Pr. DFD : July 2020

Friday, July 31, 2020

July 31, 2020 – Friday prior to Pentecost 9 – Proper 13

Psalm 136:1-9 – This Psalm is suggested for this Sunday. The theme of thanksgiving continues in the suggested Psalm for this coming week. It is a liturgy of praise to the Lord as Creator and as Israel’s redeemer. Verses 7 to 9 echo Genesis 1:16, And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.

The Lord’s steadfast love endures. His goodness is expressed in the works of His creation. This psalm is absolutely unique because its refrain is repeated at the end of each verse: “for his mercy endureth for ever”. The psalm was no doubt sung antiphonally with the people responding with the refrain. The word mercy is important in the Psalter. It refers to God’s loyal love for His people.

We need to be reminded often of God’s goodness because the enemy repeatedly tries to get us to doubt it, especially in times of trials. That’s why Peter warns us, in the context of suffering, to be on the alert because our adversary, the devil, is seeking to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8). It’s during trials that the enemy whispers, “If your God is so good, why is He letting you suffer like this? Why doesn’t He deliver you?” Peter tells us to resist such temptations, firm in our faith, knowing that the God of all grace will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish us (1 Pet. 5:9-10).

God of everlasting love, through your Word you made all things in heaven and on earth; you have opened to us the path from death to life. Listen to the song of the universe, the hymn of resurrection, sung by your church, and give us your blessing through Jesus Christ our Lord. [2]

Thursday, July 30, 2020

July 30, 2020 – Thursday prior to Pentecost 9 – Proper 13

Matthew 14:13-21 God our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ His Son, provides food for our bodies. Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. We usually address the miracles of Jesus in this manner - Someone’s in trouble. Jesus helps. Everyone’s happy! End of story. But, if you see only one miracle, you miss the point. This miracle is so important that ALL four gospels record it. Today, we will look at this miracle from Matthew’s perspective.

Only Matthew gives us the context of this miracle. And it’s huge! This miracle is linked to the death of John the Baptizer. Herod had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter… John’s disciples, came, took away the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. Vv. 12-13

Jesus is in mourning. For John. And for Himself. He knows what’s coming. He will be the next to die. And it will be a violent death. Just like John. He departs to pray. Only Matthew says that Jesus goes by Himself. To a desert place. Yet He will turn this desert into a paradise! Whether Jesus finds Himself, be it in an isolated space or whether the crowds surround Him, the cross always looms over Him. He can’t escape it. It’s always there. You can never separate Jesus from the cross.

And Jesus’ disciples? They’re heartless as ever. When little children were brought to Jesus, that He should put His hands on them. The disciples rebuked them.( Matthew 19:13) When they see the crowd, they say to Jesus, literally, "destroy" the crowd, “that they might find daily bread for themselves.”v.15 They are weary. Tired. Annoyed. It had been a very long day. The last thing they wanted to do was provide a meal for these unwashed masses, which had been coming to them. Again!

–CS Lewis reminds us, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[1] Here is the heartbeat of the miracle. It is a greater factor than the power to bring food for 5,000 out of five loaves of bread. Because of His love for the hurting and the hungry. Jesus is moved to help and heal.

Unique also to Matthew’s gospel is verse 21. – 5,000 are fed. Not including women and infants. What’s the seating capacity of Mackey Arena in West Lafayette? 14,240! That’s close to the assembled crowd on that day. With meager means, the many are fed. They are fed in abundance. When Jesus acts on behalf of His children, He will always provide abundantly. They ate and were satisfied!

Almighty God, grant us a steadfast faith in Jesus Christ, a cheerful hope in Your mercy, and a sincere love for You and one another.”…Pour out upon us, O Lord, the Spirit to think and do what is right, that we, who cannot even exist without you, may have the strength to live according to your will. [2]

[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1180-pain-insists-upon-being-attended-to-god-whispers-to-us

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

July 29 – Wednesday prior to Pentecost 9 – Proper 13

[1]

Romans 9:1-5 - It would be easy to think, “I’ll go to hell…so you can go to heaven!” But it isn’t that simple. You cannot enter heaven on another person’s merits. You can’t avoid condemnation. By allowing someone else to take your place. For it is Christ alone who became your substitute.

Hence the question. “Did the Father also die for you?” He did not. The Father is God only as is the Holy Spirit; but the Son is both true God and true man. He died for me and shed His blood for me. [2]

The Lord demands perfection and rightness. He has said, ‘You shall be holy as I the Lord am holy.” (Leviticus 20:26) To keep us from being separated Christ entered time and space.

He was abandoned by God and by men for your salvation. As Isaiah predicted, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7-9)

The Church is literally a hospital and a hospice for sinners if we are going to speak of salvation in medical terms. Here the means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments, “the medicine of immortality"[3] is dispensed, as the Great Physician prescribes them. Christ is your Divine Healer.

Man is sick and dying with sin and the grace-filled Word and Sacraments give him life and healing. Sure, there are those who seem to think the Church is nothing but a sort of "museum of the saved" or the "collection of the already sanctified brethren" as the unwashed dare not enter.

But you’ll never find a “No Vacancy” sign outside the church door. May the Lord give us a passion for those who are missing. There is still room - in the Father’s house.

Almighty God, You invite us to trust in You for our salvation. Deal with us not in the severity of Your judgment but by the greatness of Your mercy; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.[4]

[3] St. Ignatius of Antioch

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

July 28– Tuesday prior to Pentecost 9 – Proper 13

[1]

Isaiah 55:1-5 – In the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday the Lord Himself offers food for our souls. He calls the hungry and thirsty to come to Him for spiritual food and drink.

A literal translation of verse 1 may be rendered, “Hey, you! Come buy and eat! No money necessary!" Can we buy without money or credit cards? There are some things that cannot be bought at any price. Can we buy love, friendship, happiness, or peace? Can we buy friendship with God? The best things in life are not for sale. They come as gifts from God.

God’s ultimate of gift to the world comes in the birth of His Son, Jesus our Savior. He entered time and space to be our redeemer, rescuer and friend. He’s no knight in shinning armor; rather he came as a suffering servant. Says Isaiah later on in His prophecy, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:3-5

We gather to hear God’s Word and to partake of the Lord’s Supper for a foretaste of the new creation. Such is God’s feast of outrageous abundance that exposes our feeble attempts to hoard God’s love, and rather says, “The Body of Christ given for you.” Likewise, from the Gospel according to Isaiah: “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” (Isaiah 55:2b-3)[2]

Be patient and await His leisure

In cheerful hope, with heart content

To take what-e’er thy Father’s pleasure

And His discerning love hath sent,

Nor doubt nor inmost wants are known

To Him who chose us for His own[3]

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2107

Monday, July 27, 2020

July 27 – Monday prior to Pentecost 9 – Proper 13

[1]

Psalm 105:39-43 - This is the Psalm portion from which the Introit for this coming Sunday is taken. The antiphon is taken from verse 1, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!” These words find their way into our worship life as they are included in the Old Testament Canticle from the Prayer and Preaching order of service.

The psalmist will recall the acts of God’s mercy as He protected the children of Israel through the years of their wondering. “Egypt was glad when they departed…He spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light by night. They asked, and he brought quail and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock and water gushed out; if flowed through the desert like a river.”

Like Israel, are we quick to give no thought to God’s miracles? Like Israel, do we often fail to remember God’s many kindnesses and rebel? Like Israel, can we soon forget and grow impatient in our waiting – especially through trials or suffering?

It does us good to recall and remember the Lord’s dealings with us in the past. We praise God for His past mercies as we anticipate further kindnesses to come. As we begin yet another week we pray for the Lord’s guidance.

Today we pray from the psalms:

Lord, “You word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105) Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! (Psalm 43:3) You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11) For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me. (Psalm 31:3)

Almighty and eternal God, our refuge in every danger, to whom we turn in our distress; in faith we pray, look with compassion on the afflicted, grant comfort to mourners, healing to the sick, peace to the dying, strength to healthcare workers, wisdom to our leaders, and the courage to reach out to all in love, so that together we may give glory to your holy name.[2]

[2] https://www.thebostonpilot.com/opinion/article.asp?ID=187397

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Proper 13 Series A

Proper 13

(2 August 2020)

Series A

Isaiah 55:1–5

Romans 9:1–5 (6–13)

Matthew 14:13–21

Christ Jesus, the Living Bread from Heaven, Feeds the Children of God

By the Gospel of “the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever” (Romans 9:5), we are “the children of God” (Romans 9:8), “not because of works but because of him who calls” (Romans 9:11). Therefore, “listen diligently” and “hear, that your soul may live.” By His sacrificial death in His flesh and blood, He has made “an everlasting covenant” for us. Since He now calls us to Himself, we come to Him “and eat what is good, and delight … in rich food” (Isaiah 55:2–3). He has come with divine compassion to save us from sin and death and to feed us with Himself. As our Lord Jesus once took bread, “said a blessing,” broke the loaves “and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Matthew 14:18–19), He also now takes bread, blesses it by His Word to be His very body, and distributes it to His Church by the hand of His called and ordained servants. Just as “they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces,” there is more than enough for His whole Church to eat and to be satisfied (Matthew 14:20).
You Give Them Something to Eat

“They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:16)

In the account of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, Jesus invites His apostles to feed a crowd which likely exceeded 15,000 people! How could the Apostles obtain sufficient food for this mandate? Interestingly the Apostles would be the ones to distribute this miraculous meal, but they were not the ones to purchase or create it. Jesus blessed the bread and fish, then Sunday’s Gospel records, “Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.” (v 19b).

Through the centuries theologians have seen a connection between the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of God’s people in the Lord’s Supper. Parallel to the Eucharist, Jesus blesses the food, breaks the bread, and then gives to the Apostles for distribution. Though this meal for the 5,000 men is NOT a celebration of the Lord’s Supper, yet it is a Holy Supper celebrated in the presence of the One who blessed the food. Though we cannot see the Lord Christ when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, yet He is every bit as present as when He fed the 5,000. Interestingly early church art also frequently depicted the Lord’s Supper as a meal of fish, no doubt calling to mind all the miraculous fish-meals blessed by Jesus, uniquely reminiscent of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 and then the feeding of the 4,000. Oscar Cullmann explains, “Early Christian art frequently represents the Lord’s Supper under the form of a meal of fish.”[1]

A person seeking Christian truth might ask how it is possible that Christ could, in Holy Communion, sacrificially feed the millions of Christians throughout the centuries with His “finite” body and blood. As if anticipating this question, Jesus, as recorded in all four Gospels, fed the 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish—with more left after the meal than when the meal began. Including women and children, the number that Jesus fed likely exceeded 15,000! Christ truly and miraculously fed around 15,000 people with merely a handful of bread and fish. If Christ can feed 15,000 with the truly finite elements of fish and bread, can He not feed millions His body in which the fullness of deity dwells? In the Lord’s Supper Christ, though His flesh and blood are truly eaten, is not consumed or used up; the body and blood of Christ will not run out, something taught by the continually flowing bread in this miraculous feeding of the 15,000.

As the Apostle Paul rehearses the foundational meaning of the Sacrament of the Altar in his first letter to the Corinthians, he rhetorically reminds us, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (10:16). Though this verse is rightly used to explain the belief in the Real Presence, note also that Apostolic distribution of the Sacrament underlies the verse. The cup of blessing that WE BLESS…The bread that WE BREAK. The “we” doing the blessing of the cup and the breaking of the bread is indeed the Apostles and then those who carry on this Apostolic work as pastors. Though Christ’s blessing at the institution of the Sacrament is the source and power behind the miracle of the Lord’s Supper, yet even as He told the Apostles at the feeding of the 5,000, “…you give them something to eat,” so it continues today as the Apostles and those continuing their work are called upon to give God’s people the holiest food. It is a food far holier than the bread and fish in the feeding of the 5,000, for it is the very body and blood of God.

[1] Oscar Cullmann and F. J. Leenhardt, Essays on the Lord’s Supper, (London: Lutterworth Press, 1958), First Essay: “The Breaking of Bread and the Resurrection Appearances,” 10.

Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege

Romans 9:2 I have great regret/grief unceasing sorrow...because they have thrown Christ off...there is no hope...they have confidence in themselves, their heritage, their background...

V. 8 is critical -

Matthew 14:13–21

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Matthew 14.13

Ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν ἐν πλοίῳ εἰς ἔρημον τόπον κατ’ ἰδίαν• καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ ὄχλοι ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ πεζῇ ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων.

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

Matthew 14.14

καὶ ἐξελθὼν εἶδεν πολὺν ὄχλον, καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν τοὺς ἀρρώστους αὐτῶν.

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Matthew 14.15

ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες• Ἔρημός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος καὶ ἡ ὥρα ἤδη παρῆλθεν• ἀπόλυσον τοὺς ὄχλους, ἵνα ἀπελθόντες εἰς τὰς κώμας ἀγοράσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς βρώματα.

Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

Matthew 14.16

ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς• Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν ἀπελθεῖν• δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν.

But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Matthew 14.17

οἱ δὲ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ• Οὐκ ἔχομεν ὧδε εἰ μὴ πέντε ἄρτους καὶ δύο ἰχθύας.

They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

Matthew 14.18

ὁ δὲ εἶπεν• Φέρετέ μοι ὧδε αὐτούς.

And he said, “Bring them here to me.”

Matthew 14.19

καὶ κελεύσας τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνακλιθῆναι ἐπὶ τοῦ χόρτου, λαβὼν τοὺς πέντε ἄρτους καὶ τοὺς δύο ἰχθύας, ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εὐλόγησεν καὶ κλάσας ἔδωκεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς τοὺς ἄρτους οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις.

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Matthew 14.20

καὶ ἔφαγον πάντες καὶ ἐχορτάσθησαν, καὶ ἦραν τὸ περισσεῦον τῶν κλασμάτων δώδεκα κοφίνους πλήρεις.

And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

Matthew 14.21

οἱ δὲ ἐσθίοντες ἦσαν ἄνδρες ὡσεὶ πεντακισχίλιοι χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων.

And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Time in the Word - Pentecost 9 - Proper 13

God Provides our Needs

Pentecost 9

Proper 13

July 27 – August 1 2020

The day emphasizes God’s love in providing for all our needs. Our physical needs are met by Christ in the feeding of five thousand. In the Old Testament lesson we are invited to come to God for spiritual food. God also provides us with love form which we cannot be separated by the world. (Epistle lesson) Compassion motivates Jesus to feed the five thousand. Love causes God to invite us to come and enter into a covenant with Him. God, moreover, will not allow the world to separate us from His love. In the Collect for the day we acknowledge that God has given us all we have and we ask that our material wealth might be a blessing rather than a curse.

Collect for Proper 13 –Heavenly Father, though we do not deserve Your goodness, still You provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may acknowledge Your gifts, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Two simple yet heartfelt Prayers –

“Almighty God, grant us a steadfast faith in Jesus Christ, a cheerful hope in Your mercy, and a sincere love for You and one another.”

“Pour out upon us, O Lord, the Spirit to think and do what is right, that we, who cannot even exist without you, may have the strength to live according to your will.”

For blessing on the Word – Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, my Lord.

A prayer before we study the Word – Almighty God, our heavenly Father, without Your help our labor is useless, and without Your light our search is in vain. Invigorate the study of Your holy Word that, by due diligence and right discernment, we may establish ourselves and others in Your holy faith.

Monday, July 27, 2020 – Psalm 105:39-43 - This is the Psalm portion from which the Introit for next Sunday is taken. The antiphon is taken from verse 1, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!” The psalmist encourages us to give thanks. We give thanks to God through our praises. We call upon Him in prayer. These two commands – to call upon the name of the Lord and to praise Him – highlight the rest of the psalm in which the author gives ten imperatives or exhortations. Praise and prayer are expressions of devotion to the Lord. The Psalmist throughout the Psalm will encourage the reader to celebrate the Lord’s past saving acts and to trust Him for future deliverance and blessing.

Notice at the end of verse 1 we are to tell of the Lord’s mighty deeds among the peoples (among the nations). Missions cannot be separated from the work we do. We reach out to others as we praise the name of our Lord.

Tuesday, July 28, 2020–Isaiah 55:1-5 – God offers food for our souls (spiritual needs). God calls thee hungry and thirsty to come to Him for spiritual food and drink. Can we buy without money or credit cards? There are some things that cannot be bought at any price. Can we buy love, friendship, happiness, or peace? Can we buy friendship with God? The best things in life are not for sale. They come as gifts from God.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 – Romans 9:1-5 – God blesses us with inseparable love (emotional needs). Paul is desperately concerned for non-Christian Jews. Christ deals with the anxiety for non-Christians especially Jews who had accepted the Gospel. He is so concerned that he would be willing to be excluded from the Kingdom if it were the price of getting the Jews into the Kingdom.

Thursday, July 30, 2020 – Matthew 14:13-21 – God through Christ provides food for our bodies. Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.

Here is the heartbeat of the miracle. It is a greater factor than the power to bring food for 5,000 out of five loaves of bread. Because of His love for the hurting and the hungry, Jesus is moved to help and heal.

The people are not in a position to help themselves; it is at the end of the day; they are far from civilization; they are out of supplies. To get food at that time and in that place demanded a miracle. This account teaches that Jesus is not only able but willing to help. Contrast this with many contemporary instances when people in trouble are ignored when they cry for help.

The power of the miracle is Christ. The 5,000 are fed with five loaves. He asks that the loaves and fish be brought to Him. He takes the food, gives thanks and breaks the bread until all are fed. The tremendous truth in this act is that man is little and Christ can do great things. This reminds us also that a common meal in the home or out in a field can be a sacramental act of love when the bread is blessed and shared.

Friday, July 31, 2020 –Psalm 136:1-9 – This Psalm is suggested for next Sunday. The theme of thanksgiving continues in the suggested Psalm for this coming week. It is a liturgy of praise to the Lord as Creator and as Israel’s redeemer. Verses 7 to 9 echo Genesis 1:16.

Saturday, August 01, 2020 – Luke 1:68-79 – This passage is the inspiration for the hymn “Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure.” {LSB 53}. They are the words of Zachariah as he prophesied concerning Christ at the circumcision of his son John. The words of the prophet are clear. Jesus, the Messiah from the house of David has the power to save and heal.

___________________

Sources:

Schnorr von Carolsfeld, woodcuts Zachariah names John, Jesus feeds the 5,000 © WELS Permission to use these copyrighted items is limited to personal and congregational use.

Pentecost 8 Proper 12

26 July 2020

Romans 8:28-30

You are God’s Handiwork

A prayer for Pentecost 8: O God, the Protector of all who trust in You, without whom nothing is strong and nothing is holy, increase and multiply Your mercy on us that with You as our Ruler and Guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal;[1]

The Psalmist David declares, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Psalm 19:1

St. Paul writing in our Epistle in essence states that you, the child of God, also declare the glory of God and show forth His handiwork in your life.

How is this so? Let us consider this wonderful thought, you are God’s Handiwork!

I. We are the handiwork of God because He made us to be His own. Paul reminds us, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” Vv.29-30

A. God determined to make us His own.

1. He foreknew us. “For those God foreknew He also predestined…” V.29a The Father knew you! God knew you way before you had any knowledge of Him. What’s even more amazing – in love He chose you to be a part of His family. Before this world was ever created.

Children who are adopted are twice loved. – The parents chose to bring the child into their family. – The child is born in the parents’ hearts. This is how the Father loves you. He determined to make you a part of His gracious family. And this decision came from the very heart of God.

2. He predestined us. To be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”…that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.” V.29 The child becomes an extension of the parents. – The child takes on the same characteristics as the parent. He uses the same manors, and gestures. The child mimics the parent – using the same phrases she uses the same inflections in her mother’s voice. Like father – like son; like mother – like daughter! In the Father’s family Jesus holds the highest honor in the great family of God. – You have been known and predestined, to become just like Christ – highly favored by your heavenly Father.

B. He unilaterally made us to be His own, independent of our trespasses and sins. “And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” V.30

1. He called us. Luther explains it this way. “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him. But the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel.”

a. The Gospel is God’s good news of Jesus Christ.

b. It is the message of the bloody cross and empty tomb.

c. It is a message, which has transformed our lives to this very hour.

2. He justified us.

a. Justification is the chief article of our Christian faith.

b. God looks at me “Just – if – I –had never sinned!”

3. He will glorify us.

a. At death you and I will take a walk. - From one end of the kingdom to the other; from the kingdom of grace into the kingdom of glory.

b. In eternity we will live and dwell with Him and all the saints.

Transition: We are the handiwork of God for what He has done to us in time - when Christ broke into time and space. We are the handiwork of God for what He continues to do in our lives.

II. We are the handiwork of God because He consistently works in our life for good. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” V.28

A. God works for good in every experience of our life. There is not one thing that passes by without His knowledge and concern. In every circumstance of life. Either for good or for ill -He is concerned. He is interested in you!

1. God your heavenly Father is never absent from any of our experiences.

a. Psalm 121: “I will life up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep…The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life: the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Vv.1-4; 7

b. Matthew 10:30, “And even the very hairs on your head are numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Vv.30-31

2. God often works for good in our life behind the scenes of our current awareness. We cannot always see God’s hand at work. Yet He continues to move. Shaping the circumstances of your life. To bring it into conformity; to bring it into agreement, with His ultimate god for you.

In other words, God is God and you are you and there is a huge difference between the two!

a We cannot know the mind of God. “Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” Romans 11:33-34

b. God’s ways are not our ways. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than Your ways and my thoughts than Your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

c. God has made us to be His own. He works consistently in our lives to accomplish His good purpose. Truly you are the handiwork of God!

The Father’s goal is your justification and glorification (v. 30), which entails being “conformed to the image of his (God’s) Son” so that you might become part of God’s large family (v. 29).

From the beginning, you were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), but that image was distorted and broken in the Fall (Genesis 3).

The Father knew that we would fall, but instead of abandoning us, began his work of restoring us by sending Christ into our world. Now you bear the image of Christ. In Christ you are complete. To live before God in everlasting innocence and blessedness.

Words – 1,055

Passive Sentences –3%

Readability – 82.2%

Reading Level – 4.4

Saturday, July 25, 2020

July 25, 2020 – Saturday prior to Pentecost 8 – Proper 12

[1]

Joshua 24:16 –This passage is the inspiration for the hymn, “From God can nothing move me” {LSB 524}. The people react to Joshua’s commitment to serve the Lord. The people respond, “We will not serve other gods.” If we say of the Lord, “He is our God,” we cannot serve any other.

Ironically this hymn was written specifically for friends fleeing the 1563 plague in Erfurt to comfort them on their journey. Johann Sebastian Bach used several of Helmbold’s hymn texts in his cantatas, and stanza five of Von Gott Will Ich Nicht Lassen appears in Bach’s O heilges Geist-und Wasserbad (O holy bath of Spirit and Water).

The hymn is set to the tune VON GOTT WILL ICH NICHT LASSEN. This is probably the most well-known hymn of Ludwig Helmbold, a German philosophy professor and poet of Lutheran hymns.

Stanza three reads as follows:

The Lord my life arranges;

Who can His work destroy?

In His good time He changes

All sorrow into joy.

So let me then be still:

My body, soul, and spirit

His tender care inherit

According to His will.

From Exodus 3, when Moses meets God, the great I AM, in the burning bush. There the I AM says to Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry. … I know their sufferings, and I have come to deliver them.”

Here, even in the Old Testament, the Lord comes to His people to comfort them. In the face of temptation, trial, and even slavery, the Lord arranges our lives. None can destroy his work—not chariots, not Pharaoh and all his hosts, not even Satan.

We need only be still, for He who led His people Israel out of bondage in Egypt still comes to us with tender care to protect and strengthen us in body, soul, and spirit.

Stanza Five

Praise God with acclamation

And in His gifts rejoice.

Each day finds its vocation

Responding to His voice.

Soon years on earth are past;

But time we spend expressing

The love of God brings blessing

That will forever last!

How are we to respond to these great gifts? We shall praise God and rejoice in His kindness! Just as He continues to come to us daily, exactly where He promises to be, we daily find our response and our purpose in Him, following His voice as He reveals it to us in Holy Scripture.

And though we know our earthly days are limited, our Christian vocation is everlasting. We are freed in Christ to express the love of God in service to our neighbor and in acclamation we return to heaven. Those blessings Christ gives to us; and the blessings Christ gives to His people through His gifts and through us, His servants, are everlasting—even beyond the tomb of earthly death.[2]

A Collect For blessing on the Word – Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, my Lord.[3]

[2] https://blog.cph.org/worship/hymn-of-the-month-from-god-can-nothing-move-me