Sermon Texts

August 11, 2019                                                                         Text:  Hebrews 11:1-16

Dear Friends in Christ,

            You probably have never thought how many different ways the word nothing can be used grammatically.  It can be a pronoun, a noun, an adverb and an adjective.  Using it those four ways you get definitions ranging from “no value” to “worthless” to “not at all” to “does not exist.”  It all adds up to a bunch of nothing. 

            We have a bunch of nothing in our text today or more accurately a “bunch of nothings.”  Our Lord can work with that and give reason and purpose to what seems like nothing.  God calls us to trust His promises and follow Him to the Promised Land . . .

“OUT OF NOTHING”

            God finds us in nothingness.  The Book of Hebrews tells us that the world was not created of things that are seen.  It was created out of nothing.  That is who we are apart from God.  In our nothing and fallen condition we cannot please God.  We cannot do what is righteous.  We cannot prevent our own death.

            These Old Testament saints mentioned this morning were great big nothings.  Abel was not a strong hero; his brother murdered him.  Enoch was not complimented for what he had done he was commended because God took him.  Noah inherited his righteousness; it was not his own.  Abraham was a wanderer in a land not his own.  He owned nothing himself.  Sarah was a nothing because she could not bear a child. 

            Out of this nothingness God calls us to faith in Him.  There was nothing and then God spoke and the world came into being.  This Word of God made something out of nothing.

            This is how you and I came to faith.  God has called us by His Word.  We do nothing except hear and take that Word.  Christ proclaims to us that He has died for our sins and given us the gift of salvation.  From the nothing of sin to new life. 

            God calls us to follow him to the promised land.  Each of these saints – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah followed God and were commended for their faith.  Noah had to prepare for a rain and the reaction of others when his ark building looked downright silly.  Abraham went on a trip that had no destination.  Turn around!  Turn around!  In our Old Testament for today he had to have faith that he would have an heir.  Sarah had the strength of faith to believe that even as a longtime member of AARP she was going to be a mother. 

            All of them died in the faith.  They didn’t tie their existence to the tent pegs of this world.  They were just passing through on the way to a greater place.  An eternal homeland.  A better country known as heaven. 

            Their journey is our journey.  We have nothing to show God.  We have no righteousness to shove in his face and say look at me, wonderful me doing wonderful things.  Yet the Lord sees us wandering in our weakness and calls us by the Gospel and gives us new life.  The Holy Spirit leads that new life of ours as He sanctifies and keeps us on the narrow path.  We follow that path to the promised land of heaven.  As strangers and exiles aren’t you looking forward to that day when you can say:  “I’m home.”  Home in the eternal presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who guided us through this life.

            No one wants to be in a nothing place.  Having nothing is not a comfort zone.  Being a nothing can be devastating.  Thankfully we have a God who out of nothing has created a better place for us.  He has a city waiting for you and me that has no traffic, no headaches, no pollution, no taxes, no sickness, no crime.  All the residents are joyful – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah and many others.  We can hardly wait to take residence in the sight of God who is not ashamed to call us out of nothing to His glorious presence.

                                                            Amen.     

August 4, 2019                                                   Text:  Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26

Dear Friends in Christ,

            If you stand in the courtyard of the Detroit Institute of Arts, twenty-seven fresco panels that show the beauty of work surround you.  The Detroit Industrial Murals by Diego Rivera make labor beautiful.  The two largest murals capture scenes from a Ford Motor Company plant.

            Back in 2013 when the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy, the murals were ironic.  In the murals you had the wonder of labor but it was contrasted with labor being lost in the city and the hardships that went with it.

            You don’t need murals and a bankrupt city to show that tension.  For many work is both a beauty and a burden.  After God created Adam he put him in the Garden of Eden and asked him to take care of it.  He was to serve his Creator.  But after the fall into to sin he told Adam, “In pain you shall eat of (the ground) all the days of your life.”

            As Christians we live in the same way.  Our work, our vocation is a gift from God for service to Him and others.  But our labor can also be difficult and dangerous and painful.  It can demand perseverance and the sweat of our brow.

