Deformation, or Reformation? - Sermon for the Feast of the Reformation, Observed

Reformation Day, (Observed) 
October 27^th, anno + Domini 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Reformation, or Deformation?  
Keeping the Commandments and Faith in Jesus

Audio of the Sermon available HERE. 

Here is the perseverance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)

   Revelation 14:6-7, with the angel flying in midheaven, crying out the eternal Gospel of God, is the traditional First Reading for Reformation Day.  The Church that formed around the re-discoveries of Martin Luther has long liked to identify the Reformer with this angel.  And fair enough.  When we remember that the word ‘angel’ means, most basically, ‘messenger,’ and that Old Testament prophets, New Testament pastors, and Jesus Himself were sometimes called ‘angels,’ then surely we can understand Luther as an angel, a messenger of truth and hope, called by God to announce the pure Gospel.  While no reports exist of Martin having wings or flying, it’s still a fun connection to make. 

   And yet, verse 12 of chapter 14 might do a better job of capturing the heart of the Lutheran Reformation:  Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.  Saintly perseverance is directly connected to God’s Law, the Commandments, and to trusting in Jesus, the faithful One who has revealed Good News for sinners in His life, death and resurrection.  After centuries of becoming more and more buried under layers of false human ideas, the Reformation brought back the reality of Christians living in God’s Law, rightly understood, and rejoicing in His glorious, free, life-giving Gospel, the Good News of sins forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.   

   Revelation is a lively and challenging book, full of symbolism, and wonderful visions of victorious heavenly worship, myriads of myriads of saints in white robes, surrounding God on His throne, and the Lamb.  Revelation is also full of graphic warnings against idolatry and godless living, chapter 14:1-13 offering a superlative example.  This passage proclaims the starkest contrast between the faithful and the wicked. 

   In chapter 14 verse one, John sees a wonderful image:  Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.  ² And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.  ³ And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 

   All happiness and light so far.  But the contrast is coming:  ⁴ These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.  The victorious saints are described as both saved by grace, worshiping the Lamb who purchased them with His blood, and also as keepers of the commandments, not committing adultery, speaking the truth, and following the Lamb, wherever He goes. 

   Next comes today’s First Reading, with the Luther-like angel proclaiming the Gospel, the Good News.  But the next two angels are not such pleasant preachers.  The second angel announces:  “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”  ⁹ Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”  Yikes! 

   Thankfully, in good Waltherian fashion, the Gospel predominates in the end of this passage:  ¹² Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.  ¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”  Blessed indeed, to rest in Christ. 

   Have you ever bought a brand new car?  Ever admired the beautiful skin of a little child?   You don’t take a car to the body shop till it has dents and dings.  Wrinkle cream is not for 17-year-old girls.  A thing only needs to be re-formed if it has become de-formed.    The Church on earth is full of redeemed sinners who still struggle with sin, and she is under constant attack by enemies without and within.  So, the Church will from time to time need some reforming. 

   In these 13 verses of Revelation 14 the Holy Spirit gives us a window into the deformations that afflicted Christ’s Church in the 16^th century, errors which Luther worked to reform.  These verses also help us to recognize the many recurring challenges to the teaching of Christ that have continued since 1517.  These deformations, by every indication, will continue to threaten, until Jesus comes on the Last Day to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. 

   So, as we celebrate the Reformation this morning, let’s take a few minutes to consider some of the most common de-formations, so that we can be ready to reject error and promote the Truth of Christ in our day, 507 years after Luther unintentionally sparked the Reformation and changed the world. 

   First, we should consider deformations of the Law, at which we fallen men and women really excel.  Our first carnal instinct when the rules come up is to claim that we are obeying them.  “Are you kids behaving?” comes the voice from the other room.  “Yes, Mom,” we all reply, as we involuntarily hide the cookies we snitched behind our back, as if she might be able to see through walls. 

   This pitiful pretending is common to all humanity.  Think of the rich young man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus points him to the Commandments, and the young man claims to have kept them all since his youth.  He is lying to God and himself, of course, a sad reality Jesus points out by telling him to sell all he owns, give to the poor, and then come, follow Me.  The rich young man goes away sorrowful, because he loved his wealth more than he wanted to follow Jesus.  It is no different for you or me, a sad truth Paul states plainly in Romans, chapter 3:  There is no distinction: ^[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  As it is written: There is no one who is righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)  

    A more subtle way to deform and pervert God’s Commandments is to go God one better by making up new rules.  This could be done by Jewish rabbis, adding 613 new laws to the Law of Moses.  Or a liturgical Lutheran like myself might falsely, even unintentionally, give the impression that to be truly Christian “we must use this liturgy or wear these certain clothes.”   Liturgy and vestments are wonderful tools to support communicating the Gospel.  But they are not commands of God. 

   Whatever they might be, self-chosen rules tend to become our focus, and then allow us wiggle room to ignore God’s original commandments.  God is never impressed when we claim that the commandments of men are the teaching of God. 

 

    This is to try to take the kingdom of God by force.  The Scribes and Pharisees, the inventors and enforcers of those 613 man-made laws, know something special is happening with John the Baptist and this Jesus fellow.  They are threatened, and so try to overwhelm John and Jesus with their rules and their show of holiness, all the while burying God’s true Law and His true plan of salvation under a mountain of rules and accusations.   

   Of course, God’s Kingdom is not of this world, and so is not subject to the violent efforts of this world’s wise and powerful.  Despite John’s violent death, despite their hounding of Jesus, the Truth they preached did its work, attracting crowds of sinners, seeking mercy, and provoking the religious elite to a murderous jealousy.    

   There is a subtlety required to rightly handle the truth of God’s Law.  God’s Law is good and right.  We should keep it, perfectly.  If we did this, we would achieve our own salvation.  But we do not, we have not, we cannot.  There is no hope for us to win our own salvation through keeping the Law. 

   And yet, as Christians, as followers of the Christ who did keep the Commandments perfectly, the Law is still important for us.  Forgiven and reformed by the forgiving sacrifice of Jesus, delivered to us through the Word, the Holy Spirit also transforms our hearts to love His Law.  Christians are being untrue to their new identity if they do not seek to keep the Commandments.  Christians pursue the Law freely, without ever trusting in our efforts, for our efforts are imperfect.  Rather, we daily rejoice to have received full salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus. 

   Remember that the recreated believer in Christ is a living soul, with a God-given purpose, which includes the joy of serving God by serving our neighbors.  The Christian soul needs to fulfill the desire God has given to share His love that we have received in Christ.  To ignore or deny the sanctified life of good works is also to deform Christ’s teaching.  The Life of Good Works is a place of joy, and of repentance, of sharing the love of Christ, and understanding ever more deeply how amazing His grace and mercy for us sinners truly are. 

   Keeping the Commandments is important.  It should occupy much of our attention, and shape our daily lives.  But our efforts are never our hope.  Rather, we try because of the sure and certain hope we have, in Christ Jesus.   

   It is false to teach we can or must, on our own, keep the Law of God perfectly and so be saved.  This lie will lead us to one of two disasters.  If we are honest with ourselves, we will fall into despair, for we daily sin much, and deserve nothing but God’s wrath.  Despair is a daily threat for those souls who believe they must keep the Law perfectly to be saved. 

   We pray that the crushed sinner quickly hears the Good News of Jesus, and is rescued from despair.  But there is also an opposite temptation of Satan, the temptation to water down God’s Law, in order to wriggle out from underneath it.  Some examples: 

   Sure, sex outside of marriage is forbidden in the Bible, but in today’s world it is hopeless to ask people to live lives of restraint.  So, we’d better not reject or condemn any sexual sin. 

   Sure, women were not to be pastors in Bible times, but we live in a different, more enlightened age. 

   Sure, the Bible says Jesus is the only Way of Salvation, but in our day we know that respecting and affirming all religions is really the primary thing the Church must do, to be loving.  

