How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? You walk as strangers in a strange land when you walk behind the Good Shepherd. No one wants to hear about the forgiveness of sins when one can eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow they shall die. No one wants to put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. A dying world hears James’ exhortation in the Epistle and brings forth filthiness and rampant wickedness against it.

Jesus is about to ascend to His Father and our Father, yet He says it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. It would be good to have both Jesus and His Helper by your side. Protection from the enemy at two for the price of one is a bargain. Jesus in front and the Helper riding in back means the enemy cannot reach you.

Where are you going? You can’t leave now, Lord. The enemy will certainly attack without you by my side! How can I sing the new song Your Word declares if You aren’t there to hold my hand and teach me how to sing this new song? You promise a Helper, but what help is He when You are not there?

Sorrow is supposed to fill your heart as Jesus prepares you, and His disciples, for His ascension. Sorrow is supposed to be cast away in His death and resurrection. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life is yours! Yet you pine for Jesus to linger a bit longer, at least until there is no sign of the devil. Yes, Satan is conquered. Yes, no one can take your joy from you. However, some physical, tangible evidence of this Truth from time to time would do you good.

The evidence is in the Word Jesus speaks on the night when He was betrayed. The Comforter is coming to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. A conviction of the world does not sound like a good reason to sing to the Lord a new song. To convict someone of something is to pronounce a declaration that is proved true with evidence. The conviction is three-fold, concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The world is guilty on all three charges. No one wants to hear about habitually transgressing God’s standard of holiness. No one wants to hear they are not born perfect and holy. You don’t want to hear the proclamation of sin either. The call to repentance remains. Some hear this call and are contrite. Others hear this call and mock it as hypocritical piety from a God who is all about “love” and nothing about “contrition.”

No one wants to hear about the righteousness that comes from above in Jesus Christ. The world already considers itself righteous because of its mere existence. You join in this self-righteousness. When you continue to walk as if you are sinless and righteous on your own merits, the conviction of standing against Christ falls on you.

No one wants to hear about judgment unless the judgment is against the enemy and for themselves. God is a convenient enemy because He allows bad things to happen. He won’t justify what common sense thinks is correct. God is bent and shaped in every direction to cover a multitude of unrepentant sins. Consider how these words of Jesus can be twisted around to make you look like God and God look like your servant: He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. Idolatry becomes reality with a switch of the subject and the object.

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? How shall you bear the Lord’s burden of being faithful to His promise of conviction when you are the one convicted every day for being His precious child? You bear this burden believing that Jesus first bore it for you. Jesus was convicted of sin because the leaders of the Jews did not believe in Him. The carpenter’s son from Nazareth was a blasphemer and a threat to their way of life. They cast Him away on a cross and stuck Him in a tomb believing their righteousness prevailed over His blasphemy and over what they saw as His demonic power to perform miracles. They judged Him guilty, though He was innocent. They released a murderer to crucify the King of the Jews.

It is this false conviction of Christ that delivers you comfort. All of this horrible suffering was in your place in order to let you go free. Christ dies for your sin. Christ’s righteousness covers you. Christ’s judgment is for you to live with Him for all eternity. The Holy Spirit comes after Christ’s ascension to proclaim this Truth to the world that put Christ to death only to see Him rise from the dead. When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, this three-fold conviction will be pronounced once again. In that day you will rejoice and the world will groan with sorrow. That is why Jesus says, He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.

Today the Spirit working in the Word of Christ declares to you that you have been judged worthy of everlasting life. You are washed and sanctified in baptismal waters. You are fed with the life-giving eternal Word that proclaims Jesus Christ as triumphant victor over sin and death. You are not guilty before God’s tribunal because Jesus was judged guilty in your place. You are free. The world and those who despise the Lord Christ will be destroyed. You will be spared all this torment. Behold, God is my salvation, says Isaiah, I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise. The Holy Spirit puts the Word in your mouth to declare His praise. The Word of Christ dwells in you richly when you hear Him, eat Him, drink Him, sing His praises, and rest in His abiding love for you. Though you are a sinner, your sin is forgiven in His blood and righteousness. You can’t help but sing a new song to the Lord, for He has revealed His righteousness to you in the sight of the nations. All the ends of the earth will gnash their teeth, but you keep singing because Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? Ask Him to teach you in His Word. Watch what happens next when you do, for your lips will declare where true joys are found. Believe it for Jesus’ sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

            The time of the Church, the time of Her growth, is described by our blessed Lord as “a little while.” What does He mean by “a little while”? We do not know what He is talking about. First, Jesus is talking about the time following His ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit until He returns to judge the living and dead. Believe it when Jesus says, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. We know from history that eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred, killed in the line of duty. They died horrible deaths because they preached the innocent suffering and death of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

Martyrdom still happens today, although not so much in our country. When we pray for persecuted Christians, we might think of those in far-off lands whose names we can barely pronounce. “They” are suffering for the faith. “They” have it so bad “over there.” “They” also happen to be our brethren in Christ. When they suffer, so do we. It’s difficult to comprehend this when we are wading in prosperity, peace, and pride. Saint Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. “They” are “us.” What is theirs is ours and what is ours is theirs. When they are hurt or killed, we suffer and die with them, even when we don’t “feel it” in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Nevertheless, we do feel their suffering. The devil and the world continue to pinch the Church in our country. Perhaps the “good old days” of church going in our country is like a passing rain shower that falls here, then there. The shower seems to be moving below the Equator and eastward toward sub-Saharan Africa. We have allowed the Church to be a commodity rather than a hospice and banquet hall for dying sinners receiving life from their Father in heaven.

The Church is not a commodity that is bought, sold, or traded. The Church is the Body of Christ in constant birth pangs. She is sorrowful because the hour has come for her to suffer. The devil, the world, even our sinful nature, must pinch, poke, prod, and push up against her. We do feel the suffering of the Church. We are given manifold opportunities to compromise the exclusivity of the Triune God. Exclusivity is a bad word in a world that is dying. The hour has come to confess the faith passed down from Christ through His apostles and then through preachers and teachers of the Word. When that time of confession comes, the pinch is on. Say and do the right thing according to so-called wisdom, well and good. Say what doesn’t jibe with worldly wisdom, and wait for the labor pain of bearing the burden of Christ to fall on you.

In the midst of the world’s rejoicing over what seems to be its final victory over the Good News of Jesus Christ comes the word of the True Victor over the world. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy…. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me.

The coming of the Lord on Judgment Day brings abundant joy to those in Christ Jesus. All the sorrow, all the pelting rain of persecution and cruelty that is thrown on Christ’s beloved sheep, is turned into joy. Those who mocked the Way of the Lord have a place waiting for them in the burning lake of fire, where torment and agony know no end. Those who remain steadfast in the Word that can never die will be raised from the dead, changed into a perfect person, body and soul, and will live forever before the face of our heavenly Father. His only-begotten Son will be with us, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Judgment Day for a Christian is like a movie with an amazing, unbelievable plot twist. You might have a notion something is up for a character in the movie, but it hits you blindsided when it happens. It might leave you dumbfounded, maybe even in shock. You can’t move. You can’t speak. You can’t even think. BAM! WOW! That is a stunning development.

The second coming of Christ is a stunning development for those who scorn the Son of God. They will realize how foolish it was for them to live outside of the sheepfold. When He returns, it will be too late for them. Take care, then, that you do not find yourself outside the sheepfold and that day comes upon you unaware.

Watch! Repent! Believe that Jesus takes away your sin. Cling to His Word of reconciliation. Let Him pluck you from the jaws of death and place you into His green pastures. Washed clean in His blood and righteousness, no one can take your joy from you. Not Satan. Not the world. Not your own flesh. No one can take your joy from you.

Consider Saint Peter’s words in the Epistle. This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. You have to go through a lot of stuff in this life. Not all of it is good. Most of it stinks. Peter calls enduring sorrows a gracious thing when you are mindful of God. Remember who you are. You are His precious possession, bought with His blood. The mess that is life in this dying world has an end. You will die. Your body will be sown. When Jesus returns, you will be raised. You will live. You will see clearly the goodness of the Lord that you can only see in a mirror, dimly. You will ask nothing of the Lord in that day, for all will be clear at that time. Every question will be answered. Finally, for once and for all, everything will make sense. What seems silly, the fact that you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy, sustains you in Jesus Christ until the day that you see it for yourself. Then the fullness of His grace that is seen in sermon, song, and Sacrament will be all you know, all you desire, and all in all.

Endure the little while. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. Believe it for Jesus’ sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

            Jesus gives His beloved many wonderful names. He calls us disciples, friends, brothers, branches, and many other names. These names say two things. First, they say how to become a Christian. We have not accepted the faith from our teacher. He has called us to His school. We did not choose Him as our friend. He has chosen us as friend. We have not called Him brother. He has become our brother in order that we might be His brothers. We have not grafted Him into the vine. He has grafted us into the Vine of Righteousness. Second, we can also see from these names the blessed state of being a Christian.

There is one name not yet mentioned that is perhaps the best-loved name that Jesus gives His beloved. That name is sheep. We are sheep of the Lord Jesus. Sheep do not choose their shepherd. The Shepherd chooses His sheep. What blessed comfort we have in believing Jesus has chosen us to be His own! What do we learn from the fact that the Lord calls Christians His sheep?

We first learn that He alone has made us His sheep. Psalm 100 says; know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. No one whom God created can call himself a sheep of God. God must make one of His own His sheep.

Earlier in John chapter ten Jesus says, The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Sheep normally follow the voice of the shepherd, but as Isaiah prophesied, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way. Sheep who listen to the voice of a different shepherd, the voice of a hireling or even the voice of a wolf, cannot turn themselves back to the voice of the Good Shepherd. He must seek them out and bring them back.

Only Jesus, the Good Shepherd, seeks and returns stray sheep to the fold. He does this by laying down His life on behalf of the sheep. Hirelings would never go the extra mile for sheep. Jesus says, he who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Notice that the Good Shepherd does not scatter the sheep. Those who set themselves against the Good Shepherd scatter the sheep.

Believing Jesus’ words here should put to rest who is to blame for strife among Christians, especially strife between a pastor and a congregation. The wolf is to blame. Satan is to blame. Satan prowls among the flock seeking those whom he might devour.

Many of you have lived through strife in this congregation or in another congregation. You’ve seen the wounds Satan inflicts through sinful people who think they have the best of intentions, but actually sow seeds of discontent among God’s elect. No one pastor alone, no one shepherd of the Good Shepherd’s flock, has the magic remedy to bring back the good old days. Only the Means of Grace administered by the steward of the mysteries of God work healing among the flock. It may take a few months or it might take decades, but the Good Shepherd is determined to have one flock and one shepherd. Only Jesus calls us and brings us from deception through His voice, the Word of His Gospel. As Saint Peter confessed in John chapter six, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.

We also learn that there is something marvelous to be among His sheep. We are known by the Shepherd. He even calls us by our names. There’s something quite special about having your name spoken by someone whom you think doesn’t know your name. You are surprised in a good way. Wow! He knows my name. What else might he know about me? Jesus knows everything about you. Chiefly He knows you are His precious lamb. He says to you, I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. His is not a passing acquaintance. His knowledge of you took Him to the cross, where He bled and died for your sin and rose again for your justification. That’s how intimately Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows you.

Jesus also feeds you. Consider what is perhaps the best loved and most well-known of all the Psalms. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want…. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.… You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Shepherds do whatever it takes to make sure their flock is well tended. Think about that last phrase I just quoted from Psalm 23. What shepherd would think of preparing a banquet table while your enemies gaze upon you? Only the Good Shepherd does this for you. He gives you His Word. He cleanses you from all sin in Baptism. He feeds you with forgiveness of sins and life in the Supper. That’s how much the Good Shepherd cares for you.

He protects His sheep not just from enemies, but also from the fear of our enemies. What a marvelous word picture that phrase paints. Jesus defends us from the fear of our enemies in order that we might live in peace and quietness, grazing in the meadow of His Word. Jesus defends us from the fear of our enemies by facing that fear head on in His glorious Passion on our behalf. You have nothing to fear when you are Christ’s lamb. He has destroyed death and put to flight every evil plan and purpose of Satan.

He also guides His sheep through this world into the pasture of eternal life. Psalm 23 says, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me…. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. He guides you to His house to hear the Word and receive this Word in sermon, song, and sacrament. He guides you into the world to love and serve your neighbor, giving witness to your trust in Almighty God. He will guide you through this life into life everlasting. Death is only falling asleep. When next you open your eyes, you will see Jesus face-to-face. You will be a new creation living forever in the presence of the heavenly Father.

No wonder so many Christians through the years have found so much comfort in being His little lambs, totally dependent upon the Shepherd for all their needs. The most important thing you depend upon the Good Shepherd to provide is righteousness. He bestows His righteousness to you through shepherds sent to tell you that you are people of His pasture and sheep of His hand. From His hand, you receive every blessing from the Chief Shepherd, who knows you and protects you in this life and unto life everlasting.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

It was to Saint Peter in the first place that he said: “Feed my sheep.” But it is he alone, the Lord who directs all the shepherds in the discharge of their office; all who come to the rock he feeds in rich and well-watered pastures. The good shepherd in his goodness laid down his life for his sheep; so too his countless sheep are strengthened and nourished by love, and do not hesitate in their turn to die for the sake of their shepherd.

He it is whose sufferings are shared by the martyrs with their glorious courage and by all those who believe and are born again at the moment of their regeneration.

This is why we duly celebrate the Lord’s Pasch with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The leaven of our old malice is thrown away, and a new creature drinks deep and feeds upon the Lord himself.

For our participation in the body and blood of Christ has this effect: it makes us become what we receive; it enables us, with our whole being, in our spirit and our flesh, to bear him in whom and with whom we have died and been buried and risen again.

- Sermon 12 on the Passion. Taken from “From the Fathers to the Churches“