Marvel at the Lord's Deliverance (1 Samuel 17:1-58)

July 17, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Today we’re making a little bit of a change in the lineup when it comes to our windows.  Though the roster of our windows has been printed in such a dramatic way for us, it was only a few days ago that I realized that the next two windows in our series are out of place, at least according to the narrative of the Biblical account.  Though there is no problem with the window of Daniel in the Lion’s Den following after the window of Joseph, when it comes to the pattern of the Bible, it is the account of David and Goliath that takes place between these two.  So today, even though our roster suggested that we would marvel at the Lord’s deliverance as we studied the account of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, instead, we will marvel at the Lord’s deliverance through the account of David and Goliath.

Now, I don’t know about you, but of all the Bible history lessons I learned in Sunday School and Lutheran Elementary School, David and Goliath was one of my favorites.  Though you might think the whole reason I loved this lesson was because of the amazing similarity between my name and the main character’s name; the real reason I loved the account of David and Goliath is because even as a little child I was amazed and I marveled at how the Lord delivered a young boy from so many things.  I marveled at how the Lord had delivered David from both the lion and the bear, not when they had attacked David, but when he had gone after them, grabbing them by the hair and killing them in order to rescue the sheep they had stolen!  That always amazed me!  Yet the thing that caused me to marvel all the more was how the Lord delivered David from the hand of the Philistine with a single rock to the forehead. 

As it is, the story of David and Goliath is one with which we are all very familiar, because it is one of those Bible history lessons that has caused us to marvel at the Lord’s deliverance in one way or another.  In fact, I would be willing to bet that if I asked you to, each and every one of you could recount the majority of what happened when David took on Goliath.  But, instead of me asking you to take turns to recount different portions of our lesson today, I invite you to take a look at it with me in 1 Samuel 17.  If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 17 and we will take a look at exactly how the Lord delivered David from the hand of his enemy.  As you are turning to 1 Samuel 17, let me give you a little history to get you up to speed with what is happening here.  It wasn’t all that long before chapter 17 that the Lord sent Samuel to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of his seven sons to be the next king. Though Samuel anointed David on that day, it seems that he never told David, his brothers, or even his Father of the anointing.  Shortly after that David was brought into the service of Saul to play for him when he was tormented by an evil spirit from the Lord.  Now, as Chapter 17 begins, Israel is at war with Philistia.  They had camped on opposite sides of the valley of Elah and had drawn up the battle lines to meet the Philistines.  But it was Goliath whom they had not expected.  Take a look at verse 4:  “A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” (1 Samuel 17:4–11, NIV84)

What a sight it must have been to see a giant coming forward from the camp of the Philistines.  How terrifying it must have been for a man who was nearly twice the size of an average man, challenging just one man to step forward, to be the champion, and to meet him in single combat in order to decide the outcome of the entire war.  How would you have reacted?  Would you have stood up to fight without hesitation?  Or would you have cowered with the rest of the Israelites who were trembling in fear?  Though right here, right now, in the safety of this church it is easy to feel the passion of righteous anger coursing through our veins moving us to stand up against this unbelieving giant who is defying the Lord our God who saves us, watches over us, cares for us, and delivers us; once we actually pass through those doors to the outside, or sometimes even as stand up, fear begins to overtake us, and we run, trembling, to hide ourselves with the rest of Israel’s army.  Just think about the last spiritual battle you were in and the last time an unbelieving “giant” caused you to run and hide.  Was it the last time someone asked you about your faith or the church to which you belong?  Was it perhaps the last time someone complained to you about how strict your church is and how your church doesn’t allow you to do this or to do that?  Was it perhaps a time when a classmate, or a co-worker, or even a family member decided that it was time to argue with you about religion and you chose to go the other way?  What happened the last time that a Goliath entered your life and defied the Lord your God?  Did your faith prevail as you stood up for your faith?  Or did fear reign in your hearts like it did in the hearts of the Israelites?

Sadly, the reason that fear reigned in the hearts of the Israel was because their King did not fully trust that the Lord would deliver them.  Their King did not remind the Israelites of how the Lord had delivered them in the past, nor how the Lord delivered the Promised Land to them only a few generations earlier.  Instead, the King cowered in fear until after 40 days of Goliath’s defiance, the Lord sent David to deliver the Israelites.  Take a look at verse 17: “Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them… 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear. 25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father’s family from taxes in Israel.” 26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” …31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” (1 Samuel 17:17-18, 22-26, 31-37, NIV84)

The fear in the camp of the Israelites was so palpable that when the Lord brought David in to step up and conquer Goliath even the King himself sought to stop him.  But David would not be stopped because he knew that the Lord would deliver him.  He knew that in the same way that the Lord had delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he knew and believed that the Lord would deliver him from this Philistine as well; and that is what the Lord did, he delivered David without sword or spear or javelin, because the battle was not David’s. The battle was not David’s because it belonged to the Lord.  (See 1 Samuel 17:45-52)

It is for this very reason that the Lord included the account of David and Goliath in his Word.  He included it in his word because it is through the account of David and Goliath that the Lord teaches us that no matter what battles we might face in this life those battles belong to the Lord and he is the one who delivers us from the hands of our enemy.  Let me say that again: it is through the account of David and Goliath that the Lord teaches us that no matter what battles we might face in this life those battles belong to the Lord and he is the one who delivers us from the hands of our enemy.  Though we have all cowered in our tents as the Israelites did, it is the Lord our God who has already delivered us from it by forgiving us all our sins.  It is the Lord our God who has assured us again and again that we are his dearly loved children through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.  It is the Lord our God who has taught us that in the same way that the rains and the street sweepers have cleaned away from the streets all the debris from last week’s storms, so also has the blood of our Savior cleaned away even all the fear and the guilt from those times we have hidden.  But not only has the blood of our Savior cleaned our hearts, it has filled our hearts with the gift of the Holy Spirit who now lives in us and encourages and strengthens us through his Word.  It is the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts, and uses accounts of the Lord’s great deliverance of David from Goliath to help us to recognize and understand how the Lord will also deliver us when we face our own Goliaths in this life.

In fact, just think about how the Lord has delivered you when a Goliath entered your life and defied the Lord your God.  How did if feel when someone asked you about your faith or about the church to which you belong, and you took the opportunity to confess your faith and to tell a little bit about your church?  How did you feel the last time you took a stand on God’s Word about what you believe when someone else came at you complaining or even blaming you because your church doesn’t allow this or that?  How did you feel the last time you stood your ground and confessed your faith even when a friend, a relative, or a co-worker decided that it was time to argue religion with you?  How did you feel the last time you stood up like David did and marveled at how the Lord delivered you just as he delivered David?  I know if felt good, because I’ve been through those same kinds of situation and found myself simply marveling at how the Lord has delivered me through a battle that never actually belonged to me. Rather, it was a battle that belonged to the Lord, in which he simply asked me to participate so that he could deliver me and so that I could marvel at that deliverance.

This is why the Lord has included the account of David and Goliath in our Bibles!  He has included it so that he might teach us that no matter what battle you might be fighting, the battle belongs to the Lord and he will deliver you so that you can continually marvel at him.  No matter what battle you might be fighting! Though you might be battling with health issues right now, and don’t see exactly how you are going to go through, remember, the Lord has promised to deliver you.  If you are battling with financial issues and you find that you are being standing at a fork in the road and neither option in front of you is a good option, remember, the Lord will bring you through even this; he will deliver you.  If your battle is with your family, with your friends, with your employer, with your vehicle, with _____________ (fill in the blank)  remember what the Lord is teaching us today.  He is teaching us that no matter what battles we might face, he will deliver us.  He has already proven that by delivering David from the hands of Goliath.  He has proven it by delivering us from our sin by the death and resurrection of his Son, and he will prove it again on the day he finally delivers us from this life to the life that is to come.

It truly is amazing how the Lord assures us again and again that he will deliver us from every trouble in this amazing account of David and Goliath.  Though I don’t remember specifically catching that truth when I was in Sunday School or even Lutheran Elementary School, it is a truth that cannot be missed when we study this lesson.  For today we have seen just how the Lord does deliver us so that we can praise him, thank him, and marvel at his amazing deliverance.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

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

July 10, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

Marvel at the Lord's Mercy (Genesis 6:1 - 8:22)

July 3, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

The story has been told about a mother who once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. When she asked, the emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. To which she responded, "But I don't ask for justice, I plead for mercy." "But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. "Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." "Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman's son.[1]  In so many ways stories like this cause us to recognize and marvel at the mercy the Lord has bestowed upon us.  Though we’ve done nothing to deserve it, the Lord has acted in his mercy in our lives, time and time again.  In his mercy he sent his Son to free us from our sins.  In his mercy he works things out for the good of those who love him.  In his mercy he has called us to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  In his mercy he continues to guard and protect us each and every day of our lives.  In his mercy he has recorded in his word all that he has done for us so that we might grow in our faith and knowledge, as we marvel at the mercy the Lord our God continues to pour out on us and all his faithful people.

Take for example the account of the flood.  The year was roughly 1536.  1536 years since the beginning of creation.  Mankind had increased in number, filling the earth and subduing it.  In those years since the beginning of creation, the sons of God—the believers—had begun to intermarry with the daughters of men—the unbelievers—and before long the light of faith in the hearts of the believers had begun to dwindle, flicker, and finally go out.  As the faith of those believers who had intermarried with unbelievers began to faith, so also the world began to grow darker, more evil, more violent, and much more and more wicked.  So when 1536 years passed after the Lord had created the heavens and the earth, Moses tells us: “Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:3, 5–8, NIV84)

Now, just think about what the Lord is telling us.  Nearly the enter world, not just a nation, nearly the entire world had stopped believing in the Lord God.  They had refused to listen to him, saw no reason to worship him, and were completely disregarding his existence.  Yet, even though the majority of the world had turned against the Lord, mercifully the Lord granted the entire world 120 years as their time of grace.  120 years for them to turn from their evil ways!  120 years for them to turn back to the Lord.  120 years to listen to Noah, a preacher of Righteousness (2 peter 2:5).  120 years to listen to Noah’s father Lamech and Noah’s grandfather Methuselah—two men who were born before Adam died; two men who may well have known Adam personally as Lemech was born 56 years before Adam died and Methuselah was born 243 years before Adam died.  120 years to let the message of the coming destruction sink in as they saw Noah and his family building the biggest barge anyone had probably ever seen; according to the Lord’s command.  120 years of the Lord’s marvelous mercy delivered to probably millions, if not billions of people in the world who had turned their backs on the Lord their God. Yet only 8 people benefitted from the Lord’s marvelous mercy.  Only 8 people believed the Lord, listened to the Lord, followed the Lord and were saved by the Lord in the ark he commanded them to build.  Only 8 because the Lord had called both Lamech and Methuselah, and probably any other believers, home to heaven before the flood destroyed the earth.

But before we go any further, let me ask you an obvious question, “Is our world any different today than it was in Noah’s day?”  Oh sure we have faster cars, bigger boats, better technology, more incredible industries and yes, smellier air, but if you really think about it our world isn’t that much different.  We have all seen the sons of God intermarry with the daughters of men.  We have watched as the light of faith in the hearts of believers has begun to dwindle, flicker, and even go out; sometimes because of an unbelieving spouse or spouse of another faith, other times because even believers can be sucked into the non-religious, secular, scientific world in which we live today. Though the word of God has had a great deal of free reign over the centuries since our Savior walked the earth, it seems that the gospel is being hindered or ignored all the more in our day and age.  Yet, in his great mercy, the Lord has called each and every one of us to faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior.  The Lord has given us this time of grace for us to grow in our faith and our trust.  He has given us this time of grace to share our faith, like Noah did, with those who do not yet know their Savior. In his mercy, the Lord has given us this time as we draw near the Day of Judgment as Noah did.  And in his mercy, the Lord has given us this account of the flood to help us to prepare ourselves for his coming, just as Jesus tells us, “37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; (Matthew 24:37–38, NIV84)

Well, this is the same mercy that the Lord poured out on Noah and his family as Moses tells us in Genesis 6:  “9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. (Genesis 6:9–15, NIV84)

Now, for a moment, let’s talk about the dimensions of the ark, because even though we know it was big, it is very seldom that we are able to conceive of scope of its size. Now, if the wall to my right, your left, was one side of the ark, the width of the ark would stretch from that wall over the top of the stairwell, by my office, in the fellowship hall.  That top step over by my office is roughly 75 feet away from this wall to my right.  If the back of the ark were lined up with the back wall of the narthex, the outside wall of our church with the windows; if that were the back of the ark then the ark would stretch from that wall to, at the very least, the other side of 112, if not all the way to the back yards of the houses on the other side of 112.  Finally, if we were sitting inside the ark right now, we would, of course, be on the lowest deck.  By the time we climbed to the top deck and looked out the window we would find that we would be about even with the bell tower, only about five feet lower than the roof of the tower where the base of the spire which holds up the cross, is anchored. 

Why do I tell you this?  Because it was in this enormous barge that the Lord displayed his mercy as he provided for the continuation of the line of the Savior.  It was in this big boat that the Lord mercifully spared 8 people and all the kinds of the animals from the destruction of the unbelieving, wicked, and evil world.  The ark is an amazing picture of God’s marvelous mercy in the face of his just judgment for as we know, after all the animals had entered the ark, Noah and his family went in and the Lord closed the door behind them.  There in that ark they were saved as the floodwaters of the earth burst forth from the earth and the floodgates of the heavens were opened and the rains fell for forty days and nights.  There in the ark Moses and his family were safe during the 375 days that passed from the time they entered the ark until the time that the Lord said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.” 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:16–22, NIV84)

In so many ways the Lord displayed his mercy in the lives of Noah and his family, and this is what the Lord continues to do for each and every one of us today.  In his mercy he has placed the rainbow in the sky to remind us of how he provided not only for Noah, but for the entire human race.  In his mercy he chose us to be his children.  He called us to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.  He assured us that Jesus has indeed freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection, and he now calls us to proclaim the message of salvation with those who do not yet know him.  This is the mercy that the Lord has bestowed upon us. Though we did not deserve it he has made us his own.  Though we had committed the same offence not merely two times but, in reality, millions of times, the Lord bestowed upon us his mercy when he forgave us and spared us from the eternal death we deserved.  Now, just as Noah did, we live in that mercy.  We live in that time of grace that he has given us.  We grow in the faith that the Lord has bestowed in our hearts.  We grow in our knowledge of our Savior who loved us, and we are always ready to share our faith with those who do not yet know.  This is the marvelous mercy of the Lord our God.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

<a href=http://www.grace-lesueur.org>Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church</a> -Le Sueur, MN

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[1] Originally from: Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1984.  Copied from: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/m/mercy.htm Accessed July 1, 2011

Marvel at the Lord's Faithful Forgiveness! (Genesis 3:1-15)

June 26, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Forgiveness; Forgiveness is something for which everyone looks, but not everyone finds. Forgiveness is something for which everyone asks, but not everyone receives. Forgiveness is something that everyone hopes to receive, but forgiveness is something that is not always given. Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is hard, especially in a relationship that is tormented with past troubles. Forgiveness is hard in situations where trust has been lost, confidences have been betrayed, or one party feels that the other party does not deserve it, has not earned it, or will simply misuse it if they receive it. Forgiveness is hard and forgiveness often hurts. Forgiveness always costs because forgiveness is releasing another person from sin or guilt rather that demanding payment for wrongs done. Forgiveness is reaching out in love rather than seeking to extract revenge. Forgiveness is costly, because it is always given at the cost of something—the cost of tears, wounded pride, a broken heart, even diminished trust. Forgiveness has always been a costly gift for the one who is giving it, but it has never cost any of us as much as it cost the Lord our God!

Just think about what it must have been like for God, sitting there in eternity and planning his creation. He knew that satan would rebel against him. He knew that Adam and Eve would listen to his enemy and turn against him rather than remaining faithful to him. He knew the depravity into which the world would fall so that he would destroy it once with a flood and then finally, completely, on the Last Day. He knew all of this and he knew the cost he would pay with the life of his Son. Yet he still went ahead with it. He created the world. He allowed satan to tempt Adam and Eve. He allowed them to fight their own battle and even choose to turn against him. He allowed them to become unfaithful to him so that they and all the world would have the opportunity to marvel at the Lord’s Faithful Forgiveness.

Take a look at what I’m talking about. Take a look at Genesis 3:1 and see the beginning of how the Lord demonstrated his faithful forgiveness. Now, as you know the Lord had recently finished his work of creating. At some point after the sixth day satan rebelled against the Lord, tried to take over, was defeated by the Archangel Michael, and was cast out of heaven forever. At sometime after that, perhaps even the very next day satan shows up in the garden, determined to utterly destroy what the Lord God had created. Take a look at verse 1: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1, NIV84)

With these words Moses clearly assures us that this is, indeed, a real snake. It is not merely some symbol of evil or some kind of benign thought. It was a very subtle and crafty animal, as Moses tells us, which is something that could not be said of any other of the animals that God had created. Thus, by revealing this to us, Moses is in effect calling on us to pause here for a moment, and consider what is going on. A snake, a serpent, that is more than a serpent, a crafty and cunning serpent is speaking to Even in the Garden! Verse 1: “He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1–5, NIV84)

Just think about what’s going on. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. They were perfect in every way. Their thoughts were in complete and holy harmony with God’s will. They were not capable of tempting themselves into sin. Their temptation had to come from an outside, evil source, which is exactly what happened. Their temptation came from the master tempter and deceiver who enticed Eve into doubting God’s Word. He moved Eve from not even thinking about the fruit on the tree as food to thinking about it to the point that it was the only thing that she could think about. Verse 6: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:6–13, NIV84)

But before we go any farther, I have to ask a question. How often haven’t we been in that very same boat? How often hasn’t satan or one of his evil angels whispered in our ears or in our thoughts and subtly suggested that we not follow the Lord’s will in one way or another? How often hasn’t the siren song of certain websites, or certain Television shows, allured us away from work that had to be done, time that could have been spent with family, or time that needed to be spent with our spouse? How often haven’t we felt desire grow in our hearts like Eve did; desire for something we had hardly considered suddenly become so strong that we could not possibly live without it? How often haven’t we served as the tempter, as Eve did for Adam and drawn our spouse into sin with us? Or how often haven’t we gone along with our spouse, even though we knew that we should stand firm and not give into the temptation? How often haven’t we wagged our own tongues in order to point the finger at someone else’s sin in the hopes of hiding our own? How often haven’t little things like decorations, traditions, or personalities caused monumental problems in our lives or in our church? How often haven’t agreed with what Jesus said when he said, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” (Matthew 18:15, NIV84) But, as soon as we are offended by a brother or sister, we bring the matter up to the person who is just a little bit higher in the chain of command, so that now someone else will have to deal with it and we don’t have to go talk to the person? How often haven’t we allowed anger or frustration to fester and boil in our hearts until we are not able to even look at or be around the person or persons who either knowingly or unknowingly caused the hurt? How often haven’t we stood before the Lord like Adam and Eve did, blaming the Lord as the cause of our sins? How often haven’t we stood before the Lord expecting some form of punishment for our sins and finding ourselves once again marveling at the faithful forgiveness that he was so lovingly pouring out on us, even though we didn’t deserve it?

That’s where Adam and Eve found themselves. They were standing before their creator. They were standing before the God who had promised them that they would surely die when they ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, undoubtedly expecting that the worst was yet to come. But as Moses tells us in verse 9, it was the LORD God who called to them. It was Yaweh Elohim, who called them and before whom they were standing. Now, as I told you last week, Elohim is the word we translate as God. This is also the name that is most often equated with God’s power, with his righteousness, and with his holiness. The name Yaweh, on the other hand is translated as LORD. In your NIV Bibles this name is indicated by typing LORD either with all capital letters of the same size or with a large capital “L” and with smaller capitals for “ORD”. This is the name that is sometimes translated as Jehovah. This is the name that Moses received at the burning bush when the Lord declared “I Am”, and this is the name through which the Lord has revealed himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15 and Psalm 103:8)

Though Adam and Eve had been unfaithful to the Lord their God, it was the Lord, or Yaweh, or Jehovah who remained faithful to them, gave them his forgiveness and promised their salvation. Take a look at verse 14: “So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15, NIV84)

With these words the Lord God makes it clear that he is speaking to more than just a snake. He makes it clear that he is speaking to satan, a morally responsible creature, which again is something we learn from other parts of Scripture. Though satan seemed to win a victory here, it is only short lived, because God forgives Adam and Eve, removes their enmity with God and places it between them and satan, and delivers the first promise of the Savior. For with this promise God established an enemy status between Eve and satan by forgiving Adam and Eve. He would establish that same enemy status between her descendants—those who believed in the Lord—and satan’s descendants which would be those who did not believe in the Lord. Finally he would single out one specific descendant, Jesus, who would come to crush the serpent’s head and destroy the devils work. Though this would cause great suffering, pain, and even death as satan struck Jesus’ heal, by his death and resurrection Jesus would completely work forgiveness, destroy the power of satan forever, and cause us to marvel continually at the faithful forgiveness of our Lord.

Though we have been unfaithful, like Adam and Eve, the Lord has remained faithful to us. Though we have not deserved it, it was the Lord who has forgiven us for all of our sins. It is the Lord who has applied that forgiveness to us through the faith that he created in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord who has established enmity between us and satan, and between us and unbelievers. It is the Lord our God who has completely destroyed satan’s power over us. Though there are still times when our enemy gets the better of us, tempting us to sin, it is our God who faithfully calls us to repent, grants us the blessing of his forgiveness, and empowers us to forgive each other.

This is the faithful forgiveness that the Lord has shown in our lives. But the question is, do we allow that same forgiveness to show in our lives? How long has it been since you’ve let the faithful forgiveness of your Savior melt your heart into forgiveness for those who have wronged you? How long has it been since you let go of your pride, your frustration, your anger, or whatever it is that you are holding on to, and forgiven your fellow members, your pastor, your friends, even yourself for whatever wrongs might have been done? Are you still holding that grudge from that thing that happened so long ago that you can’t quite remember what it is, but you are still mad at a specific person and don’t know why? If you are still holding on to any past wrongs, I urge each and every one of you to let go and live in the marvelous forgiveness of your Savior, by forgiving those who wronged you in any way. Though I know that forgiveness is never easy and it will always cost something, can you imagine how amazing this place would be if we daily lived in the faithful forgiveness of our Lord! Can you imagine the joy that would permeate this house of worship because we were able to live together as God’s forgiven people because we had forgiven each other for whatever wrongs we may have caused! Can you imagine the blessings that the Lord would reign down upon us because there was finally room in our hearts now that we had let go of the sins, the hurts, and the wrongs to which we had once clung!

Though forgiveness isn’t always an easy thing to give away, it is the Lord’s forgiveness that enables us to give it away freely. Though forgiveness is something that will always cost us, it will never cost us as much as it cost the Lord our God. So as we bring this sermon to a close, take a moment during the offering to utter a prayer to the Lord. Release to him all your hurts, your heart aches, your frustrations, your grudges and ask him to forgive you for holding on to them. Ask him to help you to forgive completely those who have hurt you or wronged you in any way. Then with clear conscience, come forward and marvel at the faithful forgiveness the Lord has for you in the body and blood of his Son. If forgiveness is not something that comes naturally or easily today, then continue to pray to the Lord during this next week, until you find yourself able to forgive. Though forgiveness is sometimes difficult, though it is sometimes hard, though it always costs, continue to ask and you will receive it. Then, when you find yourselves living in forgiveness, able to forgive each other, go out and live in the faithful forgiveness of the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, abounding in love and faithfulness, the Lord who not only forgave our first parents, but also forgives us.

Amen.

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

See Your Triune God at Work! (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3)

June 19, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Did you know that today is a very special Day? Even though it is not Christmas or Easter, The Day of Jesus’ Baptism or the Day of His Ascension, the day of Transfiguration, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday or even the Day of Pentecost (which we celebrated last week) today is a very special day. It is a very special day because not only are we beginning a new sermon series based on the stained glass windows of our church, but most importantly because today is the day that we have specifically set aside in the Church Year to praise and worship our Triune God. Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the day we take a closer look at the Work our Triune God has done as three persons in one God and one God as Three persons. Even though we regularly remind ourselves of the Work our Triune God has done and continues to do for us, today we specifically take time out of our lives to watch our Triune God at work as we take a look at the lesson before us in Genesis 1:1-2:3.

Now, normally, as you are opening your Bibles to Genesis 1, I would give you some background information and explanation as to what is going on so that you could better understand the context of what is taking place in our lesson. However, today, there is no background because before Genesis 1 there was nothing except for our Triune God. And even though we might have a fair number of questions as to what the Lord our God was up to during his time in eternity before he created the world, because he doesn’t tell us anything until he tells us about the beginning of us all. Take a look at Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, NIV84)

If these aren’t some familiar words! After all, these are words that we have known by heart since we were little children. These are words that made our parents smile when we first learned them in Sunday School or Christian Day School. These are words that we have cherished as we’ve grown from Children to Teens and from Teens to Adults. But sadly, these are also words that have sometimes been drown out by the cacophony of worldly ideas that bombard us on a daily basis. Since we were little children Television has been assuring us that the world is millions of years old and that dinosaurs and humans couldn’t have possibly lived at the same time, even though we know that our Triune God created everything that exists in six, twenty-four hour days, so then they would have had to live at the same time. Not only that, but if you received an education in public school, even though you received an excellent education, you were taught, especially in the last 20 years or so, you were taught to believe that science is king and that the theory that all living creatures evolved from a puddle of primordial ooze millions and billions of years ago. You were taught either subtly or openly, you were taught to believe that science is true and what God says about creation is not as true as you might have once thought.

Just think about how many times you’ve been tempted to try to harmonize the Trinity’s Work of Creation with Science’s ideas of Evolution. Just think about how many of your children have come home from school openly questioning the truth of creation and favoring the “facts” of evolution because it is “scientific”. Just think of how doubting creation has led people to doubt other parts of the Scriptures and even caused people to fall from faith because they came to the logical conclusion that if one part is false the whole of Scripture cannot possibly be true. These are the reasons why we have gathered together to take a closer look at the work our Triune God did back at the beginning of Creation. Take a look again at Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2, NIV84)

Wow! In just a few short words Moses establishes the fact that it was our Triune God who began the world at the beginning! Now, if we take a look at the Hebrew for this passage, the first three words in Hebrew are, (spelled Phonetically) “beraysheet barah Elohim” Beraysheet means “beginning” or as we translate, “in the beginning.” Barah means, “he created” and Elohim, which is the subject of the sentence, means, “God.” So, in three short words, Moses tells us that until Elohim, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit created the heavens and the earth, there was no time as we know it. There was nothing but our Triune God in eternity until the very beginning (Berahsheet) when he, Elohim (Barah), began his creating work, creating time and light out of nothing, and calling this world into existence, again out of nothing, as a formless and empty lump of clay, so to speak which he would then mold to his plan in the next 5 twenty four hour days. This is the work our Triune God began on day one!

“But Pastor,” you might ask, “how can you possibly know that the Triune God was at work? There really is no mention of the Trinity in these verses.” Now, if you asked me this question I would simply say, you are absolutely right! There are no specific mentions of our God being Triune or the Triune God at work. However, there are hints of God being Triune. Now, as I already said the name used for God here is, “Elohim.” This name is used 31 times throughout the account of creation. In Hebrew Elohim is actually plural and has been described as a plural of majesty, which means that God may be referring to himself as Kings and Queens of old referred to themselves as “we” rather than “I” like the common people did. Elohim has also been called a potential plural setting forth the vast potentialities of the Godhead, which would include mystery of the Holy Trinity. In themselves, these explanations cannot prove that our God is Triune, they can only hint at the fact that our God is Triune. However, when we take a look at the unity of the Scriptures and how our God describes himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit throughout the Bible, we can then look back and say that Father Son and Holy Spirit had to be at work in creation because our God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This would have been apparent to God’s people because, as we learn from reading the Old Testament, they believed in God as their Father. They believed that God would send his Son who would be there redeemer, just as the offerings foreshadowed. They even believed in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who worked in their midst. They knew and believed in God as three persons and yet they also believed that they only had one God as Deuteronomy 6:4 so beautifully confesses, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV84)

Today, we know and believe the same thing! Just as we will confess in the Athanasian Creed in just a few short minutes, we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that they are all co-equal in majesty and glory, yet they are not three who are God but they are one God in three persons and three persons in one God! So, as we look at these words from Genesis we see God the Father at work creating and calling things into existence out of nothing. We see God the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters, and we see Jesus at work as the instrument of creation because the apostle John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1–3, NIV84)

It is because of all of this (and many other passages of Scripture) that we believe, teach and confess that our Triune God was at work in creating the world for us. Just take a look at verse 3-5: ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis 1:3–5, NIV84)

Verse 3 begins with the phrase “And God said,” which occurs ten times in the creation account. It shows us the manner by which God worked, namely, by his command and through his word (Hebrews 11:3). The phrase “God saw that the light was good” is noteworthy. In verse 4 it refers specifically to the light God created, but it also occurs six more times in the creation account. God is not telling us with these words that he was pleased with himself for what he had made, as if he were a human craftsperson stepping back to admire his work. He relates this information for our sake. He keeps us mindful of the wisdom and order that he put into his creation, which he was preparing for us to inhabit. He reminds us of the initial perfection of that creation, which is now spoiled by sin.

That was the first day. From there our Triune God went on to separate the waters on the earth and the waters in the sky. He called forth the dry ground and produced vegetation on it! Never planting see, but simply calling it forth with his word. He set the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens for the purpose of giving us light and helping us to tell time in weeks, months, and years. He filled the skies with birds and the waters with fish, and finally he created all the land animals, and then formed Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from one of Adam’s ribs.

This is the work our Triune God did for you and me! He created the perfect world for us to live in and enjoy. Though our first parents ruined God’s creation when they brought sin and death into the world, our Triune God continued his work for us. He promised a Savior and sent prophets to renew and reiterate his promises for centuries. When the time came our Triune God saved us through the Work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Savior. Now, our Triune God continues to proclaim that message to you and me through his Word—the Bible—of which we have many, many copies. He continues to proclaim his message of salvation through pastors and teachers whose work it is to tell the story of salvation, teaching the young children and building up the faith of all the members of the congregation. And he continues to share his message of salvation through each and every one of you!

For now that you have seen the Trinity at Work in the creation of the world, you are reminded of all the work he has done to free you from your sins and bring you the sure and certain hope of eternal life. Who better than you to carry that message of salvation wherever you go? Who better than you to tell the work of the Trinity in your life calling you to faith, strengthening you with his Word, sustaining you in your faith, and leading you to your heavenly home? Who better than you to proclaim the Work that your Triune God has done? This is the work that our Triune God has given to each and every one of us—to make disciples of all nations, to teach them what Jesus taught us, and to baptize them in the name of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This is today is a very special day! Though it is not Christmas or Easter, or any other holiday of the Church Year, it is Holy Trinity Sunday. Today is the day that we have set aside to specifically remind ourselves of all the work our Triune God has done for us. Today is the day we specifically give thanks and praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all he has done for us. Today is the day we continue to carry the message of salvation with us wherever we go so that we are always ready to tell others the reason for the hope we have in our Triune God.

Amen.

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

Take Comfort in these Last Days! (Joel 2:28-32)

June 12, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

If there is one thing that all Americans want for themselves and for their families, it is comfort. For the truth is comfort is something that we look for in any and every situation in our lives. We look for comfort when it comes to our linens, our bedding, and our sleeping arrangements. We look for comfort in our food, the ingredients we buy, and the things that we make at different times of year. We look for comfort in our technology, that perfect pair of headphones, the best mouse and the most ergo-metric keyboard for those of us who are constantly typing. We look for comfort in our vehicles, and in our traveling arrangements, and we look for comfort in our families and with our friends. However, comfort is not something that we are always able to find in every aspect of our lives! Though we’ve started to see gas prices retreating from the $4.00 mark, we all find ourselves wondering when the prices will start going back up. Though is seems that food prices may have stabilized for the time being, we all know that if the gas prices should start climbing our food prices will follow suit. We hear stories on the news about how many people are looking for jobs these days, and personally know at least a few people who are struggling in this way. We hear about banks foreclosing on houses and houses sitting on the market for years. Some of us have personally dealt with foreclosure, repossessions, bankruptcy, houses that simply won’t sell, and we wonder where we might find even the slightest bit of comfort in the midst of these overwhelming hardships!

Well, that is where the Lord our God steps in and speaks to us directly from his Word with his comfort and assurance. In fact, as we study the lesson before us we will hear the Lord our God calling on us to take comfort in these last days. He is calling on us to take comfort in these last days, because he is the one who has poured out his Holy Spirit upon us. He is calling on us to take comfort in these last days, because he is the one who has shown his signs and his wonders in the skies and on the earth below to remind us that the time is short. But even more than that, he is calling on us to take comfort in these last days, because he himself has assured us that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! Take a look with me at what the Lord our God has to say to us in our lesson today: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:28–32, NIV84)

Though we don’t know exactly when Joel wrote these words, we know that we are living in the fulfillment of this very prophecy of Scripture! We are living in the last days, which came to a beginning back on the Day of Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago. For on that day the Lord fulfilled this prophecy as he graciously poured out his Holy Spirit on the disciples who stood up and addressed the crowd of people who had gathered that day. The Lord fulfilled this prophecy as he poured out the Holy Spirit on his disciples, and the people heard them proclaiming the wonders of God in their own languages. The Lord fulfilled his prophecy as in one day some 3000 people were added to the number of believers! Yet this was not the end all and be all of this prophecy! Rather, it was just the beginning. For since that day when the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, he has not stopped pouring out his Holy Spirit on his believers or even on the people of the world!

For after that day of Pentecost, the disciples took that word of God to the nations as they were sent out to proclaim the wonders of God. They wrote letters and gospels for the churches to read and share and be strengthened by, and these have been gathered, collected, and compiled into the Bible that we have today! Today, some 2000 years after the day of Pentecost, the Bible has become the bestselling book of all time. About 10 years ago I read a statistic saying that the average American home has something like 7 Bibles in it. The Bible has been translated into nearly every language on the face of the planet. Each week Pastors proclaim the wonders of God in churches, on Television, over the Radio, and on the Internet. Today we can see the clear results of the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on all the people of the earth through the easy accessibility of God’s Word! Today, we can take comfort in that out pouring of the Holy Spirit, even as we are living in these last days, because we know that through the working of the Holy Spirit we have been prepared for the last days. We have been prepared by the Holy Spirit to recognize false claims of the last days, and we have been taught by the Holy Spirit to recognize the signs and wonders the Lord has revealed and will reveal in the heavens and on the earth below, as Joel tells us, “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. (Joel 2:30-31)

Though we are most certainly living in the last days, what a comfort it is to know that the Lord our God is in control! What a comfort it is to know that even as we see his signs and wonders marking the last days, he has not placed them there to cause us fear, but to turn us toward him in repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, how many signs and wonders haven’t we seen that have driven us closer to him, causing us to look for comfort in the solace of his word? Since the beginning of this new millennium we have seen disasters that have tested the very fiber of our being. We have seen disasters that have caused us to look up at the skies and cry out, “Why?” We have seen disasters that have caused us to draw closer to the Lord in thanksgiving that we had not been affected in such a way, even as we pray for God’s deliverance of the people whose lives have been fundamentally changed by hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, lightning and hail damage. We have been shocked by that magnitude of destruction caused by floods, earthquakes, and even tsunamis. We have been horrified by the hatred of terrorist attacks throughout the world and even on our own soil, and we have even many of the prophecies of the last days being fulfilled in our own day and age.

For we have seen the blood and the fire and the billows of smoke caused by wars throughout the world. Back in the mid 80’s we have witnessed clouds of radiation raining down over Europe from the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, causing waters to turn bitter and causing many to die from radiation poisoning. Back in the early 90’s we saw the skies filled with smoke from the oil fields fires in Kwait blocking out what some have said was a third of the sky so that a third of the day and a third of the night was without light. Most recently, we have seen the twin towers fall, and our nation rise to war in the Middle East, and just a couple of years ago the big news was the lunar eclipse that caused the moon to glow with a distinctive reddish hue, looking almost as if the moon itself was covered with blood.

While there are some who have linked the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl with the sounding of the third trumpet in Revelation 8, the Gulf War and the burning of the oil fields with the fourth trumpet, our current war with the sounding of the fifth trumpet, and even the most recent eclipse with the words of our text today, only time will tell if these are the very events the Lord had in mind or if there are others, more specific events to come. But no matter what the case is, from these signs and wonders on the earth below and the skies above, we can take comfort in these last days! We can take comfort in these last days, because we know that our Lord’s return is coming soon. We can take comfort in these last days, because even though we are seeing all sorts of signs and wonders around us, we know, as Joel tells us, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” (Joel 2:32)

How wonderful it is to know that no matter what happens to us on this earth, through faith in Jesus Christ, we have salvation. Even if the world should fall apart around us, heaven is our home. Even if gas prices should sky rocket to over $4.00 per gallon! Oh, wait, we’ve been there and even when we were there the Lord was providing for us, caring for us and giving us a reason to take comfort in him! Even if all the prophecies of the last days suddenly came true and we found ourselves living in a completely different world, we would not have to worry, because we would know that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What greater comfort could there be for us than this! Through faith in Jesus Christ, the debts of our sins have been paid in full. The mortgage payments of our iniquities, which we were making to this world have been done away with. The mortgage note was burned by Jesus blood and he, himself has handed us the deed to our mansions in heaven. Through faith in Jesus we can take comfort in these last days because we belong to the Lord. Now, no matter what might happen in this life, we can take comfort in the fact, that through faith in Jesus we have the sure and certain hope of eternal life by his side forever in heaven! Amen.

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

Rejoice in the Facts of Jesus' Ascension! (Acts 1:1-11)

June 5, 2011


Dear friends in Christ.

If you grew up watching Dragnet, then I’m sure you will remember Sergeant Joe Friday and his no nonsense demeanor. I’m sure you will remember his methodical attention to details. But most of all, I’m sure you will remember the phrase for which he will always be famous; that phrase which he would speak whenever an eye witness was either embellishing too much or becoming too emotionally involved in what he or she was recounting. For whenever that would happen, Sergeant Friday would utter those three simple words, “just the facts.” “Just the facts!”—that was all Sergeant Friday wanted so that he could clearly peace together the solution for the case he was trying to solve. Well, this morning, we will also be looking at the facts of the case that Luke has laid out before us. Today we will be reminded of the events that led up to it. Today we will be assured of the promise it contains. Today, we will rejoice in the fact of Jesus’ ascension!

As we do this, as we rejoice in the fact of Jesus’ ascension, I invite you to turn with me to our first lesson from Acts 1 and take a closer look at the facts that Luke is providing for our rejoicing. Now, when Luke wrote began writing the book of Acts, he began with the Ascension, essentially continuing where he left off with in his Gospel. In his Gospel letter to Theophilus his main purpose had been to tell about the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus and how through all of this Jesus had brought about the forgiveness of sins for all people. Thus as we heard in the gospel the account of the ascension was so brief. But now, by beginning with the Ascension in Acts, Luke’s purpose is to tell the Theophilus that this Jesus who died and rose again is truly the Son of God who has returned to his Father’s side. He is the Son of God who has freed all form their sins and brought life and salvation to light through the Gospel. He is the Savior in whose ascension we rejoice and whose work we now proclaim to the world. Take a look at what Luke writes in Acts 1, beginning with verse 1:

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with a water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:1-11)

What greater reason could there be for us to rejoice Today than the reason Luke gives with these facts of Jesus’ Ascension! For as Luke writes in the first verse of our text, he so expertly reminds us of the amazing and miraculous events of Jesus’ life. In such a simple way, Luke causes our minds to recall the events of Gabriel appearing to Mary, Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem so that the Savior could be born there in fulfillment of all the prophecies, and Jesus’ first trip to Jerusalem where he stayed behind, teaching the teachers, in fulfillment of another prophecy. In such a simple way Luke causes us to remember how Jesus went throughout the land of Israel preaching and teaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven, how he healed the sick and raised the dead, and how the Pharisees and teachers of the law constantly looked for ways to be rid of him. In such a simple way Luke causes us to remember how Jesus willingly gave his life for us on the cross, how he did in fact die, was in fact buried in the earth, and how he did in fact rise from the dead to assure us that our sins have truly been forgiven. In such a simple way Luke lays out for us the facts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection so that we might rejoice all the more over the fact of Jesus’ ascension, which Luke records for us beginning in verse 9: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

I don’t know about you, but if I had been there on that day, I probably would have stood there staring up into the sky with the disciples. If I had seen Jesus suddenly floating up off the ground in the way the people simply don’t, I would have been so shocked and amazed that long after the cloud hid him from view I would have simply stood there, gazing up into the sky, hoping for another glimpse of my Savior. If I had been there that day, I’m sure that I would not have moved until the angels appeared, giving me Jesus’ amazing promise that one day I would see him returning to the earth in the same way that I had just seen him go. If I had been there that day, I can tell you that I would have joined in with the disciples’ rejoicing in Jesus’ ascension as they worshiped their Savior on their way back to Jerusalem.

What greater reason could there be for us to rejoice this morning! What greater fact could there be for us to celebrate than the fact of our Savior’s ascension! For Today, we have been assured of the forgiveness of our sins! Today, we have been assured that just as we have seen Jesus return to his heavenly home, we will one day see him returning in glory and great majesty. Not only that, but Today we have built the hope of our own ascension upon the fact of Jesus’ ascension. Today, we have been assured Jesus has been exalted to the highest place that heaven affords. Today we have been assured that Jesus is indeed sitting at the right hand of our heavenly Father and interceding for us. Today we have been assured that Jesus is still watching over us and protecting us, guarding us and keeping us in his tender care. Today as we have seen the facts of Jesus life, death, and resurrection laid out for us, we have great assurance in the fact of his resurrection, which assures us of the fact of eternal life, and the fact of his imminent return on the last day!

So let us rejoice in the fact of our Savior’s Ascension! For Today, we have traveled with Sergeant Joe Friday, so to speak, as we have gathered the facts of the case before us. Though we may not have done so with a no nonsense demeanor or with methodical attention to details, we have found great joy in the facts before us! We have found great joy in the fact that our Savior has indeed ascended to his throne in heaven, from which he will one day return to take us to be with him forever.

Amen.


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