Pentecost 21
October 25th, 2009
Pastor Waldschmidt
Grace mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mark 10:17-27
The Great Teacher’s Lesson About Eternal Life
I. You need a Savior.
II. You have a Savior.
Mark 10:17-27 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
“Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
In the name of Jesus, our Savior, dear fellow redeemed Children of God,
Imagine that you received a letter from Jesus asking you to have a rummage sale. Now at first you might think “Well good! This would be a great opportunity to get rid of all that stuff I don’t want anymore. But then you read on a little more and realize that Jesus is asking you to a really big rummage sale with all of your stuff and then to give the proceeds to the poor. “Oh” “All of my stuff Lord???” “Then give the money away?” I guessing that might make us hesitate a little bit and ask what Jesus is trying to teach us with this letter anyway? In God’s Word today, Jesus tells a man to do just that-have a big rummage sale, sell all his stuff and give the money to the poor. In his request of this wealthy young man, we see the master teacher at work. He had a lesson for this wealthy young man and he has a lesson for you and me. So let’s take a look at the Great Teacher’s Lesson About Eternal Life. I. We need a Savior. II. We have a Savior.
This week the Journal Sentinel began running teaser headlines to generate interest in a series of articles to run this week in the paper about how we deal with death. One doctor was quoted as saying, “In our culture, we have some work to do in coming to terms with death." In our sermon text last week, we heard Jesus say that those who enter God’s Kingdom have a simple child like faith in Jesus as the Savior. A child like faith in Jesus prays, “Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take and this I ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” That issue of eternal life was still on the mind of a wealthy young man who seemed to have everything except for peace about what happens after this life is over. “As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
This young man who called Jesus a good teacher had had some bad teachers along the way. Notice the words, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The emphasis on what a person must do to inherit heaven reflects the attitude which prevailed among the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. It shows how far they had strayed from the only way of salvation offered by the true God. God had given the Children of Israel their civil and ceremonial laws to keep them as a special people from whom the Savior of the world would come-to point their eyes of faith to the coming Messiah and the sacrifice he would make on the cross. However instead of clinging to the Savior which the ceremonies pointed to, many teachers put their faith in themselves and pointed to how well they had kept the law. When Jesus came the people flocked to hear him because “he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law.”
“Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.” Jesus, the master teacher stoops down to this man’s level. In effect saying, “OK, if you think that you can enter eternal life by doing something, then let’s set the standard.” Jesus wasn’t saying that he was not holy and perfect but he was trying to set the man straight by making clear that you do not earn eternal life by saying the right things to the right people. The young man as a ruler in the synagogue had given this answer to many people. “You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' If someone wants to enter life on their own, Jesus makes clear that he must keep all of the commandments- all of the time.
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." This young man no longer felt the sting of the law in the Old Testament passages he knew so well. Many thought that by outwardly observing the laws they had kept their hearts pure before the Lord, but God tells us in Proverbs, “Who can say, I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”? Isaiah rejected any thought of anyone working themselves into God’s favor when he says ,”All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf and our sins sweep us away.” Indeed passages in the law should have made this young man feel foolish to ask the silly and conceited question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Notice that Jesus the one whose eyes blaze like fire does not let the lightning of his burning wrath break out against this young man. Instead Jesus looks at him with compassion. The great teacher comes again with a lesson about how badly we need a Savior. He doesn’t use the Law as a club but instead tries to get the young man to see that he had not kept even the first commandment. By his command of selling everything, Jesus was trying to get the young man to see that money had a higher place in his heart than God did. The young man wanted to stay on the path of earning his way into God’s favor. He didn’t want to admit that he needed a Savior. “At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. “
Let’s take a look in our hearts. The Bible says that all of our possessions come from God, but sin has messed up our thinking. When we are little children one of the first things we learn to say if something is taken from us is “Hey that’s mine.” We don’t say “Hey that’s God’s. “ If money is not an idol, why is it that it is such a touchy item in our lives? Why is it that often inheritances meant to be a blessing end up being a sore subject within a family? What would we do if Jesus asked us to sell everything and follow him? Would we gladly give up any hint of an idol in our lives? Or would we scratch and claw to hold on? Or would we walk away with a fallen face? Let’s recognize that we have walked away just like this rich man. We need a Savior. That’s the lesson Jesus was trying to teach this young man.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" Look at how easy it is for us to have been amazingly blessed to live in the country we live in to be distracted by the things of this world. “The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?" The disciples recognized that lesson. They felt the pinch of the law. They liked their money too. Sometimes they liked it more than they liked God. God’s law drives us to see that we need a Savior.
As I get older my eyes are getting bad. I have to hold the hymn book way out here. The other day, Sue had left for work and I needed a button sewed on. So I pulled out the sewing box. I tried to thread a needle to sew on a button and trying to fit that thread through the eye of that needle was like trying to get a camel through the eye of a needle. It was impossible. Can we sinful human beings who are so easily pulled by possessions ever enter the kingdom of heaven? No, it is impossible with man. But just when you think that something is impossible God has a way of doing the impossible. We need a Savior. We have a Savior.
That’s the second lesson Jesus the great teacher taught his disciples. Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." Do you remember the other place where the Bible says, “With God all things are possible?” Those were the words of the angel talking to Mary about the birth of Jesus. God did the impossible. God took on flesh and blood and lived among his creatures. The devil tempted him with all the possessions in the world. Remember the devil’s offer that Jesus could have it all if he would just bow down and worship him. Jesus fought off that temptation and finished his life here on earth with a perfect record. Wonder of wonders God gave Jesus’ perfect record to you and me. In a great miracle of love God punished Jesus on a cross so that we would not feel the wrath of God come down on us. He gave his life so that we could have far more than the trinkets of gold and silver this world offers. He gave his life to give us eternal life.
Now that changes the way we look at our possessions in this life. They are gifts from God. They are blessings for us to take care of as stewards. But they stay here when this life is over. “We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” I’ll repeat a statement I heard years ago. “You’ll never see a U haul being pulled behind a hearse.” When possessions come and go we can say with Job, “the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.”
I have the feeling the rich man would look at all we have and be convinced that we are far wealthier than he could ever dream of being. Whether you have a lot or a little, Jesus has given you treasure in heaven. Don’t let go of your true treasure, Jesus. You need a Savior. You have a Savior. Amen.
October 25th, 2009
Pastor Waldschmidt
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Pentecost 20
October 18/25, 2009
Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Text: Mark 10:1-16
JESUS TEACHES ABOUT FAMILY AND FAITH
I Marriage Is By God’s Institution
II Jesus Wants Children Brought To Him
III Childlike Faith By All Is Blessed
Mark 10:1-16
1 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6 "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
+ + + + + + +
Last week our Mission Festival observances put emphasis on mission work. The mission we are talking about is reaching out to people - people in our immediate area, people outside of our area, people anywhere in the world. Reaching out why? So that we can sell them something? No, not to sell them something but to tell them something, to offer them something. And what is that? Not the latest technological gadget to make this life easier, but the message of truth that will make eternal life in glory possible. Please follow up our Mission Festival emphasis of last week with your continued prayers and support and efforts. There are a lot of people to reach.
How many? At the present time the world population is about 6.8 billion people, with almost 308 million of those people in the United States. From where do all of these people come? They come not from monkeys or other life as evolutionists like to think, but they come from people according to God’s command. After God had created Adam and Eve as the first people, He said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth." And exactly that is what has been happening since the beginning when mankind was created by our creator God. People come from people, and the population is constantly increasing.
But "increase in number" isn’t all that God said in His Genesis record. He also talked about how He wants that to happen. Jesus, God’s eternal Son who was there in the beginning, who was an eye and ear witness, refers to that in our text. The opening verse speaks of how He was traveling, how crowds came to Him wherever He was, and "as was his custom, he taught them," we are told. We want to be taught too. Like the crowds, let us listen closely as
JESUS TEACHES ABOUT FAMILY AND FAITH
I MARRIAGE IS BY GOD’S INSTITUTION (1-12)
1. From man come wrong ideas
a) not only are there wrong ideas about when and how marriage
should start, but the very idea of what marriage itself is has
been much in the news, with more and more states voting that a
relationship other than man and woman is marriage
b) and when it comes to the ending of a marriage, that’s not too
much different today either from the question the Pharisees
posed to Jesus about ending a marriage for almost any reason
2. But God established what marriage is (6-9)
Jesus taught: "--- at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
a) here Jesus - remember again He was there at the creation -
teaches about what the Creator said: about the starting point;
the what; and the ending of marriage
b) it starts when a man and a woman publicly leave their former
family relationship not to shack up with someone for a while
and leave when they feel like it, but to establish a new family
together; when a man and a woman in faithfulness and love and
respect share their bodies and lives as one; when they recognize
that God and not they should determine how long their
marriage should last
3. Violating God’s will does take place (2-5,10-12)
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" "What did Moses command you?" he replied. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied.
a) because hearts are hard to God’s will, marriages are broken;
then civil laws - in OT times as well as today - are needed, not
to approve of the violation of God’s will, but to control the
results, to protect those violated by a marriage’s wrong ending
Jesus went on in His teaching: When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
b) whenever a marriage is broken by people instead of being
ended by God, sin is always involved, either by one of the two
or by both, sin that is against God’s will, sin that calls for
repentance and a return to God
4. May we learn and live God’s will (6-9)
"But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So
they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
a) God does not demand marriage for all: some may not marry by
choice; some because God in His wisdom didn’t bring a proper
match; some because a partner has been taken by death; some
because a spouse broke the marriage - and there is nothing
wrong then with being unmarried - for some it might be better
b) but when "God has joined together" two people, they are to
receive it as a blessing from God, strive to live it according to
God’s will, live in His forgiveness for their shortcomings, and
let God determine how many anniversaries they will observe
c) may we learn well what Jesus teaches here; and now also that
II JESUS WANTS CHILDREN BROUGHT TO HIM (13-16)
1. Some see no need for this (13)
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.
a) parents can put miles on their cars and pressure into their
busy lives to take children to every sporting event and all kinds
of lessons and activities, while at the same time some may not
see the need to bring them regularly to Jesus, maybe not even
bringing them to Baptism - what a sad reality!
b) even the disciples here saw bringing children to Jesus as
unnecessary - would they have objected to our DS and SS?
2. But Jesus wanted the children (14-15)
When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
a) children, like adults, are sinners too and need God’s kingdom
b) Jesus’ mission on earth was for them too - to fulfill the law in
their place, to pay for their sins as their substitute, to arise from
the dead to be their life where there will be no more death
3. Do we deserve His indignation? (13-14a)
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.
a) what is our goal for our children - academic achievements,
great in sports, a job that will give money and importance?
b) such goals may be good - unless they are put ahead of God’s
will, unless we see this life for our children as more important
than the life to come, unless to accomplish such things we
neglect their souls, unless to gain the world we don’t care if
they lose true life - such parents deserve Jesus’ indignation for
throwing away His grace for children; instead of that
4. May our families seek Jesus’ blessing (16)
--- he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
a) yes, provide for their earthly needs (not all of their wants)
b) but never neglect bringing them to Jesus in Baptism, teaching
them at home with Bible stories and prayers, giving them
Christian education as they grow up, bringing them regularly to
worship, showing them with your own example that this is
important to you to keep coming to Jesus as your Savior
c) for here Jesus has promised blessings that go way beyond what
can be achieved here on earth
III CHILDLIKE FAITH BY ALL IS BLESSED (15-16)
1. The problem is that we like to be adultlike
a) instead of trusting like a child what God says, we like to apply
adult reasoning to family and marriage: "I’m not happy and
surely God wants me to be happy, so I can get out of this
marriage; - I don’t love him or her anymore, so naturally I’ll
quit the marriage instead of working at the problem; - This isn’t
what I thought marriage and family life would be, so it makes
sense to get divorced and try it with someone else;" etc.
b) in the same way adult reasoning, when God says the only way
of salvation is His Son, likes to say: "As long as I lead a
reasonably good life, try to be at least a lot better than a lot of
other people, surely that’s enough to earn life. - Jesus as the
only way of salvation doesn’t sound right. As long as people
are sincere and not real bad, that’s good enough, isn’t it?"; etc.
2. But being adultlike will keep us from heaven (15)
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
a) adultlike reasoning or efforts can never come up with the way
to life when, child or adult, we all are sinners and totally
incapable of saving ourselves, when instead we are capable only
of earning and receiving the hell that we deserve
b) not adultlike reasoning or efforts, but only the so-called
foolishness of the cross is God’s way to life: for it was only in
Christ, in His innocent life and death and victorious
resurrection, that God reconciled the world to Himself; it is
only in Christ that forgiveness is found and true life is promised
3. God help us to be childlike (15)
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
a) that is a trusting quality little children have, and a trusting faith
that children of God have by the Holy Spirit’s working
b) apply that to God’s will: what He says about marriage or being
single or widowed or wrongfully divorced; about raising
children; about how to live our daily lives; about what is right
and what is wrong; and above all about what He says with
regard to Jesus as our only and complete Savior
4. And enjoy His blessings (16)
And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
a) walking away from Jesus’ open arms because we are being
adultlike will lose blessings
b) going into His open inviting arms, arms that were stretched
out on the cross for us, that will receive His blessings - now
in His wisdom, and one day in the glory He won for us
c) for our present and eternal welfare, then, in childlike faith may
we all learn and heed what JESUS TEACHES ABOUT
FAMILY AND FAITH.
And don’t forget to share that with the millions of people around us in this world!
October 18/25, 2009
Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Text: Mark 10:1-16
JESUS TEACHES ABOUT FAMILY AND FAITH
I Marriage Is By God’s Institution
II Jesus Wants Children Brought To Him
III Childlike Faith By All Is Blessed
Mark 10:1-16
1 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6 "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
+ + + + + + +
Last week our Mission Festival observances put emphasis on mission work. The mission we are talking about is reaching out to people - people in our immediate area, people outside of our area, people anywhere in the world. Reaching out why? So that we can sell them something? No, not to sell them something but to tell them something, to offer them something. And what is that? Not the latest technological gadget to make this life easier, but the message of truth that will make eternal life in glory possible. Please follow up our Mission Festival emphasis of last week with your continued prayers and support and efforts. There are a lot of people to reach.
How many? At the present time the world population is about 6.8 billion people, with almost 308 million of those people in the United States. From where do all of these people come? They come not from monkeys or other life as evolutionists like to think, but they come from people according to God’s command. After God had created Adam and Eve as the first people, He said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth." And exactly that is what has been happening since the beginning when mankind was created by our creator God. People come from people, and the population is constantly increasing.
But "increase in number" isn’t all that God said in His Genesis record. He also talked about how He wants that to happen. Jesus, God’s eternal Son who was there in the beginning, who was an eye and ear witness, refers to that in our text. The opening verse speaks of how He was traveling, how crowds came to Him wherever He was, and "as was his custom, he taught them," we are told. We want to be taught too. Like the crowds, let us listen closely as
JESUS TEACHES ABOUT FAMILY AND FAITH
I MARRIAGE IS BY GOD’S INSTITUTION (1-12)
1. From man come wrong ideas
a) not only are there wrong ideas about when and how marriage
should start, but the very idea of what marriage itself is has
been much in the news, with more and more states voting that a
relationship other than man and woman is marriage
b) and when it comes to the ending of a marriage, that’s not too
much different today either from the question the Pharisees
posed to Jesus about ending a marriage for almost any reason
2. But God established what marriage is (6-9)
Jesus taught: "--- at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
a) here Jesus - remember again He was there at the creation -
teaches about what the Creator said: about the starting point;
the what; and the ending of marriage
b) it starts when a man and a woman publicly leave their former
family relationship not to shack up with someone for a while
and leave when they feel like it, but to establish a new family
together; when a man and a woman in faithfulness and love and
respect share their bodies and lives as one; when they recognize
that God and not they should determine how long their
marriage should last
3. Violating God’s will does take place (2-5,10-12)
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" "What did Moses command you?" he replied. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied.
a) because hearts are hard to God’s will, marriages are broken;
then civil laws - in OT times as well as today - are needed, not
to approve of the violation of God’s will, but to control the
results, to protect those violated by a marriage’s wrong ending
Jesus went on in His teaching: When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
b) whenever a marriage is broken by people instead of being
ended by God, sin is always involved, either by one of the two
or by both, sin that is against God’s will, sin that calls for
repentance and a return to God
4. May we learn and live God’s will (6-9)
"But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So
they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
a) God does not demand marriage for all: some may not marry by
choice; some because God in His wisdom didn’t bring a proper
match; some because a partner has been taken by death; some
because a spouse broke the marriage - and there is nothing
wrong then with being unmarried - for some it might be better
b) but when "God has joined together" two people, they are to
receive it as a blessing from God, strive to live it according to
God’s will, live in His forgiveness for their shortcomings, and
let God determine how many anniversaries they will observe
c) may we learn well what Jesus teaches here; and now also that
II JESUS WANTS CHILDREN BROUGHT TO HIM (13-16)
1. Some see no need for this (13)
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.
a) parents can put miles on their cars and pressure into their
busy lives to take children to every sporting event and all kinds
of lessons and activities, while at the same time some may not
see the need to bring them regularly to Jesus, maybe not even
bringing them to Baptism - what a sad reality!
b) even the disciples here saw bringing children to Jesus as
unnecessary - would they have objected to our DS and SS?
2. But Jesus wanted the children (14-15)
When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
a) children, like adults, are sinners too and need God’s kingdom
b) Jesus’ mission on earth was for them too - to fulfill the law in
their place, to pay for their sins as their substitute, to arise from
the dead to be their life where there will be no more death
3. Do we deserve His indignation? (13-14a)
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.
a) what is our goal for our children - academic achievements,
great in sports, a job that will give money and importance?
b) such goals may be good - unless they are put ahead of God’s
will, unless we see this life for our children as more important
than the life to come, unless to accomplish such things we
neglect their souls, unless to gain the world we don’t care if
they lose true life - such parents deserve Jesus’ indignation for
throwing away His grace for children; instead of that
4. May our families seek Jesus’ blessing (16)
--- he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
a) yes, provide for their earthly needs (not all of their wants)
b) but never neglect bringing them to Jesus in Baptism, teaching
them at home with Bible stories and prayers, giving them
Christian education as they grow up, bringing them regularly to
worship, showing them with your own example that this is
important to you to keep coming to Jesus as your Savior
c) for here Jesus has promised blessings that go way beyond what
can be achieved here on earth
III CHILDLIKE FAITH BY ALL IS BLESSED (15-16)
1. The problem is that we like to be adultlike
a) instead of trusting like a child what God says, we like to apply
adult reasoning to family and marriage: "I’m not happy and
surely God wants me to be happy, so I can get out of this
marriage; - I don’t love him or her anymore, so naturally I’ll
quit the marriage instead of working at the problem; - This isn’t
what I thought marriage and family life would be, so it makes
sense to get divorced and try it with someone else;" etc.
b) in the same way adult reasoning, when God says the only way
of salvation is His Son, likes to say: "As long as I lead a
reasonably good life, try to be at least a lot better than a lot of
other people, surely that’s enough to earn life. - Jesus as the
only way of salvation doesn’t sound right. As long as people
are sincere and not real bad, that’s good enough, isn’t it?"; etc.
2. But being adultlike will keep us from heaven (15)
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
a) adultlike reasoning or efforts can never come up with the way
to life when, child or adult, we all are sinners and totally
incapable of saving ourselves, when instead we are capable only
of earning and receiving the hell that we deserve
b) not adultlike reasoning or efforts, but only the so-called
foolishness of the cross is God’s way to life: for it was only in
Christ, in His innocent life and death and victorious
resurrection, that God reconciled the world to Himself; it is
only in Christ that forgiveness is found and true life is promised
3. God help us to be childlike (15)
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
a) that is a trusting quality little children have, and a trusting faith
that children of God have by the Holy Spirit’s working
b) apply that to God’s will: what He says about marriage or being
single or widowed or wrongfully divorced; about raising
children; about how to live our daily lives; about what is right
and what is wrong; and above all about what He says with
regard to Jesus as our only and complete Savior
4. And enjoy His blessings (16)
And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
a) walking away from Jesus’ open arms because we are being
adultlike will lose blessings
b) going into His open inviting arms, arms that were stretched
out on the cross for us, that will receive His blessings - now
in His wisdom, and one day in the glory He won for us
c) for our present and eternal welfare, then, in childlike faith may
we all learn and heed what JESUS TEACHES ABOUT
FAMILY AND FAITH.
And don’t forget to share that with the millions of people around us in this world!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mission Festival
Mission Awareness Weekend
October 11 & 12, 2009
St. Jacobi Ev. Lutheran Church – Greenfield, WI
Sermon by Rev. Dan Koelpin
“FOCUSED ON MISSION”
In Jesus' name dear friends and co-workers in God's kingdom. "Focused" is one of those fashionable “buzz’ words that's been around for awhile. As a verb its primary and original function was to describe the activity that bends light rays so that they will converge on specific points and patterns to produce a clearly defined image. Yet in modern jargon the term "focused" is more frequently used to depict the concentration of attention and resources in order to accomplish specific objectives. A focused person is a person of purpose, someone who is not easily diverted, a person who knows what he or she wants to achieve and devotes an almost exclusive use of time, energy and talent and money in order to achieve it. Top notch athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Aaron Rodgers have been described as “focused” in athletic competition. In today's world a focused business is one which has set forth a well considered and clearly articulated statement of mission or purpose and then brings every resource into compliance with it. A focused company is one in which everyone from the Chief Executive Officer to the custodial crew knows what the company is seeking to accomplish and what their part in it is.
Never before in the world's history has it been so important to be focused. Haven’t you noticed with distractions and amusements on every hand people are losing sight of what is important – their relationships with family members and with God, their sense of meaning in their lives. That’s because today the scourge of our times is purposeless living. It’s not that people aren’t busy. Their lives are a veritable blur of activity – eating at every restaurant in town, previewing every video at the video store, looking for every sale at the shopping centers, but much of this is “chasing after the wind” with no purpose or meaning to all of the activity. Having a purpose for one’s life is one of the most important ingredients of living. How many people do you know in hospitals and old folks homes that don’t die simply because they have no purpose for going on? How many do you know that haven’t known for quite some time what they’ve wanted out of their marriage? out of their job? out of life itself? -- and you wonder if they ever will. So many youth are drifting into aimlessness, because they don’t have a focus on what’s important, a sense of purpose to their lives. Is it little wonder then that one of the biggest book sellers on the market not too long ago was a book entitled “The Purpose Driven Life”?
The key to being focused is first to determine what's worthwhile in life and then to give our time and attention to it. If there are only so many books you can read in a lifetime doesn't it make sense to read only the best? If you only have so much time, isn't it far more important to give it to worthwhile purposes than to squander and waste it on the non-consequential? You and I have only one life to invest - only so many resources, so many talents, only so many years and that's it --that's all. It would be a tragedy to spend them on anything less than the most supreme, the most worthwhile of causes. We need to either be convinced or continually reminded that the supreme values, those worth seeking and having, are those which meet our deepest needs. This rules out the hoarding of money. Money can buy comfort for the body, but not peace for the soul. It can purchase a house, but it can't turn it into a happy home. It can secure a hospital room and the finest of physicians, but it can't guarantee health or long life. The same holds true for the amassing of possessions. The minute a person buys into the premise that he needs things to make him happy, then it stands to reason that he needs more things to make him more happy and he is already on a treadmill that never stops. Many of us might not believe that if we had two or three times as much as we have right now, we wouldn't be any happier, but the truth is we wouldn't. Whenever we make something outside of ourselves the source of our joy (our house, our possessions, even another person our spouse or children) we’re setting ourselves up for a fall, because it can all (any person or thing) be taken from us— and then where is our happiness? Contentment is not found in that which is without but in that which is within. Do you want to ask yourself, “How much of your time is spent working for things, shopping for things, hauling things around, trading things, maintaining things?” And what’s suffering in the meanwhile? – relationships, purpose.
Our greatest needs are not economic or material at all; they are spiritual. Our supreme needs are a quiet heart and inward peace, a freedom from guilt the steady courage that comes from faith and a life of fulfillment and meaning. Those are things only God can give us in Jesus Christ, but having them we can cope with everything else. We do find peace in the salvation he has provided and we do find fulfillment and meaning for our lives carrying out his plan and purpose for us.
In the word of God before us today the ruler of the universe sets forth that plan for us both as a church body and as individual Christians. It is the mission on which he has focused the entire church's attention. Unlike those who are always squandering their energies on the secondary, we Christians can know what is worth giving our time and attention to because Jesus tells us what it is. In his final directives to the disciples our Savior set forth in merely a few words the church's mission for all time when He said, 'therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." This mission was so all encompassing in scope, so universal in reach, so timeless in its application that it continues to stand to this day as the unifying focus of the church's activity to all who take God's word seriously. This evening we want to emphasize the importance of keeping our focus on the clearly defined mission set forth by Christ and the tragedy that occurs when we fail to do that as well as the blessing that happens when we do.
As Christians we too are involved in a mission, a rescue mission. The mission of God did not begin with these words of the Great Commission. They began in the councils of eternity when God saw lost mankind and prepared a plan to save him. His love reached out to the world in the person of his son Jesus who came to show us God’s love in human form and to provide salvation for us and all mankind through his suffering and death. He came to live the life we could not live and to pay the price for sins that we could not pay. Yet the rescue mission did not end when Jesus laid the foundation of it. Many still had not heard that they had been saved. So he sent his spirit and moved his apostles and evangelists to go from region to region, from country to country, from century to centrury. God’s grace was further shown to us in that he sent his holy spirit to bring us to faith in Jesus as their Savior of our sin. We could think about it for an eternity and never figure out why it was that God chose us to have that truth. We could’ve been born in places like India or Indonesia where people are steeped in superstition and poverty, whey the children fight with the animals over the scraps of food in the garbage dumps. By comparison we are about 8% of the world’s populace, we consume 35%s of its energy and material goods. There is nothing in us that deserved us grace. We’ll never know why we received such grace, but we do know one of the reasons for which we received such grace and truth. We received it that we might pass it on to others. Outside of the strengthening of our own faith one of the foremost reasons why we exist to spread the truth we know to others as Jesus directs us here in his commission.
A clearly defined focus is important. Much confusion has been caused in Christendom because leaders and church members have often been focused on different goals than the ones set forth by Jesus. There are those who believe that the primary focus of the church should be to provide fellowship opportunities where they can meet friends. There are others who feel that the church should be primarily focused on providing works of charity, building hospitals, orphanages, and shelters for the homeless. There are others still who are convinced that the church should be principally committed to effecting change in the political arena, but does it matter what everybody else thinks? Who has the right to set the agenda for the church's business? Is it not the one who has all authority in heaven and in earth? And his goal is the discipline of every person on earth?
Even among us who know and agree with die real intent of our Savior's instruction to reach the lost, there is often an unintentional loss of focus. Because the oceans of spiritually dying humanity are far removed from us, it’s easy to forget them and the work of the world and home missionaries who are trying to reach them. On the other hand, because our personal needs and our local congregational needs loom large in front of us, those tend to be taken care of first, at times in Cadillac style, while multitudes which might be reached with a little more concentrated effort slip into a Christ-less eternity. We establish Christian schools to disciple our youth, but if were not careful we make them havens where we can gather our kind of people, places where we celebrate our own academic and athletic talents rather than institutions where we train people to reach others. We can with the best of intentions concentrate on producing inspiring worship services and understanding the word of God properly and then fail to do what the Word has instructed us to do, namely to get on with the work of permeating the unbelieving world with the saving truth we know. We don’t only learn to know, we learn to go.
There are those who believe that throughout history Christ's followers have managed to do just about everything else but complete the basic task the Lord has given to them. Down the ages the church has fought Crusades, built huge cathedrals, conducted elaborate ceremonies, erected hospitals and established prestigious institutions of learning, but it has not yet completed the main task Christ has given to it. We have to ask ourselves some basic questions. How firmly are we convinced of Jesus’ words, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me”. (Jn. 14:6) or when he says “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.” (Jn.3:18) They together with his directive of the Great Commission indicate we cannot assume people are going to go to heaven apart from Christ. We don’t want to be guilty of “functional universalism” in which we say we believe that people who don’t know Christ are lost and then function as though they’re somehow all going to get to heaven on their own without any attempt on our part to make sure they have the gospel.
The need for getting out the Gospel is as great as it has ever been. Never, to anyone's knowledge, has the world had such a vast mission field. The world's population is 6.8 billion is screaming for mission attention. It took from the time of Christ to the beginning of the 20th century to reach 1.6 billion in population. In just 100 years, and in spite of two world wars, over 4.5 billion people have been added to the planet. No longer are we under the illusion that we can reach the world’s millions with American missionaries. We send teams of 5 – 7 missionaries over to a country and set up a bible institute and seminary and train the nationals to reach their own countrymen and that seems to be working very well.
God will not allow us to forget those of other nations and other cultures even if we are inclined to do so, in recent decades he has brought the nations of the earth into our own neighborhoods, laying them like Lazaruses at our gate. Our own nation also cries out for mission activity. Living as we are in a country whose values have been eroded by aggressive forces promoting humanism, materialism and hedonism, the church can no longer afford to sit back and be reactive to events around it. The time in the world's history may be later than we think, the cause is urgent. Our Synod so privileged, so blessed by God, is being called upon to use its God-given resources of a pure Word, well-trained ministers and teachers, lay talents and monetary wealth for the soul-saving purposes for which they were given. There is a growing awareness in our church body that at the core of the mission of the church is the work of missions. The closer we get to the heart of Jesus, the more we will want to share in his mission of seeking and saving the lost.
We have to be careful that we don't only think of mission work as something that's being done by missionaries for us. God wants us all to be in tune with His mission. Life's highway is littered with the wounded. There are those who are economically wounded, those who are physically wounded, those who are emotionally wounded, those who have wounded themselves by making the wrong choices in life. Above all there are the spiritually wounded filled with guilt, afraid of death, unsure of what life is all about. Some of them exist right under our noses in our own families, some are among those who enter and exit our lives in the course of our day-to-day work, some wait in the shadows hoping that we will notice them and help them. Some we hear about second hand. Some are across town, some are across the country and then some are across the ocean on the other side of the world.
If we fail to take up the challenge of focusing on Jesus' mission we will be like the fig tree mentioned in one of the parables. In spite of the fact that this tree was planted in a place of special privilege where it was cultivated loved and protected so that fruit was rightfully to be expected, it utterly failed to fulfill the purpose for which it had been planted and it invited destruction. We should not for one minute delude ourselves into thinking that God placed us here in this land of affluence and provided us with the pure gospel so that we could go off and lead self-centered lives. If when the Lord returns we dig up our gospel like the buried coin and give it back to him we are inviting his wrath. To Jesus, one of the greatest sins was to remain useless when given the wherewithal to be useful.
We have to see our purpose, our mission on earth in order for us to fulfill our destiny as God's people. We are not to be like so many in our world today who are squandering their lives in watering holes and standing in line for entertainment tickets. One of the most moving and powerful illustrations I've ever heard was that of beached whales. There are a number of whales which die each year on the shores of our eastern seacoast because they had chased minnows for food and had gotten into water levels that were too shallow for them. One scientist made the comment that "here were creatures of vast power who were using their tremendous potential to chase after the trivial and perishing in the process." What a comment on many in our American society, "using tremendous potential to chase after the trivial and perishing in the process." Thank God as his children we have a purpose!
If we take an honest look at the overwhelming mission of the church, which is to disciple every nation, every person on earth, the sheer enormity of the task might cause many to throw up their hands and despair. Yet the Lord doesn't expect us to do it all by tomorrow, only to do our best each day. He gives us life on the installment plan, a day, a week, a month at a time and as we commit ourselves faithfully each day to the task he has before us we get much more done than we think. Yet too many of God's people have forgotten who they are-how special they are, how needed they are to be different, to be shining lights in this dark world. People will take note if you don’t use profanities, if you have a good work ethic, if you are honest in your dealings, if you mention the Lord as the source of your blessings. They are particularly impressed when this becomes the pattern of our lives over months and years. To such people others in crisis will turn in their times of trouble. How can I relate to all of you that the pulpits from which you proclaim the Gospel are every bit as important and the ones from which it is proclaimed in church. We know what it means to have the peace of forgiveness, the certainty of heaven, the love of God in Christ, a sense of purpose for our lives, but others may not know if we aren't concerned about having them know. If we are concerned it will make a difference in our lives. The encouragements to holy living in the New Testament are not meant to show us the way to earn heaven, but they are encouraged so that we might show others the God who loved us.
Now certainly you and I may have not been called in the same way as the 12 Apostles to leave our jobs for full-time service in the public ministry. Still, as Christian disciples, we have been called to be not merely mechanics, but mechanics who have a soul-winning purpose. Not only teachers and nurses, but men and women who have been placed in a unique position to touch lives and lead them, even if it be ever so indirectly, in the direction of Jesus. You're not merely fathers and mothers bringing home the bacon and putting the meals on the table, you're people who are in a position to shape the mindset of future generations and show them how they can be part of the great mission too. You're not only employers, managers and supervisors, you're men and women who have it within your power to help people grow. You are not merely church members, but rather important soldiers in the vast army known as the Christian church. Your efforts combined with those of other Christians in our synod's 1200 churches can accomplish together what we cannot do individually, namely to support the work of over 70 overseas missionaries and hundreds of missionaries in the U.S. God hasn’t asked us to die for others; his son has already done that. We don’t even have to go in person to tell everyone on distant shores they have a savior; we have missionaries to do that for us. Yet we can go through our purse, our offerings that support their important work.
Yes, we are all part of the mission. We even know what it is. Our challenge is to keep focused on it right where God has placed us so that every day and in every way we continue to see our important part in the great mission of God and function effectively in it. May God enable us to do so and thus further his rescue mission and thus be a vital part in helping his Kingdom to come. Amen.
October 11 & 12, 2009
St. Jacobi Ev. Lutheran Church – Greenfield, WI
Sermon by Rev. Dan Koelpin
“FOCUSED ON MISSION”
In Jesus' name dear friends and co-workers in God's kingdom. "Focused" is one of those fashionable “buzz’ words that's been around for awhile. As a verb its primary and original function was to describe the activity that bends light rays so that they will converge on specific points and patterns to produce a clearly defined image. Yet in modern jargon the term "focused" is more frequently used to depict the concentration of attention and resources in order to accomplish specific objectives. A focused person is a person of purpose, someone who is not easily diverted, a person who knows what he or she wants to achieve and devotes an almost exclusive use of time, energy and talent and money in order to achieve it. Top notch athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Aaron Rodgers have been described as “focused” in athletic competition. In today's world a focused business is one which has set forth a well considered and clearly articulated statement of mission or purpose and then brings every resource into compliance with it. A focused company is one in which everyone from the Chief Executive Officer to the custodial crew knows what the company is seeking to accomplish and what their part in it is.
Never before in the world's history has it been so important to be focused. Haven’t you noticed with distractions and amusements on every hand people are losing sight of what is important – their relationships with family members and with God, their sense of meaning in their lives. That’s because today the scourge of our times is purposeless living. It’s not that people aren’t busy. Their lives are a veritable blur of activity – eating at every restaurant in town, previewing every video at the video store, looking for every sale at the shopping centers, but much of this is “chasing after the wind” with no purpose or meaning to all of the activity. Having a purpose for one’s life is one of the most important ingredients of living. How many people do you know in hospitals and old folks homes that don’t die simply because they have no purpose for going on? How many do you know that haven’t known for quite some time what they’ve wanted out of their marriage? out of their job? out of life itself? -- and you wonder if they ever will. So many youth are drifting into aimlessness, because they don’t have a focus on what’s important, a sense of purpose to their lives. Is it little wonder then that one of the biggest book sellers on the market not too long ago was a book entitled “The Purpose Driven Life”?
The key to being focused is first to determine what's worthwhile in life and then to give our time and attention to it. If there are only so many books you can read in a lifetime doesn't it make sense to read only the best? If you only have so much time, isn't it far more important to give it to worthwhile purposes than to squander and waste it on the non-consequential? You and I have only one life to invest - only so many resources, so many talents, only so many years and that's it --that's all. It would be a tragedy to spend them on anything less than the most supreme, the most worthwhile of causes. We need to either be convinced or continually reminded that the supreme values, those worth seeking and having, are those which meet our deepest needs. This rules out the hoarding of money. Money can buy comfort for the body, but not peace for the soul. It can purchase a house, but it can't turn it into a happy home. It can secure a hospital room and the finest of physicians, but it can't guarantee health or long life. The same holds true for the amassing of possessions. The minute a person buys into the premise that he needs things to make him happy, then it stands to reason that he needs more things to make him more happy and he is already on a treadmill that never stops. Many of us might not believe that if we had two or three times as much as we have right now, we wouldn't be any happier, but the truth is we wouldn't. Whenever we make something outside of ourselves the source of our joy (our house, our possessions, even another person our spouse or children) we’re setting ourselves up for a fall, because it can all (any person or thing) be taken from us— and then where is our happiness? Contentment is not found in that which is without but in that which is within. Do you want to ask yourself, “How much of your time is spent working for things, shopping for things, hauling things around, trading things, maintaining things?” And what’s suffering in the meanwhile? – relationships, purpose.
Our greatest needs are not economic or material at all; they are spiritual. Our supreme needs are a quiet heart and inward peace, a freedom from guilt the steady courage that comes from faith and a life of fulfillment and meaning. Those are things only God can give us in Jesus Christ, but having them we can cope with everything else. We do find peace in the salvation he has provided and we do find fulfillment and meaning for our lives carrying out his plan and purpose for us.
In the word of God before us today the ruler of the universe sets forth that plan for us both as a church body and as individual Christians. It is the mission on which he has focused the entire church's attention. Unlike those who are always squandering their energies on the secondary, we Christians can know what is worth giving our time and attention to because Jesus tells us what it is. In his final directives to the disciples our Savior set forth in merely a few words the church's mission for all time when He said, 'therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." This mission was so all encompassing in scope, so universal in reach, so timeless in its application that it continues to stand to this day as the unifying focus of the church's activity to all who take God's word seriously. This evening we want to emphasize the importance of keeping our focus on the clearly defined mission set forth by Christ and the tragedy that occurs when we fail to do that as well as the blessing that happens when we do.
As Christians we too are involved in a mission, a rescue mission. The mission of God did not begin with these words of the Great Commission. They began in the councils of eternity when God saw lost mankind and prepared a plan to save him. His love reached out to the world in the person of his son Jesus who came to show us God’s love in human form and to provide salvation for us and all mankind through his suffering and death. He came to live the life we could not live and to pay the price for sins that we could not pay. Yet the rescue mission did not end when Jesus laid the foundation of it. Many still had not heard that they had been saved. So he sent his spirit and moved his apostles and evangelists to go from region to region, from country to country, from century to centrury. God’s grace was further shown to us in that he sent his holy spirit to bring us to faith in Jesus as their Savior of our sin. We could think about it for an eternity and never figure out why it was that God chose us to have that truth. We could’ve been born in places like India or Indonesia where people are steeped in superstition and poverty, whey the children fight with the animals over the scraps of food in the garbage dumps. By comparison we are about 8% of the world’s populace, we consume 35%s of its energy and material goods. There is nothing in us that deserved us grace. We’ll never know why we received such grace, but we do know one of the reasons for which we received such grace and truth. We received it that we might pass it on to others. Outside of the strengthening of our own faith one of the foremost reasons why we exist to spread the truth we know to others as Jesus directs us here in his commission.
A clearly defined focus is important. Much confusion has been caused in Christendom because leaders and church members have often been focused on different goals than the ones set forth by Jesus. There are those who believe that the primary focus of the church should be to provide fellowship opportunities where they can meet friends. There are others who feel that the church should be primarily focused on providing works of charity, building hospitals, orphanages, and shelters for the homeless. There are others still who are convinced that the church should be principally committed to effecting change in the political arena, but does it matter what everybody else thinks? Who has the right to set the agenda for the church's business? Is it not the one who has all authority in heaven and in earth? And his goal is the discipline of every person on earth?
Even among us who know and agree with die real intent of our Savior's instruction to reach the lost, there is often an unintentional loss of focus. Because the oceans of spiritually dying humanity are far removed from us, it’s easy to forget them and the work of the world and home missionaries who are trying to reach them. On the other hand, because our personal needs and our local congregational needs loom large in front of us, those tend to be taken care of first, at times in Cadillac style, while multitudes which might be reached with a little more concentrated effort slip into a Christ-less eternity. We establish Christian schools to disciple our youth, but if were not careful we make them havens where we can gather our kind of people, places where we celebrate our own academic and athletic talents rather than institutions where we train people to reach others. We can with the best of intentions concentrate on producing inspiring worship services and understanding the word of God properly and then fail to do what the Word has instructed us to do, namely to get on with the work of permeating the unbelieving world with the saving truth we know. We don’t only learn to know, we learn to go.
There are those who believe that throughout history Christ's followers have managed to do just about everything else but complete the basic task the Lord has given to them. Down the ages the church has fought Crusades, built huge cathedrals, conducted elaborate ceremonies, erected hospitals and established prestigious institutions of learning, but it has not yet completed the main task Christ has given to it. We have to ask ourselves some basic questions. How firmly are we convinced of Jesus’ words, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me”. (Jn. 14:6) or when he says “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.” (Jn.3:18) They together with his directive of the Great Commission indicate we cannot assume people are going to go to heaven apart from Christ. We don’t want to be guilty of “functional universalism” in which we say we believe that people who don’t know Christ are lost and then function as though they’re somehow all going to get to heaven on their own without any attempt on our part to make sure they have the gospel.
The need for getting out the Gospel is as great as it has ever been. Never, to anyone's knowledge, has the world had such a vast mission field. The world's population is 6.8 billion is screaming for mission attention. It took from the time of Christ to the beginning of the 20th century to reach 1.6 billion in population. In just 100 years, and in spite of two world wars, over 4.5 billion people have been added to the planet. No longer are we under the illusion that we can reach the world’s millions with American missionaries. We send teams of 5 – 7 missionaries over to a country and set up a bible institute and seminary and train the nationals to reach their own countrymen and that seems to be working very well.
God will not allow us to forget those of other nations and other cultures even if we are inclined to do so, in recent decades he has brought the nations of the earth into our own neighborhoods, laying them like Lazaruses at our gate. Our own nation also cries out for mission activity. Living as we are in a country whose values have been eroded by aggressive forces promoting humanism, materialism and hedonism, the church can no longer afford to sit back and be reactive to events around it. The time in the world's history may be later than we think, the cause is urgent. Our Synod so privileged, so blessed by God, is being called upon to use its God-given resources of a pure Word, well-trained ministers and teachers, lay talents and monetary wealth for the soul-saving purposes for which they were given. There is a growing awareness in our church body that at the core of the mission of the church is the work of missions. The closer we get to the heart of Jesus, the more we will want to share in his mission of seeking and saving the lost.
We have to be careful that we don't only think of mission work as something that's being done by missionaries for us. God wants us all to be in tune with His mission. Life's highway is littered with the wounded. There are those who are economically wounded, those who are physically wounded, those who are emotionally wounded, those who have wounded themselves by making the wrong choices in life. Above all there are the spiritually wounded filled with guilt, afraid of death, unsure of what life is all about. Some of them exist right under our noses in our own families, some are among those who enter and exit our lives in the course of our day-to-day work, some wait in the shadows hoping that we will notice them and help them. Some we hear about second hand. Some are across town, some are across the country and then some are across the ocean on the other side of the world.
If we fail to take up the challenge of focusing on Jesus' mission we will be like the fig tree mentioned in one of the parables. In spite of the fact that this tree was planted in a place of special privilege where it was cultivated loved and protected so that fruit was rightfully to be expected, it utterly failed to fulfill the purpose for which it had been planted and it invited destruction. We should not for one minute delude ourselves into thinking that God placed us here in this land of affluence and provided us with the pure gospel so that we could go off and lead self-centered lives. If when the Lord returns we dig up our gospel like the buried coin and give it back to him we are inviting his wrath. To Jesus, one of the greatest sins was to remain useless when given the wherewithal to be useful.
We have to see our purpose, our mission on earth in order for us to fulfill our destiny as God's people. We are not to be like so many in our world today who are squandering their lives in watering holes and standing in line for entertainment tickets. One of the most moving and powerful illustrations I've ever heard was that of beached whales. There are a number of whales which die each year on the shores of our eastern seacoast because they had chased minnows for food and had gotten into water levels that were too shallow for them. One scientist made the comment that "here were creatures of vast power who were using their tremendous potential to chase after the trivial and perishing in the process." What a comment on many in our American society, "using tremendous potential to chase after the trivial and perishing in the process." Thank God as his children we have a purpose!
If we take an honest look at the overwhelming mission of the church, which is to disciple every nation, every person on earth, the sheer enormity of the task might cause many to throw up their hands and despair. Yet the Lord doesn't expect us to do it all by tomorrow, only to do our best each day. He gives us life on the installment plan, a day, a week, a month at a time and as we commit ourselves faithfully each day to the task he has before us we get much more done than we think. Yet too many of God's people have forgotten who they are-how special they are, how needed they are to be different, to be shining lights in this dark world. People will take note if you don’t use profanities, if you have a good work ethic, if you are honest in your dealings, if you mention the Lord as the source of your blessings. They are particularly impressed when this becomes the pattern of our lives over months and years. To such people others in crisis will turn in their times of trouble. How can I relate to all of you that the pulpits from which you proclaim the Gospel are every bit as important and the ones from which it is proclaimed in church. We know what it means to have the peace of forgiveness, the certainty of heaven, the love of God in Christ, a sense of purpose for our lives, but others may not know if we aren't concerned about having them know. If we are concerned it will make a difference in our lives. The encouragements to holy living in the New Testament are not meant to show us the way to earn heaven, but they are encouraged so that we might show others the God who loved us.
Now certainly you and I may have not been called in the same way as the 12 Apostles to leave our jobs for full-time service in the public ministry. Still, as Christian disciples, we have been called to be not merely mechanics, but mechanics who have a soul-winning purpose. Not only teachers and nurses, but men and women who have been placed in a unique position to touch lives and lead them, even if it be ever so indirectly, in the direction of Jesus. You're not merely fathers and mothers bringing home the bacon and putting the meals on the table, you're people who are in a position to shape the mindset of future generations and show them how they can be part of the great mission too. You're not only employers, managers and supervisors, you're men and women who have it within your power to help people grow. You are not merely church members, but rather important soldiers in the vast army known as the Christian church. Your efforts combined with those of other Christians in our synod's 1200 churches can accomplish together what we cannot do individually, namely to support the work of over 70 overseas missionaries and hundreds of missionaries in the U.S. God hasn’t asked us to die for others; his son has already done that. We don’t even have to go in person to tell everyone on distant shores they have a savior; we have missionaries to do that for us. Yet we can go through our purse, our offerings that support their important work.
Yes, we are all part of the mission. We even know what it is. Our challenge is to keep focused on it right where God has placed us so that every day and in every way we continue to see our important part in the great mission of God and function effectively in it. May God enable us to do so and thus further his rescue mission and thus be a vital part in helping his Kingdom to come. Amen.
Monday, October 5, 2009
PENTECOST 18
October 4/5, 2009
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Mark 8:31-35
“THERE IS NO CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT THE CROSS!”
1. Satan leads away from the cross.
2. Christ(ians) embrace(d) the cross.
Mark 8:31-35 (N V) “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." 34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
So, how would you liked to be called Satan, by Jesus? Oh, poor brother Peter! How crushed he must have been. Especially when you remember what had happened just before this. Jesus had done miracles of healing and feeding. News about Him spread. His reputation grew. He asked His disciples what people were saying about Him. Who did they think He was? The people all seemed to think Jesus was a prophet, a great prophet, but just a prophet. Then Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was. Peter, bold Peter, correctly replied. “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” What a shining moment for Peter!
Then we are told, “(Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. . 32He spoke plainly about this.” How strange this must have sounded to Peter. This isn’t right! This isn’t what should happen to God’s Son, the Messiah. Jesus was wrong, confused, maybe going crazy. So” Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” This was a nice thing for Peter to do. He would not embarrass the Lord so he takes Jesus aside privately. And that’s when it happened. “Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Ouch! Why would Jesus say that? Why seemingly be so harsh, so cruel? Calling Peter out in public when Peter was filled with the best of intentions for Jesus and His work. It’s because God’s truth was most important for everyone. What truth? There is no Christianity without the cross.
