The fact that you are here in the Lord’s House to worship Him this morning is no guarantee that you are walking in His Word. Your “worship” is no protection against the judgment of His Law. But if you would live, and not die, then do what He commands you.
Love one another. Worship Him in that way. Love one another. That is His Commandment. It is a solid summary of His Law — that, in love for the Lord your God, you love your neighbor as you love your own self, and you serve your neighbor with your whole body and your whole life.
So, then, what does that mean exactly? Where do you even begin, and how should you proceed?
It’s not a matter of your own choosing. It’s not a matter of deciding, “Okay, I’m willing to do this, I’m willing to do that.” It is a matter of where the Lord has chosen to appoint you. Wherever He has called you to be, wherever He has stationed you, that is where you are to live, and that is where you love your neighbor. That is where you serve the “other” whom the Lord has set before you.
Do so according to His Word, that is, according to His Commandments. You have especially the Ten Commandments, which clearly guide you in what you are to do, and in what you are not to do. His Commandments determine and define and describe what “love” is. That’s not an emotion in your heart, but to do good and not evil. Love gives good things and does no harm to the neighbor.
Where you have done harm, make amends as you are able. And where you have failed to do good, begin to do it now. Do what you are called and given to do in your own particular place.
Mend your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, lest He bring misfortune and calamity upon you — and lest He remove His Word from your midst.
It’s really a question of who your friends are. As simple as it sounds, that’s what it amounts to. Who are your friends? And by that, I don’t mean that you get to pick and choose who the people you will love are. The point is not that you show partiality or favoritism among your neighbors in this body and life. No, it’s whether you’re a friend of Christ Jesus, or a friend of the world.
So, who do you love? Jesus, or the world? Where is it that you look for life? Is it in Christ Jesus, in His Word, or is it in the world and all its stuff?
If you are a friend of the world, then you’ll perish along with the world and its wealth. Whereas, if you are a friend of Christ Jesus, then you will be hated by the world, and you will be persecuted, and you will perish right along with your dear Lord Jesus Christ. But you will also rise and live with Him, as well, and partake of His inheritance, which is imperishable in heaven.
Don’t suppose that you’re going to play both sides against the middle, not without getting crushed in between the Rock and the hard place. That other Jude — Iscariot — he tried to play that game, and you know that he was lost. And that other Simon — Peter — he was in danger of the same, denying his friendship with Jesus: “I don’t know that guy!” But by the grace of God in that same Lord Jesus Christ, Simon Peter was called to repentance, and he was saved and bore much fruit.
You, then, where you have denied the Lord Jesus, Repent, and befriend Him who has befriended you in mercy, grace, and peace. That is the key: Jesus has called you and made you His friend!
It’s not about goofy secret handshakes or secret clubs. It isn’t “fun ‘n’ games.” But the Lord has befriended you, first of all by laying down His Life for you; and there is no greater love than that, with which He has loved you even unto death upon His Cross. And then He has also befriended you by the preaching of His Word to you, and thereby with His voice giving you His own Father.
See how He has taken you in! He has named you with His own Name, the Name that He has from His Father, the Name that He shares with His Father from all eternity, even to all eternity. He has become your Friend by giving you that Name, by the preaching of His Word, by speaking to you.
And so it is that, when the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ raised Him from the dead, He caused you also to be born again, His child, to a new and living hope, unto the Life everlasting.
That sure and certain hope and that eternal Life are yours in Christ Jesus. He has given that to you in Holy Baptism, along with His Name, His Father, His Holy Spirit, His forgiveness of your sins, and every other grace and blessing, more than you could ever imagine. And He gives it all to you, again and again, by the preaching of His Word, especially His Holy Gospel, whereby He forgives your betrayals, your denials, your enmity, your lack of love, and every other sin within your heart and mind, words and actions. That is why we rejoice in the Holy Apostles of Christ Jesus, who were called and sent to preach that beautiful good news of the Gospel; and that is why we remember with thanksgiving St. Simon and St. Jude (not Peter and not Iscariot) on this day.
It was the Lord Jesus who chose these men. They were lightly esteemed by the world, to say the least. Indeed, they were persecuted, and they were martyred for His Name’s sake. But they were befriended by the Lord and beloved of God in Christ Jesus. How shall we love them any less?
Why did Jesus choose these guys, these two men concerning whom we know almost nothing? Why did He choose them? It was for Love’s sake: For the Love of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, He loved them, even to the end. And He loves His Church on earth, even to the close of the age, to whom He called and sent His Holy Apostles to preach and to act in His Name and stead.
In the same way that He has chosen you and appointed you to love and serve your neighbor, so has He chosen and appointed St. Simon and St. Jude, and countless other pastors and teachers ever since, even to this day, to love and serve you and His whole Church with His Word. And wherever that Seed of His Word is sown, there He bears much fruit, which remains unto Life everlasting.
Now, the fruit of His Word is the fruit of His Cross, and so it is borne in suffering, in great distress, even in martyrdom. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the early Church, and that is still true. It is in dying with Christ Jesus that you are raised up to live in and with Him, now and forever.
St. Simon and St. Jude are remembered together, because they are said to have suffered and died together in Persia. You also bear the Cross, even unto death, for the sake of Jesus’ Name. And you also, like the Holy Apostles — for you are no less beloved than they are — you, like the Holy Apostles, are protected by the Word of Christ through faith in His Resurrection from the dead.
When the Church remembers and gives thanks for the saints who have gone before us, it is in the hope that we also share the same Resurrection and the same Life, which is theirs and ours by faith in Christ Jesus. It is hope, because it is not yet seen. But it is a sure and certain hope, because it is as sure and certain as Christ Himself is true. And it is for you, as surely as He speaks His Word to you, as surely as He has named you with His Name and anointed you with His Spirit in Holy Baptism, and as surely as He feeds you with His own holy Body and precious Blood.
Though you cannot yet see Him, and though you do not feel or experience His Resurrection in your mortal flesh, which still gets sick and gets hurt and shall die, even so, you love and trust in Him, and you hope in His Flesh and Blood, because He has befriended you, and because He has chosen you, and He has called you to Himself. And the Lord who loves you does not lie. He strengthens you, and He is with you. And if you are called to lay down your life for His Name, then He shall stand with you, even to the last. He strengthens you especially by forgiving you all of your sins. He does it over and over and over again, and thereby gives you His own eternal Life in place of your death. His indestructible Life in both body and soul, both now and forever, is yours in Him.
Consider that His Body was made desolate upon the Cross, an abomination, cursed by God. In fact, He became a curse, like Shiloh and Jerusalem; and He was destroyed like that once great Temple. But in His Resurrection the Lord your God has established His House on earth for you and for all.
The Lord’s House is found wherever the Word of Christ the Crucified is preached, wherever Holy Baptism is administered in His Name, and wherever His holy Body and precious Blood are given and poured out in remembrance of Him.
Not only that, but as your dear Lord Jesus feeds you with the Fruits of His Cross on the one hand, it is also the case that His Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father, His own crucified and risen Body and His own holy and precious Blood — these are your true and salutary worship of the living God. In Him, you and your thanksgiving are received unto your Father in heaven, and you are saved in the glorious company of the Apostles, the Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints. It is in that company that you stand in your dear Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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