{"id":8952,"date":"2023-05-08T12:24:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T19:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8952"},"modified":"2023-05-08T12:26:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T19:26:04","slug":"jesus-is-lord-for-you-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8952","title":{"rendered":"
Jesus is Lord for you and me<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 14:1-6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope is a flimsy word. We say: \u201cI hope so\u2026\u201d and we mean: \u201cWell, who knows?\u201d We say: \u201chopefully\u201d and mean \u201cprobably not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You recall the story of Pandora\u2019s box: When she opened that box, all the evils of the world flew out but there was one thing left: Hope. The question was: Was that good or evil?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the basis for our hope, since the word itself can be so flimsy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three basics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) The Lord is Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounds redundant, as if I were saying: One is one. In fact, what I\u2019m saying is something about the Lord being Lord of all. In Psalm 46, the basis of the hymn, A Mighty Fortress<\/em>, it says in verses 1, 2, and 6:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the midst of the sea, the nations rage, the kingdoms totter, He utters his voice and the earth melts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the hymn, \u201cHow Great Thou Art,\u201d verse 1 says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cO Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds thy hand hath made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy pow\u2019r throughout the universe displayed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our minds are messed up about the Lord\u2019s universe by science fiction and by what we hear about in modern physics: String Theory, even Super String Theory. Are there eleven universes or twenty-six? Is the number infinite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we have in our first basic point is a statement about the Lordship of the Lord of Lords. He is even Lord over Star Trek and String Theory, for he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. The Lord is Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we ask ourselves about terrible things that happen \u2013 death, tragedy, sometimes we talk about tragedies as if the Lord were fate. We say of a tragic death: \u201cHis number was up.\u201d Or: \u201cIt was the Lord\u2019s will.\u201d  We need to remember that the Lord never does evil. This is put together well in Lamentations 3:17-24:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember my affliction and my bitterness,
\nThe wormwood and the gall!
\nMy soul continually thinks of it
\nAnd is bowed down within me.
\nBut this I call to mind,
\nAnd therefore I have hope:\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
\nAnd therefore I have hope:
\nHis mercies never come to an end
\nThey are new every morning;
\nGreat is thy faithfulness.
\n\u201cThe Lord is my portion,\u201d says my soul, \u201ctherefore I will hope in him.\u201d\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, first of all, the Lord is Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Jesus is Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is said several times in the New Testament. In fact, one could better say: \u201cThe Lord is Jesus.\u201d How did this come to be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 14:9 states: \u201cFor this reason Jesus Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.\u201d This sums up the gospel: \u201cFor this reason Jesus Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Luther preached the funeral sermon for his protector, Elector John, he talked about two kinds of death. He said there is the big death and the little death. The big death is the one Jesus died on Calvary. As it says in John 19:30: \u201cIt is finished.\u201d For those who are in Jesus Christ, the Last Judgment is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the little death \u2013 not to be made light of, but to be seen in relationship and in proportion. That is summed up in John 11:25-26, where Jesus says: \u201cI am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also as it states in 2 Cor 5:21: \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again in the hymn, \u201cHow Great Thou Art,\u201d vs 3 has the same message: \u201cBut when I think that God, his Son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this can seem wide sweeping and abstract. Thus we move from 1) The Lord is Lord, to 2) Jesus is Lord, to . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Jesus is Lord for you and me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does this come about? Look at Jeremiah 29:11: \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the New Testament, after eight chapters in Romans, Paul sums it all up; in verses 31-32 he writes: \u201cWhat shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?\u201d Obviously that means all good things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this involve? As in Jeremiah 29 and Romans 8, we find in Isaiah 49:16: \u201cI have branded your name on the palms of my hands.\u201d Professional brand inspectors point out that brands cannot be altered without being recognized as having been changed. In Baptism the Lord brands us as his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been branded as the Lord\u2019s. We have been adopted by the Lord. Paul writes in Galatians 4 that we used to be slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God sent his Son . . . to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, \u2018Abba! Father! So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir\u201d (Gal 4:3-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Paul also writes in Romans 8:15-16: \u201c. . . you received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, \u2018Abba! Father!\u2019 it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of all the dangers, heartaches, and troubles of this world and in our individual lives, Paul writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord\u201d (Romans 8:37-39).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the word of the Lord for today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord is Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is Lord for you and me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we come to John 14:1-6. We are like Thomas. We doubt. We wonder: Where does it go from here? What does it mean? Our minds can be confused about heaven. It\u2019s important for us to realize that Scripture has thought about this and has help for us. The future is more real, not flimsy spirituality, but more real, with real work and real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does Scripture have to tell us? It comes back to the coming of our Lord. When Jesus came to be one of us, it was not a charade or a play. He truly became one of us and lived and died and rose again. And he continues forever \u2013 not away from us, somewhere else. He continues to be the One who is incarnate forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are adopted by him as sons and daughters in Christ. We continue in him, as 1 Cor 15:44 says, in \u201cthe spiritual body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, Scripture has struggled with this. The finest picture of this in the New Testament is the wedding feast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But beyond that, in Paul, 1 Cor 2:9: \u201cEye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of anyone, what God has prepared for those who love him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ephesians 3:20 (KJV) puts it this way: \u201cExceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.\u201d  Beyond all our ideas, our categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as Luke 6:38 states: \u201cGood measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore we have this hope, and the hope is based on God\u2019s promises. Again Paul: \u201cAll the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God\u201d (2 Cor 1:20). Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 14:1-6<\/p>\n

A sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter<\/p>\n

Hope is a flimsy word. We say: \u201cI hope so\u2026\u201d and we mean: \u201cWell, who knows?\u201d We say: \u201chopefully\u201d and mean \u201cprobably not.\u201d<\/p>\n

You recall the story of Pandora\u2019s box: When she opened that box, all the evils of the world flew out but there was one thing left: Hope. The question was: Was that good or evil?<\/p>\n

What is the basis for our hope, since the word itself can be so flimsy?<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8952"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8964,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952\/revisions\/8964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}