God's Word at Work

Proper 25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our text for this mornings meditation is recorded in the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verses 7 through 9, particularly these words:  “Thus says the Lord, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.”  This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ dear Christian friends.  The text says, “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.”  Those were the instructions that God was giving to his people Israel through his prophet Jeremiah.  But these instructions for celebration came with a promise — and that promise had special meaning for the Children of Israel — just as they have special meaning to you and me, as the people of God — today.

The first part of that promise, given by Jeremiah was that God would father his people together.  God said, “Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.”

This was a very special promise to the children of Israel.  Their entire nation for years had been upset — divided — separated — deported to many nations and lands by those who had captured them in war.  Now God promises to bring those broken families back together again.

And God does not promise to bring back only the strong — but he also promises to bring back the blind and the lame — and even those who are the most vulnerable, those who normally do not travel — the women who are with child, and those who are already experiencing labor itself.

God’s promise means healing for the children of Israel — it means a restoration of their nation.

That promise also has meaning for you and for me.  For you and I also live in a world that is scattered — divided — separated — and torn apart by hatred, hardship, bloodshed, strife, and greed.  Just read the headlines of the newspaper on any given day: Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan;  Mothers starving their 3 year old child to the point that he weighs only 19 pounds; murders, rapes, robberies, and all kinds of crime all around us.

But it is not only around us, it is even among us, and even in our own private lives.  We too, like others, hold on to those hard feelings and grudges.  We too, like others, want and desire things that are not good for us.  We too, like others avoid people we don’t like and are avoided by others who will not even attempt to settle differences.  Why is our world — and our lives — in such a mess??  Because of sin –  Because of sin, the human race is a scattered, and shatter, race of people.  And even our own lives, are scattered and shattered.

But this shattered, scattered, sinful people — God promises to call back together.  And it won’t be just the strong — it won’t be just the great leaders, or just the wealthy, or just the very religious — But rather, God will reunite His people — all his people — the murderer, the thief, the adulterer, the drunks, all the sinners — and he will unite them with the one thing that can unite them — and that is the love of God, and the forgiveness offered through His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  This broken and scattered people, can only be reunited in the blood of Jesus Christ.  Only when we see ourselves forgiven before God by Christ, can we begin to forgive others and begin to restore those broken and fractured relationship brought about by sin.

God promises to reunite His people — Only through Jesus Christ and His forgiveness, can the world’s people — our people — be reunited.

The second part of God’s promise is that he is going to lead this reunited people back to the promised land.  God said through Jeremiah, “With weeping they shall come and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they will not stumble.”

For the children of Israel — this promise of coming back home to their promised land had very special meaning.  For only in the promised land would God keep that other promised for which they had great hopes — the Messiah would come and save his people.

For you and me — this also has special meaning — in two ways.  First and most obvious is that God has a promised land for you and me.  A land where we store up treasure — where rust and rot cannot decay that treasure — a promised land of heaven — that is one fulfillment of God’s promise to you and to me.

But there is another, a more immediate fulfillment to that promise of our God, and that fulfillment is being met right here at Zion Lutheran Church in Tomball — right at this moment.

Israel had to return home so that God could keep His promise to send a Savior.  You and I meet at God’s house, as a Christian family to celebrate, to sing, to praise God for sending a Savior.  And here God keeps his promises to us as he forgives our sins through the sacraments and through absolution — as he strengthens our faith in Jesus Christ — and as he gives us hope and joy so that we can live another week as God’s own children in this sin stained world.  God keeps his promise to us here through Word and Sacrament — God’s means of Grace, that he uses to fulfill his promise that “he will be with us always — even unto the end of the world.”

We are not alone in this world.  We are gathered here together in this house — gathered around God’s Altar — Gathered around God’s Word and God’s gifts to us.  Here we find shelter.  Here we find joy.  Here we find comfort, peace, and forgiveness.  The church is not a social-club — but it is a group of people, joined together by God himself, where he keeps his promises and gives his gifts.  Here, in God’s church, he keeps his promise to lead us by brooks of water, and in a straight path in which we shall not stumble.”

The third part of God’s promise is that he will be our Father, and we will be his children.  He said in our text, “I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.”  For the people of Israel — this relationship with God was very important.  They were God’s own special, chosen people.  But that is also true of you and me — we are God’s own special, chosen people.

The use of the name “EPHRAIM” in the text is very important to the message of the Text.  Ephraim was an Egyptian born son of Joseph — who was adopted by Jacob, his grandfather.  Consider for a moment Ephraim’s position in Jacob’s house — He was the youngest son of the 11th son — born of an Egyptian mother — in a foreign land — and adopted by an ailing and aged grandfather.  Ephraim’s position in the family would just barely rate him a little bit higher than the servants.  But God says in our text, “Ephraim is my first-born.”  Or as Jesus said in last Sunday’s Gospel reading, “The last shall be first.”

What glorious promise this is to you and me.  For we are like Ephraim.  By our own power, we cannot win God’s favor.  Our sins are always setting us apart from God.  Because of our sins we deserve no favors from God.  AND YET, God makes us His first-born.  It is the first-born who receives almost all of the power and wealth of the Father.  It is the first-born who is honored and respected by the family.  It is the first-born who represents the family to the world.  It is the first-born who receives the inheritance of his father.

You and I are God’s first born — even though we are adopted children of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We live today with the forgiveness and strength of being God’s first-born — and we live today with the assurance and the hope of the eternal inheritance which awaits us in heaven.  What a wonderful promise that we are God’s first-born children — and his heirs to eternal life.

“I will gather you together, to a special place, and make you my first-born child”.  That is God promise to you through Jesus Christ our Lord.  To God be the glory now and always. Amen.

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

MONEY AS MASTER
Ecc. 5: 10-20
Proper 24

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 from Ecclesiastes, chapter 5, verses 10 through 20, particularly these words, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth, with his income; this also is vanity.”  This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  Jesus said to his disciples in our Gospel reading today, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  And when the disciples heard what Jesus had said, they were amazed.  They were astonished!  And they asked him, “Well, if rich people have that much trouble getting into heaven, “Then who can be saved?”

The disciples had a very human view of the world around them.  People generally thought that people with money could accomplish pretty well anything they wanted to do.  They had the position, the power, the prestige, the influence, and yes, the where-with-all to get done for themselves, their families, their businesses, and their friends, anything they wanted done.  It never crossed their minds that people with money just might have problems of their own.  And those problems, are what our Old Testament Lesson is talking about today.

It was King Solomon who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, somewhere around 930 B.C.  It was toward the end of his reign as king and the end of his life.  Solomon had been given great wisdom by God at the very beginning of his reign — and because Solomon had not asked for victory over his enemies and great wealth — God gave these things to him as well.  Even though he had greater wisdom than all, and greater wealth than most, in the end, Solomon could not enjoy them.  Late in life, Solomon allowed his 300 wives and 600 concubines, to lead him into idolatry and the worship of false Gods.  In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon describes his pursuit of power and pleasure, which did not bring joy or happiness, but instead, only lead him to emptiness.  And so the book of Ecclesiastes comes across very depressing, with it’s negative outlook of “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity.”  At the end, in the last chapter, Solomon pulls his readers out of the despair, and points them to God’s care and wisdom which alone can give rest and peace to the troubled heart and mind.

Why can money, or fame, or position and power, or anything else — not give that peace which mankind seeks and needs?  Our text tells us well.  “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.”  The problem with money, and position, and power, and fame, and lust is that sinful mankind can never get enough!!  Like the golfer who hits his ball off to the right, it hits and tree, bounces up on the green and stops inches from the hole — and he is upset because it didn’t go in!!.  We always want more.  When these evil wants and desires take over our life, it is never enough.  Our text even mentions riches that were kept by their owner that brought him hurt — and one rich man who sank his money into a very bad venture which went bankrupt, couldn’t even provide for his son.

All these things are like the Devil’s lies — they promise good and pleasant and pleasing things — But what they produce is misery, and pain, and heartache, and guilt.  When money becomes your master, it produces greed, and covetousness, and stealing, and false dealings with others, and even a stinginess that produces hording and selfishness.  What about sex when it becomes master of one’s life?  It produces lustful desire for the wrong person, it produces lies and deceit, it produces adultery, and in King David’s case — it even lead to murder!  When sin rules our lives, and when sin becomes the master of our lives — not only is it a temptation — but it is a mighty temptation which is very hard to control.  I guess we need to ask the same question which the disciples asked of Jesus in the Gospel reading, “With all this evil around us, tempting us, and leading us astray, THEN WHO CAN BE SAVED!”  And Jesus answered them “With man it is impossible, but not with God.  For all things are possible with God.”

The world, with all its wealth, possessions and powers, is a very demanding master, always wanting more.  But God is totally different, instead of demanding more — he gives the best he has.  “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.  That whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Jesus said, “My peace I give to you, but my peace,” he said, would be different than the peace which the world would give.  God’s peace comes with sins forgiven.  God’s peace comes with no stings attached.  God’s peace comes with an unconditional love.  God’s peace brings life and joy and happiness.  God’s peace cannot hurt us or disappoint us, because God’s peace brings eternal life.  That is why the last verse of today’s text tells us, “He will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.”  God, through his grace and his mercy, gives us peace and joy without end.

So, what about all those goodies around us in this world of ours?  There are some who misquote the scriptures and say, “Money is the root of all evil.”  The actual quote is “THE LOVE of money is the root of all evil.”  Once again we come to Luther’s explanation of the first commandment — “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”  Nothing can be more important to us than God himself.

The goodies around us in this world are the creation of God.  It is God who has given us all things — not for our greed and lust — but for our good.  God’s gifts are to be used by God’s people for the common good — in a Christian way.  And it is God himself who gives us the faith, and the strength, and the will, to use the gifts he has given us, so that his gifts are a blessing to ourselves and to others.  There is nothing wrong with being rich — but use the riches God has given you in a God blessing manner.  There is nothing wrong in having strong political influence in the community — but use this gift God has given you in a manner pleasing to God.  That was what Solomon was talking about in our text when he said, “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting, is to eat and drink, and find enjoyment, in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.  Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy then, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil — this is the gift of God.”

That is true peace — To live life with a joyful heart, to trust in God with all our heart, and to make use of the gifts God has given to us as his people to God‘s glory and to the welfare of all. May God grant us that peace, through Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord.  Amen.

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

MARRIAGE:  GOD’S PLAN
Genesis 2: 18-24

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 Genesis, chapter 2, verses 18 through 24, particularly these words:  “God said, It is not good that the man should be alone… Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother, and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.”  This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  In the Houston Chronicle this week, a Dallas judge said that her court had jurisdiction over divorce proceedings between two men who married in another state.  The Texas Attorney General ruled that a Texas court cannot grant a divorce to anyone who is not legally married in the first place according to Texas State Law. Stay tuned for the outcome of that dispute. A few months back, a religious denomination which even dares to call itself Lutheran, declared that same sex marriages would be permissible in certain circumstances and that congregations that wanted to do so, could call openly gay and lesbian pastors.  Not Missouri Synod by the way.  Obviously, there is a lot of confusion concerning marriage and how individual people relate to each other these days.   There are so many different kinds of relationships these days between men and women, men and men, women and women,  that it gets very hard at times to tell who is married, or who is just dating, or who has a “meaningful relationship”, or who is just fooling around.  We hear and read about lawsuits for palimony, about surrogate mothers, and there are advertisements for sex therapists.  Our televisions, our movies, our magazines are running over with all kinds of articles, and programs, and talk shows which are really unfit for children to watch, or hear, or read.  Our nation seems really confused as to just what is a proper relationship between men and women in general, and between husband and wife in particular.

With all the confusion over sex, marriage, and the relationship between men and women — how does the Christian make a good and right decision on this matter within his or her own personal, private life?  This morning, our assigned Scripture readings tell us what God has to say concerning these issues and this debate.  Let’s let God speak to us through the Words of today’s Old Testament reading and our Gospel reading!

First of all, we read, “It is not good that the man should be alone.”  The first thing that we learn about the relationship between man and woman is that “it is not good that the man should be alone.”   And although the text doesn’t come right out and say it, the opposite is also true – it is not good that the woman should be alone either.

God made man a social creature.  Barbara Streisand (and those under 40 are saying, “Who?”) used to sing a song which said, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”  There are a few hardy souls who want to buy their own little island and get away from everybody else — but basically we all need someone around us for company.  As God said, “It is not good that man should be alone.”

But even in a crowd, you can be lonely, and so God recognized that he had to make a “Helper that was suitable for the man.”  Call her a “counter-part” to man if you like.  The rosters had their hens.  The bucks had their does. The gander had his goose.  But for man – no suitable helper was found. So God created Woman — Eve –And as He gave away the first Bride and brought her to Adam, God himself established the marriage relationship.  Eve brought great joy into the life of Adam.  You can almost hear the excitement in his voice, “This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.”  Eve was created — not inferior to man — not superior to man — not even equal to man — Eve was created different from man!  To each God gave certain responsibilities in life — responsibilities that were supposed to complement each other — not compete with each other!  Adam was to be husband and father — and Eve, as the “Helper suitable for him,” as his counter part, was to be wife and mother!  This is what we call in theological terms, “God’s order of creation.”

This relationship between man and woman were created perfect and holy.  It brought joy and happiness to both Adam and Eve.  “It was not good that the man should be alone”.  That was why God created woman — and marriage.

What happened to this perfect creation of male and female and marriage?  Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.  Sin came into the world.  And with sin came the knowledge of good and evil.  Now they knew just how badly this precise gift of God could be misused and abused – so they blushed for the first time, they got embarrassed to see each other naked – and they hid from each other by sewing fig leaves together to make cloths for themselves.  Sin not only tore apart their relationship with God – but also with each other.  In the Gospel reading, the Pharisees asked Jesus why Moses allowed divorce and Jesus said it was because of the “hardness of their hearts” – because of sin.

It is still sin even today, which tears apart God’s perfect creation of marriage.  Selfishness, greed, lust, and unfaithfulness among many other things rob God’s creation of marriage of the blessing that it should be for all mankind.  Husbands refuse to love their wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her – And wives refuse to submit in love to their husbands in the same way as the church submits to Christ.  God’s perfect creation has been turned into smut, and porn, and dirty jokes by a sinful world!

At their creation in the garden there was a special interdependency between the two — man needed woman — and woman needed man.  Paul made this clear in the book of Corinthians where he reminds us that Woman was taken from man — and that man was born of woman.  They are dependent on each other!

I feel that some of the problems of marriage today is that husband and wife no longer need each other.  In the days of the old west — when husbands and wives had to fight side by side to protect their lands, cattle and crops, and when they had to protect the family against wolves and other wild critters, and when they had to make a living farming land with only an old mule and a broken plow — husband and wife needed each other to survive.  But today — when the husband makes a good salary — and the wife makes a salary equal to or maybe even better than his — they can each go their separate ways and still survive.  If they have a small argument or disagreement, they go their own way — because they don’t need each other.

That wasn’t God’s intention for man or woman.  God made woman from man — and God brought woman to man — and God meant for them to be good for one another — for them to need each other — for them to live together, sharing all that was to come – for them to reproduce the species.  God’s plan was an interdependency between man and woman — sharing all that was to come in a life time commitment of marriage.

And that brings us to our last point for today — God intended this relationship between a man and a woman to be a lasting and deep relationship.  We read from the text, “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Jesus quotes this Old Testament verse in Today’s Gospel lesson and then he added, “What God has joined together let not man put asunder.”  Our Gospel lesson for today recognizes that because of sin — separation and divorce are a part of life — only perfect people have perfect marriages and those don’t exist!  But God’s intention when he first created Adam and Eve and marriage was for a life time union between a man and a woman.  And this is not an easy task or assignment that God has given.

Some like to blame their problems on “THE MODERN DAY LIVING”.  But those people who celebrate their 40th or 50th or even 60th wedding anniversary didn’t have it any easier than the young married couples of today.  In fact, if we take a close look at history, they lived through some very difficult times.  The great depression, world wars, Korea and Vietnam, and many of the diseases that are easily cured today, were killers back then.  Times are not any harder today than they were back then!  But what made those long term marriages work was FIRST, a commitment to God, and THEN, to each other — that they would share the hard times, they would share the sorrows, even while they shared the good times and the joys.  Most importantly of all, they forgave one another as God for Christ’s sake had forgiven them.  When we look at marriage as a life-time commitment, not a temporary living arrangement, then the problems of any one given day seem kind of small.  To make a marriage work, both man and woman have to be committed to the relationship and forgive one another, as God has forgiven each.

Even in our crazy, mixed up world — God’s will for a man and a woman is the same as it was in the Garden of Eden — between Adam and Eve – “It is not good that man should be alone,” so “A man should leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and they would be one flesh.”

Living in the forgiveness earned for us by Jesus Christ, and living in the strength that God gives us for our daily lives, let us commit ourselves to God’s will for us.  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/Oct11_2009Mark10_17-22.m4a

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

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