| November 5, 1999 | The Joy of the Saints | Isaiah 26:1-21
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We begin by quoting one of our Lutheran Confessions, the Apology to the Augsburg Confession:
But the conscience cannot find peace before God except by faith alone, by which it is sure that God is reconciled to us for Christ's sake, according to the saying (Rom 5:1), "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God."...This offers the greatest consolation to faithful consciences and illumines the glory of Christ, who was surely given to us that through him we might have grace, righteousness, and peace.
Our faith is firmly based in this gift we have received. The fact that it is a free gift and that it gives us eternal grace, righteousness, and peace is a reason for great joy. Since we have such a blessing, we ought to be singing for joy.
The Scripture lesson opens with a song of joy which praises God for what He has done. We are to have just such joy in our hearts. Often, we see other things. Some people are reluctant to praise God. We see people distracted and uninterested. Others might be unhappy if a divine service runs longer than they expected.
Still others chose not to join us. Rather, they are at home sleeping, or off working, or involved in some type of recreation. The excuse of work is the hardest to understand. Who would rather go off and work than come and be blessed by our Lord? There are certainly those occupations which give essential care and services that must continue on a Sunday morning. I imagine that considerations of money are also influencing those who work on Sundays. Then there are the demands of operating a business which lead some to feel they must be gone on Sunday mornings.
Our children often are less than excited about coming to church. Certainly, this reflects, in part, the attitude of the parents. See, if the parents were going some place they really considered special, then the children would want to go along. The children would consider it a priviledge to go with their parents. Instead, the situation we have today is more often that some parents must force their children to go to church.
I heard of some parents going on a Carribean cruise this month and they were not taking their children along. Can't you imagine the children begging to be taken. Part of the reason the children were interested would be because the parents considered the activity so special.
Where did our joy go? When did we loose our excitement? What led us to have such an attitude toward divine services and hearing from God's Word?
When the Reformation was first breaking out, the people were very excited about coming to Divine Services. In the times preceeding this, the services were conducted entirely in Latin and all the speaking was done by the priest. Martin Luther restored the Divine Service to be in the people's native language. For the Germans, it would now be in German. He also added congregational singing with many fine hymns written by Luther. The people were excited to come to church and they came in great numbers and they came to hear the Law and the Gospel. They came to hear how they were sinful and how Christ died to pay for their sins.
You know, they came into a church building without pews. Yes, the people stood for the entire service. They did it because they were so excited and grateful to hear the Word of God, to have their sins forgiven and to be blessed by the Lord's Supper. They were willing to stand for the entire service. Now, you may think that the service was not as long as we have today. Rather, it was much longer, typically more than three hours. The sermon was no less than an hour. The people even would insist that the preacher preach this long, for they wished to hear more of God's Word. Where did our joy over God's Word go? What happened to the excitement of being in His presence?
Our joy has been lost, partly to the corruption of worldy things. We simply hold other things is greater value than the pure Word from our Lord. The appeal of worldly wealth and pleasures has grabbed our attention.
Our joy has also been lost as a result of the corruptions of the pure truths that are the foundation of our faith. We have lost the joy because we do not see how precious and valuable is the gift our Lord gives. The corrupting influence comes in many forms, always as wolves dressed in sheep's clothing.
For instance, the local Christian radio station has much programming which proclaims the importance of our decision to believe in Jesus. Holding up this decision as the important link is a corruption of the pure truth. Our decision is not important, but, rather, Christ is important. We cannot even decide to believe in Christ, for without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are dead in trespasses and sins. This emphasis on my decision to believe takes the focus off of Jesus and puts it on me.
This type of corruption also comes through the proclamation of self-experience. Testimony of individuals having certain experiences becomes the focus of our Christian message, rather than the fact that Christ had His experience upon the cross. We are corrupted into thinking that what we do is important in our salvation.
All of this tends to rob us of the joy in the gift that comes from Christ and put us on to thinking of ourselves. See, if I am the important link in my salvation, then what Christ did for me becomes lessened in importance. Our sinful nature tends to push Christ further and further down in importance until we are simply worshiping ourselves.
Then we can hold ourselves up and say boast "I am a believer because I do such and such." We can deceive ourselves with thinking that we are doing a good job. It is an easy step from there to: "I don't need to hear the Word of God." "I don't need to pay attention during divine services." "I don't need God to help me." There our joy is completely lost.
Let us then return to joy as we are guided by God's Word. In our text from Isaiah we have a glimpse at the celebration of the saints. Who are the saints? They are all who trust in Christ alone for their salvation. What are the saints celebrating? Why are they joyful? Isaiah says that they sing: "We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts." They sing of their joy that God is the one saving them. They sing how God makes for them a city. He gives them a refuge, a mighty fortress, if you will, which has walls and ramparts, which are special walls to protect against attack. The walls and ramparts are formed out of salvation. This refers to the salvation that God gives us as free gift. It is a salvation which protects us from harm and the danger of eternal punishment. This is about what the saints are singing joyfully.
They sing joyfully about the entrance to this city which is freely offered to those who trust in Christ, those who keep the faith. The gates open and these ones whom God has chosen enter freely. Notice how they are called a "righteous nation" for they have been given the free gift of the righteousness of God.
The saints are also joyous because of the blessings promised. Now, today's Gospel reading is full of the blessings God gives to His saints. In Isaiah, there is a focus on peace. The Lord will deliver peace, as it says: "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." The saints rejoice because they trust in God to deliver on His promises and He promises here, not just peace, but perfect peace.
We, who are the saints of our Lord Jesus hold on to our trust in Him. We trust Him to bring us through all troubles and into the blessing of our eternal home in heaven. We trust Him because He is the "Rock eternal," a solid base, unyielding, unchanging, sturdy, always there for us.
God's Word in Isaiah is there to lead us to take joy in the one responsible for all our blessings. Thus the text says: "LORD, you establish peace for us." The credit is given to God alone. It goes on to give that wonderful truth: "All that we have accomplished you have done for us." That bears repeating: "All that we have accomplished you have done for us." This takes the credit away from ourselves and places it on our Lord.
So, look at your life. Take all the things which you believe you have accomplished, and throw them out. Throw out that idea that you accomplished them. Instead, where you think you deserve credit, give it to the Lord. "Lord, you have done these for us." He gets the credit.
This needs to be emphasized with regard to our salvation. Throw out the idea that you had or have anything to do with it. Rather, it is Christ's work alone. His work was to die for us on the cross. No, we did not accomplish that, but rather Christ did. It all depends upon that one accomplishment done for our benefit. This work of Christ leads us to have joy. This work brings us peace too. Peace with God, before His judgment throne. We have peace into eternity. It is established by God to last forever.
As saints we are on a pilgrimage to our heavenly home. We journey through this life always looking to what is to come and living with joy because of what is to come.
James Michner wrote about a famous pilgrimage that Christians used to make in his book Iberia. They would travel 900 miles from Notre Dame in Paris through France to a cathedral in Spain. Kings and Queens would take the journey, but ordinary people would also. Even criminals were sentenced to take the pilgrimage as an act of penitence. There would often be quite a mixed group taking this journey which was a dangerous one. The shared goal was to arrive at the great cathedral where a liturgical festival would be held. Along the way they talked excitedly about where they were going and anticipated the great feast and worship in the beautiful cathedral. Every day they would gaze with longing over the horizon to see if they might be able to make out the great towers of the cathedral. Finally, one of the travelers with better eyesight would make it out and he would give the customary cry, "My joy! My joy!"
Let us journey in this life also with such joy. Let us look forward to reaching the conclusion. However, we focus on the present reality of our Lord speaking to us here in Divine Service and through His Word. He tells us of our joy because of the peace that is ours. He tells us of how He has done all that was necessary to prepare for our entrance through the gates into the city build out of salvation. He tells us how we can trust in our Lord forever. We can trust the one who shed His blood for us. We trust the Rock eternal, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.