[Twenty-Fourth in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: After Jesus was baptized and tempted by the devil, he went from town to town, mostly in Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee. He preached, taught and healed the sick. The longer he did this, the more people came to see him. What he saw moved him deeply. He had compassion on them. They were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. So he sent seventy disciples out to care for them. (Matthew 9:35-38)
The English words compassion and sympathy are very similar in meaning. Compassion is from Latin and sympathy from Greek. Both are from words that mean “to suffer with.” The word used for compassion by the Gospels and St. Paul is σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai — a feeling of sorrow over the suffering of others that comes from deep inside [literally the liver, stomach, heart, etc. moves with concern] Compassion is a feeling that moves you to action. You just can’t watch such suffering and not do something.
True compassion begins with God himself. When God finished creating the world, he looked at everything he made and he called it all “very good.” He knows what life was like for Adam and Eve before they sinned and what life would have been like for us if sin never existed. He knew how sin would ruin everything. He warned them, “In the day you eat of it, you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) It is no surprise, then, that he became very angry when Adam and Eve fell. Death colors everything in our world. Sickness and suffering are the beginning of death in our lives as it seeks to tighten its grip on us.
So God, in his love, shares our pain at the effects of sin in our lives. In the person of Jesus, he experienced all of its effects and died to break its power over us. The Holy Spirit suffers along with us, praying for us even when we cannot pray. (Romans 8:23-26) One day, Jesus will return to bring an end to sin, death and the power of the devil forever.
God, in his compassion, does not wait for the end of time to help and to save. Today, he calls on us to be compassionate, as he is compassionate. He sends us to where people need his presence and his help. He especially sends pastors with his gifts and spirit and deaconesses to meet the physical needs of people. We are then, his heart to suffer with others, his hands to care for them and his feet to go where others will not go. Through us he shows his own self-description: the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abound in faithful love.
[Twenty-Third in a series of posts on church words]Encore Post: One of the most common stories of redemption in the Old Testament comes to us in the book of Ruth. That whole book is about her redemption. Remember, Boaz was her kinsmen redeemer. There are redeemers in the Old Testament, but the story of Ruth and Boaz is one that has always caught my attention. By that act of redemption, Ruth is grafted into the genealogy of Jesus, the redeemer of the world! But what do we mean by “redemption”?
Redemption is one word that dutifully describes the work of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for us. Redemption has to do with gaining possession of something in exchange for payment. Dr. Luther is a master at talking about the term of redemption when speaking about the meaning of the second article. There Luther says in line with Scripture, “[Jesus Christ] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins from death and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His innocent sufferings and death….”
It is not like, however, that Jesus is paying Satan, as if Satan has power over Jesus. No, it’s not like that at all. While humanity was in the grasp of sin and death, it was not Satan who needed the payment of Christ’s blood. Rather, it was Holy and Righteous God.
God, who is indeed Holy and Righteous, could not be in the presence of sin. Therefore, He certainly could not be in the presence of sinful man, and allow them to live. However, by the work of the Son, Jesus Christ, He came to redeem sinful man. He came to gain possession of humanity from the grips of everlasting death for himself.
Jesus pays what we owe to God, who has been gracious and merciful to us, having sent his own Son into the world to be our redeemer. Jesus is the bridegroom is who pays the dowry to have His bride. And He pays that price with His own body and blood at the cross. Christ’s bride is the Church. And He dresses her in his own clothing and presents her to Himself. Redeemed and a possession of Christ forever.
[Twenty-Second in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: The sanctified life of the Christian is one of self-control, the last of the “fruits of the Spirit” that Paul speaks about in that famous Galatians passage. Self-control is the ability in particular to control one’s emotions in conformity to God’s will.
Doing a simple bible word search just in the ESV, you first find the translation used in Proverbs 25:28. There, a man without self control is a like a city broken into and left without walls. Nothing good happens in a city like that. The city would be lost to looters. In a similar fashion, a man lacking self-control, who loses his temper or emotions easily, loses respect and dignity in sight of his counter-parts.
St. Paul warns young Timothy that self-control is an extremely important characteristic when it comes to those seeking to serve the Church as a pastor. Having self-control is important because we need to remember that it is easiest lost by a loose tongue. But having self-control also is an important trait for all people.
Involved with self-control is the concept of being disciplined in what we say and do. What better to be disciplined (a follower) by the Word of God, from which we hear the good news of our justification in the sight of God for Jesus’ sake?
It is a continual struggle; as even Paul attests. Self-control is a character trait that needs to be developed and exercised. God’s gift of self-control is one that is continually developed by being in His Word and being formed by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
[Twenty-first in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Many Lutheran pastors begin their sermons with the greeting: “Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” St. Paul used this blessing to begin both his letters to Timothy and St. John used it for one of his letters. Two other posts cover grace and peace. In this one, we take up the third of the triad, mercy.
Yet, in a way, we’ve been here before. One of the Hebrew words for love, חֶ֫סֶד, often translated lovingkindness, is also used for mercy. You probably already know the Greek word for mercy. It is ἐλεέω — eleeo — the word in the ancient prayer we call the Kyrie Eleison: “Lord, have mercy.” This prayer appears as the congregation’s response to prayer in worship services of the 4th century (300s AD) To this day, Christians still pray it in traditional worship services. The word mercy is love in action. It is the response that someone who cares had when he sees another in pain and suffering greatly.
When God shows mercy, he acts out of his compassion to save, to help and to heal. Most of the time, the person suffering cannot help themselves. All of the time, they do not deserve mercy. Mercy comes from the love and grace of God. Sometimes the person asking for mercy is about to be sentenced for a crime and hopes for punishment less severe than he should receive. God’s mercy is always for the sake of his Son, who took the punishment we deserved, atoned for our sins on the cross and suffered for us in full. God is indeed merciful for us, for he forgives our sins and grants to us everlasting life.
Yet mercy does not end with God. Because God is merciful to us, we are merciful to our suffering neighbors. Since the very beginning of the church, Christians have sought to be channels of God’s mercy to all who suffer. They have visited the sick and brought healing where they could. They have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, visited the imprisoned, befriended the lonely and those grieving and cared for orphans and widows. In us, they see God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and full of faithful love. Most of all, we bring the good news of God’s greatest mercy — salvation in Christ Jesus, our merciful Lord.
[Twentieth in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Every culture has a different way of greeting. We say “hello” informally, “Good morning,” “Good afternoon,” and “Good evening.” The Romans said, “Salve” (“be well”) The Greeks said, “χαίρετε” — kairete (“be joyful”) From ancient times, the Hebrews, and now Israelis, says “שָׁלוֹם” — shalom (peace, be well, whole and complete) They also say shalom when they say “Good bye.”
When we say “peace,” we mean everything is calm, that we are not at war and all is calm. In God’s Word, it is much more than that. Peace means everything is right with our world. Peace begins with our relationship with God. It comes from knowing he loves us, cares for us, will be with us always and knowing we will live with him forever. No matter what else is wrong in our world, nothing can take away our peace. Peace is what Adam and Eve had in Eden, when God saw all that he made and said it is “very good!”
Yet sin makes peace on earth nearly impossible to find. Theologians say that we are “curved in on ourselves.” Sin makes us think of what pleases us, to seek our own interests over others and to run over anything that gets in our way. This outlook on life puts us in conflict with God, with others, and with our world. It is the source of evil, sickness, grief, and death. No matter what we do, we cannot reconcile with God or each other with our own power. Selfishness is a part of everything we think and do. Death rules and fear of it colors all we are.
To bring peace, God’s Son, the Prince of Peace, became one of us. He lived his life in perfect harmony with his Father. He offered himself to pay the price of our rebellion and warfare against God. He reconciled us with God by his own blood. In his body, all walls that separate us from God and each other fell. We now are at peace with God, even in this world of war.
Soon the day will come when the Prince of Peace returns to rule. Then he will once and for all bring an end to sin, death and the power of the devil. God himself will live with us. No more will there be sin, sorrow, grief, and pain. All these things will pass away as he makes all things new. Then peace will reign and God will again say, “See! It is very good!”
