God’s Word at Work

THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH OF DAVID
Jeremiah 23: 1-6

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 Jeremiah, chapter 23, verses 1 through 6, particularly these words: “Behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.”  This is our text.

In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  Jeremiah was known as a “prophet of doom.”  He is found often using the words “Woe”.  In our text he uses this word.  He says, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture. Says the Lord.”

Many times in the Scriptures, God sends out a warning to His people.  Often God gives warnings to unbelievers about impending doom, like Jonah gave the Ninevites.  And God also gave warnings to his own people, when they went their own way.

BUT with the warnings, God usually included a promise of better things to come.  It’s sort of like “the good news – bad news” jokes.  In our text, the bad news is that Israel has bad leaders which will ultimately lead to the destruction of Israel  — But the good news is that God will send a good leader — one who will save his people — God promises to send “A Righteous branch.”
If you use one of those color-coded study bibles in your Bible readings, you will find that today’s text is colored RED.  The reason for this is because these verses point to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.  This is one of those Messianic Prophesies – a promise of God that he would send a savior, to redeem sinful mankind.

There are several clear and important points to learn from this text about the promised Old Testament Messiah.  First of all, we note that this promised leader will be sent by God.  Our text reads, “Behold the days are coming says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch.”  The plan to send a Messiah is made by God himself.  It is not man’s plan.  It is not man’s design.  It belongs to God and to God alone.  It was God who told the snake in the Garden of Eden, “I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed — he will crush your head and you shall bruise his heal.”  It was God who designed the plan which would redeem sinful mankind and right the wrong done in Eden.

Even with Abraham, God made sure that Abraham knew that the promises that God gave to him concerning the future Messiah would be God’s doing and not anything that Abraham might do.  Sarah was too old to have children — yet God promised that she would have a son — not by their doing, but by God’s grace alone.

And even in the New Testament, we know that the plan belongs totally to God alone, because Jesus tells us clearly, “No one takes my life from me — but I give it up freely, of my own will.”  God is in control — God does the planning — God sends His Son Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior.

The second thing we must learn about this Messiah is that he is God’s appointed KING. We read in the text, “He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
While here on earth Jesus Christ showed his power by the changing of Water into wine, by casting out demons and evil spirits, by giving sight to the blind, by healing the sick, by controlling the winds and the waves, by feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and ultimately — the greatest power of all — the power of life and death — as he brought life back to people already dead.

Jesus showed his wisdom even as a child of 12, as he amazed even the teachers of the law at the temple with his questions and answers.  Also, when people tried to trap him into giving bad answers by asking him tricky questions, Jesus usually turned the tables on them, and those who came to embarrass him went away with the red face.  It got to the point that our scriptures even tell us, “From that point on, no one dared to ask him any more questions.”  And Jesus was fair and just in all his dealings with people.  He forgave the woman caught in adultery and told her, “Go and sin no more.”  He forgave the penitent sinners, but had some harsh words for those who did not repent.  He ran the money changers out of the temple because they did not belong there.  And in all his life, Jesus did not fall victim to the temptations that were placed before him and did not fall into sin.

Jesus Christ, the perfect, wise, all powerful God who loves us enough to die for us is our Lord and King.  The righteous branch of David — promised by God in the Old Testament — is fulfilled in the God/man Jesus Christ.

The third point — and THE MOST IMPORTANT — is that God did all of this FOR US!  Our text points this out to us in these words, “This is the name by which he will be called; ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” The catch word here is “OUR” righteousness.  No one fully understands the Gospel of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection until he understands that Jesus Christ did all of that — for you — and for me!

When we can say boldly and confidently — Jesus died and arose FOR ME! then we have comprehended the gospel message of salvation, by grace, through faith.

God didn’t make his plans for himself.  God didn’t send Jesus into the world just for the fun of it .  God didn’t sacrifice his son on a cross to prove what a nice guy he was.  God made his plan, and carried it out in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for you and for me.  God knew that you and I could not save ourselves by keeping the law perfectly.  God knew that you and I would need a Savior.  God loved you and me so much that he didn’t want us to spend eternity in Hell because of our sins.  And God loved you and me enough, to send his son to die on a cross for us, — so that when by grace, through faith, we trust in him, we will not perish — but have everlasting life.  That is God’s promise to you and to me.  And that is the most important part of the Gospel message — Jesus Christ died and rose again — FOR YOU AND FOR ME!!

The righteous Branch of David — sent by God — a King and a Savior — for you and for me.  It was ever so clear even in the Old Testament.  It is ever so clear for us today.

God has made us righteous through the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.  Trust in him alone for forgiveness of the past, for strength in the present, and for the glory yet to come in his eternal Kingdom.  Indeed, “The Lord is our righteousness.”  Amen.

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

GO AND PROPHESY
Amos 7: 10-15

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for today is recorded in the book of Amos, chapter 7, verses 10 through 15, these words: “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of Sycamore-fig trees.  But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  Jesus said to all those who follow him, “Go Ye therefore and teach all nations.”  That command of Jesus to his followers is the same message that was given to Amos in today’s Old Testament text.  Amos was given the command to “Go and prophesy to God’s people.”

All Christians are messengers of God.  You, me, and anyone else who bears the name of Christ through Baptism has a message that they have to share with the world.  God has told us to proclaim his salvation in Jesus Christ to all nations.  That is our mission, and that is our message.

Through the words of today’s text, I want us to look at some of the similarities that ALL of God’s messengers bear.

The FIRST similarity of all messengers of God is that they are chosen by God.  In our text it is clear, “Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.  But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”   God chooses his messengers — and sometimes his choice seems a bit unusual — at least from a human point of view.  Just look at some of the choices that God made in history.  He chose a young shepherd boy named David to be a great King and to lead his people Israel.  He chose a tax collector named Matthew to be a disciple and to write the Gospel story of Matthew.  He chose a rough, out spoken fisherman named Peter to head and lead his disciples.  And he chose a persecutor of the church named Saul — to be the greatest missionary of all times named Paul.  To the human mind — these were all bad choices — but God chose these men and made them great messengers to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior with the world.

You and I too — as messengers — were chosen by God.  Like Amos, we are not prophets, nor are we prophet’s sons and daughters.  We serve in many different vocations — school students, housewives, clerks, shop owners, administrators, laborers, butchers, bakers, and candle-stick makers.  AND YET we have a message from God which we are to share.  We have the message of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior — who died on a cross for us — so that we might have God’s promise of forgiveness / and through him — life eternal.  And God has chosen us to share that message with others.  The very fact that we have faith is proof that we have been chosen by God.  Luther said it this way, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ 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 one true faith.”  Our faith is proof that God has chosen us, that God has called us, to be his children — and his messengers of Good News to the world.

A SECOND similarity between all of God’s messengers of Good News is that they are sent by God.  “God said to Amos, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”  Jesus said to his disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”  And Jesus says to you and to me, “You are my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”

Yes, you and I are sent out by God to proclaim the Gospel Message just like Amos and like the Disciples.  We are to proclaim Christ to all the world.  And that message starts right here in Tomball.  We proclaim God’s good news first of all to our own family and to the family next door.  Maybe to the person next to us at work or at school.  Maybe we witness to the friend who is always dropping by — Where ever!! — and When ever!! We have opportunity.   God has sent us to share the wonderful message of salvation by Grace, through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Christ’s words to the Disciples were also spoken to us, “GO!”  And “Make disciples of all nations.”  And that is what we do when we tell people in our own community, that Jesus is our Savior, and theirs too.  That is what we do, when we send out specially trained men to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our own land — and into every land and every language throughout the whole world.

Indeed we are sent by God.  We are his messengers to the whole world.  Through you and me, God wants to reach the world with his message of Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

THE LAST similarity we will look at this morning is that the message which all of God’s messengers carry is God’s message!  You might say that is just an over simplification — but if you stop and think about it for a moment — that is important.  It is important that the message which we proclaim to the world is God’s message, and NOT OUR OWN!

Amos could have avoided trouble by proclaiming a message that people wanted to hear – but instead he proclaimed God’s message and the people didn’t like it!  It was not a politically correct message!  Our text tells us, “Amaziah, the priest of Bethel said to Amos, ‘O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel.’” The people tried to run Amos out of town, because they just didn’t like the message from God that Amos had to share with them.  Obviously, his message did not meet a “felt need.”

Paul suffered because of the message he proclaimed.  He was beaten, thrown into jail, stoned, and taken to Rome as a Prisoner — all because of the Message which he had to proclaim.

Like Amos — Like Paul — you and I have the message of God to share with those around us.  We could talk about the friendly church we attend, or about how our church is growing, or about all the improvements we have made on our property — BUT THAT IS NOT THE MESSAGE THAT WE ARE SENT TO PROCLAIM.  We are here to tell the world that the wages of sin is death, but that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and ONLY in Jesus Christ.

Some people don’t like what God has to say.  The world wants the church to “Loosen up a little”.  Why not gay pastors?  Why not abortion on demand?  Why not open communion for everyone?  Why be so stubborn about doctrine? After all, it’s not important what you believe – it’s how you live your life!  If that is true we are all in trouble.  For all have sinned and fallen short!  If we can save ourselves, Christ died for nothing!  In other words, the world wants to get rid of Jesus Christ, because he is messing up what could be, a perfectly good religion without him.  Like Paul said, “the Cross of Christ is nonsense to the Greeks and a stumbling block for the Jews.”

But whether they like the message or not — we are to proclaim God’s message.  We proclaim that in Christ ALONE there is forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  That is God’s message to the world.

“Go and Prophesy” Those words of God were spoken to Amos — and those words are spoke to you and to me.  It is our privilege and our opportunity to share with all people everywhere the greatest news ever given — that Jesus Christ died on a cross to save sinners.  Believe it! Confess it!  And Proclaim it!  To God 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.

By Seminarian: Ryan Ogrodowicz
Date: 6/5/09
Preached at: Zion Lutheran Church
Text: Mark 6: 1-13

When Reason Meets God

In the name of Jesus.

One would have expected Jesus to receive a warm welcome when He arrived at His hometown. Before His arrival, He had been busy in His ministry casting out chain-breaking demons, teaching His parables to the people, healing the sick and raising the dead.  In last week’s text we heard how a ruler of the local synagogue went to Jesus requesting that our Lord heal his dying daughter.  You may remember the story: by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, the girl was dead, but after speaking the words “little girl, I say to you, arise”, she rose from the dead and began walking around.

Our Lord certainly had the credentials to be a teacher worth listening to, and when He arrives in Nazareth, the people are at first astonished at what they hear; only this astonishment quickly fades, because it’s not long into our Lord’s sermon that questions begin to arise regarding His identity, questions that end with an unbelieving crowd not interested in the miracles or the Word of God. This unbelief by the people causes Jesus to marvel. All the evidence man could want was right there in front of their face.  His Word was true, He had done numerous exorcisms and healings; people talk, word gets around, the citizens Nazareth knew all about the mighty works done by His hands and yet He was rejected and ran out of town by the very people he had grown up with.

Some of you may be wondering what was it Jesus said because whatever it was, it obviously didn’t sit too well with His congregation. This account also appears in the gospel of Luke. There, once in the synagogue, Jesus unrolls a scroll of Isaiah and reads the passage that says:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight of the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

“Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

These are big words from the hometown guy. And when the people hear it, they begin to question this claim by Jesus to be the one true God. Our Lord doesn’t beat around the bush, but accuses them of unbelief and they are offended by it to say the least. To them, Jesus is just a regular guy from small town Nazareth, how could He possibly be the savior of the world?

On one level this text shows the difficulties of witnessing the Christian faith to close friends and family members. They know you well, and what could you possibly tell them that they don’t already know or is worth listening to?  Talking to those who you’ve grown up with is a challenge for any Christian, and one that didn’t pan out too well even for Jesus of Nazareth.  What an eye-opener this must’ve been for the disciples, newcomers to the ministry watching their theology professor get rejected in the very place He had grown up in.  It would be only a short time later that they themselves would be sent out two by two to preach repentance to the people. Seeing that their departure came shortly after this episode in Nazareth, one could say they didn’t exactly go out on a high note, but then again no one ever said the ministry is easy.  On a different level, however, we see in the crowd mankind’s sinful rebellion when he encounters the living God, an encounter that in the Gospel of Mark reveals people opting for their own intellect rather than clinging with blind faith to the Word’s of Jesus.  This is a case where instead of having faith like a child, man thinks, rationalizes and questions what God says.

1.) Where did this man get these things?
2.) What is the wisdom given to him?
3.) How are such mighty works done by His hands?
4.) Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?

He’s a man, flesh and blood, one of us.  What is so special about that?

These questions are a great representation of how the 21st century man thinks.  It’s easy to question God, to question who He is, what He says and what He is doing. Think about God’s Word for a second.  Whenever we read a passage in scripture that just doesn’t sit too well with us, it is ever so easy to shove it under the rug and move on to a passage we do like; as if we have the right to pick and choose from God’s Word what we think applies to us and that which doesn’t.  Or think about a minister or a theological teacher of sorts that teaches us something we do not like to hear. The natural response of all of us is to run him out of town, and flee to the guy who we like, without taking the time to determine what’s really true and what isn’t.

When the crowd saw Jesus, they saw nothing but a common man amongst them, one from there very own place of residence and were offended at His audacious claim to be God, even though it was true and salvation was still there’s for the taking; they only refused that gift. This attitude is not confined to just this text.  All over the world, people reject the true God revealed to us in scripture, and the Word of God can still be offensive when it reaches the ears of a sinner. It can be that double edged sword at times, one killing the old Adam in us all and this can be a painful process. Rather than listen and embrace what God says to us through His pure teaching as revealed to us in Holy Scripture, it has been man’s forte from the beginning to define God on his own terms, to pick and choose what He says and does not say, and to determine on his own how God comes to us.

The idea of God coming to us in mortal flesh to die on the cross to save us is absurd when seen through the lens of human reasoning. St. Paul even says in his letter to the Corinthian church that the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and an offense to the Gentiles.  Granted, there is not a whole lot of rational sense to it all, but the scriptures are crystal clear on the matters of salvation- Jesus is God with us, who came in the flesh to die so that all who believe may have eternal life.

Does the cross offend you, the idea of God coming in the flesh to die for the helpless sinner, a death he willingly took on so that through faith we obtain our heavenly reward? What about the sacraments?  These are precious gifts in which we receive the promised forgiveness of sins.  The scriptures tell us Christ is in the waters of Holy Baptism and it is His body and blood we eat and drink when we partake in the Lord’s Supper. When discussing these things, it is ever so easy to take the role of the crowd in today’s Gospel and question how the simple elements of bread, wine, and water could offer the forgiveness of sins, and the deceitful heart of man always tries to lead one way from the healthy teaching of God’s Word which says all of this. When you suffer and feel as if the devil has you by the tail, the tendency is to question things. But rather, we are to trust.  We are to believe in the blessed hope we have been given, a hope that nothing can strip away from the believer in Jesus Christ.

When the disciples were sent out, their message was very simple.  They preached repentance.  In faith, we can repent knowing indeed, Jesus has freed us from sin, and today, we have the promise of forgiveness when we confess before God knowing He sent His Son to die so that we may live. It’s always easy to question what’s going on, no one is exempt from that temptation, especially those days when we feel as if sin is really taking its toll on us.  But remember where our hope is because it does not have to make sense. God does not lie and He Himself has told us that through Jesus Christ His Son we have been set free from the bonds of sin, and have nothing but an eternal life to look forward to.

To God be the glory. Amen.