Worship Notes for Pentecost 13, 2014

Thursday after Pentecost 12

Commemoration of Moses

September 4, 2014

The Lord be with you

Well, Kitty and I are back from our vacation, which means I’ll be back in the pulpit this coming Sunday. Speaking of this coming Sunday, it will be the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. For our liturgy we will use the Service of Prayer and Preaching (page 260). This service uses the appointed Psalm instead of the appointed Introit. As we do not celebrate the Lord’s Supper with this service, it has only three hymns. Our lessons will be Psalm 32 (antiphon verse 1), Ezekiel 33:7-9, Romans 13:1-10 and Matthew 18:1-20. Our opening hymn will be “Lord, Open Now My Heart to Hear” (LSB 908). The sermon hymn will be “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” (LSB 411). Our closing hymn will be “O God, Forsake Me Not” (LSB 731). Yesterday I posted a Bible study inspired by our opening hymn.

As today is the Commemoration of Moses, you might want to read a bit more about Moses. Just click “HERE” to a post I made about this commemoration back in 2012.

The sermon is titled “The Cowboy Way of the Yellow Brick Road.” The text is Matthew 18:4.

Below is a video of “Lord, Open Now My Heart to Hear,” our opening hymn (also the hymn of the Bible study), complete with words.  

Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. God willing, we will begin a study of the three themes being promoted by our denomination: Witness, Mercy and Life Together.

What now follows is first a summary of Sunday’s lessons, provided by the LC-MS, and then the actual lessons.

Living as Humble Little Children of the Father

True greatness is not self-sufficient strength, but humility like that of a little child. The greatness of child-like faith receives all good things as gracious gifts from our Father in heaven. Apart from such faith, “you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” but whoever is humbled like a little child will be “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3–4). Though in our sin we deserve to be “drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6), we have instead been drowned (“buried”) with Christ in Baptism and then raised to the new, humble life of a child of God. The Lord sends His watchman to warn us with a word from His mouth, in order that we may not die in our iniquity, but be turned from our pride and selfishness to live (Ezek. 33:7–9). Thus we live in humility and faith before God as well as in love for our neighbor, which “is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). In the reverent fear of God, we do no harm to our neighbor, but we “pay to all what is owed to them” (Rom. 13:7) and we “owe no one anything, except to love each other” (Rom. 13:8).

Ezekiel 33:7–9

⁷         “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. ⁸If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ⁹But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Romans 13:1–10

^13:1      Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

⁸         Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Matthew 18:1–20

^18:1      At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ²And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them ³and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵         “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, ⁶but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

⁷         “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! ⁸And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

¹⁰        “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. ¹²What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ¹³And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. ¹⁴So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

¹⁵        “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. ¹⁸Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Psalm 32    A Maskil of David.

¹         Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

                   whose sin is covered.

²         Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

                   and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³         For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

                   through my groaning all day long.

⁴         For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

                   my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵         I acknowledged my sin to you,

                   and I did not cover my iniquity;

          I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

                   and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

⁶         Therefore let everyone who is godly

                   offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;

          surely in the rush of great waters,

                   they shall not reach him.

⁷         You are a hiding place for me;

                   you preserve me from trouble;

                   you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸         I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

                   I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

⁹         Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

                   which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

                   or it will not stay near you.

¹⁰        Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

                   but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lvord.

¹¹        Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,

                   and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Some Quick Notes:

• The LWML will meet Sunday following the worship service.  

• Women’s Bible Fellowship will meet Monday, 10:00 am.   

• I will be out of town Tuesday, attending the Circuit Pastors meeting (Winkel).

• Because I was out of town the last two weeks of August, no September newsletter was produced. We’ll try to get a calendar posted.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday morning.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert