revmattil.org

Throughout my ministry I remember many conversations with people who were concerned about their children and grandchildren. But their concern was not simply for this world. These people were concerned that their children and/or grandchildren were not following Jesus and seemed to have no faith in Him. These were tearful conversations. I remember in particular one man telling me that he told his grandson, “I’m afraid I won’t see you in heaven!”

That is the attitude of Paul at the beginning of chapter 9 of Romans. His concern was for his extended family, the Jewish people, the physical descendants of Abraham. He recounts how they had it all: they were chosen by God, saw His glory, heard His promises, were given the Commandments and the Temple and were the descendants of Abraham. But they ignored God’s greatest gift – the promised Messiah who had come.

Paul expressed that he would gladly give up his own salvation if it would mean the salvation of his people, but it doesn’t work that way. Paul could not and does not have to pay for the salvation of anyone. Jesus already did that for the whole world.

Paul asserts a truth that should comfort us, that God allows anyone who believes His promises to be part of His people, whether they are physical descendants of Abraham or not.

Romans 9:25   As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one…”

God is full of compassion and mercy, but those who receive the benefit of what Jesus did are the ones who put their faith in Him. You don’t get forgiveness by being good, trying hard, or having Abraham’s blood in your veins. You get it for Jesus’ sake. He lived for you. He died for you. He rose for you. And by God’s grace, through faith, you get the rewards His actions earned.

Romans 9:30-32  “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.”

We cannot believe for someone else or pay their way to get into heaven. But we can continue to pray for them, share our faith with them, let the light of Jesus shine for them so that they can see the difference He makes in our lives. The Holy Spirit can and will use our witness.

ROMANS 8:28-30   And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called;  those he called, he also justified;  those he justified, he also glorified.

A lamb and its mother passed a pig pen each morning on the way to the pasture. Watching the pigs wallow in the mud seemed like such fun, and on one terribly hot day the lamb asked his mother if he could jump the fence and wallow in the cool mud. “No,” she replied. The lamb asked the usual question: “Why not?” The mother just replied, “Sheep don’t wallow.” Of course, this didn’t satisfy that little lamb. He felt his mother was being arbitrary and had no good reason to forbid him to play in the mud. So as soon as his mother was out of sight, he ran to the pig pen and jumped the fence. He was soon feeling the cool mud on his feet, his legs, and then his stomach. After a few minutes, he decided that he had better go back to his mother, but he could not. He was stuck. Mud and wool don’t mix. His pleasure had become his prison. He cried out and was rescued by a kindly farmer. When cleaned and returned to his fold, his mother said, “Remember: Sheep don’t wallow.”

Sin is like that. It can look so nice and appealing, and we think we can escape it whenever we wish, but it just isn’t so. What looks like a pleasure will turn into a prison. We become bogged down in the mire of our evil deeds. We were stuck and could do nothing to remove ourselves. Yet someone came and pulled us out: Jesus! And not only did he free us, he also cleaned us up, so that we were once again white as snow in the sight of our heavenly Father. And then our Good Shepherd gives the sheep of His flock this advice: My Sheep don’t Wallow in Sin.

Instead of wallowing in sin, you are to follow the guiding of your gentle shepherd. You are to conform your lives so that they are always more like His. He has called you to be His sheep. As the passage above tells us, those he called, he also justified. All the filth of your sin has been removed through faith in Jesus Christ as your only hope of rescue. You have been made clean again. Why would you want to go back to wallowing? The proper response would instead be to live according to his purpose.

Where do you find out how to conform your life to the likeness of Jesus? What is your manual for living according to his purpose? It is God’s Word. The Psalmist speaks of it:

“Righteous are you, O Lord, and your laws are right.” (Psalm 119:137)

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” (Psalm 119:97)

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Is this true of you? Do you recognize that God’s law is actually good for you? Do you study it so that you can know his will? If you are going to live according to his purpose, you must know what that purpose is, and you will find it only in His Word.