   Watering down the Law is the more dangerous error, I think, because it also deforms the Gospel, the Good News.  If we despair because we believe God’s Law is true, we are ready to hear the forgiving Good News of Christ.  But if we water down the Word that contains God’s rules, we will also water down the Word that declares God’s merciful salvation.  So, with Luther, by God’s grace we stand on the whole counsel of God, delivered to us in His Word.  

   The main Satanic deformation of the Gospel is to try to sneak in a requirement for works, however great or small, in order to be saved.  Good works are necessary, God expects them from His children.  But good works can only follow and flow from saving faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ.  We must first be re-formed, made new creatures by faith in Jesus.  Because, as Paul declares, anything that does not come from faith, is sin. (Romans 14:23)

   But by our nature, we want to contribute something to worthy and important causes.  We want to help, we want to think we are part of the solution, we want some credit.  We may even feel the fact that salvation is a free gift insults our self-esteem and spiritual competence.  And it does!  In terms of our salvation, we echo the LORD’s word through the Prophet Isaiah:  All our righteous works are as filthy rags.  (Isaiah 64:6)  And yet, Lord, You will establish peace for us, Since You have also performed for us all our works. (Isaiah 26:12)

   Today we also face some special variations of deformation.  As we mentioned, the exclusivity of the Christian faith is denounced as bigoted and discriminatory by many.  So be it.  We, with charity and patience, cling to and profess the faith of Jesus, who said: “No one comes to the Father, except through Me.” (John 14:6)

   The very idea that objective Truth exists for all people is widely rejected today.  Since Jesus is the Truth, made flesh, we promote Truth, and kindly point out the many ways the denial of truth runs aground on the rocky shoals of life experience.  All for the chance to share the highest Truth, that is, the life-giving Good News of Jesus.   

   And of course, the secular faith of Scientism mocks the Biblical witness to a Creation and a Creator.  Some professing Christians say we can blend the faith with Scientism, but Jesus, John, Peter, Paul and all the Scripture tie Salvation to the Creation as described in Genesis.  The Word through whom all things were created is the Man who hung on the Cross and rose from the dead.  If the Creation is a fable, then so is the forgiveness of sins.  But you do not need to fear the seeming wisdom of Scientism.  Their belief system is built on human presuppositions that do not bear up under scrutiny.  But Christ and His Word do hold up, because He is the Creator and Redeemer of the World.   

   Luther, with faithful and wise preachers and teachers of every age, understood Rev. 14:12 well.  As he teaches in the Small and Large Catechisms, God’s Law does not only serve to show us our sin, although this is always its chief function.  The Law also shows us the way to live, as redeemed Christians.  After the Exodus, God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, to help Israel, a nation of former slaves.  The commandments were a guide for living for former slaves, now set free from bondage to Pharaoh. 

   God’s Law serves us in the same way.  For we have been freed from slavery, slavery to sin, death and Satan.  We have hearts made new, we are heirs of heaven, by faith in Jesus.  We have nothing to do to earn or guarantee our salvation.  But there is much for us to do: rejoice, love, share, promote, proclaim.  And the Commandments of God help us to do this.  This is the true life of freedom, the Kingdom life, the Reformation life.  Here is the perseverance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

A Happy Reformation to you, today, tomorrow, and until you meet your Savior face to face, Amen.    

 

Ready to Serve - Sermon for Lutheran Women in Mission Sunday, October 20th, 2024

Lutheran Women in Mission Sunday 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota 
Ready to Serve 
1 Samuel 3, Philippians 2, Luke 1

Sermon Audio available HERE

    Are we ready to serve?  Are you ready to serve?  Today we celebrate the service of Lutheran Women in Mission, which both refers to a particular bunch of women all decked out in purple, and in general to all the faithful Christian women who belong to our congregations.  Indeed, we celebrate all faithful Christian women of every age, who were ready to serve in the cause of Christ.

    The Lord provides, and I’m again and again amazed at how our Bible readings serve us.  They were chosen for a given Sunday a long time ago by folks who did not know what our current situation was going to be.  But again and again they still manage to say just what we need to hear, in order to face this day faithfully. 

    Today’s readings are a case in point.  The national Lutheran Women in Mission organization selects special readings for this Sunday, well in advance.  Some years I use them, other years we celebrate Lutheran Women in Mission using the readings assigned from our normal lectionary.  This year, the selected readings focus on the service of Samuel, of Jesus, (no surprise there), and of Mary.  The Mother of Our Lord seems like an obvious choice for a day focused on the service of women in Christ’s Church.  But, I don’t ever remember Lutheran Women in Mission selecting readings for this Sunday that focused on her.  So, we had to use them.      

    The Annunciation, the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Mary, that she would miraculously bear God’s Son, comes to our ears as we are fast approaching Election Day.   And there is a life issue on our ballots, the radical abortion Amendment G, which the citizens of South Dakota will either reject, or enshrine in our state constitution.  Amendment G would establish a legal right to kill unborn babies through all nine months of pregnancy, putting our constitution in direct and fundamental opposition to God and His Word.  Because the Lord loves babies. 

   In fact, according to Psalm 139 and dozens of other passages, God is personally involved in the conception of every child.  We need to and we have served the unborn by speaking against Amendment G.  Which is a heavy thing, not altogether pleasant.  Just me bringing it up again has shifted the mood in this sanctuary.  Here we go again. 

   It is true, serving each other and the world as Christians does mean we need to be willing to talk about unpleasant things.  But, we will lose our gumption if we see this as only a grim task, a heavy burden, a responsibility.  To finish the course, we also need some good news, a lot of good news, to keep us going.  And, thanks be to God, working through the folks who picked the readings for this Sunday, we have good news to the max this morning. 

   Samuel’s introduction to the LORD, Mary’s conversation with Gabriel, and the great Christ Hymn from Philippians chapter two, these three readings can transform our hearts and minds and fill us with a joyful determination to share the Good News of Jesus, even when this includes addressing unpleasant realities and rejecting the lies of the world.  God through these readings can make us cheerful servants of His Truth, because they shout from the roof tops the wonderful news that God loves you, and that God has loved you, perfectly, through the life, ministry, death and new life of Jesus.  You have nothing to fear from the devil, or the world.  Even your own weakness and sinfulness need not make you quail or give up, because Christ is on your side, forever.

   Samuel is an unusual figure in the Bible, because we get to hear about his life, from before his conception to his death at an old age.  And we learn quite a lot about his childhood, his life dedicated by the prayer and promise of his mother, Hannah.  Samuel was dedicated by his mom to serve at the Tabernacle of the LORD, serving under the tutelage of Eli, the high priest.  Today we heard young Samuel’s direct divine call into prophetic ministry.  The LORD comes and stands next to Samuel, speaking to him in an audible voice, calling him into service.  “Samuel, Samuel!  Speak, O Lord, your servant listens.” 

   Do you remember little Samuel’s first task?  Our Old Testament reading ends just before the LORD gives it to him.  And it’s a doozy.  Putting a “No On G” yard sign outside the Church doesn’t begin to compare.  Eli, Samuel’s master, had two sons who served as priests in the Tabernacle.  They were both wicked men, using their position to rob God’s people, and enrich themselves.  They were forcing women who served at the gate of the Tabernacle to lie with them.  They despised God and blasphemed His Holy Place.  God had warned Eli again and again to get them under control.  But Eli, old and tired, nearly blind and very overweight, would not, or could not.  The LORD’s first task for Samuel was to tell Eli that the time had come.  His two wicked sons were both about to die, on the same day.  In the morning, Samuel was afraid to speak this truth to Eli.  But with Eli’s urging and God’s help, he did. 

    As 21^st century Christians, blessed to also be Americans, we can get confused about our proper role in culture, society and politics.  In the U.S.A., the government does not establish one religion, and guarantees the right of every citizen to worship as they choose.  I’m glad our government doesn’t determine our religion, because they would mess it up.  And we who have been set free in Christ rightly cherish that our Constitution recognizes our God-given freedom of religion. 

    But the false idea has taken hold that in return for this freedom, Christians are not allowed to speak to the issues, that the Church can’t “get into politics.”  We have had a law since 1954, the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches or religious leaders from publicly endorsing candidates for office, at the risk of losing tax-free status.  This law has never been fully challenged, and is rarely enforced, probably because it would likely be overturned as unconstitutional if it ever reached the Supreme Court.  But, setting all that aside, the Johnson Amendment says nothing about churches speaking publicly on issues.  And that’s good.  Because, when an earthly law or a proposed change to the law evilly contradicts God’s Word, the Church can and must speak, come what may. 

    Of course, we as Church are not primarily called to political action.  We are here to proclaim the Gospel, and care for each other and our neighbors, as we make our pilgrimage to heaven. We are called to speak the truth, to each other, to the culture, and to the government.  If God’s truth is seen as political by some, so be it.  We are still called to serve by speaking God’s truth. 

    Thankfully, we are not called to try to run the government.  But Samuel was.  For Old Testament Israel there was no difference between Church and State.  The People of God and the Kingdom of Israel were supposed to be the same thing.  Samuel was God’s prophet, and he judged Israel, and he led their military.  Eventually, God would instruct Samuel to give Israel what they asked for and anoint an earthly king for them.  The LORD God was their true King, but the people wanted a king they could see, a king like all their neighbors.  So, Samuel anointed Saul to be king.  Then, when he failed and turned from the LORD’s way, Samuel anointed another young man, David, son of Jesse, to succeed Saul.  And so, we can head back toward good news. 

    Despite his excellent name, David was not the perfect king that Israel needed.  Even though he was the LORD’s chosen, and “a man after God’s own heart,” he was also a sinner, who would make a mess of things in his family, leading eventually to civil war and the division of Israel.  Already with David we see that we humans cannot achieve heaven on earth.  We should certainly pray for good, just, competent government, and do our part to support it.  But, there is no hope to eradicate evil and create paradise through good government.  Because every earthly government and every nation is full of sinful men and women. 

    King David could not fix everything.  But God can.  And He promised that through one of David’s descendants, through the “Son of David,” God would make the Way of Salvation, for Israel, and for the whole world.  Through another 1,000 years of history, the people of Israel struggled along, with some high points, but mostly with low points.  There was always a faithful remnant, preserved by God, but most Israelites were unfaithful and eager to mimic the unbelieving nations around them.  To bring them back, God again and again allowed evil to befall His people.  A millennium of mostly sad history, with a thin through-line of hope. 

    Then the archangel Gabriel appeared to a young girl from Nazareth, an unknown and unimportant descendant of David, to make a private announcement that would change eternity.  Mary’s servant task was not to proclaim publicly, but to bear privately.  To trust the Word of the Lord and accept the mysterious miracle that she would conceive and give birth to the eternal Son of God.  God became man, and redeemed humanity, by perfectly passing through every stage of human life, from tiny embryo, to newborn infant, to child, to adult, to death. 

    Gabriel’s announcement was the best news that anyone had ever heard, and good thing, too.  For Mary and her fiancé Joseph would face many trials and persecutions as they fulfilled their unique callings.  No one would believe their story, except a handful of faithful Israelites and a few Gentiles, to whom God chose to share the Good News.  Zechariah and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna, the Magi coming from the East, the Bethlehem Shepherds watching their flocks by night.  The LORD created and sustained their faith in the Promise, that the Son of David, the new King, the promised Savior, was born. 

    Fearful, jealous King Herod did not need an Amendment G to justify his attempted murder of Mary’s Son.  The recognition of the humanity of every person, from conception throughout natural death, is a novelty in human history, a novelty that flows from the Christian message.  In the ancient pagan world, the value of a person was entirely dependent on the whims of the powerful.  In his mad desire to kill the newborn King, Herod could send soldiers to slaughter little Jewish boys in and around Bethlehem, without fear of reprisal. 

    You see, those subjugated people had no inherent value in the eyes of the government, and certainly their children were inconsequential.  In fact, in the ancient world, the approved way to overcome the challenges of a child born without perfect health and vigor was to abandon that child on the trash heap, outside the city walls.  So far, the modern pro-death movement has avoided advocating infanticide.  Mostly.    

