Thursday
after Pentecost 11
August 8,
2013
The Lord be
with you
This coming
Sunday (August 11) is the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. We will
celebrate the Lord’s Supper. To prepare you may read the Christian Questions
with their Answers from Luther’s Small Catechism. For our liturgy we will use
Divine Service 1 (page 151). Our lessons will be Genesis 15:1-6; Hebrews
11:1-16; and Luke 12:22-40. Our sermon will be titled “Faith” and the text
will be Hebrews 11:6. Our opening hymn will be “Children of the Heavenly
Father” (LSB 725). Our sermon hymn will be “I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus” (LSB
729). Our closing hymn will be “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” (LSB 803). Our
distribution hymns will be “We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight” (LSB 720), “Seek
Ye First” (LSB 712), and “Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing” (LSB 737).
Below is a
video of our opening hymn, “Children of the Heavenly Father.” It is performed
by the Concordia Choir. It isn’t the arrangement in our hymnal, but it is the
same melody line.
In our
prayers, we will remember The Evangelical Church of America and their leader Bishop
Hanson. We will remember the persecuted believers in Pakistan. We will remember
Emily Goddard, our missionary in South Africa. We will continue to remember the
churches in our denomination. This week we lift up before our Lord Bethany,
Bethlehem, Calvary & Emmanuel, Baltimore, MD; and Good Shepherd,
Greenville, SC. We will continue to remember all those who have been misled by
our cultures advocacy of sexual immorality and abortion. We ask, not only that
the Lord turn our country around, but also that he bring healing to the lives
damaged by our current culture. We will remember the modern slave trade and ask
God to bless all efforts pleasing in his sight to end this sinful practice. We
will also remember the Lutheran Malaria Initiative as we seek to end Malaria in
sub-Saharan Africa.
In our
Sunday morning Bible study we are in our second read through of the Gospel
of Luke. We are using the “book” method of studying Luke. This means we are
giving our own titles to the book, and small sections, seeking to capture in
our own words, the message of Luke. Everyone is welcome to join us and provide
your own section titles. In discussing our titles and why we like them, we are
discussing the themes of Luke. Bible study begins at 9:00 am.
Preview of
Lessons
Genesis
15:1-6
Abraham has
an encounter with God. God promises Abraham a “very great reward.” Abraham
points out that he is childless. God’s great reward, which would be to be the
ancestor of the Messiah, is humanly impossible. Nonetheless, God says Abraham
would have descendants. Abraham believes the promise. This faith is counted for
Abraham as righteousness. Though obviously the saints before Abraham believed
(Adam, Eve, Noah, etc.), this is the first time the Bible specifically says
someone “believed” in God. Paul makes a major point out of the fact that this
happened before the covenant of circumcision. Paul’s point being that salvation
has always been a gift granted to those who believe.
Hebrews
11:1-16
This is the
famous “Faith Chapter” of the Bible. I’ve always regretted that the appointed
lesson doesn’t go through the end of the chapter. This section reviews those
who had faith and things went well for them. Skipped are those who had faith
but, from a human perspective, things didn’t go well. Reading the whole chapter
keeps us from the false idea that, if you just believe hard enough, then God
will grant you an unending stream of temporal successes and riches. If you
accept such false teaching, then one of the greatest assets we have when facing
trials, faith in Jesus, is taken from us. We are cast upon ourselves, searching
for the reason our faith is not strong enough and God has (at least from our
perspective) abandoned us. But if we know that Christ is with us no matter
what, then we have a sure confidence that he is with us in our troubles. It is
clear from this reading that “faith,” to be of any real value, must be faith in
the true God. “Faith in self,” “Faith in the government,” “Faith” in anything
else, leads to disappointment and despair. It is also clear that our faith is in
he who is coming, and the kingdom he brings at that time. We are not seeking to
bring in a heaven on earth, for which those who believe in some future, 1,000 year,
earthly reign of Jesus, hope. We look forward to the new heavens and earth.
I guess this
reading could be summed up with the words, “Trust God.” We spend a lot of our
time and energy scheming, seeking to advance this or that cause, as if God is
not ultimately in control. We fret over who gets elected, as if God is not in control.
We worry about our income, is if God isn’t in control. But God is in control.
Indeed, he even has the greatest gift of all time for you, the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, as the closing paragraph urges us, live like you are servants of the
Almighty. The reward is startling. The Master serves the slaves.
Lesson Synopsis (from the LC-MS)
The Lord Is Surely Coming to Give You
His Kingdom
The Lord
Himself was Abraham’s shield and great reward. For “the word of the Lord came to him” and sustained the
patriarch’s faith in the face of death (Gen. 15:4). By divine grace, Abraham “believed
the Lord, and he counted it to him
as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6), on account of the holy Seed, Christ Jesus. To
that one old man, the Lord granted “descendants as many as the stars of heaven
and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore” (Heb. 11:12).
The Lord is likewise faithful to you. It is His glad desire “to give you the
kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Therefore, “do not be anxious about your life,” but
instead “seek his kingdom” (Luke 12:22, 31). Set your heart on that treasure. “Stay
dressed for action and keep your lamps burning … for the Son of Man is coming”
(Luke 12:35, 40).
Tidbits
- It was a real pleasure to welcome Cyril and Glenn into membership last Sunday.
- The Board of Evangelism will meet Sunday.
- Remember, we are all on “Walkabout” all summer long (through August). So, keep walking in your neighborhood, and beyond. When you see someone, say hello. If you don’t know them, introduce yourself. It is that simple.
- We will have a short Voters’ Meeting Sunday, August 18, following the worship service.
- One final “tidbit:” At Lamb of God we recognize August 9 as the Commemoration of Hermann Sasse. This is one of two commemorations we put on our calendar that is not on the general liturgical calendar of our Synod. The other one is for Catherine Winkworth.
Well, I pray
we will see you Sunday.
Blessings in
Christ,
Pastor John
Rickert
No comments:
Post a Comment