A Faithful Mother

1 Samuel 1:1-28 Whether you are a “stay-at-home” mom or also work outside the home—whether you have just one child or several—whether you are in the midst of diapers and nursing-- or your children have children of their own—all faithful mothers  have some characteristics in common. 

You regard your children as blessings from God—you are women of prayer, especially for your family—you trust in the promises of God—and you raise your children to know and love the Lord.

We are going to see these characteristics exemplified today in the story of a faithful mother named Hannah.  The Bible says: 

Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

            Hannah was blessed with a husband who loved her and she had ample material goods.  But when Elkanah asked her, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”--I’m not really sure that he wanted to know the answer to that question.  Hannah desperately desired the blessing of children. The Bible says:

 “Children are a heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so as children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.    

We live in a culture that has lost that view.  Children are seen as unwanted burdens or inconveniences.  Child abuse has skyrocketed in recent decades and the number of children who have been aborted numbers in the tens of millions. 

That is why it is so important to renew a biblical world view regarding children and motherhood that:  sees children as a blessings--motherhood as a high calling—and the command to be fruitful and multiply as God’s will for marriage. 

And just as a side note-- there are still marriages where couples cannot conceive and yet they still desire to be obedient to God and so in love they choose to adopt.  There are few more loving things that a couple can do than adopt children because adoption is particularly reflective of our heavenly Father who has adopted each of us into his family. 

Whether they are adopted or biological, the faithful mother knows that children are a gift from God.  

Secondly, we see in Hannah’s life that the faithful mother is a woman of prayer.  In one of the most poignant passages of Scripture, the Bible tells us that “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.”   

So why was Hannah able to keep praying when her life was miserable?  What did Hannah know about God when it comes to prayer that we need to know? 

First of all she knew that the God who loved her was in control of all things.  In the next chapter, she says:  “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.  The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and exalts.”

Can you imagine what this knowledge meant to her—that God was in charge and yet he had chosen to let her remain childless?  And yet such was her faith that she did not give up or blame God or even ask why—she simply came to him again and again in prayer because she knew that not only did he rule all things-- but second of all, he had the power to change things. 

There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that God knew who she was; knew what her situation was; and desired to bless her in her need.  She knew that the mighty God who ruled the universe-- loved her and cared for her --and the concerns of one poor woman were his concerns too and so she came to him in prayer.

What we see so beautifully portrayed in Hannah’s life is that faithful mothers are women of prayer.  Whether you are joyful or sorrowful—whether your faith is mighty or weak, God invites you to come to him in prayer and pour out your heart to him just like Hannah did.  The Lord wants you to know what Hannah knew:  that he is in control—even in hard times-- and that he can be trusted because he cares for us.  

So far we’ve seen that a faithful mother knows that her children are blessings of God—that a faithful mother is a woman of prayer—and now we see that a faithful mother trusts in the promises of God.  The Bible says:

Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."  She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. 

            What is so striking to me about this whole story is how it revolves around the Old Testament place of worship at Shiloh.  Elkanah and Hannah were faithful believers who were regular in worship—earnest in prayer—and serious in their faith.  Hannah poured out her heart to the Lord there at Shiloh—not because she couldn’t pray anywhere else-- but because that was the place where God had promised his people he would be in such a way that they could be certain of his presence.  Eli the priest who served there at Shiloh had one purpose on earth and that was to speak the Word of God to the people of God who worshiped there-- and Hannah believed what she had been promised.  

            The Bible says that when she left there that day her face was no longer downcast.  In other words, she took to heart what she had heard in worship from God’s servant and trusted God’s promises.

That same dynamic still continues in God’s house to this day as we come to the Lord with our sins and burdens and receive from him forgiveness and help. 

I look out at this congregation and I see wonderful mothers.  But I also know that even the most faithful of mothers have made mistakes and have regrets and so I invite you to follow faithful Hannah’s example and believe what you hear here today in God’s house:  that your sins are forgiven—that God loves you—that he cares about what weighs heavy on your heart this morning--that he promises to hear your prayers and bless you. 

That was the promise that Eli made to Hannah and the fulfillment of that promise took on flesh and bone in the birth of her son Samuel.  The Bible says that:  In the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."  The Bible is clear that Samuel was conceived normally, but Hannah also knew that her son was God’s gift to her. 

In the same way, God’s promises to bless and help us, have taken on flesh and blood in the birth of another Son—God’s own Son Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.

It is in the blessing of God’s Son Jesus Christ—in his death and resurrection-- that we know that the promises of God are true—that the Lord hears our prayers for mercy and help—that he desires to make right those things that are broken in our lives.   

So far we seen that the faithful mother knows her children are gifts from God—that the faithful mother is a woman of prayer—that the faithful mother trusts the promises of God—and finally we see that the faithful mother makes sure that her children are brought up to know and worship the Lord.  The Bible says:

After he was weaned, Hannah took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. And he worshiped the LORD there.

            Elkanah and Hannah’s faithfulness was passed on to their young son.  Just as they were regular in their attendance in the Lord’s house, so from a very young age was their son brought to the Lord’s house. 

This scene has been repeated again and again, millions of times over the last three thousand years as faithful mothers have seen it as their first duty to the their children to bring them to the Lord’s house to be baptized and begin their own life with God. 

And what’s more, Hannah herself was a faithful witness to the goodness of God.  When she brought Samuel to the temple she wanted to make sure that Eli knew that she was the woman who had prayed so passionately for a son and now the Lord had granted her prayers.

Faithful mothers still follow her example and bear witness to the goodness of God to those around them and about much the same kind of things.  Whatever our station in life—whatever our daily routine—the Lord can use us mightily to accomplish his saving purposes by simply telling what God has done for us.

That’s what Hannah did.  She said, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the LORD”.  Hannah’s faith was not just words.  She kept her promise to the Lord and brought her son to be a servant in God’s house.  He was just a little fellow, and it must have been a hard thing for her to do, but that’s what being a faithful mother is:  doing those hard things that are for the good of our families in obedience to God.  

Dear sisters in Christ, on this Mother’s Day I pray that you would follow Hannah’s example and receive your children as blessings from God—that you would be women of prayer—that you would trust in the promises that God has made to you in his Son—and especially that you would raise your children to know the Lord and entrust them into his care—confident that he loves them even more than you do.  Amen.

A Prayer for Mother's Day

Gracious Heavenly Father, grant us a faith like Hannah’s to come to You in prayer, believing that You will hear and answer us for our good:

We give You thanks for our mothers.  Empower all mothers by Your Spirit to be women after the example of Hannah:  loving their children and guiding them in Your ways so that they would give You glory and be a blessing to their mothers.  Especially do we pray for Martin as he celebrates a birthday, that You would bless him in body and soul all his days.

Rid our nation of those besetting sins that destroy Your good gifts of marriage and family and children.  Especially do we ask You to protect the unborn and open the hearts of Your people to welcome children into their families by adoption.  Give our elected leaders wisdom to enact policies that would strengthen rather than weaken the bonds between husbands and wives and parents and children.

Lead all Christian parents to encourage their children to pursue church work even as Hannah gave her son Samuel to You for the service in Your house.  Bless all of those who are preparing to serve the church in the ministry of the Word. 

Let Your favor rest upon our families that a true and living faith in Your Son Jesus Christ would be our heritage from one generation to another.  Help us to be Your witnesses at home so that those we love would see in us a true and living faith. 

Strengthen the marriages of Your people that husbands and wives would rejoice in one another and count one another the greatest earthly blessing you bestow.  Especially do we pray for Ryan and Robin as they begin their lives together, that they dwell in love for You and one another all their days.

As You looked with compassion upon the needs and sorrows of Hannah, so look with compassion upon those who stand in need of Your help and come to their aid.  Especially do we pray for Myrtle and Moses and J.A. and Barbara who need your healing.  Bring safely to their heavenly home those for whom death draws near, especially Fran.  Comfort all of those who mourn Earlene’s passing and assure them that You are with them in their grief.

We thank and praise You for all Your blessing and tender mercies, especially for the rain of this last week.  Continue to grant us all those things that we need for this body and life until that day You bring us to our heavenly home.  All of things we ask in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, firmly believing that You hear and answer for his sake. Amen.

The Resurrected Christ Has Prepared a Home for Us in Heaven

Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27 The holy Christian church includes from people every nation, language, and tribe.  It includes people who lived before the time of Christ and those who have lived since his ascension.  It includes men and women, adults and children, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, famous and obscure.  The holy Christian church spans the reaches of space and time.

But for all its height and depth and breadth—despite the countless multitudes who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior--no matter how diverse our backgrounds—we are all headed to one and the same heavenly home.

Before Jesus went to the cross, he promised that he was going to prepare a place for us so that where he is—we would also one day live.  That is God’s purpose for us—that we would live with him forever—that is what God created in the Garden of Eden.

But sin destroyed our home with God and man was driven from the garden and from that moment on we became a pilgrim people—strangers and aliens in this world.  That is why Jesus came to earth as a man—to bring us back to God--make a new home for us with God.  Today in Revelation we have a picture of that home. 

All of us have ideas in our mind of what our eternal dwelling place with God will be like.  Some of those pictures come from movies or paintings or descriptions in books.  Some of them come from our own imagination or from the culture around us.  But today we have a description of what our eternal home will be like from an eyewitness who saw it.  John writes:

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 

            When the apostle Paul talked about marriage he said that the husband and wife become one flesh and that this one-flesh union is a profound mystery because it actually gives us a picture of the relationship that exists between Christ and the church.  And here in these verses we see the same picture:  Jesus Christ and his bride, the church.

This picture of God as “husband” and his people as “wife” is found throughout the Bible and it portrays the closeness and care and love and intimacy that exists between God and his people—so close that we are members of Christ’s body. 

It is utterly false to think of God as disinterested in our struggles and detached from our lives.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  He loves and cares for us and wants us to be his people and live with him forever.

When John saw heaven—he saw us—the people of God, safe and sound in the glorious home that Jesus has prepared for us, a city filled with the glory of God.  John said that the angel:

carried [him] away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed [him] the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

            That our heavenly home is described as the “holy city of Jerusalem” and “having the glory of God” and “radiant and beautiful” is a powerful testimony to the saving work of Jesus Christ-- for the earthly Jerusalem was anything but holy and glorious and radiant! 

Now, it was meant to be that way—but sin destroyed its purpose to the extent that during that same last week of our Lord’s life before the cross when he promised to prepare a place for us-- he mourned over the city where he would die and said:  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem how I longed to gather you to myself but you were not willing!”  God’s judgment would fall on Jerusalem, the temple would be destroyed, and to this day it is a place of hatred and conflict.

But the saving work of Jesus in his death and resurrection will extend even there and the place that is called the “city of peace” will truly become that once again as the Prince of Peace gathers us to himself in a new Jerusalem that is more beautiful than we can even begin to imagine—a home for those who trust in him.  John says of that place that is has:

A great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.  And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

            One of the special features of Revelation is the symbolic use of numbers and we see that here.  There are twelve gates and twelve angels and twelve tribes and twelve apostles.  The number twelve is the product of the number for God—three—and the number for man—four-- and so twelve stands for the church throughout Revelation—how God has multipliedhis kingdom among men.   

In every age there have been those who have believed in and trusted in God and his promised salvation.  In the days before Christ believers trusted in the promises of God that came through the prophets and priests and patriarchs.  In the days since Christ believers have taken their place in God’s kingdom through faith in the words of the apostles concerning Jesus. 

The important point to remember is this:  there is no gate there for Buddhists—there is no gate there for Muslims—there is no gate there for the atheist or agnostic or anyone who will not come into that beautiful place by believing the message of God’s prophets and apostles.  And it is a beautiful place!  John says that:

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Our home with God is described by John in these verses and the verses that follow in terms of gold and pearls and precious stones and there is a reason for that beautiful picture.

God has given each of us a love for beautiful things and there is no shame in that for a love of beauty comes from God who created all things beautiful and good. 

We love to travel to beautiful places like the hill country of Texas.  We “ooh and ahh” over some magnificent piece of jewelry.  We are awestruck by great works of art and music.  These are gifts from God.

It is only when beautiful things are seen as an end unto themselves that our love for beauty become dis-ordered and sinful because our God-given love of beauty is intended to make us yearn for our beautiful home in heaven.

God wants us to desire a beauty that is beyond this life—a beauty that cannot be marred or tarnished by the passing of time—a beauty that is eternal.  That is the kind of beautiful home we have in heaven where we will live forever in the presence of the One who made all things beautiful and we will worship him face to face.  John writes:

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

            The temple in Jerusalem was dedicated so that people could come into the presence of God.  Now it’s not as if God was somehow contained in that place—that is a pagan idea and the LORD specifically refuted it for he fills heaven and earth.  But the temple was set aside so that the people could hear God’s Word and see in the sacrifices that their sins were forgiven.  It was a beautiful place and one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Our place of worship is dedicated for the same purpose—so that we can hear God’s word and receive the sacrifice of the cross under bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins.  And this place is also a beautiful worship space filled with color and light.

But man-made places of worship will not be needed in heaven for God himself will be there.  No longer mediated by words on a page or bread and wine, we will worship God face-to-face and we will live in his glorious presence forever in that place where there is no darkness because the One who is the light of the world fills it with his light.  John says that:

By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

            When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, the devil took him to a very mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to Jesus:  All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.  Jesus refused and responded by telling him that worship is due to God alone. 

Here we have John, taken by the Spirit to a very high mountain and what does he see but the glory and honor of the nations and their kings (all of those things the devil tempted Jesus with) streaming into heaven and casting it all before Jesus as that which is rightfully his. 

What a comfort there is in this scene for us!  What a lesson!  Nothing of real and lasting value is EVER lost by trusting in God and doing his will.  The way to glory, the way to honor, the way to life with God in heaven goes through the cross and the sacrificial Lamb who died there.  It did for Jesus and it does for us too.  John writes that in our heavenly home:

Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

            Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He was sent by his heavenly Father to give us a rich, abundant life that death cannot end.  God intends that we would live with him forever in the beautiful home that the resurrected Christ has prepared for us—a place where evil has been defeated by Jesus.

            But we should be very, very clear that it is ONLY those whose sins have been washed away in the blood of the Lamb—only those who have trusted in Jesus as their Savior-- who have their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and a home in heaven. 

Life with God here on earth- and life with God in eternity- is found in only one place and that is in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  May God the Holy Spirit keep us in faith until that day that God calls us to our heavenly home prepared for us by the resurrected Christ!  Amen.

Saved by Grace: A Funeral Sermon for Henry

Ephesians 2:8-10 Today we gather together to give thanks to God for the life of our friend and fellow Christian, Henry Hooper—a dearly loved husband and father and grandfather, friend and neighbor in this community for decades and member of this congregation.

            There is no shame or embarrassment in our grief and tears—even our Lord wept beside the graveside of his friend Lazarus.  But we do not grieve as those who have no hope because we know that Henry is glad to be at home with the Lord—glad to be back at Elvira’s side as they gather together before the throne of the Lamb in heaven, saved by God’s grace.

When we hear that word “saved” many Christians think of a particular moment when they decided to follow Jesus as their Lord.  Others think of the day that they were baptized and the saving benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection that became their own.

But the Bible writers use that word “saved” to describe ALL of God’s saving work on our behalf—stretching from eternity to eternity:  that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world—that he has sent his Son to live and die and rise again to bring us back to him—that the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel to faith in Jesus—and that he has promised to watch over us through the trials and difficulties of life and bring us safely home.  That is what it means to be saved—just exactly what God did in Henry’s life.

Last Sunday evening our Lord Jesus Christ called Henry to his eternal home where there is no more sorrow—no more suffering.  The pain and frailty of the last years of Henry’s life are over and now there is only peace and rest for him in the Lord’s presence until that great resurrection day when the Lord will raise Henry’s body from the grave, never to die again, glorified like Christ’s own resurrected body.

This is the faith that comforts us today—a faith fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection—a faith that God’s people have always had.  Even all the way back in Job’s day he would confess the resurrection faith that comforts us today:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. 

That is the Good News for those of us who mourn Henry’s death—that is what we are talking about when we say that Henry was SAVED by God’s grace:  that Almighty God has done everything necessary to bring Henry safe and sound to his heavenly home, prepared especially for him by Jesus Christ who is the reason that we can count on having a gracious God in the first place.

You see, the Bible teaches that all of us by nature are objects of God’s wrath.  On account of the broken human condition- and on account of our own sins- we are born into this world alienated by God, sinful from the moment of our conception and struggling with sin throughout our lives.  That is who we are by nature—none of are immune. 

But even while we are still sinners, God loves us and he has sent his Son into the world to bring us back to himself.  Jesus’ holy life and his terrible death on the cross, and his glorious resurrection is the reason that we can count on having a God of grace who loves and saves us and gives us a life that death cannot destroy.

God’s gracious attitude towards Henry on account of Christ was not just shown in bringing Henry to faith—it was shown to him throughout his life.  God ordered his life so that he would be born to faithful Christian parents who loved him and saw that he was raised in the Church and baptized and taught the Word of God. 

God’s grace was shown in the way that he brought Elvira and Henry together all the way back in high school and gave them all those happy years together and the family that is seated here today. 

God’s grace was evident in how Henry was given meaningful work to do and friends and neighbors who loved him and cared about him.  Henry’s entire life was a testimony to the graciousness of our loving God and Henry responded to God’s grace and received it in faith.

The Bible says that we are saved by God’s grace through faith and this is not our own doing but is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one can boast.  So it was it Henry’s life.  Henry was a man with a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ-- and even there that faith was the result of God’s gracious work on his behalf.

As a child Henry heard the Word of God in church and Sunday School and was baptized and the Holy Spirit did his work in Henry’s heart just as God promises—bringing him to faith in Jesus and keeping him in faith in Jesus until his life’s end. 

I had an opportunity to visit with Henry just a few days before he died and pray by his bedside.  Even in that late hour, when he was very sick indeed, Henry also offered up his own prayers to God, trusting that God would hear and answer his children when they pray.  Henry’s last thoughts on this earth were of the God who saved him by grace.

That kind of deep and abiding faith in Jesus was evident throughout Henry’s life.  He was a faithful Christian man.  For decades he attended Trinity Lutheran Church here in Kingsville and for the last five years attended here at St. Paul.  He actively supported God’s work in this place.  He was faithful in attending worship services and Sunday School and the men’s Bible study. 

Here in church each week he would acknowledge that he was a sinner and then hear that God had forgiven him in Jesus Christ.  He would confess his faith in the one true Triune God and he would receive Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion. 

The work of the Holy Spirit brought him to faith as a boy- and kept him in faith as a man- until that moment last Sunday evening when he went home to be with the Lord.

Henry was a man who was thankful for God’s grace, faithful to the Word of God, willing to sacrifice what was comfortable and familiar to him for the sake of the truth and yet he knew about himself that his faith and salvation and obedience to Christ rested upon God’s grace, rather than his own strength, and this knowledge kept him humble—glad to give God the glory for the good in his life-- of which there was plenty.  The Bible says that:

We are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

            Last Monday morning when we learned that Henry had passed away, my wife texted me and told me how sorry she was to hear it—that he was such a fine Christian man—and he was! 

Sadly there are many people in our world who claim the name of Christian and yet the evidence of their faith is lacking and their lives are no different than those who have no faith at all!  That is not what God intends for his people.

That we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus MEANS that how we live our life will correspond to God’s grace and the faith in Jesus that we say that we have—not perfectly of course—but that we have a true and living faith means that the One who is our Savior will also be our Lord and we will order our lives by his word and will.

  The Bible says that God has saved us for a purpose:  that our lives would give glory to him and bear witness to the world around us in all that we say and do that God has saved us.  That’s the way it was in Henry’s life.

He gladly confessed that he was from beginning to end God’s workmanship—that who he was God’s doing ALONE!  But that same knowledge made him willing to do those good works that God had ordained for him to do—and so he did.

He was a willing worker in this congregation and a good neighbor and a kind father.  He served our nation and his fellow citizens in the Air Force.  He spent his work life serving farmers and ranchers in this area with his work in the USDA.

But especially he was a loving husband.  The last few years of their long marriage were often difficult for Henry and Elvira.  Elvira’s illness was a painful cross for them to bear.  But the love that Henry had for Elvira and the daily care and kindness that he extended to her was a blessing to see and an example for every husband on how he ought to treat his wife.

I know it was always in the back of his mind that what he hoped and prayed for was that his own health would remain strong enough to see her through to the end—and God answered those prayers and allowed Henry to finish his work as Elvira’s loving husband, seeing her safely home.

Now they are together again with all of their loved ones and friends and family members who have fought the good fight of faith and rest from their labors in the place that Jesus prepared for them.  Jesus tells us:

Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in my.  In my Father’s house are many rooms.  I go to prepare a place for you.

Henry knew that the way to his heavenly home was Jesus Christ who is the way and the truth and the life and so what Jesus especially wants us to believe this morning is that Henry is not just gone from us—Henry has gone home, saved by God’s grace—and trusting in Jesus we will one day join him and all the saints around the throne of the Lamb in his kingdom.  Amen.