Remember the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 8:10-18)

 Thanksgiving Day

November 21, 2012

 

Dear friends in Christ.

Ever since Thanksgiving became a holiday, many families have had the practice of taking time to think about and remember things that happened during the past year—things for which they are truly thankful.  Sometimes the things they remember are recent events in their lives, while other times the things they remember are things that happened a lot earlier during the past year.  Well, in the same way that we often take time to remember the things for which we are thankful on Thanksgiving, as Christians there are often times that we look back over our lives and remember the things that the Lord our God has done for us.  Though there are times that the difficulties of life sometimes cause us to forget our God’s faithfulness, so often when we look back we remember how the Lord has led us through our lives and how he has delivered us from troubles.  So often we remember the blessings he has given, the victories he won for us and the encouragements he has bestowed upon us in our lives.  So often, when we take time to remember the Lord our God, we are reminded of the great things that he continues to do for us.

The same was true for Moses and the Israelites.  For as we meet them, Israel is camped on the East Side of the Jordan River preparing to enter the Promised Land of Canaan for a second time.  The first time they were here, preparing to enter the Land, they sent Joshua, Caleb and 10 other spies into the land to scout it out.  When they returned, they reported that the land did indeed flow with milk and honey, but the people who live there are powerful and their cities are fortified and very large.  When the Israelites heard this, they did what they normally did in a time of crisis.  Instead of remembering the Lord and trusting him to deliver them, they began to doubt the Lord’s promise and grumble and complain. Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage the people to, “go up and take possession of the land, which the Lord has given us.”  But the other ten spies went and stirred up the people so that they began to grumble against Moses and Aaron. They even elected a leader who would lead them back to the land of Egypt. Because the people turned away from the Lord and sinned by not following his will, he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years.  One year for every day the spies had spent exploring the land. 

Now that the forty years of wandering were over and a new generation of Israelites was getting ready to cross the Jordan and enter the land of Canaan.  But before they entered, Moses calls on them to remember the Lord their God, he says: When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Deuteronomy 8:10–14, NIV84)

With these words, Moses was calling on the people to remember the Lord their God because of his many blessings.  He was calling on them to remember how the Lord had blessed them as they wandered through the wilderness with manna and quail.  They always had water when they needed it and their clothes did not wear out during all those forty years.  Now the Lord is about to bless them again by leading them into the Promised Land of Canaan.  This was a land that Moses described as: “a good land–a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills,” (Deuteronomy 8:7b-9).

This is why Moses exhorts them not to remember the Lord who blesses you, because when they settled down in this land of plenty and their flocks and riches increased, it would be easy for them to forget the Lord. The same is true for you and me, and that is why Moses is reminding us to remember the Lord our God today.  He is reminding us to remember the Lord our God who has blessed us in so many ways.  Here we are living in one of the greatest countries in the world.  We have some of the most fertile farming land in the world.  We have running water; electricity that is seldom interrupted and there hasn’t been a shortage of gas since the 1970’s. Our God has truly blessed us and our nation of plenty.  That is why we have gathered here today.  We have gathered to remember our Lord who has blessed us and thank him for all his blessings.  We thank him for our nation of plenty.  We thank him for our friends and family.  We thank him for blessing us through in the past and years to come.  But most important of all, we thank him for the blessing of our Savior who came to earth to free us from our sins. Jesus death was our death and his resurrection assures our resurrection.  He is the greatest blessing we have ever received.  Yes, our Lord has indeed blessed us and that is why we have gathered here, to remember our Lord.  But that is not the only reason we remember the Lord today, we also remember him because he keeps his promises.

When we take a look at our history, we are able to see just how true it is that God keeps his promises.  The same was true for Israel, for as they stood by the banks of the Jordan River preparing to cross over, Moses was reminded them how the Lord kept his promises to them.  He says, “[The Lord] led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today." (Deuteronomy 8:15–18, NIV84)

As Moses spoke these words, he was reminding them of how the Lord had kept all the promises that he had made to his people Israel.  Even now, as they stood on the border of Canaan, preparing to enter and take possession of the Promised Land Moses is calling on the people to remember the Lord their God.  He is calling on them to remember the Lord their God as they crossed the river and took possession of the land.  He is calling on them to remember the Lord their God as they built up their homes and cities and businesses.  He is calling on them to remember the Lord their God as they became a new nation, as their flocks increased, and as their wealth began to grow.  Even in all this, Moses was calling on the Israelites to remain humble in their faith, remembering that it was the Lord their God who had given them all that they had. 

Moses is saying the same thing to you and me today.  He is calling on us to remember the Lord our God who keeps his promises.  He is calling on us to remember the Lord our God who has blessed us with everything we have.  He is calling on us to remember all his grace and blessing that he bestowed upon us through the death and resurrection of his Son, through which we have received the forgiveness of sins, and the promise of eternal life. 

So, as you gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, or simply celebrate quietly by yourselves, continue to remember all that the Lord your God has done for you.  Remember how the Lord has led you through your life and brought you to this point.  Remember how he has delivered you from countless troubles.  Remember the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon you, the encouragements he has given through numerous people, and the victories he has won for you.  Remember the joy that the Lord has planted in your hearts through the forgiveness of sins and grow in your faith and trust in the Lord you God, about whom it can be truly said, “Not one of his promises has ever failed.”

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Marvel at the Lord's Work in your Life! (Gensis 37, 39-50)

July 10, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Have you ever just sat back and marveled at how the Lord works in the lives of his people?  Have you ever considered just how the Lord has orchestrates the events of history so that all things do, indeed, work out for the good of those who love the Lord their God?  Though we may not always see it or understand exactly how the Lord does these things, we know that he is the one who is constantly working in the lives of his people.  He is the one who led the Israelites to the Promised Land and carried them on Eagles wings as he brought them to himself. (Exodus 19:3)  He is the one who saw to it that at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly so that we might be justified and declared not guilty by our God from whom we received reconciliation.  (Romans 5:6-11)  He is the one who provided the Apostles as his messengers and sent them out to proclaim the message of salvation (Matthew 10:1-8) Because they went preaching and teaching wherever Jesus sent them, that message of salvation was passed on from generation to generation until finally it came to you and you came to faith in the Lord your God who is constantly at work in your lives.

But the question still stands.  Have you ever just sat back and marveled at how the Lord works in your lives?  Though it is not always easy to see what the Lord is doing or what he is seeking to accomplish on a day to day basis, when we look back at our lives we can more easily see all that work that the Lord has done in our lives, and we can marvel at what he has done.  Take for example Joseph.  Though Joseph wasn’t able to see exactly how the Lord was working in his life until he hit certain milestones and looked back, from the Scriptures, we can see exactly how the Lord worked in Joseph’s life.  We can see just how the Lord orchestrated different events in his life that were designed to prepare him to be the second in command of all Egypt, the reigning super power of the day.  As Moses tells us in Genesis 41:44-44, “41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” (Genesis 41:41–44, NIV84)  But before we get too far ahead of ourselves this morning, lets take a few steps back and start at the beginning of the story, so to speak, so that we might more fully marvel at how the Lord was at work in Joseph’s life.

Now, you may or may not remember Joseph’s birth, but he was the first born son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel. Of course he was born as the 11th of 12 sons.  Though Benjamin was born to Rachel as number 12 not long after Joseph, Joseph was his father’s favorite son, as Moses tells us in Genesis 37:3-4, “3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. (Genesis 37:3–4, NIV84)

Not only did they hate him because he was the favorite son of their father, they hated him for his dreams.  They hated him for his dreams of sheaves of grain; even the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him.  They hated him for his dreams.  They hated him for his robe. They hated him because he was the favored son. They hated him so much that when Joseph was 17 years old his brothers were willing to kill him, just to be rid of him.  I’m sure you remember how it was.  The brothers had taken the sheep up to Shechem and then up to Dothan (roughly 60 miles from home) for grazing and during the time they were away Joseph’s father decided to send Josef to check on them.  But, as Moses tells us verse 18, “18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” 21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father…25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37:18-22, 25–28, NIV84)

Though the brothers intended to harm Joseph and take his life, the Lord worked in his life to spare him.  The Lord worked in his life through his brother Ruben and his brother Judah, to set in motion the events that would take place during the next 13 years; the events that would culminate in his becoming the second in command of all Egypt.  Jump with me to Genesis 39 where Moses tells us, “1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” (Genesis 39:1–6, NIV84)

Though the Lord had given Joseph success in everything that he did, sadly, his position in Potiphar’s house was not to last, for we all remember the accusation that Potiphar’s wife made against him.  We remember how Potiphar burned with anger when he heard the story his wife had told him of how Joseph was supposed to have tried to seduce her.  Yet, here again we marvel at how the Lord worked in Joseph’s life.  Though we know that Potiphar was angry, we are not told exactly why.  It is possible that he was angry because he suspected that his wife was not telling him the truth and her lie was going to cost him an amazingly gifted, competent and conscientious business manager.  A clue to this is the fact that in the ancient world for a slave to make such advances toward his master’s wife that slave would almost certainly find himself facing the death penalty.  Yet this is not where Joseph found himself.  It seems that because Potiphar could not publically humiliate his wife by ignoring her accusation, Potiphar led Joseph off to the King’s prison.  Not a cell where he would await death nor a dungeon where he would simply be forgotten.  Rather he was led off to the King’s prison—a prison where the king’s prisoners were confined; prisoners such as the chief baker and the chief cup bearer.  Yet even in prison, the Lord was working in Joseph’s life.  Take a look at the middle of verse 20: “But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (Genesis 39:20–23, NIV84)

Instead of being in solitary confinement, Joseph was put in charge of the other prisoners, he had access to all the prisoners, and when the time was right the Lord introduced Joseph to the prisoner who would change his life as the Lord allowed Joseph to correctly interpret the dreams of the chief baker and the chief cup bearer.  Though Joseph would have to wait in prison for two more years, when the time was right, the Lord brought Joseph before Pharaoh, the Lord allowed Joseph to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and when Pharaoh heard Joseph’s solution to the coming famine, the Lord placed Joseph in charge of all Egypt as Pharaoh’s vizier; Pharaoh’s right hand man.  Though the brothers intended to harm Joseph when they sold him into slavery, “it was to save lives that God sent [Joseph] ahead of [his brothers]” (Genesis 45:5, NIV 84)

Now, just think about this for a moment.  Just think about how the Lord worked in the life of his servant Joseph.  For 13 years Joseph dealt with all sorts of situations that were designed to prepare him for what the Lord had in store for him to do.  But while Joseph was living it, he wasn’t able to see how the Lord was working in his life to prepare him for the future.  He wasn’t able to see it until after he had passed through it.  Only then was he able to look back and marvel at how the Lord had worked in his life.  Sound familiar?  How often hasn’t it happened that you have passed through some frustrating hardship, only to discover after it was over just how the Lord was at work in your life even in the midst of that hardship?  How often haven’t you looked back on your life and recognized just how the Lord was working in your life as he moved you through one struggle or another, helping you to grow and stretch, as he prepared you for the next phase of your life?  

Just think back to those days when you were teenagers.  Do you remember that feeling that your life would never start?  Do you remember that feeling that you would never get your shot?  Do you remember wondering what the future would hold for you and how the Lord would work in your life?  Though you really didn’t know exactly what the Lord had in store for you then, you can look back now and see just how the Lord was at work in your life.  Even if you are currently a teenager or a young child, the same thing is as true for you.  Though you may be wondering what the Lord has in store for your future, you can still look back and see just how the Lord has been at work in your life up to this very day.  You can see how the Lord has led you through your lives so that you arrived at this very point at this very time.  No matter what age you are at, you can do that very thing.  You can look backward and marvel at how the Lord has been at work in your life leading you to this very point.  Though you may even now be at a sort of cross roads in your life, or may find yourself facing struggles or hardships, you can take comfort in the fact that the Lord your God is at work in your life even now. 

Though we may find ourselves like Joseph did, unable to understand why all these things were happening to him, we know that through the Lord’s work in our lives he is drawing us closer to himself, he is strengthening our faith, and he is preparing us for what is next to come.  Just think about the work he has already accomplished in your life.  He is the one who called you to faith through the waters of baptism.  He is the one who taught you the precious truths of salvation through your parents, through your Pastor, through your Sunday School Teachers, and if you had the privilege, through your Lutheran Elementary School teachers.  He is the one who has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts who constantly reminds us of all that Jesus did for us and how he freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection from the dead.  He is the one who shaped every single experience of our lives as he molded us and prepared us for the situation in which we find ourselves. Though we may not be able to see exactly how the Lord is using our present situation, be it the sluggish economy, the scarcity of the job market, the constantly changing gas prices, debts, payments, or whatever it is. Though we may not be able to see exactly how the Lord is using our present situation for our good, soon we will be able to sit back and marvel at what the Lord has accomplished in our lives, just as Joseph was able to do.

Though it is always difficult to see what the Lord is working to accomplish in our lives on a day to day basis, whenever we look backwards we are able to marvel at all that he has done.  After all, he is the one who led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land carrying them on wings like an eagle.  He is the one who went to work while we were still powerless and brought us to faith in the one who saved us.  He is the one who prepared the Apostles and sent them out proclaiming the message of salvation.  He is the one who orchestrated the events of Joseph’s life, preparing him for his position of power, and he is the one who causes us to marvel every time we consider just how the Lord has been at work in our lives.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

The Lord Has Blessed You! (Numbers 6:22-27)

March 6, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

How have you been enjoying exploring God’s Islands of Adventure? Personally I have loved this Bible reading challenge, because so many of you are reading and studying the Scriptures for yourselves on a regular basis. Though only a few people have added their names to ships that have been anchored on the different Islands, so many of our members have told me that they are reading on a regular basis. More and more people are coming to Bible Study to study the Word of God together and discuss different things they have learned, and I have enjoyed preaching on different lessons from the Chronological schedule of readings that so many of you are following. I have enjoyed it, because I have seen just how the Lord has begun blessing us as a congregation through this Bible Reading challenge, for that is what the Lord does as we grow in our faith through his Word.

In fact, this is the very thing we want to study as we take a look at the Aaronic blessing recorded for us in Numbers 6:22-27. I invite you then to open your Bibles to our first lesson, to Numbers 6:22-27. Now, as you are turning to Numbers six, let me give you a little bit of background. The Nation of Israel had been camped at Mt. Sinai for roughly 10 months now, and during their time there they had seen amazing things, been unfaithful to the Lord, forgiven by the Lord, blessed by the Lord and accomplished great things for the Lord. They had seen the Lord appear to them in a fiery cloud on the top of Mt. Sinai. They watched as Moses climb the mountain and disappeared into that cloud of fire and smoke. They grew impatient for Moses return and persuaded Aaron to fashion them a new god, a golden calf. They felt the sword of the Lord’s judgment when Moses returned from the Mountain. They repented and were forgiven. They watched as Moses again returned to the top of the Mountain for another 40 days. But this time, when he came down, there was no golden calf. Rather, whIen Moses returned to them with his radiant face glowing with the glory of the Lord, they set to work constructing the Tabernacle. Now, as the Lord speaks to Moses in our lesson for today, the Lord bestows upon his people, both Israel and all of his followers, what we have come to know as the Aaronic Blessing: Take a look at verse 22: “The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22–27, NIV84)

In such a simple way, with such well chosen words, the Lord our God bestows the gift of his blessing upon his people Israel; both physical descendants of Israel as well as spiritual Israel, people like you and me who are now Israelites through faith in Jesus. What a comfort it is to know that whenever we hear these words of blessing spoken to us, it is as if the Lord himself is speaking to us, placing his name on us and blessing us! Though it could be said that this is a blessing that we take for granted because we hear these words spoken so often, they are still filled with great comfort. Though it could be said that we have emptied the word bless of all its meaning by constantly using it after people sneeze, when we take a close look at the word bless, we find that it is an amazing word filled with layers if meaning.

For example, if you turn to the Dictionary, you will find that the word bless means, “to invoke divine favor upon someone”; to convey well-being or prosperity on someone”; or “to endow, as with a talent.” This pretty much describes how we view blessings in our lives, yet, if you dig a little deeper and take a look at the Hebrew word in our passage, you would find that the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak depending upon how you pronounce it. Hearing that, many of you are probably thinking that our President’s name must mean “bless”. Interestingly that is exactly what it means, in Swahili, which I understand is the language either his Father or Grandfather spoke. However, based on what I could find, when it comes to Hebrew it seems that his name means lightning. This is all based on the length of the vowels and which Hebrew letter is used for the K sound. Anyway, as I was saying, the Hebrew word for bless is barek or barak, depending on how you pronounce it and it is a word that carries the idea of conveying favor upon a person. But it also carries the idea of kneeling down on the knees, either with a straight back, or bent over with your face toward the ground as in a position of worship or humility. This paints the picture that the person who is blessing you is greater than you and you are showing appreciation to that person by humbly accepting his gift of favor upon you. But the thing that is even more interesting is what you discover when you take a look at the etymology or the Word History of our English word bless. When we do this we find that it is a word that comes to us from the Old English which conveys the meaning of wishing happiness upon someone or consecrating someone. If we look back even farther we discover that the word can be shown to derive from a Germanic root that literally means “to consecrate with blood”

Though the Hebrew word itself may not convey the idea of consecrating with blood, when we take a look at how the Lord our God has blessed us, we quickly realize that it is the Lord who blesses us with his favor through the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us by washing us clean with his blood and setting us apart as his brothers and sisters, children of God through faith in him. Thus, when we hear those words, “The Lord bless you and keep you” we are assured that it is the Lord our God who is not only continually bestowing his favor upon us, but he is also the one who is keeping us, and guarding us because we belong to him. Just as he assures us in Psalm 91:11, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;” (Psalm 91:11, NIV84)

How often hasn’t the Lord done this for us? How often hasn’t the Lord blessed us when we least expected it or simply needed it the most? How often hasn’t the Lord provided for you exactly what you needed in the very moment you needed? How often hasn’t the Lord protected you from harm? How many situations can you point to in your life that you can see the Lord’s protecting hand keeping you safe from trouble and danger? This is how the Lord our God has blessed us in the past and will continue to bless us into the future as he promises when we hear those beautiful words, “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;” (Numbers 6:24–25, NIV84)

What is the first thing that you do when you walk into a dark room? You flip the light switch and turn on the lights so that you can see where you are, where you are going, and what is in the room! This is something that is so ingrained into our nature that we do it without thinking about it. We often do it when we walk into a room on a sunny day. We even do it when the power is out. Though we know the power is out, we naturally reach out and flip the switch to illuminate the room, only to stand there, befuddled for a moment or two, until we realize that the power is out and there can be no light. The Lord our God works in much the same way, each time we hear that the Lord is causing his face to shine upon us, we understand just how greatly he is blessing us. For throughout the Scriptures, whenever the Lord hides his face from his people they face suffering, hardship, destruction and even death. However, when he shines his face upon them he graciously blesses them with his loving presence.

The Lord has done the same thing for us! In fact, each week as we hear this blessing, we are assured that the Lord our God will continue to cause his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us! Each week we are reminded of how the Lord our God did that for us through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. For Jesus, our Savior is the shining light of the Lord’s grace to us. As the Scriptures tell us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV84) Jesus is the one who came to us, revealing his gracious love for us in all that he did. Though we had done nothing to earn it or deserve it, Jesus willingly carried the concrete slabs of our sins to the execution chamber of the cross. As the crowds gathered expecting to hear his final confession or pleas that he was innocent, they only heard him whisper, Father forgive them. As they taunted him, expecting him to reply, they heard only silence. Though they expected only to hear the strangled gurgle of suffocation when Jesus died, they heard him cry out in a loud voice, they felt the earth quake, and the rocks split. This is how the Lord our God has blessed us, how he has caused his face to shine upon us and been gracious to us! Though we had been lost in the dark midnight of sin, the dawn of the Lord’s grace rose upon us and the Light of Christ our Savior was shown in our hearts. Though we had done nothing to deserve it, it was Christ our Savior who: “redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, and innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him with everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he has risen from death, and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.”

How greatly the Lord has blessed us that he should make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us, or that he should even turn his face toward us and give us peace. (Numbers 6:25–26, NIV84) Yet this is exactly what the Lord our God has done for us. He has blessed us not only by causing his face to shine on us but by turning his face toward us and giving us peace. Now I realize that the final clause of the Lord’s blessing sounds very similar to the second clause. Interestingly the same Hebrew word is used in both verses when speaking of the Lord’s face. Yet while verse 25 speaks about the Lord causing the light of his face to shine upon us, verse 26 speaks about the Lord fixing his loving gaze upon us; not only fixing his loving gaze upon us, but giving us his undivided attention. In such a simple way the Lord is assuring us that he is intensely interested in each and every one of us, and he will give us the individualized attention that each and every one of us needs!

What a comfort it is to know that the Lord our God cherishes us so much that he blesses us with his peace, which is the peace that goes beyond all understanding, the peace of the forgiveness of sins! This is the uplifting peace that the Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts as he assures us of the forgiveness of sins won for us by our dear Savior Jesus. This is the peace that builds us up when we are weak and sustains us when we cannot stand. This is the peace through which the Lord our God assures us that we have been completely forgiven of all our sins, that our slates have not only been washed clean but have been completely replaced without any chalk to keep a record of wrong, and that continues to assure us that we are, once again, in a right relationship with the Lord our God.

What greater blessing could there be than this blessing that the Lord our God bestows upon us each and every week! For it is through this very blessing that the Lord our God places his Name on us and blesses us as his people. It is through this blessing we are assured that he is watching over us, guarding us, and protecting us. It is through this blessing that we are assured of his peace and that we are in a right relationship with him through the forgiveness of sins. Though there are times when we take this blessing for granted, as you hear it one more time, let it wash over your heart and mind as you hear it one more time: “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ (Numbers 6:24–26, NIV84)

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN

Let Your Boast be in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

February 6, 2011


Dear friends in Christ.

According to a story in the Grand Rapids Press, the owner of a small foreign car had begun to irritate his friends by bragging incessantly about his gas mileage. So they decided on a way to get some humor out of his tireless boasting, as well as bring it to an end. Every day one of them would sneak into the parking lot where the man kept his car and pour a few gallons of gas into the tank. Soon the braggart was recording absolutely phenomenal mileage. He was boasting of getting as much as 90 miles per gallon, and the pranksters took secret delight in his exasperation as he tried to convince people of the truthfulness of his claims. It was even more fun to watch his reaction when they stopped refilling the tank. The poor fellow couldn't figure out what had happened to his car.

Well, in some ways, this was what was starting to happen to the Corinthians in our lesson for today. In fact, I invite you to open your Bibles and take a look at what the Apostle Paul has to say to the Corinthians in 1:26 and following. Now, as you turn to 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, you will find that the Corinthians weren’t boasting and bragging about the incredible mileage their chariots got. Instead, they were beginning talk pretty loudly about which preacher they liked the best because they had started to misunderstand the message of the Gospel. They had begun to focus their attention on the preacher rather than the message. They had started focusing on the Spiritual gifts rather than on the giver of the Spiritual gifts. They had begun focusing on things that made them look wise rather than on the wisdom of salvation that came through faith in Jesus Christ, and through all of this they were boasting and bragging about how wise they were, what gifts they had, and who they followed. So when Paul wrote these words he called on them to let their boast be in the Lord. Take a look at what Paul writes: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”(1 Corinthians 1:26–31, NIV84)

In such a simple and loving way, Paul reminds them that when they were called to faith, there were not too many in that congregation who could claim great wisdom according to human standards. There were very few of them were influential or of noble birth. Yet, it was the Lord who chose them to be his own and through the teachings of the gospel, he had made them wise for salvation. He had chosen them to be his own. He had called them to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. He had given them every reason to boast in the Lord because it had not been by their power or by their might that they had come to faith, instead they had been called to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.

The same thing is true for you and me. For if we honestly look at our lives, we must realize that there is no reason why the Lord should have chosen us. Yet, because the Lord did choose us to be his own, how often haven’t we secretly thought to ourselves that the Lord chose us because we were so special? How often haven’t we considered how smart we were that as soon as we heard the Lord’s Word we came to faith. How often haven’t we thought to ourselves that we did the Lord a favor in letting him chose us? Maybe you’ve never had thoughts like this, but I can guarantee that we have all been pretty confident in our own accomplishments at one time or another. I can guarantee this because we have all been confident in our own accomplishments as Christians. Just for example: if I asked you the question, “why are you so confident that you will be in heaven when you die?”, what pops into your head first? Is it the answer, “Because Jesus died for me.”? Or is it the answer, “Because I’ve been a good person.”? Too often, when we try to answer this question, our sinful nature plants that thought in our brains and tries to lead us down the path of trusting in our own accomplishments. But this is not just a onetime battle, this is a battle that rages constantly within us.

For our sinful nature seeks every opportunity to lead us away from the idea that God chose us and tries to make us think that we chose God. It tries to make us think that we are pretty good people on our own who don’t necessarily need God’s salvation. It tries to make us think of our sins as only minor infractions of God’s law and not the soul destroying projectiles that they are. It tries to make us think that God owes us something because we have struggled so hard to keep his law even though it is nearly impossible for us to do. This is when we begin to rely on our own wisdom rather than on God’s wisdom. This is when we begin to rely on our own accomplishments for salvation rather than on what our Savior has done for us. This is when we need to hear those very same words that Paul wrote to the Corinthians nearly 20 centuries ago, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”(1 Corinthians 1:26–31, NIV84)

In such a simple way the Lord assures us that it was not we who chose him, but he chose us. He did not choose us because we were the strongest or the wisest. He didn’t choose us because we were the most influential or the noblest. Instead, he chose us because he loved us, and so that he might display his almighty power through us. He chose us so that he might make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. Thus our boasting is no longer in ourselves, but our boasting becomes our proclamation of what Jesus did for us and how he saved us by his death and resurrection!
This is where the sinful world has problems. For, in the eyes of the world, any teaching about Jesus Christ is simply foolishness, because the world cannot figure out how Jesus death could possibly have forgiven sins. The world cannot figure out how Jesus Christ, a rather unremarkable character of the Bible could possibly have been the Son of God. The world cannot figure out how Jesus, a lowly child, and a weak human being, could have accomplished all that the Bible says he did. To the world, Jesus is nothing more than an annoying friend with a small foreign car bragging about his incredible gas mileage.

But to us, Jesus is the Son of God, our Savior. Jesus is the one whom Jacob prophesied in Genesis 49. In fact, if you still have your Bibles open, turn with me to Genesis 49:8-12. Now, Genesis 49:8-12 happens to be part of the Bible Reading that is scheduled for today if you are following the Chronological schedule. Not only is Genesis 49 part of that schedule, but it is also where Jacob is blessing his 12 sons shortly before his time on earth comes to an end, and in these particular verse he is passing the promise of the Savior on to his Son, Judah as he says, “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.(Genesis 49:8–12, NIV84)

Though this prophecy would not come true for many, many years, Jacob placed his faith in the promise of the coming Savior. His boast was not in the things he had done, but his boast was in the Lord who had provided for him, cared for him and called him to faith in the coming Savior. This is the boast that you and I carry with us today. It is the boast of all that our Lord has done for us! Though there is nothing special about us, it was the Lord who loved us and called us to be his own. Though we had done nothing to deserve it, it was the Lord who called us to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit in baptism. Though we may not be the wisest, the noblest, or even the most influential, the Lord has called us to be his own, he has given us the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, and his has called us to make that message known throughout the world. Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

Rejoice and Be Glad Because You Are Blessed! (Matthew 5:3-12)

November 21, 2010

Dear friends in Christ.

For the past seven weeks we’ve taken time to talk about Christ’s love for us and our calling to serve him. We’ve been amazed by our Savior’s love for us. We’ve talked about how important it is for us to seek time with our God, with our family, with our fellow believers, and even with our neighbors who may or may not yet know the Salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, as we come to the end of our stewardship emphasis on time, we take time to remind ourselves of all the reasons that we have to rejoice and be glad in the Lord, because the Lord our God has truly blessed us. We take time to remind ourselves that every since we have committed ourselves to Christ, through faith, no matter what we have faced in this life, we have been blessed by the Lord in one way, or another,

In fact, if we really stop to think about it, each and every one of us would have to admit that we had every reason to rejoice and be glad in the Lord our God, because we have been blessed in every way imaginable. Though we may not always feel blessed, or feel that we may not have been as blessed as this person or that person, we know that through faith in Jesus we can rejoice because we are truly blessed. Though we may not feel like the blessings of our Savior are flowing into our lives as freely or as quickly as we might expect, we can take comfort and rejoice, because we know that since we have committed ourselves to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, he has blessed us and he will continue to bless us each and every day of our lives. In fact, I invite you to join me in taking a closer look at the blessings our Savior pronounces on us in our lesson today. Turn with me, if you would, to our Gospel Lesson, Matthew 5:3-12. Now, in Matthew 5:3-12 Jesus was at the high point of his earthly ministry. About 18 months had passed since Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan, beginning the public phase of his earthly ministry, and he had spent the last six months or so, preaching and teaching to the people of Galilee. Now as he sat on the side of that mountain, he had just recently named his 12 disciples, those men whom he would send out into the world as apostles about 18 months from this day. And now, as he sat before that group of disciples who had come to hear what he had to say, Jesus was giving them every reason to rejoice and be glad. For as Jesus spoke to them, he assured them that they truly had been blessed!

Take a look at what Jesus is say in beginning in Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:3-12)

Could there be any greater words of encouragement and assurance for Jesus to give his disciples on that day! Though he did not assure them of the forgiveness of sins or the fact that eternal life in heaven was theirs through faith in him, he gave his disciples great comfort in the words he spoke. For as Jesus sat before this group of people, he knew that he was sitting before a group of his disciplespeople who had come to hear what Jesus had to say because they knew that Jesus was truly the Messiah. They knew that he was the Savior who had been promised for long generations. They knew that he was the one who had come to free them from their sins, and now as they had gathered on the side of the mountain to hear what Jesus had to say, he encouraged them and assured them that they could rejoice! He assured them that they could rejoice because no matter what situation they faced in their lives, they would, indeed, be blessed! Whether they enjoyed a simple, quiet life as Jesus disciples, or they faced persecution, heartache, troubles and pain, their Savior, promised that they would truly be blessed!

Well, Jesus is telling us the same thing today! For as we have heard these words spoken to us, it is as if we are on that very mountainside and Jesus is sitting before us assuring us that we have been blessed. It’s as if Jesus, himself, is sitting before us and telling us to rejoice and be glad because we can be confident that we will be blessed by our Lord no matter what situation we might face in our lives. For as we have sat here, this morning, listening to the words that Jesus has spoken, it is as if we are that group of disciples who followed him to the mountain side. It is as if we are the ones who have been waiting all our lives for the Savior to appear, and now that we’ve found him we have come to hear every word he has to say. Though we have not been reminded of our sins or specifically called on to repent in this sermon today, we were reminded of our every sin as we confessed them at the beginning of our worship today. Though we have not been specifically assured that our sins have been forgiven, we were assured of that fact as we heard the words of absolution and, very shortly, we will receive tangible assurance that Jesus has forgiven us as we receive his Body and Blood in the Sacrament.

But now, as we sit at Jesus’ feet, listening to the words he is speaking today, Jesus is speaking directly to our Christian Nature—our New Self. He is speaking directly to that part of us that only delights in God’s will and longs to obey his commandments. He is speaking to us as his disciples who trust in him and telling us, “When you are poor in spirit because you are sorrowing over your sins, do not be downcast, but be assured that the kingdom of heaven belongs to you! When you are in mourning because a loved one has died, when you are facing financial difficulties, when you have become bedridden, when you cannot venture out into the world because of the snow or ice, or you are facing the realities of a terminal disease, remain hopeful, because you will be comforted. I myself will comfort you with the comfort I received from my heavenly Father. I will comfort you and uphold you and strengthen you in your faith. When you hungering and thirsting for my righteousness, you will be filled. When you are ridiculed and mocked, insulted and persecuted for what you believe, take heart, because through faith in me, heaven is already yours!”

This is why we can rejoice and be glad today, because Jesus has assured us that we will be blessed in any and every situation in our lives. For he has told us that the meek, the humble, the unassuming, those who daily go about their work with no thought of recognition, they will inherit the earth. They will be recognized. They will be thanked. They will be rewarded. They will be blessed. He has told us that those who are merciful, who are kind and compassionate, they too will receive mercymercy both from their Father in heaven, as well as the people of the world. He has told us that those who are pure in heart through faith in Jesus Christ, they will see God. They will see him face to face. They will live with him forever in heaven, and they will know him in the same way that you and I know each other. He has told us that those who are the peace makersthose who are willing to be the first to make peace when an argument has broken out, those who seek to keep the unity of peace and of the Holy Spirit in the Church, in their families, and in their livesthey will be called the sons of God. They will be named as God’s children who look forward to the inheritance that their Father offerseternal life with him forever in heaven.

What greater assurance and encouragement could our Savior give us today! For with these words, we know that we have every reason to rejoice and be glad! From these words he has spoken today, we know that we will be blessed no matter what situation we might face in our lives. This is why we have gathered here, to rejoice and be glad! Though this may be the ending of seven weeks of emphasizing our need to be stewards of our time, I pray that you have been built up and strengthened through it. I pray that you have learned or even re-learned the importance of using our time to serve the Lord, sit at his feet, and grow in his Word. I pray that you have been reminded of just how important it is for us to spend time with our friends, family, neighbors, loved ones, and fellow believers, and I pray that you have been reminded of why you too can rejoice. For, as Christians, who have committed ourselves to Christ Jesus our Savior, we have every reason to rejoice and be glad, because we have indeed been blessed by the Lord our God in every way imaginable! He has given us everything that we have, he has forgiven our sins, and he has given us the gift of eternal life by his side forever. What greater joy could we take with us today that that!

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

Raise your hearts in fervent prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

Sermon Hymn 410: Our Father, Who from Heaven Above
Tune: Vater Unser Im Himmelreich, Der Du: 88 88 88

1. Our Father, who from heav'n above Bids all of us to live in love
As members of one family And pray to you in unity,
Teach us no thoughtless words to say, But from our inmost hearts to pray.

2. Your name be hallowed. Help us, Lord, In purity to keep your Word,
That to the glory of your name We walk before you free from blame.
Let no false doctrine us pervert; All poor, deluded souls convert.

Dear friends in Christ.

A story has long been told about two monks who were discussing the Lord’s Prayer and their ability to pray it completely while concentrating on it fully. The first monk said with sorrow and frustration, “I can’t do it! I try and I try, but invariably somewhere in the middle of the prayer my mind wanders and I start thinking about other things.” “Really,” said the second monk. “I have no problem praying the Lord’s Prayer or concentrating on what I am saying.” The first monk looked quizzically at the second and said, “I don’t believe you! I’ll bet you my horse that you cannot say the Lord’s Prayer without being distracted and thinking about something else.” So the second monk took the bet. He took a deep breath to help clear his mind and focus his thoughts. He folded his hands, closed his eyes, bowed his head, and began praying. But before he even reached the petition asking that the Lord’s will be done on heaven and on earth, he stopped, looked at the first monk and said, “I guess you were right. Everything was going fine. I was focused and concentrating on what I was saying, and then I suddenly wondered if the saddle would come with the horse.”

How often doesn’t the same thing happen to us? How often don’t we begin speaking the words of the Lord’s Prayer when suddenly three or four different thoughts crowd their way into our minds and we simply stop paying attention to the words we are speaking? How often doesn’t it happen that we hear the Pastor say something like, “We join to pray the prayer that Jesus taught, and the next thing we realize is that we are saying, “Amen” and we are continuing on with the Communion liturgy or sitting down to sing the next hymn? How often haven’t we simply taken the Lord’s Prayer for granted? How often haven’t we simply prayed it without considering what we are praying for? How often haven’t we been upset because we were in a church that used that other version of the Lord’s Prayer, the one with which we are not so familiar, and we had to open our hymnals and read it, and think about the words we were saying; instead of simply reciting it verbatim without a care in the world? We’ve all done this! We have all failed to focus on what we were praying as we fervently prayed the Lord’s Prayer. It is for this very reason that we want to take a closer look at the Lord’s Prayer today so that we might grow in our understanding of what we are praying, and so that we might be better able to focus our attention on what we are so fervently praying to the Lord with these words.

To our text! Take a look at Matthew 6:9” “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,’” (Matthew 6:9, NIV). With these words, Jesus himself is inviting us to believe that God is our one true Father in heaven and that through faith in him and his Son Jesus, we are his true children. With these words, Jesus is teaching us that we can pray to the Lord God our heavenly Father as boldly and confidently as children speak to their parents here on earth. With these words, Jesus is teaching us that we can bring any problem, hardship, frustration, concern, item of joy or praise to our heavenly Father at any time and he will hear us, he will listen, and he will answer our prayer as we fervently pray to him and ask that his name be kept holy.

Now, if you think about it, God’s name is already holy in itself, even without our asking. But when we are praying that the Lord’s name be hallowed, we are asking that we too might keep it holy. We are asking for his help and his blessing in keeping his name holy, because God’s Name is hallowed, when his Word is taught in its truth and purity. God’s Name is hallowed when we, as God’s children, live holy lives according to his Word, and as we pray that his name be kept holy, we are asking our Father in heaven to help us do that very thing so that through our lives others might see our faith and have the opportunity to learn about their Savior through the message of the Gospel. This is God’s will for our lives that his kingdom comes to us and many others through the message of his Word. Join me in singing about his kingdom and his will in stanza’s 3 and 4 of hymn 410:

3. Your kingdom come, we humbly pray, That Christ may rule in us today
And that your Holy Spirit bring Still more to worship Christ as King.
Break Satan's pow'r, defeat his rage; Preserve your Church from age to age.

4. Your gracious will on earth be done Just as in heav'n around your throne,
That patiently we may obey Throughout our lives all that you say.
Curb sinful flesh and ev'ry ill That sets itself against your will.

Such beautiful words the hymnist uses to expound what we are praying in those two very beautiful petitions form Matthew 6:10: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, NIV). How strange it is that we as Christians should be praying such a petition as, “your kingdom come.” After all, we know that God’s kingdom will certainly come even without our asking, but when we speak these words, we are asking that God’s kingdom would come to us and to many others through the Holy Spirit whom the Father sends into our hearts through his Word and Sacraments. We are asking our heavenly Father to send his Holy Spirit into our hearts and the hearts of many others so that we all might believe his Word and lead a holy and godly life here on earth, through faith, and forever in heaven by God’s grace. This is God’s good and gracious will for our lives!

Again, God’s will would certainly be done without our prayer! Yet, whenever we pray, “Thy will be done;” we are praying that the Lord our God would break down and defeat every evil plan and purpose of the devil, this sin-filled world, and even our own sinful flesh. We are asking the Lord to strengthen us and keep us strong in our faith and firm in his word so that we might keep his name holy with our lives and his kingdom might come to others through our words and actions. That is God’s good and gracious will for our lives, that satan would be defeated, that the Lord would use us to spread his word to the nations, and that he would call many others to faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

This is our fervent prayer to the Lord as we speak the words which our Savior has given. Though the petitions, to this point, have been rather straight forward and easy for us to speak, as we come to the Fourth and Fifth Petitions, we find ourselves in a little more difficult territory. Though these words roll off the tongue so easily without a thought, when we stop to consider their meaning, they become that much more difficult for us to speak. Join me in singing these petitions from stanzas 5 and 6 of hymn 410:

5. Give us today our daily bread, And let us all be clothed and fed.
From hardship, war, and earthly strife, From sickness, famine, spare our life.
Let selfishness and worry cease That we may live in godly peace.

6. Forgive our sins, Lord, we implore, That they may trouble us no more;
We, too, will gladly those forgive Who hurt us by the way they live.
Help us in our community To serve each other willingly.

So how did you feel as you sung the words of these two stanzas? Did you find these words easy to sing or did you find them a little more difficult than you expected as they so clearly expounded on what Jesus tells us in verse 11 and 12 of Matthew 6: “Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:11-12, NIV). But why is it that these petitions are so difficult for us? The answer is quite simple; because we are asking our God not only to teach us to rely on him for all things, but to live in love and forgiveness for each other. In fact, just think about what we are saying when we ask our God to give us our daily bread. We are asking him to provide everything that we need for our body and life on a daily basis. We are asking him to help us realize that he graciously gives us all these things and more, even without our asking, even to those who are wicked. But we are asking him to help us realize that all our blessings come from him and that he will provide all that we need, which is something that so few of us do because it is so contrary to our human nature. All we have to do is look at our budget and calculate how much we are paying in credit card interest and other deferred payments for things that we may not have needed but simply felt that we couldn’t live without in order to find our level of trust in the Lord’s ability to know what we need and provide all that we need every day.

Yet even as we have sinned against the Lord by not trusting him, we are asking him to forgive us. Yet this is also where it becomes difficult for us. Though it is easy to pray that the Lord would forgive our debts, our sins; it is not as easy to pray, as we have forgiven our debtors—those who have sinned against us. This, too, goes completely against our human nature. We long to hold on to our grudges and remember what this person or that person did against us. We see it as a source of pride to withhold forgiveness from someone who sinned against us. Yet we fervently pray for our God to forgive us, we are asking him for the strength to forgive others as well. We are praying that the Lord would neither look upon our sins, nor deny our prayers because of our sins, even though we sin on a daily basis and deserve only his wrath and punishment. Yet, as we approach our heavenly Father, we ask him to act in mercy because of our Savior, forgive us of all our sins, and help us to do the same for those who have sinned against us. We ask him to help us reflect the love our Savior has for us by forgiven others, even as Jesus has already forgiven all of us.

This is the forgiveness in which we all live; the forgiveness that is ours through faith in Jesus, who poured out his blood and took back his life to save us. This is the forgiveness that now moves us to live in his love, love our neighbor as our selves, and forgive those who sin against us. This is the forgiveness that no moves us to pray that the Lord deliver us from temptation and all evil, just as we sing in stanzas 7 and 8 of hymn 410:

7. Into temptation lead us not. When evil foes against us plot
And vex our souls on ev'ry hand, Oh, give us strength that we may stand
Firm in the faith, a mighty host, Through comfort of the Holy Ghost.

8. From evil, Lord, deliver us; The times and days are perilous.
Redeem us from eternal death, And, when we yield our dying breath,
Console us, grant us calm release, And take our souls to you in peace.

Just as we sang so beautifully in our hymn we pray so fervently with those words from verse 13 of Matthew 6: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13, NIV) Though we know that God does not lead anyone into sin or even tempt them to sin, with these words we fervently pray that the Lord our God would guard us and keep us so that satan, this sinful world, and our traitorous-sinful flesh would not deceive us, or lead us into false belief, despair, or any other sins for that matter. Instead, with these words, we fervently pray that with God’s help we may overcome these and other temptations and win the victory over them as God himself delivers us from the evil one—our enemy, the devil.

This, too, is our fervent prayer that God our Father would deliver us from every evil that would threaten our body and soul, even our property and reputation. Not only that, but we also pray that when our time comes, the Lord would grant us a blessed end by calling us out of this life to his side forever in heaven. This is our fervent prayer to the Lord our God who promises to hear us, answer us, forgive us, provide for us, and deliver us from every form of evil.

Thus, we come to the end of the Lord’s prayer as recorded in the Bible. Though it was a little different in the account in Luke than it is in Matthew, there is no place where the doxology is recorded in the Scriptures. So I cannot point to you any specific passage in the Bible where you can read, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.” But even though they may not appear in any specific passage of Scripture, they undoubtedly echo many of the praises found in the Scriptures which describe how the Lord’s kingdom, power and glory shall endure forever. Interestingly enough, these very words were included with the Lord’s prayer in the Didache, which was essentially the Catechism for Christians back in about 100 AD. They were the words that we sang in response to the reading of the Lord’s Prayer during the communion service back when we used The Lutheran Hymnal, and they are words that have stuck. They are words of praise and glory that we proclaim before we say Amen, which is our statement of confidence that the Lord will hear and answer our prayer. Thus we say Amen at the end of our prayer, for this simple word declares, “Yes, it shall be so.” Yes, it shall be so thus declares our confidence in approaching our heavenly Father in this way, for not only has he commanded us to pray and promised to hear us, but these are the very words that Jesus has given us to pray.

So now, as we continue fervently praying the Lord’s Prayer, each and every week, I pray that this brief explanation will help you more thoroughly concentrate on what you are saying as you speak those familiar words that our Savior gave us. Thus, as we bring this sermon to a close, let us join our hearts and voices in singing the Amen from stanza 9 of hymn 410:

9. Amen, that is, it shall be so. Make strong our faith that we may know
That we may doubt not but believe What here we ask we shall receive.
Thus in your name and at your Word We say, "Amen. Oh, hear us, Lord!"

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN

Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:14-21)

Dear friends in Christ.

I believe it was Bill Gates who said, “In the future there will be two types of businesses, those online and those out of business.” Though I don’t know exactly when this particular phrase was spoken, these very words are being fulfilled in our hearing today! Whether you like it or not, it is pretty clear that everything in our world today is clamoring to get online. Business, who less than ten years ago, had no idea what they would do with a website, are now seeking to drive as much web traffic to their online stores as possible. Just a few months ago I heard an ad for a new Wal-Mart that had recently opened in the cities. The ad told of the special area where people who had ordered items online could come in and pick up the purchases they had made. Each and every day more and more people are going online to find their news and information. Though Amazon and Barns and Noble are still selling books, there is a greater push by these two companies to sell electronic books to people like you and me. Even our own bulletin has 9 different websites to which you can go to learn more about what was printed for you this morning. There can be no doubt! Whether you like it or not, whether you are ready for it or not, whether you understand it or not, the future is here! The prediction / prophesy that Mr. Gates made a number of years ago is clearly coming to fulfillment right here right now in our very hearing.

Well, in the same way that I can stand in front of you today and tell you that something Mr. Gates said is being fulfilled in your hearing, Jesus, our Savior is standing before us and telling us that today the Scriptures are being fulfilled in our hearing. In fact, this was the very message that Jesus spoke as he sat before the crowds in that synagogue in Nazareth so many years ago. Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing! That was the message that Jesus brought with him as he entered his home town for the first time in over a year. That was the message that Jesus brought with him as he returned to the town where he had lived since he was a very young child. That was the message he brought with him as he entered the town of Nazareth, the place where he was well known as the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James Joseph, Judas and Simon. It was in Nazareth where Jesus had lived and worked for so many years; where he had supported his family, as was his responsibility as the first born. It was there where Jesus had been until about a year earlier.

Though it hadn’t been much more than a year since Jesus had seen Nazareth, so much had happened in that short time. He had been baptized by John the Baptist, God the Father had spoken and the Holy Spirit had descended upon him in the form of a dove, and the news about him had spread. He had turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana, and the news about him had spread. He had traveled from Cana to Capernaum to spend a few days with his family and the news about him had spread. He had traveled with them down to the Passover in Jerusalem, where he drove the money changers out of the Temple, taught the people, healed the sick and drove out demons, and the news about him had spread. He spent the rest of that year working his way from Jerusalem, up through Samaria, and finally in to Galilee, preaching, teaching, gathering disciples, and performing many signs and wonders, and the news about him spread. Though a year earlier the people of Nazareth had seen him leave as nothing more than an ordinary man, now he sat before them as a respected rabbi with the fame of his deeds echoing throughout the land, and he simply says to them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

As Luke tells us, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.’ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:14-21)

As Jesus spoke these words, he clearly revealed to his fellow town’s people that he was the Messiah who had come into the world. He was the one who had come to fulfill the prophecy that Isaiah had written so many years ago. He was the one who had spent the last year of his life preaching the good news of salvation to the spiritually poor of Israel. He was the one who was proclaiming the freedom of forgiveness to those who had long languished in satan’s dark prisons of self righteousness and unbelief. He was the one who was opening the eyes of those who were physically blind as well as the eyes of those whose spiritual blindness had kept them from the peace and the salvation that Jesus was so freely offering. He was the one who had been chosen by the Lord to be his own, who had been anointed by the Holy Spirit who descended upon him in the form of a dove. He was the one proclaiming the Jubilee of the Lord’s favor—the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus the Messiah. He was the one telling them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing!”

What greater comfort could there be for us today than those beautiful words that Jesus spoke some 2,000 years ago, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Though we may not have Jesus sitting before us and telling us how he fulfilled Isaiah’s beautiful prophesy, as we hear about it, we are reminded that he is the one who healed the sick and raised the dead. He is the one who spoke the comforting words of the gospel to those burdened by a weight of sin. He is the one who comforted his people in all their troubles, and he is the one who is doing the same thing for us today!

Even though we are living in a world where everything is changing and technology is allowing business to work faster and cheaper with fewer and fewer people, the Lord Jesus is still caring for us. Even though we find ourselves mere miles from a nation that has all but been destroyed by an incredible earthquake, the Lord Jesus is still working in fulfillment of those words from Isaiah. Through the efforts of organizations like the WELS Committee on Relief, the Gospel is being proclaimed and Jesus is once again proclaim the freedom of the forgiveness of sins to those who had long languished in satan’s dark prison of unbelief. Through the preaching of the gospel in Haiti, Jesus is opening the eyes of those who had been spiritually blind for much if not all of their lives. Through the preaching of the gospel more and more people are learning about their Savior and the salvation that they have and those words of Isaiah are continuing to be fulfilled in our hearing.

Even today, through this message of the Gospel, Jesus is continuing to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor to you and me. He is continuing to bind up those whose hearts have been broken by the ravages of their own sins and the sinful state of this world. He is the one who is using even this recession to open our own eyes to our own personal apathy, blindness, even resistance to his word, and he is calling us out of the prisons of our own making. He is the one calling to us with his word, preaching and teaching us that he is the Messiah who through his death and resurrection has freed us from all our sins, so that no matter what we might have done in the past, it is forgiven. We have been released from our bondage to sin and death and are now free to live our live in service to the Lord Jesus, our Savior.

Because Jesus has fulfilled this Scripture in our hearing, we know that we can turn to him in any and every situation in our lives. He is the one who forgives our sins so completely that they are forgotten by the Lord our God. He is the one who loves us so intently that he gave up his life in our place. He is the one cherishes us so entirely that he provides us with his Word, with opportunities for worship, with encouragement from the body of believers here, with opportunities to speak to him in prayer, and with the absolute assurance that through faith in him we have eternal life waiting for us.

That is our comfort as we hear today how our Savior has fulfilled this Scripture in our hearing. It isn’t like the fulfillment that is taking place in our world today as companies and the economy itself moves toward the Internet. Rather it is the sure and certain gift of the Lord our Savior who has freed us from our sins, opened the eyes of our hearts, made us his own, and given us the gift of eternal life.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN

Dedicate Yourselves to the Lord (Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18

Dear friends in Christ.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been reading a book entitled The Essential 55. In this book educator, Ron Clark, lists and explains a collection of 55 amazingly effective rules that he has used to become an extraordinary teacher. Though when I first began reading this book I thought it might be something to help me become a better teacher of Bible Studies and confirmation class, as I read, I was amazed at this man’s dedication to his students. Throughout his book, Mr. Clark tells story after story of how his goal in teaching is to care for the children in his classroom, give them a safe environment in which to learn, and help them to grow not only as students but in every aspect of life. He tells stories of how he will do anything he can to get and keep the students attention so that he can be sure that they are learning, and because of his dedication to his students, his students love him and cherish him because of what he has done for them, and because of his dedication to them, they choose to follow his rules because they too are dedicated to him. Well, as Christians, we are, in many ways, the class to which the Lord our God is dedicated. The Lord is the one who has done amazingly incredible things to get and to keep our attention, and today as we study the text before us, we will see his amazing dedication to us. For as we hear Joshua speaking to the Israelites, we will be reminded of all that the Lord has done for us, and as we are reminded of that, we will be moved to choose to serve the Lord with our lives as we seek to dedicate ourselves to the Lord

