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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Tuesday May 03, 2022
This study began with a correction from last week’s final study of Habakkuk. I quoted from a number of Lutheran scholars, with short thoughts from them. I discovered since then that one of the Old Testament commentaries I used was not written entirely by Dr. Walter Roehrs. The Habakkuk study notes were actually written by Dr. Martin Franzmann. He should have been credited for the quotes that I listed as from Dr. Roehrs. My apologies for that, as I try to be as accurate as possible with these studies and give credit where it is due.
I chose the Book of Ruth as our next study after reading recently a sermon written by a former professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, on Ruth Chapter 1. We just finished the study of Habakkuk, which focused on the questions that the prophet had for God when he could not understand why God was allowing terrible things to happen to the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Habakkuk had to learn to “live by faith” in God and His ways, even if he could not understand many things.
Dr. Gibbs’ sermon was a good reminder that terrible things also happen to individuals and families in ways that we and they cannot understand. That is what the Book of Ruth is about and yet how God can be at work for good, even in such very personal situations that we and others have to deal with, at times.
The Book of Ruth is found in our English Bibles fairly early in the Old Testament, right after Joshua and Judges. When Moses died, Joshua was chosen to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land and to help them get settled there. What followed after Joshua died was a very unsettled period for the various tribes of God’s people. They were to get well established in the land and serve the One True God faithfully. Instead, many of the people drifted away from God and began to follow the false gods and evil ways of the non-Jews who lived around them.
God raised up a number of “judges,” leaders who were to call the Jews to repentance and back to true belief in God and His ways and help them in troubled, dangerous times. This would work for a while, and then people would slip away from God again until another “judge” was given to them to help them. In general, this period of a few hundred years could be summarized by the last line of the Book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” instead of doing what was right in God’s eyes and following Him.
The story we will study begins then, in Ruth 1:1, “in the days when the judges ruled.” It happened near the end of this period when there was a famine in the land, a lack of food and water, usually caused by drought or prolonged warfare and other such trouble, as we still see in our world today.
In Ruth 1:2, a man from the tribe of Judah, who lived in Bethlehem, decided to take his family and travel to the land of Moab to find food and better living conditions. The intent was to “sojourn” there - live there temporarily and then return to Israel. The man’s name was Elimelech, which means “God is my King,” and his wife was Naomi, whose name meant “pleasant.” They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. (Some commentators say that their names meant “sickly” and “fragile,” but there is no solid evidence for these meanings. Unfortunately, as we have seen with Jonah and other books, very liberal scholars claim that the Book of Ruth is a parable and not a true story of real people, but the New Testament tells us otherwise.)
Ruth 1:2 also tells us that this family was “Ephrathites.” That term refers to the region in which they lived, where Bethlehem was located. See Micah 5:2-5a, where the term is also used in a very important prophecy about the place where the Savior Jesus would be born. There was nothing wrong with the family going to another country to seek food. We know that Jacob had sent some of his sons to Egypt to get food during a famine, too, when they were finally reunited with Joseph. See Genesis 42ff. Others had certainly traveled to other countries, also.
Bethlehem was located in Southern Israel, about 6 miles south of what would later become Jerusalem. To get to Moab, the family had to travel north and go around the Dead Sea and cross the Jordan River and then travel south again to reach Moab. The trip was 100+ rough miles. You can trace the trip if you have a map of Old Testament Israel in your Bible.
Verse 2 ends with the statement that the family “remained there” in Moab. The reason for staying longer quickly becomes clear. Tragic things begin to happen. In verse 3, we hear that Elimelech dies, and Naomi is left in sorrow to parent her sons by herself. This was a very difficult situation, as widows had few resources or help. In verse 4, the two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Jews were forbidden to marry many non-Jews, but Moabites were not included in that list, at least at the time that this story happened. Then the tragedy continues, with the death of both Mahlon and Chilion, over time (Ruth 1:5), That left Naomi alone with her two daughters-in-law and no good way to provide for everyone.
Naomi is very sad with grief and very bitter that God would let all these bad things happen to her and her family. She does not understand. She finally decides that she must go back to Israel and hope that a relative or some kind Jewish person would help her. Read Ruth 1:19-21 to see how Naomi describes her situation. She used to be “pleasant,” but now is only “bitter.” She left Israel “full” and hopeful, but now she returns to Israel “empty.” Why would the Lord bring such “calamity” upon her?
Put yourself in Naomi’s situation. How would you feel? What would you say, especially in weak moments? Have you ever been in circumstances like this? The Scriptures are very honest about Naomi’s struggle. She still calls God her Lord, using the special name for Him as the One True God, but she cannot comprehend how all this could have happened. Her pain and despair are very great.
We will talk more about this and the parts of Ruth, Chapter One, that we have not yet covered. We will see that God had not abandoned Naomi and even gave her some hope for her very gloomy life. He still had plans, even amazing plans, ahead for her and her life. She too was called to “life by faith” in her personal life, even in very dark times, as we also are called to live.
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered April 14, 2013
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Our Easter celebration continues this Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter. In the Gospel lesson, from John 20:1-19, the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to some of the disciples for a third time, at the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee). He helps them catch a huge number of big fish and provides a meal for them. Then, as Peter had three times denied Jesus, Jesus three times renews him in his mission to feed and care for his sheep, God’s people, but also predicts his death at the hands of those opposed to Jesus.
In the first reading, from Acts 9:1-22, the Risen Lord Jesus also appeared to Saul, an enemy and persecutor of Christians, and through Jesus and the reluctant witness of Ananias, Saul is brought to faith and is baptized, and soon becomes a strong witness for Jesus as the Christ, the promised Savior and the Son of God.
In the Epistle, the apostle John sees a vision of the Risen Lord Jesus, now ascended into heaven in glory, being praised for being the Lamb who was slain in order to pay the ransom price for people, so that they could have eternal life in heaven. Jesus is also called the “Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David” and the One who was worthy to break the seals and open the scroll that John sees. (This reading is also one that forms the basis for the hymn in the liturgy, “This is the Feast.”)
In the Psalm, Psalm 30, David had done wrong and displeased God and faced death for himself and other Jews. David pleads for mercy and forgiveness, and God gives it to him and many others. David then praises God in this psalm for new life and joy and says he will give thanks to the Lord forever, (as we will, too, in heaven because of God’s mercy also for us, in Jesus).
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
In this sixth and final portion of our study of Habakkuk, we looked at New Testament passages that talk about living by faith, that are very similar to what we hear in Habakkuk; and we heard from some Lutheran commentators on the message of Habakkuk.
We began with Hebrews 11:1-3 where we have a definition of what “faith” is: “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith has to do with things that are “hoped for” but not “seen.” The author of Hebrews then uses many examples from the Old Testament.
In verse 3, he says that it is “by faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ”Creation” means making something out of nothing, as God did by His Word. We cannot prove this in a way science would like, but by faith we believe and trust that God did truly create all things. In verse 7, we hear that by faith, Noah built the ark, based upon “events as yet unseen,” simply trusting God’s Word that a great flood would come in the future.
Example after example is then given in Hebrews of others who lived by faith, such Abraham and Sarah, who were far too old to have a child, yet lived by faith that they would have one (verses 8-12). It was a great struggle for them to keep that faith, as the Book of Genesis tells us, and especially when Abraham was told that he was to sacrifice that son who finally was given to them. See verses 17-20.
God had also told of a “land of promise” for them, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and many of their descendants never took possession of it. Even Moses only saw it from a distance (Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16). This was a way of teaching them that they were only “strangers and exiles on earth” and that God would eventually provide them with a “heavenly homeland.” In the meantime, they were to live by faith in God’s unseen promises, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Read all of Hebrews 11 for more of these examples. Chapter 11 ends with the words (verses 39-40) that all of these people did not see the fullness of what was promised in their own days. That would only happen with the coming of the Savior Jesus, from that long line of people beginning with Abraham.
Hebrews 12 then tells us and all believers to live by faith in Jesus, “the Founder and Perfecter of our faith.” Jesus is the greatest example of one living by faith. He gave up everything and became a human being and trusted His Father’s plan, even in being willing to suffer and die for us, in our place, to forgive all our sins and count us as acceptable to God, simply by faith in Him. Jesus then rose in victory and returned in glory to the Father; yet He had to live 33 years by faith, “enduring from sinners such hostility against himself, despising the shame, and even enduring the cross,” for us.
Keeping our eyes on Jesus will help us, also, to live by faith, as we “run with endurance the race that is set before us in this life.” It will not be easy for us either, as we live as sinners in this sinful world. We will face many challenges and will need our heavenly Father’s discipline when we stray and His strength to keep going, sure-footed like a deer, even when there are many uncertainties and questions in our lives (Hebrews 12:1-13 and Habakkuk 3:17-19).
Living by faith, though, does not mean, as some people have suggested, that we take a leap of faith into total darkness. Our faith is based on real evidence - the truth of God and His love for us revealed in the Scriptures, the promises of God centered in Jesus and all He has done for us and promises us, and the eyewitness testimony of all of the prophets and apostles, who know the reality of Christ’s life and death and resurrection and His teachings.
We do not have all the answers to much of what goes on, though. At times, we may be as confused and questioning as Habakkuk, especially as we see all the evil and troubles in this sinful world and have our own struggles. But God is with us, and we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). As Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “We are saved by God’s grace, through faith in Christ,” and not by our own faith or efforts, but by the gifts of God. Even when what God does or doesn’t do seems “foolish” in the eyes of the world or in our own eyes, we still live by God’s grace through faith in Him and His wisdom and His ultimately working for good. (Read 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25, 29-31.)
Finally, let’s go back to Habakkuk and hear what some Lutheran commentators say. Read Habakkuk 3:16-19 again. A writer in the Concordia Self-Study Bible (NIV version) says, “Habakkuk has learned the lesson of faith (2:4) - to trust in God regardless of the circumstances. He declares that even if God should send suffering and loss, he would still rejoice in his Savior-God - one of the strongest affirmations of faith in the Scriptures.”
Look at Habakkuk 3:1-15. Dr. Roehrs, in the Concordia Self-Study Commentary of the 1960s says, “It is characteristic of Biblical thinking that Habakkuk contrasts the evil Babylonians under the fivefold curse (2:6-20) not with righteous believing people but with the vision of the God of salvation (3:3-15) and what he would do. So Paul does also in Romans, where the dreadful picture of mankind under the wrath of God (Romans 1: 18-32, 3:9-20) is followed by the proclamation of the righteousness of God in action in Christ (3:21-31). See also the terrible news of Ephesians 2:1-3, followed by the Good News of God making us alive in Christ by His grace. All this emphasizes the fact that faith is not a virtue in us but first and foremost a receiving from God, a being-dealt with by the God of salvation and His grace.” Our faith and hope are not in ourselves and our faith and goodness, but in God and His grace, from beginning to end.
Dr. Roehrs also notes in Habakkuk 3:16 that Habakkuk is shaken by the seriousness of sin and the coming judgment and discipline of God, but he can still have faith. “This is a God whom one can trust to keep His Word, a God in whom one can find rest, depending on Him alone, no matter how hard the agonies of life and history press upon us.”
Finally, Dr, Roehrs says, “The word 'faith' occurs only once in Habakkuk (2:4); but his whole prophecy is a Word of faith, faith agonized, questioning, seeking, finding rest in God, and jubilant, finally, in the assurance of God’s love, even with the obstacle of all the chaos going on… For both Paul and Habakkuk, faith is faith without works, for both it is 'quietly waiting’ for God to do His saving work. For faith is not just one aspect of man’s existence before God, but the whole of his relationship to Him.”
Dr. Keil, in his commentary, says, “The prophet prays and speaks throughout the entire prophecy in the name of his fellow believers at that time. His pain is their pain; his joy is their joy.” Habakkuk is honest about his and their struggles in understanding God’s will and ways in these very hard times for them, yet assures them of the hope and even the joy they can still have in the Lord, as he has been given it. There is wrath, but God does answer prayers and remembers His mercy and love and will help His people through (Habakkuk 3:2).
Finally, the Lutheran Study Bible (ESV) reminds us, “Much in our lives brings anguish, fear, and even feelings of helplessness to our hearts (Psalm 25:16-18, Acts 14:22). God does humble us under His mighty hand, but He does so in order to lift us up.” See 1 Peter 5:6-11. So much more could be said about this little book of prophecy, but I pray that this study has been helpful to all of us in living by God’s grace through faith, no matter what is going on around us.
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered April 7, 2013
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
This is the Second Sunday of the Easter season. For the next six weeks, in place of the usual Old Testament lesson is a reading from the Book of Acts, the history of the early Christian church. The only Old Testament reading for this week is the Psalm, Psalm 148. This psalm calls upon all of creation, from the angels, the hosts in the heavens above and the sun, moon, and stars, to all that exists on the earth, including us human beings, to praise the Lord. He is the Creator and Preserver of all, and especially He is praised for “”raising up ”the “Horn” of salvation for us, our victorious Savior, Jesus Christ. (See Luke 1:68-70, 77-79.)
The Gospel lesson is from John 20:19-31. We hear that the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening and showed them He had truly risen from the dead. Thomas was not there, though, and would not believe that Jesus had risen until he saw Him about a week later, along with the other disciples. Then he called Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” We also hear that these and all Scriptures were written so that we too could believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” and “have Life in His Name.”
The Epistle lesson is from Revelation 1:4-18. John, one of those apostles, had been exiled later in his ministry to the island of Patmos because of sharing “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” Jesus, now the Risen Lord in the glory of heaven, appeared again to John and told him to write down what he saw and heard and send it to seven designated churches, representing all of God’s believers and churches. Jesus affirmed that He is “alive forevermore” and has the “keys” for overcoming death and giving eternal life (to all who believe in Him and His saving work and in the Father and the Holy Spirit).
The reading from Acts is Acts 5:12-20 (21-32). The apostles in the early church were preaching and teaching in Jerusalem and were enabled by the Lord to do healings and other miracles. More men and women were coming to believe in Jesus, and the high priest and the Sadducees (who were jealous and did not believe in resurrections and life after death) had the apostles arrested and put in prison. An angel miraculously helped them escape and told them to keep teaching about Jesus. Again, the authorities brought them in, and Peter and the other apostles said that they had to “obey God rather than men” and would keep telling others about the Risen Lord Jesus and “repentance” and “forgiveness of sins” that came through Him.
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Last week, we heard God’s warning of judgment not only for the sinful people of Judah, but also for the Chaldeans, the people of the Babylonian empire who would inflict such judgment because of their own evil and sinful violence and worship of idols they had made and even worship of themselves and their own power and strength. God was still in His holy temple, and people needed to wait in silence for Him to act in the right way and time.
Chapter Three began, then, with a prayer of Habakkuk as “the prophet” of God. The prayer is only one verse, verse two. Verse one indicates that what Habakkuk wrote was set to music and likely used in temple worship. The word “Shigionoth” probably describes the style of music, with high emotion, reeling back and forth.
A very similar word is used in Psalm 7. There are musical notations, “Selah,” also at the end of verses 3,9, and 13, as you can find in a number of Psalms, like Psalm 57 and 62. This may have to do with intensified music, as we still have in music today, with notations for being louder and softer (forte and pianissimo). Verse 19 also has a note for the choirmaster in the temple and for use of stringed instruments, that one also finds in some of the psalms. The same Hebrew word for “prayer” is found also in Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102, and 142, regarding prayers by Moses and David and others.
The prayer of Habakkuk, in response to what God had revealed to him, is just verse 2. Habakkuk said that he had “heard” what the Lord said and that His “work” was going to be a “fearful” thing, as He brought judgment. But Habakkuk prayed that in the midst of His “wrath” over sin, God would also “remember His mercy” toward sinners and “revive it” and “make it known” in the midst of many years to come. Habakkuk was praying that God would remember His promises to His people and especially the promise of the coming Messiah and His salvation.
Habakkuk 3:3-15 is God’s response back to Habakkuk and his prayer. As God responded to Habakkuk, He used many Old Testament words and images about what He had already done for His people and in the world. It was a way of saying that as God had done in the past, He would remember and do in His great power again, in showing mercy to His people.
Verses 3-5 use words from Deuteronomy 32:40-43 and 33:1-3, as “The Lord came from Mt. Sinai” in great glory with His holy ones, “with flaming fire” and “brightness” that shone from Seir (Teman) and from Mount Paran. This refers to His giving the Law to Moses and appearing like the sun, with its “rays” shining forth. Moses only had glimpses of the true glory of God and yet “shone” himself as he came down from the mountain. We know that our eyes could be damaged by staring at the sun. How much worse it would be for us sinners to see the Holy God now.
The power and judgment of God are also pictured in verses 5-7, with “pestilence and plague,” as happened with the Egyptians, when God rescued His people from them,, and earthquakes and the shaking of mountains and nations, as God’s people were brought into the Promised Land. Nomadic peoples like the “Midianites” and “Cushans,” who lived in “tents,” in “curtains,” trembled before God and His people, as they passed through. (In verse 7, Habakkuk said, “I saw” these things. Maybe God was giving him a vision, a glimpse of all these past events.)
Verses 8-10 refer to “rivers” and “the sea” and “raging waters” and “the deep” going forth. These seem to refer to events like the great flood (see Genesis 7:6,11 and 8:2) and God’s people passing through the Red Sea and the Jordan River and other such evidences of God’s power. Verse 10 may be a reference to when the sun stood still in Joshua 10:12-13 or simply that the sun and moon’s glory retreated at the great light and glory of God’s arrows and spears as He protected His people, as the Hebrew in this verse suggests.
Verse 14 may be an allusion to stories like David’s victory over Goliath, when the stone from his sling hit Goliath’s head and he then beheaded him (1 Samuel 17:41-51); or the story of how Jael killed the leader Sisera by driving a tent peg into his head (Judges 4:21). All these verses, including Habakkuk 3:12-13, picture God judging and defeating the “wicked” with His “spear” and “arrows” and at last, sparing and bringing mercy to His own people - Noah and His family, the children of Israeli and on and on.
God’s “chariots of salvation” (verse 8) were always at work through the centuries, and He worked “for the salvation of His people,” Israel, and especially for the sake of “His Anointed” (verse 13), the coming Savior, Jesus, who would be born through that line of Jewish people. Yet in the midst of all that, God’s people were often sinful and had to go through times of judgment and discipline and be called back to trust in the Lord.
Habakkuk 3:3-15 are difficult, because they speak of and allude to many events we don’t know so well and Scriptures we are not very familiar with. God was making the point, though, that in the past He often had to use “wrath and judgment” upon nations and even upon His own people; but He also always remembered His mercy and forgiveness and His saving plan. As He had done again and again in the past, God would again in the future show mercy to His chosen people. He would answer the prayer of Habakkuk. Even though there would be wrath and great trouble ahead for the Jews, God would again, in His time and plan, remember His mercy and promises.
In Habakkuk 3:16, Habakkuk responded again to God and showed that he had gotten the message. It was very upsetting that His people were going to have to such judgment (even though Habakkuk had in Chapter One complained that God seemed to be doing nothing about that evil in Judah). Habakkuk said, “My body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.”
It was going to be horrible to see Jerusalem and the temple and Judah overrun and destroyed and many people taken into captivity in Babylon for many years. Yet, Habakkuk said, “I will wait quietly for the day of trouble to come upon the people, the Babylonians, who invade us.” Justice would finally be done and God’s people would be spared, though it would be about 60-70 years later, with much trouble and suffering in between.
In the meantime, Habakkuk made, in a poetic way, one of the best descriptions of living by faith that is in the Scriptures. Read Habakkuk 3:17-19. Though everything seemed to go wrong (verse 17), Habakkuk would still “rejoice in the Lord” and have faith and joy “in the God of his salvation.” The Lord would be his “strength” and help him to keep going, like a deer still sure-footed in a rugged, mountainous place (Habakkuk 3:18-19). (This is a quotation from Psalm 27:1 and parts of Psalm 18:1-2, 30-35. Take a look at those passages, too.)
You might also read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paul had a ”thorn in the flesh,” some sort of physical ailment or other kind of trouble that would not go away, though he prayed and pleaded with God that it would leave him. God simply said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul was called simply to live by faith and trust God, no matter what. He said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Next week, we will have some closing comments and think about how we apply “living by faith” to our current world and local situations. What does living by God’s grace through faith mean for us now?
Sunday Apr 17, 2022
Sunday Apr 17, 2022
Sermon for Easter Sunday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered March 31, 2013
Friday Apr 15, 2022
Friday Apr 15, 2022
Friday Apr 15, 2022
Friday Apr 15, 2022
Sermon for Maundy Thursday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered March 28, 2013
Thoughts on the Lord’s Supper
A common concern in regard to a frequent celebration of the Holy Communion is that it will detract from the importance or special sacredness of the Lord’s Supper and reduce it to something commonplace.
The same objection can be made against worship services every Sunday, prayers at every meal, etc. Doing our worship and prayer without meaning is a constant temptation. But the solution to this problem is not to go to church less often, not to pray less, but to work by the power of the Spirit to make every service and every prayer meaningful and special.
The Holy Communion is always special; our Lord is always present, giving us His body and blood, moving into our lives with His strength and love and forgiveness. Those are things we need — not just occasionally but always. Those are things we need — and we cannot get too much of any of them.
Since the Lord’s Supper is so special and precious, God encourages us to prepare ourselves for it, by repentance, faith in Christ, and trust that His body and blood are really present in the Sacrament. Otherwise, we can actually take the Lord’s Supper to our harm.
St. Paul writes, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Corinthians 11:26-29).
Thus, the Lord’s Supper is both a very serious and a very joyous meal. May we all consider the greatness of our sin, and the even greater undeserved love of God, in giving us forgiveness in Christ’s blood in this special way. Then may we come with joy to the Lord’s table.