October 3, 2021 – LWML Sunday Text: 1 Peter 1:22
Dear Friends in Christ,
Great to have you in worship today. What motivated you to come to Good Shepherd today? Worship? Hearing God’s Word? Holy Communion? Visiting with fellow believers? A less than 10-minute sermon? Coffee and donuts?
Maybe it was all of the above. Churches are always inviting people to come and visit. This is what we do. We are privileged to be here. Led by the Spirit these hours spent together give us a real lift. Great to have you in worship today.
Today is Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Sunday. LWML is an auxiliary organization of our Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. These women of the church support one another and the missions of the church around the world.
The theme is based on 1 Peter 1:22 . . .
“LOVE ONE ANOTHER FROM PURE HEARTS”
Think about a heart in a hand. Have you ever held a heart in your hand? Maybe while dissecting in high school or college? Or a school field trip to a hospital? If you did it wasn’t beating. But think about what a transplant surgeon does. He takes out a diseased heart and puts in a new heart. That is what God has done for you and me. In Baptism the Lord gives us a pure heart with all the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection. A transplanted heart may not last a lifetime. Our new hearts given through baptism will live forever.
Why do you and I need heart transplants? Because within our heart are thoughts and feelings which make us ashamed. Within our hearts are ideas and urges that are sinful. Within our hearts are things we never want others to know about us. By nature our hearts are not pure. This came with original sin that showed itself in the first two people on earth – Adam and Eve.
While are hearts are corrupt, we do not have to continue to live that way. Christ Jesus offers His forgiveness. His cross transplanted His righteousness to us. In a heart transplant, new physical life comes to a fatally ill patient. God has given you this new, pure heart. You have newness of life and God gives you His love.
“Having purified yours souls by your obedience to the truth.” Doesn’t this sound like Peter is advocating we can keep ourselves pure by keeping the commandments? Peter is not going down that road he is simply talking about faith. Our new heart, our new birth, makes us children of the heavenly Father who through trust look to Him and want to live holy lives for His sake.
At the beginning of the sermon the question was asked what brought you to church? Part of the answer is coming together in Christ. During the real isolated times of the virus many of us experienced meetings on our computer. I remember one morning just working from my bed. The Internet provided a Zoom meeting, I had my phone and I just propped myself right on the old mattress. It was a meeting for the circuit visitors of our Central Illinois District led by President Miller. It was good to chat and hear what everyone was doing. Did you find this curious – where people would sit in their house for these meetings? But then again I was in bed. Showered and dressed but still on the bed.
Last month for the first time in almost two years we all got to be together in Springfield. It had a different vibe. More togetherness. More interaction. You could read faces more clearly. We all left that day knowing why we missed being in person.
That is true of our worship. We thank God for technology and the ability to worship safely, but being apart is hard. Being together, in person around His Word of new birth, of life and love in Christ. This Word transforms us as we hear it. This Word transforms us as it is spoken and sung. This Word transforms us as we receive it physically in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. There are reasons to come to Church but we come to worship because here all our hearts are together, not only together with one another, but most importantly, together with one another in the Lord’s hand.
This love inside then reaches outside these walls. “Love one another earnestly from the pure heart.” That is what we do. This is what the LWML does. They give millions of dollars through the district and synodical level for mission projects. Unless you are really in tune with your church, most people in the pews on a Sunday don’t realize the wonderful outreach that is accomplished by our LWML and the LCMS. The Word of God is at work. It is transplanting hearts. It is transforming lives. It is a wonderful time to be the church because so many need this message. Hearts long for something stable. Brothers and sisters need the love of Christ. Holy Spirit continue to lead in this direction
Coming together in worship, God makes us a big-hearted church that extends His hand of love to everyone.
Amen.