The Lost and Found Rejoice when the Lost are Found

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Two things certainly jump out at us from our Gospel lesson today. First of all, there is the great concern for what is lost. Secondly, there is the great joy when the lost thing has been found. These things certainly overwhelm us when we consider that each of us was that lost thing! Jesus sought each one of us with the earnestness of the shepherd seeking his lost sheep and the woman seeking her lost coin! The angels of heaven rejoiced and celebrated when we were safely on the Shepherd’s shoulders!

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The LORD is Your Life

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The children of Israel had come to a pivotal moment in their history. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, they stand on the border of the Promised Land. They are about to receive the real estate the LORD had first promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. This is big! No longer will they be a “nation without borders.” They will have their own land to call home. They will be “the new kid on the block.” And it will be a rough neighborhood. All around them are nations and peoples with different gods and different values.

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Find Joy in the True Joy-Giver

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Today we thank Kyle Lindemann for leading our worship! Kyle just returned from Texas where he spent the last year vicaring, and started his final year at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary on August 21. Kyle is also the nephew of Sue and Pastor Jenswold. We pray the Lord’s blessings on Kyle’s senior year at WLS!

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The Kingdom’s Narrow Door

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It was on Maundy Thursday evening as he was gathered with his friends that Jesus spoke those beloved words to his disciples: In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2) Jesus’ words evoke images of a huge, magnificent mansion. We may think of mansions we have seen this side of heaven. Places like the Palace of Versailles in France or the Biltmore in North Carolina.

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“Fire!”

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Nothing can disrupt a peaceful situation quite like a fire. A peaceful night of sleep is interrupted by a smoke alarm going off. A family scrambles to get out of a house now in flames. The street is now busy with fire trucks and police cars. It is anything but a peaceful, tranquil scene.

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Faith Says “Amen!”

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To begin our sermon we are going to talk about one of those “church words.” It is a word you likely have said many times. It is the word “amen.” In our service this morning, you will say the word “amen” at least 14 times! Why? Why do we say this word so often?

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Everything under the Sun is Meaningless…without Him

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Our text today is from the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is not the easiest book of the Bible to understand. Some Christians avoid it in their devotional life. Some consider it depressing. Just two verses into the book we hear these words: Meaningless! Meaningless!…Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless! (1:2) A noted atheist once wrote this about Ecclesiastes: [Ecclesiastes is} “a book of the Old Testament that I, an atheist with an ardent distaste for religion, find consoling, calming, and wise.”

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So Bold as to Speak to the Lord

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I don’t know if our text today shocked you at all when you heard it. There is something shocking about it. In our text a man who admits he is but dust and ashes (v. 27) stands before the LORD God, who is called in our text the Judge of all the earth (v. 25). That’s a pretty bold move! That’s a pretty vulnerable place, don’t you think? Especially when the Judge of all the earth has just shared his secret with you that he is going to carbonize wicked, impenitent Sodom and Gomorrah to dust and ashes! Abraham, himself a sinful creature of dust and ashes, is bold enough to speak to the Lord, and bold enough to ask him to change his course of action!

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Many Distractions…One Necessity

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We have before us today the two sisters Mary and Martha. It is interesting that we have come to refer to them this way, “Mary and Martha.” That is not how they are typically mentioned in the Bible. In the Bible, their names are usually flip-flopped. Martha is mentioned first, then Mary. Except one time. This suggests Martha may have been the older sister. Martha also seems to have had the more outgoing personality. Of the several times the sisters appear in the Gospels, we hear Martha speak many times. But we have recorded in the Bible only one thing Mary said. You will notice, she says nothing in our text today.

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The Chief Shepherd’s Instructions to a Shepherd for Shepherds

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In the final verse of our text today, Jesus is called the Chief Shepherd (v. 4). He is the main Shepherd, the head Shepherd, the primary Shepherd. And of course, he is. He is the Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. He is the Shepherd who makes us lie down by quiet waters, who leads us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake, who is with us and takes away our fears when we go through the valley of the shadow of death. He is the one who gives us life, life to the full. (John 10) In every way he is the preeminent Protector and Provider. He is in every way the Good and the Chief Shepherd.

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