Text: John 10:11-18 Good Shepherd Sunday

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

The Risen Christ Is our Good Shepherd.
I. By His ultimate love
II. By His ultimate power

Dear fellow redeemed in the blood of the Good Shepherd,

In the early centuries of the Church, the image of the Good Shepherd was the favorite representation of the Savior. In fact, it was the most common symbol in the Church before the cross or crucifix. They painted the Good Shepherd on the walls of the catacombs, where the frescoes can be seen to this day. They adorned Lord’s Supper cups with this figure and carved it on burial vaults. The picture of the Good Shepherd was to early Christians what the cross is for us today. But why was this? Today we see that it is because the Risen Christ is our Good Shepherd. He has proven that by His ultimate love, and His ultimate power,

I. [By His ultimate love] Sheep have always been a major part of the economy, and a common sight in Israel. We know that King David, who lived about 3000 years ago was a shepherd before he became king. 2000 years ago we hear about more shepherds, these being the first to hear the news of Jesus’ birth! And today, still. When I was in Israel last May I saw numerous flocks of sheep, with shepherds leading them across the roads and through fields. While we in Sonoma County may not know sheep quite as well as Israel, it’s still a picture we can relate to. Every time I drive down Adobe Rd on the way to church, I pass a flock of sheep on the right, grazing away in the field.

Those sheep that I pass are a picture of us… you and me. In the words of Isaiah, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.” Isaiah 53:6 Like those sheep that I pass, each of us is pointed a different direction, not concerned much with anything except “feeding” ourselves. Maybe that’s with food, maybe it’s with money, maybe it’s with earthly happiness. And when these earthly pleasures are our main concern, aren’t we failing to keep even the first commandment? Guaranteeing us an eternal separation from our Shepherd?

Now those sheep on Adobe Rd are pretty safe because they’re in a pen, and there isn’t much danger of predators. But imagine that the flock doesn’t have a fence around it and ferocious wolves are prowling around the perimeter. Now we have a better picture of what life is like for us here on earth. As we each wander our own way, we become easy to pick off by the devil or one of his many demons. And not only do we have Satan, sin, and death stalking us, but we walk an earth that is full of pits that can lead to despair: sickness, pain, loneliness, sadness.

What we need is a Good Shepherd to protect and guide us. A hired hand won’t do the trick. The hired hand watches us so he gets a paycheck. We need someone that actually cares about and loves us. Someone like the Good Shepherd.

He has done what no hired hand would do. He has made the ultimate sacrifice of love to save the flock. We were locked in the jaws of the vicious wolf Satan. But our Good Shepherd took on Satan and all Satan’s powers Himself in the epic Battle of the Ages that culminated on the cross 2000 years ago. And it cost Him His life, but He saved us. He didn’t just do this to be honorable. He did it because He loves us. Each and every one of us. And He did it because He wants us to live. Even weak little you, even weak little me.

Donald Miller is a Christian author who chronicled his experiences going to Reed College up in Portland. He writes about Penny who was a recent convert to the Christian faith. She said that before she became a Christian, she had this idea that if Christianity was a person, Christianity would not like her. Worse than that, she had the idea that if she ever met Jesus, that He would not like her. She was too broken, and too wrong, in too many ways. But she said that after reading about Him in Matthew, she realized that maybe He would like her. He certainly got mad at people, but the ones who were broken, like her, He had nothing but love for. Our Good Shepherd does indeed know us. He knows us intimately. Jesus says, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” Jesus knows as intimately as He knows His heavenly Father. He knows every one of His sheep’s weaknesses, frailties, insecurities, and blemishes. And He loves us just the same. Even enough to die for us.

II. [ By His ultimate power] The Risen Christ is indeed our Good Shepherd. But please don’t think that “good” means He’s a little better than the average shepherd. By no means! He is in a class all His own.

The average shepherd will protect his flock, but he probably won’t die for them. When a predator attacks the sheep, he’ll often be able to kill it without dying himself, like King David did in the Old Testament. And really, it’s counter-productive for the shepherd to die for his flock. Because if he does, the flock will have no shepherd and they’ll all die.

Not so with the Good Shepherd. He has given His life for the broken sheep. And yet it doesn’t result in our death, but in true life for us! Because even as He gave His life for us, it did not mean He had lost the battle to Satan. He rose again victorious three days later. Proving that He had defeated Satan and that He still reigns as our Shepherd. He has power, even to take up His own life again. And He certainly has power to restore the lives of His sheep as well. Because He’s not just a Shepherd of Love, He’s a Shepherd of Power.

You know all those times that a friend or family member shares with you a hardship they’ve experienced? And all you can say is “I’m sorry to hear that?” And it’s especially tough when the person is going through the hardship (whether it’s an addiction, a struggle, whatever it might be) right as they tell you about it, and there is nothing you can do except pray!

Well that’s not the case with the Good Shepherd. He is able to help! He has helped and He does help! By the power of His sacrifice, He has actually completely healed us of our sins.  We appear perfect in God’s eyes through faith. And because He has risen, we have the comfort that He still rules us as our Shepherd and King.

Dating back thousands of years, kings were often called shepherds. The idea was that they cared for their kingdoms much like a shepherd cares for his flock. That’s the case here, too. Our Good Shepherd is the Kings of Kings. He proves that by the power of His sacrifice. By rising again and giving us a new and restored life of hope here. And by leading us to the perfect pastures of peace beyond the grave.

What is it like to be living under this Shepherd-King who still lives? Look no further than the 23^rd Psalm. There the Old Testament shepherd David tells us all the comfort that is ours. We shall not be in want, because the Good Shepherd provides for all our needs. We lie down in green pastures, knowing He is with us. We follow as He safely guides us in paths of righteousness. And, even when we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we fear no evil. He is with us, comforting us with His rod and staff. Surely goodness and love will follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is the comfort we have with our Good Shepherd. But it’s not just for us. Our Shepherd tells us that He has other sheep which are not of this pen. These being those who have not yet come to faith. They, too, must be brought to Him. By the grace of God, we are given the privilege to tell them about our Good Shepherd and His love for us.

Conclusion: I’m guessing that most, if not all of us, are familiar with the hymn The King of Love My Shepherd Is. It was written by Sir Henry Williams Baker, and is considered one of the most beautiful musical renditions of the 23^rd Psalm. When he died, his friend John Ellerton reports that his last words were from this beloved hymn.

“Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.”

Because of our Risen Savior, who is the Good Shepherd, that’s the comfort we can all have, every day of our lives. Though we have strayed, He has sought us out. We are now gently laid on His shoulder, and He’s taking us home. “The King of Love our Shepherd is.” “His goodness fails us never.”  Amen

Text: John 2:13-22
¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸ Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰ The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus Is in Charge Here
I. He is our focus
II. He is our Hope

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ,

Introduction: “Who’s in charge here?” That’s a question that we might ask at the customer service desk at Wal-Mart or another department store. We want to know who really makes the rules and who can really help us. That’s why, when we have a question, we often ask if we can please speak with a manager.

In our text today, we see that Jesus is in charge here. He is our Hope in life. And so He is our focus in worship throughout life, but especially when we gather here at the Lord’s house.

I. [He is our focus.] The first thing we see in our text is Jesus going up to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. This was at the start of His three-year ministry. The other gospels record an incident that is similar to this one, but that was merely a similar event that occurred at the end of His ministry.

Every year, every Jew was to go to Jerusalem for this festival, if at all possible. We know that Jesus attended at age 12, but He probably went every year. This was the Jews’ worship of their Lord. As Christians, we don’t celebrate the Passover Festival in the same way that the Jews do. But we still gather together every week to thank and worship the Lord.

And what does Jesus find at the Temple? Moneychangers and sellers of animals. Now the moneychangers are there because everyone had to pay an annual Temple tax, and the only acceptable currency was the Jewish half-shekel. People were coming to the Temple this week from all over the Roman Empire, and so they would be bringing all sorts of different currency. So these moneychangers served a good purpose; people needed their money changed.

However… if you’ve travelled abroad and exchanged money, you know there is an exchange rate. That’s how moneychangers earn their wage is by charging a little something extra. This means that in the Lord’s house, men were doing their own business. Their focus was not on praising the Lord, but on haggling. They were more focused on striking a good deal.

And along with them were the sellers of sacrifice animals. That’s why cattle, sheep, and doves were being sold. It was not possible for all the people to drag their animals all the way to Jerusalem for Passover. And if they did drag it all the way from, say, Nazareth, the animal would not be a very high quality sacrifice by the time he got there. So many would purchase their animals here. Again, it was a service that was needed. But again, it was man’s business conducted in the Lord’s house. They could have done it outside the Temple, but instead they did it here, in the outer court… which, by the way, was the only place the Gentiles could come and pray. And now these Gentiles had to deal with moneychangers and the filthy animal market.

You might be thinking, “How does this scene from the Jewish Temple 2000 years ago apply to me?” Well I’ll tell you. The Temple was the place where people came to worship God, right? In many ways, it’s similar to one of our church buildings. It was a good thing for the Jews to come to the Temple to worship and it’s good for us to come to church to worship.

But we see, with the moneychangers and market salesmen, that their focus was not where it should be. And for us, that’s sometimes the case too, isn’t it? We don’t have any exchange booths or animal stalls out in the entryway. We come here and sit in the pews like we’re supposed to. But even as we “do the right things,” is our focus in the right place? Or are we sometimes more focused on the people we’ll see at church than on the Lord Himself? And are we focused on the Word, or do we get distracted and start thinking about my “to do” list for the rest of the day? And not only are we distracted ourselves, but are we sometimes distracting others? This is God’s House; Jesus rules here. But we don’t always act like it.

And I’m not just preaching to you. There is an important lesson here for Pastor Smith and myself as well. Please don’t let us deviate from the purpose of this church, which is to proclaim Christ crucified.[1] Please let us know if we are doing anything that is distracting or taking away from your opportunity to hear the sweet Gospel message. The lesson here is definitely for us as well.

