Children’s message – receiving approval.

 

            In our theme hymn today in verse six, we sang that Jesus had no place to rest his head.  Jesus told us this when he said that although foxes have holes and birds have nests, the Son of Man has no place to rest his head.  [Matthew 8:20]  He knew that his life was temporary.  He knew also that his earthly death would be temporary as well.  All of this is because Jesus knew that his true home is in heaven.

 

            Today’s text is verse 10 of Isaiah 53:

           

            Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

                        And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering

                           He will see his offspring and prolong his days

                                    And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

 

            There are two major points to this verse that are important to us today and to God’s faithful, believers in Christ, of all times.

 

#1        It is God’s will that Jesus, his son, suffer and die as he did.

·           Yes, it was ugly.

·           Yes, it was unjust

·           Yes, it was and is today needed as a guilt offering for you and for me.

 

1 John 3:8b – The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 

 

            The devil’s work is evident in each one of us as we see our sinfulness and our actual sins.  They are things we cannot erase from our past, our present, and although God has given us the will and the power, not one of us can stop sinning in the future.  We need a Savior.  We need one who will complete the guilt offering for each one of us.  That is why Jesus willfully follows our Heavenly Father’s will to become human flesh, live, suffer and die.  He does this to fulfill something you and I can never do.  He does it for you.  He does it to fulfill God’s perfect and holy will.

 

#2        God approved of all Jesus did.

·        Yes, Jesus obeyed the Father’s will

·        Yes, Jesus obeyed God’s commands

·        Yes, Jesus did this not for himself but to bring his Father the Glory.

·        Yes, Jesus did this not for himself but for you and me and all who believe in him for this.

 

            Jesus prayed not for his will but that his Father’s will be done.  He has taught us to pray that also, for God’s will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven.  God’s will is that every evil intent and action of Satan and all of his forces be destroyed both now and forever.

 

            He will see his offspring and prolong his days.   The resurrection is promised here.  When Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter morning, it proved:

• Jesus is the Son of God.  Romans 1:4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

• Jesus’ doctrine, what he taught, is truth.  Luke 9:22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

John 8:28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

 

• God the Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for the reconciliation of the world.  Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

            Romans 5:10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

            1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

 

 

            As we focus on Jesus’ suffering and death, it is a sad account.  It is sad because we caused it.  On the other hand, it is the most joyous thing that we have.  Jesus’ death was not forever.  It fulfilled both God’s will and God’s punishment.  All sin was punished in that death.  God’s will is that one sacrifice pays the price for all and that is what Jesus’ death did.  God’s will is that both his one and only son and all who believe in him will have eternal life in heaven.  That is won and guaranteed in the resurrection.  When God prolongs one’s days, it is forever.

 

            In our confession of faith, words that express what God reveals to us in his Word, we profess that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty.  As Jesus sits at God’s right hand, he fulfills his words to us that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. 

 

            Remember Joseph in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt.  Joseph was Pharaoh’s right hand man.  Pharaoh place his ring on Joseph’s hand and gave Joseph authority over all things in that land.  When Joseph spoke, it carried Pharaoh’s authority.  Likewise, when Jesus speaks, he carries God’s authority because he is God, he is the Son of God, he is the Word.  He is the way, the truth and the life.  He is the one who is the one and only way to the Father.  No one comes to the Father except through him.  And we have eternal life in his resurrection.

 

            The verse concludes, “The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”  All believers are extensions of Jesus’ hand that reaches out into every corner of the world.  He sends us out with his word.  Through his body, the church, he reaches through all believers to touch and gather others in through faith in him.

 

            That is why here at Immanuel Lutheran Church we are presently disseminating the information of a demographic study of this community.  It is so we can be better prepared to confidently and effectively reach out as God’s hand into this community with the saving grace of Jesus.  That is why, here at Immanuel Lutheran Church, we are engaging in an activity called REFOCUS.  Through this each one of us will better know and understand God’s calling to each one to be his witness of love in Jesus to others.  It is to better equip each person so that Immanuel Lutheran Church becomes again an active body in mission for Christ in this community and reaching out into the world.  That is why we have Sunday School, why we should have Vacation Bible School, why we have a focus on Youth, why we have youth and adult Bible Studies, why we are establishing a video outreach program, why we maintain Immanuel’s day school.  All of these things are to strengthen all in faith, and to equip all to become effective extensions of Jesus’ saving works into the world. 

 

            All of this is due again because God showed his stamp of approval to us in Jesus through not just his suffering and death, but in his resurrection and ascension so that we do know we too will be raised from the dead to life eternal with him in heaven.  We have no greater joy than this news. 

 

            In front of me is the cross with Christ crucified to tell us how great the price, and how great the love.

 

            Above the altar is an even larger and more prominent cross, one that is empty.  It tells us that Jesus is victorious even over death, and that he gives you that same victory.  You no longer need to fear the cross, but to rejoice in it.  You no longer need to fear death, but know that just as Jesus is risen from the grave to return to his Father, you too will be gathered to live with him eternally too.  In Christ Jesus, you have God’s sign of approval too.  It is just as Jesus said in John 14:19, “Because I live, you will live also.”                    Amen.