Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Pentecost 7 July 4th and 7th,
2002 Psalm 33:12-19
Blessed is the nation whose
God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD
looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who
live on earth—he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.
No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great
strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great
strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on
those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep
them alive in famine.
This
is God’s Word!
People
of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of
the very Lamb of God:
Blessed
is the nation whose God is the LORD! How is it going in the “land of the
free and the home of the brave”? We live in the land of the video game! Did you
know that? More money is spent on video games each year than is spent on movie
tickets? And there is no denying how much money movies make—one film grossing
in the neighborhood of $40 million in one weekend? Video games make even more
money. Video games are so popular they say that the thumbs of American children
are actually changing! They say cab drivers in London—who must navigate all
those funny little streets eventually, have their brains grow in the area of
the human brain that remembers maps and places and directions. That’s how Jesus
made the human brain. American children are growing—changing—their thumbs are
changing from playing video games so much. The most popular video game in
America? A game where the object of the game is to steal cars—to be an armed
car-jacker. You shoot people and steal their car. They you go by a lady who
sells “hugs and kisses” and buy hugs and kisses from her. Then in order to
score more points you take her life. The more gruesome the way you take her
life—the more points you get! The people who play this game the most? Young
boys—10, 11, 12, 13 years old. The mommy of one of the boys who plays this game
says—I don’t see any harm at all. It doesn’t require any moral decisions! Oh,
really? One little guy playing this game says—when he gets ready to kill
someone in the game—his palms get sweaty, his mouth gets dry, he feels tense
and anxious—he blasts them—and gets this indescribable adrenaline rush. The
graphics and the sound effects are so realistic—he says—it’s the closest thing
to murdering someone—without actually murdering them! Blessed is the nation
whose God is the LORD! How’s it going in the land of the free and the home
of the brave? What do you think? Can you imagine sitting down with Jesus and
handing him a set of controls and saying—you know my mom bought me this new
game—the most popular game in the whole nation. Do you want to play against me?
Could you do that? As our nation celebrates the 4th of July—I think
it is fitting that we spend a few minutes here in God’s house and consider the
state of the Union—the state of our nation. In the light of law and
Gospel—God’s Word will talk about our sins and about Jesus’ wondrous
forgiveness. Today God’s Word says-
God
Bless America!
God’s Word says, Blessed is the nation whose God
is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. The people he
chose—he chose—for his inheritance! The more you read God’s Word the
more you are reminded again and again and again—God’s love is a matter of
grace—undeserved love and undeserved goodness. The disciple Jesus loved—the
apostle John wrote about God’s love when he wrote, Dear friends, let us love
one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God
and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and
only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. 1 John 4:7-11 By grace alone God chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah. By grace
alone God sent his one and only Son to be born in lowliness and poverty—to be
born in a stable—to rest in a manger. God sent his one and only Son to wash
away the sin—the guilty stains of the whole world. By grace alone God chose the
children of Israel to be his special people—giving them the written Scriptures—the
Temple where blood sacrifices were brought. By grace alone the Son of God came
to save the lost sheep of the House of Israel. By grace alone the Good Shepherd
laid down his life for sheep that love to wander!
From
heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind… The LORD—the Great I
AM—the Holy One of Israel never changes! The LORD is the same yesterday and
today and forever. People, however, are always changing. Cars have those nifty
little things called odometers. They record the passing of miles—hundreds of
thousands of miles—the tenth of a mile or two from one store to the next down
Main Street or up Highway 26. I think the human face is a kind of odometer of
people. You can—if you really know and love someone—if you really care about someone—you
look closely at their face—closely at their eyes. You can see I believe—etched
in people’s faces the passage of time. You can see in their suntanned faces the
hours spent outside—working, laboring, sweating, straining. You can see the
laugh wrinkles beside eyes that are quick to smile. You can see the twinkle in
eyes that are quick to wink—that quick as a blink wink that says I see you and
I care about you—and I want you to know that! You can see in the faces of
people the etched pain of a sudden and terrible loss. You can see in faces the
etched wrinkles from sadness and worry and pain and fear. You can see in faces
the marks of a hurt that will not go away until Jesus takes us home to heaven.
The precious good news is—the LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel will
take us home to heaven because his determined unconditional forgiving love
never changes. Jesus doesn’t have good days and bad days. Jesus loves you now
like he loved you the moment he died for you. Jesus loves you now as much as he
did that first Easter morning when he said again and again—Do not be
afraid—peace be with you! Peace be with you! Don’t be worried. Don’t be
sad. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared! Jesus loves you!
From
heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind… Your Heavenly Father looks
down from heaven. He has a heavenly perspective! Perspective—like attitude has
everything to do with life. In the movie Dead Poets’ Society the
teacher tries to teach his students about perspective. He has them stand—literally
stand on top of their desks. The world looks very different from five or six
feet above your desk top than it does from just a few inches above your
desk—looking down! I can tell you there is quite a different perspective from
the front of church—from the pulpit looking out at all these faces. It is not
a perspective of looking down—not one of looking down. That would
be horribly wrong. It is a perspective that is so precious one dasn’t read a
sermon and miss it. It is a perspective that everyone should see at least once.
It is a perspective you should see if you have ever worried or felt
self-conscious about a tear rolling down your cheek during a sermon or during a
hymn—because you would realize how very very common that is. It’s a perspective
that gives one encouragement when you see heads that nod almost—almost
imperceptibly when you talk about Jesus’ wondrous forgiving love. There is also
a different perspective from sitting in the pew—and it’s good for pastors to
see church from there, too, I think. There is a different perspective if you
are a puppy. I like to do that with our dog every little bit. To get down on
the carpet and try to see the world from about eight inches off the ground.
It’s a wonderful place too—where you can hide your little chew toys under
furniture. It’s a good idea to get down on your hands and knees and see the
world as a toddler sees it—from about 2 ½ feet above the ground. There is a
wonderful perspective if you ever get down on the ground—in the grass or in a
sand box—and see the world outside—not even an inch above the soil. It is a
wonderful world that Jesus made there too. But it’s most important of all—to
see life—to see this world from a heavenly perspective. To see our nation from
the perspective of heaven. You see—when you see life through heaven—it turns
values and priorities upside down and inside out. From heaven all the things
and all the stuff of this world doesn’t really matter. What matters are people
and immortal souls and where we will spend forever! That’s all that counts.
That’s all that matters! Jesus died to save us. That’s all that counts—where
you will spend eternity!
No
king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great
strength. As long as I have been
alive—I think it is fair to say—there has not been an army as powerful as that
of the United States of America—humanly speaking. Our country has bombs that
weigh literally thousands of pounds. Bombs that are laser guided precision
bombs that can in an instant destroy a football field worth of space. We have
nuclear bombs that can reduce entire cities and all her inhabitants to dust in
an instant. And yet all this might and all this power did not win in
Korea—which is still divided. Did not win in Viet Nam. Sadaam Hussein is still
in power in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden has not been captured or killed. There is not
peace in Israel. Peacekeepers still patrol Bosnia. A horse is a vain hope
for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. We don’t
ride horses—but we have horsepower under the hood of our vehicles. Did you see
the results of the crash tests of some very expensive sport utility vehicles?
Going 5 miles an hour or less—slow as that is—these SUVs were backed into
parking poles and the damage was in some cases thousands— thousands of
dollars! So expensive and yet so very breakable! We dare not trust in the
things and stuff of this world to keep us safe and make us strong! There is
safety and sanctuary in Jesus’ nail marked hands—and nowhere else!
The
eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his
unfailing love, to deliver them from death… We live in a country where
there are always people inventing new stuff. There is a guy who invented this
thing that shoots what they call sonic bullets. It’s not just a sonic—a sound
gun—it’s a sonic bazooka! It’s this speaker—about two foot square—all covered
with this neat camouflage fabric. It shoots sound—the most irritating sound you
can imagine—really really really loud! So loud you can’t stand it. And there is
no escape. They say in Afghanistan you can hide in caves—so deep in a cave you
can get away from tear gas and from grenades and explosives. But you can’t get
away from this irritating sound. It echoes in caves—only worse and worse! And
it doesn’t hurt the guys shooting the sound—stand behind the speaker and it’s
like behind a flashlight. It only gets guys in front of it. And it’s not
lethal—turn it off and it stops! That’s sound to do hurt and harm. The Gospel
is a soft quiet whisper. The Gospel is comfort—help and hope. The Gospel is
sound from God that can crack stone cold hearts of unbelief and make them new
hearts—hearts of faith and hope and eternal rescue. Today and each day we pray,
God bless America! Bless us—not because we deserve it. But bless us by grace
alone. Make us faithful people—living and sharing our faith—confessing our sins
and trusting in God’s wondrous forgiveness. This 4th of July weekend
trust in Jesus and in him alone. Amen! To God alone all glory!