Dear friends in Christ.
What would you do if you only had 24 hours left to live? What would you do if you knew that in exactly 24 hours from this very moment, your life on earth would come to an end? How would you invest your time? Who would you want to see, one last time? What words of wisdom would you want to share? What places would you want to visit one last time? Though questions like these might seem a bit formulaic, we all recognize that they are simply designed to make us think about God’s gift of time and how we use it. For the truth is, time is truly a gift—a valuable, yet limited treasure that God places into our lives. Each morning we are credited with 1,440 minutes for us to use to spend with our God, with our family, with our friends, with our neighbors, even with the body of believers that make up the church of God. Yet, even though we are credited with 1,440 minutes each morning, our unused minutes of time to not roll over to the next day. We cannot borrow minutes from the future to add to this particular day. If we fail to use the time we’ve been given in any particular day, that time is gone and can never be retrieved. Not only that, but if you really think about it, when we go to sleep at the end of the day, we might be going to sleep for the last time in this world. We may be closing our eyes in sleep in this life only to open them by our Savior’s side in heaven, because our God has not told us how long we will live before he calls us home to heaven. Our God has not promised that we will a tomorrow. In essence, our God has orchestrated it that we live only 24 hours at a time!
Yet, how often don’t we spend our time in ways that suggest that we will live forever? How often don’t we find ourselves telling our children, tomorrow, tomorrow, and yet when tomorrow comes we still don’t have the time that we promised for them? How often don’t we find ourselves trapped in the cycle of the urgent, rushing from one thing to the next until we finally make it home, exhausted, with barely enough energy to heat something in microwave and collapse in front of the TV? How often don’t we find ourselves too busy reading the paper, listening to the radio, watching TV, or doing any number of other things, that we simply don’t take the time we need to grow and develop our relationships with our spouse, or our children, our friends, our relatives, our neighbors, our fellow members of the body of Christ, and especially with our God himself? How often don’t we find that we can make time for all the things that we really want to do, but we simply aren’t able to find time for the things that are most important for our lives?
Well, if you’ve ever felt that way, turn with me now to Joshua 24:1, and we’ll here Joshua himself calling on us to change. Now, as you are turning to Joshua 24:1 like always, here comes the context, the background. The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness had come to an end. The Israelites had finally taken possession of the land the Lord promised to Abraham 500 years earlier. Joshua gathered the people in the town of Shechem, which was the very place the Lord had given a 75 year-old Abraham the promise that Abraham’s descendants would be given this land. (Genesis 12:4-7). Shechem was also the place where Jacob and his family had buried all their household gods, after the Lord had appeared to him. (Genesis 35:1-5) Now, as Joshua stands before the community of Israel he is calling on them to renew their commitment to the Lord and in their commitment put the Lord first by making time for him. Take a look with me at Joshua 24:1-15
1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. 2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 “ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time. 8 “ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand. 11 “ ‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ 14 “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. 15 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 24:1-15, NIV)
In these verses Joshua took time to remind the Israelites of all the things the Lord had done for them as they traveled from Egypt to Canaan, as they wanted in the wilderness for 40 years, and as they finally entered into the Land of Canaan and claimed it as their own, in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise. 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, reminded them of all the Lord had done for them and then called on them to use their time 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 use our time 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. 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, a video store, a red box, a blue box, and if I counted correctly 10 different places in Le Sueur, a lone, where we can go out to eat if we don’t feel like eating at home. 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).
This is what Joshua is calling on us to do. He is calling on us to dedicate ourselves to the Lord. He is calling on us to make time for the Lord, and he is calling on us to throw away all the other gods that steal our time and keep us from dedicating ourselves to the Lord. Now, in your bulletins, is a half sheet of paper titled, “Now fear the Lord… (Josh 24:14).” Take that out and start writing on it all the different “gods” that have kept you from dedicating yourself to the Lord—gods of anger, greed, frustration, malice; gods of discontent, gossip, selfishness, pride; gods of pleasure, TV, Internet, PSP, Nintendo, x-box, youtube, facebook, twitter, sports, or whatever it might be. Write them all down as you think of them, no matter what they might be. Write them down as we conclude the sermon, even as they come to you during the rest of the service. Then, as we leave the church we will throw them all away in a garbage can in the narthex. As soon as the last person has thrown his or her gods, I will personally close the bag, tie it tight and discard it so that no one need to be afraid that someone will read what you wrote.
So then, as you continue dedicating yourself to the Lord, let me end by asking you a question: “What are you going to do with the rest of the time that the Lord has given you on this day, which could very well be the last day of your life on the earth?
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label Youtube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youtube. Show all posts
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Come and sit at your Savior's feet (Luke 10:38-42)
Dear friends in Christ.
“If you are a dreamer, come in, If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!” (Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends,(9) New York: Harper and Row. 1974.)
When Shel Silverstein published his first collection of poems in the book entitled, Where the Sidewalk Ends, he began with the poem I just read to you. He began with an invitation designed to connect to his audience and invite people into his world. He began with an invitation to simply sit by his fire and join him in spinning some flax -golden tails; and his invitation worked! For since 1974, more than 4.5 million copies of Where the Sidewalk Ends have been sold, making it the bestselling children’s poetry book ever. Since 1974 millions, maybe even billions of people have accepted his invitation to come in, to sit by his fire, and to join him in spinning some flax-golden tales. Well, in the same way that Shel Silverstein came to his readers with an invitation, so also our Savior is coming to us with an invitation today. Though Jesus may not be inviting us to sit by his fire and spin some flax-golden tales, he is inviting each and every one of us to come and sit at his feet so that we might be built up in our faith through the better thing, the one thing needful, the word of God.
But even though Jesus is essentially standing before us this morning and inviting us to come and sit at his feet so that we might learn the precious truths of salvation, how often do we actually accept that invitation? Though we have gathered this morning to sit at our Savior’s feet, will we take time to sit at his feet tomorrow and read through his Word for ourselves? Will we take time to sit down at his feet at regular intervals this week and listen to Jesus speak the precious truths of salvation through the Bibles we keep so securely stored on our bookshelves and coffee tables? Will we take time out of our schedules again next Sunday to gather in this place to sit at our Savior’s feet, or will the busyness of Giant Days distract us from time together with our Savior?
Why is it, do you think, that so many Christians are so distracted by so many things that they simply cannot find the time to sit at their Savior’s feet in worship, or in their personal Bible reading at home? Why is it that we can find all the time in the world to watch TV, or get lost in a good book, read the newspaper without distractions, catch up on our blogging, search Youtube, connect on Facebook, and yet we can’t find 5 minutes during the week to pick up the Bible and read it? Why is it that when Sunday morning rolls around 9 AM is too early to gather for worship in the Summer and 10 AM is too late to gather for worship in the Fall? Why is it that we find it so important to send our children to Sunday School, but we can’t be bothered to take time for Bible Study ourselves, or to stay for worship after we’ve picked our kids up from Family Education Hour? Why is it that when we actually make a plan to sit down at our Savior’s feet with Bible in hand, we find ourselves distracted by so many of life’s worries? Why is it that we start off with a good Bible reading plan and yet find it difficult to follow through? Why is it that when we actually begin to make headway in reading the Word for ourselves we get bogged down in books like Deuteronomy, or Chronicles, or Kings, and before we know it we simply stop sitting at our Savior’s feet because we got frustrated with what we were reading in his word?
Why is it? Because the very last thing that satan, our enemy, wants us to be doing, is sitting at the feet of our Savior and learning the precious truths of salvation. He doesn’t want us in church because then we might be strengthened in our faith not only through the word but by all the other believers who have gathered and who are struggling with similar problems. He doesn’t want us reading the Scriptures for ourselves, because we might read something that makes us all the more committed to sitting at our Savior’s feet every chance we get. So he distracts us and does everything he can to keep us from our Savior, just as he did with Martha in our Gospel lesson this morning. Now, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel Lesson, Luke 10:38 on page 1028. There, in Luke 10 we’ll take a look at how satan worked to distract Mary and Martha from sitting at our Savior’s feet and listening to the precious truths of salvation. As always, a little bit of back ground as you are opening to Luke 10:38. We’re not exactly sure when this event took place other than it was sometime after Jesus sent out the 72 and they returned. It has been thought that this event took place when Jesus came down to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication, which took place in late November or early December. But all we really know for certain is what Luke tells us in chapter 10 beginning with verse 38: “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38–42, NIV)
Though these words are so very familiar to us, they still pack a huge punch today, because they so clearly show how satan seeks to drive us to distraction even as Jesus invites us to sit at his feet and listen. Just think about how satan was at work in the background through this whole account. Luke tells us in verse 38 “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.” (Luke 10:38, NIV)
Now, there really isn’t anything unusual about this. Jesus came to Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany and Martha opened her house to him. Yet, there are some commentators who suggest that this visit by Jesus and his disciples may not have been a scheduled visit. There are some commentators who suggest that the reason for Martha’s distraction was because Jesus had not called ahead to tell them that he and 12 others, at least, were planning to stay at her house this night. They suggest that Martha was so distracted because she had so many things to get ready now that Jesus had dropped in on them. While this may be the case, all we know for certain is that satan used this as an opportunity to keep Martha from sitting at Jesus’ feet as Mary was, and he used it as an opportunity to try to distract Mary who was so quietly sitting at Jesus’ feet. Just imagine the scene, Jesus and his disciples were welcomed into the home. Martha and Mary were probably quite busy making the preparations. Then Jesus sat down in a way that indicated he was going to do some teaching. Mary stopped what she was doing and sat down at Jesus’ feet to listen to what he had to say. However, as verse 40 tells us, “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40, NIV)
Martha was becoming worried about setting a meal on the table that would be good enough for her beloved Master. Undoubtedly, out of love for her Lord, she wanted to put on the best feast for him and serve him the very best that she could possibly offer, yet doing this meant that she would be giving up the privilege of sitting at the Lord’s feet as her sister was. Can’t you just hear satan whispering in her ear, telling her how she was doing the right thing by forgoing her opportunity to sit at the Savior’s feet? Can’t you just hear satan planting seeds of jealousy and frustration against her sister who was just sitting there? Can’t you just see her going to Jesus, expecting that Jesus will agree with her and tell Mary to stop sitting there and get up and help her? Yet, as verse 41 and 42 tell us, something completely different happened. Jesus answered, “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41–42, NIV)
In such a simply and loving way, Jesus thanks Martha for all the work of preparation that she had been doing, out of love for him. He chides her, even rebukes her for her sinful thoughts and attempt at trying to pull Mary away from sitting at his feet. He assures her that she is his dearly loved child who has been forgiven of all her sins, even this one of keeping Mary form sitting at his feet, and he even invites her to come and join them; to come sit at his feet and listen to the precious truths of salvation.
This is what the Lord Jesus is doing to each and every one of us today. He is chiding us, even rebuking us for being so distracted by all the things in life that we just simply cannot find time to sit at his feet in worship or in personal Bible readings. He rebukes us for our own attempts at keeping others from sitting down at the Savior’s feet by encouraging them not to come to church or read their Bibles as well as for those times when we have simply allowed friends, family members, even children to remain behind as we went to sit at the Lord’s feet. Yet, at the same time he is assuring us that we are his dearly loved children, who have been forgiven of all our sins, even our failure of sitting at his feet. And once again our Lord invites us to come and join him; to sit at his feet here in worship and at home in Bible reading as we listen to the precious truths of salvation that he has to teach us today.
But how do we do that? How do we answer his invitation to come and sit at his feet? The answer to that question is simple. First and foremost, we make the most of every opportunity to gather for worship on a Sunday morning, be it here at Grace, or at one of the congregations in our fellowship while we are on vacation. We make the most of every opportunity to encourage our children to seek out and find a congregation in our fellowship when they are away at school, or work, or have simply left the house. We make the most of every opportunity to sit at our Savior’s feet each day through worship and personal Bible reading each week. Maybe that means we take a paper copy of the sermon home with us, or we re-read it off our sermon site online. Maybe that means we schedule personal time each week when we can sit down and read the Bible for ourselves, or simply listen to it as we are commuting to and from work. Maybe it means that we set up a personal check list for the day including Bible Reading, and make sure that we are spending 15 minutes in the Bible each day, or simply reading through it a chapter at a time.
Now, understand that when you make a commitment to sit at your Savior’s feet, satan will do everything he can to distract you. There will be some days that you face quite a few struggles designed to keep you from sitting down and reading or listening to the word. There may be days when you wake up in the morning and realize that you missed the past day or the past few days, and satan has succeeded in keeping you from sitting at your Savior’s feet. When that happens, forgive yourselves immediately and pick up where you left off and continue on from that day forward. Continue on from that day forward because the more you are in the Word, the more your faith will grow. The more time you spend sitting at your Savior’s feet, the better you will understand the gift of salvation that your Savior has given. The more time you spend reading or listening to the Word, the more enjoyable worship will be each week, because you will begin to see connections you never saw before, like the connections that branch out from this lesson. In just a few months Lazarus will die, and both Mary and Martha’s faith will be intently tested. Yet through all that testing, they will confess their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior because they spent time on this day sitting at their Savior’s feet.
So, do just that. Make the most of every opportunity you have to sit at your Savior’s feet. If you haven’t been in the habit of reading the word for yourselves, use the 90 New Testament reading plan printed in your bulletins as a starting point for your own personal feet time with Jesus. For this is his invitation to us today. Though it may not be to sit by his fire and spin flax-golden tales, it is an invitation to sit at his feet as Mary did and learn from him. I pray that you would take hold of this invitation and make use of every opportunity you have to sit at the Lord’s feet and learn from him.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
“If you are a dreamer, come in, If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!” (Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends,(9) New York: Harper and Row. 1974.)
When Shel Silverstein published his first collection of poems in the book entitled, Where the Sidewalk Ends, he began with the poem I just read to you. He began with an invitation designed to connect to his audience and invite people into his world. He began with an invitation to simply sit by his fire and join him in spinning some flax -golden tails; and his invitation worked! For since 1974, more than 4.5 million copies of Where the Sidewalk Ends have been sold, making it the bestselling children’s poetry book ever. Since 1974 millions, maybe even billions of people have accepted his invitation to come in, to sit by his fire, and to join him in spinning some flax-golden tales. Well, in the same way that Shel Silverstein came to his readers with an invitation, so also our Savior is coming to us with an invitation today. Though Jesus may not be inviting us to sit by his fire and spin some flax-golden tales, he is inviting each and every one of us to come and sit at his feet so that we might be built up in our faith through the better thing, the one thing needful, the word of God.
But even though Jesus is essentially standing before us this morning and inviting us to come and sit at his feet so that we might learn the precious truths of salvation, how often do we actually accept that invitation? Though we have gathered this morning to sit at our Savior’s feet, will we take time to sit at his feet tomorrow and read through his Word for ourselves? Will we take time to sit down at his feet at regular intervals this week and listen to Jesus speak the precious truths of salvation through the Bibles we keep so securely stored on our bookshelves and coffee tables? Will we take time out of our schedules again next Sunday to gather in this place to sit at our Savior’s feet, or will the busyness of Giant Days distract us from time together with our Savior?
Why is it, do you think, that so many Christians are so distracted by so many things that they simply cannot find the time to sit at their Savior’s feet in worship, or in their personal Bible reading at home? Why is it that we can find all the time in the world to watch TV, or get lost in a good book, read the newspaper without distractions, catch up on our blogging, search Youtube, connect on Facebook, and yet we can’t find 5 minutes during the week to pick up the Bible and read it? Why is it that when Sunday morning rolls around 9 AM is too early to gather for worship in the Summer and 10 AM is too late to gather for worship in the Fall? Why is it that we find it so important to send our children to Sunday School, but we can’t be bothered to take time for Bible Study ourselves, or to stay for worship after we’ve picked our kids up from Family Education Hour? Why is it that when we actually make a plan to sit down at our Savior’s feet with Bible in hand, we find ourselves distracted by so many of life’s worries? Why is it that we start off with a good Bible reading plan and yet find it difficult to follow through? Why is it that when we actually begin to make headway in reading the Word for ourselves we get bogged down in books like Deuteronomy, or Chronicles, or Kings, and before we know it we simply stop sitting at our Savior’s feet because we got frustrated with what we were reading in his word?
Why is it? Because the very last thing that satan, our enemy, wants us to be doing, is sitting at the feet of our Savior and learning the precious truths of salvation. He doesn’t want us in church because then we might be strengthened in our faith not only through the word but by all the other believers who have gathered and who are struggling with similar problems. He doesn’t want us reading the Scriptures for ourselves, because we might read something that makes us all the more committed to sitting at our Savior’s feet every chance we get. So he distracts us and does everything he can to keep us from our Savior, just as he did with Martha in our Gospel lesson this morning. Now, if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel Lesson, Luke 10:38 on page 1028. There, in Luke 10 we’ll take a look at how satan worked to distract Mary and Martha from sitting at our Savior’s feet and listening to the precious truths of salvation. As always, a little bit of back ground as you are opening to Luke 10:38. We’re not exactly sure when this event took place other than it was sometime after Jesus sent out the 72 and they returned. It has been thought that this event took place when Jesus came down to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication, which took place in late November or early December. But all we really know for certain is what Luke tells us in chapter 10 beginning with verse 38: “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38–42, NIV)
Though these words are so very familiar to us, they still pack a huge punch today, because they so clearly show how satan seeks to drive us to distraction even as Jesus invites us to sit at his feet and listen. Just think about how satan was at work in the background through this whole account. Luke tells us in verse 38 “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.” (Luke 10:38, NIV)
Now, there really isn’t anything unusual about this. Jesus came to Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany and Martha opened her house to him. Yet, there are some commentators who suggest that this visit by Jesus and his disciples may not have been a scheduled visit. There are some commentators who suggest that the reason for Martha’s distraction was because Jesus had not called ahead to tell them that he and 12 others, at least, were planning to stay at her house this night. They suggest that Martha was so distracted because she had so many things to get ready now that Jesus had dropped in on them. While this may be the case, all we know for certain is that satan used this as an opportunity to keep Martha from sitting at Jesus’ feet as Mary was, and he used it as an opportunity to try to distract Mary who was so quietly sitting at Jesus’ feet. Just imagine the scene, Jesus and his disciples were welcomed into the home. Martha and Mary were probably quite busy making the preparations. Then Jesus sat down in a way that indicated he was going to do some teaching. Mary stopped what she was doing and sat down at Jesus’ feet to listen to what he had to say. However, as verse 40 tells us, “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40, NIV)
Martha was becoming worried about setting a meal on the table that would be good enough for her beloved Master. Undoubtedly, out of love for her Lord, she wanted to put on the best feast for him and serve him the very best that she could possibly offer, yet doing this meant that she would be giving up the privilege of sitting at the Lord’s feet as her sister was. Can’t you just hear satan whispering in her ear, telling her how she was doing the right thing by forgoing her opportunity to sit at the Savior’s feet? Can’t you just hear satan planting seeds of jealousy and frustration against her sister who was just sitting there? Can’t you just see her going to Jesus, expecting that Jesus will agree with her and tell Mary to stop sitting there and get up and help her? Yet, as verse 41 and 42 tell us, something completely different happened. Jesus answered, “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41–42, NIV)
In such a simply and loving way, Jesus thanks Martha for all the work of preparation that she had been doing, out of love for him. He chides her, even rebukes her for her sinful thoughts and attempt at trying to pull Mary away from sitting at his feet. He assures her that she is his dearly loved child who has been forgiven of all her sins, even this one of keeping Mary form sitting at his feet, and he even invites her to come and join them; to come sit at his feet and listen to the precious truths of salvation.
This is what the Lord Jesus is doing to each and every one of us today. He is chiding us, even rebuking us for being so distracted by all the things in life that we just simply cannot find time to sit at his feet in worship or in personal Bible readings. He rebukes us for our own attempts at keeping others from sitting down at the Savior’s feet by encouraging them not to come to church or read their Bibles as well as for those times when we have simply allowed friends, family members, even children to remain behind as we went to sit at the Lord’s feet. Yet, at the same time he is assuring us that we are his dearly loved children, who have been forgiven of all our sins, even our failure of sitting at his feet. And once again our Lord invites us to come and join him; to sit at his feet here in worship and at home in Bible reading as we listen to the precious truths of salvation that he has to teach us today.
But how do we do that? How do we answer his invitation to come and sit at his feet? The answer to that question is simple. First and foremost, we make the most of every opportunity to gather for worship on a Sunday morning, be it here at Grace, or at one of the congregations in our fellowship while we are on vacation. We make the most of every opportunity to encourage our children to seek out and find a congregation in our fellowship when they are away at school, or work, or have simply left the house. We make the most of every opportunity to sit at our Savior’s feet each day through worship and personal Bible reading each week. Maybe that means we take a paper copy of the sermon home with us, or we re-read it off our sermon site online. Maybe that means we schedule personal time each week when we can sit down and read the Bible for ourselves, or simply listen to it as we are commuting to and from work. Maybe it means that we set up a personal check list for the day including Bible Reading, and make sure that we are spending 15 minutes in the Bible each day, or simply reading through it a chapter at a time.
Now, understand that when you make a commitment to sit at your Savior’s feet, satan will do everything he can to distract you. There will be some days that you face quite a few struggles designed to keep you from sitting down and reading or listening to the word. There may be days when you wake up in the morning and realize that you missed the past day or the past few days, and satan has succeeded in keeping you from sitting at your Savior’s feet. When that happens, forgive yourselves immediately and pick up where you left off and continue on from that day forward. Continue on from that day forward because the more you are in the Word, the more your faith will grow. The more time you spend sitting at your Savior’s feet, the better you will understand the gift of salvation that your Savior has given. The more time you spend reading or listening to the Word, the more enjoyable worship will be each week, because you will begin to see connections you never saw before, like the connections that branch out from this lesson. In just a few months Lazarus will die, and both Mary and Martha’s faith will be intently tested. Yet through all that testing, they will confess their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior because they spent time on this day sitting at their Savior’s feet.
So, do just that. Make the most of every opportunity you have to sit at your Savior’s feet. If you haven’t been in the habit of reading the word for yourselves, use the 90 New Testament reading plan printed in your bulletins as a starting point for your own personal feet time with Jesus. For this is his invitation to us today. Though it may not be to sit by his fire and spin flax-golden tales, it is an invitation to sit at his feet as Mary did and learn from him. I pray that you would take hold of this invitation and make use of every opportunity you have to sit at the Lord’s feet and learn from him.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Confess Your Faith in Jesus Christ Your Savior (Luke 9:18-24)
Series: Cultivate your faith in the Lord
Week 4: Confess your faith in Jesus Christ your Savior
Dear Friends in Christ,
For the past four weeks we’ve been following the series: Cultivate your Faith in the Lord. In our first week we learned a lesson about faith from the faith of the Centurion whose servant Jesus healed by merely speaking the words. In our second week we planted our faith in Jesus as the one who holds power and authority over death, as we witnessed him raise that young man of Nain from the dead. Last week, we grew in the forgiveness that Jesus bestows as we heard about the woman who came and anointed Jesus feet first with her tears and then with perfume. Today, as we come to the conclusion of series of cultivating our faith in the Lord, we have essentially come to the point of the harvest. We have come to the point where we have been well fed for the last few weeks, and now we are being given the opportunity to go out and exercise our faith, if you will, by confessing our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
Now, if you think about it, confessing our faith is something that each and every one of us does on a daily basis. We constantly confess our faith in some product or service to just about anyone who will listen. Whenever we get a good deal on clothes, cleaning supplies, vegetables, newspapers, magazines, or anything else we purchase, we are very quick to tell anyone about the great deal we got and encourage them to go to the same store so that they can get the same great deal. Whenever we go to see a great movie, the first thing we want to do is talk to all our friends about it, compare notes with them, confess to them our most favorite parts and encourage those who haven’t seen it to see it so that they can share in the experience with us. In fact, just think about what you’ve talked about in the last 7 days, and I’d be willing to bet you talked to someone about the BP oil spill and confessed your frustration and your annoyance about the situation and your desire that someone should do something about it. For the truth is, we are very social people at heart. We are constantly communicating and confessing our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs about anything and everything, and now that the world has changed, we are doing all this and more in the comfort and style of modern technology. We are accessible to our friends and family 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We blog and facebook, we tweet and twitter, we myspace, youtube, text, email, and socially network with each other in ways that I simply cannot keep up with. We are constantly talking on our phones, even while we are out walking, biking, rollerblading, and yes, of course driving. We even take the time to text when we’re doing those very same activities. In fact, on Friday while I was checking my facebook page, I saw a picture of a church sign that said, “Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet him.”
These, are but a few of the examples of ways that we are constantly communicating with each other and constantly confessing our thoughts, feelings, ideas, opinions, moods, emotions, and beliefs with friends, family, classmates, relatives, and even with people on the other side of the world 24 hours a day. But even though we are constantly confessing things like these, how often are we taking time to confess our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior? How often, other than the hour we spend in worship, are we opening our mouths to confess our faith in Jesus as our Savior to a friend, a family member, a relative, a stranger, or even a person on the other side of the world? I’m not talking about those “religious” emails that travel around cyberspace on a daily basis. I’m not talking about those spiritual things that we post on our facebook walls. I’m not even talking about those religious pictures and ornaments that we have adorning the walls and the shelves or our homes. What I’m talking about is simply, “When was the last time that you openly confessed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” When was the last time you stood up for your beliefs when you found yourself in a religious conversation? When was the last time that you found yourself explaining why you belong to Grace, when you could go to any other church you wanted? When was the last time you explained that you are certain that you will have eternal life in heaven because you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior who freed you from your sins by his death and resurrection from the dead?
If we’re like most people, then the truth is it may have been some time since we have confessed our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior in a venue other than worship. Yet, confessing our faith in Jesus our Savior, is the very thing that Jesus wants us to be doing, just as Jesus himself tells us in our text this morning. I invite you to turn with me to our Gospel Lesson, to Luke 9:18-24, and we’ll take a look at what Jesus has to say. Now, as you are looking up Luke 9:18-24, let me give you a little bit of background. The disciples had been with Jesus for nearly 2 ½ years, and life was changing. Jesus was spending more time in the wilderness between towns, spending time with his disciples, taking time to teach them the precious truths of salvation, preparing them for the service to which he would call them after his ascension, and simply cultivating their faith in him so that they would be prepared to confess their faith in him as their Lord and Savior. Luke writes, in chapter 9 beginning with verse 18: “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:18-20, NIV)
Now that the disciples had been with Jesus for nearly 2 ½ years, following him, witnessing his miraculous signs, and growing in their faith as they heard him preach and teach, Jesus sought to evoke a confession from them. He asked them to tell him who the people thought he was, and from the answers the disciples gave, it was clear that the majority of the people thought of Jesus as a mere man, a great prophet, most likely the forerunner to the Messiah, but not the Messiah himself. The disciple, on the other hand, had come to a different understanding of who Jesus was, and through Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, it was clear that they knew he was the divine Son of God whom the Lord had sent to be the Savior of the World. The problem, however, was the misunderstanding that the people had for the titles of “Christ” and “Messiah.” Though both titles were interchangeable because they simply meant “Anointed One” those titles were politically charged. In fact, the truth is that the majority of the Israelites had been taught that when the Messiah came, he would be a political Savior. He would be the one to overthrow the Romans and restore physical peace to Israel by reestablishing their ability to rule themselves. It was because of this, that even though Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ was true, Jesus warned him not to tell people that he was the Christ, but to confess him as Savior with words and actions. This is the very thing that Luke brings out as we continue with verse 21: “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. (Luke 9:21–24, NIV)
With this strict warning, Jesus made it clear to his disciples that he wanted them to confess him as their Lord and Savior as they spoke about him. He wanted them to confess their faith in him as the one who would free them from their sins. He did not want them making a confession that would confuse or mislead people into a false understanding of who Jesus was. He wanted them to make a clear confession with their words and actions—a confession through which people would come to know Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world.
Well, the same thing is true for each and every one of us here today. Jesus wants us to be ready to make a clear confession of our faith in him as our Lord and Savior. He wants us to use our words and our actions in such a way that every aspect of our lives reveals our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Though there have been many times when we have failed to do this, it is Jesus who forgives us. Though there have been opportunities that slipped past us because we were either too afraid to say anything or too worried that we might say the wrong thing, it is Jesus who has washed those sins away. Though there have been times when we cowered in a corner rather than standing up for our religious beliefs, or times when we have simply run away from a religious conversation in which we knew we would be called on to confess our faith and the reason why we have the hope of eternal life, even these episodes have been expunged from our record.
Now, armed with the knowledge that our Savior has taken our hearts and submerged them in the river of his blood, allowing his forgiving blood to permeate every crack and crevice and dissolve away every spot and stain of our sins; armed with the knowledge that through his death and resurrection we have been forgiven not merely for our failure to confess him but also for every single sin with which we have ever offended him, we begin to feel the fire of faith in our hearts yearning to be let out. When we realize that Jesus, our Savior loved us so much that he willingly went to the cross in our place, our hearts begin to burn with the need to tell others about their Savior from sin and death. When we begin to realize that we may be a person’s only chance to hear the gospel of salvation we cannot help but be moved to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
So now as you leave this place today, make a clear confession of your faith in Jesus through your words and actions. Set aside 15 minutes for yourself each day and sit down to read the Bible so that your faith will grow, and you will be all the more ready to confess your faith. Pay attention to the words that are coming out of your mouth and judge them according to their effect on your ability to confess your Savior. Take note of your actions. Are you one person at church and a different person during the rest of the week, or do your words, actions, and faith go hand in hand. Take a look at your budget and ask yourself, “Am I giving my first and my best to the Lord? Or am I simply giving him what’s left over after I pay my bills?” Take a look at your relationships. Do people know you are a Christian by the confession of your life? Or do they only have a vague idea that you might be? Reflect on your own life. Does your life clearly confess your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Or does your life offer an unclear or confusing confession of your faith?
Though each and every one of us has work to do in different areas of our lives so that we might continually offer a clear confession of faith in Jesus our Savior, each and every one of us has been given the tools we need to change. The greatest tool we have is the manual of faith recorded for us in the Scriptures that will lead us to catch hold of our Savior and go out and confess his name to everyone we meet. And just think about what our church would look like if each and every one of us caught hold of this message today! Just think about what this congregation would look like if we all began clearly confessing our faith in Jesus in every aspect of our lives. Just think how each of you would be encouraged in your faith not merely by what you hear on Sunday morning, but in what you hear from your fellow members who are regularly confessing their faith. Just think about how worship attendance would change as more and more of our members gathered here in worship because they were encouraged by your life’s confession of faith. Just think about how many people of our community would be affected by our confession. How many people in our community would be strengthened in their faith, built up in their faith, and even called to faith because of our confession of Christ Jesus our Savior. Just think about how your own life would be affected! You would find more time to grow in your faith, to trust in the Lord, and to look forward to the kingdom of heaven. In short, you would be on fire and excited by the work that the Lord was doing through your confession of faith and you would be ready to continue on confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before anyone who would listen.
So take to heart the lessons we’ve learned over the past four weeks and continue to cultivate your faith in the Lord. Take time to learn from him, plant your faith in him, grow in him and of course, confess him as your Lord and Savior who has freed you from your sins by his death and resurrection from the dead.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Week 4: Confess your faith in Jesus Christ your Savior
Dear Friends in Christ,
For the past four weeks we’ve been following the series: Cultivate your Faith in the Lord. In our first week we learned a lesson about faith from the faith of the Centurion whose servant Jesus healed by merely speaking the words. In our second week we planted our faith in Jesus as the one who holds power and authority over death, as we witnessed him raise that young man of Nain from the dead. Last week, we grew in the forgiveness that Jesus bestows as we heard about the woman who came and anointed Jesus feet first with her tears and then with perfume. Today, as we come to the conclusion of series of cultivating our faith in the Lord, we have essentially come to the point of the harvest. We have come to the point where we have been well fed for the last few weeks, and now we are being given the opportunity to go out and exercise our faith, if you will, by confessing our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
Now, if you think about it, confessing our faith is something that each and every one of us does on a daily basis. We constantly confess our faith in some product or service to just about anyone who will listen. Whenever we get a good deal on clothes, cleaning supplies, vegetables, newspapers, magazines, or anything else we purchase, we are very quick to tell anyone about the great deal we got and encourage them to go to the same store so that they can get the same great deal. Whenever we go to see a great movie, the first thing we want to do is talk to all our friends about it, compare notes with them, confess to them our most favorite parts and encourage those who haven’t seen it to see it so that they can share in the experience with us. In fact, just think about what you’ve talked about in the last 7 days, and I’d be willing to bet you talked to someone about the BP oil spill and confessed your frustration and your annoyance about the situation and your desire that someone should do something about it. For the truth is, we are very social people at heart. We are constantly communicating and confessing our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs about anything and everything, and now that the world has changed, we are doing all this and more in the comfort and style of modern technology. We are accessible to our friends and family 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We blog and facebook, we tweet and twitter, we myspace, youtube, text, email, and socially network with each other in ways that I simply cannot keep up with. We are constantly talking on our phones, even while we are out walking, biking, rollerblading, and yes, of course driving. We even take the time to text when we’re doing those very same activities. In fact, on Friday while I was checking my facebook page, I saw a picture of a church sign that said, “Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet him.”
These, are but a few of the examples of ways that we are constantly communicating with each other and constantly confessing our thoughts, feelings, ideas, opinions, moods, emotions, and beliefs with friends, family, classmates, relatives, and even with people on the other side of the world 24 hours a day. But even though we are constantly confessing things like these, how often are we taking time to confess our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior? How often, other than the hour we spend in worship, are we opening our mouths to confess our faith in Jesus as our Savior to a friend, a family member, a relative, a stranger, or even a person on the other side of the world? I’m not talking about those “religious” emails that travel around cyberspace on a daily basis. I’m not talking about those spiritual things that we post on our facebook walls. I’m not even talking about those religious pictures and ornaments that we have adorning the walls and the shelves or our homes. What I’m talking about is simply, “When was the last time that you openly confessed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” When was the last time you stood up for your beliefs when you found yourself in a religious conversation? When was the last time that you found yourself explaining why you belong to Grace, when you could go to any other church you wanted? When was the last time you explained that you are certain that you will have eternal life in heaven because you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior who freed you from your sins by his death and resurrection from the dead?
If we’re like most people, then the truth is it may have been some time since we have confessed our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior in a venue other than worship. Yet, confessing our faith in Jesus our Savior, is the very thing that Jesus wants us to be doing, just as Jesus himself tells us in our text this morning. I invite you to turn with me to our Gospel Lesson, to Luke 9:18-24, and we’ll take a look at what Jesus has to say. Now, as you are looking up Luke 9:18-24, let me give you a little bit of background. The disciples had been with Jesus for nearly 2 ½ years, and life was changing. Jesus was spending more time in the wilderness between towns, spending time with his disciples, taking time to teach them the precious truths of salvation, preparing them for the service to which he would call them after his ascension, and simply cultivating their faith in him so that they would be prepared to confess their faith in him as their Lord and Savior. Luke writes, in chapter 9 beginning with verse 18: “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:18-20, NIV)
Now that the disciples had been with Jesus for nearly 2 ½ years, following him, witnessing his miraculous signs, and growing in their faith as they heard him preach and teach, Jesus sought to evoke a confession from them. He asked them to tell him who the people thought he was, and from the answers the disciples gave, it was clear that the majority of the people thought of Jesus as a mere man, a great prophet, most likely the forerunner to the Messiah, but not the Messiah himself. The disciple, on the other hand, had come to a different understanding of who Jesus was, and through Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, it was clear that they knew he was the divine Son of God whom the Lord had sent to be the Savior of the World. The problem, however, was the misunderstanding that the people had for the titles of “Christ” and “Messiah.” Though both titles were interchangeable because they simply meant “Anointed One” those titles were politically charged. In fact, the truth is that the majority of the Israelites had been taught that when the Messiah came, he would be a political Savior. He would be the one to overthrow the Romans and restore physical peace to Israel by reestablishing their ability to rule themselves. It was because of this, that even though Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ was true, Jesus warned him not to tell people that he was the Christ, but to confess him as Savior with words and actions. This is the very thing that Luke brings out as we continue with verse 21: “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. (Luke 9:21–24, NIV)
With this strict warning, Jesus made it clear to his disciples that he wanted them to confess him as their Lord and Savior as they spoke about him. He wanted them to confess their faith in him as the one who would free them from their sins. He did not want them making a confession that would confuse or mislead people into a false understanding of who Jesus was. He wanted them to make a clear confession with their words and actions—a confession through which people would come to know Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world.
Well, the same thing is true for each and every one of us here today. Jesus wants us to be ready to make a clear confession of our faith in him as our Lord and Savior. He wants us to use our words and our actions in such a way that every aspect of our lives reveals our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Though there have been many times when we have failed to do this, it is Jesus who forgives us. Though there have been opportunities that slipped past us because we were either too afraid to say anything or too worried that we might say the wrong thing, it is Jesus who has washed those sins away. Though there have been times when we cowered in a corner rather than standing up for our religious beliefs, or times when we have simply run away from a religious conversation in which we knew we would be called on to confess our faith and the reason why we have the hope of eternal life, even these episodes have been expunged from our record.
Now, armed with the knowledge that our Savior has taken our hearts and submerged them in the river of his blood, allowing his forgiving blood to permeate every crack and crevice and dissolve away every spot and stain of our sins; armed with the knowledge that through his death and resurrection we have been forgiven not merely for our failure to confess him but also for every single sin with which we have ever offended him, we begin to feel the fire of faith in our hearts yearning to be let out. When we realize that Jesus, our Savior loved us so much that he willingly went to the cross in our place, our hearts begin to burn with the need to tell others about their Savior from sin and death. When we begin to realize that we may be a person’s only chance to hear the gospel of salvation we cannot help but be moved to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
So now as you leave this place today, make a clear confession of your faith in Jesus through your words and actions. Set aside 15 minutes for yourself each day and sit down to read the Bible so that your faith will grow, and you will be all the more ready to confess your faith. Pay attention to the words that are coming out of your mouth and judge them according to their effect on your ability to confess your Savior. Take note of your actions. Are you one person at church and a different person during the rest of the week, or do your words, actions, and faith go hand in hand. Take a look at your budget and ask yourself, “Am I giving my first and my best to the Lord? Or am I simply giving him what’s left over after I pay my bills?” Take a look at your relationships. Do people know you are a Christian by the confession of your life? Or do they only have a vague idea that you might be? Reflect on your own life. Does your life clearly confess your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Or does your life offer an unclear or confusing confession of your faith?
Though each and every one of us has work to do in different areas of our lives so that we might continually offer a clear confession of faith in Jesus our Savior, each and every one of us has been given the tools we need to change. The greatest tool we have is the manual of faith recorded for us in the Scriptures that will lead us to catch hold of our Savior and go out and confess his name to everyone we meet. And just think about what our church would look like if each and every one of us caught hold of this message today! Just think about what this congregation would look like if we all began clearly confessing our faith in Jesus in every aspect of our lives. Just think how each of you would be encouraged in your faith not merely by what you hear on Sunday morning, but in what you hear from your fellow members who are regularly confessing their faith. Just think about how worship attendance would change as more and more of our members gathered here in worship because they were encouraged by your life’s confession of faith. Just think about how many people of our community would be affected by our confession. How many people in our community would be strengthened in their faith, built up in their faith, and even called to faith because of our confession of Christ Jesus our Savior. Just think about how your own life would be affected! You would find more time to grow in your faith, to trust in the Lord, and to look forward to the kingdom of heaven. In short, you would be on fire and excited by the work that the Lord was doing through your confession of faith and you would be ready to continue on confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before anyone who would listen.
So take to heart the lessons we’ve learned over the past four weeks and continue to cultivate your faith in the Lord. Take time to learn from him, plant your faith in him, grow in him and of course, confess him as your Lord and Savior who has freed you from your sins by his death and resurrection from the dead.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
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