July 26, 2020, 8th Sunday of Trinity, Texts: Psalm 125; Deuteronomy 7:6-9; Romans 8:28-39;

Matthew 13:44-52; Title: The Promise, a Hidden Hope; Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ

In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion erupted. The Chinese had enough of foreign governments
running their affairs, especially the British. The Brits wanted tea, and they forced the
Chinese to accept opium as payment. The human wreckage was everywhere. Bitterness
broke into battle. Predictably, the politicians who forced that evil policy on the Chinese
didn’t feel the rage. But hundreds of Christian missionaries were murdered. Over forty
missionaries from the Northern Provinces asked for refuge in the Chinese Governor’s
courtyard at the Provincial Capital in Shansi. When they gathered at the door of Yu Hsien,
the Governor of the Province, he got angry. They didn’t know he was a leader of the
Boxer Rebellion. He replied, “I can only protect you by putting you in the prison.” He kept
them locked up for days until he ordered them out into the prison courtyard. He lined
them up, berating them. “I do not like foreigners,” he shouted. “I do not like you, or
your ways or your foreign teaching.” He commanded them to be killed, men, women and
children; these people who left their homeland, their comforts and culture to become
Christ’s fools.
They spoke a language where after years of study they still sounded like school
children. They looked large and clumsy to the Chinese. They roused suspicion because
they were different. Yet they came to share the love of the God who died for the sins of
us all. They came to give their lives for the Chinese, and so they did. In a few bloody
moments, years of toil, study, and work were destroyed. The details of this massacre
came to light two years later. A Northerner sought out a Christian missionary in Southern
China. He asked, “Do you remember the foreigners who asked for help from Yu Hsien,
Governor of Shansi Province? I was there.”
“You saw them die?”
“I am captain of Yu Hsien’s bodyguard. The governor gave me my orders. I am a
man trained to obey, and I am accustomed to killing.
“You were responsible?” The missionary wanted to lash out, but the hopelessness
in the executioner’s face stopped him.
“I was following instructions. I am a man accustomed to killing. Another life, ten,
twenty, one hundred. It was nothing. But these strangers had hope. Husbands and
wives kissed one another. “When their children began to cry, parents spoke to them of
‘Jesu’. They turned to face us, and prayed God would not hold this against us. They sang,
and they died. Please tell me. Can God forgive my great sin?”
I hope the missionary spoke the absolution. That we don’t know. After this
meeting, the governor’s captain returned to his duties in the North. And the missionary
no longer cried, “Lord, why this great waste?” The fresh graves across China were as
wheat sown.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for
those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also
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predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and
those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who
did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God
who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who
was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being
killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rm. 8:28-39)
Our Lord’s crucifixion appeared to be the end of hope. Yet it was the death of
death, the captivity of the devil, and the escape from sin forever. He was sacrificed for us
and we live. Since we live, His body, the Church, follows in His footsteps. We often enter
into tribulations for the sake of faith. We should expect opposition, remembering that the
kingdom of God is not only hidden, it is a hidden treasure. Christians suffer in Islamic
lands, Hindu provinces and communist countries. They are called evil for doing good, yet
the evil they suffer is used for good. Contemporary ideologies do not shower love and
acceptance on Christians who hold to Scripture. If you doubt that, speak of Christ on
many a college campus. Even if governors who shut down churches while encouraging
protestors to roam is a portent of the future, God is not worried. If we experience what is
unfair, demeaning or hurtful, that is not the end of the matter. Our Lord works under the
opposite appearance. He is merciful to His enemies. And, hidden under the opposite
appearance He is good to us. …for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose.
The Holy Spirit spoke these word not to deceive us, to give us a warm feeling
when in reality, all is lost. No, His words guarantee God is working His will on earth.
These words guarantee that God’s will is done despite outward appearances. He is
working for good even if our personal and churchly world crumbles. He is working for
good even if our future looks bleak, as well as when we pass from this life... into eternal
bliss. We can be confident that these words are truthful because they are grounded in
the reality of Christ’s death. Further, they are proven truthful by His resurrection. We are
victorious by Christ’s ascension. And these words are for you. You have every reason for
confident hope. The Triune God promises to not fail us. Jesus succeeds. God specializes
in the impossible. Not only did the Christians who died in the Boxer Rebellion not die in
vain; all who believe Christ crucified will never perish. Death is but the portal to life, the
door to our full to share in the perfection of the risen Christ.
Until that day comes, throughout the centuries, God uses us for good. We hear
how He does it in the Spirit-written histories of the saints, recorded in Scripture for our

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instruction. Most of the faithful did not receive the fulfilled promise in their lifetime. Yet
they were sustained by God throughout their troubled days. Abraham waited all his life
for an off-spring, and when the son of the promise was born, Abraham was called to
sacrifice his son. Yet this man of faith believed God was able to raise the dead. Joseph
was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, imprisoned then raised to prime minister in
Egypt so that the promised seed would not be extinguished. David was hunted by King
Saul and driven into exile, yet became king of Israel, and promised that the Christ would
come through his lineage. The Apostle Paul endured beatings, shipwreck, imprisonment,
hunger and thirst all for the joy of proclaiming Christ crucified. Best of all, God the Son
took on a human nature to be born of Mary, to fulfill the words of Isaiah: He was
despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… (Isa 53:3a)
Led to the cross He cried Father, why hast thou forsaken me? Crucified, all that was holy
and good appeared to be destroyed. Yet this was our victory, our justification,
reconciliation, and restoration.
The Father’s plan was to work all things to good through seeming defeat. As
Isaiah prophesied, Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied . (Isa.
53:11a) As Scripture says, He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Glory comes through that Christ and no other. To share in His glory we will pass
through trials that test and yet strengthen faith. How often our troubled prayers are
answered only at the 11th hour! Yet, they are always answered in life or in death. We
know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are
called according to his purpose. What is the Father’s purpose? It is not a comfortable
home, a boat and good wi-fi. His purpose is that we remain faithful until the prize is won.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he
predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom
he justified he also glorified.
The Father’s purpose is to conform you to the image of His Son, restored to the
image of God, restored to love, restored to Holy Communion. For that end He declared
you righteous and guaranteed your transformation to His image of perfect righteousness.
This is God’s good will, what He is working to bring to pass in all His saints. This is His
promise to you.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. (Amen)

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Deuteronomy 7:6-9

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and
those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who
did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God
who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who
was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being
killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rm. 8:28-39)

Mt. 13:44-52
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and
covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one
pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. “Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When
it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but
threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and
separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all these things?”
They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been
trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his
treasure what is new and what is old.”