General Prayer Pentecost 2a Proper 7

Gracious heavenly Father, You are our refuge and our fortress and we trust in You.  Hear us as we bring our prayers to You in Jesus’ name and help us by Your Spirit to pray for the things we ought and give voice to those which we cannot even name:

Watch over all who are persecuted for their faith in You and grant that they would find refuge in You.  Turn the hearts of their enemies and grant them repentance unto life.

Lord, You are a dread warrior who punishes evil and rewards good.  Upheld and guide all of those who serve as Your ministers for our good in the government.  Give them wisdom so that they would do what is right in Your sight and care for the weak and needy.  Protect our military men and women who serve in harm’s way.

Strengthen us with Your grace and the help of the Holy Spirit so that sin has no dominion over us.  Help us to use the members of our body as instruments of righteousness, serving our neighbor in their need.

We thank and praise You that You have set us free from sin and death by the perfect life and bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Since we live by Your grace, make us Your obedient children.

You have warned us that the wages of sin is death but You have also promised us that You give us eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Comfort all who mourn the death of loved ones with this good news, especially Caroline and her family as they mourn the death of Billy.  Assure them that he rests in Your presence.

Grant us the courage we need to always acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Prevent us from denying him by our words or deeds.  Help us as individuals and as a congregation to bear witness in our community and add to our fellowship those who are being saved.

We rejoice that Your knowledge of us is so great that even the hairs of our head are numbered and that You see our needs.  Grant us what we need for this body and life:  healing for those who are ill, hope for those who are discouraged, food and shelter for those who do not have the basics of life, and friends for the lonely.

We thank You for all Your good gifts.  Especially do we thank You this day for the gift of life that You have granted to Your servant Harley.  Bless her in body and soul all her days.

Lord, You are our dwelling place and refuge.  Keep far from us all evil and bring us at last to our heavenly home.  We ask it in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Have No Fear Of Persecution!

Matthew 10:5a, 21-33 In a jail in Sudan that was designed for 100 inmates but now holds 1200, a woman named Mariam is imprisoned.  She is chained to a dirt floor.  Imprisoned with her is her 20 month old son and a newborn baby girl she recently delivered without aid while remaining in chains.  Sometime in the next several weeks she will be given one hundred lashes and then when the baby is weaned (at about age two) Mariam will hanged by the neck until dead. 

What was her crime?  She is a Christian.  She was raised by an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian mother and she married an American Christian man.  She can make this all go away by simply renouncing her faith-- which she has refused to do. 

How did she come to this place of persecution and torment?  Her brother turned her in to the Muslim Sharia courts which sentenced her to be whipped and then put to death.  Jesus said:

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 

            We tend to forget it—but for most of the last two thousand years, to be a Christian meant being subject to persecution, oppression, and even martyrdom.

Stephen and James were killed by Jewish authorities.  Peter and Paul and countless others were killed by the Romans.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer and St. Maximilian Kolbe and the family of Corrie ten Boom and thousands of others were killed by the Nazis and millions of Ukrainian Christians were starved to death by the communists.  And who knows how many Christians are being killed at this moment in the Muslim world. 

Millions of Christian martyrs over the last two thousand years killed by their own countrymen, betrayed by their own neighbors, handed over by their own kinsmen.  Every one of them believed that it is only the one who endures to the end who will be saved.  Every one of them proved with their lives that it is possible to endure to the end—it is possible to remain steadfast in persecution—it ispossible to count our life with God more precious than our own life here on earth.  The Bible says: 

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 

What isstrange—at least from the perspective of most of the Christians who have ever lived—is how little persecution we Christians here in the United States have had to face.  And yet even that is changing. 

Right now in our country, Christian business owners will have to decide if they will provide services to events they find morally objectionable to keep their businesses.  Right now in our country, Christian organizations that feed and heal and educate our fellow citizens will have to decide if they will provide the means to kill unborn children and remain open- or if they will remain faithful to God’s Word on the sanctity of human life and lose their ministries.  Right now in our country, families and friendships are stretched to the breaking point as Christians try to love their friends and family members and co-workers without approving their sinful choices. 

The powers that be in government, industry, education, and media are all allied together and aligned against anyone like us who holds to the faith and morals of the Christian faith once delivered to the saints.  This is our time to be tested by fire.  Jesus promised that this is the way it would be for Christians until the day of his return.  He said:

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 

            Oppression, persecution, and mistreatment at the hands of those who do not share our faith in Jesus (or our commitment to his word) is the normal state of affairs for his church.  It should not surprise us-- but neither should we let it overwhelm us.  Jesus has promised that the very gates of hell will not prevail against his people the church.  Jesus has promised that he will not let us be tested beyond what we can bear.  And so as King of the world and King of the church he sets a limit on what the church can bear so that we are not overcome and fall away.

But why must there be persecution and oppression and hardship for us at all?  Why should the unbelieving world hate Christians in the first place?  Why will there be an unbroken band of martyrs until the Lord’s return?  What is the source of the world’s hatred?  Jesus says:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. 

            The world hates and persecutes and oppresses and kills Christians because the world hated and persecuted and oppressed and killed Jesus.  It’s just that simple.  When Christians live like Jesus—adopting his thinking and his ways and his life—we can expect for ourselves what he received—the hatred of the world.

But why is this?  Wasn’t Jesus kind and good?  Didn’t he help people?  Didn’t he forgive and love even his enemies?  He did.  But there was more. 

Jesus also completely overturned the thinking of the world.  He said that it is better to be last than first.  That it is better to serve than be served.  That it is blessedness to be treated poorly for doing good.  And not only did he overturn the thinking of the world—he insisted that his way--is the only way--to live and to think and to have a life with God.

He did not offer his life and his thinking as one way among many—he said that it was the only way—that he himself is the way and the truth and the life and that life with God is found only in him.

We Christians believe that.  And even though we do his deeds: feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and healing the sick and caring for the poor and weak (deeds which the world is glad enough to receive!)—when the same Christians insist that Jesus and his ways and thinking are the only way to live and think—we are hated by the world just like he was. 

It cannot help but be true that the disciples is not above the master and if they world once called Jesus the devil—they will regard his people in the same way.

When we Christians insist (as Jesus did) that he is God—when we maintain that his words about marriage and money and forgiveness must be followed—when we proclaim that he is the only way to God—we will be called every terrible name in the book, our motives will be questioned and condemned—and we will be counted people of hate rather than love.  But we must not be afraid of the hatred and persecution and oppression of the world.  Jesus says:

Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

            When we face persecution and oppression and hatred from the world, we have two choices:  we can fearfully remain silent or we can courageously bear witness to the truth.  What we cannot do is serve two masters:  the world and Jesus.  And yet there are many folks sitting in pews this morning who try to have it both ways. 

There are entire church bodies which have gone along with the thinking of the world on the great moral issues of the day.  There are Christians who cannot bear to lose a friendship or family member so they never speak up about what they believe.  There are believers who shrink back in fear when called upon to make some small sacrifice for their faith.

But if it is fear of others that makes us silent—if it is fear of embarrassment that makes us go along with the world—if it is fear of some loss that makes us willing to compromise the truth of God’s Word, Jesus says that there is something that we ought to fear more:  not those who can harm and hurt us for a time—but the One who can punish us eternally in the fires of hell and that is God.

Being called names and having our motives impugned is painful.  Losing our business or profession is frightening.  An embittered relationship is heartbreaking.  But no hardship of them—not even losing our lives—is more fearful than being punished forever in the fires of hell for abandoning our faith in Jesus Christ and turning our back on his Word. 

We may see some compromise with the truth as a small thing—we may wonder what the big deal is when it comes to trying to get along by going along in this world--but Jesus tells us that the stakes are eternal-- which is why it is such Good News that our heavenly Father is watching out for us as we live our lives here on earth.  Jesus says:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

            For every Mariam that the world knows about- there are tens of thousands of Christians who are laying in some dark prison cell, being raped by some Muslim barbarian, enslaved in some concentration camp.  They count for nothing be the measure of the world. 

But no matter how alone they are—no matter how insignificant in the world’s eyes—no matter how anonymous in the annals of history—they have a Father in heaven who knows every hair on their head, who hears every cry of pain, who sees every indignity that is done to them.  Jesus said that:  nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

We have a heavenly Father who loves us and values us so much that he has sent his own Son to die for us on the cross.  That is the value that God places on his people and there is a day of reckoning when every evil thing done to his people—every evil thing said about his servants—every drop of blood shed by his witnesses will be accounted for.  Jesus said that:    

Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

            At the beginning of the sermon I mentioned that Mariam was betrayed to the Sharia courts in Sudan by her brother.  When he was interviewed by the press he was quoted as saying that if she will only renounce her faith in Christ she will be released and pardoned and his family will gladly take her back. 

Can you imagine the temptation?  She is a wife and mother.  She has a toddler and a newborn.  What will happen to them if she dies?  Will they be raised by Muslims and lose their faith?  You can imagine how the devil must be doing all within his power to get her to deny Jesus.  But she hasn’t and she won’t.  Why?

