Category Archives: Sermons

Evil’s Destruction

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
February 24, 2013 – Lent II

Genesis 15:1-12, Psalm 27, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 13:31-35

From the book of Genesis:
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him.

From St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians:
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

“One who truly fears God, and is obedient to Him, may be in a condition of darkness, and have no light; and he may walk many days and years in that condition…”

So wrote the Puritan Thomas Goodwin (1600-1679), and the Prophet Isaiah agrees with him: “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God” (Isa. 50:10).

At times even the most dedicated Christian feels “in the dark” and wonders why God seems so far away. During the Boxer Rebellion, the China Inland Mission suffered greatly; and its founder, J. Hudson Taylor, said to a friend, “I cannot read; I cannot think; I cannot even pray; but I can trust.” It was a dark time, but God eventually gave light.

Abraham had an experience of what spiritual directors call “the dark night of the soul.” The term comes from a sixteenth-century spiritual classic of that title by St. John of the Cross. Based on the night scenes described in the Song of Songs, the book tells how the child of God enters into deeper love and faith by experiencing temporary darkness and seeming separation from God. It is not an easy thing to experience, but sometimes necessary.
People with faith are also people with feelings, and feelings must not be discredited or ignored. Many orthodox Christians are prone to emphasize the mind and will and minimize the emotions, but this is a grave error that can lead to an unbalanced life.

We are made in the image of God, and this includes our emotions. While it is unwise to trust your emotions and bypass your mind, or let your emotions get out of control, it is also unwise to deny and suppress your emotions and become a religious robot. In the Psalms, David and the other writers told God honestly how they felt about Him, themselves, and their circumstances; and this is a good example for us to follow. Jesus was a real man, and He expressed openly His emotions of joy, sorrow, holy anger, and love.

You certainly ought to “listen to your feelings” and be honest about them. “When a person assumes responsibility for his feelings,” writes psychiatrist David Viscott, “he assumes responsibility for his world.” But don’t stop there: Take time to listen to God, and receive His words of encouragement. The faith that conquers fear is faith in the Word, not faith in feelings.

God’s remedy for Abraham’s fear was to remind him of who He was: “I am thy shield, and thy exceedingly great reward” (Gen. 15:1). God is our shield and our reward, our protection and our provision.

Protection and provision are blessings that the world is seeking and the politicians are promising whenever they run for office. Candidates offer voters protection from war and danger on the streets as well as provision for jobs, health care, education, and old age. Some of the promises are kept, but many of them are forgotten. Almighty God is the only One who can offer you protection and provisions and keep His promises.

Our Gospel reading today has Jesus in Perea, which was ruled for Rome by Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. The terrain of Perea was one of the most picturesque in Palestine, marked by rugged highlands and secluded and fruitful valleys. The Pharisees wanted to get Jesus back into Judea where the religious leaders could watch Him and ultimately trap Him, so they tried to frighten Him away.

Herod had been perplexed by our Lord’s ministry and was afraid that John the Baptist, whom he murdered, had come back from the dead (Luke 9:7-9). In fact, at one point, Herod wanted to meet Jesus so he could see Him perform a miracle! But it appears that Herod’s heart was getting harder, for now he threatened to kill Jesus. The warning the Pharisees gave was undoubtedly true or Jesus would not have answered as He did.

Our Lord was not afraid of danger. He followed a “divine timetable” and nothing could harm Him. He was doing the will of God according to the Father’s schedule. It had been decreed from eternity that the Son of God would be crucified in Jerusalem at the Passover (1 Peter 1:20; Rev. 13:8), and even Herod Antipas could not hinder the purposes of God. Quite the contrary, our Lord’s enemies only helped fulfill the will of God (Acts 2:23; 3:13-18).
Jesus used a bit of “holy sarcasm” in His reply. He compared Herod to a fox, an animal that was not held in high esteem by the Jews (Neh. 4:3). Known for its cunning, the fox was an apt illustration of the crafty Herod. Jesus had work to do and He would accomplish it. After all, Jesus walked in the light, and foxes went hunting in the darkness!

Our Lord’s heart was grieved as He saw the unbelief and rebellion around Him, and He broke out in a lamentation over the sad plight of the Jewish nation. It was a sob of anguish, not an expression of anger. His compassionate heart was broken.

In this lament, Jesus was addressing the whole nation and not just the Pharisees who had tried to provoke Him. The people had been given many opportunities to repent and be saved, but they had refused to heed His call.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he is filled with joy, but he is also weeping. Perhaps he is weeping over himself and his difficult situation, being in prison. No, he is a man with a single mind, and his circumstances do not discourage him. Is he weeping because of what some of the Roman Christians are doing to him? No, he has the submissive mind and will not permit people to rob him of his joy. These tears are not for him at all; they are shed because of others. Because Paul has the spiritual mind, he is heartbroken over the way some professed Christians are living, people who “mind earthly things.”

We are not sure who Paul is weeping for. He may be referring to the Judaizers and their followers. Certainly Paul is writing about professed Christians and not people outside the church. The Judaizers were the “enemies of the cross Christ” in that they added the Law of Moses to the work of redemption that Christ wrought on the cross. Their obedience to the Old Testament dietary laws would make a “god” out of the belly; and their emphasis on circumcision would amount to glorying in that about which they ought to be ashamed.

To refer to the Judaizers as “enemies of the cross Christ” might be a bit harsh. These were Jews who converted to Christianity, but did not want to give up the Jewish laws and traditions. They also expected all converts to take on the Jewish laws and traditions in order to be considered Christian. This included circumcision and dietary laws. This must have been hard for the Jews; all their life they were taught to obey the Old Testament laws; laws that Moses gave to the Jewish people from God. Now they were told that many of those laws were not important. This brought about the conflict in the church and Paul’s sadness for the people in Philippi.

In what sense, were the Judaizers the “enemies of the Cross of Christ”? For one thing, the Cross ended the Old Testament religion. When the veil of the temple was torn in two, God was announcing that the way to God was open through Christ (Heb. 10:19-25). When Jesus shouted, “It is finished!” He made one sacrifice for sins, and thus ended the sacrificial system (Heb. 10:1-14). By His death and resurrection, Jesus accomplished a “spiritual circumcision” that made ritual circumcision unnecessary (Col. 2:10-13). Everything that the Judaizers advocated had been eliminated by the death of Christ on the cross!

Furthermore, everything that they lived for was condemned by the Cross. Jesus had broken down the wall that stood between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:14-16), and the Judaizers were rebuilding that wall! It is the Cross that is central in the life of the believer. He does not glory in men, in religion, or in his own achievements; he glories in the Cross (Gal. 6:14).

These men were not spiritually minded; they were earthly minded. They were holding on to earthly rituals and beliefs that God had given to Israel, and they were opposing the heavenly blessings that the Christian has in Christ.

The spiritually minded believer is not attracted by “things” of this world. He makes his decisions on the basis of eternal values and not the passing fads of society. Lot chose the well-watered plain of Jordan because his values were worldly, and ultimately he lost everything. Moses refused the pleasures and treasures of Egypt because he had something infinitely more wonderful to live for (Heb. 11:24-26). “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain he whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

The Judaizers were living in the past tense, trying to get the Philippian believers to go back to Moses and the Law; but true Christians live in the future tense, anticipating the return of their Saviour (Phil. 3:20-21). It is this anticipation of the coming of Christ that motivates the believer with the spiritual mind.

There is tremendous energy in the present power of a future hope. Because Abraham looked for a city, he was content to live in a tent (Heb. 11:13-16). Because Moses looked for the rewards of heaven, he was willing to forsake the treasures of earth (Heb. 11:24-26). Because of the “joy that was set before Him” (Heb. 12:2), Jesus was willing to endure the cross. The fact that Jesus Christ is returning is a powerful motive for dedicated living and devoted service today. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 2:28-3:3).

The time is coming when our Messiah will return and be recognized and received by both Jews and Gentiles. They will shout, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13:35). There can be no peace on earth until the Prince of Peace is seated on David’s throne (Isa. 11:1ff). “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).

Let us pray:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

AMEN †

Into the Wilderness

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
February 17, 2013 – Lent I

Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13, Luke 4:1-13

From the book of Deuteronomy:
And you shall make response before the Lord God; a wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.

From St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans:
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

Every day of every year, we are presented with choices and temptations; we have to make decisions. Some decisions are easy, some might be hard. Some decisions may not involve sin, while others may. Some decisions might fall into that gray area of right or wrong.

Should I get out of bed in the morning; should I get something to eat? Should I go to church? These are fairly easy decisions to make and would usually be the right thing to do. Should I call in sick to work because I want to go to the beach? Should I shout obscenities at someone who cuts me off in traffic? Should I miss church because I want to go shopping instead? These decisions would probably be the wrong thing to do. How about you see a dollar bill on the ground of the supermarket parking lot: Do you pick it up and put it in your pocket or bring it inside and turn it in? If your wife asks you your opinion on how the new dress looks on her: Do you answer her truthfully or tell her what she wants to hear? These decisions might fall under the gray area.
After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and by the Holy Spirit, he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by Satan. Just as Jesus used those 40 days to prepare Himself for His ministry, we too use these 40 days of Lent: a time of prayer, fasting and abstinence in order to prepare us for the victory that we share in Christ; Christ’s victory over death.

Why was Jesus tempted? For one thing, it was proof that the Father’s approval was deserved. Jesus is indeed the “beloved Son” who always does whatever pleases the Father. Also, in His temptation, Jesus exposed the tactics of the enemy and revealed to us how we can overcome when we are tempted. This experience helped prepare our Lord for His present ministry as our sympathetic High Priest, and we may come to Him for the help we need to overcome the tempter (Heb. 2:16-18; 4:14-16). The first Adam was tempted in a beautiful Garden and failed. The Last Adam, Jesus, was tempted and succeeded.

You may think that of course Jesus was able to resist temptation. He was the Son of God, the Messiah. Perhaps you think that you are just a simple human being; your strength, faith and will power is not that strong. You feel you are no match for Satan’s devious ways.

We have at our disposal the same spiritual resources that Jesus used when He faced and defeated Satan: prayer (Luke 3:22), the Father’s love (Luke 3:23), the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:1), and the Word of God (“It is written”). Plus, we have in heaven the interceding Saviour who has defeated the enemy completely. Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us, but God can use these difficult experiences to put the best into us. Temptation is Satan’s weapon to defeat us, but it can become God’s tool to build us.

During those 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus did not eat, so at the end, He was hungry. In the first temptation, Satan suggested that there must be something wrong with the Father’s love since His “beloved Son” was hungry. In years past Israel hungered in the wilderness and God sent them bread from heaven; so surely Jesus could use His divine power to feed Himself and save His life. Satan subtly used this same approach on Eve: “God is holding out on you! Why can’t you eat of every tree in the Garden? If He really loved you, He would share everything with you!”

But the test was even more subtle than that, for Satan was asking Jesus to separate the physical from the spiritual. In the Christian life, eating is a spiritual activity, and we can use even our daily food to glorify God (Rom. 14:20-21; Corr. 10:31). Whenever we label different spheres of our lives “physical,” “material,” “financial,” or “spiritual,” we are bound to leave God out of areas where He rightfully belongs. Christ must be first in everything, or He is first in nothing (Matt. 6:33). It is better to be hungry in the will of God than satisfied out of the will of God.

When our Lord quoted from Deuteronomy: “Man shall not live by bread alone.” He put the emphasis on the word man. As the eternal Son of God, He had power to do anything; but as the humble Son of man, He had authority to do only that which the Father willed.
As the Servant, Jesus did not use His divine attributes for selfish purposes (Phil. 2:5-8). Because He was man, He hungered; but He trusted the Father to meet His needs in His own time and His own way.

You and I need bread for the body, but we must not live by physical bread alone. We also need food for the inner person to satisfy our spiritual needs. This food is the Word of God. What digestion is to the body, meditation is to the soul. As we read the Word and meditate on it, we receive spiritual health and strength for the inner person, and this enables us to obey the will of God.

The next temptation was when Satan took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and told Jesus that they would all be His, if only He would worship him. And Jesus answered, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”

The Father had already promised to give the Son all the kingdoms of the world (Ps. 2:7-8), but first the Son had to suffer and die (John 12:23-33). The suffering must come first, then the glory. The adversary offered Jesus these same kingdoms if He would once worship him, and this would eliminate the necessity of His going to the cross. Satan has always wanted to take God’s place and receive worship (Isa. 14:13-14).

As the prince of this world, Satan has a certain amount of delegated authority from God (John 12:31). One day he will share this authority with the Antichrist, the man of sin, who will rule the world for a brief time (Rev. 13). Satan’s offer to Christ was valid, but his terms were unacceptable; and the Saviour refused.

Satan had said nothing about service, but Jesus knew that whatever we worship, we will serve. Service to the Lord is true freedom, but service to Satan is terrible bondage. God’s pattern is to start with suffering and end with glory, while Satan’s pattern is to start with glory and end with suffering. Satan wants us to sacrifice the eternal for the temporary and take the “easy way.”

There are no “shortcuts” in the Christian life, and there is no easy way to spiritual victory and maturity. If the perfect Son of God had to hang on a tree before He could sit on the throne, then His disciples should not expect an easier way of life either.

The last temptation was when Satan took Jesus up to the pinnacle and suggested He jump to prove that nothing would happen to Him. The pinnacle was probably a high point at the southeast corner of the temple, far above the Kidron Valley. Satan can tempt us even in the Holy City at the highest part of the holy temple! But Jesus responded, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

When a child of God is in the will of God, he can claim the Father’s protection and care. But if he willfully gets into trouble and expects God to rescue him, then he is tempting God. We tempt God when we “force” Him or dare Him to act contrary to His Word. It is a dangerous thing to try God’s patience, even though He is indeed long-suffering and gracious.
Satan questioned the Father’s love when he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. He questioned His hope when he offered Jesus the world’s kingdoms this side of the Cross.
Satan questioned the Father’s faithfulness when he asked Jesus to jump from the temple and prove that the Father would keep His promise. Thus, the enemy attacked the three basic virtues of the Christian life – faith, hope, and love.

St. Paul has told us that God’s way of salvation was not difficult and complicated. We do not have to go to heaven to find Christ, or into the world of the dead. He is near to us. In other words, the Gospel of Christ – the Word of faith – is available and accessible. The sinner need not perform difficult works in order to be saved. All he has to do is trust Christ. The very Word on the lips of the religious Jews was the Word of faith. The very Law that the Jews read and recited pointed to Christ.

Everything about the Jewish religion pointed to the coming Messiah – their sacrifices, priesthood, temple services, religious festivals, and covenants. Their Law told them they were sinners in need of a Saviour. But instead of letting the Law bring them to Christ, they worshiped their Law and rejected their Saviour.

Christ is “the end of the Law” in the sense that through His death and resurrection, He has terminated the ministry of the Law for those who believe. The Law is ended as far as Christians are concerned. The righteousness of the Law is being fulfilled in the life of the believer through the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:4); but the reign of the Law has ended: “For ye are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

Paul made it clear, that salvation is by faith – we believe in the heart, receive God’s righteousness, and then confess Christ openly and without shame.

Paul quoted from the Prophet Joel to prove that God’s salvation is open to everyone: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Instead of the Jew having a special righteousness of his own through the Law, he was declared to be as much a sinner as the Gentile he condemned.

Jesus came out of the wilderness a victor, but Satan did not give up. He watched for other opportunities to tempt the Saviour away from the Father. And Satan does this on a daily basis with us. Let me remind you, that we have at our disposal the same spiritual resources that Jesus used when He faced and defeated Satan: prayer, the Father’s love, the power of the Spirit, and the Word of God. May we use this Lent season to develop these resources, so that we too may defeat Satan and claim the victory in Christ.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
AMEN †

A Right Heart

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
February 13, 2013 – Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51:1-17, II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

From the book of the Prophet Joel:
“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

From St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians:
We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And from the Gospel of St. Matthew:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the 40-day period of preparation for Easter Sunday. The distribution of ashes reminds us of our own mortality and calls us to repentance. The ashes that we receive are a reminder of our own sinfulness and are a sign of humility. Lent is a penitential season marked by prayer, fasting, and abstinence. This fasting and abstinence is not simply a form of penance, however, it is also a call for us to take stock of our spiritual lives.

The righteousness of the Pharisees during the time of Jesus has quite often been brought into question as being insincere and dishonest. It was thought that they practiced their religion for the applause of men, not for the reward of God. But true righteousness must come from within. We all need to test ourselves from time to time to see whether we are sincere and honest in our Christian commitment.

