Rest now, and rest when you’re dead

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 26

Hebrews 4:9-13  +  Matthew 11:25-30

Sunday’s Scripture lessons focused our attention on the judgment that will take place when Christ returns, the Great Separation, we called it, when He will finally separate the righteous from the unrighteous, the believers from the unbelievers. We heard about the horrible fate that awaits the unbelieving and the blessed future that awaits the believing.

Our lessons this evening spur us on toward that blessed future, which is sometimes described as our eternal “rest.” Sometimes, you’ll say to a very busy, active person, “You should rest!” And they’ll reply with, “I can rest when I’m dead.” And that’s true. Or it may be true. In a sense, everyone’s body will rest in the grave. But as we heard on Sunday, for unbelievers, there will be no rest for their soul when they die, while for believers in Christ Jesus, there remains a true rest after this life, for the body and for the soul. But the only way to achieve that rest is if you rest here first. Rest now, and then you’ll rest when you’re dead, too.

In the Old Testament, after the Lord rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, He promised to give them rest in the Promised Land. My Presence will go with you, God assured Moses, and I will give you rest—rest in the sense that they could cease from their labors, their toiling, their wandering, their battling and fighting; rest in the sense of peace and safety and contentment.

But in order for them to enter that rest, they first had to rest in God. That is, they had to rely on Him and not on themselves. They had to cease trusting in themselves and their works—much less in other gods—and seek shelter under the wings of their faithful Creator and Redeemer.

But, as you know, most of them didn’t. That entire first generation of adults who came out of Egypt were kept out of the promised rest in the Promised Land because of unbelief. As the Psalm says, Your fathers tested Me in the wilderness; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ And they didn’t. As Paul writes about them in 1 Corinthians 10, with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Still, the promised rest of the Promised Land was really a picture or a symbol of a much greater rest, the rest of the Promised Land of Paradise, the rest God has prepared for us with Him in heaven. That’s the rest God was teaching His people about in Psalm 95, speaking to the Israelites who had already entered the Promised Land. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness.” In other words, God still had a rest He wanted His people to enter, eternal rest and joy in His presence. And to enter that rest, they needed to live in repentance and faith. They needed to rest in God and trust in Him.

But most of them didn’t. They didn’t rest through faith; they didn’t cease from their sinning, from their impenitence, from working hard to get to heaven. They needed to rest here, rest now, and then they would have entered God’s eternal rest. But they didn’t rest here, so they didn’t enter that rest, either.

And so the writer to the Hebrews reminds his Christian readers, There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. And then he urges us, Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience—the example of the Old Testament Israelites, and the Jews of Jesus’ day, too, who refused to rest from their rebellion and from relying on their own works, who refused to rest in Jesus and let Him do the work of saving them by His perfect life and by His innocent death on the cross.

Jesus made the same appeal to those who followed Him: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Notice, He doesn’t offer His rest to those who were already resting securely in their own works and in their own righteousness. He offered it only to the weary souls who realized that their laboring and toiling couldn’t get them into heaven. To such people, Jesus offers rest. He invites us to believe in Him, to rest in Him through faith here and now, and then He promises that we will enter His eternal rest when He returns. As St. John writes in the book of Revelation, Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

St. Augustine once wrote these beautiful words: You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in You. Be diligent to find your rest in God here and now, in Christ Jesus, who holds His arms open wide for you to rest in Him by faith, to receive from Him the forgiveness of sins and to live each day of your life here under the shelter of His forgiveness.

If you rest in Him now in that way, you will still have plenty of labor and toil to do before the end, because life under the sun, life in this sinful world, is labor and toil, and the Christian life is not one of sitting around doing nothing, but of serving God with your whole life. Jesus doesn’t say, “Come to Me and do nothing.” What does He say, Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Rest now from earning your way into heaven. Rest now by trusting in Christ. And then you will rest when you’re dead, too, in the eternal rest that awaits all who rest in Christ by faith. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Wednesday, November 16th

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

1 Peter 4:1–7 (NKJV)

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Christ suffered for us. He allowed His flesh, at times, to be deprived of food and drink and sleep. He allowed His body to be whipped and beaten and nailed to a cross. He allowed His blood to be shed, to the point of death. He suffered God’s wrath in His flesh, all for us, so that we might never suffer God’s wrath in our flesh, so that we might be victorious over sin, death, and the devil, through faith in Christ our Lord.

