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Last week I wrote about God using ordinary things like water, wine, bread and words to make Himself known and give us good things. I wanted to share some more thoughts about God’s use of words. Since we are considering words and language and how God uses them, I want you to think about the difference between abstract and concrete terms.

Abstract terms refer to ideas or concepts. For example, “good” is an abstract term. It is a common, familiar word, one we use every day. We recognize the word and therefore we assume that we understand what it means. But that may not be accurate. The meaning changes depending upon who is using the term and in what context. Someone might say, “Your children are so good” and mean that they are intelligent, well-behaved and a pleasure to be around. Someone else might describe an evening of over-drinking and illicit sex by saying, “We had a good time.”  And the meaning of good in that case is not at all the same.

Or consider the word “freedom.” The word is familiar enough, but if you say, “I want freedom,” what are you talking about? A teenager might mean he wants his own car. An overworked woman might mean she wants a vacation. Some people will say they want their freedom and mean they want a divorce. For others it means self-employment, to be debt free. For some it may mean they want their clothes to be loose fitting, but for others it means they want to be delivered from slavery and tyranny. The meaning of freedom is not constant.

That is how it is with abstract terms. Ideas and concepts are not uniform. Does that mean we should not use abstract terms? Of course not—we need them. We need to talk about ideas and concepts, and we need words that represent them. But we must understand how imprecise their meanings can be, how easily they can be understood differently by people in differing situations.

Concrete terms refer to objects or events that are observable and can be known by our senses. They are the opposite of abstract terms, which not observable or knowable with our senses. Examples of concrete terms are stapler, table, nose ring, red, hot. Because these terms refer to objects or events we can see or hear or feel or taste or smell, their meanings are fairly stable. If you ask me what I mean by the word spoon, I can pick up a spoon and show it to you. You can’t do that with an abstract. I can’t pick up a freedom or a good and show it to you. I can hold and measure sand, but I cannot give you a box of responsibility. (Sand is a concrete term, responsibility is an abstract).

While abstract terms like love change meaning with time and circumstances, concrete terms like hot pretty much stay the same. Table and puppy mean the same to you now as they did when you were four.

I have a purpose in taking you through this little discourse on abstract and concrete terms. In Jesus, we have the abstract Word made concrete for us. “In the beginning was the Word” is abstract, an idea, a concept. But “The Word became flesh and lived among us” is concrete and real and knowable and touchable.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

That is a description of the Word of God becoming real for us. The Word became flesh. God wanted us to understand Him and know Him and experience His love so much that He made His Word one of us. God took His Word, His promise, all of His Will for us and made them knowable and understandable when His Word became flesh. And in Him, we have seen the depth of God’s love.

The One who came to make God known would show us the extent of God’s love by taking our place in punishment and by that action pay the penalty our sins deserve, freeing us from condemnation.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

God used His Word made flesh to give us what we don’t deserve – forgiveness, peace, life everlasting.

Jesus is the abstract word made concrete for us. God’s use of words is pretty impressive.

(Part of the discussion on abstract and concrete was found at http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/abstract.htm in an article by John Friedlander, associate professor in the English department at Southwest Tennessee Community College. )

I have never been terribly interested in Astronomy. I thoroughly enjoy sitting out at night, away from city lights, looking at the unnumbered twinkling lights and marveling. But as far as being able to name and locate constellations and such, that just isn’t my thing. I do appreciate those who take interest in this, though, and share their discoveries with those of us who are less interested.

Cheryl and I were recently in the Davis Mountains. Two months before our trip I booked a “Star Party” at the McDonald Observatory just outside of Ft. Davis.  Unfortunately it was completely cloudy the night we were to look out the telescopes, which evidently doesn’t happen very often. Bummer. We were really looking forward to it. At least they said they would issue us a refund.

While I don’t take time to find and locate all the constellations, it is still fascinating. As I said earlier, I marvel at their beauty. And I know the one who made them all. Have you ever noticed in Genesis that the creation of the stars was announced as though it was not that big of a deal.

Genesis 1:16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

Oh, yeah, He made the stars, too. But don’t think they are unimportant. Stars are mentioned throughout Scripture. Like when God was talking to Abraham.

Genesis 15:5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Amos affirmed that the Lord made the stars by mentioning some constellations.

Amos 5:8 he who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name—

When I observe the stars, I find myself in agreement with that fellow who wrote Psalm 8.

Psalm 8:3–4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

There are hundreds of references to stars, and they are mentioned in most of the books of the Bible. But perhaps the one you know best is the star that led the Magi to the true star of Bethlehem, Jesus.

Matthew 2:2 “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

The one who made all the things, including the heavenly lights, used one of them to herald the birth of the Savior of all people. (There is a fascinating documentary about this star by Rick Larson entitled “The Star of Bethlehem” that is well worth watching.)

Many people look to the stars and astrology for answers about their lives. They would be much better looking to the one who made the stars, because He alone has the answers that we need. He used a star to lead us to Jesus, who would provide the solution to sin for everyone.

On the Sundays in Lent this year, I want to share with you some hymns for this season of the year that help me in my preparation for Easter. We’ll start with “Jesus I Will Ponder Now.”

It speaks of the Passion, the suffering Jesus endured in order to make payment for the sins of the world. It wants us to recognize just how horrible it was for Jesus to endure the burden of the sins of all people, including our own. The goal is that we would repent and receive the benefit of all Jesus did, living with the confidence of forgiveness for His sake. This should also result in our striving to live each day in grateful response, turning from sin and to our loving Savior.

Jesus, I will ponder now On Thy holy Passion;
With Thy Spirit me endow For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith May the image cherish
Of Thy suffering, pain, and death That I may not perish.

Make me see Thy great distress, Anguish and affliction,
Bonds and stripes and wretchedness And Thy crucifixion;
Make me see how scourge and rod, Spear and nails, did wound Thee,
How for man Thou diedst, O God, Who with thorns had crowned Thee.

Yet, O Lord, not thus alone Make me see Thy Passion,
But its cause to me make known And its termination.
Ah! I also and my sin Wrought Thy deep affliction;
This indeed the cause hath been Of Thy crucifixion.

Grant that I Thy Passion view With repentant grieving
Nor Thee crucify anew By unholy living.
How could I refuse to shun Every sinful pleasure
Since for me God’s only Son Suffered without measure?

If my sins give me alarm And my conscience grieve me,
Let Thy cross me fear disarm, Peace of conscience give me
Grant that I may trust in Thee And Thy holy Passion.
If His Son so loveth me, God must have compassion.

Grant that I may willingly Bear with Thee my crosses,
Learning humbleness of Thee, Peace mid pain and losses.
May I give Thee love for love! Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heaven above Sing Thy praise forever.

(The Lutheran Hymnal #140)
Pondering the Passion of our Lord is a worthwhile endeavor.

Read the following sentences and think about what they mean.

• A woman without her man is nothing.
• A woman: without her, man is nothing.
• The man dropped the bullet in his mouth.
• The man dropped, the bullet in his mouth.

We communicate with words, but we don’t always to a good job of it. Sometimes the meaning of the words is uncertain – it can change depending on the way they are said or punctuated. Think about the two words “Yeah, right.” They could be an affirmation that something is true and correct. But if said sarcastically, they would mean the exact opposite. Language can be imprecise at times, leading to misunderstandings, but it is still the most effective means we have of communicating with each other.

Have you ever wondered why God chose language as the way to communicate His Good News to us? God conveys His message of love and a Savior to us with verbs and nouns, adverbs and adjectives, tenses and grammar, sentences and syntax, paragraphs and punctuation and parts of speech. Did you ever stop to think about why God did it that way? Maybe not. Maybe even now you are thinking, “If He didn’t tell us, how would we know?”

Language is a powerful tool, an integral part of our lives. It conveys thoughts, explains, describes, reveals, clarifies. We use words to make ourselves known, to share our heart, to express what we are feeling. We use words in order to understand the world around us when we listen and read. We express ourselves and get the perspective of others with the use of words.

God wanted to make Himself known to us. He wanted us to understand who He is, how much He loves us and what He wants for us. So He used words. But He took it a step further, as John explains.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ” (John 1:1–3)

The name applied to the second person of the Trinity here, the one we usually call “Jesus,” is “The Word.” Jesus came into this world to be the Word of the Father now in flesh appearing. He was sent here to explain and clarify and reveal God.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

God came down to us as the Word made Flesh to help us understand who He is, His love for us, and to accomplish what was needed for us to live with Him forever. And that is exactly what He did. The words of the Bible tell us about that. The Word made Flesh is how we best understand what God has done. He was trying to be precise.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I’ll share some further thoughts on God’s use of Words sometime next week.

Think about how way we encounter our God in worship. He comes to us through seemingly plain, simple, ordinary things: Word and Water, Bread and Wine. Both Baptism and Communion are nothing less than a mystery and a miracle. These Sacraments are truly awe-inspiring and demanding of faith. In Baptism, God connects simple water with the power of His Word and declares us cleansed of our sin. We are His children and heirs of eternal life. We are baptized, not were baptized, and thus are called to live a new life, reflecting our status as His forgiven children each and every day.

In Holy Communion, we celebrate the mystery and miracle of Christ’s true and very real presence among us: the presence of bread and also the body of Christ, the presence of wine and also the blood of Christ. There is a hymn in The Lutheran Service Book entitled “What is this bread?” That unleavened, pressed and seemingly tasteless wafer used by many for Communion is indeed still bread. And yet, in the upper room on the eve of Passover, Jesus took some similar, unleavened bread, broke it, gave it to His disciples to eat and said, “This is my body!” Yes, the same body beaten and broken on Calvary’s hill as the sacrifice for our sins. The power of God’s Word gives that to us in this meal.

The hymn goes on to ask, “What is this Wine?” If it looks like wine and tastes like wine and smells like wine, it must be wine, and so it is. And yet in that same upper room Jesus declared, “This is my blood, shed for you.”  Indeed, the same blood that flowed freely from His head as a crown of thorns was placed there, the same blood that hours later flowed from His hands and feet as nails pierced them, the same blood that flowed from His side when pierced by a sword, the blood that was the sacrifice for our sin – that is what Jesus gives to us in this sacred meal. The hymn goes on, “Yet is God here? Oh, yes! By Word and promise clear. In mouth and soul He makes us whole – Christ truly present in this meal. Oh, taste and see – the Lord is real.” (LSB 629:4)

The Lord is with us in a unique and special way through ordinary bread and wine. Christ’s real presence. A mystery and a miracle! In this Sacrament God is the one doing something. He is giving, we simply receive. God uses ordinary bread and wine to accomplish the extraordinary. He gives us what Jesus earned.

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ” (1 Corinthians 10:16)

Bread and Wine are used for eating and drinking. That is something we need to do every day. Our bodies need to be fed, they need regular physical nourishment.The eating and drinking we do in this sacred meal remind us that we need spiritual nourishment as well, and that is what God gives us. His Word connected to these ordinary things makes them extraordinary. They become a means through which He gives us His love, His forgiveness, the assurance of life everlasting.

There is so much more that God does through these ordinary elements that we cannot cover it all at once. But let me point out just two more things today.

“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. ” (1 Corinthians 10:17)

Communion binds us together, not just to Jesus but to each other. We have the comfort and assurance of knowing that we are united not only with all those communing with us physically, but also with all believers in Christ throughout the world and those who are already with Him in heaven.

Another element of this sacred meal comes from these words:

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)

These words take us right back to the cross. As you approach the altar, each of you is preaching a powerful sermon. You are saying to everyone who sees you, “I believe that Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, died for me and a world of sinners. I believe that I am worthy to receive His body and blood with the bread and the wine only because of what Jesus did for me at Calvary. I believe that His love for me is nothing short of a miracle, even a mystery! I believe that God is doing tremendous and powe         rful things for me through His Word connected to ordinary bread and wine. ”

Is this for me? I am forgiven and set free! I do believe That I receive His very body and His blood. Oh, taste and see – the Lord is good.  LSB 629:5

The season of Lent is the time in the Church Year set aside to prepare for the celebration of Easter. It is a period that focuses on repentance and somber reflection on the fact that when Jesus died, He was doing so to pay for our sins.

For many, Lent is a time to “give something up.” That was the origin of the Mardi Gras celebration that culminates on “Fat Tuesday” or “Shrove Tuesday.” Originally, people would eat one last meal of special, rich foods before beginning the fast, or period of self-denial, that begins on the first day of Lent, also known as Ash Wednesday. As time went on, Shrove Tuesday became the day to get in one last party before giving up things during the season of Lent. In modern thinking, Mardi Gras has become an excuse to engage in every kind of hedonism and debauchery, as though you have some sort of free pass to do those things. Just one more example of how the world corrupts something originally developed by the church to help disciples of Jesus in their spiritual walk of faith.

For many Christians, Lent begins with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. As a smudge is made on the forehead, usually in the shape of a cross, you hear: “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is a solemn reminder that sin has death as its consequence (Romans 6:23).

Lent is still a time of giving things up for many Christians, and with good reason. What we give up is to remind us of how much our Lord Jesus gave up in order to accomplish our forgiveness. One explanation I’ve heard for why Christians were told to give up meat on Fridays during Lent was that it was on a Friday – Good Friday—that Jesus gave up His “meat” – His flesh, His very life, for us. The thought process was that every time you had a meatless meal on Friday, you would think of everything Jesus did for you and offer Him your thanks.

None of what we do or don’t do during Lent as believers improves our standing before God. Jesus already took care of that, and we can add nothing to what He has done. Rather, our acts of denial are ways that we show our gratitude to God for what He has given us through the death and resurrection of Jesus: acceptance, forgiveness, and the certainty of everlasting life.

The following Lenten hymn is a worthwhile meditation for the beginning of this Lenten season, especially the words in the third stanza: “It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish.”

O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken
That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken?
Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession –
What dark transgression?

They crown Thy head with thorns, they smite, they scourge Thee;
With cruel mockings to the cross they urge Thee;
They give Thee gall to drink, they still decry Thee;
They crucify Thee.

Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish?
It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish;
Yea, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit,
This I do merit.

What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander;
The Master pays the debt His servants owe Him,
Who would not know Him.

The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted –
God is committed.

There was no spot in me by sin untainted;
Sick with sin’s poison, all my heart had fainted;
My heavy guilt to hell had well nigh brought me,
Such woe is wrought me.
The Lutheran Hymnal #143

What do you hope for? Hope is a good thing. Scripture speaks of it quite a bit.

Hebrews 11 is known as “the faith chapter” of the Bible because it gives example after example of how people lived by the faith they have in God and His promises. Look at how that faith chapter begins:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

When God talks about the hope we have in Jesus, it is a sure thing. It is not wishful longing. Our hope in Christ is a certainty, a done deal. It is certain because Jesus already earned our forgiveness and life and salvation by His sacrifice, by taking our punishment.

Galatians 5 speaks of the “now not yet” aspect of our faith. We know what Jesus earned for us. We know that it is ours. But we won’t experience it in all its fullness until we enter the presence of our Lord after this life is over.

5 … by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

At the Last Day, when we stand before Jesus as our judge, we have every reason in the world to be afraid. We know our sins. We know we are guilty. We know we deserve to be condemned for all eternity. But because the Spirit of God has led us to believe in Jesus, we can rest easy. When we stand before Christ as our judge on the Last Day, we have the certainty that our faith will lead Jesus to declare us “not guilty” and usher us into the eternal joy of heaven.

We cannot expect the world to understand what we have.  Paul was God’s chosen messenger in the early church to take the message of Jesus to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Paul knew the world would have a hard time understanding our hope as believers. At one of his trials, when he was on his way to Rome he was appealing to a King who understood Jewish teachings and this is what he said.

Acts 26:6-7 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me.

Those who have not been led by the Holy Spirit to know and believe in Jesus will not understand the hope that we have in Him. But that does not negate our hope. It is real because Jesus earned it for us.

Peter knew what it meant to have hope in Christ. He got out of the boat and walked on water. He felt the hand of Jesus pulling him to safety when he doubted. And after he denied knowing Jesus, he was forgiven and restored and assured of his place in God’s kingdom. He knew all about hope. And God would lead him to write these words in his first letter that has been passed down to us today:

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

You and I have this hope because of Jesus. We know that He came into the world to take our place in punishment. He lived in obedience to all the law of God and then offered His perfect life as the payment for the sins of the world. He promised that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. That is our confidence. That is our certainty. That is our hope.

1 Corinthians 15 is known as “the resurrection chapter of the Bible” and it tells us that our certain hope is not only for what we will have here on earth, but what is ours for eternity:

1 Corinthians 15:19-20 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

However, hope for this life is important. The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city’s hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child’s name and room number and talked briefly with the child’s regular class teacher. “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Seeing him upset the teacher, although she tried to hide it. She stumbled over her words as she told him, “I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.” She tried to teach the lesson, but when she left she felt she hadn’t accomplished much.

The next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” said the nurse. “You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?” He had hope because that teacher came to him.

Hope for this life is important. As followers of Jesus, we have that. But our hope is for more than that. It goes beyond the grave. Because of the victory over sin and death and the grave that Jesus accomplished in our place, our eternity is secure. Because He lives, we will live also. That is our hope!