Sermons 2024

Text: Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation is the Old Testament lesson of Deuteronomy chapter four verses one through two, six through nine.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Today, our text talks about obeying God’s laws. Obeying is hard work. Do you do always obey mom and dad? Did you obey your teachers this past week at school? Probably not always. I did not always obey when I was your age. It’s hard to obey, especially when we do not want to. Yet, Moses says that the People of Israel obey God in order to be a wise and understanding people. How does obeying God make a wise and understanding people? How can we obey God today? Ponder those question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you. 

The setting for the Book of Deuteronomy is Moses and the people of Israel in the Land of Moab, east of the Jordan River. Moses knows that he will not lead Israel across the Jordan (Numbers 20). Thus, Deuteronomy basically consists of Moses’ final speeches with the Israelites. In Deuteronomy 1–3, Moses recounts the history of the people, from the time they were at Mount Sinai after the exodus from Egypt to the present. This was a period of about thirty-eight years. There at Sinai, God had made a covenant with the nation Israel. They were his chosen people. God had decided that from these descendants of Abraham would come the Savior of the world, the Messiah.
Now, in Deuteronomy 4, Moses, after recalling all that God had done for the Israelites these past thirty-eight years, looks into the future. In our text, Moses uses the phrase “a wise and understanding people.” That phrase, which Moses connected with the Israelites, also applies to us. There are three realities that we see concerning a Wise and Understanding People, for the Israelites as well as for you and me today.

I.    The Israelites were, and we have been, brought to faith in the one true God through the Word of God. 
This is one reality concerning a wise and understanding people.
    The Word the Israelites had was that passed down from previous generations, and that which came to them through the ministry of Moses. Faithful fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers passed down the faith to their children. Paul says that something similar happened with Timothy and his mother and grandmother in his first letter to Timothy. It still happens today, faithful parents, and other family members bring their children to church in order to hear the Word and pass down the faith to the next generation. A faith given, and grounded in the the Word of God—the writings of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), the rest of the Old Testament, and all of the New Testament.

    All of this Word reveals the one true God—the triune God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to us. This Word reveals the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man, was born of the nation Israel. This is one of the reasons for Matthew and Luke’s genealogies, connecting Jesus to Israel all the way back to Abraham and Adam.
    As God in the flesh for us, Jesus Christ, sacrificed himself in payment for the sins of the world and arose triumphant from the dead. He is the Savior, from Israel but for the entirety of the world. Everyone who believes in him has forgiveness of their sins and everlasting life. 

    Knowing and having faith in the true God and the Savior is the highest wisdom. This is far greater than any earthly wisdom that we could seek after. Man’s knowledge, the wonder of science and technology, it all has a limit. Understanding the way of salvation—by God’s grace through faith in Christ—is the greatest understanding we could ever ask for.

    We thank God that he made not only the Israelites addressed in our text but also us a wise and understanding people (v 6). Through faith in Christ, we have salvation. Rejoice!

    II.    Having the Word of God, the Israelites lived—and we live—according to it. This is another reality concerning a wise and understanding people.
        In our text, statutes, rules, and commandments refer specifically to the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai. These were guidelines as to how the Israelites were to live as God’s covenant people in the land that He was going to give them across the Jordan. Today, our guidelines are moral law, as summarized in the Ten Commandments, which were a part of God’s covenant with Israel.

    God’s Word, since it is his Word, contains the greatest wisdom for us. Also, because of his love, God as the ultimate Law Giver gave the guidelines to the Israelites and us. He knows what is best for his people and wants their highest good. The ways of the Lord are ways of righteousness and blessedness. God, who through his Word brought the Israelites and us to saving faith, enables his people through the same Word to keep his commandments and live according to his word.

    The lives of a wise and understanding people demonstrate that they have been enlightened by God through his Word. They follow not their sinful flesh, the ways of the world, or the temptations of the devil. They walk in the light, following Christ Jesus. They strive to honor God in their thoughts, words, and actions, doing everything for the good of their neighbor. These lives will be noticed by unbelievers and can be a witness to them, drawing them to find out more about the beliefs of such a wise and understanding people. As Saint Peter writes, we live out our lives of faith always ready to give a confession for the hope that is in us.
    We pray that God would help us to keep on living as his people and to grow in Christian living. This means taking care of ourselves spiritually by continuing in the Word of God and holding to all the counsel of God without adding to or subtracting from Scripture. We hold to the authority of Scripture. It is the norm that norms us, the standard by which everything we do and say is judged as God’s people. If we are doing something contrary to it, it is us who have to change, not God’s Word.

    III.    God is near to his wise and understanding people. This is the third reality concerning such people.
    This is a blessing of being in a faith relationship with the Lord and is possible because of the saving work of the Messiah. God is near to his people, whom he has made wise and understanding because he loves them. This fellowship with God, which we will enjoy throughout our earthly life, will continue first in heaven and then forever in the new creation. 

    Because God was so near to the believing Israelites, whenever they prayed to the Lord, he would always hear and answer their petitions as was best for them according to his good and gracious will. This was a belief and reality unique to the Israelites, for the other peoples of the ancient Near East did not believe the same thing with regard to their gods (who actually did not exist). They thought that their gods were far off and had to be cajoled and coxed to come near to hear them. Not Israel’s God, not our God!

    Because God is so near to us, he always hears and answers our petitions in the best way. He does so, again, because of Christ, by whom we can come before the Lord in prayer. That we can call the Creator of the universe Father, and go to Him as earthly children go to their earthly fathers, asking, demanding!, whatever we may desire. As if this is not near enough, God is near us in the Lord’s Supper: Christ comes to us and gives us his body and blood, we cannot get much nearer than Christ in our very bodies!

    May we continually take comfort in the Gospel truth that God is always near to us, his people, and that he will provide physical and spiritual care for us. Nothing can separate us from his love. Rejoice!
 

Conclusion: How blessed we are that God has made us a wise and understanding people! Because of his love for us, we have the wisdom of saving faith, we display the wisdom of God’s Word in our lives, and we have blessed fellowship with the Lord, who is always near us. All of this is possible because of Jesus, our Savior. Rejoice! 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Video

Text: Isaiah 29:11-19
Outline:
1.    Unreadable scroll, Deaf and Blind due to Sin, can hide from God/be own authority
2.    In JC, God opens our deaf and blind hearts to turn towards Him in repentance and faith.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation is the Old Testament Lesson of Isaiah chapter twenty-nine verses eleven though nineteen.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Let’s practice our reading this morning. Can you read this newspaper with me? You might be able to pick out a few words and know what they mean, but I am guessing that most of the words and topics are unfamiliar to you. You could read but you could not understand what you are reading. Isaiah uses a similar illustration in our text for today. He tells the people to read a scroll that is sealed, they cannot! Isaiah does this to point out how God gives wisdom and repentance. How does God give wisdom? How does He open our blind eyes and deaf ears? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Unreadable scroll, Deaf and Blind due to Sin, can hide from God/be own authority

The Lord today passes judgment upon Jerusalem by use of the Assyrian army. He does not do this on a whim. Rather, He does this as a call for them to repent. The Lord says, ““Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”  The people have fallen away from the Lord their God. They meet in the temple in Jerusalem. They go through the motions of worshiping Him but their hearts are far from Him. We would say today that they are talking the talk but not walking the walk. Their sin has so blinded them that they believe they are safe and secure. The people sin in the dark and think that no one sees them. They have blind eyes, deaf ears, and unrepentant hearts. They go through the motions of worshiping God, but their hearts are turned to sin. They do not want to listen to God, His prophets, or heed His word. Thus, why God passes judgment upon them and makes it so that the judgment is unreadable to them.

God’s judgment is also one that we deserve as well. Have our hearts changed?  Unless God works in us, we too have eyes blind to His people, ears deaf to His Holy Word, hearts bent on our own sinful desires. We fall into the same trap of security, thinking that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want to do it. Satan tempts us constantly, “Go ahead, it’s only a little sin, what is the worst that can happen? You are alone. There’s no one around.” “Eve, it’s only a little bite, you can be like God.” So we live in sin, blind and deaf to what God says. Deaf to God’s word, we try to make ourselves the authorities rather than God Himself. We think that as clay, we can determine what the potter desires to make us. Blind, we do not always see what is right and true, even if it is staring at us right in front of our faces. We follow the ways of the world, letting ourselves be influenced by what we read or post on the internet, Facebook or Twitter. Letting our friends or peers decide how we should act, holding ourselves to men’s standards, instead of the word of God. Many today read or receive God’s word like an illiterate man “reads” the newspaper. They can pick out a few words here and there, and they can certainly look at the pictures. They can sit with an open newspaper, enjoy themselves to some degree, and appear to be reading. But the true content of what is written has no impact on them. 

We ask questions like what role do the Ten Commandments and the Word of God have in my life? Do I appreciate the benefits of Holy Baptism and the relationship the Holy Spirit has established between God and me? These questions, actions, thoughts, behaviors, and many more things, remind me that I continue to sin, that on my own, I am blind, deaf, illiterate, and stand in need of the Lord’s forgiveness.

2.    In JC, God opens our deaf and blind hearts to turn towards Him in repentance and faith.

In the midst of our darkness, our blindness, our deafness, the Lord comes to us with mercy and grace. The words of our text comfort us with words of promise. The Lord promises to do wonderful things. He defined wonderful things as things which confound man’s wisdom: but it will mean the deaf hear, the blind see. It will mean fresh joy in the Lord because of the Holy One of Israel. And those who believe will hear His Word and rejoice in it.

The promise of peace and the opening of eyes in our text have been and will be fulfilled by the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace. The “sealed book” of our text has been replaced by the “open book” with the message of God’s love revealed in Christ’s suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and anticipated return. It is laid open, never to be closed again, open for everyone of all nations, tribes, languages, and peoples to come and read.

As one who was spiritually “blind” at birth I, as well as you, have experienced the Holy Spirit at work in me through the means of grace (through God’s Word and Sacraments). “I was blind and now I see.” The Holy Spirit has opened my “deaf” ears to hear—and to believe—that I as a sinner have been tied in to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has enlightened my blind eyes, bringing me from the kingdom of darkness to His dear beloved Son through His death and resurrection, cleansing me from all sin and taking upon Himself my judgement and dying my death. 

The promise of “peace” and source of “joy” are renewed by the very presence of our Lord in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. He absolves us of all of our sins and does increase our faith until we depart in peace. By the work of the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments I believe, as we confess in the creeds, that Jesus Christ will return to claim me and all believers. He will raise the dead to life everlasting. We will live forever in His presence, “life without end.”

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament Lesson of Proverbs chapter nine verses one through ten.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you have a lot of brain power? Some of us have a lot, some of us do not have a lot. It is why we need wisdom. God gives us true wisdom.  True wisdom comes from recognizing that all we have comes from the Lord, that we are found in Christ. We are not wise because we know a lot of book information or
because we think we’re better than others. We can be wise because Jesus lives in us. How does God giving us wisdom help us in our daily lives? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

If I had to sum up a theme running through our lessons for today, it would be “Wisdom for Your Walk.” You see, the Old Testament lesson from Proverbs is the call of wisdom to walk in the way of insight. The Epistle reading from Ephesians calls us to walk as children of the light and to look carefully how we walk, not as unwise but as wise. And in the Holy Gospel for today, from John 6, we learn where to go to find this wisdom for our walk, by coming to the one who has the words of eternal life. So here is wisdom. Let us attend. Let us listen.

Wisdom for your walk: Where does it begin? Proverbs tells us. In fact, wisdom herself, wisdom personified, calls out and says to the one who lacks sense, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” So it starts with a call to repentance. It’s recognizing that you are not wise, you lack sense, that you lack insight, that you lack the wisdom you need for your walk. True wisdom requires a healthy dose of humility, being open to correction. “Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”

How about you? Do you think you could use some help in living out your walk as a child of God? If you do, that’s good. That’s a good sign, when you admit that you don’t have it all together. You are open to grow and to learn. Open our ears, Lord, to hear your word. Open our hearts, Lord, to admit our faults, to confess our sins, and to receive wisdom for our walk.

Where does wisdom begin? Proverbs tells us: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” And so we ask the good Lutheran question, “What does this mean? What is meant by “the fear of the Lord”? Well, certainly, in the broad sense, it means an awe and a reverence for the Lord. Which presumes, of course, that you know who the Lord is: That he is one who made the heavens and the earth. That he is the only true God and all other gods are idols. That the Lord is the God who has revealed himself in his word, who has acted in history to save and deliver his people, and so on. The fear of the Lord begins with that basic recognition of who God is. But it is more than that. The fear of the Lord means that we take God seriously. That we take his word seriously, both his commands and his promises. That we take his threats and his wrath seriously, as well as his love and his mercy and his blessings. The fear of the Lord means that we do not casually dismiss or ignore what the Lord says and does.

As Christians we are called to put worldly ways behind us, things like sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. God has given us a better way to walk, which is different from the ways of the people of this world. The ways of the world are darkness. The people of this world are groping around in the dark, lost, blind, not knowing God. And there would we be, too, according to our sinful nature.

But God has called us out of darkness, into his marvelous light. It is the light of Christ, who is the light of the world, who gives life and light to our soul and to our senses. Now in Christ, we know God for who he truly is. We know him as the God of mercy, who forgives our sins freely for Christ’s sake by His death and resurrection. Now we have light to see our way forward. In our baptism, we have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who gives us the gift of faith and the gift of a new life, to walk now in God’s ways, the way of wisdom. Therefore Paul writes, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” It’s time to stop sleepwalking. Instead, it’s time to walk with eyes wide open, in the light that Christ provides.

This walking in the light will take specific shape in the things we put behind us and avoid, and in the things we say and do and think now, as the new people we are in Christ. As Saint Paul gets at “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Drunkenness, debauchery, things like that–that’s the way of the world. Those things belong to the old sinful nature, and not to our new nature in Christ. We put those things behind us when we were baptized. God has called us out of darkness and into his light. To walk in the new way of Christ, that is wisdom. It is a life led by the Holy Spirit, who will lead us on paths of righteousness. It is a walk of joy, the Spirit filling our hearts with the joy of the Lord, which will then find expression in how we sing and talk and think. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs will come off our tongues in worship and gratitude. This is a new life here, friends.

In Christ we find wisdom and forgiveness and strength and light for our way. He gives us food for our souls, light from above, and even the words of eternal life. Today we hear the ending of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, which we’ve been hearing the last couple of weeks. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” Jesus says. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down from heaven to give life to the world, to give life to us poor sinners. He gives us this life by giving his own life, giving his own flesh for us on the cross, shedding his blood for our forgiveness. He bore our sins in his body on the tree. This is how he redeemed us, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. Now we are free, free to live as God’s beloved children, redeemed by Christ, and filled with the Spirit. We have a new life ahead of us–indeed, an eternal life. When Christ comes again, he will raise us up on the last day. This changes everything. This puts our life in a new perspective. We have a new identity, a new power to live, and a sure hope for our eternal future.

Here is our way-bread. Here is strength for our journey. Here is wisdom for your walk, dear friends. It is Jesus himself. Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God. Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Want wisdom for your walk? Come to Jesus, trust in him, and he will walk with you.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.