This is the Christ in whom we believe. This is the Christ into whose death we have been baptized, “buried with Him through Baptism into death.” For what purpose? So that, as St. Paul writes, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). St. Peter urges the same thing, that we should no longer live for earthly pleasures and for sin, but for Him who died for us and rose again, that we should no longer participate in the sinful deeds that unbelievers label as “fun” or as “normal.”

You will be ridiculed, if you do not go along with the evil deeds of this world. People will speak evil of you if, for example, you keep the Sixth Commandment, honoring marriage and keeping the marriage bed pure. They will mock you and think you strange if you don’t join in their drunken parties, repeat their foul language, or accept their evolutionary lies.

But judgment is coming, Peter warns, and no one will escape. Those who have lived for the flesh and rejected the sound doctrine of God’s Word will have to give an account to God. The wisdom of this age says, “Live for the moment!” The wisdom of God cries out, “Live with an eye toward Judgment Day!” Cling to Christ for refuge. Keep watch, and pray!

Let us pray: O Lord Christ, help us in the midst of so many temptations and dangers of this world, that we may escape the judgment of the wicked and be counted among those who are righteous by faith in You. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Tuesday, November 15th

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

1 Peter 1:13–2:10 (NKJV)

13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. 1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

We Christians have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, which was sprinkled on us in holy Baptism. We have been made holy in God’s sight through faith in the precious blood of the Lamb of God. We have received pure, undeserved mercy from God. Therefore, says Peter, we have a solemn duty to lead holy lives that fit with the holy status we have been granted. Even as God, who gave us birth through His Word, is holy, so we are called to be holy in all that we do, “set apart” from the sinful world for the sacred service of the holy God.

Such holiness begins with faith, which is born of God’s Word and continually nourished and fed by God’s Word, just as babies are nourished with milk. Faith in Christ purifies everything that we do and makes it acceptable to God, for Jesus’ sake. It makes us into living stones in God’s temple, royal relatives of Christ our King and Brother, and priests who offer acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

Those sacrifices are the holy lives we strive to lead in the world and the works of love with which we serve our neighbor, according to our various vocations. We offer priestly sacrifices to God when we do good to our neighbor, pray for him, defend him, and speak the truth to him about his sin and about God’s mercy in Christ. We also offer the priestly sacrifice of praise, and of whole lives dedicated to His service. These sacrifices do not atone for sin; only the sacrifice of Christ accomplished that. They are, instead, offerings of thanksgiving, offered up daily by thankful priests, royal priests, Christians who have been chosen by God and called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ.

Let us pray: Holy Father, You have set us poor sinners apart and made us holy in Your sight by the holy, precious blood of Your Son. Preserve us in the holy faith and accept our humble sacrifices, that we may honor You with our whole life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Monday, November 14th

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Tom and Karen Klumb

1 Peter 1:1–12 (NKJV)

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

“Grace to you and peace be multiplied,” proclaims St. Peter in the opening of his First Epistle. Speaking as an ambassador for Christ Jesus, Peter bestows these very things upon the Christians who read and hear and meditate on his words. What greater comfort can the Christian find in this life than to know that our Triune God has arranged everything for our salvation, from beginning to end? From the Father’s election in eternity, to the Spirit’s sanctification in time, who sprinkled us with the justifying blood of Christ that is mixed with the water of Holy Baptism, our God has devoted Himself to helping us in our desperate need, working mightily to save us for time and for eternity.

Since we have been born again and made children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, Peter directs our eyes heavenward, to where our risen Savior reigns, and where our everlasting inheritance awaits. There is comfort and joy to be found in knowing ahead of time how the story ends for us, if, by God’s power and strength, we persevere in faith until the end. The story ends well, in unfading glory, in joy that will never end.

