Joshua 4 - "Memorial Stones"

 Theme: MEMORIAL STONES - Remind us of the gracious work of God - Used to teach our children - Require strong shoulders

Joshua 4 - And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying: 2 "Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, 3 "and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.' " 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them: "Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 "that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' 7 "Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever." 8 And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the LORD had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day. 10 So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. 11 Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. 12 And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. 13 About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life. 15 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, 16 "Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan." 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up from the Jordan." 18 And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. 19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' 22 "then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; 23 "for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus who have crossed over from death to life in Him, Sometimes I wonder what I would do without lists and a calendar. I have a hard time remembering dates and schedules - even important things! I can easily imagine forgetting some, if I did not write it down. I imagine each of you can identify with such forgetfulness. Maybe it’s not a calendar for you, maybe its sticky notes, or a string around your finger. Nonetheless, sin has affected our memories and we forget many things - even important things - in our lives. It is with this in mind that we return to our series from the book of Joshua. Chapter four is kind of a replay of chapter three, with a more in-depth look at the Jordan crossing. In chapter three we were left wondering why one man from each of the twelve tribes were selected before the crossing of the Jordan into Canaan. But here in chapter four our questions are answered. These twelve men were selected to haul stones from the dry riverbed of the Jordan to its western shores where they would erect a memorial. As we examine these memorial stones, let us learn to take advantages of similar memorials to the LORD in our midst as teaching tools for our children. As we do, we will be reminded that the instruction of our youth requires strong shoulders. May the Lord bless us as we study His Word. REMIND US OF THE GRACIOUS WORK OF GOD Unless you were personally involved in it yourself, events of the past are very easy to forget. One way to remember events of the past is to memorialize them. If you visit our nation’s capital you will see that there are endless memorials around the Capital Mall. Most prominent are the Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln memorials. All of these stone monuments were erected to remind people about these men and what they did as leaders of our country. Last week we heard how the LORD safely guided the Children of Israel into the promised land of Canaan. Though the Jordan River was at flood stage, this was no obstacle for the LORD to fulfill His promise and land the people safely on Canaan’s side. The almighty Creator of heaven and earth held back the waters of the Jordan and dried up the riverbed, so His people could cross safely. This was an amazing work of the LORD. An event which that generation would not soon forget. But the LORD knows how easily we tend to forget from one generation to the next. So He commanded Joshua to tell the twelve men, “Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.” Those twelve stones would then be used to build a lasting memorial of the gracious work of the LORD in bringing them safely across the Jordan on dry ground. Indeed, how easily we forget things - even important things! Could there be anything more important in our lives than our eternal salvation? Just as He brought the Children of Israel safely over into Canaan, so He has promised to bring us safely over to eternal life in heaven. But this is only possibly because of the cross of Jesus Christ. If Jesus had not suffered and died on the cross, we would still be responsible for our sins. If the eternal, almighty Son of God had not been born of the virgin Mary, if He had not taken on flesh and blood, He could not have died for our sins. If the Son of God did not do it, there would have been no sacrifice great enough to save our souls from the eternal fires of hell. But thanks be to God, as John writes that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 Jn 1:7) This is the gracious work of God to rescue us from our own sins. We did nothing to deserve it, God did it all for us out of His undeserved love. And we do not want to forget the gracious work of God, so we too set up sorts of memorial stones. Do you have memorial stones in your home which remind you of the gracious work of God? Sure you do! Some of you may even be wearing one today. Maybe they are not a pile of stones, such as was erected at the Jordan, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all sorts of memorial stones at your homes. Think of the number of crosses you have in your home! The cross is a reminder of the cost of your salvation and the love of God for you. It was on a cross that the Son of God was sacrificed to give us eternal life. It was on the cross of Christ that we were redeemed unto God. We have all sorts of “memorial stones,” don’t we. When our Voter’s set up the quarterly calendars, we speak of certain services that are “set in stone.” We have special services in December to mark the birth of our Savior. We have special services in the Spring to remind ourselves of the cost of our salvation and the life that Jesus won for us. We have the baptismal font at the front of church to remind us of the gracious work of God in your baptism. How in we were baptized into Christ, your sins were washed away, and you were adopted into God’s family. We have candles on the altar ro remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. We have the altar to remind us of Jesus as the Lamb of God who was sacrificed on the altar of the cross for our sins. We have a picture of Jesus saving sinking Peter, even as He rescued when we were sinking in our sins. We even celebrate a memorial meal, don’t we? When we celebrate Lord’s Supper we receive the very body and blood of our Savior Jesus in, with, and under the earthly elements bread and wine. His body and blood which was given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. When Jesus instituted this sacrament He also said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Lk 22:19) In receiving Lord’s Supper we are not only receiving spiritual blessings, but we are also remembering the gracious work of our God as Jesus gave His body and shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. All of these memorial stones are set up to remind us of the gracious work of our God. USED TO TEACH OUR CHILDREN So why did God want to have this memorial erected? I can’t imagine that any of those who were present that day would ever forget how God held back the waters of the Jordan and allowed all those people to pass over on dry ground. We learn in our text that it wasn’t so much for their sakes, as it was for the sake of the generations to come. These memorial stones were valuable teaching tools about the gracious works of God. We read in last four verses of our text, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." God had those stones set up because He knew that in coming generations children would see those stones and ask, “What does this mean?” The parents would then have a wonderful opportunity to tell their children about the wonderful works of God. It is so important to the LORD that parents tell their children about all that He has done to save them. Jesus scolded His disciples when they tried to prevent the little ones from coming to Him. Jesus did not just come to save grown-ups from their grown-up sins, He also came to save the little ones from their own sin and the sin they inherited from their sinful parents. Jesus loves the little children, He died to save the little children too, and He wants them to know how much He loves them. The various memorial stones we have can also serve as excellent teaching tools for our children. We can tell them the reason they have a cross hanging on the wall in their bedroom. When we go to Lord’s Supper and our children ask why, we have the opportunity to tell them that Mom and Dad are sinners too and need forgiveness from God. We can point them to the baptismal font where they were baptized and made God’s precious child. Our catechism serves as a sort of memorial stone too, doesn’t it? We take our children through the basic teachings of Christian faith. And then we teach them to ask, “What does this mean?” and teach them the basics of the Christian faith. All of these so-called “memorial stones” are used to teach our children. We do this, as Joshua says in the last verse of our text, that they “may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” Let us use these memorial stones to teach our children about the mighty acts of the LORD to save us, that they may stand in awe of the LORD forever. REQUIRE STRONG SHOULDERS So in your mind’s eye, how big are those memorial stones that these twelve men are bringing up from the riverbed of the Jordan? Listen again to verse 5, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel.” These stones were of such a size that they required strong shoulders to carry them to the western shore of the Jordan. Furthermore, keep in mind who each of these twelve men were representing - the twelve tribes of Israel. The men that carried these heavy memorial stones not just the professional “church people” from the tribe of Levi, but instead the lay-men of Israel who were carrying these memorial stones. These are important truths for each one of us to keep in mind as we consider teaching our children about the gracious works of God. First of all it requires strong shoulders. Christian education is heavy lifting. Families are busier than ever with athletic obligations and school work. It seems that it is becoming harder and harder for families to find quality time to spend together. Which means it is harder to have family devotions and family Bible study. It requires strong shoulders to spend time in God’s Word as a family every day. But God wants such memorial stones erected not just on Sunday mornings at church, but everyday at home. He wants Christian parents, especially fathers, to bring up their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph 6:4) In fact, Martin Luther originally drew up his Small Commandment, not necessarily for pastors to teach members, but for fathers to teach their children at home. And remember on whose shoulders it fell to bear the burden of carrying those memorial stones out of the Jordan? It was not just the professional clergy from the tribe of Levi, it was also the laymen of the twelve tribes of Israel. Even so, telling the next generation about the gracious works of God does not fall just on the shoulders of the pastor - God calls on laymen and women to take up this eternally important work. Therefore we call on laymen and women to tell our children in Sunday School about the gracious works of God. At home we work listen to our children recite their memory work, we talk about what we heard in church, and we make time for home devotions. Indeed, it requires strong shoulders to set up memorial stones and teach our children about the gracious works of God. We forget things, so easily, don’t we. It is one thing to forget to buy desert when you are at the grocery store. It is another thing entirely to forget about the gracious works of our God to save us. Let us not only remember His gracious work ourselves, but let us remember to tell our children and grandchildren about all Jesus did so we could go to heaven. May God ever help us to be faithful in proclaiming all His wonderful works to the generation to come! Amen.

Joshua 3 - "Land Me Safe on Canaan's Side"

Theme: “Land Me Safe On Canaan’s Side” - Obstacles - The LORD’s safe deliverance Joshua 3 - Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before." 5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 "You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.' " 9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God." 10 And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12 "Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." 14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, When I was in grade school, one of the things we enjoyed doing with our free time was playing the computer game “Oregon Trail” on our ancient Apple II GS school computers. The basic premise of the game was to get your character from Independence, Missouri to the Willamette Valley in Oregon by covered wagon in 1848. The journey was a difficult one. You had to withstand attacks by Indians, hunt for food to feed your family, deal with snake bites, and avoid all sorts of deadly diseases! But there was also the difficulty of river crossings in the covered wagon - most notably the Snake River. Sometimes you could ford the river with your covered wagon and survive in tact. Other times you and your party would perish by the mighty torrent of the Snake River. The game was intended to be educational as it taught students about the various challenges pioneers would have faced as they made their way west to settle the territory of Oregon. What the Children of Israel went through during their journey from Egypt to Canaan was no video game. They suffered through plagues, diseases, hunger, thirst, fiery serpents, and death. People suffered and died because of their own sinful choices. They disobeyed and rebelled against the God who freed them from slavery in Egypt. The suffering they brought on themselves was greater than anything on the Oregon Trail. Many of the things that happened to the Children of Israel remind us of things that happen to the Church. As they wandered in the wilderness, so we are pilgrims and sojourners in the wilderness of this world. As they waited and hoped for the Promised Land of Canaan, so we wait and hope for the Promised Land of heaven. As they brought many difficulties on themselves because of their sinful choices, so we bring many difficulties on ourselves because of our sinful choices. In our text we hear that the Children of Israel are finally ready to enter Canaan. Only on thing stands in their way - the Jordan River. Let us examine the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River and consider our crossing over to the Promised Land of heaven. Our theme is taken from our closing hymn, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” We pray with the hymn writer that the LORD would “Land Me Safe on Canaan’s Side.” We will examine the obstacles that stood between the Children of Israel and their entrance into Canaan and consider the obstacles that stand between us and the Promised Land of Canaan. Then let us be amazed at how the LORD lands us safely in the Promised Land. May the Holy Spirit bless our study of His holy Word. - OBSTACLES One big obstacle that stood between the children of Israel and the Promised Land of Canaan was the Jordan River. Now when the two spies crossed the Jordan to spy out Jericho, it did not sound as though they had too much difficulty. They probably paid to have a ferry take them across, or they were able to ford the stream itself. But now an entire nation of approximately 2 million people are preparing to cross the Jordan River. And this is no trickling stream. They were about to cross the Jordan in the spring time when the snow melt from Mount Hermon and the spring rains caused the Jordan to swell and flood. How would could they get all these people across safely? If they did it too slowly, the enemies on the other side of the river might take advantage of the situation. After a few had crossed they could ambush them and slowly kill off the Children of Israel as they tried to cross the river. If they weren’t careful and rushed things, people could get swept away and perish. They obviously had a huge obstacle in front of them. What obstacles stand between us and an eternity with the God of heaven and earth? It is something much worse than a flooded river. It is much deeper than the Jordan River ever was. It’s torrents sweep us off our feet. It is the deluge of our sin. Isaiah writes, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Is 59:2) Our sins are like a giant barrier between us and God. They separate us from the one true God. They are an obstacle that keep us and God apart - now on earth and forever in hell. We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that we should be able to go to heaven because we’re not as bad a sinner as others. After all, we’ve never killed anyone. We don’t sleep around. There are worse sinners out there than us. We should be able to overcome our obstacle of sin if we work hard enough. That is an unscriptural mind set. Listen again to what Isaiah writes, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” (Is 64:6) In God’s sight, even our best deeds are stained with the ugliness of our sin. And James writes, “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (Jam 2:10) It doesn’t matter how much or how little of the Law of God we’ve kept. If we even STUMBLE at one point - not fall into gross sin necessarily - but STUMBLE at one point in God’s law, it’s as if we had broken all His commandments. That is because when we stumble at obeying one of God’s commandments, we are breaking the First and great Commandment by not fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. Sin is our obstacle that is keeping us apart from God and an eternity in the paradise of heaven. THE LORD SAFELY DELIVERS “My Lord is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing that my Lord cannot do. The mountains are His, the valleys are His, the stars in the sky are His too. My Lord is so great, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my Lord cannot do.” Our VBS kids should remember this as one of the songs they sang during their music break. We are reminded in our text that there really is nothing that the Almighty cannot do. While the Jordan River was an obstacle too large for the people, it was not too large an obstacle for the LORD. The LORD safely delivered His people on Canaan’s side. How the LORD overcame this obstacle is a miracle. The moment the priest who were carrying the ark of the covenant set foot in the Jordan River, the LORD held back the water upstream in a heap, we read. But if up in Jamestown they were to stop the flow of water into the James River, what would you expect the bottom of that river to be like? Probably smelly, mucky mud. Even though there would be no water in the Jim, it would take days if not weeks for the muddy bottom to dry up and be cross able. Was a muddy river bed another obstacle for the Children of Israel to cross over? We again see the miraculous working of almighty God as He not only stops the flow of the flooded Jordan River, but immediately dries up the river bed. In the last verse of our text we read, “Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.” Obstacle removed by the Lord of all the earth. His people landed safely on Canaan’s side. The obstacle of our sin that separates us from God is broader than the Jordan. Our river of sin does not just have a muddy bottom, it is a bottomless pit that sinks into hell. The current of our river of sin sweeps us off our feet and into the eternally Dead Sea. Our sins have separated us from God and we are unable to cross. Yet this obstacle is not too great for our God. Even as He allowed Israel to cross safely to Canaan’s side, so too He does with us. But something had to be done with our obstacle of sin. God is a God of justice. That is, He always does what is right and just. As a just God He cannot simply ignore our flood of sin, He cannot simply look the other way. Sin, disobedience, and rebellion against His will must be dealt with. The punishment for these sins must be carried out. Justice must be served. How did God overcome this obstacle? He overcame it Himself for us. The Son of God took on flesh, He became one of us to take our sin and our punishment on Himself. On the cross, Jesus suffered the wrath and punishment of God on account of our sin. Justice for our sins was carried out on Jesus. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Is 53:5) “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12) He has cast our iniquity into the depth of the sea (Mic 7:19) - never to be seen again. Jesus stopped the flood of God’s wrath against our sins Himself. Just as the Jordan was held back, so God’s wrath was held back by Jesus stepping in. And because of Jesus, we can pass over on dry ground. Rather than a muddy river bottom that we might sink into because of our unrighteousness, Jesus has given us firm ground to walk on in His righteousness. Through faith in Jesus, His perfect righteousness is credited to our account. We are healed. Through Christ we have direct access to the throne of Almighty God. In Jesus we will land safe on Canaan’s side. As the Way, the Truth, and the Life we follow Him into death knowing that our eyes will open in the Promised Land of heaven. In fact, Jesus says that we have already passed over from death to life. Peter writes that our eternal inheritance in heaven is reserved for us. Our Triune God who overcame the obstacle of the Jordan River for His people, has overcome our obstacle of sin and removed it forever through Jesus. Now He leads us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death to the eternal mansions He has prepared for us in heaven. Praise be to the living God who is among us, the Lord of all the earth who safely delivers us from this veil of tears to Himself in heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Numbers 6:22-27 "Go, My Children, With My Blessing"

NUMBERS 6:22-27 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”’ So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” Theme: “GO, MY CHILDREN, WITH MY BLESSING” - His name - His blessing - Our response THE INTRODUCTION: (at the beginning of the worship service) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen Have you ever become so familiar with something, that you loose sight of how great it is? This being Father’s Day, one example that comes to mind immediately is our Christian fathers. Men who not only cared for our physical needs - they worked hard to put a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, and food in our belly - but our Christian fathers cared for something even greater. They cared for our souls. They made sure we were baptized in the name of the Triune God after we were born. From infancy, they brought us to church. They led table prayers and family devotions. And yet, we became so familiar with the things our Christian fathers did for us, that we easily lost sight of how great these things were that he was doing for us. Seldom did we thank our Dad’s when they came home after a hard day of work. Work which they were doing to care for us. Seldom did we thank Dad for bringing us the word of God in our family devotions. Seldom did we thank Dad for taking us to church and making us do our memory work. These were just things that Dad did, which we became familiar with, and took for granted. It usually took days like the third Sunday in June or even the death of our father to make us pause and consider all the amazing things our father’s did for us. May our father’s forgive us for our thanklessness and thoughtlessness! We all have experienced that feeling of being so familiar with something that we loose sight of just how awesome it is. I want to point you to another example this morning. It is a part of a worship service that we are all quite familiar with - the Benediction. I have seen elderly women mouth these words along with me as I’ve given them. I’ve seen youngsters in the pew mimic my hand gestures as I give the benediction. From the pastor standing up front, to the members in the pews, we are very familiar with the words of the Benediction. And yet, how many times have we glossed over the words of the Benediction? To my shame I confess that sometimes I say the words without thinking about what I am doing. And I there were times, probably too numerous to count, when I was in your position and I didn’t really pay attention when the pastor was giving the Benediction. I imagine that most, if not all of you, know exactly what I am talking about. May God have mercy on me for taking for granted the amazing words of this blessing. On this Trinity Sunday we want to remind ourselves of just how awesome this Benediction is. These are not words well-wishing, that some man decided would be a nice way to end a worship service. The words of the Benediction were divinely inspired - given by the Triune God Himself. He commanded His priests to bless His people in this way. We use these words of the benediction as we leave the Lord’s House and return to our lives in the world of sin and evil. Our theme is taken from that beloved hymn based on our text, “Go, My Children, with My Blessing.” Our text is taken from fourth book of Moses, Numbers, chapter six, beginning with twenty-second verse. Please rise for the reading of our text. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." ' 27 "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them." This is the Word of God. Amen. I) HIS NAME Last Sunday we were privileged to attend my brother’s installation and ordination service at Ascension Lutheran Church in Batavia, IL. When it comes to the installation of a pastor, one of the neat traditions we have in our circles deals with the giving of the Benediction. You may remember from the various pastors you have had installed over the past decades, that the first words the pastor speaks to his new congregation after his installation are the words of the Benediction. And what better words are there a pastor can use to begin his ministry, then the words of the Benediction. The giving of the Benediction has long been an honor for preachers of the word. It was an honor for the Old Testament priests since the days of Aaron and Moses, and continues to be a high honor some 3500 years later. One reason it is an honor is because of what the priest or pastor is doing when he gives the Benediction. The LORD says in the last verse of our text that in giving this Benediction the priest or pastor, “shall put My name on the children of Israel.” Let’s first remind ourselves of what this means, that in the Benediction the LORD’s name is being put on us. First of all, what does it mean to “put one’s name” on something or someone. Well, when I was confirmed my parents got me a Bible as a gift with my name engraved on the front in gold letters. Why did they do that? Why put my name on a Bible? So that everyone would know that Bible belongs to me. It is my possession and no one else’s. Couldn’t we say the same when the LORD puts His name on someone? That person becomes His own special possession. We were purchased with that priceless blood of Christ. We were bought back by God. We are His own. He puts His name on us and blesses us. What name is used in the Benediction? The name LORD, in all capitals. This is the unique name of our God, like Allah or Baal are unique names for two false gods. Any time you see the name “LORD” in all capitals, this is the great “I AM” who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He is not “I was” or “I will be,” He is “I AM.” He is the eternal, unchangeable God. He is the Covenant God who makes promises and sticks by them. The God who promised to send a Savior to rescue us from our sins and has done just that in Jesus. The fact that the name “LORD” is repeated three time in the Benediction is of great significance to us, especially on this Trinity Sunday. He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God, three separate, but equal persons. The God who created and preserves us, the God who died to save us, and the God who converts us and makes us His children. It is this God who commands this blessing because He wants to put His name on His people to bless us. HIS BLESSING In verse 23 He commands Moses to tell Aaron to bless the Children of Israel in this prescribed way. Think of that! The great “I AM,” the unchangeable covenant God, desires to bless His children! He wants to bless YOU! And He wants you to know that with these words He is blessing you. “I will bless them,” the LORD says at the close of our text. This is His blessing. First of all, with these words He is blessing us and keeping us. To bless means to shower favor upon. The Triune God wants to shower His favor upon us. And He has done just that, hasn’t He. Think of all the countless ways God has given you. All you need to do is survey your bedroom at home to see all the ways the LORD has blessed you. But the LORD blessing you goes far beyond showering favor on you with material blessings. The LORD has showered many spiritual blessings on us. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph 1:3) He has given His one and only Son to die for us and take away all our sins. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, our huge debt of sin has been paid for and removed forever. By the work of the Holy Spirit we have been adopted into the family of God. He is our Father and we are His children. By the faith the Holy Spirit has worked in us in Christ Jesus, we have become heirs of eternal life. The LORD also keeps us. That is, He defends us from all danger, He guards and protects us from all evil. It is true, He may test our faith from time to time by causing hardship to come into our lives. And even when those trials come, the God who keeps His promises tells us that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor 10:13) He keeps us. We leave God’s house knowing He has put His name on us and will continue bless us and keep us in Christ. But the words of blessing continue from our Triune God. “The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.” It is a terrible thing to have the Triune God turn His back on you. He is the worst enemy any one can have. And because of our sin, that is the relationship we have by nature with the LORD. But all that changed on the cross of Jesus Christ. There God forsook His Son, on whom He had laid the sin of us all. There Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mt 27:46) There God turned His back on His Son. Because Jesus endured the suffering of separation on account of our sins, the LORD face now shines upon us in Christ Jesus. Just as the sunshine after a storm brings us joy, even more so the face of the LORD shining on us brings even more joy as we hear how He has been gracious and merciful to us in Jesus. “The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” To lift up ones countenance upon someone else, is to look with favor on someone. In the Benediction, the LORD is looking with favor on you. This is only be possible through Jesus Christ. Only cleansed in the blood of the Lamb, can the LORD possibly look with favor on us wretched sinners. But He does! And He wants to! And He wants you to know that because of Christ and in Christ He looks on you with favor. You are His own beloved child! The result of the LORD blessing and keeping us, making His face shine upon us and being gracious unto us, and lifting up His countenance upon us, is peace. He gives us peace. Peace for our troubled consciences in the knowledge of sins forgiven. Peace with Him because we have been reconciled unto Him in Christ. Peace with our brother and sister in Christ. This is the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Peace is the culmination of Christ’s redemptive work, the culmination everything you have heard in the worship service, and the culmination of everything said in the Benediction. OUR RESPONSE How do we respond to this amazing blessing? In our liturgy we sing a “triple amen” to the LORD who wants to put His name on us and bless us. And that is the perfect response to this amazing blessing. Contrary to what our little ones think, “Amen” does not mean “all done” or “the end.” “Amen” means “YES!” Or as our catechisms explain it, “Yes, yes, it shall be so.” So when we sing our triple Amen after the Benediction, we are saying, “Yes, LORD, bless and keep us! YES, LORD, make Your face shine upon us and be gracious to us! YES, LORD, lift Your countenance upon us and give us peace!” “YES, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit put your name on us and bless us!” What a fitting response to this amazing blessing! It is true that familiarity breeds contempt. That is, the more familiar we are with something, the more we take it for granted. We must confess that has been true when it came to our Christian fathers. But just because that is the case, doesn’t mean that is right. Even more so with this blessed Benediction which we get to hear every Sunday. Let us rejoice and cherish the Benediction as the Triune God puts His name on us and blesses us as we leave His house and hear Him say, “Go, My Children, with My Blessing!” Praise be to God the Father, praise be to God the Son, praise be to God the Spirit, great Jehovah three in one! Amen, that is “yes, yes, it shall be so!”

Ascension Day - Ephesians 1:16-23 "The Greatness of the Power of God"

Text: Ephesians 1:16-23 Theme: THE GREATNESS OF THE POWER OF GOD - Worked in Christ - At work in us In the name of Jesus, who has gone up with a shout, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, almighty, grace and peace to you in His name! How powerful is God? Some have posed the silly question if God could use His power to make a rock so big that not even He could move it. I call it silly, because God doesn’t use His power for such silly demonstrations. None of us would deny the power of God. We see it all around us in the world and universe He created. But how does the power of God impact our lives? How does the power of God affect us personally? Sometimes we loose sight of God’s power. Though we know in our head that God is all-powerful, we often forget with our heart. We have a problem in our lives, whether it be with our health, our family, our finances, or our personal life, and we don’t go to God first in prayer with our problem. We try ever other avenue to take care of our problem, rather than casting our care on Him first. Sometimes we might even go so far as to think that we don’t want to bother God with our problem. When we do this, we are making God smaller than He really is. It amounts to thinking that God is so busy with the affairs of this world that He either doesn’t have the time or, even worse, the ability to help you with your problem. But when doubting or forgetting about the power of God really affects us, is when we begin to doubt our salvation. We wonder whether God has really forgiven all of our sins. We wonder whether we are really going to heaven. After all, our conscience keeps reminding us of those dirty, filthy, embarrassing, and secret sins. And if we know about them, God, who tests the heart of man, knows about those sins too. And if God knows about them, how could we ever expect Him to allow us into heaven?! This is one of the tremendous blessings of Ascension Day. Ascension Day is a day in which we see the greatness of God’s power. We see it at work first of all in Jesus and are reminded that the same great power is at work in each one of us! Let us therefore turn our attention to the Word of God as recorded in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1. Verses sixteen through twenty-three are included in the text to give us some context, but tonight we will be especially focusing in on verses nineteen through twenty-three. (I) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. So far the Word of God. WORKED IN CHRIST The power of God is so great that the Apostle Paul has trouble describing it. Take a look at verse 19 again. How many different words for power or strength does he use in that one verse? He writes of the “exceeding greatness of His power” and of His “mighty power.” Even the word “working,” from which we get our English word “energy,” implies power. In verse 19, Paul heaps synonym upon synonym to describe the power of Almighty God. The point we take away from this is that the power of God is so great that there really aren’t enough words in the human vocabulary to describe it. To help us see the greatness of God’s power, Paul points us to two specific events in Jesus’ life. First is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. “According to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.” Could there be any greater evidence of God’s power than the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? After all, death is the one thing that no man has power over. No medicine, be it ever so strong; no doctor, be he ever so wise, can stop or over come death. Only the mighty power of God could give life to the dead. For 40 days after His resurrection from the dead, we read in Acts that Jesus gave many “infallible proofs” that He was truly alive. He wanted there to be no doubt in the mind of His disciples that He had truly risen from the dead. He showed them His hands and His feet. He let them feel His body, that He was not just a ghost or a spirit, but a living human being with flesh and bones. Though He did not need it, He ate food in their presence to give further proof that He was living. The disciples had a hard time believing He had really risen from the dead because it seemed impossible. But Jesus used those 40 days from Easter to Ascension to show them the greatness of God’s power. Today we find ourselves 40 days from Easter. It was on this day that we see once again the greatness of the power of God as Jesus ascended from the earth to the right hand of God the Father almighty. Again we read verses 19 and 20, “According to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” Who do you know who has the power to overcome the laws of gravity? Certainly we can strap jet engines or rockets onto something and we are able to ascend from the earth. But no one has the power in and of themselves to do what Jesus did and physically ascend from the ground into the clouds. But the greatness of the power of God isn’t just seen in Jesus’ physical ascension off of this planet. The greatness of His power is seen where Jesus went when He ascended. He left this universe to heaven itself, the dwelling place of God - “the heavenly places,” Paul calls it. And there Jesus was given a position of power at the right hand of the Father. Now the Father has placed everything under the feet of His Son. As powerful as some of this world’s rulers might be, Jesus is more powerful and He rules over them. None shall rise to the greatness of Jesus. All in the past, in the present, or in the future are under the feet of Jesus and are subject to Him, whether they want to be or not. Think of the great power it took for Jesus to leave the world of time and enter eternity. Consider how He left the realm of the finite and entered the infinite. How He left the physical and entered the spiritual. Jesus went from being in one place at one time, to being all places all the time as He now fills “all in all.” Truly, on Ascension Day, we see the greatness of the power of God which He worked in Christ. AT WORK IN US But what does any of this have to do with us? This has everything to do with and our salvation! As Paul offers up his prayer of thanksgiving for the Christians in Ephesus, he makes mention of the specific thing he prays for them. One of the things he prays for them is that they may know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ.” Paul says that the same great power that brought lift to Jesus dead body on the third day, the same great power by which Jesus ascended from earth to God’s right hand in heaven, is the same exact great power that is at work in every single believer! It does indeed take great power to give life to the dead. And that is what God did in each of us when He brought us to faith. He gave spiritual life to a spiritual corpse. Paul goes on to write in Ephesians 2, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” (2:4-5) By faith in Christ we are united with Him. The same great power that raised Jesus on the third day, raised us to spiritual life as well. He made us believers in Christ. He adopted us as His children and made us heirs of eternal life. What amazing power our God has! But the greatness of His power at work in us does not end there. On Ascension Day we see a clear demonstration of God’s mighty power as we hear how Jesus ascended from the earth to the right hand of God in heaven. Do we doubt His power on Ascension Day? Of course not! Paul writes in our text that Christ is our head, and we the church is His body. And where the head is there the body will be also. Even so by His great power God has “made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (2:6) By the great power of God we are connected with Christ and in Christ. Heaven is our home. Christ has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven, and will return to take us to be with Him forever. This is all the great power of God at work in us to save us and make us His own forever! So you see, dear Christians, the power for your salvation is not in your hands, but was in the hands of almighty God! Almighty God who showed us how powerful He was when He raised Jesus from the dead. Almighty God who shows us on this day, the greatness of His power as Jesus ascended to His right hand in the heavenly places. It is this same Almighty God who has done everything necessary for you to be saved. He put all of your sins - even those secret sins - to death in the body of Jesus. He raised you up to new life in Christ and made you alive together with Him. He chose you from eternity to be His child and worked faith in your heart by the greatness of His power. You are His own dear child and whatever the problem might be in your life, it cannot be bigger than rising from the dead. God has the power to do that and God has the power to aid you in every situation in life. May the power of Ascension Day ever cause you to rejoice knowing that it was the same mighty power of God that is at work to save you! In the name of our Ascended Lord, Amen.

Acts 17:22-31 "The 'Unknown God' Who Wants to be Known"

Acts 17:22-31 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Theme: THE “UNKNOWN GOD” WHO WANTS TO BE KNOW Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, In our text we find the Apostle Paul in the midst of his second missionary journey. On this journey, Paul had parted ways with Barnabas, and taken along Silas, Timothy and Luke. In the weeks leading up to his time in Athens, Paul and Silas had been imprisoned in Philippi for preaching that Jesus was the only way of salvation and casting a demon out of a girl in Jesus’ name. As depressing as it might have been to be thrown into prison for preaching Christ, Paul and Silas spent the night in that Philippian jail singing hymns and praying to God. And it was this imprisonment that God used Paul and Silas to reach a heathen jail keeper with the Gospel. The result was that very night the jailer of Philippi and his household were brought to faith and baptized in Jesus name. From Philippi, they journeyed to Thessalonica and were able to start a church. But here again, they met opposition. Unbelieving Jews and some wicked men of the city stirred up the whole city and drove Paul and his missionary helpers from the city. From Thessalonica they journeyed to the city of Berea. It was in Berea that the encountered some very noble spirits. Luke reports that the Bereans received the word with “all readiness” and would search the Scriptures daily to see if the things Paul was telling them were true. Yet the rabble-rousers from Thessalonica learned that Paul was in Berea, they came and tried to turn the city against them. Because of the persecution in Berea, the brethren in Berea sent Paul away to the great Greek city of Athens, where he was to wait for Silas and Timothy, who were to meet up with him later. While Paul was waiting in Athens, he began to tour the city and as he did, the Holy Spirit reports that “his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.” (Acts 17:16) Greek culture is well known for its many mythological gods. It seemed there was a god for every occasion under the sun. Zeus was the king of all Greek gods. He was the god of the sky, weather, and fate. All Greeks wanted Zeus on their side. If you were a fisherman or going to travel on the sea, then you would want to make sure you were good with the Greek god Posiedon and probably Hermes, the god of travel. If you and your wife were childless, then you would offer sacrifices to Hera, the Queen of marriage, and maybe also Aphrodites, the goddess of beauty and love. Our farmers would have wanted the favor of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and harvest. But among their many gods, Paul saw that the Athenians realized something wasn’t quite right. The feared that among that they may have missed a god and did not want to offend him. Therefore they had an altar with this inscription: VAGNW,STW| QEW/ - “To the Unknown God.” Paul sees this as an opening to testify to the learned people of Athens about the God they did not know about. The one true God of heaven and earth. It is this God, that Paul wants to make known to the Athenians. Therefore, let us consider this morning, the Unknown God who wants to be known. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditation of His holy Word. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” So writes King David in the opening verse of Psalm 14. We know we are not supposed to call anyone a fool, because it is such an unloving term, but David uses the term “fool” in a correct way. A fool is someone who denies everything he sees before him. Only a fool would say that the sun is not bright. Only a fool would say that fire is not hot. Only a fool would look at the world around him, the stars in the heavens, and his own body and say “There is no God.” The Greeks seemed to go overboard in the other direction. They knew there was something bigger than themselves out there, so they began to worship all sorts of different deities. And their deities were only as big as their imagination. They had imperfections, so they imagined the gods had imperfections. They lusted after women, so they imagined that the gods lusted after the women of the world. They fought with one another, so they imagined that the gods fought with one another. They couldn’t imagine one god being able to control all aspects of the world around them, so there were different gods that ruled over different aspects of their life. As Paul toured the city of Athens he saw that they were quite dedicated to their religious ways of life. “Men of Athens,” he said, “I perceive that in all things you are very religious.” The Athenians weren’t fools. They were aware there was something out there bigger than themselves, but they didn’t know who that God was. Until Paul came to visit. “I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” The Athenians knew in their heart of hearts that there was a God out there greater than their folly-filled Greek gods. A God they did not know. A God they did not want to offend by ignoring Him, so they set up an altar and called Him the “Unknown God.” This is what we refer to as the “Natural Knowledge of God.” It is what man can surmise about God from looking at nature around him - the planet, his body, and the universe. By nature all men know there is something out there, something greater than themselves. It is the fool that has to convince himself that there is nothing greater than himself in the universe. Many devise different gods to worship - like the Greeks did. Paul had a different kind of knowledge. He had a “revealed knowledge of God.” Paul knew who the true God was. And Paul knew that this God did not want to remain unknown. “Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” The God Paul proclaimed is not weak like the factitious gods of the Greeks. The God Paul proclaimed is Almighty. He is the maker of the world and everything in it. He is the Lord or Master of heaven and earth. He is not weak and puny like the Greek gods who were said to be living in the temples made by the hands of men. As Isaiah writes of the one true God, “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool.” (Is 66:1) The one true God is not needy like the Greek gods were, who would get angry if they did not get what they wanted. “Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath and all things.” God doesn’t need anything, rather He gives all things. He gives us our lives, He gives us our breath, and He gives us all our possessions. If we give our lives or our possessions to Him, we are merely giving to Him those things that are already His. The maker of heaven and earth is also the God of history. “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” Greeks, Romans, Jews, Indians, Chinese, European, were all made by God from one blood, that is Adam. And this God is not abstract and uninvolved in His creation. He has “determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” Think of it! In world history we read of nations rising and falling. Some, like the mighty Babylonian empire, seemed to fall over night. This was God’s plan and will for the Babylonians. The Greeks existed because it was God’s plan. The United States of America exists today because it is God’s will and this nation will fall some day, in accordance with God’s plan. God’s purpose in determining the pre-appointed times and boundaries of habitation of men on the face of the earth is one - “so that they should seek the Lord, in hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Like a man in the pitch black of night groping for a light switch that he knows is there somewhere, so too God wants man to grope for Him. His purpose in guiding and directing history is that man might search for Him and find Him. We have seen this in our Bible Class series on the book of Daniel, haven’t we. As amazed as we are about the accounts of the 3 men in the fiery furnace and the hand writing on the wall, we are even more amazed to read how God, through Daniel, was reaching out to the heathen kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius. This is true of every nation that has ever existed. God allows them to exist for His divine purpose. And His ultimate purpose is that they might know Him the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Paul was in Athens, speaking to the Greeks for this very purpose! Ascension Day being this Thursday, we are reminded of what Jesus commissioned His disciples to do. “Go therefore and make disciples of ALL nations.” (Mt 28:19) And to “Go into ALL the world and preach the Gospel to EVERY creature.” (Mk 16:15) The “Unknown God” wants to be known. He has always made Himself known, if man would only search Him out. He has left His fingerprint on creation. But this knowledge is only a limited knowledge. By it man can know of “His eternal power and Godhead.” (Rom 1:20) They can know He is powerful and wise. God intends this that men will further grope for Him and find Him. In Old Testament days, those searching would have found out about Him from the Children of Israel. In our New Testament era God calls on us to go out and tell the world about Him. Tell how He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ez 33:11) Tell how He was so determined to save the wicked that He gave His own beloved Son into death for sins. How He punished His one and only Son for the sins that we had committed. And how He raised His Son to life. And it is His risen Son who will come again one day to judge the living and the dead in righteousness. God wants to be known. He directs history in the hope that men might look to Him and find Him. That is why He formed a nation called the United States, states called North and South Dakota, and a city called Hecla - so that men might know Him. So that His Gospel would be preached. So that men would be called to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. That is why God has you going to school where you are going and working in the job you are working. So that you can be the light of the world to those who are in darkness groping for this “Unknown God” that wants to be known. It is amazing to consider the workings of almighty God and how He guides and directs the history of the world. Did Paul consider the reason he was forced from Berea, was that he might make known the one true God to the idolatrous people of Athens? Maybe it wasn’t Paul’s plan, but it certainly was God’s. Because God wants to be known. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4) He gave His Son into death for the sin of ALL men, because He wants ALL men to be saved. May the Lord of heaven and earth use us even as He used Paul to make His name known wherever we go! Praise be to the one true God! Amen.

Confirmation Sunday: 1 Timothy 6:12 "Something Worth Fighting For"

Theme: SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, especially on this day, our dear confirmands, Lydia and Shelby, What is there in your life that you think is worth fighting for? Your dignity? Your pride? Your iPod? That’s right. If one of your brothers or sisters tried to take your iPod you would probably argue and fight to get it back. After all, it’s yours. It belongs to you and is important to you. But what if someone tried to hurt, or worse yet, take that same brother or sister of yours? Would you fight to defend him or her? Certainly a family member is worth fighting for. We are willing to fight to protect, defend, and rescue things that are important to us. When our soldiers go off to fight for their country, they need to know what they are fighting for. After all, it is their bodies, their lives that they are putting on the line. It is essential for moral that understand their mission objective and that they support that mission. If it is a cause they can get behind, like defeating Nazi Germany or winning the war on terror, you can bet that they would be glad to shed their blood and even give up their lives fighting for this cause. So we see why it is so important that if someone going to fight or compete in something, it is vitally important that they feel it is something worth fighting for. On this Confirmation Sunday we realize that there is one fight that is truly worth fighting for. It is not a fight over money or a fight for a piece of real estate. It is a fight for your soul and your eternal future. As we consider something worth fighting for we turn to the word of God as recorded in the first epistle of the Apostle Paul to the young pastor Timothy, where we read, 1 Timothy 6:12 - Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. So far the Word of God. That the Holy Spirit would sanctify us, that is to set us apart for His holy purposes, we pray, “O Lord, Sanctify us by your truth, Your Word is truth.” Amen. The Apostle Paul is fond of describing different aspects of the Christian faith by using athletic terms. In 1 Corinthians he writes of his journey of faith in Christ as a race. A race in which he is determined and focused. A race in which the finish line is heaven. As Paul talks about another aspect of our Christian faith, the athletic term he uses is a “fight.” But this isn’t like those petty, shallow, fights that you had with your siblings at home or peers at school. It’s not even like the many wars that have been waged in the history of the world, regardless of whether men thought they were worthy of fighting or not. Paul in our text talks about a “fighting the good fight of faith.” What makes your fight of faith such a good and noble fight? First of all it is good because of the OBJECT of your faith. You believe that God rescued you from an eternity in hell by sending His Son. You believe that the Son of God became man to be what you were not and to save you from what you had done. Because you did not obey the commandments, Jesus came to obey them for you. Because your disobedience deserved God’s wrath and punishment, Jesus came to take the wrath of God on Himself and suffer in your place when He died on the cross. And you believe that because of what Jesus did you are forgiven. You believe that in Jesus you are a child of God and you will inherit eternal life. We rejoice in Jesus because, as Joshua told the Children of Israel, the LORD your God is He who fights for you. (Jos 23:10) Jesus has fought our battles for us and won. He fought the temptations to sin and won. He was tempted as we are, and yet without sin. He fought death for us and won. He rose from the dead on the third day and He gives us His victory! This is your faith. It is a faith worth fighting for because of the OUTCOME of your faith. God couldn’t have been more definite about the outcome of our faith, could He? You told us this morning already that God says in His Word that whoever believes in His Son will not perish, but have everlasting life. And that he who believes and is baptized WILL be saved. The outcome of your faith is eternal life with God in heaven. This is the faith that you just confessed in the presence of many witnesses at your examination and will confess again in a few moments as you are confirmed. But you didn’t get to this point on your own. No, God’s grace, His undeserved love is at work in you. God gave you this faith. He gave you Christian parents who made sure you were baptized into His Triune name, only a few days after you were born. Your parents brought you to church regularly. They made sure you heard His Word at home and in church. And through that Word, the Holy Spirit was at work in your hearts strengthening your faith. They talked to you about Jesus, who loved you and died to save you. Your parents brought you to Sunday School and Vacation Bible Schools so you could hear the precious Word of God more and more. They made certain you were instructed in the Word by bringing you to Catechism classes. They made sure you were committing the Word of God to memory and had you recite your memory work to them. All so you would be able to hear and learn God’s Word. But the grace of God was at work LONG before your parents had you baptized. Yes, even before God created light, His grace was at work to save you. Paul writes in Ephesians that God the Father, chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. From eternity, God chose you to be His child. He was determined to save you even before He created the heavens and the earth. He decided that His own beloved Son would live and die for you. Through His Word and through your baptisms, He poured His Holy Spirit on you abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ, and brought you to this point today. And so you are child of God because of His amazing grace. This is the faith to which you have been called. This is the faith which you are about to make a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. This is a faith worth fighting for. But any time you are fighting, you are fighting against someone. So who is your opponent as you fight the good fight of faith? Let us begin with the most obvious opponent, the one who has been fighting against the children of God from the beginning. That old evil foe, the devil. Peter says of him, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pt 5:8) We need to be alert and on guard, because the devil is a very real opponent that is after your soul. His goal is to draw you away from your faith. He has many tricks to deceive with. He loves to lie about the words and promises of God. He loves to cause doubt and confusion. He will try to affect your life, as he did with Job, and try to get you to give up on God. That is one opponent every Christian faces. Another opponent is the unbelieving and ungodly world around us. The world will try to put obstacles between you and your relationship with your Savior God. This may include colleges or awesome job opportunities that are far away from churches within our fellowship. Or maybe you will be near an orthodox church, but friends may try to lure you away to worship at their false teaching church. Or maybe your friends will want to engage in activities on Saturday night or Sunday mornings that will take you away from the Lord’s house. This may include peer pressure to go on the broad road that leads to destruction, rather than the Narrow Gate that is Jesus (Mt 7:13). They will try to get you to compromise this faith into which you have been called. A third opponent to your faith that you must content against is your own flesh. Your flesh will not want to continue reading and studying the Bible. Your flesh will want to listen to the lies of the devil and the temptations of the world. Your flesh will try to convince you that your faith is stronger than it really is and that you don’t need to get up early on Sunday mornings any more to hear the SAME Gospel message from your pastor AGAIN. You have noticed that as you have grown older and grown in the Word and faith, that the attacks have become a little more intense. And you can expect the same as long as you are a Christian in this world. But Jesus has not left you defenseless. He has given you everything you need to strengthen you for your good fight of faith. First of all He has given you His Gospel in Word. His Word is the Sword of the Spirit. With the Word we are able to both defend our faith and fight off would be attackers. But in order to do so, the sword of the Spirit needs to be out of its sheath. You need to be in the Word. At the Lord’s house on Sundays, in Bible Class, when you go to bed at night and when you rise up in the morning - listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd Jesus as He speaks to you in His Word. Another tool Jesus has given you as you fight the good fight of faith is His Gospel in the Sacraments. Having been baptized into Christ you have put on Christ. He is your defense and shield. You have been adopted into the family of the Triune God. God is your Father, who hears and answers your prayers, for Jesus’ sake. And beginning this morning you have a new tool to aid you in your fight - Lord’s Supper. In this sacred meal, Jesus gives you His very body and blood. He assures you that your sins are forgiven and that He has given you a right relationship with God. But it also strengthens faith, for those daily battles from within and without. So dear Lydia and Shelby, here is something worth fighting for - your faith in the Triune God and Jesus as your Savior. A faith in which the outcome is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Make regular use of the Means of Grace. Continue in the faith into which you have been called and made the good confession this morning. That is my prayer for you, that is your parents prayer for you, and that is the prayer of this your congregation for you. We pray with Paul that you would continue to “fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” May God the Father who created and chose, may God the Son who loved you and laid down His life to save you, and may God the Holy Spirit who called and sanctified you, keep you faithful unto the end and give you that crown of life. In His name, Amen.

John 20:19-23 "EASTER PEACE"

John 20:19-23 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Theme: EASTER PEACE - Peace with God - Peace for the troubled conscience - Peace to be proclaimed Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who rejoice to hear that the Lord is risen indeed, peace to you in His name, Peace is an interesting thing, isn’t it. It’s something that just about everyone wants, but it is so hard to attain. We want peace within our homes, peace with our relatives, peace with our neighbors, peace within our borders, and peace with other countries. And why is that? Why do so many people want peace? Peace at home means not arguing with your teenage kids and your kids not fighting with one another. Peace at school means everyone gets along with everyone else. Peace between nations means no more sending our sons and daughters off to war. Isn’t it because we feel that when there is peace life is better? Simply put, when there is peace life is better. So if everybody wants peace so much, why does it seem that there is so little peace in the world and in our lives? Simply put, sin prevents there from being peace in the world. Sinful pride, sinful greed, sinful hunger for power and possessions destroys any hope for true and lasting peace in this world. It is sinful pride that causes arguments between spouses and nations. Greed for power and possessions causes strife between neighbors and nations. However, Easter tells us a much different story, doesn’t it. While we see so much unrest in the world around us, on Easter we see peace. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead brings with it real peace, lasting peace. Peace between us and God. Peace for our troubled consciences. And peace that Jesus wants us to proclaim throughout the world. So let us consider this morning, “Easter Peace.” PEACE WITH GOD As our text begins, we find the disciples, along with the two Emmaus disciples, and more than likely some of the women, together in a locked house. Already it doesn’t sound like a very peaceful setting. There was confusion and unrest among the disciples. That morning some of the women and Mary Magdalene had come and told the disciples that the tomb was empty. John and Peter had raced to the tomb and found it empty. Mary Magdalene told the disciples that she had seen the risen Lord. And now two other disciples reported that they walked, talked, and ate with the risen Jesus as they were on the road to Emmaus. Among the disciples there seemed to be a great deal of confusion, distrust, and fear. We would describe the scene as anything but peaceful. The men did not trust the report of the women. Luke reports that they seemed to them like idle tales. They were also afraid of the unbelieving Jews coming after them, as they came after Jesus. So they locked themselves in as they tried to sort out the days events. But then Jesus suddenly appeared. With His resurrected and glorified body, He makes full use of His divine powers. He is able to appear and disappear as He pleases. Locked doors cannot keep the Son of God out of a room - He needs no doors to enter. And the risen Lord says, “Peace be with you.” While this would have been a pretty common greeting between Jews in those days, on this day it took on special meeting. The risen Lord came bringing them peace. First of all, peace with God. There was once perfect, tranquil peace between God and man. In the Garden of Eden, God created man and woman in perfect harmony and peace with Him. There was peace all around. God had a peace-filled, harmonious relationship with man. Adam and Eve had a peace-filled marriage. There was no hostility between man and woman, or mankind and any creature. All was well. It truly was paradise. What happened to this peaceful paradise? When Adam and Eve chose to disobey the commandment of their Creator and ate from the forbidden fruit, sin entered the world and destroyed the peaceful relationship that had once existed between God and man. Now Adam and Eve tried to hide from God. They were afraid of Him. No longer did they have a peaceful Father/child relationship, but they hid from Him as though He were an angry judge. The same continued for all the descendants of Adam. Because of sin there is enmity or hostility between God and man. This is why Jesus came. Jesus came to reclaim for man the peace that we had forfeited because of our sin. He came to reconcile us unto God. But in order to give us a right relationship with God, Jesus had to remove that which had ruined our relationship with God. Jesus did just that by taking the sin of the world on Himself. Jesus “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Col 2:14) Everything that had separated us from God, or sin, our iniquity, our rebellion, Jesus took on Himself and had it nailed to the cross with Him. And there on the cross every mark that was against us died with Jesus on the cross. When Jesus rose on Easter day it was God’s declaration of peace between us and Him. Paul writes to the Romans that Christ “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Rom 4:25) Jesus was raised from the dead because God was declaring us “not guilty” in His sight. And if His resurrection means we have been declared not guilty, that means we are at peace with God. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” (2 Cor 5:19) The sin that had once separated us from God has been removed forever. This is Easter peace, we are at peace with God. PEACE FOR TROUBLED CONSCIENCES We certainly rejoice over this peace with God that Jesus secured for us by His death and resurrection. A peace that cannot be undone, because Jesus lives never to die again. A peace which surpasses all understanding. And yet, there still is a peace we struggle with, isn’t there. An inner peace. Peace for our trouble consciences. Though we know that Jesus died for our sins, though we know that Jesus resurrection from the dead means we are at peace with God, still we have trouble convincing our hearts of this, don’t we? Our conscience regularly accuses us and reminds us of past sins which we have committed. After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the murder of her husband, a repentant David wrote in Psalm 51 (v.3), “My sin is always before me.” Any time he looked at Bathsheba or looked at the grave of his dead child, he was reminded of the sins of adultery and murder which he had committed. His conscience troubled him about his sin. Maybe you know well the feeling David had. Maybe some sin you committed in the past is always before you. Maybe you’ve even confessed it to God, repented of it, and been assured of your forgiveness - yet there is no peace for your trouble conscience. Maybe it is some sin that your conscience tells you is too great to be forgiven. When your conscience troubles you and you doubt your relationship with God, return in your heart to Easter and hear these words of Jesus, “Peace be with you.” When Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst Easter evening and they had trouble understanding what was going on, what did Jesus do? He showed them His hands and side and John reports that then they were filled with joy. What a fitting thing to do when we are troubled - look the hands and side of the risen Jesus! There we find Easter peace. His hands show the nail prints which prove that our sins were paid for. His side shows the mark of the spear proving that He really did die for our sins. The fact that He is able to show them to His disciples prove that He rose bodily from the grave. This is the Jesus that says to our troubled conscience, “Peace be with you!” Repent of your sins and rejoice that all I have suffered and died for them all. My resurrection proves that you do not need to be troubled by them any more. Easter peace for our troubled conscience is this, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12) Jesus removed our sins so far from us that they can no longer be found. Also the prophet Micah speaks of Easter peace when he writes, “You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19) When Jesus was dead and buried our sins were buried with Him, never to be seen again. The LORD Himself gives peace to our trouble conscience when He says in Isaiah, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” (Is 43:25) The God who knows all things and remembers all things, has forgotten only one thing - our sins. All this is assured to us when the risen Savior Jesus shows us His hands and His side. That is Easter peace for our trouble conscience. PEACE TO BE PROCLAIMED Maybe you’re old enough to remember or maybe you’ve seen the black and white pictures from the 1940's of Navy sailors kissing random women in New York City’s Times Square as confetti fills the air. Do you remember why they were kissing and why there was confetti filling the streets of New York City? It was V-E Day, the day victory was proclaimed in Europe. It was a reason to celebrate and throw parties, because World War II was nearing an end. I imagine the day that Germany and then Japan surrendered everyone was talking about the peace that had broken out. People couldn’t wait to tell their relatives, neighbors, and friends. “The strife is o’er! The battle done!” If that is what they did when victory was declared in Europe and Japan, what should be our reaction to even greater news that PEACE was declared when Jesus rose from the dead? This is peace that is to be proclaimed throughout the world. Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” The Father had sent His Son to secure peace by His suffering, death, and resurrection. Jesus now sends us to proclaim that Easter peace throughout the world. We proclaim Easter peace through the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. In verse 21 Jesus gives His Church some very powerful keys. The keys to the kingdom of heaven. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” These keys unlock heaven to the repentant sinner by announcing to them that their sins are forgiven for Jesus sake. But these keys also lock the way to heaven when we tell an impenitent or unrepentant sinner that forgiveness his withheld or retained for him. These are the keys Jesus sends us out with. He gives us the peculiar authority to forgive and retain sins. This is what Jesus earned by His death and resurrection - forgiveness. And this Easter peace is what Jesus commissions us to proclaim throughout the world! Peace. The world is looking for it, but it is looking for it in all the wrong places. True peace, lasting peace cannot be found apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection - because only Jesus death and resurrection removes that which hinders peace - sin. This Easter peace is the peace which Paul speaks of, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:7) The extent of this peace of God is greater than we can even begin to understand. Yet this Easter peace guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This is the peace of Easter. Peace between God and us. Peace for our troubled conscience. And peace that we want to proclaim throughout all the world. Praise be to Jesus for securing peace for us through His death and resurrection! Amen!