Text: Daniel 7:9-14

Title: The Son of Man Reigns Forever.

With all the problems our nation faces today – a growing economic crisis which has left many people out of work and caused many companies to go out of business, increased threat from terrorism, public policies that are destroying our nation’s moral center and, most importantly, our culture’s open hostility to the Gospel of our Lord – many people have come to think that our nation will not survive much longer the way it is.

Alexander Solzhenitzyn, the famous Russian author and staunch critic of Communism’s oppressive policies, once spoke at a prestigious American university that he planned to return to Russia soon. According to Solzhenitzyn, he had escaped Russia before the collapse of Communism, but now he desired to escape the U.S. before its immanent moral collapse.

Many of you might remember the days when we were taught to love this country. You might also remember we were taught good morals as well. And don’t get me wrong, I am most certainly thankful for those who have fought to preserve this land for us. I have done so myself. However, in recent years, I have become something of a cynic: I simply do not believe our nation will survive indefinitely. We have become too much like the late Roman Empire. After it had degenerated into wanton debauchery and narcissism, it collapsed and fell; and the same thing is going to happen to our nation as well.

The Prophet Daniel lived at a time when such great empires rose and fell. His own nation, Israel, had been conquered by the Babylonian Empire as punishment from God for their sins, and Daniel and his companions were taken as slaves. During his lifetime, Babylon was in turn conquered by Persia. And in the near future, Persia would be conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great. And in its time, the Greeks would be conquered by Rome. Daniel foresaw all of this, by the way; earlier in the chapter, he spoke of these great beasts that would rise and fall, each of them representing a great empire of the ancient world. But in the end, as he says in our reading, “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time” (v. 12).

All of these human kingdoms would be stripped of their power and authority. Such is the story of history: nations rise and fall; kingdoms conquer other kingdoms, and are themselves conquered. No human authority will last forever.

We might like to think we’re better than those ancient empires. We have democracy. Do you know what democracy is? It’s basically a kingdom with half a billion kings, each of them just as susceptible to corruption and evil as any monarch. What about our technology? Will that save us? No. It will just speed the process up, like pressing the accelerator on a car headed for a cliff. We stand poised on the edge, and sooner or later, our nation will fall into the abyss.

But in the midst of the rise and fall of all these mighty nations, Daniel sees the throne of the Ancient of Days, the eternal God, who was, is, and is to be: “As I looked thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat” (v. 9). He who had no beginning and will have no end is still seated on His throne. Human nations may rise and fall, but His kingdom is everlasting, His reign eternal.

“His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool” (v. 9). The Lord Almighty is dressed in robes of the purest white, representing His perfect divine goodness and righteousness. No human king, no president, no chief justice is nearly as qualified as He to judge all mankind. Indeed He Himself is the standard by which all are to be judged. Some think to themselves, “I’m no Adolph Hitler or Charles Manson, so I’m good enough. Never mind that I cheat on my taxes and my wife. At least I’m not a rapist or murderer.” Do not fool yourself, O man! The God who judges you demands absolute perfection; before Him, there is no “good enough.”

But as Daniel watched as the books were opened, and the sins of all were laid bare for all to see, there came another figure: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him” (v. 13).

But what is this Son of Man? In Scripture, the term “son of man” usually indicated our limited, weak, mortal human nature. God used this term with Ezekiel to highlight the prophet’s mortality and the suffering he would endure in his service to God’s people. This name was also Jesus’ favorite appellation for Himself, using it to emphasize His own human nature, His own mortality, His own weakness and suffering.

And Jesus quoted this very same passage before the Sanhedrin, as they judged Him guilty of blasphemy. In doing so, He was warning them that, although they would condemn Him at that time, in a cosmic turn of events, in the end it would be He who passed judgment on them.

This Son of Man was condemned by the Sanhedrin and sentenced to death. At Calvary, He was presented before His Father in heaven, and found guilty. Was it for crimes He committed that He was condemned? No, it was for crimes that you and I had committed that He was sentenced to suffer and die. On that cross, the Son of Man was judged guilty, in order that, on the Last Day, you and I might be found innocent, not guilty of all charges.

As St. Paul writes in Philippians, “Although He existed in the form of God, He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant. And being found in the likeness of mortal man, He became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” The Son of Man took upon Himself our weak, mortal nature; He bore our guilt. “Therefore God raised Him from the dead and gave Him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.”

“And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom” (v. 14). To this crucified and risen Son of Man, all power and authority have been given, and a kingdom that shall have no end. “His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

And we, who have been baptized into His name, are His kingdom, “That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (v. 14). Through His cross, He has made us a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. We are a kingdom that is not restricted by human politics, that knows no geographical boundaries, that is not limited by ethnicity or language, but transcends all of them. We are an eternal kingdom under our eternal King.

Human nations will rise and fall; all earthly governments will ultimately fail, even our own beloved United States. But you and I are subjects of an eternal kingdom, one that will last forever.

Today, let us give thanks to our Eternal King, our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns forever.

• I tend to like action, RPG, and First Person Shooter games, but I really like anything fun to play.
• I'd like backwards compatibility, in case I find some older games on sale that I'd like to play.
• Internet gameplay is non-essential.  It'd be nice, but I'd rather not have to pay any subscription fees.
• I'm probably not going to have a lot of money for games.  So anyway I can get inexpensive but fun to play games would be great.

• The PlayStation 3 has very limited backwards compatibility.  I guess to free up resources, Sony opted not to make the newer consoles backwards compatible.  Which is a shame, since some of the games I really would like to play - the Final Fantasy series comes to mind - are only available on older PS1 and PS2 consoles.  This eliminates PS3's main selling point to me.  Really, the only unique thing PS3 has to offer is BlueRay, and I really don't care about that.
• The XBox 360 looks pretty solid.  The only thing I don't like is that the online feature requires subscription.  If I got an XBox, I'd probably opt not to do online gaming with it.
• The Wii looks like it would be a lot of fun.  It's backwards compatible with GameCube games and controllers, and would give me access to a good number of old school Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games.  The only drawback is that the Wii doesn't have quite the power the other two consoles have.

Text: Genesis 2:18-25

Title: The Two Shall Be One Flesh

In the very beginning of time, the Lord created man and woman. The fact that the first man was alone is the only thing in the created order that God said was not good. So He took upon Himself to provide Adam a suitable mate. He then joined Man and Woman together as one flesh, husband and wife, thus gifting mankind with the institution of Marriage.

And the Man and the Woman were naked and not ashamed. In a world without sin, there is no need to hide, no guilt to be covered. What’s more, human sexuality, without the defilement of sin, was good and righteous.

But in the very next chapter, sin enters into the equation. And as with every other perfect gift that God has given to mankind, we have taken what He made to be pure and holy and have perverted it into all manner of abominations. Take for example, homosexuality: although our culture would declare that this is a “civil right”, it was never God’s intention that man be with another man, or woman to be with another woman. Romans 1:18ff makes it clear that homosexuality exists because man turned his back on God, and so God turned his back on man, thus giving him over to his lusts.

And what about polygamy? It is true that many of the biblical patriarchs – Abraham, Jacob, David – had multiple wives, but God never told them to. He never said that it was okay for them to have more than one wife. In fact, if you pay attention, in most of those cases, having multiple wives usually caused them a lot of trouble.

And adultery? Why is it that we human beings are not satisfied with the one spouse our Lord gives to us, so that we feel inclined to seek sexual pleasure elsewhere? But God’s commands are clear: men are not meant to have multiple women, and women are not meant to have multiple men.

And coupled with that, premarital sex. It has become so widely accepted these days, even expected, that even well-meaning but misinformed Christians see nothing wrong with it. Nevertheless, God’s Word is clear: if you do not bind yourself to someone else, you have no business becoming one flesh with them.

And then there’s the biggie: divorce. Jesus talks about it in our Gospel reading for today (Mark 10:3-16). Granted, sometimes relationships become so broken they cannot be healed. Nevertheless, far too often, divorce is upheld as an option when it never should be; it used to be a last resort, but these days, it’s often the first option. And according to Jesus’ own words, the only reason divorce exists at all is because we human beings are hard-headed, hard-hearted, selfish, foolish, and wicked.

And while we’re at it, let’s bring in lust. Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount, if you even look at another person with lust in your heart, you have broken the Sixth Commandment.

So, as we can see, we human beings have made a complete mess of this good and gracious gift from our God. We have taken this sacred union between man and woman and have turned it into all manner of horrible abominations.

And how are we to restore it? Not through legislation. Don’t get me wrong, I support pro-marriage legislation. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about politics, it’s that as soon as the winds of public opinion change, so do the laws. And in the end, people are just going to do what they want to, regardless of what the law allows.

The only way marriage as God intended it can be restored is to somehow correct the fallen human nature. As St. Paul tells us in Ephesians:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

It is through another marriage that our Lord restores to us the holiness of that first marriage. As a bridegroom leaving his chamber to seek his beloved bride, our Lord Jesus Christ left His heavenly throne to come seek us. As a man who gives up all of his riches and possessions to be with the woman he loves, so our Lord Jesus gave up everything in order that He might have us as His own. And as a husband sacrifices his own life to protect his wife from danger, so our Lord Jesus Christ has sacrificed Himself in order that He might save us.

And through the waters of Holy Baptism, He has washed us clean, so that He might present us to Himself holy and blameless, without spot or blemish. And through the Sacrament of Holy Communion, He continues to nourish us with His own flesh and blood, just as a husband provides nourishment for his family.

So when you find yourself distressed by the widespread immorality of the world in which we live, remember: you are Christ’s. When you find yourself tempted to lust or to immoral deeds, remember: you are Christ’s. When you find yourself oppressed by the guilt of past improprieties, remember: you are Christ’s. Do not let your old sinful self tear you asunder from Him. He left His heavenly chambers to seek you, the one He loves. He gave up everything so that you might be His own. He sacrificed His own life in order to save you. And in the waters of Baptism, He has washed you clean, spotless and blameless. He has joined you to Himself, and made you His very own.

Two years ago, when the Michael Bay Transformers movie came out, I wasn’t terribly excited about it. After all, it had been years since I had been into the Transformers cartoon show, and frankly, when they make live action versions of cartoons, they tend to suck really badly.

But I was pleasantly surprised by it. The plot was interesting – it held my attention – and the characters mostly likable. Sam’s interaction with his family could be annoying at times, but I always took that as up-playing the mundane world in which Sam lived to contrast it with the fantastic adventure he was about to embark upon.

All in all, Transformers was a good movie.

But Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen sucked.

This movie was terrible! In fact, it took the flaws of the first one and magnified them to the nth degree, and the result is this unwatchable piece of garbage!

By now, I think many of you have seen it. And if you haven’t, I would say, don’t bother. But if you haven’t and you don’t want it spoiled for you (as if this horrid piece of junk could actually be “spoiled”), don’t read any further.

Here is my Top 10 Reasons Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen sucks:

10. Optimus Prime died for your sins. This plot element has been done before in the Transformers franchise history. Remember the 1986 animated Transformers: The Movie? In fact, among Transformer fans, it is considered one of the most moving scenes of the series: Optimus Prime suffers fatal wounds while battling Megatron, and must pass the Matrix on to the next Autobot leader. Of course, we do have to ask the question: exactly how fatal can those wounds be, when later, Ultra Magnus is blasted to pieces and then conveniently reconstructed, as good as new? Prime doesn’t even have as much apparent damage. Did Megatron wound him in spirit? But later in the cartoon series, Optimus is brought back to save the Autobots and Decepticons both from a virus that infects all technological life forms. Death and Resurrection: ergo Optimus Prime died for your sins (and yes, I borrowed this from the Nostalgia Critic). Anyway, here it is again: Optimus Prime dies early in the movie in order to establish the plot: the heroes must find the Matrix in order to restore Prime so he can protect them from the Fallen, while the Decepticons must find the same Matrix to activate their sun-destroying Energon machine. So once again, Optimus Prime dies for your sins, and rises again from the dead. And get this: so does Sam Whitwicky. This probably isn’t surprising, since Prime and Sam do seem somewhat connected by destiny. Just as in the first movie Prime must make sacrifices, so Sam must make the same sacrifices to save his friends. So if Prime makes the ultimate sacrifice, Sam must also make the ultimate sacrifice. Also, I didn’t know that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were robots. Go figure.

9. Horrible battle visuals. First of all, it seems that all the robots except maybe one or two look exactly alike; they’re all pretty much the same color scheme and very similar design. You can’t really tell who’s who in the battle scenes. And it doesn’t help that the camera work is so shaky. I’m sure that Bay was trying to simulate what it would be like for a human to observe such a battle, but rather than heightening the emotional impact, it just becomes annoying and confusing, and gets in the way of the storytelling. Seriously, if I can’t tell who’s fighting who, who’s being killed, and such, I find it very hard to care about what’s going on, even if the fate of my planet hangs in the balance. Bottom line: shoot your scenes in such a way that we the viewers can tell what’s happening; that way, we might actually feel the suspense that you’re trying to artificially create through bad camera work and editing.

8. Continuity much? In the first film, Megatron came to earth seeking the lost artifact, the All-Spark. But now, in the second movie, it turns out that the Transformers have been coming to earth for thousands of years, and have in fact built some sort of sun-destroying solar energy device within the Egyptian pyramids. Not only that, but do you expect me to believe that for thousands of years, there’s been a Decepticon ship on one of the moons of Saturn, inhabited by one of the most dangerous Decepticons of all times, and not once – NOT ONCE – did any of them ever attempt to retrieve the All-Spark? Well, except Megatron, and we know how that turned out. But don’t you think the Fallen would have at some point said, “I wonder what’s taking him so long?” “But he can’t go to earth until Prime is destroyed!” BULL! Prime wasn’t even on earth at the time, so that’s no excuse. Bottom line: with the two most powerful artifacts in Transformer history sitting on earth, there’s no reason why the Fallen didn’t make at least some effort to retrieve one of them himself.

7. Grampa Jetfire. Okay, even if I can buy into the idea that there have been Transformers hidden on earth for generations, why did they have to make Jetfire such an annoying personality? And why did he have to walk with a cane? He’s a freaking robot, for goodness sakes, and a transforming robot at that! He shouldn’t need a cane! And his stereotypical “Back in my day…” talk! Seriously, did you have to make him so ridiculous?

6. Dope-smoking Mom. Does Mr. Bay expect us to believe that parents are this stupid? Not only does the mom not know what pot is, but some idiot college student sold it to her? Come on! And let’s be honest: the parents weren’t silly and annoying enough already?

5. Hot female robot coed. First of all, while I do find the prospect of Sam having a secondary love interest who just happens to be a Decepticon spy rather intriguing, the execution of it was just terrible. Seriously, if a girl acted this way toward me, I would knock her over the head with a bat and have her locked up under the insane asylum. There’s sexy, and then there’s just plain creepy, and this girl was just way over the line into just plain terrifying. And that’s before we even knew she was a robot! Not only that, but let’s be real: do you expect me to believe that Decepticons can simulate human flesh now? And this is nothing but a blatant rip-off of the T-1000 from Terminator 2 anyway! The girl’s behavior is way over the top, and the technological aspect is just too unbelievable.

4. Humping dogs. Okay, so in the first movie, it’s established that the Whitwicky family have an annoying dog. So, to top that in the second, they now have two annoying dogs. And guess what: almost every time they’re shown together, they’re having gay sex. Why? Does this add to the movie’s charm or plot? No! Is it funny? Maybe if you have the mind of a 10-year-old, which Michael Bay apparently does! It’s crude, unnecessary, and just plain stupid. When I go to see a movie about giant robots, the last thing I want to see is gay dogs humping each other. If I wanted to watch dogs humping, I’d go hang out at a kennel.

3. The two racist robots. Why are these two guys in this movie? I don’t remember them from any of the earlier Transformer incarnations, so I can only assume that Michael Bay created them for the sole purpose of being a stupid racist. They’re definitely not funny at all; they’re just plain annoying. Here’s a hint, Mr. Bay: Racism Is NOT Inherently Funny! Now, don’t get me wrong. I can occasionally get a chuckle from racial humor if it’s done right, but these guys just grated on my nerves. I kept wishing a friendly Decepticon would come along and blast their illiterate chasses to pieces.

2. Giant Robot Testicles. First of all, I don’t remember any of the Constructicons actually having giant wrecking balls, so where the crap these “testicles” come from is beyond me. Frankly, it was just mere childishness on Bay’s part to even put those onto Devastator. Was it supposed to be funny? It might have been, if the scene wasn’t an all-out war over the impending destruction of earth. Seriously, this did nothing but detract from the actual story. It was crude, pointless, completely unnecessary, and entirely devoid of humor. The only thing that could possibly have made it worse is if someone shot him there, and he fell off the pyramid grabbing his crotch in extreme agony. Which, after seeing this, I kind of wish would happen to Michael Bay.

1. John Tuturro’s butt. Really, was that even necessary? Was this just an excuse to put Tuturro in yet another embarrassing and humiliating position, like in the first movie when Bumblebee peed on him? Well, thank you, Michael Bay, you’ve managed to outdo your own stupidity this time! You got John Tuturro to take his pants off and show off his ugly hairy butt to millions of people who didn’t give a care to see it. Yes, you made John Tuturro moon us. Now, can you please grow up and act like an adult when you make your movies?

So these are my Top 10 Reasons Why Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen sucked. Seriously, I went to the theater expecting to see a fun movie, and instead, I get this annoying piece of crap. In fact, I got the distinct impression that Bay was just trying to tick me off during the whole film, as if he were in the projector room, counting the $8 we had all just given him, saying, “Take that, you stupid movie-goers!”

I do not plan on buying it on DVD, and I won’t watch another sequel unless they get a new director, one that actually knows what he’s doing. It’s a shame, really. The first movie had its annoying parts too, but the compelling story more than made up for them. Here, it’s like the story itself was thrown to the four winds, so Bay could mix in more annoying. Well, Mr. Bay, I hope you enjoy the $8, because it’s the last $8 you’re going to get from me.

Text: Jeremiah 11:18-20.

Title: A Gentle Lamb Led to the Slaughter.

The prophet Jeremiah lived during the time of the height of Israel’s apostasy. The people had turned their back on the true God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who had freed them from slavery in Egypt and established a covenant relationship with them. Instead, the people bowed down before false gods and swore their allegiance to statues of stone.

Jeremiah is sorely grieved that he sees the people of God forsaking their Lord to follow false idols. He had been sent by the Lord to call these people to repentance, but he watched as time and time again the people rejected that Word. He suffered greatly, as the very people he had been sent to serve ridiculed him, mocked him, had him arrested and imprisoned, and conspired to have him killed.

The world in which we live is not much different that that of Jeremiah. Not much has changed in the 26 centuries since he lived. Quite frankly, I think many of us can identify with the prophet, as we look at the world in which we live. A world in which a mother can have her unborn baby executed for no other reason than that she does not want it, while politicians stand by and let her get away with it, claiming it is her civil right. Immorality of every sort – pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality – are not merely excused, but actually declared to be good and right by our sex-obsessed culture. What God calls immorality, they call freedom.

Now, I expect this kind of behavior from the world. But what happens when we see God’s Holy Christian Church rejecting God’s standards and embracing the world’s ways? You would think that the Church should be a haven of light and life in a sea of chaos and sin, but it seems this is not always the case.

And lest we become arrogant, let’s not forget that Scripture warns us time and again not to fall into the same trap. Those ancient people of Israel thought they were safe and secure, but look what happened to them: they turned their back on God, and in time, God turned His back on them. We need to be careful not to fall into the same trap. This is why we must cling all the more diligently to the Word of Christ: because the world is always going to be there tempting us with its idols, and we are not immune from that temptation.

Jeremiah certainly felt rejected and alone, detested and despised by the world to which he was sent. And so he stands with the Holy Christian Church on earth, for in every age, we Christians suffer when we stand firm in our faith. The world hates our God, and so it hates us, too.

But we are not alone. Jeremiah says, “I was led like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.” Although he wrote these words of his own anguish and grief, they are not his alone. For our God has indeed sent us a Lamb to take away our sins. A perfect Lamb, without blemish, who was sent to atone for our rejection of God’s Word, to reconcile to Himself us sinners who had defied Him and rebelled against Him.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to those who rejected Him, His own people, and it grieved Him sorely that they did not receive Him. And yet, to them He came anyway, so that His life might be a ransom to cover the sins of the world.

So when you feel alone, when you feel despised and dejected, like a lamb being led to slaughter, remember, your Lord Jesus Christ was despised and dejected by our whole sinful race, and yet He went like a gentle Lamb to the cross to be slaughtered for you. You are not alone, for the Lamb of God has indeed taken away your sins.

A perfect example of this is the DVD set of Firefly. WHY IS IT THAT I HAVE TO PAGE THROUGH A SEPARATE MENU FOR EVERY SINGLE EPISODE?? WHOSE BRILLIANT IDEA WAS THAT? All I’m trying to do is watch the episodes! But when one episode finishes, I end up back at the EPISODE MENU, and then have to page back to the MAIN MENU, then to the NEXT EPISODE MENU, and THEN I finally get to play the show! What a PAIN in the POSTERIOR! Why can’t you just have a simple option on the main menu, “Play All”, and leave it at that? BUT NO! I have to page through all those stinking the menus! IT MAKES NO SENSE!!  It just doesn’t get much more annoying than that!

Or does it?

Believe it or not, it does. Take every Disney DVD I’ve ever seen. Especially the Pixars. Not only do the DVD’s require you to use their menus, but get this: as soon as you put the DVD in the machine, it automatically jumps to the previews AND FORCES YOU TO WATCH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN START! You don’t even have the option to exit out of the previews to get to the main menu. WHY? BECAUSE STINKING DISNEY IS SO COCKY, THEY EXPECT YOU TO BUY EVERY PRODUCT OUT THERE JUST BECAUSE THEY SAY SO!! And so, every time I put the DVD in so I can kick back and relax to watch Toy Story, I HAVE TO SIT THROUGH FIFTY TRILLION PREVIEWS FIRST!! And the funny part? MOST OF THEM ARE MOVIES I ALREADY OWN!! AND I’M NOT GOING TO BUY THEM AGAIN!! SO SHUT UP AND LET ME WATCH MY MOVIE ALREADY!!

I can understand forcing us to sit through the FBI “Don’t copy this or you’ll go to jail” warning, even though we already know that, and don’t need to be reminded every time we see a movie. But PREVIEWS?? I DON’T FREAKING CARE!! GO THE CRAP AWAY!!

So here’s my advice to all DVD manufacturers on the face of the planet: STOP MAKING YOUR DVD’S SO FREAKING ANNOYING!! Let me play the movie when I’m ready, let me skip menus and previews if I want (which I most definitely will), and give me the option to play all the episodes or chapters back-to-back if I want.  That's all I ask.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:8:10).

I’m always amazed when people say things like, “I don’t need to go to church; I can be a pretty good person without it.” There’s only one problem: church isn’t about being a good person; it’s about receiving forgiveness of sins in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m amazed at how many people who consider themselves Christians think this way, too: “I can worship God just as good at home as I can in church. I can be a Christians without organized religion.” Ah, but His Word even tells us, "Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another all the more as you see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).  How can you consider yourself a good Christian when you're essentially breaking the Third Commandment?

Jesus Christ instituted His Holy Christian Church on earth for your benefit, and He calls the Christian Church His Holy Bride. To despise Christ’s Church is to despise Christ Himself. He also gave us apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers to give us His Word and administer His Sacraments to us. To think that you can receive forgiveness of sins apart from His these divinely instituted Means of Grace is to think that you can order a drink in a restaurant without the glass.

You see, doing good does not earn you favor with God. You already owe God good works, on account of the fact He created you. In fact, it is because you are not good enough – and never can be – that you stand in need of forgiveness. Just because you do something right does not obligate God to you – you already owe it to Him to do good – and the fact that you do not always do good when you ought to puts you in jeopardy of His judgment.

Do you think you’re a pretty good person because you’ve never committed rape or murder? Think again. If you’ve lusted after another human being, you are guilty of adultery. If you’ve ever despised someone, you are guilty of murder. If you’ve ever cheated on your taxes, or failed to return extra change at the grocery store, you are guilty of stealing.

Going to church isn’t about making you a good person: it’s about receiving forgiveness for your sins.

This is why God’s Word tells us, “For it is by grace you are saved.” What is grace? It is none other that the mercy our God has given us in our Lord Jesus Christ, through His innocent bitter suffering and death. “For God demonstrates His love in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” As I tell my catechism students, if we were to pull grace out of our pockets and put it on the table, it would look exactly like the broken, bleeding body of Jesus Christ.

And this grace is given to us through faith. What is faith, you might ask? It is nothing other than trusting the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His promises of redemption.

And this is why we need the Holy Christian Church. It is in this place that the Word of the Lord is delivered to us, for the building up of our faith. It is in the gathering of His saints that He marks us as His through the waters of Holy Baptism. It is in His Church that He delivers to us the words of Absolution, which cleanse us from sin. It is in this institution that He feeds us His own Body and Blood for the nourishment of our souls.

So why do we go to church? To please God? No, although it does indeed please Him when His people come to receive His gifts of Word and Sacrament, just as it pleases my mother when I eat the food she fixes for me at home. No, we go to church to receive our Lord’s gifts of mercy and grace. We go to receive His cleansing and forgiving Word. We go to have our sins forgiven and to be built up in the most holy faith.

“For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water” (Isaiah 35:7).

Years ago, I remember watching this TV show on Discovery or National Geographic.  It was about a desert, that harsh, burning environ, where hardly any life could survive.  Nothing for miles but scorching sands and rocks, and nothing to shade you from the burning sun except the occasional cactus.  But every now and then, a rainstorm would pour down on the land.  And suddenly, this hellish place would begin to transform.  As the water quenched the earth, plants would begin to grow and bloom, and flowers would blossom.  And birds would land and fill the silent wasteland with their songs, and other animals would come forth to bask in the coolness and bounty of the new landscape.  Where there was once nothing but emptiness and death, suddenly there was beauty and life.

So it is with Christ, who has poured out on us His mercy through Holy Baptism.  Once there was nothing but the emptiness of the wasteland – a pointless life, with no hope – and the scorching heat of God’s wrath awaiting us.  But this is what Holy Baptism does for us:  where once there was emptiness, there is now new life.  Where once there was a barren wasteland, there is now goodness and fruitfulness.  Where once there was only the heat of God’s wrath on account of our sins, there is now the refreshing coolness of forgiveness granted to us in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.