Sermons 2025

Text: Luke 21:5-36 

Theme: See the Glory through the Haze 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke the twenty-first chapter verses five through thirty-six. 

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. What do I have here? You are right! I have a gallon of milk. It says that it is good until last year. do you think I should drink it? No, why not? 

Because a lot of bad things could happen to me. I could get really sick from drinking this milk. Just like milk can go bad, so too does the world. It is filled with sin. There are lots of bad people that do bad things. Jesus says that God has set an expiration date on the world. It will expire when He says it will. In our text for today, Jesus tells His disciples about what the end will be like. Is the end something that we need to fear, just like drinking expired milk? Or can we raise our heads looking forward to the end with Joy? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you. 

1. Hazy Days 

How many of you enjoy foggy days? I enjoy gloomy, foggy days. When it is damp and cold. When it is so cloudy that you’re wondering if the sun is even out because even its warming rays are obscured by the clouds. Those are good days to drink something warm, put on your favorite sweatshirt, and maybe get some work done or just curl up with a good book or movie. There are times when the fog is not so great. Taking the kids to school in the morning with the fog thick on the highway, making it at best slow and at worst kind of dangerous because of poor visibility. When you have to go through the haze and make progress in it, that’s when it becomes a real problem. 

Today’s focus on our text is looking through the haze of this life. it’s looking through the haze of our life here on this earth. Jesus says that in many ways this life will be like trying to travel through the fog. It’s going to be uncomfortable and even dangerous. But by his grace, and with His strength, we will get beyond the haze of this sinful world and be with him in eternal life. 

During holy week, Jesus and his disciples were walking through the temple courts in Jerusalem and those around Jesus were marveling at what was around them. The beauty of everything was overwhelming. The temple had been recently refurbished by Herod, and the disciples were amazed. The stones themselves weighed 2.5 tons and were 41 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 11.5 high. But Jesus didn’t do much marveling. He’s very stark: “These things that you see here—the days will come when there will not be one stone left on another—every one will be thrown down.” 

Jesus’ statement was proven true just a few decades later when Rome would march on Jerusalem and destroy much of the city, including the temple, to get at the gold that had melted between the cracks of the stones. The temple has never been rebuilt. 

What is Jesus’ point in this harsh statement? Don’t get too attached to the world around you. It will not last. It will not endure. The things of this life are temporary—even the good and God-pleasing things like the temple was. Everything has an expiration date. 

That’s a challenge in this life, right? The danger of driving in the fog is that you can’t see far in front of you. So while you’re nervous about what may be looming ahead of you, you’re spending all of your time focused on where you can see, limited as it may be. It’s easy to adopt that approach in our life, to ignore or put off the coming glory of eternity. We can be deluded by our fogged-in vision and think that what’s around us is all that there is and all there is to live for. But Jesus reminds us that it’s all temporary, it will all pass away. Nothing endures.

We need to stay focused on what is eternally coming, not only on what is right in front of us. But what about between now and then? While we’re living in this end time fog, we still have responsibilities. We still have family to care for, a congregation to support, people to share the gospel with. We still have tasks to complete and promises to keep. We still need to do our best in whatever vocations we are serving in. We still have love to show and empathy to be poured out. So we will tend to those tasks. But how do we do these tasks in the haze of this life? 

2. Hazy effects 

It would be tempting for us to think that, as Christians, life should be pretty smooth sailing. Sure, it’s foggy, but our footing is solid and safe, right? We should be able to have the confidence that because God loves us, everything should be great. Life should be good. We should not have a fear, worry, or care in the world. Even when the end comes, we will be fine, right? Well, what does Jesus say? “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then… Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake… You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. 

This does not sound good. It sounds painful. It sounds harsh, hard, and difficult. 

First, Jesus says that there will be spiritual, religious leaders that will come teaching messages that are contrary to Scripture. False teachers have come and will come preaching messages that we should just focus on what is here in this life because, they say, God just wants us to be happy. God wants you to be successful and have all the good things in this life. Others teach different messages than we’ve been given, like all you have to do is be a good person and you can get into Heaven. It does not matter what you believe so long as you believe something with sincere conviction. These false teachers may distort Jesus’ words or lead us to put trust in our own work and convictions rather than in what God has done for us. Jesus warns us, “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.” 

But it’s not just false teachers that we have to deal with in this hazy life. Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then… Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven.

There are also natural and political hardships in this world. Kind of sounds like the last couple of years, doesn’t it? It also kind of sounds like the time of World War II, or World War I, or the bubonic plague, or almost every moment in every era from the time Jesus spoke these words until now. 

