July 25-27, 2015 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Nahum 1:1-7 “NAHUM: GOD COMFORTS HIS PEOPLE!”

MAJORING IN THE MINORS: NAHUM

July 25-27, 2015

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Nahum 1:1-7

“NAHUM: GOD COMFORTS HIS PEOPLE!”

1.     Know that God is in control.

2.     Know that there will be justice.

Nahum 1:1-8  (NIV1984) “An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. ²The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. ³The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. ⁵The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. ⁷The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.”

          His name means Comforter. Nahum, that is, the Comforter. Yet when you read his book’s three short chapters you are going to wonder how that can possibly be true. If you try to picture it as you read it, you will see in your mind the complete destruction of a large city. Chariots, horsemen and soldiers are pictured running through the city, pillaging, injuring, killing. The inhabitants of the city are quaking in fear and screaming. There is death and destruction. It does not sound like a pretty sight. How can that be comforting? It goes back to another minor prophet we heard about earlier. Jonah. If you recall, he was the prophet who didn’t want to do his job. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the great Assyrian Empire. Why not? Well God had told Jonah to call the city to repentance. If the people did not they would be destroyed. Sounds pretty straight forward. What was Jonah’s problem? Instead of going he ran away. Thrown overboard. Swallowed by the great fish. Vomited up. Goes to Nineveh. Preaches. They repent. Good news right? Not to Jonah. Here was his reaction: But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." Strange. Unless you know the history. The Assyrians were the ones God had said would be his tool to chasten the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians would capture and take away all the people. Jonah was hoping the people of Nineveh would not repent and would be destroyed instead. Maybe think of how you would feel if God had told us that the Muslims would invade and conquer our country and then WELS came and asked for you to give money for outreach to Muslims. Well Nineveh repented then and was spared by God. Later the Assyrians did come and conquer Israel as God said. But when they did they were excessively cruel. These Assyrians did not care about the God who had showed their ancestors mercy. They were merciless! The Assyrians often gouged out the eyes of their captives. They cut off their ears and noses to mark them as captives. They had people specially trained to skin the conquered people’s leaders while they were still alive and then they would hang their skins on public buildings. Imagine if St. Jacobi got conquered and every time you came to church you had to pass the Pastor Spaude skin or Pastor Waldschmidt skin hanging on the wall. This is the background for Nahum. God’s people are down in the mouth. They have seen death and destruction. They are hurting. And those cruel Ninevites just keep winning. God sends Nahum the comforter with this comforting message. Nineveh is going to be destroyed. That’s what the book pictures. Now why would this comfort them? Why does this comfort us? Let’s find out.

          “An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. ²The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. ³The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. ⁵The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him.” The first truth God used to comfort His people with is that He is in control. He tells seas when to be and when to dry  up. He tells mountains when they can exist and when they need to self destruct. He tells nations when they can conquer and when to be conquered. The Assyrians were not in control. God was. Know that God is in control.

          Know that there will be justice. This truth is often called God’s alien side. Not alien like a space creature, but alien as in foreign to Him. Like when a parent really doesn’t want to enforce the discipline they know will hurt their child but has to God would much rather show mercy and compassion and forgive sins. He does that quickly and freely. But when there is continued rejection, when evil builds and grows God does His alien work. He judges. “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger?” It’s a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Nineveh found out. Those who had gloated as they inflicted such great pain without pity or remorse received no mercy themselves as the Medes and Persians sacked their city. And that was the easy part. As rejecters of the Savior God they now exist in the eternity of pain called Hell wishing all they felt was having their skin removed. Know that there will be justice.

          That was Nahum’s comforting message. God is in control and there will be justice. And it’s a comforting message for us too. I don’t think we can really compare the unjust suffering and the pains we’ve experienced to what God’s people went through at the hands of the Assyrians. However because we are sinners living among sinners in a sin filled world injustice and oppression are also part of our lives. Kids you feel it at home or at school when something happens that just feels unfair and makes you want to cry. In the teen and adult world we experience it again and again when the cheater seems to get away with it and the one who stands for what is right is ostracized, not included. We live in a metro area that has an escalating violence issue. We live at times when militant Muslim groups and individuals are killing thousands of innocent people. Know that God is in control. He could have stopped the Assyrians when they went too far in their conquering of Israel. He can stop evil now. The fact that He doesn’t does not mean He is powerless. He is powerful and in control. There is a reason He allows this that we just don’t see now. Know that there will be justice. God’s grace is so great, the forgiveness that Jesus won on the cross so encompassing that yes, Hitler, Hussein, Bin Laden and whomever else you want to put on that list could also be saved through faith in Jesus. That does not mean they are. Those who reject will be condemned. Those who mock our trust in God our Savior will feel God’s wrath and fierce anger. Don’t be deceived by what you see with your eyes. God will not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows and just because you can fool people does not mean you can deceive God. There will be justice.

