"Let's Rivet Our Attention on the Lord"
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. [Amen.]
"Undimmed by time, those words are still revealing
To sinful hearts, Your justice and Your grace;
And questing spirits, longing for Your healing,
See Your compassion in the Savior's face."
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
836:3)
Old Testament Reading............................................... Isaiah
51:1-6 (esp. 4)
"Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will
go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples."
Prologue: Distractions are all around us. They're above us and below us.
They're ahead of us and behind us. They're even inside of us as well as
outside of us.
Distractions come in many shapes, sizes, forms, and dimensions.
Take, for instance, physical distractions of illness, injury, and decreasing
strength brought on by increasing age. Then there are emotional distractions
of fear, fright, sorrow, sadness, anger, jealousy, envy, and, well, each of us
can expand that list for ourselves. We can add to those inventories relational
distractions of competition, rebellion, fussing, fighting, aloneness, and,
well, again each of us can add to that list even as we did with the previous
one. Today's Gradual summarized distractions by saying, "Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." (Ps
34:19 ESV)
Faced with such real-life distractions it becomes very easy to give
in to Satan's ever-present temptation to despair and simply give up. There are
some who, in such sad situations, seek comfort, strength, and solace in worldly
resources such as alcohol abuse, misuse of drugs and various chemicals,
overeating, indulgence in pornography, extreme involvement in exercise
programs, turning inward to themselves at the exclusion of others who desire to
assist, support, and encourage them, and, perhaps the greatest of all
tragedies, suicide itself.
It's in just such sad situations that today's Old Testament Reading
provides the only sure and certain solution. God's servant Isaiah proclaimed a
meaningful message to the Israelites then that continues to apply to and serve
us well today, namely and only by the power of the Holy Spirit, .
"Let's Rivet Our Attention on the Lord."
Amidst the many distractions that the devil, the world, and our own
sinful flesh throw at us daily, we can rise above, endure, and even defeat them
in and through our Savior, Jesus Christ, who already rose above, endured, and
defeated them for us. You see, that's the special blessed benefit of His holy
life, innocent suffering, crucifixion death on Calvary's cross, and majestic
bodily resurrection from the dead in triumphant victory over sin, Satan, and
death itself. Through that atonement activity Christ dealt with and defeated
all those distractions that Satan seeks to use to distance us from Jesus and
win us for himself. In so doing, He liberated us from the devil's grip and
freed us to serve Him by serving one another.
Reflecting all that He did for us, we prayed in today's Collect,
"grant us to know Your Son, Jesus, to be the way, the truth, and the life that
we may boldly confess Him to be the Christ and steadfastly walk in the way that
leads to life eternal . ." It's in that context that we realize that .
I. God Gives Us Comfort, Joy, Gladness, and Thankful Singing. (1-3)
1"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3For the Lord comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Now that's truly a new lease on life! Oh, that doesn't mean that all
of life's ugly distractions will disappear. No, quite the opposite! They
didn't for the Israelites then and they won't for us today as Satan continues
to do all he can to separate us from Jesus Christ and win us for himself. But
our caring and compassionate Yahweh is always with us to comfort and strengthen
us, give us joy and gladness in Him and His love for us, and fill us with
thanksgiving. No wonder the psalmist declared in today's Introit, "Praise the
Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love
toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!"
(Ps 117 ESV)
Are there any among us who question or doubt that reality? Let
whomever does so reflect on his or her Baptism, in which the Holy Spirit gave
us faith in Jesus, connected us with His death and resurrection, and gave us
our new identity . Christian! Let whomever does so read and hear the words of
Holy Scripture in which God speaks His abiding mercy and grace to us! Let
whomever does so ponder the declaration of sins forgiven that Pastor Marks
spoke earlier in this divine service in response to our plea, "Almighty God,
have mercy upon us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to everlasting life."!
(Lutheran Service Book. Page 203.) Let whomever does so rush to the Blessed
Sacrament of the Altar and partake of Christ's body and blood that are really
present in the consecrated bread and wine for the certain assurance of
forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life!
Yes, let whomever does so be reminded that .
II. God's Righteousness and Salvation Are for All and Forever. (5-6)
5My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
What that means for us, quite simply, is that we never have to worry
about whether or not God's love personally applies to us. While it's true that
God's incarnate Son indeed came into this world to rescue and redeem His chosen
people, the Israelites, He also offers His righteousness and salvation to all
people-both Jew and Gentile, which includes us as well. In fact, St. Paul
communicated that wonderful message in his letter to the Romans, "For no one is
a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the
Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God." (Rom
2:28-29 ESV)
The foundation for such is none other than Yahweh Himself, about whom
St. Peter gave the classic confession of faith contained in today's Gospel
Reading, "Jesus . asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man
is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I
am?' Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'"
(Matt 16:13-16 ESV)
In conclusion, therefore, St. Paul stated our sanctified response in
today's Epistle Reading, "For from him and through him and to him are all
things. To him be glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you
may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
(Rom 11:36-12:2 ESV)
After all, since "the blood of Jesus [God's] Son cleanses us from all
sin." (1 John 1:7 ESV) we believers in Jesus are numbered among those who are
identified in the Book of Revelation as "a great multitude that no one could
number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing
before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm
branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs
to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Rev 7:9-10 ESV)
The absolutely certain reality is that "God . promises an enduring
future for [us]. Heaven and earth may pass away but the Lord's kingdom will
endure forever." (H. C. Leupold in Exposition of Isaiah. Copyright © 1968,
1971 Baker Book House Company, Grand Rapids, MI. Page 201) In fact,
"believers through the centuries have faced similar dark and dreary days.
Those who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord often do not move from triumph
to triumph. At best, we seem to have our moments of happiness, but then we
collapse again in guilt, fear, and doubt. We are sinful creatures, and our
sinful human nature frustrates us. We cannot take it off and hang it up in a
closet as we do our clothes. It's part of us and continues to plague us daily.
Like the Jews in Babylon, we need reassurance. In [today's Old Testament
Reading] God assures his faithful that the deliverance he promised is not far
away. When our world seems barren and without hope, remember how God fulfilled
his promises. He will not fail to fulfill all of them, even if it may appear
impossible." (John A. Braun in People's Bible Commentary: Isaiah II. Copyright
© 2004 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 199f.)
So, .
"Let's Rivet Our Attention on the Lord."
Let's do so in the firm confidence that .
I. God Gives Us Comfort, Joy, Gladness, and Thankful Singing. (1-3)
and
II. God's Righteousness and Salvation Are for All and Forever. (5-6)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
