The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - July 23, 2023

The Scriptures this week emphasize that our Lord is the only True God, and that though we face many problems and troubles in this life, He will care for us and will finally take us to everlasting life and peace. The certainty of this is stressed in the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 44:6-8. Our “Lord” is our “King” and our “Redeemer,” and “there is no god besides Him.” He is “the First” and “the Last.” He has always existed and always will. He is always our Rock, and we need not fear. We can be witnesses to His faithfulness, as His people.

In Psalm 119:57-64, the psalmist says that “the Lord is his portion.” He trusts that the Lord will be gracious and keep His promise to him, given in His Words, even though “the cords of the wicked” may “ensnare” him, at times. He will “turn to the Lord’s testimonies” and “be a companion of all who fear the Lord” and praise Him and “His steadfast love,” in worship.

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Jesus tells the parable of weeds sown by an enemy among wheat in a field. The field is the world, and in it are “sons of the Kingdom” and “son of the evil one.” For the sake of not endangering God’s people, the evil will not be “rooted out” until “the harvest,” “the end of the age,” by the angels of the Lord. That day will come. The evil those who follow the devil, will be “thrown into a fiery furnace” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The righteous, who trust in Christ, “will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father." Again, Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him keep on hearing” the “Word of the Lord.”

Paul reminds us in the Epistle lesson, Romans 8:18-27, that “in this eternal hope we were saved” already by what Christ has done for us and by “the Spirit” who has brought us to faith in Christ. We already have “the firstfruits of the Spirit” and great hope, but we “groan inwardly” because of “the sufferings of this present time,” as we live as “unsaintly saints” (Martin Franzmann’s words) in an evil world, with a “corrupt creation.” Our sufferings, bad as they sometimes are, “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” in eternal life. We ”wait patiently” for our future in heaven and are grateful that the Spirit prays (intercedes) with us and for us when we, in our human weakness, do not know what to pray for. We “wait eagerly” for the redemption of our souls when we die and for “the redemption of our bodies,” too, when Christ returns on the last day. (See this week’s Bible study for more about this and “the pains of childbirth” that we and the creation are “until now” going through.)

Preparing for Worship - July 16, 2023

The Scriptures this week tell us that the Lord will provide for the growth of His Kingdom and for our own spiritual growth, as well.

The psalm is Psalm 65:(1-8) 9-13. The psalmist, David, knows that “praise is due to God” for the “goodness” we receive in His “house,” His “temple.” This is good news, the Word of “righteousness” and “salvation” and “hope” for “all the ends of the earth.” It is pictured as a bountiful harvest, when the Lord has provided abundant “water” and good “earth” and “enriched” it and “blessed its growth.” The Lord “crowns the year with His bounty, and the creation “shouts and sings together for joy.”

The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 55:9-13. God inspired Isaiah to use images from the natural world, as David did in the psalm. The “heavens” are high above the “earth.” God’s “ways and thoughts”. are high above our own, too. As the rain and snow come down to water the earth and help cause things to grow, so God’s Word is sent down from His mouth and accomplishes what He wishes. “It will not return empty and void.” The creation sings and claps its hands in praise of the “name of the Lord” and the “everlasting sign” of His providing care.

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, Jesus Himself tells a parable of seed being sown and then explains it to His disciples. The seed sown is the Word of God’s kingdom. Some hear it but don’t understand, and “the evil one” snatches it away. Others hear and “receive the Word with joy,” but only for a time, and then “fall away” when trouble and persecution come on account of that Word. Still others hear the Word, but “the cares of the world” and the “deceitfulness of riches” act like thorns that choke out the Word. Some people do hear and understand the Word and bear much fruit of various amounts, though, by the grace of God, as He promises. The problem is not with the seed, the Word of God, but with the soil, Satan’s work and a sin-filled world with many temptations to resist the Word and people’s trouble with hearing and understanding the Word. Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” How is our hearing of the Word and the hope we have only in Jesus?

The Epistle lesson is from Romans 8:12-17. Paul emphasizes, in this reading and throughout Romans 8, the importance of the Holy Spirit in bringing us to faith in Christ and keeping us in that faith. The Spirit works through the Word of God (and the gift of baptism) to do this. He gives us “life” in Christ and make us “adopted children of God” and “heirs of eternal life.” We can cry out to our Heavenly Father, “Abba, Father,” as His beloved children. We still face times of “suffering” for our faith and temptations from the devil, the sinful world, and our own “sinful flesh; but the Spirit who dwells in us,” (Romans 8:11), along with Christ, will strengthen and protect us through the Word and the Sacraments, Baptism and Communion, connected with that Word.

Bible Study - Psalm 65

Psalm 65 is a great psalm of praise to God for all kinds of blessings that He provides. David is the author, and in the introduction, he directs this psalm to “the choirmaster” as a “song” that is to be sung. David knows that “praise is due to be given to God”  and that “vows” of thanksgiving and commitment should be made and carried out (“performed”) before the Lord (Psalm 65:1.

First of all, God hears our prayers and does respond to them (v.2). Amazingly, even “when iniquities (times of sin) had prevailed against” David in his life and “overpowered“ him, and David prayed and confessed His sin, the Lord atoned for his transgressions and for the wrongdoing of other repentant people (v.3). This is the greatest gift of God, David knew, - the forgiveness of sins. (There are other complicated words for this forgiveness from God - atonement, propitiation, expiation, etc. - which indicate that God forgave sins in light of what His own Son, Jesus, would eventually do on the cross, in a sacrificial payment for the sins of the whole world, including David’s and ours. See New Testament passages like Hebrews 2:17 and Romans 3:23-25 and 1 John 2:1-2 and 4:10.)

Without that forgiveness, what a great burden of guilt people are under. See what David says in Psalm 32:1-5  and how wonderful forgiveness was for him in Psalm 32:10. David also knew that he had not chosen God, but that he was one whom “God had chosen and brought near” to Him and allowed him to be “in His courts,” in “His house,” and to receive His “goodness and holiness” (Psalm 65:4).

Jesus says the same thing about His disciples and about us in the New Testament. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” “Already you are clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…. For apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:3-5,16).

David also trusted that God would answer his prayers with “awesome deeds” bringing “righteousness” and “salvation.” In God was his hope. As in other psalms, David was also prophesying of how God would be “the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,” too, through the coming of His Son, Jesus, as Savior of all (Psalm 65:5). The Lord was the “mighty” God, the one true God, “who by His strength established the mountains” and all the rest of creation (Psalm 65:6). He cared about what He had made, including “the tumult of the peoples” in a troubled, sinful world - “even those who dwell at the ends of the earth.”

Through David and the children of Israel, God would provide “awesome signs” and prophecies of hope for all peoples, culminating in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, and His saving work (Psalm 65:8). See how Jesus could “still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves” (Psalm 65:7 and Matthew 8:24-27 and  Mark 4:36-41). “Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ’Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they (the disciples) said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”

Jesus was and is God who became man to do His saving work, as David and so many others predicted, not just for Israel, but for the whole world. He did “atone for all our transgressions” by His suffering and death in our place, and His mighty resurrection (Psalm 65:3). Jesus also sowed the seed of God’s Word and sent out His disciples to share that Word, as well, so that more and more people could come to faith in Him and be saved by His grace and be ready for His return on the last day. That day will come. Jesus Himself predicted “signs of that time” including “the roaring of the seas and the waves.” Jesus, the Son of God, will come with power and great glory and settle it all. He said, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing nigh” (Luke 21:25-28 and Psalm 65:7).

Go back now to Psalm 65:8-13. David looks around and marvels again at God’s good creation, in spite of the troubles and sorrows all around. He sees joy in morning and evening and in the days going by (Psalm 65:8). He sees that God does care and “visits the earth” with “water” and “grain” and “growth” and “abundance,” even though people often do not appreciate His gifts (Psalm 65:9-10). Jesus Himself said, “Your Father in heaven makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

God often “crowns the year with His bounty,” though we do not deserve it (Psalm 65:11). When we are out in the natural world on a nice summer day, we marvel at the overflowing beauty and majesty of “pastures of the wilderness” and “hills” and “meadows” and “valleys.” We can sense the picture image of the creation “shouting and singing together for joy” to the Lord (Psalm 65:12-13). Again, Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them…. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:26-29). We, too, get so busy with our lives that we miss the beauty and blessing that God provides all around us.

One more thought. In our Old Testament lesson for this coming Sunday, Isaiah 55:9-13, God leads Isaiah to use some of the same imagery as David - rain watering the earth and plants sprouting and growing  and “giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.”
In the same way, God says, His Word will come down from His mouth and accomplish what He wishes, bringing “joy” and “peace” and “an everlasting sign” of hope for us and our world (Isaiah 55:11-13).

That was the greatest way that “God visited the earth” (Psalm 65:9), with the gift of His Son, the Word become flesh in Jesus our Savior and His Word and work for us. (See John 1:14 and the prophecy of John the Baptist preparing the way for the “visit from on high” of Jesus (Luke 1:76-79).) That’s what makes continued study of God’s Word and the Good news of Christ so important for us all. That Word from God shall never “return to God empty or void,” but will always be a blessing for us (Isaiah 55:11).

Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost - July 9, 2023

Sermon for 6th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Zechariah 9:9-12

Romans 7:14-25a  

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon originally delivered July 6, 2014

Preparing for Worship - July 9, 2023

Last week we heard that Jesus came not to bring peace, but a sword. His Word is a two-edged sword, which does bring the Law of God and reveals our sinfulness and need for a Savior (Matthew 10:34-39, Hebrews 4:12-13, and Revelation 1:13-16, for example).
Jesus ultimately, though, wants to bring the Gospel and His forgiving rest and peace in His eternal Kingdom, as we hear in our readings this week.

In Psalm 145:1-14, David sings a great song of praise to God for His “goodness, mercy, and steadfast love” and the “unsearchable greatness” of His “everlasting kingdom.” He has “mercy over all that He has made,” from “generation to generation.” He helps “those who are falling” and “raises up” those “who are bowed down.” In return, we can only bless his name every day and praise Him for His abundant goodness.

The Lord is also “faithful in all His Words” (Psalm 145:13). We see that in the Old Testament lesson, Zechariah 9:9-12. God’s people could “rejoice greatly,” because the promised “salvation” was coming in a humble King, who would “speak peace to the nations” and bring “freedom to prisoners.” This Scripture is quoted in the New Testament in Matthew 21:5 and indirectly in Luke 19:37-38, in reference to Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as a humble King on a donkey. This Scripture also speaks of “the blood of the Lord’s covenant” - the New Covenant, in which Jesus would later that Holy Week shed His own blood on the cross for the forgiveness of all sins, as the Lamb of God.

Paul speaks of his own need for forgiveness in the Epistle lesson, Romans 7:14-25a. Last week, we heard him speak of his struggles with “covetousness” in the past, before being a Christian. Now he switches to the present tense and talks about his continuing struggle to do the right things, because of his “sinful flesh” and nature. He wants to do God’s will, but he finds himself doing the opposite, at times. He says “he has the desire to do what is right, but not always the ability to carry it out.” There is a “war” going on within him. He “delights in the law of God,” but “evil also lies close at hand.” He calls himself a “wretched man,” a poor miserable sinner. “Who will deliver him from this sinful body of death?” He knows that his only hope is in Jesus. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 11:25-30, Jesus promises “rest for the souls” of those who, with the faith of “little children,” simply trust what He has done for them and reveals to them. Religious leaders of His day spoke of the heavy yoke, the burden of the Law, and thought of themselves as being more “wise and understanding” than others by carefully trying to keep these hundreds of laws. Jesus Himself not only kept the Law in our place, but was “gentle and lowly of heart” and carried our burdens of sin to the cross to pay for them all. As we keep coming to Him and learning from Him, He now lightens our burdens and gives us the rest and peace we really need. We do not rescue ourselves. Jesus rescues us.

Bible Study - Thoughts on Law & Gospel

The Scriptures in worship for the last few weeks have had a lot of Law in them. The Law of God is very important and has three main purposes, as a “curb,” a “mirror,” and a “ruler” in our lives. You may have learned those descriptions from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation years ago.

First, a curb is intended to keep cars and other vehicles where they belong, in the street, and not on a sidewalk or other places where they could do harm. God’s Law is like a curb, when it keeps people from doing very harmful things to others. It helps provide some order and authority in a very disorderly world.

A Scripture suggested in our latest version of the Catechism, related to this, is 1 Timothy 1:9-10. Paul writes, “The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient. for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.” These are lawless people who do not accept basic moral standards, but might be restrained in some of what they do, because they don’t want to get caught and be in trouble. Paul is not saying here that evils described here do not apply to “the just” also, those who already trust in Christ as Savior, and live by His grace. Believers should already know that these things are wrong and should be trying to avoid these sins, too.

Unfortunately, that is not always true, and believers, with a sinful human nature, also struggle to know right from wrong at times. That is where the Law of God also serves as a guide, a ”ruler,” a straight line for what is pleasing to God in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is called the “third use of the Law.” A few Scriptures that speak to this are Psalm 119:105: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path;” Proverbs 6:23: “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life;” and Psalm 119:160: “The sum of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”

Many people and even some churches and denominations, reject this use of the Law because they no longer believe that the Scriptures are entirely the Word and message of God. They would prefer to pick and choose what sounds acceptable to them, according to their human reason and desires and what sounds “loving” and “tolerant” to them. To them, the greatest virtues are tolerance and acceptance and approval, no matter what.

Taking such a false view of Scripture also means that people will often also reject the second use of the Law, as a “mirror” for their own lives. In everyday life, we look into a mirror to see what we look like and to fix anything that doesn’t look so good. We may need to comb or brush our hair in a better way, fix makeup, change our clothes, wash away a spot on ourselves, etc. The Law serves as a “mirror” when we look into it to see what our lives look like, in comparison with God’s standards. When we do that, we are always shown to be sinners, who “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Paul put it this way: “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the Law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:19-20). When we look in the mirror of the Law, we see our faults and sins, but we cannot fix these problems, these sins, and their guilt, on our own. We can comb our hair when we look in the mirror, but we cannot straighten out our sins and sinfulness when we look in the mirror of the Law.

Some use the SOS letters to talk about this. The Law “Shows Our Sins” and how desperately we need God’s help and rescue and forgiveness. The Law always ultimately accuses and condemns us. We can never keep its standards as we should, as Paul describes in the Epistle lesson for this week (Romans 7:14-25a). Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). How far we all are from that, even as Christians, in what we do!

What we need, then, is another SOS, with regard to Jesus and His Good News, the Gospel. The Gospel “Shows Our Savior.” Our eternal hope is never in ourselves and our performance before God or others. Our hope is in Christ and what He did for us, in His perfect life in our place and His death on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and His mighty resurrection and ascension to the Father, showing that His saving work was complete.

Paul put it this way: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness from God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). As a result, Paul wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life sets you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh (our sinful flesh), could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4). We need the Law, for its three useful purposes, but our hope is finally in Christ and continually being brought back to Him and His saving words and works for us.

When we look at our world today, we see so much that is sinful and evil. We can become very discouraged. We might say with the psalmist in one of last week’s readings: “I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commandments” (Psalm 119:158). We hate sin and the great damage it does to so many. The Law of God will not let us put a stamp of approval and acceptance on what is clearly wrong.                                                    

At the same time, we also know that we are still sinners, too. God does not hate just the “big” sins we prefer to point out in others in our society. He hates all sin. Sin is sin - even the sins of thought, word, and deed that we confess day after day and week after week in worship. We continually need God’s mercy, and we want that mercy and forgiveness for ourselves. Somehow, we need to be ready to convey the hope of the Gospel, as well as the Law, to others, too. Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). How many people today have been never been taught or have been so misled that they have no real sense of what is right and wrong, or the consequences of wrongdoing. How much we need care and concern for them, too, even though we can’t give approval for wrongdoing.

Both Martin Luther and C.F.W. Walther, a great early leader of our LCMS, said that distinguishing Law and Gospel and knowing when and how to apply each is one of the greatest challenges for church leaders and teachers and for us all. It would be easy just to pound others with the Law. We need also, though, to pray for the lost and straying and confused and misguided people, as we pray for ourselves and our struggles. We need to pray for wisdom, too, in trying to find ways that show that we do care for others and want the best for them, as people for whom Christ also died. Walther also emphasized that “the Gospel should have a general predominance in our teaching.” He said that otherwise people will be spiritually underfed because the Bread of Life is not the Law, but the Gospel.” Please pray about all this. The Lord’s blessings.

Preparing for Worship - July 2, 2023

The Scripture readings this week are challenging ones to understand and apply. The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 28:5-9. You almost have to read all of Chapters 27 and 28 to get the full meaning. In Chapter 27, God told Jeremiah to put a yoke on his neck, symbolic of the fact that God’s people were soon to be servants of the Babylonian king, who had already taken some people and many valuable vessels from the temple in Jerusalem. A period of about 70 years of captivity was coming because of their sins. Hananiah, a false prophet, then said that the Lord told him that in two years the people would be set free and all the vessels taken from the temple would be returned. He said what the people wanted to hear. In the OT reading, then, Jeremiah confronts Hananiah and the people. He wishes that what Hananiah had predicted was true, that a time of “peace” was coming soon. He would like to say “Amen” to that. However, Jeremiah then said that earlier prophets had predicted “war, famine, and pestilence,” as the Lord had also told him - not “peace.” Only time would tell which prophet was speaking the truth. (After our reading, Hananiah broke the yoke off of Jeremiah’s neck, saying that Jeremiah was the false prophet; and Hananiah predicted “peace” again. The Lord then sent Jeremiah to Hananiah to tell him that he would die for deceiving God’s people, and within a year, Hananiah was dead, and the long Babylonian captivity did happen.)

In the Gospel Lesson, Matthew 10:34-42, we also hear Jesus saying something hard to His disciples, as He prepares them to go out and share His message, “I have come not to bring peace, but a sword, to the earth.” Not everyone would believe what the disciples were telling. There would be rejection and division, “a sword,” among people, even families, at times. Some would prefer to follow their own ways and desires instead of Christ as Savior. They think they are finding what they want, “the good life,” where it is really the opposite. Receiving and believing the Word of God, by the grace of God, actually brings Christ Himself and His saving work to people, and the blessings of God the Father, who sent Jesus and wants to bring His Good News of love and hope to all, even the littlest of people. We are still blessed and a blessing, as we seek to bring that Good News to others, also, whoever they are.

In the Epistle lesson, Romans 7:1-13, Paul reminds us that the Law of God is righteous and good, but we can never be saved by following it well enough. The Law is like a line on the ground that we are not to go over. It is a challenge to us, and sin and our sinful nature keep urging us to step over that line, and we step over the line all too often, bearing “fruit for death.” Comparing ourselves with the Law shows us our sins and our need to be set free from the Law of sin and death. Paul uses a human example of how we are “free” from “certain laws and commitments” only by the death of someone. We will be freed from the condemnation of the law of God, which we have failed to keep, only “through the body of Christ” and His death for us, to pay for our sins. Our hope is now “in the new way of the (Holy) Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” The Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Jesus and seeks to keep us in that faith, as “we belong to one another” and seek “to bear fruit for God,” as the Spirit leads and guides us through the Word of God.

The psalm is Psalm 119:153-160. The psalmist knows that “God’s Word is truth” and seeks “not to swerve from the Lord’s testimonies.” God’s “law” and “commands” are a guide for his life, and he seeks to follow God’s will. At the same time, he has to admit in the last verse of this psalm, verse 176, beyond this reading, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.” He doesn’t forget them, but he doesn’t always follow them, either. The psalmist knows that his ultimate hope is not in himself, as hard as he tries to do the right things, but is in the Lord and His “great mercy.” He says, “Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to Your promise!… Give me life according to Your steadfast love.” There is our hope, too, especially in Christ our Savior and what He has already done to rescue us, in His redeeming love. 

Preparing for Worship - June 25, 2023

The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 91:1-10 (11-16). The psalmist assures us that when our “dwelling place” is with the Lord, He will be our “shelter,” our “refuge,” and our fortress.” We can “trust” Him, no matter what dangers and “terrors” surround us. He will be with us “night” and “day” and at “noontime.” This does not mean that we won’t have trouble, but the Lord and His angels “will be with us” and “rescue” us ultimately with “His salvation.” (See the fuller Bible Study on this psalm in this week’s podcast.)

The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 20:7-13. The prophet Jeremiah had the very difficult job of telling the people of Judah that “violence and destruction” and captivity in Babylon were coming to them, because they were continually rejecting the Lord and His Word. When Jeremiah spoke this Word from God, he received “reproach, derision, laughing, and mockery” from those to whom he spoke. He wished he could stop speaking, but he could not. God’s Word was like fire, and he could not hold it in. At this point, the Lord was like a “dreaded Warrior.” Through it all, Jeremiah knew that somehow the Lord would be “delivering the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.”

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 10:5a, 21-33, Jesus was preparing His disciples for the very challenging days they would face, much like Jeremiah did, but in their case, it would be for proclaiming “the name of Jesus” as Savior of the world. If Jesus was to suffer much as their Lord and Master, should members of His “household,” His Christian family and church, be surprised if they are also “hated” and “maligned” (spoken about critically in a spiteful way)? They are “not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” “The one who endure to the end” in faith in Christ “will be saved.” Jesus will “acknowledge” all believers, including us, before His “Heavenly Father.”

How can we endure in the faith, even as we may face more challenges? Paul reminds us, in our Epistle lesson, Romans 6:12-23, of the greatest gift we have already received. “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Now that we live under that grace, that free gift of God, would we want purposely to keep on sinning, with “lawlessness that leads to more lawlessness” and to “the wages of death”? “By no means!” says Paul. We still have that temptation, because of “natural limitations” (literally, “because of the weakness of our (sinful) flesh,” with which we were born. How much better to be what we now are - “slaves of God” and His “standard of teaching to which we are committed” in Christ. God loves us in Christ! He knows and always wants what is best for us and is leading us now to eternal life. That is the good “fruit” we now want to see in our lives, through God’s grace in Christ.

Bible Study - Psalm 91

Psalm 91 is a psalm of great confidence and hope for those who “dwell in the shelter of the Lord.” Some have understood it to be a promise to believers that once they are in the faith, everything will go just right for them, as they would wish. Instead, this psalm says that the Lord and His angels will be with them and us and help us through the many challenges and temptations we face in a very troubled, sin-sick world. The author is not identified in the original Hebrew text, though some think (and the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, says) that David is the writer.

Verses 1 and 9 indicate that this psalm is about those whose “dwelling place” is the Lord and who “abide” in Him. These are people, as verse 2 indicates, who say that they “trust” in the Lord God. Four different names are given for God in these verses. He is “the Most High,” above all things and the Creator of heaven and earth. (See Genesis 14:19, for example.) He is also “the Almighty,” the all-powerful, who is stronger than the greatest mountain. (See Genesis 17:1, “El Shaddai.”) He is also called “God” and “the LORD, “ the special name for the God of Israel in the Old Testament, “I Am Who I Am" (Exodus 3:13-15, 6:6-7).

Four descriptive words for the Lord are also used. He is “the shelter, the shadow, the refuge, and the fortress” for His people. We can probably understand all these, except for “the shadow.” In a very hot climate, the Lord provides shade, protection from the hot, blinding sun. (See the phrase “a shade from the heat” in Isaiah 4:6 and 25:4. Sunstroke was a real danger to many.)

All these names and descriptions for the Lord are to indicate that He is great and powerful enough to provide all the protection that His people need, and we need that protection, as the verses that follow indicate. There is “the snare of the fowler,” one who sets traps to catch birds (Psalm 91:3). This picture image really means “one who has the power of capture and death” over others. (See Ecclesiastes 9:12: “ Man does not know his time… Like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared in an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.”)

The New Testament uses the same sort of image for the dangers of Satan. See 2 Timothy 2:25 and the warning about “escaping from the snares of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” See also Hebrews 2:14-15 and Christ’s battle and death “to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,” who wants to enslave people. Psalm 91:3 and 5 also uses the term “deadly pestilence,” and verse 10, “plague,” referring to illness and deadly diseases. We certainly know of these dangers, too, in our own day, dangers like Covid that come so unexpectedly, “that stalk in the darkness and waste at noonday.”

