Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel
The Third Sunday of Easter
Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 8:00 and 10:15 a.m.
“The Word of the Lord Remains Forever”
(1 Peter 1:25)
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thirty-eight years ago a scholar by the name of Alvin Toffler wrote a best-selling book entitled Future Shock.
Although he wrote from a purely secular perspective, what he said connects with what the Apostle Peter wrote almost
two thousand years ago about how temporary are the people and the things of this life. Toffler wrote about what was
then the emerging super-industrial world, tomorrow’s family life, the rise of new businesses, subcultures,
lifestyles and human relationships — all of them temporary. He wrote about the difficulty we human beings
have adapting to change and described how the rate of change in our lives always is accelerating, coming at us more
rapidly every day. He sought to offer assistance based on human wisdom alone. I wonder if anyone remembers his
name or the title of his book thirty-eight years later.
The fact is that change happens in our lives every day. And it does seem that Toffler was correct in saying that the rate
at which change occurs and impacts our lives is ever-increasing. That does cause stress, anxiety, and a host of other
problems for people.
Humorists made frequent use of our difficulty in handling change, our reluctance to change. The question has been
asked, “How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?” It also has been asked of other
Bible-believing Christian denominations. The answer usually is the same, regardless of what denomination you
choose. The answer is “None,” because, well, plug in whatever name you choose: “Missouri
Synod Lutherans” – or some other denomination – “never change.”
But after a chuckle or even a hearty laugh, the truth is that every person and every thing does change and constantly
is changing. You are not the same person you were one year ago, or one month ago, or even one week ago. The
world around us constantly is changing. The vehicles we drive today bear little resemblance to Henry Ford’s
Model T. My late grandfather and his family traveled by wagon from his birthplace in western Pennsylvania to the
area around Louisiana, Missouri, and even further west. Before he died, he still could point out the area north of
Springfield where they camped one night. The next day they made very good time. They made it all the way to
Jacksonville. And before he died, he saw men walking on the moon. Talk about change. Each of us can give
examples of the changes we have seen in our own lives.
We cannot escape change. And we need not live in fear of change. For God in His grace has given us the one thing
which is imperishable and unchanging. He has given us His life-giving, life-changing, life-sustaining Word —
the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Savior. As we grow up and as we grow older and as we grow old, the Gospel of Christ
Jesus our Savior always is the same. The Word of the Lord remains forever. As our economy goes from boom to bust
and back to boom, repeating that cycle over and over, the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Savior always is the same. Th
Word of the Lord remains forever. As our bodies grow strong and mature and then as the effects of disease and of
living in an imperfect world take their toll on us, the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Savior always is the same. The Word
of the Lord remains forever. As industries grow and flourish and as employment opportunities expand, and then as
industries close and move to foreign countries and employment opportunities decline and change, the Gospel of Christ
Jesus our Savior always is the same. The Word of the Lord remains forever. As one political party becomes prominent
and then is replaced by another, as our society’s moral values seem to change, as the organized churches
seem to thrive and then to falter, the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Savior always is the same. The Word of the Lord
remains forever.
Some of us are very properly troubled by the declaration of our Synod’s president that “This is not your
grandfather’s church anymore.” Some of us wish for a return to a more scripturally sound practice
throughout our synod while others rejoice in the change. The Gospel of Christ Jesus our Savior always is the same.
The Word of the Lord remains forever.
As we continue to celebrate our Savior’s resurrection and the great victory He has won for us over death and
the grave, we also celebrate the great security that Christ Jesus is for us. The Apostle Peter reminds us that the fall
into sin and our need for a Savior did not take God by surprise, calling for a hastily patched together rescue attempt.
Peter wrote about Jesus that “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world.”1
In the eternal past God knew that we would need a Savior. He knew all that His Son, true God and true man, would
do to accomplish our redemption. And in the course of time, the Son of God was born a human infant, lived for us the
perfect life that we cannot live, died as the atoning sacrifice for our sin, taking upon Himself the punishment we
deserved, and then rose in victory to make known publicly the fact that our redemption is complete. Divine justice
has been satisfied fully and completely.
The cost of our redemption is beyond our ability to comprehend. We like to think of silver and gold as imperishable
and therefore quite valuable. But God knows otherwise. The day will come when all the silver and all the gold and
all that the people of this world value so highly will be destroyed completely. The price of our redemption was far
greater than the combined value of all the silver and all the gold that can be found in the entire universe. So Peter
reminds us that we were ransomed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ,”2 which He shed for us on the cross. And in the face of all the change that
occurs in our lives and in the history of the universe, the only thing that never loses its value is “the precious
blood of Christ,” the price of our redemption.
Just consider what has happened to the price of gold. At the time I was ordained almost thirty-eight years ago,
the price of gold was fixed by government decree at thirty-five dollars an ounce. But that changed a few years later
and now gold is selling for about one thousand dollars an ounce. But no matter how high the price of silver and gold
may go in the market places of the world, it always is infinitesimal compared to the value of the blood of Jesus with
which our redemption was secured.
And in His grace for us, our Savior once again today gives us His body to eat and His blood to drink in His holy
Sacrament, so that we may live in the security and peace which are ours in the assurance of the forgiveness of
all our sins.
It is this Gospel which has been preached through all history. Before Christ came, His prophets proclaimed the
promises of God and all that the coming Savior would do to ransom His people. And since Jesus’
resurrection, the Gospel of His completed work of our redemption has been proclaimed openly in all the world.
Through all the passing centuries, in the face of all the changes that have happened in our world, this
“Good News that was preached to you”3 has remained unchanged.
It has been and always will be the one unchanging source of security and peace and life for all who trust in
Christ Jesus.
“The Word of the Lord remains forever.” During the sixteenth century, the Lutheran princes in
Germany and the people of their lands who believed the Gospel of salvation through grace through faith in
Christ Jesus alone adopted this verse from Peter’s first letter as their motto and encouragement.
They faced extermination through the warfare being inflicted upon them by their enemies. They had no idea
how things would turn out. But they trusted God’s Word and promises in Christ Jesus. “The
Word of the Lord remains forever.”
As we face a world in which change is not merely constant but accelerating, as we witness the faults and
failings of all human institutions and organizations, as we find our Christian faith and values being challenged
by what has been called the “secular progressive” movement in our society, and as we witness
the very real challenge to the Gospel posed by the fact that Islam and Mormonism are among the most rapidly
growing religions in our world, we remain secure and at peace because “the Word of the Lord remains
forever.”
And in our daily lives, as each of us grapples with the changes that are a constant part of our own lives, we
remain secure and at peace because “the Word of the Lord remains forever.” Amen.
1. 1 Peter 1:20
2. 1 Peter 1:18b–19a
3. 1 Peter 1:25
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