[Nineteenth in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: At the end of many worship services, the pastor will announce God’s blessing to his people. “The Lord bless you and keep you;the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:23-26) This is nothing new. Through Moses, God commanded priests to announce his grace to his people in this way. For 3,500 years, priests and pastors have done so. God blesses and watches over his people. God smiles at his people and favors them. He looks at them and everything is right in the world.
The key word in this blessing is the word, “Grace” (Hebrew חנן (chanan) = to look at someone favorably, Greek χάρις (charis)= to view someone favorably, a gift given without strings attached) When describing God in the Old Testament, his prophets often announce: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness” (For example, Psalm 145:8, my translation) St. Paul opens almost all his letters with “Grace to you and peace…”) Almost all the time, Grace travels with the same words: “mercy,” “peace,” “love” among them.
God’s grace is not a thing which is given out when you do something. It is God’s attitude towards us. He loved us even before he made the world. (Ephesians 1:4-5) When he thinks about us, he is inclined to be kind to us. It is not because we deserve his kindness. In our sin, we have turned our back on him, broken all his laws, ruined his creation and deserve nothing but death and hell. Yet the good news is that, for the sake of Christ’s death on the cross, he looks on us ready to give his good gifts and his Spirit. It is by this grace alone that we are saved.
But there is more to grace than that he smiles at us. The Greeks used the word χάρις for gifts given just because he loves us. Among these gifts are the Means of Grace, the gifts of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and God’s Word, which bring with them in turn the gifts of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation — and the faith to receive them and to trust God to keep his promises. Grace is forever. It is how we can look forward to the day we see the smile on God’s face as he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant … enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21)
Lent Midweek I Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 March 12, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Do you pray? I think for most of us we say, “Yes!” We pray at meals and we pray at bedtime. And we pray according to our needs. I imagine that if we asked most of our non-Christian friends, “What makes so-and-so a Christian?” Many of them would say, “Well I know that he prays.” And if our relationship is close enough to that person, they may even say, “Yes, so-and-so has prayed with me and for me when I was going through a tough time.”
Have you ever realized that praying is probably the most public display of your faith to your friends, family, classmates, and coworkers? I imagine that very few of you are reading the Scriptures out loud in a public space or that you are sharing your devotional time with others during break times. And please, do not baptize your little brothers in the lake!
As you can see, most of our faith is private. And only those who gather in this place on a regular basis really understand what you believe, what you teach, and what you confess to be the truth. Only this group really values your faithfulness to God, to His Word and Sacraments, to your giving offerings or making food.
It is time that we begin to think that our prayers are a witness to our faith in this world. If you already realized that, I am proud of you. But at least for me, it was a new thought. And I do not mean to make prayer so great and meaningful that you worry about what to pray or what to say. As you know, there are pre-written prayers and there are prayers in our own words. Both are fine outward training of faith.
But you know that when a father or a mother prays for the children, the children listen to every word and learn to pray from them. And you know that when you pray for a struggling student, it calms their fears and helps them learn and retain the lesson. And you know that when your loved one is in the hospital, that your prayer for them helps them heal.
And you know that your pastor prays for you. You know that this congregation prays for you, both publicly and privately, anytime and anywhere that you need a prayer. That’s who we are, dear people of God. We pray for one another.
Here in Habakkuk, the preacher prays for his people to God and says, O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not hear?Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?Why do you make me see iniquity,and why do you idly look at wrong? Habakkuk prays like we so often do. He starts with questions. He asks God why He will not help them in their distress. The people were perishing, and the nation was struggling, and Habakkuk knew that only God could answer. Why aren’t you doing anything, God? That is definitely a prayer that we pray from time to time.
Habakkuk prays like we so often do. He prays for His nation, and for peace therein. Does anyone want violence? Of course not. Does anyone want war and bloodshed? Of course not. We pray for peace instead of war. We pray for tranquility instead of strife. We pray for unity and not division. We pray for what only God can do in His world for our nation.
Why do we pray for these things? What is our reason for praying about such matters? That is the next part of the prayer that Habakkuk prays today. Habakkuk explains the situation to God Most High. He says, Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. This is what Habakkuk is praying against. This is what he hopes will come to an end. But I ask you, Why do we tell God Almighty about what He already knows? And the answer to that is that God wants us to tell Him.
