physical descendants of Israel as well as spiritual Israel, people like you and me who are now Israelites through faith in Jesus. What a comfort it is to know that whenever we hear these words of blessing spoken to us, it is as if the Lord himself is speaking to us, placing his name on us and blessing us! Though it could be said that this is a blessing that we take for granted because we hear these words spoken so often, they are still filled with great comfort. Though it could be said that we have emptied the word bless of all its meaning by constantly using it after people sneeze, when we take a close look at the word bless, we find that it is an amazing word filled with layers if meaning.
For example, if you turn to the Dictionary, you will find that the word bless means, “to invoke divine favor upon someone”; to convey well-being or prosperity on someone”; or “to endow, as with a talent.” This pretty much describes how we view blessings in our lives, yet, if you dig a little deeper and take a look at the Hebrew word in our passage, you would find that the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak depending upon how you pronounce it. Hearing that, many of you are probably thinking that our President’s name must mean “bless”. Interestingly that is exactly what it means, in Swahili, which I understand is the language either his Father or Grandfather spoke. However, based on what I could find, when it comes to Hebrew it seems that his name means lightning. This is all based on the length of the vowels and which Hebrew letter is used for the K sound. Anyway, as I was saying, the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak, depending on how you pronounce it and it is a word that carries the idea of conveying favor upon a person. But it also carries the idea of kneeling down on the knees, either with a straight back, or bent over with your face toward the ground as in a position of worship or humility. This paints the picture that the person who is blessing you is greater than you and you are showing appreciation to that person by humbly accepting his gift of favor upon you. But the thing that is even more interesting is what you discover when you take a look at the etymology or the Word History of our English word bless. When we do this we find that it is a word that comes to us from the Old English which conveys the meaning of wishing happiness upon someone or consecrating someone. If we look back even farther we discover that the word can be shown to derive from a Germanic root that literally means “to consecrate with blood”
Though the Hebrew word itself may not convey the idea of consecrating with blood, when we take a look at how the Lord our God has blessed us, we quickly realize that it is the Lord who blesses us with his favor through the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us by washing us clean with his blood and setting us apart as his brothers and sisters, children of God through faith in him. Thus, when we hear those words, “The Lord bless you and keep you” we are assured that it is the Lord our God who is not only continually bestowing his favor upon us, but he is also the one who is keeping us, and guarding us because we belong to him. Just as he assures us in Psalm 91:11, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;” (Psalm 91:11, NIV84)
How often hasn’t the Lord done this for us? How often hasn’t the Lord blessed us when we least expected it or simply needed it the most? How often hasn’t the Lord provided for you exactly what you needed in the very moment you needed? How often hasn’t the Lord protected you from harm? How many situations can you point to in your life that you can see the Lord’s protecting hand keeping you safe from trouble and danger? This is how the Lord our God has blessed us in the past and will continue to bless us into the future as he promises when we hear those beautiful words, “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;” (Numbers 6:24–25, NIV84)
What is the first thing that you do when you walk into a dark room? You flip the light switch and turn on the lights so that you can see where you are, where you are going, and what is in the room! This is something that is so ingrained into our nature that we do it without thinking about it. We often do it when we walk into a room on a sunny day. We even do it when the power is out. Though we know the power is out, we naturally reach out and flip the switch to illuminate the room, only to stand there, befuddled for a moment or two, until we realize that the power is out and there can be no light. The Lord our God works in much the same way, each time we hear that the Lord is causing his face to shine upon us, we understand just how greatly he is blessing us. For throughout the Scriptures, whenever the Lord hides his face from his people they face suffering, hardship, destruction and even death. However, when he shines his face upon them he graciously blesses them with his loving presence.
The Lord has done the same thing for us! In fact, each week as we hear this blessing, we are assured that the Lord our God will continue to cause his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us! Each week we are reminded of how the Lord our God did that for us through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. For Jesus, our Savior is the shining light of the Lord’s grace to us. As the Scriptures tell us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV84) Jesus is the one who came to us, revealing his gracious love for us in all that he did. Though we had done nothing to earn it or deserve it, Jesus willingly carried the concrete slabs of our sins to the execution chamber of the cross. As the crowds gathered expecting to hear his final confession or pleas that he was innocent, they only heard him whisper, Father forgive them. As they taunted him, expecting him to reply, they heard only silence. Though they expected only to hear the strangled gurgle of suffocation when Jesus died, they heard him cry out in a loud voice, they felt the earth quake, and the rocks split. This is how the Lord our God has blessed us, how he has caused his face to shine upon us and been gracious to us! Though we had been lost in the dark midnight of sin, the dawn of the Lord’s grace rose upon us and the Light of Christ our Savior was shown in our hearts. Though we had done nothing to deserve it, it was Christ our Savior who: “redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, and innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him with everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he has risen from death, and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.”
How greatly the Lord has blessed us that he should make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us, or that he should even turn his face toward us and give us peace. (Numbers 6:25–26, NIV84) Yet this is exactly what the Lord our God has done for us. He has blessed us not only by causing his face to shine on us but by turning his face toward us and giving us peace. Now I realize that the final clause of the Lord’s blessing sounds very similar to the second clause. Interestingly the same Hebrew word is used in both verses when speaking of the Lord’s face. Yet while verse 25 speaks about the Lord causing the light of his face to shine upon us, verse 26 speaks about the Lord fixing his loving gaze upon us; not only fixing his loving gaze upon us, but giving us his undivided attention. In such a simple way the Lord is assuring us that he is intensely interested in each and every one of us, and he will give us the individualized attention that each and every one of us needs!
What a comfort it is to know that the Lord our God cherishes us so much that he blesses us with his peace, which is the peace that goes beyond all understanding, the peace of the forgiveness of sins! This is the uplifting peace that the Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts as he assures us of the forgiveness of sins won for us by our dear Savior Jesus. This is the peace that builds us up when we are weak and sustains us when we cannot stand. This is the peace through which the Lord our God assures us that we have been completely forgiven of all our sins, that our slates have not only been washed clean but have been completely replaced without any chalk to keep a record of wrong, and that continues to assure us that we are, once again, in a right relationship with the Lord our God.
What greater blessing could there be than this blessing that the Lord our God bestows upon us each and every week! For it is through this very blessing that the Lord our God places his Name on us and blesses us as his people. It is through this blessing we are assured that he is watching over us, guarding us, and protecting us. It is through this blessing that we are assured of his peace and that we are in a right relationship with him through the forgiveness of sins. Though there are times when we take this blessing for granted, as you hear it one more time, let it wash over your heart and mind as you hear it one more time: “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ (Numbers 6:24–26, NIV84)
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Make the Most of Your Time of Grace (Philippians 1:18-27)
November 14, 2010
Dear friends in Christ.
What would you want to do if you knew that you only had 6 more months to live? Now, I know, I asked you a very similar question about 3 weeks ago, and yet once again, this question here it is. What would you want to do if you knew you only had 6 months left to live? Would you want to travel and see sights that you had never seen before? Would you immerse yourself in projects and activities, volunteering your time and your energy to help others who were worse off than you? Would you wake up each and every morning thankful for one more day in which you could make the most of your remaining time, or would you simply roll over, pull the covers over your head, and wait for the end? I think it’s safe to say that if it every happened that we received the news of a severely limited life-span, each and every one of us would be moved to make the most of our remaining months on the earth. Well, in many ways, this is exactly what the Apostle Paul is calling on each and every one of us to do today. Though he may not be calling on us to make the most of our remaining time here on earth, he is clearly calling on us to make the most of our time of grace. In fact, I invite you to open your Bibles with me to Philippians 1:18. Now, when Paul wrote these verses in Philippians 1, he was sitting in prison. He was, as he said, in chains for the gospel, yet even as he wrote he expressed his great joy because he was making the most of his time of grace. He had invested his life in Jesus Christ his Savior, and through his witness, some of the guards who were guarding him had come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Take a look at what Paul writes beginning with verse 18: “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:18–20, NIV)
Now, if there were ever a man who made the most of his time of grace here on earth, I would say that it would have to be the Apostle Paul. Even though he had started out as a Pharisee and a persecutor of the Church, when the Lord called him to faith, he made the most of his time of grace by investing everything he had into his life for Christ. Wherever he went, he preached the gospel and told about the Savior. Whenever he was whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, arrested, imprisoned, and otherwise abused, he continued to tell others about Jesus, the Messiah, who had come into the world to free all people from their sins, by his death and resurrection from the dead. Even now, as Paul was preparing to stand before Caesar and his court, he was looking forward to giving glory and honor to Christ his Savior through his proclamation of the Gospel, even if it should end up that he was found guilty and condemned to death. In this way, Paul made the most of his time of grace, for as he invested his life in Jesus Christ his Savior, he was looking forward to the return on his investment, the reward, the profit, the gain of eternal life in heaven. Take a look again at what Paul write in verses 18-26: “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” (Philippians 1:18–26, NIV)
As Paul writes from prison, he is both looking forward to the reward of eternal life with his Savior, and looking back at how he has spent his time of grace investing his life in the service of preaching the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ his Savior. Though he longed cash in that investment and finally gain the return of eternal life, he knew that his time of grace had not yet come to an end. He knew that the Lord had more investments for him to make, more labor to perform, more time that needed to be spent in this life serving those brothers and sisters who had come to faith and seeking out those who still did not know their Savior. And now, as Paul closes this section of our text, he calls on you and me to do the same and make the most of our time of grace, as he writes in verse 27: “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27, NIV)
In such a simple way, Paul calls on each and every one of us to follow his example, and make the most of the time of grace our Savior has given us. He calls on each and every one of us to put our faith into action, investing our lives in Christ our Savior, as we share our faith with friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers—people who already know Jesus as their Savior as well as people who do not yet know of what he did to free them from their sins. In short he is calling on us to preach Christ with our lives so that people may see those good deeds that naturally flow out of our faith and give praise and glory to God, our Father, in heaven.
But how do we do that? How do we make the most of our time of grace? How do we invest our lives in Christ our Savior and live in a way that is worthy of the Gospel? Simple, we become managers, Christian Stewards of the Gospel which the Lord has given us. We take the time, as so many of us have done, to read, to listen, and to study our Bibles so that our faith continues to grow stronger. We commit ourselves to gathering regularly for worship so that as we give glory to our God we are also built up in our knowledge and understanding of our Lord. We recognize the importance of bringing our children to Sunday school and using that opportunity to gather with fellow believers and study the Bible together, and in this way strengthen and build each other up as we contend as one for the faith of the gospel. Then, when we have filled ourselves with the gospel, we take it with us into the world. We take it with us as we open our mouths to tell others about the faith that we have. We take it with us, as we open our mouths to answer the questions that others ask about our faith and the hope of eternal life that we have. We take it with us and we bring glory to God as we take time to bow our heads and give thanks for the food we are about to eat, even in the midst of a crowded restaurant. We take it with us and show that we are God’s children by the words and the actions we use while working, playing, laughing or crying, and in this way we make the most of our time of grace here on earth as we bring glory to our Savior and our God.
It is in this way that we serve as Christian stewards, investing our lives in Christ, looking forward to the eternal rewards of heaven, and making the most of our time of grace here in this world. Yet, there are times in our lives, when things simply do not go as well as we would like. There are times when it seems that the economy of our lives changes from good to bad as troubles and hardships enter into the picture. But even though there may be times when we seem to face a down-turn in our investment as sickness and sufferings enter into the picture; these are nothing less than blessings God uses to draw us closer to him. Though there may be times when we feel we are receiving negative-returns as chronic illness, debilitating pain, or seemingly endless medical attention is needed, these are nothing less than the lenses our God uses to refocus our faith on him so that we might bring him glory and honor and praise through our life and even, if he should require it, through our death! This is why the Lord has allowed the most intelligent of his followers to succumb to Alzheimer’s. This is why the Lord has allowed the strongest of his people to face Arthritis, Cancer, Dementia, and Parkinson’s. This is why the Lord has suddenly taken the life of babies, young children, teens and even young adults. He does it to remind us that our time of grace on earth is short, and we need to make the most of it now, as we serve him. He does it so that the rest of his people might see the faith and the life of his followers as they endure these hardships, sufferings, and diseases, and be strengthened by the faith of those who have been afflicted. He does it to give us the opportunity to approach his throne of heavenly grace for our friends, our loved ones, and even ourselves when we face afflictions like these. He does it so that no matter what, his name will be glorified by our life or by our death. Just as Paul wrote in verse 21: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
What greater comfort could there be than the comfort of knowing that if we should live, we would be living to glorify our Savior and if we should die it would be great gain as we gained eternal life! How comforting it is to know that no matter what we face, be it life or death, we will be the victors! So then, since it is true that we will be the victors whether we live or whether we die, let us make the most of our time of grace by serving the Lord our God. Let us be managers, Christian Stewards, of God’s gift of his Word. Let us go out from here and proclaim the message of salvation with all those around us so that they also might look forward to the great return on a life invested in Christ. Let us not grow weary or complacent, pulling the covers over our heads to wait for the end to come. But let us always be like those who make the most of every day they have left as we make the most of the time of grace our Lord has given us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
Dear friends in Christ.
What would you want to do if you knew that you only had 6 more months to live? Now, I know, I asked you a very similar question about 3 weeks ago, and yet once again, this question here it is. What would you want to do if you knew you only had 6 months left to live? Would you want to travel and see sights that you had never seen before? Would you immerse yourself in projects and activities, volunteering your time and your energy to help others who were worse off than you? Would you wake up each and every morning thankful for one more day in which you could make the most of your remaining time, or would you simply roll over, pull the covers over your head, and wait for the end? I think it’s safe to say that if it every happened that we received the news of a severely limited life-span, each and every one of us would be moved to make the most of our remaining months on the earth. Well, in many ways, this is exactly what the Apostle Paul is calling on each and every one of us to do today. Though he may not be calling on us to make the most of our remaining time here on earth, he is clearly calling on us to make the most of our time of grace. In fact, I invite you to open your Bibles with me to Philippians 1:18. Now, when Paul wrote these verses in Philippians 1, he was sitting in prison. He was, as he said, in chains for the gospel, yet even as he wrote he expressed his great joy because he was making the most of his time of grace. He had invested his life in Jesus Christ his Savior, and through his witness, some of the guards who were guarding him had come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Take a look at what Paul writes beginning with verse 18: “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:18–20, NIV)
Now, if there were ever a man who made the most of his time of grace here on earth, I would say that it would have to be the Apostle Paul. Even though he had started out as a Pharisee and a persecutor of the Church, when the Lord called him to faith, he made the most of his time of grace by investing everything he had into his life for Christ. Wherever he went, he preached the gospel and told about the Savior. Whenever he was whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, arrested, imprisoned, and otherwise abused, he continued to tell others about Jesus, the Messiah, who had come into the world to free all people from their sins, by his death and resurrection from the dead. Even now, as Paul was preparing to stand before Caesar and his court, he was looking forward to giving glory and honor to Christ his Savior through his proclamation of the Gospel, even if it should end up that he was found guilty and condemned to death. In this way, Paul made the most of his time of grace, for as he invested his life in Jesus Christ his Savior, he was looking forward to the return on his investment, the reward, the profit, the gain of eternal life in heaven. Take a look again at what Paul write in verses 18-26: “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” (Philippians 1:18–26, NIV)
As Paul writes from prison, he is both looking forward to the reward of eternal life with his Savior, and looking back at how he has spent his time of grace investing his life in the service of preaching the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ his Savior. Though he longed cash in that investment and finally gain the return of eternal life, he knew that his time of grace had not yet come to an end. He knew that the Lord had more investments for him to make, more labor to perform, more time that needed to be spent in this life serving those brothers and sisters who had come to faith and seeking out those who still did not know their Savior. And now, as Paul closes this section of our text, he calls on you and me to do the same and make the most of our time of grace, as he writes in verse 27: “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27, NIV)
In such a simple way, Paul calls on each and every one of us to follow his example, and make the most of the time of grace our Savior has given us. He calls on each and every one of us to put our faith into action, investing our lives in Christ our Savior, as we share our faith with friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers—people who already know Jesus as their Savior as well as people who do not yet know of what he did to free them from their sins. In short he is calling on us to preach Christ with our lives so that people may see those good deeds that naturally flow out of our faith and give praise and glory to God, our Father, in heaven.
But how do we do that? How do we make the most of our time of grace? How do we invest our lives in Christ our Savior and live in a way that is worthy of the Gospel? Simple, we become managers, Christian Stewards of the Gospel which the Lord has given us. We take the time, as so many of us have done, to read, to listen, and to study our Bibles so that our faith continues to grow stronger. We commit ourselves to gathering regularly for worship so that as we give glory to our God we are also built up in our knowledge and understanding of our Lord. We recognize the importance of bringing our children to Sunday school and using that opportunity to gather with fellow believers and study the Bible together, and in this way strengthen and build each other up as we contend as one for the faith of the gospel. Then, when we have filled ourselves with the gospel, we take it with us into the world. We take it with us as we open our mouths to tell others about the faith that we have. We take it with us, as we open our mouths to answer the questions that others ask about our faith and the hope of eternal life that we have. We take it with us and we bring glory to God as we take time to bow our heads and give thanks for the food we are about to eat, even in the midst of a crowded restaurant. We take it with us and show that we are God’s children by the words and the actions we use while working, playing, laughing or crying, and in this way we make the most of our time of grace here on earth as we bring glory to our Savior and our God.
It is in this way that we serve as Christian stewards, investing our lives in Christ, looking forward to the eternal rewards of heaven, and making the most of our time of grace here in this world. Yet, there are times in our lives, when things simply do not go as well as we would like. There are times when it seems that the economy of our lives changes from good to bad as troubles and hardships enter into the picture. But even though there may be times when we seem to face a down-turn in our investment as sickness and sufferings enter into the picture; these are nothing less than blessings God uses to draw us closer to him. Though there may be times when we feel we are receiving negative-returns as chronic illness, debilitating pain, or seemingly endless medical attention is needed, these are nothing less than the lenses our God uses to refocus our faith on him so that we might bring him glory and honor and praise through our life and even, if he should require it, through our death! This is why the Lord has allowed the most intelligent of his followers to succumb to Alzheimer’s. This is why the Lord has allowed the strongest of his people to face Arthritis, Cancer, Dementia, and Parkinson’s. This is why the Lord has suddenly taken the life of babies, young children, teens and even young adults. He does it to remind us that our time of grace on earth is short, and we need to make the most of it now, as we serve him. He does it so that the rest of his people might see the faith and the life of his followers as they endure these hardships, sufferings, and diseases, and be strengthened by the faith of those who have been afflicted. He does it to give us the opportunity to approach his throne of heavenly grace for our friends, our loved ones, and even ourselves when we face afflictions like these. He does it so that no matter what, his name will be glorified by our life or by our death. Just as Paul wrote in verse 21: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
What greater comfort could there be than the comfort of knowing that if we should live, we would be living to glorify our Savior and if we should die it would be great gain as we gained eternal life! How comforting it is to know that no matter what we face, be it life or death, we will be the victors! So then, since it is true that we will be the victors whether we live or whether we die, let us make the most of our time of grace by serving the Lord our God. Let us be managers, Christian Stewards, of God’s gift of his Word. Let us go out from here and proclaim the message of salvation with all those around us so that they also might look forward to the great return on a life invested in Christ. Let us not grow weary or complacent, pulling the covers over our heads to wait for the end to come. But let us always be like those who make the most of every day they have left as we make the most of the time of grace our Lord has given us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
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