Are you in a hurting spot right now? Suffering unjustly. God haters looking like they are winning? Listen to Nahum’s message is: God comforts His people. While his book contained words that should have had the Assyrians shaking in their boots and running to God for repentance, there is a different message for people who believe, people like you and me. Let’s read it together. “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” He cares for you. Amen.

July 11-13, 2015 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Micah 5:2 “IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT!”

MAJORING IN THE MINORS: MICAH

July 11-13, 2015

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Micah 5:2

“IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT!”

1.     God likes to use the little things.

2.     God likes to be served in the little things.

3.     But He accomplishes big things.

Micah 5:2    (NIV 1984) "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

          So, what do you want to be when you grow up? I’ve read quite a few answers on papers in the halls at a school. Many children dream of being something big like an astronaut or an NFL quarterback or the President of the United States. It’s good and fun for us to aspire to do big things, however in his book the prophet Micah reminds us that with God, it’s the little things that count. I don’t know what it was the prophet Micah wanted to be when he grew up but this small town boy from Moresheth was used by God to bring a big message to God’s people. His overall message was much the same as some of the other Minor Prophets we have looked at already. God is not willing to let unrepentant sin hold court in the hearts of His people. Micah lived at a time of prosperity and greed had taken root. Things were valued more than people so that people were oppressed and things treated like gods. There would chastisement. If you have been reading the Meditations book this past week you know that God used these hard things to help his people repent of their sins. Then there would be forgiveness and relief. As Micah wrote at the end of his book, (Micah 7:2) “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” Interspersed in Micah’s call to repentance and promise of forgiveness we find one of those important truths for Christian living. It’s the little things that count. It’s the little things that count because God likes to use the little things.

There’s a neat little game out there that maybe some of you know of or have played. It’s really easy. It’s called Tribond. You get a list of three things that don’t seem to be related  but they have something in common. Let’s try one. Red. White. Blue. That would be colors of the American flag. Let’s try another one. Gideon’s 300 soldiers. 5 barley loaves with 2 small fish. The widow’s mite. Those are a little things that accomplished big things when used by God. God used the 300 to rout the entire Midianite army. He used the five loves and two fish to feed 5000 men not counting the women and children with 12 baskets of leftovers to boot. He used the widow’s mite to teach millions of believers that trust and love is at the heart of Christian giving. One more. Bethlehem. A baby. A cross. Little things that God likes to use. It may have felt like Christmas in July a few minutes ago and that’s because God included this Christmas gem in Micah’s book.  "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

As the Christmas carol says, Bethlehem was a little town. It wasn’t big enough to be listed among the clan cities. It wasn’t a Milwaukee, Madison or Green Bay. It wasn’t a Waukesha oven a Greenfield. It was a Raymond, or Vernon or Neosho. A little town. But that’s what God chose to use as the birthplace of His only Son, our Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ruler of all believers, whose origin is so ancient we can’t fathom because He is eternal. In little Bethlehem a little baby boy was born to a little known couple named Mary and Joseph. Are we starting to see a pattern here? It’s the little things that count because God likes to use the little things. Do you see what that means? God likes to use people like us. The Apostle Paul echoed this truth when he wrote to our brothers and sisters in Corinth. “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

This is true for us. By human standards not many if any of us are movers and shakers in the Milwaukee area. But don’t let the Devil trick you into thinking you are useless. God likes to use the little things. Children He desires to use you. Those of you whose bodies are failing God wants to use you too and all of us in between. It’s the little things that count and God likes to use the little things.

          He’s also likes to be served in the little things. I’m going to be 48 in a month. I guess somewhere in here I’m supposed to have a mid life crisis, this time when you look at your life and get depressed. What great things have I accomplished? How have I made an impact on the world? It goes back to what do I want to be when I grow up. We aspire to do great things in the eyes of the world. We exchange the glory of God for the value system of the world that hates Him! Oh that we would rather aspire to do great things in the eyes of the Lord. Oh that we could be more excited about kids showing daily kindness than scoring a goal. It’s the little things that count. God through Micah reminded the people of what He looks for when he said in Micah 6  "My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. 6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” It’s the little things that count. God reminded the people of all He had done for them. He was hurt that they felt burdened serving Him. He wasn’t asking for anything big, something they couldn’t do like sacrifice their children or give what they didn’t have. He wanted to be served in the little things. Act justly. Obey. Love mercy. Kindness. Walk humbly. Attitude. It’s the little things that count. Children, it’s great if you want to be an astronaut but God wants to see you obeying your parents and talking respectfully and being kind to each other right now. It’s the little things that count. Mid life crisis. What have I accomplished? Have I been a loving faithful spouse? Do I train my children in the way of the Lord? Do my work faithfully. Am I a truth teller daily. Do I pray and worship God the way He wants. It’s the little things that count. So you can’t walk so well anymore. You can pray for others. What did Jesus put in His top ten list? I was hungry and you fed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you took care of me. The things a mother does over and over again. It’s the little things that count and God likes to served in the little things.

          He accomplishes the big things. A little town, a little baby, an average cross. God used that to provide forgiveness of sins. You and I are going to run through the gates of heaven like someone whose name just got called on The Price is Right not because we served God so well but because Jesus did for us and took away our sins. A little water, words, bread and wine. Little things but God uses them for the work of bringing people to faith and keeping our faith strong. For the sake of 10 little believers God would have spared the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The little prayers of a little believers have changed the course of lives and history. Little children have often been the reason adults who refused to step into a church have changed their mind. Through the small town prophet Micah God gave hope to believers who lived in a country of people who had fallen away and marked for all to see where the Savior could be found. Wise men found him there because of it. 1300 little souls, some weak, some strong and God is providing affordable Christian Education for 250 lambs, weekly worship opportunities, mission support for a Synod that proclaims the Good News of Jesus in our country and 25 more and a high school that teaches almost 800. It’s the little things that count. God does the big things.

          So what do you want to be when you grow up? Well I’m not really sure I want to grow up. It’s now that counts. Since we also serve the God who  pardons sin and forgives transgression and who does not stay angry forever but delights to show mercy let’s be people who on a daily basis act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. It’s the little things that count. Amen.

July 5th, 2015 Pastor Waldschmidt MAJORING IN THE MINORS- Obadiah

OBADIAH

In the name of Jesus who loved us and freed us from the tyranny of  sin and the fear of  death,  dear fellow redeemed children of God.

An article I read this week said that though we celebrate the approval of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress this weekend, the document itself has not always been treated with the care you might expect.  Historians say that the Declaration has been haphazardly transported around the country in carriages and a sailing ship.  At one point it was put in a burlap bag.  Some historians say the Founding Fathers rolled it up all the time, which you're not supposed to do with valuable historical documents.   Along the way It was exposed to light and smoke.  And somewhere along the way, someone slapped a big, dirty handprint on the bottom left-hand corner.  The dark smudge on the nation's famed document has baffled historians for years.  Some have wondered if it was an unwashed founding father, as he leaned over the parchment on that hot summer day in 1776? Or maybe it was the print-shop owner who reframed the document in 1888?

We are not sure whose hand print is on the Declaration of Independence but it is very clear that God’s handprints are all over the history of our nation and the history of all nations.  I guess that is why is called “His” story.  We have a chance to see that again as we hear what God announce Judgment on a nation that was a neighbor to God’s Old Testament people.  Long before July 4^th, 1776 the Lord showed that he is the author of History through His prophet Obadiah.   God makes it clear- “The Kingdom Is The Lord’s.”

As with almost all of the minor prophets we know very little about Obadiah.  There are about ten times in the Old Testament when an Obadiah is mentioned.  One was a servant of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.  Remember he hid and kept some of the seminary students alive and fed when Ahab and Jezebel were running after their false gods. If he is the author, he certainly would have been familiar with the sinful pride that brings down nations since he worked for Ahab and Jezebel.   Many who are much smarter than I am think that the Obadiah who wrote this book was an Obadiah who lived later in history.  He sent by King Jehoshaphat to revive the worship of the true God by instructing the people in God’s Word.    Because Obadiah doesn’t pull out his prophet’s license at the beginning of his book we know much more about his message than we know about him.  

We do know more about the people that he was writing about.  Obadiah told of God’s judgment against the Edomites.  The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin but older brother.  Remember he was the brother who especially lived for the here and now.  He sold the eldest son’s birthright because he was hungry for a bowl of stew.  So the Edomites were not only neighbors of the Israelites, they were relatives.  But they sure did not treat them like family.  When the Children of Israel came of out Egypt and requested safe passage from their cousins through their land.  The Edomites responded by pointing their swords at them and making them travel way around their land.   The Edomites started wars with King Saul and King David.  They rebelled against King Solomon. 

They cheered when the people of Judah and Israel stumbled.  Later Jerusalem was attacked by the Philistines who grabbed much of the royal treasury.   The Edomites didn’t lift a finger to help and cheered while that was happening.  That’s why Obadiah wrote, “You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune…nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.” 

Esau settled his family in the land of Seir, the mountainous area  to the south and east of what we know as Israel.  The Edomites capital city was a place called Sela, sometimes called Petra today.  You might not have ever heard of the land of the Edomites but perhaps you have seen it in the movies.  In one of the Indiana Jones movies, the rock fortress of Petra is featured.  There is a narrow passage way that leads to a fortress carved on the cliffs of  red sandstone.   The passageway to their capital was so narrow that attacking armies could not march through there with more than a few soldiers at a time.  Being up on top of the cliffs they could see enemy  armies coming from a long way off and then throw nasty stuff down on the heads of enemy soldiers to discourage them.    Obadiah talks about their strategic position when he writes, “you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights.”

The Edomite land was sitting just right not only to keep them safe but to make them very wealthy.  The traded in precious metals.  They had a very robust  copper mining industry in their mountains.   Remember the Israelites wanted to travel through Edom to get to Israel because it was the easier way through the mountain gorges.  That same thing was true for all of the other travelers and traders.  So the Edomites made money by charging tolls on an important trade route.  

Sounds like things were going pretty well for the Edomites.  So what was there problem that brought such harsh words from God’s prophet?  In a word it was their arrogance.  Sinful pride brought down God’s judgment on them. 

God says, “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’  Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down.”  It seems like the Edomites were not recognizing that the Kingdom is the Lord’s.  They were thinking to themselves that their wealth had come from their own ingenuity and their safety came because of their own smarts and good planning. 

There is no place where the handprints of God in history are more evident than in God’s plan for you and me to be living in heaven with him on the day history stops being written for this world. “Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD’s.”   The Edomites were arrogant enough to try mess with that.  They hooted and hollered at the defeat of their neighbors.  They danced as the family from whom the Savior of the world would come took their lumps.  The Lord would remind them and us that the Kingdom is the Lord’s.

On this day when we are celebrating our nation’s founding, are there things we Americans can learn from the Edomites?  The Kingdom is the Lord’s.  Are we thinking like the Edomites?  Are we thinking that we are very secure?  That is especially easy  for us to do  because God has been so good to us that most of the harm that has come to our country hasn’t not come from outside our country but rather harm from the silly,  foolish things we have done to ourselves.    

Are we thinking that our wealth has come from our own ingenuity?  Are we thinking we’ve done things right?  Have we deluded ourselves into thinking that we somehow deserve what we have much more than the people in this world who do have a sandwich to eat or who don’t have safe water to drink.  Have we forgotten that our beautiful country has come to us as a blessing from God- that it is yet another  wonderful example of God not treating us as our sins deserve.

Are we living like the Edomites for the here and now?  Are we most interested in what makes us happy right now?  Does the thought that the Lord has given us all of these blessings in our country so that we might be able to help others ever cross our mind?

The Kingdom is the Lord’s.  From the first pages of human history when mankind disobeyed Him, God began planning to send a Savior.  God has been taking all of the nations along the way turning and twisting each nation to fit his plan.  Each nation along the way has somehow someway fit into the tapestry of that plan.   A deliverer has gone up to Zion.  2,000 years ago, God sent his Son to live a perfect life free from arrogance and sinful pride and humbly go to an awful death on a cross so that we might be free.  The Kingdom is the Lord’s!

Let’s let our pride as Americans be from the fact that God has shed his grace on us that our nation might fit in his plan.  That God would turn history that we might serve as a safe haven for us to learn about and spread the good news of Jesus. May our pride come from the fact that the Lord has used us through  the years to bring food and shelter in times of disaster around the world.   While these windows of history are open for us right now let’s stop living in a “please me now” mode and  let’s  rejoice that the Lord would use us to help others.

Yakov Smirnoff, the comedian had it right when he said about America, “What a Country!”  Yes the Lord has shed His grace on us.  Let’s not be like the Edomites- let’s remember that the Kingdom is the Lord’s/  Amen.