Sermon for Advent 2 Midweek

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Jesu Juva

“Judgment of the Forgiven”

Text: Romans 5:1-11; Matthew 25:21-46

 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

Judgement Day! What’s it going to be like? 

A pastor friend of mine once told me he has a file for every member of his congregation, so when Jesus comes again, he will be able to say how he cared for each and every one. Is that what it’s going to be like? Like an inquisition? I’m not sure I can do that . . .

Then a while back, my sister also sent me a story she saw on the internet about Judgment Day - you probably know how it goes. You’ve probably heard a similar thing . . . There’s the eternal courtroom . . . God is the Judge, the devil is the prosecutor, and Jesus is your defense attorney. And you’re on trial. The devil then goes through every sin you’ve ever committed - every one of your sinful thoughts and words and deeds and desires! Then ones you knew and the ones you didn’t. The ones you remember and the ones you’ve forgotten. He goes through them all - all the reasons you should be condemned. And he’s right, of course. . . . But when he’s done, Jesus stands up and says: But I died for all those sins. This one is mine. . . . Then the Judge says not guilty, and in you go. 

I’m not sure I want that. No, I’m sure I don’t! I don’t want all my sins dredged up and rehearsed for me! And who else will be there? Who else gets to hear? EGADS! Is that what it’s going to be like?

Well, let’s think about this a little tonight . . .

First, I would point you to the Psalm we sang. It said: as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Do you know how far that is? Some of you have heard me talk about this before, but I think it’s worth repeating, and especially as we think about the Last Day and judgment. How far is the east from the west? Well, to think about that, think about why God said as far as the east is from the west and not as far as the north is from the south. Do you know why? Because north and south meet. Imagine you’re flying around the globe, up toward the north pole . . . There is a point where you stop flying north and start flying south. There’s a point they meet. But now imagine you’re flying around the equator . . . There is never a time you stop flying east and start flying west. East and west never meet like north and south do. Now the important part of that is: what does that mean for your sins? If they are separated from you as far as the east is from the west . . . are they coming back to haunt you on the Last Day?

And then there is the Catechism we reviewed. In those words we said that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven - not just here on earth - but before God in heaven. And then there was also this: that when the called ministers of Christ . . . absolve those who repent of their sins . . . this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself. And then there was this promise, too: If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. They are gone. Even on the Last Day. 

And then we heard the Scripture from Matthew - about when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and how Judgement Day is going to go . . . you’ve heard that Scripture before. But ask yourself this: were the sins of the sheep brought up? They weren’t, were they? And what were the sheep called? You who are blessed by my Father. And all that was mentioned were the good deeds they did, which they even didn’t even realize! 

So Psalm, Catechism, Scripture . . . these all together are saying that when you hear the words of absolution every Sunday - I forgive you all your sins - you can be sure they are! The verdict you hear every Sunday is the same one you will hear on the Last Day. Or maybe better to say, God doesn’t want you to wait and wonder what that verdict on the Last Day will be - so He has it spoken to you now. You are not guilty. You are forgiven. And you can take God at His Word. 

And this (among other things) is what separates Christians from people of other religions, like Muslims. They can do everything God tells them to do, perfectly, and they still don’t know and can’t be sure that God will be merciful to them in the end. They just have to hope. 

But not us! Your sins are gone. Atoned for. Remitted. Forgiven. They’re not. coming. back. If you can’t make east and west meet, if you can’t put Jesus back in the tomb, then your sins aren’t coming back either. Not now, not ever. You don’t have to fear Judgment Day because of Jesus.

Which is what Paul was telling the Romans in that Scripture we also heard tonight. We have been justified by faith . . . we have been justified by His blood . . . we have been reconciled through our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s all been done and given to you. Gifts of God, received by grace through faith. Through the Word spoken and proclaimed to us, the water poured on us, and the Supper fed to us. Gifts to give us life and confidence and a sure and certain hope.

So based on all that . . . that story I mentioned earlier . . . here’s how it really goes . . .

There’s the same set up . . . the eternal courtroom . . . God is the Judge, the devil is the prosecutor, and Jesus is your defense attorney. And you’re on trial. The devil gets out your book, your record book with all your sins. And I know you - it’s a BIG one! And he smugly smiles and opens it up, all ready to accuse you . . . every sin you’ve ever committed - every sinful thought and word and deed and desire! The ones you knew and the ones you didn’t. The ones you remember and the ones you’ve forgotten. He’s ready to go through them all - all the reasons you should be condemned. But instead of a presentation of all your sins, there is . . . silence. Well, not exactly. You can hear the pages turning, flipping, one after the other. And now the Judge is waiting, losing patience. Well Mr. Devil, what have you got? They . . . they were here before! All his sins! I know they were! But now, all there is . . . are blood stains. And now it’s Jesus’ turn to smile. And with nothing to accuse you with, you are free. 

You see, Judgment Day already happened for you. On the cross. And that blood wiped out all your sins. So on the Last Day, you have nothing to fear. Go in peace.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Good Fruit for Good Fruit”

Text: Matthew 3:1-12; Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. . . . Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

And if you need evidence of that, John could have said, just look around. Where is Israel? The nation of Israel? The nation of Israel which was a big, glorious, powerful tree at the time of David and Solomon? Where is it now? Chopped down. To a stump. The stump of Jesse, Isaiah called it. Because they did not bear good fruit. They turned away from God and to other gods. They would not repent, even though God sent prophet after prophet after prophet to call then to repentance. So the axe came. First the axe of God called Babylon, and then Assyria. And now, instead of a nation of Israel, the Jews were ruled by the Romans.

Bear fruit - good fruit - in keeping with repentance.

With these words John teaches us something about repentance. Namely this: that repentance isn’t just words. There’s more to it than that. Repentance and forgiveness is meant to produce a new life in us. A life that produces good fruit. Which is to say, we don’t repent to get AWAY with our sin, but to get OUT of our sin and get our sin OUT of us, and to graft us INTO a new life. That instead of sinful fruit coming out of us, good fruit come out instead.

This means seeing sin not just as a flaw or a mistake we make, something harmless or a matter of choice, but as a disease that we don’t want to live with, that we want OUT of us. Or seeing sin like pests that live in your house - you don’t want to live with them, you don’t want to make peace with them, you want them OUT. But I’m not sure we always see sin that way . . . That it is not useful, but corrosive. Not pleasant, but harmful. Not a minor flaw, but a disabling defect. Not a choice, but a slavery. That gossip, that guilty pleasure you indulge in, that rebellion, that taking advantage of another, that little indiscretion, those words that would have been better left unsaid . . . maybe helped you get ahead or get what you want, but at what cost? What cost to you and your conscience, which each sin hardens a little more? What cost to your relationship with others? What cost to your relationship with God?

Turns out, the cost is quite high. The price: the life of God’s own Son.

But that was a price Jesus was willing to pay for you. The greatness of His love for you for exceeding the greatness of the sin in you. That’s why, really, we celebrate Christmas. It’s not first and foremost for the gifts under the tree, but for the Son who hung on it - on the tree of the cross. 

And so from the chopped down stump of Israel - the stump of Jesse, David’s father - a little shoot would begin to grow. Unnoticeable at first. Born not in the big city, in Jerusalem, but in the little town of Bethlehem. Born not to royalty, but in poverty. A little child who would lead us back to Paradise and peace. A little child who, as Isaiah prophesied, would be BOTH a branch from the root of Jesse (v. 1) AND the root of Jesse (v. 10). BOTH growth from an old, dead-looking stump AND its root, its source of life. But how can that be? How can you be BOTH the root AND the branch of a tree? You can if this little child is both God and man. God, the root, the source of life, and a man, a branch, descended from men. 

So once that branch started to grow, God sent one more prophet. His last and final Old Testament prophet - John the Baptist - whose job was to prepare the way for this Saviour. On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry, announces that the Lord is nigh (LSB #344). The Baptist points to Jesus and says, Look! There’s a branch growing! From the stump of Jesse, from and in Israel. The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Heaven has come down to us in this one. This one whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. Don’t make the same mistake your fathers made. Repent. For there’s a worse judgment coming. A final judgment. Not just a chopping down, but a burning with unquenchable fire. So repent and believe. Repent and be baptized.

That kind of repentance is more than just getting away with your sin. It involves seeing things differently. Seeing with God’s eyes, not your own. Hearing what He says, and believing it. That this path I’m on is not good. That I need to change - a change that might not be easy, but is good for me. A change of heart, a change of mind, a change of life.

That the Pharisees and Sadducees did not - did not repent and believe, did not see a need for change, is why John called them a brood of vipers. That is, offspring of a snake, a serpent. They were fulfilling a Word of God from all the way back in the beginning, when God said there would be enmity between the offspring of the Eve and the offspring (the brood) of the serpent (the viper). Yup. Here it is. But that also means that here is the promised offspring of the woman who would bruise the serpent’s head. It was all coming together there that day at the Jordan River. The time of the rescue, the saving had come. So John was preparing the way. Repent and believe. Repent and be baptized. And bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Now if we jump to the Epistle we heard today, from Paul’s letter to the Romans, he said that whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. So this is for our instruction today, this Second Sunday of Advent. John’s preaching was not just for the people at the Jordan then, but for us who gather around this Baptismal Font today. That our baptism and our repentance be not just words, and not just going through the motions, but life-changing. That we bear fruit in keeping with repentance and have hope. The hope of eternal life, yes. But more than that: the hope of a new life now. A new life in Christ.

Because God doesn’t want that unquenchable fire for anyone. Jew or Gentile. 

Paul was clear about that, because the OId Testament was clear about that. God is the God of all and the Saviour of all and who loves all people. If He disciplines us, like He did in chopping down Israel, it is for our good. Which we know not just because of His Word, but because of He did. Because when that branch from the stump of Jesse grew up into the tree, the man Jesus, He was chopped down for us and suffered the unquenchable fire of God’s wrath against our sin in our place. And again, not so we could get AWAY with our sin, but to get our sin OUT of us.

So why jump back into the fire of sin! That doesn’t really make sense, does it? But that’s what we do when we return to our sin. When instead of living as the baptized children of God we are and bearing good fruit in keeping with repentance, we bring forth the rotten fruit of sin. 

But when you do - and as long as we live on this side of eternity, we all do! We all do dumb things, dumb sins. And make no mistake about it, sin is dumb! You might think you’re pretty smart, outsmarting your parents or your spouse, outmaneuvering your neighbor or your boss, or even God . . . getting what you want, doing what you want . . . but you’re not, smart. No, sin is dumb. That’s why satan tempts you to do it. Do you really think He’s going to tempt you to do something that’s smart and good for you? Really? Or is he conning you? Making a fool of you? Drawing you back into his slavery, and away from God?

So when you fall back into old sinful habits and old sinful ways, when you’re dumb and follow your old, sinful spirit, listen to the Spirit of God and do something smart - return to your Baptism and the promises of God given you there. That’s where the Spirit was given to you. That’s where the Spirit is pulling you back. The Spirit that is not dumb, but as Isaiah said, is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The Spirit given you to raise you up from your sin and back to life in Christ. The Spirit given you that you no longer be controlled by your sin and sinful desires, but have the mind of Christ. The Spirit who dwells in kings and tax collectors, in prophets who wear camel’s hair coats and eat locusts and wild honey, as well as scientists and engineers. The Spirit who dwells in children still learning to walk, and the elderly who no longer can. The Spirit by whose power you abound no longer in sin, but in hope and joy and peace.

Hope, joy, and peace that resting in Jesus and confident of His love, now produces the good fruit that He desires, good fruit in keeping with repentance. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and chastity.

And if you don’t see those fruits in your life, or not enough of them - and none of us have enough of them! - then come eat the fruit from the tree of the cross. The best fruit there is - the Body and Blood of Jesus. Because as much as we want that life-stealing sin OUT of us, even more do we want the life-giving Body and Blood of Jesus IN us. That His coming to us now, here, prepare us for His coming again in glory. And prepared for his coming again in glory, we are prepared to remember and celebrate His first coming in the flesh for the good news it really is. 

Which makes this a perfect Advent Scripture. Preparing us for Jesus. Our Saviour coming to us with the greatest gift of all - life. His life given for us then, His life give to us now, that we might live. A new life. A life of faith and fruit. So come, Lord Jesus! we pray this season. Come, and work that in me. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Second Week of Advent (December 8-13, 2025)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: James 5:8 – “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #345 “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding”

Hymns for Sunday: 349, 357 (v. 6), 345, 636, 337, 341

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Psalm 85

What gives the psalmist confidence, even in the face of trials and struggle? What is more sure: our eyes or our ears? Why?

Tuesday: Isaiah 40:1-11

Why do we need comforting? How does God comfort us? How can we also comfort others? What is our hope?

Wednesday: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Who is the Judge? What does He judge? When will He judge? Why should we not judge others? But what should we do? Why?

Thursday: Isaiah 35:1–10

How is everything going to change when Jesus comes? When did this start? When did it start for you? When will it be completed?

Friday: James 5:7-11

What is James telling us to be? Why? Is this easy or hard? Why? Why is it necessary? How does this benefit us?

Saturday: Matthew 11:2-15

What did John ask? Why did He ask it? How did Jesus answer? Why? Should we expect a smooth and easy life? Why?

The Catechism - The Sacrament of the Altar: Where is this [the Sacrament of the Altar] written? The holy Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and St. Paul write: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He has given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Collect for the Week: Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregation vice president, Scott Killian.

+ the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, and provision for the Luther Academy.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268

Sermon for Advent 1 Midweek

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Cleansed Brides”

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Ephesians 5:22-33; John 3:25-30 

Small Catechism: The Sacrament of Baptism

 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

The season of Advent isn’t just about getting ready for Christmas. It’s about getting ready for Jesus’ coming. He came at Christmas, and we prepare to remember and rejoice in that. But He is coming now in His Word and Sacraments, and is coming again on the Last Day. Advent helps us prepare and be ready for those comings, too, which are really more important for us in our day and age. So that’s the focus of our midweeks this year: Jesus’ coming to us now, and how that prepares us for His coming again on the Last Day.

Now the Scriptures give us TWO distinct pictures of what the Last Day will be like. One, and the one most people think of when thinking of the Last Day is Judgment Day - which usually invokes fear. We’ll get to that next week. It’s the other picture that Scripture gives us that is our focus tonight, and that is the marriage feast of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church. And that is a picture that doesn’t invoke fear, but great joy. But it is a picture many people either don’t know or that gets overshadowed by the thoughts and fears of judgment.

But if you are married, you know what a day that is! Or if you’re not married, perhaps you have seen it. It is a day bridegroom and bride can’t wait to arrive, even if sometimes there is a little fear and cold feet! But that goes away when the groom is standing in the front of the church, and then his bride appears at the entrance - beautiful, radiant, and their eyes meet for the first time. Remember that? Maybe your heart skipped a beat. The day you couldn’t wait to come had finally come.

Now imagine that on the Last Day! The Day we’ve been waiting for, for our heavenly Bridegroom to come for us, finally here. We pray Come! Lord Jesus! for that joy to finally be ours. But the joy that day is not just ours. Bride and bridegroom both are filled with joy. The prophet Zephaniah spoke of that, saying that the Lord will rejoice over you with gladness. That would happen first in bringing His people back from their exile, but ultimately, it is in making us His own, bringing us back from the death and destruction of our sin, to be His Bride.

That’s why Jesus was born for you. That’s what He did for you in His death and resurrection. And that’s why He comes to you now in Holy Baptism. That’s what we heard in the reading from Ephesians, Jesus came to sanctify and cleanse you by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself as a beautiful, radiant bride, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That we be holy and without blemish. And so you are. And as we read in the Catechism, Baptism is that water, that life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit. And so baptized into Christ and washed in His blood, you are an heir with the hope - not a wishful, uncertain hope! - but the sure and certain hope of eternal life . . . with your Bridegroom.

Now without Baptism, we are no radiant bride. You wallow in the gutter and cesspool of your sin and you stink. But the gift and benefit of Baptism is that it works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation - that is, rescues you from the gutter and cesspool of your sin and the one who put you there, and gives you an eternal Saviour, an eternal Bridegroom. You have the words and promises of God on that. Eternal wedding vows. I will be your God, and you will be my people, my Bride.

That’s what John the Baptist was talking about in the verses from John we heard tonight. He didn’t just preach repentance and baptize. As he said, he is the friend, the best man, of the bridegroom, the one sent before Him to prepare His way. The Bridegroom who has now come for His Bride, and so the best man’s job is done. He must decrease. All attention now on the Bridegroom and His eternal vow to you.

And that’s what we rely on and what can give us confidence and joy on the Last Day - His faithfulness, not ours. That when we break our vow (and we do!), when our attention is on something or someone other than the Bridegroom (which we call an idol), we can return to God’s vow in Baptism every day, and be daily washed, renewed, and restored, and emerge to live in righteousness and purity - in cleanness and radiance - forever. If we don’t, we come to the Last Day filthy and unclean and reeking of sin of death. But if we do, He is faithful to His vows and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Then when Jesus comes again in glory on the Last Day, when Jesus comes for us, we will enter into His joy, the joy of Bride and Bridegroom, in the wedding feast of the Lamb which will have no end. 

Now with that picture of the Last Day in mind, the Last Day can’t come soon enough! But it has not come yet because the Bride is not yet ready. There are more to baptize, more to wash, more to bring into this joy with us. From the farthest nations and to our nearest neighbors. The Bridegroom wants them, too. To be His Bride. To enter into His joy. That when the Last Day comes it not be a day of fear for them, but that with us, their heart, too, skip a beat when they see Him and the feast begins.

So with that as the Day that we are waiting for, you think that might affect how we live now? Well, how did you live in the weeks and months leading up to your wedding day? Did you live as if it weren’t coming? Or were you busy . . . making preparations, getting ready, filled with excitement? And as the day approached, little else mattered. For your Bride or Bridegroom was coming. And that day changed your life.

Well, that Day is coming. The Day of our joy. You are baptized. Your life has been changed. You are radiant. You are ready. And when that Last Day comes, though it will be the last day of this world, it will be the first day of your eternal life. With your Bridegroom, who promised. And that promise is as sure as His tomb is empty. So we do not have to fear that day - O Bride of Christ, Rejoice! (LSB #335) Your Bridegroom is coming for you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.