Does a father know what a daughter needs before she asks him for it? Of course. Does a mother know what a son needs before he asks her for it? Of course. Does this church know your needs before you ask for help? In most cases, yes. But even greater than that, there is nothing that your heavenly Father does not already know, and He can give to you whatever it is in all creation that you need.
God must answer! Take it from the prophet. God cannot make us see iniquity and sit idly by! God must make right what only He has the power to restore and reconcile.
And in the case of the text today, the Lord answered: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”
The first part of the Lord’s response is that “he who runs may read it.” In other words, it will be written clearly and in large letters so that even the ones who are chased by the enemy in the days of Habakkuk will know the truth of God’s answer. It would be like putting the message “God answers prayers” on a big posterboard and walking through the college campus with it. It would be like putting the Gospel out into the public spaces, like we do with our prayers. It would be like our signs out front inviting people to our church to pray, and reminding them of our usual refrain, “Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.”
And the second part of the Lord’s response is that answers to your prayers arrive according to God’s timing. We want instant service and on-demand problem-solving. But sometimes our prayers need repeating because we ourselves are not ready for God’s eventual answer. God does not promise answers on our timetable or in the fashion in which we expect. How often has it been that God answers our prayers even better than imagined, even if it took a while to see God’s work in our prayers.
But the third part of the Lord’s response is far and away the most famous part of this passage. And it is the theme for this sermon and it is the theme for our prayers.
The righteous shall live by faith. This is how the Lord answered the Habakkuk prayer where he stood on the watch post and waited for the answer from the Lord about the destruction and violence that the believers were facing. In a word, “trust me, Habakkuk!”
The righteous shall live by faith. This was what Paul quoted in the book of Romans and Galatians as he proclaimed the Gospel to the new churches and explained the Christian life to God’s people. Paul himself was not righteous by his own efforts; he was a persecutor of the church until the Lord blinded him, converted him, and appointed him as the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul, like Habakkuk, constantly prayed for the congregations that he visited in each one of his epistles. It is like the Father answered his prayers and said, “Trust me, Paul!” I will care for my flock according to their needs.
The righteous shall live by faith. If there ever was an instance where public prayer became a witness to the world, it was this passage that relieved Luther and kick-started the Reformation. The church had suffered for 1500 years under a law of works, much like the early Christians did at the time of Paul in the midst of Judaism. And Luther, like Habakkuk, prayed for relief and comfort. He certainly prayed the prayer of Habakkuk that we have been studying tonight. And yet, his prayers were never good enough until this passage cleared it all up.
And so I tell you, dear people of God, the righteous shall live by faith. Never stop praying, but know for certain that the Lord will answer. And in the meantime, while you wait on the Lord, this Lord simply says, “Trust me!” And while you pray, know that you are being a witness to this community and for the sake of your neighbor.
You, like Habakkuk, Paul, and Luther before you, are not at fault for the world’s demise. You, like them, are unable to change sin, death, and the devil, destruction, or violence.
But you are saved by grace through faith, not by works, so that no one may boast. And you are God’s child, praying to your Father for everything that you need. And you are righteous because of the death of Jesus. And you are living by His holy Word each of your days. And you receive this sacrament for the forgiveness of your sins and for the life everlasting.
God will answer, and He did answer this prayer through the birth, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. And because of Him, we live in the world as His righteous people.
[Eighteenth in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Love makes the world go around. We love our pets, our favorite food, good weather, our sports teams, our friends, freedom and truth — just about everything. Americans seem to love just about everything!
In the Bible, two Hebrew words are used to speak about love. The word אהב (‘ahav — love) means just about the same things as our word love. The Holy Scriptures this term means most of the time the love shown by people and very rarely is used for God’s love. The word חֶ֫סֶד (chesed — love, kindness, mercy, loving-kindness) is very hard, if not impossible, to translate. The King James Version called it lovingkindness. It is in almost all the expressions of God’s love in the Old Testament. The word חֶ֫סֶד and the Greek Word ἀγαπάω mean about the same thing. Yet it has a tenderness to it that includes compassion and mercy.
The Greek language of the New Testament has several words for love. φιλέω (phileo) is the love and affection between friends. ἔρος (Eros) is sexual love that is obsessed with another and is not satisfied until it gets what it wants. ἀγαπάω is a love that sacrifices for the good of the one it loves. (See 1 Corinthians 13) ἀγαπάω is God’s love and the love God wants us to show to him and our neighbors. With Faith and Hope, Love is the greatest of the three virtues and lasts forever.
Our love is rooted in the love of God. God loved us before he made the world. (Ephesians 1:4-5) He loved us so much that he sacrificed his only Son to save us. (John 3:16-17) Because he first loved us, we love him and want to please him.
In the Gospel of John, we learn God is Love. The two greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbors. He commands us to love him and our neighbors. Jesus tells us that the whole of God’s law is to love God and our neighbors as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-40) Actually, our love is itself God’s gift to us. The way people know we are disciples of Jesus is that we love each other. While our love in this world is not perfect, God’s love for us is perfect. It lasts forever and conquers even death.
[Seventeenth in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: In today’s English, the word Hope means a wish for that something we very much want to happen will come true. There is something about it that makes us doubt we will be so lucky. “Well, I hope so,” we’ll say.
In the Bible, hope is a bit different. Hope is something you have no doubt will happen, so much so that you can build your life on it. In theological terms, the Christian hope is the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Because it is God himself who promises these blessings, we can count on it and live our lives knowing it will happen. This is how Christians can suffer and die rather than deny their faith in Christ. It is why the burial service calls it “the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection of the dead.”
Why is the Christian Hope so sure and certain? First, because God himself promises it in his Word. Second, because Jesus proved these promises are true by dying and rising again from the dead. So, he can be trusted to keep his promises that where he is, we will be as well. For us, hope becomes reality when we die. He comes to bring us to be with him forever. Exactly what happens then is a mystery.
But this is just the beginning of the blessings kept safe in Heaven for us. On the last day, Jesus will return in glory and he will bring us with him. He will raise our bodies from the grave and change us to be like him. We will then be gathered before the throne and our names read from the Book of Life. We will then live with him forever in Paradise, where there is no more sorrow, crying, grief or pain. God will make everything new. He will bring us to the great marriage feast of the Lamb, which will never end. This great hope gives us joy even in suffering, since we know it will pass away.
[Sixteenth in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Faith is one of those “church words” that everyone knows and uses, but find hard to pin down. We use it to mean everything from a family of church bodies, to a system of things people believe, to trust in God, to accepting something is true, but that we cannot prove. Hebrew uses various forms of the word (אמן — ‘aman — firm, trustworthy, safe). The word “amen” comes from this same word. It means something like: “I believe that. I agree. It is true”) The Greek language uses one word for both faith and belief. (πιστεύω — pisteoo — to believe, πίστις — pistis — Faith) When the New Testament uses the word, it uses it for both what we believe in and our trust in God to keep his promises to save us.
Many Christians think of faith or believing differently. They think it means something like accepting as true and as facts things they can’t prove, such as “Jesus is God,” “God will raise us from the dead on the last day,” and other teachings of the Holy Scripture. They may understand passages like Hebrews 11 to mean this. (For example, verse 1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”) What they miss is that most of the chapter is about what the Old Testament saints did because they trust God and his promises. James, the brother of Jesus, demonstrates how mistaken this view of faith is when he wrote: ” You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ” (James 2:19)
When the Bible talks about faith in God (Saving Faith, Justifying Faith) it means a trust in God to keep his promises, especially his promise to save us. This trust is not something we create by things we do. It is created in us when the Holy Spirit comes to us through the Gospel, Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper. (Romans 1:17, John 20:30-31, Ephesians 1:13, Romans 1:16-17) Our faith clings to Jesus, believing that his sufferings and death on the cross forgives our sins and gives us everlasting life. This faith responds to the Grace given to us in God’s Word and the Sacraments. It thanks God for his mercy, praises him and gives us the desire to serve God and our neighbors.
