August 11, 2019                                                                         Text:  Hebrews 11:1-16

Dear Friends in Christ,

            You probably have never thought how many different ways the word nothing can be used grammatically.  It can be a pronoun, a noun, an adverb and an adjective.  Using it those four ways you get definitions ranging from “no value” to “worthless” to “not at all” to “does not exist.”  It all adds up to a bunch of nothing. 

            We have a bunch of nothing in our text today or more accurately a “bunch of nothings.”  Our Lord can work with that and give reason and purpose to what seems like nothing.  God calls us to trust His promises and follow Him to the Promised Land . . .

“OUT OF NOTHING”

            God finds us in nothingness.  The Book of Hebrews tells us that the world was not created of things that are seen.  It was created out of nothing.  That is who we are apart from God.  In our nothing and fallen condition we cannot please God.  We cannot do what is righteous.  We cannot prevent our own death.

            These Old Testament saints mentioned this morning were great big nothings.  Abel was not a strong hero; his brother murdered him.  Enoch was not complimented for what he had done he was commended because God took him.  Noah inherited his righteousness; it was not his own.  Abraham was a wanderer in a land not his own.  He owned nothing himself.  Sarah was a nothing because she could not bear a child. 

            Out of this nothingness God calls us to faith in Him.  There was nothing and then God spoke and the world came into being.  This Word of God made something out of nothing.

            This is how you and I came to faith.  God has called us by His Word.  We do nothing except hear and take that Word.  Christ proclaims to us that He has died for our sins and given us the gift of salvation.  From the nothing of sin to new life. 

            God calls us to follow him to the promised land.  Each of these saints – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah followed God and were commended for their faith.  Noah had to prepare for a rain and the reaction of others when his ark building looked downright silly.  Abraham went on a trip that had no destination.  Turn around!  Turn around!  In our Old Testament for today he had to have faith that he would have an heir.  Sarah had the strength of faith to believe that even as a longtime member of AARP she was going to be a mother. 

            All of them died in the faith.  They didn’t tie their existence to the tent pegs of this world.  They were just passing through on the way to a greater place.  An eternal homeland.  A better country known as heaven. 

            Their journey is our journey.  We have nothing to show God.  We have no righteousness to shove in his face and say look at me, wonderful me doing wonderful things.  Yet the Lord sees us wandering in our weakness and calls us by the Gospel and gives us new life.  The Holy Spirit leads that new life of ours as He sanctifies and keeps us on the narrow path.  We follow that path to the promised land of heaven.  As strangers and exiles aren’t you looking forward to that day when you can say:  “I’m home.”  Home in the eternal presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who guided us through this life.

            No one wants to be in a nothing place.  Having nothing is not a comfort zone.  Being a nothing can be devastating.  Thankfully we have a God who out of nothing has created a better place for us.  He has a city waiting for you and me that has no traffic, no headaches, no pollution, no taxes, no sickness, no crime.  All the residents are joyful – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah and many others.  We can hardly wait to take residence in the sight of God who is not ashamed to call us out of nothing to His glorious presence.

                                                            Amen.     

August 4, 2019                                                   Text:  Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26

Dear Friends in Christ,

            If you stand in the courtyard of the Detroit Institute of Arts, twenty-seven fresco panels that show the beauty of work surround you.  The Detroit Industrial Murals by Diego Rivera make labor beautiful.  The two largest murals capture scenes from a Ford Motor Company plant.

            Back in 2013 when the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy, the murals were ironic.  In the murals you had the wonder of labor but it was contrasted with labor being lost in the city and the hardships that went with it.

            You don’t need murals and a bankrupt city to show that tension.  For many work is both a beauty and a burden.  After God created Adam he put him in the Garden of Eden and asked him to take care of it.  He was to serve his Creator.  But after the fall into to sin he told Adam, “In pain you shall eat of (the ground) all the days of your life.”

            As Christians we live in the same way.  Our work, our vocation is a gift from God for service to Him and others.  But our labor can also be difficult and dangerous and painful.  It can demand perseverance and the sweat of our brow.

            In our text from Ecclesiastes God offers some encouragement in the daily labor we pursue.  On this day of rest for most . . .

“GOD GIVES JOY IN DAILY WORK”

            The words of our text are from King David.  Even as king, he struggles with work.  “All is vanity…I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun.”  Toil is a word used in Scripture for work.  In Psalm 90 we have a reminder about the shortness of life.  “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” 

            The Preacher echoes this wisdom.  He cannot control what happens to his labor.  He can’t control that it will last and he has to leave it to others.  He could build barns from the fruits of his labor but then you heard the words of Jesus in our Gospel lesson.

            The encouragement comes toward the end of our text.  “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.  This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.” 

            The Lord wants us to have satisfaction in our daily work.  We don’t do it to build a kingdom for ourselves.  We do it in service to God, our Creator, who gave us certain skills and abilities.  We do it also to serve others.

            Have you ever said, “I couldn’t do that job.”  Perhaps a surgeon.  A cell tower lineman.  An IRS agent.  A nurse’s aid.  I even hear people tell me, “I couldn’t do your job.”  The good news is you don’t have to my job or any other job you don’t see yourself in.  God has placed you where you can do your work. 

            Don’t turn that work into an idol.  True happiness is not just beyond the horizon with one more purchase.  Work was never meant for that purpose – the car, the house, the vacation.  If you see it that way then the Lord needs to change your heart.  All of this is vanity, it eventually disappears.

            Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  Jesus came to bring us into God’s kingdom, and His work for us will never fail.  He bore the punishment, He did the labor and He took God’s wrath to the cross so that we would be forgiven and have heaven opened for us. 

            Saved by Christ, work is no longer our master.  It does not define us.  Work is a joyful life of service as a follower of the Savior.

            Jesus has done all the work.  He has done the heavy lifting.  His work completes your salvation.  What we do is now done for Him.  We find great joy in raising our children.  We have a smile on our face when we prepare food or do the dishes.  There is a song in our heart as we meet with clients, farm the land, teach our students, or stare at our computer on a daily basis.  In all these things you are doing it for the Lord and you are doing it for others.  No work is too small to make a difference in our world.

            As we make your way to Good Shepherd Lutheran on Sunday mornings many of us pass shopping centers and restaurants and golf courses and ball fields and maybe even a lake.  To enjoy these places takes money which means we labor for them.  But as you come up the south drive or come in from the east you see the steeple of our church.  A cross mounted on the top.  In that moment you are experiencing the tension of Christian vocation in America. 

            For many having a job, means earning money so they can shop and play and eat.  This becomes their god, which they enjoy even on a Sunday morning. 

            As Christians we live differently.  We are not fulfilling a consumerist desire.  We are given an opportunity for faithful living.  Christ has forgiven our sins and called us to faithful service in the world.  In our work we have a chance to reveal to the world just a glimpse of God’s good design.

            You are doing that by being in worship.  You are here to thank God for your work and the gifts that go with it.  Find joy in raising your family, serving your community, caring for creation.  God created you for that purpose so you can serve Him and your fellow brothers and sisters.  What joy in our daily work!

                                                                                                                        Amen.