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On What Are You Pinning Your Hope - Pastor Stiemke |
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2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year
Sir, we would see JESUS!
EmmanuelLuthran Church, Asheville, NC
Rev. Frederick Stiemke
Mark 13: 24-31
In the Name of JESUS!
?¨On What Are You Pinning Your Hopes??Æ
Beloved,
will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, You know better than we that
things don??t always go the way we want. Life can at times be very
unsettling. We are grateful for the times when by Your grace we share
great joys and happiness. But our dear Savior, Jesus, has plainly told
us that there will be increasing upheavals in nature and among people
as we head toward the end of time. Help us always to fix our hopes upon
Christ, the Rock of Ages, as the only One on whom we can build a sure
and lasting hope. May Your faithful care and deliverance of believers
who have gone before us increase our trust in You, dear Father. This we
ask in Jesus?? name. Amen.
In the name of our Triune God, blessed children of the Heavenly Father:
While
sitting in a restaurant in Minnesota during my wife??s and my
mini-vacation this past weekend, I struggled for a few moments to read
a plaque on the wall. The light was not the best, and I was beginning
to wonder for a moment whether it was time to get my eyeglasses
changed. Then it suddenly dawned on me that the motto was written in
German script. Translated it read, ?¨No roses without thorns.?Æ Many of
you already know that this is a very apt description of life in our
fallen world. Life certainly has many beautiful and wonderful moments,
but it also has its hard and difficult, trying days.
Unfortunately
some radio and TV evangelists and other preachers proclaim that if a
person really trusts God, then life on earth will forever be rosy.
These false prophets imply that a ?¨true Christian?Æ will be blessed with
good health and material riches. In effect they preach a false Gospel
that with faith in Christ one will only have roses, and there will be
no thorns. Jesus forewarned us, ?¨In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.?Æ [John 16: 33b]
Having
only roses without thorns in life is the farthest thing from the truth
revealed in the Bible. Review carefully Mark, chapter 13, from which
our Gospel readings have come over the past several weeks. There our
Savior speaks about the End Times. In prior weeks we have heard from
this chapter how Jesus tells us there will be wars and rumors of wars,
upheavals in nature, families torn apart by varying beliefs and values,
false saviors arising who give people empty hopes and lead them astray,
and Christians being persecuted ?± even being put to death for their
faith in Jesus. To His first disciples our Lord even told of the coming
destruction of their beloved temple in Jerusalem, which actually took
place in 70 AD. In the section we heard this very morning, Christ
returns to the upheavals in nature ?± ?¨the sun will be darkened, the
moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the
heavenly bodies will be shaken.?Æ [Mark 13: 24b-25]
There are
different ways one can respond to messages like this from the mouth of
the Son of God. One way is to say, ?¨I want nothing to do with a God who
offers those kinds of things.?Æ The amazing thing to me is that the Lord
gives people the freedom to do exactly that. In loving-kindness He
doesn??t want puppets on a string. Thus He permits folks to reject Him.
But if you walk away from Jesus and want nothing to do with Him, then
He will have nothing to do with you on Day of Judgment.
Another
way to react to Jesus?? prophetic words is denial. One might try
completely to ignore Christ??s warnings. That certainly won??t keep the
world around us from going awry or our personal lives from being
tested. Nevertheless, one might think, ?¨Well, that certainly is not
going to happen to me or my family.?Æ How foolish! Recall again the
readings from Mark 13 over the past Sundays. Christ forewarned us about
wars and rumors of wars. We right now have men and women in harm??s way
both in Afghanistan and Iraq. For that matter, terrorists across the
world are plotting their dastardly deeds of destruction and mayhem.
(Having a grandson who in the last two weeks enlisted in the US Navy, I
am even more keenly aware of the nations warring against nations than
ever before.) If denial is your response, you may want to do the same
with upheavals in nature, but ?¨Burying our heads in the sand?Æ certainly
is not a healthy option.
A third way to react to our Lord??s
words is to become very fearful and frightened. But our Lord clearly
and repeatedly tells us in His Word, ?¨Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am you God. I will strengthen and help you; I
will uphold you with my righteous right hand.?Æ [Isaiah 41:10] On the
other hand, we might take the exact opposite stance. One might begin to
boast and brag, ?¨I can face anything the world or the powers of hell
can throw against me.?Æ St. Paul quickly lets the air out of that trial
balloon of bombast reminding us, ?¨Not that we are competent in
ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competency comes
from God.?Æ [2 Corinthians 3: 5]
Beloved, if we are brutally
honest with the help of the Holy Spirit, each of us must confess that
at times we have assumed one or all of those responses to threats to
our comfort and ease. Each is sin ?± an attempt to dethrone God, not
letting God be God. Each of those reactions does not trust the Lord to
be the One who can help and shield us in any trouble.
Yet our God
is an awesome and loving God. Graciously in Christ Jesus every day He
forgives our feeble and fallible ways of dealing with life and all its
trying events. Jesus removes all our sin from us as far as the east is
from the west when we acknowledge our sin, and in Him we have
everlasting life. Why? Simply because He loves us and shows us
undeserved mercy!
In His Word Christ reminds us that while not
one stone of the temples men build will be left on top of another,
there is one Stone that remains ?± the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ, who
is cleft for us. In Him we find more than hope. Jesus is the Shelter
who covers us in every trial and temptation. Though pressed on every
side, we will not be crushed and destroyed. For our God is faithful. He
will not forsake His redeemed children. Even if we are killed because
of our faith in Jesus, death cannot separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus. [Romans 8: 38 ff.]
In extraordinary love, Christ,
who is that tried and living Stone, builds a new entity beyond the
imagination of mankind ?± the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
builds it in His time and His own way. Surprisingly the Cornerstone,
Jesus Christ, was rejected by many of His chosen people. In reality,
the stones in this new temple in which God lives are most often now
gathered by the Builder from places some folks previously might have
considered to be unthinkable and an utter abomination. Most of us here
have Gentile roots, not being members of the Jewish race. It is, after
all, the Lord??s way, adopting us as His own people. It is His structure
to do with as He will.
The awesome, almost unbelievable
reality is that you and I who trust Christ as our Savior from sin and
death and hell are among the stones God selected for His grand edifice.
With tender care and divine skill, He is shaping us into living stones
in His temple, which is entirely the Lord??s doing. His words cement us
to Himself and to one another. Through Jesus?? presence among us, our
Lord fashions us to be a bold and eternal witness to His unfailing love
and grace ?± God??s power triumphing over our collapsing world, sinful
nations and mankind, and even our own betraying sinful flesh.
This
world and everything in it is moving toward its God-appointed end
because of mankind??s sin and rebellion. Not one stone here will remain
on top of another, no matter how solid and unshaken and indestructible
earthly structures may seem to us today. Only the Lord??s words and His
divine workmanship in building Christ??s Church shall remain. Only the
Word of our Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit will keep us
watchful, preventing our being easily deceived in these last days
before Christ comes again. So, with the help of our merciful God be
faithful in your worship and daily use of God??s precious Word.
ON
CHRIST, THE SOLID, ETERNAL ROCK, WE STAND SAFE AND SECURE. In Jesus our
hopes will not make us ashamed. In our Redeemer we know that our life
now is worth living even though here on earth there are thorns with the
roses. Our Savior, the beautiful Rose of Sharon, holds us even now in
His strong, loving hands. And some day we will see Him face to face
where there are no storms or pain or thorns forever. SO HELP AND KEEP
US, DEAR SAVIOR! Amen.
To God Alone All Glory!
© Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke, DD
Vacancy Pastor
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 10 April 2007 )
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