Jesus answer seemed harsh and was public because all followers of Jesus need to know that it is Satan who leads away from the cross. The only way for the salvation of people was for God’s Son Jesus to sacrifice His life to make payment for sin. Sin is that bad that it takes that kind of a payment. In His wisdom God chose the cross as the place for that payment. Keeping Jesus from the cross then was the work of the Devil. Do you remember in the recorded temptations of Jesus that the Devil offered Jesus the world and all Jesus had to do was bow down and worship him? The temptation was to gain the world back for God the devil’s way rather than God’s way. Did the Devil know Jesus was to die on a cross? Probably not. He was simply offering an easy way, the devil’s way. Not God’s way.
Peter was being Satan because he was doing the same thing. Jesus knew the cross was waiting for Him. He had just told the disciples that. As true God He knew what was coming. As true man He must have dreaded it with every fiber of His being. Peter’s good intentions were a mask for the work of Satan. Choose a different way than God’s way. Choose what is best for you rather than for others. Maybe that helps us to understand what a cross really is. You know the people who first heard this must have been confused. Before Jesus’ death on the cross as God’s way of saving, a cross was only an instrument of execution, horrible and painful execution carried out to merciless perfection by the hated Romans. On the other side of what Jesus has done we now know that a cross is God’s way of doing things. It’s often not easy. It often is unpleasant and uncomfortable for the one whose cross it is.
And Satan leads away from it. He did for Jesus. He does for us. He tries to lead people away from the cross of Jesus. He does that by tricking people into thinking they get there based on their deeds. He does that by leading away from the truth that there is salvation only through Jesus. Like with Peter he’ll use our good intentions of not wanting anyone damned to hell to try to accept the lie that someone can be saved apart from faith in Jesus. And they can’t . Satan is leading away from the cross. He leads us away from carrying other crosses too. Remember a cross is God’s way of doing things rather than the world’s. It’s often not the easy way. It often has discomfort with it. Some examples of the Devil’s leading. You get confronted with a sin. God’s way is to confess. Repent. Rejoice in Christ’s forgiveness. Take whatever earthly consequences you must with your Savior at your side. Satan’s way? Deny. Lie. Justify. Get mad at the one who confronts you or enforces your consequences. Another. You are with friends. They start gossiping, tearing another one of God’s children down. God’s way. Speak up. Defend. Admonish the gossiper. Satan’s way. Join in. Take glee in tearing another down. Or at least stay quiet. Satan leads away from the cross.
But Christ embraced the cross. He didn’t just tell the disciples He was going to go up to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, be killed and then after three days rise. He did it! Much like our firefighters must go against their natural survival instinct and run into a burning building to save people when everyone else is trying to get out Jesus rushed into the fires of Hell even though He was righteous. And how thankful we can be! Because Jesus embraced the cross our sins are washed away. We are completely, fully 100% forgiven for all of our sins, the ones we have already committed and the ones that still lie in our future. This means we get to live our lives without fear, knowing we are at peace with God and even hardships in our life will be worked for our good. Jesus rose too, assuring us the best is yet to come. Death for every believer in Jesus is the gateway to heaven. How thankful we can be!
And this thankfulness can show. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Christ embraced the cross. Followers of Christ, Christians, also embrace the cross. We do that when we hold to the cross of Jesus as the only to heaven. It honors Jesus when we reject our own deeds as making us somehow more worthy than other people. We honor Jesus when we speak of Him as the only Savior, the only way to heaven and refuse to be part of groups like the Masons that diminish Jesus to just another prophet.
We honor Jesus when take up our own crosses too. Remember that a cross involves denying yourself, that is your own way of dealing with others. It involves doing things God’s way even if it is hard and brings you discomfort, pain, financial loss. It begins with an attitude of wanting to thank Jesus. An example. Some of you will remember our brother, Clarence Benz, who went to heaven a couple of years ago. He had a condition that made his throat raw. When we pastors would visit to bring him communion, he would wince at the sting of the wine in his throat. We offered to water down the wine, use alcohol free wine. Clarence response? “If my Lord Jesus could take all the pain I deserve on the cross I can take a little pain for Him.”
Can you, will you? You must to follow Jesus.” If anyone would come after me he must,” said Jesus. So what are your crosses? You must be carrying some if you are following Jesus. Is there a cross in your scheduling? Something that makes life a little harder, isn’t what your sinful nature wants, that’s done to follow Jesus? Are you carrying any crosses in your budgeting, not getting something everyone else has or you want because you are giving money for Christ and His gospel? Are you the one left out of certain groups or gathering because you remind them by word or by presence of God’s will? Satan’s way is to try to be popular with everyone but the cross, God’s way, means rejection by the world. Do you speak up in the presence of wrong and now they won’t let you play their reindeer games? Good for you. That’s what followers of Christ do, the embrace the cross.
And let’s not throw ourselves a little pity party over that. Woe is us. How hard we Christians have it. No we don’t. Oh it might seem like it but the best is yet to come. We have the glories and joys of heaven itself, co heirs with Christ. All because of the cross. Don’t let Satan lead you away. Embrace the cross, Christ’s and your own. Amen.
October 4/5, 2009
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Mark 8:31-35
“THERE IS NO CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT THE CROSS!”
1. Satan leads away from the cross.
2. Christ(ians) embrace(d) the cross.
Mark 8:31-35 (N V) “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." 34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
So, how would you liked to be called Satan, by Jesus? Oh, poor brother Peter! How crushed he must have been. Especially when you remember what had happened just before this. Jesus had done miracles of healing and feeding. News about Him spread. His reputation grew. He asked His disciples what people were saying about Him. Who did they think He was? The people all seemed to think Jesus was a prophet, a great prophet, but just a prophet. Then Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was. Peter, bold Peter, correctly replied. “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” What a shining moment for Peter!
Then we are told, “(Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. . 32He spoke plainly about this.” How strange this must have sounded to Peter. This isn’t right! This isn’t what should happen to God’s Son, the Messiah. Jesus was wrong, confused, maybe going crazy. So” Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” This was a nice thing for Peter to do. He would not embarrass the Lord so he takes Jesus aside privately. And that’s when it happened. “Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Ouch! Why would Jesus say that? Why seemingly be so harsh, so cruel? Calling Peter out in public when Peter was filled with the best of intentions for Jesus and His work. It’s because God’s truth was most important for everyone. What truth? There is no Christianity without the cross.
Jesus answer seemed harsh and was public because all followers of Jesus need to know that it is Satan who leads away from the cross. The only way for the salvation of people was for God’s Son Jesus to sacrifice His life to make payment for sin. Sin is that bad that it takes that kind of a payment. In His wisdom God chose the cross as the place for that payment. Keeping Jesus from the cross then was the work of the Devil. Do you remember in the recorded temptations of Jesus that the Devil offered Jesus the world and all Jesus had to do was bow down and worship him? The temptation was to gain the world back for God the devil’s way rather than God’s way. Did the Devil know Jesus was to die on a cross? Probably not. He was simply offering an easy way, the devil’s way. Not God’s way.
Peter was being Satan because he was doing the same thing. Jesus knew the cross was waiting for Him. He had just told the disciples that. As true God He knew what was coming. As true man He must have dreaded it with every fiber of His being. Peter’s good intentions were a mask for the work of Satan. Choose a different way than God’s way. Choose what is best for you rather than for others. Maybe that helps us to understand what a cross really is. You know the people who first heard this must have been confused. Before Jesus’ death on the cross as God’s way of saving, a cross was only an instrument of execution, horrible and painful execution carried out to merciless perfection by the hated Romans. On the other side of what Jesus has done we now know that a cross is God’s way of doing things. It’s often not easy. It often is unpleasant and uncomfortable for the one whose cross it is.
And Satan leads away from it. He did for Jesus. He does for us. He tries to lead people away from the cross of Jesus. He does that by tricking people into thinking they get there based on their deeds. He does that by leading away from the truth that there is salvation only through Jesus. Like with Peter he’ll use our good intentions of not wanting anyone damned to hell to try to accept the lie that someone can be saved apart from faith in Jesus. And they can’t . Satan is leading away from the cross. He leads us away from carrying other crosses too. Remember a cross is God’s way of doing things rather than the world’s. It’s often not the easy way. It often has discomfort with it. Some examples of the Devil’s leading. You get confronted with a sin. God’s way is to confess. Repent. Rejoice in Christ’s forgiveness. Take whatever earthly consequences you must with your Savior at your side. Satan’s way? Deny. Lie. Justify. Get mad at the one who confronts you or enforces your consequences. Another. You are with friends. They start gossiping, tearing another one of God’s children down. God’s way. Speak up. Defend. Admonish the gossiper. Satan’s way. Join in. Take glee in tearing another down. Or at least stay quiet. Satan leads away from the cross.
But Christ embraced the cross. He didn’t just tell the disciples He was going to go up to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, be killed and then after three days rise. He did it! Much like our firefighters must go against their natural survival instinct and run into a burning building to save people when everyone else is trying to get out Jesus rushed into the fires of Hell even though He was righteous. And how thankful we can be! Because Jesus embraced the cross our sins are washed away. We are completely, fully 100% forgiven for all of our sins, the ones we have already committed and the ones that still lie in our future. This means we get to live our lives without fear, knowing we are at peace with God and even hardships in our life will be worked for our good. Jesus rose too, assuring us the best is yet to come. Death for every believer in Jesus is the gateway to heaven. How thankful we can be!
And this thankfulness can show. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Christ embraced the cross. Followers of Christ, Christians, also embrace the cross. We do that when we hold to the cross of Jesus as the only to heaven. It honors Jesus when we reject our own deeds as making us somehow more worthy than other people. We honor Jesus when we speak of Him as the only Savior, the only way to heaven and refuse to be part of groups like the Masons that diminish Jesus to just another prophet.
We honor Jesus when take up our own crosses too. Remember that a cross involves denying yourself, that is your own way of dealing with others. It involves doing things God’s way even if it is hard and brings you discomfort, pain, financial loss. It begins with an attitude of wanting to thank Jesus. An example. Some of you will remember our brother, Clarence Benz, who went to heaven a couple of years ago. He had a condition that made his throat raw. When we pastors would visit to bring him communion, he would wince at the sting of the wine in his throat. We offered to water down the wine, use alcohol free wine. Clarence response? “If my Lord Jesus could take all the pain I deserve on the cross I can take a little pain for Him.”
Can you, will you? You must to follow Jesus.” If anyone would come after me he must,” said Jesus. So what are your crosses? You must be carrying some if you are following Jesus. Is there a cross in your scheduling? Something that makes life a little harder, isn’t what your sinful nature wants, that’s done to follow Jesus? Are you carrying any crosses in your budgeting, not getting something everyone else has or you want because you are giving money for Christ and His gospel? Are you the one left out of certain groups or gathering because you remind them by word or by presence of God’s will? Satan’s way is to try to be popular with everyone but the cross, God’s way, means rejection by the world. Do you speak up in the presence of wrong and now they won’t let you play their reindeer games? Good for you. That’s what followers of Christ do, the embrace the cross.
And let’s not throw ourselves a little pity party over that. Woe is us. How hard we Christians have it. No we don’t. Oh it might seem like it but the best is yet to come. We have the glories and joys of heaven itself, co heirs with Christ. All because of the cross. Don’t let Satan lead you away. Embrace the cross, Christ’s and your own. Amen.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
September 27/28, 2009
Pastor Waldschmidt
September 27th, 2009
Acts 16:22-34 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
WHAT IS THERE TO SING ABOUT?
I. The Father who can do anything.
II. The son who redeemed us.
III. The Holy Spirit who brings us to faith.
In the name of the Father who gave us mouths to sing with, and of the Son who gave us reason to sing and of the Holy Spirit who worked faith in our hearts that is reflected in our songs, dear fellow redeemed children of God,
A pastor friend once told me the story of how he and a friend were out on a canoe on a choppy day and the canoe overturned. They spent several hours clinging to the canoe waiting to be rescued. They were both nearly exhausted. He confided to me that near the end of the ordeal he was singing, “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” Some might ask, what did he have to sing about? Here he was in this awful situation facing exhaustion and maybe even death and he is singing. What is there to sing about?
In God’s Word today we see another pair of exhausted children of God. They have been beaten up and whipped for preaching about Jesus. Now they are sitting in jail in the stocks. Yet we hear about them singing praises to God. So we ask ourselves, “What is there to sing about?” As we look at God’s word today let’s see that there is plenty to sing about- plenty for Paul and Silas to sing about- plenty for you and me, often exhausted children of God, to sing about. We have a heavenly Father who can do anything. The Heavenly Father sent His Son to redeem us. We can sing about the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith.
