“God Has in His Divine Mind the Best Interests of His Children”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“What God ordains is always good: His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me, I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed In ev’ry need
Knows well how He will shield me; To Him, then I will yield me.
What God ordains is always good: He never will deceive me;
He leads me in His righteous way, And never will He leave me.
I take content What He has sent;
His hand that sends me sadness Will turn my tears to gladness.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
760:1-2)
Epistle
Reading...........................................................................
Romans 8:28-39 (esp. 28)
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose.
Prologue: The story is told (whether it’s true or not, I don’t
really know) about “A Christian, persecuted by his enemies, [who] took
refuge in a malthouse; he crept into the empty [furnace] and lay down. Soon
he saw a spider lower itself across the narrow entrance by which he got in,
fixing the first line of what was soon to be a large and beautiful web. Not
long after this, his pursuers also came. He noted their steps and listened
to their cruel words as they looked about. When they came close to the
[furnace], he overheard one saying to the other, ‘It’s no use to look in
there; the old villain can never be there. Look at that spider’s web; he
could never have gotten in there without breaking it.’ They went to search
elsewhere, and he escaped safely out of their hands.” (Encyclopedia of
Sermon Illustrations compiled by David F. Burgess. Copyright © 1988
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 66.)
Arachnophobia is an unusually strong fear of spiders. We don’t
know whether or not the man who was persecuted for his Christian faith in
that story was afraid of spiders. What we do know is that God used that
spider to safeguard the man from being captured, tortured, and perhaps even
killed because he was a Christian. In addition, that story illustrates for
us, as today’s sermon text so pointedly declares, that …
“God Has in His Divine Mind the Best Interests of His Children.”
God loves each and every one of you. Pastor Marks and I love each
and every one of you. God cares for each and every one of you. Pastor
Marks and I care for each and every one of you too. God wants each and
every one of you to be with Him in eternal heavenly glory. Pastor Marks and
I also want each and every one of you to be with God in eternal heavenly
glory. God through His Son, Jesus Christ, has done everything necessary for
your forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Pastor Marks and I joyfully
dispense to you God’s free gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life
through the reading and proclamation of His Holy Word, the declaration of
His Holy Absolution, and the administration of His Holy Communion. All that
God has done, is doing, and will continue to do, as well as what Pastor
Marks and I have done, are doing, and will continue to do, is because …
I. God Graciously Elected Baptized Believers-in-Jesus to Be Like Jesus.
(29-30)
29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he
called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Saint Peter addressed his first epistle “To those who are elect
exiles …, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the
sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for
sprinkling with his blood … .” (1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV) Saint Paul wrote: “In
love [God] predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to
the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he
has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things
according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope
in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” (Eph 1:4-6, 11-12 ESV)
Although I’ll talk more about the doctrine of election in my
upcoming sermon the weekend of August 17 entitled “God’s Grace-filled Will
Is Election, Not Rejection!”, let me remind us at this time in answer to the
question, “Are you sure that you have eternal life?” that “Even as [we] now
believe in Christ [our] Savior, [we] also know that [we] have been chosen to
eternal life out of pure grace in Christ without any merit of [our] own and
that no one can pluck [us] out of His hand (eternal election of grace or
predestination).” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright ©
1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 172.)
In other words, the doctrine of election or predestination is a
doctrine of certain assurance for the Christian, whose anchor is firmly
hooked in Jesus Christ. It’s a doctrine that’s rooted in Holy Baptism, in
which the Holy Spirit planted trust in our Savior in our hearts; in which He
connected us with Immanuel’s death and resurrection making them our victory
over Satan, sin, and death itself; and in which God promised to never
abandon us but to be with us always no matter what. It’s a doctrine that
calms and comforts our otherwise fearful, frightened, and fretful souls.
What’s more, it’s a doctrine about which the Reverend Doctor
Martin Luther told his students in a lecture on Genesis 28:20-22: “You are
not rashly to bring yourself into danger or, neglecting the bridge, to walk
into the river Elbe because you have the promise that God will not forsake
you. … One should not say with those fanatics who hold that everything has
been foreseen: If I am predestined, I shall be saved; if not, I shall
perish; if I am to die, it will do me no good to take care of my body and
life; if I am to become learned, I can become so even without the use of
books, etc. God did not give promises in this manner … . He does not want
to fulfill His promises without means (immediate) but through means. He has
given us creatures which we Christians are to use until we attain the end of
the divine promises.” (What Luther Says: An Anthology, Volume II
Glory-Prayer. Compiled by Ewald M. Plass. Copyright © 1959 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 558.) In light of all that, we gain
great strength and fortitude in the fact that …
II. Christ’s Death-and-Resurrection Victory Freed Us from
Worry That Wearies and Weakens Us. (31-39)
31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33Who shall
bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to
condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was
raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved
us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor
things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“When Commander Scott Carpenter returned from his space travels,
the highest dignitaries in the land honored him. In the middle of the
ceremonies, his five-year-old daughter, Candace, tugged at his sleeve. She
wanted to show her daddy the scratch on her right elbow that happened while
he was gone. What did he do? Yes, he turned away from the acclaim of a
proud nation to give his attention to the concerns of his little daughter.
A scratch on the elbow was important to her, and so it was important to him.
That is a parable of God’s relationship to us, His sons and daughters.
Whatever hurts us, whatever our needs and problems, we bring them to our
Father, and He who is the Creator of the world, the Lord of the universe,
turns to us and comforts us with the assurance of His presence and His
love.” (Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations. Pages 139f.)
The sad reality of our lives is that we’re filled with sin, that
is, “every thought, desire, word, and deed that is contrary to God’s Law.”
(Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Page 98.) Because of sin we’re
guilty and condemned; we don’t have true fear and love of God; and we
deserve His temporal wrath and eternal punishment consigned to separation
from God forever in the fiery pits of hell. That is, we deserve to be
condemned to everlasting damnation apart from God and His holy angels and
with the devil and his evil hosts. Saint Paul certainly realized that truth
about himself.
But he also realized another and even greater truth about God that
brought him joyful comfort and certain security. That greater truth about
God is that He sent His own dear Son, Jesus Christ, to do for us what we
cannot do for ourselves. Jesus lived the holy life for us that God demands
of us but we miserably fail at doing. Jesus suffered cruel and inhumane
punishment at the hands of hate-filled soldiers that we deserve because of
our sins but He endured for us. Jesus died the tortuously painful
crucifixion death on Calvary’s cross for us as the atoning sacrifice for the
sins of all people of all time including our own. Jesus was truly the One
about whom His cousin John the Baptizer declared: “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 ESV) Jesus is the One
about whom Saint Paul wrote to the Galatians: “Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who is hanged on a tree’ … .” (Gal 3:13 ESV) Yes, Jesus is the One
about whom Saint Paul also wrote to the Colossians that God “has delivered
us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his
beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col
1:13-14 ESV) And now we live in the blessed assurance of our Savior’s
ascension promise: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt
28:20 ESV)
In conclusion, therefore, in today’s Gospel Reading we heard that
Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which
a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he
has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in
search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and
sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt. 13:44-46 ESV) What that means
is that “In the parables of both the hidden treasure and the precious pearl,
Jesus reinforces this basic truth: earthly possessions cannot compare with
the immense value and cost of God’s kingdom. We must not press the details
of these parables to say that one can buy entrance into God’s kingdom by
sacrificing all possessions. We inherit the kingdom by grace through faith
in Christ, who purchased and redeemed us with His precious blood.”
(Engelbrecht, E. A. (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible (1610). St. Louis,
MO: Concordia Publishing House.) It was Jesus’ way of telling His audience
then and us today that …
“God Has in His Divine Mind the Best Interests of His Children.”
Today’s Old Testament Reading emphasized that truth when God told
His chosen children, the Israelites: “For you are a people holy to the Lord
your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured
possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was
not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set
his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but
it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to
your fathers … .” (Deut 7:6-8a ESV) That message applies to us present-day
Christians as well since we are His New Testament Israelites. As such, we
lift our hearts and voices in grateful celebration that …
I. God Graciously Elected Baptized Believers-in-Jesus to Be Like Jesus.
(29-30) At the same time, however, we fervently pray with the words of
today’s Collect: “… give us an increase of faith, hope, and love, that,
receiving what You have promised, we may love what You have commanded … .”
As we rejoice in being elected by God to be like Jesus, we thank and praise
Him that …
II. Christ’s Death-and-Resurrection Victory Freed Us from Worry That
Wearies and Weakens Us. (31-39) That liberation from worry that would
otherwise sap our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energies is
emphasized to us in today’s Introit: “Remember the wondrous works that he
has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of
Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!” (Ps 105:5-6 ESV)
Let’s remember that we are indeed God’s chosen children whom He loves very
much, even as Pastor Marks and I do as well. Saint Peter echoed that
message contained in today’s Old Testament Reading and Introit when he wrote
to the scattered Christians then and us now: “But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession, that
you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV) Then let’s proclaim God’s
excellencies with the words of today’s Gradual even as we’ve been doing
during this segment of the Pentecost season: “Oh, the depth of the riches
and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how
inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all
things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
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.]
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