            Because she is a Christian who believes the words of her Master:  that those who deny Jesus before men, he will deny before his Father—but that those who acknowledge him before men, those who confess their faith and hold fast to him—Jesus will acknowledge them before his Father in heaven.

Why won’t Mariam simply give in?  Because she has a heavenly Father who cares for her even in prison.  Because she knows that only if she endures to the end can she be saved.  Because she is looking forward to the day when she stands in God’s presence and Jesus acknowledges her as his own.  May God grant that we know and believe the same so that we have no fear when we face persecution.  Amen.

Easter Christians Are Confessors of the Faith

Acts 2:14a, 22-36 This morning we confessed our Christian faith in the words of the Athanasian Creed.  We confessed that “we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.”  We confessed that Jesus is one Christ “not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God.” 

As we did so--as the lines of this Creed went on and on, carefully distinguishing between, and defining, the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, perhaps there was the temptation to say to ourselves, “What on earth does this have to do with me?”

Hopefully we will felt a little bit of guilt and unease in thinking that way because at the beginning and end of the Creed we affirmed that those who do not believe in the Christian Faith confessed in the Athanasian Creed—those who do not keep it whole and undefiled—those who do not hold to it faithfully and firmly—cannot be saved-- and will instead perish eternally.

That’s a sobering thought-- and it is meant to be-- for the Creeds deal with the questions at the center of our human existence:  who is God- and how can I know him- and what must I believe to be saved? 

The Creeds of the Church answer those questions this way:  1. There is one God in three distinct, yet equal persons and 2. Jesus Christ, the God/Man is the only Savior of the world and 3. we must believe in him and what he has done to be saved.

The truth about the Trinity and the truth about Jesus as they are confessed in the creeds are the two irreducible biblical truths that must be believed for salvation. 

In stark contrast to the religious pluralism that is so prevalent in the world today, and especially in our own country, the Christian Church confesses (and has always confessed) that those who do not believe in this one true faith confessed in the creeds—no matter how outwardly pious or kind or religious they might be—will not be saved.

You see, it matters eternally what we believe—salvation is at stake--which is why for a lot of Christians Trinity Sundays makes us a little bit uneasy. We want to believe that these things about God and Christ are true—but the Athanasian Creed in all its careful details seems difficult to understand.  We can’t quite get our minds around the central mysteries of the faith.

That is why it is important for us to recognize and remember that the ecumenical creeds—even the Athanasian Creed--are simply a summary of what the Bible teaches-- and so long as we believe what is written in the Bible we can be confident that we are abiding in the Truth and will be saved.

 In our lesson from Acts we have a beautiful picture of the truths about God and Christ that we confess in the Creeds, that:  the gift of the Spirit was given by the Fatherso that the world could call upon the Sonand be saved.  The Bible says:

Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 

            If you knew nothing else from the Bible, if you had never heard of the Athanasian Creed, it would be enough for salvation to know what the Bible says in these verses:  That God loves you and that he has sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to live and die and rise again so that you might have eternal life through faith in him. 

God is not content that even one of his children should not live with him forever --and so before we were ever born—God knew us and loved us and planned for our salvation—and to do that, the Father sacrificed that which was most precious to him—his own Son—so that WE could be his sons and daughters through Spirit-worked faith.

And so, in light of the Holy Trinity’s saving work, let me ask you a question in all seriousness:  Since our salvation is GOD’Sfirst priority for our lives—shouldn’t it be ours too—shouldn’t every thing we do and say and hope for and plan for--be done with a view towards strengthening our life with God? 

We have all kinds of plans for our lives—all kinds of things that we want to accomplish—so many things that compete for the first place on our “to-do” lists—but God has only one:  that we live with him as his children for time and eternity—and everything else that he allows in our lives and accomplishes in our lives is done for that one, loving purpose:  that we would be his own precious children in time and eternity.

When we live apart from his purpose—when we show with our decisions that we are headed in a direction away from God—when we break our fellowship with him through our sinful choices—when we are unconcerned for taking care of our spiritual life--what we discover about ourselves is that it is not just Adam’s disobedience that has wrecked our lives and broken our relationship with God—but our disobedience as well. 

That is why God sent Jesus—to be that obedient Son he desired each of us to be and to restore what we have destroyed by our sins. 

The words of our text are such a wonderful summary of what Jesus did to save us from sin and death—a summary that is beautifully mirrored in the Creeds:  that by Jesus’ birth to the Virgin Mary he was the promised heir of David--that he was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men—that God raised Jesus from the dead-- and at his ascension the Father exalted him to his right hand where he rules over the world for us. 

That is what Jesus has done for our salvation and for the salvation of the world and God has made him both Lord and Christ.  In other words:  our Savior and our master. 

The question for us on this Trinity Sunday:  Do we believe it?  Not just the historical data about Jesus—even the devil knows that is true.  Not just that we can say the words of the Creed—even atheists can do that. 

But do we believe that this Jesus of Nazareth that the Bible reveals and the creeds confess-- is our one and only Savior from sin and death?  Do we believe that Jesus is our one and only King-- who has the right to rule over every part of our lives? 

Do we believe that is was for us men and for our salvation that Jesus came down from heaven?  Or do our lives reveal something else?  Sadly, often times they do.  The Bible says: 

“Know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  “WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED.”

The Jews to whom Peter is preaching, thousands of them assembled for the harvest feast of Pentecost, may have been in Jerusalem for the previous Passover when Jesus died—but many of them were not.  Some of them may have raised their voices when the crowds called out to crucify Jesus—but many of them did not.  Some of them may have mocked the Lord as he died—but many of them did not. 

And yet by their sins they crucified Jesus just as surely as Judas and Caiphas and Pilate and the soldiers who drove the nails—and so did we! 

From God’s perspective the consequences of our sins is not just that we have harmed our neighbor—not just that we have hurt feelings of others- but that we have offended the Almighty God and contributed to the death of his Son by our sin. 

This is why the words of the Creed must never be for us a dry recitation of the facts of ancient history or a testimony of what some Christians believe or merely one perspective among many when it comes to who God is.  No!  The words of the Creed are the story of God’s saving work for sinners.

God the Father knows our helplessness in the face of sin and death and has planned for our salvation.  God the Son has accomplished our salvation by his death, resurrection, and ascension.  The Holy Spirit has called us to faith in Jesus and has joined us together in a confessing community known as the Church where that same saving faith in the Holy Trinity is confessed and taught and lived out.

The truth about God and the truth about Jesus confessed in the Creeds is not some theological abstraction that has nothing to do with our lives.  But rather, it is the truth about God revealed in the Bible—truth that changes our lives for time and eternity.

In that light, I hope that when we confess our faith in the word of the creeds you will give them your thoughtful attention because the biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the most wonderful and comforting doctrine in the Bible.

It tells us of the Father who has known us and loved us from eternity.  It tells us of the Son who has saved us by his death and resurrection.  It tells us of the Holy Spirit who has brought us to faith and into fellowship with one another in the church.  Father-Son-and Holy Spirit.  One God in three persons:  the Holy Trinity.  Amen.

Holy Trinity General Prayer (adapated from The Lutheran Liturgy)

O Most Holy and Ever Blessed Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank and praise You that you have revealed Yourselves to us in Your Word as the only true and living God from everlasting, Three in One, and One in Three, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.  Glory and praise and worship in the highest be unto You, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty.

O God the Father, have mercy upon us, and gladden us with Your love.  O God the Son, have mercy upon us, and clothe us with Your merits.  O God the Holy Spirit, have mercy upon us, and sanctify us with Your indwelling.  O Holy Trinity, have mercy upon us, and hear our prayers.

Shine in our hearts and increase in us the knowledge of Your glory that we may never depart from the true and saving faith but always rejoice in the redemption purchased by Christ.

Uphold us in temptation and fill our hearts with holy thoughts and desires, that we may worship You with fervent prayer and walk before You in all holy obedience and devotion.  Deliver us from evil and comfort us in affliction.  Especially do we remember Karen as she undergoes surgery tomorrow, Liam, Alfredo, Debbie, Shirley, Teresa, Don, Lisa, Madeline, and David who need Your healing and strength.

Protect our country and all its inhabitants, bless all those in authority, protect our military personnel, and prosper everyone in his appropriate calling.  Especially do we give You thanks for the vocation of fathers who serve their families by protecting them and providing for their needs.  Grant that through their example their wives and children would come to know You more fully as their heavenly Father.

We give You thanks for all of the earthly gifts that enrich our lives, especially the gifts of marriage and family.  On this day we give You thanks for the gift of life that You have granted to Your servant Odis over these eighty years.  Continue to bless him in body and soul all his days.  We also praise You for Your goodness shown to Odis and Janice as they celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary.  Grant that their love for one another and You would grow each day.

Defend Your Church from all its foes, and look with compassion upon all mankind, and pour out Your Spirit on all flesh, that the ends of the earth may acknowledge and worship You, the eternal Triune God and Lord.  We especially ask your blessing upon our own congregation that we would bear faithful witness to You in our community.

Help us to live and walk according to Your will in this present life, and receive us at last in the Kingdome of Your glory, where we shall bless and magnify You, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, throughout all ages, world without end.  Amen.