This might seem like a silly question but have you ever gotten into trouble? That’s not a very nice feeling is it? Scripture says, “No discipline is pleasant at the time.” But later that discipline works something good. If getting into trouble is not very nice when we have done something wrong, imagine how Paul and Silas felt when they got into trouble for doing the right thing. They came to Philippi and were telling people about Jesus. There was a slave girl in the city who was really in bondage in two ways. She was owned by some people who were more concerned about making money than they were about her and she was possessed by an evil spirit. Apparently this evil spirit would “perform” by doing some fortune telling for people. She made all kinds of money for her owners. The evil spirit must have recognized Paul and Silas as being servants of the true God and took sort of an unusual plan of attack. The evil spirit made the girl follow Paul and Silas around shouting that “these men are servants of the Most High God who are telling you the way to be saved.” The evil spirit must have been saying this sarcastically or in a way that distracted from what Paul was saying because finally Paul became so troubled that he turned and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” Now Jesus is stronger than any evil spirit so the evil spirit had to come out. Then the slave girl’s owner found out that their “money making machine” was gone. They were not happy and they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the town’s magistrates. The crowd became an angry mob and “joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stock.”
On a pain scale of 1-10 flogging would probably be a 13. With rods or whips the skin on Paul and Silas’ back was ripped apart. They were thrown into the maximum security part of the prison and they were placed in the stocks. The stocks were not made to make the prisoner more comfortable. The prisoners legs where spread far apart and fastened tight. Soon terrible leg cramps would shoot through the muscles but you couldn’t move your legs in the stocks. To human eyes, there was not much to sing about. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” After all of that, Paul and Silas are singing hymns of praise to God. They knew their Heavenly Father was with them. They were singing a hymn of praise to the heavenly Father who can do anything who was just about to do a miracle. “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.”
Now I’ve seen pictures of earthquakes but they are not exactly surgical strikes. Normally in earthquakes, yes, the doors open up but that’s because the roof is collapsing in on them. Yes, chains come loose in earthquakes but that is mainly because the prison walls are being smashed apart. But in the middle of this violent earthquake, the Father who can do anything is at work. The doors are the prison were thrown open even deep into the maximum security portion of the prison where Paul and Silas were but yet no one is injured.
Has there been an earthquake in your life that you have been dealing with lately? Or maybe a flood of tears? You can sing a hymn of praise because your Heavenly Father can do anything. That Heavenly Father who can do anything promises that he is at work in the middle of that earthquake working some kind of a blessing for you. You know that that Heavenly Father loves you because He sent His Son to redeem you. There’s another thing for us to sing about- the Son who redeemed us.
“The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Those doors opening up meant that humanly speaking there was nothing to sing about that night for the jailer. As a Roman jailer whose prisoner escaped, you got what they were going to get. For this jailer apparently that meant a death sentence would be coming his way. It would seem that the jailer lived next door to the jail or in a house connected to the jail because he is right there and he is terrified. He saw those open cell doors and figured that it would be better for him to kill himself rather than face the Roman death sentence. He pulled out his sword but Paul quickly shouted that everyone is still there. It’s all OK. Apparently the jailer had been listening to some of what Paul and Silas were singing about because he fell at the feet of Paul and Silas and asked “What must I do to be saved?”
With the crumbling of that sturdy jail, the jailer was reminded that there would be a day where his life would come to an end. His conscience told him there was a wise and powerful God out there that he had disobeyed. He was reminded that what the Bible says is true, that “the fool has said in his heart, “there is no god.” Now he asks these servants of God “what must I do to be saved.” Paul and Silas point them to Jesus.
The Son who redeemed us is someone for us to sing about because he has redeemed us. There is a Chinese proverb that says, “In a broken nest there are no whole eggs.” That proverb brings out the truth of the Bible when it says, “flesh gives birth to flesh” and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The world we live in is a broken nest and we are all cracked eggs. We’re born with a sinful nature and our sins have wrecked not only our lives but have wrecked our relationship with the one who can send an earthquake to open up prison doors. Since we have followed the devil over and over again we deserved to be imprisoned with him in the prisons of hell forever. There was no way for us to save ourselves. But God made a way for us to be saved. He sent His Son to redeem us. That’s something for us to sing about! Why would we sing about someone’s cruel and bloody death on a stake in the ground? We sing about it because of what it means for us. Jesus’ blood covers our sin. “Jesus thy Blood and Righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress.” Jesus’ resurrection means we are going to live in heaven when we die. Because of Jesus we can sing, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”
Did you remember that the other prisoners are listening that night in the prison? They weren’t listening to the hymns because there was nothing else on the prison system radio or TV. The Bible uses the word for listening that is used when a doctor listens close for a heartbeat. The prisoners heard about Jesus. There were others listening to God’s word that night too. The jailer’s family got to hear to good news too. The Holy Spirit worked faith in your heart too. That’s another thing for us to sing about!
Can you imagine the contrast of the sounds that evening. The sounds of the jail doors opening up, the chains falling off, the terror of the prisoners who must have thought they would be crushed under the weight of the roof. The jailer must have hurried out of his house with his children screaming after the violent earthquake. In the midst of that chaos came the calming message of the Gospel. In the middle of that earth quake the Holy Spirit was working through God’s word bringing hearts to faith and strengthening faith. That’s something for us to sing about.
In the midst of all of the chaos of our lives God comes to us with the message of the Gospel. Woven into the hymns we sing is that Gospel message. That’s why the message is so comforting to us. There’s a contrast of sounds between the chaos of the world around us and the peace and calm the Holy Spirit brings us.
Whether it is here in church as our choirs sing or as we sing together or sittiing at home in our rocking chairs where only the Lord can hear or in the hospital room as we softly sing those hymns from memory, with His Word in song, God calms our hearts. He calms us with the same message he used with the jailer. Our God loves us, that he has redeemed us and we are His dear children. That’s something for us to sing about. Amen.
September 27th, 2009
Acts 16:22-34 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
WHAT IS THERE TO SING ABOUT?
I. The Father who can do anything.
II. The son who redeemed us.
III. The Holy Spirit who brings us to faith.
In the name of the Father who gave us mouths to sing with, and of the Son who gave us reason to sing and of the Holy Spirit who worked faith in our hearts that is reflected in our songs, dear fellow redeemed children of God,
A pastor friend once told me the story of how he and a friend were out on a canoe on a choppy day and the canoe overturned. They spent several hours clinging to the canoe waiting to be rescued. They were both nearly exhausted. He confided to me that near the end of the ordeal he was singing, “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” Some might ask, what did he have to sing about? Here he was in this awful situation facing exhaustion and maybe even death and he is singing. What is there to sing about?
In God’s Word today we see another pair of exhausted children of God. They have been beaten up and whipped for preaching about Jesus. Now they are sitting in jail in the stocks. Yet we hear about them singing praises to God. So we ask ourselves, “What is there to sing about?” As we look at God’s word today let’s see that there is plenty to sing about- plenty for Paul and Silas to sing about- plenty for you and me, often exhausted children of God, to sing about. We have a heavenly Father who can do anything. The Heavenly Father sent His Son to redeem us. We can sing about the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith.
This might seem like a silly question but have you ever gotten into trouble? That’s not a very nice feeling is it? Scripture says, “No discipline is pleasant at the time.” But later that discipline works something good. If getting into trouble is not very nice when we have done something wrong, imagine how Paul and Silas felt when they got into trouble for doing the right thing. They came to Philippi and were telling people about Jesus. There was a slave girl in the city who was really in bondage in two ways. She was owned by some people who were more concerned about making money than they were about her and she was possessed by an evil spirit. Apparently this evil spirit would “perform” by doing some fortune telling for people. She made all kinds of money for her owners. The evil spirit must have recognized Paul and Silas as being servants of the true God and took sort of an unusual plan of attack. The evil spirit made the girl follow Paul and Silas around shouting that “these men are servants of the Most High God who are telling you the way to be saved.” The evil spirit must have been saying this sarcastically or in a way that distracted from what Paul was saying because finally Paul became so troubled that he turned and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” Now Jesus is stronger than any evil spirit so the evil spirit had to come out. Then the slave girl’s owner found out that their “money making machine” was gone. They were not happy and they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the town’s magistrates. The crowd became an angry mob and “joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stock.”
On a pain scale of 1-10 flogging would probably be a 13. With rods or whips the skin on Paul and Silas’ back was ripped apart. They were thrown into the maximum security part of the prison and they were placed in the stocks. The stocks were not made to make the prisoner more comfortable. The prisoners legs where spread far apart and fastened tight. Soon terrible leg cramps would shoot through the muscles but you couldn’t move your legs in the stocks. To human eyes, there was not much to sing about. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” After all of that, Paul and Silas are singing hymns of praise to God. They knew their Heavenly Father was with them. They were singing a hymn of praise to the heavenly Father who can do anything who was just about to do a miracle. “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.”
Now I’ve seen pictures of earthquakes but they are not exactly surgical strikes. Normally in earthquakes, yes, the doors open up but that’s because the roof is collapsing in on them. Yes, chains come loose in earthquakes but that is mainly because the prison walls are being smashed apart. But in the middle of this violent earthquake, the Father who can do anything is at work. The doors are the prison were thrown open even deep into the maximum security portion of the prison where Paul and Silas were but yet no one is injured.
Has there been an earthquake in your life that you have been dealing with lately? Or maybe a flood of tears? You can sing a hymn of praise because your Heavenly Father can do anything. That Heavenly Father who can do anything promises that he is at work in the middle of that earthquake working some kind of a blessing for you. You know that that Heavenly Father loves you because He sent His Son to redeem you. There’s another thing for us to sing about- the Son who redeemed us.
“The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Those doors opening up meant that humanly speaking there was nothing to sing about that night for the jailer. As a Roman jailer whose prisoner escaped, you got what they were going to get. For this jailer apparently that meant a death sentence would be coming his way. It would seem that the jailer lived next door to the jail or in a house connected to the jail because he is right there and he is terrified. He saw those open cell doors and figured that it would be better for him to kill himself rather than face the Roman death sentence. He pulled out his sword but Paul quickly shouted that everyone is still there. It’s all OK. Apparently the jailer had been listening to some of what Paul and Silas were singing about because he fell at the feet of Paul and Silas and asked “What must I do to be saved?”
With the crumbling of that sturdy jail, the jailer was reminded that there would be a day where his life would come to an end. His conscience told him there was a wise and powerful God out there that he had disobeyed. He was reminded that what the Bible says is true, that “the fool has said in his heart, “there is no god.” Now he asks these servants of God “what must I do to be saved.” Paul and Silas point them to Jesus.
The Son who redeemed us is someone for us to sing about because he has redeemed us. There is a Chinese proverb that says, “In a broken nest there are no whole eggs.” That proverb brings out the truth of the Bible when it says, “flesh gives birth to flesh” and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The world we live in is a broken nest and we are all cracked eggs. We’re born with a sinful nature and our sins have wrecked not only our lives but have wrecked our relationship with the one who can send an earthquake to open up prison doors. Since we have followed the devil over and over again we deserved to be imprisoned with him in the prisons of hell forever. There was no way for us to save ourselves. But God made a way for us to be saved. He sent His Son to redeem us. That’s something for us to sing about! Why would we sing about someone’s cruel and bloody death on a stake in the ground? We sing about it because of what it means for us. Jesus’ blood covers our sin. “Jesus thy Blood and Righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress.” Jesus’ resurrection means we are going to live in heaven when we die. Because of Jesus we can sing, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”
Did you remember that the other prisoners are listening that night in the prison? They weren’t listening to the hymns because there was nothing else on the prison system radio or TV. The Bible uses the word for listening that is used when a doctor listens close for a heartbeat. The prisoners heard about Jesus. There were others listening to God’s word that night too. The jailer’s family got to hear to good news too. The Holy Spirit worked faith in your heart too. That’s another thing for us to sing about!
Can you imagine the contrast of the sounds that evening. The sounds of the jail doors opening up, the chains falling off, the terror of the prisoners who must have thought they would be crushed under the weight of the roof. The jailer must have hurried out of his house with his children screaming after the violent earthquake. In the midst of that chaos came the calming message of the Gospel. In the middle of that earth quake the Holy Spirit was working through God’s word bringing hearts to faith and strengthening faith. That’s something for us to sing about.
In the midst of all of the chaos of our lives God comes to us with the message of the Gospel. Woven into the hymns we sing is that Gospel message. That’s why the message is so comforting to us. There’s a contrast of sounds between the chaos of the world around us and the peace and calm the Holy Spirit brings us.
Whether it is here in church as our choirs sing or as we sing together or sittiing at home in our rocking chairs where only the Lord can hear or in the hospital room as we softly sing those hymns from memory, with His Word in song, God calms our hearts. He calms us with the same message he used with the jailer. Our God loves us, that he has redeemed us and we are His dear children. That’s something for us to sing about. Amen.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
September 13th, 2009
September 13/14, 2009
Pastor Waldschmidt
Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8 “ Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you… Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”
The Lord is Near With His Word
I. As a guide for you.
II. As a witness for the world.
In the name of Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, dear fellow redeemed children of God,
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up? My mother often told the story of a time when she scolded my sister for crossing the street alone. My sister replied that it was OK because she had looked one way and “George had looked the other way.” George was her imaginary friend. George didn’t make my mom feel any better about my sister crossing the street. Today in God’s Word we see the Children of Israel standing at the edge of the promised land. I wonder if the people who were living in the land of Canaan at that time thought that God was an imaginary friend of the Israelites. After all, they all had their idols of wood and stone that they could see and touch. Perhaps the Children of Israel would even feel that way as they moved into the promised land and they didn’t have that pillar of cloud and fire leading them around anymore like they had in the desert o lead them around. Maybe to some people in your life God might seem like your imaginary friend. But God assured the Israelites and He assures you and me that He is near. The Lord is near us with His word. The Word of the Lord is I. a guide for us and II. a witness for the world.
Deuteronomy means “a second giving of the law.” Remember that the Children of Israel had refused to trust God when the spies were sent into the promised land. 10 spies came back with the report that the people there would huge, powerful and on top of that, they lived in walled cities. They thought God would not be near them. They didn’t listen to Caleb and Joshua who said that the Lord would be near them and help them to win the victory. Because they thought the Lord would not be near them, God had the people live in the desert, wondering from place to place, until all of the adults who refused to trust in the Lord were dead. Now after 40 years, the people stood on the edge of the promised land. Now Moses, their leader for the trip out of Egypt, would not be with them as they entered the promised land. Before the people went in to possession of the land God was giving them, Moses takes this chance to remind the people of what the Lord had said. “Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” He goes over God’s law for a second time. This review gave the people a chance to see that the Lord would be near to them with His Word. His Word would guide them in the new land.
There would be plenty of things to make the Children of Israel forget that the Lord was near. Remember that the Promised Land is described a land “flowing with milk and honey.” It was also flowing with blood- the blood of children sacrificed to idols. Later in their history even some of the kings of Israel took up this practice. It was a land flowing with gold and silver. The precious metals had been melted and pounded into the shape of idols. Those idols would catch the eyes of some of the Israelites who wanted the pocket the gold. God said, “The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them and do not take them for yourselves or you will be ensnared by them.” Those idols would also catch the hearts of many of the Israelites who would forget that the Lord was near. The Land flowed with all kinds of material wealth. The water they must have searched for and rationed in the desert would be plentiful in the new land with “streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys.” They had gathered and eaten manna for 40 years but now in this new land, “bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing.” That’s why God said, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” The land God was giving them was a land “where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.” That’s why God said, “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God failing to observe his commands his laws and decrees…otherwise when you build fine houses and settle down and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then you heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God.”
If I’m asked what I want on my hamburger I’ll reply “nothing, I’ll have it plain.” The people behind the counter usually look at me like I’m from Mars but that’s the way I like it. It is sort of like it’s ruined if it is doused in catsup and mustard. Maybe you have a favorite food that if something is added to it, is not your favorite food anymore. Some people think that adding catsup and mustard makes a hamburger better. That might be true of a hamburger. That is not true of God’s Word. When something is added to God’s Word is makes it difficult to tell what is God’s Word and what is just what sinful humans think. If we are very fussy about our food, imagine how God feels about someone adding something to the living and active holy word of God. God told the Israelites and he tells us, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.” God knew that there would be plenty of false prophets in the land who would “wag their own tongues and yet declare, “the Lord declares.”
Imagine that we had a free give away today at church- Free football spikes and 8 track tapes for the first 500 worshippers. Most of us I think would have to say, “these are nice but not really very useful. The 8 track tapes are sort of outdated.” God’s word is something that is always useful. It isn’t outdated. It doesn’t need to be spiced up and edited and revised for a new generation. You can see that the Lord is near with his word speaking to us in the United States in 2009. Our land flows with the blood of children- from the blood of children our nation has allowed to be killed in abortion clinics to the blood of children killed by people who were supposed to be taking care of them to the blood of children killed by senseless violence in our streets. Gold and silver fill our land. Our homes and our garages are filled with stuff. Our hearts and our lives are consumed with a desire to gobble up more stuff. There are all kinds of false gods for us to worship. There are all kinds of things to put on the throne of our hearts instead of God with names like work and power and sex and football. Churches across our land want to add to God’s word what they think it should say and subtract from the commands of God the parts they don’t like.
How closely have you been following God’s commands? Now before you answer that remember that the Lord really is near. He has seen everything that has gone on in your life in the last week. He has observed every action, heard every word and is aware of every thought. When it comes right down to it we have to admit that we have not followed the commands of the God we follow, the God who is near us. The punishment for sinning against God is sitting in fire forever in hell. This week I watched a documentary on the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. The documentary featured a woman who was trapped in a burning office at the pentagon. She said she was imagining in her mind how much it hurts for your clothes to catch fire and how long it takes to die. At that moment the sprinkler system was activated and above her and her life was saved. God’s Word gives guidance to those who fear the fires of hell. It points us to the Savior God wanted us near to him forever and so he took the fire for us. He sent His Son “who made his dwelling among us.” We have seen His glory in the face of Jesus on the pages of God’s Word. It tells us of how Jesus gave His life for ours so that we could live in heaven.
Do you ever feel like you are being watched? It’s because you are. Not that someone is stalking you. But people are watching you. They noticed how you act. Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses.” That is what you are. That’s what the Children of Israel were too. They were witnesses of the true God. The Lord would be near His people with his commands and they would be a witness to the world.
Moses told the people, “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?” I’m sure the people who came into contact with the Israelites noticed some strange things about them. They spoke about those ten commandments the Lord had given them. It had to have struck them that their false gods had been silent. Their religions all revolved around what they thought their god wanted. Their god hadn’t told them because wood and stone don’t talk.
The people around the Israelites also must have noticed some of their strange customs. They didn’t eat bacon or pork chops or shellfish or blood sausage. Every seven days, the worked stopped and they rested and worshipped. At the center of the camp was a tabernacle with things that went on there that must have seemed strange to the Canaanites. In all of these ceremonial laws God was pointing both the Israelites who observed those laws and the gentiles ahead to the Savior who would come from Abraham’s family. The Savior pictured in the ceremonial law would bring rest and peace. The Lamb of God would take the punishment sinners deserved.
People notice you and me too. They notice the things we thing and say and do. Are they seeing that Christ Jesus is near us? Are we reflecting Christ to our family and friends. God’s Word gives guidance in how we can thank Jesus. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”
Do people think that God is a friend in your imagination? Though for now we can only imagine what Jesus looks like, he is not just an imaginary friend. He is very real. He loves us. He died and rose for us. He won’t leave our side. He guides us with His word. Amen.
Pastor Waldschmidt
Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8 “ Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you… Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”
The Lord is Near With His Word
I. As a guide for you.
II. As a witness for the world.
In the name of Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, dear fellow redeemed children of God,
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up? My mother often told the story of a time when she scolded my sister for crossing the street alone. My sister replied that it was OK because she had looked one way and “George had looked the other way.” George was her imaginary friend. George didn’t make my mom feel any better about my sister crossing the street. Today in God’s Word we see the Children of Israel standing at the edge of the promised land. I wonder if the people who were living in the land of Canaan at that time thought that God was an imaginary friend of the Israelites. After all, they all had their idols of wood and stone that they could see and touch. Perhaps the Children of Israel would even feel that way as they moved into the promised land and they didn’t have that pillar of cloud and fire leading them around anymore like they had in the desert o lead them around. Maybe to some people in your life God might seem like your imaginary friend. But God assured the Israelites and He assures you and me that He is near. The Lord is near us with His word. The Word of the Lord is I. a guide for us and II. a witness for the world.
Deuteronomy means “a second giving of the law.” Remember that the Children of Israel had refused to trust God when the spies were sent into the promised land. 10 spies came back with the report that the people there would huge, powerful and on top of that, they lived in walled cities. They thought God would not be near them. They didn’t listen to Caleb and Joshua who said that the Lord would be near them and help them to win the victory. Because they thought the Lord would not be near them, God had the people live in the desert, wondering from place to place, until all of the adults who refused to trust in the Lord were dead. Now after 40 years, the people stood on the edge of the promised land. Now Moses, their leader for the trip out of Egypt, would not be with them as they entered the promised land. Before the people went in to possession of the land God was giving them, Moses takes this chance to remind the people of what the Lord had said. “Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” He goes over God’s law for a second time. This review gave the people a chance to see that the Lord would be near to them with His Word. His Word would guide them in the new land.
There would be plenty of things to make the Children of Israel forget that the Lord was near. Remember that the Promised Land is described a land “flowing with milk and honey.” It was also flowing with blood- the blood of children sacrificed to idols. Later in their history even some of the kings of Israel took up this practice. It was a land flowing with gold and silver. The precious metals had been melted and pounded into the shape of idols. Those idols would catch the eyes of some of the Israelites who wanted the pocket the gold. God said, “The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them and do not take them for yourselves or you will be ensnared by them.” Those idols would also catch the hearts of many of the Israelites who would forget that the Lord was near. The Land flowed with all kinds of material wealth. The water they must have searched for and rationed in the desert would be plentiful in the new land with “streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys.” They had gathered and eaten manna for 40 years but now in this new land, “bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing.” That’s why God said, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” The land God was giving them was a land “where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.” That’s why God said, “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God failing to observe his commands his laws and decrees…otherwise when you build fine houses and settle down and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then you heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God.”
If I’m asked what I want on my hamburger I’ll reply “nothing, I’ll have it plain.” The people behind the counter usually look at me like I’m from Mars but that’s the way I like it. It is sort of like it’s ruined if it is doused in catsup and mustard. Maybe you have a favorite food that if something is added to it, is not your favorite food anymore. Some people think that adding catsup and mustard makes a hamburger better. That might be true of a hamburger. That is not true of God’s Word. When something is added to God’s Word is makes it difficult to tell what is God’s Word and what is just what sinful humans think. If we are very fussy about our food, imagine how God feels about someone adding something to the living and active holy word of God. God told the Israelites and he tells us, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.” God knew that there would be plenty of false prophets in the land who would “wag their own tongues and yet declare, “the Lord declares.”
Imagine that we had a free give away today at church- Free football spikes and 8 track tapes for the first 500 worshippers. Most of us I think would have to say, “these are nice but not really very useful. The 8 track tapes are sort of outdated.” God’s word is something that is always useful. It isn’t outdated. It doesn’t need to be spiced up and edited and revised for a new generation. You can see that the Lord is near with his word speaking to us in the United States in 2009. Our land flows with the blood of children- from the blood of children our nation has allowed to be killed in abortion clinics to the blood of children killed by people who were supposed to be taking care of them to the blood of children killed by senseless violence in our streets. Gold and silver fill our land. Our homes and our garages are filled with stuff. Our hearts and our lives are consumed with a desire to gobble up more stuff. There are all kinds of false gods for us to worship. There are all kinds of things to put on the throne of our hearts instead of God with names like work and power and sex and football. Churches across our land want to add to God’s word what they think it should say and subtract from the commands of God the parts they don’t like.
How closely have you been following God’s commands? Now before you answer that remember that the Lord really is near. He has seen everything that has gone on in your life in the last week. He has observed every action, heard every word and is aware of every thought. When it comes right down to it we have to admit that we have not followed the commands of the God we follow, the God who is near us. The punishment for sinning against God is sitting in fire forever in hell. This week I watched a documentary on the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. The documentary featured a woman who was trapped in a burning office at the pentagon. She said she was imagining in her mind how much it hurts for your clothes to catch fire and how long it takes to die. At that moment the sprinkler system was activated and above her and her life was saved. God’s Word gives guidance to those who fear the fires of hell. It points us to the Savior God wanted us near to him forever and so he took the fire for us. He sent His Son “who made his dwelling among us.” We have seen His glory in the face of Jesus on the pages of God’s Word. It tells us of how Jesus gave His life for ours so that we could live in heaven.
