Good morning everyone:
Earlier this week I had our steam mop in pieces on the kitchen table in an effort to fix it. In your home, too, no doubt there are always appliances, furniture, clothing, cars or other broken things in need of repairing. It’s a fact of life in this sinful world. Things break, wear out, and quit working the way they should. “The whole creation groans…” (Rom. 8:22).
But there are other broken parts of our lives which are much more difficult to fix than a mop or car. Communication between a husband and wife breaks down and the marriage suffers. An argument escalates into growing anger and grudges which destroy a friendship. Because of sin, relationships break and don’t always work the way they’re supposed to.
Worst of all, sin breaks our connection with God. How can we be at peace with Him when He is holy and we are dead in sin from conception? There is nothing we can do to patch things up with Him. By nature we don’t even want to. Left to ourselves, we would be broken people in a broken world facing eternal death in hell.
God in His mercy, however, had other plans. He provided the perfect “fix” for sin and its curse. He sent His Son to live the holy, obedient life we can’t. He applies Christ’s righteousness to us in place of our faulty, broken efforts. We deserve to be cast out as worthless. But Jesus took the world’s guilt upon Himself and became “the sinner” in our place. Now God couldn’t be happier with you. You are a new person in Christ. Isaiah says: “He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness” (Is. 61:10).
Take all your brokenness to Jesus’ cross. Like a child who says to Dad, “Will you please fix this?”, pray, “Lord, have mercy and forgive my sin.” Then let’s live each day as the new people God has made us. As He has fixed our brokenness, may we apply the same fix to our relationships with others. May we be patient and forgiving as the Lord is to us. May the joy of forgiveness shine through us into our homes, work places, and wherever we are. May we be living proof of how wonderfully God fixes the brokenness of sin.
In the sermon text (Is. 12:1-6) the prophet urges us to praise the Lord for His salvation and sing for joy as His forgiven people.
The Lord’s Supper will be celebrated in both services. Samuel Arndt will receive the blessings of Holy Baptism in second service.
In Jesus,
Pastor
