Where Is Jesus?

Sermon preached at Our Savior on May 16th, 2010 for Ascension (observed). Sermon text: Luke 24:44-53

There are few things more frustrating than being stuck waiting for someone. It's happened to you before. You're with a group of people, but one person is still missing. And it's not just any person, it's the one person you really need to be there.  So there you are, with a group of people, waiting, checking your watch, wondering how long this will take.

I remember being at a restaurant with a large group of family. The restaurant was packed that night; the waiting area was so full there was barely room to stand. Thankfully, we'd made reservations. No waiting for us; we'd get right to our table, right? Wrong. This restaurant had a policy: no party could be seated until every person in that party had arrived. Of course, someone was late. So we waited.

This kind of problem can come to our minds when we think of the day we celebrate today: Ascension. Jesus ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, it sounds so powerful and important -- and it is! But still, it might just leave us wondering: where is Jesus? Isn't he the guy we need around the most? Wouldn't the message of Jesus be more effective, wouldn't we have more hope and joy in our lives, if Jesus was actually here with his church? Sure, Jesus will return one day; we know that. But what are we supposed to do until then? Do we just sit here waiting?

Witness the Power of the Word

Sermon preached on 5/9/10 at Our Savior. Sermon text: Acts 14:8-18

Sometimes someone's words have the power to change everything. One such person is mom. Let's face it, what your mother says means a lot. If you're hurt, or down, or discouraged, sometimes some words of comfort from your mom might be one of the few things that will make you feel better. Of course, no criticism will get your attention more than words of disappointment from mom.

Yes, moms' words really have power for us. You can probably all think of words from your mom that have meant a lot to you throughout your life. And I hope you take the time today to give thanks for the gifts from God that moms really are.

Our text for this morning doesn't focus on moms, but it does focus on powerful words. The most powerful Word comes from God himself. God's Word, the Bible, is God's power, working for our good. We talk about that a lot here, how important the Bible is, how we always want to be reading and studying it, how powerful it is. If you've been coming to this church for any length of time, you're probably used to hearing how powerful God's Word is. 

I Have Made You a Light

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 5/2/10 for the 5th Sunday of Easter. Sermon text: Acts 13:44-52

It was a very dark time in the history of our world. The most important, most precious message ever heard wasn't treated as something precious, but as something to suppress, something to silence. The message of Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world, the one who died and rose for the sins of world -- that message should have been greeted with shouts of joy, but it wasn't. Many hated the message, and they wanted it to disappear forever.

This dark time that I'm talking about is from the time of our text from the book of Acts, but really it could have been referring to our time today. Make no mistake: there are enemies of the Gospel. People are out there who want to extinguish the light of the world forever. It might not seem like that here this morning. We're here worshiping safely in a beautiful building. But the opposition is there. Maybe it's in the little remarks that someone makes to you like, "why do you bother going to church?" Maybe it's the fact that it's easier to find anti-Christian ideas on tv or on the internet or on the radio than it is to find the truth. Maybe it's the opposition that comes from our own hearts: the part of us that doesn't think Jesus and his Word are really that big of deal at the end of the day. The part of us that reacts with apathy and a shrug to that precious message.

But look again. Look at the treasure we have! Despite how it's treated, by people around the world, or even by ourselves at times, the message of Jesus our Savior shines as a light in this dark world. The message is that Jesus didn't just die for the world, but he died for you. The message is that Jesus rose and someday all believers will rise, but you will rise to eternal life through faith in him. When we see how precious the message of Jesus is to us, we'll want to share it. Not because we have to. Not because it's what everybody else is doing. No, sharing the good news of sins forgiven in Jesus' name is a joy! And it's what God has made us for. He has empowered us and given us a mission in this world. He lets us reflect the brightness of Jesus in a sin-darkened world. He tells us, "I have made you a light."

Believing Is Seeing

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 4/11/10 for the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Sermon text: John 20:19-29

"I'll believe it when I see it." That's something that we say when we're very skeptical about something, when we think that something probably isn't true, and most likely won't ever be true. Will they ever build hotels on the planet Mars and make it a vacation destination? Well, I'll believe it when I see it. That doesn't seem very likely to me. Will the Sabres win the Stanley Cup and the Bills win the Super Bowl in the same year? I suppose it's possible, but...I'll believe it when I see it. Will the 219 expressway ever be completed to stretch from I-90 all the way to I-86? I'll believe it when I see it.

Of course, there have been many things that people never believed would happen, but then they did see them. I'm sure many people in the past would've never believed that human beings would walk on the moon. But when it finally happened and millions got to see it live on TV in 1969, suddenly people believed.

Some things we don't have the luxury of seeing, though. Who would ever believe that a man would be killed and then would come back to life? And not only that, who'd ever believe that that man's death and life would mean that we get eternal life in heaven?  It's pretty incredible -- almost unbelievable -- when you think about it.

But we believe it. As Christians, that's exactly what we believe. That's exactly what Easter is all about. Christ has died. Christ is risen! Christ will come again and take us to be in heaven with him forever. We've never seen these things. But we believe them. The Holy Spirit has worked through God's Word to give us faith to trust that Jesus is alive and that we are forgiven. For us, as Christians, believing is seeing. Our faith is the sight God gives us to see his love, to see our Risen Savior.

The disciples on that first Easter were given an opportunity that we don't have today: they saw the Risen Jesus with their own eyes. "On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (Jn. 20:19)

Now, I mentioned this last week, but that first Easter Sunday wasn't this day of unbridled joy for the disciples that we'd think it would've been. Our text mentions they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had arrested Jesus and eventually had him executed by the Romans. The disciples didn't understand Jesus was going to rise. Sure, he'd told them. Sure, they should have known and understood it from Scripture. But they didn't. And despite reports from several women that Jesus had risen, they didn't believe it. Instead, on the evening of Easter, the disciples were afraid and locked in a room together.

But then Jesus is there. And suddenly their fears are gone. Suddenly Jesus' words give them what they need: "Peace be with you!" And then they have the peace of knowing their teacher and Savior was alive, that their sins were forgiven, that all of Jesus' promises would come true. And Jesus even comforted them by giving them even more proof. "After [Jesus] said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord." (Jn. 20:20)

Jesus' wounds on his hands and side -- the very things that would've inspired horror in the disciples earlier -- were now a source of comfort.  The nail marks in his hands and the cut in his side proved that Jesus had died, but that death had lost its power over him. No wonder the disciples were overjoyed. Death would have no power over them either, because of what Jesus had done.

They were all overjoyed, of course, except for Thomas. Our text tells us that for whatever reason, Thomas wasn't there on that Easter evening. (Jn. 20:24) The disciples told him that they'd seen Jesus, that he was alive. But listen to Thomas's response: "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (Jn. 20:25) In other words, Thomas said: I'll believe it when I see it.

Doubting Thomas, we hear him called today. He refused to believe not only Jesus' own words that he would rise, but he wouldn't even believe his fellow disciples when they saw Jesus for themselves. That's worse than doubting; that's the sin of unbelief.

But then Jesus appeared again. He showed Thomas his hands and side just like he'd asked. And he said to him, "Stop doubting and believe." (Jn. 20:27) And just as quick as that, Thomas did believe. He goes on to confess that Jesus isn't just alive, but he's also God himself. "Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20:28) Then Jesus gives us the point of this story with his last words to Thomas in our text. "Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (Jn. 20:29)

And we hear that whole story, and we hear what Jesus says at the end, and we think, "Yes! Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed! That's us! We haven't seen Jesus, yet we believe in him. We must be pretty great. We're better than all the disciples, nothing could ever shake our faith."

Be careful. Don't look at Thomas as an example of a sin that other people fall into but you never could. Doubts are things that creep into our minds and our hearts when we don't expect it. And if we think we're somehow immune from ever having doubts, then those doubts are going to be even more destructive to our faith.

Think about the situation the disciples were in. It was high stress. They'd just seen their master killed. They were afraid of the Jews arresting them. At first, none of the disciples believed that Jesus had risen. They only believed when they actually saw him. Thomas was the same way. The other disciples doubted, too, we just don't usually think of it that way.

What about your doubts? Are you ever the one acting like Thomas? Maybe you're thinking, "no, I have no doubts. I believe in Jesus and that has never changed in the least." Well, that's great that you think that.

But what about when things aren't going well for you? What about when you're scared like the disciples were. Our fears might have to do with uncertainty about our life or our job. Our fears might center on our thinking that we just can't succeed, that we're bound to fail in what we're doing. Our fears might center on sickness that is affecting ourselves, or affecting our loved ones. When those fears hit us, the doubts aren't far behind.

