May the Lord bless you in your Advent preparations for Christmas. May this time of preparation lead us to confess our sins and confess our great need for the Coming Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tonight is the great text of Isaiah 35. Our sinful weakness is compared to a wilderness and a desert. We can learn from this important illustration that is not at all a random comparison. Sin brings dryness and it brings weakness. The Gospel, however, brings what the arrival of the Savior brings: namely rejoicing and blossom[ing] like the crocus and "the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water." This is God's miraculous supply when the Savior is given.

All of this cannot be relegated to an intellectual acknowledgement, it must be lived in: we need the Savior who brings the crocus, the desert bloom to bring water and to bring new life. The Holy Spring brings God's spring of life-renewing water, when the Holy Spirit works through the Word that enters our ears, our hearts, our minds, and then is put upon our lips...this is what happens in worship.

This evening is a simple and yet beautiful service of the Word. We meet at 7:00 pm at the Good Shepherd Chapel at Concordia University Irvine. It is our 2nd Wednesday night service in preparation for Christmas. Come worship our Advent King, bring a friend, and let us receive God's living water for our parched souls.

Here is the sermon:

“From Desert to Crocus”

(Isaiah 35:1-7)

2^nd Wednesday of Advent, December 11^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Isaiah 35 is a special kind of Word of the Lord that is called “eschatological”. That is it’s about the last or end-time things, but we have to remember that we are also living in the end-times (1^st Peter 4:7 says that the end of all things is at hand), so it is also about our time too. Thus to summarize: Isaiah 35 is talking about what is now and what is yet to come both at the same time.

 

In both of these views of what is now and what is yet to come, these words are absolutely and positively true: as Jesus comes to you right now through His Word and as Jesus will come again in glory it will be like the wilderness and the dry land becoming glad and the desert rejoicing as it blossoms like the crocus. The crocus is a desert flower which grows almost instantaneously after any substantial rainfall in the desert. So that in the final analysis we can see with our own eyes a stunning contrast that I tried to find in a picture. Take a look:

 

[insert picture of a crocus coming out of dry rocks in the desert]

 

In this picture, you see a desolate background. It almost causes us to think, “what could possibly grow out of that?!” It practically looks like the flower is growing out of the rocks. You might just as well expect water to come out of the rocks. Exactly! And yet this is not a theoretical idea. It is an actual state of affairs. It really happens.

 

But picture this: if you were to remove the flower from the picture, what you would see is a desolate scene of dry rocks. You would think to yourself, “there is nothing there,” unless you’re really into rocks, but even if you were, you would have to admit that we are not looking at the most fertile ground on the planet. Prospects for growth and renewal would appear rather dismal. But this is a fact Christian: it really happens! The crocus is a symbol of God’s miraculous work! This sort of thing by the way happens on much grander scales. When Mt. Saint Helens erupted in Washington in 1980 scientists predicted that the land surrounding the mountain would remain desolate for many, many years. The life that sprang from the volcanic destruction, however, was both very fast and amazingly stunning. The analogy is important to us.

 

Getting back to the Isaiah 35 “now and not yet” double context, God assures us that on the last day, the earth itself will be renewed. Romans 8:21 says, “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Revelation 21:1 simply refers to this as “the new heaven and the new earth.” The day is coming when our bodies which atrophy through entropy will be renewed and we shall experience the exciting fruition of what John wrote, “….it does not appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him (1^st John 3:2).” Kiss all your disease away. You will be raised in glory and power dear Christian (1^st Cor. 15:43) just like your Savior-King rose leaving behind the desolate desert of death and covered it through His victory with the most lush and beautiful garden of life imaginable (Revelation is rich in describing this new garden…we should all like gardens…they are reminders of heaven; they are reminders of what God causes to sprout even from rocks).

 

But what about the “now” part? This is the hard part, but through faith in Christ the crocus sprouts in the desert even now. We just need to understand what to expect along the way: God is real with us. His Word describes what we can and do experience. For example, consider the words of the psalmist: “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up…(Psalm 32:4).” To feel dry is to feel hopeless and to feel hopeless in the face of so many hardships is to feel fear and fear is antithetical to faith. This is what Christians can feel. This seems wrong. By definition Christians are people of faith. That’s true, but it is also true that we are sinners and sinners feel the other side, the dry side; the desert within our souls.

 

I heard from a baptized believer overcome with frustration about the desert in their life, words of unbelief spewing from lips that once confessed Jesus. It was predictable what would come next: God was to blame. It was all God’s fault including their horrendous decisions in rebellion against God. This is the insanity of sin, but that’s what happens in the desert sometimes: we start seeing things that aren’t really there.

 

Every moment of our lives is the experience of the undulation between faith and fear; hope and dryness; the crocus and the desert with its dry rocks. No, you’re not going crazy, but you are living the normal Christian life. That’s important to know lest the evil one tempt you to think that you’re going mad. No, you’re a true Christian. You feel the battle, but when we do feel the battle, you must know something about that battle so that you can take it to the Lord. That same psalmist who confessed the dryness of his soul went on to write by God’s inspiration, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin (Psalm 32:5).”

 

And when you come confessing in God’s house, you find that you’ve been led to the fresh, cool pool known as the church of Christ even in the midst of the burning sand which is the world, and the Lord gives to you His living water and absolves you of all your sins.

 

But don’t forget that during the “now” the battle rages and without this wisdom you cannot properly prepare for Christmas nor wait in patience for the “not yet” renewal of all things. Luther saw in Isaiah 35 God’s provision for the believer with the “weak hands and feeble knees (v 3)”. In the next verse God sends forth His powerful word through Isaiah who commanded: “Be strong; fear not!” It is God who sustains us through the desert – and through all our battles -- even now the crocus of faith grows once again within you. Luther wrote,

 

“Therefore the inward joy of the spirit fights with the grief of the body exposed to the cross (LW 16:300).”

 

And the inward joy is protected when we become wise to the ways of the enemy. Luther wrote again:

 

“For Satan has two ways of fighting. He would gladly cast the faithful down suddenly from their joy and faith and into fear and despair. Secondly, he cunningly strives by long lasting torments and by the unremitting pressure of the torments to tire them out.” (LW 16: 301)

 

But God’s counter is the long-lasting gift of His water in the desert; His Word in your life. God’s counter to the evil one’s attacks upon you is to cause perpetually the growth of the crocus in the desert of this life. God’s counter is to keep His Word raining upon you; keeping you in your baptismal pool of grace and life, feeding you with Christ’s body and blood, and replacing hopelessness with the sure and certain hope that is yours in Christ.

 

It would be difficult to find a better example of the power of this crocus faith than the time when our Savior referred to these words from Isaiah as being fulfilled in His “now” ministry. John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another (Matthew 11:3)?” Jesus answered, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them (Matthew 11:4-5).”

 

            It must have been an amazing sight when John the Baptist received this message (and I’m not exaggerating, because I’ve witnessed a Christian die while expressing joy in the Lord while they died). There he was in prison, about to be beheaded, experiencing his cross, knowing his battle in the desert – but in receiving the Word of Christ – John must have been joyful with the crocus in full bloom in his heart. No desert, no prison robbed John of his joy.

 

And this is your joy dear Christian! Your coming King comes once again -- now  -- and through His Word He opens your eyes once blind, your ears once deaf; He restores your legs once lame and your tongue once dumb. A saving crocus grows in you that is Christ in the desert, the rock from which the water comes, the source of faith and now you see that He is here even in the desert (no you are not abandoned); you hear His Word and it causes you to rejoice (yes, you are truly forgiven); you leap with legs of faith (for nothing can contain the joy of a sinner who is no longer condemned); and your mouth is opened: you once silenced and parched by the desert, confess that Jesus has covered your sin with His blood and has conquered your death with His victorious life! May you continue to blossom in Him as He comes now and as He is coming again!

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor

We need a leader we can count on and His Name is Jesus. In this world desperate for good leaders, it is ironic that during the very season in which we anticipate His coming that the world would be preoccupied in honoring other leaders who are in themselves only sinners who need The Leader just as much as the rest of us. The world is desperate for a great leader, but spends much time overlooking The Leader who is our only salvation. To know The Leader, however, is to know the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

The text in Isaiah 11:2 elaborates on our Leader's gifts from the Spirit: wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, and knowledge and the fear of the Lord. These are not random gifts, but describe Christ's ability to save; to save you.

Come and receive our Leader's ministry once again tomorrow morning. It is a leadership which renders the forgiveness of sins.

Come and receive our Leader Himself. He gives you Himself in, with, and under the bread and the wine in the Holy Sacrament.

It's late and the weekend has been full of special gatherings, but who knows, this invitation to worship might make a difference for even one.

Here's an excerpt from Sunday's sermon:

“Your Leader Who Takes Care of You”

(Isaiah 11:2)

Second Sunday in Advent, December 8^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

 

The text: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We go the way of our leaders. That’s why they are so important. Many want to be leaders, but they oftentimes don’t know what they are getting themselves into. To be a leader is to have a big bulls-eye on your chest, a big “X” on your back. Leaders are criticized and sometimes condemned. They are in the public eye. If you want to live a quiet life, being a leader will make that goal much more difficult. But if one is a leader they ought to be scrutinized and evaluated, because there is simply too much at stake not to care about how their leadership is going. Everyone associated with that leadership is -- after all -- affected and impacted by it.

 

This is readily apparent in the realm of sports. Several weeks ago the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers – Aaron Rogers – was injured and has been forced to sit out. The team has been drastically affected by the loss of their leader. With Rogers the Packers had won four out of their first six games, without Rogers the Packers are 0-4-1, no wins, four losses and one tie.

 

But this is a simple example of the importance of leaders, the more complicated ones are represented in those who have served as presidents of the United States of America. I am personally in awe of Lincoln’s legacy. I can’t imagine what it was like to be president at a time when our nation was at civil war, brother fighting against brother. Furthermore, Lincoln stood for what was tremendously unpopular while facing resistance from every angle, but this did not hinder him from his executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1^st, 1863. I basically feel sorry for every president that has followed Lincoln. How does one possibly begin to compare? And again it is easy to criticize even when we Christians are commanded by the Lord to pray for our leaders (1^st Timothy 2:1-2). But the point is that people are directly impacted by their leaders.

 

The people of our nation had reason to question the integrity of the office after Nixon; U.S. citizens had reason to feel discouraged during the 1973 oil crisis as Carter seemed paralyzed, even Reagan seemed like he was in a no-win situation in the Iran-Contra affair, George Bush 41 probably wishes he could take back his “read my lips” on taxes, Bill Clinton was recently asked in an interview how important moral fortitude is for a president, if he could do it again, George Bush 43 would probably reconsider his timing for declaring “mission accomplished,” and Barack Obama had to recently apologize to the nation for some Americans who are losing their current health insurance plans in light of the Affordable Health Care Act (this after he had promised that no one would have to give up their plans). Don’t get me wrong, I can’t begin to imagine the weight of bearing the presidency. It is one of the easiest things in the world to criticize the leader of a country, esp. the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet. Be that as it may, it doesn’t change this axiomatic principle: people are directly impacted by their leaders.

 

Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls…” We need our leaders to provide proper guidance. Proverbs 14:34 states, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” A leader’s righteousness is only a boon for the people, but his sin is their shame. Proverbs 29:4 says, “By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down.” And thus we ask about the integrity of leaders: do they lead to build up those they serve or do they lead in order to profit themselves?

 

But there is an inverse dynamic to what I’ve been describing: while it is true that leaders directly impact the people they lead, it is also true that leaders often simply reflect the state of the people themselves. From a Christian worldview, our current president has one of the most liberal platforms in the history of our nation, but we would be remiss to ignore that he is in fact a reflection of our country and our current moral compass. In other words, before we condemn our leaders, we might want to take some time to look in the mirror. Do we really want righteous leaders? Do we really want good leaders? Or do we want leaders who will serve our sinful ambitions and our rebellion towards God? What kinds of leaders do we really desire? That question is answered by answering first what we just really desire to begin with.

 

This was the case with the people of Israel. One of the most shameful and stunning scenes in the entire Old Testament was the day that the people of Israel decided that God’s leadership wasn’t good enough for them and said that they wanted another leader instead!

 

1^st Samuel 8:1 & 4-7: “When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel….⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah ⁵and said to him, ‘Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’ And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

Yes, it is so easy to criticize a leader and in our sinful nature, we are the ones who are always criticizing God. Last Wednesday night we focused on Isaiah 11:1 and we learned that it is in righteous judgment that the Lord cuts down the proud and rebellious trees. Stumps and stump-language in the Bible symbolizes the desolation and humiliation that comes from forsaking the Lord. This is what we do in our sin: we forsake His Word, and part and parcel of this rebellion against God is that we are God’s supreme criticizers. Over the years, these are the top complaints I’ve heard from those who confess the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, these ought not to be, but they are:

 

1. Why does God command me to forgive that person when they have so openly sinned and done such evil to me?
2. Why does God command me to honor a marriage that has lost its love?
3. Why does God command me to trust in Him when all my life I have and yet He has allowed me to suffer?

 

And this of course is but a very short list, but inherent in

these questions are bold criticisms against the Lord. We complain against our leaders -- this is true -- but we really complain against our most important Leader. We are like the Israelites who asked Samuel to give them another king. There is a reminiscent scene in the New Testament. Jesus had just finished teaching His bread of life discourse and in response to the words of the Lord, the Word records:

 

John 6:60 & 66: “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’….⁶⁶After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

 

And in our sin, we are like those disciples who forsook Christ and it is in relationship to many of the teachings in God’s Word. But to the modern church today it is as nothing to pick and choose which teachings we’ll go with and which ones just seem too hard…too unreasonable. Perhaps the most important example of this is in respect to The Lord’s Supper. You must choose Christian: is it or isn’t it the very body and very blood of Christ. If it is, then we should be knocking the doors down every Sunday to receive it; if it isn’t, then hey it doesn’t matter, take it or leave it. Like the rest of the world, it is easy to say, “This is hard saying; who can listen to it?” In this, we criticize our Leader Christ: “Come on! Is it really your body and blood?” And we wonder why we lack spiritual strength!

 

It was like this in the time of Isaiah. Isaiah 1:1 says, “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Let’s take inventory of these leaders which the people chose over and above God: 2^nd Chronicles 26:16 says, “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God….”; 2^nd Chronicles 27 records that Jotham was a good king (v 2a), but then there is this commentary of the people themselves: “The people, however, continued their corrupt practices (v 2b).” So in response to the hearts of the people the Lord permitted Ahaz to be king and the word says at 2^nd Chronicles 28:2: “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals.” And finally, Isaiah also served during the reign of Hezekiah. Now Hezekiah led a great renewal in the land, but with the exception of Josiah after him, the other kings who followed him were evil. Eventually Jerusalem was destroyed. They became a hopeless stump. It would be easy to end the story with, “they got what they deserved,” but this is not how God ends the story.

The Lord bless you on this Advent night.

In Jesus' Love,

Pastor

Tonight is our first Wednesday in the Advent season, a season that God has given to us to properly prepare for Christmas. This is not time in the mall, or on the freeway, or in front of a desk with a million things to do, but time in God's house, time in the Word, time to be served. Come and receive this awesome Word from Isaiah 11:1.

Here is an excerpt from tonight's sermon:

“From A Cut-Down Hopeless Stump To A Shining Blossom”

(Isaiah 11:1)

First Wednesday in Advent, December 4^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The longest list of clothing and accessories in all of Scripture (Isaiah 3:6-4:1) is from the book of Isaiah (an amazing book that is sometimes referred to as “The Fifth Gospel” for its powerful teaching on the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ). It is arguable that the most powerful descriptions of the person and work of Jesus are not even in the New Testament, but in the book of Isaiah. The descriptions of the clothing and accessories are not a random thing, but depict real evidence of what was going on among God’s people in the Kingdom of Judah (in which was the city of David, the holy city of Jerusalem; Judah is the same region which includes Bethlehem where Jesus was born). The clothing and accessories demonstrate Judah’s affluence and unfortunately, the idolatry and growing indifference to God’s Word (see introduction to The Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1084).

 

Here is a sample of what is described here in God’s Word in Isaiah (you can learn a lot about a person and for that matter, a culture, by the way one dresses or how the many people in a culture dress): “The Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the signet rings and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils. Instead of perfume there will be rottenness…” (Isaiah 3:16-24a)

 

            Of course because we live in Southern California, the rest of the country already knows that we are different and it shows in the way we dress. So Cal is known for its casual and comfortable approach to dress, but we also live in a culture that is extremely invested in the body; and we also live in a culture where malls remind us of thirst for material wealth. Put all of this together and we have much in common with Israel at their economic zenith. But again, this isn’t mentioned in the Bible as a passing random historical note, but to show that with a pre-occupation in dress and physical appearance, often comes less time for God, the signs of false worship, and as said before, a “growing indifference to God’s Word.” What I personally try to remind myself of is that beauty is fleeting, and men are wise to remember that their muscles shrink over time…tattoos can really look funny after a decade or two go by…and the Word of God says: “For [God] knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more (Psalm 103:14-16).” If this doesn’t sober you up, then not much will.

 

Sometimes when we think of God’s people in the Old Testament, we automatically leap to those images of suffering represented during the time of enslavement to the Egyptians or the time of war during the taking of the Promised Land, or perhaps we jump forward in time from these events to Daniel in the Lion’s den and the exile God’s people experienced in Babylon, etc. My point is that we forget that there was a time of great prosperity for God’s people. We forget that there was a time when everything that the Lord said would happen in their inheriting an amazing land overflowing with milk and honey actually happened. God kept His promise and made them a great nation. You’ve heard of the glory of David and you’ve heard of the greatness of Solomon. This was the golden era of God’s United Kingdom and even after the division of kingdoms separating the northern kingdom of Israel from the southern kingdom of Judah, there was still staggering remnants of great prosperity. And the people dressed like it. And they forgot about God.

 

In the first part of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah rebukes the sin of God’s people and reveals their idolatry…again the basic sin problem: they forgot about God and started loving other things more than God. Remember Christians, idolatry isn’t some strange sin that doesn’t apply to us anymore. We commit idolatry – what is really the worst of all sins – when we love anything above God (which is just another way of putting our wills over God’s will). I’ve mentioned to you before what Timothy Keller covers in his book Counterfeit Gods…in our world today and in our American culture, idolatry is committed through people loving success, power, money, and quote “love” unquote way more than God. For example, it is easy to see that many people are driven by success. They serve success, they bow down before success, because success will get them up first thing in the morning and drive them to work to the bone till late at night; marriages and families are sacrificed for the god of success…we love success in our country and it is so prevalent that we will do just about anything for this god. Idolatry is real.

 

Now what does this have to do with Isaiah 11? Well, it is the basis for talking about “stumps.” Isaiah 11:1 says, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Stump language is the language of what happens when people lose their heads and start caring more about how they look and their success and their wealth and their bodies more than God. And as soon as they think that they are all that and a bag a chips, standing tall like a proud, beautiful tree saying, “Look at me! Look at me! I am strong, I am sleek, I am beautiful, I am successful!” God says, “Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1^st Corinthians 10:12)

 

Stump language is the language when God comes up to the proud, beautiful tree who is now bragging about life without God and God judges that tree. God takes an ax and chops it down and then what is left of the proud tree? Answer: A stump. That is what stump language is about. It is about what happens when people forget about God. They are left to be a stump. God chops down and what is left is desolate and hopeless.

 

Just prior to our text in Isaiah, God revealed His judgment against Assyria, the once proud, powerful nation that did not know the Lord. These are the two verses at Isaiah 10:33-34 leading up to Isaiah 11:1:

 

“Behold, the Lord God of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. ³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.”

            Proud and beautiful Assyria was chopped down and became a stump. And here’s the really scary and humbling part: once Assyria became a stump, that was it for Assyria. That nation NEVER made a come-back. Once it became a stump, it was nothing. It was game over. Kaput!

Then Isaiah 11 starts: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” The people of God had once become so proud that they forgot about God and God judged them and they were reduced to a stump. Remember the great king of Israel was David, but his dad’s name was Jesse…this verse at Isaiah 11:1 teaches us that David’s great nation was reduced to a stump. But…and there are some conjunctions you really have to pay attention to…but…this stump didn’t stay a stump and this is the Gospel for you and for me.

Don't be fooled! Christmas hasn't started yet. What you're hearing and seeing in the world is a deception!

In actuality, tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent. This is the season of preparation. And boy, do we need it.

The world (in the sense of the sin in the world and in ourselves of course) tempts you to forsake proper preparation and instead to dive right into the tumultuous stressors of the world with Christ. This way, Christmas will lose its meaning; lose its significance and this way, you will be lulled to sleep and perhaps even lose your way.

It is quite possible that in the last couple of weeks, you've already had ample opportunity to compromise and chances are, you've once again been reminded of your own sin. This is not an accident. We are in a battle and this is why our text for tomorrow says, "put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12b)."

Tomorrow we will equip you to deal with the distractions which bombard us and you will receive God's message of how we live in light of what is coming...it is a light so bright that it already leads us -- by God's grace -- to know the life of Jesus in our lives here and now.

Come and be fed; come and be blessed. The Lord's gifts are just that: gifts. He loves you and will prove it once again tomorrow morning. Come and receive His light!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“Getting Ready For Christmas”

(Romans 13:11-14)

The First Sunday in Advent, December 1^st, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

 

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving, even though it was marred by the invasion of Black Friday when it wasn’t even Friday but still Thanksgiving. While we were in Bakersfield to see family, my wife took my niece to Walmart who had a voucher guaranteeing my niece a purchase of a high-demand item…all she had to do was interrupt her Thanksgiving between the hours of 6 and 7 pm. Traci said that the lines at the Walmart were winding through the regular aisles of the store. It was a complete madhouse. We made it back home to Lake Forest Friday evening, but on Saturday morning as I was writing this sermon, I heard a Walmart television commercial advertising its “Black Friday” sale spilling over this entire weekend. In other words, “Black Friday” extends its tentacles of commercialism both before and after Friday! In the meantime J.C. Penney came up with a jingle that replaces “Fa La La La La, La La La La,” with “Go Go Go Go Go, Shop Shop Shop Shop.” This is beyond nauseating.  Of course we’re just warming up, since tomorrow is “Cyber Monday.”

 

I try to put all of this in perspective. When I was doing my doctorate at the University of Birmingham, the program required a one-month residency for every year I was enrolled over six years, so I ended up spending a lot of time in England. Birmingham is the second largest city in England, so it’s a pretty happening place. I would do my grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s which I believe is the leading grocer in England. It’s a good grocery store with really everything you need, but I noticed a different feel in the store in comparison to our stores here in the U.S. Frankly, the difference is that our stores have an over-flowing abundance that is practically extreme. We are extraordinarily spoiled in our country.

 

My experience, however, is nothing compared to some of us who have spent time in countries suffering in poverty. In comparison to these countries, a U.S. store has more on their shelves in one of our aisles than the entire inventory in the stores of countries struggling to supply basic needs.

 

I can’t shake the image of people in the Philippines currently overjoyed just to have food to survive right now vs. the image of Americans with stuff coming out of their ears.

 

And the particular life distraction that I’ve just described is just one distraction from your walk with God among many. For example on a separate note from the stuff-craze in our materialistic society, we joke about the whole food thing. A report said that the average American will need about 4 ½ hours of cardio exercise to work off the amount of food they ate for Thanksgiving. I told myself that I would take a better approach this year, but that didn’t keep me from a slice of apple pie, a slice of pumpkin pie, and a slice of key lime pie. It is easy to laugh off certain sins, but gluttony is a real problem. So there are two distractions that I’ve now listed, but there are many more.

 

The one I mention now comes from your pastor who is a huge sports enthusiast: I was reminded that Thanksgiving was an amazing opportunity to foster precious relationships. You know, regardless of how you feel about your extended family, these are people that God has put into your life. He has done so for a reason. We can choose how we will treat these relationships. In many cases, you are God’s chosen instrument for sharing the Gospel with the members of your family. But – while we have these golden opportunities set before us – what so often happens is that our huge, loud, and impressive “entertainment” systems can completely swallow up the atmosphere. On Thursday, the Oakland vs. Dallas NFL game was a game of interest for me, on Friday, the Lakers-Pistons NBA game was a game of interest for me, and yesterday, the UCLA-USC NCAA football game was a game of interest for me, but what are these in comparison to the relationships? Last Thursday, I spoke to one dear family member about what is important and what lasts in life, a conversation that led us to the one thing needful: the Lord; last Friday, I reminded a dear family member that Jesus is her key to heaven…these moments were worth more than the sum total of sports I could ever watch in my entire life.

 

But these are just three distractions, just three. This is also the season for drink. Even those of us who do not drink much at all, it is so easy to find ourselves at parties where social drinking is as easy as chips and dip. But alcohol quickly takes on a life of its own. At one of the conversations last Thursday, I shared with family members gathered that the wine we shared at that table was complementary to the four uses either described or prescribed in Holy Scripture: the Word of God either permits or directs the use of alcohol for 1) medicinal purposes; 2) to help the bereaved; 3) to celebrate; and 4) the Lord’s Supper. As we drank wine, both my brother Larry and sister Susan added the good addendum: “but in moderation,” to which I replied, “Amen.”

 

But how easy is it for us to slip and go too far? Even the strongest Christian never matures past the possibility of falling on account of drinking too much. The strongest Christian has the ability to get carried away, drink too much, and then do or say something they will later regret. It has happened among Christians in the body of Christ and it can easily happen again.

 

Why I am taking this real-life inventory? Because the combined distractions are formidable in threatening to completely erase from our view what is really important: living in faith, hope and love. And what is perhaps the most serious distraction is one I haven’t even mentioned yet: the holiday’s are a time of stress. In my 22 years in pastoral ministry, I know this seasonal dynamic like the back of my hand: family conflicts are heightened, financial burdens are magnified, personal struggles with depression are easily aggravated, time-management is tested to the limits. That is – unfortunately – the season of “peace on earth” through our Savior Christ is often morphed into the season of anxiety and stress. This is the season for blow-ups and blow-outs and I’m no longer talking about big sales in the stores.

 

Put all of these distractions together and now we know why Saint Paul addresses the Christians in Rome this way (of course we have to make adjustments for cultural evolutions), but the words are quite applicable to us as well:

 

Romans 13:11a: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.”

 

This is not an admonition for unbelievers to come to faith. No, again, Saint Paul is writing to Christians. These people are already converted, these people know that their sins are forgiven and they know that they have eternal life in Christ. At the same time, they are encumbered by serious worldly distractions. Our distractions are capable of lulling us to sleep. Obviously, this sleep is metaphorical and Saint Paul does not mean actual sleep. This is the symbolic “sleep” of getting so distracted by the world that your faith seems to get lost in a maze. In the face of the world’s distractions, your faith can seem to disappear as if it were sleeping. The priorities of the faith can easily take a back-seat to the priorities of the world. And if our faith falls asleep on account of these, then we become “lukewarm” Christians who are in danger of losing our relationship with the Lord!

 

This is the sin being revealed in today’s epistle. Take it to heart Christian. Think about it: how does materialism, food, entertainment, drink, and stress impact your faith? How often do these things -- and the many other distractions of this world described as “the night” in verse 12 -- make you so tired, so busy, so encumbered that frankly, it’s easy to feel like you’ve run out of time and energy for prayer, for worship, for serving others who are less fortunate, for taking the time necessary to apply forgiveness to that relationship, and/or for taking the time necessary to share the Gospel? From the perspective of sin, the evil influences in the world, and the devil, these distractions are designed to make you ineffective in your faith so that you will sink into despair and not only be of no good to others, but even be an instrument of pain and further distraction to others. These are the things of “the night” that Saint Paul is warning us about and it’s as real as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but unfortunately these things of “the night” pervade all seven days of the week, all year round; and these things wind up and down souls far worse than the winding lines in Walmart.

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

As you know "Thanksgiving" is a national holiday, but the theme of thanksgiving is a basic expression of God's people. And when it flows from faith, it is also a virtue of the Holy Spirit which powerfully counters worry, bitterness, complaining, pessimism, discouragement and all sorts of attacks from our flesh and the evil one. Put simply: that which is against God does not want us to contemplate God's gifts which would otherwise fill us with thanksgiving! Our adversary knows that when thanksgiving fills us light overcomes darkness! To give thanks is to remember the myriad reasons we have to be joyful...to be thankful!

1) Even if I struggle with sin, I give thanks that my sins are forgiven in Christ.

2) Even if I struggle with physical resources, I give thanks that the Eternal Kingdom is mine in Christ.

3) Even if I struggle in earthly relationships, I give thanks for the peace of God that is mine in Christ.

4) Even if I struggle in my body and with my physical health, I give thanks for the assurance that the new heaven and the new earth will include my restored body.

5) Even if I feel anxiety and stress, I give thanks that I have God's invitation and welcome to call on His Name and to know that He hears me and answers me in accord with His perfect will.

6) Even if I feel discouraged, I give thanks that I can open my lips to praise the Name of the Lord; that I can fill the airwaves around me with thanksgiving to my God for loving me so much that Jesus lived, died, and rose for me.

7) Even if I feel isolated and depressed, I give thanks that I am welcomed into the family of believers and that to worship the Lord is God's invitation for me to be lifted up by the power of His Word and Sacrament.

8) Even if I struggle with energy and motivation, I give thanks that the Lord never lacks energy and motivation to serve me with His Word and Sacrament, and He never tires of loving me and granting me mercy.

9) Even if I am confused and confounded, I give thanks for the clarity of the Gospel for me...God's grace to me is clear to Him and this is the most important clarity: I belong to the Lord through Jesus!

10) Even if this season makes my head spin, I give thanks that I am safe in the arms of Christ who holds me and keeps me safe in His loving arms as He keeps me in my baptismal grace and feeds me through His body and blood.

11) I give thanks because in Christ I know who I am, I know where I am from, I know why I am here, and I know where I am going: I give thanks that I am a beloved child of God; that I am from God's gracious, purposeful, and miraculous creation; that I am here to love Him and to love those He puts in my life; and I know that I am going to eternal glory to be with the Lord and with all who belong to Him...and I give thanks that this is not by might, not by power, not by my discipline, not by my holiness, not by anything in me, but by His grace, His love, and His mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior.

Tomorrow is the Last Day...of the Church Year. 🙂

Point blank: why do so many people NOT persevere until the end? Or asked differently, why do so many people give up the faith? Or asked more personally, why do I struggle with the temptation to give up?

This is what Malachi 3:13-18 is about. It is a MARVELOUS text in God's Word and I can't wait to share this sermon with you.

For today, let me offer this, because it's good to review; it is good for the soul:

WHY GO TO CHURCH?

1) Because God commands us to gather for worship in the 3rd commandment.

2) Because God directs us not to neglect meeting together and to continue to gather to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25).

3) Because Christ commands us to "do this" (that is we are to constantly receive) the Lord's Supper for the forgiveness of sins.

4) Because of our great need as sinners, we need to receive through the means of grace, the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins constantly.

5) Because we actively struggle with our own sin and the temptations of the world and the devil which assail us, so we need to be strengthened through the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.

6) Because God has also commanded us to abide in His Word and to grow in the knowledge of His Word in many references of Sacred Scripture.

7) Because we are gifted as individual members in the Body of Christ (1st Corinthians 12) and we are called to share these gifts in service to one another.

8) Because we have both the responsibility and opportunity to help support the critical commission and commands the Lord has given to His Church to fulfill -- for example -- the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.

9) Because the Lord has appointed a pastor and congregation to care to for us and we have opportunity to not only honor God, but to support the ongoing existence of these. To put it bluntly, if no one supports these, they disappear.

10) Because tomorrow morning is the one and only Sunday that I am guaranteed as of tomorrow morning...it is the only one I know I have (if I wake up tomorrow morning)...and on this Lord's Day I have the opportunity to honor the Lord and to receive His gifts.

11) Because it is easy to say you love God, but as far as God is concerned there is only one thing that demonstrates our claimed love: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1st John 5:3)."

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“‘What’s In It For Me?’ and Other Such Questions As The Last Day Approaches” (Malachi 3:13-18)

Last Sunday of the Church Year, November 24^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It is a fact that people speak “hard against God” as our reading from Malachi 3 says this morning. That is people are supremely smug in their criticism against God, especially as they use these criticisms as rationales for not believing in God. When people do this they justify – or at least try to justify – living life as if there is no God. This makes things supremely convenient for the sinful flesh, so that we are also justified in doing whatever we want. Which is to say to disbelieve in the true God is to reinforce our justification for being our own god (a very unwise path to say the least), but this is the reason that the saying is true: everyone – in their own way – is quite religious; everyone follows something, even if that something is themselves.

 

But when arrogance takes over, people – mere mortals – speak “hard against God.” To speak “hard” is to speak critically. As easy as it is for some to complain about our government (even though we are called to pray for our governmental leaders, 1^st Timothy 2:2), some find it just as easy – or easier – to complain against God. The original word in Hebrew for this speaking “hard,” is to be speaking “strong,” or in a way that is insolent, presumptuous, wicked, godless, and rebellious. This is the spirit that is completely resistant to God and puts oneself over God. In fact when God in Malachi 3:13 points out the problem, these insolent men talk back and become argumentative towards God: “How have we spoken against you?”

 

You might think to yourself that right about now we should be relieved that the Scriptures here are about the prophet Malachi speaking to a very specific audience: to the priests and people in Judah, and – “whew” – not to me! After all, I am certainly not so insolent as that! But be warned dear Christian: do not lose the application of this word to you and me today. Our sinful flesh is still with us and it knows full well the way of insolence and the resultant hardness towards the Lord! Malachi’s words are just as applicable today when it comes to our sinful nature…we do not want God telling us, we want to tell God! And for this we just plain deserve to die, because it means that we fight against the very Author of Life Himself! So Solomon taught: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12).”

 

How can we be so sure of the contemporary application to us today? Because our flesh tempts us daily to focus on the critical analysis as elaborated upon in the next verse at Malachi 3:14 which seeks to justify our hardness and criticism against God:

“You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’”

 

And here we see what the flesh, the sinful nature in all of us does with religion and faith. To put it plainly our sinful nature makes a grandiose presumption about why we are alive, why we are here. That presumption and assumption is that we are here to be pleased on the basis of our own standard, our own desire; we are here to have what we want. Rhonda Byrne wrote a little book in 2006 entitled The Secret which was hugely successful. Here Ms. Byrne explains her basic premise:

 

            There is a truth deep down inside of you that has been waiting for you to discover it, and that Truth is this: you deserve all good things life has to offer. You know that inherently, because you feel awful when you are experiencing a lack of good things. All good things are your birthright! You are the creator of you, and the law of attraction is your magnificent tool to create whatever you want in your life. Welcome to the magic of life, and the magnificence of You! (p. 41)

 

Our flesh likes the worldview that we are the creator of ourselves. That we have a right to take what is pleasing to us. If we believe something is good for us, then that becomes our birthright; that becomes what drives us. Now there are many things in this life that we have freedom to desire or not to desire. If you have interest in certain forms of entertainment (I recommend the Lakers) or if you have an interest to pursue a certain hobby, or if you have preferences in the civil realm when it comes to cultural traditions or political systems, that’s fine, but we cross a line when we presume that our source of peace, our source of identity, our understanding as why we are alive becomes about what we want. This is a grandiose assumption and it is easily applied to faith in the minds and hearts of many. And the moment we permit ourselves to think this way, to expect this way, we set ourselves up for bitter and discouraging disappointment, because this is not why we are here and this is not what the Lord has called us to live for (unless you understand that the desire of faith is the desire for the Lord Himself and His will).

            And yet even Christians are tempted to play this game. To go back to Malachi 3:14 again: “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’” And this time we add the consideration of the next verse, verse 15: “And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.” And this thought-line of the seeming unfairness of living in faith compared to those who do not believe and yet so often seem so strong, rich, and successful in this life, can be a great source of discouragement for God’s people. Psalm 73 is an amazing elaboration of this very observation that can fill our souls with frustration and tempt us to think that the Lord is permitting an unjust and an unfair situation. We must be very careful against this way of thinking most especially when we take into consideration what will happen in the End when the Lord comes to judge, but first things first.

 

Malachi 3:14-15 teaches us about two HUGE mistakes people make about what faith is, and what the life of faith is about:

I am constantly deeply impressed with the way in which God's Word written 2000 years ago (New Testament) is so amazingly applicable to our lives today. As we approach the end of the church year, we also consider the end when Christ will come again in glory, the end of the world, and our own end. But these themes are not intended for us to get lost in fanaticism, but rather they are intended to lead us to God's way of keeping perspective and living well...in fact, living excellently.

God's way is anything but trying to predict the future, instead it is what some might construe as not very glamorous or exciting. It is an approach, however, packed with wisdom. It (the approach to living in the end times) is so ordinary and yet when properly understood, we see wisdom in it and immense fulfillment while we do good.

So "let us not grow weary of doing good (2nd Thessalonians 3:6-13)!" What is this way of living? What is this God-given counter to anxiety and carrying on about the end times? Come to God's house tomorrow and find out.

For now, I'll give you a clue: the way God calls us to live is in imitation of the ants and the bees...yes, I wrote the ants and the bees...again, come to God's house and be fed and nourished and come and be affirmed in God's way of living in the end times.

Also, come and receive God's great gift of Christ's very body and blood. Come and receive this gift for the forgiveness of all your sins...not some of them, not many of them, not most of them...ALL of them.

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“Do Not Grow Weary In Doing Good”

(2^nd Thessalonians 3:6-13)

26^th Sunday after Pentecost, November 17^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. As we have now come to the second-to-last Sunday in the Church Year we are especially cognizant of the end times. Let us be clear about what the Lord teaches in His Word: you are living in the end times. You are -- right now -- living in the last days. That’s a fact. It is also a fact that Scripture teaches – clearly – that no one knows when Christ will come again (Acts 1:7) and it is also a fact that these last days may come to an end today or tomorrow, or long after you and I have died. We just don’t know when the end will occur and God makes it clear that it is not for us to know anyway.  In spite of this clarity on the matter, however, it is simply incredible to observe the unceasing fanaticism regarding the end that we see all around us.

 

Many of you are aware that this area of eschatology (end time teaching) and apocalyptic (the kind of genre represented by Revelation and Ezekiel) -- esp. as it is employed in popular American theology -- is my favorite area in sacred theology. My concern for this grew out of a childhood experience: my big brother Robert (a good reader his entire life) had a fascinating collection of books in our room. One of those books was Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth. That book was the #1 best-seller of all books, of all genres and types in the decade of the 1970’s in the United States of America, selling about 30 million copies. The theology represented by that book which fully claims to accurately represent the teaching of God’s Word is both wrong and scary. All of the 21 plagues described in the book of Revelation -- which we understand as representing what sin has already brought into the world and already remedied by Jesus -- are said to be coming in our future (keep in mind that this is a gross mishandling of the book of Revelation). In Lindsey’s book The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon Christians were to consider the likelihood that the decade of the 1980’s would be the last of history as we know it, and in a later Lindsey book Planet Earth – 2000 A.D. Christians received a revised and updated prediction that by the year 2000 they should not anticipate being on earth.

 

But predictions of the end are nothing new. Like Harold Camping who predicted that the end of the world would occur on May 21^st, 2011, and then adjusted his prediction to October 21^st, 2011, William Miller before him first predicted March 21^st, 1843 and then revised his prediction to March 21^st, 1844 (Rowe, God’s Strange Work, 176). When Jesus did not come as predicted, this led to what historians refer to as “The Great Disappointment.” “There is no doubt that many Millerites, as reported, gave away or sold their possessions, stopped working, paid off debts, and settled old quarrels (ibid, 190).” But when the prediction failed, do you think that was going to stop predictions of the end? Not even close!

 

Hal Lindsey belongs to this tradition (as did the late Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel and of course as my favorite example Tim LaHaye of Left Behind fame does). These Christian teachers believe that when Jesus in Matthew 24:34 and Luke 21:32 referred to “this generation,” that that generation is the generation that is connected to the modern state of Israel coming into existence in 1948. Now if a “generation” is about 40 years, one can see why someone like Hal Lindsey would like 1988: 1948 + 40 years in a generation = 1988. One of the in-house debates of those who think this way is to try to establish what is meant by “a generation.” Is it 40, 60, or 80 years or more? Or should the counting begin not with 1948, but 1967 when Israel took Jerusalem during the Six Day War? Tim LaHaye has given himself more wiggle room and has warned us that the rapture – as they understand it – will occur before the beginning of 2025 (Are We Living in the End Times, 61). Once again, the predictions just keep coming. It seems inevitable for example that just as December 21^st, 2012 received immense press, that when 2029/2030 and 2032/2033 roll around in relation to the crucifixion of our Savior, we will see all of the excitement all over again…but I’d better be careful now, because now I’m making predictions!

All of this dear Christians is precisely the trouble that Saint Paul was dealing with when he wrote the letters to the Thessalonians. We have end-time mania now, we had it in the 1900’s, in the 1800’s (and throughout history), and it was very much alive and well in the first-century A.D. when Saint Paul wrote the first verse of our epistle this morning (2^nd Thessalonians 3:6):

 

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

 

What does it mean to “walk in idleness” and to do so “not in accord with the tradition [that is apostolic teaching]?” The spectacular and extremely practical teaching coming out of our epistle is on how our work, our labor, our vocations, our jobs, our careers -- what God has given us to live on, by which and through which we are able to take care of ourselves -- these are the God-given gifts that occupy our time in God’s service in the world and in society. Your labor, your work, your living keeps you – as the saying goes – “out of trouble,” it keeps you “busy” in the best sense of the word so that you are productive in using the gifts, the skills, and abilities that God has given you in order to help people around you. That is, the best way to avoid worrying about the end of the world and avoiding a religious fanaticism about predictions and such is to work, to labor, and to provide for yourself…this honors God, it serves people, and it provides clarity for living.

 

Religious and spiritual fanaticism, however, was taking over the hearts and minds of some of the members of the church in Thessalonica. “In view of the nearness of the [second coming of Christ] (as they thought) they were refraining from doing any work. They would find such conduct all the easier in view of the Greek idea that labor was degrading (Morris, Leon, The New International Commentary On The New Testament: The First and Second Epistles To The Thessalonians, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmanns Publishing Co., 1959:251).”

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor