Nothing!

“Nothing!” 

Romans 8:28-39

     There are certain events in our lives that we will always remember.  For example, you often here people say that you can remember where you were when you first heard the news about some important event.  This past week marked an anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon.  I can remember watching that on television in our living room on Wayside in Decatur, Illinois.  I’m sure that you remember where you were when you heard the news about the 9-11 disaster.  I was on I-480 on my way to a meeting at the District office in Olmsted Falls, right where it goes by Hopkins Airport when the news came on the radio. 

     Another significant event for me was the first pastors’ conference I attended when I was a vicar in the Michigan District.  The first official event of the conference was a communion service at a local congregation, Mt. Hope in Grayling.  The pastor who was chosen to preach for that event, Pastor Ed Arle, got up in the pulpit and began his sermon with the most unusual introduction I had ever heard.  He said, “There is only one thing I want you to remember about this sermon tonight and that is nothing.”   He got a few chuckles from the church full of pastors but then went on to preach about this same text that serves as our Epistle lesson for today.  I have never forgotten that introduction and the way in which he directed us to Paul’s words in Romans 8, especially the last part of the chapter that you heard before, reminding us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  As we think about this passage today, may you remember nothing!

     You have to remember that Paul was writing to a small group of Christians living in Rome.  Being a Christian in Rome was not easy.  They were living in a culture that honored many gods, greatest of whom was the Emperor himself.  To worship another god above the Emperor was consider treason.  The Christians in Rome needed encouragement   They needed to know that when the world seemed to be against them and they were suffering because of their faith, the love of God in Christ Jesus would always be with them.  Nothing could separate them from that love.  Does that sound familiar?  Do you ever find yourself feeling alone in godless world?  Are you ever tempted to give up because everything seems to be working against you?  Do you ever wonder if God really cares about you when you have to put up with disappointments, health problems, losses, or perhaps subtle persecution because you are a Christian?  Things haven’t changed too much in our world.  Circumstances may be different but the feelings of frustration can still get you down.  You need to hear the words of encouragement that Paul has for the Romans and for all Christians of all time. 

     Our section of chapter 8 begins with one of the more comforting statements that Paul makes in his writings.  In verse 28 we hear, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.”  What a wonderful promise from the Lord!  Like many of the Lord’s promises, you have to understand that you may not see the good right away.  When you are struggling with health problems or the health problems of a loved one, you may want to see the good as soon as possible but in God’s good time and in His wisdom, He will keep His promises.  It may even mean that the good thing that He promises will not be realized in this life but when He calls you home to be with Him forever.  That is the ultimate good. 

     With that in mind then, Paul turns to our circumstances in this life that we face from time to time.  When you think that everything is against you and you start to wonder why God is allowing all of these problems to mess up all of your plans for your life, Paul reminds you in verse 31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  You have God on your side.  When you have the almighty, all-knowing God on your side, what do you have to worry about?   But still you do.   The example of the depth of God’s love and care for you is found in the next statement.  If you have any doubts about God’s love for you remember this, “He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”  There you have all the evidence that you need to be convinced that God loves you and will give you what is best for you. He gave up His own Son so that you might be rescued from the greatest problem that you have, the problem of sin and its eternal consequences. 

     To further explain his point, Paul takes us to a courtroom setting.  There you stand before the God the Judge. On the one side is the prosecutor, ready to bring charges against you because of your sin.  He has a long list of transgressions and trespasses against the will of God.  It would seem that you don’t have a chance against all the charges.  But Paul goes on to say, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?”  The final decision rests with the judge and that is none other than God Himself and He is ready to justify, in other words to declare you righteous.  Also present is the defense attorney.  It is Christ Jesus, who not only died for you, but was raised by the will of the judge and is now interceding for you.  He is speaking to the judge on your behalf.  We can guess what He is saying.  “Remember, You sent me into the world to do for them what they could not do for themselves.  I kept the Law in their place.  I died then as the punishment for their sins.  Their debt has been paid.  You can declare them not guilty, Father.”

     That’s a pretty convincing argument.  It is not necessarily to convince the Judge.  It is to help convince you that nothing can separate you from God’s love.  Paul then brings us back to our own problems.  Knowing what you know now after that brilliant presentation, he asks, “Who can separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword.?”   Paul can speak from experience because he faced them all.  It is so easy for us to despair when we face even minor inconveniences on our lives.  He quotes a lament from Psalm 44, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  It’s another way of saying, “Oh poor me.  Why does everything happen to me.  Is there a sign on my back that says ‘Kick me’?”

     In response to that lament, we hear an emphatic, “NO!  In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  Not only are we winners but we have the enduring protection and love of God, our Father.  To make that point even stronger, Paul lists ten potential sources of trouble that would try and separate us from the love of God:  Death nor life, angels nor rulers, things present nor things to come, powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.  A list of ten is significant because, in the Bible, ten is a number of completeness.  What Paul is saying is that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Nothing!

     Again I will give credit to Pastor Arle back in 1980 at the Fall Pastors’ Conference in Grayling, Michigan and tell you that there is only one thing that I want you to remember from this sermon and that is “Nothing!”  If you don’t remember any other sermons that you have heard from me over the past eight and a half years, remember “Nothing!”  Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Nothing!   All kinds of things will try but when you are strengthened in your faith through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you through the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace, you can be assured that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Peace To All Nations

Peace to All Nations

Zechariah 9:9-12

     Whether you are a big soccer fan or just one of those people who have jumped on the bandwagon during the World Cup matches, one thing that seems to stand out is that we live in a world that is made up of many people from many different countries with many different languages and cultures.  We in the United States, considered by many to be the most powerful country in world, are just one of the many and as a nation, we don’t really care that much about the most popular sport in the world.  It has been interesting to see how nations that have harbored hatred for one another for centuries all come together to compete.  It is almost like the World Cup brings about a special kind of peace among nations for at least a few weeks.  When it is over though, everyone will go home to the same old hostilities and hatreds as before. 

     Our Old Testament lesson for today presents us with a prophecy that promises peace to all nations but it is not based on the opportunity to participate in the World Cup or the Olympics or some other world-wide sporting event.  Instead, as our reading begins, “Behold, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation is he.”  The prophet Zechariah is proclaiming the coming of a king who will bring peace.  This is the kind of prophecy that God directed His prophets to proclaim to the people when they had been oppressed by foreign powers.  The people of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon for forty years and when the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians, under Cyrus, the Israelites were allowed to leave and go back to their homeland.  The problem was that after forty years, many of the Israelites weren’t sure that they wanted to go back.  Everything had been destroyed, including the temple. Forty years is enough time for whole generations to turn over and the younger people did not know what the homeland was even like in the good times.  It would be hard work to rebuild and establish their culture once again.  They needed encouragement. 

     They were still God’s chosen people even though they had to spend time in captivity.  God was going to keep His promise to them about the land He had given them.  The covenant was still in effect.  There were going to be better days ahead for them, especially when the Messiah would come.  At this point in Zechariah’s prophecy, the coming of the Messiah was going to be the subject of his words of encouragement.  In a way it would be just like a sports team that needed a stirring speech from their coach just before the big game.  Those words would help them to focus on what is really important and help them to lose their fear.  It’s all positive reinforcement for the work that would be ahead.  The same thing would be done by military leaders who were about to lead the troops into battle.  As we think about the struggles of the Patriots who fought in the War of Independence that we celebrated this long weekend, the motivating messages of the leaders helped the people to overcome their fear of a well organized military.  The patriots were fighting for liberty and freedom from tyranny.  When they were reminded of that they kept going even when the odds seemed to be against them. 

     The people of God also needed encouragement and the hope of a better time under the king who would come to save them and give them the courage to rebuild the temple and rebuild their way of life under God.  The people also knew that when the prophet spoke, it was not his own words but rather the words of God.  They lost all they had because they did not remain faithful to Lord.  Now in their repentance, the Lord would restore them.  The chariot and the war horse would be removed from Israel.  Instead they would be ruled by one who would come in humility, riding on a donkey.  Does that sound familiar?  This would happen when Jesus would enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  He would speak peace to the nations and His rule would be to the ends of the earth. 

     The promises continued as the prophet spoke of the blood of the covenant.  This brought them back to their history when the blood of the lamb would protect them from the angel of death.  It also would be fulfilled when John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  The result is that the prisoners would be set free, the people would be restored to their stronghold and given victory over their enemies. 

     While this prophecy was intended to bring encouragement to the exiles, it also has a broader meaning for all people of God of all time.  The reason that the Israelites were conquered and taken into captivity was their unfaithfulness to God.  They worshiped idols. They adopted the religious practices of their pagan neighbors and broke the very first commandment that God had given to His people at Mt. Sinai.  “You shall have no other gods.”  When we think of the world we live in today, there are many times when we are tempted and we fall into the trap of worshiping other gods.  They may not be idols of wood or stone.  They may not demand sacrifices in return for favorable weather and good crops but we have found other gods.  Whenever other influences in the world pull you away from God’s command to love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself, you have turned away from the true God to follow other gods.  When you give in to the urge to skip regular worship in favor other activities, you have ignored God’s command to worship.  When you have allowed your language to match the indecent language of your friends and coworkers, you have ignored God’s command to keep His name holy.  When you have willfully disobeyed parents and other authorities, you have ignored the Lord’s command to obey those who have been placed over you.  I don’t think I need to go further.  You have disobeyed God time and time again.  You have been oppressed by the forces of the devil, the world and your sinful nature. You have become a prisoner who deserves nothing but the waterless pit.

     You need to hear the words of the prophet.  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.  Behold your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he.”  That prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus came into the world.  He is our righteous King who brings salvation for the oppressed, those who are prisoners of sin.  By the blood of Jesus, a new covenant was established between the Creator and His special creatures.  That new covenant is a covenant based on God’s grace and faith which is worked in you by God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit.  By faith you can look to Jesus, whose blood sealed the new covenant.  By His suffering and death on the cross, your debt of sin was paid and you have been set free. You have been given that double blessing of being able to return to your stronghold, the loving arms of your Savior and you have been given the victory over your enemies, the devil, the world and your sinful nature.  You have also been given the promise of peace among nations which will happen when Jesus comes again.  In the new heaven and the new earth that will be established when the old has passed away, there will be peace because of the victory over the enemies of God and the reconciliation that has been made between God and His people. 

     Until that time comes you can live with the hope of that eternal kingdom in your heart.  The message of the prophet and the knowledge of the fulfillment of all the prophets’ messages in Christ Jesus will give you the encouragement that you need when things seem to be going against you.  When the world seems to be winning the battles, you can be assured that our King has won the final battle and the eternal victory belongs to the people of God.  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he.  He shall speak peace to the nations and his rule shall be from sea to sea.”

Strengthened by that encouragement, you can live confidently and joyfully serve your Lord all your days in the face of any opposition.  Nothing can separate you from God’s love in Christ Jesus. As Paul said in our Epistle lesson from Romans 7, “Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Amen

Rev. Gerald Matzke 

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost