Pr. DFD

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Lent 3

Lent 3

John 4:5-26

23 March 2014

Isn’t it interesting how Jesus deals with this woman? He desires to bring her to faith. His desire is to change her life. The power of life-giving water is given to a Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at a well. As Jesus has an encounter with this woman, He offers to her a changed life as she exchanges her life for His.

This is your story too. Experiencing that great exchange – God‘s mercy and forgiveness purchased at the cost of His own Son. From last Sunday’s gospel, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Today we witness and hear the dialogue between Jesus and a woman at the well.

1. What Jesus might have done — He could have had a monologue.

Jesus could very well have refused to speak to this Samaritan woman. Such was the custom of the day. Samaritans and Jews had nothing to do with each other. Each viewed the other as having compromised the faith.

Jesus could have condemned her for her immoral life and nationalism. He chooses however to deal differently. He breaks through the moral problem by accepting a woman of doubtful character. He does not isolate Himself from a sinner. He addresses her sin and calls her to repentance.

Jesus in dealing with this woman illustrates how He chooses to deal with each of us. May we each be thankful for the forgiveness of sins, life, salvation, which each of us receive as a gift.

2. Notice how Jesus guides the conversation.

Jesus begins on common ground, water. Vv. 7-9

We see Jesus’ humanity. He is tired from walking. Thirsty from the noonday heat. Like any of us, He asks for a drink of water. We see His divinity. He offers living water of eternal life. He teaches about true worship of God, and admits that He is the Messiah.

A transition to spiritual water Vv. 10-15

The woman’s respect for her traditions prevented her from seeing the great opportunity of the present. She asks, “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” Yet, the Savior offers her a greatest gift – the Father’s grace. Jesus gave His life. He gave it freely. That any who comes to Him He will certainly not cast out.

Next, the morals question. Vv. 16-19.

We cannot hide or equivocate. We can’t quibble or fudge. We are dead to rights. Our own sin condemns us. Especially when Jesus shows us our sin. “Sir, the woman said, “I can see that You are a prophet.” What is wrong in our life must be made right if we are to have satisfaction.

Jesus inspires in us a desire. A desire for the gift of God. “But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (V. 14)

Religious questions Vv. 20-24.

Jesus shows us where to find the Father’s gift. We may be perplexed. As to which church is right. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Both Samaritans and Jews claimed to know the perfect will of God. Yet, they argued. As to where God was to be found.

The true church is present where God’s Word is taught purely. The sacraments are administered according to Christ’s command. And forgiveness is applied in the lives of people. There we find the gift of God – salvation.

True worshipers are not bound to any particular place or ritual. Jesus declares, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.’ (V. 21) The worship of God is in spirit and in truth. He is not bound to any outward group or building. Church organizations can cease to exist. What a wonderful promise. True worshipers, who make up the church, will continue throughout time.

Jesus reveals Himself - The Messiah Vv. 25-26.

Jesus reveals Himself to us in the Word. “I who speak to you am He!” We can have Him now, as we are, in our emptiness and thirst, for He is the gift that satisfies. John reminds us, “Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

Our meditation begins with the woman’s question. “Could this Jesus be the Christ? Do you know the gift of God? As He spoke to the woman, so He speaks to you this day. “I who speak to you am He.”

Words -807

Reading Ease -77%

Grade Level -4.5

Saturday of Lent 2

All Praise To Thee My God This Night – Lutheran Service Book #883

Psalm 91; Psalm 92:1-2; Psalm 4:8

Forgive me, Lord for Thy dear Son

For ill that I this day have done,

That with the world, myself, and thee,

I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

After praising God for the blessings of the day our hymn writer next makes confession of sin. What started with the acknowledgment of praise turns quickly to confession. The “for” in the first line here is ambiguous, but the most natural reading is that we plead forgiveness for the sake of the name of Jesus.

Lord Jesus Christ, when tempted by the devil, You remained true to Your Father, who commanded His angels to watch over You. Guard Your Church from the plague of sin, so that we may remain faithful to You until the day when we enjoy the fullness of Your salvation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.[1]

Friday, March 21, 2014

Friday of Lent 2

When to Our World the Savior Came – Lutheran Service Book #551

Acts 10:38; John 9:1-41

When to our world the Savior came

The sick and helpless heard His name,

And in their weakness longed to see

The healing Christ or Galilee.

In Jesus Christ, ethnicity means nothing. By Jesus’ finished work, the door of the gospel has been opened to “whosoever believes.” Jesus demonstrated His great love for others by healing their diseases and providing a cure for their misery. All men are accountable to Jesus Christ as Judge if they will not receive Him as Savior. Those who believe in His Name may rest assured that there will be no condemnation for them. Jesus alone determines the everlasting condition of all men at the great day.

O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need, look with favor upon Your servants. Assure them of Your mercy, deliver them from the temptations of the evil one, and give them patience and comfort in their illness. If it please You, restore them to health, or give them grace to accept this tribulation with courage and hope; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.[1]

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Thursday of Lent 2

Jesus Refuge of the Weary – Lutheran Service Book #423

Matthew 15:29-30; Isaiah 53:4-5; 11

Jesus, refuge of the weary,

Blest Redeemer, whom we love,

Fountain in life’s desert dreary,

Savior from the world above;

Often have Your eyes, offended,

Gazed upon the sinner’s fall;

Yet upon the cross extended,

You have borne the pain of all.

The Christian life is not a label to put on, but a life to be put in. It is not a system of doctrines to be nitpicked about but a great principle to be lived out. Genuine faith overcomes all obstacles. Jesus demonstrating His great compassion in feeding 4,000 has the power to meet all needs. He fed the crowd and forgave them of their sin. He met their physical needs as well as the spiritual. He is the great physician, the provider of every need.

Heavenly Father, God of all grace, govern our hearts that we may never forget Your blessings but steadfastly thank and praise You for all Your goodness in this life until, with all Your saints, we praise You eternally in Your heavenly kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Lord.[1]

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Psalm 23.3

Psalm 23:3
The Good Shepherd who puts His life in us

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (KJV)

19 March, 2014

St. Paul writes in Romans 6:3-5 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with {Him} in a death like His we shall certainly be reunited in a resurrection like His”

This passage speaks of baptismal regeneration. In baptism we died to sin and were made alive in Christ. That happened to me personally as I was baptized at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, New Haven, IN. - March 10, 1957 - fifty-seven years ago. Baptismal regeneration calls for us each day to recall what happened to us in and through our baptism and then to daily live in our baptism as redeemed children of God. – That’s what we call sacramental living – Experiencing daily the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation as Christ comes to us in and through the sacraments. As we continue looking at the Shepherd Psalm tonight we focus on verse 3.

Tonight we hear of the Good Shepherd who puts His life in us

1. The Savior makes this personal - He restoreth my soul

Jesus our Good Shepherd restores me when I wander. No creature will lose itself sooner than a sheep. We often refer to them as “stupid sheep”! Sheep are so apt to go astray, and then so incompetent to find their way back.

The best saints are sensible of their predisposition to go astray like lost sheep. It’s more then an inclination. It’s what we call our sinful nature. David writes in Psalm 119:176: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant, for I do not forget Thy commandments.” (NAS)

Isaiah writes: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isa.53: 6 - NAS) That’s the story of Lent. We are all like wandering sheep. We have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way. What shall be done? The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. We miss our way, and turn aside to a different road. But God shows people their error, gives them repentance, and brings them back to their duty again, He restores the soul; and, if He did not do so, they would wander endlessly and be eternally lost and undone.

When, after one sin, David's heart smote him, and, soon after another, Nathan was sent to tell him, “Thou art the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7) God restored his soul. Though God may endure when His people fall into sin, He will not tolerate them to lie still in it. Through contrition repentance and faith we are restored back to the Father.

Our Good Shepherd recovers me when I am sick, and revives me when I am faint, and so He restores the soul, which was ready to depart. He is the Lord our God that heals us.

In Exodus 15 we are reminded: “So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw {it} into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. And He said, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer." (Exodus 15:24-26 -NAS) Many a time we should have fainted unless we had believed; and it was the Good Shepherd that kept us from fainting.

2. The Savior places real and abundant life in us - He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

God’s honor is at stake. It’s His reputation, which is in jeopardy. Thus He must act and act judiciously and appropriately. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake

See here the courage of a faithful saint. Having had such experience of God's goodness to me all my days, “in six troubles even in seven.” The Christian will say: “I will never distrust him.”

We learn to say by faith: “Because all He has done for me, even though it was not for any worth or merit of mine, but purely for His name's sake. In the pursuance of His word, in the performance of His promises, and for the glory of His own name and for the good of His people. That name therefore shall still be my strong tower, and shall assure me that He who has led me, and fed me, all my life, will never, ever, leave me.” This is how the Good Shepherd has placed His life in us.

Wednesday of Lent 2

When I Behold Jesus Christ - Lutheran Service Book #542

Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10; John 15:13

When I behold Jesus Christ,

True God who died for me,

I wonder much at His love

As He hung on the tree.

God shows and clearly proves His own love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, died for us. The Father sent His Son to die. Not for the good. Not even for the righteous. But for sinners. This is God’s great love for you. With thankfulness and gratitude in our heart, we praise our Lord for His great love for us.

What kind of love is this? What kind of love is this? You showed Your love, Jesus, there to me on Calvary. What kind of love is this? What kind of love is this? You showed Your love, Jesus, there to me on Calvary.[1]

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tuesday of Lent 2

Nearer My God to Thee – The Lutheran Hymnal #533

Genesis 28:10-19

Nearer, my God, to Thee

Nearer to Thee

E’en though it be a cross

That rais-eth me,

Still all my song shall be,

Nearer my God, to thee,

Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to Thee.

Our hymn finds itself rooted in American history. It is likely that this hymn will always be associated with the tragic death of President McKinley. The last words of the President, as reported by his physician (Dr. M. D. Mann), were: “‘Nearer, my God, to Thee, E’en though it be a cross,’ has been my constant prayer.” This hymn was played as the body of assassinated American President James Garfield was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. The hymn was also played as the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912. Out of 2,235 recorded passengers, only 712 survived. Of the 1,523 souls who perished, 45% were comprised of the crew who valiantly remained aboard assisting passengers to the lifeboats. Strong emotions are associated with this hymn.

Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23) If anyone will come after Jesus in the resurrection to life, he must also come by way of the cross. It is the cross that makes our resurrection to glory possible. We are in Lent. There are many crosses we must face in this human life. As you draw near to Christ this day remember that Jesus’ cross, His passion, His suffering brings you to a new life and an eternal hope.

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings, with Your most gracious favor, and further us with Your continual help, that in all our works, begun continued, and ended in You we may glorify Your holy name and finally, by Your mercy, obtain eternal salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.[1]