Does God really love me? Does God really hear my prayers? Think about the problems and fear you've had in your life recently. When those fears hit, did you go to God in prayer? Did you trust that he would take care of it? Did you open the Bible and see what God might have to say about your problem? Or, did you just worry about it? Maybe you just got angry about it, angry at yourself or people close to you.

Yes, those doubts are never far from any of us. Maybe you've even doubted whether anything God says is really true. Maybe you've even doubted whether Jesus rose from the dead or not. Make no mistake about it, these doubts -- all of these doubts -- are sins. They're a bit of unbelief creeping into our hearts. And we all have these doubts at times in one form or another. The question is, what can we do about it? Where can we turn?

Jesus told us where to turn. Did you catch it in our text? Jesus was talking about it. When he appeared to his disciples the first time, he said to them, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (Jn. 20:21) Even when Jesus was no longer visible in this world, his disciples would carry on his mission. And what was his mission? He tells that to his disciples, too.

"If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (Jn. 20:23)  Jesus told his disciples that they could announce his forgiveness. And how would they announce his forgiveness By announcing that Jesus had died and risen! By telling the good news of the gospel message. And the disciples did tell their message in writing down Jesus' story in the words of the Bible.

And when we read that message in the Bible of our forgiveness, we actually get that forgiveness. The Holy Spirit works through that gospel message to give faith and strengthen faith in that forgiveness. The same thing happens here on Sunday mornings. You confess your sins, and what do I say? "God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Those words aren't a sham. They're real. And they're not real because I said them. They're real because Jesus died and rose again. They're real because Jesus appeared to his disciples and gave them the authority to forgive sins. And when our sins are forgiven like this, it strengthens our faith. It builds up our confidence in what our Risen Savior has done. It reminds us that God does keep his promises, that our sins are forgiven.

Yes, we haven't seen Jesus alive with our own eyes. But we don't need to. For us, believing is seeing. We see the Risen Jesus by faith. Our faith is strengthened in his Word. Our faith grows when we hear that our sins -- even our doubts -- are forgiven. Our faith grows in the Savior who was dead but is alive forever and ever. And we look forward to seeing him in heaven, to see and touch his hands and side. To see, not just by faith, but also by sight, just exactly what God's love has done for us.

A Living Hope

Sermon for Easter Sunday – the Resurrection of our Lord – April 4, 2010. Based on 1 Peter 1:3-9.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Because this day happened -- because of Easter -- we never have to be afraid again. Because of Easter, we don't have to wonder what will happen to us when we die. Because of Easter, we know all God's promises will come true and we'll have all eternity to thank him for it. Because of Easter, we have hope.

But what is "hope" exactly? You hear the word all the time, from movies to political campaigns. We say the word ourselves. But what does the word actually mean?

It's a word that's used in different ways, with slightly different meanings. You could be talking about something that you have no expectation of actually happening. For example, you might say, "I hope I win the lottery." That's nice that you hope that, but I think we all know it's not going to happen. The odds are stacked against you. Hope all you want; you're probably not going to win the lottery anytime soon.

Sometimes we use the word for something that is a bit more likely to actually happen. "I hope we keep this nice weather up outside" or, "I hope it doesn't rain today." That might really happen. The weather might be great. But it also might not happen. Rain clouds could come, the weather could turn, and your hope would be wrong.

But there's another kind of hope. There's a hope for something that hasn't happened yet, but that we know will happen. It's something we're confident will happen. It's something we trust will happen. That's the "hope" that Easter gives us. Because of Easter, we have the sure hope that everything is going to work out for our good, because of what our Savior has done. He gives us that sure hope -- a living hope.

That's what our text is talking about. Peter wrote our text, and even though it was probably 30 years or so after the first Easter he's still just gushing with emotion as he writes, "Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3) It sounds like Peter is still filled with the same excitement that he must have had when Jesus first rose.

And even though we weren't there when Jesus rose, even though we didn't get to see him and the nail marks in his hands and feet, just maybe we can feel that excitement a little bit, too. If there's any day where we'd feel it, it'd be today. The Easter lilies, the feeling of an Easter Sunday morning, the hymns and songs we sing, it might fill your heart with that excitement, that living hope, that Peter is writing about. It might remind you that we do have a God who loves us, and a Savior who died and lives for us.

But it's hard to keep that excitement, that feeling going. How can you keep hope in your heart when the more you see of life all around you, the more things seem hopeless? There's so much talk about a recession and unemployment and "tough times" in our world today. You call that hopeful?

Our individual lives have their own problems, too. It could be not enough money to pay the bills. It could be fighting and turmoil in our relationships in our families, with our spouse, with our friends. It could be our work or school that just isn't going how we thought it would. It could be our plans that just never seem to amount to much of anything. And we wonder if God even loves us at all. You call that hopeful?

Peter, who wrote our text, would've understood these feelings. Sure, he'd been there on the first Easter. We heard about him in today's Gospel running to the tomb and seeing the burial cloths laying there. But was he overjoyed? Was the excitement just pouring out of him then? No. The Gospel of Luke tells us that when the women told the disciples about the empty tomb, "they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense." (Lk. 24:11) Then after Peter gets to the tomb himself, we hear that "he went away, wondering to himself what had happened." (Lk. 24:12)

That first Easter didn't start out full of happy excitement, not for Peter. He and the other disciples, though Jesus had told them about it several times, still didn't understand or believe that he would rise from the dead. Peter himself had extra reason to feel bad. He had denied Jesus. He had abandoned his teacher, his Lord, and he had denied even knowing who he was. Who knows? Maybe Peter could have stopped this horrible tragedy from happening. Maybe he have done something. But he didn't. And he felt the guilt. How could God love someone like him?

Our mistakes and sins can bring that feeling to us. You might have that one sin that you know is wrong, but you keep doing it anyway. And every time you think...I failed again. And I really call myself a Christian?  God must really hate me at this point. What's the point of even trying anymore? And that guilt of our sin robs us of our joy and takes away our hope, leaving us empty.

But look! There at the tomb! It's empty, too! Friends, Peter might not have understood what that meant at first, but we do. An empty tomb means a living Jesus! A living Jesus means that our sins have been forgiven! Sins forgiven mean that we, too, will live forever in heaven. No matter what happens to us now, eternal life is the reward Jesus won for us! His empty tomb gives us a living hope!

And our hope is not just for heaven. Our living hope also means everything in our lives now. Peter recognizes the struggles we face. "Now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." (1 Pet. 1:6) Yes, life in this sinful world won't be easy. But since that tomb is empty, we won't be going it alone.

Think of it this way. Imagine you needed a ride from here to the airport. That's a bit of a drive, about an hour. But imagine that someone not only agreed to drive you to the airport, he also said he'd give you a ride whenever you need it. So later on, if you need a ride again, even if it's just a few blocks here in Springville, would you hesitate to ask that person? Of course not! He already drove you to the airport, of course he'll drive you a few blocks.

Now think of Jesus. He went to the grave. He went to hell and back -- for you! He died and rose -- for you! If Jesus did that much for you, won't he also be willing to be with you in the struggles of this life? If he fulfilled his promise of dying and rising, won't he also fulfill his promise of hearing your prayers and taking your burdens? Of course he will! Because the tomb is empty, because Jesus rose, we have comfort in our trials. We have a living hope!

In fact, our troubles actually benefit us now. Peter reminds us of this. "These [trials] have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Pet. 1:7)

Think of it, as you go through problems and struggles in your life. Because Jesus rose, he promises not only to be with you through those problems, he promises to use those problems to strengthen your faith. He uses your problems to drive you back to his Word, to rejoice again in how he died and rose for you. He uses your problems to remind you of your baptism, where God made you his own dear child forever. He uses your problems to drive you back to the altar to receive his true body and blood for your forgiveness! He blesses you, even through your problems -- all the way to eternal life. That's the living hope that only Jesus can give us.

And he gives that living hope to us freely. I hope you're excited today, and you have that Easter frame of mind. I hope it's a day that you're excited to be a child of God and believer in Jesus. But if you don't have that excitement, or if the excitement fades, don't worry. Jesus' love doesn't depend on your excitement. It depends on what he has done. And he has left his tomb empty.  And he's promised that your tomb will be empty, too. He has solved the problem of your sin and promised to be with you through all your problems in life. He is your Savior, and he's given you a living hope.

We close with Peter's words, just as true today as they were when he wrote them. "Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Pet. 3:9)

God Takes Us Back!

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 3/14/10 for the 4th Sunday in Lent. Sermon text: Judges 10:6-16


God Takes Us Back!


If there's one thing we have a lot of here in Springville, it's pizza places. They're everywhere here! But I want you to imagine this morning that, against all odds, another pizza place is opening. The owner of this new place is a nice man who is looking forward to serving the best pizza possible to the community.

Of course he has to hire all new workers to staff the restaurant. And there's one worker in particular that the owner really works with. This worker didn't really have any experience, but the owner hired him anyway, taught him the ins and outs of the job, and gave him a position of trust at the latest and greatest pizza joint in town.

Then the problems started coming. First, the worker was late. Then, he was caught stealing money out of the register. The owner, understandably, is angry. "How could you do this?! You're fired!" But the worker begs him to let him keep his job. And the owner listens; he takes him back.

It Could Happen to You

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 3/7/10 for the 3rd Sunday in Lent. Sermon text: Numbers 16:23-40

It Could Happen to You

"Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart." We live in a time and place here in our nation where we think anything is possible. Any success, any reward, any blessing, can be ours if we just try hard enough or are fortunate enough or just keep at it.

We know the lottery has astronomical odds. Yet people keep playing. Why? Well, maybe they'll win! The New York lottery's slogan is "Hey, you never know." And people spend millions on something with almost impossible odds. The same goes for being a professional athlete or professional musician. It's very long odds to actually be able to make a good living doing those things. But so many dream, and so many keep after their goal. Maybe it could happen!

I'm not sure why, but it seems that many people have the opposite thought when it comes to bad or undesirable things happening to them. All the blessings we enjoy in our lives probably contribute to this idea. A horrible, incurable disease? It could never happen to me! After all, we have doctors who know so much advanced medicine all around us. Getting in a car accident? It could never happen to me! I've been driving for years without so much as a scratch! Having my money stolen in some sort of scam? It could never happen to me! I'm very smart about such things; I'm too careful about what I do with my money.

Famous last words, right? So many people think it could never happen to them. But these things do happen. And sometimes we need to prepare for these things to happen, or take steps to make sure they don't.

And the same danger is there for us spiritually. Look at the blessings we have! We are Christians! We believe in the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that the  Bible is the true, inerrant and infallible Word of God. We belong to a church and church body that believes these things. We've got our names on the membership registry. What blessings we have! How good God has been to us! So the idea of falling away from our faith? It could never happen to me!

Ah, but it could! It could happen to you. We live in a world that's dangerous to our faith, a world where the devil prowls around like a roaring lion just waiting for someone to devour. (1 Pet. 5:8) We walk in danger all the way. Satan and all his evil, sinful forces have flaming arrows aimed directly for us. (Eph. 6:16) The odds, if you want to think of it that way, probably aren't in our favor. Our faith is in constant danger. If you think you're standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. (1 Cor. 10:12) Yes, it could happen to you.

Just look at our text. It picks up right in the middle of the action: "The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'" (Num. 16:23) This is the dramatic end to an event in Israel's history known as Korah's rebellion. It all happened during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that the people had to do because of their disobedience to God.

As you can imagine, pointless wandering for 40 years can get people in a bad mood. That's probably what had happened here. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with about 250 others, rebelled against Moses and his brother Aaron. They thought Moses and Aaron were lording it over all the other people in the nation (Num. 16:3), and they blamed Moses for the problems the nation was having wandering in the desert. (Num. 16:13-14)

So to solve this fight, Moses suggested letting God pick the winner. He told Korah to get a bunch of his men to light censers (which were incense burners) and burn them before the Lord at the tabernacle. God would then decide who was right. (Num. 16:5-7)

Now, it doesn't seem that Korah and the rest of these men had always been constant troublemakers. They were well known leaders in their community. (Num. 16:2) People liked and respected them. They probably hadn't been planning a rebellion all their lives.

In fact, look how God had blessed them! God had chosen these people to be his own nation as Israelites. He had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He had brought them through the waters of the Red Sea. He had fed them with manna on the ground and quail from the sky. He had allowed them to be respected community leaders with positions of importance in the nation. They probably would have never guessed that they'd be rebelling against their God-given leaders, against God himself. But that's what they did. It happened.

And it could happen to you. As I mentioned earlier, you have been greatly blessed. We live in a prosperous, safe country, where we can worship God freely. We have his Word widely available; we can read it, we can listen to it on cd, we can access it on the computer or even on our phone. We belong to a church and church body that takes God at his Word. We have the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper being administered right here. We have a beautiful church building and still relatively new addition. We have many different members with many different gifts helping each other and working together. We have our Lord's forgiveness for our sins and the comfort of salvation in heaven.

We've got it made! So we have nothing to worry about, right? Drifting away from the Bible? Falling away from the faith? Nah. Couldn't happen!

But it could. It could happen to you. Our lives feel like wandering in the wilderness sometimes. We wonder what the point of our lives is supposed to be. We get frustrated at the problems that come up. We struggle in relationships with others. We get angry when we don't get what we want. We sin and don't think it's a big deal at all.

You see how easy it is? We're in a good situation! God has chosen us! What could possibly happen? So we let our guard down. Reading the Bible becomes less important. The Lord's Supper becomes more about routine, or more about our preparation, and less about Jesus' gift. Church services become just something you do, just because, when you get a chance. Prayer becomes just something you talk about. And Jesus' forgiveness? Instead of our comfort and only hope, it becomes an excuse to do what we want.

Falling from faith happens to people. You probably know some of them. And no matter what you might think, it could happen to you. And the results are disastrous.

Look what happened in our text. God picked who was right, and it wasn't Korah and the others who rebelled. We read that "the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed th, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. (Num. 16:31-33) How horrific! How awful! It's like a scene from some horror movie. And those people offering the incense to the Lord who had rebelled didn't escape either. "Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense." (Num. 16:35) I don't think anyone who saw those scenes would've forgotten them anytime soon. Blessed people, people who had it all going for them -- they rebelled, and they lost it all.

Of course, when people lose their faith today, it's a lot less dramatic. No earthquakes. No fiery attacks from the Lord. People look normal. They go about their everyday lives. But really, what is happening is no less horrific, no less destructive. Loss of faith -- because that is the final result of these sins that go too far -- loss of faith means loss of salvation. Loss of eternal life. No horror movie can come close to that scene.

And I'm not trying to scare people here, but it could happen to you! That's the exact point that God made in our text, too. When those people offering incense had been burned up in the fire, it seems that all that was left of them was a pile of ashes and their bronze censers. So God commanded that the bronze from those censers be hammered and put on top of the altar in the tabernacle. (Num. 16:39) Why would he do this? "This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord." (Num. 16:40) Or, to put it another way, "It could happen to you."

Funny that the reminder was put right on the altar, though. Because that altar was meant to be a reminder of something else. Usually, it was blood that went on the altar, the blood of sacrifices. The message there was similar -- this blood could have been yours, but God is taking the blood of an animal in place of yours. God used his altar to teach his people how he forgave sins.

God uses that altar to remind us of another sacrifice. Jesus' blood was poured out on the altar of the cross. His life met the full force of God's wrath. And you know what, it could have been you meeting that wrath, paying with your life -- but it was Jesus. It could have been you paying the consequence of all your sins, but it was Jesus. It could have been you, suffering and dying. But it was Jesus.

If you think your sins are too great, if you think you will fall away because of all the wrong you've done, because of the rebellion you have committed, if you think, "God's love and forgiveness could never happen to me!" Look at Jesus. Look at that cross. Look at that empty tomb. It has happened to you. God's love happened to you in Christ.

He is your hope. He is your forgiveness. He is your not-guilty verdict when your rebellion should've made you guilty. Jesus is the life when you should have death. Fix your eyes on him! Run to his Word for the comfort of his forgiveness. Fall to your knees for his free mercy. Hunger and thirst for the comfort of his body and blood in the sacrament. He has heard you! No one who takes refuge in him is ever put to shame.

Will it happen to you? Can it happen to you? We might think we know the odds to lots of things in our lives. And we might be right and we might be wrong. But here are odds we can be sure of. On our own, we will fall away from our Savior. On our own, the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, will be too much for us. So let's never try it on our own. Let's stay with our Savior. Let's stay with Jesus and his Word. With him, forgiveness, life, and salvation aren't something that could happen to you. With Jesus, they're already yours.