Tag Archives: god

Midweek Advent One

by steve Posted on December 7, 2011
Midweek Advent 1 [ 20:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This year the theme for our midweek Advent services is: The Surprising Miracles of Advent. The text for our sermon this evening is Hebrews 2:1-10. The theme for our sermon is: Why Would God Care For Man? Here is the Written Sermon.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus
The Soldiers Mock Jesus

Why Would God Care For Man?


Which is easier? It is easier to get into a raft and then float down a raging river? Or is it easier to jump onto a raft that is already riding down a raging river? The answer is clear and obvious, isn’t it? Get on at the beginning. This evening we aren’t going to do that. We are starting our Midweek Advent series in Hebrews 2, not Hebrews 1. So, I’m going to do my best to bring you on board.


Here in the beginning of chapter 2, the writer to the Hebrews holds out to his people this warning: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (Hebrews 2:1 NIV)


The writer starts out these words with a stern, severe warning. He tells them that they need to hold onto what they have heard. If they don’t, they will drift away. And in the verses which follow, detail by detail, he lets them know how great a punishment is waiting for them if they let this great and amazing gift of salvation slip from their grasps. In the words which follow the writer to the Hebrews shows them how real this salvation is and how true God’s word is.


  1. God wanted to let them know that his message was real and serious by not just sending anyone to share it. God sent his powerful angels so show and prove his sincerity. Now can you understand why Gabriel was so angry with Zechariah? The angel Gabriel goes to Zechariah serving at the temple. He tells Zechariah that his son will be the second Elijah, the one who would plow and pave a way for the Lord to come. Zechariah doubted. Just think about that. God sent an angel to him. And he responds by doubting. Not surprisingly, Gabriel rebuked him and disciplined him. He tells him that he is the “Mighty one of God.”1 God cared for his people so much that he sent angels to share his truth with them.

  2. Not only were there angels. There were also human witnesses. There were patriarchs. There were prophets. There were apostles. There were so many of their fellow believers to affirm that God’s word was true and salvation was real.


  3. There were angels. There were witnesses. But God, himself testified that his word was true and his salvation was real with signs, wonders and powers.


  4. And you would think that that would be enough. But he did more. He sent to us his Spirit. And his Spirit poured out his gifts into us. He gave us faith to know this salvation and trust in it.



The writer gives them four unshakable proofs showing that God’s word is true and their salvation is real. Then he asks them the question: how will you escape? If you are careless with so great a salvation, how will you escape punishment?


These are piercing and powerful words, aren’t they? I look into myself and find many ways and many times that I have not held onto the words I have heard. There have been those times that God has gone out of his way to show me that his word is true. But I doubt. There have been so many times that God has shown me what is good and bad in his word and I debate. There have been so many times that God has shared with me his salvation and I respond by despising this great salvation. And I despise him in the exact same way as the Hebrews—not with outbursts of anger, but instead, with cool, careless apathy.2


The writer holds out to you and to me the same warning as he did to his Hebrews: Hold onto this great salvation. Because if you let it slip away, how will you ever escape punishment in hell?


The writer to the Hebrews starts out with real warning of wrath. But, in the words which follow he gives us another reason to hold onto this great salvation. The writer to the Hebrews tells us: “But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Hebrews 2:6 NIV)


Very quickly, the writer to the Hebrews is going to talk about Jesus. But what does he talk about first? He talks about us. He steps back and ponders a question from the psalms: what sort of thing is mankind that you would continually keep him in your mind? What sort of thing are the sons of men that you would continually care for them?


It’s a really good question, isn’t it? For if we think about it even a little bit, there are many, many reasons why God should not care for us nor keep us in his mind. Humanity at its best isn’t very much. Look at Adam and Eve in the garden. Look at them before they fell into sin. Neither of them was as pretty or powerful as the spirits of wind and fire, the Lord’s angels. Humanity at its best wasn’t very much. And yet, we see the Lord doting on them and fawning over them. We see such concern and care as he creates these humans and cares for them.


And if humanity wasn’t much before the fall, then what is it worth after the fall into sin? How many thousands and millions of humans has the Lord allowed into this world who are born hating him? We are not worth thinking about. We are not worth caring for. We are worth throwing away so that the Lord can move onto bigger, better tasks. We are worth being thrown away like the spiritual garbage we are.


Notice how the writer to the Hebrews asks the sort of questions we don’t want to ask. It has become popular to ask the sort of questions which point the finger at our God above. It has become popular to ask “if God was truly good, then why did he allow sin into the world at all?” It is a question that has no answer and pretends to know more than God does. But the writer to the Hebrews points the finger at you and asks the real question: why should God care about you?


It’s the sort of question that is impossible to answer, isn’t it? It’s the sort of question that makes you think that there is no answer. But, my brothers and sisters in Christ, there is an answer. Listen to what the writer to the Hebrews tells us: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9 NIV)


The answer that we cannot find by ourselves or in ourselves we find here. The grace of God is the answer. So great is his love for the unlovable that he gave such a great salvation to us. And in our final verse he describes what this grace means for us: “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:10 NIV)


It is fitting. It’s not surprising. It’s just makes sense that a God who says that he is gracious, then shows that he is gracious by bringing Jesus to his glorious goal. Notice then the three ways God shows his grace:


  1. God brings Jesus to his goal, for whom and by whom the universe was made. God created the universe for humans. But do not forget, that God created the universe for Jesus and by Jesus. Why? He created the universe for Jesus so that Jesus could rescue the universe from the wrath of its sin through suffering.


  2. God brings Jesus to his goal of glory. But what is Jesus doing? He is leading many sons to glory. Oh, my brothers and sisters, how great is the grace of our God that he isn’t just concerned about humans to save them. No his grace is so great that he saves them by becoming one of them. He breathes our air. He is surrounded by us sinners. And one by one, he brings us, his brothers and sisters to our goal of heaven through suffering—but not our suffering. He brings us to heaven through his own.


  3. God brings his son to his Son to glory for a final reason. He brings him to glory because, if Jesus started this work of salvation then he needed to finish it. And the only way it could be finished was through suffering. The only way Jesus could finish the work of salvation was to taste death in our place.



How great is God’s grace that he gives us an answer to the question. How great is this salvation that Jesus would show his undeserved love by becoming our brother and saving us through suffering. What a great miracle. What a great truth.


Let me leave you tonight where we began. As the writer to the Hebrews told his people to not let go of what they heard, I say the same to you. Do not let what you heard from God’s word drift away. Do not let cool and careless apathy wash away your joy. Instead hold onto this great salvation. For God thinks about you and cares for you. And he proved this by becoming one of you. Amen.


1 גַּבְרִיאֵל

2 τηλικαύτης ἀμελήσαντες σωτηρίας

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The Third to Last Sunday of the Year

by steve Posted on November 6, 2011
Third to Last Sunday [ 21:16 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is the sermon for the third-to-last Sunday of the Christian Church Year. The sermon text is Jeremiah 18:1-18. The sermon theme is: Repent…Please! Here is the Written Sermon.

“Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?”
“Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?”

Repent…Please!


What can i learn from clay? I wonder if that was the question Jeremiah was asking himself. The Lord told him to go to the potter’s house. So that’s exactly what he did. And what did he see? He saw a man working with clay very skillfully with his hands. And then, suddenly, when the potter saw something that he couldn’t fix in the clay—maybe it was a small pebble, maybe it was a part of the clay that was hardened—when the potter saw this, he mashed the clay down and moved it to the side.


What is it then that the Lord wanted Jeremiah to learn? What is it that he wanted all the people of Judah to learn? Jeremiah tells us: “Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:5–6 NIV)


The Lord has the right to change his actions. Now, when I say this, I need to very carefully explain what I mean. Our Lord above does not change. His attitude does not ever change. But his actions do. They change because we change. Just think of that potter. He pours all his effort and all of his talent into making that bowl or jar. But then he finds the flaw and throws it away. Did the potter plan for there to be a pebble stuck in the clay? Did he want there to be a hardened part of the clay that was unworkable? No. His attitude stays the same. He wants to make something from the clay. The problem is not with the potter. The problem is with the clay. So also, our Lord does not change his attitude. But because we change, he has to change his actions.


And, no doubt, when Jeremiah shared these words with the people of Judah they asked the question “what do you mean?” So the Lord has Jeremiah give a couple of examples: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jeremiah 18:7–8 NIV)


The Lord promises to destroy people who are unrepentant. But then he changes his actions. Why? Because they turn. They turn away from their sin. They turn toward God. He changes his actions. But in all of this, his attitude is the same. He wants them to be saved.


He then gives another example which is just the opposite of the first one: “And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.” (Jeremiah 18:9–10 NIV)


The Lord says that he will be good to a people. He promises to build them up and make them grow. But then what does he do? He changes his actions. Why? Because they didn’t repent. They didn’t obey. They didn’t listen. They concluded that since God said that he would be good to them, then they could be as bad and as wicked as they wanted and God wouldn’t notice or go back on his word. But what happened? The Lord “relented.” He changed his actions because they changed their hearts against him.


From here the Lord makes the people of Judah ask the question “which group am I in? Am I in the group that will be built up and flourish? Or am I in the group which will be torn down and go to hell?” ““Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’” (Jeremiah 18:11 NIV)


Notice the two huge thoughts the Lord wants the people of Judah to know. First, The Lord is telling them that they are in the second group, not the first. They are in the group that has heard the Lord promise to be good to them. And as a result, what did they do? They used his words against him. They used his promises as an excuse to sin.


So, the Lord tells them that they are in that second group that is on its way to be destroyed. Then he preaches one word to them. He tells them “turn.” And it’s not just what he says that is so surprising. It’s how he says it. He says “repent…Please!”1 In the Hebrew, there’s a little, tiny word that the Lord attaches to the end of the word, repent to show how caringly and carefully he wants them to turn. The closest we can come to translating that word in english is the word “please.”


From here it would seem as if the end of the story writes itself. There is such an obvious conclusion to these words, right? Any stupid idiot could see that the common sense action to take would be to repent. For who wants to have God tear them down and send them to hell, right? But, is that how these words end? Listen closely: “But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”” (Jeremiah 18:12 NIV)


The Lord says “repent!” The Lord caringly and carefully says “please!” But the Lord’s people respond by saying two terrible and tragic statement. First, they say “It’s no use.” Now, notice what they are not saying. They are not saying that their own sins and where their own sins are leading them is of no use. Instead, they say that the Lord’s plan is useless and worthless.


Then notice their reason. Why is the Lord’s word and his way so useless and worthless to them? Because they have chosen to follow their own plans and their own paths. Why is the Lord’s word and way so useless to them? Each of them will act on the evil and hardness in their hearts.


My brothers and sisters in Christ, when the Lord in caring and careful words came to his own people in the Old Testament and told them “Repent…Please,” so very many of them worshipped their own sin and would not give in—even in the slightest. So the Lord carried them away to Babylon. And then when they died he carried them away to Hell.


So, my brothers and sisters, when the Lord comes to you as he is today, don’t say “it’s not use.” When he says “repent,” don’t say to him “let me follow my own way.” When he so carefully and caringly says “please,” don’t respond by hardening your hearts and resolving to do evil.


Listen to his words and take them to heart. Repent…Please! Confess your sins to your Lord and Savior. Confess your sins to your Lord who has never changed his attitude toward you. As Christians who already know your Savior, Jesus, I invite you to repent. Confess your sins and cling to that forgiveness that Jesus won for you.


Here, however, is where I need to speak in more detail. For it’s easy to say “repent.” The problem is that usually just as soon as our new man inside us turns to God, that very same moment our sinful nature plans a way and a time to turn back to our sin. When then is the solution?


Last week was Reformation. And at the very beginning of the Reformation Martin Luther wrote down some topics he wanted to talk about. He took that list and nailed it to a door. There were 95 topics he wanted to discuss. At the very top of the list he wrote these words: Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, when he said ‘repent,’ he meant that the entire life of a believer be repentance.”2 Do you get the point that Luther was making? Repentance isn’t a one-time-event for us. We sin every day. So we repent every day. Repentance is like breathing. Every day, every moment your body is breathing out the bad and breathing in the good. And so our souls do the same. We constantly breathe out our sins and confess them. And we constantly breathe in the forgiveness Jesus won for us. That is what gives us the power to both see our sin and struggle against it.


The other problem we face is just as difficult as the first. On the one hand, we see our sinful nature—how powerful it is and how it seems as it’s no good to repent because we will just go back to our sins. And so our Savior says “repent…please.” And he promises to be our strength and our shield. That’s the first difficulty. But the other is just as hard. What if you don’t feel very sinful at all? What if, when you sit down at night to confess your sins and say your prayers and you really can’t think of a whole lot that you’ve done that’s wrong. If that is where you are, then mourn, be sad! For that is not a sign of your spiritual health. It is a sign that your conscience is almost dead.


Your condition reminds me of when I was in CPR class years ago. And in the Red Cross text book it said that first degree burns are painful. Then it said that second degree burns are even more painful. And I was expecting it to say that when it gets to third degree burns it’s even more painful. But it didn’t. You see, if the burn is that deep, the nerve endings that tell your brain that you are in bad shape are destroyed. And the section on burns concluded by saying that many people who have third degree burns don’t live very long after they have third degree burns.


If you cannot feel any need to repent, then you have third degree burns—not on your skin—no, instead, you have deep burns on your soul. And so, carefully and caringly, your Lord says “Repent…Please!” Repent of your sin and relent of sadness. Receive the forgiveness Jesus gives. And rejoice in the victory Jesus promises. Amen.


1 שׁוּבוּ נָא

2 Dominus et magister nĩ Jesus chrĩ dicendo—Penitentiam agite. iẽ. omnẽ vitam fidelium penitentiam esse voluit.

Image courtesy of Stock Xchnge

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