A Sermon for Pentecost 15 (Series C) - September 1, 2013

 

Sermon Text:      Hebrews 13:1-17

Title:                   “Seek the City that is to Come.”

I.       Often times we set our eyes on the city we live in today.

II.      We should be setting our eyes on the City that is to come.

BY SETTING YOUR EYES ON THE CROSS

YOU’VE SET YOUR EYES ON THE CITY THAT IS TO COME –

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

 

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

The sermon text for this Sunday, is taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 13 beginning at verse 1.  I would read again a portion of these verses…

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

I.

 

Today we have the tale of two cities.  No, I am not going to be talking about the story, The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  This tale is much more important, with eternal implications.

 

On the one hand we have the City of Darkness, a city that knows only evil.  Here in this city it is dangerous to walk alone.  Murder, rape, betrayal, robbery, all of these and much more are an everyday norm in this city.  It’s dirty and filthy and looks like no one has ever bothered to clean it up at all.  Trash blows down the streets and inky black smoke fills the air making it hard to even breathe.  Here you can be sure to hear gossip on every street corner.  Liars and schemers abound.  And here in this city there is no sun, only darkness. 

 

On the other hand there is the City of Light, a city that knows only good.  Here in this city it is safe to walk alone.  Kindness, love, happiness, honesty, all of these and much more are an everyday norm in this city.  It’s clean and sparkling and looks like it has never seen dirt.  Beautiful music fills the air and the smell of freshness blows down the street making it easy to breathe.  Here you can be sure to hear praise on every street corner.  Angels and saints abound.  And here in this City there is the Son of God for light and there is no darkness.

 

Which of these cities would you chose to live in?  Which of these cities captures your imagination?  Which of these cities tickles your fancy?  Which would you choose the first city, the City of Darkness, or the second city, the City of Light? 

 

Would you be surprised if I told you the city you love the most is the first one – the City of Darkness?  Would it shock you if I told you that here – in this city where evil drips from everything – here you feel most at home?

 

Just ask some of the inhabitants – they’ll tell you. 

 

“In that rickety old house across the street lives Adam and Eve, they are long time members of this community, in fact, the oldest residents.  They will tell you of a time when they actually lived in the City of Light.  They were able to walk and talk with God and had the run of the place.  They had every delicious fruit imaginable to eat.  The only rule was to not eat from a certain Tree in the middle of the Garden.  They gave up the City of Light for that one Tree and took up residence here, in the City of Darkness.

 

“Next door you will find Noah.  He – like everyone else here – inherited the sin of his ancestors and now, like all, must live in the City of Darkness.  He found favor with God, but after God saved him and his family, Noah got drunk.

 

“Down the street is Abraham.  He too found favor with God.  And after God had promised him a son, he and his wife thought she was too old to have a baby, so they sent him off with her younger servant.  And she did have a baby, but it wasn’t the baby God had promised.

 

“On the other side of those railroad tracks lives David.  He was just a poor shepherd from Bethlehem, but God made him king of his people, and David had everything a person could want, money, fame, a beautiful wife.  In fact, they say he was a man after God’s own heart.  You know what happened to him?  He wanted another woman, so he had the husband killed and then took the woman to be his own.

 

“Across town there is man who lives in a shack.  His name is Paul.  He once was a teacher of the Law, a higher up in the religion of God, a Pharisee.  He above all should have known the Scriptures better than most and should have seen the signs of the coming Messiah.  But he didn’t.  Instead, he persecuted those who did, ran them off into jail and even had some of them killed.  What a shame.

 

“These are just some of the people you will run into here in the City of Darkness.  You know what? I forgot to introduce myself.  I’m Pastor Smith – but down here we kinda keep the pastor part out of it.  Now here we are – a nice little hovel right near the exit of this alley.  Yup nice and run down – built by your own sins.  Don’t let the rats scare you – they’re pretty harmless.  If you have any questions –well you see that dirty, old, filthy tin shed down there at the end of the alley – you see that? That’s my little place here in the City of Darkness.  You come get me if you need any help.  Have a nice day.”

 

We can hope for nothing better than this – and will probably get worse than we can imagine.  This is the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Here on these streets where we find ourselves in our sin, is the moaning and groaning of a world separated from God.  Here is our eternity.

II.

 

But you know what?  There is more to the story isn’t there?  There was a Man sent by God to live among the people of the City of Darkness.  Although He had no evil in Him – He lived among those who were.  He was the only Light in the City of Darkness.  And His Light burned bright - bright as the sun, and the darkness was not able to overcome it.  He lived a life that was contrary to the ones lived by the people of the City of Darkness.  He loved His neighbor as Himself and He loved God with all of His heart, soul and mind.  In fact, He loved neighbor and God perfectly.  So much so, that He died on a cross on that hill over there, not because of His sin, for he had no sin, but for the sins of the City of Darkness.

 

It was three days later that He was raised from the grave.  And He told His followers, “Believe in Me and you no longer have to live in the City of Darkness, you can come back to the City of Light that your neighbor’s Adam and Eve once knew and live connected to God forever!” 

 

They asked Him how this was possible, and Jesus replied, “It’s really rather simple I died in your place to forgive your sin.  And because you believed in Me you now get to join Me at the great Banquet in Heaven.  Come join the feast in the City of Light forever.”  Amen.

