#2 - Hymn 714 - Jesus, Your Boundless Love to Me

This Sunday in worship we focus on the Savior of humanity saving a couple from public shame at their wedding. Jesus reveals himself as true God in his first miracle of changing ordinary water into wedding wine. 

The Hymn of the Day is #714 – Jesus, Your Boundless Love to Me.” The hymn’s author is Paul Gerhardt. Gerhardt is considered the greatest hymn writer Lutheranism every produced. He wrote over 130 hymns in his lifetime. 22 of those hymns are included in our new blue Christian Worship hymnal.  

Gerhardt’s life was filled with hardship, but his faith remained firm. The texts of his hymns are powerful and poetic; deep and doctrinal.  

Gerhardt’s original hymn has 16 verses. Our hymnal includes four of those verses.  

The first verse: “Jesus, your boundless love to me No thought can reach, no tongue declare. Dwell in my heart eternally, And reign without a rival there. To you alone, dear Lord, I live; Myself to you, dear Lord, I give.”  

If you listen to modern Christian music, much of it centers on the Christian’s love toward God. Loving God is a great thing. But Gerhardt puts the emphasis for loving God where it belongs – that God loves us first with a boundless love through Jesus Christ.  

Verse two: “Oh, grant that nothing in my soul May dwell but your pure love alone; Oh, may your love possess me whole, My joy, my treasure, and my crown! All coldness from my heart remove; My ev’ry act, word, thought be love.” 

Before we can respond warmly in love to God, God the Holy Spirit must first remove the coldness of our hearts. Based on God’s action of loving us with the pure love in giving us his Son, now we can react with our actions, words and thoughts of love.  

St. Paul puts it this way in this Sunday’s epistle lesson: “I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he would strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then, being rooted and grounded in love, I pray that you would be able to comprehend, along with all the saints, how wide and long and high and deep his love is, and that you would be able to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16–19). 

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring Christ to us so that he might dwell in our hearts through faith. This results in us “being rooted and grounded in love.” Martin Luther explains it this way in his Small Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” 

Verse three: “This love unwearied I pursue And dauntlessly to you aspire. Oh, may your love my hope renew, Burn in my soul like heav’nly fire! And day and night be all my care To guard this sacred treasure there.” 

If you want to be more loving to your spouse or desire for your children to be more loving to you, then all of you need to be filled with the love of God. Pursue God’s love. Aspire to be filled with God’s love. Pray for your soul to become a heavenly fire set ablaze by the love of God. You cannot have a natural love for others until you are first filled with the supernatural love of God. “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19).  

Verse four: “In suff’ring be your love my peace; In weakness be your love my pow’r; And when the storms of life shall cease, O Jesus, in that final hour Be then my rod and staff and guide And draw me safely to your side.” 

In his last verse, Gerhardt speaks of the final hour of a believer’s life. We desire to be guided by the Good Shepherd’s rod and staff to his side in the green pastures and quiet waters of paradise. We can wait patiently and confidently because our earthly suffering is replaced with heavenly peace. Our human weakness is surpassed by God’s divine power. All this is given to you by God’s divine love.  

Love shown by a God who cared enough to save newlyweds from embarrassment on their wedding day. Love shown by a God who cared enough to save sinful humanity from hellish punishment on Judgment Day.  

Listen to Jesus, Your Boundless Love to Me on YouTube. Then hear it again this Sunday in worship. Be filled with Christ’s boundless love so you may respond with love to God and God’s people.  

We end with St. Paul’s beautiful benediction in Ephesians: ”Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 4:20-21). 

https://youtu.be/1SQjWQeH5ww 

#3 - Hymn 387 - Arise, Your Light Is Come

This Sunday in worship we hear how Jesus was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth. In the Nazareth synagogue, Jesus read Isaiah 61 and related that these verses were spoken as prophecy and fulfillment in him. Isaiah wrote of the Lord sending the anointed to speak to the children of Israel who had rejected him.  

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord to display his beauty” (Isaiah 61:1-3).  

Ruth Duck is the author of the hymn Arise, Your Light Is Come. It is number 387 in Christian Worship. The hymn is based on the words of Isaiah 61. It is a hymn of encouragement rather than a hymn of praise. Rather than being directed toward God, it is directed toward God’s people.  

The first verse: “Arise, your light is come! The Spirit's call obey; Show forth the glory of your God, Which shines on you today.” 

The season of Epiphany is about Christ revealing himself to the world. He reveals his light through his words and miracles. Ruth Duck calls upon Christians to respond to this light by obeying the Holy Spirit’s call. Christ’s glory shines on us. Now we are called to show forth God’s glory out in the darkness of our world.  

The second verse: “Arise, your light is come! Fling wide the prison door; Proclaim the captives' liberty, Good tidings to the poor.” 

Christ has flung wide the prison door of our sin. He has set us captives free from Satan’s tyranny. He has proclaimed the good tidings of sins forgiven and salvation won to the poor in spirit. Now we are called to obey the Holy Spirit by flinging wide prison doors, proclaiming the captives’ liberty, and Christ’s rich tidings to the poor.  

The third verse: “Arise, your light is come! All you in sorrow born, Build up the broken-hearted ones And comfort those who mourn.” 

Christ replaces our sorrows with rejoicing in his resurrection. He builds up the broken-hearted with the promise of reunion in heaven. He comforts mourners with the assurance of life everlasting for his blood-bought saints. Now we are called to obey the Holy Spirit by sharing the message of a Savior from sorrows and the Messiah to mourners. 

The fourth verse: “Arise, your light is come! The mountains burst in song! Rise up like eagles on the wing; God's power will make us strong.”  

Obeying the Spirit’s call means you cannot remain idle. Burst forth in song like the mountains. Rise up like eagles taking wing. Nothing can stop you. Nothing can intimidate you. Nothing can keep you from carrying out the message of the Messiah’s mission. For God’s power makes you strong.  

Listen to Arise, Your Light is Come this week. Then hear it again this Sunday in worship. Obey the Spirit’s call by showing forth your Savior’s Epiphany light.   

Arise, your light is come! 

https://youtu.be/KoHkmJDazDk 

#1 - Hymn 377 - To Jordan’s River Came Our Lord

The hymnal is not only meant to be used by the family in church before the Lord’s altar. It is also meant for the family to bring the Lord’s altar into the home. The hymns we sing in church are prayers that are set to music. They can be much more memorable than a sermon. As a pastor I know that the people in the pews most likely aren’t going to be talking about my sermon theme or bullet points when they leave church. Instead, they will be singing the familiar refrains from the hymns on their way home from church.  

I am encouraging all of you to use the hymnal as part of your personal and family devotions. To assist you in your devotional life, every week I will write and record a devotion on the Hymn of the Day for the upcoming worship service. I’ll be using the hymns in the new blue Christian Worship Hymnal. The Hymn of the Day is the central hymn that we will be using in the majority of our Lutheran churches during the Christian Church Year. It is the hymn that best carries the theme of that particular Sunday’s worship.  

This Sunday is the first Sunday after the Epiphany. It is a yearly celebration of Christ’s baptism. This week’s Hymn of the Day is Christian Worship #377 – To Jordan’s River Came Our Lord.  

The first verse reads: “To Jordan’s river came our Lord, The Christ, whom heav’nly hosts adored, The God from God, the Light from Light, The Lord of glory, pow’r, and might.” 

Jesus began his ministry by coming to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptizer. As we recite in the Nicene Creed, Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.  

The second verse: “The Savior came to be baptized—The Son of God in flesh disguised—To stand beneath the Father’s will And all his promises fulfill.” Jesus is God’s Son covered in human flesh and blood. Because Jesus is perfect, he doesn’t need to be baptized. Instead, he submits to his Father’s will by accepting a sinner’s baptism upon the holy Son of God. 

The third verse: “As Jesus in the Jordan stood And John baptized the Lamb of God, The Holy Spirit, heav’nly dove, Descended on him from above.” Already in the waters of the Jordan River, Jesus is fulfilling his role as the sacrificial and substitutionary Lamb of God.  

The fourth verse: “Then from God’s throne with thund’rous sound Came God’s own voice with words profound: ‘This is my Son,’ was his decree, ‘The one I love, who pleases me.’” Upon Jesus’ baptism, the Father announces for all his heavenly host to hear, “You are my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you” (Luke 3:22). God the Father is pleased with his Son’s divine vocation as the world’s Redeemer.  

The fifth verse: “The Father’s word, the Spirit’s flight Anointed Christ in glorious sight As God’s own choice, from Adam’s fall To save the world and free us all.” It is the mystery of the Triune God that all three persons are present at Jesus’ baptism – yet they remain distinct – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father is speaking from heaven. God the Son is in the water. God the Holy Spirit is hovering over the waters in the form of a dove. All three persons of the Trinity delight in their unity of working to save the world from sin and free us from slavery to the devil.  

Then comes our Christian response to Christ in the water. The sixth and final verse: “Now rise, faint hearts: be resolute! This man is Christ, our substitute! He was baptized in Jordan’s stream, Proclaimed Redeemer, Lord supreme.”  

Play To Jordan’s River Came Our Lord on YouTube. Then hear it again this Sunday in worship. Allow the music and words of the composer and author move the hearts and minds of God’s people. Let your faint heart be resolute.  

To God be the glory! 

https://youtu.be/1lRd5ZGmcwo