Author: TechCommittee
Sermon Text for February 4, 2018.
February 4, 2018 Text: Job 7:1-7
Dear Friends in Christ,
Have you ever had the experience of the wind being knocked out of you? When I was a freshman running back a pass pattern was called one day in practice where I was to drag across the middle. I ran the route but before the pass could arrive I was lit up by a sophomore linebacker. The breath in my body was sent twenty yards down the field and that moment of panic set in where you can’t catch your breath. I still remember that hit.
Has something similar happened to you? Maybe not a hit in football or a hard fall to the ground but it is asthma you suffer from. The air is restricted from getting to your lungs and you need an inhaler or nebulizer or medication. If you have struggled to breathe or have watched someone with this condition it can cause you discomfort and an uneasy feeling.
In our text for this morning Job is literally knocked breathless. He speaks the words we can all speak . . .
“MY LIFE IS BUT A BREATH”
The life test that Job experiences has laid him flat. His children have all died, interestingly enough as we will see by wind that knocked down the house they were all in. His property has been destroyed and Job has been afflicted with sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Job is “short of breath” as he tries to deal with what is before him. In our text he uses words like “futility”, “night drags on”, “toss till dawn”, “clothed with worms and scabs”, “skin is broken and festering”, “an end without hope.”
What experiences in our lives may bring similar feelings? A loved one with a terminal disease. The loss of a job and income. We also share experiences as a congregation. A family that we see goes through one challenge after another. The sudden death of a member or the death of children. It’s a punch to the gut or running into a wall. Breath literally leaves our body.
Even deeper than the physical wounds and tragedies is the breathlessness of our spirit. These are the times when the people of God are gasping for breath in the temptations of this world, the hopelessness that surrounds us in our sin and guilt and the big squeeze of Satan, who is looking to knock both breath and life from our very soul.
God remembers our need while we may have our focus on our troubles. God is not aloof in heaven. He established a connection with us in Baptism. In these grace-giving waters He breathed into our body and soul the life breath of eternity. By His Spirit he enlivened our being and grew our faith. He allows us in this life to breathe in His life, to breathe in His forgiveness, and to breathe in His Gospel.
God also remembers our need. Look at how He interacted with Job. In our total breathlessness He speaks to us and breathes life into our whole being.
Christ is our life-breath. He took the breath of the air of this world into his holy and perfect lungs. It was a stagnant, sinful, and toxic air. The Lord of life went to the cross and exhaled life itself. Then in His resurrection He offered to us mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to breathe forgiveness and life into our soul.
We are privileged to reside in the iron lung of our Lord God – the church – receiving in His Word and Sacraments his very breath of life. Our Lord speaks clearly, “out with the bad and in with the good.”
Remember earlier when I mentioned Job’s children were destroyed by the wind? There are other instances in Scripture where air and wind caused problems but have you ever thought how many times breath-wind-spirit was used in a positive God-ordained way in the Holy Bible?
The breath of life into the lifeless clay of man at creation. The wind that brings salvation at the banks of the Red Sea. The wind and spirit that brings life to dead bones in the vision of Ezekiel. The Spirit breathing on the disciples as they are sent by Jesus. The breath of divine forgiveness in a world of sin. The Spirit-wind that rushed through the dwelling. The apostles themselves on the first Pentecost bursting forth from the exhalation.
Job thought he would never see happiness again but that is not the case. He was blessed with double property and joy returned as seven sons and three daughters were born. His life like ours is but a breath. Breathe deeply the life-breath of our Lord and Savior. Breathe deeply, for so many want to squeeze the life from you. Breathe deeply the breath of the almighty and life-giving God. A risen and breathing Savior Jesus Christ, who by his Spirit has breathed into our being the breath of life for all eternity.
Amen.
Stewardship Corner February 2018
“I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:8-9).
Without commands or even arm-twisting, St. Paul encourages, even challenges, the Church in Corinth to demonstrate the sincerity of their faith by their generosity in giving. He does this because giving generously is a gift of the Spirit given to us through the Gospel.
St. Paul wrote: “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7). In other words, just as we grow in faith and speech and knowledge of eternal things by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, so also do we grow in giving from the same Spirit through the same Word.
The problem is that the grace of generosity often grows cold in us. It’s not so much that we stop giving, but we don’t put it first. We treat it like all the other bills that must be paid. It becomes a chore, just one more thing to check off a list of things to do. That empties it of its spiritual power and robs us of the joy that Christ and the Scriptures assign to it.
On top of that, since this generosity is linked to faith and knowledge of divine things, a lack of excelling in giving is a sure sign that our faith and knowledge of God are under attack as well.
Thus St. Paul points to the foundation of generosity: the generosity of Christ Himself. Even though He was rich, He became poor so that we who are poor might become rich. Thus, the incarnation, suffering, and death of our Lord on the cross is the reason, source, and driving force for our generosity in giving to the church.
And since Christ who was rich became poor so that we might be rich in His grace—of which generous giving is part—so we also who are rich in His grace can excel in pressing His grace into service toward the gracious work of the church.
Pay attention to what you give to the church so that you may excel at it. And if you find that your heart has grown cold or indifferent toward it, immerse yourself in God’s Word. Read it at home. Attend Bible Class. Hear and listen to it preached in the Divine Service.
Be reminded of what Christ has done for you in His incarnation, suffering, and death. For this will strengthen your faith and knowledge. And where that excels, so will the grace of giving excel also.