Preparing for Worship - September 28, 2025

The Scriptures this week encourage us to keep trusting in our Lord and not in other people or in our money and possessions (mammon). Church leaders are reminded to follow God’s Word, centered in Christ, and watch out for dangers to their service to the Lord, too.

The Psalm is Psalm 146. Psalm 145 ended with the words: “My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,” and the psalms that follow, including Psalm 146, all “Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) We are not to trust in princes or any other people, for they cannot bring salvation. Our hope is in the Lord, and He alone can help us, in faithfulness and justice. He can help people in all kinds of need, including prisoners, the blind, those bowed down by the troubles of this life, sojourners, widows, and the fatherless. He reigns forever and can help all generations.

The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 6:1-7. Amos was a prophet of the Lord from 784-746BC and spoke during Jeroboam II and his reign of 41 years in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The king had reconquered a large area of the land and wealthy people felt secure and prosperous. They had beds of ivory and ate choice food of lambs and calves and drank wine in bowls and anointed themselves with the finest oils, and had time to sing and write idle songs, but they had also drifted from the Lord to false gods and wrong ways of worship (see Amos 4:26-27) and were not grieving and ill at the troubles of the poor and needy. Judgment was coming for their sins and rejection of the Lord, coming soon, as it did about 720BC.

The Gospel lesson is Luke 16:19-31. Jesus tells a parable of a very rich man who had the best of everything in food and clothes and lived extravagantly every day. At his gate was a very poor man, who was ill and hungry and wished only for some scraps from the rich man’s table. But the rich man ignored him and did not help him at all. The poor man’s name was Lazarus, which means “The Lord is my Helper.” He died in faith in the Lord and was taken to the side of Abraham and heavenly feasting. The rich man died without faith in the Lord and ended up in Hades (Hell) in fire and great anguish. He had already wasted his “good days” on himself and his desires. The rich man begs for mercy and for even just a drop of water in his agony. But there is a chasm between heaven and hell, and people cannot cross from one place to the other. The formerly rich man then asks that his five living brothers be warned, by someone coming back from the dead, of judgment coming for them, too, apart from repentance and faith in the Lord. Abraham says that these people have the Word of God, and if they won’t believe that, they will not believe, even if someone does come back from the dead (as Jesus would soon do). How tragic that so many still reject the Good News of Jesus even today and are headed for eternal sorrow. This parable is also a commentary on the words of Jesus in Luke 16:13-15. May we continue in faith in the Lord Jesus, our true Savior.

There are two choices for the Epistle. The first is 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and calls for faithful overseers and deacons (pastors and teachers and other servants among God’s people.) Paul speaks of their ideal qualities to a young pastor, Timothy, and warns of the “snares of the devil” that can be a danger to them, too - the love of money, self-centeredness and conceit, too much wine, greed, etc. Instead, they are to be faithful to their Lord and hold on to the mystery of the faith and be confident in the faith that is in Christ Jesus and teach God’s Word well in care for God’s church. In the alternate reading, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Paul continues to teach Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith,” confident of eternal life, and with a good witness about God, who gives life to all through faith in Christ Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Timothy is to guard the good deposit of God’s Word entrusted to him and share that knowledge only. Paul warns him also to seek to be content and avoid the dangers of the love of money, which can quickly corrupt. Timothy is also to teach the rich to use their money wisely and to do good and share with and help others, and to set their hopes on God, not on the uncertainty of what they have. These are all very important words for church leaders and for all believers - to be focused on Christ and the Word of Scripture and not on the “irreverent babble” that we hear all around us.