Todays sermon is taken from the sainted U.V. Koren, a leading theologian and pastor of the Norwegian Synod, recently translated by Mark DeGarmeaux. Any errors are my fault in copying this fine Lutheran sermon. +jdw ============ Text: St. Luke 21:25-36 Grace to you and Peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus. Fellow redeemed: There are two things that get in the way of our Christianity: fear and complacency. God’s Word is opposed to both. In last Sunday’s Gospel, Christ comes visibly as King in God’s kingdom, but lovingly, gentle, as our Savior. Should anyone be afraid of his Savior and flee from Him? Today we are admonished concerning complacency, a greater and more common danger. One does not want to be careless and complacent when he learns to think about the moment when Christ will come in all His majesty and glory, with His heavenly hosts, to judge all people. We find this expectation also in the New Testament as a sign of the Christians in the apostolic congregations. The last words in Scripture, before the final greeting, are Jesus saying: “Yes, I am coming soon,” and this is the reply: “Amen— Yes, come, Lord Jesus!” How many can say that from the heart? Most would say: O don’t come yet! The purpose of our text today is that we should now learn to prepare ourselves with a proper attitude. The subject for our consideration then will be: Expecting Jesus’ return. We will try to understand what this is and what it does, so that we ourselves may truly have this expectation living in our heart. God help us to do this! Why are we Christians? Why do we have pastors and churches and the things that go with that? Here in this life we do not have great advantage from it— often the opposite. Struggle, hardship, and difficult days come. That comes along with the gospel. The world has never been satisfied with the gospel. If the gospel is changed so that it fits with what people want to hear, then it is tolerated. But otherwise it happens just as it did with Christ and the Apostles. If one speaks correctly about sin, it is not tolerated, for the world wants to follow its own desires or have fame. If one speaks correctly about grace, that is not tolerated either, for the world wants to earn heaven. The more faithful we are to the truth, the more surely do we receive tribulation. And not just from the world outside us, but from our own mind, from the world in us. So why would anyone take this tribulation upon himself? Not everyone is willing to do so. Of Demas Paul says: He forsook me because he loved the present world [2 Tim 4.10]. But the worry disappears when we consider that it is only for a little while. If you who are sitting here think back a little bit— how many well-known customs have gone away! And if we look forward, then we must sing those words in the hymn: How swiftly can my breath forsake me!/ How soon can life’s last hour appear! [ELH 483.1] Even if we continue here for several years, how few and short they really are! That’s why our Lord wants to help us look forward to the goal. That’s why the Apostles have constant thoughts about the Lord’s return. And that’s why we confess as Christians: “I believe in Jesus Christ, who shall come again to judge the living and the dead.” What will happen then? The last separation of people shall take place, for salvation or condemnation. In Scripture the glory and the misery are depicted in few expressions. Who can imagine the glory when the great host arrayed in white robes sees the Lord whom they trusted! Who can imagine the indescribably misery among those who are lost! It is helpful to think about it! But what we should impress upon our thinking first and foremost is that we shall see Him ourselves. “Every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him” [Rev. 1.7]. You can’t be just an idle spectator there. That applies to you and me. We are the same people as we are here, with all the memories of our life. Then it will be revealed whether we have been with Him or against Him. For either we have been with Him, or we have been against Him. This is really serious. You and I will be there and will be presented the way we actually were in truth and reality, not just according to what we have said. When these thoughts and expectations come to life in us, then everything that entices and tempts and blinds us there in the world gives way, along with everything built on it here. What is money then, or beauty, or prestige among people? The world’s glory fades. All our own honor and righteousness disappears, all our self-satisfaction. Before God only perfect purity can stand, not the wretched rags with which people want to hide their inner corruption. All hypocrisy is put to shame. To cry out “Lord, Lord” does not help [Mt. 7.21]. When we acquaint ourselves in this way with the thought of the Lord’s return, then we see that no sinful complacency can stand alongside this expectation. Jesus is the truth [John 14.6]. Everything is revealed. “Lo, the book, exactly worded,/ Wherein all has been recorded;/ Thence shall judgment be awarded” [ELH 537.2] Therefore where the message of the Gospel from Jesus is received, it will have the same effect as it did among those in Thessalonica, of whom it is said: “They turned away from idols to serve the living and true God, and waited for His Son from heaven, who frees us from all the coming wrath [1Thes. 1.9]. It will work conversion, not just a change into other forms. But the conversion will be genuine and thorough, since it must come from obedient submission to God’s Word. This Word is the rule. Judment is made according to it. It is written: “The word that I have spoken shall judge men” [John 12.48]. This Word shows us our sin and guilt. Anger and trouble and worry come from them. This Word shows us God’s plan of salvation in Christ and teaches us to know that “there is no salvation in any other” [Acts 4.12]. From this Word come hope and comfort and confidence again. We understand that we not only dare to believe, but that He wants us to trust in Him with confidence. If we do this, then we learn to love Him and want to be pleasing to Him, and we await His return with a humble, obedient, willing, and hospitable Christian life. See, dear friends, Christianity is a troubled heart’s confidence in Christ. It is completely different from much of what often goes under the name of Christianity in the world. There is a dark, sickly state of mind that continually cries out: “Don’t touch, don’t taste!” [Col. 2.21] and that enjoys condemning others. That is not the Christianity of the New Testament. There is a frivolous, unthinking confidence in which many live while at the same time they ensnare their hearts with the cares and pleasures of the world. That is not the Christianity of the New Testament. There is a complacency that relies on sweet, pleasant feelings within ourselves, and lasts no longer than these feelings. That is not the Christianity of the New Testament. And there is a confidence that relies on the outward customs and observance of the external forms. That is not the Christianity of the New Testament either. But if by God’s grace in the Word we have honestly and genuinely learned to turn to our Savior with faith in our heart, what attitude should we then have in awaiting His return? Jesus Himself says: “When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near.” St. Peter recalls these words. That is why he exhorts Christians: “in holy conduct and godliness, look for and hasten the coming of the day of God” [2Pet. 3.11-12]. “Hasten,” he says. Then can we do anything except be frightened and terrified with such thoughts? Yes. If we know our Lord Jesus as He is, as our Savior, then it will be with hope and joy that we look toward His coming. He Himself has said we ought to do this. The Apostle Paul says: God has given us an eternal comfort and a good hope in grace (2Thes. 2), and Jesus delivers us from the coming wrath (1Thes. 1). Many times we will indeed be frightened. Fear will force its way in at us again and again. Where should we turn then? We should turn to Him, our Savior, day after day. Here we walk now, each in a temporary vocation. One day we will stand before Him. This church is gathered around His Word. The work of your pastor is to invite you to Him— so that you can first learn to cry out: “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” and then: “I know whom I have believe and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” [2Tim. 1]. The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 21:28:51 +0000
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