We are grateful for doctors and nurses and medications today that help us, but we also lean upon our Lord and His help and healing power, especially when there seem to be no human help and answers. Remember what was said of Jesus, God’s Son, in his earthly ministry in Israel. We read in Matthew 9:35 that Jesus was preaching the Gospel, but also “healing every disease and every affliction.”  He could do that for people.

Psalm 91:4 uses the image of the Lord as an eagle, with large, strong wings, to protect His people. (See similar images in Deuteronomy 32:9-12, where the Lord is “like an eagle… bearing His people on His pinions,” His wings, and bringing them to safety.) He told them at Mt. Sinai, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4). The Lord can provide “cover” and “refuge” and “shield and buckler” (a small shield) in His “faithfulness” to them. He can act like a protecting eagle or like a faithful warrior in battle, for them (Psalm 91:5-8). Eventually, “recompense” (just judgment and punishment) will come for the wicked” (Psalm 91:8).

Again, Jesus used some of the same images in His ministry, in reaching out to His fellow Jews. (See Luke 13:34-35. Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”) This is one of the reasons that some people do not get to enjoy the blessings of God’s promises in Psalm 91. They simply resist and reject the Lord and His will for them, including His plan for salvation through Jesus. They never come to faith in Christ or fall away from that faith and no longer dwell in the shelter of the Most High, rejecting God’s grace and blessing, earned by Christ and still available to them.

Psalm 91 does not answer the question, though, about those who are or seem to be in the faith and yet still suffer great troubles in this life. In contrast with Psalm 91:10, what about Christians who have evil befall them and those who suffer and even die from a plague like Covid or cancer or some other ill that came near to them? We do not understand many things and we struggle when these things happen. As believers, though, we still seek to trust in God, as Psalm 91:2 says. We believe that God is working for good, though we cannot see it, in what he allows, and He can turn things for some good purpose, in His wisdom, in things that happen to us and others. Certainly, even in the life and death of loved ones in the faith, God is showing His salvation and bringing them out of the troubles of this life and into eternal life and joy. God promises, through the Psalmist, to each believer, “Because he holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My name.” The ultimate deliverance is to eternal life in heaven.

God also talks about the protection He and His angels give in this life, in Psalm 91:11-13. Who knows how many times we have been spared from trouble when we did not even realize it? David writes, in Psalm 34:6-7, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles, The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers him.” Psalm 91:13 even says, “You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” See what David told Saul, when he was willing to confront the giant, Goliath, in 1 Samuel 17:34-37. He had been able to battle lions and bears already and been victorious.

There are other such examples: Daniel in the lion’s den in Daniel 6:19-23, and Paul bitten by a deadly viper in Acts 28:3-8 and “suffering no harm.” See also promises such as Mark 16:18 and Jesus’ own words to his disciples in Luke 10:19-20. Note in this last passage that examples of  protection from literal “serpents and scorpions” are rare in the Scriptures, though God can do what He chooses. More important, Jesus says, is “authority… over all the power of the enemy” (referring to Satan) and “having your names written in heaven.” That saving work could only be done by Jesus.

That is why we must end this look at Psalm 91 by seeing how it is used by Satan and explained by Jesus, when He was being tempted by Satan, the devil, in the wilderness and when He was defeating all his temptations. You can read this story in both Matthew 4:1-11 and in Luke 4:1-13. I will focus on the account in Luke. While we pray “Lead us not into temptation,” the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, yet to do everything in the right way, where we so often fail. Though weakened by 40 days of fasting, Jesus was able to resist temptations about food and about authority and glory and false worship. These were all the sort of temptations the devil had used against the children of Israel in the wilderness in the Old Testament and was very successful in getting them to sin. Jesus defeated Satan each time in Luke 4 by just quoting Scripture from Moses and the wilderness days and what was truly God’s will.

Finally, Satan decided to quote Scripture himself, but in a distorted way, as he had done with Eve in the Garden of Eden. His temptation to Jesus went something like this: "If you really are the Son of God, as you claim to be, then surely God cares for you. He has promised, in Psalm 91, to guard and protect you and even send angels to help you, if needed. Here are the Scriptures you need, as proof texts, Psalm 91:11-12. Why don’t you jump off the highest point of the temple? The angels will surely catch you. Think how impressive a miracle this would be." (Of course, Satan left out the parts about trusting God in all one does and holding fast to Him and knowing His name and doing His will.) Jesus knew better. He simply quoted again Scripture from Moses and the wilderness days, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” by doing something risky and dangerous, especially at the suggestion of Satan.

Jesus knew something else, much more important, too. His plan and the Father’s plan was not for Him to live a safe and secure life here on earth, but to suffer and die in our place, a death and hell that we deserve for our sins. We have those amazing Scriptures that say, “For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin… and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree” of the cross, to pay for and forgive all our sins and count us righteous and acceptable to God, with the gift of salvation and eternal life earned for us by Him (2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24).

Through all this and His mighty resurrection, Jesus also broke the power of Satan for us. We cannot see it completely yet, but when Christ returns, what Paul wrote will finally and fully happen: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). That will be the ultimate “trampling of the serpent, Satan, under our feet,” through Christ the King (Psalm 91:13).

It is in relationship with Christ that we now read Psalm 91 and all the Scriptures. As Paul said, in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” We will have what we really need, for this life and for eternity, in God’s great love for each of us in Christ, whether we can always see it or not. Paul put it so well in Romans 11:33-36: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable (impossible to understand and interpret) His ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." (Paul’s quotation is based on words from Isaiah 40:12-14 and Job 41:11.)

Preparing for Worship - June 18, 2023

The first half of the Church Year, the “Festival” half, is now over. Beginning with Advent and Christmas, we were told the story of God’s plan of salvation for us, centered in the birth, life and ministry, suffering and death, and then resurrection and ascension of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That first half ended with Pentecost and Trinity Sundays, when we heard of our Triune God’s continuing work for us, especially through the Holy Spirit, bringing us to faith and keeping us in that faith, through the Word of God and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

Now we move into the Sundays after Pentecost and Trinity, when we think about our response to all that God has done for us, as we live in the “ordinary” days and months ahead, until a new Church Year begins in late November. Even in these days, though, we are reminded again and again of God’s love and grace and power that make it possible for us to seek to follow His will.

The psalm for this week is Psalm 100, “a psalm for giving thanks to God.” It hardly needs explanation. The Lord alone is God. He made us and calls us His own, the dear sheep of His pasture. He is good to us, with steadfast love and faithfulness always. We, in turn, serve Him with gladness and eagerly enter His Presence with joy and thanksgiving. The Lord brings Good News for “all the earth,” including us.

In the First lesson, Exodus 19:2-8, God speaks to His chosen people of the Old Testament, whom He had just rescued from slavery in Egypt. They are to be His “treasured possession,” a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation.” In response, God’s people are to seek to “obey His voice” and “keep” and trust in His covenant, His agreement  by which He called them. Though “all peoples” and “all the earth” are His, He will work through this nation to be a blessing to all, and His chosen people agree to seek to follow all that He has spoken.

In the Epistle lesson, Romans 5:6-15, Paul speaks of the fact that since sin and death came into the world, we are all sinners. He describes us all, left on our own, as “weak” and “ungodly” and “sinners” and even “enemies” of God. That’s why Jesus had to come to be our Savior. “We were reconciled to God only by the death of His Son” and “saved by His life.” This was the “free gift of God by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ” that “abounded” for us and is available to “the many,” to all.

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 9:35-6:20, Jesus is “teaching” and “proclaiming the Gospel” and helping many people, because he sees that they are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd.” He knows that “more laborers” are needed to reach people with God’s love and hope. He sends out His twelve chosen disciples, “apostles,” at this point telling them to reach out to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Many of God’s own chosen people had drifted away from the Lord and His will, though they had promised to be faithful. Jesus says that He would later be sending His apostles out ‘as sheep in the midst of wolves.” There would be much opposition, but they were then to be reaching out to Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews. (See v.19.) They can do so with confidence, because “the Spirit of their Heavenly Father would be speaking through them,” as they told everyone about Jesus. They were not and never would be on their own, as they shared Jesus and His Word. That is still true today for us.