First Lutheran Church of Little Rock

*Sermon for 11.14.21 Text: Mark 13:1-13 Theme: Built to last*

*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*

*The Gospel lesson serves as our sermon text for this morning.*

*Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.*

*Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:*

Psalm 16:1-11

*A Miktam of David.* Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all
my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink
offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful
inheritance.

I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs
me.

I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I
shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also
dwells secure.

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see
corruption.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness
of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

*Introduction*

*So why are we always shocked when cars break down, or bodies, for that
matter? *

*Don’t they always? *

*Or why are we surprised when the house that was always on that
corner—though, obviously, it wasn’t always there—but why are we surprised
when it’s not? *

*Or everything you see, sit on, or lean on in the whole world? *

*For one reason or another we trust in things on earth and this is not just
idolatry. *

*Maybe we secretly think that if we believe in them enough, we can make
them stay—by faith. *

*St. Paul told us that the things that we can’t see yet are permanent,
whereas the things we can see now are temporary. *

*“Yes,” says my heart, “but you can see them.” *

*To little people like us, whatever you can see, in spite of everything we
know, it can seem like it’s forever.*

*Especially if it’s impressive at all—like, say, oh, the Roman Empire or
cancer or a Mercedes-Benz—it takes your mind away, until we can reason,
contrary to all experience, “It’s here today; ergo, it won’t be gone
tomorrow.”*

*Well, the disciples were little guys like us, and when they came to the
big city and saw the temple in Jerusalem, it took their breath away. *

*Naturally. It was enormous and gorgeous, built by King Herod with all his
money and power, earthly to the max. *

*But beyond that, it was one of the best things earth ever produced. *

*God used it. *

*God met people there. *

*It was the house he chose to live in for a while. *

*If anything on earth was impressive, that was it. *

*And when those small-town fellows from up in Galilee saw it, they were as
awed as any country boy staring up at the Simmons Tower. *

*It seemed as invulnerable as the State Capitol building. *

*It seemed as solid as the earth, or as solid as the earth seems until
Judgment Day.*

*Really, when you look at anything, cars or bodies or temples or planets,
the question isn’t “Can I see it?” The question is “Is it built to last?”*

*1. Not the world or anything from it, not anymore.*

*A. In the beginning, all earthly things—including us—were built to
last.*

1. By this we know God’s will.

a. Not destruction,

b. But everlasting joy.

2. Because of this, we still expect things to last
(verse 1).

a. It’s what we ourselves were made for.

b. It’s the nature of the world we were made to live in.

*B. But nothing from earth is built to last now.*

1. Everything from earth perishes, to our shock and
grief.

2. Even the best and greatest from earth is doomed: “Do
you see these great buildings?” (verse 2).

3. In this, we have a warning and a preview of the end
of all things.

a. Earthly peace perishes: “wars” (verses7–8a).

b. The ground is shaking already: “earthquakes” (verse
8b).

c. The skies are undependable; crops fail: “famines”
(verse 8b).

d. Inevitably, earth and everything on it will be swept
away: “These are but the beginning of the birth
pains” (verse 8c).

4. Things don’t last because human sin has brought
God’s curse on all fallen creation—including our natural lives.

a. Your life is a mist, a vapor that appears for a
little while,

b. As God turns us back to dust,

c. As the beginning of judgment.

*Transition*

*What am I saying? *

*Don’t earthly things matter at all? *

*Aren’t they real? *

*Of course, they are. *

*We can see them. *

*We can see them all leaving**. *

*Is anything built to last?*

*2. Jesus Christ is built to last.*

*A. He was born everlasting.*

He is, from his conception, everything we were made to be.

A sinless man, like Adam before the fall, and therefore,

An immortal man, like Adam before the fall: the permanent man.

He is from before his conception the eternal Son of God.

In him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

The God-man is the everlasting temple,

Of which the splendid temple in Jerusalem was just a shadow.

*B. Transition*

That’s what was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple (verse
3).

How strange: A temple looking at a temple!

How strange that one man, sitting on the ground, was greater than all those
wonderful buildings!

Only Jesus Christ is built to last.

How strange that his flesh and blood was more permanent than all those
wonderful stones!

Tell me, which one *looked* more enduring?

To his own disciples, which one seemed more impressive at the moment?

They told him, “Look, Teacher, isn’t it incredible?”

But that teacher from Galilee sitting there, with his little followers
looking at the best thing the world ever made—*he* was God’s real house,
holy and everlasting, looking at a little model that was doomed, like the
whole planet.

Only Jesus Christ is built to last.

But then *he* died too, like everything else.

*C. The everlasting man was born to be destroyed.*

As if he were fallen and sinful, like everything we see, including
ourselves.

To bear Judgment Day ahead of time, the whole world’s curse in his body.

