Sept. 30, 2012 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

ORGAN DEDICATION

September 29, 30 and October 1, 2012

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Kings 8:62-66

“LET’S DEDICATE!”

1.     We too have reason to dedicate.

2.     We too have something to dedicate.

1 Kings 8:62-66 (NIV 1984) “ Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord.

⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. ⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

          Just try to picture this. 22,000 cattle. 120,000 sheep and goats. All Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Wadi of Egypt in the south. Tons of  people. All the animals. And all the animals were sacrificed. A fourteen day celebration. Maybe think of the entire state of Wisconsin all converging on Milwaukee. Tents and campers everywhere. Every green space packed. Practically speaking that must have been a logistical nightmare when you think of food, drink, sanitation. Why did they do it? They had something to dedicate. The great Temple for the Lord in Jerusalem. Now in comparison our dedication is a little different. It’s smaller. We are dedicating an organ for a temple not an entire building. Ours really lasts just one day although with our worship service schedule it kind of spans three days. Instead of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats to eat after they were sacrificed we will after the organ recital have light refreshments. I have to tell you though that I am very glad we don’t have to deal with all the logistics, especially the plumbing. And I really have no desire to deal with all the blood and smell of the sacrificing. And still we here are to dedicate. So let’s do that. Let’s dedicate. And God’s word will lead us to look at the reasons and the what’s.

          To dedicate. What does that mean? In this sense it means to set aside for a special purpose or to set aside for holy purposes. It’s a very public way of declaring that something has a special purpose. As you heard in our readings the people of God back then had a reason to dedicate. The great Temple known as Solomon’s Temple was completed. This had been a massive undertaking. Plans for the Temple had been made by Solomon’s father, King David. Supplies had been gathered. Cedar logs cut and hewn. Massive stone blocks quarried and shaped. Gold and silver and bronze set aside. Then the real work had begun. Craftsmen from God’s people labored over seven years. Now the Temple was done. While they were able to worship God before, now they had a special building dedicated only to that purpose. They had a reason to dedicate.

          But it wasn’t only the completion of the Temple that gave them reason to dedicate. When the dedication was over we are told, “They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.” Solomon in his dedication prayer said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.” You see their real reason to dedicate was God’s goodness to them. He had brought them safely to the Promised Land. He had settled them and given them rest from their enemies. He was a God who kept His promises and remember, remember, that in the mind of the believers in Israel every promise of God was tied to the promise of a Savior from sin. God’s goodness and promise keeping gave them reason to dedicate.

          It gives us reason to dedicate too. We, like God’s Old Testament people have come to the completion of something that is important in our worship life, our new organ. It was a two year plus project, not a seven year plus project. It required gathering of supplies and funds and lots of labor. It’s not that we were not able to worship the Lord without it, we did. But this instrument which has been beneficial to the church for centuries is dedicated to a single purpose. It won’t be used to lead the fans on to cheer for the Brewers. It won’t entertain people as they are eating pizza. It will lead them in singing to the Lord. It will remind them of melodies that have carried important words of God into the heart and souls of believers for generations. We have a reason to dedicate.

          But can’t we too go beyond the completion of a project? Can’t we like Solomon and his people say, “Praise to the Lord. Not one word has failed of all the promises He has made to us. We are joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord has done for us?” Don’t we also realize that the promises that God makes to us in the Bible are tied to the promise of a Savior? And since we have that promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ we can count on God to keep all of His promises? Yes. Yes. Yes and Yes. We have a reason to dedicate that goes well beyond the completion of an organ project. We have the grace and goodness of God!

          And we have something to dedicate too just like Solomon and Old Testament Israel did. They had a Temple. It was beautiful. It was there to be a blessing for the people, a special place where God dwelled in a special way, where they could gather and pray and worship and have God bless them. We have an organ to dedicate. The parts of it we can see are beautiful. It is here to be a blessing to us. To help us as we come to our special place to pray and worship. To create a reverent mood and lead us in singing.

          Do you think though that there is another organ we ought to think about dedicating today? The splendor of Solomon’s Temple was awe inspiring.  Truly David and Solomon wanted the best for God. But God wasn’t always impressed. Later He would have to say about people coming to the Temple, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Even though He had commanded sacrifices to be brought he would say, “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” Instead He said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” and  “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” He also said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual  act of worship.” How awful if God would have to say about us, “These people approach me with songs and hymns led by this organ but their hearts are far from me. They live the rest of the week as though I don’t exist. I have no need for your paper and metal presented during the offertory. It’s already mine. Where are the broken and contrite hearts?” What God wants is our hearts. Let’s dedicate them brothers and sisters. For when God has our hearts then the fingers and feet that play the organ will continue to serve Him when they are not. Then the voices that are led to sing to the Lord in church will continue to serve the Lord out of church rejecting filthy language and words of bitterness. Instead they will speak words of kindness and compassion always look for the opportunity to talk about what the Temple and all of Scripture is all about which is Jesus. Then the minds that are engaged by organ music here will want to think about God’s things during the week, being heavenly minded, thinking about whatever is good and noble and pleasing to God. What God wants is our hearts and then actions and words will follow. Let’s dedicate.

          I don’t know what all the people of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt together with 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and cattle put together would sound like. I probably never will. Soon we will get to hear what a 1775 pipe, pipe organ will sound like. I’m looking forward to that. What God wants to know and what He looks forward to is what the hearts of the people of St. Jacobi will sound like in service to Him. Let’s show Him. Let’s dedicate. Amen.