October 31, 2010
Dear friends in Christ.
This morning I’d like to begin with a question. It’s a question that most of you have probably never been asked. It’s a question that many of you may not be ready to answer. It’s a question that some of you may not even be certain of how to answer. Yet it is a question that I submit to you for your consideration as we begin this morning, and my question is this: “What is your love language?” What is your love language? In other words, how is it that you express love to your spouse, or your children? How is it that you feel loved or receive love from your spouse, or your children? For most people, this is a question that they have never considered. For most people, this is a concept that they have never explored. Though each of us naturally expresses our love in a specific way, when it comes to feeling loved, or receiving love, our spouse and even our children might be used to receiving love in a different way than we are used to expressing it. It is because of this that Dr. Gary Chapman wrote his New York Times Best Selling book entitled, The Five Love Languages. In his book—which I began using in my pre-marriage classes about 4 years ago, and which I recommend to everyone—Dr. Chapman clearly tells readers that “We must be willing to learn our spouse’s primary love language if we are to be effective communicators of love.” [Chapman, Gary. The Five Love Languages. (13) Chicago: Northfield Publishing (2004).] In fact, Dr. Chapman’s conclusion, after 30 years of marriage counseling is that there are basically five emotional love languages—five ways that people speak and understand emotional love. These five ways, according to Dr. Chapman, are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.
However, the problem is that it sometimes happens in a marital relationship that two people who love each other have difficulty showing it. They have difficulty showing their love to each other simply because they are speaking completely different love languages. For example, I am good friends with a couple who struggled with this very thing. Though the husband regularly showed his love to his wife with acts of service, such as keeping the yard beautifully mowed, raked, and the driveway shoveled, as well as by keeping the car clean and well serviced, all she really wanted was a little quality time with her husband where the two of them could sit and talk over coffee, or even just five minutes on the sofa without the kids around. (No, this is not Laura and me, this is an actual couple I know.) They struggled with showing love and feeling love until they finally understood their spouse’s primary love language. Though they have yet to perfectly master this concept, since they learned it they have grown closer to each other, they are better at sharing their love and receiving it, and their relationship has greatly improved because of it.
Thus, Dr. Chapman’s words that we must be willing to learn our spouse’s primary love language if we are to be effective communicators of love, continue to ring true, even in our lives. But even though we may need to take some time to learn our spouse’s primary love language, the Lord our God is already an expert at speaking to us with our primary love language! Even before we were born, the Lord knew exactly how he needed to communicate his love to us, and to this day he continues to communicate his love to us in the very way that we need to hear it. In fact, let’s take a look, together, at our lesson for today and see just how the Lord our God continues to do this. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 John 3:1-2. Now, as your turning to 1 John 3:1-2, let me give you a little back ground. The year was somewhere between 85 and 95 AD, we really don’t know for sure. But we do know that when John wrote this letter, he was the only Apostle who was still alive. He was the only Apostle who was not murdered for his faith, but died a natural death at a good, old age. Now, as the First Century was coming to a close, John wrote this letter to assure the second and third generation of Christians of the great love that the Lord had lavished upon them. Take a look at what John writes in 1 John 3, “1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1–2, NIV)
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Could there be any greater Words of Affirmation for us, anywhere in the Bible! How great is the Love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are! We are the children of God because God the Father has lavished his love on us! Though we had been his enemies! God made us his friends! Though we were born as spiritual orphans, not knowing the Lord God our true Father, he showered his love upon us by making us his children. In fact, here is a passage you may want to write down and look up later. Galatians 3:26-29: “26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26–29, NIV) Or how about this one! Ephesians 2:4-7: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4–7, NIV)
What greater Words of Affirmation could there be for us to hear today that the words that John gives us when he says in 1 John 3:1 “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” This is what the Lord our God made us! This is the gift that the Lord our God bestowed upon us! For it is through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior that we have Received the Gift of the forgiveness of sins! No longer do we need to fear punishment for our sins, or eternal suffering because we cannot please God by our actions, because Jesus has blessed us with the gift of the forgiveness of sins. We have Received the Gift of Adoption, through which we have become children of our heaven Father. We have received the gifts of Salvation and Eternal life, all because the Father has lavished his great love upon us. Look with me, once again, at the two beautiful verses of our lesson today. In fact, if you have your Bibles open, read it with me: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1–2, NIV)
Nearly 1000 years before Christ was even born, King David spoke about these gifts in Psalm 16:11. In fact, if you go home and read the whole Psalm you will see that with these Words King David was prophesying about the coming Savior. In fact, Peter even quoted these words in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:24 and following: But it was in Psalm 16:11 where David said, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11, NIV) Paul spoke about the gift of the Spirit that we received in Romans 8:15-17: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:15–17, NIV) And again in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV)
How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are! In his great love for us, our Savior did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28) Jesus himself told us that God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son that whoever should believe in him would not perish, but would have eternal life. (John 3:16) Even John tells us in the very next chapter, in 1 John 4:9-10, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9–10, NIV)
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Though the world in which we live does not know us or even understand the love in which we live, we understand that it is because they did not know him when he walked the earth, and they still do not know him today. Though this can be a very difficult thing for us to deal with as we walk through this life, our Savior continues to shower his love on us through the Quality Time that he spends with us day after day. For every time we lift our hearts and voices in prayer to the Lord, the Lord Jesus sits beside us and quietly listens to everything that we have to say. Each time we sit down to read and study his Word, our Lord Jesus communicates with us, speaking to us through those pages, even as he conveys his great love to us. Each time we gather in worship, we spend our time in quality communication with the Lord our God and Jesus Christ our Savior. For it is here in worship that we speak to him with our hymns, in our prayers and through our praises as we worship him; and it is here that he communicates with us through the lessons and even the message of our sermon. Each time we gather here we spend Quality Time with the Lord our God who continually lavishes his love upon us.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Though we have not had the blessing of physically seeing and touching our Savior as the Apostles did, that is not to say that we have not felt the Physical Touch of our Savior’s love. For each time that we come forward to celebrate the feast of the Lord’s Supper, we feel the physical touch of our Savior’s great love for us. Each time that wafer touches our tongue, and we ingest that bread together with our Savior’s body, we are clearly reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. Each time we taste the wine, knowing that we are absorbing Jesus’ blood together with the wine; we feel our Savior’s forgiving hand holding our hearts and washing them clean, once again, from every spot and stain of our sins!
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” How great is the love our Father has lavished upon us that he continually communicates his love to us in each one of the five love languages that Dr. Gary Chapman has identified through his 30 years of marital counseling! Our God knows exactly what our primary love language is, and he lavishes his love upon us through it, but have we taken the time to learn what our God’s primary love language is? Have we taken the time to learn his primary love language so that we might communicate our love for him in it? If you had to guess, what might you say God’s primary love language is? Would you say Words of Affirmation? Would you say Quality Time? Would you say Receiving Gifts? Would you say Acts of Service? Would you say Physical Touch?
Though in reality you could argue that when it comes to God all five of the love languages work together hand in hand, I would argue that God’s primary love language is Quality Time, and his secondary love language is Acts of Service. I would argue this from what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37–40, NIV) Loving the Lord requires that we put him first in our lives; that we spend quality time with him in reading and studying the Word, meditating on it, praying about it, and gathering to worship him. Loving our neighbor suggests that we allow the Lord’s love for us to flow through our lives as we show our love for our neighbor in the things that we do for them. Though you may not agree with me on this what is truly important for us today is that we grow in the love that our Lord has lavished upon us. As we have learned today: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Dedicate Yourelsves to the Lord (Joshua 24:1-15)
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
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
Friday, October 22, 2010
Live as Children of the Light (Ephesians 5:8-20)
October 17, 2010
Dear friends in Christ.
How many of you have heard of Xeroderma Pigmentosum? It wouldn’t surprise me if very few of you had ever heard of it, because it is not a well known disorder. In fact, the only reason I know about it is because during my South Dakota days, when I was driving nearly 1500 miles each month, I listened to a lot of books on tape. One of the Authors I enjoyed listening to was Dean Koontz, who, at that time, had written two books in which the main character, Christopher Snow, lived with xeroderma pigmentosum. Now to explain to you what xeroderma pigmentosum is, I give you Christopher Snow from Dean Koontz’s Fear Nothing. © 1998 pp 22-23:
I have xeroderma pigmentosum—XP for short—a rare and frequently fatal genetic disorder. XP victims are acutely vulnerable to cancers of the skin and eyes. Even brief exposure to sun—indeed, to any ultraviolet rays, including those from incandescent and fluorescent lights—could be disastrous for me. All human beings incur sunlight damage to the DNA—the genetic material—in their cells, inviting melanoma and other malignancies. Healthy people possess a natural repair system: enzymes that strip out the damaged segments of the nucleotide strands and replace them with undamaged DNA. In those with XP, however, the enzymes don’t function; the repair is not made. Ultraviolet-induced cancers develop easily, quickly—and metastasize unchecked. The United States, with a population exceeding two hundred and seventy million is home to more than eighty thousand dwarfs. Ninety thousand of our countrymen stand over seven feet tall. Our nation boasts four million millionaires, and ten thousand more will achieve that happy status during the current year. In any twelve months, perhaps a thousand of our citizens will be struck by lightning. Fewer than a thousand Americans have XP, and fewer than a hundred are born with it each year. The number is small in part because the affliction is so rare. The size of this XP population is also limited by the fact that many of us do not live long. (Koontz, Dean. Fear Nothing. New York: Bantam Books. © 1998 pp. 22-23).
