September 18, 2022                                        Text:  Psalm 113

Dear Friends in Christ,

    What did the seven dwarfs do for a living?  They worked in a mine, where they mined rubies and diamonds.  They seemed to enjoy their work so much they sang on the way home.  “Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s home from work we go.”  All my life I thought they sang, “off to work we go” but a lyrical check shows they indeed sang, “it’s home from work we go.”

    Maybe you feel like singing when you go home from work.  Work songs have been a part of life for centuries.  Building railroads, the singing kept the workers in rhythm.  Farm hands and textile workers and other vocations had work songs.  The singing united everyone and kept everyone engaged in their tasks at hand.

    Today we are going to look at Psalm 113 – known as the “praise Psalm.”  It was sung at the beginning of the Passover celebration.  While not exactly a work song, it does convey something important . . .

“GOD’S GRACIOUS WORK”

    “Heigh ho, heigh ho, we look to this work and go.”  God’s gracious work.  The great thing about the work song is how it can tie together an enjoyable thing to do – singing – with something not as fun – a difficult task.  

    Our text also brings two separate things together.  In the opening of the psalm, we start to see attributes that make God – God.  The Lord is enthroned in eternity.  The leaders of nations, kings and queens come and go but the rule of God never ends.  It just always is.  His rule extends everywhere.  East, west, north, south, the Lord is in control.  

    But the Psalm also points out how near God is.  He cares for the poor and needy.  Those who get dinner from a garbage can are those the Lord Almighty notices.  The people who seem insignificant in the world are the ones He marks and claims as His own.

    We are instructed to praise the Lord.  Is this easy for you to do?  Do you have a song in your heart when you look to your Creator?  God the Father Almighty gives you so many things in which to sing His praise.  He sent Jesus, as a man, to pay for your sin and my sin.  He brings joy to the world with his gift of salvation.  He comforts us in suffering and carries our painful burdens.  He chose you.  He chose me.  We are all significant people in the eyes of the Lord.  Sometimes it might seem to us that the good things of the world are overwhelmed by the bad.  But the Lord is not overwhelmed.  He is exalted on high, and He reaches down low with His salvation.

    “Heigh ho, heigh ho, we look to our work and go.”  This psalm guides our work.  Work songs strengthened the bonds of the workers.  This psalm of praise brough together the Jews at Passover.  This psalm invites us to be a part of the community of faith.  

    What events in Scripture would make your top ten list?  The salvation story of Jesus, creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark, the father/son drama of Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the Israelites, David and Goliath, maybe add in Samson, Joseph and his brothers, King David’s life and Paul’s conversion.  Most of us would not include Hannah and the gift of her son Samuel.

    Hannah was barren and in distress.  She went to the temple to pray and was accused by as priest of being drunk.  What she was doing was pouring out her heart to God.  Although her husband did not hear her, though the priest did not understand her, God could hear her and He understood what was happening in her life.  He answered her prayer.  The joy of this child, Samuel, being born brought forth a song of praise to God.  We have a line from that song in our psalm, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.” (v. 7-8)

    A minor character from the Bible, through the gracious work of the Lord, binds Israel together.  They saw how He works in the smallest ways to extend His gracious care to His people.  

    “Heigh ho, heigh ho, it is off to work we go.”  Martin Luther knew nothing about the seven dwarfs, but he knew the value of songs as God’s people work.  In our Small Catechism, as Luther teaches people to pray in the morning, he encourages them, after finishing their prayers, to “go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn, like that of the Ten Commandments, or whatever your devotion may suggest.”

    God gracious work – heigh ho, heigh ho.  He rules over all things.  He graciously loves and cares for us.  We sing God’s praise, and He leads us into service for His Kingdom.  “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” (v. 3)

                                            Amen.  

September 11, 2022 – Christian Education Sunday                Text:  Deuteronomy 6:4-15

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Who’s your teacher?  When you are in grade school that is a question that comes your way.  Within the past month our young people were finding out who their teacher was going to be for the coming school year.

    On this Christian Education Sunday that is a good question for all of us – “Who’s your teacher?”  Who do we imitate?  Who are our role models?  Who do I like to sound like or dress like or act like?  

    There are many people competing to be our teachers.  They want to instruct you and your family.  They want you to follow their example.  So . . . 

“WHO’S YOUR TEACHER?”

    God has always desired to be the teacher of his people.  He gives this command in the opening verses of our text, “Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (vs. 4-5).  God is not making a suggestion.  God knows that what we hear influences what we think and do and believe.  God wants to be your teacher and your children’s teacher.  God wants our ears open and attentive as He speaks His Word to us.  “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” (v. 6)

    Now we get to a portion of Scripture that has always had an important place for us as parents and grandparents.  “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”  That is a huge responsibility, is it not?

    God gives the primary teaching job to the parent.  Sitting at home – family devotions.  Walking – look around at God’s creation.  Lying down – a Bible story and prayers before bed.  When you rise – prayers for the day, a word of advice.  Bind them on your hand – you live what God’s Word says because “they shall be as frontlets for your eyes.”  Our children are always watching.  Are we living what we are saying?  Do we back up our words with actions?  Who’s our teacher in the eyes of our children and grandchildren?  Write them on the doorposts of our house?  Does your home reflect your Christianity by what is hanging on walls, or on your bookshelf or the words we speak to one another?  

    We stray from this command when we are not proactive.  The world is happy to teach your children and grandchildren.  And they have quite an influence, haven’t they?  If our commitment to Christ and His Church is an hour or two a week, well, there is a lot of time left to fill.  Are we hearing, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting the Word of God?  Is it a prime source of nutrition in your home?  

    God desires that his Word be constantly in front of us.  He desires that the Word fill our homes and our hearts.  Here at Good Shepherd, both young and old hear that Word, which is then meditated upon throughout the week – whether we are sitting or walking or standing or lying down or rising.  It is that Word of God that should be in front of us on a consistent basis.

    In this Word of God, you are receiving great gifts and blessings.  Your mind is being enlightened by the Gospel.  In the Word, the Holy Spirit is working mightily to forgive sins, delivering the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection to you.  In the Word, the Holy Spirit is strengthening your faith.  When you read or hear that Jesus died for your sins, you are not only learning that truth, but in and through these words, Christ’s forgiveness is being given to you.

    I cannot guarantee that if you do all these things that your children will not leave the reservation.  Many of you in the pews this morning are hurting because of this truth.  The world and its ways can be quite the seductress.  You pray for the Holy Spirit’s work.  Then remember this:  you never stop teaching.  With God as your teacher you continue.  Verse 7 says as parents we are to “teach them diligently.”  The Hebrew word is shaman, which is the verb that’s used to describe sharpening a blade by continually running it over a stone.  Through the Word we are sharpened, and we need this sharpening continually.  Sharpened by the Word we can discern truth from error, withstand the attacks of the evil one, and wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  Be strengthened by God’s Word this morning.  Forgiven, loved, able to withstand trial and temptation, He empowers you and I in good works to glorify God and serve our neighbor and family members in love.

    Who’s your teacher?  I pray you know.  God desires to be your teacher and your children’s teacher.

            Amen.