Remember - November 24, 2010 - Thanksgiving Eve - Text: Deuteronomy 8:1-10

In our text for this evening, from the Old Testament reading, we are encouraged by Moses to remember. How fitting this text is as we, on the eve of our National Day of Thanksgiving, take the time, not only to remember but, also to give thanks for all the good gifts and blessings our good Lord has seen fit to bestow upon us, His children. In the spirit and style, if you will, of Moses speaking to the children of Israel, this morning I would encourage you to remember.

Remember . . . remember that God gives us life at conception. This comes through no choice of our own (we do not choose to be conceived and born). This comes through the love of our parents for each other as they reflect God’s love to each other. We thank God for this gift of life at conception and we continue to celebrate His gift of life each and every evening that we awake knowing that each day is a gift from Him. Each day we give Him thanks that He gives us the opportunity to live another day.

God gives life at conception and He gives us new life through His Word and through Holy Baptism. Through His Word and through the waters of Holy Baptism and the putting of His name on us we become His children. He claims us as His own (in the same way that we do not choose to be born, nor do we choose to be given faith through the waters of Holy Baptism or God’s Word). He makes us His children and a part of His kingdom. He gives us forgiveness of sins and puts faith in our hearts. He gives us His Holy Spirit who continues, throughout our lives, to strengthen and keep us in faith until Christ returns.

We might summarize what God has given to us and done for us in Dr. Martin Luther’s words of explanation to the third article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.”

God has graciously poured out on us more gifts and blessings than we can ever think or imagine or count. He has given us a place to live, a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, shoes on our feet and food on our tables.

God has given us parents and grandparents, pastors and teachers, and an education. He has given people to care for us as well as people for whom we are privileged to care. He has given us all wisdom and knowledge. He has given us the ability to discover and invent so many things which makes life easier.

God has given us gifts, talents and abilities. He gives us these gifts, talents and abilities to use, especially to use in service to Him, for the strengthening of ourselves as well as the extending of His Kingdom. As we use our gifts, talents and abilities to serve and help others, so we are serving and helping the Lord.

God has given us a vocation, a job, a career, a place to work. We are to use the gifts, talents, and abilities He has given us in order to be efficient and productive in our vocation, our job, our career, or wherever we work. And wherever it is that we do work, we are to remember that we are not working for the company or the boss, but we are working for the Lord, using the gifts, talents and abilities He has given us to His glory.

God has given us freedom of religion. We live in a country where we are relatively free to do as we please, to worship as we choose, even to choose to not worship. Certainly we might imagine that we are persecuted, to a degree, perhaps more subtly than anything, yet at this time still, we do not have to die for our faith.

God has given us a land flowing with milk and honey. We live in one of the most, if not the most blessed country and nation in the world. We suffer from the fact that we have to decide which of several articles of clothing and shoes we will wear, which of several brands of food we wish to eat, which brand of automobile to drive and so forth. Compared to many countries, we are rich indeed.

We might summarize what God has given to us and done for us in Dr. Martin Luther’s words of explanation to the first article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.”

But there is more to remember. We are to remember that God has given His Son to be born as one of us. He who was true God, gave up the glory that was His in heaven. He took on human flesh and blood. He was born of a woman. The fulness of the Gospel is in this that He lived His life for us in our place so He could be our substitute, trading His life for ours. He suffered temptation as we suffer, even more and yet He did not sin.

We are to remember that God has given His Son to take our sins upon Himself. The purpose for which Jesus came into this world was to live, suffer and die. And He did. He lived a perfect life and then He took all our sins upon Himself and He suffered the eternal spiritual death penalty for us, in our place. That which we should have suffered, He suffered. God has given His Son the punishment which we deserve. Jesus suffered the eternal spiritual death penalty, hell, for us, in our place. Jesus suffered and died.

Yet, we are also to remember that we do not worship a dead God, but a living God. For Jesus did not stay dead, but God raised Him from the dead. After His ascension, He returned to the right hand of His Father where He is ruling over us, watching over us, interceding for us.

We might summarize what God has given to us and done for us in Dr. Martin Luther’s words of explanation to the second article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.”

Today we remember . . .we remember that it is our duty or better, I like the word privilege, it is our privilege to give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy does endure forever. And as we have been saying, He is good, He is merciful, He has given us blessings, more than we can count, more than we can think or imagine.

We remember that it is our duty, our privilege to praise the Lord for His good gifts and blessings. We praise Him because He has and continues to give to us from His bounty, not because we are deserving in any way, but because of His great love for us.

We remember that it is our duty, our privilege to rejoice in the Lord for all His benefits to me. What a great God we have. A God who gives to us, expects nothing in return from us, and rejoices in our pouring out our response of praise and thanksgiving and rejoicing through our giving ourselves to Him, through our giving our worship to Him, through our giving of our time, talents and treasure to Him as a way of glorifying Him as He stirs in us to do so.

This evening and tomorrow we remember, we recall all that our Lord gives and we are moved to say, “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever. Amen.”

The Lord’s Righteous Treasure - November 21, 2010 - Last Sunday of the Church Year (Proper 29) - Text: Malachi 3:13-18

Today is the last Sunday of this present church year. In a way it is our New Year’s Eve service. As we talked about last week and really, as we do every year at the end of the church year, our Scripture readings remind us of the fact that just as God kept His first promise and sent Jesus to be the Savior, even though He waited some 4000 years to do so, He did fulfill His promise, so too, even though He has waited some 2000 years to fulfill His promise to return, we know that Jesus will return, soon, sooner than we know and sooner than we might imagine, thus, again, our readings remind us of the importance of being ready for the Lord’s return.

We live in a world today which very much mirrors what Jesus was talking about when He was talking about the end times, “36But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” Matthew 24:36-39. And so it is today, people are oblivious to the fact that we are living in the last days. Too many people, even too many of us right here in this church do not really believe that Jesus will return anytime soon, especially not in our own life time, thus we are living life, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” oblivious to what is about to happen.

The attitude of the world, believers and unbelievers reflects the words of Malachi,“13Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape’” (v. 13-15). For the people of Malachi’s day and for many today there is the appearance of the prospering of the evildoers, in other words we ask the question, “Why bother doing good when the evil prosper?”

How often do we read or hear about what seems to be that the evil doers test God and escape, and even prosper or so it seems? Those of us who are Christians, who have morals and ethics, who believe there is an absolute authority and that we are responsible to God, we live as good citizens, obeying the laws and for what purpose? Those who have no ethics, who do not believe in moral absolutes, it seems that they are prospering and no one is holding them accountable. Why bother? Why bother being good and doing what is right?

But what does God see? We pick up at verse sixteen, “16Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17‘They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him’” (v. 16-18). The righteous continue to pray to the Lord and He hears. Yes, God is God and as God He knows all and sees all. He knows who is doing good and why they are doing good. He can look in the hearts of people and He knows who has faith and who does not.

Those who have been given faith, we Christians, have our names written in the book of life. As Christians, we rejoice because our loving Lord gave us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. As we have said time and again, it all starts with the Lord. God gives us faith, through His means of Holy Baptism. God keeps us in faith and strengthens us in faith through His means of Confession and Absolution, His Word and His Holy Supper. The very reason we come to divine service whenever offered is to be given the gifts God has to give as He gives them though His means of grace in divine service.

As Christians, we rejoice because the Lord did not spare His own Son for our forgiveness. Again, God is the prime mover. We are conceived and born in sin. Every inclination of our heart is evil all the time. Thus, God comes looking for us. God finds us. God gives us faith, forgiveness and life. God sent His only Son, Jesus, God Himself in flesh, to live perfectly for us because we cannot and to pay the price for our sins.

While on this earth, while in this world, we may not see things as God sees things, but we can know for certain that in the end we will see the Lord make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. The Lord will judge all according to His righteousness. Those who deny the Lord will be given eternal spiritual death. Those who have faith will have life, eternal life in heaven with the Lord.

So, what does this mean? The way the world sees life is not the way the Lord sees life or the world. The world looks at things from the outside. The people of the world attempt to explain the world without God, thus excluding God so that there is no ultimate authority and no ultimate responsibility. Why are people killing people? Because they have been taught that there is no god, no ultimate authority, no ultimate responsibility, so do as you wish. It is a “dog eat dog” world, “survival of the fittest” so do what you want.

But the way the world sees itself is not the way God sees it. God is God. God is Creator. God is Preserver. God is Redeemer. God is Sanctifier. God is the beginning and the end. God created all things out of nothing and crowned His creation with the creation of humankind. God created us to love us. God gives us life, at conception. God gives us all things especially all that we need to support our body and life. And God gives us, strengthens and keeps us in faith.

For us, for our part, we are to live life as God’s children, as His creation. This does not mean that life will be easy. As a matter of fact, for us Christians, living in a sin tainted world, very often our lives in the world seem like this world is not fair. So, how do we survive? “Luther spoke of the making of a theologian [we can say of the making of a Christian] on the basis of Ps 119. A theologian [a Christian], he held, came from three actions: prayer (oratio), reading or study (meditatio), and affliction (tentatio).” As Christians we begin with pray (oratio). One of our greatest weapons in this world is prayer, that we can speak to God, directly to Him in prayer. And we know that as we pray, He hears our prayers. And we rejoice that when He answers our prayers He answer, not according to what we want or even think we need, but according to what He knows we need according to what He knows is best for us. We pray and we read and study (meditatio). We speak to God in pray and He speaks to us through His Word. As He speaks to us through His Word, He gives, strengthen, and keeps us in faith. Finally, we grow in our faith life through affliction (tentatio). Again, God never promised that life would be easy, at least not this life, but we do have His promise that never will He leave us and never will He forsake us.

So we are back to God as the prime mover. God gives us life, at conception. God gives us faith and new life through Holy Baptism. God strengthens and keeps us in faith through His Holy Supper. Jesus took care of our forgiveness, through paying the price for our sins on the cross and He distributes that forgiveness every Sunday morning and every day through confession and absolution. God gives and we are given to.

In this world, we may look at the outward appearance, but God looks into our hearts. God knows who has faith in Him and who does not. God knows whose names are written in the book of life and whose are not. While it may appear that the wicked are prospering in this world, we know that this world is temporary. This world is fast and fleeting. There is nothing permanent about this world. And we know that we have our inheritance firmly established in the world to come, in the permanent world of heaven.

Once again we note that God gives and we are given to. God gives faith, forgiveness and life. And as we are given to, our learned reaction is the desire to give thanks and we give thanks through our response of faith, yet even our response of faith is given to us by God. Thus, first and foremost our response is to be given to. And then our response of faith is to live lives of faith, even if that means looking different from the rest of the world, even if that means being set apart and persecuted. What else can we do?

The scoffers of this world fail to see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked because in their own eyes it appears as if the Lord treats them both the same, so way bother being good? Why be a Christian if the wicked also prosper? Yet, we know that the Lord looks, not at the outward appearance of a person, but in the heart and will judge accordingly. God looks in the heart and sees faith. True Christian faith can be seen in an outward expression of a response of faith in one’s heart. So, although the world may appear to be in favor of the wicked, God looks into the heart and judges accordingly, thus, those who have been given faith, by God’s grace, are His treasure. Yes, you and I are His treasure.

Again, today is the last Sunday in this present church year. Although I am not a doomsday proclaimer, please know that we are living in the end times. We will stand before the Lord in judgement, either when He returns and if that is not during our lifetime, it will be when we die, but it will happen. So, now, more than ever is the time to be ready for His return. My prayer continues to be that your are ready and if you are not that the Lord would continue to get you ready. So, that ultimately when we do all stand before the Lord we will stand before Him in the grace, mercy and faith He has given to us and we will say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.