Explaining the Lord’s Supper

What is the Lord’s Supper and why do we believe what we believe which is that we are eating Christ’s body and blood in, with and under the bread and wine? In order to understand the Lord’s Supper and its Sacramental value we must first look at what Jesus was doing when He gave us the Lord’s Supper. We must go back to the original Sacrament which is the Passover meal.
 

Matthew, as well as Mark and Luke, remind us that Jesus was celebrating the Jewish Passover meal with His disciples (Apostles) for the last time when from this meal He gives us a new meal, the Lord’s Supper. “17Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?’ 18He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’ 19And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover” (Matthew 26:17-19).
 

So, let us go back and understand the Passover so we might understand what Jesus is giving us in the Lord’s Supper. In the Passover the Children of Israel were given specific instruction concerning what they were to do when the Lord would strike Egypt with the last plague, the killing of the firstborn of Egypt, so they would be protected when the angel of death passed over Egypt. They were to select a lamb, an unblemished lamb as pure as they could find, and they were to slaughter the lamb, sacrifice it. They were to take some of the blood of the lamb and paint it on the door post and lintel of the door, in essence marking the door with the up and down and left to right sign of the cross. This marking of the door is what the angel of death would see and pass over that house not killing the first born. They were to roast the lamb and eat it. In other words they were to eat the sacrifice so that it became a part of them.
 

The ceremonial law which would be given as Israel wandered through the wilderness dictated many sacrifices for the Israelites all of which pointed to the One ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross. As a part of many of these sacrifices the one offering the sacrifice was to eat of the sacrifice, again, thus participating in the sacrifice so it became a part of them.
 

In order to help us to make a good, right and salutary connection we must also remember that as John the Baptist came as a way preparer for the Messiah, He spoke of Jesus. In the Gospel of John we read, “The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29). Notice that John called Jesus the Lamb of God. Also remember that the sacrifice of the Passover was the Lamb which was eaten and became a part of the people.
 

Now, on the night in which He was betrayed, on Maundy Thursday, Jesus celebrated this Passover with His disciples. “26Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ 27And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom’” (Matthew 26:26-29).
 

So, as Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples, at one point in the meal He took bread, blessed it and gave it to His disciples. With the bread in His hand He told them to take and eat the bread which was His body. Because Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, it was important that as He offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, that those who participate in the benefit of His sacrifice also eat of the sacrifice; thus, Jesus declares that the bread being eaten actually is His body. Jesus does not say the bread represents nor is changed into, but is actually His body.
 

After He distributed His body/bread to His disciples, He then took the third of four cups of the Passover, the cup of Redemption, blessed it and passed it around for His disciples to drink with the words, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Notice here again, Jesus did not say the cup of wine symbolized or changed into, but was His blood. And here again, as they drank His blood/wine it became a part of them. Thus, as those who eat Jesus’ body and drink Jesus’ blood, the body and blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, they are participating in Jesus so He becomes a part of them. As He is a part of those eating and drinking, His life becomes theirs, His suffering and death become theirs, and His resurrection and eternal life become theirs.
 

The eating and drinking of Jesus’ body and blood and recognizing this eating and drinking of His body and blood in the Sacrament are so important that Paul tells us, “23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Cor. 11:23-32).
 

To not recognize this Lord’s Supper as the Sacrament it is and that one is actually eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus therefor participating in Him, brings judgement upon oneself. Notice also, that Jesus never explains how this is happening, our eating and drinking His body and blood (as we explain) in, with and under the bread and wine. He simply tells us this is what we are doing; thus, we eat and drink in faith believing the Word of Jesus whose Word does what it says and gives the gifts He says it gives. And we rejoice and say, “Amen,” God is faithful. “Amen,” gift given, our being given to, thanks be to God and to Him be the glory.

Salvation For All - January 15, 2017 - Second Sunday after the Epiphany/Life Sunday - Text: Isaiah 49:1-7

This morning we come to the second Sunday after the Epiphany. This year we actually have a rather lengthy Epiphany season. The Epiphany season can last no longer than eight Sundays followed by Transfiguration Sunday. This year we have seven Sunday in Epiphany. The reason for this lengthy Epiphany Season is that this is one of those years when Easter arrives later and since Easter arrives later that moves everything back, so that we have seven Sundays after the Epiphany, then we will celebrate Transfiguration Sunday, followed by Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten Season. This morning we also celebrate Life Sunday, the fact that God gives life at conception and that life is precious in His sight. With all that in mind, we again hear words of promise and prophecy from our Lord, through the prophet Isaiah. And again, the word which we hear is a word which reminds us that God’s promise to send a Savior was a promise given to all people, all nations, not simply to one people or one nation and we see this great Gospel message time and again here in the Old Testament.
 

As we get into our text, we begin with the Prophet speaking, “‘1Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ 4But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God’” (v. 1-4). Notice that God called the prophet from conception. Also, notice that life begins at conception. At conception we have all the genetic information in our cells so that all that is added is nourishment and we grow to be born, to be babies, to be children, and to be adults. Anyway, the question we might ask is this: “Is this the prophet Isaiah or is this another prophet?” And as we read this text we can see that this is not a text speaking about the prophet Isaiah, but is indeed a text speaking about the coming Messiah. God promised to send a Savior, a Messiah. His promise was that the Messiah would be born of a woman.
 

God’s promise was also that He would gave the prophet “sharp” words to speak. As Jesus lived, walked and preached, His words were often “sharp” words. His words were words which called attention to sin and unbelief, disobedience to God’s Word and commands, and His words often upset those who believed He had no right to speak to them in such a way. Kind of like what happens in our churches still today. When the pastor preaches words of law we do not always like to hear such words because we like to think we are good people, at least we are not as bad as some people. But the purpose of the law is to show us our sins so that we do repent.
 

Unfortunately, because the people failed to listen, the prophet believed his labor was in vain. Time and again the prophets of God were mistreated, abused and even put to death. Time and again the prophets of God believed themselves to be failures. Of course, we would remind ourselves, as we read these words, that God never asked the prophets to be successful in whatever it was they were called to do, rather He simply asked that they would be faithful and would faithfully proclaim the message He gave them to proclaim. Here again, is not this the same as what happens in our churches today? Pastor’s are called by God, through our congregations to be faithful and to faithfully proclaim the message of law and Gospel, the message of salvation and yet we have some in our church body who would suggest that what we should be looking for are pastors who preach feel good sermons who are successful, at least in human terms and according to their own measure of success. And as I mentioned before, there are times I believe my labor is in vain, especially when so many people refuse and reject the gifts God has to give by absenting themselves from divine service.
 

But God is not through speaking through Isaiah. He continues to speak of the Messiah, “5And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—6he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ 7Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you’” (v. 5-7). God’s promise is to send a servant to save Israel. Last week we talked about this Servant Messiah or this Suffering Messiah. Jesus came as our Messiah, our Savior. He came humbly, giving up all the glory that was His in heaven, taking on human flesh so as to be one of us, so that He could be our substitute.
 

Isaiah tells us that the servant will be born of Jacob. This is why we have the genealogies of the New Testament. As we read through the genealogies of the New Testament we are shown how Jesus is from the line of Jacob, so that we might know for certain that Jesus is the promised Messiah.
 

Isaiah tells us that the servant will be a light to the nations.  Notice, he does not say that the servant will be a light only to the Jews, but that He will be a light to the nations. Here again we might be reminded and pointed back to Genesis, to the fall into sin and to the first Gospel promise. The promise of a Messiah, of a Christ, God’s promise to send a Savior was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The promise was given before there was a Jew and a Gentile. The promise was given when there was simply one nation.
 

Isaiah tells us that the servant will be despised and hated. Of course, we have the advantage of looking back and seeing how these words of Isaiah did have their complete fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus was despised and hated, at least by those who would not believe He was the Messiah. He was despised and hated by those who refused to believe in Him. And Jesus continues to be despised and hated even in our world today. The world despises and hates Jesus and His followers. Yes, the world despises and hates us Christians because of the exclusive message of God’s Word that is that there is only one way to eternal life and that one way is through Jesus alone.
 