The opportunity to hear God’s Word and praise Him for His love and mercy is an incredible blessing! And so we want to focus on Him when we’re here. I want to point out just one tool that most people don’t know about that can help us focus for the whole morning. Take out your hymnals and turn to page (10/40). There we have prayers for worship, for before and after the service. They’re there so we can use them. To help us focus on the Lord for this beautiful morning we get to spend with Him in His House.

But let’s go back to our account. Jesus is at His Father’s house here, and He is doing His Father’s business. He drives out the animals with a whip, overturns the tables, and scatters the money. He made quite a scene. And yet it wasn’t just an angry rant. The gospel writer John here points out Psalm 69:9. “Zeal for His Father’s house” is what consumed Jesus. As Martin Luther says, this is not hatred or just a fit of rage. This is Jesus showing His love for His Father and for His Father’s House. It’s the same love and zeal we should have for our Father’s House, and our time worshipping Him. He wants full and sincere worship… not just half-hearted worship, not just going through the motions. He wants to be our focus.

Transition: Because He, Jesus, is in charge here. And He’s not some sort of dictator who has just seized power in the church and demands our respect.  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus because He showed us the ultimate love. He gave us the ultimate sacrifice. That’s what we focus on here in the season of Lent. He conquered sin and the devil with His death on the cross. And then three days later He conquered death by His resurrection. And that’s what the second half of our text points forward to.

II. [He is our Hope.] The Jewish leaders ask for a sign to prove the authority by which Christ has done these things. We notice that they don’t actually object to what He has done, and that makes sense. This whole “market circus” was actually quite unpopular among the people. So they just ask for a sign of His authority. And in many ways, that’s a reasonable question, right? If you or I are going to submit to someone, we want to know what authority that person has, too.

Well Jesus gives them a response, and we couldn’t ask for more. He says, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” At first glance, that doesn’t make very much sense, does it? It certainly didn’t make much sense to the Jews there. They scoffed at Him. They said it had taken 46 years to build that Temple. And the truth of the matter was that the Temple wasn’t even completed yet at this point. The construction had started 46 years earlier. That doesn’t mean they were barely started. That means that the Temple was an extremely large, magnificent building project. The Jews were baffled and John tells us that even Jesus’ disciples were baffled at this time.

But then John also tells us what Jesus actually meant. He wasn’t talking about the physical building they were standing in. He was speaking of the temple of His Body. He was pointing ahead to His sacrifice… the true fulfillment of the Passover that the nation was celebrating. As Jesus prophesies here, His body was “destroyed” and “broken apart,” two years after this. That’s what we remember in the season of Lent. And as He was being destroyed and broken apart, He was being the sacrifice for our sins. He was dying for all the times that we have been distracted or been distracting while in church. All the times our focus was in the wrong place. And as the perfect sacrifice, He was breaking apart and destroying Satan’s kingdom.

Three days after that sacrifice, the Temple which was His body was indeed raised up again in victory. And this is the reason for His authority in the church, both on that day 2000 years ago, and today! He conquered sin, death, and the devil. And He proved it by doing what no other person in the history of this earth has been able to do. He actually rose from the dead.

And because He did rise and conquer death, we know that we no longer have to fear it. Death is merely the gate to eternity for us. Here in this life, we sing praises to the Lord and to those around us, for the Victory He won for us. And when this life reaches its end, we know that we go someplace better. We go to God’s House in heaven! We go to the mansions Christ has secured for us there. What a beautiful Hope we have! And what a great reason to keep our eyes on Him, and Him alone, when we have the chance to gather in His House.

Conclusion: So who’s in charge here at church? It’s Jesus. He rules our worship here. And who’s in charge of us at home? It’s Jesus. And it’s not some sort of slavery or even obligation. Christ has shown His loving authority by conquering our demons, dying for our sins, and defeating death by His resurrection. We want and need Him to be in charge because He’s the only Hope for our lives. May the Holy Spirit help us to focus on Him… in all of our lives, but especially here at His House. Amen.

Text: Mark 9:2-9
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶ (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

⁷ Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

We Get a Glimpse of Jesus’ Glory
I.  His divine nature is revealed (vv. 2-3)
II.  He’s the Savior we’ve needed (vv. 4-9)

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ,

A couple weeks ago I told you about my classmate Paul and his wife Ruth who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the 28^th week of her pregnancy. Because their son John was born so prematurely, he was quickly taken from them and brought to the neonatal intensive care unit. They knew they would see him again, and that it would be for a more substantial period of time. But for now, they caught just a glimpse of their young bundle of joy.

Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus. Here we get a glimpse of Jesus’ glory. There’s more to come, but for now we get just a glimpse. But there’s a lot to be seen in just this glimpse. We first of all see as His divine nature is revealed. And then we see that He’s the Savior we’ve always needed.

I. [His heavenly nature is revealed.] It has been six days, so almost a week, since Jesus asked His disciples who people say He is. The disciples gave a few different answers, but then Peter gave the right one: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”[1] Jesus commended Peter for His answer but then He gives them some shocking news. He is on His way to Jerusalem for the last time. He will suffer and die there. It’s written in prophecy throughout the Old Testament, but this was Jesus’ first direct foretelling of it. Peter’s reaction was not good. He took Jesus aside and we read that he rebuked, or strongly criticized, Jesus. Jesus replied by telling Peter, as well as the rest of the disciples, that there must be a cross before His glory.

Again, that happened almost a week before the events in today’s text. Jesus is on His last journey to Jerusalem, and this will be the big one. This will be the one where He dies. It’s appropriate for us to look at this right now because we are about to begin the season of Lent. And that, in a way, is our journey to Jerusalem, to the cross where our Lord will die. And yet, before we do that, we see what Jesus shows His disciples, a glimpse of His glory. So that, even when He’s on the cross, we remember who is in control.

So we have Jesus, Peter, James, and John ascending a mountain. We’re not sure which mountain it is, it’s not important. But they’re going there to pray. The disciples are getting a little sleepy when suddenly something catches their attention. Shaking the sleep from their eyes, they see that Jesus is actually transfigured before them. The word “transfigured” comes from the Greek word for metamorphosis. Where do we hear the word “metamorphosis”? Well, when a caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon and emerges as a butterfly, we call that metamorphosis. It’s a complete change. The caterpillar changes from a slimy little one-color worm into a beautiful, multicolored insect that can fly.

In a similar way, Christ completely changes His form. He sheds His human “wrap,” if you will, and His divine nature shines forth. Some people say the disciples were hallucinating or that it was the way the sun shone on Jesus’ face. But it wasn’t anything like that. The form of our Lord was actually changed… even His clothes showed His glory. We read that they became “dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.” This was an “out of this world” experience.

Martin Luther once spoke of a worm that covers the fishing hook and hides the hook from the fish’s eye. He said that, in the same way, the humanity of Christ covered his deity and hid it from people’s eyes. That was the case for all 33 years of Jesus’ life before His resurrection from the dead… except for this brief glimpse. With this brief glimpse, Christ displayed something that few others on this earth have beheld… His glory, the glory of God. Moses, who appears here, had actually been the last one to see God’s glory 1500 years earlier! So this glimpse was indeed a great blessing!

But why was it significant? Well for them, first of all, they were about to see what appeared to be the utter defeat of Christ on the cross. They could certainly benefit from this visible proof for strength in those times. And after He rose, and showed Himself to them, they would have great use for this testimony as they witnessed to the world about Jesus. What could embolden them more than this awesome site of seeing the Son of God in all His glory! They were eye witnesses of it!

And for us… hearing the eye witness account of our Savior’s transfiguration encourages and strengthens us, too, as we fulfill the Great Commission. Even though the pages of Scripture are completely littered with the miracles and the Words of Jesus, here we actually SEE Him in glory as the Son of God. It’s not just implied that Jesus is God; He actually shows Himself to be God.

And so we see Jesus pull back the veil of His humanity, be it ever so briefly, so we can see His glory. For this short time, we see all the glory of the Godhead that is contained in Christ! And it’s so comforting to see because He’s not just God, but He’s the God who saves us!

II. [He’s the Savior we’ve needed.] Where do we see that here? Well we see Moses and Elijah there, right? Speaking with Jesus. This wasn’t just for theatrical value. These men represent all that Jesus would fulfill. Remember how in Jesus’ Day, the Old Testament (which at that time was all of Scripture) was called the Law and the Prophets? Well Moses was the giver of the Law, and Elijah was the best known of Israel’s prophets. So we see Jesus with the Law and the Prophets, talking about His approaching death… the fulfillment of Scripture. But why would this King of Glory die?

It’s because the world needs to be reconciled to God. Back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned and created a rift between God (and His glory), and us. You could say that a giant chasm was created between us. And our relationship with Him was ruined. And we can’t just blame it on Adam and Eve because we’ve all contributed our own countless sins to this chasm. Every time we’ve followed Eve’s lead and tried to make ourselves into God. Every time that I do what I want so that I feel better, regardless of what God says, I’m contributing to that chasm.

And because of this chasm and ruined relationship, no human can help but be frightened when they’re in the presence of God, or even angels. Think about how every time that an angel appears to someone, the first thing they have to say is, “Don’t be afraid.”

Here we have a similar situation, though to a greater degree. The disciples witness God’s glory and Mark records that Peter didn’t really know what He was saying here because he was frightened! Finding themselves in God’s glory, these disciples realize what any of us would hopefully realize… that we are completely unworthy of a God who is so glorious.

Despite the fact that these disciples are frightened, this is an amazing site to see! And so Peter does note that it is good for them to be there. They are witnessing divine glory. It’s the glory that befits the King and Savior of the world!

They hear the voice of God the Father speak from heaven and identify Jesus as that one for us, just like He did at Jesus’ baptism. This is His Son, our Savior. The One who would fulfill all of the Old Testament prophecies. The One who would die and close the rift and chasm between us and God. Jesus is the one who will fix that relationship. And because we see that Jesus is God, we know that His sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of the world. The difference between the declaration God the Father gave at Christ’s baptism, and the one He gives here is that this time He adds that we must listen to His Son. The disciples couldn’t just stare at His glory; they also had to listen to His Word, just as we do. Faith comes from hearing the message,[2] right? God the Father here puts his stamp of approval on everything Jesus says. Listen to Him who is the way, the truth and the life.

Suddenly the disciples come to their senses and they no longer hear a voice, they no longer see Moses and Elijah, they’re left with just Jesus. And that’s all they, or we, need. Through faith in this God-man, and this God-man alone, we know we are saved eternally. We know we can say to the death that stalks us… and to our guilty conscience.  We know we can say to the devil who wants us to doubt God’s love and forgiveness.  “Be quiet.  I have a Savior and his name is Jesus.” He lived and died so that my relationship with God might be repaired, and so that I can look forward to an eternal life of glory beyond the grave.

In the same way that my friends Paul and Ruth can look forward to much more than a glimpse of their little John, we can look forward, with certainty to much more than a glimpse of Christ’s glory. We will see Him, fully glorified, in heaven. And, as the apostle Paul assures us, our lowly bodies will also be glorified like His.[3]

Jesus and His disciples descend the mountain. As they do, He commands them not to tell others what they have seen. As with the other times that He gives this command, it’s because people (even these disciples) still have wrong ideas about the kind of Messiah He is. They think He’s a political savior and if their fellow Jews catch onto this idea, it could actually be counterproductive to Jesus fulfilling His mission on the cross. So He tells them not to tell others what they have seen until He’s risen from the dead.

The beauty for us is that we know that He has indeed risen from the dead. And He’s given us the opposite command. Not that we are to keep the Good News of our Savior a secret, but that we are to go and make disciples of all nations.[4] And what a joy it is to spread the good news of our Savior who we know is so glorious! Here we have the eye witness accounts to prove it!

And so we see a glimpse of our Lord Jesus’ glory. But it’s a sad, anti-climactic story if that’s all we ever get to see. Fortunately for us, as believers in Christ, we have much more than a glimpse of His glory to look forward to. We can look forward to seeing Christ in all His glory one day in heaven, and in sharing in that glory. Until then let His transfiguration be your strength and your hope, just as it was for these three disciples. Knowing that we have such a glorious Savior, we follow where He leads until the day we get to live with Him for eternity. What a glorious day that will be! Amen.

Text: Romans 8:28-30
²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Want to See the Blueprint for Your Life?
I. It’s all for your good (v. 28)
II. It begins and ends in eternity (vv. 29-30)

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ,

People often ask me the difference between the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which Living Word in Petaluma is a member of, and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which Christ Lutheran in Windsor is a member of. Both synods teach and believe the same things about God, the Bible, and salvation. The only difference, really, is in their backgrounds. The Wisconsin Synod is German in background, and the ELS is Norwegian.

They each also have their own unique history. A defining feature of ELS history occurred way back in the 1880s when there was no ELS, just the Norwegian Synod. Another occurred in 1917, when the church body that would become the ELS broke off from the Norwegian Synod. Both of these significant events centered on the doctrine of election. This is a teaching that is very easily misunderstood. But it’s also a teaching which is full of comfort for the Christian when understood correctly. Its roots are found in the verses we look at today. Want to see the blueprint for your life? Here it is. It’s all for your good. And it begins and ends in eternity.

I. [It’s all for your good.] But wait. How can God’s blueprint for my life be for my good? Life can be so difficult. We saw this in the Old Testament lesson from Job this morning. Earlier in this same chapter of Romans, chapter 8, Paul discusses how difficult life can be, especially for Christians. And we see it in our own lives.

It’s not easy when we face financial difficulties, is it? When we barely have enough money to scrape by. It’s not easy when we face relationship problems, whether it’s marriage difficulties, or our relationships with friends, family members, or co-workers. And the worst problem we have is the sin that we all face all day, every day. When we sin we hurt ourselves, we hurt those around us, and most importantly, we hurt our relationship with God. And this leads to eternal punishment.

Paul writes that “God works all things for the good of those who love Him.” But sin causes us to doubt that this even applies to us. Because of the sin that we’ve committed countless times, we’re left to ask ourselves, “Have I really loved God?” We’ve acted unlovingly towards Him and our neighbor countless times. And so can this possibly apply to me?

And yet, having faith, this comfort is for us. The doubt which I just mentioned is a trick of the devil. The verse says that “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” He works all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. In other words, those who have faith in Christ as their Savior..

Let’s look at Joseph in the Old Testament. His brothers sold him into slavery. How many of us can say we’ve had that horrible experience? I mean, my brothers and I didn’t always treat each other the very best, but we certainly never sold each other into slavery! And then he gets there, gets a good job with Pharaoh’s captain of the guard, and the captain’s wife falsely accuses Joseph of coming on to her! So he ends up in prison! Talk about a rough life! And yet he had faith. And God was working everything for his good. God helped him to eventually rise in power to become the most powerful person in Egypt behind Pharaoh. And then God used him to help people all over the Middle East who were struck by a famine. God used the difficult situation for the good of Joseph, the good of his family, and the good of the whole Middle East. And really, He used that situation even for our good. Because of Joseph, the line of our Savior Jesus was preserved.

But Joseph went through years of difficult times for him to realize why things were happening the way they were. Sometimes it takes us years to realize why we go through the difficult things that we do. And sometimes we never see why it is. Remember Job in the Old Testament? He lost his whole family, all his possessions, and was infected with painful sores? As far as we’re told, he never found out why that was. And yet how many countless people today, and in the thousands of years since it was recorded, have found comfort in that account? But Job never saw that. The point being that we don’t always see the reason we go through tough times. But we hold, in faith, to what Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says to us. God works all things for our good… for the good of those who love Him.

This is a great comfort for the Christians. I have a friend and classmate who is in his last classroom semester right now. His wife is 28 weeks pregnant with their first child, but this past week it was discovered that she has a form of stomach cancer. So this evening they are planning to induce her. God willing she will give birth to a healthy 28 week old child, but shortly thereafter will begin chemotherapy. That’s a tough situation! When her husband Paul wrote an update email this past week, he closed it with this passage. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”

What a comfort that is! To know that everything in our lives is happening for our good and for the good of God’s kingdom. Recently, I had a different friend who was going through some tough times and made the comment that “Eventually everything will be okay.” But here’s Paul’s point. No matter how difficult life gets, no matter what you’re going through, everything is okay right now. Everything is working according to God’s plan, according to His blueprint for the world. We just can’t see that whole blueprint right now. We only see the tiny time and place that we’re in. If we could see God’s whole blueprint, we’d have a different perspective. So Paul unrolls the blueprint and offers us at least a little insight into God’s plan for the world, and for us. And it stretches from eternity to eternity.

II. [It begins and ends in eternity.] Before the creation of the world, God knew you. And He didn’t just know you in some vague sort of way, like how we know some of those people at our big family reunions. He knew and knows us intimately. Even to the point where He knows how many hairs we have on our heads.[1] Most importantly, God knew, from before time began, that we would be called to be His children.

And Paul writes that “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” Predestination is a word we don’t hear too often in everyday life. It refers to the Bible’s teaching that God elected Christians from eternity. He “destined” us to hear the Gospel of Christ, to believe it, and to receive all of its blessings. Some church bodies say God predestined some to heaven and some to hell. This leads to the idea that God gets the glory for salvation, but also the blame for condemnation. This says more than the Bible does… especially since it says that “God wants all men to be saved.”[2]

Other church bodies say that He elects some people because He knows they will “choose” Him. This doesn’t blame Him for those that reject faith. But it also doesn’t give Him all the credit for those who are saved. This belief makes faith a good work, and a cause of salvation. This was actually the issue in the two controversies that the ELS faced a hundred years ago.

Meanwhile, Lutheranism just holds to what the Bible says. The word “predestination” occurs 6 times in the Bible, and they are all used in reference to God’s plan, or purpose, of salvation. God predestines “the elect” to heaven. Grace is freely offered to all. Unfortunately, because of the hardness of the sinful human heart, some reject it. For those who are not saved, it is their own fault. Christians have the same sinful human heart, but by God’s grace, we are blessed with faith which receives that salvation.  At some point, this doesn’t all make perfect sense to the human mind. But, as Martin Luther says, we take off our little hats, and admit that we can’t comprehend all of God’s ways.

We focus on the fact that, completely by the grace of God, we’ve been called by the Word of God, by the Holy Spirit, to faith. We’re called to believe in the greatest gift we’ve ever been given… the gift of innocence. To believe that Jesus Christ did indeed live a perfect life and die an innocent death… for my sins. And by faith in this message, we are declared innocent, not guilty, in God’s sight. That’s what it means to be justified. Having been called to faith, we’re called to “conform to Christ’s likeness”—to follow and serve Him, to bring glory to His name, and to become like Him (like Christ). And we’re called to be glorified, like our brother Christ.

And that’s the final piece of the blueprint that Paul gives us. “Those He justified, He also glorified.” The word “glorified” is past tense. God has promised it, it is as good as done. We share in God’s glory right now through faith. We are empowered by the Word here on earth and we have a sure foundation in Christ, by faith in Him. And while we still do encounter these difficulties in life, as I mentioned before, we live with the sure guarantee that our glory will be fully realized in heaven. There we will live in perfection for eternity.

Is there any doubt that this applies to us? No. Not as long as we keep our eyes focused on Christ in faith. We know that God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.[3] Are we included in all people? Yes we are. So He wants you and me to be saved. We can also be sure that Christ has done everything needed for our salvation. In another of his epistles, Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”[4] Christ has done everything for us. Believing this, Jesus tells us that “no one can pluck us from the Father’s hand.”[5] So we focus, not on ourselves, or on our own good efforts to get to heaven… but on God’s promise. He wants us to be saved, He sent His Son who died for us, and nothing can now pluck us from His hand.

And as Paul writes just a couple verses after our text, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”[6] Because God has chosen us from eternity, has provided our salvation in the gift of His Son, and has called us to faith, we know that all things in life work for our eternal good.

Want to see the blueprint for your life? There it is. It starts way back before the beginning of time when God decided to create you and bring you to faith. Then He created the world, time began, and He set in motion His plan to save you. 2000 years ago God sent His Son to earth. And Jesus Christ carried out every part of His mission which means that our sins are forgiven and heaven awaits us. Now you’ve been born and are living. At times, life can be difficult, but God’s working it all out… for you. And someday it’ll be your time to pass from this life into the next. And there your story will continue forever and ever. And it will be perfect. The perfect happy ending that never ends. Keep your eyes on the big picture, on the big blueprint. And when you can’t see why it’s going the way it does, trust God that He knows what He’s doing, because He does. He has a much bigger plan than we can ever possibly see or imagine. And it’s all for you, from eternity to eternity. Praise be to God on High! Amen.

[1] Luke 12:7
[2] 1 Timothy 2:4
[3] 1 Timothy 2:4
[4] Ephesians 2:8-9
[5] John 10:29
[6] Romans 8:32

Text: Luke 17:11-19
¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.  ¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Why Thank We All Our God?

1. For His mercy
2. For His healing

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ,

Introduction: I’m guessing that most, if not all of us here today are familiar with the hymn Now Thank We All Our God. It’s one of the most popular Thanksgiving hymns in our hymnal, and possibly in America. It was written in the early 1600s by the Lutheran pastor and hymn writer Martin Rinkart who served in the German town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years War. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. This led to epidemic and famine and, in 1637, the Great Pestilence. At the beginning of that year, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. But one abandoned his post for healthier areas and could not be persuaded to return. Pastor Rinkart officiated at the funerals of the other two. As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 people per day. In May of that year, his own wife died. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services. Yet living in a world dominated by death, Pastor Rinkart wrote the following prayer for his children to offer to the Lord: “Now thank we all our God With hearts and hands and voices; Who wondrous things hath done, In whom this world rejoices. Who, from our mother’s arms, Hath led us on our way, With countless gifts of love, And still is ours today.” And so today we consider the question, “Why thank we all our God?” We see that we have every reason to thank Him, first, for His mercy, and second, for His healing.

I. [For His mercy] Everyone here today… in fact everyone in the world… we’re all beggars. And we’re all like the 10 lepers in our account. Not just the nine who didn’t return and give thanks, and not just the one who did return to thank his Lord. (We’ve all had times of thankFULness… and thankLESSness.) But we’re all like the lepers in that none of the lepers had anything good to offer Jesus for His mercy. They had the skin disease called leprosy. Now in the Bible, when a person has leprosy, it can refer to a number of different skin diseases, not just modern-day leprosy, which is known as Hansen’s Disease. But I want to tell you about Hansen’s Disease because I think it illustrates well how bad this disease was for people.

The myth is that if someone has leprosy, like Hansen’s Disease, their fingers and toes just start falling off. That’s just a myth; that’s not exactly how it works. What does happen is that their nerves, especially towards the edge of the skin are severely impaired. So their toes or fingers might shrivel up. They can also contract very serious infections on these areas. And so they do, in a sense, lose their toes and fingers and other extremities.

Leprosy, in Jesus’ day, was considered highly contagious. The lepers were forced to live outside of the city limits, away from other people, in “leper colonies.” They were complete outcasts from the community. A leper was a person who was regarded as already dead, and that’s why they were considered unclean. In Leviticus, Moses gives instruction regarding the man or woman who is diagnosed with leprosy. He writes, “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”[1]

Not only were these 10 men physically diseased and considered dead… but they were spiritually diseased and dead. All 10 of these men were sinners. No worse than anyone else, but certainly no better either. The thanklessness of the nine shows their sinful nature. Does that mean that the one thankful leper, the Samaritan, was not a sinner? No, he was every bit as sinful as the rest. And so, physically and spiritually diseased and dead, what could these 10 men ever hope to offer our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Nothing. They had nothing. And that’s why when they called out to Jesus for mercy, they called Him their Master. They recognized they were completely at His mercy.

As I mentioned, we’re in no better shape. Like the lepers, we have nothing to offer; we’re all sinners. The prophet Isaiah writes that all our “righteous acts are like filthy rags.”[2] On our own, we’ve done no good thing for which God should show us love or mercy. And like the lepers, we’re outcasts. But it’s not just from the local community, we’re outcasts from God. We don’t deserve to even be in His presence. And our “disease of sin,” if you want to call it that, makes it so that we are dead, too. We’re dead in our trespasses.[3]

And like, at least the nine lepers, our thanklessness shows our undeserving character. It’s so easy to take our earthly blessings for granted. It’s so easy to forget that, despite how hard we may have worked for all of the earthly goods that we have, they are nothing more than gifts from the Lord. And more significant than the fact that we aren’t always as appreciative of our earthly gifts as we should be… is the fact that we often fail to consider the significance of our spiritual blessings. Isn’t this what happens when we worry? We think, “I know I have eternal glories beyond the grave, but that’s not important right now. What’s important is my earthly needs right now.” And when we say that, we trivialize all that Christ has done for us. Clearly we have nothing to offer our Lord and Savior either. And so, like the lepers, we cry out “Lord, have mercy upon us!”

Like the ten lepers in our account, we’re all in the same boat. For them, the Jew had no advantage over the Samaritan, who was considered to be of lower standing and a second-class citizen. But as lepers and sinners, they were all beggars. And the same is true for us. No matter our church attendance, no matter our financial state, we’re all equally in need of a Savior. And we’re all equally in need of His mercy.

Transition: But Jesus sees us, as He saw the lepers. That’s a significant word in our text because the natural human reaction would have been to just pass the lepers by. But Jesus saw them and He recognized their need. And in the same way, He recognizes our need.

We, too, come to our Lord and Savior as beggars, with nothing to offer. And when He has blessed us, we have often failed to be as grateful as we should have been. But thank God for His mercy. It’s a mercy we can count on. As the words of the old hymn Rock of Ages say, “Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling.” He has been merciful; it’s mercy we can count on. And He has brought us healing, a healing we can count on.

II. [For His healing] In our account today, Jesus physically healed all of the lepers. It didn’t matter if they were Jews or Samaritans, He healed them. And He knew that the one would turn back and thank Him, but that the other nine would not. And yet He healed all of them.

In the same way, our God blesses all of us materially. Believers and non-believers alike are blessed with far more than they or we could ever need. Martin Luther offers us a short listing of some of the earthly blessings for which we can be grateful in his explanation of the Fourth Petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In defining what we mean by daily bread, he writes the following. I’m not going to even mention everything in his list. But think about each item I say, and think about whether we don’t have far more of this item than we could ever really need. He writes, “Daily bread includes everything needed for this life, such as food… drink… clothing… shoes… house… money… goods… good weather… health… true friends and the like.” And especially here in the United States we really have nothing to complain about. We talk about being in a recession, but look at all these good things we still have. What an amazing God we have to shower all of this upon us!

But in the end, these material blessings are temporary and will all crumble away. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”[4] But it isn’t. Far more importantly than the fact that God blesses us materially, is the fact that Christ has healed us from sin and its effects. And this healing isn’t just for this life; it has eternal value.

So what is this healing that is of such greater significance? The greatest gifts are often the ones that came at the greatest cost, right? And that’s the case with our greatest gift as well. It’s not these earthly goods. If God wants us to have them, we have them; it doesn’t cost Him a thing. But the greatest gift that He’s given us came at the cost of His own Son’s life. And Jesus died, not just for those who show Him love, but He died for sins of whole world.[5]

By our Lord’s death on the cross, He has cured our sin. He died for all of our sins, including the times when we have been ungrateful for the amazing blessings that surround us. So we have no reason to feel guilty anymore for ungratefulness or any other sin. Our broken relationship with God our Father has been restored. And we have hope for a better future, both in this life and the next.

But even though these blessings are won for everyone in the world, they only come to us through faith. It’s not the cause of these eternal blessings, but it is the pipeline by that carries them to us. Jesus ends the account by instructing the Samaritan to “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Did the man’s faith heal him of his leprosy? We don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that this grateful Samaritan leper was the only one of the ten who had faith. All of the men cried out to Jesus as their master. And they all left to go show themselves to the priest, while they still had leprosy. So they actually all showed themselves to have faith, at least that Jesus had power to heal them as He did.

But the Greek word that Jesus uses here for “made you well,” could also be translated, “has saved you.” Clearly this has greater implications than just the man’s physical health. Because of the man’s faith in Jesus as His Savior, He was saved, eternally. And so it is for us. Faith in our Savior makes it possible that we receive these gifts of salvation. And this faith, too, is a great blessing for which we give thanks. Because through this faith, we receive the blessings of salvation.

And so, like the 10 lepers in our account today, we’ve been greatly blessed. We’ve been blessed with earthly blessings, spiritual blessings, and a faith by which we receive the spiritual blessings. And the heart that has been so blessed naturally shows its gratitude by praising and thanking God. Through faith in our Savior, we turn around, turn back to Christ and say, “Thank you, Lord! You are an amazing God! We know that we can’t ever thank You enough, but we will always try.”

Conclusion: One of the family devotion books that my dad read to us growing up was A Few Minutes With Jesus. All of the devotions center around the fictional Whitney family. There is one devotion that, for whatever reason, has always been remembered by all of us kids. It’s the Thanksgiving one. In the Thanksgiving one, the oldest son, Jeff, is eating his Thanksgiving dinner. But all of a sudden, all of his food starts disappearing. When it does, he realizes he has forgotten to thank the Lord for his food. Jeff wakes up and realizes it was just a dream. Of course it’s just a dream. That’s not the way God operates and we see it here in the account of the 10 Lepers. But Now Thank We All Our God. He is a God of great mercy, and of great healing… both physically and spiritually. And He is a God who has given us every reason to praise His name. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Amen.

[2] Isaiah 64:6.

[3] Ephesians 2:5.

[4] 1 Corinthians 15:15

[5] John 2:2.