The Lutheran Hour
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"Between Now and Eternity There Is Much to Do!"
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Text: Jude 1:20-25
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The Word of God for today comes from the letter of St. Jude 1:20-25. And it says, But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
We begin under the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The one who ignores history is condemned to repeat the same mistakes.” I have heard these words many times. They sound to me like a warning that I should not ignore what has happened in the past, or pretend that it never happened.
The letter of St. Jude is based on this idea of not ignoring history. It was written to warn and encourage Christians of his time. And, as history repeats itself, the warnings and words of encouragement of St. Jude are relevant to us today as well.
In the same way there is a history of the world, with its wars and peace treaties, with its natural catastrophes and devastating pandemics, with fantastic discoveries and incredible accomplishments like reaching the moon and beyond, so also there is a history of salvation, which is the history of God in this world. This history is also the history of the people of God, of the church, and of each Christian in particular.
So, alongside the history of salvation there is a parallel history of the world where God is not the center. The characters in this world history drift aimlessly, without knowing when and where they will arrive.
This is the context from which St. Jude writes to us, to you and to me, because you and I have our own history. These warnings and these words of consolation, encouragement, and hope that St. Jude wrote so many years ago are for you and me.
Where do we stand in our history? I’ll say that we are at halftime, in an intermission. We are in the present, on the way to eternity. On one occasion a friend confessed to another: “I don’t want to die.” “Oh, don’t worry,” replied the other, “you’re going to live forever.” The question is where? Where will we spend that eternity? Those of us who were rescued by the mercy of God are today protagonists in the history of salvation. We are part of the people of God, with our faith, our doubts, our sins that annoy us, that hurt others, and offend God. However, despite this, we move towards eternity, thanks to the divine goodness that, in Christ Jesus, constantly forgives us and reaffirms us in faith and in the hope of spending eternity with Him.
St. Jude shows us how to live in this halftime, in this intermission, between our history and eternity. St. Jude does that mainly so we do not make the same mistakes the disobedient people of old did, and so that we live free of guilt, and free of fear and anxieties. While we are in this intermission, while you wait, says St. Jude, for God’s mercy to be fully manifested at the end of time, build “yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Thus, in order to not repeat the mistakes of the past, we don’t just sit down and wait, nor get bored waiting for God to come back once and for all to take us out of this corrupted and sinful world.
We are called to wait in action, to wait dynamically. There is so much to do in the kingdom of God! There are so many people in distress, trapped in guilt and despair. There are so many broken relationships that don’t find the way to reconciliation, and there are some people that don’t even want to reconcile because they’ve gotten used to being bitter and angry with everyone.
I do not need to describe the consequences of sin in the life and history of mankind much more. Let us instead concentrate on the active waiting that God proposes so that we are edified in faith, so that we do not remain stagnant like a half-finished building. By keeping ourselves in daily prayer, in the study and the meditation of the Word of God, in the teachings of Christ, and especially in His life, death, and resurrection, we can practice all that God expects of us.
To encourage us to edify ourselves and remain in the faith, St. Jude focuses us on the moment when our eternity will begin, which is the moment when God’s mercy will be shown in all its fullness when Jesus returns to take us to His home. Perhaps you have already experienced God’s mercy. Perhaps you already live in the peace that comes from knowing that God has forgiven all your sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice for you. Perhaps you already hope to spend eternity with God who is gracious and merciful. If this is the case, we thank God. That is also my faith and my hope. But while we wait, sometimes faith doubts, and mercy is not easily perceived, and the future looks fuzzy, and we become discouraged at seeing so much human misery spinning around us, and sickness concerns us while others hurt us, and we see a lot of uncertainty that worries us.
All these things happen to us while we wait, that is why we cannot sit down and wait, because that way we are easy targets for the evil one. Our waiting is active in faith, always walking hand in hand with our Lord Jesus Christ, who, through the Holy Spirit, keeps us on a straight path and confident in His company.
What are we going to do as we wait for the glorious return of Jesus? We are going to show those around us that we have learned something from history, from our history, and from the history of salvation, and because of that we are going to practice mercy. Our text tells us: “Have mercy on those who doubt.” Of course, there are those who doubt God and His love. Even we ourselves, many times, when we do not see the mercies of God, when we have only ears to hear calamities and eyes to see meanness, deceit, and sin, we doubt that God loves us, or that He can forgive us or that He even takes interest in us. Doubts did not begin or end with the disciple Thomas who said: “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25b). Doubts continue to exist among the people who are part of the history of salvation. Therefore, let us “have mercy on those who doubt.” Remember what the book of Lamentations says in chapter 3. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23a).
When we doubt divine mercy, God opens our eyes to see His love and care in His Word, in worship, and often through Christians around us. Surely, someone has been merciful to you, with your doubts, your mistakes, and your uncertainty. I know about that, I have had, thank God, people who listened to me without judging me, and who encouraged me to see the mercies of God that are renewed every morning.
St. Jude encourages us to snatch from the fire and to save those who are burning, or worse, those who, if they do not come to repentance and faith, will spend eternity in hell. These words are tremendously moving, because we have family or friends who have no hope of seeing God’s mercy. St. Jude tells us: “Do something about it!” You know, someone did it for you, and someone did it for me. Perhaps we did not even realize that we were on the verge of falling into the abyss of hell. But, God, in His mercy, sent someone to keep us safe, and He did it with the hand of Jesus, a hand that is tender and strong at the same time. It is with the hand of Jesus that we can reach people who doubt and those who are on the path of eternal danger.
The final exhortation in our Bible reading today is that we exercise compassion. Can you imagine living without compassion? Without mercy, life would become aggressive, harsh, bitter. St. Jude tells us: “To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” He does not say their stained garments meant they were lepers or had some other contagious and deadly disease! What a way to say to us, “Call sinners to repentance compassionately, mercifully, and in fear, but do not get involved in their sins.”
Think about how God had mercy on us. He did that when, seeing that we were consumed by confusion and despair, and that our eternal destiny was the fire of hell, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to call us to repentance. Christ Jesus showed us His compassion without contaminating Himself with our sin! When Jesus was judged and sentenced to death on the cross, He did not die for His own sin, because He was always the holy Son of God who had no spot or sin. But He died for your sin and mine. This is how He rescued us so that we would not spend an eternity away from Him. To have compassion and to practice mercy is to put yourself in the place of others without getting infected with their sin or their unbelief.
What a task God has given Christians: to actively wait for God’s mercy to manifest itself. How did the early Christians actively wait? How did our parents or those who have brought us to faith wait in action? They looked at Jesus and learned from Him how to be merciful, how to rescue sinners without judging them, and how to practice compassion without defilement. Those who did so, had in mind these final words of St. Jude: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
The same Jesus who, making a new history, brought His church here, will continue to guide and care for her until she is received in eternity. What a magnificent Savior we have. He makes us part of His history, and despite our sin, with great joy He presents us blameless before God the Father so that we may be part of His eternal history.
Dear friend, join me in asking God to guide us through life holding Jesus’ hand. We pray.
Dear Father, we thank You for rescuing us from sin and eternal death. You are an awesome God, and we recognize You as the Lord of heaven and earth and of time and eternity. Keep us in the true faith, that we might actively wait for Jesus’ Second Coming, practicing mercy among those around us. In the precious Name of our Savior Jesus. Amen.
Reflections for November 21, 2021
Title: Between Now and Eternity There Is Much to Do
Mark Eischer: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour. For FREE online resources, archived audio, our mobile app, and more, go to lutheranhour.org. Now back to our Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Michael Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. I am visiting today with Rev. Hector Hoppe, whose voice you just heard in the message today. Thank you for being here with us today.
Hector Hoppe: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Michael Zeigler: And thank you for your word. I like that idea and image of active waiting. For this last Sunday of the church here, that’s a good thing to keep in mind, to wait actively. And also joining us is Rev. Hoppe’s wife, Beatriz Hoppe. Bea, where were you born?
Beatriz Hoppe: I was born in Uruguay, in Montevideo, the capitol city.
Michael Zeigler: Yeah.
Beatriz Hoppe: So, we are a very small country, but with a big heart, and a beautiful country, I must say. Not that I am biased, but yeah, beautiful country.
Michael Zeigler: Big heart, beautiful country. Hector, where were you born?
Hector Hoppe: I was born in Argentina.
Michael Zeigler: What is something that you grew to appreciate about your home country and culture, Hector?
Hector Hoppe: There are too many things. I spent 40 years in my country, so I was born, raised, educated, and trained as a pastor. I did my first work in the church being a pastor. And I was born in a Lutheran family. My dad was a pastor so that part of my history in that country is very strong. If you haven’t been there, it’s called the “Country of the Five Continents” because we have rainforest, big mountains, snow, glaciers, ocean, deserts, and you name it. It is beautiful by itself, and I’m part of the history of that country.
Michael Zeigler: 40 years there, you said.
Hector Hoppe: Yes.
Michael Zeigler: Before moving to the United States.
Hector Hoppe: Yes.
Michael Zeigler: All right. And Bea, what is something that you grew to appreciate about Uruguay.
Beatriz Hoppe: Mainly the people. Uruguay is a very European country, just like Argentina. Hector grew up in a German household. I grew up in a Spanish-Italian household. Okay?
Michael Zeigler: Okay.
Beatriz Hoppe: So totally different.
Michael Zeigler: All right.
Beatriz Hoppe: It just so happened that God had different plans than we had in our minds.
Michael Zeigler: He brought you two together.
Beatriz Hoppe: Yeah.
Hector Hoppe: Yeah.
Beatriz Hoppe: Totally unexpected.
Michael Zeigler: And then together, you went on this journey to come to the United States. Hector, what was something difficult for you in that transition coming to a new culture?
Hector Hoppe: Well, guess what? Language. We had an experience some years before we came to live when I studied in Fort Wayne, and I remember the struggle of learning another language.
Michael Zeigler: Bea, what was something that was difficult for you, in addition to the language?
Beatriz Hoppe: I think, no, not so much the language. I had been here as an exchange student, when I was 17 so I had pretty much learned it. But more relationships, I think. Our cultures are very warm, very, very relationship…
Hector Hoppe: Festive.
Beatriz Hoppe: Huh?
Hector Hoppe: Festive.
Beatriz Hoppe: Yes.
Hector Hoppe: Loud.
Beatriz Hoppe: Relationship oriented, and we are very open, and we know somebody, and we become friends very easily, and we open up, and we share life very easily. Now having said that, we came here with the support of the church, and we were immersed in the church here. So, our experience is totally different from 99 percent of the other immigrants that come to this country, that don’t have a support system. Our support system was huge.
Michael Zeigler: Sure.
Beatriz Hoppe: And we are thankful for that.
Hector Hoppe: Yeah.
Beatriz Hoppe: But on a personal level, that’s I think what I miss the most. Yeah.
Hector Hoppe: See, this is very interesting for immigrants. This is what the church does for you. It becomes your family and your friends. That’s why it gives you a hint on how to do your ministry among immigrants, of any kind.
Michael Zeigler: Well, thank you both for sharing some of your history, your struggles, your challenges, and that’s exactly what you spoke of in the sermon today, Hector, of this history. And our history as God’s people, as you mentioned, is unique. It is centered on God and what He’s done in Jesus Christ. And that’s what you two have made your lives about, sharing that history of salvation with others.
Hector Hoppe: True.
Michael Zeigler: Beatriz, you work with us on staff here at Lutheran Hour Ministries to produce Spanish-language ministry resources.
Beatriz Hoppe: Yeah.
Michael Zeigler: And Hector also you’re involved. Why are you passionate about Spanish language outreach?
Beatriz Hoppe: I think that I am well positioned to do what I’m doing because I live in both cultures. I can live in both cultures and kind of understand both cultures. And I see the need that there is in the Hispanic population here in the states for Christian resources that can help them, first of all, have a relationship with Christ, which is the most important thing. And second, live better lives. We can assume that most of the Hispanics that are here come from a Catholic background. Now that doesn’t mean that they go to church. That doesn’t mean that they have a very active faith life, but it does mean in most of the cases, especially in the Hispanic Catholic church, that they don’t know what the Bible says. They don’t know that God has an answer for the daily life. They don’t know that the Bible speaks to them as persons, to them as man and wives, to their daily struggles, to them raising kids. They don’t know that the Word of God is a living thing, that can affect and change their lives for the better.
Hector Hoppe: Yeah.
Michael Zeigler: And Hector, you’re carrying on a long tradition with Lutheran Hour Ministries of voicing a Spanish sermon.
Hector Hoppe: That’s right.
Michael Zeigler: That’s something that Lutheran Hour Ministries had done for 30 years through Dr. Andrew Melendez.
Hector Hoppe: Yes.
Michael Zeigler: He was the Spanish Speaker of the Lutheran Hour.
Hector Hoppe: Yeah.
Michael Zeigler: Now you’re carrying on that tradition. We have a weekly sermon in Spanish that you voice.
Hector Hoppe: For me sharing God’s love and compassion is a way of life. I cannot imagine another life, a different life, than that.
Hector Hoppe: So I have a special interest in the immigrants, of any kind, not only Spanish, because they are uprooted. They come, especially the new ones, man, they need a country, they need family, they need somebody. And God is the first somebody there. And we need to help them to find a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what Beatriz was saying. They don’t have that. They don’t remember. They don’t acknowledge that God can be there every time for them. So, it fulfills my life to be able to fulfill their lives with the love of Christ.
Michael Zeigler: As you said, we don’t sit down and wait.
Hector Hoppe: We cannot, no. No.
Michael Zeigler: While we are waiting for Jesus to come, it’s an active waiting.
Hector Hoppe: Yeah.
Michael Zeigler: A waiting by showing people mercy and compassion. Thank you both for what you do, and God bless you as you continue in that good work.
Beatriz Hoppe: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Hector Hoppe: Yeah. Thank you.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House)