Sermon for Pentecost 3: "God's Plan for Abraham" (Genesis 22:1-14)

 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Today, we begin the second week of our ten-week exploration of God’s Word. Each week we will look at a real, historical event in the Bible and how it teaches us about God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, the beginning, center, and end of human history.

Last week, we saw the first humans, Adam and Eve, ruin God’s perfect creation by eating the fruit He had forbidden them to eat. That rebellious act set devastating effects in motion throughout creation. Disease, famine, pestilence, and extinction were unleashed throughout the planet. And hatred, mistrust, war, crime, and death came upon Adam and Eve and their descendants—our whole human race.

We are all impacted by the Fall into sin. We experience it in our lives, the things we do to one another, the hurtful things done to us. We see it on the news and in social media, especially these last couple days with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. As Satan deceived our first parents, he continues to deceive so many into believing that abortion is pleasing. Sin separates us from God and from each other. But with every sin, there is forgiveness through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. You see, sin is at the core of the distrust and unrest that fills our nation and world and is the cause of every problem that plagues us.

But God did not abandon His creation. He promised that one of Adam and Eve’s descendants, His own Son, would crush Satan’s head—freeing humanity and all creation from the curse of sin and death.

Adam and Eve were separated from God and each other by their sin. By nature, they and all of us—their children—are hostile to God and to one another. Only God could bridge that separation by His promise of the coming Savior. All those who believed God’s promise could know peace with God and with their neighbors. But those who rejected God’s promise could not.

That difference quickly demonstrated itself when Adam and Eve’s firstborn son, Cain, offered an unacceptable sacrifice to God. It was unacceptable because he offered it out of obligation rather than true repentance and grateful faith. In contrast, his brother Abel offered a sacrifice in sincere faith and trust.

Cain was angry that God rejected his sacrifice but accepted Abel’s. Though God warned him not to let his anger master him, and promised to accept him if he was repentant, Cain murdered his brother Abel. When God offered him protection and forgiveness, Cain spurned God’s grace, turned his back, and went to live his life without God. Sadly, most of Adam and Eve’s descendants followed in his footsteps.

God kept His promise alive through Abel’s younger brother Seth who believed and taught God’s promise to his descendants. But over time, as new generations came, more and more of Seth’s offspring began to follow Cain, and the number of true believers dwindled. In time, only one family was left, headed by Noah, a believer from the line of Seth.

God was deeply grieved by the violence and hard hearts of Adam and Eve’s unbelieving descendants. They abused one another and the creatures He had entrusted to them. God determined to send a world-wide flood to wipe mankind off the face of His earth. But He had compassion on Noah and his family. He warned him of the coming flood and instructed him to build a large ark in which his family would be preserved, along with representatives of all the animals that would otherwise be destroyed by the flood.

Noah obeyed God and built that ark, gathering the food and supplies and receiving the animals into the ark which God brought to him. The world faced an early Judgment Day that day. It is a preview of the Judgment Day God will bring on this world on the Last Day. God faithfully protected Noah and his family and all the creatures in the ark, and He will faithfully protect you and all those who cling to Jesus in faith on that Last Day.

After the flood, God blessed Noah’s descendants and sent them to multiply and refill the earth. But among those descendants of Noah, a similar pattern established itself as we saw with Adam and Eve’s descendants. More and more rejected God and forgot His gracious promise of a Savior. Once again, the number of believing descendants was diminishing. Since God had promised Noah that He would never destroy His creation through a worldwide flood again, He instead chose another man, Abram, and his wife Sarai. Abram lived roughly two thousand years before Christ lived on this earth. From this elderly couple, He would raise up a new nation. Their descendants would not only preserve God’s original promise of a Savior from the Garden of Eden, but He would also give them new and wonderful revelations unfolding many details about the mission and work of that Savior.

Make no mistake. God was not abandoning all the nations to focus on this one. Instead, He was establishing this new nation to bless and save them all.

