Judges 13:21-23 “When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. ‘We are doomed to die!’ he said to his wife. ‘We have seen God.’ But his wife answered, ‘If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.’”

As Manoah and his wife considered what they had just experienced, each of them had special insights into what happened. Manoah thinks that they are doomed to die. And maybe we are tempted to say that Manoah is just over-reacting. He is being melodramatic.

But Manoah understood something far too many people fail to get. This was not an overreaction. Remember what God said to Moses after the golden calf incident, when Moses wanted to see God face to face? He told Moses that he would make all of his glory pass by, and Moses could see his backside. But Moses could not see his face, “For no man may see me and live.” Remember how Isaiah reacted when God appeared to him in a vision to call him to his service? The Lord was seated high on his throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Smoke wafted through the space and angels cried out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.” How did Isaiah’s respond? “Woe to me–I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!”

These men understood that it is a dreadful, terrifying thing for sinners to stand in the presence of the Holy God. Our world is all too free and easy about where we stand with God. We could stand to take God more seriously. We could use a healthy dose of awe and reverence and dread, especially when we consider the damning nature of our sins.

But that’s only half the story. Manoah’s wife had a special insight, too. She not only looked at the great power and considered that they had been standing in the presence of the Holy God. She had also listened. She heard God’s promises to them. She considered the blessing they were being given. God had said that he was sending his people a deliverer, a Savior. He was using this family to do so. Far from meaning to kill them, God had promised to save them.

God still wants you to listen to what he says, especially when he tells you he has sent you a deliverer, a Savior, who has come to spare your life. God wants you to hear the promise that he has taken away your sins and filled the void with Jesus’ love and the Spirit’s power. God wants you to be sure that his plans for you don’t end soon, because they don’t end here. Because of his grace and promise, living out his plans will mean life that never ends in heaven.

Now that will be an adventure.

Judges 13:15-20 “Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ‘We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.’ The angel of the Lord replied, ‘Even though you detain me I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.’ (Manoah did not realize that it was the Angel of the Lord.) Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, ‘What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?’ He replied, Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.’ Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched. As the flame blazed upon the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.”

Manoah and his wife experienced special evidence of God’s presence and blessing. When the Old Testament speaks of the Angel of the Lord, many times it is not referring to a created angel. It is referring to the Lord himself. More specifically, this is the Son of God before he became a man. Here he was talking to this couple, though they were completely unaware of it. The Son of God was present in their lives. He brought them God’s promises. He provided special blessings in the gift of a child, one who would be a leader and deliverer for God’s people. The couple received all this before they even understood the identity of their mystery guest.

Then they experienced a rare and powerful demonstration of God’s presence. They witnessed the Lord ascend into heaven in the flames of the sacrifice they were offering. It was an experience that literally brought Manoah and wife to their knees in awe and worship.

The Lord hasn’t stopped filling the lives of those who are living his plans for them with special experiences. Those experiences don’t have to be so dramatic to be just as real. Maybe you have prayed for something, and the answer came back so suddenly, so perfectly matched to the details of your request, that you were impressed with the immediacy of God’s involvement in your life. Maybe you have privately ministered to someone with God’s word over time. At first it seems to have no impact. Then your friend experiences some kind of breakthrough. It suddenly becomes clear that your words (really God’s words) have worked a change. Those are special experiences of God’s work in our lives.

Even more special is the experience we have like the first one Manoah and his wife had–before they recognized God’s presence with them. He was already bringing them his promises and his blessing. Whether we feel it or not, whether see it or not, we experience God’s presence, promise and blessing every time we worship. In the gospel, at the cross, we see God with us! He became one of us. He took our place. He carried our sins. He broke the power of death. He still dispenses forgiveness and life. Whether we feel it or perceive it, we still experience God’s presence when we gather around his word.  Jesus promises, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” At the altar, in his Supper, Jesus promises, “This is my body. This is by blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” He is here!

Among other things, living God’s plan for you means finding yourself in worship each week. That is full of special experiences: to live free from guilt, to live without fear of death, to live confident that God loves you. No one who doesn’t know Jesus as Savior has such a life. The Lord still has special experiences in store for you—his power, his presence, and his blessing—waiting where he has promised they can be found: in Word and Sacrament.

Judges 13:12-14 “Manoah asked him (the Angel of the Lord), ‘When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy’s life and work?’ The angel of the Lord answered, ‘Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.’”

God had special plans for Samson and his parents. Those plans involved making special sacrifices. The Angel of the Lord had appeared to promise them a son. He gave special instructions about how the boy was to be raised and live his life. He had revealed that Samson was to be a Nazirite. This meant a unique life of dedication to the Lord. A Nazirite was forbidden to cut his hair. He couldn’t eat grape products or drink alcoholic beverages. The Lord required him to have no contact with dead bodies.

None of these things is immoral, of course. We expect people to get haircuts. We eat grapes without a guilty conscience. Though some think alcoholic beverages are a sin, the Bible tells us that they are a gift of God as long as we use them in moderation (Psalm 104:14-15; 1 Timothy 5:23). A Nazirite sacrificed these things in his life as a way of demonstrating his dedication to the Lord’s special use.

The difference for Samson and his mother was that Nazirites were usually volunteers. Neither Samson nor his mother were given any choice in the matter. God told them to alter their lives and make these sacrifices. In living the life of a Nazirite, Samson was constantly reminded by God, “I have a special plan and purpose for you.”

God asking someone to live as a Nazirite was unusual. Asking us to make some sort of sacrifice to live out God’s plan for us is not. Abraham had to give up his home near his relatives. The Lord moved him 1000 miles to become the Father of the nation of Israel. Prophets, though not Nazirites, often served under unique instructions. God told the prophet Jeremiah not to marry. He forbad the prophet Ezekiel to mourn his wife’s death. He required Hosea to marry a prostitute. These unusual demands enabled these men to deliver specific prophetic messages. After his resurrection, Jesus told Peter the day would come when Peter sacrificed his life for Jesus as an apostle.

Sacrifice enters our lives if we are living God’s plan for us as well. If it involves forgoing earthly pleasures, it may not mean they are wrong to have or do. God’s plan simply leads us in a different direction. A friend once told me he had risen as high in his company as he could possibly go. Though his abilities would have made him good material for the highest levels of management, the next step would have taken him into a world that required him to compromise his Christian ethics. Living God’s plan meant sacrificing his full earning potential. Some Christians make sacrifices in the area of family. It’s not what they envisioned because the person they thought they were marrying turned out to be quite different after “I do.” For some, the Lord unfolds life in a way that leads away from marriage altogether.

Such sacrifices may also present temptations. The things we have to let go as we live the life the Lord has charted for us may lead to feeling sorry for ourselves, sulking, coveting, accusing God of not being fair, worrying, even despair. We resent the Lord daring to have a different idea than my own about how my life should go. This tests our trust in God and love for him.

But we still have every reason to trust God’s plan. No one knows us, our needs, or our future like he does. He tailors the life each of us lives to fit us perfectly.

And no one has made greater sacrifices to serve others than he has. The Apostle Paul reminds us, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Life on earth cost him everything—heavenly comforts, an unquestioned reputation, freedom, justice, and finally his life.

These sacrifices weren’t made for nothing. “You, through his poverty, …become rich.” They provide our forgiveness, restore us to God, promise us life that never ends. We can trust God to make our own sacrifices rich with blessing, too.

Genesis 17:3-5 “Abram fell facedown and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.’”

Abram’s original name means “exalted father.” Maybe even he saw the irony in it. It took 86 years for him to become any kind of father at all. The birth of his son Ishmael by a woman to whom he was not married made him a dad. But even then he had not become the father of the son God promised.

Now God gave him a new name. It was a name that did more than confirm the past promises. It expanded them. In the past the Lord had promised, “I will make you into a great nation.” “I will make your name great.” “A son coming from your own body will be your heir.”

Now he adds, “You will be the father of many nations.” So Abram’s new name “Abraham” means “the father of many.” His son Ishmael became the father of the Arab peoples. Through Isaac, his first truly legitimate son, the nation of Israel descends. After the death of Sarai, Abraham would marry Keturah, and among her descendants was the nation later known in Scripture as Midian.

But the expanded promise embraces a larger nation than these. In Romans chapter 4 the Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore the promise (of God declaring us righteous by faith in Jesus) comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed…”

I don’t have a drop of Jewish blood in me, so far as I know. Whether you do or whether you don’t, we are spiritual descendants of Abraham, because we share his faith. We are part of the fulfillment of the promise, “…your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” The promise embraces the whole Christian Church.

For you and me, the name Abraham promises that God had his sights set on making us his children by faith already 4100 years ago. Abraham waited 25 years for the son God promised to him. The Lord waited thousands and thousands of years to make you his child by faith in Jesus. If your faith is failing, that’s a little gospel gem to prop it up, a gospel truth hidden for us in the name of Abraham, the father of us all.

Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.’”

In the Hebrew, “God Almighty” is “El Shaddai.” You may be familiar with it already. The names by which our Lord chooses to identify himself are always meaningful. This one is no exception. It tells us that there are no limits to what our God can do. He never overextends himself on his promises, like the person who was a little too optimistic and took on more credit card debt than he will ever be able to pay. God will never have to declare bankruptcy on his promises because he is “God Almighty.” No matter how much he promises, no matter how impossible those promises appear to keep, he is always good for the whole thing.

That name offered Abram a needed rebuke. El Shaddai’s next words to him were “walk before me and be blameless.” “Blameless” did not mean that God expected Abram never to sin again. It did confront Abram’s present sin. At the root of the Hebrew word behind “blameless” is a command to be “whole,” or “complete.” In essence, God was telling Abram to live his whole life trusting in God’s promises, faithful to God’s word. He was not to waver between trust and mistrust. He was not to look for his needs in other sources besides the Lord. He and Sarai had done just that when they concocted a plan to use Hagar as a surrogate mother. They were going to help the Lord give them a son. El Shaddai, God Almighty, didn’t need human help to keep the promises he had made.

More than a rebuke, however, God used the name El Shaddai to bolster Abram’s failing faith. “I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers” (Genesis 17:2). The covenant had already been made: a son, more descendants than the stars in the sky, a blessing for the nations. Now God came to confirm it. He wants Abram to know that he has both the power and the intention of keeping his promise.

God has a name, he has many names, to help us when our faith is failing. Are we ever tempted with this thought? “Maybe God can’t. Maybe I need to take matters into my own hands.” No, he is still El Shaddai, God Almighty. He needs no help from us to make his promises come true. Salvation history shows him humbling powerful nations, dividing large bodies of water, even stopping the earth’s rotation. He made sure that, when the time was right, he could clothe himself in a little baby’s body, enter our world in an unknown little family, and save us from our sins. El Shaddai has the power to do all of that. He will not come up short on giving us this day our daily bread, or helping us through the temptation of the moment.

For New Testament believers, God has revealed another name even more vital for our failing faith. Jesus (Ye’shua in Hebrew) means, “The Lord saves.” His name is a sermon, not so much on God’s power, but on God’s love. It promises us that Abram’s greatest descendant is the same God who became one of us, died for our sin, and rose from the dead. John Newton’s hymn sings, “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear! It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds, and drives away all fear.” More than any other, “Jesus” is the name God has given to inspire our faith when it is failing.

1 Corinthians 13:3 “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Natural disasters often remind us how urgently our charity is needed. Our aid makes a difference for those who receive it. For some it becomes, literally, a matter of life and death. Can it reach those who need it in time to prevent starvation and disease?

But what about our reasons for giving it? Are we just buying off a guilty conscience? Henry Drummond once commented, “We purchase relief from the sympathetic feelings roused by the spectacle of misery, at the copper (coin)’s cost. It is too cheap–too cheap for us, and often too dear for the beggar. If we really loved him we would either do more for him, or less” (less if our gift only reinforces some bad habits that got him into this situation in the first place).

Or might we be purchasing the praise of others, like the Pharisees once did? Jesus warns, “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

What if we give, not just our last penny, but our very lives for the gospel, or to rescue someone from earthly peril? Even the ultimate sacrifice can be driven by false motives. You don’t have to be an Islamic suicide bomber for that to be true. An overdeveloped sense of duty, dreams of glory, visions of being declared a hero, the prospect of occupying a prominent and respected place in the annals of history, the idea that long into the future people will be telling stories about you and your courage and your sacrifice–all these have inspired people to let go of life itself for a cause, to save others, even to promote the gospel. Still, if I “have not love, I gain nothing.”

Nothing! Love is more than all of these and everything else we might do. Everything of value hinges on it. First our Salvation–that God loves us so much he chose not to condemn us but to forgive our sins. He loves us so much that he gave his Son, and his blood, and new life, and a place in his family, and a place in heaven.

And second, our entire life of response– not that we do what we do for ourselves, but that we love, that we freely, with no thought of personal gain, live to serve each other and bring glory to God. That is why we are still here. With salvation secured and eternal life as a free gift, love is all there is left for us to do.

1 Corinthians 13:2 “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

If we are looking at gifts apart from the motivation behind their use, then the Apostle Paul ranked prophecy, and teaching, and the knowledge behind them ahead of speaking in tongues. In the next chapter Paul simply says, “He who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues” (14:5). The reason? “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.” It served more people–the whole church– to speak God’s message in a language everyone could understand.

So the church has always valued the kind of people Paul describes here: Leaders who are at home in God’s Word–they can “fathom all mysteries and all knowledge.” They have the speaking gifts to deliver what they know, a gift for prophecy. And because faith comes from hearing the message, their own faith is strong, and so is that of those who hear them–a faith that is ready to do great things.

Or so it seems. But what good is all their knowledge when there is no love: when all that knowledge and all that rhetoric and all that seeming faith to tackle the big challenges facing the church is really focused on the leader? Earlier in this book Paul told the Corinthians, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Without love, all that knowledge and preaching and confidence can come across as arrogance. It becomes a roadblock for the gospel. As someone has said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Still worse, when such gifted leaders succeed in taking people under their spell, they develop a “cult of the personality.” Everyone gives lip service to the idea, “We are all about following Jesus,” when the truth is “We are all about following Pastor Bob.”

If we have such a deep knowledge of God’s word and its mysteries, and the talent to deliver it, and the faith to act on it, but don’t have love? “I am nothing.” Only God himself knows how many great scholars, and great preachers, have ended up lost because they became so full of themselves they no longer had any room for the Holy Spirit.

The Bible praises things like knowledge and preaching. They bring people God’s grace, and faith, and life. But we still need love to use them well and be blessed for ourselves.

1 Corinthians 13:1 “And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

The Holy Spirit gave some of the people in Corinth the ability to speak in different languages. This “speaking in tongues” was miraculous, not natural. It became a coveted gift on which many of the Corinthians put a higher value than was warranted.

When some of these people used this ability in their worship services, it drew attention to them. It set them apart. Though many could not understand what they were saying, all understand that God had given them a miraculous gift. Those who could do it were proud of their ability. Those who could not envied them.

We face similar temptations when someone is gifted with an unusually beautiful singing voice, or an unusually eloquent way of speaking. They are a pleasure to listen to. Not everyone can do these things. When those who can use their gifts, it draws attention.

Paul did not tell these people to stop using their gift. But living the Christian life is more than the miracle of speaking in tongues. Love, he says is the most excellent way. Without it, we have a problem. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” The gift is valuable only if love is driving it.

In this same chapter Paul defines love for us. Those are the words from 1 Corinthians 13 we know best. They have been read and preached at a million weddings: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud,” and so on. Without looking at each word in detail, we might summarize this way: “Love is not concerned with self. Questions like ‘What about me?’ or ‘What about my rights?’ or ‘Don’t I matter?’ or ‘How come I can’t have what I want?’ don’t even occur to love. Love has one thing in mind: “What will serve others? What will do the most good?” That’s not the same thing as “What will make them happy? How can I give them what they want?” Love is concerned with what benefits the people around me, even if that makes them stop liking me.

This kind of love is best illustrated by Jesus’ saving love for us. Jesus’ tongue had miracle-working powers. His words once called the universe into existence. They called the dead back to life. They tamed storms and drove out demons and healed diseases.  Jesus’ miracles often brought him attention from the crowds. But our Savior was no publicity hound. He did not covet large crowds to admire him for his special abilities. He downplayed the miracles. He told people to stop talking about them. At times he avoided the crowds who kept coming to see another miracle.

Jesus loved them, as he loves us. His interest in doing miracles was only to end their suffering, and open up the door for people to see that he could do something much greater for them. So he took the blame for the great crimes and petty sins we have committed. He shouldered the guilt for the sins of the world. He allowed the misguided authorities of his day to deprive him of his freedom, his dignity, justice, and, ultimately, his life on the cross. There was no “What about me or my rights? Don’t I matter?” Why? He loved us, and this was the only way to secure forgiveness for our sins and save us from hell. John later writes, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

When that kind of love was combined with the miraculous ability to speak in other languages by the people of Corinth, when it is still combined with a voice that sings sweetly or speaks eloquently, God’s people are served. One who can speak in another language uses it to evangelize those who speak it naturally. Those who sing do so to glorify God, not themselves. The gospel, the saving Word of God, is delivered to hearts and minds in a way people can understand and will remember. Jesus becomes greater. We, the messengers, become less. Faith grows. Salvation spreads. More than miracles, love is the most excellent way.

But when I have not love? “I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” When all I do is draw attention to myself, it’s just noise. No one is served. Silence would be preferable. Love, the most excellent way, makes all the difference.

Luke 12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

Jesus calls us a little flock. That suggests we suffer from a certain poverty. Jesus’ little group of disciples and followers seemed like an insignificant number of people compared to the vast world population. Do we feel the same? Even where churches are growing Christians are in the minority.

Nor are sheep the most powerful or assertive animals in the world. They aren’t the roaring lions or crafty foxes of the animal kingdom. They are vulnerable, dependent, and defenseless. As Jesus’ little flock of sheep, we perceive the same weaknesses in ourselves. We are vulnerable. Perhaps the year just past has exposed more of our personal vulnerabilities than we care to think about: health concerns, family struggles, financial worries. We are at the mercy of the changing world around us. Political uncertainties upset us. Uncontrollable forces of nature threaten us.

Our status as Jesus’ little flock, his command that we not be afraid, suggest that there is an issue of trust with which we must struggle. In the context Jesus was speaking these words to his disciples. He knew that it was easy for them to worry about their earthly supply. He had taught them that God considered them incomparably more dear than the rest of his creation, things like birds or flowers. Despite this knowledge, they still found it difficult to be certain he would take care of them.

Our sin-sickened senses share the same fears. We withhold our trust. We base our conclusions on what we can see with our eyes instead of what God promises to our hearts. We may object that our fears are defensible, even sensible, but our lack of trust still calls for repentance.

Then Jesus leads us to look in the right direction to build that trust up again. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” Look at what we have! Even before we look at the gift, look at the Giver! We have a Father who is pleased to give us things. It makes him happy to see us open his gifts. At Christmas you watched as your child or friend opened a gift you know they wanted. You saw their surprise and joy, their gasp or squeal, and it gave you a deep feeling of satisfaction.

The difference is that our Father is pleased to give us his gifts even when we look inside the box and we don’t get it right away. We may react with a disappointed, “oh.” That doesn’t stop him. He keeps on giving generously. He keeps on being happy to do so.

Then there is the obvious difference in value. One Christmas a brand new car appeared in my neighbor’s yard with a great big bow attached to the top, just like you see on TV. That is a worthless trinket compared to the gifts our Father gives. He is God, and his gifts literally cost him everything. God gives us himself, and the Lord of Lords and King of Kings becomes our Servant. God gives us his Son. He sacrifices the most precious life to save us from sin, and he doesn’t resent the cost. He is only happy to give it.

That leads to the gift Jesus promises here. He says our Father has been pleased to give you and me the kingdom! Now don’t we look silly worrying about something to eat or something to wear or how we are going to pay for things. We worry about plastic beads when all this time we have been holding gold and diamonds in our hands.

Remember the musical “Little Orphan Annie?” It’s a bit schmaltzy, but it plays like a modern day fairy-tale: poor little orphan gets adopted by lonely, rich industrialist and they live happily ever after. Our real story is more amazing. It is more than rags to riches. The Lord of the universe has snatched us from death, cleansed us from sin, adopted us and made us the children of God. He has given us his kingdom as our very own. What, then, is left for us to fear?