Dear friends in Christ.
In 1893, engineer George Ferris built a machine that bears his name--the Ferris wheel. When it was finished, he invited a newspaper reporter to accompany him and his wife for the inaugural ride. It was a windy July day, so a stiff breeze struck the wheel with great force as it slowly began its rotation. Despite the wind, the wheel turned flawlessly. After one revolution, Ferris called for the machine to be stopped so that he, his wife, and the reporter could step out. In braving that one revolution on the windblown Ferris wheel, each occupant demonstrated genuine faith. Mr. Ferris began with the scientific knowledge that the machine would work and that it would be safe. Mrs. Ferris and the reporter believed the machine would work on the basis of what the inventor had said. But only after the ride could it be said of all three that they had personal, experiential faith.
In the same way that Mrs. Ferris and the reporter fixed their faith on Mr. Ferris assurances that his Ferris Wheel would work, so also the writer to the Hebrews is calling on each and every one of us to fix our faith on what he has to tell us. In fact, he is calling on us to fix our faith on Jesus our unchanging Savior as he writes in Hebrews 13:1-8. I invite you to open your Bibles to Hebrews 13:1-8 to hear firsthand what he is telling us. As you’re looking that up, let me bring you up to speed as to what has been happening. As I’ve told you before, the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were seriously considering giving up their Christianity and going back to their old way of life in Judaism. For the first 10 chapters the writer demonstrated why belief in Jesus Christ was far superior to anything Judaism had to offer. In Chapter 11 he talked about how faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. In Chapter 12 he spoke about how God does discipline his children to bring them closer to him and to prepare them for works of service in his kingdom. Now in Chapter 13 he is calling on his hearers to fix their faith on their unchanging Savior as they live their lives according to his will. We read in Chapter 13 beginning with verse 1: “Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:1–8, NIV)
Wow! Those are some powerfully comforting words right there in verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV) In fact, what greater comfort could we find than words that tell us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior! Though everything is constantly changing in the world around us, Jesus remains the same. Though we may find that some of our best friends are merely our good friends and sometimes even our worst enemies depending on the day and the fluctuation of their emotions, Jesus Christ, our Savior never changes. Though we grew up learning Acronyms like, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles to help us remember the order of the planets, now that Pluto is no longer a planet, teachers have had to change their Acronym and so many of us feel the loss of our beloved planet named after Mickey’s dog. Yet, even though Pluto’s status has changed, the status of our Savior remains unchanged. He is still the Son of God. He is still our Savior. He is still the one who came to free us from our sins. He is still our unchanging Savior who is the heart of the Gospel message—the message that has been proclaimed from generation to generation.
What greater comfort could there be as we fix our faith on our unchanging Savior, than the comfort that comes from knowing that the message of salvation, the message of Jesus Christ has never changed! For the truth is, the message of salvation that you have heard me preach for the last 5 years is the same message that all the all the Pastors who have served this congregation have preached to you for the last 60 + years of Grace’s existence. The message of salvation that was preached to you is the very same message of salvation that so many immigrants brought with them when they came to the New World. The message of salvation that we hold today is the same message that Martin Luther struggled to return to the church as he fought to proclaim it to the people of Germany. This is the message that the disciples proclaimed as they went forth, making disciples of all nations. This is the message of salvation that Jesus, himself, taught and then fulfilled when he gave his life on the cross. This is the message of the Old Testament, which promised a Savior who would come to take away the sins of the world. This is the message that the prophets proclaimed to the Israelites time and time again. This is the message that Abraham believed when the Lord credited his faith as righteousness. This is the message of salvation that Adam and Eve were given when the Lord told them that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.
Because Jesus is our unchanging Savior, whose message of salvation has remained constant since the beginning of creation, we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus and trust in him for eternal life. We can be certain that when Jesus went Jesus went to the cross for us, he was forsaken by his heavenly Father so that we would never have to be. We can be certain that he endured the punishment of our sins, suffering the pains of hell itself in our place so that we might never know the torment of eternal damnation. We can be certain that when he took our sins upon his shoulders, he completely emptied us of our sins; filling us instead with his own righteousness, declaring us not guilty in the sight of God our Father. Because of this, because of all that Jesus has done for us we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus Christ our Savior confidently trusting that he is our unchanging Savior who has indeed provided us with eternal life!
This is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews is telling us today! He is assuring us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior. He is assuring us that we can fix our faith in Jesus because he is the one who has provided us with the very salvation he has promised to all people and delivered to all who believe in him. He is assuring us that through faith in Jesus we have been declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. And now that we have fixed our faith on Jesus, our unchanging Savior, he is calling on us to serve the Lord with our lives! Let’s take a look, once more, at the first 6 verses of chapter 13: “1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”(Hebrews 13:1–6, NIV)
These are but a few ways that we can serve the Lord now that we have fixed our faith on our unchanging Savior! Let us not live as people who feel that they have put in their time and now they can coast on to eternal life. Rather, let us live as Christians, serving the Lord by putting our faith into action. Let us show our love for each other by greeting each other before and after church. Not just our friends or the people we get along with, but make every effort to get to know the members of this family of believers. Let us serve the Lord, especially during these troubled times, by setting aside a specific portion of our income, and giving what we have decided to give with a happy and a joyous heart out of thanks for all that our Savior has given us. Let us serve the Lord by honoring his gift of marriage! Not simply by living an honorably married life, but by helping couples in their marital distress rather than simply gossiping about them.; by keeping our lives free of the lust that movies, TV, and off color Internet sites hope to inspire in us; by keeping ourselves from crude jokes about sex, adultery, and married life.
Let us also serve the Lord by trusting him. For now that we have fixed our lives to our unchangeable Savior, we know that we don’t need to be worried about what we will eat or what we will wear, because we know that the Lord will provide for us. We can find confidence in his promise that he will never leave us nor will he forsake us. We can find confidence in this because this is the very same promise he gave to Abraham when he said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) This is the same promise that Isaac received from the Lord when he said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” This is the same promise the Lord gave to Moses and all of Israel when he said, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) This is the promise the Lord gave to Joshua when he said, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5) This was the promise that Jesus gave to the disciples when he said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
There is great comfort in these assurances from Scripture that our Savior will never leave us nor will he ever forsake us! And, again, because he is our unchanging Savior we can be certain that what he promised to these believers also applies to us. We can be certain that everything he has told us is true. Thus, in the same way that Mrs. Ferris and a reporter fixed their faith on what Mr. Ferris told them about his wheel, we can fix our faith on our unchanging Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label Serving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serving. Show all posts
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Serve the Lord by sharing your faith (Luke 10:1-12, 16-20)
Dear Friends in Christ
The story has been told about the great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, who willed his marvelous violin to Genoa, the city of his birth. The only condition he applied to this bequeathal was that his violin was never to be played. This was a very unfortunate condition because as long as wood is handled and used, it shows little wear, however, as soon as it is discarded it begins to decay. Today Paganini’s beautiful, mellow-toned violin has become a worm-eaten, useless relic in a beautiful case. Well, in the same way that Paganini’s violin fell apart because it did not continue in the service of making beautiful music, so also as Christians, if we do not continue on in our Christian Service, we might find that our capacity for usefulness in the Lord’s kingdom has been seriously hampered if not destroyed. It is because of this very reason that the Lord Jesus our Savior is calling on us as his servants to serve the Lord by sharing our faith.
Now, if you think about it, sharing our faith is the very thing that we were born to do. After all, we are all experts on the subject of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savoir. For the truth is, most of us, if not all of us, have been Christians since the day that we were baptized as little children. Our parents first taught us about Jesus through songs like, “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” As we grew, our faith in Jesus grew right along with us as our parents first brought us to church, and then, when we were old enough, sent us to Sunday School. Our knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus continued to grow as we continued on in Sunday School or as some of you continued on in Lutheran Elementary School. We learned even more about Jesus our Savior when we came to church week after week to study the Catechism under the direction of the Pastor. Even after confirmation our faith continued to grow as we gathered for worship each week and had opportunity to gather with others to Study the Bible every Sunday morning. Whether we’ve been on this earth for a mere 8 months or 80 plus years, we are all experts on the subject of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. We all know everything we need to know in order to go out and serve the Lord by sharing our faith with others.
Yet, how often don’t we simply fail to do this? Though we know the joy that fills our hearts because our sins have been forgiven, how often don’t we hide that joy deep within our hearts and only take it out to look at when we are in the safety of the church or maybe the safety of our own homes? How often haven’t we run across someone who absolutely needs us to hear the good news of salvation, but we chicken out and don’t say anything about the hope that we have? How often haven’t we seen the sorrowful eyes, the pained expressions, the slumped shoulders as a co-worker trudges through life, looking for the answers he just simply can’t seem to find anywhere and wondering how in all the world he’s going to make it through today when another day just as bad filled with just as many stresses is coming tomorrow, yet we can’t seem to work up the nerve to tell him about the joy we have in Jesus? How often hasn’t it happened that a perfect opportunity to share our faith with a classmate passed us by because we simply didn’t feel prepared to share our faith by in school with so many other people milling about; people who might hear what we were saying and ask us questions we didn’t feel ready to answer? How often haven’t we had a dear friend, maybe even a fellow believer in Jesus, open up to us and emotionally fall apart because so many worries of life had weighed them down, yet rather than encouraging them and building them up in their faith by talking about your Savior, rather than taking time to pray for them that the Holy Spirit would strengthen them and comfort them with the comfort that Jesus himself offers, all we do for them is pat them on the back, offer encouraging sounding words, and tell them, “I’ll be praying for you.”
How many times haven’t we simply failed to serve the Lord by sharing our faith with others? If we’re honest, we have to say that we don’t know. We don’t know because we’ve failed to share our faith on so many different occasions that simply cannot count them all. Though I hate to admit it, I am just as guilty of failing to share my faith in the Lord with others when opportunities came my way. To this day there are faces that haunt my thoughts because I failed to serve the Lord. I was too afraid to share my faith with them, and I still pray that I was not their last or only opportunity to hear the message of salvation. As Don Piper writes in his book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, “If you saw a little kid run out in the street, you’d dash out there and try to save the child’s life. Human nature is like that. We try to preserve life, and I will do that any time I get the opportunity. So would you. Yet, here we are sitting in this [restaurant], surrounded by people, many of whom are probably lost and going to hell, and we won’t say a word about how they can have eternal life. Something is wrong with us…We’re willing to save someone in a visible crisis, but a lot of folks are in a spiritual crisis and we don’t say a word about how they can get out of it.” (Piper, Don. 90 Minutes in Heaven. p. 131)
But even though we may have failed at serving the Lord and failed miserably at sharing our faith, there is hope even for us. In fact, it was just last week that we heard how Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. It was just last week that we heard how Jesus had entered into the last six months of his earthly ministry, and he was heading to Jerusalem where he would step up to the plate of the cross and belt our sins out of the park with the cry of “It is finished!” It was there, in Jerusalem, with the soldiers nailing him to the cross that Jesus prayed, “Father, forgiven them. They do not know what they are doing.” It was there in Jerusalem that Jesus showed how much he loved us. Though people taunted him and tempted him to come down from the cross, it was his love for us that caused him to remain there. It was on that cross that Jesus stretched out his arms and died in our place. For in the same way that the Mighty Mississippi begins as a small trickle from Lake Itasca, so also the river of Jesus’ blood that has washed us clean of every spot and stain of our sins began at that cross in Jerusalem! Though we don’t deserve it by any means, it was the Holy Spirit who immersed our heats in the river of Jesus blood on the day that he called us to faith. It was the Holy Spirit who sealed us as members of the Father’s house through the forgiveness that Jesus won for us. Even now, as we sit here in worship, it is the Holy Spirit who is assuring us that our past failures have been forgiven. Those missed opportunities have been washed away, even those times we were too afraid to speak up or simply didn’t feel prepared enough to speak; they have all been forgiven by through faith in Jesus Christ who now calls us to go out and serve him once again by sharing our faith.
Now, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel Lesson today in Luke 10 beginning with verse 1; Luke chapter 10, which begins on page 1027. Last week we heard how Jesus set out on his way to Jerusalem, how he was refused lodging in a Samaritan village because he was headed to Jerusalem. We also heard how he spoke to three different people along the road whom either expressed a desire to follow him or whom he invited to follow him. Now, after all those events our text opens with Luke writing in chapter 10 beginning with verse 1: “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ (Luke 10:1–11, NIV)
Now, when Jesus sent these 72 disciples out to share their faith and proclaim the kingdom of God, Jesus had only 6 months left in his earthly ministry. Jesus didn’t have much time left and he passed that urgency on to his disciples. Their mission, in fact, was so urgent that Jesus wanted them to leave from right where they were. They didn’t have time to go home and grab extra money, pack an overnight bag, grab an extra pair of sandals, or even greet people on the road because that could easily suck them into a long conversation that would delay their mission. Rather Jesus wanted them to simply go and preach the message of salvation showing their complete dependence on the Lord in what they said and how they lived.
The same thing is true for each and every one of us. As Jesus disciples, he is sending us out to serve him by sharing our faith, and just like the mission was urgent for the 72, the mission is urgent for us, because we are living in the last days. We are living in a time when Jesus could be returning at any time. We are living in a day and age when satan seems to be winning the battle and more and more people are falling away from the faith every day. We are living in a day and age where each and every one of us is standing guard on the front lines of the kingdom of heaven as we advance together into a sinful world to share our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Though we still may not feel ready, we are ready through faith in Jesus. Though we may be worried about what to say, Jesus has promised to give us the words. Though there may be times when we are afraid to go on, Jesus has not sent us out alone, for just as he sent out the 72 in pairs of two, so also Jesus goes with us wherever we go. Though we might be afraid of rejection, well, Jesus covers that as well. Jump back up to verse 8 and we’ll continue from there:
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (Jump down to verse 16) 16 “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:8–12, 16, NIV)
Though the disciples could have faced some rejection as they shared their faith in Jesus, Jesus assured them that the rejection they faced was not a mark against them, but a mark against Jesus and his Father. The same thing is true for us today. Though there may be times when people laugh at us or ridicule us when we share our faith, their laughter and ridicule is actually against Jesus. Though we might have to bear the physical brunt of their rejection, the truth of the matter is that they are not rejecting us, they are rejecting Jesus as their Savior and God the Father as their God. Though it may pain us to do so, shaking the dust off our feet and walking away will serve as testimony against them that they had the opportunity to hear the Word and the rejected it. It may even serve as such a testimony that one day they turn from their ways and repent at a later time. But just as time was short for the disciples whom Jesus sent out, time is short for us. As we share our faith in the Lord’s serve, we simply don’t have the time to fool around with those who don’t want to listen, be they friends, relatives, neighbors, or even members. There are so many millions of people who need to hear the Word of God that we simply have to keep going and pray that those who reject today may come around tomorrow.
What else can we learn from Jesus sending those 72 disciples out? Look at verse 17: “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17–20, NIV)
When they returned, they were overjoyed because the demons had submitted to them in Jesus name. Though this was indeed an amazing thing, Jesus immediately refocuses them on what is most important. He tells them to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. As we serve the Lord and share our faith with the people around us, this also is our comfort. Our names are written in heaven and no one can change that. Though we may be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected by those with whom we share our faith, our names are still written in heaven. Through faith in Jesus our names are written in heaven. Our sins have been forgiven by Jesus our Savior. Eternal life is waiting for us when the Lord Jesus calls us out of this life. Until then, we have been given the opportunity to serve him by sharing our faith.
So dear friends, as you leave here today; continue on in your Christian service. Take your personal sermon study sheets with you and during the week consider answers for the last two questions that I chose not to answer today. I’m sure that I could have answered them if I kept on preaching, but I can tell that I’ve already spoken long enough and you are not ready for me to go another 20 minutes or so. But take those with you, continue on in your Christian service, always looking for ways to serve the Lord by sharing your faith.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
The story has been told about the great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, who willed his marvelous violin to Genoa, the city of his birth. The only condition he applied to this bequeathal was that his violin was never to be played. This was a very unfortunate condition because as long as wood is handled and used, it shows little wear, however, as soon as it is discarded it begins to decay. Today Paganini’s beautiful, mellow-toned violin has become a worm-eaten, useless relic in a beautiful case. Well, in the same way that Paganini’s violin fell apart because it did not continue in the service of making beautiful music, so also as Christians, if we do not continue on in our Christian Service, we might find that our capacity for usefulness in the Lord’s kingdom has been seriously hampered if not destroyed. It is because of this very reason that the Lord Jesus our Savior is calling on us as his servants to serve the Lord by sharing our faith.
Now, if you think about it, sharing our faith is the very thing that we were born to do. After all, we are all experts on the subject of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savoir. For the truth is, most of us, if not all of us, have been Christians since the day that we were baptized as little children. Our parents first taught us about Jesus through songs like, “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” As we grew, our faith in Jesus grew right along with us as our parents first brought us to church, and then, when we were old enough, sent us to Sunday School. Our knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus continued to grow as we continued on in Sunday School or as some of you continued on in Lutheran Elementary School. We learned even more about Jesus our Savior when we came to church week after week to study the Catechism under the direction of the Pastor. Even after confirmation our faith continued to grow as we gathered for worship each week and had opportunity to gather with others to Study the Bible every Sunday morning. Whether we’ve been on this earth for a mere 8 months or 80 plus years, we are all experts on the subject of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. We all know everything we need to know in order to go out and serve the Lord by sharing our faith with others.
Yet, how often don’t we simply fail to do this? Though we know the joy that fills our hearts because our sins have been forgiven, how often don’t we hide that joy deep within our hearts and only take it out to look at when we are in the safety of the church or maybe the safety of our own homes? How often haven’t we run across someone who absolutely needs us to hear the good news of salvation, but we chicken out and don’t say anything about the hope that we have? How often haven’t we seen the sorrowful eyes, the pained expressions, the slumped shoulders as a co-worker trudges through life, looking for the answers he just simply can’t seem to find anywhere and wondering how in all the world he’s going to make it through today when another day just as bad filled with just as many stresses is coming tomorrow, yet we can’t seem to work up the nerve to tell him about the joy we have in Jesus? How often hasn’t it happened that a perfect opportunity to share our faith with a classmate passed us by because we simply didn’t feel prepared to share our faith by in school with so many other people milling about; people who might hear what we were saying and ask us questions we didn’t feel ready to answer? How often haven’t we had a dear friend, maybe even a fellow believer in Jesus, open up to us and emotionally fall apart because so many worries of life had weighed them down, yet rather than encouraging them and building them up in their faith by talking about your Savior, rather than taking time to pray for them that the Holy Spirit would strengthen them and comfort them with the comfort that Jesus himself offers, all we do for them is pat them on the back, offer encouraging sounding words, and tell them, “I’ll be praying for you.”
How many times haven’t we simply failed to serve the Lord by sharing our faith with others? If we’re honest, we have to say that we don’t know. We don’t know because we’ve failed to share our faith on so many different occasions that simply cannot count them all. Though I hate to admit it, I am just as guilty of failing to share my faith in the Lord with others when opportunities came my way. To this day there are faces that haunt my thoughts because I failed to serve the Lord. I was too afraid to share my faith with them, and I still pray that I was not their last or only opportunity to hear the message of salvation. As Don Piper writes in his book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, “If you saw a little kid run out in the street, you’d dash out there and try to save the child’s life. Human nature is like that. We try to preserve life, and I will do that any time I get the opportunity. So would you. Yet, here we are sitting in this [restaurant], surrounded by people, many of whom are probably lost and going to hell, and we won’t say a word about how they can have eternal life. Something is wrong with us…We’re willing to save someone in a visible crisis, but a lot of folks are in a spiritual crisis and we don’t say a word about how they can get out of it.” (Piper, Don. 90 Minutes in Heaven. p. 131)
But even though we may have failed at serving the Lord and failed miserably at sharing our faith, there is hope even for us. In fact, it was just last week that we heard how Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. It was just last week that we heard how Jesus had entered into the last six months of his earthly ministry, and he was heading to Jerusalem where he would step up to the plate of the cross and belt our sins out of the park with the cry of “It is finished!” It was there, in Jerusalem, with the soldiers nailing him to the cross that Jesus prayed, “Father, forgiven them. They do not know what they are doing.” It was there in Jerusalem that Jesus showed how much he loved us. Though people taunted him and tempted him to come down from the cross, it was his love for us that caused him to remain there. It was on that cross that Jesus stretched out his arms and died in our place. For in the same way that the Mighty Mississippi begins as a small trickle from Lake Itasca, so also the river of Jesus’ blood that has washed us clean of every spot and stain of our sins began at that cross in Jerusalem! Though we don’t deserve it by any means, it was the Holy Spirit who immersed our heats in the river of Jesus blood on the day that he called us to faith. It was the Holy Spirit who sealed us as members of the Father’s house through the forgiveness that Jesus won for us. Even now, as we sit here in worship, it is the Holy Spirit who is assuring us that our past failures have been forgiven. Those missed opportunities have been washed away, even those times we were too afraid to speak up or simply didn’t feel prepared enough to speak; they have all been forgiven by through faith in Jesus Christ who now calls us to go out and serve him once again by sharing our faith.
Now, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel Lesson today in Luke 10 beginning with verse 1; Luke chapter 10, which begins on page 1027. Last week we heard how Jesus set out on his way to Jerusalem, how he was refused lodging in a Samaritan village because he was headed to Jerusalem. We also heard how he spoke to three different people along the road whom either expressed a desire to follow him or whom he invited to follow him. Now, after all those events our text opens with Luke writing in chapter 10 beginning with verse 1: “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ (Luke 10:1–11, NIV)
Now, when Jesus sent these 72 disciples out to share their faith and proclaim the kingdom of God, Jesus had only 6 months left in his earthly ministry. Jesus didn’t have much time left and he passed that urgency on to his disciples. Their mission, in fact, was so urgent that Jesus wanted them to leave from right where they were. They didn’t have time to go home and grab extra money, pack an overnight bag, grab an extra pair of sandals, or even greet people on the road because that could easily suck them into a long conversation that would delay their mission. Rather Jesus wanted them to simply go and preach the message of salvation showing their complete dependence on the Lord in what they said and how they lived.
The same thing is true for each and every one of us. As Jesus disciples, he is sending us out to serve him by sharing our faith, and just like the mission was urgent for the 72, the mission is urgent for us, because we are living in the last days. We are living in a time when Jesus could be returning at any time. We are living in a day and age when satan seems to be winning the battle and more and more people are falling away from the faith every day. We are living in a day and age where each and every one of us is standing guard on the front lines of the kingdom of heaven as we advance together into a sinful world to share our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Though we still may not feel ready, we are ready through faith in Jesus. Though we may be worried about what to say, Jesus has promised to give us the words. Though there may be times when we are afraid to go on, Jesus has not sent us out alone, for just as he sent out the 72 in pairs of two, so also Jesus goes with us wherever we go. Though we might be afraid of rejection, well, Jesus covers that as well. Jump back up to verse 8 and we’ll continue from there:
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (Jump down to verse 16) 16 “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:8–12, 16, NIV)
Though the disciples could have faced some rejection as they shared their faith in Jesus, Jesus assured them that the rejection they faced was not a mark against them, but a mark against Jesus and his Father. The same thing is true for us today. Though there may be times when people laugh at us or ridicule us when we share our faith, their laughter and ridicule is actually against Jesus. Though we might have to bear the physical brunt of their rejection, the truth of the matter is that they are not rejecting us, they are rejecting Jesus as their Savior and God the Father as their God. Though it may pain us to do so, shaking the dust off our feet and walking away will serve as testimony against them that they had the opportunity to hear the Word and the rejected it. It may even serve as such a testimony that one day they turn from their ways and repent at a later time. But just as time was short for the disciples whom Jesus sent out, time is short for us. As we share our faith in the Lord’s serve, we simply don’t have the time to fool around with those who don’t want to listen, be they friends, relatives, neighbors, or even members. There are so many millions of people who need to hear the Word of God that we simply have to keep going and pray that those who reject today may come around tomorrow.
What else can we learn from Jesus sending those 72 disciples out? Look at verse 17: “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17–20, NIV)
When they returned, they were overjoyed because the demons had submitted to them in Jesus name. Though this was indeed an amazing thing, Jesus immediately refocuses them on what is most important. He tells them to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. As we serve the Lord and share our faith with the people around us, this also is our comfort. Our names are written in heaven and no one can change that. Though we may be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected by those with whom we share our faith, our names are still written in heaven. Through faith in Jesus our names are written in heaven. Our sins have been forgiven by Jesus our Savior. Eternal life is waiting for us when the Lord Jesus calls us out of this life. Until then, we have been given the opportunity to serve him by sharing our faith.
So dear friends, as you leave here today; continue on in your Christian service. Take your personal sermon study sheets with you and during the week consider answers for the last two questions that I chose not to answer today. I’m sure that I could have answered them if I kept on preaching, but I can tell that I’ve already spoken long enough and you are not ready for me to go another 20 minutes or so. But take those with you, continue on in your Christian service, always looking for ways to serve the Lord by sharing your faith.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Commit Yoursevelves to the Lord's Service (Luke 9:51-62)
Dear friends in Christ.
What a blessing it is that today is Sunday and that today we are celebrating Independence Day. What a blessing it is that we have the opportunity to gather together in worship of the Lord our God who is solely responsible for bringing about our great nation. Though things could have gone a whole different way some 200 years ago, it was the Lord’s will to birth our nation and give us an annual weekend that we could take time to gather with family and friends for picnics, cook-outs, camping trips, and, of course, fireworks. But did you know that when the Declaration of Independence was signed and the revolutionary war began, only about 2% of the Colonists were behind the cause of revolution? Did you know that the vast majority of the Colonists, though they may have agreed that Brittan was wielding power in a rather unfair and abusive way, the majority of colonists were more content with the status quo than with committing themselves to the cause of independence? Why this was, exactly, I don’t really know. Maybe they were afraid of what they would have to give up. Maybe they were afraid of what they might lose. Maybe they were afraid of fighting a battle that seemed unwinnable. After all, if they committed themselves to the cause of independence, they would guilty of rebellion and high treason against the British crown. They would be worthy of death for their crimes, and, if caught, they would most likely lose their family, their wealth, their possessions, and even their lives, which is the very thing that happened to most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
As you may remember, there were fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and their convictions resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.
Well, in the same way that these men committed everything they had; their sacred honor, their fortunes, and even their own lives for the cause of freedom, so also, the Lord Jesus, our Savior completely committed himself to the service of the Lord God. He was the one whom the Lord God had chosen to be our Savior, even before the creation of the world. He was the one to whom the Lord referred when he promised that the Seed of the Woman would crush the head of the serpent. He was the one who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, and took on the very nature of a servant when he was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary. He was the one who took on our flesh and blood and was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. He was the one who came to earth to completely and perfectly follow all of God’s Laws before he went to the cross to exchange his life in payment of our sins. He was the one who committed his soul to his heavenly Father before he gave up his life on the cross, and he is the one who took back his life on the third day, rising again to assure us that our sins are forgiven.
Now, as we meet Jesus in our text this morning, Luke gives us a very clear picture of how Jesus commits himself to serving the Lord. It is that very commitment, at which we want to take a look, so I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel Lesson, to Luke 9:51. While you’re turning to Luke 9:51 let me give you a little background. Though last week we had heard how Jesus had been staying out in lonely places where he could be alone with his disciples and teach them, that time was at an end. In fact, Luke 9:51 is essentially the beginning of the last six months of Jesus earthly ministry, and from this point on we see Jesus total commitment to the Lord as he now resolutely sets off for Jerusalem. As Luke writes in verse 51: “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village. (Luke 9:51–56, NIV)
Though it was just last week that we heard Jesus telling his disciples about how we would suffer many things at the hands of the religious leaders; how he would be rejected by them, killed, and on the third day rise again, Jesus was now deliberately traveling toward Jerusalem to make these things happen. So committed was he to serving the Lord, that he willingly began to make his way to Jerusalem where he would lay out each and every one of our sins at the checkout counter of the cross before paying off our debt with his blood and blessing us with the rebate of his righteousness and holiness.
Well in the same way that Jesus willingly committed himself to the Lord’s service, he is also calling on each and every one of us as Christians to commit ourselves to serving the Lord with our lives. He is calling on us to do this right now, because today is the only day we have. Yesterday is already past and gone and we don’t know if tomorrow will ever come. This, in fact, is the very thoughts that Luke records beginning in verse 57: “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Luke 9:57,58, NIV)
This man was truly excited and gung-ho about following the Lord Jesus. He was ready to travel with Jesus, wherever he went no matter what the cost or the concern. But when he conveyed his commitment to Jesus, Jesus answered him in a way that this man may not have expected. What Jesus simply said was, “Think about this.” He didn’t say, “No. Don’t follow me.” Instead he simply said, “Think about this.” In essence Jesus was telling this man to consider the best course of action. Would it be best for this man to follow after Jesus wherever he might go, or would it be best for him to follow Jesus by remaining where he was and committing himself to serving the Lord where he was. Either way he might be forced to give up a few things. He might face mocking and ridicule, but he would be serving the Lord in the best place for himself.
Jesus is saying the same thing to each and every one of us as he calls on us to commit ourselves to his service. He is not saying that we all have to run out and go back to school to become pastors or teachers. Rather, he is calling on us to make the most of every opportunity we are given in our situation in life to serve the Lord with our lives. Though we may face hardship or troubles, mocking or ridicule, Jesus will be with us as we serve him with our lives.
The second example: look at verse 59. He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59,60, NIV)
This time it was different. Jesus approached a man and called him to follow as one of Jesus’ disciples. This was a man who had undoubtedly followed Jesus before. This was a man who had been with Jesus and had been instructed by Jesus, as was Jesus’ practice before calling someone to be a disciple. The problem was that this call came at a very inconvenient time. The man had just lost his father, and was going to the funeral. He was essentially asking for a few days delay. But if you think about it, this invitation was coming as Jesus was passing through for the last time. This was the last time Jesus was coming through this village and Jesus is calling on this man to take hold of the invitation to serve today, because tomorrow might never come.
One last example: look at verse 61: “Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61,62, NIV)
Knowing this man’s heart, Jesus was concerned for him. He was concerned that if he went back to his family, they might steal his dream of following after Jesus. They might persuade him to remain at home rather than serving the Lord with his life. They might even challenge his faith or ask him to give up his faith in Jesus all together. The same is true for us. When we commit ourselves to the lord we may have to remove ourselves from some associations lest they seek to remove our faith and our commitment to the Lord, from us.
Though there may be times in life when we face hardships and difficulties because we have committed ourselves to the service of the Lord, we know that our Savior will be with us. Though we may be mocked and ridiculed for what we believe, we know that our Savior will help us through. Though there may be times when we find that serving the Lord isn’t the most convenient, we know that that it is the most important thing that we as Christians can do with our lives. Though there may be times when friend or family seek to lead us astray, we trust that the Lord our Savior will give us the strength we need to continue in our commitment to him. For the truth is, because we have committed ourselves to the service of the Lord, the Lord is always with us. He is the one who is by our sides. He is the one who will deliver us to eternal life.
That is our greatest comfort today. Though today is the fourth of July and the day we are celebrating our nation’s independence, more importantly we are celebrating our independence from sin and slavery to death. For it is through faith in Jesus that we have been freed from sin and death and are now able to commit ourselves to serving the Lord.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
What a blessing it is that today is Sunday and that today we are celebrating Independence Day. What a blessing it is that we have the opportunity to gather together in worship of the Lord our God who is solely responsible for bringing about our great nation. Though things could have gone a whole different way some 200 years ago, it was the Lord’s will to birth our nation and give us an annual weekend that we could take time to gather with family and friends for picnics, cook-outs, camping trips, and, of course, fireworks. But did you know that when the Declaration of Independence was signed and the revolutionary war began, only about 2% of the Colonists were behind the cause of revolution? Did you know that the vast majority of the Colonists, though they may have agreed that Brittan was wielding power in a rather unfair and abusive way, the majority of colonists were more content with the status quo than with committing themselves to the cause of independence? Why this was, exactly, I don’t really know. Maybe they were afraid of what they would have to give up. Maybe they were afraid of what they might lose. Maybe they were afraid of fighting a battle that seemed unwinnable. After all, if they committed themselves to the cause of independence, they would guilty of rebellion and high treason against the British crown. They would be worthy of death for their crimes, and, if caught, they would most likely lose their family, their wealth, their possessions, and even their lives, which is the very thing that happened to most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
As you may remember, there were fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and their convictions resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.
Well, in the same way that these men committed everything they had; their sacred honor, their fortunes, and even their own lives for the cause of freedom, so also, the Lord Jesus, our Savior completely committed himself to the service of the Lord God. He was the one whom the Lord God had chosen to be our Savior, even before the creation of the world. He was the one to whom the Lord referred when he promised that the Seed of the Woman would crush the head of the serpent. He was the one who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, and took on the very nature of a servant when he was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary. He was the one who took on our flesh and blood and was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. He was the one who came to earth to completely and perfectly follow all of God’s Laws before he went to the cross to exchange his life in payment of our sins. He was the one who committed his soul to his heavenly Father before he gave up his life on the cross, and he is the one who took back his life on the third day, rising again to assure us that our sins are forgiven.
Now, as we meet Jesus in our text this morning, Luke gives us a very clear picture of how Jesus commits himself to serving the Lord. It is that very commitment, at which we want to take a look, so I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel Lesson, to Luke 9:51. While you’re turning to Luke 9:51 let me give you a little background. Though last week we had heard how Jesus had been staying out in lonely places where he could be alone with his disciples and teach them, that time was at an end. In fact, Luke 9:51 is essentially the beginning of the last six months of Jesus earthly ministry, and from this point on we see Jesus total commitment to the Lord as he now resolutely sets off for Jerusalem. As Luke writes in verse 51: “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village. (Luke 9:51–56, NIV)
Though it was just last week that we heard Jesus telling his disciples about how we would suffer many things at the hands of the religious leaders; how he would be rejected by them, killed, and on the third day rise again, Jesus was now deliberately traveling toward Jerusalem to make these things happen. So committed was he to serving the Lord, that he willingly began to make his way to Jerusalem where he would lay out each and every one of our sins at the checkout counter of the cross before paying off our debt with his blood and blessing us with the rebate of his righteousness and holiness.
Well in the same way that Jesus willingly committed himself to the Lord’s service, he is also calling on each and every one of us as Christians to commit ourselves to serving the Lord with our lives. He is calling on us to do this right now, because today is the only day we have. Yesterday is already past and gone and we don’t know if tomorrow will ever come. This, in fact, is the very thoughts that Luke records beginning in verse 57: “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Luke 9:57,58, NIV)
This man was truly excited and gung-ho about following the Lord Jesus. He was ready to travel with Jesus, wherever he went no matter what the cost or the concern. But when he conveyed his commitment to Jesus, Jesus answered him in a way that this man may not have expected. What Jesus simply said was, “Think about this.” He didn’t say, “No. Don’t follow me.” Instead he simply said, “Think about this.” In essence Jesus was telling this man to consider the best course of action. Would it be best for this man to follow after Jesus wherever he might go, or would it be best for him to follow Jesus by remaining where he was and committing himself to serving the Lord where he was. Either way he might be forced to give up a few things. He might face mocking and ridicule, but he would be serving the Lord in the best place for himself.
Jesus is saying the same thing to each and every one of us as he calls on us to commit ourselves to his service. He is not saying that we all have to run out and go back to school to become pastors or teachers. Rather, he is calling on us to make the most of every opportunity we are given in our situation in life to serve the Lord with our lives. Though we may face hardship or troubles, mocking or ridicule, Jesus will be with us as we serve him with our lives.
The second example: look at verse 59. He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59,60, NIV)
This time it was different. Jesus approached a man and called him to follow as one of Jesus’ disciples. This was a man who had undoubtedly followed Jesus before. This was a man who had been with Jesus and had been instructed by Jesus, as was Jesus’ practice before calling someone to be a disciple. The problem was that this call came at a very inconvenient time. The man had just lost his father, and was going to the funeral. He was essentially asking for a few days delay. But if you think about it, this invitation was coming as Jesus was passing through for the last time. This was the last time Jesus was coming through this village and Jesus is calling on this man to take hold of the invitation to serve today, because tomorrow might never come.
One last example: look at verse 61: “Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61,62, NIV)
Knowing this man’s heart, Jesus was concerned for him. He was concerned that if he went back to his family, they might steal his dream of following after Jesus. They might persuade him to remain at home rather than serving the Lord with his life. They might even challenge his faith or ask him to give up his faith in Jesus all together. The same is true for us. When we commit ourselves to the lord we may have to remove ourselves from some associations lest they seek to remove our faith and our commitment to the Lord, from us.
Though there may be times in life when we face hardships and difficulties because we have committed ourselves to the service of the Lord, we know that our Savior will be with us. Though we may be mocked and ridiculed for what we believe, we know that our Savior will help us through. Though there may be times when we find that serving the Lord isn’t the most convenient, we know that that it is the most important thing that we as Christians can do with our lives. Though there may be times when friend or family seek to lead us astray, we trust that the Lord our Savior will give us the strength we need to continue in our commitment to him. For the truth is, because we have committed ourselves to the service of the Lord, the Lord is always with us. He is the one who is by our sides. He is the one who will deliver us to eternal life.
That is our greatest comfort today. Though today is the fourth of July and the day we are celebrating our nation’s independence, more importantly we are celebrating our independence from sin and slavery to death. For it is through faith in Jesus that we have been freed from sin and death and are now able to commit ourselves to serving the Lord.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
Thursday, September 10, 2009
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 ChristiansChristians who have been called to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts through the Word of Godand 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
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 ChristiansChristians who have been called to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts through the Word of Godand 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
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