October 15, 2023 – LWML Sunday Text: Psalm 24:7-10
Dear Friends in Christ,
Who in this sanctuary would like to be lifted up? OK then. Please follow me and we will get on the elevator! That makes no sense because I won’t even get on the church elevator. So, let’s try this. Let’s be lifted up together by the Word of God.
Our text from Psalm 24 reminds us that we can be lifted up by the King of glory. We celebrate LWML Sunday and we are blessed to hear that we are . . .
“LIFTED UP BY THE KING OF GLORY”
You hear the words “Lift up your heads, O gates.” Now that could refer to gates being lifted up, but normally in the Bible lifting up is about lifting up your spirits. Lifting up in hope. Lifting up in joy. Lifting up in anticipation. “Lift up your heads, O gates…that the King of glory may come in.” The hope, the joy, the anticipation is that the Lord of glory will come in: “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” (vs. 7-10) Hope and joy erupt when the King of glory will enter into that heavenly home, that glorious place of God’s almighty presence.
But that leads to a question: “When did he leave?” When did the Lord of glory leave that glorious home? The answer is Christmas. From heaven above to earth below came Jesus. He left heaven’s glory to become one of us. You know the word Immanuel – God with us.
We want to be lifted up. We want God with us. We can get mighty low at times. Broken relationships. Broken families. Broken government. Our health problems that drag us down. The continued wars and diseases and poverty and parts of our world seeming to live with no hope. Spirits sag. Attitudes are left wanting. Faith flickers.
Lift up your heads. Our sermon hymn says it this way, “Lift up your heads, 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.”
Jesus with his hands, heals those who are broken. With his heart, He welcomes those who have been left out or damaged, those who seemingly have no hope. With his words, He forgives those who have done wrong with their hands, hearts, and words.
A dark day comes. Jesus hanging on a cross. In his darkness, swirling about Him are the unclean things our hands have done; whatever impure desires, thoughts, and motivations have come from our hearts; whatever hurtful words left our lips. Everything that would keep us from entering God’s almighty presence is there, on Jesus. And God shuts his heavenly gates on Him as Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It is called Good Friday, for on that cross, Jesus gives us forgiveness along with His righteousness and salvation.
Then, on Easter morning, the doors open up again. A stone is rolled away. Jesus is alive. Forty days later, the heavens open again. This time Jesus is ascending into heaven. The disciples are looking up as Jesus rises from their sight. What is happening here? Jesus is entering into His holy place. Lift up your heads, and the disciples are looking up with hope and joy and anticipation. The Lord of glory is entering His heavenly home once again. And why? Jesus entered the gates of heaven to give us righteousness and salvation so that we, too, will one day enter His holy gates.
As the Lord lifts us, we can then be lifters for Jesus. The mission of the LWML is all about lifting up. They lift the church up in prayer. They lift the church up in the giving of their mites. They lift seminarians who need help getting through school. They lift up pregnancy centers who provide support to fathers and mothers. They lift up missionaries as they provide resources for a chapel or a school or bibles or Sunday School materials. They lift up the blind and the lame and the weak. They lift up the cold soul who needs a quilt. They lift up the child who needs school supplies. I invite you to go to their website lwml.org and look at all their mission projects. The King of Glory is shining through their work.
We share in the mission. Opportunities are in our church and district and synod. Get a mite box and lift a weary soul today. Share the Gospel in your corner of the world so that the downtrodden will know of Christ, God’s coming King of glory. He provides redemption and everlasting life. It is what men, women, and children need . . . TO BE LIFTED UP BY THE KING OF GLORY!
Amen.