Actions Speak Louder than Words - August 29, 2010 - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17) - Text: Proverbs 25:2-10

All of our readings for this morning remind us to have an attitude of humility. At the same time, we are reminded that this attitude of humility is not something that comes naturally, nor is it something that we can fake. If you have ever been around or worked with children for a time, you know that they know what is the attitude of people, especially adults. Our attitude is what flows out of our heart. Certainly we as adults can see the attitude of others simply by observation. Perhaps you know someone who has had a difficult life and you can tell by their “cranky” “bitter” attitude that they blame God or others for the way they have been treated by the world. And yet, there are those who have had a difficult life who have an attitude of grace about them and this is shown in their actions as well, which ties into our title, the fact that our actions speak loudly concerning our attitude.

As Christians, as sinner-saints, there are times that our lives show mixed signals, as my wife reminds me as we are driving down the freeway, “Don’t forget, you have a clergy sticker on the back of the car.” Or as the story goes, the policeman pulled over the motorist and cautiously approached the front door of the car. He asked for his identification and registration and explained that he thought, perhaps the car was stolen. When the motorist asked why the policeman thought the car was stolen, the policeman explained, “When I saw the “Save the unborn children” sticker, the Christian fish emblem, the Local Church sticker and the cross hanging from your mirror and then saw you angrily shouting at and waving at another motorist, I thought for sure you were not the owner of the vehicle.” Actions speak louder than words and as Christians, sometimes we send mixed signals with our actions. Thanks be to God we have forgiveness.

Getting to our text, I want to begin by looking at the other two readings this morning because I believe they tie in well with our Old Testament text. The Epistle reading exhorts us to “Let brotherly love continue” (v. 1). Perhaps this is another way of encouraging us to let what is in our heart show forth in our lives. Of course, the writer is counting on the fact that what is in our hearts is love and in this instance, brotherly love. So, we are encouraged to love as God first loved us. It is this love, God first loving us, that stirs in us to love God and to love others. One particular example that we are given is the encouragement to remember our leaders. Today we would be encouraged to pray for our leaders, for our president, our governors, our mayors and so forth.

In the Gospel reading for this morning we have the account of Jesus in confrontation with the Pharisees and His use of a parable to illustrate His point. Jesus’ words to the Pharisees are rather pointed, but we will want to remind ourselves that His words are for us today as well. Jesus reminds the Pharisees and us that an attitude of self-worth may result in humility, but an attitude of humility may result in exaltation. The “bottom line,” if you will, of Jesus’ parable is to remind us that this world is fast and fleeting, this world is nothing compared to the world to come and so, blessed are those who receive a reward, not in this world, but at the resurrection.

Now, getting to our text from Proverbs. Our text begins with a bit of a distinction between God and the king, understanding that the earthly king receives his power to rule from God. Verse two, “2It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out” (v. 2). With these words and by inspiration of God, Solomon reminds us that although God’s glory is seen only in how and when He chooses to reveal Himself, a king will strive to keep his kingdom open and honest. How true these words are today as we see that the trusted leaders of the world are those who are open and honest and not trying to hide their dishonesty and shameful acts from the people who have consented to be governed by them.

Yet, there may be times for the sake of security, that a ruler may need to keep things concealed. Picking up at verse three, “3As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable” (v. 3). Even today, when it comes to protecting our country, for the sake of national security, some information may need to be concealed, however, care must be taken in this concealing of information so that improprieties may not be concealed.

Continuing on in our text, Solomon reminds us that in order to run a good government, the wicked must be exposed and expelled, lest the ruler’s character is besmirched because of his associations. Picking up at verse four, “4Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel; 5take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness” (v. 4-5). In our world today we know the truth of the matter that a person’s character can be seen by the company that person keeps. For a ruler to rule effectively, the company they keep, the people who would share in the responsibility of his rule must also be of good character. Thus, a rulers rule is only as good as the weakest link in his administration.

Solomon continues by speaking words similar to the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading for this morning. He reminds us that the rewarding of a humble attitude is better than a humiliation of an exalted attitude, picking up at verse six, “6Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, 7for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble” (v. 6-7). Certainly an audience with the king is a great but rare privilege, thus to come into the kings presence only to be rebuked would be the worst outcome for anyone. We might note that even today we do not see too many people shown in the presence of our own president, which is seen as a great honor. And one invited to come into the presidents presence would certainly understand the need to come in humility.

Finally, Solomon gives us good advice concerning the matter of our legal system. He tells us that it is better to settle things out of court than in court, picking up at verse eight, “8do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?” (v. 8). Perhaps these words might remind us of Jesus words telling us to not be quick to judge others for according to the same judgement we might be judged.

Why might we be not hasty in going to court, Solomon continues by telling us that one revealing secrets becomes known as being untrustworthy, picking up at verse nine, “9Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another’s secret, 10lest he who hears you bring shame upon you, and your ill repute have no end” (v. 9-10). Remembering that the courtroom is a place where “the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is to be presented, the secrets of many may be laid bare, even those of the one bringing the suit. Thus, Solomon warns that rather than trying to hurt the reputation of another, and maybe having your own reputation hurt, either by your own testimony or by those who see you in court, it is better to work to settle your dispute with your neighbor himself.

Now that we have looked at our readings and have looked at our text, in good Lutheran fashion we ask, “What does this mean?” I know the title of this message is rather cliche, however, I believe all our readings for this morning show the truth that our actions do speak louder than our words and our actions do show what is in our hearts. Today, perhaps the cliche we are familiar with most which is similar is the one that says, “If you are going to talk the talk, then you need to walk the walk.” Certainly what is in our hearts should and does show itself in our actions.

As a Christian, we understand, we believe, teach and confess that our life, our attitude and direction must be directed by our faith. In our church we have heard discussions concerning style and substance, which is another way of saying practice and doctrine, or in more modern language we would say what we believe and how we act out what we believe. How do these two things, style and substance, doctrine and practice, what we believe and how we act relate? Or do they relate? Again, as a Christian and according to God’s Word in our readings for this morning, we understand that how we act is directed by what we believe so that what we believe directly correlates to how we act. You cannot separate what you believe from how you act and how you act from what you believe.

Again, as a Christian, because it is our faith which is at the heart of and directs our actions, we know that our faith is important. As we talked about a couple weeks ago, our faith is the means or instrument God uses to give us all the gifts and blessings He has to give and it is also what is given to us by God either through His Word or through the waters of Holy Baptism. With God, it is a package deal. Maybe you remember my illustration of the ice cream. When your friend gives you ice cream he does not simply give you the ice cream, he gives you a spoon with which to eat the ice cream. So it is with God, when He gives us His good gifts and blessings which are ours by faith, He also gives us the instrument through which He gives us all the gifts and blessings He has to give. So, God gives us faith and our lives are guided by and directed by the faith which He gives. In other words, our actions are determined by the faith which God gives.

As Christian, then, as we live lives of faith and here again we have talked about this over the past few weeks, as we live lives as priest in the priesthood of all believers, as we live in our various vocations, as we live lives as living sacrifices for the Lord, our lives give glory to God, thus, God is glorified through His people, our faith being lived out in our actions showing forth and giving God glory.

Notice, again, and again, and again, as we have been reminded again and again and again, God is the prime mover. Have you noticed over the past few weeks, as we have been working through these Old Testament readings, and as they have, in many instances related so well with the other readings, what a great teacher God is, as He strives to teach and reteach so that we get the message. This teaching and reteaching is another reminder of the need for regular and diligent use of the means of grace so that our Lord can teach and reteach so that He can have His way with us.

God is the prime mover. God gives us life. God gives us faith. God gives us forgiveness of sins. God loves us. God stirs in us to love others. God stirs in us to reflect His love to others. God moves us to live lives of faith. He forgives us when we fail to live lives of faith and when we live mixed signal lives as sinner/saints. How can we not show forth the faith that is in our hearts even in an imperfect way?

According to our text for this morning, according to the wisdom of Solomon, we understand that the wisdom of the wise is seen in the humble nature of one who takes care in their associations, as well as in speaking, and in patience in bringing accusations. Further, we are reminded that a humble attitude, a clear conscience, and a good reputation are signs of Christian faith and love. And we are finally reminded that God’s glory is seen through what we might describe as faith driven actions, through the humble attitude of the children He has given faith, through us, so that our lives do say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Signs of What Is to Come - August 22, 2010 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16) - Text: Isaiah 66:18-23

The comedian Steven Wright quips, “I know when I am going to die because my birth certificate has an expiration date on it.” Every generation, or so it seems, has believed theirs to be the last generations, at least that is the thinking with each generation. Things have gotten so bad that they believe, this must be the end. From the time of the promise of a Messiah until His actual birth, God waited some 3000 years. Before His ascension, Jesus promised He would return. So far we have waited only 2000 years. Will God wait another thousand years? Will God return during our lifetime? I do not know. What I do know, and what I would encourage you to know is that He tells us to be ready and He gives us examples of those who were not ready; those not ready for the flood, those not ready for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and likewise those who will not be ready for His return on the last day. And what I do know is that we will stand before the Lord to be judged by Him and that day will be, either when He returns, or when we pass on from this world, when we die and go to Him, either way, it will happen, we will see our last day and I believe that last day will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might expect. So, it is indeed, truly important, to be ready at all times.

In our text for today, words given by God through Isaiah, especially to the children of Israel, but words to us today as well, we are reminded that the time is coming, the end, the day of Judgement is coming. As the end approaches, Isaiah reminds us that God knows our works and thoughts. We begin at verse eighteen, “18“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory” (v. 18). On the last day, on the day of judgement, the Lord will gather all people, believers and unbelievers alike and we will all stand before Him to be judged and we will be judged, not by any outward appearance, but by the contents of our hearts as the Lord will look into our hearts and know our thoughts.

Continuing on at verse nineteen, Isaiah reminds us that God will gather all nations to be judged, “19and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations” (v. 19). All people from all over the world will stand before the Lord. Isaiah tells us, in slightly different words, what John says in Revelation, that on the last day, all nations, all people, believers and yes, even unbelievers, will bow down and acknowledged that Jesus is Lord.

Continuing on at verse twenty, until that day, the day of the Lord’s return on judgement day, the Lord will send out missionaries to call people to faith, “20And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord” (v. 20). Of course, we are reminded that this does not simply mean sending missionaries out to people in far off foreign lands, because today we, you and I are missionaries. Just look at the cultural diversity we have here in our own country. People from countries where Christianity is illegal, have come here to our country, to us, and as we have opportunity, as we live lives of faith, as we live as priests in the priesthood of all believers, as we live as living sacrifices, and as we are asked, so we are to boldly, with God’s authority, share the good news of the message of salvation to all those the Lord gives us opportunity to speak to.

Verse twenty-one reiterates this priesthood idea. Those who have been given faith are to serve in their vocation as priests, “21And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.” (v. 21). What a privilege, to be a witness, to be a missionary for our Lord as He gives us the opportunity.

Perhaps we do not think about it enough, but our days on this earth are numbered and are few, especially compared to eternity. It will not be long and our Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth. On the day of judgement the Lord will separate the believers from the unbelievers. Those judged to eternal life will share in His glory, verse twenty-two, “22“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain” (v. 22). Those who have been given faith and who remain in faith will be given eternal life in heaven with the Lord.

And this eternal life in heaven will be eternal. As for time, in heaven there will be no time for time will be the eternal present and complete holiness, picking up at verse twenty-three, “23From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord” (v. 23). Heaven will be an unending place of eternal joy.

So, what does this mean? As we have been reminded the last number of weeks and so as we continually need to be reminded, which is the reason we come to divine service every Sunday, because of our constant need to be reminded, God is the prime mover. God acts first. God gives and we are given to. God gives life, faith, forgiveness and eternal life. And God’s usual way of giving the good gifts and blessings He has to give is through means, namely the means of grace, His Word, Holy Baptism, Confession and Absolution, and His Holy Supper. These are the means God uses to give us faith. As we live lives as priests in our vocations, as we have opportunity, we invite others, especially our unchurched family and friends to “Come and see,” to “Come and hear,” the Word preached and taught, so that the Lord might work through these very means to give faith to those who do not yet know Him.

Not only does God give faith through His means of grace, He also uses these same means to strengthen and keep us in faith. Just as a person who fails to go to the grocery store to purchase food, may run out of food and starve, so it is with those who fail to go to the Lord’s spiritual grocery store, those who fail to be in divine service where the Lord distributes His gifts and blessings. The questions is not, “Do we have to go to church?”, rather the joy is, “When do we get to go to church?” As King David said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Psalms 122:1). It is as we make regular and diligent use of the Lord’s means of grace that He has His way with us, that He gives, strengthens and keeps us in faith because the day will come when the Lord will return, or we will go to Him.

The day will come when God will judge. He will come to judge the living and the dead. He will come as a thief in the night. He will come on a day and at an hour no one will suspect. He will come and all will know that day has arrived.

And when He comes to judge, God knows if we have faith or not. And it is this faith, or no faith that will determine our eternal destiny. There are those in our world who have friends and family members who are not Christians, who do not know the Lord and unfortunately rather than confront their family or friends, because you know how it is, we do not talk about religion or politics, many have simply adjusted their belief to think that God will save all people, no matter what they believe, as long as they are sincere. I am sorry to inform you, but that is not what God says.

God tells us that those who are without faith, will receive their reward of eternal spiritual death in hell. Those are not my words and that is not my judgement. Those are the Lord’s Word and His just judgement. God’s just Words reminds us, then, of our need to bear witness of the faith which He has given to us so that others might be saved.

God also tells us that those with faith, will be given their reward of eternal, everlasting life in heaven. It is faith in Jesus Christ and His work, His life, His suffering, death and resurrection for us that saves us. God knows what is in our hearts. He knows if we have faith or no faith. And to those He has given faith and to those who have not refused the faith He has given, He gives eternal life in heaven.

Thus, we have Jesus’ encouragement to keep watch and be ready. We do not know the day or the hour. We do not know when we will die or when the Lord will return. We do know that this world means nothing compared to the world to come. We do know that all that we might amass in this world means nothing in the world to come. We do know that the most important thing in this life is having a right relationship with Jesus. And so that is what Jesus encourages us to work on, our relationship with Himself.

This morning we also have God’s encouragement, through Paul, to rejoice in discipline, which helps keep us ready. We talked about this discipline a bit last week and the fact that God does discipline those He loves, not because He likes to see us in pain, but because He wants to keep us on the straight and narrow, because He wants to keep us faithful, unto death, so that He might give us the crown of life.

This morning, then, I also encourage you. Keep ready and strive to help others to be ready. Live lives of faith. Make regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace. Be in divine service and Bible Class. Come and be loved by God. Come and be given to by God. Come be filled so that you might go and live and bear witness.

I know none of us has an expiration date on our birth certificate and I am glad. I do not think any of us wants to know the day we will die or the day the Lord will return, that would not help us in the being ready always department. What we do know is that the Lord has promised that He will return or that we will pass on, that we will die and go to Him. We do know that the Lord has acted first in our lives as the prime mover, giving us faith, either through our Baptism or through His Word. We do know that the Lord stirs in us through the means of our remembering our Baptism, through the means of His Word, through the means of our confession and absolution and through the means of His Holy Supper to strengthen and keep us in faith. We do know the Lord loves us and has created us to love us. And we do know that He will be with us, giving us His authority to speak when asked for the hope that we have in Jesus, as we have opportunity as we live lives of faith as priests in the priesthood of all believers. And so our whole lives say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

God Is Omnipresent - August 15, 2010 - Twelth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15) - Text: Jeremiah 23:16-29ter

God is omnipresent, that means that He is always, everywhere present. His spirit covers the entire universe and beyond, and yet He is as personal as to be our very own God, an ever-present help in time of need. Our Old Testament lesson for this morning is filled with God’s Good Word to us for today. Our Epistle and Gospel lessons are both excellent support passages for our Old Testament lesson. I pray that the Holy Spirit will come into our hearts, opening our hearts and minds to hear the Word of the Lord this morning that we might be strengthened in our faith and in our resolve to be children of God.

I want to quickly look at the Gospel lesson and the Epistle lesson before getting into our text from the Old Testament lesson. The Gospel lesson expounds verse twenty-nine (29) of our text, with Jesus speaking about the fire of judgement. God’s Word is the word with which He judges us, our actions as well as our words. His Word is a fire which burns the chaff, all that is not important in our lives, all that is not essential to our faith in Jesus Christ.

The Epistle lesson gives us examples of those who have been tested by God and have prevailed, these are indeed people of great faith. Last week we talked about how God is the prime mover, how He acts first, how He gives faith, strengthens and keeps us in faith. Our Epistle lesson for this morning explains how God goes about continuing to strengthen us in our faith. He does so by disciplining us. He allows us to suffer the consequences of our sins, thus correcting us and keeping us in His grace. Here we must make a distinction between punishment for sins and consequences for sin. Although we may suffer the consequences for our sins, as Christians we will never suffer the eternal punishment for our sins. The eternal punishment for our sins has been taken care of by Jesus. We may suffer some of the consequences for our sins, that is, we may get a ticket for speeding, go to jail for stealing, be given the electric chair for murder, but we will never suffer the eternal punishment for our sins. If we remember back to the garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve that they may eat from any tree of the garden except the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He told them that the day they eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that they would die. In other words, the punishment for disobedience was death, physical death and eternal spiritual death. Sure enough, they ate from the tree and they died and began to die. They began to die physically and later they did die a physical death as a consequence of their sin, but the punishment of eternal spiritual death they did not suffer, because Jesus died the eternal spiritual death for them. But Jesus did not die only for Adam and Eve, He took all our sins, and all the sins of all people, of all places, of all times upon Himself and He suffered the punishment for all sins on the cross. So you see, we may be disciplined by our Lord through suffering the consequences for our sins, but He does not punishes us with the eternal spiritual death penalty for our sins.

These two lessons, the Epistle and the Gospel, bring us into our text. Our text describes our God as being an omnipresent God. He is not a God who is only nearby, but He is a God who is far away also. Our God is far away. His spirit reaches out to the outermost parts of our universe and even beyond. If you have ever watched Star Trek or Star Wars or any other space odyssey movie you can see what it means that our God is a God who is far away. Here on earth He is a God who is far away, meaning that no matter where you try to run and hide from Him here on earth, He is there. There is no getting away from our God. No matter how far away we try to run from Him.

But He is also a God who is near. Our God is everywhere present. He is far away, and at the same time He is near. He is our personal God. He knows the number of hairs we have on our head. He knows what is happening to us at all times. He does not need us to twitter Him to tell Him what is happening. He is right there beside us at all times and in all places. That could be a bit frightening, because that means that He is with us even when we are in the midst of sinning. He is with us always.

Verse twenty-five (25) I find to be an interesting verse, “25I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’” I find this verse of interest because, and I hate to make this comparison, but we know it is true, as we listen to the news media, we hear our own political candidates say, ‘I have dreams.’ ‘I have dreams.’ They have had so many dreams it makes me think they have been doing nothing but sleeping.

No matter what side of the political spectrum they are on, our politicians sound a lot like the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day and just as the prophets of Jeremiah’s day were reflecting the attitude and desires of the culture, so are our politicians today. So what is it they are trying to tell us? What is it they are trying to tell us they think is important in our lives? They promise in one instance to raise taxes and in another instance to lower taxes. So, I guess they are trying to tell us that money is important.

They tell us that they want to create jobs. They will do whatever it takes in order to put people to work. If you paid attention two weeks ago when we talked about the Ecclesiastes text you will remember what the Teacher said about work, that is too is meaningless, but let us go on.

The great debate of today focuses on family values, whatever that is. One candidate says it is one thing, the other defines it another way. My only question is, have we changed the meanings of the words, family and values?

Finally, our political candidates seem to say whatever they think needs to be said to get our vote. I do not know about you, but I think this is the area where politicians shine. The good politicians are the ones who can convince you that they are for you and everyone else at the same time and make you believe it.

The politicians are trying to tell us a lot of things are important, and in their defense I would suggest that they are merely attempting to reflect what our culture and society believe to be important. At any rate, maybe I should not pick on politicians, but they are an easy target.

But, more importantly, even most importantly, what does our Lord tell us is important? We might say that our God also has a dream. Let us look and see, How does it compare? God does not promise an easy life, nor has He ever made such a promise. He does, however, promise to “cast fire on the earth.” He also promises to discipline those He loves. He even goes so far as to tell us that if we are not being disciplined that we are illegitimate children. In other words, if we do not have times when we suffer because of our faith, maybe we need to wonder about our faith. God does not promise us a job, a house, a car, lots of money, and so on, but He does promise us forgiveness, deliverance from death and the devil, and eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.

God does not promise us riches or prosperity, but He does promise to take care of us. He also promises that His fire of judgement will burn away the straw, that is all our unworthiness and unbelief, as well as, on judgement day our worthless material possessions leaving us with what is important, our Christian faith.

God shows us and tells us that our faith is what is important, and that we are to oppose every evil which is contrary to His Word. God tells us what a complete family is, and what is the responsibility of each member of that family. Dr. Martin Luther outlined this definition in the Table of Duties section in his catechism. Actually, I would suggest as you read through the Table of Duties in your Catechism and these passages can be found in your hymnal on p. 328, you will see that what Martin Luther is talking about is what we call our vocations. Anyway, according to the Table of Duties, passages taken from the Bible, a complete family consists of a husband and a wife who are the parents, and children, who are the responsibility of the parents and who are to love, honor and obey their parents. God knew what He was doing when He gave us families. Sure we have exceptions to what God gave us, but these are the exceptions. And, although there may come a day soon in this country when I may be arrested for saying this, a homosexual family is not an exception and is not what God has given for a family. Exceptions include what we have today with divorce, broken homes, single parent homes, and the like are all due to the consequences of sin. I am not saying that the single parent and even the non-parent families are not families, but I am saying that these are not what God has given to us in the first place. Because of sin we have divorce, children born out of wedlock, broken homes, live-in situations, because of the consequence of original sin, we have single parent families because of the death of a spouse, and the like. These situations are not the rule and are not what God has given us.

The Table of Duties outline the good order God has given us for families and for many areas of our lives, yet just as sin has tainted our family life, so sin has tainted our churches, our government, our work, our society, every area and aspect of our lives. What God had given for our good, because of sin, humanity has taken that good and made it into something evil. And no matter how hard society tries to change the definitions to make what is evil good and what is good evil, truly we cannot change what God has given.

Fortunately our God is a good and gracious God. Our God is a God of love and because He created us to love and because He is the prime mover, first loving us, we have His promise that even when we fail to keep Him first, even when we fail in our faith in Him, His promise is that He will take care of us, supplying us with all that we need to support our body and life. This does not mean that He will supply everything that we want, but He will supply everything that we need. God does know what is best for us and that is what He gives to us.

God does not always say what we want to hear, but what He knows we need to hear. He knows that we often need to be reminded that we are sinners, not in order to condemn us, but in order to help us to see our sin so that we see our need to confess our sins so that we may hear His words of forgiveness. God does discipline us, not because He likes to see us in pain, but because He loves us and wants to help us to grow in our Christian faith.

Unlike politicians who are only vocally everywhere promising everything, our God is almighty. He is omnipresent, that is He is everywhere present at all times. He fills our world as well as our hearts and lives. He is with us every step of the way, guiding, guarding and keeping us in His grace. He knows our every need and supplies us with all that we need. He loves us and disciplines us in order to strengthen our faith in Him. Unlike politicians who want us to believe that our earthly priorities are most important, our God tells us that our earthly priorities, our earthly life is important only in that it is preparation for our heavenly, eternal life, our real life. In other words, when He stirs in us to get our spiritual priorities right, God will take care of everything else. He disciplines us to show us what is important. He disciplines us because He is our personal Father, because He loves us, because He is a God who is near to us. And He stirs in us our response of faith, saying, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

JDL - Direction Nine - Husbands

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7 (ESV))

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. (Col. 3:19 (ESV))

As we have discussed earlier, God has created men and women. He has created them equal in His sight, that is at the creation of the world they were both created perfect and holy. Because of their disobedience and sin, they are now not perfect but are corrupt and filled with sin. It is this sin which leads to questioning God’s good gifts and blessings, His boundaries, and the roles He gives to us, His children.

Spiritually speaking, we are all equal in God’s eyes. We are equally sinners, and by His grace, through faith in Jesus, through His death and resurrection, we are equally saints. This is what we call the “order of redemption.” Yet, there are still differences between men and women, between husbands and wives. There are physical differences, and there are even chemical differences in the physical bodies of men and women. This accounts for hormonal and temperamental differences. There are psychological and physiological differences, and we rejoice in all these differences.

The differences are what make us unique as individuals, and often these are what draw us to be attracted to one another. These differences account for the differences in the plans and roles God has for the individual sexes and for us as individual persons.

Women, because of their design by God, are more fitting for their role as mother which includes being more of a nurturing person. Men do not have this capacity and so are not suited for this role. And saying that does not diminish the necessity of some men having to take on that role and responsibility in the absence of a mother, but that was not God’s good and right design from the start.

But, getting to the role of husbands in particular, our Lord tells us, through the Apostle Paul, that the role of the husband is to live with his wife and to honor her as the weaker vessel because you are together (and Paul is supposing that both the husband and wife are believers) going to be in heaven for eternity. It was this view of women that often was the underlining cause of much abuse that women have endured over time. Yet, here the husband is reminded that even if she is the weaker vessel, she is not to be abused as such. The role of the husband is to love his wife and not be harsh to her. He is to be a model of what a husband is especially when there are children involved.

According to the Jesus’ directed life, heeding the words of Jesus, the husband is the one who is and will be held ultimately responsible for his family, for he and his wife. Thus, it is imperative that the husband first find help and strength as well as guidance and direction from the Lord in fulfilling the role he is to live. It is only as one acknowledges and confesses his own sinfulness and inability that the Lord grants forgiveness and the Holy Spirit to give help, guidance, and aid.

As the husband admits and confesses, is given forgiveness, guidance and direction, he will then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, work to be the husband and head of the family which God intended him to be. He will love his wife and tend to her needs, first spiritual and then bodily. He will be the spiritual leader of the family bringing the family to divine service, having family devotions, leading in prayer and the like. And as he is unable to perform any of these tasks, he will seek out help, especially from his pastor who is his spiritual advisor.

The husband will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they will be one flesh. They will be one in spirit before the Lord, and yet at the same time, they will each have their own roles and jobs to perform in the new family. And in prayer, reading God’s Word, and following in His ways, the husband will be a Jesus-directed husband.

Think About
How often do married couples, and even groups of people in general, have difficulties because we fail to acknowledge our own God-given roles and limits? How often could conflicts be avoided if we were not so intent on usurping roles not given to us?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for boundaries as well as roles. Forgive me when I strive to usurp a role not given to me. Help me instead to work, to help, and to support others in the roles You have given them. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Meaninglessness!? - August 1, 2010 - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13) - Text: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26

If you are like most people, your first reaction to the text and the title of this mornings sermon is, “Why is he preaching from Ecclesiastes?” and “Is there any Gospel in this text?” The good news is that there is an abundance of Gospel in this text and contrary to the popular belief, there is an abundance of Gospel throughout the entire Old Testament. It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will open our hearts and minds so that we hear the Gospel message of this text and are strengthened in our faith.

In order to hear the Gospel in our text we need to first get a handle on what the book of Ecclesiastes is all about. From the first verse of text we get the idea that this book is about vanity, which other Bibles have translated as meaninglessness and that does not sound like Gospel. As you read through the book of Ecclesiastes you might at first despair. The writer of the book, who is called the “Teacher,” expresses the vanity or the meaninglessness of many of the things which we find to be important and meaningful in our own lives. He describes some of the following things that are vanity and meaningless; wisdom, pleasure, work, oppression, friendliness, advancement, riches, even religion, and so on. If we were to follow along with the teacher in reading through the whole book of Ecclesiastes, I believe we too, would admit that, in and of themselves, these “things” are vane and meaningless.

But before we despair we need to find out why the Teacher says that they are vane and meaningless. Here, rather than dwell on the entire book, I want to zero in on our text and on why the Teacher says that work is vane and meaningless. Again, when you take the time to read the entire book of Ecclesiastes, and I would encourage you to do so, it is not too long, you will find that although the reasons for each thing being vane and meaningless are different, the underlining theme is still the same. In our text the Teacher tells us that work is vane and meaningless because no matter how hard we work, when we die, we have no control over what will happen to all that we have done. We have so many examples of this happening in our world today; people like Howard Hughes, Colonel Sanders, Sam Walton, and the like who built financial empires and then died, leaving their work behind and letting who knows what happen to it. Of course there are those who would agree that work is vane and meaningless, especially those who do not like what they are doing, or those who are having a tough time with their job. If this is the case, that they do not like what they are doing, then their work becomes vane and meaningless, not necessarily because they do not know who will be coming after them, but because they do not know for whom they are working. The list of why people find work vane and meaningless goes on, but the underlining reason is always the same.

As we read this text, knowing that it was written over 2500 years ago, we notice that it could have been written today. All the things that the Teachers says are vane and meaningless then are the same things that are vane and meaningless today. Today we think that wisdom, pleasure, work, oppression, friendliness, advancement, riches, even religion, and so on are what make our life meaningful, but when we put them into the perspective that the Teacher has put them in we see how these things are just as vane and meaningless today as they were some 2500 years ago. Even our Gospel reading warns us that “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15b)

By now you are saying, “I was right, there is no Gospel in this text.” But before you despair let us examine why these things are vane and meaningless. They are vane and meaningless simply for the fact that we will die and after we are dead we have no control over what happens here in this world after we are gone. The Gospel writer Matthew expresses it best when he says, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

In other words, there is only one thing that is important, and that one thing is not our job, nor the abundance of our possessions, but the only thing that is truly important in this world is our faith in Jesus Christ. When we begin to realize that everything we do during our short life here on this earth is really for nothing after we die, we begin to realize that there is only one thing that is important, only one thing that has meaning and that one thing is our faith in Jesus Christ. It is faith in Jesus which gives our life meaning. It is faith in Jesus which gives us joy in our work, knowing that it is He who works through us to give meaning to our work. We can find joy in our work, no matter how much of a drudgery it may seem, when we realize that we are working for our Savior. When we do our jobs with the attitude of Christ, we bear witness of Him as our Savior and we are working for Him. The point of the book of Ecclesiastes is to show us that apart from faith in Jesus Christ life is vane and meaningless. Apart from Jesus all we can hope for is to despair, is to die, because life is utterly vane and meaningless.

Verse twenty-four and twenty-five are the key verses in our text, “24There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (v. 24, 25). Again, the good news is that it is God who gives meaning to our lives. More exciting is the fact that even our faith is a gift from God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word and the Sacraments; Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as well as Confession and Absolution, to bring us to faith, to strengthening us in our faith and to keep us in faith. At our baptism the Holy Spirit brings us to faith, He makes us one of His as Peter tells us in His epistle, “baptism now saves you.” Even before our baptism, even before we were conceived God chose us. He chose us and sent His only Son, Jesus to redeem us on the cross. Before our baptism we were lost and condemned creatures, helpless and hopeless. But after our baptism we became new creators, new people, we were given new life in Christ. God’s grace was poured out upon us to give our life meaning. Baptism is God’s work, it has nothing to do with our doing anything. Baptism is our passively being given God’s gifts of faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Baptism is one of the many ways our gracious God shows us how gracious He is to us.

In our Epistle lesson Paul encourages us to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (v. 1). He continues, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (v. 2-4). And he encourages us to put away those things of this life that are dangerous to our spiritual well being. Paul understands that the importance of the world to come should be over and above the things of this world.

In the Gospel lesson Jesus tells the parable of the rich man who focused his attention and life on the things of this world, on amassing riches and wealth instead of focusing on his spiritual well being. Jesus used this parable to emphasize the fact that we do not know when we will pass away, so we need to be ready at all times and we get ourselves ready by focusing on the important things of this world, especially our spiritual lives and faith.

So, when we put these readings together we ask, “What does all this mean?” Our lessons for today and our text help us to understand that apart from God and faith in Jesus Christ, life, our life in this world is vane and meaningless. Without the gifts God gives, good gifts of wisdom, knowledge and happiness, our life in this world is vane and meaningless.

The world would have us believe that our life in this world gets its meaning from what we do, but this is according to humanity and the thoughts of fallible human beings. In other words, this is an idea we cannot count on especially concerning our eternal well being. In this world we are told that we can make a difference and perhaps we might be able to make some difference in this world, but unless that difference has an eternal meaning, it really is no difference, merely here today and gone tomorrow, after all how many people remember Saint Sylvester? Yes, there is a Saint Sylvester and you can look him up. And so, according to the wisdom of our world, our goal in this life should be to leave our mark.

Many years ago, when I was working in youth ministry as a Director of Christian Education I always told the youth, “You make a difference.” How stunned I was when I found out that the fact of the matter is that it does not matter what we do in this life, that truly we do not make a difference, because when we are gone it will all turn to naught. How do you make a positive out of what sounds so negative? The fact of the matter is that the most important thing is life is not what we do or what we think we need to do, but the most important thing is this life is our faith in Jesus Christ, our personal relationship to our heavenly Father. It is Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for us, in our place which is what makes a difference, not simply in this life, but more importantly for eternal life. It is as the Lord has His way with us, as Jesus has lived for us, as He has taken our sins upon Himself, as He has suffered and died to pay the price for ours sins and as He makes His life and work ours that make a difference. It is as He gives, strengthens and keeps us in faith and as He stirs in us to live lives of faith, that is what is important and what makes our lives important. Remember, apart from God, life is truly meaningless, but with God we have a purpose and meaning.

As you have heard me tell you before, our purpose in life is to be love by God and to be given to by Him. So we rejoice in our being loved by God and being given to as we make regular and diligent use of the means He has of loving us and giving to us, His means of grace.

For the past number of Sundays we have been reminded time and again that God is the prime mover, that God gives and we are given to, that God does and we are done to. Last Sunday our text helped us in strengthening our prayer life, and this morning I pray that you will see that without the one thing needful, faith in Jesus Christ, without a relationship with Him through reading His Word, that is His coming to us in His Word, and prayer, that is our going to Him in prayer, that without these things, all of life is vane and meaningless. But thanks be to God that we have that relationship which does give our life meaning. And so our lives do says, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.