The Great Miracle on the Night of Christmas.

(By Ps. S. Bergman, 1937-2015- Pastor for Lutherska Konkordiekyrkan – Concordia Lutheran Church, Sweden)

Text: Luke 2:1-20

The Christmas gospel reading we have heard from the pulpit has three parts. The first is about the birth of Jesus, the second about the angel’s short and glorious message regarding this birth and the third about the impact it had on those who heard it. What the first part says is this-

1. It has indeed happened that God became man and was born in Bethlehem.

Luke, who wrote the gospel about Christmas, emphasises that what he tells is not a fairy tale or legend but an event in the history of the world. He does not start the Christmas gospel with the words: “Once upon a time there was a young woman”, as you do when you tell a story. He says, “It happened at that time.” And he begins writing his Gospel by pointing out that it is based on serious historical research. He has “carefully investigated everything from the beginning”, carefully checked what those who were eyewitnesses said about the events he writes about. What he writes is thus reliable (Luke 1:2-3).

Luke dates Jesus’ birth to a specific time, referring to emperors and other great men who lived then. The birth of Jesus took place during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus and Quirinius, the emperor’s chief governor in the eastern part of the empire, to which Syria and Israel belonged.

The emperor had decided “that the whole world” would be taxed. The whole world is referring here to the great Roman world empire. Bible critics, who assume that the Bible is just an ordinary book containing inaccuracies, claim that no such census took place at the time of Jesus’ birth. But they are not as good as historians as Luke. He is not mistaken. We now know that Roman emperors loved keeping tax records and especially the censuses that took place in connection with them. It showed them how many people they ruled over. Such censuses occurred quite frequently, and Israel was required to participate in another one more than 30 years later (Acts 5:37). The tax records that Luke talks about are mentioned in the so-called memoirs of Augustus, partly reproduced in Latin and Greek in inscriptions on pillars in a temple ruin discovered in Turkey. So Luke did not record a fiction.

It is amazing how God allows a pagan emperor’s injunction to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. It was there that what was foretold through the prophet Micah would happen: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”(5: 2).

Every person would travel to his family’s hometown. Joseph was of the family of King David, therefore he went with Mary to Bethlehem, for there is where David was born (1 Sam. 16). Mary was pregnant and at a very advanced stage. Nine months earlier she had become pregnant, not in the usual way through the participation of a man, but exactly as the angel Gabriel told her, and later it was told to poor Joseph, who believed that his wife had been unfaithful, that she had become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that the child who she would give birth to would be called the Son of God (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35).

Many were on their way to Bethlehem. The guest rooms of relatives or in the boarding houses were soon filled. When Joseph and Mary arrived, things started to go awry. She already felt the pains of labour. You can almost see in front of you Joseph hurrying from house to house and knocking to find out if any room was vacant. But all the rooms were occupied. Joseph finally found a place for Mary in a simple stable. A stable for animals is not as clean and nice as a guest room. Anyone who has been to a barn knows how it smells and stinks of livestock and their droppings. A stable was often found on the ground floor of houses. But Bethlehem was located in a mountainous area where there were natural caves which could also be used as stables. There is an old tradition dating back to the 100s that says that Jesus was born in such a cave. The Emperor Constantine in the 3rd century had the Church of the Nativity built, which still stands today, over the cave in which Jesus was believed to have been born. But Luke does not say that it was a cave, not even that it was a stable. He just mentions a manger. From this it has been concluded that it was a stable.

In this meagre environment Mary gave birth to her child, wrapped him up and put him in a manger. An animal feeding trough became the Son of God’s first bed in this world. It is a marvel that he who was the King of kings allowed himself to be born under such simple and primitive circumstances.

Luke gives no further details about the birth itself. He merely states that Mary gave birth to her child, birthing as women have always done. Yet it was a unique birth. Her child was not only her child but also the Son of God. The Son of God was not created at any particular time, for he, like the Father and the Spirit, is the God of eternity. But at a certain time it happened that the divine nature of the Son united with the human flesh and blood of Mary. A true God-man took shape and began to grow in her womb. And when the time came, she gave birth to both her and God’s son.

This birth was considered by some pious-minded church fathers, such as Ambrose in the 300s, be a miraculous painless birth, so that Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus “with a closed womb”, ie. that Jesus by virtue of his divinity passed her womb, much as he did after the resurrection through closed doors, without harming her in the slightest way. Luther and many Lutherans of his day believed that he was born that way. And of course, it is quite possible that it happened that way. But the question must still be left open and unanswered. For the Bible gives no answer on this matter and we can therefore not make it a doctrinal position that must be believed. Luke only says: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son…”. Not a word that this birth from the outside differed from other births.

For the other great world religions, the fact that God became a man by being born of a woman is a completely unreasonable and blasphemous thought. It has been thought that God could never humble himself so that he became a pitiful little human child of flesh and blood born in a stinking stable. They think that is absolutely horrible! But Christians celebrate Christmas precisely because this has actually happened.

The whole of Christianity stands and falls with this miracle above all miracles. Either it is true, or Christianity is just legends or fantasies – a beautiful night-time Christmas dream and nothing else. The New Testament is full of testimony that the baby in the manger was not only sent by God but truly had a divine nature. With his deeds and great miracles – that no one who is only a mere man could do- he showed that he really was the one Isaiah prophesied about: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… and his name will be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9: 6).

Christianity is not a religion that arose from secret rites and mystical seances. It is based on things that really happened in time, on things that people have seen and heard, on information that could be checked and verified. When the Apostle Paul tells the story of Jesus to King Agrippa, he reminds him that these are well-known facts: “…for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.”(Acts 26:26). It was not from the world of myths and legends that the evangelists and apostles drew their message. Few events in history are as well confirmed by early testimony as the stories of Jesus’ life. With the psalmist we can boldly cry out to all in the world: “Come and see the work of the LORD! He works wonders on the earth ”(Ps. 46: 8).

Let us now move on to the second and heavenly part of Luke’s Christmas gospel.

2. The angel’s message to the shepherds tells us why the great miracle of Christmas has taken place

When God was to proclaim the great significance of Christmas to the world, He chose not to do so for the rich and noble lords of Jerusalem but for some poor shepherds out in the fields. These shepherds had the hardest and lowest paid job in the country. They were poor and had to take the job that others did not want: guarding sheep at night. They sat outside shivering in the biting cold of the night, while the others inside the city slept warmly and well in their beds. It was these poor shepherds who first heard the glorious message on Christmas Eve: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people, for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10,11).

There are a number of people who have been saviours, brave heroes who have saved people from dangers and oppression of various kinds. When the children of Israel were threatened by enemies during their early days in the land of Canaan, they cried out to God- “But when the people of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel” (Judges 3: 9). He sent Othniel, Ehud, Samson, Gideon, and others who saved the people from the attacks of their enemies. But none of those who were called saviours were said to be the Lord. They were just mere men.

The Saviour who was born to us is called by the angel “the Lord”. That name is used in Scripture exclusively referring to God, the creator of heaven and earth. The little weak and fragile child in the manger is the Lord. It is a dizzying thought that in this child was hidden the Son of God who helped create the world with divine omnipotence. But so it is: “Through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made that is made,” says the apostle John about Jesus, about the Word who became flesh (John 1: 3). He is completely and fully both God and man, but without sin. Two natures inseparably united in one person.

He must be such a person to become the Saviour that God’s messenger spoke of. This is not about saving the people from the oppression of the Romans, as many hoped the Messiah would do. This is about worse enemies and far worse oppression. The Son of God became man to save us from the violence of sin, death, and the devil, from all the evil that we have been enslaved to since the Fall.

He was born to open heaven to sinners, to remove the enmity between God and man. On one side stands a holy and just God with his holy wrath over a sinful and rebellious human race, on the other side stands this race with hatred of God and his word. The child who is both God and man is the mediator standing in between.

He is the path of divine love to peace between heaven and earth. He removed the enmity in a strange way. The road to peace traversed over a cross. He was born for the cross, to suffer and die as the atonement for the evils and sins of the world. God became man in order to suffer and die for our sins, but in order to atone for the sins of the whole world and gain victory over death and the devil, he must be God.

The angel’s message about the Saviour is short and sweet. The Saviour who is born is the Lord. It is the foundation of Christianity in its simplest form. It says with all the desired clarity that peace and tranquillity with God do not come from what we ourselves do. We cannot appease God with our deeds and with our obedience to God’s commandments. How can we do that, when we are constantly breaking them? The only one who can do that is Jesus. In the angel’s Christmas message, all works are concentrated on the Saviour, on what he does. In our place he does everything that the law requires, that in which we never could succeed. The apostle Paul says, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering” (Rom. 8: 3).

You must throw all your own thoughts overboard and cease trying to create a way to find peace with God and instead only hear the message of the angel about the Saviour born to us. But first you must accept what you are, a child of wrath, a sinner through and through. You must humble yourself and acknowledge God to be right in what He says about you. When you do that, you will be poor in spirit, so broken that you need the Saviour who is the Lord. Then the angel’s words about “a message of great joy” becomes something great, glorious and liberating. Then you are surrounded by “songs of deliverance” (Ps. 32: 7).

The three-line hymn of the great angelic choir after the angel’s short message underlines what he said: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

“Glory be to God on high” – it is a completely different song than the people of the world sing today. Their song is “Glory be to man on earth, glory be to his fight for human rights and the equal value of all human beings!” Certainly man has a great value as created by God. But it is also true that God became man because we humans destroyed our good relationship with God and life on earth in a horrible and abominable way. There is another aspect of the equal value of all human beings that one does not want to hear, and that is that we are all equally worthy to be forever rejected by God for our self-absorbed, evil, and godless lives. “There is no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ”(Rom. 3: 22-23). If God would judge us as our sins deserved, we would all be worthy of hell and eternal damnation. But the Bible says that God did not send his Son “to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

The last stanza of the angelic choir’s song, “good will toward men,” sings of the great love of God, that he wills to all men good tidings through the birth of the Savior. We no longer need to be children of wrath, afraid of punishment and judgement, of being at the mercy of death. God has made Jesus a Saviour for all without exception. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The last part of the Gospel of Christmas talks about the effect the heavenly message had on the shepherds. This begs the question:

3. How do we receive the great miracle of that Christmas night?

The angel’s message about the Savior caused the shepherds to hurry to Bethlehem to look for a child in a manger. Bethlehem was a small town and it was not difficult to find out where there was something as unusual as a newborn baby in a crib. They found it and it was confirmed that they were not dreaming but that the angel was telling the truth.

Everyone was was filled with wonder by the shepherds’ story. Wonder is being astonished at something strange. Does it surprise you that God became man for you, that you might have peace and new life? Or are you completely cold and indifferent to it? There was no room for Joseph and Mary and the baby she was to give birth to in Bethlehem. So it is in the spiritual realm for many. The heart is filled with so many earthly desires that there is no room for Jesus. But remember that he is the only one who can save you. Can you, do you, really want to live without him?

It is said of Mary that she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart“. She hid and preserved them, thought about them a lot and was constantly amazed at the great things that had happened. Do as Mary! Let the holy gospel of Christmas prepare a place in your heart for Jesus. Receive him and keep him as God’s great Christmas gift to you. Then you too may go home today with the joy of Christmas in your heart and with the shepherds praising and exalting God “for all that they had heard and seen, just as it has been said to them.” Amen.

S Bergman

(Translation by Rev. T Harris, 2021)

Judgement Sunday, 2021

Sermon for the week

Sermon from Pastor Bergman, preached at St Paul’s, Stockholm

TEXT: John 5:22-29

THROUGH JESUS

Each high mass that we celebrate includes a short prayer before the readings of the texts, the Collect, in which the topic for that Sunday is summarised in prayer form. That prayer usually ends with the words “Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.” We must keep these words in mind and not let them become an empty phrase for closing the prayer. They are great and meaningful words, taken from the New Testament, where they are found in many places. They summarise the sacred and precious truth that it is only through Jesus that we get to know God, and only through him do we become and remain Christians. “I am the way and the truth and the life”, says Jesus, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6)

True Christianity teaches us that there is no way around the side or past Jesus, only a way through him. Without Jesus we do not understand the deepest message of Scripture to us. With him everything is connected, and without him Scripture loses its inner context. Jesus is the core and shining star of the Bible.

The words “through Jesus” do not appear in the text of today’s sermon. But that very thing is there, practically in every row. The subject of our on Judgement Sunday sermon today is “through Jesus”. We let these two words summarise today’s message.

1. Through Jesus the world will be judged

“For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father“ Although Jesus appears as a human being on the day of judgement, as the son of the Virgin Mary, it should still be unequivocally clear to everyone in the end that he is also the Son of God, like the Father in divine power and glory. Jesus says “All may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.”

None of the evangelists have taken such a strong stand on what Jesus says about his deity as the apostle John. The divinity of Christ is the major theme of his gospel. It also comes through here in our text when he talks about the judgement. Through Jesus the world will be judged: “He has given all judgement to the Son.” It is one of the Bible’s strongest testimonies that Jesus is fully God. He who is the Lord and creator of the world is also the one who will call us humans to the judgement seat to have our lives judged. Either we shall hear, as it is said in the great parable of Matt. 25: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father“ or, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire“ (vv. 34, 41)

Jesus the judge will judge with the highest degree of justice. He is God and makes no mistakes. Here on earth, judges can make wrong judgements. Here we usually have the opportunity to appeal, to go on to a higher court and finally to the Supreme Court to have a ruling changed. But when we stand before the judge Jesus, we stand before a court where nothing can be appealed. He is the highest authority; you cannot make an appeal. Nor would it be necessary either, because he is the perfect judge who already knows all the facts of the case. He is immeasurably fair and impartial. There is no risk of a miscarriage of justice based on incorrect grounds with Jesus.

It should now be safe and gratifying for us to have such a well-informed and legally secure judge, the best imaginable. But on the contrary, it can feel very worrying. For the very fact that the judge is so jurisprudential, objective and clear-sighted fills us with trepidation when we begin to consider more closely that we will one day be judged according to the highest justice. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement,“ it says in Hebrews. 9:27. Such words arouse discomfort and anxiety in us humans. Both death and judgement have something definitive and irrevocable about them. We are filled with anxious questions: How has my life been? How will it turn out for me? What will be my lot?

A common reaction that we humans have to the thought of death and judgement is a gnawing concern that we have not lived as we should. The fact that we can worry about it shows that we are humans and not animals. We are moral beings with a sense of responsibility and conscience.

When we think about the judgement’s verdict and wonder how it will turn out for us, we usually bring out the balance scales. We put our good deeds in one scale and the bad in the other and hope that the good will outweigh the bad. But Jesus will not have any such scales when he judges the world. He only tells us that all shall come forward: “Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement.” Nothing needs to be weighed and tested. The verdict is already made.

Many who read the texts about the final judgement in the NT think that they give an overly rough and simplistic picture of reality. Everything is in black and white, about evil and good with nothing in between. The goats have only evil deeds, the sheep only good. And one might think that disagreeable, along with most others. Please might think- I’ve caused hurt, it’s true, but I’ve also done some good. People are not merely black or white, but grey, a mixture of both good and evil. Why does the judge not take this into account in the final verdict?

But when you think like that, you have completely forgotten who the judge is. It is not a human being who judges according to his human values ​​or the legal opinion of the majority of the people, but the judge of the world, Jesus, who judges according to God’s law. And at that point you are either evil or good, white or black. There is nothing in between. For the law of God requires perfect righteousness, goodness and love.

What to us is so harsh about the law is that it makes us all black. It says: “You have not loved God above all things and your neighbour as yourself. You have loved yourself above all things and your neighbour only when it benefits you.” Even if we had only violated one of God’s Ten Commandments, we would have shown through this one sin that we are among those who do not love God. Every sin is a violation against the love of God. James reminds us of this in his epistle when he writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.“ (James 2:10). Such is the law of God. It requires all or nothing. Either we love God and keep His commandments completely, or we do not.

Paul says, “For the law brings wrath“ (Rom. 4:15). The Bible’s reaction to sin and evil is what the Bible calls wrath. The NT speaks of the judgement of “the wrath to come” (Matt. 3: 7, 1 Thess. 1:10). The law cannot save us from that judgement. It only makes things worse; it strikes us down and kills us. We sing in a hymn:

Whither shall I flee from God and His eternal law?
It governs me no matter where I go.
How shall I face the Lord
on the dreaded day of judgement? (Swedish Church Hymnal, 260)

It is helpful to stop and seriously consider the question that the hymn is asking.

Through Jesus the world will be judged, the sheep separated from the goats. Which group will I end up in? Is there even any point in thinking about it? You might think that because you cannot know how you will be judged on that day that you should instead just hope for the best.

But the great and surprising thing that Jesus tells us in today’s text is that already here and now we can be told how it will turn out for us on the day of judgement.

2. Through Jesus, we completely avoid the verdict of condemnation.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” These are great and wonderful words that we should not only memorise but also keep in our hearts as the most precious of all. Thus through Jesus we can be freed from judgement and belong to those to whom Jesus already here and now says: You will not come under any judgement!

It is plain to see that on the last day there will be no escape from the verdict of condemnation and eternal damnation. It’s too late for all that. Instead, deliverance takes place here and now. And how does it happen? It happens when we hear and believe the gospel. Jesus says “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” Then and only then do we avoid judgement. When Jesus speaks here of “my word”, he is referring to the saving word of the gospel.

The law tells you the truth about your life- that you are under wrath for your sins, and that you can not in the least bit save yourself. But the gospel tells you something completely different, namely that through Jesus Christ you can be free from all that troubles and burdens you, truly free – not partially but completely free- it is complete and thorough. Christ’s Atonement, His grace and forgiveness are comprehensive. It encompasses everything: the outer and the inner, body and soul, thoughts, words and deeds, the whole of life. Jesus’ words come with a total acquittal, a “justification”, using the biblical term. Jesus’ words are full of life and power. They give what they say. Jesus says he who hears and believes “does not come into judgement but has passed from death to life.”

But how can Jesus overturn the guilty verdict that God’s law requires? Because he has received the judgement due to us. He tasted the curse of the law in our place and has taken the law’s penalty, our death and our punishment, all so that we would pass from death to life.

Therefore to everyone who today fearfully wonders “Where shall I flee from God and his holy law?” we can say – You can flee to Jesus Christ! Listen to him! Through him, you avoid judgement altogether. He was sent to earth to bring about this deliverance and to give it to you. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).

So- even here and now- goats, through faith in Jesus, become sheep who are placed on the right side, black becomes white, evil becomes good. Therefore, on the Day of Judgement, there is nothing to judge in those who have passed from death to life through Jesus. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus“ says the apostle (Rom. 8: 1). There are no sins to point out, examine and judge, for they are all forgiven, cast into the depths of the sea, as the prophet Micah says (7:19) or as God himself says: “I will not remember your sins” (Isa. 43:25).

With the zeal of love towards us, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.“ The dead are the spiritually dead. The apostle says to the church in Ephesus, “And He has made you alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins“ (Eph. 2: 1 MKJV). Belief in the gospel is likened to a resurrection from the dead.

When you hear and believe the gospel, you do not have the judgement before you. You have it behind you. You are already condemned, crucified, dead and buried with Christ and raised with him to live a new life. All that remains is what Jesus talks about last in our text: the bodily resurrection.

3. Through Jesus we will be able to experience a joyful resurrection.

“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.” This is not about the spiritually dead, but about bodies lying in the grave.

The body also receives the stamp of eternal life through the gospel when we hear and believe the gospel. It must arise and be united with the saved soul. And even if should we not lie in a grave when the Lord comes, yet our bodies will be transformed and “clothed in immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53). This is how we become completely restored both in body and soul. The hidden life, which we have carried within us, then breaks forth in unimaginable splendour and glory.

The day of wrath, Dies irae, is called the day of judgement in an old Latin hymn. In view of all that we receive through Jesus Christ, Luther called the Day of Judgement “The Dear Last Day.” The gospel turns Dies irae into something great and cherished. God grant that we all have the grace to see it that way. Amen.

S Bergman
(Translated from Swedish by Rev Harris)

All Saints Day, 2021

Devotion for the week

The sacred and glorious name of Jesus.

There can be no doubt in the mind of any Christian about the wonderful Name of Jesus. We know from the scriptures that in Hebrew the name “Jesus” means “saviour” or more precisely “God saves”. The exact meaning is given by the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Joseph, Jesus’ earthly step father, when he said to Joseph-

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  Matt 1:20,21

Therefore He is named Jesus, by God Himself, because He is the Saviour of the world.

But what does He save us from? He saves us from our sins.

In fact, we are told in the scriptures that

“…there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

It is worthy of note that the Bible says that Jesus will save us from our sins, not just one sin, but all of them. Every condition of sin, every kind of sin, whether past or present. Even the sins we will commit in the future. But there is a condition- we must repent of them. That is, simply put, to turn our backs on our sins, to walk away from them and vow to never commit them again. We are told very clearly in the Bible that “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) which tells that the blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse us through and through- to our deepest core. Our entire heart and soul can be cleansed and the stain of sin washed away by the sanctifying power of the blood of He who holds the highest and most precious name above all names. St John further emphasises this when he states two verses later

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

When we confess our sins, honestly and from the deepest place in our hearts, there is no sin that is not cleansed and we are freed from their power and set right with God. Those who fiercely oppose God, who blaspheme against Him and who remain in their sins without repentance, who do not turn from their sins and in faith ask for mercy and forgiveness in the wonderful name of Jesus retain their sins, and ultimately, if they remain in that state, suffer for their sins in eternity. (see Matt. 10:28; 12:31,32; 25:46; Ez. 18:20; Rev. 21:8)

But our merciful and gracious God does not want anyone to perish for their sins (2 Peter 3:9). He wants all to come and receive the gift of salvation given through His Son, whose very name tells us that He will save us from our sins. All are loved by God (John 3:16) and Jesus has given His life for all (1 John 2:2) and therefore every human can confidently say that Jesus died for their sins. He will not turn away anyone who asks Him for forgiveness and His promise to free us from the burden and punishment of our sins is true, faithful and trustworthy.

Pondering these thoughts, we can pray with great theologian and pastor Johannes Gerhard (1582-1637) who said:

How sweet and delightful is the name of Jesus! For what is Jesus but Saviour? And what real harm can befall the saved? What beyond salvation can we either seek or expect? Receive me, O Lord Jesus, into the number of Thy children, so that with them I may praise Thy holy and saving name. If through my sin I have lost my original innocence, have I deprived Thee of Thy mercy? If I have miserably destroyed and condemned, yet canst Thou not compassionately save me?

And

I am sinful, reprobate, condemned; but in Thy holy name there is righteousness, election, salvation; but in Thy name was I baptized; in Thy name do I believe; in Thy name will I die; in Thy name will I rise again, and in Thy blessed name will I appear at the judgment. In Thy name every conceivable good is provided for my soul, and stored up in reserve as a sacred treasury.
(From Sacred Meditations, IV)

Amen!

+ Rev Harris

We are presenting some sermons by the late Ps Staffan Bergman, recently translated by our Pastor. This one is from 1997, and is from the reading according to the traditional One Year Calendar.

Sermon from St Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Stockholm

The 23^rd Sunday After Trinity

Text: Matt. 22:15-22

A CHRISTIAN’S DUAL CITIZENSHIP

On All Saints’ Day, we turned our eyes and thoughts to heaven and the saints. We have a heavenly citizenship and a heavenly home that we are on our way to. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are heirs to the glory of eternal life.

Today we are going to say something about the earthly citizenship that we have. We are all citizens of a country, in our case in Sweden. As Christians, we have a dual citizenship: a heavenly and an earthly one. We shall not despise any of them. For behind both stands one and the same God.

The Pharisees tried to entangle Jesus with the question of whether or not to pay taxes to the emperor. They thought they had trapped him. Whatever way he answered, they could accuse him. If he answered no, they could say that he was a rebel, who opposed the emperor. If Jesus answered yes, he could be accused of being on the side of the Roman occupying power. They waited intensely to see how he would answer.

But Jesus did not fall into the trap. His answer was not either/or, but both/and. We must obey both the emperor and God: “Give then to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and God what belongs to God.” A masterful answer. These words give us today the subject of our sermon: The dual citizenship of a Christian.

1. A Christian is a citizen of the Kingdom of God and serves God there

“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said when he was later bound before Pilate (John 18:36). The kingdom of God is a spiritual and invisible kingdom in the sense that only God, who looks into the hearts of men, knows who are true citizens. We become members of the kingdom through baptism and faith. We can observe baptism, but not faith, neither in the little newly baptised children nor in adults. Only God sees it. “The Lord knows his people” (2 Tim. 2:19).

Many have wanted and still want to make the Church a visible earthly kingdom with peace and justice on earth as its main goal. The Pharisees were obsessed with the idea of ​​a visible earthly Jewish welfare state. But the kingdom of God is no such kingdom. It is not a state built on political power and strength. The Church is a people on a journey to God. She will one day be taken up to him, and then her glory, which has been hidden here under crosses and sufferings, will be revealed. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43), Jesus says.

Baptism is the passport of Christians that shows that they were once accepted by God themselves as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Many people do not care about their passport. They do not believe what it stands for. It is deeply tragic. Jesus says, “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).

In your baptismal passport there is a picture of you and under it it states: Christian. We are called Christians after Christ, from whom we have obtained our heavenly citizenship. We have not earned this citizenship, but Christ has won it for us. He has bought us with His holy and precious blood and clothed us in His righteousness. Through baptism, we have become “coins” with his image imprinted in our lives. In him we are redeemed children of God. We belong to God. The one who is baptised is always called to “give God what God belongs to”, ie. to live for God, “live under him and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness” as Luther says in the catechism. We are baptised into life in the kingdom of God.

God does not rule and uphold this kingdom by force and coercion. He rules with a gentle and merciful hand, through the gospel and the Holy Spirit. The kingdom is a kingdom of grace, full of comfort and forgiveness for sinners. Those who live there live in a constant reception of God’s grace and love in Christ. We stumble and fall, but he raises us up. We are sinners, but have the power of the Spirit to kill sin and live according to God’s commandments. Day by day we are preserved in the faith of Jesus and are brought closer to the heavenly goal, our true homeland.

In the Church, as Luther used to say, God exercises “his spiritual regiment.” The goal is not worldly: “We have our citizenship in heaven, and from there we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior” (Phil. 3:20). The goal is perfection, eternal life, where there is no more sin and sorrow.

2. A Christian is also a citizen of an earthly kingdom and also serves God there

Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” In the current situation, it was the Roman emperor who occupied Israel. His image on the coin reminded the Jews of who they were under. They did not like it, but had to bow to the pagan emperor.

Pious Christians have sometimes found it difficult to see that secular kingdoms and rulers have anything to do with God. But they have.

The word “authority” is usually used to describe the governing and controlling power in a country. We read about the government and our relationship to it in Rom. 13: “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. … For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” (Rom. 13: 1, 4).

God himself is thus behind the authority, and to obey it is to obey God. This applies no matter how it is organised, and no matter how it has come about. The government is a servant of God for the earthly good of men, set to limit external evil, maintain law and order and protect the citizens.

This is the “worldly regiment of God.” The goal of it is external justice and decency. It is not about faith and salvation, but a good earthly life for the people. The state is not a church governed by biblical words, but by laws enacted by men and based on reason and common sense (the natural law which is inscribed in the hearts of men, Rom. 2:15).

We Christians should not despise the government and the laws of the land, but obey. We must obey the ordinances as they stand, declare and pay taxes, not smuggle and lie at customs checks, not cheat or drive through a red light. We may find that a number of regulations, rules and laws are not very good. It does not give us the right to break them. But we can criticise them, and we can legally lobby for them to be changed, improved or abolished. We can bring forth opinion, exercise our voting right, etc. In the earthly realm we must work for the good of society and cooperate, regardless of faith and religion, with all sensible and good powers.

Obedience to the authorities, however, has its limits. Christians are not ones who constantly bow down to and obey those in power no matter what they say. When the authorities or its magistrates go beyond their powers and want to force us into things that are clearly contrary to the Word of God, then we should not obey. “One must obey God rather than men” the apostles told the Sanhedrin, who wanted to forbid them from testifying and teaching about Jesus (Acts 5:29). When the emperor in Rome later wanted to make himself God and force the Christians to sacrifice to him, many of them refused to do so. Not even a symbolic grain of wheat did they want to sacrifice on the emperor’s altar. For that, they had to pay with their life. They became Christian martyrs.

Good authority is important to the Church. Therefore, in the NT, we are called to pray for those who govern, “for kings and all who rule, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life” (1 Tim. 2: 2).

3. A Christian does not confuse the two kingdoms

Although both citizenships are of God, they must not be confused. They have different purposes and tasks. The Augsburg Confession states: “the civil rulers defend not souls, but bodies…against manifest harm,… the Gospel protects souls against heresies, the devil and eternal death” (Art. XXVIII, Latin text)

The Church should not engage in politics and exercise worldly power. She will keep to her task and do what the Lord has commanded, namely, proclaim the gospel for repentance, for salvation and eternal life for all who want to listen to the Word of God, freely and without compulsion.

In the earthly realm, we live among many people who do not believe at all in Jesus Christ and the gospel. These are people whom the Bible calls “the world.” The Christian’s values ​​and way of life differ in several respects from the common man. Christians live in the world, but not of the world (John 17:16).

As Christians, we live in an earthly kingdom, the best of which we seek through community involvement of various kinds. At the same time, we know that this kingdom is not our ultimate goal. We have that goal in heaven. This means that we will never really be at home here. We are “guests and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13). A letter written in the 200s to a certain Diognetus, who wanted to know more about Christianity, describes how Christians live in the two kingdoms. It says:

“…they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life. They live in their own countries, but they do so as those who are just passing through. As citizens they participate in everything with others, yet they endure everything as if they were foreigners… They marry, like everyone else, and they have children, but they do not destroy their offspring. They share a common table, but not a common bed. They exist in the flesh, but they do not live by the flesh.”

This is a fine and biblical description of a Christian’s life in the two kingdoms.

Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). “Everything else” is the earthly kingdom and our life there. It is important, but not eternal. It has an ending- but the kingdom of God will endure when all earthly kingdoms fall. That is why it is so important to be first and foremost in the kingdom of God, in the kingdom of salvation and grace, in which we were received through baptism and remain in through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Let us thank God for both our earthly and heavenly citizenship and ask for grace to properly serve Him in both.

Oh lead me with simple and safe words

Every day into your kingdom

And teach me to remember, that this earth, is yours

And not only heaven.

Amen.
S. Bergman (1997)

“Lord, teach us to pray”

(Lk. 11:1)

Making the Sign of the Cross

During a church service, you might have seen your Pastor make the sign of the Cross at various times in the liturgy. He may begin the service with it, motion it over the people during the absolution and most likely will make the sign over the bread and wine during the consecration of the Sacrament of the Altar, amongst other times. However, a lot of people often don’t realise that this physical act is actually a very ancient and precious tradition in the Church.

One scholar notes: “Crossing oneself was practised by Christians from the earliest centuries and may go back to apostolic times. We know that it was already a common ceremony used daily in A.D. 200, for Tertullian writes: “In all undertakings – when we enter a place or leave it; before we dress; before we bathe; when we take our meals; when we light the lamps in the evening; before we retire at night; when we sit down to read; before each task — we trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads.” St. Augustine (A.D. 431) speaks of this custom many times in his sermons and letters.” (Paul Lang, Ceremony and Celebration)

Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) in his Catechetical Lectures wrote, “Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are travelling, and when we are at rest”

Why make a physical sign for a spiritual act?

A human being is more than just a spiritual person with an immortal soul. He or she also has a mind and body. The scriptures command us to worship God with the whole of ourselves- every part of us. Everything we are and all that we naturally are born with is to honour and worship God. Jesus, reinforcing the commandments of the Old Testament said “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

When we go to Church, we worship, pray and sing with our whole self, and that includes of course our bodies. The Bible is filled with examples of the use of the body in worship and prayer to God. (For interesting examples see Ex. 28:36-38; Ezek. 9:4; Rev. 7:3 etc)

Uniquely Christian.

The world over has many religions, all with their own practices. However, when we look at the practices of prayer, they have many common features. Within the various traditions, religious laws and prescriptions found the world over we notice that they all share the same physical gestures. Common to prayer in all religions are such things as kneeling, the folding or joining of hands, bowing, prostrating, bowing of the head and/or body, outstretching of arms or hands and so forth. But only the Christian religion has the Sign of the Cross. In ancient times, the Sign was used to identify and display the mark of being a Christian. It made a Christian stand out from the vast crowd of other religions.

Counter-cultural and bold.

During times when Christians were making the Sign of the Cross there was often great suffering of tribulation and persecution from the world towards them. The prevailing culture around them was hostile to God, His laws, His ways and even His grace and love. Christians suffered publicly, often ending in them being slain as martyrs for their faith. Yet their lives still boldly proclaimed their faith in God and the Gospel. Not only did they continue to spread God’s word amongst themselves and to the world, they were living epistles of that word in their actions (2 Cor. 3:2) through their sacraments and the ceremonies and customs that always pointed back to Christ (2 Thess. 2:15). During this time the Church not only grew and spread but did so rapidly. This growth occurred against the flow of the prevailing culture. It had no assistance from the state or from from ungodly human methods (Ps 20:7,8).

The early Christians were counter-cultural. They were bold. They were seen as radical. The Sign of the Cross was one of their marks.

A constant presence in the Church of God.

While the precise origins of the Sign of the Cross are unknown, they are certainly very early and we know of no time in which the custom was not practised. It is a constant presence in the Church throughout all history.

We know that the method in which the sign was made often changed in history, differing even in place to place, but it was always considered a matter of personal piety and not a “law” which one must follow to be saved. One is free to make the Sign of the Cross, or not.

The Reformers of the Church in the 16th Century were faced with many questions of Christian doctrine and practice. The earliest Reformers retained the practice of making the Sign of the Cross and it can still be seen in the Churches of their descendants. It is not uncommon to see this custom retained today in Lutheran, Anglican and some Methodist churches (the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches also retain this custom). It was rightly considered by the early Reformers a matter of personal piety for the laypeople and at the same time more strictly retained for use in the liturgy by the clergy. Some later Reformers from less conservative or from radical schools discarded the practice along with many other ancient customs.

Can we and how do we make the Sign of the Cross?

The prayer accompanying the outward sign is “In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen” The prevailing practice in the Western Church is to make the Sign of the Cross with the right hand, with the thumb, index and middle finger held together, touching the forehead at the naming of the Father, the chest at the Son, and crossing the hand from the left to right shoulders at the naming of the Holy Spirit. Many other variants are practised and a person is free to choose whatever style they wish. There are many ways with interesting meanings to hold the hand, and in the Eastern Churches (and some US Lutheran churches) they cross their shoulders from right to left. There is of course wisdom in following the custom of one’s congregation or family. Unity in the congregation or family is always a good thing.

Luther, giving advice and instruction to the Protestant Churches, certainly commended and expected that this practice should be a part of a Christian’s daily life. He regarded it as a reminder of one’s own Christian identity, a symbol of one’s passing from the old life to the new in baptism. Luther’s 1526 Order of Baptism called for the sign of the cross to be made over the candidate as a part of Baptism. “Receive the sign of the holy cross on both your forehead and your breast” (See Rom. 6:3) He also believed that it was a useful prayer of its own and spoke of it as commonplace.

Here’s some helpers for your own daily prayer practice. Luther taught that every morning and evening should be marked as follows:

Morning Prayer
“In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may also say this little prayer: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen. Then go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn, like that of the Ten Commandments, or whatever your devotion may suggest.”

Evening Prayer
“In the evening when you go to bed, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Then kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may also say this little prayer: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen. Then go to sleep at once and in good cheer.”
These prayers are found in Luther’s Small Catechism, which also has good instruction on prayer itself, The Lord’s Prayer in particular as well as advice for blessing and giving thanks during meals.

Is this ancient practice for you?

That’s up to you. But I’d ask my readers to consider this one fact- the culture of the world is once again turning into the world met by the early Christians. It is hostile to God and His people and being a traditional, faithful Christian is once again a radical counter-cultural way of life. With so many in the world and even in the Church adopting the ways of the world we need to make a stand against the trends to proclaim the truth of Christ more and more. Is it time for all traditional and faithful Christians to make the Sign of the Cross our distinctive practice again?

From Redemption magazine, official magazine of RCF,

By  Ps. T. Harris,  2016

“For the Word of God is the sanctuary above all sanctuaries, yea, the only one which we Christians know and have. For though we had the bones of all the saints or all holy and consecrated garments upon a heap, still that would help us nothing; for all that is a dead thing which can sanctify nobody.
But God’s Word is the treasure which sanctifies everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were sanctified. At whatever hour then, God’s Word is taught, preached, heard, read or meditated upon, there the person, day, and work are sanctified thereby, not because of the external work, but because of the Word which makes saints of us all. Therefore I constantly say that all our life and work must be ordered according to God’s Word, if it is to be God-pleasing or holy.”

Martin Luther, Large Catechism

 

First Sunday in Advent (Morning)

God, be gracious unto us, bless us, and make thy face to shine upon us. Amen.

Gospel Lesson, Matthew 21:1-9

And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying. Tell e the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting: upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest!

Jesus Christ is the king of the church. He governs it with meekness and justice, and defends it with divine omnipotence. Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who took our sin upon himself, who died for us on the cross, and bought us with his blood; he is our king. What a wealth of joy and comfort there is in this truth! In the heart of every Christian is the prayer: Lord Jesus, rule thou over us. Thou, and none other, shall own
my heart. Do thou protect us; thou alone art our sun and our shield, and we will have none other beside thee. Then the words which we hear today, “rejoice exceedingly, daughter of Zion; behold, thy King, the Lord Jesus, cometh unto thee,” nothing more glorious could be said to us on the first day of the church year; it is the best possible answer to the prayer of the Christian heart. He is the king of the church.

No enemy, then, however strong, shall prevail against it. No matter how threatening the outlook may seem, the church shall obtain the victory and be saved. With eternal fidelity he keeps watch over his bride, who has been bought with a price; and in his omnipotence he is able to defend her against the most terrific assaults on the part of all the hosts of hell. Beyond question the church will soon be called on to face great tribulation all manner of lying attacks by false spirits, and bitter persecution on the part of the world. Let all who belong to the army of the Lord put on the true armor of the Spirit ; but let none lose hope! Christ reigns in the very midst of his enemies, and his church is victorious even while the world rejoices over her destruction. He is the Lord of the church by reason of his rule in the hearts of his own; and they, only, whose hearts he governs are of his people. But he is, in very truth, the king of your heart, you poor
sinner, who believe in him and put your trust in him alone. Truly, he is the king of your heart; you are his, and he is yours ; do not let the devil persuade you to the contrary.

Have faith in the kingly name of Jesus, and trust in the power of his love. Give yourself wholly to him; you can do it by the grace which he bestows; and he will direct your mind and your conduct, protect you, and lead you in the path of righteousness. Serve him willingly, obey him always, praise his name, extend his kingdom. You are blessed, and shall be a blessing. All things in him, by him, and for him. In this church year you shall again, with all the saints, experience that he is the same faithful and mighty Savior that he always was. He shall keep you in the state of grace, strengthen your faith, increase your charity, purify your soul in tribulations, and give you victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil.

Beware of trusting in your own, or of doubting his strength. You are
baptized unto Christ, you hear his voice, you eat his body and blood, you live and breathe in his saving grace and love; he knows you, and he has you in his eye and in his hand day and night. He is meek, and bears with our infirmity; just, and does away with our sin.

Praise be to thee. Lord Jesus, who didst make us thy people Give us grace to believe in thee with our whole heart, to serve thee in all that we do, and thus to work with all our might for the extension of thy kingdom on earth. Let this year be a blessed one for us, and for all who are thine. This is our most earnest prayer; thou wilt hear it, and thus fulfill thy promises. Amen.

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud Amen.

By Niels Jakob Jensen Laache, Bishop of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway From 1884-1892

Taken from his book: Book of Family Prayer
(1902 edition translated by Peer Strømme)

Thoughts on loving your neighbour.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:37 40)

“When you open the door which you shut in order to pray to God, the first person you meet as you go out is your neighbour whom you shall love. Wonderful!” (Soren Kierkegaard)

“The commandment is that you shall love, but when you understand life and yourself, then it is as if you should not need to be commanded, because to love human beings is still the only thing worth living for; without this life you really do not live.” (Soren Kierkegaard)

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Let’s find ways to help and serve our neighbour.

First of all, God has commanded us in faith to love and help our neighbour-

Jesus said:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34

We should always remind ourselves that God doesn’t need our good works, our neighbour does.

Secondly, God has ordained that He would have us humans help our neighbour-

“Our works are God’s masks, behind which He remains hidden, although He does all things. If Gideon had not obeyed and gone to battle with Midian, the Midianites would never have been conquered, although God could, of course, have conquered them without Gideon. He could also give you corn and fruit without your ploughing and planting, but that is not His will; neither is it His will that your ploughing and planting should produce corn and fruit; but you must plough and plant and say a blessing on your work and pray: ‘Now help, O God; give us now corn and fruit, dear Lord; for ploughing and planting will not yield us anything. It is Thy gift.
God is the giver of all good gifts; but you must fall to, and take the bull by the horns, which means you must work to give God an occasion and a mask.” (from Martin Luther’s exposition of Psalm 147.)

He has created a world in which we are given the task of doing good.

When we serve another person, God is serving them, as if He was wearing a mask. This sounds like a challenging idea, so how can we explain it?

Swedish Theologian Gustav Wingren summarises this beautifully:

“In his vocation man does works which effect the well-being of others; for so God has made all offices. Through this work in man’s offices, God’s creative work goes forward, and that creative work is love, a profusion of good gifts. With persons as his “hands” or “coworkers,” God gives his gifts through the earthly vocations, toward man’s life on earth (food through farmers, fishermen and hunters; external peace through princes, judges, and orderly powers; knowledge and education through teachers and parents, etc., etc.). Through the preacher’s vocation, God gives the forgiveness of sins. Thus love comes from God, flowing down to human beings on earth through all vocations, through both spiritual and earthly governments.”

What does this mean? It means that when we pray “give us this day our daily bread”, God answers. He answers through the farmer, the delivery company, the market and the person behind the counter. It also means when others are not getting their daily bread, or justice, or care and
love, or whatever is truly beneficial for them, it is not God’s fault- it is ours. Human beings are naturally inclined to be selfish or unaware of their neighbour’s plight. For us, it is easier and more natural to be selfish than it is to be giving.

We need a correction of the heart in order to awaken our love of God and
neighbour.

This occurs when we come to faith in Christ and believe the good news that our sins are forgiven on the Cross. We are given a new life, which begins with turning away from our past sins and having trusting faith in Jesus, who sends us the Holy Spirit which changes our hearts.

So, how then can we help our neighbour?

Here’s some very easy steps.
Step 1- Repent of your wrongdoings and have faith in Jesus. God will begin to change your heart and assist you.
Step 2- Know that serving your neighbour is God’s work, not yours. Do your best and He does the rest.
Step 3- Expect no reward. Do it for the benefit of others, not your own.
Step 4- Find a way to serve in your daily life. God has put you wherever you are to be the best server of people in whatever station of life you find yourself in.
Step 5- Serve boldly.

+ Ps. T. Harris

Prayer:
“Bestow on me, Lord, a genial spirit and unwearied forbearance; a mild, loving, and patient heart; kindly looking, pleasant, and friendly speech and manners in daily life; that I may give offense to no one, but as much as in me lies, to live in charity with all people. AMEN.” Johann Arndt (1555-1621)