God called Abram to leave his fatherland and go to a place God would reveal. So, Abram travelled southwest to a land that joined the three continents—what we know today as Africa, Europe, and Asia. And there in the land possessed by the Canaanites, the Lord would do great things for Abram’s descendants, and many people of other nations would hear of these mighty works and come to His people to learn of His great salvation promise.

Abram and Sarai obeyed God and wandered through an unfamiliar land which their descendants would possess. They raised their herds and flocks and lived in tents. But they proclaimed God’s promise of salvation to the Canaanites who lived in the land. Because God blessed Abram with great wealth, the Canaanites considered him a great prince among them.

When they had first left home, Abram was 75 years old and Sarai 65 years old. She was childless and too old to bear children anymore. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. Finally, after waiting twenty-five more years, God sent the son He had promised them. They named him Isaac. Several years later, when Isaac was a youth, God gave Abraham a startling command:

“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:2).

Abraham must have been dumbfounded. Isaac was his beloved son—the son from whom God had promised to raise a nation—a son through whom the promised Savior would come. How could God command him to burn him as a sacrifice? But Abraham did the opposite of Eve. He did not question or disobey; he did not try to figure out God’s reasons for His command. In simple trust and obedience, he took Isaac and the wood and the knife for the sacrifice, and they set out together to the mountain to which God directed them.

When they arrived, Abraham tied up Isaac, laid him on the wood, and raised his knife to slay him. Suddenly Abraham heard a voice calling out,

“Abraham, Abraham! . . . Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:11–12).

Abraham looked up and saw a ram that was caught by its horns in a thorny thicket. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. He named that mountain “The Lord will provide,” saying, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided” (Genesis 22:14).

It is easy to be astonished with Abraham’s obedience and willingness to sacrifice Isaac. But we must not fail to see how God spared Isaac. He provided a ram to take Isaac’s place. It was another important revelation about the Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. He would be a substitute who would be sacrificed in our place. He would suffer and die for our sins so we could live in God’s presence eternally.

Even more pointedly, just as the ram was caught in the thickets because its horns were encircled by thorns, God’s Son, His promised Savior, would have His head encircled by a crown of thorns as He was led to the cross to be sacrificed in our place.

Little by little as the Old Testament times passed, God revealed more and more about His plan to save His fallen human creatures through in Incarnation of His Son: the birth, life, death, and resurrection of His one and only Son and how His Son will restore His glorious creation when He returns on the Last Day.

But Isaac’s sacrifice doesn’t only show us something new about Jesus’ great sacrifice on the cross. It speaks also of that Last Day when we will all stand before Jesus Christ for judgment. Abraham could have sacrificed the one thing he loved most in this world, his dear son, Isaac, but that sacrifice would not save him from the wrath of God for his sins on Judgment Day. God had to provide the sacrifice for Abraham too.

The same is true for you and me. No amount of obedience and good works or suffering and sacrifice will be enough to satisfy God’s wrath at our sins. He must provide the sacrifice.

And that sacrifice could have been none other than God’s own dear Son. God led Him here, near this same mountain, wrapped His head in thorns, and offered Him as a burnt sacrifice on the cross. Burnt not by fire, but by the pangs of hell and the blazing sun that made Him cry aloud, “I thirst” (John 19:28). The very Son of God – the Second Person of the Trinity – died that day, but He rose to life again on the third day.

God has provided the one and only sacrifice that could pay the penalty for each and every one of our sins. In Christ Jesus, you have complete pardon and peace. And when He comes again on the Last Day, He will restore your heart, soul, mind, and body, and gather all of us, His believers, to live in His glorious presence for all eternity in His perfectly restored heaven and earth. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Funeral Sermon: "Into Eternal Joy and Bliss" (John 14:1-6)

 

Linda, Joel, family and friends of Dale:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

[Intro]

“Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1a). With these words, Jesus fortifies and preserves His disciples in knowing the sure and certain hope that we will see our loved ones again.

In the last days to hours of Dale’s earthly life, for Linda and son Joel, I’m sure there were times when their hearts were troubled. Thoughts like, “This isn’t the way I thought it would be” I’m sure cropped in their minds. It certainly crops into all our minds. But why? Even though death is expected of all of us – unless Christ returns first – death still does not seem right. It doesn’t seem right that we are separated from our loved ones. But with death, comes separation. And with any separation, we experience loss. With separation, we come to a time of mourning. Some mourn publicly, others mourn privately. But we all mourn.

We mourn because death is not natural. You see, humanity was not created to die. But due to our first parents – Adam and Eve – we all die, because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). And so, we mourn. But mourning is a good and godly work. Remember how Jesus reacted to the death of His friend Lazarus? He wept. Jesus wept because He loved His friend, so weeping and mourning the death of any loved one is a good work.

We Christians mourn because of the reality of death. We mourn because we were never intended to die and should live forever. But we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We mourn, but our mourning is mixed with hope. Our tears are mixed with faith. Our sadness is mixed with joy because “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

[Christian Vocations]

Throughout his earthly life, Dale lived out his Christian vocations. He was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and grandfather to name a handful of his vocations. As a son, he farmed with his father. As a husband, he provided for his family at Glencoe Manufacturing and Hutchinson Technology Incorporated. As a father, he and Joel worked together in the garden. As a grandfather, he enjoyed every moment he had with his grandchildren.

Dale sure enjoyed gardening. He provided the seed, but it was the Master Gardener – Almighty God – who gave life to his daffodils, zinnias, rose bushes, and hardy hibiscus bushes.

Besides gardening, Dale had so many hobbies. By far, his interest in sports always served as a conversation on my communion visits.

But all the while, right at his side, as he watched sports on television and read the Minneapolis StarTribune, was his Lutheran prayer book. And that Lutheran prayer book had a lot of ware and tear. You see, his vocations, his joy of gardening, and sports were not the most important to him, what was most important to him was his Christian faith.

Dale held to this truth wholeheartedly: “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). He also held on to this fact: “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:8-9). And he trusted these words of Jesus: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

In his earthly life, Dale was a sinner – just like you and me – but due to his faith in Christ, he is no longer numbered among sinners. You see, at his death, his sin was destroyed. Death for Dale is simply a portal to heaven as His Savior Jesus Christ called him home. Today, Dale is resting from his labors as he has received the promise of eternal life.

[Troubled Hearts]

Jesus assures us again today as He says: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me” (John 14:1). Before Jesus spoke those words to His disciples, the Twelve had always felt secure, assured, and unafraid because of Christ’s personal presence. They had been eyewitnesses when Jesus proved Himself mightily before the people with His preaching and His signs.

In brief, as long as the disciples had Christ with them, they had no reason to worry about anything. Jesus knew that at His departure, His disciples would fare much differently. He knew that they would be overrun by anxiety and fear. So, Christ says those words that are most comforting to us this day, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me” (John 14:1).

This is as if Christ said, “My dear disciples, I know very well what your lot will be after I depart from you and leave you alone. Sheer terror and fear will overwhelm you. Your hearts will melt within you, and you will not know where to turn. I am telling you this before it happens, to keep you from growing fainthearted.”

With those words “Let not your hearts be troubled,” Christ is fortifying and preserving His disciples then and His disciples now – you and me.

Christ never said our lives here on earth would be without fear and trouble, but He did say to place those burdens upon Him and He will carry them.

In our sermon hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (LSB 770) – which is one of Dale’s favorites, we sang how God invites us to pray. Christ says to us, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). You see, through prayer, God takes our thoughts and concerns upon Himself. No matter what the Christian faces, the Savior’s concern – “Can we find a friend so faithful” – and promises – “In His arms He’ll take and shield thee” are an invitation to pray, for which Dale did in his earthly life. Remember, Jesus knows our every weakness, since He became man by taking upon Himself our human flesh in order to suffer and die for our sins as our crucified and risen Savior.

[The Way]

Each of us has a Friend so faithful that He suffered and died and took His life back up again in order to give His flock eternal life (John 10:18). For Christ’s disciples then, they didn’t always understand what Jesus was saying. Thomas for sure was confused as he said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5).

Then as is now, people seek a variety of ways to salvation. People devise one way after the other proving how ignorant they are of the right way.

If we want to be assured of reaching heaven, we must have a sure way and sure road to travel. For there is only one right way and one right road. And such a way is found only in God’s Word. For Christ alone is the only Way and the only right Road on which our heart can and must rely on and depend.

Jesus says to Thomas and to us, for which Dale trusted: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

What Jesus is saying here is this: “‘I am the Way.’ Cling to Me with your faith. I am the Bridge to carry you. For it is I who paved the way and the road. I became man so that I might take you and all My followers to heaven.”

This journey began in Baptism when through the water and the Word, the Holy Spirit gave us faith to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Through our earthly life, we walk in this faith until Christ completes it through death. For faith never errs or strays, but clings to Christ. When our journey on earth is over, faith confirms that we are already at our destination of eternal life.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and what a comforting doctrine this is.

But someone may ask, “What does coming to the Father mean?” Well, nothing else than what Christ has already spoken. By faith in Christ, we pass from death into life, from sin into innocence, from misery and distress into eternal joy and bliss.

All throughout his life, Dale received strength for his faith as he was forgiven by God through the Means of Grace – Word and Sacrament. It is through Christ’s work that Dale is now resting from his labors, as Jesus has accomplished salvation for him and for you and me! By grace through faith in Christ, death is but a portal, since “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

Today, Dale has joined the Church Triumphant in heaven as he has left the great tribulation of this life now. Dale is clothed in Christ’s Robe of Righteousness as he is before the throne of God where he hungers no more, neither thirst anymore as he is in the presence of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:14-17; Isaiah 25:6-9). Today, Dale and his fellow saints are free from sin and its power.

But heaven is not the end. For all the faithful, there is still something more on the horizon. “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). You see, death does not have the final say. Life has the final say. Since Christ has been raised from the dead, we too, will also be raised. So, Dale’s grave will be as empty as the grave of Jesus! This body buried will be the body raised on that glorious resurrection day!

May we too – by faith in Christ – pass from death into life, where we fly like eagles as we are held in the palm of Christ’s hand where there is only eternal joy and bliss. Amen!

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Dale Duenow's Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/dale-otto-duenow/

Sermon for Holy Trinity: "Trinity Revealed" (John 8:48-59)

 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

[Intro]

“What if God was one of us?” That is the question posed by pop star Joan Osborne with her debut single in 1995, which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 that year.

Although the song was catchy, for which I shared in my “God in the Jukebox Bible Study” some years ago, there are some falsehoods in that song, like how God would appear secretly as a stranger on a bus. But the point of the song is the question: “What if God was one of us?”

Today on this Holy Trinity Sunday, God appears as one of us. Not at His return as proposed in that 1995 song, but during His earthly ministry. On this day, we recall how God revealed Himself at the Temple built with stones. We also recall how God’s people reacted to His presence.

[At the Temple Built with Stones]

Our Gospel lesson today picks up in mid-conversation between the Jewish religious authorities and Jesus. The religious authorities are bombarding Jesus with question after question in order to catch Jesus in a lie. They would do anything to trap Jesus in order to call Him out as a fraud.

As question after question passes by, we see how the Jewish authorities are becoming more hardened and becoming more raving. The more they are rightly taught by Jesus, the angrier they become. Jesus asks them very kindly for the reason why they still do not believe, since they can find no fault either with His life or with His teaching. His life is innocent. His teaching is innocent. So, Jesus acts as He teaches: innocent.

These Jewish leaders have no reason for their unbelief other than they are not God’s children. Therefore, Jesus issues the verdict on them and says: “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” (John 8:47). With these words, Jesus is saying nothing other than this: “You are of the devil.”

These Jews could not tolerate this, since they wanted to be God’s children and His people. And for that reason, these Jewish leaders begin to rage away by defaming Jesus’ life and doctrine. They ask Jesus, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (John 8:48).

Here, they defame His doctrine by saying, “You have a demon” (John 8:48), that is, “You speak from the devil and Your doctrine is the devil’s lie.” They also defame His life by saying, “You are a Samaritan” (John 8:48), which for Jews was the worst vice imaginable.

So, how does Jesus react? Well, He teaches us here what must happen with us and His Word. As followers of Christ, both our life and our doctrine will be condemned and defamed. Sadly, this is done by what the world portrays as the most distinguished, wisest, and greatest people on the earth.

So, what does Christ do here? Does He challenge these Jewish leaders to a fight behind the Temple? No. He leaves His life stuck in shame and is silent and tolerates it. He tolerates being tagged with the insult in being called a Samaritan. But He defends His doctrine. He says, “I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me” (John 8:49).

Today, truth is seen by many to be offensive. Among what the world would name the most distinguished, wisest, and greatest people on the earth, they would say objective truth is “phobic.” That is, by adhering to the truth, this person is having “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.” According to the world, society must move on from truth. But any attack on truth is actually an attack on Jesus, who is the Truth (John 14:6).

You see, as Christians – followers of Christ, we are to follow Christ’s example. So, we take the personal insults. But at the same time, when Christian doctrine is insulted, we do as Christ does here. Jesus did not tolerate it when doctrine was insulted. There is where His patience ceased. Jesus risked His life for doctrine. He suffered all they did, so that the honor of God the Father and of His Word would not suffer.

In following Christ’s example, if we perish, no great harm is done. But if we let God’s Word perish by remaining silent, then we do harm to God and to the whole world. So, as the world attacks God’s doctrine by slander, we cannot keep silent. Although they do us injustice, yet we remain right before God.

So, Christ defends Himself and says, “I do not have a demon” – that is, My doctrine is not the devil’s lies – “but I honor My Father.” That is: “In My doctrine I preach the grace of God, through which He is to be praised, loved, and honored by believers.”

But why didn’t Christ say, “I honor My Father, and you do not honor Him?” Instead, He said, “You dishonor Me.” With those three words, Jesus is secretly pointing out that His Father’s honor and His honor are one and the same thing, just as He is one God with the Father. But this secret will be revealed in mere moments.

So, when the world attacks the doctrine of God, then God’s honor is attacked.

As God’s honor is stepped upon at the Temple built with stones, Jesus lays down not the Law, but the Gospel, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death” (John 8:51).

What words of comfort! Here Jesus is teaching them and us that whoever clings to Him by faith overcomes sin, death, and the devil! This is such amazing grace, since by our own very nature, we are all enemies of God, due to our sin. But Jesus here says that anyone who “keeps” His Word will never, ever see death. In fact, in Christ, death has no grasp on us! You see, Jesus’ forgiveness gives life.

We receive Christ’s forgiveness only by grace through faith in Him. This grace we first received through our Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. You see, through Baptism we know that life has the final word, since through Christ alone, we are set free from death eternally! And through His Means of Grace – Word and Sacrament – we continually receive His forgiveness and strength for our faith.

But what did the crowd hear? Due to their hardened hearts, they heard the Law and said, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” (John 8:52-53).

These Jews were focused on not the faith of Abraham and the prophets, but their works. They said, these men kept the Law with works and now each one of them is dead.

But this is not what Jesus said. Jesus said, those who keep His Word, would “never see death.” So, Jesus’ words are a Word of life, and it is true: whoever keeps His Word will not see death eternally. Throughout the entirety of God’s revealed Word in the Scriptures, there are only two places in the hereafter: eternal life or eternal death.

So, who does Jesus make Himself out to be, they ask? “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). The open secret of just moments ago is now fully revealed. Throughout this conversation, Jesus has been describing the relationship between the Father and the Son. They are One. “Yes,” Jesus says, “I have seen Abraham. I spoke to Abraham. I am.”

Here is God, one of us, yet without sin, standing at the Temple built with stones and His own people do not recognize Him. But they know full well what Jesus has just spoken to them. Instead of honoring Him, they pick up stones. Now, Jesus being fully God in human flesh, knew exactly what the angry crowd would do. This is likely why He spoke where He did at the Temple built with stones.

You see at this time, the Temple was receiving needed repairs, so there were heaps of stones near at hand. Jesus knew what this angry crowd was going to do.

As much as the Jewish leaders had hardened hearts, they also knew the Scriptures. At least certain Scripture passages, while they overlooked the ones referring to the Messiah. Since they heard Jesus say that He is equal to God, they did as Leviticus 24:14-16 prescribes to do: “Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death” (Leviticus 24:16).

So, they picked up stones in order to stone Him to death.

Here, Jesus spoke the ultimate truth. They should be worshiping Him. Yet, Jesus hid Himself by divine concealment.

[The Holy Trinity Is Revealed in Jesus]

Through Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit is recognized in its fullness. The very Son of God enables us to see the Holy Trinity by becoming flesh. So, when we see Jesus, we see the Father. We see the Holy Spirit. We see the Holy Trinity.

By Jesus being lifted up by going to the cross, by dying to atone for our sins is the way we are able to be with God and to see God for all eternity. The Son of God enables us to see the Holy Trinity by becoming flesh and by taking away our sin that would separate us from God.

The concept of the Holy Trinity is certainly above our human understanding, but He came to us in order for Him to have an intimate relationship with us through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

God is not distant from us. He reveals Himself to us in His Word. He reveals Himself to us in His Sacraments. In Jesus, we come to know the fullness of the Triune God. We come to know the mystery of the Trinity revealed in Jesus.

I have been asked from time to time if Jews worship the same God as Christians. It is true that Jews worship Yahweh, the “I am.” But if they are not worshiping Jesus, then they are actually worshiping an imaginary “Father.” So, in all respects, if a person does not worship Jesus as God, then they do not have the same God as we do, who is the one true God revealed to us in three Persons: The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To know the one true God is to know the Son of God.

So, on that day, Jesus revealed the significance of the Son in the relationship to the Father. So, to know the Son is to know the Father.  Jesus is none other than the “I am.” Jesus is none other than Yahweh who came and spoke to Abraham who rejoiced knowing the Messiah would come. Jesus is none other than the One who spoke creation into existence.

In Jesus, the fullness of the Trinity is revealed. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Graveside Sermon: "Unending Joy" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

 

Charles, Carol and Joyce, family and friends of Jeanne:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

[Intro]

All throughout her life, the Lord provided for every need of Jeanne’s body and soul. She was certainly blessed throughout her vocations of her earthly life. She was a daughter, a sister, a loving wife, a mother, a homemaker, and an employee. She enjoyed all the moments shared with her family and friends.

One of the hobbies Jeanne enjoyed was quilting, so for her, there was “a time to tear, and a time to sew” (Ecclesiastes 3:7). The Triune God, too, enjoys quilting as He stitched this world into existence. He also stitched together our families and friends. The Triune God brings us all together. But even as through quilting we are brought together, today, we know that “there is also a time to tear.”

For us here this afternoon, we are experiencing a loss. With any separation, we come to a time of mourning. We mourn because death is not natural. You see, humanity was not created to die. But due to our first parents – Adam and Eve – we all die, because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). And so we mourn. But mourning is a good and godly work. You see, Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. Jesus wept because He loved His friend, so weeping and mourning the death of any loved one is a good work.

You see, Christians mourn because of the reality of death. We mourn because we were never intended to die and should live forever. But we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We mourn, but our mourning is mixed with hope. Our tears are mixed with faith. Our sadness is mixed with joy, since despite the wages of sin being death, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

[The Message of Ecclesiastes 3]

The opening verses of Ecclesiastes 3 are among the most famous in Scripture. In fact, its words are often quoted and sung. This divine poem leaves the reader awe-struck and silent in the face of majesty. But once the awe starts to fade into analysis, the reader is bound to find himself or herself scratching their head. What is the point? What exactly does it mean?

For centuries, there have been various interpretations of this divine poem. Instead of going into each interpretation out there, for which there are dozens. The main point of this divine poem is that it impacts the reader with everything it says. This divine poem exerts a force and leaves an impression. This poem cannot be dissected into its individual propositions.

This, in fact, is true of all Scripture. Its purpose is not merely to reveal ancient history or provide engaging literature. Rather, God works through His Word to move people to repentance and faith in Christ in teaching us that God is always in control. The ultimate message of this divine poem is this assurance of Jesus: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In the midst of all the times and seasons of mourning and rejoicing, war and love that God has appointed for His creatures, there was one appointed time that God reserved for Himself. It was the time, the hour, reserved for His Son, Jesus Christ (Mark 14:35, 41). It was the span of six hours that only God incarnate, who had been conceived and born in the fullness of time (Ecclesiastes 3:2; Galatians 4:4), could endure and fulfill. The sinless Son of God suffered and died on the cross to redeem Jeanne and His creatures from all their sin and suffering. Paradoxically, this time of death and killing (Ecclesiastes 3:2-3) was the hour when the Son was glorified by the Father by His obedience unto death, and the Father glorified His Son (John 17:1; Philippians 2:6-11).

Easter morning was the time for God to heal and build up (Ecclesiastes 3:3). The resurrection of the crucified Christ is the foundation upon which the Church is built, the basis for rebirth in Holy Baptism with the promise that, as we have died with Christ in Baptism, so also shall we be raised with Him (Romans 6:1-4; Colossians 2:11-13). In the eternal state, there shall be no more times of death or morning or weeping, only joy and peace forevermore (Isaiah 65:18; Revelation 21:4).

Christ’s suffering and death and resurrection are mirrored in this divine poem, because He became incarnate and as fully human as each of us, yet without sun, to deliver us from all evil and give us unending joy.

By grace through faith in Jesus, Jeanne has received unending joy. By grace through faith in Jesus, we too, are delivered from the power of sin and are given unending joy. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

 

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Jeanne Dodd Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/jeanne-corrine-dodd/

Funeral Sermon: "Renewed in Christ" (Isaiah 40:27-31)

 

Willard, Eileen, Sandy, and Ronald, family and friends of Elaine:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

[Intro]

The Triune God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is the God of comfort. Just some weeks ago, I visited with Elaine at the farm. Although I did the talking and singing, it was God’s comforting words that brought peace to Elaine. Afterall, it is the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding. God’s peace is unlike anything else in this world. God’s peace is sure and certain.

As you are likely aware, Elaine enjoyed the craft of sewing and embroidery. She also had a green thumb for gardening. But what she may be best known for is her cooking and baking. I have heard much about her homemade potato salad and her apple bars.

The Triune God certainly blessed Elaine. The Lord provided her with a loving husband Willard; three children: Eileen, Sandy, and Ronald; grandchildren and greatgrandchildren; and most importantly the gift of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Today, Elaine is resting from her labors as she has received the promise of eternal life. She no longer suffers the effects of sin. She is at peace as she has joined the Church Triumphant with all the saints in heaven!

For us here this morning, we are experiencing a loss. With any separation, we come to a time of mourning. We mourn because death is not natural. You see, humanity was not created to die. But due to our first parents – Adam and Eve – we all die, because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). And so we mourn. But mourning is a good and godly work. You see, Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. Jesus wept because He loved His friend, so weeping and mourning the death of any loved one is a good work.

We Christians mourn because of the reality of death. We mourn because we were never intended to die and should live forever. But we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We mourn, but our mourning is mixed with hope. Our tears are mixed with faith. Our sadness is mixed with joy, since despite the wages of sin being death, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

[Four Important Truths about God]

We just sang the hymn “On Eagles’ Wings” (LSB 727). This hymn is a beloved hymn by many. It is certainly a hymn of comfort. Although the stanzas of this hymn build on the way God comforts us – His believers – it is the refrain that is the most familiar aspect of this hymn. I have noticed that whenever this hymn is sung, the voices always become louder when the refrain is sung:

      And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

Text: © OCP Publications. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110002938

This refrain comes from today’s Old Testament text, Isaiah 40:27-31, which certainly gave the Israelites comfort as they would be led away into exile by the Babylonians. So, in the midst of their coming tears and heartache, God wanted them to remember that He was still in control and that He continued to love them.

Two questions appear in this Isaiah text: “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” (Isaiah 40:28a). These questions direct us back to what God reveals about Himself in the Scriptures. You see, we discover who God is only in what He has revealed to us in His Word. There, in the Holy Bible, God reveals Himself as “the Lord,” the God of free and faithful grace.

Following those questions, “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” God Himself gives us four important truths about Himself:

• First, He is “the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28c), which means that He has unlimited power and uses that power for the benefit of His creatures. He gave us – and every other creature – life and provided a beautiful world in which to live.
• Second, “He does not faint or grow weary” (Isaiah 40:28d), which means that His power was not exhausted by creation nor does He grow tired with the continuous care of the world He called into existence.
• Third, “His understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28e), which means that He is beyond our human ability to grasp and understand. He is holy. All of humanity knows there is a god; the psalmist says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 53:1). But the full truth about God lies beyond our empirical investigation. God must reveal Himself if we are to know anything about Him beyond the fact that He exists and He is great. This, God reveals to us in the Scriptures.
• Fourth, God “gives power to the faint” (Isaiah 40:29a), which means that He gives strength to the weary and the weak. He turns Himself toward His creatures. He gives blessings to them out of pure love for them.

God is all powerful. But for humans, we are much different. We are creatures, not the Creator, so “even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted” (Isaiah 40:30). We do grow weary and weak. We certainly can understand some things, but we must learn. Without the Lord, the best humans can do is only stumble and fall. But to such limited creatures as we are, God promises to give strength. The question then is how? How shall the Lord renew our strength?

[Strength Renewed in Christ]

 “They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31a). You see, faith in the LORD brings this strength!

When we rely on human strength, we will stumble. But when we trust in the LORD for strength, He gives it! Not only will those who cling to Jesus Christ, like Elaine, receive strength; they will renew their strength. All believers in Christ will arise from the ashes of grief and suffering to run and walk again.

By faith in Christ, we “shall mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31b). You see, Christians are pictured as eagles soaring in the blue sky. Eagles ride air currents as they stretch out their wings and soar. For us, God promises to be the wind beneath the wings of His people. This is such wonderful comfort for all who hope in the LORD! The entire life of God’s people – their walking, running, and soaring – is filled with the boundless and tireless strength of God. Even in death, Christians mount on eagles’ wings and soar to God in heaven, where God gives them joy forever with His presence. There, they “hunger no more, neither thirst anymore” (Revelation 7:16a).

Christ’s faithfulness to us provides our only hope for life – for He said of Himself: “Whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:15-16). We are saved only by grace through faith in Christ alone. This is the foundation of the Christian faith, for which Elaine believed and trusted.

You see, it is only through Jesus’ suffering and death for our sins that we are united to God the Father and this union gives us eternal life! This union comes to all believers through the water and the Word in Holy Baptism. This union is strengthened each time we hear His Word and partake of His Sacrament as we receive forgiveness of sins.

Through Christ alone, we have life as we “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31b), as we run and are not weary, as we walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31c-d).

The eagles’ effortless and jubilant flight is that of Christians who have been freed from the power of sin, death, and Satan and strengthened to let their lights shine before all people. By clinging to Christ, we fly like eagles as we are held squarely in the palm of Christ’s hand, the very hands on which they themselves are engraved with the marks of the nails from His atoning death on the cross and His bodily resurrection.

As much as we speak about heaven, heaven is not the end. You see, for all the faithful in heaven, there is still something better on the horizon. “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). On the day of the Lord’s coming, we know death does not have the final say. Life has the final say. Since Christ has been raised from the dead, we too, will also be raised. So, Elaine’s grave will be as empty as the grave of Jesus! This body buried will be the body raised on that glorious resurrection day!

May we, too, with Elaine, receive God’s renewed strength and the promise of eternal life to the age to come! Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Elaine Grack's Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/elaine-h-mielke/