The Pharisees were known for their giving alms to the poor, praying, and fasting. These disciplines were important in the religion of the Pharisees. Jesus did not condemn these practices, but He did caution us to make sure that our hearts are right as we practice them.

The Pharisees used almsgiving to gain favor with God and attention from men, both of which were wrong motives. No amount of giving can purchase salvation; for salvation is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). And to live for the praise of men is a foolish thing because the glory of man does not last (1 Peter 1:24). It is the glory and praise of God that really counts!

Our sinful nature is so subtle that it can defile even a good thing like sharing with the poor. If our motive is to get the praise of men, then like the Pharisees, we will call attention to what we are doing. But if our motive is to serve God in love and please Him, then we will give our gifts without calling attention to them. As a result, we will grow spiritually; God will be glorified; and others will be helped. But if we give with the wrong motive, we rob ourselves of God’s blessing and reward, and rob God of glory, even though the money we share might help a needy person.

Does this mean that it is wrong to give openly? Must all giving be anonymous? Not necessarily, for everyone in the early church knew that Barnabas had given the income from the sale of his land (Acts 4:34-37). When the early church members laid their money at the Apostles’ feet, it was not done in secret. The difference, of course, was in the motive and manner in which it was done.

The second discipline that the Pharisees practiced was to have a meaningful prayer life. Jesus gave us four instructions to guide us in our prayer life. We should pray in secret before we pray in public. This means we should establish a personal prayer life with God, before we pray in public. It is not wrong to pray in public, such as in church, or even when blessing food or seeking God’s help. But it is wrong to pray in public if we are not in the habit of praying in private.

Prayers should be sincere and always in His will. The purpose of prayer is to glorify God’s name, and to ask for help to accomplish His will on earth. “Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done in earth.” We have no right to ask God for anything that will dishonor His name, delay His kingdom, or disturb His will on earth.

We must pray, having a forgiving spirit toward others. Forgiveness belongs to the matter of fellowship. If I am not in fellowship with God, I cannot pray effectively. But fellowship with my brother helps to determine my fellowship with God; hence, forgiveness is important to prayer.

Since prayer involves glorifying God’s name, hastening the coming of God’s kingdom, and helping to accomplish God’s will on earth, the one praying must not have sin in his heart.

The last discipline that the Pharisees practiced was fasting. The only fast that God required of the Jewish people was on the annual Day of Atonement. The Pharisees fasted each Monday and Thursday and did so in such a way that the people knew they were fasting. Their purpose, of course, was to win the praise of men. As a result, the Pharisees lost God’s blessing. As with giving and praying, true fasting must be done in secret; it is between the believer and God.

One of the most important things in this life, is to be reconciled to God. Because of his rebellion, man was the enemy of God and out of fellowship with Him. Through the work of the Cross, Jesus Christ has brought man and God together again. God has been reconciled and has turned His face in love toward the lost world. The basic meaning of the word reconcile is “to change thoroughly.” It refers to a changed relationship between God and the lost world.

God does not have to be reconciled to man, because that was accomplished by Christ on the cross. It is sinful man who must be reconciled to God. “Religion” is man’s feeble effort to be reconciled to God, efforts that are bound to fail. The Person who reconciles us to God is Jesus Christ, and the place where He reconciles us is His cross.

When Jesus died on the cross, He took our sins on to Himself. If we were to think of this in banking terms, the word is imputation. This simply means “to put to one’s account.” When you deposit money in a bank, that money is credited to your account. When Jesus died on the cross, all of our sins were imputed to Him – put to His account.

What was the result? All of those sins have been paid for and God no longer holds them against us, because we have trusted Christ as our Saviour. But even more: God has put to our account the very righteousness of Christ!

Reconciliation is based on imputation: because the demands of God’s holy Law have been fully met on the cross, God can be reconciled to sinners. Those who believe on Jesus Christ as their Saviour will never have their sins imputed against them again. As far as their records are concerned, they share the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

The Prophet Joel proclaimed over 2000 years ago to “Blow the trumpet!”; a call to the people to repent of their sins and seek the Lord’s help. But whatever we do in our relationship with God, we must be sincere. It’s easy to participate in a religious service, but quite something else to humbly confess your sins and bring to God a repentant heart (Matt. 15:8-9). May we use this period of Lent to do some soul searching and come to a deeper understanding and relationship with God through His Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Let us pray:
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting of our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

AMEN †

God’s Grace

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
February 3, 2013- Epiphany IV

Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 4:21-30

From the Prophet Jeremiah:
And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

From St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na’aman the Syrian.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

The Prophet Jeremiah hesitated as he looked at the work before him and the wickedness around him, and when he looked at the weakness within himself, Jeremiah was certain that he wasn’t the man for the job.

When God calls us, however, He isn’t making a mistake, and for us to hesitate or refuse to obey is to act on the basis of unbelief and not faith. Its one thing for us to know our weaknesses, but it’s quite something else for us to say that our weaknesses prevent God from getting anything done.

God doesn’t save us, call us, or use us in His service because we’re deserving, but because in His wisdom and grace He chooses to do so. It’s grace from start to finish. “But by the grace of God I am what I am,” wrote Paul, “and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

It was Jonathan Swift, the satirical author of Gulliver’s Travels, who said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough religion to make us love one another.” Spiritual gifts, no matter how exciting and wonderful, are useless and even destructive if they are not ministered in love. In all three of the “body” passages in Paul’s letters, there is an emphasis on love. The main evidence of maturity in the Christian life is a growing love for God and for God’s people, as well as a love for lost souls. It has well been said that love is the “circulatory system” of the body o f Christ.

Note that all three of the Christian graces will endure, even though “faith will become sight and hope will be fulfilled.” But the greatest of these graces is love; because when you love someone, you will trust him and will always be anticipating new joys. Faith, hope, and love go together, but it is love that energizes faith and hope.

Last week in our Gospel reading we had Jesus returning to His hometown of Nazareth for a visit. The people knew Jesus since he was a boy. The news had spread widely about the miracle worker from Nazareth; so His family, friends, and neighbors were anxious to see and hear Him.

It was our Lord’s custom to attend public worship, so He made His way on the Sabbath to the place of prayer. Jesus was asked to read the Scripture text and to give the sermon. The passage He read included Isaiah 61:1-2, which read, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.” He also selected it for His “text.” The Jewish rabbis interpreted this passage to refer to the Messiah, and the people in the synagogue knew it.

At first, they admired the way He taught, but it didn’t take long for their admiration to turn into antagonism. What caused this? Because Jesus began to remind them of God’s goodness to the Gentiles! Our Lord’s message of grace to all people was a blow to the proud Jewish people who thought of themselves as God’s chosen people, but God’s saving by grace is for everyone!

One of the scriptures that Jesus referred to was when the Prophet Elijah bypassed all the Jewish widows and helped a Gentile widow in Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-16). Elijah had lived in Cherith for probably a year, and then God told him to leave. God’s instructions may have shocked the prophet, for the Lord commanded him to travel northeast about a hundred miles to the Phoenician city of Zarephath.
God was sending Elijah into Gentile territory, and since Zarephath was not too far from Jezebel’s home city of Sidon, he would be living in enemy territory! Even more he was instructed to live with a widow whom God had selected to care for him, and widows were usually among the neediest people in the land. Since Phoenicia depended on Israel for much of its food supply (1 Kings 5:9; Acts 12:20), food wouldn’t be too plentiful there.

It’s probable that Elijah remained with the woman and her son for two years and during that time, the widow and her son surely turned from the worship of idols and put their faith in the true and living God.

The woman’s assets were few: a little oil in a flask, a handful of barley in a large grain jar, and a few sticks to provide fuel for a fire. But Elijah’s assets were great, for God Almighty had promised to take care of him, his hostess, and her son. Elijah gave her God’s promise that neither the jar of grain nor the flask of oil would be used up before the end of the drought and famine. God would one day send the rain, but until then, He would continue to provide bread for them – and He did.

The other scripture that Jesus referred to was when the prophet Elisha, Elijah’s successor, healed a Gentile leper from Syria (2 Kings 5:1-15). Elisha was a miracle-working prophet who ministered to all sorts of people who brought him all kinds of needs. “And many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27).

Naaman was a Gentile and the commander of the army of an enemy nation, so it’s no wonder the congregation in Nazareth became angry with the Lord, interrupted His sermon and carried Him out of the synagogue. After all, why would the God of Israel heal a man who was a Gentile and outside the covenant? He was an enemy who kidnapped little Jewish girls, and a leper who should have been isolated and left to die. These people knew nothing about the sovereign grace of God. Like Naaman, they didn’t humble themselves and trust the Lord. Naaman’s experience with Elisha illustrates to us the gracious work of God in saving lost sinners.

The king of Syria was Ben Hadad II, and as commander of the army, Naaman was the number two man in the nation. But with all his prestige, authority, and wealth, Naaman was a doomed man because under his uniform was the body of a leper.

Although Naaman didn’t realize it, the Lord had already worked on his behalf by giving him victory over the Assyrians. Jehovah is the covenant God of Israel, but He is also Lord of all the nations and can use any person, saved or unsaved, to accomplish His will.

Although there is no direct scriptural statement that leprosy is a picture of sin, you can see parallels. Like leprosy, sin is deeper than the skin, it spreads, it defiles, it isolates, and it is fit only for the fire.

Elisha told Naaman, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2 Kings 5:10, 14).

By his obedience he demonstrated his faith in God’s promise, and the Lord cleansed him of his leprosy. Naaman gave a clear public testimony that the Lord God of Israel was the only true and living God and was the God of all the earth.

Our Lord’s message of grace and love is to all people: Jews and Gentiles! The Holy Scripture has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. As we come to your most sacred table Lord; we remember Thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ; that we are partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood; that this Bread and Wine are signs of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; that we may evermore dwell in Him and He in us, until His coming again.

Let us pray:
O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
AMEN †

Scripture Fulfilled

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
January 27, 2013- Epiphany III

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

From the Book of Nehemiah:
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

From St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.

And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

French author Victor Hugo said over a century ago, “England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare but the Bible made England.” Supporting that view, historians tell us that Elizabethan England was indeed a country of one book, and that book was the Bible.

When they arrived in America, the Pilgrim Fathers brought with them that same reverence for the Word of God. “The Bible came with them,” said American statesman Daniel Webster, “and it is not to be doubted that to the free and universal reading of the Bible is to be ascribed in that age that men were indebted for right views of civil liberties.” President Woodrow Wilson said, “America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.”

Whether the Bible is “making” any nation today may be debated, but one thing is sure: The Scriptures helped to “make” the nation of Israel. They are a “people of the Book” as no other nation has been, and the church today would do well to follow ancient Israel’s example. When God’s people get away from loving, reading, and obeying the Word of God, they lose the blessing of God. If we want to be like fruitful trees, we must delight in God’s Word.

This explains why Nehemiah called for a “Bible conference” and invited Ezra the scribe to be the teacher. The walls were now finished and the gates were hung. The material needs of the city had been met; now it was time to focus on the spiritual needs of the people in the city.

It is important to note that Ezra and Nehemiah put the Word of God first in the life of the city. What happened in Jerusalem from that point on was a by-product of the people’s response to the Scriptures. “The primary task of the church and of the Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God,” said Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. “The decadent periods and eras in the history of the church have always been those periods when preaching had declined.” Could this be what happened to New England; that the Word of God was and is not being preached? Could this be what is happening across the United States? The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to cleanse and revive the hearts of the people of God. If God is to work in and through His people, then they must respond positively to His Word.

The Bible is not a “magic book” that changes people or circumstances because somebody reads it or recites it. God’s Word must be understood before it can enter the heart and release its life-changing power. In Nehemiah’s time, only those people old enough to understand the Scriptures were permitted to be in the assembly. When Jesus told the “Parable of the Sower” (Matt. 13:1-9, 18-23), the emphasis is on understanding the Word of God. Jesus compared understanding and receiving the Word to the planting of seed in the soil, where it takes root and bears fruit.

Ezra was the ideal man to conduct this outdoor Bible school. He was a priest and scribe who “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). He came to Jerusalem about fourteen years before Nehemiah had arrived and had already sought to bring the people back to the ways of the Lord (Ezra 7-10).

It is interesting that the leaders chose the Water Gate for the site of the assembly. In the Bible, water for washing is a picture of the Word of God (John 15:3), while water for drinking is a picture of the Spirit of God (John 7:37-39). When we apply the water of the Word to our lives, then the Spirit can work and bring the help we need. It is refreshing to the soul when you receive the Word and allow the Spirit to teach you.

This so called “Bible conference” was on the first day of the seventh month, which was the Jewish equivalent of our New Year’s Day. The seventh month was a special time in the Jewish calendar because the Jews celebrated the Feast of the Trumpets on the first day, the Day of Atonement on the tenth day, and the Feast of Tabernacles from the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day (Lev. 23:23-44). It was a perfect time for the nation to get right with the Lord and make a fresh new beginning.

The Book that Ezra brought was “the Book of Law.” This was probably the entire scroll of the Torah, the five books of Moses, the very foundation of the Jewish religion and civil law.

Ezra stood on a wooden platform above the people so they could see and hear him better. He faced the public square where the people stood, and the wall and gate behind may have served as a sounding board to help project his voice to the vast assembly.

When Ezra lifted the scroll and unrolled it to the passage he would read, the people who were seated in the square honored the Word of God by standing up. They knew they would not be hearing a mere man speak his own ideas; they would be hearing the very Word of God. The people remained standing while the Law was read and explained (Neh. 8:7). Ezra started his reading and teaching early in the morning and continued through midday, which means the congregation stood and listened for five or six hours; and this continued for a week. Could any of us, withstand that kind of desire and devotion?

After he opened the Word, “Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.” It was a united congregation that honored the Scriptures and was willing to devote half of their day to hearing it read and taught. They didn’t worship the Book; they worshiped the Lord who spoke to them from the Book.

St. Paul tells us that because of the gift of the Spirit, which is received at conversion, we are all united members of the body of Christ. Race, social status, wealth, or even sex are neither advantages nor handicaps as we fellowship and serve the Lord.

God’s desire is that there be no division in the church. Diversity leads to disunity when the members compete with one another; but diversity leads to unity when the members care for one another.

Our churches today have a desperate need in their public services to show more respect for the Word of God. We are commanded to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Tim. 4:13); and yet in many churches, the only Scripture publicly read is the text of the sermon.

As Ezra read and explained the Word, the assembly’s first response was one of conviction and grief. They mourned over their sins, “for the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20). The law can’t save us; it can only convince us that we need to be saved and then point us to Jesus Christ the Savior (Gal. 3:24).

Our Gospel reading this morning has Jesus returning to His hometown of Nazareth for a visit. Keep in mind that these were small villages; you actually knew your neighbors, not like today. The people knew Jesus when he was a boy; watched Him grow up; probably helped His father who was a carpenter and even learned the trade. By now, the news had spread widely about the miracle worker from Nazareth; so His family, friends, and neighbors were anxious to see and hear Him. Could this actually be the same Jesus that we knew and loved; who we watched grow up?

It was our Lord’s custom to attend public worship, a custom His followers should imitate today. He might have argued that the “religious system” was corrupt, or that He didn’t need the instruction; but instead, He made His way on the Sabbath to the place of prayer.
A typical synagogue service opened with an invocation for God’s blessing and then the recitation of the traditional Hebrew confession of faith. This was followed by prayer and the prescribed readings from the Law and from the Prophets, with the reader paraphrasing the Hebrew Scriptures in Aramaic.

This was followed by a brief sermon given by one of the men of the congregation or perhaps by a visiting rabbi. If a priest was present, the service closed with a benediction. Otherwise, one of the laymen prayed and the meeting was dismissed. If you think about it, it was very similar to our worship service today.

Jesus was asked to read the Scripture text and to give the sermon. The passage He read included Isaiah 61:1-2, which read, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.” He also selected it for His “text.” The Jewish rabbis interpreted this passage to refer to the Messiah, and the people in the synagogue knew it. You can imagine how shocked they were when Jesus boldly said that it was written about Him and that He had come to usher in the “acceptable year of the Lord.”

The reference here is the “Year of Jubilee” described in Leviticus 25. Every seventh year was a “Sabbatical year” for the nation, when the land was allowed to rest; and every fiftieth year (after seven Sabbaticals) was set apart as this special year was the balancing of the economic system; slaves were set free and returned to their families, property that was sold reverted to the original owners, and all debts were canceled. The land lay fallow as man and beast rested and rejoiced in the Lord.

Jesus applied this to His own ministry, not in a political or economic sense, but in a physical and spiritual sense. He had certainly brought Good News of salvation to bankrupt sinners and healing to brokenhearted and rejected people. He had delivered many from blindness and from bondage to demons and disease. Indeed, it was a spiritual “Year of Jubilee” for the nation of Israel!

The problem was that His listeners would not believe Him. They saw Him only as the son of Mary and Joseph, the boy they had watched grow up in their own city. Furthermore, they wanted Him to perform in Nazareth the same miracles He had done in Capernaum, but He refused. That’s the meaning of the phrase, “Physician, heal thyself.” The people wanted Jesus to prove to them who He was and perform a miracle! Only then would they believe. Chances are the people assembled knew the Scriptures, but they couldn’t allow the boy to grow up into someone they didn’t expect: the Messiah, the Son of God!

At first, they admired the way He taught, but it didn’t take long for their admiration to turn into antagonism. What caused this? Because Jesus began to remind them of God’s goodness to the Gentiles! The Prophet Elijah bypassed all the Jewish widows and helped a Gentile widow in Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-16), and his successor Elisha healed a Gentile leper from Syria (2 Kings 5:1-15). Our Lord’s message of grace was a blow to the proud Jewish people who thought of themselves as God’s chosen people, and they would not repent. Imagine this hometown boy saying that the Jews had to be saved by grace just like the pagan Gentiles!

The congregation was so angry, they took action to kill Jesus! St. Augustine said, “They love truth when it enlightens them, but hate truth when it accuses them.” That applies to many of our congregations today, people who want “gracious words” but who don’t want to face the truth. People who want the preacher to make them feel good, without pointing out God’s expectations and the consequences of our actions if we fail to obey God.

Think for a moment how the Jews felt. They were God’s chosen people. As long as they kept the Law, they thought they were fine in God’s eyes. Now here comes Jesus, who tells them that they are sinners, just like the Gentiles, and are in need of a Saviour. Like the Jews and Gentiles of long ago, we Christians need Jesus Christ’s redeeming grace; for only if we believe in Him are we saved!

The Word of God brings conviction and leads to repentance, but it also brings us joy; for the same Word that wounds, also heals. The secret of Christian joy is to believe what God says in His Word and act upon it. Faith that isn’t based on the Word is not faith at all; it is presumption or superstition. Joy that isn’t the result of faith is not joy at all; it is only a “good feeling” that will soon disappear. Faith based on the Word will produce joy that will weather the storms of life.

In spite of the unbelief of the people in Nazareth, the Scriptures declared that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Son, the Messiah sent to fulfill His promises. People who do not want Him and who reject “the acceptable year of the Lord” will one day face “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2). The Scriptures have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ!

Let us pray:
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all the people the Good News of his salvation that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
AMEN †

A Holy Gift

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
January 20, 2013- Epiphany II

Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 36:5-10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11

From the Book of the prophet Isaiah:
The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will give.

From St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

And from the Gospel of St. John:
Jesus was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water…Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from…This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

Our Gospel reading today starts out by saying, “On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee.” “The third day” means three days after the call of Nathanael; three days after Jesus called Nathanael to be His disciple. Since that was the fourth day of the week recorded in the book of John, the wedding took place on “the seventh day” of this “new creation week.” Throughout his Gospel, John makes it clear that Jesus was on a divine schedule, obeying the will of the Father.

Jewish tradition required that virgins be married on a Wednesday, while widows were married on a Thursday. Being the “seventh day” of John’s special week, Jesus would be expected to rest, just of God rested on the seventh day. However sin had interrupted God’s Sabbath rest, and it was necessary for both the Father and the Son to work (John 5:17; 9:4).
At this wedding, we see Jesus in three different roles: the Guest, the Son, and the Host.

Our Lord was not a recluse, as was John the Baptist (Matt. 11:16-19). He accepted invitations to social events, even though His enemies used this practice to accuse Him. Our Lord entered into the normal experiences of life and sanctified them by His presence. It was very wise for this couple to have invited Jesus to their wedding!

He was accompanied by His mother and His six disciples. We don’t know why the wine ran out. Perhaps Jesus’ friends were not wealthy people. Were Jesus and His disciples invited to the wedding because of Mary or because of Nathanael? Our Lord was not yet well known; He had performed no miracles as yet. It was not likely that he was invited because the people knew who He was or who He really was. It was probably through His mother Mary that He and His disciples received the invitation.

Since Jewish wedding feasts lasted a week, it was necessary for the groom to have adequate provisions. For one thing, it would be embarrassing to run out of either food or wine; and a family guilty of such gaucherie could actually be fined! So, to run out of wine could be costly both financially and socially.

Why did Mary approach Jesus about the problem? Did she actually expect Him to do something special to meet the need? Certainly she knew who He was, even though she did not declare this wonderful truth to others. She must have been very close to either the bride or bridegroom to have such a personal concern for the success of the festivities, or even to know that the supply of wine was depleted. Perhaps Mary was assisting the family in the preparation and serving of the meal.

Mary did not tell Jesus what to do; she simply reported the problem. Jesus questioned His mother by asking her, “Why are you getting me involved in this matter? My hour has not yet come.” He was making it clear to His mother that He was no longer under her supervision, but that from now on He would be doing what the Father wanted Him to do.

At this point, John introduced one of the key elements of his book, the idea of “the hour.” Jesus lived on a “heavenly timetable,” marked out for Him by the Father. So, when Jesus said to His mother “My hour had not come,” it simply meant that His ministry had not officially started. He was just beginning to call His disciples; to form His team.

Mary’s words to the servants reveal that she was willing to let her Son do whatever He pleased, and that she trusted Him to do what was right. It would be wise for all of us to obey what she said! It was worth noting that it was Jesus, not Mary, who took command and solved the problem; and that Mary pointed, not to herself, but to Jesus.

Our Lord’s first miracle was not a spectacular event that everybody witnessed. Mary, the disciples, and the servants knew what had happened; but nobody else at the feast had any idea that a miracle had taken place. His first miracle was a quiet event at a wedding in contrast to His last miracle that was very public; His resurrection from the dead.

Each of the six stone water jars could contain about twenty gallons each. The quality of this new wine was so superior that the man in charge of the banquet highly praised it and, of course, the groom’s family basked in the glory of the compliments.

This first miracle also did something for the disciples. It revealed His glory and gave them a stronger foundation for their faith. Though miracles alone are insufficient evidence for declaring Jesus to be the Son of God, the cumulative effect of miracle after miracle should certainly convince them of His deity. The disciples had to begin somewhere, and over the months, their faith deepened as they got to know Jesus better.

But there is certainly more to this miracle than simply meeting a human need and saving a family from social embarrassment. The Gospel of John, unlike the other three Gospels, seeks to share the inner meaning – the spiritual significance – of our Lord’s works, so that each miracle is a “sermon in action.”

It was not enough for people to believe in Jesus works; they had to believe in Him and in the Father who sent Him. This explains why Jesus often added a sermon to the miracle and in that sermon interpreted the sign.

If our Lord had preached a sermon after He turned the water into wine, what might He have said? For one thing, He likely would have told the people that the world’s joy always runs out and cannot be regained, but the joy He gives is ever new and ever satisfying. The world offers its best at the first, and then, once you are “hooked,” things start to get worse. But Jesus continues to offer that which is best until we one day enjoy the finest blessings in the eternal kingdom.

Our Lord would certainly have a special message here for His people, Israel. In the Old Testament, from the prophet Isaiah, Israel is pictured as an unfaithful wife; “forsaken” by the Lord, but not “divorced.” Her trials will be forgotten when she receives the new name, “Hephzibah,” which means “my delight is in her.” God delights in His people and enjoys giving them His best. The old name “desolate” will be replaced by “Beulah,” which means “married.” In the case of Israel, she is already married to Jehovah, but she will get a new name when she is reconciled to Him.

The wine ran out, and all that Israel had left were six empty water jars! They held water for external washings, but they could provide nothing for internal cleansing and joy. In this miracle, our Lord brought fullness where there was disappointment, and something internal for that which was only external (water for ceremonial washings).

John’s Gospel doesn’t mention what gift or gifts Jesus, Mary or His disciples may have brought. I’m sure it wasn’t a blender, toaster or crock pot, but I am sure it was something useful.

What we do know, is that Jesus Christ brings us all gifts of the Spirit. The various gifts are named in 1 Corinthians, Romans and Ephesians. When you combine the lists, you end up with nineteen different gifts and offices. Some of the gifts are as follows:
Prophets were spokesmen for God whose messages came immediately from God by the Spirit. Their ministry was to edify, encourage, and comfort. Their messages were tested by the listeners to determine whether they were truly from God.

Teachers and/or pastors instructed converts in the doctrinal truths of the Christian life. They taught from the Word and from the teachings of the Apostles. Unlike the prophets, they did not get their messages immediately by the Spirit, though the Spirit helped them in their teaching.

The evangelist majored on sharing the Good News of salvation with the lost. All ministers should do the work of an evangelist and seek to win souls, but some men have been given evangelism as a special calling.

In the early church, miracles were a part of the credentials of God’s servants. In fact, miracles, healings, and tongues all belong to what theologians call “the sign gifts” and belonged in a special way to the infancy of the church.

Helps and governments have to do with the serving of others and the guiding of the church. Without spiritual leadership, the church flounders.

Giving and showing mercy relate to sharing material aid with those in need, as well as supporting God’s servants in ministry. The gift of faith has to do with believing God for what He wants to accomplish in the church’s ministry that He will lead and provide. The discerning of spirits was important in the early church since Satan tried to counterfeit the work of God and the Word of God. Today, the Spirit especially uses the written Word to give us discernment. Since there are no prophets in the church today, we need not worry about false prophets; but we do have to beware of false teachers.

Some people have categorized the various gifts as the speaking gifts, the sign gifts, and the serving gifts. However, we should not be so fascinated by the individual gifts that we forget the main reason why Paul listed them: to remind us that they unite us in our ministry to the one body. The Holy Spirit bestows these gifts “as He will,” not as we will. No Christian should complain about his or her gifts, nor should any believer boast about his or her gifts. We are many members in one body, ministering to each other.

We are all invited to the wedding feast. Our Saviour brought the best wine, His blood, as a Holy gift of His redeeming grace. May we bring the Holy gifts that have been bestowed on us, in order to bring sinners to Him and glory to Almighty God.

Let us pray:
Almighty God whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth. Change in us Lord from the simple water into the superior wine, that through the gifts of the Spirit which you have bestowed on each one of us, you may be given the glory through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever.
AMEN †

Holy Baptism

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
January 13, 2013- Epiphany I

Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

From the Book of the prophet Isaiah:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”

From The Acts of the Apostles:
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

“If Socrates would enter a room, we should rise and do him honor,” said Napoleon Bonaparte. “But if Jesus Christ came into the room, we should fall down on our knees and worship Him.”

St. Luke or Dr. Luke would have agreed with the famous French general, for in chapters 3 and 4, he makes it clear that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Son of God.

When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, no prophetic voice had been heard in Israel for 400 years. His coming was a part of God’s perfect timing, for everything that relates to God’s Son is always on schedule (Gal. 4:4; John 2:4).

John the Baptist resembled the Prophet Elijah in manner and dress (Luke 1:17). He came to the area near the Jordan River, preaching and baptizing. He announced the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 3:3) and urged the people to repent.
Centuries before, Israel had crossed the Jordan, which was like a national baptism, to claim their Promised Land. Now God summoned them to turn from sin and enter His spiritual kingdom.

John was son of the priest Zaharias and his wife Elisabeth. Both parents were of priestly families. Scriptures lead us to believe that his birth occurred about six months prior to Jesus birth. Mary, the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth were related. In the desert solitudes of Judaea, John fed on locusts and wild honey, and wore coarse garments of camel’s hair and a leather girdle.

Keep in mind that John did much more than preach against sin; he also proclaimed the Gospel. He was an evangelist; he preached the Good News. John introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and told people to trust in Him. John was only the best man at the wedding; Jesus was the Bridegroom (John 3:25-30). John rejoiced at the opportunity of introducing people to the Saviour, and then getting out of the way.

A unique feature about John’s ministry was baptism (Luke 20:1-8). Baptism was nothing new to the people, for the Jews baptized Gentile proselytes. Proselytes were Gentiles who had converted to Judaism and were living under the protection of Judah or Israel. They were given certain privileges and allowed to offer sacrifices to Yahweh (Num. 15:14ff). But not until a candidate was circumcised and cleansed (or baptized) and had offered sacrifices did he become a proselyte to Judaism and eligible to partake of the Passover. There were a number of Gentiles who were proselytes to Judaism; some of these were in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:10).

But John baptized Jews also, which was unusual. John’s baptism looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, while Christian baptism looks back to the finished work of Christ.

But there was something even beyond John’s baptism, and that was the baptism that the Messiah would administer. He would baptize believers with the Holy Spirit, and this began at Pentecost (Acts 1:5; 2:1ff). Today, the moment a sinner trusts Christ, he or she is baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). John also states that Jesus will baptize with fire.

What is the “baptism of fire?” It does not refer to the “tongues of fire” at Pentecost, for tongues over a person’s head could hardly be called a “baptism.” John’s use of the symbol of “fire” indicates that he is talking about judgment and not blessing. In A.D. 70 the nation experienced a baptism of fire when Titus and the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the people. All unbelievers will experience a baptism of judgment in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).

There are several illustrations that St. Luke gives to help us understand the ministry that God gave John the Baptist.

To begin with, John the Baptist was a voice “crying in the wilderness” (Luke 3:4). He was like the herald who went before the royal procession to make sure the roads were ready for the king. Spiritually speaking, the nation of Israel was living in a “wilderness” of unbelief, and the roads to spiritual reality were twisted and in disrepair. The corruption of the priesthood and the legalistic hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees had weakened the nation spiritually. The people desperately needed to hear a voice from God, and John was that faithful voice.

Philip the Evangelist, was chosen as a deacon (Acts 6:5) and he grew in his ministry and became an effective evangelist. He preached and healed effectively at Samaria after the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8:4-8). God directed him to evangelize in Samaria, an area that had been prohibited to the Apostles (Matt. 10:5-6). Both John the Baptist and Jesus had ministered there (John 3:23), so Philip entered into their labors (John 4:36-38). Philip was God’s commissioned herald to deliver His message to the people of Samaria. To reject the messenger would mean to reject the message and rebel against the authority behind the herald, Almighty God. How people respond to God’s messenger and God’s message is serious business.

Philip not only declared God’s Word, but he also demonstrated God’s power by performing miracles. The emphasis here is on the Word of God: the people gave heed to the Word because they saw the miracles, and by believing the Word, they were saved.

The Gospel had now moved from “Jewish territory” into Samaria where the people were part Jew and part Gentile. God in His grace had built a bridge between two estranged people and made the believers one in Christ, and soon He would extend that bridge to the Gentiles and include them as well.

It is important to note that the Samaritans did not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when they believed. It was necessary for two of the Apostles, Peter and John, to come from Jerusalem, put their hands on the converts, and imparts to them the gift of the Spirit. Why?

Because God wanted to unite the Samaritan believers with the original Jewish church in Jerusalem. He did not want two churches that would perpetuate the division and conflict that had existed for centuries. Jesus had given Peter the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:13-20), which meant that Peter had the privilege of “opening the door of faith” to others. He opened the door to the Jews at Pentecost, and now he opened the door to the Samaritans. Later, he would open the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 10).

It was John the Baptist’s task to prepare the nation for the Messiah and then present the Messiah to them (Luke 1:16-17). He rebuked their sins and announced God’s salvation, for without conviction there can be no conversion.

Like some “religious sinners” today, many of the Jews thought they were destined for heaven simply because they were descendants of Abraham. It is the same with some Christians, who believe that “all roads” lead to heaven.
It doesn’t matter who you worship, whether it is the Goddess Sophia, Allah, Buddha, etc. they are all the same. Woe to the religious leaders who believe this and lead the “sheep” astray. John reminded them that God gets to the root of things and is not impressed with religious profession that does not produce fruit. In the last judgment, the true believers will be gathered by God, while the lost sinners will be burned in the fire.

How tragic that the religious leaders refused to obey John’s message and submit to his baptism (Luke 20:1-8). They not only failed to enter the kingdom themselves, but their bad example and false teaching kept other people from entering as well.

