Pastor Mark Wiesenborn
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God, our almighty Father, and from our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Dear friends in Christ, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that in some mysterious way (and to varying degrees) people must be SOLAR-powered. As someone with only a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, I will readily admit the absence of scientific research and substantiated proof. But let’s at least consider some of the “empirical” evidence:
- First of all, there is an obvious correlation between the beginning of Daylight Saving Time every year and a large percentage of the population feeling rundown and lethargic. One Friday you are greeted by the sunrise as you head off to work and school, and the following Monday you begin the day in darkness. (By the way, people created this problem and could easily undo it.)
- But second, and over a longer period of time, the combination of short Winter days and overcast, gloomy weather seems to drain us ALL not only physically and emotionally, but sometimes also even spiritually. And thus, there is credible evidence as Spring arrives that people must be solar-powered. For several days last week clouds all across Texas parted, and from that bright blue sky we felt the warmth of the sun beaming down upon us! And I am pretty sure that after the severe winter weather we experienced last month, every person and family that has been cooped up waiting for Spring Break quickly headed outside to recharge their batteries. (What are your plans for this coming week?)
Of course, people are NOT actually solar-powered. But speaking now as someone with a Master’s of Divinity Degree, I certainly do believe that in some mysterious way (and to varying degrees) people receive strength, comfort, peace, and hope from the SON of God. Drawing near to the light of Christ’s Word and the Sacraments of his Church “re-energizes us” with these things. This is what refreshes and renews us for going out into the world – because the pain and suffering we encounter, and the stresses and frustrations that engage us, sometimes drain away the very last of our energy reserves. Sin is a universal problem; but thanks be to God, Jesus has come into the world to help us, defend us, and save us.
The Apostle Paul understood clearly how and why this had happened for the Ephesians. In his letter to their church, he rejoices in what the Lord God has done in their lives by his amazing grace. He knows that they always had physical life, but they were not always spiritually alive. Paul reminds them and us that we were by nature dead in our transgressions and sins. But just what does that mean?
It means that we were born without faith in Jesus. We were born spiritually dead, that is, with no spiritual life in us at all. We didn’t know God; we didn’t love God. In fact, we hated God, we despised him as our enemy, and we wanted nothing to do with him. Spiritual corpses – that’s what we were. To make matters worse, we could do nothing for ourselves in order to change our hopeless condition. No self-help rescue tools could pull us out of our spiritual caskets. Hopeless! Helpless! Lost! And condemned to hell! Paul writes:
“You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” [Ephesians 2:1-3]
Part of the problem is that many times in life we forget (or want to forget) that we have no spiritual GOOD before God. We struggle to consider that apart from faith in Jesus Christ, our caring friends and nice neighbors and helpful co-workers might have no spiritual good before God. That seems harsh, unkind and unloving. And yet it is TRUE about our neighbor just as much as it is TRUE about you and me that without faith in Christ we have no spiritual good. As we hear it declared in Hebrews: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” [Hebrews 11:6]
Why are you here at St. Matthew Lutheran Church on this particular morning? You might say because you planned it, or because you always come, or because you are visiting with a friend. Maybe you are (or a family member is) a patient at the nearby Texas Medical Center, undergoing difficult tests and treatments. It is no accident that God’s Holy Spirit invades the spiritual wilderness of our hearts when we become impatient with our almighty Lord and King’s guiding; when we grumble against our Good Shepherd’s protection and provision; when we are filled with bitter anguish, and given over to self-centered thoughts, words, and deeds. Jesus is speaking to you and to me when he says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” [John 8:12]
Your desire to do the LORD’s will is a credit to God alone, who in his great mercy invades the spiritual wilderness of our hearts NOT by sending fiery serpents that pursue us, in order to bite, poison, and kill us – that terrifying scenario in Numbers 21:6-8 – but instead with his amazing grace, in lifting up Christ Jesus. Look to him on the cross, believe in him, and have eternal life! [John 3:14-15] God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is the very Good News that has given you meaning and purpose as a child of God, with a future inheritance in heaven!
“God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved 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 2:3-9]
God did the impossible. He breathed spiritual life into our spiritually dead bodies. “[God] made us alive together with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses.” What an incredible and undeserved miracle that is! God uses the power of his Word to work this miracle. For most of us, it was the Word connected with the waters of Holy Baptism (as we celebrated last Sunday with the precious twins Evangeline and Sebastian). Or for others it may have been the same Word shared with you later in life. In either case God performed a miracle!
Why did he choose you? Why did he choose any of us? He chose us not because of anything good within us, but only because of God’s grace. As Paul declares, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Grace, pure grace, is the undeserved love of God for guilty sinners like us. Praise God that you, once dead in your sins, are a walking miracle, and you are now alive in Christ Jesus.
A well-laden dinner table is a symbol of the abundant grace God offers in His kingdom. Such a festive display reminds us of the abundance of the present and eternal gifts of forgiveness, joyful life, and salvation in Jesus Christ. Our Lord says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” The invitation did not only say, “Come to the wedding banquet,” but also made reference to the sumptuously prepared dinner, “My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.” [Matthew 22:4] God prepares a feast for us whenever and wherever the means of grace, his Word and Sacraments, are dispensed. This generally occurs in the church, supplied as it is with pulpit and lectern, baptismal font, and the Lord’s Table. Faith comes to all of us wherever two or more are gathered in Christ’s name, through hearing the Holy Scriptures taught and preached, and by pastors administering the sacraments. Faith is created in Holy Baptism, and confirmed and strengthened in Holy Communion – and thus the Holy Spirit fills us with saving faith in Jesus Christ.
This is how the Lord states His invitation:
▪ “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” [Isaiah 55:1]
▪ In Matthew’s Gospel we are reminded of Jesus’ words of invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” [Matthew 11:28-29]
▪ John writes in the last book of the Bible: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” [Revelation 22:17]
The Spirit extends the invitation and also transforms our heartsto accept it. It’s that simple. But sometimes we fail to see the importance of the daily life relationships in our families, schools and work places, and congregation. Through amazing acts of grace, God’s Holy Spirit daily and richly invades the spiritual wilderness of our hearts and brings life for a particular purpose. That purpose is so you and I might live our lives freely sharing the love of Christ with others who are also travelling through this wilderness, to the praise and glory of God!
These ten verses of Ephesians are so powerful for us in all our moments, days, months and years as the children of God. We are saved by grace through faith alone. It is a free gift from God, given generously. From time to time a person looking at the Bible as a way to earn their salvation might wonder where GRACE was in the Bible he or she grew up with as a child and young adult. They cannot believe that salvation is a gift of God. They had previously been convinced that we have to earn our salvation by works. But what works are good in the eyes of a perfect God? And how many of our works could ever be enough to satisfy him?
Beloved in the Lord, we have every reason to be certain of God’s loveand the purpose of our life in this world. We have every reason to be certain of God’s love no matter what house we live in, or if we live in a house at all. We can be certain of God’s love whether we have a job outside in God’s creation, or in an office, or work from home. We can praise God by what we do according to his will. Whatever we do as children of God according to his will out of love for Christ we do to praise him as our Father in heaven. Paul writes in the concluding verse of today’s Epistle:
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
What we look at as problems in life – like taking care of a sick relative, or tolerating a mean boss, or loving and honoring and cherishing a difficult spouse – God calls these opportunities to show our faith and trust and confidence in Him as our Savior by responding in love, joy, peace, and patience; exercising kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Let’s return to the question about whether some people are SOLAR-powered– more specifically, those people whose hearts and lives belong to God’s SON, Jesus Christ. John writes about this radiance and beauty in the last verses of our Gospel:
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”
[John 3:19-21]
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Very nice. An uplifting message of truth in the storm of lies that the USA has become.
ReplyDeleteThis was absolutely wonderful to read last night. After watching Laura Ingraham 😊
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