As our text opens today, this is exactly what Joshua was encouraging the Israelites to do. He was reminding them of all that the Lord had done for them throughout their lives and calling on them to dedicate themselves to the Lord as they entered a new aspect of their lives! For the truth is, the Israelites were at a turning point. They had claimed the Land the Lord had given them, they had divided it into the shares of their inheritance, and they had begun dwelling in the portions of the land they had conquered. Though there were still nations and peoples to be driven out of their territory, the Lord had given them rest from their constant warring and now their lives were about to change, because Joshua’s time as leader was coming to an end. Soon Joshua himself would be gathered to his people and no longer be the strong ruler and example of faith for the Israelites. So Joshua called all the people to himself there at Shechem and as our text tells us: “He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.” (Joshua 24:1)

Now, as all the elders and officials of Israel stood before him, Joshua began to remind them how it was the Lord who took Abraham from a foreign land, settling him in the land of Canaan, making him prosperous, and promising one day to give the land to his children. It was the Lord who brought forth Isaac and Jacob, making Abraham even more prosperous and giving to those sons the same promise he gave to their father. It was the Lord who went with Jacob as he and his family went down to Egypt, and it was the Lord who delivered his people from that land of slavery with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. It was the Lord who provided food and water, clothing and shoes for his people as they traveled through the wilderness for those forty years. It was the Lord who drove out the nations before the Israelites and gave them the land they were living in. And now, because of all the great things the Lord had done for them, Joshua calls on his people to dedicate themselves to the Lord.

Joshua is calling on you and me today to do the same thing. He may not be calling on us to throw away the gods our forefathers worshiped, but he is calling on us to remember what the Lord has done for us as he urges us to dedicate ourselves to the Lord. For the truth is, even we, as Christians, need to be reminded of what the Lord our God has done because even our memories can become fuzzy. Even we, who know just how important it is to gather regularly to feast on the Flesh and Blood of our Savior, can become complacent in our spiritual lives. Even we can become indifferent in our worship lives, simply going through the motions of the liturgy and not really paying attention to what is going on. Even we can begin to feel that we are better than others or simply deserve more from the Lord because we put our time in each week or we pay our money each month. Even we can begin to think that if we simply focus on accomplishing the bare minimum, we should be blessed with the biggest and the best reward. This is This is why Joshua is encouraging us to remember all that the Lord has done for us, so that we might once again dedicate ourselves to the Lord.

If you think about it, what better message could there be for us today! What better message could there be for us than to consider all the ways the Lord has blessed us as we study his Word today! For the truth is, he is the one who has given us this great land in which we are free to worship him in the way that we have chosen. He is the one who has blessed us with this wonderful church where we can gather each week to hear about Jesus our Savior and how he freed us from our sins. Though this congregation started as a basement church, we now use that basement as a place to teach our children the precious truths of God’s Word in Sunday school, as we will once again be starting next Sunday. Literally, on top of that, the Lord has blessed us with a wonderful fellowship hall where we are able to gather each week for Bible Study for the strengthening of our faith as adults, and where enjoy sumptuous meals, potlucks and fellowship with each other. In addition to that it is the Lord who has blessed us with our childcare center, through which many children have heard the word of God and come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior!

These are but a few of the reasons that Joshua is calling on us to dedicate ourselves to the Lord today! For it is the Lord who has not only provided for our spiritual needs, it is the Lord who has also provided for our physical needs! Just try to count the times that you went hungry or thirsty because you really had nothing to eat or drink in your house. He is the one who has blessed our town with a grocery store, convenience stores, video store, and a good number of restaurants to choose from. He is the one who has blessed us with the vehicles we have, regardless of the shape they are in, the places we live, and the friends we have. But the best of all the blessings the Lord our God has given us is by far the love he showered upon us by giving us his Son. For when we remember how the Lord showed his great love for us by sending his one and only Son to be our Savior; when we remember how Jesus willingly gave his life to forgive our sins and how he rose again to guarantee eternal life to us; when we remember all those things that the Lord our God has done for us, we cannot help but dedicate our lives to him. When we remember all that the Lord our God has done for us throughout all the days of our lives, we cannot help but choose to serve him with our lives.

It is so true, once we begin to think about and remember all that the Lord has done for us, we cannot help but be moved by his love to dedicate ourselves to him and choose to serve him with our lives. This, in fact, is what happened with the Israelites. For as soon as Joshua had finished reminding them of all that the Lord had done for them, he called on them and said: “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:14-15).

With these words, Joshua was calling on the Israelites to make a choice. He was calling on them to choose the service of the Lord or to choose the service of idols. For Joshua, himself, the choice was obvious. As he had faithfully served the Lord all the days of his life, he planned to continue doing so until his dying day. However, when it came to the Israelites, their history spoke of a different story. Their history told the story of a people who were constantly turning away from the living God so that they might run after gods made of metal and stone. They were constantly ignoring the voice of the true God so that they might listen to the lies of false gods. Yet, even though this was their history, as Joshua stood before them, calling on them to make a choice between dedication and desecration, to their credit the Israelites chose dedication. For our text tells us, they replied: “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” (Joshua 24:16-18).

This is the choice Joshua has placed before us today. He has placed before us the choice of dedicating our lives to the Lord’s service or dedicating our lives to any god other than the Lord. It’s not that he is asking us to make a decision for Christ, or even accept Jesus into our hearts. Rather, he is speaking to us as ChristiansChristians who have been called to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts through the Word of Godand he is encouraging us to dedicate our lives to the Lord’s service. Now, this by no means, means that we have to all run out and become pastors, teachers, or even missionaries in the Lord’s kingdom! But what it does mean is that we spend our lives serving the Lord in the station of life into which he has placed us. In fact, this is the very point Luther made as he included his Table of Duties in the Catechism. He writes, Are you a father or mother? Then bring your children up in the training and admonition of the Lord! Are you a son or daughter? Then show your parents honor and respect. Are you an employer? Then treat your workers fairly out of love for the Lord. Are you an employee? Then work for you boss as if you were working for the Lord. Are you a Christian? Then continue reading and studying the Word of God so that your faith might be built up in him. Continue to pray to the Lord on the regular basis, speaking to him with prayers and praises. This is the Lord’s will for our lives, and this is the road that leads, by faith, to eternal life.

So then let me call on each of you today as Joshua called on the Israelites some 30 centuries ago: “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods of anger, greed, frustration, and malice that you have carried around with you all your lives. Throw away the gods of discontent, gossip, selfishness, and pride that you keep hidden in your heart of hearts, and serve the Lord. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of self and pleasure, or the gods of the Americans, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. I pray that you will heed this call and dedicate yourselves to the Lord, seeking to serve him with every aspect of your lives!

Though dedication to the Lord is not a road that is easy to take, it is the road we as Christians do seek to travel. Though it is filled with troubles, tribulations, hardships, and heart aches. But even though it is filled with all of those, it is the road that leads to the eternal joys and bliss of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Savior. That is the very thing Mr. Ron Clark found out about teaching, and yet, because he has dedicated himself to that field, there are many students who have grown under his care. We too have grown under the dedicated care of our heavenly Father who has blessed us in so many ways. May we always remember what he has done for us and chose to serve him with our lives as we now dedicate ourselves to the Lord our God.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN