God's Magnificent Obsession - August 17, 2008

Service Introduction:

Today our worship service focuses on the word, “obsession”. When a person is obsessed with something, their obsession fills their thoughts, consumes their resources and drains their energies. Sometimes obsession drives a person to do what others consider unthinkable.

The God of the Bible has an obsession. Into His obsession He pours His thoughts, His resources and His energies. Into God’s obsession He pours Himself.

What is the object of God’s magnificent obsession? You, my fellow sinners. You and me. He is obsessed with rescuing us from our own personal sins which seek to drag us down to hell. He is obsessed with enriching our daily life so that it is more than breathing and eating and moving. He is obsessed with caring for us like a mother cares for her children.

May God grant us the spiritual insight to see His obsession in our readings from His Word. May His obsession with us, fill us with wonder.

Making Plans in Advance

One of the things that an obsessed person does is make plans. For example, if a person is obsessed with climbing a mountain, he might chart out his course over and over, preparing every little detail of the trip.

In our Old Testament reading God speaks to the people of Israel the plans that He has charted for them. They had stopped following the true God and had began to worship idols instead. As a consequence, they would be conquered and carried off to Babylon as slaves. But those who looked to God in repentance would not be forgotten. Those who trusted in the Lord could be sure that He had already looked ahead in time and had charted their course, preparing every little detail of their restoration.

Jeremiah 29:7-14 (NIV)

⁷Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” ⁸Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. ⁹They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.

¹⁰This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹²Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

One Way or Another

If a person is obsessed with buying something, he’ll find the money one way or another. Maybe he’ll work extra hours. Maybe he’ll get a second job, or a third. Maybe he’ll sell things that he already owns.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus speaks to those who will carry His precious message into the world. They had already carried Jesus’ message into the surrounding villages of Israel. In doing so they had received a warm welcome, for Jesus had been popular at that time.

But now, Jesus tells them that they should not expect such warm support. They will have to get by as best they can.

Whether we have a lot, or a little, God the Father is always at work in the lives of His followers, providing what they really need in one way or another.

Luke 22:35-37 (NIV)

³⁵Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

³⁶He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. ³⁷It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’ ; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

Gifts for the Future

In the movie, “Field of Dreams” there is an old man who speaks about how his wife loved blue hats. When walking home from work he would often see a blue hat in a storefront window. He always had to buy for her. When she died, he had a closet full of hats, that he had never gotten around to giving her.

Love is an obsession of sorts. Love leads us to give good things to those we love. Sometimes love even leads us to store up good things for those we love.

In our letter reading for today, Paul talks about Christians who are made rich by sharing with others. In God’s obsession with His people, He has arranged things so that even as we give things away, we actually become richer.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV)

¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Sermon

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16). The portion of God’s Word which we meditate on today comes from…

Genesis 9:1-15 (NIV)

¹Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ²The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. ³Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

⁴“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

⁶ “Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed;

for in the image of God

has God made man.

⁷As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

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These are the words of God, inspired by His Holy Spirit for our learning and life. Let us consider them with deep respect for in them God lives, and through them He communicates to us.

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Long ago astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of our solar system. From man’s point of view it certainly looks like the sun and planets are revolving around us.

But over time the truth of the matter came out. It is the earth that is circling the sun. Mankind is not the center of the physical universe. But in God’s heart, mankind certainly is at the core. The theme for our meditation today is God’s Magnificent Obsession: Mankind.

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The words of our text were spoken to Noah and his sons right after they had stepped off the ark. That huge ship had kept Noah’s family safe from a world wide flood for over a year. While they had bobbed around on the surface of the waters, the rest of the world had been destroyed. Only eight people in all had been kept alive in the ark.

As they stepped onto stolid ground again, God spoke to Noah and his sons. He blessed them and told them to have children and populate the earth once again.

This was the same thing that God had told Adam and Eve at the very beginning. After God had created the first two human beings He told them…

“…Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth…” (Genesis 1:28b NIV).

▬

Many in our modern culture want to tell us that we have evolved from animals. They says that the earth is our mother, the animals our brothers and sisters, and that everything that we see around us is the result of huge series of cosmic accidents.

But God tells us the opposite in the Bible. The creation account of Genesis tells us that God created all the things that we see, for us. Human beings were created after everything else, not because they were an afterthought, but because human beings were the finishing touch. Mankind was the jewel in the setting of God’s creation. Mankind was created high.

This fact is re-emphasized in the account of Noah and his sons getting off the ark. God tells them to have kids. To fill the earth back up with people. God wanted a planet that was green with plant life, but God also wanted it filled with the varied and vibrant colors of the human race.

▬

God wanted the earth to be filled with animals again, but these were not the brothers and sisters of man. The animals were originally created for man to enjoy.

After the flood, God changed the animal kingdom in two major ways. First, he instilled a fear of mankind in the animals which is easily seen to this day. Animals don’t want to be around humans. Only through ongoing contact with people do animals become domesticated and unafraid of man.

After the flood God change the animal kingdom in another way. He gave man permission to kill and eat animals as a source of food.

Now this doesn’t mean that people had never eater meat before, but now God was actually authorizing Noah to have a steak. Clearly, animals are not on the same level as mankind. This is made abundantly clear by the next thing God says.

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At the same time that God gives mankind permission to kill and eat animals, God also says that any animal that kills a man will be held accountable by God. Just as God would hold animals accountable for shedding man’s blood, so also God would hold every person accountable for shedding human blood.

Man was not created like the animals. He was created in the image of God. Originally Adam and Eve were sinless. Originally they had a perfect knowledge of what was right and wrong. They knew God’s will instinctively and perfectly. In their sinless perfection they resembled God who had made them.

Mankind had been created high, but mankind fell low when Adam and Eve sinned against God. But even after they had lost the sinless image of God, they were still to be respected.

When a dictator is overthrown by the people of a country, a common thing to see on the news is a big group of people toppling a statue of that dictator. They don’t really care if the statue is a perfect mirror image of the dictator or not. Their act of defying him is obvious by what they are doing.

In the same way, when one human being kills another, it is a direct act of defiance toward God, even though that person has already lost the perfect sinless image of God.

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God warned Noah and his sons that a murder would not escape without judgment. The fact that God has to remind Noah and sons not to kill their fellow human beings is a clear reminder of how the human race had fallen low by their sins against God.

The flood itself is among the Bible’s most vivid reminders of how seriously God takes man’s sin. Sin is rebellion against God. Sin must be punished by God. The world wide flood came from God as a judgment on mankind for his widespread and ongoing wickedness.

Before the Great Flood God looked out over the world of people that lived on planet Earth and was sad. Everywhere God looked he saw people hating each other and hurting one another. God saw that the ways that they talked to each other were rude and mean. They told lies and stole from each other. Almost nobody worshipped Him anymore.

In the Bible it says,

“The LORD saw that the people on earth were very wicked and in their hearts were always thinking only evil. Then the LORD was sorry He made people on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. ‘I will wipe off the ground the people I created,’ the LORD said, ‘people, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the air, because I’m sorry I made them’” (Genesis 6:5-7 AAT).

But not all of the ancient world was destroyed. There were a few people left who trusted that God’s Savior would someday come to redeem them.

These people were still sinners like all the rest, but the forgiveness that Jesus Christ would win for them was already theirs through faith. Their Heavenly Father would not abandon them to be destroyed in the flood. He loved them with a deep love and would save them.

And so into the Ark went Noah and his wife. Into the Ark went Noah’s three sons and their wives.

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After Noah came out of the Ark, God gave him and his family a promise of eternal mercy, and a sign to go with it.

God said,

“¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life” (Genesis 9:13-15 NIV).

A covenant means an agreement between two parties. Most of the time a covenant has certain things that both parties have to do for the covenant to be binding. But this covenant by God is a one sided covenant. Noah’s family didn’t have to do a thing. God simply said, “I won’t send a world-wide flood ever again. And the rainbow will be the symbol of my promise.”

First came mankind’s sin. Then came the flood as God’s judgment on mankind’s continued wickedness. Then came God’s merciful saving of Noah’s family and God’s promise of on-going mercy symbolized by the rainbow.

This ought to remind us of our experience with Jesus. First came our sin. Then came God’s judgment on our sin, but because of God’s mercy that judgment fell on Jesus, not on us. We will never feel the wrath of God because Jesus shielded us from it when He suffered and died on the cross of Calvary.

After the flood of God’s judgment had gone down and after Jesus had come out of the tomb, God then gave us a promise of eternal mercy, and a sign to go with it.

The symbol God has given us to remind us that our sins are forgiven is the empty tomb of your risen Savior. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we know that our sins are forgiven. Because He lives forever, we will live forever too.

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We are the object of God’s magnificent obsession.

The Father planned our salvation long before the world was created. He provides for us in this life in one way or another.

He has piled up gifts for us to open in this life and in heaven.

He has even done the unthinkable, He has taken away our punishment by His own suffering.

We have been saved from Hell…

…by the Father’s plan,

…through the Son’s blood payment,

…by the Holy Spirit’s working faith in our hearts.

God’s obsession, has made us His possession.

When you’re out enjoying God’s creation, remember that it was made for you. When in that creation God’s rainbow appears, be reminded of God’s judgment on sin, and His promise of eternal mercy that was made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

True Respect for God's Name - Aug 10, 2008

Matthew 5:33-37

[Jesus said], “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

Dear fellow-redeemed in Christ Jesus who has given us God’s Name:

It is often said that the Jews of medieval times had such a great respect for God’s name that they refused to pronounce that name when they came across it in written form. Instead of saying the holy name, they would say Adonai which means “Lord.” Since in written Hebrew there were consonants but almost no vowels, eventually it became impossible to know exactly how the actual name was originally pronounced.

Just because these Jews made a great display of their piety, that didn’t mean that they were generally righteous and pure themselves. Jesus shows us many ways in which the outward piety of the Jews failed to cover up the great swelling pride and self-righteousness that they carried around in their hearts.

From Jesus’ words in His Sermon on the Mount it becomes apparent that He taught His disciples to see to the heart of the matter. In this sermon He shows that murder includes hatred and that adultery includes lust. But now, what does He have to say about swearing and oath-taking?

Adultery, murder, and stealing—these are clearly serious things because they bring all sorts of harm to self and others. But is worrying swearing really all that important? And what are we to make of Jesus’ comments here? Is Jesus for it, or against it? What we’ll see is that Jesus calls for true respect for God’s name. I. Jesus warns against every kind of false swearing, and II. Jesus teaches a true respect for God’s Name.

I.

As Jesus speaks to His disciples, He warns against every kind of false swearing, and sometimes it was the most righteous people who were guilty of the most malicious oaths. Swearing, or taking an oath, is a means of bringing God into our human disputes. It is a means of backing up a statement by calling upon God to support what you say if it is the truth, but to punish you if you’re telling a lie.

There are occasions when an oath is necessary as in serious matters in which people’s lives and welfare are at stake. When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised land, Moses told them, “You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name” (Deuteronomy 6:13). They were to swear by God’s name, as opposed to swearing by some other god. Jesus knew that there are times when it is appropriate and necessary to take an oath.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’” [v. 33] This is what the people had been taught for generations, and it was straight from the Bible, so you couldn’t really argue with it. Don’t make false oaths—don’t swear that what you’re saying is the truth while knowing that you aren’t really certain of what the truth is or will be, or you are really going to lie or distort the truth. Secondly, don’t make vows—promises before God—you don’t intend to keep. If you make a vow to the Lord, you are bound to fulfill it whatever the personal cost.

So the people were taught to be honest and forthright about their vows, right? Not exactly. When Moses said “you shall perform your oaths to the Lord,” there were those who with evil reasoning proposed that if you didn’t actually make the vow to the Lord, or swear by the Lord to the truth of your statements, it wasn’t completely binding. The rabbis developed a sort of tiered system by which oaths were more or less binding depending on the supposed sanctity of the thing you were swearing upon. Only vows to God were fully binding. Swearing “by heaven” was a little less binding, “by earth” was even more wishy-washy and so on.

Jesus spotted the diabolical twist in all of this. It was just an excuse to get out from under the obligation of keeping one’s own word. An oath under those circumstances no longer prevented a criminal from going free or an innocent man from being cheated. It no longer protected the public good since the person entrusted with its care was bound to no more noble ideal than his own ambitions.

It wasn’t just the ancient Jews that needed to be concerned about this. The idea of being accountable to a higher power is a big part of the glue that binds our society together and protects us from the evil inclinations that we all harbor. This is true for the President’s oath of office binding him to uphold the constitution, to the soldier’s or policeman’s oath to serve and protect, to the witness’s readiness to bring out the truth of a matter in court, to the vow we make to be husband or wife. The quality of all such oaths is of great concern and of vital importance especially considering that our sinful nature fears all truth.

II.

Jesus showed true respect for God’s name, not just on this mountainside, but throughout His whole ministry. For one thing, He showed how false all those Jewish distinctions were. Heaven is God’s throne so an oath on heaven still drew the Almighty into the matter. The case was the same with the earth as God’s footstool, or Jerusalem where the everlasting King ruled over His people. As for swearing upon yourself, Jesus points out just how impotent we are to back up our own words. Maybe today we can change our hair color but it’s only temporary, and we can’t make ourselves grow an inch or extend our lives beyond our time of grace. God’s name involves everything God reveals to us about Himself. The Jews were not gaining much with their little customs and devices about not pronouncing God’s name. They surely weren’t defending its power or holiness.

In Isaiah God speaks to the people of Judah as they were becoming more and more disobedient to Him. Enemy empires were gathering like clouds and the Jews were trying to make alliances with neighboring nations, even participating in their pagan religions, in the hopes of staving off the armies that God had permitted to rise up against them. No one berates idol worship more than Isaiah who quotes the Lord when he says, “I am the Lord, that is my name, and besides me there is no other savior” (Isaiah 43:11). The Lord God who came to Adam and Eve, and who made a covenant with Abraham is the only living God and only through the worship of Him will any person find salvation from sin and from the power of the evil one.

When this Lord God gathered the Israelites, newly freed from slavery in Egypt, He told them: “Wherever I record My name, I will come to you and I will bless you” (Exodus 20:24). God made it clear that their greatest asset, their greatest virtue, their most precious treasure, was that they possessed the Name, that is, the knowledge of the only true God. Without Him they were helpless; with Him they were invincible. Were they to use His name for their oaths, they would definitely get results. He would certainly protect them in their truthfulness. He would absolutely punish them in a lie!

God’s name has been preserved to us, this very day, and with the same results. Jesus, toward the end of His ministry, prayed to the Father in the hearing of His disciples: “I have manifested Your name to the men You have given me out of this world” (John 17:5). It is clear that Jesus did more than give them a few proper names for the true God, or teach them a mysterious pronunciation that is now lost to us again. No, Jesus taught them and showed them the very identity of God, His Father, by proclaiming His kingdom, by calling people to enter it though faith, by laying down His life in obedience to the Father’s will. Everyone who possesses the Word of God has that very name of God.

We who possess God by faith in Jesus have come out of darkness and come into the light. We’re no longer slaves to sin, we’re no longer laboring under the terror of a God of judgment. We have come into the presence of a God of grace and forgiveness. Jesus’ Father from eternity has become our Father to be there for all eternity. This is a faith so rich and dynamic that we speak of ‘walking’ in it. Our faith touches, not only our intellect, but our heart and being. As children of God we join Him in a loathing of all deception, dishonesty, and perjury on the part of ourselves and others.

There is no question that all deception is a sin. But as children of the truth Jesus causes us to see that to use God’s name to prop up our own weak reputation—to call on the Lord to make ourselves appear more virtuous and trustworthy—is nothing short of the work of the “Evil One.” Our love for the truth will cause us to search the Word of God and seek to hallow God’s name among us. Our love for God’s truth will make of us such trustworthy and honest citizens and neighbors that our “yes” can stand as “yes,” or our “no” as “no” without bringing God into our statements to prop up our own questionable integrity.

It is no great honor to say that you’ve never pronounced God’s name, that is a great dishonor. The Lord says “Call upon Me in every trouble, I will deliver you, and you will glorify me” (Psalm 37:5)

May the Lord Jesus create a true respect for God’s name in each of our hearts. Amen

—Pastor Peter E. Reim

Sermon provided through "Ministry by Mail". For more go to http://lutheransermons.org/

The Humility of a Christian - Aug 3, 2008

James 4:6b-10 (NIV)

“God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

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There had been fighting in the congregation. As always, the quarreling had been caused by the inner, sinful desires of the people. When the people prayed to God, their prayers went unanswered because their prayers were motivated by those same inner, sinful desires. They did not see that as their friendship with the unbelieving world grew more intimate, their relationship with God became more strained.

James wrote to remind them,

“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6b NIV).

Their pride had caused them to fight with one another. Their pride had blinded them to such a degree that they actually came before God, asking Him in prayer to feed their hunger for sinning, by giving them the sinful things they longed for.

The Proverbs 3 reminds us,

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 3:24 NIV).

We must beware our own sinful, blinding pride. It seeks to tug us along on it’s leash, into the very presence of God. If we are not careful, our pride will lead us to approach God with an attitude of selfish, arrogant expectance, instead of a proper attitude of selfless, humble confidence.

“⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14 NIV).

The Pharisee stood in God’s Temple, but in his heart he was far away. The tax collector, though he stood at a distance, was running to God in his heart. Running to God with humble confidence that God would receive Him in mercy and forgive him in full.

James told the prideful congregation to do the same. He wrote,

“⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:7-17).

When we run away from Satan, we are running toward God. As we seek God’s forgiving embrace, God reaches out to receive us in love.

The humble wash their hands of their sins. They stop continually dirtying them with sinful actions. The repentant purify their hearts. They stop continually dirtying them with evil thoughts. The Christian attitude is one focused on doing the Lord’s will, not a double minded attitude.

The congregation that James wrote to had a double mind. They wanted to stand with one foot in the sinful world and one foot in God’s church. Then they could continue seeking the dark pleasures of sin, while also seeking God’s blessing and approval. God keep us from such double minded foolishness. God keep us from our own blinding pride.

We dare not approach the Almighty with upraised heads. Sinners must come near to God with downturned faces. We must approach God not with self-confidence, but with self-examination and repentance over our sins. We must approach God with humility, looking to God alone for forgiveness. For He sees what is in our hearts.

God’s sinless Son humbled Himself, and was lifted up on the cross of our suffering. He did this so that we sinners might humble ourselves before God the Father, and be lifted up by the cross of God the Son. Lifted up in forgiveness to eternal life.

James 4:11-12

¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

▬

Jesus once said,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NIV).

But Jesus never meant this statement to be interpreted alone. For Christians are indeed commanded by God to pass judgment in the proper time and place.

When Jesus miraculously healed a man on the Sabbath day, the Pharisees tried to pass judgment on Him, saying that Jesus was sinning against God by working on the Sabbath. Any fool could see that healing a person was a perfectly God pleasing thing to do on the day of the LORD. So, in His response, Jesus didn’t condemn judging, instead He said,

“Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment” (John 7:24 NIV).

When a man in the Church of Corinth was living sinfully with a woman, Paul reminded the congregation that while God would judge those outside the church, it was certainly proper for them to judge those people claiming to be followers of God.

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NIV).

This expulsion would be for the man’s benefit, showing him outwardly what was already the case inwardly. He had separated himself from God’s Son through His ongoing and unrepentant sin.

This right to judge according to God’s Word was given to all Christians by Jesus Himself when after His resurrection He told His disciples,

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23 NIV).

We Christians constantly come into contact with religious teachers who claim to tell us what God says. These too we are commanded to judge by comparing what they say, to what God’s Word says. The apostle John wrote,

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NIV).

So, if judging is a necessary part of the Christian life, what was Jesus talking about when He said,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NIV).

Jesus was telling His followers not to judge others in a self-righteous and hypocritical way. We judge others wrongly when we jump to conclusions on the basis of their sins, while quietly dismissing our own. What we aught to do when we see our fellow Christians sinning, is approach them in love, pointing out gently that their actions are not fitting for a child of God to continue. Paul wrote in Galatians,

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1 NIV).

If their response is to recoil from Christ’s rebuke and cling to their sin, then Christ’s judgment must follow. But again, Christ’s judgment, spoken through the Christian, is fittingly spoken with a spirit of loving concern, not of self-righteous disdain.

James wrote the following warning to a prideful congregation:

“¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:11-12 NIV).

A Christian sees another sin. He instantly judges that the other is not a Christian, or at least, not as good a Christian as he is. He immediately begins to catalog all the past slights and sins that this other person has done to back up his conclusion that this person is a bad person and not a child of God. This is judgment that is not based on God’s Word and truth, but on personal self-righteousness and slander.

When a Christian does this, he is forgetting that God commanded,

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16 NIV).

The judgmental Christian is saying, “God’s laws apply to you, but not to me. I decide when God’s laws apply to me and when they don’t. And I have decided that they always apply to you.”

James reminds us,

“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12 NIV).

Are we to pass judgment on our fellow Christians? Yes. But not each and every time they sin. We are to declare Christ’s judgment on them only when they declare through their continuing unrepentant sin that they have abandoned their Savior and cherish their sin above Him.

When we pass judgment on each other before this is clear, we do well to remember James’ sobering question,

“…who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12 NIV).

James 4:13-17

¹³Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

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When I was in college I worked one summer trimming Christmas trees. The Christmas tree fields of lower Michigan get awful hot by noon. So, we would get up early so that we could work in the cool mists of the morning. You see, in the morning it was invariable foggy. The grass was wet enough to soak your boots. The air was cool enough to give you a chill before you got started swinging your shearing knife.

But as the sun rose into the big blue sky, it would burn off the morning fog, and a haze of humid heat would settle into the rows of evergreen trees.

God says that we are that mist. Here for just a short while. Gone before long.

In Psalm 103 God puts it like this,

“As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting

the LORD’S love is with those who fear him,” (Psalm 103:15-17a NIV).

Pride leads us to approach God with arrogance. We forget that we sinners can only approach our Creator with Jesus at our side.

Pride leads us to judge our fellow Christians unfairly. We forget that God judges us not by our own record of sins, but by the sinless record of Christ in whom we trust.

Pride leads us to brag about our future plans like we are the ones that have the power to make them happen. We forget that all our worrying and planning and toiling can accomplish nothing if the Lord does not bless our efforts. Human pride is utterly foolish.

James reminds us that we are frail. If don’t want to live this life like fools, we must recognize our frailty, and look to God for every good thing and every success. With James we also say,

“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15).

And also with Paul we say,

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NIV).

How strange it is that this humblest of statements begins with the phrase, “I can do all things”. But, the phrase that follows makes all the difference in the world. It changes the arrogant statement that I am the master of my fate into the humblest expression of faith.

Yes, I am a mist. Yes, I am a vapor. Yes, I am a flower that fades. Yes, I am grass that withers. Yes, I am dust that will return to the ground. But, I can do all things, through Christ Jesus who saved me, and who is my strength.

Amen.

The Spirit Prays for You - Jul 20, 2008

Greetings in Christ,

The sermon for this week is a borrowed sermon from my cousin, Pastor David Schaller. I only have it in PDF format, which I can't reproduce on this blog. So, here's the link where you can get the PDF for yourself.

http://www.redeemerclc.org/worship.html

It is the sermon marked "Pentecost 9". If you don't have a PDF reader you can download one on the Redeemer Website where the sermon is. Sorry for this inconvenience.

In Christ,
-Pastor Caleb Schaller

Love Produces Dedication - Jul 13, 2008

Grace and Peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Psalm 119 was written in a very specific form of Hebrew poetry. In the Hebrew, the first eight verses begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “aleph”. The second set of eight verses all begin with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “bet”. The third set of eight verses all begin with the third letter, and so on all the way through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Since there are 22 sets of 8 verses, Psalm 119 has a total of 176 verses. It is the longest chapter in the Bible. It takes about seventeen minutes to read aloud.

Some Psalms tells us who wrote them right away, but Psalm 119 does not. For this reason, scholars like to argue about who wrote it. Some say it sounds like King David’s pen. Others point to a different follower of God.

It is difficult to determine without a doubt who the Writer was. But, we know without a doubt that the Holy Spirit was the author. God’s Holy Spirit used someone’s personality, experience and emotions, to express the truths of God in just the right way. And while we might not be able to put a name tag on Psalm 119, the Holy Spirit did leave us some details about the person who penned it.

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From the very first verses it is clear that the Writer is a follower of Jehovah God. He calls himself the LORD’s “servant” who is waiting for the LORD to save him (v38-42).

He is in great need of saving for he is being oppressed and persecuted by people who hate God’s word. Some of these people are powerful government officials (v23,46, 161).

In one verse the Writer says that he has been tied up by his enemies (v61). The fact that he speaks of being bound and oppressed by government officials who hate the LORD has led some to believe that Psalm 119 was written from inside a prison. To support this thought, in verse 109 the Writer expresses his fear that his life could be extinguished at any moment (v109).

Some have assumed that Psalm 119 must have been written by an old and experienced follower of God. But, the Psalm suggests the opposite. In verses 99-100 we read,

“I have more insight than all my teachers,

for I meditate on your statutes.

I have more understanding than the elders,

for I obey your precepts” (Psalm 119:99-100 NIV).

It would appear that the Writer is a relatively young man.

A number of times the Writer asks God to deliver him because he is dedicated to the LORD and does what is right (v59, 121).

But the Writer also confesses that he has not always kept the LORD’s commands. He confesses that he has sinfully wandered away from the LORD and still needs the Shepherd of souls to seek out and save him (v67,176).

Throughout his Psalm, the Writer repeatedly says that the source of his hope is God’s promise.

“May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise;” (Psalm 119:41 NIV).

“Remember your word to your servant,

for you have given me hope.

My comfort in my suffering is this:

Your promise preserves my life” (Psalm 119:49-50 NIV).

The Writer looks forward to serving God in joy after he has been rescued from his current oppression (v117). But, throughout the Psalm he makes it clear that he will not delay, but will do God’s commands now, as he waits for God’s deliverance.

“I wait for your salvation, O LORD,

and I follow your commands” (Psalm 119:166 NIV).

Psalm 119 is a Psalm about dedication to the LORD. It is about trusting that the LORD will keep His promise to save, even when times are dark. It is about doing what the LORD says to do, even when human reason suggests a different course of action is better. It is about the follower of God separating himself from Satan and all evil ways so that he can serve the LORD with all his heart, soul and mind.

When meditate on Psalm 119, we find that there is only one thing that produces a dedication like the one it describes.

Love.

Our theme for today’s meditation is: Love produces dedication.

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Old Testament............. Psalm 119:113-128 (NIV)

ñ SAMEKH

¹¹³I hate double-minded men,

but I love your law.

¹¹⁴You are my refuge and my shield;

I have put my hope in your word.

¹¹⁵Away from me, you evildoers,

that I may keep the commands of my God!

¹¹⁶Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live;

do not let my hopes be dashed.

¹¹⁷Uphold me, and I will be delivered;

I will always have regard for your decrees.

¹¹⁸You reject all who stray from your decrees,

for their deceitfulness is in vain.

¹¹⁹All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross;

therefore I love your statutes.

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in fear of you;

I stand in awe of your laws.

ò AYIN

¹²¹I have done what is righteous and just;

do not leave me to my oppressors.

¹²²Ensure your servant’s well-being;

let not the arrogant oppress me.

¹²³My eyes fail, looking for your salvation,

looking for your righteous promise.

¹²⁴Deal with your servant according to your love

and teach me your decrees.

¹²⁵I am your servant; give me discernment

that I may understand your statutes.

¹²⁶It is time for you to act, O LORD;

your law is being broken.

¹²⁷Because I love your commands

more than gold, more than pure gold,

¹²⁸and because I consider all your precepts right,

I hate every wrong path.

▬

These are the words given by the Holy Spirit, through a fellow believer, to us. They are given to build up our faith, to teach us and to comfort us as we also wait for the LORD’s salvation. We pray, teach us your decrees also, O Lord, according to your love. Amen.

Maybe you’ve sold beauty products from Mary Kay. Perhaps Candle-Lite candles. Maybe waterless cookware, Encyclopedias or something else. Being a good salesperson doesn’t come easy and it isn’t for everyone. Especially if your ability to sell directly impacts your take home pay.

I’ve never been a salesman. But I think that if I ever was, I would have to sell a product that I thought every person really needed. I product that I felt was so good that it would sell itself.

If everybody else in the world really needed what I was selling, then I’d find some way to get it to them. I’d find the right words to convince them. I’d work hard to help them see that they really couldn’t live without my product.

Love of my product would produce dedication to selling it.

In the same way, Jehovah God’s love for sinners is what creates our love of Him. And in turn, with that love comes dedication to Him.

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Throughout Psalm 119, the Writer expresses that he has hope for the future because God has promised to save him. Today, you and I have hope for the future because God has not only promised to save us, God has done it through Jesus the Messiah.

God’s Garden of Eden promise, which the Old Testament prophets describe, has come to realization in Jesus of Nazareth. In the person of Christ, God’s Son became truly human, like you and I.

Because He was sinless, He had room on His soul to take up our every despicable deed. Our every evil thought. Our every shameful action. And out of love for our broken souls, He did take up our sins, every one.

While He hung crucified, all our sin and guilt hung on Him. The eternal condemnation for our sins was poured out on Him in time. Our uncountable individual punishments were inflicted on Him instead of on us. This isn’t poetry or imagination, the physical and spiritual suffering of the man Jesus is historical fact.

In the last verse of Psalm 119 the Writer prays to the LORD,

“I have strayed like a lost sheep.

Seek your servant…” (Psalm 119:176 NIV).

When we feel guilt over our sins, let this be our prayer also. God will respond to our confession with love. For, as apostle Peter wrote,

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25 NIV).

God is our refuge and our shield. He has sheltered us from His anger over sin by covering us with His sinless Son. He still shields us from the evil forces of this world by His educating Word.

The Good News of Jesus shows us that God loves us dearly. His love produces faith in our hearts and with that faith comes dedication Him.

Like a potted plant, our dedication to God grows the more we sit in the light of His Word and the more we drink in the water of His Word.

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One of the most remarkable things about Psalm 119 is the amount of times that it refers to the words of God. The Writer refers to what God says with many synonyms.

He calls it : The Word. The Law. His Statutes. His Precepts. His Commandments. His Ordinances. His Decrees. His Promises.

Almost every verse of Psalm 119’s 176 verses has one of these terms for God’s Word in it. There are only a handful of verses that make no reference to God’s Word. Maybe around five.

It kinda makes you think the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something here. Maybe that God’s Word is precious?

We love Jehovah God and we love His Word too. Because the LORD’s Word is what reveals who God is. Yes, God could appear visibly and have a discussion with us. But, in His loving wisdom He has chosen not to reveal Himself to most sinners in this way. Instead, He has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind through His living Words which are recorded in the Bible.

In those Words we find a specific God described. A God who is unlike any created being. He is single being with three persons. He is not a concept, or some ethereal energy. God is not a impersonal power that we can harness if we just, “learn the ways of the force”.

The LORD is a personal God, and He does not change who He is to match what sinners imagine Him to be like. There are characteristics that He has, and does not have. There are things that He does and does not do. And in all that He is and does, He is utter goodness. He is absolutely just. As the Bible describes Him,

“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5 NKJV).

God is good.

God’s Word expresses who He is. God’s Word expresses His will. What He wants done. How He wants us to live so His will is done.

Because God is utterly good, we can be sure that what God commands is also utterly good, and always beneficial to follow.

The Writer of Psalm 119 says,

“I will speak of your statutes before kings

and will not be put to shame,

for I delight in your commands

because I love them” (Psalm 119:46-47 NIV).

“Though rulers sit together and slander me,

your servant will meditate on your decrees.

Your statutes are my delight;

they are my counselors.” (Psalm 119:23-24 NIV).

The Writer does not care if the world mocks him for following God’s direction. He will follow the will of God, because He trusts that God really is good. He also knows that God will not fail to bless those who walk in His ways.

It’s true, sometimes the good fruits of following God’s commands don’t show themselves right away. But they will with patience.

In verses 123-125 the Writer says,

“My eyes fail, looking for your salvation,

looking for your righteous promise.

Deal with your servant according to your love

and teach me your decrees.

I am your servant; give me discernment

that I may understand your statutes” (Psalm 119:123-125 NIV).

The Writer has been waiting for the LORD to rescue him for so long that he can’t stay awake. His eyes grow tired waiting for the promise of God to be kept. For His rescue to come. But what does He do? Does he abandon the LORD and seek help from somewhere else? No! He prays that God would teach Him how to better understand God’s Word, so that He might continue to wait faithfully for God’s sure promises to be kept.

Listen to some of the lover’s words which the Writer directs to the LORD:

“I delight in your decrees…” (v16)

“My soul is consumed with longing

for your laws at all times” (v20).

“I run in the path of your commands,

for you have set my heart free” (v32).

“Your decrees are the theme of my song

wherever I lodge” (v54).

“How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (v103)

“…I love your commands

more than gold, more than pure gold,” (v127).

“… I love your law” (v113).

What makes this believer so dedicated to the LORD?

Love.

Love for God. Love for all that God is and says.

Love for God created by God’s love for Him.

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Love produces dedication. Dedication then creates separation.

In verse 113 and 115 the Psalmist writes,

“I hate double-minded men,

but I love your law” (v113).

“Away from me, you evildoers,

that I may keep the commands of my God!” (v115)

The Writer’s opposition to God’s enemies is a product of his union with God. Remember what Jesus said?

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…” (Matthew 6:24).

You can’t play on both teams. You can only serve one Master. Long before Jesus ever said these words, the Writer of Psalm 119 understood. So, he separated himself from those who oppose God, out of loving devotion to God.

In the same way we modern day Christians cannot allow ourselves to be goaded into serving Satan by doing things his way. If it isn’t the LORD’s way, it isn’t right, and it isn’t beneficial. If you feel guilty doing it, then for your own good you better stop and pray. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled into serving the King of Darkness.

Instead, separate yourself from those who think sin is of little consequence. Separate yourself by your words. Separate yourself by your actions. Draw a circle around yourself by declaring Jesus to be your King in every area of your life.

When we separate ourselves from the sinful world by walking in the commands of God, we show everyone that we follow the LORD, not just with our mouths, but with our hearts.

When we tell others how Jesus’ love has made us His own, then Satan loses. Through our simple speaking of the Good News of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is put into action, and eyes are opened to God’s love.

I pray that our dedication to Christ’s message might bring separation between many sinners and Satan. I pray that we will take Jesus with us when we leave today, and share Him with one person this week.

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In verse 121 the Writer says,

“I have done what is righteous and just;

do not leave me to my oppressors” (v121).

Do you feel that confident? Have you been so dedicated to God that you can say, “LORD, I’ve followed your way, so come and help me now!”

Me neither.

I don’t feel that dedicated to God.

But, I know where to get more dedication.

My dedication comes from my love of God. My love of God comes from God’s love for me. So that’s where I need to go when I feel like a failure. I need to go back to God and see His love for me. I need to go back to the clearest presentation of God’s love for me. I need to go back to the foot of the cross. I need to see again the bleeding, suffering Jesus, whose every pain was a labor of love for my sake.

That love cleanses my sin. And that love feeds my soul. In His love for me, my dedication takes root and grows up. In His love for me, I live. As the Writer prayed in Psalm 119,

“May your unfailing love be my comfort,

according to your promise to your servant.

Let your compassion come to me that I may live,

for your law is my delight” (Psalm 119:76-77 NIV).

May all that our LORD says be your delight, and your comfort, and your peace, and your life.

I’d like to close our sermon meditation today with the responsive reading of Psalm 31.

The peace which comes from God, which far exceeds all our understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.