- May 17, 2024
- 6 min read
[Acts 1:1-11] … 6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight…
Restoring the Kingdom to Israel
Things are not done yet. The course is being run but isn’t yet finished. Jesus has lived the perfect life, died for our sins, is risen from the dead — and now, at the end of the Gospel and the beginning of the book of Acts, His ascension into heaven is about to happen and then happens.
Jesus ascends to the right hand of God the Father – to His place of all authority in heaven and on earth [Matthew 28:18], still fully Man and fully God. God the Father seats Jesus “at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named” [Ephesians 1:15-23].
Just before Jesus ascends, the disciples ask Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He has conquered the greatest enemy, death, by His resurrection. Now, in His ascension, will He use His ultimate power and authority to advance their nation of Israel?
Jesus had taught clearly, “My kingdom is not of this world” [John 18:36], but His disciples still have their minds set on this world – on earthly Israel. “Will Israel topple the Romans?” “Will the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob finally prevail?”
Even after all they had seen and heard from Jesus, it was still stuck in their minds, at least to some degree, that their Messiah, their Christ, had come to make them the ultimate superpower in the world. Would it now happen?
When the disciples ask, “Will You now restore the kingdom to Israel?”, Jesus doesn’t say “No”, and He also doesn’t say “Yes”. He says it’s not for them to know the times or seasons, and then He directs their attention to the true restoring of the Kingdom: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
By His ascension, Jesus takes His throne to extend a kingdom greater and different than any other kingdom. Jesus will extend a heavenly kingdom, not through politics, power, or sword, but through the ministry of preaching and teaching His Word – the work of making disciples [Matthew 28:19-20].
In just a few days, the disciples’ minds will be transformed by the receiving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and from then forward there is no more talk at all from them about restoring or opposing any nation on earth. Instead, they go forth preaching the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus.
Now for us: Going back to their question in today’s reading, how does our mindset compare? Is our mind on earth or in heaven? Is our hope anchored in a nation, people, or city in this world or to a city and Kingdom to come? What is our Israel, our Jerusalem, our kingdom and nation?
If you listen to Christian radio very much – you may find some good preachers on there, or you may not – but what you will definitely find at times, it seems, is a strange focus on the earthly nation of Israel, as if our hope in Christ, or even the second-coming of Christ, is somehow tied to the politics of that region. This is very misguided thinking.
There is talk in the Bible about the promises and blessings of Israel. All of these promises, and the people of Israel’s role as a blessing to the world – this is all fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. The promise made to Abraham was that, through his son Isaac, his descendants would become a great nation, and that from that nation the Savior of the world – of every nation – would be born. [Galatians 3:16-29]
That promise has been fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. By His death, resurrection, and ascension, He has become the Savior of people from every nation, all in the same way – through faith Him.
Man’s relationship to God is not through any city or nation – not through the city of Rome, not through Jerusalem or Israel – and not through any special race of any sort – but only through one Man, Jesus Christ.
Jesus has said as much: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” [John 14:6]. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” [John 3:36]. It’s the same for every person.
And we read last week, from the mouth of Peter, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him” [Acts 10:34-35]. And, “everyone who believes in Him [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through His name” [Acts 10:43]. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:13]. It’s the same for every person.
In the Church’s lifetime on earth, we’ve often set our minds too much on the earth. The most common opinion is that the kingdom of our ascended Lord Jesus is somehow tethered to the city of Rome – or to the success of the United States – or, as we’ve said, to Israel and Jerusalem.
But Scripture is abundantly clear: “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” [Hebrews 13:14] — “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” [Hebrews 12:22] – “The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother” [Galatians 4:26] – “the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven” [Revelation 3:12].
Jesus did not give a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to His disciples’ question, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel”, because there is an Israel that He is restoring – the kingdom of those who trust in the Savior [Romans 4; Galatians 3].
Jesus ascended into heaven, yet also promised, just before ascending, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” [Matthew 28:20]. Jesus has ascended to His throne of kingship to reign over the hearts of all who call upon Him. He ascended to His throne and has set that throne upon your hearts.
The ascended Jesus is restoring an Israel for heaven. His might is the forgiveness of sins which He won for you by His death and resurrection. From His heavenly throne, He forgives you on earth, dwells in you, reigns over your hearts, and transforms your minds [Romans 12:12]. In this way He is restoring His Israel and His Kingdom is coming.
You are called, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” [1 Peter 2:9-10]
The ascension of Jesus means you do have a Kingdom. The news about this Kingdom and the mission of this Kingdom are infinitely more important than the daily news cycle about the kingdom of this world. The Kingdom of heaven has been extended to you — And the Kingdom of heaven extends through you into this world so that others may also come to know their Savior.
As we remember Christ’s ascension, and always, may our minds be set less-and-less on the things of this world and more-and-more on those things pertaining to the Kingdom of heaven where Christ is seated at the right hand of God [Colossians 3:1-3]. Amen.
- May 17, 2024
- 5 min read
[John 15:9-17] Jesus said: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Abide In Christ’s Love
Does their friendship remain? Is their friendship drifting? Or are they friends no longer? By observing what friends are doing or not doing, you can see, fairly accurately, whether their friendship remains, is drifting, or has parted.
Do they call each other? Are they up to date on each other’s life events? Do they visit when one is sick or grieving? Do they call to celebrate? Birthdays, holidays?
Do they eat together? Do they gather together for their regular friendship gatherings? Your monthly breakfast. Your yearly camping trip.
And, for the best of friends, do they still, and can they still, reach out to the other for help. Personal help, money help, help with those things that you wouldn’t admit to everybody.
Or, are they drifting through lack of these things? As interactions become fewer and farther between, at what point does a friendship no longer remain? Friendships can drift – and families and marriage – but they can also be repaired.
What about the love and friendship that Jesus Christ has for you? How is that friendship the same or different? The love with which Jesus Christ loves you – each of you – is almighty, unbreakable, constant, and unconditional. His friendship is for the unfriendable, the undeserving. Jesus is the Friend of sinners.
But His love and friendship is something in which we must remain and can drift away from.
We probably don’t use the word “abide” many times a day, but the word here simply means “to remain in” or “to dwell”: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain (Abide) in My love” – “Dwell in My love.” Remain in that friendship.
Friendship with Christ has observable marks or indicators. Am I praying? Do I communicate with Christ about my day throughout my day? Does He hear from me and of my needs?
Am I hearing from Him in His written Word, the Bible? I read many things – do I read what the Lord has written to me? Do I listen to the speaking and preaching of His Word and seek more chances to hear it? In friendship there is speaking and listening.
Do I get together with the Friend of sinners, and with His friends? Or do I give my excuses too often or too easily? Am I invested in this friendship so that this Friend has a place as a priority in my calendar?
We know what marks those friendships that last for a lifetime, and we know those signs which indicate a relationship may be drifting. We should pay careful attention to our friendship with the Lord.
Of course, there are certainly differences between friendship with your friends and friendship with your Lord. If a friend says, “If you do what I say, then you’re really my friend” – that’s not a true friend and those words mean something that’s not good.
But it is the rightful place of our Lord and God to give us commandments. A mark of friendship with the Lord is being the people in this world who listen to His commandments to do what He says: “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” – “You are My friends if you do what I command you” [John 15:10,14].
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” [John 15:12]. And, what we talked about last week, we also heard today: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments” [1 John 5:2-3].
These are the moral commandments of Scripture. The Ten Commandments. His commands in the Sermon on the Mount, and elsewhere — His commands that we fear, love, and trust in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit alone as the only God; that we worship Him; that we call upon His name in every trouble —
— That we live a sexually pure and decent life; a life of marriage or a life of chastity; that we honor authorities; that we look to the interests of others; that we don’t lie; that we speak well of each other; that we be thankful.
Also, Jesus commands that you be a friend to Him by how you treat His unique friends: That you visit His friends, those who are ill, homebound, or hospitalized; that you feed and clothe His friends, those who are lacking in what they need; that you have mercy on His friends, men and women in prison; and that you welcome His friends, those who are outsiders or strangers to our group. [Matthew 25:31-46]
Jesus said, in words He will speak again on the Day of Judgment, “As you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.” And, “As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” [Matthew 25:40,45].
A life of friendship with the Lord and of dwelling in His love is a life of keeping His commandments. “And His commandments are not burdensome” – they are a life of love, which comes from being loved by the Friend of sinners.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Jesus laid down His life for the whole world [1 John 2:2; John 1:29] – and not for the righteous, but for the unrighteous: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [Romans 5:6-8]
Nothing is greater than the friendship and love that God has for you through Jesus. Dwell in that love. Turn from drifting and back toward friendship. Be at the receiving end of His Word preached and His Supper given. Gather with His friends here.
He has loved first, and it is the strength of His self-sacrificing love on the cross that does and will keep you abiding in Him. Amen.
- Apr 28, 2024
- 6 min read
[John 15:1-8] Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
Fruit of the Vine
If the branch grows apples, you know to what kind of tree it belongs. And if it’s lying by itself on the ground, you know it won’t bear any fruit at all.
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit” [Matthew 12:33]. And, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” [Matthew 7:19].
Jesus speaks in a similar way in this morning’s Gospel, but here it’s about a vine: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” [John 15:1-2].
Jesus is the vine. The Father is the vinedresser who does the pruning. A branch which isn’t growing fruit is a dead branch. Though present in the vine, it’s not receiving its life from the vine. Likewise, any branch remaining separate from the vine doesn’t stay living nor does it bear true fruit.
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” [John 15:2,6].
The very Vine who has produced the branches is warning His own – His baptized people – about the danger of living a fruitless life. A Christian living a fruitless life can lose his living faith. And our faith cannot survive forever on its own, apart from the body.
But, in that Vine, what is the fruitful life being produced? What are the fruits on the branches?
Abiding in the grapevine produces grapes on the branch. Abiding in Christ produces the love of God in the believer. “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” [1 John 4:16]. Yet, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” [1 John 4:20].
God’s love in His branches is genuine. It is love for God, and it is God’s love for your neighbor abiding in you. God’s love loves the individuals around you.
Easy love, on the other hand, loves categories of people. “The poor”. “The marginalized”. Easy love is charitable to the neighbor you don’t know and who doesn’t share your daily life. It’s convenient to not hate those with whom we rarely interact.
Genuine love, the love of God, abiding in His branches, loves the individuals named in your daily life – “Whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 John 4:21] – not just the convenient stranger. But also the stranger. And real people in need who are around you every day.
God’s love is strong and heartfelt – is moved to action – considers its words – prays – and is concerned, deeply, for the welfare of the other branches, and for those not in the Vine.
More specifically, the fruit of the Vine produced in the living branches is the keeping of God’s commandments toward God and your neighbor. Not whatever we call love, but what He calls love is the love of God.
Our Scripture references to love this morning are from our Epistle reading, 1 John 4:1-21. This passage continues into chapter five, saying: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments” [1 John 5:2-3].
God has commanded us to have no other gods beside Him – to fear, love, and trust in God above all things; to not misuse but to call upon His name alone in prayer; and to find our rest in worshiping Him.
God has commanded that we count our neighbor’s physical welfare as our own and not do them harm by passing over their bodily needs. “You shall not kill.”
God has commanded that husband and wife be there for each other with love and affection, to cherish and provide for each other, each in their way, and to be faithful. “You shall not commit adultery.”
God commands that we honor our father and our mother. Not always thinking that we know best, but hearing those parents that God has given us – and respecting them throughout life.
God has commanded that we care about the financial welfare of the other person in the deal, not just our own. And that we trust God to provide for us so that we don’t steal or use underhanded ways. “You shall not steal.” And not to be jealous of those who have more than us – “You shall not covet.”
And God commands me to bear witness in keeping with God’s love for, and redemption of, my neighbor. To see my neighbor through the lens of Christ’s forgiving blood, and therefore not to speak of his or her sins. To not “bear false witness” by spreading news of sins that Christ desires to forgive. Therefore, we speak well of our neighbor – and of our brothers and sisters – and put the best construction on everything.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” [1 Corinthians 13:4-7]
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” [Galatians 5:22-23]
No honest follower of Christ can hear God’s commandments – nor hear about the fruits of the Vine that ought to be growing in this branch – without being pierced through the heart with guilt. I fall short. Is there fruit? Certainly. Is there what fruit there ought to be? Certainly not. And it’s my fault. And it’s your fault in you.
But Jesus Christ, the true Vine, for His fruitless branches, was hung upon the dead wood of the cross. All that is lacking in you – the good that you’ve not done, and the evil you have done – He has made His own.
Pierced and nailed upon the cross for your sins, the Vine suffered the fire of judgement that was due for the dead and fruitless branches. He was cut off. He was cast aside. He suffered. His death paid the price for your sin, and His one-and-only fruitful life became the good you owed.
In short, He took your place. He did what you could not. And, this one and only Righteous Man, after He died, was buried – and then, as if planted, He grew again. He is risen and lives. The fruit of the Vine is His fruit – the fruit of His God-pleasing sacrifice and of His great resurrection from the dead, by the gory of God the Father.
As a redeemed, bought-and-paid-for branch grafted back in, His life and fruit does flow through you. No longer a debt of work owed, but a new life given – His life – because you abide in Him.
The point is that sinners – because of His work of redemption, the forgiveness of your sins – though still so lacking in good and full of sins – now have the glory and honor of being fruit-bearing branches on the King’s own Vine.
The Vinedresser’s promise to prune you still stands. In the Greek, the word for “clean” and “prune” are the same. “Already you are clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you.” You are clean, and He is cleaning you still.
Future fruitfulness is the promise for each of you who remain in the Vine, who abide in Him, gathering together, hearing His Word, receiving His Supper – the Food and Drink for His branches – patiently trusting in His work. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.”
In Him, you won’t always be what you are, but what you ought to be will come bit by bit — and will come fully when you too are raised from the dead, our future hope, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