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

 

+Soli Deo Gloria +

A Sermon...Free Text on Romans 8:28 - August 4, 2013

Sermon Text:            Romans 8:28

 Title:               “All Things for Good? Or All Things for Good!.”

 

I.          Does God really work all things for our good?

II.          Indeed God works all things for our good!

 

In the name of the Father and the Son + and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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

The sermon text for this Sunday is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the church at Rome chapter 8 verse 28…

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (ESV)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The theme of the sermon this morning is…

 

GOD INDEED WORKS

ALL THINGS

FOR OUR GOOD

AND HIS PURPOSE

FOR THOSE FOUND

IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST

 

Now let’s begin to unpack that.

We don’t have to go very far into Holy Scripture to find the LORD doing His miraculous work turning bad things for good – evil things for His purpose  

We come across this supernatural phenomenon toward the end of the first book of Moses.  In Genesis we come to meet Jacob – or by his new God given name Israel – and his twelve sons.  There is one son in particular that Jacob seems to dote on a bit more than the rest – and that son is Joseph.  Joseph’s brothers are filled with jealousy and rage against this favored one – first he gets a very expensive, luxurious coat from Dad and then he starts telling his brothers about his dreams where he is highly favored and his brothers bow to him.   So they plot to kill him – but cooler heads prevail and instead they sell him off into slavery. 

How many of you would have liked to sell your brother or sister off into slavery even if only for a day or two?!

Joseph ends up in Egypt as a slave and then gets thrown into jail for something he didn’t do and is seemingly left to rot away in a dungeon – this favored one of Israel.  Doesn’t sound too good for Joseph does it?

Here is Joseph – this seventeen year old young man in the prime of his life and things seem to be going from bad to worse.

Sound familiar? Isn’t this just like our everyday lives here in this fallen world? Don’t we everyday think to ourselves, “Can it really get any worse?”  The car breaks down on the way to work and we miss work that day.  Then there is the call from the school later in the day that our child is sick and we need to go pick him up and while we are on the phone we smell that the crock pot is on fire and the smoke detectors are going off.  Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

It happens here at church though too doesn’t it?  We lose our pastor to a Call.  Our enrollment in school is down.  We have to close our daycare.  Church attendance ain’t what it used to be – which in turn means giving is down – which in turn means we can’t afford a pastor!  To make matters worse everyone at church is grumbling and unhappy and pointing fingers of blame.  Instead of following what we have all been instructed do by our sainted Dr. Luther in the Small Catechism – by putting the best construction on everything – we cut each other at meetings with belittling comments and back biting Sounds all too familiar doesn’t it?

And then we have St. Paul in our text today who writes…

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Yeah right brother! Are you serious?! How is that even possible! Does God really work all things for our good?

II.

Yes – dear brothers and sisters in Christ – He does. Sometimes we are shown that very specifically and other times we don’t ever know.

Joseph knew.  He was shown how the LORD of all is merciful in His kindness.  What seemed like a very bad thing that happened to Joseph, the LORD turned for the good of His people.  Joseph ended up getting out of jail because of his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams that lead to the salvation of not only the Egyptians – but also his very own family.

Moses writes in Genesis 50…

“Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. "” (Genesis 50:17-21, ESV)

As for us?  Maybe the reason the car broke down was because the LORD didn’t want you dying in the towers that day.  Or it was because He didn’t want your house to burn down.

Maybe there is a reason all of the things are happening here at our beloved Emmaus.  I don’t have a crystal ball that allows me to ask questions and determine the future for our church and school.  I guess we just have to trust the LORD like our sermon hymn we just sang states.  I know this – we could do a far better job of handling our troubles and strife here.

St. Paul says several things to the church at Thessalonica that shout for our scrutiny and examination this morning. St. Paul writes…

"And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia." (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7, ESV)

In much affliction the church at Thessalonica was joyful in the Holy Spirit and an example to other churches!

He goes on to say to the Thessalonians…

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. " (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11, ESV)

We could do with some encouraging and building up around here!

He continues…

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV)

In all circumstances we are to rejoice! 

But you say, “How can we possibly begin to rejoice?” 

It’s all about the cross.  Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are all for you.  In Christ’s cross we have the forgiveness of sins, redemption, life and salvation.  Our Savior has taken the sins of doubt and lack of trust and wanting to do it my way and belittling talk and back biting and self-centeredness and our terrible attitudes and our grumbling and complaining all to the cross – where they remain for the faithful forever!

And these are all given right here from this pulpit, from this font, from this altar – all for you and me – every Sunday!  And it is in this new life that we live in Christ – freed from all of our sin – that we can begin to rejoice in all circumstances – even the bad, evil ones.  For we know that our heavenly Father is a merciful loving God who indeed works all things for good for His children.

St. Paul writes to the church at Corinth in his second letter…

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies." (2 Corinthians 4:8-10, ESV)

Here St. Paul speaks true Law and Gospel words.  It won't be easy seeing the good that the LORD will work from the bad in our lives - but we know He will - this we can trust.

As our sainted CFW Walther would say, "God grant it!" Amen.

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

+ Soli Deo Gloria +