Thursday after Pentecost 16
September 20, 2012
The Lord be with you
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday after
Pentecost. The appointed lessons are: Jeremiah 11:18-20; James 3:13-4:10; Mark 9:30-37. For our liturgy we will be using the
first setting of the Divine service (page 151). This is a communion service.
Our opening hymn is “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (LSB 656). This is the older rhythm, composed by Luther, and has a
more rugged tempo and feeling. The sermon hymn is the one we are learning this
month, “One Thing’s Needful” (LSB 536).
Our closing hymn is “Onward, Christian Soldiers” (LSB 662). Our distribution hymns are: “Rise, My Soul, to Watch and
Pray” (LSB 663 ); “O Lord, We Praise
Thee” (LSB 617); and “Children of the
Heavenly Father” (LSB 725). The
sermon text is James 4:7, and the sermon is titled “Stealth Combat.”
In our public prayers we will continue to lift up other
Christian denominations and their leaders. This Sunday we will remember the
various Presbyterian churches, The Presbyterian Church (USA), the Presbyterian
Church in America,
the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church,
along with their leadership. We continue to pray for our LC-MS missionaries
around the world. This month we remember Ginger Taff-Lagergren, who is in South
Africa. She specifically asks us to petition
the Lord to use her to spread His love and that she would be a help to others
with challenges in their day-to-day lives. We ask the Lord to protect Ginger
and keep her in good health, so that she may serve to her fullest capacity.
Finally, we also thank the Lord that Ginger has answered His call to serve in South
Africa.
We will remember the persecuted believers in Tajikistan.
It is a small, land-locked country in Central Asia, bordered
by China, Afghanistan,
and other countries. Religiously, the country is Sunni Muslim 85%, Shia Muslim
5%, other 10%. In that 10% are roughly 230,000 Christians, mostly Russian
Orthodox, though there is at least one Lutheran congregation, a few scattered
Baptist and Roman Catholics, and other groups. Tajikistan
has a history of treating the minority faiths well, though a recent law putting
greater restrictions on them has caused some concern. While Muslim extremists
are generally not tolerated, concern over the conversion of Muslims to
Christianity has raised tension.
We will also remember, in our prayers, our sister SED congregations:
Redeemer, Baltimore, MD;
Resurrection, Baltimore, MD;
St. James, Baltimore, MD;
St. Thomas, Baltimore,
MD; and Risen Christ, Myrtle
Beach, SC. We will continue to
remember those who have been misled by our cultures acceptance of abortion and advocacy
of sexual immorality, asking God’s grace for their lives that they may be
healed and restored by the Holy Spirit. We will also continue to remember those
trapped in the modern practice of slavery and ask God to bless all efforts that
are pleasing in his sight to end this sinful practice. We will also remember the
Lutheran Malaria Initiative’s effort to end malaria in Africa
by 2015.
Below is a video of “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” our opening
hymn.
Our adult Bible class
meets at 9:00 Sunday morning. We are
currently in Matthew 27. The chapter has the death of Judas, Jesus before
Pilate, soldiers mocking Jesus, our Lord’s crucifixion, death and burial. In
other words, we are almost through the book. Join us for these pivotal events
in world history.
Preview of the
Lessons
Jeremiah 11:18-20: This is a wonderful passage to discuss different approaches
to the Bible, because it “works” well with several different presuppositions. Before
we get to those approaches, we should first know that Jeremiah lived in a time
of dramatic spiritual decline in Judea. He warned the
people that Babylon would come and
defeat the people as God’s just judgment. He also urged the people to submit to
Babylon, and then Babylon
would treat them with real mercy. Needless to say, Jeremiah was viewed as a
traitor by many, especially those of the ruling class. There were plots against
him, he was arrested, abused, etc. However, he lived to see the Babylonian
invasion and the deportation of those who opposed him. Still refusing to submit
to Babylonian control, a group of Jews murdered the Babylonian governor and his
guard, kidnapped Jeremiah, and fled to Egypt.
(You should now read the text to understand the rest of these notes.)
The first approach assumes no divine intervention. Jeremiah
was a very intuitive individual who could tell which way the wind was blowing.
He took this insight as a gift from God, and warned the people. He, through
some confidant, hears of the plots against him, and takes it as a warning from
God. However, Jeremiah is confident in God’s ultimate vindication. People in
this camp might even think verse 20 was written after the Babylonian conquest
of Judea, and the writer saw that as the vindication.
The interpreter may apply it in a sermon as he sees fit.
The second approach accepts phrases like “The Lord made it known to me” to indicate a
revelation from the Sovereign God to Jeremiah. The accent falls on man’s
inability to thwart the plans of God. In the end, God is judge. Jeremiah is a
righteous man. Application might be to trust in God and his ultimate justice,
or perhaps to be righteous in an evil age.
The third approach also accepts phrases like “The Lord made it known to me” to indicate a
revelation from God to Jeremiah. However the text (and indeed the entire life
of Jeremiah) is viewed as being Christ-centered. As Jeremiah warned the people
of their sins, and the consequences of their sins, so did Jesus. As the leaders
plotted against Jeremiah, so the leaders plotted against Jesus. As Jeremiah was
vindicated when his words proved true, so Jesus was vindicated when his words
proved true on Easter Sunday. The vengeance of God is executed on Jesus as he
hung on the cross. This Christ-centered understanding was God’s intention when
he inspired Jeremiah to write. The application is that Jesus is our redeemer
who has born our sins that we might enter heaven by grace through faith.
As a guiding principle, the third approach take passages
like “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27) and “You
search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and
it is they that bear witness about me [Jesus] (John 5:39). It is the third approach to Scripture that we use
at Lamb of God.
James 3:13-4:10: The book of James has been misunderstood as saying that salvation
is granted through a combination of works and faith. He never says that, but
people have that misunderstanding. What he says is that a living faith in the
living Christ produces results in the lives of the believer. A dead “faith,”
that is, an acknowledgement of certain facts but lacking trust in those facts,
does not produce results. Such a “faith” even the devils have. The know who Jesus
is, but fear him instead of trust in him. I happen to be one of those who
believe that James was one of the very first books written in the New
Testament, and Paul’s accent on grace flowed, in part, from a misunderstanding
by many of James’ epistle. (Others think of it in reverse.)
The fruit of faith is very counter-cultural. Selfish
ambition, boasting, fighting for your rights, and so on, are all lauded by
fallen human nature. Meekness, gentleness, mercy, etc., are all viewed as
weakness, and even with contempt. The world, our sinful nature, and the devils,
all promote the aggressive, negative, me-first, attitudes. The spirit of Christ
leads us in the paths of peace, mercy, understanding, reasonableness, and so
forth. To put it in the words of Christ and Moses, the Christian Faith leads us
to love our neighbor as ourselves. This love is not part of the foundation of
our salvation. It is the result of being built on the foundation of salvation,
on Jesus.
The devil is always seeking to lure us back to the ways of
the world, the ways of enmity, pride, greed, vengeance, anger, and so forth.
James, though, tells us to resist the devil, and he will flee from us. This is
done through the power of a repentant heart, a heart that has been cleanses by
grace through faith, a heart that trusts in Jesus, a heart that has been
baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. It does not depend on
itself, but on Jesus. If we seek to resist the devil by our own might, we fall
into his trap. Instead, we humble ourselves before the Lord only to discover
that he will exalt us.
Mark 9:30-37: This lesson ties in with both the OT
lesson and the Epistle lesson. First, like Jeremiah, Jesus is aware that evil
men are plotting against him, and he knows he will be vindicated through his
resurrection. Many have wondered why the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus
was saying as he was so plain. Well, the text doesn’t tell us, so it is just
speculation. First, being raised from the dead isn’t a normal thing. Second,
Jesus did speak in metaphors and parables all the time, and the disciples had a
hard time with many of them. Third, death of the Messiah just wasn’t on the
first century Jewish radar. Put that together, and they didn’t understand
Jesus.
The reading ties in with the Epistle lesson because the
disciples are arguing about who was the greatest among them. This is the very
sort of thing that James warns about. Jesus uses a child, who is basically
powerless and has to do what they are told, to make his point that we are not
to seek after worldly greatness, but to be servants of all. Notice the word
“all.” He doesn’t call us to only be servants to our own, but all people. Just
as Christ came for all, even those who reject him, so we care for all people,
even those who reject Jesus. When we serve the weak and powerless especially,
we serve Christ.
Tidbits
- The
Board of Evangelism will meet after the worship service, Sunday
- We are
sponsoring a Pancake Breakfast, Saturday, October 27, at the Fats
restaurant (http://www.superpages.com/bp/Boiling-Springs-SC/FATZ-Cafe-L0006431720.htm)
in Boiling Springs, to support the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI). Members
are asked to sell tickets for $7.00 (of which $4.00 will go to LMI and
$3.00 will go to Fats to cover their costs) for this event. Tickets will
be available Sunday. Additional help will be needed in the form of
greeters who will also sell tickets at the door and/or accept donations.
You can expect more information over the next two months on this blog
about our Pancake Breakfast and LMI.
Well, I pray I’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert
