Questions and Expectations

Questions and Expectations

Third in Advent (Rejoicing Sunday)

Collect of the Day: O Lord Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Gospel: Matthew 11:2-15

2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

People tend to form expectations about Christmas. When those expectations aren’t met, they get depressed and sometimes angry. Therapists sometimes tell clients, “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.” Today’s Gospel is about unmet expectations.

1. John’s Question about Jesus

1.1. Have you ever felt let down because things didn’t turn out the way you expected? John the Baptist’s life purpose was to prepare the way for the Messiah by preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” One person he called to repent was King Herod Antipas. Herod had fallen in love with Herodias, his brother’s wife. She divorced her husband, he divorced his wife, and the two got married. John told Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” So Herod arrested John and put him in jail. Herod wanted to execute John, but he was afraid of the people who regarded John as a prophet, so John remained in prison.

John’s disciples who visited him in prison told him about Jesus’ ministry, and John sent them back with a question: “Are you the one to come, or are we to expect another?” You can understand John’s being perplexed. He called people to repent because the Messiah was coming soon and would bring salvation to those who repented but judgment to those who did not. But John languished in prison while Herod remained in his palace. Judgment had not arrived.

1.2. Jesus sent John’s disciples with instructions: “Go tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” The prophet Isaiah had predicted that such things would happen when the Messiah came. One example is in today’s lesson from Isaiah: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” All the things Jesus cited were miraculous except the last and most important, “The poor have good news preached to them.” Jesus does not ignore the weakest, most marginalized, and least important members of society, but preaches the good news of salvation to them. Jesus is saying to John, “Listen to the reports of your own disciples. Am I not doing the works of the Messiah?”

1.3. Jesus adds a mild rebuke: “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” John stumbled because what Jesus was doing did not match John’s expectations. Why was John in prison? Where was the judgment on the wicked like Herod?

All the things Jesus cited are works of salvation. They show that Jesus has come to reverse the curse of sin. Ultimately that will require Jesus himself bearing the curse of sin on the cross.  Healing diseases, raising the dead, and preaching good news to the poor show that the age of salvation has arrived. What John did not understand is that accomplishing salvation and extending salvation to as many as possible means the delay of judgment.

We can be like John as we are puzzled about what Jesus is doing in the world now. We may wonder, if he is our Savior, why our health and wealth and other circumstances don’t match our hopes. We also wonder why Jesus allows the things he does - ISIS, terrorists, genocide of Christians in the Middle East. We ask what Jesus is doing in this world.

Neither the day of full salvation nor the day of final judgment is now. The day is coming when he will put everything right. He will remove every vestige of the curse of sin, raise our bodies to eternal life, and give us all the blessings and joys of salvation.  Then he will the judge all and execute judgment on the unrepentant. But this is the age of mercy, grace, and salvation when Jesus, who is not willing that any should perish, is calling on all to repent, believe the Gospel, and be saved.

2. Jesus’ Question about John

When John’s disciples left, Jesus asked the crowd the same question three times, “What were you expecting when you went out to see John?”

2.1. Did you expect a man who was a reed shaken by the wind? A man who wanted above all things to be liked? A man who would change his message to not offend his hearers? Did you expect to hear a Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, or Joel Osteen? Someone who would preach a positive and optimistic message to make you feel better about yourselves and more able to cope with life? Did you expect a weak, vacillating man?  

Not John. His theme was, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When Pharisees and Sadducees came to witness his ministry, he spoke roughly: “You vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? If you’re going to repent, show the fruits of repentance. Don’t think you are safe as the children of Abraham. God can raise up children of Abraham from stone. Already God is laying the axe at the roots of the trees of Israel. Those who do not bear the fruit of repentance will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

He warned them that the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit but also with fire. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Though John mistakenly thought that salvation and judgment would happen simultaneously, his message was true. The coming of the Messiah means that all are moving toward final judgment.

2.2 Did you expect to find a man dressed in soft clothes, the kind of clothes worn in palaces by kings, their families, and attendants? That wasn’t John. His clothes were as austere and rough as his message. He lived like a man of the desert where he conducted his ministry. He wore clothes made of camel hair, a leather belt, and ate locusts and wild honey.

2.3. Did you expect to see a prophet? You were right about that, but he was far more than a prophet. He is the messenger that Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament promised would come to prepare the way for the Lord. In fact he is the prophet Elijah God promised would come before the great and awesome day of the Lord arrives. Among those born of women there has been no one greater than John.

Jesus’ rebuke of John’s questioning from prison was mild. His commendation of John to the people could hardly have been stronger. No human being in the history of the world was greater than John!

2.4. But Jesus added a surprise: As great as John was, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Do you understand what Jesus is saying? If you are the least important person who has ever been a member of the kingdom of heaven, you are greater than John the Baptist. How can that be? I know that I am not nearly so bold or courageous as John the Baptist. I doubt you would claim you are. I know that I was not given the privilege of preaching to prepare the way for Messiah. Neither were you. But we are greater than John.

How can that be? St. Peter explained: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets (including John) who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

We live in a day John and all the prophets could see only from a distance, hope for, look forward to - the day when Christ has accomplished our salvation by his death on the cross, by his resurrection of the dead, by his ascension to heaven, and by his pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the church. We live on the other side of Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. John looked forward to the day of salvation. You live in the day of salvation! There’s something to rejoice about on the Rejoicing Sunday.

A Sure Word from God

A Sure Word

Second in Advent

Collect of the Day Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.  

Homily Text: 2 Peter 1:19-21

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Susan and I were driving into Washington, D.C. on a Veteran’s Day, when we heard on the radio that Ronald Reagan was going to speak at the amphitheater at Arlington Cemetery. We decided to go. We saw and heard Reagan, a one time experience. But, there is much more to know about Reagan than what we experienced. To know more we must turn to books, the written word.

St. Peter tells of an experience he had that we cannot have. But he points himself and us to something we share - the sure written Word of God.

1. Certainty

1.1. Peter tells us about his experience in chapter one of his second letter:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Peter had seen the glory of God and heard the voice of God. He, along with James and John, was an eyewitness of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Jesus changed as his clothes became whiter than any bleach could make them and his face shone like the sun. This was an outbreaking of divine glory that belongs to him as the eternal Son of God. Then God the Father spoke, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

1.2. It is impossible to underestimate the glory of Peter’s mountaintop experience. But he comes down off the mountain and directs our attention to a sure word:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

People want to know what they can be sure of, and it seems there is very little. We’re skeptical about what the media, government, politicians, and car salesmen say. Even scientific knowledge is frequently revised and corrected. About the only thing you can be sure of is mathematical truth -  2+2=4 - but nothing more. Many have given up on the whole idea of certain and sure truth. We are reduced to believing in “my truth” or “truth that works for me” which may or may not be your truth and may or may not work for you.

1.3. But Peter says we have a “sure word of prophecy.” He means the Old Testament Scriptures. When we hear the word “prophecy” we may think of “predictions” such as Micah’s foretelling of the significance of Bethlehem or Isaiah’s foretelling of the sufferings of the Messiah. But prophecy is fundamentally “speaking for God.” Sometimes it is foretelling but it is always forthtelling - telling what the Lord reveals to and through the prophet. Prophecy is a message from God.

The words of the prophets had been committed to writing. When Jesus or the Apostles quoted from the prophets, their source was the writings of the prophets. The term “Holy Scripture” means “holy writings” - writings that are set apart from other writings, different because they record, preserve, and pass down what God has said.

1.4. St. Peter tells us we will “do well” to “take heed” to the “sure word of prophecy” “as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” The world is dark because it is ignorant of the truth. People choose ignorance because they inevitably deny the truth of God’s existence and attributes revealed in the creation and within themselves as beings made in God’s image. The world is dark also because of moral depravity. One of the ironies of the present is that people think that indulging themselves and others in their sins is enlightened when in fact they engulf themselves in the darkness of evil.

Because of the world’s darkness we need light to guide us through the darkness to God and salvation, to truth and right. Otherwise we are constantly stumbling and going astray in the dark. We believe lies for truth and confuse immorality for righteousness. But the Scriptures are God’s light shining in this dark world.

We do well to pay attention to them throughout this age till the day dawns and the day star rises - that is, till the Second Advent, until Christ comes and finally dispels the darkness of the world and the darkness that remains in even our hearts as believers. That means we need to listen with understanding to the readings of Scriptures, to pay attention to preaching of the Scriptures, and to read our Bibles privately - or, as we say in the Collect for today, “to hear” but also to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the Holy Scriptures.  

2. Source

2.1. What makes the Old Testament Scriptures a sure word of prophecy? The answer lies in how they were produced. How were they produced? Peter answers that question both negatively and positively.

2.2. The Scriptures did not come about through “private interpretation.” The word “interpretation” usually has to do with how we understand what the Scriptures say. The goal is not to put into the Scripture a meaning that is not there, but to draw out of Scripture the meaning that is there. But St. Peter here is not talking about understanding the Scriptures but about how the Scriptures were produced.

They are not the result of “private interpretation.” That is, they did not come from a person thinking about some subject, coming up with his own thoughts, and then writing them down. Or, as he goes on to say, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man…” The Scriptures did not come about because some individual came up with some ideas and decided to write them down. Now that is the view of the Bible some people have - that it contains religious ideas man had in old times which may now be out of date and fashion. Or, they may say the Bible has excellent religious insights, but still is no more than high thoughts men had and committed to writing. But Peter clearly denies that. The writings of the Old Testament did not come from private interpretation or the will of man.

2.3. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” or as the ESV has it, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” These men spoke from God - they were God’s spokesmen.

They spoke from God because they were moved or carried along by the Holy Spirit. When a ship is on the sea, it is carried along by the wind and tide. So the Holy Spirit carried these men. He used them, their personalities, their thought patterns, their vocabularies and writing styles, their historical and cultural settings, but he carried them where he wanted them to go so that not only their thoughts but the words they chose to express those thoughts were what he wanted. The direction of the Spirit led them to write God’s thoughts and God’s words. The authors of Scripture spoke and wrote from God because the Spirit guided them.

The Holy Spirit carried the writers to write God’s words. Where do those words lead us? The lead us to truth and righteousness, to salvation and eternal life. They lead us always to Christ who is the focus of all Scripture. On Easter evening, as our Lord walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). St. Paul reminded Timothy “ how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). The Scriptures lead us always to Christ, to faith in him, and to life eternal.

Can You Stand It?

Are You Ready?

First in Advent

Collect: Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and [the]* dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

Old Testament: Malachi 3:1-6, Malachi 4:4-6 (KJV)

3 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

I used to look forward to my father coming home from work. But there were times when his arrival did not turn out as I expected. These were times when my mother would meet him at the door to report my latest misdeeds, and his coming home meant judgment for me.

They did not realize it, but the Jewish people of Malachi’s day were in a similar position.

1. Disappointment

1.1. Back in 586 the Babylonians invaded, conquered their country, ransacked their capital, destroyed their temple, and took the best people back to Babylon. Fifty years later the Persians conquered Babylon. The Persian king told the Jews that any who wanted to return to their homeland could go back. Those who returned built homes for themselves but neglected rebuilding the Lord’s house, the temple. However two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah started preaching; the people got started on rebuilding; and the temple was completed in 516.

1.2. In Malachi’s time, the mid-400s B.C., Judah was insignificant. The population was only 150,000 and the territory was only 20 by 30 miles. They had no king and only a homeguard army to defend from the hostility of neighbors. Their forefathers resettled the homeland 100 years earlier. The temple had been completed 80 years before.

Now they were terribly discouraged and disillusioned. They thought the LORD had let them down. At the time the temple was rebuilt Haggai and Zechariah promised much more. Haggai told them this temple would have an even more glorious manifestation of the LORD’s presence than Solomon’s temple.

The LORD would live among his people. The kingdom would expand. People would come from all nations to learn about the Lord from the Jews. They would be glorious among the nations, and their army would the instrument of the LORD’s judgment against their enemies. The Messiah would give peace, prosperity, and glory.

1.3 But none of it had happened. With disappointed hopes came a decline in worship and devotion to the LORD. They became cynical and said things like, “The Lord calls good those who do evil,” and, “Where is the God of justice?”

We can be disappointed with God about our lives, our parish, or the church in the world. At such times we face spiritual dangers - that we will become cynical about the church, lose zeal for worship, and grow cold in love for the LORD.

2. Preparation

The residents of Judah were so ready for the glory of the LORD to fill their temple and for the Messiah to come. But were they?

2.1 In the ancient world, when the king planned to visit a city, the king would send an advance man, a messenger to make preparations. The LORD said through Malachi, “I’m still going to come to you, but before I do, I am going to send a messenger to prepare the way before me.” He reveals more about the messenger in chapter 4: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (4:7). He was not saying that Elijah would be reincarnated or be raised from the dead, but that he would send someone with the same bold straightforward ministry as Elijah who confronted wicked King Ahab and challenged the prophets of Baal.

They did not know it, but the people of Malachi’s day needed an Elijah, because, if things did not change, the day of the LORD would be a great and dreadful day, not just for the wicked nations, but for them. They were suffering the “frog in the kettle” syndrome. They had got so used to themselves and their sins that they did not know how displeased the LORD was with them.

2.2. Malachi’s mission was to make them see themselves as the LORD saw them.

He confronted their complaining against the LORD. When the LORD said, “I love you,” they said, “No he doesn’t, or he would treat us better.” How insulting it is to throw back in the Lord’s face his declarations of love.

The people offered defective animals for sacrifices and the LORD challenged them about it: “Try paying your taxes to your governor with such animals. Why are you surprised I do not bless you?” It would be like the LORD saying to us, “You give me whatever you can spare? Try that when you pay taxes. You come to church when you want? Try that at work. You give me your leftover energy. Try that with your boss.” The LORD is a great King and deserves the best.

The LORD rebuked the priests, “I chose the tribe of Levi to be priests. You are supposed to teach and model the truth to the people. But you show partiality in teaching, don’t follow the Lord’s way yourselves, and cause God’s people to sin."

The LORD accused the people of profaning his covenant by intermarrying with pagans. When they asked why the LORD did not look favorably on their offerings, he said, “Because you have not honored your marriage covenants.”

2.3. If someone did not prepare them for the LORD’s coming, they would be destroyed. So he sent an Elijah as his messenger to prepare the way. Jesus told his disciples that the promised Elijah had come. That was John the Baptist. John preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and “Bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.” He warned that already the axe of judgment was already laid to the tree to cut it down if there were no repentance.

Advent calls us to look at the condition of churches and ourselves.  What do we see? A lack of awareness of sin; failure to take sin seriously; a lack of the fear of the Lord; and, in some cases, redefining sin as good. We do not see ourselves as God sees us; we doubt God will judge. We ministers don’t prepare people for Christ’s second coming in judgment.

3. Advent

3.1. The LORD will send a messenger to prepare the way, but he will also send another messenger who is different from John the Baptist. He is called Lord and the messenger of the covenant. They seek him, delight in him, because they believe when he comes the age of blessing they long for will arrive. God says this messenger will appear suddenly in his temple.

But will they be able to endure his coming? Do they know what he will be like and what he will do? He is like a refiner’s fire. The refiner must make his fire intensely hot in order to melt the precious metal and separate it from the dross. This is the only way to get pure gold or silver. He will be like fuller’s soap. Fuller’s soap is not like your dishwashing or laundry detergent. The fuller washes sheep’s wool, cleansing it of oils and dirt before it is made into cloth. He uses lye soap that is so harsh it burns the eyes and nostrils.

The messenger of the covenant’s coming will be salvation for some, judgment for others. He will refine the dross out of some, purifying them. He will cleanse priests and people so they may offer pure and pleasing worship to the Lord.

But he will also cleanse the dross from among this people by separating evildoers from his own. In him the LORD will also draw near for judgment against others - “the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me.”

The messenger of the covenant is the Son of God incarnate in Jesus. The first time he appeared in the temple, when his parents brought him there at 40 days old, old Simeon declared his saving work. Simeon took the Messiah into his arms and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32). The way that Jesus brought salvation to his people and purified them from their sins was by himself being consumed by the fires of God’s judgment in their place.

When he came to his Father’s house, the temple, in the last week of his life, he revealed that his coming meant not only salvation but judgment. When he saw the merchants profaning the temple courts, he wove a whip out of cords used to tie animals, overturned the tables, and drove them out saying, “This is supposed to be house of prayer, but you have turned it into a robbers’ den.”

The first coming Jesus set in motion both the saving and judging work of God. His second coming will mean final judgment for all who do not repent. For those who repent it will mean their full and final salvation. We will all be found on one side of that divide or the other - on the side of judgment or salvation.

God's Will for You: Give Thanks

Thanksgiving: God’s Will

Text: I Thessalonians 5:18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.



A Christian wants to know the will of God. When the risen Christ appeared to St. Paul on the road to Tarsus and Paul was converted, he immediately asked, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

For some Christians, seeking God’s will is knowing what to do about decisions we have to make. Study history or biology? Marry Bob or Harry? Buy the standard or deluxe washing machine?

So they may seek a sign from God. There was a young farmer who was trying to decide if he should become a minister. One day when he was working in the fields he looked up and saw clouds that formed the letters “P” and “C.” He thought, “I’ve got my answer! That means, ‘Proclaim Christ!’” He didn’t consider the clouds might mean, “Plant corn.”

If we truly want to know God’s will, we must turn not to signs, but to the Bible, the only infallible revelation of God’s will. The Bible is clear about giving thanks.

St. Paul tells us in the 18th verse of the 5th chapter of 1 Thessalonians, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” Giving thanks is God’s will. Paul had a great concern that new Christians know the importance of giving thanks.

Paul knows that failure to give thanks is a mark of those who know from nature that God exists but suppress what they know:

...when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:21).

Giving thanks is an outworking of the new life we have in Christ:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6,7).

Thanksgiving is the opposite of the old self-gratifying life:

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks (Ephesians 5:3,4).

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Even when we are anxious, or perhaps especially when we are anxious we must not forget giving thanks when we make our requests to God:

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6).

So Paul repeatedly exhorts Christians to be thankful people:

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful (Colossians 3:15).

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Colossians 3:17).

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2).

It is clear that being thankful is essential to being a Christian. Paul not only tells us to be thankful but to be thankful in everything.

Giving thanks for everything means giving thanks in good times when life is going well and there is not too much that troubles us. Giving thanks in prosperous times would seem natural and easy. But often it’s not. Have you ever noticed that children who lack for nothing lack gratitude and are more prone to complain when things don’t go their way? Unfortunately that trait is not confined to children. We tend, as Bishop Ryle wrote, “to hide our blessings under a bushel and set our troubles on a hill.” We need to cultivate the spirit and practice of thanksgiving and to be intentional about giving thanks. With the psalmist we should say to ourselves, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

We should give thanks in bad times when life is hard, when we feel it is falling apart. The emphasis is on maintaining a spirit of thanksgiving in all circumstances. You cut the pumpkin pie and realize you took it out of the oven too soon. You have an automobile accident. You have the aches and pains of old age. But we seek intentionally to have a thankful spirit.

Let me tell you how we can be thankful in everything, even for the bad things. It is because you know that for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, all things work together for good. God is in control and has a plan. Sometimes we see God’s good purpose in this life. You look back and you see that God was working for your good in things that were very painful. We won’t always see the purpose in this world. But for those in Christ, God weaves together every thread of our lives into a beautiful tapestry we will see in the life to come.

There is one thing you can always be thankful for - the certainty of the salvation God has accomplished for you in Christ Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. You are adopted into God’s family. God’s Spirit lives and works in you. You know the verdict that will be rendered on the day of judgment, because you are righteous in Christ. You know that God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ. You can be confident that God who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for you will with him graciously give you all things. You know that nothing at all can separate you from the love of God in Christ our Lord.

We are happy to observe Thanksgiving Day. But for Christians thanksgiving is a way of life.

Better Days to Come

Better Days to Come

Sunday next before Advent

Collect of the Day: Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Epistle: Jeremiah 23:5-8 (KJV)

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

We live in the present, but not just the present. We live in the past by our memories. We live in the future by our hopes. Reality is today. But we may long for the past which we tend to remember as better than it was and hope for a future that will be better than today.

1. Israel’s Past

1.1. If I asked, “Who was the best U.S. President?” I would get different answers. Washington. Lincoln. Roosevelt. Reagan. If I asked, “When were our country’s greatest days?” there would be no consensus. But if you asked any citizen of Judah in the days of Jeremiah, “Who was the best king of Israel?” there could have been only one answer, “David.” If you asked, “When were your country’s greatest days?” the unanimous answer would be, “The days of David and Solomon.”

1.2. The Israelites were liberated from Egypt and took possession of the land the Lord had promised to Abraham. But soon there was political turmoil, moral chaos, and enemy invasions. God raised up  Judges who never achieved more than partial and temporary success. Israel needed a king. Eventually Saul became king, but he was a disaster.

Then God made David, “a man after God’s own heart,” king. He had remarkable achievements. David captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. He unified the nation under his kingship. He made Jerusalem the religious center of the land. He made preparations for the building of a temple of the Lord by his son. He increased Israel’s military power, defeated her enemies, and expanded her borders. David made Israel part of the balance of power in its region. He prepared the nation to achieve its greatest glory under Solomon.

1.3.  David was Israel’s best and greatest king, and he and Solomon produced its golden age. However,  the people of Jeremiah’s time may have engaged in the human tendency to sanitize and idealize the past.

We know about David’s moral failures, the rivalries among his sons, about how he had to abandon his capital and almost lost his kingdom to his own son, Absalom. We remember Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines, many of them pagans, and, that, though he built the Lord’s temple, he also built pagan temples for his wives. Those wives turned his heart away from the Lord.

When Solomon died, one of his sons became king and made foolish decisions so that the kingdom was permanently divided, north and south. From then till its fall, every king of the northern kingdom was wicked. There were good and bad kings in the south, but the trajectory of the kingdom was downward.

The “golden age” of Israel spanned the reigns of David and Solomon and lasted but 80 years.

When do you think was the golden age of the church? Maybe you think the Apostolic age. Perhaps the 16th century and the English Reformation. Or the 19th century the era of missionary advance. But read the New Testament letters and the history of the church, and you will find that the golden days were not so golden as you may imagine.

2. Israel’s Present

2.1. Jeremiah’s ministry as a prophet in Judah began when godly people might have entertained  hopes. Josiah, a good man, became king in 640 B.C. when he was 8 years old. When he was 16 he sought the Lord and soon began reforms. He purged the land of idolatry. When he was 26 he ordered repair of the Lord’s temple.

During the restoration, a priest found the Book of the Law. Josiah’s secretary read it to the king. When the king heard the Law, he was dismayed at the greatness of Israel’s sin. He led leaders of the people to renew their covenant to worship and serve the Lord alone.

But Josiah was killed in battle against Egypt, and with him died the reformation. A son reigned for 11 years and was wicked. Judah was caught in a  power struggle between Egypt and Babylon. Babylon invaded Judah and captured Jerusalem for the first time. They installed a man named Zedekiah as a vassal king, but Zedekiah rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, ransacked the city, and deported the best and brightest of the people.

Jeremiah carried on his ministry during the decline from hope to full scale rebellion against the Lord. He saw Judah’s total defeat, the end of David’s line, and the destruction of God’s kingdom.

No matter how dark you perceive these or future days to be, they are not so dark as the days of Judah in Jeremiah’s time. We approach the time of  year that brings the shortest and darkest of days. But in such days we begin Advent. Advent calls us to repent but also to hope. It prepares us for coming of the day when the people who walk in darkness will see a great light.  

3. Israel’s Future

3.1. Jeremiah ministered in the darkest days of the kingdom of God, but he foresaw better days - not in his lifetime or for hundreds of years, but sure to come.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch...

Think of David’s dynasty as a tree that became diseased. Though at times there was hope for the tree’s recovery, the disease of moral corruption was never cured. Eventually it proved fatal to the tree. The dynasty ended. There would be no more kings in David’s line. To all appearances the tree was dead. But the Lord, whose word is sure, spoke, and said that he would raise up from the tree of David, a righteous Branch.

3.2. The righteous Branch will be a king. As the years passed it became increasingly hard to see how there would ever be another king. During Jeremiah’s life the kingship ended and Judah went into exile. Even when the exile ended and some of the people returned to the land, there were some Jewish governors of the land but never a king descended from David. Judah was ruled by one power after another. To believe God’s promise of king in David’s line anytime after the time of Jeremiah you had to hope against all hope.

The king God promised to give be a very different sort of king - “a righteous branch,” who would “reign and prosper” - or “rule wisely” -  and “execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Many foolish, immoral, wicked, corrupt, and unjust kings ruled Judah after David. The kingdom split into north and south because the immaturity and foolish decisions of one of David’s grandsons. The most hopeful time after the Exile was when a priestly family led a successful rebellion against the Greeks. But there were two problems: (1) There was no king and those who ruled did not come from David’s line. (2) This priestly dynasty became dictatorial and corrupt and produced societal and political chaos. It got so bad Jewish leaders asked the Romans to come in restore order. They did but they also occupied Palestine. That was the hopeless state of affairs when our Lord was born. One disappointment after another. One dashing of hope followed by another.

3.3. Still there was God’s promise - a righteous Branch, a king who would rule with wisdom and personal integrity and enforce justice and righteousness in the land. The coming of this king would mean salvation - salvation for God’s divided people. Not just Judah, the part of the country that remained loyal to David’s line till the end came, but also Israel, the rebellious north, would be saved. He would save both from oppression and unify them under his rule.

This king would be so good and righteous, so wise and successful a ruler, administer such perfect justice, and make the people so righteous that he would be called a remarkable name - “The LORD Our Righteousness.” For a king to deserve such a name he would have to far surpass even David, who, though he was great, could never have deserved or lived up to such a name.

Who could such a perfect King be? Has he come or, as John the Baptist’s disciples asked, “Are we to wait for another?” The New Testament answer is that the King from David’s line has come, great David’s greater Son, our Lord Jesus the Messiah.  He conquered a far worse enemy than the Babylonians or Romans. The devil. He accomplished a far greater salvation than salvation from from political oppression. Salvation from sin, death, and eternal condemnation. He brought about a far greater unity than unity of the two small, estranged Jewish kingdoms. He broke down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles and brought them together in one church that spans the world.

Having accomplished his work of salvation on earth, he ascended to heaven and sits at God’s right hand. He is on the throne now.  And he will rule until all his enemies are placed under his feet, till every knee bows, and every tongue confesses him as Lord.

A play consists of four major parts - plot development, climax, working out the consequences of the climax, and the end. Think of history this way. The Old Testament is plot development. Jesus is the climax. We live in the days of working out the consequences of Jesus’ coming for our salvation. The end will come with his second coming.

Hail to the Lord's Anointed,

great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed,

his reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression,

to set the captive free;

to take away transgression,

and rule in equity.