            In our text from Ecclesiastes God offers some encouragement in the daily labor we pursue.  On this day of rest for most . . .

“GOD GIVES JOY IN DAILY WORK”

            The words of our text are from King David.  Even as king, he struggles with work.  “All is vanity…I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun.”  Toil is a word used in Scripture for work.  In Psalm 90 we have a reminder about the shortness of life.  “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” 

            The Preacher echoes this wisdom.  He cannot control what happens to his labor.  He can’t control that it will last and he has to leave it to others.  He could build barns from the fruits of his labor but then you heard the words of Jesus in our Gospel lesson.

            The encouragement comes toward the end of our text.  “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.  This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.” 

            The Lord wants us to have satisfaction in our daily work.  We don’t do it to build a kingdom for ourselves.  We do it in service to God, our Creator, who gave us certain skills and abilities.  We do it also to serve others.

            Have you ever said, “I couldn’t do that job.”  Perhaps a surgeon.  A cell tower lineman.  An IRS agent.  A nurse’s aid.  I even hear people tell me, “I couldn’t do your job.”  The good news is you don’t have to my job or any other job you don’t see yourself in.  God has placed you where you can do your work. 

            Don’t turn that work into an idol.  True happiness is not just beyond the horizon with one more purchase.  Work was never meant for that purpose – the car, the house, the vacation.  If you see it that way then the Lord needs to change your heart.  All of this is vanity, it eventually disappears.

            Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  Jesus came to bring us into God’s kingdom, and His work for us will never fail.  He bore the punishment, He did the labor and He took God’s wrath to the cross so that we would be forgiven and have heaven opened for us. 

            Saved by Christ, work is no longer our master.  It does not define us.  Work is a joyful life of service as a follower of the Savior.

            Jesus has done all the work.  He has done the heavy lifting.  His work completes your salvation.  What we do is now done for Him.  We find great joy in raising our children.  We have a smile on our face when we prepare food or do the dishes.  There is a song in our heart as we meet with clients, farm the land, teach our students, or stare at our computer on a daily basis.  In all these things you are doing it for the Lord and you are doing it for others.  No work is too small to make a difference in our world.

            As we make your way to Good Shepherd Lutheran on Sunday mornings many of us pass shopping centers and restaurants and golf courses and ball fields and maybe even a lake.  To enjoy these places takes money which means we labor for them.  But as you come up the south drive or come in from the east you see the steeple of our church.  A cross mounted on the top.  In that moment you are experiencing the tension of Christian vocation in America. 

            For many having a job, means earning money so they can shop and play and eat.  This becomes their god, which they enjoy even on a Sunday morning. 

            As Christians we live differently.  We are not fulfilling a consumerist desire.  We are given an opportunity for faithful living.  Christ has forgiven our sins and called us to faithful service in the world.  In our work we have a chance to reveal to the world just a glimpse of God’s good design.

            You are doing that by being in worship.  You are here to thank God for your work and the gifts that go with it.  Find joy in raising your family, serving your community, caring for creation.  God created you for that purpose so you can serve Him and your fellow brothers and sisters.  What joy in our daily work!

                                                                                                                        Amen.

July 28, 2019                                                                                 Text:  Genesis 18:20-33

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Have you ever had someone say to you, “You can’t talk to her like that?”  “You shouldn’t speak to him in that tone of voice?”  Maybe it was a parent admonishing you.  Perhaps a spouse who intervened.  Maybe a basketball official or baseball umpire who didn’t like your questioning of a call.  We all have probably spoken when others around us thought we shouldn’t.

            Do you think the men traveling with Abraham thought the same thing?  “You can’t talk to God like that.  Who does this Abraham think he is?  Man, we are in trouble now?”  But that doesn’t really describe Abraham at all.  He says of himself, “I who am but dust and ashes.” (v. 27b) So, then where does he come off talking to the Lord like that?  Abraham believed and understood what God wants us to understand today.  That is . . .

“THE PRIVILEGE OF PLEADING PRAYER”

            Prayer is first of all a gift.  One that we can misuse.  We might ask for something that is not taught in Scripture or is not loving toward others.  An A on an exam (though I didn’t study), permission to stay out late (though I know it’s not safe) a date with ______ (though her boyfriend won’t like that.)  We might ask for a new job (though my wife thinks it will cut down on family time), for the kids to move closer to home (though that is really what I want.) 

            The Lord is often treated like those newfangled soda machines where you can pretty much get what you want in any combination.  We make the choices – not Him.  “You better do what I want God, or I’m done with you.”

            We also misuse this gift if we never approach Him.  Too cocky in our own abilities.  Too many things to do.  We might believe God doesn’t want to hear from us.  “I don’t really deserve God’s help because look at how I have messed up my life.” 

            None of these is how Abraham understood the Lord’s invitation to pray.  He knows he has no claim on God; he is just dust and ashes.  He’s not dictating.  He’s pleading.  He is not afraid to pray and ask for more, more, more.  How can a dust and ashes human being push Almighty God and not be reprimanded by God?  Because Abraham knew this:  the prayer line is open because of God’s mercy in Jesus.

            The Lord initiated this conversation.  He had told Abraham earlier that his descendants would be blessed.  The Messiah would come from his family tree.  Christ would bless all nations by reconciling the world to God.  He would bring us back into a right relationship with our heavenly Father.

            And get this.  Abraham is talking to none other than Jesus, long before He became flesh and blood Jesus of Nazareth.  The Lord himself invites Abraham to pray.  God himself invites us to pray because of Jesus.

            How would you answer this:  “Does God always answer prayer?”  Most astute believers answer, “Yes, no, and wait.”  But did you notice I just said “prayer,” I didn’t say “Christian prayer.”  A Christian prays a certain way.

            We pray through Jesus.  We are privileged to go to the Father through the Son.  We can do this because Jesus’ death on the cross took away the sin that separated us from God.  Sin nailed to the cross and we are back together with the Father.  We are his children who bring Him our requests.  We plead for mercy in “Jesus’ name” because merciful Jesus makes our prayers acceptable to God.

            Look at the mercy shown Abraham.  Why did he care so much for that moral cesspool of Sodom?  Abraham wanted to save his nephew Lot who lived there.  Six straight times – count ‘em – God says yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.  In the bigger picture God had already answered even more wonderfully back in v. 19:  “that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

            This is our promise.  Don’t we also pray for family and personal concerns?  The Lord says yes when He showers mercy on our prayers.  Loved ones kept safe in travel.  Family comforted in loss.  Friends finding answers in their marriage.  Our children kept in the one, true faith.  God allows us to address Him in the faith He has given us in Baptism and which He strengthens at the Altar of the Lord in His Word and Holy Supper.  As fragile, pleading human beings His grace is more than sufficient for our needs.  The faith He creates in us trusts that His mercy always gives us the best.

            Does prayer change things?  Sometimes we may see this statement as manipulating God.  It isn’t . . . you realize?  The truth is closer to this:  “Prayer changes things; namely, the person praying.”

            “You can’t talk to God like that!”  Well . . . yes we can.  We can confidently stand before the all-knowing and all-powerful Lord knowing that prayer is a privilege, a gift that God gives us through His Son Jesus.  So be bold, be consistent, lean on His mercy as you exercise The Privilege of Pleading Prayer.

                                                                                                                        Amen.         

July 21, 2019                                                                                    Text:  Genesis 18:1-14

Dear Friends in Christ,

            In the land of Israel a lady’s fight with a cockroach put her husband in the hospital with burns, a broken pelvis and ribs.  The Jerusalem Post  reported she found the insect, stepped on it, threw it in the toilet and then sprayed insecticide when it refused to die.  Her husband came home from work, sat on the toilet and lit a cigarette.  He threw the cigarette in the toilet and got burned on his “sensitive parts.”  When paramedics came they laughed so hard at the story that they dropped the stretcher, which broke the man’s pelvis and ribs.

            There was another time in Israel when laughter abounded.  It is in our text.  It involves a husband and wife.  A senior citizen couple.  Two souls thinking that having a child has passed them by.  But has it?  God doesn’t think so and He is the creator of life.  He enjoys a good laugh and I pray you do too.

“LAUGHING WITH GOD”

            Can we laugh with God?  I believe we can.  He makes me laugh all the time.  I like to park away from other vehicles in large lots.  Numerous times I come out and there is a car parked right next to me or that person is getting in their car at the exact same time even though there were hundreds of people in the store.  I laugh.  God laughs.  Whatever my foibles the Lord always says, “Not so fast human being Lueck, I’m in control here.”  I laugh.  He laughs.  It happens all the time. 

            Does the same thing happen in your life?  He laughs.  You laugh.  I sure hope it does because God’s gift of laughter has been shown in certain medical studies to stimulate organs with oxygen-rich air.  It also helps relive stress and tension, improves the immune system and mood and relieves pain. 

            Abraham and Sarah got even more than just health benefits.  Abraham laughed when told he would have a son.  Sarah now laughs.  “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”  Sarah has both joy in a child to be born and in having sexual relations at an advanced age.  Joy with child and joy with husband.  God wanted Sarah to laugh for joy.  God wants us all to laugh for joy in His unique and astonishing promises.

            Notice at first though how Sarah’s laughter is laughter of doubt.  She didn’t believe a woman of 90 could have a child.  They laughed at the Savior too.  When he healed Jairus’ daughter the people laughed in unbelief.  But that unbelief turned to joy when she came back from death.

            Do we laugh at the Lord’s promises?  Do we doubt his Divine Providence?  Do we laugh at God’s promise to forgive us over and over in our weakness?  When do we laugh at His promises?  When we are struggling with temptation, when we are beaten down by the world, when we are sick or fighting a disease, when the expenses outweigh the income, when the direction for our life is not clear, when we watch our kids struggle.  The Lord asked a question to this faithful couple and He asks us the same thing, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (v. 14)  Can our troubles be too big for the Lord?  Never.  Laughing with God because His promises lead us from doubt and unbelief to joy and laughter.

            That is what happened with Sarah and Abraham when their Son was born – Isaac – which means, “he laughed.”  Sarah said at his birth, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” (Gen. 21:6)  It was by faith that these geriatrics believed the promise.  This Son being born brought great joy.

            There would be another Son being born that brought great joy.  Not just to a small corner of Israel but to the whole world.  He would be a Son of Promise.  Promised by God to all of mankind.  This was also a promise to Abraham.  From his seed would come forth one who would be a blessing to all the world.  They would laugh that He was the Son of God.  They would laugh when He wouldn’t come down from the cross.  They laughed in mockery and scorn.  They laughed that He was dead and what were His followers going to do now.

            God kept the promise.  God laughed at their antics.  God laughed that they thought they were bigger than Him.  God laughed at their foolishness and arrogance.  The Promised One from Abraham’s line and David’s line has conquered unbelief.  He is living proof that God keeps His promises, for he rose again on the third day and is alive today.  “To those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

            God wants you today to laugh with Him.  Laugh in joy.  Witness to this joy when others laugh at your faith.  Who cares?!  You will stand before the throne of God someday and laugh for joy for you are in heaven forever. 

            God has a great sense of humor.  Don’t miss it as you go about your daily business.  God laughs with all of us because of the promise of forgiveness and salvation.  Laugh with Him at the antics and arrogance of our world and then know the God of laughter has the last laugh.  You will too.

                                                                                                Amen.     

July 7, 2019       Texts:  Lamentations 3:22-33, 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, Mark 5:24b-34

Dear Friends in Christ,

            How many of you remember the show Hee Haw?  They had a segment on that show and a catchy tune about “gloom, despair and agony on me.”  Do you ever feel like that song?  We have many blessings as people of faith and people of this country but we also have gloom, despair and agony and as we look out over the horizon these seem to be building.

            You are a smart people gathered here today.  You know some of the challenges before us.  We hear them so many times we block out their intensity.  Taxes going up.  Roads being filled with vehicles and now drivers who can light up the funny weed and instead of reaching for the Cheetos they go for the car keys.  The continued bashing of people who aren’t in agreement with us.  The pseudo sages of our age who have all the answers for you but don’t want to follow their own ramblings. 

            The agony and despair may hit closer to home with divorce, a loved one who succumbed to drugs or alcohol or gambling.  A marriage in a precarious situation because of a health problem.  The financial cloud – do I have enough for retirement or college or the house’s next big repair? 

            We may lift our heads to the heavens and say, “Lord, these must be the last days.  Things cannot get much worse before you return in judgment.” (2 Pet. 3:1-4)

            You can get a little depressed, can’t you?  What if I tell you, “It can get worse.”  Please don’t jump up and leave.  We are going to find for you today . . .

“JOY OUT OF TRIAL”

            Read the Book of Lamentations and see how bad it can get.  God rained down ruin on the priests who wouldn’t repent.  God destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its idols and defiled temple.  God had warned them of this if they turned from the faith of their fathers. 

            Your personal problems seem more immediate than those of our nation and state.  Hang on.  It can get worse.  Look at the woman in our Gospel.  Her illness stayed with her for twelve years.  She had to sleep apart from her husband and be isolated from friends and family.  She went from doctor to doctor and all this got her was a little lighter pocketbook.  When she approached Jesus was she lamenting?

            Things can get worse – even in the Church.  The new congregations of Macedonia in our Epistle suffered affliction and poverty.  Have we suffered like they?  Yes, the church on earth has problems but we cannot equate them with some of the early churches.  They had lives and money at risk at all times. 

            Scripture reminds us that things can get worse – much worse.  Worse for our country, worse for our Church, worse for ourselves.  How can we go forward and take seriously the words of Scripture that say “Rejoice always?” (1 Thess. 5:16)

            In Christ, the future is not all gloom, despair, and agony.  Far from depression and misery is the Good News of our Lord.  When the writer of Lamentations surveyed Jerusalem and the destruction around, he could still say, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end.” ((v. 22)  When all seemed hopeless Jeremiah still confessed, “The Lord…will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love.” (v. 31-32)

            Look beyond the doom and gloom.  Look to heaven.  The Lord is master over time and history, there is hope.  We have life-restoring Good News when we see our country torn apart by sin and when we drift in our personal lives.  There is a tomorrow for those who believe in Christ Jesus.

            If your despair is the more personal kind then witness the new life God gave the woman who touched his robe.  By the power of God her health returned and sadness was set aside.  She could again enjoy her husband’s company in bed and be back in her social circles.  God restored a soul and a body.

            He did the same for you in baptism.  He made you an unbreakable promise:  He has claimed you as His own.  He reminds you of that in His Word.  He communicates that to you when you eat and drink his body and blood.  God’s grace brings you a sense of assurance.  Come on out from under the covers, face the day, meet the challenge through your Savior.

            Gain strength from the witness of the Macedonians.  Persecuted with very little to give.  They knew of Jesus’ sacrifice so what did they do – they sacrificed.  They gave glorious gifts in spite of meager means.  The Holy Spirit gave them great joy in their giving.  In a country filled with despair, in a world filled with hostility toward God’s Word and purposes, these people became beacons of light to lead the lost to the Lord.

            Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch in 107.  An arrest takes place.  The crime?  He was a Christian.  He found joy in his martyrdom which was a lion feeding with him as the main course.  We don’t stand on the brink of arrest for our faith yet.  We will finish the week without being the main entrée for Simba.  But, like Ignatius, we have a victorious Savior.

            With light from Jesus, gloom, despair, and agony are banished from Christian lives.  With power from the conquering Christ, we find peace and healing, whether living in ancient Greece or modern America.  With the Lord leading, the Church can unite.  I told you it was safe to stay because now you know of Joy Out of Trial.   

                                                                                                                                    Amen.    

June 30, 2019                                                                                    Text:  Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Dear Friends in Christ,

            There is a hill in Lake District in England called Rash Judgment Point.  It was given that name by the poet William Wordsworth.  He and his sister were standing at the top of the hill one day during harvest season looking at the lake below.  They saw a man fishing and this angered them because every able-bodied man was needed to gather the harvest.  Wordsworth decided to go down the hill and challenge the man that he should be busy at work for the good of the community.

            He called the man to shore.  He got out of the boat old and bent over.  He had several fish.  He explained he had worked for years helping with the harvest but he couldn’t physically do it anymore.  Instead, he contributed to the community by getting up each day at dawn and fishing.  The fish he caught he added to the community’s resources.  Wordsworth felt so bad about his hasty judgment that he named the hill from which he had first seen the man fishing, Rash Judgment Point.

            Rash judgment is a sin of the flesh.  It is a weakness in every man and woman.  This was just one of the things Paul warned the Christians in Galatia about.  He has a whole list.  But he also has encouragement for us as Christians to . . .

“WALK BY THE SPIRIT”

            Walking in the Spirit means we do make judgments.  We are to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and error, good and evil.  Where there is open sin apart from God’s Word manifesting itself the Christian is called to do what Paul writes in Galatians 6.  “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”  Matthew 18 has the congregation excluding openly unrepentant sinners.  The goal is restoration.  The child of God repents and is welcomed back.  We do not pass judgment on those outside the church that is the job of governing authorities.

            In our gospel lesson even the apostles James and John struggled with this sin.  When the Samaritans would not welcome Jesus they wanted fire to come down and consume them.  But Jesus rebuked them.

            Have you ever felt like that?  Wanted someone to get his or hers?  Don’t we take guilty pleasure in the misfortune of others especially if their arrogance leads to a bad decision?  Be careful what your sinful flesh wants.  Many of these same Samaritans we are told were saved when the gospel reached them in the Book of Acts.  Do we see a soul that needs saving or does our flesh work against walking by the Spirit?

            As long as the world stands there is an opportunity to share the Gospel with unbelievers in the hope they will be saved.  We are not walking by the Spirit if we wish for their damnation.  John wrote this, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn. 3:17)  The love of God is for those who recognize the depth of their sin.  That love has touched us.  As we walk by the Spirit we recognize our weakness in passing unfair judgments.  We need that love of Jesus that comes through His life, and suffering, and death.  Our sins are then forgiven and we escape everlasting damnation.  This love changes everything in us.

            Paul writes in our text, “For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:  ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (v. 13,14)  When we are touched by the love of God, we can walk by the Spirit, we can even love our enemies.  We want them to be saved and in heaven with us.  This is where our love and kindness and goodness and patience and gentleness can make a difference in the lives of others today.  Isn’t our society screaming for more fruits of the Spirit to manifest itself?  Oh, it is so needed and I hope this is in your prayers daily.  Some days who wants to leave the house?  Through the Spirit we leave our residence and let Him work through us. 

            Corrie Ten Boom tells this story in her book, Reflections of God’s Glory.  “In Africa a man came to a meeting with bandaged hands.  I asked what happened.  He said, ‘My neighbor’s straw roof was on fire; I helped him put it out and that’s how my hands got burned.’  Later the whole story came out.  The neighbor hated him and had set his roof on fire while his wife and children were asleep in the hut.  They were in great danger.  Fortunately, he was able to put out the fire in his house on time.  But sparks flew over to the roof of the man who had set the house on fire and his house started to burn.  There was no hate in the heart of this Christian; there was love for his enemy and he did everything he could to put out the fire in his neighbor’s house.  That is how his hands were burned.”

            An amazing story, isn’t it?  It shames us when we take delight in what we think others deserve.  The truth is, we all deserve to be burned in fire because of our sin.  For the sake of Jesus we have been forgiven and the fire of wrath has been extinguished.  God loved us that much.  Can’t we in turn love others?  Live by the Spirit . . . and Walk By The Spirit.                 Amen.