Ephesians 3:20

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One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Ephesians 3 verse 20. It always amazes me whenever I read it. The apostle Paul says,

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)

The Apostle Paul had just been talking about how awesome God’s power is, and also his amazing love for us in Christ. And then he goes on to talk about God’s power being so great that he can do anything that you ask, anything that you ask or imagine, he says. And this always strikes me because I can imagine quite a lot of things. I can imagine some pretty big things. And the apostle is saying here, God can do it. Doesn’t matter what it is, God can do it.

I had this experience one time, maybe you’ve had similar. I went to a restaurant and my friend said to everyone “I’m paying, order whatever you want off the menu. Go ahead and have fun.” And so then that kind of open things up then. It’s kind of like, oh wow, what else is on here? Oh wow. The South African lobster tail looks fantastic.

You know, this is the kind of offer that God is making to you. Whatever you want, ask for it. Use your imagination. Stretch your imagination. And here’s the kicker, he says, not only can I do that, but I can do more than that. In fact, I can do so much more than that that you can’t even measure how much more I can do on top of what you can imagine.

What an invitation. We certainly want to take the Lord up on this offer. We can ask for things, earthly blessings, material blessings. Now when we do that, we always pray thy will be done, Lord, because we know some of those things can be harmful. And the Lord wants what’s best for us, and he knows what’s best. But the Lord also has this treasure house of spiritual blessings that he wants to give to you. Blessings for you and your soul. To deepen your faith, to fortify your faith. He has blessings for your family, for your church, for the greater kingdom. What can you imagine? What can you request of the Lord of these things?

Now sometimes we can doubt the power of the Lord, and that can limit our prayer. And also we can ask, well, why would the Lord do these things for me? And then we want to be reassured that you have such a compassionate Heavenly Father that loves you so much. He was willing to give up his only begotten son to die for you, so that you could have forgiveness, and that you could have the assurance of one day being in that heavenly mansion, if he was willing to do that for you, won’t he give you these other things also?

So take him up on the offer. Ask. Stretch your imagination. Do it now. He can do it. Amen.

Psalm 23:4, Matthew 27:46

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In January of this year, the Pew Research Center released the results of a new study they did on various social aspects of society. And one of the results that really stood out was to do with loneliness. Loneliness has rapidly increased in our society in recent years, and the results were very alarming for all categories, age categories, but particularly for the younger generation. In the 18 to 29 year-old group, 24% of them indicated on the survey that they were lonely all of the time, or most of the time. 24%. That’s a quarter of people in that group are extremely lonely. And the results weren’t much better for the other age categories either.

It seems like loneliness has become a major challenge for us nowadays, and perhaps this is something that our congregations should consider when they’re thinking about outreach and how to serve the community. Now, if you are experiencing loneliness, I have some comforting thoughts for you to consider. First of all, God loves you and he is with you. David said in Psalm 23 verse four,

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4 EHV)

God is with you even in those horrible dark days when you’re going through the darkness of loneliness. He does not abandon you, but he is your companion. Another thing to consider is that God tells his believers that they should gather together in their local areas and love one another as brothers and sisters, like a family serving one another and gathering around his word. And so I would encourage you, if you don’t have a congregation, a family of believers that you belong to, to find one, and I would recommend one of our Evangelical Lutheran Synod congregations.

Now, these congregations, the people there are not necessarily perfect. In fact, they gather together because they are in fact sinners. And they need that forgiveness that they get through Christ and the word, his word. And here is perhaps the most comforting aspect of all of this. Jesus loves you so much that he was willing to experience the most terrible Loneliness so that you could be saved. When Jesus was on the cross at one point. He said,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

At that moment, we recognized that the Father had forsaken his son. Jesus there was suffering the worst pains of hell with your shame and my shame, our sins. But he did it, and he endured it so that we could be saved. And God the Father was satisfied with that sacrifice of Jesus. And that’s why he raised him up on that first Easter Sunday.

God loves you. He forgives you, and he wants you to gather with your fellow believers as a family. You are not alone. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

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We often use the term good news talking about the gospel, and that’s what gospel means is good news. One of the problems in our world today is that people use so much hyperbole to describe such mundane things that I think some of the impact of that term good news can often be lost.

Maybe this illustration will help. I want you to imagine that you live in an ancient village and your village is at war with the neighboring village, which is across the hills on the other side of the hills. And so all of the men of your village, fathers and sons, they’ve gone off to battle to that other village. And so there you are in your village, in your home, and you’re waiting. You don’t know what’s happening. And every so often you can hear the sounds of the battle. You look and maybe you can see some smoke wafting up from the other side of the hills. But you don’t know what’s going on, and neither does anyone else in the village. There’s no cell phones or texting or anything like that. You have to wait for a runner, a messenger to come over the hill. And that messenger is going to say one of two things.

Either he’s going to say, we lost. Run for your lives! Or he’s going to say, we won! Let’s celebrate! Everything depends on that message. It’s going to change your life. Either you’re going to look and see your husband and son coming over the hill victorious and bringing with them the spoils of war. Or you’re going to look and you’re going to see the enemy coming over the hill and you’re going to have to run for your life and go hide in a forest or in a cave or something. Everything depends on that message. It’s going to change your life.

And then finally you look and the runner comes over the hill and that messenger comes into the village and he says. Good news! And you go, oh, yes. Thank you. That is the impact of the good news. Dear friends, that is the gospel.

Jesus Christ won the greatest victory ever obtained on Earth. It was a victory over terrible enemies. Enemies that could destroy you and me forever. For all eternity. But not now. Jesus went to battle on Good Friday with our sins and with our shame. And he defeated them. And he defeated the devil. And on Easter Sunday, he showed that he had even defeated death, the grave itself, with his resurrection.

The Apostle Paul says in first Corinthians Chapter 15,

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

So dear friends, the next time you hear that term, the good news, know that you can celebrate it. It changes your life. You are going to live for all eternity. The enemy is defeated. Amen.

Colossians 4:6

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I’ve lived in parts of the country where I think the people were very ready to talk about the things of God in their daily conversation. For example, I would hear people say things like “The Lord bless your day.” Or maybe somebody who was having a bad day would say something like, “Well, God must be teaching me patience today.” And I’d also heard if somebody else was hurting other people saying, “well, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

I think it’s good to do this, to have the things of God sprinkled into our daily conversation. For one reason, it opens up opportunities to have a conversation with someone about the Lord. Maybe a friend or a coworker will get to know you a little bit and open up to you about some trouble or hurt that they are going through.

We are to be witnesses to our Lord Jesus. Paul says in Colossians chapter four.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6)

We can be witnesses to Jesus with our words and our actions. We do not want to be false witnesses. We don’t want to be hypocrites. And we certainly don’t want to deny the Lord with our speech or our life. Jesus said, “Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven.” But Jesus also said, “Whoever acknowledges me before, man, I will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven.”

Dear friends, we have the best message in the world. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, including you. And at the cross Jesus took your sins and guilt and all of the world’s guilt and shame. And He paid for it with his blood. And on Easter Sunday, he showed with his resurrection that all who believe in him will have life everlasting. Dear friends, we have a lot to celebrate. You are the salt of the earth. Amen.

Joshua 1:9

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Do you have a goal for the new year? A resolution, perhaps? You know, as you contemplate the year that we are about to enter into, it can be both exciting and terrifying. As you think about the past year that you’ve just gone through, you might see some high points. Times of joy. But you can probably also see low points as well places of regret, shame and, failure. And you can see some places that you wish you wouldn’t have gone places where you knew what you did was wrong. And so now here you stand about to enter into a new year. How can you possibly succeed? Perhaps at this point you could use some encouragement.

In the Old Testament, the Lord came to Joshua and the Israelites as they were about to enter into the Promised Land. And he encouraged them with the words we read in Joshua chapter 1, verse 9. The Lord says

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified and do not be overwhelmed, because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

When the Lord said this, he wasn’t telling Joshua and the Israelites to get more testosterone. No, he was telling them, and if you look at the surrounding passages, you see, he’s insisting that they cling to his written word. That’s where he would supply their strength. You know, if we look into ourselves for that strength, ultimately we are bound to repeat those same types of failures from the past because we are, by nature, sinful. No, rather, we want to rely on the Lord’s strength.

If you think of what happened with Joshua and the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land, the Battle of Jericho, the first one, it wasn’t even really a battle. They simply marched around the city seven times and then they gave a shout and the walls fell down. The Lord was demonstrating to them that he would be the one who would supply the strength that they needed. And the Lord is the one who will supply the strength that you need. In his written word, he tells you that, and in fact, he demonstrates it in that he sent his son Jesus.

Jesus came to our Earth with a goal. And he was successful with that goal. His goal was your salvation. He accomplished it with his holy life, with his holy death on the cross, whereby he took all of your failures and regrets into himself. And he proved that he met his goal and he was successful in his resurrection from the dead. And now Jesus wants you and me to repent of our past failures and sins and to trust in him as our Savior.

And that way, we know that no matter what lies ahead of us in this year, ultimately we will be with him in heaven because of his work and his success. So, dear friend, you can look to the future and be excited. Because, you know, the Lord is with you. He will supply the strength you need. Be strong and courageous, the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. Amen.

1 John 3:5

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Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition? For me, growing up in Australia, Christmas, of course, was always in the middle of summer, and so traditions for our family would include eating a lamb roast for lunch and then sitting on the couch watching the cricket on the telly. Maybe while the fan was blowing to try and keep us cool in the heat. A lot of people around us would not have many Christmas lights on their houses because it was the middle of summer, didn’t get dark early, what was the point of putting up lights?

Now, that’s probably very different to the traditions that you’re used to at Christmas time. Yet, regardless of what the traditions are that we have in our lives, we want to remember the most important reason for Christmas. Christmas truly is about solving our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is sin. That is when we have broken God’s law. Our Christmas traditions, the joy that we might have and the feelings that we might have in our traditions, they might distract us a little bit from our sins and failures, but they don’t take them away or remove them. But that is why we have Christmas. The true reason.

John, in his first epistle in chapter three, he says talking about Jesus,

You know that he appeared in order to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. (1 John 3:5)

The baby Jesus came in that manger, true God and true man with the sole purpose of taking away your sins. Martin Luther once said that your sin can be only in one of two places. Either it is on you and you’re responsible for it or it is on Jesus and he is responsible and takes it away from you.

The Lord doesn’t want you to ignore him. He doesn’t want you to ignore Jesus or ignore your sin. Otherwise, you will be responsible for it. But rather, he wants you to trust in that baby Jesus who came to take away your sins. Jesus did that with his sinless life and with his holy death on the cross. His resurrection proves that your sins have been taken away.

And so this Christmas, regardless of what traditions you celebrate or maybe this Christmas, it won’t even feel like Christmas to you at all. You can still have joy knowing that the baby Jesus came to take away your sins and to give you heaven. Amen.

Galatians 4:4-5

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Ladders can be very useful. I saw my neighbor the other day using a ladder to put up his Christmas decorations. Have you ever imagined a type of spiritual ladder that you are climbing in order to get to heaven? Adolph Koberle once spoke of three different ladders that humans often imagine that they can use to climb to heaven and to get closer to God. There is the ladder of moralism, the ladder of mysticism and the ladder of rationalism. Let me explain.

The first ladder, moralism, is the ladder of the will. This is the thought that you might have that if I can have a good moral life, if I can do enough good works, I can climb my way up to God. God will look down at me and go, Oh, I have to let that person into heaven. They’re so good.

The second ladder, that of mysticism, this is the ladder of the emotion. This is the ladder of feelings. And this is the idea when we think that, well, if I can just get in the right emotional state, if I can just get worked up with my feelings, then maybe I will feel the presence of God.

The third ladder, rationalism, this is the ladder of the mind. This is when people think that they can climb a ladder to God if they can just think deeply enough about him, if they can just come up with the right philosophy or the right ideology, then I can climb and I can grasp God with my mind.

Now, the problem with all of these ladders is sin. Imagine you have a spiritual backpack on and in that backpack, all of your sins and all of your guilt from your failings before God. These things weigh us down. They make it impossible for us to climb any kind of ladder to heaven. In fact, they pull us in the exact opposite direction towards hell. This is why we rejoice at Christmas time. Galatians Chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 says

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

The Son of God left the throne of heaven, and he came down to our earth. He assumed the humanity in the baby Jesus. There’s no ladder to climb. No, rather, God came down to us. Jesus was born under the law to fulfill what we couldn’t. And Jesus redeemed you and me at the cross. There Jesus took your backpack off of your back with all of its sin, all of its guilt, and he put that heavy backpack on himself. And he took all of the world’s backpacks and he put them on himself. And there he suffered and died with them in order to redeem you and the entire world of our sins.

The Lord demonstrated that he had accomplished this in his resurrection from the dead. And now you can know that you have heaven, not because you are climbing it, no, ladders don’t get us to heaven. Rather because Jesus climbed it already for you. He has accomplished everything. And heaven is yours through faith in Jesus. Amen.

Psalm 107:1

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About 10 years ago, I purchased a brand new car. I got a great deal on it because it was the last year of that model, which had been around for about five years. There was a complete redesign, apparently just around the corner, and that was correct. About a year later, the same model car came out completely redesigned and it looked fantastic. I saw photos of it and then I started seeing people driving them around town and so on. And I’ve got to admit I had a twinge of envy about that new model. In fact, I hate to admit it, but one day I sat in my car, my near new car, and I looked at it and I thought, Oh, this looks so dated and it’s missing that and this new feature in the other model.

It wasn’t too long after that that I did a trip to our mission churches in India, and there I was riding in older vehicles that were very beat up from the rough roads and the crazy traffic in that region. And then one of the pastors was showing me his motorbike that he was so happy to have. And in fact, it was transportation for his whole family, and many of the Indian pastors didn’t even have a motorbike. And after that trip, I remember returning to Texas. At the airport, I got back into my car and I just thought how nice and modern it looked, and I realized that I had really been like a spoiled brat. That I was so ungrateful for what the Lord had given to me, and I repented of that sin.

The Lord truly has blessed me tremendously. We see a lot of ingratitude in our world today, don’t we? Many people have what we would call an entitled attitude. This is an attitude that the Lord does not want you and I to harbor, because after all, he is ultimately the one who provides everything that we have. It’s good to be reminded that everything that belongs to me belongs to the Lord first. It’s all his. And it’s also good for us to repent of those times when we’ve had ingratitude. The Lord really isn’t under any obligation to give us anything. In fact, the Lord could cast us away from his presence permanently because we are wicked sinners. But instead, God is so merciful and so generous that not only does he give us our daily bread and a whole lot more very often, he also has supplied a Savior so that you could go to heaven.

Jesus came to our Earth and he supplied the perfect life that you and I didn’t have. He lived a perfect life in our place. And then Jesus supplied the payment. For the guilt of our sins, that payment that you and I could not give to the Lord. Jesus gave that payment with his own divine blood. And then Jesus even shares his resurrection with those who believe in him so that you can know one day you will walk into heaven, that place of eternal joy you will not have to face being cast away from the Lord. Truly, the Lord has given us so much Psalm, 107 verse 1 says,

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1)

I hope that you have a very happy and thankful Thanksgiving. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

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Who would you rather spend time with: a person who is happy and positive, or someone who is always sad and negative? I think most people would prefer to spend time with a positive person, a happy person. Have you ever wondered to yourself, how can I be a happier person?

Some time ago, I was reading books about happiness, and one fact stood out to me a very simple fact. Thankfulness leads to happiness. Being thankful will lead to being happy. And the opposite is also true ingratitude leads to sadness.

Have you heard of missing tile syndrome? To explain it. Imagine that you have walked into a beautiful grand theatre and you’re sitting waiting for a performance to begin. As you’re waiting there, you start to look around and you notice the beautiful ceiling above you, hundreds of ornate tiles on that ceiling. But then you notice one of the tiles is missing. And you can’t stop staring at it. It really annoys you. In spite of the fact that there are hundreds of other beautiful tiles on that ceiling, you focus in on that one that’s missing. And in fact, it ruins the entire performance and evening for you.

Many people have what we would call missing tile syndrome. For example, a man who has a bald head, he might focus on the fact that he doesn’t have hair on his head in spite of the many other wonderful things in his life. Maybe he’s very healthy, has a great job, is married to a beautiful wife and has a wonderful family. And yet he dwells on the fact that he has no hair on his scalp and he lets it get him down.

The Lord tells us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses, 16 through 18. He says,

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

God wants you to be thankful for the many blessings that you have in your life and that will lead you to rejoicing. God has even taken care of things that you are lacking in your life. God wants you to be perfect. He wanted you and me to keep his law, the Ten Commandments, perfectly. And yet we know that there are many pieces of that that are missing in our lives when it comes to his commandments. And yet he sent Jesus to provide what you and I are missing.

Jesus kept the Ten Commandments perfectly in your place and my place, and then Jesus spilled his blood on the cross to wash away all of our failures, all of the ingratitude that we’ve had in our life. And in his resurrection, he demonstrated that all who believe in him will one day enter into eternal life. That place where there will be nothing missing, where there will be nothing that you lack, but rather you will have joy and happiness with the Lord forever. Truly, we have many things to be thankful for. I hope that you have a happy day. Amen.

Romans 8:28

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There is an old Chinese proverb which tells a story about a farmer. One day, the farmers prize stallion gets loose and runs away. Well, on hearing this bad news, his neighbor comes over and says, “I’m so sorry to hear about your prize horse.” To which the farmer replies, “who knows if it will be good or bad?” Much to the puzzlement of the neighbor who’s thinking to himself, of course, this is bad.

Well, about three days later, the prize stallion returns with five other wild stallions. Well, the neighbor hears is of the farmers windfall and comes over to congratulate him. To which the farmer replies, “Who knows if it will be good or bad?” Again, to the puzzlement of the neighbor who thinks, well, of course, that’s a good thing.

The following week, the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild stallions, and he’s thrown from the horse and breaks his leg. Well, the neighbor hears about this and comes over to sympathize, says, “I’m so sorry to hear about your son’s leg.” To which the farmer replies, “who knows if it will be good or bad?” Again, to the confusion of the neighbor.

Well, then the following day, the army comes to the farm, conscripting any young men who are able to fight in a very deadly war. But the farmer’s son can’t go because his leg is broken.

And so the Chinese proverb could go on and on and on. Kind of a cool saying of the farmer “who knows if it will be good or bad?” We can see that with many events that take place in our lives. This is actually quite a fitting attitude that we could have. So many people look at bad things that happen to them, wrongs that happen in their life, and they mistakenly think that God is punishing them. Maybe for a past sin. But if that were the way that God truly acted, then he would simply destroy all humans because we are all sinful and we deserve his punishment, but God doesn’t work in that way.

Romans 8:28 is a favorite verse for many Christians, it says.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose,

God is able to take the events and the happenings in your life, and he is able to shape them and mold them so that they will work for your good. Now, remember the good that God has in mind here. He’s not necessarily thinking about some earthly blessing for you. Ultimately, what God wants the most is for you to be with him in heaven, in eternal paradise. That’s the good he wants for you. And it’s with that good in mind that Jesus left his throne of grace to come down to become one of us.

It was for your good that Jesus lived a sinless life. It was for your good that Jesus suffered and died on the cross, bearing all of your sins, all of your shame and wrongs. And it was for your good that Jesus rose again from the dead. Whereby all who believe in him can one day know that they, too will rise to eternal life in heaven.

The Lord certainly has done many wonderful things in our lives. That farmer said “who knows if it will be good or bad?” With the true knowledge of the Lord, you and I can even add to that knowing who knows if it will be good or bad? Ultimately, we know that everything will work for our good because we have a wonderful and loving God. Amen.

There was one occasion during Jesus ministry where he crossed over the Sea of Galilee and there he healed a man who was demon-possessed. In fact the name of the demon was Legion because many demons had gone into that man. Jesus drove out the demons and radically transformed this man’s life. His life had been in a shambles we read

People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. (Luke 8:35)

They saw the radical transformation that Jesus had had upon this man. Think of what this man could now do. He could go and eat a decent meal, he could go and get a job, he could return to a normal lifestyle. But let’s not pass over what he actually does here. The phrase “he was sitting at the feet of Jesus.” This is a key phrase, it’s often employed in the New Testament, in the Gospels, to refer to somebody who’s been a student of Jesus. Jesus the teacher instructing them. This was a priority for this man, even at this amazing time where he had all of these opportunities ahead of him.

You and I may have experienced having a broken life in the past and know how wonderful it is to have been healed by Jesus. Perhaps it wasn’t having a demon removed from us, but having that burden of guilt of sin removed from our shoulders through Jesus life his death his resurrection. Knowing that freedom in the new life we now have through our baptism, think of all of the things that we could do now with this new life, this life of privilege.

But here we learn that one of our great priorities should be sitting at Jesus feet. And one of the best places we can do this is that church on Sunday. There we hear the Gospel message, there we hear Jesus word. And Jesus, only Jesus, has the words of eternal life. He loves you, he forgives you, and he has won for you eternal salvation. Amen.

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Of all the things that we might think about during the day as our mind wanders on occasion, one of the things that we do not like to think about is the day that we will die. I don’t want to be too negative, but the reality is there is a day coming when you will die. Imagine a tombstone with your name written on it. Your birthday and then a dash and then another date.

Now the reason for this, scripture tells us,

For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)

What we earn for our many sins is death. We have to go through physical death and it’s a certainty. In fact there’s a saying “two things that you can be certain of in life: death and taxes.” But we don’t lose hope because we have Easter.

Another thing that the resurrection proves is that because Jesus came alive again we too will one day come alive again. Jesus said to his disciples, those who believed in him, he said

Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)

So yes, the reality is we do have to face that day of death, but we are not without hope. But rather we rejoice because we know a third certainty: that one day Jesus is going to return, to raise us up, and all who believe in him, give us glorified bodies, and welcomed us into everlasting life. The resurrection proves it, amen.

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