A Sermon.. Holy Trinity Sunday May 30, 2010

Sermon Text:  1 Kings 19:14-21

Title: “To What Do You Bend Your Knees?”

I.       To worship Baal is to worship the devil.

II.      Our possessions are our Baals.

III.    The LORD punishes the wicked but rewards the faithful.

EVERLASTING LIFE IS OURS THROUGH THE FAITFULNESS OF JESUS...

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The sermon text for this Holy Trinity Sunday, is taken from 1 Kings, chapter 19…

He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. 17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I.

          There are a few books out on the market today that deal with church signs.  Not signs of the coming LORD, but actual physical signs in front of the church building.  Many of these are very clever and I’ve seen one that stands out to me today as we go through this text.  The sign reads - “Try sending God Knee Mail.”  And of course this is speaking about worship and praying to the one true God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It means that we should get down on our knees and pray to our Father in heaven, that we should bow down before our Creator.

          In our text today we see that there has been a lot of knee mail sent, and not all of it to our God in heaven.  Quite a lot of it has been sent to Baal, a god of the people that inhabited the promised land prior to the coming of the Israelites.  Baal was worshiped for many things - fertility, good crops, good fortune, and so on.  Those who followed Baal sacrificed offerings including human sacrifices, and including their own children.  Priests of Baal danced around the altars of Baal in a frenzy slashing themselves with knives.  There were some rites performed before the altars of Baal that are too graphic to mention here.  Baal was very prominent in the land during the times of the Old Testament. 

          And in time Israel began to worship Baal too.  The Israelites saw the prosperity of those around them, they saw the “fun” of worship and they too longed for possessions and wealth and pleasure and so they bent their knees to Baal.

          This brings us to our text today.  At this point in the history of Israel we have the great prophet Elijah, a servant called by the LORD to speak to the people of Israel the truth of the LORD.  He is to get them to turn from their wicked ways.  And what wicked ways have they been about?  Elijah says in our text…

“For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword…”

          The LORD’S wrath against His children’s wicked ways is revealed to Elijah, and the time for turning away from those wicked ways has come to an end.  The LORD’S patience has run out.  His wrath has been kindled against those who have given over to following this Baal, truly the devil.  He burns with anger against His children who have time and time again disobeyed Him and now the time for turning back to Him is over.  There will be no more chances.  Elijah and other prophets have preached and preached the Word of God to the people and many have not listened.  And now their time has ended and they are put to the sword.  For the LORD says to Elijah…

“Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.”

Many thousands of God’s chosen people were lost in those days.  They were time and time and time again told by many prophets that they needed to turn from their evil ways.  And what was their response?  They killed the prophets and went about their sinning of worshiping another.  And here in our text today time has run out.  There is no more time to turn back to the LORD.  They are slaughtered by the sword and are lost forever.  Their cries of pain and anguish still echo in hell today these many thousands of years later.

II.

          Is it so different today?  Are their Baals in our world today?  You bet there are.  Pick up a paper, turn on a radio or TV, and there you see it, sin, death and the devil, the unholy trinity as Luther called it.  Murder, rape, lying, stealing, sex, violence, and the list goes on and on.

          But it’s not just someone else who has set up Baals in their lives.  We too do the same thing don’t we?  We too lie and cheat and steal.  We too murder with our wicked tongues.  We too beat our wives and kids.  We too live for things and possessions.  Make no mistake, we too set up altars to our various favorite Baals in our lives.

          And the time is coming when the LORD’S patience will run out again and the end of the world will be upon us.  And how will the LORD find you?   Will you be kneeling to Baal or to the LORD?

III.

          Our Father in heaven IS a loving God.  But He is also a just God and a righteous and holy God and He cannot abide sin.  Moses writes in Numbers…

“The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty…”

In this short verse we have the Law and the Gospel plainly spoken.  The Law is that there is punishment awaiting the guilty.  And for those who are found in the LORD, they are forgiven.  For the LORD is slow to anger and is overflowing in steadfast love. 

          We have that love in the gift of grace that is Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior.  Steadfast love means a love that we can trust, a love that is abounding.  We receive that overflowing, trusting love through His Son, our Savior.  There on the cross is poured out the anger and wrath against every generation that has walked the earth and that ever will walk the earth.  And instead of wrath and anger being poured out on us, we have the abounding steadfast love poured out on us. 

          For just as blood and water flowed from the side of our Savior Jesus on the cross, we are partakers in both.  We have been washed by water and the Word in our Baptism and we have eaten His body and we have drunk His blood, all of this for the forgiveness of our sins.

          Today’s text speaks of kneeling in worship and prayer to our God.  As both sinner and saint we find that we are kneeling sometimes to the Baal in our life and sometimes to the LORD.  But thanks be to God we are not found guilty – but forgiven in “the blood of the Lamb Who takes away the sin of the world!” And through Him - through the faithfullness of Jesus - we are forever found kneeling before the Holy Trinity... Father, Son + and Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

The peace of the LORD which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

+ Sola Deo Gloria +