Brothers and sisters in Christ, beware of getting hyped up to serve God! And beware of those who are hyped up to serve God! Beware of those who think and act as if the Lord would not be the Lord without THEIR help and service! Jesus says, “The hour is coming when anyone who puts you to death will consider that He is doing a service for God.” You know these kinds of folks. Think about the Muslim who straps on his dynamite vest and blows up a bus full of children. He has done a good work for his god's glory! Think about the fanatic who calls himself a Christian and shows just how much he will serve his god by blowing up an abortion clinic! Just think about anyone who has done this or that for God's service and looks down on you because you have not. Consider how someone who has “chosen” to follow Jesus will look down on you and even hassle you if all you trust in is your Baptism into Christ. Brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, don't get all hyped up for Jesus. Don't begin to live your life as if all you do is some sort of service to God. Don't think for a moment that God needs anything from you! You know who needs your service? Not God! Your neighbor does! No one who is confident of their salvation in Christ and knows their neighbor needs their service will have time to go on personal crusades to harm others because they are all jacked up for the Lord!
Jesus words today: “In this world you will have tribulation, trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” St. Peter writes the same in his epistle, warning us that in these last days we will suffer for doing good. Dear children of God, the greatest threat we will face is not always from those who deny that there is a God, but from those who not only believe in a god, but think they are his chosen instruments to bring about his kingdom. Hear Jesus again: “The hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he does a service for God.” St. Paul, when he was still Saul, the Top Pharisee, thought like this. When he was off to kill Christians, he was absolutely convinced he was doing God's Work. Until the Lord knocked him off his high horse and brought him to repentance and baptism and faith. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the devil is always looking for a way for us to prove that we're on God's side, that we're all on fire for the Lord and hyped up for his service. That's because the devil knows he can twist such zeal into his own weapons for ruining lives and causing misery. Believe it! Beloved in Christ, where does Jesus ever ask or demand such service from us? Over and over in the Scriptures we see that it is God who rescues us. It is the Lord who saves. It is our Savior who has a holy zeal to be obedient to the Father to save us from our sins. And for what? Not for us to pay Him back by showing how many infidels we can kill. He does it so that we can render the true service: to our neighbor. Brothers and sisters in Christ, DON'T get all hyped up by getting on God's side! As if the Lord can't be the Lord without YOU to help Him. Rather, fall down and beg that the Lord would be on YOUR side and rescue you from sin and death.
Jesus promises that the Spirit will come and testify about HIM. Jesus also tells the apostles that they too will bear witness to Christ. This is the church, dear Christians, where the Spirit gathers God's people and through the preaching office, the ministry of the pastor, testifies of JESUS. The one comfort we have in this world, against all persecution, against all suffering and tribulation—the one comfort we have is that the Holy Spirit gives us Jesus. And not just any Jesus. The Jesus who speaks to us today telling us that we will suffer but to take heart because He has overcome the world. Christians suffer because Jesus suffered. But Jesus suffers to save sinners. Into a world that wants nothing to do with its Creator, the Son of God comes in the flesh to carry our sins to Calvary and drown them in His blood. Christ came, not to show His holiness and prove to the world how godly and holy He was. He came to demonstrate God's love for us by dying in our place on the cross. And He came not to set up an army of zealots to judge and kill on this earth, but to send forth preachers to extend His kingdom by the Spirit preaching through them and delivering the forgiveness of sins.
And that is OUR comfort, brothers and sisters in Christ. When you suffer, when you are sick, when you have trials and burdens, but most of all, when you suffer for bearing the name of Jesus—don't take any comfort other than what the Spirit gives you: the ministry of Jesus. Look to the preaching of Christ to comfort you against sin and death and persecution and suffering. Look to the waters of the font in which the Lord has promised He is on your side to save and deliver you. Look to the comfort of Holy Absolution by which Jesus lifts up the humble sinner and fills him with forgiveness. Take comfort in the body and blood of Jesus which was offered up for you and is now served to you to keep you in the faith. Believe, dear children, that your salvation, your standing with God is not anchored in what service you give to Him, but what He gives to you in His Divine Service of Word and Sacrament.
Many people are too busy “serving” God to serve their neighbor. They think that they serve God by showing how much they glorify Him to other people. This is where true fanaticism comes from! But you, dear Christian, don't you worry about serving God in a way that seeks to impress Him! Don't you get all hyped up for Jesus! Why? Because He has served you! Jesus has accomplished salvation for you and He gives that salvation to you as He serves you with His gifts. Therefore, you don't need to offer a service to God, but rather to your neighbor! In fact Christ's salvation frees you to do this! Because you don't need to worry about getting on God's good side, you can spend your time doing the good works the people around you need to you do for them. In other words, don't view service as something God needs from you but that your neighbor needs from you. THIS service to neighbor is the true service of God. After all, Jesus does say, “Worship the Lord your God and Him only you will serve.” So don't misunderstand me to say that we don't serve Got at all. Rather, true service of God IS service to your neighbor. Or, to put it the other way 'round: serving your neighbor is the true service we render to God. After all, Jesus says, “Whatsoever you have done to the least of these my brethren, you have done to Me.” The world doesn't understand this type of service and so it thinks to serve God directly as if we could do anything for Him! So, get hyped up for your neighbor! Husbands and wives, love and serve one another; parents, do the good work of taking care of your kids and raising them in the faith; children honor and obey your parents. Do a good job wherever you work. Whatever your calling, carry it out! This is the true way to glorify God: by living in His gifts while serving those around you who need you to do so.
Ezekiel preaches to the house of Israel which profaned God's name among the nations. They did so by following their own religious ideas instead of worshiping the Lord and serving Him by serving the people around them. Nevertheless, the Lord in His mercy rescued them, washed them and gave them new hearts. He has done the same for you. He has rescued you from this world, baptized you into Christ and given you a new heart and His Holy Spirit. Now, freed from trying to do false service to God you can keep God's name holy among the people around you: by living in the forgiveness of sins and caring for those whom the Lord has placed around you in your life. Brothers and sisters, the time is short! Christ will be here again soon! Therefore glorify God, not by doing false works of service, but by giving true service to your neighbor (and thereby to the Lord). And when you suffer and are persecuted for a faith which trusts only in Christ, then rejoice and remember Jesus' words! And know His promise that the Spirit who testifies of HIM will keep you from stumbling and will keep you unto eternal life and the crown of glory that awaits you. In Jesus' name. Amen.