Proper 15c General Prayer

Gracious heavenly Father, we long for Your salvation and hope in Your Word.  Hear us in the name of Jesus as we come to You in prayer.

Preserve Your people from those pastors and teachers who despise Your Word and preach and teach falsehood in Your name.  Continue to raise up faithful servants who will pay attention to Your Word and proclaim it to Your people.  Especially do we pray for Mt. Calvary in Brady and Trinity in San Angelo as we call new pastors.

Grant us a courageous faith like the patriarchs of old who trusted in Your Word and stepped out in faith upon Your promises.  When we are persecuted for our faith and tempted to go the way of the world help us avoid the fleeting pleasures of sin and count to the reproach of Christ more valuable than the treasures of the unbelieving world.

As Moses took refuge from the Destroyer under the blood of the lamb, so do we take refuge under the blood of Jesus from our enemies of sin, death, and the power of the devil who unite together to destroy our lives.  We thank You that Jesus endured the cross and despised its shame so that with Him, we might be seated at Your right hand.

O Lord, help us in every moment and situation and circumstance and relationship to put You first.  If our faith in Jesus creates a division between us and those we love, work to bring our loved ones to repentance and faith.

When we wonder to ourselves how long we will have to endure hardship and difficulty, help us!  Grant healing to those who are ill, especially Erline.  Comfort those who mourn.  Provide for those in need.

We thank You for Your steadfast love that showers blessings upon us day by day.  Especially do we thank You for the lives of the Rabb children as they celebrate birthdays.  Bless them in body and soul all their days.  We also give You our most hearty praise for the new life that You have given to David and Diana and pray that You would safely bring little Holland to the saving waters of Holy Baptism.

Whatever else You see that we need; whatever serves our neighbor and bring glory to You; whatever works our eternal salvation, grant it to us for we ask it in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray…

Divided by Jesus

Luke 12:49-53 Isaiah called him the Prince of Peace.  The angels proclaimed peace on earth at his birth.  St. Paul simply said: he is our peace.  At yet we hear Jesus tells us that he did not come to bring peace but division.  And so is it division or peace he brings?

Throughout his earthly ministry this contrast was present.  Simeon and Anna rejoiced in their Savior’s birth but Herod was enraged.  Zacchaeus was thrilled to know that his lifetime of sin was forgiven but the Pharisees grumbled about the wrong kind of people coming to God.  At the cross a Roman soldier came to faith and a thief entered paradise while the religious leaders used that last opportunity to mock and ridicule the Savior.

And so who was right?  Isaiah and the angels and Paul—or Jesus?  Did the Savior come to bring peace or did he come to cast the fire of judgment?  The answer to that question is “yes” and it cannot help but be so for Jesus is the Divine Dividing Line that cuts through the entire world full of people—through every nation and tribe—and yes, even through our families.

Every person in the world stands on one side of this Divine Dividing Line or the other.  On one side is peace and unity where Jesus Christ is confessed as Lord and Savior.  On the other side is judgment and division where he is rejected. 

There is no middle ground.  There is no gray area.  There are no neutral parties.  Jesus says:  “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!  Throughout the Bible judgment is likened to fire and while we may not think of Jesus primarily as a Judge—or at least not until his seconding coming—he most certainly is a judge now and in  eternity. 

Every person- in this world- at this moment stands under his judgment.  You are either a child of God, declared right in his sight through faith in Jesus or you are God’s enemy, an object of his wrath, and a future inhabitant of hell.  Despite all of our human differences-gender, language, ethnicity, status—there are only two different kinds of people in this world:  disciples of Jesus or enemies of the cross.  It cannot be otherwise. 

The claim of our Lord Jesus Christ- and by extension, the church- is exclusive.  Jesus said of himself that whoever believed in him would be saved and that he was the way and the truth and the life and that no one could come to the Father apart from him.  His apostles said that there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved.  This is the Divine Dividing Line that separates all people.

We live in a religiously pluralistic culture that rejects this exclusive claim of Christ and his people.  They call it harsh and unloving and believe it to be judgmental and divisive.  Let’s be clear:  there is a judgment being made and there is a division that results but the call of Christ to come to him and be saved is anything but harsh and unloving. 

It is mercy and love that compelled Jesus to go to the cross and die for all.  He said:  I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!  Once when the disciples are arguing about who was going to have the best place in the kingdom Jesus asked them:  Are you able to be baptized with the baptism I am about to undergo?  In other words, are you willing to suffer as I am about to suffer? 

This is the baptism he is talking about in these verses—his suffering and death on the cross in which we are baptized in the waters of holy Baptism—the sacrifice of his own life that transforms our life.  He desired noting other than to go to the cross bearing the sins of the world.

The call of our Lord Jesus Christ to come and be saved is spoken from the cross to every person in the world.  Yes, salvation is exclusively found in Jesus Christ but that salvation excludes no one and is open to all.  Jesus said that God so loved the WORLD that he sent his one and only Son, that WHOEVER believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

That there are still those who are outside of God’s kingdom—that there are those who will suffer eternally in the fires of hell--that there are those who are God’s enemies-- is not the fault of Jesus but it is because they have rejected the peace that is only found in Jesus. 

They are responsible for their lost condition.  Jesus says:  Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. The response of our flesh and the world to the question of Jesus:  do you think that I have come to give peace on earth is “yes”!  That is exactly what we want. 

The world and our flesh want that kind of earthly peace where there are happy families and peaceful nations and prosperous economies irrespective of a life with God.  Earthly peace apart from God is an old, old problem.  It was for the people of Jeremiah’s day who were only too glad to listen to prophets who promised them peace despite their sins.  It was a problem for the disciples who were only too glad to confess Jesus to be the Messiah but reject his mission that would go to the cross. 

And it is still a problem in our day when we go out of our way to white-wash and explain away the very real differences between those who confess the faith and morals of Christ and the church and those who reject them.

There will be a day of earthly peace and plenty when the lion lays down with the lamb and the weapons of war and transformed into implements of peace but that day will come only through the cross and only for those who find in Jesus their peace.  Until that day there will be a division between those who follow Jesus and those who don’t—a line that can separate those closest to us in our families.  Jesus said:

From now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

            Over the last several weeks, the words of Jesus have dealt with obeying the First Commandment by fearing, trusting, and loving God above all else.

            The parable of the rich fool is about trusting God above all else—including our hard work and savings.  Last week we heard Jesus tell us that anxiety, worry, and fear have no place in the life of a child of God and this week we hear Jesus talk about our first love—that we are to love God above every other love—even over our own family.  Perhaps this is hardest of all!

            We love our spouse and we love our kids and it is very difficult to conceive of a love that is greater than these loves.  But there is one- and must be one- and that is our love for God.

It does us no good to measure our feelings to determine whether our love for our family and our love for God is rightly ordered —what we have to do is look at where our loyalty lies.

Are we willing to excuse the sins of those closest to us because we treasure them more than God?  Are we willing to remain silent when God’s ways are questioned by those we love?  Are we willing to construct some other way of salvation for our loved ones who reject Jesus?  If we are willing to do these things—we do not love God first.

Our love and loyalty to God must come before every other human love and loyalty and yet when we do that—there can be division in our families where there ought to be unity.

God wants us to honor our father and our mother.  He wants us to love our children.  He wants us to cherish our spouses.  Our homes and families ought to be little pictures of the love and unity that we will enjoy in heaven.  But that is not always the case for Christians whose family member has abandoned Christ and his ways. 

What we can do in those situations is love them and pray for them.  What we may not do is excuse their sin or lack of faith or deny the Divine Dividing Line that is becoming clearer each day in the signs of the time.  Jesus said:

“When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens.  You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

The signs of the times are all around us if we will only see them for what they are.  In 1973 it became legal in this country for parents to murder their unborn children.  Homosexual marriage is now legal in our nations.  Entire denominations have embraced a moral stance that would be unrecognizable to the previous two thousand years of the Christian church.  Average church attendance in our country has dropped from 40% to 17%.  Those who speak for traditional Christianity are called hateful and intolerant.

These signs are not progress.  They are not equal protection under the law.  They are not the Holy Spirit doing a new thing as one pastor here in town said they were.  They are clear signs that there is a division between those who follow Christ and those who do not.

In the past it was possible for the well-meaning but mis-guided Christian to say that his neighbor who never worshipped was really a Christian deep down inside and that his friend who went to the church that ordains women and homosexuals was not so different than himself and that the co-worker who believed in evolution and abortion essentially saw the world the same way as he did.  That is not possible anymore! 

The dividing line between those who believe in Christ and walk in his ways- and those who do not- is becoming clearer each day-- and the animosity and distance between those two groups is also growing each day.

Jesus came to bring peace but that peace comes through the cross which separates the family of man into those who are being saved through faith and those who reject his peace.  May God grant us his grace to found on the right side!  Amen.

Do Not Be Anxious!

Luke 12:22-34 There was an occasion in Jesus’ ministry when his disciples were arguing about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and called a little boy into their circle and said that unless we become like little children we will never even enter the kingdom of heaven to say nothing of being the greatest.

            What did Jesus mean by that?  Let me illustrate from our own little circle here.  When Cora Moreland wakes up in the morning she is not worried about breakfast being on the table.  She is not anxious about whether or not she will have something to wear.  She is not afraid that she will not have a place to live. 

She has parents who take care of that and she never gives it a second thought—she trusts that the parents who love her will provide for her.  That is the kind of trust that only a child can have and Jesus says that is the kind of child-like trust we are to have in our heavenly Father.

And yet that child-like trust in God is the very thing that we find so difficult to do.  The words that we hear from Jesus in our lesson today address that trust-problem that each of us has that shows itself in fears and worries and anxiety. 

What Jesus wants us to know and believe and take to heart is that we don’t have to live our lives anxious, worried, and afraid.  We CAN HAVE that kind of child-like faith and trust in our heavenly Father because he is worthy of that trust.  Jesus says:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

            The first thing that we are going to have to come to terms with is that anxiety, fear, and worry are sin.  When Jesus says “Do not be anxious”—“Do not worry”—Do not be afraid”—that is exactly what he means and when we disobey him—we have sinned.  In fact, we have sinned against the First Commandment that calls us to fear, love, and trust in God above all else.

Now, I can hear what you’re thinking because I’ve heard it before:  But pastor, everybody worries—everybody is afraid--everybody is anxious at times.  How can that be a sin when everyone does it?  But that these thoughts are universal does not prove that they are not a sin but instead shows that we are sinners just like everyone else for we are part of the same broken family of mankind and we have the same fallen flesh. 

We can deny that—and many people do to their eternal spiritual harm—OR—we can confess it to Jesus for the sin it is, receive his forgiveness, and the help he wants to give us today by replacing our anxiety, fear, and worry with the fear, love, and trust in God that he wants to give.  Jesus says:

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

            If we are thoughtful about what causes us to fret and fuss and fear—isn’t it usually something to do with our earthly life?  Maybe it’s a health concern.  Maybe it’s an economic hardship.  And we toss and turn and talk to ourselves about it until we’re frantic.

Jesus wants to deliver us from anxiety, fear, and worry and so he begins by helping us to see just how foolish and unproductive these kinds of thoughts are.  He says:  consider the ravens—consider the lilies.  In other words, get out of your own head and those worries you are chasing around and open your eyes to a Creator who continues to care for his creatures are not concerned in the least about their Maker’s provision.

The material needs of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field are met gloriously and abundantly by the One who created them and gave them life.  The psalmist caught the beauty of this wonderful, comforting truth when he wrote:  the eyes of all look to you O Lord and you give them their food in due season.  You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. 

The Creator who brought this world into existence and has been wisely ordering its affairs for thousands of years knows his creatures and their needs better than they know themselves and he wants us to have the same kind of freedom that the birds of the air and the flowers of the field have when it comes to not worrying about having our needs met. 

Second of all, Jesus wants us to understand just how powerless we are to change our situation by worrying about it or being afraid of it.  Worry and anxiety and fear are exhausting—but they will not change a thing.  Jesus gives an example:  just try to add an extra hour to your life by worrying.  Of course we know that we can’t do that—God is the One who gives us life and he can be trusted with all of our life.  Jesus says:

If God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!  And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

            Because Jesus wants to deliver us from anxiety, fear, and worry he points out just how foolish and unproductive these thoughts are and he reminds us that God cares for his creatures without their fussing and fretting about it. But Jesus wants us to know even more—that we are not just creatures of a Creator—but that we are children of a heavenly Father.

            You see, the foolishness of worry is a lesson for everyone—whether they are believers or not.  That there is a Creator who wisely orders the natural order ought to be evident to all.  And so even the unbeliever is left without an excuse when it comes to the sinfulness of their worries, fears, and anxieties.

But there is something more for us who believe in Jesus:  we are part of God’s family—children of the heavenly Father—members of the household of God.  Jesus’ death on the cross has paid for all our sins of thought, word, and deed—including our failure to fear, love and trust in God as we should.  His resurrection is the promise of our reconciliation to God and our restoration to his family where death has no part.

God certainly cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field but we are much, much more than that:  we are his children- and his care for us goes beyond that of a Creator for his creation.  His care for us is formed and shaped by the love of a Father for his children.

When we believe this and when we build our live upon it then we are then set free to receive from God something infinitely more than merely the basic necessities of life.  Jesus says that instead of worrying about material, earthly things:

Seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.  “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

            We don’t have to fuss and fret about the things of this life.  It doesn’t do any good.  Our heavenly Father can be trusted to meet our needs.  And besides, the cares and concerns of this life are nothing compared to our eternal life—and that ought to be our first priority—that ought to garner our care and concern. 

            When we are focused on the things of this world, what truly matters (our life with God) gets pushed to the side.  What is pressing and present gets the priority.  That is why Jesus not only wants to forgive our sins of worry and anxiety—but to give us a brand new way of thinking and a brand new way of living and a brand new set of  priorities that puts our life with God first.

That’s what it means to seek God’s kingdom—to confess our sin and receive Christ’s blood-bought forgiveness, and ask for the Spirit’s help to lead holy lives, and to hope for heaven and to order the rest our life so that it supports our life with God.  This is what God wants for us and he has promised to give it.  He has promised to give it!

We don’t have to worry about our earthly life and we certainly don’t have to worry about eternal life because our heavenly Father has gracious promised to give us what we need for each:  food and clothing for this life and the merits of Jesus Christ for eternal life—and so—whether we talking about our life today or our life to come there is no need for worry or fear in the life of a child of God. 

Not only does that free us to enjoy our life with God—it frees us to care for others because we know our own needs are met.  Jesus says:

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

            When we are fussing and fretting about what about what’s going on in our lives rather than trusting God to meet our needs, it not only affects our life with God, it affects our life with others.  We’re so focused on getting what we want that it blinds us to our neighbor’s need.

But when we understand that God can be trusted to meet our needs it frees us from the self-centeredness of worry and anxiety to serve others.  No longer are we afraid of having “enough”—we know that our provision earth and in eternity comes from God and so we can give generously and freely to help those around us. 

Last week we heard about a rich fool who had nothing waiting for him in heaven because his treasure was what he could hold in his hand.  Jesus does not want that to happen to us.  God knows we need material things to support this earthly life but he wants us to trust him to meet those needs so that we are free to love him and our neighbor—which is the real treasure of this life and the life to come.  Amen.