Sermon for 6/25/23: Third Sunday After Trinity

 

CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

No sermon video this week. My apologies.

Truth to Trust

Micah 7:18-20

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

We are living in what has come to be called the post-modern era. One of the principal characteristics of post-modernism is its insistence that all things are relative—that there is nothing that is universally true or false, nothing that is essentially good or evil. It is a pretty dark and desperate picture of our world. But if you examine honestly what is going on in the world around us, I think you can see how this very kind of thinking is operative in much of what is being said and done.

There is no place in such thinking for Christian faith. It’s no wonder that Christians struggle mightily at bringing their influence to this world. And it doesn’t help that we live in that age we were warned of, when the world considers evil what God calls good, when the world calls good what God calls evil. Authorities in the government and even in parts of Christendom condemn those who live according to the Word of God. It’s hard to know who to trust. If there has ever been a time when you might be tempted to say, “I don’t believe in anyone or anything,” it might be now.

But over 2700 years ago, the prophet Micah spoke a word to those who are disenchanted with God, those who doubt His goodness. This is a faithful word that points to the God who can be trusted and whose words are honest, whose Word can be trusted, whose mercy in Jesus Christ is renewed to us with every day.

“Who is a God like you...?” What a crucial question that is, because Micah knew well that there is none like our Lord. He alone had brought their fathers up out of the bondage of Egypt and watched over them like a mother watches over her children. But in Micah’s day, the people stood under judgment before this God. There was no place to hide. Their rebellion was plain for all to see. Like men chasing harlots, they had gone after the gods of their heathen neighbors. The Lord was not mistaken as He assessed their condition. Through His prophet He said to them, “Your rich men are full of violence, and your inhabitants speak lies.”

The Lord searches the hearts of men, and His judgments are honest and accurate. You may completely fool yourself about the times and the people of our age. You may even lie about yourself. But the Lord sees us for what we are. We run after the gods of this age. Our appalling morals, both public and private; our dishonesty in low and high places alike; our fading integrity and slowness to speak the truth—none of this escapes the Lord’s recognition or His judgment. We stand before Him, stripped and uncovered, with no place to hide. Our hands are stained with evil. We need a way of escape. We need someone to believe in.

And God Himself gives that to us. He shows Himself as the God who delights in showing mercy. Micah confesses as much when he says, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance. He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. You cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Here is a God to believe in: the God who delights in mercy.

People in Micah’s time were not especially noted for their readiness to show mercy. It’s still a problem for the faithful today. We can be so slow to pardon the misdeeds of others. We delight in making others pay for their errors. We hold grudges against those in our home, our congregation, and in the places where we work and study. We throw the past into the faces of those who have sinned, never letting them forget what they have done.

How different it is with God. He has a much better way of dealing with us. He delights in mercy. He really is pleased when He can show His kindness to those whose sins have gone over their heads, whose abuse of His commands threatens to swallow them in despair. Showing mercy, passing over our sins, not dishing out the punishment deserved—that’s the way God works. In Jesus Christ, He makes the dawning of each new day of mercy possible for us. Jesus takes on Himself the full load of those who are crushed and dying in their rebellion. He carried our griefs and sorrows all the way to the cross. It was there that every sin that troubles us, every trespass that has made life miserable for others was buried, left in our Lord’s grave, never to rise up to accuse us again. We have a God who delights in this kind of mercy. We have a God we can believe in.

There is a desperate need for words that we can believe and trust. And they are here in this text. When everyone else may be breaking theirs, the Lord keeps His word. You can trust the God of Holy Scripture, whose judgments are faithful and true, whose mercies in Jesus Christ never fail, whose words never change. You can rest your faith on Him. You can sink the roots of your life deeply in Him. On Him you can build your hope for each and every tomorrow He gives you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen. 

Sermon for 6/11/23: FIrst Sunday After Trinity

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God’s Word, Not Man’s Wish
Genesis 15:1-6

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

Wishing is not the same as having a blessing. Wishes originate within our hearts, and wishing focuses on what we think is the best, the way we think life ought to be. But the way we think things should be and the way God designed things to be can be as far apart as east is from west. Instead of praying with faith, “Thy will be done,” we seek the desires of our sin-blackened hearts. And so, wishing produces disappointments that evolve into growing doubts. But a blessing always benefits you. A blessing always revolves around God’s will for your life.

Abram was not especially filled with joy at the events of his life, particularly as he thought about one empty spot: a son. Abram, whom we know better as Abraham, had been promised by the Lord God that he would be the father of a great nation and that, in Abram, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Yet he was without a son; his heir was Eliezer of Damascus, one of his servants. So he continued to wait, though not especially patiently. After all, waiting can be hard, especially when we think God is withholding a blessing.

But then the Word of the Lord came to Abram. The Lord God knows exactly what fears and questions go on in the minds, hearts, and souls of His people. You are sinning if you think, “I wish God knew what I was going through.” “I wish He was here.” “I wish He knew what suffering and dying were all about.” The Word of God tells us that the Lord knows your fears, your hurts, your pains—and not just from having a distant view of them, but from actually living them Himself. Our Lord Jesus experienced the pain and anguish of body and soul when He suffered and died on the cross in your place.

So the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Abram.” Though He did not initially refer to Abram’s specific dilemma, the Lord knew exactly what plagued Abram’s days and haunted his nights. God told him, “Fear not. This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Here the Lord God Almighty reminds Abram that His Word shall accomplish His purpose. The promise is certain, even though it seems impossible to man that it could ever take place. From our limited human perspective, consider the creation of the universe in six days; a flood to cover the face of the whole earth; God being born in flesh; Jesus being present in and under bread and wine; God dying to win forgiveness for all people of all times and places; the Resurrection. Apart from faith, man views these historic events as absurd or impossible. They would place limits on God. They would place the wish of man over the Word of God.

But through the Word, Abram believed. Abram believed in the Lord, and the Lord accounted it to him for righteousness. That, dear people, is the promise of God for the salvation of all those who believe: salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ as the Redeemer. Isaac believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Moses trusted the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Paul believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. So did Timothy. So did Augustine. The truth of this Good News came to a wretched man named Martin Luther. By the grace of God, he believed the Lord God, and it was reckoned to Luther as righteousness. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Abraham, has become a blessing to the nations. God’s promise of a Savior was fulfilled in Christ. God’s promise that Abraham would be the father of many is being fulfilled each time He works faith in the heart of an unbeliever.

The Lord brought Abram outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” God promises that Abram will have more descendants than there are stars in the sky. But Abram is not ordered to wish upon a star. He is not to search for a genie in a lamp. Instead he is to behold the goodness of God, the fount of blessing, where he will receive more blessings than he can count.

We are sons of Abraham—not because of who Abraham was, but because we believe what he believed. We are Lutherans, not because of who Luther was, but because we believe, teach, and confess the same Gospel, the Good News of God in Christ. So I will not say, “I wish you would believe this”—for this would be a man’s expression of desire. Imagine a pastor making a hospital visit with a man with terminal cancer and saying, “I wish you healing of your body.” Whatever ails you, whatever weighs on your heart, I do not wish healing for you. Instead, hear the Good News: “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” These words are not the wish of man; they are the Word of God, and they bring to you the perfect healing of your body and soul, both now and for eternity. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.