Worship for Epiphany VI - 2014

Wednesday after Epiphany V

February 12, 2014

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany. It is also the Commemoration of Philipp Melanchthon (birth), Confessor In our prayers we will remember the blessings God worked through him and ask that God continues to raise up faithful confessors today. We will be using Matins (page 219) for our liturgy. This is one of the old “Prayer Hours” and, as such, is a service of the word only (no communion). We will use the appointed Psalm for the Day (Psalm 119:1-8) and chant it by the half-verse. We will use the Benedictus (page 226) for our Canticle.

The appointed lessons are Deuteronomy 30:15-20, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 and Matthew 5:21-37. The text for the sermon is Deuteronomy 30:15. The sermon title is “The Law, Us and Jesus.” Our opening hymn is “The Law of God Is Good and Wise” (LSB 579). Our sermon hymn is “The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace” (LSB 580). The closing hymn is “I Know My Faith is Founded” (LSB 587).

Matthias Loy

The first two hymns were written by Matthias Loy (1828-1915) of the old Joint Ohio Synod (which was absorbed by The American Lutheran Church which was absorbed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). They were written as companion pieces, one with a focus on God’s Law and the other with a focus on God’s Gospel.

Below is the summary of the lessons provided by the LCMS.

Christ Sets Life before Us so that We Can Walk in His Ways

The God who reveals Himself in His incarnate Son promises life and blessing to all who obey His commandments “by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules” (Deut. 30:16). However, we are “people of the flesh” and “infants in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1) among whom “there is jealousy and strife” (1 Cor. 3:3). Jesus must instruct us against the human ways of anger, adultery, divorce and false witness (Matt. 5:21–37), because all who live in these ways “shall surely perish” (Deut. 30:18). On the cross He died to forgive our sins and free us from the ways of curse and death. Since Jesus Christ is our “life and length of days” (Deut. 30:20), we can be reconciled to our brother, live in chastity and marital faithfulness, and speak with honesty. He who serves from His cross also offers His gift of reconciliation at His altar, and we can be at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are “God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9).

Sunday’s Lessons

Psalm 119:1-8 (1)

^119:1     Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

                   who walk in the law of the Lord!

²         Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

                   who seek him with their whole heart,

³         who also do no wrong,

                   but walk in his ways!

⁴         You have commanded your precepts

                   to be kept diligently.

⁵         Oh that my ways may be steadfast

                   in keeping your statutes!

⁶         Then I shall not be put to shame,

                   having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

⁷         I will praise you with an upright heart,

                   when I learn your righteous rules.

⁸         I will keep your statutes;

                   do not utterly forsake me!

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

¹⁵             “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

^3:1       But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

⁵         What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

Matthew 5:21-37

²¹        “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²²But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. ²³So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ²⁶Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷        “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

³¹        “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³        “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ ³⁴But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Below is a video of a violinist who plays and sings the first verse of “The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace.”

Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. We continue with Colossians.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday morning.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert