Humble Service - August 28, 2022 - Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17) - Text: Luke 14:1-14

God gives and we are given to and as you have heard me say many times, our purpose in life is to be love by God and to be given to by Him. God gives life at conception. God gives new life, faith and eternal life through the waters of Holy Baptism. God gives gifts, talents and abilities, even our vocations and careers. And our response of faith is to live our lives as living sacrifices, to serve God by serving others. This morning by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God, which is His usual way of working in our lives, we will hear Jesus teach us concerning our humble acts of service to Him in our serving others.
 

Our text begins with verse one, explaining that Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee, “1One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” 6And they could not reply to these things” (v. 1-6). Interestingly enough, as we read in this opening verse, we are told that the Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully. They were watching, waiting, even hoping that He might “slip up” so that they might somehow catch Him and be able to accuse Him of something, anything. Because Jesus is omniscient, that is because He is all knowing, perhaps His knowing they were watching Him is why He intentionally questions them concerning healing on the Sabbath and because of their refusal to answer, He does heal the man and then uses their smugness and lack of an answer to teach them which He does through the parable.
 

Now, remember, we were told in verse one that the Pharisees were watching Jesus. In verse seven of our text we are told, “7Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this person,” and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher.” Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you’” (v. 7-10). In verse one we were told that the Pharisees were watching Jesus and now in verse seven we are told that it is Jesus who was observing those around Him.
 

And what is Jesus noticing? He is noticing that the people who were invited to the party were coming in and taking the seats of honor. Now there is nothing wrong with taking the seat of honor, especially if you were invited to sit in the seat of honor. After noticing what was going on, Jesus tells a parable to explain what He is noticing and what might happen.
 

In the parable we are told how someone might be invited to a party and thinking they are the honored guest they might take the seat of honor. However, if this one is not the honored guest, then the host of the party will come to them and asked them to move down to a lower seat and in so doing they would be humiliated, or humbled. In the same way, the one taking the lower seat, would be asked to move up to a higher seat, even to the seat of honor and in so doing they will be honored in front of everyone.
 

Jesus ends this parable with a statement of truth, verse eleven, “11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” (v. 11). Certainly we understand these words in our world today. How often it is that we might think we are the honored guest and take the seat of honor only to be humbled and perhaps humiliated when we are asked to take a lower seat. And how often are we honored when we show a real humility about ourselves and take a lower seat only to be asked to move up to the seat of honor. How true it is that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
 

I cannot say if Jesus intended to quote the Proverb lesson for today or not, but His word certainly do sound like they come from our Old Testament lesson. Of course, we understand that Jesus is God and is the author of the Old Testament as well, so perhaps He did have in mind this verse from Proverbs when He told His parable. Above all, please make note that Jesus’ words are not just for the Pharisees He is addressing. His words are to us today. I will say that I know from personal experience that His words are true, if we exalt ourselves we will be humbled, and if we humble ourselves we will be exalted. And remember that the ultimate exalting and humbling will be done on the day of Judgement.
 

But our text is not complete. Jesus continues by speaking to the host of the gathering, we pick up at verse twelve. “12He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (v. 12-14).
 

True charity is not simply inviting those who you know will invite you over and in so doing repay you. True charity, true Christian charity, true charity in God’s eyes is not what most of us do, most of the time. And let me say that does not mean that there is anything wrong with having friends over, even if you know that they will invite you back over to their house on another occasion. It is certainly God pleasing to share in fellowship of food and company of fellow Christians, family and friends. Yet, our text is speaking about true Christian charity which is not simply inviting those who repay you by inviting you back over to their place. True Christian charity is inviting those who cannot repay, those you know cannot repay.
 

And the great thing about true Christian charity is the fact that it has a reward, not on earth, but in heaven. As we exchange having family and friends over and going over to their homes, that is its own reward. Yet, true Christian charity of giving to those who cannot repay has its reward in heaven.
 

Not only is there a connection to our Old Testament reading for this morning, but there is also a connection to our epistle lesson for this morning. The Hebrews connection is that Paul urges us to have a similar attitude of service to others. “1Let brotherly love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (v. 1-3).
 

It all begins with faith which reflects in our attitude, which reflects in our actions, and finally which reflects in our works of service. James reminds us that “faith without works is dead.” Yet, the heart of works is faith which motivates such works. And Jesus here reminds us that our works come from a humble attitude of putting others first.
 

So, we ask, what does this mean? or what lessons might we learn today? Certainly the greatest lesson we can learn is the lesson of Jesus’ own life. Jesus humbled Himself. He gave up the glory that was His in heaven. And think about it, as God, He certainly was enjoying great glory in heaven, yet He gave up His glory in heaven in order to take on human flesh and blood, to become one of us. Jesus shows His humility in the fact that His first crib was a manger, a feeding trough for animals. He further shows His humility in that He did not come to be served, but to serve. His greatest show of humility was to humble Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross for our sins.
 

Jesus shows true charity in giving His life for us, knowing that we cannot repay and that is precisely why He gave His life because He knew we could not repay. By the giving of His life, Jesus gives us forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness we have life and salvation. And now, here in our text Jesus also gives us instruction in faith, that is that faith shows itself in humility. Faith shows itself in putting others first, in giving and especially in giving when we know we cannot be repaid.
 

Faith shows itself in service and in works of service. These are not works which we do in order to attempt to repay Jesus for all He has done, nor to try to minimize the fact that we owe Him our very lives, but these are works of service done in response to all that He has done, does and continues to do for us.
 

At Christmas time, do we give gifts or do we normally exchange presents? Perhaps this might be something to think about now, before Christmas gets here. I would suggest that our normal way of doing things at Christmas is that we gather at someone’s home and we exchange presents. And this we do to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. How would we like it if everyone came to our birthday party to celebrate our birthday and exchanged presents and we received nothing? And please understand, I believe exchanging presents can be a great expression of love as well. That is not the point I am trying to make, nor the point Jesus is trying to make. The point is that exchanging present for present, invite for invite, meal for meal, is not really charity. Real charity is giving with out expecting and without receiving in return. Real charity is what Jesus gives to us, His life for ours.
 

So, in response of faith and in response to all our Lord has done for us and given to us, might I suggest that this Christmas, since it is still early and you have plenty of time to prepare. This Christmas, along with our usual exchange of presents, perhaps we might think of something to do that is more fitting of Jesus’ words in our text. Something, such as giving a gift to someone we know will not be able to repay us, perhaps even doing it anonymously so there would be no guilt or less guilt on the part of the recipient. Perhaps even giving a gift to the Lord in some fashion or another. And as we make this unusual gift, might we remind ourselves to do it in humility, without telling anyone, so that our reward is indeed not on this earth, but in heaven.
 

God gives and we are given to, our purpose in life is to be love by God and to be given to by Him. God gives life at conception. God gives new life, faith and eternal life through the waters of Holy Baptism. God gives forgiveness of sins through His Word, through Holy Absolution and His Holy Supper. And God gives to us and stirs in us our response of faith is to live our lives as living sacrifices, to serve God by serving others. God has indeed done great things for us and certainly He expects nothing in return from us. Instead of our meeting His expectation, of giving Him nothing in return, my prayer for each of us is that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we might live our lives of faith in humble service to Him and others, and as we do so we are boldly professing our faith saying, “To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake.” Amen.

Christ Brings Division - August 14, 2022 - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15) - Text: Luke 12:49-53 (54-56)

At Christmas time we hear the familiar Old Testament verse, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). We sing the song, “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. . .” and we sing about how “no crying He makes.” What a nice picture. What a serene view of the world. Everything is calm and peaceful. And then we get to our text for today and all the demons break loose. It is Jesus, Himself, who tells us that, “49I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (v. 49-51). After reading our Gospel reading for today, instead of declaring that this is the Gospel of the Lord we might rather ask, “This is the Gospel of the Lord?” In the next few minutes we will look at the divisions and separations between unbelievers and believers about which this text is speaking.
 

First this text is speaking to the unbeliever. To the unbeliever Jesus was a good man and a good teacher. Jesus had some good words to teach us about how to get along with others, how to live peacefully in this world, and how to bear up under the struggles of life. To the unbeliever, Jesus was a good example. Through the life of Jesus we are shown how to live in peace and harmony with one another while we are living in this world. To the unbeliever, that is all there is to the life of Jesus, that He was a good man, a good teacher and a good example, no more, no less.
 

On the other hand, to the believer, to us who have faith in Jesus, to those of us who believe that He is truly God and truly man, Jesus is so much more. Yes, Jesus is a good man and a good teacher, and we say that in the present tense, because He is still alive and through His Word He is still teaching us. Jesus is a good example, but He is not just an example, He is more. Jesus is the one who came to do everything for us and ultimately to give His life for ours.
 

As we read in the Old Testament lesson for today, Jesus is our God who is far off. He is so big of a God that the universe cannot contain Him. He is so big that He fills every expanse, every space of the universe. He is everywhere present. He is in every inch of the universe. There is no place that we can go that we could get away from Him or hide from Him.
 

At the same time, Jesus is our God who is very near to us. Jesus is right here with us. Our God did not create the world and then leave it to run on its own. Our God is not “watching us from a distance.” No, He is right here with us. When we are alone and there is no one else around, Jesus is with us. When we are feeling lonely and are in need, Jesus is with us. He is with us every moment of the day, watching over us, guarding and protecting us, loving and caring of us.
 

Yes, Jesus is our “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Jesus is true God, who gave up all the glory that was His in heaven, took on human flesh and blood, was born as one of us; one like us, one with us, expect without sin. He was born as a baby and placed in a manger, in a feeding trough for animals, in the small town of Bethlehem. He grew up in Nazareth and began His public ministry at the age of thirty. He is a real historic person. After He turned thirty years old, for three years He showed Himself, beyond a doubt that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the one promised by God to come and save the world. He showed Himself to be the Messiah by the signs, wonders and miracles He performed, by doing those things that only God and only God in flesh could do. Jesus is the one who was sinless, without sin, perfect and holy so that He could and did take our sins upon Himself. He is the one who suffered and died, who paid the price for our sins, who suffered the eternal death penalty of hell for us, in our place. He is the one who died for you and for me. The baptism that He was to be baptized with is His suffering and death on the cross for us in our place. He is the one who brings forgiveness, life, and eternal life to you and to me.
 

And for us Christians, Jesus brings peace. He brings peace, not as the world thinks of peace, not simply a moment or two of calm in an otherwise chaotic day, but He brings true peace. His peace is the peace of forgiveness of sins and forgiveness of sins is the greatest peace because with forgiveness we know we have eternal life. Indeed, Jesus gives the greatest peace, true spiritual peace. Yet, His peace is only offered to those who believe in Him.
 

And so, as Jesus brings peace, He also brings division. Jesus has given His life for ours and He has given us His Word. It is His Word through which the Holy Spirit works to bring us into His Kingdom. There is only one way into the Kingdom of Heaven and that way is through Jesus and faith in Him. The Christian faith and Christian teaching, that is, the Bible teaches the exclusivity of the Gospel, that is that there is only one way to heaven. Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” And that is why Jesus brings division. The people of this world do not want to be judged by the standard which Jesus gives. The people of this world would rather set their own standard and yet we can see the hypocrisy in that as well, because they do not want to be judged by their own standard either.
 

As Christians, we believe the Bible is the Word of God. We do not believe the Bible simply contains the Word of God, which would allow for the possibility that some of the Bible may not be the Word of God. We believe all of it. As we say, God said it and that settles it. We believe that our God is a God who does not tolerate sin or lack of faith. And so there is division. The people of this world would rather go on living like they want to live, with the focus of their lives being on the things of this world, the temporariness of this world as we talked about last week, and they do not want to be condemned by God, so they condemn those who do believe.
 

Jesus, Himself, tells us that He came to bring a fire on earth. He came to bring division. The fire He came to bring is the fire of judgement. Jesus is the only way to eternal life. If there were other ways to heaven, to eternal life, certainly He would have told us and if there were other ways, why would He have allowed Himself to suffer and die on the cross? As Christians, now, living in the pluralistic society in which we live, we are left to face the divisions created by our faith in Jesus.
 

So what do we expect? Well, it does not look good. We can expect intolerance toward us as Christians, especially from those who espouse a doctrine of tolerance. We can expect ridicule from those who say there is absolutely no absolutes, there is no one truth, but truth is relative, in essence, that everyone is right. We can expect hatred from those who suggest we love each other, as they define loving each other. That is the way our world deals with people who believe that there is only one way to eternal life. That is what happens to people who believe there is a right and a wrong. That is the way the world treats those who believe in absolutes, in an ultimate authority, in other words, that is the way the world treats Christians. That is the way the world treated Jesus and we should expect nothing less as His followers.
 

Jesus’ words ring true still today. He comes to bring division and He even brings division in families. How often it is that, as a family, when we gather together, we do not discuss religion or as we say, religion and politics, which I believe are probably two of the most important things we need to discuss. Have you ever noticed how good the Devil is at distracting us from talking about what is most important, our faith. He does that by fooling us into believing that our faith is a matter of opinion. Everyone has certain “opinions” and everyone believes their “opinion” is the right opinion. Notice I said opinion. God’s Word is His Word. His Word is truth. Too often, we tend to become like the rest of the world. When we read and hear parts of God’s Word which we do not like, we develop our own “opinion” about His Word. We impose “our own understanding” or “our own” misunderstanding, instead of letting His Word speak to us and believing what it says. Thus, we too become trapped in our own hypocrisy. There are times that Jesus’ Words are hard words. His Words demand that we put aside our opinions and cling only to Him. His Words demand our complete allegiance, and with so many other things vying for our attention and allegiance in our world today, that makes it very hard for us and it often moves us to a divided allegiance, thus a divide house. Yes, Jesus brings division.
 

But we are not alone. Jesus never said we had to go it alone. He has promised that He will be with us, even to the end of the age. And so, once again, what can we expect. We can expect that Jesus will be with us. He will strengthen us and give us the strength we need as we struggle through life. As we read in the Epistle lesson, Jesus will give us the strength we need to endure the hardships that come in this life. And as He strengthens us, we are to strengthen each other, our bothers and sisters in Christ.
 

Our text for today is one of those texts that is hard to comprehend. This text takes Jesus out of the role of being a nice God and puts Him into a role that we do not like to see or admit, that He is also a just God and so He is then a God who brings division. But that cannot be helped. That is the nature of our world and the sin which has infected our world. We cannot have it both ways, thus there is division. We are either for Jesus, or against Him. And if we are for Him, we are for Him, one hundred percent.
 

Jesus is for us and He has shown how He is for us in that He has given His all for us, one hundred percent, His life for ours and He calls us out of our lives of sin. He puts faith in our hearts, gives us forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And as He has promised, so He is with us, even unto the end of the world. My prayer for each one of you, then, is that the Lord would continue to work in your life, as you make regular and diligent use of the means of grace, reading your Bible, attending Divine Service and Bible class, remembering your Baptism, hearing Jesus’ words of Absolution and coming to the Lord’s Supper, so that you might be strengthened in your faith, and kept in that faith until Jesus comes again to take us to be with Himself in heaven. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Be Ready - August 7, 2022 - Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 14) - Text: Luke 12:22-34, 35-40

Our text and really all of our lessons help us to understand the difference between wanting to earn our salvation, trying to pay Jesus with a few good works for His paying our eternal death penalty, and wanting to respond with thanks for a gift for which we could never pay. Now, please do not label me as a doomsday naysayer, but the fact of the matter is, the end is coming. Either the Lord will return to take us out of this world, or we will die and leave this world, those are the only two ways we have of getting out of this world. And it will happen. The end will come, sooner than we know and sooner than we might expect. In our text for today we are encouraged to be ready for when it happens and we are given an indication of how we know that we are ready.
 

We will first look at being ready and we do that by looking at the last part of our text. Jesus says, “35Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks” (v. 35-36). We are to be ready for the Lord’s return. How do we get ready for the Lord’s return? We get ready by being about His business, that is by being in the Word (remember Mary who chose the one thing needful); by reading our Bible, being where the Lord gives His gifts, in Divine Service, being in Bible class, having personal and family devotions and the like. It is through these means that our Lord comes to us to get us ready and to keep us ready for His return. When we absent ourselves from these means, then we take away the means He has of getting us ready. It is like being ready for a sporting event or music recital. Athletes and musicians practice and practice in order to get ready. When they fail to practice, then they are not ready. When we fail to make use of the means of grace, then we are not ready.
 

And what happens to those who are ready? We continue with our text, “37Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them” (v. 37). The master, and here we are talking about Jesus, who finds his servants ready, will do, not the expected, but the unexpected. What normally happens when the master returns home is that he sits down and the servants wait on him. In the case of Jesus, our Master, when He returns to gather us, His faithful people from this earth, those who are ready, those He has made ready, He who humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant and gave His life for us, will serve us.
 

Our text continues, “38If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (v. 38-40). The kingdom of heaven, Judgement Day, will come. It will come whether we believe it will come or not. It will come before we know it and when we least expect it. It will come, sooner than we know and sooner than we might expect. Check the obituaries in the newspaper and you will see how it comes at any age. It will come like a thief in the night. And so we are to be ready at all times. We are ready when we take our focus off our feet firmly planted in this world and move our focus heavenward. We are ready when we take our focus off our temporary surroundings and focus on our permanent eternal life in heaven.
 

Which brings us back to the first part of our text and the question of “How do we know if we are ready?” One way we know we are ready is by our not trying to purchase our salvation, but by responding to the gift of eternal life earned for us by Jesus and given to us by faith worked in our hearts by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God. We respond by being good stewards of all that God has given to us and by knowing who or what is our god.
 

In our text we read, “32Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v. 32). Here we are assured that heaven is a present reality. Heaven is ours, now. Heaven is not something we have to wait for, it is ours now. Yes, we will have to wait until, either we pass away in this world, or until Christ returns in order to move into heaven, but heaven is ours at this time.
 

Jesus goes on to tell us that there is a difference between earthly treasure and heavenly treasure. He says, “33Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (v. 33). Jesus mentions this more than once in His preaching and here He reminds us again. Our treasures here on earth may last twenty, thirty, eighty, or a hundred years, but our heavenly treasures last forever, for eternity.
 

And so we are back to the question, “How do we know we are ready?” “How do we know what is truly our god?” Jesus tells us plainly in our text, “34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (v. 34). “Where your treasure is,” that is, where you spend you money, where you spend your time, where you use your talents, “there your heart will be also,” in other words you spend you time, talent and treasures on what is most important to you in your life and that truly is your god. These are not my words, I did not make this up, this is what God tells us and this is an indication of what is important in your life. Where is your treasure? Where do you spend you money? How do you spend you time? Although we may profess certain priorities in life, if we really want to know what are our priorities, they are what we live, what we do, how we speak, where we spend our time and our treasure.
 

I believe one of the Devil’s greatest victories is to have us profess with our mouths that our faith is our greatest priority. Having made this as a profession, then he subtly draws us into many other things which draw us away from this priority, so that even though we may profess with our lips that our faith is our number one priority, our actions betray us. I have always said it and I will say it again, “You do not have to tell me what your priorities are, I can see them, because you live them.” What is your priority when you say, “Pastor, church is our number one priority and our faith is our number one priority, but we have (and here you can fill in the blank of whatever it is that you have) on Sunday.” What is the priority? Yet, we are confident that our priority is our church and our faith, because we have said so.
 

Again this week, to drive home the point, we have the Old Testament Lesson which is referenced in the Epistle lesson to help us understand the difference between trying to work for our salvation and responding to what God has done for us and given to us. In the Hebrews lesson we are reminded of the example of the great people of faith. These people of faith were not great because of what they said, or even what they did, but because of what God did through them. And even here, notice that it is their actions which demonstrated their faith, even if it is God working these actions through them.
 

And why did they do what they did? Because the Lord commanded them to, because the Lord promised to be with them, and because the Lord worked in and through them. Notice that the focus is not on them, even though they are mentioned by name, but the focus is on what the Lord did. And so, because of what the Lord did through them, they have received their reward of heaven. “He has prepared a city for them.”
 

In the first half of our text for this morning, the part I have not read, we are reminded of just how important we are to God and how much He loves us. Indeed, He reminds us that all our cares and worries in this life are a result of our lack of faith. Let me repeat that just in case you missed it, all our cares and worries in this life are a result of our lack of faith. Unlike Abram and all those great people of faith listed in the Epistle reading, we fail in being good stewards of our time, talent and treasure because of our lack of faith. We may somewhat acknowledge that all we have is a gift from God, but we stumble when, as we have the opportunity to allow by our actions to respond with our first fruits we fail, we fail to return to the Lord as we should because we truly do not believe His promises that He will continue to bless us. Yes, it is a faith issue.
 

So how do we take this text and apply it to our own lives. We do this by taking a sober look at our own lives and what we value. What is it that we value? What is truly our god? Do we look at what we have done for God, or what we think we have done for God, and reconcile our account with what He owes us, or do we acknowledge what God has done for us and give thanks for all His good gifts and blessings? And what has God done for us? God has done everything for us. He has given us life at conception. He has given us new life, eternal life through Holy Baptism. He has given His Son to take on human flesh and blood. He has given His Son to live for us, perfectly in our place. He has given for His Son to take all our sins upon Himself and suffer and die, to pay the eternal death penalty of hell for us, for each one of us. He has given His Son to earn eternal life, heaven for us.
 

Jesus lived on this earth never owning property, a house, anything, except the clothes on His back. And yet He never worried about these things either. Of course, He is God, so certainly He was well provided for, but the point is, He knew the reason He came to earth and He never let anything get in the way of His plan and purpose for life. And for that we say, “Thanks be to God.”
 

After His resurrection and before His ascension, Jesus promised that He would return. And He will return, thus it is imperative that we are ready. So now, we add to all that our Lord has already done for us the fact that He also works to get us ready. And He does that as we make regular and diligent use of the means He has given to get us ready, His means of Grace, the Bible and the sacraments.
 

Let me put it into an eternal perspective for you. We may live on this earth for sixty, seventy, eighty or a hundred years, but what is this short amount of time compared to eternity. Thus, more important than our lives in this world is our eternal inheritance. So the question is, are we ready to meet our Maker? It is like the message on a shirt I once read. On the front it said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” On the back it said, “It’s all small stuff.” This world and our life in this world is all small stuff compared to our eternal life in heaven and yet, how often we spend so much time and energy on the things of this world instead of what is most important? Believe me, I know and understand the temptation. I enjoy the things of this world as well. Yet, even I have to set priorities about what is most important. So, even though we are faced with the tough decisions of our priorities, that is not to say we do not go on living while we are in this world, that is to say that we will, with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep our focus where it needs to be, heavenward. And when we do fail, and we will fail, there is forgiveness of sins.
 

Finally, we are left simply to respond to all that He has done for us and given to us and we respond by praising Him for all His good gifts and blessings. I urge you, be ready. I encourage you to know that you are ready as the Lord makes you ready. We will see Jesus, sooner than we know and probably sooner than we might expect. May the Lord make you and keep you ready. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.