    The ancient world was cruel.  But, as the Christian Church grew, soul-by-reborn-soul, the Christians started doing some weird things.  They became known for retrieving abandoned infants and raising them as their own.  They extolled marriage as a lifelong, faithful union between one man and one woman, and so transformed the place of women in society.  And of men.  And of children.  Each individual was known by the Christians to be a creation of God, made in His image, and reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.  And so each person is to be valued, as God values them.    

    This was a radical new perspective.  It took centuries, and has never been a perfected project, but the Good News of God’s grace and mercy, the story of His love poured out for every human being, this Gospel recreated individual souls, and families, and communities.  Eventually, whole cultures were transformed.  Creating heaven on earth is not possible for us.  But the world is a lot better place when it is filled with Christians. 

    How did they do it?  How did those brave Christian women and men serve the cause of Christ so boldly?  How did they love so fearlessly? 

    Because their hearts were transformed, through Baptismal faith.  Reborn into God’s family, they were guided by a new mind, which was theirs in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  (that is, Mary’s Son always knew, from eternity, that He was co-equal with His Father, with every right to claim and exercise His Godly prerogatives)   

    But the Son didn’t cling to His glory and power…. rather He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, (a slave, who came into this broken world) in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, (a poor baby man, laid in a feed trough for a cradle), Jesus humbled Himself (entirely), and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  God’s Son did that all that, because He loved His Father, and because He loved you.  He has loved you, ever since He wove you together in your mother’s womb.  For the joy set before Him, the joy of rescuing you from sin and death, Jesus served.  He finished His course, for you.     

    ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  The humble Baby, who became the abandoned Sinner on the Cross, who died outside the city wall, now reigns in glory over all things.  And He is reigning for you.  He serves, for the sake of all people.  He is the victorious Savior, with forgiveness and new life, for everyone. 

    The blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse us from all sin, including the sin of abortion.  If this great scourge has touched you or anyone you know, Jesus wants you all to know that He died and rose to forgive this sin, too.  Repent, and believe the good news, your sins are forgiven 

    Every knee will bow to Jesus, someday.  Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ, the humble servant, is LORD.  The question is how many will hear this Good News and believe unto salvation, before the final trumpet sounds, and the opportunity for rescue ends? 

    Here’s where we come in.  First, we come into this story because, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have heard and believed in the Promise of Jesus.  What was whispered to Mary and Joseph, what was hidden for the ages, and kept under wraps until Resurrection morning, is now shouted from the rooftops.  That Gospel cry has come to you, and to me.  We sing with Mary, “my soul magnifies the Lord, for He has done great things for me!”  Or maybe “Jesus loves me, this I know, on the Cross He showed me so, Jesus died and rose again, washed me clean from all my sin.” 

    ¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  Fearfully and wonderfully made by God, we also tremble in joyful fear to be caught up in His salvation project. 

    From Genesis to Revelation, fear and trembling are a sign of God’s presence with us here on earth.  So, we sinner-saint Christians live with fear and trembling, because God has taken up residence in us.  Temples of the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ Jesus, we know that, as imperfect and error prone as we all are, God is at work in us, both to will and to do, to desire to serve and to dare to serve, as He is pleased to have us do. 

    Sometimes God’s good pleasure for our service is routine and pleasant, like mothers and fathers and grandparents loving and serving the little children God gives us, or like LWiM meeting together to pray and study and laugh with their other purple friends.  Sometimes God’s good pleasure has an edge to it.  Sometimes we are called to speak the truth of God’s love for life to a world that is determined to regress to the brutal ways of the past, before Christ and His forgiving love were revealed. 

    Like Samuel, like Mary and Joseph, we do not face this task alone.  We do not serve by our own strength.  God the Father, for the sake of Jesus, gives us His Holy Spirit, to strengthen our resolve with His joy, and with His peace, the peace that the world cannot give, the peace that passes all understanding, and keeps our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, for life. 

 Let us pray: Speak O Lord, your servants listen.  By your grace, O Father, with Mary and Samuel and all your saints, we are your servants.   O Lord, let it be unto us according to your Word, today, and forever and ever, Amen.