And Isaiah tells us that in the end all people will acknowledge Him as Lord. Even John in his Revelation reminds us that in the end, on the day of judgement all people, believers and unbelievers alike will stand before Jesus and confess that Jesus is who He says He is. Unfortunately, for the unbeliever this will be a day of confession to eternal judgement. They will finally get it right. They will finally understand and acknowledge the exclusive claims of the Christian church, but it will be too late. And for us Christians, it will be a day of confession to eternal life.
 

What Does This Mean? The children of Israel were chosen by God and called by God to be His people. They were to be the nation through which the Savior of the world would be born. They were to bear witness to the world of their belief in the one true God. They were to be a light and beacon for the world so that the world would know of the coming Messiah, but they failed.
 

By faith in Jesus, faith given through our Baptism, faith strengthened through God’s Word and Sacraments, we are called by God to be His people. God has chosen us and has called us to be His people. God has called us to bear witness of our faith through our very lives, through our words and actions. God has chosen and called us to be lights and beacons to the world so that the world might know that Jesus is the one and only Savior, but we too fail. We fail to keep the commandments, actually breaking many of the commandments, on a daily basis. We tend to be like the Pharisees and teachers of the law, thinking more highly of ourselves, believing ourselves to be above the “law” or that God’s law is not speaking to us, but to others who are worse sinners than we perceive ourselves to be. We believe that if Jesus did need to die for us, it was only that He needed to die a little for us, because, again, we are after all good people. Yes, we sound very much like the Israelites, like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
 

Thanks be to God that He promised to send a Savior for Israel and for us. Here again, we might point ourselves back to Genesis, but we might also point ourselves to the New Testament where we are reminded again and again that Jesus came for all.
 

The Messiah, Jesus came to live for Israel, that is to do what she could not do and He came to live for us, to do for us what we cannot. Because God demands perfection and we cannot be perfect, Jesus came to live in perfection. Because we cannot keep God’s laws perfectly, Jesus obeyed all God’s laws perfectly, for us, in our place. Because we cannot save ourselves, Jesus came to give His life for ours in order to save us.
 

Jesus is the Messiah, the one promised by God, the one promised through the words of Isaiah in our text for this morning. Jesus was born of a woman, the virgin Mary. He was born under the law. He fulfilled all God’s laws perfectly. Last week we were reminded of His Baptism by John in the Jordan river. This was, as Jesus Himself tells us, to fulfill all righteousness, to identify with us as our substitute.
 

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. These are the words of John the Baptist in our Gospel reading for this morning. John knew who Jesus was. John came to prepare the way for Jesus. John knew of the sacrificial system of the laws concerning the offering of sacrifices as satisfaction for sin and He knew that Jesus came to offer Himself as a once for all sacrifice for us for our sins. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
 

After living a perfect life, Jesus took our sins upon Himself, all our sins, our sins of thought, word and deed, our sins of omission and commission, all our sins. And Jesus died for ours sin. But death and the grave had no hold over Him. He rose from the dead, victorious over sin, death and the devil. So, that now, by faith in Jesus we are saved.
 

For those of us living in the last days, in New Testament times, you would think it would be easy to believe and live according to God’s Word, we have, after all, the advantage of looking back and seeing how Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world and yet, because of the temptations that surround us in this world we tend every day to look and sound like the world in which we live, we tend to let the culture take over our lives and then we begin to look like the world, not like the people God has chosen and called us to be. It is not difficult to read through the Old Testament and substitute us Christians for the children of Israel and see the similarities. Hopefully, as we do this, we also recognize our need for a Savior and our utter helplessness without Him. And hopefully, we then recognize that Jesus is the one promised in the Garden of Eden, the one promised to Abraham, the one sent from God, for us, for you and for me and for all people. So that, by faith, given through the Word and Sacraments, given by the Holy Spirit, put in our hearts and strengthened by God, we know and have confidence in our eternal salvation so that we might respond living lives of faith and giving praise to God alone.
 

Finally, this morning we are also celebrating what has become known as Life Sunday, that is we are celebrating God’s gift of life especially in children and in the pre-born children. Life is indeed precious to Jesus. He shows us how precious life in through the very fact that He gave His perfect life for the sins of all people, of all places, of all time, including pre-born children. Just as the Lord called Isaiah from the womb to be a prophet and as He called Jesus from the womb to be our Savior so He calls us from the womb, and even more, He calls us even before the foundations of the world have been set, to be His own, so much is His great love for us. So we rejoice in His great love for us and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

I Will Put My Spirit on Him - January 8, 2017 - Baptism of our Lord, 1st Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Isaiah 42:1-9

Here it is the second Sunday of the New Year and our calendar is beginning to fill up, even our church calendar is beginning to fill up. Today is the first Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord, which we celebrated last Friday. Friday we were again reminded that Epiphany is the time we celebrate the visit of the wise men, or the Magi to Jesus. The word “epiphany” literally means appearance, or to give light and is celebrated because this was the first appearance of our divine God in human flesh to someone other than an Israelite. This was the first appearance of our God to Gentiles. To us as Gentile Christians that means that this is God’s sign that we Gentiles have also been included as a part of His kingdom. Jesus was born as the Savior for all people, the Light of the world. Today we recognize as the second Sunday of the New Year, and the first Sunday after Epiphany.  You may also have noticed that the reading from the Gospel is the account of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist some 28 years later. So, again, this morning is the first Sunday after the Epiphany, it is the second Sunday of the New Year and it is also the Baptism of our Lord Sunday.
 

Before we get into our text let me make a comment about all our lessons. The Gospel lesson is the account of Jesus’ baptism. The Epistle reading from Romans is Paul’s words of encouragement that because we are united with Christ in His death, through our own baptism, so we are also united with Him in His resurrection. The Old Testament reading is God’s plan prophesied way back in time and is what we read as being fulfilled in the Gospel and Epistle lessons.
 

So, getting to our text we begin at the first verse. We read, “1Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations’ (v. 1). There are two key words in this verse. The first is the word “servant.” This is not just an ordinary servant, one who serves coffee, tea, or biscuits. The servant that is talked about here is a suffering servant. The servant talked about here is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, was born as true man. In his letter to the Philippians Paul tells us about this servant when he says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8).” Jesus Christ is true God and with that comes all glory, but He gave all that up and became a servant in order to save us. In the same way, Paul tells us that our attitude should be the same as Christ’s, that of a servant seeking to help others, seeking what is best for others rather than being self-seeking, looking out for number one.
 

The second key word in this verse is the word “justice.” Our God is a just God, a fair God. He demands that we keep His commandments, that we live perfect lives, that we make satisfaction for our sins. The problem is that we cannot do this, be perfect. We cannot keep His commandments, we cannot live perfect lives, we cannot make satisfaction for our sins. The good news is that His servant, Jesus Christ our Savior has brought us justice through His death and resurrection.
 

Moving to verse two we read, “2He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street” (v. 2). This is a reiteration, or an expansion, of the role of the servanthood of Christ. He humbled Himself. Isaiah expresses this later when he writes, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus humbly gave Himself over to death in our place.
 

Continuing on in verse three we read, “3a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice” (v. 3). The bruised reed and the smoldering wick are images of delicate things which require gentleness. Thus, we see this servant coming in gentleness. For those who are struggling in their faith, those who are unsure and are barely hanging on He comes in gentleness, nurturing and strengthening the faith that is there.
 

Isaiah continues, “He will faithfully bring forth justice.” This is not our faithfulness, but the Lord’s faithfulness. We are unfaithful people. Sure, we come to church on Sunday, at least once in a while, maybe we even attend a Bible class, at least once in a while, but when we leave the church grounds, when we get out of the parking lot we have a tendency to go right back to our daily grind. How often it is that when making a decision, we forget to take it to the Lord in prayer. How often it is that in a moment of anger we misuse the Lord’s name. How often it is that we murder our neighbor, not actually killing them, but hating them and killing them in our mind, or simply not helping them. How often it is that we lust after another person, or covet someone’s possession, devising ways to get this, that, or the other thing. How often it is that we defame someone, running them down rather than putting the best construction on everything and building them up. And the list goes on. We are not faithful, but our Lord is faithful. In His faithfulness He has remembered and continues to remember His promises and He keeps them. In faithfulness, in His faithfulness He brings forth justice.
 

Continuing with verse four we read, “4He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law” (v. 4). Our Lord will not be discouraged. Sure, He has a lot about which to be discouraged, but He is not discouraged. This is what makes it seem like our Lord is a long time in His returning to take us to heaven. Our Lord is a patient, loving God who wants everyone to be saved. In that desire He is giving all people every opportunity to hear His Word and to come to faith. Our Lord is not discouraged, but is patiently waiting, allowing sufficient time for all people to hear His Word and put their hope in Him.
 

Picking up at verse five we read, “5Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6‘I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness’” (v. 5-7). Who created the heavens and spread out the earth? It is the Lord God, the Lord Almighty who created the heavens and the earth. He said, “let there be,” and it was.
 

Who gives breath to its people, life to those who walk on the earth? He says, “I am the Lord,” the one who called you in righteousness. “I am the Lord,” the one who has given you life at your birth, physical life, but not only physical life, also new life, spiritual life through our baptism.  It is the Lord who makes us righteous. It is the Lord who brings us back into a right relationship with Himself.
 

Our Lord says, “I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.” Our Lord is speaking specifically to the Israelites. He says that He will work the salvation of the world through them. The problem was that they were sinners. This does not give us any reason to look down on them as if we are any better than they are, rather it makes us even more responsible because now the Lord has made us to be His witnesses and we too are sinners. The Lord’s solution, which ties this back to our first verse, is that He sent His servant, to be the embodiment of Israel. In other words, the Lord made His covenant with the children of Israel, that He would save the world through them. They were to keep His commandments and live according to His laws. Because they were unable to do these things He sent Jesus to be Israel. Jesus fulfilled all the Lord’s commandments and lived according to all His laws. Jesus did what all of Israel and for that matter, what we, all of us and all people cannot do, He lived perfectly. He fulfilled all the Lord’s commands perfectly, in our place. He obeyed His parents perfectly for us. He worshiped only the Lord and never misused His name for us. He obeyed all the Lord’s commandments and laws perfectly for us, in our place, as our substitute.
 

Jesus is the one who opened the eyes of the blind. He freed the captives. His healing, casting out demons, and miracles were all signs that He was who He said He was, God’s own Son, born in human flesh. Thanks be to God for this prophecy and for its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
 

Our text concludes, “8I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them” (v. 8, 9). It is the Lord who does and gives and we are done to and given to. This is indeed good news. We touched on this point a little, earlier when we made note that the Lord had intended to save the world through His covenant people, Israel. We made note that although they failed, the Lord worked salvation through His people who were embodied in Jesus Christ. Today we are included as a part of God’s people through faith in Jesus Christ. Again, our Lord intends to get the good news out to the world through His people, through us. So how are we doing?
 

It is exciting to see new Christians, how excited they are about their new found faith, they cannot help it, they have to go out and tell everyone the good news they have heard. How about us “old” Christians, does our faith still excite us? Or are we more afraid of saying the wrong thing or being made fun of or the like? Or is our excitement still the desire to share the good news of Jesus with others so they too might have a part in His kingdom?
 

We may not always know what to say to someone, or how to tell them the good news, but let me assure you, we are all personal witness of the good news, whether we say something or not. We are witnesses in word and in deed. We do not have to say anything to bear witness of the good news. Simply because we wear the name “Christian” we show through our actions what that means to us. The good news about this is that no matter how bad a witness we might think we are, God can and does use our witness for good. With that in mind, I would encourage you, do not be afraid to talk to your neighbor. You do not have to talk about religion. You might simply want to invite them to come to church or to any church sponsored activity. If you know of someone you think would be receptive to hearing the Gospel, if nothing else, tell me and if they are interested, I will be happy to speak to them.
 

As we are now in the countdown to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, as Lutheran Christians we have the purity of the Gospel, the right understanding of Justification, why would we want to keep that to ourselves. As we hear our family and friends speak a confusion of Law and Gospel and seek to be saved by pointing to themselves, how can we not point them to Jesus who is the One who saves us. Just as our text points us to Jesus, so we point others to Jesus as we have been pointed to Jesus. And the joy is, that Jesus will do His work, when and where He pleases. And we are left to rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for  Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Lord’s Acts of Mercy - January 1, 2017 - First Sunday after Christmas - Text: Isaiah 63:7-14

Today is one of those rare Sundays as today is the first Sunday after Christmas and it is also New Years day. The waiting has ended, the presents have been opened, we have had time to relax and enjoy our families, we have eaten as much food and especially sweets as we can, and perhaps finished most of them off last night at New Year’s Eve parties or we may have saved some to finish off during our New Year’s day celebrations today. Some people used the past week to make New Years resolutions, which may or may not have already been broken by the time they made it to church this morning. After a late night as we come to be given the Lord’s gifts on this first day of the new calendar year, a new year as a gift from God, our text is just what we need, another beautiful Word of the LORD telling us the good news of all that He has done for us.
 

In our text Isaiah tells us of the kindness of the LORD. To the untrained eye that might sound, well, okay, but when we take a look at what this kindness is that he is speaking about, then we will see just what an impact this text can make. The word “kindness” in our text means more than just being kind to someone. The word “kindness” in our text refers to our LORD’s steadfast love for us and His faithfulness to His promises. When we keep our text in its context, we understand that when Isaiah speaks of the LORD’s kindness he is speaking of the LORD’s continual covenant loyalty even through the Israelites were disloyal. In speaking to us today we might say that the LORD continually shows us His kindness even though we continually disobey His commandments.
 

Isaiah tells us that the LORD is to be praise because of all the good things He has done. Our LORD is the one who created this world in which we live. He has given life to each one of us. He has given us new life through our baptism. He sent His one and only Son into our world, born as one of us, born under the law. Jesus lived the perfect life for us. He obeyed the commandments for us. He took all our sins, all our disobedience, all our disloyalty, upon Himself, suffered, and died for our sins.
 

The LORD has done these many good things because of His compassion and many kindnesses. That Jesus died for us has nothing to do with our goodness. In no way did we or could we influence our LORD to be good to us. As a matter of fact Paul tells us that it was while we were yet sinners, that is while we were in the midst of being sinners, while we are in the midst of being disobedient, that is when Jesus gave His life for us. It was because of His compassion and many kindnesses that the LORD has done these many good things.
 

It is the LORD who has chosen us. He has chosen to do these things for us. He is the one who calls us His people. Isaiah tells us that God said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely” (v. 8). We are God’s people because He chose us to be His people. By faith we are Abraham’s children. All believers in Christ are God’s people and children of Abraham, not by flesh, not as a physical descendant, but by faith, not by birth.
 

Because we are God’s people, chosen by Him, Isaiah tells us, “And He became their Savior” (v. 8). God chose us. He chose to be our Savior and to save us. He chose to save us by sending His one and only Son to be born as one of us. Jesus freely gave up Himself for us, to save us.
 

Now please do not misunderstand this next statement, because you well know that I am not one of these touchy feel-y preachers, but does not all that make you feel good? Kind of makes you feel like smiling, does it not? The problem is that we often have a hard time believing all that we have just heard. We would rather have a part in our own salvation, in one way or another. Our first defense of our own self-righteousness is the denial of our sin. We think to ourselves, “I am no worse than the next guy.” And that is true, we can always find someone who is a worse sinner than we are, at least in our own eyes. The problem is that if we are going to compare ourselves to anyone the person we must compare ourselves to is Jesus. And we remember He was perfect.
 

What we often fail to realize is that with the denial of our sin and even with the minimalizing of our sin, we imply the denial of the need for a Savior. Hardly ever is this an outright denial, usually it is more of a subtle denial. We figure that if we have never intentionally hurt anyone then we must be pretty good people. The problem is that being pretty good does not get you very far with God.
 

More often than not we confuse the Gospel of the LORD with the word of society. This usually occurs when our desire to fit in with society is greater than our desire to live according to God’s good and gracious will. The problem is that what society tells us is, more often than not, the exact opposite of what the Gospel of the LORD tells us. It is the word of society which is what makes us have such a hard time admitting that we are sinners, admitting that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.
 

We live in such and affluent country that we believe we are entitled to all that we need and even all that we want. And often it is believed that if we do not have all that we want then somehow life is not fair and then there is a demand for what is wanted. We have a difficult time distinguishing between wants and needs. God’s promise is to take care of all that we need, not all that we may want and we can want an awful lot. Indeed, we have so much more in this country and in this world than we are entitled. To what are we entitled? According to the Word of the LORD, in and of ourselves, we are entitled only to eternal life in hell.
 

What is really frightening is that after we read about what a kind, compassionate, loving, merciful God we have, that rather than receive all His kindness with open arms, we would rather give our feeble excuses as to why we deserve for Him to do anything for us. Our sinful human nature even makes it difficult for us to simply open our arms, open our hearts to passively be given all His good gifts and blessings. It is really too bad that so often the only time we come to the LORD is when we are distressed and even then we often come with the attitude that He should have helped us before the distress took place. Should we expect anything from the Lord? Are we entitled to anything from the Lord? Our first answer to these questions should be “no,” we are not entitled to anything, nor should we expect anything from the Lord, except eternal death and punishment. Our second answer to these questions should be “yes,” we are entitled, we should expect everything from the Lord, because He has promised to give us all things. However, and this is a big however, it is only when we realize just how sinful we really and truly are and that all we deserve is eternal death and punishment, only then will we begin to realize how wonderful are God’s gifts of grace.
 

Thanks be to God that we do have such a loving God. Isaiah explains to us that our God continues in His kindness. He tells us, “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (v. 9), in other words, Jesus took all our afflictions on Himself. Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and suffered the punishment for them.
 

The most difficult phrase of this passage might be Isaiah’s reference to “the angel of His presence” (v. 9). “The angel of His presence” is Christ Himself. Isaiah is referring to the presence of the LORD Himself. It is the LORD Himself who saved us. He is God, born in human flesh. We just celebrated His birth, the beginning of His life on earth. A life in which he lived perfectly, something we cannot do. The exciting thing is that His perfect living was done for us. When we stand before God, by faith in Jesus we will be able to claim that perfect life as our own.
 

“In his love and in his pity he redeemed them” (v. 9). In spite of us, or rather because of our sinfulness, in His love and mercy, He redeemed us. In His love, is the kind of love that only God can have, so much that He gave His life for us. In His mercy, in His great compassion, He felt sorry for us, sorry enough to deliver and protect us from the danger of sin, death, and hell.
 

And, “He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old” (v. 9). The LORD not only has created us, not only has He recreated us through the waters of Holy Baptism, but now He lifts us up and carries us all our days. He is the one through whom we given strengthening, daily as He comes to us, especially through His means of grace, His Word, confession and absolution and His Sacraments; Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
 

The Word of the Lord for today is a Word in which we rejoice. The Word of the Lord for today is a Word which reminds us of the kindness, the mercy, the compassion, the love of our great God. The Word of the Lord for today is a Word which lifts us up and carries us all our days. It is a word reminding us of what a great, loving and compassionate God we have, a God who does all and gives all, for us, because of His great love for us. And because of His great love and compassion for us, we are moved to respond and say, thanks be to God, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.