December 13, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Zechariah 13:1-6 (EHV) “CHRIST’S ADVENT: AN END TO FALSE TEACHING!”

 

MIDWEEK ADVENT 3

December 13, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Zechariah 13:1-6 (EHV)

 

“CHRIST’S ADVENT: AN END TO FALSE TEACHING!”

 

          We are in the time of the year that we are looking forward to and waiting for something big, Christmas! What is it you are most looking forward to? There can be many different answers. Some will say things that have to do with worship: the music, the message that we have a Savior and God keeps His promises, the children’s service, the star. Some will say the cookies and treats and food. Students will say a vacation from school…maybe a few others might say that too. Then there is seeing family and the giving and getting of gifts. None of those answers are wrong. There are many things that Christmas brings for us to look forward to. Christ’s Advent is the same way. You can look forward to Christ’s coming at the end of the world for a number of reasons. In our midweek Advent services Zechariah has been helping us as he revealed what he was looking for. We’ve already heard how he was looking forward to the Lord living with us. Last week we heard how he was looking forward to being part of a holy kingdom. We related to that. No more having to complain and chafe about what’s wrong with your country when you are part of a holy nation with the perfect Lord Jesus as your leader. But wait, there’s more that Zechariah was looking forward to and we can too.

 

Zechariah 13:1-6 (EHV) “On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. ² In that day, declares the Lord of Armies, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the impure spirit from the land. ³ If anyone still prophesies, his father and his mother who gave birth to him will tell him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord!” Then his father and his mother who gave birth to him will stab him when he prophesies. ⁴ In that day each of those prophets will be ashamed of his vision. When he prophesies, he will not put on a prophet’s garment made of hair in order to deceive. ⁵ Instead he will say, “I am not a prophet. I have been a tiller of the soil since my youth, when a man bought me.” ⁶ Someone will ask him, “What are these wounds on your body?” He will reply, “I received these wounds in the house of my friends.”

 

          What was Zechariah looking forward to? An end to false teaching. That’s what this prophecy is about, an end to idolatry and false teaching, they go hand in hand. Idolatry blatantly puts something in the place of God and false teaching does it secretly. “This is what God says,” the false teaching prophet said, but God did not say it. Every false prophet and false teacher is a false God putting themselves in the place of God. In Zechariah’s time the false prophets tried to discourage God’s people who had come back to Israel from continuing their faithful service to God. Following his time the false prophets perverted the Old Testament ceremonial worship that was to point to Christ and made it into the work righteous religions proclaimed by the chief priests and Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Zechariah looked forward to the time when Christ would come because the false teachers would be exposed for what they were so that their parents would turn on them. They would lie about themselves because they would be ashamed of their false teaching.

          To a certain extent that happened when Christ came the first time. How often don’t the Gospel writers record that the people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching because He taught as one with authority—not like the chief priests and teachers of the law? How often didn’t it happen that the Pharisees tried to trap or trick Jesus using Scripture and Jesus made them look like fools? For that time when Jesus walked the earth physically He dealt with false teaching.

          But He did not put an end to it. That waits until Christ’s second Advent. If you want, read the epistles in their historical order and see how quickly they switch from mainly teaching to correcting false teaching. Lovers of church history will have no shortage of false teaching fodder as you see the Nicene Creed developed to straighten out false teaching. Same with the Athanasian Creed. And the Lutheran Reformation would not have had to happen if the visible church kept its teachings straight. But it didn’t. False teaching was prevalent before, during, after and now. I’ve watched Joel Osteen to try to figure out what the draw is. He’s not the most charismatic speaker I’ve seen. But his lies in God’s name are shameful. I wonder how many people have been led to believe God does not love them because they are not getting their best life now. Jesus told us that our best life comes in heaven with Him and because of Him. Jesus told us that if we follow Him faithfully we can expect to take up crosses not get whatever we want. Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons are zealous to get their false messages with no Jesus as Savior into as many homes as they can, preying on lonely people and leading to spiritual depression when people realize they can’t keep all the rules. I’ve not seen it myself, but enough people have asked me that it must be out there. Some commercial tooting the so called Rapture and what to do if Jesus’ leaves you behind for a second chance. That’s false teaching. Scripture is clear that Jesus will return only once. That will be the end of the world. It will be followed by the public Judgement Day with no second chances and the only rapture Scripture speaks about is our great joy when all believers are caught up with the Lord in our eternal existence we call heaven which is why the Apostles’ Creed so clearly confesses, “…he ascended into heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.” Period. Stop. No rapture.

          Now all these false teachings are and can be confusing for many people but what really bothers me is the people cost. The worst is when people are led to believe that their relationship with God depends on their good works as though Jesus was not good enough. Some of the people caught in those false teaching churches still hold on to Jesus for mercy but live their lives in fear and with guilt instead of the peace and joy they could have if their false teaching pastors would give them the truth. False teaching harms so many personal relationships. It splits and divides families. Can plague marriages. And there is a reason people are warned against bringing up religion and politics at the family reunion or in a bar conversation. False teaching divides.

          But not when Christ comes again. He will put an end to false teaching and all the divisions that it causes. He will make His church whole again and there will be one flock and one shepherd. No wonder Zechariah looked forward to Christ’s coming. No wonder we do too. Come Lord Jesus. Amen!

 

December 2-4, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Isaiah 64:1-9 “WE ARE ALL GOD’S PEOPLE!”

 

ADVENT 1

December 2-4, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Isaiah 64:1-9

 

“WE ARE ALL GOD’S PEOPLE!”

1.     A waiting people.

2.     A messy people.

3.     A useful people.

 

Happy New Year! New Church year, that is. The regular calendar’s transition to a new year is often used to look back and look ahead and the word of God before us from Isaiah 64 helps us to do that spiritually as we begin the Church year with Advent. It proclaims the truth that whether we are talking about believers in the past or present we are all God’s people who have things in common.

First, we are a waiting people. The prophet Isaiah served God’s people around 700 years before Jesus was born. While the people Isaiah served were experiencing relative prosperity, the nation as a whole was in spiritual decline. Some good God fearing kings, more evil, idol worshippers. The believers were chafing because they could see and feel their nation turning away from God. They had seen their cousins in the northern nation of Israel conquered by the Assyrians. They had heard the announcement from Isaiah that their own turn was coming at the hands of the Babylonians. Isaiah expressed their angst well! “Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and come down. Mountains then would quake because of your presence. 2As fire ignites stubble and as fire makes water boil, make your name known to your adversaries. Then nations would quake in your presence. 3You did amazing things that we did not expect. You came down. Mountains quaked because of your presence. 4From ancient times no one has heard. No ear has understood. No eye has seen any god except you, who goes into action for the one who waits for him. 5You meet anyone who joyfully practices righteousness, who remembers you by walking in your ways! But you were angry because we sinned. We have remained in our sins for a long time. Can we still be saved?” Can we still be saved? God’s people were a waiting people. They were waiting for God to save them from their evil rulers. Save their nation from its own evil. Save them from their enemies.

We too are a waiting people. Can you relate to believers living in angst as they watch their nation go into spiritual decline? Can you relate to believers who are disgusted that their government leaders do not lead to God but reject and oppose God in so many ways? Can you relate to believers concerned about what this means for our nation’s future? You know you can. The church year season of Advent reminds us that we are waiting people. Waiting for Jesus to come the second time. But there are mini waitings happening all the time. Have you noticed that? You wait for Thanksgiving and its mini break only to so quickly be waiting for Christmas. Life seems to be one mini crisis after another. A sickness, a surgery, a family issue, a problem with the kids. We are waiting for them to be done. But what we are really waiting for is Jesus to come help us. Whether it is a health issue, financial issue, state of the nation issue or people issue. We are a waiting people who need Jesus to come and save us.

What we really need is Jesus to save us from ourselves because just like the rest of God’s people, we are a messy people. Isaiah admitted it for his time. “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth. All of us have withered like a leaf, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. 7There is no one who calls on your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you. So you hid your face from us. You made us melt by the power of our guilt.”  God has made it clear. Our sinful natures are not a minor boo boo that you can control with a band aid. Sinful ways of thinking and motivations drive people more than anyone wants to admit. There is a term for it. Total depravity. Think of what comes to mind if you describe a person as depraved. Total depravity. That is the effect of sin living inside a person even when we are talking about the people of God. So Isaiah owned up for himself and God’s people back then. They had followed the people of their nation in selfish living. They had neglected the priorities God set for them. Even their righteous acts were filthy, tainted by sinful pride and selfish motivations. They were a messy people.

And so are we. Just like the rest of God’s people we tend to follow the sins of our society just a few steps behind. The blatant 2^nd Commandment sin of misusing God’s name in the phrase “O my” God’s name comes off our lips and we may not even realize it. Affluence and wealth which God gives so we can be generous instead makes us cold to the needs of others. We waste our money through unchecked spending on wants, not needs, and blame God for not providing for us. I hate it when pagans are better at righteous living than the people of God. “Assume positive intent” is a phrase many businesses strive to incorporate into their workplace culture. Before getting upset at what someone did or said assume positive intent. You know what that is? The 8^th Commandment. Take their word and actions in the kindest possible way! Are we doing that? Or instead have we become experts in the law, at least applying it to others and assuming negative intent behind what they say and do? While many things have changed the big ones have not. We are all God’s people and we are a messy people because of our sin.

But that is no reason to despair or give up. The Savior Isaiah and his people were waiting for came. He lived the perfect life that messy people of God have not. He paid the sin debt owed by all people through His death on the cross. He cleaned us up so God does not cast His people away. He makes use of them. Isaiah knew that. “But now, Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. All of us are the work of your hand. 9Do not be angry, Lord, without limit. Do not remember our guilt forever. Please look closely. All of us are your people.” It was a beautiful picture for God’s people in Isaiah’s day. They were worried and concerned about the future for themselves, their children, their grandchildren. Because their fellow citizens had turned from God they would get caught up in the consequence of captivity. Lions and tigers and bears O my! No worries. God was like a potter and his people the clay. He would shape them and use them for glorious salvation purposes. Some of those people had names like Haddasah, Belteshazzar, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. You know them better as Esther, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshak and Abednego. Useful people that God used to advance His salvation plan.

Just like you, the people of God are useful too. God is the potter. You are the clay. Ponder this for a second. God has shaped you your whole life to be what He knows you should be to be useful in His kingdom. It began in your mother’s womb where you, the unborn child, were fearfully and wonderfully made with the physical framework He wanted you to have. I’ve always said I never asked to be a perfect heighted 5’7’’--neither abnormally tall or short. God made me that way. He made you your perfect height as well. He gave you your characteristics and abilities, those things you are drawn to and good at. You and I have gotten to honor God by taking those traits and characteristics and running with them. Honing them. Using them. Accepting opportunities when formally asked or when God just drops a person in your life to be a blessing to, God’s blessing to. Helping them in time of need. Being their connection to Jesus the only one who saves. Don’t let the Devil tell you otherwise or make you feel otherwise. We are a useful people in the hands of the Almighty God.

          So again I say, “Happy New Church Year!” As we once again follow the life of our Savior and learn to serve Him rejoice that you are a part of that select group who gets to be called the people of God! A waiting people, a messy people, but because we have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and a people useful to God. Amen.