God’s Word at Work

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
Job 38: 1-11

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this mornings meditation is recorded in the book of Job, chapter 38, verses 1 through 11, particularly these words:  “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?  Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”  This is our text.

In the name of our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  I’m sure at some point in the life of each and every one of us — there was some person who irritated us enough to get us really good and mad at them for just a moment.  Maybe it was an older brother or sister who was telling us how we should do some task that we had been doing ourselves for years.  Maybe it was someone with a little more school training but little work experience who tried to tell us how we should do our job at work.  Or maybe it was someone who was just stuck up, and thought that they were better than we were.  But whoever they were and whatever they were doing lead our irritation to reach it’s boiling point, and we asked them very pointedly — “JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?  MY MOTHER!  MY FATHER!  MY BOSS!  WHO ARE YOU TO BE TELLING ME I’M WRONG?”  That is the main point of our Old Testament lesson for today.  God is asking Job, “Just who do you think you are?”

We all know the story of Job.  We know how God allowed Satan to tempt Job to see if Job would lose faith.  Satan did it by destroying all of Job’s crops, all his cattle, and even all his children.  But that wasn’t enough — Job remained faithful.  So a second time the Devil came after Job.  This time with sores and scabs all over his body.  It was a tormenting illness with great pain and agony — and Job had to bear it.

But through it all, Job refused to deny Jehovah and he refused to renounce his faith and his trust in God.  His so-called “friends” offered him advice.  They told him that God only punishes terrible sinners, therefore in order to earn God’s favor again — Job should repent of his sins and turn away from them.

But Job would have no part of that kind of advice.  In fact, Job gets carried away trying to prove that it is not because of sin that he is suffering.  He even tries to convince his friends that he had no sin.  Just listen to the words of Job:

“If only my life could once again be as it was when God watched over me.  Almighty God was with me then, and I was surrounded by all my children.  My cows and goats gave plenty of milk, and my olive threes grew in the rockiest soil.  Whenever the city elders met and I took my place among them, young men stepped aside as soon as they saw me and old men stood up to show me respect.  I have always acted justly and fairly.  I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame.  I was like a father to the poor and took the side of strangers in trouble.  I destroyed the power of cruel men, and rescued their victims.

God knows everything I do; he sees every step I take.  I swear I have never acted wickedly and never tried to deceive others.  Let God weigh me on honest scales, and he will see how innocent I am.”

Job continues to talk about what “GOOD THINGS” he has done for almost 2 whole chapters, and he ends his self defense with these words, “I swear that every word is true.  Let Almighty God answer me.”

And God does answer Job in the words of our text for today.  “Just who do you think you are Job?”  “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?  Who marked off its dimensions?  Who stretched a measuring line across it?  On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone?  Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb of the earth?”

Of course Job knew the answer to all those questions, just as you and I know the answers!  It was God who did all of that.  It was God who said let there be light — and there was light!  It was God who said let there be birds of the air, and fish in the sea, and beasts on the land — and they were!  It was God who created this great universe without help from anyone.  And God tells Job, “I DID IT ALL — WHO ARE YOU TO QUESTION ME?”

TAKE NOTE — God did not argue with Job that he was a good man — that was not the issue!  The issue was that even as good and as great as Job was — he still did not measure up in comparison to God himself.  God’s standard is to “be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

As God gives answer to Job, his words speak a warning to the heathen and the hypocrite — but they also speak of comfort and solace for the repentant sinner.

For the heathen — there is a warning!!  GOD IS ALL POWERFUL!  God is in control of all things.  God is the one to whom everyone and everything must answer.  The heathen who despise God and go their own way, declaring there is no God — or even declaring their freedom and right to chose their own life style — still have to answer to the God who created the universe and gave life to the world.  No one escapes God and his judgment.  Denying God’s existence or God’s rule, does not make God go away.

And for the hypocrite, there is a warning — God asks Job, “Stand up now like a man, and answer my questions.  Are you trying to prove that I am unjust?  Are you trying to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?”  The hypocrite is the one who always thinks that he, and no one else, is always right.  Like the Pharisee in the temple who thanked God that he was not like other men — but that he was better than they were.

God owes no human being any favors.  We cannot bargain with God because we have nothing with which to bargain.  We are just sinful human beings who stand before a perfect, almighty God.

But there is comfort for the repentant sinner.  This Almighty — and All Powerful — and all creating God loves the human beings that he created – even though they fell into sin.  This loving God cares about His people.  He cares so much for each human life — that he is willing to sacrifice on a cross the life of his only Son — in order to bring forgiveness and life to a sinful and dying race.  No matter what might happen — no matter how bad the situation might be — Our God is still in command.  Our lives are still in his hands — at all times and in all places!  Who are we to question the motives and the actions of our loving and forgiving God?  We only continue to pray, as Christ taught us, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

One of my favorite verses of scripture follows the text for today.  God is speaking and asks, “Job, have you ever, in all your life, commanded a day to dawn?”  Just think about the beauty, the majesty, and the power of a new day as it dawns on the horizon.  As the sun rises from the east giving new life to the day and quickly covering up the darkness of the night.  Only God can command a day to dawn.  Only God can create the world.  Only God can bind the broken heart.  Only God can bring forgiveness into the life of the sinner.  Only God can give peace to the troubled conscience.  Only by God’s grace alone!

Then Job gave answer to God. “I know, Lord that you are all powerful; that you can do everything you want.  I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know.  So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.”  God heard Job’s repentance.  God accepted Job’s repentance. And God restored him.  His crops, His cattle, and his children to the 4th generation.

As you and I have now learned the story and heard the dialogue between God and Job.  It is my hope and prayer that you can join with Job in recognizing the greatness of our God –The greatness of his power, as he created the world – but even more importantly, the greatness of his love, as he gave his only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, so that no matter what may come in this life, we will always know the love of God and his peace in our lives, through the forgiveness of sins and the promise of life eternal with him in heaven.  To God alone be the glory.  Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

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“THE CEDAR SPRIG”
Ezekiel 17: 22-24Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this mornings meditation is recorded in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 17, verses 22 through 24, particularly these words: “Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of this young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain.” This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian Friends. Think about the cedar tree. In some parts of Texas, the cedar tree is considered a noxious weed and a real nuisance. It seems to grow everywhere that it is NOT wanted. It ruins the grasses of a good pasture. It is usually small, knotty, and not really that pretty to look at. Most ranchers cut them down, pile them up, and burn them — unless of course they cut a few good fence posts out of them first.

But our text for today is obviously not talking about the squatty cedar trees of the Texas hill country. Because in our text, God himself says, “I will take a sprig from the LOFTY top of the cedar, and will set it out.” The kind of cedars in this Old Testament Promise of Things to come are the cedar trees of Lebanon. These were towering trees, which grew tall and straight. It was the Cedars of Lebanon that were designated by God to be the lumber that went into building the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. These were cedars that had solid, long lasting qualities in its wood. Anything built of the cedars from Lebanon was considered to be permanent and forever — for there was no better wood that could be used in building.

And God says that from that lofty, towering cedar, He is going to take a sprig and he is going to plant it. Just what is God talking about in this text?

It is all explained in the first part of chapter 17, the verses preceding today’s text. The Sprig that is removed by an Eagle in verses before today’s text refer to king Jehoiachin, who was taken to Babylon as a captive by Nebuchadnezzar.

But the Sprig which God himself removes from the giant cedar in today’s text, is the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ himself. Our text for today is one of those beautiful, Old Testament promises of God, about the coming Savior of the world, the Promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.

There are several important points to notice about this promise of God and how those promises were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

First of all, we note that it is God himself who chose the sprig and it was God himself who planted the sprig. God chose to send his own Son, born of the Virgin Mary.

Just as the Cedar Sprig comes from mighty and powerful stock — so Jesus Christ, God’s son, is born into the bloodline of King David himself — because Mary is a descendant of King David. Just as the wood from Cedar was considered everlasting — So also the Son of God, the Sprig from the Cedar, is everlasting — for He is “Very God of Very God, begotten, not made.”

And our text tells us, “I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a noble cedar;” And indeed Jesus Christ was that Sprig which grew in wisdom and in favor with God and Man. He bore fruit as he kept the Law of God perfectly and completely for you and for me. He bore fruit as he healed the sick, gave hearing to the deaf, gave sight to the blind, and the lame could walk. And as Jesus Christ rode that donkey into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday — we could see the glorious Lord, the powerful King — the royal Cedar of Lebanon which had grown from the Sprig which God himself had planted. God “gave to him a name that was above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.”

Another important point for us to remember from this text is God’s promise, “Under this cedar will dwell all kinds of beasts; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.” How often have we sang that favorite of hymns, “Rock of Ages, Cleft for me, Let me hide, myself in thee.” God is here promising that this Messiah — this promised Savior — will be a refuge for all people, everywhere.

Jesus Christ will not just be a haven or a refuge for the good and the nice! But Jesus Christ is the refuge for all who come to him. Jesus Christ is the refuge for sinners — and there is no other Savior, no other refuge, from Sin. And so we poor sinners must seek refuge in Him — We seek out the forgiveness, which he won for us by His death on the cross. We seek out the victory that He won for us by his resurrection from the dead. We seek out the peace which passes all understanding which only he offers to us in the assurance that we are God’s children and heirs of God’s eternal kingdom in heaven, by grace, through faith, in him.

Just as a tree provides shelter for the beasts of the field and a home for the birds of the air, so Jesus Christ provides a haven for you and for me and for all sinners. Jesus Christ is the cedar Sprig planted by God under which all kinds of beasts dwell and in which every sort of bird will nest.

And lastly, in verse 24 of our text, we read, “And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish.” This is the Old Testament equivalent to what Jesus himself said in the New Testament, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” God exalts him of low degree, but brings down the proud and arrogant. This message is especially meaningful as we confess our sins before God. We do not approach God as a towering tree of Lebanon, but rather we approach God as the low tree, the squatty cedar of Texas. We are the sinner in need of forgiveness. We are the dry tree, which needs God’s own nourishment so that we can flourish.

And so, lowly sinners that we are, we come to God each and every day, to renew our baptism, to confess our sins and to receive the forgiveness which he gives to us, and the strength that he gives to us through the Means of Grace — through His Word and through the Sacraments. Through His love and forgiveness, God takes the low tree diseased by sin, and through the forgiveness earned by Jesus Christ, helps them to grow into great trees for his service and glory.

This chosen, cedar sprig — is another symbol of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a glorious promise from God — what a glorious gift to men. God’s cedar, is our refuge and our strength. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
Ezekiel 37:1-14
 Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this Pentecost Sunday, is recorded in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37, verses 1 through 14, particularly these words:  “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley; it was full of bones.  And he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”  So I prophesied as I was commanded:  and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host.”  This is our text.
 In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  In order to understand our text for today, and also to understand just why this particular Old Testament text was chosen for Pentecost Sunday, you have to know little bit of the Hebrew Language.   
 Sometimes, one word can have several different meanings — and that is the case here.  The Hebrew word translated as “Spirit” — also means “wind” and “breath.”  If you look over the text for today, you will notice that the words Spirit, breath, and wind appear 11 times — 7 times in the middle paragraph alone.  All 11 words in the Hebrew language are the same root word.
 God had given a vision to His prophet Ezekiel — God took Ezekiel to a valley that was full of old, dry bones.  Ezekiel even notes in our text that “These bones were very dry.” which indicates that the persons to whom these bones belonged had been dead for a long, long time.  And God said that these bones were His special chosen people Israel.  God said that the Children of Israel had given up hope, they thought that they were dead, and cut off from God.  So the vision which Ezekiel has of these old dried bones returning to life, was a vision of hope and of encouragement, to the children of Israel — and it is also a message of assurance and comfort to you and to me today.
 Let’s look for a minute at the meaning of today’s text in the context of the Children of Israel to whom Ezekiel was speaking.  And the disciples on that first Pentecost Day.  And to you and me in our day and time.
 The children of Israel felt like old dried bones.  Our text tells us — “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are clean cut off.’”  But God had a promise of hope for these Children of Israel through the vision to Ezekiel.  Those dried bones would have muscles added back to them, and then over the muscles God would put flesh, and over the flesh would come skin.  God was going to rebuild the People of Israel — he was going to restore them to their rightful place as living people of God.  As he promise in the text, “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.”
 To people in exile who felt hopeless, God was giving a promise and restoring their hope.  And it was the Spirit of God that was to rebuild that hope.  God said clearly in the text, “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”  God’s Spirit would give life to the Children of Israel who felt that they were dead.
 And what about the disciples of Jesus just before Pentecost?  It was now 50 days after Jesus had risen from the dead.  In 40 of those days they had talked with the savior, they had listened to him as he further explained the prophecies of the Old Testament which dealt with why he had to be crucified, and how he would be raised to new life on the third day.  But then, Jesus had left them — he had ascended into heaven right before their eyes — and now they were alone again.  So they had done as he had said they should — they went back to Jerusalem to wait for something that Jesus had called the “Comforter”.
 To the casual observer — it would probably have seemed that the disciples were hopeless at this point.  Maybe they felt like a pile of dried bones.  Their Rabbi/Leader/Savior had left them — The authorities were still after them — It had only been just a little more than a month, so the rumor must have still been circulating that they had stolen the body of Jesus from the grave –  And so not only were they in that upper room waiting for the “Comforter” to come — they were also there probably still hiding from the Jews!
 But as God “breathed” on them with his Holy Spirit, as those tongues of fire settled on their heads, they came alive.  They went into the crowded streets of Jerusalem proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  They told about the marvelous works of God in languages that they had never known before.  Peter, the man who denied Jesus 3 times to a very small crowd around a court-yard fire — now preaches a very powerful sermon in the city streets of Jerusalem, — and 3,000 people joined with Peter and the Disciples in the Christian faith that day.  3,000 people dead in sin — became alive in Jesus Christ that day!!  Wherever the Spirit of God is — there is life!!
 But what about you and me, today?  What does this text say to us?  Are we just a valley filled with dead, dry bones?  Or are we like the disciples — locked up by ourselves in some small room where we can protect ourselves from the world around us?  Are we hopeless?  Have we given up?  Have we reached a point where we think God cannot forgive us?  Have we reached a point where we fell that our problems are too great for anyone — even God — to handle?  Do we feel that we are tired of life and living, because it seems that everything goes wrong, or that life is just passing us by?  IF you answered “Yes” to any of these questions — then you need the message of hope which God gave to Ezekiel to prophesy to the Children of Israel.  “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.”  God has promised to give His Holy Spirit to all those who are His own.  We received the Holy Spirit into our lives as we were born again through the washing of Holy Baptism.  The Spirit is within you right now — giving to you, LIFE.
 It is the Holy Spirit working within you which calls, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps you in the one true faith.  It is the Holy Spirit working within you right now which directs your life as you serve God and your fellow man with good works.  It is the Holy Spirit working through the means of Grace — through Word and Sacrament — who strengthens you and directs you in your life as a child of God.  It is the Holy Spirit who gives you life — as a child of God, through faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And it is the Holy Spirit working faith in your heart to trust in the mansion that Jesus is preparing for you in Eternal life.
 In the book of Genesis we read that after God had formed Adam out of the dust of the Ground — “He breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul.”  Remember what we said at the beginning of this sermon — the Hebrew word for breath and Spirit are the same.  And so that sentence could just as correctly be translated, “God breathed into Adam the “Spirit” of life.”  Without God the Holy Spirit — we could not have life — because the Bible is clear, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord, But by the Holy Spirit.”  But indeed we have life because God’s Spirit dwells with us:  Calling us by the Gospel, enlightening us with his gifts, and sanctifying us in the one true faith — even as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth! 
 May the Holy Spirit continue this good work in you, unto life eternal.  Amen.
 May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.