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!
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.
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.
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?
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.”
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!
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.
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.
There are certain things in life you cannot do “half way.” For example, you cannot jump off of a diving board “half way.” You cannot go skydiving “half way.” You cannot ride a roller coaster “half way.” And you cannot be “half way” pregnant. There are certain things where you are “all in.” The Bible really knows nothing of a “half way” devotion to Christ.
In January of 1987, the New York Giants won Super Bowl XXI. Their quarterback, Phil Simms was named the game’s MVP. In the moments after the game, Phil Simms was asked, “You just won the Super Bowl. What are you going to do now?” And Phil Simms said, “I’m going to DisneyWorld!” Now, that was not all as spontaneous and organic as it seemed. Simms later said he was paid $50,000 to say that. But thus began one of the most famous lines in the history of advertising: “I’m going to DisneyWorld!”
