Author: TechCommittee

August 26, 2018                                                                    Text:  Ephesians 5:22-33

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of God and you witnesses to hear the Word of the Lord.  The topic chosen is marriage and the Lord speaks.

There is perhaps no set of verses in Scripture as informative on marriage as our text.  Yet they are dismissed as countercultural to our times.  Sinful man always has a way of taking what God designed as beautiful and messing it up with his foolishness.  Marriage certainly has to be at the top of our list for this era we live in.  You know the arguments, you hear the players.  Man and man.  Woman and woman.  Human and animal.  I’m waiting for somebody to marry their phone.  Who knows that probably has already happened.  And the devil laughs.  He delights as people live together and mess with the marriage bed.  The world is so far away from the man/woman in marriage being a picture of Christ and His Church.  We are up against and we know it.  How do we answer . . .

“WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A PIECE OF PAPER?”

When people want to change things they have a way of simplifying it with platitudes – you know trite remarks.  “Who says we need a marriage certificate, after all, it is not worth the papyrus it is written on.”  And the world being the dichotomy it is has the other side arguing to get the piece of paper no matter what kind of sinful arrangement they have made – but we love each other.  Please!

The only voice that matters is the One who instituted and designed marriage.  He is God and what he says goes.  There is no debate.  He says marriage is a lifelong union between man and woman not just a functional arrangement between two persons.  He also says it is for mutual companionship, help, and support.  Husband and wife find delight in one another – sexually and in other ways.  Then for the gift of children if it be the Lord’s will.

Since God is the author it can’t be redefined.  When people do try to amend marriage they are what Isaiah states in our Old Testament lesson, “their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”  Get sinful man involved in any of God’s propositions and trouble is soon to follow.

So what should marriage look like from the Lord’s perspective?  The husband is to love the wife as Christ loved the church.  Is this easy?  Men?  When your wife is tearing you down instead of supporting you is the command one you are living?  Again, man fails.  The husband has to confess to the Lord that the honor of being a husband has been tarnished by his sinfulness.  He is unfit for the office.

The Lord knows your failures.  Christ loved the church.  Has the church been perfect?  Far from it.  But the Lord has cleansed and sanctified and made new again.  That is what Jesus does for husbands.  He forgives the neglect, the lack of romance, the silent treatment, the contempt.  He sends the husband back daily strengthened in Word and Sacrament.  He allows the husband to be a Christian leader and voice for his wife and family.

The wife on the other hand is told by the world she is a footstool if she listen’s to this sexist nonsense of submitting to her husband.  The Lord tells this dear daughter that she has given her this man to obey and serve and respect.  But the wife sees this as an impossible task because her husband often plays the fool and she is too proud to listen to him.  I mean look at him, he won’t give me the time and intimacy I need.  He’s on that computer again or cheering on his sports teams.  Really, Lord, you want me to submit to this guy?

And the Lord tells the wife that she can’t do this on her own.  Dear child, hear my Word, partake of my body and blood so that you can go home to your husband and face another week together.  I forgive you for those times you didn’t respect, or you didn’t give or you said, “I am woman, hear me roar!”

Through the Holy Spirit the wife like the husband will be enlightened.  The marriage will grow in love and respect and submission and sexually.  They will give to each other because they are not their own, they were bought with a price.  The husband is the wife’s and the wife is the husband’s.  And that piece of paper will mean something.  Man and woman will honor marriage and it will make a difference in their children’s lives and it will make a difference in society.  The evidence is long – from the time of Adam and Eve – throughout each generation.  When marriage is as God ordained and planned our world is a better place.  Children have fewer problems.  Spouses have smiles instead of frowns.  Counselors have less business.

This is marriage as we see from Ephesians 5 this morning.  God’s Word through Paul.  Not husband and wife alone, but of a husband and wife constantly restored by the forgiveness of Christ.

Amen.

August 19, 2018                                                                    Text:  Proverbs 9:8-10

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

In life, the Lord always knows when we need things.  I needed an opening illustration for this sermon and the Lord provided, not in a way I would have expected.

By now, most of you know what happened with Holden this week.  Emergency room, pneumonia, and dehydration that was causing his muscle tissue to break down.  This news was coming to us via phone and Karson.  I stayed up late to receive the reports and each one got worse.  He eventually was admitted, given antibiotic IV’s and is recovering.  As many of you know when you face a situation like this you aren’t thinking about the touchdowns he scored, the good grades he received or the teams who won championships.  You thank God that your son has faith and trust in Jesus.  It was this that allowed me later that night to get some sleep.

Our text for today, which I picked over a month ago from the Book of Proverbs are words of wisdom from a father directed to his son.  All of chapters 1-9 are.  Wisdom is our subject.  In our three verses we have wise, wiser, or wisdom mentioned four times.  So which way is it going to be?

“ARE YOU A BUDWISER OR A BIBLEWISER?”

Budwiser represents the wisdom of the world.  And yes, I know I have Budwiser spelled wrong.  Biblewiser is the wisdom we receive from the Lord.

Verse 8 of our text, “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”  The pathway to wisdom involves discipline.  Discipline is not a popular word in our society –dilly, dilly!  You may remember this from the Duke of Windsor when asked what impressed him most in his visit to America, he replied, “The way American parents obey their children.”  So many today control their parents or are discipline-free that once they face punishment as adults their budwiser filled world comes crashing down.

It is not just our young charges that need discipline, we all do.  You and I need correction because we are sinners.  Out of His fatherly love for us, God rebukes us when we sin.  His Law cuts to our heart.  He alerts us to the danger that if we stay on this path it will lead to death and eternal condemnation.

When we repent of these offenses we have the Biblewiser words of comfort.  “I forgive you for the sake of my Son Jesus who died to forgive you and give you life.  I now guide you through the Holy Spirit to reflect true wisdom.”

Verse 9 of our text:  “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will still be wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”  Often budwiser parents and adults pass on the teaching of their kids to society, school and friends and media.  Even in the church there is this danger.  The frontline for religious instruction is the parent.  Martin Luther knew this to be true.  Moses knew this to be true.  We need to increase our learning when it comes to the faith.

No one is the perfect parent.  I just called Holden this week to apologize for something I didn’t do that I should have.  Thankfully there is a perfect parent.  God our heavenly Father.  He loves us with a perfect love.  His Son atoned for the sin of poor parenting, our lack of learning the faith.  Through faith, Christ’s perfection is credited to your account.  The Holy Spirit now strengthens our faith through instruction in God’s Word so that we are each equipped to learn and teach the promises of the gospel.  Become Biblewiser!

Verse 10 from Proverbs 9.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”  We are being directed in the faith.  If we aren’t growing in our wisdom and knowledge of the Lord – the Holy One – then we are off in the wrong direction.

Tragically, families are leading their kids down the wrong paths.  They are drinking up this budwiser filled wisdom, which is consuming them as if life is one big party and the kids are the novelty.  Academics, athletics, theater, band and other paths are noble, but they cannot take priority over a faith relationship with the Lord.  Getting those Sunday night phone calls, sitting in that hospital room this week would have been a different experience if the wisdom of the world had prevailed in both of our son’s lives.

Even when we fail to make the Lord the top priority, He makes us His top priority.  When we were going in the wrong direction away from Him, Christ pursued us and placed us on the path of salvation.  In Baptism, He has made the best beginning possible for us and for our children by pardoning our rebellious wandering.  Through His word of the Gospel, God forms in us true and saving faith, which is the beginning of wisdom.

As I was putting this sermon together this week and fighting back the tears, my phone rang and it was Holden.  We had a good chat as we talked about his health, his day and his faith.  I shared with him what the message was going to be about and as I hung up the phone it occurred to me that he had grown up just like me, my boy was just like me.  Not a father neglecting his son like in the famous song, but a Father who loved his children and that Father is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He has filled me and you and all of God’s children not with budwiser but with biblewiser.  We are blessed by our faith.  Learned in our discipline and teaching and direction.  We are growing in wisdom.  May this message help in that pursuit.

Amen.