God’s Word at Work

God’s Wisdom — Man’s Foolishness

Isaiah 29: 11-19

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 Isaiah, chapter 29, verses 11-19, particularly these words, “And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”  This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  In our gospel reading for today, Jesus is confronted with by scribes and Pharisees who are appalled that his disciples are eating their lunch without first properly washing their hands in the way that is prescribed by the rituals handed down in Jewish law.  The accusation is made, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”  And Jesus answers the question by quoting today’s Old Testament reading and our text for today, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”  So Jesus, in our Gospel reading answers the very Lutheran question concerning our text for today – he answers for us, “What does this mean?”

Throughout history, there has always been a sharp contrast between the knowledge and wisdom of God – and the knowledge and wisdom of man.  There are times when man even tries to use his own wisdom to explain to others just what God intended to say, or meant to say.  It started in the Garden of Eden when the Devil was talking with Eve.  “Can you eat of any of the trees of the Garden?”  She answered, “We can eat of all the trees of the Garden except the one in the middle.  If we eat of that one, we will die.”  And what was his answer?  “You will not die!”  That’s not what God meant to say.  God loves you, he won’t let you die.  It won’t hurt you.  Instead it will be good for you.  It will make you just like God!”  And so the Father of all lies gets Eve to question and to doubt God’s Word and God’s Wisdom.

Down through the ages, God gave guidelines to his people – not in how they would become his people because they were already his chosen people, but what they should be because they were his people.  Sometimes, there were questions about how God’s will should be carried out.  God gave to the Children of Israel certain dietary and sanitary guidelines that they would need while out in the desert traveling from Egypt to the promised land.  When they got to the promised land, they felt the need to continue to practice the dietary and sanitary guidelines, but now they were in homes, and towns, and cities – not in tents in the wilderness – so their leaders reinterpreted these laws to fit their new circumstances.  And these now became their new laws – their new tradition – to honor and keep God’s law.  I’m sure they meant well.  They were just trying to help the people better serve and worship their God.  This was a good thing.  But over the years – the man made rules and traditions began to take the place of God’s Word and service to God.  In Jesus’ day, absolute obedience to the rules, took the place of listening to and following God’s Word.  And so Jesus calls the Scribes and the Pharisees Hypocrites – who shallowly honored God with their lips and actions – but their hearts were far from him – as they left the commandment of God and held to the tradition of men.”

You know, there is a very fine line that is very hard to walk sometimes between a right use of tradition and a wrong use of tradition.  For example in worship:  The Bible does not lay down for us an order of worship that all need to follow.  And so some, in their enthusiasm have thrown out all traditional forms and symbols of worship so that they can appeal to modern man – and in so doing have lost the depth and richness of the Church’s worship throughout the ages.  But then there is another group who go too far the other way – so that the form and content and the symbolism and the icons have to be so strictly regulated and placed, that worship becomes rigid and  there is no room for any variations what so ever.  The pendulum of time seems to swing too far to contemporary at times and too far to man made traditions at other times – and it becomes hard to find a middle ground where we are able to receive the gifts of God through Word and Sacrament with the appropriate awe and wonder we owe to our God.

So what is the conventional wisdom of man that we need to watch out for?  Some of you old codgers like me will remember a song from back in the 60’s that said, “Signs, signs, everywhere a sign.  Do this!  Don’t do that!  Everywhere a sign.”  The conventional wisdom of man gives us a list of do’s and don’ts.  We like rules.  It helps us put toys together at Christmas.  It gives us guidelines on how to raise our children.  It tells us how we can be good members of  a social club.  But the rules become a problem when we carry that wisdom over into our Spiritual life.  We hear it on  church T.V. and we read it in the religion section of our papers all the time.  God wants to bless you, but “YOU GOTTA” get rid of you negative thinking.  God wants to forgive you, but “YOU GOTTA” do penance first.  God wants to be in your life, but “YOU GOTTA” invite him into your heart.  “You GOTTA” make a decision for Christ.  It’s always about what we have got to do – rather than what Christ has done for us!

But on the Cross, Jesus did not say – “I’ll die for you IF you do this or that!”  What he said was, “It is finished.”  It is done.  The wages of sin – death – is paid, in full.  And Luther explained it beautifully in his explanation to the 3rd article of the Apostle’s Creed, “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 salvation, our justification, our sanctification is ALL God’s work – by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed to us in the Scriptures alone!

Our Old Testament text warned us, “The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”  The wisdom of man will fail!  The wisdom of man will not save us or bring us to God.

So what will bring us to God?  What will save us for eternal life? Our text said, “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.  The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”  The deaf shall hear!  The blind shall see!  That makes no sense what so ever to man’s wisdom because the deaf do not hear and the blind do not see!  But with God, it makes perfect sense.  “For by grace are we saved through faith, and this is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  We who are deafened by our sinful nature, by grace hear the marvelous works of God.  We who are blinded by our sinful nature see Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by grace through faith.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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

If you just want to listen to the sermon, click on this link: http://ziontomball.info/wfs23a/Aug16_2009John6_52-66.mp3

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GOD PROVIDES
I Kings 19: 4-8

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 First book of Kings, chapter 19, verses 4 through 8, particularly these words: “An angel touched Elijah, and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ And he looked and behold there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.”  This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  Remember the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal?  The contest between them was real simple.  All they had to do was to build an altar and call down fire from their respective God to consume the sacrifice which was placed on the altar.  The fire which consumed the sacrifice with the best form was considered the winner.

Baal’s team got to go first.  They built their altar, put their bull on the altar and then started praying to Baal.  By noon they hadn’t even gotten a spark on the Altar.  They started cutting themselves with knives and daggers in their rites and rituals — but still no fire.  Nothing happened for Baal Team.

Then it was Elijah’s turn.  Elijah built his Altar with 12 stones, to represent the twelve tribes of Israel.  He cut up his bull, and placed it on the Altar.  Then he dug a trench around the altar.  People then poured water over the bull, the wood and the Altar.  They did this three times and the water drenched the Altar, everything on it, and even filled the trench.  Then Elijah prayed to God for fire.  And our Scriptures say, “The Lord sent fire down, and it burned up the sacrifices, the wood, and the stones, scorched the earth and dried up the water in the trench.”

Once again, God had proven to Israel that there is only one God: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — known to Israel as Jehovah; known to us as the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Why explain this story at length??  Because this showdown with the prophets of Baal come just before our text for today.  After Elijah had shown that the prophets of Baal were false prophets — all the prophets of Baal were put to death.  When this news was reported to the queen, Jezebel, she gave this threat to Elijah, “May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don’t do the same thing to you that you did to the prophets.”  And Elijah, afraid for his life fled into the wilderness to avoid the vengeance and wrath of Queen Jezebel.  With that background we are ready for our text. “Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, sat down under a broom tree; and asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.’”

You can just imagine how he must feel at this point.  The Queen is the second most powerful person in the land.  And she completely controls the King who is supposedly the most powerful in the land.

Elijah is at the point where he just wants to give in, and give up.  He is sure that the queen or her people will find him and kill him no matter how or where he hides.  So he figures that there is no sense in fighting the inevitable.

Of all people to get disgusted — never would I have guessed Elijah.  Only a few hours earlier he had ordered all that water poured on the Altar — trusting God to send down fire from heaven to burn up even the soggy wet wood.  And now, all of a sudden, here he is disgusted, disheartened, and wanting to die.

A lesson we can learn from this is that NO ONE is immune to feelings of despair and discouragement.  Even this great man of God was depressed.  So when we feel low at times, when we feel discouraged and when we feel at the end of our rope, we need to remember that this is a temptation which all people face — even, at times, people of strong faith and trust in God.

But there is a way out of this depression and discouragement.  We can go to the Lord and ask for help.  The Lord has promised us in the Psalms that if we “call upon him in the day of trouble, he will deliver us.”  Elijah learned that lesson.

In our text we read, “Elijah laid down and slept under the tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’  And Elijah looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.”  God was providing Elijah with exactly the proper help that he needed.  Elijah needed rest. He needed food.  And he needed strength to face the days ahead as he fled from Queen Jezebel.  And these are the things which God provided for his prophet to refresh him and to strengthen him.

God delivers his people in the day of trouble.  That is a fact which history proves to us time and time again.  God protected Noah and his family in the Ark.  God lead Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorra before destroying those cities.  God protected Joseph even after his brothers sold him into slavery.  God protected Daniel in the Lions den.  God delivered Peter out of jail.  And God continues to protect his people — you and me — every day in many ways.  God does not promise to provide us with all we want, because our sinful wants can be bad for us.  But God does provide for what we need.  God promises he will never leave us nor forsake us.  At times we may walk away from God, and try to solve our problems on our own.  And that generally tends to get us into deeper trouble still.  But God promises that he will be with us, strengthen us, and guide us through life’s difficulties.  Some problems are great and difficult — but our God is almighty and he is able to overcome all problems that we may face in this life.

But for Elijah — there was much trouble yet to come.  His troubles this time would be long lasting.  And so the angel wakes him up again with more food and water.  We read in our text, “The angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for you.’  And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.”  The Lord didn’t provide just temporary help — but he provided help for Elijah for the long haul.  Food which would last.  Food which would help Elijah keep his strength through 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, traveling to the place where God was sending him.

And God provides for us for the long run also.  God doesn’t offer to you and to me, just a bandage to cover over our wounds — he doesn’t just give us relief from temporary aches and pains of sin — But instead He supplies our greatest need completely and totally.  He sent His Son to die on a cross for us so that we might have complete healing from the sickness of sin.  Our greatest, most pressing need is met by God Himself.  It is by the grace of God, that you and I have the forgiveness of sins and the promise of life everlasting with God in heaven.  Paul asks, “If God spared not his only Son for us, is there anything else that he would withhold from us?”  And the answer to that question is, “Of course not!”  God, who provides forgiveness of sins by grace, through faith, also provides all things needful.

So when disappointments, temptations, trials, illnesses, pains, and all things troublesome come our way — remember Elijah.  Remember how God provided for him and cared for him.  By God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, we have God’s promise of help through the problems of this life and final deliverance to a blessed future with him in heaven.  Indeed God provides for us — now and through all eternity.  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.

If you just want to listen to the sermon, click on this link: http://ziontomball.info/wfs23a/July25_2009Mark6_45-52.m4a

If you need the software to hear the sermon, download it here:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/