All posts by David Ude

Epiphany

Epiphany

Today, January 6th is the last day of Christmas. Did you know that the 12 days of Christmas wasn’t just a song? And on this day we remember how the Wise Men came to see Jesus, the newborn King – Matthew 2:1-12 –https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…

“Epiphany” means to shine forth. And one of the things that shines forth about Jesus is that He has come for the whole world, for gentiles and not just for Jews. That’s clear when we see three “Magi” (a word which undoubtedly refers to an order of people from Persia) come to see Him. They came because the light of the good news of Jesus had shown upon them, not just from a star but undoubtedly also from the Scriptures which had been brought there when God’s people had been brought into captivity there. And the light of God’s Word had apparently revealed to them some remarkable things. Not just that this King of the Jews was for them, gentiles that they were so that they would travel all that way to worship Him. Not just that He was no earthly King, for what use would there be too travel to see him if he was. But what it would mean that he would be King. Their gifts are quite the epiphany.
Gold – a gift for a king. Frankincense – the very incense that the priests offered to God in the temple. Myrh – a perfume for embalming the dead the very ones Nicodemus would bring to anoint this babies dead body one day. See, the wise men knew, they knew that this King was the King of the universe, they knew that He was the King who would die for His people. They knew He was the King who would draw all peoples, all nations to Himself. They knew what this meant and they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. So should you. For this child, chis king is born for you no matter who you are no matter where you are from. He is born for you, born to die for you, born to forgive you for all your many sins. Therefore, seek Him and rejoice with exceedingly great joy!

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Your Pride and Joy

Isaiah 4:2-3, “In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem.”

What’s your pride and joy? A fancy car? Your wife? Your children? Something you’ve accomplished in your career? In the previous chapter we saw how the pride and joy of many of the Israelites had been sin and idolatry. Is it ever that way with you?

It won’t be for the who are left in Jerusalem, not for the remnant. God had foretold the destruction he would bring on Jerusalem, how all the things that they wrongly found pride and joy in were taken away. And what was left to them? For the believers – for the remnant of God’s Church, that had always been the same. The branch mentioned in verse two is Jesus. Jeremiah 23:5, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

Jesus is the pride and glory of believers because He is the reason their names are written in the book of life. As Jesus reminded His disciples, Luke 10:20, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Don’t take pride or joy in sin, repent of it. Don’t make the things of this world, even the best things, your pride and joy, let that be Jesus, let that be the eternal life He gives, then nothing can take your pride and joy away.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Turning the Tables

Isaiah 3 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…

As God had foretold (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28), if Israel broke it’s side of the old covenant, then He would discipline them. Chapter 3 prophecies the judgment that God would bring on them when He finally allowed the Babylonians to overrun the city. There would be no more food or water (verse 1), they would lose all the people they trusted in, some filling good offices provided by God (like government officials, and prophets) and others idolatrous (like magicians and charmers) (verses 2-3). God would turn the people over to foolish and inept leaders whom they would choose for incredibly foolish reasons, like who has the best cloak (verse 4-6), but even he won’t want to be leader because of how messed up it was (kind of how you might not want to be coach of the Cleveland Browns!).

God will allow them to be oppressed, to be mistreated, to be shamed. Why? Because they were proud (verse 9) of their sins and refused to repent. They turned away from the glorious, gracious presence of the LORD in the temple (verse 8) and chose to live their lives their own way – oppressing those beneath them. Isaiah gives examples of this oppression in verses 14-23 – they live in unnecessary luxury at the expense of the poor and the needy. He will replace their pride with shame, the oppressors will become the oppressed, the rich would become poor. God was going to turn the tables on them and “remove all support.”

Why? The same reason loving parents might remove an allowance from a child using it for foolish and sinful things – He wanted them to repent. He wanted them to turn to Him and His New Covenant of grace in Jesus Christ for mercy from all their sins, He wanted to give it! He wanted to make them His children by faith and wanted to bring forth in them fruits of righteousness.

It’s what he wants for you too. He wants you to repent of the times that you have oppressed those who were less able or poorer than you in sinful pride. Maybe you think you never have. Think again. He wants you to know that your sins deserve His judgment. And He wants you to know that when the tables are turned on you, when your sins should come upon you and eternal oppression should be your lot, there is mercy and grace in Him. Repent, believe, and live a life of thankfulness to Him! Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Now or Later?

Isaiah 2:6-22 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+2%3A6-22

Procrastinating usually isn’t a good idea. If you make a habit of it, you’ll undoubtedly suffer for it eventually. Not all things can be put off. And sometimes, the longer they are, the worse it gets. The dentist is like that. If you have a small cavity, don’t procrastinate about it, it’s only going to get worse, it’s only going to hurt more – both in your mouth and in your wallet.

Don’t procrastinate about God either. Don’t be fooled into thinking, “It doesn’t matter how I live, there’s no God and if there is he doesn’t care, my life is pretty good after all.” Don’t be fooled into making things created by people or people themselves into your gods – the things you love and trust above all others. Don’t procrastinate. When you hear God’s voice calling to you in His Word, listen. When you hear Him expose your sin in His law, repent. When you see Him point you to the cross of Christ, believe. This is not something you can afford to procrastinate about. Because even if it is painful, it’s only the pain of now, it’s only the pain of your sinful flesh screaming at it’s own death. And this pain of the law is replaced with the sweet comfort of the good news of forgiveness in Jesus. If God humbles you in this way, He will also raise you up.

But if you refuse, then a day will come (verses 12-20) when you will be struck down, all that you loved, all that you trusted in will be useless to you, then there will be no hiding, no comfort from the storm of God’s wrath. Don’t procrastinate. Be humbled now by His law and rise in faith through His Good News or be humbled later and you will never rise again.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

World Peace

Isaiah 2:1-5, “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.”
 
The hope is often expressed, especially at Christmastime, that there should be world peace. I suppose there are even many who view this as the real hope of Christmas. The Savior’s birth does bring peace, a peace brought about through teaching. This is what Isaiah is prophesying, that the world will have peace because it will hear the Word of the Lord. And that Word is only found in one place – Mt Zion, Jerusalem. Have you been to Jerusalem lately? It’s not exactly a place of peace. Seldom has it ever been. God is not talking about the earthly Jerusalem, the earthly Mt Zion. He is talking about His Church. The Church to which He gave birth through the birth of His Son. This is where His Word is found.
 
And that Word is a word of peace. For the teaching of God’s Church is always this – that Christ is born to bring peace for the whole world. And this peace is found in His life, death, and resurrection. It’s a peace in the forgiveness of sins. It’s a peace that is still peace midst the horrors of war in this world. A peace that spreads from one heart to another simply with a Word: a Word of peace: Your sins are forgiven.
 
In Christ
Pastor Ude

The Seventh Commandment

The Seventh Commandment

“You Shall Not Steal”

What Does This Mean?

We should fear and love God that we do not steal our neighbors money or possessions, nor get them in a dishonest way, but we should help him to improve and protect his property and way of making a living.

Do you treat something differently if it doesn’t belong to you? Are you more careful when you are driving your parents’ care than you would be if it was your own? Are you more careful to be clean when eating at a friend’s house than you are at your own?

In this commandment, we are really taught to do two things. First, to respect our neighbor’s possessions and Second, to properly understand how to treat our own. Even if you’ve never stolen something, you can probably think of a time where you didn’t do everything you could to improve and protect his property and way of making a living. It’s pretty easy for us to justify ourselves in this kind of behavior because we naturally think that we should do everything we can to improve and protect our property and way of making a living first and only help our neighbor afterward. Picture yourself with two friends watching the football game. You’ve ordered a pizza which has 8 slices. Each of you is currently eating a second slice, there are only two left. You want one. So what do you do? You probably start eating faster! That’s our natural way isn’t it! Instead, we should be going out of our way, even putting our own property and way of making a living at risk in order to help others. Anything less is, really, stealing!

The second thing we are taught here is how to treat our own money. Remember how you tend to treat stuff differently if it belongs to someone else? Truthfully, we should treat all that belongs to us that way because none of it really belongs to us. Everything is God’s! He made it all. And what we have, we only have because He has given it to us. We are stewards left to take care of what the Master has given until He returns. And He has left us in no doubt about what we should do with it. 1. We should use it to take care of our family. 2. We should use it, generously to help the poor, especially the poor in our own congregations. 3. We should set aside the first fruits as a gift to God’s Church so that the message of forgiveness and salvation might be proclaimed to the world! We should do all this out of love for all the many gifts He has given us – especially the best gift: His Son, our Savior who delivers us from the death our sins of greed and selfishness deserve. 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

In Christ
Pastor Ude