John was faithful in his ministry to prepare the hearts of the people and then to present their Messiah to them. He clearly stated that Jesus was “the Lord” and the Son of God. Because John rebuked Herod Antipas for his adulterous marriage to Herodias, he was imprisoned by the king and finally beheaded. However, he had faithfully finished his God-given assignment and prepared the people to meet the Messiah, the Son of God.

One day, after all the others had been baptized, Jesus presented Himself for baptism at the Jordan; and John at first refused to comply (Matt. 3:13-15). He knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the perfect Son of God who had no need to repent of sin. Why then was the sinless Son of God baptized?

To begin with, in His baptism He identified with the sinners that He came to save. Also, His baptism was the official start of His ministry (Acts 1:21-22; 10:37-38). He was “about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23), and the Jewish Levites began their work at age thirty. But our Lord’s words tell Us, the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Spirit), that the main reason for His baptism: “for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). In what way was He talking about: In the way pictured by His baptism in the Jordan. Many Bible scholars agree that New Testament baptism was by immersion, which is a picture of death, burial, and resurrection. Our Lord’s baptism in water was a picture of His work of redemption (Matt. 20:22; Luke 12:50). It was through His baptism of suffering on the cross that God “fulfilled all righteousness.”

When our Lord came up from the water, the Father spoke from heaven and identified Him as the beloved Son of God, and the Spirit visibly came upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Those who deny the Trinity have a difficult time explaining this event.

We acknowledge that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Our Savior Jesus Christ said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” May the mercy and goodness of God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, grant that all of us here today, may receive the forgiveness of sins, be baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, and may acknowledge our membership in Christ’s holy Church.

Let us pray:
Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting.
AMEN †

Homage to the King

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
January 6, 2013- Epiphany Sunday

Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

From the Book of the prophet Isaiah:
A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

From St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians:
When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

And from the Gospel of St. Matthew:
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

“Arise and shine!” is God’s “wake-up call” to Jerusalem, because a new day is dawning for Israel. This light is not from the sun but from the glory of God shining on the city.

God’s glory had once dwelt in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-38), only to depart because of Israel’s sin (1 Sam. 4:21). God’s glory then came into the temple (1 Kings 8:11), but it departed when the nation turned to idols (Ezek. 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22-23). The glory came to Israel in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14), but the nation nailed that glory to a cross. Today, God’s glory dwells in His church (Eph. 2:20-22) and in His people individually (1 Cor. 6:19-20); but one day His glory will be revealed to the earth when He answers His people’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come.”

If a man suddenly appears and claims to be a king, the public immediately asks for proof. What is his background? Who pays homage to him? What credentials can he present? What is his heritage? Does he come from a long line of royalty? Anticipating these important questions, St. Matthew opened his book with a careful account of the birth of Jesus Christ and the events that accompanied it.

We must consider the three names assigned to God’s Son. The name Jesus means “Saviour” and comes from the Hebrew name, Joshua, which means “Jehovah is salvation.” There were many Jewish boys with the name Joshua, but Mary’s Boy was called “Jesus the Christ.” The word Christ means “anointed”; it is the Greek equivalent of Messiah. He is “Jesus the Messiah.” Jesus is His human name; Christ is His official title; and Immanuel describes who He is – “God with us.” Jesus Christ is God!

The King, then, was a Jewish male who is also the divine Son of God. But, did anybody acknowledge His kingship? Yes, the magi from the East came and worshiped Him.

We must confess that we know little about these men. The word translated “wise men” refers to a group of scholars who studied the stars. Their title connects them with magic, but they were probably more like astrologers. However, their presence in the biblical record is not a divine endorsement of astrology.

God gave them a special sign, a miraculous star that announced the birth of the King. The star led them to Jerusalem where God’s prophets told them that the King would be born in Bethlehem. They went to Bethlehem, and there they worshiped the Christ Child.

We do not know how many magi there were. Since there were three gifts mentioned in scripture (i.e. gold, frankincense and myrrh), some people assumed there were three kings from the Orient, though this is not certain. But when their caravan arrived in Jerusalem, there were enough of them to trouble the whole city.

Keep in mind that these men were Gentiles. From the very beginning, Jesus came to be “the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42). These men were also wealthy, and they were scholars – scientists in their own right. No scholarly person who follows the light God gives him can miss worshiping at the feet of Jesus. In Jesus Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). In Him dwells “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9).

The magi were seeking the King, but Herod was afraid of the King and wanted to destroy Him. This was Herod the Great, called king by the Roman senate because of the influence of Mark Antony. Herod was a cruel and crafty man who permitted no one, not even his own family, to interfere with his rule or prevent the satisfying of his evil desires. A ruthless murderer, he had his own wife and her two brothers slain because he suspected them of treason. He was married at least nine times in order to fulfill his lusts and strengthen his political ties.

It is no surprise that Herod tried to kill Jesus, for Herod alone wanted to bear the title “King of the Jews.” But there was another reason. Herod was not a full-blooded Jew; he was actually an Idumaean, a descendant of Esau. This is a picture of the old struggle between Esau and Jacob that began even before the boys were born (Gen. 25:19-34). It is the spiritual versus the carnal, the godly versus the worldly.

The magi were seeking the King; Herod was opposing the King; and the Jewish priests were ignoring the King. These priests knew the Scriptures and pointed others to the Saviour, but they would not go to worship Him themselves! They quoted Micah 5:2, which says: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” But they chose not to obey it. They were only five miles from the very Son of God, yet they did not go to see Him! The Gentiles sought and found Him, but the Jews did not.

When the magi resumed their search for the King and headed toward Bethlehem, they saw the star again; and it led them to the house where Jesus was. By now, Joseph had moved Mary and the baby from the temporary dwelling where the Lord Jesus had been born (Luke 2:7). The traditional manger scenes that assemble together the shepherds and wise men are not true to Scripture, since the magi arrived much later.

Jesus chose St. Paul to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; 26:13-18), and he was not disobedient to that call. Wherever Paul ministered, he founded local churches composed of believing Jews and Gentiles, all “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

God made Paul a steward of “the mystery” of the church with the responsibility of sharing it with the Gentiles. It was not enough simply to win them to Christ and form them into local assemblies. He was also to teach them their wonderful position in Christ as members of the body, sharing God’s grace equally with the Old Testament Scriptures.

God hid this great plan for the church “from the beginning of the world,” but now He wants “the mystery” to be known by His church. And this is why He made Paul a “steward” of this great truth. Now all believers are to be faithful stewards of this great truth! This “sacred secret” that was so important to Paul, and to the Gentiles, is now in our hands!

Matthew cites in his book a second fulfilled prophecy to prove that Jesus Christ is the King. How He was born was a fulfillment of prophecy, and where He was born was a fulfillment of prophecy. Bethlehem means “house of bread,” and this was where the “Bread of Life” came to earth (John 6:48ff).

Jesus Christ, the Bread, his body, broken for you. As we come to your most sacred table Lord; we remember Thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ; we remember His birth, death and passion; we are partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood; that this Bread and Wine are signs of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; that we may evermore dwell in Him and He in us, until His coming again.
Let us pray:
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
AMEN †

Comes Down – Lifts Up

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The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak

Trinity Church

Waltham, Massachusetts

Christmas Eve – 24 December 2012

From the Gospel According to St. John the Evangelist:
Speaking of the Incarnation of God the Father in God the Son, St. John wrote, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth…

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hears be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation,
Amen.

Over the past several weeks, I have been reviewing the sermons that I have preached over the past several years – whenever I have an extra moment. Now, those extra moments have been very much at a premium with all that has to be done in this busy Advent / Christmas season.

Add to that my preparations for retirement in Florida – the selling of one house here and the buying another there – getting all the paperwork done for pensions and health care programs, while packing for the big move -well, trust me, it’s been busy.
In all of this, I came across a sermon preached about ten years ago in which I told the story of one man’s response to one of the first sermons I ever preached as an ordained minister. He said, as we shook hands at the front door of the church, That was a really good sermon, Howard. You brought God down to our level.
Being a bit full on myself, being hungry for approval as I was in those days, I bragged about this to one of my former seminary professors in a conversation soon after. He said, You know, you shouldn’t be too happy about that comment. Your job is not so much to bring God down to our level, as it is to lift us up to His.
A bit deflated, I though a lot about his comment and came to the conclusion that lifting up is much more our job than bringing down. God has already done the coming down. We call it Christmas.
God did the coming down to our level when He took on human flesh and became one of us in the Child of Bethlehem. He came down to our level by being conceived and born of a woman just like every other human being who has ever lived. And He became one of us by being a baby, growing up as a child, becoming an adult and then, just like everyone else, eventually dying.
In every way, God came down to share our common humanity – from conception to death – but not just so that we can feel that He’s one of us, but for the sake of lifting us up so that we can be at one with Him.
Tonight we celebrate His birth as one of us. But as He shared our common humanity, he did so in His unique divinity. We believe in and celebrate the divine paradox of Jesus Christ who was both fully human and fully divine at the same time. Hence, he was in every way, one of us but so totally different from us. He was God made man – in flesh and bone – in body and blood. And that makes all the difference in the world.
His divinity gets revealed in His miraculous conception by the power of the Holy Spirit and in His miraculous birth being born of a virgin. His miraculous conception and birth allows for the miracle of our being born again.
He was conceived by God the Holy Spirit. If we receive Him – if we place all of our faith in Him, then we can be born again to become children of God, but this time, to quote St. John, …born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
He came down to lift us up. And He continues to come down as He continues to lift up. That’s the purpose of this great and wonderful mystery – the mystery of life – the mystery of redemption – the mystery of salvation and the mystery of our deliverance from all that’s wrong and evil and deceptive to all that’s good and right and true – our deliverance from death to life – indeed, from death to eternal life.
We celebrate His birth at Christmas. But without His death and resurrection, we would never have celebrated His birth. In His death, the sinless savior took on our sin and destroyed it. It died with Him when He died on the cross on which we had lifted Him up.
And when He rose from the dead, He showed us the victory of His life over our death so that we could live forever in Him.
So there you have it. The whole story of our redemption and our salvation. He came down once in human history. But He comes down all the time, making Himself continually available to any of us who at any moment in time may place his faith in Him. He can – and will – lift up.
As we baptize this beautiful baby girl tonight we baptize her into the death of Jesus Christ for the sake of her eternal life. She is the beneficiary of what the little baby boy born in Bethlehem did in His life some two thousand years ago, coming down as the Son of God and the Son of Mary and growing up to become the crucified and risen Saviour of all mankind.
And as we share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we partake of the sacrament of Eternal Life. Both sacraments lift us up to the same reality – eternal life in the perfection of God’s love.
He came down to lift us up. Simple as that.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us – full of grace and truth. And we beheld His glory.
With this in mind, let us pray.
Heavenly Father, grant to us the grace to receive your Son, the Child of Bethlehem, into our hearts, into our minds and into our souls that by virtue of His sacrifice for us we can come alive in Him – and live forever. Keep us we pray, forever grateful for the gift of our salvation that we may rejoice and be glad all the days of our lives, both now and forever,
Amen.

Signs and Wonders

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Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
December 2, 2012, Pentecost XXVII – Advent I

Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36

From the Book of the prophet Jeremiah:
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

From the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians:
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

And from the Gospel of St. Luke:
And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

We here in New England are blessed with four wonderful seasons. When we see buds bursting with color and flowers blooming; we know that it is spring. When the temperature climbs to 80 or 90 degrees we know that it’s summer. As the leaves on the trees explode in colors of red, orange and yellow; we know that it’s fall. And like yesterday, when we see the white fluffy snow; we know it is winter. These are signs and wonders of the seasons. These signs help us to know what is about to happen. Now we New Englanders can predict with almost 100% certainty that we are going to have these four seasons.

The Secular Christmas season is off and running with people hurrying to get the best bargains. The signs of the season are getting earlier and earlier, this year even before Halloween. Advent is a time of preparation, but preparation for what? Hopefully, by December 25th Christians will be able to settle down and realize the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is a time that we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There were signs of His first coming. The Prophets foretold of His coming; and when Mary gave birth to Jesus, there was a sign: A star in the East, which directed the shepherds in the fields and the Magi to the place of Jesus’ birth.

As foretold by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch, sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’

The greatest blessing of all will be the Jews’ promised King reigning in righteousness! This certainly didn’t happen when the Jewish exiles returned to rebuild their temple and their city. Therefore, this promise is for the latter days. Then when people call Jerusalem “the Holy City,” the name will be appropriate.

But there will be signs and wonders of His second coming too. One only needs to read the book of Revelation to know the signs of Jesus’ coming again. As we all know, the book of Revelation is not necessarily the easiest book to understand. The book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, is a fitting close of the Holy Scriptures, for its final chapters depict the consummation toward which the whole Biblical message of redemption is focused. It may be described as an inspired picture-book which, by an accumulation of magnificent poetic imagery, makes a powerful appeal to the reader’s imagination.

Throughout the centuries the Apocalypse has been the object of widely divergent systems of interpretation. The book of Revelation comprises the substance of many visions which repeat with variety certain great principles of God’s just and merciful government of all his creation. Though the key to understanding some of these symbols has been lost, in other cases a comparison with the prophetic symbolism in the Old Testament, especially Daniel and Ezekiel, sheds light upon the author’s meaning.

Chapters 15-19 in the book of Revelation, describes the frightening judgment signs that God will send on the earth during the last half of the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). This phrase describes the time of tribulation that will come upon the earth (Matt. 24:21-31). A frequent biblical symbol of suffering is a woman in labor (Jer. 30:6), and this image is used to describe the Tribulation in the end times.

When these things occur, it will be evidence that the Lord’s coming is near. The image of “waves roaring” describes nations rising and falling like waves in a storm (Rev. 17:15). It will be an awesome time, and the population of the earth will tremble with fear, but men will not repent of their sins and turn to God by faith (Rev. 9:20-21; 16:9-11).

Matthew (24:29) informs us that the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will fall (Isa. 13:10; 34:4). He further states that “the sign of the Son of man” will appear in heaven. We do not know what this “sign” is, but it will produce fear among the nations of the earth. However, then Jesus Christ will appear, and every eye will see Him (Rev. 1:7). The nation of Israel will at last recognize their Messiah, repent, believe, and be saved (Zech. 12:10-14).

These awesome signs will bring terror to the lost people of the world, but hope to those who have trusted the Lord during the Tribulation period (Rev. 7), for these believers know that the Lord’s coming will be soon. Believers today look for the Saviour, not signs. However, as we see “coming events casting their shadows,” we believe that the Lord’s return is near.

Christ’s appearing will be sudden, glorious, and with great power (Luke 21:27). The image here is taken from the book of Daniel (7:13-4), which reads: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” This was a messianic passage that must have been familiar to the disciples. The angels promised that Jesus would return to earth in the same way He departed.

We read in the book of Acts that after Jesus told His disciples that it is not for them to know the times and dates that the Father has set for future things to come, “he was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’”

There are those who ignore and even ridicule the doctrine of the return of Christ. After all, the church has been waiting for the Lord’s return for 2,000 years, and He has not returned yet! But Peter pointed out that God keeps His promises whether we believe them or not, and that God measures time differently from the way men measure it. Furthermore, the reason He waits is so that unsaved sinners may repent, be saved, and be ready when Jesus comes. While His seeming delay is a trial to the church, it is an opportunity for the lost. Jesus is the good shepherd, and He wants every possible lost sheep back in the fold.

Before Jesus left His disciples, He imprinted a message on their hearts: “Know!” and Watch!” Know the signs, know God’s Word. And Watch for the signs, Watch and be ready for His coming and pray. As believers, this message applies to us today. The Word of God and prayer should go together.

The Prophet Samuel told the people of Israel, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way” (1 Sam. 12:23). Peter said, “But we the Apostles will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6;4).Paul had the same emphasis: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God in prayer, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up” (Acts 20:32).

Jesus prayed for His disciples, just as Paul prayed for the Thessalonican Christians, that their faith would not fail (Luke 22:31-32). Paul prayed that his converts might stand blameless and holy before God at Christ’s return. Since all believers will be transformed to be like Christ when He returns (1 John 3:2), we will never face our sins in heaven, for they are remembered against us no more (Rom. 8:1; Heb. 10:14-18).

As we come to your most sacred table Lord; we remember Thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ; we remember His birth, death and passion; we are partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood; that this Bread and Wine are signs of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; that we may evermore dwell in Him and He in us, until His coming again.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

AMEN †