Do you ever feel like you are being watched? It’s because you are. Not that someone is stalking you. But people are watching you. They noticed how you act. Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses.” That is what you are. That’s what the Children of Israel were too. They were witnesses of the true God. The Lord would be near His people with his commands and they would be a witness to the world.
Moses told the people, “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?” I’m sure the people who came into contact with the Israelites noticed some strange things about them. They spoke about those ten commandments the Lord had given them. It had to have struck them that their false gods had been silent. Their religions all revolved around what they thought their god wanted. Their god hadn’t told them because wood and stone don’t talk.
The people around the Israelites also must have noticed some of their strange customs. They didn’t eat bacon or pork chops or shellfish or blood sausage. Every seven days, the worked stopped and they rested and worshipped. At the center of the camp was a tabernacle with things that went on there that must have seemed strange to the Canaanites. In all of these ceremonial laws God was pointing both the Israelites who observed those laws and the gentiles ahead to the Savior who would come from Abraham’s family. The Savior pictured in the ceremonial law would bring rest and peace. The Lamb of God would take the punishment sinners deserved.
People notice you and me too. They notice the things we thing and say and do. Are they seeing that Christ Jesus is near us? Are we reflecting Christ to our family and friends. God’s Word gives guidance in how we can thank Jesus. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”
Do people think that God is a friend in your imagination? Though for now we can only imagine what Jesus looks like, he is not just an imaginary friend. He is very real. He loves us. He died and rose for us. He won’t leave our side. He guides us with His word. Amen.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
September 6th,2009
September 6/7. 2009
Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Joshua 24:1-24
DON’T LET YOUR LABOR BE IN VAIN: SERVE THE LORD
I. Consider How The Lord Has Served Us (1-5,8,11)
II. Should Not Our Response Be Obvious? (13-15a)
III. May Our Serving Show Our Response (15b-18,22-24)
This Monday is Labor Day, and the word "labor" quickly makes me think of two Bible passages. One is written in Matthew 11 where Jesus says, "Come to me, all you are weary and burdened (or: labor and are heavy laden), and I will give you rest." He is talking about rest for our souls because of the forgiveness of sins He won for us. The second one is this encouragement in 1 Corinthians 15, the beautiful resurrection chapter: "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always gives yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." The "Therefore" refers to the victory Jesus won. Without Jesus there is no forgiveness, without His resurrection there is no true life. Without faith in Him, laboring and life itself would be in vain.
DON’T LET YOUR LABOR BE IN VAIN: SERVE THE LORD
I. CONSIDER HOW THE LORD HAS SERVED US (1-5,8,11)
1. The historical setting here (1)
Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
a) Moses had led God’s people up to the promised land; then, after Moses died, Joshua had the assignment to lead them in
b) the time of our text is after they were in the land and now Joshua’s death was near - this was his farewell to the people
2. The background to Egypt (2-4)
Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.’"
a) the promised land had been entered way back by Abraham
b) but, to protect the Israelites from the evil around them in that land, God planned to let them grow into many people in a different land, in Egypt, and used a famine to get them there
3. The return to the promised land (5,8,11)
"‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.’"
a) the exodus took place [is this history unfamiliar to you? - then please open your Bibles at home and read the history God recorded in Genesis and Exodus], and they came first to land east of the Jordan, the area where so much is happening today
"Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.’"
b) now, after Jericho’s walls fell, they were back in the promised land and God divided the land among the twelve tribes [if you don’t remember this, read about it in your Bibles]
4. All of this was to fulfill God’s promise
a) you know the promise: a Savior from sin and death!
b) so that this Savior could clearly be identified when He came, God had given details about where He would be born (not only the promised land but the exact place, Bethlehem), the detail of a virgin birth, and details about how He would labor and what He would do to defeat our enemy the devil
c) yes, history truly is spoken of as His story, God’s story, God’s record about how He carried out His plan of salvation which involved an atoning death and a victorious resurrection from the dead in a specific nation and geographical location
II. SHOULD NOT OUR RESPONSE BE OBVIOUS? (13-15a)
1. What we have is clearly God’s doing (13)
‘"So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’"
a) this land and what was in it was a gift of God’s doing
b) so is our salvation; sinners that we are, we could not earn forgiveness, we could not "knock down the walls" to get into heaven by our doing; instead, as Scripture tells us, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works." (Eph. 2:8)
2. To this there should be an obvious response (14)
"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away
the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt,
and serve the LORD."
a) if God did all He did for the Israelites, shouldn’t they very obviously want to show gratitude by laboring, serving Him?
b) and if God saved us by the life and death and resurrection of His Son so that we can live with sins forgiven and have the promise of the eternal promised land of heaven before us, should not our reaction to love and labor for Him be obvious?
3. But there also is a natural response (15a)
"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living."
a) by nature we are sinful, the natural mind is enmity against God
b) what is natural is to serve sin, to follow the gods of my self and what I want, the gods around us that glorify materialism and selfishness and greed and slandering and misuse of sex
4. That natural response would be laboring in vain
a) love the world, love money, love worldly pleasures, worship at their altars, labor for all they have to offer
b) but what profit to gain all that and to lose true life in heaven?
c) once lost, there is no "stimulus package" that will get it back for you - heaven lost is heaven lost, labor in vain!
III. MAY OUR SERVING SHOW OUR RESPONSE (15b-18,22-24)
1. The people said they would serve (15b-18)
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."
a) Joshua said he would, and took responsibility for his family
b) the people said the same, and hopefully they took responsibility for their children, as we want that today too
2. But remember what happened (22-24)
Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied. "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are
among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."
And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."
a) what they said was good, but what they did was not good
b) not serving became their history, and it was only the grace of God that preserved a remnant of this nation so that there finally was a birth in Bethlehem, God’s Son born to pay the wages of sin for the world, God’s Son victorious so that we can look forward to the eternal and glorious promised land of heaven
3. To what have we witnessed? (22)
Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied.
a) at confirmation time: "faithful to the true God, stay with His Word!" - but then what has happened to many? - parents, are you concerned about your households, as Joshua was?
b) membership form promises - part of what was witnessed: "promise to attend divine services regularly, to partake of the Lord’s Supper frequently, to support the spread of the Gospel out of love for the Savior and His work" - but then why is church attendance declining, why do parents seem to show less concern for children coming to church unless school is on?
4. May we serve sincerely in response to God’s love (24)
And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."
a) Israel lost much by saying, but not doing; and we would too
b) may God for Jesus’ sake forgive us for our failures, for the weakness we seem to tolerate, for our lack of zeal to labor
c) and may His Spirit strengthen us by Word and Sacrament to let our lives witness to the fact that we truly want to serve the Lord our God whose daily forgiveness means eternal life
The calendar reminds us that it is Labor Day time. May today’s sermon text remind us every day that we should not labor in vain. Instead of vain laboring, let us say with Joshua, "As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Yes, "Always gives yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Amen.
Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Joshua 24:1-24
DON’T LET YOUR LABOR BE IN VAIN: SERVE THE LORD
I. Consider How The Lord Has Served Us (1-5,8,11)
II. Should Not Our Response Be Obvious? (13-15a)
III. May Our Serving Show Our Response (15b-18,22-24)
This Monday is Labor Day, and the word "labor" quickly makes me think of two Bible passages. One is written in Matthew 11 where Jesus says, "Come to me, all you are weary and burdened (or: labor and are heavy laden), and I will give you rest." He is talking about rest for our souls because of the forgiveness of sins He won for us. The second one is this encouragement in 1 Corinthians 15, the beautiful resurrection chapter: "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always gives yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." The "Therefore" refers to the victory Jesus won. Without Jesus there is no forgiveness, without His resurrection there is no true life. Without faith in Him, laboring and life itself would be in vain.
DON’T LET YOUR LABOR BE IN VAIN: SERVE THE LORD
I. CONSIDER HOW THE LORD HAS SERVED US (1-5,8,11)
1. The historical setting here (1)
Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
a) Moses had led God’s people up to the promised land; then, after Moses died, Joshua had the assignment to lead them in
b) the time of our text is after they were in the land and now Joshua’s death was near - this was his farewell to the people
2. The background to Egypt (2-4)
Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.’"
a) the promised land had been entered way back by Abraham
b) but, to protect the Israelites from the evil around them in that land, God planned to let them grow into many people in a different land, in Egypt, and used a famine to get them there
3. The return to the promised land (5,8,11)
"‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.’"
a) the exodus took place [is this history unfamiliar to you? - then please open your Bibles at home and read the history God recorded in Genesis and Exodus], and they came first to land east of the Jordan, the area where so much is happening today
"Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.’"
b) now, after Jericho’s walls fell, they were back in the promised land and God divided the land among the twelve tribes [if you don’t remember this, read about it in your Bibles]
4. All of this was to fulfill God’s promise
a) you know the promise: a Savior from sin and death!
b) so that this Savior could clearly be identified when He came, God had given details about where He would be born (not only the promised land but the exact place, Bethlehem), the detail of a virgin birth, and details about how He would labor and what He would do to defeat our enemy the devil
c) yes, history truly is spoken of as His story, God’s story, God’s record about how He carried out His plan of salvation which involved an atoning death and a victorious resurrection from the dead in a specific nation and geographical location
II. SHOULD NOT OUR RESPONSE BE OBVIOUS? (13-15a)
1. What we have is clearly God’s doing (13)
‘"So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’"
a) this land and what was in it was a gift of God’s doing
b) so is our salvation; sinners that we are, we could not earn forgiveness, we could not "knock down the walls" to get into heaven by our doing; instead, as Scripture tells us, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works." (Eph. 2:8)
2. To this there should be an obvious response (14)
"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away
the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt,
and serve the LORD."
a) if God did all He did for the Israelites, shouldn’t they very obviously want to show gratitude by laboring, serving Him?
b) and if God saved us by the life and death and resurrection of His Son so that we can live with sins forgiven and have the promise of the eternal promised land of heaven before us, should not our reaction to love and labor for Him be obvious?
3. But there also is a natural response (15a)
"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living."
a) by nature we are sinful, the natural mind is enmity against God
b) what is natural is to serve sin, to follow the gods of my self and what I want, the gods around us that glorify materialism and selfishness and greed and slandering and misuse of sex
4. That natural response would be laboring in vain
a) love the world, love money, love worldly pleasures, worship at their altars, labor for all they have to offer
b) but what profit to gain all that and to lose true life in heaven?
c) once lost, there is no "stimulus package" that will get it back for you - heaven lost is heaven lost, labor in vain!
III. MAY OUR SERVING SHOW OUR RESPONSE (15b-18,22-24)
1. The people said they would serve (15b-18)
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."
a) Joshua said he would, and took responsibility for his family
b) the people said the same, and hopefully they took responsibility for their children, as we want that today too
2. But remember what happened (22-24)
Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied. "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are
among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."
And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."
a) what they said was good, but what they did was not good
b) not serving became their history, and it was only the grace of God that preserved a remnant of this nation so that there finally was a birth in Bethlehem, God’s Son born to pay the wages of sin for the world, God’s Son victorious so that we can look forward to the eternal and glorious promised land of heaven
3. To what have we witnessed? (22)
Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied.
a) at confirmation time: "faithful to the true God, stay with His Word!" - but then what has happened to many? - parents, are you concerned about your households, as Joshua was?
b) membership form promises - part of what was witnessed: "promise to attend divine services regularly, to partake of the Lord’s Supper frequently, to support the spread of the Gospel out of love for the Savior and His work" - but then why is church attendance declining, why do parents seem to show less concern for children coming to church unless school is on?
4. May we serve sincerely in response to God’s love (24)
And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."
a) Israel lost much by saying, but not doing; and we would too
b) may God for Jesus’ sake forgive us for our failures, for the weakness we seem to tolerate, for our lack of zeal to labor
c) and may His Spirit strengthen us by Word and Sacrament to let our lives witness to the fact that we truly want to serve the Lord our God whose daily forgiveness means eternal life
The calendar reminds us that it is Labor Day time. May today’s sermon text remind us every day that we should not labor in vain. Instead of vain laboring, let us say with Joshua, "As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Yes, "Always gives yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Amen.
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