But there is great comfort, too, in knowing that even our present trials are not beyond God’s control. They are part of God’s design to keep us steadfast in the faith by exercising our faith, testing it, purifying it, and causing it to shine. And best of all, these trials are temporary, lasting only a “little while.” How it must drive the devil mad! He persecutes and afflicts us in order to tear us away from the faith. But God uses those very afflictions to drive us closer to Him and closer to His Word, as part of His good and gracious plan to bring us safely into our eternal inheritance.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for all You have done, for all You are doing, and for all You will do that we may receive the salvation of our souls. Grant us peace in every trial, that our faith may be preserved and purified according to Your will; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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The Great Separation will come after the Great Tribulation

Posted on November 13, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 26

2 Thessalonians 1:3-10  +  Matthew 25:31-46

Last week we heard Jesus warn His dear disciples about the great tribulation that is coming on the world leading up to His return. And here we are, right in the middle of it! And because of it, the Christian mourns in this world. That doesn’t mean you go around crying all the time or sad all the time. But those who know the difference between right and wrong, those who know the only true God and who believe His Word can’t help but be troubled when we see right being labeled as wrong and wrong as right, can’t help but mourn when we see lies being told and taking hold in our society, can’t help but mourn when we see evil triumph—or seem to, at least. Not only that, but anyone who would be true to the Christian faith has to be hated for it and mistreated for it in this world, to some degree. In fact, if you aren’t mourning at all, if your righteous soul isn’t troubled by all the evil and injustice that surrounds you, if you suffer nothing for your confession of Christ, then you’d better reevaluate what you believe and how you’re living in this world. No, the Christian who is faithful and practicing his or her faith mourns and is troubled, and suffers at least some degree of persecution.

But all of that is coming to an end. It isn’t coming to an end immediately; your God-given place on earth isn’t to fix everything here, isn’t to usher in a brave new world where justice reigns, isn’t to win the battle of good vs. evil while the sun still shines. God will win that battle on the Last Day, when the sun stops shining and the days of earth come to an end. That’s when good truly wins, that’s when the great tribulation will be over, when the King returns, to deal with the believers and the unbelievers, with the sheep and the goats. Both of today’s Scripture lessons direct our attention to the Last Day the great separation that will happen on that day, the great separation that comes after the great tribulation.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. And all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

This is the great separation, at the end of the age. It doesn’t happen now. Now, the godly are scattered among the nations—among all the nations of the earth. The children of God live alongside the children of the devil. And we can’t always know for sure who is who, either. Those who openly deny Christ are obviously among the goats. But Jesus says that many will say to Him, Lord! Lord!, on the last day, and He won’t acknowledge them as His own. In other words, many who appear to be sheep to us are known not to be sheep to God. So for now, believers live alongside unbelievers, not with animosity toward them, but with a desire to see them come to repentance and become children of God together with us. There is animosity in the other direction, though, from the world toward faithful Christians. They “trouble you,” Paul writes to the Thessalonians. But the troubling won’t go on forever. Everything will be sorted out at the Great Separation, when Jesus comes and separates the sheep from the goats.

The Lord won’t have any trouble figuring out who is His on that day. He already knows. As Paul writes, The Lord knows those who are His. He sees the repentance that His Spirit worked in believers. He sees the Baptism that marks them as His own, and He sees faith in the Son of Man by which sinners are justified. He also sees how you suffer in the world and are mistreated in the world. But that part is coming to an end.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you blessed ones of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. St. Paul uses similar words when speaking to the Ephesians Christians, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved, that is, in Christ, the beloved Son of God.

Already Christians have been blessed by God. Already He knows those who believe in His Son and who will still be believing in the end. For those children of His, God has been preparing an inheritance since the beginning of time—mansions that Jesus Himself is right now preparing, an inheritance that you will receive because of Christ, because you have believed in Him and been baptized into Him, because faith in Him—and faith alone!— has made you accepted and acceptable to God.

So Jesus sees faith in the sheep, true, genuine faith in Him as our one Mediator with God, as our atoning Sacrifice and as our great High Priest who cleanses us by His blood. And on the basis of that faith, the sheep have become heirs of eternal life.

What else does Jesus see in these sheep of His? He sees what Paul already saw in the Thessalonian Christians: We boast about you among the churches of God because of your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the tribulations that you endure. Jesus sees our patience and faith as we bear up under the cross, as we confront the great tribulation of this world with courage and with steadfastness.

What else does Jesus see in these sheep of His? He sees faith being put into action. In other words, He sees love! And above all, love for one another. Love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, for this family of believers, some of whom we know, most of whom we don’t, but those whom we know—we go out of our way to show them mercy and help in times of need, whatever the need may be. I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. It’s the same thing Paul said he saw in the Thessalonian Christians: We should always thank God for you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing very much, and the love each of you shows toward one another is increasing. As Jesus makes clear in this parable, He’s talking about the works of love that Christians do for fellow Christians, because they bear the name of Christ just as we do.

And, wonder of wonders, Jesus promises to reward those acts of love as if they were done directly to Him. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me. That’s how much He cares about His Christians as they suffer in this world, that He should honor and reward His Christians for the love they show to one another.

That’s comforting for believers, but it should also be encouraging and inspiring and instructive. See how Jesus values these acts of love, how serious He is about them. In fact, this very parable, which Jesus spoke with the full intention that future Christians would read it and take it to heart before the Great Separation, is Jesus sending out His people of all ages to render this aid to one another! So be mindful of your fellow Christians. Focus your attention on helping your brothers and sisters to make it through this great tribulation that comes before the great separation, to remember that how you treat your fellow Christian is how you treat Jesus. That should also serve as a warning for you, to be careful not to sin against your brothers and sisters in Christ, not to cause any of His little ones to stumble.

Because look at what the future holds for those who mistreat His people. Oh, how terrible it will be for unbelievers at the Great Separation. They were allowed to live alongside God’s people here and trouble God’s people here, for a time, just as Christ Himself was allowed to be troubled here, for a time. But that time will come to an end. And then, as Paul writes in the Epistle, God will repay with troubles those who trouble you.. when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might. Or as Jesus simply puts it, Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Unbelievers don’t “go to a better place” when they die. They don’t escape any pain or suffering here. The suffering here will only be followed by greater suffering, first for the soul, and then, at the Last Day, they rise to be sent to the eternal or everlasting flames and everlasting punishment, with no prospect of escape.

Now, as the rest of Scripture makes clear, unbelievers will be condemned and punished for many sins, for all their idolatry, for all their lies, for all their despising of God, and for all sorts of sins of commission, for all the troubling of Christians and for all the wicked behavior they’re guilty of, and for all the evil they promote and embrace. But Jesus here chooses to highlight only the sins of omission, their indifference to the suffering of Christians, all the good that they refused to do for Jesus’ brothers and sisters here. I was hungry, and you did not give Me food, etc.

“When did we not do these things for You, Jesus?” When you didn’t do them for the least of these, My brothers, you didn’t do them for Me. See again how much Jesus cares for His brothers and sisters here on earth, how it pains Him to see us mistreated and neglected and troubled. It has to be this way now, though even now He tempers it and controls it so that things never get worse than we are able, with His help, to bear. But soon, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, He will bring about the great separation and mete out the punishment the unbelieving have coming, because they refused to obey the gospel, as Paul says in the Epistle.

What does it mean to “obey the Gospel”? Well, what does the gospel say? It says, Hear the Word of God! Repent of your sins against God and man! Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins! And then live as children of God in the world! And love one another, as Christ has loved you! Those who failed to do those things in this life will go away into eternal punishment, while those who repented and believed in the Lord Jesus and were baptized and lived as children of God in the world—the righteous!—will inherit eternal life.

So take heart in the midst of this Great Tribulation, and don’t worry when you see evil flourishing in the world, or when you yourselves are troubled by the world. The Great Separation is coming, and the righteous will be separated from the unrighteous, and the righteous will receive their reward. So spend your time, not in worrying, or in despairing, but in seeing to it that you are found among the righteous and believing when the Son of Man comes in His glory! Amen.

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