June 26, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Forgiveness; Forgiveness is something for which everyone looks, but not everyone finds. Forgiveness is something for which everyone asks, but not everyone receives. Forgiveness is something that everyone hopes to receive, but forgiveness is something that is not always given. Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is hard, especially in a relationship that is tormented with past troubles. Forgiveness is hard in situations where trust has been lost, confidences have been betrayed, or one party feels that the other party does not deserve it, has not earned it, or will simply misuse it if they receive it. Forgiveness is hard and forgiveness often hurts. Forgiveness always costs because forgiveness is releasing another person from sin or guilt rather that demanding payment for wrongs done. Forgiveness is reaching out in love rather than seeking to extract revenge. Forgiveness is costly, because it is always given at the cost of something—the cost of tears, wounded pride, a broken heart, even diminished trust. Forgiveness has always been a costly gift for the one who is giving it, but it has never cost any of us as much as it cost the Lord our God!
Just think about what it must have been like for God, sitting there in eternity and planning his creation. He knew that satan would rebel against him. He knew that Adam and Eve would listen to his enemy and turn against him rather than remaining faithful to him. He knew the depravity into which the world would fall so that he would destroy it once with a flood and then finally, completely, on the Last Day. He knew all of this and he knew the cost he would pay with the life of his Son. Yet he still went ahead with it. He created the world. He allowed satan to tempt Adam and Eve. He allowed them to fight their own battle and even choose to turn against him. He allowed them to become unfaithful to him so that they and all the world would have the opportunity to marvel at the Lord’s Faithful Forgiveness.
Take a look at what I’m talking about. Take a look at Genesis 3:1 and see the beginning of how the Lord demonstrated his faithful forgiveness. Now, as you know the Lord had recently finished his work of creating. At some point after the sixth day satan rebelled against the Lord, tried to take over, was defeated by the Archangel Michael, and was cast out of heaven forever. At sometime after that, perhaps even the very next day satan shows up in the garden, determined to utterly destroy what the Lord God had created. Take a look at verse 1: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1, NIV84)
With these words Moses clearly assures us that this is, indeed, a real snake. It is not merely some symbol of evil or some kind of benign thought. It was a very subtle and crafty animal, as Moses tells us, which is something that could not be said of any other of the animals that God had created. Thus, by revealing this to us, Moses is in effect calling on us to pause here for a moment, and consider what is going on. A snake, a serpent, that is more than a serpent, a crafty and cunning serpent is speaking to Even in the Garden! Verse 1: “He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1–5, NIV84)
Just think about what’s going on. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. They were perfect in every way. Their thoughts were in complete and holy harmony with God’s will. They were not capable of tempting themselves into sin. Their temptation had to come from an outside, evil source, which is exactly what happened. Their temptation came from the master tempter and deceiver who enticed Eve into doubting God’s Word. He moved Eve from not even thinking about the fruit on the tree as food to thinking about it to the point that it was the only thing that she could think about. Verse 6: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:6–13, NIV84)
But before we go any farther, I have to ask a question. How often haven’t we been in that very same boat? How often hasn’t satan or one of his evil angels whispered in our ears or in our thoughts and subtly suggested that we not follow the Lord’s will in one way or another? How often hasn’t the siren song of certain websites, or certain Television shows, allured us away from work that had to be done, time that could have been spent with family, or time that needed to be spent with our spouse? How often haven’t we felt desire grow in our hearts like Eve did; desire for something we had hardly considered suddenly become so strong that we could not possibly live without it? How often haven’t we served as the tempter, as Eve did for Adam and drawn our spouse into sin with us? Or how often haven’t we gone along with our spouse, even though we knew that we should stand firm and not give into the temptation? How often haven’t we wagged our own tongues in order to point the finger at someone else’s sin in the hopes of hiding our own? How often haven’t little things like decorations, traditions, or personalities caused monumental problems in our lives or in our church? How often haven’t agreed with what Jesus said when he said, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” (Matthew 18:15, NIV84) But, as soon as we are offended by a brother or sister, we bring the matter up to the person who is just a little bit higher in the chain of command, so that now someone else will have to deal with it and we don’t have to go talk to the person? How often haven’t we allowed anger or frustration to fester and boil in our hearts until we are not able to even look at or be around the person or persons who either knowingly or unknowingly caused the hurt? How often haven’t we stood before the Lord like Adam and Eve did, blaming the Lord as the cause of our sins? How often haven’t we stood before the Lord expecting some form of punishment for our sins and finding ourselves once again marveling at the faithful forgiveness that he was so lovingly pouring out on us, even though we didn’t deserve it?
That’s where Adam and Eve found themselves. They were standing before their creator. They were standing before the God who had promised them that they would surely die when they ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, undoubtedly expecting that the worst was yet to come. But as Moses tells us in verse 9, it was the LORD God who called to them. It was Yaweh Elohim, who called them and before whom they were standing. Now, as I told you last week, Elohim is the word we translate as God. This is also the name that is most often equated with God’s power, with his righteousness, and with his holiness. The name Yaweh, on the other hand is translated as LORD. In your NIV Bibles this name is indicated by typing LORD either with all capital letters of the same size or with a large capital “L” and with smaller capitals for “ORD”. This is the name that is sometimes translated as Jehovah. This is the name that Moses received at the burning bush when the Lord declared “I Am”, and this is the name through which the Lord has revealed himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15 and Psalm 103:8)
Though Adam and Eve had been unfaithful to the Lord their God, it was the Lord, or Yaweh, or Jehovah who remained faithful to them, gave them his forgiveness and promised their salvation. Take a look at verse 14: “So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15, NIV84)
With these words the Lord God makes it clear that he is speaking to more than just a snake. He makes it clear that he is speaking to satan, a morally responsible creature, which again is something we learn from other parts of Scripture. Though satan seemed to win a victory here, it is only short lived, because God forgives Adam and Eve, removes their enmity with God and places it between them and satan, and delivers the first promise of the Savior. For with this promise God established an enemy status between Eve and satan by forgiving Adam and Eve. He would establish that same enemy status between her descendants—those who believed in the Lord—and satan’s descendants which would be those who did not believe in the Lord. Finally he would single out one specific descendant, Jesus, who would come to crush the serpent’s head and destroy the devils work. Though this would cause great suffering, pain, and even death as satan struck Jesus’ heal, by his death and resurrection Jesus would completely work forgiveness, destroy the power of satan forever, and cause us to marvel continually at the faithful forgiveness of our Lord.
Though we have been unfaithful, like Adam and Eve, the Lord has remained faithful to us. Though we have not deserved it, it was the Lord who has forgiven us for all of our sins. It is the Lord who has applied that forgiveness to us through the faith that he created in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord who has established enmity between us and satan, and between us and unbelievers. It is the Lord our God who has completely destroyed satan’s power over us. Though there are still times when our enemy gets the better of us, tempting us to sin, it is our God who faithfully calls us to repent, grants us the blessing of his forgiveness, and empowers us to forgive each other.
This is the faithful forgiveness that the Lord has shown in our lives. But the question is, do we allow that same forgiveness to show in our lives? How long has it been since you’ve let the faithful forgiveness of your Savior melt your heart into forgiveness for those who have wronged you? How long has it been since you let go of your pride, your frustration, your anger, or whatever it is that you are holding on to, and forgiven your fellow members, your pastor, your friends, even yourself for whatever wrongs might have been done? Are you still holding that grudge from that thing that happened so long ago that you can’t quite remember what it is, but you are still mad at a specific person and don’t know why? If you are still holding on to any past wrongs, I urge each and every one of you to let go and live in the marvelous forgiveness of your Savior, by forgiving those who wronged you in any way. Though I know that forgiveness is never easy and it will always cost something, can you imagine how amazing this place would be if we daily lived in the faithful forgiveness of our Lord! Can you imagine the joy that would permeate this house of worship because we were able to live together as God’s forgiven people because we had forgiven each other for whatever wrongs we may have caused! Can you imagine the blessings that the Lord would reign down upon us because there was finally room in our hearts now that we had let go of the sins, the hurts, and the wrongs to which we had once clung!
Though forgiveness isn’t always an easy thing to give away, it is the Lord’s forgiveness that enables us to give it away freely. Though forgiveness is something that will always cost us, it will never cost us as much as it cost the Lord our God. So as we bring this sermon to a close, take a moment during the offering to utter a prayer to the Lord. Release to him all your hurts, your heart aches, your frustrations, your grudges and ask him to forgive you for holding on to them. Ask him to help you to forgive completely those who have hurt you or wronged you in any way. Then with clear conscience, come forward and marvel at the faithful forgiveness the Lord has for you in the body and blood of his Son. If forgiveness is not something that comes naturally or easily today, then continue to pray to the Lord during this next week, until you find yourself able to forgive. Though forgiveness is sometimes difficult, though it is sometimes hard, though it always costs, continue to ask and you will receive it. Then, when you find yourselves living in forgiveness, able to forgive each other, go out and live in the faithful forgiveness of the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, abounding in love and faithfulness, the Lord who not only forgave our first parents, but also forgives us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label Ever Present. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ever Present. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
What is God Like?
May 30, 2010
Theme: What is our God Like?
Dear friends in Christ.
It has been said that what you know about a person usually affects the way that you feel about a person, and in most cases that seems to be true. Take, for example, Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was the President in Office during the Civil War. He was the one who was determined that the United States of America should remain together as a single nation. He was the one who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing those who were salves from their forced servitude, and putting into motion the events that led to the 13th amendment to the US Constitution, which finally Abolished Slavery in the United States. He was the one who was assassinated at Ford’s Theater a mere 5 days after the Civil War came to an end. Because of this knowledge, there are many who love Lincoln and hail him as one of the greatest Presidents our Nation has ever seen. Though he was continually ridiculed and spoken against in his time, because of what we know about him from history, we are able to form our own opinion about him, and our own personal feelings about him have been affected in many ways by what we know. Well the same thing is true about the Lord our God, our opinion of him is very much affected by what we know about him. Thus, as we study the Scriptures before us today we will seek to learn about our God and answer the question, “What is our God like?”
To answer this question, we want to take a look at what the Bible has to say about God’s Characteristics and learn two basic ways that God’s nature is different than ours. So, I invite you to grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew 28:19 which can be found on page 989. As you are looking it up, let me give you the context of this passage. It had been 40 days since Jesus rose from the dead, and Jesus and his disciples were standing on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was giving them his final instructions and blessings before he would ascend into heaven. While he was speaking to them he told them, (and we’ll read Matthew 28:19 together): “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19, NIV)
Just as Jesus began his ministry with the Father’s blessing and the Holy Spirit’s descending upon him, so also Jesus returns to heaven instituting the Sacrament of Baptism, proclaiming that all of his disciples should baptize people in the name of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus reveals that our God is three distinct and separate persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus, when we look at our God we know that the Father is not the Son. We know that the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and we know that the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet, even as we worship our God in three separate and distinct persons, we know that we do not worship three separate Gods but we worship only one God, as Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 6:4. Turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy 6:4, which can be found on page 178 of your Bibles, and we’ll read this passage together also. Again, as you look up the passage, let me set the context. The Israelites have completed their 40 years of wandering in the desert and they are preparing to cross the Jordan and take the land of Canaan. As they prepare, Moses is reminding them of all that the Lord has done for them. In Chapter 5 Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments and now, in verses 4 of Chapter 6, Moses speaks about the Lord whom we serve as we follow his commandments. And we read together: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV)
With these words, the Lord God reveals a very specific distinction between his nature and our nature. He is one! Though, He is three separate and distinct persons these three separate and distinct persons make up one individual God. How this can be, we do not know we simply believe it and accept it by faith, because God himself has told us that he is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons yet one God. So, if we should ever take the Father out of the picture, would we still believe in the true God proclaimed by the Bible? No, because we would only have the Son and the Holy Spirit and not all three. What if we took the Son out of the picture and believed only in the Father and the Holy Spirit? The same thing would be true. We would not have the True God spoken of in the Bible. What if we took the Holy Spirit out of the picture and only believed in the Father and the Son, would we still have the true God proclaimed by the Bible? Again, the answer is no. even though the Bible never uses the word Triune to describe our God, the Bible makes it clear that the God we worship is three persons (tri) yet one God (une), which gives us our Triune God 3 person in one God, just as Jesus tells us in our Gospel Lesson today: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. ” (John 16:13–15, NIV)
From all of these passages, we can clearly see the two basic ways that our God’s nature is different than our own. Not only is the Lord our God Triune—Three Persons yet, One God—but also, as we have been taught since we were little Children, the Lord our God is spirit. Because the Lord is Spirit, he does not have a physical body. Even though Jesus came to the earth and took on our human flesh and blood, when he ascended into heaven, he returned to his spirit form. Yet, the Lord our God is not some distant force sailing around the galaxy, he is a real personal being who hears our prayers and understands our needs. He desires and even demands the most important place in our hearts and our lives. He calls on us to worship him, praise him, and thank him for all that he has done for us. He forgives us each and every time we fall in to temptation and sin against him, and he has chosen to reveal himself to us through the pages of the Scriptures so that we might gain a better understanding of who he is through the many characteristics that he reveals to us in his Word.
So, let’s take another look at the Scriptures to see if we might discover all that the Lord our God wants us to learn about himself. To do this, we will turn to Psalm 139 which can be found on page 618, and as you are looking up Psalm 139 on page 618, let me give you just a little bit of an introduction. Psalm 139 is one of the many Psalms that King David wrote by the inspiration of the Lord. It was given to the director of music for use as a song for worship in the temple. It has even been called the Psalm of the All knowing and Ever Present God, and the reason for this will become clear as I read. In fact, due to the length of the Psalm I invite you to follow along with me as I read: “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ” (Psalm 139:1–24, NIV)
In such a beautiful way the Lord so clearly reveals that he is omniscient—all knowing—and omnipresent—present everywhere. He reminds us that not only does he know everything that we say and do, he also knows us better than our friends, our family, even our own fathers and mothers. He knows what we need when we need it, and he is always present with us, watching over us, protecting us, helping us, and ready to comfort us. He is also the all-powerful God who created our inmost beings, who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. He is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to punish those who do not believe in him in the fires of eternal damnation, and he is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to bring those who believe in him to the halls of eternal life where we will live with him forever.
What more beautiful and comforting words could the Lord give to us as he reveals himself to us through his Word! Yet, there are so many more passages we could chose today to teach us more about the Characteristics of our God. The problem is, we are running out of time this morning, that is, if we feel we must keep our service as close to an hour as possible. However, since that is our custom, perhaps just one final passage. Turn with me to Exodus 34:5-7 on page 88. Again, let me give you the background for these verses: Moses had been with the Lord on the Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, during which time the people persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses came down and saw what they were doing, he broke the tablets, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, sprinkled it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. Now, he had returned to the mountain with two new tablets of stone for the Lord’s commands where he had also asked the Lord to show him his glory, which is where we pick up as we read together: “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5–7, NIV)
In such a beautiful way, the Lord our God reveals to us some of his most incredible characteristics. We know of his compassion for us in his sending Jesus to be our Savior. We know of his Graciousness that he does not treat us as our sins deserve, but he shows his love and his patience for us by giving us this time of grace in which to come to faith. He shows his love and his faithfulness by continually protecting us from all harm and danger, and forgiving all our sins for Jesus’ sake. Though the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished, through faith in him, we live in his love and faithfulness. We see the Lord our God as the loving, caring, and gracious God he is.
Thus, today, in the same way we have learned about Abraham Lincoln from history, we have learned what the Lord our God is like. For from the pages of Scripture, we have come to know that our all powerful Triune God is a Spirit who reveals himself to us in the Scriptures.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
Theme: What is our God Like?
Dear friends in Christ.
It has been said that what you know about a person usually affects the way that you feel about a person, and in most cases that seems to be true. Take, for example, Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was the President in Office during the Civil War. He was the one who was determined that the United States of America should remain together as a single nation. He was the one who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing those who were salves from their forced servitude, and putting into motion the events that led to the 13th amendment to the US Constitution, which finally Abolished Slavery in the United States. He was the one who was assassinated at Ford’s Theater a mere 5 days after the Civil War came to an end. Because of this knowledge, there are many who love Lincoln and hail him as one of the greatest Presidents our Nation has ever seen. Though he was continually ridiculed and spoken against in his time, because of what we know about him from history, we are able to form our own opinion about him, and our own personal feelings about him have been affected in many ways by what we know. Well the same thing is true about the Lord our God, our opinion of him is very much affected by what we know about him. Thus, as we study the Scriptures before us today we will seek to learn about our God and answer the question, “What is our God like?”
To answer this question, we want to take a look at what the Bible has to say about God’s Characteristics and learn two basic ways that God’s nature is different than ours. So, I invite you to grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew 28:19 which can be found on page 989. As you are looking it up, let me give you the context of this passage. It had been 40 days since Jesus rose from the dead, and Jesus and his disciples were standing on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was giving them his final instructions and blessings before he would ascend into heaven. While he was speaking to them he told them, (and we’ll read Matthew 28:19 together): “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19, NIV)
Just as Jesus began his ministry with the Father’s blessing and the Holy Spirit’s descending upon him, so also Jesus returns to heaven instituting the Sacrament of Baptism, proclaiming that all of his disciples should baptize people in the name of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus reveals that our God is three distinct and separate persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus, when we look at our God we know that the Father is not the Son. We know that the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and we know that the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet, even as we worship our God in three separate and distinct persons, we know that we do not worship three separate Gods but we worship only one God, as Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 6:4. Turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy 6:4, which can be found on page 178 of your Bibles, and we’ll read this passage together also. Again, as you look up the passage, let me set the context. The Israelites have completed their 40 years of wandering in the desert and they are preparing to cross the Jordan and take the land of Canaan. As they prepare, Moses is reminding them of all that the Lord has done for them. In Chapter 5 Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments and now, in verses 4 of Chapter 6, Moses speaks about the Lord whom we serve as we follow his commandments. And we read together: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV)
With these words, the Lord God reveals a very specific distinction between his nature and our nature. He is one! Though, He is three separate and distinct persons these three separate and distinct persons make up one individual God. How this can be, we do not know we simply believe it and accept it by faith, because God himself has told us that he is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons yet one God. So, if we should ever take the Father out of the picture, would we still believe in the true God proclaimed by the Bible? No, because we would only have the Son and the Holy Spirit and not all three. What if we took the Son out of the picture and believed only in the Father and the Holy Spirit? The same thing would be true. We would not have the True God spoken of in the Bible. What if we took the Holy Spirit out of the picture and only believed in the Father and the Son, would we still have the true God proclaimed by the Bible? Again, the answer is no. even though the Bible never uses the word Triune to describe our God, the Bible makes it clear that the God we worship is three persons (tri) yet one God (une), which gives us our Triune God 3 person in one God, just as Jesus tells us in our Gospel Lesson today: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. ” (John 16:13–15, NIV)
From all of these passages, we can clearly see the two basic ways that our God’s nature is different than our own. Not only is the Lord our God Triune—Three Persons yet, One God—but also, as we have been taught since we were little Children, the Lord our God is spirit. Because the Lord is Spirit, he does not have a physical body. Even though Jesus came to the earth and took on our human flesh and blood, when he ascended into heaven, he returned to his spirit form. Yet, the Lord our God is not some distant force sailing around the galaxy, he is a real personal being who hears our prayers and understands our needs. He desires and even demands the most important place in our hearts and our lives. He calls on us to worship him, praise him, and thank him for all that he has done for us. He forgives us each and every time we fall in to temptation and sin against him, and he has chosen to reveal himself to us through the pages of the Scriptures so that we might gain a better understanding of who he is through the many characteristics that he reveals to us in his Word.
So, let’s take another look at the Scriptures to see if we might discover all that the Lord our God wants us to learn about himself. To do this, we will turn to Psalm 139 which can be found on page 618, and as you are looking up Psalm 139 on page 618, let me give you just a little bit of an introduction. Psalm 139 is one of the many Psalms that King David wrote by the inspiration of the Lord. It was given to the director of music for use as a song for worship in the temple. It has even been called the Psalm of the All knowing and Ever Present God, and the reason for this will become clear as I read. In fact, due to the length of the Psalm I invite you to follow along with me as I read: “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ” (Psalm 139:1–24, NIV)
In such a beautiful way the Lord so clearly reveals that he is omniscient—all knowing—and omnipresent—present everywhere. He reminds us that not only does he know everything that we say and do, he also knows us better than our friends, our family, even our own fathers and mothers. He knows what we need when we need it, and he is always present with us, watching over us, protecting us, helping us, and ready to comfort us. He is also the all-powerful God who created our inmost beings, who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. He is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to punish those who do not believe in him in the fires of eternal damnation, and he is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to bring those who believe in him to the halls of eternal life where we will live with him forever.
What more beautiful and comforting words could the Lord give to us as he reveals himself to us through his Word! Yet, there are so many more passages we could chose today to teach us more about the Characteristics of our God. The problem is, we are running out of time this morning, that is, if we feel we must keep our service as close to an hour as possible. However, since that is our custom, perhaps just one final passage. Turn with me to Exodus 34:5-7 on page 88. Again, let me give you the background for these verses: Moses had been with the Lord on the Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, during which time the people persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses came down and saw what they were doing, he broke the tablets, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, sprinkled it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. Now, he had returned to the mountain with two new tablets of stone for the Lord’s commands where he had also asked the Lord to show him his glory, which is where we pick up as we read together: “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5–7, NIV)
In such a beautiful way, the Lord our God reveals to us some of his most incredible characteristics. We know of his compassion for us in his sending Jesus to be our Savior. We know of his Graciousness that he does not treat us as our sins deserve, but he shows his love and his patience for us by giving us this time of grace in which to come to faith. He shows his love and his faithfulness by continually protecting us from all harm and danger, and forgiving all our sins for Jesus’ sake. Though the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished, through faith in him, we live in his love and faithfulness. We see the Lord our God as the loving, caring, and gracious God he is.
Thus, today, in the same way we have learned about Abraham Lincoln from history, we have learned what the Lord our God is like. For from the pages of Scripture, we have come to know that our all powerful Triune God is a Spirit who reveals himself to us in the Scriptures.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
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