LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 78

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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Luther said, “little Christs to the world in us, through
us, and in spite of us, we are to reflect the love of
Jesus to the world.”
Do you remember when the massacre happened in
Florida? A man in the name of the false god Allah was
so unfriendly that he killed many people. Shortly after,
Hollywood brought out their best with the song “What
the World Needs Now Is Love.” Boy, how right they are!
But how misconstrued they are because they think it is
the world’s kind of love, that funny feeling inside of you.
How often in the English language we misuse the
word love! We say, “I love pizza,” “I love the Vikings,”
or like my buddy John would say, “I love the Green
Bay Packers.” Do they really love us back? Does pizza
love you back? Do the Vikings even know that you
love them? What does Moses tell us in the words
“love your neighbor as yourself ”? It is a privilege to be
a neighbor. A neighbor is someone who cares, someone who goes out of their way to reach another person. The apostle Paul touches on that also in the great
and wonderful chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. He calls
love “a still more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31). My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, you who are sons
of Adam and daughters of Eve, it is God’s love that
helps us to confess our faults, to repent, rejoice, and
stand secure on the solid Rock Eternal—Jesus, the
Christ. It is because of Him that we are able to love
and share that love with others.
In the 1960s, a young lady grew up in a very well-to-do
home. She got pregnant out of wedlock, and her parents forced her to give the baby up for adoption. Fast
forward 50 years: the son that she had given up is a
minister of the Gospel. After his adoptive parents went
to be with Jesus, he sought out his biological mother.
He found her in Canada and called her and said, “This
is your son. I would love to meet you.” She welcomed
him. It was a cold, blustery day in January in Canada.
She put on a very light coat and waited outside by the
garage as her son came. They had a wonderful visit.
As he said goodbye and headed to the car, he opened
the door then turned around and said, “Mom, is there
anything that I can do for you?” She said, “Son, love
me. Son, love me.”
Brothers and sisters, I want you to do something
for me. Will you turn to the right and look at the
person next to you? Now do the same and turn the
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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Sermon

other way. Please know this is not a head exercise;
it’s a heart exercise. The person to your right and the
person to your left are your brothers and sisters who
need to know that they are loved.
You are God’s instruments of grace. You reflect that love
to those around you in the way you communicate the
Gospel clearly, not because of who you are but because
of whose you are—the baptized, redeemed, forgiven,
blood-bought child of God. That’s who you are.
Loved people of God, people who are loved do nothing
but love in return. You see, it’s not about my position.
It’s not about my prosperity. It’s not about my prestige.
It isn’t about the amount of money I have or where I
am in the stations of life. What it is about is that God,
in His mercy, sent His only Son to be the missionary,
the greatest neighbor, the greatest lover of humankind
to die for scum like me and rise again so that I may be
loved more than I can ever comprehend. It really is
about the love that God has for me, a sinner, so that I
may know I am forgiven. I am made holy, and one day
I will stand in the presence of God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. There, with all the saints with gladness, I
will bow before the Father of grace to confess that He
is the Lamb. He is our Savior, and He is our Lord.
Beautiful children of the heavenly Father, you who
are loved more than you can comprehend. Remember
this and take it to heart: God loves you more than
you can understand, more than you can comprehend.
And I want you to know with certainty that it’s not
because you are so good, because I don’t see anybody
here that’s that good, not even President Harrison.
But what I do see are men and women who have
been wrapped with the righteousness of Christ, who
have been baptized; their sins have been removed,
and now they stand loved beyond measure so that we
in return can share that love with a world that desperately needs to know of the real love, the love that
cannot be purchased except by the blood of Jesus.
Therefore, today may God grant to you and to me
the joy of repentance, of confession and rejoicing as
we stand upon the Eternal Rock, Jesus Christ, our
true neighbor, who loved us because we needed to be
loved. Thank God for what He has accomplished in
our lives so that we will stand with Him someday in
paradise. God grant it all for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
“It’s All about Love”