"Lighting the Fire"
Jotting – Week 49

Celebrate God’s Goodness  

Celebrate! “Celebrate God's plan of salvation for all peoples and how He is using His baptized children in mission! Rejoice, as all the angels in heaven do, when even one person repents of his or her sin and receives Jesus as his or her personal Lord and Savior!” (Ablaze! Seventh Mission Response, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)

Earthly Celebrations

As people of earth, we like to celebrate. New Year’s Day, Presidents’ days, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, birthdays, promotions, retirements. The list goes on and on. Families celebrate good report cards, first lost teeth, home runs and first dances.

We celebrate with food, special desserts, guests, decorations, and days free from school or work. Cards abound in stores created for just about any purpose.

Christians have other reasons to celebrate: Christmas (though many marginal believers and unbelievers celebrate too–they just haven’t heard why they do); Easter, Ascension, Pentecost; Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration; Good Shepherd Sunday. We also celebrate Baptisms, confirmation, first communions, Sunday school or Bible class attendance, church anniversaries, building dedications, installations of new church workers. The list goes on.

Heavenly Celebrations

In Revelation, John displays another celebration: that of the saints and elders:

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.  And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,  the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
Revelation chapter 4

And again:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:0-17

These are the heavenly beings that rejoice when one sinner repents. Jesus said, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the noise and colors and music and activities of celebration and joy that erupts when someone you have told about God’s love realizes that it’s meant for him or her, knows for certain God loves him or her, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, asks Jesus to be Savior and Lord of his/her life.

Ablaze! Celebrations

Around the globe people like you and I are being used by God to bring that Good News to those who long for a relationship with God, long for cleansing and renewal, long to be set free from the bonds that keep them enchained and wretched. People who live next door, across the street, and around the corner are hearing of God’s love because you and I are loving them and telling them–because we want to see them in heaven with us–with God and all His angels.

We are giving to missions so others can go to places where we ourselves are unable to travel. We are going into communities and neighborhoods with God’s Good News of Jesus because we care and want to carry out the assignment Jesus gave to His Church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

Celebrate a young Nigerian pastor, who, in spite of the fact that he is without his wife and two young sons, one of whom he has never seen because the government in Nigeria hasn’t allowed them to join him, is serving the Lord here in Texas as a missionary.

Celebrate LINC Houston and LINC North Texas, which are reaching out to people of other languages and cultures and nationalities right here in our own state with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Celebrate teachers who tell the children and students in their classes every day about the Savior and who in turn tell parents and siblings and other relatives the God stories they have learned.

Celebrate pastors who are training their people to be witnesses in San Antonio, in San Angelo, in Lubbock, in Galveston, in Irving and Dime Box and Edna and Beeville and Knox City and Odessa and Encino and Tyler and Waxahachie and into all parts of Texas and beyond.

Celebrate lay people who witness in their work places by statements of faith, caring hearts and listening ears, by soft-spoken answers and love that comes from God Himself.

Celebrate school children and students who talk openly about their faith to public school friends and pray in quiet ways at meals or before tests.

Celebrate older adults in retirement homes or senior living who tell others about the Savior who has never left them nor forsaken them all the days of their lives.

Celebrate youth who do service events in the name of the Lord and give of their lives and God’s love to those who sit in darkness.

Celebrate those who supply meals to the homeless and include a Scripture verse in each lunch bag.

Celebrate congregations planting new churches that will bring the Gospel to new neighborhoods and transplanted people.

Celebrate families who care in many ways for their neighbors and let them know through deeds of love and kindness about the One they love and who loves them.

Celebrate God who is using you to make His Kingdom come and His name to be spread abroad.

Celebrate!

Pray: Father, we celebrate You, the giver of life and love. You made it possible for us to know what love really is through the giving of Your Son into death for our sins. Jesus, we celebrate You, our Savior and Redeemer. Without Your sacrificial death on the cross and Your rising again on the third day, we would have no hope of eternal life in heaven nor joy in life here on earth. Holy Spirit, we celebrate You, who planted faith in our hearts and continue to water and grow it through the Word. You are our Comforter and Guide. We celebrate, dear God, that You have given us this work to do for You. Bless us as we do it for the sake of Jesus and the growth of Your Kingdom. Amen.

Want to celebrate more?
Go to: http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=9827 or
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=4861 or
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=8052 or
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=967 or
http://www.lhm.org/ablaze/default.asp

Go to the district web site or your congregation’s to see what is happening at your church or in your area. Then celebrate with others that God’s work is being done–yet the harvest is white and the workers are few.