Things are not going to get better upon this earth. We can’t make this fog go away. No election or politician can change the track this world is on. No viewpoint or conviction can stop this life from being clouded from God’s truth and light because of sin. Whether we are nurturing our children or voting in an election, we have to recognize that we cannot change the impact sin has on the world around us, on the people we love, and on our own hearts. We cannot lift this haze. 

3. Haze Lifted, Glory to Come 

Only Jesus can lift this haze of sin. He has lifted the haze of sin by entering this world in the flesh. As John declares, “We have seen His glory, glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus through His incarnation and perfect life has done away with the haze of sin. Because of Jesus’ work, the forgiveness of sins is ours, the inheritance of heaven is assured, but we don’t have it in full right now. We know that heaven is coming in all of its fullness. We see the glory in part, but it’s only like looking for the bright spot on the other side of the fog. Even the sun may be clouded out, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone missing. So too, the promises of God of forgiveness and eternal life stand unmoved, but they’re not our full experience yet. And being stuck in the pea soup of this life can be deeply, deeply unpleasant. I am reminded of the ending scene of the movie The Mist. A town has been surrounded by a deadly fog. Thirty-four people have died throughout the movie. The family of the main character has just killed themselves out of despair only for the fog to break a few moments later, revealing army tanks rolling in to save the day. 

We are looking forward to that Day when the haze of this fog breaks and One greater than the army comes rolling in. Our Lord with all power and might on full display. Yet, Jesus says, that looking ahead to the future glory brings its own problems. Being a Christian in this world will cause its own issues: But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. It will turn out to be your opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. Jesus declares that you will face persecution and trouble because of your faith in Jesus. Being a Christian in this world will naturally bring these hardships. But did Jesus say, “Take a stand! Fight for yourself! Defend your rights to your faith!”? No. Did he say we should be loudmouthed, arrogant, and obnoxious, hoping to draw some of these hardships on ourselves, to seek after persecution and suffering? No. He said you will suffer these things, you may even die. 

This suffering will not be the chance to fight, it will not be the chance to cry foul, bemoan the hardships that have happened, and play the victim, it will be the opportunity to testify. Persecution is not an opportunity to show how tough and strong we are. Persecution is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with people who clearly don’t know it or understand it. So, when you are mocked—or much worse—for your faith, that’s an evangelism opportunity. There’s an opportunity to put into practice what Jesus commanded, to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You do not need to worry about what to say in that moment. Your time in God’s Word prepares you; Jesus himself promises to give you the words and wisdom you need to witness to the truth lovingly, with gentleness and respect. It’s never about defending yourself—it’s about sharing the love of God with others. It’s about bringing the light of the coming glory to others who are lost in this haze. 

We could leave a section of Scripture like this feeling really, really down and depressed with all of this pain, destruction, and hatred. Jesus is being real with us. He’s being honest about what’s going to happen. None of this, not one harsh word, not one natural disaster, not one financial difficulty will ever change what God has done for you. We know that all of this has happened, is happening, and will happen because of sin. 

But that sin is, of course, what Jesus came to solve. And solve it He did. The whole reason we are able to look through the haze to glory that is approaching is because of Jesus’ work on our behalf. Without Jesus, all the bad things that he describes here would be the best part of our lives; hell will be so much worse than anything bad we can endure here.

With Jesus, because He took all sin on himself at the cross, His death and resurrection means that we’re not stumbling our way through this haze and falling into a pit. It means we walk this life hand-in-hand with our Savior. He leads us through this life, through good days and difficult days, through joy and sorrow, all the way through this hazy, perishing world to the eternal life he has prepared for us. Don’t lose track of how Jesus ends our reading: You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By patient endurance you will gain your lives.” And “28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Focus in on that word perish, because this is not the same as die. Death may speak of physical separation, the end of one’s life. Our hair, just like the rest of us, will surely die unless Jesus returns before then. But not a hair on your head will perish. “Perish” here means eternal death. So great is the love and victory of your Savior that not even the most fragile part of your body will be lost; not a part of you will see hell even for a moment. For as bad as things are here in the haze, by God’s grace you will reach the coming glory unscathed because Jesus has forgiven every one of your sins. And so, beloved saints, lift up your heads. In joy and thanksgiving to God for his forgiveness, we will continue to do our best in the midst of this haze in every aspect of life. But don’t let the haze bring you down. Don’t let it distract from the glory that is coming. And don’t forget that every step we take through this fog, Jesus is guiding and leading us with his forgiving love. Your redemption is drawing near. Look forward to the glory to come and the Joy to be revealed when Jesus comes in power and glory without end. 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus. Amen.