Gentlemen, Lovingly Cherish Your Wives! (Ephesians 5:25-33)

Series:   What I'd Like to Know Is… (3/6)

August 12, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

Fourteen years ago today, at this very moment, (roughly 9:30 AM)  my wife and I were probably beginning our descent into Charlotte, NC, which was where we would catch the connecting flight to Ft. Lauderdale, which is where we would continue the joyful adventure that was our honeymoon.  Though it had only been a few days since I had promised my love and my faithfulness to her, I had lovingly cherished her for the four years that we dated before we were married.  Though fourteen years have passed for us, my love for her has only grown.  I have continued to lovingly cherish my wife as the precious gift which my heavenly Father gave to me.  And yet, even though I can honestly say all of this to you, I cannot tell you that I have done any of it perfectly.  For as I studied the words of our lesson and the expectations that the Lord has placed on me as a man, and a husband and a father, I was cut to the heart to realize that though I have lovingly cherished my wife for the past fourteen years, I have nowhere near lovingly cherished my wife in the way that the Lord would have me. 

Take a look at what I mean, turn with me to our lesson in Ephesians and take a look at the responsibilities with which the Lord is charging us as men and husbands.  Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:25–33, NIV84)

Wow!  These are some very powerful words.  These are some very serious responsibilities with which the Lord God, our heavenly Father is charging us as men.  And these responsibilities, though they are being proclaimed to husbands, do not only apply to husbands!  These responsibilities with which the Lord is charging husbands today are responsibilities with which he is charging every single male person; whether he is a young boy, a teen-ager, a young man, a middle-aged man, an elderly man, a husband, or a father.  If you are male, whether you are married or not, whether you are young or whether you are old, the Lord your God, your heavenly Father, is charging you to lovingly cherish your wife!  Lovingly cherish your wife through your words and actions in marriage, outside of marriage, before you are married, and especially after you have been married.

But how do I do that?  Take a look again at verse 25 and following: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25–27, NIV84)

With just a few simple words, the Lord lays out exactly what he wants us, as men, to do for women, and especially for our wives.  He wants us to love them.  But the love talked about here is not the love of some gushy emotion that moves us into fleshly lusts of passion like we see on TV where couples who barely know each other are jumping into bed for thrills and giggles.  No.  The Lord wants us to love our wives with the same type of self-sacrificing love with which Christ loved the church.  This is agape love; self-sacrificing love.  This is love that has nothing to do with whether that loved is deserved or not.  This is the love that moved the Lord, our God, to write our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life, even though there is not single one of us who did anything to deserve it!  This is the love that Christ bestowed upon his church, his people, each and every one of us when he loved us so deeply and so strongly that he gave up his life for us on the cross, to wash us clean of our sins, so that we could be presented to himself as a radiant, stain-free bride.  This is the kind of love that moved mothers to cover their children and moved husbands, fiancées, and even boy-friends to step between the shooter and the women who were with them, when shots rang out in that Colorado theater last month.  This is the kind of love that in some cases caused men and women to give up their lives so that others might live.

This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord calls husbands to cherish their wives.  This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord charges young men and teen-boys to cherish their girl-friends and fiancées so that they do not, in any way steal the gift of virginity which is a woman’s gift to give only to her husband on her wedding night.  This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord wants us to cherish our wives and the women in our lives, so that we do not give into the temptation of pornography, whether it be the soft pornography that we see on a daily basis on magazine covers in the checkout lines of stores everywhere, or it be the hard-core pornography that so many men seek out in magazines and on the internet.  This is the self-sacrificing love with which the Lord wants us to crucify ourselves and our own evil desires so that we turn to him in repentance for our sins.  This is the self-sacrificing love that moves us to no longer look for what we can get out of a relationship and moves us to no longer see our wives as nothing more than a cook, a baby-sitter, a clothes washer, and a sex partner.  Rather this is the type of love that moves us to see her as the God given treasure that she is!  A woman to be cherished, to be nurtured, and to be loved with the same self-sacrificing love with which Christ loved his church and even handed over his very life unto death for her.

Gentlemen, as sons of our heavenly Father, the Lord our God wants us to lovingly cherish our wives in the same way that Christ lovingly cherished his church, just as Paul tells us in verses 28 and following, “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body." (Ephesians 5:28–30, NIV84)

Now, can I get a show of hands?  How many of you hate your own body?  How many of you, if given the chance, would do everything you can to purposefully hurt or harm your own body?  None of us here!  Good grief, we stub our toes and suddenly we are hopping around the living room like neurotic bunnies or collapsed in a chair weeping like little children.  We get a paper cut, and suddenly we can’t mow the lawn because the vibrations are causing too much pain for us to bear.  If our head begins to ache, or our muscles tense, it’s off to the medicine cupboard for a couple of aspirin.  If we are tired, we sit down to rest in our favorite chair.  If we’re bored, we flip on the TV to see what’s on.  If we’re thirsty we get something to drink.  If we’re hungry we get something to eat.  None of us hates our own bodies, but we take care of them, we feed them and nourish them because we love our bodies.  In truth, some of us like our bodies a whole lot more than we should, which is why the diet and nutrition industry is so huge in our country. 

But all joking aside, Gentlemen, it is very clear what the Lord is saying to us!  He is calling on us to lovingly cherish our wives.  He is calling on us to love our wives, to care for our wives, and to nurture our wives in the same way that we love, and care for, and nurture our own bodies.  He is calling on us to take the role of nurturer in our homes by feeding our families with the word of God.  That means, men, that your heavenly Father is calling on you to recognize your role as spiritual leader in your family.  It is your responsibility, men, to live as an example for your children.  It is your responsibility, men to teach your children about Jesus, to bring them to Sunday School so that they can learn about their Savior, and bring your wife to Bible Study so that the two of you can grow together in God’s Word.  It is your responsibility, men to change your habits and to teach your family that Sunday is the most important day of the week; that Sunday is not a day for sleeping in.  You can take a nap after church!  You can go to bed early on Sunday night, but Sunday is not a day for sleeping in!  It is your responsibility, men, to teach your children and your family what my father taught me, and I quote, “I don’t care how late you stay up on Saturday, you will be awake and attentive in church on Sunday morning even if I have to sit next to you and keep poking you all the way through the service.”  I know it might sound legalistic, but by my father’s example, I learned just how important it was for me to be in worship.  It is because of my Father’s example that my children are always in church.  Even if I wasn’t the Pastor, my children would be in church with me every week.  They would be in Sunday School while my wife and I attended Bible Study, and even if I wasn’t a Pastor, we would still be sending our children to the nearest WELS school we could find.  We would be doing this because my job as husband and father is to nurture my family in the word of God through my teaching, through my example, through my words, and through my actions. 

But why is this our responsibility?  Why is it important for us to lovingly cherish our wives like this?  Take a look at what Paul tells us in verses 32-33: “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:32–33, NIV84) 

It is so important for us to lovingly cherish our wives, because marriage is the sacred gift that the Lord God instituted between one man and one woman.  No matter what society might say, marriage is the gift that the Lord instituted between one man and one woman.  It is important for us to lovingly cherish our wives like this because just as our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, so also our marriages are a picture of Christ and his Church.  In the same way that Christ lovingly cherished his bride, the church, so also we, as husbands are called on to lovingly cherish our brides, the women whom the Lord has given to stand by our sides; the mothers of our children; the women who have agreed to marry us, the girls and women who have entered into a relationship with us as our girl-friends. 

So then, how do we do it?  How do we lovingly cherish our wives as God would have us do?  Let me give you 10 practical ways to lovingly cherish your wives as God would have you.  These come an audio CD by Pastor Paul Tsika.  Those of you who have gone through my pre-marriage course will recognize them: 

1)    Refuse to use harsh and condescending words when talking to her.

2)    Praise her before others, especially in front of your children. 

3)    Be attentive to her and what she is saying: Stop what you are doing, look into her eyes, and really listen, with your heart, to what she is saying to you. 

4)    Ask for and consider her counsel; she is your life partner. 

5)    Provide her with resources that she needs to fulfill her responsibilities. 

6)    Never embarrass her in front of others by exposing her weaknesses. 

7)    Dwell on positive qualities as much as possible. 

8)    Never allow children to talk disrespectfully to her. 

9)    Use kindness and gentleness in all your dealings with her. 

10) Attribute the best possible motives to her actions. 

 The last three come from me. 

1)     Get yourself a copy of The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. 

2)     Read it and discover what your wife’s primary love language is. 

3)     Speak to her in her primary love language every single day. 

Laura’s primary love language is quality time, and every day, I make sure that I am in the kitchen with her while she is cooking supper.  I’m usually doing the dishes at that time so that we can have more quality time later.

The final thing that I have for you today on how to lovingly cherish your wife is really the first thing, and we will close with it.  Turn to the Lord in repentance for all your failings and has for his forgiveness.  Though it is not our normal practice, we will close our sermon today with our confession and God’s forgiveness.  Gentlemen, take out of your bulletins the ½ sheet insert and join me in repentant confession and forgiveness.  In this confession we will be confessing some very specific sins, like pornography.  Though we all struggle with different sins, let us all boldly confess each of these sins so that our joint confession might be a blessing and a source of strength for our brothers and even our sisters who are dealing with these specific sins.

P:        Let us confess our sins to the Lord God, our heaven Father,

P/C:           Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a troubled and repentant sinner, confess that I have sinned against you in my thoughts, my words, and my actions.  I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved others as I should; I have not lovingly cherished my wife as you would have me.  I have not selflessly loved her, nor have I loved her with self-sacrificing love.  I have committed adultery by lusting after others.  I have been tempted by pornography and allowed it to inspire other lusts in my mind.  I have not loved my wife as I love myself, nor have I always recognized or seized my position as the spiritual leader of my family.

Silence for personal confession.

P/C: I am troubled by my sins, and I renounce them before you.  I renounce my sins to you and seek to go and leave my life of sin.  Lord Jesus, I ask your forgiveness on each and every one of my sins; those I remember and those I do not.  I ask you to cleanse me of my sins, my body, my soul, and my spirit; my heart, my mind, and my will.  Send your Holy Spirit into my heart to assure me of your forgiveness and to help me receive the forgiveness that you so willingly pour out on me.  Help me amend my life and live as your dearly loved son, lovingly cherishing my wife as you lovingly cherished me and gave yourself up for me.

P:        Jesus says to his people; “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.”  His death has paid for the guilt of your sins, and indeed the sins of the entire world.  Go now and live in this forgiveness to the glory of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

C:      Amen.

P:        And the peace of God, which comes through the forgiveness of sins, the peace that goes beyond all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds through faith in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

The Lord's judgments are just and righteous! (Jeremiah 17:5-8)

February 5, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

If you were to find yourself on trial for one reason or another, I’m sure you would want to have the best legal defense team you could find.  You would want an attorney who would calmly, confidently, and persuasively argue your case before a jury of your peers.  You would want a jury that would carefully weigh all the testimony made in that courtroom and come to the verdict which the evidence clearly showed.  You would want a judge who would make just and right judgment based on the verdict rendered by the jury.  Well, as Christians, this is what we have.  For we have a just and righteous God in heaven who has never in his life made a snap judgment based on a whim or other emotional factor.  Rather, it is our God in heaven who has provided the world with the documentation of his law, and now judges the world on the basis of that law.  Because of this, we know that when the Lord makes his judgments they are both just and righteous.  This is something that we will see more clearly as we study the text before us today. For through this lesson recorded in Jeremiah 17 we will see that even though those who turn from the Lord are cursed, those who trust in him are blessed, because the Lord’s judgments are truly just and righteous!

Take a look at what Jeremiah has to tell us in the first two verse of our lesson today:  “This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives." (Jeremiah 17:5–6, NIV84)

Now, when Jeremiah first spoke these words to the Israelites living in the Southern kingdom of Judah, he spoke them as the Lord’s judgment against all who had turned their backs on him.  For in the days of Jeremiah, the people of Israel had all but forgotten about the Lord their God.  They had turned to the worship of idols made of wood and stone.  They had forsaken the Lord’s temple, and they had killed many of the Lord’s prophets rather than listening to them.  Though they were still one of the most prosperous nations at the time, they were not living under the Lord’s blessing, but under his curse.  Though to an outside observer they looked like a strong and healthy nation, spiritually they were nothing more than a dead and dried up old bush in the middle of a burning desert wasteland.  And because of this, all those who had turned their backs on the Lord had nothing to look forward to but the curse of eternal death and damnation forever in the fires of hell.

The same thing is true today!  We are living in a land that is quickly turning its back on the Lord.  So many of our leaders in every level of government are turning their backs on our Nation’s God fearing roots, and encouraging us as a people to do whatever they want and believe whatever they want to believe.  Though as a nation, we may be the wealthiest, most prosperous people on the face of the earth, spiritually our nation is quickly becoming a scorched and burning desert wasteland.  Though our country may have been founded on Christian morals back in the 1700’s, those morals are constantly be challenged, cut down, and tossed aside.  For example: 30 years ago, when the Rowe v. Wade decision made abortion legal, murder was suddenly made convenient, abstinence was no longer an issue, sexual immorality was given an open door, and human life was no longer regarded as sacred.  Now today, our nation is quickly sliding down the path, which leads only to the Lord’s righteous judgment and destruction.

How long will it be until we are overrun like the Israelites, who were overrun by the Babylonians?  How long will it be until the Lord says, “Enough!” and simply allows our nation to collapse from within?  I do not know. But I do know that if our nation continues on the course it is following now, turning its back on the Lord and relying on its own ingenuity, all that will be left for it will be the Lord’s curse and his righteous judgment of destruction. Though this might be a disturbing picture for us as Americans, this is the warning that the Lord is directing not only toward our great nation, but it is also the warning which he is directing toward you and me as Christians.

Yes, this is the warning which the Lord is directing even toward us as Christians!  For with these words our Lord is telling us that if we turn our backs on him we will face his fierce and righteous judgment.  If we grow weary of drinking the water of life found in his word, we will be surprised at how parched we will quickly become and how none of the world’s beverages will be able to slake that thirst.  If we find ourselves wandering away from him, growing lazy in worship, or simply giving up to embrace our sins, we know that we could be facing the double barreled curse of eternal death and damnation forever in the fires of hell. This is why the Lord is so fervently warning us with the consequences of turning our backs on him.  For if we, who know the truth of God’s salvation, turn our backs on that salvation there will be nothing left for us except eternal suffering in the burning wasteland of eternal damnation; burning under the scorching heat of the Lord’s justice and punishment for all who turn their backs on him.  Which is the heart of God’s Righteous Judgments!

But this is not the end of the story, for if it were, we would have nothing to look forward to.  We would find no joy in the service of the Lord our God because we would see him as nothing more than an angry and vengeful God.  But this is not the way we see him, and this is not the way we know him.  For we know the Lord as the God who has told us: “all who trust in him will be blessed.”  This is the other side of our Lord’s just and righteous judgments!  For though he will truly curse all those who forsake him, we know that he will indeed bless all who trust in him.

This was the message, which Jeremiah also carried to the people of Israel.  For even though nearly the entire nation of Israel had turned their backs on the Lord there were still those who had remained faithful to him, and it was to those people that Jeremiah said: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7–8, NIV84)

With these words, not only was the Lord assuring his faithful people that they would be blessed if they trusted in him, he is also assuring us that by trusting in him, we will truly be blessed no matter what we might face in this life.  For when we trust in the Lord we are those who listen to the Lord’s Prophet.  We are like trees planted by streams of water.  When our trust is in the Lord we are able to sink our roots down deep into water of his word.  We are able to grow tall and strong because we are constantly receiving all the nutrition that we could possibly need.  We are able to spread our branches high and wide so that we might provide shade and comfort to those who need it most.  Even though we might face the severe heat of trials and hardships in this life, though we often face the blistering sun of temptation, when we are rooted in the word, trusting in the Lord our God, our leaves will not wither or fall.  For when we place our trust in the Lord, it is the Lord who sees us through every trouble.  When we place our trust in the Lord we have the ability to let go of our worries and simply follow where he leads.  When we trust in the Lord, we are able to accept whatever challenges or hardships he might place on us, and wear them with joy, knowing that if he asks us to bear them he will also give us more than enough strength to stand up under them.  We will be able to stand up as his children under his just and righteous judgments.

This was the very privilege that the Lord gave to a family in my neighborhood while I was still in grade school.  For when I was in seventh grade, the smith family down the street lost their 18-year-old son in a car accident.  The son, who had been out deer hunting, was returning home when a deer jumped out in front of his car, it crashed through the windshield, broke the son’s neck, and he died that night even before he reached the hospital.  On top of that, a few short months after his funeral, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and even though the doctors did everything they could to fight it, she died less than four years later.  Though I don’t remember much from the son’s funeral, I remember clearly the events of the wife’s.  I remember standing in the receiving line at the funeral home.  I remember countless friends talking with the husband and crying with him.  I remember even more people hugging him and offering their words of sympathy.  I remember wondering how someone could ever endure the death of his son and wife within a few short years of each other.  But the most amazing thing I remember is the solid rock of faith that this man was when it was our turn to talk to him.  I remember his unwavering trust in the Lord his God.  I remember how he accepted this new tragedy, confidently assured that the Lord had not forsaken him, and knowing that he would see both his wife and his son again when the Lord called him from this life to eternal life in heaven.

This is the justice and the righteousness of the Lord’s judgments.  These are the kinds of blessings that we also receive here on this earth when we trust in the Lord.  Though we may not have a stress free life, though we may not have all the money or possessions we might want, though our eyesight may not be the best, or our hearing might be failing, though our heart might not work the way we want or we find ourselves living away from family and friends, when we trust in the Lord we can still find joy and fulfillment in all these situations through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior!  When we trust in the Lord our God, we find his blessings in every aspect of our day to day lives.  When we trust in the Lord our God, our greatest blessing is the forgiveness of sins that his Son won for us through his death and resurrection.  This is the just and righteous judgment that the Lord has for you and me as his children, and this is the judgment with which he longs to bless the world.

Though our world may have turned its back on the Lord, sliding ever closer to the curse of damnation there is still hope for each and every person who trusts in the Lord.  For just as those in Israel who trusted in the Lord were saved when the Babylonians came, those in our world today who trust in the Lord will be saved by their faith.  This is the message that we as Christians now bring to the world at large.  Though we may not be able to lead all the people of the world to turn their trust to the Lord, through the working of the Lord, and the power of his word, we will be able to lead some to place their trust in him as their God.  Those who do will no longer face the Lord’s curse, but will look forward to the Lord’s righteous judgment, which will shower his blessings upon them. These are the Lord’s just and righteous judgments!  Though they are different than the judgments handed down in a courtroom, they are based on the law of the Lord our God.  May we never be found among those who turn their backs on him and look forward to nothing but his curse, but rather let us always be found among those who trust in him and live in his blessings.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Learn from Israel's Example (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)

Dear friends in Christ.

The story has been told about a Sunday morning back in 1865, when a black man entered a fashionable church in Richmond Virginia. When Communion was served, he walked down the aisle and knelt at the altar, which sent a rustle of resentment through the congregation. “How dare he!” was the thought running through the congregation. After all, the believers used the common cup for communion! Suddenly a distinguished layman stood up, stepped forward to the altar, and knelt beside that man. With Robert E. Lee setting the example, the rest of the congregation soon followed his lead. Well in the same way that the members of that Virginia congregation followed and learned from the example of Robert E. Lee, so also the Lord is calling on us to learn from the example of the Israelites so that rather than setting our hearts on evil, we might set them on the faithfulness of the Lord our God.
Now, as our text opens this morning, we have the Apostle Paul reminding us of the Israelites example so that we might not set our hearts on evil as they did. In fact, as we heard this lesson read just a few moments ago, the Israelites were a very special people. They were the people whom the Lord had chosen to be his own. They were the people whom the Lord had led out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. They were the people who saw the plagues that the Lord God visited on the Egyptians. They were the people who saw the waters of the Red Sea draw back so that they could cross it on dry ground. They were the people who watched as Pharaoh’s army, which had pursued them into the midst of the sea, was drowned as the waters came crashing down upon them. But even though they were God’s chosen people, Paul tells us: “God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.” (1 Corinthians 10:5)
Sadly, those few words are but a summary of the example of the Israelites from which the Lord would have us learn today. For as we look back into their history we see how they tested God’s patience on many different occasions. We hear how they grumbled and complained against the Lord because they simply weren’t satisfied with what he was giving them. We see how quickly they grew impatient with the Lord as their leader, erecting an idol of a golden calf as their god, and indulging in sexual immorality with the women of Moab. From their history, we see how so many of them set their hearts on evil, turned away from the Lord and by their example are teaching us the exact opposite of how the Lord would have us live. But now comes the question: Have we learned from their example not to set our hearts on evil? Or have we simply followed the example they set for us and not learned from it in any way?
If we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit that too often we have simply followed their example and set our hearts on evil. For the truth is, we, too, are God’s chosen people, chosen to be his own through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We are the people who have witnessed the Glory of his salvation in the death and resurrection of his Son. We are the people who, through faith, have been connected to the Israelites of old and now look forward to the Promised Land of heaven where we will live with the Lord forever. But sadly, all too often we have acted exactly like the Israelites did on the way to Canaan. Though we have never collected jewelry and other precious items with which to forge a golden calf idol so that we might sit down to eat and drink at a festival to this god and then get up to indulge in pagan revelry, we too are guilty of idolatry. For each and every time we allow anything to become more important to us than the Lord and his Word, that thing becomes an idol to us. Whenever we let work, school, vacation, leisure time, or anything else keep us from worshiping the Lord, we become guilty of idolatry. Whenever we allow worship, Bible study, or even home devotions to be an optional thing, we allow the Lord’s importance in our hearts to drop a peg or two, and when he is no longer number 1, we become idolaters who have replaced him with another god.
Though we may never have committed sexual immorality by going out and sleeping with another person before we were married or even while we were married, each and every one of us is just as guilty as the Israelites who went of to sleep with the Moabites. For we have all been tempted by the lust in our hearts. We have all lusted after another man or woman, if even for the briefest second. We have all sat and watched love scenes on television or in movies, we have been enraptured by the lives of soap opera stars and their multiple partners, we have all listened to the town gossip about who is shacking up with whom, and in doing so, we have been found guilty of sexual immorality.
Though we may have never tested the Lord, nor grumbled against him because all we had to eat was this lousy manna, we too have tested his patience with our grumbling and complaining. For how often haven’t we complained about the heat in the middle of summer, the cold in the middle of winter, the mud in the middle of spring, and the dry and dusty land in the middle of Fall. How often haven’t we complained that we don’t have all the things we want, or all the money we think we need. How often haven’t we complained about the government, the state, the city, the school, the church, our employers or employees, or anyone else that we could think of at that moment. How often haven’t we been angry with the Lord, because he hasn’t done what we wanted him to do, or because he has taken our loved one from this vale of sorrow to his or her heavenly joy.
Yes, there can be no doubt about it, we are guilty. We are guilty of every sin that the Israelites committed. Though the things they did were written down to keep us from setting our hearts on evil, it seems that we have rather followed their example and set our hearts on every evil the world has to offer. Because of this, we know that we deserve nothing but God’s wrath and eternal punishment. We deserve to be victims of one of the Lord’s plagues. We deserve to die from the bite of poisonous snakes. We deserve to be cut down by the destroying angel, and suffer eternal damnation for every sin we have ever committed against the Lord.
But even though this is what we deserve, this is the very thing that the Lord has not visited upon us; for the Lord our God is faithful! It was he who saw to it that the example of the Israelites would be written down so that we could learn from them and see how he reveals his great faithfulness. For even though we have constantly set our hearts on evil, it is the Lord who offers his forgiveness and now teaches us to set our hearts on his great faithfulness.
Now, when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, calling on them to learn from Israel’s example so that they would not set their hearts on evil, he also urged them to learn from the Israelites example so that they would set their hearts on the faithfulness of their God. This, in fact, is the very thing that Paul is conveying as he writes in the last two verses of our text: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12,13)
With these words, Paul was warning the Corinthians to guard their lives, leaning solely on God’s faithfulness so that they would not fall into temptation. But he was also telling them that when they were tempted, their God would provide them with a way out so they could stand up under it. However, if they did fall into temptation and sin against their God, they could rely on the forgiveness of sins provided to them through their faithful God.
This was the very thing the Lord did for his people Israel. Though they were unfaithful to him on many occasions, and he regularly visited them with his wrath, he still remained faithful to them. For he was always there ready with his forgiveness whenever they sinned against him as they so often did. Though the Israelites were made to wander in the wilderness for forty years because they had turned against the Lord, he did still lead them into Canaan as he had promised. Though many were killed by the poisonous snakes in the desert, those who looked with faith on the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up were healed and lived. Though many died by the sword when Moses came down from the mountain and saw the people worshiping the golden calf, those who repented received the Lord’s forgiveness. Though many died in a plague when they grumbled against the Lord, those who looked to him in sorrow over their sins received the forgiveness that he offered them.
This is the second lesson that we want to learn from the Israelites example. For we too, like they want to learn to set our hearts on the faithfulness of the Lord our God. We want to rely on our God first of all for the strength to avoid temptations that come our way. We want to look to him and trust that he will provide a way out so that we can stand up under the temptations that are besieging us, but we also want to set our hearts on his faithfulness, turning to him in repentance whenever we sin against him. And this is what he has given us. For even though we have been unfaithful to him, he has remained faithful to us. Though we have been found guilty of idolatry, in his faithfulness, the Lord has removed the guilt of our sins. Though we have been found guilty of sexual immorality, our faithful God has washed us clean of every spot and stain of our sins. Though we have been found guilty of grumbling and complaining against the Lord our God, whenever we turn to him in repentance, he turns to us with his forgiveness.
What greater lesson could the Lord be teaching us to day than this! For through the Israelites example, we have learned of his faithfulness and the forgiveness he freely offers us when we turn to him in repentance. Let us always be students of God’s Word so that we might continue to learn from the example of the Israelites, continually placing our hearts on the faithfulness of the Lord our God. Let us learn from the example of the Israelites in the same way that the people learned from the example of Robert E Lee. Let us continually turn to the Lord in repentance, trust in his forgiveness, and learn from the Israel’s example so that we set our hearts on his faithfulness rather than on the evil of our sins.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN