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Sometimes circumstances prevent you from attending corporate worship. It happens. Even in the lives of pastors, retired or otherwise. Today was one of those occasions for me. Our youngest daughter and her two children are here with us for a few days. But the fact that we could not attend corporate worship did not mean we “skipped” worship. We had church at home.

Being Pentecost, we sang some songs about the Holy Spirit. We read from Acts 2. I shared some thoughts from an old sermon about the Spirit working in us to lead us to faith in Christ and to help us live lives of response. I even had a children’s message using baking soda and vinegar to show how the Spirit should overflow in us to take the message of Jesus to others.  We confessed our sins and heard of the forgiveness we have for Jesus sake. We had church at home.

You might think, “That was easy for you. You’re a pastor!” But what I did anyone could do. Read or sing a hymn or song. Read God’s Word. Confess your sins. Remind each other God forgives you for Jesus’ sake. Talk about what God’s Word says to you in your life. Worship together. Have Church at home.

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

While “Church at Home” is not our preferred manner of corporate worship, it was nonetheless valid. Lots of folks discovered they were able to do this during the pandemic. Some did something similar to what I described. Others participated in online worship with their congregations when they were unable to be physically present. Some of them are still doing so.

One of the things we did not have was the Lord’s Supper. There was a lot of discussion in our church body about whether or not that would be appropriate during the pandemic. Given the way the world is going, I think our Synod  should take a long, hard look at this, on the basis of God’s Word, as to whether or not Communion in “Church at Home” is a valid option.

My preference is to gather together with other believers for regular worship, to be fed the Word of God and the Sacrament of the Altar with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to hear a message about the forgiveness and life I have because of what Jesus did for me through His life and suffering and death and resurrection. I enjoy being in that fellowship of faith and will do so as often as I am able. It is for my benefit.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24–25

In my last devotion I wrote about following the example of Jesus. I want to continue that thought today on the basis of another passage.

Philippians 2:3-8 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

This passage calls us to humility. We can boast in Christ, but not ourselves. We should follow His example of being humble and obedient to the Father. Being united with Christ should put an end to selfishness and conceit through repentance and forgiveness. The Scripture is full of the message of repentance. This message is repeated so often because it is something we all need to do. Being united with Christ means we will admit our sins, turn from them, and confess them to God so that we can be assured of His forgiveness for Jesus’ sake.

Another reason for humility is the recognition of who God is and who we are. Our faith in Christ as Savior tells us that He is the Son of the living God, who left the majesty of Heaven to pay for our mistakes. He lovingly laid down His perfect life to pay for our sins. He freely gives us pardon and redemption, a gift we could never earn and don’t deserve. God did it all. We simply receive the gift.

Being united with Christ turns things upside down. The ways of the world are no longer the ways we should follow. Our attitude should be the same as the one with whom we are united. He took the nature of a servant. He offered Himself in service to those around Him, and to all people. He spoke of this repeatedly with His disciples:

I am among you as one who serves. Luke 22:27

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Mark 8:34

the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

The way we show God’s love is by serving others. But many of the followers of Jesus never get to that point. They hear the Good News. They rejoice in the message of forgiveness earned by Jesus and given to us. So they fold their hands and come to worship. That’s good, and God wants your worship. But He also wants you to unfold your hands to welcome and reach out to others for Christ. Lives of service for Jesus take place when you unfold your hands and set out to serve Him by serving your neighbor.

It all centers in Jesus. If we are united with Him, our attitude will be like His. We will serve others and proclaim Jesus.

God, help us to be servants.

Joe was a drunk. There was no other way to put it. He had wasted much of his life until he finally stumbled into a Bowery mission, heard of the message of Christ as His Savior, and was changed. Prior to his conversion, he had the reputation of being a dirty wino for whom there was no hope, someone who had only a miserable existence in the ghetto. But all that was changed now. He really did have a new life in Christ. Joe had become the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. He spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission, doing whatever needed to be done. There was never a task that he considered beneath him. Whether it was cleaning up the vomit left behind by a violently sick alcoholic or scrubbing toilets after careless men left the men’s room filthy, Joe did what he was asked with a smile on his face and what seemed to be gratitude for the chance to help out. He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered into the mission from the streets, and to undress and tuck into bed those who were too sick to take care of themselves. Joe was happy to do whatever was asked of him.

One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening message to the usual crowd of wrecked humanity sitting there quietly with drooping heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar, knelt to pray and cried out for God to help him change. The repentant drunk kept shouting, “O God, make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!” The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man, “Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, ‘Make me like Jesus.’” The man looked up at the director with a puzzled look on his face and asked, “Is he like Joe?”

Wouldn’t it be great if more of us were so much like Jesus that people confused us for Him? Joe was the embodiment of what Paul wrote about to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

We are to follow Jesus to the point of being closely identified with our Savior, united with him. We should be identified with Him because we know that we have been saved by Him. We have a new life because we possess the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus. You and I are a dearly loved part of God’s creation, precious to Him, people for whom He was willing to send His Son so that He could die to pay for sins and redeem us for His own possession. By His doing, we have been joined to Him, united with Him. We are to be more and more like him. That’s what Joe was doing. That is what you and I should be doing as well.

In a world where almost every area of our lives is impacted by visuals, pictures and videos, we sometimes forget the art of seeing Word Pictures. They can be very powerful. Some people have the ability to craft images in other people’s minds through the use of their vocabulary. And David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, did that in the 23^rd Psalm. As you read this Psalm today, do so one verse at a time. Then close your eyes and see the word pictures in your mind as you process the words.

Psalm 23 (ESV)
¹ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I wish I could see the varied and unique pictures you saw. I’m going to share a bit about two of the main Word Pictures in this Psalm. God pictures Himself as a shepherd, and he pictures us as His sheep. And the two things go together:  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

When God describes Himself as a Shepherd, He is affirming that He will care for you in every aspect of your life. That is what a shepherd does – he takes care of the sheep. And he cares for them in every aspect, like a parent cares for a small child.

A few years back Cheryl agreed to keep our then two-and-a-half-year-old grandson for a week so our daughter and her husband could go on a Caribbean get-away. My darling bride agreed to do it but forgot that she had a Thursday through Sunday speaking engagement for LWML out of state that same week. That left Papa and Malachi alone. It just so happens this was the same time we were living in a 400 square foot trailer while our log home was being built. Thankfully, another daughter took pity on me and came to help out for part of the weekend. That experience reminded me of just how much care and attention a toddler demands.

Shepherds care for sheep like you would for a toddler. You make sure they have food and drink. You stay with them all the time, because if you leave them unattended, they will wander off and get into all kinds of trouble or danger. You protect them. You would give everything to protect them.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The Lord is indeed the Shepherd who would do whatever it takes for His sheep. He provides for our needs. He stays with us ALWAYS. He offers us protection. And He gave everything for you, laying down His life so that you could have forgiveness for your sins and the certainty of life everlasting.

God gives us a word picture of Himself in this Psalm, but He also gives us a word picture of US! We are His sheep. By describing us as sheep, He is reminding us just how much we need him. We need care, we need safety, we need protection. He knows how easily we can wander off, become lost and how easily we are frightened. By describing us as sheep, He is reminding us why we need Him as our Shepherd. And we know that we have Him as our Shepherd! We can be certain of protection, provision, and His ongoing presence.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Luke 7:11-17  11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” 14 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

A man driving home from work saw a little league game being played and decided to stop and watch. He sat behind the bench on the first-baseline and asked one of the boys on the bench what the score was. “We’re behind 14 to nothing” the boy said with a smile. The man said, “Really? You don’t look very discouraged for being that far behind!” “Discouraged?” the boy said with a puzzled look on his face. “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t even been up to bat yet!” To an onlooker, that team may have appeared to be “Without a Prayer.” But his attitude of that player was just the opposite.

Some would describe the widow in the reading above as being “without a prayer.” Her son had died, she was taking his body to be buried in a state confusion and uncertainty. The death of her son had profound implications for this widow. She not only lost her family, she lost her livelihood, her security and her dreams. She “didn’t have a prayer.” But Jesus helped her anyway.

The harsh truth of the matter is that under the Law, you and I really don’t have a prayer. Adam’s Fall into sin brought death to all mankind, including us. (Rom 5:12-21) Death is the result of our sin. And we have no ability to come to God on our own. This account gives us a good picture of that situation. The Widow of Nain was in despair, there was nothing should could do, nowhere to turn. Notice that she did not approach Jesus, but He came to her.

If you find yourself feeling without a prayer, you can take heart in the knowledge that God has taken the initiative and sent his Son to give you life, even without your prayer. God is good and kind and gracious to us certainly without our deserving it, and also without our asking for it! Luther affirmed this over and over again in his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism. A repeated refrain in that section speaks of God doing things even “without our prayer.”

Encountering the situation in Nain, Jesus touched the coffin. He reached out and took the initiative without a prayer requesting Him to do so. And what He did here was not just a trivial gesture or token show of compassion. It had implications. Touching a dead body made a person ceremonially unclean. It prohibited them from doing certain things, like going into the Temple, for a specified period of time. But Jesus wasn’t worried about that. The sinless Son of God did not remain aloof, but reached out and touched the coffin in order to help this widow in her grief. And it didn’t do her son any harm, either!

In a similar way, Jesus reached out and touched each of us. He was willing to take on Himself our uncleanness, our sin, and ultimately our death. He did not shirk from this task for which He had come into this world. He did not try to distance Himself from death, because He has assumed flesh and bone in order to confront death for us with His bare hands. And when He confronted death, He mastered it. Even though He died for sin, He was the victor! His resurrection is our guarantee that He won the war.

If you find yourself feeling without a prayer, in a hopeless situation or just not knowing what to pray, remember the touch of Jesus. His touch raises to life. His touch raised the widow’s son. His touch brings comfort and healing. His touch gives you eternal life, which transcends all grief. And His touch has implications for this world, not just the world to come.

A young Christian got a job in the oil patch to work on rigs, hoping to become a roughneck. A friend of his warned him that they would most likely give him a hard time when they found out he was a Christian. But the young man really needed the job, so off he went. A year later, the two men met again. The friend asked, “How did it go? Did they give you a bad time because you were a Christian?” “No,” the man replied. “They didn’t give me a bit of trouble. They never even found out!”

Our calling is to be in the world to influence it, not be influenced by it. Jesus calls it being “salt.”

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13

It can be a challenge to know what to do and what not to do. I think that is the case because we are more prone to listen to the world than we are to Jesus.

The wisdom of the world says “don’t talk about politics and religion,” and yet the world is always talking about politics. However, they will use that adage to try to stifle discussions about faith. Well, at least the Christian faith. Any other religion will be hailed as “enlightened” or “new wisdom.”

Do not be deceived. This is the work of the devil in your life. He is the one urging you to keep your mouth shut about Jesus. Salt without taste is worthless and thrown away. You are not be worthless. In fact, God thought you were worth quite a bit. He loves you so much that He let Jesus come be your substitute payment for sin. He wants you with Him forever. You get that gift, that certainty, as a gift by believing what Jesus did was for you. And now you are to share that gift. Be salty.

Ask yourself how you can be salty for Jesus today. Then ask God to help you do it.

Luke 24:44-53 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  48 You are witnesses of these things.  49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.  51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.  52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (NIV)

Today it was my privilege to preach to the saints at Crown of Life Lutheran Church in Colleyville, Texas, where my son-in-law is Senior Pastor. They were observing Ascension Sunday, so I preached on the text above, focusing on the command of Jesus to be witnesses.

One story I shared was about my eight-year-old grandson who lives in Colorado. I am humbled by the way that boy shares his faith. When he was in Kindergarten, all through the school year, he would tell his mother, “Today’s the day I’m going to make sure — (and then he would name one of his classmates) – Today is the day I’m going to make sure he/she knows about Jesus. I’ve been praying to get ready, and today is the day.” And then he would do it. He’d come home and tell his mother how it went. “She already knows about Jesus” or “he had never heard about Him before.”  And he did that with most of his classmates throughout the year. Even one that was being bully to him. He wanted to make sure they know. “And a little child shall lead them…”

We can all do that. It is possible if we with the help the Spirit of God offers. The problems come when we forget that we are His witnesses. Remember who you are. You know that Jesus died to pay for your sin. You live in the certainty not only of the Resurrection, but also of the Ascension; our Lord lives and reigns in heaven; He has gone to prepare a place for you; while you are here, you are to live as His witnesses. God grant this.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Ephesians 1:15–23 (NIV84)

This is the Epistle lesson assigned for Ascension Day. While it does not specifically mention Jesus ascending, it speaks of Him being at the right hand of the Father, reigning as the head over everything for the sake of the Church. That is part of the assurance we should have as a result of the Ascension. Jesus is not only alive and in control, but He is reigning for our benefit. That is a comforting assurance we need to hear in this chaotic and grief filled world.

Verses 18-19 of this passage say “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” 

Paul Baloche wrote a song based on this passage that he released back in 2000. Lots of folks have recorded it. One of my favorites is Randy Travis’ version on his album Worship and Faith. The lyrics are simple and profound, asking that we recognize that Jesus is indeed the one who living and reigning and the good news that is for us. Meditate on these words for a while today.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see you, I want to see you.

To see You high and lifted up
Shining in the light of your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy, Holy
I want to see you

Yesterday we finally delivered on our Christmas present to son-in-law Martin. He is a big fan of “Escape  Rooms,” so his gift was to treat him and our daughter to dinner and an Escape Room. Part of the gift was that Cheryl and I would participate as well.

For those who have not experienced one, it is an exercise in looking for clues and solving riddles. You are locked in a room and given a set amount of time in which to escape. You must be very observant of all your surroundings. You have to unlock a series of locks until you eventually navigate your way out of the room. While all the information you need is available, often times you have trouble deciphering it. If you get stuck, you call out to an unseen host for a hint, and it appears on a screen in the room. We had to make use of those hints, without which we would not have been able to negotiate our way through the puzzle. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience.

The parallels to our life here on earth jumped out at me. Life is a mystery, a puzzle, which we all are trying to navigate our way through. We have all the information we need to do so successfully available to us. It is the message God has revealed to us in His Word and His Word made Flesh, Jesus. But often times we get frustrated because we do not understand what is going on. And many people misunderstand the message or misinterpret it. Thankfully, we have an unseen helper we can call upon who will open our eyes to what is right in front of us. It is the one Jesus promised just before He ascended into heaven:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit  …  you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”  Acts 1:4b-5,8a

God has given us all the information we need to Escape the punishment we deserve. It is in His Word. He has revealed everything we need to know. But we are not left to our own resources. We have a helper, a counselor, a comforter that will guide us anytime we call out to Him. He points us to what Jesus accomplished for us with His living, dying and rising again. We live with the certainty of forgiveness and eternal life.

This is not just good news for the future. God wants us to enjoy our time here on earth, too. We can have joy in our journey through this life by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, believing in Jesus as our Savior, and for His sake knowing we have escaped the punishment we deserved.