Matthew 28:19 “Therefore (In other words, since I have all power) go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The gospel is for everyone. Jesus has taken all the work out of trying to determine who our target audience should be. If they are breathing, we have a candidate. That person holding the cardboard sign at the stoplight asking for money? I don’t know in every case if we should be giving him a couple bucks, but I know he’s part of all nations and a candidate for hearing the gospel. The person who ran the red light, plowed into your car, and just now is getting out to trade insurance information with you? It may not be the first thing on your mind at the moment, but I know that more than they need the name and number of your Allstate agent, they need the name of your Lord and Savior. The men who re-roofed your house but don’t speak any English, the olive skinned lady at Walmart with the scarf wrapped around her head and the dress that touches the floor? All nations. All nations.

Hasn’t each of us been blessed by this part of Jesus’ assignment ourselves? Why should my family have received the gospel? Why did I get to hear the good news? The gospel wasn’t invented in Northern Europe, where my ancestors came from. It certainly wasn’t invented in the United States of America. But you and I are part of the “all nations” for whom Jesus died. Our sins went to the cross along with everyone else’s. We are part of the all nations that Jesus seeks for himself and desires to have as his own children. And that is what he has made us.

Could one little congregation have a global outreach? You know, after Jesus rose from the dead, it seems that he had about 500 followers. That’s bigger than the church to which I belong, but still not so many compared to the world in which they lived. Our small size doesn’t rule out the possibility.

Already we can reach around the world through technology. The internet allows any of us to publish for the whole world to see. I started this blog to reach people in Central Oklahoma. But it has been read by people on every continent except Antarctica. In a typical week people from a half dozen or so other countries log on and read.

About ten years ago I first heard about Lincoln Heights Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa. This little Lutheran church with less than 200 members started reaching out to refugees from the Sudan who lived in their neighborhood. As a result, not only is a sizeable percentage of their congregation Sudanese today, but there are also 17 congregations in the nation of Sudan named Lincoln Heights Lutheran Church as a result of the connections they have made.

We don’t have to go so far. All nations start on the other side of our front doors. Maybe it’s time to start that conversation with your next door neighbor. Maybe it’s time for your church to plant another one in the growing parts of your city. We have already been given the commission, because Jesus has sent us to all nations.

Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

It is easy for us Christians to think and act like we are on the losing side. There are the moral trends. It’s not just that the world around us rejects Biblical right and wrong. It’s that more and more we find ourselves sliding in their direction. We laugh at the escapades of the gay character in some sitcom. We empathize with the adulterous couple in a romantic movie. We even get a little teary when their ungodly relationship hits a rough spot. We are no more content with the stuff that clutters our homes and garages than our neighbors. We have turned shopping into a past time, a recreational activity, because heaven knows we don’t need all the stuff we are buying. We are so desensitized and apathetic after nearly fifty years of abortion on demand that 54 million dead American babies don’t even shock us. Former Russian dictator Joseph Stalin was right. “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is only a statistic.”

            We see Christian churches in decline. A generation is slipping through our fingers. We taught them the importance of everything that makes life good, things like the value of a good education or practicing healthy habits. We taught them how to get jobs that pay well, how to enjoy a high standard of living, and how to cheer for our favorite team. But we failed to teach them the importance of Jesus.

            So what’s the point of trying? What’s the point of investing ourselves in spreading the gospel, if it is all a losing effort anyway? Americans don’t like to support a loser.

            But wait a minute. There is more to all this than meets the eye. Jesus is hardly a loser. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” If his story ended with his death on the cross, then we might have reason to give up and go home. Even the Apostle Paul once said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless. You are still in your sins.” But Jesus death on the cross was not the end of his story.

            It is the risen Christ who is speaking to his disciples in these words from Matthew 28. It’s not a tape-recorded message he left behind for those mourning his death. It’s not merely the kind of thing he would say if he were still alive. Jesus really, bodily lives again. That means his death wasn’t a tragedy. It was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is the source of our forgiveness, the salvation of the world.

            That gives us confidence for the mission he has given us to do. We have hope and optimism as we go. The living Jesus conquered death and walked out of his grave. Now he holds all authority, all power, in heaven and on earth. We couldn’t be in a better position if we were backed by the financial resources of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffet combined. We couldn’t be better backed if we had the firepower of the entire U.S. military at our disposal.

Paul draws the grand conclusion at the end of his great celebration of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

2 Timothy 4:3-5“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around themselves a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

Who are these people with “itching ears”? It is tempting for us to see them only in those churches which have most obviously caved into the sinful culture in which we live. We think of the liberal churches, which have publicly changed God’s teaching about godly morals to avoid offending anybody. Maybe we think these are the people in the big and popular churches, which haven’t necessarily changed their teachings. They just don’t talk much about the unpopular ones so that they can concentrate on topics people consider “relevant.” They don’t “change” the sound doctrine. They simply hide it. That way they can tell people what they want to hear.

Can Bible-believing, conservative Christians also be guilty of itching ears? I don’t like change so much the older I get. It makes me tired. Does it really make things better? Look at all the examples of bad changes we can identify. Maybe we can make some rules and policies that prevent change. Maybe we can find other people in the church who agree with us. Maybe we can convince the pastor we are right, or find another one who will take our side.

You see where this is going. Before long we are adding our rules to God’s. We make a law where God gave freedom. We do it all to suit our own personal tastes. It is another variation on gathering “a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Legalism is an attack on the gospel, as much as immorality. Preachers and laypeople have a solemn duty to oppose them both.

In contrast to modifying the message to make us feel comfortable, Paul urges: “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

A preacher’s work is not just about the things he says. It is also about the way he lives his life. God expects calm, steady, self-control. “Keep your head.” When things aren’t going well for a congregation, it won’t do to have the pastor in a panic. He, of all people, needs to live by faith and trust that God has it under control. If others are opposing him, it won’t work to have him explode in anger. And if things are humming along the way they should, who wants a cocky pastor?

Paul is also realistic about the kind of life to expect. “Endure hardship.” That’s not to say that ministry is all hardship. There are many pleasant things, many blessings that come to those who serve God’s people. But if a man’s ministry is only about making life comfortable for himself and his family, or doing what is popular, or taking the easy road, something isn’t right. You can’t parent that way. You can’t expect any other calling in life to work that way. Of all people, the pastor needs to carry the cross that comes with the work God has called him to do.

But the heart of God’s expectation is in the phrase, “Do the work of an evangelist.” Don’t think of a person who serves on a committee that visits people in your neighborhood. Paul is calling on Timothy to do his work in an evangelical way. The gospel–the good news about Jesus’ saving work, the love of God in his grace and forgiveness, the seeking of souls and the building of faith–this flavors the ministry that is fulfilling the solemn duty God has given. All preaching and teaching, visiting and confronting, pleading and counseling wants to lead us back to the gospel. There we see that our sins are all pardoned, God is our Father, and heaven is our home.

            That is what our ears need to hear.

2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction.”

The word “preach” describes a very specific method for delivering the message. Let me try to illustrate what it says about the preacher’s task. If this matter of preaching were part of an earthly business, then your pastor would not be in management, making the decisions. He would not be in research and development, trying and creating new products. He would not really be in production, putting the product together, or even marketing, trying to make the product appealing. Your pastor would be the guy driving the UPS truck. He would simply be in delivery. You don’t want the delivery man manufacturing your product, or opening the package and messing with it. You want him to deliver it faithfully to your door.

What he delivers is the Word, the message. Paul give us an indication of its two parts. First, “Be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke.” Correct and rebuke are the law. It’s no one’s favorite part of the message, not even your pastor6. I knew a pastor who used to joke, “My people love the law, and I love to preach it to them,” but not when it’s made personal. Not when it is being used to rebuke us.

We need that law to rebuke us, though. We need it to break us down and expose our weak spots. We need to feel the pain. It’s a little like weight lifting. You have heard the fitness experts recite their creed, “No pain, no gain.” Unless our exercise is actually tearing our muscle fibers apart (within reason, of course), our bodies don’t go through the process of repairing and rebuilding them, which is how we get stronger. Unless the law gets a chance to tear us down where we have sinned, the gospel doesn’t come in and apply God’s grace: building our faith, repairing our life, and making us stronger.

 The gospel is where the real strength lies. Paul brings it here, too. “Correct, rebuke, and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction.” I suppose that the word “encourage” doesn’t so much describe the gospel’s content as it describes its function: it comes along side of us like a friend to comfort us and hold us up and make us brave again.

What does the preacher say to make this happen? If you are feeling guilty about your sin, it’s about Jesus’ loving sacrifice at the cross. “If anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense: Jesus Christ the Righteous One. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Or “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

If you are suffering for some reason, if you are under attack or live with some great need, it is about Jesus’ loving sacrifice at the cross. “What, then, shall we say in response to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

If you are looking for the power and motivation to live the Christian life, it is about Jesus’ loving sacrifice at the cross, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died, and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

You get the idea. There are trendy and faddish things churches may do with their preaching. Not all of them are all bad. But as you consider your pastor’s task, remember what God has sent him to do: “Preach the Word…correct, rebuke, and encourage.” May God give you a man who faithfully delivers the message to your door.

Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

We mostly see the kinds of shields mentioned here in museums. Old wood and metal shields aren’t much good against modern weapons of war. They can’t stop bullets, grenades, and rockets. But we get the idea. An old neighbor of mine had two sheets of metal wrapped around his pecan tree. It was a shield to keep the squirrels from getting all the nuts. Our cars have windshields because it is hard to see where you are driving with a sustained wind of 70 miles an hour in your face. At that speed even a little bug hitting you in the face could cause injury, and it would be kind of gross.

So God is our shield, our protection, to keep the things that hurt us away. When we sin we can try to pretend it didn’t happen. We can justify and defend ourselves by making excuses for our behavior. We can try to make up for it with our sad attempts at community service or restitution. But none of those things will get us off the hook in God’s court of law.

We can also take refuge in God by repenting and confessing our sins, and letting his grace and forgiveness take over. Then Jesus’ cross will shield us from the justice we deserved. Then we will be free from our guilt and changed by his love. Then we will find safety and security for our souls behind the shield of God’s grace.

Beyond this, who knows how many times each day God has been our shield from physical danger and we didn’t even know it? Because you left for work a little early or a little late one morning, you weren’t going through some intersection at the moment a distracted driver was texting, ran the red light, and t-boned the car that had the right-of-way.

You have probably never heard of Elise O’Kane. She was a United Airlines flight attendant who tried to sign up to work Flight 175 the day it was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New York. While bidding for the flight she entered a wrong code. It scheduled her to work a flight between Boston and Denver instead. Computer problems kept her from correcting her mistake. Who knows how many times you or I have been saved from tragedy on a smaller scale because the God who is our refuge has been directing our lives and protecting us from harm.

None of us have been entirely immune to tragedy, either. There, too, God’s power and promise work for our protection. From his prison cell in Rome the Apostle Paul once wrote the Philippians, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel…Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly…I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.” Which is just what it did.

            Do you long to be secure? Run to the God who is your refuge. His power and promise will shield our body and soul.

Proverbs 30:5a “Every word of God is flawless.”

There is a picture behind the promise here. If you look at the inside rim of my wedding ring, there is tiny little print that says, among other things, “14 K.” “Fourteen karat gold” means that it is fourteen parts gold and ten parts other metals. If it were “twenty-four karat gold,” then it would be pure gold, at last as pure as is humanly possible.

Before they could add the other metals to the gold in my wedding ring, they had to get the impurities out of it. It had to be refined in order to remove the other minerals in and around it. Chemicals and super-heated furnaces were used to purify the gold.

This is the picture behind the word “flawless.” God’s word is twenty-four karat pure truth. There are no impurities or additives. Do you see why this is important for you to know? I haven’t read all the other “holy” books of other religions, but from what I have read I know that the Bible is particularly careful to make this claim. God was anticipating the false criticism that was going to be leveled at his word. I heard it once from a relative who wasn’t very interested in the Bible’s claims. “The Bible is just a book written by men.” In other words, it is possible that it contains mistakes and errors just like any other human book. Truth be told, you wouldn’t make a statement like that if you didn’t think you already had found some there.

What does that do to our trust in the promises our Lord records for us? Now it is up to us to figure out which promises we can trust and which ones are nothing but an illusion. And what is the standard by which we will judge–our own feelings? Our own opinions? Our limited experience? The findings of science and research? Only people who are unaware of the history of scientific investigation can believe that so-called “science” has given us consistently accurate explanations for why things are the way they are (not that it has gotten everything wrong). Each generation has to throw out large portions of the science of the generation before. Then it must start over with new ideas about how to explain our world.            

God hasn’t put us on such shaky ground with his promises. They are twenty-four karat gold for certainty. There is an empty tomb in Jerusalem to prove it. There are thousands of years of prophecies fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to make us sure. The power of the gospel has exerted itself on our own hearts. It has given us the faith that convinces us, “These words aren’t just a collection of nice thoughts about God.” They are the real history of how he intervened in our world, the real description of who he is and what he is like. Trust his promises. Not a single word contains a flaw.

Proverbs 30:4 “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!”

People make big claims about what they have done and what they can do. This is an election year, so we will be subjected to more outlandish claims than usual. Mere mortals running for president or congress will promise that they can fix the economy, stop the pandemic, put an end to injustice, and get everyone working again. Frankly, even if they were running for dictator or king I would be skeptical of their claims. Our challenges are bigger than one politician, or even thousands of them, it seems to me.

 Yet all these challenges are far smaller things than making a trip from earth to heaven and back, or controlling the wind and the rain, or determining the size of the earth and then building it! “What is his name, and the name of his son?” the name of the one who can do these things, the writer asks. “Tell me if you know!” And we do. His name is God, and his Son’s name is Jesus.  The hurricanes and the storms are his playthings. The earth and the universe are a project he put together one week. He even got it done in time to take a day off that weekend.

It puts us in our place, doesn’t it. Hundreds, thousands, and even millions of us working together can’t get control of one little feature of life on this planet God made, and we think we are going to lecture the one who designed and developed the vast universe in which we live, as if we think we know something.

Worse yet, the only reason things don’t work perfectly all the time is the result of our meddling in God’s business. Have you ever heard of “stolen valor?” Some men have claimed that they did heroic things and received medals while serving in our armed forces. They never actually did what they claimed. They lied in order to impress others. It makes many veterans, especially those who have earned medals for their bravery and sacrifices, furious.

It rightly makes God furious that we think we could stand before him with our false claims about what we have done or could do with his universe, and question him about the way he is running the show.

But this list of questions isn’t merely confrontational. It is a reminder of where true help lies. It is an invitation. Fix the world’s problems? I can’t even fix my own! They are so much bigger than I am. No human source of help is much better. Then God asks us to remember his power. As Lutherans, we generally emphasize God’s grace, and rightly so, because that is the emphasis of Jesus’ ministry and that of his apostles. Above all things we need to know that God loves us, that he forgives us, that he is on our side.

But God isn’t just a sympathetic weakling. When he hears our prayers, he isn’t like the counselor with lots of questions, lots of patience, but few suggestions about what to do. He has power to change our circumstances, and to change ourselves. When he saw our sins, he didn’t pat us on the head and say, “There, there now. It will be okay.” He didn’t give us advice. He used his power to turn himself into a man. He lived a perfect life, then shouldered the responsibility for our sin. After he let himself be killed, he walked out of his grave alive and glorified. He saved us.

When my life is out of my control (and when isn’t it, really?) and I’ve got trouble, he has control of everything from the orbits of the planets and the stars in our galaxy to the movements of the microscopic electrons in every little atom.

“Remember my power,” he tells us, “and come to me for help.” If we know him, we know the one who truly can solve our problems.

Colossians 1:3-5 “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints–the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel…”

There is one great place we can go to become thankful people. That is in the faith and love that come from God. That is what fills Paul with thankfulness as he begins this letter.

            This faith and love have a source. They grow from the gospel. You know that the word gospel simply means “good news.” Here, Paul describes the good news of the Christian faith this way: “…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel…” Thankful faith and love spring up, they grow, from the “hope that is stored up for you in heaven.”

Oh. I guess hope stored up in heaven sounds like good news…someday. Maybe we were hoping for something more immediate. Maybe we were hoping for something to have and enjoy right now that could make us forget about the things we don’t have. Maybe we feel a little like the boy who was hoping for some great new toy or gadget from his favorite uncle for his birthday. Instead what he gets is a savings bond that doesn’t mature for five years.

            But wait. God’s good news is far superior to the good news people think they want. It is something to be excited about right now. What if Jesus died on the cross, and rose from the dead, and forgave all our sins so that we could win the lottery? What if he kept God’s law perfectly, and sacrificed his life in our place, so that we could have a happy family, just the way we want it to be? What if God’s Son left heaven, became a man, and surrendered himself to be executed by his enemies so that we could have fun, fun, fun–life in this world could be an endless circle of parties and good times? Now we are talking? Now we have a reason to be thankful? Now we have good news we can be happy to believe?

            But what is going to happen to all those things? The money is spent and its gone. Family members get old and die. Good times last a little while, but the moment passes, and then they are just a memory. “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare,” Peter reminds us in his second letter.

        When I was a little boy, my favorite uncle didn’t give me savings bonds. He bought me Tonka Toys. Do you remember Tonka Toys? They still make them–steel trucks and bulldozers and cranes that were made to last a lifetime. They were virtually indestructible. I had my own miniature construction company in the sandbox in our backyard. Then my next door neighbor friend discovered that if the rocks you drop on them are big enough, they really will bend and break. My collection ended up a pile of twisted metal. It was a sad loss, but a good lesson for life: Even the strongest and most certain things don’t last forever.

            Except God’s gifts in the gospel. Because heaven is a gift of God’s love, the result of Jesus’ work not our work, the prize for having our sins forgiven, it is stored up for us. It is being kept and prepared for us where no one can destroy it or take it away. It is certain. Remember Jesus’ words? “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Everything God promised is secure and waiting.

            Because heaven is heaven, it lasts forever. It has no end. When you have a good day now, when you have a string of successes, you sometimes wonder how long it’s going to last. Today I feel good, but the migraines will return. Today sales are up, but another slow period is inevitable. Today my manager is in a good mood, but next week he will be back to his cranky self.

In heaven, our very last bad days will all be behind us. Every tomorrow will only be better and brighter. Faith feeds on a promise like that. It grows from such a gospel. And where there is faith, love can’t be far away. Now there is something to thank God for.

Ephesians 4:15 “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ.”

            The picture here is actually a little funny looking. Christ is our head, but Jesus doesn’t have any growing to do. He is already God and perfect in every way. We are his body. But we aren’t fully grown yet. We are like children. Put those two things together. You can imagine a picture of Jesus’ face easily enough. Usually we see him as a man with a full beard and long hair. Imagine that full size man’s head on the body of a little boy. Obviously the picture doesn’t look right until the body has reached adulthood.

            Not a single one of us, no matter how old we are, has fully matured to the point that we match Christ our Head. At the same time, it is never too early to start living and acting like a grown up member of his body. Even teenagers have played important roles in God’s plan to save the world. Good king Josiah was just eight when he became king, just twenty when he started to reform the faith of his whole nation. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in their teens when they served in the government of King Nebuchadnezzar, and chose to be thrown into the fiery furnace instead of worshiping the king’s idol.

            So what does “growing up” look like? “Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head…” Two things go together here: truth and love. Growing members of Christ’s own body are not ashamed of the truth. They are not ashamed to defend it. We know God’s word is truth, not just truth to keep as our own little secret, but truth the whole world needs to hear, starting with the people who are nearest at any given moment.

            After all, this isn’t just interesting trivia. I had a friend in high school who knew what every airplane that flew in World War II looked like and was called. He knew how much they weighed, how fast they flew, how many men they carried, what kinds of guns and bombs they used. Fascinating! True! But if you can’t identify even one kind of airplane used in World War II, it wouldn’t hurt you at all.

We know the truth about how to get to heaven. We know the truth about what God has done with our sins. We know where to find God and his love right here on earth. That’s because we know the truth about Jesus. We know about Christmas and Good Friday and Easter all the other things God has done for our salvation. That truth is a matter of life and death.

            The thing that goes along with the truth is love. When we speak the truth, we speak it in love–not to prove how smart we are or how wrong others are, but because the truth saves. The truth wins hearts and minds for Jesus, just like it won you and me. It sets Jesus’ disciples free: from sin and death and fear and doubt and everything else that stands between us and knowing God’s love. That’s why we want to grow up as Christ’s own body, to be people whose lives and words speak the truth of his Word in love.   

          I wish I could say that we were mature already. At most you and I are still growing. Yes, Jesus loves us just the way we are. But because he loves us, he doesn’t want us to stay just the way we are. He wants us to grow up. So stay in his word, and keep growing.