EPIPHANY 8 Feb. 22-24, 2014 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Isaiah 49:13-18 “WHEN YOU FEEL FORSAKEN AND FORGOTTEN…”

EPIPHANY 8

Feb. 22-24, 2014

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Isaiah 49:13-18

“WHEN YOU FEEL FORSAKEN AND FORGOTTEN…”

1.     Count on God’s compassion.

2.     Count on God’s commitment.

Isaiah 49:13-18 (NIV 1984) “Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 14 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." 15 "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. 17 Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. 18 Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live," declares the LORD, "you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.”

          I distinctly remember one time I felt forsaken and forgotten. I was sitting in prison. Let me tell you how I got there. I was visiting a young WELS man from Texas who’d gotten himself into such serious trouble that he was placed in the brand new maximum security prison in Beeville, TX. To see him I had to arrange a visit with the prison chaplain. After I was frisked he led me through the gatehouse, past the barbwire topped kill zones and through massive sliding solid metal gates. He led me deep into the prison past the cells of the men in the regular population who whistled and hooted, banged cell bars and made nasty remarks as I walked by to the visitation cells for those prisoners kept in solitary confinement. “You only get 30 minutes,” he said. “I’ll be back to get you out.” Our visit went by quickly as I urged the young man to accept earthly consequences and rejoice in his forgiveness and release from the eternal consequence of sin. My thirty minutes was up. No chaplain. We kept talking. Then an hour. No chaplain. We kept talking. Then an hour and a half. No chaplain.  I started to get nervous. Some loud buzzers went off. Sounded like alarms. Metal clanging like gates crashing shut.  I asked the prisoner if he knew what was going on. No. Perhaps you can imagine how I was feeling. Forsaken and forgotten in a maximum security prison with a riot going on. But there was no riot and 30 minutes later the chaplain apologetically did come get me admitting he had in fact forgotten me.

          Have you ever felt forsaken and forgotten? Isaiah prepared God’s people for a time when they would feel that way. He wrote around 700 BC. Despite his and other prophets warnings against idolatry the people of Judah would worship idols. They would receive a consequence of a temporary exile to Babylon around 600 BC. Temporary because God said it would be. But the people there would not think that. They would feel forsaken and forgotten--by God. Listen as Isaiah prophecies how they would feel. But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."

          Graciously God provided his people what they would need for that time and in so doing He provided for you and me. You might feel forsaken and forgotten by God. Is there some sin or some sins you have done that you feel are so bad you don’t want anyone to know and you think God still holds against you? If not now the day may come as you get closer to death or are in the midst of trouble that the Devil will needle you and torment you that God will not have you nor help you. Let this word of God be your comfort.

          It teaches you to count on God’s compassion. “Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.” God called on the heavens and earth to rejoice and sing. Now remember that when God’s people would come back to this they would be stuck in Babylon as a discipline from God for their idolatry. Discipline often feels like and looks like punishment but it’s not the same. Kids you need to know that. You hurt and feel sad when you are punished for doing something wrong. You need to know that most of the time your parents don’t enjoy giving you consequences. They know they need to for your good. Sometimes, it’s true, they are just mad. God never disciplines that way. What he did with His people in Babylon was for their good. They needed to know what God was thinking so He told them. He comforts. He has compassion. Remember that. Count on that. Hold to that the next time you are feeling punished by God, that He has forsaken you or forgotten you. The Lord takes no pleasure in our hurt, pain or anguish but only lets it last as long as is for our good, just like parents do with discipline, only God does it perfectly.

          But we have trouble believing that like the people stuck in Babylon would have trouble believing it. So God gave them and us some pictures to help us to count on His commitment. "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne”? God wants us to know His rock solid commitment so He calls to our minds what is supposed to be the ideal of commitment love, that between a mother and her child. Normally that's  a strong bond. Normally we see that as mama bear often comes out to defend her child. Sadly because of sin we all know of instances where a mother forgets her child, kills it before it is born, rejects it later in life as selfishness wins out over love. Even what should be the greatest commitment gets broken by people. But it’s never that way with God.  “Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”

          Another picture. “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” God talks to His people like they are a city. He talks about engraving a picture of  Zion, Jerusalem, which stands for the people, on His palms, like some people today do with tattoos to remember someone always. God’s picture here is also of commitment. “I have placed you in the palms of my hands so you know you are always on my mind and what my hands do will be for your good. Please don’t doubt that I have your good in mind. Please don’t cast aspersions on my commitment and love for you. Please trust my promises. They will come true.”  For the people of Isaiah’s time it would mean this. “Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. 18 Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live," declares the LORD, "you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.” The people in Babylon at the right time, God’s time, would come back to their land. They could count on it because God said so and God was committed.

          God’s committed to you too. Brothers and sisters, this word of God is for believers who have broken hearts. I remember a Seminary professor telling his students to remember that there are generally more broken hearts in church than hardened hearts. Is that true for us? Are we a group of people who realize we’re just a bunch of spiritual screw ups and our best attempts at righteousness really don’t cut it?  Do we know in our heart of hearts that we really don’t deserve goodness from God and the difficulties we have in life are what we justly deserve? Do our own sins bother us more than the sins of others so we conclude we really are the poor miserable sinners we confess ourselves to be? Is your heart  broken? Are you feeling forsaken and forgotten? You can count on God having compassion on you and you can count and God being committed to you.

          You can do that because of what He allowed His Son to do for you. I don’t get nervous about a lot of things but I have to tell you when I was forsaken and forgotten in that prison with what I thought was a prison riot in progress I was scared. But nothing that could have happened to me there can even begin to compare with what Jesus went through when He was forsaken by God to pay for the sins of the world. He did that for you and for me. All those sins we know make us unworthy of God’s love and help and care He has removed and taken away. He was forsaken so you and I get to know we will never be. You have the right to live that way. Endure hardships with a smile on your face. They will not last. God has not forsaken or forgotten you. He loves you. You can count on His compassion and His commitment. Jesus is your proof. Amen.

Epiphany 5, February 8/9/10, 2014 sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Matthew 5:13-20

Let me tell you about my snowblower which has seen a lot of use this
year.  It was fully assembled when I purchased it, and when I brought
it home I was eager to try it out.  It had a number of forward speeds
and also backing up speeds.  Great!  This should be good.  There even
was a light on it to shine ahead of where I would go.
    Can you guess what I’ll tell you next?  I started it.  That was fine.  I
put it into motion.  But it went at only one speed, the others didn’t
work.  And it didn’t back up.  And the light didn’t go on.  It sure was
not doing what it was built and intended to do.
    I got out the assembly instructions and redid things.  That included
grounding the light wire to metal instead of, as it was, to some plastic.
Now the snowblower actually did what it was made to be and do.
    My dear fellow believers, we aren’t snowblowers.  But by the grace
of God we are Christians.  We are believers in Christ Jesus as our
Savior.  We have the promise of one day being where I am quite sure
we won’t have to do any snow blowing.  Since that is the case,
BE WHAT GOD MADE YOU TO BE.
I    YOU WERE LOST.  (19a,20)
    1. Our doing wrong is proof of this. (19a)
“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of
heaven, ---.”
        a) How many of God’s commandments do you have to violate to
            fall under this condemnation?  One, only one, will do it.
        b) How many times will you have to lead others into doing
            something wrong, like school children urging others to cheat,
            or young and older people urging others to join them in stealing
            or in wrongful use of sex ?  How many times?  Once will do it.
    2. Our failure to be perfect is proof of being lost.  (20)
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter
the kingdom of heaven.”
        a) The Pharisees were self-righteous, even adding regulations and
            laws that could make them look good.
        b) But Jesus says that you and I would have to be better than the
            outwardly good Pharisees. Yet we too, like them, are far far
            from being perfect people. 
    3. For us there is only one conclusion.  (20)
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter
the kingdom of heaven.”
        a) Not a one of us will always be on this earth.  We are going to
            die, sooner or later.
        b) When that time comes, I want to go to Heaven with Jesus.
        c) But unless you and I are perfect, we “will certainly not enter
            the kingdom of heaven.”
II     YOU ARE SAVED.  (17-18)
    1. Jesus came to do what we cannot do.  (17)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” 
        a) Could there be anyone who was perfect, who could be our
            substitute, who could offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice for
            sinners because He had never failed in keeping God’s holy will?
        b) Jesus, God’s eternal Son, is the answer.  He humbled
            Himself and left the glories of Heaven to live a sinless life on
            this earth so that He could be a perfect atoning sacrifice.  He
            fulfilled everything God had promised about a Savior, a
            promise going all the way back to Adam and Eve.
    2. Many voices accused Him.   
        a) False accusations came hot and heavy during His life.
        b) Then think of His trials leading up to His death.  Not a single
            charge could be substantiated.  Even Pontius Pilate tried to set
            Him free because he said there were no valid charges. 
    3. But He accomplished our salvation. (18)
“I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the
smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means
disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
        a) Jesus fulfilled all.  On the cross He said, “It is finished.”  He
            paid the price that opens Heaven’s door.
        b) And now for those in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation.
        c) Using the picture of us as a snowblower, we could say that
            Jesus as our substitute did what was necessary to fix us.  But
            that also means something for us while we are still here on
            earth and before we reach Heaven.  We are to function. 
III  YOU ARE SALT.  (13)
    1. Salt serves a number of purposes.  (13)
“You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness,
how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”
        a) Salt can add flavor to food or be a preservative for food.  Salt
            can be put on our sidewalks or on our roads if they are icy.
        b) But what if you put salt on your meat and it tastes no different,
            or use it as a preservative and it does no good?  What if you
            put salt on your walks or on the streets and you still slip and
            your car slides?  Then what?  You might as well throw it away.
    2. Our being here also has purposes.  (13a)
“You are the salt of the earth.”        
        a) God once said that He would have spared Sodom and
            Gomorrah if there had been just a few true believers there.  In a
            similar way true Christians are a preservative for the world
            today, giving others time to repent before it is too late.
        b) That makes us ask how long our country will still last when
            true Christianity, Christ as the only Savior, is despised.
3. Don’t be throw-away Christians.  (13)
“You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness,
how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”
        a) Is salt doing no good?  Throw it away.
        b) If people can’t tell I am a Christian, what good am I?
        c) It’s like a burned out light bulb.  Throw it away.
IV  YOU ARE LIGHT.   (14-16)
    1. We have been enlightened.  (14a)
“You are the light of the world.”
        a) Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows
me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
        b) Yes, as believers in Jesus we have the light of life.  We have
            been enlightened.  We know the truth about being saved.
    2. Now we should function, let that light shine. (14-15)
“You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead
they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house.” 
        a) Are you truly a believer in Jesus as your Savior from sin?
        b) Show that by a Christian life, shining wherever or whatever
             you are.  Let others hear from you and see Christ in you so that
            they too may come into the light of salvation.
    3. This should be to God’s glory.  (16)
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may
see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
        a) Let people see you coming to church regularly because you
            want to worship and praise your God and Savior.
        b) Let people see you living a Christian life as a husband, a wife,
            a student, a worker, being what God made you to be.
        c) Do that so that others see the light and praise their Savior too.
V    BE WHAT YOU ARE.  (19b,13,16)
    1. Thank God for what He has made you.  (19b)
“ --- whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.”         
        a) Jesus says we are great.  Our St. Jacobi grade school’s theme
            for this school year has been: “Be What God Has Made You.”
        b) That is an encouragement for our children in our school.  Let
            it be an encouraging theme for all of us to believe and live and
            teach God’s will and to be great in the kingdom of  heaven.
    2. So be salty.  (13a)
        a) Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.”    
    b) Pray for strength to BE WHAT GOD MADE YOU TO BE.
    3. And let your light shine.  (16a)
        a) Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.”        
    b) Pray for strength to BE WHAT GOD MADE YOU TO BE.
   
    Let’s go back to my snowblower.  I hope it keeps on functioning
well.  But the only future it can look forward to is a junk heap.
    Our future is the kingdom of Heaven, won for us by Jesus our
Savior.  On the way there, may the Holy Spirit through Word and
Sacrament strengthen us all to BE WHAT GOD MADE US TO BE.