Sermon Texts

Sept. 9, 2018 – Christian Education Sunday                                   Text 1 Kings 21:3

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

“The Lord Forbid That I Should Give You The Inheritance Of My Fathers.”  There are plenty of people who would like us to eliminate from our possession the inheritance of our fathers.  If we would just loosen our grip on the conviction taught by our fathers to “thank and praise, serve and obey” our God.  Their sales talk is so attractive that we are inclined to think the price is right.  Will we be a Naboth or turn our back?

“PRESERVING THE INHERITANCE”

This is a day and age when “under God” is a passing remark about the goodness of “Someone Up There” that qualifies you for a tax exemption.  A deity who sits on the balcony of heaven making the sign of the cross over whatever self-centered activities we should like to carry on in the name of the Church.  The idea behind it all is that God should approve of the things we do in his name instead of our doing, in his name, the things of which God approves.

Give up this God who demands you bow to His will, or we will brand you as bigoted and narrow and call you “peculiar people.”  “Give up the inheritance of your fathers.”

I love the inspired Word of God for stories like Naboth.  Here was a man who refused to give up the inheritance of his fathers for no other reason than this; he wanted to do what was right.  He had a vineyard that King Ahab wanted.  The deal was fair, a dream offer.  But it wasn’t right to Naboth.  He remembered the Lord’s directive in Numbers 36:7:  “Every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.”  Naboth was answering the king in this way, “No, because the Lord forbids it.”

We could use a little spirit of the old Naboth.  A spirit that is willing to turn down the attractive offer of modern, popular, politically correct religiousness by which they hope we will sell out the strong Christian conviction we have inherited from our fathers, a spirit willing to say no because it is the will of God.

Care to sell? The offer comes.  Just once admit that as “long as its religion, it is good for you.”  Let children wait until the age of discretion, whenever in life that might be, to choose their own faith; broaden your mind at least this far, we are all religious folks heading for the same place.  That’s all.  What about it?  Are you ready to say no like Naboth?  Is it, “The Lord forbid”?  Will you tell a man, “There is no God but one.” (1 Cor. 8:4)  “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn. 14:6)  “The Lord forbid that I should give up the inheritance of my fathers.”

You don’t have to give up your conviction, says the old evil vineyard buyer.  Just tone it down.  Don’t get rid of Jesus.  Just leave him at home when you go to college or the office party or the polls.  Pray to him at church and home but omit him at political rallies and commencement exercises.  What do you say?  No.  “The Lord forbid,” says Naboth.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works,” says one of our fathers, the Apostle Paul.  (Eph. 2:8-9)  You have no vineyard that Satan would rather get his hands on than this, your trust “that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Rom. 3:28)  This conviction, so much a part of the inheritance from our fathers, has been deeded away by large portions of the Christian Church, until the Naboths, who boldly say no, are a distinct minority today.

I get concerned about the cracks in the dike.  The Great Wall of China was a gigantic, expensive means of security.  Within its first few years after completion it was breached three times by the enemy, not by breaking down the wall, but by bribing the gatekeepers.  The convictions we have inherited from our fathers, the worship of the one true God, the life that lives and moves and has its being 24-hours-a-day in Jesus, the faith that centers in what Christ has done for us and not what we have done for Him or men, these are to be tomorrow’s inheritance from us.  We are the keepers of those gates through which these prized convictions pass from yesterday into tomorrow.  What if the gatekeepers sell?  What happens if you give up the inheritance?  Never you say.  The Lord forbids.  I know he does.  But are you certain you are a Naboth?  Doing the will of the Father and preserving the inheritance for your family.

Today is Christian Education Sunday.  On the basis of this sermon, I lay it on your heart.  Will you keep the inheritance and pass it on to the next generation?  Only by diligent study and Christian conviction are you prepared to stand with Naboth.  Through the Holy Spirit the study of the Word of God helps you to preserve the inheritance.  I should point out that this Good Shepherd Lutheran congregation will remain strong and not sell out to the prince of this world as we train ourselves and our young in the faith.

How many Naboths are among us to say, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”      Amen.

September 2, 2018                                                                Text:  Ephesians 6:10-20

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

One of my favorite commentators of all-time was Paul Harvey who died in 2009.  Back in 1964 he gave a radio commentary entitled, “If I Were The Devil.”  Here is just a portion of that.  “I would evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, then from the Houses of Congress.  Then in his own churches I’d substitute psychology for religion and deify science.  If I were Satan I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.  If I were Satan I’d just keep doing what I’m doing.”

We face many struggles in our life from “Is my paycheck big enough for these expenses?”  “Do we have enough health insurance?”  “Can the family get along?”  Add to that cancer that invades your life, depression that you keep hidden and guilt that you just can’t seem to shake.  Life is a struggle in this fallen world.

Those struggles are hard but we face an even greater struggle when we see evil on the loose in our world.  Is the devil having his way?  At times we think he is.  Paul describes this tug-o-war as a wrestling match.  Satan and the Lord going at it for your soul.  Place your bets…you know who wins.

“THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD PREVAILS”

We know the outcome so should we just end the sermon there?  It is not quite that simple and we need some guidance while living the struggle.

Satan is wily and crafty.  He is so proficient in his attacks on us that we hardly notice when we are led astray.  Peter calls him a “roaring lion.”  Jesus describes him as “the father of lies.”  What is Satan telling you?  What path of destruction would he like you to walk down?  How can we battle back?

We first admit that we don’t have the strength or the moves to get out of Satan’s headlock.  We are easy prey as we stumble into his trap of selfishness and greed.  We are not equipped for such brutality as he flings us off the ropes.  We need to be strengthened in the Lord in order to face the devil’s wiles day by day.

While Jesus came in humility and weakness, he alone is our refuge and strength.  He conquered sin by keeping the law perfectly.  He buried death by his death and resurrection.  God’s Son came to crush the head of Satan.

Even in a world of coexist bumper stickers and intolerant demands for tolerance, we can stand for and by the truth of God’s Word.  We put on Jesus Christ in our baptism.  The full armor of God was given in the one garment through the water and the Word.  We are clothed in Christ and He wrestles for us so that we might be saved.

August 14, 1945 marked the end of World War II as Japan surrendered to the United States.  There was one problem.  No one told Hiroo Onada.  When they did tell him, he didn’t believe them.  Hiroo Onada was a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Japanese Army.  He was stationed in the Philippines and his orders were to fight until the end.  When Japan surrendered there were only four survivors in his unit.  They kept fighting because they thought it was American propaganda.  One soldier was killed, two surrendered but Onada kept up the battle.  It wasn’t until his brother and commanding officer went to the Philippines and they convinced him the war was over.  That was in 1974 – 29 years after the Japanese had lost the war!

Satan continues the fight.  He will not be convinced otherwise, like Hiroo Onada eventually was.  His attacks will become more and more desperate as we get closer to the Lord’s return.  He is seeking to destroy as many of God’s saints as he can.  Satan will continue to work in our courthouses and schoolhouses and state houses and our houses.

The wonderful Gospel I share with you today is that when Christ Jesus emerged from the tomb on that first Easter morn, He had triumphed over sin, and death, and the devil.  The Valiant one has won the war.  Be strengthened by Word and Sacrament.  Be strengthened through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Be strengthened through prayer.  We are strengthened to stand firm to the end.  All because our strength is not found in our knowledge, our effort, or even our faith, but in Christ alone.

Amen.

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.

August 12, 2018                                                                            Text:  1 Kings 19:1-8

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Have you ever heard of these two women – Elisabeth Lammerhirt and Margarethe Lindemann?  They married, bore children and kept house.  They lived hard-working and rather ordinary lives.  Like women of their day they didn’t write books or poetry or build cathedrals.  You probably don’t know who they are.  Yet, without them, you wouldn’t be a Lutheran, and you wouldn’t sing many of the hymns that you love.

You see, Elisabeth was the mother of Johann Sebastian Bach; Margarethe, the mother of Martin Luther.  They didn’t know their sons would change the world.  Elisabeth died when Bach was nine years old.  Margarethe didn’t know what would become of her son until late in life.  They thought all their hard work, sacrifice and love wouldn’t amount to much.  They were wrong.

Elijah in our text for this morning thought he was a failure.  He didn’t see that the Lord would bless his hard work and sacrifice.  Like the prophet we can become discouraged with our lives.  The Lord of life helps us to see this day that we too are blessed.

“DISCOURAGED?  BE ENCOURAGED THROUGH CHRIST”

Elijah thought his work had been rewarded.  The 450 prophets of Baal had been slaughtered and the three-year drought was over.  It was going to rain.  But it didn’t work out that way.  Jezebel was not repentant, but angry.  She threatened to kill Elijah.  The people had forsaken God’s covenant, broken down his altars.  Elijah thought he was alone.  He crawled under a tree, and asked God to take his life.

Do you ever want to crawl under a tree because of your discouragement?  We pray.  We attend worship regularly.  We volunteer.  We give a portion of our income.  But the congregation may not grow at a pace we think it should.  Sometimes the finances can be tight and there is always something that needs to be fixed.  It can leave us frustrated.  And we ask, “why bother?”

What we forget is that we can’t make the congregation grow by our own efforts.  Our energy is not endless.  Both people inside and outside the church are sinners.  God does not call us to be successful, but to be faithful.  It is Jesus who saves.  It is the Holy Spirit who calls us by the Gospel and enlightens us with his gifts.  He calls us to hear God’s Word, to love our neighbors, to witness about Jesus and to cherish the Sacraments He gives us.

Think of how discouraged you can get when you try to change a person.  A spouse, a child, a grandchild, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor.  Your efforts may help but the person needs to make the changes needed.  And more than that they and us always need the leading of Christ in our discouragement.

This is what the Lord did with Elijah.  God had fed the people in the desert with the manna and God the Son would feed 5,000 in the wilderness.  So now God feeds his prophet.  God did not grant his prayer to die.  Instead, the angel of the Lord, the Son of God came to him and brought him bread and water.  This meal and subsequent meals gave the prophet the strength to go on.  God would later tell Elijah that he was not alone and his work was not in vain.

Jesus comes to you and I in the same way.  Our discouragements are many but we cast our cares upon Him.  He took our sins upon himself and bore them all to the cross, where he died the death we deserved and paid all the debts we owed for them.  He won for us there forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

And I think you also know the other way we are encouraged like Elijah.  God feeds us not just bread and water, but his own body and blood in the bread and wine of his Supper.  This assures us that Jesus is with us personally.  We are refreshed and can move forward in the strength of the Lord.

Elijah did that for forty days and forty nights.  The number forty is often used in Scripture for a period of testing, judgment, preparation and discipline.  The great flood lasted forty days and nights.  Moses spent forty days on Horeb, while God gave him the Ten Commandments.  The people of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness.  God gave Nineveh forty days to repent.  Jesus wandered in the desert and fasted for forty days prior to his temptation by the devil.

Where have you had your forty days and nights?  Are you living through them now?  The testing, the discipline, the discouragement.  Be encouraged through Christ Jesus your Lord and Savior.  In all of the situations listed above, the people came out on the other end of it better off and blessed.  The Lord rose spent forty days and nights among his people and ascended to heaven.  Because of this we are not alone as the Lord looks after us.

God has called you to labor for His Kingdom.  He encourages your sacrifice and your gifts.  Come out from under the tree, there is work to do.

Amen.

August 5, 2018                                                                            Text:  Exodus 16:2-15

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

All right people of Israel, what are you going to do next?  You’ve been enslaved in Egypt for 430 years.  You heard Moses cry to the Lord, “Let my people go!”  Pharaoh has told you over and over no.

People of Israel, what are you going to do next?  You’ve seen the plagues from hail destroying to frogs inhabiting.  You’ve heard the wailing throughout the night as the firstborn died.

So, people of Israel, what are you going to do next?  You’ve followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.  You’ve walked on dry ground with the wall of water to the right and to the left.  You’ve seen the Egyptians who pursued you swept into the sea.  So, people of Israel, what are you going to do next?

They are going to . . . grumble!  “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (v. 3)  Grumble, grumble, grumble.  Moses and Aaron have to be thinking, “You bunch of whiners!”  The Lord heard the grumbling too.

Of course, you don’t grumble.  No, never you.  But you do!  You grumble when the price of gas is too high.  You grumble when it rains too little.  You grumble when it rains too much.  You grumble when your spouse won’t have sex on a regular basis or when they won’t listen to you.  You grumble when your kid won’t pick up their room.  You grumble at the four-way stop when the person whose turn it is won’t go.  You grumble when you are bored and you grumble when you are too busy.  I could stand in this pulpit all day with this little exercise.  Shall I go on?  Goldilocks, hello.  Our porridge is too hot.  Our porridge is too cold.  We would make wonderful Israelites, wouldn’t we?

So, what does the Lord do with these ungrateful complainers?  “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.” (v. 4)  Later in the chapter, “When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another.  ‘What is it?’  For they did not know what it was.  And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.’” (vs. 14-15)  Feeling a little sheepish about your grumbling?

“OUR GOD RAINS . . . FOR YOU!”

Would you look out the window?  Why, it’s raining…pitchforks!  Never heard that one.  Why, it’s raining…stair rods!  Never heard that either.  Why, it’s raining cats and dogs!  Ahhhh…I’ve heard that one Pastor.

In the early 1700s, Jonathan Swift published a satire in which one of the characters fears that it’ll rain cats and dogs.  We don’t know the origin.  We do know that the other phrases – pitchforks and stair rods were popular at the time.

Wherever it comes from, we do know the meaning.  The rain is really coming down.  The Lord used an equally strange line:  “It’s going to rain bread.”  I wouldn’t mind hearing that from the Lord, how about you?  Any chance of cinnamon and sugar on a loaf?  See, we still want it our way.  Israelites, we are right there with you!

Not only did the Lord provide the Israelites with bread he made it a meal by covering the camp in quail.  God provides so much from the skies above.

God brought angels who filled the skies and proclaimed, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk. 2:10-11)

God commands the skies there on Calvary’s hill.  “It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light had failed.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’  And having said this he breathed his last.  Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’” (Lk. 23:44-47)

God commands the skies above.  As the darkness lifted from the skies, the morning of the third day, the women went to the tomb and found it empty.  “Why are you looking here?  Jesus is among the living!” (Lk. 24:1,5)

God commands the skies above.  Our God rains . . . for you.  He still rains down daily bread in spite of our grumbling.  He rains down clothing and a place to live.  He gives us money and possessions.  He blesses us with spouses and children.  In spite of our grumbling . . . good government and faithful rulers and good weather and peace and health and friends and neighbors.

Even more than that, He gives us the Bread, the Bread of life, the Bread “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (Jn. 6:33)  He gives us Jesus.  So see, you have nothing to grumble about, for God says, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.”

Amen.