SERMON TEXT 11.23.2025 — “THE LORD WILL REMEMBER YOU”
November 23, 2025 Text: Malachi 3:13-18
Dear Friends in Christ,
This week kicks off the holiday season. From now until the end of 2025 it is a busy time of family gatherings. I heard about an article where 50% of people were already mapping out their communication topics for these get-togethers. What will people be avoiding? In this order are the top 5: politics, finances, personal appearance, job/dating, and religion. People even have their outs – a phone call they may or not be receiving or a trip to the bathroom. Why are things so difficult? Because with many of these topics we may say hard words that people don’t want to hear. We may make it personal. We may offend. So, talk about the turkey or ham or how nice the centerpiece is. But do not ask if they have found a boyfriend or girlfriend yet.
In our text for this last Sunday in the church year, Malachi the prophet writes of people who have spoken against God. These are His children, the ones whom He created, and they come to the family gathering with harsh things to say. But He also remembers in our text His children that fear Him and heard Him and paid attention to Him. These also gather together because we are His.
“THE LORD WILL REMEMBER YOU”
The text starts out, “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test, and they escape.’” (v. 13-15)
How would you like that said at the dinner table? Harsh, critical. They are calling the Lord out. These children of Jacob continued to resist the Lord’s Word. They found no benefit in serving the Lord. They found no gain in following God’s Law. They think the arrogant and evildoers are getting away with their behavior.
Do you ever hear anything similar from your friends or family? Who doesn’t like to stir the pot by wondering why their serving God is doing no good? Who can light a spark and get into an argument about God’s Word and what it says? Who wonders aloud where God is with all the evil that seems to be occurring? Can anyone really expect to cajole God into doing what we want? Can we put Him to the test or bend His will?
Prayerfully we realize that we can do none of that. What happens when the Lord remembers? He says we are engraved on His hand. God keeps His promises. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. It is God’s last word to Israel before the fulfillment of his greatest promise. The next time God comes around it is going to be in person – in the person of the promised baby in Bethlehem. It is going to be four hundred more years of waiting, but He is going to come. What God’s Word says, happens.
The Lord will remember you. “Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.” (v. 16) The Lord wasn’t pleased about the words He heard against Him, but He does respond positively to the words of the believers. They are remembered and written in the Book of Life.
The text goes on, “They shall be mine says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.” (v. 17). The irony here is that, while a man spares his son, in the case of this son, the Son of God, God did not spare him, did not have compassion on him, but sent him to the cross. He gave himself up to suffering and death. And Jesus could not save himself from the cross if he wanted to save us. But God did all of that to have compassion on us, to put our sins on Jesus, to make us His sons and daughters.
Turn from your questioning of God. Don’t needle that relative that might strike back, don’t poke the bear who might growl. Don’t test the faith if it is not an appropriate time to do so. Let the Holy Spirt lead you His treasured possession to when the time is right.
The Lord helps us to remember like the last verse says between the “righteous and the wicked,” “the one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” You go out from here as God’s treasure. You know Jesus is King and you have peace with Him. The Lord knows you and will remember you on the Last Day. He is returning you know. You have His table ready, don’t you?
Amen.
SERMON TEXT 11.16.2025 – “Why Must Life Be So Complicated?”
November 16, 2025 Text: Luke 21:5-28
Dear Friends in Christ,
Why must life be so complicated? This next week I have a colonoscopy. This will be my third because my mom had colon cancer, and I am to get a scope every five years as a preventative measure. I am person that likes to do things right and in order. I called to make sure the procedure would be covered at 100% like the other two were. I was told yes. I began the process. Except now the process is so much more complicated. Register with the company sending the medicine, register with the GI office, register with the surgery center. I’ve got passwords flying everywhere. Then the texts and phone calls come on a daily basis from those sending the mix to clean me out. They want to send it badly though the procedure is not for two more months. I get that all done. Relax.
Not so fast my healthcare friend. Though they had two months, two weeks before the procedure I am told I owe a pre-payment or no scope. This can’t be right. Back on the phone. With our church healthcare plan we have an advocate, I call them, and they will look into it. I get a call back within two hours. Nice. I am told because a small polyp was found the last time it will not be coded as preventative. I owe the pre-payment. OK. I go to the Dr.’s office. Simple enough, right? Except even though I am standing in the Dr’s office I must call an 800 number – their billing department. What? I do and then thankfully after this annoyance they do allow me to make the pre-payment in the office. Hallelujah! Believe me, I made sure to get a receipt.
In our text, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He is going to tell them that life is going to get very complicated and challenging. It does sound worse than scheduling a colonoscopy. It will be, might they be thinking . . .
“WHY MUST LIFE BE SO COMPLICATED?”
God is still working in our world, but sometimes we may wonder. There are so many natural disasters and man-made problems – where is God? There are so many acts of violence and fighting between nations – where is God? The moral decay in our society is a stench that won’t go away – where is God?
This shouldn’t be a surprise. History has always asked, “where is God?” He promises in our text that the noble stones and offering would be thrown down. Terrors and signs would occur on earth and in heaven. Worldly destruction and devastation are used by God to fulfill his plan. He is saying to everyone, “I am right here.”
Do you see life as complicated and challenging? Do you see God as an absent God? The whole reason Jesus came into the world was to reconcile us with His Father. Sin had driven a wedge between God and his world, but Jesus’ death on the cross has removed that separation. God grants wisdom in facing persecution and complications and challenges. God will rein evil in. Evil will come to an end. The Son of Man will return to bring final redemption to the world.
Life can be complicated. Things we think are rock solid, can fall just like the temple. Legal protections we always took for granted could be overturned. We may be called before “kings and governors” to account for our Christian faith.
Remember this little flock. God will always be present in the life of the believer. The cross and your baptism have reconciled you to God. God promises his Spirit when things get complicated. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2). God does not abandon or leave us. He even numbers the hairs on our head. That is how intimately He knows us. The Son of Man is coming in power and glory. Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, is the real noble stone, the cornerstone of the Church.
I cannot promise you today that life’s complications will end. But there is something that I try to remember when facing these challenges. It is a Scriptural promise of God that seems appropriate in light of what I am about to undergo. “This too shall pass.”
Embrace the promises of God, whose Word and Spirit never fail to sustain the believer through life . . . and even unto death.
Amen.
SERMON TEXT 11.09.2025 — “Wealth In Eternity”
November 9, 2025 – Stewardship Sunday Text: Mark 10:23-31
Dear Friends in Christ,
Recently the Lord gave me the opportunity to talk about wealth with my family in my self-effacing way. Since I turned 60, I had a physical. I hadn’t been to the doc in years, but it was time to see how the body was holding up. The medical profession doesn’t quite know how to handle a healthy person who takes no medication. All I got was surprised looks and a God Blessed report. That night I texted the boys and told them the inheritance would have to wait. They haven’t talked to me since! Actually, they probably thought, “it is just dad being dad.” The next week I got a 403B statement and announced to Toni, “we are even richer.” Since she works in wealth management, she just wasn’t impressed.
How do you handle what God has given to you? Do you talk about it? Do you keep it to yourself? Being the wealthiest people in the world, do we ever take it for granted? In our text for this morning in Matthew 10, the word wealth constitutes any possessions, assets, goods, and property that we might have. Nice to have, thanks be to God, but even more importantly is . . .
“WEALTH IN ETERNITY”
Toni and I just went through one of those exercises where you get to see where your money might be in retirement. Wow. What the Lord has provided. Wow. I remember when it was a big thing when my dad raised my pay to $5/hour working at the cabinet shop. I am truly amazed to where God has brought us.
Is that how you see it? How do you define wealth? How does God define wealth? In our Old Testament lesson from Job, he had to move on in life after he lost his wealth. In chapter 31 he is making his final appeal to God. He is acknowledging that putting his trust in his gold would be a falsehood to God. When he says, “and my mouth has kissed my hand,” this is a figure of speech describing narcissistic self-absorption. This is a danger to us. Getting caught up in ourselves and not seeing the big picture of God’s grace. In our world of today, people want their names on buildings, hospitals, rescue missions and even football fields at Illinois and Illinois State. I am not questioning the motivation, but must everything have a corporate or personal name? This is part of the warning in our Gospel.
In our Epistle from Revelation 5, John says it simply, “Christ deserves the wealth of all honor.” Wealth in eternity. The riches of His grace forever.
Let’s get back to our wealth on earth and then we will head to eternity again. Are you ever worried that wealth will pull you away from your faith? Is Jesus right that the wealthy have a harder time entering into the Master’s joy? Loaded question, right? Jesus is always correct. It is the insatiable hunger for wealth that start the challenge. The thirst for more. The never being satisfied with what God has given. Fear and worry creep in when we fail to look to Jesus. Believe me, I know. Not in my personal life, I have no concerns. I have let the church’s debt weigh me down at times. Lack of trust. Can you answer honestly about these same things? If you can, then you have identified the problem. The problem is when we turn to payments, and deadlines, and interest rates and money owed. This fixes our eyes on what man can do and God says that is “impossible.” “All things are possible with God.” Easy to say, hard to live, but why has God made all things possible?
He has answered our cries in Christ the Crucified. Jesus died his death with eyes on you and me – solely attentive to our needs while having total disregard for his. We are desperately in need of forgiveness for our lack of trust and worry and His death on the cross accomplishes that.
Coercion is not the answer, but conviction of the heart – a heart convinced by God’s Word that you belong to Christ and your wealth is nothing compared to the riches that He has in store for you – it is this Gospel Good News that allows us to give of our wealth freely and to keep things in perspective. Only in God and in knowing His Son as Lord and Savior do life and wealth have meaning and true pleasure.
Enjoy your wealth. Remember daily all that God gives to you. Enjoy sharing the wealth for Jesus’ sake and the sake of the Gospel. The joy of His salvation will replace the false joy of earthly wealth. I told you we would return and now you know the ending – Wealth In Eternity.
Amen.