Author: TechCommittee

November 25, 2018                                                                          Text:  Isaiah 51:4-6

Dear Friends in Christ,

When I say the words “The End” what comes to mind for you?  Are you looking for “The End” of your pain?  Do you think of “The End” of treatments you are taking?  Are you imagining “The End” of work and the beginning of retirement?  Is “The End” of your college days creeping ever closer?  Do you daydream about “The End” of college expenses on your family balance sheet?  Are you already anticipating “The End” of this sermon?  Or since you are sitting in church on the Last Sunday of the Church Year are you contemplating “The End” of the world, “The End” of your life?  Where is “The End” taking you this morning?

Those two words “The End” are quite popular.  There is the 1978 movie starring Burt Reynolds where he is trying to kill himself and just can’t get it accomplished.  There are 15 films throughout the world with that title.  There are games and bands and albums and songs and radio stations.  They all have something to say about “The End.”

Scripture has something to say as well, so let’s get to it . . .

“THE END”

The Lord wants us to sit up straight and to hear him this morning.  “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.” (v. 4)  God seeks our attention today.  He is alerting us that His salvation is for all.  It is for you and it is for your neighbor.  God is in control of “The End.”

This is hard for mortal man to grasp.  We think we are captains of our souls.  Until the Tsunami hits.  Until the wildfires rage.  Until the hurricane floods.  Until the epidemic strikes.  Until the doctor’s diagnosis warns us to make final arrangements.  So many today see no hope and that is why our life expectancy has actually dropped in the last three years.  The opioid crisis.  The rise of suicides across all age groups.  All many see is “The End” and it can’t come fast enough.

God speaks in the first person 12 times in these three verses.  Listen to verse 5:  “My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.”  God is not egotistical or needy or insecure in his identity.  This is reality and truth.  The Lord is the only true salvation.  He is the only one who can offer hope.  He is the one to whom we will all answer and only through Him can we have life.  His gift of salvation lasts forever.

A dream vacation has to end.  Honeymoons eventually give way to the realities of daily life.  The Lord’s salvation has no end because it is not tied to this world.  It is secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is being prepared for God’s people even now by Christ.

The last verse of our text:  “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.” (v. 6)

Here we sit and stand with sin still a part of us.  This verse reminds each soul here today that “The End” of sin comes through faith in Christ.  Though we fail miserably and often, God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus will never fail.  He is in the Word impressing it upon our heart.  He is in the Water and the Word reminding us of sins cleansed.  He is in the Holy Supper feeding us pardon and peace.

Yes, “The End” has already come for us.  “The End” of guilt and condemnation.  “The End” of fear of the grave.  This promise:  “my salvation will be forever.”  Listen to this from the Holy Spirit:  “For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col. 3:3,4)  The promise is ours.  We will be with Him forever.

What is it Peter writes?  “For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Pet. 1:9)  THE END?  Of course.  Finally, and thankfully, this world’s long struggle with sin and unbelief – its agonizing inhumanity toward others – its demand that God should be what it wants – its arrogance – its vulgarity and violence – its turning its back on God’s Word – all of it comes to “The End.”  A terrible end for those who have rejected God’s love in Christ.  The most glorious, unending life for those in Christ.

Wait patiently, it is coming – “The End.”

Amen.

November 18, 2018 – Stewardship Sunday                                   Text:  Luke 12:41-48

Dear Friends in Christ,

Being a sociological person one of the shows I enjoy watching is the “Newlywed Game.”  From the 1960’s through the last few years it is a great study in human behavior.  I was recently watching a show from about five years ago when the question was posed:  “When was the last time you compromised with your wife?”  The husband’s answer:  “When she bought a car.”  When the wife heard that she tore into him with these words:  “I don’t need your permission to buy anything!”  I wonder, are these two still together?

What the wife said is not all that unusual in our me-centric society.  The most common word in our vocabulary is the personal pronoun “I.”  I am the master of everything.  I own everything I have.  I will not listen to you.  It is an epidemic and it is sad.

Prayerfully as people of Christ we see things differently.  Our life is not in our hands but it is in God’s hands.  He gives the blessings.  He gives the ownership rights.  He allows us the privilege to manage the resources He has so bountifully bestowed on each one of us.  How are you doing with that?

“CAN YOU MANAGE?”

St. Francis of Assisi astutely said, “Stewardship is everything I do after I say, ’I believe.’”  We are God’s stewards.  We have been made His through our Baptism and the Word of God.  We have been entrusted by our Creator with life’s resources and we joyfully manage them for him.

You have been entrusted with life.  God is asking you to manage the life He has given you.  You take care of yourself.  You take of the things you have.  You do this until eternity when the life he gave you on the cross becomes a forever life in heaven.

When take account of your house, car, appliances, clothes, computers, phones, and even your money they aren’t really your own, they belong to God.  You hear me talk this way about our boys.  They aren’t really “our children” they belong to God.  The Lord has given Toni and I the privilege to be their parents and to raise them but ultimately their eternal future rests in God’s hands not ours.  We manage as you manage with His help.

That is a concept Mr. and Mrs. Joe America has no perception of.  This is why for the Christian it can be such a challenge to manage the resources that God sends our way.  We need to see things clearly and through the lens of Scripture.

I have used a couple of times already in this sermon the word “privilege.”  Let’s think about that word a little bit more in depth.  In our text, we hear Jesus saying, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” (v. 48)  We all have been privileged with a differing variety of tangible and intangible items in life.  We will each have to give an account to the Lord of how we managed the things He has entrusted to us.  Paul writes to the Romans:  “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.  So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Rom. 14:7-8)  Then Paul adds a few verses later:  “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:12)

What have we done to be so blessed by our Lord?  Absolutely zero.  “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”  God privileges us with our intellect and education and talents and experiences and faith.  We manage these resources for the owner.  Our finances our the Lord’s, yet a portion is for us – our needs such as food, clothing, shelter etc.  The Lord even privileges us with luxuries – spa treatments and vacations and other things that bring joy to our lives.

The necessities and luxuries are part of our management.  Additionally we support our church and we help those in need.  We benefit our missionaries and our neighbor’s.  We have the privilege of taking care of the Lord’s church and we have seen this past week that He blesses as we do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, because of our sinful nature, we can find ourselves thinking and living as the world does, as if we are the owners of all that we have.  We can accumulate to the point where the cars don’t all fit in the garage.

Here is what we want to remember:  you are the object and beneficiary of God’s love!  He will only ask, command, or encourage you to do and think in ways that will bless you and your neighbor and that will enhance both of your lives.  You know that with absolute certainty because on the cross Jesus has already graciously taken and suffered all of our punishment and in exchange has given us everlasting life and the promised hope of benefitting from his love forever.

You are privileged.  God Bless your management!

Amen.