“Encourage One Another To Keep the Faith”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow encouragers of the discouraged, grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord [Amen.]
“If the way be drear, If the foe be near,
Let not faithless fears o’ertake us,
Let not faith and hope forsake us;
For through many_a woe To our home we go.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
718:2)
Epistle
Reading....................................................................
Hebrews 3:12-19 (esp. 12-13)
12Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving
heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13But exhort one
another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Prologue: There’s much to be discouraged about these days.
Recent deaths; illnesses, injuries, and the aging process in many of us;
family, congregational, and civil unrest and disagreements; a plunging stock
market that rapidly reduced retirement resources; inflating prices due to
imposed tariffs and various other reasons; damaging and destructive weather
conditions; national, state, and local governments that often seem to be
dysfunctional to lesser or greater degrees; continued threat of terrorism
both locally and globally; the hullaballoo at the recent confirmation
process of a new supreme court justice whereby some disrespectful people
tried to make a mockery out of it; declining congregational memberships and
worship participation throughout mainline denominations that also result in
dwindling financial resources amidst increasing expenses; and, well, the
list could go on … and on … and on. Suffice it to say that unchecked
discouragement results in physical, mental, emotional, relational, and
spiritual health problems that can interfere, weaken, and even render us
helpless, hopeless, and unable to healthily function. In fact, Satan can
and does use discouragements to chip away at, diminish, and even destroy the
saving faith God gave us in our Baptism and seeks to renew and strengthen
through the reading and hearing of His Holy Word, partaking of the Blessed
Sacrament of Holy Communion, communicating with Him in fervent prayer, and
taking to heart the blessed declaration of Holy Absolution.
It’s ironic that discouraging things, conditions, and situations
are not new. They’ve been present ever since Adam and Eve rebelliously
disobeyed God thereby ushering in sin and its dreadful and disastrous
results. It’s for that simple reason that we have the divine admonition in
today’s Old Testament Reading: “Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out
like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for
Bethel … . For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are
your sins … . Seek good, and not evil, that you may live … . Hate evil,
and love good, and establish justice in the gate … .” (Amos 5:6, 12a, 14a,
15a ESV)
So, what can or ought we do about the discouragements in our
individual, family, congregational, local community, national, and
world-at-large lives? As I see it, we have two options: we can passively
allow discouragement to cripple and defeat us or we can actively attack and
defeat it. We can gripe, complain, criticize, and blame this, that, or the
other, or we can identify the source (often within ourselves) of our
discouragements and seek proper ways to solve or eliminate the problems that
cause them.
Well, wouldn’t you know it! Today’s sermon text speaks directly
to this plaguing problem of discouragements, so let’s pay attention to and
heed God’s Holy Word, in which He tells us through His writers whom the Holy
Spirit inspired to …
“Encourage One Another To Keep the Faith.”
There are two major solutions identified in today’s text that we need and
that God gives us to confront, attack, and defeat discouragements. The
first one is to conscientiously and actively …
I. Guard Against Heart-Hardening By Faithfully Sharing in Jesus with
One Another (14-15)
14For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to
the end. 15As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your
hearts as in the rebellion.”
Heart-hardening is simply stubbornness … stiff-neckness. It’s
abject refusal to acknowledge, adopt, and apply available solutions that
sometimes … oftentimes … call for what may be uncomfortable change, doing
things differently from “the way we’ve always done it.” We read in the Old
Testament about this trait: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this
people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.’” (Ex 32:9 ESV) At another
place we read: “Furthermore, the Lord said to [Moses], ‘I have seen this
people, and behold, it is a stubborn people.’” (Deut 9:13 ESV) And, we read
in the Book of Acts: “… some became stubborn and continued in unbelief … .”
(Acts 19:9 ESV)
Heart-hardenness is a major scheme by Satan to eliminate Christ.
The plot that he unfolds to accomplish his goal is efforts to get us to
ignore and forget about Jesus. In his Spirit-inspired record of the early
church’s growth and development Dr. Luke wrote: “And there is salvation in
no one else, for there is no other name [Jesus] under heaven given among men
by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV) Later in this account he wrote:
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” (Acts
10:38 ESV)
The apostolic disciple John, the disciple for whom Jesus had a
special love, wrote: “This is eternal life, that they know You the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (St John 17:3 ESV) And the
scoundrel-of-a-person Matthew, who was formerly a cheating money-grabbing
tax collector, but whom Immanuel chose to be one of His apostolic-disciples
reported that an angel of the Lord told Joseph: “[Mary] will bear a son, and
you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
(St Matt 1:21 ESV) That name “Jesus” is pointed to throughout the Old
Testament with the name “Yahweh” (we see it in many English translations as
“Lord” in all upper case letters) which means: “the God who would (and did)
reveal Himself in the person and work of Jesus.”
You see, we make ourselves vulnerable to heart-hardening when we
“despise preaching and the Word of God” anytime … anytime we choose to not
attend public worship or use the Word of God and His Sacraments whenever
they’re offered; and “when we use the Word of God and the Sacraments
negligently or carelessly.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation.
Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
Pages70-71.) On the other hand, we resist and avoid heart-hardening when we
“hold preaching and the Word of God sacred; and when we gladly hear it,
learn it, and meditate on it.” (Ibid.)
Through all that and at the same time is the second major solution
identified in today’s text, namely, to …
II. Be Aware of and On Guard Against the Symptoms of Unbelief. (16-19)
16For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who
left Egypt led by Moses? 17And with whom was he provoked for forty years?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those
who were [unrepentantly] disobedient? 19So we see that they were unable to
enter because of unbelief.
I assume that all of us here today desire to be with Jesus in
heaven after we depart this earthly vale of tears through death. I also
assume that all of us here today know, believe in, and embrace Jesus as Lord
and Savior, who is with us and promised to be with us always in our earthly
journey. And, I assume that all of us here today believe, confide in, and
rely upon Jesus alone for forgiveness of our sins, healing of our sin-sick
souls, and eternal life with Himself in the glorious heavenly mansions that
He’s even now preparing for all His baptized saints.
Sadly and due to our human nature of sinfulness and spiritual
uncleanness, we sometimes struggle with Satan-inspired doubts, questions,
and insecurities about our present and eternal security. After all, doubts,
questions, and insecurities are also nothing new; they’ve afflicted and
hounded Christians throughout history even as they continue to harass and
torment us today. The issue, therefore, is not whether or not we’ll
experience them but how we will deal with them when we experience them. In
fact, how will we be aware of and guard against the symptoms of unbelief,
doubt, and despair? The answer is so simple that it’s mind-bogglingly
profound. We surrender them to Jesus, who takes them from us, and look to
Him for comfort, security, and consolation always, but especially when the
devil attacks us with doubt-filled questions and irritating insecurities.
That’s why it’s vitally important for us to be faithful in weekly
and seasonal special worship opportunities like the upcoming Reformation,
All Saints’, Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas ones soon to be here once
again. That’s why it’s vitally important to partake of Christ’s body and
blood every time that Blessed Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated …
not just occasionally as if we might get too much of Jesus if we receive Him
in His Holy Supper frequently. That’s why it’s vitally important to have a
regimen of daily personal and family devotional activity consisting of at
least Bible reading and prayer. By the way, Portals of Prayer is an
excellent resource for doing this, especially when we follow the devotion
pattern in the front of it and read all the appointed Bible readings.
You see, our Savior Jesus Christ has already defeated the devil,
the world, and our own sinful flesh with His atoning suffering and
substitutionary death. He did so to satisfy His and our righteous Father’s
righteous anger against us for transgressing His holy Law. Yes, we’ve been
“ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [our] forefathers, … with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1
Peter 1:18-19 ESV) Yes, “Our Savior Christ Jesus … [has] abolished death”
(1 Cor 15:37 ESV) and so with the apostle Paul we joyfully shout: “Thanks be
to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Tim 1:10
ESV) Yes, we do so knowing and believing what was in today’s Gradual: “He
will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” (Ps
91:11 ESV) Yes, we do so relying on and trusting what was in today’s
Introit: “Praise the Lord! Blessèd is the man who fears the Lord, who
greatly delights in his commandments!” (Ps 112:3 ESV) And, yes, we do so
because Immanuel’s resurrection is proof-positive, validation as it were,
that His suffering and death did indeed atone for and defeat sin, Satan, and
death itself.
And so we remain always vigilantly aware of and on guard against
the symptoms of unbelief and constantly make every effort to overcome them
using the divine power the Holy Spirit gave us in our Baptism. In order to
help us succeed, we replace them with faithful worship in church and in our
homes and joyful partaking of Christ’s body and blood each and every time it’s
offered.
After all number one: we thereby not only receive spiritual
strength and fortitude ourselves but we also …
“Encourage One Another To Keep the Faith.”
And what does it mean to “keep the faith”? It means to have the attitude of
total dependence on God that we heard about in today’s Gospel Reading: “And
Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go,
sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow me.’” (St Mark 10:21 ESV)
After all number two: Jesus not only insisted on but also
exemplified total dependence on God as recorded by Saint Paul: “Have this
mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was
[truly 100%] God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
made Himself nothing, [becoming a poor pauper servant], being born in the
likeness of men. And being [also 100% human], He humbled Himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:5-8
ESP & my personal paraphrases in brackets)
So, let’s all of us—I together with you—daily strive by the power
of the Holy Spirit to overcome discouragements and self-centered
stubbornness, as well as spiritual doubts and insecurities by …
“Encouraging One Another to Keep the Faith.”
As we do so, let’s seek to accomplish that by constantly
attempting to …
I. Guard Against Heart-Hardening By Faithfully Sharing in Jesus with
One Another. (14-15) and …
II. Be Aware of and On Guard Against the Symptoms of Unbelief. (16-19)
Let’s do so bearing on our minds and in our hearts that portion of
today’s Collect that begged God: “help us to forsake all trust in earthly
gain and to find in You our heavenly treasure.”
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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