Though XP is indeed a rare disorder, in some ways, it is an accurate illustration of what we were according to our sinful nature. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that XP is the result of some type of sin or anything like that. However, what I am saying is that in the same way that those with XP find themselves friends of darkness, and in some ways, enemies of light, according to our original sinful nature, that is what we once were. We were once friends of the darkness of sin and unbelief and enemies of the Light. There was a time when we would hide ourselves away from the Light of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Salvation because we did not want our evil deeds and desires exposed by that light. We were comfortable in our sins, in our unbelief, and our separation from the Lord our God. But then came the day when everything changed. Then came the day when the Holy Spirit entered our hearts and struck the match of the Gospel. On that day, when the Holy Spirit struck the match of the Gospel in our hearts, he produced the spark of faith that lit the candle of hope and trust, illuminating our hearts with the flame of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
For most of us, our time loving darkness and hating the light is something that we cannot remember, simply because the majority of us in this congregation came to faith in Jesus Christ, early in life. The majority of us came to faith on the day that we were baptized either as infants or as young children, when the Holy Spirit came into our hearts through the water and the Word, creating faith in Jesus as our Savior. However, for others, this change came later in life, perhaps as a child, a teenager, a young adult, or even farther into your adult years, after you heard the Word of God for the first time or maybe even the fiftieth and at that time the Holy Spirit did his work calling you from the darkness of sin and unbelief into the Light of the Gospel and the Salvation that is now yours through faith in Jesus Christ, your Savior. But whenever it was that the Holy Spirit struck that match of the Gospel and lit the illuminating flame of faith in your heart, calling you form the darkness of sin and unbelief, through the faith that was created in your heart, you are now a child of God; a child of the light in Jesus Christ your Savior!
This is the life that the Apostle Paul is now calling on us to live in our lesson today. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open your Bibles to Ephesians 5 beginning with verse 8. Now, while you are turning to Ephesians 5:8 let me give you a little background on what we are reading. When Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, he broke it into two parts. The first three chapters talk about how God’s amazing grace forms us together as a body of believers, while the last three chapters show us how we, as God’s people demonstrate that grace in our lives by what we do. This is what Paul is telling us today as he calls on us to live as Children of the Light! Take a look at Chapter 5 beginning with verse 8: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:8–14, NIV)
Though there was a time we lived in darkness as darkness, since the Holy Spirit called us to faith in Jesus Christ we are now Children of the Light. We are children of the light who have been called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We are Children of the light who have been taught what God’s good and pleasing will is! This is the will of God that we learn right here in worship, in Sunday school, in Bible Study, and in Confirmation class. Since we were little children we have learned just how important it is for us to grow in the grace of God and our knowledge of our Savior. Since we were little children our parents have sought to lead us down the path of righteousness, away from the fruitful deeds of darkness. Since we were little children, our parents, our Sunday school teachers, even our Pastors have exposed the fruitless deeds of darkness by shining the light of God’s Word upon them. In the same way that the morning sun dispels the darkenss of the night, so also the Son of God, through the light of his Word enables us to discern between that which pleases the Lord and that which is a fruit of darkness. Thus, as Paul calls us to live as Children of the Light, he calls us to turn our backs on the fruitless deeds of darkness. The problem, however, is that in this life we will never be completely free from the darkness that once held us. We will always be enticed by that darkness. We will always be tempted to walk down the dark ally of sin convinced that our own candle light of faith will be enough to keep us from succumbing to temptation, instead of trusting the Lord our Savior, avoiding that darkness completely and living as his children in his light.
Thus the Apostle Paul continues in verse 15 of our lesson: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:8–20, NIV)
Right here, in verse 15 and 16 we come to the very heart and core; the very reason for this Stewardship emphasis of time! Right here, the Apostle Paul is calling on us to make the most of very opportunity we have been given to live as children of the light. Right here the Apostle Paul is calling on each and every one of us to make the most of every opportunity we are given to grown in our faith and our knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior. But how do we do that? Of course by attending worship every week so that we might here God’s Word proclaimed to us and grow in our faith. But what about Bible Study? How often haven’t we simply been too busy to gather with other Christians as we dive deeper into the Bible together? What about our own personal Bible Readings? How often haven’t we been too tired or too busy after a long day of work that we can’t be bothered to read the Word for ourselves, but we have plenty of time to catch up with the news paper, read another chapter in our favorite book, or simply veg out in front of the TV for hours? How often doesn’t it happen that we simply can’t find the time to pray, unless we are running from one place to another, or lying in our bed, trying to say our prayers even as we drift off to sleep? How often haven’t we failed to make the most of every opportunity to grow in our faith as Children of the Light?
We all have, and I’m no different! For the truth is, I am guilty of every one of these things that I mentioned. Yet it is the Lord who forgives us. It is the Lord who reminds us that we are his, and it is the Lord who gives us the strength and the courage to change ourselves to be better stewards of our time! With the Lord’s help we can become better stewards of our time and live as Children of the Light by changing 1 simple habit. Maybe that means you get up a little earlier on a Sunday and gather for Bible Study, or you set aside just 15 minutes each day to read a little from the Bible and pray. Maybe it means you purchase a good audio Bible and put it on in the background while you are doing other things. Or maybe it means something else. You have to decide how you are going to make the most of every opportunity the Lord gives you to grow in his Word as a child of the Light.
Now, just imagine how your life would change if you did that! Imagine how your life would change if, in your lives as children of the light, you started gathering for Bible Study and delved into the Scriptures with fellow members of our congregation. Imagine how your life would change if you spent just 15 minutes each day reading the Bible for yourself and praying about it. Imagine how your life would change if you listened to an audio Bible on your commute to work rather than all the bad news that streams over the air waves today. Imagine how you would grow in your faith and your knowledge of Jesus Christ your Savior. Imagine how your confidence in your salvation would grow because it was no longer something that the preacher was telling you but it was something that you read yourself. Imagine the comfort that you would be able to give to others from the very things you had read for yourself through the Word. Imagine how others would recognize you as a Child of Light and by your actions they would see your faith in Jesus Christ your Savior. Now, imagine what it would be like if our entire church did this. I don’t have time to get into it, but I’m sure you can imagine ways in which this congregation would grow and change for the better!
How amazing it is to realize that it was the Lord Jesus who called us out of the darkness of sin and unbelief to his glorious light of salvation. How amazing it is to think that it was the Lord Jesus who chose us to be his own and called us to live as his Children; as children of the Light. Though we were once enemies of the light, through faith in Jesus we are now enemies of the darkness. We are children of the light, purchased by Christ our Savior who called us from the darkness of sin to the wonderful light of his salvation.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
Dear friends in Christ.
How many of you have heard of Xeroderma Pigmentosum? It wouldn’t surprise me if very few of you had ever heard of it, because it is not a well known disorder. In fact, the only reason I know about it is because during my South Dakota days, when I was driving nearly 1500 miles each month, I listened to a lot of books on tape. One of the Authors I enjoyed listening to was Dean Koontz, who, at that time, had written two books in which the main character, Christopher Snow, lived with xeroderma pigmentosum. Now to explain to you what xeroderma pigmentosum is, I give you Christopher Snow from Dean Koontz’s Fear Nothing. © 1998 pp 22-23:
I have xeroderma pigmentosum—XP for short—a rare and frequently fatal genetic disorder. XP victims are acutely vulnerable to cancers of the skin and eyes. Even brief exposure to sun—indeed, to any ultraviolet rays, including those from incandescent and fluorescent lights—could be disastrous for me. All human beings incur sunlight damage to the DNA—the genetic material—in their cells, inviting melanoma and other malignancies. Healthy people possess a natural repair system: enzymes that strip out the damaged segments of the nucleotide strands and replace them with undamaged DNA. In those with XP, however, the enzymes don’t function; the repair is not made. Ultraviolet-induced cancers develop easily, quickly—and metastasize unchecked. The United States, with a population exceeding two hundred and seventy million is home to more than eighty thousand dwarfs. Ninety thousand of our countrymen stand over seven feet tall. Our nation boasts four million millionaires, and ten thousand more will achieve that happy status during the current year. In any twelve months, perhaps a thousand of our citizens will be struck by lightning. Fewer than a thousand Americans have XP, and fewer than a hundred are born with it each year. The number is small in part because the affliction is so rare. The size of this XP population is also limited by the fact that many of us do not live long. (Koontz, Dean. Fear Nothing. New York: Bantam Books. © 1998 pp. 22-23).
Though XP is indeed a rare disorder, in some ways, it is an accurate illustration of what we were according to our sinful nature. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that XP is the result of some type of sin or anything like that. However, what I am saying is that in the same way that those with XP find themselves friends of darkness, and in some ways, enemies of light, according to our original sinful nature, that is what we once were. We were once friends of the darkness of sin and unbelief and enemies of the Light. There was a time when we would hide ourselves away from the Light of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Salvation because we did not want our evil deeds and desires exposed by that light. We were comfortable in our sins, in our unbelief, and our separation from the Lord our God. But then came the day when everything changed. Then came the day when the Holy Spirit entered our hearts and struck the match of the Gospel. On that day, when the Holy Spirit struck the match of the Gospel in our hearts, he produced the spark of faith that lit the candle of hope and trust, illuminating our hearts with the flame of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
For most of us, our time loving darkness and hating the light is something that we cannot remember, simply because the majority of us in this congregation came to faith in Jesus Christ, early in life. The majority of us came to faith on the day that we were baptized either as infants or as young children, when the Holy Spirit came into our hearts through the water and the Word, creating faith in Jesus as our Savior. However, for others, this change came later in life, perhaps as a child, a teenager, a young adult, or even farther into your adult years, after you heard the Word of God for the first time or maybe even the fiftieth and at that time the Holy Spirit did his work calling you from the darkness of sin and unbelief into the Light of the Gospel and the Salvation that is now yours through faith in Jesus Christ, your Savior. But whenever it was that the Holy Spirit struck that match of the Gospel and lit the illuminating flame of faith in your heart, calling you form the darkness of sin and unbelief, through the faith that was created in your heart, you are now a child of God; a child of the light in Jesus Christ your Savior!
This is the life that the Apostle Paul is now calling on us to live in our lesson today. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open your Bibles to Ephesians 5 beginning with verse 8. Now, while you are turning to Ephesians 5:8 let me give you a little background on what we are reading. When Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, he broke it into two parts. The first three chapters talk about how God’s amazing grace forms us together as a body of believers, while the last three chapters show us how we, as God’s people demonstrate that grace in our lives by what we do. This is what Paul is telling us today as he calls on us to live as Children of the Light! Take a look at Chapter 5 beginning with verse 8: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:8–14, NIV)
Though there was a time we lived in darkness as darkness, since the Holy Spirit called us to faith in Jesus Christ we are now Children of the Light. We are children of the light who have been called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We are Children of the light who have been taught what God’s good and pleasing will is! This is the will of God that we learn right here in worship, in Sunday school, in Bible Study, and in Confirmation class. Since we were little children we have learned just how important it is for us to grow in the grace of God and our knowledge of our Savior. Since we were little children our parents have sought to lead us down the path of righteousness, away from the fruitful deeds of darkness. Since we were little children, our parents, our Sunday school teachers, even our Pastors have exposed the fruitless deeds of darkness by shining the light of God’s Word upon them. In the same way that the morning sun dispels the darkenss of the night, so also the Son of God, through the light of his Word enables us to discern between that which pleases the Lord and that which is a fruit of darkness. Thus, as Paul calls us to live as Children of the Light, he calls us to turn our backs on the fruitless deeds of darkness. The problem, however, is that in this life we will never be completely free from the darkness that once held us. We will always be enticed by that darkness. We will always be tempted to walk down the dark ally of sin convinced that our own candle light of faith will be enough to keep us from succumbing to temptation, instead of trusting the Lord our Savior, avoiding that darkness completely and living as his children in his light.
Thus the Apostle Paul continues in verse 15 of our lesson: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:8–20, NIV)
Right here, in verse 15 and 16 we come to the very heart and core; the very reason for this Stewardship emphasis of time! Right here, the Apostle Paul is calling on us to make the most of very opportunity we have been given to live as children of the light. Right here the Apostle Paul is calling on each and every one of us to make the most of every opportunity we are given to grown in our faith and our knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior. But how do we do that? Of course by attending worship every week so that we might here God’s Word proclaimed to us and grow in our faith. But what about Bible Study? How often haven’t we simply been too busy to gather with other Christians as we dive deeper into the Bible together? What about our own personal Bible Readings? How often haven’t we been too tired or too busy after a long day of work that we can’t be bothered to read the Word for ourselves, but we have plenty of time to catch up with the news paper, read another chapter in our favorite book, or simply veg out in front of the TV for hours? How often doesn’t it happen that we simply can’t find the time to pray, unless we are running from one place to another, or lying in our bed, trying to say our prayers even as we drift off to sleep? How often haven’t we failed to make the most of every opportunity to grow in our faith as Children of the Light?
We all have, and I’m no different! For the truth is, I am guilty of every one of these things that I mentioned. Yet it is the Lord who forgives us. It is the Lord who reminds us that we are his, and it is the Lord who gives us the strength and the courage to change ourselves to be better stewards of our time! With the Lord’s help we can become better stewards of our time and live as Children of the Light by changing 1 simple habit. Maybe that means you get up a little earlier on a Sunday and gather for Bible Study, or you set aside just 15 minutes each day to read a little from the Bible and pray. Maybe it means you purchase a good audio Bible and put it on in the background while you are doing other things. Or maybe it means something else. You have to decide how you are going to make the most of every opportunity the Lord gives you to grow in his Word as a child of the Light.
Now, just imagine how your life would change if you did that! Imagine how your life would change if, in your lives as children of the light, you started gathering for Bible Study and delved into the Scriptures with fellow members of our congregation. Imagine how your life would change if you spent just 15 minutes each day reading the Bible for yourself and praying about it. Imagine how your life would change if you listened to an audio Bible on your commute to work rather than all the bad news that streams over the air waves today. Imagine how you would grow in your faith and your knowledge of Jesus Christ your Savior. Imagine how your confidence in your salvation would grow because it was no longer something that the preacher was telling you but it was something that you read yourself. Imagine the comfort that you would be able to give to others from the very things you had read for yourself through the Word. Imagine how others would recognize you as a Child of Light and by your actions they would see your faith in Jesus Christ your Savior. Now, imagine what it would be like if our entire church did this. I don’t have time to get into it, but I’m sure you can imagine ways in which this congregation would grow and change for the better!
How amazing it is to realize that it was the Lord Jesus who called us out of the darkness of sin and unbelief to his glorious light of salvation. How amazing it is to think that it was the Lord Jesus who chose us to be his own and called us to live as his Children; as children of the Light. Though we were once enemies of the light, through faith in Jesus we are now enemies of the darkness. We are children of the light, purchased by Christ our Savior who called us from the darkness of sin to the wonderful light of his salvation.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
Fight the Good Fight of Faith (1 Timothy 6:12)
October 3, 2010
Dear friends in Christ.
It was a fight that some of you may have seen, or at least read about in the newspapers, or even seen in specials on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. It was a fight that was announced, advertized, promoted, hyped, and talked about for months before and for years after. It was a fight between speed and strength, agility and endurance. It was a fight that boxing promoters named, “The Fight of the Century”—the first boxing match between champion Joe Frazier and challenger Muhammad Ali, held on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. By the evening of the match, Madison Square Garden had a circus-like atmosphere, with scores of policemen to control the crowd. Yet, spectators were not disappointed as the fight itself exceeded even its promotional hype by lasting the full 15 rounds. Ali dominated the first three rounds, peppering the shorter Fraizer with rapier-like jabs that raised welts on the champion's face. Frazier began to dominate in the fourth round, catching Ali with several of his famed left hooks and pinning him against the ropes to deliver tremendous body blows. Ali's speed and combinations kept him on even terms with Frazier and the fight was about even until late in round 11. During that round Frazier caught Ali with a crushing left hook that almost floored Ali, sending him falling into the ropes. Ali managed to survive the round, but from then on Frazier seemed to come back in the next three rounds. At the end of round 14 Frazier held a lead on the three scorecards. Early in round 15, Frazier landed a spectacular left hook that put Ali on his back (for only the third time in his career). Ali, his right jaw swollen grotesquely, got up from the blow quickly, and managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the round despite several terrific blows from Frazier. A few minutes later the judges made it official: Frazier had retained the title with a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.
Since that March night nearly 40 years ago, sports commentators still say that there hasn’t really been anything like that Fight of the Century. For no matter how you look at it, both fighters can be seen as examples of strength, endurance, and a willingness to keep on fighting no matter how greatly the odds are stacked against them. In fact, even as Christians, these men can be examples to us, especially when we consider the impact of what Paul is telling us in our lesson today! For as Paul speaks to us from more than 40 years ago, he is telling each and every one of us to Fight the Good Fight of Faith! Turn with me to 1 Timothy 6:12. Now, as you are turning to 1 Timothy 6:12, let me give you a little bit of background to this verse. Timothy was in Ephesus. Paul had left him there when he traveled on to Macedonia on his way to Jerusalem. Paul had left Timothy there for the stability of the congregation and so that Timothy might command certain men not to teach false doctrine. Paul, on the other hand had traveled to Jerusalem, where he had been arrested and imprisoned. He had been transferred to Caesarea where he was tried again, appealed to Caesar, and transferred to Rom. Now, as Paul writes to Timothy he is in prison in Rome, waiting for his appeal to be heard by the Emperor. As he writes he tells Timothy in verse 12, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV)
What better words could Paul have given Timothy as he served the congregation in Ephesus leading them in God’s Word, and what better words could the Lord speak to us through Paul than these! Fight the Good “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV) What better words could there be for us to hear than these, especially when we consider the fight we have been in, since the day we were called to faith. Though we don’t have TV crews covering our every move or boxing promoters delivering the play by play action, each and every one of us is involved, not merely in the fight of the century, but in the fight of faith. For the truth is, on the day that we were called to faith, Jesus Christ, who was at one time our enemy, marched boldly into satan’s camp and rescued us from our enslavement there. He brought us into the hospital of his salvation. He laid us on the gurney of his love. He took a bowl of his own blood and began to wash the filth of our sins from our hearts, from our minds, and even from our bodies. He applied the salve of his grace to our small cuts and our deep wounds so that they would heal. He discarded the filthy stinking rags of our sinful lives and dressed us in robes of his righteousness, marking us as his redeemed children and people. Then, he began training us with his word so that we might be ready to fight the good fight of faith.
For you see, ever since the day our Savior rescued us from satan and brought us into his kingdom by faith, we became satan’s opponents. On that very day that our Savior called us to faith, we stepped into the boxing ring of life and began our toe to toe battle with the devil. But unlike the fight of the century that lasted only 15 rounds, the good fight of our faith is a fight that lasts until the final bell rings and our Savior takes us home to heaven. Each morning as we wake, we hear the sound of the bell marking the next round in the fight of our faith. We see our opponent, satan, coming out of his corner ready to deliver blow after blow, hoping that each blow might weaken us or knock us down. Each day we feel our adversary landing blow after blow weakening our resolve to fight back, confusing us into accepting his temptations, knocking us to the mat in hopes that this time he has finally knocked the faith out of us so that he might be declared victorious in this fight of faith.
Yet, even though satan may land some stinging blows and even knock us to the mat on more occasions than we care to admit, we are not alone in this fight of faith. Jesus is in our corner and he is backing us the whole way. Not only is he our coach who has taught us how to fight with his Word. He is the one who buckled the championship belt of his truth around our waists and taped our hands with his righteousness. He is the one who fitted our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel and gloved us with the word of God. He is the one who equips our faith to defend against the vicious blows of our enemy, and to attack, peppering our enemy with all the power and force of his Word. It is the Lord Jesus who strengthens our arms with his powerful word so that our blows leave welts on satan’s face. When we grow weary in the fight, it is Jesus who refreshes us with the refreshing waters of his grace and salvation. When we can barely keep our gloves up to defend ourselves, it is Jesus who rings the bell and gives us a respite so that we might regain our strength in his Word. When we are so tired that all we want to do is lay on the mat and be counted out, it is Jesus who steps in and fights for us, comforting us with the assurance of his salvation, soothing our wounds with the salve of his gospel, and washing us clean, once again, with the blood of the covenant, the blood that he poured out for you and me when he went to the cross in our place. This is our Savior who calls on each and every one of us to “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV)
Though he calls us to fight, we do not fight alone. Though we may not always feel ready to fight, he gives us so many opportunities to prepare ourselves with his Word. He invites us to join together week in and week out in this house of worship where he provides his word without cost and without price. He invites us to gather as children to learn the precious truths of salvation from our teachers in Sunday School. He invites us to gather as young adults and delve into the deeper truths of his Word in Confirmation Class. He invites us to gather as adults and examine the precious truths of salvation in Bible Study. He invites us to gather as families to confess our sins, receive forgiveness, to pray to him, to praise him, to hear his Word proclaimed to him and to worship him with all our hearts. He invites us to use the time with which has blessed us to grow in our faith and our knowledge of him so that we are better prepared to continue fighting the good fight of faith against our enemy, the devil.
This is our Fight of Faith. Though we don’t have any sportscasters writing about it or giving play by play commentary as Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali did, we still fight on. Though our fight is much longer than the grueling 15 rounds that they went, we can learn a great deal from their endurance. Though each one had been guaranteed $2.5 million just for fighting, this fight wasn’t about the money; it was about taking hold of the title, Heavy Weight Champion of the World. For us, the same thing is true. We don’t fight the good fight of faith because we are being paid for it. We don’t fight the good fight of faith because we derive recognition from it. We don’t fight the good fight of faith because the world is cheering us on. We fight the good fight of faith because we want to take hold of the eternal life that is ours by faith. We fight because we long for the day when the final bell will ring and we will be declared victorious through faith in Jesus Christ. We long for the day when our Savior will bring us to the halls of heaven and bestow upon us the crowns of victory that he promised when he called us to faith. We long for the day when the faith that God our Savior instilled in our hearts will be fully confirmed as we live by his side forever in heaven.
So as you go from here today, heed the words that Paul wrote to Timothy and us nearly 2000 years ago. “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV)
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Dear friends in Christ.
It was a fight that some of you may have seen, or at least read about in the newspapers, or even seen in specials on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. It was a fight that was announced, advertized, promoted, hyped, and talked about for months before and for years after. It was a fight between speed and strength, agility and endurance. It was a fight that boxing promoters named, “The Fight of the Century”—the first boxing match between champion Joe Frazier and challenger Muhammad Ali, held on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. By the evening of the match, Madison Square Garden had a circus-like atmosphere, with scores of policemen to control the crowd. Yet, spectators were not disappointed as the fight itself exceeded even its promotional hype by lasting the full 15 rounds. Ali dominated the first three rounds, peppering the shorter Fraizer with rapier-like jabs that raised welts on the champion's face. Frazier began to dominate in the fourth round, catching Ali with several of his famed left hooks and pinning him against the ropes to deliver tremendous body blows. Ali's speed and combinations kept him on even terms with Frazier and the fight was about even until late in round 11. During that round Frazier caught Ali with a crushing left hook that almost floored Ali, sending him falling into the ropes. Ali managed to survive the round, but from then on Frazier seemed to come back in the next three rounds. At the end of round 14 Frazier held a lead on the three scorecards. Early in round 15, Frazier landed a spectacular left hook that put Ali on his back (for only the third time in his career). Ali, his right jaw swollen grotesquely, got up from the blow quickly, and managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the round despite several terrific blows from Frazier. A few minutes later the judges made it official: Frazier had retained the title with a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.
Since that March night nearly 40 years ago, sports commentators still say that there hasn’t really been anything like that Fight of the Century. For no matter how you look at it, both fighters can be seen as examples of strength, endurance, and a willingness to keep on fighting no matter how greatly the odds are stacked against them. In fact, even as Christians, these men can be examples to us, especially when we consider the impact of what Paul is telling us in our lesson today! For as Paul speaks to us from more than 40 years ago, he is telling each and every one of us to Fight the Good Fight of Faith! Turn with me to 1 Timothy 6:12. Now, as you are turning to 1 Timothy 6:12, let me give you a little bit of background to this verse. Timothy was in Ephesus. Paul had left him there when he traveled on to Macedonia on his way to Jerusalem. Paul had left Timothy there for the stability of the congregation and so that Timothy might command certain men not to teach false doctrine. Paul, on the other hand had traveled to Jerusalem, where he had been arrested and imprisoned. He had been transferred to Caesarea where he was tried again, appealed to Caesar, and transferred to Rom. Now, as Paul writes to Timothy he is in prison in Rome, waiting for his appeal to be heard by the Emperor. As he writes he tells Timothy in verse 12, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV)
What better words could Paul have given Timothy as he served the congregation in Ephesus leading them in God’s Word, and what better words could the Lord speak to us through Paul than these! Fight the Good “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV) What better words could there be for us to hear than these, especially when we consider the fight we have been in, since the day we were called to faith. Though we don’t have TV crews covering our every move or boxing promoters delivering the play by play action, each and every one of us is involved, not merely in the fight of the century, but in the fight of faith. For the truth is, on the day that we were called to faith, Jesus Christ, who was at one time our enemy, marched boldly into satan’s camp and rescued us from our enslavement there. He brought us into the hospital of his salvation. He laid us on the gurney of his love. He took a bowl of his own blood and began to wash the filth of our sins from our hearts, from our minds, and even from our bodies. He applied the salve of his grace to our small cuts and our deep wounds so that they would heal. He discarded the filthy stinking rags of our sinful lives and dressed us in robes of his righteousness, marking us as his redeemed children and people. Then, he began training us with his word so that we might be ready to fight the good fight of faith.
For you see, ever since the day our Savior rescued us from satan and brought us into his kingdom by faith, we became satan’s opponents. On that very day that our Savior called us to faith, we stepped into the boxing ring of life and began our toe to toe battle with the devil. But unlike the fight of the century that lasted only 15 rounds, the good fight of our faith is a fight that lasts until the final bell rings and our Savior takes us home to heaven. Each morning as we wake, we hear the sound of the bell marking the next round in the fight of our faith. We see our opponent, satan, coming out of his corner ready to deliver blow after blow, hoping that each blow might weaken us or knock us down. Each day we feel our adversary landing blow after blow weakening our resolve to fight back, confusing us into accepting his temptations, knocking us to the mat in hopes that this time he has finally knocked the faith out of us so that he might be declared victorious in this fight of faith.
Yet, even though satan may land some stinging blows and even knock us to the mat on more occasions than we care to admit, we are not alone in this fight of faith. Jesus is in our corner and he is backing us the whole way. Not only is he our coach who has taught us how to fight with his Word. He is the one who buckled the championship belt of his truth around our waists and taped our hands with his righteousness. He is the one who fitted our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel and gloved us with the word of God. He is the one who equips our faith to defend against the vicious blows of our enemy, and to attack, peppering our enemy with all the power and force of his Word. It is the Lord Jesus who strengthens our arms with his powerful word so that our blows leave welts on satan’s face. When we grow weary in the fight, it is Jesus who refreshes us with the refreshing waters of his grace and salvation. When we can barely keep our gloves up to defend ourselves, it is Jesus who rings the bell and gives us a respite so that we might regain our strength in his Word. When we are so tired that all we want to do is lay on the mat and be counted out, it is Jesus who steps in and fights for us, comforting us with the assurance of his salvation, soothing our wounds with the salve of his gospel, and washing us clean, once again, with the blood of the covenant, the blood that he poured out for you and me when he went to the cross in our place. This is our Savior who calls on each and every one of us to “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV)
Though he calls us to fight, we do not fight alone. Though we may not always feel ready to fight, he gives us so many opportunities to prepare ourselves with his Word. He invites us to join together week in and week out in this house of worship where he provides his word without cost and without price. He invites us to gather as children to learn the precious truths of salvation from our teachers in Sunday School. He invites us to gather as young adults and delve into the deeper truths of his Word in Confirmation Class. He invites us to gather as adults and examine the precious truths of salvation in Bible Study. He invites us to gather as families to confess our sins, receive forgiveness, to pray to him, to praise him, to hear his Word proclaimed to him and to worship him with all our hearts. He invites us to use the time with which has blessed us to grow in our faith and our knowledge of him so that we are better prepared to continue fighting the good fight of faith against our enemy, the devil.
This is our Fight of Faith. Though we don’t have any sportscasters writing about it or giving play by play commentary as Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali did, we still fight on. Though our fight is much longer than the grueling 15 rounds that they went, we can learn a great deal from their endurance. Though each one had been guaranteed $2.5 million just for fighting, this fight wasn’t about the money; it was about taking hold of the title, Heavy Weight Champion of the World. For us, the same thing is true. We don’t fight the good fight of faith because we are being paid for it. We don’t fight the good fight of faith because we derive recognition from it. We don’t fight the good fight of faith because the world is cheering us on. We fight the good fight of faith because we want to take hold of the eternal life that is ours by faith. We fight because we long for the day when the final bell will ring and we will be declared victorious through faith in Jesus Christ. We long for the day when our Savior will bring us to the halls of heaven and bestow upon us the crowns of victory that he promised when he called us to faith. We long for the day when the faith that God our Savior instilled in our hearts will be fully confirmed as we live by his side forever in heaven.
So as you go from here today, heed the words that Paul wrote to Timothy and us nearly 2000 years ago. “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NIV)
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Return Your Love to the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
Dear friends in Christ.
This morning I want to share a story with you. It’s a story that I told the students of Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School when I conducted chapel there this past Thursday. It’s even a story that I have permission to tell, because I asked Joshua if I could tell it. I asked Joshua if I could tell it because it’s his story. It’s the story of our son and how he started having seizures when he was just two years old. Though Laura and I knew something wasn’t right, at the time, we didn’t know that he was having seizures. Though from time to time we would see him just stop doing what he was doing, stare off into space and start smacking his lips, almost as if he was trying to breath like a fish, we really didn’t understand what was happening at the time. Though we saw his lips turn blue while this was happening, we thought he might be holding his breath through the pain of something like acid reflux, because the lip smacking instances happened mostly during meal times. (It was only later that we would learn that those are text book symptoms of seizures.)
So, we did what any parent would do when something isn’t right with your child, we took Josh to our local doctor. Though our local doctor was actually a Physician’s Assistant, he had always taken good care of us and we trusted him. Though I remember him saying something about seizures, there was something in what we said to him that suggested these symptoms might be heart related. So we started Josh out on a range of tests for his heart, which he passed with flying colors. He was given a clean bill of health, and his lip smacking episodes even stopped, that is, until around his 3rd birthday; for it was around his 3rd birthday that the seizures began again. However this wasn’t the lip smacking we had seen a year earlier. This time his eyes would move to the left corner, his face would grow slack, and he would simply be unresponsive for anywhere between as little as 30 seconds and as long as 3 minutes. After a series of tests, an EEG and an MRI, the Doctors discovered that it was a brain tumor, a brain tumor that he had been born with, that was causing Joshua’s seizures. You might remember the whirlwind of activity as we quickly set everything in motion and headed up to Children’s Hospital where Joshua was scheduled for a 3 – 3 ½ hours surgery. He spent a day and a night and part of another day in the ICU, and then 3 more days in the hospital. Though these were some traumatic days for our family, we cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all the love that he showed us even through those difficult days.
We cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all that he has done for us! If you think about it, what better theme could there be for a Christian’s life! My life is all about returning my love to the Lord, because of all the love that the Lord showed me. For the truth is, when it comes right down to our natural born condition we were not much different than my son. In the same way that he was born with a tumor growing in his brain, we were all born with the tumor of sin, so to speak, growing in our hearts. Each and every one of us, were, at one time controlled by our sinful nature in the same way that my son was controlled by his seizures. But unlike my son who was controlled for only a few minutes, we were controlled for every second of our lives. There was no relief for us! There was no nope for us! We were residents of the hospital ward of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life on our way to our rooms, the rooms of eternal death and damnation that were prepared for us at the end of the hall. There was nothing we could do to change our condition! There was nothing we could do to change our fate! We needed radical surgery, and that is exactly what Jesus provided when he went to the cross.
As we’ve been taught since we were little children, God’s solution to our inborn problem of sin was to simply remove it; completely! When God our Father sent his Son to the cross, our surgery was begun as the Father applied the suction of his grace removing every single sin from our hearts. Those sins of lying, cheating, stealing, cursing, swearing, speeding, and every other sin we ever committed; they were removed from our hearts and placed on our Savior Jesus. Every single sinful thought and sinful action—all of them!—were removed from our hearts and placed upon our Jesus our Savior! Each and every sin that we had ever committed, are committing even now, or will commit until the day we die; every single spot and blemish of in within us was removed and placed upon our Savior’s shoulders! Our Savior, who, without any form of anesthesia endured the punishment of hell itself, in our place, so that we would be forgiven. In his grace, God, our Father, burned his Son at the stake of the cross, with the flames of hell so that our sins might be forever burned away forever, and we would be declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. However, that is not the end of the story. For when the Lord our God made his exchange, removing our sins and placing them on Jesus, he did not leave us empty. Rather, the Lord our God filled us with our Savior’s righteousness, innocence, and holiness. He filled us with our Savior’s holiness so that through faith we would be declared not guilty of any of our sins, we would marked brothers and sisters of Jesus our Savior, and known as God’s righteous children through faith in Jesus.
This is the love that the Lord Jesus our Savior poured out on us, and this is the love that now moves us to return our love to Jesus Christ our Savior. This, in fact, is the love about which Paul is writing as he writes in our lesson today, “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
As Christians, who all their lives have been taught about what Jesus did for us, we cannot help but be moved by the Love that Christ Jesus our Savior poured out upon us. We cannot help but be moved to live for our Savior now that he has freed us from our sins and brought us into a right relationship with our heavenly Father. Though we were once residents of the hospital of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life to the room of eternal death and damnation that had been prepared for us, because of the surgery the heavenly Father performed on our hearts, we have been moved to the recovery ward. We are free to move about the hospital. We are free to talk to those who have not yet received the surgical message of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. We are even looking forward to the day when we will be completely healed by death so that we might finally leave this hospital and return home to the rooms that Jesus, himself has prepared for us in the halls of heaven.
This is the great love that the Lord our God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who called us to faith in Jesus our Savior. This is the great love that now burns within our hearts as a great fire, heating the boiler of our actions until the Holy Spirit throws the throttle and the locomotive of our love begins its return journey to our Savior. For the truth is, the love which Christ has poured out on us is the very love that compels us to return our love to him by making the most out of Sunday morning; sending our children to Sunday School, gathering for Bible Study, and gathering together in worship. Even though activities like this might take 3 – 4 hours on a Sunday morning, it is through these very activities that we hear the Word of God and are strengthened in our faith. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to return our love for him by watching our words and our actions, whether we are here in church, walking down the street, talking on the telephone, texting, facebooking, emailing, youtubing, playing with our friends, or simply sitting in the comfort of our own homes watching TV. It is Christ’s love that moves us to return our love for him by folding our hands in prayer to thank him for all the blessings he gives us day after day, to express to him our joys, our sorrows, our hardships, our heartaches, our frustrations, and yes our thankfulness. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to open the Bible for ourselves to read what is recorded on those amazing pages so that we might grow in our faith all the more. This is the love that Christ poured out on us when he went to the cross. This is the love that now burns in our own hearts, kindled by the love our Savior has given us, and this is the love that we long to return to the Lord in everything we say, think, and do.
This is the kind of love that Laura and I have expressed to the Lord on many occasions for returning to us a healthy, energetic, and loving son. Though his surgery was completed over four years ago, every time I see that mark of victory, that beautiful mark of God’s love and faithfulness on the side of his head, I cannot help but thank the Lord for all that he did for our Son. A surgery scheduled for 3 – 3 ½ hours was done in 45 minutes. A hospital say that was scheduled for 7 days lasted only 5. All the complications and problems that could have arisen, because of your prayers and the Lord’s blessings they were all put to rest as the surgeon was easily able to access and remove the tumor completely. Though I know that some of you have been through even more difficult things than we I pray that you, like we have seen our Savior’s love, revealed in those situations. I pray that you have been moved, like we have been, to return your love to your Savior. I pray that in the same way that we see our Savior’s love in the victorious scar that now adorns the left side of Joshua’s head, you see all your Savior’s love in the arms of the cross. I pray that each and every time you look at this, or any cross, you are reminded of the amazing love that the Lord poured out on you through Jesus’ death and resurrection. I pray, that moved by that love, you continue living your life, making every effort to return your love to Jesus Christ, your Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
This morning I want to share a story with you. It’s a story that I told the students of Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School when I conducted chapel there this past Thursday. It’s even a story that I have permission to tell, because I asked Joshua if I could tell it. I asked Joshua if I could tell it because it’s his story. It’s the story of our son and how he started having seizures when he was just two years old. Though Laura and I knew something wasn’t right, at the time, we didn’t know that he was having seizures. Though from time to time we would see him just stop doing what he was doing, stare off into space and start smacking his lips, almost as if he was trying to breath like a fish, we really didn’t understand what was happening at the time. Though we saw his lips turn blue while this was happening, we thought he might be holding his breath through the pain of something like acid reflux, because the lip smacking instances happened mostly during meal times. (It was only later that we would learn that those are text book symptoms of seizures.)
So, we did what any parent would do when something isn’t right with your child, we took Josh to our local doctor. Though our local doctor was actually a Physician’s Assistant, he had always taken good care of us and we trusted him. Though I remember him saying something about seizures, there was something in what we said to him that suggested these symptoms might be heart related. So we started Josh out on a range of tests for his heart, which he passed with flying colors. He was given a clean bill of health, and his lip smacking episodes even stopped, that is, until around his 3rd birthday; for it was around his 3rd birthday that the seizures began again. However this wasn’t the lip smacking we had seen a year earlier. This time his eyes would move to the left corner, his face would grow slack, and he would simply be unresponsive for anywhere between as little as 30 seconds and as long as 3 minutes. After a series of tests, an EEG and an MRI, the Doctors discovered that it was a brain tumor, a brain tumor that he had been born with, that was causing Joshua’s seizures. You might remember the whirlwind of activity as we quickly set everything in motion and headed up to Children’s Hospital where Joshua was scheduled for a 3 – 3 ½ hours surgery. He spent a day and a night and part of another day in the ICU, and then 3 more days in the hospital. Though these were some traumatic days for our family, we cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all the love that he showed us even through those difficult days.
We cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all that he has done for us! If you think about it, what better theme could there be for a Christian’s life! My life is all about returning my love to the Lord, because of all the love that the Lord showed me. For the truth is, when it comes right down to our natural born condition we were not much different than my son. In the same way that he was born with a tumor growing in his brain, we were all born with the tumor of sin, so to speak, growing in our hearts. Each and every one of us, were, at one time controlled by our sinful nature in the same way that my son was controlled by his seizures. But unlike my son who was controlled for only a few minutes, we were controlled for every second of our lives. There was no relief for us! There was no nope for us! We were residents of the hospital ward of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life on our way to our rooms, the rooms of eternal death and damnation that were prepared for us at the end of the hall. There was nothing we could do to change our condition! There was nothing we could do to change our fate! We needed radical surgery, and that is exactly what Jesus provided when he went to the cross.
As we’ve been taught since we were little children, God’s solution to our inborn problem of sin was to simply remove it; completely! When God our Father sent his Son to the cross, our surgery was begun as the Father applied the suction of his grace removing every single sin from our hearts. Those sins of lying, cheating, stealing, cursing, swearing, speeding, and every other sin we ever committed; they were removed from our hearts and placed on our Savior Jesus. Every single sinful thought and sinful action—all of them!—were removed from our hearts and placed upon our Jesus our Savior! Each and every sin that we had ever committed, are committing even now, or will commit until the day we die; every single spot and blemish of in within us was removed and placed upon our Savior’s shoulders! Our Savior, who, without any form of anesthesia endured the punishment of hell itself, in our place, so that we would be forgiven. In his grace, God, our Father, burned his Son at the stake of the cross, with the flames of hell so that our sins might be forever burned away forever, and we would be declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. However, that is not the end of the story. For when the Lord our God made his exchange, removing our sins and placing them on Jesus, he did not leave us empty. Rather, the Lord our God filled us with our Savior’s righteousness, innocence, and holiness. He filled us with our Savior’s holiness so that through faith we would be declared not guilty of any of our sins, we would marked brothers and sisters of Jesus our Savior, and known as God’s righteous children through faith in Jesus.
This is the love that the Lord Jesus our Savior poured out on us, and this is the love that now moves us to return our love to Jesus Christ our Savior. This, in fact, is the love about which Paul is writing as he writes in our lesson today, “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
As Christians, who all their lives have been taught about what Jesus did for us, we cannot help but be moved by the Love that Christ Jesus our Savior poured out upon us. We cannot help but be moved to live for our Savior now that he has freed us from our sins and brought us into a right relationship with our heavenly Father. Though we were once residents of the hospital of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life to the room of eternal death and damnation that had been prepared for us, because of the surgery the heavenly Father performed on our hearts, we have been moved to the recovery ward. We are free to move about the hospital. We are free to talk to those who have not yet received the surgical message of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. We are even looking forward to the day when we will be completely healed by death so that we might finally leave this hospital and return home to the rooms that Jesus, himself has prepared for us in the halls of heaven.
This is the great love that the Lord our God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who called us to faith in Jesus our Savior. This is the great love that now burns within our hearts as a great fire, heating the boiler of our actions until the Holy Spirit throws the throttle and the locomotive of our love begins its return journey to our Savior. For the truth is, the love which Christ has poured out on us is the very love that compels us to return our love to him by making the most out of Sunday morning; sending our children to Sunday School, gathering for Bible Study, and gathering together in worship. Even though activities like this might take 3 – 4 hours on a Sunday morning, it is through these very activities that we hear the Word of God and are strengthened in our faith. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to return our love for him by watching our words and our actions, whether we are here in church, walking down the street, talking on the telephone, texting, facebooking, emailing, youtubing, playing with our friends, or simply sitting in the comfort of our own homes watching TV. It is Christ’s love that moves us to return our love for him by folding our hands in prayer to thank him for all the blessings he gives us day after day, to express to him our joys, our sorrows, our hardships, our heartaches, our frustrations, and yes our thankfulness. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to open the Bible for ourselves to read what is recorded on those amazing pages so that we might grow in our faith all the more. This is the love that Christ poured out on us when he went to the cross. This is the love that now burns in our own hearts, kindled by the love our Savior has given us, and this is the love that we long to return to the Lord in everything we say, think, and do.
This is the kind of love that Laura and I have expressed to the Lord on many occasions for returning to us a healthy, energetic, and loving son. Though his surgery was completed over four years ago, every time I see that mark of victory, that beautiful mark of God’s love and faithfulness on the side of his head, I cannot help but thank the Lord for all that he did for our Son. A surgery scheduled for 3 – 3 ½ hours was done in 45 minutes. A hospital say that was scheduled for 7 days lasted only 5. All the complications and problems that could have arisen, because of your prayers and the Lord’s blessings they were all put to rest as the surgeon was easily able to access and remove the tumor completely. Though I know that some of you have been through even more difficult things than we I pray that you, like we have seen our Savior’s love, revealed in those situations. I pray that you have been moved, like we have been, to return your love to your Savior. I pray that in the same way that we see our Savior’s love in the victorious scar that now adorns the left side of Joshua’s head, you see all your Savior’s love in the arms of the cross. I pray that each and every time you look at this, or any cross, you are reminded of the amazing love that the Lord poured out on you through Jesus’ death and resurrection. I pray, that moved by that love, you continue living your life, making every effort to return your love to Jesus Christ, your Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Commit Yourselves to Christ (Luke 14:25-33)
Dear friends in Christ.
On February 19, 1812, 24 year old Adoniram Judson and his wife, Ann set out together with another missionary couple on their way to Burma, India. Once in Burma, Judson worked for 18 years without a furlough. During the first six years he worked he didn’t even have one single convert. He endured torture and imprisonment, and he admitted that he never saw a ship sail without wanting to jump on board and go home. When his wife's health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel in the knowledge he would not see her for two full years, he confided to his diary: "If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. . ." But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript: "Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. . ." Though he dealt with some incredibly difficult circumstances, he remained committed to his mission because he viewed mission work as a job for life, not merely as a job for a few years. When he died in 1850, though he had not seen vast numbers of Burmese people saved through his ministry, his work in Burma and his translation of the Bible into Burmese revealed how he had totally committed himself to Christ his Savior.
Well, in the same way that Judson had so completely committed himself to Christ his Savior, so also Christ our Savior is calling on each and every one of us to commit ourselves to him. In fact, if you open your Bibles to our lesson from Luke 14, you will find that our Savior is calling on us to commit ourselves to him. While you are turning to Luke 14:25-33, let me set the stage for you. For some time now, Jesus has been teaching the people on the other side of the Jordan River, which was known as the region of Perea. This was the very region where Jesus had sent those 72 disciples to prepare the way for him. Now, as Jesus was traveling and making his way to Jerusalem, he was traveling with a large crowd of people. He was traveling with a large crowd of people who may well have been pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. As they traveled, Jesus took the time to teach them just how important it was for them, as believers, to commit themselves to Christ. Take a look at what Luke tells us in verses 25 and 26: “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-26, NIV)
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I first read these words, I was shocked! I mean, what is Jesus saying here? Why is he telling me that if I want to be his disciple I have to first hate my parents, my spouse, my siblings, my family, even my own life? Isn’t Jesus the one who so regularly teaches that we need to love each other as ourselves? Isn’t he the one who teaches how important it is for me to love my enemies and pray for those who are persecuting me? What is he doing here? Is he contradicting himself? Is he introducing some post modern idea that hating is actually loving, and loving is actually hating? Is he setting me up for some kind of practical joke that will be revealed in the next verses of our lesson today? No. Jesus is not doing any of these things. Instead, what Jesus is doing here is using some very harsh language to help us understand just how important it is for us to commit ourselves to Christ our Savior. He is telling us just how important it is for us, as his disciples, not to allow anyone or anything to distract us from our commitment to Jesus Christ our Savior. In other words, we must be ready to turn our backs on anything or anyone that distracts us from our commitment to Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus is talking about when he says we must hate our parents, spouse, children etc. Though we will continue to love them as Christ has loved us, if they should, in any way, seek to hinder our faith or keep us from our Savior, then we must hate them by turning our backs on them, even breaking our association with them if necessary, so that we might continue on in our commitment to Christ.
This is the type of commitment that Judson demonstrated as he worked with the Burmese people, and this is the type of commitment that the Lord Jesus is looking for from us! For the truth is, now that we have been called to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we have the gift of eternal life. Now that we have been called to faith in him and through faith have committed ourselves to Christ, we know the eternal joy that awaits us, and the eternal destruction that awaits us, if we should fall away. This is why our Savior is calling on us to consider the cost of discipleship now that we have committed ourselves to him, because being his disciple is much more than simply calling oneself a Christian. Discipleship is about being committed to Christ our Savior, living our faith in all that we say and do, feeding our faith by gathering for worship on a regular basis, growing in our faith by regularly reading the Word of God for ourselves, understanding that no matter what it might cost us to remain faithful to our Savior that price is mere pennies compared to the cost we will pay in eternity if we fall away from him. Take a look again at what Jesus is saying in verses 26-33: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26–33, NIV)
With these very clear examples; Jesus lays out for us exactly what committing ourselves to him is all about. Committing ourselves to him is all about walking the path he walked—the path that led him to the cross. Though Jesus knew what it would cost him to take on our human flesh and blood, he did it anyway. Though Jesus knew that going to Jerusalem would result in his crucifixion, the Bible tells us that Jesus committed himself to his heavenly Father, setting his face resolutely to go to Jerusalem. Though he knew the mockery and the beatings he would face, Jesus stood silently before his accusers and allowed events to unfold as they had to. Though he knew the pain that was coming, even as the soldiers nailed him to the cross, he breathed a prayer of forgiveness for them. Though he knew the abandonment and the suffering he would endure, Jesus remained on the cross because he was committed to his heavenly Father and to his mission of forgiving our sins. Because Jesus so willingly committed himself to the Lord and took up his cross for our salvation, we can be confident that our sins have been forgiven. Because Jesus so clearly demonstrated his love for us by his commitment to his heavenly Father, we now seek to show our love and our thankfulness to him by carrying our own crosses and following after him.
Yes, it is Jesus’ love for us that moves us to take up our own crosses and follow him. Though each one of us must carry a different cross through this life, we know that the Lord our God has not given us more than we can possibly handle. Though we each face a different set of burdens in this life when we remember how willingly Jesus suffered death on the cross for us and then rose to life again for our acquittal, those burdens become that much lighter as we commit ourselves more fully to Christ our Savior. Though today those crosses might seem all the harder to bear as the shadow of economic uncertainty hangs over us, our Savior has promised to help carry whatever burden we might have. For when we commit ourselves to Christ, it is Christ our Savior who walks beside us. Though he is the one who has give us the crosses we must carry, he is also the one who helps us when they become to difficult to carry. For when we find that we have grown too weary, or tired, or simply feel that we are unable to carry on, it is Jesus who take that burden from us. He places it on his own shoulders and carries us in his arms until we are once again able to carry on.
This is what the Lord did for Judson as he worked in Burma. Though he carried a heavy cross at times the Lord continued by his side and helped him through. Though he may not have had the success he had hoped for or of which he had dreamed, the Lord blessed his work and his commitment was rewarded in ways that Judson may never have realized. The same is true for us, though we may carry some heavy crosses through this life, it is the Lord who helps us through. Though we may be facing some difficult times with family, friends, or even the economy, we know that our Savior still walks beside us and will help us. No matter what crosses we might bear in this life, we are looking forward to the joys of eternal life by our Savior’s side forever because through faith we have committed ourselves to Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
On February 19, 1812, 24 year old Adoniram Judson and his wife, Ann set out together with another missionary couple on their way to Burma, India. Once in Burma, Judson worked for 18 years without a furlough. During the first six years he worked he didn’t even have one single convert. He endured torture and imprisonment, and he admitted that he never saw a ship sail without wanting to jump on board and go home. When his wife's health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel in the knowledge he would not see her for two full years, he confided to his diary: "If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. . ." But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript: "Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. . ." Though he dealt with some incredibly difficult circumstances, he remained committed to his mission because he viewed mission work as a job for life, not merely as a job for a few years. When he died in 1850, though he had not seen vast numbers of Burmese people saved through his ministry, his work in Burma and his translation of the Bible into Burmese revealed how he had totally committed himself to Christ his Savior.
Well, in the same way that Judson had so completely committed himself to Christ his Savior, so also Christ our Savior is calling on each and every one of us to commit ourselves to him. In fact, if you open your Bibles to our lesson from Luke 14, you will find that our Savior is calling on us to commit ourselves to him. While you are turning to Luke 14:25-33, let me set the stage for you. For some time now, Jesus has been teaching the people on the other side of the Jordan River, which was known as the region of Perea. This was the very region where Jesus had sent those 72 disciples to prepare the way for him. Now, as Jesus was traveling and making his way to Jerusalem, he was traveling with a large crowd of people. He was traveling with a large crowd of people who may well have been pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. As they traveled, Jesus took the time to teach them just how important it was for them, as believers, to commit themselves to Christ. Take a look at what Luke tells us in verses 25 and 26: “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-26, NIV)
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I first read these words, I was shocked! I mean, what is Jesus saying here? Why is he telling me that if I want to be his disciple I have to first hate my parents, my spouse, my siblings, my family, even my own life? Isn’t Jesus the one who so regularly teaches that we need to love each other as ourselves? Isn’t he the one who teaches how important it is for me to love my enemies and pray for those who are persecuting me? What is he doing here? Is he contradicting himself? Is he introducing some post modern idea that hating is actually loving, and loving is actually hating? Is he setting me up for some kind of practical joke that will be revealed in the next verses of our lesson today? No. Jesus is not doing any of these things. Instead, what Jesus is doing here is using some very harsh language to help us understand just how important it is for us to commit ourselves to Christ our Savior. He is telling us just how important it is for us, as his disciples, not to allow anyone or anything to distract us from our commitment to Jesus Christ our Savior. In other words, we must be ready to turn our backs on anything or anyone that distracts us from our commitment to Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus is talking about when he says we must hate our parents, spouse, children etc. Though we will continue to love them as Christ has loved us, if they should, in any way, seek to hinder our faith or keep us from our Savior, then we must hate them by turning our backs on them, even breaking our association with them if necessary, so that we might continue on in our commitment to Christ.
This is the type of commitment that Judson demonstrated as he worked with the Burmese people, and this is the type of commitment that the Lord Jesus is looking for from us! For the truth is, now that we have been called to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we have the gift of eternal life. Now that we have been called to faith in him and through faith have committed ourselves to Christ, we know the eternal joy that awaits us, and the eternal destruction that awaits us, if we should fall away. This is why our Savior is calling on us to consider the cost of discipleship now that we have committed ourselves to him, because being his disciple is much more than simply calling oneself a Christian. Discipleship is about being committed to Christ our Savior, living our faith in all that we say and do, feeding our faith by gathering for worship on a regular basis, growing in our faith by regularly reading the Word of God for ourselves, understanding that no matter what it might cost us to remain faithful to our Savior that price is mere pennies compared to the cost we will pay in eternity if we fall away from him. Take a look again at what Jesus is saying in verses 26-33: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26–33, NIV)
With these very clear examples; Jesus lays out for us exactly what committing ourselves to him is all about. Committing ourselves to him is all about walking the path he walked—the path that led him to the cross. Though Jesus knew what it would cost him to take on our human flesh and blood, he did it anyway. Though Jesus knew that going to Jerusalem would result in his crucifixion, the Bible tells us that Jesus committed himself to his heavenly Father, setting his face resolutely to go to Jerusalem. Though he knew the mockery and the beatings he would face, Jesus stood silently before his accusers and allowed events to unfold as they had to. Though he knew the pain that was coming, even as the soldiers nailed him to the cross, he breathed a prayer of forgiveness for them. Though he knew the abandonment and the suffering he would endure, Jesus remained on the cross because he was committed to his heavenly Father and to his mission of forgiving our sins. Because Jesus so willingly committed himself to the Lord and took up his cross for our salvation, we can be confident that our sins have been forgiven. Because Jesus so clearly demonstrated his love for us by his commitment to his heavenly Father, we now seek to show our love and our thankfulness to him by carrying our own crosses and following after him.
Yes, it is Jesus’ love for us that moves us to take up our own crosses and follow him. Though each one of us must carry a different cross through this life, we know that the Lord our God has not given us more than we can possibly handle. Though we each face a different set of burdens in this life when we remember how willingly Jesus suffered death on the cross for us and then rose to life again for our acquittal, those burdens become that much lighter as we commit ourselves more fully to Christ our Savior. Though today those crosses might seem all the harder to bear as the shadow of economic uncertainty hangs over us, our Savior has promised to help carry whatever burden we might have. For when we commit ourselves to Christ, it is Christ our Savior who walks beside us. Though he is the one who has give us the crosses we must carry, he is also the one who helps us when they become to difficult to carry. For when we find that we have grown too weary, or tired, or simply feel that we are unable to carry on, it is Jesus who take that burden from us. He places it on his own shoulders and carries us in his arms until we are once again able to carry on.
This is what the Lord did for Judson as he worked in Burma. Though he carried a heavy cross at times the Lord continued by his side and helped him through. Though he may not have had the success he had hoped for or of which he had dreamed, the Lord blessed his work and his commitment was rewarded in ways that Judson may never have realized. The same is true for us, though we may carry some heavy crosses through this life, it is the Lord who helps us through. Though we may be facing some difficult times with family, friends, or even the economy, we know that our Savior still walks beside us and will help us. No matter what crosses we might bear in this life, we are looking forward to the joys of eternal life by our Savior’s side forever because through faith we have committed ourselves to Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Fix Your Faith on Your Unchanging Savior (Hebrews 13:1-8)
Dear friends in Christ.
In 1893, engineer George Ferris built a machine that bears his name--the Ferris wheel. When it was finished, he invited a newspaper reporter to accompany him and his wife for the inaugural ride. It was a windy July day, so a stiff breeze struck the wheel with great force as it slowly began its rotation. Despite the wind, the wheel turned flawlessly. After one revolution, Ferris called for the machine to be stopped so that he, his wife, and the reporter could step out. In braving that one revolution on the windblown Ferris wheel, each occupant demonstrated genuine faith. Mr. Ferris began with the scientific knowledge that the machine would work and that it would be safe. Mrs. Ferris and the reporter believed the machine would work on the basis of what the inventor had said. But only after the ride could it be said of all three that they had personal, experiential faith.
In the same way that Mrs. Ferris and the reporter fixed their faith on Mr. Ferris assurances that his Ferris Wheel would work, so also the writer to the Hebrews is calling on each and every one of us to fix our faith on what he has to tell us. In fact, he is calling on us to fix our faith on Jesus our unchanging Savior as he writes in Hebrews 13:1-8. I invite you to open your Bibles to Hebrews 13:1-8 to hear firsthand what he is telling us. As you’re looking that up, let me bring you up to speed as to what has been happening. As I’ve told you before, the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were seriously considering giving up their Christianity and going back to their old way of life in Judaism. For the first 10 chapters the writer demonstrated why belief in Jesus Christ was far superior to anything Judaism had to offer. In Chapter 11 he talked about how faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. In Chapter 12 he spoke about how God does discipline his children to bring them closer to him and to prepare them for works of service in his kingdom. Now in Chapter 13 he is calling on his hearers to fix their faith on their unchanging Savior as they live their lives according to his will. We read in Chapter 13 beginning with verse 1: “Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:1–8, NIV)
Wow! Those are some powerfully comforting words right there in verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV) In fact, what greater comfort could we find than words that tell us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior! Though everything is constantly changing in the world around us, Jesus remains the same. Though we may find that some of our best friends are merely our good friends and sometimes even our worst enemies depending on the day and the fluctuation of their emotions, Jesus Christ, our Savior never changes. Though we grew up learning Acronyms like, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles to help us remember the order of the planets, now that Pluto is no longer a planet, teachers have had to change their Acronym and so many of us feel the loss of our beloved planet named after Mickey’s dog. Yet, even though Pluto’s status has changed, the status of our Savior remains unchanged. He is still the Son of God. He is still our Savior. He is still the one who came to free us from our sins. He is still our unchanging Savior who is the heart of the Gospel message—the message that has been proclaimed from generation to generation.
What greater comfort could there be as we fix our faith on our unchanging Savior, than the comfort that comes from knowing that the message of salvation, the message of Jesus Christ has never changed! For the truth is, the message of salvation that you have heard me preach for the last 5 years is the same message that all the all the Pastors who have served this congregation have preached to you for the last 60 + years of Grace’s existence. The message of salvation that was preached to you is the very same message of salvation that so many immigrants brought with them when they came to the New World. The message of salvation that we hold today is the same message that Martin Luther struggled to return to the church as he fought to proclaim it to the people of Germany. This is the message that the disciples proclaimed as they went forth, making disciples of all nations. This is the message of salvation that Jesus, himself, taught and then fulfilled when he gave his life on the cross. This is the message of the Old Testament, which promised a Savior who would come to take away the sins of the world. This is the message that the prophets proclaimed to the Israelites time and time again. This is the message that Abraham believed when the Lord credited his faith as righteousness. This is the message of salvation that Adam and Eve were given when the Lord told them that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.
Because Jesus is our unchanging Savior, whose message of salvation has remained constant since the beginning of creation, we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus and trust in him for eternal life. We can be certain that when Jesus went Jesus went to the cross for us, he was forsaken by his heavenly Father so that we would never have to be. We can be certain that he endured the punishment of our sins, suffering the pains of hell itself in our place so that we might never know the torment of eternal damnation. We can be certain that when he took our sins upon his shoulders, he completely emptied us of our sins; filling us instead with his own righteousness, declaring us not guilty in the sight of God our Father. Because of this, because of all that Jesus has done for us we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus Christ our Savior confidently trusting that he is our unchanging Savior who has indeed provided us with eternal life!
This is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews is telling us today! He is assuring us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior. He is assuring us that we can fix our faith in Jesus because he is the one who has provided us with the very salvation he has promised to all people and delivered to all who believe in him. He is assuring us that through faith in Jesus we have been declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. And now that we have fixed our faith on Jesus, our unchanging Savior, he is calling on us to serve the Lord with our lives! Let’s take a look, once more, at the first 6 verses of chapter 13: “1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”(Hebrews 13:1–6, NIV)
These are but a few ways that we can serve the Lord now that we have fixed our faith on our unchanging Savior! Let us not live as people who feel that they have put in their time and now they can coast on to eternal life. Rather, let us live as Christians, serving the Lord by putting our faith into action. Let us show our love for each other by greeting each other before and after church. Not just our friends or the people we get along with, but make every effort to get to know the members of this family of believers. Let us serve the Lord, especially during these troubled times, by setting aside a specific portion of our income, and giving what we have decided to give with a happy and a joyous heart out of thanks for all that our Savior has given us. Let us serve the Lord by honoring his gift of marriage! Not simply by living an honorably married life, but by helping couples in their marital distress rather than simply gossiping about them.; by keeping our lives free of the lust that movies, TV, and off color Internet sites hope to inspire in us; by keeping ourselves from crude jokes about sex, adultery, and married life.
Let us also serve the Lord by trusting him. For now that we have fixed our lives to our unchangeable Savior, we know that we don’t need to be worried about what we will eat or what we will wear, because we know that the Lord will provide for us. We can find confidence in his promise that he will never leave us nor will he forsake us. We can find confidence in this because this is the very same promise he gave to Abraham when he said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) This is the same promise that Isaac received from the Lord when he said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” This is the same promise the Lord gave to Moses and all of Israel when he said, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) This is the promise the Lord gave to Joshua when he said, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5) This was the promise that Jesus gave to the disciples when he said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
There is great comfort in these assurances from Scripture that our Savior will never leave us nor will he ever forsake us! And, again, because he is our unchanging Savior we can be certain that what he promised to these believers also applies to us. We can be certain that everything he has told us is true. Thus, in the same way that Mrs. Ferris and a reporter fixed their faith on what Mr. Ferris told them about his wheel, we can fix our faith on our unchanging Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN
In 1893, engineer George Ferris built a machine that bears his name--the Ferris wheel. When it was finished, he invited a newspaper reporter to accompany him and his wife for the inaugural ride. It was a windy July day, so a stiff breeze struck the wheel with great force as it slowly began its rotation. Despite the wind, the wheel turned flawlessly. After one revolution, Ferris called for the machine to be stopped so that he, his wife, and the reporter could step out. In braving that one revolution on the windblown Ferris wheel, each occupant demonstrated genuine faith. Mr. Ferris began with the scientific knowledge that the machine would work and that it would be safe. Mrs. Ferris and the reporter believed the machine would work on the basis of what the inventor had said. But only after the ride could it be said of all three that they had personal, experiential faith.
In the same way that Mrs. Ferris and the reporter fixed their faith on Mr. Ferris assurances that his Ferris Wheel would work, so also the writer to the Hebrews is calling on each and every one of us to fix our faith on what he has to tell us. In fact, he is calling on us to fix our faith on Jesus our unchanging Savior as he writes in Hebrews 13:1-8. I invite you to open your Bibles to Hebrews 13:1-8 to hear firsthand what he is telling us. As you’re looking that up, let me bring you up to speed as to what has been happening. As I’ve told you before, the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were seriously considering giving up their Christianity and going back to their old way of life in Judaism. For the first 10 chapters the writer demonstrated why belief in Jesus Christ was far superior to anything Judaism had to offer. In Chapter 11 he talked about how faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. In Chapter 12 he spoke about how God does discipline his children to bring them closer to him and to prepare them for works of service in his kingdom. Now in Chapter 13 he is calling on his hearers to fix their faith on their unchanging Savior as they live their lives according to his will. We read in Chapter 13 beginning with verse 1: “Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:1–8, NIV)
Wow! Those are some powerfully comforting words right there in verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV) In fact, what greater comfort could we find than words that tell us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior! Though everything is constantly changing in the world around us, Jesus remains the same. Though we may find that some of our best friends are merely our good friends and sometimes even our worst enemies depending on the day and the fluctuation of their emotions, Jesus Christ, our Savior never changes. Though we grew up learning Acronyms like, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles to help us remember the order of the planets, now that Pluto is no longer a planet, teachers have had to change their Acronym and so many of us feel the loss of our beloved planet named after Mickey’s dog. Yet, even though Pluto’s status has changed, the status of our Savior remains unchanged. He is still the Son of God. He is still our Savior. He is still the one who came to free us from our sins. He is still our unchanging Savior who is the heart of the Gospel message—the message that has been proclaimed from generation to generation.
What greater comfort could there be as we fix our faith on our unchanging Savior, than the comfort that comes from knowing that the message of salvation, the message of Jesus Christ has never changed! For the truth is, the message of salvation that you have heard me preach for the last 5 years is the same message that all the all the Pastors who have served this congregation have preached to you for the last 60 + years of Grace’s existence. The message of salvation that was preached to you is the very same message of salvation that so many immigrants brought with them when they came to the New World. The message of salvation that we hold today is the same message that Martin Luther struggled to return to the church as he fought to proclaim it to the people of Germany. This is the message that the disciples proclaimed as they went forth, making disciples of all nations. This is the message of salvation that Jesus, himself, taught and then fulfilled when he gave his life on the cross. This is the message of the Old Testament, which promised a Savior who would come to take away the sins of the world. This is the message that the prophets proclaimed to the Israelites time and time again. This is the message that Abraham believed when the Lord credited his faith as righteousness. This is the message of salvation that Adam and Eve were given when the Lord told them that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.
Because Jesus is our unchanging Savior, whose message of salvation has remained constant since the beginning of creation, we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus and trust in him for eternal life. We can be certain that when Jesus went Jesus went to the cross for us, he was forsaken by his heavenly Father so that we would never have to be. We can be certain that he endured the punishment of our sins, suffering the pains of hell itself in our place so that we might never know the torment of eternal damnation. We can be certain that when he took our sins upon his shoulders, he completely emptied us of our sins; filling us instead with his own righteousness, declaring us not guilty in the sight of God our Father. Because of this, because of all that Jesus has done for us we can confidently fix our faith on Jesus Christ our Savior confidently trusting that he is our unchanging Savior who has indeed provided us with eternal life!
This is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews is telling us today! He is assuring us that Jesus is our unchanging Savior. He is assuring us that we can fix our faith in Jesus because he is the one who has provided us with the very salvation he has promised to all people and delivered to all who believe in him. He is assuring us that through faith in Jesus we have been declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. And now that we have fixed our faith on Jesus, our unchanging Savior, he is calling on us to serve the Lord with our lives! Let’s take a look, once more, at the first 6 verses of chapter 13: “1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”(Hebrews 13:1–6, NIV)
These are but a few ways that we can serve the Lord now that we have fixed our faith on our unchanging Savior! Let us not live as people who feel that they have put in their time and now they can coast on to eternal life. Rather, let us live as Christians, serving the Lord by putting our faith into action. Let us show our love for each other by greeting each other before and after church. Not just our friends or the people we get along with, but make every effort to get to know the members of this family of believers. Let us serve the Lord, especially during these troubled times, by setting aside a specific portion of our income, and giving what we have decided to give with a happy and a joyous heart out of thanks for all that our Savior has given us. Let us serve the Lord by honoring his gift of marriage! Not simply by living an honorably married life, but by helping couples in their marital distress rather than simply gossiping about them.; by keeping our lives free of the lust that movies, TV, and off color Internet sites hope to inspire in us; by keeping ourselves from crude jokes about sex, adultery, and married life.
Let us also serve the Lord by trusting him. For now that we have fixed our lives to our unchangeable Savior, we know that we don’t need to be worried about what we will eat or what we will wear, because we know that the Lord will provide for us. We can find confidence in his promise that he will never leave us nor will he forsake us. We can find confidence in this because this is the very same promise he gave to Abraham when he said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) This is the same promise that Isaac received from the Lord when he said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” This is the same promise the Lord gave to Moses and all of Israel when he said, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) This is the promise the Lord gave to Joshua when he said, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5) This was the promise that Jesus gave to the disciples when he said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
There is great comfort in these assurances from Scripture that our Savior will never leave us nor will he ever forsake us! And, again, because he is our unchanging Savior we can be certain that what he promised to these believers also applies to us. We can be certain that everything he has told us is true. Thus, in the same way that Mrs. Ferris and a reporter fixed their faith on what Mr. Ferris told them about his wheel, we can fix our faith on our unchanging Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN
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