1 John 4:19

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When my wife and I began our premarital counseling, the pastor asked us the question that I thought was really, really strange. He asked, why do you want to get married?

Well, that kind of threw us for a loop. We really didn’t know quite how to answer that question, and so we tried answering with what amounted to be cliché type answers. We complete each other. We’re the best of friends. We want to spend the rest of our lives together. And while you could say that none of those answers are wrong. It wasn’t what he was looking for. We were thinking way too difficult.

And so he asked us again, don’t you just love each other? And we looked at each other and kind of laughed because we knew he was right. We were thinking way, way, way too deep, looking for something more profound than just that. And so we answer, well, yes, of course we love each other. And to this day, that question is still in my mind, and I use it at the beginning of any premarital counseling that I do as I ask couples that very same question why do you want to get married?

Why do we want God a part of our life? Oh, we can give all sorts of answers like he is with us every single day. He helps us all the time. He does so much for us every single day. He guides us so that we live a life that is pleasing to him. And none of those are wrong answers, but none of them are the real reason, the real core reason for why we want God as a part of our life.

The answer is really so simple. Much like the question that pastor asked my wife and I, we want God in our life because we love God. First John chapter four verse 19 says,

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

God loved us first. He saw that we needed him to save us from our sins. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot rid ourselves of them and wash us clean of those sins. And so seeing that need, he loved us. And in his love he sent His Son to take every single one of those sins away. And they were all nailed to the cross. When we see the cross there, we see God loving us. And so we love God because he first loved us. And because we love God, we want God to be a part of our life. We want him to keep loving us by being with us and helping us every day. We want him to keep loving us by blessing our lives in ways that he chooses to bless us. Guiding us and leading us so that we live lives that are pleasing to him.

Why do we want God in our life?

Sometimes the simplest answer is the very best answer that you could possibly give. We love him because he first loved us.

Amen.

John 3:16-17

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This last summer, my youngest daughter was given this inflatable pool. And it wasn’t just an ordinary plain old inflatable pool, it was pink with a flamingo head on it, and there was even a tail on the other side. And then at night this pool would light up. You see, flamingos are my daughter’s favorite animal. And so when she got this gift, she loved it. She was so excited about it, she couldn’t wait for me to air it up and fill it with water so that she could get into that pool and play. She even gave that pool its own name like it was her own flamingo pet.

That flamingo pool may not have been a very expensive gift or seem like much, but to her, this was the best gift she could have received all summer long. It’s resulted in many hours of fun. Not just for my youngest daughter, but all of my kids. God has given us a wondrous gift that’s even better than any gift someone in this world could ever give us. It’s a gift that we needed, a gift that we did not earn, and we certainly don’t deserve. God just gave it. Jesus said,

For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

What a gift! To many in this world, that doesn’t seem to be a very good gift at all. It doesn’t look very valuable. They don’t see a need for it. In fact, many don’t even see Jesus as a gift at all.

But you and I, we see it differently. In this gift that God has given to us we rejoice. It’s a wondrous gift and we may celebrate its giving at Christmas time. But our joy is continuous every single day throughout the year. There’s nothing better that our God could ever give to us than to give us Jesus, who came into the world to save the world. You see, God doesn’t want anyone in this world to suffer the punishment of sin that they rightly deserve. He wants to save them. And so that’s why he gave this gift to the world that he gave his son. Think about that for just a second.

God loved us that much that he gave his only begotten son to suffer the punishment that your sins and mine deserve. And because God has given us Jesus, his only begotten son, we have forgiveness of every single sin. We are saved from their curse and their penalty. We have an eternity of life in heaven, in the paradise of heaven, all through Jesus. And all because God gave us this wondrous gift. Holding on to this gift in our hearts by faith every single day. Its giving and the gift itself causes great joy to fill our hearts. And we love God’s gift so much because of what we have in Jesus. It’s a gift worth holding on to and a gift worth sharing with the world.

Amen.

Matthew 5:4

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Every one of us has days and times in our life when we just are not okay. We want everything to be okay. We might even say that they are okay to convince ourselves or those around us that they are okay. And yet, those people in our life sometimes know, they know things aren’t okay, even though we might say they are.

Every one of us has those days and times in our life, all because of sin in the world. Sin that affects our life. Sin that affects those around us. And so when things are not okay in our life, we become sad. And so when you’re sad, who do you talk to? There are often people in our life that you talk to when you’re feeling sad or hurt, upset or just struggling. In fact, you need to talk to them. These are special people in your life who love you. They care about you. They listen to you, and they want nothing more than to help you if they can. So who are those people? Your spouse, parents, children, a sibling, good friends. Perhaps even your pastor.

All of these are wonderful people to talk to when you’re sad, but the best person to talk to is, of course, Jesus. In the beginning of his sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, Jesus opened with what we call the Beatitudes. These are blessed statements which are true of Jesus disciples. Of you and I. All of them sound quite the opposite of what we would think when we hear the word blessed. And so what Jesus calls blessed. Even when we’re sad, we might think, how could that possibly be? When we are sad, it surely does not look like we are blessed. It feels so much like the opposite. And yet Jesus says in Matthew five verse four,

Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

When we come to Jesus in prayer with all that is on our mind and our heart, he speaks to us through that word and he comforts us when we are sad. When we mourn, Jesus tells us how much he loves us and cares for us. He shows us the hope that we have in him, because he died on the cross and took all our sins away, and he rose from the dead all for us. And he reminds us of his promises that he will always be with us every single day, no matter what happens, no matter where we are in the world. Even when we’re sad and we mourn, we are blessed. Coming to Jesus we are blessed because we know his wondrous, uplifting, and strengthening comfort that only he can give.

And yet, Jesus also comforts you through those people that you talk to when you’re sad, when they point you to Jesus and tell you what he has done for you and what he promises you, it is like Jesus himself is talking to you and comforting you through them, even though things aren’t always okay. As we live our life in the world, we still are blessed. We have a Savior who comforts us when we are sad, so that we have reason to rejoice every single day. Amen.

Titus 3:5-7

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When I first saw Nancy, she was sitting in the back corner of the church. That particular Sunday I was preaching on Titus chapter three, verses five through seven, where the Apostle Paul writes,

He saved us—not by righteous works that we did ourselves, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified[a] by his grace, we might become heirs in keeping with the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)

After the service that day, she was the last one to leave. And when I greeted Nancy, her eyes were filled with tears, and all she said to me was, pastor, I have not been baptized. In the course of our conversation, I found out that Nancy had been struggling with cancer for quite a while and that it did not look good for her. She had more questions about baptism and Jesus and wanted to talk more. And so we set up a time for the next day to chat. But that morning came and she canceled on me. Weeks went by, I tried to reach out to her again and again, but I never could connect.

And then a few months later, I got a phone call from Nancy’s sister telling me that Nancy was on her deathbed and that Nancy wanted me to come visit her. And when I got to her house, I shared that same passage from Titus with her once again. I shared with her what Jesus has done for her and the blessings of baptism. That through those waters our sins are washed away. What Jesus did on the cross to take away those sins becomes ours personally. That we are forgiven children of God who are heirs, having the hope of eternal life and it’s hope that’s more than just a wish or a want. It’s a certain hope. Life in heaven is ours. Even when our life in this world looks terrible. Even when our life is coming to an end.

Baptism gives that hope. And when baptism is recalled, it reassures the suffering and the dying of their hope of eternal life. When you seem to be struggling through life, or your life appears to be coming to an end, like Nancy, you might have hope that things are going to get better. And by God’s grace, maybe they will. But they don’t always get better. And yet, when you look back to the waters of your baptism, there you find true comfort. There you see something more than just wishful thinking or a desire. There you see that you are a forgiven child of God. There you see your certain hope of eternal life. You are an heir of heaven and nothing, nothing can ever take that away from you. Not even suffering. Not even death.

That day, I finally had the privilege of baptizing Nancy. And this time I saw different tears flowing from her eyes. Tears of joy. Baptism gave her comfort, peace and hope in the face of approaching death. And the very next day her hope became a reality. The risen Lord took Nancy home. He raised her from death to life in her heavenly inheritance where I know I will see her again one day.

Dear fellow baptized children of God. When you are faced with suffering and death, look to your baptism there in those waters you see and find comfort, peace and assurance and reassurance, again and again and again. There you see your hope every day until the day our risen Lord Jesus raises you from death to life in your heavenly inheritance. Amen.

Ephesians 2:19-22

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One of the things my wife and I enjoy to do together is working on puzzles. We don’t do them all too often, but when we do, they are a challenge. Each piece has its own place in that puzzle, and sometimes as you’re working on the puzzle, it becomes so easy to just put piece after piece after piece without stopping. But other times, you get that one piece where you just can’t find where it goes. It doesn’t seem to fit in no matter where you put it. And so you get frustrated because you just can’t find it, and eventually you just have to walk away and come back again a different time.

As Christians, we look at the picture of the world and it has so many different pieces. But like that one puzzle piece, you just can’t seem to find where it goes, we sometimes struggle to see exactly how we fit in. We feel out of place in the world. We don’t believe as the world believes. We don’t think as the world thinks. We don’t want to live as the world lives. It seems as if we are in the puzzle box, but we just don’t fit in. Maybe we’re part of a totally different puzzle altogether. Jesus did say that. He said that we are in the world, but we are not of the world. And so where do we fit in? After all, every piece has its place in the puzzle, somewhere. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter two, verses 19 through 22.

So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

This is who we are. Each one of us is a piece that makes up the puzzle of God’s kingdom and his family. God the father placed each and every one of us in that puzzle, when the Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament, worked faith in our hearts to know and trust that Jesus is our Savior. He has brought each one of us together, each individual piece, to form a beautiful picture of his church. This is where we fit in. When my wife and I finally find where those tough pieces put together in that puzzle, the pieces that we struggle with for so long, there is much rejoicing. Sometimes that even opens up more pieces to be put in that puzzle. After all, like those puzzle pieces, we aren’t all the same on the outside, but we are all pieces brought into God’s kingdom and his family. We rejoice knowing that this is where we belong. This is where we fit in. Amen.

Psalm 84:10

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As a kid I would go to a Milwaukee Brewers game each year, and I found myself wondering what it was like to be sitting in the dugout with all of those players. And I remember thinking to myself, it would be so amazing if I could just be there in the dugout. Recently, I was in Saint Louis for a pastor’s conference, and during some free time before the conference, I went to Busch Stadium and did a tour of that stadium. Part of that tour was an opportunity to go in the dugout, and so I was able to go down there and walk through it and even sit where the players sat. I have pictures to prove it.

The players weren’t there and I wasn’t in Milwaukee, but I was that kid again who wanted to go in the dugout. And as a baseball fan, it was awesome to be there. We all have those places where we want to go and think it would be awesome if we were just there. When the writers of Psalm 84 thought about places they really wanted to go. The sons of Korah, these Levite musicians, thought about the temple, the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was the place where the Lord was present among his people. It was there the High Priest would stand in his presence and offer up sacrifices on behalf of the people. In that way grace was dispensed to the people.

And so the faithful among God’s people love to be in his house and be in the presence of their faithful, compassionate, and merciful God. The temple was so special that nothing compared to it. Toward the end of Psalm 84 the Sons of Korah expressed that

Yes, one day in your court is better than a thousand elsewhere. (Psalm 84:10)

Makes me wonder sometimes if these Levites would have said as they stood in God’s house of the temple, it is awesome to be here! Would you say the same about gathering in God’s house for worship? One day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. It’s awesome to be here! Maybe that’s not the first thing that comes to your mind on Sunday morning, but it truly is awesome to be there.

It’s there in God’s house where we gather with fellow believers in his presence. It is there that his grace through Christ Jesus our Savior is dispensed to us as we gather together around Word and Sacrament. In the word Christ, and the forgiveness he won for us on the cross is proclaimed to us. Through baptism sins are washed away in those waters, sins that Jesus paid for. Through Holy Communion, receiving the body and blood of our Savior, given and shed on the cross for us, we are again given the wondrous gift of forgiveness of all our sins.

Gathering in God’s house the Holy Spirit through those means strengthens our faith, and we are refreshed to go out into the world serving our Savior God in our life. A life that is lived out of thankfulness for his grace which has saved us.

Later that day in Saint Louis, after being at Busch Stadium, I was able to gather with fellow pastors from all over Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri for worship in God’s House. As awesome as it was to be in that Major League Baseball stadium and the dugout earlier that day, it was so much better to be there and worship in God’s house. There was nowhere else I wanted to be that night. It was awesome to be there. After all, could there really be anything better, then to be in God’s house?

Yes, one day in God’s house, even just for an hour or two, is so much better than a thousand days anywhere else in this world. Amen.

John 20:31

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When you fly, do you like the aisle seat, the middle seat, or a window seat? Now, I don’t fly too often, and I really don’t think I have a great preference of one or the other. Just put me on the plane and give me a seat, maybe toward the front of the plane, and I’m okay with that. I’m ready to fly.

But I have to admit that the view is sitting in a window seat are really pretty amazing. From high above, when you look down and you see the the towns and the cities and the rivers and lakes, they look so, so small and you can’t really see them too well because they seem so very far, far away. And if it’s a cloudy day, you can’t see any of that. But when the plane begins to descend and make its final approach toward where you’re heading. Those cities and towns and lakes and rivers become bigger and bigger. You can see them clearer as you get closer and closer to the ground.

God’s grace, his undeserved love for us in Jesus our Savior is a wondrous gift. It is only by his grace that we are saved. And yet sometimes it feels so very far away, doesn’t it? It seems like you are in an airplane so high above God’s grace that you have a hard time seeing it clearly, or even at all. When you know what you have done was wrong and sinful, guilt seems to keep you far away from grace. How can that possibly be for me? When you experience personal hardship, the sorrow and the hopeless feelings seem like you are so far away from grace. Does God really love me like he says he does? When you are ridiculed and mocked for your faith, the pain of that seems to keep you far, far away from grace. And if I am so loved by my God, how could he possibly let this happen to me?

Feeling so far away, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And yet, is the grace of God really far away at all? In fact, it’s actually closer and easier to see clearly than you sometimes think. When you’re looking in the right place, the only place where it is revealed to us there, we see it clearly when we look in the pages of God’s Word. There we see God’s grace with such clarity as it shows us Jesus, the Savior, whom God sent into the world out of his great love for sinners like you and like me, love that is so undeserved and yet completely free.

Being in the Bible is like riding that airplane, descending from high above, bringing us down from the guilt and the sorrow, the hopelessness and the pain. So that we see Jesus clearly. And we know for certain that what we have in him, and that he indeed truly does love us. In summarizing his entire gospel and really a summary of all of God’s Word. John tells us in chapter 20, verse 31,

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31 EHV)

Seeing Jesus in the pages of God’s Word, we see our forgiveness, our salvation, and our future that is all ours by God’s grace. And his grace is never a far, far away from our sight any longer. Instead, Grace is seen up close and personal. And we see it clearly. Amen.

Colossians 3:3

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The wedding rings on your wedding day. The money that you make at your job. Secrets that you don’t want anyone else to know. These are all things that you want to keep safe. You don’t want to lose them. And so in order to keep them safe, you might entrust them to someone else.

The money that you make at your job, you might entrust to a bank in your checking account or savings account. The wedding rings on your wedding day, you might entrust to the best man, and he’ll keep them safe. Hold on to them until that time in the wedding ceremony, a secret that you don’t want anyone else to know. You might tell a friend, a close friend, someone you know will keep it to themselves.

We all have something that is more precious and valuable to us than all of those things. We have life, eternal life, all in Christ Jesus our Savior. Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that we would have forgiveness of all of our sins. And that we would possess life and salvation. And this life we have in Jesus became ours on the day of our baptism, and through those waters we were connected with Jesus and what Jesus has done for us and what he offers to us so freely. Our sins were washed away. We died to sin. Our old life with sin is gone. We now live and have eternal life. We are raised with Christ. We are alive even now.

But in him we also have that eternal life, and we want that kept safe and secure because it is so precious and so valuable to us, is more precious than anything else we could ever have or ever possess in this world. A priceless treasure. But living in this world, we sometimes wonder if it truly is safe and secure.

When we experience the results of living in this sinful world, that still has an effect on us every single day. Does that affect the life we have in Jesus? Can something so horrible in this world, can that take the life we have in Jesus away? Or is our life kept safe and secure? Is it kept in a secure place for us? After reminding us that we are raised with Christ, who himself was raised from the dead. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter three, verse three,

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3 EHV)

Jesus, who gives us our life, as redeemed children of God is the very same person who keeps it safe and secure. Who better than Jesus to keep it safe and secure for us? We may not be able to see the life we have in Jesus right now. We will see it. And we know that it’s ours. We are certain of it. It is hidden away, locked away. And nothing can ever take that life away from us and is kept safe and secure. And it will be seen and forever enjoyed. But for now it is kept safe, hidden away with Christ. Amen.

Exodus 17:8-13

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Have you ever tried holding your hands up for a long time? Just holding them up just like this. Maybe holding up something? How long can you hold it? Five minutes? Ten minutes? 15? Maybe you’re strong. Maybe you could hold them up long. But soon enough, your arm started to get tired. And your hands start dropping.

The Israelites were battling against the Amalekites. And as long as Moses held up his hands, they were winning the battle. But, you know, his hands got tired, his arms started to droop just a little bit. And they started losing. And so Aaron and Hur came and they held up his hands. They pushed on his arms so that his hands could be still raised. And they won the battle because Aaron and Hur were holding up Moses hands during that battle. And of course, God was behind that battle. God was the reason they won. But look at the support that Aaron and Hur gave to Moses. They supported him as he held up his hands.

We might think our life of faith we can walk it all on our own, that we don’t need other people to help hold up our hands and to keep us going every day. And yet, when our hands get weary and struggles come into our life, they start to droop and we can’t keep them up. They’re hard to keep going every single day. And yes, God remains with us every single day. God does help us and he is with us and remains with us every single day of our life. And yet he also sends people like Aaron and Hur to help us. To hold up our hands, to support us every single day.

When we grow weary, there they are with words of comfort. Fellow Christians who love us and care for us. They encourage us, comfort us. Every single day we gather for worship or with other Christians. We get that encouragement and comfort. We’re holding each other up. When we talk with someone we love and care about and we hear what’s on their minds and we just listen and respond with promises of God. There we are holding up each other’s hands too.

What a blessing it is to have people like Aaron and Hur in our life that God sends into our life to bless us and to support us and encourage us every single day. Amen.

Exodus 17:6

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When you go to your kitchen faucet and you turn it on, what do you expect to happen? Do you expect water to come running out of that faucet? When you go to the store, do you expect to find groceries and food on the shelves? When you come to the table for a meal? Do you expect food to be there in the table that someone has so wondrously and graciously made for you?

The answer to all that is yes. We expect those things, we often take them for granted. But God’s people, well they couldn’t go to the faucet as they’re wandering in the desert. They couldn’t just go to the store and find food. And at one point they went and there was no water. And they grumbled and complained at Moses. And they were near rebellion against Moses because they were thirsty. So, so thirsty in the desert. So Moses went to God and God had an answer for Moses. Exodus chapter 17, verse six. God says to Moses,

Watch me. I will stand there in front of you on the Rock and Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will come out of it and the people will drink. (Exodus 17:6)

And so that’s what Moses did. He went to the rock, took his staff and struck the rock and water flowed out like a faucet. If we have all those things, the water from the faucet, the food and the grocery store, the food, our table, and all of a sudden they were gone. Would we complain like the Israelites? Would we grumble against God as if he wasn’t really providing for us at all?

What God said to Moses he says to us too. To watch him and watch him and he will provide. Just watch and see how God who created the world and preserves the world, he still provides for you and for me. He provides for all that we need, even if it doesn’t look like it. He’s doing a very good job of that. We know God keeps his promises. And we know God can and he does care for us every day. Just look at the Son he sent into the world, the Son he sent to die on the cross for you and for me. And if he’s done that, then certainly he will continue to care for us and provide for all our needs. Amen.

Exodus 14:11

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Do you like to sing? I don’t know about you, but I love to sing and seem like there’s special times of the year when maybe the singing it’s ratcheted up a little more. Christmas time, right? We enjoy singing those Christmas carols. Silent Night, Joy to the world, all in response to our Savior’s birth.

At Easter time, we celebrate our living Lord who was raised from the dead. And we begin our Easter worship with that wonderous hymn, Jesus Christ is Risen Today. Alleluia, we sing.

God’s people had crossed the Red Sea. Moses had led them across. God had saved them from the Egyptian. These saved them from slavery. And Moses and Miriam responded to that saving by singing. And we have an Exodus 15, a song of praise from Moses and Miriam as they sang in Thanksgiving to God. I encourage you to read the whole song, but I want you to think today about these verses. Verse 11,

Lord, who is like you among the gods who is like you, glorious and holiness, awesome in praise, working wonders. (Exodus 14:11)

Is there any God more awesome than God? Is there anyone else who has saved you from your sins? Is there anyone else who has loved you so unconditionally that even though you mess up every single day, he still loves you and he sent his only Son to save you? Is there a more awesome God than we have?

The God of our salvation. The God who works wonders for you. And for me. No other God we could ever cook up in our minds and worship in our our hearts and and serve with our hands. No other God compares. God is awesome. God is the awesome God. Working wonders, and he is worthy of all our praise. Every single day. The God of our salvation. Amen.

Exodus 14:13-14

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Do you ever just feel like you’re trapped? Like life just is closing in on you, on both sides and you see no way out. Well, the Israelites felt trapped, too.

After being freed from slavery, God had led them, he led them all the way to the Red Sea, and they couldn’t go any further because the Red Sea was right there. They couldn’t cross it. They were okay until they saw Pharaoh’s army coming from behind. And there they were, coming to take them back into slavery and they were trapped. The Red Sea on one side, Pharaoh’s army and the other nowhere to turn. And so they panicked. They were afraid. What should we do? Maybe we should go back to Egypt. It was better there than dying out here. And yet Moses encouraged them to just be quiet, to just be still and wait patiently, he says. This from Exodus 14.

“Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and see the salvation from the Lord, which he will perform for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You must wait quietly.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

The Israelites had nothing to fear. God was going to fight for them. God was going to part the Red Sea. And that’s what He did. He provided that path through so they could walk through and dry ground. And then, and then God fought for them again as he went and confused the army of Pharaoh. And eventually that army was washed away in the sea.

We feel trapped in our life sometimes. On one side, we see our sins, the sea of our sins. It’s there. We can’t go anywhere. We know we can’t save ourselves. We can’t cross over past them. The guilt weighs upon our hearts. And then behind us, we see the struggles, the struggles of this world that we endure, the hardships, the challenges of our life that sin throws at us every single day. And we feel trapped. We panic. We’re afraid.

But what Moses said to the Israelites, he says to us too. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. The Lord will fight for you. And you know he has. When you look at that sea of our sins, you know that the cross of Jesus there he was fighting for you, to save you to part that sea and provide a way to salvation just for you. And we know that he will continue to fight for you every single day as he helps us through all the struggles, the challenges, the hardships that we endure in this life. And so he says to us, be still. Wait quietly. The Lord will fight for you. Amen.