Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13; St Luke 21:25-36
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, Jesus teaches us today about the Last Day. And on that Day, when the world finally comes completely unglued, His goal for you is simple: that you stand. While unbelievers are fainting in fear and terror, His will for you is to straighten up and raise your heads and to stand. Mothers aren’t the only ones worried about your posture. So is Jesus.
But these signs of the Last Day already began at our Lord’s Incarnation, at His Crucifixion and Death, in His Resurrection and Ascension. Thus Jesus’ goal for His disciples, both then and now, is not only to stand at the Last Day. But to stand now. This “standing” is much more than just physical posture; standing upright on your own two feet. To “stand” is an attitude. A character. A Christian virtue. It is to be awake and alert to God’s purposes. This is the posture of faith.
As a soldier of Christ you are called to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 6:10-12). You are called to stand guard against all that is arrayed against you. To withstand in the evil day. To stand firm. No slouching.
But our hearts are heavy. Weighed down. We are sagging. We’ve become a pathetic sight. Droopy, defeated Christians. We have come here this morning with heavy hearts. Hearts loaded down with cares. Bowed down with sadness. Hearts and minds burdened with troubles and fears. Worried about others expectations of you. Anxious of all the expectation of God’s Law, too.
A droopy heart is an unbelieving heart. A heart weighed down with dissipation, drunken with the cares of this life. Such hearts are hearts disconnected from Jesus, the One who is Life. No wonder Jesus warns us to watch ourselves! For He knows our hearts. How they love to chase every other comfort but Jesus. How they’ll believe anything that reinforces what serves us. We’ve so overindulged to the point of harming ourselves.
I’m not talking about physical death. There are things much worse. St Nicholas understood this when he secretly gave money to a father to provide dowries to his daughters so that they avoid slavery. Or when he defended the confession of the Holy Trinity at Nicea against heresy. Heresy. Apostasy. Rejection of the Truth. These are worse than death. Do we have ears to learn from things written down in former days for our instruction, as St Paul says? Or have we filled our hearts with empty comforts? Taken solace in the gifts rather than the Giver?
Dear friends in Christ, you have come to where there is help for heavy hearts, weighed down with dissipation. But your help is not in examining your heavy heart, though you are, in fact, called to do just that. What do you find there? Nothing but sin and death from which you cannot free yourself. Neither is your help in resolving to get your priorities right or in a promise to let God do the worrying. Your help is not found in you, your heart, or mind at all. Your help is found in the heart of Jesus, from whom comes words that forgive, words that lift up droopy, guilt-laden hearts.
Words like, heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will not pass away. In other words the sky and earth will pass away. All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree (Is 34:4). For behold, the Day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The Day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts.
But His Word will stand secure. His Word will not budge an inch. The world you live in is changing faster than you ever imagined. There’s plenty of fear and foreboding. Quite a bit of distress of nations in perplexity. But His Word won’t change a bit. His Word endures forever.
Words like, Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28). Words like, Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt 11:29). Words like, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Abide in Me, for apart from Me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5). Words like those spoken to heavy-hearted and fearful disciples on Easter Eve: Peace be with you (Jn 20:19).
Without Jesus’ Word we have no faith. Apart from His Word we have nothing. But even if you have everything, apart from faith no one stands. Not now. Not on the Last Day. Without Jesus’ Word everyone on the Last Day is stubble, everyone is ablaze, everyone faints. Nobody escapes when God pours out His wrath. But clinging to Jesus and His Word, you have the words of eternal life.
While our faith sags, grows dim and weak, His never did. For He was the Man whose whole purpose was to come into this world to stand in the Resurrection. To defeat your sins, to defeat death and to defeat the devil. Unlike Adam, unlike the disciples, unlike us, His heart never got heavy laden with idols. His heart was always nimble to do His Father’s will. Always alert to the devil’s schemes and lies. Always in the ready position to do whatever it took to make you stand.
For Jesus came into the world to make you stand, too. Stand in the Resurrection on the Last Day before the Son of Man. Guiltless. Innocent. Free.
But first He had to be knocked down. Brought low. Stagger and become weak. So He packed His pure heart with all our sins. Then He bowed His back and carried the Cross so that He could take those sins away. He hung on the Cross until He drooped and sagged there, heavy with our mistrust, laden with our dissipation, weighed down with our death, until He was dead and buried and your sins were removed from God’s memory.
But His goal was to stand. And stand He did. Up from the dead so that He might put words in the mouth of Pastors that unburden heavy hearts. Words like, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Words like, “I forgive you all your sins.” Words like “Lift up your hearts.”
Dear friends, those signs in sun, moon, and stars will come and are coming. There’s plenty to attract our attention and distract our gaze. Plenty to worry and fret and lament over. Lift up your hearts and eyes and heads to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith. Lift them up to the direction of this Altar. Your redemption is near.
For the signs here are even better. Signs of His love for you. Gracious signs like your Holy Baptism, where you were purchased out of slavery to sin. Signs like His Body and His Blood, the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings, which forgive you, enliven you, refresh you, and ready you to stand both now and on the Last Day.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, Jesus teaches us today about the Last Day. And on that Day, when the world finally comes completely unglued, His goal for you is simple: that you stand. While unbelievers are fainting in fear and terror, His will for you is to straighten up and raise your heads and to stand. Mothers aren’t the only ones worried about your posture. So is Jesus.
But these signs of the Last Day already began at our Lord’s Incarnation, at His Crucifixion and Death, in His Resurrection and Ascension. Thus Jesus’ goal for His disciples, both then and now, is not only to stand at the Last Day. But to stand now. This “standing” is much more than just physical posture; standing upright on your own two feet. To “stand” is an attitude. A character. A Christian virtue. It is to be awake and alert to God’s purposes. This is the posture of faith.
As a soldier of Christ you are called to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 6:10-12). You are called to stand guard against all that is arrayed against you. To withstand in the evil day. To stand firm. No slouching.
But our hearts are heavy. Weighed down. We are sagging. We’ve become a pathetic sight. Droopy, defeated Christians. We have come here this morning with heavy hearts. Hearts loaded down with cares. Bowed down with sadness. Hearts and minds burdened with troubles and fears. Worried about others expectations of you. Anxious of all the expectation of God’s Law, too.
A droopy heart is an unbelieving heart. A heart weighed down with dissipation, drunken with the cares of this life. Such hearts are hearts disconnected from Jesus, the One who is Life. No wonder Jesus warns us to watch ourselves! For He knows our hearts. How they love to chase every other comfort but Jesus. How they’ll believe anything that reinforces what serves us. We’ve so overindulged to the point of harming ourselves.
I’m not talking about physical death. There are things much worse. St Nicholas understood this when he secretly gave money to a father to provide dowries to his daughters so that they avoid slavery. Or when he defended the confession of the Holy Trinity at Nicea against heresy. Heresy. Apostasy. Rejection of the Truth. These are worse than death. Do we have ears to learn from things written down in former days for our instruction, as St Paul says? Or have we filled our hearts with empty comforts? Taken solace in the gifts rather than the Giver?
Dear friends in Christ, you have come to where there is help for heavy hearts, weighed down with dissipation. But your help is not in examining your heavy heart, though you are, in fact, called to do just that. What do you find there? Nothing but sin and death from which you cannot free yourself. Neither is your help in resolving to get your priorities right or in a promise to let God do the worrying. Your help is not found in you, your heart, or mind at all. Your help is found in the heart of Jesus, from whom comes words that forgive, words that lift up droopy, guilt-laden hearts.
Words like, heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will not pass away. In other words the sky and earth will pass away. All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree (Is 34:4). For behold, the Day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The Day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts.
But His Word will stand secure. His Word will not budge an inch. The world you live in is changing faster than you ever imagined. There’s plenty of fear and foreboding. Quite a bit of distress of nations in perplexity. But His Word won’t change a bit. His Word endures forever.
Words like, Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28). Words like, Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt 11:29). Words like, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Abide in Me, for apart from Me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5). Words like those spoken to heavy-hearted and fearful disciples on Easter Eve: Peace be with you (Jn 20:19).
Without Jesus’ Word we have no faith. Apart from His Word we have nothing. But even if you have everything, apart from faith no one stands. Not now. Not on the Last Day. Without Jesus’ Word everyone on the Last Day is stubble, everyone is ablaze, everyone faints. Nobody escapes when God pours out His wrath. But clinging to Jesus and His Word, you have the words of eternal life.
While our faith sags, grows dim and weak, His never did. For He was the Man whose whole purpose was to come into this world to stand in the Resurrection. To defeat your sins, to defeat death and to defeat the devil. Unlike Adam, unlike the disciples, unlike us, His heart never got heavy laden with idols. His heart was always nimble to do His Father’s will. Always alert to the devil’s schemes and lies. Always in the ready position to do whatever it took to make you stand.
For Jesus came into the world to make you stand, too. Stand in the Resurrection on the Last Day before the Son of Man. Guiltless. Innocent. Free.
But first He had to be knocked down. Brought low. Stagger and become weak. So He packed His pure heart with all our sins. Then He bowed His back and carried the Cross so that He could take those sins away. He hung on the Cross until He drooped and sagged there, heavy with our mistrust, laden with our dissipation, weighed down with our death, until He was dead and buried and your sins were removed from God’s memory.
But His goal was to stand. And stand He did. Up from the dead so that He might put words in the mouth of Pastors that unburden heavy hearts. Words like, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Words like, “I forgive you all your sins.” Words like “Lift up your hearts.”
Dear friends, those signs in sun, moon, and stars will come and are coming. There’s plenty to attract our attention and distract our gaze. Plenty to worry and fret and lament over. Lift up your hearts and eyes and heads to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith. Lift them up to the direction of this Altar. Your redemption is near.
For the signs here are even better. Signs of His love for you. Gracious signs like your Holy Baptism, where you were purchased out of slavery to sin. Signs like His Body and His Blood, the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings, which forgive you, enliven you, refresh you, and ready you to stand both now and on the Last Day.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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