To bring the end of the world on his everlasting self, instead of on us.

*D. Transition*

Soon enough, the temple in Jerusalem was turned to rubble, just like what
happened to the old McDonalds here in town.

It was a great building, for a moment; then there was not left one stone
upon another.

But that ruin was nothing as terrible as the ruin left hanging on the
cross.

The end of the whole world couldn’t be as horrifying as the end of Jesus
Christ, when the living temple of God everlasting was destroyed in front of
our eyes.

Tell me, what score doesn’t that settle?

What sin doesn’t that pay for?

What curse, what doom, what judgment isn’t swallowed up in that
destruction?

No matter how stained, how doomed, no matter how we’ve sinned, God’s death
puts paid to it all.

And Christ is risen!

*E. The everlasting man was raised. “Destroy this temple, and I will raise
it again in three days” (John 2:19 NIV).*

Built to last. Christ, being raised from the dead, cannot die again; he is
the permanent man.

Built to last. As the Son of God, he continues forever, the same yesterday,
today, and forever.

Built to last. He is holy and immortal, the everlasting temple of God.

*F. Transition*

He’s back.

He’s here.

The only permanent thing in all creation.

And he’s here to make us permanent again.

Who would’ve thought those little disciples would wind up indestructible
and glorious, long after that temple was dust?

But…

* 3. Jesus Christ rebuilds us to last.*

*He rebuilds us by his Word, Spirit, and life.*

That’s why the Gospel must be proclaimed to all the dying nations (verse
10).

That’s why the Holy Spirit is still speaking that Gospel to us and through
us (verse 11).

That vanishing people may be reborn of imperishable seed.

Through faith alone: Whoever believes has eternal life.

*Jesus Christ, the everlasting temple, makes us everlasting stones. “You
yourselves like living stones are being built up” (1 Peter 2:5).*

We receive from him the life we were built for in the first place: holy,
with his holiness; immortal, with his immortality.

Already in our souls: *“Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never
die” (John 11:26).*

And soon in our bodies: *“Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall
he live” (John 11:25). *

Raised, like his glorious body, powerful, imperishable.

More than Adam in Eden: indestructible, like living stones.

So that while everything we see disappears, the world around us, rushing
past like waves over rocks, and everything temporary about each of us—don’t
be alarmed!

These suffering bodies, with their cancers and their pains!

The last bit of sinfulness inside us!

What we can’t see yet is built to last.

Jesus himself.

Our own resurrection.

Our own reborn souls.

Therefore, as living stones, stay in the temple that lasts.

No matter what pretends to matter:

“And Jesus began to say to them, *‘See that no one leads you astray. Many
will come in my name, saying, “I am he!” ’ ” (verses 5–6).*

And the world will always be saying, “I am it!”

Only Jesus has the words of eternal life.

*3. Jesus Christ rebuilds us to last.*

No matter what else disappears:

Our peaceful lives: *“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over
to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues” (verse 9)*—but Christ is
built to last.

Our friends: *“You will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (verse 13)*—but
Christ is built to last.

Our family ties: *“Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the
father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put
to death” (verse 12)—*but Christ is built to last.

Our own bodies: *“over to death . . . put to death” (verse 12)*—but Christ
is built to last.

The ground, the skies, the universe (verse 8)—but Christ built *us* to last.

*Conclusion*

*Everything we see is disappearing while we watch, but not you: *

you were judged on his cross and raised by his Gospel.

The one who endures to the end will be saved, and that’s you, dear brother,
dear sister, in Christ, in whom he has built you to last, to the end and
*through* the end, into the world without end.

Everything else comes and goes: don’t lean on it.

Don’t chase it into the air.

And don’t be alarmed; whether it be pleasures and property, sorrows and
sins—we can see them all leaving.

But stand, you precious stone, in Christ, until you see what’s ahead.

Everything else that’s here today, you can bet will be gone tomorrow, but
all the while, in Jesus Christ, you are being built together into a
dwelling place for God. In him the whole building is rising into a holy
temple in the risen Lord (Ephesians 2:19–21).

*And any minute now, all the scaffolding is going to disappear with a roar.
*

When Christ, who is our life, appears, we also are going to appear with him
in glory, and holy angels are going to shout in amazement at what he’s made
of us, “Look! What wonderful stones!”

But we, when we see him face-to-face, when we see him as he is, God in
flesh, our Brother, destroyed and raised for us, then with angels and
archangels and all the company of heaven, we’re going to shout in amazement
at the splendor, the glory, and the wonder of the temple built to last
forever and ever and ever, Jesus Christ himself.

Amen.

*Let us pray**:*

*Thanks be unto You, Lord Jesus, for Your bitter sufferings, Your shameful
death, and Your joyous resurrection. *

*Enlighten our eyes to see in You the way unto life.*

*Uphold us by Your truth, so we may not fall into idolatry and false
worship, and preserve us in the true faith unto eternal life. *

*Amen.*

*2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.*

*The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. *

*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*

• Sermon for 11.07.21 All Saints Day
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Theme: Blessed beyond belief

• *In the Name of the Father…Amen.*

• *Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:*

• *Gracious God, You send great blessings New each
morning all our days.*

* For Your mercies never ending, For Your love we offer
praise. *

* Lord, we pray that we, Your people Who Your gifts
unnumbered claim, *

* Through the sharing of Your blessings May bring glory to
Your name. Amen.*

*Text: © 2004 Gregory J. Wismar. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no.
110000247*

• *Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.*

• *The Gospel lesson serves as our sermon text for
this morning. *

• *Introduction*

• *The theme of today’s worship is “Blessed beyond
Belief.” *

• The word blessed is suggested by the Gospel for this
All Saints’ Sunday.

• “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.

• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted. . . .

• Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and so on.

• These blessings, the Beatitudes, are some of Jesus’
most famous words.

• And, indeed, they remind us this day that WE SAINTS
HAVE BEEN BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF.

• *A. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church. **For a moment, let’s focus on the phrase “beyond
belief”.*

• Forget for the moment about being blessed.

• Forget about those who are in heaven and the hope you
and I have in Christ for heaven when we die.

• For now focus on the phrase “beyond belief.”

• Do you and I sometimes act in ways that put the
message of Jesus Christ “beyond belief”?

• A world-class athlete—whose name you’d all
recognize—tells about his stepfather, a man who professed to be a
Christian:

• He’d talk a good game, talk about Christ, about
faith, but he had a frightful temper. He used to whip his stepson for silly
things—kid things—like being messy.

• *B. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*

• When the boy was 14, his mother went into the
hospital for surgery.

• He had to leave for a swim meet while she was still
recuperating, and his stepfather came along as a chaperone.

• As they waited together at the airport, the
stepfather began to write notes on a pad.

• He’d write, then ball up the paper and toss it into
the garbage can, and then start again.

• Strange. After a while he got up to go to the
restroom.

• The boy went over to the garbage can, retrieved the
wadded papers, and stuffed them into his bag.

• Later, when he was alone, he took them out and read
them. They were to another woman. His stepfather was writing to another
woman while his mom was in the hospital recovering from surgery (adapted
from Lance Armstrong, It’s Not about the Bike [New York: Putnam, 2000], 21,
24–25).

• The athlete? Bicyclist Lance Armstrong.

• *C. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*

• What kind of impression of Christ do you suppose that
gave this boy?

• Maybe you haven’t sinned in a big way like that, but
ask yourself this:

• Does my conduct ever put the blessings of the Christian
life beyond belief for others?

• Foul language,

• watching pornography,

• financial cheating,

• slandering others,

• self-righteousness,

• a judgmental character.

• Jesus says, “Woe to the world because of the things
that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through
whom they come!” (Mt 18:7).

• Yes, there is forgiveness for all these sins, but
that’s not the point right now. The point is that our sins, our forgiven
sins, still have consequences—and one consequence is that we sometimes make
the blessings of the Christian life unbelievable for others.

• *D. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*

• Each year on All Saints’ Day we hear the Beatitudes
read.

• The Beatitudes are beautiful Gospel, good news of
those blessings God has given us.

• But how so?

• You hear the Beatitudes and think of “sugar and
spice and everything nice”—sweet and pleasant, but not the Gospel they in
fact are.

• To really understand how the Beatitudes are rich
Gospel, try, for just a moment, listening to them as Law, as condemnation
for the godly lives you and I don’t live.

• “Blessed are the meek,” but how often do you turn
the other cheek?

• “Blessed are the merciful,” but how many times do we
who have been forgiven not forgive others?

• How many times do we refuse to give God the
firstfruits of our time, talents, and treasures?

• “Blessed are the peacemakers,” but how many times do
we fly off the handle and create bigger problems?

• “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness.” How many of your daily decisions do you base on what God
has revealed to us in the Bible?

• Are you getting the point? The purpose of God’s Law
is to accuse us because of our sin.

• *E. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*

• *“Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do
everything written in the Book of the Law” (Gal 3:10; Deut 27:26). *

• “Blessed are the poor in spirit” is the very first
of Jesus’ Beatitudes.

• We may not fit the bill of most of the Beatitudes,
but at this moment, at this moment I pray you’re feeling poor in spirit.

• *2. A. Blessed be Jesus, who alone meets the description of the
Beatitudes as one blessed. There’s only one person who in himself is in
fact accurately described by the Beatitudes. *

• That’s the Son of God.

• Blessed be he!

• Listen now to the Beatitudes and think about Jesus.

• These Beatitudes describe the perfect Son of God,
not us sinners.

• *Now when [Jesus] saw the crowds, he went up on a
mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach
them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Vv 1–10)*

• *2. B. Blessed be Jesus, who alone meets the description of the
Beatitudes as one blessed. There’s only one person who in himself is in
fact accurately described by the Beatitudes. *

• Did you hear it?

• Jesus is the only one who in himself is all the
things the Beatitudes talk about.

• Blessed be he!

• Jesus, as you’ve heard many times, died for our sins
on the cross.

• But there’s another reason why he’s the Savior, the
one who rescues us.

• It’s called Jesus’ “active obedience.”

• Before his crucifixion, during all the years of his
visible presence on earth, Jesus kept the Law of God perfectly.

• As a baby, as a toddler, as a teen, as a mature man,
Jesus did the will of his heavenly Father without fail.

• Whereas you and I, in our daily life, often break
under the pressure and give in to our sinful nature and break the
commandments of God.

• Jesus has no sin of his own to atone for and
committed no sin for which He deserved to die.

• Jesus, Son of the Most High, blessed be he!

• *2. C. Blessed be Jesus, who alone meets the description of the
Beatitudes as one blessed. There’s only one person who in himself is in
fact accurately described by the Beatitudes. *

• And yes, Jesus did endure the punishment of God
against our sins.

• All those times that you and I have not led the
blessed life, all those times when you and I have put the blessings of
following Christ beyond belief for others, all those sins he paid for on
the cross.

• Most important of all, the greatest reach of his
suffering on the cross is into your soul and mine to remove the curse.

• *“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung
on a tree’” (Gal 3:13). *

• Jesus, Son of the Most High, blessed be he!

• *3. A. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. Blessed be he! But
what about us? Can we be blessed?*

• After all those Beatitudes, Jesus turns to us in our
text and adds,

• *“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice
and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way
they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (vv 11–12, emphasis
added). *

• Yes, Jesus says you, we, will be blessed.

• *3. B. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *

• *How can this be? C. S. Lewis once wrote:*

• Christ says, “Give me all.

• I don’t want so much of your money and so much of
your work—I want you.

• I have not come to torment your natural self, but
to kill it.

• No half-measures are any good.

• I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch
there; I want to have the whole tree down.

• I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or
stop it, but to have it out.

• Hand over the whole natural self. . . . I will give
you a new self instead.

• In fact I will give you myself; my own will shall
become yours.” (C. S. Lewis, “Beyond Personality,” in Sermon Illustrations
for the Gospel Lessons [St. Louis: Concordia, 1982], 81, author’s emphasis)

• *3. C. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *

• How in the world can we empty ourselves so
completely that Christ will move in, reside in us, and let us partake of
his blessedness?

• This, too, is beyond belief.

• Yes, that we should be blessed is beyond belief,
save for one teaching of the Bible:

• *“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy
Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).*

• The blessings of the perfect life of Christ and his
forgiveness would be beyond our belief were it not for the working of the
Holy Spirit.

• That’s why Baptism is so important.

• The old Adam is drowned.

• Christ makes his home in us.

• *“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).*

• *3. D. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *

• Martin Luther once said:

• “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength
believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has
called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept
me in the true faith” (explanation of the Third Article, emphasis added).

• Sanctified means to be made holy.

• The Holy Spirit has brought you into the blessedness
of Jesus Christ.

• *3. E. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *

• Luther goes on to say:

• “In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and
sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus
Christ in the one true faith” (author’s emphasis). As the Spirit has
gathered us in the church, he’s still calling to those whom we may have
offended.

• “In this Christian church he daily and richly
forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day he will
raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in
Christ.”

• *Conclusion*

• That’s the climax, the day when we will truly be
blessed beyond belief.

• On that day we will no longer walk by faith, but by
sight (2 Cor 5:7).

• We will see our Savior face-to-face.

• On that day we will dwell with God and all his saints
in heaven.

• We will live with God and God with us (Rev 21:3).

• We pray that people who’ve been offended by our
conduct will be there with us.

• How many people will be in heaven that had no use for
the Christian message at first, but the Holy Spirit worked on their hearts
with the Gospel?

• The encouraging answer is this: *“A great multitude
that no one could count” (Rev 7:9). *

• Blessed be our Savior Jesus Christ! Amen.

• *Let us pray*

• Heavenly Father, may our caring Bear the imprint of
Your grace;

With the Son and Holy Spirit, Praise be Yours in every place!

Lord, we pray that we, Your people Who Your gifts unnumbered claim,

Through the sharing of Your blessings May bring glory to Your
name. Amen.

*B. 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.*

*C. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. *

*D. In the Name of the Father…Amen.*