This week Cheryl and I are helping with Vacation Bible School at our church. One of our daughters is also here helping, and four of our grandchildren are staying with us and attending. Those of you who have volunteered for VBS know that it is a rewarding experience, getting to share the love of God in Christ with the children all week long. It is also exhausting, and you are a special kind of tired by the end of the week.

Already several times this week I have witnessed “meltdowns.” Kids who get overstimulated will often times overreact to things. I was thinking about the circumstances that led to the “meltdowns” I saw and was reminded of this passage.

James 4:1–10 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

One kid wanted something another kid was playing with. You want something but don’t get it. Another kid thought he should get to go before everyone else. You cannot have what you want. Arguments ensued. What causes fights and quarrels among you?

These were teachable moments. However, people don’t always want to learn the lessons that God wants us to learn. This is true for adults as well as children. But look at the wonderful advice God gives us here through James:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

We skip over that all too quickly. God promises that if we resist the devil, he will flee. But our first instinct always seems to be to give in to our sinful desires. Lord, have mercy.

The words “Grieve, mourn and wail” in verse 9 are all calls to and signs of repentance, turning away  from your sin and turning back to God. “Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom” is a further call to repentance. It is turning from trying to find satisfaction in the things of the world and seeking to live God’s way.

We strive to do this because we know what God has already done for us. It is our response to Jesus having paid the penalty for our sin and then conquering death for us. That is why try, each day, to humbly submit my life to Jesus. It is what we were trying to teach the kids at VBS, too.

MARK 6:34  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.

The compassion of Jesus shows us how we are to act toward others. He is the example to follow.  As those who were lost, and have now been found by God, we should be able to relate to those who are still lost. Those of you who are adult converts probably have a good understanding of this. You remember what it was like to not have a relationship with Jesus. But even those who are life-long Christians know that without God we would be lost and despairing. Though our punishment for sin is removed because of our faith in Christ, we still have the problem of sin in our lives, so we know what our fellow men are going through.

There was a small boy who had lost his right hand in an accident. He felt badly about it and did not want to see anyone. His father said, “I’m going to bring the minister in to see you,” but the boy said, “I don’t want to see him!” The father brought him in anyway, and when the boy looked up, he saw that the minister had no right arm: just an empty sleeve. He said, “I don’t have a hand either. I lost my arm when I was a boy, so I know how it feels.” Naturally it was easy for the boy to talk to this man who “knew how it felt.” So what about those who are still lost? You were there once yourself, you can relate to them, knowing how it felt. Do you have compassion on them, that gut-feeling that leads you to act on their behalf? Are you making an effort to reach them with the message of free salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?  If you follow the example of Jesus, such will be your compassion.

Of course, compassion is to be shown to all men, fellow believers as well as those who have not yet come to faith in Christ. We should be conscious of the need to act upon our feeling of wanting to help. This includes all of our actions and our speaking. And since we do a lot more speaking than anything else, we should be especially sensitive to showing compassion in what we say.

Most of you know that a huge horse can be controlled by a tiny device placed in its mouth, called a bit.  Such a little instrument has a big influence. Likewise, the tongue, although a small part of our anatomy, has an amazingly great impact on our lives. We might tend to underestimate the power of the tongue because it is so small and is hidden away in the mouth.  It produces a product that floats on air, is invisible, and is gone as quickly as it comes into existence–WORDS.  And if you doubt the tremendous impact of words, consider these phrases: “You’re fired.” “It’s cancer.” “She’s dead.” “You blew it.” “What happened to your face?” Think how devastating these words are in your life. Yet words can be just as powerful in a positive sense. “You’re cured.” “You won! “ “Good job!” “You look good today!” “I’m proud of you!” What you say can be a tremendous way of showing compassion to others.  And there is no greater way to speak your compassion than to share the declaration that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.

However, words are not enough. It is true that the Word works faith in hearts, and our words can be powerful. The Word of God is what creates faith in the hearts of men, and faith is what saves you through God’s grace. But faith without works is dead. We must practice what we preach. Our compassion for others must take the form of words and deeds. There is an old Japanese fable about a man who died and went to heaven.  When he got there, he was surprised to find a shelf that was completely covered with human tongues. When he asked his heavenly guide about it, the guide explained, “Those are the tongues of people who spoke sweet words about virtue, who said what was right, but never did anything to follow their words. So, their tongues have come to heaven, but the rest of them is somewhere else.”

Make sure your compassion is not like that. You should emulate the feeling of Christ, feeling for others so deeply that not only do you feel it and speak it, but you also act upon those feelings. Your compassion should lead you to volunteer to help when help is needed, even if it might be an unpleasant or distasteful task. It could be as simple as offering to bring someone to church, or as complicated as trying to reconcile yourself to someone with whom you have a long-standing feud. following the example of Jesus, you will visit the sick, pray for those in need, give your offerings to support the church, bring food to the meal being served after a funeral.All these are a part of expressing compassion. You are showing the same kind of concern that God showed for you in
Jesus. And Why? Because you know what it means that Jesus died and rose again
for you. He has given you eternal life. That should have an impact on your life.

MARK 6:30-34   The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.  But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.

This passage speaks to us of compassion, specifically the compassion of our Lord. Let’s set the scene for this passage.  It begins by saying The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the message of repentance, to cast out spirits, and to heal.  So they return to tell Jesus that they had done what He commanded. The compassion of Jesus had led Him to send them out on this mission of mercy.

Upon their return, notice what Jesus does. He knows that they had labored hard in the task He had given them, and he wants to give them time to recuperate:  Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Once again, we see the compassionate nature of our Lord, in wanting to care for His disciples’ physical needs.

When Jesus and His disciples tried to get away by themselves, they were unsuccessful.  The crowds followed them.  And Jesus told them to leave Him alone, right?  No, we are told that He had compassion on them. Rather than turn them away, He taught them what they needed to know.  Truly our Lord is full of compassion.

So then, just what is compassion? The dictionary says it is a deep feeling for the suffering of others. That’s not a bad definition, but it doesn’t even begin to describe what this word means in the original language. The Greek word here is SPLAGXNIZOMAI. This word is untranslatable into one word in English. It is more than just pity. It is not just that He felt sorry for them. It speaks of a tenderness that comes from deep down inside you–literally a gut feeling. This feeling wells up inside of you until it becomes like a lump in your throat. This feeling for another person is so deep that it is not just something you feel: it causes you to act. You can’t feel that much without doing something about it. Such is the compassion of our Lord. He felt for those around Him and He did something about it.  His compassion led Him to send out His disciples to preach repentance and the Good News. His compassion dictated that He allow His disciples a period of rest. And His compassion told Him that He could not turn away this crowd without giving them something, so He taught them.

We are not told here exactly what Jesus taught these people. However, I would imagine that it was pretty much the same message He shared throughout His ministry. He most likely told them about the love of their compassionate heavenly Father. He felt for mankind, His perfect creation which had corrupted itself through disobedience. And God’s compassion was such that it led Him to act: He acted by sending a Savior, someone who would bear the burden of our disobedience to bring us back to God. Jesus was that very one sent to save us. Not only did He come to us, but He came as one of us. He was human, though without sin.  And since He was one of us, His compassion was rooted in knowing who we are and what we go through. He understood us completely, and dedicated His entire being to helping us out of the hopeless situation we had entered through out sin. Faith in His life of perfect obedience and His sacrifice for sins makes us acceptable before the throne of God.

More thoughts on compassion tomorrow.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

The previous devotion had me musing about “The Day the Son Went Down,” focusing on the first coming of Jesus as Christmas as why He came: to pay for our sin and accomplish our salvation. I mentioned that there were actually several days in Scripture that could be described as “The Day the Son Went Down,” so I’d like to share some thoughts on those today.

One of the days “The Son Went Down” was when He was betrayed. You’ve probably heard someone say on a movie or police drama, “You’re going down…” They want to knock criminals down and get them out of the way. That is what the Jewish rulers wanted to do to Jesus. They saw Him as more than a nuisance. They thought He was a threat to their own power and authority. People were following Him, people were listening to Him. They wanted Him out of the way. So they plotted with a disillusioned follower of Jesus. They agreed to pay Judas so that he would hand Jesus over to them away from the crowds and in secret. It took place under the cover of darkness, in a garden where our Lord had gone to pray with His disciples. In order to fulfill God’s plan, Jesus went down. Once again, he did so willingly. He didn’t put up a fight. It is not that He wanted to die. He had made that clear just a few minutes before this in Gethsemane. But He was willing to do what His Father wanted, what was best for us. He had stated that earlier, as recorded in John 6 [38] For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And it was the Father’s will that the Son “go down” so that you and I would not have to.

The very next day, what we call Good Friday, it appeared as though the Son went down for the count. He took that perfect life He had lived, placed it on the altar of the cross, and gave it up for you. Once again, He went down willingly. … I lay down my life … No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. (John 10:17-18)  Since God demanded death as the payment for sin, Jesus provided it from a heart filled with love. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) Jesus died carrying your sin.

From the cross, the Son went down to the tomb. Joseph of Arimathea secured permission to bury Jesus. He bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock (Mark 15:46). Satan and his minions rejoiced, thinking they were victorious. But just the opposite was true. Satan was defeated. He and the enemies of Jesus thought the Son went down for good. He did, just not the way they thought. He went down for our good, yours and mine. He went down for everyone’s good, and everyone can get that good if they believe that He went down for them. Personal belief in Jesus as Savior receives all the good things God wants you to have.

Sometime between His crucifixion and His resurrection is another day Jesus went down. We speak of it in the Apostle’s Creed: He descended into hell. The Bible doesn’t tell us much about this, only what it says in 1 Peter: For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:18-19) Once again, the Son Went down for our good. He went to hell not to suffer – that was finished. He went to proclaim His victory He had secured for us.

That victory was proclaimed loudly and clearly for the entire world on the third day. Jesus took up His power as the Almighty, rose from death and the grave, and announced His triumph through the Resurrection. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Earlier I referenced parts of verses 17 and 18 from John 10. These make it clear this was always God’s plan, even before the Son went down: The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. The Son went down and the Son rose again so that you might be forgiven and have peace with God.

You and I live in the peace and comfort and security that the Son went down for our sake. He has satisfied the demands our sin placed on us, reconciled us to the Father, and given us forgiveness and life and salvation. You have this guaranteed through faith in Christ. We live in this confidence as we await another day the Son will go down. There is one that has not yet happened, but one that we, as His followers, eagerly anticipate. It was spoken of by Paul: 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Our Lord is coming down again to take us to Himself. This is our future because of our faith in Christ. May you live each day in this joy and confidence.

Most days we have a nice view of the “sun going down,” that big ball of fire that provides us with light and heat, the closest star to the earth, slowly sinking in the western sky. Of course, we are told that the earth is actually revolving around the sun, so the sun does not actually “go down,” it just appears that way to us because of the earth rotating on its axis.

That made me think of a play on words, “The day the Son went down,” speaking of our Lord Jesus. It did not just appear that He came down to earth as one of us – He actually did just that. And as I thought about that phrase, I realized that there are several days in history that could be described that way.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

Let’s start with the first coming of our Lord, the event we commonly know as Christmas. Martin Luther wrote a lengthy hymn about this entitled, “From Heaven above to earth I come. (The Lutheran Hymnal #85). Another Christmas hymn tells us “Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine” (Lutheran Worship #46). Yet another hymn says “Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of Heaven to earth come down” (The Lutheran Hymnal #351). From the love of our heavenly Father came the gift this world so desperately needed: The Son went down, was born as a man, took our flesh upon Himself so that He might be one of us. We speak of this often, as we do when we speak the words of the Nicene Creed: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

 The Son went down so that He could live among us without sin and thereby have the perfect offering to pay for sin. It is our sin and disobedience that made it necessary for the Son to go down from heaven. Because of sin, all men were doomed to die, to be apart from God. That was our Lord’s just and fair judgment against sin, your sin. But God was not willing to let you die eternally. He wanted you to be with Him. So His love led Him to make the Son go down for you.

The day the Son went down, what we celebrate as Christmas, was the beginning of what theologians call the humiliation of our Lord. This comes in part from Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

His humiliation is not that He became a man, but that as a man, He willingly laid aside the power He had as the Almighty. He still had His power and authority as God, but for us men and for our salvation, when He came down, He chose not to use them. He came to accomplish our salvation, to live as one of us, to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. He set aside His divine power so that He could offer Himself as your payment.

—to be continued—

You are invited to join Donna Snow, Cheryl and me on a Reformation Tour “In the Footsteps of Luther April 6-17, 2025.  You can find the brochure here. It promises to be a wonderful trip. If you have any questions, contact me: mike@revmattil.org

Psalm 51:1–5 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Some days the enormity of my sin and guilt tries to consume me. I know my shortcomings better than anyone, with the exception of my Lord. And I know that I am truly a poor, miserable sinner. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. I don’t need anyone to point it out to me. And yet Satan continues to attack me with reminders of how I have fallen short of God’s glory.

But even on my worst day, I know that I am a forgiven child of God. When Satan brings up all my failures, my past misdeeds, my ongoing struggle with sin, I remember that my salvation is not dependent on how I feel or even what I do. My forgiveness comes from what Jesus did for me through His cross. Heaven is mine because Jesus defeated death for me. My faith lays hold of what Jesus did.

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’s blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
(The Lutheran Hymnal #370, stanza 1)

Psalm 95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head.

 Lord, I believe Thy precious blood, Which at the mercy seat of God
Forever doth for sinners plead, For me – e’en for my soul – was shed.
(The Lutheran Hymnal #371, stanzas 1,4)

Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Most of you can probably recite John 3:16, which speaks of God’s love for us.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

That passage, often called “The Gospel in a Nutshell,” is a beautiful summary statement of God’s love. A passage that is just as noteworthy and instructs us in the way we should love is 1 John 3:16

1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

W ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. Do you see what this is saying? In order to live as followers of the one who laid down His life for you, you should lay down your lives for your brothers and sisters. And something I like to mention in this connection is that laying down your life does not just refer to someone dying for their faith. To be sure, that is one meaning of the term. But laying down your life also means giving up your rights, putting the needs of others ahead of your own. That includes sacrificial giving to support the ministry of your church home, but it is more than that.

Following the example of Jesus, you will live a life of love. You will put the needs of others ahead of your own. You will express that love in words of encouragement. You will express that love in deeds that show you care. You will express that love in service to Christ both in the Church and the community. You will express that love because you have known and experienced that love in your life. We love because He first loved us.

Want some specifics? As followers of Christ, we understand that love is not just something we talk about or limited to how we feel. Love is what we do. I have seen so many examples of that kind of love throughout my life and ministry. Around the congregations I served, I saw loving acts of service like:

• Tending a flower bed at the church
• Washing the dishes in the kitchen
• Teaching a Sunday School class
• Passing out pocket crosses and sharing a kind word
• Folding the bulletins
• Running the Audio and Video equipment during worship
• Cleaning the pews, restocking the cards and sharpening the pencils
• Taking time to visit the elderly and the shut-ins
• Sending cards to those going through a difficult time just to let them know you care
• Serving on a committee
• Mowing the grass and trimming the shrubs
• Working on Disaster Response Teams after a hurricane or a tornado.
• Being a friend who listens and offers a shoulder to cry on and then praying with each other.

I know this same kind of love has being shown by followers of Jesus in your homes, where you work, with your neighbors in ways that I did not see. Lives that are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ will have this kind of love and make this love evident in action and in truth. That is a life worthy of the calling we have received to be followers of Jesus: humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love.  May we continue to lay down our lives for the sake of others.