The Lutheran Hour
-
"Life Narrows Down"
- Download MP3 Reflections
-
Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28
-
O Spirit of God, fill the depth of our souls with the Word of Jesus and trust in Him. These are tempting days, these last days before Christmas. This season is wonderful, the silent and holy night we shall soon celebrate can be most beautiful. But the temptation is to see only a baby and not our Savior. O Holy Spirit, do not depart from us but renew a right spirit within us. Amen.
The days are narrowing down toward Christmas. You’ve probably taken care of many holiday activities during the last weeks. One week left, and you still have some things to do, but we are closer. The days are narrowing down.
So it is in life; it narrows down. When I was a child attending parochial school, memory work was a daily assignment. That was a long time ago, but one passage comes back to me now more than ever before. Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.'” To me as a kid, that sure was a downer! But I understand now. I have seen bad times, and—I don’t like to dwell on this—I’m sure I will see tougher times ahead. You know what I mean. But to the writer of Ecclesiastes I have to say, that whatever is to come, I will find a pleasure in every day, and while evil may seem to have the upper hand in the world, I for one will not call any of my days evil. What’s my reason? God, who created me, has led me to trust Jesus.
Some years ago, I came across two sentences that have had a profound impact upon my spiritual life. I was reading in a book called Devotions for the Chronologically Gifted. You’ve got to love that title: Devotions for the Chronologically Gifted. I was reading a devotion by Rev. Arnold Kuntz. He wrote this: “Life narrows down, and crisis comes. And suddenly only one thing matters, and there, in the narrow place, stands Jesus.”
When I had to memorize Ecclesiastes 12:1, remembering my Creator in the days of my youth, my pastor and teachers were preparing me for life narrowing down. As I grew into my early adult years, life was opening up. Few young people think of life as narrowing; they are alive with hopes and dreams for the future. And so it should be. But even optimistic young adults have days when they say, “I have no pleasure in them.” The prophet Isaiah says, “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:30-31). Sooner or later, the narrowing comes; faith becomes very personal; and we know we are going to our Creator. Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” The wisdom that God gives us is to know and trust His Son Jesus. “Life narrows down, and crisis comes. And suddenly only one thing matters, and there, in the narrow place, stands Jesus.” The poet focuses us on Jesus this way: “Lift up your head, ye mighty gates! Behold, the King of Glory waits; The King of kings is drawing near, The Savior of the world is here. Life and salvation He doth bring, Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing: We praise Thee, Father, now. Creator, wise art Thou! (The Lutheran Hymnal, pg. 73, verse 1)
There is something interesting about the birth of Jesus in the New Testament. The writers don’t talk very much about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, have a total of 89 chapters. Of those 89 chapters, only about three chapters are about Jesus’ birth. Why is that? Because they want to put your focus on the ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Thus, Mark writes nothing about Jesus’ birth, but begins his Gospel with John the Baptist announcing the adult Jesus. Mark begins with these words: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’ John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
So also the evangelist John begins his Gospel with John the Baptist pointing to the adult Jesus. And Matthew and Luke, after they have given their accounts of Jesus’ birth, begin the real story with John the Baptist and the adult Jesus. What you and I need to get right, as the days narrow down to Christmas, is the message of John the Baptist about the ministry of the adult Christ.
John the Baptist “got it.” He understood that we all need a Savior. Life not only narrows down; it tightens like a vise. The judgment upon our sins comes upon us, and there is no way out. You remember your past, remember your sins, how you hurt others, hurt yourself, and broke God’s commandments. You remember your past—but can you do anything about it? No, the vise of judgment tightens. John knew his job was to prepare the way of the Lord, as Isaiah 40:3 says, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,'” but this is an important point: John the Baptist did not know the identity of that Lord, did not know it would be Jesus from Nazareth. Listen, from the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel: “The next day, he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, “After me comes a Man who ranks before me, because He was before me.” I myself did not know Him … I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'”
Why do I say that this is important? Like John the Baptist, you and I do not naturally know that Jesus is the Son of God come to save us from the closing vise of judgment on our sins. When life narrows down, and the great crisis of sin and judgment closes in, God has to show us Jesus, just as He showed John. St. Paul says, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
Dear God, take this down into our hearts. Give us faith to trust Jesus as our Savior! God is mysterious, way above anything I can understand. Do you ever marvel at the photos our telescopes and space probes send back to earth? “How great Thou art!” Francis Rossow, one of our professors at Concordia Seminary, once said, “We know precious little about God, but the little we know is precious.” The precious little God is telling you and [me] is where to look, where to put our faith as life narrows down. John the Baptist didn’t know Jesus of Nazareth as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world until God revealed it to him—and then He believed. The shepherds and the wise men, how did they know the baby was special? It was the Word of God that told them; the Word that they trusted. Why did Joseph endure all the hardships he did for the holy family? Why did Mary ponder all these things in her heart? Because God announced to them who Jesus is, and they believed it. God reveals to us the precious message [of] who the Babe of Bethlehem really is. You can celebrate Christmas with the crowds all the years of your life, but unless the Word is received through faith, you have no way out, as life narrows and crisis comes.
Dear Jesus, give me Your Spirit so that I think past the sentimentality of the manger scene to Your total ministry for me. A popular Christian song by Rick Founds makes the point well: “You came from heaven to earth, to show the way. From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, Lord, I lift Your Name on high.”
There’s a somber reason you and I should apply ourselves these next days to devout fear and love of God. The reason is, God has given mankind the terrible ability to reject His salvation. Oh, you can look religious but not get it right. Some people who came out to hear John the Baptist were not cut to the quick by the preaching of repentance. From John 1, “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us … (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, ‘Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands One you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'”
John gave them the word about Jesus. But here is the terrible truth: the Pharisees and the self-righteous didn’t receive the word with faith. How about you and me? Martin Luther observed that we who are religious are especially tempted to think that there is something in us that in some way merits the grace of God. In the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, Luther wrote, “The person who believes that he can obtain grace by doing what is in him adds sin to sin so that he becomes doubly guilty. Nor does speaking in this manner give cause for despair, but for arousing the desire to humble oneself and seek the grace of Christ. It is certain that man must utterly despair of his own ability before he is prepared to receive the grace of Christ.”
British scholar John Barclay described this as the “supersized” sin, that you and I believe there’s something in our religious life that somehow merits the grace of God. Sixteenth-century theologians called it “Pharisaic pride,” and it can be found among so-called Christians today. I hasten to add that you and I cannot look into the hearts of other people, so leave that judgment to God. Pharisees will find their life narrows and the vise of judgment for sins will tighten on them. By the way, the opposite of Pharisaic pride is what the old theologians called “Epicurean indifference.” The Epicureans were an ancient school of philosophy who said that the gods didn’t matter. That abounds in today’s culture. “You have your opinion; I have mine. Who are you to tell me my opinion is wrong?” To whom will they turn when the inevitable crisis comes?
The good news is that some Pharisees—like Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, and Paul, an exemplary Pharisee—some Pharisees did take the message of repentance to heart. Luke tells us that many believed the word John preached to them. Reading from St. Luke 3: “And the crowds asked Him, ‘What then shall we do?’ And He answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’ Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to Him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And He said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’ Soldiers also asked Him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, but be content with your wages.’
“As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn. But the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.”
What’s the Good News today? It is this: that life narrows down, and we look to Jesus. How does the narrowing come to you? Through advancing age? Through illness? Through adversity? Yes, such troubles come and should shift our focus more and more to the eternal. The best narrowing comes through daily repentance. We are not to go into the wilderness just once to hear John’s message and then return to our old ways of doing things. Young people should not put repentance off until gray hairs. Busy adults should not put off repentance until they imagine they will have more leisure time. Who knows how much time any of us has? Hebrews 12 says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” The good news today is that the narrowing of life is inevitable, but when the crisis of judgment for our sins comes upon us, there stands Jesus. Therefore, in the words of the hymn-writer, “Fling wide the portals of your heart; make it a temple set apart from earthly use for Heaven’s employ, adorned with prayer and love and joy. So shall your Sovereign enter in, and new and nobler life begin. To Thee, O God, be praise, For word and deed and grace!
“Redeemer, come! I open wide my heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide! Let me Thine inner presence feel, Thy grace and love in me reveal; Thy Holy Spirit guide us on, until our glorious goal is won. Eternal praise and fame we offer to Thy Name.” Amen. (The Lutheran Hymnal, pg. 73, verses 4-5)
Reflections for August 31, 2025
Title: Life Narrows DownMark Eischer: As we get older, limitations increase, possibilities decrease. Life becomes a narrow place, and that’s where Jesus finds us. Join us for a classic message from Dr. Dale Meyer today on The Lutheran Hour. I’m Mark Eischer. Glad to be with you once again as we conclude our 92nd broadcast season. Throughout all these years, The Lutheran Hour has been entirely listener supported. To learn how your gifts and prayers help in bringing Christ to the nations and the nations to the church, go to lutheranhour.org. Now, to introduce today’s message, here is Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Michael Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. I am joined in the studio once more by Rev. Dr. Ryan Tinetti. He’s a professor of preaching at Concordia Seminary here in St. Louis. Welcome to the program again, Ryan.
Ryan Tinetti: Thanks, Mike.
Michael Zeigler: We’ve been listening to sermons from our archives during this last month of August. And today we’re going to hear a sermon from Dr. Dale Meyer, [from] not too long ago. It was recorded in December of 2017, and Pastor Tinetti and I both had the honor of having Dr. Dale Meyer as our president of the seminary while we were students there. Do you have a memory of Dale Meyer, Ryan?
Ryan Tinetti: Well, it’s interesting now. So as you say, I’m a professor of preaching, so I teach future preachers. And Dale Meyer, while he was president, he also would teach preaching classes. I didn’t have him. And so my memories of him are not so much in the pulpit or at the lectern, but on the gator, on that green all-purpose vehicle, the vehicle that he would cruise around campus and help out with landscaping. Oftentimes, he’d be accompanied by his faithful golden retriever, I think it was. And so, just seeing him not afraid to get his hands dirty, I really appreciate that about Dale Meyer.
Michael Zeigler: You just saying that reminds me of the time I walked into the president’s office, and I saw he had some shirts hanging up in the closet. And one was the shirt of the maintenance crew, and he had the name tag “Dale.” And again, it speaks to the kind of man that he is and was as the president. He was not afraid to get into the work and to be among the people. So here’s Dr. Meyer. The sermon comes from December of 2017, and he speaks of how the days are narrowing down to Christmas.
(Conversation resumes after the sermon)
Mark Eischer: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour. It’s Archives August, and that was Dr. Dale Meyer with a message that originally aired in December of 2017. You’ll find other previous broadcasts and online resources at our website, lutheranhour.org. Once again, here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Michael Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. So, Ryan, we’ve been discussing how the Old Testament is asking this question: “Are you the One who is to come or shall we look for another?” You quoted that at the beginning and appropriately, this sermon is about John the Baptist, the man who first asked Jesus that question. Are You the One? And now we finally get the answer, yes, He’s the guy. But all of the whole story up until this point has been narrowing down. Are you my messiah? We’ve asked, and the answer keeps being, no, no, no. But now finally we’ve arrived. So talk us through, how does the Old Testament narrow down on Jesus?
Ryan Tinetti: You can almost picture the story like a funnel where it starts big. I mean, at the beginning of the Old Testament, beginning of the Bible, it’s encompassing all of creation. And then it narrows down a little bit more to a particular people, to Abram (later, Abraham) and his descendants after him. And so now we’re kind of narrowed in into the people of Israel. And as we get into the story of the Israelites, we see how it seems like it’s getting smaller and smaller. The prophets will later lament that it seems like this remnant is, it’s just a few. And yet God is still faithful. He’s preserving and providing for His people. But by the time we get to what was called the exile, where the people of God were, the Israelites were led away out of their homeland, into another land, into a foreign land, things have just gotten to the very bottom where it’s just now, it’s like it’s all narrowing down. And I hear that, and I just hear that now it’s narrowed down until it’s just like that vise grip. It has just been totally, the life has been totally choked out of them.
Michael Zeigler: You think of the funneling. So, if there’s no other options, then now we can be completely focused on the One. And there Jesus appears in that narrow place as the One.
Ryan Tinetti: Yeah, it’s almost like at the end of the Old Testament now the curtain falls, but then as it rises again in the New Testament, as the spotlight is on this little, young woman, young lady, Mary, and she’s just in this out of the way place, and now God is going to do a new thing, as all of history has funneled down and narrowed down into this Life that is going to be brought forth in her womb as God is going to enter history, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. It can’t get narrower than that, of this one single life. But out of this life now, of our Lord Jesus, it’s going to radiate out and the funnel is going to be reversed, to widen and encompass all creation history.
Michael Zeigler: So, we read the Old Testament, and we learn to how to read our own lives. And, well, starting just in the grand scale in history, history has this sense of narrowing down. Every empire narrows down, every government, every experiment tends to narrow down. You think, this sermon was preached pre-COVID, and how the world has changed. And for a lot of us, narrowed down in that time of the pandemic, and we talked last week about Dr. Hoffmann’s sermon, preaching during the Cuban Missile crisis. There’s a time when it felt like life was narrowing down. The possibilities were getting fewer and fewer. This is just what we experience in a grand scale. And personally, he talked about illness and injuries and loss of loved ones. Life narrows down.
Ryan Tinetti: Yeah, it happens in the course of a life, you think of when someone loses their ability to drive, for instance, and just the range in which you’re able to experience life can get smaller and smaller. But I love how he put it, that in that narrow place, that’s where we meet Jesus. And that’s where He is there for us, precisely in those moments when we feel crunched, when we feel like it’s all narrowed down. And like Peter plaintively put it, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” He is our one and lasting remedy. He is the One who brings the words of life. He is the One who meets us in the narrow place in order to deliver us out of it and to bring us into the wide place of the eternal home that He has created already for us. And that now, even in this life by faith, we can already enjoy and live into that freedom of the children of God. We’re able to approach all of Scripture, New Testament and Old, all of life, big, small, and everything in between, and see that He is there present, working for us, even if in a hidden way.
Michael Zeigler: Well, thank you so much for joining us with this walk through the Old Testament and the sermons from our archives. We love hearing from you and hope to hear from you again soon, Ryan.
Ryan Tinetti: Thanks, Mike. It’s been a blessing.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Crucifer” by Sydney H. Nicholson, arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Son of God, Eternal Savior” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.