Thursday
after Pentecost 15
September 25,
2014
The Lord be
with you
This coming
Sunday is the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. As it is a “fourth” Sunday, we
will celebrate the Lord’s Supper. To do this we will use the fourth setting of
the Divine Service (page 203) for our liturgy. The appointed lessons for the
day are Ezekiel 18:1–4, 25–32; Philippians 2:1–18 and Matthew 21:23–32. The
sermon is titled “God’s Just Ways.” The text is Ezekiel 18:2. The opening hymn
will be “Sing Praise to God the Highest Good” (LSB 819). The sermon hymn
will be “What God Ordains Is Always Good” (LSB 760). The closing hymn
will be “Go, My Children, with My Blessing” (LSB 922). Our distribution
hymns will be “Make Songs of Joy” (LSB 484), “Draw Near and Take the
Body of the Lord” (LSB 637) and “Eat This Bread” (LSB 638).
I plan to
work up a Bible study tomorrow inspired by the sermon hymn, “What God Ordains
is Always Good.” You can check back for it then. Below is the Lutheran Quartet
singing the hymn. It is from The Lutheran Hymnal. There are a few minor
changes in the wording as it appears in our current hymnal.
Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. We looking at the biblical themes of Witness, Mercy and
Life Together. The study of God’s word is a key way to keep the Third
Commandment which Luther explains as meaning, “We should fear and love God so
that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly
hear and learn it.” Bible study is a great opportunity to “gladly hear and
learn” God’s word.
What follows
is a summary of Sunday’s lessons provided by the LC-MS and then the actual
lessons.
The Cross of Christ Opens to Us the
Way of Repentance to Life with God
The way of
the Lord is righteous and just: “the soul
who sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). However, because the Lord has “no pleasure in the death of anyone”
(Ezek. 18:32), He calls sinners to repentance and faith in His gracious
forgiveness of sins. The man who is thus turned away from his wickedness, who
henceforth lives by the grace of God, “shall
surely live; he shall not die” (Ezek. 18:28). This way of repentance has
been opened for us by the cross of Christ. In the righteousness of faith and
love, “he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death” (Phil. 2:8), and He was vindicated in His resurrection
from the dead. Indeed, “God has highly
exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil.
2:9). He has given us this name in our Baptism into Christ, in whom we now “shine as lights in the world” (Phil.
2:15). He uses the authority that He has received from His Father (Matt.
21:23–27) to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, by
which even “the tax collectors and the
prostitutes go into the kingdom of God” (Matt. 21:31–32).
Ezekiel
18:1–4, 25–32
18:1 The
word of the Lord came to me: 2“What
do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’? 3As
I live, declares the Lord God,
this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4Behold, all
souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine:
the soul who sins shall die. …
25 “Yet
you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my
way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26When a
righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall
die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27Again,
when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does
what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28Because he
considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed,
he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29Yet the house of Israel
says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not
just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
30 “Therefore
I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares
the Lord God. Repent and turn from
all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31Cast away
from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a
new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32For
I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
Philippians
2:1–18
2:1 So
if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete
my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord
and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but
in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each
of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for
it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do
all things without grumbling or disputing, 15that you may be
blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16holding
fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I
did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17Even if I am to be poured
out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad
and rejoice with you all. 18Likewise you also should be glad and
rejoice with me.
Matthew
21:23–32
23 And
when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came
up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these
things, and who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus answered them, “I
also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will
tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John,
from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among
themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did
you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of
the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27So they
answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you
by what authority I do these things.
28 “What
do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go
and work in the vineyard today.’ 29And he answered, ‘I will not,’
but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30And he went to the
other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31Which
of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to
them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the
kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of
righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the
prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward
change your minds and believe him.
A Quick Note:
- The October newsletter should be posted before Sunday. Print copies should be available Sunday for those who don’t have internet access.
Well, I pray
we will see you Sunday morning.
Blessings in
Christ,
Pastor John
Rickert
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