St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Leviticus 23:33-36 and 39-42

Lenten Vesper #5. March 9, 2005

The LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work…So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Do you know where Ely, Minnesota is? It’s at the very top of Minnesota. If you go to Ely—you will be by the boundary waters—the waters that form the wiggly line that separates these United States from Canada. If you have a map of the boundary waters east of Ely—it says wilderness. If you are not an experienced camper—keep out! The boundary waters contain moose—huge animals with huge antlers—that could literally squish you. The boundary waters contain bears—with massive paws and razor teeth. Bears that can run faster than you can run. Bears that can climb trees faster than you can climb. Bears that are forever hungry! The boundary waters contain people who are growing illegal drugs. Campsites are nothing more than soil scraped clear—with a pile of ashes—where other fires have been built—and maybe a log or two beside this fire pit—where other hunters and campers sat. No motors—no wheels are allowed in the boundary waters. The only way in or back out is a canoe. I tried to sleep with a loaded 30.06 bolt action rifle beside me. My friend slept with a loaded .45 pistol strapped to his thigh. In the next tent a retired Marine—a combat knife strapped to his thigh—a loaded rifle beside him. The week I spent in a tent was pretty scary! It wasn’t supposed to be. It wasn’t the thin nylon of the tent that kept me safe—nor my friends who had all been in war and in the woods. What kept me safe was my Heavenly Father. The one who keeps you safe is the same Lord Jesus. Our Heavenly Father reminded his people every year—that they were campers in this world. That their real home—where they would be forever safe is in Heaven! Today

We See Jesus Giving Us Eternal Life

1. That’s what Jesus’ life was all about.

2. That’s what our life is all about.

Old Testament believers celebrated the Gospel promises of the LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel! Festivals and feasts reminded God’s people throughout the year to hope and trust the Gospel promises of their Heavenly Father. The Old Testament calendar was different than ours today. The Jewish New Year begins with our March/April. The year—the first month started with the Passover. Remember the meal—the year old male lamb roasted whole—the unleavened bread—the wine—the bitter herbs? This meal was followed by seven days of unleavened bread—the first and seventh days were days of rest. No regular work was to be done! Rest! The LORD was trying to teach his people about his gracious gift of rest. Earthly—physical rest pointed people to the priceless gift of spiritual and eternal rest. Remember Jesus’ words? “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Old Testament believers celebrated the Festival of Firstfruits! When the children of Israel were in Egypt they were in the construction business—making mud bricks and building buildings for the Pharaoh. When they moved into the Promised Land—the land flowing with milk and honey—they became farmers and shepherds. Farmers—almost more than anybody—recognize that everything depends on the LORD! Israeli farmers waited for the LORD to send the autumn rains to make the soil soft enough to be plowed. The fall rains made the planted—the buried seeds to sprout. The farmer trusted in the LORD to send the spring rains—to make the heads of grain to appear—then to ripen! A sheaf of the very first grain harvested was to be brought to the LORD. A thank offering—the thank you from God’s people—for the grain harvest that had just begun. For seven weeks God’s people gave thanks. This culminated in the Feast of Weeks—the 50^th day—Pentecost! This was a time of joy and a time of generosity—not selfishness and greed! When people harvested—they were not to harvest the very edges. If they dropped some grain—they were to leave it. Then the poor and the alien could harvest these scraps and have bread, too! Then come the words, “I am the LORD your God.” Remember the grace and goodness of the LORD and love your neighbor!

The 7^th month of the Jewish year—the month called Tishri is like our September/October. The 7^th day was special—the 7^th month was special! This was the time of the fruit harvest—grapes and olives were picked! It was the time of harvest and time to plant for next year. It was the end of one agricultural year—and the beginning of a new one. It was time to take stock—looking back and looking ahead—materially and spiritually. This was the time of the feast of trumpets. How cool was that—the blast of the trumpets? That’s what’s going to happen on Judgment Day! Remember the Scriptures we read at the graveside? “Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and mortal with immortality…then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” 1 Corinthians 15:51-57

The 10^th day of the 7^th month is the great Day of Atonement. There was no other day that showed the people their sin and their promised Savior more than the great Day of Atonement! This was the day the High Priest sacrificed for his own sins and then for the sins of all the people. This was the day the blood was sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant!

On the 15^th day of the 7^th month—the people celebrated the LORD’s Feast of Tabernacles. The first day and the eighth day there were sacred assemblies—God’s people gathered together to praise the LORD! The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work…then comes the closing assembly; do no regular work. It’s easy to get caught up in regular work. You get up in the morning—scrape whiskers off—take a shower in the fruit salad body wash—scarf down some fresh squeezed OJ--oatmeal to peel off some Cholesterol--some flavored coffee. Brush your teeth and it’s out the door to work. Children get up—get cleaned up—juice and sugary cereal—less intense tooth brushing—and they are out the door to school. Retired people get up—and they do jobs, too! Part of German conservative Lutheranism is a very strong work ethic! We were born to do work! When I was in college a man named Studs Terkel wrote a book called Working. It’s interviews about almost every kind of job you can imagine. It talks about laborers—the workers who built the pyramids—so massive—many of the stones are the size of a Volkswagen bug—each stone! The Great Wall of China—so huge—and yet it wasn’t too long ago—they found another three hundred miles of that wall. How can you lose three hundred miles of a wall that huge? Every morning the streets of Watertown are clogged with people going to work. On weekends the parking lot at Ace is full of people who are doing home improvement and home repairs. Pretty soon there will be lawnmowers going back and forth—the sound of saws and cordless drills as people build decks. People were made to work. Work is a gift and a blessing from the LORD. The problem is—our sinful flesh again and again takes God’s gifts and blessings and spoils them with sin! You can work too much! You can be workaholics! There are a couple of commercials for Orlando, FL—commercials that feature undertakers and drug salesmen—that with dripping irony thank Americans for refusing to take their vacations. Thank Americans for working so hard they have high blood pressure—acid indigestion and ulcers—trouble sleeping—and finally premature death—because they work too much! There is a temptation to put work before anything! I have heard again and again that people can’t come to church—because they have to work! Worship it seems—always has to bend to work. What would happen if work had to bend to worship! Besides life or death work in Emergency Rooms and Hospitals and firemen who have to rescue people and put out fires and police officers who risk their lives too to keep us safe—do we need to miss church to work? Can we tell people—before we accept a job—that we will not be able to work on Sunday mornings? Can you do that? Can you only work when work does not interfere with worship? When it comes to tension between work and our marriage or work and our family—does work always win? Do we tell our family again and again—it’s my job! I have to? Do we bring the grief and frustration of our work home? If we have a bad day at work does it mean a bad evening for our whole family? Do no regular work! What a concept! What a concept for the whole family—do no regular work. Take a break! Rest! Not just rest from tension headaches and stomach aches but rest from guilt and regret and remorse. Rest from the painful mistakes we make over and over and over again. Rest from the frustrations of knowing the good I want to do I don’t do and the evil I don’t want to do—this I keep on doing! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Jesus did. Jesus gives us forever rest!

Live in booths for seven days… Live in tents—lean-tos for a week! Would you like that? They say there are some believers—who as far as possible—still try to live according to Old Testament law. Every year—when it’s time for the feast of tabernacles—construct these temporary shelters. It’s great family fun! They work fastening branches and making these very clever little camp out structures. And then they spend time in them—visiting—maybe even having a meal. It’s all wonderful fun for the children. But actually spending a week—living for seven days in their booths? Well, that all sounds wonderful—don’t misunderstand—it sounds wonderful on paper—but really! Nobody really actually lives in their tent for a week—do they? Sometimes I’m afraid that’s the attitude that we have! Thankofferings? Thankofferings like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob brought? Again—that sounds good on paper—but I have expenses! I have my SUV and my cottage and my home to maintain and improve! I work hard and I deserve to play hard, too. It isn’t cheap sending my children to college and paying for the lifestyle I have become accustom to. Live in a booth—with the bugs and the rain and my allergies? I don’t think so! See Jesus on the cross. See what he suffered to save us—and maybe—just maybe we could consider being even a little bit uncomfortable for him? Think of all that Jesus did to save us—and maybe—just maybe we could do something—anything that might begin to border on the concept of a sacrifice to show our thankful love for him!

On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate… We were at the UW Hospital the other day—I was waiting in the lab area while somebody had a blood draw. Again I watched the people around me. I was by the hand department. Everywhere there were people with broken hands. There were hands all wrapped in plaster—hands that were reinforced by stainless steel joints—with Velcro straps and fasteners—hands that literally had pins and screws going through fingers and wrists. Sometimes the fingertips were painfully bruised and even bleeding. Most of the hands were held up—carefully held out of harm’s way—as well as possible. And it struck me again—how painful is this life in this world infected and spoiled by sin. I thought about Jesus’ hands—pierced with nails as Jesus suffered on the cross. Jesus’ hands that still today bear the engraving of his forgiving love. Jesus’ hands that are forever scared because of his unconditional love that took away all our sins. Don’t we long for heaven—for the flawless and forever escape we will have from all of life’s pain and hurt. Not just the hurt of our hands and heads—but the hurt to our hearts because of sin. Jesus is the only sacrifice powerful enough—that one day we will see Jesus face to face in heaven. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz